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Publication Control of Algorithmic Work on Digital Labor Platforms: Stories from Two Sides(2024-09) Hao, HuiDigital labor platforms (DLPs) digitally connect human workers (i.e., service providers) with service consumers. Examples of DLPs include Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), Upwork etc. Mediated by DLPs, humans interact with algorithms to accomplish work such as driving taxis, delivering food, and executing Human Intelligence Tasks on platforms such as MTurk. This type of work is known as algorithmic work. DLPs use algorithms to digitally manage and control work allocation, worker behaviors and worker–customer interaction. However, DLPs differ from traditional organizations in terms of workers’ independent contractor status and a technologically mediated task environment. The practice of managerial control in DLPs is thus different from that in traditional organizations. How are workers on DLPs controlled? Current IS research has mostly answered this question using the concept of algorithmic control (AC), which is defined as using algorithms as a means to align worker behaviors with controllers’ objectives. However, in focusing on AC, the current literature reveals a number of problematic scenarios. First, human workers often do not fully understand the outputs generated by the algorithms and the mechanisms behind the outputs, leading to them experiencing confusion, role conflict and role ambiguity. Second, algorithms cannot make fair judgements on ambiguous and complex issues, such as reasons for late food deliveries and validity of customer negative ratings. Third, AC is associated with loss of autonomy, privacy and identification by the workers, which is detrimental to worker well-being. These examples show how AC does not provide adequate explanation and feedback to workers, cannot make contextually appropriate decisions in ambiguous situations, and does not take interpersonal and empathetic considerations into account when making judgments. The objective of this dissertation is to investigate how the control of algorithmic work on DLPs can be accomplished through both AC and non-AC means, from the perspectives of both controllers (e.g., DLPs) and controlees (i.e., workers). To achieve this goal, we investigate (1) alternative control means in addition to AC, from the controllers’ perspective, and (2) workers' judgments and reactions to AC, from the controlees’ perspective. In the first paper, we ask the following research questions: how are workers on DLPs controlled? and how and why do control mechanisms influence workers’ judgments and reactions? To tackle these questions, we conduct a systematic literature review to synthesize the discussions of prior research and answer the research questions. We shed light on how workers are affected by AC, by using the Micro Level Legitimacy Process Model as the theoretical framework. Specifically, we illustrate granular AC mechanisms, worker judgments and reactions, and relevant AC characteristics that potentially moderate the relationships between AC mechanisms and worker judgements. Our analysis unveils mixed findings about legitimacy in literature, and we propose suggestions for future research accordingly. In the second paper, we conduct qualitative research to explain how DLPs control workers, from the perspective of controllers. The research question we ask is: how do humans and algorithms work together in the control of algorithmic work? We conducted interviews with 25 food delivery riders and managers who oversaw the riders. We found that human managers complement the capabilities of algorithms to enact algorithmic control. We theorize our findings as “the augmentation of algorithmic control by human control”. Specifically, human managers should augment AC by undertaking control mechanisms that are personalized, ambiguous, and emotionally impactful. That is because humans have more advanced capabilities in some areas, such as sensitivity to changing facts, intuitive thinking, common-sense based judgment, advanced communication, and interpretation of emotionalPublication Three Essays on Sustainable Finance(2024-09) QU, TIANYIAs the global economy transitions to a low-carbon future, financial institutions play an increasingly significant role in combating climate change. Professional asset managers are incorporating sustainability considerations into their investment process. Policy makers are making regulations and promoting global initiatives related to climate change and finance. This dissertation is composed of three essays focusing on the study of sustainable finance. Specifically, I look at the roles and impacts of three market participants: hedge fund managers, short sellers, and the financial regulator SEC.Publication Good to See You Again or Gosh, not Again: How Employees Navigate Disrupted Workplace Socializing(2024-09) Kim, GihyunWorkplace socializing—friendly social interactions among employees—plays a crucial role in fostering camaraderie, cultivating work relationships, and contributing to social cohesion within organizations. However, the advent of the global COVID-19 pandemic interrupted these informal exchanges through a sequence of disruptions in work arrangements. Three changes in work arrangements constitute the areas of my study: first, the forced shift to remote work in March 2020 due to the pandemic, which I will refer to as mandatory work-from-home; second, initial pressure from organizational leaders on employees to return to the office as COVID-19 ebbed, which I will refer to as a request to return-to-office; and third, pressure from organizational leaders on employees to increase their amount of time in the office, which I will refer to as tightening return-to-office requests. Despite many scholarly works investigating work arrangement shifts in organizations, there exists a paucity of insight into the experiences of employees engaging in workplace socializing subsequent to significant disruptions at work. This knowledge gap may account for the persistent challenges faced by organizations in reinstating socializing within the workplace and revitalizing work relationships following a disruption in work arrangements. To delineate and investigate this underexplored phenomenon, I initiated an exploratory inquiry (Study 1) employing an open-ended