Introduction to Consumer Behavior

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID: Marketing 490 ConsumerBehavior
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: TThis open textbook is being utilized in a Consumer Behavior course for undergraduate or graduate students by Duane Cofield at California State University Long Beach. The open textbook provides students with concepts, terminology, theories and interactive material on how consumers behave in the marketplace. The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was textbooks have been very expensive and for some students can be the difference in attending or passing the class]. Most students access the open textbook in online or pdf format.

Course Title and number: Consumer Behavior Marketing 490

Brief description of course highlights:  Introduction to the acquisition, consumption, and disposal of products and services; individual, household, and organization consumer decision-making processes; influence of groups, subcultures, culture, and global consumer culture.

Student population: Most students that have taken this course have been 3 or 4th year Marketing Majors, although I have had students from other disciplines taking this course as way to fulfill course requirements for Marketing as a minor. 

Course prerequisites: Marketing 300

Learning or student outcomes:  

1. Students will be able to describe the internal dynamics of consumers as individuals including perception, learning and memory, motivation and values, self-concept, gender roles and identity, personality and lifestyles, attitudes and persuasion.

2. Students will be able to describe how consumers make decisions and what influences those decisions including groups, opinion leaders, households, and organizations.

3. Students will be able to illustrate how social class, subcultures, and cultures influence

consumers in the acquisition, consumption, and disposition of products, services, and ideas in a local and global context.

4. Students will weekly consumer behavior simulations that effectively integrate the course material with the real-world actions of a company and their impact on consumer culture. 

Textbook or OER/Low cost Title: Introduction to  Consumer Behavior

 This open textbook was designed for students studying business or marketing at an undergraduate level. It draws on the fields of marketing, business, communications, media studies, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. The book invites readers to examine the internal forces that shape consumer decision making, such as perceptions, motivations, personality, and attitudes as well as the external ones, such as social and situational influences, culture, and subcultures. This text centers the lived experiences of today’s consumers, specifically, undergraduate students. The author has also made efforts to decenter whiteness and dominant culture perspectives wherever possible to ensure a broader and more accurate representation of diverse consumers. This OER contains content created by students from Kwantlen Polytechnic University and is best used alongside the Ancillary Resource Guide that contains several essays, case studies, assignments, and project outlines, and an accompanying multiple choice test bank

Please provide a link to access the resource:

https://collection.bccampus.ca/textbooks/introduction-to-consumer-behaviour-bccampus-174/ 

Authors:  Andrea Niosi, Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Student access:  

Students will have access to the textbook via the LMS with a downloadable PDF available. If students have access to Merlot, it will be available online or mobile devices via the LMS. 

Supplemental resources: The supplemental resources include a list of case studies, essays and activity suggestions provided by the authors. Additionally, the authors provide a test bank in word format by request.  

The textbook that we are currently using is $99 for students to have access to LMS + PDF Version of textbook for 6 months. Students should experience savings of $45 to $125 per semester by using the no-cost option textbook. 

License: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Please provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost. This resource will save students money and make this accessible to any students who have access to a device.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course?  I was assigned an amazing team of a librarian and consultant who found an amazing resource with supplemental materials. 

Sharing Best Practices:  I think this practice is the future of equitable education and something that should be championed by the college or discipline. 

Please provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost. This resource will save students money and make this accessible to any students who have access to a device.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course?  I was assigned an amazing team of a librarian and consultant who found an amazing resource with supplemental materials. 

Sharing Best Practices:  I think this practice is the future of equitable education and something that should be championed by the college or discipline. 

Describe any challenges you experienced, and lessons learned. Some material is not available and some links were broken. 

Instructor’s Name: Duane Cofield 

 I am a Marketing professor at California State University Long Beach, Marketing 300 Principles of Marketing and Marketing 490 Consumer Behavior. 

Currently my research interests are in the consumer behavior section of marketing with interests in Conspicuous consumption, status signaling and brand loyalty through the lens of race, culture, and social class. I am also interested in consumer decision making particularly heuristics and biases. I have experience teaching: Principles of Marketing, Retail Management, Intro to Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing, Marketing Analytics, Web Analytics, and Professional Selling.