PHD Studentship: Innovation diffusion through managerial networks

Lead Supervisor:

Prof Bruce Cronin

This project will examine the diffusion of innovations in strategy and managerial practices that occur when senior managers change employment, migrating from one company to another.

Given the great volume of research on connections among board directors it is surprising that very little attention has been given to those best placed within firms to enact strategic change – the Top Management Team (TMT). While boards have the formal authority to decide firm strategy, in practice this normally simply comprises acquiescence to plans developed in detail by the TMT among options salient to them. The interactions of some TMT members (CEO, CFO) are captured by board interlock studies, but many are not. Additionally, board interlock studies overwhelmingly concentrate on current connections rather than those that develop along time. The central hypothesis of this project is that connections made by TMTs at one point of time, continue to impact at later points. 

The project centres on the construction of a longitudinal dataset of managerial movements among firms. This will be used to develop a longitudinal managerial migration network to be compared to data on the adoption of various managerial practices and strategies of firms.

The migration dataset will be deployed in applications of the growing number of longitudinal network and diffusion models that are currently emerging.

Bursary available (subject to satisfactory performance):  

Year 1:  £17,668 (FT); Year 2: In line with UKRI rate; Year 3: In line with UKRI rate

In addition, the successful candidate will receive a contribution to tuition fees equivalent to the university’s Home rate, currently £4,596 (FT), for the duration of their scholarship.  International applicants will need to pay the remainder tuition fee for the duration of their scholarship. This fee is subject to an annual increase.

Person Specification of Essential (E) or Desirable (D) requirements:

Education and Training:
• 1st Class or 2nd class, First Division (Upper Second Class) honours degree or a taught master’s degree with a minimum average of 60% in all areas of assessment (UK or UK equivalent) in a relevant area to the proposed research project (E)
• For those whose first language is not English and/or if from a country where English is not the majority spoken language (as recognised by the UKBA), a language proficiency score of at least IELTS 6.5 (in all elements of the test) or an equivalent UK VISA and Immigration secure English Language Test is required, if your programme falls within the faculty of Engineering and Science a language proficiency score of at least IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum of 6.0 in all elements of the test or an equivalent UK VISA and Immigration secure English Language Test is required. Unless the degree above was taught in English and obtained in a majority English speaking country, e.g. UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, etc, as recognised by the UKBA. (E)

Experience & Skills:

• Previous experience of undertaking research (e.g. undergraduate or taught master’s dissertation) (E)
• Programming with Python (E)
• Data mining of structured data (D)
• Web-scraping with Selenium (D)
• Social network and/or diffusion models (D)

Personal Attributes:
• Understands the fundamental differences between a taught degree and a research degree in terms of approach and personal discipline/motivation (E)
• Able to, under guidance, complete independent work successfully (E)

Other Requirements:
• This scholarship may require Academic Technology Approval Scheme approval for the successful candidate if from outside of the EU/EEA (E)
• The scholarship must commence before July 2023 (E)

Closing date for applications: midnight UTC on 30/04/2023

For further information contact: Prof Bruce Cronin b.cronin@greenwich.ac.uk

Making an application:

Please read this information before making an application. Information on the application process is available at: https://www.gre.ac.uk/research/study/apply/application-process. Applications need to be made online via this link.  No other form of application will be considered.

 All applications must include the following information.  Applications not containing these documents will not be considered.

• Scholarship Reference Number (Ref: GBS-PhD-2223-04)– included in the personal statement section together with your personal statement as to why you are applying
• a CV including 2 referees *
• academic qualification certificates/transcripts and IELTs/English Language certificate if you are an international applicant or if English is not your first language or you are from a country where English is not the majority spoken language as defined by the UK Border Agency *

*upload to the qualification section of the application form. Attachments must be a PDF format.

Before submitting your application, you are encouraged to liaise with the Lead Supervisor on the details above. Submitting a detailed research proposal along with your application will potentially increase the chance of being shortlisted.

Posts are open until 30th April but may be filled earlier if a suitable candidate is found.