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January 6, 2015

A journey of DBA training and teaching towards a

postdoctoral researcher

Irma Tikkanen University of Eastern Finland, Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies,

Business School

irma.tikk@gmail.com

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to describe a case journey of a Doctor of Business Administration

(DBA) training and teaching towards postdoctoral researcher in marketing and foodservices.

Design/methodology/approach – Theoretical framework comprises constructivism as a theory of

learning, existing research on DBA and PhD training in brief, and DBA training as a content. The

case describes the author’s journey based on self-report.

Findings – The case results showed that a DBA student’s own motivation; major and university DBA

curriculum; a national doctoral program; and universities’ international network in management

research support a DBA students’ academic and professional development towards a researcher. The

personal development includes skills in academic writing and writing in English; quantitative and

qualitative research methods; and especially deep and wide theoretical knowledge in one’s major.

Moreover, teaching experience in one’s major discipline, research methods, and supervising Master’s

and Bachelor’s theses improve the skills for conducting postdoctoral research. A longitudinal case

journey with four phases was illustrated.

Practical implications – The results offer the DBA students information about the length and content

of personal development towards a postdoctoral researcher; theoretical and methodological ideas

what and where to study; and ideas for writing various kinds of publications when developing oneself

as a scholar. The case is an example of a personal development, not a typical case.

Originality/value – The article adds new information to the existing research by describing the

longitudinal personal development as a journey towards a postdoctoral researcher.

Keywords marketing, DBA training, postdoctoral, researcher

Paper type Case study

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Introduction

The journey towards a DBA postdoctoral researcher is a long personal learning and training process

including many sub processes. Before applying for the DBA training program at a university, the

applicant should have gained extensive knowledge in the major discipline. Moreover, the applicant

should have motivation and be interested in conducting research in the form of analysing new kinds

of unidentified problems; define the research problem to be solved; and to create new answers to the

problem based on the literature review and collected data (cf. Frame and Allen, 2002). Furthermore,

the applicant should have a lot of patience, because a learning and research process might be longer

than expected. A personal learning and training process is mostly lonesome, although there are

student colleagues, supervisor(s), professors and other specialists in the academic social environment,

in the student’s academic “ecosystem”.

The research problem reads as follows:

What kind of a journey is a DBA training and teaching towards postdoctoral researcher

in marketing and foodservices?

The research design is descriptive. A case of the author’s journey is introduced. A learner-centered

viewpoint is applied in the form of cognitive constructivism, because a DBA student has a possibility

to select the theoretical and methodological courses suitable for the aimed DBA dissertation.

However, a learner-centered and a teacher-centered viewpoints can overlapp in practice, because a

DBA training program and its courses provided by the university are more or less teacher-centered.

(cf. constructivism is a theory of learning, not a theory of pedagogy; Rauste-von Wright et al., 2003,

p. 62)

Constructivism as a theory of learning

Constructivism is a theory of learning. It means that learning involves constructing, creating,

inventing, and developing one’s own knowledge and meaning. (Liu and Chen, 2010) Harlow et al.

(2006) defined that “individuals create their own knowledge, without a specific description of how

this knowledge actually is constructed and tested”. Elkind (2004) argued that constructivism will

succeed when three types of readiness are in place: teacher, curricular, and societal. Carson (2005)

critiqued constructivism by stating that “if reality is perceived by a theory-laden perceiver, then the

reality is theory-laden, too” and continued that “objectivists believe humans are not theory-laden”.

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Powell and Kalina (2009) classified constructivism into two types: first, Piaget’s (1953) individual

or cognitive constructivism and Vygotsky’s (1962) social cognitive constructivism. In cognitive

constructivism, the individuals construct ideas through a personal process. In social constructivism,

ideas are constructed through interaction with the teacher and other students with a personal critical

thinking process. (Powell and Kalina, 2009)

Rauste-von Wright et al. (2003, p. 62) call constructivism as the theory of learning, not the theory of

pedagogy. In 1950’s, the core research traditions have included problem solving, memory, language,

selective attention, and the structure of activities in cognitive constructivism. In 1980’s, social

cognitive constructivism challenged cognitive constructivism based on Vygotsky’s (1962) theory.

