Hung-Chang Lin

Welcome! I am a PhD candidate in Strategic Management at Michigan State University, graduating in 2026. My research examines how language shapes audience evaluations in high-stakes settings such as earnings calls. Using a panel of S&P 500 firms, I study how investors interpret executives’ positive and negative tone, emotional displays, and rhetorical strategies.

My work challenges common assumptions in the tone literature—that effects of positive and negative tone are symmetric, that tone is reducible to categorically positive and negative, and that tone is taken at face value. Broadly, I develop a critical and context-sensitive theory of strategic communication that sheds light on how firms can communicate more effectively with stakeholders and improve performance.

I view research and teaching as mutually reinforcing: my scholarship informs classroom discussions, while my students’ insights sharpen my thinking about strategy in practice. I design inquiry-based, inclusive classrooms where students apply strategic frameworks to real-world problems and practice articulating their ideas clearly and persuasively. At MSU, I have taught multiple recitation sections of Strategic Management, the undergraduate capstone course, earning strong evaluations for my ability to connect theory with practice, foster engagement, and support diverse learners.