Hester van Herk is Full Professor of Cross-Cultural Marketing Research at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and was Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia in Perth. She is Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Social Survey (ESS-ERIC) in London and serves on the advisory boards of the Data & Insight Network, the Dutch professional association for market and social research, and Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen.
Hester obtained her PhD (2000) in marketing and cross-cultural psychology from Tilburg University. With a background spanning both academia and industry, and across the fields of psychology, business administration, and research methodology, she brings an integrated perspective to understanding how values shape behavior at both the individual and societal level.
Research
Hester’s research focuses on understanding how cultural and personal values shape consumer behavior, and how these insights can inform decision-making in international markets where understanding cultural differences is increasingly critical.
A central thread in her work is the role of human values as key drivers of behavior. She studies how individual and cultural values influence consumer choices, social preferences, and broader societal outcomes, and how these effects can be meaningfully compared across countries.
Her work is applied across a wide range of domains, including e-commerce, healthcare, sustainable transportation, and public policy. She actively collaborates with organizations working at the interface of culture and business, such as The Culture Factor Group in Helsinki, Finland.
Research interests:
- Comparability of survey data across cultures
- Public policy and societal issues involving value differences
- Validity of cross-cultural comparisons
- Response styles and measurement bias
- Cross-national segmentation and positioning
- Value measurement using text data
Teaching
Hester served as Program Director of the Bachelor of Business Administration (2010–2013) and as Acting Department Chair of the Marketing Department (2013–2015). She teaches at the Bachelor, Master, and PhD levels, focusing on research methodology and cross-cultural issues.
In her teaching, she emphasizes the importance of rigorous methodology and critical thinking, and is committed to helping students understand how to design and interpret research in an international context. She particularly enjoys using survey methodology to engage students with the latest developments in the field.