The core in learning was based on the interaction of a person and one’s environment. (Rauste-von

Wright et al., 2003, pp. 160-161) Learning is always related to the context and culture where

knowledge is learned and used. Different kinds of contents, sciences, and skills require different kinds

of construction processes. (Rauste-von Wright et al., 2003, p. 169)

Constructivism is problem-oriented, and the learners interpret multiple perspectives of the world.

Learning is both context and content dependent, and knowledge construction is emphasized. The

student’s exploration is encouraged in order to seek knowledge. Collaboration and cooperative

learning are favoured. Teachers’ role is that of a coach, and errors are used as a mechanism to provide

feedback on learners’ understanding. (Boghossian, 2006)

Powell and Kalina (2009) presented tools and practices for the constructivist teacher to create a

constructivist environment. Porcaro (2011) developed a conceptual model including innovations or

pedagogical methods, learning environments, teachers, students, institutional systems, and national

context aimed for constructivist-based pedagogies. Andrew (2004) emphasized the output from the

construction, namely that the construction formed has to allow effective interaction with the

environment.

Existing research on DBA and PhD training in brief

The principal career focus in DBA is senior managers and in PhD academics and career researchers

(Ruggeri-Stevens et al., 2001). Frame and Allen (2002) presented the purposes for PhD training.

Funding organisation’s “purpose of PhD training is to ensure that science has enough highly skilled

researchers and a science literate population thus to allow progress towards its mission”. Supervisors

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believe that “the purpose of the PhD training is to be training for a career in scientific research in

general”.

DBA is seen as a professional doctorate composing many subjects. The intended three learning

outcomes for DBA in the context of business administration include research (potential contribution

of research to the work of senior managers; capacity to plan and carry out a research project; capacity

to make an original contribution to the knowledge of practice; and the capacity to implement research

findings in terms of management practice within an organisation), personal development, and

knowledge of business and management (Ruggeri-Stevens et al., 2001).

Fowler et al. (2009) explored the challenges in researcher development. The results indicated that

expansive research workplaces build research capacity particularly effectively. The nature of

expansiveness is dependent upon the range of learning opportunities, engagement with research

communities and interpersonal support. The importance of inter-institutional collaboration to

promote capacity across the academic discipline is also highlighted. Vekkaila et al.’s (2012) results

indicated the significance of participation, development as a scholar, developing specific research

competences as well as learning to balance between doctoral research and other institutional tasks.

The key learning experiences in collaborative academic contexts are as follows: research activities,

taking courses, and academic meetings. Mercer et al.’s (2011) results indicated that the experiential

role of the student in the development of their personal PhD training and the consequent social

interactions thereof remain as important as the more structured supervisor-student relationship and

other forms of PhD training within the PhD research process. According to Raineri (2013), the

doctoral program changes novice researchers into disciplined and self-disciplined academic

performers over time to comply with the performativity rules of academia, while reflexivity can only

be achieved through criticism and self-criticism.

Edwards (2010) introduced the concept “ecosystem” of the part-time research student. The results

indicated that the students were particularly appreciative of the opportunity to meet fellow part-time

research students, albeit in different disciplines and at different stages of their PhD. Rather than solely

listing specific research skills they would like to cover, most of their ideas for future training sessions

concerned more nebulous personal and emotional aspects of the experience of studying for a PhD on

a part-time basis. Four dimensions of training need were identified as follows: research techniques;

research skills; engagement with part-time PhD process; and engagement with their part-time peers.

