Master Theses under the supervision of Prof. Fuchs

For the summer semester 2026, you can submit your application starting 25.11.2025. Deadline: 06.01.2026

Applying for the topics advertised:

If you are interested in one of the advertised topics, please send your application via e-mail to marketing.unit@univie.ac.at. Your application should include the following:

• exposé in English (max. 5 pages)
• Curriculum Vitae (tabular)
• Current transcript of records

You are expected to complete the thesis within 1 semester!

After finishing the theses: The following documents are required at the administration and at the chair:

• At the administration: 3 hard copies of the final thesis (SSC)
• At the chair: electronic version of your final thesis as Word and PDF as well as raw data and analysis files (e.g. SPSS or NVivo files).

****

Available Topics for the summer semester 2026

SUSTAINABLE FASHION

The clothing industry and particularly fast fashion have a bad reputation of being unsustainable. Presumably in an effort to sway this perception, some clothing brands and retailers have recently pursued novel strategies such as displaying a cost per wear price or showing how the product looks after it has been worn and washed multiple times.

How do such strategies affect the product and the brand’s perception? Do consumers appreciate the honesty or do they perceive it as another type of greenwashing? Does showing a product’s wear and tear highlight its longevity or does it taint the appeal of it? Do such strategies affect hedonic and utilitarian products differently? Can secondhand fashion apply these strategies as well?

This topic is suitable for confirmatory research. Analyze the literature to find a novel and relevant research topic, set up hypotheses, and test these hypotheses in an online experiment.

Related literature

Eckmann, L., & Reisch, L. A. (2025). Shifting Toward Quality: How Communicating “Cost per Wear” Influences Consumer Preference for Clothing. Psychology & Marketing.

Foreh, M. R., & Grier, S. (2003). When is honesty the best policy? The effect of stated company intent on consumer skepticism. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13(3), 349-356.

ME, MYSELF, AND AI

Despite the surge in AI usage, people display an AI aversion and prefer humans over AI to make moral decisions, dislike art created by AI, and generally favor humans for tasks that require subjectivity. Recent research also shows people discriminate against AI users, perceiving them as lacking emotional capacity and similar human traits.

How do users then justify their own AI usage and how do they perceive themselves when using AI? Are people rationalizing their own AI use while condemning others’? Will users then seek to conceal their own AI usage fearing socal judgement?

This topic is suitable for confirmatory research. Analyze the literature to find a novel and relevant research topic, set up hypotheses, and test these hypotheses in an online experiment.

Related literature

Dang, J., & Liu, L. (2024). Extended artificial intelligence aversion: People deny humanness to artificial intelligence users. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Castelo, N., Bos, M. W., & Lehmann, D. R. (2019). Task-Dependent Algorithm Aversion. Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), 56(5), 809–825.

Böhm, R., Jörling, M., Reiter, L., & Fuchs, C. (2023). People devalue generative AI’s competence but not its advice in addressing societal and personal challenges. Communications Psychology, 1(1), 32.

LOST IN CONSUMPTION

Meeting globally set sustainability goals requires reduced consumption, as the currently predominate strategy of substituting regular products for sustainable alternatives does not suffice. Recent research, however, has shown that reduced consumption is neither top of mind for consumers nor do consumers perceive reduced consumption to be an effective strategy to live more sustainably.

What are the main barriers to reduced consumption? How do consumers perceive others who consume less without following a specific goal to attain? Do reputational concerns keep consumers locked in consumption so that, for instance, poorer consumers seek to consume more in an effort not to seem poor?

This topic is suitable for confirmatory research. Analyze the literature to find a novel and relevant research topic, set up hypotheses, and test these hypotheses in an online experiment.

Related literature

Makri, K., Schlegelmilch, B. B., Mai, R., & Dinhof, K. (2020). What We Know About Anticonsumption: An Attempt To Nail Jelly To The Wall. Psychology & Marketing, 37(2), 177-215.

Giesler, M., & Veresiu, E. (2014). Creating the responsible consumer: Moralistic governance regimes and consumer subjectivity. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(3), 840-857.

PRODUCT LIFECYCLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Consumers erroneously believe that recycling is the most sustainable action they can engage in. While this may not come as a surprise given that consumers are constantly confronted with calls to recycle, the implications thereof are unclear. A product’s production, use, disposal, delivery—all play a role.

How do consumers assess these? Do consumers interpret cues regarding a product’s production and its consumption at all? How does the form of delivery factor in?

