HaeJung Maria Kim Ph.D.

A Multidisciplinary Scholar in Digital Retailing

Dr. Kim is a dynamic multidisciplinary scholar who thrives at the intersection of industry, academia, and society. Her work encompasses diverse fields, exploring new cultural genres, harnessing emerging technologies, and converging knowledge from various disciplines in her scholarly projects. With a strong focus on consumers' social empowerment, she leverages the power of digital and social networks to influence global retail businesses.

One of Dr. Kim's primary research interests lies in understanding social diffusions and the roles of influencers in adopting new technologies such as ChatGPT, Digital Fashion, and the Metaverse. Her investigations aim to enhance individuals' sense of belonging and digital self-efficacy in social media, accelerate social diffusions through interaction, communication, and collaboration in social networks, and explore the realm of entertaining digital artifacts and services across diverse digital platforms.

Driven by a deep passion for arming students with vital skills for their future careers, Dr. Kim is actively involved in instructing data analytics and visualization for social media insights. Her dedication empowers students to bolster their competitiveness in the continuously evolving digital terrain. Her pioneering efforts in course development include 'CMHT 6500 Big Data Implementation in Social Network Analysis' and 'CMHT 6600 Network Analysis and Visualization (NAV)' for the Interdisciplinary Information Science (IIS) Ph.D. Program at the College of Information, UNT. She is also excited to offer 'MDSE 5850 Social Media Analytics: Data Visualization and Insights' for the accelerated graduate program of MDR. Mentoring future scholars is a lifelong passion for Dr. Kim, and she takes great pride in seeing her students thrive as full-time tenured/tenure track faculty at esteemed institutions worldwide, including Indiana State, Texas Tech, Kansas State, South Florida, Texas Wesleyan, and JeonNam National Universities.

With a solid commitment to service and scholarly excellence, Dr. Kim actively engages with over eight affiliated organizations. Her dedication is evident through her seven-year tenure as an associate editor of the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal and Fashion & Textiles. Her contributions have been recognized with over 18 recognitions and honors from prestigious institutions such as ITAA, EIRASS, KSCT, the Emerald Literati Network, and the Elsevier Prize for Most Innovative Paper, further highlighting her significant scholarly and service endeavor.