Real-World Research
Doctoral students making a global impact
Spring 2011
By Eric Nelson
Although PhD students’ important work in the classroom as instructors and teaching assistants may be their most visible role in the Krannert School, their cutting-edge research activities are equally vital.
“The opportunity to learn from leaders in their fields and to collaborate with top researchers provides our students with the ability to develop into the next generation of leaders in business education,” says Professor and Olson Chair in Management Mark Bagnoli, who serves as director of Doctoral Programs in Management. “Our goal is to have them take their place alongside previous generations of doctoral graduates who are now nationally recognized scholars and often hold chaired professorships at leading business schools.”
Addressing topics ranging from digital piracy and leadership to CEO risk-taking and investor attentiveness, today’s young academicians are making real-world discoveries that will impact business for years to come. Here, we spotlight four of these emerging scholars.
Engineered to Lead
Erica Anthony, PhD ’12, OBHR
Engineering has been called the art of making things work. Perhaps that’s part of the motivation for Erica Anthony’s pursuit of a doctorate in organizational behavior and human resources at Krannert.
While working as a systems engineer at Honeywell and in various professional positions with Sprint, Anthony became fascinated with the behaviors of workers and managers within organizations. More
Converting Pirates to Payers
Matthew Hashim, PhD ’11, Management Information Systems
For doctoral student Matthew Hashim, digital piracy is a high-tech problem with a potentially low-tech solution.
“The value of unlicensed business software alone is more than $50 billion a year,” he says. “Certain video games are pirated heavily, too, which is what spurred my interest in researching it. My son was interested in a game that had a high piracy rate, and I wanted to know why and what could be done about it.” More
Risky Business
Steve McKeon, PhD ’11, Finance
From the Virgin Group’s Richard Branson to the late businessman-turned adventurer Steve Fossett, risk-taking CEOs have always piqued public curiosity. For Steve McKeon, such high-flying individuals also inspire academic curiosity.
Along with fellow doctoral student Matt Cain (PhD ’07), now on the faculty of the University of Notre Dame, McKeon wondered if CEOs who took personal risks also took risks with their companies. More
Seizing the Day
Mauricio Melgarejo, PhD ’11, Accounting
When the stock market ends the week on a high after several earnings announcements, many investors might be tempted to close their positions and finish their day with a TGIF celebration at a favorite watering hole. Accounting experts like Mauricio Melgarejo are more cautious.
"There is some research, especially in the finance area, that shows investors may be less attentive on particular days of the week,” Melgarejo says. “The market reaction to earning announcements released on Fridays, for example, seems to be weaker than investors' reactions to earning announcements made on other days of the week.” More