research paper topics about consumer behavior

The past, present, and future of consumer research

• Published: 13 June 2020
• Volume 31 , pages 137–149, ( 2020 )

Cite this article

• Maayan S. Malter   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0383-7925 1 ,
• Morris B. Holbrook 1 ,
• Barbara E. Kahn 2 ,
• Jeffrey R. Parker 3 &
• Donald R. Lehmann 1  

51k Accesses

44 Citations

3 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

In this article, we document the evolution of research trends (concepts, methods, and aims) within the field of consumer behavior, from the time of its early development to the present day, as a multidisciplinary area of research within marketing. We describe current changes in retailing and real-world consumption and offer suggestions on how to use observations of consumption phenomena to generate new and interesting consumer behavior research questions. Consumption continues to change with technological advancements and shifts in consumers’ values and goals. We cannot know the exact shape of things to come, but we polled a sample of leading scholars and summarize their predictions on where the field may be headed in the next twenty years.

Similar content being viewed by others

Consumer Behavior Research Methods

Consumer dynamics: theories, methods, and emerging directions

Understanding effect sizes in consumer psychology

Explore related subjects.

• Artificial Intelligence

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

1 Introduction

Beginning in the late 1950s, business schools shifted from descriptive and practitioner-focused studies to more theoretically driven and academically rigorous research (Dahl et al. 1959 ). As the field expanded from an applied form of economics to embrace theories and methodologies from psychology, sociology, anthropology, and statistics, there was an increased emphasis on understanding the thoughts, desires, and experiences of individual consumers. For academic marketing, this meant that research not only focused on the decisions and strategies of marketing managers but also on the decisions and thought processes on the other side of the market—customers.

Since then, the academic study of consumer behavior has evolved and incorporated concepts and methods, not only from marketing at large but also from related social science disciplines, and from the ever-changing landscape of real-world consumption behavior. Its position as an area of study within a larger discipline that comprises researchers from diverse theoretical backgrounds and methodological training has stirred debates over its identity. One article describes consumer behavior as a multidisciplinary subdiscipline of marketing “characterized by the study of people operating in a consumer role involving acquisition, consumption, and disposition of marketplace products, services, and experiences” (MacInnis and Folkes 2009 , p. 900).

This article reviews the evolution of the field of consumer behavior over the past half century, describes its current status, and predicts how it may evolve over the next twenty years. Our review is by no means a comprehensive history of the field (see Schumann et al. 2008 ; Rapp and Hill 2015 ; Wang et al. 2015 ; Wilkie and Moore 2003 , to name a few) but rather focuses on a few key thematic developments. Though we observe many major shifts during this period, certain questions and debates have persisted: Does consumer behavior research need to be relevant to marketing managers or is there intrinsic value from studying the consumer as a project pursued for its own sake? What counts as consumption: only consumption from traditional marketplace transactions or also consumption in a broader sense of non-marketplace interactions? Which are the most appropriate theoretical traditions and methodological tools for addressing questions in consumer behavior research?

2 A brief history of consumer research over the past sixty years—1960 to 2020

In 1969, the Association for Consumer Research was founded and a yearly conference to share marketing research specifically from the consumer’s perspective was instituted. This event marked the culmination of the growing interest in the topic by formalizing it as an area of research within marketing (consumer psychology had become a formalized branch of psychology within the APA in 1960). So, what was consumer behavior before 1969? Scanning current consumer-behavior doctoral seminar syllabi reveals few works predating 1969, with most of those coming from psychology and economics, namely Herbert Simon’s A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice (1955), Abraham Maslow’s A Theory of Human Motivation (1943), and Ernest Dichter’s Handbook of Consumer Motivations (1964). In short, research that illuminated and informed our understanding of consumer behavior prior to 1969 rarely focused on marketing-specific topics, much less consumers or consumption (Dichter’s handbook being a notable exception). Yet, these works were crucial to the rise of consumer behavior research because, in the decades after 1969, there was a shift within academic marketing to thinking about research from a behavioral or decision science perspective (Wilkie and Moore 2003 ). The following section details some ways in which this shift occurred. We draw on a framework proposed by the philosopher Larry Laudan ( 1986 ), who distinguished among three inter-related aspects of scientific inquiry—namely, concepts (the relevant ideas, theories, hypotheses, and constructs); methods (the techniques employed to test and validate these concepts); and aims (the purposes or goals that motivate the investigation).

2.1 Key concepts in the late - 1960s

During the late-1960s, we tended to view the buyer as a computer-like machine for processing information according to various formal rules that embody economic rationality to form a preference for one or another option in order to arrive at a purchase decision. This view tended to manifest itself in a couple of conspicuous ways. The first was a model of buyer behavior introduced by John Howard in 1963 in the second edition of his marketing textbook and quickly adopted by virtually every theorist working in our field—including, Howard and Sheth (of course), Engel-Kollat-&-Blackwell, Franco Nicosia, Alan Andreasen, Jim Bettman, and Joel Cohen. Howard’s great innovation—which he based on a scheme that he had found in the work of Plato (namely, the linkages among Cognition, Affect, and Conation)—took the form of a boxes-and-arrows formulation heavily influenced by the approach to organizational behavior theory that Howard (University of Pittsburgh) had picked up from Herbert Simon (Carnegie Melon University). The model represented a chain of events

where I = inputs of information (from advertising, word-of-mouth, brand features, etc.); C = cognitions (beliefs or perceptions about a brand); A = Affect (liking or preference for the brand); B = behavior (purchase of the brand); and S = satisfaction (post-purchase evaluation of the brand that feeds back onto earlier stages of the sequence, according to a learning model in which reinforced behavior tends to be repeated). This formulation lay at the heart of Howard’s work, which he updated, elaborated on, and streamlined over the remainder of his career. Importantly, it informed virtually every buyer-behavior model that blossomed forth during the last half of the twentieth century.

To represent the link between cognitions and affect, buyer-behavior researchers used various forms of the multi-attribute attitude model (MAAM), originally proposed by psychologists such as Fishbein and Rosenberg as part of what Fishbein and Ajzen ( 1975 ) called the theory of reasoned action. Under MAAM, cognitions (beliefs about brand attributes) are weighted by their importance and summed to create an explanation or prediction of affect (liking for a brand or preference for one brand versus another), which in turn determines behavior (choice of a brand or intention to purchase a brand). This took the work of economist Kelvin Lancaster (with whom Howard interacted), which assumed attitude was based on objective attributes, and extended it to include subjective ones (Lancaster 1966 ; Ratchford 1975 ). Overall, the set of concepts that prevailed in the late-1960s assumed the buyer exhibited economic rationality and acted as a computer-like information-processing machine when making purchase decisions.

2.2 Favored methods in the late-1960s

The methods favored during the late-1960s tended to be almost exclusively neo-positivistic in nature. That is, buyer-behavior research adopted the kinds of methodological rigor that we associate with the physical sciences and the hypothetico-deductive approaches advocated by the neo-positivistic philosophers of science.

Thus, the accepted approaches tended to be either experimental or survey based. For example, numerous laboratory studies tested variations of the MAAM and focused on questions about how to measure beliefs, how to weight the beliefs, how to combine the weighted beliefs, and so forth (e.g., Beckwith and Lehmann 1973 ). Here again, these assumed a rational economic decision-maker who processed information something like a computer.

Seeking rigor, buyer-behavior studies tended to be quantitative in their analyses, employing multivariate statistics, structural equation models, multidimensional scaling, conjoint analysis, and other mathematically sophisticated techniques. For example, various attempts to test the ICABS formulation developed simultaneous (now called structural) equation models such as those deployed by Farley and Ring ( 1970 , 1974 ) to test the Howard and Sheth ( 1969 ) model and by Beckwith and Lehmann ( 1973 ) to measure halo effects.

2.3 Aims in the late-1960s

During this time period, buyer-behavior research was still considered a subdivision of marketing research, the purpose of which was to provide insights useful to marketing managers in making strategic decisions. Essentially, every paper concluded with a section on “Implications for Marketing Managers.” Authors who failed to conform to this expectation could generally count on having their work rejected by leading journals such as the Journal of Marketing Research ( JMR ) and the Journal of Marketing ( JM ).

2.4 Summary—the three R’s in the late-1960s

Starting in the late-1960s to the early-1980s, virtually every buyer-behavior researcher followed the traditional approach to concepts, methods, and aims, now encapsulated under what we might call the three R’s —namely, rationality , rigor , and relevance . However, as we transitioned into the 1980s and beyond, that changed as some (though by no means all) consumer researchers began to expand their approaches and to evolve different perspectives.

2.5 Concepts after 1980

In some circles, the traditional emphasis on the buyer’s rationality—that is, a view of the buyer as a rational-economic, decision-oriented, information-processing, computer-like machine for making choices—began to evolve in at least two primary ways.

First, behavioral economics (originally studied in marketing under the label Behavioral Decision Theory)—developed in psychology by Kahneman and Tversky, in economics by Thaler, and applied in marketing by a number of forward-thinking theorists (e.g., Eric Johnson, Jim Bettman, John Payne, Itamar Simonson, Jay Russo, Joel Huber, and more recently, Dan Ariely)—challenged the rationality of consumers as decision-makers. It was shown that numerous commonly used decision heuristics depart from rational choice and are exceptions to the traditional assumptions of economic rationality. This trend shed light on understanding consumer financial decision-making (Prelec and Loewenstein 1998 ; Gourville 1998 ; Lynch Jr 2011 ) and how to develop “nudges” to help consumers make better decisions for their personal finances (summarized in Johnson et al. 2012 ).

Second, the emerging experiential view (anticipated by Alderson, Levy, and others; developed by Holbrook and Hirschman, and embellished by Schmitt, Pine, and Gilmore, and countless followers) regarded consumers as flesh-and-blood human beings (rather than as information-processing computer-like machines), focused on hedonic aspects of consumption, and expanded the concepts embodied by ICABS (Table 1 ).

2.6 Methods after 1980

The two burgeoning areas of research—behavioral economics and experiential theories—differed in their methodological approaches. The former relied on controlled randomized experiments with a focus on decision strategies and behavioral outcomes. For example, experiments tested the process by which consumers evaluate options using information display boards and “Mouselab” matrices of aspects and attributes (Payne et al. 1988 ). This school of thought also focused on behavioral dependent measures, such as choice (Huber et al. 1982 ; Simonson 1989 ; Iyengar and Lepper 2000 ).

The latter was influenced by post-positivistic philosophers of science—such as Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, and Richard Rorty—and approaches expanded to include various qualitative techniques (interpretive, ethnographic, humanistic, and even introspective methods) not previously prominent in the field of consumer research. These included:

Interpretive approaches —such as those drawing on semiotics and hermeneutics—in an effort to gain a richer understanding of the symbolic meanings involved in consumption experiences;

Ethnographic approaches — borrowed from cultural anthropology—such as those illustrated by the influential Consumer Behavior Odyssey (Belk et al. 1989 ) and its discoveries about phenomena related to sacred aspects of consumption or the deep meanings of collections and other possessions;

Humanistic approaches —such as those borrowed from cultural studies or from literary criticism and more recently gathered together under the general heading of consumer culture theory ( CCT );

Introspective or autoethnographic approaches —such as those associated with a method called subjective personal introspection ( SPI ) that various consumer researchers like Sidney Levy and Steve Gould have pursued to gain insights based on their own private lives.

These qualitative approaches tended not to appear in the more traditional journals such as the Journal of Marketing , Journal of Marketing Research , or Marketing Science . However, newer journals such as Consumption, Markets, & Culture and Marketing Theory began to publish papers that drew on the various interpretive, ethnographic, humanistic, or introspective methods.

2.7 Aims after 1980

In 1974, consumer research finally got its own journal with the launch of the Journal of Consumer Research ( JCR ). The early editors of JCR —especially Bob Ferber, Hal Kassarjian, and Jim Bettman—held a rather divergent attitude about the importance or even the desirability of managerial relevance as a key goal of consumer studies. Under their influence, some researchers began to believe that consumer behavior is a phenomenon worthy of study in its own right—purely for the purpose of understanding it better. The journal incorporated articles from an array of methodologies: quantitative (both secondary data analysis and experimental techniques) and qualitative. The “right” balance between theoretical insight and substantive relevance—which are not in inherent conflict—is a matter of debate to this day and will likely continue to be debated well into the future.

2.8 Summary—the three I’s after 1980

In sum, beginning in the early-1980s, consumer research branched out. Much of the work in consumer studies remained within the earlier tradition of the three R’s—that is, rationality (an information-processing decision-oriented buyer), rigor (neo-positivistic experimental designs and quantitative techniques), and relevance (usefulness to marketing managers). Nonetheless, many studies embraced enlarged views of the three major aspects that might be called the three I’s —that is, irrationality (broadened perspectives that incorporate illogical, heuristic, experiential, or hedonic aspects of consumption), interpretation (various qualitative or “postmodern” approaches), and intrinsic motivation (the joy of pursuing a managerially irrelevant consumer study purely for the sake of satisfying one’s own curiosity, without concern for whether it does or does not help a marketing practitioner make a bigger profit).

3 The present—the consumer behavior field today

3.1 present concepts.

In recent years, technological changes have significantly influenced the nature of consumption as the customer journey has transitioned to include more interaction on digital platforms that complements interaction in physical stores. This shift poses a major conceptual challenge in understanding if and how these technological changes affect consumption. Does the medium through which consumption occurs fundamentally alter the psychological and social processes identified in earlier research? In addition, this shift allows us to collect more data at different stages of the customer journey, which further allows us to analyze behavior in ways that were not previously available.

Revisiting the ICABS framework, many of the previous concepts are still present, but we are now addressing them through a lens of technological change (Table 2 )

. In recent years, a number of concepts (e.g., identity, beliefs/lay theories, affect as information, self-control, time, psychological ownership, search for meaning and happiness, social belonging, creativity, and status) have emerged as integral factors that influence and are influenced by consumption. To better understand these concepts, a number of influential theories from social psychology have been adopted into consumer behavior research. Self-construal (Markus and Kitayama 1991 ), regulatory focus (Higgins 1998 ), construal level (Trope and Liberman 2010 ), and goal systems (Kruglanski et al. 2002 ) all provide social-cognition frameworks through which consumer behavior researchers study the psychological processes behind consumer behavior. This “adoption” of social psychological theories into consumer behavior is a symbiotic relationship that further enhances the theories. Tory Higgins happily stated that he learned more about his own theories from the work of marketing academics (he cited Angela Lee and Michel Pham) in further testing and extending them.

3.2 Present Methods

Not only have technological advancements changed the nature of consumption but they have also significantly influenced the methods used in consumer research by adding both new sources of data and improved analytical tools (Ding et al. 2020 ). Researchers continue to use traditional methods from psychology in empirical research (scale development, laboratory experiments, quantitative analyses, etc.) and interpretive approaches in qualitative research. Additionally, online experiments using participants from panels such as Amazon Mechanical Turk and Prolific have become commonplace in the last decade. While they raise concerns about the quality of the data and about the external validity of the results, these online experiments have greatly increased the speed and decreased the cost of collecting data, so researchers continue to use them, albeit with some caution. Reminiscent of the discussion in the 1970s and 1980s about the use of student subjects, the projectability of the online responses and of an increasingly conditioned “professional” group of online respondents (MTurkers) is a major concern.

Technology has also changed research methodology. Currently, there is a large increase in the use of secondary data thanks to the availability of Big Data about online and offline behavior. Methods in computer science have advanced our ability to analyze large corpuses of unstructured data (text, voice, visual images) in an efficient and rigorous way and, thus, to tap into a wealth of nuanced thoughts, feelings, and behaviors heretofore only accessible to qualitative researchers through laboriously conducted content analyses. There are also new neuro-marketing techniques like eye-tracking, fMRI’s, body arousal measures (e.g., heart rate, sweat), and emotion detectors that allow us to measure automatic responses. Lastly, there has been an increase in large-scale field experiments that can be run in online B2C marketplaces.

3.3 Present Aims

Along with a focus on real-world observations and data, there is a renewed emphasis on managerial relevance. Countless conference addresses and editorials in JCR , JCP , and other journals have emphasized the importance of making consumer research useful outside of academia—that is, to help companies, policy makers, and consumers. For instance, understanding how the “new” consumer interacts over time with other consumers and companies in the current marketplace is a key area for future research. As global and social concerns become more salient in all aspects of life, issues of long-term sustainability, social equality, and ethical business practices have also become more central research topics. Fortunately, despite this emphasis on relevance, theoretical contributions and novel ideas are still highly valued. An appropriate balance of theory and practice has become the holy grail of consumer research.

The effects of the current trends in real-world consumption will increase in magnitude with time as more consumers are digitally native. Therefore, a better understanding of current consumer behavior can give us insights and help predict how it will continue to evolve in the years to come.

4 The future—the consumer behavior field in 2040

The other papers use 2030 as a target year but we asked our survey respondents to make predictions for 2040 and thus we have a different future target year.

Niels Bohr once said, “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” Indeed, it would be a fool’s errand for a single person to hazard a guess about the state of the consumer behavior field twenty years from now. Therefore, predictions from 34 active consumer researchers were collected to address this task. Here, we briefly summarize those predictions.

4.1 Future Concepts

While few respondents proffered guesses regarding specific concepts that would be of interest twenty years from now, many suggested broad topics and trends they expected to see in the field. Expectations for topics could largely be grouped into three main areas. Many suspected that we will be examining essentially the same core topics, perhaps at a finer-grained level, from different perspectives or in ways that we currently cannot utilize due to methodological limitations (more on methods below). A second contingent predicted that much research would center on the impending crises the world faces today, most mentioning environmental and social issues (the COVID-19 pandemic had not yet begun when these predictions were collected and, unsurprisingly, was not anticipated by any of our respondents). The last group, citing the widely expected profound impact of AI on consumers’ lives, argued that AI and other technology-related topics will be dominant subjects in consumer research circa 2040.

