Professor J. Christine Kim’s path to the McIntire School spans continents, academic disciplines, and self-discovery. She’s brought a unique set of scholarly, professional, and personal experiences to her role that informs her approach to teaching, supports her research, and reinforces her deep care for those she teaches. Since joining the McIntire faculty, Kim has been an inspiration to her students for her global perspective, wide-ranging academic knowledge, and genuine passion for her subject matter.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Kim moved with her family to the Los Angeles area at the age of 11. Reflecting on her early years in the U.S., she says that though she didn’t speak much English before arriving, a support system of new bilingual Korean American friends helped her adjust. “The transition felt natural. I was fortunate, because I know there are a lot of difficulties that people can encounter in such situations. I picked up the language pretty quickly,” she says, noting that being part of a diverse community, aided by church youth groups and a supportive, multicultural school setting eased her major life change.
Years later as a high schooler thinking about a possible career, she was unsure about her future profession and considered pre-law or pre-med. But once she started college, she didn’t feel comfortable readily committing to either. “I went to UCLA with the school’s biggest major: undeclared,” she recalls. “I decided on my major pretty late in my third year, so I took a lot of time exploring all the options.” She ultimately discovered that neither law nor medicine appealed to her. As a backup plan, Kim entertained the idea of becoming a schoolteacher. She inched in that direction and would eventually complete the proper coursework and pass California’s credential tests to become certified.
A quick trial by fire instructing junior high schoolers in science at an L.A. private school proved incompatible. Yet she didn’t give up aspirations about working in the profession. “I realized that I liked teaching, but maybe not at that level,” she says. “I thought I would want to work with older students in college.”
Unexpected Destinations
Kim’s journey in her return to higher education is equally intriguing. Marked by a significant shift in focus, her initial studies in cognitive science would give way to marketing. Driven by her interest in human cognition, she pursued Cognitive Science studies at UCLA in 2000. “I was fascinated in learning more about the human brain,” she says, explaining that she was fascinated by understanding how people make decisions and become motivated.
That curiosity led her east to Harvard, where she intended to further study human cognition development, enrolling in a master’s program while weighing the possibility of embarking on a doctorate program in the same area of study. But her passion for the subject began to wane when she found herself immersed in a narrow, highly specialized field of developmental cognitive psychology that seemed to be taking her ever further from her initial interest.
“I used to run studies with babies at the developmental cognitive psychology lab at Harvard,” she recalls, noting that she aimed to understand how people form concepts and come to think in particular ways. Yet the process of regularly working with infants, showing them stimuli, and recording the results in the lab day in, day out became unsatisfying; and though she earned a Master’s in Mind Brain Education at Harvard, she stepped away from the Ph.D. program—but not before having a seminal moment.
“Nobel Laureate Danny Kahneman, one of the founders of the field of cognitive psychology, came to Harvard to give a talk,” she says. “And he was discussing his research—which happened to be exactly what got me interested in this topic!” Kahneman raised questions about how humans think, how we come to make decisions, and the many biases and processes people are subject to—many of which are actually different than what we tell ourselves. “That talk reminded me about what got me interested in the subject to begin with,” Kim says.
Kahneman having reignited her interest in the broader implications of human cognition, particularly in decision-making and consumer behavior, served as the impetus that motivated Kim to pivot. She would go on to earn an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Marketing at INSEAD.
A Global Academic Career
In 2016, Kim’s professional trajectory took her to Asia, where she taught at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for six years. This international experience enriched her academic perspective but also posed personal challenges, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. As her mother, in Los Angeles, was having health issues, Kim faced the difficulties of travel exacerbated by the pandemic. Though she enjoyed her teaching position, the emotional pull of strong family connections and the logistical complications of living abroad during a global crisis resulted in her return to the U.S.
While a student at INSEAD, Kim met McIntire Marketing Professor Amar Cheema, having read and enjoyed his work on goals and self-control, which overlapped with some of her own research interests. That connection put McIntire firmly on her radar, because, as it turned out, UVA was already on her short list of places she was interested in and she visited the Comm School.
“I really, really liked the people a lot, and it just felt like a very good fit for me,” she says. Having joined in 2022, Kim found a perfect fit for her academic interests and teaching style. She expressed admiration for the School’s strong emphasis on transformative consumer research, a field that resonates with her interests in consumer behavior and ethical consumption.
Kim also praised the McIntire students, noting her surprise about their unique combination of intelligence and work ethic—traits that make her excited to be part of McIntire: “I love my students. They’re very smart, but they’re very hardworking. So I love the culture here, and I admire their work ethic.”
Her courses, particularly in the Integrated Core Experience, have allowed her to engage deeply with students. “I love the energy of students coming in—such excitement and motivation, enthusiasm like you would never see in many other places,” Kim enthuses. The challenges for the students, especially during high-stress periods such as the final phase of the Integrated Core presentations, when students are often working late into the night, demonstrate another example of their dedication, she acknowledges. “It’s just amazing to have such good students with such enthusiasm and high motivation,” she says. “It’s really rare, especially these days, to see students who are so engaged, curious, and thankful to be here.”
Pursuing Passions Beyond Academia and Back
Outside the classroom, Kim’s life is rich with hobbies and personal interests. A devoted dog lover, she spends a good deal of her free time with her beagle, Happy, enjoying walks and indulging in the joy of watching YouTube dog videos—unsurprisingly, with a penchant for clips featuring beagles. When she’s not taking Happy out in the world, she’s often home playing the piano, guitar, or flute, finding solace and rejuvenation in performing classical and Christian songs. “Music is really an inspiration and passion for me,” she says, underscoring how it serves as a form of relaxation for her.
Kim’s love for fantasy literature and films, particularly “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, also reveals her philosophical inclinations. “There’s so much there,” she notes, indicating how the epic narrative resonates with her thoughts on power, self-control, and the human condition. Perhaps she connects to the story so deeply because many of the themes at play in the series parallel her academic work, particularly her studies on self-control dilemmas in consumer behavior.
“There’s a lot of research in marketing about how power and status are corrupting—and status consumption is one of my research interests,” she says, noting how the theme of human desire for material objects that seem to provide power and status often fuels consumption, despite the fact that they mislead and corrupt the owner. She also explains how the inner conflict of the character Smeagol, representing the “good self” versus the “bad self,” embodies a classic dilemma: “That fight represents the problem of self-control, which is what I study. We know what we should do, but then we end up doing something else,” Kim says, pointing to the problem of indulgences and overconsumption, which leads to wasteful consumption, another key topic of her research.
As Kim continues to encourage and support her students while contributing to the field of marketing scholarship, she has emerged as an engaging and welcoming part of the McIntire community. Her journey reflects a dedication to finding our true calling in academic pursuits and personal passions anywhere in the world they may take us. Kim’s multifaceted approach to both life and academia show how her insights into consumer behavior can be leveraged to promote more sustainable and ethical consumption patterns, a direction that aligns with her values and addresses some of the most pressing challenges in today’s consumer-driven business landscape.
