Tong (Joy) Lu

Class of 2018

Contact Information

Primary Email:
tonglu@wharton.upenn.edu
Mobile Phone:
(925) 216-6850
Office Phone:
(215) 898-9894
Office Fax Phone:
(215) 898-2534

office Address:
727.9 Jon M. Hunstman Hall
3730 Walnut Street
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Research Interests: Mathematical models of consumer behavior, media consumption, bounded rationality, information processing, product search

Links: CV

Overview

Tong (Joy) Lu is currently a fifth-year doctoral candidate in Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Joy’s research falls under two main areas: (1) understanding how individuals consume online media content, and (2) understanding how individuals incorporate information into their decision processes during product search. In both streams of research, she builds mathematical models grounded in behavioral theory that capture how consumers dynamically update their preferences over time through experienced consumption and information search.

Prior to joining Wharton, Joy received a B.S in Economics, and Engineering & Applied Science (Computation & Neural Systems track) from the California Institute of Technology in 2013.

Research

Julio Sevilla, Tong Lu, Barbara E. Kahn (2019), Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 29 (), pp. 89-103. Abstract
In this article, we examine the different ways in which consumers balance their consumption behavior in order to maximize utility. In particular, we focus on how people balance repeating the same options with the decision to seek variety. While earlier research represented variety seeking as a means of reducing physical satiation (McAlister, 1982), more recent research suggests that the relationship between choosing variety and minimizing satiation is more complex, as these behaviors may be motivated and influenced by exogenous factors. Past reviews have largely looked at the two processes separately. In this article, we discuss the nuanced relationship between these two constructs and point to future research directions that may help us further understand how consumers tackle the everyday challenge of maximizing enjoyment over time. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)
Tong Lu, Eric Bradlow, J. Wesley Hutchinson, Binge Consumption of Online Content.
Tong Lu and Liangbin Yang, Keep Winning or Stop Losing? The Effect of Consumption Outcomes on Variety-Seeking in Online Video Games.
Tong Lu and J. Wesley Hutchinson, Split-Second Decisions During Online Information Search: Static vs. Dynamic Decision Thresholds for Making the First Click.
Tong Lu, Uma R. Karmarkar, Vinod Venkatraman (Under Review), Planning to Binge: How Consumers Choose to Allocate Time to View Sequential Versus Independent Media Content.
J. Wesley Hutchinson, Tong Lu, Evan Weingarten, “Visual Attention in Consumer Settings”. In International Handbook of Consumer Psychology, edited by Cathrine Janssen-Boyd and Magdalena Zawisza, (:, 2016)

Activity

Latest Research

Julio Sevilla, Tong Lu, Barbara E. Kahn (2019), Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Consumer Psychology, 29 (), pp. 89-103.

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