Transition of Socio-Cognition in a Market's Emerging and Mature Stages: Market Transformations Interpreted through Newspaper Articles

Abstract

In this study, we examine market dynamics and relationship between market maturity and the transition of social interests. We define “socio-cognition” as a social construct that affects both consumers' product preferences, pertaining to product attributes or functions, and firms' product development direction, and examine its qualitative alteration. We set relevant hypotheses with respect to the transition of socio-cognition, and discuss the measurement and analytical procedures to investigate this transition. As a result, we find that the change in product labels is closely related to the transition of the socio-cognitive focus.