Asking AI to produce a dissertation proposal based on a few key words: on AI-enabled digital era

Asking AI to produce a dissertation proposal based on a few key words (information from perplexity.ai): on AI-enabled digital era

My question 1: "Please suggest an MBA dissertation research theme, via the pragmatism lens, based on the following key words: sustainable competitive advantage, AI-driven digital era in Hong Kong, leadership capability in the Hong Kong financial service sector."

The reply: "A pragmatism-based MBA dissertation theme integrating sustainable competitive advantage, the AI-driven digital era in Hong Kong, and leadership capability in the financial services sector could explore how Hong Kong financial leaders pragmatically leverage AI to build enduring competitive edges amid digital disruption.

Proposed Theme

"Pragmatic Leadership for AI-Enabled Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Hong Kong's Financial Services Sector." This theme adopts pragmatism's focus on practical, experiential outcomes—testing what "works" through mixed methods—to address how leaders cultivate capabilities like adaptive AI integration and strategic foresight, yielding measurable firm advantages such as enhanced efficiency, client retention, and innovation in a digital landscape.

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Business Issues

Hong Kong financial firms face intense digital competition from fintech disruptors, requiring AI adoption for operational resilience yet risking commoditization without unique leadership-driven differentiation. Leadership gaps hinder translating AI tools into sustainable advantages, as generic tech deployment fails to address sector-specific regulatory and client trust challenges in Hong Kong's international finance hub. Firms undervalue pragmatic, context-tested leadership capabilities, leading to uneven AI maturity and lost market positioning against global players.

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Research Objectives

Identify key leadership capabilities enabling AI-driven sustainable competitive advantage in Hong Kong financial services. Evaluate pragmatic strategies for AI integration that deliver practical outcomes like cost savings and revenue growth. Develop actionable recommendations for leaders to foster enduring firm advantages through experiential AI leadership.

Research Questions

What leadership capabilities most effectively drive sustainable competitive advantage via AI in Hong Kong's financial sector? How do pragmatic approaches—blending mixed data sources—reveal AI's real-world impact on competitive positioning? What barriers prevent financial leaders from achieving AI-enabled advantages, and how can they be overcome?

Suggested Methods

Primary quantitative: Surveys of 150+ Hong Kong financial executives on AI leadership practices and perceived advantages (using scales from resource-based view theory). Primary qualitative: Interviews with 20 senior leaders for experiential insights on pragmatic AI deployment. Secondary: Analysis of HKMA reports and firm financials (2023-2025) for triangulating competitive outcomes."

My question 2: "Using the proposed research theme of ""Pragmatic Leadership for AI-Enabled Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Hong Kong's Financial Services Sector.", please offer an MBA dissertation proposal with the following information:

1. Dissertation project title

2. 3 research issues

3. 3 Hong Kong public media-reported issues

4. 3 research objectives"

The reply: "Dissertation Project Title

Pragmatic Leadership for AI-Enabled Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Hong Kong's Financial Services Sector.

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This title captures pragmatism's emphasis on practical, outcome-tested strategies, focusing on how leadership capabilities drive enduring AI advantages in Hong Kong's finance hub amid digital transformation.

Research Issues

Hong Kong financial leaders struggle to translate AI adoption into sustainable competitive edges, often due to siloed tech implementations that overlook adaptive, experiential leadership. Pragmatic integration of AI faces barriers like regulatory uncertainty and talent shortages, hindering firms' ability to differentiate from global fintech rivals. Leadership capabilities remain underdeveloped for the AI-driven era, with overreliance on technical tools rather than context-specific, mixed-method strategies that deliver measurable outcomes.

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Hong Kong Public Media-Reported Issues

Recent media highlights HSBC's AI pilots for fraud detection, yet reports note leadership hesitancy in scaling due to data privacy concerns under HKMA guidelines. SCMP articles from 2025 detail how Standard Chartered lags fintechs like WeLab in AI personalization, attributing gaps to rigid hierarchies unfit for agile digital competition. Ming Pao coverage in late 2025 exposed cyber incidents at local banks, underscoring leadership failures in building AI-resilient defenses for competitive trust.

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Research Objectives

Identify pragmatic leadership capabilities that enable AI-driven sustainable advantages, such as efficiency gains and market share growth in Hong Kong finance. Assess real-world barriers to AI integration through mixed-methods evaluation of financial firms' outcomes. Provide actionable frameworks for leaders to cultivate experiential AI strategies fostering long-term competitiveness."

My question 3: "Also suggest 3 research questions, 2 primary research methods, 1 secondary research method, 3 academic management theories (with references in Harvard reference format), comments on the academic, practical and originality values of the study."

The reply: "Research questions, methods, theories, and value comments build directly on the proposed MBA dissertation theme of pragmatic leadership for AI-enabled sustainable competitive advantage in Hong Kong's financial services sector.

Research Questions

How do pragmatic leadership capabilities facilitate AI integration for sustainable competitive advantage in Hong Kong financial firms? What contextual barriers impede leaders from achieving practical AI-driven outcomes, and how can they be pragmatically addressed? To what extent do experiential leadership strategies correlate with measurable competitive edges like revenue growth or client retention in the sector?