While the topic of technology is likely to be focal in the field, our current expectations for the impact of technology on consumers’ lives are narrower than it should be. Rather than merely offering innumerable conveniences and experiences, it seems likely that technology will begin to be integrated into consumers’ thoughts, identities, and personal relationships—probably sooner than we collectively expect. The integration of machines into humans’ bodies and lives will present the field with an expanding list of research questions that do not exist today. For example, how will the concepts of the self, identity, privacy, and goal pursuit change when web-connected technology seamlessly integrates with human consciousness and cognition? Major questions will also need to be answered regarding philosophy of mind, ethics, and social inequality. We suspect that the impact of technology on consumers and consumer research will be far broader than most consumer-behavior researchers anticipate.

As for broader trends within consumer research, there were two camps: (1) those who expect (or hope) that dominant theories (both current and yet to be developed) will become more integrated and comprehensive and (2) those who expect theoretical contributions to become smaller and smaller, to the point of becoming trivial. Both groups felt that current researchers are filling smaller cracks than before, but disagreed on how this would ultimately be resolved.

4.2 Future Methods

As was the case with concepts, respondents’ expectations regarding consumer-research methodologies in 2030 can also be divided into three broad baskets. Unsurprisingly, many indicated that we would be using many technologies not currently available or in wide use. Perhaps more surprising was that most cited the use of technology such as AI, machine-learning algorithms, and robots in designing—as opposed to executing or analyzing—experiments. (Some did point to the use of technologies such as virtual reality in the actual execution of experiments.) The second camp indicated that a focus on reliable and replicable results (discussed further below) will encourage a greater tendency for pre-registering studies, more use of “Big Data,” and a demand for more studies per paper (versus more papers per topic, which some believe is a more fruitful direction). Finally, the third lot indicated that “real data” would be in high demand, thereby necessitating the use of incentive-compatible, consequential dependent variables and a greater prevalence of field studies in consumer research.

As a result, young scholars would benefit from developing a “toolkit” of methodologies for collecting and analyzing the abundant new data of interest to the field. This includes (but is not limited to) a deep understanding of designing and implementing field studies (Gerber and Green 2012 ), data analysis software (R, Python, etc.), text mining and analysis (Humphreys and Wang 2018 ), and analytical tools for other unstructured forms of data such as image and sound. The replication crisis in experimental research means that future scholars will also need to take a more critical approach to validity (internal, external, construct), statistical power, and significance in their work.

4.3 Future Aims

While there was an air of existential concern about the future of the field, most agreed that the trend will be toward increasing the relevance and reliability of consumer research. Specifically, echoing calls from journals and thought leaders, the respondents felt that papers will need to offer more actionable implications for consumers, managers, or policy makers. However, few thought that this increased focus would come at the expense of theoretical insights, suggesting a more demanding overall standard for consumer research in 2040. Likewise, most felt that methodological transparency, open access to data and materials, and study pre-registration will become the norm as the field seeks to allay concerns about the reliability and meaningfulness of its research findings.

4.4 Summary - Future research questions and directions

Despite some well-justified pessimism, the future of consumer research is as bright as ever. As we revised this paper amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, it was clear that many aspects of marketplace behavior, consumption, and life in general will change as a result of this unprecedented global crisis. Given this, and the radical technological, social, and environmental changes that loom on the horizon, consumer researchers will have a treasure trove of topics to tackle in the next ten years, many of which will carry profound substantive importance. While research approaches will evolve, the core goals will remain consistent—namely, to generate theoretically insightful, empirically supported, and substantively impactful research (Table 3 ).

5 Conclusion

At any given moment in time, the focal concepts, methods, and aims of consumer-behavior scholarship reflect both the prior development of the field and trends in the larger scientific community. However, despite shifting trends, the core of the field has remained constant—namely, to understand the motivations, thought processes, and experiences of individuals as they consume goods, services, information, and other offerings, and to use these insights to develop interventions to improve both marketing strategy for firms and consumer welfare for individuals and groups. Amidst the excitement of new technologies, social trends, and consumption experiences, it is important to look back and remind ourselves of the insights the field has already generated. Effectively integrating these past findings with new observations and fresh research will help the field advance our understanding of consumer behavior.

Beckwith, N. E., & Lehmann, D. R. (1973). The importance of differential weights in multiple attribute models of consumer attitude. Journal of Marketing Research, 10 (2), 141–145.

Article   Google Scholar  

Belk, R. W., Wallendorf, M., & Sherry Jr., J. F. (1989). The sacred and the profane in consumer behavior: theodicy on the odyssey. Journal of Consumer Research, 16 (1), 1–38.

Dahl, R. A., Haire, M., & Lazarsfeld, P. F. (1959). Social science research on business: product and potential . New York: Columbia University Press.

Ding, Y., DeSarbo, W. S., Hanssens, D. M., Jedidi, K., Lynch Jr., J. G., & Lehmann, D. R. (2020). The past, present, and future of measurements and methods in marketing analysis. Marketing Letters, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-020-09527-7 .

Farley, J. U., & Ring, L. W. (1970). An empirical test of the Howard-Sheth model of buyer behavior. Journal of Marketing Research, 7 (4), 427–438.

Farley, J. U., & Ring, L. W. (1974). “Empirical” specification of a buyer behavior model. Journal of Marketing Research, 11 (1), 89–96.

Google Scholar  

Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: an introduction to theory and research . Reading: Addison-Wesley.

Gerber, A. S., & Green, D. P. (2012). Field experiments: design, analysis, and interpretation . New York: WW Norton.

Gourville, J. T. (1998). Pennies-a-day: the effect of temporal reframing on transaction evaluation. Journal of Consumer Research, 24 (4), 395–408.

Higgins, E. T. (1998). Promotion and prevention: regulatory focus as a motivational principle. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 30 , 1–46.

Howard, J. A., & Sheth, J. (1969). The theory of buyer behavior . New York: Wiley.

Huber, J., Payne, J. W., & Puto, C. (1982). Adding asymmetrically dominated alternatives: violations of regularity and the similarity hypothesis. Journal of Consumer Research, 9 (1), 90–98.

Humphreys, A., & Wang, R. J. H. (2018). Automated text analysis for consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 44 (6), 1274–1306.

Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (2000). When choice is demotivating: can one desire too much of a good thing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79 (6), 995–1006.

Johnson, E. J., Shu, S. B., Dellaert, B. G., Fox, C., Goldstein, D. G., Häubl, G., et al. (2012). Beyond nudges: tools of a choice architecture. Marketing Letters, 23 (2), 487–504.

Kruglanski, A. W., Shah, J. Y., Fishbach, A., Friedman, R., Chun, W. Y., & Sleeth-Keppler, D. (2002). A theory of goal systems. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 34 , 311–378.

Lancaster, K. (1966). A new theory of consumer behavior. Journal of Political Economy, 74 , 132–157.

Laudan, L. (1986). Methodology’s prospects. In PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, 1986 (2), 347–354.

Lynch Jr., J. G. (2011). Introduction to the journal of marketing research special interdisciplinary issue on consumer financial decision making. Journal of Marketing Research, 48 (SPL) Siv–Sviii.

MacInnis, D. J., & Folkes, V. S. (2009). The disciplinary status of consumer behavior: a sociology of science perspective on key controversies. Journal of Consumer Research, 36 (6), 899–914.

Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98 (2), 224–253.

Payne, J. W., Bettman, J. R., & Johnson, E. J. (1988). Adaptive strategy selection in decision making. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 14 (3), 534–552.

Prelec, D., & Loewenstein, G. (1998). The red and the black: mental accounting of savings and debt. Marketing Science, 17 (1), 4–28.

Rapp, J. M., & Hill, R. P. (2015). Lordy, Lordy, look who’s 40! The Journal of Consumer Research reaches a milestone. Journal of Consumer Research, 42 (1), 19–29.

Ratchford, B. T. (1975). The new economic theory of consumer behavior: an interpretive essay. Journal of Consumer Research, 2 (2), 65–75.

Schumann, D. W., Haugtvedt, C. P., & Davidson, E. (2008). History of consumer psychology. In Haugtvedt, C. P., Herr, P. M., & Kardes, F. R. eds.  Handbook of consumer psychology (pp. 3-28). New York: Erlbaum.

Simonson, I. (1989). Choice based on reasons: the case of attraction and compromise effects. Journal of Consumer Research, 16 (2), 158–174.

Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2010). Construal-level theory of psychological distance. Psychological Review, 117 (2), 440–463.

Wang, X., Bendle, N. T., Mai, F., & Cotte, J. (2015). The journal of consumer research at 40: a historical analysis. Journal of Consumer Research, 42 (1), 5–18.

Wilkie, W. L., & Moore, E. S. (2003). Scholarly research in marketing: exploring the “4 eras” of thought development. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 22 (2), 116–146.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

Maayan S. Malter, Morris B. Holbrook & Donald R. Lehmann

The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Barbara E. Kahn

Department of Marketing, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

Jeffrey R. Parker

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maayan S. Malter .

Additional information

Publisher’s note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Malter, M.S., Holbrook, M.B., Kahn, B.E. et al. The past, present, and future of consumer research. Mark Lett 31 , 137–149 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-020-09526-8

Download citation

Published : 13 June 2020

Issue Date : September 2020

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-020-09526-8

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Consumer behavior
• Information processing
• Judgement and decision-making
• Consumer culture theory
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts

Collection 

Consumer behaviour

Consumer behaviour refers to how individuals, groups, and organizations select, buy, consume, and dispose of products, services, time, and ideas, to satisfy their needs and desires. This behaviour is pervasive, characterising all societies and cultures. Understanding the factors that influence consumer behaviour is key to business success and can have an impact on a number of disciplines, including economics, marketing, advertising, and psychology.

This Collection welcomes original research articles that investigate psychological approaches to understanding consumer behaviour. Behavioural economics studies investigating the assumptions, preferences, and decision-making behaviour of individuals, as well as neuroeconomics studies investigating the brain mechanisms involved in making economic choices are welcome.

Luca Fraccascia, PhD

Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Isamu Okada, PhD

Soka University, Japan

Riccardo Palumbo, PhD

University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy

• Collection content
• How to submit
• About the Guest Editors
• Collection policies

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

Consumer Psychology Research Paper Topics

This page provides a comprehensive list of consumer psychology research paper topics , curated to engage students in the exploration of how psychological principles influence consumer behavior and decision-making processes. Consumer psychology, an interdisciplinary field that merges psychology with marketing, delves into the motivations, attitudes, and behaviors that drive consumers in the marketplace. Through a wide range of topics, from the impact of advertising on consumer perception to the role of social media in shaping buying habits, this collection aims to equip students with the insights needed to analyze and predict consumer actions. By addressing these diverse areas, students are encouraged to contribute to the evolving understanding of consumer psychology, paving the way for innovative marketing strategies and enhancing consumer satisfaction and engagement. This resource is designed not only to spark academic inquiry but also to provide practical insights applicable in the realms of advertising, product development, and beyond, highlighting the significant impact of psychological principles on the dynamics of consumerism.

100 Consumer Psychology Research Paper Topics

Consumer psychology stands at the confluence of psychology and marketing, offering profound insights into the processes behind consumer purchasing decisions. This dynamic field explores the myriad factors that influence buyers, from the subtle cues in advertising to the broader impacts of cultural trends. Within consumer psychology, research topics span a broad spectrum, touching on every aspect of marketing, advertising, product design, and consumer behavior. These topics not only deepen our understanding of consumer actions and preferences but also inform effective marketing strategies, product developments, and advertising campaigns, reflecting the field’s critical application in real-world marketing scenarios.

Academic Writing, Editing, Proofreading, And Problem Solving Services

Get 10% off with 24start discount code.

• The role of cognitive biases in consumer choices
• Decision fatigue and its impact on purchasing behavior
• The influence of brand storytelling on consumer decisions
• Analysis of consumer heuristics in online shopping
• The effect of mood and emotional state on purchase decisions
• Impulse buying: triggers and marketing strategies
• Consumer decision-making models: A comparative analysis
• The impact of social proof on buying behavior
• Decision-making processes in high-stake purchases
• The role of personal values in consumer choice
• Subliminal messaging and consumer perception
• The effectiveness of fear appeals in advertising
• Humor in advertising and its psychological impact
• The use of nostalgia in marketing campaigns
• Color psychology in advertising design
• Celebrity endorsements and consumer trust
• The psychology of scarcity and limited editions
• Emotional branding and consumer relationships
• Advertising stereotypes and consumer attitudes
• The influence of music in advertising on brand perception
• Psychological factors driving brand loyalty
• The impact of customer service on brand loyalty
• Consumer identity and brand association
• The role of loyalty programs in consumer retention
• Brand switching behavior: Motivators and deterrents
• The effect of brand crises on consumer behavior
• Social identity theory and brand communities
• Cross-cultural differences in brand loyalty
• The psychology of brand evangelism
• Brand authenticity and consumer trust
• The impact of globalization on consumer preferences
• Cross-cultural comparisons of consumer behavior
• Cultural dimensions and marketing strategies
• The influence of tradition on modern purchasing decisions
• Consumer acculturation and brand choices
• The role of language in multicultural marketing
• Cultural trends and their influence on consumer products
• The effect of religious beliefs on consumerism
• Social class and its impact on consumer behavior
• Cultural symbolism in product packaging and design
• The psychology behind social media influencers and consumer trust
• User-generated content and its influence on purchase intent
• The impact of social media on brand perception
• Online reviews and consumer decision-making
• The effects of social media advertising on youth
• Privacy concerns and consumer behavior on social platforms
• Social comparison on social media and its impact on consumption
• Viral marketing campaigns and consumer engagement
• Social media analytics and consumer insights
• The role of social media in shaping consumer expectations
• Comparative effectiveness of emotional vs. rational advertising
• The role of emotional intelligence in consumer persuasion
• Rational appeals in high-involvement product categories
• Crafting emotional narratives for brand loyalty
• Consumer responses to altruistic vs. pragmatic marketing messages
• The psychology of humor in rational advertising
• Emotional contagion in digital marketing
• Rationality in consumer skepticism and advertising literacy
• Emotional branding techniques and consumer resonance
• The balance of emotional and rational messaging in health marketing
• The effect of price anchoring on consumer perception
• Psychological pricing and purchase intention
• The impact of discount strategies on consumer value perception
• Price as an indicator of quality: Consumer beliefs and behaviors
• Dynamic pricing and consumer fairness perceptions
• The influence of pricing on consumer loyalty
• Behavioral economics principles in pricing
• The psychology behind pay-what-you-want pricing models
• Price rounding and consumer spending behavior
• The effect of price transparency on consumer trust
• Consumer perceptions of ethical marketing
• The impact of corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior
• Ethical dilemmas in behavioral targeting and personalization
• Green marketing and eco-friendly consumer behavior
• The psychology of consumer activism and boycotts
• Transparency and ethics in influencer marketing
• Ethical implications of neuromarketing techniques
• Consumer trust in ethical labels and certifications
• The role of ethics in luxury brand consumption
• Ethical consumption in the digital age
• Analyzing consumer trend adoption and diffusion
• The role of trendsetters and early adopters in market dynamics
• Predictive analytics in consumer behavior research
• The impact of technological advancements on consumer trends
• Lifestyle trends and their influence on consumer choices
• The psychology of minimalist consumption
• Consumer behavior in the sharing economy
• Trends in sustainable and ethical consumerism
• The future of retail in digital consumerism
• Predicting consumer behavior shifts post-crisis
• The role of the brain’s reward system in consumer satisfaction
• Neuromarketing and the measurement of consumer emotions
• Decision fatigue and its neural underpinnings
• The neuroscience of brand attachment
• Cognitive dissonance and consumer choice
• The neural correlates of impulse buying
• Sensory marketing and the brain’s perception mechanisms
• The influence of stress on consumer decision-making
• Brain plasticity and consumer learning
• The neural basis of consumer trust and skepticism

The exploration of consumer psychology research paper topics is essential for advancing our understanding of the dynamic relationship between consumers and the marketplace. By delving into these diverse areas, students are not only positioned to contribute valuable insights to the field but also to influence practical marketing strategies and consumer engagement practices. Students are encouraged to select topics that resonate with their interests and ambitions, fostering a deeper comprehension of consumer psychology’s pivotal role in shaping contemporary marketing and advertising landscapes. This endeavor not only enriches academic discourse but also equips students with the knowledge to navigate and influence future trends in consumer behavior.

What is Consumer Psychology

Consumer Psychology as an Interdisciplinary Field

Research in Understanding Consumer Attitudes, Behaviors, and the Psychological Mechanisms Driving Purchasing Decisions

Research in consumer psychology is pivotal for demystifying the complex decision-making processes of consumers. It sheds light on how emotional, social, and cognitive factors intertwine to influence purchasing behavior, providing a foundation for developing more effective marketing strategies. By exploring consumer attitudes and behaviors, researchers can identify patterns and trends that inform product development, pricing strategies, and promotional efforts, ensuring they resonate with the target audience. Moreover, understanding the psychological underpinnings of consumer decisions helps predict market changes and adapt business strategies accordingly, ensuring sustained engagement and satisfaction.

Insights garnered from consumer psychology research are instrumental in crafting marketing messages that strike a chord with consumers. They help brands to tailor their communication strategies to meet the psychological needs of their target audience, fostering a deeper connection and loyalty. Additionally, research into consumer psychology facilitates the customization of products and services to better match consumer preferences, enhancing the overall customer experience. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, the nuanced understanding of consumer psychology that research provides is invaluable for businesses looking to differentiate themselves and captivate their audience.

Diverse Research Topics within Consumer Psychology and Their Relevance to Marketing Strategies and Consumer Engagement

The spectrum of research topics within consumer psychology is broad, touching on various aspects that influence consumer behavior. Topics range from the psychological effects of branding and the role of emotions in consumer decisions to the impact of cultural and social factors on buying behavior. Each research area offers unique insights into how consumers interact with products and brands, informing strategies that can enhance customer engagement and loyalty. For instance, studies on the psychological impact of branding delve into how brand images and identities influence consumer perception and choice, guiding businesses in developing strong, resonant brand personalities.

