PhD Program Management (Doktoratsstudium) and PhD Thesis

PhD Programm Management

General information regarding the Phd Programme „Management“ at University of Innsbruck can be found here.

Information doctoral theses and dissertations at the department

Before you apply for supervision of your doctoral thesis at our department, we kindly ask you to inform yourself about the prerequisites for starting a PhD programme and the process of the PhD programme at our department/university. Furthermore, we ask applicants to inform themselves about the research focus of our department. The PhD programme is a full-time programme.

For additional information please contact our institute: management-C407@uibk.ac.at

The following link offers all information regarding the PhD programme at University of Innsbruck:

https://www.uibk.ac.at/studium/angebot/phd-phd-program-management/

If you intend to apply as a PhD candidate, please send your CV, an extensive Exposé as well as your master or Diploma thesis to management-C407@uibk.ac.at.

Your Exposé should include the following points:

• A clear definition of the central research question: The research question must be of high scientific relevance and contribute to the current academic discourse.
• A justification on why this research questions is importance and should be followed on in one or more academic publications.
• A good understanding of the current state of the academic literature and of the most recent contributions of the members of the department on this subject
• Explanation of the planned methodological approach, research design, data etc.

We suggest you to get familiar with the principles of writing high quality academic research proposals early enough.

Your dissertation needs to target subjects that are currently examined by the research team “Strategy – Innovation - Branding” (see the following link: https://www.uibk.ac.at/smt/research-focus/). In case you are interested in a topic proposed by the department, you need to get in contact with the responsible person.

Base on your concept, you then might be invited for a first informal interview, where a possible supervision of your thesis is discussed.

Guiding principles for doctoral dissertations:

• Introduction:
  - Is there a clear research question, with a solid motivation behind it?
  - Is the research question interesting?
  - After reading the introduction, did you find yourself motivated to read further?
• Theory:
  - Does the submission contain a well-developed and articulated theoretical framework?
  - Are the core concepts of the submission clearly defined?
  - Is the logic behind the hypothesis persuasive?
  - Is extant literature appropriately reflected in the submission, or are critical references missing?
  - Do the hypothesis or propositions logically flow from the theory?
• Method (for empirical papers):
  - Are the sample and variables appropriate for the hypotheses?
  - Is the data collection method consistent with the analytical technique(s) applied?
  - Does the study have internal and external validity?
  - Are the analytical techniques appropriate for the theory and research questions and were they applied appropriately.
• Results (for empirical papers):
  - Are the results reported in an understandable way?
  - Are there alternative explanations for the results, and if so, are these adequately controlled for in the analyses?
• Contribution:
  - Does the submission make a value-added contribution to existing research?
  - Does the submission stimulate thought or debate?
  - Do the authors discuss the implications of the work for the scientific and practice community?