---
id: "pisquared:interview/gubler-tim"
type: "Pi-Squared interview"
title: "Anita McGahan in conversation with Tim Gubler"
url: "https://pisquared.theburnescenter.org/interviews/gubler-tim"
date: "2026-07-14"
people: ["Anita McGahan","Tim Gubler"]
summary: "Tim Gubler is associate professor of Strategy at the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University in 2019. His research examines how..."
recording: "https://vimeo.com/1213442746"
source: "Pi-Squared (pisquared.theburnescenter.org), The Burnes Center for Social Change"
licence: "none stated"
---

# Anita McGahan in conversation with Tim Gubler

Tim Gubler, Associate Professor of Strategy, Brigham Young University · 14 July 2026

## About the guest

Tim Gubler is associate professor of Strategy at the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University in 2019. His research examines how organizations mobilize human effort and judgment, with a particular focus on how incentives, motivation, and organizational systems shape knowledge- and skill-intensive work. Across a range of real-world settings, his research highlights how incentive structures influence not only effort, but also attention, meaning, and prioritization—especially when goals conflict, measurement is imperfect, and the stakes are high. His work helps organizations create and capture value through the people they employ. He has looked at frontline commercial laundry workers, residential real estate brokers, paramedics, moonlighting workers, and U.S. federal civil servants. His work has been published in leading academic journals and has been recognized with multiple awards, and has been featured in major media outlets. Tim holds elected office in our Associations and important editorial posts. Prior to pursuing his doctoral studies, he earned a degree in economics from Brigham Young University and worked as an electrician and project manager in his family’s electrical contracting business—an experience that continues to inform his research and teaching.

## Reflections from the interview

**Professor Tim Gubler** has studied commercial laundries, real-estate brokers, moonlighters, paramedics, and US civil servants to understand what the work we do means to us as individuals.  His central focus is on the design of our jobs, and the ways in which employer-provided incentives can lead to unintended consequences.   Moonlighters, for example, may be moonlighting because they are not fulfilled in their day jobs.  And high-performing real-estate brokers may raise the performance of peers that we customarily think of as competitors.  Paramedics may overserve private-pay patients who don’t need their care as much as lower-income patients that have no better alternative for getting medical attention than to call an ambulance.   Listen to Tim Gubler and you’ll hear a depth of wisdom about the meaning of work that will move you to want to be a better colleague.

## Related resources

- [Tim’s BYU website](https://marriott.byu.edu/directory/details?id=66905)
- [Google Scholar on Tim](https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=rgebfikAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao)
- [Tim’s paper on paramedics](https://sms.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/smj.70010)
- [Tim’s paper on corporate wellness programs in laundry plants](https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2883)
- [Tim’s paper on retirement planning and physical health](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797614540467)

## Recording

Video: https://vimeo.com/1213442746

## Category

[Where Do We Go From Here?](https://pisquared.theburnescenter.org/category/where-next)

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Original page: https://pisquared.theburnescenter.org/interviews/gubler-tim · Licence: none stated