Professors

In the 21st century, identity-related motivations affect consumer decisions in a broad spectrum of domains. My ongoing research interests pertain to identity phenomena in the areas of sustainable consumption, consumer response to brands and luxury marketing. A particularly important focus of my current research is the study of the role of individual environmental identities and their impact on consumer behavior.

Today’s branding is human and authentic. I am convinced that meaning represents the new competitive advantage for tomorrow’s brands. My research interest revolves around the question of how companies can create meaning and well-being for stakeholders (especially customers, employees, managers, and society) through their marketing and branding activities. I mainly use concepts of positive psychology to promote the transdisciplinary exchange in research and teaching on the notions of branding and consumption. I am non-paradigmatic about the choice of research methods, because in my opinion method follows research question. Hence, I use a variety of methodological approaches such as interpretive research, survey research, as well as lab and field experiments.

Technology significantly shapes individuals and their behavior. Games, deepfakes, Virtual reality, and autonomous products have a significant impact on consumers. The consequences of these phenomena are barely understood. My main research interest is in understanding how technology-driven phenomena affect consumers. I believe that this contributes to consumers’ and companies' welfare. 

The impact of emotional experiences is difficult to estimate. I seek to better understand emotional processes to help companies design marketing strategies that are both more effective and more respectful of individuals’ and society’s well-being. My research focuses on emotions and well-being and on how to deliver value via consumer experience and consumer happiness. I am interested in understanding consumers’ emotions and how they can make better choices for themselves and for society. My research is applied to emotion-laden consumption episodes, such as indulgent consumption, retail experiences, pro-social or sustainable behavior, as well as individual or workplace well-being. To achieve that, I use a variety of methods, mostly lab/field experiments and surveys.

I’m passionate about topics related to human judgment and decision making. My research focuses on how the social context affects people’s judgments and preferences. For instance, how does observing other people’s choices (e.g., on Instagram) affect our own purchase behavior? What is the source of people’s erroneous beliefs that they are better (or worse) than others at certain tasks? How does this overconfidence manifest in financial risk-taking on smartphones? And how can biased judgments like these be attenuated? Substantively, my research contributes to the area of biases and errors in judgments, influencer marketing, and financial decision making.

Novel technologies have transformed marketing forever. Marketing strategies are relying on big data and machine learning, artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming an integral part of marketing activities, and consumers’ lives are shifting toward digital environments.

In my research, I am keen to investigate the profound and enduring impact these developments have on both marketing strategies and consumer behavior. Exemplary research questions include the role of artificial intelligence in fostering creativity and innovation in product development, as well as the balance between originality and conformity in the spread of social media trends. To address these timely topics, I employ a multi-method approach, combining unstructured data analysis (e.g., text and video analyses) with field and lab experiments.