<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!DOCTYPE article  PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v3.0 20080202//EN" "http://dtd.nlm.nih.gov/publishing/3.0/journalpublishing3.dtd"><article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en" article-type="research article"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">OALibJ</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title>Open Access Library Journal</journal-title></journal-title-group><issn pub-type="epub">2333-9705</issn><publisher><publisher-name>Scientific Research Publishing</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.4236/oalib.1111118</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">OALibJ-130633</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="heading"><subject>Articles</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="Discipline-v2"><subject>Biomedical&amp;Life Sciences</subject><subject> Business&amp;Economics</subject><subject> Chemistry&amp;Materials Science</subject><subject> Computer Science&amp;Communications</subject><subject> Earth&amp;Environmental Sciences</subject><subject> Engineering</subject><subject> Medicine&amp;Healthcare</subject><subject> Physics&amp;Mathematics</subject><subject> Social Sciences&amp;Humanities</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title>
 
 
  The Study of Consumer Psychology in China from the Perspective of Informatics
 
</article-title></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Xiaotong</surname><given-names>Deng</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"><sub>1</sub></xref></contrib></contrib-group><aff id="aff1"><label>1</label><addr-line>Business School, Durham University, Durham, UK</addr-line></aff><pub-date pub-type="epub"><day>03</day><month>01</month><year>2024</year></pub-date><volume>11</volume><issue>01</issue><fpage>1</fpage><lpage>10</lpage><history><date date-type="received"><day>18,</day>	<month>December</month>	<year>2023</year></date><date date-type="rev-recd"><day>19,</day>	<month>January</month>	<year>2024</year>	</date><date date-type="accepted"><day>22,</day>	<month>January</month>	<year>2024</year></date></history><permissions><copyright-statement>&#169; Copyright  2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. </copyright-statement><copyright-year>2014</copyright-year><license><license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</license-p></license></permissions><abstract><p>
 
 
  The purpose of this study is to investigate the status of consumer psychology research in commercial marketing in China. Using the network open source data and the bibliometric method of informatics, the relevant results are obtained to support the in-depth investigation. Based on the effective research results, the paper discusses macroscopically and gives suggestions on promoting consumption from three levels: state, institution, and individual.
 
</p></abstract><kwd-group><kwd>Information Science</kwd><kwd> Consumer Psychology</kwd><kwd> Metrology</kwd></kwd-group></article-meta></front><body><sec id="s1"><title>1. Introduction</title><p>With the increasing popularity of live marketing in China, more and more scholars in the field of marketing have begun to pay attention to sales behavior with the help of social media. Actively cultivating consumption capacity and consumption environment will help expand and stimulate domestic demand and effectively recover and upgrade the economy hit by the epidemic, which is undoubtedly beneficial to the national economy and people’s livelihood [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref1">1</xref>] . Therefore, it is very meaningful to strengthen the research of consumer psychology. The content of consumer psychology is very rich, we should pay attention to the following points. There are four main types of consumer purchases based on the combination of consumer involvement and product differences [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref2">2</xref>] . 1) Complex purchases. It occurs when consumers first buy those products with a high degree of involvement and large brand differences. Most consumers know little about this kind of goods, but because it is expensive and belongs to durable consumer goods, the choice decision before purchase is very cautious, and it takes time to collect a lot of information and choose and compare in multiple directions. This is the most complex purchasing decision [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref3">3</xref>] . 2) Harmonious buying. It occurs when consumers buy goods with a high degree of involvement but little brand difference. As long as the price of different brands of goods is in the same grade, there is little difference in quality function, so there is no need to collect a lot of information or evaluation, and the high degree of involvement is mainly caused by high commodity prices or infrequent purchases. Decision-making focuses on whether to buy, and what grade to buy, and does not care about what brand to buy, and is more concerned about whether it can get price concessions, whether the purchase time and place are convenient, and so on [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref4">4</xref>] . 3) Multi-variant purchase. It occurs in products with large brand differences and low levels of involvement. Consumers often switch brands of goods they buy, mainly out of the randomness of trying something new and avoiding boredom. Consumers generally do not take the initiative to collect relevant information before purchasing such goods, but passively accept information through advertising and other publicity media. The evaluation of the goods also occurs after the purchase, and even if they feel good about the purchased goods, they may still change the brand when they buy the next time [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref5">5</xref>] . 4) Habit buying. When consumers buy goods with low involvement and small brand differences, it is a habitual reaction behavior formed after multiple purchases. Consumers often buy a certain brand, not out of loyalty, but out of habit, and when this item is not available on the shelf, consumers will not hesitate to buy another product that looks very similar [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref6">6</xref>] . Obviously, for different types of consumer buying behavior, enterprises have different opportunities and different emphases on promotion.