Professor Nepomuceno’s goal has been to understand consumer decision-making, defined as the process in which consumers identify their needs, collect information and evaluate alternatives to make a purchase decision. This process is influenced by numerous factors and studied by several fields such as Anthropology, Sociology, Economics, Psychology and Marketing. Given his background in Psychology and Marketing, he uses techniques from these two fields to uncover what drives consumption and what motivates some to resist consumption. The chairholder’s research fits in three major research streams: Computer-mediated Consumption (BIG DATA); Anti-consumption and Ethical Consumption; and Physiological Antecedents of Consumption. The communality between these streams is the investigation of consumer behavior and consumer decision-making process. In short, Prof. Nepomuceno is passionate to understand what drives consumption and resistance to consumption; the ethical, psychological and sociological consequences of consumption and marketing practices; the physiological underpinnings of consumption; and how consumption takes place in computer-mediated settings.

The mission of the Chair is to develop, publish, and diffuse high quality research in the general field of consumer decision-making, with a focus on computer-mediated consumption and Big Data.

The results of Chair’s research program will positively impacts society. This will be in part achieved by transfer of knowledge (i.e., publishing research, inviting speakers, presenting research in conferences), but also through the proposed research streams. The research on anti-consumption and ethical consumption are of great importance to society as it focuses on uncovering the impact of consumption on individuals, society and the environment. In addition, the research on computer-mediated consumption is managerially relevant, particularly for marketing agencies in social media. Finally, the research on physiological antecedents of consumption innovates by providing new insights into the physiological underpinning of consumption.