About Lina

Dr. Lina Xiong is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources at Colorado State University. She is also called “Dr. Bear” because her last name in Chinese means “bear.” Dr. Bear came to the U.S. in 2006 from mainland China. Lina completed her Ph.D. in Business Administration from Temple University in Philadelphia. Her dissertation, titled “Employee Brand Internalization: The Central Route to a Brand Aligned Workforce,” received a Highly Commended Award at the 2014 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards in the Hospitality Management category. Her research focuses on internal branding, service management, and employee wellbeing in the tourism and hospitality industry. Before coming to CSU, Dr. Bear taught mainly business courses in the College of Business at Marshall University. Her teaching assignments at CSU include tourism strategic management and tourism marketing at both undergraduate and graduate levels. She also serves as the Director of China Sustainable Tourism Programs in HDNR, which include the collaborative Master of Tourism Management program – China and Master of Park and Protected Area Management program – China. Both programs are in collaboration with Central China Normal University with consistently strong enrollment.

Website Google Scholar Profile

Interests

  • These areas emphasize an internal stakeholder perspective in building a sustainable competitive advantage through internal branding among tourism employees at the micro-level as well as destination residents at the macro-level. This research focus is critical for tourism organizations because a unique service brand experience can only be achieved through employees who are motivated to meet customers’ prior brand expectations through their brand-aligned attitudes, behaviors, manners, Similarly, residents at destinations play an critical role in substantiating tourists’ prior destination expectations. She have published many articles in top tourism and hospitality journals including International Journal of Hospitality Management, Journal of Travel Research, European Journal of Marketing, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, etc.

Education

Ph.D, Business Administration - Temple University
Philadelphia, PA, 2014

M.S., Hospitality Information Management - University of Delaware
Newark, DE, 2008

B.S., Tourism Management - Jinan University
Guangzhou, China, 2006

Awards, Honors, Grants

  • Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, China Program International Fellowship, 2023-24
  • Outstanding Faculty Award, APACC (Asian Pacific American Cultural Center), Colorado State University, 2022
  • HDNR travel funds, 2016-2019
  • Highly Commended Award of the 2014 Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards (Hospitality Management category), 2015
  • “Advancement in Research Grants”, HDNR , 2015
  • Winner of the Outstanding Paper in the 2015 Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence , 2014
  • The Fox School of Business, Temple University, Travel Grant, 2010-2012

Selected Publications

Promoting resident-tourist interaction quality when residents are expected to be hospitable hosts at destinations

  • Xiong, L., Wang, H., Yang, Y. & He, W. ,

“That’s not my job”: Exploring the employee perspective in the development of brand ambassadors

  • Xiong, L., King, C., & Piehler, R. ,

Too much of a good thing? Examining how proactive personality affects employee brand performance

  • Xiong, L., & King, C. ,

Exploring How Employee Sense of Brand Community Affects Their Attitudes and Behavior

  • Xiong, L., & King, C. ,

Aligning employees’ attitudes and behavior with hospitality brands: the role of employee brand internalization

  • Xiong, L. & King, C. ,

It takes a village: examining how and when brand-specific transformational leadership affects employees in internal brand management

  • Xiong, L.,