The Chair will help increase knowledge on the background and consequences of consumer behaviour. Mixed methodologies and multidisciplinary theoretical foundations will be the recommended approaches. The research that will be conducted by the holder and his team will focus on 3 areas:
- Social media and online shopping
- Anti-consumption and ethical consumption
- Physiology of consumption
Social media and online shopping
This line of research will explore the role of social media in purchasing behaviour. Among other things, the research team will focus on the textual analysis of company publications on social media, in order to determine their impact on Internet user commitment and ultimately on a company’s sales. These analyzes will be conducted using machine learning techniques. The results will help create publication models that are very likely to generate commitment and sales.
Anti-consumption and ethical consumption
The research team will study anti-consumption movements and ethical consumption to determine what motivates certain people not to consume, to resist purchases, or to make more ethical consumption choices. There has been an increasing interest in this topic not only from a sociological perspective, but also from companies that depend on a certain type of clientele. Knowledge in this field could also guide the development of public policy.
Physiology of consumption
This area of research will focus on the study of purchasing behavior in connection with certain physiological characteristics including hormone levels (especially testosterone and estrogen). The main purpose of the research conducted by the Chair is to determine how an individual’s exposure to certain hormone levels is reflected in their behaviour and consumption patterns. Its other aim is to also observe how the correlation between hormones and consumption is modified depending on the context (e.g., competition between individuals of the same sex). Over and above marketing applications, this research niche will provide new insights into human behaviour.