Research

My research interests center on cybersecurity and the bright and dark sides of digital platforms. I employ computational, data analytics, and artificial intelligence-based approaches to pursue an interdisciplinary research agenda with the overarching goal of monitoring and protecting the digital information space. My recent research on designing artificial intelligence applications to counter fabricated dissent while preserving democratic discourses has garnered external funding from several organizations. My research contributions have received several accolades, including “Best Paper” awards at prestigious conferences for my work on digital organizing and toxic communications. I also serve on the editorial boards of several leading journals and conferences.

Current Projects

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to combat digital dis-/mis-/mal-information
Opportunities and challenges to organize, scale and sustain digital activism
Designing ontologies and knowledge graphs for automated decision making

Key Themes

Digital Organizing

This stream of research builds on interdisciplinary scholarship to understand how use digital tools and platforms support or deter the efforts of individuals, groups, and communities to achieve the societal goals such as human well-being, community building, collective action, and social change.

Cybersecurity

This stream of research examines the individual and organizational security and privacy implicated through use of emerging technology. I apply both behavioral and design sciences lens to build theoretical and technical models and artifacts and offer actionable guidance to enhance cybersecurity posture.

Computational Analytics

I am a proponent of methodological pluralism. I am particularly piqued by computationally intensive approaches that involves the use of advanced computational techniques and algorithms to analyze and interpret large and complex datasets. I integrate methods from statistics, data and text mining, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to uncover patterns, trends, and insights from data.

Scroll down for a full listing of my publications (* student co-author)

Journal Publications

Romilla Syed, Leiser Silva, and Oyebisi Oladeji (2025). “Beyond Slacktivism: Unraveling the Power of Peripheral Mobilization through Social Media Talk and Ties.” MIS Quarterly, Forthcoming.
Romilla Syed, Joti Kaur, and Leiser Silva (2025). “Exposure of software vulnerabilities on Twitter: Analyzing vendors’ behavior of releasing software patches.” Computers and Security, 151.
Romilla Syed and Leiser Silva (2023). “Social Movement Sustenance on Social Media: An Analysis of Women’s March Movement on Twitter.” Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 24 (1), pp. 249-293.
Romilla Syed (2020). “Cybersecurity Vulnerability Management: A Conceptual Ontology and Cyber Intelligence Alert System.” Information & Management, 57 (6).
Romilla Syed (2019). “Enterprise reputation threats on social media: A case of data breach framing.” The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 28 (3), pp. 257-274.
Romilla Syed, Gurpreet Dhillon, and Jason Merrick (2018). “The Identity Management Value Model: A Design Science Approach to Assess Value Gaps on Social Media.” Decision Sciences, 50 (3), pp. 498-536.
Gurpreet Dhillon, Tiago Oliveira, and Romilla Syed (2018). “Value-based Information Privacy Objectives for Internet Commerce.” Computers in Human Behavior, 87, pp. 292-307.
Romilla Syed, *Maryam Rahafrooz, and Jeffrey M. Keisler (2018). “What it takes to get retweeted: An analysis of software vulnerability messages.” Computers in Human Behavior, 80, pp. 207-215.
Gurpreet Dhillon, Romilla Syed, and Filipe de Sá-Soares (2017). “Information security concerns in IT outsourcing: Identifying (in) congruence between clients and vendors.” Information & Management,54 (4), pp. 452-464.
Gurpreet Dhillon, Romilla Syed, and Cristiane Pedron (2016). “Interpreting information security culture: An organizational transformation case study.” Computers & Security,56, pp. 63-69.
Romilla Syed, Victoria Y. Yoon, Richard T. Redmond, and *Ugochukwu O. Etudo (2014). “Ontology-based integration of XBRL filings for financial decision making.” Decision Support Systems,68, pp. 64-76.
Romilla Syed and Gurpreet Dhillon (2012). “Understanding Information Security.” Journal of Information System Security, 8 (2), pp. 3-18.

