Stephanie Unterberger, Master’s graduate and Junior Lecturer am Marketing & Relationship Management department, was awarded the science prize at the 30th trade colloquium.
The Trade Association Austria awarded one for the first time this year Science award for outstanding academic theses that are highly relevant to the retail industry. The award was made as part of the 30. Trade Colloquiums 2020 awarded, which this year was broadcast live for the first time in a “Virtual Edition” from the Orangery in Schönbrunn. A varied program with top speakers (such as Dr. Gerhard Drexel, Chairman of the Board of SPAR Austria, Federal Minister Margarete Schramböck or MediaShop CEO Katharina Schneider), exciting study and project presentations and innovative start-up presentations awaited the participants.
Stephanie Unterberger sat down with her bachelor thesis against two other finalists in a hearing in front of a six-member jury chaired by Prof. Dr. Utho creusen (University of Münster) by. Her bachelor thesis deals with the “Psychology of Possession – Sharing as a Business Model” and was written by FH-Prof. Dr. Robert Zniva looks after.
Changes in society, economy and technology have triggered a change in values and changed consumer behavior. While consumers used to own preferred products and acquire property, the idea of sharing has come to the fore. “Sharing instead of having” or “using instead of owning” characterize the behavior of many consumers today. In a world that is characterized by a dynamic variety of offers with constantly new technologies and designs, it is more about availability than about ownership. The empirical findings of their research deviate from this theory, however, and make it clear that ownership of products is still very important and that consumers do not believe that shared products can replace ownership. The work also leads to the clear realization that social motives significantly influence the use of sharing offers. The question of the ecological and economic benefits of this type of consumption is not a priority for consumers. If there is to be a sharing economy, retailers must react and position sharing offers as a social, inexpensive and environmentally friendly experience.
Stephanie Unterberger completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees with excellent results at the FH Salzburg. Since August of this year she has been supporting the Marketing & Relationship Management department of the Business Administration course as a Junior Lecturer.
In any case, we warmly congratulate you on the science award and the associated prize money of thousand euros! A great achievement!
Click here for the video – a short presentation of the nominees in the category “Best Bachelor Thesis” of the Handelsverband Wissenschaftspreis 2020.
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