Lina Wang is an Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business. This operations management scholar studies how logistics platforms work, why delivery drivers quit, and how companies can make the final step of getting products to customers less expensive and more reliable. Wang’s research combines real company data with advanced models to solve problems that cost businesses billions each year.
Academic Background and Career Path
Wang earned her PhD in Supply Chain Management from Arizona State University in 2021. Before becoming an educator, she worked in real supply chains. She spent time at Maersk Logistics in Shenzhen, China, and at Walmart in both the United States and China. This industry-to-academia transition shapes how she approaches research today, bringing practical insights most tenure-track faculty lack.
Her master’s degree came from the University of Arkansas in 2012, with a focus on supply chain management. The path from shipping containers at Maersk to teaching graduate students shows her commitment to understanding how goods move. As a Smeal College researcher, she brings a practical view from the warehouse floor and the corporate office. This cross-sector experience distinguishes Professor Wang from peers who followed traditional academic paths.
Research Focus and Key Contributions
Dr. Wang studies three main areas where supply chain management meets technology and human behavior. Her research sits at the intersection of logistics, information management, and data analytics. She looks at real problems companies face when delivering products, establishing herself as a supply chain researcher focused on actionable solutions.
Her major publications appear in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, and Journal of Operations Management. These journals publish only the strongest research in operations. One study examines how Amazon’s move into its own delivery service changed the market and what policies might fix problems this created. Another looks at whether grocery delivery platforms can grow without losing money on every order.
Her March 2025 paper “Structural Estimation of Attrition in a Last-Mile Delivery Platform” examines why delivery drivers quit and how companies can keep them. Working alongside her co-authors Scott Webster and Elliot Rabinovich from Arizona State University, the study found that regular pay matters more than training subsidies for keeping drivers on the job. This research helps platforms reduce the constant churn that makes delivery expensive and unreliable.
Impact and Academic Recognition
Wang has been cited 44 times by other researchers. For an emerging scholar who finished her doctorate in 2021, this shows her work influences how others think about operational efficiency and platform economics. Citations measure whether research matters to other scholars working on similar questions, positioning this rising researcher as someone to watch in the field.
She serves on editorial boards and reviews papers for top journals in her field. She received a nomination for the Journal of Operations Management Reviewer Service Award. Reviewing papers means evaluating other researchers’ work before publication. Getting recognized for this service indicates that senior scholars trust her judgment and expertise. As a female researcher in supply chain management, she contributes to diversifying a field traditionally dominated by men.
Her teaching extends her research into the classroom. She teaches SCM 404, a course on demand fulfillment that covers how companies manage orders from the moment they arrive until customers receive their products. Students learn about transportation efficiency, warehouse operations, and inventory control using both theory and real examples. Students note that Professor Wang’s class remains engaging while incorporating more data analytics and information science content into supply chain education.
Real-World Applications
Professor Lina Wang’s research helps companies make better decisions about delivery operations. By working directly with a delivery platform, she built models that predict when drivers will leave based on their pay, experience, and workload. This lets platforms test different compensation strategies before spending millions on changes that might not work.
Her work on Amazon’s entry into last-mile delivery examines what happens when a retail giant builds its own delivery network. This research provides evidence for policymakers who worry about market concentration. It also helps smaller delivery companies understand how to compete when a major player changes the rules. The Penn State faculty member demonstrates how academic research can inform both business strategy and public policy.
The grocery platform research matters because food delivery loses money for many companies. Wang studies whether these platforms can achieve network economies where adding more customers and restaurants makes the whole system more valuable. Understanding these dynamics helps investors and executives decide whether a business model can survive long term. Her findings reveal critical thresholds that determine platform viability.
Recent Work and Research Direction
Wang co-authored a 2025 study on how supercenters affect consumer waste patterns. This research published in Manufacturing and Service Operations Management connects retail strategy to environmental outcomes. The study looks at whether big box stores lead shoppers to buy more than they need and throw away more food, expanding her research agenda beyond traditional logistics questions.
Her publications from 2023 to 2025 show a pattern of studying how platforms balance efficiency with fairness. Driver attrition research reveals tension between keeping costs low and treating workers well enough that they stay. The Amazon study shows how one company’s choices ripple through an entire industry. This academic researcher consistently connects micro-level decisions to macro-level market effects.
Students in her classes note that she pushes for more data analytics and information science content in supply chain education. This reflects where the field is heading as companies collect massive amounts of information about shipments, routes, and customer behavior. Her recent work uses sophisticated statistical methods to extract insights from this data, establishing methodological standards for empirical operations research.
Research Limitations and Open Questions
Dr. Wang’s structural models require detailed data from cooperating companies. Not every firm will share internal information about driver turnover or delivery costs. This limits which questions researchers can answer with the same level of rigor. Her published studies rely on specific platforms and regions, so findings might not apply everywhere, a common challenge for empirical research in operations management.
The fast pace of change in delivery creates challenges for academic research. A study begun in 2022 and published in 2024 examines a platform that may have changed its systems multiple times during that period. By the time findings appear in journals, companies might have already shifted strategies. This time lag means practitioners sometimes move faster than researchers can document. The Wang surname, meaning “king” in Chinese, carries historical weight, though the scholar focuses on contemporary business challenges rather than etymology.
Questions remain about how platform scalability works across different product categories. Food delivery differs from package delivery, which differs from grocery delivery. Wang’s work focuses mainly on parcels and groceries. Whether her findings about driver retention or network effects apply to other delivery types needs more investigation. Future research could examine pharmaceuticals, meal kits, or alcohol delivery to test generalizability.
The relationship between delivery speed, cost, and environmental impact deserves more attention. Wang’s waste study starts this conversation, but the trade offs between customer convenience and sustainability need deeper analysis. As cities restrict delivery vehicles and customers demand faster service, these tensions will grow. The assistant professor positions herself to address these emerging questions as regulations and consumer preferences shift.
