Ph.D. Program

The Ph.D. program in Business Administration with a major in Management in the Pamplin College of Business is dedicated to developing the next generation of research faculty at top academic institutions. Our core mission is to produce doctoral graduates with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to function as researchers and teachers who go on to earn tenure as faculty members at research institutions.

Our curriculum emphasizes a solid foundation in strategic management, organization theory, organizational behavior, human resources management, and ethics and social responsibility through our four core courses. Students then specialize in any of these areas based on their research interests while pursuing skills in research design, measurement, and statistical analysis that will enable them to become effective researchers as they begin their academic careers. Our doctoral students engage in close and collegial research collaboration with our faculty, who are highly respected nationally and internationally based on their research excellence. Student-faculty research collaboration continue years after our students graduate from the program. Our faculty are committed to teaching and Ph.D. mentoring as demonstrate by a vibrant curriculum and steady increases in the productivity of our graduate students.  We view a doctoral education as the foundation for lifelong learning and develop excellence in our students so they can make significant scholarly contributions throughout their careers.

If you have a passion for research, an interest in joining a rigorous doctoral program, strong academic credentials, and like the thought of spending the next 4-5 years in the quiet, pastoral beauty of southwest Virginia and the Blue Ridge Mountains, then we encourage you to apply to our doctoral program.

Featured Research

Recent Doctoral Student Publications (doctoral student names are highlighted in bold)

• Rady, J.*, Townsend, D.M.*, & Hunt, R.A. (2025). From Algorithmic Hallucinations to Alien Minds: Entrepreneurial Work & the Epistemic Risks of Generative AI in Entrepreneur Ideation Processes. Journal of Business Venturing
• Rady, J.*, Townsend, D.M.*, Hunt, R.A., & Simpson, J. (2025) The Expectations Game: The Contingent Value of Hype as a Rhetorical Strategy in Early-stage Resource Mobilization Processes among AI Startups. Journal of Business Venturing.
• Gnyawali, D. R. and Islam, A. (2024) Cooperation and Competition (Coopetition). Chapter in Oxford Bibliographies.
• Hunt, R.A., D.M. Townsend J.J. Simpson, R. Nugent, M. Stallkamp, E. Bozdag (2024). Digital Battlegrounds: The Power Dynamics and Governance of Contemporary Platforms. Academy of Management Annals.
• Townsend, D. R.A. Hunt, J. Rady & P. Manocha(2024). Do Androids Dream of Entrepreneurial Possibilities? Academy of Management Review.
• Townsend, D.M., R.A. Hunt & J. Rady (2024). Chance, Probability, & Uncertainty at the Edge of Human Reasoning: What is Knightian Uncertainty? Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.
• Townsend, D. M., Hunt, R. A., Rady, J., Manocha, P., & Jin, J. H. (2023). Are the Futures Computable? Knightian Uncertainty & Artificial Intelligence. Academy of Management Review.
• Manocha, P., Hunt, R. A., Stallkamp, M., & Townsend, D. M. (2023). A tale of two impacts: Entrepreneurial action and the gender-related effects of economic policy uncertainty. Journal of Business Venturing Insights
• Musselman, R. & Becker, W. J. (2023). Resolving the double-edged sword of mentoring: the role of generativity. Journal of Managerial Psychology.
• Thompson, P., Bolino, M., Norris, K., & Kuo, S.-T. (2023). Unconstructive curiosity killed the cat: The importance of follower political skill and constructive curiosity to avoid perceptions of insubordination and unlikability. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.
• Hunt, R. A., Townsend, D. M., Manocha, P., & Simpson, J. J. (2023). Knowledge problem diagnosis and the fate of corporate entrepreneurship initiatives. Journal of Business Venturing Insights.