Linjia Zhang PH.D.

Associate Professor

Dr. Linjia Zhang is an associate professor in the Department of Economics, and is currently serving as the programme director of MSc Business Analytics at International Business School Suzhou, Xi'an Jiaotong - Liverpool University, China. He graduated from Harbin Institute of Technology in finance with, double bachelor's degree in economics, and a master's degree in Econometrics from the first university of Lille, France. In 2013, he was awarded his doctorate in industrial economics. In 2014, after finishing his postdoctoral research, he chose to come back to China. Upon returning to China, he helped to launch the Institute Sino-Français at Heilongjiang University as an associate professor. His research interests concentrate on theoretical and empirical studies concerning tourism economics, productivity and efficiency measurements, and destination management. He has published several papers in top international journals as the first author and corresponding author, such as Tourism Management (ABS4, ABDC: A*), Journal of Travel Research (ABS4, ABDC: A*), Economic Modelling (ABS2, ABDC: A), Tourism Economics (ABS2, ABDC: A), Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research (ABS2, ABDC: A), Annals of Regional Science (ABS2, ABDC: A), etc., co-authored one monograph, hosted and participated several national and international research project. He is also acting on the editorial board of Tourism Economics, and Journal of Global Information Management.









  • 2008–2013, Ph.D. in Economics, Lille 1 University,France, Obtained with highest honors.
  • 2006–2008, MSc. in Economics, Applied Econometrics, Lille 1 University,France, Obtained with highest honors.
  • 2005–2006, BSc. in Economics, Advanced Economic Analysis, Lille 1 University, France, Obtained with highest honors.
  • 2002–2006, BSc. in Economics, Finance, Harbin Institution of Technology,China, Obtained with highest honors


  • 2017–Present, Lecturer in Economics, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), Businees School, AACSB accredited , Suzhou, China.
  • 2015–2017, Associate Professor in Economics, Heilongjiang University, Has helped to build Institut Sino-Français , Harbin, China.
  • 2013–2015, Postdoctoral Researcher, Research directer of "Evaluation of Regional Tourism Economy" project, Valenciennes University, France.
  • 2013–2014, Visiting scholar, University of Quebec at Montréal, Canada.
  • 2011–2013, Temporary Assistant Professor in Economics, Lille University, Lille, France.


  • Applied Econometrics
  • Non-Parametric Productivity Measurement
  • Industrial Economics: Tourism, Education, Cluster Growth


  • 2023, "Does distance still matter? Moderating effects of distance measures on the relationship between pandemic severity and bilateral tourism demand", Journal of Travel Research, 62(3), 610-625. (SSCI; ABS:4; ABDC: A*; JCR, 10.982). (with Yang Y., Wu L., and Li Z-L.)
  • 2023, “Dynamic Technical Performance Measurement in Rural Tourism", Journal of Global Information Management, 30(1), 1-19. (SSCI; ABS 2; ABDC: A; JCR: 3.47). (with Zhu H-Z., Liu Y., and Luo Y-C.)
  • 2022, "Malmquist productivity indices and plant capacity utilisation: new proposals and empirical application",Annals of Operations Research, 315(1), 221-250. (SSCI; ABS 3, ABDC: A, JCR: 4.85). (with 2. Kerstens K., Sadeghi J., and Van de Woestyne I.)
  • 2022, “Tourism Productivity Indicators In a Multiactivity Framework”, Tourism Analysis, 27(2), 233-236. (SSCI; ABS:2; ABDC: A). (with Walheeer B.)
  • 2021 "Inbound tourism and bilateral trade, evidence from China", Current Issues in Tourism, forthcoming, DOI:10.1080/13683500.2021.1978949. (SSCI, ABS:2, ABDC:A). (with Luo Y-C., and Zhang Y.)
  • 2021, "The Nature of Technological Change in the Chinese Hotel Sector ", Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 45(1), 151-170. (SSCI, ABS:2, ABDC:A). (with Peypoch N., and Song, Y-G.,)
  • 2021, "Improving the productivity evaluation of the tourism industry: a multi-activity profit Luenberger-Hicks-Moorsteen index", Tourism Analysis, doi.org/10.3727/108354221X16186396395746.(SSCI, (SSCI, ABS:2, ABDC:A). (with Walheer B. )
  • 2020, "Bidirectional technological spillover in the Chinese star-rated hotel sector: An empirical investigation", Economic Modelling, 86, 210-226. (SSCI, ABS:2, ABDC:A). (with , Luo Y-C., and Walheer B.)
  • 2020, "Do environmental factors matter? Evidence from Chinese hotel productivity with heterogeneity", Tourism Economics, 26(2), 257-275. (SSCI, ABS:2, ABDC:A). (with Dong H., and Peypoch N.)
  • 2019, "Strategic decision concerning tourist origins portfolio: A decision process based on the ELECTRE method and applied to French Polynesia", Tourism Economics(SSCI, ABS:2, ABDC:A). (with Botti L., and Petiti S.)
  • 2019, "The influence of social media on tourists behavior: A case study in China", European Review of Service Economics and Management,7(1),117-148. (CNRS 4). (with Luo Y-C., and Du J-J.)
  • 2018, "Innovation Networks and Cluster Dynamics: The case of Lyon Biopole and Skywin", Annals of Regional Science, 61(3),553- 578(SSCI, ABS:2, ABDC:B ). (with Desmarchelier B.)
  • 2018, "Profit Luenberger and Malmquist-Luenberger indexes for multi-activity decision markers: the case of the star-rated hotel industry in China", Tourism Management, 69, 1-11. (SSCI, ABS:4, ABDC:A*). (with Walheer B.)
  • 2016, "Destination performance: Introducing the utility function in the mean-variance space", Tourism Management, 52, 123-132 (SSCI, ABS:4, ABDC:A*). (with Botti L., and Petiti S.)
  • 2016 "A comparison of Chinese and French agricultural policy", Northen Economy and Trade, vol. 6. pp. 77-83 (with Xing Y-S.)