Conference Proceedings

Hyein Jeong and Romilla Syed (2025). “Gendered Disinformation and Social Media Polarization,” Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Nashville, TN, December 10-17, 2025.
Oyebisi Oladeji, Leiser Silva, Romilla Syed (2025). “Public Reactions to Corporate Crises on Social Media: A Multimethod Analysis,” Proceedings of the Academy of Management (AOM), Copenhagen, Denmark, July 25-29.
Romilla Syed, Archana Shinde*, and Emmanuelle Vaast (2024). “Longitudinal Analysis of Health Misinformation: A Case of COVID-19 Pandemic,” Proceedings of the Academy of Management (AOM), Chicago, IL, August 9-13.
Romilla Syed and Emmanuelle Vaast (2024). “Toxic Speech and Collective Engagement: Evidence from Roe v. Wade Fallout,” Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Honolulu, Hawaii. Jan 2-5, 2024. Received Best Track Paper Award
*Oyebisi Oladeji, Romilla Syed and Leiser Silva (2024). “Social Media Enabled Social Movements in Information Systems Research: A Lakatos Approach to Literature Review,” Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Honolulu, Hawaii. Jan 2-5, 2024.
*Hyein Jeong and Romilla Syed (2024). “Relationship between the Use of IT and Wellbeing: A Literature Review,” Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Honolulu, Hawaii. Jan 2-5, 2024.
Oyebisi Oladeji*, Romilla Syed, and Leiser Silva (2023), “Social Media Enabled Social Movements in Information Systems Research: A Lakatos Approach to Review of Literature,” Proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Panama City, Panama, August 10-12.
Romilla Syed, Oyebisi Oladeji*, and Leiser Silva (2023), “Fueling Polarization in Connective and Counterconnective Movements,” Proceedings of the Academy of Management (AOM), Boston, MA, August 4-8.
Romilla Syed and Archana Shinde (2023), “Investigation of Health Misinformation During the Covid-19 Pandemic,” Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Maui, Hawaii, January 3-6.
Romilla Syed and Leiser Silva (2020). “Core and Peripheral Users and Social Movement Mobilization,” Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Virtual Conference, December 12-17. Received Best Track Paper Award
Romilla Syed, Leiser Silva (2020). “Social Movement and Core-Peripheral Network Mobilization,” Proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Virtual Conference, August 10-14.
Pratyush Bharati, Carol Lee*, and Romilla Syed (2019). “Influence of Trolling on Social Media Participation: An Empirical Investigationc,” Proceedings of the Academy of Management (AOM), Boston, MA, August 9-13. Equal Contribution
Leiser Silva and Romilla Syed (2019). “SOCIAL MEDIA AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: A CASE OF WOMEN’S MARCH,” Proceedings of the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden, June 8-14. Equal Contribution
Pratyush Bharati, Carol Lee*, and Romilla Syed (2018). “Trolls and Social Movement Participation: An Empirical Investigation,” Proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), New Orleans, LA, August 16-18. Equal Contribution
Romilla Syed, and Haonan Zhong* (2018). “Cybersecurity Vulnerability Management: An Ontology-Based Conceptual Model,” Proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), New Orleans, LA, August 16-18.
Romilla Syed (2017). “Analyzing Software Vendors’ Patch Release Behavior in the Age of Social Media,” Proceedings of International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Seoul, South Korea, December 10-13.
Romilla Syed (2017). “Modeling Values of Internet of Things (IoT) Consumers’ for Privacy Decision- Making,” Proceedings of Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Boston, MA, August 10-12.
Romilla Syed, and Gurpreet Dhillon (2015). “Dynamics of data breaches in online social Networks: Understanding threats to organizational information security reputation.” Proceedings of International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Fort Worth Texas, December 13-16. Nominated for the Best Paper Award.
Gurpreet Dhillon, Romilla Syed, and Cristiane Pedron. “Organizational transformation and information security culture: A telecom case study.” In IFIP International Information Security Conference, pp. 431-437. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2014. Nominated for the Best Student Paper Award.
Gurpreet Dhillon, Romilla Syed, and Filipe de Sá-Soares. “Secure Outsourcing: An Investigation of the Fit between Clients and Providers.” In IFIP International Information Security Conference, pp. 405-418. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2013.
Gurpreet Dhillon and Romilla Syed (2013). “Individual values for protecting identity in social networks,” Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Milan, Italy, December 15-18. Published in the conference theme track.