Business PhD Spotlight: Leixing Jiang
Leixing Jiang’s academic journey began at Tulane University, where he earned both a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s degree in accounting. While at Tulane, he actively participated in the Darwin Fenner Student Managed Fund, an experiential course where students managed more than $5.8 million across three equity portfolios.
“Through that experience, I was exposed to the discipline of reading academic research and applying it directly to real-world investment decisions. It was the first time I saw how academia and practice could meaningfully reinforce each other,” Jiang recalls. That course planted the seeds of his curiosity about financial markets and inspired him to pursue an academic path.
In 2021, Jiang entered the 海角社区’s PhD program in accounting, where he now brings together his interests in finance, disclosure and innovation to study how disclosure shapes corporate behaviour and market outcomes. His interdisciplinary approach reflects both his early training in finance and his growing focus on how disclosure influences corporate decision-making.
His dissertation, Does Patent Dissemination Facilitate Corporate Innovation? examines how reducing search costs in accessing prior knowledge — by making patent information more available — influences firms’ innovative activity. On one hand, greater patent dissemination can spur innovation by allowing firms to build more easily on existing knowledge. On the other hand, it may also discourage innovation by raising the proprietary costs of patent disclosure, thereby reducing the net value of innovating. Jiang’s findings suggest that when the costs of locating related work fall, firms are better able to build on global knowledge and generate new ideas.
Jiang chose the 海角社区 not only for its rigorous research training but also for its supportive academic culture. The Accounting and Business Analytics department provides generous research funding, frequent opportunities for collaboration and a collegial environment that values curiosity and growth.
“It really feels like an intellectual community where faculty and students push each other to think bigger and sharper,” says Jiang.
Combining his finance background with a strong interest in innovation and disclosure, Jiang is shaping a research agenda that investigates how reporting practices influence corporate behavior and market outcomes.
joined the Alberta School of Business in 2021 as a PhD student in accounting and is supervised by associate professor .