Comic 1 – title to follow
A short description will follow: what the study is about and its key finding.
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Prof. Dr. Damian Leschik studies how artificial intelligence is changing market research.
Professor of Marketing Management
IU International University of Applied Sciences · Aachen and Cologne campuses
Profile
Damian Leschik is Professor of Marketing Management at IU International University of Applied Sciences, teaching at the Aachen and Cologne campuses in Germany. His research asks what artificial intelligence can contribute to market research and where its limits lie. A particular focus is silicon sampling: whether AI-generated respondents can replace, or usefully complement, real people in surveys and interviews.
Before joining academia, he spent about 15 years in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, working in marketing, sales, business development and production at companies including PAION, PharmaCell, tesa Labtec and Biogazelle. His Doctor of Business Administration from Charles Sturt University (Australia) received the Joss Group Outstanding Thesis Prize.
He teaches in German and English, including consumer behaviour, market research, marketing controlling, international brand management, data science and Python. He is a board member of the working group “AI & Brand/Marketing” of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Marketing (AfM), a German association of marketing professors.
Research interests
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AI in market research and silicon sampling
When can AI-generated respondents usefully complement surveys and interviews, and when do they distort results? The focus is on criteria for the quality, validity and reliability of synthetic data, and on AI-led interviews.
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Data science for consumer insights
Sentiment analysis, topic modelling and structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) turn customer data, such as online comments or survey responses, into robust insights.
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Generative AI in marketing and sales
How companies connect language models with their own domain knowledge, for example through retrieval-augmented generation, without compromising privacy and confidentiality.
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Consumer behaviour in immersive environments
What value people see in virtual reality, augmented reality and spatial computing, studied with means-end chain theory.
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Success of mergers and acquisitions in biopharma
Which metrics explain M&A success among small and medium-sized pharmaceutical and biotech companies in Germany. Subject of the doctoral thesis and several journal articles.
Latest research notes
Recent studies on consumer behaviour, AI and market research, briefly presented and discussed.
The first research notes will appear soon.
Research as comics
Two studies told as comics, to read, share and use in teaching. Free PDF downloads.
Comic 2 – title to follow
A short description will follow: what the study is about and its key finding.
PDF coming soon
Latest publications
Book chapter
Unlocking the future of marketing: The transformative potential of virtual reality, augmented reality, and spatial computing
Leschik, D., Baums, K., & Mazurek, J. M. J. (2026). In G. Schuster & C. Bornemeyer (Eds.), Handbuch innovatives Marketing (pp. 1–13). Springer Gabler.
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-46709-8_33-1
Summary
Book chapter on virtual reality, augmented reality and spatial computing as tools for marketing.
Book chapter
Exploring AI-generated interviews using the means-end chain model: A comparative study with human-led interviews
Leschik, D., Ritz, F., Milicevic, A., Appel, D., & Beckers, N. (2026). In G. Schuster & C. Bornemeyer (Eds.), Handbuch innovatives Marketing (pp. 1–17). Springer Gabler.
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-46709-8_41-1
Summary
A comparative study of AI-led and human-led interviews based on means-end chain theory.
Journal articleopen access
Model evaluation of post-M&A success metrics in the German biopharmaceutical industry
Leschik, D. (2025). Journal of Business Models, 13(1), 146–167.
Summary
Using survey data from 384 small and medium-sized biopharmaceutical companies in Germany and PLS-SEM, the study tests which success metrics explain post-M&A revenue. Efficient allocation of personnel and resources and the clinical success rate have significant effects.
Contact
University
IU International University of Applied Sciences
Aachen and Cologne campuses