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Topic: Student Questions

Research Paper On:recession Affects On Consumer Behaviour

Posted by Anonymous on 9/26/2009 at 5:48 AM ET 250 Points
Hey All

I am doing my honours in Brand Leadership and am writing my research paper on the following topic: how the current economic situation has affected female consumers within a 2km radius (of where I live).

My question relates to the literature review - I am having great difficulty in structuring this. I have started with outlining consumer behaviour, and what influences this (cultural, social and personal factors) but I am having difficulty in finding journals or papers that discuss how consumer behaviour is affected(by external factors for example) or previous studies done on this.

Am I approaching this in the wrong way?

Assistance would be greatly appreciated as time is running out quickly.

Thank You.
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  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 9/26/2009 at 1:09 PM Accepted
    Dear outbox1,

    I'm not sure what you mean by "having great difficulty in structuring the literature review". If you mean you're having trouble tracking down references to cite, well your best bet might be to speak with your tutor or professor.

    As I've said elsewhere on this forum, when it comes to research, often, the more specific you can be with your question, the more refined the end result becomes.

    The other point to bear in mind is that, at its core, isn't ALL consumer behavior influenced by external factors? Isn't most of our mental map of the world brought into our minds from the outside world?

    It's through these elements—and our interpretations of them—that we create our perceptions. And it's through our perceptions and emotions that we make the vast majority of our decisions about everything to do with life and how we interact with it and how it impacts us.

    Then there's geography.

    Why are you concentrating on just a 2 kilometer radius? Might this limit your results? Or is it to CONTROL your results? If it's the latter, fine. But if it's the former, might it limit you and your results? Just curious.

    What's within this area to act as a catchment or as an incentive to live and work within it?

    What opportunities exist WITHIN your 2km radius that allow your target audience to spend money?

    What physical barriers or bridges might there be that either deter or encourage your target group in its quest to spend money, and how might they be moved around, broken through, eliminated, or spanned in order to increase their desire to spend money?

    Assuming that all bridges and obstacles are put in place or otherwise dealt with, on WHAT might this group spend its money and how regularly might its constituents spend their money, and
    to what end?

    How might any change in other factors BESIDES the economy influence your target group to either spend or save money?

    What's the total population of this area? How many of your group work, either full time, or part time? How many commute, how do they commute, how far do they commute, and how often?

    How many work from home? How many have children living at home? How many want children? How many have children that go to school or day car and how long might those children be away from the home?

    How close are stores where they might spend money and how easy or difficult is it to get to and from those stores and with what purchases?

    What's the average household income and how does it compare
    to other regions?

    How many people live in the average home? What's the total female population? What overheads might there be within these households and what portion of their total income can be classed as disposable, thereby giving an approximate percentage of money to be injected into the economy at any one time?

    I hope this helps you refine things a little more.

    Gary Bloomer
    Wilmington, DE, USA
  • Posted on 9/26/2009 at 1:50 PM Author
    Hey Gary,

    Thank you for your detailed and insightful reply.

    Apologies, when I stated I was having trouble structuring my literature review, I was referring to having trouble finding readings, journals or books to cite reference. This is because I cant find similar studies that have been done before (Im guessing) but as you state, almost any factors influence consumer behaviour. I suppose that is what makes this study that much more difficult.

    Referring to your geographical answer:

    I initially thought that this would control my results, my mom works within this area too, and I have had access to respondants for in-depth interviews because of this, but as you have explained to me, it does not narrow it down, but only opens things up. It may be wiser for me to merely state "how has the recession affected female consumers" (leaving out the 2km radius) because that brings in a 3rd factor (1 being recession, 2 being females). which makes it even trickier. As much as I would like to delve into the research at that level there is 1 week remaining on this, so I need to do what I can in this time. Unfortunately our schedule has been less than ideal (whos is heh).

    As you say, narrowing something down is the best thing, which I thought that I did, but I can see I didnt do.

    Im considering a topic change at this point, madness.

    Thank you for your insights once again.

    Regards

    Darren.

  • Posted on 9/29/2009 at 3:04 AM Author
    Hi Gary

    Would you be able to help me with something you mentioned pleased.

    "How might any change in other factors BESIDES the economy influence your target group to either spend or save money?"

    What do you refer to here? What other factors?

    Thank You

    *I didnt want to close this feed bcs then I couldnt ask this question right?
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