Research Overview

Dr. Chihling Liu's research activity is predominantly in the area of consumer culture theory, exploring the interrelationships between consumption, self and identity, with a specific focus on improving consumer welfare and subjective wellbeing.

Current Teaching

• MNGT 610 Marketing Research (Qualitative)
• MKGT 402(1) Phiosophy of Social Science
• MKTG 316 Advanced Topics in Consumer Behaviour
• MKTG 310 Marketing Research and Consultancy Project
• MKTG 210/510 Marketing Research (Qualitative)

External Roles

Dr Chih-Ling Liu is an editorial board member of the Journal of Business Research.

Additional Information

Media Attention

"The Micropolitics of Family Gift Giving" (2024), The Wall Street Journal, 17th December, interviewed by the Wall Street Journal reporter, Elizabeth Bernstein.

Liu, C. and Kozinets, R. V. (2024), "'What you’re really saying with your Mother’s Day gift'" The Conversation, 6th March.

Republications include the Inquirer, Studyfinds and the Chicago Sun Times.

Liu, C. (2023), "‘I almost lost my will to live’: preference for sons is leaving young women in China exploited and abused" The Conversation, 1st September.

A short promotional video about the article can be found here: Son Preference.

Since publishing on 1 September, Chihling’s Conversation article has also been translated into Portuguese by The Conversation’s international bureau.

It has also been republished in the The Print, All China Review, Yahoo UK, Yahoo Canada, CVD, Phys.org, as well as other outlets:

• Research Probes Daughter Exploitation in China's Son-Preference Families | Mirage News
• 'I almost lost my will to live': Preference for sons is leaving young women in China exploited and abused (knowledia.com)
• Why daughters in Chinese families that favor sons often lose friendships, feel suicidal: study (nextshark.com)
• Liu, China’s gender crisis | The Panama News
• ‘I almost lost my will to live’: preference for sons is leaving young women in China exploited and abused | Đọt Chuối Non (dotchuoinon.com)

Liu, C. and Kozinets, R. V. (2021), “How China’s ‘leftover women’ are using their financial power to fight the stigma of being single’”, The Conversation, 12^th November.

This piece has been republished by both the UK and the Canadian arm of Yahoo, Channel News Asia, the Italian arm of Vanity Fair, South Africa news site, News24.com, El Mundo, one of the largest printed newspapers in Spain, the World News in Switzerland etc. It has also reached countries around the world including New Zealand, Africa, China, Singapore, Canada, Spain, Switzerland etc.

Dr Chih-Ling Liu was also interviewed by Business Insider within their recent article (Women in China Fight Stigma of Singledom by Flaunting Wealth Online (insider.com)) which has been republished in Business Insider in other countries, as well as on Yahoo and MSN! The main Business Insider attracts 8,763,909 visitors per month, Yahoo boasts 6,095,788 visitors and Business Insider India, 1,467,627.

PhD Supervision Interests

I am keen to supervise Ph.D. students interested in the relationship between self, identity, and consumption. I am particularly interested in (but not limited to): (1) Family consumption and identity negotiation, (2) Consumption, Gender, and Identity from a discursive and an embodied perspective, (3) Transformative consumer research - projects that focus on improving consumer welfare and making positive social impacts, (4) The role of the body in contemporary consumer culture, and (5) Chinese consumer behaviour. In terms of methodology, I am interested in anything qualitative, in the broadest sense.