Dr. Leping You is an Associate Professor of Strategic Communication at Miami University. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Mass Communication, specializing in Public Relations, from the University of Florida.
You’s research centers on corporate political advocacy, community empowerment, and public mobilization, particularly on social media. Her work approaches corporate political advocacy as a form of corporate citizenship through which companies participate in the social and political life of their communities. Her research examines how companies use their communicative resources and public visibility to empower publics, encourage civic participation, and mobilize communities around pressing sociopolitical issues.
A central question guiding her research is how publics assess whether a company’s advocacy efforts reflect a genuine commitment to community interests over self-interest. Drawing on public relations, behavioral science, and social psychology, her work examines how public-serving motives, value congruence, and shared responsibility can strengthen publics’ commitment to a company and their confidence in acting collectively to advance community interests and the broader social good.
Building on this research, a growing stream of You’s work examines how artificial intelligence is reshaping organizational social advocacy. She studies how companies and nonprofit organizations can responsibly collaborate with AI-powered communicative agents, including virtual influencers, while maintaining transparency, accountability, agency, and trust. This work extends her broader interest in how organizational communication empowers publics and mobilizes communities by asking how emerging technologies may enable organizations’ capacity to serve as responsible citizens in civic and community life.
You’s scholarship has appeared in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Social Responsibility Journal, among others. Her research has received external grant support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Arthur W. Page Center at Penn State University.
At Miami University, You teaches courses such as Strategic Communication Campaigns, Managing Crisis and Reputation, and Advanced Strategic Communication Writing. In her capstone campaigns course, students apply strategic research and planning to address community needs through partnerships with nonprofit organizations. Her capstone classes have partnered with over ten nonprofits in the Greater Cincinnati area, ranging from food rescue and community engagement groups to mental health and senior service centers.
Before pursuing her doctoral degree, You worked in the Life Sciences Department at TransPerfect, first at its global headquarters in New York and later at its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong. There, she managed global communication projects for major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Novartis, and Gilead Sciences.
Research Interests
Ph.D. in Mass Communication, University of Florida
