It’s difficult to get published in Management Science, let alone to win the peer-reviewed journal’s coveted Best Paper Award in Information Systems. But Business Information and Analytics Assistant Professor Young Jin Lee did both with “Do I Follow My Friends or the Crowd? Information Cascades in Online Movie Ratings,” a paper he co-authored with Kartik Hosanagar from the University of Pennsylvania’s The Wharton School and Yong Tan from the University of Washington’s Michael G. Foster School of Business. The three received the award on Oct. 21, at the annual Conference on Information Systems & Technology—hosted by the Information Systems Society—that was held in Houston, Texas.
“Obviously, I’m very happy to see our research—and its value and contributions to the field—recognized by an A+ journal like Management Science,” Lee said. “This award will also give more attention to the paper in the future.”
Published in 2015 (the Management Science award is given to the paper published in the journal in the previous three years that is deemed most deserving for its contribution to the theory and practice of information systems), “Do I Follow My Friends or the Crowd?” explores how online movie reviews are influenced by strangers—“the crowd”—versus friends. The study reveals that people may or may not be influenced by the crowd but are strongly influenced by friends. Knowing this, marketers could target people with vast social networks, thereby influencing the online “buzz” about their movie.
In addition to Management Science, Lee’s work has appeared in the Journal of Management Information Systems, and has been presented at the International Conference on Information Systems, the Workshop on Information Systems and Economics, and the Conference on Information Systems and Technology.