Primary Methods

Quantitative surveys of 150+ Hong Kong financial executives using Likert scales to measure leadership capabilities and AI impact on firm performance, analyzed via regression in Excel pivot tables. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with 20 senior leaders to capture pragmatic, real-world experiences of AI deployment and competitive outcomes.

Secondary Method

Thematic analysis of HKMA annual reports (2023-2025) and financial statements from key banks like HSBC and Standard Chartered to triangulate leadership-AI links with performance data.

Management Theories

Dynamic Capabilities View (Teece, D. J., Pisano, G. and Shuen, A. (1997) 'Dynamic capabilities and strategic management', Strategic Management Journal, 18(7), pp. 509-533) explains how leaders sense, seize, and reconfigure AI resources for enduring advantages. Resource-Based View (Barney, J. (1991) 'Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage', Journal of Management, 17(1), pp. 99-120) frames AI-leadership bundles as valuable, rare assets in Hong Kong finance. Upper Echelons Theory (Hambrick, D. C. and Mason, P. A. (1984) 'Upper echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers', Academy of Management Review, 9(2), pp. 193-206) links executives' pragmatic cognition to AI strategy success.

Study Values

Academic Value: Advances pragmatism in management by integrating mixed methods to test AI-leadership dynamics, bridging gaps in Hong Kong-specific literature on digital-era capabilities. Practical Value: Delivers frameworks for financial leaders to pragmatically deploy AI, enhancing competitiveness amid HKMA regulations and fintech rivalry. Originality Value: Pioneers a localized pragmatism lens on AI leadership in Hong Kong finance, using timely 2025-2026 data for novel, contextually grounded insights unavailable in prior studies."

A collection of blog notes on using chatgpt for research purpose.

Asking AI to produce an F&A research proposal: on board of directors characteristics

Asking AI to produce an F&A research proposal: on board of directors characteristics (information from perplexity.ai)

My question 1: "Please suggest an Accounting and Finance research theme, via the lens of positivism, based on the following key words: board of directors characteristics (notably on the age, qualification genders of directors in Hong Kog listed companies [as independent variables), capital structure (as an independent variable) and return on equity of the Hong Kong listed companies [as dependent variable] (notably on the banking and retail sectors."

The reply: "A suitable positivist Accounting and Finance theme for your keywords is:

“The impact of board demographics and capital structure on return on equity: A positivist panel‑data study of Hong Kong listed banking and retail firms.”

Core positivist research theme

Under a positivist lens, you treat board characteristics and capital structure as objectively measurable causes, and return on equity (ROE) as an objectively observable effect. Your overall theme could be:

• To test whether board of directors’ demographic and qualification characteristics (age, gender diversity, educational/professional qualifications) and capital structure (e.g. leverage ratios) systematically explain variation in ROE among Hong Kong listed companies in the banking and retail sectors.

• To use hypothesis‑driven, quantitative methods (e.g. panel regression) to estimate the strength and direction of these relationships, assuming stable, law‑like regularities in how governance and financing choices affect performance.

Example title and variables

You could refine the theme into a working title such as:

• “Board demographic diversity, capital structure and firm performance: A positivist analysis of return on equity in Hong Kong’s banking and retail sectors.”

Key variables aligned with your description:

• Independent variables (board characteristics)

  • Average age of directors.

  • Proportion of female directors.

  • Proportion of directors with finance/accounting or postgraduate qualifications.

  • Board size, proportion of independent non‑executive directors, or CEO duality (optional extensions).

• Independent variable (capital structure)

  • Leverage ratio(s), for example: total debt to total assets, or total debt to equity.

• Dependent variable

  • Return on equity (ROE) of Hong Kong listed companies in banking and retail.

Positivist research questions and hypotheses

Within this theme, you can frame clear, testable questions:

• RQ1: To what extent do board demographic and qualification characteristics influence ROE of Hong Kong listed banking and retail firms?

• RQ2: How does capital structure influence ROE in these sectors?

• RQ3: Do board characteristics moderate or mediate the relationship between capital structure and ROE?

Illustrative hypotheses (directional, consistent with positivism):

• H1: A higher proportion of independent and financially qualified directors is positively associated with ROE.

• H2: Gender‑diverse boards (higher proportion of female directors) are positively associated with ROE.

• H3: Leverage (capital structure) has a non‑linear relationship with ROE, with moderate levels of debt associated with higher ROE and very high levels associated with lower ROE.

• H4: The positive effect of board quality (independence, qualifications) on ROE is stronger for firms with higher leverage.

Sector and Hong Kong focus

Focusing on Hong Kong banking and retail allows you to:

• Compare a highly regulated, capital‑intensive sector (banking) with a more consumer‑oriented, competitive sector (retail) under the same legal and listing environment.

• Exploit the relatively rich corporate governance disclosure and board diversity guidance for Hong Kong listed firms, which facilitates systematic data collection on board characteristics and capital structure.

This combination of board characteristics, capital structure and ROE, framed through hypothesis testing and statistical modelling, fits well with a positivist philosophy and is practical for an empirical Accounting and Finance dissertation."