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McCulloch’s (2013) paper sought to propose the adoption of an alternative metaphor to that of the

“journey”, currently the most pervasive characterisation concerning the student’s experience of

doctoral education. The paper offered a critique of the journey metaphor as a characterisation of the

student’s doctoral experience and proposes instead the metaphor of the Quest, a cultural and literary

form found in most societies. It argues that the six elements of the Quest identified by W.H. Auden

resonate with the contemporary doctoral experience and emphasise the uncertainty involved in

research rather than the linearity implied by the journey metaphor.

Crossouard’s (2013) paper included postdoctoral researchers’ views of their training needs. The

findings indicated that the respondents’ reflections on their doctoral training showed a much stronger

appreciation of training which was based on disciplinary practices, even if these were subject to

regionalisation, as opposed to more generic professional skills training. Pitcher (2010) examined

doctoral students’ conceptions of self in research, the conception of the PhD, the conception of

knowledge and the conception of the outcomes of research. The conceptions found were allocated to

the categories: organic, spatial, explorative, and constructive.

DBA training as a content

DBA training programs seek to implement learning outcomes with respect to their content, structures,

learning and teaching methods (cf. Ruggeri-Stevens et al., 2001). The range of intermediate

assessment methods include research methodology as coursework; complementary studies in

business administration; portfolio of personal/professional development; critique of successful

research; project report of preliminary research project; working papers; thesis proposal; and

literature review (Ruggeri-Stevens et al., 2001).

Before starting to study in a DBA program, one key issue is to acquire financing. Also other resources

(access to data banks and the library) are needed when trying to find the literature and existing studies

on the topic for the literature review from the domestic and international scientific data banks. The

literature review will help to define the research problem and give theoretical answers to the research

problems based on the existing research.

The DBA dissertation writing process comprises a literature review process; defining a research

problem; a data collection process; a data analysis process; a process presenting the results; a

publication process, and finally, evaluating the DBA dissertation. Subsequently, the DBA should

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have skills for conducting postdoctoral research, i.e. start writing scientific papers on your own or co-

authoring and to have them published.

As an example of the assessment criteria for doctoral dissertations (at the University of Helsinki) the

following general scientific criteria are applied. “The dissertation shall 1) contain new scientific

knowledge, 2) demonstrate critical thinking from the doctoral candidate’s part, 3) demonstrate

profound familiarity with the field, 4) demonstrate mastery of research methods and their application,

5) be scientifically convincing, 6) contain justified results, and 7) demonstrate scientific integrity and

adhere to research ethical norms. The language of the research must be appropriate for the purpose.

Doctoral dissertations are expected to be of higher quality than Licentiate theses in every respect.”

(University of Helsinki, 2014)

Methodology

The empirical case illustrates a journey of DBA training and teaching based on the author’s own self-

reported experience and results towards becoming a postdoctoral researcher in marketing and

foodservices. The case includes characteristics of a unique case (cf. Yin, 1989), because the length of

the training exceeds a “normal” four year’s training program. The case description covers the years

from 1981 to 2014, i.e. 33 years.

The following empirical data is applied: the list of the author’s publications (Tikkanen, 2014); list of

the author’s courses (Tikkanen, 2014); and the number of supervised Master’s and Bachelor’s theses

and a DBA dissertation. Moreover, the number of editorial board memberships and the number of

positions as a reviewer in international scientific journals are utilized (Tikkanen, 2014).

Results: A case of a DBA journey towards a postdoctoral researcher in marketing and

foodservices

The author started her studies in 1976 in marketing and attained her Bachelor’s degree in 1979 and

Master’s degree in 1981. The motivation to study towards a DBA degree included acquiring more

scientific theoretical knowledge in the major discipline and becoming more familiar with the

quantitative and qualitative research methods. One motivation was also to secure an academic post in

future. The author was accepted in a DBA training program in marketing in 1981. However, the

author had just been offered a new job as a company analyst in a state organisation, which prevented

her from accepting the offered full-time assistant position at the marketing department at a university.

