Narayanasamy Ramasubbu ("Narayan")
Samuel A. McCullough Professor of Business Administration
Associate Dean for AI & Learning Innovation
Area Director, Information Systems & Technology Management
School of Business, University of Pittsburgh
Mervis Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Ph.D. (2006), Business Administration, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Bachelor of Engineering (1998), Bharathiar University, India
University of Pittsburgh:
Since July 2026, Associate Dean for AI & Learning Innovation
Since January 2026, Area Director, Information Systems and Technology Management
Since October 2025, Samuel A. McCullough Professor of Business Administration
September 2022 – September 2025, Professor of Business Administration
September 2016 – August 2022, Associate Professor of Business Administration
2015-2018: Faculty Director of MS-IS/MBA-MIS Katz Graduate Programs in Information Systems
July 2012 – August 2016, Assistant Professor of Business Administration
Singapore Management University:
January 2006 – June 2012, Assistant Professor of Information Systems, Singapore Management University
University of Michigan:
June 2003 – Dec 2005, PhD Candidate and Research Associate, Center for Global Resource Leverage, University of Michigan
Aug 2001 – May 2003, PhD Student and Research Associate, Information Systems Executive Forum, University of Michigan
Industry:
Jun 2000 – Aug 2001, Product Manager and Senior Developer, CRM-BI Division, SAP AG, Walldorf, Germany
Jun 1998 – May 2000, Senior Software Engineer, CGI Inc (formerly IMR), Bangalore, India
"Profitability of Open-Source Software Product Development," Shivendu P. Singh, Narayan Ramasubbu, Chris F. Kemerer, M. Zia Hydari, Information Systems Research, forthcoming.
"Governing Technical Debt in Agentic AI Systems," M. Zia Hydari, Raja Iqbal, Narayan Ramasubbu, Communications of the ACM, forthcoming. Pre-print version in arXiv.
"Backfiring AI? AI Deployment in Workplace," Di Yuan, Manmohan Aseri, Narayan Ramasubbu, Management Science, forthcoming. Accepted version in SSRN.
"Mobile Advertisement Campaigns for Boosting In-Store Visits: A Design Framework and Case Study," Kimia Keshanian, Narayan Ramasubbu, and Kaushik Dutta, Production and Operations Management, (32:8), pp. 2438–2454, 2023.
"Software-Vendor Diversification: A Source of Organizational Rigidity in Adversity?," Jing Gong, Yi Liang, and Narayan Ramasubbu, Journal of Management Information Systems, 40(2): 338–365, 2023.
“Playing Politics or Playing Right: Impacts of Reputation-Seeking on Short-Term Disruptions Management,” Xing Bao, Prakash Mirchandani, Jennifer Shang, and Narayan Ramasubbu, Omega, (116: 102797): 1–12, 2023.
"Innovation in Complex Assembled Electronic Products: An Analysis of the Evolution of Television Components," Shivendu Singh, Chris Kemerer, and Narayan Ramasubbu, Journal of Operations Management, (67:6), pp. 680-703, 2021.
"Reconfiguring for Agility: Examining the Performance Implications of Project Team Autonomy through an Organizational Policy Experiment," Narayan Ramasubbu and Indranil Bardhan, MIS Quarterly, (45:4), pp. 2261-2280, 2021.
"Efficiency and Exposure: Reconciling the Effects of Website Browsing Behaviors for Non-Transactional Outcomes," Brian Dunn, Narayan Ramasubbu, Matthew Jensen, Dennis Galletta, and Paul Lowry, AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, (13:2), pp. 206-242, 2021.
"Controlling Technical Debt Remediation in Outsourced Enterprise Systems Maintenance: An Empirical Analysis," Narayan Ramasubbu and Chris Kemerer, Journal of Management Information Systems, (38:1), pp. 4-28, 2021.
"Technical Debt and Firm Performance," Rajiv Banker, Yi Liang, and Narayan Ramasubbu, Management Science, (67:5), pp. 3174-3194, 2021. [link].
