Publications

2026

1. AMR

   Acting to know: Extending Vorholzer and Brattström’s theory of moral ambiguity in entrepreneurial action through externalized moral resolution

   Morgan X. Yang, Kwok Yuen Fan, and Kevin J. Zeng

   Academy of Management Review, 2026

   Accepted

   Abs

   This study overcomes moral paralysis in highly uncertain environments as entrepreneurs bypass internal cognitive reflection and instead utilize "externalized moral resolution", employing small-scale "moral prototyping" to generate real-world feedback and "distributed moral sensemaking" to collectively negotiate value conflicts.

2. JREFE

   An International Perspective of Selective ESG Engagement: Evidence from Real Estate Investment Trusts

   Lu Yang, Jianfu Shen, Kwok Yuen Fan, Louis T.W. Cheng, and Weicheng Lu

   The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 2026

   Forthcoming

   Abs

   This study finds that REITs adopt a "selective ESG" strategy, which emphasizes social and governance aspects while downplays environmental efforts, with financial returns varying by region: it boosts performance in North America but harms it in Europe, underscoring the influence of regional institutional contexts on ESG outcomes.

3. RIBAF

   Saving planet earth or maximizing financial gains: A global analysis of environmental performance positioning as an ESG strategy

   Louis T.W. Cheng, Kwok Yuen Fan, Jianfu Shen, and Qing Yu

   Research in International Business and Finance, 2026

   Forthcoming

   Abs

   The study finds that ESG strategic positioning is linked to higher greenhouse gas emissions and improved financial performance, with stronger emission effects in emerging markets, high-ESG-rated firms, and downstream industries, suggesting companies may game ESG ratings rather than pursue genuine sustainability progress.

4. BSE

   The Twin Transition: Does Intelligent Manufacturing Crowd Out or Catalyze Green Innovation?

   Xin Li, Yu Liu, Kwok Yuen Fan, James Gong, and Morgan X. Yang

   Business Strategy and the Environment, 2026

   Forthcoming

   Abs

   China’s Intelligent Manufacturing Demonstration Project, a policy integrating digital and green goals, spurred a 27% increase in green innovation by easing firms’ financial and managerial constraints, demonstrating that industrial policy can strategically reconcile the twin transition by creating complementarities rather than competition between digital and sustainable investments.

5. IJHMA

   The unintended socioeconomic consequences of housing demand shock: evidence from the home-purchase restriction policy in China

   Zheng Chang, Kwok Yuen Fan, Ke Jing, Sen Lin, and Chun Deng

   International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, 2026

   Abs

   This study demonstrates that China’s home-purchase restrictions successfully cooled housing prices but simultaneously strained municipal budgets by reducing land-leasing revenue, highlighting the fiscal vulnerability of local governments dependent on land sales.

2025

1. BSE

   Lobbying and Green Transition in Fossil Fuel Sector

   Jianfu Shen, I. Y. Yu, Kwok Yuen Fan, Morgan X. Yang, and Eddie C.M. Hui

   Business Strategy and the Environment, 2025

   Forthcoming

   Abs

   This study reveals that corporate lobbying by U.S. oil and gas firms significantly delays the green transition by incentivizing fossil fuel expansion and capital investment while stagnating progress in green innovation and pollution abatement.

2. World Dev.

   Performance measurability, local government’s incentives, and regional air pollution reduction

   Jianfu Shen, Daoju Peng, Eddie C.M. Hui, and Kwok Yuen Fan

   World Development, 2025

   Abs DOI

   Enhanced environmental performance measurability leads to improved environmental quality, particularly when local leaders possess strong career incentives and their financial support is directly contingent on successful environmental protection outcomes.

2024

1. PLoS ONE

   Why high-speed rail causes heterogeneous spatial patterns in firm innovation: Perspectives from intensive and extensive margins

   L. Zheng, H. Zhu, Kwok Yuen Fan, and Z. Chang

   PLoS ONE, 2024

   Abs DOI

   This paper decomposes the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) on firm innovation into extensive and intensive margins, revealing that the net positive effect is a trade-off between beneficial knowledge spillovers and a detrimental "brain drain" from peripheral counties to urban centers.

2. IRFA

   ESG components and equity returns: Evidence from real estate investment trusts

   Kwok Yuen Fan, Jianfu Shen, Eddie C.M. Hui, and Louis T.W. Cheng

   International Review of Financial Analysis, 2024

   Abs DOI

   For US Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), this study finds that higher environmental performance negatively impacts future stock returns and firm fundamentals, while social and governance performance are positively associated with both. These contrasting effects stem from environmental investments’ high costs versus the benefits of social and governance practices, underscoring that ESG’s influence on equity returns is component-specific.

3. JRER

   The value of sustainable property management in real estate: Evidence from Hong Kong

   Jianfu Shen, Kwok Yuen Fan, Eddie C.M. Hui, and Sik Man Ho

   Journal of Real Estate Research, 2024

   Abs DOI

   ESG performance of property management companies is capitalized into housing prices, with the value premium driven by a reduction in perceived risk and a higher rental growth rate rather than by higher gross rents.

4. JREFE

   The valuation effect and consequences of clawback adoption in real estate investment trusts

   Daoju Peng, Jianfu Shen, Simon Yu Kit Fung, Eddie C.M. Hui, and Kwok Yuen Fan

   The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 2024

   Abs DOI

   Clawback provisions are a value-relevant corporate governance mechanism even in the highly regulated REIT market, as investors positively value the adoption of strong policies, particularly in firms with higher prior financial restatement risk and disclosure opacity.

2021

1. JREFE

   Did real estate professionals anticipate the 2007-2008 financial crisis? Evidence from insider trading in the REITs

   Jianfu Shen, Eddie C.M. Hui, and Kwok Yuen Fan

   The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 2021

   Abs DOI

   Real estate professionals in REITs anticipated the 2007-2008 financial crisis by significantly selling their holdings as early as 2004, which refutes the competing "biased belief hypothesis" that they were over-optimistic.

2. JREFE

   The beta anomaly in the REIT market

   Jianfu Shen, Eddie C.M. Hui, and Kwok Yuen Fan

   The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, 2021

   Abs DOI

   The beta anomaly in the REIT market is driven by institutional investors’ preference for high-beta assets, which supports the leverage constraints hypothesis.