Neuromarketing and cognitive biases in internationalization: a behavioural perspective on consumer perception and managerial decision-making through a dual survey research.

In today’s globalized economy, both consumers and managers operate in environments characterized by cultural diversity and uncertainty. While traditional models of internationalization rely on rational evaluation, recent insights from neuromarketing and behavioural economics show that emotions, unconscious processes, and cognitive biases profoundly influence perceptions of foreign brands and foreign market opportunities. This thesis aims to integrate these two perspectives by examining how emotional responses shape consumer behaviour and how biases such as loss aversion and ambiguity aversion affect managerial decisions in international contexts. The first chapter will introduce the behavioural approach of this thesis, outlining the research objectives and explaining why emotional and cognitive mechanisms are essential to understanding decision-making in global environments. The second chapter will analyze neuromarketing and its interdisciplinary foundations, distinguishing between neuroscience, consumer neuroscience and neuromarketing. It will examine how emotional engagement, cultural adaptation and unconscious associations influence consumer attitudes toward international brands. The third chapter will focus on managerial decision-making through the lens of behavioural economics. It will explain how loss aversion and ambiguity aversion shape managers’ evaluation of foreign markets, often encouraging cautious or low-risk internationalization strategies. The fourth chapter will present the empirical methodology, based on two surveys: one exploring emotional engagement, trust and cultural fit from the consumer perspective, and one examining risk perception and behavioural biases among managers. Descriptive and inferential analyses will be used to identify behavioural patterns in both groups. The fifth chapter will discuss the results. Findings will show that emotional and cultural variables significantly influence consumer preferences, while cognitive biases strongly affect managerial evaluations of uncertainty and risk. A cross-analysis will reveal shared behavioural tendencies, and the chapter will conclude with theoretical and managerial implications, and well as limitations and directions for future research.