Week 3 Learning activity 2.1
Theories of marketing decision-making
ILO #4 of our module draws our attention to marketing decision-making.
Module Specific Skills
1
Demonstrate the ability to plan and implement quantitative and qualitative research for marketing.
2
Demonstrate knowledge and skills of analysing and interpreting consumer and market data.
Discipline-Specific Skills
3
Demonstrate knowledge of literature and concepts in consumer and market research and related
fields.
4
Demonstrate an understanding of the interactions between consumer research and marketing
decision making.
Personal and Key Skills
5
Develop communication skills, including negotiation, argumentation, and written presentation.
6
Develop key practical skills in research planning, implementation and analysis.
7
Apply technological tools to strategically source, process, and communicate consumer and market
data.
Fig 1 - the module ILOs
There is a whole branch of social science that examines decision-making - the encyclopedia.com
article on Decision-Making Theory and Research (2021) provides a useful overview of the range of
theories that have been applied to both individual and group decision-making (you don’t need to
read all of that article, but it is useful just to read the introduction and scroll down to scan the
subtitles - you will most likely recognise some of the theories from your previous studies).
Consumer decision-making
In marketing studies, decision-making can refer to models of consumer decision making. The basis
for many of the consumer decision-making process models that we now use is the Engel-BlackwellMiniard Consumer Decision Model (Engel, Kollat and Blackwell, 1968).
We can simplify this down to five main Decision Process steps:
▪ problem/need recognition
▪ information search
▪ evaluation of alternatives
▪ purchase decision
▪ post-purchase evaluation
In Chapter 5 of Armstrong et al. (2019) - Consumer and business buyer behaviour - the authors
introduce Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying Behaviour as follows (pp. 167-168):
Following that, Armstrong et al. devote pp. 168-182 to an in-depth examination the various cultural,
social and psychological factors that influence people’s consumer decision-making.
You should begin reading again from p. 182 with “The Buyer Decision Process”, stopping before
“Business Markets And Business Buyer Behaviour” at the end of p. 190.
Note Figure 5.4 on p. 182 - this is essentially the same model that I mentioned in the Theory and
how to use it video in the Our Focus On Assessment section of the Week 1 learning materials.
The original Engel-Blackwell-Miniard model was a bit more complex! I’ve copied it in the figure
below (Source: Loudon & Della Bitta, 2002; cited in Gupta & Gulati, 2014, p. 37). You don’t need to
learn this! I just wanted you to see the original model.
Now perform the Making Connections task from p. 190 of Armstrong et al.:
“Think about a specific major purchase you’ve made recently. What buying process did you
follow? What major factors influenced your decision?”
Marketing decision-making by firms
The concept of decision-making also refers to the ways in which consumer research can support
firms' marketing-related decision-making processes - e.g. how to promote a product, or what
product design changes to make. (Burns et al., 2017, p. 78) discuss this aspect of marketing
decision-making in terms of how marketers can respond to the symptoms of a marketing problem.
In another of our module text books, Armstrong et al. (2019, p. xiv) write:
Measuring and managing return on marketing
Marketing managers must ensure that their marketing budget is being well spent. In the past,
many marketers spent freely, often without sufficient care in respect of the financial returns on
their spending. That attitude belongs to the past. Measuring and managing return on marketing
investments has become an important part of strategic marketing decision making.
Thinking ahead to the Term 2 of this module, we should also note that qualitative consumer
research can also play a role in supporting firms’ marketing decision-making. Saunders et al. (2016,
p. 190) for example discuss the role of ethnographic consumer research in supporting firms’
marketing decision-making.
To complete this learning activity, you should now (selectively) read Chapter 1 of Wierenga and van
der Lans (2017) - specifically, you should:
•
•
•
read the introductory section (1.1)
scan Section 1.2 looking at the chapter titles in italics - this will very quickly give you an
appreciation of the wide range of marketing areas and issues that are addressed by
marketing decision-making models
finally, read Section 1.3, which provides an excellent but succinct overview of the ways in
which marketing decision-making models have been applied to support firms’ choices in
marketing strategy and activities
To conclude this learning activity, I want to remind you that models are theoretical constructs,
designed to help us understand complex realities. I also want to explain how, in the social sciences,
we talk about how models can be ‘operationalised’ - that is, put into practice. We put the models
‘into practice’ - or rather, we operationalise the models, by findings ways to collect data that will
meaningfully represent the various components of the model and allow us to test the various
tenets1 of the respective model.
List of references
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2019). Marketing: an introduction (4th ed.).
Pearson Education. http://encore.exeter.ac.uk/iii/encore/record/C__Rb4124253
Burns, A. C., Veeck, A., & Bush, R. F. (2017). Marketing research. Pearson Education.
https://encore.exeter.ac.uk/iii/encore/record/C__Rb3522699
"Decision-Making Theory and Research ." Encyclopedia of Sociology. . Retrieved September 22, 2021
from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacstranscripts-and-maps/decision-making-theory-and-research
Gupta, O., & Gulati, G. (2014). Is Engel-Blackwell Model Applicable on Indian Online Shoppers? IPE
Journal of Management, 4(1), 33-52.
Loudon, D. L., & Della Bitta, A. J. (2002). Consumer Behavior. Tata McGraw-Hill.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2016). Research methods for business students. Pearson.
Wierenga, B., & van der Lans, R. (2017). Marketing Decision Models: Progress and Perspectives. In B.
Wierenga & R. van der Lans (Eds.), Handbook of Marketing Decision Models (pp. 1-11).
Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56941-3_1
1
tenet = one of the principles on which a belief or theory is based
(https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/tenet)