Besides a more in-depth knowledge in epistemology doctoral students in entrepreneurship and management research require an applicable base of research methods and tools.

The course will cover the following topics:
Epistemology in entrepreneurship and management research
Research design and the use of theoryResearch questions and hypotheses
Quantitative methods
Qualitative methods
Mixed method procedures
Transdisciplinary research

Participant centered learning approach consisting of individual paper development workshops

• The students will be able to clearly understand and communicate the epistemological underpinning of their research work, differentiate between different schools of thought, design research, processes corresponding to their research questions, select suitable qualitative and quantitative research methods, evaluate their own research with respect to validity, reliability and generalisability

• The students will be assessed in this module through:Paper; ready to be submitted to a scientific conference (e.g. AOM) or journal.

For all organizational details please get in touch with Prof. Dr. Marco Furtner (marco.furtner@uni.li).

In Project Seminar, students analyse a real-world case from a specific industry. Students divide into groups according to their preferences and work on one of four cases through the lens of process management, data and application security, data science, or digital innovation. The course topics change from semester to semester.

• The course involves interactive seminars with workshops and regular presentations.
• The faculty and a jury of representatives from regional companies evaluate the students' solutions in terms of innovativeness and usefulness and provide them with feedback and advice.
• The e-learning platform Moodle is used throughout the course to disseminate course material and for information and discussion.

After successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

• analyse real-world cases
• collect and prepare data for analysis
• build and evaluate statistical models
• integrate areas of knowledge to identify areas of improvement or innovation
• use appropriate methods to develop recommendations for a case company

Seminar paper, presentations, project results; attendance is mandatory (80%)

The research proposal must include a description of the dissertation as a research agenda and of the methodical approach. In the colloquium on the research proposal, doctoral students shall present their dissertation project and provide reasons for their chosen approach.

Details are listed in the Implementing Provisions concerning the Doctorate Regulations

The supervisor and the co-supervisor decide on the acceptance of the research proposal and recommend a grade.

• This module aims at fostering professional competences. In particular, an overview on theories of the firm is given in order to provide students with a profound background for better understanding the various current topics of their discipline. The set of theories dealt with in the course will continuously be reviewed and adapted.

Lecture; self-study; presentation and paper by students

• Basic understanding of the fundamental research questions connecting to the existence and boundaries of organizationsBasic understanding of the different approaches which try to explain the existence and boundaries of organizations from various perspectives. Basic understanding of the underlying assumptions of these approaches.

• Students will be able to:gain an overview about various theories of the firm and their historycritically review and discuss different theories of the firmapply theories of the firm as guiding theoretical framework to own thesis topic and research questions

The students will be assessed in this module through:

• Paper (5000 - 7000 words)
• Presentation of paper

Im WS 2021/22 wird das Spannungsfeld zwischen Nachhaltigkeit und Nachhaltiger Nicht-Nachhaltigkeit im Mittelpunkt des Moduls stehen. In einer ersten Arbeitsphase werden wir Schlüsseltexte, die vor allem der Frage nachgehen, warum die "Grosse Transformation" der Gesellschaft nicht gelingt, gemeinsam lesen und diskutieren. In der zweiten Arbeitsphase soll eine Veranstaltungsreihe ausgearbeitet werden, welche das Spannungsfeld zwischen Nachhaltigkeit und Nachhaltiger Nicht-Nachhaltigkeit, mögliche Referent*innen und innovative Veranstaltungsformate auslotet.

Teilnahme an den Veranstaltungen des Moduls
Selbststudium zum Themenfeld Nachhaltigkeit
mündliche und schriftliche Präsentation der eigenen Position zum Thema

Die Studierenden erhalten einen Überblick über die aktuelle Diskussion in Wissenschaft, Planung und Politik zum Thema Nachhaltigkeit. Die Studierenden sind fähig, die verschiedenen Positionen kritisch zu reflektieren und zu ihrer eigenen Forschung in Beziehung zu setzen. Die Studierenden können eine eigene theoretische Position zum Thema formulieren.

