MKTG 711 – Consumer Behavior

Monday/Wednesday 12:00-1:30pm

Instructor: Prof. Annie Wilson, Ph.D.

Office hours: In person and via Zoom by appointment.

Course Description
The purpose of this course is to provide students with working knowledge of the major
theories and research findings in the area of consumer behavior. The goal of this course is
for students to gain a deeper understanding of the psychologies behind behaviors,
judgments, and decision-making, and to gain insight into how to apply them to influence
behavior in the marketplace. By the end of this course, students should not only be familiar
with a large body of consumer behavior literature, but should also be able to identify
theories as they play out in the real world, and be able to apply behavioral principles to a
variety of marketing problems.

Course Structure and Materials

You will be assigned a variety of readings, podcasts, and video content to prepare for
lectures – these should be completed by the day they are listed on the class schedule. They
are provided to give you adequate background to engage meaningfully in the lecture
content. Lectures will not be a reiteration of the assigned materials, rather they will
complement the materials. This class is intended to be highly interactive and will rely
heavily on student participation.

Course Policies
No electronic devices are permitted in class. Late submissions of assignments will not
be accepted. Class slides will be posted AFTER each lecture as will recordings of each
lecture for those unable to attend a session. If you are not feeling well, please do not
attend class.

Assessments
Your final grade will be determined by the following:

o Class Participation 10%

o Discussion Exercises 15%
o 3 Case Write-ups 30%
o Group Project 1: Brand Audit 20%
o Group Project 2: Influencing CB 25%

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Assessment Details
Class Participation (10%)
The value of this course depends heavily on the insights generated through class discussion.
Constructive participation is based on analysis rather than opinion, and builds on the
discussion flow. Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to class participation.
Your participation grade will also be based on your attendance. In order to not incentivize you
to attend class when you are not feeling well, there will be an optional discussion board on
Canvas that will also count toward your participation grade.

Discussion Exercises (15%)

You will be assigned ten discussion exercises throughout the semester. The goal of these
exercises is for you to reflect on various aspects of the course, how they would apply certain
concepts, or consider where they have seen concepts successfully or unsuccessfully applied in
real-world examples. These exercises will be graded based on effort and analysis rather than on
opinion or any specific recommendations made (grades will be out of 3, with a 3 reflecting
thorough analysis and effort, a 2 reflecting moderate analysis and effort, and a 1 reflecting
minimal effort or intelligibility of the submission).

Case Write-Ups (30%):

You will be assigned three case write-ups. More details to follow.

Project 1: Brand Audit (20%):

This assignment is a group project (2-3 members per group). You will select a brand (or specific
product) of your choice and audit the brand’s marketing practices based on the key consumer
behavior principles discussed in class including your evaluations of how the brand facilitates
motivation/opportunity/ability, exposure and attention, attitudes and perception, identity
signaling, and the decision-making process generally. More details to follow.

Project 2: Influencing CB in the Marketplace (25%)

This is a group project in which each team (5-6 members) will do a deep dive into the consumer
decision making process of a specific product or service of your choosing. This could be a
product or service that you are interested in developing for an entrepreneurial enterprise or one
that is already currently on the market. Your job is to 1) identify one key behavior or metric that
you would like to change (i.e. what is the marketing problem you are solving?); 2) map out each
stage of the consumer decision process/journey, and indicate the barriers and opportunities at
each stage; 3) describe the type of research you would want to do in order to better understand
and identify the key barriers and potential solutions – why did you select this type of research?
What do you hope to learn or answer through it?; 4) Suggest one solution for solving the
marketing problem based on your research and the barriers/opportunities you identified,
indicate why you selected to focus on this solution and describe up to three other solutions you
considered and why you did not choose them; 5) Do a “pre-mortem” of your solution: is there
potential for unintended consequences? If so, what are they and why might they occur? How
can you mitigate them? What will you do if your solution does not work? How would you
interpret this outcome and what would you do next?

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 Course Schedule (DRAFT)

