Business, PhD

Our Business PhD Program (AACSB-Accredited) is designed to cater to working professionals like you who wish to advance your career prospects in industry and academia via pursuit of this Doctoral Degree. Our PhD program’s coursework imparts the doctoral training across all mainstream functional areas of business. Thereupon, your research interests and proclivities will emerge within your respective business fields wherein you will conduct your culminating doctoral dissertation. The career prospects after PhD are certainly very strong in academia, industry, and associated commercial/corporate sectors as you deem fitting to pursue. Most of our candidates typically already have full-time positions while they’re working on this weekend program; that’s precisely why it suits their schedule per our Saturdays-only based programming, via multi-modal delivery mechanisms (in-seat at our Pittsburgh-East location, and virtual Zoom-based) tailored to such professionals’ needs.

I. Required Courses (30 cr.)

MKTG 811 - Theory Building and Research Methods Credits: 3
or
ISDS 812 - Quantitative Research Methods I Credits: 3
or
ECON 812 - Quantitative Research Methods I Credits: 3
ECON 813 - Quantitative Research Methods II Credits: 3
or
ISDS 813 - Quantitative Research Methods II Credits: 3
MKTG 850 - Marketing Theory Credits: 3
FINA 870 - Financial Institutions and Markets Credits: 3
MGMT 820 - Organizational Behavior Credits: 3
ITMG 830 - MIS and Decision Making Theory Credits: 3
ACCT 840 - Seminar in Managerial Accounting Credits: 3
MGMT 860 - Global Competitiveness and Sustainability Credits: 3
or
MKTG 860 - Global Competitiveness and Sustainability Credits: 3
MGMT 880 - Global Supply Chain Management – Theory and Practice Credits: 3

II. Doctoral Seminar (6 cr.)

The Doctoral Seminar introduces PhD students to basic and applied research in a specific area of business—management, marketing, finance, supply chain, human resources, organizational behavior, information systems, accounting, international business and entrepreneurship.

ACCT 895 - Doctoral Seminar in Accounting & Finance Credits: 6
FINA 895 - Doctoral Seminar in Business Credits: 3
MGMT 895 - Doctoral Seminar in Business Credits: 3
MGMT 896 - Doctoral Seminar in Management Credits: 6
MKTG 895 - Doctoral Seminar in Business Marketing Credits:

III. Comprehensive Examination

Upon successful completion of the coursework and the Doctoral Seminar, the student will be administered a comprehensive examination that will include topical coverage from all the core courses, the Doctoral Seminar and the area in which the student intend to conduct their dissertation research. The result of the exam is pass or fail. Comprehensive exams will be offered in August of each year. Students who do not pass the comprehensive examination will be given an option to take the examination again in October or in the following year August. Maximum attempts for comprehensive examinations is limited to two.

IV. Doctoral Dissertation (12 cr.)

Dissertation is the culminating scholarly activity requiring independent original research, literature review, data collection, analysis, and written and oral dissemination of findings. Students are required to defend a proposal in front their committee after the literature review and proposed methodology are outlined. Once the dissertation is fully compiled, the oral dissertation defense is completed before the dissertation committee of the student. Upon successful completion of the oral defense and the written dissertation, the student becomes eligible to secure a PhD degree.

ACCT 995 - Doctoral Dissertation in Accounting & Finance Credits: 12
FINA 995 - Doctoral Dissertation in Business Credits: 1-12
MGMT 995 - Doctoral Dissertation in Business Credits: 1-12
MGMT 996 - PhD Dissertation: Management Credits: 1-12
MKTG 995 - Doctoral Dissertation in Business Marketing Credits: 1-12

Student Learning Outcomes

Student Learning Outcomes (SLO’s): Students will be able to -

#	Program Outcome	Indicator for assessing outcome	Course(s)	Category
1.	Develop proficiency in applying quantitative and qualitative research methods pertaining to business fields.	Exercises, Projects, Quizzes, Tests	Research Methods Coursework [MKTG 811, ECON 812, ISDS 813]	Knowledge, Skills
2.	Develop ability to integrate and synthesize knowledge from different business areas with the help of pertinent research tools.	Journal-Papers’ Readings/Reports/Presentations	Functional Areas’ Coursework [MGMT 820, IFMG 830, ACCT 840, MKTG 850, MKTG 860, FIN 870, MGMT 880]	Knowledge
3.	Demonstrate in-depth knowledge and understanding of research and applications in key areas of business with special focus on the area of specialization.	Journal-Papers’ Readings/Reports/Presentations, Research Papers	Focus Area Seminars [ACCT 895, FIN 895, MKTG 895, MGMT 895, MGMT 896]	Knowledge, Capabilities
4.	Demonstrate ability to create and disseminate scholarly work in both academic and practitioner settings.	Dissertation Research	Doctoral Dissertation [ACCT 995, FIN 995, MKTG 995, MGMT 995]	Knowledge, Skills, Capabilities