Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) Degree

The Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program at Lincoln University is an advanced academic degree program preparing students for teaching and research positions within universities and/or the pursuit of careers in management or consulting at senior levels. The purpose of the program is to educate students in the concepts and techniques needed to understand a range of business disciplines and to conduct research on issues arising in professional business practice.

The program objectives are:

1. Provide students with the opportunity to learn the latest academic theories, concepts, techniques and applications with emphasis on teaching, research, practice in the field of concentration, and consulting;

2. Extend the knowledge, expertise and skill of students through the application of research to business problems and issues by including internships, teaching experiences, and special study projects as a part of the curriculum;

3. Develop the student’s ability to carry out independent research at an advanced level, and enhance their ability to deliver their ideas, research methodology and findings by means of formal presentations with critiques of their analytical, written, oral and media presentation skills in business, professional, and educational environments;

4. Create opportunities for Lincoln University’s bachelor’s and master’s degree students to continue their business education by undertaking the doctoral degree course of study.

Lincoln University seeks applications from students with undergraduate or master’s degrees in business or research-based fields such as: mathematics, engineering, statistics, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, sociology, economics, and computer, health, and social sciences. Students with prior research experience are particularly well suited to pursue a doctoral degree. Students who have an established record of business or professional work experience will also find this DBA program to be of significant value in preparing for academic careers or career advancement in the business sector. Additionally, students currently working or seeking positions in the government sector will find the doctoral curriculum both relevant and supportive of their career objectives.

Students applying to the DBA program will find that the admission criteria require demonstrated knowledge, skills and experience enough to give an expectation of successful completion of this advanced academic degree program. The intent of the high admission standards and careful applicant screening is to ensure a doctoral student population that is well qualified and motivated to achieve a successful outcome in the program. Those admitted are highly likely to complete the DBA program in a manner that provides great pride in their accomplishment for the student and for Lincoln University.

In general, the Lincoln University DBA program is delivered by Lincoln University professors using a face-to-face instructional mode on a semester basis. Some academic coursework including internship, special projects, and dissertations’ supervision may be provided in a special studies format, when the student’s research or study assignment requires them to be away from campus. Selected required core or elective concentration courses may also be offered online or in a special studies format during periods when students are not normally expected to be on campus (e.g. summer or winter breaks) or environmental and health concerns restrict the scheduling of on-campus classes.

Most students accepted into the DBA program are expected to be in full-time attendance and available to take classes as scheduled during the University’s normal operating hours. Students are also expected to be continuously enrolled in DBA program courses throughout their entire program of study unless specific individual exceptions are granted.

Students admitted to the DBA program on a part-time basis should arrange their work schedule so that they could take courses and make progress toward earning the doctoral degree in a timely manner.

The Lincoln University DBA is a structured degree program requiring of a minimum of 93 graduate units of academic credit for graduation, including 54 units of core courses, 20 concentration courses units, 4 internship units, a comprehensive examination, and 15 research seminars and dissertation units.

Students admitted to the DBA program with undergraduate degrees are expected to complete MBA and/or MS degrees while pursuing their doctorate.

DBA concentration and research project (dissertation) courses will be developed and offered on a time-phased basis. The scheduling of these courses will be based on expected student readiness to take them, as evidenced by the completion of most of the core courses.

The matriculation time frame that will apply to DBA students is as follows:

1. Courses for the first two years (3-4 courses per fall and spring semester)* will be sequenced to enable the student’s completion of the program’s block of core and concentration courses equivalent to an MBA degree completion.

2. Courses for the third year will be scheduled for the completion of core courses, and preparation for the comprehensive qualifying exam.

3. Qualifying exams will be administered upon completion of all required core and at least 20 credit units of the concentration coursework. If the exam is successfully passed, it is followed by a committee-approved dissertation topic, and the title of a Doctoral Candidate.

4. Courses for the fourth year consist special dissertation preparation research seminars and the internship report.

5. Courses in the fifth year will be sequenced as follows: completion of all required coursework and internship, research seminars, and exams; the written report and successful oral defense of the dissertation, resulting in the award of the DBA degree.

*Some additional foundation courses may be required for students whose previous education was not in the fields of business. See the MBA program description for the details.

The required DBA Core courses (300 M1 and M2 levels, 3 units each) consist of 54 credit hours: 51 credits courses and a 3 credits seminar devoted to Higher Education, which will require students’ preparation of individual oral presentation as teaching practice.

DBA Concentration courses (400 M2R level, 4 units each) consist of 24 credit hours of lecture and a faculty-supervised practicum components. The lecture component consists of 45 hours of a lecture contact and is classroom-based. The practicum component is based on an instructor-approved independent study project that should be research-based and consists of 45 hours of out-of-classroom work (in some cases the courses can be offered as 30 lecture and 90 research hours’ format). Student study projects must be submitted to and approved by the course instructor at the beginning of the course, and, under normal circumstances, be completed by the end of the current semester. Supervision of the study project by the instructor will include continuous monitoring of the student’s progress in terms of their study project’s stated objectives, evaluation of the student’s final written project report, and its oral presentation. This will give students consulting experience. Graduate Internship and Report (BA 491, 492 and BA 494) courses are focused on a student internship (3 units equal at least 135 hours of work) in the field of study and a written analytical report covering the student’s internship experience (1 unit), with total supervised work of at least 180 hours. The course is finalized by an oral presentation in front of a DBA committee member and the faculty advisor.

