Professor Kitchens conducts research regarding the use of business analytics for examining firm value and competition, as well as for data-driven decision making. His research in this area includes projects related to measuring latent constructs through text and data mining, utilizing large-scale event studies to understand the value of firm business functions, evaluating the impact of electronic markets on local geographic competition, and determining factors related to customer churn in multichannel settings.

Before pursuing an academic career, Professor Kitchens worked for five years in the Risk Advisory Services practice at Ernst & Young LLP, serving large and small clients in many industries, including transportation, retail, health care, financial services, and manufacturing.