Hello, my name is Caspar Krampe, I work as an assistant professor at Wageningen University. In my research, I investigate the impact of innovative technologies (hardware) on organisations, customers and consumers (software) in achieving sustainable change. I want to find out how innovation contributes to sustainable market transition processes, influences stakeholders and shapes markets. My approach considers social, technical and economic aspects to understand the complexity of aggregated marketing systems and the interconnected relationships between different actors. Relying on complex system approaches, will help me to investigate stakeholders’ decision-making patterns and their impact on markets.
Project Title
Understanding and Navigating Sustainable Market Transitions: A Multidimensional Stakeholder Approach
Behavioral change(s) addressed
Hence, what is needed is a better understanding of the ‘impactful’ decision-making processes that take place in the aggregated marketing system in the transition towards a sustainable future, including all stakeholders, which drive the system with their decisions and their interactions, such as governments, investors, NGOs, processors, retailers and, finally, consumers who contribute to the system with their purchasing decisions.
Theoretical approach
To fully grasp the totality of the complexity of an aggregated marketing system and to explore the related interconnections between actors (Herrero et al., 2020), multidisciplinary, “telecoupled” (Liu et al., 2013) systems approaches are needed to examine decision-making patterns and the impact on the (economic) environment in which they operate, focusing inter alia on actors’ trust and mindsets, transition pathways, social dialogs, policies, market incentives, stable finances and the safeguarding against undesirable effects (Herrero et al., 2020).
Empirical research strategies
My research focuses on value chain actors’ impactful decision-making in interactions and is positioned at the nexus of psychology, marketing and innovative digital technologies, enabling my research to approach sustainable marketing in a proactive, futuristic way.
Possibilities for inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration
I am looking for collaboration above and beyond the field of marketing - integrating knowledge from the field of information technology, psychology, economics, marketing and life science.
Social transition(s) addressed
Because we have maneuvered ourselves into such a difficult, unsustainable situation, the discipline of marketing needs to undergo a fundamental change of ‘orientation’ (also to reach the SDGs). From merely responding to consumers and markets to a more sustainable approach that drives markets for sustainable products and services, building sustainable societies (Denderink et al., 2022; Sheth & Parvatiyar, 2021). Hence, to avoid irreparable societal and environmental damage ‘marketing’ needs to evolve, requiring a more holistic research approach which is not exclusively focusing on the decision-making patterns of only one actor in the value chain, but is trying to understand the influence on sustainability in a complex aggregated marketing system that includes all actors of the value chain involved (Herrero et al., 2020).