A systems approach to consumer spatial behaviour

Abstract

This first part of the thesis forms an introduction to the topics to be examined in more detail later. Chapter 1.1 comprises a theoretical discussion of some aspects of human geography as a study of behaviour and argues that the relationships between form and process constitute a classical geographical problem of which one particular example the spatial patterns of household shopping trips for convenlence goods -- is analyzed in this thesis. The nature and implications of the behavioural approach form the foundation on which the research reported here is based. Section 1.1.1 draws attention to the increasing number of studies by human geographers and other social scientists of actual rather than idealized situations and then reviews the directions that this research has taken and the problems involved. Actual behaviour is seen as the outcome of 'psychological mechanisms' and it is argued that research along these lines must, therefore, take account of such processes as decision-making and learning, in addition to analyzing both overt behaviour and the environment. Two contentions -- central to the thesis -- are put forward: (i) any study of behaviour demands a conceptual framework; (ii) the problems of relating human behaviour to the environment can be analyzed within a systems theory framework. The second of these points impinges on the classical geographical problem of relating form and process at a sat.isfactory level of aggregation and, In this context, the particular research problem investigated in the thesis is described. Studies of behaviour are essentially micro-scale and the Section concludes with a review of attempts that have been made to incorporate behavioural considerations into models of the marketing process. It is argued that early studies have adhered too rigidly to the condition of spatial equilibrium. The implications of this behavioural research, especially in a philosophical and methodological sense, are developed in Section 1.1.2 where particular attention is paid to the scientific status of geographi c inquiry. It is ma intained that the influences on geography of natural science, social SClence, and history have led to the mechanistic, organic, and process-oriented frameworks, and it is suggested that to these should be added the influence of systems theory. Two specific implications of the behavioural approach are stressed: first, research should be set against the broader canvas of behaviour theory and is, therefore, to a certain extent, inter-disciplinary; and, second, all studies of behaviour are unavoidably subjective. The inter-discip linary nature of the research necessitates the introduction and definition of a series of concepts which are, to a large extent, unfamiliar to most geographers.