Business PhD Program
The PhD Program at the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business prepares students for research and teaching careers at leading universities. Students benefit from a highly supportive, high-touch academic environment that fosters close collaboration with prominent faculty across seven academic disciplines: Accounting, Finance, Information Systems, Marketing, Operations Management, Organizational Behavior, and Strategy and Entrepreneurship. Students who complete the program earn a PhD in Business Administration with a specialization in one of these areas.
The Leeds PhD Program is intentionally small, with approximately 50 students enrolled across all cohorts. This scale ensures personalized mentoring, a high faculty-to-student ratio, and opportunities to co-author papers, present at conferences, and develop strong dissertation work that is often published in top academic journals.
Our program equips students with the skills to design and execute original research and to disseminate knowledge through both teaching and scholarly writing. PhD students gain a deep understanding of foundational and influential research in their disciplines and are trained to make meaningful contributions through innovative, state-of-the-art scholarship. The program is designed to be completed in five years.
Students also benefit from access to six research centers and initiatives, including the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility and the Center for Research on Consumer Financial Decision Making. As part of their training, doctoral students teach classes and work as research assistants, preparing them for successful academic careers. Leeds maintains a strong placement record, with graduates securing tenure-track positions at respected colleges and universities.
Set within a vibrant business community and a stunning natural setting, the Leeds School of Business fosters a collegial and intellectually stimulating environment for doctoral study—offering students a unique balance of academic rigor and quality of life.
The accounting doctoral program provides students with a deep understanding of the most influential, modern accounting research, and with the tools needed to contribute state-of-the-art research that advances the discipline.
Finance faculty and PhD students study empirical and theoretical issues in corporate finance, structure of securities markets, valuation and asset pricing, derivatives, corporate governance, and information economics.
The Information Systems (IS) doctoral program provides students an opportunity to work closely with world-renowned scholars to build skills that will prepare them for research careers as professors in information systems at business schools. The program places a heavy emphasis on training students through active engagement in the research process with information systems faculty.
The marketing doctoral program prepares students to contribute to knowledge on the drivers of consumer behavior, the mechanisms of consumer decision-making, and the indicators of firms' strategic success. The program places a strong emphasis on developing experimental, quantitative, and analytical research skills in preparation for productive careers at top research universities.
The Operations Management PhD program prepares you to pursue an academic career as a researcher and educator. Faculty research interests range from quantitative modeling to empirical studies using tools from operations research, mathematical programming, artificial intelligence, econometrics and economics.
The Organizational Behavior (OB) doctoral program provides students an opportunity to work closely with world-renowned scholars to build skills that will prepare them for research careers as professors in leadership, management, and organizational behavior at business schools. The program places a heavy emphasis on training students through active engagement in the research process with leadership, management, and organizational behavior faculty.
The Strategy and Entrepreneurship PhD program provides students an opportunity to work with renowned scholars in state-of-the-art research on firm strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
PhD Graduates' Publications
Management Information Systems Quarterly(WITS 2016 Best Prototype Award)
Unlocking Knowledge Inheritance of Behavioral Research: A Design Framework and an Instantiation (Conditional acceptance)
Jingjing Li—University of Virginia (PhD 2013)
Kai Larsen –University of Colorado Boulder
Ahmed Abbasi –University of Virginia
Strategic Management Journal
Gatekeeping Strategy and Knowledge Transfer among Platform Participants: Evidence from App Developers
Yuchen Zhang –Tulane University (PhD 2016)
Jingjing Li—University of Virginia (PhD 2013)
Tony Tong –University of Colorado Boulder
Information Systems Research
Don’t Mention It? Analyzing User-generated Content Signals for Early Adverse Event Warnings (2019)
Ahmed Abbasi –University of Virginia
Jingjing Li—University of Virginia (PhD 2013)
Donald Adjeroh –West Virginia University
Marie Abate—West Virginia University
Wanhong Zheng –West Virginia University
Academy of Management
The collective construction of green building: Industry transition toward environmentally beneficial practices (2019)
Jessica Jones - University of Colorado (anticipated PhD 2020)
Jeffrey York - University of Colorado
Siddharth Vedula - Babson College (PhD 2015)
Michael Conger - Miami University (PhD 2014)
Michael Lenox - University of Virginia
Journal of Accounting Research
Bridging the gap: Evidence from externally hired CEOs (2018)
Yonca Ertimur - University of Colorado at Boulder
Caleb Rawson - University of Colorado at Boulder (PhD 2018)
Jonathan L Rogers - University of Colorado at Boulder
Sarah L.C. Zechman - University of Colorado at Boulder
Journal of Consumer Research
The impact of crowding on calorie consumption (2018)
Stefan J Hock - George Mason University
Rajesh Bagchi - Virginia Tech (PhD 2008)
Journal of International Business Studies
Stability vs. flexibility: The effect of regulatory institutions on opportunity type (2018)
Susan L Young - Kennesaw State University
Christopher Welter - Xavier University of Cincinnati
Michael Conger - Miami University of Ohio (PhD 2014)
Organization Science
Value creation through employer loans: Evidence of informal lending to employees at small, labor-intensive firms (2018)
Richard A Hunt - Virginia Tech (PhD 2013)
Mathew L Hayward - Monash University
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Competitive pressure on the rate and scope of innovation (2018)
Kenneth A. Younge -College of Management of Technology, Switzerland (PhD 2012)
Tony Tong – University of Colorado Boulder
Journal of Economics & Management Strategy
Constructing a Chinese patent database of listed firms in China: Descriptions, lessons, and insights (2018)
Zi-Lin He -Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Tony Tong – University of Colorado Boulder
Yuchen Zhang – Tulane University (PhD 2016)
Wenlong He - University of International Business & Economics, Beijing
Nature Scientific Data
A database linking Chinese patents to China’s Census firms (2018)
Zi-Lin He -Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Tony Tong – University of Colorado Boulder
Yuchen Zhang – Tulane University (PhD 2016)
Wenlong He - University of International Business & Economics, Beijing
Research Policy
What determines the duration of patent examination in China? (2018)
Tony Tong – University of Colorado Boulder
Zhang, Kun – University of Colorado Boulder
Zi-Lin He -Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Yuchen Zhang – Tulane University (PhD 2016)
Journal of Economics & Management Strategy
The value of employee retention: Evidence from a natural experiment (2016)
Kenneth A. Younge -École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland (PhD 2012)
Matt Marx – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory
Financial Reporting Quality and Auditor Locality Contagion
Jamie Diaz - The College of William & Mary
Gregory W. Martin - The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (PhD 2009)
Wayne B. Thomas - The University of Oklahoma