Consumer Behaviour

Consumers make numerous decisions every day: what to buy, use, and consume; how to respond to marketing communications and technologies; and how their choices affect themselves and society. The Consumer Behavior group studies the psychological processes underlying these decisions and how they are shaped by marketing, social, technological, and environmental contexts.

Our research combines fundamental insights into consumer psychology with questions of direct relevance to consumers, organizations, and public policy. We primarily use experimental methods, including laboratory studies in the FEB Business Research Lab, online, and field experiments, and are increasingly combining them with other forms of behavioral and real-world data. Our work frequently crosses the boundaries between consumer behavior, marketing strategy, and marketing modeling.

Key research areas

Persuasion, social influence, and self-regulation

We examine how consumers respond to persuasive communication and other marketing influences, including processes that occur outside conscious awareness. Research considers advertising and branding, social influence, consumer susceptibility and resistance to persuasion, self-control, and the psychological processes underlying consumer choice. This remains a major area of expertise within the group.

Sustainability and responsible marketing

We study how consumers can be encouraged and enabled to make more sustainable choices, and how firms and policymakers can facilitate them. Current work examines sustainable consumption, food waste, social norms and behavioral change, consumer ethics, sustainable retailing, and the broader role of marketing in societal transitions. We also study prosocial behavior, including charitable giving, donations, and moral decision-making.

Consumer well-being, health, inequality and inclusion

An important stream of research investigates how marketing can contribute to healthier and more inclusive consumer experiences. Topics include healthy food choices and consumption, consumer empowerment, financial decision-making, digital inclusion, and the design of interventions and services that support consumer well-being. We also study financial scarcity, economic inequality, power and status, and their consequences for consumption, decision making, and consumer autonomy.

Technology, AI, and consumer experiences

Digital technologies are fundamentally changing how consumers interact with firms and service providers. Our research examines consumer responses to artificial intelligence, service robots and other emerging technologies, including issues such as trust, acceptance, anthropomorphism, social interaction, human–robot collaboration, and the inclusion of consumers with different needs and capabilities.

Researchers contributing to this theme include:

Bob Fennis, Koert van Ittersum, Marijke Leliveld, Jenny van Doorn, Mehrad Moeini-Jazani, Judith de Groot, Siria Luo, Jana Holthöwer, Iina Ikonen, Martijn Keizer, Jan Willem Bolderdijk