School of Management
Module Handbook
Consumer Behaviour
Table of Contents
1.
General ................................................................................................................................ 1
2.
Overview of Module and Module Descriptor ........................................................................ 1
3.
Assessment Criteria and Marking Guidelines ...................................................................... 3
3.1 Assessment Timetable ................................................................................................ 5
4.
Schedule of Work / Topics ................................................................................................... 6
5.
Communication.................................................................................................................... 7
6.
Support for Your Learning ................................................................................................... 8
6.1 Specific Support Materials for Module ......................................................................... 8
7.
Developing Good Academic Practice .................................................................................. 8
8.
Student Charter ................................................................................................................. 11
9.
Complaints and Appeals .................................................................................................... 11
10. Module Feedback from Previous Students ........................................................................ 11
i
1. General
General guidance and information on the university experience for all students can be found in
the Student Handbook, which is available online via
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/study/new-students/.
2. Overview of Module and Module Descriptor
Introduction
Consumer behaviour is an exciting, dynamic and growing field of marketing. Managers, who
want to satisfy customers and in turn develop and maintain successful organisations, need an
in-depth understanding of their consumers. Consumer behaviour is also of interest to many
groups of people other than business people e.g. city councils, charities and educational
institutions, who all need to understand their customers. This module is an introduction to
understanding how consumers behave and why they behave in the ways that they do. It
includes not only the conscious decision-making of consumers, but also those factors of which
the consumer is normally unconscious, which cause them to buy and consume particular
goods and services and not to buy and consume others.
Objectives
This module introduces consumer behaviour as a discipline. The aim of the module is to
create awareness and understanding of the influences on consumer behaviour and the
process of decision-making and to put these concepts into the context of marketing
management.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module, students should be able to:
1. Explain what consumer behaviour is about and why it is important to the marketing effort
2. Use research activities to analyse behaviour
3. Describe and explain the environmental, cultural and social influences which affect
behaviour
4. Discuss which marketing techniques may be used to influence behaviour
5. Work with others and be able to apply this knowledge to a variety of situations through
discussion and project work.
1
Module Descriptor
Providing Department: School of Management
Module title: CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Module Leader(s): Dr. Rachael
Academic Year: 2013/14
Module Code: MAN0702M
Semester: 1
Module Type: Single
Level: 2
Pre-requisite(s):
MAN0105M Foundations of Marketing
Credit: 10
Co-requisite(s):
MAN0713M Marketing Management &
Strategy
Aims:
To create awareness and understanding of the influences on consumer behaviour and the
process of decision making. To put these concepts into the context of marketing management.
Teaching Strategy:
Lectures will be supplemented by project based tutorial assignments. Feedback will be given
orally in tutorials. Written feedback is given for group assignments.
Study
Hours:
Lect:
12
Sem/
Tut: 6
Lab/
Pract: 0
Directed
Study: 81
Other: 0
Formal
Exams: 1
Total
100
Learning Outcomes: (1) knowledge and understanding, (2) subject-specific skills, (3)
personal transferable skills
On completion of this module students should:
1. Be able to analyse and understand influences on consumer behaviour. Plan marketing
activities in the context of understood behavioural processes and influences;
2. Be able to evaluate marketing activities in behavioural frameworks;
3. Have had the opportunity to develop communication, group dynamics, oral and written
presentation skills.
Mode of Assessment (incl. supplementary assessment):
50% Closed book examination of 1 hour duration; 50% coursework (group assignment of up to
3,000 words or equivalent).
Supplementary assessment: as above to repair deficiencies to original assessment.
Outline Syllabus:
The nature of Consumer Behaviour
Individual and environmental influences on the consumer
Information on behaviour
The process of decision making and consumption
Attitude formation and change
Consumer Behaviour and marketing
2
3. Assessment Criteria and Marking Guidelines
The module is assessed by examination (50%) and by a group assignment (50%).
Key Dates
The examination will be a closed book exam of 1 hour duration in January – date to be
advised.
Coursework assignments must be submitted by 3.00pm, Wednesday 11th December 2013.
You will need to submit an electronic copy and a paper copy, and further information about
submission requirements will be provided to you later in the semester.
Failure to submit without good cause (illness supported by a medical certificate or similar) will
result in a zero mark. The University guidelines regarding submission of coursework
assessment are quite clear. You should also remember that the course leader and tutors may
not grant extensions to any student. This can only be done by your Director of Studies.
Please get in touch with your personal tutor if you are experiencing any problems.
Group Assignment
For the coursework element of this module you are required to produce a 3,000 word group
essay.
Further information about this assignment will provided to you in week 3.