Research on the role of emotions in consumer decisions reveals how feelings, both positive and negative, can significantly affect the purchasing process. This understanding allows marketers to design campaigns that evoke the desired emotional responses, leading to stronger consumer connections with the brand. Additionally, investigations into the influence of cultural and social factors provide a deeper understanding of consumer diversity, enabling the creation of marketing strategies that are culturally sensitive and inclusive. Through these varied research topics, consumer psychology contributes to the development of marketing approaches that not only attract consumers but also foster lasting relationships with them.

The exploration of consumer psychology topics extends to the digital realm, where studies focus on online consumer behavior, the effectiveness of social media marketing, and the psychology behind e-commerce decisions. These research areas are particularly relevant in today’s technology-driven market, offering insights into how digital platforms can be optimized to improve consumer engagement and conversion rates. By understanding how consumers navigate online spaces and what influences their digital purchasing decisions, businesses can tailor their online presence to better meet consumer needs and expectations.

Recent Advancements in Consumer Psychology Research, Including Digital Marketing, Neuromarketing, and Ethical Consumerism

Recent advancements in consumer psychology research have been transformative, particularly in the domains of digital marketing, neuromarketing, and ethical consumerism. Digital marketing research focuses on understanding consumer behavior in the digital landscape, exploring how online platforms, mobile technologies, and social media influence purchasing decisions. This area of research is critical for businesses looking to optimize their digital marketing strategies to engage the modern consumer effectively.

Neuromarketing represents a cutting-edge intersection of neuroscience and marketing, employing brain imaging and physiological tracking to unveil the subconscious preferences and responses of consumers. By understanding the neural correlates of consumer behavior, neuromarketing offers profound insights into how products, brands, and advertisements can be designed to appeal more deeply to consumers on a subconscious level. This approach promises to revolutionize marketing strategies by providing a more nuanced understanding of consumer reactions.

Ethical consumerism research addresses the growing concern for sustainability, ethical production, and corporate responsibility among consumers. It investigates how ethical considerations influence purchasing behavior and brand loyalty, highlighting the importance of transparency, authenticity, and ethical practices in attracting and retaining conscious consumers. As consumers increasingly prioritize values-aligned purchasing, understanding the psychological drivers behind ethical consumerism becomes crucial for businesses aiming to respond to these market shifts responsibly.

Ethical Considerations in Consumer Psychology Studies

Ethical considerations are paramount in consumer psychology studies, particularly concerning issues of consumer rights, data privacy, and the potential for manipulation through advertising. The ethical collection and use of consumer data are critical, as privacy concerns become increasingly prominent in the digital age. Researchers and marketers must navigate the fine line between personalization and invasion of privacy, ensuring that consumer information is used responsibly and with explicit consent.

The potential for manipulation through advertising raises ethical questions about the impact of marketing practices on consumer autonomy and decision-making. Ethical consumer psychology research strives to understand how to influence consumer behavior positively without resorting to deceptive or manipulative tactics. This involves examining the ethical implications of persuasive techniques and developing guidelines for responsible marketing that respects consumer agency.

Moreover, the focus on consumer rights within consumer psychology research underscores the importance of fairness, transparency, and respect in business-consumer interactions. By advocating for consumer rights and ethical business practices, consumer psychology research contributes to the development of a more ethical marketplace, where consumer trust and loyalty are built on a foundation of integrity and respect.

Future Directions and Emerging Trends in Consumer Psychology

Looking ahead, future directions and emerging trends in consumer psychology research are likely to emphasize sustainability, the role of technology, and adaptations to global market changes. Sustainability has become a significant concern among consumers, prompting research into how environmental and social responsibility influences consumer preferences and brand loyalty. This trend toward sustainable consumerism necessitates a deeper understanding of how to effectively communicate a brand’s commitment to sustainability and how this commitment impacts consumer choice.

The role of technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR), in shaping consumer behavior is another area poised for growth. These technologies offer new ways to enhance the shopping experience, providing personalized recommendations, virtual try-ons, and immersive brand interactions. Research into how these technological innovations affect consumer psychology will be crucial for businesses looking to leverage AI and AR to connect with consumers.

Global market changes, driven by economic shifts, cultural trends, and international trade dynamics, also present new challenges and opportunities for consumer psychology research. Understanding the diverse psychological drivers of consumer behavior across different cultural contexts will be essential for businesses operating in a global marketplace. This includes studying the impact of globalization on consumer identity, preferences, and consumption patterns.

Role of Research in Developing Effective Marketing Strategies and Enhancing Consumer Satisfaction

Research in consumer psychology plays a critical role in shaping effective marketing strategies and enhancing consumer satisfaction. By delving into the psychological underpinnings of consumer behavior, businesses can develop marketing campaigns, products, and services that truly resonate with their target audience. As consumer psychology continues to evolve, its research will remain pivotal in navigating the complexities of consumer behavior, guiding businesses toward practices that not only meet but exceed consumer expectations. In an ever-changing marketplace, the insights provided by consumer psychology research are invaluable, offering a roadmap for businesses aiming to thrive through a deep, empathetic understanding of their consumers. Through continuous exploration and adaptation, research in consumer psychology promises to drive innovation in marketing strategies and foster a marketplace where consumer well-being and satisfaction are paramount.

Custom Writing Services by iResearchNet

iResearchNet prides itself on offering specialized writing services tailored for the dynamic field of consumer psychology. Understanding the complex interplay between consumer behavior and marketing strategies forms the core of our mission, helping students unveil the psychological underpinnings that drive consumer actions. Our expert assistance is designed to bridge the academic and practical realms, enriching students’ research endeavors with depth, clarity, and relevance.

• Expert degree-holding writers : Our team is comprised of professionals with advanced degrees in consumer psychology and related disciplines, ensuring your research is in knowledgeable hands.
• Custom written works : Each project is carefully tailored to meet your specific academic and research requirements, providing a bespoke research experience.
• In-depth research : We dive into the latest consumer psychology studies and findings, enriching your paper with the most current insights.
• Custom formatting : Our writers are adept at all major academic formatting styles, ensuring your paper adheres to the precise standards required.
• Top quality : Commitment to excellence is our hallmark; we strive to deliver scholarly work that surpasses your expectations.
• Customized solutions : Recognizing the uniqueness of each research topic, we provide solutions that are specifically designed to address your research question.
• Flexible pricing : We offer competitive pricing options, mindful of students’ budget constraints, without compromising on quality.
• Short deadlines : Our efficient process and dedicated team can handle urgent deadlines, ensuring timely completion of even the most pressing projects.
• Timely delivery : We understand the importance of deadlines and guarantee the punctual delivery of your research paper.
• 24/7 support : Our support team is always on standby, ready to assist you with any questions or updates you might need.
• Absolute privacy : We maintain a strict privacy policy to protect all your personal and project information.
• Easy order tracking : Our user-friendly platform allows for effortless tracking of your order’s progress.
• Money-back guarantee : Your satisfaction is paramount, and we offer a money-back guarantee if the final product does not meet your standards.

At iResearchNet, we are deeply committed to supporting students in their exploration of consumer psychology. Through our customized, high-quality writing services, we aim to not only enhance your academic achievements but also to enrich your understanding of the critical influences on consumer behavior. Our dedication to providing expert, degree-holding writers, combined with our commitment to quality and student success, makes iResearchNet an invaluable resource for your consumer psychology research paper needs. Let us accompany you on your academic journey, paving the way for profound insights and significant contributions to the field of consumer psychology.

Elevate Your Consumer Psychology Research with iResearchNet!

Step into the realm of consumer psychology with confidence and curiosity, knowing iResearchNet is here to guide and support your academic endeavors. Our expert writing services are specifically designed for students like you, who are eager to dive deep into the intricate world of consumer behavior and its implications on marketing strategies. With iResearchNet, you have a partner committed to enhancing your research quality and enriching your understanding of consumer psychology.

We invite you to take full advantage of the expertise and dedicated support iResearchNet offers for your consumer psychology research paper needs. Our streamlined ordering process ensures that getting started is hassle-free, allowing you to focus more on your research and less on the logistics. Coupled with our flexible pricing, short deadlines, and the absolute privacy of your work, our service is tailored to fit your academic requirements and personal preferences seamlessly.

With iResearchNet, you’re not just submitting another assignment; you’re making a significant stride in your academic journey in consumer psychology. Our comprehensive support, from expert degree-holding writers to 24/7 assistance, is designed to ensure your research journey is both successful and insightful. Embrace this opportunity to elevate your research, contribute valuable insights to the field of consumer psychology, and achieve academic excellence. Start your journey with iResearchNet today and unlock the full potential of your academic endeavors.

ORDER HIGH QUALITY CUSTOM PAPER

• Architecture and Design
• Asian and Pacific Studies
• Business and Economics
• Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Computer Sciences
• Cultural Studies
• Engineering
• General Interest
• Geosciences
• Industrial Chemistry
• Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
• Jewish Studies
• Library and Information Science, Book Studies
• Life Sciences
• Linguistics and Semiotics
• Literary Studies
• Materials Sciences
• Mathematics
• Social Sciences
• Sports and Recreation
• Theology and Religion
• Publish your article
• The role of authors
• Promoting your article
• Abstracting & indexing
• Publishing Ethics
• Why publish with De Gruyter
• How to publish with De Gruyter
• Our book series
• Our subject areas
• Your digital product at De Gruyter
• Contribute to our reference works
• Product information
• Tools & resources
• Product Information
• Promotional Materials
• Orders and Inquiries
• FAQ for Library Suppliers and Book Sellers
• Repository Policy
• Free access policy
• Open Access agreements
• Database portals
• For Authors
• Customer service
• People + Culture
• Journal Management
• How to join us
• Working at De Gruyter
• Mission & Vision
• De Gruyter Foundation
• De Gruyter Ebound
• Our Responsibility
• Partner publishers

Your purchase has been completed. Your documents are now available to view.

Revisiting the Recent History of Consumer Behavior in Marketing Journals: A Topic Modeling Perspective

Through the years, a great deal of research had been dedicated to understanding how consumers think, feel, and behave in the marketplace. From its early development to the present, consumer researchers have adopted different methods and followed different approaches to describe the consumption phenomena. By pursuing a probabilistic approach, the current study aims to provide in-depth insight into consumer behavior research’s evolution and transformation between 1980 and 2020. The results exhibit a strong increase on subjects like consumer trust, self-identity, digital consumption, social media engagement, consumer culture theory, consumer motivation, and brand–consumer relationships. The citation analysis shows the most impactful articles and topics in consumer behavior research. The results indicate that articles on customer service satisfaction, experiential consumption, consumer trust, digital consumption, and social media engagement tend are heavily cited. And to understand each journals contribution an analysis based on citations, journal impact and topical diversity is also included. The study also includes the possible research directions for the future of consumer behavior.

AlSumait, L., P. Wang, C. Domeniconi, and D. Barbara. 2010. “Embedding Semantics in LDA Topic Models.” In Text Mining: Applications and Theory , edited by M. W. Berry, and J. Kogan, 183–204. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. 10.1002/9780470689646.ch10 Search in Google Scholar

Ajzen, I., and M. Fishbein. 1980. Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior . Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall. Search in Google Scholar

Aletras, N., and M. Stevensen. 2013. “Evaluating Topic Coherence Using Distributional Semantics.” In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computational Semantics (IWCS 2013), 13–22. Search in Google Scholar

Arnould, E. J., and C. J. Thompson. 2005. “Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty Years of Research.” Journal of Consumer Research 31 (4): 868–82. 10.1086/426626 Search in Google Scholar

Bauman, A., and R. Bachmann. 2017. “Online Consumer Trust: Trends in Research.” Journal of Technology Management and Innovation 12 (2): 68–79. 10.4067/S0718-27242017000200008 Search in Google Scholar

Belk, R. W. 1984. “Manifesto for a Consumer Behavior of Consumer Behavior.” In Scientific Method in Marketing , edited by P. F. Anderson, and M. J. Ryan. Chicago: American Marketing Association. Search in Google Scholar

Belk, R. W. 1987. “ACR Presidential Address: A Happy Thought.” In Advances in Consumer Research , Vol. 14, edited by M. Wallendorf, and P. Anderson, 1–4. Provo: Association of Consumer Research. Search in Google Scholar

Belk, R. W. 1988. “Possessions and the Extended Self.” Journal of Consumer Research 15 (2): 139–68. 10.1086/209154 Search in Google Scholar

Blei, D. M., A. Y. Ng, and M. I. Jordan. 2003. “Latent Dirichlet Allocation.” Journal of Machine Learning Research 3: 993–1022. Search in Google Scholar

Blei, D. M., and J. D. Lafferty. 2007. “A Correlated Topic Model of Science.” The Annals of Applied Statistics 1 (1): 17–35. 10.1214/07-AOAS114 Search in Google Scholar

Blei, D. M., and J. D. Lafferty. 2009. “Topic Models.” In Text Mining Classification, Clustering, and Applications , edited by A. Srivastava, and M. Shahami, 101–24. Boca Raton: Chapman and Hall/CRC. 10.1201/9781420059458.ch4 Search in Google Scholar

Blei, D. M. 2012. “Probabilistic Topic Models.” Communications of the ACM 55 (4): 77–84. 10.1145/2107736.2107741 Search in Google Scholar

Bradshaw, A., and S. Brown. 2008. “Scholars Who Stare at Goats.” European Journal of Marketing 42 (11/12): 1396–414. 10.1108/03090560810903727 Search in Google Scholar

Buboltz, W.Jr, E. Deemer, and R. Hoffmann. 2010. “Content Analysis of the Journal of Counseling Psychology: Buboltz, Miller, and Williams (1999) 11 Years Later.” Journal of Counseling Psychology 57 (3): 368. 10.1037/a0020028 Search in Google Scholar

Büschken, J., and G. M. Allenby. 2016. “Sentence-based Text Analysis for Customer Reviews.” Marketing Science 35 (6): 953–75. 10.1287/mksc.2016.0993 Search in Google Scholar

Chaiken, S. 1980. “Heuristic versus Systematic Information Process and the Use of Source versus Message Cues in Persuasion.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 39: 752–66. 10.1037/0022-3514.39.5.752 Search in Google Scholar

Chang, J. 2015. lda: Collapsed Gibbs Sampling Method for Topic Models . R package version 1.4.2. Also available at https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/lda/lda.pdf . Search in Google Scholar

Chang, J., S. Gerrish, C. Wang, J. Boyd-Graber, and D. M. Blei. 2009. “Reading Tea Leaves: How Humans Interpret Topic Models.” In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems , 288–96. Vancouver: NeurIPS Proceedings. Search in Google Scholar

Cho, Y.-J., P.-W. Fu, and C.-C. Wu. 2017. “Popular Research Topics in Marketing Journals, 1995-2014.” Journal of Interactive Marketing 40: 52–72. 10.1016/j.intmar.2017.06.003 Search in Google Scholar

Chu, Y., P. Fu, and C. Wu. 2017. “Popular Research Topics in Marketing Journals, 1995-2014.” Journal of Interactive Marketing 40: 52–72. 10.1016/j.intmar.2017.06.003 Search in Google Scholar

Cohen, J. B. 1980. “Promoting Interdisciplinary Consumer Research: Institutional and Discipline-based Criteria and the Faculty Reward Problem.” In Advances in Consumer Research , Vol. 7, edited by J. C. Olson, 46–8. Ann Arbor: Association for Consumer Research. Search in Google Scholar

Cook, D. T. 2008. “The Missing Child in Consumption Theory.” Journal of Consumer Culture 8 (2): 219–43. 10.1177/1469540508090087 Search in Google Scholar

Davis, F. D. 1989. “Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology.” MIS Quarterly 13 (3): 319–40. 10.2307/249008 Search in Google Scholar

Deighton, J. 2007. “From the Editor: The Territory of Consumer Research: Walking the Fences.” Journal of Consumer Research 34 (3): 279–82. 10.1086/522653 Search in Google Scholar

Deerwester, S., S. T. Dumanis, G. W. Furnas, T. K. Landauer, and R. Harshman. 1990. “Indexing by Latent Semantic Analysis.” Journal of the American Society for Information Science 41 (6): 391–407. 10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(199009)41:6<391::AID-ASI1>3.0.CO;2-9 Search in Google Scholar

Feinerer, I., and K. Hornik. 2019. tm:Text Mining Package . R package version 0.7-7. Also available at https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/tm/tm.pdf . Search in Google Scholar

Festinger, L. 1957. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance . Stanford: Stanford University Press. 10.1515/9781503620766 Search in Google Scholar

Feinerer, I. 2008. “An Introduction to Text Mining in R.” R News 8 (2): 19–22. Search in Google Scholar

Fishbein, M. 1967. “A Behavior Theory Approach to the Relations between Beliefs about an Object and the Attitude toward the Object.” In Readings in Attitude Theory and Measurement , edited by M. Fishbein, 389–400. New York: Wiley. 10.1007/978-3-642-51565-1_25 Search in Google Scholar

Fishbein, M., and I. Ajzen. 1975. Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research . Reading: Addison-Wesley. Search in Google Scholar

Fitchett, J.A., G. Patsiaouras, and A. Davies. 2014. “Myth and ideology in consumer culture theory.” Marketing Theory 14 (4): 495–506. 10.1177/1470593114545423 Search in Google Scholar

Folkes, V. S. 2002. “Presidential Address: Is Consumer Behavior Different?” In Advances in Consumer Research , Vol. 29, edited by S. M. Broniarczyk, and K. Nakamoto, 1–4. Valdosta: Association of Consumer Research. Search in Google Scholar

Gijsbrechts, E. 1993. “Prices and Pricing Research in Consumer Marketing: Some Recent Developments.” International Journal of Research in Marketing 10 (2): 115–51. 10.1016/0167-8116(93)90001-F Search in Google Scholar

Gopaldas, A. 2010. “Consumer Culture Theory: Constitution and Production.” In Advances in Consumer Research , Vol. 37, 660–2. Search in Google Scholar

