Seminars topic: This talk begins with a brief introduction to design science research, which has become a core research paradigm in Information Systems, and then focuses on a project in financial fraud detection. The speaker presents NetDetect, a novel framework that jointly learns structural information and temporal changes in dynamic heterogeneous networks to enable effective and interpretable fraud detection. Experimental results and a case study show that NetDetect detects corporate fraud more accurately than baseline models and provides strong early-warning capability as well as transparent results. The talk also distills three design principles derived from NetDetect to guide the development of similar IT artifacts. The discussion is based on the paper “How a rotten apple may spoil the barrel: corporate fraud detection via dynamic business networks,” recently published in MIS Quarterly.
Scholars Background: Prof. J. Leon Zhao is Presidential Chair Professor of Information Systems at the School of Management and Economics, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. Previously, he taught at the City University of Hong Kong and the University of Arizona. He received his Ph.D. from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. Prof. Zhao’s research focuses on GenAI and LLM applications, human–AI collaboration, blockchain, and FinTech. He has published in leading journals such as Management Science, Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, Journal of Management Information Systems, and IEEE and ACM Transactions. He is co-editor of Financial Innovation (Springer Open Access) and has co-edited over 20 special issues for major journals including MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, and Journal of Operations Management. Prof. Zhao has chaired around 30 conferences in Information Systems, co-founded CSWIM (2007–present), and founded ICSF (2016–present). He is a recipient of the IBM Faculty Award (2005) and the National Changjiang Scholar Award (2009, 2022).
Time and Location: November 28, 2025, 10:00–11:30, Room A523, School of Management
Language: EN & CN
Host: Prof. Huang Liqiang
