Marketing Research with Purpose

Faculty 

Prof. Dr. Ir. Peeter Verlegh is Professor of Marketing at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and editor-in chief of the AMA’s Journal of Interactive Marketing. He is an expert in branding and consumer behavior, with a focus on social impact. 

Dr. Aylin Aydinli is Associate Professor of Marketing at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is an expert in consumer behavior, with a focus on diversity, sustainability and affect. 

Meet the Lecturers

Content

Marketing is an academic discipline with its own traditions and standards, drawing on insights from psychology, economics, and related fields. In this course, we focus on consumer behavior as a key lens to understand how marketing shapes societally relevant outcomes.

While some research in this area is highly fundamental, this course emphasizes work that combines rigorous academic insight with real-world relevance—research that informs decisions by firms, policymakers, NGOs, and other stakeholders. The course centers on key insights and recent advances in marketing with a focus on societal impact—or, as we refer to it at VU School of Business and Economics: Marketing with Purpose.

The course draws on academic papers from leading journals and is built around interactive discussions of recent research in the field. Beyond analyzing existing work, we focus on how such research is developed: participants will learn how to unpack theoretical contributions, evaluate methodological approaches, and translate these insights into their own research ideas.

Participants are expected to read and present assigned papers and actively contribute to discussions and exercises. We will closely examine the ideas, writing, and design of recent papers, and use these insights to generate, refine, and develop new research projects. By the end of the course, participants will be well positioned to launch or further develop their own research in this area.

Learning Objectives 

This course is particularly suited for research-oriented students and those in the orientation or early phase of their PhD trajectory, as well as postdoctoral researchers and junior faculty, who want to develop or refine research projects on the societal impact of marketing, including areas such as sustainability, diversity and inclusion, health-related consumption, political and ideological influences on consumption, and brand activism.

It aims to develop participants’ ability to:

• Understand key concepts and theoretical perspectives on the societal impact of marketing and consumer behavior (“marketing with purpose”)
• Critically analyze and evaluate current research<
• Formulate novel, theory-driven and empirically testable research ideas in this area
• Effectively communicate and discuss research ideas with an academic audience

Topics

Societal impact of marketing and consumer behavior, including sustainability, diversity and inclusion, health-related consumption, political and ideological influences on consumption, and brand activism; research idea generation, theory development, and research design.

Literature

Recent and forthcoming papers in major marketing journals (final list will be made available before the course starts)

Schedule 

The summer school offers a comprehensive, full-time schedule over 5 days, with both engaging lectures and tutorials throughout the mornings and afternoons. This structure ensures a rich, immersive learning experience.

Example Schedule 

• 10.00-12.30 Lecture
• 12.30-13.30 Lunch
• 13.30-16.00 Lecture & Tutorials 

Level

The course welcomes (research) master students, PhD students, post-docs, and starting assistant professors who want to develop their research ideas and abilities.

Admission requirements

Students currently pursuing a MSc, MPhil or a PhD degree, and postdocs or junior faculty who seek to extend or refresh their knowledge in this area. Participants should be able to read and understand academic research on consumer behavior (when in doubt, look up recent papers in Journal of Consumer Research, and see if you can understand them).