Research focus areas

Copyright: Prof. Dr. Ralf Wagner

Sustainability is an upcoming paradigm in marketing research and practice. Considering the triple bottom line conceptualization, we are structuring our research projects and environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

 

  • Alleviating Poverty at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP)
    We challenge how the most impoverished individuals and communities are integrated into worldwide value creation and business networks. One promise of entrepreneurship at the BoP is its contribution to lifting the poor out of poverty. Research focuses on marketing concepts underlying recent publications at the intersection of entrepreneurship and BoP. Market access as well as designing and maintaining consumer interactions are challenging at the BoP. Concluding, there is a need for marketing support in opportunity creation rather than the traditional emphasis on recognition and exploitation on the firm level. The diversity of BoP contexts and the dynamics of environmental conditions call for robust relationship mechanisms of relating the entrepreneurs to their business networks.
  • Biodiversity in Tourism
    Especially destinations with intensive tourism are often characterized by investments in tourism infrastructure and marine and coastal tourism, accompanying land loss and erosion, but especially by a decline in biodiversity—approaches to sustainable tourism address the need to balance ecological, economic, and sociocultural interests. Tourism is engendering biodiversity (e.g., CO2 emissions of traveling, damages of coral reefs by snorkelers and scuba divers) and depending on the wealthy, bountiful nature. Frequently, local societies' economic and social development is dependent on the quality and quantity of tourism activities. We are challenging the opportunities to design a new sustainable tourism industry.
  • Sustainability Concepts in Urban and Rural Contexts
    Many existing sustainability measures and innovations are adapted to the needs of urban areas. Still, they are either not offered at all in rural areas (e.g., car-sharing) or require a massive effort to be usable or practical (e.g., ride-sharing). Against this background, our research aims to understand the consumers’ conceptualization of sustainability in urban and rural areas and show to what extent innovations and their associated dynamics with the consequences for marketers differ. In this way, we contribute to closing the attitude-behavior gap of sustainability.
    Video

  • Sustainable Mobility

    Electric vehicles (EV) are key to reducing CO2 emissions in transportation. Germany saw a drop in EV registrations due to scrapped incentives. Study shows social recognition drives EV purchases, quality is less relevant. Skepticism toward green advertising decreases willingness to buy. Transparent advertising and government support for infrastructure are crucial for EV success.

    Skepsis gegenüber grüner Werbung mindert Bereitschaft zum E-Auto-Kauf (Markenartikel 4/2024)

    Interview with German TV "alle Wetter" at the 22.04.2024 (Link zur Mediathek)
    Ecomento from 05.04.2024 (Link)
    ​​​​​​​Grünes Marketing? Warum Verbraucher E-Autos kaufen  (Blogbeitrag from 02.05.2024 in transforming economies)

  • Disposal Behavior and Waste Management:
    In 2018 the World Bank announced that global waste production will increase by 70% by 2050. The global annual waste generation in 2016 was two billion tons per year, and it is projected to reach 3.4 billion tons within the next 30 years under a business-as-usual scenario. A constantly increasing amount of solid waste is generated in developing countries. The decrease of extreme poverty has led to increased well-being and prosperity and, consequently, consumption and waste emergence. Therefore, our research focus is on consumers’ disposal behavior. The daily routine of households getting rid of their generated waste is guided by their culture, emotions in the disposal situation, and the collection infrastructure they are embedded in. Generally, waste management includes activities and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. Waste can be solid, liquid, or gaseous, and each type has different methods of disposal and management. Our research focuses on the household level to reveal disposal and waste management practices in low- and middle-income countries. We challenge the possibilities of waste avoidance, reduction, the substitution of harmful components (e.g., single-use plastic items), and waste segregation on the household level. Further, we emphasize potential entrepreneurial activities in the waste business.

We analyze relationships with customers and also the relationships of customers among themselves in B2C, B2B, and B2G. The focus here is on customer satisfaction, well-being, dissatisfaction, and WOM, and the personality of the actors. 

We are changing the ways luxury brands and retailers are transiting to business conceptualizations in a sustainable and circular environment.

 

  • Brand Love
    The aim is to understand the customer's mindset while buying luxury brands. Generally, environmental perspective and luxury perception do not go hand in hand as they are completely different in the ideological viewpoints. Luxury stands for pampering whilst environmental concerns call for restraining and controlling one’s spending. Lately, consumers are growing conscience about leaving their carbon footprints and are concerned about the ecological harms their actions lead to. Therefore this newfound caring attitude demands their loved brands to be sensitive in their production and distribution activities that can give them reasons to rejoice in their purchase.
  • Brand Hate
    This love-hug relationship turns sour when these brands fail to rise up to the consumer’s expectations and don’t adhere to the changed sensibilities that have to be addressed urgently. As luxury brand purchase commands premium pricing and is part of perceived identity or reflection of self for social gratification, failing at this juncture may lead to intense negative feelings for the said brands.
  • Masstige
         Though masstige brands have premium product offerings with higher prices than mass offerings, they still carry the tag of luxury products. In order to stay relevant in the market, these masstige brands cannot afford inaccessibility and aloofness in the market. Rather they have to be very approachable and trendy for being attractive in the market. This leads to continuous up-gradation of their product offerings that in turn provokes buyers to upgrade their purchases. This leads to lots of wasteful buying that is not needed and this, in turn, creates more harm to the environment through wasteful disposal of outdated products. The need for the day to go sustainable in their production activities and making consumers aware of their actions.
  • Retailing and Shopping in Disruptive Situations
    Disruptive situations, such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), have changed retailers’ proceedings and consumers’ buying behavior. This project contributes to consumer behavior theory and disruptive theory by identifying the antecedents of anxiety related to grocery shopping. The typical causality pattern of antecedents and consequences is anything but clear during the pandemic. Our research integrates cognitive, behavioral, self-identity, emotions, and disruptive theories. This research considers fear as an endogenous variable and examines this emotion’s antecedents.
  • Shopping for Wellbeing
    The concept of retail therapy has been investigated mainly in the United States, with students accounting for most of the respondents. Scholars and retailers need to identify and understand the role of (online) shopping. Our research contributes to determining the potential of (online) shopping to increase well-being. Such insight enables retailers to shape consumers’ emotional experiences during (online) shopping. This research contributes to the literature on consumer behavior and retail therapy by exploring potential consumers of accessible luxury products in Europe.