Consumer Choice as Agency

  • Gordon R. Foxall
Chapter
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Abstract

Thus far we have been concerned with consumer choice as behavior which we traced through the behavioral perspective of the BPM, and consumer choice as action, traced through the action perspective and the decision perspective. This concluding chapter offers a tentative view of consumer choice as agency, on the basis that actions are bodily movements for which the individual is responsible. The philosopher John Searle refers to the point we reach in our decision making when we can fail to be influenced by the desires and beliefs we have so carefully formulated and even the decisions we have firmly made as “the gap.” The place of rationality in agency is discussed, and we conclude with coverage of consumer agency.

The Conclusion briefly draws together the themes discussed earlier and proposes that only a multiperspectival consumer psychology can capture the subtleties and nuances of consumer choice. It contrasts the consumer behavior, which is explicable by reference to a controlling environment, with the consumer action which is brought about by the individual acting purposefully. Finally, it assimilates the implications of cognition and action for the understanding of consumer choice as agency.

Keywords

Consumer Behavior Discriminative Stimulus Consumer Choice Rational Explanation Psychological Explanation 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Gordon R. Foxall
    • 1
  1. 1.Business DepartmentCardiff UniversityCardiffUK

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