Shubin (Lance) Yu is associate professor in digital communication. His research fields include marketing communications and consumer-technology interaction. He is particularly interested in how digital technology influences the way people communicate. His work is published in peer-reviewed journals such as Journal of Consumer Psychology, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Travel Research, JMIR, Journal of Business Research and among others.
He obtained his Ph.D. in Communication Science from Ghent University in 2017. He also hold three master's degrees (Statistics, Business Economics, Cultural Studies) from KU Leuven. Before joining BI Norwegian Business School, he worked as an assistant professor at Peking University HSBC Business School. Now he is also a visiting associate professor at the Shenzhen and UK campus of Peking University HSBC Business School.
Publications
Roh, Soojin & Yu, Shubin (2025)
The Digital Language of Emotion: Cautions and Solutions for Strategic Use of Emoji in Responding Information System Incidents
Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 56
Yu, Shubin; Roh, Soojin & Liu, Huaming (2025)
The Devil Replies Slowly: How the Response Speed of Online Luxury Retailers Affects Brand Attitude
Can ChatGPT replace humans in crisis communication? The effects of AI-mediated crisis communication on stakeholder satisfaction and responsibility attribution
With the emergence and popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the luxury brand industry has experienced an increase in their use of NFTs. This study employs multiple-case studies, thematic analysis method, and grounded theory to analyze 40 luxury NFT campaigns from 2021 and 2022. The analysis applies a sociotechnical perspective, integrating the technical factors of NFTs and the social factors of luxury value. The study identifies the values, attributes, and strategies of NFT-based virtual luxury. Based on the findings, this study introduces the concept and definition of virtual luxury to understand and advance luxury brands in the Metaverse. This study theoretically contributes to the luxury industry by envisioning a virtual transformation of luxury brands.
Wei, Xia; Yu, Shubin & Li, Xi (2024)
Price it High if it is Varied: Perceived Heterogeneity and the Effectiveness of Discount Framing Strategies for Travel Packages
In recent years, consumers have been confronted with the proliferation of package bundling (i.e., marketing multiple products or services together in a single package at a discounted price) in the tourism industry. This paper aims to investigate how different discount framing strategies affect consumers’ purchase intention of a vacation package. Through four experimental studies, this paper reveals that the perceived heterogeneity of a component influences the effectiveness of different discount framing strategies. In particular, consumers prefer the vacation package in which the high-heterogeneity component is not discounted, while the low-heterogeneity component is discounted. The effect of perceived heterogeneity on purchase intention can be explained by the perceived quality of the component. Therefore, the effect is mitigated when quality assurance cues are present.
Yu, Shubin; Xiong, Ji (Jill) & Shen, Hao (2022)
The rise of chatbots: The effect of using chatbot agents on consumers' responses to request rejection
This research investigates consumers’ perceptions and evaluations of robot service agents compared with human service agents when service requests are rejected. Six studies were conducted. The results show that when consumers receive a rejection of their service request, they evaluate the service less negatively if the service is handled by a chatbot agent versus a human agent. The reason is that consumers have lower expectations that robots will be able to provide flexible services to them. Consequently, their dissatisfaction with the request rejection is lower when the service is handled by robots. However, the aforementioned effect is not observed (1) when consumers have not experienced the service yet, (2) when their service request has been accepted, or (3) when the service agent conveys emotions to apologize for request rejection.
Social media platforms fostering a closer and more intimate bond between celebrities and their fan bases has opened up diverse avenues for product placement. In light of this, this study endeavors to explore the profound influence of parasocial interaction (PSI) and product placement on the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement within the social media landscape. The results derived from an online experiment unveil the positive impact of parasocial interaction on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intention. Notably, the potency of PSI is enhanced when product placement is prominent. The results also uncover the crucial role of brand recall as a mediator in the relationship between parasocial interaction and endorsement outcomes. These findings shed light on the underlying mechanisms governing the influence of parasocial interaction and social media celebrity types in the realm of social media endorsement while also providing valuable insights into the moderating role of product placement. From a practical standpoint, the results underscore the critical importance of carefully selecting celebrity endorsers and strategically positioning products. Armed with this knowledge, marketers and advertisers can better explore the complex landscape of social media endorsement with greater efficacy and precision.
Luxury brands have begun embracing livestreaming commerce since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the current knowledge regarding the impact of livestreaming commerce on luxury perceptions remains limited. This study explores how luxury perceptions can be enhanced in livestreaming commerce by investigating the role of streamer characteristics. More specifically, we examine the role of parasocial interaction, self-streamer congruity, and social presence. A survey was conducted among 432 Chinese respondents who had previously watched livestreams for luxury brands. The findings indicate that parasocial interaction and actual self-streamer congruity positively impact luxury perceptions by fostering enhanced feelings of social presence, while ideal self-streamer congruity is not an influential factor. The conclusion of this paper discussed implications for marketers and researchers.
