Gaia Rancati, PhD, is an assistant professor of marketing at Middle Tennessee State University who also manages the Neuromarketing Lab.She is also a visiting assistant professor at IULM University in Italy. In her academic career, she has been an assistant professor at Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, USA, and a senior researcher at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California, USA.

Her research focuses on the application of neuromarketing in the interactions between humans and artificial intelligence in retail stores, online and in the metaverse. Dr. Rancati authored what was renowned as one of the most influential papers of 2023: the first paper on human-robot interaction in retail stores measured using neuro-tools. She has presented her work at many conferences, such as when she was a speaker at the 2022 World Neuromarketing Forum.  She has also been a recurring speaker at the World Retail Congress since 2019. That same year, she was awarded Woman of Excellence in Retail at the World Economic Forum.  

Her research includes distinguished companies such as Amazon, Tesla, Ford, Sotheby’s, Buckle, and Fedon 1919. 

Dr. Rancati co-founded Affectively Research, the first academic neuromarketing network in the US. Her contributions include her management of the galvanic skin response module. She is also an active member of the American Marketing Associatio  

Dr. Rancati leads a team of student researchers who preform studies to develop new and innovative marketing strategies while teaching Marketing and the Neuromarketing course she developed at MTSU (debuting Fall 2024). 

She also has a passion for luxury fashion which she incorporates into her studies on determining buyer behavior. Her background as sales manager at Louis Vuitton and retail manager for Value Retail and Max Mara has provided an invaluable foundation for her investigations. Her pioneering research led her to be chosen as brand ambassador for iMotions.

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Manuscripts Published:  

Rancati, G., Bartolotta, S., Mauri, M., Schultz, C. D., Chrico, A., Gaggioli, A. (2024) Young Customer Responses to Service Robots vs. Humans in Luxury Retail: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Marketing | ZFP - Journal of Research and Management

Mauri, M., Rancati, G., Gaggioli, A., Riva, G. (2024) Comparing the effects of immersive and non-immersive real estate experience on behavioral intentions. Computers in Human Behavior 150:107996.  

Rancati, G., Nguyen, T. T. T., Fowler, D., Mauri, M., & Schultz, C. D. (2023) Customer experience in coffee stores: A multidisciplinary Neuromarketing approach. Journal of Consumer Behaviour.  

Rancati, G., Maggioni, I. (2023) Neurophysiological Responses to Robot-Human Interactions in Retail Stores. Journal of Services Marketing 37(3), 261-275.  

Mauri, M., Rancati, G., Gaggioli, A., Riva, G. (2021) The Application of Implicit Association Test techniques and Facial Expression Analyses in the Comparative Evaluation of Website User Experience. Frontiers in Psychology, special issue in Neuromarketing and Neuromanagement.  

Rancati, G., Maggioni, I. (2020). Human Versus Robot Sales Assistants: The Impact of Immersion and Dwell Time. Insights 32- Neuromarketing and Business Association, Special Retail Issue.  

Published Chapter in a Book:  

Rancati G. (2022) Human + Robot: the ideal integration for the future of retail. Chapter in the Book Retailoring, Franco Angeli Publishing  

Rancati, G., Tyagy, N., Firdous, A. (2021) The Relevance of Intelligent Automation in Contemporary Business Context. Chapter in the Book Contemporary Business Trends: Pre- and Post-Covid Scenario, Bloomsbury Publishing.

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2024: American Marketing Association (AMA) - Summer Academic Conference – Boston

Panel: Deciphering the Unspoken - Using Biometrics Technology in Teaching and Research

2024: Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) – Coral Gable

Paper: Digital Voice Assistants in Online Shopping  

2024: American Marketing Association (AMA) - Winter Academic Conference – Tampa

Paper: Bias in Using Digital Voice Assistants in Online Shopping  

2023: Society of Marketing Advances (SMA) Annual Conference -Fort Worth

Paper: The Effect of Sales Assistant-Customer Interaction on Immersion inside Retail Stores.  

2023: 31st Frontiers in Service Conference - Maastricht

Paper 1: Agency or Presence: Customer Emotions towards Robots in Service Encounters.

Paper 2: The Importance of Service Tasks in Voice-Automated Service Encounters  

2023: Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) – New Orleans

Paper: Super Bowl commercials’ effectiveness in creating a diverse and inclusive brand image: A neuromarketing approach.  

2023: AMA Winter Conference - Nashville

Session Chair

Paper: Agency or Presence: Customer Emotions towards Robots in Service Encounters'

Paper: Keep to the Task! The Role of Service Type in Service Chat Encounter

2022: ANZMAC 2022 _Reinvent and Reimagine

Paper: Genders Stereotyping and Cognitive Biases in Digital Vocie Assistant Shopping

2022: Neuromarketing World Forum

Paper: Biases in Using Digital Voice Assistants  

2022: Frontiers in Service Conference

Paper: The Effect of the Digital Voice Assistants Gender and Cognitive Bias on Customer Behavior in Online Shopping  

2022: 21st International Business Congress

Keynote speaker on Human-Robot Interactions in Retail and Online Paper: Super Bowl commercials’ effectiveness in creating a diverse and inclusive brand image: A neuromarketing approach    

2022: 51st Annual Meeting of the Society for Computation in Psychology

Paper: Implicit Association Test Techniques and Facial Expression Analyses in the Comparative Evaluation of Website User Experience   

2022: AMA Winter Academic Conference

Paper: The Voices We Hear - Gender and Voice in Technology Acceptance of Digital Voice Assistants'   

2021: The 7Th Naples Forum on Service

Paper: The Effect of Sales Assistant-Customer Interaction on Immersion inside Retail Stores  

2021: 2021 Virtual Annual Conference – Celebrating 50th Anniversary AMS

Paper: The Effect of Robot-Human Interaction on Immersion and Store Visit Duration  

2021: International Conference on Contemporary Business Trends – NIT Srinagar

Paper: Robot-human Interactions in Retail Stores: a Neuromarketing Perspective Honorable Mention from the Chair  

2020: 14th International Conference - Convergence 2020 – IFIM Business School

Paper: Robot-human interactions in retail stores: a neuromarketing perspective  

2019: World Retail Congress 2019

Paper: Living with a robot: lessons in neuroscience, retail, sales, and the future of AI  

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2024: Most Influential Neuromarketing Paper - Neuromarketing and Business Association

Paper: Robot-human interactions in retail stores: a neuromarketing perspective

2023: MTSU-Research Scholar Week 

Paper 1: Super Bowl Commercials’ Effectiveness in Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Brand Image: A Neuromarketing Approach

Paper 2: Online Shopping Experience in Automotive: A Neuromarketing Approach

Winner First- and Second-Best Research Award in Undergraduate Marketing Research

Paper: The Voices We Hear – Effect of Cognitive Bias and Gender on Digital Voice Assistant Shopping

Winner First Best Research Award in Graduate Marketing Research

2022: Most Influential Neuromarketing Paper - Neuromarketing and Business Association

Paper: The Application of Implicit Association Test techniques and Facial Expression Analyses in the Comparative Evaluation of Website User Experience.

2021: International Conference on Contemporary Business Trends – NIT Srinagar

Honorable Mention from the Chair  

Title: Robot-Human Interactions in Retail Stores: a Neuromarketing Perspective 

2020: 14th International Conference - Convergence 2020 – Jagdish Sheth School of Management

Best Paper Award  

Title: Robot-human interactions in retail stores: a neuromarketing perspective 2019

2019: World Women Economic Forum - New Delhi - India

Award as Woman of Excellence for the Research on Customer Experience and Retail

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