Education & Bios

October 2008 -February 2012 Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Economics (Information Systems)
Field: Social Media and Online Communities
University of Amsterdam Business School, Department of Information Management
Dissertation Title: “Generative Collectives” (defended February 24, 2012)
Dissertation Committee: Dr. Michel Avital (advisor), Rik Maes (co-advisor), Dov Te’eni, Richard Boland, Charles Steinfield, Han van Dissel, and Ard Huizing
Winner OCIS Gerardine DeSanctis Award, Academy of Management 2013 
First Runner-Up ACM SIGMIS and AIS Best Doctoral Dissertation Award 2012
First Runner-Up William H. Newman Award, Academy of Management 2013
2008 Master of Philosophy (MPhil) / Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Social Research Summa Cum Laude
Two Year Master | VU University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Social Sciences
Major: Organization Sciences—Networking and Organizational Renewal
Thesis Specialization: Open Innovation; everyday distributed work practices of knowledge workers in the digitized economy – Case Study of a High-Tech Company in Silicon Valley
Summer 2007 International Summer University Program
Summa Cum Laude
Copenhagen Business School
Major: Management of Knowledge Processes in Networks
2006 Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) Culture, Organization & Management
Summa Cum Laude
VU University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Social Sciences
2003 International Baccalaureate
Van Der Capellen

Short-length Bio

Dr. Wietske van Osch is an Assistant Professor in Media and Information at Michigan State University and a visiting professor in Information Systems at the IESEG School of Management (France). She studies enterprise social media (ESM) and online communities for collaboration, knowledge sharing, boundary-spanning, and innovation with a focus on the design of generative systems and communities, both inside and outside organizations. Her work on ESM has been funded by the National Science Foundation (http://esm.mi.msu.edu) and published in premier information systems and communication journals, including Journal of Information Technology, Information and Management, Computers in Human Behavior, and Communications Monographs.

Medium-length Bio

Dr. Wietske van Osch received her Ph.D. in Economics (Information Systems) at the University of Amsterdam. Her doctoral dissertation focused on “Generative Collectives” and in particular the structural, cognitive and technological dimensions of online communities that result in enhanced innovation and won the 2014 Gerardine deSanctis Award from the Academy of Management OCIS Division, first runner up to the 2014 Academy of Management Academy-Wide Newman Award, and the First Runner Up award for the ACM SIGMIS / AIS Best Doctoral Dissertation Award 2012.

Before joining the Department of Media and Information at Michigan State University, she was also a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam, teaching both B.Sc. and M.Sc. courses on Organization & Management Theory, Innovation & Design, and Research Methods. Wietske holds a Bachelor of Science in Culture, Organization and Management from the VU University of Amsterdam and a Master of Science in Organization Science from the VU University of Amsterdam/Copenhagen Business School. She also holds a visiting appointment with the Department of Information Systems at the IESEG School of Management in France.

Her current research interests include enterprise social media (ESM) and online communities for collaboration, knowledge sharing, boundary-spanning, and innovation with a focus on the design of generative systems and communities, both inside and outside organizations. Current research projects involve extensive industry collaborations for research on ESM, big data, and social media marketing with companies including Steelcase and Leo Burnett. Her work on ESM has been funded by the National Science Foundation (http://esm.mi.msu.edu) and published in premier information systems and communication journals and conferences, including Journal of Information Technology, Information and Management, Computers in Human Behavior, International Conference on Information Systems, Americas Conference on Information Systems, European Conference on Information Systems, the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences and Communications Monographs.

Extended-Length Bio

Dr. Wietske van Osch received her Ph.D. in Economics (Information Systems) at the University of Amsterdam. Before joining the Department of Media and Information at Michigan State University, she was a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam, teaching both B.Sc. and M.Sc. courses on Organization & Management Theory, Innovation & Design, and Research Methods. Wietske holds a Bachelor of Science in Culture, Organization and Management from the VU University of Amsterdam and a Master of Science in Organization Science from the VU University of Amsterdam/Copenhagen Business School. She also holds a visiting appointment with the Department of Information Systems at the IESEG School of Management in France.

Her doctoral dissertation focused on “Generative Collectives” and in particular the structural, cognitive and technological dimensions of online communities that result in enhanced innovation and won the 2014 Gerardine deSanctis Award from the Academy of Management OCIS Division, first runner up to the 2014 Academy of Management Academy-Wide Newman Award, and the First Runner Up award for the ACM SIGMIS / AIS Best Doctoral Dissertation Award 2012.

Her current research interests include enterprise social media (ESM) and online communities for collaboration, knowledge sharing, boundary-spanning, and innovation with a focus on the design of generative systems and communities, both inside and outside organizations. Current research projects involve extensive industry collaborations for research on ESM, big data, and social media marketing with companies including Steelcase and Leo Burnett.

Her work on ESM has received funded by the Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) Cyber-Human Systems program of the National Science Foundation (Award id: 1422316 and url: http://esm.mi.msu.edu) and focuses on intra-organizational boundary spanning. Wietske has published in premier information systems and communication journals and conferences, including Journal of Information Technology, Information and Management, Computers in Human Behavior, International Conference on Information Systems, Americas Conference on Information Systems, European Conference on Information Systems, the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences and Communications Monographs.

Her current course offerings include Structural Equation Modeling, Social Computing, and IT Project Management. Over the past three years, she has co-led the study abroad program on “Technology & Culture: Communication and Games” in Japan. The program exposes students to the latest industry research and application in the mobile communication and gaming industries. Since the program’s inception, it has grown steadily, and is currently taking over 20 students to eight companies, three universities, and more than a dozen cultural sites across 10 cities every year.