</p><p>Informatics was developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s based on information work and Western philosophy. At present, the research of informatics begins to focus on economic activities and management [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref7">7</xref>] . Information economics, which mainly studies the production, distribution, exchange, and consumption of information products, has made remarkable achievements, and new branches have emerged one after another. Among them, Internet statistics and bibliometry are two important methods, which can help to understand the development of related professions [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref8">8</xref>] .</p><p>By using the above two tools, the macro-analysis of Chinese consumer psychology research helps obtain all kinds of high-value research reference information, to grasp the trend of research development in general and provide advice for commercial marketing.</p></sec><sec id="s2"><title>2. Materials and Methods</title><sec id="s2_1"><title>2.1. Internet Statistics</title><p>For domestic investigation and research, with the help of “The Baidu Index” and “360 Trend” can produce greater convenience.</p><p>“Baidu Index” is a data analysis platform based on Baidu’s massive Internet user behavior data. It is one of the most important statistical analysis platforms in the modern Internet and even the whole data era. Since its release, it has become an important basis for many enterprises’ marketing decisions [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref9">9</xref>] . The main function modules of the Baidu Index are trend research based on a single word, demand mapping, public opinion management, and crowd portrait; General trends are based on industry, geographic distribution, demographic characteristics, and search time characteristics [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref10">10</xref>] .</p><p>“360 Trend” is a big data demonstration platform based on the massive user data of 360 products, which can quickly obtain hot trends through keyword search, understand the real user needs, and understand the attributes of keyword search crowds [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref11">11</xref>] .</p></sec><sec id="s2_2"><title>2.2. Bibliometric Method</title><p>Bibliometrics refers to the interdisciplinary science of quantitative analysis of all knowledge carriers by mathematical and statistical methods [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref12">12</xref>] . It is a comprehensive knowledge system that integrates mathematics, statistics, and philology and pays attention to quantification. Its measurement objects are mainly: the amount of literature (various publications, especially journal papers and citations), the number of authors (individual collectives or groups), and the number of words (various literature identifiers, among which descriptors are most). The most essential feature of bibliometrics is that its output must be “quantity” [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref13">13</xref>] . Bibliometrics is based on several empirical statistical laws. For example, Lotka’s Law (1926), which characterizes the distribution of authors in the scientific literature; Zipf’s law for word frequency distribution in literature (1948); Bradford’s Law (1934) for determining the distribution of papers in a subject in a journal. Bibliometrics has been developing around these laws in two directions: one is to verify and improve these empirical laws; the second is to expand and popularize the practical application of these empirical laws. Bibliometrics is widely used. Micro applications include determining core documents, evaluating publications, examining the utilization rate of documents, and realizing the scientific management of the library and information department [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref14">14</xref>] . The macro application includes designing a more economical information system and network, improving the efficiency of information processing, finding the drawbacks and defects in literature service, predicting the direction of the publication, developing and perfecting the basic theory of information, etc. [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref15">15</xref>] .</p><p>The concept of National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) was proposed by the World Bank in 1998 [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref16">16</xref>] . Cnki integrates a large number of Chinese and foreign literature, including more than 90% of Chinese knowledge resources, such as Journals, academic dissertations, conference papers, newspapers, yearbooks, patents, standards, achievements, books, ancient books, laws and regulations, government documents, enterprise standards, scientific and technological reports, government procurement and other resource types, as well as more than 70,000 journals from more than 600 publishing houses in 65 countries and regions (covering 90% of SCI, More than 80% of SCOPUS), millions of books, and more than 300 million Chinese and foreign literature [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="scirp.130633-ref17">17</xref>] .</p></sec></sec><sec id="s3"><title>3. Results and Analysis</title><sec id="s3_1"><title>3.1. Internet-Based Data Analysis</title><p>From the perspective of domestic attention, the “Baidu Index” is used for analysis, and the corresponding results are shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">Figure 1</xref>. Using the “360 Trends” analysis, the corresponding result is shown in B in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig1">Figure 1</xref>. It can be found that since the data was included in the Baidu index in 2011, although the search volume of consumer psychology has declined slightly in recent years, it has been in an overall high state. This shows that all sectors of society are full of motivation and interest in the study of consumer psychology, and also shows the exuberance of macro consumption from one side.</p><p>As can be seen from <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig2">Figure 2</xref>, from the statistical data of 20130701 to 20231212 of the Baidu Index, Guangdong Province pays the highest attention to consumer psychology; followed by Zhejiang and Jiangsu; then came Beijing, Sichuan, Shandong, Henan, Shanghai, Hubei and Fujian, the provinces with the largest populations and economies. This also shows from one side the degree of</p><p>attention to consumer psychology and the vast research needs of the corresponding regions. The more developed the economy is, the more demand there is for the study of consumer psychology.