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Rongyao Gloria Zhang
Dr. Rongyao Gloria Zhang
Assistant Professor
Lariccia School of Accounting & Finance
Williamson Hall 3381
phone: (330) 941-1784
Research Interests
My research focuses on corporate finance, with an emphasis on how managerial ability, organizational complexity, disclosure choices, and technological transformation shape firm value, risk, and strategic decision-making. A central objective of my work is to explain cross-sectional variation in firm outcomes among companies with similar economic fundamentals, highlighting the roles of managerial discretion, information environments, and structural complexity.
My research has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Corporate Finance, European Financial Management, and the Journal of Financial Research, and has received multiple best paper awards at national and international conferences.
My ongoing work extends these themes into emerging areas such as artificial intelligence engagement, firm complexity, and financial risk transformation, with the goal of contributing to both academic research and practical decision-making in increasingly complex and technology-driven environments.
Teaching Interests
Business Finance; Financial Statement Analysis; Financial Markets and Institutions
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2022
Ph D, Finance
Old Dominion University
Dissertation/Thesis Title — "Three essays on CEO traits, corporate investment decisions and firm value"
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2015
MS, Accounting
Old Dominion University
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2026
Youngstown State University
Outstanding Professorship Award in Scholarship
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2026
Youngstown State University
Research Professorship 2026-2027
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2025
Academy of Finance (AoF)
Best paper award at the Academy of Finance (AoF) annual conference
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2024
Youngstown State University
Research Professorship 2024-2025
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2024
Society of Interdisciplinary Business Research (SIBR)
Best paper award at the SIBR 2024 annual conference
Conference statistics: Number of papers, 113; Number of Best Paper Awards, 5
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2023
National Association of Business, Economics, and Technology (NABET)
Best paper award at the NABET 2023 annual conference
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2023
Youngstown State University
Research Professorship 2023-2024
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2025
"Strategic Technology Talent Acquisition and Firm Value: A Cross-Industry Examination"
R. Zhang
Journal of Financial Research
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2025
"Do Major Customers Affect Firms' ESG Activities?"
Y. Zhang, R. Zhang, J. Doukas, S. Walton, F. Dong
European Financial Management, Forthcoming at https://doi.org/10.1111/eufm.70040
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2025
"Are CSR incidents truly bad news?"
R. Zhang
Journal of Financial Research
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2024
"When does CSR payoff?"
R. Zhang, J. Doukas
European Financial Management
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2021
"Managerial ability, corporate social culture, and M&As"
J. Doukas, R. Zhang
Journal of Corporate Finance, volume 68, issue 101942
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2020
"Corporate Managerial Ability, Earnings Smoothing, and Acquisitions"
J. Doukas, R. Zhang
Journal of Corporate Finance, volume 65, issue 101756
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2019
"A multi-echelon global supply chain network design based on a transfer-pricing strategy"
R. Zhang, K. Wang
Journal of Industrial Integration and Management, volume 4(01), issue 1850020
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2019
"Service supply chain research: A conceptual model based on business processes"
R. Zhang, K. Wang
Journal of Industrial Integration and Management, volume 4(03), issue 1950007
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2019
"Service supplier selection decision based on Dempster–Shafer synthesis rule"
R. Zhang, K. Wang, C. Chen
Journal of Industrial Integration and Management, volume 4(02), issue 1950004
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2023 - present
Reviewer, Journal Article
European Financial Management