Professor Yang’s research examines how workers exercise meaningful voice amid the restructuring of employment relationships, growing organizational concentration, and weakening systems of worker representation. More broadly, she studies how organizations and institutions can translate worker voice into better jobs, healthier workplaces, and more equitable labor market outcomes.
Her research centers on three questions:
- Do workers have meaningful influence over the conditions of their work, and how large is the gap between the influence they want and the influence they actually have?
- What leads workers to speak up about problems at work, and what leads them to remain silent?
- When employers introduce policies and interventions intended to improve working conditions, when do workers actually benefit, and when are the changes merely symbolic or unequally distributed?
Yang received her PhD from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 2020. Her research has been recognized with the John T. Dunlop Outstanding Scholar Award from the Labor and Employment Relations Association.
Publications
Yang, Duanyi and Tingting Zhang. 2025. "Voice Without Representation: Worker Voice in China's Networked Public Sphere." ILR Review 78(5): 754–779. [Paper]
Distelhorst, Greg, Judith C. Stroehle, and Duanyi Yang. 2025. "Self-Regulation for Reputation-Sensitive Buyers: SA8000 in China." Management Science 71(8): 6925–6942. [Paper]
Díaz-Linhart, Yaminette, Thomas A. Kochan, Arrow Minster, Dongwoo Park, and Duanyi Yang. 2025. "Does Voice Gap Influence Workers' Job Attitudes and Well-being? Measuring Voice as a Dimension of Job Quality." British Journal of Industrial Relations 63(3): 429–444. [Paper]
Fan, Wen and Duanyi Yang. 2025. Flexible Working Arrangement during the COVID-19 Pandemic. A Research Agenda for Flexible Working Arrangements. Edited by Clare Kelliher and Lilian DeMenezes. Elgar Research Agendas. [Book Chapter]
Yang, Duanyi, Erin L. Kelly, Laura Kubzansky, and Lisa Berkman. 2023. "Working from Home and Worker Wellbeing: New Evidence from Germany." ILR Review 76(3): 504–531. [Paper]
Yang, Duanyi. 2020. "Why don’t They Complain? The Social Determinants of Chinese Migrant Workers’ Grievance Behaviors." ILR Review 73 (2): 366-392.[Paper]
Kochan, Thomas A., Duanyi Yang, William T. Kimball, and Erin L. Kelly. 2019. "Worker Voice in America: Is There a Gap Between What Workers Expect and What They Experience?" ILR Review 72(1): 3–38. [Paper]
Kochan, Thomas A., Christine A. Riordan, Alexander M. Kowalski, Mahreen Khan, and Duanyi Yang. 2019. "The Changing Nature of Employee and Labor-Management Relationships." Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior 6: 195-219. [Paper]
Amengual, Matthew, Salo Coslovsky, and Duanyi Yang. 2017. "Who Opposes Labor Regulation? Explaining Variation in Employers' Opinions." Regulation & Governance 11(4): 404–421. [Paper]
Teaching
Yang’s teaching focuses on labor relations, worker voice, and the changing organization of work. Through research, case analysis, bargaining simulations, and applied writing, her courses examine how workers exercise individual and collective voice, how unions and other institutions represent workers, and how changes in employment relationships, organizational structures, and systems of worker representation expand or constrain workers’ influence over their working conditions.
ILRGL 2050: Labor Relations — Spring 2021–present
A core undergraduate course on the U.S. labor relations system, covering unions, collective bargaining, labor law, and the evolving landscape of worker representation. The course also introduces students to international and comparative perspectives on labor relations.
ILRGL 2220: Writing Seminar—Employee Voice at Work — Spring 2023, Fall 2025
A writing-intensive seminar examining employee voice through organizational behavior, industrial relations, and sociological perspectives. Students explore why workers speak up or remain silent, how organizational practices and institutions shape whose voices are heard, and how voice operates across workplace and national contexts. Through staged assignments, peer workshops, and an independent research project, students develop a substantive paper analyzing worker voice in practice.
ILRLR/ILRIC 9800: Workshop in Labor Relations / International and Comparative Labor — Fall 2022–Spring 2023
A graduate workshop featuring current research in labor relations and international and comparative employment.