Biography

Anuj Kumar is an Associate Professor of Information Systems at the Warrington College of Business, University of Florida. He holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems from the Heinz School of Information Systems and Management, Carnegie Mellon University. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s degree in Thermal Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, India, and a Master’s degree in management from the Indian Institute of Management, India.

Professor Kumar’s research focuses on understanding how information technology affects the behavior of organizations, individuals, and the interactions between them. Specifically, his research has examined the role of information technology in three areas – (1) Omnichannel customer behavior in technology-mediated multi-channel operations, such as retail of traditional goods (apparel and home goods), digital goods (digital movies and music), and after-sales services in the insurance sector. (2) The economic value of online product recommendation networks in e-commerce. (3) How technology is shaping our society, such as remedying education with the use of technologies. To answer these questions, Professor Kumar has designed natural, quasi-natural, and large-scale randomized experiments in real-life field settings.

Professor Kumar has been awarded the ISS Sandra A. Slaughter INFORMS Early Career Award in 2018 for his research in the area of Information Systems. His research has also received several competitive research grants from the Marketing Science Institute and Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative and his papers have received best paper awards from INFORMS-Industries Association awards and Workshop of Information Systems and Economics. His research has been mentioned in popular media outlets such as The New York Times,74 million.org, and Total Retail. Professor Kumar has been invited to give a TEDx talk in Boston Bio hub on his research on online school ratings and segregation in America. His research has been published in top-tier journals like Management Science, Information Systems Research, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and Management Information Systems Quarterly.

Publications

  • Hasan, S. and A. Kumar. (2023) “Who Captures the Value from Organizational Ratings?: Evidence from Public Schools,” Accepted for publication in Strategy Science.

Kumar, A., A. Mehra, S. Kumar (2019). “Why do Stores Drive Online Sales? Evidence of Underlying Mechanisms from a Multichannel Retailer” Information Systems Research,30(1), March 2019, 319-338.

Research Software Platform

AI-enabled Knowledge Diffusion EdTech Platform for Upgrading Education.” An algorithmic EdTech platform designed to induce peer-driven learning in K-12 classrooms. It is especially suitable for improving educational production in K-12 schools with scarce educational resources. Currently, over 3,000 underprivileged K-12 students are using this platform in Indian schools.

Business Case Studies

Kumar A. “Economic Value of Joint Product Advertising in Online Product Videos.”

Kumar A., A. Mehra. “Omnichannel Customer Behavior Analysis for Multichannel Retailers.”