Dr. Mac Zewei MA

Assistant Professor

E-mail:  zma@hksyu.edu
Telephone:    +(852) 2804 8539
Office: RHB 441
Academic Qualifications
  • Ph.D., Social Psychology, City University of Hong Kong
  • M.Phil., Social Psychology, City University of Hong Kong
  • B.Sc., Applied Psychology, Guangdong Medical University
Courses Taught
  • Capstone Project II (Chief supervisor for Student Research Projects)
  • Contemporary Recruitment and Selection
  • Consumer Psychology
  • Marketing Communications and Brand Management
  • Cyberpsychology for Interactive Marketing
  • Strategic HR Analytics
  • Psychological Assessment in HRM
Selected Publications
  1. Ma, M. Z., Zhang, B., Ye, F. T., Gao, X., Wang, X., & Lu, F. (in press). When regulatory-focus language matches the product category: A within-person computational analysis of reviews from an online retail platform. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2026.105077
  2. Ma, M. Z., & Ng, J. C. (in press). Measurement Resolution Shapes Comparisons of Value-Relevant Responses Across Large Language Models. PNAS nexus.
  3. Ma, M. Z., Chen, S. X., & Wang, X. (2024). Collective pronouns, collective health actions: Predicting pandemic precautionary measures through online first-person plural pronoun usage across US states. Social Science & Medicine, 357, 117167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117167
  4. Ma, M. Z., Chen, S. X., & Wang, X. (2024). Looking beyond vaccines: Cultural tightness–looseness moderates the relationship between immunization coverage and disease prevention vigilance. Applied Psychology: Health and Well‐Being, 16(3), 1046-1072. https://doi.org/10.1111/aphw.12519
  5. Ma, M. Z. , Chen, S. X., & Wang, X. (2024). The psychology of pandemic policy support: Unraveling the complex interplay of personal values and value congruence across 20 European countries. Public Health, 236, 99-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2024.07.022
  6. Ma, M. Z. (2024). Computational analysis of linguistic markers reveals group identification patterns during a global public health crisis. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 18(11), e70023. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.70023
  7. Ma, M. Z., & Ye, S. (2023). Country's value priorities in health crisis: How dominant societal motivations shape COVID-19 severity. SSM-Population Health, 24, 101493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101493
  8. Ma, M. Z., & Ye, S. (2023). Coronavirus-related searches on the Internet predict COVID-19 vaccination rates in the real world: A behavioral immune system perspective. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 14(5), 572-587. https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506221106012
  9. Ma, M. Z., & Chen, S. X. (2023). Beyond the surface: Accounting for confounders in understanding the link between collectivism and COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. BMC Public Health, 23(1), 1513. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16384-2
  10. Ma, M. Z., & Ye, S. (2023). The COVID-19 pandemic and seeking information about condoms online: An infodemiology approach. Psychology & Health, 38(9), 1128-1147. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2021.2005794
  11. Ma, M. Z. (2022). Heightened religiosity proactively and reactively responds to the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe: Novel insights from the parasite-stress theory of sociality and the behavioral immune system theory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 90, 38-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2022.07.005 
  12. Ma, M. Z. (2022). Group-level human values estimated with web search data and archival data explain the geographic variation in COVID-19 severity in the United States. Psychology & Health, 37(11), 1359-1378. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2021.1952582
  13. Ma, M. Z. (2021). COVID-19 concerns in cyberspace predict human reduced dispersal in the real world: Meta-regression analysis of time series relationships across American states and 115 countries/territories. Computers in Human Behavior, 127, 107059. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107059 
  14. Ma, M. Z., & Ye, S. (2021). The role of ingroup assortative sociality in the COVID-19 pandemic: A multilevel analysis of google trends data in the United States. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 84, 168-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2021.07.010
  15. Ma, M. Z. (2020). Testing the parasite-stress theory of sociality based on the circular model of human values: A multilevel analysis approach. Personality and Individual Differences, 168, 110277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110277  
Research Interests
  • Computational Social Psychology in Business (e.g., superstition in consumer judgment via big data)
  • Human–AI Interaction (e.g., trust and adoption of AI by consumers and employees)
  • Cultural Dynamics (e.g., cultural orientations in consumption and management)
  • Workplace Well-Being (e.g., preventive behavior, value fit, HR analytics)