  • 2019 Zhu H-Z., Zhang L-J., “Research on the Countermeasure of the Development of Cross-border Industrial System to Russia in Heilongjiang Province”, Economic Science Press, Beijing, China.


  • 2022 "8th Conference of the International Association for Tourism Economics" (University of Perpignan, France)
  • 2019 "7th Conference of the International Association for Tourism Economics" (Faculty of Economics in La Plata, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina)
  • 2019 "The 16th European Workshop on Efficiency and Productivity Analysis" (Loughborough University, London, UK)
  • 2018 "Wharton School, WRDS Advanced Research Scholar Program (WARSP)" (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA)
  • 2018 "The Asia-Pacific Productivity Conference 2018" (Seoul National University, Korea)
  • 2018 "6th Quantitative Advances in Tourism Economics and Management" (Tahiti,Polynesia France)
  • 2016 "The Asia-Pacific Productivity Conference" (Tianjing Nankai Univeristy, China)
  • 2015 "Conference of China Macro-Economic Management Education Association" (Harbin, China)
  • 2014 "The 8th North American Productivity Workshop" (Ottawa, Canada)
  • 2013 "The 4th Antwerp-Lille-Xiamen Workshop in Honor of Wim Meeusen" (Xiamen, China)
  • 2013 "The 13th European Workshop on Efficiency and Productivity Analysis" (Helsinki, Norway)
  • 2011 "Troisième symposium sur la modélisation des déplacements (Paris, France)
  • 2010 "Deuxième symposium sur la modélisation des déplacements (Lyon, France)


  • Principal Investigator "Benchmarking Tools for the Tourism Industry in China", Research Development Fund of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Grant No. RDF 18–01–01, 2018-2020
  • Principal Investigator, "Research on the efficiency and evolution mechanism of the ice-snow tourism industry in Heilongjinang", Heilongjiang Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science, 16JYE10, 2016-2019
  • Main Participant, "The Study on the non-grain land transfer problem in the main grain producing areas in China", National Science Foundation of China (NSFC), 14BJY108, 2014- 2019.
  • Main Participant, "Study on the compensation mechanism of black land protection and utilization in Heilongjiang Province", Social Science Foundation of Heilongjiang, 15024, 2015- 2016
  • Main Participant, "Evaluation of Regional Tourism Economy", - Conseil Régional et Comité Régional de Tourism de Nord-Pas de Calais, SUBV 83181, 2012-2015


  • Reviewer for Annals of Toursim Research
  • Reviewer for Journal of Travel Research
  • Editorial Board Member for Tourism Economics (SSCI, ABDC:A, ABS:2)
  • AACSB Working Group Member for IBSS
  • Year Leader (2 year) for UG program at IBSS
  • Reviewer for Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research
  • Reviewer for Tourism Management
  • Reviewer for International Journal of Hospitality Mangement
  • Reviewer for Tourism Economics


  • ECO303 International Political Economy
  • ECO118 Maths for Economics and Business


  • International Political Economy
  • Mathematics for Business and Economics
  • Principles of Macroeconomics
  • Principles of Microeconomics
  • Advanced Mathematics
  • Financial Econometrics


  • Member of International Society for Efficiency and Productivity Analysis
  • Guest Professor for School of Knowledge Economy and Management (SKEMA)
  • Member of the Francophone Tourism Management Association
  • Guest Researcher of LEM-CNRS laboratory, France


  • IBSS Teaching Excellence Awards-Teaching Innovation, 2023
  • IBSS Research Excellence Awards-Junior, 2022
  • The 15th Philosophical and Social Sciences Outstanding Achievement Award of Suzhou, the third prize
Linjia Zhang