BizStudies | HKUST Business School

NG, Ka Chung TANG, JIe LEE, Dongwon

Social media platforms are investing millions in fighting “fake news,” but little is known about how effective their strategies are, say HKUST’s LEE Dong Won and colleagues. Offering much-needed guidance in today’s era of disinformation, the authors shed new light on the propagation of false and misleading news, identifying how it spreads and, critically ... Read More

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CHEN, Ningyuan CHEN, Ying-Ju

Buying and Selling: Competitive Strategies and Network-connected Customers

Network effects are commonly seen among people engaging in social interactions, and come about from the “payoff externality”, where someone’s payoff depends on both their own actions and the actions of others. For example, an individual is more likely to adopt a program or application if their friends and colleagues already use it. Because network effects ... Read More

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GELPER, Sarah VAN DER LANS, Ralf van BRUGGEN, Gerrit

Competing for Attention on Social Media

More and more organizations are turning to social media to reach as many potential customers as possible, yet few marketing campaigns truly “go viral.” This is largely due to the immense amount of content competing for attention in social networks. Even if users see a particular campaign, they may pay no attention to it, due to the overabundance of ... Read More

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XIAO, Shihong CHEN, Ying-Ju TANG, Christopher

Customer Clusters and Online Reviews

With a wealth of products and services at our fingertips in the modern marketplace, online reviews have become an invaluable source of information for consumers. This is especially true for “experience goods” such as a haircut or a hotel stay, whose true quality cannot be determined before purchase. Many retailers post user-generated product reviews online ... Read More

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YAN, Dengfeng SENGUPTA, Jaideep

“Lonely” Numbers and Consumer Choices

Are numbers perceived to have human-like characteristics, such as the ability to feel lonely? A study by HKUST’s Jaideep Sengupta and colleagues suggests that they are—and that consumers’ preferences are influenced by these supposed characteristics. This pioneering study, which for the first time links numerical cognition with consumer behavior, shows that ... Read More

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ZHELYAZKOV, Pavel TATARYNOWICZ, Adam

Marriage of Unequals? Venture Capital Partnerships

The likelihood of venture capital (VC) firms’ forming partnerships with others is strongly influenced by their relative status, say HKUST’s Pavel I. Zhelyazkov and his co-author Adam Tatarynowicz (Singapore Management University). In a timely and incisive study, the authors investigate “status-asymmetric ties” to understand why and how unequal partners ... Read More

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BITTERLY, T. Bradford SCHWEITZER, Maurice E.

Deflecting Difficult Questions in Interviews

Interviews are riddled with unspoken negotiations, with both parties bound to the push and pull of obtaining and withholding information. For an interviewee, the optimal outcome is to be trusted and liked by one’s interviewer, and—most importantly—hired at the highest possible salary. However, unwelcome questions can expose information that compromises ... Read More

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ZHOU, Junjie FAN, Xiaoshuai CHEN, Ying-Ju TANG, Christopher

Developing Policies to Benefit Farmers

Deciding how much to grow can be difficult for farmers in developing countries, who largely operate without crucial market information. Governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are attempting to address this knowledge gap, but how widely should they deliver such information to the maximum benefit of farmers? Is wider information distribution ... Read More

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LI, Yixuan GONG, Yaping BURMEISTER, Anne WANG, Mo ALTERMAN, Valeria ALONSO, Alexander ROBINSON, Samuel

Age Diversity in the Workplace: Building on Organizational Performance

Despite the world’s aging population, there is limited understanding of the relationship between age diversity and organizational performance. As a result, researchers are increasingly interested in the impact of age composition within the workplace. In a timely study, Yaping Gong of HKUST and colleagues set out to explore the impact of age on corporate ... Read More

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BITTERLY, T. Bradford BROOKS, Alison Wood

Having a Laugh in the Workplace

Having a good sense of humour can be beneficial in many scenarios, whether in your personal life or at work. However, when defining a strong leader, most people would not consider humour as being a crucial attribute. An article by Brad Bitterly and Alison Wood Brooks aimed to dig deeper into this topic, understanding that humour, when used responsibly, can ... Read More

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