UMSL Associate Professor Matias Enz (far right) accompanied several students from the 2028 cohort of the Doctor of Business Administration program to the Midwest Academy of Management Conference at Metro State University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Two teams of students delivered presentations during the conference, held Thursday through Saturday, based on findings from projects completed in Enz’s qualitative research methods course. They are (from left, in back with Enz) Joseph deBonoPaula, Jen Carron, Bryan Jones and Aaron Willard; (in front) Ashlie Vickers, Christina Coyle and Nas Lemayian. (Photos submitted by Matias Enz)
When Aaron Willard and Jen Carron chose the University of Missouri–St. Louis to pursue their Doctor of Business Administration through the Ed G. Smith College of Business, they each were looking for a program that could help them grow as professionals while teaching them to approach real-world business problems as researchers.
Their first year has validated those decisions.
Research projects the students completed as part of a first-semester qualitative research methods course were accepted for presentation at the Midwest Academy of Management Conference, held Thursday through Saturday at Metro State University in St. Paul, Minnesota. The acceptance gave the first-year students an opportunity to share their work with scholars and practitioners while putting their developing research skills to the test.
“Having our paper selected and being able to present it at this conference was really rewarding,” Willard said. “You put in a lot of work when you start this program, and to get to this point so quickly, it really kind of shows that, ‘Hey, you’re doing something right, you’re learning the skill set, and you’re doing it in a way that reflects a high level of quality.’ I think that those are all things that are representative of the invaluable experience we’re getting with the UMSL DBA program.”
Carron’s team, which included Christina Coyle, Joseph deBonoPaula and Ashlie Vickers, investigated why procurement managers sometimes hesitate to involve internal stakeholders in supplier relationships, uncovering insights that could help organizations improve communication and purchasing practices. Carron said the project demonstrated how the program helps students engage confidently with business leaders and produce research with practical applications.
The team of (from left) Nas Lemayian, Bryan Jones and Aaron Willard delivered a presentation during the Midwest Academy of Management Conference. Their paper was titled, “Conditional Supplier Proactivity: How Suppliers Interpret, Allocate, and Sustain Initiative in Buyer–Supplier Relationships.”
“What I really love about the UMSL program is that from the beginning they’ve been preparing and developing us so that we can do this level of research,” Carron said. “When we’re having these conversations with chief supply officers, with the executive C-suites of these companies, we feel confident in our conversations.”
Willard worked with classmates Naserian Lemayian and Bryan Jones on a paper examining how suppliers decide when to take initiative in their relationships with customers. Their findings highlighted the role of organizational culture and customer engagement in encouraging suppliers to offer ideas and pursue improvements.
Willard said the project demonstrated the value of approaching business challenges from a research perspective, particularly when the findings can help organizations make better decisions.
“It’s really oriented around practitioners,” Willard said. “It trains you in some of the important aspects of having a skill set used in academia, used in comprehending and utilizing theory, but ultimately, the outcome or purpose is really to make the research you do actionable and practical for companies.”
That emphasis on practical application is central to the qualitative research methods course taught by Associate Professor Matias Enz. Rather than simply studying research methods, students learn to carry out projects from beginning to end, developing questions, reviewing existing literature, interviewing business leaders, analyzing information and presenting their findings.
“The focus of the course is not only on helping the students learn how to do research but that they actually become and act as researchers,” said Enz, who took over teaching the course beginning with the 2028 cohort. “It’s about finding patterns, meaning and answers based on interviews with managers, learning from managers’ feelings, experiences, what worked, what didn’t work, how they reacted to a specific situation, how they connect with others. So, it’s going beyond the numbers to understand those dynamics, and that is where you need to answer very interesting and relevant questions in business.”
Standing with Associate Professor Matias Enz (in middle), the quartet of (from left) Ashlie Vickers, Christina Coyle, Joseph deBonoPaula and Jen Carron gave a presentation at the Midwest Academy of Management Conference, highlighting the conclusions from their paper titled, “Guarding the Gate: Explaining Procurement Managers’ Reluctance to Involve Internal Stakeholders in Supplier Relationships.”
The students began their projects in January and officially completed the course in early May. The opportunity to submit their work to present at the conference was optional and required additional effort beyond the course’s expectations. Two of the four teams chose to submit papers, and both were accepted following a review by scholars and practitioners.
Enz said he was impressed by the students’ commitment to the process and the quality of their finished product. The projects required them to move beyond their existing professional knowledge, apply a rigorous research methodology and develop findings that could contribute to a broader understanding of business practices.
“I was surprised by how the students took it so passionately, so responsibly,” he said. “They were making progress far faster than I expected, and I was so excited and proud of the work that they did.”
The conference acceptance offered an additional measure of validation for the students’ efforts and the course’s learning objectives. The Midwest Academy of Management is a regional chapter of the Academy of Management, one of the leading professional organizations in the field.
A consultant who works with organizations in several industries, including advanced manufacturing, Willard was drawn to UMSL’s focus on working professionals and the engagement he experienced from faculty while exploring doctoral programs. He said the program has continued to reinforce his decision, with each course helping him develop skills he can apply in his work.
A St. Louis native, Carron had wanted to pursue a DBA for years but needed a program flexible enough to accommodate her career. UMSL’s executive DBA format offered that flexibility while providing opportunities to build connections with classmates and faculty, she said.
The two teams’ conference presentations also could lead to further opportunities. Some papers presented at the conference may be invited to undergo an additional review process for publication in an affiliated journal, and Enz said barring that, he feels optimistic about the potential for both papers to be published in other journals.
But regardless of whether their projects advance to publication, the students gained experience they can carry into future research and their professional careers. As Willard noted, they’ve only gotten started.
“The more I’ve gotten into the program, the more it has reaffirmed to me that I made the right decision,” he said. “And we’re all just a year into the program, so I’m excited about what more is to come.”
