Yuna CHO
Prof. Yuna CHO
Management and Strategy
Assistant Professor

3917-5245

KKL 1230

Academic & Professional Qualification
  • Ph.D. (Management), Yale University
  • M.B.A., The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
  • B.A. (Economics), Seoul National University
Biography

Yuna Cho is an assistant professor of management and strategy at the HKU Business School. Her research focuses on understanding how interpersonal relationships at work, as well as one’s relationship with the work itself (e.g., motivation and orientation toward work), affect individuals’ work and career outcomes. She received her Ph.D. in Management from Yale University and M.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Prior to her graduate studies, she worked in strategy consulting and investment management.

Research Interest
  • Work motivation
  • Interpersonal relationships
  • Job design
  • Careers
  • Human resource management
Selected Publications
  • Cho, Y. & Jiang, W.Y. (2022). How Work Orientation Impacts Objective Career Outcomes via Managerial (Mis)perceptions. Academy of Management Journal, 65(4), 1353-1382.
Recent Publications
Four Challenges to Hire Talents for Social Enterprises

有言社企制定人力資源的政策,可能比一般中小企困難,惟面對疫後經濟格局及職場文化所掀起的變革,社企又應如何制定行之有效的策略,吸引並留住人才?有重點研究工作動機及人力資源管理的港大學者指出,社企應專注於發揮其獨特的競爭優勢,例如讓員工從事有意義的工作。

How Work Orientation Impacts Objective Career Outcomes via Managerial (Mis)perceptions

Views differ on whether individuals with a calling orientation toward work (i.e., seeing work as personally fulfilling and contributing to a better world) enjoy more favorable objective career outcomes, such as higher income and chance of promotion, versus those with a job orientation (i.e., seeing work as a means to a financial end). We suggest that the impasse is partially due to prior research’s exclusive focus on how work orientation affects one’s effort and subsequent job performance. Drawing on theories of signaling, cognitive biases, and reciprocity, we propose that calling-oriented employees enjoy better objective career outcomes than job-oriented employees via an external pathway: managers misperceive employees’ calling orientation as evidence of better performance and stronger organizational commitment. In Study 1—analyses of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study—we find support for the main effect, and in Study 2—an online experiment—we constructively replicate this effect and find evidence for our predicted explanatory mechanisms. Furthermore, observing a calling-oriented employee prompts managers to perceive them more favorably in other domains, creating a halo effect. Our research sheds light on how individuals’ subjective view of the meaning of work influences their objective career success, highlighting workplace signals and managerial perceptions as important mechanisms.

From the Execution to the Creation of Managerial Strategies – Dr. Yuna Cho

“I have always been admiring the high impact level of research conducted by HKU Business School. The colleagues here are also very friendly. Soon after I have come to Hong Kong, the MBA director Dr. Cheng had even helped me with apartment hunting!”

From the Execution to the Creation of Managerial Strategies – Dr. Yuna Cho

Formerly a senior consultant at Oliver Wyman, Dr. Cho later realised that her true passion lies in knowledge creation. After finishing her PhD studies in Yale, our young Korean scholar officially joined us in June 2021 as an Assistant Professor in Management and Strategy.