Kathleen Jacobs

Kathleen Jacobs is a research and teaching assistant at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences (Germany), where she also lectures on subjects such as sustainable consumer behavior and sustainability marketing. She is working on her PhD thesis in Sustainable Consumption in collaboration with the Brandenburg University of Technology (Germany). Her research projects raise questions about consumer behavior in the context of social banking, sustainable fashion and longer-lasting electrical appliances. Prior to joining Alanus University, Kathleen had studied Business Administration with a focus on Marketing, and gained practical experiences in industries such as banking, FMCG and sustainable fashion.

In one of her PhD studies she develops and empirical tests a conceptual model for purchasing longer-lasting electrical appliances. She particularly examines the influence of product lifetime labeling on purchase decisions. This work follows an interdisciplinary approach by combining theories from economics and social psychology. The model is tested by using choice-based conjoint (CBC) analysis to measure the influence of a product lifetime label on consumer preferences for durability and other product attributes such price, brand and energy efficiency. By means of an online questionnaire, discrete choice experiments based on washing machines are administered to a sample of German consumers. The study therefore helps to better understand the main factors influencing purchase behavior with regard to product longevity in the context of electrical appliances. Furthermore, consumers who are willing to buy longer lasting products are identified and characterized. 

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