Consumer behaviour

Consumer behaviour research focuses on the study of consumers and consumption-related issues.

Contemporary issues include consumers’ experiences and responses to marketing communications, packaging, design and companies’ social responsibility efforts, and the impact of the computer-mediated environment.

Research in these areas encompasses the following domains:

  • Consumers in the digital environment - How the digital environment differs from the physical environment and how digital technology affects relationships with consumers.
  • Consumers’ responses to marketing communications - How consumers read advertising texts, process advertising messages, and respond to messages embedded in entertainment content.
  • Consumers’ experience of shopping - How consumers construct the shopping experience, what motivates their shopping behaviour, and what happens when their expectations are disconfirmed.
  • Consumers’ experience of possessions and place - How do ritual, possession meaning, and self-conceptualisation influence consumers’ attachments to possessions and places?
  • Ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) - How consumers react to companies’ CSR efforts.

Researchers in consumer behaviour

Contact details

For more information please contact:

Assoc Prof Karen Fernandez
Associate Professor
Email: k.fernandez@auckland.ac.nz
Phone: +64 9 923 8796