Consumer decision-making mechanisms, including decisions to smoke, are generally considered in three main groups: economic, psychological and sociological. From an economic perspective, consumers are rational and have excellent market knowledge. However, we know that there are various psychological factors and processes that interfere with this “rationality”. An individual’s perceptions, motivations and similar psychological mechanisms play an important role in consumption decisions. When we examine consumer behavior from a sociological perspective, we realize that our attitudes are influenced by people around us and the community we belong to. A person who smokes is not an isolated individual, but subject to social norms, different cultures, expectations stemming from their profession, and government regulations.

Therefore, when it comes to Consumer Behavior, we try to focus on topics that are compatible with the goals of our project and our association, and to benefit from the expertise of our team having different specialties. For example, in one of our published articles, we saw that smoking cigarettes may be largely due to its symbolic effect on self-identification.

In our next research, we plan to focus on the subject of e-cigarette consumption. As you might know, more than 95% of tobacco users in Turkey use packaged cigarettes. We want to understand the reasons why at least some of these people are reluctant to switch to e-cigarettes despite widespread global interest. Our hypothesis on this issue is that as addiction increases (measured by the heaviness of smoking index), individuals would be less likely to quit smoking the product they are accustomed to. On the other hand, if an individual has an ‘innovative’ consumption profile, the intention to switch to e-cigarettes will directly increase; moreover, since innovativeness will reduce the negative effect of addiction level on the intention to switch to e-cigarettes, the moderating effect would be negative.

Let’s not forget that cigarettes are also a consumption object, and, just like sunglasses or pen, they carry both functional and symbolic meanings.

In our next research, we plan to focus on the subject of e-cigarette consumption. As you might know, more than 95% of tobacco users in Turkey use packaged cigarettes. We want to understand the reasons why some of these people are reluctant to switch to e-cigarettes despite widespread global interest, while some others have chosen to switch. Our hypothesis on this issue is that as addiction increases (measured by the heaviness of smoking index), individuals would be less likely to quit smoking the product they are accustomed to. On the other hand, if an individual has an ‘innovative’ consumption profile, the intention to switch to e-cigarettes will directly increase; moreover, since innovativeness will reduce the negative effect of addiction level on the intention to switch to e-cigarettes, the moderating effect would be negative.

Let’s not forget that cigarettes are also a consumption object, and, just like sunglasses or pen, they carry both functional and symbolic meanings. For the reasons explained above we believe it is important to study the reasons and motivations behind the smoking, vaping, and quitting decisions.