Essentials of Business Psychology

Master

The participants:
• understand key concepts, theories, and application areas of business psychology, as well as their integration into current international research discourse.
• analyze economic behavior at the individual, social, and organizational levels, taking into account team processes, leadership, and organizational contextual factors.
• apply fundamental research methods of business psychology and interpret empirical findings, including meta-analyses and theory-driven model testing.
• use fundamental research methods of business psychology and interpret empirical results.
• recognize relationships between motivation, cognition, and behavior in economic contexts, incorporating modern motivation theories and work-related resource models.
• reflect on the limitations of rational models and the importance of psychological influencing factors, including cognitive biases, uncertainty reduction, and emotional processes.
• use this knowledge as a foundation for advanced master’s modules (e.g., People & Analytics, Marketing, Leadership).
• develop an evidence-based understanding of current challenges such as digitalization, diversity, and psychological safety in organizations.

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• Fundamentals of Business Psychology (subject matter, development, distinction from economics & psychology; characteristics of economic behavior)
• Models of Human Nature & Rationality (assumptions of rationality; bounded rationality; heuristics & decision anomalies)
• Core theories (motivation, cognition, learning, emotion, interaction; social-psychological and economic approaches: Self-Determination Theory; Job Demands–Resources model; modern approaches to work design)
• Overview of methods (empirical research; surveys, experiments, observation; fundamentals of measurement; the importance of meta-analyses and evidence-based research)
• Individual Level (perception, attitudes, decisions, personality, motivation)
• Interpersonal level (group processes; communication; cooperation and conflict; power and leadership; team processes and their impact on effectiveness and performance; psychological safety)
• Organizational level (organization, culture, and change; job satisfaction; motivation; leadership, work design, and organizational conditions; the impact of digitalization and new forms of work)
• Market & Consumer Psychology (consumer behavior; decision processes; advertising; price perception; branding)
• Macro perspective (value change; work and unemployment; money and financial behavior; uncertainty; societal transformation; and future worlds of work)
• Fields of Application (HR, marketing, organization, consulting, consumer contexts)

• Brinkmann, R. (2018) (Hrsg.). Angewandte Wirtschaftspsychologie. Hallbergmoos: Pearson.
• Marcus, B. (2025). Einführung in die Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie. Berlin: Springer.
• Parker, S. K., Morgeson, F. P., & Johns, G. (2017). One hundred years of work design research: Looking back and looking forward. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(3), 403–420.
• Spieß, E. (2023). Wirtschaftspsychologie: Rahmen, Konzepte, Anwendungsfelder. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter.
• Treier, M. (2019). Wirtschaftspsychologische Grundlagen für Personalmanagement: Fach- und Lehrbuch zur modernen Personalarbeit. Berlin: Springer.
• Wiswede, G. (2021). Einführung in die Wirtschaftspsychologie. München: Ernst Reinhardt.

Exam

German

6

The course is based on an e-learning concept that incorporates a didactically aligned combination of online and in-person phases. During the online phases, an inductive learning approach is applied, fostering the independent acquisition of knowledge and the completion of tasks. The in-person phases follow a deductive approach, in which learning processes are guided and deepened, and content is systematically delivered through lectures as well as practical examples.

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