Professor
MSc (Econ), PhD, dr.merc.

John Thøgersen is professor of economic psychology at Department of Management. He is coordinator of the Marketing and Sustainability Research Group at the Department of Management. He is also connected to MAPP – Centre for research on customer relations in the food sector.

Research areas

Consumer behaviour

Sustainability marketing

Behavioural economics

Behavioural spillover and the development of pro-environmental lifestyles

The role of social and moral norms for environmentally responsible behaviour

PhD students

Current

Christos Kavvouris

Ditte Mogensen

Jorge Rincon

Annika Zepke

Finished, ASB/AU

Hans Skytte

Michael Johansson

Tino Bech-Larsen

Lise Norre

Thyra Uth-Thomsen

Madeleine B. Toft

Livia Marian

Susanne Pedersen

Gabriele Torma

Ekaterina Salnikova

Louise Randers

Finished, foreign universities (co-supervisor)

Cosmina Bradu (Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Iasi, Romania)

Sue Godfrey (HEC Lausanne, Switzerland)

Clarisse Kienou (Université de Savoie,Chambéry, France)

Katalin Lanyi (Budapest Business School, Hungary)

Pietro Lanzini (Ca’Foscari University, Venice)

Helena Åberg (Göteborg University)

Isabel Richter (NTNU, Trondheim)

Valeria Fanghella (University of Trento, Italy)

Xisi Yang (HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management)

Hannah Danner (Technical University of Munich)

Isadora do Carmo Stangherlin (Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil)

Sascha Kuhn (Heidelberg University, Germany)

Academic and practical experience

March-May 2022: Visiting scholar, Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany.

2021-2023: Conference chair of the International Conference on Environmental Psychology – ICEP 2023, 20 to 23 June 2023, Aarhus, Denmark.

March 2019: Visiting professor, Assumption University, Bangkok

2016-2020 and 2023-2024: Adjunct professor at the Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim.

March-July 2014: Visiting Scholar, Institute of vocational education and work studies, Technical University of Berlin, Germany

February-March 2014: Visiting scholar, SASIN Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok

2013: Member of Swedish research council Formas’ Review Panel 4: Resource-efficient products and processes.

Week 17, 2012: Visiting scholar, BehaviourWorks Australia, Monash Sustainability Institute, Monash University, Australia.

Week 42, 2011: Visiting scholar, Université Paris-Dauphine.

May-June, 2011: Visiting scholar, School of Economics, University of Maine, Orono, Maine.

2011-: Initiator, former chair, and currently member of the steering committee of the global Virtual Community on Sustainability and Consumption

2011: External Graduate Faculty member in the School of Economics, University of Maine Graduate School.

February-July 2009: Visiting scholar, Institute of vocational education and work studies, Technical University of Berlin, Germany

2007-2018: Visiting Professor, the Business School of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China (approximately one month/year)

May 2006: Visiting scholar, Faculty of Economics, University of Algarve, Portugal

February-July 2004: Visiting scholar, Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Leiden University, the Netherlands

2001-: Professor of economic psychology, Department of Business Administration, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University

July 1997 and April 1999: Visiting Professor, Zentrum für Umfragen, Methoden und Analysen, Mannheim, Germany

1995-1996: Visiting scholar, Institute for International Studies, Stanford University

1986-2000: Associate professor, Department of Marketing
1981-1985: PhD fellow and postdoc, Aalborg University, Denmark

1980-1981: Academic secretary, Danish Social Science Research Council

Administrative experience

2011-2023: Member of the PhD Committee of the Department of Business Administration

2009-2015: Line coordinator for the AU-BSS MSc specialization in Consumer Affairs Management

2008-2014: Member of the programme board of and AU Programme Director for EURECA-European Masters Programme in Consumer Affairs

2003-2004: Member of the Faculty Research Committee

2000-2004: Member of the board of Centre for Transport Research on Environmental and Health Impacts and Policy (TRIP)

1994-2010: Coordinator of the Business Environment Research Group, later the Forum for Social Science Research concerning the Environment at the Aarhus School of Business

1994- : Coordinator of the Marketing and Sustainability Research Group (previously the Marketing and Environment Research Group), now at the Department of Management

1992-1997: Member of the board of Centre for Social Science Research concerning the Environment, CeSam

1987-1993: Member of the Council and the Section Council concerning the university sector of the Association of Danish Lawyers and Economists

1987-1993: Representative for the research and teaching staff at the Faculty of Business Administration

1987-1988: Member and chairman of the Pedagogical Committee of the Staff-Student Study Committee of the Faculty of Business Administration

1986-1988: Member of the Staff-Student Study Committee of the Faculty of Business Administration

Research projects

2022-2025: “OrganicTargets4EU”, the EU research and innovation programme.

2022-2025: “FOODCoST”, Horizon Europe FARM2FORK.

2022-2025: “R3PACK”, Horizon Europe.

