INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN THE CONTEXT OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Abstract

The article examines the institutional transformation of consumer behavior under the influence of ongoing digitalization, focusing on how digital technologies reshape the structural logic of economic interaction. The paper is devoted to uncovering the deep interdependence between institutional environments and individual decision-making in the context of algorithmically mediated markets. The study aims to conceptually clarify how consumer choices are increasingly embedded within dynamic digital systems that blend formal rules, platform-specific norms, algorithmic architectures, and informal behavioral codes. The relevance of this investigation is determined by the growing complexity of digital consumption, where users interact with personalized recommendation systems, automated filtering, and interface design patterns that profoundly influence preferences, perceptions of risk, and trust formation. Methodologically, the research employs a multidisciplinary framework that integrates insights from new institutional economics, behavioral economics, and digital sociology. The analysis is structured across three institutional levels: macro (regulatory frameworks, national digitalization strategies, legal and supervisory mechanisms), meso (platform governance, internal platform policies, algorithmic regulation, interface logic), and micro (cultural norms, digital literacy, trust, heuristics). The findings demonstrate that digital platforms not only act as market intermediaries but also as institutional actors that set implicit norms, filter visibility, and organize trust infrastructures without full regulatory accountability. As digital environments become more autonomous, institutional gaps widen, creating a need for adaptive, transparent, and ethically grounded mechanisms of behavioral coordination. The practical contribution of the article lies in its capacity to inform the design of institutional frameworks that balance innovation and fairness in digital markets, enhance user agency, and support resilience in consumer decision-making under conditions of high technological dynamism and structural uncertainty.