James Christopher Westland
Professor
Department of Information and Decision Sciences
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Contact
Building & Room:
UH 2403
Address:
601 S. Morgan St., Chicago, IL 60607
Office Phone:
Email:
CV Link:
Related Sites:
About
J. Christopher Westland is a Professor in the Department of Information & Decision Sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago. He holds a BA in Statistics and an MBA in Accounting from Indiana University and received his Ph.D. in Computers and Information Systems from the University of Michigan. He is listed on Stanford University's list of "World's Top 2%" scientists. He has worked professionally in the US as a certified public accountant and as a consultant in technology in the US, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. He is the author of numerous academic papers and of nine books: Bayesian A/B Decision Models, Audit Analytics, Structural Equation Modeling; Global Electronic Commerce; Global Innovation Management; Red Wired: China’s Internet Revolution; Structural Equation Modeling; Financial Dynamics; Valuing Technology. Since 2013, he has been the Editor-in-Chief of Electronic Commerce Research (Springer) and has served on editorial boards of other information technology journals, including Management Science, ISR, ECRA, IJEC, and others. He has served on the faculties at the University of Michigan, University of Southern California, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, University of Science and Technology of China, Harbin Institute of Technology, and other academic institutions. In 2012, he received High-Level Foreign Expert status in China under the 1000-Talents Plan and was named Overseas Chair Professor at Beihang University; in 2024 he was awarded a Fulbright Grant to Colombia. He regularly advises on patent, valuation, and technology strategy.
Selected Grants
U.S. Department of State, Fulbright Specialist Roster, Appointed
Selected Publications
Books:
- Bayesian A/B Decision Models, World Scientific, ISBN-13: 978-9819802050, 2025
- Audit Analytics: Data Science for the Accounting Profession (in R. Gentleman, et al. “Use R!” series), Springer 2021; 2nd edition 2024; reviewed on Mike Fallet’s “Million Dollar Book” podcast (Dec 20, 2023)
- Structural Equation Modeling: from paths to networks, Springer, 2nd edition (2019); reviewed in Sarstedt, Marko, and Christian M. Ringle. “Structural Equation Models” Psychometrika (2020): 1-4.
- Global Innovation Management: A Strategic Approach (2nd ed.) London: Palgrave / Macmillan 2018.
Publications:
- The Economic Impact of Remote Work Post-COVID-19: Value Creation and Destruction, Asia Pacific Journal of Information Systems, September, 2025
- Financial Returns of Customer Experience Enhancement Initiatives: An Event Study of 35 Major Corporations, Journal of Logistics, Informatics and Service Science, 2025
- Building Lovemarks with Social Media Marketing: A Methodological Comparison, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, September 2025
- Reflections on a year of significant achievements, Electronic Commerce Research, August, 2025
- Periodicity, Elliott Waves, and Fractals in the NFT Market, Scientific Reports, ; View PDF Format 2024
- Review Valence Impact on Jello Shot Sales, Journal of Marketing Analytics, January 2025
- A Stochastic Model of the Economics of Internet Search, Journal of Electronic Business & Digital Economics, Volume 3 Issue 3, 2024
- Predicting the cryptocurrency market using social media metrics and search trends during COVID-19, (with J Mou, W Liu, C Guan, J Kim) Electronic Commerce Research, 1-27
- Data-and management-driven metaverse research (with Z Pan, J Yan, H Takeda, H Lu, S Liu, W Huang, J Mou), Data Science and Management, Volume 7, Issue 2, June 2024, Pages 75-78
- PLS Papers, Electronic Commerce Research 23 (3), 1361-1366, 2023
- Introduction: Special Issue on digital marketing and eCommerce, Electronic Commerce Research, 1-2 2023 (w/ LF Martinez, FJ Martínez-López)
- Introduction to the special issue on strategic planning for e-commerce business environment, Electronic Commerce Research 23 (1), 1-1, 2023
- A comparative study of frequentist vs Bayesian A/B testing in the detection of E-commerce fraud, Journal of Electronic Business & Digital Economics, Vol. 1 No. 1/2, pp. 3-23.
- Blockchain for sustainable supply chain management: trends and ways forward, Electronic Commerce Research Published: May 2022. (w / Saumyaranjan Sahoo, Satish Kumar, Uthayasankar Sivarajah, Weng Marc Lim, Ashwani Kumar)
- Determinants of Liquidity in Cryptocurrency Markets, Digital Finance, Volume 5, pages 261–293, 2023
- Comorbidity Graph for Chronic Disease: A Topological Approach for Estimating Treatment Cost, (with Eric See-to), Proceedings of PACIS 2022
- Information loss and bias in Likert survey responses. PLoS ONE 17(7): e0271949. July 2022
- Understanding Characteristics of Popular Streamers on Live Streaming Platforms: Evidence from Twitch.tv, Journal of the AIS, 22(4) (with K. Zhao, Y. Hu) (November 2020) DOI:10.17705/1jais.00689
- Assessing Privacy and Security of Information Systems from Audit Data, Information Systems Frontiers, 24 (5), 1417-1434, 2021-05-27
- Trade informativeness and liquidity in Bitcoin markets. PLoS ONE 16(8): e0255515, August 12, 2021.
- When all products are digital: Complexity and intangible value in the ecosystem of digitizing firms. MIS quarterly 45.3 (2021): 1025-1058. (w/ Pouya Rahmati, Ali Tafti and Cesar Hidalgo)
- Predicting Credit Card Fraud with Sarbanes-Oxley Assessments and Fama-French Risk Factors, Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, DOI: 10.1002/isaf.1472 DOI: 2020-04-10
- The information content of Sarbanes-Oxley in predicting security breaches. Computers & Security. 2020 Mar 1;90:101687
- Demand cycles and market segmentation in bicycle sharing. Information Processing & Management 56.4 (2019): 1592-1604 (with Jian Mou, and Dafei Yin)
Professional Leadership
Editor-in-Chief, Electronic Commerce Research (2013–present), Impact factor: 4.7 (2024), CiteScore: 10.1, Acceptance: 14%; articles/yr: ~210; Annual downloads ~700K/yr
Notable Honors
2012–2015, High-Level Foreign Expert status in China, 1000-Talents Plan
Education
- PhD, Computers & Information Systems, University of Michigan, 1987
- MBA, Accounting, Indiana University, 1973
- BA, Mathematics (Physics & Chemistry minors), Indiana University, 1971
Languages: English, Mandarin Chinese
Licensures and Certifications
- Appointment to the Fulbright Specialist Roster by the U.S. Department of State
- Certified Public Accountant (Illinois License 065.035982)
- Beta Gamma Sigma (Business Honorary Society)
- Mensa International; American Mensa
Professional Memberships
Certified Public Accountant (Illinois License 065.035982)