Research Overview

I conduct empirical research to achieve a service!s strategic vision using aligned system designs and inventing forecasting algorithms. My research is recognized by academic journals, received best paper awards, and covered by media. I am also a frequent invited speaker at academic institutions and industrial leading firms.

In the research community, I actively contribute as conference organizers and reviewers for flagship journals. Now I serve as a board member for the two largest service scholars communities: INFORMS Service Science Section and POMS College of Service Operations and on the editorial review board for two journals, POMS and the Journal of Operations Management.

My research has also received interest from a wide range of practitioners. I have solid research partnerships with firms in service industries, such as online marketplaces and healthcare providers, and manufacturing industries, such as automakers and high-techs, with many of them being industrial pioneers or Fortune 500 companies.

Research Area

I conduct empirical research to achieve a service!s strategic vision using aligned system designs and inventing forecasting algorithms. Figure 1 illustrates my research storyline with a detailed description following.  [No.] refers to papers listed in my Research Progress below.

Research Area #1: Align Service Design with Strategic Service Vision

To ensure the alignment between a service system design and its corresponding strategic service vision, I use business analytics to close the knowledge gap by understanding key players in the service system. Based on the obtained knowledge, I propose operational improvement pathways, with much of my recent work emphasizing omnichannel service management.
The seminal study in my research journey [3] inspires my vision that closing the knowledge gap by understanding key players in a service system is essential to align a service system with its strategic service vision. In this line of my work, I analyze behavior-level data to discover customers' preferences [3], service providers' preferences [19, 23, 26, 27], and customers' reactions to changes in social events [17], service offerings [21], and user-interface design [32]. Moreover, I conduct industrial-level business analytics to understand markets' unmet needs and wants in senior care [7, 8] and restaurants [2]. For public legislation services, I analyze the regulated entities' reactions to new regulations and incentives [4, 9, 10, 11, 25, 30]. An area I intentionally build in my work is "Behavioral Service Operations," where I link human behavior in service interactions with psychological insights such as humans' psychological comfort [19], perception bias [21, 27], and cognitive limitations [32]. The ultimate goal of this research is that, once a service organization's strategic vision is achieved efficiently and cost-effectively with a leaner and more aligned service system, social welfare can also be improved. My interest in social equality drives me to investigate how to promote social welfare in service systems, particularly for older adults [7, 8] and women [17].
Within my interests in improving service system design, I emphasize the management of "Omnichannel Service.” Inspired by my seed project [3], I understand that providing more customer engagement channels may not always benefit customers and service providers. To address service inconsistency between channels and customers’#traffic across multiple channels, we need a holistic view of service channel management that I call "Omnichannel Service Management.” In this line of research, I propose two strategies — channel specialization and channel integration. In the channel specialization strategy, I suggest building dedicated service channels to serve specific customer segments with applications in payment channels [28] featuring the trendy Mobile Payment, online shopping channels [20] featuring the rising social-commerce mode, and call center channels [3]. In the channel integration strategy, I investigate different models of integration. A service provider can integrate its channels more smoothly via standardization [1], information sharing [33], using online nudging to smooth offline demand fluctuation [18], or incorporating the spillover effect across days and channels [29]. A service provider can also integrate its channel with a dedicated third-party channel to advance in technological upgrades and market expansion [16, 22]. I also discuss under what conditions a service provider should partner with a dedicated or shared third-party channel with competitors [12].

Impact of this Line of Research
This line of work has won best paper awards in INFORMS Behavior OM 2020 (Runner Up), INFORMS Service Science 2021-2022 (Finalist), IBM Service Science Best Paper Award 2019 (Finalist), POMS Behavior OM 2021 (Honorable Mention), INFORMS TIMES (Technology, Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship) Best Working Paper Award 2021 (Third-place), NFORMS Social Media Analytics 2021 (Finalist), and has won the DSI Doctoral Research Showcase Award twice for 2021 and 2022. The research has also been featured in Kellogg Insight and Vanderbilt News, and has received recognition and inquiries from world-renowned firms such as Marriott, Starwood, and L’Oreal, super-platforms such as Meituan, JD, and Alibaba, and several large healthcare organizations. The public-sector research in vehicle emissions is recognized and used by IIASA, an international research institute that communicates policy-related research with National Member Organizations globally.

Research Area #2: Forecast

With my training in statistics and frequent conversations with industrial partners, I am also interested in developing business analytics methodologies to address pain points in real-world operations. In business analytics, I specialize in forecasting with statistical and machine learning approaches. I have developed prediction algorithms for traffic data transferring in complex networks [13,14] to facilitate routing and infrastructure planning for the Department of Energy and oil reserves [15]. I have invented demand forecasting algorithms for new products (i.e., products without historical sales) [5,6] and products with intermittent demand (which happens quite often in large-scale inventory systems) [31]. I have also invented a diagnosis model that can impute missing data simultaneously with prediction [24], which the partner hospital now employs.

