Course 2023-2024 a.y.

Classes: 31 (II sem.)

Instructors:
Class 31: HEEYOUNG YOON

To feel comfortable in this course, students should have a basic knowledge of marketing and statistics.

Understanding consumers is crucial for virtually all marketing decisions involved in developing an effective marketing mix for a product or service. Gaining insights about consumer behavior can help managers anticipate reactions to the marketing mix or make decisions to improve consumer satisfaction. To generate insights about consumers, experimental methods are an important instrument in a marketer’s toolkit. The goal of this course is (1) to enhance students’ theoretical understanding of consumers and their decision-making processes and (2) to provide students with the basic skills necessary to conduct experiments that allow them to get insights into these processes in a marketing context. The course is structured into three components: (1) students will learn about theories from pertinent literature in behavioral economics, psychology and marketing that provide them with an understanding of how consumers make judgments and decisions and the factors influencing them; (2) students will learn how to use experimental research to inform and improve marketing decisions; that is, students will learn how to pose relevant research questions, design experiments and interpret the results and (3) students will apply the acquired theoretical knowledge and methodological skills hands-on to solve a real-world marketing problems.

The main topics of the course are:

 

• Consumer judgments and decision makings
• The psychology of choice
• Consumption experiences
• Heuristics and biases
• Experimental design and data collection
• Basic data analysis

At the end of the course student will be able to...

-  Recognize the different factors underlying consumer decisions

-  Discuss how consumers’ decisions can be systematically biased

-  Describe the process of marketing research

-  Describe how to design and conduct a marketing experiment

At the end of the course student will be able to...

-  Apply consumer behavior theories to develop consumer-driven marketing stratgies

-  Assess factors and biases that may influence consumers’ choices and decisions

-  Translate a marketing problem into a feasible research question

-  Design a marketing experiment and analyze data

-  Use behavioral evidence to evaluate alternative marketing strategies

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Individual assignments
• Group assignments

The learning experience of this course includes face-to-face lectures, in-class discussions, individual assignments (case studies and academic articles) and exercises on the assigned group project.

 

• Throughout the course, students are encouraged to actively engage in class discussion and to share their thoughts. The goal of in-class discussions and exercises is to apply theories, concepts and frameworks to solve marketing problems and to provide students with hands-on experience in conducting experimental research.
• Case study and individual assignments: Students will read and discuss academic articles. To prepare, students will write a short report (approximately 1-2 pages long) and 4-5 articles they choose from the assigned articles.
• Group assignment: Based on theories and concepts they learned, students will create a hypothesis related to consumer behavior or marketing strategies. They will then design an experiment to test the idea (online experiment), analyze the collected data and report the result and its implication.
• In-class exercise: Students will be asked to bring a computer with SPSS. In this session, they will analyze data and discuss analysis output under the guidance of the instructor.

 

*Detailed instructions for the assignments will be provided at the beginning of the course.

	Continuous assessment	Partial exams	General exam
Written individual exam (traditional/online)			x
Individual assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)	x
Group assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)			x
Peer evaluation			x

• Individual written exam (40%): The exam will include multiple-choice questions aimed to assess students’ understanding of theories and concepts discussed during the course.

 

• Group project and presentation (50%): The assignment assesses a student’s ability to apply consumer behavior theories and research methods to evaluate marketing alternatives or to suggest a new marketing strategy. Students will write a final paper, as a group, reporting their research question, design and procedure of the experiment, and interpretation of the results. The group may present their research findings in class.

 

• Individual assignment (10%): To prepare for in-class discussions, students will write a short report (approximately 1-2 pages long) for a case study and two research articles they choose. The objective of this assignment is not to evaluate the quality of answers but instead to make sure students have read the case/articles and given them some thought.

 

Attendance and participation are very important in creating a class environment that is both interesting and meaningful to the student. Therefore, participation in the lessons is strongly suggested.

Non-attending students are evaluated based on a final written exam at the end of the course. The exam determines 100% of the final grade. The exam is an individual written test that will cover materials from textbook and the assigned academic papers. 

 

Study materials for exam include lecture slides, a case study, and readings that will be uploaded on the course platform. No textbook will be required for attending students.

 

Optional reading materials may be uploaded to the course platform, but it will not be covered or included in the exam.

 

*The teaching material will be communicated in the course syllabus at the beginning of the course.

Research articles will be uploaded on the course platform.

*The teaching material will be communicated in the course syllabus at the beginning of the course.

Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being, Global Edition, 13th edition 

Michael R. Solomon, Published by Pearson