Dr Lis Ku

I am a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at De Montfort University. I completed my PhD in Psychology at the University of Sussex. After graudation, I worked in Hong Kong, then Macao, before returning to the UK and joining DMU in 2016. 

My research interests focus on how values and motivations influence behaviour and impact individual and societal well-being. Most recently, my research attention has turned to apparel consumption. Given the fashion industry's significant environmental impact, addressing consumer behaviour is urgent, yet research in this area remains limited. To bridge this gap, I am collaborating with experts in fashion design, marketing, and consumer studies, exploring how well-being factors affect consumption patterns and may be used to spearhead the sustainability agenda. This interdisciplinary approach opens new research avenues with global implications while, at the same time, yielding actionable insights for daily behaviours.

* Corresponding author

Sung, K.*, Ku, L., Yoon, J. & Kim, C. (2023). Predictors of upcycling in the highly-industrialised West: A survey across continents of Australia, Europe, and North America. Sustainability. 15 (2), 1461. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021461

Ku, L.*, Bernardo, A. B., & Zaroff, C. (2022). Are higher-order life values antecedents of students’ learning engagement and adaptive learning outcomes? The case of materialistic vs. intrinsic life values. Current Psychology, 41, 3461-3471. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00851-9 

Ku, L.*, Newby, C., Moldes, O., Zaroff, C. M., & Wu, A. M. S. (2022). The values you endorse set the body you see: The protective effect of intrinsic life goals on men’s body dissatisfaction. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 63, 393-404. https://doi.org/10.111/sjop.12818 

Liu, A., Baines, E., & Ku, L.* (2022). Slow fashion is positively linked to consumers’ well-being: Evidence from an online questionnaire study in China. Sustainability, 14 (21), 13990. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142113990 

Moldes, O.*, Dineva, D., & Ku, L. (2022). Has the COVID-19 pandemic made us more materialistic? The effect of COVID-19 and lockdown restrictions on the endorsement of materialism. Psychology and Marketing, 39(5), 892-905. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21627 

Moldes, O.*, & Ku, L. (2020). Materialistic cues make us miserable: A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence for the effects of materialism on individual and societal well-being. Psychology and Marketing, 37, 1396-1419. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21387 

Zhang, M. X., Ku, L., Wu, A. M. S.*, Yu, S. M., Pesigan, I. J. A. (2020). Effects of social and outcome expectancies on hazardous drinking among Chinese university students: The mediating role of drinking motivations. Substance Use and Misuse, 55, 156-166. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2019.1658784 

Nalipay, M. J. N.*, & Ku, L. (2019). Indirect effect of hopelessness on depression symptoms through perceived burdensomeness. Psychological Reports, 122, 1618-1631. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294118789044 

Ku, L.*, Wu, A. M. S., Lao, K. P., & Lam, I. N. (2018). “We want the world and we want it now”: The effects of materialism and time perspectives on consumer (over)spending tendency among Chinese, International Journal of Psychology, 53, 356-364. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12391 

Tong, T. S., Ku, L., & Zaroff, C. M.* (2016). Culture-specific variables as protective factors in adolescents at risk for juvenile delinquency. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 60, 535-554. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X14556609 

Wu, Y., Ku, L., & Zaroff, C. M.* (2016). Sexual arousal and sexual fantasy: The influence of gender, and the measurement of antecedents and emotional consequences in Macau and the United States. International Journal of Sexual Health, 28, 55-69. https://doi.org/10.1080/19317611.2015.1111281 

Cheung, F.*, Lai, B. P. Y., Wu, A. M. S., & Ku, L.. (2015). Ethnic minority students’ education and career decision outcome expectation in Hong Kong, Journal of Early Adolescence, 35, 1092-1107. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431614552017 

Ku, L.* (2015). Development of materialism in adolescence: The longitudinal role of subjective well-being among Chinese youths, Social Indicators Research, 124, 231-247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-014-0787-3 

Ku, L.*, Dittmar, H., & Banerjee, R. (2014). To have or to learn? The effects of materialism on British and Chinese children’s learning, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105, 803-821. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036038 

Ku, L.*, & Zaroff, C. M. (2014). How far is your money from your mouth?: The effects of intrinsic relative to extrinsic values on willingness to pay and protect the environment, Journal of Environmental Psychology, 40, 472-483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.10.008 

Zaroff, C. M.*, Wong, H. L., Ku, L., & Van Schalkwyk, G. (2014). Interpersonal stress, not depression or hopelessness, predicts suicidality in university students in Macao. Australasian Psychiatry, 22, 127-131. https://doi.org/10.1177/1039856214527139 

Wu, A. M. S.*, Lei, L. M. L., & Ku, L.. (2013). Psychological needs, purpose in life, and problem video game playing among Chinese young adults, International Journal of Psychology, 48(4), 583-590. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2012.658057 

Wu, A. M. S.*, Cheung, V. I., Ku, L., & Hung, E. P. W. (2013). Psychological risk factors of addiction to social networking sites among Chinese smartphone users. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 2(3). pp. 160-166. https://doi.org/10.1556/JBA.2.2013.006 

Ku, L.*, Dittmar, H., & Banerjee, R. (2012). Are materialistic teenagers less motivated to learn? Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence from UK and Hong Kong, Journal of Educational Psychology, 104, 74-86 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025489 

 The Social Happiness Lab

We are a group of academics whose research bridges across different domains of psychology and social scineces, from emotion, memory, mental processes of  thinking and decision making to intergroup relationships, individual attitudes and beliefs. The central theme that brings our diverse work together is socially grounded happiness.  We are interested in studying the underlying social and psychological processes that inform and shape behaviours, and that ultimately affect happiness and well-being. Apart from individual well-being, we also examine factors that may affect societal and ecological well-being.

Find out more about our projects here. 

• Materialistic values and goals
• Sustainable consumption 
• Clothing consumption and practices 
• Well-being, happiness studies

• PhD in Psychology, University of Sussex, UK

• PSYC2095 Social Psychology (Module Leader)
• PSYC3034 Conceptual Issues and Critical Debates in Psychology