Teilnahme an der Kick-Off Veranstaltung und der Endpräsentation, sowie weiteren Zwischenbesprechungen in Absprache mit der Dozierenden.
Verfassen eines Aufsatzes, in dem das Thema Nachhaltigkeit reflektiert und eine eigene Position gefunden wird und/oder Konzeption einer Veranstaltungsreihe.

selbständige Lektüre und Reflexion der im Rahmen der Lehrveranstaltung bearbeiteten Literatur

aktive Teilnahme an den Diskussionen

kohärenter, nach Standards des wissenschaftlichen Schreibens verfasster Aufsatz zum Thema Nachhaltigkeit gemäss Aufgabenstellung

fundiertes Veranstaltungskonzept mit nachvollziehbarer Begründung für mögliche Referent*innen und Veranstaltungsformate

• This course is designed to give first year PhD Students an aid for their academic endeavour. Just like in Research Design, the focus lies on methodological competences. At the same time, however, this course also aims at techniques rather than design strategies. The objective is to provide core compentences on how to craft a scientific text properly. Due to the concept of peer-monitoring applied in this course also social competencies will be trained. During the first year students will be working on their academic writing style, they will be made familiar with normative writing styles and ways to publish tackling various kinds of genres, and they will help and learn from each other through peer-monitoring activities. As a base sample texts will be used and the texts students will be producing will be worked on. The course is built on three pillars:Knowledge Management:
  Working with databases, literature management softwares, etc.Publishing:
  How to write and publish various genres: abstracts, research papers, articles, data commentaries, reviews, project proposals, formatting, etc.Peer-Mentoring:
  Giving and receiving feed-back, presenting and reviewing, considering peer-feedback, joint writing activities, etc.

Workshops, one-on-one and think-pair-share sessions, individual and guided e-learning.

Students will be acquainted with principles of academic writing, normative writing, publishing, and peer-mentoring.

By the end of the course students will be able to make use of academic vocabulary, they will be able to discuss texts, tables, charts, and figures, and they will be sensitised about their personal and academic command of the English language.

They will be familiar with reference management systems, working with databases, formatting written texts, and academic values.

They will know principles of certain academic genres, like abstracts, research papers, articles, data commentaries, reviews, project proposals, etc.

They will be able to give and consider peer-feed-back, present and review, and they will be able to carry out joint writing activities, etc.

• submit a brief manuscript for review
• review a manuscript and present the reviewer report during the session
• review a reviewer report (i.e., conduct a meta-review)
• active participation in discussion
• prepare and present a brief summary of specific writing strategies

This module helps the student to further broaden and intensify his knowledge and methodological skills needed for his dissertation.
This module could focus on Banking, Finance or Taxation.

Lecture or seminar or self-study, possibly combined with preparation and presentation of a paper.

Based on lectures offered on the master's level, this module helps to enable the student

• to further intensify the existing knowledge and methodology needed for the dissertation project;
• to independently develop a research concept for specific research questions;
• to develop, analyze and synthesize new complex ideas;
• to develop the scientific and/or cultural progress for an academic or non-academic environment.

Students will be able to:

• Have an advanced and intensified overview on specific topics needed for the dissertation project;
• Develop their own research project;
• Apply the methodological structures of these specific topics for their dissertation project.

The students will be assessed in this module through:

• competitive selection process of the research seminar
• specific mechanisms of the research seminar

Module availability:
On application at an internationally renown PhD program, such as organised e. g. by London School of Economics, University of Constance, Zürich, St. Gallen, Innsbruck.

This module is a requisite cross-faculty course in the preparation phase of the doctoral programs in Architecture and Planning as well as Business Economics. It addresses fundamental aspects of research design and management with a focus on the specific disciplines, styles of inquiry, and learning cultures at the University of Liechtenstein.

Research design can be broadly conceived of as the high-level plan to conducting research projects in the service of answering research questions. A research design links the key parts of a research endeavour to form a coherent scheme, under consideration of ontological, epistemological, and methodological choices. Key elements include the problematization, research question, relevant theoretical lenses and conceptual frameworks, specific strategies of inquiry, and measures to ensure key criteria including validity and reliability.

