Members

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.

Nowadays, novel phenomena, which are often driven by the rapid technological proliferation, are shaping individuals and their behavior. For instance, firms have integrated games into their interactions with consumers, have opened their product configuration systems to social networks as Facebook, or urge consumers to take a selfie when they purchase novel outfits. Often, the consequences of these phenomena are not understood, which I find thrilling and consider to be a huge opportunity. 
My main research interest is in understanding how novel phenomena, which are spurred by upcoming technologies, affect consumers in their behavior and decision making. I strongly believe that this does not only contribute to consumers’ welfare—as they can make better decisions—but also that companies can draw on the insights to support consumers in making decisions that they benefit from. Along with classical experiments and field experiments my methods also comprise data-driven approaches focused on modeling heterogeneity of field data.

We often underestimate the impact of emotional experiences. As a consumer psychologist, 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 to help them make happier, more fulfilling consumption decisions that will be better for themselves and for society. I seek to better understand emotional processes to help design marketing strategies that are both more effective and more respectful of individuals’ and society’s well-being. My research is applied to emotion-laden consumption episodes, such as retail experiences, luxury and indulgent consumption, 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.