Eag. Groenland et al., THE DYNAMIC PROCESS TRACING APPROACH - TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW METHODOLOGY FOR THE ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX CONSUMER BEHAVIORS, Journal of economic psychology, 17(6), 1996, pp. 809-825
The present article reports on the development of a new methodology fo
r describing and understanding complex consumer behaviours: the Dynami
c Process Tracing Approach (DPTA). DPTA may be particularly useful for
the longitudinal analysis of idiosyncratic consumer behaviour pattern
s. After a description of the assumptions and the purposes of the DPTA
approach, the procedures and analysis approaches involved in carrying
out the DPTA methodology are described in the context of a study on s
aving and financial management. It is shown that the complex consumer
choice processes involved in the selection of saving products can be d
ecomposed in sets of behaviour traces which offer a deeper insight int
o the psychological and situational factors guiding overt consumer beh
aviours. The results show that the advocated approach may have intrins
ic merits, both from a scientific and from a practical or commercial p
oint of view.