2021-2024: “General theory of pro-environmental behavior spillover”, Norwegian Research Council.

2017-2022: “ACT: From targets to action”, Norwegian Research Council.

2016-2017: SOMDWIT– Sustainable Organic Market Development With International Trade, GUDP - Organic RDD2.2. PI/Coordinator

2014-2016: “EU-INNOVATE” - Sustainable Lifestyles 2.0: End User Integration, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, financed by EU FP-7.

2012-2014: READY–Smart Grid Ready VPP Controller for Heat Pumps, financed by FORSKEL, WP leader.

2011-2014: SUMMER–Superb and Marketable Meat from Efficient and Robust Animals, financed by GUDP, WP leader.

2010-2013: IMPROSUME–The Impact of Prosumers in a Smart Grid based Energy Market, financed by Smart Grids ERA-Net, in Denmark Energinet.dk, WP leader.

2006-2009: FEEDBACK-motivated energy savings in the home. ELFOR. PI/Coordinator.

2004-2007: MESiCC–Moral norms and environmentally significant consumer choices, Danish Free Research Council. PI/Coordinator.

2003-2005: CONDOR: Consumer decision-making on organic products, EU-FP5, WP leader.

2000-2004: TRIP–Centre for Transport Research on Environmental and Health Impacts and Policy, WP leader.

1992-2000: CeSaM–Center for Social Science Environmental Research, WP leader. 

Advisory boards and panels

2022-2024: Member of the advisory board of the project “Power2U”, Otto-von-Guericke-Universität, Magdeburg, Germany.

2020-2023: Member of the advisory board of the EU H2020 project ENTRANCES,coordinated by the University of A Coruña, Spain. 

2018-2022: Member of the advisory board of the project STYLE – Healthy Lifestyles to Boost Sustainable Growth (University of Turku, Finland)

2017-2022: Member of the advisory board of the project “Transforming Carbon Consumption Patterns of the New Middle Classes” at the German Development Institute/ Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, Bonn, Germany.

2015-2018: Member of the reference group of the project “the English Plastic Bag Charge and Behavioural Spillover: A Field Experiment, Diary Study and Secondary Data Analyses” at Cardiff University, UK.

2012–: Member of the scientific advisory board of Forschungszentrum „Verbraucher, Markt und Politik“ (Center for Consumer, Markets, and Politics) at the Zeppelin Universität in Friedrichshafen.

2009-2012: Member of the reference group of the Swedish research project “Promoting environmentally friendly behaviour through feedback: Energy saving in the household”

2008-2012: Member of the reference group of the Norwegian research project “Environmental Policy and Human Action”

2007-2010: Member of the reference group of the Swedish research project “The metabolism of the household: Modelling the indirect environmental impact of the buying decisions of households and developing interventions to reduce emissions and system effects.”

2003-2008: Member of the reference group of the Swedish research project “Sustainable Households: Attitudes, Resources and Policy Instruments” (SHARP)

2000: Member of the expert supervisor committee for the Danish Environmental Protection Agency's project on the effectiveness of weight-based waste fees in Denmark

1999: Member of the working group on consumer policy of the Danish Consumer Protection Agency's Labelling Committee

1997-1998: Member of Council of Technology Working Group on Recycling

1993: Member of the Swedish Waste Research Council's Programme Development Committee for research concerning the consumers' contribution to a sustainable Sweden

 

Editorial work

2020-: Member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Consumer Behaviour, published by Wiley.

2018-: Member of the Editorial Board of ABAC Journal, published by Assumption University, Bangkok.

2017-2023: Member of the Editorial Board of Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, published by Taylor and Francis.

2016-2017: Member of the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Psychology, published by Frontiers.

2015-: Member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Environmental Psychology, published by Elsevier.

2005-: Editor of Journal of Consumer Policy, published by Springer.

Reviews 15-20 papers a year for other journals.

Other scientific evaluation tasks

2023

Assessment of project application for the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Sweden.

Assessment of project application for the National Science Foundation, USA.

Assessment of project application for the United States – Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF).

2022

Assessment of project application for the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO).

Assessment of applicant for ERC Starting Grant.

Assessment of papers for the EMAC conference in Budapest.

2021

Assessment of project application for the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO).

Assessment of applicant for research professorship at Ghent University

Assessment of papers for the EMAC conference (online).

2020

Assessment of project application to the Dutch research council NWO.

Assessment of papers for the IAREP 2020 conference, Kristiansand.

2019

Assessment of project application to the Dutch research council NWO.

Assessment of project application to the Swiss Research Council SNSF.

Assessment of candidate for promotion to associate professor, Groningen University.

2018

Member of assessment committee for professorship, University of Helsinki.

Member of the assessment committee for assistant professorship, CBS.

Assessment of project application for Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO).

Assessment of candidate for Fellow of Trinity College Dublin.

Evaluation of papers for the BEHAVE 2018 Conference, Zürick.

2017

Member of the evaluation committee for full professorship, CBS.

