Module Specifications
Academic Year 2025 - 2026
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Description MAD1000: The Changing Consumer aims to develop an appreciation and understanding of consumer behaviour. We shall also be looking at the role of consumption in the lives of individuals (including ourselves) and the importance of consumption in society today. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Learning Outcomes 1. identify and discuss the major ideas and theories that characterise the consumer behaviour field. 2. illustrate the relevance of consumers' personal and social make-up and consumers' behaviour, attitudes, and culture for marketing tactics and strategy. 3. discuss the effect of promotional and marketing activities on consumers' lives. 4. use academic research and theory and government and non-government published reports and statistics in understanding consumer behaviour. 5. Provide an awareness of the ways in which the social sciences can aid our understanding of the behaviour of individuals involved in marketing and purchasing. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml |
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Indicative Content and Learning Activities
Introduction to MAD1000 Course and Critical Reading and Writing Session This lecture will provide in-depth insight into the course programme and expectations, including an overview of the workshop programme and methods of assessment. Introduction to Consumer Behaviour and Post-Modernity This week’s lecture will introduce the topic of consumer behaviour, looking specifically at consumer typologies and the movement of postmodernity and its influence on consumer behaviour. Perception, Sensory Marketing & Authenticity Perception is the process by which physical sensations such as sights, sounds and smells are selected, organised and interpreted. It is the way we make sense of the world around us. In discussing the use of perception and sensory marketing within experiential contexts, we will delve into the discussion of authenticity, unpacking how marketers can create authentic unique products and experiences out of the unreal. Motivation & Learning Motivation refers to the processes that cause individuals to behave as they do. To understand the concept of motivation is to understand why consumers do what they do. Learning describes the change, which comes through experience, and the associations we make and the way in which we respond to stimuli and situations. Consumer Decision Making This lecture will look at the various approaches consumers use when they are faced with a purchase decision. We will look at the area from a number of different perspectives and will examine consumer problem recognition, needs, the search for alternatives, and the evaluation of alternatives as well as a number of ‘decision rules’ that consumers may use. Groups and Social Influence & Assessment Support Session Consumers are often influenced in their purchase decisions by a desire to be accepted by, and even admired by others. The groups to which we belong, both formally and informally, can shape our behaviour, our tastes and our lives. Influence may be strong; as in the influence family members or close friends; or it can be very loose and informal, such as the influence of celebrities. The second half of this lecture will offer an assessment Q&A and advice session to help students prepare their poster submissions. Reading Week During this week students are to continue/ catch up with readings and learning from the first 6 weeks of the course, get ahead of readings for the latter weeks of the course. They should also be working on their coursework poster submissions which are due the end of week 12. Self & Symbolic Consumption How we perceive ourselves plays a major role in how we perceive products, brands and marketing stimuli. The self-concept is a reflection of our attitude towards ourselves and these attitudes, whether positive or negative, will shape our tastes and help guide our purchase decisions. Disposition and Re-Consumption We live in a world of environmental threat, where sustainability is the mantra - how does consumer culture impact on this? This lecture begins to open discussion on the ethical themes of re-consumption, questioning why consumers wish to re-consume products/ services time after time and investigating how such consumer behaviour can be useful in helping our environmental worries. Following from this we begin to discuss the disposition process within the consumer behaviour model, investigating the modes of disposing of goods that consumers adopt and questioning is such a practice just “on trend” or a crucial consumer movement during an age of sustainability. Consumer Vulnerability & Marketplace Accessibility This lecture will look at the concept and contexts of consumer vulnerability and will help students to critically engage with theory and conceptualise what is vulnerability and how does the marketplace help or exasperate vulnerability. This week will also include a lecture exhibition, sharing the artworks from the ongoing project The Marketplace and I research project to help further learn about marketplace exclusion. Consuming Happiness Today, happiness is a consumable and sellable product or service. Throughout this lecture, we will look at the marketplace of happiness; from the thousands of products, experiences and services that enable us as consumers to become happy, to the products, services and experiences enabling increased well-being and leading to the prevalence of a therapeutic consumer culture before critically discussing do we need to always be happy? Poster Support & Exam Advice The first half of this lecture will provide final support for the poster assessment which is to be submitted by the end of week 12. The second half of the lecture will offer dedicated exam support and guidance. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Indicative Reading List Books:
Articles: None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Other Resources None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||