León Valdés
Assistant Professor of Business Administration

Contact

342 Mervis Hall
lvaldes@katz.pitt.edu
412-624-3327
Personal Website

Profile

León Valdés joined the Katz faculty in 2017. His research focuses on the intersection of behavioral sciences with sustainable and nonprofit operations management. Using controlled experiments, analytical models, and empirical data, he studies how consumers and job seekers respond to companies’ sustainable practices; how managers can improve social responsibility in their supply chains; and how donors react to nonprofits’ actions and metrics. León is also interested in the study of human behavior in queues and in service operations more broadly.

Awards and Honors

  • Finalist, 2022 INFORMS Minority Issues Forum (MIF) Paper Competition
  • Finalist, 2021 M&SOM Best Paper Award
  • 2021 Doris & Douglas Bernstein Award for Faculty Teaching Excellence
  • 2021, 2018 Katz Excellence in Teaching Award
  • 1st place, 2015 Best Student Paper Competition, POMS College of Sustainable Operations
  • 2nd place, 2015 Best Working Paper Competition, INFORMS Behavioral Operations Management Section

Degrees

  • PhD in Operations Management, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • MS in Engineering (Diplôme d’Ingénieur), Ecole Centrale Paris
  • BS in Industrial Engineering, Universidad de Chile

Recent Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journals

Consumer Trust in Social Responsibility Communications: The Role of Supply Chain Visibility.” Kraft, T., Valdés, L., and Y. Zheng (2022). Production and Operations Management 31: 4113– 4130

Trying and Failing: Biases in Donor Aversion to Rejection.” Daniels, K. and L. Valdés (2021). Production and Operations Management 30: 4356-4373.

Motivating Supplier Social Responsibility under Incomplete Visibility.” Kraft, T., Valdés, L., and Y. Zheng (2020). Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 22.6: 1107–1286.

Supply Chain Visibility and Social Responsibility: Investigating Consumers’ Behaviors and Motives.” Kraft, T., Valdés, L., and Y. Zheng (2018). Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 20.4: 617–636.

Book Chapter

Zheng, Yanchong, Tim Kraft, and León Valdés (2016), “Assessing Consumers’ Valuations of Socially Responsible Products with Controlled Experiments,” Environmentally Responsible Supply Chains, A. Atasu, ed. Springer, 29-50.

Recent Working Papers

Experienced and Prospective Wait in Queues: A Behavioral Investigation.” Luo, J., Valdés, L., and S. Linardi.

Purpose Claims and Capacity-Based Credibility: Evidence from the Labor Market.” Valdés, L., Young-Hyman, T., Gilbertson, E., Bhattacharya, CB., and O. Hahl.

Academic Area

Business Analytics and Operations

Personal Interests

In his spare time, León loves playing and listening to Early Music and Latin-American folk. He also enjoys going to the theater, reading and learning about history, and spending time in Pennsylvania’s and West Virginia’s state parks.