Rohit  Aggarwal
  • Professor, Ois Operations & Info Systems

Research Statement

My research explores how AI technologies and human expertise can mutually enhance each other in organizational settings. My work can be categorized under two main themes:

Theme 1: AI Augmenting Human Decision-Making

In this theme, my research explores AI's role in enhancing learning, skill development, and productivity within organizations. Through field experiments, I examine how AI tools improve productivity and support skill acquisition for new learners across tasks of varying complexity. I also study the differential effects of AI usage patterns on experienced and inexperienced users, revealing how AI enhances decision-making while highlighting risks such as over-reliance. By employing a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) model, I gain deeper insights into how prolonged AI use impacts skill development and potential inertia against AI adoption, aiming to balance immediate productivity gains with sustainable skill enhancement. Additionally, to address global challenges, my work explores AI’s potential to bridge linguistic divides by proposing new approaches for non-native English speakers using AI-powered coding tools.

Theme 2: Humans Augmenting AI Decision-Making

This theme focuses on improving AI systems by embedding human insights to enhance their performance and transparency. A core aspect is integrating tacit knowledge and inferred latent themes into AI models, which enhances AI decision-making by aligning models more closely with real-world complexities. By employing Bayesian modeling and AI-enabled extraction & aggregation techniques, my research aims to make AI systems more robust and contextually aware, as validated in various field experiments.

Another key component involves creating explainable AI models, particularly for recruitment, where transparent decision-making is crucial. By utilizing a Hierarchical Attention Mechanism, I develop systems that highlight human-relevant qualifications, fostering trust in AI's role in decision processes.

Furthermore, I address the challenges of Generative AI (GenAI) by proposing hybrid frameworks that incorporate human guidance to enhance AI system planning, adaptability and effectiveness. This theme ultimately emphasizes how human expertise can shape and augment AI, making systems more reliable while preserving necessary oversight and human control.


Dr. Aggarwal has published in premium business journals such as Management Science, Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, and POM, showcasing his extensive contributions to the academic community. He currently serves as SE at POM. 
 

Former PhD students:

Dr. Nicholas Sullivan, Assistant Professor @ University of Dayton, https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-sullivan-b7b45746/, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Chair.

Dr. Michael Lee, Assistant Professor @ University of Nevada at Las Vegas, https://www.unlv.edu/people/michael-lee. Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Chair.

Dr. DongYoung Lee, Assistant Professor @ McGill University, https://www.mcgill.ca/desautels/dongyoung-lee. Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Project Type: Dissertation. Role: Member.

Research Keywords

  • User Generated Content (UGC), Electronic Word of mouth (eWOM), Blogs, Microblogging, Twitter, Venture Capital, New Ventures, Econometrics, Venture Capitalist (VC)

Publications

  • Rohit Aggarwal & Harpreet Singh (2024). Overcoming Limitations of Ai Agents: Integrating Tacit Knowledge Through Inferred Latent Themes. SSRN. Discipline based - other, Published, 05/27/2024.
    https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_i...
  • Rohit Aggarwal, Michael Lee & Vishal Midha (2022). Differential Impact of Content in Online Communication on Heterogeneous Candidates: A Field Study in Technical Recruitment. Information Systems Research. Accepted, 06/2022.
    https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/isr...
  • Rohit Aggarwal, Michael Lee, Braxton Osting & Harpreet Singh (2021). Improving Funding Operations of Equity-based Crowdfunding Platforms. Production and Operations Management. Accepted, 06/2021.
    https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/po...
  • Rohit Aggarwal, Vishal Midha & Nicholas Sullivan (2021). Superlatives and Scope of Improvement in Online Recommendations: Breath of Life or a Kiss of Death?. MIS Quarterly. Published, 05/2021.
    https://misq.umn.edu/superlatives-and-scope-of-imp...
  • Rohit Aggarwal, Vishal Midha & Nicholas Sullivan (2021). Effect of Online Professional Network Recommendations on the Likelihood of Interview: A Field Study. Information Systems Research. Accepted, 05/2021.
  • Rohit Aggarwal, Vishal Midha & Nicholas Sullivan (2021). The Effect of Gender Expectations and Physical Attractiveness on Discussion of Weakness in Online Professional Recommendations. Information Systems Research. Accepted, 02/2021.
  • Rohit Aggarwal, David Kryscynski & Harpreet Singh (2015). Evaluating Venture Technical Competence in VC Investment Decisions. Management Science. Vol. 61. Published, 11/2015.
    http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc...
  • Harpreet Singh, Rohit Aggarwal & Irina Cojuharenco (2015). Strike a Happy Medium: The Effect of IT Knowledge on Venture Capitalists' Overconfidence in IT Investments. MIS Quarterly. Vol. 39. Published, 10/2015.
    http://misq.org/strike-a-happy-medium-the-effect-o...
  • Rohit Aggarwal, David Kryscynski, Vishal Midha & Harpreet Singh (2015). Early to Adopt and Early to Discontinue: the impact of self-perceived and actual IT-knowledge on technology use behaviors of non-IT professionals. Information Systems Research. Published, 03/2015.
    http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/isre...
  • Rohit Aggarwal & Harpreet Singh (2013). Differential Influence of Blogs across Different Stages of Decision Making: the Case of Venture Capitalists. MIS Quarterly. Vol. 37. Published, 05/2013.
    http://misq.org/differential-influence-of-blogs-ac...
  • Rohit Aggarwal, Ram Gopal, Alok Gupta & Harpreet Singh (2012). Putting Money where Mouths are: the Relation between New Venture Financing and Electronic Word-of-Mouth. Information Systems Research. Vol. 23. Published, 10/2012.
    http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/isre...
  • Rohit Aggarwal, Ram Gopal, Ramesh Sankaranarayanan & Param Vir Singh (2012). Blog, Blogger and the Firm: Can Negative Posts Lead to Positive Outcomes. Information Systems Research. Vol. 23. Published, 06/2012.
    http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/isre...