Griffiths, T. L., and M. Steyvers. 2004. “Finding Scientific Topics.” In Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences , Vol. 101(Suppl 1), 5228–35. 10.1073/pnas.0307752101 Search in Google Scholar

Heng, Y., Z. Gao, Y. Jiang, and X. Chen. 2018. “Exploring Hidden Factors behind Online Food Shopping from Amazon Reviews: A Topic Mining Approach.” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 42: 161–8. 10.1016/j.jretconser.2018.02.006 Search in Google Scholar

Hirchman, Elizabeth C. 1986. “Marketing Intellectual Creativity and Consumer Research.” In Advances in Consumer Research , edited by Richard J. Lutz. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research. Search in Google Scholar

Hoffmann, T. 1999. “Probabilistic Latent Semantic Indexing.” In Proceedings of the International ACM SIGIR 1235 Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval, California, USA, 50–7. 10.1145/312624.312649 Search in Google Scholar

Holbrook, M. B. 1985. “Why Business Is Bad for Consumer Research: The Three Bears Revisited.” In Advances in Consumer Research , Vol. 12, edited by M. B. Holbrook, and E. Hirschman, 145–56. Provo: Association for Consumer Research. Search in Google Scholar

Holbrook, M. B., and E. C. Hirschman. 1982. “The Experiential Aspects of Consumption: Consumer Fantasies, Feelings, and Fun.” Journal of Consumer Research 9 (2): 132–40. 10.1086/208906 Search in Google Scholar

Holbrook, M. B., and J. O’shaughnessy. 1988. “On the Scientific Status of Consumer Research and the Need for an Interpretive Approach to Studying Consumption Behavior.” Journal of Consumer Research 15 (3): 398–402. 10.1086/209178 Search in Google Scholar

Huber, J., W. Kamakura, and C. F. Mela. 2014. “A Topical History of JMR.” Journal of Marketing Research 51 (1): 84–91. 10.1509/jmr.51.1.02 Search in Google Scholar

Jacobs, B. J. D., B. Donkers, and D. Fok. 2016. “Model-based Purchase Predictions for Large Assortments.” Marketing Science 35 (3): 389–404. 10.1287/mksc.2016.0985 Search in Google Scholar

Jacoby, J. 1976. “ACR Presidential Address Consumer Research: Telling it like it Is.” In Advances in Consumer Research , Vol. 3, edited by B. b. Anderson, 1–11. Cincinnati: Association for Consumer Research. Search in Google Scholar

Jeong, B., J. Yoon, and J. M. Lee. 2019. “Social Media Mining for Product Planning: A Product Opportunity Mining Approach Based on Topic Modeling and Sentiment Analysis.” International Journal of Information Management 48: 280–290. 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2017.09.009 Search in Google Scholar

Jia, H., S. Zhou, and A. W. Allaway. 2018. “Understanding the Evolution of Consumer Psychology Research: A Bibliometric and Network Analysis.” Journal of Consumer Behaviour 17: 491–502. 10.1002/cb.1734 Search in Google Scholar

Kassarjian, H. H. 1982. “The Development of Consumer Behavior Theory.” In Advances in Consumer Research , Vol. 9, edited by A. Mitchell, 20–2. AnnHarbor: Michigan: Association of Consumer Research. Search in Google Scholar

Keller, P. A. 2009. “Presidential Address: Building Theory and Breaking Boundaries: Welcome to the Real World.” In Advances in Consumer Research , Vol. 36, edited by A. L. McGill, and S. Shavitt, 1–3. Duluth: Association for Consumer Research. Search in Google Scholar

Krawtler, T. 2017. Text Mining with R . Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Search in Google Scholar

Kumar, A., and A. Paul. 2016. Mastering Text Mining with R . Birmingham: Packt Publishing. Search in Google Scholar

Lau, J. H., D. Newman, and T. Baldwin. 2014. “Machine Reading Tea Leaves: Automatically Evaluating Topic Coherence and Topic Model Quality.” In Proceedings of the 14th Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics, EACL-14, 530–9. 10.3115/v1/E14-1056 Search in Google Scholar

Lee, J. M., J. Lee, and K. T. Kim. 2020. “Consumer Financial Wellbeing: Knowledge Is Not Enough.” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 41: 218–28. 10.1007/s10834-019-09649-9 Search in Google Scholar

Lucini, F. R., L. M. Tonetto, F. S. Fogliatto, and M. J. Anzanello. 2020. “Text Mining Approach to Explore Dimensions of Airline Customer Satisfaction Using Online Customer Reviews.” Journal of Air Transport Management 83: 101760. 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2019.101760 Search in Google Scholar

MacInnis, D. J., and V. S. Folkes. 2010. “The Disciplinary Status of Consumer Behavior: A Sociology of Science Perspective on Key Controversies.” Journal of Consumer Research 36 (6): 899–914. 10.1086/644610 Search in Google Scholar

McCracken, G. 1987. “The History of Consumption: A Literature Review and Consumer Guide.” Journal of Consumer Policy 10 (2): 139–66. 10.1007/BF00411633 Search in Google Scholar

Mela, C. F., J. Ross, and Y. Deng. 2013. “A Keyword History of Marketing Science.” Marketing Science 32 (1): 8–18. 10.1287/mksc.1120.0764 Search in Google Scholar

Mimno, D., H. M. Wallach, E. Talley, M. Leenders, and A. McCallum. 2011. “Optimizing Semantic Coherence in Topic Models.” In Proceedings of the Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing, EMNLP’11. Stroudsburg: Association for Computational Linguistics, 262–72. Search in Google Scholar

Mittelstaedt, R. A. 1990. “Economics, Psychology, and the Literature of the Subdiscipline of Consumer Behavior.” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 18 (4): 303–11. 10.1007/BF02723915 Search in Google Scholar

Newman, D., J. Han Lau, K. Grieser, and T. Baldwin. 2010. “Automatic Evaluation of Topic Coherence.” In Human Language Technologies: The 2010 Annual of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics , 100–8. Stroudsburg: Association for Computational Linguistics. Search in Google Scholar

O’Callaghan, D., D. Greene, J. Carthy, and P. Cunningham. 2015. “An Analysis of the Coherence of Descriptors in Topic Modeling.” Expert Systems with Applications 42: 5645–57. 10.1016/j.eswa.2015.02.055 Search in Google Scholar

Ozansoy Çadırcı, T., and A. Sağkaya Güngör. 2021. “26 Years Left Behind: A Historical and Predictive Analysis of Electronic Business Research.” Electronic Commerce Research 21: 223–243, doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-021-09459-y . Search in Google Scholar

Peighambari, K., S. Sattari, A. Kordestani, and P. Oghazi. 2016. “Consumer Behavior Research: a Synthesis of the Recent Literature.” Sage Open 6 (2): 1–9. 10.1177/2158244016645638 Search in Google Scholar

Petty, R. E., and J. T. Cacioppo. 1986. “The Elaboration of Likelihood Model of Persuasion.” In Communication and Persuasion , 1–24. New York: Springer. 10.1007/978-1-4612-4964-1_1 Search in Google Scholar

Rosenberg, M. J. 1956. “Cognitive Structure and Attitudinal Affect.” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 53: 367–72. 10.1037/h0044579 Search in Google Scholar

Röder, M., A. Both, and A. Hinneburg. 2015. “Exploring the Space of Topic Coherence Measures.” In Proceedings of the Eighth ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining, WSDM’15, 399–408. New York: ACM. 10.1145/2684822.2685324 Search in Google Scholar

Rossi, P. E., and G. M. Allenby. 2003. “Bayesian Statistics and Marketing.” Marketing Science 22 (3): 304–328. 10.1002/0470863692 Search in Google Scholar

Sarkar, D. 2008. Lattice: Multivariate Data Visualization with R . New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-75968-5. Also available at http://ımdvr.r-forge.r-project.org . 10.1007/978-0-387-75969-2 Search in Google Scholar

Sheth, J. 2017. “The Future History of Consumer Research: Will the Discipline Rise to the Opportunity?” In Advances of Consumer Research , Vol. 45, edited by A. Gneezy, V. Griskevicious, and P. Williams, 17–20. Duluth: Association of Consumer Research. Search in Google Scholar

Sievert, C., and K. Shirley. 2014. “LDAvis: A Method for Visualizing and Interpreting Topic Models.” In Proceedings of the Workshop on Interactive Language Learning, Visualization, and Inferences, Baltimore, USA, 63–70. Search in Google Scholar

Sievert, C., and K. Shirley. 2016. LDAvis: Interactive Visualization of Topic Models . R package version 0.3.2. Also available at https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/LDAvis/LDAvis.pdf . Search in Google Scholar

Sirgy, M. J. 1981. “Consumer Behavior: Its Scope and Boundary.” In American Psychological Annual Convention , 1–14. Los Angeles: American Psychological Association. Search in Google Scholar

Stenthal, B., and G. Zaltman. 1974. “Broadening the Concept of Consumer Behavior.” In Advances in Consumer Research , Vol. 1, edited by S. Ward, and P. Wright, 488–96. Ann Arbor: Association for Consumer Research. Search in Google Scholar

Sun, L., and Y. Yin. 2017. “Discovering Themes and Trends in Transportation Research Using Topic Modeling.” Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies 77: 49–66. 10.1016/j.trc.2017.01.013 Search in Google Scholar

Toubia, O., G. Iyengar, R. Bunnell, and A. Lemaire. 2019. “Extracting Features of Entertainment Products: A Guided Latent Dirichlet Allocation Approach Informed by the Psychology of Media Consumption.” Journal of Marketing Research 56 (1): 18–36. 10.1177/0022243718820559 Search in Google Scholar

Trusov, M., L. Ma, and Z. Jamal. 2016. “Crumbs of the Cookie: User Profling in Customer-Base Analysis and Behavioral Targeting.” Market Science 35 (3): 405–26. 10.1287/mksc.2015.0956 Search in Google Scholar

Vanhala, M., C. Lu, J. Peltonen, S. Sundqvist, J. Nummenmaa, and K. Järvelin. 2020. “The Usage of Large Data Sets in Online Consumer Behaviour: A Bibliometric and Computational Text-Mining-Driven Analysis of Previous Research.” Journal of Business Research 106: 46–59. 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.09.009 Search in Google Scholar

Wang, X., N. T. Bendle, F. Mai, and J. Cotte. 2015. “The Journal of Consumer Research at 40: A Historical Analysis.” Journal of Consumer Research 42: 5–18. 10.1093/jcr/ucv009 Search in Google Scholar

Zhai, K., J. Boyd-Grabber, N. Asadi, and M. Alkhouja. 2012. “Mr.LDA: A Flexible Large Scale Topic Modeling Package Using Variational Inference in Mapreduce.” In Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on World Wide Web, Lyon, France, 879–88. Search in Google Scholar

Zeithaml, V. A. 1988. “Consumer Perceptions of Price, Quality, and Value: A Means-End Model and Synthesis of Evidence.” Journal of Marketing 52 (3): 2–22. 10.1177/002224298805200302 Search in Google Scholar

Zinkhan, G. M., M. S. Roth, and M. Jane Saxton. 1992. “Knowledge Development and Scientific Status in Consumer-Behavior Research: A Social Exchange Perspective.” Journal of Consumer Research 19 (2): 282–29. 10.1086/209302 Search in Google Scholar

• Supplementary Material

The online version of this article offers supplementary material ( https://doi.org/10.1515/roms-2021-0086 ).

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

• X / Twitter

Supplementary Materials

Please login or register with De Gruyter to order this product.

Journal and Issue

Articles in the same issue.

Top 100 Consumer Behaviour Research Topics [Updated]

Understanding consumer behaviour is crucial for businesses, marketers, and researchers. It helps in crafting strategies to attract and retain customers. In this blog, we’ll explore a range of consumer behaviour research topics. These topics will provide insights into what drives consumer decisions, how preferences change, and the impact of various factors on buying patterns.

Overview: Consumer Behaviour

Consumer behaviour refers to the study of how people make decisions about what to buy, use, and dispose of products and services. It involves understanding the reasons behind these decisions and the factors that influence them. Research in consumer behaviour helps businesses tailor their products and marketing strategies to meet the needs and preferences of their target audience.

Key Concepts in Consumer Behaviour

Before diving into specific research topics, it’s essential to understand some key concepts:

• Psychological Factors: These include perceptions, attitudes, motivations, and beliefs that influence consumer decisions.
• Social Factors: Social influences such as family, friends, and social networks play a significant role in shaping consumer behaviour.
• Economic Factors: Economic conditions and personal financial situations impact purchasing power and consumer choices.

Top 100 Consumer Behaviour Research Topics: Category Wise

Impact of digital marketing.

• Effectiveness of Social Media Advertising : How well do ads on platforms like Instagram and Facebook drive purchases?
• Influence of Influencers : How do endorsements by social media influencers affect buying decisions?
• Role of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) : How does SEO impact consumer choices and brand visibility?
• Comparison of Online vs. Offline Advertising : Which is more effective in reaching target audiences?
• Impact of Personalized Ads : Do personalized advertisements lead to higher conversion rates?

Consumer Buying Patterns

• Impulse Buying Behaviour : What triggers impulse purchases, and how can businesses leverage this?
• Seasonal Buying Trends : How do consumer purchases change during different seasons or holidays?
• Effect of Product Placement : How does the placement of products in stores influence buying decisions?
• Comparison of Brand vs. Generic Products : How do consumers decide between branded and non-branded products?
• Impact of Reviews and Ratings : How do online reviews affect consumer trust and purchasing decisions?

Brand Loyalty and Preferences

• Factors Leading to Brand Loyalty : What keeps consumers coming back to the same brand?
• Impact of Brand Image : How does a company’s image influence consumer choices?
• Role of Customer Service in Building Loyalty : How does customer service affect brand loyalty?
• Influence of Brand Heritage : Does a brand’s history and tradition impact consumer preference?
• Effect of Loyalty Programs : How do rewards and loyalty programs influence repeat purchases?

Consumer Perceptions of Pricing

• Impact of Discounts and Promotions : How do discounts and sales affect consumer behaviour?
• Perceived Value vs. Actual Value : How do consumers perceive value, and does it align with actual value?
• Effect of Dynamic Pricing : How does changing prices based on demand affect consumer purchasing?
• Influence of Price on Quality Perception : Do consumers associate higher prices with better quality?
• Role of Psychological Pricing : How does pricing strategy, like $9.99 instead of $10, influence consumer decisions?

Consumer Behaviour in Different Markets

• Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets : How do buying patterns differ in developing countries?
• Impact of Culture on Consumer Behaviour : How do cultural differences influence purchasing decisions?
• Behaviour of Luxury vs. Budget Consumers : How do luxury shoppers differ from budget-conscious buyers?
• Online Shopping Behaviour vs. In-Store Shopping : What are the differences in consumer behaviour between online and physical stores?
• Impact of Economic Recession on Consumer Behaviour : How do economic downturns affect spending habits?

Technology and Consumer Behaviour

• Effect of Mobile Shopping Apps : How do shopping apps impact consumer buying habits?
• Role of Augmented Reality (AR) in Shopping : How does AR technology influence consumer decisions?
• Impact of Virtual Reality (VR) on Consumer Experience : How does VR change the shopping experience?
• Use of Artificial Intelligence in Personalizing Shopping : How does AI help in customizing offers and recommendations?
• Effect of Chatbots on Customer Service and Satisfaction : How do chatbots impact the consumer experience?

Consumer Behaviour and Social Media

• Impact of User-Generated Content : How do reviews and content created by users affect consumer trust?
• Role of Social Proof in Consumer Decisions : How do social signals like likes and shares influence buying behaviour?
• Effect of Social Media Trends on Consumer Choices : How do viral trends affect consumer purchases?
• Impact of Social Media Challenges and Campaigns : How do marketing campaigns on social media impact consumer behaviour?
• Influence of Social Media Groups and Communities : How do online communities influence purchasing decisions?

Psychological Aspects of Consumer Behaviour

• Role of Emotions in Purchasing Decisions : How do emotions drive consumer behaviour?
• Effect of Cognitive Dissonance on Consumer Satisfaction : How does the conflict between belief and behaviour affect consumer satisfaction?
• Impact of Perceived Risk on Buying Choices : How does the perception of risk influence purchasing decisions?
• Role of Motivation in Consumer Choices : How do different types of motivation affect buying behaviour?
• Effect of Brand Attachment on Loyalty : How does emotional attachment to a brand impact consumer loyalty?

Ethical and Social Issues

• Consumer Behaviour and Environmental Sustainability : How do environmental concerns affect purchasing decisions?
• Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) : How do CSR initiatives influence consumer preferences?
• Role of Fair Trade in Consumer Choices : How does fair trade certification impact buying behaviour?
• Effect of Ethical Branding on Consumer Trust : How do ethical practices influence consumer trust in brands?
• Impact of Product Safety Concerns : How do concerns about product safety affect purchasing decisions?

Demographic Factors

• Impact of Age on Consumer Behaviour : How do purchasing habits vary across different age groups?
• Role of Gender in Buying Patterns : How do gender differences influence consumer choices?
• Effect of Income Level on Spending Behaviour : How does income level impact spending habits?
• Influence of Education on Consumer Preferences : How does education level affect purchasing decisions?
• Impact of Family Life Cycle on Consumer Behaviour : How does the stage of family life (e.g., single, married, with children) affect buying habits?

Consumer Decision-Making Process

• Stages of the Consumer Decision-Making Process : What are the stages consumers go through before making a purchase?
• Influence of Information Search on Purchase Decisions : How does the search for information impact buying choices?
• Role of Alternative Evaluation in Consumer Decisions : How do consumers evaluate different options before making a purchase?
• Impact of Post-Purchase Behaviour on Brand Loyalty : How does the experience after a purchase affect future buying decisions?
• Effect of Cognitive Biases on Consumer Choices : How do biases like confirmation bias influence purchasing decisions?

Consumer Behaviour and Product Innovation

• Impact of New Product Introductions on Consumer Behaviour : How do new products affect buying patterns?
• Role of Product Design in Consumer Attraction : How does product design influence consumer preferences?
• Effect of Product Packaging on Buying Decisions : How does packaging impact consumer choices?
• Influence of Technology Integration in Products : How does the inclusion of technology affect consumer preferences?
• Consumer Reactions to Product Failures : How do consumers respond to product failures or recalls?

Consumer Behaviour in Different Sectors

• Retail Consumer Behaviour : How do consumers behave in retail environments?
• Consumer Behaviour in the Food Industry : What factors influence food purchasing decisions?
• Impact of Online Reviews in the Hospitality Sector : How do reviews affect consumer choices in hotels and restaurants?
• Consumer Behaviour in the Automotive Industry : How do consumers make decisions when buying cars?
• Influence of Subscription Services on Consumer Habits : How do subscription models impact buying behaviour?

Influence of Culture on Consumer Behaviour

• Cultural Differences in Buying Preferences : How do cultural norms affect purchasing decisions?
• Impact of Cultural Festivals on Consumer Behaviour : How do cultural festivals influence buying patterns?
• Role of Tradition in Consumer Choices : How do traditional practices impact consumer preferences?
• Influence of Globalization on Local Consumer Behaviour : How does globalization affect local buying habits?
• Effect of Multicultural Marketing on Consumer Responses : How does marketing to diverse cultures impact consumer behaviour?

Behavioral Economics

• Effect of Behavioral Biases on Consumer Decisions : How do biases like loss aversion impact buying behaviour?
• Role of Nudges in Shaping Consumer Choices : How can subtle changes in choice architecture influence decisions?
• Impact of Mental Accounting on Spending Habits : How does mental accounting affect how consumers allocate their money?
• Influence of Heuristics on Purchase Decisions : How do mental shortcuts like availability heuristic affect consumer choices?
• Effect of Framing on Consumer Perceptions : How does the way information is presented influence buying decisions?

Consumer Behaviour and Market Research

• Use of Big Data in Understanding Consumer Behaviour : How does big data help in understanding consumer behaviour?
• Impact of Data Analytics on Marketing Strategies : How do data analytics influence marketing decisions and strategies? 
• Role of Customer Feedback in Product Development : How does feedback from consumers shape new products and improvements? 
• Effectiveness of Market Segmentation : How does dividing the market into segments help in targeting specific consumer groups?
• Impact of Consumer Behaviour Research on Business Strategies : How do insights from consumer behaviour research affect overall business strategies?

Consumer Behaviour and Advertising

• Effect of Celebrity Endorsements on Consumer Choices : How do endorsements by celebrities influence purchasing decisions?
• Role of Emotional Advertising in Consumer Behaviour : How does emotional content in ads affect consumer responses?
• Impact of Humor in Advertising on Brand Perception : How does humor in ads influence consumer perceptions of a brand?
• Effect of Interactive Advertising on Engagement : How do interactive ads engage consumers and drive behaviour?
• Role of Storytelling in Advertising : How does storytelling in ads impact consumer attitudes and decisions?

Consumer Behaviour and Shopping Experiences

• Impact of In-Store Experience on Purchases : How does the physical shopping environment affect buying behaviour?
• Role of Customer Experience Management in Retail : How does managing the customer experience impact consumer satisfaction?
• Effect of Store Layout on Consumer Spending : How does the arrangement of products in a store influence purchases?
• Influence of Store Ambience on Consumer Mood : How does the atmosphere of a store affect consumer mood and buying decisions?
• Impact of Self-Service Technologies on Shopping Behaviour : How do self-checkout machines and online kiosks influence consumer behaviour?

Consumer Behaviour and Health

• Impact of Health Trends on Food Purchasing : How do health trends like keto or veganism affect food choices?
• Role of Nutritional Information in Consumer Decisions : How does the availability of nutritional information influence food purchases?
• Effect of Health Warnings on Product Labels : How do health warnings on product labels affect buying behaviour?
• Influence of Wellness Trends on Consumer Preferences : How do trends in wellness and fitness impact consumer choices?
• Impact of Health Crises (e.g., Pandemics) on Buying Behaviour : How do health emergencies affect consumer spending and behaviour?

Consumer Behaviour and Environmental Impact

• Impact of Sustainable Products on Consumer Choices : How do eco-friendly products influence purchasing decisions?
• Role of Green Marketing in Shaping Consumer Behaviour : How does marketing focused on environmental benefits affect buying behaviour?
• Effect of Packaging Waste Concerns on Consumer Preferences : How does concern about packaging waste impact purchasing decisions?
• Influence of Corporate Environmental Initiatives on Brand Loyalty : How do a company’s environmental efforts affect consumer loyalty?
• Consumer Attitudes Towards Zero-Waste Products : How do attitudes towards zero-waste and minimalism influence consumer purchases?

Consumer behaviour research provides valuable insights into the factors that drive purchasing decisions and preferences. By exploring various Consumer behaviour research topics, businesses and marketers can better understand their customers, tailor their strategies, and ultimately improve their success. Whether it’s through examining the impact of digital marketing, understanding buying patterns, or analyzing the role of psychological factors, each topic offers a unique perspective on how and why consumers make the choices they do. Continuous research in this field is essential for staying ahead in a dynamic market and meeting the ever-changing needs of consumers.

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Consumer Behavior Research: A Synthesis of the Recent Literature

• Linnaeus University

• Södertörn University
• This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.

Abstract and Figures

Discover the world's research

• 25+ million members
• 160+ million publication pages
• 2.3+ billion citations
• Diego Salazar Duque

• Heni Kuswanti

• Davoud Sadeh
• Kambiz Heidarzadeh
• Kamatchi Iyer

• Sukhdeep Singh
• A. A. Volodin
• IND MARKET MANAG

• J BLACK PSYCHOL

• Leon Caldwell
• Kesi Miller
• Grace Muhammad
• INT J ADVERT

• James G. Helgeson
• E. Alan Kluge
• Cheri Taylor
• Raymond C. Battalio

• Leonard Krasner
• J MARKETING
• Morris B. Holbrook
• Thomas S. Robertson
• Harold H. Kassarjian

• Bong-Hyun Kim

• Recruit researchers
• Join for free
• Login Email Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google Welcome back! Please log in. Email · Hint Tip: Most researchers use their institutional email address as their ResearchGate login Password Forgot password? Keep me logged in Log in or Continue with Google No account? Sign up

The goods on consumer behavior

Research by consumer psychologists aims to promote consumers’ well-being in sustainability, health, and money management

Vol. 52 No. 4

• Applied Psychology
• Marketing and Advertising

People’s decisions about how to spend their money can have a huge impact on their own lives and on the planet. Credit card debt, climate change, plastic pollution, dietary choices—all these and more, to some extent, depend on companies’ decisions about what to sell and consumers’ decisions about what to buy.

That’s why some consumer psychologists and researchers in related fields, like marketing and business, are interested in tackling these social issues through the lens of consumerism. Consumer researchers are working to understand how and why consumers make beneficial choices in areas including sustainability, health, and financial well-being. They’re also studying how to convince companies of the value of improving their supply chains or offering customers healthier, more responsible choices.

“Good, responsible scholars are trying to think about not only what is good for individuals but also what is good for society,” said Lynn Kahle, PhD, a consumer psychologist and director of the sports marketing program at Pace University in New York City.

Sustainable consumption

One big challenge facing society is switching over to a more ecologically sustainable way of life. Making sustainable choices can be a tough sell for consumers, said Katherine White, PhD, a consumer psychologist at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia in Canada. “It’s this really interesting trade-off between some kind of cost to the self in order to do something for others,” White said. (A trade-off not dissimilar to many of the public health interventions enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic.) The potential benefits of individual sustainable behaviors—recycling, choosing reusable goods, installing solar panels, eating less meat—are fuzzy and in the future, White said, and the status quo is largely set up to enable less-sustainable choices. But to tackle problems like climate change and environmental degradation, both systems and individuals will have to change, she said. “It’s probably the most challenging behavior-change question of our time.”

When consumer psychologists first began studying sustainable behavior in the 1970s, their focus was largely on how to identify consumers who were already prone to go green, said Remi Trudel, PhD, an associate professor of marketing at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. Over time, though, researchers have begun to focus on how to influence more people. “The biggest question is, how do we nudge people into behaving more sustainably?” Trudel said.

In a 2019 review, White and her colleagues organized research on the topic into a framework they call SHIFT ( Journal of Marketing , Vol. 83, No. 3, 2019 ). SHIFT stands for social influence, habit formation, individual self, feelings and cognition, and tangibility—each a key factor in whether a consumer makes green (or not-so-green) choices. Social influence is one of the most powerful tools available, White said. For example, a study in California led by New York University Stern School of Business associate professor of marketing Bryan Bollinger, PhD, found that every installation of solar panels on a home in a given ZIP code increased the likelihood of another install by 0.78 percentage points ( Marketing Science , Vol. 31, No. 6, 2012 ).

Habits refer to everyday behaviors, like getting coffee every morning in a disposable cup rather than bringing one’s own mug, White said. Any way to make the greener choice easier can help break unsustainable habits, she said. Individual self refers to what resonates with any given person. It’s relatively easy to connect with individuals who already care about sustainability, White said. But sometimes advertisers, marketers, and companies need to work a little harder to link a person’s preexisting values to sustainability.

For example, religious and cultural values can play a role in how people approach environmental values, said Elizabeth Minton, PhD, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Wyoming. “Western consumers view what’s important as sustaining the family unit, sustaining the community, and sustaining the loved ones,” Minton said. Framing sustainability—protecting the environment—as a way to protect family and community, then, becomes a way for marketers to encourage demand for sustainable products.

Research into feelings and cognition has found complex patterns. Some research suggests that while negative emotions such as guilt can prompt environmentally friendly actions, guilt should be deployed with care. For example, after the United Kingdom instituted a policy of charging a small sum for disposable plastic grocery bags, mass communications researcher Sidharth Muralidharan, PhD, of Southern Methodist University, conducted an online survey that found that women who reported high guilt over forgetting to carry reusable bags were more likely to carry them more consistently, but men with high levels of guilt weren’t, suggesting women were more susceptible to “green guilt” than men. In a follow-up experiment, Muralidharan and his colleagues exposed consumers to guilt-inducing advertisements based around either saving the environment or saving money by carrying reusable bags. They found that the environment-based ads were less effective at inducing guilt than the savings-based ads ( Journal of Advertising Research , Vol. 58, No. 3, 2018 ). In other words, guilt must be directed toward an effective target—which is not always related to sustainability—to work.

Finally, tangibility in the SHIFT framework refers to the need to link an action to real consequences, given that the outcome of any behavior is uncertain, White said. Focusing on the near-term benefits of sustainability, such as preventing current environmental degradation, can help, according to research led by Audhesh Paswan, PhD, a professor of marketing at the University of North Texas ( Journal of Consumer Marketing , Vol. 34, No. 5, 2017 ).

One big question is how younger generations of consumers will approach sustainable consumption. Gen Z—the colloquial term for anyone born between the late 1990s and around 2010—tends to hold consumer brands to high standards, said Brent Coker, PhD, a lecturer in marketing at the University of Melbourne. They’re savvy to marketing strategies and don’t like empty platitudes, he said, which can lead to anger at brands they perceive as doing social (or environmental) harm. However, social media marketing can lead to impulse purchasing in Gen Z, according to research by marketing lecturer Elmira Djafavora, PhD, of Northumbria University Newcastle ( Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services , Vol. 59, 2021), which could feed overconsumption.

Promoting health

Another area where consumers might need to put aside their immediate impulses for long-term benefits is when making health choices. As with sustainability, consumers may well be aware that a choice—such as buying a sugary beverage—isn’t in their ultimate best interest, but still make that choice nonetheless.

“We know that incentives and information don’t always work as well as we would hope them to,” said Leslie John, PhD, who has a doctorate in behavioral decision research and is an associate professor at Harvard Business School. “What I’ve been trying to do is use insights from psychology to make these tools much more effective at actually changing behavior.”

In one study, John and her colleagues explored whether putting warning labels on sugary beverages discourages their purchase. In a real cafeteria setting, the researchers tested three different types of warning labels: One label simply listed the caloric content of the soda. Another read, “Warning: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay.” A third label contained the same text but with accompanying images of an obese abdomen, a person self-injecting insulin, and rotten teeth. The researchers found that only the graphic warnings had a statistically significant impact, reducing the share of sugary beverages purchased from 21.4% to 18.2% ( Psychological Science , Vol. 29, No. 8, 2018 ). At the same time, in a result that could incentivize firms as well as policymakers, the study also showed that the warning labels didn’t reduce drink sales overall, as consumers chose to buy bottled water instead.

“They’re still buying something; they’re just buying something healthier,” John said of the consumers in the study.

Food-labeling research often lands at the intersection of politics and science. Christina Roberto, PhD, the director of the Psychology of Eating and Consumer Health (PEACH) Lab at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, focuses her research on what she calls “strategic science,” which means that she collaborates with policymakers to develop research questions. For example, in 2018, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health approached Roberto for insights on what kind of label they could use to educate consumers about foods high in salt. Roberto and her colleagues tested a variety of label options for the department, including a saltshaker inside a triangle as required on New York City menus, and a traffic light option with red representing high-salt items. The saltshaker performed the worst in tests of consumer understanding of the symbols, while the traffic light was the clearest. Unfortunately, the traffic light was a legal no-go, Roberto said, because the interpretation of which items got the red light could easily be challenged by food companies in court.

The researchers were also able to show in their data that putting text that read “sodium warning” next to the saltshaker symbol significantly boosted consumer understanding of the label. “We basically said, ‘Look, if you have to compromise and you have to use the saltshaker triangle, at least get the words ‘sodium warning’ next to it,’” she said.

That labeling strategy went into effect in September 2019 in Philadelphia restaurant chains with 15 or more locations. Boosting the potential effectiveness of the warning was a win, Roberto said, because if Philadelphia had used New York’s symbol without changes, that symbol likely would have become the standard for any other cities or states planning to institute sodium warning labels. Now, she said, there is an existing label with a stronger evidence base that new cities can choose to adopt in the future.

Money matters

Consumer psychologists are also tackling big-picture issues in the realm of money management, an area of great interest since many Americans are in precarious financial positions. According to a Congressional Research Service report, unemployment was elevated throughout 2020, peaking at 14.8% in April ( Unemployment Rates During the COVID-19 Pandemic: In Brief, 2021 ). Savings rates rose sharply, however, hitting 33% of people’s disposable incomes that same month as Americans halted their spending. As of February 2021, the savings rate had declined to 13.6% ( Bureau of Economic Analysis , 2020 ).

Researchers tackle consumer spending and saving in multiple ways. One strategy is to study what types of spending make people happiest. On that front, the research is clear: Buying experiences generally makes people happier than buying stuff. Experiential consumption also seems to trigger a greater sense of gratitude than material consumption, and it can even make people more generous to others in lab-based economic games, according to research led by psychologist Jesse Walker, PhD, an assistant professor of marketing at The Ohio State University ( Emotion , Vol. 16, No. 8, 2016 ).

“This is kind of cool because it suggests that these social benefits of experiential consumption don’t just apply to the consumers themselves but to those around them as well,” said Amit Kumar, PhD, a psychologist and assistant professor of marketing at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business, who coauthored that research.

Experiential consumption seems to make people happier because it strengthens social ties, Kumar said. People tend to bond over conversations about their trips to Italy more than they do about that new furniture set they bought at Ikea. That’s an important thing to know when weighing how to spend your hard-earned money, Kumar said.

But there can be a dark side to the glow of experiential purchases. People are more willing to go into debt for experiential purchases than for material purchases, according to research by Eesha Sharma, PhD, an associate professor of business administration at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business ( Journal of Consumer Research , Vol. 44, No. 5, 2018 ). This seems to be because experiences are often time-dependent, Sharma said. If you decide to delay the purchase of a dining room table from July until December, it doesn’t feel like you’ve missed out on owning the table. If you delay your summer beach trip from July until December? Well, then you’ve missed summer vacation altogether.

In general, consumers tend to maintain positive illusions about their own money management, said Emily Garbinsky, PhD, a psychologist and assistant professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame. Garbinsky is researching ways to “gently shatter” these illusions at the point at which people make savings decisions, perhaps during the use of banking apps. There is evidence from other research that software nudges can boost real-world savings. For example, a field experiment using TurboTax’s free edition led by Duke University professor of psychology and behavioral economics Dan Ariely, PhD, nudged low- and middle-income tax filers to save a portion of their tax refunds. Compared with a control group that received no messaging, the taxpayers who were presented a message about the importance of emergency savings and given choices of ways to save their refund increased deposits to their savings accounts by 50% ( Behavioral Science & Policy , Vol. 3, No. 2, 2017 ).

Garbinsky’s work also zeroes in on how emotions affect money management decisions. She and her colleagues have found, for example, that couples who share bank accounts are more likely to make utilitarian purchases than hedonic ones, in contrast with couples who keep separate bank accounts ( Journal of Consumer Psychology , Vol. 29, No. 3, 2019 ). These results held in both lab and field experiments, as well as in analyses of real banking transactions. Other research under review suggests that couples who pool finances may have more relationship satisfaction, though the findings are correlational.

Often, consumer researchers study single decisions, such as how much money people save or how much debt they’re willing to take on—but money decisions don’t occur in a vacuum, Sharma said. If you’re borrowing money to save more for retirement, for example, it might look beneficial from a savings perspective but disastrous from a debt perspective.

“It’s really important for future research to look at multiple financial decisions together,” she said. “Research that integrates multiple financial decisions, looks at trade-offs, looks at decisions over time, will lead to a more nuanced and better understanding of these choices.” 

Further reading

Communicating sustainability for the green economy Kahle, L. R., & Gurel-Atay, E. (Eds.), Routledge, 2014

How psychological insights can inform food policies to address unhealthy eating habits Roberto, C. A., American Psychologist , 2020

Sustainable consumer behavior Trudel, R., Consumer Psychology Review , 2019

The elusive green consumer White, K., et al., Harvard Business Review , July/August 2019

Contact APA

You may also like.

