Currently: first-year Ph.d. student
Royal Shrestha
PhD Student, Strategic Communication
University of Colorado Boulder
How can we still trust what we see and feel online when we can’t always tell who or what created it?
I study how people answer that question, mostly in advertising, and mostly when nothing on the screen tells them.
About
I am a first-year PhD student at CU Boulder. Before this I spent nearly a decade in Nepal’s startups and creative industries, working on problems that turned out to be less about business and more about communication.
Research
Selected working papers and publications
When Knowing It’s AI Isn’t Enough
As virtual influencers become common in social media advertising, this study examines how AI disclosure shapes audience trust and willingness to engage among U.S. Gen Z consumers. Drawing on the Persuasion Knowledge Model, this study examines responses to AI disclosure of virtual influencers among U.S. Gen Z consumers (N = 364). Participants were randomly assigned to view […]
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Rated by AI: Employee Motivation and Performance Under Algorithmic vs. Human
Purpose: The study explores whether the type of evaluator, human manager versus AI-based performance management system, affects employees’ intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, perception of procedural justice and interpersonal justice in a non-Western entrepreneurial context. It addresses a gap in the AI-in-HRM literature, which has disproportionately studied large Western organizations and has left the motivational consequences of […]
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The “ChatGPT Effect”? Exploring AI-Assisted Creative Process in Strategic Communication
This study examines how AI assistance shapes creative brief writing among strategic communication students. In a between-subject experiment (N = 83), we compare AI-assisted and non-AI-assisted groups across writing quality, interaction patterns, cognitive engagement, self-efficacy, and agency attribution. Quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal a clear “ChatGPT Effect”: AI improved quality, appropriateness, and articulateness, with modest […]
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Teaching
The Influencer Industry
An advanced seminar interrogating the structural mechanisms, labor dynamics, and cultural impact of the contemporary influencer ecosystem. Students critically engage with platform economics, algorithmic governance, and the commodification of authenticity.
The Creator Economy
Exploring the historical evolution and current material realities of digital content creation. Focuses on monetization strategies, intellectual property in digital spaces, and the precarious nature of platform-dependent creative labor.
Digital Marketing Strategy
Comprehensive curriculum designing holistic digital campaigns, emphasizing analytics, consumer behavior, and brand positioning in emerging markets.