Joseph Arvai

Strategy and Global Management

Joe Arvai is an associate professor of Strategy and Global Management and is the Svare Chair in Applied Decision Research in the Haskayne School of Business, and the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment, and Economy. Prior to coming to the University of Calgary in 2011, he was on the faculties of Michigan State University (2006-2010) and The Ohio State University (2001-2005). He received his PhD in the decision sciences from the University of British Columbia and he also holds degrees in Ecology and Oceanography (BSc and MSc, respectively).

Dr. Arvai's research focuses on advancing our understanding of how people process information and make decisions, both as individuals and in groups. A second objective of his research is to develop and test decision support tools that can be used by people to improve decision quality across a variety of social, environmental, and economic contexts. To support his research, he has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, U.S. National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as well as several other government, private, and not-for-profit sponsors. In addition to his research program, Joe teaches courses on behavioural decision research for undergraduates, graduate students, and MBAs.

Joe's research has been published in some of the premier interdisciplinary journals, which reflects the wide range of contexts in which he works; these include Risk Analysis, Environmental Science & Technology, the Journal of Risk Research, Ecological Applications, Ecological Economics, and Climatic Change. His research has also received international recognition and media attention; media outlets that have covered Joe's research include the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, CBS News, and the New York Times.

Dr. Arvai has also received several awards for his research. In 2006, he was the recipient of the Chauncey Starr Award, which each year honors the individual aged 40 or under who has made exceptional contributions to the field of risk and decision analysis. And in 2011, he was named a Leopold Leadership Fellow by the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University.

Dr. Arvai's home is in Calgary but he works across Canada, the United States, and internationally as an advisor to various government agencies and non-profit groups; in this capacity, he has worked as an advisor to NASA, the International Energy Agency, the US EPA's Science Advisory Board, the National Academy of Sciences, and Natural Resources Canada.

Selected Publications:
Kellon, D.S., and J. Arvai. 2011. Five propositions for improving decision making about the environment in developing communities: Insights from the decision sciences. Journal of Environmental Management 92: 363-371.

Arvai, J.L., and A. Froschauer. 2010. Good decisions, bad decisions: The interaction of process and outcome in evaluations of decision quality. Journal of Risk Research 13: 845-859.

Rivers, L., J. Arvai, and P. Slovic. 2010. Beyond a simple case of black and white: Searching for the White Male Effect in the African American community. Risk Analysis 30: 65-77.

Wilson, R.S., J.L. Arvai, and H. Arkes. 2008. My loss is your loss…sometimes: Loss aversion and the effect of motivational biases. Risk Analysis, 28: 929-938.

Wilson, R.S., and J.L. Arvai. 2006. Evaluating the quality of structured environmental management decisions. Environmental Science and Technology 16: 4831-4837.

Arvai, J.L., et al. 2006. Adaptive management of the global climate problem: Bridging the gap between climate research and climate policy. Climatic Change 78: 217-225.

Arvai, J.L. and R. Gregory. 2003. Testing alternative decision approaches for identifying cleanup priorities at contaminated sites. Environmental Science & Technology, 37: 1476-1496.

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