I have a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree. However, using DBA after my name causes some confusion as in the UK and USA DBA can mean Doing Business As. Would it be acceptable to substitute DBA for Ph.D? I know people who do this.
No. That's not the degree you earned. You might do a partial spelling out such as D. Bus. Adm., but don't just adopt an abbreviation for a totally different degree. You could also call yourself Dr Intsvc (without any degree abbreviation--Dr Intsvc DBA sounds asinine) on your business card. There's another thread on a similar topic. I'll post the link if I can track it down. Yup. Here it is. See especially Steve Levicoff's witty post. http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3583
Just live with it, you knew that D.B.A. also means "doing business as" before you enrolled in the program, so enjoy the degree you have; it's a fine honor so long as it was earned and not purchased. It's not exactly a fate worse than death to have to explain: "I have a Doctor of Business Administration", and you can spell it out that way on your CV so there's no mistaking what you have. And in the context of a business card, I doubt many will mistake it for "doing business as" anyway, and even if a few ignorant people do, what do you care? They're probably not the people that will affect your well being one way or the other anyway.
Besides, you capitalize "DBA" for Doctor of Business Administration and use lower case letters for "dba" as in "doing business as." EXAMPLE: "Hi! I'm Intsvc, DBA, dba Intsvc's Internet Service Company."
Rarely a good idea to do anything because others are doing it. Certainly unethical. While it may not get you in trouble, eventually it could. Enough to get you fired? Well, you're claiming a degree you did not earn. Tom Nixon
This would be both unethical and unprofessional. Many of my university faculty and industry colleagues have earned the D.B.A. They are all referred to as "Doctor" and do not suffer any pack of respect in their fields. Be proud of your accomplishment, it was a significant one. You have no need whatsoever for PhD-enis envy.
Re: Re: DBA - Ph.D initials OK? No, don't. It is inappropriate for you to use "Dr." at the front of your name when introducing yourself in print. You should always use your name, followed by whatever initials indicate your title(s). In written form, this can be followed up with "Dr. So-and-so." But to soley use "Dr." (like on a business card) isn't accurate. I always question situations like that, as if someone is trying way too hard....
Re: Re: Re: DBA - Ph.D initials OK? Really? I thought degree ettiquette said that one could use either "Dr. Richard C. Douglas" or "Richard C. Douglas, Ph.D." but not "Dr. Richard C. Douglas, Ph.D.," which would be redundant.
Or you can go for the more generic but more understandable 'doctorate in business administration' or 'doctoral degree in business administration,' but if the exact title is sought, you should use DBA instead of PhD since it was the DBA you actually earned...
Re: Re: Re: Re: DBA - Ph.D initials OK? The first one is not very specific and could be misleading. I think you're correct, even though I wouldn't use it that way. I always use "Richard C. Douglas, Ph.D." I never use "Dr. Richard C. Douglas," or even "Dr. Douglas." If I sign something, I either use "Ph.D." (rarely) or nothing at all (usually). The redundant one is always out, of course.
What about the DPhil vs. PhD? If one earns the DPhil overseas, is it acceptable to use the initials PhD?
Good points have already been made. I agree with those that said do not use the PhD. That is a specific degree that you do not have and I do not have. We knew the issues when we began pursuing other nomenclature. There have been posts here regarding the confusion issue. Those of us with DBA, DMin, DMA, EdD, etc will just need to live with it. Incidentally, one of the curious things when I earned my doctorate was that no matter how many time that I explain that it is a 60 credit hour DMin, it gets read as "Oh you earned your PhD". Except of course when the initials are used and people do not know what they mean or "you have a doctorate in Administration??" North
I see this quite a bit (Ph.D. being used in place of DPhil). This tends not to be a problem, since both are abbreviations for the same degree: doctor of philosophy. The same is true for the bachelor of arts (A.B. or B.A.), master of arts (A.M. or M.A.), master of education (Ed.M. or M.Ed.), doctor of education (D.Ed. or Ed.D.), doctor of judicial science (J.S.D. or S.J.D.) and several others. A doctor of business administration (D.B.A.) is not the same degree as a doctor of philosophy in business administration (Ph.D.), nor is a doctor of education (Ed.D.) the same degree as a doctor of philosophy in educaiton (Ph.D.), even the the requirements for each of these degrees may be identical. As North pointed out, it is common for me to get asked about my "Ph.D.", since for most people, that is the generic term for any doctorate.
