PhD, Cornell University (2018)
Office: CMU 337
Email: wangliao@uw.edu
Wang Liao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington. He studies everyday interactions (mediated or not) and their social consequences, typically in the contexts of groups and interpersonal relationships. He is particularly interested in the roles that communication dynamics and related technologies play in the emergence of solidarity and hierarchy in everyday encounters, as well as various processes of social influence as the downstream consequences (e.g., compliance gaining, advice taking, information exchange, and community engagement). Recently, his interests also extend to how people interact and build relationships with artificial-intelligence agents (‘bots’). To approach these interests, he uses various quantitative methods, ranging from survey, online/in-lab experiments, content analysis, as well as more computation-intense studies of online/offline behavioral traces and contents. He is particularly enthusiastic about causal inference using these methods for his interested phenomena.
Selected Publications
* Coauthor was a student at the time of writing or publication.
Liao, W., *Oh, Y., Zhang, J. & Feng, B. (2023). Conversational dynamics of joint attention and shared emotion predict outcomes in interpersonal influence situations: An interaction ritual perspective. Journal of Communication.
*Yu, C. & Liao, W. (2023). The impact of professionalism on social discrimination in sharing economy: A study of Airbnb stay choice and review positivity. International Journal of Hospitality Management.
Liao, W., *Oh, Y., Feng, B., & Zhang, J. (2023). Understanding the influence discrepancy between human versus artificial agents in advice interactions: The role of stereotypical perception of agency. Communication Research.
Li, S., Liao, W., *Kim, C, Feng, B., Pan, W. (2022). Multiplicity and dynamics of social representations of the COVID-19 pandemic on Chinese social media from 2019 to 2020. Information Processing & Management, 59(4), 102990.
*Chen, A., Zhang, J., Liao, W., *Luo, C., Shen, C., Feng, B. (2022). Under- standing the association between online social support obtainment and coping during a public crisis. Journal of Health Communication, 27(5), 343-352.
Liao, W., Zhang, J., *Oh, Y. J., & Palomares, N. A. (2021). Linguistic ac- commodation enhances compliance to charity donation: The role of interpersonal communication processes in mediated compliance-gaining conversations. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 26(3), 167-185.
*Yu, C., Liao, W., & Margolin, D. (2021). The differential impacts of blinded online reviews: Comparing socio-emotional features of guest and host reviews on Airbnb. Telematics and Informatics, 65, 101731. (Liao, W. was the corresponding author.)
*Luo, C., *Chen, A., Cui, B., & Liao, W. (2021). Exploring public perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccine online from a cultural perspective: Semantic network analysis of two social media platforms in the United States and China. Telematics and Informatics, 65, 101712.
Shen, C., *Chen, A., *Luo, C., Zhang, J., Feng, B., & Liao, W. (2020). Using reports of symptoms and diagnoses on social media to predict COVID-19 case counts in mainland China: Observational infoveillance study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(5), e19421. (Liao, W. was the corresponding author.)
Li, S., Feng, B., Liao, W., & Pan, W. (2020). Internet use, risk awareness, and demographic characteristics associated with engagement in preventive behaviors and testing: cross-sectional survey on COVID-19 in the United States. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(6), e19782.
Yuan, Y. C., Liao, W., & Bazarova, N. N. (2019). Judging expertise through communication styles in intercultural collaboration Management Communication Quarterly.
Liao, W., Bazarova, N. N., & Yuan, Y. C. (2018). Unpacking medium effects on social psychological processes in computer-mediated communication using the social relations model. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 23, 90-106.
Margolin, D. & Liao, W. (2018) The emotional antecedents of solidarity in social media crowds. New Media & Society, 20, 3700-3719.
Liao, W., Bazarova, N. N., & Yuan, Y. C. (2018). Expertise judgment and com- munication accommodation in linguistic styles in computer-mediated and face- to-face groups. Communication Research, 45, 1122-1145.
Liao, W., Yuan, Y. C., & McComas, K. A. (2018). Communal risk information sharing: motivations behind voluntary information sharing for reducing interde- pendent risks in a community. Communication Research, 45, 909-933.
Liao, W., McComas, K. A., & Yuan, Y. C. (2017). The influence of unrestricted information exchange on willingness to share information with outsiders. Human Communication Research, 43, 256–275.
Thoemmes, F., Liao, W., & Jin, Z. (2017). The analysis of the regression- discontinuity design in R. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 42, 341-360.