BIO

Devin Kilpatrick is a third-year PhD Candidate in Management & Organizations at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at The University of Michigan. Prior to joining Ross, he received his M.S. in Business Management from the Wake Forest University School of Business, and a B.A. in Sociology from Princeton University.

Devin’s research examines the evolving nature of work, focusing on how the decoupling of work from shared, in-person workplaces reshapes individual and collective outcomes. As technological innovation and shifting norms grant workers unprecedented levels of agency over where they work, organizations wrestle with a critical tension between enabling individual choice and flexibility and the maintenance of organizational culture, norms, and coordination. I investigate how hybrid workers’ choices in working location influence individual and group dynamics. My research also questions the fundamental “value proposition” of physical presence—investigating whether in-person gatherings act as engines for inclusion or mechanisms for exclusion. This research helps us to not only better understand hybrid work, but also how recent technological advances like the metaverse and generative AI may alter the social fabric of the workplace and the significance of human interaction in modern organizations.

Contact Devin at devinbk@umich.edu or connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbk/