Information Systems Professor Mingwen Yang Earns Two Early Career Awards

Social Trading. Online Reputation Management. Economics of Disruptive Technologies.

In the ever-evolving landscape of Information Systems, where innovations can be the marker of success or failure, cutting-edge research is needed to solve real-world problems faced by business and society.

Dr. Mingwen Yang, Foster School of Business Assistant Professor of Information Systems, is at the forefront of that research. In late 2024, Dr. Yang received two early career awards: The INFORMS Information Systems Society Gordon B. Davis Young Scholar Award and the Association for Information Systems Early Career Award.

“I’m very honored to receive these young scholar awards,” Dr. Yang said. “It’s a big encouragement for me, to confirm what I have done for my research, for my teaching, and for my service. But I’m still very junior in my career. There is still a long way for me to keep improving my research and my teaching, and to keep contributing to the [Information Systems] field.”

From a broad perspective, Dr. Yang’s work explores how Information Systems will continue to change how we live and work. Large language models such as ChatGPT are already raising practical questions within the workforce.

Now, in her sixth year at Foster, Yang is excited by the innovations resulting from information systems research.

“It is a growing field. There are so many problems faced by industries that deserve academic exploration. It is exciting to solve those real-world problems.”

The awarding Information Systems academic associations look at all streams of research to determine awardees. Dr. Yang is currently focusing on three: 

Social Trading. This emerging paradigm enables investors to share their trading wisdom with others. A unique feature of social trading is copy trading, where less experienced investors (followers) can automatically copy the trades of experts (traders or leaders) in real-time after paying a fee. Unlike mutual fund managers, most participants of social trading platforms are individual or retail traders. The innovations brought by social trading platforms significantly disrupt traditional financial services, raising many research questions.      

Online Reputation Management. Given the prevalence of online reviews in today’s businesses, managing customers’ opinions in online reviews is crucial. Platforms such as Expedia and Tripadvisor allow companies to respond to customer complaints. However, firms should carefully decide when and how to respond to reviews, especially negative ones. How firms should manage their online reputation is a practical question that needs to be addressed.

Economics of Disruptive Technologies. This research examines emerging disruptive technologies and uncovers the impact of technology on business and society. For example, studying cloud computing security from an economic perspective.

Dr. Yang is currently teaching courses in Foster’s undergraduate program and the Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS). 

• IS 410: Networks and Cybersecurity is an undergraduate class that teaches how data is transmitted across the internet and how to protect it. 
• BUS AN 512: Data Management and SQL is a Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) course focused on Standard Query Language queries. The goal is to retrieve information from a relational database and extrapolate valuable insights from real-world data. 

Dr. Yang advises aspiring professionals and learners in information systems to “Stay curious, keep learning, and enjoy the process.”

Learn more about Foster School of Business Information Systems programs here.