O impacto da liberalização do mercado de energia na tomada de decisão do consumidor

: fatores de influência na escolha da marca no caso EDP

Abstract

investigation intends on contributing to a better understanding about the concept of consumer behavior and its decision making process when choosing an energy provider, more specifically, in a transitional environment from a state regulated to liberalized energy market. This study was conducted following the final project for the Masters in Ciências da Comunicação, with a major in Marketing and Advertising, from Universidade Católica Portuguesa and had its inception with an internship in EDP, in the department of Brand Communication, during which the main topic was the transition to a liberalized energy market. This change brought in new challenges to the company, such as understanding customer loyalty and bringing in new customers Summarizing, this investigation’s purpose is to study the factors that influence the decision of the consumer, and the possible relation between the independent variables: marketing stimuli / consumer stimuli, and the dependent variables, which will later influence the decision making process. The methodology used, after much revision of past published literature, was a survey through questionnaire The topic that is addressed in the present investigation becomes relevant, mainly, to the field of communication and marketing, not only because it further explores a question already studied regarding consumer behavior and decision making, but also because it focuses in a period in which the market is changing drastically and gives it great context to the Portuguese market. The company understands over consumer behavior focuses mainly in their necessity to bring in new customers and increase loyalty in the current one. If they present an overall high quality of service and good communication efforts, it is more likely that consumers that were still present in the state regulated market opt now to become customers of EDP. This becomes even more relevant following the results achieved in this investigation, which revealed that past experience and quality/responsiveness of the service are the main factors influencing decision making in the energy market for Portuguese consumers.

Date of Award	18 Apr 2016
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Patrícia Dias (Supervisor)