Ying Xiong

Biography

Prior to joining URI, Ying worked in Adam Brown Social Media Command Center at the University of Tennessee offering training opportunities to students, faculty, and staff. She also worked in the Media Effect Lab at the University of Oklahoma for eye tracking, Galvanic Skin Response research, and health communication studies.

Ying has outstanding teaching performance. She has taught Public Relations Research Methods, Public Relations Campaigns, and Introduction to Event Management.

Research

Her research interests include public engagement, social media, artificial intelligence, and technology’s impact on digital engagement. Xiong has built a research agenda examining how communication shapes organizational messaging strategies and public engagement, with particular expertise in two areas: digital activism and public engagement with controversial issues, and organizational communication about artificial intelligence. Her research has been published in journals, including Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Public Relations Review, Journal of Communication Management, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, and International Journal of Communication. Xiong’s research has been supported by grants from the Arthur W. Page Center, the URI Proposal Development Program, and the URI Social Science Institute for Research, Education, and Policy. Through her research involvement in the Rhode Island Survey Initiative Project, she has contributed to the development of valuable statewide public opinion reports on education, elections, and housing. The project has received extensive media coverage from The Boston Globe, The Providence Journal, WJAR, WPRI, and other media outlets.

Education

Ph.D., Communication and Information, The University of Tennessee, 2019.

M.A., Public Relations and Strategic Communication, The University of Oklahoma, 2016.

M.A., Advertising and Public Relations, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, 2014.

B.A., Advertising, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, 2011.

Selected Publications

Xiong, Y., Hunt, D., & Kim, J. K. (2026). How can organizations improve hiring practices with AI? An examination of predictors of AI acceptance in hiring and recruitment. Journal of Communication Management, 1-17.

Kim, J. K., Xiong, Y., & Hunt, D. S. (2026). Communicating the benefits and risks of AI technology in hiring: implications for organization–public relationships. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 31(5), 701-723.

Xiong, Y., & Zhang, X. (2026). From news literacy to skepticism: Examining the pathways that shape the “news-finds-me” perception. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 10776990261447246.

Xiong, Y., & Kim, J. K. (2025). Who wants to be hired by AI? How message frames and AI transparency impact individuals’ attitudes and behaviors toward companies using AI in hiring. Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans, 3, 100120.

Xiong, Y. (2025). Measuring social movement engagement: A co-creational approach to public engagement and social capital. Public Relations Review, 51(1), 102518.

Xu, S., & Xiong, Y. (2020). Setting socially mediated engagement parameters: A topic modeling and text analytic approach to examining polarized discourses on Gillette’s campaign. Public Relations Review, 46(5), 101959.

Xiong, Y., Cho, M., & Boatwright, B. (2019). Hashtag activism and message frames among social movement organizations: Semantic network analysis and thematic analysis of Twitter during the# MeToo movement. Public Relations Review, 45(1), 10-23.