Dr. Lou's research focuses on consumer psychology and advertising effects. From this perspective, she has investigated how consumers process information and the mechanisms through which marketing communications affect consumer behavior. Generally, her research utilizes information processing as a central mechanism to explicate the role of marketing communication experiences in consumer behavior. Within this context, she has looked into the effects and mechanisms of a variety of brand communications (e.g., influencer marketing, content marketing strategies, advertising portrayals of female model sizes, and the use of 360-degree video in brand’s storytelling), as well as the roles of social and psychological factors in the persuasion process.

Dr. Lou is a mixed-methods researcher with a strong quantitative focus, experienced in a broad range of research methods, including lab and online experiment, survey, in-depth interview, focus group, and data mining; In her recent publications, she has used eye-tracking and psychophysiological measures, as well as topic modeling and sentiment analysis through a big data approach. 

Her work has appeared in top-tier journals in both advertising and communication, including the Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, among others. She was awarded the 2021 Mary Alice Shaver Promising Professor Award by the American Academy of Advertising (AAA) (an award that honors a junior faculty member who has demonstrated excellence and innovation in advertising research and teaching and who has taught no more than four years in a full-time faculty position), the 2021 Outstanding Reviewer Award by the Journal of Interactive Advertising, the 2019 Best Article Award in the Journal of Interactive Advertising, and was also a recipient of the 2021 and 2019 AAA Research Fellowship Grants, respectively. 

Before joining NTU, she was a Ph.D. student in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Michigan State University (2012 Sept - 2016 Dec). She also studied at Ohio University (M.S. degree, the E. W. Scripps school of Journalism) and Wuhan University (B.A. School of Journalism and Communication). She serves as an Associate Editor in the International Journal of Advertising (IJA) and the Journal of Interactive Advertising (JIA). She is also serving on the Editorial Review Boards of the Journal of Advertising (JA) and the Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising (JCIRA). Furthermore, she is the International Liaison for the Information Systems Division within the International Communication Association (ICA) (2019-2022) and serving on the Global and Multicultural Committee of the American Academy of Advertising (AAA). She also served in the AEJMC Presidential Task Force on Careers Committee (2017-2019).  

 

Associate Editor: • International Journal of Advertising (2022 -- present) • Journal of Interactive Advertising (2021 -- present) ​ 

 Editorial Review Board: • Journal of Advertising (2022 -- present) • Journal of Advertising Research (2022 -- present) • Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising (2021 -- present)  

 

Selected Research Awards and Honors: 

2023 Highly Commended Paper Award of the International Journal of Advertising articles published in 2022

2023 Top Faculty Paper Award in the Open Research Competition at the Advertising Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)

2022 Journal of Advertising Best Article Award

2022 Top Faculty Paper Award in the Open Research Competition at the Advertising Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)

2021 Mary Alice Shaver Promising Professor Award, American Academy of Advertising

2021 Outstanding Reviewer Award, Journal of Interactive Advertising

2021 American Academy of Advertising Research Fellowship recipient

2019 Journal of Interactive Advertising Best Article Award (This article on influencer marketing is also among the AAA journals' most influential articles in 2019) 

2019 American Academy of Advertising Research Fellowship recipient 

2016 Mass Communication and Society Article of the Year 

2015 Journal of Interactive Advertising Best Article Award 

2014 Top Poster Award of ComSHER Division, AEJMC 

 

Awards under supervision: 

2022 AEJMC Top Student Paper Award (FYP supervisor), Communication Theory & Methods Division2020 AEJMC Top Student Paper Award @LGBTQ Interest Group (FYP Supervisor) 

2020 Top Research FYP Award (supervisor), WKWSCI, NTU 

2019 NTU Undergraduate Research Experience on CAmpus (URECA) research (Supervisor): 2nd prize for Best poster, 1st prize for peer assessment, & 1st prize for most popular poster of Social Sciences 

INVITED EDITORIALS/GUEST EDITOR: • Lou, C. & Jin, V. (In Progress). Untapped and Understudied Issues in Influencer Advertising. Special issue editor in the Journal of Interactive Advertising, https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/untapped-understudied-issues-influencer-advertising/ • Chen, H., Wang, Y., Lou, C., & Lee Y. (In Progress). New Technologies in Advertising Research and Practice. Special issue editor in the Journal of Business Research, https://journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-business-research/call-for-papers/new-technologies-in-advertising-research-and-practice • Hudders, L., & Lou, C. (2022). Future Trends in Influencer Marketing. Special issue editor in the International Journal of Advertising (submissions closed).