Virtual influencers have exerted a profound influence on future marketing strategies. However, a ... more Virtual influencers have exerted a profound influence on future marketing strategies. However, a comprehensive understanding of how and why virtual influencers, with varying characteristics, affect the effectiveness of their brand endorsements remains elusive. This research explores the relationships between consumers' perceived autonomy of virtual influencers, their purchase intentions, and brand attitudes. Through one pretest and five studies, we reveal that virtual influencers characterized by low autonomy, in contrast to their highly autonomous counterparts, tend to elicit more favorable consumer responses. This effect is driven by the identity threat from autonomous VI and does not apply to human influencers. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this effect is particularly pronounced when virtual influencers endorse experience products as opposed to search products. Moreover, within the category of lowly autonomous influencers, consumers exhibit a preference for search products when endorsed by virtual influencers than human influencers.
International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2023
The pandemic has led to a significant increase in the use of video conferencing platforms such as... more The pandemic has led to a significant increase in the use of video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Yet little is known about the impact of video conferencing on subsequent consumer decisions. Across six studies, we examine the effects of video conferencing in both consumption (e.g., sales) and nonconsumption (e.g., school and work) contexts and find that video conferencing can trigger greater interest in products that can enhance the self-physically, intellectually, and/or mentally-due to heightened social appearance anxiety. This effect is attenuated when technology allows users to reduce social appearance anxiety (e.g., the use of ring lights or the ability to turn off web cameras) but accentuated when social anxiety is increased (e.g., the use gallery/ speaker views) and is more pronounced among consumers who are low in self-esteem.
Platform owners occasionally enter third-party providers' markets with similar offerings. This st... more Platform owners occasionally enter third-party providers' markets with similar offerings. This study investigates the influence of such platform-owner entry on third parties' commitment to a platform. We posit two competing mechanisms that explain the impact of platform-owner entry: the competition and spillover mechanisms. The competition mechanism suggests that a platform owner's entry dampens third-party providers' commitment, primarily due to intensified competition, while the spillover mechanism predicts the opposite effect because of increased consumer awareness. Furthermore, we contend that under high (low) platform support, the mediating role of the spillover (competition) effect is strengthened. To test these propositions, we conducted a survey and collected data from platform providers in multiple industries. Overall, our findings support our hypotheses, which suggest that platform-owner entry is a double-edge sword. The entry may crowd out third-party providers, but it can also be a win-win for a platform and providers in the context of high platform support.
The advent of social media has dramatically changed the way consumers communicate with others. Ho... more The advent of social media has dramatically changed the way consumers communicate with others. How to communicate appropriately with mass audiences on social media has become an urgent topic in crisis communication. This article investigates the use of humor in crisis communication within a social media context. Across three studies using multisource data, the authors find that humorous responses to negative publicity can lead to more favorable consumer responses than nonhumorous responses do. This effect is moderated by the type (defensible vs. not defensible) of negative event. These findings have important implications both theoretically and managerially.
Journal of the Association of Consumer Research, 2021
Across four studies, we document a novel and unexpected effect such that COVID-19 data gathered b... more Across four studies, we document a novel and unexpected effect such that COVID-19 data gathered by artificial intelligence (AI vs. humans) reduces consumers' intentions to take preventive measures. This effect is driven by greater perceived dehumanization, such that consumers view AI-generated data as numbers, rather than as human lives. We find that this effect is mitigated when humanness is primed, is moderated by AI type (narrow AI leads to greater dehumanization than general AI), and is attenuated by task type (perceived vaccine effectiveness is similar for AI and humans when the vaccine development process highlights AI-advantageous attributes).
How do audiences impact the memories shared on social media? We find that sharing experience on s... more How do audiences impact the memories shared on social media? We find that sharing experience on social media can ironically decrease memory of shared experience and sharing with a small group attenuates sharer’s memories to a greater extent than sharing with a large group. This advantage is due to outsourcing memories to identifiable audiences and is diminished by enhancing the perceived heterogeneity of large group or decreasing the identifiability of small group.
Motivated forgetting is a psychological defense mechanism whereby people cope with threatening an... more Motivated forgetting is a psychological defense mechanism whereby people cope with threatening and unwanted memories by suppressing them from consciousness. A series of laboratory experiments investigate whether social identity threat can motivate people subsequently to forget identity-linked marketing promotions. To this effect, whereas social identity priming improves memory for identity-linked promotions, priming coupled with social identity threat (i.e., negative identity-related feedback) impairs memory. Importantly, this identity threat effect occurs only among people who identify strongly with their in-group and only for explicit memory. Implicit memory, in contrast, remains intact under threat. Additionally, the identity threat effect is eliminated (i.e., explicit memory is restored) if people affirm the threatened social identity, thereby mitigating the threat, prior to memory retrieval. Finally, the identity threat effect occurs only when automatic processes guide forgetting. When forgetting is guided by deliberate and controlled processes, the tobe-forgotten memories intrude into consciousness.
