Projects

Inter-disciplinary and collaborative projects in research and education

Researchers at the CRC use theoretical frameworks on social psychology, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, psychology of personality, evolutionary psychology, environmental psychology, and cross-cultural psychology to explain behaviors (e.g., cognitive responses, emotional responses) of consumers in food, financial, luxury, tourism/hospitality, and service consumption. Relatedly, members do cross-disciplinary activities in research in psychology, economics, neuroscience, technology, and tourism.

CRC members use diverse qualitative and quantitative research methods including experimental methods, questionnaires, field studies, use of eye-tracking, and extracting and analyzing online datasets (e.g., Twitter or Google data).

Building on its strengths, the CRC is committed to disciplinary and inter-disciplinary excellence in our research. Consumer research as a discipline lends itself very well to inter-disciplinary research (i.e., psychology, sociology, anthropology, politics, neuroscience and biology, to name a few). The CRC seeks to leverage this position and motivate its members to engage in inter-disciplinary research. The ‘bridging strategy’ of the developed observe-bridge-challenge framework serves as one methodology to achieve this aim.

Transformational capabilities and excellence in the educational portfolio

Consistent with Copenhagen Business School’s strategy to overcome an isolated analysis of business, the CRC is committed to create leaders who transcend organizations, individuals, and society as much as current challenges transcend them. Relatedly, the CRC aims to share its expertise on consumer research by offering courses on different consumer-related research in undergraduate and graduate programs including MBA and Ph.D. programs. The CRC is active in developing new courses and teaching methods that are related with consumer research. Sample courses offered by the CRC members are “Consumer Behavior,” “Consumer Psychology,” “Brand Management,” “Marketing Communications,” “Perspectives in Marketing and Marketing Research,” “Neuroscience,” “International Marketing,” “Language Effects,” and “Service Design.” Furthermore, the CRC will facilitate an exchange of best practices among its members, with a special focus on which teaching activities can nurture transformational capabilities.

Societal relevance, impact, and value

The CRC works at the intersection of many big challenges that can only be alleviated by understanding and changing the behavior of people. The CRC wants to leverage this by applying for funding for big challenges. Relatedly, the CRC is involved in different collaborations with business and wider society in public policy (e.g., Københavns Kommune), tourism (e.g., Dansk Erhverv, Dansk Industri, Carlsberg, VisitDenmark, Wonderful Copenhagen), and food sectors (e.g., Foodland (local food initiative), Madkulturen, Danish Food Culture Institute, New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre).

Exploration of big challenges/wicked problems

The CRC takes responsibility for societal challenges—and this in collaboration with business, governments, and civil society. Research at the CRC aims to contribute to the general well-being of the society and have societal implications for consumers, companies, and the public policy makers.

As such, the CRC is committed to be curious, critical, and innovative in its approach to major opportunities and dilemmas facing business and society. Therefore, the CRC actively promotes the generation of daring and novel research ideas that have the potential to address big challenges. The CRC works on and initiates new research projects related with health issues (e.g., aging population), financial services (e.g., behavior of financially restricted consumers, confidence in financial sector), restrictions (e.g., regulations related with COVID-19), social inequalities and discrimination, populism and xenophobia, digitalization (e.g., artificial intelligence, privacy issues), and the positive and negative ramifications of tourism and hospitality (e.g., overtourism and COVID-19-caused problems).