PhD Program Overview

The Kellogg School's Marketing Department, renowned for its contributions to the field of marketing both with its groundbreaking research and doctoral student training, is regarded as one of the finest marketing programs in the world. Doctoral students are expected to continue this tradition of scholarship as future faculty members at leading universities.

The Marketing PhD program centers on research, with emphasis on the interplay between theory development and empirical analysis. The program is designed to develop the theoretical knowledge and methodological skills necessary for students to become successful, productive researchers. Students are expected to engage actively in research projects throughout their entire graduate program.

The Kellogg School's Marketing PhD program is structured to develop scholars who will contribute knowledge to the field of marketing. Through the course of the program, students have the opportunity to explore various aspects of marketing scholarship through course work as well as formal mentoring processes. The goal of our doctoral program is to develop curious scholars who will be enthusiastic in the pursuit and dissemination of new knowledge. The creation of scientific knowledge is enabled by training and practice with rigorous and diverse research methodologies.

A critical component of belonging to academia is the dissemination of knowledge through peer-reviewed scholarly journals (e.g., Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Management Science, Marketing Science, Quantitative Marketing and Economics, etc.). Faculty and students work closely together from the first year of the program to develop the skills necessary for scholarly success—defining solid research questions, developing a plan of study for the questions, and identifying scholarly outlets for the findings.

The hallmark of our Marketing PhD program is that students acquire both a broad background across a variety of underlying disciplines and a commitment to a specific research specialty. To achieve this goal, the program is developed consistent with, and tailored to, each student's background and goals. In general, most students focus in one of two areas: consumer behavior or quantitative modeling. The training our students receive in consumer behavior is anchored in social psychology and decision making, while our quantitative modeling students focus on empirical and analytical modeling.

The course of study involves core marketing doctoral seminars as well as electives in psychology, sociology, decision sciences, organizational behavior, statistics, operations research and economics. In addition to these substantive courses, there are methodological courses in statistics and experimental design, which vary given the student's focus on quantitative modeling or consumer behavior. This course of study provides the foundation of methodological and substantive skills for students' to begin building their research streams.