HANOI UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT AND TOURISM

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Individual reflection journal

Course: Consumer Behavior

Instructor: Mrs. Nguyen Phuong Lien

Tutorial: 2

Students: Luu Phuong Linh – 2104050024

Total word count: 1183

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Reflection of the inquiry processes................................................................................1

Personal growth/development........................................................................................2

Application in the future................................................................................................3

Reference list..................................................................................................................4

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 I. Reflection of the inquiry processes

I.1. Course Content Reflection

One interesting insight I have gained after the Consumer Behavior course is how meaningful the
course content structure is. Consumer behavior is defined as the mental and physical activities
that consumers engage in when searching for, evaluating, purchasing, and using products and
services (Foxall, 2020). At the beginning of the course, my expected results were to understand
the customer’s decision to purchase a product or service and to study some behavior-influencing
tactics. However, the scope of knowledge provided in this course is more extensive, including
the details of the influences on one’s behavior under no specific circumstances.

During the course, I occasionally think the content is irrelevant and unrealistic, as my first object
is only limited to purchasing decision making. In fact, the course gives a comprehensive
understanding of the influences from both internality and externality and then analyzes them in
detail by considering a specific decision-making situation. After this course, I recognize that
structure can be applied when there is an intention of changing any behaviors. I switch from
finding the one exceptional strategy to comprehending the target objects and finding out the most
suitable strategies.

I.2. Group Project Reflection

I believe the course structure aims to approach student’s learning processes differently, but it
could have done better. Instead of the final test, as in most of the subjects I have learned in
HANU, consumer behavior requires students to form a group of 8 and carry out a project to
change HANU student’s behavior. It is undeniable that Gen Z students refuse to be passive
learners and expect to be engaged in the learning process themselves (Sieva Kozinsky, 2017),
which the teamwork process can offer. However, the behaviors that need changes were only
raised and randomly assigned at the first tutorial; the possibilities and possible risks were not
thoughtfully considered before being given to groups.

I.3. Theories Reflection

After the course, I find Attitude Change Theories to be the most useful and applicable knowledge
I have newly gained. Previously, I thought the only way to affect one’s behavior was through
their beliefs, which can be considered Attitude-toward-the-object Approach. After the course, I
recognize there are other approaches to influencing one’s attitude based on the difference in
levels of involvement, the tendency to maintain consistency in mental decisions, etc. I have
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unconsciously applied the ATO approach to change my younger sister’s laziness by always
trying to say that “English is necessary for you in the future, so you need to study” to her. I now
learn that there are various suitable methods to apply instead of continuously persuading them to
share the same perceptions with me.

Other theories that can be seen in our group project are Perspectives on Consumer Decision
Making, Time Risk in Decision Making Approaches and Humor Appeals in Persuasion.

- We started with our observations with K23 students and realized their sleepy feelings and
their knowledge about the importance of taking a nap. However, due to the
environmental influences of inadequate facilities, which relate to Behavioral Influence
Perspective in Decision Making, the K23 students’ response is to stay awake until the
afternoon class. To change that behavior, our group created a map that displayed
available places to sleep.
- Another idea is to provide a service called Waking-up, which provides students with a
two-sided paper—one is “Don’t bother” and the other is “Wake me up, please"—so that
they can utilize it based on their needs. As the average napping time of 18-to-24 is more
than an hour (Sleep Foundation, 2022), exceeding the allowed time for lunch break, there
is a Time Risk of oversleeping, being late, or skipping afternoon class.
- The last theory is Humor Appeals – attract attention, create a positive reacts toward our
social posts. Provided that 73% of Gen Z say memes help them express ideas they would
normally struggle to communicate (GWI, 2023), it is easy to explain why this theory
succeeded.

II. Personal growth/development

II.1. Beliefs about learning

There is a development in my beliefs about learning, skipping from self-study, self-paced to
regular participation in the class. Originally, I strongly believed in the power of self-study. With
the development of technology, people are given the opportunity to access online resources. It is
also a trend among Gen Z that the learning process is more independent, self-directed
(Thehighereducationreview.com, 2023) and I ultilize it by successfully pass final test by mostly
self-study in microeconomics and macroeconomics. However, weekly participation on Saturday
morning classes affect my opinion. Approaching a specilized course are more complicated than
my expectation. It is important to combine reading textbook and being tutored and instructed
thoroughly by professionals.

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 II.2. Teamwork process
The most meaningful lessons I’ve learned after the teamwork process is courageous to take
responsibility and assertiveness. I’ve always avoided the leadership role for any group, even in
the academic environment or extra-curricular activities. Though I do believe in my
qualifications, I perceive a leader as someone who takes on a huge responsibility for all other
members, and I am scared that not fulfilling the role can badly influence the whole group.
Indeed, the effectiveness of an organization is measured primarily by the competence of its
representatives (Ignited.in, 2018). However, this course proves that there are multiple ways to
closely evaluate an individual's performance in group work, such as clearly distributed roles,
individual journal reflection, and the cross evaluation of members after group work. I believe
that with more data collected and more factors affecting it, the individual marks will be of higher
equity than the equal marks given to members without considering their contributions.

My role in the team is Supporter, which gives me the freedom to participating in multiple
activities that I am interested in. With certain experience, I worked with Communicator to plan
the public relations timeline for the project. However, not being in charge of any specific tasks
and without the work distribution from the leaders, I sometimes felt redundant and only had
things to do when some members asked for help. I should have been more assertive and
contributed to the group work.

III. Application in the future

There are some recommendations for the course structure. I believe the percentage given to the
group project should be reduced to 40%, corresponding with a reduction in the project length, the
number of members in each group, the scale of the target, and a more considerate problem
choice. The 10% cutdown can be used for new activities happening during the lecture and
focusing on individual performance.

In terms of the theories, they can have the power to permanently change my perception of others’
behavior. Though those theories are not so mind-blowing, by practicing a chapter of the
textbook, I could form the habit of slowly looking into any perceived behavior and explaining it
in a more comprehensive way instead of jumping to assumptions.

With the lesson of being more courageous and assertive, I believe there are multiple
opportunities for me to practice the leadership role in the next 3 semesters in HANU. Also I can
have a look at the Leadership course in the study program.

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 Reference list

Foxall, G.R. (2020). Grounding intentionality. Elsevier eBooks, [online] pp.221–250.

doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-814584-5.00010-x.

Sleep Foundation. (2022). About 80% of Us Nap, but Are We Doing It Right? | Sleep
Foundation. [online] Available at: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-news/who-is-napping-
and-how-long-are-naps [Accessed 25 Nov. 2023].

Sieva Kozinsky (2017). How Generation Z Is Shaping The Change In Education. Forbes.
[online] 24 Jul. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sievakozinsky/2017/07/24/how-
generation-z-is-shaping-the-change-in-education/?sh=40599fee6520 [Accessed 25 Nov. 2023].

Thehighereducationreview.com. (2023). Fostering Independence and Self-Directed Learning in

Gen Z through Online Tutoring. [online] Available at:
https://others.thehighereducationreview.com/news/fostering-independence-and-selfdirected-
learning-in-gen-z-through-online-tutoring-nid-4470.html [Accessed 25 Nov. 2023].

‌ WI (2023). Generation Z in 2023. [online] Gwi.com. Available at:

G
https://www.gwi.com/reports/generation-z [Accessed 25 Nov. 2023].

Ignited.in. (2018). A Study on the Role of Leadership - Ignited Minds Journals. [online]
Available at: https://ignited.in/I/a/303686 [Accessed 25 Nov. 2023].