Zhichuan Frank Li

Professor Li received his PhD degree in Finance from W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, and two masters degrees (MBA: international business/MIS; MS: Computer Science) from University of Missouri at Kansas City.

His work experience includes various analyst and management positions in an international bank, a personal credit company, a small pharmaceutical consulting firm, and a fortune 500 health care corporation.

Professor Li's research interests reside in empirical corporate finance, particularly corporate governance and executive compensation. He has two goals. One is to better understand the subtle but important effects of various governance mechanisms and contract designs on managers and firms within the standard agency framework. The other is to identify and estimate the role of managerial attributes and non-standard preferences in determining organization structure, policy, and performance.

Teaching

• HBA: Core Finance
• Masters of Financial Economics: Corporate Finance
• Masters of Business Administration: Finance
• Masters of Science in Management: Finance
• PhD: Financial Research

Programs Taught

• HBA
• MBA
• MSc
• PhD

Education

• PhD in Finance, W.P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University

Recent Refereed Articles

• Coles, J. L.; Li, Z. F., 2023, "An Empirical Assessment of Empirical Corporate Finance", Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, June 58(4): 1391 - 1430.
• Bizjak, J. M.; Kalpathy, S. L.; Li, Z. F.; Young, B., 2022, "The Choice of Peers for Relative Performance Evaluation in Executive Compensation", Review of Finance
• Li, Z. F.; Patel, S.; Ramani, S., 2021, "The Role of Mutual Funds in Corporate Social Responsibility", Journal of Business Ethics
• Dang, C. D.; Foerster, S. R.; Li, Z. F.; Tang, Z., 2021, "Analyst Talent, Information, and Insider Trading", Journal of Corporate Finance, April 67
• Kim, S.; Li, Z. F., 2021, "Understanding the Impact of ESG Practices in Corporate Finance", Sustainability, March 13(7): 3746 - 3746.
• Dunbar, C. G.; Li, Z. F.; Shi, Y. N., 2020, "CEO Risk-Taking Incentives and Corporate Social Responsibility", Journal of Corporate Finance, October 64
• Ikram, A.; Li, Z. F.; MacDonald, T., 2020, "CEO pay sensitivity (Delta and Vega) and corporate social responsibility", Sustainability, October 12(19): 7941 - 7941.
• Dang, C. D.; Li, Z. F., 2020, "Drivers of Research Impact: Evidence from the Top Three Finance Journals", Accounting and Finance, September 60(3): 2759 - 2809.
• Coles, J. L.; Li, Z. F., 2020, "Managerial Attributes, Incentives, and Performance", The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, July 9(2): 256 - 301.
• Li, Z. F.; Minor, D. B.; Wang, J.; Yu, C., 2019, "A learning curve of the market: Chasing alpha of socially responsible firms", Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, December 109
• Ikram, A.; Li, Z. F.; Minor, D., 2019, "CSR-contingent executive compensation contracts", Journal of Banking and Finance
• Li, Z. F.; Morris, T.; Young, B., 2019, "The effect of corporate visibility on corporate social responsibility", Sustainability, July 11(13)
• Li, Z. F.; Thibodeau, C., 2019, "CSR-contingent executive compensation incentive and earnings management", Sustainability, January 11(12)
• Jiang, W.; Li, Z. F.; Liu, X.; Wu, J.; Yang, C., 2018, "Clustering of Financial Instruments Using Jump Tail Dependence Coefficient", Statistical Methods & Applications, August 27(3): 491 - 513.
• Coles, J.; Li, Z. F.; Wang, A., 2018, "Industry Tournament Incentives", Review of Financial Studies, April 31(4): 1418 - 1459.

Work in Progress

• Mutual Monitoring and Agency Problems
• Managerial Attributes, Incentives, and Performance (with Jeff Coles)
• An Empirical Assessment of Empirical Corporate Finance (with Jeff Coles)
• Don’t Cover Me: Analyst Innate Ability and Insider Trading (with Chongyu Dang, Stephen Foerster, and Zhenyang Tang)
• Drivers of Research Impact: Evidence from the Top Three Finance Journals (with Chongyu Dang)
• Selection of Peer Firms in Relative Performance Evaluation (RPE) Awards (with John Bizjak, Swaminathan Kalpathy, and Brian Young)
• Corporate Social Responsibility and CEO Risk-Taking Incentives (with Craig Dunbar and Yaqi Shi)

Honours & Awards

• Ivey CPA Centre Research Fund
• SSHRC Insight Grant
• SSHRC Explore & Exchange Grant
• Editorial board of International Journal of Financial Studies 2019-present
• Outstanding Reviewer Award 2019, Journal of Risk and Financial Management
• The Best Paper Award, Global Finance Association Annual Conference, Fresno, CA 2016
• The Best Paper Award, World Business Institute Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada 2016
• Best Doctoral Student Paper Award, Academy Of Behavioral Finance Annual Meeting 2011, UCLA
• Associate Editor of Journal of Accounting, Finance and Economics (JAFE)
• Block Grant Fellow, ASU, 2009-2012

Experience

• Associate Director of Strategic Planning, Cardinal Health, Inc., Overland Park, KS, 2004-2006
• Senior Project Manager, Beckloff Associates, Inc., Overland Park, KS, 2003-2004
• Project Manager, Shanghai Credit Information Services Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China, 1999
• Financial Analyst, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Shanghai, China, 1997-1999

Research/Course Development

• Financial Theory & Research Methods
• Financial Management
• Corporate Finance