When businesses deal with customers, after sales management is typically considered important to maintain good relations. But how is that when businesses deal with businesses? Can the supplier improve the relationship by a calling to check whether everything arrived?

In his bachelor thesis, Alexander Gröpper examines whether such a call renders receiving businesses more likely to cooperate with the supplier with a field experiment. Cooperation is measured here by their willingness to fill out a questionnaire that is E-mailed to them by the supplier. He finds that without 58% of those who…

How can we make it easier for people to speak up?

In many situations, there are people who have valuable information, but do not dare to speak their mind. One reason for this could be that they are afraid of judgement or other consequences. It is possible that the presence of a person who displays authority has an amplifying effect, as his or her judgment is perceived as more important. Do people dare to speak less when a person in a position of authority is in the room?

Laura Gerdts is examining this question in her bachelor thesis. To test her hypothesis, she conducted a field experiment and…

Consumer protection agencies typically advice to use shopping lists in order to avoid unnecessary impulse purchases. But how can we sure that shopping lists really have this effect? Maybe those customers who use shopping lists are generally of a more structured nature, which is why they have shopping lists and buy less impulse articles.

In his bachelor thesis, Jonas Dreisewerd examines the true effect of shopping lists on behavior in a field experiment. He recruited participants who were not using a shopping list and asked half of them to write one. He finds that the shopping list halves the…

Wearing of face masks is obligatory on buses, in town halls and on public spaces. Still, some people do not wear them, endangering themselves and others. Often these people even have masks around their neck but have not pulled them up. What if you ask them to pull the mask up? Will they briefly lift it but let it “slip” again?  How can you increase the likelihood that they take you serious? Will it make a difference if you show empathy and declare that you also don’t like mask wearing?

In her bachelor thesis, Antonia Vigano examines this question. She asks people in buses and on train stations…

Mutual trust has significant impact on the commitment or the productivity of a group, therefore, it is crucial to maintain it among those interacting people. But is it something that is built only over time? In schools or workplaces where familiar faces can be replaced with new ones swiftly, are there easy ways to speed up this process? 

In her thesis, Jennifer Kliver looks at a particular tool, ice breaking games, whose main purpose at the end is to warm up the room and facilitate the communication, and investigate if they have any effect on building trust and reciprocity. To document any…

Greenwashing refers to marketing and selling a conventional product as if it was e.g. an organic product, although it may contain even more harmful ingredients than a comparable product. The aim of this study is to see if it is sufficient or helps to make the list of ingredients of a product more transparent in order to unmask greenwashing.

In her Bachelor thesis Kathrin Mehrwald investigates how the “purchasing” decision between a “greenwashed” hand cream, labelled with the word “organic”, and a conventional hand cream is dependent on whether consumers get to see the list of ingredients or…