PhD Programme

Research is a fundamental component of the PhD Programme at INSEAD. Our doctoral degree is designed to teach you many cutting edge research methodologies to enable you to contribute to a global body of knowledge that informs how business is and should be conducted. Our programme will train you to create and even publish your own original body of research, which will become the foundation for your career as a professor in business.

Because of the international, cultural and geographical diversity at INSEAD, we also offer a unique interdisciplinary approach when it comes to research. Professors and PhD students do not simply work together across our campuses, they also collaborate across academic areas, offering an even greater breadth of research opportunities and a myriad of inspiring perspectives.

Furthermore, INSEAD is affiliated with nine research centres and initiatives addressing a broad range of issues and industries. In Paris, INSEAD has a behavioural research centre, INSEAD-Sorbonne Behavioural Lab, where over 40,000 people have participated in studies. INSEAD also launched an eLab initiative which represents INSEAD's commitment to management excellence in the digital economy. These research centres, among many others, bring together faculty members who have agreed to support a common research agenda. In many cases, they may provide unique opportunities for INSEAD PhDs to work alongside INSEAD faculty from different academic areas.

Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation is the culmination of doctoral study. It is intended to represent independent and original research work of a publishable standard. Dissertation work starts once the students move to PhD Candidacy, which is in the third year of the programme. Once the PhD Candidate has identified his / her dissertation advisor, a mutually agreed decision between the candidate and the faculty member, the PhD Candidate starts to work on his/her dissertation proposal. PhD Candidates are expected to complete and submit the dissertation during the fifth year.

In this page, you will find details about the Dissertation Proposals that have been defended and are now moving toward completion, along with a comprehensive listing of the INSEAD Doctoral Dissertations that have been produced since the start of the PhD Programme at INSEAD.

List of Dissertations

PhD Candidates' Research Series

The PhD Candidates’ Research Series is one of the avenues to display a PhD Candidate's ability to articulate his/her research or dissertation in a nutshell to the viewing public.

INSEAD PhD in Strategy Candidate, Arzi Adbi, talks briefly about his research with co-authors Chirantan Chatterjee, Matej Drev, and Anant Mishra, “When the Big One Came: A Natural Experiment on Demand Shock and Market Structure in India’s Influenza Vaccine Markets”. The article can be read in full here. For more about Arzi Adbi's research, please visit his PhD Profile Page and Personal Website.

News & Awards

Students regularly publish during the programme, together with INSEAD faculty members or as single authors, leading to their final dissertation. Moreover, PhD Alumni continue to collaborate with their advisors and mentors through research. This includes top journals and magazines, both online and in print, such as Harvard Business Review, Journal of Management, Journal of Organizational Design, Management Science, Journal of Industrial Ecology, etc.

To view the latest publications and working papers of our students and alumni, please visit INSEAD's Research page.

Student Awards from September 2021 to February 2022

2021 American Psychological Association (APA)
Kelly Nault
The sweet spot of self-promotion
Winner, Dissertation Research Award (one of 30 winners receiving $1,000)

2022 Berkeley Culture Conference
Xina Li, Guoli Chen and Rui Shen
Steering the Intangible Wheel: The Eﬀect of CEOs on Corporate Culture Change
Runner up for Edgar Schein Best Student Paper Prize

2021 INFORMS Case Competition
Piyush Gulati, Georgina Hall and Anton S. Ovchinnikov
Integration Planning at SFB (A, B, C)
Case Competition Winner

2021 INFORMS Decision Analysis Society (DAS)
Nicolo Bertani, Abdellah Boukhatem, Enrico Diecidue, Patrice Perny and Paolo Viappiani
Fast and Simple Adaptive Elicitations: Experimental Test for Probability Weighting
DAS Student Paper Award

2021 Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting
Yeonsin Ahn
Agreeing to be Different: Startup Founding Teams, Cultural Legacy, and Atypicality
Winner, Best Conference PhD Paper Prize
Finalist, Best Research Methods Prize

Sukti Ghosh, Victoria Sevcenko and Arianna Marchetti
Who captures the value from organizational culture? Evidence from employer reviews and vacancy postings
Nominated for Best Paper Prize
Nominated for Best Research Methods Paper Prize

Tianyu He, Marco Minervini and Phanish Puranam
Does Social Interaction Hurt Search by Groups? Evidence from Kaggle (Job Market Paper)
Winner, Best Proposal Prize, Behavioural Strategy IG
Nominated for Research Methods Conference Paper Prize

Sanghhyun Park, Henning Piezunka and Linus Dahlander
Co-evolutionary Lock-in in Crowdsourcing: How Consistent Selection Reduces Sourcing Variety
Annual Conference Best Paper Prize (Honourable Mention)

View awards in AY 2020-2021