Casey S. Pierce, PhD

About Me

I am an assistant professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan (UMSI) where I am a part of the Social Media Research Lab (SMRL) and Digitization of Work Lab. I earned my Ph.D. from the Media, Technology, and Society program at Northwestern University, School of Communication. I also received my B.A. and M.A. from the University of Southern California.

Broadly, my work focuses on the changing nature of work as it relates to technology, policy and knowledge sharing in organizations. As an organizational communication scholar, I am also interested in understanding the communicative practices that shape technology use, as well as the role technology plays in those communication processes. In my research, I employ both qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Currently, my active research projects include:

Technology & policy implementation in organizations
Many new policy changes often entail implementing new technologies in order to manage compliance. In this line of research, I examine how employees enact policy changes through technology and the organizational implications in delegating policy compliance to digital tools.

Impact of telehealth/telemedicine on clinical work practices

In this research, I am interested in how telehealth/telemedicine platforms and policies impact clinicians’ work practices and professional identities. This research addresses implications concerning how digital platforms shape new models of patient care and the rise of contingent work arrangements in the healthcare industry.

Work in the platform economy

With the growing number of gig workers across diverse industries, I am particularly interested examining how the platform economy influences work arrangements and the interactions between workers, consumers and the platform organizations. I am particularly interested in questions concerning how organizations employ algorithms to manage workers on these platforms and how workers define their professions in the context of the platform economy.
Research
Papers & Proceedings

Veinot, T. & Pierce, C.S. (Forthcoming) Materiality in Information Environments: Objects, Spaces and Bodies in Three Outpatient Hemodialysis Facilities. Journal of Association for Information Science and Technology.

Leonardi, P.M., Bailey, D.E., Pierce, C.S. (Forthcoming). The Co-Evolution of Objects and Boundaries Over Time: Materiality, Affordances, and Boundary Salience. Information Systems Research.

Marquis, L.B., Kim, S., Alahmad, R., Pierce, C.S., Robert, L. (Nov 2018). Impacts of Perceived Behavior Control and Emotional Labor on Gig Workers. Proceedings of ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW `18 Late Breaking Work). Jersey City, NJ.

Kim, S., Marquis, L.B., Alahmad, R., Pierce, C.S., Robert, L. (Nov 2018). The Impacts of Platform Quality on Gig Workers’ Autonomy and Job Satisfaction. Proceedings of ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW `18 Late Breaking Work). Jersey, City, NJ.

Alahmad, R., Pierce, C., Carter, M., & Robert, L. (2018) The Impact of Enterprise Social Media Identity on Job Performance and Job Satisfaction. Proceedings of Twenty-fourth Americas Conference on Information Systems.

Brewer, R., Pierce, C.S., Marquis (Morris), E., and Essiet, M. (2018). Computer-Supported Health and Well-Being Services: A Systems Approach to Telehealth Coaching. Proceedings of the 12th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare.

Pierce, C.S. (2016). Conceptualizing Organizational Policy in Principle and Practice. Proceedings of the Seventy-sixth Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management.

Treem, J. W., Dailey, S. L., Pierce, C. S., & Biffl, D. (2016). What We Are Talking About When We Talk About Social Media: A Framework for Study. Sociology Compass.

Treem, J., Dailey, S., Pierce, C.S., Leonardi, P.M. (2015). Bringing Technological Frames to Work: How Previous Experience with Social Media Shapes the Technology's Meaning in an Organization. Journal of Communication.

Meyer, S., Pierce, C.S., Kou, Y., Leonardi, P.M., Nardi, B., Bailey, D. (2014). Offshoring Digital Work, But Not Physical Output: Differential Access to Task Objects and Coordination in Globally Distributed Automotive Engineering and Graphic Design Work. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2014).
Awards

Academy of Management (Organizational Communication & Information Systems Division)

DeSanctis Award, 2016

William H. Newman Dissertation Award (nominee), 2016

Best Student Paper Award, 2016

International Communication Association (Organizational Communication Division)

Charles Redding Dissertation Award, 2016

Best of the B.E.S.T Presentation Award, 2014

Top Interactive Paper Award, 2013

International Communication Association (Communication & Technology Division)

Herbert S. Dordick Dissertation Award (runner-up), 2016

Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (Digital & Social Media)

Best Paper Award (nominee), 2016
Grants

Ginsberg Community Engagement Faculty Grant

Addressing Health Technology Education Disparities for Older Adults
Co-PI: Robin Brewer

National Science Foundation Workshop

Auditing Algorithms: Adding Accountability to Automated Authority

PI: Christian Sandvig
News & Updates
Invited Talk: University of Texas at Austin

November 2018

I am pleased to share recent findings from my research examining direct-to-consumer telemental health services and policies at the UT School of Information.

"Bringing the gig economy to healthcare: Examining how telemental health care technology and policy impact online therapists’ work practices"

VSee Telehealth Conference

October 2018

I am excited to meet with healthcare executives, researchers and clinicians leading telehealth innovation.

"The Promise & Peril of Telehealth for Older Adults: A Case Study of a Senior Community Center"

Invited Talk: Stanford University

June 2018

I am excited to visit the HCI Research Group and Work, Technology & Organizations (WTO) Colloquia to deliver two talks:

"Healthcare beyond the doctor's office: Examining misalignments between telehealth smartphone applications and U.S. healthcare policies"

(HCI Research Group)

"Conceptualizing policy as text and tech: A case study from a healthcare organization"

(WTO Colloquia)

NSF Workshop: Effect of Autonomous Trucks on the U.S. Economy

June 2018

In collaboration with Lionel Robert, we will be presenting a position paper concerning the future of work in the trucking industry. With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) is leading a workshop that aims to bring together a diverse group of participants engaged in Human-Technology Frontier (HTF) projects to share their experiences on to the Effect of Autonomous Trucks on the U.S. Economy. This workshop will identify the most critical unanswered questions as well as potential solutions related to the effects autonomous trucks will have on the U.S. economy and, more specifically, how autonomous trucks will affect the current and future truck workforce.

EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare

May 2018

As part of the WellBeCoach workshop, I am presenting a paper titled "Computer Supported Health & Wellbeing Services: A Systems Approach to Telehealth Coaching" (co-authored with Robin Brewer, Elizabeth (Morris) Marquis, and Madia Essiet).
Contact Me
Email Me

Research Assistant

Inquiry Form