Doctoral Research seminars (BA 501, BA 502, or BA 504, DA level, 3 units each) are designed to build student scholarly research skills in the concentration fields. Course lectures include the identification of productive areas for research and discussions of the research process. Class activities are focused on providing students with the knowledge and skills they need to pursue assigned individual projects. Students are required to make a formal presentation to the class covering their research methodology, data gathering process, research results and conclusions. The presentations will be discussed and critiqued by fellow students and the instructor in order to improve research skills and ability to support and defend their conclusions based on the information developed through their research.

DBA Dissertation courses I, II, III (BA 597, BA 598, and BA 599, upper 500 DA level, 4 units each) require a total of at least 12 credit hours and include student meetings with faculty dissertation advisors as well as the time students invest in the selection of their research topic, data gathering, data analysis and interpretation, dissertation preparation and defense. These are 4 credit hours courses, which correspond to at least 180 hours of research work for each course.

Some required units might be satisfied through transfer of graduate course credits or working experience. The granting of transfer credits toward the degree will be based on a review of the student’s transcripts and resume then detailed comparison of completed courses and/or experience to the content of each applicable DBA course. Students may need to support their transfer credit request with course syllabi from the institution awarding credit. A maximum of 30 master level (300 and 400 courses) units from a different educational institution with a grade of “B” or better may be accepted as transfer for the DBA degree. The transferred credits cannot be earned more than 10 years before the transfer.

The estimated time for the degree completion (ETDC) is influenced by the transferred credit units and is determined by the formula: ETDC (in semesters) = 11 – (the number of transferred credits)/9. Transferred credit units also influence SAP by redefining the required minimum credits earned (course completion percentage) at each point of evaluation and should be added to that column numbers in the chart

It is suggested that a student discusses his/her schedule with the Provost before attending classes.

General Provisions

The dissertation candidate must demonstrate critical judgment, intellectual synthesis, creativity and skills in written and oral communications. It is expected that research at the doctoral level will make a material contribution to knowledge in the student’s discipline and that it will demonstrate the student’s ability to develop and carry out independent research. The doctoral committee administers the dissertation preparation and defense. The committee is arranged by the Dean and approved by the Provost or President. It consists of at least five members including the Chairman, commonly the Dean or appointed by the Dean for areas different from own expertise, at least two LU senior faculty members, and one member from another academic institution. By a request of the dissertation candidate, the committee can be extended by an additional member of his/her choice in the field of the research and/or related to the content field. At least 80% quorum is required for any committee vote.

Dissertation Proposal

A dissertation proposal must be submitted to the doctoral committee, which will ascertain that the subject of the dissertation is business related, of doctoral quality, and that completion of the dissertation is feasible. The dissertation proposal must be presented in the form of a written document and provided to the members of the committee at least 30 days before its oral presentation. If the doctoral committee approves the proposal, the student can move to the second stage of the main dissertation preparation and writing.

Dissertation Preparation

A good DBA dissertation should contain the following elements:

• • A title that is appealing and meaningful, reflecting the contents of the dissertation.

• • An abstract that summarizes the whole dissertation in an accurate manner. The abstract plays the cardinal role of creating first impressions of a candidate’s work. It should therefore be well organized around the problem statement this dissertation addresses, the research approach deployed, the main findings and their theoretical and practical implications. It should not exceed 300 words. Below the abstract, about five key words need to be given that guide the reader towards the main issues of interest in the thesis.

• • A DBA dissertation should contain at least five chapters, namely (i) Introduction; (ii) Literature review; (iii) Research methodology; (iv) Findings, and (v) Discussion and Conclusions. Every chapter should end with a brief summary that captures the main points that have been discussed.

• • The introduction chapter should provide an adequate overview of the theoretical gap in the literature and/or the empirical gap in practice, indicating the significance of the study. The problem statement should be accurately defined, and the research objectives and research questions should be well formulated. There should be consistency in the problem statement, research questions and research objectives. A brief description of the research approach should also be included in this chapter. The introduction chapter should end with a clear outline of the structure of the document.

• • The second chapter, the literature review, should show mastery of the literature on the topic of interest in this dissertation. Literature used should be relevant to the problem statement and research questions. It should be up-to-date and from credited sources. Literature should be well reviewed (e.g., discussion of core concepts, their dimensions and relationships between concepts). The review should not merely summarize the literature reviewed, but should contrast, compare and combine the literature to make one’s argument. At the end of the review, the reader should be able to see the point of departure/gap in managerial/theoretical thinking and how the current study proposes to close the gap. This visualizes the proposed relationships between the variables of interest and guides the formulation of the hypotheses in case of explanatory (always quantitative) research or initial propositions in case of explorative (often qualitative) research.

