Develop and enhance both individually and collaboratively effective written and oral communication skills for both specialist and non-specialist audiences.

This is an individual assignment and should be presented in an ESSAY style format with a word count of 2,500 words (word count excludes figures, tables, charts, appendices, list of references). The editorial requirements are: font Arial 12 and one and a half line spacing.

Beware of over-reliance on Internet sources, unless clear authorship and dates can be shown. You MUST cite fully ANY source of material used significantly in your assignment, whether by direct quotation or by paraphrase using the Harvard convention.

Not doing so constitutes ‘plagiarism’ which is a SERIOUS disciplinary offence.

On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:
Knowledge and Understanding.
On successful completion of the module, the student will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a critical awareness of the concepts, theories and debates surrounding consumer behaviour and their practical relevance to the development of marketing strategy;
2. Critically evaluate and synthesise differing approaches to the explanation of consumers’ behaviour in relation to products/services, brands, marketing communications and/ or social media;
3. Demonstrate a strategic understanding of contemporary consumer research issues in professional marketing practice.

Transferable/Key Skills and other Attributes.
On completion of this module students will have had the opportunity to:
1. Enhance and apply planning, organising, decision-making and time management skills appropriate for use in an organisational context.

2. Experiment and develop personal initiative and responsibility in undertaking complex investigations in the solving of organisational problems and issues.

3. Critically analyse and apply key ideas and concepts via comprehensive research relevant both to the subject area and to professional practice in the field.

4. Use terminology associated with the subject area accurately and in a way, which demonstrates sophisticated knowledge and understanding

5. Develop and enhance both individually and collaboratively effective written and oral communication skills for both specialist and non-specialist audiences.

On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:
Knowledge and Understanding.
On successful completion of the module, the student will be able to:

Task details and instructions: *Marketers acknowledge the importance of understanding consumer attitudes and purchase intentions, however, it is also well-established that there is discrepancy between what people express (via attitudes, values etc.) and what they actually do (Belz and Peattie 2009).*

Drawing on the academic literature relating to the relationship between attitudes and behaviour, you are required to explain why attitudes may not always help to predict consumer behaviour and why the attitude-behaviour gap might be so prevalent throughout the ethical consumption literature in particular.

Belz, F. M., & Peattie, K. (2009). Sustainability marketing: A global perspective. Chichester: Wiley.

As a guide, you should attempt to include in your discussion:

• Relevant attitude theory such as the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Theory of Planned Behaviour models (40 marks);

• An explanation as to why attitudes may not always help to predict behaviour (20 marks);
• An explanation as to why the attitude-behaviour gap might be so prevalent throughout the sustainable/ethical consumption literature (40 marks).

This is an individual assignment and should be presented in an ESSAY style format with a word count of 2,500 words (word count excludes figures, tables, charts, appendices, list of references). The editorial requirements are: font Arial 12 and one and a half line spacing.

Marking Scheme/ criteria

An essay which is characterised by the indicative content and style outlined in one of the following grade bands will be graded within that range.

Discussions relating to relevant decision-making models demonstrate an excellent understanding of a variety of consumer behaviour concepts. Discussions relating to each model’s strengths and limitations demonstrate an excellent knowledge of how such frameworks help marketers understand ethical consumers. In addition, discussions will identify alternative theories which can help marketers achieve a greater understanding of ethical consumer decision-making and give relevant examples. In general, the submission demonstrates a detailed and an excellent understanding of the subject with relevant secondary data being used to structure discussions.