BEHAVIOR OF INDIVIDUAL CONSUMERS AS AN OBJECT MANAGEMENT INTERESTS
Authors:   University of Customs and Finance, Petrunia Yurii Y. , Petrunia Vira Y. ,   University of Customs and Finance, Guba Olexander I. ,   University of Customs and Finance
Published: January 2022

The article deals with the reasons, directions and scope of the interest of society, institutions of state regulation and managers of business structures concerning the behavior of households as consumers. It was demonstrated that, in the modern socioeconomic system, households act as independent agents, including the area of consumer behavior. At the same time, the consumer behavior of households has a socialized character: firstly, in the context of the implementation of the procedure for obtaining the goods needed to meet the needs; secondly, in the context of the emergence of certain social consequences from the use of acquired goods by households; thirdly, in the context of the conditions of existence, functioning and development of business organizations. The socialized nature of consumer activity determines that the behavior of individual consumers should be the point of interest and influence from the society, state and local institutions of the government and business. At the same time, that behavior can be the subject of interest and influence from the side of society, state institutions of management and business. It was proved that protection of public interests requires an establishment of the certain social control over consumer behavior. On the basis of the analysis it was established that the social interest in individual consumer behavior can be represented in the following directions (forms): objective, quantitative and subjective-territorial. It was found that the objective public interest in the consumer behavior of households involves the focus on consumer choice of specific goods and services. Assessment of consumer behavior in the context of “buying” is associated with the impact of such choices, firstly, on the health of individuals and society taken as a whole, and secondly, on the worldview, creative and intellectual development as individuals, and society taken as a whole. By contrast, the health condition affects the level of “social happiness” (social welfare), efficiency and productivity of social work (ability to perform a certain amount of work and provide a certain level of intensity), the corresponding costs of the state and local budgets connected with the prevention and treatment of diseases, the use of various compensation payments related to the health problems. Quantitative form (direction) of public interest in the behavior of individual consumers may be related to the health issues, macroeconomic policy, resource potential, ensuring a balanced situation in different commodity markets, achieving the required level of the national economic security. The subjective territorial direction of public interest in the market behavior of households is related to the assessment of the social consequences of individual consumer decisions on the choice of entities in the supply chain of goods and services. Such entities may be business organizations of a particular jurisdiction: residents or non-residents. The aggregate market choice of consumer households in this context has certain macroeconomic implications related to the competitiveness of the national economy, the current and future state of its security