Designing and Explaining a Model for the Establishment of Neuromarketing in the Pricing of Iraq’s Food Industry: The Mediating and Moderating Role of Consumers’ Behavioural Patterns

Tuama Almansoori, Ghaith Hamid; Zarei, Ghasem; Seifollahi Anar, Naser; Bashokouh Ajirlou, Mohammad

doi:10.22034/ijumes.2025.738093

Designing and Explaining a Model for the Establishment of Neuromarketing in the Pricing of Iraq’s Food Industry: The Mediating and Moderating Role of Consumers’ Behavioural Patterns

Document Type : Case Study

Authors

Ghaith Hamid Tuama Almansoori ¹

Ghasem Zarei ²

Naser Seifollahi Anar ³

Mohammad Bashokouh Ajirlou ⁴

¹ Ph.D. Student, Department of Business Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabili, Iran

² Professor, Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

³ Professor, Department of business management, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran

⁴ Professor, Department of Business Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabili, Iran

10.22034/ijumes.2025.738093

Abstract

Iraq’s food industry, one of the drivers of the country’s non-oil economy, operates in a highly competitive and complex environment in which pricing has become one of the most sensitive elements of the marketing mix. Traditional pricing approaches, resting mainly on cost, competition and price elasticity, cannot fully explain the cognitive and emotional processes latent in the consumer’s mind. With the rise of neuromarketing as a new paradigm in consumer-behavior research, it has become possible to measure individuals’ neurological responses to price stimuli directly, without the mediation of self-report. The study set out to design and explain a model for establishing neuromarketing in the pricing process of Iraq’s food industry, with particular emphasis on the behavioral patterns of Iraqi consumers. In terms of purpose the study is applied–developmental, and in nature it is qualitative, adopting the systematic grounded-theory approach of Strauss and Corbin. Data were gathered through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 18 academic experts and senior managers of Iraq’s food industry and were analyzed through open, axial and selective coding with the aid of MAXQDA 2024. The trustworthiness of the findings was established through the four criteria of Guba and Lincoln. The analysis produced a paradigm model comprising 6 main categories and 37 subcategories. The core category, “the localized establishment of neuromarketing in pricing”, encompassed the dimensions of cognitive price processing, emotional response to price stimuli and unconscious decision-making. The findings showed that cultural–religious factors, income level and financial literacy, together with neuro-measurement technologies as instrumental conditions, play a decisive role in the successful establishment of the mode. The designed model shows that pricing in Iraq’s food industry requires a transition from the classical rationality-based approach to a dual approach in which the consumer’s neurological processing is placed at the center of pricing decisions. The theoretical implications include extending the neuromarketing literature within the context of emerging economies and enriching theories of price processing.

Graphical Abstract

Designing and Explaining a Model for the Establishment of Neuromarketing in the Pricing of Iraq’s Food Industry: The Mediating and Moderating Role of Consumers’ Behavioural Patterns

Highlights

· A grounded-theory study of 18 experts yields an indigenous paradigm model for establishing neuromarketing in the pricing of Iraq’s food industry, with 6 categories and 37 subcategories.

· The core phenomenon, the localized establishment of neuromarketing in pricing integrates cognitive price processing, emotional response to price stimuli and unconscious decision-making.

· Pricing must shift from a classical, rationality-centered approach to a dual rational-emotional approach that places the consumer’s neurological processing at its center.

· Cultural–religious factors (halal sensitivity, family-centered decisions, tribal structure) and economic volatility are decisive contextual conditions that make imported models unworkable without localization.

· Neuro tools such as eye-tracking, EEG and fMRI, applied to price labels and packaging, offer Iraqi food firms an evidence-based route to market share, quality perception and durable emotional loyalty.

Keywords

Consumer behavior

food industry

Iraq

Neuromarketing

pricing

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