When you consider a doctorate alongside a senior role, one question matters more than any brochure: what does the research actually produce? The EIM Research Institute has answered it with evidence. It analysed the current 19-dissertation portfolio from the 2025–2026 corpus and mapped what each study contributes to theory and to professional practice.
The result is a clear research profile. EIM doctoral research does not chase detached grand theory. It takes established theories into professional settings where they have rarely been tested, builds integrative models, tests relationships that matter, and turns the evidence into tools that organisations can use.
The portfolio at a glance
- 19 dissertations analysed
- 5 research pillars
- 3 research methods: 14 qualitative, 4 quantitative, 1 mixed methods
- 3 doctoral degrees represented: 17 PhD in Management, 1 DBA, 1 PhD in Healthcare Studies
Five pillars that connect theory with professional application
01 Digital Transformation & AI (6 studies)
The largest pillar examines how organisations actually adopt AI and digital technology. The studies extend technology-adoption, AI-readiness and human–AI interaction models into sector-specific settings: tax accounting, private equity, construction and municipal administration.
- Christian Frank Dobner adds original qualitative evidence to UTAUT2, TAM2 and AI-readiness models in medium-sized German tax-accounting firms, and shows owners how to overcome financial and technological barriers to adoption.
- Fabian Rüdiger Wahler develops a five-field human–AI integration process that links technical, human, organisational, ethical and acceptance factors, with a clear recommendation: integrate gradually and preserve human judgment.
- Maximilian Liepert conceptualises IT-enabled value creation in private equity as an operating architecture, translated into a five-part playbook from Day 1–100 integration to KPI-based capital allocation.
- Dennis Vogeler proposes a preliminary Municipal Management Maturity Model that adds the managerial perspective to public-sector digital maturity.
- Salvatore Scuderi extends UTAUT2 with decision-making and perception variables for strategic hybrid-intelligence adoption.
- Dejan Cargnelutti applies Construction 4.0, BIM and building lifecycle management to sustainable refurbishment, where productivity, fire safety and climate targets collide.
What practitioners take away: AI succeeds where readiness, trust, ethical governance, data foundations and managerial competence are built deliberately rather than assumed.
02 Future of Work & Human-Centred Organisations (6 studies)
Hybrid and decentralised work is the second major theme. The studies combine social capital, social exchange, socialisation and leadership theories to explain how people collaborate when they are no longer in one room.
- Sebastian Robert Schäfer introduces the Hybrid Knowledge Sharing Puzzle, a framework of four interdependent dimensions of knowledge sharing in hybrid organisations.
- Massimiliano Meneguz derives design principles for remote onboarding in global virtual teams.
- Marcello Camerin links digital socialisation to adaptive cultural structuring in hybrid-work culture.
- Selina Schober connects leadership practices with well-being and job performance in hybrid work.
- Simon Winterberg identifies power as a mediating mechanism in self-managed teams in an empirically tested mediation model.
- Carl Dolling uses large-sample semantic analysis to challenge the assumption that one leadership style consistently drives superior financial performance in listed companies.
What practitioners take away: trust, autonomy, structured onboarding, boundary management and adaptive leadership are design decisions, not by-products. And there is no universal "best" leadership style.
03 Learning & Education Innovation (3 studies)
- David Morris Ezra integrates Kirkpatrick, Kolb and andragogy into a stakeholder-informed explanation of what makes executive education effective.
- Ulf Rüdiger Brackmann develops a validated course-design questionnaire linking experiential learning features with perceived retention impact.
- Kerstin Knees shows how workforce, funding, curriculum, parental and policy conditions interact to shape school readiness in early-childhood education.
04 Responsible Performance & Sustainable Transition (3 studies)
- Burkard Schemmel provides empirical support for stakeholder theory, links broader stakeholder orientation with financial performance, and offers a self-developed business-ethics questionnaire for European firms.
- Lukas Fischer introduces innovation through tradition as the mechanism connecting knowledge management and performance in family SMEs.
- Rongrong Huo develops a comparative UK–China perspective on transition finance for net-zero decarbonisation.
05 Health, Well-Being & Rehabilitation (1 study)
- Sascha Boleslawsky builds a tentative qualitative model of perceived well-being and satisfaction during whole-body EMS training and sets out a research agenda for clinical and quantitative validation.
From theory to practice: what the research produces
Across all five pillars, the dissertations deliver four kinds of output that organisations can use directly:
- Models and frameworks: the Hybrid Knowledge Sharing Puzzle, the Municipal Management Maturity Model, an extended strategic AI-adoption model, a human–AI integration process.
- Instruments and diagnostics: a business-ethics questionnaire, a validated course-design instrument, digital-maturity diagnostics.
- Implementation guidance: IT value creation, AI governance, remote onboarding, hybrid culture, self-managed teams, knowledge management.
- Policy recommendations: early-childhood education, remote-work policy, transition finance, construction and climate targets, public-sector digitalisation.
The portfolio also includes a theory-challenging null finding on leadership style and performance. Testing assumptions, and reporting when they do not hold, is part of rigorous research.
Why this matters if you are considering a doctorate
Every one of these studies started from a problem the researcher knew from professional practice. That is the model EIM is built on: your professional context is not a distraction from your doctorate, it is your research field. With Oxbridge-style supervision, 100% online delivery and MFHEA accreditation at EQF Level 8, EIM doctoral candidates turn that context into an original contribution.
The methodological profile is equally relevant. Qualitative case-study research is the established core, and quantitative and mixed-methods studies are growing. Whichever design suits your question, there is supervision experience behind it.
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About this analysis: This portfolio analysis is an original research output of the EIM Research Institute. It synthesises 19 doctoral dissertations from the 2025–2026 corpus, based on 18 abstracts and, for one study, the Chapter 1 significance statements. Individual findings remain attributable to their authors.