Why I’m attending the EuroCHRIE Virtual Conference

by Isabel Son, Hotelschool The Hague

Attending EuroCHRIE’s virtual conference in March 2021 will for me be a great chance to meet like-minded people and give me a chance to present the current findings of my doctoral research to receive feedback and suggestions for further progress. I equally would like to learn from other researchers and PhD students about their approach, challenges and learnings – tips & tops. And apart from these more practical aspects, it would be a great chance to speak with others who are going through the same process and experiences I am current having – which, at times, are a bit esoteric as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic – and share our thoughts and learnings.

I am currently working as a Lecturer for The Hotelschool The Hague, teaching courses like Business Strategy, Consumer Research and TrendWatching. Two years ago, I applied for the NWO Grant for Teachers, which I was very happy to receive. Since then I have been working on my thesis under the guidance of Prof. Jean-Pierre van der Rest at the Department of Business Studies at the Leiden University Law School, next to teaching 3 days a week. Although this is a challenging schedule, I really enjoy the combination of working half the week on my own research and the remainder of the week in interaction with students and faculty at my school. 

My PhD research is on the topic of how people decide to make a purchase, more specifically how they decide that the asking price for a product is one they are willing to accept. Most theory suggests that people take these kinds of decisions in reference to an internal standard. This is the realm of Behaviour Economics, which is the intersection of Economic theory and Psychology. What it seeks to study is the way people act in the marketplace. The theoretical backdrop of this topic referred to as the Internal Reference Price, is immense, making it even more interesting to me. My personal interest started from the viewpoint that as an Economy Master student and qualitative market researcher, I have always been intrigued by the irrationality of human behavior, which according to economic theory is presumed to be non-existing.