International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2016
Companies are increasingly allocating more of their marketing spending to social media programs. ... more Companies are increasingly allocating more of their marketing spending to social media programs. Yet there is little research about how social media use is associated with consumer-brand relationships. We conducted three studies to explore how individual and national differences influence the relationship between social media use and customer brand relationships. The first study surveyed customers in France, the U.K. and U.S. and compared those who engage with their favorite brands via social media with those who do not. The findings indicated that social media use was positively related with brand relationship quality and the effect was more pronounced with high anthropomorphism perceptions (the extent to which consumers' associate human characteristics with brands). Two subsequent experiments further validated these findings and confirmed that cultural differences, specifically uncertainty avoidance, moderated these results. We obtained robust and convergent results from survey and experimental data using both student and adult consumer samples and testing across three product categories (athletic shoes, notebook computers, and automobiles). The results offer cross-national support for the proposition that engaging customers via social media is associated with higher consumer-brand relationships and word of mouth communications when consumers anthropomorphize the brand and they avoid uncertainty.
With the advent of popular Web destinations such as MySpace and Facebook, online social networkin... more With the advent of popular Web destinations such as MySpace and Facebook, online social networking communities now occupy the center stage of e-commerce. Yet these online social networking communities must balance the trade-off between advertising revenue and user experience. Drawing on the sociology and advertising literature, this study investigates the impacts of social identity and group norms on community users' group intentions to accept advertising in online social networking communities. By outlining how this type of group intention could influence community members' perceptions and value judgments of such advertising, this study delineates possible mechanisms by which community members may respond positively to community advertising. The authors test the proposed theoretical framework on a sample of 327 popular online community users in China and obtain general support. Implications for the prospect of advertising in online social networking communities are discussed.
Journal of the Association of Consumer Research, 2020
Across four studies, we document a novel and unexpected effect such that COVID-19 data gathered b... more Across four studies, we document a novel and unexpected effect such that COVID-19 data gathered by AI (vs. humans) reduces consumers’ intentions to take preventive measures. This effect is driven by greater perceived dehumanization, such that consumers view AI-generated data as numbers, rather than as human lives. We find that this effect is mitigated when humanness is primed, is moderated by AI type (narrow AI leads to greater dehumanization than general AI), and is attenuated by task type (perceived vaccine effectiveness is similar for AI and humans when the vaccine development process highlights AI-advantageous attributes).
Companies are increasingly allocating more of their marketing spending to social media programs. ... more Companies are increasingly allocating more of their marketing spending to social media programs. Yet there is little research about how social media use is associated with consumer–brand relationships. We conducted three studies to explore how individual and national differences influence the relationship between social media use and customer brand relationships. The first study surveyed customers in France, the U.K. and U.S. and compared those who engage with their favorite brands via social media with those who do not. The findings indicated that social media use was positively related with brand relationship quality and the effect was more pronounced with high anthropomorphism perceptions (the extent to which consumers' associate human characteristics with brands). Two subsequent experiments further validated these findings and confirmed that cultural differences, specifically uncertainty avoidance, moderated these results. We obtained robust and convergent results from survey and experimental data using both student and adult consumer samples and testing across three product categories (athletic shoes, notebook computers, and automobiles). The results offer cross-national support for the proposition that engaging customers via social media is associated with higher consumer–brand relationships and word of mouth communications when consumers anthropomorphize the brand and they avoid uncertainty.
Motivated forgetting was first introduced by Freud (1915), who proposed that threatening and unwa... more Motivated forgetting was first introduced by Freud (1915), who proposed that threatening and unwanted memories can be suppressed from consciousness. Our investigation of this phenomenon explores whether social identity threat can motivate people to subsequently forget identity-linked marketing promotions. To this effect, we find that, whereas social identity priming improves memory for identity-linked promotions, priming coupled with social identity threat (i.e., negative identity-related feedback) impairs memory. Importantly, this identity threat effect occurs only among people who identify strongly with their ingroup and only for explicit memory. Implicit memory, in contrast, remains intact under threat. Additionally, the identity threat effect is eliminated (i.e., explicit memory is restored) if people affirm the threatened social identity, thereby mitigating the threat, prior to memory retrieval. Finally, the identity threat effect occurs only when automatic processes guide forgetting. When forgetting is guided by deliberate and controlled processes, the to-be-forgotten memories intrude into consciousness.