Impact of this Line of Research
This line of research has been selected as a finalist for the M&SOM Practice-based Competition 2017, featured in media coverage such as Kellogg Insight and Vanderbilt News, and implemented in Fortune 500 companies, the U.S. DOE (Department of Energy) infrastructure planning, and large healthcare organizations.

Research List

Research Method:  * Causal Inference, ** Forecasting, Statistics & Machine Learning, *** Structural Modeling.

Appeared/Forthcoming

1. “Service Chains' Operational Strategies: Standardization or Customization? Evidence from the Nursing Home Industry,” with Lu Kong and Rohit Verma. 
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Accepted.** Link
        📰 Media Coverage: Vanderbilt Business Live April 20, 2022
2. “Analytics Applications and Strategies in the Restaurant Industry,” with Xiande Zhao and Morgan Swink.
Production and Operations Management, Appeared Online. Link
        📰 Media Coverage:  “Optimizing Data Collection is on the Table for the Restaurant Industry”  Vanderbilt News 2022. Link
3. “Understanding Customers’ Retrial in Call Centers: Preferences of Service Speed and Service Quality,” with Gad Allon and Achal Bassamboo.
​Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 24, no. 2 (2021):1002-1020. * Link       
        📰 Media Coverage:  “New Research Identifies Service Frameworks to Improve Customer Service without Breaking the Bank.” Vanderbilt News 2021. Link
4. “The Effect of Tightening Standards on Automakers’ Non-compliance,” with Sunil Chopra, and Yuche Chen.
Production and Operations Management 30.9 (2021): 3094-3115. ** Link
         📰 Media Coverage:  “What Volkswagen’s Emissions Scandal Can Teach Us about Why Companies Cheat.” Kellogg Insights 2017. Link
         📰 Media Coverage:  “Tightening Vehicle Emissions Standards Resulted in Higher Rates of Automaker Non-Compliance.” Vanderbilt News 2021. Link
5. “Forecasting Product Life Cycle Curves: Practical Approach and Empirical Analysis,” with Jason Acimovic, Francisco Erize, Douglas J. Thomas, and Jan A. Van Mieghem.
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 21, no. 1 (2018): 66-85. *** Link         
​         🎉 Finalist in the 2017 M&SOM Practice-based Competition.
         📰 Media Coverage:  "How to Predict Demand for Your New Product."  Kellogg Insights, 2017 Link​ 
         📰 Media Coverage:  "Launching New Tech? How Do You Make Data-driven Decisions Without Any Sales Data?" Vanderbilt News, 2018. Link
6. “Product Life Cycle Data Set: Raw and Cleaned Data of Weekly Orders for Personal Computers,” with Jason Acimovic, Francisco Erize, Douglas J. Thomas, and Jan A. Van Mieghem.
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 21, no. 1 (2018): 171-176. *** Link
​7. “Caring for an Aging Population in a Post-Pandemic World: Emerging Trends in the U.S. Older Adult Care Industry,” with Lu Kong and Matthew Walsman.
Service Science 13.4 (2021): 258-274. *** Link
         📰 Media Coverage:  “ Research Snapshot: COVID-19 is the disruptive moment the older adult care industry has been waiting for.” Vanderbilt News 2021. Link
​8. “Fostering Older Adult Care Experiences to Maximize Well-Being Outcomes: A Conceptual Framework,” with Sertan Kabadayi, Yuna S.H. Lee, Lydia Hanks, Matthew Walsman, and David Dobrzykowski.
Journal of Service Management 31, no. 5 (2020): 953-977. Link
9. “Equilibrium Fuel Supply and Carbon Credit Pricing under Market Competition and Environmental Regulations,” with Yuche Chen.
Applied Energy 236 (2019): 815-824. Link
10. “Technological Growth of Fuel Efficiency in European Automobile Market 1975–2015,” with Yuche Chen.
Energy Policy 98 (2016): 142-148. *** Link
11. “A Dynamic Programming Approach for Modeling Low-carbon Fuel Technology Adoption Considering Learning-by-doing Effect,” with Yuche Chen, Yunteng Zhang, Yueyue Fan, and Jianyou Zhao.
Applied Energy 185 (2017): 825-835. Link
12. “Strategic Choice of Open and Closed Platforms: Game Theory Analysis of Downstream Vendors Behavior based on Demand and Cost Advantages.” with Guangzhen Guo, Y. Zhang. 
China Industrial Economics 3 (2017): 64-82. Link
​13. “Best Predictive Generalized Linear Mixed Model with Predictive Lasso for High-speed Network Data Analysis,” With Jaesik Choi, Alex Sim, and Jiming Jiang.
International Journal of Statistics and Probability 4, no. 2 (2015): 132. *** Link
14. “Estimating and Forecasting Network Traffic Performance based on Statistical Patterns Observed in SNMP Data,” with Alex Sim, Demetris Antoniades, and Constantine Dovrolis.
Proceedings of International Workshop on Machine Learning and Data Mining in Pattern Recognition, pp. 601-615. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2013. *** Link
15. “Regional Reserves Growth Shows Decline in Annual Rate of Increase,” with Gongming Yu and Yijun Wang.
Oil & Gas Journal 114, no. 7 (2016): 40-44. *** Link
Case Studies
Jianqiang Hu and Kejia Hu. Case Study on Jointown Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd, China. 
         🎉 Awarded as the National Top 100 MBA Case Studies, China, 2011. 