• • The methodology chapter (chapter 3) should consist of an elaboration of the research strategy, and where applicable, the study of population sampling method, measurements of key variables, data collection methods, data processing and data analysis, and the techniques that will be used to ensure validity and reliability of the results. Methodological choices are motivated and justified. In case the research setting text is quite elaborate (e.g., description of company or industry under study), this setting could also be presented in a separate chapter after the methods chapter.

• • The study findings (chapter 4) should be presented in a transparent manner. Accurate conclusions should be drawn from the data analysis used. Figures and tables are recommended to be used to present the research findings. The data analysis presentation should be separated from the interpretation of results of the analysis, which occurs in the next chapter.

• • In conclusion chapter 5, a brief summary of the main research findings should be given, followed by a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of these findings. The issues covered are: how do these findings contribute to the existing body of knowledge; are they contrasting/confirming/extending what was expected; how do they alter managers’ view of the business world, decision-making process, organizational strategies. In other words, how do the findings contribute to current professional practice. There should be a reflection on outcomes of the study. In the limitations section of this chapter, the weaknesses of their study need to be reviewed, providing input for the formulation of recommendations for further research.

• • The dissertation should have a sound structure and a clear writing style. All expressions and grammar should be used in the correct way. It should use APA style references, APA style in-text citation, and the reference list should be complete. The candidate should use information ethically; all ideas, text, graphics, tables and media should be credited to the source.

Five hard copies and a soft copy (for the plagiarism check) must be submitted to proposed committee members at least 30 days before the defense. The candidate should verify, by contacting each member of the doctoral committee, that the dissertation is acceptable otherwise respond to questions or remarks in writing. The committee may request additional independent review, and/or some work corrections before passing the dissertation to the defense status. Failure to comply with this procedure may result in a delay of the defense. Based on the information from the committee members, the President or the Committee Chair will schedule the defense. The Registrar must be notified 14 days in advance of the defense by the committee chair.

Dissertation Defense

The committee members constituting 80% quorum should be present for the full duration of the defense. The defense is partitioned into two components:

First component is open to everyone. This component includes the dissertation presentation of approximately 30 – 40 minutes, followed by the questions and an open discussion. The candidate may be questioned on the subject of the dissertation and additional topics related to the field of study or candidate’s ability to organize and conduct research. The committee members may ask questions directly and the audience should first ask permission to do so from the Chairperson who can stop or interrupt questions if they are irrelevant or take too much time. The Chairperson can allow open discussion after questions but all potential speakers should inform him/her before the discussion starts.

Second component is open only to members of the committee and the dissertation advisor(s). The committee will formulate the final decision of the dissertation status. The work passes if at least 75% of all present voting committee members support it. The committee may request additional independent anonymous review, and/or some work corrections before the passing grade (CR or NC) is given.

After the dissertation corrections and/or additions (if required) two copies of the approved final text should be provided to the Registrar’s Office. One of these copies, an additional title page, and the abstract will be submitted for the publication in “American Doctoral Dissertations.”

Completion of a minimum of 93 units of graduate coursework, including core requirements, specific area of concentration requirements, and successful dissertation defense with the cumulative GPA 3.2 or higher. Grades B- or better are required in all courses to fulfill degree requirements for the DBA program.

Students enrolled in the DBA program are expected to maintain their grades corresponding to the policy of satisfactory progress and the following chart. The chart specifies the criteria for achieving satisfactory academic progress for full-time students (no transfers) in the University DBA degree program based on the allowable maximum number of semester credit hours attempted.

*    Units attempted means courses’ units for which the students have incurred a financial obligation.

Part-time students are evaluated proportionally to the taken part of a program; foundation courses are not included in SAP; students who changed their program will be evaluated on all courses taken.

DBA Qualifying Examination – upon completion of all required core and 12 units of concentration courses.

A time limitation for receiving the DBA degree at Lincoln University is established to ensure that the degree represents mastery of current knowledge in the field of study. Time is counted from the beginning of student enrollment into the program. Academic credit received twelve (12) years or more before the program completion will be deemed “no longer applicable”. Petition for exception to the policy may be directed to the President or the Provost for consideration and determination. If the petition is approved, the student may have options of repeating academic credit affected by the policy or elect an alternative that requires the student to establish competency with course objectives and learning outcomes the coursework affected. The candidate has the following options:

• Request another course to substitute for the course outdated; or
• Repeat the outdated course without credit; or
• Revalidate the outdated Lincoln University course by examination.

A student completed the program by exhausting MTDC of 7.5 years or 140 maximum units attended but not defended his/her dissertation or failed to defend with the first attempt may once apply for the defense or re-defense during 10 years from the beginning of the program. He/she will not need to register and pay any fee. Students who could not pass the qualification examination or to defend the dissertation will receive a post-graduate study completion certificate and related transcripts.

Students must successfully complete 93 graduate units of required coursework to complete the DBA degree program. The estimated time for degree completion (ETDC) for DBA program is 5.5 (five and a half) years. The estimated tuition and fees for completion of DBA degree program is listed below:

*NOTE: For a full-time graduate student taking 9 units per semester. The tuition and fees posted above are estimates based on current approved amount and are subject to change. Thus, the final amount may differ from the amounts shown above.