Academic | Prof. Dr. Jens Paschmann

Teaching Values Through Cinema — "The Social Network" with Our Bachelor Students

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

How can we teach our students values?

Why not book a cinema, show a thought-provoking movie, and use it as a starting point to discuss the fundamental questions?

Initiated by my colleague Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, we filled a cinema with bachelor students to watch The Social Network — and then dove into a discussion about the ethics of founding a company and running a business. The event was generously sponsored by Sparkasse Münsterland Ost, a locally rooted banking institution guided by strong values.

After the screening, we had a lively panel discussion together with Dr. Annegret Saxe (Board Member, Sparkasse Münsterland Ost), Lara Zoe Minor (Student & Social Media Manager), and myself.

Is this the future of teaching? Probably not something we can offer every week. But it is exactly the kind of initiative that shows we care about our students — and, perhaps even more importantly, about the values they will carry into the world once they leave our university.

VHB Best Paper Award for "Driving Mobile App User Engagement through Gamification"

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

VHB Best Paper Award at the 2026 conference in Göttingen

I am thrilled to share that our Journal of Marketing Research paper “Driving Mobile App User Engagement through Gamification” has been awarded the VHB Best Paper Award of the Marketing Section at the 2026 VHB conference in Göttingen. This recognition means a great deal to me and my wonderful co-authors — Hernán A. Bruno (University of Cologne), Harald J. van Heerde (UNSW Sydney), Franziska Völckner (University of Cologne), and Kristina Klein (University of Bremen).

About the Research

The study investigates how gamification — the use of game elements such as points, levels, and badges in non-game contexts — shapes user engagement and business value in mobile applications.

Drawing on unique field data from nearly 19,000 users of a gamified market research app, we examine how different reward mechanisms influence both gameplay behavior and economically relevant activities. The study focuses on hybrid reward architectures, in which apps combine traditional value-based rewards (e.g., vouchers or monetary rewards) with gamified rewards (e.g., earning experience points, climbing levels) designed to fulfil users’ basic psychological needs such as feeling competent.

The results show that both types of rewards can substantially increase engagement — with game-based rewards proving even more effective than traditional value-based rewards, and at zero cost for the app provider.

At the same time, the research highlights an important managerial insight: strong immersion in attaining gamified rewards may reduce users’ focus on activities that provide direct value for the provider, suggesting that gamification creates both opportunities and risks for firms relying on engagement-based business models.

Overall, the findings provide guidance for companies seeking to design effective digital customer engagement strategies across industries such as retail, media, finance, health care, and education.

Joining Universität Münster as Assistant Professor of Marketing

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A new chapter in Münster

After seven incredible years in Cologne, it’s time for a new chapter. I am super happy to be joining Universität Münster as Assistant Professor of Marketing (Tenure Track to Full Professorship).

Münster has always had a special place in my heart. It’s not the city where I was born, but it is the city where I truly came alive. I moved there at 19 to start my studies — and now, at 32, I feel excited to return to where it all began and to help inspire the next generation of students.

It is a particular honor that this position is designed as the successor role to Manfred Krafft (in five years). Truly big shoes to fill. I look forward to working alongside the outstanding faculty — Manfred Krafft, Thorsten Hennig-Thurau, Sonja Gensler, Thorsten Wiesel, Sebastian Hohenberg, and the whole team — who has already given me such a warm welcome.

Joining Münster also means leaving Universität zu Köln. I will be forever grateful to the whole Marketing Department at the University of Cologne for the joy, inspiration, and passion they brought into my life. In Cologne, I learned from giants, and I made friends for life.

Add-on Fellowships for Interdisciplinary Economics and Interdisciplinary Business Administration

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Fellowship by Joachim Herz Stiftung

Since November 2023, the Joachim Herz Foundation supports my research with the “Add-on Fellowships for Interdisciplinary Economics and Interdisciplinary Business Administration”. I am very happy about this support!

The fellowship is for aspiring young researchers who answer economic research questions, work interdisciplinary and conduct research highly relevant to society, and, thus contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The fellowship provides me with both financial support (€12,500) and access to a network of young, committed researchers. I’m very much looking forward to meeting the other fellows in January 2024.

In my involvement with the scholarship, I studied the vita of Joachim Herz, who was an impressive entrepreneur. I can identify very strongly with the values that were important to him - freedom and individuality. Joachim Herz left behind a fortune of around 1.3 billion euros and it is impressive to see how many people in education, science and research are now benefiting from his legacy. I feel honored to be part of his legacy and will give my very best to push the goals of the foundation with my research.

HORIZONT Dissertation Award [incl. award ceremony video]

Thu, 10 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Winner of the HORIZONT-Stiftung award for my dissertation on “Digital Customer Engagement with New Technologies”

Last week, I was awarded by the HORIZONT-Stiftung for my dissertation on “Digital Customer Engagement with New Technologies” (endowed with 5,000 EUR). HORIZONT is Germany’s leading marketing, advertising, and media trade journal.

The agency Scholz & Friends produced a video for the award ceremony at Palmengarten in Frankfurt. The video shoot was a lot of fun and the German rap part in the background was a big hit at the award ceremony.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

It will always be a great reminder of my time at University of Cologne and my doctoral thesis.

It is great to see that the committee of renowned representatives from companies, agencies, and media sees value in my research for practice, and in me as a young scholar.

The award ceremony in Frankfurt gave me a unique opportunity to have insightful discussions on the role of new technologies in our world, talking to a variety of CEOs, CMOs, CDOs, data scientists, and many more. Personally, I think that research is especially fun when it has real-world implications. This award should always be a reminder to myself to make practical relevance the heart of my research.

The most important people on this ongoing journey toward professorship are the many people who support me, first and foremost my PhD supervisor Franziska Völckner and my “data, econometrics and modeling” supervisors Hernan Bruno and Harald Van Heerde. And, equally important, all my other co-authors, Kristina Klein, Magdalena Bekk, Martin Hirche, Florian Pethig, Julian R. K. Wichmann, Dr., Michel Muschkiet, Luke Greenacre, and Anika Nissen. You are the people who are making this journey so special and fun.

THANKS to HORIZONT-Stiftung for the recognition and support of my work, and to all the great people who engaged with me at the HORIZONT Award Ceremony in Frankfurt!

Finalist for the “Young Researcher 2023” dissertation award of BVM/VMÖ/SWISS INSIGHTS

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Finalist for the “Young Researcher 2023” dissertation award of BVM/VMÖ/SWISS INSIGHTS

I was finalist for the “Young Researcher 2023” dissertation award of BVM/VMÖ/SWISS INSIGHTS. The Young Researcher Award honors young researchers for outstanding research work in the field of marketing and media.

Since market research was the application context of a reward strategy (i.e., mobile app gamification) in one of my main dissertation research projects, I am very happy to have made it to the shortlist. In our research project, we look at how the interplay of psychological and monetary rewards drive user motivation in gamified mobile apps. What has a stronger effect? What do we need to consider in such hybrid reward structures?

Honorable Mention by Psychology of Technology Institute

Mon, 03 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Honorable mention by the Psychology of Technology Institute

I received an honorable mention of the Psychology of Technology Instute for my dissertation on “Digital Customer Engagement with New Technologies”. The Psychology of Technology Institute is a non-profit network of behavioral scientists, technology designers, and decision-makers that protects and improves psychological health for society by advancing our understanding and effective use of transformative technologies.

This award has a special meaning for me, as I chose the academic path in Marketing Academia to use my psychological knowledge to gain insight into psychological processes behind people’s interactions with new technologies. While my research today covers significantly more topics, I am very pleased to be able to enrich this research stream with my research.