NAME:Xing Zhang

Email: zhangx@szu.edu.cn

Assistant professor, School of Media and Communication, Shenzhen University

Education Background

·National University of Singapore,PhD in Communications and New Media, 2018-2023

·Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,MSc in Global China Studies, 2016-2017

·Sichuan University,BA in Journalism, 2013-2017

Research Interest

·Public relations

·Crisis and risk communication

·Science communication

·Health communication

Teaching Cources

·International public relations

·Research methods in communication

·Professional English

·Advertising research

·Data processingand SPSSapplication

Grants

1.The Philosophy and Social Science Foundation of China, “The Spillover Effect of Overseas Public Opinion Crisis of Chinese Enterprises on National Image and Its Governance” (2024), Principal Investigator

2.The Philosophy and Social Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, “The Evolution and Governance Response of Overseas Public Opinion Crisis for Chinese (Guangdong) Enterprises from the Perspective of National Image” (2023), Principal Investigator

3.The Social Sciences 2035 Program of Shenzhen University, “Research on State-Owned Enterprise Branding and National Image Communication in Overseas Public Opinion Crises” (2023),Principal Investigator

4.Research Initiation Fund for Young Scholars of Shenzhen University, “Science Communication of Socio-Scientific Issues in the Age of Social Media” (2023), Principal Investigator

Publications

Zhang, X.,*& Zhao, J. (2025). Beyond Narrative Relief: Exploring the Impacts of Lacking Feedback and Perceived Cyber-Ostracism Based on the Temporal Need-Threat Model.Health Communication.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10410236.2025.2481473

Chen, A.,Zhang, X.,*& Jin, J. (2025). Public opinion outweighs knowledge: A dual‐process framework for understanding acceptance of genetic modification among scientists and laypeople.Risk Analysis, 1–11.https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.17704

Zhang, X.,*& Nekmat, E. (2024). Retelling the past crisis: Crisis memory and its influences on organizational reputation and public responses.Public Relations Review,50(5), 102493.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102493

Zhang, X., Chen, A.,*& Jin, J. (2024). Chinese scientists’ mediated participation in public outreach: Multiple direct and personal norm-mediated predictors.Public Understanding of Science.https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625241237927

Zhang, X.(2024). Parsing the Interactive Construction of Crisis Memory on Social Media: From a Memory-Agenda Perspective.Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media,68(2), 218–242.https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2024.2316094

Zhang, X.,*& Nekmat, E. (2023). Incorporating competition and comparisons into crisis communication: How competing organizations respond to industry crises.Public Relations Review,49(3), 102324.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102324

Zhang, X.(2023). Roles of Crisis Memory Narratives in Public Health Crisis Responses: An Experimental Study Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response Theory.Journal of Public Relations Research.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1062726X.2023.2236738

Chen, A.,Zhang, X.,* & Jin, J. (2023). The Sagan Effect and Scientists’ Public Outreach Participation in China: Multilayered Roles of Social Norms and Rewards.Science Communication,45(1), 12–38.https://doi.org/10.1177/10755470221143077

Zhang, X., & Chen, A.*(2022). The Multiplicity and Dynamics of Functional Crisis Memories in Crisis Communication: How Chinese Social Media Users Collectively Reconstructed SARS during COVID-19.Journal of Public Relations Research,34(1–2), 45–63.https://doi.org/10.1080/1062726X.2022.2063869

Chen, A., &Zhang, X.*(2022). Changing Social Representations and Agenda Interactions of Gene Editing After Crises: A Network Agenda-Setting Study on Chinese Social Media.Social Science Computer Review,40(5), 1133–1152.https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439321998066

Chen, A. A., &Zhang, X.* (2022). Rethinking the knowledge-attitudes model and introducing belief in human evolution: Examining antecedents of public acceptability of human gene editing.Health, Risk & Society.https://doi.org/10.1080/13698575.2022.2123903

Zhang, X.,*Chen, A., & Zhang, W. (2021). Before and after the Chinese gene-edited human babies: Multiple discourses of gene editing on social media.Public Understanding of Science,30(5), 570–587.https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662520987754

Zhang, X.,*Nekmat, E., & Chen, A. (2020). Crisis collective memory making on social media: A case study of three Chinese crises on Weibo.Public Relations Review,46(4), 101960.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2020.101960

Chen, A.,Zhang, X., Li, S.，Yang, N., & Zhu, W. (2021).Issue communication, discourse structure and media: The evolution of social representations of the issue of “gene editing” on Weibo in a scientific crisis .China Computer-Mediated Communication Studies (中国网络传播研究),(2), 157-183.https://zwcy.cbpt.cnki.net/WKG/WebPublication/paperDigest.aspx?paperID=5e92cf75-70ab-44c5-b987-dae0c1f06dcf

Awards

·Top Paper of Crisis Communication Think Tank (ICA, Public Relation Division, 2024)

·Runner-up Top Faculty Paper (ICA, Popular Media and Culture Division, 2024)

·Top Student Paper Award (ICA, Health Communication Division, 2023)