"Habitat Traps in Mobile Platform Ecosystems," Nargis Pervin, Narayan Ramasubbu, and Kaushik Dutta, Production and Operations Management, (28:10), pp. 2594-2608, 2019. [PDF]
"Digital Borders, Location Recognition, and Experience Attribution within a Digital Geography," Brian Dunn, Narayan Ramasubbu, Dennis Galletta, and Paul Lowry. Journal of Management Information Systems, (36:2), pp. 418-449, 2019. [link]
"Task Interdependence and Firm Performance in Outsourced Service Operations," Narayan Ramasubbu, Jen Shang, Jerry May, Youxu Tjader, and Luis Vargas. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, (21:3), pp. 658-673, 2019. [PDF]
"Integrating Technical Debt Management and Software Quality Management Processes: A Normative Framework and Field Tests," Narayan Ramasubbu and Chris F. Kemerer. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, (45:3), pp. 285-300, 2019. [PDF]
"Technical Debt and the Reliability of Enterprise Software Systems: A Competing Risks Analysis," Narayan Ramasubbu and Chris F. Kemerer, Management Science, (62:5), pp. 1487-1510, 2016. [PDF]
“Software Process Diversity: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Analysis of Impact on Project Performance," Narayan Ramasubbu, Anandhi Bharadwaj, and Giri Kumar Tayi, MIS Quarterly, (39:4), pp. 787-807, 2015. [PDF]
Managing Technical Debt: Insights from Recent Empirical Evidence," Narayan Ramasubbu, Chris F. Kemerer, and C. Jason Woodard, IEEE Software (32: 2), pp. 22-25, 2015. [PDF]
"Managing Technical Debt in Enterprise Software Packages," Narayan Ramasubbu and Chris F. Kemerer, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, (40:8), pp. 758-772, 2014. [PDF]
"Governing Software Process Improvements in Globally Distributed Product Development," Narayan Ramasubbu, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, (40:3), pp. 235-250, 2014. [PDF]
“Design Moves and Design Capital: The Logic of Digital Business Strategy,” Jason Woodard, Narayan Ramasubbu, Ted Tschang, V. Sambamurthy, MIS Quarterly, (37:2), pp. 537-564, 2013. [PDF]
“Structural Complexity and Programmer Strategies: An Experimental Test,” Narayan Ramasubbu, Chris F. Kemerer, and Jeff Hong, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, (38:5), 1054-1068, 2012. [PDF]
“Does Complexity Deter Customer-Focus,” Sendil Ethiraj, Narayan Ramasubbu, and M. S. Krishnan, Strategic Management Journal, (33: 2), pp 137-161, 2012. [PDF]
“In Search of Efficient Flexibility: Examining the Effects of Component Granularity Design on Customization Effort, Defects, and Development Effort,” Ramanath Subramanyam, Narayan Ramasubbu, and M.S. Krishnan, Information Systems Research, (23:3), pp. 787-803, 2012. [PDF]
“How Information Management Capability Influences Firm Performance,” Sunil Mithas, Narayan Ramasubbu, and V. Sambamurthy, MIS Quarterly, (35: 1), pp.237-256, 2011. [PDF]
“The Digital Wallet: Opportunities and Prototypes,” Rajesh Krishna Balan and Narayan Ramasubbu, IEEE Computer, (42: 4), pp.100-102, 2009. [PDF]
“Work Dispersion, Process-Based Learning, and Offshore Software Development Performance,” Narayan Ramasubbu, Sunil Mithas, M. S. Krishnan, and Chris Kemerer, MIS Quarterly, (32: 2), pp. 437-458, 2008. [PDF]
“High Tech, High Touch: The Effect of Employee Skills and Customer Heterogeneity on Customer Satisfaction with Enterprise System Support Services,” Narayan Ramasubbu, Sunil Mithas, and M. S. Krishnan, Decision Support Systems, (44: 2), pp. 509-523, 2008. [PDF]
“Designing Web Sites for Customer Loyalty Across Business Domains: A Multilevel Analysis,” Sunil Mithas, Narayan Ramasubbu, M. S. Krishnan, and Claes Fornell, Journal of Management Information Systems, (23:3), pp. 97-127, 2006. [PDF]
“Leveraging Global Resources: A Distributed Process Maturity Framework for Software Product Development,” Narayan Ramasubbu, M. S. Krishnan, and Prasad Kompalli, IEEE Software, (22: 3), pp. 80-86, 2005. [PDF]
“Accountability in Open Source Software Ecosystems: Workshop Report,” Nandini Sharma, Thomas Bock, Rich Bowen, et al., Oct. 2025, Workshop on Accountability and Open Source Software, sponsored by an NSF grant from the Designing Accountable Software Systems program.