</p></sec><sec id="s3_2"><title>3.2. Bibliometric Analysis</title><p>With the help of CNKI, this knowledge base analysis can carry out the statistical research work of the corresponding research.</p><p>As can be seen from <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig3">Figure 3</xref>, the number of research papers on “consumer psychology” began to increase significantly after 2000 when using CNKI for bibliometrics analysis, which indicates that after entering the 21st century, research on consumers has been attached importance by social and commercial organizations, and the early 21st century is indeed a period of good development of the global economy.</p><p>As can be seen from <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig4">Figure 4</xref>, in terms of the three main factors of consumption―“consumer”, “consumer psychology” and “consumer psychology”, relevant literature occupy the top three, which directly indicates the importance of consumption to social and economic activities and shows high research value. This shows how much attention society pays to the topic of “consumption”.</p><p>As shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig5">Figure 5</xref>, from the perspective of discipline distribution, the disciplines that research consumer psychology include various social and economic fields such as trade economics, enterprise economics, and industrial economics, covering a wide range. The wide coverage of subjects in this field also shows the interactivity of research in this field, so the cross-disciplinary correlation generated is conducive to the output of various achievements.</p><p>As shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig6">Figure 6</xref>, the influential institutions in this field include Nanjing Normal University, Jiangnan University, Wuhan University, and other universities. There are no social research institutions, including think tanks, which show</p><p>that universities are the main force in the field of consumer psychology research and have a high voice in the formulation of relevant policies.</p><p>As can be seen from <xref ref-type="fig" rid="fig7">Figure 7</xref>, all the supporting funds for various research results come from the national level, especially the National Natural Science Foundation and the National Social Science Fund, which account for an absolute majority of the results, which shows the importance of the state in this field.</p><p>Through various data, it can be seen that all kinds of institutions in China pay more attention to the study of consumer psychology, the relevant theoretical achievements are more prominent, various sales methods are more effective, and various research results have been effectively applied in real life. This shows from one side the exuberance and huge Chinese consumer market, and from the realistic level shows the vitality of China’s economy. It has been continuously improved with the development of China.</p></sec></sec><sec id="s4"><title>4. Suggestions and Reflections</title><p>In the previous chapter, results supported by a large number of data are obtained, and relevant conclusions can be summarized as follows:</p><sec id="s4_1"><title>4.1. Support for Research in Non-Teaching Institutions Should Be Enhanced</title><p>As teaching institutions, all kinds of colleges and universities have more resources, but they are not in the production line, and relevant statistical data are often not first-hand resources. It is suggested to properly enhance the support for institutions such as banks and statistical departments, and the research report data generated by the masked frontline business departments will be more conducive to the formulation of auxiliary policies.</p></sec><sec id="s4_2"><title>4.2. The Research on Consumer Psychology Should Be Strengthened Continuously</title><p>In the current relatively sluggish economic environment, stimulating domestic demand is an important part of revitalizing the national economy, with the in-depth study of consumer psychology, through more effective means to encourage and stimulate people’s consumption, which will be an important measure to boost the economy! The support of funds and resources from the national level will be an important support for the in-depth development of this field.</p></sec><sec id="s4_3"><title>4.3. Consumption Should Be Boosted through a National Coordinated Approach</title><p>For the stimulation of residents’ consumption, the importance of economic development is self-evident, in addition to the southeast coast of Beijing and Shanghai and other traditional consumption areas, the country and the central and western regions with relatively lagging consumption power. While maintaining the advantages of the strong, taking appropriate measures to enhance the ability of the weak will help achieve the development and promotion of domestic consumption power.</p></sec></sec><sec id="s5"><title>Conflicts of Interest</title><p>The author declares no conflicts of interest.</p></sec><sec id="s6"><title>Cite this paper</title><p>Deng, X.T. (2024) The Study of Consumer Psychology in China from the Perspective of Informatics. Open Access Library Journal, 11: e11118. https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1111118</p></sec></body><back><ref-list><title>References</title><ref id="scirp.130633-ref1"><label>1</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Gallage, N. and Laferriere, R. (2023) Book Review: Heritage Entrepreneurship Cultural and Creative Pursuits in Business Management Vanessa Ratten. International Small Business Journal, 41, 796-798. https://doi.org/10.1177/02662426231185687</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref2"><label>2</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Lim, R.E. and Lee, W.-N. (2023) Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility: How Fit, Specificity, and Cognitive Fluency Drive Consumer Skepticism and Response. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 30, 955-967. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2399</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref3"><label>3</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Ramesh, K., Saha, R., Goswami, S., Sekar and Dahiya, R. (2019) Consumer’s Response to CSR Activities: Mediating Role of Brand Image and Brand Attitude. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 26, 377-387.  
