PhD Position in Innovation Management

RSM; Rotterdam; Hybrid; EUR 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Job summary

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) invites applications for a PhD candidate in Innovation Management. You can design your own PhD project within our themes on collaborative innovation, idea management, and leadership in innovation.

We seek candidates with strong analytical and verbal abilities and a background in business or management, sociology, economics, psychology, engineering, or related fields.

Qualifications

• Strong analytical and verbal abilities.
• Interest in innovation management and collaborative research.

Responsibilities

• Design and pursue a PhD project within Innovation Management.
• Engage with supervisors and collaborate with partners.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Verbal communication

Research skills

Education

Background in business or management

Sociology

Economics

Psychology

Engineering

Job description

Successful innovation management involves all actions needed to generate creative ideas and to turn these into attractive new products, services, and business models. The Innovation Management group at RSM is a team composed of several ambitious international faculty whose research focuses on creativity, idea management, leadership in innovation, diversity and inclusion, AI, standardization, collaborative innovation, and innovation strategies. We also execute large research projects in collaboration with leading organizations on, for instance, horticulture innovation and in the creative industries. Our research is often empirical and applies both quantitative and qualitative methods. As a PhD candidate in our section, you can design your own PhD project. The themes described below serve as inspiration and reflect the expertise of the department. Supervisors can vary per paper that you are working on.

Keywords

Doctoral Researcher, Innovation, Creativity, Idea management, Co-creation, R&D Disclosures, Social evaluations, Project management, Leadership, Strategy, Sustainability, Diversity, Technology, AI, Design Thinking.

Topic

Collaborative innovation:Innovation has become imperative for organizations and societies at large. The increasing pace of technological and market change forces organizations to collaborate to share risks and resources. In addition, the grand challenges of our time require solutions that are well beyond the limits of a single organization. But interorganizational collaboration has its own disadvantages such as cooperation and coordination problems. What are the conditions for interorganizational collaboration to succeed?

Idea management and innovation contests:The successful management of ideas has become a strategic organizational capability and a source of competitive advantage. Many companies have set up idea management programs and innovation contests to facilitate the generation, development, and implementation of new products, services, processes, and business model ideas. However, out of a pool of submitted ideas, typically only a few will be adopted and brought successfully to the market. How can firms effectively collect ideas and motivate people to continuously generate creative ideas, how can they identify and select the best ideas, and how can they channel these ideas into successful innovations?

Innovation and diversity:More and more organizations are diversifying their employee base to stimulate innovation. Diverse groups have members with different, unique knowledge, and by combining and integrating these different perspectives, diverse groups have the potential to come up with more creative and innovative ideas. However, diverse teams may be less effective at implementing these ideas due to biases against their ideas, coordination problems, and not having the right networks. How can leaders and organizations best manage diverse teams such that they can be optimally creative and innovative?

Leadership in innovation:The internal political arena of companies is where innovation often takes place. In such a noisy arena, the project leaders who shout loudest get first access to funding. We study ways for project leaders to best communicate their ideas and vision for their innovation, so their ideas can win attention and funding.

Micro-foundations of innovation networks: Recent research has shown that innovation does not “happen” in isolation; it occurs within a relational context in which single individuals and firms collaborate and compete with other actors in broader networks of social interactions. Despite this earlier research, important questions still have to be explored: To what extent do individual people with their idiosyncrasies (demographic features, psychology, and cognition) contribute to construct and shape innovation through the intra‑organizational social networks in which they are embedded? What is the role of subunit, firm or industry-level characteristics in affecting the formation and the functioning of innovation networks?

Generative AI and the changing nature of work:Generative AI (GenAI) is driving innovation, transforming how organizations create value and adapt to change. Recent research examines how generative AI technologies reshape work practices. GenAI is no longer confined to automating routine tasks but increasingly produces outputs (e.g., texts, images, code) that were once the exclusive domain of human expertise. Despite growing awareness of these shifts, important questions remain open. What new relations and work emerge through the deployment of GenAI systems? How can we design GenAI systems in ways that align with the social and organizational environments in which they operate? Addressing these questions requires ethnographic inquiry that considers not only the technical elements of GenAI but also their organizational implications through a socio‑technical view.