survey method to capture employees’ experiences of workplace socializing before and after a mandatory work-from-home policy. Then, through an abductive process of developing hypotheses based on qualitative data of a novel phenomenon, I developed hypotheses using temporal comparison theory and appraisal theory of emotion. I quantitatively examined my theoretical model of how disrupted workplace socializing and temporal comparison jointly impacted either longing or relief, which in turn predicted approach-oriented or avoidance-oriented work relationship behaviors. A scenario-based experiment (Study 2), a time-lagged critical incident methodology (Study 3), and a three-wave survey (Study 4) were conducted, each investigating a piece of my theoretical model. Together, this dissertation contributes to the literatures on workplace socializing, work relationships, social networks, and human resource management by exploring individuals’ cognitive and emotional mechanisms of navigating disrupted workplace socializing. Additionally, this dissertation offers managerial implications for organizations experiencing a palpable void in workplace socializing and a crisis in connection following prior or ongoing changes to their work arrangements.Publication DEVELOPING AND DIMINISHING BRAND FAITH: CONSUMER-BRAND RELATIONSHIPS BUILT ON SPIRITUAL MOTIVATION(2024-05) Ryu, KyunginThis dissertation examines the concept of brand faith, a process of believing in, valuing, and committing to a brand that enhances consumers’ existential meaning, reflecting a contemporary form of spirituality. It explores how consumers find existential meaning and a sense of identity through their relationships with brands, particularly as traditional religious affiliations decline. Through interpretive analysis of interview and netnographic data, this research investigates the initiation, progression, and regression of brand faith, providing insights into the spiritual motivations that underpin consumer-brand relationships. Brand faith is linked with a belief system where consumers imbue brands with spiritual significance, integrating them into their life narratives. This process extends beyond conventional brand relationship constructs, offering a pathway for consumers to achieve spiritual fulfillment. The dissertation identifies how brands can serve as spiritual entities, providing a sense of purpose and belonging, and how they can mirror the roles of traditional religious structures in modern consumer life. The findings suggest that brand faith can progress through intuitive attraction to a deep-rooted identity element, with stages of reflection and affirmation that align with consumers’ aspirations and lifestyles. However, the journey is not linear, as brand faith can regress when brands fail to live up to consumers’ spiritual expectations. This dynamic underscores the complex interplay between personal narratives and brand ethos. The dissertation concludes that brand faith represents both empowerment and vulnerability for consumers, filling spiritual voids yet making their well-being dependent on commercial narratives. It calls for brands to responsibly navigate their influence on consumers’ spirituality and identity. Theoretical implications are discussed, expanding consumer-brand relationship theories to include spiritual dimensions and addressing managerial strategies for nurturing brand faith.Publication Investigating AI and Organizational Innovation: An Examination of Contingency Models and the Development of a New Perspective of Innovation in the Era of AI(2024-02) Masoud, YoustinaMy three-paper dissertation focuses on different teams that can impact innovation initiatives (e.g., executive directors and human capital with AI knowledge), while developing an understanding of the current literature on how artificial intelligence (AI) is changing organizational learning, firm innovation and firm human capital. By organizational innovation, I refer to “production or adoption, assimilation, and exploitation of a value-added novelty in economic and social spheres; renewal and enlargement of products, services, and markets; development of new methods of production; and establishment of new management systems. It is both a process and an outcome” (Crossan & Apaydin, 2010); as such, innovation is critical for firm performance. Organizational innovation can be manifested in product or service offerings, organizational processes or business models (Chesbrough, 2010; Cottrell & Nault, 2004; Tarfadar et al, 2019). While organizational innovation has garnered a great deal of scholarly work, there is a need to reexamine the current assumptions of how organizations innovate – specifically, the impact of different groups on innovation performance. I also believe that the current phenomenal advancements in technology can and do change what we know about organizational learning and firm human capital as critical aspects of organizations with ramifications on organizational innovation. These changes beg for further understanding of what we currently know about AI deployment and organizational learning, firm innovation and human capital, while developing a map for future research. To this end, in this dissertation I aim at reexamining some of the assumptions related to organizational innovation in the light of AI advancements and new perspectives of behavioral characteristics of different teams involved in innovation. To bring attention to the assumptions of organizational innovation and to contribute to this growing body of literature, this dissertation undertakes three distinct papers. In the first paper, I examine how executive directors’ behavioral characteristics impact the theorized negative relationship between executive directors and a firm’s innovation performance. By doing so, I aim at challenging the current assumption of executive directors’ homogeneity in interests and decisions. In the second paper, I build a contingency model around the AI- innovation link. In this paper, I examine how different external factors related to uncertainty and knowledge tacitness can impact the ability of a firm’s human capital with AI knowledge to advance innovation. The last paper of the dissertation reviews the current literature on AI and organizational learning, firm innovation and human capital with an aim to develop an agenda for future research.