Nicole joined the Hong Kong Polytechnic University after receiving her PhD in Marketing from the University of Maryland in 2021. 
 
Nicole is interested in understanding social inefficiencies that consumers experience in the marketplace. Her research tackles this question mainly across two substantive areas. In one stream of her research, she examines the social disconnect that consumers experience – when and why do consumers’ communication and signaling efforts in the marketplace fail, and even backfire? In another stream, she examines the impact of economic inequality on consumers – how might growing societal inequality impact how consumers perceive consumption and their spending decisions?