My question 2: "Based on the research theme of "The impact of board demographics and capital structure on return on equity: A positivist panel‑data study of Hong Kong listed banking and retail firms.” for the period of 2024-2025 as mentioned above, please produce a dissertation proposal with the following information:

1. a dissertation project title 2. 3 research questions in the form a correlation hypothesis statement with 1 independent variable and 1 dependent variable. 3. Consolidate the three hypothesis statement into one multiple regression formula (i.e. 1 dependent variable [return of equity] 4. 2 research objectives 5. 2 research issues 6. 2 Hong Kong Finance and Admin practitioners' oriented issues. 7. 1 secondary research with multiple regression analysis as it main research method. 8. 3 relevant Finance and Admin. academic theories (with references stated in Harvard reference format) 9. Some brief comments on the academic, practical and originality values of this study"

The reply: "1. Dissertation Project Title

The Impact of Board Demographics and Capital Structure on Return on Equity: A Positivist Panel-Data Analysis of Hong Kong Listed Banking and Retail Firms (2024-2025).

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2. Three Research Questions as Correlation Hypothesis Statements

Each hypothesis links one independent variable (board demographic or capital structure) to the dependent variable (ROE), testable via correlation or regression under positivism.

• H1: Board gender diversity positively correlates with return on equity in Hong Kong listed banking and retail firms.
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• H2: Average board age negatively correlates with return on equity in Hong Kong listed banking and retail firms.
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• H3: Leverage ratio negatively correlates with return on equity in Hong Kong listed banking and retail firms.
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3. Consolidated Multiple Regression Formula

The three hypotheses consolidate into this multiple regression model, suitable for panel data analysis:

$RO{E}_{it}={\beta }_0+{\beta }_{1}GENDI{V}_{it}+{\beta }_{2}AG{E}_{it}+{\beta }_{3}LE{V}_{it}+{\beta }_{4}Control{s}_{it}+{ϵ}_{it}$

Where:

• $RO{E}_{it}$: Return on equity for firm $i$ in year $t$ (2024-2025).

• $GENDI{V}_{it}$: Proportion of female directors (gender diversity).

• $AG{E}_{it}$: Average age of board directors.

• $LE{V}_{it}$: Leverage ratio (e.g., total debt to assets).

• $Control{s}_{it}$: Firm size, growth, sector dummies.

• ${ϵ}_{it}$: Error term.​

4. Two Research Objectives

• To empirically quantify the strength and direction of relationships between selected board demographics, capital structure, and ROE using panel regression on Hong Kong banking and retail firms from 2024-2025.
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• To test for sector-specific differences in these relationships, informing positivist predictions on governance-performance links.
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5. Two Research Issues

• Limited availability of granular, time-series data on board demographics (e.g., exact ages, qualifications) for Hong Kong listed firms in 2024-2025, potentially requiring hand-collection from annual reports.
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• Potential endogeneity between board characteristics, capital structure decisions, and ROE, necessitating fixed effects or instrumental variable approaches in panel models.
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6. Two Hong Kong Finance and Admin Practitioners' Oriented Issues

• How can Hong Kong banking executives optimize board gender diversity and age profiles to enhance ROE amid rising leverage pressures in 2024-2025?
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• What capital structure adjustments should retail firm administrators consider, given board demographic influences, to sustain ROE in a high-interest environment?
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7. Secondary Research with Multiple Regression Analysis

This study employs secondary data from Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) annual reports and databases like Bloomberg or Refinitiv for 2024-2025. The main method is fixed-effects panel multiple regression to estimate the model in section 3, controlling for firm size (log assets), profitability (ROA), and growth (sales growth). Data covers all banking (Hang Seng sub-index) and retail firms listed on HKEX Main Board, yielding a balanced panel of approximately 20-30 firms per sector over two years. Robustness checks include random effects, clustered standard errors, and lagged variables to address autocorrelation.

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8. Three Relevant Finance and Admin Academic Theories

• Agency Theory: Board demographics and independence mitigate conflicts between managers and shareholders, influencing capital structure and performance (Jensen, M.C. and Meckling, W.H., 1976. Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of financial economics, 3(4), pp.305-360).
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• Pecking Order Theory: Firms prioritize internal financing over debt due to information asymmetry, with board characteristics affecting leverage choices and ROE (Myers, S.C. and Majluf, N.S., 1984. Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have. Journal of financial economics, 13(2), pp.187-221).
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• Trade-Off Theory: Optimal capital structure balances tax shields from debt against bankruptcy costs, moderated by board oversight in governance contexts (Kraus, A. and Litzenberger, R.H., 1973. A state-preference model of optimal financial leverage. The journal of finance, 28(4), pp.911-922).
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9. Brief Comments on Academic, Practical, and Originality Values

Academically, this positivist study extends board-capital structure-performance literature to Hong Kong's dual-sector context with 2024-2025 data, testing interactions via panel methods. Practically, it guides HK finance practitioners on board composition for ROE optimization amid post-2024 economic shifts. Its originality lies in sector-specific focus on recent Hong Kong data, addressing gaps in demographic-leverage interplay under local governance codes."

A collection of blog notes on using chatgpt for research purpose.