When a prospective candidate asks me whether to pursue a PhD or a DBA, I begin with the problem that has brought them to doctoral study. What have they observed that they cannot yet explain? What decision are they being asked to make without adequate evidence? The answers often tell us more about the right pathway than the candidate’s job title or years of professional experience.
Consider a merger. Two companies combine, and within the first year a number of experienced employees resign. The leadership team had expected some disruption, but the departures are concentrated in particular teams. Some of those leaving had been with their organizations for years. Managers offer several explanations. Some point to uncertainty over future roles. Others believe employees lost confidence in the new leadership. Still others wonder whether the merged organization gave people any meaningful part in shaping the integration.
Each explanation sounds plausible. Each would lead management toward a different response. For a doctoral researcher, that uncertainty is the starting point.
A PhD candidate at Monarch might ask:
How do experienced employees’ perceptions of fairness during merger integration shape their decisions to leave?
The candidate would begin by examining what scholars already know about organizational justice, identity, and voluntary turnover. Suppose the literature leaves room to explain how employees weigh the fairness of a decision against the fairness of the process that produced it. An employee might accept an unwelcome change in responsibilities if they felt they had been heard. That same opportunity to be heard might carry less weight for someone whose team had lost much of its autonomy. The researcher could examine such differences to refine the explanation.
The candidate might compare teams that experienced different integration processes, using interviews with employees who stayed and those who left, alongside internal communications and departure records where access permits. The study would also need to consider other credible explanations, such as changes in compensation or stronger employment opportunities elsewhere.
The contribution might be a more precise account of how perceptions of fairness enter into the decision to stay or leave. Other researchers could then examine that explanation in different settings. That is the kind of scholarly contribution our PhD in Business Research is designed to support. PhD in Business Research at Monarch
A DBA candidate at Monarch might begin with the same departures and ask:
How does a structured consultation process affect experienced employees’ perceptions of fairness during merger integration?
This candidate would also engage with the research on fairness, identity, and turnover. Initial interviews and a review of organizational records could help establish which problems employees encountered and which ones managers were in a position to address. The evidence might suggest, for example, that employees were learning about changes to their roles after decisions had already been made, with no clear way to raise concerns.
The candidate could use those findings to design a process for consulting employees before role changes are finalized and following up on the concerns they raise. With appropriate access and approval, the candidate might pilot the process in selected teams and compare employees’ perceptions of fairness before and after its introduction. Where feasible, teams continuing with their usual process could provide a point of comparison. The candidate would also examine whether managers used the process as intended, since that would help explain the results.
Retention is the practical concern that motivates the study. The pilot’s primary outcome is perceived fairness, and departure data can help put the findings in context. The contribution would be a consultation process that other integration leaders could assess and adapt, together with evidence about how it was implemented and what it achieved. That is the kind of contribution to professional practice our Doctor of Business Administration is designed to support. Doctor of Business Administration at Monarch
Both candidates might read much of the same literature, interview some of the same people, and wrestle with the same limitations in the data. Both would need to protect participants, examine their own assumptions, and make claims that the evidence can sustain. At Monarch, research preparation and supervision help candidates refine those decisions as the project develops. A promising question can be enough to begin that conversation. Monarch’s Doctoral Journey
If you are considering doctoral study, I would encourage you to write two sentences about the problem you have in mind. Begin the first with “I want to understand why…” and the second with “I want to help people decide how…” Then ask yourself which contribution you would most want to defend at the end of your research. In the merger example, would you want to offer a better explanation of why experienced employees leave? Or would you want to give integration leaders a way to improve how decisions are made, with evidence they can use to judge its merits?
The sentence you most want to pursue is a good place to begin a conversation with us. Explore Monarch’s doctoral study pathways
Academically yours,
Professor Dr. Jeffrey Henderson
Dean, Monarch Business School Switzerland
Researcher highlight
Monarch Global Research Institute · Monarch Business School
Dr. Henderson is Dean of Monarch Business School Switzerland. His research and writing explore corporate responsibility, business ethics, and doctoral research in management.
Visit researcher websiteMeet the accomplished professionals who successfully completed their doctoral studies in 2025, bringing deep leadership experience and rigorous scholarship to Monarch Switzerland.
Meet the accomplished professionals who successfully completed their doctoral studies in 2025, bringing deep leadership experience and rigorous scholarship to Monarch Switzerland.
