Ph.D. in Business Administration with a major in Management Information Systems

Placements

University of Wisconsin – Whitewater; University of North Carolina at Pembroke; James Madison University; Middle Tennessee State University; Northern Michigan University; University of Mary Hardin-Baylor; University of the Incarnate Word; University of North Carolina at Pembroke; University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; Wake Forest University

Awards

Ibtissam Zaza, finalist in Three Minute Thesis and Doctoral Consortium at ICIS (International Conference on Information Systems)

Recently Defended Dissertations

“Enterprise Social Media in Individuals’ Performance: An Affordance Perspective,” by Miaoyi Zeng; Dr. Deborah Armstrong, major professor
“Two Essays on Crowdfunding and Consumer Returns,” by Dan Liu; Guangzhi Shang, major professor
“Intra-Platform Competition: The Role of Strategic and Operational Evolution in App Success” by Yi Liu; Dr. Ashley Bush and Dr. Xinlin Tang, major professors

Prerequisites

All applicants must have either an undergraduate or master’s degree in MIS or a related field such as Business, Information Sciences, Operations Management, or Computer Science.  Students who enroll in this program must have strong preparation in advanced calculus, statistics, and probability.

Major Requirements

The Management Information Systems (MIS) doctoral program provides a unique mix of behavioral, economic, statistical and analytical training to its students. It is designed to develop scholars capable of conducting high-impact research by engaging with analytical modeling and empirical research using advanced tools to explore questions at the intersection of people, processes, and technologies. It is heavily research-oriented while emphasizing relevance to the practice of business. As such, the primary goal of the program is to produce innovative scholars who will contribute to the Information Systems (IS) and Business Analytics (BA) communities through academic careers in university teaching and research, as well as high-level research positions in industry.

All MIS doctoral students must complete courses in four areas – Primary Coursework, Tools for Analytical Research (TAR), Support Area Coursework, and Research Competence Milestone Projects.

I. Primary MIS Coursework
The primary area courses and seminars provide opportunities for in-depth study of issues in technology management and analytics. These courses and seminars aim to develop the students' research competencies, thus preparing them for a career in academia at leading research institutions. All MIS doctoral students must complete three primary area seminars:

• ISM 6979 Philosophy of Science
• ISM 6XXX Machine Learning
• MAN 6917 Research Design

Plus, two of the following three seminars depending as they are offered:

• ISM 6109 Research Seminar in IS & BA I
• ISM 6395 Research Seminar in IS & BA II
• ISM 6405 Research Seminar in IS & BA III
   

II. Tools for Analytical Research (TAR) Area
All MIS doctoral students must take six TAR courses from the disciplines of mathematics and/or statistics. These courses provide the tools and skills necessary to understand and conduct rigorous empirical research in Information Systems.

All MIS doctoral students must take the following four TAR courses:

• PSY 6919 Experiment Design and ANOVA
• PSY 6919 Regression
• GEB 6897 Applied Business Econometrics I
• GEB 6899 Applied Business Econometrics II

Plus two courses on topics such as the following:

• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Bayesian Analysis
• Nonparametric Statistics
• Survey Research
• Programming

Several departments offer courses on these topics with different flavors. The TAR course selection is done in conjunction with student’s advisor and the MIS doctoral program coordinator and must be approved by the program coordinator.

Note that students must earn a grade of ‘B’ or better in each course to satisfy the TAR requirement. TAR courses may not be taken on an S/U basis.

III. Support Area Coursework
The support area for MIS provides an opportunity to concentrate in a field of study complementary to the primary area and to the student's research interests. Typically, the support area coursework consists of three or four graduate courses or seminars in a specific field. Some examples include

• Computer Science
• Economics
• Political Science 
• Psychology
• Other PhD majors in the college

The support area course selection is done in conjunction with student’s advisor and the MIS doctoral program coordinator and must be approved by the program coordinator.

All support area coursework must be taken for a letter grade ( exceptions must have the explicit approval of the program coordinator). In addition, at least two of the courses required in the support area cannot be used to satisfy other program requirements.

IV. Research Competence Milestone Projects
The group views doctoral training as a research apprenticeship, and successful students almost always begin publishing high-quality research early in the program. In addition to the coursework, all MIS doctoral students are required to demonstrate research preparation and competence through the completion of two milestone projects in the first and the second years of the program.

First-Year Milestone Project
The first-year milestone project is completed in collaboration with a research-active faculty in the department as part of the student’s first-year research assistantship. The project may extend seminar coursework or a structured literature review within a research stream identified by the supervising faculty.

Students are required to submit a publishable quality research paper and deliver a formal presentation by the end of the spring semester. Both components are evaluated by a committee of research-active faculty members. Successfully completion of the first-year milestone project is required for continuation of the doctoral program.

Second-Year Milestone Project
The second-year milestone project is a student-driven research project. It is the student’s responsibility to secure a faculty mentor within the department to supervise this year-long research project. In this project, students are required to identify a topic of interest and work closely with their faculty mentor to develop a study, including research design, data collection, analysis, and manuscript crafting.

The project should result in a completed research paper with the potential for submission to a reputable academic conference or journal. The faculty mentor must certify that the project meets this standard.

To fulfill the second-year research competence requirement, the student must present their work to a committee of research-active faculty, who will evaluate the quality, rigor, and scholarly merit of the research. Successful completion of the second-year milestone project is required for continuation of the doctoral program and qualifies students to take the comprehensive exam in the fall semester of their third year.

In addition to these courses, first- and second-year students will participate in a professional development series that will be an additional registered course in each semester of the first two years of the program. The professional development series is designed to introduce doctoral students to the roles and responsibilities of faculty members, including research ethics, communication with faculty at other universities, the research review process, and balancing research, teaching and service, among other topics. Third-year students and beyond continue to register for the professional development courses for 0 hours to meet the university scholarly engagement requirement.

A Wertheim College Ph.D. in Business Administration with a major in Management Information Systems offers the rare opportunity to shape how technology and organizations evolve. This program will equip students to conduct intellectually rigorous, high‑impact research while preparing them for a deeply rewarding career as a thought leader in academia or beyond.

Sample Course Sequence