Seidi Suurmets Is Awarded the PhD Degree from Copenhagen Business School

With the aim to contribute to the discourse and methodology related to conducting studies in real-life environments, Dr. Seidi Suurmets' (from the Department of Marketing) dissertation employs eye-tracking methodology and investigates the impact of the study setup and contextual cues on consumer information processing and behavior. The core of her dissertation consists of three separate articles, which reveal that: (1) there are spatial differences in attention allocation to stimuli presented as screen-images versus in their physical form, and (2) the relative impact of stimulus-driven versus goal-oriented factors in guiding attention during choice process is affected by the study setup. Addressing the issue of visualizing eye-tracking data from mobile environments, also a novel approach for constructing three-dimensional heatmaps is introduced. Implications for both researchers and practitioners, including recommendations for future research are proposed.

Seidi's primary supervisor was associate professor Jesper Clement, and her secondary supervisor was professor Torsten Ringberg, both from the Department of Marketing, Copenhagen Business School. The assessment committee consisted of Professor Andrea Gröppel-Klein (Saarland University) and associate professors Zachary Estes (Bocconi University) and Michel van der Borgh (Copenhagen Business School). Thank you many times to everyone!

Congratulations, Seidi. Very well done!