Consumer behavior
Doctoral seminar - June 2014
Seminar Instructors:
Domen Bajde
Associate professor, Department of Marketing & Management, University of Southern Denmark
Daniel J. Flint
Professor of Marketing, University of Tennessee
Tomaž Kolar (seminar coordinator: tomaz.kolar@ef.uni-lj.si)
Associate professor, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana
Syllabus outline
Seminar orientation: Exploring your (consumer) research self, going backstage to the field’s
traditions & paradigms, building theory and getting published.
Seminar objectives
 Provide an overview of consumer behavior research paradigms and propose a provisional
framework that will help students to position particular research approaches (their own
approach in particular) across the range of available epistemological positions.
 Encourage critical reflection regarding the strengths and limitations of diverse paradigms
and their (in)compatibility; Encourage students to reflect upon and clarify their own
epistemic standpoint(s).
 Systematically and reflexively engage with the canon of classics within chosen paradigms
and illustrate the application of diverse consumer research paradigms and theories in the
context of particular research themes and methods.
 Extend the student’s competences in conducting state of the art literature review in and
identify opportunities for theory advancement in the field of consumer studies
 Broaden the students’ knowledge and competence of research design and publication in
consumer research and marketing journals.
Learning methods & evaluation*
The course will consist of multiple sessions, each combining short introductory lectures with
in-depth discussions and workshops based on pre-assigned readings. During seminar
students will be engaged in various roles and perform various assignments. They will review
and present articles, comment article reviews and research papers from their colleagues and
also create their own short manuscript relevant to consumer research field. This final paper
will review, appraise and extend theory about some aspect of consumer behaviour and
provide specific suggestions for future empirical research (while students are not expected
to collect data). Partaking in the course necessitates timely reading and theoretical and
methodical reflection on assigned readings (written assignments) as well as active
communication during class sessions (presentations and discussions).
Student evaluation will consist of final research paper for chosen problem/topic (50%),
evaluation of written assignments (30%) and in-class participation (10%). Detailed
instructions for these assignments and assigned papers for review will be provided to
students soon after their enrolment into seminar. Seminar is based on active participation of
students (article presentations, comprehensive feedback to pre-assigned colleague reviews
and final papers). Because of that is it essential that students organize their time accordingly
in order that they will be able to fulfil required obligations.
Seminar schedule:
I. Domen Bajde: June 5th and 6th (16:00 – 19:00)
(Socio-cultural paradigms – Interpretivism & Consumer culture theory)
II. Daniel J. Flint: June 9th and 10th (16:00 – 19:00)
(Consumer Behavior Theory Building, Programs of Research & Publishing*)
III. Tomaž Kolar: June 18th and 19th (16:00 – 19:00)
(Psychological paradigms – Cognitivism & Behaviorism)
* - Please see the details for part of professor Flint at the end of the syllabus
Literature (Essential readings – preliminary list)
(Bajde)
Cova, Bernard and Veronique Cova (2002), “Tribal Marketing : The Tribalization of Society and Its
Impact on the Conduct of Marketing,” European Journal of Marketing, 36 (5/6), 595-620.
Hirschman, Elizabeth C. (1985) Scientific Style and the Conduct of Consumer Research Journal of
Consumer Research, 12(2): 225-239.
Holt, Douglas B. and Craig J. Thompson (2004), “Man-of-Action Heroes: The Pursuit of Heroic
Masculinity in Everyday Consumption”, Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 31 (2), 425-440.
Hudson, Laurel Anderson and Julie L. Ozanne (1988). Alternative Ways of Seeking Knowledge in
Consumer Research. Journal of Consumer Research, 14 (March): 508-521.
Marsden, David and Dale Littler (2010). Positioning Alternative Perspectives of Consumer Behaviour.
Journal of Marketing Management, 14 (1-3): 3-28.
McCracken, Grant (1986) Culture and Consumption: A Theoretical Account of the Structure and
Movement of the Cultural Meaning of Consumer Goods, Journal of Consumer Research, 13, (June):
71-84.
Østergaard, Per and Christian Jantzen (2000). Shifting perspectives in consumer research: from buyer
behaviour to consumption studies. In: Beckmann, S. and R. Elliott (eds.) Interpretive consumer
research. Paradigms, methodologies and applications. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School
Press. Pp 9-24.
(Kolar)
Deborah J. MacInnis and Valerie 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
Itamar Simonson, Ziv Carmon, Ravi Dhar, Aimee Drolet and Stephen M. Nowlis (2001) Consumer
Research: In Search of Identity. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 52: 249–75.
James R. Bettman and C. Whan Park (1980). Effects of Prior Knowledge and Experience and Phase of
the Choice Process on ConsumerDecision Processes: A Protocol Analysis, Journal of Consumer
Research, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Dec., 1980), pp. 234-248
Richard E. Petty, John T. Cacioppo and David Schumann (1983). Central and Peripheral Routes to
Advertising Effectiveness: The Moderating Role of Involvement. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol.
10, No. 2 (Sep., 1983), pp. 135-146
Joan Meyers-Levy and Alice M. (1989). Tybout: Schema Congruity as a Basis for Product Evaluation.
Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Jun., 1989), pp. 39-54
Irwin P. Levin and Gary J. Gaeth (1988). How Consumers are Affected by the Framing of Attribute
Information Before and After Consuming the Product. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 15, No. 3
(Dec., 1988), pp. 374-378
Ziv Carmon and Dan Ariely (2000). Focusing on the Forgone: How Value Can Appear So Different to
Buyers and Sellers. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 27, No. 3 (December 2000), pp. 360-370
Leonard Lee, Shane Frederick and Dan Ariely (2006). Try It, You'll like It: The Influence of Expectation,
Consumption, and Revelation on Preferences for Beer. Psychological Science, Vol. 17, No. 12 (Dec.,
2006), pp. 1054-1058
Carolyn Yoon, Angela H. Gutchess, Fred Feinberg, and Thad A. Polk (2006). A Functional Magnetic
Resonance Imaging Study of Neural Dissociations between Brand and Person Judgments. Journal of
Consumer Research, Vol. 33, No. 1 (June 2006), pp. 31-40
Dr. Flint’s PhD seminar 2014
University of Ljubljana
Consumer Behavior Theory Building, Programs of Research & Publishing
Dr. Daniel J. Flint, Regal Entertainment Group professor of Business
Department of Marketing & Supply Chain Management
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996
dflint@utk.edu
Overview
This module is comprised of content that covers theory building in consumer behavior,
insights to my personal programs of research and insights to getting ones’ work published.
This content is spread over two days, currently scheduled for Jun 9 & 10.
Learning Objectives
As a result of participating in Day 1, students ought to be able to:
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Understand and explain various sub-fields of consumer behavior research
Understand and explain at a basic level nine (9) philosophies of science pertaining to
marketing research
Understand and explain various methods for theory building
Know the benefits, key components of and limitations of at least three inductive theorybuilding traditions (phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography) and some details about
others.
Be able to identify and differentiate high quality theory building research as compared to less
rigorous attempts.
As a result of participating in Day 2, students ought to be able to:
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Have a deeper understanding of Dr. Flint’s and related work as it relates to (a) customer
value/proactive customer orientations, (b) shopper marketing, (c) wine industry marketing,
(d) service dominant logic, and (e) logistics innovation
Feel more comfortable with the publication processes for getting published at various levels
within the U.S. journal and conference systems
Approach
The two days will be discussion-based and demand significant interaction with and among
students. Readings are provided in order to level-set the class (ensure that everyone is at a
somewhat equivalent starting point). Various exercises will be employed to “practice”
certain skills and concepts such as several inductive research data collection and analysis
techniques and article critiques.
Students should arrive to Day 1 with a well-thought out research area of interest. Ideally
this will be a dissertation-level focal topic or current research project in which additional
theory building is desired/needed. This phenomenon does not necessarily need to be
consumer behavior in nature, but it would help. Each student will be asked to articulate this
phenomenon and then will “work with it” through the two days to apply some of the
concepts and more fully put these concepts into perspective.
Each student should come equipped with:
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Having read the pre-assigned readings
A phenomenon of interest description
A laptop or pad of paper and writing instrument
Her/his brain
An upbeat and excited attitude about this amazing profession we are in
Assessment
Students will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
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(30%) Extent of participation in the discussions
(30%) Quality of contributions to the discussions
(40%) A written document submitted one week after the class sessions end summarizing
concepts discussed with as many as possible directly linked to the research phenomenon the
student presented at the beginning of the two days.
Guidelines for each deliverable/graded assessment will be provided to students at the
beginning of Day 1.
Pre-Readings (provided)
Read for Day 1
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Philosophy of Science Figure
Qualitative Research Methods PhD Seminar Syllabus, University of Tennessee
Flint CV
Hirschman, Elizabeth C. (1986), “Humanistic Inquiry in Marketing Research: Philosophy,
Method, and Criteria,” Journal of Marketing Research 23 (August), 237-249.
Arnould, Eric J. and Craig Thompson (2005), “Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty years
of Research,” Journal of Consumer Research, 31 (March), 868-882.
Glaser, Barney G. (1998), “The Roots of Grounded Theory,” Doing Grounded Theory: Issues
and Discussions. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press, 21-34.
Thompson, Craig J., William B. Locander, and Howard R. Pollio (1990), “The Lived Meaning of
Free Choice: An Existential-Phenomenological Description of Everyday Consumer Experiences
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of Contemporary Married Women,” Journal of Consumer Research 17 (December), 346-361.
(Phenomenology)
Celsi, Richard L., Randall L. Rose, and Thomas W. Leigh (1993), “An Exploration of High-Risk
Leisure Consumption through Skydiving,” Journal of Consumer Research 20 (June), 1-23
Schouten, John W. (1991), “Selves in Transition: Symbolic Consumption in Personal Rites of
Passage and Identity Reconstruction,” Journal of Consumer Research 17 (March), 412-425.
McAlexander, James H., John W. Schouten, and Harold F. Koenig (2002), “Building Brand
Community,” Journal of Marketing 66 (January), 38-54. (Mixed qualitative and quantitative
methods)
Read for Day 2
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Flint, Daniel J. (2006), “Innovation, Symbolic Interaction, and Customer Valuing: Thoughts
Stemming from a Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing,” Marketing Theory, 6(3), 349-362
Blocker, Christopher P., Mark Houston, and Daniel J. Flint (2012) “Unpacking what a
‘relationship’ means to commercial buyers: How the relationship metaphor creates tension
and obscures experience,” forthcoming in Journal of Consumer Research
Flint, Daniel J., Robert B. Woodruff, & Sarah Fisher Gardial (2002), “Exploring the
Phenomenon of Customers’ Desired Value Change in a Business to Business Context,” Journal
of Marketing 66 (October), 102-117.
 Blocker, Christopher P., Daniel J. Flint, Mathew Myers, and Stanley Slater (2011) “The
Role of Proactive Customer Orientation in Global Markets,” Journal of the Academy
of Marketing Science, Vol. 39 (2), 216-233.
 Draft Book Chapters:
o Shopper Marketing Overview
o Who is the Shopper Anyway