120+ Consumer Behavior Research Topics For Students

Consumer behavior is a dynamic and multifaceted field that explores the processes behind individuals’ purchasing decisions. As businesses continue to innovate and adapt to market trends, understanding consumer behavior has become crucial for creating effective marketing strategies.

Table of Contents

Also See: Research Paper Topics For Mca Students

120+ Consumer Behavior Research Topics

This article presents 120 research topics covering various aspects of consumer behavior, including decision-making processes, online shopping habits, brand loyalty, cultural influences, and the impact of emerging technologies. These topics offer opportunities for in-depth research into how consumers interact with products, services, and brands in today’s global marketplace.

Consumer Decision-Making Process

• Factors influencing consumer buying decisions
• The role of emotions in consumer decision-making
• Cognitive biases affecting purchasing decisions
• The impact of brand loyalty on decision-making
• Heuristics in consumer choices
• Decision fatigue and consumer behavior
• The influence of reviews on consumer decisions
• Impact of scarcity on consumer purchasing behavior
• Consumer decision-making in high vs low-involvement products
• Role of product attributes in consumer choices

Consumer Psychology

• How color psychology affects buying behavior
• The role of motivation in consumer behavior
• The impact of trust on purchasing decisions
• Consumer perception of value vs price
• The psychology of impulse buying
• Social proof in consumer psychology
• How consumer mood affects shopping behavior
• The effect of brand identity on consumer perceptions
• Cognitive dissonance and post-purchase behavior
• Psychological ownership and its impact on consumer loyalty

Online Shopping Behavior

• Factors influencing online shopping behavior
• The impact of website design on e-commerce sales
• Role of mobile apps in shaping consumer behavior
• Consumer trust in online vs physical stores
• How online reviews shape buying decisions
• The influence of social media ads on online shopping behavior
• Personalization in e-commerce: Impact on consumer retention
• How free shipping affects online purchasing behavior
• The effect of online payment methods on consumer confidence
• Role of chatbots in improving consumer experience in e-commerce

Also See: Seminar Topics for Youth

Brand Loyalty and Engagement

• Role of customer engagement in building brand loyalty
• How brand communities influence consumer behavior
• Emotional branding and its effect on consumer loyalty
• Role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in brand loyalty
• How influencers affect consumer brand loyalty
• Cross-cultural comparison of brand loyalty behavior
• Brand loyalty in the luxury goods market
• Loyalty programs and consumer retention
• The effect of brand trust on consumer loyalty
• Relationship between customer satisfaction and brand loyalty

Social Media and Consumer Behavior

• How social media influencers affect consumer behavior
• The role of social media platforms in shaping consumer preferences
• User-generated content and its influence on purchasing decisions
• The impact of social media ads on consumer behavior
• Brand interaction on social media and its impact on loyalty
• Social media’s role in shaping consumer perceptions of brands
• The effect of peer recommendations on social media
• Viral marketing and consumer buying behavior
• Influence of Instagram vs Facebook ads on consumer behavior
• Social listening and consumer feedback analysis

Cultural and Social Influences

• The role of culture in shaping consumer behavior
• How social class impacts purchasing decisions
• Peer pressure and its effect on consumer choices
• Cross-cultural differences in consumer behavior
• The influence of family on purchasing behavior
• Social norms and their role in consumption patterns
• Cultural influence on luxury goods consumption
• Gender differences in consumer behavior
• The effect of social identity on brand preferences
• Religion’s role in shaping consumer behavior

Also See: Biotechnology Seminar and Presentation Topics

Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategies

• The impact of advertising on consumer behavior
• Effectiveness of celebrity endorsements on consumer buying patterns
• How storytelling influences consumer decisions
• Cause-related marketing and its effect on consumer behavior
• The role of humor in advertising and its impact on consumer perception
• Fear appeals in advertising: Impact on consumer decisions
• Influence of product placement in movies on consumer behavior
• Comparative advertising and consumer attitudes
• Subliminal messaging in marketing and its influence on behavior
• Impact of green marketing on consumer choices

Technology and Consumer Behavior

• How AI-driven recommendations impact consumer behavior
• The effect of virtual reality (VR) in enhancing consumer experience
• Voice assistants and their role in consumer purchasing behavior
• Impact of augmented reality (AR) on consumer shopping habits
• The role of AI chatbots in customer service and satisfaction
• Smart home devices and consumer purchasing patterns
• Impact of 5G technology on e-commerce behavior
• Technology acceptance model (TAM) and consumer behavior
• The influence of IoT on consumer product interaction
• Digital wallets and their effect on consumer spending

Sustainability and Ethical Consumerism

• The rise of sustainable consumer behavior
• The role of green labeling on consumer purchasing decisions
• Impact of environmental concerns on consumer choices
• Ethical consumption and brand perceptions
• Influence of sustainable packaging on buying behavior
• How fair trade practices impact consumer behavior
• Consumer attitudes towards vegan and cruelty-free products
• Role of sustainability certifications on purchasing decisions
• The influence of ethical fashion on consumer preferences
• Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its effect on ethical consumption

Consumer Behavior Trends and Innovations

• Rise of subscription-based services and consumer behavior
• How COVID-19 has altered consumer behavior
• The effect of product reviews on consumer behavior
• Consumer behavior towards the sharing economy (Uber, Airbnb)
• The influence of the gig economy on spending habits
• Changing consumer behavior in the post-pandemic world
• The role of experiential marketing in shaping consumer decisions
• Emotional connections in digital consumer behavior
• Shifts in consumer behavior due to global economic changes
• Consumer expectations for personalization in the digital age

Also See: English Project Topics for all Classes+ Mini Project

These 120 research topics provide comprehensive insights into consumer behavior, offering valuable opportunities for studying modern purchasing patterns, decision-making processes, and marketing strategies.

Related Posts

310 psychology research topics all school college students, 300+ shodhganga research topics for all subjects and students, 50 corporate law research topics for students, 50 research paper topics for mca students, no comments yet, leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

The PMC website is updating on October 15, 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Int J Environ Res Public Health

Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior toward Green Products: A Systematic Literature Review

Andreea barbu.

1 Faculty of Entrepreneurship, Business Engineering and Management, University Politehnica of Bucharest, RO-060042 Bucharest, Romania

2 Academy of Romanian Scientists, RO-050044 Bucharest, Romania

Ștefan-Alexandru Catană

3 Faculty of Business and Administration, Department of Business Administration, University of Bucharest, RO-030167 Bucharest, Romania

Dana Corina Deselnicu

Lucian-ionel cioca.

4 Faculty of Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Management Department, “Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu, RO-550025 Sibiu, Romania

Alexandra Ioanid

Associated data.

Not applicable.

In the last few decades, humans have consumed more resources than in all of previous history. Hence, we are living in times in which the topic of environmental protection is a global concern. The paper aims to conduct a systematic literature review on consumer behavior, as well as identifying the main factors that interfere with consumer behavior toward green products. A total of 37 studies were found and systematized using inclusion and exclusion criteria. The papers were selected only if they featured research on consumer perceptions of green products. Using this search strategy, a literature analysis was performed based on papers extracted from Web of Science, Emerald Insights, Springer Link, and Science Direct. As a result, various factors that influence consumer behavior toward green products were identified, such as social norms, natural environmental orientation, the company’s perceived green image, green product characteristics, perceived risks and inconvenience of buying green products, perceived benefits of buying green products, institutional trust, sociodemographic characteristics, and consumer confidence. Even though completing a systematic literature review is not something new in academic research, the novelty of this paper is found in its theme: consumer behavior toward green products. Although the analyzed articles highlight quite varied reasons, the articles emphasize that the green products should take into account the needs, expectations, and perceptions of customers.

1. Introduction

In the last few decades, humans have consumed more resources than in all of previous history. Hence, we are living in times in which the topic of environmental protection is a global concern. There are estimations that almost 70% of the planet’s greenhouse gas footprint depends on which products customers choose and whether they use and dispose of them in a sustainable manner [ 1 ]. Thus, consumers are becoming more interested in environmental topics and reflecting their interest in their decision to buy green products [ 2 ]. The United Nations Environment Programme (2011) [ 3 ] has estimated that the green products market doubles annually. Another international study has indicated that 73% of consumers across 60 countries are determined to pay more for sustainable products [ 4 ]. In a survey developed by Harvard Business Review [ 1 ], 65% of the consumers surveyed said they want to buy eco-friendly products, but only 26% of them do so, thus this is a contradictory desire.

The topic of increasing consumer interest in green products has rapidly expanded globally over the last few years [ 5 ]. The global market for green products is estimated at USD 44 trillion, more than half of global GDP [ 6 ]. The global market for low-carbon environmental goods and services is estimated at EUR 4.2 trillion [ 7 ]. Moreover, the global green technology and sustainability market size was valued at USD 11.49 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow to USD 13.76 billion in 2022 [ 8 ]. This phenomenon is facilitated by the COVID-19 pandemic when the heightened attention to hygiene and wellness led to increasing demand for safe products for both consumers’ families and the environment [ 9 ]. In Romania, a European Union country with an emerging economy, 73% of the consumers state that they are willing to pay more for green food grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides, 49% would agree to pay more for renewable energy, and 36% would pay more for products with biodegradable components [ 10 ].

The state-of-art review confirms the absence of a universal, effective, and well-structured definition of a green product [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Although there is no internationally recognized definition, a green product (or ecological product/eco-friendly product/sustainable product) is “a sustainable product designed to minimize its environmental impacts during its whole life-cycle and even after it is of no use” [ 15 ]. In essence, a green product has two main characteristics: reducing waste and maximizing resource efficiency [ 16 ]. The literature analyzed focused on green products from a variety of viewpoints, presenting both their benefits and barriers [ 17 ]. Researchers have linked ecological products with environmental protection [ 18 ], sustainability [ 19 ], reduced wastage during production [ 20 ], social quality [ 21 ], economic benefits [ 22 ], low energy consumption [ 23 ], low emissions [ 24 ], less packaging [ 14 ], etc. However, other authors have revealed the negative aspects of sustainable products as follows: higher price [ 25 ], costly green certifications [ 26 ], and the short durability of the product [ 27 ].

Many researchers have explored consumer behavior toward the green products topic and have presented different viewpoints on this subject. First of all, the green products consumers use contribute to the protection of the environment by consumers’ refusal to buy products that are harmful to the environment [ 28 , 29 ]. Secondly, a green consumer can be defined as an individual who adopts environmentally-friendly behaviors and buys green products rather than standard products [ 30 ]. Thirdly, consumers with environmental awareness are not only interested in the consumption process, but also in the production, the scarcity of consumed resources, and post-use processes of products [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ].

Against this background, this paper seeks to identify and analyze the factors that influence consumer behavior toward green products. To achieve the aims of the paper, the authors employed a systematic literature review. Even though completing a systematic literature review is not something new in academic research, the novelty of this paper is in its theme: consumer behavior toward green products. Although the analyzed articles highlight quite varied reasons, the topic of green products should take into account the needs, expectations, and perceptions of customers. Moreover, to determine the main factors that influence consumer behavior toward green products, the authors of this paper also analyzed if the factors treated by each of the analyzed paper confirmed the existing correlations between these factors and the consumer behavior toward green products.

This paper is structured as follows. Section 2 presents the Materials and Methods. The Results and Discussion are presented in Section 3 and Section 4 , respectively. Section 5 summarizes this study and illustrates the Conclusions, along with their limitations and research perspectives.

2. Materials and Methods

In order to achieve the aims of the paper, the authors carried out a systematic literature review that encompassed several phases ( Figure 1 ), based on the methodology presented by Glogovețan et al. (2022) [ 34 ]. Firstly, the authors of this paper designed the plan for the scientific research by setting the research objectives. Secondly, they defined the conceptual boundaries. The main identified research directions are composed of consumer behavior regarding green products.

Phases of the systematic literature review.

Thirdly, the authors used the inclusion and exclusion criteria reported by [ 34 , 35 ] and they performed a literature analysis through a combination of the following keywords ( Figure 2 ) in several electronic databases such as Web of Science, Science Direct, Springer Link, SAGE, and Emerald Insight.

Keywords used for search strategy.

The initial search generated 119 papers, of which 37 titles fit the considered criteria ( Table 1 ); therefore, they were analyzed further. The articles were evaluated to identify if they deal with consumer perception on green products.

The methodological criteria.

Source: [ 34 , 35 ].

The publications were selected only if they featured research on consumer perceptions regarding green products and were retained for further analysis only if they simultaneously fulfilled the eight methodological criteria ( Table 1 ) proposed by [ 34 ] and [ 35 ]. The final set of articles included in the present systematic literature review consists of 37 publications.

To achieve the goal of this paper, the authors divided the results of their analysis into three sections. The first section presents the methodology used in the reviewed studies and other significant information about the analyzed articles. The second section presents the main factors influencing consumer behavior toward green products observed by the authors in the reviewed studies, while the third part contains a brief analysis of each determined dimension.

3.1. Revision of the Studies

Out of the 37 reviewed articles ( Table 2 ), 5 of them were published in 2022, and 13 were published in 2021, while the rest covered the years 2017–2020. These articles were published in journals with the main focus being on business strategy and the environment (14), sustainability (11), consumer services (5), cleaner production (4), environmental psychology, and public health (3). The majority of the papers presented quantitative studies, with some of them also containing qualitative research.

Basic information of the reviewed articles.

Note: * total number of citations on Google Scholar on 1 August 2022.

Out of the 37 papers, 4 of them presented a literature review about different variables that can influence green product purchasing behavior. Moreover, in these papers, a variety of statistical procedures were used, such as the ANOVA Kruskal–Wallis test, the Mann–Whitney U test, Pearson’s Chi-square test, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin test, personal interview and focus group discussions, multivariate data analysis techniques using structural equation modelling, and multiple regression analyses.

3.2. The Main Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior toward Green Products

The analysis of the reviewed papers revealed a series of factors that can influence consumer behavior toward green products. 111 factors were analyzed, with most of them being quite similar in form and meaning. However, the authors of this paper were able to group these factors according to their form and meaning into eight main categories: social norms, natural environmental orientation, a company’s perceived green image, green product characteristics, perceived risks and inconvenience of buying green products, perceived benefits of buying green products, institutional trust, sociodemographic characteristics, and consumer confidence ( Figure 3 ):

Factors influencing consumer behavior toward green products.

Regarding the results of the analyzed studies, the authors of this paper also analyzed if the factors assessed by each paper confirmed the existing correlations and the buying behavior toward green products. Comments based on these correlations will be made in the following subsections, for each main category of identified factors.

3.3. Social Norms and Consumer Behavior toward Green Products

The reviewed papers highlighted that in the context of green product consumption, social norms describe the way society views environmental issues [ 47 ]. In addition, social norms refer to how people think and act pro-environmentally [ 72 ]. The reviewed studies present the role of social norms in predicting pro-environmental behavior and changing people’s green behaviors [ 41 , 47 , 53 , 62 , 72 ]. The results indicate that people are significantly influenced by society’s actions regarding pro-environmental issues and the way society presents normality in this context.

The factors that were grouped in this category also refer to green product knowledge [ 40 , 50 , 63 , 65 ], natural environmental orientation [ 67 ], green habit [ 67 ], knowledge about environmental damage and pollution [ 71 ], attitudes toward environmental protection [ 71 ], environmental concern habit [ 40 ], environmental consciousness [ 37 , 58 , 61 , 64 ], attitudes toward environmental issues [ 64 ], green trust [ 40 , 50 , 54 , 66 ] green involvement [ 54 ], environmental beliefs [ 59 , 60 ], environmental awareness [ 5 , 50 , 59 ], environmental concerns [ 36 , 58 , 59 ], green attitudes [ 50 , 61 ], drive for environmental responsibility [ 36 , 42 ], perceived ecological value [ 44 ], green practices [ 46 ], green product awareness [ 44 , 45 ], and consumer social responsibility [ 54 ].

All of the identified factors influence consumer behavior toward green products. Thus, to make positive changes in people’s behavior toward green products, it is necessary to make changes at a societal level regarding the attitudes toward environmental issues and also to educate people in this regard.

3.4. A Company’s Perceived Image and Consumer Behavior toward Green Products

Corporate image refers to the overall impressions of the organization’s stakeholders, as well as how stakeholders perceive the firm as a business [ 38 ].

In the last few years, environmental issues such as global warming and environmental damage have represented real concerns for people all over the world [ 73 ]. People have tried to be more responsible with their actions and have attempted to buy environmentally-friendly products [ 74 ]. In this context, companies have been forced to modify their services or products, offering clients solutions that would also meet the environmental protection needs. Thus, they have started to invest in building a strong green image or a green brand for their businesses, and therefore they are trying to influence the consumer behavior of buying green products [ 75 ].

The reviewed papers that addressed this topic also highlighted that a company’s perceived green image is built around several concepts such as eco-certification origin [ 43 ], brand image [ 40 , 48 ], brand love [ 48 ], brand loyalty [ 48 ], brand trust [ 66 ], green brand associations [ 5 ], green brand attitude [ 5 ], green brand knowledge [ 66 ], green communication [ 39 ], social media [ 42 ], and product innovation and segmentation [ 50 ].

However, not all the studies demonstrated that all of these concepts influence consumer behavior toward green products. For example, [ 40 ], as well as [ 69 ], argues that green brand knowledge, environmental knowledge, consumers’ environmental attitudes and green knowledge do not influence attitudes toward using green products, but investing in brand trust and brand image are key actions that influence consumer behavior [ 5 ].

3.5. Green Product Characteristics and Consumer Behavior toward Green Products

It is almost impossible to talk about green products without mentioning their characteristics or attributes. Cheung and To (2019) [ 64 ] found out that green product information can be a key determinant of consumers’ green purchase behavior. Zhang and Dong (2020) [ 55 ] claim that a green product needs to be credible in order to be appreciated by potential buyers, so the eco-label can affect the consumers’ buying behavior [ 55 ]. In addition, besides eco-labels, consumers are taking into account other aspects such as the quality of the green products [ 45 , 51 , 55 , 57 , 70 ] or the awareness about green products [ 44 , 45 , 54 , 55 ], with all of them having a significant impact on consumer behavior toward green products.

After analyzing the selected papers, the authors of this research concluded that consumer behavior toward green products can be influenced by the following product characteristics: price [ 45 , 57 ], quality [ 45 , 51 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 64 , 70 , 71 ], availability [ 45 , 46 , 55 , 68 ], packaging [ 55 ], eco-label [ 45 , 46 , 55 ], material [ 46 ], functional value [ 46 ], and green product information [ 64 ].

The availability of green products is an important factor that can positively influence consumer behavior toward green products [ 45 ]. This factor can also influence the consumers’ buying behavior, because they can choose between different types of green products or different brand names. In addition, the perceived quality of green products can impact consumers’ green purchasing intentions [ 46 , 64 ], with the packaging also playing an important role in influencing the perceived quality of green products [ 45 ].

3.6. Perceived Risks and Inconvenience of Buying Green Products and Consumer Behavior toward Green Products

Perceived risk refers to the subjective evaluation of customers regarding the possible consequences of wrong purchasing decisions [ 70 ], while perceived inconvenience of buying green products refers to aspects such as: the price, difficulty in evaluating them depending on how ecological they are, difficulty in finding green products in regular stores, and additional time and effort to get to the specialized stores where they are marketed [ 60 ].

In their research, Caniëls et al. (2021) [ 60 ] started from the idea that higher perceived inconvenience is associated with a negative attitude towards buying green products. Their paper highlights that green products are more expensive than normal products, they are not easy to find in stores and it is also hard to determine their actual degree of “greenness”. Therefore, consumers need to make an extra effort in order to find green products, to analyze the specifications written on the label and their relevance, and of course, to buy them at a higher price. Furthermore, the analyzed paper also focuses on the relationship between the inconvenience of buying green products, pro-environmental beliefs, and social values. According to the consumers’ pro-environmental beliefs, the green buying behavior of young people who perceive the high inconvenience of buying green products is largely influenced by the social value attached to buying green products [ 60 ]. Moreover, Wasaya et al. (2021) [ 51 ] state that those customers who attach great importance to the environment, who are aware of its problems, have a risk perception in their mind that the product or service they use will not be according to the claims they have made. This situation generates uncertainty and brings negative changes regarding the attitudes of customers regarding the purchase of products or services. Thus, the perceived risk becomes a subjective assessment of potential clients that is associated with the possible consequences of wrong decisions. Regarding the types of perceived risks, Wang (2017) [ 70 ] states that they can refer to product performance, social aspects, psychological aspects, physical aspects, and loss of time.

Regarding this section, by analyzing the selected papers of this study, the authors found out that consumer behavior toward green products can be influenced by the following factors: green perceived risk [ 51 , 70 ], perception of recycled product risk and uncertainty [ 71 ], and perceived inconvenience of buying green products [ 60 ].

Sun et al. (2018) [ 71 ] analyzed the case of recycled products and discovered that the perception of recycled products risk is negatively related to the perception of quality for recycled products and positively to the pro attitude toward environmental protection. Their results showed that concepts such as risk and uncertainty associated with green products negatively influence consumers’ buying behavior. Wasaya et al. (2021) [ 51 ] also highlight that there is a negative and significant relationship between environmental awareness and green perceived risk.

3.7. Perceived Benefits of Buying Green and Consumer Behavior toward Green Products

Regarding the attitude toward eco-social benefits, Cheung and To (2019) [ 64 ] claim that this concept measures the degree to which the potential consumers of green products agree that purchasing those products will bring social benefits and have a positive moral value.

When it comes to the relationship between the benefits of green products and consumer behavior toward green products, the authors of this paper extracted from the selected papers some important factors that can be grouped into a single dimension: attitude toward eco-social benefits [ 64 ], company benefit belief, personal benefit belief [ 47 ], and perceived consumer effectiveness [ 38 , 40 ]

Concern for the environment may lead consumers to maximize the eco-social benefits. Buying eco-friendly products brings them more psychological benefits, and they perceive life improvement through using green products [ 64 ]. In addition, as green products consume less energy, consumers believe that green products can bring even more benefits, while their attitude towards environmental protection will also be improved. Therefore, this study asks how a consumer’s target knowledge (the belief that the consumer will benefit from good quality) and agent knowledge (the belief that the company will benefit from it) are associated with their purchase intentions from companies, following environmentally sound practices.

Besides personal benefit beliefs, company benefit beliefs significantly predicted purchase intentions [ 47 ]. In their research, Ham et al. (2022) claim that the company benefit belief is one of the strongest predictors of purchase intentions across all generations. In the case of the companies that use corporate social responsibility and also green marketing, potential customers are more attracted to buy from them and seem to appreciate their efforts to be eco-friendly. Moreover, if a customer believes that a company implements green practices, he/she is willing to support that company and buy green products from it [ 47 ].

Perceived consumer effectiveness becomes an important predictor of green purchase behavior, with it being even more significant than environmental attitudes alone [ 38 ]. Perceived consumer effectiveness positively influences green purchase behavior and also the company’s perceived green image [ 38 ]. Wang et al. (2019) [ 40 ] highlight the fact that companies should attach environmental protection labels to green product packaging to enhance perceived consumer effectiveness. Thus, by specifying such information on the label, such as resources saved or carbon emissions reduced, companies can encourage consumers to contribute to the protection of the environment by purchasing green products.

3.8. Institutional Trust and Consumer Behavior toward Green Products

Institutional trust refers to trust in institutions, whether we are considering governments or companies. This is an important aspect to be studied in the case of green product buying behavior, mainly when consumers do not have enough knowledge or time to analyze their options regarding green products [ 68 ].

In the papers selected for this study, the authors found that there is a significant relationship between institutional trust and consumer behavior toward green products, with this relationship being mediated by factors such as institutional trust [ 68 ] and government support [ 44 ].

In their paper, Ricci et al. (2018) studied the trust-to-go-green concept and discovered that institutional trust in food supply chain-related actors influences the attitudes of consumers towards green products and also the concern about the environmental and health-related impacts of agricultural practices. Their results indicate that the more consumers trust supply chain-related actors, the more they would be willing to buy green food [ 68 ].

An important role is played by government support, which should act in the sense of promoting a sustainable market, and positively influencing consumer attitudes toward green products [ 76 ]. Al-Kumaim et al. (2021) [ 44 ] analyzed the relationship between government support and purchase intention toward green products purchase behavior. According to them, one of the government’s roles is to provide guiding principles to consumers that can affect their buying attitudes based on the health and safety values of green products. In addition, the government’s policies regarding the environment positively impact consumers’ attitudes toward green products [ 44 , 77 ] the government’s support and institutional trust play an important role in consumer behavior toward green products.

When green companies manage to raise the consumers’ level of trust in institutions, they can also improve the consumers’ probability to choose green products [ 68 ]. Thus, institutional trust can be considered as an important factor that can be used to promote green acquisitions to consumers who are not particularly involved in eco-friendly behavior [ 68 ].

3.9. Sociodemographic Characteristics and Consumer Behavior toward Green Products

Sociodemographic characteristic seems to also be an important factor that can influence consumer behavior regarding green product acquisitions [ 52 , 55 ]. This dimension was represented in the specialty literature by items such as age [ 47 ], gender, education, number of children [ 40 ], place of residence, or financial situation [ 40 , 52 ].

When it comes to the influence of gender on green product acquisition, Witek and Kuźniar (2021) [ 52 ] highlighted the fact that women are more sensitive about environmental issues than men, more interested in health and living in a safe environment, and more interested in buying eco-products than men, even if they need to pay higher prices for green products.

Even if some pieces of research have demonstrated that age does not influence green behaviors [ 36 ], the results obtained by Witek and Kuźniar (2021) [ 52 ] show that the older age the of consumers, the greater the social pressure for purchasing green products, and older consumers expressing green purchase intentions [ 47 ]. Thus, older people seem to be more responsible in addressing environmental problems through actions than the younger generation [ 47 ].

Regarding the impact of education on green product acquisition, there is still room for improvement. The results obtained by Witek and Kuźniar (2021) [ 52 ] did not support the hypothesis according to which education has a positive impact on the consumers’ green purchase intentions, while other studies show the opposite [ 40 , 78 , 79 ].

Income [ 40 ] and personal financial situation are factors that can influence green behavior too, as the personal financial situation highly influences the consumers’ willingness to pay more for green products [ 52 ]. The number of children has an impact on the frequency of green product purchases as well, as mothers are very concerned about their children’s health and safety, which is why they tend to buy more green products [ 52 ].

3.10. Consumer Confidence and Consumer Behavior toward Green Products

Consumer self-confidence is associated with buying intention, as well as green product quality and price perceptions [ 57 ]. Self-confidence is related to a positive experience in supermarkets or other marketplaces [ 76 ].

By analyzing the papers selected for this research, the authors of this paper discovered that some similar concepts that can influence consumer behavior toward green products could be grouped into consumer confidence [ 37 ], consumer protection confidence, and consumer self-confidence [ 57 ].

To predict consumers’ purchase decisions, it is necessary to understand consumer confidence, which is an indicator of customers’ evaluations of the national economy and their financial situation [ 80 ]. In their research, Han et al. (2022) [ 37 ] discussed consumer confidence and its positive relationship with green purchase intention. They found that this relationship is partially mediated by environmental and status consciousness. Moreover, they highlighted that the results of their paper can help retailers in developing better marketing tactics by understanding how consumer confidence fluctuations can influence the major economic growth-driven environmental challenges.

In their paper, D’Souza et al. (2020) [ 57 ] discussed the level of the consumers’ perceived ability to make sound decisions and also the ability to acquire and use information by looking at consumer self-confidence and consumer protection self-confidence.

When it comes to consumer self-confidence, manufacturers, and retailers need to analyze the consumers’ confidence in their ability to obtain and understand green product information, their ability to choose the right product based on that information, their confidence regarding how their choices correspond with their expectations, and how they can improve satisfaction [ 57 ].

Similarly, regarding consumer protection self-confidence, it is important to analyze the marketers’ strategies used to persuade consumers to buy green products and also the level of consumers’ confidence in dealing with these strategies and consumers’ rights. Thus, through their paper, D’Souza et al. (2020) [ 57 ] claim that consumer self-confidence moderates the relationship between the price and the quality of green products in the decision to buy green products, highlighting the fact that consumer protection confidence has no moderating effect on these relationships. In addition, consumer self-confidence can modify consumers’ purchasing intentions.

4. Discussion

This systematic review reveals the most important factors influencing consumer behavior of green products. From the analysis of the selected 37 papers, a series of common characteristics were identified, highlighting various representative factors for this field, even if the methodologies used in these studies were different or the results obtained were somewhat contradictory regarding the relationship between the studied variables. Thus, the most used factors in influencing user behavior toward green products could be grouped into eight distinct categories: social norms, a company’s perceived green image, green product characteristics, perceived risks and inconvenience of buying green products, perceived benefits of buying green products, institutional trust, sociodemographic characteristics, and consumer confidence.

This grouping made by the authors of this paper, as well as the establishment of the eight categories of factors, can be seen as a new contribution to the specialty literature, thus coming in as a gap analysis that has the role of both filtering, extracting, and presenting the most representative factors that influence consumer behavior regarding the purchase of green products.

Although in the past, social norms represented one of the most used factors influencing consumers’ environmental behaviors [ 81 ], this concept is still an important one when it comes to making consumers act pro-environmentally [ 41 , 47 , 53 , 62 , 72 , 82 ]. Letting people know how others act regarding the protection of the environment can be the key to how social norms can influence green buying behavior [ 81 ]. Consumers need to choose products that do not harm the environment and take care of their buying behavior as well. Their attitude towards using and buying green products can influence other members of society, which is why they need to be responsible for their actions. Consumer social responsibility is positively related to green purchasing intention [ 54 ], therefore “people must be aware of their role in reducing ecological issues and respond appropriately” [ 83 ].

Even if the majority of the papers from our study have shown that the subjective norms directly affect consumer behavior toward green products [ 36 , 51 , 54 , 61 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 71 ], there is evidence to support the fact that this factor does not directly impact green purchase intention, but it indirectly relates to future purchase intention [ 38 , 43 , 66 ]. This relationship is mediated by a company’s perceived green image when a green corporate image is a long-term goal for the management. In a competitive market, the green image could play a key role in building a company’s brand, which can differentiate a company’s offerings from competing ones [ 47 ], with the image of a company being valuable for increasing customer satisfaction [ 84 ]. Thus, companies should focus on communication and green marketing techniques which deliver information that influences consumer behavior to be more eco-friendly [ 85 ].

Also, making consumers aware of green product information can be a key determinant of green purchase behavior [ 64 ]. Most of the time, when customers are concerned about the environment and its preservation, they tend to buy green products if these products have eco-certifications or are produced under eco-certification schemes and respect rigorous regulations [ 45 , 46 , 49 , 55 ].

For the potential customers who find the green product characteristics on the eco-labels, the decision to buy the product is easy to make, with this analysis making them pay even higher prices for green products that might cause less harm to the environment [ 64 ]. Thus, if the information regarding green product characteristics convinces consumers that their attributes, designs, and functions are beneficial to them or the environment [ 45 ], people are willing to pay more for that functional value.

When it comes to green product buying behavior, perceived risk is also a factor that should be analyzed [ 51 , 60 , 70 , 71 ]. This perceived risk is consumers’ valuation, which is associated with the possible consequences of wrong decisions [ 86 ]. The analyzed scientific papers of this research topic highlight that risks and uncertainty regarding green products negatively influence potential customers’ buying behavior, with environmental awareness being an important factor that can affect green perceived risk [ 51 ]. Therefore, in order to reduce risks, consumers can use different strategies, such as pre-purchase deliberation, seeking additional information, reliance on brand image, personal recommendations, or the security of warranties [ 70 ].

Also, the perceived benefits of buying green products can influence consumers’ behavior toward green products [ 38 , 40 , 47 , 64 ]. Perceived consumer effectiveness refers to the consumer’s belief that the efforts of his/her actions can make significant differences in solving environmental problems [ 87 ]. Therefore, consumers who think that their choices to buy green products will bring benefits to the environment tend to buy more green products [ 40 ].

Although trust is considered to be an important factor that can influence consumer behavior [ 88 , 89 ], there is still a lot of debate about how institutional trust can affect consumer behavior toward green products, especially when trust levels may be influenced both positively and negatively [ 90 ]. Ricci et al. (2018) [ 68 ] highlight the fact that institutional trust can influence consumer risk perception and attitudes, with the level of trust negatively affecting those variables [ 91 ]. Concerning the relationship between trust and consumer attitudes, several studies have shown that the higher the level of consumer trust, the higher the probability to develop a positive attitude and, thus, choosing products with eco-friendly characteristics [ 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 ].

This research also revealed that sociodemographic characteristics can be important factors that influence consumer behavior toward green products [ 52 , 55 ]. While the results obtained by Witek and Kuźniar (2021) [ 52 ] showed no relationship between the consumers’ education and their buying behavior toward green products, other studies claim the opposite [ 58 , 78 , 79 ]. In addition, sociodemographic characteristics such as gender [ 47 ], age [ 52 ] or personal financial situation [ 47 ] can influence consumer behavior toward green products, while other studies claim they are not important when it comes to the final decision of buying green products [ 63 , 96 , 97 ]. Moreover, our analysis showed that there is a positive relationship between consumer confidence and consumer behavior toward green products [ 37 , 57 ], with this being one of the factors that can significantly influence potential customers’ behavior.

The papers from the specialty literature that separately analyze the interaction between various factors and the attitude of consumers and their behavior regarding the purchase of green products make the mission of researchers, and also merchants, quite difficult in terms of understanding and managing these situations. On one hand, researchers who want to make important contributions to the green products industry should start from a clear set of factors that generally influence the purchase of green products. After understanding these concepts and how they are correlated with the perceptions of potential consumers, they should customize them for specific green product industries and test if the same types of correlations exist in their case. However, if there is not a clear enough basis regarding the main factors from which their analysis must start, then the future results that will be obtained by them could be incomplete or less relevant for all those who want to know more about generic green products. On the other hand, green product traders must research the existing case studies in the specialized literature to analyze the type of variables taken into account for testing the conceptual models presented in the scientific works. They must understand the basic concepts used, check if they all match their types of specialized green products, and if the conclusions and directions formulated by the authors of the papers present information that could be useful to them in the case of the industries in which they are used. The efforts of retailers should first focus on papers that present the basic concepts absolutely necessary in managing the behavior of customers interested in green products, and only then should they focus on specific case studies. Thus, this paper comes as a cornerstone in the green products industry in order to be able to create an overview necessary for both researchers and green product traders in relation to the main factors that can determine the purchase of green products.

5. Conclusions

Considering that in the last few decades humans have consumed more resources than in all of previous history, the topic of environmental protection is a global concern. In this vein, consumers’ interest in green products has witnessed an impressive rise.

From a theoretical point of view, this paper provides valuable new insights into the expansion of the scientific literature on consumer perceptions on green products. In this line, the green products acquisition process should take into account the factors influencing consumer behavior. Moreover, the paper discusses the positive and negative influence of several key factors that influence consumers’ behavior toward green products: social norms, natural environmental orientation, company’s perceived green image, green product characteristics, perceived risks and inconvenience of buying green products, perceived benefits of buying green products, institutional trust, sociodemographic characteristics, and consumer confidence.

From a practical point of view, the topic of green products should take into account the needs, expectations, and perceptions of consumers. Firstly, by taking into consideration all the factors influencing consumer behavior, companies from the ecological sector should design and implement several strategies to target interested consumers. Secondly, government authorities should support and promote a culture of green products. Thirdly, companies should create a good institutional image, highlighting that consumers should choose products that do not harm the environment.

