CBS Sustainability

ABOUT

The Consumer and Behavioural Insights Group (CBIG) consists of senior and junior researchers in the CBS Sustainability Centre at the Department of MSC at Copenhagen Business School. Coming from different disciplinary backgrounds and research fields, i.e. behavioural economics, environmental psychology, consumer behaviour and policy research, and political science, we share an interest in the demand side of markets (consumers, citizens), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and behavioural public policy.

Core Group members:

Efthymios Altsitsiadis
Jan M. Bauer
Elizabeth Cooper
Leoni Decrinis
Maria Figueroa
Fumiko K. Glückstad
Meike Janssen
Laura Krumm 
Maja Michalewska
Kristian Roed Nielsen
Kristian Steensen Nielsen
Alice Pizzo 
Lucia A. Reisch
Maureen Schulze
Giulia Priolo
Ainhoa Saurí Gázquez

For more information, please contact the Group Coordinators Meike Janssen, mj.msc@cbs.dk, or Jan Michael Bauer, jmb.msc@cbs.dk.

See the full list of members here.

PURPOSE

While our research projects span a wide range of topics - from healthy and sustainable food choices to sustainable crowd investment, from sustainable tourism to climate-friendly active mobility in cities - our common motivation is to help promote the SDGs, in particular sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12), health and well-being (SDG 3), and climate action (SDG 13).

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

• Behavioural economics and policy
• Consumer behaviour
• Sustainable consumption and production
• Prosumers and entrepreneurs
• Intercultural consumer research
• Field and laboratory experiments

RESEARCH

CBIG is built around large, mostly empirical research projects that cover a broad range of sustainability topics. We currently work with data collected in recently closed EU FP7 projects (e.g., Nudge-it; I.Family; Global Value), H2020 projects (e.g., Trash-2-Cash) and national projects (e.g., MISTRA Future Fashion). CBIG members are also part of ongoing EU projects (e.g., JPI Policy Evaluation Network) and national (Danish, Swedish, German) projects (e.g., UMAMI). We aim to continue our strong track record in the acquisition of external funding.

We are highly committed to high-quality and high-impact research. Given our broad interest and frequent interdisciplinary collaborations, we regularly publish in quality outlets outside the traditional business school disciplines. We strive to continuously strengthen our methodological rigour and subscribe to the core ideas of Open Science. We understand research quality as an issue beyond bibliometric indicators, including concerns of ethical and sound research conduct.
 

CURRENT PROJECTS

BEACON - Behavioural insigths for a circular society: Using behavioural insights to create an urban food system that fosters sustainable food styles and promotes a circular society
The BEACON project investigates how best to employ measures based on behavioural insights ("nudges") as part of an effort to shift consumption choices towards more sustainable and resilient options. The project is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
For more information, please check the BEACON website, contact the research team at info@beaconproject.dk and follow the project on LinkedIn.

PlantPro - Accelerating an efficient green consumer transition
PlantPro, funded by Innovationsfund Denmark, aims at fostering the transition towards more plant-rich diets and the avoidance of food waste among consumers in Denmark. It is a collaboration between CBS, Aarhus University, Copenhagen University, and more than ten actors from the Danish food sector. 
Read more about the project here.

iBeauty: Intercultural Personas of Beauty & Values
This international industrial/academic project is fully funded by the Japanese enterprise, KOSE Corporation, and will be conducting a series of intercultural consumer surveys integrating data science, cross-cultural psychology and consumer psychology to map-out and profile various consumer types across markets. The eventual aim of the project is to develop "Intercultural Personas of Beauty & Values". Coordinator: Fumiko Kano Glückstad.

JPI Policy Evaluation Network (PEN)
PEN aims to valuate policy measures promote a healthy diet and physical activity of the population in terms of their content, implementation and effectiveness. The project started in February 2019 as part of the Joint Programming Initiative on a Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life (JPI HDHL). It will run for three years until the end of January 2022. 
Read more about the project here.

RECENT HIGHLIGHTS

Kristian Steensen Nielsen / Organizational Change for Biodiversity. In: Nature Food, Vol. 4, No. 1, 12.1.2023, p. 15-16

Alice Pizzo; Toke Reinholt Fosgaard; Beverly B. Tyler; Karin Beukel / Information Acquisition and Cognitive Processes during Strategic Decision-Making: Combining a Policy-Capturing Study with Eye-Tracking Data. In: PLOS ONE, Vol. 17, No. 12, 1.12.2022

POLICY AND PRACTICE

CBIG members are in frequent dialogue with private and public actors. We are advising decision-makers in policy, civil society, and business with Europe and the Americas. CBIG aims to build bridges between academia, policy-makers and the public to identify innovative policy solutions and to initiate change. Ultimately, these efforts should increase well-being for all. We envisage a future of empowered consumers and citizens within a sustainable economy that respects the environment boundaries of our planet as well as the rights of future generations.

TEACHING

We believe in research-based teaching and aim to bring our latest research results and methods into the classroom. CBIG members contribute to a variety of programs/schools at CBS and regularly offer graduate and undergraduate courses (e.g., BLC, MAK, OMS, ISUP) with different focus such as:

• Consumer behaviour and social marketing
• Statistical analysis and quantitative methods
• Sustainable consumption and development
• Responsible Management
• Behavioural Public Policy
• Consumer insights in practice
• Quantitative methods and theory of science

For the future, we aim to broaden our teaching-base with an emphasis on sustainablity and capabilities in quantitative methods to increase students' ability to understanf and creade knowledge in an increasingly digital and quantitative world.

RECENT CBIG PUBLICATIONS

Journal articles: