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Research Fellows Program

Research Fellows in a one year program offering students paid opportunities to work with one of our outstanding Smith Faculty members on their research. Research Fellows present their work at the annual Research Day each spring.

Fellowship Application Eligibility

Must be Smith School student with junior or senior standing (60 credits)
Must have completed a minimum of 12 credit hours at UMCP
3.2 minimum cumulative UMCP gpa is preferred, with appeals considered for otherwise outstanding applicants with gpa below 3.2
Superior writing and communication skills required.
Computer proficiency with various applications and platforms is highly desirable.
Minimum one-year commitment, which is renewable

Fellowship Compensation & Responsibilities

Research fellows will complete a total of 250 hours/semester, which can be allocated as 18 hours/week for 14 weeks or some other set hours, to be established in consultation with your faculty project supervisor.
Compensation will be $5,000/year—or $2,500/semester. The fellowship is an actual job; you will submit hours bi-weekly on the university’s payroll system, with a maximum of 20 hours/week.

Fellowship Application & Selection Process

This Application is closed and will reopen Spring 2009.
You can work on your application in any order you choose
You will be submitting one application to be considered for all available projects. While you cannot select a specific project you may indicate your preference(s) for up to two of the academic departments. While there is no guarantee that you will be selected for a particular project, please specify your project preference in your cover letter if there is a particular project of interest to you. (The academic departments will review your application and determine which project might be most appropriate given your credentials).
You can save your application as a draft (before making a final submission). Your saved application is located in your "Profile" under "My Applications" in UNet. Please remember not to submit your application until you have finished entering all parts of your application . You will only be able to submit this application once and are then unable to return to make edits.

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Research Fellows Projects

Available research projects are listed below. Each applicant can apply to be considered by up to two academic departments for research projects in their specific area (listed below). The Departments will make their selections and determine which students will be assigned the specific projects.

Decision, Operations and Information Technologies

Finance

Logistics, Business, and Public Policy

Management & Organization

Marketing

Decision, Operations and Information Technologies Projects

Ritu Agarwal - The Impacts of Electronic Prescribing on Workflow and Outcomes in Physician Practices

Description available in PDF here

Ritu Agarwal - Online Health Communities and their Role in Healthcare Delivery

Description available in PDF here

Ritu Agarwal - Privacy and Digital Health Information

Description available in PDF here

Sunil Mithas - IT: The Boon and Bane for Firms

This project has two related goals.

First, we seek to understand how information technology (IT) can be both a boon as well as a bane for firms. Much work has looked at the positive side of IT but few studies have looked at negative consequences of IT. Our goal will be to take a balanced view and offer suggestions for managing IT in a way that capitalizes on strengths of using IT while minimizing the negative consequences.
A second goal of this study will be to find the extent to which IT enables firms to pursue goals that at the surface might seem somewhat inconsistent. For example, literature continues to direct attention to 2 X 2 matrices and dichotomies from which firms must choose (e.g., cost leadership versus differentiation, centralization versus decentralization). Our objective will be to look for cases where IT is enabling firms to pursue and achieve somewhat opposing goals.

Students interested in this project must have basic familiarity with IT tools and applications and who have motivation and aptitude for doing research. They should also have excellent writing and communication skills and be willing to learn to work with research databases. Based on similar projects that I have supervised earlier, students benefited significantly in terms of acquiring valuable research skills and turned out to be attractive candidates for potential employers.

Finance Projects

Logistics, Business, and Public Policy Projects

T. Leigh Anenson - Legal Research

The student will primarily be reading cases, finding and summarizing secondary source materials, and possibly assisting me in the formatting of footnotes. All that is necessary is computer literacy and the ability to use a library. I can teach the student any other skills involved, such as utilizing a legal database.