This topic is suitable for confirmatory research. Analyze the literature to find a novel and relevant research topic, set up hypotheses, and test these hypotheses in an online experiment.

Related literature

Barnett, M. J., Hancock, P. I., Klotz, L. E., & Attari, S. Z. (2023). Recycling bias and reduction neglect. Nature Sustainability, 6(11), 1418-1425.

Sun, J. J., Bellezza, S., & Paharia, N. (2021). Buy less, buy luxury: Understanding and overcoming product durability neglect for sustainable consumption. Journal of Marketing, 85(3), 28-43.

Master Theses under the supervision of Prof. Eisend

For the summer semester 2026, you can submit your application starting 25.11.2025. Deadline: 06.01.2025.

Applying for the topics advertised:

If you are interested in one of the advertised topics, please send your application via e-mail to marketing.unit@univie.ac.at. Your application should include the following:

• exposé in English (max. 5 pages)
• Curriculum Vitae (tabular)
• Current transcript of records

You are expected to complete the thesis within 1 semester!

After finishing the theses: The following documents are required at the administration and at the chair:

• At the administration: 3 hard copies of the final thesis (SSC)
• At the chair: electronic version of your final thesis as Word and PDF as well as raw data and analysis files (e.g. SPSS or NVivo files).

****

Available Topics for the summer semester 2026

VIRTUAL INFLUENCERS

Virtual influencers, computer-generated personas designed to engage audiences on social media platforms, have rapidly emerged as a new generation of product endorsers in influencer marketing. However, the effects on consumers are still debated in research. When and how do virtual influencers persuade consumers?

Please explain and suggest hypotheses on the effects of virtual influencers and their characteristics on consumers. The hypotheses should be tested by an experimental study that manipulates virtal influencer characteristics (e.g., number of followers) or compares them to human influencers along with another independent variable (e.g., product characteristic or consumer characteristics) and measures consumer responses as dependent variables. Alternatively and if data access and methodlogical capabilities are available, you can scrape data online about consumer responses to different virtual influencers and analyze them.

Starting Literature:

Franke et al. (2023), Consumers’ Responses to Virtual Influencers as Advertising Endorsers: Novel and Effective or Uncanny and Deceiving?, Journal of Advertising, 52(4), 523-539

Stein et al. (2024). Parasocial interactions with real and virtual influencers: The role of perceived similarity and human-likeness, New Media & Society, 26(6), 3433-3453.

Zhou et al. (20243). Making Sense? The Sensory-Specific Nature of Virtual Influencer Effectiveness. Journal of Marketing, 88(4), 84-106. 

DIVERSITY AND SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS

Companies who work with diverse endorsers, celebrities, or social media influencers can signal progressive values and position themselves as socially conscious, but might run the risk of negative reactions by consumers who are less open to diversity and inclusion. How do consumers respond to diverse social media influencers?

Please explain and suggest hypotheses on the effects of diversity of social media influencers on consumers and what these effects could depend on. The hypotheses should be tested by an experimental study that manipulates influencer’s diversity (e.g., ethnic diversity) along with consumer diversity (e.g., ethnic diversity) or another independent variable (e.g., product characteristic) and measures of consumer responses as dependent variables.

Starting Literature:

Campbell et al. (2025), Diversity Representation in Advertising, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 53, 588-616.

Eisend (2025), Diversity in Interactive Advertising, Journal of Interactive Advertising, forthcoming.

Ferraro et al. (2024), Diversity in the Digital Age: How Consumers Respond to Diverse Virtual Influencers, International Journal of Advertising, 43(8), 1342-65. 

DIGITAL AD AVOIDANCE

Digital ad avoidance refers to any action that reduces exposure to digital advertising. It is a common behavior amongst consumers when navigating the internet. Research still tries to understand the reasons for digital ad avoidance and their consequences. What drives digital ad avoidance and how does it influence consumers?

Please explain and suggest hypotheses on the antecedents or consequences of digital ad avoidance. The hypotheses should be tested by an experimental study that manipulates either two antecedents (one ad characteristic combined with a consumer or product characteristic) and measures their effect (and interaction effect) on digital ad avoidance or that manipulates digital ad avoidance and measures its consequences on consumers.

Starting Literature:

Baek/Morimoto (2012), Stay Away From Me: Examining the Determinants of Consumer Avoidance of Personalized Advertising, Journal of Advertising, 41(1), 59-76.

