Zhao
Wenqing Zhao is a Ph.D. candidate in mass communication, advised by Dr. Yan Jin. Her research focuses on crisis management and communication, strategic conflict management, health risk communication, and psychophysiological methods. Wenqing has published 11 peer-reviewed journal articles and contributed to 17 presentations at peer-reviewed conferences. Her work has been published in Human Communication Research, Public Relations Review, Annals of the International Communication Association, Communication Monographs, etc.
Wenqing is the lab manager for the Brain, Body, and Media (BBAM) Lab and the research coordinator for the CIA (Crisis Insights and Analytics) Lab affiliated with Crisis Communication Think Tank (CCTT). She was selected as a Future Faculty Fellow in 2024. She is a recipient of UGA Dissertation Completion Award for the 2025-26 academic year.
Publications
Zhao, W., Rachwalski, A., Berndt‐Goke, M., & Jin, Y. (2025). An examination of management of AI-triggered organizational threats from communication practitioners’ perspective. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 33(1), e70031. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.70031
Zhao, W., Jin, Y., van der Meer, T., Hameleers, M., & Lu, X. (2025). Beyond a fragmented account of conflicts in communication: a framework of informational conflicts. Annals of the International Communication Association, 49(1), 32-44. https://doi.org/10.1093/anncom/wlae003
Lu, X., Zhao, W., van der Meer, T. G., & Jin, Y. (2025). Organizational readiness for issue polarization: how corporate political engagement can optimize organization-stakeholder issue discussion in social media environment. Journal of Communication Management, 29(1), 133-148. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-09-2024-0160
Zhao, W., Lu, X., Jin, Y., & van der Meer, T. G. (2024). Pushing hands and buttons: The effects of corporate social issue stance communication and online comment (in)civility on publics’ responses. Public Relations Review, 50(4), 102488. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102488
Clementson, D. E. & Zhao, W. (2024). How political consultants can leverage partisan media combativeness in the U.S. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 52(6), 702–721. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2024.2415563
Clementson, D. E., Zhao, W., & Beatty, M. J. (2024). Atoning vs. evading when caught transgressing: two multi-theory-based experiments investigating strategies for politicians responding to scandal. Human Communication Research, 50(4), 545-560. https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqae015
Liu, B. F., Jin, Y., Zhao, W., Schwarz, A., Truban, O., & Seeger, M. (2024). Building the new architecture of crisis management: Global experts’ insights on best and worst practices for securing external funding. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 32(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.12539
Clementson, D. E. & Zhao, W. (2023). When a journalist and politician engage in deception detection: Effects of demeanor, refutation, and partisanship in combative media interviews. Communication Monographs, 91(1), 79-101. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2023.2244030
Zhao, W., Jin, Y., & Karinshak, E. (2023). Building trust and empowering informed decisions: Effects of risk disclosure and call to action on young adults’ responses to dietary supplement advertising. International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing, 17(3), 249-264. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPHM-01-2023-0006
Clementson, D. E., Zhao, W., & Park, S. (2023). How intense language hurts a politician’s trustworthiness: Voter norms of a political debate via language expectancy theory. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 42(4), 407-430. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X231171688
Kirkpatrick, A. W., Park, M., Domgaard, S., Zhao, W., Steinberg, C., & Hsu, Y. (2021). Vaccine videos and information sharing: The effects of framing, evidence type, and speaker expertise. Journal of Health Communication, 26(9), 608-617. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2021.1983892
Zhao, W. (2019, December). Misinformation correction across social media platforms. In 2019 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI) (pp. 1371-1376). IEEE. Doi: 10.1109/CSCI49370.2019.00256.
Conferences
Lu, X., Zhao, W., Jin, Y., Coombs T., & Vijaykumar, S. (2025, August). Red alert in authority-led public health crisis communication efforts: The role of pre-existing source trust on the impact of misinformation and corrective appeals on publics’ identity threat, reactance, and emotional responses. Paper presented at the 108th annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), San Francisco, CA.
