Monic Sun
Associate Professor, Marketing
Monic Sun studies how human experience changes in real time, using empirical data, physiological measurement, behavioral observation, and contemplative inquiry. Her current work develops reproducible frameworks for modeling experiential state transitions, with a focus on regulation, reactivity, suffering, and well-being.
Her earlier research used game theory, causal inference, and experiments to examine how incentives, information, and social structures shape behavior in contexts such as disclosure, social influence, targeting, and sustainability. Across these domains, her work has often identified counterintuitive mechanisms through which well-intended designs can produce unexpected behavioral consequences.
She now extends this behavioral and modeling foundation to the study of embodied experience, integrating multi-modal physiological measurement with real-world observation to understand how affective and self-referential reactivity arises, persists, and may be transformed. Her research has been published in leading academic journals and featured by outlets including the BBC, Forbes, and NPR. She received her B.A. in Economics from Peking University and her 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