Celik et al. (2023), Ad Avoidance in the Digital Context: A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda, International Journal of Consumer Studies, 47(6), 2071-105.

Kelly et al. S. M. (2021), Feel, Think, Avoid: Testing a New Model of Advertising Avoidance, Journal of Mar keting Communications, 27(4), 343–64. 

BRAND PERSONALITY

Brand personality—defined as “the set of human characteristics associated with a brand” (Aaker, 1997, p. 347)—plays an important role in imbuing products with symbolic value, forging emotional connections with consumers, and in building effective positioning and developing specific communication strategies that enhance brand equity. How do consumers respond to (different dimensions of) a brand’s personality?

Please explain and suggest hypotheses on the effects of brand personality (dimensions) on consumers. The hypotheses can be tested by an experimental study that manipulates brand personality (dimensions) together with another independent variable and measures consumer responses as dependent variables or through a survey study that collects data on consumer perceptions and evaluations of brand personality (dimensions) of different brands.

Starting Literature:

Aaker (1997), Dimensions of Brand Personality, Journal of Marketing Research, 34, 347-356.

Park/Roedder John (2010), Got to Get You Into My Life: Do Brand Personalities Rub Off on Consumers?, Journal of Consumer Research, 37, 655-669.

Zamudio (2016), Matching With the Stars: How Brand Personality Determines Celebrity Endorsement Contract Formation, International Journal of Research in Marketing, 33(2), 409-427. 

AI-GENERATED ADVERTISING

Advertisers nowadays use artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to generate advertising content and to personalize advertising messages. How do consumers react towards ads that are generated by AI?

Please explain and suggest hypotheses on the effects of different ads that have been generated by AI on consumers and what these effects could depend on. The hypotheses should be tested by an experimental study that manipulates AI-generated ad content along with another independent variable (e.g., product characteristic or consumer characteristics) and measures consumer responses as dependent variables. Consider whether AI disclosures are required.

Starting Literature:

Campbell et al. (2022), Preparing for an Era of Deepfakes and AI-Generated Ads: A Framework for Understanding Responses to Manipulated Advertising, Journal of Advertising, 51(1), 22-38.

Kietzmann et al. (2020), Deepfakes: Perspectives on the Future “Reality” of Advertising and Branding, International Journal of Advertising, 40(3), 473-485.

We/Wen (2021), Understanding AI Advertising From the Consumer Perspective, Journal of Advertising Research, 61(2), 133-146. 

BODY POSITIVITY IN ADVERTISING

While advertising has traditionally portrayed unrealistic and idealized body standards, a growing number of brands have recently embraced more attainable and diverse body representations, referred to as body positivity. However, research on the effectiveness of body-positive advertising yields mixed findings, both in terms of advertising effects (e.g., attitudes, (post-)purchase intentions) and extended effects (e.g., body image, self-esteem). How do consumers respond to body-positive portrayals in advertising?

Please explain and suggest hypotheses on the effects of body-positive portrayals in advertising on consumers and what these effects could depend on. The hypotheses should be tested in an experimental study that manipulates body-positivity of advertising endorsers along with another independent variable (e.g., product characteristic or consumer characteristics) and measures consumer responses towards such advertising as well as their body image, self-esteem etc. as dependent variables.

Starting Literature:

Bhattacharjee et al. (2025), Perfectly Imperfect: How Body-Positive Advertisements in  Social Media Foster Consumer Engagement. Journal of Advertising, 54(1), 79-98.

Breves et al. (2025), Happier and Healthier? Investigating the Longitudinal Impact of Body-Positive and Fitspirational Influencers on Weight Satisfaction, Healthy Eating, and Physical Activity. Health Communication, forthcoming.

Brown/Tiggemann (2020), A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words: The Effect of Viewing Celebrity Instagram Images with Disclaimer and Body Positive Captions on Women's Body Image. Body Image, 33, 190-198.

Subject areas:

• New Developments in Marketing
• Responsible Marketing
• Consumer Well-being

• Balancing Needs in Consumers' various Life Domains
• Work-Life Balance & Employer Branding (ev.: Across Generations)
• Transformative Marketing

Master Theses under the supervision of Prof. Reisinger

For the summer semester 2026, you can submit your application starting 25.11.2025. Deadline: 06.01.2026

The exposé must be prepared in German (max. 5 pages, 1.5 lines) and sent directly to Prof. Reisinger. The exposé should include motivation, research questions, hypotheses, a rough concept for the empirical analysis and selected references (the references do not count towards the page limit).