The position as a company analyst helped the author to learn the internationalisation of the firms and

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their challenges in internationalisation in an authentic work life environment. The author studied the

DBA courses part-time related to marketing theories and quantitative methods.

Structure and contents of the DBA training program in marketing

The author’s doctoral curriculum in marketing discipline comprised the following studies (HSE,

1989):

- Prerequisites: Statistics (12 cr) and Mathematics, 4 cr

- Marketing as a Major (160 cr):

o Research skills, 8 cr

o Specialized studies, 20 cr (Research seminar, 4 cr; Theories and methods in marketing

4 cr; Reading seminar in marketing, 4 cr; Optional studies, 8 cr)

o Major core competency studies, 12 cr (Theory of the Firm, 3 cr; Marketing theory, 3

cr; Research methods in marketing, 3 cr; Quantitative modelling in marketing, 3 cr)

o Licentiate thesis, 40 cr

o Minor studies, 20 cr (Accounting and Finance)

o Doctoral dissertation, 60 cr

The DBA training courses were provided by the marketing department, at the author’s university,

The Finnish doctoral program in business studies KATAJA (Kataja, 2014), and European Institute

for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM), that also organized international research

conferences (EIASM, 2014). The author participated in seven national marketing tutorials organized

by KATAJA; one national tourism symposium; in EIASM’s ten international conferences and eight

international conferences. In elective studies, a course in marketing theory and a course in writing a

DBA dissertation organized by KATAJA were useful in the phase of writing a doctoral dissertation

as well as a course in academic writing.

The author’s DBA training process was carried out within the DBA training “ecosystem” (Figure 1):

a personal DBA training process following the marketing discipline’s DBA training program at the

department and at the university; finding a supervisor for the thesis and forming a “functioning”

relationship with the supervisor; a process of networking with the faculty members as a part-time and

later a full-time DBA student; and a process of networking with the national and international

discipline-based researcher networks. As Frame and Allen (2002) found, the student-supervisor

relationship is perhaps the most influential affecting the perceptions of the quality of PhD training

among students.

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Figure 1. Author’s “ecosystem” in the DBA training

Applying the skills in teaching and supervising theses after the DBA degree

After her DBA degree in 1995, the author has acted as a senior lecturer in marketing (three years), a

professor in marketing (six years), and a principal lecturer in hospitality management and

foodservices (eight years) at three scientific universities and at two universities of applied sciences.

The acquired skills in English language, statistics, qualitative research methods, and especially

marketing theories have been the focus in teaching and supervising Master’s and Bachelor’s theses

both in Finnish and in English in the contexts of marketing, service business and hospitality

management. The number of different kinds of lectured courses amounts to 26, and the number of

different kinds of provided book exams scores 18 (Tikkanen, 2014). The number of supervised

Master’s theses during 1992 – 2014 reaches 92 theses, the number of Bachelor’s theses amounts to

130, and there is also one DBA dissertation (Alakoski, 2014). (Table 1)

Major discipline's and university's theoretical and methodoligical DBA training programs: structure and content

The Finnish doctoral program in business studies KATAJA

European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM)

DBA student's own motivation, theoretical skills, research techniques and skills, engagement with the DBA process

DBA student-supervisor relationship

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Skills and knowledge Teaching experience Supervising theses Context/BBA and

MSc. degree

programs

English language

Teaching in English Supervising Master’s

theses and

Bachelor’s theses in

English

Marketing

Service Business

Statistics

SPSS software

Teaching data

collection

Teaching data

analysis by SPSS

Supervising Master’s

theses and

Bachelor’s theses

Marketing

Hospitality

Management

Qualitative research

methods

Teaching data

collection and

analysis of

qualitative data

Supervising Master’s

theses and

Bachelor’s theses

Marketing

Service Business

Hospitality

Management

Marketing theories Lecturing courses in

marketing

Supervising Master’s

theses and

Bachelor’s theses

Marketing

Service Business

Hospitality

Management

Table 1. Applying the skills in teaching and supervising theses after the DBA degree

Publications

Before DBA studies, the written theses included the Bachelor’s thesis in marketing (1979) and

Master’s thesis in marketing (1980). When studying in the DBA program, a licentiate degree included

a licentiate thesis in marketing written in English (1991). No other publications were then made.

