Monic Sun
Associate Professor, Marketing
Monic Sun studies human experience by integrating theory, behavioral data, neuroscience, and contemplative observation to understand behavior and well-being.
Her earlier work uses game theory, causal inference, and experiments to study disclosure, user-generated content, channel conflict, targeting, social influence, and sustainability. Key counterintuitive findings include how disclosure can raise prices, revenue sharing can crowd out niche content, rating dispersion can increase sales, channel members can disagree on disclosure, geo-targeting can alleviate price wars, social ties can resist imitation, and recycling can induce more waste.
She is currently developing neuroscience-informed work using physiological and behavioral measures. Her research has been published in leading marketing journals and covered by the BBC, Forbes, and NPR. She holds a B.A. in Economics from Peking University and a Ph.D. in Economics from Boston University.
Education
PhD, Boston University, 2008
MA, Boston University, 2006
BA, Peking University, 2003
Publications
Tony, K., Sun, M., Jiang, B. (2024). “Peer-to-Peer Markets with Bilateral Ratings”, Marketing Science, 43 (5), 1081-1101
Weingarten, E., Duke, K., Liu, W., Hamilton, R., Amir, O., Appel, G., Cerf, M., Goodman, J., Morales, A., O’Brien, E., Quoidbach, J., Sun, M. (2023). “What Makes People Happy? Decoupling the Experiential-Material Continuum”, Journal of Consumer Psychology
Sun, M., Tyagi, R. (2020). “Product Fit Uncertainty and Information Provision in a Distribution Channel”, Production and Operations Management, 29 (10), 2381-2402
Sun, M., Zhang, X., Zhu, F. (2019). “U-Shaped Conformity in Online Social Networks”, Marketing Science, 38 (3), 461-480
Chen, Y., Li, X., Sun, M. (2017). “Competitive Mobile Geo Targeting”, Marketing Science, 36 (5), 666-682
Sun, M., Trudel, R. (2017). “The Effect of Recycling Versus Trashing on Consumption: Theory and Experimental Evidence”, Journal of Marketing Research, 54 (2), 293-305
Branco, F., Sun, M., Villas-Boas, J. (2016). “Too Much Information? Information Provision and Search Costs”, Marketing Science, 35 (4), 605-618
Sun, M., Zhu, F. (2013). “Ad Revenue and Content Commercialization: Evidence from Blogs”, Management Science, 59 (10), 2314-2331
Branco, F., Sun, M., Villas-Boas, J. (2012). “Optimal Search for Product Information”, Management Science, 58 (11), 2037-2056
Liu, T., Sun, M. (2012). “Informal Payments in Developing Countries’ Public Health Sectors”, Pacific Economic Review, 17 (4), 514-524
Thomadsen, R., Zeithammer, R., Iyer, G., Mayzlin, D., Orhun, Y., Pazgal, A., Purohit, D., Rao, R., Riordan, M., Shin, J., Sun, M., Villas-Boas, M. (2012). “A Reflection on Analytical Work in Marketing: Three Points of Consensus”, Marketing Letters, 23 (2), 381-389
Sun, M. (2012). “How Does the Variance of Product Ratings Matter?”, Management Science, 58 (4), 696-707
Sun, M. (2011). “Disclosing Multiple Product Attributes”, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 20 (1), 195-224