2024 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Luxi Shen, CUHK Business School, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

 

Luxi Shen
CUHK Business School, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

“Every once in a while, a professor comes along who doesn’t just educate, but who also inspires and connects on a deeper level. Luxi has been that remarkable presence throughout my CUHK MBA journey. Her passion for marketing has not only enlightened but has also stirred a fervor within me for a subject I never knew could captivate my heart. Luxi encouraged everyone in the class to find an interesting advertisement weekly, fostering a habit of studying marketing trends. This practice has stayed with me, continually enhancing my expertise and keeping me updated in the ever-evolving field of marketing. Her kindness and openness have made a profound impact on me, making every lesson feel like a one-on-one mentorship. Thank you, Luxi, for your invaluable lessons and the heartfelt dedication you bring to us all. Your influence will resonate with me long after my MBA chapter closes.” – Bear Ng Ho Lam

Luxi Shen, 38, is Associate Professor of Marketing at CUHK Business School, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

She is a behavioral scientist who studies judgment, decision-making, and behaviors under uncertainty. She conducts lab and field experiments to find the positive effects of uncertainty and examine how to utilize risk and uncertainty in pricing strategies and incentive designs to boost engagement.

Shen’s work has been published in top academic journals, including the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Consumer Research, Management Science, Psychological Science, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

For her research contributions, she was named a 2019 Young Scholar by the Marketing Science Institute for her early career achievements. She has also received the runner-up of the 2015 Hillel Einhorn New Investigator Award by the Society for Judgement and Decision Making and the Honorable Mention of the 2020 Ferber Award for the best dissertation-based article in the Journal of Consumer Research by the Association for Consumer Research.

At CUHK, Shen has won the Faculty Teaching Merit Awards for many years and received the Dean’s Nomination of University Education Award in 2016.

BACKGROUND

At current institution since what year? 2014
Education: PhD in Behavioral Science and MBA, University of Chicago, 2014
List of MBA courses you currently teach: Marketing Management

TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when… It was a happy accident.

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? I study judgment and decision-making. In particular, I explore how people behave under risks and uncertainty, and the most significant discovery is that uncertainty increases motivation. In my research, I use lab and field experiments to find the positive effects of uncertainty and examine how to utilize risk and uncertainty in pricing strategies and incentive designs to boost motivation and engagement. For example, I explore when and why consumers expend more effort, time, and money to earn an uncertain reward (e.g., a coin flip of $5 or $10) than a certain one (e.g., $10) even when the latter is financially better than the former.

If I weren’t a business school professor… I would like to be an “architect.” A thought experiment: Suppose you have a piece of completely isolated land and a group of totally naïve people. You do not get to rule it, but you get to set up systems of all sorts. Given your knowledge of “this world,” how would you architect an optimal world? For example, how would you establish rules and build laws? How would you prioritize industries? How would you define currencies and regulate commercials? How would you have religion? How would you distribute information and design media platforms? And so on. These are the types of architectural questions I constantly ponder.

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? I was once described as “discerning” by a Nobel prize laureate, and I liked it.

One word that describes my first time teaching: Showtime!

Here’s what I wish someone would’ve told me about being a business school professor: It is more like running an entrepreneurship. You pitch research ideas and apply for grants, find the right collaborator(s), manage team operations, disseminate findings, and promote your research to academic and nonacademic audiences alike. Compared with a corporate job, being an entrepreneur comes with greater autonomy, greater flexibility, and, most importantly, greater responsibility: you are responsible for your venture and for your investors, including your students, your coauthors, and your school.

Professor I most admire and why: Too many to name.

TEACHING MBA STUDENTS

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? Two things: First, I get to learn as much from my students as they learn from me. It’s normally not the case for undergrad teaching. Second, some of my best friends for life are my old MBA and EMBA students. It’s normally not the case for undergrad teaching, either.

What is most challenging? Early morning lectures. It’s inhumane for both the students and the professor.

In one word, describe your favorite type of student: Everyone. I respect anyone who makes time to continue learning and improving in the midst of their busy career and family life.

In one word, describe your least favorite type of student: Nobody. Or, whoever is rude to my TA.

When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as… Fair, I hope. But let’s be frank: MBA students shouldn’t care about grades. If they don’t have anything more important to care about, they are in real trouble.

LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies? Planting. I like trees.

How will you spend your summer? Gelato by the lake. Ideally, under the trees I planted.

Favorite place(s) to vacation: I don’t actually vacation, but I like airports. My favorite airports are ORD, ZRH, SFO, SHA, and HKG. My least favorite airport is LAX.

Favorite book(s): Anything written by Alice Munro, David Sedaris (read by David Sedaris), and John Scalzi (read by Wil Wheaton and Zachary Quinto).

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? “Tom and Jerry”. Great introduction to game theory and classical music.

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? From Bach to Billi Eilish. Why? De gustibus non est disputandum.

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this… Business common sense education for the public, or at least the high schoolers. Not everyone will deal with art or chemicals in their lives, but literally everyone will have to do business: buy/sell stuff, make/spend/borrow/invest money, and motivate/negotiate with other people. Just as common-sense education on safety and health has benefited the well-being of the public, business common-sense education will benefit the well-being of the economy and society.

In my opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at… Building products, practices, and policies based on experimentation, such as A/B tests. On this point, we can all learn a little from Hollywood. Filmmakers often test-screen different cuts (e.g., A/B versions), especially the ending of a movie and the pilot of television episodes, and collect feedback (e.g., data) before its release to the general audience. A little experimentation goes a long way.

I’m grateful for… Love and peace

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