Consumer Psychology and Market Research, integrated into a comprehensive program in Business Administration
A degree program that is virtually unique in Germany, combining consumer psychology—a subdiscipline of business psychology—with a solid foundation in Business Administration. With your bachelor’s degree, you’ll be ideally prepared for a successful start in an exciting and varied career.
- The program covers the fundamentals, fields of application, and research methods of psychology. Key topics include perception, emotion, motivation, attitudes, learning processes, and social and personality psychology.
- As an application-oriented and practice-based discipline, the program focuses on the psychology of consumer behavior.
- The foundation: a broad Business Administration program equips you to apply the psychological principles you’ve learned in marketing-oriented and business management contexts. Your program is designed with the future job market in mind. You can find detailed information about the Business Administration curriculum here.
- Our integrated practical semester gives you an early insight into the working world of market research institutes and large companies (such as Bosch, Commerzbank, Kärcher, Porsche, Roche, Tchibo, and many others).
- An optional semester abroad (tuition-free) at one of our 100 partner universities around the world will broaden your cultural and linguistic horizons and prepare you for an international career.
Course of Study
The standard duration of study for the bachelor’s degree programs is seven semesters. You will earn the degree Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Business Administration.
In this specialization, you can expect to cover the following topics:
- Fundamentals of Psychology (perception, learning, thinking/cognition, motivation, emotion, social and personality psychology)
- Market and Consumer Psychology
- Methods (e.g., questionnaire design, qualitative research, psychological interview and facilitation training, design thinking)
- Usability and User Experience
- Digitalization in consumer psychology and market research
- Data Storytelling and Visualization
- Statistics, Big Data Research
- Marketing
In the general part of the program, you will focus on, among other things:
- Business Administration
- Information Systems
- Economics
- Business Law
- Mathematics and Statistics
- Digital Transformation Management
- Intercultural Competence
- Ethics and Social Responsibility
You can find detailed course descriptions in our Module Handbook.
During the fifth semester, you’ll gain practical experience applying the course content in a corporate setting. In the sixth semester, you can spend a semester abroad at one of our many partner universities.
The program begins each winter semester. The application deadline is July 15. Taking the academic aptitude test is not a requirement for this program.
Approximately 70% of the courses are identical across all programs in Business Administration; this applies primarily to general Business Administration, economics, law, and quantitative methods. 30% of the lecture period is reserved for teaching the course content of the student’s major, but this is not distributed evenly over the entire duration of the program; rather, it is concentrated in the later semesters.
- We provide you with practical preparation for your professional career. In addition to professors, you will be taught by skilled and successful managers from the market research industry.
- We enable you to apply the knowledge you’ve acquired in real-world contexts through projects and case studies with companies and organizations, as well as through field trips and company visits.
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You’ll work and learn in small groups within your specialization.
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You’ll work in our psychology labs and computer labs equipped with state-of-the-art technology.
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International accreditation by AACSB ensures you have access to excellent partner universities abroad.
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Optimal preparation for a master’s program (e.g., Master of Marketing Intelligence) through a bachelor’s degree with 210 credits.
The Business Administration program in Consumer Psychology and Market Research is a good choice for you if you are curious and communicative and are interested in why people behave the way they do, what they think and feel, how they develop and change, and how all of this is influenced by social processes and the environment. You approach problems with an analytical and critical mindset, aren’t afraid of numbers, and enjoy presenting your ideas in clear, easy-to-understand German or English.
What career paths are open to me?
This Business Administration program, with its unique specialization in consumer psychology and market research, opens up excellent opportunities and diverse career prospects for our graduates in the job market. Market researchers and consumer insights experts examine motives, desires, attitudes, opinions, and feelings. They analyze people, markets, and media and explain the processes and interrelationships underlying increasingly complex consumer behavior. As user experience researchers, they examine the usability of apps, websites, or other products. As skilled consultants, they not only provide data and facts but also bring the numbers to life. Most graduates begin their careers at an industrial company in a market research or marketing department, or at a market research institute.
advice Research, Managing Partner
AUDI AG, Digital Market Relations
BMW, Market Management
Bosch Power Tools, Head of UX Methods & Design
Bristol Myers Squibb, Senior Manager, Business Insights & Analytics
BSH, Passionate Consumer Ambassador
DB Systel, User Experience Consultant
Deloitte, Associate Manager, Client Feedback
ELbE 19 Group, Senior Marketing Research Consultant
GfK, Key Client Coordinator
GSK, Marketing Director
HARTMANN GROUP, Balancing Customer Needs and Business Objectives
Ipsos, Manager and Shopper Service Line Lead
[m]Science, Managing Director
Alois Müller Dairy, Senior Consumer Insights Manager
MSR Consulting Group, Managing Director/Partner
Nestlé, Head of Consumer Insights Group
Porsche, Project Manager, Urban Air Mobility
PSYMA, Senior Consultant / UX Research
Q Research Agency, Founder and CEO
september Strategy & Research, Managing Director
(Click on the T-shirts!)
Contact
We would be happy to advise you personally:
psy-mafo(at)hs-pforzheim(dot)de
Phone: +49 7231 28-6358
Room: W2.4.01