The present study has certain limitations. First of all, considering the research strategy (which takes into account only papers that fit into the mentioned criteria), the authors of this paper may have omitted some pertinent articles. This brings about the possibility that the removed papers include information that could affect our conclusions. Secondly, there is a need for future research related to factors influencing the consumer behavior toward green products, considering the discrepancy between nations or areas. Thirdly, since this study was based on only some of the factors that influence consumer behavior toward green products, future research should be conducted to identify and analyze other important factors.

Funding Statement

The publication of this article has been funded by the University Politehnica of Bucharest (UPB) through the PubArt Programme.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Ș.-A.C. and A.B.; literature review, Ș.-A.C. and A.B.; data curation, Ș.-A.C., A.B., D.C.D., L.-I.C. and A.I.; formal analysis, Ș.-A.C., A.B., D.C.D., L.-I.C. and A.I.; methodology, A.B., D.C.D. and Ș.-A.C.; supervision, L.-I.C. and D.C.D.; writing—original draft, Ș.-A.C. and A.B.; writing—review and editing, Ș.-A.C., A.B., D.C.D., L.-I.C. and A.I. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

115 Innovative Marketing Research Topics and Ideas

Table of Contents

If you are a marketing student, then to obtain graduation, you must work on unique marketing research topics and submit a detailed theses or dissertations. Typically, marketing is a vast field of study that focuses on various activities and strategies that a company takes to promote and sell its products or services to the target customers. The subject also concentrates on comprehending customer needs and strengthening relationships with customers.

Since marketing is a broad discipline, it might be difficult for some students to identify a good topic for marketing research. Therefore, to make the topic selection process easier, in this blog, we have listed 115 outstanding marketing research topics as suggested by experts. Additionally, we have shared certain tactics to identify the right topic for a marketing research paper. Continue reading this blog and get interesting ideas for marketing research.

What are Marketing Research Topics?

Marketing is all about creating an engaging tale for your target audience. It’s how companies explain to clients the benefits of their goods or services to promote and close deals. However, it isn’t simply about selling. Understanding client needs, developing solutions to address them, and fostering connections that lead to devoted customers are all part of marketing.

When it comes to marketing research topics, you will discover a vast variety of options, all of which are equally varied from one another. You might look into the best ways to display your merchandise or investigate the potent internet techniques that can propel your brand to go viral. Alternatively, you may study the psychology of consumer behavior and discover what makes individuals choose to purchase a particular product over another.

Branches of Marketing

Mostly marketing research aims to increase revenue, solve marketing problems, build a brand, earn customer loyalty, and improve the effectiveness of marketing strategies. For your marketing research, you may select any relevant topic from the various marketing branches specified here.

• Content Marketing: This focuses on generating valuable content for customers. Here, you may explore the value of storytelling, how to write appealing blog posts or the efficiency of video marketing.
• Digital Marketing: The main goal of this approach is to contact clients online. Here, you could research email marketing initiatives, search engine optimization, or the efficacy of various digital advertising techniques.
• Strategic Marketing: This focuses on how to plan with a long-term perspective. Strategic marketing primarily deals with developing a distinctive selling concept, market segmentation, and competitive positioning.
• Social Media Marketing: This branch uses social media platforms to interact with clients. Here, marketing topics concentrate on the influencer landscape, the efficacy of user-generated content, or social media’s effect on brand perception.
• Consumer Behavior: This branch is dedicated to figuring out what motivates customers. You could look at patterns in consumer behavior, the psychology of consumer choice, or factors influencing purchasing decisions.

Know How to Select a Marketing Research Topic

The topic you choose will play a major role in the success of your marketing research paper. So, make sure to identify the right topic. If you are clueless about how to choose a good marketing research topic, then follow these steps.

• First, determine the marketing research area that excites you the most. For instance, it may be digital marketing, content marketing, customer behavior, etc.
• In the area of your interest, perform a preliminary search and gather the topics that need more exploration.
• Review the relevant existing literature on all the gathered topics and narrow down the list based on its research scope, current trends, and resource availability.
• Further, refine the list and identify an original topic for marketing research. Note that, the topic you pick should be relevant and feasible to conduct research within the timeframe. Also, it should meet your university’s research standards and allow you to prove your thesis statement with valid evidence.
• Before finalizing the topic, consult with your professors and get their approval or feedback for the topic you have selected. Attending discussions with your professors may help you to improve the quality of your marketing research paper preparation process.

Also Read: 90 Best Social Media Marketing Ideas [2024]

List of the Best Marketing Research Topics and Ideas

If you struggle to identify a great marketing research topic, then take help from the list published below. In the list, we have included 115 innovative topics and ideas to consider for marketing research.

Digital Marketing Research Topics

Digital marketing is the promotion and sale of items or services through digital channels. As this domain grows, it opens up several novel study opportunities. Here, let us look at some interesting digital marketing research ideas to study and write about.

• Examine the impact of data privacy regulations on digital marketing.
• Explain how to calculate ROI in digital marketing.
• Discuss the role of SEO in organic traffic generation.
• Discuss the impact of blockchain technology on consumer trust in digital marketing.
• Examine the future of email promotion in the social media era.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of podcasts as a promotional tool.
• Analyze the impact of 5G technology on digital marketing strategies.
• Suggest the best digital marketing strategy for a new product launch.
• Assess the effectiveness of video content in boosting online engagement.
• Suggest the best digital marketing strategies to reduce cart abandonment rates.
• Write about AI and personalization in digital marketing.
• Examine the impact of the evolution of privacy laws on online data collection.
• Discuss the best digital marketing practices for property agents.
• Explain the role of AI in customer segmentation.

Social Media Marketing Research Topics

In recent times, social media has completely changed the way we engage and communicate with one another. Also, social media has become one of the effective marketing tools to promote products and services. For creating your marketing thesis, you may take into account any of these social media marketing research ideas.

• Suggest the best ways to engage Gen Z through social media marketing.
• Explore the role of TikTok in promoting a business.
• Analyze the popularity of unboxing videos on social media.
• Examine the impact of YouTube influencers on purchase decisions.
• Explore the role of LinkedIn in B2B lead generation.
• Explain how the ‘Shop Now’ feature of Instagram affects consumer behavior.
• Assess the influence of Twitter’s character limit on message effectiveness.
• Explore the impact of ‘Reactions’ on Facebook regarding brand engagement.
• Explain how the ‘Story’ feature of Snapchat is helpful for a business.
• Examine the potential of Pinterest for visual brand storytelling.

Strategic Marketing Research Ideas

Strategic marketing involves analyzing market trends, identifying unique value, and aligning goals for competitive advantage and growth of a brand using several strategies. You may prepare your marketing research paper on any of these strategic marketing topics.

• Discuss the significance of innovation in maintaining a competitive edge.
• Explain how to balance profit margins and customer satisfaction in pricing strategy.
• Examine the effect of poor internal communication on marketing strategy.
• Explore how to navigate the risks of product diversification.
• Examine how to overcome barriers in implementing green business practices.
• Analyze the impact of poor customer service on brand loyalty.
• Examine the challenges involved in setting up a global brand strategy.
• Investigate the impact of supply chain disruptions on product availability.
• How to maintain brand relevance in fast-paced markets.
• Explain how to cope with increased price competition in saturated markets.

Content Marketing Research Topics

Content marketing involves creating, publishing, and distributing content for a certain audience. Also, it deals with sharing stories, delivering useful information, and developing consumer relationships. The following are some content marketing research ideas to get started.

• Explain how to improve email subscription rates using content.
• Explore the role of micro-content in content marketing campaigns.
• Focus on content marketing strategies for lead generation.
• Examine the future of video content marketing.
• Analyze the efficacy of content marketing in a business context.
• Explain how storytelling boosts content marketing success.
• Evaluate the impact of blog posts on SEO.
• Explore the role of memes in content strategy.
• Analyze the influence of whitepapers on decision-making in B2B.
• Explore the trend of episodic content in audience retention.

Neuromarketing Research Topics

Neuromarketing examines how psychological, cognitive, and emotional processes influence consumer behavior. It blends neuroscience and traditional marketing research to gain a better knowledge of decision-making processes. Here are a few fascinating neuromarketing topics to consider for research.

• Assess the effectiveness of humor in ads.
• Suggest the best Neuromarketing strategies for personalized advertising.
• Analyze the influence of colors on consumer decision-making.
• Examine the impact of purchase decisions with visual illusions.
• Explore the role of neurolinguistics in shaping consumer opinions.
• Examine the influence of olfactory cues on product preference.
• Analyze emotional triggers in advertising.
• Explore the role of auditory cues in product preference.
• Analyze the effects of negative emotion on impulsive buying.
• Assess customer responses to sensory branding.

Influencer Marketing Research Paper Topics

Influencer marketing is an evolving marketing discipline that combines social media and advertising. It has plenty of research opportunities. These are some compelling research ideas about marketing and influencers that you may study and write about.

• Examine the correlation between influencer marketing and lifestyle branding.
• Explore the role of AI in managing influencer marketing.
• Compare the effectiveness of micro-influencers and celebrity influencers in social media campaigns.
• Explain how to measure ROI in influencer marketing.
• Explore the role of influencers in promoting sustainable products.
• Explain the role of fashion influencers in creating brand awareness.
• Discuss the impact of influencer gender on audience engagement.
• Review ethics in influencer marketing.
• Explain the impact of micro-influencers on the growth of small businesses.
• Explain how influencers manage the crisis.

B2B Marketing Project Ideas

Business-to-business (B2B) marketing involves selling items or services to other businesses. This discipline covers a variety of subjects linked to marketing research. Here, we have suggested a collection of outstanding B2B marketing ideas for projects.

• Compare B2C and B2B marketing strategies.
• Focus on the best practices in B2B marketing campaigns.
• Examine the efficacy of content marketing in B2B sectors.
• Explain how to overcome challenges in business branding.
• Examine the efficacy of email marketing in business transactions.
• Analyze the necessity of personalization in business marketing.
• Focus on the emerging trends in B2B marketing.
• Take a look at the ethical issues in data collection for business marketing.
• Explore the role of predictive analysis in business marketing.
• Discuss the influence of webinars in business lead generation.

Marketing Research Topics on Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior studies how individuals, communities, and organizations choose, consume, and dispose of goods, services, or ideas. It tries to understand decision-making processes and the factors that influence them. The following are some marketing topics related to consumer behavior on which you may create a research paper.

• Explain the role of AI in predicting consumer behavior.
• Explore the different types of online consumer behavior.
• Suggest the best methods to predict consumer behavior.
• Compare the behavior of consumers in online and offline shopping.
• Explore the role of podcasts in influencing consumer behavior.
• Examine the impact of music in the retail environment on consumer behavior.
• Analyze the influence of economic downturns on consumer behavior.
• Explore the impact of color on consumer perceptions and behavior.
• Analyze the impact of celebrity endorsements on consumer trust.
• Examine the effect of ‘Made Locally’ on consumer choice.

Also Read: 130 Outstanding Marketing Dissertation Topics

International Marketing Research Ideas

The goal of international marketing is to recognize and seize opportunities across borders. It necessitates a more thorough approach to research with an emphasis on political, cultural, and economic events outside of the nation of origin. These are some international marketing research ideas you may explore about.

• Explain how to navigate cultural differences in international marketing.
• Examine the influence of political climate on international marketing decisions.
• Suggest the best International market segmentation and targeting strategies.
• Conduct a cross-cultural analysis of international marketing ethics.
• Compare localization and standardization in global marketing.
• Analyze the growth and challenges of cross-border e-commerce.
• Examine the impact of cultural nuances on advertising strategies.
• Explore the role of social media in global product launches.
• Examine the impact of tariff wars on marketing strategies.
• Explore the role of localization in global branding.

Ethical Marketing Research Paper Topics

Ethical marketing deals with the principles of accountability, justice, and honesty in advertising. Research in this field can produce enlightening results because business ethics are becoming more and more important. You may prepare your marketing research paper on any of these study topics on ethical marketing.

• Explore fairness in competitive marketing practices.
• Discuss ethical implications in children’s advertising.
• Explore the role of ethics in pharmaceutical marketing.
• Examine the human rights issues in marketing.
• Analyze the consequences of false advertising.
• Explore ethical considerations of animal rights and marketing.
• Examine the ethical dimensions of influencer partnership.
• Examine the effect of unethical company behavior on brand attachment.
• Analyze the ethical considerations in AI marketing.
• Examine the influence of ethical claims on consumer perception.

Controversial Marketing Research Questions

For your marketing research, you may also concentrate on any controversial ideas that spark debates and grab the attention of the target audience. Here, we have published a list of controversial marketing research questions to focus on for your study.

• Does native advertising jeopardize journalistic integrity?
• Are privacy concerns causing a fall in targeted advertising?
• Is manipulation a necessary aspect of marketing?
• Has the proliferation of ad-blockers indicated a failure in digital advertising?
• Is using shock methods in advertising going too far?
• Does influencer marketing lead to unreasonable lifestyle expectations?
• Does consumerism cause environmental degradation?
• Where the line should be drawn between fraudulent marketing tactics?
• What are the negative consequences of beauty standards promoted by advertisements?
• What are the ethical dilemmas of data mining in personalized marketing?

Wrapping Up

From the list suggested above, select any topic relevant to your area of interest and prepare a brilliant marketing research paper after an in-depth analysis. The marketing research paper that you compose should be informative to your readers and it should be plagiarism-free and meet your study objectives. In case, you experience difficulties with conducting marketing research, approach us. We have marketing experts as assignment helpers in our team. As per your needs, they will assist you with selecting an optimal marketing research topic, performing analysis, and preparing a comprehensive research paper.

Related Post

Learn How to Write an Argumentative Essay Outline

90 Outstanding Literary Research Topics and Ideas

10 Best Essay Writing Apps for Students [2024]

About author.

Jacob Smith

Jacob Smith guides students with writing research paper topics and theses at greatassignmenthelp.com. Read about the author from this page

https://www.greatassignmenthelp.com/

Comments are closed.

• Featured Posts

190 Unique Bioethics Topics for Academic Writing

200 impressive business essay topics, top 100 java project ideas for beginners and experts, apa vs. mla: know the major differences between the citation styles, get to know claim of fact essay topics and examples, learn how to solve statistics problems easily, 190 best ethical dilemma essay topics, 60 creative color wheel project ideas and activities, learn how to write a personal letter format, struggling with assignments.

Expert Help for Your Academic Success

• DOI: 10.22214/ijraset.2024.62183
• Corpus ID: 269925137

The Impact of Social Media on Consumer Behavior and Purchasing Decisions in the Fashion Industry

• Diwakar Ray Johari , Dr. R. Thanga Prashath
• Published in International Journal for… 31 May 2024

Related Papers

Showing 1 through 3 of 0 Related Papers

• Frontiers in Nutrition
• Food Policy and Economics
• Research Topics

The Taste of the Future: 3D Foods and Health Benefits

Total Downloads

Total Views and Downloads

About this Research Topic

Current State of Research: The advent of 3D food printing technology has introduced new possibilities in the realm of food science and nutrition. This cutting-edge technology allows for the precise creation of food items with specific textures, flavors, and nutritional profiles, opening up a new dimension in culinary innovation and dietary management. Research to date has primarily focused on the engineering and material science aspects of 3D food printing, exploring the potential for customization and fortification of food products. However, the broader implications for health and the consumer experience remain underexplored, necessitating a comprehensive investigation into the health benefits and sensory qualities of 3D-printed foods. Despite the progress in 3D food printing technology, there is a significant gap in understanding the holistic health benefits and sensory experiences associated with 3D-printed foods. Current studies have largely concentrated on the feasibility and technical parameters, with limited research addressing the nutritional quality, bioavailability of nutrients, and long-term health impacts of these foods. Additionally, the sensory aspects such as taste, texture, and overall consumer satisfaction with 3D-printed foods require further exploration to ensure that these innovations are both health-promoting and enjoyable. The integration of 3D food printing into mainstream dietary practices holds considerable potential for enhancing health outcomes and culinary experiences. By enabling the creation of customized, nutrient-dense foods, this technology can address specific dietary needs, improve nutritional intake, and contribute to the management of diet-related health conditions. Furthermore, the ability to tailor sensory properties such as taste and texture can enhance consumer acceptance and adherence to healthy diets. Understanding the health benefits and sensory attributes of 3D-printed foods is crucial for leveraging this technology to promote better health and wellbeing. The Special Research Topic "The Taste of the Future: 3D Foods and Health Benefits" seeks to fill existing gaps and advance our understanding of the nutritional and sensory dimensions of 3D-printed foods. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, this research topic aims to explore the potential health benefits, sensory qualities, and consumer acceptance of 3D-printed foods. This research is pivotal in guiding the development of 3D food printing technology towards applications that enhance health and culinary enjoyment, thereby contributing to improved dietary practices and public health outcomes. We welcome original research articles, reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, perspective papers, and case studies that contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the health benefits and sensory qualities of 3D-printed foods. Suggested themes and sub-topics include, but are not limited to: • Nutritional analysis and health benefits of 3D-printed foods • Bioavailability and efficacy of nutrients in 3D-printed food products • Sensory evaluation of taste, texture, and overall consumer satisfaction with 3D-printed foods • The role of 3D food printing in dietary management and disease prevention • Consumer perception and acceptance of 3D-printed foods • Innovations in 3D food printing materials and techniques for enhanced health benefits • Case studies on the practical applications of 3D food printing in clinical, educational, and commercial settings • Regulatory and policy considerations for the adoption of 3D-printed foods in the market

Keywords : 3D printed food, dietary choices, nutritional quality, acceptance, consumer behavior, customization, health impact

Important Note : All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

Topic Editors

Topic coordinators, submission deadlines.

Participating Journals

Manuscripts can be submitted to this Research Topic via the following journals:

total views

• Demographics

No records found

total views article views downloads topic views

Top countries

Top referring sites, about frontiers research topics.

With their unique mixes of varied contributions from Original Research to Review Articles, Research Topics unify the most influential researchers, the latest key findings and historical advances in a hot research area! Find out more on how to host your own Frontiers Research Topic or contribute to one as an author.