CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR - 2025/6

Module Overview

The aim of this module is to introduce students to the interdisciplinary field of Consumer Behaviour. This module, by delving beneath the behaviour of consumers, provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the various factors that affect and form consumer behaviour and of the contribution of consumer insights into marketing. The module builds on the core principles of marketing and focuses on how firms can utilize consumer behaviour knowledge in order to create successful and viable marketing strategies. As such, it constitutes an essential part of programmes relating to Marketing and Business Management. The Consumer Behaviour and Insights module brings together ideas and theories from diverse areas such as marketing strategy, sociology, psychology and marketing research in order to understand the behaviour of consumers. Appropriate research techniques and leading-edge research findings will be discussed to enhance understanding of the consumer behaviour in the contemporary marketplace as well as how consumer insights are generated and applied.

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

PITARDI Valentina (SBS)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

• Introduction to consumer behaviour and insights


• Consumer perception


• Learning and memory


• Attitudes


• Decision making process


• Group influence and opinion leadership


• Culture and cross-cultural consumer behaviour

• Recent developments and ethical aspects in consumer behaviour and insights

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Individual essay in lieu of Group Project

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate:

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding on core consumer behaviour theories and concepts, and to critically apply these and relevant insights to investigate consumer behaviour phenomena. The group project allows students to reflect on their own behaviour as consumers and explore how they can utilize consumer insights for strategic marketing purposes while safeguarding consumer interests towards responsible marketing practices. Successfully completing the coursework requires persistence to engage in a reflective and analytical process that is needed for generating, interpreting and applying consumer behaviour insights. The exam involves practical problem-solving and analytical skills through which students are invited to solve and/or analyze marketing challenges and connect theory with practice. The assessment strategy focuses on evaluating students’ critical understanding of consumer behaviour topics and insights, and also provides an opportunity to work with, and to learn from, peers. The assessment components test the outlined learning outcomes.

The summative assessment for this module consists of:

• Group project report (addresses learning outcomes: 2, 3, 4, & 5)


• Exam online open book, 90 minutes (addresses learning outcomes: 1, 2, 3, & 4)

  Formative assessment

Students will receive the assignment topic in the first weeks of the module and are expected to familiarise themselves with it. Prior to the assignment, lecture/seminar time will be spent discussing the assignment requirements, the assessment criteria, and the feedback process. Seminar time devoted to preparing students for the assessments aims to empower students to build self-evaluation into assessment process and to create space for students to reflect on own performance whilst receiving relevant guidance.

  Feedback

Verbal formative feedback will also be provided in seminars dedicated to guide the preparation of the assignment. Furthermore, seminar time will be devoted to prepare students for the exam.

Module aims

• Examine the factors that affect consumer behaviour;
• Explain the managerial significance of consumer behaviour theory;
• Enable students to identify and appreciate multifaceted aspects of consumer behaviour.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

enable students to gain an understanding of key consumer behaviour concepts and theories, and their application to marketing situations and strategies. The teaching and learning methods are based on the delivery of lectures and seminars through which students demonstrate the application of theory, team-working, professionalism, confidence and communication skills.

Lectures are designed to illustrate and explain theoretical concepts and/or models of consumer behaviour. Next, these concepts and relevant insights are further elaborated and applied in seminars, which aim to demonstrate the practical applications of theoretical concepts/models and the research methods used to study consumer behaviour, as well as to support the assignment and the exam. Students are encouraged to be active participants in seminars, enabling them to develop as informed, confident, and engaged independent learners. Students are also expected to extend their reading beyond the lectures and to make use of additional material provided to support each topic. Student coursework provides an opportunity for self-directed and peer-supported learning which also aims to maximise student learning by drawing on their own experiences and contributions to group project discussions.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MAN2110

Other information

Employability: This module provides students with a working knowledge of practices and approaches used by marketers in practice and in research. Students are equipped with theoretical and practical problem-solving skills, and transferable competencies that allow them to analyse and explain marketing cases from a consumer behaviour perspective. This is of value to employers as it contributes to understand marketing situations and make informed decisions.

Resourcefulness and Resilience: The approach of this module is one where students are experiencing the methods of assessment from both the consumer perspective and the researcher/marketer perspective. As a cohort, students in their group will be sharing consumer behaviour experiences, providing support and empathy, and supporting each other practically. Through these processes students are able to draw upon and develop their own resourcefulness and problem solving and building their own confidence and self-efficacy.

Digital Capabilities: Students will develop the capacity to manage information as well as to communicate with one another and to work collaboratively for their group project using SurreyLearn, Microsoft Teams, and other project management and document sharing platforms. As with all modules, students are expected to engage with online material and resources via SurreyLearn, and other digital platforms. Moreover, a session dedicated to recent developments to Consumer Behaviour also contributes toward an understanding of how the digital world influences this marketing field and how this knowledge can inform the formulation of marketing strategies.

Sustainability: The module aims to promote reflection on consumer behaviour theories and applications in order to encourage students to analyse real-life marketing situations and apply sustainable business thinking. Ethical and sustainable dimensions underpin this module thus allowing students to explore how consumer insights can inform and lead towards sustainable marketing practices.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.