The Amsterdam Business School has a vacancy for a PhD candidate Leadership & Management in the Digital Age.

The PhD project focuses on leadership and management of workers in the digital age. Current and future developments in information and communication technology facilitate and create new ways of working. However, many theoretical models in the field have been developed in traditional contexts and we do not know to what extent assumptions hold within these changing organizational forms.

Algorithms are increasingly used in many different types of organizations to help make decisions in the area of people management. One example is that many workers nowadays work for platforms (such as Uber, Temper.works, Deliveroo, etc.). Such workers are quasi-managed by algorithms that incorporate client feedback and other metrics and that are developed and implemented by firms that officially are not their employers. Thus, a first project could focus on identifying different types of platform workers and exploring the impact of electronic monitoring and the management by algorithms in particular on the individual well-being and performance of these different types of platform workers. Further projects within the PhD can explore the consequences of algorithmic management in different types of organizations in which algorithms are used to support managers in their decision making, to for example understand how such algorithms affect people management decision making and change the role of managers or look at other ways in which on-going digitization, including robotization and AI in the workplace affect the management, job characteristics, and well-being of workers.

The ideal candidate holds a (Research) Master’s degree in a relevant field with a quantitative focus (e.g., quantitative psychology, quantitative business/HRM).

We seek a highly motivated student with excellent grades in applied statistics, psychometrics, data science, or math as well as knowledge about, or a strong interest in and proven affinity with leadership and management practices in the digital age.

Fixed-term contract: four years.

The appointment will be for a period of 4 years, with an intermediate evaluation after 18 months. End-result should be a PhD thesis. An educational plan will be drafted that includes attendance of courses and (international) conferences. The PhD candidate is also expected to assist in teaching at undergraduate level. The gross monthly salary will range from €2,325 in the first year to €2,972 in the last year. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

We offer the possibility to join a young, vibrant and very collegial group, and help shape a growing business school at an internationally recognized university that has the ambition to become a leading international player in the field of business research and education.

For more information about the research policy at the Amsterdam Business School please check our site.

University of Amsterdam

With over 5,000 employees, 30,000 students and a budget of more than 600 million euros, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is an intellectual hub within the Netherlands. Teaching and research at the UvA are conducted within seven faculties: Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Law, Science, Medicine and Dentistry. Housed on four city campuses in or near the heart of Amsterdam, where disciplines come together and interact, the faculties have close links with thousands of researchers and hundreds of institutions at home and abroad.  

The UvA’s students and employees are independent thinkers, competent rebels who dare to question dogmas and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and standard solutions. To work at the UvA is to work in an independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society.

Faculty of Economics and Business – Amsterdam Business School

The Amsterdam Business School (ABS) is one of the two schools of the University of Amsterdam’s Faculty of Economics and Business. The school’s core subjects are Corporate Governance, Entrepreneurship, and Big Data / Business Analytics. Six sections (Accounting, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Finance, Leadership & Management, International Strategy & Marketing, and Operations Management) conduct top-level research published in prestigious international journals. They also provide various degree programmes including a BSc programme and six MSc programmes, a wide range of post-doctoral programmes featuring three MBAs, four accountancy programmes and Lean Six Sigma programmes, as well as an extensive portfolio of open courses and in-company projects.

The Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) provides academic programs for more than 7,000 students and employs about 400 people. The Faculty conducts research in many specialist areas and participates in the Tinbergen Institute, one of Europe's leading graduate schools in economics, finance, and econometrics.

The Amsterdam Business School (ABS), part of the FEB, is a partner of Amsterdam Data Science, a network consisting of the academic knowledge institutes in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, and worldwide industry partners that focus on stimulating research and education in Data Science.

Supervisors of the PhD project will be  Dr Corine Boon, Dr. Robert Verburg and Prof. Deanne den Hartog.