About
Mission
The Consumer Research Cluster (CRC) studies people’s thinking, feeling, and behavior (such as decision-making) in the marketplace. The CRC researches questions on what people need, want, buy, and how and why they consume, as well as how they interact with market-related entities such as tangible and intangible products, experiences, companies, brands, other consumers, or employees. The hallmark of the CRC is the focus on subjective phenomenology such as people’s perceptions, mindsets, motives, emotions, and conations in combination with personal, social, and environmental factors that shape behavior.
Vision
The CRC will deliver high quality consumer behavior research on issues that are relevant to the society by building on its existing resources in terms of its members research capabilities, extending collaborations both nationally and internationally, and by becoming the main consumer behavior research hub in the Nordic countries.
Fundamental business knowledge and research excellence
The CRC strives for creating a collaborative network of individual researchers who share the ambition of creating novel and daring research with the aim of publishing the research at a high international level. To achieve this, the CRC will facilitate collaborations and advice between more senior, well-published members and those who have the ambition but not yet published in top-tier journals.
In doing so, members of the CRC continuously publish in AJG 3/4/4* marketing journals including Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Psychology, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Advertising, Journal of International Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, European Journal of Marketing.
CRC members publish research that gets both national and international attention. Research findings of the CRC members appear in outlets including the United Nations Risk Prevention Web. Research at CRC is also funded by private and public institutions including The Strategic Research Council.
Esprit de corps
The CRC is open to everybody, who is interested in doing research on understanding the decisions and behaviors of consumers in a variety of contexts. CRC members share a deep interest in the behavior of human beings. This interest is based on sharing a set of epistemologies, methodologies, and research topics. Furthermore, members of the cluster also share an ambition to conduct courageous and novel research that makes considerable contributions to both consumer research and practice.
The CRC aims to develop a cluster esprit de corps by organizing brown-bag seminars and workshops, as well as symposiums that are at the center level and at the national and international level where The CRC invites external scholars.
Engagement with the wider academic community
Members of the CRC receive prestigious academic awards. Some of the recent awards include the Journal of Consumer Psychology Park Best Award, the Best Track Paper Award of the American Marketing Association Winter Marketing Academic Conference, the Desmond Slattery Award and Charles Goeldner Award by the Travel and Tourism Research Association, and the Tietgen Award.
CRC members serve the field by serving in the editorial review boards of AJG 3/4/4* journals. These journals include Journal of Consumer Psychology, Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Travel Research, Annals of Tourism Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Australasia Marketing Journal, and European Journal of Marketing.
Furthermore, CRC members are active in the field by being members of American Marketing Association, Association for Consumer Research, Society for Consumer Psychology, The European Marketing Academy, and Association for Psychological Science. Members are also involved in both national and international collaborations, organize symposiums, and contribute to the leading conferences in the field by presenting their research.
External research funding
The CRC facilitates collaboration between its members that can result in a joint funding application. The CRC motivates its senior members to share their experience with funding applications with more junior research seeking to apply for funding.