He has fond memories of his time as a postdoctoral researcher at the Technical University of Braunschweig. Now Professor Christof Backhaus has returned – after ten years in Great Britain – and is leading the project Institute of Marketing. A focus of his research is on issues relating to changes towards more sustainable mobility. In an interview, Christof Backhaus explains how marketing research can support this and which projects will soon be in focus.
Professor Christof Backhaus is the new head of the Institute of Marketing. Photo credit: Kristina Rottig/TU Braunschweig
Professor Backhaus, why did you choose TU Braunschweig?
The TU offers very good opportunities for practical and interdisciplinary research and focuses on relevant and exciting topics – especially mobility and the “city of the future”. But the decisive factor was probably that I was able to spend two years as a post-doctoral student at the TU Braunschweig a good ten years ago and I already felt very comfortable at the TU and in Braunschweig back then. I was therefore very pleased to receive the offer to succeed Professor Wolfgang Fritz at the Institute of Marketing. Wolfgang Fritz and his team have done excellent work over the past 30 years, which I will try to continue.
What exactly do you do in your research? How would you explain your work to someone unfamiliar with the topic?
Marketing is often equated with “advertising”, but it is much more than that! In general, in marketing we deal with the question of how products, services and the relationships that companies maintain with customers, employees, suppliers and other stakeholders can be designed to create value or make sense. In my work, I investigate – usually using empirical social research methods – the effects of individual or several design instruments on the perception and behavior of potential or current customers, employees or value creation partners.
What are the main research areas and projects you will work on at TU Braunschweig?
At the Institute of Marketing we deal with the areas of innovation and technology marketing, sustainability marketing and relationship marketing. At the interface of these areas, there is a key focus on questions of transformation to more sustainable mobility. In the operational context, we are concerned, for example, with the use of mobility budgets and ways to better integrate active forms of mobility, especially bicycles. With a view to more sustainable private mobility, we are investigating, among other things, the importance of urban mobility offers for the perception and mobility behavior of users.
What motivated you to research in this area?
As far as both the creation of services and their consumption are concerned, continuing as before is not an option – we need the transformation to sustainable or at least more sustainable solutions. Our mobility is a key lever here. Marketing research can provide particular support in two areas: on the supply side by improving existing and developing new mobility offerings so that they represent attractive alternatives for users. And on the demand side, by creating a change in awareness of the positive effects that a shift towards more active mobility brings about – for the environment, companies, society and, last but not least, ourselves as individuals. This is where I try to make a contribution with my research.
What does your everyday work look like in three keywords?
Dialogue, data analysis, documentation
2024-01-18 09:48:20
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