Research

My research measures information disclosure in discourse. In particular, I study narrative disclosure in corporate financial reporting to identify fraud and find information signals useful to market participants. I am also involved in assessing the veracity of information disclosed by individuals online, and the contexts that affect veracity. I use methods from computational linguistics, information retrieval, machine learning, and econometrics.

Journal Publications

  1. Lee A. Spitzley, Xinran (Rebecca) Wang, Xunyu Chen, Steven J. Pentland, Jay F. Nunamaker, Judee K. Burgoon, Norah E. Dunbar. (Forthcoming). Non-invasive measures of trust in group interactions. IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing.
  2. Steven J. Pentland, Christie Fuller, Lee A. Spitzley, and Doug Twitchell. (2022). Does accuracy matter? Methodological considerations when using automated speech-to-text for social science research. International Journal of Social Research Methodology.
  3. Lee A. Spitzley, Xinran Wang, Xunyu Chen, Judee K. Burgoon, Norah E. Dunbar, Saying Ge. (2022). Linguistic measures of personality in group discussions. Frontiers in Psychology. 13:887616.
  4. Nathan W. Twyman, Steven J. Pentland, Lee A. Spitzley. (2020). Design principles for signal detection in modern job application systems: Identifying fabricated qualifications. Journal of Management Information Systems. 37(3). 849-874.
  5. Judee K. Burgoon, William J. Mayew, Justin S. Giboney, Aaron Elkins, Kevin Moffitt, Bradley Dorn, Michael Byrd, Lee A. Spitzley. (2016). Which spoken language markers identify deception in high-stakes settings? Evidence from earnings conference calls. Journal of Language and Social Psychology. 35(2). 123-157.

Book Chapters

  1. Deception and its Detection. Judee K. Burgoon, Norah E. Dunbar, Lee A. Spitzley. (2022). In M. Dehghani & R. L. Boyd (Eds.), The Atlas of Language in Psychology (pp. 285-303). Guilford Press.
  2. Spitzley, L. A. (2021). Incremental information in narrative financial disclosures: Differences between fraudulent and non-fraudulent firms. In: Detecting Trust and Deception in Group Interaction. Springer.
  3. Steven J. Pentland, Lee A. Spitzley, Xunyu Chen, Rebecca Wang, Judee Burgoon, Jay Nunamaker. (2021). Behavioral indicators of dominance in an adversarial group negotiation game. In: Detecting trust and deception in group interaction. Springer.

Refereed Conference Proceedings

*Presenting author

  1. Pentland, S. J., Spitzley, L. A., Fuller, C.*, Twitchell, D. (2019). Data quality relevance in linguistic analysis: The impact of transcription errors on multiple methods of linguistic analysis. Americas Conference on Information Systems. August 15-17, 2019. Cancún, Mexico.
  2. Spitzley, L. A.*, Pentland, S. J., Dorn, B., Walls, B. and Burgoon, J.K. (2018). Using multimodal data to infer group dynamics in an adversarial group game. In IEEE International Carnahan Conference on Security Technology, Montreal, QC, 2018.
  3. Twyman, N. W.*, Pentland, S. J., Spitzley, L. A. (2018). Deception detection in online, automated job interviews. International Conference on HCI in Business, Government, and Organizations. 206-216. July 15, 2018. Las Vegas, Nevada.
  4. Burgoon, J. K.*, Mayew, W. J., Giboney, J. S., Elkins, A., Moffitt, K., Spitzley, L., Byrd, M., et al. (2014). Applying linguistic and vocalic analysis to company conference calls to detect fraud-related statements. Proceedings of the 47th Hawai’i International Conference on System Sciences.
  5. Spitzley, L. A.*, Kumar, A. (2013) Exploring the phenomenon of offshore vendors locating satellite offices on the premises of the client in IT and IT-enabled services outsourcing. Presented at the Global IT Management Association 2013 World Conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 16-18, 2013
  6. Spitzley, L. A.*, Kumar, A. (2012) Enterprise resource planning systems in public organizations: An analysis of benefits, challenges, and critical success factors. Presented at the Global IT Management Association 2012 World Conference, Bangalore, India, June 17-19, 2012

Invited Talks

  1. Lee Spitzley. Analyst language in quarterly earnings calls: Comparing interactions with fraudulent and non-fraudulent managers. Invited to the MIS Speaker Series at the University of Arizona. Presented on November 4th, 2016 in Tucson, AZ
  2. Lee Spitzley. Analyst language in quarterly earnings calls: Comparing interactions with fraudulent and non-fraudulent managers. Invited to the Conference on Information Systems and Technology (CIST). To be presented in November 2016 in Nashville, TN.

