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Wendy Liu

Associate Professor of Marketing

Dr. Wendy Liu is Associate Professor of Marketing and Katzin Family Fellow at the UCSD Rady School of Management. Dr. Liu specializes in consumer judgment and decision making, focusing on the cognitive, affective and social basis of consumer preferences and well-being. Her recent research topics include decision making under complexity, the psychology of time and money, and pro-social marketing. Her research examines practices in consumer goods, consumer finance, health, well-being, and work-leisure domains.

Dr. Liu’s research has been published in leading marketing, management and science journals such as Journal of Consumer Research, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Her work has also been featured in the national media, such as Bloomberg Businessweek and Time Magazine.

Dr. Liu teaches the MBA elective course Consumer Behavior. She received her Ph.D. in Marketing from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and was a faculty at the UCLA Anderson School of Management prior to joining Rady.

Papers

Evan Weingarten, Kristen Duke, Wendy Liu et al. (2022), “What Makes People Happy? Decoupling the Experiential-Material Continuum,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, forthcoming.

Smitizsky, Gal., Wendy Liu, & Uri Gneezy (2021), “On the Value(s) of Time – Workers’ Value of Their Time Depends on the Mode of Evaluation,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 118 (34)

Smitizsky, Gal., Wendy Liu, & Uri Gneezy (2021, online January 14), “The Endowment Effect: Loss Aversion or a Buy-Sell Discrepancy?” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Mingyu Joo, Wendy Liu and Kenneth Wilbur (2020),"Divergent Temporal Courses of Liking vs. Wanting in Response to Persuasion," Emotion20(2), 261–270.

"The Effect of an Interruption on Risk Decisions," with Daniella Kupor and On Amir (2018), Journal of Consumer Research, 44 (6, April), 1205-1219.

"How Context Affects Choice," with Raphael Thomadsen et al. (2018), Customer Needs and Solutions, 5 (1-2), 3-14.

"Effect of Co-payment on Behavioral Response to Consumer Genomic Testing," with Cinnamon Bloss et al. (2018), Translational Behavioral Medicine, 8 (1, January), 130 - 136. 

Is Planning Good for You? The Differential Impact of Planning on Self Regulation,” with Claudia Townsend (2012), Journal of Consumer Research, 39 (4, December), 688 - 703

Grapes of Wrath: The Angry Effects of Self Control,” with David Gal (2011), Journal of Consumer Research, 38 (3, October), 445 – 458

Bringing Us Closer or Driving Us Apart: The Effect of Consumer Input on Propensity to Transact with an Organization,” with David Gal (2011), Journal of Consumer Research, 38 (2, August), 242 – 259

Variety, Vice, and Virtue: How Assortment Size Influences Option Choice,” with Aner Sela and Jonah Berger (2009), Journal of Consumer Research, 35 (6, April), 941 – 951

Focusing on Desirability: The Effect of Decision Interruption and Suspension on Preferences,” (2008) Journal of Consumer Research, 35 (4, December), 640 – 652

The Happiness of Giving: The Time-Ask Effect,” with Jennifer Aaker (2008) Journal of Consumer Research, 35 (3, October), 543 – 557

Do You Look to the Future or Focus on Today? The Impact of Life Experience on Intertemporal Decisions,” with Jennifer Aaker (2007) Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 102 (2, March), 212 – 225

A New Look at Constructed Choice Processes,” with Dale Griffin and Uzma Khan (2005), Marketing Letters 16, 321 – 333

 

Book Chapter

“The Benefits of Asking for Time,” in Daniel Oppenheimer and Christopher Olivola (Eds.) (2010) The Science of Charity: Experimental Approaches to the Study of Giving, Chapter 12, p 201 – 215, Taylor & Francis, NY.

 

Work in Progress

“Sequential Shortlist Decisions: The Incumbent Benchmarking Effect,” with Itamar Simonson

“Lay Perceptions of Altruism,” with Dani Yin

Research Areas

  • Consumer Preferences and Valuation
  • Social and Emotional Influence
  • Time and Money
  • Health, Happiness and Wellbeing

Industry Areas

  • Consumer Products
  • Health and Healthcare
  • Marketing Research
  • Consumer Finance
  • Brand Management