Her research interests include environmental policy, urban sustainability, and voluntary environmental programs. Her research explores institutional design of non-regulatory environmental programs in both public and private organizations and its relationship with policy outcomes. Dr. Ji’s recent research examines variations in design features of local sustainability programs, the factors that influence the program design variations, and their impacts on local environmental quality. She also conducts research on institutional design of voluntary environmental programs that are widely implemented in private firms, such as ecolabel programs and corporate environmental reports.