Public Defence of Paulius Neciunskas Doctoral Dissertation

Paulius Neciunskas Doctoral Dissertation  “THE ROLE OF ORIGIN POSITIONING IN FOOD PRODUCT PREFERENCE FORMATION: HEALTHINESS BIAS AND PERCEPTION OF UNCERTAINTY PERSPECTIVES”. The public defense of the doctoral dissertation will be held at 12 p.m. on the 27th of June 2022, at ISM University of Management and Economics, room 310. Address: Arklių str. 18, Vilnius, Lithuania. Supervisor: Prof. dr. Justina Gineikienė (ISM University of Management and Economics / Vilnius University, Social Sciences, Management, S 003). Research consultant: Prof. dr. Bodo B. Schlegelmilch (Vienna University of Economics and Business, Social Sciences, Management, S 003). About Doctoral Dissertation: Companies entering new markets face the problem of choosing the most appropriate country of origin positioning of the product – emphasizing globalness, localness, or foreignness. This dissertation aims to cover the research gap related to the lack of understanding of how consumers perceive global origin positioning in the food product category. The main research problem is a lack of understanding of why and under what conditions consumers avoid food products with global (versus local and foreign) origin positioning. To explain consumers’ evaluations and purchase intentions toward food products with global origin cues, two underlying mechanisms were explored: consumers’ perception of healthiness and consumers’ perception of uncertainty. To answer the research questions, seven different experiments in four countries (United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Lithuania) were conducted. The findings of this dissertation demonstrate that food products with global origin positioning suffer from consumers’ tendency to favor food products with a local or foreign origin and avoid food products with global origin positioning. Consumers associate food products with global (versus local or foreign) origin positioning with a lower perception of healthiness and a higher perception of uncertainty. These consumers’ evaluations work as mediators and significantly impact consumers’ purchase intentions. The current dissertation aims to extend international marketing and consumer behavior research by providing new knowledge on consumers’ perceptions and choices toward food products with global (versus local and foreign) origin positioning. Defense board members Chairperson:Prof. dr. Ilona Bučiūnienė (ISM University of Management and Economics, Social Sciences, Management, S 003)Members:Prof. dr. Viltė Auruškevičienė (ISM University of Management and Economics, Social Sciences, Management – S 003)Prof. dr. Yannick Joye (ISM University of Management and Economics, Social Sciences, Management – S 003)Prof. dr. Sigitas Urbonavičius (Vilnius University, Social Sciences, Management – S 003)Prof. dr. Rutger van Oest (BI Norwegian Business School, Norway, Social Sciences, Management – S 003). Annotation The dissertation is available at the Martynas Mažvydas National library and library of ISM University of Management and Economics.