Evaluation of application for the "Joint Excellence in Science and Humanities" for the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Evaluation of nominated for the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

Evaluated a book proposal for Routledge.

2016

Assessment regarding promotion to full professor at Reykjavik University.

Evaluation of project application for BMBF Call for Junior Research Groups Global Change.

Evaluation of project application for the Israel Science Foundation.

Evaluation of project application for the Swiss National Science Foundation.

2015

Review of papers for the 11th Biennial Conference on Environmental Psychology, Groningen.

Evaluated a draft of an Online Encyclopaedia of Sustainability for Routledge.

Evaluated a book draft for Springer.

Rated a Postdoc Fellowships application to Freie Universität Berlin's Dahlem Research School.

Made a pre-assessment of a thesis submitted with h.p. dr. merc degree of BSS.

Appraised application for "Beethoven" - Polish-German Funding Initiative in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

2014

Member of the expert team, responsible for mid-term review of the major Helmholtz Alliance ENERGY-TRANS project in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Appraised application to the Irish Environmental Protection Agency's climate research program.

Evaluated a person for promotion to Associate Professor of Monash University, Australia.

Evaluated a draft textbook for Sage.

2013

Member of the Swedish Research Council FORMAS's review panel regarding "Resource-efficient products and processes".

Awarded project applications for the National Science Foundation in the United States and The Leverhulme Trust in the UK.

Evaluated a person for promotion and tenure for the Mason School of Business at the Collegiate of William and Mary, USA.

Evaluated a draft textbook for Macmillan.

2012

Evaluated an application for a research program forBedømt et forskningsprogram (RESOLVE – at the University of Surrey) for britiske ESRC, UK.

Evaluated an application for the National Science Foundation, USA.

Evaluated an application for the National Research Council of Poland.

Member of assessment committees for various positions at CBS, two universities in the UK, and the University of Barcelona.

 

Presentations at conferences, workshops, seminars

 

Service to the wider community

For many years, John Thøgersen has been a very active disseminator of research on sustainable consumption in the general media as well as to stakeholders in government, business, and the third sector, as speaker and consultant. For example, he has in recent years given invited presentations or consultations on the promotion of sustainable consumption at Folkemødet, Bornholm, and Klimafolkemødet, Middelfart. Some bigger assignments are listed below.

 

2022-23: Member of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries' reference group for the development of an organic strategy that can support a doubling of the organic area, demand for organic products, organic consumption, and organic export.

2021: Engaged by the European Commision’s Joint Research Center to do a systematic review and synthesis of research on the effects of country-of-origin labelling on consumers for DG-SANTE.

2019-2020: Member of the Working Group on "Towards a Sustainable Food System in the EU", under the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism.

2019: Member of the Danish Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Climate’s Behavioral Experts Panel.

2017-: Advisor and from 2020 member of the Board of Experts of Swedish start-up consultancy company, Nudgd.

2016: Member of a four-person expert group appointed by the Board of the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (Mistra) to write a background paper for a funding application call in the research area of “sustainable consumption”.

2012-14: Contributing author on sustainable consumption issues to IPCC’s 5^th assessment report (WG3: Mitigation of Climate Change).

2011-12: Engaged by the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries to assist with the development of a new export strategy for Danish organic food products, together with stakeholders from industry, government, NGOs and research. John Thøgersen served as main author of the strategy report and a handbook on export readiness in Danish organic food companies.

2011-12: Advised the Thailand Ministry of Commerce on an export strategy for Thai organic food products to Northern Europe, via the Thai embassy in Copenhagen and at two meetings in Bangkok with high-ranking officials from the ministry and industry representatives.

Teaching areas

John Thøgersen is currently teaching master-level course in economic psycology and in sustainable consumption and production. He also teach doctoral courses in academic writing and publishing, quantitative methods, and the role of theory in business research. He has also taught:

Sustainability marketing

Social marketing

Consumer policy

Consumer behaviour

Introductory marketing

And he has supervised many BA, part-time MBA, and MSc theses.

 

Awards

2018 Appointed Fellow of the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP) "in recognition of outstanting contributions to applied psychology."

2015 ForskEL-prisen for the research project “READY — Heat pumps in a smart grid future”, together with a team of researchers from Aarhus University, Aalborg University, Neogrid Technologies, PlanEnergi, Ea Energy Analyses and NEAS Energy and co-ordinated by NEAS Energy.

2014 The Shelby D. Hunt Award for the most cited article the last five years in Journal of Macromarketing. Awarded for "Country Differences in Sustainable Consumption: The Case of Organic Food. Journal of Macromarketing, 30(2), June 2010.

 

Memberships

The International Association for Research in Economic Psychology (IAREP)

The International Association for Applied Psychology (IAAP)

Virtual Community on Sustainability and Consumption

Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative (SCORAI)

Millennium Alliance for Humanity & the Biosphere (MAHB)

CONCITO - Denmark's green think tank