Purchase Propensity as Adaptive Consumer Behaviour: Applying the Integrated Contextual Practice Theory (ICPT)

Purchase Propensity as Adaptive Action: Applying the Integrated Contextual Practice Theory (ICPT) to Consumer Behaviour and Business Strategy This developmental pre-print adapts the Integrated Contextual Practice Theory (ICPT) from sociology to business studies and consumer behaviour. The paper introduces Purchase Propensity (P) as a heuristic model explaining why consumers frequently fail to act on their stated preferences and purchase intentions. Rather than interpreting the value–action gap as inconsistency, the framework proposes that consumer behaviour reflects adaptive responses to structural constraints. The model integrates five core determinants of purchase behaviour: Consumer Purchase Habit (H), Brand and Product Value Alignment (V), Social Consumption Signalling (I), Consumer Contextual Stress (Cs), and Market Cultural Permissibility (C). Together, these variables are represented within a socio-mathematical equation designed to diagnose how internal motivations and external conditions jointly influence purchasing decisions. The paper presents six illustrative consumer scenarios, a measurement protocol for empirical operationalisation, six falsifiable hypotheses, and discusses implications for marketing strategy, consumer segmentation, pricing, retail management, and sustainable consumption research. This work is a developmental theoretical pre-print and has not yet been empirically validated. All numerical examples are illustrative and are intended to demonstrate the internal logic of the framework. The paper forms part of the ongoing development of the Integrated Contextual Practice Theory (ICPT) research programme.