Winner of the 2015 INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Proposal Competition
It is my pleasure to announce the results of this year's INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Proposal Competition. The nine finalists were selected out of a group of over seventy submissions based on evaluations by reviewers. Finalists presented their dissertation proposals to a distinguished panel of judges at the INFORMS Annual Conference in Philadelphia, PA. All of the finalists did an outstanding job of presenting their proposals and the judges had the unenviable task of selecting only two of them based on quality, potential contribution, and innovativeness.
The winner of the 2015 INFORMS Dissertation Proposal Competition is:
Julia DiBenigno
MIT, Sloan School of Management
Understanding Organizational Change in Response to Institutional Pressure: The Case of Army Mental Healthcare for Active-Duty Soldiers
The runner-up of the 2015 INFORMS Dissertation Proposal Competition is:
Derek Harmon
University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business
The Structure of Strategic Communication: Theory, Measurement and Effects
If you know Julia, Derek, or any of the other seven finalists, please congratulate them for this significant accomplishment. The other seven finalists for the 2015 competition, listed in alphabetical order, were:
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"
Tiffany Johnson
Penn State, Smeal College of Business
"Scaling cliffs and chasms: Examining micro-processes of inclusion through the lens of autism job coaches"
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"
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the panel of judges who evaluated all of the proposals. Each judge generously volunteered his or her time and resources to attend the day-long competition in Philadelphia and provided the finalists with feedback on their dissertations. This year's panel of judges was:
Christine Beckman, University of Maryland
Victor Bennett, Duke University
Taya Cohen, Carnegie Melon University
Gina Dokko, University of California - Davis
Aimee Kane, Duquesne University
Kyle Lewis, University of California – Santa Barbara
Giacomo Negro, Emory University
Tim Pollock, Penn State University
Nancy Rothbard, University of Pennsylvania
Finally, I would like to thank Zur Shapira, Editor-in-Chief of Organization Science, Kathleen Luckey, Senior Managing Editor of Organization Science, and Tracy Cahall, Subdivisions Coordinator at INFORMS for the tremendous amount of help and support they provided in managing the proposal review and competition process.
Regards,
Mae McDonnell
INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Competition Chair, 2015
marymcd@wharton.upenn.edu