Zhanfei Lei : Isenberg School of Management : UMass Amherst

Education

Ph.D. in Information Technology Management, Georgia Institute of Technology

M.S. in Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh

Bachelor of Management in Information Management and Information Systems, Nanjing University

Academic Appointments

Associate Professor, Isenberg School of Management, UMass Amherst, 2026-present

Assistant Professor, Isenberg School of Management, UMass Amherst, 2019-26

Honors / Awards

Michael J. Shaw Best Paper Award at WeB, 2025

Nominated for Isenberg School of Management Outstanding Teaching Award, 2025

Best Associate Editor Award for Digital Platforms Track at ICIS, 2024

Isenberg School of Management Research Excellence Award, 2024

Research Interests

User-generated content

Biases and heuristics

Human-AI interaction

Teaching Interests

General

Introduction to Information Systems
Database Management Systems
Business Intelligence and Analytics
Programming Languages and Web Development

Selected Publications

Lei, Z., Yin, D., & Zhang, H. (forthcoming). Deliberative or Automatic: Disentangling the Dual Processes Behind the Persuasive Power of Online Word-of-Mouth. MIS Quarterly.

Lei, Z., Yin, D., & Zhang, H. (2023). Positive or Negative Reviews? Consumers’ Selective Exposure in Seeking and Evaluating Online Reviews. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 24(4), 1162-1183.

Lei, Z., Yin, D., Mitra, S., & Zhang, H. (2022). Swayed by the Reviews: Disentangling the Effects of Average Ratings and Individual Reviews in Online Word-of-Mouth. Production and Operations Management, 31(6), 2393-2411. (Lead Article).

Lei, Z., Yin, D., & Zhang, H. (2021). Focus Within or On Others: The Impact of Reviewers’ Attentional Focus on Review Helpfulness. Information Systems Research, 32(3), 801-819.