Social evaluations, AI co-creation, and the value of innovation:

Innovation and creativity succeed not only because new ideas are generated, but because they are recognized and valued by others. This research theme examines how innovation is socially constructed, evaluated, and valued across scientific, technological, and creative domains. Potential PhD projects may investigate how human and algorithmic actors interact in generating and assessing innovations, and how evolving systems of evaluation influence recognition, diffusion, and legitimacy. The focus is on advancing theory through conceptual reasoning, analytical approaches, and engagement with novel forms of data.

Innovation strategy:Innovation strategy is deeply embedded in social dynamics that shape how value is created and captured. Social dynamics such as organizational identity, user behavior and collaboration play a critical role in understanding how innovations emerge. Especially in times of new technological developments we tend to overlook the people that are required to implement and use the new technologies that eventually lead to innovations. This approach aims to advance innovation strategy research by analyzing people and their interactions in‑depth.

Ecosystem & Standardization strategy:Ecosystems are networks of interdependent firms and institutions that collaborate, compete, and co‑evolve within shared frameworks. Standardization defines the “rules of the game” in these ecosystems by setting common technologies, protocols, and norms that coordinate interactions across participants. This research area explores how standardization shapes innovation ecosystems and how ecosystem dynamics, in turn, drive the emergence of dominant standards.

Approach

Quantitative/qualitative/experimental empirical research methods can be employed (depending on the studied research questions).

Required profile

Candidates applying for a PhD position within this research theme should have a background in business or management studies, sociology, economics, psychology, engineering, or other related fields. We are looking for candidates with very strong analytical and verbal abilities. Candidates with proven expertise and interest in quantitative, qualitative, or experimental research are welcome to apply. Theyshould also be eager to learn new methodological tools.The research group shares methodological rigor with a strong attention to theory development in combination with relevance for business and society.Candidates that can strengthen the diversity of our community are especially encouraged and welcome to apply.

Expected output

The project output is publication of papers in top tier management journals in innovation, creativity, general management, organization, strategy, or operations management.

Cooperation

The Innovation Management group at RSM consists of young and ambitious international faculty who publish in the very top management journals, in collaboration with several renowned international scholars and industry partners. The group has published in leading management journals such as the Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Organization Studies, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Operations Management, Research Policy, and Journal of Product Innovation Management as well as in leading psychological journals of relevance for business such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Annual Review of Psychology, and Psychological Science.

The Innovation Management group has strong connections with creativity and innovation management academics in pioneering universities. As a testimony to that, our PhDs conducted research visits at, for instance, NYU Stern, University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Carlson School of Management at University of Minnesota, and Yonsei University in the past.

In its teaching the group links state‑of‑the‑art management theories with business practice. We also develop training modules for executives concerning business model innovation and new business development. Some organizations that we closely collaborate with for teaching and research include DSM, Dutch Design Foundation, LEGO, Microsoft, Philips, Renault, Unilever, European Commission, and International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

Societal relevance

Innovation is of utmost importance for the long-term survival of firms and economies. Corporate and political leaders consider innovation to be core to competitive advantage. To achieve these results, the proper management of innovation is therefore essential: creativity should be enhanced, new products and services should be brought to the market quickly and effectively, and increasingly the use of new business models serves as a platform to achieve desired results. In our group, each project’s objective is to produce valuable guidelines for executives to increase the innovativeness of their organizations.

Scientific relevance

All projects aim at advancing our understanding of important aspects of creativity and innovation management and contribute to the academic literature. Targeted contributions of each project listed above can be retrieved from the specified contact person.

Erasmus University Rotterdam aspires to be an equitable and inclusive community. We nurture an open culture, where everyone is supported to fulfil their full potential. We see inclusivity of talent as the basis of our successes, and the diversity of perspectives and people as a highly valued outcome. EUR provides equal opportunities to all employees and applicants regardless of gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, neurodiversity, functional impairment, citizenship, or any other aspect which makes them unique. We look forward to welcoming you to our community.

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is one of Europe’s top-ranked business schools. RSM provides ground‑breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management and is based in the international port city of Rotterdam – a vital nexus of business, logistics and trade. RSM’s primary focus is on developing business leaders with international careers who can become a force for positive change by carrying their innovative mindset into a sustainable future. Our first‑class range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes encourage them to become critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinkers and doers.

RSM is an equal opportunity employer and explicitly encourages applications from candidates of all genders, ethnicities, and nationalities.