Call for Applications for the Doctoral Programme in Business Administration

For the Spring 2023 semester, the University of Nicosia announces the opening of eight (8) positions for admission to the Doctoral Programme (PhD) in Business Administration.

Three (3) positions in:

DIGITAL INNOVATION / BLOCKCHAIN

1. 1. Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
      The third wave of crypto (after the invention of digital money & Bitcoin in 2009 and the creation of programmable smart contracts & Etheruem in 2015) is centered around the creation of open, algorithmic, censorship-resistant applications that enable all financial services (banking, lending, exchanges, insurance, etc) to be implemented without intermediaries. Research proposals in DeFi will focus on studying business model innovation, user adoption, economic and societal implications, and similar aspects of the DeFi phenomenon. The ideal PhD candidate will have a background in Computer Science, Finance/Economics, Business Administration or similar and will already have gained practical experience in using and understanding the prospects and limitations of existing DeFi applications and protocols.
      Research Advisor: George Giaglis, Professor, [email protected]
   2. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and asset tokenization
      Digital collectibles have emerged as a distinct class of crypto tokens, enabling users to mint, acquire, trade and own unique pieces of digital art or other artifacts. However, the applications of so-called non-fungible tokens (NFTs) extend beyond art to include proof of ownership of real-world assets (e.g. real estate), assets held in metaverses (e.g. virtual worlds) and new types of rights (e.g. right to a share of someone’s future income streams). Research proposals will focus on studying NFT-enabled disruption of the real world and/or new virtual worlds, business model innovation, economic and societal implications, and similar aspects of the NFT phenomenon. The ideal PhD candidate will have a background in Computer Science, Finance/Economics, Business Administration or similar and will already have gained practical experience in using and understanding the prospects and limitations of existing NFT and asset tokenization applications.
      Research Advisor: George Giaglis, Professor, [email protected]
   3. Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)
      DAOs enable the creation of new forms of organization, sometimes consisting entirely of computer code and being algorithmically governed based on rules by their creators. DAOs represent a departure of the industrial-era paradigm of corporations, enabling ad-hoc organizational arrangements that are based on programmable trust. Research proposals in the DAO space will focus on studying this emerging form of organizational design and understanding its future potential, application areas, but also limitations. The ideal PhD candidate will have a background in Business Administration, Finance/Economics, Social Sciences or similar as well as existing know-how in what DAOs are and how they operate.
      Research Advisor: George Giaglis, Professor, [email protected]

ONE (1) POSITION IN ANY OF THE FOLLOWING TOPICS IN

APPLIED FINANCE / APPLICATIONS IN MANAGEMENT:

This post is for a PhD candidate who is interested in enhancing his/her knowledge, critical and analytical skills, using real-life data analysis.

Topics could be related to:

Gender Inequalities/Gender Gaps in education, pay, leadership; Social and Workplace Inclusion; Job satisfaction and retention; Use of Artificial Intelligence; Business/Entrepreneurship; Green Finance/ESG/Sustainable Investing; Financial Modelling and Forecasting; Multifactor models.

The candidate is expected to have a background in quantitative methods and statistical analysis.

Research Advisor: Haritini Tsangari, Professor, [email protected]

Two (2) positions in:

FINANCE

One (1) Position in Finance in the field of Applied Economics/Behavioral Finance/Media/Technologies.

In the wave of the dizzily swift developing knowledge stream on cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, machine learning, social media and crowd-sourcing this post investigates the nexus of these technologies aiming to develop a forecast model for cryptocurrency price movements beyond economic indicators, political issues or government interventions including psychological driven factors.
The student will apply triangulating research methods embracing phenomenological and positivistic approaches.

Research Advisor: Hans Rüdiger Kaufmann, Professor, [email protected]

One (1) Position in the area of Finance, and specifically one (or a combination) of the following areas:

• Corporate Governance and the Board of Directors
• Blockchain and Governance
• Blockchain and Accounting and Controls
• Decentralized Autonomous Organisations (from a governance point of view)
• Market-based Empirical Research on one of the following topics:
• Corporate Social Responsibility and Reporting
• Socially Conscious Investing
• Market Behaviour of Cryptocurrencies/Cryptoassets

For this post, the candidate should have a strong background in quantitative methods (Econometrics or Statistics) proven by previous quantitative research or work experience or by having successfully completed advanced courses in Econometrics or Statistics. Moreover, the candidate should have a background in either Finance, or Accounting, or Economics, or Financial Mathematics, or Financial Econometrics or similar discipline (Bachelor or Masters degree).

Research Advisor: Dr. Ifigenia Georgiou, [email protected]

ONE (1) POST IN THE FOLLOWING TOPIC: CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY

Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility (CSR) has never been more important. In recent years, the impact of corporations upon our world has become undeniable (Chaffee, 2017).
Citizens nowadays demand a responsible business behavior from all kinds of organizations (for-profit and not-for-profit), corporations and their leaders who have become aware of the crucial role of social responsibility in seeking performance excellence and sustainable growth (Antonaras et al, 2011). The last decades witnessed a vigorous debate over the role of corporations in society (Basu and Palazzo, 2008). Interest in CSR became intense as shareholders, consumers, activists, governments, and society in general called for higher standards of business.

Research proposals in the area of Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility could focus on the following topics, but not limited to:

• Developing a corporate sustainability & responsibility framework for SMEs
• Measuring the socioeconomic impact of CSR activities/strategies
• Whistleblowing and CSR: the role of internal auditors
• The importance of verification in corporate sustainability reporting
• Prompt supplier payments as an act of corporate sustainability and responsibility
• Developing a Key Stakeholder Perceptions framework to
• Measuring the impact of EFQM Model implementation
• Developing a framework for corporate sustainability due diligence on supply chain

Research Advisor: Alexandros Antonaras, Associate Professor, antonaras.a@unic

ONE (1) POSITION IN TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY

Technology Diffusion in Tourism and Hospitality

The ongoing digitization of service interactive work calls for an investigation of how technologies effect and affect organizational form. Organization can no longer be thought without socio-technical mediation. Emerging technologies like robots, social media, analytics, artificial intelligence, platforms and disruptive innovations such as blockchain, could easily be explored as part of a ‘digital shift’, reconfiguring the ways in which management and control, innovation and entrepreneurship take place. The appointed PhD student will have the opportunity to advance our understanding on technology diffusion and its impact on different stakeholder groups.

Research Advisor: Leonidas Efthymiou, Assistant Professor, [email protected]