Wei Chen

Associate Professor

OPIM

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Education/Professional Certification

Ph.D., University of California, San Diego

Biography

Wei Chen is an Associate Professor of Operations and Information Management (OPIM) at the School of Business, University of Connecticut. His research studies platforms, crowds, and financial technologies (FinTech). Combining theoretical models and granular data, he seeks to provide rigorous evidence that informs the system and market design in these areas. His current research projects focus on platforms, real estate markets, and crypto markets.

Wei’s work has been published in leading academic journals, such as Management Science, Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, and Production and Operations Management. He has received several best paper nominations and awards in information systems conferences and workshops, and the Gordon B. Davis Young Scholar Award from the INFORMS Information Systems Society.

Wei is also co-leading the UConn Digital Frontiers Initiative, as the academic director of the Connecticut Information Technology Institute. The initiative aims to facilitate collaborations between industry and academia, focusing on cutting edge technology developments (e.g., generative AI). Wei’s role encompasses facilitating the translation of complex research into accessible and actionable insights for both industry professionals and policymakers, while also designing innovative training to upskill the workforce in a rapidly evolving digital world.

Prior to join UConn in 2023, Wei was a tenured faculty member at the MIS department, University of Arizona. He received his PhD in Innovation, Technology and Operations from the Rady School of Management, University of California, San Diego.

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Selected Publications

• Signaling Effects under Dynamic Capacity in Online Matching Platforms: Evidence from Online Health Consultation Communities (with Liwei Chen, Arun Rai, and Xitong Guo). Information Systems Research, Conditional Accepted.
• Quality Differentiation and Matching Performance in Peer-to-peer Markets: Evidence from Airbnb Plus (with Hongchang Wang, Benjamin Williams, and Karen Xie). Management Science, Forthcoming. [SSRN]
• How Incumbents Beat Disruptors? Evidence from Hotel Responses to Home Sharing (with Jianwei Liu, Karen Xie, Yong Liu, and Yunlong Sun). Production and Operations Management, 2023, 32(9), 2758-2774. [SSRN]
• Regulating Professional Players in Peer-to-Peer Markets: Evidence from Airbnb (with Zaiyan Wei and Karen Xie). Management Science, 2023, 69(5), 2893-2918. [SSRN]
• The Battle for Homes: How Does Home Sharing Disrupt Local Residential Markets? (with Zaiyan Wei and Karen Xie). Management Science, 2022, 68(12), 8589-8612. [SSRN]
• Flourish or Perish? The Impact of Technological Acquisitions on Contributions to Open-Source Software (with Fujie Jin and Ling Xue). Information Systems Research, 2022, 33(3), 867-886. [SSRN]
• Competition among Proprietary and Open-Source Software Firms: The Role of Licensing on Strategic Contribution (with Terrence August and Kevin Zhu). Management Science, 2021, 67(5), 3041-3066. [SSRN]
• Emphasizing the Entrepreneur or the Idea? The Impact of Text Content Emphasis on Investment Decisions in Crowdfunding (with Wei Wang, Kevin Zhu, and Hongwei Wang). Decision Support Systems, 2020, 136(September), 113341. [SSRN]
• Measuring and Managing the Externality of Managerial Responses to Online Customer Reviews (with Qiang Ye, Bin Gu, and Kevin Zhu). Information Systems Research, 2019, 30(1), 81-96. [SSRN]
• Engaging Voluntary Contributions in Online Communities: A Hidden Markov Model (with Xiahua Wei and Kevin Zhu). MIS Quarterly, 2018, 42(1), 83-100. [SSRN]

Awards, Honors, and Grants

• 2022 Best Paper Runner-up, Conference on Information Systems and Technology (CIST 2022)
• 2020 Best Paper Award in Track, and Best Paper Nominee for International Conference on InformationSystems (ICIS 2020)
• 2020 INFORMS Information Systems Society Gordon B. Davis Young Scholar Award
• 2020 Center for Management Innovations in Healthcare (CMIH) Research Grants
• 2019 NET Institute Summer Research Grant
• 2019 Marketing Science Institute (MSI) Research Grants
• 2018 Best Paper Runner-up, The 12th China SummerWorkshop on Information Management (CSWIM 2018)
• 2018 Co-PI, General Research Fund, The Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (2018-2019)
• 2017 Best Paper Award in Track, and Best Paper Nominee for International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2017)
• 2016-2021 Eller College Dean’s Small Research Grants
• 2016 Best Paper Award, The 10th China Summer Workshop on Information Management (CSWIM 2016)
• 2014 Best Paper Nominee, Conference on Information Systems and Technology (CIST 2014)