Yang Xu, Ph.D.

Dr. Yang Xu is the Department Chair and Professor of Management in the Management and Marketing Department of Midwestern State University (A member of the Texas Tech University System). She holds a Ph.D. in Business from Virginia Tech. Dr. Xu has taught a variety of management and business administration courses and was involved in the development of online courses. Before joining MSU in 2024, she had taught at a branch campus of Penn State University for fourteen years and was the winner of the 2009 Campus Award for Excellence in Teaching. During 2019-2024, Dr. Xu taught at U.S. Coast Guard Academy and served as Director of Center for Advanced Studies and Associate Dean of the School of Leadership and Management at the Academy. She also participates actively in the service to the profession by serving over ten years on various committees of Academy of Management.

As the single or primary author, Dr. Xu has published many articles in various top or reputable refereed academic journals such as Personnel Review, Military Psychology, Management Research Review, Gender in Management, New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, Journal of Education for Business, etc., and reviewed numerous manuscripts for prestigious academic conferences and top tier or reputable scholarly journals. She presented refereed papers for the Academy of Management, Eastern Academy of Management, Southern Management Association, Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) Conference, etc. and won multiple research awards at academic conferences. She was awarded grants and scholarships for research projects and professional development. Her latest research was sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation (2010-2020), the largest and most authoritative organization of entrepreneurship research. Her scholarly accomplishments are widely recognized by academics because her publications are cited by top journals including Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Small Business Management, Human Resource Management Review, Small Business Economics, MIS Quarterly: Management Information Systems, to name only a few. She is currently serving on the Editorial Review Board for the official journal of the Eastern Academy of Management.

Faculty Administrator Positions

Department Chair, Management and Marketing Department, Midwestern State University (August 2024 – present)

• Oversee and develop faculty, curriculum development and scheduling, and resolving student issues.

·     DCOBA Dean’s Council member.

·   Participating in the Emerging Servant Leaders Initiative, Leader and Culture Development, Texas Tech University System (2024 - 2025)

Associate Dean, School of Leadership and Management,  U. S. Coast Guard Academy

• Assist and advise the Dean in the general leadership and administration of the School. Receive, review, and approve/sign delegated administrative matters related to the operations and function of School programs and personnel.

• As assigned by the Dean, oversee the work of the Dean’s office staff, in the execution of administrative and operational functions of the School. Examples include: human resource activities (recruitment, selection, onboarding, professional development, or other faculty and staff activities); budget/resource development; assistance with administration of applicable evaluation systems within the School; distribution of workload and resources across departments within the School; coordination of assessment and AACSB accreditation activities, admissions activities related to recruitment and selection of cadets, and communications with internal and external strategic partners.

• Coordinate, per direction of the Dean, the execution of programs and initiatives germane to the School, and collaborate with appropriate internal and external partners, including the Provost Office staff.

• Serve as liaison to academic division and School committees, as well as collaborate with other offices (e.g., Superintendent, Provost, and other Divisions) on a variety of issues and institutional-wide initiatives/requirements.

• Represent the School and the Dean at various events, meetings, and activities.

Director, Center for Advanced Studies, U. S. Coast Guard Academy

The Center for Advanced Studies (CAS) supports and facilitates the scholarly activities of Coast Guard Academy faculty and staff, advocates for the importance of scholarship within the Academy community, and promotes CGA as an intellectual resource. Responsible for the administration of the CAS and reports to the Provost at least once per semester on the activities of the Center. Coordinates requests for support needed by the faculty and staff in pursuit of their work, and serves as a point of contact (POC) for other Coast Guard units who wish to engage in scholarly activities with the Academy. Produces an annual report of CAS activities for the Provost. Created the CAS group on Teams and acted as the site administrator. Participated in the Fall Convocation Ceremony as one of the speakers.

Chair, AACSB Accreditation Committee, U. S. Coast Guard Academy

• Worked collaboratively with four AACSB AOL subcommittees to develop, review and assess academic plans, curricular changes and new initiatives to strengthen the program curriculum and maintain AACSB accreditation.

• Worked closely with business faculty to align classes with business programs and AACSB learning objectives.

• Designed the course mapping and curriculum mapping process to facilitate the connection to the shared program learning goals in course design and evaluation.

• Developed the professional development materials describing the specific steps faculty members need to follow in the course mapping process and methods to integrate course mapping with curriculum mapping.

• Provided training and one-on-one consultation to the program faculty on course mapping and curriculum mapping and other AACSB-related matters.

• Provided integrative thinking for managing the business program to drive positive learning outcomes.

• Engaged in short- and long-range planning for the department, in cooperation with the faculty.

• Made recommendations in all areas related to Continuous Improvement and Accreditation, including but not limited to training and professional development of personnel.

• Designed the system of tracking and recording the AOL subcommittee progress.

• Created and maintained two Teams channels for AACSB-related materials.

• Communicated periodically with the program faculty on issues that are relevant to AACSB accreditation.

• Compiled data from multiple sources and completed the AACSB Table 3-1 (previously Table 15-1 Faculty Sufficiency and Qualifications Summary) every year.

