Kineta HUNG

Kineta Hung is Professor and Director of the Advertising and Branding Program. Her research interests have evolved from advertising copy strategy to a broad range of topics including celebrity endorsement, influencer marketing, communication engagement, and advertising and branding in China. Professor Hung is among the world’s top 25 researchers in advertising, as indicated in a recent study. Her works have appeared in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Advertising, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Retailing and Journal of International Marketing. Professor Hung serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Advertising (JA) and the International Journal of Advertising (IJA). She is also a member of the Research Committee of the American Academy of Advertising.

Professor Hung is a Featured Researcher as well as a member of the System Health Lab at the Hong Kong Baptist University. She is the recipient of several research awards including the Emerald Management Reviews Citations of Excellence as well as five major research grants from the Research Grant Council (RGC) and the Central Policy Unit. Professor Hung is an honorary professor at Communication University of China and is a research fellow at the Contemporary Marketing Centre, Hong Kong University. She has given academic keynotes and executive talks on various advertising topics in Hong Kong, China and overseas.

Research Interests

Celebrity Endorsement & Influencer Marketing
Advertising Imagery
Communication Engagement
Advertising & Branding in China
Health Communication

Publications

Book

Tse, David K. and Kineta Hung (2020), Dynamic Growth of Chinese Firms in Global Market: Challenges, Strategies and Implications, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Research Handbook Chapters

Hung, Kineta (2021), “Celebrity, Influencer, Brand Endorsement: Processes and Effects,” in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication, Jon Nussbaum (ed.), New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hung, Kineta and David K. Tse (2020), “Luxury Brand Consumption in Emerging Economies: Review and Implications,” in Research Handbook on Luxury Branding, Felicitas Morhart, Sandor Czellar and Keith Wilcos (eds.), Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 93-116.  Chapter

Jia, Xinming, Kineta Hung and Ke Zhang (2020), “Celebrity Fans in China: Motives, Characteristics and Marketing Impacts,” in Handbook of Research on the Impact of Fandom in Society and Consumerism, Cheng Lu Wang (ed.), Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 104-126.  Chapter

Selected Journal Papers

Hung, Kineta, David K. Tse and Terri H. Chan (2022, online), “Gaining Legitimacy and Host Market Acceptance: A CRM Analysis for Foreign Subsidiaries in China,” International Marketing Review.

Hung, Kineta, David K. Tse and Terri H. Chan (2022), “E-Commerce Influencers in China: Dual-Route Model on Likes, Shares and Sales,” Journal of Advertising, 51(4), 486-501.

Zhang, Ke and Kineta Hung (2020), “The Effect of Natural Celebrity-Brand Association and Parasocial Interaction in Advertising Endorsement for Sustainable Marketing,” Sustainability, 12(15), 6215.  Paper

Chan, Terri H., Caleb H. Tse and Kineta Hung (2017), “Productivity and Impact in Advertising Research since the Millennium: A Profiling and Investigation of Drivers of Impact,” International Journal of Advertising, 36(1), 11-37.  Paper

Hung, Kineta (2014), “ Why Celebrity Sells: A Dual Entertainment Path Model of Brand Endorsement“, Journal of Advertising, 43(2), 155-166.

Hung, Kineta, Caleb H. Tse, and Shirley Cheng (2012), “ Advertising Research in the Post-WTO Decade in China: Meeting the Internationalization Challenge,” Journal of Advertising, 41(3), 121-145.

Hung, Kineta, Stella Yiyan Li, and David K. Tse (2011), “ Interpersonal Trust and Platform Credibility in a Chinese Multi-brand Online Community: Effects on Variety-Seeking and Time-Spent,” Journal of Advertising, 40(3), 99-112.

Hung, Kineta, Kimmy W. Chan, and Caleb H. Tse (2011), “ Assessing Celebrity Endorsement Effects in China: A Consumer-Celebrity Relational Approach,” Journal of Advertising Research, 51(4), 608-623.

Maggie C. Dong, David K. Tse, and Kineta Hung (2010), “ Effective Distributor Governance in Emerging Markets: The Salience of Distributor Role, Relationship Stages and Market Uncertainty,” Journal of International Marketing, 18 (September), 1-17.

Gu, Flora Fang, Kineta Hung and David K. Tse (2008), “ When Does Guanxi Matter: Issues of Capitalization and its Dark Sides,” Journal of Marketing, 72(4), 12-28. [Article featured in the Journal of Marketing website]

Hung, Kineta and Stella Yiyan Li (2007), “ The Influence of eWOM on Virtual Consumer Communities: Social Capital, Consumer Learning, and Behavioral Outcomes,” Journal of Advertising Research, 47 (December), 485-495.

Hung, Kineta, Stella Yiyan Li, and Russell W. Belk (2007), “ Glocal Understandings: Female Readers’ Perceptions of the New Woman in Chinese Advertising,” Journal of International Business Studies, 38 (November), 1034-1051.

Hung, Kineta, Flora Fang Gu, and Chi Kin (Bennett) Yim (2007), “ A Social Institutional Approach to Identifying Generation Cohorts in China with a Comparison to American Consumers,” Journal of International Business Studies, 38 (September), 836-853.

Yim, Chi Kin (Bennett), Kimmy Wa Chan and Kineta Hung (2007), “Multiple Reference Effects on Service Satisfaction and Commitment: Roles of Alternative Attractiveness and Self-Image Congruity,” Journal of Retailing, 83(1), 147-157.

Yim, Chi Kin (Bennett), Kineta Hung, Joe N. Zhou and Jonathan Zhu (2006), “ Do Social Institutions Matter to Markets in Transition? Investigating Consumer Sentiment in China,” Multinational Business Review, 14(2), 47-66.

