Research Topic
How do we account for consumers seeking out negative emotions?
Research Summary
The market is an inherently emotional place, and consumer behaviour and emotional life have become closely and inextricably intertwined. However, previous research on consumer emotions centred on consumers' positive emotions and active hedonistic preferences in the market; few studies emphasise that consumers actively approach negative emotions.
My research is focused on how we account for consumers seeking out negative emotions. I am going to place my research in the context of the museum of broken relationships, studying the role of negative emotions in shaping the museum experience, and the value of sadness as a negative emotion.
The museum of broken relationships is a public physical space for collecting and displaying the commemorative items owned by the broken-hearted people, and the museum of broken relationships is a marketplace that shapes and reinforces emotional ideologies and allows consumers to conduct emotional communication. It is an area for "emodity" of negative emotions such as sadness, offering emotional commodities and experiential consumption.
At the same time, I also explore the role of museums as experiential and liminal space, and cultural biographies of consumer objects. My research is interpretive study and will conduct ethnography research methods, and I will deploy multiple methods of data collection, including:
- participant observation
- in-depth interviews
- a Netnography approach that combines physical space with social media
I am also going to construct poems to represent my research insights and embrace poetic exploration to interpret and explain the data.
Supervisors
Research Area
Research Taxonomy
Background
My undergraduate major is Materials Science and Engineering, which helps me to think about spaces and ontology of objects, as well as materiality. Years of academic study in the field of engineering equipped me with a rigorous way of thinking that helps me navigate other interdisciplinary fields.
I have a Masters degree in Business Strategy and Entrepreneurship with Distinction from Cardiff University. I have working experience in China's top technology venture capital and financial media companies, and have extensive experience in news writing and media content operations. I am also a creative content creator with millions of readers on Chinese media platforms.
In addition, I am a part-time business analysis writer, mainly writing about consumption insights, financial stories, investment stories, and other related content, which is published on the official account of China's leading investment bank.
In my spare time, I love writing poetry, and I am dedicated to constructing poems to represent research insights and embracing poetic witness to interpret and explain the data. I am also an amateur photographer with 20,000 followers on social media. Now I am a marketing researcher, and my research areas include consumer emotion, behaviour, experiential consumption, material culture, consumer culture, identity and gender, and poetic inquiry.
Education and Qualifications
| Institute | Award | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Cardiff University | Master in Business Strategy and Entrepreneurship (Distinction) | 2019–2020 |
Professional and voluntary experience
- New Media Operation and Professional Writer, 2020-21
- Content Operation, Wallstreet CN, 2018