The area of research aims at rethinking the role of ancient equitable defenses in contemporary court practice. Scholarship in this area will be valuable in furthering an overall theory of the role of law in business. Equitable defenses often arise in business disputes, especially issues involving corporate governance and technology. Examining equitable defenses also provides the theoretical means to explore ways in which lawyers can better manage the litigation risk of business clients.

The specific research I would like help with analyzes the equitable defense of “unclean hands” to identify deficiencies in its development and to propose improvements to enhance its evolution. The undergraduate fellow would assist me with legal research to complete and finalize three working papers. The first paper attempts to build a theoretical foundation for the adoption of the equitable defense of unclean hands in legal cases. The second paper analyzes the choice of law issue under the constitutionally-based Erie doctrine. The third paper examines the incorporation of unclean hands under California law.

Rachelle Sampson - Ambiguity Aversion, Contract Structure and Firm Strategy: An examination of contract structure in technology development alliances and mergers

How firms organize their alliance activities has profound implications for the ultimate performance of the collaboration. In this research project, we examine how firms organize their collaborations with other firms for joint technology development. Past research has shown how alliance contract structure is linked with the extent of firm networks. However, our observation from prior studies tends to contradict what has been suggested in past theory – we observe that firms tend to have more detailed agreements as they develop relationships with their partners. This suggests that contracts are more than simply legal agreements. Further theoretical development in this area suggests that we may be able to explain the relationship between alliance organizational form and relationships between firms. More importantly, this new theory suggests that we may also be able to identify when mergers or large equity exchanges are likely to take place subsequently to alliance activity with a specific firm.

This research project surrounds the data work associated with testing this new theoretical advancement. We have collected detailed contracts for firms entering joint technology development arrangements in the biotechnology industry. The research required for this project includes collecting background information on the biotechnology alliances themselves, follow up study on merger activity and detailed coding of the alliance contracts themselves. From this work, we hope to gain further insights into (1) the role of organizational form in firm strategy and (2) what precipitates merger activity.

Marketing Projects

Rebecca Hamilton & Rebecca Ratner - Netcentric Behavioral Lab

The Netcentric Behavioral Laboratory’s research fellow will provide expertise and support to faculty and PhD students using the lab to conduct experimental research.

Responsibilities include: • assisting faculty and PhD students with conducting experimental sessions • assisting faculty and PhD students with MediaLab software (e.g., preparing experiments using MediaLab, troubleshooting) • working as a research assistant on one or more ongoing research projects being conducted in the lab

Benefits include: • the opportunity to see first-hand how experimental research is conducted • working directly with a faculty member on one or more ongoing research projects • becoming familiar with several stages of the experimental research process (from the submission of the IRB proposal to experimental setup, data collection, data analysis and finally, interpretation of the data)

Management & Organization Projects

Azi Gera, Brent Goldfarb and David Kirsch - Entrepreneurial Firms

Entrepreneurial firms have become increasingly prominent in the commercialization of inventions. Entrepreneurial firms face many choices upon successful innovation: do they commercialize themselves or do they license to other firms? If they do license, how should they proceed. In this study, we explore a set of technology licensing agreements between startup and large firms. The Research Associate will examine these contracts, understand them, and analyze them. This will contribute to our understanding in the markets for technology. The Associate would also gain an understanding of the legal ins and outs of intellectual property (patents) and the markets for technology.

Azi Gera and Brent Goldfarb - Uncovering Competitive Actions

This research explores how startups and young firms influence their image and reputation among external decision makers. In one venue, we study how a venture capital firm selects startups soliciting funds for evaluation. In a second study, we study how young firms manage their reputation as industry leaders with investment bankers. We look at the actions taken by the young firms and the signals these actions create for decision makers who scrutinize the arena in which the firms act. Research findings in the field to date have shown that the actions taken by a firm influence its success, and survival.

