His research primarily focuses on peer-to-peer markets such as various forms of crowdfunding and online labor markets, FinTech markets like peer-to-peer lending, social media and social networks, and user-generated content. He has a recent publication in Management Science. His working papers were nominated for or won best paper awards in several leading conferences such as the INFORMS Conference on Information Systems and Technology (CIST) and China Summer Workshop on Information Management (CSWIM). He has also been nominated for the best reviewer in major conferences. Prior to joining the faculty at Purdue, Zaiyan obtained his Ph.D. from the Economics Department and worked as a research associate in the Department of Management Information Systems at the University of Arizona.