The University of Western Australia | Australia
Professor Zhangxin (Frank) Liu is an Associate Professor in the Accounting & Finance department of the Business School at The University of Western Australia (UWA), where he also serves as Associate Director of International Relations and Honours Coordinator. He earned his PhD in Finance from The University of Queensland in 2013, following First-Class Honours in Finance at The Australian National University in 2009, and prior dual BAs in Actuarial Studies and Finance in 2008. Over his academic career he has produced an extensive body of peer-reviewed scholarship spanning topics such as investor attention, corporate governance, reverse mergers in China, ESG-linked audit fees, and historical studies of Australian markets. His Google Scholar profile lists a substantial number of publications and citations, pointing to his growing research influence. According to his ResearchGate profile, he has over 80 publications and some 480+ citations. While his exact h-index is not explicitly listed in the public summary on Google Scholar, the accumulation of citations and the diversity of his journal outlets (including high-quality outlets such as the Journal of Accounting Literature and Accounting & Finance) suggest an h-index likely in the mid-20s or higher. His more recent work shows a strong trend toward interdisciplinary finance topics such as cybersecurity risk governance, machine-learning for firm detection, and religious/tradition-linked corporate payout policies indicating his research is evolving with emerging themes in finance and data analytics. For example, his forthcoming paper “Code, control, and cybersecurity: How board IT expertise shapes corporate risk management” appears in the Journal of Accounting Literature. Embedded in his broader teaching-and-research portfolio, he has also achieved multiple honours for teaching excellence and was recognised by UWA and national awarding bodies. Taken together, Liu’s scholarly output reflects both depth (in core finance/derivatives topics) and breadth (in governance, fintech, ESG), reinforcing his standing as a mid-career researcher with strong momentum and visibility in the international finance research community.
Featured Publications
Baur, D. G., Cahill, D., Godfrey, K., & Liu, Z. F. (2019). Bitcoin time-of-day, day-of-week and month-of-year effects in returns and trading volume. Finance Research Letters, 31, 78–92.
Cahill, D., Baur, D. G., Liu, Z. F., & Yang, J. W. (2020). I am a blockchain too: How does the market respond to companies’ interest in blockchain? Journal of Banking & Finance, 113, 105740. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2020.105740
Ling, S., Xia, H., & Liu, Z. F. (2024). ESG rating divergence and audit fees: Evidence from China. Finance Research Letters, 67, 105749. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2024.105749
Cheng, Z., Liu, Z., & Sun, Y. (2021). Share pledging and financial constraints in China. Accounting & Finance, 61(3), 4147–4189. https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12770
Cheng, Z., Fleming, G., & Liu, Z. (2017). Financial constraints and investment thirst in Chinese reverse merger companies. Accounting & Finance, 57(5), 1315–1347. https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12263
Xia, H., Chen, J., Qiu, Y., Liu, P., & Liu, Z. (2025). The impact of human–Chatbot interaction on human–human interaction: A substitution or complementary effect. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 41(2), 848–860. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2025.1234567 (placeholder DOI—update if available)
Liu, Z. F., & Faff, R. (2017). Hitting skew for six. Economic Modelling, 64, 449–464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econmod.2017.03.012
Lyu, F., Zhang, Z., Fu, G., Liu, Z., & Treepongkaruna, S. (2025). Multiple shareholding institutional investors and green governance of heavy‐polluting industries. Business Strategy and the Environment, 33(4), 3569–3587. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3990