Examination
The exam will include one ‘short answer’ question and one question that requires an essay
style answer. It will test students’ understanding of customer behaviour and will cover the
whole syllabus, including material covered in tutorials. Therefore, you are strongly advised to
revise all of the topics.
Support Arrangements/Supplementary Assessment
Students can see the module leader without an appointment during the weekly office hour (the
details will be provided during the first lecture). Outside this time the module leader can be
contacted by email (r.maxwell@bradford.ac.uk). Time will be made available during tutorials
and lectures (as appropriate) to ask questions about assessment. A revision lecture and
tutorial will be held towards the end of the course.
Supplementary assessment details, if needed, will be posted on Blackboard at the start of the
supplementary assessment period. Students can contact the module leader via email over the
supplementary assessment period to ask specific questions about re-assessment, as
appropriate.
3
COURSEWORK SUBMISSION
A hard (paper) copy must be handed in by the deadline specified in the module handbook.
This will have to be submitted via the appropriate programme post-box in the Titus Salt
Building at the School of Management. Students will also need to attach a statement of
authenticity and declare a word count.
In addition you must also submit your assignment electronically through Turnitin in Blackboard.
Both electronic and hard copy must be provided and both submissions must be identical;
failure to provide either submission will be considered non-submission.
To submit an assignment electronically via the module Blackboard site, open Blackboard and
go to the relevant module site, then go to ‘Assessment’ → ‘Assignment Submission’. You
should then see a link entitled: ‘View/Complete’. Click on this link. You will then be taken to a
submission page. The First and Last name boxes are automatically filled. Check that your
details are correct. In the submission title box provide the title for your submission. This
should be the module title and your UB number e.g. ‘Marketing 10001234’. Do not include your
name in the title.
Click the Browse menu item to upload your file. Please note that you can only upload one file
so this must contain all parts of your assignment, including any appendices and supporting
documents. Navigate to your file and click Open.
Click Upload. Wait while your file is uploaded to the server (please note that there is a 10MB
file size limit). The next page gives you the opportunity to review your submission. At this
point you have not submitted and can return to the submission page to start again if you so
wish. If you are happy with that this is the correct paper and want to continue to submit, scroll
to the bottom of the page and click Submit. Please note that if you are uploading from offsite it
can take a long time (45 minutes plus at busy times) and you should allow sufficient time and
ensure a suitably robust internet connection to ensure that this upload is effective.
You will then be emailed a receipt to your university email address which will include your
assignment identification reference.
Your electronic submission will be used to check your assignment for plagiarism. You will be
allowed to submit your assignment twice. On the first submission you will be able to access the
Turnitin report for your submission. This will include details of any potential plagiarism (in the
form of a similarity index) and you are strongly encouraged to review this prior to your final
submission and ensure that your work is free of potential plagiarism. This is more than
ensuring a low similarity index; it is about good referencing and citation practice and you
should have, through induction and subsequently, accessed advice and guidance on
understanding and avoiding plagiarism and ensuring effective referencing. IF you chose not to
resubmit then you first electronic submission will count, but this must be identical to the hard
copy also submitted.
The Effective Learning Service at the School of Management and the Learner Development
Unit at the University provide guidance and advice for students in this regard. If you are in any
doubt about potential plagiarism you are strongly encouraged to access this support prior to
finalizing your submission.
Your second submission will be your final electronic submission and you are therefore strongly
encouraged to ensure this is the final and best version of your assignment. When resubmitting
make sure that you fill in exactly the same submission data to ensure that your previous
submission is overwritten.
4
It is your responsibility to ensure that submission requirements are complied with fully and that
all accurate identification information is submitted. Academic and Administrative staff will not
try and match up missing information and if identification data is missing a mark will obviously
not be recorded.
For further information on how to submit your assignments using Turnitin go to the ‘How To’
section of Blackboard (Under ‘My Organizations’) and review the materials: ‘How to Submit an
Assignment Electronically’
ASSESSMENT TARIFFS
Formal Examinations
Type of Module
10 Credit
10 Credit
10 Credit
20 Credit
20 Credit
20 Credit
Proportion of Total
Module Assessment
100%
70%
50%
100%
70%
50%
Upper Limit
2 hours
1.5 hours
1.5 hours
3 hours
2 hours
1.5 hours
Assessed Coursework
Type of Module
10 Credit
10 Credit
10 Credit
10 Credit
20 Credit
20 Credit
20 Credit
20 Credit
3.1
Proportion of Total
Module Assessment
Upper Word Limit
(or equivalent)
Ind
2,000
1,500
1,000
1,000
4,000
2,500
2,000
2,000
100%
70%
50%
30%
100%
70%
50%
30%
Group
5,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
10,000
7,000
6,000
5,000
Assessment Timetable
The examination period for Semester 1 modules is between 6 – 17th January 2014. The exact
date of the exam will be published in the exam timetable.
