Yanyan Li

Welcome!

I am Yanyan Li, Ph.D. Candidate in Quantitative Marketing at Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California.

My research applies tools from structural econometrics, Bayesian statistics, machine learning and causal inference to study the individual, social, and policy issues on digital platforms, with a focus on consumer privacy, digital advertising, network experiments, and platform analytics.

My dissertation received Honorable Mention in the MSI Alden G. Clayton Doctoral Dissertation Proposal Competition, and was a Finalist in the ASA Marketing Section Doctoral Dissertation Research Award Competition. I have published papers at the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Marketing.

I will join the C. T. Bauer College of Business at University of Houston as an Assistant Professor of Marketing in July 2025.

Email: yanyan.li@marshall.usc.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Working Papers and Publications

1. “Understanding Privacy Invasion and Match Value of Targeted Advertising” with Sha Yang.
  - Job Market Paper
  - Honorable Mention, 2023 MSI Alden G. Clayton Doctoral Dissertation Proposal Competition
  - USC Marshall Ph.D. Outstanding Researcher Award

1. “A Representative Sampling Method for Peer Encouragement Designs in Network Experiments” with Sha Yang and Qing Liu.
  - Minor Revision at Marketing Science
  - Finalist, 2025 ASA Marketing Section Doctoral Dissertation Research Award Competition
  - U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Pending

1. “Mining Consumer Minds: Downstream Consequences of Host Motivations for Sharing Platforms”, Jaeyeon Chung, Gita Johar, Yanyan Li, Oded Netzer, and Matthew Pearson, Journal of Consumer Research, 2022, Vol.48 (5), p.817-838. [Publication]

1. “R2M Index 1.0: Assessing the Practical Relevance of Academic Marketing Articles”, Kamel Jedidi, Bernd Schmitt, Malek Ben Sliman, and Yanyan Li, Journal of Marketing, 2021, Vol.85 (5), p.22-41. [Publication][Website] Featured in AMA.

1. “Social Influence in Network Experiments: An SDID-BART Model” with Sha Yang.

1. “What Makes You Like? Bodily, Facial, or Social-Economic Attractiveness” with Kuan-Ming Chen, Ming-Jen Lin, and Yu-Wei Hsieh. [SSRN]

Work in Progress

“Privacy-Preserving Targeting Strategy” with Sha Yang.
“Investor Herding in Collectible NFT Auctions” with Sha Yang, Russ Nelson, and Imran Currim.