Current Topics
Conceptual & theoretical topics
Marketing at the end of the product life cycle
Disappearing products may invoke the feeling of missing something. This emotional reaction arises from an individual need that can no longer be fulfilled. However, the melancholy related to these missing products can be profitable for companies as there are several ways to benefit from this nostalgia. These feelings and their implications for successful marketing in this late stage should be analysed within this master's thesis:
One way is to preserve a typical element and to integrate it into the new product as a "bridge to the familiar". An example would be the page-turn animation adopted by e-readers or the shutter-release click sound that accompanies a digital snapshot. Another way of dealing with disappearing beloved gadgetry is to turn the relics into cult objects. Once part of our everyday lives, new meaning can be attributed to products that have lost their cultural significance. This tendency can be observed in the current success of vinyl in response to the ubiquity of MP3.
Thus, the question arises if integrating nostalgic aspects into new products stimulates purchase intention. How can successful repositioning be achieved by means of marketing and what are important drivers? The work should explore those questions by means of an empirical study.
Belz, F. M. (2017). Marketing in the age of sustainable development. In System Innovation for Sustainability 1 (pp. 126-146). Routledge.
Rose, C. M. (2000). Design for environment: a method for formulating product end-of-life strategies (Vol. 185). Stanford, CA, USA: Stanford University.
Consumer Behavior and goal systems theory
This work should provide an overview about goal systems theory and its applicability to consumer behavior research. The focus of the work can be either content-related or methodological (or both). A typology of goals might be derived and related to behavioral decision making and consumer well-being. A methodological reflection might investigate measurement aspects of goals and the analysis of decision making under multiple goals.
Aspara, J., Chakravarti, A., & Hoffmann, A. O. (2015). Focal versus background goals in consumer financial decision-making: Trading off financial returns for self-expression?. European Journal of Marketing, 49(7/8), 1114-1138.
Kruglanski, A. W., Shah, J. Y., Fishbach, A., & Friedman, R. (2018). A theory of goal systems. In The Motivated Mind (pp. 215-258). Routledge.
Kopetz, C. E., Kruglanski, A. W., Arens, Z. G., Etkin, J., & Johnson, H. M. (2012). The dynamics of consumer behavior: A goal systemic perspective. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22(2), 208-223.
Chun, W. Y., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2006). Consumption as a multiple-goal pursuit without awareness. In Applying social cognition to consumer-focused strategy (pp. 213-230). Psychology Press.
Devezer, B., Sprott, D. E., Spangenberg, E. R., & Czellar, S. (2014). Consumer well-being: Effects of subgoal failures and goal importance. Journal of Marketing, 78(2), 118-134.
Impact of Covid19 on Consumer Behavior
This thesis should address changes in consumer behaviour due to the current Covid19 pandemics. The work needs to retrieve state-of-the-art literature. Given the dynamic settings, no specific guidance is provided upfront.
Schmidt, C., Goetz, S., Rocker, S., & Tian, Z. (2020). Google searches reveal changing consumer food sourcing in the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9(3), 1-8.
Sheth, J. (2020). Impact of Covid-19 on Consumer Behavior: Will the Old Habits Return or Die?. Journal of Business Research
Zwanka, R. J., & Buff, C. (2020). COVID-19 Generation: A Conceptual Framework of the Consumer Behavioral Shifts to Be Caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 1-10.
Your own topic idea?
Do you have a topic idea? Please write a short abstract (1-2 pages) outlining your research idea and send us this document together with 5-7 literature sources. We will be happy to screen your proposal and provide you feedback.
Empirical research projects
Citizens´ acceptance of Wind energy
This work should develop and empirically test a model of technology acceptance for Wind energy supply. A questionnaire should be designed which assesses the drivers of technology acceptance. The effects of targeted communication campaigns might be tested by contrasting different survey settings in a quasi-experimental way.
Yiridoe, E. K. (2014). Social acceptance of wind energy development and planning in rural communities of Australia: A consumer analysis. Energy Policy, 74, 262-270.
Sonnberger, M., & Ruddat, M. (2017). Local and socio-political acceptance of wind farms in Germany. Technology in Society, 51, 56-65.
Social Media (Brands) and consumers´ implicit cognition
Social media became an integral element in persons´ live. The cognitive mechanisms of social media usage and its effects on consumer’s behavior are not yet fully understood. Implicit measures can be used in order to evaluate emotions of implicit cognitions that might underlie social media (brands). The work can either focus on Marketing aspects, addressing issues of brand image and social networks, or on consumer protection, addressing issues of addictivity of social media
Gibson, B. (2008). Can evaluative conditioning change attitudes toward mature brands? New evidence from the Implicit Association Test. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(1), 178-188.