The deadline for the group coursework assignment is Wednesday 11th December before 3pm.
5
4. Schedule of Work / Topics
Week
Date
Lecture
Chapter
2
26th
September
Introduction to Consumer Behaviour
1
3
3rd October
Consumer decision making
3
4
10th October
Perception and attention
6
5
17th October
Attitudes and persuasion
Solomon (2010); Chapter 7*
6
24th October
Affect and motivation
8
7
31st October
Learning and Memory
9
8
7th November
Personality and the self-concept
11
9
14th
November
The role of values and culture
12
10
21st
November
Consumer Meaning
Arnould, Price and Zinkhan
(2004); Chapter 4*
11
28th
November
Persuasion through social
influence
13
12
5th December
Disposition, Recycling & Reuse
Solomon (2010); Chapter 9*
13
12th
December
Review and revision
*Readings from Arnould, Price, and Zinkhan (2004) and from Solomon (2010) will be available
on Blackboard at least one week in advance
6
5. Communication
Module Leader(s):
Email:
Dr. Rachael Maxwell
r.maxwell@bradford.ac.uk
Office: Cartwright Building 0.27
Telephone: 23 5695
Blackboard
To access course materials:
• Go to: http://blackboard.brad.ac.uk
• Login using your University of Bradford username and password.
• Click "Login"
You will then see the modules which you are enrolled on and any announcements
relating to those modules.
•
•
To access a module, click on its title.
To access different areas of module content use the links on the left hand
side.
•
To download files from Blackboard to your PC:
• Right click on the link to the file you wish to save
• Select 'Save Target As..."
• Choose where you want to save the file and click Save
•
To print from Blackboard:
•
•
Open the file in Blackboard
Click on the Office Button and select Print
The print options for the appropriate application (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Acrobat) will
appear
• Select your preferred print options
OR Click on the printer icon in the quick access toolbar.
For more detailed documentation see:
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/acad/manaqement/external/resourcesblackboard.php
7
6. Support for Your Learning
General guidance on the support available can be found in the Student Handbook, which is
available online via http://www.bradford.ac.uk/study/new-students/ and at
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/lss/.
This module is taught via a series of lectures and tutorials. In addition to lectures and tutorials,
students are expected to have read the chapters from the required text. Students should take
advantage of the smaller group size of tutorials by preparing material beforehand and coming
to class prepared to participate and discuss. Tutorials are an integral part of the module and
material covered in tutorials will contribute to internal assessment marks and is also
examinable.
Tutorials will be related to the lecture topics and there will be exercises set for each tutorial.
Every student is expected to prepare each tutorial topic in advance and to fully participate in
the tutorials. Tutorial activities, including details of what you need to prepare for each tutorial,
will be posted on Blackboard.
Your tutors are here to help you, to facilitate your learning and guide you towards a positive
outcome from this course. Please ensure that you attend tutorials regularly and promptly, as
they are valuable to you and your peers. Group work forms a fundamental part of many of the
modules you will undertake at university, so it is important that you learn to work together.
6.1
Specific Support Materials for Module
Module Text (Essential): Kardes, Cline and Cronley (2011) Consumer Behaviour:
Science and Practice (International Edition). Southwestern, Cengage Learning.
Publications (Highly Recommended): Marketing, Marketing Week, Campaign, Journal of
Consumer Research. All these and other relevant publications are available in the library.
All students are advised to read at least one quality daily paper. The Guardian has a media
section on Monday, the Telegraph on Tuesday etc. Try to pick up on items in the news that
relate to consumer issues generally.
7. Developing Good Academic Practice
Referencing
The requirement stated below for work supported by evidence from, and analysis of,
appropriate theory and literature requires that your essay be referenced throughout and that it
concludes with a reference section indicating the sources you have used.
Failure to include references will result in a fail mark.
You must use the Harvard Referencing System. This requires a citation (partial reference)
within the text and a list of full references at the end of the assignment.
Harvard is an Author Date system. So the citation shows the name of the author(s) followed
by the year of publication, for example:
Blundel and Ippolito (2008) suggest that cultural diversity is a valuable feature of society.
8
Or
Cultural diversity can create barriers to effective communication (Blundel and Ippolito 2008).
Direct quotations should be kept to a minimum (see guidance on plagiarism below), but if
used, these should be contained within quotation marks, and the page reference of the quote
should also be given, along with the author name and date:
“A failure to deal appropriately with cultural differences can also lead to disastrous outcomes
for individuals and organisations” (Blundel and Ippolito 2008, p.41).
