Collaboration Technologies for Emergent Groups Engaged in Physical Work
In collaboration with Terri Griffith and Nilesh Saraf
My doctoral dissertation examines how communication and collaboration technologies like social media can support self-organized collaboration on physical tasks. This problem-driven research addresses the coordination challenges of emergent groups which form in the aftermath of disasters (bringing spontaneous volunteers together), or social movements (coordinating citizens on the ground). In the first part, my co-authors and I developed a theoretical model to elaborate what differentiates physical collaboration from its virtual counterpart (which is well studied in IS literature), and subsequently, what mechanisms enable successful coordination of physical group work in the absence of structures and role definitions.
Status: Under Review at MIS Quarterly
Link to AOM2024 Proceedings
The Spread of Negative Emotions on Social Media
In collaboration with Nilesh Saraf, JM Goh, Srabana Dasgupta, and Dianne Cyr
Social Media can spread messages, emotions, and behaviors among large audiences. Particularly, the consequences of emotion propagation become alarming when negative and shocking events like celebrity suicides happen and influence many vulnerable users. Analyzing social media discussions enables us to understand the mechanisms by which negative emotions spread, and also design effective health interventions. In this project, my co-authors and I investigate the suicide events of four celebrities and the subsequent Twitter discussions that appeared in the form of cascades – chains of retweets. By using a state-of-the-art BERT-based language model to identify emotion scores, we find that sadness and fear are the leading emotions expressed in each event and that the speed, size, and lifetime of dialogues vary depending on their emotional composition. Further analysis aims to provide new theoretical explanations.
Status: Revise and Resubmit @ PLOS ONE
Link to AMCIS2023 Paper
Effects of Negative Word-of-Mouth and Joint Consumption on the Box Office Performance of Motion Pictures:
An Agent-Based Model (ABM) Approach
In collaboration with Charles Weinberg and Jason Ho
We explore the effects of negative word-of-mouth (WOM) and joint consumption on the box office performance of motion pictures. Unlike previous research that primarily focuses on individual movie-goer behavior, this study highlights the significance of shared consumption experiences, particularly in group settings, where negative WOM can have a compounded effect. Using an agent-based model (ABM), we simulate the movie choice process, incorporating factors such as advertising, WOM, and group formation dynamics. Our model advances prior work by explicitly considering how negative WOM can both reduce an individual’s desire to watch a movie and hinder their ability to form a viewing group. We also demonstrate how strategic advertising can mitigate the adverse effects of negative WOM by “front-loading” box office sales in the opening week. This research contributes to the broader literature on consumer behavior by providing a nuanced understanding of how social interactions and digital communication shape entertainment consumption.
Status: Drafting the Manuscript
Working Papers
(1)
Ehsan Nouri, Nilesh Saraf, JM Goh, Srabana Dasgupta, “How Negative Emotions Spread On Social Media: The Case Of Celebrity Suicides”
-> Presented at AMCIS 2023, SIGDSA Symposium 2022, INFORMS 2021
-> Revise and Resubmit at PLOS ONE
(2)
Ehsan Nouri, Nilesh Saraf, Terri Griffith, “Technology-Enabled Social Knowledge and Physical Awareness: Theory for Emergent Groups Engaged in Physical Work”
-> Presented at AOM CTO 2024
-> Under Review at MIS Quarterly
(3)
Jason Ho, Ehsan Nouri, Charles Weinberg, “Effects of Negative Word-of-Mouth and Joint Consumption on the Box Office Performance of Motion Pictures: An Agent-Based Model (ABM) Approach”
-> Presented at the 9th Annual Empirical and Theoretical Symposium for Canadian Marketing Strategy, 2024 (Vancouver, BC)
-> Best PhD Paper Award, SFU Beedie School of Business, October 2024
-> Drafting manuscript
(4)
Ehsan Nouri, Nilesh Saraf, Terri Griffith “Physical Integration and the formation of shared cognition in collaborative platforms: Experimental evidence on emergent group dynamics”
-> Status: Experiment design
(5)
Ehsan Nouri, Chaitanya Kaligotla, Nilesh Saraf “Decentralized Coordination of Physical Group Work through Collaboration Technology: A Simulation Approach”
-> Status: Model development and analysis
Conference Presentations and Proceedings
AOM 2024
Nouri, E., Saraf, N., Griffith, T. (2024, August 9-13). Collaboration Technologies for Emergent Groups Engaged in Physical Work, 84th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Chicago, IL
AMCIS 2023
Nouri, E., Saraf, N., Goh, J.M., Dasgupta, S., Cyr, D., (2023, August 10-12). How negative emotions spread on social media: the case of celebrity suicides [Paper presentation]. AMCIS 2023 Proceedings, Panama City, Panama. (AIS Library Link)
SIGDSA 2022
Nouri, E., Saraf, N., Goh, J.M., Dasgupta, S., Cyr, D., (2022, December 10). The Contagion Process of Online Negative Discourse: Case of Celebrities’ Suicide [Paper presentation]. 2022 Pre-ICIS SIGDSA Symposium, Copenhagen, Denmark.
INFORMS 2021
Saraf, N., Nouri, E., Goh, J.M., Dasgupta, S., Cyr, D., (2021, October 24-27). Retweeting sadness? Predictors of retweeting in the context of celebrity suicides [Paper presentation]. INFORMS Annual Meeting 2021, Anaheim, CA, United States.
INFORMS 2021
Nouri, E., Saraf, N., Kaligotla, C., (2021, October 24-27). Social Media Contagion of Copycat Suicides [Paper presentation]. INFORMS Annual Meeting 2021, Anaheim, CA, United States.