Working as a full-time researcher ended up to completing DBA dissertation in marketing written in

English (Tikkanen, 1994). Teaching material, conference papers, and other research were also

conducted. Working as a senior lecturer (three years) in marketing concentrated with the focus on

producing teaching material for the students. Working as a professor in marketing (six years) was

also teaching oriented focusing on teaching material and conference papers. Finally, when working

as a principal lecturer (eight years) the production of scientific articles started based on a school meal

research project, and focusing on the current teaching context, namely foodservices and service

business. Moreover, teacher’s pedagogical studies included a development project (2006). Today in

2014, the author has been nominated as an Editorial Board Member in two international scientific

journals, and the author is acting as a reviewer for the eight international scientific journals (Tikkanen,

2014).

During 1991-2014 three theses were published out of which two in English; 22 pc. teaching materials

were published for students; 12 conference papers in English were written and presented in the

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international scientific conferences; seven other research reports were written; twelve newspaper

articles were published in Finnish; and 21 scientific papers were published in the four international

scientific journals (one in Tourism and Hospitality Research; two in the Journal of Euromarketing;

nine in the British Food Journal; eight in Nutrition & Food Science; and one in Higher Education,

Skills and Work-based Learning). Ten of the articles were co-authored. Moreover, three Highly

Commended Paper Awards were received from Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. (2010, 2012, and

2013). Three joint research projects were conducted as a responsible author. (Table 2)

Year Theses Teaching

material

Conference

papers

Other

research

Articles in

newspapers

and

professional

magazines

Articles

in

scientific

journals

Research

projects

Studying towards a licentiate degree 1981 – 1991

Working full time as a company analyst 1981 – 1988

Working as an assistant in marketing and a researcher 1988 - 1991

1981-

1991

1

DBA training 1992 - 1995

Working as a researcher 1992 - 1995

1992-

1995

1 1 1 3 1

Postdoctoral research and teaching

Working as a senior lecturer in Marketing 1996 - 1999

1996-

1999

4 1

Postdoctoral research and teaching

Working as a professor in Marketing 2000 - 2005

2000-

2005

16 9 1

Postdoctoral research and teaching

Working as a principal lecturer 2006 - 2014

2006-

2014

1 1 2 2 11 21 3

Total

3

22

12

7

12

21

3

Table 2. Publications during 1991 – 2014 classified into six categories

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Summary: A case of a DBA journey towards a postdoctoral researcher in marketing and foodservices

In Table 3 a case of a DBA journey towards an internationally networked postdoctoral researcher in

marketing and foodservices is introduced.

Bachelor’s

thesis

and BBA

degree

Master’s

thesis

and MSc.

degree

Licentiate

thesis

and

Lic.Sc.

degree

DBA

disserta-

tion

and DBA

degree

Teaching

and

supervi-

sing

theses

Writing

different

kinds of

publica-

tions

Writing

scientific

articles

Editorial

board

member

Reviewer

for a

scientific

journal

1976-

1979

1980-

1981

1981 –

1991

1992-

1995

1995-

2014

1993 -

2014

2006 -

2014

2010-

2014

2012-

2014

Student in

Marketing

DBA student A teacher and a postdoctoral

researcher

Internationally

networked

postdoctoral

researcher

Learning outcomes:

personal develop-

ment, credits and a

degree

Learning outcomes:

personal develop-

ment, developing

research

competences,

credits and a degree

Learning outcomes: gained

experience as a teacher and as

a researcher

Learning

outcomes: gained

experience as a

teacher, researcher,

peer reviewer, and

an editorial board

member

Curriculum-

oriented

Curriculum and

supervisor-

supported

Curriculum and societal-oriented: students, co-

authors, international scientific networks

Cognitive constructivism Cognitive and social constructivism

Table 3. A case of a DBA journey towards an internationally networked postdoctoral researcher in

marketing and foodservices

To sum up, the author’s journey composed of four phases: 1) a student in marketing; 2) a DBA

student; 3) a postdoctoral researcher; and 4) an internationally networked postdoctoral researcher.

