PhD - Management & Entrepreneurship
Conduct innovative research to support the increasingly digitised business landscape
Key programme information
The Department of Management & Entrepreneurship brings together cutting-edge scientific thought leadership across various areas related to strategic leadership, organisational management and innovation processes.
Our doctoral students benefit from:
- a dynamic environment for scholarly exploration and educational excellence, engaging with entrepreneurship, digitalisation, sustainability and knowledge management;
- the broad research interests and expertise of our faculty, which range from exploring the profound implications of personal and group dynamics on organisational well-being and success, to driving transformational change and fostering social impact through innovation.
You may also be co-supervised by faculty in other departments in the School, depending on your research interests.
Benefit from the supervision of eminent world scholars.
Develop rigorous research foundations through our Master's in Research.
Study in London, Europe's start-up capital and a major global business hub.
Specialise in innovative research areas where business interconnects with science, engineering, medicine and technology.
Begin an inspiring academic career, joining some of the world’s best research centres and universities.
PhD Tabs
The Business School is home to several research centres and institutes that bring together academics and specialists across disciplinary, departmental, faculty and in some cases institutional boundaries. Each centre has been formed to advance study in a particular thematic area, uniting research and practice to enhance the impact of our work.
Centre for Responsible Leadership
The Centre for Responsible Leadership uses evidence-based research to create a focus on generating meaningful change in businesses and organisations.
Gandhi Centre for Inclusive Innovation
The Gandhi Centre for Inclusive Innovation links innovation and entrepreneurship in companies and institutions globally, through thought leadership, research, technology, and next-generation innovation models.
³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Strategic Design Studio
The ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Strategic Design Studio creates new empirical evidence on the impact of design thinking on business and the relationship between business, technology and data.
Leonardo Centre on Business for Society
The Leonardo Centre on Business for Society explores and experiments with new ways of doing business to regenerate economies, communities and natural environments around the world.
Research within the Department of Management & Entrepreneurship is divided into two core themes:
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Faculty and students in this field undertake research into the innovation and entrepreneurship process, from identifying pockets of original knowledge in the search for ideas, to the diffusion and entrepreneurial exploitation of new products, processes, and services. Faculty members are particularly interested in the core themes of:
- spotting and leveraging entrepreneurial opportunities;
- managing the innovation process;
- building and operating entrepreneurial ecosystems;
- the role of networks in innovation and entrepreneurship;
- the impact of corporate entrepreneurship on organisational innovation;
- commercialising science innovations.
Strategy & Organisational Behaviour
Researchers in this area are considering a variety of questions on what constitutes effective organisations across a range of different contexts. Faculty members are particularly interested in the core themes of:
- the link between senior managerial style and firm strategy;
- the effect of team selection processes on success;
- how organisational contexts affect how we construe, and therefore facilitate, morally problematic behaviour;
- how business organisations can learn to grow and adapt to environmental turbulence.
PhD students on the Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) scholarship will undertake 150 hours of teaching assistant duties from year three of the programme. There will be opportunities for PhD students to engage in teaching activities within the Business School’s programmes, such as MSc in Management, MSc Economics & Strategy for Businesses, MSc Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Management as well as our MBA programmes.
PhD students within Management & Entrepreneurship conduct research into a wide variety of areas. Previous thesis topics include:
|
Name |
Thesis |
Supervisor |
|
Stefano Benigni |
A Cognitive Perspective on Learning, Decision-making, and Technology Evaluations in Organisations |
Professor Paola Criscuolo and Professor Markus Perkmann |
|
John Callaghan |
Three Essays on Social Enterprise Performance (Survival and Growth) |
Professor Markus Perkmann and Professor Michelle Rogan |
|
Damiano Morando |
Essays on The Role of Networks And Networking in Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Social Structure as a Playfield for Networking |
Dr Anne ter Wal and Professor Paola Criscuolo |
|
Damiano Morando |
Networking on Twitter: Entrepreneurs’ Quest for Funding |
Professor Anne ter Wal and Professor Paola Criscuolo |
|
Linghe Lei |
Toward a Clear Understanding of Self-monitoring and Its Relationship with Leadership |
Dr Jonathan Pinto |
|
Xule Lin |
Rethinking Organizational Design: Token-Enabled Coordination and Governance Adaptation in Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) |
Professor Erkko Autio and Dr Ying-Ying Hsieh |
|
Jiho Yang |
Essays on Organizational Structure and Innovation |
Professor Paola Criscuolo and Dr Dmitry Sharapov |
|
Maxine Yinmiao Yu |
Effective Communication in Nascent Markets: Managing Strength and Speed of Trust Development |
Dr Yuri Mishina |
|
Yuki (Xueqi) Yuan |
Entrepreneurial Resilience |
Professor Erkko Autio and Dr Tim Weiss |
|
Yinmiao Yu |
Crime and Punishment: Organizational Misconduct and its Implications |
Dr Yuri Mishina |
|
Selina Zhe Cao |
Ecosystem Synergies, Change and Orchestration |
Professor Chris Tucci and Dr Dmitry Sharapov |
Publications co-authored by recent PhD students
|
Date |
Authors |
Title |
Journal |
Volume |
|
2025 |
Mishina, Y., Yu, M., and Gomulya, D. |
Academy of Management Journal |
Forthcoming |
|
|
2025 |
Yang, J., Criscuolo, P., and Sharapov, D. |
Research Policy |
Volume 54, Issue 7 |
|
|
2025 |
Agarwal, R., Guerra, M., Moeen, M. and Aversa, P. |
The Academy of Management Annals |
Forthcoming |
|
|
2025 |
Guerra, M., Clarysse, B. and Wadhwa, A. |
Strategic Management Journal |
Forthcoming |
|
|
November 2023 |
Lei, L., Wang, C., Pinto, J. |
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |
|
|
|
October 2023 |
Burato, M., Tang, S., Vastola, V. & Cenci, S. |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
120(41) |
|
|
January 2023 |
Posen, H.E., Ross, J-M., Wu, B., Benigni, S., Caro, Z. |
Academy of Management Annals |
Volume 17, pp.74-112 |
Meet your faculty
Our PhD programme fosters close collaboration between leading Management & Entrepreneurship faculty and doctoral students, developing their research interests and providing continuous support and guidance throughout the programme. They hold expertise within business systems in context, human resources and industrial relations, strategy, management and organisational behaviour, marketing, applied economics, banking, finance and investment, human geography, political science, psychology and sociology.
Business School
Chair in Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship
Business School
Associate Professor of Behavioural Science
Business School
Professor of Strategy and Organisational Behaviour
Business School
Assistant Professor in Organisational Behaviour
Business School
Professor of Organisational Behaviour
Business School
Professor of Management and Artificial Intelligence
Business School
Vice-Dean (Research and Faculty) for the Business School
Business School
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation
Business School
Associate Professor of Innovation,Entrepreneurship& Strategy
Business School
Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Business School
Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour & Strategy
Business School
Professor of Strategy and Sustainability
Business School
Head of the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship
Business School
Associate Professor of Strategy and Behavioural Science
Business School
Professor of Technology and Innovation Management