Under Review/Revision

16. “Delegation with Technology Migration: An Empirical Analysis of Mobile Virtual Network Operators,” with Fan Zou, Yan Dong, and Sriram Venkataraman.
Management Science, ​Major Revision.** Link
        🎉202021 DSI Doctoral Research Showcase Award
17. “How Women Promote Greater Social Responsibility on Social Media,” with Li Xiang and Huibin Du.
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Under Review. *    
        🎉2021 INFORMS Social Media Analytics Section Best Student Paper Award Finalist
18. “Promotional Design for Small Businesses: the Operational Value of Online Deals,” with Simin Li and Martin Lariviere.
Management Science, Major Revision. * Link
         🎉2019 IBM Service Science Section Best Student Paper Competition Finalist
19. “To What Extent Do Workers’ Preferences Matter?” with Zhenzhen Jia, Jianqiang Hu, and Vishal Ahuja.
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Major Revision. ** Link
         🎉2021 INFORMS Service Science Best Cluster Paper Award Finalist
         🎉2021 POMS College of Behavior OM Junior Scholar Paper — Honorable Mention
         🎉2020 INFORMS Best Working Paper Award Behavioral OM — Runner Up​
20. “WeStore or AppStore: Customer Behavior Differences in Mobile Apps and Social Commerce,” with Nil Karacaoglu.
Production and Operations Management, Major Revision. * Link
         🎉2021 INFORMS TIMES Best Working Paper Third Place
21. “The Psychology of Virtual Queue: When Waiting Becomes Less Like Waiting,” with Xun Xu and Leo Ao.
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Major Revision. ** Link
22. "Supplier Selection Criteria under Heterogeneous Sourcing Needs: Evidence from an Online Marketplace for Selling Production Capacity," with Iris Wang
Production and Operations Management, Reject and Resubmit
23. “How Operational Complexity Drives Inventory Record Inaccuracy: Empirical Evidence from Cross-border E-commerce,” with Ting Wang, Stanley Lim, Yun Fong Lim, and Yugang Yu. 
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Under Review. ***
​​24. “Simultaneous Imputation and Prediction with High-dimensional Data (SIP-HD): A Deep Learning Model for Disease Diagnosis,” with Zhenzhen Jia, Jianqiang Hu, Qingchen Wang, and Ning Zhang. 
Journal of Operations Management, Under Review. ***
25. How do Investors Value Sustainability Indices? The Effect of the Component Selection Process
with Huibin Du, Kejia Hu and Zhongguo Lin *
Strategic Management Journal, Under Review *
26. Strike the Balance between Customization and Personalization: Individualized Standardization
with Vikram Tiwari and Yuxin Liang *
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Under Review *
27. Reducing Human Biases through AI: Empirical Evidence from a Consulting Platform
with Bowen Lou and Bilal Baloch *
Management Science, Under Review *
28. The Cardless and Cashless Future: the Rise of Mobile Payment
with Shuai Ling, and Sriram Venkataraman 
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Under Review ***
29. Cross-Channel Marketing on E-commerce Marketplaces: Operational Value and Budget Allocation
with Qiyuan Deng and Yun Fong Lim 
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Under Review **

Working Papers

30. The Good and Evil Inside: From Within-organization Features to the Social-orientation of Innovations
with Mark Cohen *
31. Intermittent Demand Forecasting
with Feng Liu, Teng Lian, and Jianqiang Hu. **
32. More or Less: How Information Richness Affects Our Choice Consistency
with Iris Wang *
33. Effectiveness of Telemedicine in Stroke Care: An Empirical Study on a Telestroke Network
with Sriram Venkataraman, Brandon W. Lee, Kejia Hu, Lawrence D. Fredendall *
Copyright 2023 Kejia Hu, all rights reserved.