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Yu Ma

Title: 
Associate Professor, Marketing; Bensadoun Faculty Scholar; Academic Director of the 91黑料网 Institute of Marketing (MIM)
Yu Ma
Contact Information
Email address: 
yu.ma [at] mcgill.ca
Alternate email address: 
darlene.fowler [at] mcgill.ca
Address: 

Bronfman Building [Map]
1001 rue Sherbrooke Ouest
Montreal, Quebec
Canada
H3A 1G5

Degree(s): 

PhD, Olin School of Business, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.听

MSc, Olin School of Business, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri.

BA, Business and Management School, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.听

Area(s): 
Marketing
Office: 
487
Biography: 

Dr. Yu Ma is Associate Professor of Marketing and听Bensadoun Faculty Scholar at 91黑料网. He obtained his PhD in management from Olin School of Business, Washington University in St. Louis. Before joining 91黑料网, he was听Associate Professor at University of Alberta. His research interest includes food marketing, retailing and big data analytics. Using consumer purchase听data and advanced econometric听and statistical models, he studies how consumers react to various marketing incentives. He also examines broader marketing issues such as the influence of macro environment on the retail sector and the impact of food marketing on population health. He has published in top management journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Management Science, and Journal of Retailing, as well as top public health journals.听

Areas of expertise: 

Data Analytics,听Retailing, and听Food Marketing

听

Curriculum vitae: 
PDF icon cv_yu_ma.pdf
Group: 
Faculty
Tenured & Tenure Track
Research areas: 
Data Analytics
Food Marketing
Retailing
Taught previously at: 

University of Alberta

Selected publications: 

听For a full list, see听

Selected Peer-reviewed journal articles:

  • Suhong Xiong, Guimin Li, Yu Ma, Xinran Zhang (2025), 鈥淭he interpersonal effect of hunger: How others鈥� hunger shapes consumer expected taste perceptions of advertised foods鈥�, Appetite, 211, 2025.
  • Ma, Yu, Kusum L. Ailawadi, Mercedes Martos-Partal, and 脫scar Gonz谩lez-Benito (2024), 鈥淒ual Branding by National Brand Manufacturers: Drivers and Outcomes鈥�, Journal of Marketing, 88(3), 69-87.
  • Manoj Thomas, Yu Ma, Dinesh Gauri (2024), 鈥淔ood Craving Increases Unhealthy Food Purchases: A Study of SNAP Households鈥�, Journal of Marketing Research, 61(1), 49-69. Equal contribution.
  • Fisher, Robert, Yu Ma, Barry Scholnick (2024), 鈥淐rossed Signals: The Negative Effects of Manufacturer鈥檚 Warranty Length on Brand Share in Independent Retail Channels鈥�, Applied Marketing Analytics, 10(2), 176-186.
  • Xiong, Suhong, Ningning Hu, and Yu Ma (2023), "The Influence of Implied Motion on Expected Taste Perception of Advertised Foods: The Mental Simulation Perspective." Food Quality and Preference, 111, 104968
  • Liu, Jingwen, Peng Zou, and Yu Ma. 鈥淭he Effect of Air Pollution on Food Preferences.鈥� Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2022), 50.2, 410-423
  • Mamiya, Hiroshi, Alexandra M. Schmidt, Erica EM Moodie, Yu Ma, and David L. Buckeridge. "Generating community measures of food purchasing activities using store-level electronic grocery transaction records: an ecological study in Montreal, Canada." Public Health Nutrition 24, no. 17 (2021): 5616-5628.
  • Labban, Alice, Yu Ma, and Laurette Dube. "A neurobehavioral account of differential consumer responses to price and in-store display between un/healthy food." European Journal of Marketing (2021),听Vol. 55 No. 11, pp. 2988-3009.
  • Gielens, Katrijn, Yu Ma, Aidin Namin, Raj Sethuraman, Ronn J. Smith, Robert C. Bachtel, and Suzanne Jervis. "The future of private labels: towards a smart private label strategy." Journal of Retailing 97 (2021), no. 1: 99-115.

  • Ma, Yu, Cameron McRae, Yun-Hsuan Wu, and Laurette Dube. "Dissecting Vegetable Expenditure Patterns and Exploring Socioeconomic Inequity Pathways: Policy Insights for Traditional and Modern Contexts from A Consumer Choice Model of Loyalty Retail Data." Frontiers in Public Health 9 (2021): 1114.

  • Mamiya, Hiroshi, Erica EM Moodie, Alexandra M. Schmidt, Yu Ma, and David L. Buckeridge. "Price discounting as a hidden risk factor of energy drink consumption." Canadian Journal of Public Health (2021): 1-9.

  • Ma, Yu, PB Seethu Seetharaman, and Vishal Singh. "A multi-category demand model incorporating inter-product proximity." Journal of Business Research 124 (2021): 152-162.

  • Rupinder P. Jindal, Dinesh K.Gauri, Wanyu Li, Yu Ma, "Omnichannel battle between Amazon and Walmart: Is the focus on delivery the best strategy?", Journal of Business Research 122 (2021): 270-280.

  • Wu, Yun-Hsuan, Spencer Moore, Yu Ma, and Laurette Dube (2021), "Longitudinal Geo-Referenced Field Evidence For The Heightened BMI Responsiveness Of Obese Women To Price Discounts On Carbonated Soft Drinks." PLOS ONE, 16, 12: e0261749.

  • Coghlan, Christopher, JoAnne Labrecque, Yu Ma, and Laurette Dub茅. "A Biological Adaptability Approach to Innovation for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): Strategic Insights from and for Health-Promoting Agri-Food Innovation." Sustainability 12, no. 10 (2020): 4227.

