معرفی
Linli Xu serves as Associate Professor of Marketing at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, where she has been a core faculty member since 2012 after completing her PhD at the University of Southern California. Her academic profile centers on quantitative analysis of advertising efficacy and digital platform dynamics within the Marketing Department.
Her educational foundation includes:
- PhD in Marketing (2012), University of Southern California
- MA in Economics (2004), University of British Columbia
- BA in Economics (2002), Jilin University
Xu's research investigates causal relationships between paid advertising and consumer word-of-mouth (WOM), with particular emphasis on automotive markets and digital platforms. She employs advanced econometric techniques to analyze large-scale datasets spanning 538 U.S. national brands across 16 categories, revealing modest average advertising elasticity on WOM (0.019 for TV) but significant short-term effects during high-impact events like the Super Bowl. Her work bridges theoretical marketing frameworks with real-world advertising measurement challenges.
Analysis of her publications (2013-2022) shows consistent focus on WOM dynamics, with increasing methodological sophistication in causal inference. Articles demonstrate progression from foundational elasticity studies to event-specific analyses, highlighting how offline WOM constitutes 85% of total consumer conversations and why Super Bowl campaigns generate disproportionate WOM spikes (68% online increase) despite industry expectations.
Key scientific accolades include:
- Marketing Science Institute Young Scholar Award (2019)
- James S. Ford/Commerce Associate PhD Fellowship (2010)
Her research program is supported by Marketing Science Institute grants and Carlson School Dean's Small Research Grants, focusing on advertising-WOM interactions and platform economics. While specific advisee names aren't listed, her position involves mentoring PhD and master's students in marketing analytics. Xu actively collaborates with cross-institutional researchers on automotive and digital advertising projects.
No dedicated labs or research teams are explicitly mentioned, but her methodological contributions to synthetic control techniques and multi-brand WOM analysis indicate leadership in quantitative marketing research networks.
