Dr Liang Zhao
Senior Lecturer
Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation
Personal statement
Liang Zhao is a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Strathclyde Business School. He earned his PhD in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from the Amsterdam Business School at the University of Amsterdam.
His research focuses on crowdfunding, entrepreneurial finance, innovation strategy, and digital transformation in emerging markets. His work has been published in journals such as the British Journal of Management, Journal of Business Research, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Business Horizons, and Electronic Commerce Research and Applications. Liang also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Alternative Finance and was the lead editor of the widely read book “Advances in Crowdfunding Research and Practice”.
Liang has been involved in several research projects. He was a co-investigator on the interdisciplinary project Crowdfunding in the Culture Sector: Adoption, Effects, and Implications, funded by the Research Council of Norway (RCN), and worked on a Chinese SMEs business model innovation project, supported by the National Social Science Fund of China.
In addition to his academic work, Liang collaborates with entrepreneurial hubs and key players in the crowdfunding and FinTech sectors.
Qualifications
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
- PostGraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching Higher Education
Publications
- Can chain leaders stop greenwashing practices in supply chain governance? An empirical investigation into business strategies
- Sun Zhe, Liu Lei, Zhao Liang, Korayim Diana, Alghafes Rsha
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.70011
- Digital transformation and corporate green innovation : an affordance theory perspective
- Sun Zhe, Zhao Liang, Mehrotra Ankit, Salam Mohammad Asif, Yaqub Muhammad Zafar
- Business Strategy and the Environment Vol 34, pp. 433-449 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3991
- FinTech adoption and corporate greenwashing : a technology affordance perspective
- Sun Zhe, Liu Lei, Johan Sofia, Zhao Liang
- British Journal of Management (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12879
- Investigating crowdfunding campaign value capture strategy from the consumer-based perspective
- Zhao Liang, Sun Zhe, Hajli Nick
- British Journal of Management Vol 35, pp. 2047-2062 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12815
- Exploring the role of social media in promoting healthy consumption
- Zhao Liang, Hu Qilin, Alexopoulou Peggy, Hajli Nick
- Electronic Commerce Research and Applications Vol 67 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2024.101441
- Social media opinion leaders and information diffusion of crowdfunding projects : Evidence from China
- Zhao Liang, Sun Zhe, Chen Si, Gugnani Ritika, Sahore Nidhi
- Technological Forecasting and Social Change Vol 200 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2023.123110
Teaching
I have experience teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate programs across various disciplines, including Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Currently, I teach the following courses:
- Innovation Lab (Z1984)
- Entrepreneurial Finance (Z1982)
- Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Commercialization (Z1931)
- Entrepreneurial Capital (Z1314)
Research Interests
- Crowdfunding
- Entrepreneurial Finance
- Innovation strategy
- Digital transformation in emerging markets
Contact
Dr
Liang
Zhao
Senior Lecturer
Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation
Email: liang.zhao@strath.ac.uk
Tel: Unlisted