Portrait image for Sanford E. DeVoe

Sanford E. DeVoe

Senior Associate Dean of MBA Programs; Professor of Management and Organizations
“There’s something very powerful about putting a precise monetary value on time.”
(310) 206-8205
Areas of Expertise:
  • Behavioral Decision Making
  • Human Resource Management
  • Organizational Behavior
About
 

Biography

Sanford DeVoe is professor of Management and Organizations. He is currently serving as senior associate dean of MBA programs and teaching leadership foundations and organizational behavior to Full-Time, Fully Employed and Executive MBA students.

DeVoe’s research focuses on the psychological consequences of placing a monetary value on time. Using a mix of survey and experimental methods, he observes how people look at the trade-offs between time and money and how each is valued. The key implication of his research is how organizations can be changed to enhance the well-being of individuals, organizations and society.

DeVoe earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology with high honors from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. While pursuing his Ph.D. in organizational behavior from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, he received numerous fellowships and awards. He received the Excellence in Teaching award six times, in addition to being named winner of the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research in 2011 at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, where he worked for eight years prior to joining the faculty of UCLA Anderson in summer 2015.

DeVoe was a senior editor at Organization Science and has served on the editorial board of several leading journals in management and psychology.

A sought-out expert, DeVoe’s has been quoted and cited in numerous media outlets, including the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, New Yorker, Time Magazine and Wall Street Journal. He was also featured as one of Poets and Quants’ Best 40 Professors Under 40 in 2015.

A native New Yorker, DeVoe came to UCLA because it has attracted one of the best group of behavioral scientists in the world, situated at one of the best public universities in the country, in one of the most vibrant cities — in other words, a no-brainer.

When he’s not in the classroom he enjoys playing tennis as well as traveling. The overlap of these two interests has inspired the goal of seeing all four Grand Slam tournaments — he only has one to go!

Education

Ph.D. 2007, Organizational Behavior, Stanford University

B.A. 2000, Psychology with High Honors, Swarthmore College

Publications

DeVoe, S. E., & Pai, J. (2021). When does being paid an hourly wage make it difficult to be a happy volunteer?  Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 51, 763-768.

West, C., Mogilner, C., & DeVoe, S. E. (2021). Happiness from treating your weekend like a vacation. Social Personality Psychological Science, 12, 346-356.

Pai, J., DeVoe, S. E., & Pfeffer, J. (2020). How income and the economic evaluation of time affect who we socialize with off the job.  Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 161, 158-175.

DeVoe, S. E. (2019). Psychological consequences of thinking about time in terms of money. Current Opinion in Psychology, 26, 103-105.

Mogilner, C., & DeVoe, S. E. (2019). Editorial overview: Time. Current Opinion in Psychology, 26, iv-vi.

DeCelles, K., DeVoe, S. E., Agasi, S., Rafaeli, A. (2019). Helping to reduce fights before flights: How environmental stressors in organizations shape customer emotions and customer-employee interactions. Personnel Psychology72, 49-80.

Parke, M. R., Weinhardt, J. M., Brodsky, A., Tangirala, S., & DeVoe, S. E. (2018). When Daily Planning Improves Employee Performance: The Importance of Planning Type, Engagement, and Interruptions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103, 300-312.

DeVoe, S. E., & House, J. (2016). Replications with MTurkers who are naïve versus experienced with academic studies. A comment on Connors, Khamitov, Moroz, Cambell, and Henderson (2016). Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 67, 65-67

House, J., DeVoe, S. E., & Zhong, C-B. (2014). No time to smell the roses: Exposure to fast food impedes happiness. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5, 534-541.

DeVoe, S. E., House, J., & Zhong, C-B. (2013). Fast food and financial impatience: A socio-ecological approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105, 476-494.

DeVoe, S. E., Pfeffer, J., & Lee, B. Y. (2013). When does money make money more important? Survey and experimental evidence. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 5, 1076-1094.

DeVoe, S. E., & House, J. (2012). Time, money, and happiness: How does putting a price on time affect our ability to smell the roses? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 466-474.

Lee, B. Y., & DeVoe, S. E. (2012). Flextime and profitability: The critical role of organizational business strategies. Industrial Relations, 51, 298-316.

Pfeffer, J. & DeVoe, S. E. (2012). The economic evaluation of time: Organizational causes and individual consequences. Research in Organizational Behavior, 32, 47-62.

DeVoe, S. E., & Pfeffer, J. (2011). Time is tight: How higher economic value of time increases feelings of time pressure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 665-676.

DeVoe, S. E., & Iyengar, S. S. (2010). The medium of exchange matters: What’s fair for goods is unfair for money. Psychological Science, 21, 159-162.

DeVoe, S. E., Lee, B. Y, & Pfeffer, J. (2010). Hourly versus salaried payment and decisions about trading off time and money over time. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 63, 624-636.

DeVoe, S. E., & Pfeffer, J. (2010). The stingy hour: How the practice of billing time affects volunteering. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 470-483.

Zhong, C., & DeVoe, S. E. (2010). You are how you eat: Fast food and impatience. Psychological Science, 21, 619-622.

DeVoe, S. E., & Pfeffer, J. (2009). When is happiness about how much you earn? The effect of hourly payment on the money-happiness connection. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1602-1618.

Pfeffer, J., & DeVoe, S. E. (2009). Economic evaluation: The effect of money and economics on time use attitudes. Journal of Economic Psychology, 30, 500-508.

DeVoe, S. E., & Pfeffer, J. (2007). Hourly payment and volunteering: The effect of organizational practices on decisions about time use. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 783-798.

DeVoe, S. E., & Pfeffer, J. (2007). When time is money: The effect of hourly payment on the evaluation of time. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 104, 1-13.

DeVoe, S. E., & Iyengar, S. S. (2004). Managers’ theories of subordinates: A cross-cultural examination of manager perceptions of motivation and appraisal of performance. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 93, 47-61.

Leach, C. W., Queirolo, S. S., DeVoe, S. E., & Chemers, M. (2003). Choosing letter grade evaluations: The interaction of students’ achievement goals and self-efficacy in the choice to receive letter grades. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 28, 495-509.

Chapters

DeVoe, S. E., & Iyengar, S. S. (2010). Allocating resources among group members: The medium of exchange matters. In B. Mannix, M. Neale, and E. Mullen (Ed.), Research on Managing Groups and Teams: Vol. 13. Fairness and Groups (pp. 159-181). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Iyengar, S. S., & DeVoe, S. E. (2003). Rethinking the value of choice: Considering cultural mediators of intrinsic motivation. In V. Murphy-Berman, & J. Berman (Eds.), Nebraska symposium on motivation: Vol. 49. Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 129-174). Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

Newspaper and Blog

DeVoe, S. E. (September 7, 2015)Show Me the Meaning: A Review of Why We Work. The Psych Report. (thepsychreport)

DeVoe, S. E. (June 1, 2014). Fast Food, Empty Piggy Banks. The New York Times, p. SR12.

DeVoe, S. E. (July 1, 2014). Fast Food and Impatience: Can Where You Live Affect Your Emotional and Financial Well-Being. Society for Personality and Social Psychology Blog (sppsblog.org).

DeVoe, S. E. (August 3, 2020). Why Hourly Wages Can Make You Unhappy: Putting a dollar value on your time means you tend to do more networking—and less of what you really enjoy. The Wall Street Journal, pB1.