Research management skills address the researcher's ability to manage projects, work autonomously, build an international research network, think analytically, and be creative, inquisitive, and original. Combining research design and management skills across two doctoral programs helps us bring together diverse cohorts and integrate scientifically rigorous training with elements of professional development training. Through our approach towards innovative doctoral education, we contribute to embracing some key aspirations of the League of Eu-ropean Research Universities (LERU).

• Details with Schedule

Interactive, seminar style presentations and discussions

After completing the module, students will be able to

• assess the nature and quality of a research design;
• develop research designs, including problematization, research questions, philosophical assumptions, general strategies of inquiry, and specific methods for collecting and analyzing data;
• manage research projects under consideration of time, resources, and quality management;
• converse reflectively with the academic research community of their respective fields;
• position their work in the context of their research community as well as with regards to specific discourses in that community;
• apply for research funding; and
• appreciate the range of research styles and cultures across the University of Liechtenstein and beyond.

The course aims to develop key skills required for conducting scientific research in Architecture and Planning as well as Business Economics. At this, we explicitly aim to expose PhD students to a broad range of methodological and theoretical approaches, always under consideration of the respective implications for research design. Grounded in the understanding that research designs should be in response to relevant research questions, we aim to equip our students with the skills that qualify them as competent researchers beyond the design and execution of their particular dissertations.

By developing skills in research design and research management, as well as by promoting an awareness of the variety of epistemological and methodological approaches, this module provides an understanding of the multiple logics and procedures involved in the discovery and formation of knowledge. Participants will learn to appreciate the structure and performance of successful research endeavours and will acquire conceptual and technical skills needed for designing their own research approaches in light of the particular styles and research cultures of their respective scientific communities and discourses.

The students will be assessed in this module through

• a seminar paper,
• the presentation and defence of the seminar paper,
• and their participation in class.

In the seminar paper the students will be asked to outline and discuss a potential research design for their dissertation. That way, the seminar paper builds on knowledge acquired in the course, and it serves to transfer this knowledge to the students’ individual PhD project. Attendance of all mandatory and selected classes as well as the presentations is expected; 80% attendance is required for a positive grade.

The research proposal must include a description of the dissertation as a research agenda and of the methodical approach. In the colloquium on the research proposal, doctoral students shall present their dissertation project and provide reasons for their chosen approach.

Details are listed in the Implementing Provisions concerning the Doctorate Regulations

The supervisor and the co-supervisor decide on the acceptance of the research proposal and recommend a grade.

This module serves manifold competences: As a doctoral consortium it aims at deepening both, methodological and professional research skills of the students. In addition, it is designed to foster the international profile of their work.

By means of submitting their work to an internationally reknown doctoral consortium the students learn how to position themselves in a highly competitive environment.

Since successful applications are invited to be discussed by a selective academic committee the doctoral consortium also serves to further develop the communicative and social competences of the students.

Students' participating in a doctoral consortium arranged in the context of an internationally well-regarded information systems conference, therein share both the main contents of and progress in their own researches. Moreover, they benefit from listening to the other students' experiences and results and receive valuable feedback of the consortium chairs and student participants.

Students will be assisted by lecturers of the Institute of Information Systems at the University of Liechtenstein in preparing their proposal and application for the doctoral consortium. Accepted students will take part in the consortium. Also a reflection of the lessons learned at the consortium together with the lecturers at Liechtensetin is part of the module.

The primary objective of the doctoral consortium is to present and defend the PhD students' research in a competitive and international scientific environment.

The students will be assessed in this module through:

• Competitive Selection Process of the docotral consortium
• Research paper submitted to the doctoral consortium
• Assessment by the Professors discussing the proposal at the doctoral consortium

Module availability:
On application at an internationally renown doctoral consortium, e.g. at ICIS, International Conference on Information Systems; ECIS, European Conference on Information Systems; AMCIS, American Conference on Information Systems or ACIS, Australasian Conference on Information Systems.