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 PhD in the Media, Technology & Society (MTS) program at Northwestern University's School of Communication. Prior to Northwestern, I attended the University of Southern California where I completed my BA in Psychology and MA in Communication Management in the Annenberg School of Communication.

Broadly, my work focuses on how individuals in organizational contexts use advanced communication technologies to manage, create and share knowledge. 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 comply with those policy changes. In this line of research, I examine how employees interpret and enact policy changes through technology.

Virtual Health Technologies

Telehealth – the use of technologies to provide clinical services over distance – offers new ways for patients to access needed healthcare services. This work investigates how patients use telehealth to make sense of complex, critical health information without being collocated with their clinician. I am also interested in how telehealth policies and virtual health technologies shape clinicians' existing work practices.

Future of Work

As advanced information communication technologies have become a key component in organizational life, new types of work arrangements and interactions have emerged. I am particularly interested examing how technology impacts work practices across occupational, knowledge and geographic boundaries.
Research
Papers & Proceedings

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
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).

Upcoming Talks: 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.
Contact Me
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Student Research Assistant

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