Xia, Wei; Yu, Shubin & Li, Changxu (2024)
Influence of Physical Attractiveness and Gender on Patient Preferences in Digital Doctor Consultations: Experimental Study
Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), 26 Doi: 10.2196/46551
Background: The rise of digital health services, particularly digital doctor consultations, has created a new paradigm in health care choice. While patients traditionally rely on digital reviews or referrals to select health care providers, the digital context often lacks such information, leading to reliance on visual cues such as profile pictures. Previous research has explored the impact of physical attractiveness in general service settings but is scant in the context of digital health care. Objective: This study aims to fill the research gap by investigating how a health care provider’s physical attractiveness influences patient preferences in a digital consultation setting. We also examine the moderating effects of disease severity and the availability of information on health care providers’ qualifications. The study uses signal theory and the sexual attribution bias framework to understand these dynamics. Methods: Three experimental studies were conducted to examine the influence of health care providers’ physical attractiveness and gender on patient preferences in digital consultations. Study 1 (n=282) used a 2×2 between-subjects factorial design, manipulating doctor attractiveness and gender. Study 2 (n=158) focused on women doctors and manipulated disease severity and participant gender. Study 3 (n=150) replicated study 2 but added information about the providers’ abilities. Results: This research found that patients tend to choose attractive doctors of the opposite gender but are less likely to choose attractive doctors of the same gender. In addition, our studies revealed that such an effect is more prominent when the disease severity is high. Furthermore, the influence of gender stereotypes is mitigated in both the high and low disease severity conditions when service providers’ qualification information is present. Conclusions: This research contributes to the literature on medical information systems research and sheds light on what information should be displayed on digital doctor consultation platforms. To counteract stereotype-based attractiveness biases, health care platforms should consider providing comprehensive qualification information alongside profile pictures.
Xiao, Yi; Zhou, Enhui & Yu, Shubin (2024)
Unraveling the anchoring effect of crisis communication in cyberattack spillover crises
A spillover crisis arises when an external organization’s events create worry, ambiguity, or unfavorable perceptions for another organization. The study shows that organizational response strategies for spillover crises are influenced by an anchoring effect, where competitors’ level of accommodation in their crisis response serves as an anchor point. The difference between accommodative and advocative crisis responses becomes more pronounced when the anchor response has a lower level of accommodation. Additionally, stakeholders’ confidence in an organization’s ability to manage crises can predict its reputation during spillover crises. If an organization chooses to respond with advocacy, it may experience a decline in reputation compared to adopting a competitor's accommodative anchor response due to decreased stakeholder confidence. Conversely, using an accommodative response can result in a higher organizational reputation than following a competitor’s advocative anchor response since it boosts stakeholder confidence. The study highlights the importance of considering situational factors such as competitor responses in the contingency theory of accommodation. Additionally, this study provides evidence that a continuum of public response confidence could be another valuable tool for understanding how crises impact reputation.
Yu, Shubin & Zhao, Luming (2024)
Emojifying chatbot interactions: An exploration of emoji utilization in human-chatbot communications
The prevalence of chatbots in human–computer communication has significantly increased. Emojis, as a form of emotional disclosure, have gained significant attention for their potential to boost chatbot service satisfaction. However, how and when emoji usage can increase satisfaction toward chatbots is not fully examined. This paper aims to fill this gap and contribute to the rapidly evolving field of human-chatbot communication research. Through three experiments, this paper investigates and explores the role of emojis in enhancing chatbot interactions. The results reveal that emojis heighten chatbot's perceived warmth but do not necessarily augment their competence. This warmth promoting effect leads to boosted service satisfaction and is more apparent when chatbots serve hedonic purposes and are pre-programmed rather than highly autonomous. However, the warmth upshot of emojis is not as potent for chatbots as it is for humans. While this study unravels the intricate pathway of how emojis augment service satisfaction, it also extends the dialogue of the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) and propels the new wave of the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm. Thus, this research lays down pathways for further studies in understanding the role of emotionally simulated interactions in automated technologies.
Zhao, Luming; Peng, Jiaxi & Yu, Shubin (2023)
Sustainable Luxury and Consumer Purchase Intention: A Systematic Literature Review
In the last decade, the relationship between sustainable luxury and consumer purchase intention has been gradually noticed by researchers. However, a systematic review of the literature on this topic has not been conducted. The purpose of this study was to collect literature and analyze the current state of research related to sustainable luxury and consumer purchase intention. Based on the Scopus and Web of Science database, this systematic review used a multistep process to ensure the traceability and reliability of the findings. A content analysis shows that sustainable luxury can be presented through four perspectives (raw materials, recycling and reproduction, social media and advertising (AD) strategies, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) and brand promise) in contrast with common luxury goods. In addition to consumer purchase intention, consumer attitude and word-of-mouth (WoM) advertisements were also evaluated as dependent variables. The relationship between the effect of sustainable luxury and consumer purchase intention is multifaceted, and five types of factors are summarized. The results of this review indicate that the related epistemology has been strongly advanced, and luxury brands should approach the topic of manufacturing and retail sustainability on a case-by-case basis and measure whether it translates into better purchasing behavior. The practical implications for luxury retail are discussed.
