Aric Cheng

Research

I study digital infrastructure in operations — how it is produced, maintained, and consumed, and how its quality shapes operational outcomes. In one stream, I examine how the entry of paid contributors into volunteer-driven mapping platforms reshapes contribution dynamics. In another, I study how underlying map data quality propagates to last-mile delivery performance. My work combines large-scale archival data with quasi-experimental identification strategies.

Digital Infrastructure Platform Operations Last-Mile Delivery Causal Inference Applied Econometrics

Papers under Review or Revision

  1. Aric Cheng*, Abhishek Nagaraj*, Eunae Yoo*, and Elliot Rabinovich. "Stronger Together? Corporate Contributions and Volunteer Engagement in Online Communities." Major Revision at Management Science. Available at SSRN.

*Denotes equal contribution.

Working Papers

  1. Aric Cheng, Elliot Rabinovich, and Stanley Lim. "Online Mapping Errors and Their Impact on Last-Mile Delivery Operations." Preparing for submission.

Conference Presentations

"Online Mapping Errors and Their Impact on Last-Mile Delivery Operations." (with E. Rabinovich and S. Lim)

  • DSI Annual Conference, Phoenix, AZ. — November 2024
  • POMS Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA. — May 2025
  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA. — October 2025

"Stronger Together? Corporate Contributions and Volunteer Engagement in Online Communities." (with E. Yoo, A. Nagaraj, and E. Rabinovich)

  • POMS Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA. — May 2025
  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA. (presented by E. Yoo) — October 2025