It is crucial that you produce your full reference list according to the guidance provided in the
Effective Learning Service References and Bibliographies Booklet. This shows examples of all
the typical sources of your reading that you will want to list, e.g. books, journals, websites etc.
(http://www.bradford.ac.uk/management/media/Management/els/References-andBibliographies.pdf)
Plagiarism
You may be tempted to hand in essays, projects or other pieces of assessed coursework
containing work that you know are not completely your own, hoping that the tutor won’t notice.
This may be for several reasons such as shortage of time, hoping for a better grade than
would be achievable under a particular set of circumstances or perhaps even lack of
knowledge regarding how to correctly reference the sources of data used. This is plagiarism –
it is a matter that the University takes very seriously indeed - and it usually takes one of four
forms.
(a) Copying chunks of text from books, dissertations, journals or the web without
acknowledgement. (It is permissible, even desirable, to quote extensively from the work of
other writers on your subject, but all quotations should be fully referenced).
(b) Paraphrasing ideas from texts without stating their origin. (Instead, use phrases such as
“According to Jobber (1995).” or “Wright & Taylor (1994) propose that ..” or similar
acknowledgement).
(c) Colluding with other students and submitting identical or near identical work.
(d) Copying the work of another student without that student’s consent.
University regulations state: “A dissertation, thesis, essay, project or any other work which is
not undertaken in an examination room under supervision but which is submitted by a student
for formal assessment during his/her course of study must be written by the candidate
him/herself and in his/her own words, except for quotations from published and unpublished
sources which shall be clearly indicated and acknowledged as such. ..... The incorporation of
material from other works or a paraphrase of such material without acknowledgement will be
treated as plagiarism subject to the custom and usage of the subject ... Where an examiner
identifies a failure to comply fully with the foregoing this will be regarded as a suspected
breach of Regulations by the student concerned and will be the subject of investigation.”
For more information on the regulations, policies and penalties associated with plagiarism see
http://www.brad.ac.uk/admin/acsec/BreachesAppealsComplaints/index.html
9
The Effective Learning service offers advice and guidance on correct referencing – see
http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/management/external/page.php?section=resources&page=resour
cesels
For an online tutorial about plagiarism and correct referencing see
http://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/TLTC/learnhigher/Plagiarism/
The Library has information about plagiarism, and how to avoid it:
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/library/help/plagiarism/.
All new students to the University of Bradford, i.e. first year students, direct entry students into
other years, and Masters students (including international MBA and MSc students), must
complete the online “Plagiarism Avoidance for New Students” course (“PANS”).
Please note:

You must complete the Plagiarism Avoidance course before you submit your first piece
of assessed work. If you are a Stage 2 or Stage 3 student and have not yet done the
PANS, please ensure that you complete this short course as soon as possible.

You will find the Plagiarism Avoidance course in your school induction module within
Blackboard, under "My organisations". The course is entirely online and consists of
five eTutorials followed by a short diagnostic test. The answers to all the test questions
are contained within the tutorials. The course introduces you to concepts about
plagiarism and aims to prevent you contravening University regulations concerning
plagiarism.

Please note that the test is intended to diagnose your understanding of plagiarism for it
is absolutely essential to good academic writing that you understand how to avoid
plagiarism. You have only ONE attempt to do the diagnostic test. If you do not achieve
the 70% pass mark, you will be referred to a member of academic staff (usually your
personal tutor) for further help and guidance.
For more information on the University’s efforts to ensure that students do not commit
plagiarism, please see the following article:

George, S., Costigan, A. and O’Hara, M. (2013) Placing the library at the heart of
plagiarism prevention: the University of Bradford experience. New Review of Academic
Librarianship, vol.19, no.2, pp.141-160. Available via Bradford Scholars (the University’s
online research depository) at: http://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/handle/10454/5616
10
8. Student Charter
Our Student Charter is intended to set out the minimum procedural expectations relating to the
student experience for both staff and students. Your active involvement with staff in your
learning, in School-level activities, in institutional processes and with the Students’ Union is
absolutely key to fostering a sense of collegiate community. You engage with us as partners
and as such, both staff and students have expectations and obligations with regards to the
processes in which they engage.
You can find our Student Charter at http://www.bradford.ac.uk/student-charter/.
9. Complaints and Appeals
For information regarding making complaints or appeals please visit
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/legal-and-governance/breaches-appeals-complaints/.
10. Module Feedback from Previous Students
This module has typically scored in the mid 4’s on the Student Module Evaluations over the
last few years. Last year the module scored slightly lower, and I have therefore made some
changes that I will hope will make the module interesting and worthwhile for you.
11