In competitive societies, educational products represent significant purchase decisions for families. As noted by HKUST’s Qihui Chen and her coauthors, “Parents’ preferences when purchasing educational products for their children are primarily shaped by their values, beliefs, and observations of society.” Their research shows that the choice between ... Read More

Creativity and morality are two key attributes that organizations demand of their employees, and stakeholders of organizations. Yet under certain circumstances, these attributes may inhibit each other. In a study with far-reaching implications for business, education, and society, John Coombes of HKUST and colleagues from PolyU explore ways of tailoring ... Read More

Massive amounts of unstructured textual data, such as large volumes of online consumer reviews, “provide an unprecedented opportunity for firms to understand consumer word-of-mouth, forecast product sales, and monitor product defects,” say HKUST’s Yi Yang and a colleague. Topic modeling is a popular textual analysis technique to analyze such data. However ... Read More

When it comes to identifying winning investments, data-driven methods may outperform both economic models and professional analysts, according to HKUST’s Yang Ha (Tony) Cho and colleagues. They sought to “push the frontier of earnings prediction” by “applying machine learning methods to a large set of detailed financial data” for the first time. Earnings are ... Read More

Fast-fashion brands are often accused of copying the designs of high-end fashion brands, thereby reducing the distinctiveness of high-end brands and eroding their brand equity. HKUST’s Zijun (June) Shi and colleagues propose a novel way to investigate whether and how fast-fashion copycats affect high-end brand equity. Despite the enormous size of the fashion ... Read More

Does equality really lead to happiness in information systems development (ISD) teams? To date, research on leadership in ISD teams has assumed that all developers are treated equally by their team leader, ignoring the power of differentiated leader–member exchange (LMX) to enhance team and project outcomes. Filling this important research gap, James Y. L ... Read More

Is a “want” superior to a “need” when requesting financial help? Shedding light on this topic, HKUST’s Jaideep Sengupta and colleagues offer insights into the persuasive power of language in crowdfunding appeals. Their study has important practical implications for fundraisers, marketers, and policymakers alike. Although the terms “want” and “need” are both ... Read More

Learning from experience is critical for organizations to thrive in increasingly competitive markets. However, most studies of experiential learning focus on situations in which actors face a repeated event. Thanks to HKUST’s Jaeho Choi and a colleague, we now know much more about the power of learning through generalization in a world of novelty. “In the ... Read More

In today’s competitive online retail environment, reviews represent an important quality signal that helps customers make more informed purchase decisions. The impact of reviews can propagate up the supply chain, affecting multiple firms’ decisions on pricing and product quality. HKUST’s Dongwook Shin and a colleague shed new light on this phenomenon ... Read More

More and more research suggests that the past return of one firm’s stock can predict the stock returns of other, connected firms—with momentous implications for firm networks and investors. “Such cross-stock return momentum is found among stocks connected by the same industry, supply chain, and geographic location,” explain Jialin Yu of HKUST and a colleague ... Read More