Hyang-Sook Kim

Biography

Dr. Kim received her Ph.D. in mass communication from the Pennsylvania State University in 2012 after her second master’s degree in mass communication from Kansas State University in 2007. Dr. Kim also earned her bachelor’s degree and another master’s degree at Sogang University in Seoul, South Korea, in 2000 and 2002 with an emphasis in film and drama studies. Dr. Kim’s research background is in health communication, media effects, and strategic communication. Among many different projects, her current work focuses on the effects of new media technology on online users’ perceptions, particularly as they inform individuals’ tendency to share social support online. Dr. Kim also investigates interpersonal/extrinsic social influences on health/risk behaviors, including topics of women’s weight management, health stigma reduction, texting while driving and other health-related concerns, with psychological approaches. Dr. Kim’s research can be found in major academic journals, including Computers in Human Behavior, Health Communication, Communication Research, American Journal of Health Education and International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction in addition to referred conference proceedings and edited books. She teaches courses in public relations and strategic communication at Towson. In her spare times, Dr. Kim enjoys watching thriller movies or crime dramas. Visit her website to discover more about her teaching and research.

 

Selected Recent Publications

• Kim, H-S. (2018). The role of legal and moral norms to regulate the behavior of texting while driving. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 52, 21-31.
• Kim, H-S., & Chung, M-Y. (2018). It matters who shares and who reads: Persuasive outcomes of location check-ins on Facebook.International Journal of Mobile Communications, 16(2), 135-152.
• Kim, H-S., & Mrotek, A. (2016). A functional and structural diagnosis of online health communities for sustainability with a focus on resource richness and site design features. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 362-372. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.004.
• Kim, H-S., & Sundar, S. S. (2016). Motivating contributions to online forums: Can locus of control predict the effects of the interface cues? Health Communication, 31(5), 583-595. doi:10.1080/10410236.2014.981663.

• Kim, H-S. (2016). What drives you to check in on Facebook?: Motivations, privacy concerns, and mobile phone involvement for location-based information sharing. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 397-406. DOI:10.1016/j.chb.2015.08.016.

• Kim, H-S., Brubaker, P. J., & Seo, K. (2015). Examining psychological effects of source cues and social plugins on a product review website. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 74-85. DOI:10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.058.