Hello! I am a Ph.D. student at the Annenberg
School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California.
Prior to joining USC Annenberg, I received my B.S. in Advertising from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and M.A. in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin.
Donggyu’s research focuses on the psychological underpinnings of human-AI interaction and AI-mediated communication, with particular attention to how AI systems influence persuasive processes. Specifically, his work examines how virtual humans/influencers shape audience perceptions and persuasive outcomes within strategic communication contexts. Additionally, his research explores how the integration of generative AI tools is transforming human-AI collaboration and teamwork processes. Currently, my advisor is Professor Andrea Hollingshead.
My work has been published in journals such as New Media & Society, International Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, Social Science Computer Review, and International Journal of Public Opinion Research, among others.
The full list of my publications is available at Google Scholar, ORICD, and ResearchGate.
Please contact me at donggyuk@usc.edu for copies of articles and a list of manuscripts currently under review.
This research delves into the impact of virtual influencers' racial identities and those of their creators when linked to the support of racial movements. Results find that a creator's racial background, but not that of a virtual influencer, plays a substantial role in source credibility.
This research explores influencer trustworthiness and stimulus novelty as important paths for the effectiveness of virtual influencers. We compare human-like virtual influencers (HVIs) and anime-like virtual influencers (AVIs) operating either with sponsorship disclosure or non-disclosure.
This study examines how violations of expectations influence the hedonic and utilitarian evaluations of open-domain chatbots using the expectancy-violation theory. Results indicated that both hedonic and utilitarian satisfaction were higher when negative expectations were met compared to when expectations were violated.
This study delved into the influential role of state media in shaping public opinion and cultivating policy support. State media exposure on social media was positively associated with trust in the government and fear of the virus among the audience, both of which mediated the effect of state media exposure on zero-COVID policy support.
This study delved into cross-platform information flow and multilingual text analysis by examining social media posts on Weibo and Twitter in Chinese and English. Through the "porous censorship," social media users' autonomy and trust in the government played critical roles in the dynamics between online criticism and authoritarian responsiveness.
Below are my teaching evaluations.
These evaluations highlight my commitment to fostering an engaging and effective learning environment.