Zhao, W., Zhang, L., Perera, A., Andrea Robayo Sanchez, K., Romero-Castro, G., Shivers, B. N., Fiore, L., Kim, S., Yan, H.Y., Bailey, R., Wojdynski, B., & Read, G.L. (2025, June). Effect of point-of-view on interpretation of body-worn camera footage: A psychophysiological investigation of cognitive processing and evaluation of culpability. Paper presented at the 75th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Denver, CO.
Sun, R., Jin, Y., & Zhao, W. (2024, August). A simulation exercise on tackling AI-related crisis. Paper presented at the 107th annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Philadelphia, PA.
Seo, J. K., Zhao, W., & Himelboim, I. (2024, June). Who can help? A social network approach to understanding alcoholism social support at the r/stopdrinking subreddit. Paper presented at International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA) Sunbelt Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Zhao, W., Jin, Y., van der Meer, T., Hameleers, M., & Lu, X. (2024, June). Beyond a fragmented account of conflicts in communication: An integrative framework of informational conflicts. Paper presented at the 74th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Gold Coast, Australia.
Lee, Y., Lu, X., Zhao, W., Kim, S., Duncan, J., Choi, S., Seo, Y., Hatfield, H., Sun, S., & Read, G. (2024, June). The role of image frame and corrective strategy on processing partial misinformation about depression treatments. Paper presented at the 74th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Gold Coast, Australia.
Zhao, W., Rachwalski A., Berndt-Goke, M., & Jin, Y. (2024, March). Examination of strategies for ethical management of AI-triggered organizational threats from a practitioner perspective. Paper presented at the 27th annual International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC), Orlando, Florida, USA.
Clementson, D. E. & Zhao, W. (2023, November). When a journalist and politician engage in deception detection: Effects of demeanor, refutation, and partisanship in combative media interviews. Paper presented at the 109th National Communication Association conference, National Harbor, MD.
Clementson, D. E. & Zhao, W. (2023, November). Why Democratic voters like seeing Democrats interviewed on Fox News’s Tucker Carlson more than Republican voters like Republicans on CNN. Paper presented at the 109th National Communication Association conference, National Harbor, MD.
Clementson, D. E. & Zhao, W., & Park, S. (2023, November). How intense language hurts a politician’s trustworthiness: Voter norms of a political debate via Language Expectancy Theory. Paper presented at the 109th National Communication Association conference, National Harbor, MD.
Zhao, W., Lu, X., Jin, Y., & van der Meer, T. (2023, August). Pushing hands and buttons: The effects of corporate social issue stance communication and online comment (in)civility on publics’ emotional and behavioral responses. Paper presented at the 106th annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Washington, D.C.
Read, G., Zhao, W., Choi, S., Hudson, S., & Wen, T. (2023, May). This ad speaks to me: An investigation of mechanisms underlying social identity relevant advertising. Paper presented at the 73rd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Toronto, Canada.
Zhao, W. (2022, May). Misinformation correction across social media platforms. Paper presented at the 72nd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Virtual Conference.
Pjesivac, I., Klein, L., Zhao, W., Lu, X., & Jin, Y. (2022, May). Factors that impact covid-19 conspirational beliefs and health-related behaviors. Paper presented at the 72nd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Paris, France.
Lu, X., Hatfield, H., Sun, S., Seo, Y., Kim, S., Choi, S. I., Zhao, W., Duncan, J., Yoon, H. J., Wojdynski, B., & Read, G. L. (2022, May). Gaining insights into effects appeals for COVID-19 vaccine messages targeting 18-23 year old college students. Paper presented at the 72nd Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Paris, France.
Seo, Y., Zhao, W., Choi, S., Jin Y., Shivers B., & Karinshak E. (2022, March). How emotional appeals in health promotion messages and user-generated comments impact covid-19 vaccination intention. Paper presented at the International Public Relations Research Conference (IPRRC), Orlando, USA.
Park, M., Hsu, Y., Domgaard S., Zhao W., & Steinberg C. (2020, August). Brokerage combating misinformation: Examinations of health discussion networks and attitude toward child vaccination. Paper presented at the 103rd annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Virtual Conference.
Education
M.A. in Communication, Washington State University, Pullman, WA
B.A. in Journalism, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China
