Rate My Professor Dominic Thomas

Dominic Thomas serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing within the Faculty of Business and Economics at Monash University, a role he has held since 2008. He also acts as Course Director for the Master of Applied Marketing program and marketing specialization leader for the Master of Business program. Thomas holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Master’s in Business Administration from Houston, and a PhD in Marketing from Alberta. His research, active since 2006, centers on how consumers form judgments and make decisions, with particular attention to the influences of social factors, emotions, poverty, and inequality. Specific projects examine the digital divide, nutrition labeling, loyalty programs, store brands, superstitious behavior, health and nutrition, and policy implications of consumer choices. His expertise aligns with UN Sustainable Development Goals including No Poverty, Good Health and Well-being, Reduced Inequalities, and Responsible Consumption and Production. Thomas's interests further encompass social influences in consumer behavior, application of choice modeling to policy issues, new product development, internet marketing, and policy implications of internet adoption and use.

Thomas has published in prominent journals such as the Journal of Retailing, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Economic Psychology, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Consumer Affairs, and Public Health Nutrition. Key publications include “A nudge toward healthier food choices: the influence of health star ratings on consumers’ choices of packaged foods” with Satheesh Seenivasan and Di Wang (European Journal of Marketing, 2021; 26 Scopus citations), “Unhealthy food preferences: a psychological consequence of poverty?” (Journal of Consumer Affairs, 2022; 5 Scopus citations), “Trends (2014-2018) in the healthiness of packaged food purchases of Australian consumers before and after the introduction of voluntary Health Star Rating nutrition labels” with Satheesh Seenivasan, A. Nagpal, and Gary Sacks (Public Health Nutrition, 2024; 2 Scopus citations), and “Beyond consumer protection: how transparent consumer rights disclosure shapes consumer purchasing” with Aashish Srivastava, Catrina Denvir, and E. Kang (European Law Review, 2025). He served as Chief Investigator on the VicHealth-funded project “Impact of Health Star Ratings on the Healthiness of Consumer Grocery Baskets” (2018-2020). In addition, Thomas is a Board Member of the Diocese of Sale Catholic Education Limited (DOSCEL), directing 38 primary and five secondary schools, and provides expert commentary on consumer trends such as functional drinks. He is currently accepting PhD students and is associated with Impact Labs.