Pseudo panels as an alternative study design

Marketing academics and practitioners increasingly recognise the importance of studying the dynamic nature of consumer attitudes and behaviour. However, recent works highlight a dearth of longitudinal studies into consumer dynamics published in marketing academic literature (Leonidou et al., 2010, Rindfleisch et al., 2008 and Williams and Plouffe, 2007). In an attempt to address this gap, this article evaluates the ability of available research designs to meet various research objectives in the study of consumer dynamics. This evaluation highlights the need for a technique capable of modelling gross and individual level change using repeated cross-sectional data. The article proposes the use of pseudo panels to address this gap and advances the use of data fusion techniques for matching independent samples over multiple time periods to create these pseudo panels.

► Explores different study designs’ ability to meet several common research objectives.
► Highlights advantages and disadvantages of longitudinal and cross-sectional designs.
► Proposes the development of pseudo panels using data fusion techniques.
► Explores considerations for developing pseudo panels using data fusion techniques.