Faculty and Research

Assistant Professor Alison Xu
alisonxu@umn.edu
612-625-1635
3-137 CarlSMgmt

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Alison Jing Xu

Assistant Professor
Marketing

Education

  • Ph.D. 2010
    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  • B.A. 2003
    Beijing Foreign Studies University, China

Expertise

  • Judgment and Decision-Making Processes
  • Behavioral Mind-sets
  • Generalized Motivation
  • Sensory Experience and Decision Making
  • Risk Perceptions
  • Persuasion

Alison Jing Xu holds a PHD in business administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research takes the information processing approach to examine how mind-sets, goals, and sensory inputs influence consumer and manager decision making. Her articles have been published in leading academic journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal of Consumer Research, Psychological Science, Management Science, the Journal of Consumer Psychology, the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, and the Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Her research won The Franco Nicosia Association of Consumer Research Best Competitive Paper Award in 2008 and was a finalist of the Journal of Consumer Psychology Park Outstanding Contributor Award in 2013. She was named 2015 Marketing Science Institute Young Scholar. Before joining Carlson, she was an assistant professor in Marketing at University of Toronto.

Selected Works

  • Cai, Fengyan, Yang Zhiyong, Robert S. Wyer, Jr., and Alison Jing Xu (2017), “The Interactive Effects of Bitter Flavor and Mood on the Decision to Spend or Save Money,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 70, 48-58.
    Download (544.98 KB)
  • Xu, Alison Jing and Dolores Albarracín (2016), “Constrained Physical Space Constrains Hedonism,” Journal of Association for Consumer Research, 1(4), 557-568.
    Download (361.93 KB)
  • Xu, Alison Jing, Norbert Schwarz, and Robert S. Wyer (2015), “Hunger Promotes Acquisition of Nonfood Objects,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112 (9), 2688-2692.
    Download (529.02 KB)
  • Xu, Alison Jing and Aparna A. Labroo (2014), “Incandescent Affect: Turning on the Hot Emotional System with Bright Light,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 24 (2), 207–216.
    Download (185.18 KB)
  • Uskul, Ayse K., Daphna Oyserman, Norbert Schwarz, Spike W. Lee, and Alison Jing Xu (2013), “How Successful You Have Been in Life Depends on the Response Scale Used: The Role of Cultural Mind-sets in Pragmatic Inferences Drawn From Question Format,” Social Cognition, 31 (2), 222-236.
    Download (264.38 KB)
  • Xu, Alison Jing and Robert S. Wyer (2012), “The Role of Bolstering and Counterarguing Mind-sets in Persuasion,” Journal of Consumer Research, 38 (February), 920-932.
    Download (287.41 KB)
  • Xu, Alison Jing, Rami Zwick, and Norbert Schwarz (2012), “Washing Away Your (Good or Bad) Luck: Physical Cleansing Affect Risk Taking Behavior,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141 (1), 26-30.
    Download (119.79 KB)
  • Wyer, Robert S., Alison Jing Xu, and Hao Shen (2012), “The Effects of Past Behavior on Future Goal-Directed Activity,” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, in James M. Olson and Mark P. Zanna (ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 46, Burlington: Academic Press, 2012, 237-283.
    Download (423.35 KB)
  • Xu, Alison Jing and Robert S. Wyer (2010), “Puffery in Advertisements: The Effects of Media Context, Communication Norms, and Consumer Knowledge,” Journal of Consumer Research, 37 (August), 329-343.
    Download (292.09 KB)
  • Muthukrishnan, A.V., Luc Wathieu, and Alison Jing Xu (2009), “Ambiguity Aversion and the Power of Established Brand,” Management Science, 55 (December), 1933-1941.
    Download (189.98 KB)
  • Xu, Alison Jing and Robert S. Wyer (2008), “The Comparative Mind-set: From Animal Comparisons to Increased Purchase Intentions,” Psychological Science, 19 (September), 859-864.
    Download (84.57 KB)
  • Xu, Alison Jing and Robert S. Wyer (2007), “The Effect of Mind-sets on Consumer Decision Strategies,” Journal of Consumer Research, 34 (December), 556-566.
    Download (207.39 KB)

Current Activities

Honors and Awards

  • Haring Symposium Representative (Presenter), Indiana University, March 2009

  • John M. Jones Fellowship, UIUC, 2008-2010

  • Winner, The Franco Nicosia ACR Best Competitive Paper Award, Association for Consumer Research, October 2008

  • Marketing Science Institute Young Scholar, 2015

  • Finalist, JCP Park Outstanding Contributor Award, 2013

  • Sheth-Sudman Award for Excellence in Research, UIUC, 2009

  • Richard D. and Anne Marie Irwin Fellowship, UIUC, 2009-2010