Empirical knowledge about the use and consumption of consumer goods as well as the needs and problems of consumers is playing an increasingly important role in the current multiple crises (finances, climate change, migration, working world etc.) with simultaneously high levels of mass consumption. Particularly in Germany, several initiatives have been initiated at state and federal level in recent years and corresponding institutions and framework conditions have been created enhancing the establishment and stabilization of the research field of consumer research. In Austria, consumer research is far from such a development so far. Even though there are a number of Austrian actors who do research on consumption-related topics, there is still a lack of necessary networking, funding and institutional framework conditions that are indispensable for a comparable establishment of this field of research. A targeted impetus for the promotion of consumer research in Austria stands, first and foremost, against the fact that this would have to be based on a solid knowledge foundation that informs about the current status of consumer research in Austria.
Against this background, the study at hand is commissioned by the Chamber for Workers and Employees in Vienna and aims to assess (1) the current state of development of consumer research in Austria, (2) existing research areas and (3) the perceived research gaps and institutional frameworks of the field.
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