Theoretical foundations to explain consumer behavior

Abstract

Consumer behavior encompasses a complex set of actions and decision-making processes that individuals or groups carry out when searching for, acquiring, using, evaluating and disposing of products or services. This behavior is influenced by various factors, including personal characteristics, perceptions, motivations and social influences. In this sense, the study of the different theoretical and conceptual reflections that have explained the factors that intervene in the consumer's purchasing decision is considered relevant. Consequently, the objective of the article is to systematize the theoretical foundations that explain and conceptualize consumer purchasing decisions, in order to find a convergent vision, for which a literature review methodology is used, using a descriptive synthesis. to analyze 36 theoretical and conceptual foundations that explain consumer behavior from 1738 to 2017.

The results of the research range from purely rational perceptions to holistic understanding that integrates psychological, social and emotional dimensions, with notable advances due to the fusion of economics and psychology, which is why the importance of analyzing the phenomenon through a holistic understanding that includes these aspects to predict consumer behavior with greater certainty.