She earned her PhD from the School of Information, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Her research is focused on individual behaviours in electronic markets, online knowledge communities, and small groups. She is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work contributes to theories in economics, psychology, and communication, and has published in top journals in both management information systems (e.g., Management Science and MIS Quarterly) and communication (e.g., Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication and Communication Research).