34.1 Overview

(Simonson et al. 2001):

  • Behavioral Decision Theory (i.e., study judgment and decisions) (Kahnenman & Tversky) vs Social Cognition

    • Both use mediation and path analysis

  • Positivist (focuses on causation) Versus Postmordern (focuses on interpretation)

Behavioral Decision Theory Social Cognition
Underlying model decision-making model, (e.g., determinants of choice) response hierarchy model (i.e., how judgments and attitudes are formed)
Phenomena/ Task Stimulus-based Memory-based
Measures Information acquisition, verbal protocols, and response time Cognitive response

Types fo Consumer Research:

  • Theory Development

  • Theory Application

    • limited impact on managerial practice

Theory-Testing vs. Substantive Phenomena-Driven Consumer Research

(Janiszewski, Labroo, and Rucker 2016)

  • Deductive-Conceptual Knowledge

    • A theory is “a statement of concepts and their interrelationships that shows how and/or why a phenomenon occurs.” (Corley and Gioia 2011)

    • Knowledge Creation Strategies:

      • Bridging disciplines

      • Challenging assumptions

      • Introducing mediators and moderators

      • Contrastive explanation

      • Borrowing and blending

    • Knowledge Appreciation

      • Quality of the contribution

        • depends on rigor, and execution of research method

      • Benefit of the contribution

        • Originality / Novelty

        • Interestingness

        • Changes in core understanding/beliefs

  • Integration (i.e., tree of knowledge)

References

Corley, Kevin G., and Dennis A. Gioia. 2011. “Building Theory about Theory Building: What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution?” Academy of Management Review 36 (1): 12–32. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2009.0486.
Janiszewski, Chris, Aparna A. Labroo, and Derek D. Rucker. 2016. “A Tutorial in Consumer Research: Knowledge Creation and Knowledge Appreciation in Deductive-Conceptual Consumer Research.” Journal of Consumer Research 43 (2): 200–209. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucw023.
Simonson, Itamar, Ziv Carmon, Ravi Dhar, Aimee Drolet, and Stephen M. Nowlis. 2001. “Consumer Research: In Search of Identity.” Annual Review of Psychology 52 (1): 249–75. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.249.