Biography

I am a tenured faculty member in Strategy and Behavioral Decision Making at UCLA Anderson. I design and study incentive systems in the knowledge economy, with a particular focus on non-financial and relational incentives (e.g., awards, social recognition). My work draws on behavioral economics, strategy, innovation, and organizational design. My methodological focus on field experiments has allowed me to collaborate with organizations such as Wikipedia, NASA, private-sector firms (especially in technology), the American Red Cross, hospitals, schools, and universities. I am also founding the Center for Incentive Design, an interdisciplinary initiative running audacious attempts to address problems in health, education, and housing through incentive redesign.

At UCLA Anderson, I teach Business Strategy and Field Experiments in Strategy (FEiSty) – a course I designed in which MBA student teams run field experiments with organizations – as well as courses in various Executive Education programs (e.g., on incentives and motivation, innovation, and other topics in strategy and leadership).

For more, see Poets & Quants’ profile of my teaching, “Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Jana Gallus,” and UCLA Magazine’s feature on my research (and life), “What’s Your Incentive?”.

I joined UCLA from Harvard, where I was a postdoctoral fellow. I received my Ph.D. in economics from the University of Zurich, with the distinction summa cum laude, and I hold two master’s degrees from Sciences Po Paris in France and the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

At home, my four children keep me on my toes and smiling. Click here for a photo of 3/4 (it’s hard to get them all on one shot these days). I’m also a runner and founded the RunTheWorld community during the pandemic.

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