Natalia Karelaia

Natalia Karelaia is an Associate Professor of Decision Sciences at INSEAD, which she joined in 2008. She has been a visiting scholar at Harvard Business School (2016-17) and the Program on Negotiation at Harvard University (2008).

Professor Karelaia is broadly interested in understanding human decision-making and behavior and its consequences for individuals, organizations, and societally relevant outcomes. Her research integrates cognitive, social, and organizational factors, with the aim to help individuals and organizations make better decisions, foster positive work environments, and address societal issues. Her research has examined the effectiveness of decision-making heuristics and factors contributing to the accuracy of human judgment, overconfidence and entrepreneurial entry, human behavior in competitive contexts (including trust, risk-taking, and gender differences), gender biases, women in leadership, identity conflict, authenticity, and social perceptions of deviant and humble leaders. Her work has been published in leading academic journals, including Organization Science, Psychological Review, Management Science, Human Relations, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. It has also been featured in Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, and other media and practitioner outlets.

Professor Karelaia is currently an Associate Editor at Management Science, a top academic journal in management theory and practice. She previously served as an Associate Editor at Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (2020-24), a leading journal on the psychology of decision-making in organizations. She is a member of the Academy of Management, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Society for Judgment and Decision Making.

At INSEAD, Natalia teaches a range of topics on decision-making, negotiations, and leadership in the MBA and Executive Education programs. She has received the Dean’s Commendation for Excellence in MBA teaching. She has taught in various open enrollment and company specific Executive Education programs such as the Arkema Executive Academy Program, DANFOSS Accelerated Development Program, Deloitte Executive Education Program, Ericsson Ignite Leadership Development Program, Fidelity Leadership Program, Infineon Leadership Development Program, Macquarie-INSEAD Advanced Finance Program, MAOZ Fellow Program, Mizuho Executive Leadership Program, Pernod Ricard Mixers Program, Shell Managing Mergers, Acquisitions & Divestments Program, SWIRE Advanced Management Program, TeamViewer Next Gen Leadership Development Program, Trane Technologies Leadership Development Program, Leadership Excellence through Awareness and Practice Program (LEAP), Healthcare Compliance Implementation Leadership Program, INSEAD Executive Master in Change, INSEAD Leadership Program for Senior Executives – India, Learning to Lead Program, Leading Teams Program, Women Leading Global Change Program (INSEAD-International Women’s Forum Program), and Transition to General Management Program TGM.