Selected Publications

Xu, Y. 2024. Cultivating Diverse Minds: Exploring Effective Inclusive Teaching Strategies. Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society 2024 Conference Proceedings

Xu, Y. 2024. Enhancing Insight into Decision-Making Biases: An Experiential Learning Approach. Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society 2024 Conference Proceedings

Xu, Y. & Shih, C. 2023. Enhancing student understanding of decision-making traps using experiential learning. Proceedings of the International Association for Applied Management 2023 Conference.

Xu, Y. & Dong, L. 2023. Multicultural Experiences and Creative Team Performance: An Empirical Study of Global Virtual Teams. Proceedings of the International Association for Applied Management 2023 Conference.

Xu, Y. and Hickey, A. W. 2022. Cadet Mentoring Program: Best Practices for Success, Military Psychology, 34 (1), 23-32, DOI: 10.1080/08995605.2021.1965443

Xu, Y. 2021. The Effect of Fringe Benefit Offerings on Early-Stage External Financing. Proceedings of the Southern Management Association 2021 Conference

Xu, Y. and Flambard, V. 2021. Introducing Multicultural Experiences through Virtual Partnerships, Journal of Education for Business, https://doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2021.1924107

Xu, Y. and Flambard, V. 2021. Developing Cultural Intelligence through Experiential Digital Global Engagement (EDGE) Exercises, Journal of International Business Education 16.

Xu, Y. 2021. Harnessing Curriculum Mapping to Inspire Learning: A Step-by-Step Guide, Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society 2021 Conference Proceedings

Xu, Y. 2020. An Experiential Digital Global Engagement (EDGE) Exercise, Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society 2020 Conference Proceedings

Xu, Y. 2019. The Moderating Effect of Founding Assets on the Founders’ Human Capital – New Venture Growth Relationship. New England Journal of Entrepreneurship,  Volume 22(2), 126-142.

Yi, X. and Xu, Y. 2019. Founding Conditions and Benefit Offerings: Evidence from US Startups, Personnel Review, Volume 48 (1), 141-162.

Xu, Y. 2018. Entrepreneurial Human Capital, Benefit Offerings and Early-Stage External Financing. Proceedings of the 2018 International Council for Small Business World Congress, Taipei, Taiwan (received the best paper award)

Xu, Y. 2018. The Mediating Role of HR Practices in the Relationship between Founders’ Human Capital and a Startup’s Early-stage External Financing. Proceedings of the 2018 International Council for Small Business World Congress, Taipei, Taiwan

Xu, Y. 2018. Entrepreneurial Cognitive Structure, Social Capital and New Venture Innovation: A Study of Chinese Entrepreneurs. Proceedings of the 2018 International Council for Small Business World Congress, Taipei, Taiwan

Xu, Y. 2017. The Role of Founding Conditions in New Firm Growth: An Empirical Study of U.S. Startups. Proceedings of the 2017 Eastern Academy of Management Conference, Eastern Academy of Management, Baltimore, MD

Xu, Y. 2016. Gender Differences in Founders’ Social Network Development. International Journal of Management Theory and Practices, Volume 17 (1), 56 – 72.

Xu, Y. 2016. Entrepreneurial social capital, cognitive orientation and new venture innovation. Management Research Review, Volume 39 (5), 498 – 520.

Xu, Y. 2016. Do female entrepreneurs network and think differently? Proceedings of the 2016 Eastern Academy of Management Annual Conference, Eastern Academy of Management, New Haven, CT. (nominated for the Outstanding Paper Award)

Xu, Y. 2015. Gender Differences in Entrepreneurial Social Network Development and Cognitive Orientation. Proceedings of the 2015 Academy of Management Annual Conference, Academy of Management, Vancouver, Canada.

Xu, Y. 2014. The Role of the Founder’s Social Ties and Knowledge Structure in SMEs’ Radical Product Innovation. Proceedings of the 2014 Academy of Management Annual Conference, Academy of Management, Philadelphia, PA.

Xu, Y. 2011. Gender Influences on Mental Models of Firm Strategies. Gender in Management: An International Journal, Volume 26 (7), 513-528.

Xu, Y. 2011. Entrepreneurial Social Capital and Cognitive Model of Innovation. Management Research Review, Volume 34 (8), 910-926.

Xu, Y. 2011. Social capital diversity and entrepreneurial knowledge structure of innovation. Proceedings of the 2011 United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) Conference

Xu, Y. & Yang, Y. 2010. Student learning in business simulation: an empirical investigation. Journal of Education for Business, 85 (4), 223-228.

Xu, Y. 2010. Alliance network, TMT’s knowledge structure and technological innovation. Proceedings of the 2010 Academy of Management Conference

Xu, Y. 2008. How Important are Entrepreneurial Social Capital and Knowledge Structure in New Venture Innovation? Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research 2008

Xu, Y. 2007. A Social-cognitive Perspective on Firm Innovation. Proceedings of the 2007 Academy of Management Annual Conference

Xu, Y. 2005. Towards A Social-cognitive View of Innovation. Proceedings of the Southern Management Association 2005 Conference

Xu, Y. & Hatfield, D. E. 2003. Competitive Network and Competitive Behavior: A Study of the U.S. Airline Industry. Proceedings of the 2003 Academy of Management Annual Conference