I am an Associate Professor in the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.
My research focuses on consumer psychology and advertising effects. From this perspective, I have investigated how consumers process information and the mechanisms through which marketing communications affect consumer behavior. Generally, my research utilizes information processing as a central mechanism to explicate the role of marketing communication experiences in consumer behavior. Within this context, I have looked into the effects and mechanisms of a variety of brand communications (e.g., influencer marketing, content marketing strategies, advertising portrayals of female model sizes, and the use of 360-degree video in brand’s storytelling), as well as the roles of social and psychological factors in the persuasion process.
I am a mixed-methods researcher with a strong quantitative focus, experienced in a broad range of research methods, including lab and online experiment, survey, in-depth interview, focus group, and data mining; In my recent publications, I have used eye-tracking and psychophysiological measures, as well as topic modeling and sentiment analysis through a big data approach.
My work has appeared in multiple top-tier journals in both advertising and communication, including the Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, among others.
I was awarded the 2021 Mary Alice Shaver Promising Professor Award by the American Academy of Advertising (AAA) (an award that honors a junior faculty member who has demonstrated excellence and innovation in advertising research and teaching and who has taught no more than four years in a full-time faculty position), the 2021 Outstanding Reviewer Award by the Journal of Interactive Advertising, the 2019 Best Article Award in the Journal of Interactive Advertising, and was a recipient of the 2021 and 2019 AAA Research Fellowship Grants, respectively, among other research awards.
I serve as an Associate Editor in the International Journal of Advertising (IJA) and the Journal of Interactive Advertising (JIA), respectively. I am also serving on the Editorial Review Boards of the Journal of Advertising (JA), Journal of Advertising Research (JAR), and the Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising (JCIRA).
Before joining NTU, I was a Ph.D. student in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Michigan State University (2012 Aug -- 2016 Dec). I also studied at Ohio University (M.S. degree, the E. W. Scripps school of Journalism, 2009-2011) and Wuhan University (B.A. School of Journalism and Communication, 2005-2009).