I am an Assistant Professor of Supply Chain and Information Systems at the Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University. I earned my PhD in Management Science from the Information Systems and Operation Management department at the University of Texas at Dallas’ Jindal School of Management.

Expertise

Digital transformations have been upending the business world at an accelerating rate. This shift has prompted McKinsey to proclaim that the digital transformation is now elevated to where it is “personally mandated by the CEO”. As such, firms increasingly focus on exploiting IT artifacts (e.g., the Internet, online platforms) to realize new products, services, and business models and to transform the marketplace. Such transformations are in turn increasingly reshaping the interactions between the firm and the human element, with its managerial and societal implications. In this context, my research portfolio focuses on two themes: A) information-rich platforms and B) human-algorithm interactions.
A) Information-rich platforms: Digital transformations made platforms ubiquitous and essential in users’ decision making. An online app store for example is a platform that allows app users to readily post reviews that can then be researched by others before purchasing an app. A wealth of information is made publicly available as a result turning the platform into an infomediary. My research in this theme focuses on this infomediary role that platforms play to shape the interaction amongst stakeholders and to shape customer decision-making. I study the platform's balancing act in how much information, say through reviews, should be made available, to avoid a degradation in the quality of customers’ decision making. I also study how the platform's information dissemination shapes the public’s actions (e.g., in the form of polarization of opinions) and influences firms’ behavior (e.g., in the form of acting more socially responsibly).
B) Human-Algorithm interactions: Digital transformations have also heightened the interactions between humans and algorithms, with implications on operational effectiveness (e.g., accuracy of humans and of algorithms) and on perceptions (e.g., fairness) of these transformations. In a complex context such as the judicial system, my work explores judge’s decision making as it pertains to fairness (vis-à-vis race and gender) and public safety. In the context of peer-production systems, my research focuses on preventing congestion and enhancing workflow harmonization when algorithmic agents get in the way of experienced human users and on ensuring a balance between human experience and machine.

Education

Ph D, Information Systems, The University of Texas at Dallas, 2011