Interview - Prof. Xing Zhang
- SKKGSB
- Hit6875
- 2020-01-15
Professor Xing Zhang, a marketing professor at Sungkyunkwan University, discusses his background, life before becoming a professor, and his experience at SKKU this year.
■ Where are you from?
I grew up in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region in northern China. It is a region where most Mongolian-speaking people – Mongols in China live. I admit that the name of the place may confuse people if they are not from China. When I say "I am from Inner Mongolia in China," probably they hear "Inner Mongolia" as "in…eh…Mongolia". From time to time, the response was:" So you are from Mongolia? Not China?" I have to give a five-minute lecture on China's history and the difference between Inner Mongolia, which is a region in China, and Mongolia, which is a state. By then, the conversion would often come to a dead-end.
■ Where did you study?
I did my undergraduate in China and a PhD in Singapore.
■ What made you choose a business?
Admittedly, studying business was not my first choice and not based on my parents' expectation, either. Like many Asian families, my parents took excellent care of my extracurricular activities when I was a kid. I spent a great deal of time practicing accordion after school. At the point I had to decide which major to choose in college seriously, they figured out that studying accordion may not lead to a promising career, and we all happened to agree that studying business may be a better choice in terms of job prospects.
■ What made you decide to go into teaching?
Being a student for long enough, I have encountered a lot of great teachers who make significant impacts on me. They were the role-models whom I would like to follow. Several years ago, I served as a teaching assistant to a senior professor who was diagnosed with late cancer and passed away two months later. At the time, he could no longer walk on his own because of the severe side effect from the chemotherapy, so another teaching assistant and I fetched him from the car to the classroom using a wheelchair. What struck me was that he could not speak for very long when we were on the way to the classroom. His voice was so powerless, and I was always worried that he would not be able to teach. But once the classes began, it seems that he was fed with some magical energy from the crowd. He would suddenly turn into a lively lecturer and a powerhouse in leading the class discussion. Everyone in the classroom was so engaged that I even forgot he was ill, and I think so did he. What I saw was that teaching might not be easy, but it is exhilarating if one is entirely devoted to it.
■ What do you enjoy most about teaching?
The most enjoyable moments are the ones during the class discussion. Since our MBA students' background are very diverse, they often offered fascinating insights which are completely beyond my expectation. I still remember in one class when we were discussing a case about the fashion retailer "Forever 21". One student from the U.S said the number "21" is very special to American youth because it is the age when drinking alcohol becomes legal. I am still not sure whether that is the reason why the company was named "Forever 21", but now I can remember the legal age for drinking in the U.S forever.
■ What type of research did you conduct in the past?
I use lab and field experiments to study consumer psychological biases and their implications in marketing.
■ What are you currently researching?
I am working on a project with my co-authors on the chatbot. We look at how chatbot's ability to conduct chitchat influences people's trust towards the chatbot's financial advice. Research in psychology has shown that we tend to use superficial, and sometimes irrelevant characteristics to make inferences about the others' competence. If you like the politician's appearance and voice, you are more likely to consider him/her as trustworthy. This tendency, or bias in decision-making, is coined as the "halo effect" in psychology. We found that this tendency is manifested during human and chatbot interaction. When human decision-maker is randomly assigned to a chattier chatbot who knows the meaning of life (it is 42, of course) and can tell a joke, the decision-maker is more likely to take the chatbot's advice about whether to take financial risk, although the chitchatting and advice-giving are two unrelated features of the chatbot.
■ What has been your best experience so far at SKK GSB?
The best experience is interacting with colleagues when I first joined SKK GSB last year. I was impressed by the collegiality here. Everyone is so generous in helping and supporting each other. I felt welcomed when I was settling down in Seoul. There were countless times that I received advice and guidance from my colleagues, which helped me adjust to the new environment.
Whitley Pannell, SKK GSB PR Committee, Class of 2021
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