Xiaoyan Deng

Dr. Xiaoyan Deng is an Associate Professor at the Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University. She received her PhD in Marketing from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2009. Her research focuses on visual marketing, particularly how marketplace design elements, such as advertising, product and packaging design, and retail displays, influence consumer decision-making. She also examines marketplace social inference and behavioral nudges.

Dr. Deng’s work has been published in leading marketing journals, including the Journal of Consumer Research (JCR), Journal of Marketing (JM), Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), and Journal of Consumer Psychology (JCP). She was named a Marketing Science Institute (MSI) Young Scholar in 2017. According to Google Scholar, her publications have been cited over 3,800 times, with ten articles receiving more than 100 citations each. One of her papers was selected as a finalist for the 2021 AMA/MSI/H. Paul Root Award. 

Since 2015, Dr. Deng has been a member of the ERBs for leading marketing journals, including JCR, JM, and JMR. She was honored as a JCR Outstanding Reviewer in 2017. Additionally, she has acted as an AE for prominent marketing conferences, such as the Association for Consumer Research (ACR) conference. Furthermore, she co-edited a special issue of the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research (JACR), which was published in 2023.

Dr. Deng teaches in Fisher’s Undergraduate, MBA, and PhD programs and supervises PhD student research.

Ph.D. in Marketing, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 2009

(* denotes equal authorship)

Huang, Yunhui*, Ke Zhang*, Xiaoyan Deng*, and Qiang Zhang (2025), “Fast Fashion Consumption Signals Low Self-Control,” forthcoming in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Deng, Xiaoyan, Xiaojing Yang, Yuwei Jiang, and Selin A. Malkoc (2023), “‘Reflection, Resilience, Rebound: Consumer Coping with the Pandemic,” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 8(2/Apr), 121-129.

Kim, Pielah, Xiaoyan Deng, and H. Rao Unnava (2020), “In the Eye of the Beholder: Cross-pollination between Art-infused Products and Retail Spaces,” Journal of Business Research, 117(Sep), 302-311.

Stillman, Paul E., Hyojin Lee, Xiaoyan Deng, H. Rao Unnava, and Kentaro Fujita (2020), “Examining Consumers’ Sensory Experiences with Color: A Consumer Neuroscience Approach,” Psychology and Marketing, 37(7/Jul), 995-1007.

Teeny, Jake, Xiaoyan Deng, and H. Rao Unnava (2020), “The ‘Buzz’ Behind the Buzz Matters: Energetic and Tense Arousal as Separate Motivations for Word of Mouth,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 30(3/Jul), 429-446.

You, Yanfen, Xiaojing Yang, Lili Wang, and Xiaoyan Deng (2020), “When and Why Saying ‘Thank You’ Is Better Than Saying ‘Sorry’ in Redressing Service Failures: The Role of Self-Esteem,” Journal of Marketing, 84(2/Mar), 133-150.

Yang, Xiaojing*, Xiaoyan Deng*, and Amita Bhadauria* (2020), “‘Does Mere Exposure to Beauty-Related Words Promote Prosocial Behavior?: Exploring the Mental Association between Beauty and Prosociality,” Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 5(1/Jan), 107-116.

Togawa, Taku, Jaewoo Park, Hiroaki Ishii, and Xiaoyan Deng (2019), “A Packaging Visual-Gustatory Correspondence Effect: Using Visual Packaging Design to Influence Flavor Perception and Healthy Eating Decisions,”  Journal of Retailing, 95(4/Dec), 204-218.

Deng, Xiaoyan, H. Rao Unnava, and Hyojin Lee (2019), “‘Too True to Be Good?’ When Virtual Reality Decreases Interest in Actual Reality,” Journal of Business Research, 100(Jul), 561-570.

Stillman, Paul, Hyojin Lee, Xiaoyan Deng, H. Rao Unnava, William A. Cunningham, and Kentaro Fujita (2017), “Neurological Evidence for the Role of Construal Level in Future-Directed Thought,” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (SCAN), 12(6/Jun), 937-947.

Lee, Hyojin, Kentaro Fujita, Xiaoyan Deng, and H. Rao Unnava (2017), “The Role of Temporal Distance on the Color of Future-directed Imagery: A Construal Level Perspective,” Journal of Consumer Research, 43(5/Feb), 707-725.

Deng, Xiaoyan, Barbara E. Kahn, H. Rao Unnava, and Hyojin Lee (2016), “A ‘Wide’ Variety: Effects of Horizontal versus Vertical Display on Assortment Processing, Perceived Variety, and Choices,” Journal of Marketing Research, 53(5/Oct), 682-698.

Lee, Hyojin, Xiaoyan Deng, H. Rao Unnava, and Kentaro Fujita (2014), “Monochrome Forests and Colorful Trees: The Effects of Black-and-White versus Color Imagery on Construal Level,” Journal of Consumer Research, 41(4/Dec), 1015-1032.

Deng, Xiaoyan and Raji Srinivasan (2013), “When Do Transparent Packages Increase (or Decrease) Food Consumption,” Journal of Marketing, 77(4/Jul), 104-117.

Deng, Xiaoyan, Sam Hui, and J. Wesley Hutchinson (2010), “Consumer Preferences for Color Combinations: An Empirical Analysis of Similarity-Based Color Relationships,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 20(4/Oct), 476-484.

Deng, Xiaoyan, and Barbara E. Kahn (2009), “Is Your Product on the Right Side? The ‘Location Effect’ on Perceived Product Heaviness and Package Evaluation,” Journal of Marketing Research, 46(6/Dec), 725-738.

Iacobucci, Dawn, Neela Saldanha, and Xiaoyan Deng (2007), “A Meditation on Mediation: Evidence That Structural Equations Models Perform Better Than Regressions,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17(2/Apr), 139-153.