Model of Consumer Decision Making

Please select a high involvement product or service and analyze the stages of the consumer decision making process. Include the problem recognition, internal and external information search, evaluation of alternatives and the purchase choice stages.  Comment on personal factors such as demographic influences, psychological factors such as perception, knowledge, ability, attitudes, personality and lifestyle and social factors, such as, the influence of opinion leaders, reference groups, family, social class, culture and subcultures.

Required:

Major paper assignment for an upper level degree course

Value: 20% of course mark

Purpose:

To give you an opportunity to apply the stags of the consumer decision making process to the purchase of a high involvement product or service and to explore the role of various personal, psychological, and social factors in the consumption process.  

Style:

This paper must be written in APA style with internal citations and references.

A Few notes on APA style:

• In APA style we always define a term the first time we use it.
• Paraphrase and Quotes both must be referenced at the end of every sentence in APA (as opposed to at the end of a paragraph). **Some sentences, where you are discussing previously defined concepts, will not need an i-text citation as it is your original analysis / application. BUT any time you introduce new material you must define terms and use citations.
• When writing in APA style you may say "I" and should be structure apparent "In this paper I am going to discuss ______" First I will ______ then I will______, etc....."
• Make sure to use title headers

Length:

From Introduction to conclusion this paper must be at least 12 pages (if done correctly it will be longer). This is at least 12 pages before we take into account the cover page, outline, reference page, and any appendixes.***Minimal work gets minimal points

Sources:

There are two primary academic sources that you should use in this term project. Your assigned textbook for this course and the Kardis (2018) PDF chapter handout "The consumer decision Making Process"

***Other textbooks, academic sources, websites, or blogs on the consume decision making process and/ or the associated personal, psychological, and social factors should NOT be used.

You are allowed to outside sources when doing research on the product or service you are writing about. BUT use of these sources should be limited to items related to the product itself and they should be used to define a the academic concepts you are applying  - stick to assigned course material for this.

NOTE: Wikipedia is never a good source.

NOTE:

You should use and cite both the textbook and the Kardis handout to write the consumer decision making process stages section of this paper. The two chapter cover much of the same material but in different ways - and using different concepts. A carefully analysis of the stages in each of the chapters will help you to find concepts from each that you should use to build your consumer decision making report. 

STRUCTURE (Broad overview):

1. Cover Page

2. Outline

3. Introduction

4. Analyze the stages of the consumer decision making process.

a. Problem recognition

b. Internal and external information search

c. Evaluation of alternatives

d. Purchase choice: selecting among alternatives

5. The Role of Personal factors

a. Demographic influence

6. The Role of Psychological factors

a. Perception

b. Knowledge

c. Ability

d. Attitudes

e. Personality

f. Lifestyle

7. The Role of Social factors

a. Opinion leaders and/or Reference groups

b. Family

c. Social Class

d. Culture

e. Subculture

8. Conclusion

9. Reference list

10. Appendix (if any)

STRUCTURE (With specifics and hints and tips):

1. Cover Page

2. Outline

3. Introduction

• Introduce project here, its purpose, and its structure

4. Analyze the stages of the consumer decision making process.

• Define concept and discuss it and its stages etc..,

a. Problem recognition

• Define concept and apply it and related concepts / aspects of it to purchase product and your experience as you go through this process

b. Internal and external information search

• Define concepts and apply them and related concepts / aspects of it to purchase productand your experience as you go through this process (one at a time - internal and then external)

c. Evaluation of alternatives

• Define concept and apply it and related concepts / aspects of it to purchase product and your experience as you go through this process

d. Purchase choice: selecting among alternatives

• Define concept and apply it and related concepts / aspects of it to purchase product and your experience as you go through this process

WE then move on to next section of the paper - in this next section you will be using sections of the course TEXTBOOK -  some fromchapters are assigned for the class and some are  not assigned. 

NOTE: You do NOT have to include every single aspect of every chapter you will use below - instead it is your job to identify and apply the most relevant aspects of each chapter in each section to your analysis.

5. The Role of Personal factors

a. Demographic influence

• Define concept and apply it and related concepts / aspects of it to understanding who you are and how it might relate to your purchase product process

6. The Role of Psychological factors

• For each of the 6 below - Define concept and apply it and related concepts / aspects of it to understanding who you are and how it might relate to your purchase product process (each should be separate sections with title headers)

a. Perception

b. Knowledge

c. Ability

d. Attitudes

e. Personality

f. Lifestyle

7. The Role of Social factors

• For each of the 5 below - Define concept and apply it and related concepts / aspects of it to understanding who you are and how it might relate to your purchase product process (each should be separate sections with title headers)

a. Opinion leaders and/or Reference groups

b. Family

c. Social Class

d. Culture

e. Subculture

8. Conclusion

• Restate introduction as a conclusion does and then critically evaluate your work -what you think went well and what you might improve on should you do this paper all over again.

9. Reference list

10. Appendix (if any)

a. You might choice to include pictures of ads or websites etc as part of your explanatory process. These pictures should in appendix section and refered to / discussed in main body text of paper.

HINT AND TIPS

• This should be 12 - 20 pages (double spaced)
• Times New Roman 12 pt font double spaced.
• Full sentences, complete ideas, and paragraphs (no bullet points)
• APA style
• TITLE HEADERS
• Make sure to use only allowed sources
• Make sure to include a cover page and outline page and reference page at the end
• Make sure to use APA in-text citations (see link in content area of our e-centennial classroom on APA Style and Academic Honesty).
• Make sure your work is your own and that in composing and submitting your assignment you are acting with honesty and integrity in accordance with schools' policies on academic integrity and plagiarism (see link in content area of our e-centennial classroom on APA Style and Academic Honesty).
• All work will be screened with a plagiarism detector - violators will receive a failing grade and will be reported following the school policy on academic honesty
• Please remember that minimal work gets minimal points - I want to give you points but you must earn them