Trends & Usage in Marketing & Organization
This work should empirically investigate how technological and/or societal trends are being screened by companies and insights utilized in the field of Marketing and /or within the entire organization. Technological trends might e.g. relate to 5G, IoT, smart cities or artificial intelligence; societal trends to changes in consumer behavior and ESG topics. A questionnaire should be designed which assesses the scope of trends being investigated and the organizational responses to obtained insights. The survey should be exemplarily executed interviewing SMEs in a specific industry.
Schwarz, J. O., Kroehl, R., & Heiko, A. (2014). Novels and novelty in trend research—Using novels to perceive weak signals and transfer frames of reference. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 84, 66-73.
Value-Based Labelling (VBL): Bio label Brands and consumers´ implicit cognition
With the rapid advancement of mass production and social concern about environment, consumers are increasingly becoming more vigilant regarding environmental damage and have given a rise to Value-Based Labelling. In addition, while green consumers as an important market segment tend to behave and consume consciously, however, according to Basu and Hicks (2008), the “empirical evidence on consumers’ willingness to pay for labelled products in Western markets fails to provide conclusive evidence regarding the existence of a positive price premium” (p. 471). Several relevant product and marketing technique reflecting product attribute evaluation when judging green product can be identified using implicit cognition measures. Based on the systematic interlinkage of consumption practices and conventions of everyday life, Approach and Avoidance Task (AAT) would be used to examine implicit tendencies of price conscious and brand conscious consumers. AAT would capture the implicit attitude of respondents during the pushing and pulling of private label bio-stimuli from several German supermarkets and discounters. The branded product (national brands) viruses Bio-VLB would be used to assess respondent’s unconscious attitudes and action tendencies.
McEachern, M. G., & Warnaby, G. (2008). Exploring the relationship between consumer knowledge and purchase behaviour of value‐based labels. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 32(5), 414-426.
McEachern, M. G., & Schroeder, M. J. (2004). Integrating the voice of the consumer within the value chain: a focus on value-based labelling communications in the fresh-meat sector. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 21(7), 497-509.
Your own topic idea?
Do you have a topic idea? Please write a short abstract (1-2 pages) outlining your research idea and send us this document together with 5-7 literature sources. We will be happy to screen your proposal and provide you feedback.
Reviews of existing empirical studies
The Service Encounter: Consumer Reactions to favorable incidents
Within their fundamental work Bitner et al (1990) provide a typology of both satisfactory and dissatisfactory critical service incidents. Moreover, the authors derive reaction patterns from the service personal which affect the final evaluation of the service incident by the consumers. This research will empirically analyze the outlined typology (as well as further incidents and possible reaction patterns) based on a large data set of online reviews for hotels.
Whereas this empirical thesis focusses on the analysis of positive (satisfactory) critical incidents, it shall be complemented by another thesis focusing on negative (dissatisfactory) critical incidents.
Bitner, M. J., Booms, B. H., & Tetreault, M. S. (1990). The service encounter: diagnosing favorable and unfavorable incidents. The Journal of Marketing, 71-84.
The Service Encounter: Consumer Reactions to unfavorable incidents
Within their fundamental work Bitner et al (1990) provide a typology of both satisfactory and dissatisfactory critical service incidents. Moreover, the authors derive reaction patterns from the service personal which affect the final evaluation of the service incident by the consumers. This research will empirically analyze the outlined typology (as well as further incidents and possible reaction patterns) based on a large data set of online reviews for hotels.
Whereas this thesis empirical focusses on the analysis of negative (dissatisfactory) critical incidents, it shall be complemented by another thesis focusing on positive (satisfactory) critical incidents.
Bitner, M. J., Booms, B. H., & Tetreault, M. S. (1990). The service encounter: diagnosing favorable and unfavorable incidents. The Journal of Marketing, 71-84.
Consumers´ implicit Ethnocentrism tendencies
Despite the well-established impact of consumer ethnocentrism on purchase decisions, current literature offers limited evidence on consumer implicit ethnocentrism tendencies. The aim of this research is to address this gap by investigating the underlying variations in consumer ethnocentric attitude-behavior using Approach-Avoidance Task. Product involvement, brand and country of origin of purchased retail products are investigated for their impact on the differences in the behavioral tendencies.
Sharma, S., Shimp, T. A., & Shin, J. (1994). Consumer ethnocentrism: A test of antecedents and moderators. Journal of the academy of marketing science, 23(1), 26-37.
Watson, J. J., & Wright, K. (2000). Consumer ethnocentrism and attitudes toward domestic and foreign products. European journal of Marketing, 34(9/10), 1149-1166.
Your own topic idea?
Do you have a topic idea? Please write a short abstract (1-2 pages) outlining your research idea and send us this document together with 5-7 literature sources. We will be happy to screen your proposal and provide you feedback.