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Our Research


Why and for what purpose are we researching?

The content of our research work:

(1) contribute to a better understanding of human behavior in economically relevant contexts

(2) to (further) develop theoretical approaches based on this, which allow the derivation of practical normative recommendations for design, and

(3) contribute to the integration of innovative developments and technologies into the marketing discipline from a rather broad interdisciplinary and empirical perspective.

Our research is more problem-oriented and phenomenological than methodological and, in line with modern marketing understanding, understands the business as an empirically accessible entity embedded in social contexts, for which the design of the interface to the sales market is particularly critical to success.

Since the design of marketing policy measures is preceded by an understanding of buyer and consumer behavior, interdisciplinary aspects of behavioral science should be addressed in research, without ignoring the positivistic problems associated with this.

In accordance with the relatively broad denomination of the professorship, the following problem areas and questions are to be focused on, which, somewhat simplified, can be assigned to the areas of applied research, interdisciplinary transfer research and basic research.

 

1. Sustainable Marketing Management: How can sustainable marketing be designed in line with operational objectives? How can conflicting goals be resolved? What does this mean for strategic and operative marketing? How must sustainability be communicated?

2. Trust Management in Digital Markets: What factors influence the establishment and recovery of trust in digital markets? What influence do different forms of communication (e.g. mobile media, avatars) have on building trust? How can these findings be used for operational purposes, e.g. in the area of internal and inter-company cooperation (e.g. in the management of (social) networks)?

3. Consumer Science, Consumer Policy and Antitrust Law: How are antitrust law instruments and interventions by antitrust authorities to be assessed from a marketing, consumer science and policy perspective? From the consumer's point of view, isn't competition more a problem of optimization than of maximization? What are the implications of current antitrust law developments for vertical marketing in developed distribution systems?

4. Innovation and Technology and Trade Marketing: focus on efficiency and customer acceptance (e.g. self-service technologies in retail): Can Porter's dichotomy between price and quality leader be solved with the help of SST/Prosuming? When yes, under which conditions and how? What (sales economic) potentials do these methods offer? What role do emotional aspects (trust, intuitions, heuristics etc.) play in this context? Which personnel policy and organizational aspects have to be considered (e.g. personnel acceptance)?

5. Consumer Neuroscience: How can impulsive and compulsive buying and consumption behavior be described on a neurobiological level? Which measures can be derived based on these descriptions (behavioral engineering)? Can the connectivity of two brain areas give an indication of how strongly the cognitive and affective functions inherent in these brain areas are linked (e.g. in the form of correlations)? Which neural mechanisms are linked to behavior in the "uncanny valley" and, more generally, to human behavior in the context of human-machine interaction?

6. Management of Social Innovations / Sharing: Which determinants drive the sustainable acceptance of social innovations (e.g. in the field of social entrepreneurship/social franchising)? Can social wear-out effects in the sense of diminishing marginal utility be observed? Is there variance there? Are there specific attachment problems ("not-invented-by-me syndrome", envy)? How can these be explained? What are the determinants and outcomes of social discounting in this context? What are the success factors in social entrepreneurship?

 

 

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