PhD research

Many of our PhD students are investigating various aspects of digital enterprise and transformation.

Lily Haffner

Lily Haffner is a PhD student in the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management (ISOM). Her supervisors are Professor Julia Kotlarsky (ISOM) and Professor Ilan Oshri (ISOM).

Working title: "Digital Technology and Data Use in Sports"

Summary: Digital technology and data use has seen a significant increase across a variety of sports and has led to the transformation of many sporting competitions, impacting both organisations and individual stakeholders in the domain. The complex and high-stake nature of the sports context, illustrated by the involvement of divergent stakeholder groups with differing interests and influence, presents a unique and under researched environment for studying digitalization. This PhD research consequently seeks to investigate how digitalisation of the sports domain affects and is perceived by its various stakeholder groups.

Xiao Li

Xiao Li is a PhD student in the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management (ISOM). Her supervisors are Professor Julia Kotlarsky and Professor Michael Myers.

Working title: “Harnessing the Power of Crowdsourcing in Emergency Supply Chain Management”

Summary: This PhD research takes the inter-discipline perspective of information systems and operations management. It seeks to explore the power of crowdsourcing in emergency supply chain management, which covers the interconnected flows of information, supplies, workforce, and finance when responding to a crisis or a disaster. The study will also explore the collaborations among the crowd and other stakeholders involved in the emergency supply chain, including logistics companies, IT providers, and government and humanitarian agencies.

Saima Qutab

Saima is an international student who is in her third year of PhD study in the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management (ISOM). Her supervisors are Dr Michael Myers and Dr Lesley Gardner.

Working title: "The Emergence of Crowdsourcing Ecosystems"

Summary: Crowdsourcing is an emerging practice involving the online collaboration of organisations and individuals to create value and knowledge. The research addresses the challenges of understanding the cycle of value creation and governance mechanisms of multi-actor partnerships in a crowdsourcing ecosystem.

Nevena Sekulic

Nevena Sekulic is a PhD student in the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management (ISOM). Her supervisors are Professor Julia Kotlarsky (ISOM) and Professor Ilan Oshri (ISOM).

Working title: Digital Sustainability

Summary: Sustainability has become firmly intertwined with business. The concepts of Green IT and Green IS feature in the evolution of sustainability in IS literature, however with little integration. Additionally, there is little consideration in the IS literature of how intra- and interorganisational partnerships can support the harnessing of digital resources to address sustainability goals.

This research project aims to answer three main questions:
(i) How has research on digital sustainability transpired in the IS literature?
(ii) How does digital sustainability transpire via intra-organisational relationships? and
(iii) How does digital sustainability transpire via an inter-organisational partnerships?

Focus is placed on bridging the concepts of Green IS and Green IT with the resulting digital sustainability research framework. Also highlighted are the emerging themes from existing research on sustainability in the IS literature. These themes are then aimed to be explored empirically with a respective focus on internal and external governance structures to deliver on sustainability objectives.

Memoona Zareen

Memoona Zareen is a PHD student working in the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management. Her supervisors are Professor Ilan Oshri (ISOM) and Professor Julia Kotlarsky (ISOM).

Working title: “Business Value Creation through Smart Contracts and
Blockchain Applications”

Summary: Memoona is working to explore the usability, value, and viability of smart contracts backed by blockchain in inter- and intra-organisational processes. The introduction and integration of smart contracts and blockchain applications in business processes has the potential to create value by addressing management and governance issues among various stakeholders. She examines blockchain's unique features, including distributed shared ledger, network consensus, security, regulations, no intermediaries, instant settlements, self-execution, low cost and less need of human interventions.

Wen Zhang

Wen Zhang is a PhD student in the Department of Marketing. Her supervisors are Dr Laszlo Sajtos (Marketing) and Jon Mackay (ISOM).

PhD title: "Technology-Infused Triads using Balance Theory"

Summary: The purpose of this project is to systematically review the
nascent but fast-growing literature on service triads: to identify the gaps and use social balance theory to conceptualise relationships between technology-infused triads (i.e. customers interacting with employees and virtual assistants in a triad).