Our study, in two parts, explores how the firm’s choice of actions legitimizes, differentiates, or discredits the firm. First, we examine the existence of a relationship between the competitive actions a firm takes and the attention it receives. What is the influence of the environment on the preferred signals? Second, we test the longitudinal impact of earlier actions taken by a firm in the context of ongoing activity by rivals. What is the durability of prior competitive actions on image construction and how might the sequencing of those actions shape the firm’s reputation? We expect that our findings may contribute to the bodies of work on firm reputation, legitimacy and organizational decision-making, as well as to the field of entrepreneurship in general.

The Research Fellow would participate in the development of a rich collection of news content from a variety of industry publications. Throughout the Fall and Spring, he or she would be relied upon to thoroughly search through key articles for reports of competitive actions by young companies in technological industries, and then capture those actions according to a detailed coding plan. The work is especially quality-sensitive, as it will be used to test a set of hypotheses on legitimacy, reputation and rivelry. Therefore the Fellow must be particularly concerned with accuracy.

This research project may appeal to a student who would enjoy the challenge of uncovering competitive actions from within a cross-section of printed media. Along the way, he or she would gain valuable exposure to the manner of research in strategic management and entrepreneurship.

Jeff Kudisch, Joyce Russell, Paul Tesluk - Research on Executive Coaching and Leadership Development

There has been a surge of interest in recent years on the topic of executive coaching and its role in the development of managerial/executive talent. In fact, an increasing number of our EMBA recruits have been attracted to and ultimately joined the Smith program thanks to the success and branding efforts associated with our Leadership Development and Executive Coaching Program."

However, the amount and quality of the research on executive coaching and the leadership development process is highly deficient. In large part this is because of a failure to combine executive coaching programs and initiatives with high quality research. The objective of the proposed project is to leverage existing coaching programs and initiatives in which the members of our coaching team are engaged for research purposes. We should note that in addition to high quality research, one of the important goals of this effort is to incorporate future findings into improving the executive coaching and leadership development programs at Smith.

Our research team consists of three faculty (listed above) as well as three PhD students and a Associate Research Scholar in HCIT (post doc researcher). Together, we have formed a research team called the Executive Coaching Consortium. We are requesting three Smith Undergraduate Research Fellows to join this research team. Undergraduate Research Fellows will work closely with the faculty and PhD students are a variety of research related activities including: (1) conducting literature reviews and developing bibliographies and research summaries, (2) working with and organizing existing data collected in our existing executive coaching programs and initiatives for data analysis, (3) assisting in planning studies and the development of research designs, (4) assisting with the development of surveys and other measures, (5) assisting with data collection efforts, (6) assisting with data analyses, and (7) participating in writing manuscripts and research reports. The Fellows will build off of the work being done by the Smith Fellows participating in the executive coaching research consortium this year.

David L. Major and Ken G. Smith - Competitive Dynamics

Research Project: This research explores two sets of novel hypotheses in the study of dynamic competition. Competitive dynamics approaches competition as discrete moves and countermoves by firms vying for superior performance. It is most concerned with the fine measure of rival interaction and its resulting implications. Research findings in the field to date have shown that the host of actions taken by a firm has distinct implications for its performance and the performance of its rivals – leader dethronement, advantageous reaction speed, acceleration of rivalry, and others.

Our study, in two parts, explores the role of a firm’s resources on its choice of actions, and the lingering implications of past actions. First, we examine the existence of a reciprocating relationship between the competitive actions a firm takes and the bundle of resources that it controls. Over time, how might each contribute/hinder the other? And second, we test the longitudinal impact of earlier actions taken by a firm in the context of ongoing activity by rivals. What is the durability of prior competitive actions and how might the sequencing of those actions constrain/focus the firm’s search process? We expect that our findings may contribute to the bodies of work on firm resources and organizational learning as well as to the field of competitive dynamics.

