Students, faculty to present at major conference

June 11, 2020

A group of SOC students, and one of their professors, had research papers accepted by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), and will be presenting at the organization’s upcoming conference.

At the beginning of Spring semester, SOC digital advertising professor, Dr. Jing Yang, launched an advertising research group for undergraduate and graduate students. This group created a space for research-motivated students to develop their curiosity in quantitative and computational methods and develop academic writing skills, in a collaborative environment. Members of the group include Camila Teran, Ebbe Bertellotti, Shannon Wrzesinski, Xueer “Alice” Liang, and Ava Francesca Battocchio.

Despite the transition home, the group continued to meet every Thursday afternoon, often spanning several time zones. Recent research includes projects on brand responses during COVID-19, Chatbot anthropomorphism, brand authenticity and transparency, genuineness of models in Instagram advertising, and Industry adoption of AI creative tools.

The research group recently received acceptance letters for two of their projects and they will be presenting this summer at the 103rd Annual Conference of the AEJMC, an esteemed international organization.

Camilla Teran will be presenting “Building Brand Authenticity on Social Media: The Impact of Instagram Ad Model Genuineness and Trustworthiness on Perceived Brand Authenticity and Consumer Responses” which was co-authored with Dr. Yang, Ava Francesca, Ebbe, and Shannon.

Additionally, Ava Francesca will be presenting “Effects of Transparent Brand Communication on Perceived Brand Authenticity and Consumer Responses”, which was co-authored with Dr. Yang.

Dr. Yang, with her co-author, Dr. Juan Mundel, also had another paper accepted, “Understanding the Impact of Brand Feedback to Negative eWOM on Social Media: An Expectation Violation Approach.” Finally, Dr. Pam Morris will present two papers, “Incorporating Ethics into Introductory Advertising Courses: Student Perspectives” and “Diversity and Inclusion in Advertising: What do Students Think?”

With all the hard work, creative thinking, and perseverance the SOC will be well represented at the August conference.

If you are interested in conducting advertising research with the rest of the group, please reach out to Dr. Yang for more information: jyang13@luc.edu.