User Innovation and Product Stickiness: Evidence from Video Games
Prior research on user innovation fails to explain its low adoption rate and neglects its impact on increased product stickiness. To bridge these gaps, we conducted an empirical investigation into user innovations within the video game sector. Our study reveals that embracing user innovation leads to an upsurge in the number of active players for a game. Furthermore, the marginal effect of user innovations varies depending on their recency and quality, with low-quality user innovations leading to user attrition.
Seed Accelerators, Information Asymmetry, and Corporate Venture Capital Investments
Beyond financial incentives, investments by Corporate Venture Capitalists (CVCs) are often motivated by strategic objectives, such as gaining early exposure to emerging technologies. However, in the presence of information asymmetry, CVCs tend to invest in startups with a high degree of business relatedness—startups that are less risky but lacking in knowledge novelty—which are not ideal for achieving their strategic objectives.
Prompt Adaptation as a Dynamic Complement in Generative AI Systems
As generative AI systems rapidly improve, a key question emerges: How do users keep up—and what happens if they fail to do so. Drawing on theories of dynamic capabilities and IT complements, we examine prompt adaptation—the adjustments users make to their inputs in response to evolving model behavior—as a mechanism that helps determine whether technical advances translate into realized economic value.
21 Smith School Professors Named Among Top 2% Scholars Worldwide
Twenty-one Smith School professors were named among the top 2% most cited researchers globally, according to Elsevier’s 2025 study across 22 fields. Representing both current and emeritus faculty, their impactful research advances business knowledge and global academic excellence.
Facial Recognition Flaws and Deepfake Solutions: Smith School Researchers Address AI Bias
Professors Lauren Rhue and Siva Viswanathan at the Smith School study AI’s societal impacts. Rhue reveals racial bias in facial recognition, while Viswanathan develops deepfake-based methods to detect and mitigate bias in decision-making and healthcare.
Elmaghraby Elected to Top Leadership Role of INFORMS
Wedad Elmaghraby, Dean’s Chair of Operations Management and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, was elected president-elect of INFORMS, the top international association for operations research, analytics and AI professionals, beginning Jan. 1, 2026.
Raghavan Named 2025 INFORMS Fellow
S. Raghu Raghavan, Dean’s Professor of Management Science and Operations Management, was named an INFORMS Fellow—one of the field’s highest honors—for pioneering research in operations research, analytics, and AI, recognizing his lifetime academic, research, and professional contributions.
Ambassador’s Visit Launches Effort to Build a Bridge Between Nigeria and Smith
The Smith School hosted Nigeria’s acting ambassador, Samson Itegboje, to strengthen partnerships benefiting students. Leaders discussed collaboration in AI, healthcare, and business. Nigerian students’ contributions were celebrated, and the visit highlighted opportunities for cultural exchange, research, internships, and global cooperation between institutions.
Smith’s Service to State
The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is driving state policy and economic development through faculty-led, student-powered research partnerships with Maryland agencies, while providing experiential learning that equips students with analytical skills and real-world impact opportunities.
Research from Smith Looks at Progress and Prospects with Large Language Models and Synthetic Health Data
In a JAMIA Open study, the Smith School’s Margrét Bjarnadóttir explores how large language models can generate synthetic health data to improve predictive models while addressing algorithmic bias and advancing health equity.