  • Haruvy, Ernan, Peter Popkowski Leszczyc, Greg Allenby, Russell Belk, Catherine Eckel, Robert Fisher, Sherry Xin Li, John A. List, Yu Ma, and Yu Wang (2020), "Fundraising Design: Key Issues, Unifying Framework, And Open Puzzles." Marketing Letters, 31(4), 371-380.

  • Nielsen, Daiva E., Yang Han, Catherine Paquet, Andre K. Portella, Yu Ma, and Laurette Dube (2020), "Interaction of DRD2/ANKK1 Taq1A Genotype with in-Store Retail Food Environment Exposures on Diet Quality in a Cohort of Quebec Adults." Lifestyle Genomics, 13(2): 74-83

  • Mamiya, Hiroshi, Alexandra M. Schmidt, Erica EM. Moodie, Yu Ma, and David L. Buckeridge (2019), 鈥淎n Area-Level Indicator of Latent Soda Demand: Spatial Statistical Modeling of Grocery Store Transaction Data to Characterize the Nutritional Landscape in Montreal, Canada鈥�, American Journal of Epidemiology, 188, no. 9 (2019): 1713-1722.

  • Mamiya, Hiroshi, Erica EM Moodie, Yu Ma, and David L. Buckeridge (2018), "Susceptibility to price discounting of soda by neighbourhood educational status: an ecological analysis of disparities in soda consumption using point-of-purchase transaction data in Montreal, Canada." International Journal of Epidemiology, 47, no. 6 (2018): 1877-1886.

  • Ailawadi, Kusum L., Yu Ma, Dhruv Grewal (2018), "The Club Store Effect: Impact of Shopping in Warehouse Club Stores on Consumers鈥� Packaged Food Purchases." Journal of Marketing Research,听55(2), 193-207.

Finalist for Journal of Marketing Research鈥檚 2019 Green Award.

  • Rao, V.R., Russell, G.J., Bhargava, H., Cooke, A., Derdenger, T., Kim, H., Kumar, N., Levin, I., Ma, Y., Mehta, N. and Pracejus, J. (2018), "Emerging Trends in Product Bundling: Investigating Consumer Choice and Firm Behavior." Customer Needs and Solutions, 5(1-2), pp.107-120.

  • Minakshi Trivedi, Dinesh K. Gauri, and Yu Ma (2016), "Measuring the Efficiency of Category-Level Sales Response to Promotions",听Management Science. 63(10), 3473-3488. . Equal contribution.

  • Laurette Dub茅, Alice Labban, Jean-Claude Moubarac, Gabriela Heslop, Yu Ma, Catherine Paquet (2015), 鈥淎 nutrition/health mindset on commercial Big Data and drivers of food demand in modern and traditional systems鈥�, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1331, pp 278-295

  • Kalpesh Desai, Dinesh K. Gauri, and Yu Ma (2014), 鈥淎n Empirical Investigation of Composite Product Choice,鈥� Journal of Retailing, 90 (4), 493-510. Equal contribution.

  • Robert Fisher and Yu Ma (2014), 鈥淭he Price of Being Beautiful: the Negative Effects of Attractiveness on Helping Children in Need,鈥� Journal of Consumer Research. 41(2), 436-450.

  • David L. Buckeridge, Katia Charland, Alice Labban, and Yu Ma (2014), 鈥淎 Method for Neighbourhood-leve Survillen of Food Purchasing,鈥� Annals of the New York Academy of Science.

  • Kusum L. Ailawadi, Karen Gedenk, Tobias Langer, Yu Ma, and Scott A. Neslin ( 2014), 鈥淐onsumer Response To Uncertain Promotions: An Empirical Analysis Of Conditional Rebates,鈥� International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol. 31, No. 1, 94-106.

  • Yu Ma, Kusum L. Ailawadi, and Dhruv Grewal (2013), 鈥淪oda versus Cereal and Sugar versus Fat: Drivers of Healthful Food Intake and the Impact of Diabetes Diagnosis鈥�, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 77, No. 3, 101-120.

  • Ernan Haruvy, Peter T.L. Popkowski Leszczyc, and Yu Ma (2014), 鈥淒oes Higher Transparency Lead to More Search in Online Auctions?鈥� Production and Operations Management, Vol. 23(2),听197-209.

  • Nitin Mehta and Yu Ma (2012), 鈥淎 Multi-Category Model of Consumer鈥檚 Purchase Incidence, Quantity and Brand Choice Decisions,鈥� Journal of Marketing Research, lead article, 49(4), 435-451.

  • Yu Ma, P.B. Seetharaman, and Chakravarthi Narasimhan (2012), 鈥淢odeling Dependencies in Brand Choice Outcomes across Complementary Categories,鈥� Journal of Retailing, 88, 47-62.听

  • Yu Ma, Kusum L. Ailawadi, Dinesh K Gauri, Dhruv Grewal (2011), 鈥淎n Empirical Investigation of the Impact of Gasoline Prices on Consumers' Shopping Behavior鈥�, Journal of Marketing, 75 (2), 18-35.

听

Awards, honours, and fellowships: 

Awards:

2017鈥�2019, 2019鈥�2022, 2023-2026 Bensadoun Faculty Scholar, 91黑料网

2012 Retail Research Award, University of Alberta

听

Grants:

2013-2017, 2018-2021, 2025-2027 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Grants, PI.听

2014-2015 Danone Institute of Canada Research Grant, Co-PI.听

2024 Horizon Europe, Co-applicant.

2011, 2014, 2016 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant, co-applicant.听

2017, 2024 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Development Grant, co-applicant.听

2014听Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Development Grant, co-applicant.听

2018 CIHR Catalyst Grant, co-applicant

2018 CIHR Operating Grant, co-applicant

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