Research
Research
My research examines how digital platforms and AI shape trust and collaboration within socially embedded contexts, and how their responsible design and use can advance collective well-being.
One stream of my research examines how brands engage with consumers on social media, revealing how digital interactions, social visibility, and customer influence shape service outcomes and satisfaction. A second stream focuses on how electronic networks of practice (online communities of practice) form and evolve on digital platforms, with particular attention to how individual characteristics and content strategies influence engagement, knowledge exchange, and the diffusion of innovation. A third stream explores how algorithmic technologies are communicated to users—particularly through the disclosure of artificial intelligence (AI) use—and how such communication shapes stakeholder trust, brand perceptions, and decision making in entrepreneurial and brand management contexts.
Keywords: social media, electronic networks of practice, knowledge communities, human-AI interaction
Journal Publications
Priyanga Gunarathne, Huaxia Rui, Abraham Seidmann (2022) Racial Bias in Customer Service: Evidence from Twitter. Information Systems Research 33(1):43-54.
Priyanga Gunarathne, Huaxia Rui, Abraham Seidmann (2018) When Social Media Delivers Customer Service: Differential Customer Treatment in the Airline Industry. MIS Quarterly, 42(2), 489-520.
Priyanga Gunarathne, Huaxia Rui, Abraham Seidmann (2017) Whose and What Social Media Complaints Have Happier Resolutions? Evidence from Twitter. Journal of Management Information Systems, 34(2), 314–340.
Manuscripts Under Review and In Preparation
From Self to Others: Customer Reactions to Firms’ DEI Promotions on Social Media, with Chen Jing, Shuba Srinivasan, and Abraham Seidmann [Finalist - Social Media Analytics Best Student Paper Award-INFORMS 2025].
Signals That Matter: Gender, Content Framing, and Knowledge Engagement in Electronic Networks of Practice, with Ruba Aljafari, Sezgin Ayabakan, Samer Khader, and İbrahim Kulaç.
Selected Work-in-Progress
AI Disclosure and Brand Evaluations, with Aravinda Garimella and Tiffany White.
From Disruption to Dialogue: Professional Discourse on Social Media on Emerging Technologies, with Yupei (Rachel) Hu, Xiaomeng Chen, and Narayan Ramasubbu.
Selected Peer-reviewed Conference Proceedings
Signals That Matter: Gender, Content Framing, and Engagement in Online Communities of Practice, with Ruba Aljafari, Sezgin Ayabakan, Samer Khader, and İbrahim Kulaç, in Proceedings of the 59th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2026) (scheduled).
Racial Bias in Social Media Customer Service: Evidence from Twitter, with Huaxia Rui and Abraham Seidmann, in Proceedings of the 39th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2018), December 13-16, 2018, San Francisco, California [Best Paper Award Nominee]
What Drives Successful Complaint Resolutions on Social Media? Evidence from the Airline Industry, with Huaxia Rui and Abraham Seidmann, in Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS 2017), January 4-7, 2017, Hilton Waikoloa Village, Hawaii, ISSN: 978-0-9981331-0-2 [Best Paper Award Nominee].
Customer Service on Social Media: The Effect of Customer Popularity and Sentiment on Airline Response, with Huaxia Rui and Abraham Seidmann, in Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2014), December 14-17, 2014, Auckland, New Zealand. ISSN: 978-0-615-15788-7.
Research Grants
$19,560 research grant from Ravi K. Mehrotra Institute of Business, Markets, and Society, Questrom School of Business, Boston University, for the project: From Self to Others: Customer Reactions to Firm DEI Promotions on Social Media.
$23,000 research grant from Katz Graduate School of Business - Research with Impact Research Grants, for the project: Physician Communities of Practice: Examining Curbside Consultations on X.
$9,500 research grant from the Gies College of Business, University of Illinois, 2022-2026, for the project: AI Disclosure and Brand Evaluations.