Lijie Zhou

Associate Professor of Professional Communications Southern Utah University

  • Cedar City UT

Contact

Biography

Dr. Lijie Zhou is an Associate Professor from the Communication Department at Southern Utah University. His teaching emphases include: quantitive communication research, visual literacy and application, social media management, digital design, advertising psychology, and nonverbal communication.   

Dr. Zhou's research, primarily rooted in strategic communication, centers on visual communication, structural equation modeling, visual branding, and psychological reactions to persuasive messages. He has done a wide range of strategic communication research in crisis communication, virtual reality advertising, interactive marketing, eye-tracking experiments, visual branding, native advertising, and social media fundraising.

Under the direction of Dr. Zhou, the Visual Communication Research Lab from the Communication Department at Southern Utah University has grown from a screen-based eye-tracking system to a research lab with multiple eye-tracking systems integrated with virtual reality, screens, mobile devices, and research-based data collection and analysis software. The lab can be used for conducting research projects by employing cutting-edge technologies such as eye-tracking, haptic feedback, motion capture, biometry systems, and virtual reality platforms.

Dr. Lijie Zhou earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Xinjiang University, a Master of Science in Mass Communication from Arkansas State University, and a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from The University of Southern Mississippi.

Areas of Expertise

Visual Communication Devices
Eye Tracking Technology
Consumer Behavior
Planned Behavior
Virtual Reality (VR)

Education

The University of Southern Mississippi

Ph.D.

Mass Communication

2017

Arkansas State University

M.S.

Mass Communication

2013

Xinjiang University,

B.S.

Computer Science

2007

Accomplishments

Innovative Pedagogy Award

SUU College of Humanities & Social Sciences, 2024

Early Career Award

SUU College of Humanities & Social Sciences, 2019

Top Faculty Paper (second place)

AEJMC National Conference, Visual Communication Division, 2018

Show All +

Affiliations

  • Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication : Member

Media Appearances

Communication Faculty Achievements in Research and Innovation

SUU News  online

2024-11-14

Dr. Lijie Zhou, associate professor of professional communication, ended this summer with two notable publications. His paper on charitable birthday wishes, published in the Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, expands on the theory of planned behavior. In a separate article for the International Journal of Marketing, Communication, and New Media, Dr. Zhou explores the impact of temporal distance and message concreteness in Facebook ads, emphasizing the moderating effects of social distance.

View More

SUU Partners with UNLV for Annual Research Collaboration

SUU News  online

2024-09-20

The VR study conducted with Dr. Zhou was notable for its utilization of SUU’s state-of-the- art Visual Communications lab. Dr. Zhou was specifically asked to help due to his expertise in virtual reality.

“The Visual Communications Research Lab is growing from a basic screen-based eye tracker system to a comprehensive lab with advanced visual communication technology and up-to-date eye tracking and virtual reality devices,” said Dr. Zhou. “This collaboration is a unique opportunity to demonstrate what this lab is capable of to [UNLV] and also show the expertises and research abilities from the researchers at SUU.”

View More

SUU Introduces State-of-the-Art Social Brand and Visual Communication Research Labs

SUU News  online

2024-04-01

The labs’ inception stemmed from a grant application written by communication professors Matt Barton and Lijie Zhou, in collaboration with Jean Boreen, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Securing funding from the Utah System of Higher Education, the grant application was driven by Zhou's expertise in eye-tracking technology, positioning SUU as a leader in this field nationally.

View More

Show All +

Research Grants

Eye tracker lab and digital branding lab funds

USHE Budget Office

2022

HSS Summer Research Grant

Southern Utah University

2020

Articles

Make a Charitable Birthday Wish on Facebook: An Extended Theory of Planned Behavior

Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing

2024

Social media fundraising has become an important tool for nonprofits to raise money. Focusing on one specific fundraising tool, Facebook birthday fundraiser, the current study developed an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model and included three external variables, relationship strength with the fundraiser creator, perceived risk regarding personal information safety, and personal relevance of the fundraising cause.

View more

Temporal Distance and Message Concreteness in Facebook Ads: The Moderating Effects of Social Distance.

International Journal of Marketing, Communication and New Media

2024

The study examined the effects of social distance, temporal distance, and message concreteness on Facebook users’ response to News Feed advertising. A 2 (social distance: low vs. high) × 2 (temporal distance: near future vs. distant future) × 2 (message: abstract vs. concrete) between-group design was utilized to explore the main and interaction effects of three factors on Facebook users’ attitude-toward-the-ad, brand interest, and purchase intention.

View more

Understanding social influence in Facebook fundraising: Relationship strength, immediacy of needs, and number of donations

Journal of Philanthropy and Marketing

2022

Crowdfunding through social media has presented challenges and opportunities for nonprofit and voluntary sector organizations. To better understand how organizations can harness the power of social media in fundraising, the current research examined the effects of different types of Facebook fundraising posts on donor engagement.

View more

Show All +

Courses

COMM 1450 Introduction to Advertising and Public Relations

This course introduces the concepts and practices of public relations and advertising to meet a variety of organizational goals. The focus of the course is the role of strategic communication in the process of marketing and strategic campaigns.

COMM 3020 Communication Research

This course emphasizes empirical and critical research appropriate for understanding mediated communication. An emphasis is placed on conducting surveys, focus groups, content analysis, and social marketing methods.

COMM 3080 Digital Design

This course develops advertising and layout skills applicable to digital/web design, usability and hard copy. Visual design principles as well as copywriting techniques applicable to various advertising media will be studied. Practical experience wil include website development for both web and mobile APIP, copy layout, and preparing ads for publication.

Show All +