WU is pleased to welcome Bernadette Kamleitner (33) as the new Full Professor for Marketing, specializing in consumer behavior, as of July 1. Her teaching and research work will focus on consumer behavior, consumer psychology, and financial aspects of consumer decisions.

Bernadette Kamleitner has always been interested in the motivation behind people's purchasing decisions. No wonder the marketing expert completed a doctorate in both psychology (University of Vienna) and marketing (WU). Her career path took Kamleitner from Vienna to the University of London (Queen Mary), where she held a leading position in the international MSc program in Marketing. Back in Vienna as a Full Professor, Kamleitner will also be involved in the development of WU's Marketing MSc program. Moreover, Kamleitner will also be Head of WU's Institute for Advertising and Marketing Research.

Current research and topics

Kamleitner's research, which has been published internationally, focuses on how marketing communication works and how individual purchasing decisions are made. Her current projects focus on two main topics: The first is the role of cost-benefit-comparisons in consumers' purchasing decisions, for instance whether some consumers are more motivated to learn about cost-benefit-relations than others, and whether it makes a difference if consumers or borrowers know what exactly they are paying for, or if savers know what exactly they are saving for. The second topic is ownership, seen from a psychological perspective. She deals with questions such as: Can seeing a product in advertisements make consumers feel like they actually own it? If so, what are the consequences? Is the buyer's sense of ownership affected by the means of payment used to buy a product?

WU as a chance and a challenge "To really matter, research needs to be closely linked to practice ," says Kamleitner, who can look back on numerous collaboration projects, including the Office for Fairtrade, Fairpartners, and other international partners. She decided to accept the professorship because WU is an excellent environment for consumer behavior research. Kamleitner, also a member of the board of the Austrian Advertising Research Association (Österreichische Werbewissenschaftliche Gesellschaft), is looking forward to "joining a dynamic team".

Contact and information:
Melanie Hacker
PR officer
Tel.: 01 31336 - 5478
melanie.hacker@wu.ac.at
http://www.wu.ac.at