PhD Dissertation Defense, Dan XIE, Marketing

Congratulations to Dr Dan XIE, Marketing, who successfully defended her doctoral dissertation at HEC Paris on the 22nd of August, 2024.

Specialisation: Marketing

Title: Social Influence and Consumer Behaviors in the Ecological System

Supervisor: Professor L.J. Shrum, HEC Paris

Jury members: 

Professor L.J. Shrum, HEC Paris, France
Professor Selin ATALAY, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Germany
Professor Jaideep SENGUPTA, HUKST, Hong Kong
Professor, Tina LOWREY, HEC Paris, France

Abstract:

Consumers face tremendous social influence due to the explosion and easy access to information and signals from other people, organizations, and governments. However, the impact of this social influence varies among individuals. According to ecological systems theory, different systems and environments interact to influence human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1992). The theory proposes that individuals are not just passive recipients of environmental influences but are active participants in their own development. It identifies five systems that affect human development: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. Understanding these systems and their interactions is crucial for comprehending the complex nature of human development and its relationship with consumption behaviors. My dissertation investigates three levels of factors that influence consumers’ sensitivity to social influence: individual factors (consumer signaling preference), organizational characteristics (company size, an exosystem factor), and social factors (residential mobility and economic inequality, both macrosystem factors). Three projects are included in my dissertation. The first project developed a scale to measure consumer signaling preference, which I believe affects consumers' reactions to social influence. The second project investigates how consumers' social comparison tendencies are impacted by an exosystem factor, residential mobility. The final project examines how consumers' reactions to social influence are affected by the characteristics of the influencer (company size) and a macrosystem factor (economic inequality in society), as well as the interaction between these two factors.

Keywords: Consumer Behaviors, Social Influence, Residential Mobility, Signaling,
Greenwashing

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