For someone applying to PhD programs or just starting out, what should they keep in mind if their aim is to get a job in a business school?
For example, when business schools hire sociologists, are they fairly open to any sociological research that is oriented towards business and industry?
Are certain sociology PhD programs better at preparing students for business school jobs?
Presumably publishing in business journals (e.g., marketing, management) is important?
Program wise, your best bet is programs that have had B-school placements in the past (Chicago, Stanford, etc).
Topic wise, your best bet is either OMT (Org and Mgmt Theory), or Entrepreneurship.
Publication wise, if you get any publication out from any of these: SMJ, AMJ, ASQ, JBV, ET&P, JMS, that would be really helpful.
There’s a big difference between Stanford GSB/MIT Sloan and anywhere else. At Sloan and GSB, they’ll hire pure sociology candidates, as long as there’s some relevance to networks/orgs/labor. Everywhere else, you want some management pubs and strong signaling that you care about management topics.
Agree with 9a8c. Definitely add Yale and Kellogg (in addition to Stanford GSB and MIT Sloan) to the list of b-schools hiring people with disciplinary interest/publications. Maybe also Columbia GSB and UC Berkeley. Also, outside the US, Toronto (Rotman) has hired people who have "purer" sociology interests, as long as there's relevance to labor, networks, or inequality in organizations and the workplace.
B school prof here. If you are currently applying to grad school just stop applying to soc PhD and only apply to in-school PhDs. The reason is that a B-school PhD should have AACSB accreditation. This is very important. If you are currently in grad school for soc, then all conferences and pubs should be in a business discipline. Entrepreneurship is really hot right now.
B school prof here. If you are currently applying to grad school just stop applying to soc PhD and only apply to in-school PhDs. The reason is that a B-school PhD should have AACSB accreditation. This is very important. If you are currently in grad school for soc, then all conferences and pubs should be in a business discipline. Entrepreneurship is really hot right now.
I guess it depends on what sort of school you are targeting. I don't think Booth or HBS care all that much about whether your bring in AACSB-recognized pubs, because they don't exactly struggle to maintain their accreditation.
As other have noted, the same strategy could help you at some schools and hurt you at others.
If you can get into a VHRM program and publish in top tier journals (AJS, ASR, ASQ), being in a soc dept with the right advisor is not that much of an issue (look at AP's profiles at nearly all top 10 US b-schools, or at LBS/Insead/etc - many have that exact profile), in which case you shouldn't care too much about whether you are doing OMT, management, strategy or org behavior. Those label don't mean much from a VHRM research standpoint.
If you can't, go to a b-school. On the other hand, less prestigious soc pubs will be not be enough for top b-schools and will be ignored by MRM or LRM ones.
Caveat: b-school PhD programs are great (you'll benefit from more faculty support, more resources, better stipends, a more manageable teaching load, shorter time to dissertation, etc) but also more competitive. Each school will typically admit 1-2 student with a sociological background, because a 20 or 30-strong PhD cohort will have every sub-discipline represented, from accounting to consumer behavior.
There�s a big difference between Stanford GSB/MIT Sloan and anywhere else. At Sloan and GSB, they�ll hire pure sociology candidates, as long as there�s some relevance to networks/orgs/labor. Everywhere else, you want some management pubs and strong signaling that you care about management topics.
I don't know what counts as a pure soc candidate in your mind, but hiring people with a soc PhD and pubs in journals with a strong sociological bent (eg Organization Science) is the norm rather than the exception at top-10 b-schools (and comparable foreign ones).
A majority of those schools would hire someone with a soc PhD, an AJS and an interest in markets, orgs, the business world at large or networks (I can think of such example at all top10 schools but Wharton, Stern and Tuck).