The first phase was curriculum-oriented creating personal development, credits and the BBA and

Master’s degrees. The second phase was curriculum and supervisor-supported emphasizing personal

development, developing research competencies, credits and a licentiate and a DBA degree. The third

phase emphasized experience as a teacher and producing teaching materials and writing conference

papers. As Brown (2005) found out, the two extremes of research and teaching can be bridged by

scholarship or learning or both together. The final fourth phase as an internationally networked

postdoctoral researcher emphasized scientific articles, research projects, received highly commented

paper awards, acting as a peer reviewer and an editorial board member for international scientific

journals.

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According to Paltridge (2013), acting as a peer reviewer requires that the results in the reviewed paper

have been correctly interpreted. Also, a peer reviewer gives advice to the editor on whether the article

interests the readers of the journal and comments on the quality of the article. The author’s role as a

peer reviewer (eight international scientific journals) and as an editorial board member (two

international scientific journals) has improved the author’s research skills in many ways and

strengthened the author’s personal internationalisation among the international “ecosystem” of the

researchers, and as an internationally networked postdoctoral researcher.

Conclusions

The research question to be answered was: What kind of a journey is a DBA training and teaching

towards postdoctoral researcher in marketing and foodservices? The author’s journey towards an

internationally networked postdoctoral researcher has lasted for 33 years since starting her DBA

studies so far. A variety of skills have been obtained in a DBA training program, namely; statistical

skills and using SPSS software; skills in qualitative research methods; academic writing skills and

writing in English. Those skills have been necessary when writing a licentiate thesis, DBA

dissertation and the scientific articles.

Wide and deep theoretical knowledge of marketing theories and their utilisation in the theoretical

frameworks constituted core content when conducting the theses, DBA dissertation and postdoctoral

research. Teaching experiences in marketing at the three scientific universities (nine years) and at

the two universities of applied sciences (eight years), and especially supervising Master’s (92 theses)

and Bachelor’s theses (130 theses) as well as a DBA dissertation (one) have deepened and improved

skills for conducting author’s own research (cf. Vilkinas, 2002).

A journey towards an internationally networked postdoctoral researcher has evolved through three

personal development phases. Learning based on cognitive constructivism was based on a DBA

training curriculum, passing courses, writing the theses and publications. Learning based on social

constructivism within the author’s ecosystem has cumulated due to participating in national and

international seminars, courses and conferences, and especially owing to the interaction with the

supervisor and discipline’s faculty, teaching and supervising theses, and acting as a peer reviewer and

an editorial board member. Whether the evolution towards the new development phases could

continue, it depends on the author’s motivation and skills to participate in the international research

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projects as a researcher or a coordinator; in the form of a visiting professor in a foreign university, as

a visiting editor or an editor in a scientific journal etc.

This paper contributes to the existing research by describing the longitudinal personal development

towards a postdoctoral researcher and especially an internationally networked postdoctoral

researcher.

Limitations of the study

One limitation to the study entails empirical case being based on the author’s own subjective

experience and self-report. The results cannot be generalized to a wider group of DBA students, but

the results can be compared to the created theoretical framework (analytical generalization).

Practical implications

The results offer information for the DBA students about the length and content of a personal

development towards an internationally networked postdoctoral researcher; ideas for theoretical and

methodological studies; and ideas what kind of publications to write when developing oneself as a

researcher and towards a postdoctoral researcher.

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