Kathrin Mayr

Dr. Kathrin Mayr is a Researcher at the Institute of Retailing, Sales and Marketing, Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU), specializing in consumer behavior and retail operations. Her work addresses critical industry challenges including customer deviance, e-commerce trust, and sustainable retail models.

Educational background includes BA, MA, and PhD qualifications. Research interests focus on customer deviance in retail settings, examining impacts on last-mile logistics and employee wellbeing; omnichannel retail dynamics including channel-switching behaviors; and rural retail innovation through autonomous store implementations. Her cross-cultural studies compare trust mechanisms in advanced versus emerging e-commerce markets.

Recent publications (2024-2025) reveal a trend toward empirical investigations of pandemic-era retail challenges, with growing emphasis on employee wellbeing under customer stress and technological solutions for rural retail sustainability. Key outlets include International Journal of Production Economics and International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management.

Award highlights:

• ECR Academic Student Award (2024)
• JKU Young Researcher Award (2023)
• Dr. Sohmen Far East Foundation Scholarship (2021)

She has supervised six students and secured funding for two major projects: Trend-Report #1 on Servitisation (2021-2022) and Trend-Report #2 on Environmental Factors (2021). Her research involves collaboration with senior faculty at JKU and international retail scholars. Current work centers on dataset development for customer deviance studies and rural retail vitality metrics, with active presentations at European retail conferences.