https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1689</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref4"><label>4</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Kim, S. (2019) The Process Model of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Communication: CSR Communication and Its Relationship with Consumers’ CSR Knowledge, Trust, and Corporate Reputation Perception. Journal of Business Ethics, 154, 1143-1159. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3433-6</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref5"><label>5</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Bigné-Alca&amp;ntilde;iz, E., Currás-Pérez, R., Ruiz-Mafé, C. and Sanz-Blas, S. (2010) Consumer Behavioural Intentions in Cause-Related Marketing. The Role of Identification and Social Cause Involvement. International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, 7, 127-143. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12208-010-0053-6</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref6"><label>6</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Heo, Y., Choi, C.-W., Overton, H., Kim, J.K. and Zhang, N. (2022) Feeling Connected to the Cause: The Role of Perceived Social Distance on Cause Involvement and Consumer Response to CSR Communication. Journalism &amp; Mass Communication Quarterly, 99, 213-236. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990211041546</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref7"><label>7</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Armenise, S., SyieLuing, W., Ramírez-Velásquez, J.M., Launay, F., Wuebben, D., Ngadi, N., Rams, J. and Mu&amp;ntilde;oz, M. (2021) Plastic Waste Recycling via Pyrolysis: A Bibliometric Survey and Literature Review. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 158, Article 105265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2021.105265</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref8"><label>8</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Akinpelu, E.A. and Nchu, F. (2022) A Bibliometric Analysis of Research Trends in Biodegradation of Plastics. Polymers, 14, 2642.  
https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14132642</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref9"><label>9</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Tong, Y., et al. (2023) Detection of Multi-Dimensional Driving Forces of Public Environmental Concern in China: Based on Spatial Heterogeneity Perspectives. Chinese Geographical Science, 33, 1109-1126.  
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11769-023-1378-5</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref10"><label>10</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Lin, L.L., et al. (2023) Spatiotemporal Distribution of Migraine in China: Analyses Based on Baidu Index. BMC Public Health, 23, Article No. 1958.  
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16909-9</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref11"><label>11</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Nadhom, M. and Loskot, P. (2018) Survey of Public Data Sources on the Internet Usage and Other Internet Statistics. Data in Brief, 18, 1914-1929.  
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2018.04.107</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref12"><label>12</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Jiang, Z., et al. (2024) Safety Leadership: A Bibliometric Literature Review and Future Research Directions. Journal of Business Research, 172, Article 114437.  
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114437</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref13"><label>13</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Sheela, S., et al. (2023) Women’s Financial Literacy: A Bibliometric Study on Current Research and Future Directions. Heliyon, 9, e21379.  
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21379</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref14"><label>14</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Shamir, B.-S., David, E.-M. and Luis, R.-Z. (2023) What Is Known about Osteoporosis Research in Latin America? A Bibliometric Analysis of Three Decades. Medicine, 102, e36103. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000036103</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref15"><label>15</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Wang, J.M., et al. (2023) Research Hotspots and Trends of Social Robot Interaction Design: A Bibliometric Analysis. Sensors, 23, 9369.  
https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202309.0527.v1</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref16"><label>16</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Liu, H., et al. (2022) Research Progress of Urban Wind and Thermal Environment Based on CiteSpace and China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database. Sustainability, 14, 13108. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013108</mixed-citation></ref><ref id="scirp.130633-ref17"><label>17</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple">Ma, C.C., Cao, S.J. and Gu, T.H. (2016) Usability Evaluation with Tasks Characterized by the Information Search Process The China National Knowledge Infrastructure. The International Journal for Minicomputer, Microcomputer, and Software Applications in Libraries, 34, 572-587. https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-05-2015-0074</mixed-citation></ref></ref-list></back></article>