I am pleased to announce the finalists for the 2015 INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Proposal Competition. The nine finalists were selected from the seventy-three proposals that were submitted this year. Competition was fierce, with many innovative and high-quality proposals submitted. The nine individuals below will be presenting their dissertation proposals in November in Philadelphia, PA to a distinguished panel of judges who will select the winner and runner-up for this year's competition. If you know any of the finalists, please offer them your heartiest congratulations for a significant accomplishment. The finalists are:
Pooria Assadi
Simon Fraser University/Wharton
"Empirical Investigation of the causes and effects of misconduct in the US securities industry, 1980-2013"
Feng Bai
University of British Columbia, Sauder School of Business
"Beyond dominance and competence: A moral virtue theory of status attainment"
Santiago Campero
MIT, Sloan School of Business
"Does firm status confer a recruiting advantage? Evidence from high tech entrepreneurial firms"
Jillian Chown
Toronto, Rotman School of Management
"Implementing organizational change within a professional workforce: A multi-method exploration"
Julia DiBenigno
MIT, Sloan School of Business
"Understanding organizational change in response to institutional pressure: The case of army mental healthcare for active-duty soldiers"
Tiffany Johnson
Penn State, Smeal College of Business
"Scaling cliffs and chasms: Examining micro-processes of inclusion through the lens of autism job coaches"
Derek Harmon
University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business
"The structure of strategic communication: Theory, measurement and effects"
Amer Madi
INSEAD
"Finding existential meaning at work: When and why do people seek existential meaning at work and how is it maintained, changed, or lost?"
Francois Neville
Georgia State, Robinson College of Business
"Taking center stage: An examination of the role of executives during organizational interactions with secondary stakeholder activists"
Finally, I would like to thank the 112 scholars who generously volunteered their time to provide reviews of the candidate proposals. This competition would be nothing without them, and I am grateful to them for their willingness to provide thoughtful and timely feedback.