THE DYNAMIC PROCESS TRACING APPROACH - TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW METHODOLOGY FOR THE ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX CONSUMER BEHAVIORS

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.