The Second Session of Academic Forum of Excellence 2024 of the Business School successfully Organized

On the morning of April 1, 2024, the Business School held its second session of Academic Forum of Excellence 2024 at Conference Room 615 in the Main Teaching Building on the Xueyuan South Road Campus of the Central University of Finance and Economics. The lecture featured Associate Professor Jia Miaolei from the Business School of the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom as the guest speaker. Nearly twenty people, including faculty, doctoral students and master students, participated in this event.

The conference was hosted by Professor Gu Leilei, Head of the Marketing Department at the Business School. Before the lecture officially began, Professor Gu Leilei provided a detailed introduction to Associate Professor Jia Miaolei's resume. Dr. Jia Miaolei is an associate professor in the Marketing Department of the Business School at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. He earned his doctoral degree from the National University of Singapore and his bachelor's and master's degrees from Renmin University of China. His research has been published in top international journals of marketing and psychology, including Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and Psychological Bulletin. He currently serves as a reviewer for several renowned international marketing journals, such as Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Journal of International Marketing, and Journal of Business Research.

The topic of Associate Professor Jia's lecture was "The Impact of Ambient Temperature on Consumer Food Choices and Spending.” By analyzing data from two large consumer food purchase and consumption datasets, conducting a field experiment, and performing seven laboratory experiments, it was found that when the ambient temperature is low, consumers tend to choose and purchase more hedonic rather than healthy foods. This phenomenon is due to the low ambient temperature triggering consumers' need for warmth, and in the consumers' perception, hedonic foods are closely associated with warmth. Further research revealed that the difference in food calories cannot account for this phenomenon. This study has significant practical implications for improving consumer well-being, as well as for restaurant and supermarket operators and public policy makers.

After the sharing session, the teachers and students who attended the conference engaged in an active discussion on topics such as research models, data analysis, and the publication of high-level papers, based on the theme of Associate Professor Jia's lecture. This further enhanced the depth of academic research exchange.

The “Academic Forum of Excellence” is an academic exchange platform established by the Business School to fulfill its mission of "contributing new knowledge to management.” It focuses on cutting-edge theoretical issues and organizational development challenges in the discipline of business administration and Chinese enterprise management practices. By aggregating cutting-edge thoughts and innovative viewpoints from both domestic and international sources, it seeks to explore Chinese solutions for the social and economic development of China.