New Faculty Spotlight: Jhih-Syuan (Elaine) Lin

Jhih-Syuan (Elaine) Lin

What is your new position at Grady? Assistant professor of advertising. 

What classes (if any) are you teaching this year? JRMC 8130 Special Topics in Consumer Psychology.

Past academic positions: I earned my doctorate degree from the University of Texas at Austin in August 2012.

What are your research interests and why? I have developed keen interest in areas of interactive advertising, media management, and consumer psychology.

As advertisers and marketers nowadays have tried to bond various media to carry/emphasize the same message throughout the integrated marketing plans, a cross-platform marketing communication needs to be further investigated and developed to engage consumers and optimize branding efforts. Thus, I have done studies about brand placement on TV program websites, food-related advergames that target children, and branded mobile applications that aim to enhance brand experiences.

For media management, I have studied how TV networks utilize SNSs to leverage branding opportunities and to improve communication with fans. Also, from the media psychology standpoint, I am interested in knowing what forms and to what extent audience feel engaged with media content. And, how social media can help optimize multichannel brand communications for both conventional and media brands.

As for the area of consumer psychology, I found it fascinating to study consumer self-concept and identity and the role of consumers’ psychological disposition (i.e., commitment) in determining branding outcomes, especially in the context of consumer-brand relationships. And, I am also interested in understanding the scope and challenges of international advertising and marketing through a cross-cultural lens.

Are there any projects/publications you're working on that you can share a little about at this time? While existing literature describes strong brand relationships along several dimensions, my recent research sheds light on the identity perspective of brand relationships through the lens of identity fusion, aiming to understand the extent to which consumers incorporate brands into their self-perceptions. Specifically, this ongoing project investigates the nature and effects of consumer identity fusion and its motivational consequences following brand transgressions.

What are you most looking forward to while you're at Grady/UGA? I believe Grady is a wonderful environment for me to grow and further develop my research. I am looking forward to working with the faculty members and students here at Grady.