Experienced researcher for the project aiTrust

The Bucharest University of Economic Studies has opened 5 Experienced Researcher positions.

Part-time 20 hours/month distributed unequally, gross hourly salary 240 lei, fixed period of 12 months with evaluation and possibility of extension until June 30, 2026.

The project is entitled “A Study of Consumer Trust in Online Reviews and Social Media Comments in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”, having Maria Petrescu as principal investigator.

The ideal candidate profile consists of advanced knowledge in statistical and econometric modeling, scientific-oriented thinking, communication and team skills, with a PhD in the field of economics, (business) mathematics, (business) informatics, marketing, management,  or similar, and a minimum 10 years of scientific research experience.

As a member of the team, you will deal with challenging questions related to artificial intelligence, sentiment analysis, social networking analysis, marketing and management strategy, public policy, marketing data modelling, consumer behavior, and online marketing. Within the framework of your assignment, you will have the opportunity to present your results at international conferences. Our team offers flexible working hours and intensive cooperation in a committed team.

The application deadline is february 29, 2024. If you have any questions, please contact Prof. Mihai Orzan (mihai.orzan@ase.ro). You can find more details below, as well as a short presentation of the project.

TFor the longest time, the very definition of social media revolved around the concept of user-generated content. However, recent developments in artificial intelligence tools and technologies are blurring the lines between human and computer generated. In the last few years, we’ve seen a number of online avatars used by various companies to disseminate information, recommend products and generate marketing messages. They are popular, especially in the cosmetics industry and tourism, but their use has grown exponentially. However, their development and deployment are still prohibitively expensive for individuals and small companies. Recently, text-based AI content generators have increased in popularity. They are cheap and easy to use and deploy, and they are being used to simulate user-generated content on social media and for online reviews website at an ever-growing pace. Our research aims to investigate consumers' trust in online reviews and comments in social communication channels and how recent developments in online AI-based tools impacted it, in order to better understand how consumers perceive and interpret information obtained from reviews and comments generated by artificial intelligence, as well as their influence on purchasing decisions and consumer behavior. To this end, the project shall conduct a multi-method and multi-stakeholder investigation to develop a comprehensive framework of online trust, and its connection with online reviews and social media comments, in relation to AI-generated content, to analyze using complex, scientific and varied tools and methodologies, to model these relations and offer simulations, best practices recommendations, and proposals for public policies linked to our scientific findings, in order to best adjust the social and economic environment to this new technological advancement.