Jordan D. Tong
Professor and Department Chair, Operations and Information Management
Robert M. Steiner Chair in Business
Wisconsin School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Contact
Contact
Email: jordan.tong@wisc.edu
Faculty Website: https://business.wisc.edu/directory/profile/jordan-tong/
Office Location: Grainger Hall, Room 4293
Office Phone: (608) 265-8220
Mailing Address: 975 University Avenue; Madison, WI 53706
Research
Research
I study the human judgments and decisions that drive operations — forecasting demand, managing inventory, evaluating quality, screening candidates, admitting patients — and why they go systematically wrong. These errors often arise not from flawed thinking alone, but from the interaction between human cognition and the structure of operational systems. That interaction matters because operations are where errors compound — propagating through supply chains, service systems, and hiring funnels — and because it points to remedies that redesign the process rather than just retrain the decision-maker.
Methodologically, my work often embeds behavioral theory from psychology and economics into operations models, and tests predictions with controlled experiments and field data. Much of my current research examines settings where humans and AI make decisions together: when human judgment adds value to algorithmic predictions, how people learn to trust or distrust AI, and how decision processes should be designed around the strengths of each. Other current work studies judgment biases in multistage screening processes, and how to structure decision processes in healthcare settings, from hospital admissions to doctor–patient shared decision-making.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Kim E, Long X, Tong J (2026) Fair funnels: Bias, performance, and interventions in multistage hiring processes. Ahead of print at Manufacturing & Service Operations Management. [.pdf] [onlineappx]
Disorbo M, Ferreira K, Balakrishnan M, Tong J (2025). Warnings and endorsements: Improving human-AI collaboration in the presence of outliers. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 27(6):1814-1831. [.pdf] [onlineappx] [data]
Balakrishnan M, Ferreira K, Tong J (2026) Human-algorithm collaboration with private information: Naïve advice weighting behavior and mitigation. Management Science 72(1):265-284 [.pdf] [onlineappx] [data]
Kim SH, Tong J (2024) Admission control bias and path-dependent feedback under diagnosis uncertainty. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 26(1) 117-136. [.pdf] [onlineappx] [data]
Davis A, Flicker B, Hyndman K, Katok E, Keppler S, Leider S, Long X, Tong J. (2023) A replication study of operations laboratory experiments published in Management Science. Management Science 69(9) 4973-5693. [.pdf] [onlineappx] [commentaries] [see also msreplication.com for data/materials]
Feiler D, Tong J (2022) From noise to bias: Overconfidence in new product forecasting. Management Science 68(6) 3975-4753. [.pdf] [onlineappx] [data]
Ibrahim R, Kim SH, Tong J (2021) Eliciting human judgment for prediction algorithms. Management Science 67(4) 1993-2656. [.pdf] [onlineappx] [data] [informs video]
DeCroix G, Long X, Tong J (2021) How service quality variability hurts revenue when customers learn: Implications for dynamic personalized pricing. Operations Research 69(3) 683-708. [.pdf]
Kim SH, Tong J, Peden C (2020) Admission control biases in hospital unit capacity management: How occupancy information hurdles and decision noise impact utilization. Management Science 66(11) 4921-5484. [.pdf] [onlineappx] [data]
Batt R, Tong, J (2020) Mean service metrics: Biased quality judgment and the customer-server quality gap. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 22(5) 975-995. [.pdf] [onlineappx]
Tong J, DeCroix G, Song J-S (2020) Modeling payment timing in multiechelon inventory systems with applications to supply chain coordination. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 22(2) 346-363. [.pdf] [onlineappx]
Tong J, Feiler D, Larrick R (2018) A behavioral remedy for the censorship bias. Production & Operations Management. 27(4) 624-643. [.pdf]
Tong J, Feiler D, Ivantsova A (2018) Good choice, bad judgment: How choice under uncertainty generates overoptimism. Psychological Science 29(2) 254–265. [.pdf] [onlineappx]
Tong J, Feiler D (2017) A behavioral model of forecasting: Naive statistics on mental samples. Management Science 63(11) 3609-3627. [.pdf]
Liu F, Song J-S, Tong J (2016) Building supply chain resilience through virtual stockpile pooling. Production & Operations Management 25(10) 1745-1762. [.pdf] [onlineappx]
Huang L, Song J-S, Tong J (2016) Supply chain planning for random demand surges: Reactive capacity and safety stock. Manufacturing & Service Operations Management 18(4) 509-524. [.pdf] [onlineappx]
Feiler D, Tong J, Larrick R (2013) Biased judgment in censored environments. Management Science 59(3) 573-591. [.pdf]
Chen L, Kok AG , Tong J (2013) The effect of payment schemes on inventory decisions: The role of mental accounting. Management Science 59(2) 436-451. [.pdf] [onlineappx] [replication report]
Practitioner Articles
Ferreira K, Tong J (2026) How AI agents orchestrate work across silos. Harvard Business Review 104(5), September–October 2026.
Selected Working Papers
Lin W, Kim SH, Tong J (2026) Revisiting the cause of algorithm aversion: Algorithm feedback asymmetry in the field and lab.
Tuncalp F, Ibrahim R, Kim SH, Tong J (2026) Designing doctor-patient shared decision-making processes under bounded rationality.
Feiler D, Tong J (2026) Bias in managerial judgment of operational processes: Hasty expectations under input uncertainty.
Book Chapters
Davis A, Tong J (2023) "Behavioral inventory management." The Research Handbook on Inventory Management. Edited by Jing-Sheng (Jeannette) Song. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. [.pdf]
Teaching
Teaching
Current/Upcoming Courses
AI-Enabled Business Solutions Lab (GENBUS 210 - BBA) - Spring 2027
Behavioral Experiment Research Methods in Management Science (OTM765 - PhD) - Spring 2026
Previously Taught Courses
Prescriptive Modeling & Optimization for Business Analytics (GENBUS730) - Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2023, Fall 2024
🏭 🧱 I made a game! 🏭 🧱 The Tong Lego Challenge is a classroom activity designed to introduce optimization models. You're welcome to use it!
Psychology of Business Analytics (OTM765) - Spring 2024
Operations Analytics (OTM365/453) - Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2020, Fall 2021
Introduction to Operations Management (OTM300) - Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016
Supply Chain Management (at Duke) - Spring 2011
Service and Leadership
Service and Leadership
Chair, Operations and Information Management — check out our department website and follow us on LinkedIn.
Editorial — Associate Editor at Management Science and Operations Research; Senior Editor at Production and Operations Management.
Co-founder and co-organizer, Behavioral Operations Management Summer Institute (BOMSI) — a weeklong institute designed for operations PhD students interested in behavioral research, run with Ryan Buell and Steve Leider. We aim to hold it every other summer, rotating among Michigan (2019), Harvard (2023), and Wisconsin (2025); the next is anticipated at Michigan in summer 2027. Interested PhD students and advisors are welcome to get in touch.
Co-creator and founding Academic Co-Director, Wisconsin's MS in Business Analytics — helped design, launch, and lead the program through its first two years.
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