Muhammad, Ashfaq; Yu, Shubin, Liu, Yang & Luo, Kang (2023)
Usage intensity of mobile instant messengers for work and employees' anxiety
International Journal of Mobile Communications, 22(3), s. 278- 295. Doi: 10.1504/IJMC.2023.133100
Many companies have adopted instant messenger technology as a communication tool for work, because it offers greater flexibility and lower cost than other methods. Although instant messaging can increase employees' work performance, the usage intensity of instant messengers for work may influence employees' mental health. This paper investigates the effect of usage intensity of instant messengers for work on employees' anxiety level. We conducted a survey study and collected 261 valid responses from a panel of employees. The results showed that the usage intensity of instant messengers for work decreased psychological detachment, consequently increasing work-related uncertainty and eventually leading to a higher level of anxiety. However, the effect of work-related uncertainty on the anxiety level varied in employees' job levels. The influence of uncertainty on anxiety was stronger for employees with lower-level jobs (e.g., junior employees, assistants) than for those with higher-level jobs (e.g., managers).
Yu, Shubin & Zhao, Luming (2022)
Designing Emotions for Health Care Chatbots: Text-Based or Icon-Based Approach
This study is to verify whether and how a “China-made” label can influence online consumers' product evaluation as adding labels to highlight products' attributes has become an acquainted measure online by e-tailers/firms to attract online consumers' attentions. For this purpose, we conduct a 2 (label of “China-made” vs. no label) x 3 (patriotism priming vs. nationalism priming vs. no priming) between-subject factorial design to verify hypotheses. The results reveal that when consumers' nationalism is primed, the label significantly enhances the product evaluation by increasing the perceived social value of the product. Priming consumers’ patriotism, on the other hand, does not play a moderating role for this effect. A follow-up study confirms such effects for both low involvement and high involvement products. Therefore, e-tailers/firms that own China-made brands/products are advised to signal the “Chinese identity” of their products to online consumers under the current circumstance when nationalism and domestic brands are rising in China. The results also indicate that although products produced in a developing country are marked with a negative country of origin effect, marketers can turn it into a strength in marketing in certain conditions.
Yu, Shubin & Li, Changxu (2021)
Mask Colors and Trustworthiness
Advances in Consumer Research, 49, s. 340- 341.
Yu, Shubin & Hudders, Liselot (2021)
Measurement invariance of the modified brand luxury index scale across gender, age and countries
Purpose Many instruments have been developed to measure the perceived luxuriousness of brands, but one of the most frequently used scales is the “brand luxury index” (BLI) from Vigneron and Johnson (2004) that distinguishes between high- and low-luxury brands. Despite its popularity and widespread use in academic research, the scale's psychometric properties and equivalence across cultures have been questioned. Recently, modified versions of the scale have been developed to strengthen the quality of the measurement. However, the performance and the measurement invariance of the modified version have not yet been investigated. The current paper aims to test the model fit of the modified BLI scale and the measurement invariance across gender, age and country groups using nine datasets from a total of three different countries. Design/methodology/approach This paper conducts a multi-group CFA to examine the measurement invariance of the BLI scale. Nine datasets were used in this study. The data were collected across three countries, the United States (5 datasets), China (2 datasets) and India (2 datasets) from 2016 to 2018. Findings The results of this analysis suggest that the modified BLI scale has an acceptable model fit and can be interpreted equivalently across gender and age groups. Metric invariance was found among the US, China and India. However, scalar measurement invariance was established only across two countries: the US and India. A follow-up analysis shows that partial scalar invariance can be established across the US, China and India when removing constraints on the parameters of three items: exclusive, precious and sophisticated. Originality/value This study is the first study to test the model fit of the modified BLI scale. The findings of this paper contribute to both the academia and industry. The authors recommend scholars and marketers to use a modified 19-item BLI scale to measure the perceived luxuriousness of brands in future research. First, the modified BLI scale tested in the current study offers very good performance with model fit values of a quality that has rarely been seen in prior research. The original scale of Vigneron and Johnson (2004) has been criticized for its poor model fit (Christodoulides et al., 2009). The modified scale of Doss and Robinson (2013) also has problems with the fit value. Second, the modified 19-item scale also shows adequate measurement invariance across different gender, age and countries. For scholars and marketers, the establishment of the metric invariance of the modified 19-item BLI scale implies that the scale can be used across gender, age and countries (the US, China and India) if the purpose of the study is to understand the relationship between some variables and perceived luxuriousness of a brand.
Talukdar, Nabanita & Yu, Shubin (2021)
Breaking the psychological distance: the effect of immersive virtual reality on perceived novelty and user satisfaction
Tracking the luxury consumer online: an experimental study on the effectiveness of site and search retargeting for luxury brands in China and the Netherlands
[Academic lecture]. 2016 AMS World Marketing Congress.
