A Review of Three Decades Using Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation in Marketing and Consumer Behavior

Agent-based modelling and simulation (ABMS) is one of the topics which has been extensively studied by researchers in the field of marketing and consumer behavior. However, no such analysis has been conducted on using Agent-based modelling and simulation in marketing and consumer behavior. An extensive bibliometric analysis, as well as a thorough visualization and science mapping, was carried out in this field from 1995 to 2022, in response to capturing recent ABMS development in this field. A total of 1210 documents from the WOS and Scopus databases were analyze d using bibliometrix R-Tool and VOSviewer. The results showed the 20 documents with the most citations were in the area of energy consumption (55%) and innovation diffusion behavior (20%). The USA has the most publications in this field, with the production of 188 documents. The “EXPERT SYSTEMS WITH APPLICATIONS” is a productive journal publishing in this field. Generally, the major journals that publish research on the use of ABM in marketing and consumer behavior are multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary. 6 clusters were identified based on the analysis of the most frequent keywords: Cluster 1 (multi-agent systems and consumer behavior), Cluster 2 (agent-based simulation and SCM), Cluster 3 (ABM and energy consumption), Cluster 4 (AMB and innovation diffusion), Cluster 5 (complex system and Simulation) and Cluster 6 (ABM and TAM). Prediction is one of the goals that has attracted the most attention of ABMS researchers among many goals such as optimization, description, self-organization, and adaptability, and there are many recent works in this field. These results show that many topics that were of interest in the past, such as the ontology of ABMS, are no longer of much interest to researchers, and the attention of researchers has been directed toward issues such as the diffusion of innovation, energy consumption, and pricing in recent years. This topic can determine the appropriate approach for other researchers to research in this field.