Business PhD questions

[brdncer]

Hi everyone. I'm currently considering applying for business PhD programs... but only came up with this idea two weeks ago (more or less). I have a few questions and I was hoping to get some advice.

1. What is your main reason for applying to business phds rather than econ phds? In particular, I'm thinking of doing a focus in organizational behavior, because the programs seem to add some psych/sociology stuff, which I find fascinating. Is that a fair assessment?

2. Do organizational behavior phds study *only* "typical" businesses? I would be interested in a project that would, say, contrasting individuals' decision making processes in the military vs. in a consulting firm. Would that be an accepted idea or would that fall outside of a business school program (and into a psych program or something else)?

3. Are business phds accepted as teachers in undergraduate institutions but other departments? I went to a small liberal arts college that didn't have a business school. As a professor, would I be limited to a business school or could I teach intro econ courses, for instance, at other colleges?

4. I've noticed that a lot of program websites say that they prefer academic recommendations. I work with many phd economists/ phds in finance (at the Federal Reserve). However, they haven't taught me in a classroom setting. Would those recommendations be accepted less readily? They are phds... but I am only 2 years out of college, so I suppose I could ask some of my old profs.

5. I know that econ phd candidates are expected to apply for fellowships (like the NSF). Are there any standard fellowships/scholarships/outside funding sources expected for business phds?

Here are some of my stats:
GRE: 800 math, 760 verbal, 5 writing
GPA: 3.8 undergrad (dual major with honors in econ and politics)
Work experience: 2 years as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve in a research & statistics department
Math background: Calc through III, statistics, econometrics in college. Currently taking linear algebra online
A co-author on one paper in progress (but not submitted anywhere yet)

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[young&ambitious]

I only have knowledge of OB programs, so I'm merely going off of that and making conjectures of the little experience I've had with economics, but here is what I think...

(1) I suppose it can be argued that the underlying premise of a PhD in OB and an PhD in economics is the same. In the sense, we're both looking to figure out more efficient ways for the markets to function. The difference would lay in the theoretical frameworks that informs your research. As an economics scholar, your work will be informed by Smith, Hayek, Keynes, Friedman, etc. (at least at the macroecon level) As a OB scholar, you will look to Taylor, McGregor, Herzberg, etc. Which theories are you most comfortable with? Which perspectives best explain the world in your opinion? OB definitely has a strong tie to both psychology and sociology, and if it's something that fascinates you, you should definitely pursue it. It seems like you have a heavy interest in economics though too, maybe you should look into strategic management and business economics programs as well.

(2) Nope. I want to study media firms and the information goods market. I have professors who study the telecommunications to healthcare industries, but typically business programs are not industry-specific. I think you have some novel ideas. I would construct a preliminary study to see if it yields something, and just run with it. Own it. Don't try to be the same as everyone else! The point of becoming a scholar is finding a unique way to contribute to current scholarly thought, not to mimic everyone else!

(3) I don't know how accepting economics programs (especially at the top tier schools) are of non-economics PhD candidates. Perhaps take some time to peruse faculty profiles at the schools you see yourself working at after you graduate. Talk with some of the professors there. Daniel Gruber is an example of a professor that I know who was trained in business scholarship (and thus speaks our "language")--received his PhD from UMich Ross--but he's a professor at Medill School of Journalism, at courtesy at Kellogg. He has told me that he thought it was beneficial because he was able to approach journalism from a different perspective. I'm not sure how conducive the field of economics is to different perspectives though.

(4) I would say get the best references that you can get. I would lean towards your academic recommendations, because of a two-fold reason. Superficially, doctorate programs aim to keep their graduates in academia, in order to improve their placement records, increase their influence on the scholarship, etc. So, academic references are important to the credibility of you staying. Secondly and more importantly, your references should speak to your ability to perform academic research (ability to formulate good research questions, create experimental designs that best answer those questions, and interpret your findings). Therefore, try to find people who can speak to your abilities to do these things. Some would argue that the people who do this for a living, and that are success at it (have tenure, are prolific and seminal, etc.), are the best qualified to make these assessments.

(5) Most management scholarship is funded internally, in my experience, although I do know a couple of professors who are balancing multi-million dollar grants. This is the same for phd candidates, most will find funding within their program through TA and RA positions. The reason for this is unlike biological science scholars, for instance, we do not have to support large labs with expensive equipment...it's more like you, your co-author, and a laptop at Starbucks.

Your profile seems pretty strong. All I would advise to you is that you ground your interests further to try to figure out what you really want to study and from what perspective would you like to study it. Find professors with those same interests, and go at it!

[hispano_phd]

Hi:

Just after reading about your profile you *might* consider Finance and I recommend to research about PhD programs because many allow (or even require) to prepare in other areas. So you may look into a somehow less structured PhD program.

Most PhD in business provide tuition and stipends. There is a NEED for Phd's in business. Your profile seems more robust for econ and finance, IMO.

[brdncer]

Thanks for your thoughts. After researching some schools/faculty, I'm becoming more interested in decision-making explicitly. (For instance, Carnegie Mellon's Department of Social and Decision Sciences seems pretty cool).

Hispano, what do you mean by a "less structured PhD program?" Are you talking about finance in particular? What's an example of such a program?

Also, does anyone know anything about the Economic Sociology program at MIT?

[ThatGuyOverThere]

The Econ Soc program at MIT is mostly macro-OB/sociology, and quite disciplinary (that is, it leans more towards sociology than towards management) - probably not for you. It sounds like you are interested in what would be considered "micro-OB" or decision-making. You can do that with a psych approach, a sociological approach, or an econ approach, though the first two are more common in OB departments.

You may want to look at the decision-making group within the Ops department at Wharton, Max Bazerman's lab at HBS, and the marketing group at Yale. Carnegie-Mellon is good as well. You should spend some time thinking about the disciplinary background you want, however, and read some journal articles by faculty members to get a sense of what is involved.