{"id":55,"date":"2026-08-24T09:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/?post_type=back-matter&p=55"},"modified":"2026-09-15T14:43:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T18:43:43","slug":"consumer-behaviour","status":"publish","type":"back-matter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/back-matter\/consumer-behaviour\/","title":{"raw":"Consumer Behaviour","rendered":"Consumer Behaviour"},"content":{"raw":"

Consumer Behaviour<\/h1>\r\nThis page is designed by Olivier Charbonneau, Senior Librarian for the Marketing department of JMSB, to support learning and classroom activities of students enrolled in MARK 305 Consumer Behaviour.\r\n\r\nSee also:\u00a0Business communication, for a half hour video on searching for business information.<\/a>\r\n
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Quick access<\/strong>: remember to access the Library\u2019s (1)\u00a0Business Research Portal<\/a>\u00a0for the recommended business sources; use the (2)\u00a0Ask-A-Librarian<\/a>\u00a0help desk; and the (3)\u00a0citing business sources in APA format<\/a>. In addition, you can access the Library\u2019s guide on how to\u00a0create an annotated bibliography.<\/a><\/blockquote>\r\nPassPort by Euromonitor\u00a0https:\/\/www.concordia.ca\/library\/guides\/business\/market-analysis.html<\/a><\/strong>\r\n\r\nVivintel\u00a0https:\/\/www.concordia.ca\/library\/guides\/business\/market-analysis.html<\/a><\/strong>\r\n

More on consumer trends<\/h3>\r\nMany people have a lot to say about consumer trends. What should you believe? What is true? Many students have difficulty differentiating conjecture, opinion, beliefs and facts. Some of these are rooted in our own biases, experiences or expectations. One thing is certain: you are called upon to think critically about the claims you are making. Thinking critically, in this case, means providing\u00a0credible evidence about the claims you are making.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nCredibility can be expressed in a variety of factors. Who is behind the claim? How have they arrived to their conclusion? What data or evidence did they analyse to make the claim? Do they describe their method, the limits of their analysis? Was it reviewed by experts? Do they stand to benefit from you believing their claim?\u00a0Do you really want to base your project on some shoddy source gleaned from an underwhelming search on Google? Or from some AI generated text?<\/strong>\r\n
\u201cIf you are\u00a0only using Google or Generative AI<\/strong>\u00a0for this project,\u00a0you will fail<\/strong> in achieving its learning objectives. \u201c<\/blockquote>\r\nTo succeed in this project, you must eliminate opinions from facts and provide\u00a0evidence from credible sources to support your claims<\/strong>\u00a0about consumers.\r\n\r\nHere is an example of a credible report with primary data from the Canadian Government: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is a federal agency that regulates to our country\u2019s media outlets, like TV or radio stations. They monitor market conditions of this sector to determine whether the policies that they enforce are useful. Because they are a government agency, they post this market research on the Internet for free.\r\n\r\nCRTC\u2019s Communications Market Reports\u00a0https:\/\/crtc.gc.ca\/eng\/publications\/reports\/PolicyMonitoring\/<\/a><\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn addition to government reports, to succeed in this project, you are expected to access and read\u00a0<\/strong>market and industry research reports from the\u00a0Library\u2019s collection of databases\u00a0<\/strong>BEFORE identifying the consumer trend for your project. Concordia University Library provides complementary (free!) access to reports used by professionals in your field.\u00a0Librarians at Concordia evaluate these databases and select the one providing the best evidence<\/strong>.\r\n\r\nHere are some recent books on the topic of consumer trends:\r\n\r\nPowers, D. (2019).\u00a0On trend\u00a0: the business of forecasting the future<\/em><\/a>. University of Illinois Press. Retrieved 2023, from\u00a0https:\/\/concordiauniversity.on.worldcat.org\/oclc\/1121628104<\/a>\r\n\r\nNiosi, A. (2021).\u00a0Introduction to Consumer Behaviour<\/a>. BC Campus. Retrieved 2023, from\u00a0https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/introconsumerbehaviour\/<\/a>\r\n

Tip: dig deeper with articles<\/strong> from trade news and scholarly sources<\/h4>\r\nIf you think you can do this in\u00a0Google or Generative AI tools, you are wrong<\/strong>. You will need to cite at least half-a-dozen\u00a0trade news or scholarly articles<\/strong> in your paper to write a decent paper. Good papers have much more than the minimal threshold. Yes, this means using library databases to locate articles, read and discuss them in your group and select the most salient elements for your report. If you do not engage with this task, you shouldn\u2019t complain about your grade. Forget Google for this step, use ProQuest instead<\/a>.\r\n\r\nSearch for\u00a0articles<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0ProQuest Business Databases<\/a>:\u00a0https:\/\/www.concordia.ca\/library\/guides\/business\/business-articles.html<\/a>\r\n\r\nSearch for companies (name of major players, brands, etc.), industry name or consumer trend concept. For example:\r\n\r\nConsum* behavio* AND (canad* or Quebec*) AND <company\/brand\/topic><\/em>\r\n\r\nFilter\u00a0Source type<\/strong>\u00a0for:\r\n
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  1. Trade journals: for industry news<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. Scholarly journals: for credible research<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nSelect & export citations in .RIS format to\u00a0Zotero<\/a>\u00a0or create bibliography. You can also use\u00a0Eureka<\/a>\u00a0(local newspapers in French) or\u00a0Factiva<\/a>\u00a0(worldwide trade journals).\r\n

    Parting thoughts<\/h3>\r\nYou may have to loop through the tips provided above a few times if you discover new evidence. Creatively combine data and insight from multiple sources to support your claims. Use only the most credible and authentic sources. Go to the bottom of things: be weary of superficial & fallacious sources.\r\n\r\nRemember, a successful project will have you answer clearly and concicely the following questions:\r\n