Address
10-216, Lau Ming Wai Academic Building, City University of Hong Kong
Phone
+852 34425754
Fax
+852 34420346
Email
Personal Web
https://su-lei-marketing.netlify.app
Research Areas
Digital Communication
Social Influence
AI, Device, and New Technology
Psycholinguistics
Qualifications
Ph.D. - Marketing (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
M.S. - MSc (Tsinghua University)
B.S. - BSc (China Agricultural University)
Biography
Dr. Lei Su is an Associate Professor with tenure at the City University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on consumer behavior and employs multiple methods. Her recent research interests include digital communication, psycholinguistics, interface design, AI and new technology, and social and socioeconomic influence. Her research has been published in top-tier marketing journals, including the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, and Journal of Consumer Psychology. She has led grant-funded research projects over the years as Principal Investigator and received a Best Paper Award at a prestigious international conference.
She teaches a doctoral research seminar on consumer behavior and also has teaching experience in business case studies, big data analytics, and related areas. She has been recognized with Outstanding Teaching Performance (Top 5% of all instructors) in 2025. She also serves as the Chair of the Departmental Research Committee and as the Program Director of the MSc Marketing program. Before entering academia, Dr. Su gained managerial-level industry experience in a multinational FMCG company and an advertising agency.
Research Grants
"How Perceived Social Mobility Affects Charitable Donations: A Helping Motivation Perspective", Early Career Scheme - Hong Kong Research Grants Council, (2025-2027), Qihui Chen, Lei Su, Amna Kirmani
PI: "Webpage Design and Hedonic Consumption", General Program Project - NSFC, (2023-2027), Lei Su, Jaideep Sengupta, Kuangjie Zhang, Victor Li
PI: "Return it! How Infinite Scrolling versus Pagination Influence Online Product Return", General Research Fund - Hong Kong Research Grants Council, (2024-2026), Lei Su, Jaideep Sengupta
PI: "It Is Too Early to Say “Thank You”: Pre-Action Appreciation Backlashes Prosocial Behaviors", General Research Fund - Hong Kong Research Grants Council, (2023-2025), Lei Su
co-PI: "Facial Payment, Self-Relevance, and Consumer Divergence", General Research Fund - Hong Kong Research Grants Council, (2022-2025), Cong Cao; Darren Dahl; Liang Huang; Lei Su
PI: "The Influences of Scheduling Styles on Consumers' Preference for Environmentally Friendly Products", General Research Fund - Hong Kong Research Grants Council, (2022-2024), Lei Su
PI: ""Want" versus "Need": How Linguistic Framing Influences Motivations and Behavior in Crowdfunding Projects", General Research Fund - Hong Kong Research Grants Council, (2017-2020), Lei Su
PI: "To Regain Sense of Control: Social Exclusion and Consumer Switching Behavior ", Early Career Scheme - Hong Kong Research Grants Council, (2016-2018), Lei Su
PI: "Communication strategies for when a product’s negative attributes are only partially reduced", General Research Fund - Hong Kong Research Grants Council, (2015-2018), Lei Su; Chi (Vincent) Wong; Howard Pong-Yuen Lam
PI: "Incidental Emotion as Antecedent of Attribution in Service Failure Context", General Research Fund - Hong Kong Research Grants Council, (2014-2016), Lei Su; Chun Ying Wan
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Publications
Journal Publications and Reviews
Zhang, Huitian; Su, Lei; Sengupta, Jaideep / Infinite-Scrolling vs. Pagination: The Impact of Interface Layouts on Product Returns. September 2026; In: Journal of Marketing Research.
Wang, Lu; Li, Xueni (Shirley); Wang, Qiyuan; Su, Lei / From Owning to Connecting: Understanding and Leveraging the Effect of Internet Meme Marketing. January 2026; In: Journal of Marketing.