“Better Leads, Worse Performance: How Parallel AI Deployment Reshapes Worker Behavior,” Xinyu Fu, Shulong Luo, Narayan Ramasubbu, Xincheng Wang, and Yucheng Wang, UT Dallas BizAI conference, March 2026.
“Drinking From a Firehose While Herding Cats: A Search for Accountability in the Rust Open Source Community,” Nandini Sharma, Narayan Ramasubbu, Jim Herbsleb, Bogdan Vasilescu, Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 9(7), Article # CSCW404, Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Oct. 2025.
“The Impact of AI on Open-Source Community Engagement,” Karthik Kannan NB and Narayan Ramasubbu, UT Dallas BizAI conference, March 2025.
“Accountable Open-Source Infrastructure,” Bogdan Vasilescu, Jim Herbsleb, and Narayan Ramasubbu, NSF Workshop on Designing Accountable Software Systems, Nov. 2024.
“Digitization and Bribes,” Workshop on Information Systems Economics, Dec. 2023.
“Managing Online Discussions using Imperfect Bots and Mindful Humans, Research talk, University of Arkansas, Oct. 2021.
“Strategic Implications of Technical Debt,” Invited talk, 4th International Conference on Technical Debt, Madrid, Spain, May 2021.
“Human-Bot Hybrid Designs,” Research talk, Temple University, Jan. 2021.
“Human-AI Supervisory Configurations,” Presented at the 2020 Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Business Analytics, Fox School of Business, Temple University, Dec. 2020.
“Integrating Technical Debt Management and Software Quality Management Processes: A Normative Framework and Field Tests,” Narayan Ramasubbu and Chris F. Kemerer, International Conference on Software Engineering, Gothenburg, Sweden, May/June 2018.
“Technical Debt: An IS Research Program,” presented at Temple University (Sep. 2016), University of Maryland (Oct. 2016), University of North Carolina at Charlotte, March 2017.
“Configuring Global Software Teams: Examining Equifinality and Process Autonomy,” Narayan Ramasubbu and Indranil Bardhan, Conference on Information Systems and Technology, INFORMS Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, Nov. 2016.
“Technical Debt and Firm Performance,” invited presentation, research seminar at University of Texas, Dallas, Sep. 2015, and University of Georgia, Feb. 2016.
“Software Process Diversity: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Analysis of Impact on Project Performance," Narayan Ramasubbu, presented at the Sandra A. Slaughter Software Conference, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015.
“Orchestrating Service Innovation through Design Moves," Narayan Ramasubbu, C. Jason Woodard, and Sunil Mithas, Annual Meeting of Product and Operations Management Society, Washington, DC, 2015.
“Service Innovation: The Dynamics of Architectural Fit," Narayan Ramasubbu, C. Jason Woodard, and Sunil Mithas, International Conference on Information Systems, Auckland, NZ, 2014.
"Towards a Model of Optimizing Technical Debt in Software Products," Narayan Ramasubbu and Chris F. Kemerer, Workshop on Managing Technical Debt, International Conference on Software Engineering, San Francisco, CA, 2013.
