BE555-7-SP-CO:
Consumer Behaviour
2024/25
Essex Business School
Colchester Campus
Spring
Postgraduate: Level 7
Current
Monday 13 January 2025
Friday 21 March 2025
20
03 October 2024
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
MA NP5312 Advertising, Marketing and the Media,
MA NP53MO Advertising, Marketing and the Media,
MSC N2E212 Management (Marketing),
MSC N2E224 Management (Marketing),
MSC N51012 Marketing,
MSC N51024 Marketing
This module explores a variety of different theories and perspectives of consumer behaviour in relation to consumption in the marketplace, consumers as individuals, consumers as decision-makers and consumers as social beings.
The module will go beyond the act of buying to consider the entire consumption cycle, including pre-consumption and post-consumption attitudes and behaviours. This module explores how an understanding of buyer behaviour plays an essential role in marketing strategy formulation as we consider how marketers use and apply consumer behaviour theory. Given that consumption has an increasingly important role in our daily lives, students will also be encouraged to draw on their own experiences to aid understanding of the theoretical content. We will also discuss the wider implications of living in a consumer society.
The aims of this module are:
- To provide students with a thorough understanding of key theories and principles of consumer behaviour.
- To show how these concepts relate to the practice of marketing and what their implications are for businesses, individual consumers and society.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Identify and explain key consumer behaviour theories and their relationship to practice.
- Understand consumer behaviour as complex phenomena worthy of study for managerial purposes and in its own right.
- Acquire the knowledge necessary for further advanced study on marketing and consumer behaviour courses.
Skills for Your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)
By the end of this module, students should be able to:
- Think Critically.
- Approach and solve problems creatively.
- .eflect on your own practice in relation to marketing
The consumer is a key constituent for any business, and understanding consumer behaviour is central to successful marketing practice. As such, the very notion of customer-orientation is a central tenet of marketing as a discipline. Marketers are asked to champion and utilise consumer insights to their organisation's advantage while being able to anticipate and accommodate the diverse and changing demands of consumers in fast-paced and highly competitive markets.
A thorough understanding of consumer behaviour is thus a key requisite for any business, management and marketing professional. At the same time, we are all consumers and a better comprehension of what influences our own behaviour can be empowering, leading to better-informed individual choices.
This module will be delivered via:
- 10 x 3-hour lecture-seminars weekly
Weekly sessions will encompass lectures as well as related group work, discussion and consultation.
This module does not appear to have a published bibliography for this year.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
1,500 Word Assignment |
05/03/2025 |
30% |
| Coursework |
2,500 Word Assignment |
29/04/2025 |
70% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Aneela Malik, email: a.malik@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Aneela Malik & Tony Sampson
ebspgtad@essex.ac.uk
No
No
Yes
Dr Stephanie Anderson
Prof Annie Chen
University of Roehampton
Professor
Available via Moodle
Of 30 hours, 30 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
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