Su, Lei; Sengupta, Jaideep; Li, Yiwei; Chen, Fangyuan / “Want” versus “Need”: How Linguistic Framing Influences Responses to Crowdfunding Appeals . February 2024; In: Journal of Consumer Research. Vol. 50, No. 5, pp. 923–944
Liang, Yitian (Sky); Huang, Zhongqiang (Tak); Su, Lei / Too Time-Crunched to Seek Variety: The Influence of Parenting Motivation on Consumer Variety Seeking. August 2023; In: Journal of Marketing Research. Vol. 60, No. 4, pp. 812-833
Tang, Yangyi (Eric); Huang, Zhongqiang (Tak); Su, Lei / The influence of event-time (vs. clock-time) scheduling style on satiation. January 2023; In: Journal of Consumer Psychology. Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 123-132
Su, Lei; Monga, Alokparna (Sonia) Basu; Jiang, Yuwei / How Life-Role Transitions Shape Consumer Responses to Brand Extensions. June 2021; In: Journal of Marketing Research. Vol. 58, No. 3, pp. 579-594
Wong, Vincent Chi; Su, Lei; Lam, Howard Pong-Yuen / When Less Is More: How Mindset Influences Consumers’ Responses to Products with Reduced Negative Attributes. September 2020; In: Journal of Marketing. Vol. 84, No. 5, pp. 137-153
SU, Lei; WAN, Echo Wen; JIANG, Yuwei / Filling an Empty Self: The Impact of Social Exclusion on Consumer Preference for Visual Density. December 2019; In: Journal of Consumer Research. Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 808-824
Jiang, Yuwei; Su, Lei; Zhu, Rui (Juliet) / The shape of money: The impact of financial resources on product shape preference. October 2019; In: Journal of the Association for Consumer Research. Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. 436-445
Su, Lei; Wan, Lisa C.; Wyer Jr, Robert S. / The contrasting influences of incidental anger and fear on responses to a service failure. September 2018; In: Psychology and Marketing. Vol. 35, No. 9, pp. 666-675
SU, Lei; JIANG, Yuwei; CHEN, Zhansheng; Nathan DEWALL, C. / Social exclusion and consumer switching behavior: A control restoration mechanism. June 2017; In: Journal of Consumer Research. Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 99-117
Su, Lei; Jiang, Yuwei; Chen, Zhansheng; Dewall, C. Nathan / Social exclusion stimulates product and brand switching. March 2017; In: Rutgers Business Review. Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 150-156
Su, Lei; Gao, Leilei / Strategy compatibility: The time versus money effect on product evaluation strategies. October 2014; In: Journal of Consumer Psychology. Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 549-556
Wan, Lisa C.; Chan, Elisa K.Y.; Su, Lei / When will customers care about service failures that happened to strangers? The role of personal similarity and regulatory focus and its implication on service evaluation. March 2011; In: International Journal of Hospitality Management. Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 213-220
Conference Papers
Li, Yucheng; Huang, Xun (Irene); Su, Lei / Brief Use, Big Guilt: The Effect of Short-Term Consumption on Preference for CSR Brands. June 2026; Association for Consumer Research Annual Conference (ACR 2026), 24/09/2026 - 26/09/2026, Chicago, United States.
Wan, Shanjing; Su, Lei; Tang, Chuang / The Luxury Effects of Language. February 2026; The Marketing Analytics Symposium Sydney (MASS) 2026, 23/02/2026 - 24/02/2026, Sydney, Australia.
Working Papers
Park, Sang Kyu; Park, Daeyeong; Park, Jiwoon; Park, Jongwon; Su, Lei / Summarized by AI, Shortened by Consumer: How AI-Generated Summaries (AIGS) Increase Positivity in Consumer Online Reviews. September 2026;
Zhang, Huitian; Su, Lei; SENGUPTA, Jaideep / Get Rid of It! How Interface Layouts Influence Product Retention Behaviors. March 2025; Marketing Science Institute Working Paper Series 2025.
Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works
Liao, Jiancai; Huang, Jingya; Su, Lei / When and how virus anthropomorphism intensifies consumer stigma toward patients. October 2022; Advances in Consumer Research. Vol. 50, pp. 78
SU, Lei / Research-Led, Practical, and Real-World Relevant: Enhancing Big Data Education in Business School Across Disciplines. 2022; Studies on Teaching and Learning. Vol. 5, pp. 153-174
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