Corporate rule breaking can have devastating effects on society, and hence corporations are highly regulated. While corporations need to comply with rules and regulations to avoid or limit harms, corporate noncompliance is widespread. Therefore, gaining insight in the drivers of corporate rule breaking as well as in the effectiveness of regulatory actions in promoting compliance is pivotal.

Combining insights from criminology, economics and business studies, this project takes a ‘life-course’ approach to explain longitudinal patterns of corporate noncompliance by investigating time-varying corporate, industry and macro-economic characteristics of noncompliance in two different industries – chemical and finance. Employing cutting-edge quantitative methods, the project uses longitudinal data on both regulatory actions and rule violations. The proposed PhD project will address the following three overarching questions:

• What is the overall longitudinal pattern of corporate noncompliance within a given industry, and to what extent can groups of corporations with distinct corporate noncompliance patterns be distinguished?
• To what extent do life-course dimensions on the micro (corporate), meso (industry) and macro ([inter]national) level explain longitudinal patterns of corporate noncompliance?
• To what extent do longitudinal patterns of corporate noncompliance affect the likelihood and severity of future corporate harms? 

In addition to advancing our theoretical understanding of corporate noncompliance, this study will directly benefit regulatory practice in its efforts to protect employees, citizens and the environment.

Your tasks

• Carrying out scientific research under supervision for a period of four years, culminating in a PhD degree
• Independent data collection
• Combining and analyzing large, quantitative data sets
• Writing scientific publications towards a PhD thesis
• Presenting research findings for a scientific as well as a general audience
• Teaching (to a maximum of 10% of your hours)

• A completed relevant Master’s degree in the Social sciences (including Criminology), Business Economics, Business Administration, or Econometrics
• A verifiable interest in research, and affinity with the topic and methods of the PhD project
• Good academic English language skills (speaking and writing) are needed, (passive) knowledge of Dutch is a plus
• Verifiable skills in quantitative data-analysis and statistical software (such as Stata, R, Python)
• Experience with research, a research master, or a pre-PhD program are a plus

Fixed-term contract: 1 + 3 years.

We offer a challenging position at a socially involved organization. The salary starts at €2,590 (PhD-scale) in the first year and increases to €3.318 (PhD-scale) gross per month in the fourth year for a full-time (40 hours per week) appointment. The job contract is offered initially for one year and prolonged to in total four years based on an assessment of performance and perspectives.

The job contract ends after four years with the defense of the PhD thesis. Depending on the prior training of the successful PhD candidate, the PhD degree will be awarded by the Faculty of Law and/or by the School of Business and Economics. Supervision will be provided from both disciplines.

• Level of training: University – MA/MSc/LLM
• Contract type: Temporary
• Minimum fte: 0,8/32 hours per week
• Minimum salary scale: €2,590 – maximum salary scale: €3,318 (PhD)

You will also receive an end-of-year bonus of 8.33% and a holiday allowance of 8%. Click here for more information about our employment conditions.