Opportunity for an undergraduate student to actively participation in research: The Research Fellow would participate in the development of a rich collection of news content from a variety of industry publications. Throughout the Fall and Spring, he or she would be relied upon to thoroughly search through key articles for reports of competitive actions among rival companies, and then capture those actions according to a detailed coding plan. The work is especially quality-sensitive, as it will be used to test a set of hypotheses on competitive rivalry. Therefore the Fellow must be particularly concerned with accuracy.

Rhonda Reger & David Kirsch - Licensing of Intellectual Property

Rhonda Reger & David Kirsch - Venture Financing and Business Planning:

Entrepreneurial firms have become increasingly prominent in the economy. Many of the most exciting such firms are funded by high-stakes private equity. But how do venture capitalists and startups decide how to divide up control of a startup, when it is not even clear what the company will become? The research associate will help understand this by exploring a set of venture financing agreements, understand them, and then analyze them. This will contribute to our understanding of private equity. The Associate will also gain an understanding of the legal ins and outs of private equity financing and early stage deals.

Rhonda Reger - The Reputation Trap: Does Worrying About Looking Good Lead Managers to Make Bad Decisions?

Most prior research focuses on the positive aspects of organizational reputation. We are interested in studies that emphasize the dark side of reputation, which may influence firms’ innovation strategies in negative ways. Specifically, prior research and theory suggests that reputation may create a reputation trap in which high reputation firms are motivated to over-exploit their existing stock of innovations, and low-reputation firms are motivated to over-explore in pursuit of competency destroying innovations. Managers that fall into these traps will have lower “ambidexterity” and thus the performance of their firms will suffer. However, top managers may mitigate the dark side effect of reputation by altering the framing of innovation decision making and innovation actions. We intend to conduct an online scenario-based survey to better understand how reputation can influence managers’ decision making and innovation resource allocation actions. Working closely as part of research team that includes Scott Livengood, a senior strategy doctoral students, the Research Fellow would be involved with the design and administration of the survey, data capture and analysis of the data.

Debra Shapiro - From Guilty to Great: Are Today’s Higher-ranked Companies those with a Guiltier Past?

The highest-ranked companies today are often presumed to have been consistently great, an assumption guided in part by empirical analyses that are flawed with “halo effects” (cf. Rosenzweig, 2007). But might it be that the greatest companies today are those with guiltier pasts? We intend to conduct an historical analysis, using archival data-sources, to examine the path associated with the organizations’ rankings today. More specifically, our study aims to answer two questions: (1) Which path—one of consistent goodness or one from guilty-to-good—more commonly characterizes the companies rated as great today?; and (2) What strategies enable organizations to ascend to top-ranked positions following negative media exposure for bad practices? Answering these questions will be achieved via three studies. Study 1 will focus on companies such as Mattel, Hasbro, and RC2 Corp who are members of the toy manufacturing industry worldwide; our choice to focus initially only on the toy manufacturing industry is due to the fact that companies in this industry are currently facing negative media exposure for selling toys whose safety has been below industry standards. Study 2 will also use archival methods to answer the two questions motivating this project, and will examine organizations in multiple industries; its design will be guided, in part, by what we learn from the findings of Study 1. Study 3 will employ survey-based methods to assess managers’ perceptions and explanations associated with how their organizations have ascended to the rankings they have today; this study’s survey is meant to test inferences we draw (but cannot directly assess) from the dynamics suggested by our two previous studies’ archivally-based findings.

