MBA404 – Consumer Decision-Making Process
Assessment Description.
In this individual assessment, students will be given an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding and ability to explain consumer behavior determinants by analyzing the role of perception, attitude, and motivation in consumer behavior.
Assessment Instructions
To help you start all three assessments in this subject on the right track, over the first three weeks of the trimester, your workshop facilitator will engage you and the rest of the class in preliminary discussions about the product or service you would like to choose. Please pay specific attention to your workshop facilitator instructions regarding products/services that are not permissible.
By the end of week 3, you are required to submit a validation step via MyKBS, under the ‘assessments tab’ > ‘Product/Service Validation’ icon. In preparing this step, you must explain which product or service you will focus on in all three assessments, when and where you bought this product or service, and what ‘need’ and ‘want’ did your chosen product or service fulfilled. You will also need to take a selfie of yourself and your selected product or a selfie of you experiencing the chosen service and upload it in the validation step.
The validation step is worth 5% of your grade in this subject, with 0% awarded for a rejected choice, 2.5% awarded for a partially approved choice, and 5% for an approved choice in full. Please note that you will not be able to submit any other assessment in this subject until your workshop facilitator has approved your choice, so be wise and don’t be late.
Once your workshop facilitator has validated your product or service choice, you are required to prepare a 1200-word written analysis by providing the reader with an in-depth analysis of how you have moved through each of the consumer decision-making steps. In preparing your written analysis, you will also need to identify any possible issues that may have
occurred during this process. Please use ‘Week 2 Student Handout’ as a starting point for your analysis.
More specifically, you must:
1. Analyze the need and want that led you to purchase the chosen product or service.
2. Examine the internal and external sources of information you used to purchase the chosen product or service. Please include screenshots of external sources of information to support your analysis and indicate your awareness set at the end of this section.
3. Evaluate alternatives and narrow down the chosen product or service attributes that satisfy your need and want. Please provide a detailed evoked set diagram to present your findings.
4. Analyze available purchase methods to determine how these methods impacted your decision-making process.
5. Analyze your post-purchase behavior by identifying the chosen product or service features that reduce your cognitive dissonance. Please note that in this step, the topic of customer satisfaction should not be considered.
The findings presented in the written analysis must be based on primary research and should be reinforced by an examination of relevant secondary data. You must also incorporate theories and concepts related to consumer behavior discussed in weeks 1 to 4.
You are required to use at least 5 sources of information and reference these in accordance with the Kaplan Harvard Referencing Style. These may include websites, social media sites, industry reports, census data, journal articles, and newspaper articles. These references should be presented as in-text citations and a reference list at the end of your written analysis (not included in the word limit). Wikipedia and other ‘popular’ sites are not to be used. The written analysis is worth 25% of your final grade for this assessment, and it will serve as the basis for the second and third assessment in this subject.
Assessment Submission
The validation step must be submitted on time (before the end of week 3) via MyKBS, under the ‘assessments tab’ > ‘Product/Service Validation’ icon. Please review the information provided under the ‘assessments’ tab in this subject to check the submission’s specific due date and time. The written analysis document must be submitted on time (at the start of week 5) via MyKBS, under the ‘assessments tab’> ‘Written Analysis’ Turning icon. The submitted file must be saved as a ‘Word’ file to avoid any technical issues that may occur from incorrect file format upload. Uploaded files with a virus
will not be considered a legitimate submission. MyKBS will notify you if there is an issue with the submitted file. In this case, you must contact your workshop facilitator via email and provide a brief description of the problem and a screenshot of the MyKBS error message. You are also encouraged to submit your work well before the deadline to avoid any possible delay
involving the Turning similarity report or any other technical difficulties. Please review the information provided under the ‘assessments’ tab in this subject to check the submission’s specific due date and time.
Late assignment submission penalties
No late submission is allowed for the validation step in this subject. If you require an extension, please discuss this matter with your workshop facilitator in advance. Alternatively, you can review KBS’s Assessment Policy by clicking here for Special Consideration requests. Late written analysis submissions will be subject to late submission penalties in accordance with Kaplan Business School “late assignment submission penalties” Policy.*Assignments submitted at any stage within the first 24 hours after the deadline will be considered to be one day late and therefore subject to the associated penalty.
Important Study Information
What is academic integrity and misconduct?
What are the penalties for academic misconduct?
What are the late penalties?
How can I appeal my grade?
Word Limits for Written Assessments
Submissions that exceed the word limit by more than 10% will cease to be marked from the point at which that limit is exceeded.
Study Assistance
Students may seek study assistance from their local Academic Learning Advisor or refer to the resources on the MyKBS Academic Success Centre page.