Day Date Topic Reading Assignments Due

Introduction to Consumer
Monday 8/29
Behavior

Wednesday 8/31 Motivation, Ability, Opportunity A

Wednesday 9/7 Exposure & Attention Discussion Exercise 1

Monday 9/12 Attitudes B Discussion Exercise 2

Wednesday 9/14 Perception C

Monday 9/19 Preferences & Choice D

Wednesday 9/21 The Decision-Making Process Discussion Exercise 3

Monday 9/26 Identity & Signaling E Discussion Exercise 4

Wednesday 9/28 Influence & Persuasion F Discussion Exercise 5

Brand Audit Project

Monday 10/3 Prospect Theory
Due

Wednesday 10/5 Pricing & Payments G Discussion Exercise 6

Monday 10/10 Headspace vs. Calm Case H Case Write-Up

Consumer Behavior in the

Monday 10/24 I Discussion Exercise 7
Digital Age

Wednesday 10/26 Experiential Consumption J Discussion Exercise 8

Monday 10/31 BMW Films Case K Case Write-Up

Wednesday 11/2 Guest Lecture

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 Monday 11/7 Guest Lecture

Wednesday 11/9 “Cool” Consumption L Case Write-Up

Monday 11/14 Behavioral Science M Discussion Exercise 9

Wednesday 11/16 Guest Lecture

Monday 11/28 Experimentation N

Influencing CB Project
Wednesday 11/30 Group Presentations I
Due

Monday 10/5 Group Presentations II

Wednesday 10/7 The Big Picture Discussion Exercise 10

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Readings:
A. Petty, R. E., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1986), “The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion,”
in Communication and Persuasion (pp. 1-24). Springer, New York, NY

B. - McCracken, G. (1989). Who is the celebrity endorser? Cultural foundations of the

endorsement process. Journal of consumer research, 16(3), 310-321.
Recommended: Dinnin Huff, A., Humphreys, A., & Wilner, S. J. (2021). The Politicization
of Objects: Meaning and Materiality in the US Cannabis Market. Journal of Consumer
Research.

C. - Mayyasi, Alex and Priceonomics (2016), “How Subarus Came to be Seen as Cars for
Lesbians,” The Atlantic, [Link]
subarus-came-to-be-seen-as-cars-for-lesbians/488042/

D. - Hsee, C. K. (1996). The evaluability hypothesis: An explanation for preference reversals

between joint and separate evaluations of alternatives. OBHDP, 67(3), 247-257
-Hsee, C. K., & Hastie, R. (2006). Decision and experience: why don't we choose what
makes us happy?. Trends in cognitive sciences, 10(1), 31-37.

E. -Belk, R. W. (1988). Possessions and the extended self. JCR, 15(2), 139-168.
- Savary, J., & Dhar, R. (2020). The uncertain self: How self-concept structure affects
subscription choice. Journal of Consumer Research, 46(5), 887-903.
-Escalas, J. E., & Bettman, J. R. (2005). Self-construal, reference groups, and brand
meaning. Journal of consumer research, 32(3), 378-389.

F. -Cialdini, R. B. (2001). The science of persuasion. Scientific American, 284(2), 76-81.

-Friestad, Marian, and Peter Wright (1994), The Persuasion Knowledge Model: How People
Cope with Persuasion Attempts,” Journal of Consumer Research, 21(1), 1-31.

G. -Gourville, J., & Soman, D. (2002). Pricing and the psychology of consumption. HBR.
-Gourville, J. T. (1998). Pennies-a-day: The effect of temporal reframing on transaction
evaluation. Journal of Consumer Research, 24(4), 395-408.
-Hamilton, R. W., & Srivastava, J. (2008). When 2+ 2 is not the same as 1+ 3: Variations in
price sensitivity across components of partitioned prices. JMR, 45(4), 450-461.

H. Israeli, Ayelet and Annie Wilson (2021), Headspace vs. Calm: A Mindful Competition, HBS
Case #9-521-102.

I. Belk, R. W. (2013). Extended self in a digital world. JCR, 40(3), 477-500.

-“Everything Brands Need to Know about NFT Marketing,” AdAge.
-“Roblox’s in the Heights Success Shows Power of Platform for Brands,” AdAge.
-“Snap Takes over Shake Shack in New York for the Week,” AdWeek.
-AdWeek’s “Metaverse Marketing” podcast (Episodes 1-4)

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J. -Keinan, A., & Kivetz, R. (2011). Productivity orientation and the consumption of
collectable experiences. Journal of consumer research, 37(6), 935-950.
-“Winning in the Experience Economy,” Forbes

K. Moon, Youngme and Kerry Herman (2002), BMWFilms, HBS Case #9-502-046.

L. Anik, Lalin, Stephen E. Maiden, and Addison Corriher (2020), A Supreme Case of
Coolness?, HBS Case #UV8134.

M. -“Want to Perfect your Company’s Service? Use Behavioral Science,” HBR.

-“Improving Health Care by Gamifying It,” HBR.
-“How Digital Design Drives User Behavior,” HBR.
-“Can AI Nudge us to Make Better Choices,” HBR.

N. –“Leaders: Stop Confusing Correlation with Causation,” HBR.

-“Why Business Schools Need to Teach Experimentation,” HBR.