MSc in Management

(2024/2025)

Consumer Behavior
Professor: Gert Cornelissen
E-mail: [Link]@[Link]
Office hours: by appointment

Course Description
In the future, historians might refer to our era as one in which people lived in a
“consumer culture”. Being a consumer is one of the most prominent roles we have in
life (everything we do seems to be consuming of some sort), and the world around us
organizes itself around that role. The new traditions that develop in our culture, for
example, now mostly involve buying things, or they take it to the next level, and
celebrate consuming itself (think Black Friday).

In this course we will try to develop insight into how we make choices as consumers,
by studying aspects of human psychology on the one hand, and the world in which we
operate on the other hand. We will train your intuition so you can think more accurately
about how consumers perceive and respond to market events.

Many of the psychological insights that we discuss are particularly useful for marketing
strategy, brand positioning, and marketing communication decisions. However, they
are very relevant as well for those taking a policy-oriented perspective, in order to
promote consumer wellbeing, by studying the reasoning errors that consumers make,
or the value priorities that a consumer culture emphasizes.

Objectives
This course provides insights in the mechanisms underlying consumer behavior. The
course goals are:

 Discuss and understand how key theories and research from the behavioral
sciences (e.g., psychology, sociology, economics) help to understand consumer
behavior.
 Develop intuitions regarding people’s consumption choices, at the service of
making better decision at the managerial and social policy levels.
 Understand your own choices as a consumer and try to improve them.

MSc in Management
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 MSc in Management
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Methodology
In this course we will combine lectures with tutorial methodology.

In the early weeks of the term, in a number of lectures we will establish the frame which
we will use to analyze consumer behaviour. We will analyse aspects of human
psychology, important to understand the consumer, and the world in which the
consumer operates.

For most of the sessions after that, we use a tutorial methodology:

 We will create groups of 3-4 people. Each week, one group of students will host
the 2 sessions of that week. Each student will be a member of 2 groups.
 Reading material is provided for the topic discussed each week. The job of the
group hosting the session is to come up with stimulating material that facilitates a
group conversation, such as controversial points of view that can be debated in
group, research findings, quizzes, illustrations, and other activities that allow us to
engage in a group conversation.
 Those who do not host the tutorial are expected to be prepared and study the
assigned material. Before class, they write a reaction paper in which they develop
a personal reflection on the week’s reading material. In class everyone is actively
involved in a group conversation in which we process the reading material and
develop insights and implications.

This method optimizes participation and involvement. We might modify details based
on the number of students taking this course.

Evaluation criteria
The evaluation is based on 3 pillars:

 Participation in class discussions (individual grade)

 The presentation of discussion material as a host in the tutorials (group grade)
 Weekly reaction papers (individual grade)

(there is no exam)

Each of these elements is equally important and will account for 1/3 of your final grade.

If the evaluation of the activities above result in a failing grade, there exists a “retake”
opportunity. In order to re-evaluate the grade, the student involved writes a report in

MSc in Management
Note: This document is for informational purposes only. Course contents and faculty may change. 2
 MSc in Management
(2024/2025)

which they formulate managerial or public policy implications of the readings during the
term. The maximum grade that can be obtained after the re-evaluation is 5/10.

Students are required to attend 80% of classes. Failing to do so without justified reason
will imply a Zero grade in the participation/attendance evaluation item and may lead to
suspension from the program

Students who fail the course during the regular evaluation are allowed ONE re-take of
the evaluation, in the conditions specified above. If the course is again failed after the
retake, the student will have to register again for the course the following year.

In case of a justified no-show to an exam, the student must inform the corresponding
faculty member and the director(s) of the program so that they study the possibility of
rescheduling the exam (one possibility being during the “Retake” period). In the
meantime, the student will get an “incomplete”, which will be replaced by the actual grade
after the final exam is taken. The “incomplete” will not be reflected on the student’s
Academic Transcript.

Plagiarism is to use another’s work and to present it as one’s own without acknowledging
the sources in the correct way. All essays, reports or projects handed in by a student
must be original work completed by the student. By enrolling at any UPF BSM Master of
Science and signing the “Honor Code,” students acknowledge that they understand the
schools’ policy on plagiarism and certify that all course assignments will be their own
work, except where indicated by correct referencing. Failing to do so may result in
automatic expulsion from the program.”

Calendar and Contents

-This list is tentative and subject to changes-

Week 1 Lecture * Introduction

* Organization of tutorial sessions
Week 2 Lecture Evolutionary bases of consumption

Week 3 Tutorial Consumer Perception

Week 4 Tutorial Consumer Motivation

Week 5 Tutorial Expressing identity and personality

Week 6 Tutorial Decision Making

Week 7 Lecture Big data and Artificial intellgience

MSc in Management
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 MSc in Management
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Week 8 Tutorial Consumers in their social setting

Week 9 Tutorial Hot topics in consumer research:

 brand activism
 interacting with Artificial Intelligence
Week 10 Lecture Living in a consumer culture

Reading Materials/ Bibliography/Resources

A list of readings –mostly academic articles- will be available on aula global at the
beginning of the term. As a background reading, we will use the handbook:

Kardes, F.R., Cline, T.W., Cronley, M.L. (2015), Consumer Behavior: Science and
Practice. South-Western: Cengage Learning.

Class slides provided by professor

Bio of Professor
Gert Cornelissen is an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics and
Business at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. He is also an affiliate professor at the Barcelona
Graduate School of Economics. He obtained his PhD. in Psychology at the KULeuven,
Belgium.

MSc in Management
Note: This document is for informational purposes only. Course contents and faculty may change. 4