Virtual influencers have exerted a profound influence on future marketing strategies. However, a ... more Virtual influencers have exerted a profound influence on future marketing strategies. However, a comprehensive understanding of how and why virtual influencers, with varying characteristics, affect the effectiveness of their brand endorsements remains elusive. This research explores the relationships between consumers' perceived autonomy of virtual influencers, their purchase intentions, and brand attitudes. Through one pretest and five studies, we reveal that virtual influencers characterized by low autonomy, in contrast to their highly autonomous counterparts, tend to elicit more favorable consumer responses. This effect is driven by the identity threat from autonomous VI and does not apply to human influencers. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this effect is particularly pronounced when virtual influencers endorse experience products as opposed to search products. Moreover, within the category of lowly autonomous influencers, consumers exhibit a preference for search products when endorsed by virtual influencers than human influencers.
International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2023
The pandemic has led to a significant increase in the use of video conferencing platforms such as... more The pandemic has led to a significant increase in the use of video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams. Yet little is known about the impact of video conferencing on subsequent consumer decisions. Across six studies, we examine the effects of video conferencing in both consumption (e.g., sales) and nonconsumption (e.g., school and work) contexts and find that video conferencing can trigger greater interest in products that can enhance the self-physically, intellectually, and/or mentally-due to heightened social appearance anxiety. This effect is attenuated when technology allows users to reduce social appearance anxiety (e.g., the use of ring lights or the ability to turn off web cameras) but accentuated when social anxiety is increased (e.g., the use gallery/ speaker views) and is more pronounced among consumers who are low in self-esteem.
Platform owners occasionally enter third-party providers' markets with similar offerings. This st... more Platform owners occasionally enter third-party providers' markets with similar offerings. This study investigates the influence of such platform-owner entry on third parties' commitment to a platform. We posit two competing mechanisms that explain the impact of platform-owner entry: the competition and spillover mechanisms. The competition mechanism suggests that a platform owner's entry dampens third-party providers' commitment, primarily due to intensified competition, while the spillover mechanism predicts the opposite effect because of increased consumer awareness. Furthermore, we contend that under high (low) platform support, the mediating role of the spillover (competition) effect is strengthened. To test these propositions, we conducted a survey and collected data from platform providers in multiple industries. Overall, our findings support our hypotheses, which suggest that platform-owner entry is a double-edge sword. The entry may crowd out third-party providers, but it can also be a win-win for a platform and providers in the context of high platform support.
The advent of social media has dramatically changed the way consumers communicate with others. Ho... more The advent of social media has dramatically changed the way consumers communicate with others. How to communicate appropriately with mass audiences on social media has become an urgent topic in crisis communication. This article investigates the use of humor in crisis communication within a social media context. Across three studies using multisource data, the authors find that humorous responses to negative publicity can lead to more favorable consumer responses than nonhumorous responses do. This effect is moderated by the type (defensible vs. not defensible) of negative event. These findings have important implications both theoretically and managerially.
Journal of the Association of Consumer Research, 2021
Across four studies, we document a novel and unexpected effect such that COVID-19 data gathered b... more Across four studies, we document a novel and unexpected effect such that COVID-19 data gathered by artificial intelligence (AI vs. humans) reduces consumers' intentions to take preventive measures. This effect is driven by greater perceived dehumanization, such that consumers view AI-generated data as numbers, rather than as human lives. We find that this effect is mitigated when humanness is primed, is moderated by AI type (narrow AI leads to greater dehumanization than general AI), and is attenuated by task type (perceived vaccine effectiveness is similar for AI and humans when the vaccine development process highlights AI-advantageous attributes).
How do audiences impact the memories shared on social media? We find that sharing experience on s... more How do audiences impact the memories shared on social media? We find that sharing experience on social media can ironically decrease memory of shared experience and sharing with a small group attenuates sharer’s memories to a greater extent than sharing with a large group. This advantage is due to outsourcing memories to identifiable audiences and is diminished by enhancing the perceived heterogeneity of large group or decreasing the identifiability of small group.
Motivated forgetting is a psychological defense mechanism whereby people cope with threatening an... more Motivated forgetting is a psychological defense mechanism whereby people cope with threatening and unwanted memories by suppressing them from consciousness. A series of laboratory experiments investigate whether social identity threat can motivate people subsequently to forget identity-linked marketing promotions. To this effect, whereas social identity priming improves memory for identity-linked promotions, priming coupled with social identity threat (i.e., negative identity-related feedback) impairs memory. Importantly, this identity threat effect occurs only among people who identify strongly with their in-group and only for explicit memory. Implicit memory, in contrast, remains intact under threat. Additionally, the identity threat effect is eliminated (i.e., explicit memory is restored) if people affirm the threatened social identity, thereby mitigating the threat, prior to memory retrieval. Finally, the identity threat effect occurs only when automatic processes guide forgetting. When forgetting is guided by deliberate and controlled processes, the tobe-forgotten memories intrude into consciousness.
