Tianshu Sun

Tianshu Sun's research conducted in collaboration with leading private and public sector platforms addresses how firms can use large-scale field experiments in conjunction with big data to improve business decisions. His current research focuses on understanding 1) how digital platforms can use IT-enabled and data-driven interventions to influence social sharing among individuals, and 2) how organizations can leverage mobile and Internet of Things to integrate individuals' online and offline experience. Tianshu has worked closely with a variety of organizations including Facebook and Alibaba. Many findings from these studies have been implemented by collaborating organizations. Tianshu has given over 70 talks at top universities and international conferences, and has research papers published in Management Science, Information Systems Research, and Journal of Health Economics. Tianshu's research has received 9 Best Paper Awards (ICIS,CIST,WITS,INFORMS), and has been supported by grants from Adobe and Marketing Science Institute.

Areas Of Expertise

• Analytics
• Aviation
• Causal Inference
• Consumer Products
• Digital Platforms
• Econometrics
• Hospitality
• Retail
• Structural Models

Academic Position

• 2021 - :
  • Robert R. Dockson Associate Professor (with Tenure), Department of Data Sciences and Operations, Marshall School of Business, USC
    
  • Associate Professor of Computer Science (Courtesy), Viterbi School of Engineering, USC
• 2019 - : Robert R. Dockson Named Professorship, University of Southern California
• 2020 : Visiting Faculty Scholar, MIT Sloan School of Management
• 2016 - 2020: Assistant Professor of Information Systems, Department of Data Sciences and Operations, Marshall School of Business, USC.

Education

• 2011 - 2016 : Ph.D. (Information Systems and Economics), Smith School of Business, University of Maryland.
• 2009 - 2011 : Master of Science (Physics), University of Maryland.
• 2005 - 2009 : Bachelor of Science (Physics), NanjingUniversity

Research + Publications

• Geographical Pattern of Online Word-of-Mouth: How Offline Environment Influences Online Sharing
• Not registered? Please sign-up first: a randomized field experiment on the ex-ante registration request
• The Value of Personal Data in the Internet Commerce: A High-stake Field Experiment on Data Regulation Policy
• Sooner or Later? Promising Delivery Speed in Online Retail
• Big Data in Charitable Operations: Insights from Staffing in Blood Donation
• Cross-Sampling Physical Products Through E-Commerce Warehouses: Experimental Evidence from Alibaba
• Connecting Customers and Merchants Offline: Experimental Evidence from The Commercialization of Last-Mile Pickup Stations at Alibaba
• Displaying Things in Common to Encourage Friendship Formation: A Large Randomized Field Experiment
• Words Matter! Towards Pro-social Call-to-Action for Online Referral: Evidence from Two Field Experiments
• Learning Contextual and Topological Representations of Areas-of-Interest for On-Demand Delivery Application
• Creating Social Contagion through Firm Mediated Message Design: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment
• Lab Experiment and Field Experiment in the Digital Age: Friend or Foe
• Prescriptive Analytics using Heterogeneous Treatment Effects
• Reading Marathon: the Effect of Binge Reading on User-Generated Content
• The Impact of Social Learning in Prosumption
• Uncovering Offline Conversion Funnel with Internet-of-Things: The Case of WiFi Tracking in Retail Industry
• Reviewing Before Reading? An Empirical Investigation of Book Consumption Patterns and their Effects on Reviews
• Optimal Utilization of Heterogeneous Treatment Effects: A Prescriptive Analytics Approach
• Geographical Variations of Online Word-of-Mouth: The Role of Offline Environment in Influencing Online Sharing
• Completing the Online-Offline Circle at the Last Mile: A Large Field Experiment with Alibaba
• Is Binge Reading Detrimental to Online Reviews?
• Social Learning in Prosumption: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment
• Word-of-Mouth System Implementation and Customer Conversion: A Randomized Field Experiment
• Motivating Mobile App Adoption: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment
• Mobile Messaging for Offline Group Formation in Prosocial Activities: A Large Field Experiment
• Social Learning in Prosumption: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment
• To Integrate or Not: Social media integration and ecommerce platform performance: A large field experiment
• Monetize Sharing Traffic via Incentive Design: A Randomized Field Experiment
• To Integrate or Not: Social media integration and ecommerce platform performance: A large field experiment
• High-dimensional Social Treatments with Personalized Constraint
• Altruism Pays! Towards Optimal Call-to-Action for Online Referral: A Randomized Field Experiment
• Does Location Still Matter in Online Referrals? Offline Factors in Online Sharing
• Motivating Mobile App Adoption: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment
• Social Media Integration and E-commerce Platform Performance: A Randomized Field Experiment
• Uncovering Offline Conversion Funnel with Big Data: the case of Smart WiFi tracking in Retailing Industry
• Creating Social Contagion through Firm Mediated Message Design: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment
• Does Care Lead to Share? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment on Call for Sharing
• Solving shortage in a priceless market: Insights from blood donation