Publications
You can also find my articles on my Google Scholar profile.
Published in Production and Operations Management, 2025
This paper develops a model of customer service request resolution in contact centers. This allows us to examine the broader question of strategic selection of an appropriate mix of service channels: live-agent-only, chatbot-only, or both. We show that the availability of chatbot technology may change request resolution policies with important implications for service quality and cost Read more
Recommended citation: Maqbool Dada, Brett Hathaway, Evgeny Kagan (2025). " Operational Strategies for Customer Service: A Gatekeeper Framework." Production and Operations Management. Forthcoming.
Published in Operations Research, 2023
This paper studies incentives for service workers handling customer service requests. We find that workers are able to incorporate congestion into their decisions - that is, they spend more time with customers when congestion is low, and less time when congestion is high. However, workers struggle to incorporate different components of compensation scheme, such as rewards for successful resolution, and costs for transfers. Read more
Recommended citation: Brett Hathaway, Evgeny Kagan, Maqbool Dada (2023). "The Gatekeeper’s Dilemma: When Should I Transfer This Customer?"Operations Research. 71(3). https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/opre.2021.2211
Published in Management Science, 2020
This paper studies incentive design in startups, specifically how to split equity in a startup. We find that founders who choose to split equally invest little effort into the venture after the split. Thus, a preference for a contract type can be seen as a signal of being a good (or bad) collaborator. Delaying the equity split until some work is done helps remove some of the collaboration difficulties. Read more
Recommended citation: Kagan Evgeny, Stephen Leider, Bill Lovejoy (2020). "Equity Contracts and Incentive Design in Start-Up Teams." Management Science. 66(10). https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2019.3439
Published in Management Science, 2018
This paper is about allocating development time between (creative) idea generation activities, and more production related execution activities. We find that developers benefit from firm deadlines early on in the creative process. Granting developers more autonomy leads to delays in idea inception and development. Read more
Recommended citation: Kagan Evgeny, Stephen Leider, Bill Lovejoy (2018). "Paper Ideation-Execution in Product Development: An Experimental Analysis." Management Science. 64(5). https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/mnsc.2016.2709
