FS Professor Alexander Bleier awarded by the German Academic Association of Business Research

Professor Alexander Bleier, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Frankfurt School, has been awarded the MLP Young Talent Award of the German Academic Association of Business Research (VHB) for his research on the psychological value of market leaders.

Alexander Bleier and his colleagues Joshua T. Beck (University of Oregon) and Ryan Rahinel (University of Cincinnati) come to the conclusion: When people feel low in personal control, they affiliate with brand leaders in order to gain a greater sense of personal agency. The article "Company Worth Keeping: Personal Control and Preferences for Brand Leaders" published in the Journal of Consumer Research is at the interface of psychology and marketing. Its results are based on individual empirical studies characterized by a strong interdisciplinary approach and mixed methods research.

The paper stands out from the competition in all of the award’s key criteria, including relevance and breadth of the topic, degree of innovation of the research questions as well as reputation and internationality of the publication. In the eyes of the VHB jury, publication in the Journal of Consumer Research, one of the world's leading marketing journals, proves the exceptionally high quality of the essay. With more than 2,800 members, VHB is the leading scientific association of business studies in the German-speaking world.

Alexander Bleier’s primary research interests lie at the intersection of digital marketing, customer relationship management, and consumer decision making.