Presentations & Posters

  1. Lee Spitzley, Steve Pentland, Jay Nunamaker, Judee Burgoon, Xunyu Chen*, Rebecca Wang. (2020). Analyzing Face-to-Face Multicultural Group Communication with Computational Linguistics and Vocalics: Procedures, Results and Implications for Future Research Indicators. Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS).Maui, HI. CAST: Credibility and Screening Technologies Symposium. January 7-8, 2020.
  3. Lee Spitzley, Judee Burgoon, Steve Pentland, Rebecca Wang, Tina Ge, Xunyu Chen. (2019). Analyzing Face-to-Face Multicultural Group Communication with Computational Linguistics: Procedures, Results and Implications for Future Research Indicators. Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Maui, HI. CAST: Credibility Assessment and Screening Technologies Symposium.January 8-9, 2019.
  4. Lee Spitzley, Steve Pentland, Jay Nunamaker, Xunyu Chen. (2019). Speech transcription for large groups. Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Big Island, HI. CAST: Credibility Assessment and Screening Technologies Symposium.January 8-9, 2019.
  5. Lee Spitzley. (2018). Manager-analyst interactions in fraudulent earnings calls. Annual Symposium on Information Assurance. Albany, NY. June 5-6, 2018.
  6. Lee Spitzley. (2018). Do financial analysts sense fraud? Evidence of suspicion in earnings calls. Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Big Island, HI. CAST: Credibility Assessment and Screening Technologies Symposium.January 3-4, 2018.
  7. Lee Spitzley, Bradley Dorn, Jay Nunamaker, Steve Pentland, Bradley Walls, Matt Giles, Becky Ford, VS Subrahmanian. (2018). Unanticipated Issues and Lessons Learned Studying Socio-Cultural Attitudinal Networks. Presented by Bradley Dorn. Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Big Island, HI. CAST: Credibility Assessment and Screening Technologies Symposium. January 3-4, 2018.
  8. Steve Pentland, Lee Spitzley,Nathan Twyman. (2018). Deception and exaggeration in online, automated job interviews. Presented by Steve Pentland. Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Big Island, HI. CAST: Credibility Assessment and Screening Technologies Symposium.January 3-4, 2018.
  9. Lee Spitzley. (2017). Data collection and logistics in the Mafia game. Annual stakeholder meeting for SCAN: Socio-Cultural Attitudinal Networks. October 4, 2017. College Park, MD.
  10. Lee Spitzley. (2016) Incremental information disclosure in financial reporting: Differences between fraudulent and non-fraudulent companies. Graduate and Professional Student Council Student Showcase. February 24, 2016. Tucson, AZ.
  11. Lee Spitzley. (2014) Predicting fraud from quarterly conference calls: A small sample study of scripted language. Americas Conference on Information Systems. August 7-9, 2014. Savannah, GA.

Submitted Work

  1. [Title removed during review]. With Xunyu Chen and Xinran Wang. 2nd round at Decision Support Systems.

Working Papers

  1. Analyst language in quarterly earnings calls: Comparing interactions with fraudulent and non-fraudulent managers.
  2. Information content in manager-analyst dyads.
  3. Data Quality Relevance in Linguistic Analysis: The Impact of Transcription Errors on Multiple Methods of Linguistic Analysis. Data analysis in progress. With Steven J. Pentland, Christie Fuller, and Doug Twitchell.

Research-in-Progress

  1. Analyzing Face-to-Face Multicultural Group Communication with Computational Linguistics and Vocalics: Procedures, Results and Implications for Future Research Indicators. With Steven J. Pentland, Xunyu Chen, Rebecca Wang, Judee Burgoon, Jay Nunamaker. In preparation for journal submission.
  2. Precision, power, and price: Levels of analysis in narrative financial disclosures. Writing in progress.
  3. Linguistic correlates of dominance, trust, and nervousness in a group negotiation game. Part of a Multi-University Research Initiative (MURI), funded by the US Dept. of Defense. Data analysis in progress.

Grants and Awards

  1. May 2020, $5,855. Improving job interview performance with real-time behavioral analytics. University at Albany Faculty Research Award Program – Category A (FRAP-A). Competitive at the university level.
  2. April 2017, $750. University of Arizona Graduate and Professional Student Council Travel Grant.
  3. University of Arizona Center for Leadership Ethics Research Grant, $1749. Awarded May 2016.
  4. University of Arizona Graduate and Professional Student Council Travel Grant, $545. Awarded December 2015.
  5. Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR) grant, Co-investigator. $40,000. Project title: “The effect of perceived surveillance on voluntary disclosure.”
  6. University of Arizona Graduate and Professional Student Council Research and Project Grant, $500. Awarded January 2015. Project title: “Information disclosure in fraudulent companies: A study of language similarity between earnings calls and financial statements”. Award number RSRCH-414FY15.

Dissertation

You can find my dissertation here.