Behavioral Science Foundations for Global Marketing Research and Practice: The Model of Goal-Directed Behavior

Abstract

Consumer research in global marketing boasts a number of important variables: values (Schwartz’s concepts; Hofstede’s framework), heuristics (decision rules), identity (global and local, cosmopolitanism), and personality/self-concept (ethnocentrism, conspicuous consumption, materialism). A shortcoming of this body of work concerns the neglect of processes and the need for theories and research grounded in causal mechanisms. Based on six fundamental psychological concepts, we reconceptualize the model of goal-directed behavior (MGB) and suggest how it can predicate basic global consumption behaviors. The key variables in the model are attitudes, emotions, cognition, desire, intentions, behavior/action, and outcomes. By integrating moderators into the MGB, it provides a general framework for explaining global consumer behavior.