Back

Carolyn Lo

Carolyn Lo

Research Fellow, PhD (Marketing), Monash University; BCom (Hons), Monash University

carolyn.lo@nus.edu.sg

Dr Carolyn Lo is a postdoctoral research fellow holding a joint appointment with IPUR and the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at NUS. With a background in consumer psychology, her research takes a behavioural science lens intersecting areas in healthcare, risk perception, and consumer judgment and decision-making. Carolyn’s current projects include conceptualising and measuring risk perception gaps, developing a risk perception gap index, investigating the psychological beliefs of people with chronic diseases, and designing interventions that enable improved chronic disease management.

Carolyn received her PhD from Monash University where she was the recipient of multiple awards including the Donald Cochrane Postgraduate Research Scholarship and the Monash Business School Dean’s Excellence Award.

published papers

 
  1. Lo, C. J., Lee, L., Yu, W., Tai, E. S., Yew, T. W., & Ding, I. L. (2023). Mindsets and self-efficacy beliefs among individuals with type 2 diabetes. Scientific Reports, 13(20383), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-47617-4
  2. Lo, C. J., Tsarenko, Y., & Tojib, D. (2021). Same scandal, different moral judgments: the effects of consumer-firm affiliation on weighting transgressor-related information and post-scandal patronage intentions. European Journal of Marketing, 55(12), 3162-3190. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/EJM-10-2020-0728
  3. Koh, C. G., Lee, L., Lo, C., Wong, C. M. L., & Yap, J. (2020). A socio-psychological perspective in. In Challenges and opportunities in the post-COVID-19 world (pp. 44-48). World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/publications/post-covid-19-challenges-and-opportunities
  4. Lo, C. J., Tsarenko, Y., & Tojib, D. (2019). Does consumer‐firm affiliation matter? The impact of social distance on consumers’ moral judgments. Psychology and Marketing, 36(12), 1215-1225. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21270
  5. Lo, C. J., Tsarenko, Y., & Tojib, D. (2019). To tell or not to tell? The roles of perceived norms and self-consciousness in understanding consumers' willingness to recommend online secondhand apparel shopping. Psychology & Marketing, 36(4), 287-304. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21179

ongoing projects

  1. “Health Innovation Programme (HIP) Behavioural Science in Chronic Disease Management: Understanding the Health and Non-Health Beliefs of People with Diabetes” The prevalence of diabetes presents a troubling landscape with nearly one in ten adults diagnosed with this chronic disease worldwide. Although interventions may reduce the risk of diabetes-associated complications, the effectiveness of such interventions relies largely on patients’ adherence to medication and lifestyle modifications, which have typically been extremely low. This project examines this issue from a psychological perspective by (1) exploring the drivers of people’s motivations in their self-care behaviours; (2) identifying lay belief gaps that may pose barriers to healthy self-care choices; and (3) developing interventions that may correct erroneous beliefs. The findings from 2-3 ongoing population surveys of individuals with and without diabetes in Singapore and the US are expected to inform the development of future interventions that may target misperceptions of health risks and encourage behavioural changes toward improving health outcomes.
  2. “Research on Risk Perception Fundamentals” Since the seminal work by Paul Slovic and his colleagues more than 30 years ago (Slovic 1987; Slovic et al. 1981, 1985), how people perceive risk and what they consider as risk objects may have changed substantially, given the evolving socio-political, economic, cultural, and environmental landscape in Asia. In this research project, we aim to acquire a revised understanding of the factors and dimensions that have become essential to how people—both the public and experts—perceive risk in Asia today.
  3. "Risk Barometer" The IPUR Singapore Risk Barometer Report is a flagship initiative to gain deeper insight into the risks that Singaporeans feel are the greatest concerns in their daily lives. It spotlights the needs, expectations and demands of society and serves as an annual scorecard on the management of these risks. The report aims to provide valuable information to government, companies and the media regarding the public’s perceptions of these issues and their expectations about whether sufficient action is being taken to address them.
  4. "World Risk Poll and Mental Health Services" Quality mental health services are pivotal in addressing mental health issues worldwide. Despite this importance, many countries face challenges in providing accessible, high-quality mental health care. This project aims to analyse the Lloyd's Register Foundation World Risk Poll 2021, and data sourced from databases such as WHO and OECD to understand the relationship between mental health services and the public's worry about mental health issues.
  5. "Risk networks and profiles of segments of media-reported risks in Singapore" Leveraging on the Risk Barometer data, this study delves into the public perceptions of media-reported risks in Singapore. We explore the networks of Singapore public’s concerns regarding various major media-reported risks. We also aim to identify key subgroups of populations in terms of their specific patterns in responding to media-reported risks. Identifying those distinct profiles will inform tailored communication strategies that cater to the unique needs of each group
 

You May Be Interested In These People

Dr Tim Slingsby

LRF Director of Skills and Education

Michelle Davies

Group General Counsel, Company Secretary & Chief Social Purpose Officer at Lloyd's Register

Prof Chng Wee Joo

NUS Vice President (Biomedical Sciences Research)

Prof Richard Clegg

Lloyd’s Register Foundation, Former Chief Executive

Prof Teo Yik Ying

NUS Dean of Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health

Lloyd's Register Foundation Institute for the public Understanding of Risk

  • Innovation 4.0, #02-07, 3 Research Link, Singapore 117602
Facebook-f Twitter Linkedin
National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved.