Biography

Naren B. Peddibhotla I am doctoral candidate in Information and Decision Sciences at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. I hold a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, India, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kolkata, India. I was a finalist in 2003 for the Juran Fellowship Program of the Juran Center for Leadership in Quality, Carlson School of Management.

Background Before joining the Ph.D. program, I had worked for about 10 years in industry in the marketing and information systems divisions of a large paint company and also as a consultant in information systems to an electrical appliance company.

Research interests My research fall under two broad areas – organizational use of informational technology and knowledge management. I use theories from psychology, organization studies and strategy. As a result of my research, I hope to be able to gain insights into how information technology can be used to facilitate organizational processes and provide competitive advantage.

Current research project At this point, I am working with Professor Mani Subramani on a project to find out why people contribute their knowledge to online repositories. In another project with Professors Mani Subramani and Shawn Curley, I am also studying ways in which people who are relatively anonymous to each other identify their expertise to others and infer expertise in others, for example in settings such as knowledge “yellow pages” in organizations. These form part of my larger goal in understanding the phenomenon of knowledge transfer among individuals in group and organizational contexts and how information technology can aid this process.

The following working papers report research to date in the above projects.

• Contributing to Document Repositories - An Examination of Prosocial Behavior (with Mani R. Subramani).
• How do I know that you know – factors used to infer and to communicate one's own expertise (with Mani R. Subramani and Shawn P. Curley).
• Determinants of helping in online groups: A theoretical model (with Mani R. Subramani).

  Research conducted as part of the above projects has also been presented at the following conferences.

• Determinants of helping behaviors in online groups Academy of Management Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, August 6-11, 2004 ( with Mani R. Subramani)
• How Do We Know That Others Know?: Cues Used to Infer and to Signal Expertise Academy of Management Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, August 6-11, 2004 ( with Mani R. Subramani and Shawn P. Curley ).
• How do I know that you know? Factors used to infer another's expertise and to communicate one's own expertise Eight Biennial Behavioral Decision Research in Management Conference, Chicago, Illinois, May 31-June 1, 2002 (with Mani R. Subramani and Shawn P. Curley).

General impressions The PhD program here has a well-defined structure and at the same time has allowed considerable flexibility in pursuing my interests. I have benefited immensely from the faculty here who have challenged and worked to train me to be a world-class scholar. My interaction with them both during coursework and during research projects has helped me explore different research areas. I hope to emulate my mentors as I develop my academic career.