The Rector of the University of Münster and the Prorector for Strategic Human Resources Development, Prof. Dr. Johannes Wessels and Prof. Dr. Maike Tietjens, presented the dissertation prize in a video call to the authors of the 14 best dissertations from the 14 departments of the university. Since a ceremonial presentation was not possible due to the Corona pandemic, the Rectorate chose the digital way to congratulate the graduates personally.

The dissertation by Dr. Jonas Schmidt, research fellow at the Chair of Marketing Management, on the topic "Accurately measuring willingness to pay: Analyses of the Hypothetical Bias" under the supervision of Prof. Krafft was awarded the best doctoral thesis of the Department of Economics. As the title of the dissertation outlines, it deals with measurements of consumers' willingness to pay, which are of crucial importance for companies, especially in the early stages of product development. While in science and practice the opinion prevailed so far that complex indirect measuring methods provide more exact results than simple direct approaches, Jonas Schmidt refutes this assertion with the help of a meta-analysis. Furthermore, he shows that direct methods enable more accurate measurements with less effort and thus offer added value for both research and business practice.

We congratulate Jonas Schmidt on this outstanding achievement.