"Takeoff of Mobile Applications in Crowded Platform Ecosystems," Sangar Kajanan, Nargis Pervin, Kaushik Dutta, and Anindya Datta, International Conference on Information Systems, Orlando, FL, 2012.
“Configuring Global Software Teams: A multi-company Analysis of Productivity, Quality, and Profits”, Narayan Ramasubbu, Marcelo Cataldo, Rajesh Balan, Jim Herbsleb, 2011 International Conference on Software Engineering, Waikiki, Hawaii, USA. [Awarded ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award].
“Evolution of a Bluetooth Test Application Product Line: A Case Study,” Narayan Ramasubbu and Rajesh Krishna Balan, 18th ACM SIGSOFT FSE Conference (2010), Santa Fe, NM, USA.
“mFerio: The Design and Evaluation of a Peer-to-Peer Mobile Payment System,” Rajesh Krishna Balan, Narayan Ramasubbu, Komsit Prakobphol, Nicolas Christin, and Jason Hong, 7th Annual International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications and Services (MobiSys), Krakow, Poland.
“The Impact of Process Choice in High Maturity Environments: An Empirical Analysis,” Narayan Ramasubbu and Rajesh Krishna Balan, 31st International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), Vancouver, Canada.
“Towards Governance Schemes for Distributed Software,” Narayan Ramasubbu and Rajesh Krishna Balan, Workshop on Software Development Governance (SDG) (Held in Conjunction with ICSE 2008), Leipzig, Germany.
“Globally Distributed Software Development Project Performance: An Empirical Analysis,” Narayan Ramasubbu and Rajesh Krishna Balan, 6th joint meeting of the European Software Engineering Conference and the ACM SIGSOFT Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE), Dubrovnik, Croatia [Awarded ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award].
“Empirical Analysis of the Value of Code Inspections for Project Management,” Narayan Ramasubbu, Subramanyam Ramanath, Sunil Mithas, and M. S. Krishnan, 12th Americas Conference on Information Systems, Acapulco, Mexico.
“An Empirical Investigation of Knowledge Partitioning in Offshore Software Development,” Narayan Ramasubbu and M. S. Krishnan, Proceedings of the first International Conference on Management of Globally Distributed Work (GDW), Bangalore.
“A Distributed Process Maturity Framework for Software Product Development,” Narayan Ramasubbu and M. S. Krishnan, Proceedings of the 2005 American Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Omaha.
“Does Complexity Affect Innovation: An Empirical Analysis of Communications Software Product Development,” Sendil Ethiraj, Narayan Ramasubbu, and M. S. Krishnan, 2005 Academy of Management (AOM) Annual Meeting, Hawaii.
“Effect of Quality Management Practices in Distributed Offshore Software Development: An Empirical Analysis,” Narayan Ramasubbu, Sunil Mithas, M.S. Krishnan, and Chris Kemerer, 2004 Academy of Management (AOM) Annual Meeting, New Orleans.
“Effect of Website Characteristics on Consumer Loyalty: A Multilevel Analysis,” Sunil Mithas, Narayan Ramasubbu, M. S. Krishnan, and Claes Fornell, 2003, International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Seattle.
“Information Technology Management and Firm Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Mediating Influences,” Sunil Mithas, Narayan Ramasubbu, M. S. Krishnan, and V. Sambamurthy, Proceedings of the Eighth INFORMS Conference on Information Systems and Technology (CIST), Atlanta.
“Evolution of Indian Software Industry: The Emerging Model of Mobilizing Global Talent,” M. S. Krishnan, Narayan Ramasubbu, and Ramanath Subramanyam, 2008, eds. Swaminathan, M., Emerald Publishing.
“IT Enabled Business Processes for Rural Retail Ecosystem: The Case of ITC,” Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
“Going Borderless for a Green Mission: Vestas Group IT,” Singapore Management University, Case for the APEX 2008 global case competition.
“Competing through Analytics: Calypso Shipping Group”, Jason Woodard and Narayan Ramasubbu, Case for the APEX 2010 global case competition.