A Review of the Impact of Psychosocial Factors on Consumer Decision-Making

Bi Lun ()
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Bi Lun: Renmin University of China, School of Mathematics

A chapter in Proceedings of the 2026 11th International Conference on Financial Innovation and Economic Development (ICFIED 2026), 2026, pp 966-975 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract In recent years, the rapid development of behavioral economics and digital technology has profoundly reshaped the consumer decision-making process, highlighting the important influence of social psychological factors such as conformity and social comparison. This paper integrates theoretical frameworks and empirical findings across different consumption contexts, and systematically reviews the latest research progress on the influence of these two factors on consumer decision-making. In terms of conformity, scholars have conducted theoretical and empirical research in emerging markets and typical contexts such as healthy eating and online consumption. Studies found that although health awareness remains the core driving force, conformity has a significant amplifying effect on health-related consumption, particularly among groups with lower educational levels. Peer effects, gender differences, and situational factors such as live-streaming e-commerce further moderate the influence of conformity behavior, revealing its characteristics in digital environments. Regarding social comparison, scholars have established a rich theoretical framework and applied it to empirical studies in areas like productive and sustainable consumption. Social comparison significantly influences consumer decision-making across contexts, moderated by individual factors such as gender. Existing research limitations include overreliance on homogeneous online samples and insufficient exploration of real-world factor interactions. Future research should expand sample diversity, develop unified frameworks to analyze factor interactions, and examine emerging contexts such as virtual consumption in the metaverse. This review provides an important reference for understanding how social psychological factors shape consumer decisions.

Keywords: Psychosocial Factors; Consumer Decision-Making; Conformity; Social Comparison (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.2991/978-94-6239-642-5_102

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