Expertise:
Consumer Behavior, Service Marketing, Hospitality, Consumer Happiness and Well-being, International Tourism, Luxury Hospitality Consumption, Cross-Cultural Hospitality Research, Chinese Tourism, Experience TourismWan Yang has worked in a variety of sectors in the hospitality field including the hotel industry, meeting and event planning and travel.
In her research, Yang investigates the impact of various consumption options on promoting consumer happiness, well-being and life satisfaction, offering practical suggestions on how to better design experiential services to enhance consumer happiness.
She also studies luxury consumption, examining the impact of status-seeking on luxury product preferences, pricing structure in luxury hospitality services, and the role of cultural differences on luxury consumption values.
Yang’s work in the restaurant sector involves the cross-section of restaurant management and services marketing including questions relating to service failure and recovery, customer relationship management, the impact of social media and information technology on hospitality marketing strategies, restaurant waiting time management, and restaurant menu presentation and nutrition information.
She is currently serving as an Associate Editor of International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (IJCHM). She also served as the Paper Review Committee Chair for the 20th and 28th Annual Graduate Education and Graduate Student Research Conference, a leading research conference for hospitality and tourism students in the field.
Recent Grants and Fellowships:
- Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology, “When Restaurant Internationalization Meets OTA & OFD: The Global Advertising Design Perspectives,” $111,553 (2021-2024)
- Taiwan Ministry of Science and Technology, “Generating Region to Destination: Next Steps for Travel Elements Integration,” $10,000 (2018-2021)
- Shanghai Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science, “Business Model Innovation of Chinese Travel Agency,” $12,000 (2018-2021)
Selected Publications:
- “Star Power: The Evolution of Celebrity Endorsement Research,” International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 30(1). 389-415. 2018
- “Chinese Outbound Tourists’ Luxury Consumption” in Chinese Outbound Tourism 2.0, (X. Li, ed., Routledge, 2016)
- With Y. Zhang, Y., and Y. C. Wang, “Would Travel Experiences or Possessions Make People Happier?” Journal of Travel Research, 62(2), 412-431, 2023
- With E. Ma, M.S. Kim, L. Wu, and T. Xu. “On the bright side of motherhood—A mixed method enquiry,” Annals of Tourism Research, 92, 103350, 2022
- With L. Wu, Y. Gao, S. Ma, “Feeling Luxe: A Topic Modeling × Emotion Detection Analysis of Luxury Hotel Experiences,” Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/10963480221103222, 2022
- With Y. Zhang and K.K F. So, “Tourism experiences vs. material purchases: Effects of eudaimonic consumption motive on consumers’ reactions to invidious comparisons,” Tourism Management, 83, 104247, 2021
- With E. Ma, L. Wu, and T. Xu, “Hotel Work-Family Support Policies and Employees’ Needs, Concerns and Challenges—The Case of Working Mothers’ Maternity Leave Experience,” Tourism Management, 83, 104.216, 2021
- With B. Kim and M. Yoo, “Online Engagement among Restaurant Customers: The Importance of Enhancing Flow for Social Media Users,” Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 44(2), 252-277, 2020
- With Z. Mai, D. Li, Y. Yang and X. Fu, “Chinese DMOs’ engagement on global social media: examining post-related factors,” Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 25(3), 274-285, 2020
- With X. Mou and L. Gao, “The joint effects of need for status and mental imagery perspective on luxury hospitality consumption in China,” Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 36(9), 1050-1060, 2019
- With A. Fan, L. Wu, and A.S. Mattila, “The Joint Impacts of Need for Status and Mobile Apps’ Social Visibility on Hotel Customers’ Behavioral Intentions,” International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 1-21, 2019
- With N. Suarez, K. Berezina and S. Gordon, “Are Restaurant Customers Ready for Tablet-Based Menus,” International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2018-0307 2019
- With L. Zhang, “Consumers’ responses to invitations to write online reviews: The impact of message framing, power, and need for status,” International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31(4), 1609-1625, 2019
- With Y. Hou, Y. Sun, L.C. Wan, “How Can Psychological Contagion Effect Be Attenuated? The Role of Boundary Effect on Menu Design,” Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 42(4), 606-626, 2018
- With Y. Yang and L. Wu, “Does time dull the pain? The impact of temporal contiguity on review extremity in the hotel context,” International Journal of Hospitality Management, 75, 119-130, 2018
Interviews:
- “The Ultimate Guide to Traveling Solo (2024),” MarketWatch, Aug. 7, 2024
- “Rental Car Insurance,” WalletHub.com, April 18, 2024
- “Best Frequent Flyer Programs,” WalletHub.com, April 15, 2024
Education:
B.B.A., Tourism Management, Fudan University
M.S., Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Massachusetts
Ph.D, Hospitality Management, The Pennsylvania State University
Languages:
English, Chinese