Speaker: Miaozhe Han, Assistant Professor, HKUST Business School, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Moderator: Associate Professor Yunlu Yin

Time: Tuesday, April 28, 2026, 1:00-3:00 p.m.

Venue: Guoshun Campus, Siyuan Faculty Building, Room 624

Abstract: The rapid proliferation of short-form video feeds has fundamentally reshaped digital content consumption, yet existing research conflates differences in content attributes with differences in the consumption environment in which content is experienced. We address this gap by leveraging a unique empirical setting from a major video content sharing platform in China, where identical video content is organically surfaced in both a short-form feed environment (endless vertical swiping with autoplay) and a long-form browsing environment (intentional search or category-based navigation), allowing us to cleanly isolate the independent effect of consumption context from content itself. Using user-level granular data, we find that short-form feeds significantly enhance low-friction engagements yet simultaneously suppress high-deliberation conversions. Beyond these immediate effects, we further document a spillover of the short-form consumption mindset: engaging with short-form feeds meaningfully shapes users' subsequent content consumption and engagement behavior within the same session, and this influence persists, albeit at a diminished magnitude, into following sessions. These findings reveal a fundamental tension for platform designers between the reach advantages of short-form feeds and their capacity to drive high-value monetization and contribute to the literature by establishing the consumption environment as an independent and consequential determinant of user behavior distinct from the content consumed.

Bio: Miaozhe Han is an Assistant Professor of Information Systems at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Business School. Miaozhe's research focuses on the economics of AI and digital platforms. Her work has been published in leading academic journals, including Information Systems Research, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. She received her PhD in Information Systems from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School and her bachelor's degree from Fudan University.