Li Huang | Hofstra University (original) (raw)

Papers by Li Huang

Research paper thumbnail of How video conferencing promotes preferences for selfenhancement products

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.

Research paper thumbnail of Competition or spillover? Effects of platform-owner entry on provider commitment

Journal of Business Research, 2022

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.

Research paper thumbnail of How Humor Reduces the Impact of Negative Feedback on Social Media

Journal of Interactive Marketing, 2022

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.

Research paper thumbnail of Numbers, Not Lives: AI Dehumanization Undermines COVID-19 Preventive Intentions

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).

Research paper thumbnail of How Broadcasting vs. Narrowcasting on Social Media Affects Memories

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.

Research paper thumbnail of Motivated Forgetting in Response to Social Identity Threat

Journal of Consumer Research, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of The influence of social media interactions on consumer–brand relationships: A three-country study of brand perceptions and marketing behaviors

International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of Social Factors in User Perceptions and Responses to Advertising in Online Social Networking Communities

Journal of Interactive Advertising, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Numbers not Lives: AI Dehumanization Undermines COVID-19 Preventive Intentions

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).

Research paper thumbnail of Motivated Forgetting in Response to Social Identity Threat

Journal of Consumer Research, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of The influence of social media interactions on consumer–brand relationships: A three-country study of brand perceptions and marketing behaviors

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.

Research paper thumbnail of Motivated Forgetting in Response to Social Identity Threat

Journal of Consumer Research

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.

Research paper thumbnail of How video conferencing promotes preferences for selfenhancement products

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.

Research paper thumbnail of Competition or spillover? Effects of platform-owner entry on provider commitment

Journal of Business Research, 2022

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.

Research paper thumbnail of How Humor Reduces the Impact of Negative Feedback on Social Media

Journal of Interactive Marketing, 2022

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.

Research paper thumbnail of Numbers, Not Lives: AI Dehumanization Undermines COVID-19 Preventive Intentions

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).

Research paper thumbnail of How Broadcasting vs. Narrowcasting on Social Media Affects Memories

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.

Research paper thumbnail of Motivated Forgetting in Response to Social Identity Threat

Journal of Consumer Research, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of The influence of social media interactions on consumer–brand relationships: A three-country study of brand perceptions and marketing behaviors

International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of Social Factors in User Perceptions and Responses to Advertising in Online Social Networking Communities

Journal of Interactive Advertising, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Numbers not Lives: AI Dehumanization Undermines COVID-19 Preventive Intentions

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).

Research paper thumbnail of Motivated Forgetting in Response to Social Identity Threat

Journal of Consumer Research, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of The influence of social media interactions on consumer–brand relationships: A three-country study of brand perceptions and marketing behaviors

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.

Research paper thumbnail of Motivated Forgetting in Response to Social Identity Threat

Journal of Consumer Research

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.