Since this project consists of three studies, and because much of Study 2’s data collection can occur simultaneously with data collected for Study 1 (since Study 2 will duplicate most of the archival operationalization of variables assessed in Study 1), there is need for TWO UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWS to assist with our project. Working closely as part of a research team that includes me, Professor Rhonda Reger, and a doctoral student, Anastasiya Zavyalova, who is an integral conceptual leader on this project, the two Undergraduate Research Fellows would be involved with reading archival data-sources and coding them guided by detailed Coding Instructions in ways that operationalize the variables whose interrelationships will be examined in our studies. For example, to assess whether an organization had a “guilty” past, the Research Fellows would code “1” (yes) versus “0” (no) if a news article they read about the organization refers/does not refer to a charge levied against the organization by another party. As another example, to assess whether an organization has engaged in “good practices,” the Research Fellows would code “1” (yes) versus “0” (no) if a news article they read about the organization refers/does not refer to actions by the organization that relate to “corporate social responsibility (CSR)”—defined in one of five possible ways, including the organization’s engagement in community-oriented action, charitable activities, environmentally-friendly (or sustainability) activities, diversity-supportive activities, and/or employee wellbeing-related activities. The latter types of CSR result from conversations we have had with Chief Ethics and Compliance Officers (CECOs) at various Fortune 500 companies who describe the latter actions as part of their own organizations’ measure of CSR.

Depending on the speed with which Study 1 and Study 2 are completed, the two Undergraduate Research Fellows may also be involved in learning how to design and administer a survey whose content will use quantitative (scale-based) ways to assess the variables of interest to us in this project. Because all codes entered by the Undergraduate Research Fellows will be in a raw SPSS data file, the Research Fellows will also enjoy the opportunity to learn how to conduct SPSS (statistical) analyses on the data they will have helped assemble. For this reason, this project offers a fantastic opportunity to undergraduates interested in learning multiple research skills. Moreover, the importance of this topic for managers in all fields (since all managers probably wish to learn how to move their organizations toward greatness, especially after experiencing obstacles) promises to make this project’s insights very gratifying to all participants.

Henry P Sims, Jr. & Matthew Pearsall - The Interactive Effect of Leadership and Virtuality on Team Performance

In today’s global world, many organizations have implemented interdisciplinary teams to cope with the complexity of the dynamic business environment. Moreover, while a team might have a common goal, it is not uncommon to find teams where the members are geographically and/or organizationally dispersed. This phenomenon is known as a “Virtual Team”.

Virtual teams pose an interesting challenge to the leaders of the teams. The demeanor and non-verbal behavior of face to face interaction is not available to the leader. Precisely how should a leader lead under virtual circumstances? What will be the best leadership style to influence team members and the team as a whole under conditions of geographical dispersion?

This research project will use laboratory experimental methodology to investigate the interaction of various types of leadership with the virtuality of the team. More specifically, does one type of leadership work best in a face-to-face situation, but, is a different type of leadership more effective in a virtual team situation?

The experimental protocol will use a previously tested military strategy simulation game to investigate this question. A series of teams will be exposed to different configurations of leadership type and virtuality (face-to-face vs. virtual). The main dependent variable will be the performance of the team on the military strategy simulation.

The military strategy simulation is similar to many contemporary popular computer games. Our research team hopes to attract two undergraduate research fellows who will be assigned the task of setting up the computer configuration of the experimental protocol, and also running experimental participants through the various simulation protocols.

Ken G. Smith & R. Scott Livengood - Entrepreneurial Actions and the Market Process

Entrepreneurial actions, such as new product introductions, new market entry, etc., infuse new information and drive the market process by moving the market either toward or away from existing institutional conditions. Actions that disrupt institutions cause socio-cognitive conflict for market participants, who engage in discourse as expressions of opinion and sensemaking activities to reduce this conflict and eventually either accept or reject the new action, which is essentially the market process. However, little is known regarding the impact of entrepreneurial actions and the process of how market discourse moves the market.

I intend to research this market process by starting with new actions by firms and then tracing them on Factiva or Lexis Nexis to gauge and analyze market discourse. The Research Fellow would be instrumental in identifying actions and compiling a database of the discourse that follows those actions. An opportunity to create a proprietary software program to aid in the text analysis is also available. Following the archival study, I plan on exploring this phenomenon in a lab setting and also by means of a game simulation. The Research Fellow would be able to assist in the design and implementation of the studies, as well as the data collection and analysis.

http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu – info@rhsmith.umd.edu