Casey S. PIERCE, PHD
About Me
Hi, I’m Casey Pierce — a former tenure-track professor currently on a “power pause” to focus on my most important role yet: full-time mom. With a background in academia and a heart wired for impact, I’m using this intentional season to nurture my daughter, reset my rhythm, and lay the foundation for what’s next.
I currently work on projects fueled by purpose, curiosity, and a desire to contribute to conversations that matter. My journey is anything but linear, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
This pause isn’t a break from ambition — it’s a powerful repositioning. I believe in leading with clarity, showing up with authenticity, and building a life where intellect, creativity, and care intersect.
Research & Expertise
Before taking this “power pause,” my research explored how technology, policy, and organizational practices shape the way we work. I studied how digital tools influence communication, compliance, and professional identities across settings such as healthcare, telemedicine, and the platform economy. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, I examined how people and organizations adapt to technological change, with a focus on the intersection of technology and human behavior.
My work has been published in leading journals, including Information Systems Research, Journal of Communication, Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, and the Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction. It has also been recognized with multiple awards, including best dissertation and best paper honors from the Academy of Management and the International Communication Association.
I previously served as a professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Information. I earned my Ph.D. in Media, Technology, and Society from Northwestern University’s School of Communication, my M.A. in Communication Management, and my B.A. in Psychology, both from the University of Southern California.
I remain deeply interested in these research topics and continue to follow developments in technology, work, and organizational practices. I welcome opportunities for research collaborations or consulting projects that connect real-world practice with insights from social science research.
Publications
Huber, L., & Pierce, C. (2023). Navigating the empty shell: The role of articulation work in platform structures. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 28(4).
Huber, L., Pierce, C.S., Lindtner, L. (2022). An Approximation of Freedom: On-demand Therapy and the Feminization of Labor. Computer Supported Cooperative Work.
Woo, D., Pierce, C.S., Treem, J. (2021). Specialists over Generalists?: Examining discursive closures and discursive openings in expert collaborations. Communication Monographs.
Barbour, J. B., Pierce, C. S., Rolison, S. L. (2021). Health professions/occupations. In E. Ho, C. Bylund, & J.van Weert (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Health Communication. Wiley Blackwell.
Brewer, R., Pierce, C.S., Upadhyay, P., Park, L. (2021). An Empirical Study of Older Adult's Voice Assistant Use for Health Information Seeking. ACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems. Special Issue.
Robert, L. P., Pierce, C., Marquis, E., Kim, S., Alahmad, R. (2020). Designing Fair AI for Managing Employees in Organizations: A Review, Critique, and Design Agenda. Human-Computer Interaction.
Leung, W., Zhang, Z., Jibuti, D., Zhao, J., Klein, M., Pierce, C., Robert, L.P., Zhu, H. (2020). Race, Gender and Beauty: The Effect of Information Provision Affects Online Hiring Biases. Proceedings of the 38rd ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI).
Veinot, T. & Pierce, C.S. (2019) 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., Pierce, C.S. (2019). 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. (2018). Impacts of Perceived Behavior Control and Emotional Labor on Gig Workers. Companion of the 2018 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW).
Kim, S., Marquis, L.B., Alahmad, R., Pierce, C.S., Robert, L. (2018). The Impacts of Platform Quality on Gig Workers’ Autonomy and Job Satisfaction. Companion of the 2018 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW).Alahmad, R., Pierce, C.S., Carter, M. and Robert, L. P. (2018). The Impact of Enterprise Social Media Identity on Job Performance and Job Satisfaction, Proceedings of the 24th Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS).
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.
Ye T., Pierce, C., Alahmad, R. and Robert, L. P. (2017). Race and Rating on Sharing Economy Platforms: The Effect of Race Similarity and Reputation on Trust and Booking Intention in Airbnb. Proceedings of the 38th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS).
Pierce, C.S. (2016). Conceptualizing Organizational Policy in Principle and Practice. Proceedings of the Seventy-sixth Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management. Best Paper Award.
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. Top 20 most downloaded recent paper for 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).Awards & Honors
Harrington Faculty Fellow, 2019-2020
University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
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
Reach out to collaborate, consult, or simply say hello.