Ph.D. in Business,
Concentration in Management
The Ph.D. in Business with a concentration in management, including organizational behavior, human resource management, strategy and entrepreneurship, is a full-time program designed to prepare students for positions at academic institutions that emphasize quality research and teaching. Students work with multiple faculty members in order to produce top-tier research that will make them competitive in the academic job market.
Our program is small and student-centered, yet connects you to the resources of a large, diverse university and vibrant city. VCU is located in the heart of Richmond, Virginia, which is consistently ranked among the best places to live and work.
The fall 2026 application is open. The application deadline is February 1, 2026.
Student-Centered Program
The small size of our program provides students the opportunity to work closely with faculty on various research projects. This personal attention extends to the small, research‐oriented doctoral seminars that form the core of our academic program. Most importantly, we publish extensively with our students.
Collaborations between Ph.D. students and faculty include all aspects and phases of the research process, ranging from idea generation, research question development, study design and data collection, to data analysis and writing the research article.
Our program culture is collegial and informal. Students are an integral part of our department and viewed more as colleagues, research partners and co-authors than as traditional students. Consequently, we encourage all students to work with multiple faculty, not just their advisor or dissertation chair.
A Day in the Life
No two Ph.D. journeys look the same. Our doctoral students balance research, teaching, collaboration and personal commitments in ways that reflect both the rigor and flexibility of the program. Explore what a “typical” day looks like for several of our students and see how they’ve shaped their experience at VCU.
World-Renowned Faculty
We are a very productive group of professors that includes world-renowned researchers, notably a former president of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), two SIOP fellows and a co-founder of the metaBUS project.
Overall, our faculty have published extensively in top peer-reviewed journals across business and related fields.
- Academy of Management Journal
- Academy of Management Review
- Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
- Journal of Applied Psychology
- Journal of Business and Psychology
- Journal of Business Venturing
- Journal of Management
- Journal of Organizational Behavior
- Leadership Quarterly
- Organization Science
- Organizational Research Methods
- Personality and Social Psychology Review
- Personnel Psychology
- Psychological Bulletin
- Science
- Strategic Management Journal
Frank Bosco
Faculty profile
Joe Coombs
Faculty profile
Jose Cortina
Faculty profile
Blakley Davis
Faculty profile
Sven Kepes
Faculty profile
Chris Reina
Faculty profile
Andra Serban
Faculty profile
David Skandera
Faculty profile
Impactful Research
Faculty and Ph.D. students pursue research that advances theory and practice across the field of management. Our work is organized into three primary research areas: human resource management and organizational behavior, strategic management and entrepreneurship, and research methods. Each area addresses critical questions that shape organizations and society. Learn more about these research areas below.
Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior
Understanding how people and practices shape organizations
This research area examines how individuals, teams and leaders influence organizational effectiveness and how workplace practices shape employee experiences.
Highlighted research questions:
- What is the structure of family-friendly work systems and what are their effects?
- What is the effect of A.I. on employees and the future of work?
- Does tipping in restaurants relate to service and food quality?
- What is the structure of family-friendly work systems and what are their effects?
- What is the effect of artificial intelligence and related technologies on employees and the future of work?
- What are situational judgment tests and how can they be used to identify and train top talent?
- Are dispersed pay structures affecting employee attitudes and firm performance?
- Does tipping in restaurants relate to service and food quality?
- How can mindfulness realize a transformative purpose and help foster a new era of business defined by collective flourishing?
- How does cultivating individual mindfulness impact both the person practicing it and those around them in the workplace?
- What contributes to potential assassinations of political leaders?
Strategic management and entrepreneurship
Examining how organizations compete and grow
This research area focuses on how organizations create value, navigate competitive environments and pursue new opportunities through governance and entrepreneurship.
Highlighted research questions:
- When do firms use CSR to conform to or differentiate from industry norms?
- Does product creativity and entrepreneurial passion influence crowdfunding?
- Are CEOs compensated for stakeholder management?
- When do firms use corporate social responsibility to conform to or differentiate from industry norms?
- Which crowdfunding signals are effective across different types of stakeholders and exchange contexts?
- Does product creativity and entrepreneurial passion influence crowdfunding decisions?
- Are CEOs compensated for stakeholder management?
Research Methods
Advancing the rigor and reliability of management research
This research area develops and evaluates the tools, practices and statistical approaches that ensure organizational research is rigorous, transparent and credible.
Highlighted research questions:
- How accurate and trustworthy is the research published in our journals?
- What is publication bias and how should we assess it?
- How can we accumulate knowledge in the organizational sciences?
- How can we accumulate knowledge in the organizational sciences?
- What is the state of heterogeneity (i.e., between study variability) assessments in our literature and how and why should we assess it?
- How accurate and trustworthy is the research published in our journals?
- What is publication bias and how should we assess it?
- What are restricted variance interaction effects and how should we theorize about and test for them?
- How should one meta-analyze panel data to uncover phenomena that develop over time?
- Is our research testing the models we claim to test?
- How should one conduct a meta-analytic review?
Curriculum
Our Ph.D. concentration reflects four complementary and overlapping content areas: organizational behavior, human resource management, strategy and entrepreneurship.
Small, research-oriented doctoral seminars form the core. To round out your studies, you can choose from a variety of elective seminars and courses offered by other VCU academic departments, including psychology and health administration.
Assistantships
Graduate research and teaching assistantships are available to support full-time students. Accepted students receive a graduate assistantship that covers all required tuition and fees and provides an annual stipend of $30,000. The stipend compensates for 20 hours per week of teaching or research performed for the department. Students making satisfactory progress in the program typically receive tuition and stipend support for up to five years.
Alumni Affiliations
Our students regularly attend conferences and doctoral consortia that help them foster important relationships with faculty across our field. Graduates of our program are now successful academicians working at excellent universities, including:
- Ball State University (Imran Kadolkar)
- Wayne State University (Yingyi Chang)
- NEOMA Business School (Wenhao Wang)
- The Ohio State University (Kathleen R. Keeler)
- West Virginia University (James G. Field)
- Old Dominion University (Sheila K. Keener)
- Old Dominion University (Andrew A. Bennett)
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte (George C. Banks; 2017 Academy of Management Research Methods Division Early Career Award recipient)
- North Carolina State University (Jeffrey M. Pollack)
- Indiana University (Ernest O’Boyle; 2015 Academy of Management Research Methods Division Early Career Award recipient)
Recommended Readings for Applicants
This reading answers common questions such as:
- Should I pursue a Ph.D. in Management?
- What kind of research will I work on?
- What is life like as a business school professor?
- What's the job market like?
- What should I look for in a Ph.D. program?
This document is a great resource to get to know the key topics of our field.
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Having a smaller cohort of students in the program gave me a lot of opportunities to work closely with faculty who were dedicated to my development as both a scientist and teacher.
— ANDREW BENNETT
Old Dominion University
The collegial environment and personalized attention from top scholars in the field set the tone for my career. I can trace a number of my most successful publications to one-on-one interactions with faculty while I was a VCU student.
— ERNEST O'BOYLE
Indiana University
From day one, I was encouraged to attend conferences and doctoral student consortia, which was made easier by the fact that travel support was available. I cannot explain how beneficial it was to present my own research in front of other scholars. It gave me the opportunity to develop a research identity and to establish and foster important relationships with others in our field.
— JAMIE FIELD
West Virginia University