Socio-Cultural Approaches in Business Studies: Theoretical Foundations and Theory-Building

Sociological and cultural approaches inform a substantial part of the qualitative empirical as well as theoretical works in marketing or organisation studies. However, PhD course offerings on these approaches are scarce both at a Swiss and international level. This is particularly problematic because in this type of research and theorizing, deep knowledge of the founding theories is essential for knowledge production and publications. The proposed doctoral school “Socio-Cultural Approaches in Business Studies: Theoretical Foundations and Theory-Building” fills this gap by offering theory and theory-building courses on the socio-cultural approaches underpinning contemporary marketing and organizational scholarship. A first pillar of the doctoral school provides specialized theory courses, co-taught by distinguished management scholars and IMCA faculty who are experts of a given sociocultural theory, using a blended learning approach of on-site and virtual training. The second pillar is designed to develop a transferable skillset of theory-building and theoretical thinking. As a full immersion practical training program, held at the Casa della Sostenibilità, participants develop their own papers’ theoretical contributions, fine-tuning their theoretical introductions and discussion sections under the guidance of a distinguished scholar and IMCA faculty. The doctoral school will be open to PhDs not only within USI, but within a national and European network of qualitative scholars committed to advancing innovative explanations of management phenomena informed by anthropological and sociological theories