Hung, Kineta and Stella Yiyan Li (2006), “ Images of the Contemporary Woman in Advertising in China: A Content Analysis,” Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 19 (2), 7-28.

Hung, Kineta, Flora Fang Gu, and David K. Tse (2005), “ Improving Media Decisions in China: A Targetability and Cost-Benefit Analysis,” Journal of Advertising, 34 (Spring), 49-63.

Hung, Kineta (2001), “ Framing Meaning Perceptions with Music: the Case of Teaser Ads,” Journal of Advertising, 30 (Fall), 39-50.

Hung, Kineta (2000), “ Narrative Music in Congruent and Incongruent TV Advertising,” Journal of Advertising, 29 (Spring), 25-34. [Short-listed for the Best Paper Award]

Selected Book Chapters

Hung, Kineta (2020), “Celebrity and Influencer in a Fan Economy: Unfolding the Fans’ Roles in Enhancing Endorsement Effects,” in Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Media Fandom, Robert Andrew Dunn (ed.), Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 323-340.

Hung, Kineta (2015), “Repairing the Made-in-China Image in the US and UK: Effects of Government-supported Advertising,” in International Public Relations and Public Diplomacy: Communication and Engagement, Guy Golan, Sung-Un Yang and Dennis Kinsey (eds.), New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 209-228.

Shevy, Mark and Kineta Hung (2013), “Music in Television Advertising and Other Persuasive Media,” in  Psychology of Music in Multimedia, Siu-Lan Tan, Annabel Cohen, Scott Lipscomb, and Roger Kendall (eds.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 315-338.

Awards/Grants/Honors

Awards & Honors:

1. Featured Researcher, Hong Kong Baptist University, 2020 –
2. Best Reviewer Award, International Journal of Advertising, 2018.
3. Featured in Journal of Advertising (Special Virtual Issue on International Advertising) (2016) for its significant contributions to international advertising: “Advertising Research in the Post-WTO Decade in China: Meeting the Internationalization Challenge”.
4. Featured in Journal of Advertising Research website on “Celebrity Endorsement” (2016): “Assessing Celebrity Endorsement Effects in China: A Consumer-Celebrity Relational Approach”.
5. Rated among the World’s Top 25 Researchers in Advertising (Chan and Tse 2017 “Profiling Lead Researchers in Advertising Research”).
6. Emerald Management Reviews Citations of Excellence Award for 2012. Awarded to the article “When Does Guanxi Matter? Issues of Capitalization and its Dark Sides” (Journal of Marketing, 2008).

Leadership Recognition:

1. Nominated and Sponsored, Management Development Program, Harvard Grad. Sch. of Education, 2018.
2. Faculty/School Performance Award in Service, Hong Kong Baptist University, 2017.
3. Award for Outstanding Performance in Service, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University, 2015.

External Research Grants:

1. “Shifting Love from Local to Foreign Brands: Brand Transgression, Passion Loss and Construction of New-Self” (GRF, Grant #12501114), Hong Kong Research Grant Council, 2014-2017, (PI) (HK$ 242,073).
2. “Understanding the Global Proliferation of Chinese-Made Products: A Multi-Country Study on the Effects of Empathy and Expanded Worldview on Chinese-Made Product Evaluation,” Research Grant Council (GRF, Grant #243511), Hong Kong Research Grant Council, 2012-2014, (PI) (HK$ 217,955)
3. “The Celebrity as Brand Endorser: Motivations, Attachment and Effects,” Research Grant Council (GRF, Grant #241809), Hong Kong Research Grant Council, 2009-2012 (PI) (HK$ 511,840)
4. “Globalization of Chinese Firms: Challenges, Best Practices & Institutional Support,” HKSAR Central Policy Unit, 2009 (Co-I, with D.K. Tse) (HK$ 350,000)
5. “Materialistic Value and Status Brand Consumption among Generation Cohorts in China,” Research Grant Council, Hong Kong Research Grant Council (GRF 7432/05H), 2005-08 (PI, HK$ 461,360)

Media interviews

“Celebrity as Brand Supporter, Competitor or Vampire: A Purposive Review,” 2017 Marketing Scholar Forum, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong (Keynote Speaker)

“Brand Digital Asset: Conceptualization and Effects in China’s Digital Marketing Era,” 2016第四届数字营销传播研究与应用国际研讨会 [4th Digital Marketing Communication Research and Application International Conference], Journalism and Communication School, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China (Keynote Speaker)

“Beyond ‘small’ Communities: an Emerging Perspective in Media Studies,” Invited talk as Honorary Professor, Communication University of China, October 2014, Beijing, China. (Keynote Speaker)

“Linking BIG Data with Small Behavior: an Emerging Perspective in Media Studies,” 2014第二届数字营销传播研究与应用国际研讨会 [2nd Digital Marketing Communication Research and Application International Conference], Journalism and Communication School, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China (Keynote Speaker)

“Re-positioning China’s Image via Advertising,” Invited talk as Honorary Professor, Communication University of China, March 2014, Beijing, China. (Keynote Speaker)

Chinese Femininity

Telephone interview by Polish monthly magazine Zwierciadło on a featured story on Chinese femininity. The article on women in China is part of a series of articles on women around the world, February 2015.

Product Placement

Featured story “Transformers Movie Highlights Mainland Product Placement Trend: Lights, camera, product placement,” Alan Yu, South China Morning Post, July 29, 2014.

Expert talk “Beyond Advertising,” HKBU Horizons, 2014-15, Issue 1.

Advertising & Branding in China

Interview on Blue Focus, PR conglomerate in China, by Nathan VanderKlippe, Foreign Correspondence in Beijing, The Globe and Mail, March 12, 2015.