Szu-Chi Huang

Szu-Chi's research interest focuses on examining consumer motivation. Her work in this area has been programmatic, documenting how consumers have different concerns at initial versus advanced stages of goal pursuit, and thus derive motivation in very distinctive ways.

As a researcher, Szu-Chi is committed to theory development as well as bridging the gap between theory and practicum. By studying how various factors affect one’s motivation at different stages of goal pursuit, she aims to address an important gap in the literature of self-regulation, and answer the question of why the same information can be motivating at one stage but de-motivating at another stage of goal pursuit. She strongly believes in the value of testing hypotheses in the real world using field studies; hence, in all of her projects, she has included field studies that aim to motivate people to pursue their volitional goals (e.g., exercising), goals set by marketers (e.g., loyalty programs), or pro-social, collective goals (e.g., donation campaigns). Szu-Chi believes that field studies not only enhance the validity of her findings, but also help to transform theoretical advancement into pragmatic application.

Szu-Chi is grateful to have received the Powers Fellowship, as it has propelled her toward research and career goals. It helped her advance her research projects to publications, and to continue to work on issues that make significant contributions to the literature, while remaining relevant to real-world challenges, both on an individual (e.g., field experiments with weight-loss programs) and a collective level (e.g., donation campaigns with pro-social organizations).