Description
PREFACE
Consumers rarely behave as textbook models predict. They praise variety yet simplify at the moment of choice. They trust negative reviews but seldom write them, demand privacy while freely sharing data, and remain loyal to brands that no longer satisfy them. These are not occasional anomalies. They are recurring patterns, and they shape the success or failure of marketing decisions every day.
This book grew out of a shared curiosity about these contradictions. One of us comes from microeconomics and behavioral economics, and two of us from marketing. We approached the same questions from different directions: marketing scholarship asks how consumers perceive brands, messages, and experiences; behavioral economics asks why choices systematically depart from rational benchmarks. We came to see each paradox in this book as a meeting point of the two perspectives.
The book examines 95 paradoxes organized in six parts: consumer behavior, marketing strategies, digital marketing, marketing communication, other applications, and behavioral effects in consumer decisions. Each paradox follows the same structure. It begins with a definition, then sets out a theoretical framework, the evidence drawn from a primary source, the mediating and moderating variables, and a conceptual model. It closes with a discussion of marketing implications and research questions that can be developed into testable hypotheses. Part Two presents Paradox 34 together with a family of closely related derivative paradoxes on pricing and promotion. The Introduction includes a map of related paradoxes to help readers move between chapters that address neighboring phenomena through different mechanisms.
We wrote this book for three audiences. For researchers, it offers a set of propositions and research questions that invite empirical testing. For graduate students, it provides an integrated overview of key theories and findings in consumer behavior and behavioral economics. For practitioners, it offers a vocabulary for recognizing the contradictions that so often lie behind positioning errors, failed campaigns, and eroding brand trust.
No single book can settle these questions. Our aim is more modest: to make the contradictions visible, explain why they arise, and open them to further research. We hope readers will find in these pages not only answers but also good questions.
We thank our colleagues and students, whose discussions and feedback sharpened many of the ideas presented here, and our families for their patience throughout the writing process.
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