Two PhD positions in Online Communities (# of pos: 2)

Two PhD positions in Online Communities

Over the past years, online communities have rapidly become important sources of innovation in business and society. Online communities such as Github, Kaggle and Stack Overflow allow members across time and space to coordinate their work and create knowledge and innovation. Beyond software, such communities have also proliferated into other domains such as healthcare, gaming, art and design. Online communities feature unique organizational characteristics, including flat hierarchies, voluntary membership, and open organizational boundaries.

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You will investigate various aspects of online communities, which are critical for their success, yet remain underexplored. The research may focus on software, healthcare, data science, finance, education or related communities.

You will be co-supervised by Prof. Georg von Krogh, Prof. Yash Raj Shrestha (HEC Lausanne) and a team of senior researchers at SMI  and will be funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The duration of the PhD program is three to four years. The starting date can be November 2022 or adjusted upon agreement.

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. Our work is directed 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 of publishing in the field’s leading journals (including The Academy of Management Journal, Harvard Business Review, Information Systems Research, MIS Quarterly, Nature Machine Intelligence, 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.

You should have a MSc, MA, or MPhil degree in business administration, economics or related fields such as management information systems, computer science, psychology, sociology, mathematics, engineering, physics, and statistics (MBAs are not eligible). We invite individuals with a strong affinity for machine learning, big data analytics, and statistical analysis OR qualitative analysis. Furthermore, you should have excellent written and spoken English skills, be curious, learning-oriented, and self-directed, and enjoy collaborating in teams. Ideally, you should be able to demonstrate a strong interest in contemporary issues in management and organization and have prior experience in successfully conducting research, for example, by having written an excellent master thesis. Given the research-focused orientation of our team, we are looking for individuals with ambitions to pursue an academic career. The project should culminate in a PhD thesis composed of at least three high-quality research papers, targeted at the field’s leading journals.

ETH Zurich is one of the world’s leading universities specialising in
science and technology. We are renowned for our excellent education,
cutting-edge fundamental research and direct transfer of new knowledge
into society. Over 30,000 people from more than 120 countries find our
university to be a place that promotes independent thinking and an
environment that inspires excellence. Located in the heart of Europe,
yet forging connections all over the world, we work together to
develop solutions for the global challenges of today and tomorrow.

We look forward to receiving your online application including the following documents by September 1st 2022:

• 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

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.

For further information please visit our homepage www.smi.ethz.ch . Questions regarding the position should be directed to Ms Ingrid Lienhard by e-mail [email protected] (no applications).