The Chair of Strategic Management and Innovation (SMI), Prof. Dr. Georg von Krogh at the Department of Management, Technology and Economics, ETH Zurich, invites applications for a
PhD position in Online Communities and Open Innovation
Topic: Over the past years, online communities have rapidly become important sources of innovation in society. This project aims to advance understanding of how members of such communities coordinate their work and establish leadership roles. These questions are of particular relevance due to the unique organizational characteristics of online communities, including their flat hierarchies, voluntary membership, and open organizational boundaries that enable ideas for new products and services to be sourced from anywhere and anyone. The PhD candidate will investigate various aspects of online communities and open innovation that have been shown to be of critical importance for the success of online communities yet remain underexplored.
Profile: The prospective candidate should have a MSc, MA, or MPhil degree in business administration or related fields such as management information systems, computer science, psychology, sociology, mathematics, engineering, physics, and statistics (MBAs are not eligible). We invite applicants with a strong affinity with information technology, big data analytics, and statistical analysis.
Furthermore, the candidate has excellent written and spoken English skills, possesses a strong interest in developing excellent research skills, enjoys researching and writing, is curious, learning oriented and self-directed, enjoys collaborating in teams, and has a strong interest in contemporary issues in management and organizations. Given the research focused orientation of the team, we are specifically looking for aspiring scholars with career ambitions in academic research. The project should culminate in a thesis composed of at least three high quality research papers targeted at the field's leading journals.
Supervision: The PhD candidate will be co-supervised by Prof. Georg von Krogh and a team of senior researchers at SMI (http://www.smi.ethz.ch/group-people.html). The duration of the PhD program is three to four years. The starting date is January 2018.
The SMI group offers an inspiring, supportive, and team-based research environment to support your immediate immersion into an ambitious research agenda. Our team consists of a dynamic and international group of researchers who share a common vision of contributing significantly to the highest-level academic research in the fields of strategic management and innovation, directing our work to topics such as knowledge management, information systems innovation, collaborative innovation, organization and management theory, and competitive strategy.
The team has an excellent track record for publishing in the field's leading journals (including The Academy of Management Journal, Harvard Business Review, Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, Nature Biotechnology, Management Science, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal), and has a strong international network of collaborators.
We offer competitive salary conditions. Funding is secured for at least three years. For more information on employment at ETH Zurich see https://www.ethz.ch/en/the-eth-zurich/working-teaching-and-research.html.
How to apply: We look forward to receiving your online application including a cover letter motivating your interest in the position, Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages), university diplomas and transcripts, master thesis and other research papers, and at least one reference letter until October 1, 2017. Decisions will be communicated several weeks after the deadline.
Please note that we exclusively accept applications submitted through our online application portal. Applications via email or postal services will not be considered. Should you run into difficulties when submitting your application please send an email to recruitingsupport@ethz.ch for advice.
For further information please visit our homepage www.smi.ethz.ch. Questions regarding the position should be directed to Ms. Hilde Brune by e-mail hbrune@ethz.ch (no applications).