International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2016
Companies are increasingly allocating more of their marketing spending to social media programs. ... more Companies are increasingly allocating more of their marketing spending to social media programs. Yet there is little research about how social media use is associated with consumer-brand relationships. We conducted three studies to explore how individual and national differences influence the relationship between social media use and customer brand relationships. The first study surveyed customers in France, the U.K. and U.S. and compared those who engage with their favorite brands via social media with those who do not. The findings indicated that social media use was positively related with brand relationship quality and the effect was more pronounced with high anthropomorphism perceptions (the extent to which consumers' associate human characteristics with brands). Two subsequent experiments further validated these findings and confirmed that cultural differences, specifically uncertainty avoidance, moderated these results. We obtained robust and convergent results from survey and experimental data using both student and adult consumer samples and testing across three product categories (athletic shoes, notebook computers, and automobiles). The results offer cross-national support for the proposition that engaging customers via social media is associated with higher consumer-brand relationships and word of mouth communications when consumers anthropomorphize the brand and they avoid uncertainty.
With the advent of popular Web destinations such as MySpace and Facebook, online social networkin... more With the advent of popular Web destinations such as MySpace and Facebook, online social networking communities now occupy the center stage of e-commerce. Yet these online social networking communities must balance the trade-off between advertising revenue and user experience. Drawing on the sociology and advertising literature, this study investigates the impacts of social identity and group norms on community users' group intentions to accept advertising in online social networking communities. By outlining how this type of group intention could influence community members' perceptions and value judgments of such advertising, this study delineates possible mechanisms by which community members may respond positively to community advertising. The authors test the proposed theoretical framework on a sample of 327 popular online community users in China and obtain general support. Implications for the prospect of advertising in online social networking communities are discussed.
Journal of the Association of Consumer Research, 2020
Across four studies, we document a novel and unexpected effect such that COVID-19 data gathered b... more Across four studies, we document a novel and unexpected effect such that COVID-19 data gathered by AI (vs. humans) reduces consumers’ intentions to take preventive measures. This effect is driven by greater perceived dehumanization, such that consumers view AI-generated data as numbers, rather than as human lives. We find that this effect is mitigated when humanness is primed, is moderated by AI type (narrow AI leads to greater dehumanization than general AI), and is attenuated by task type (perceived vaccine effectiveness is similar for AI and humans when the vaccine development process highlights AI-advantageous attributes).
Companies are increasingly allocating more of their marketing spending to social media programs. ... more Companies are increasingly allocating more of their marketing spending to social media programs. Yet there is little research about how social media use is associated with consumer–brand relationships. We conducted three studies to explore how individual and national differences influence the relationship between social media use and customer brand relationships. The first study surveyed customers in France, the U.K. and U.S. and compared those who engage with their favorite brands via social media with those who do not. The findings indicated that social media use was positively related with brand relationship quality and the effect was more pronounced with high anthropomorphism perceptions (the extent to which consumers' associate human characteristics with brands). Two subsequent experiments further validated these findings and confirmed that cultural differences, specifically uncertainty avoidance, moderated these results. We obtained robust and convergent results from survey and experimental data using both student and adult consumer samples and testing across three product categories (athletic shoes, notebook computers, and automobiles). The results offer cross-national support for the proposition that engaging customers via social media is associated with higher consumer–brand relationships and word of mouth communications when consumers anthropomorphize the brand and they avoid uncertainty.
Motivated forgetting was first introduced by Freud (1915), who proposed that threatening and unwa... more Motivated forgetting was first introduced by Freud (1915), who proposed that threatening and unwanted memories can be suppressed from consciousness. Our investigation of this phenomenon explores whether social identity threat can motivate people to subsequently forget identity-linked marketing promotions. To this effect, we find that, whereas social identity priming improves memory for identity-linked promotions, priming coupled with social identity threat (i.e., negative identity-related feedback) impairs memory. Importantly, this identity threat effect occurs only among people who identify strongly with their ingroup and only for explicit memory. Implicit memory, in contrast, remains intact under threat. Additionally, the identity threat effect is eliminated (i.e., explicit memory is restored) if people affirm the threatened social identity, thereby mitigating the threat, prior to memory retrieval. Finally, the identity threat effect occurs only when automatic processes guide forgetting. When forgetting is guided by deliberate and controlled processes, the to-be-forgotten memories intrude into consciousness.
Uploads
Papers by Li Huang