Heejae Lee, PhD

Biography

Heejae Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Advertising, Public Relations, and Social Media. His research focuses on how media technology affordances and individual heuristics shape user perceptions, with applications in advertising, public relations, education, and entertainment. He employs experimental and survey methods to investigate how digital communication technologies, such as virtual influencers, extended reality, and video games, affect message persuasion and users’ behavioral intentions.

His recent work has been published in journals such as Journal of Media Psychology, International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, and Journal of Interactive Advertising. He takes an interdisciplinary approach that bridges research and teaching, particularly across the areas of advertising, interactive technology, and digital storytelling.

Education

• PhD, Mass Communications, Syracuse University
• MA, Media Studies, Syracuse University
• BA, Mass Communications, Sogang University

Research Interests

• Social Cognition
• Media Psychology
• Influencer Marketing
• Communication Technology

Selected Publications

• Lee, H., Dominguez Partida, G., Bowman, N. D., & Chauveau, P. D. V. (2025, April). Translation and Validation of The Video Game Demand Scale to Spanish. In Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-14).
• Shin, M., & Lee, H. (2025). A comparative study examining the impact of virtual and mixed reality on students’ science learning intention: A serial mediation model. Journal of Media Psychology, 37(2), 89-100.
• Shin, M., & Lee, H. (2024). Biased by being inside the campaign: Harnessing VR to prompt users to think positively along with pro-environmental campaign messages. Media and Communication, 12.
• Lee, H., Shin, M., Yang, J., & Chock, T. M. (2024). Virtual influencers vs. human influencers in the context of influencer marketing: The moderating role of machine heuristic on perceived authenticity of influencers. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 41(10), 6029-6046.
• Shin, M., Sibuea, R., & Lee, H. (2024). An exploratory study comparing the effects of mixed and virtual reality on plausibility illusion and emotional responses. Journal of Media Psychology 36(5), 281-290.
• Yang, J., Chuenterawong, P., Lee, H., Yu, T., & Chock, T. M. (2023). Human vs. virtual influencer: The effect of humanness and interactivity on persuasive CSR messaging. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 23(3), 275-292.
• Yang, J., Chuenterawong, P., Lee, H., & Chock, T. M. (2023). Anthropomorphism in CSR endorsement: A comparative study on humanlike vs. cartoonlike virtual influencers’ climate change messaging. Journal of Promotion Management, 29(5), 705-734.