Research Overview

My research interests lie in the area of computer-mediated communications of individuals and groups.  For my dissertation, I examined the impacts of monitoring communications systems.  Computer mediated communication systems monitoring is increasing dramatically, due in part to legislation like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, as well as other legislation both in the U.S. and other countries.  While the audit community has suggested Sarbanes-Oxley has little impact on individual behavior within companies, initial work indicates there may be a profound and unanticipated impact on what and how employees communicate, with undetermined consequences for businesses.  My dissertation investigates the impact, bringing together CMC research with the surveillance literature and self-awareness theory, revealing strong monitoring effects.  Initial work in this area has been accepted for publication at IEEE Transactions on Professional Communications and presented at the Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences.

Other CMC systems topics of interest include the impact of culture, the development of group norms, the spread of rumors and organizational responses to them, their use for detecting and deterring fraud, and pedagogical applications.  I also examine information systems leadership issues such as system sponsorship and executive support.

Both published and presented papers as well as research in progress are listed on my vita.