PhD programs for emerging technologies

[lunarleo]

I am planning to apply to PhD programs this fall after working a couple years at a think tank (BS in Psychology). I have been looking at economics and sociology programs, but I just spoke with a business school professor who encouraged me to look into business schools. I'm interested in studying leaders, organizations, and industries focused on emerging technologies (e.g., AI, blockchain). Ideally I would land a tenure-track faculty job after graduation or postdoctoral research.

I would be interested in any thoughts you have on this, especially
- Are there any specific faculty or business schools that may be particularly interested in a PhD student working on this topic?
- How would you go about looking into PhD programs on this topic? I am starting to peruse faculty profiles at business schools and look for relevant business literature (primarily Management, Marketing, and Organizational Behavior), but that's going very slowly.
- How do you think business school PhD programs compare to social science PhD programs (e.g. psychology, economics, sociology) for this type of topic?
- How specific are business school specializations? By this I mean that with psychology and sociology, you very much need to look for schools with faculty working on your subject matter, but I know that in economics, basically any top program will be good for studying basically any topic. How are business schools in this regard?

Thank you in advance for your responses.

[Meraki]

I do not know much about emerging technologies research to provide suggestions. However, trying to find research articles that you find interesting and seeing where the authors are from is probably the best thing you can do. You might also consider that some business schools house the economics department at their university, so you can reap some of the business school benefits while staying in the economics field if you like. I'm not sure how common this is, but it might be something to look into.

After doing a quick search on Google Scholar, are the below articles the type of research you might be interested in? The PDFs should be available on Scholar. I'm trying to get a better idea of what you're interested in, since you mentioned OB, which is much more micro-level social psychology work. The following articles would stem more from a strategic management specialization, which relates more closely to economics and sociology. If you're interested in either of those fields, strategy is a better fit and would be housed in the management department at schools that offer that specialization.

• Alva Taylor & Constance Helfat (Dartmouth College). 2009. Organizational Linkages for Surviving Technological Change
• Wanda Orlikowski (MIT). 2000. Using Technology and Constituting Structures

On 5/24/2019 at 7:45 PM, lunarleo said:

- How do you think business school PhD programs compare to social science PhD programs (e.g. psychology, economics, sociology) for this type of topic?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this, but I'll supply some thoughts. Business schools tend to pay much higher stipends than other fields. You will also pretty much need to do a post-doc in psych and some other related fields to get a placement, and even then, the job market is much more fierce in those areas. You can get tenure-track placements in business schools without a post-doc, although students may still choose to do them for various reasons. Although the job market is still highly competitive in business, it is healthier than many other fields if you are able to relocate for a job. As for the specific topic area, I mentioned strategic management may be being a good fit with all of the aforementioned benefits. Psychology (social, IO psych) is quite different from how you'd study this topic in economics and even sociology, so I think you need to figure out which perspective is most appealing to you.

On 5/24/2019 at 7:45 PM, lunarleo said:

- How specific are business school specializations? By this I mean that with psychology and sociology, you very much need to look for schools with faculty working on your subject matter, but I know that in economics, basically any top program will be good for studying basically any topic. How are business schools in this regard?

This may vary by program, but in general, you have more options to work with different people. In psychology, for example, you are typically funded by a PI's research grant, and so you need to work for them and their funded project areas, reducing your autonomy. However, business schools are pretty well funded through their programs, so you're not usually tied to a single PI. This allows you to work with more people and find a better fit. That said, there needs to be *some* overlap of interests in order to get a PI interested in advising your work, and you'll still be working on their projects to gain experience, so choosing a program where no one is doing related work may not be a good fit for you. 

 

[lunarleo]

Thank you, Meraki. That is all very useful. With regards to comparisons to social science programs, yes, the job market is one aspect. I'm also interested in other factors, such as the interest of faculty in this type of topic, the publishability in top journals, and other factors. But you're right that this is all very specific and hard to know in advance.

[Boolakanaka]

You may also want to look at Yale SOM, where they have done seminal work on emotional intelligence juxtaposed against organizations and management. Fair warning, getting into their PhD programs are extremely competitive.

[NeilM]

1 hour ago, marry96 said:

Hi you are talking about PhD programs I think you have to search on google I have no knowledge about that, sorry for that. Thanks

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