Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Online Consumer Reviews On Attitudes And Behavioral Intentions Toward Products And Retailers, Jee Sun Park

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the role of consumer reviews in consumers’ decision making process. The current study aims to help researchers and practitioners understand how consumers process different type of information in online consumer reviews. The specific research objectives are to examine (1) how different type of online consumer reviews influence consumers’ responses toward the reviews (2) how different types of individual characteristics influence consumer processing of the content of the reviews, and (3) how consumers’ responses evoked by review content affect consumer attitudes and behavioral intentions toward the reviewed products and retailers. This study addressed …

A Report On An Internship With The New Orleans Opera Association, Danqian Liu

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This paper is based on my internship at the New Orleans Opera Association, which took place from May 16th to October 31st, 2012. The primary activity of the New Orleans Opera Association is to produce three to four mainstage operas each season. The Opera Association is a vital part of the cultural and economic life of the City. The New Orleans Opera Association is governed by a Board of Directors and a General and Artistic Director heading a staff of eight.

This report includes detailed information about the organization's history and current programs. It also includes a description of my …

The Art Of Engagement In A Tourist Economy: An Examination Of Prospect.2, Tara Foster

Arts Administration Master's Reports

The landscape of contemporary art in New Orleans is a challenging one, and in relative infancy. U.S. Biennial, Inc. immediately following Hurricane Katrina saw an opportunity to merge this burgeoning scene with the well-established tourism industry. As a result, the Prospect New Orleans biennials are an attempt to increase cultural tourism through the presentation of international contemporary art exhibitions. Audience engagement is a current hot topic for arts organizations of all kinds. Concerns over sustainability and community relevance have led many arts organizations to deeply examine who their targeted audiences are and how they are engaging those audiences. While U.S. …

Contemporary Arts Center: A Case Study Of A Nonprofit Arts Organization, Meredith Harper

Arts Administration Master's Reports

The following paper documents Meredith Harper’s internship from May 2012 to August 2012 at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, LA as part of the degree requirements for the Master of Arts in Arts Administration. The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) is the only non-collecting, multi-disciplinary arts center in New Orleans, and has worked to present the very best of the "art of now" to the New Orleans community since 1976.

This paper is written from the point of view of an arts administrator observing the organization as an outsider. This paper will discuss the responsibilities and duties of the …

French Quarter Festivals, Incorporated: A Report On Volunteer Coordination And Educational Programming, Kylee Kidder

Arts Administration Master's Reports

This internship report reviews the non-profit entity French Quarter Festivals, Inc. (FQFI), and each of the three festivals it produces. The report includes an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the organization and offers suggestions for improvements. The history of FQFI, a description of programs and a breakdown of the staff structure provide a basic understanding of the organization. For the purpose of this internship report, the timeframe being reviewed covers June 2012 through August 2012.

The Effect Of Gender And Leadership Styles On Employee Satisfaction, Brittany Williams

HIM 1990-2015

To ensure the success of a company, it is essential for supervisors to interact effectively with the employees they oversee. Effective interactions between supervisor and employee go hand-in-hand with employee satisfaction, which can impact firm performance. The purpose of this thesis is to examine key drivers of employee satisfaction. Specifically, this thesis tests whether or not employees with supervisors of the same sex as themselves are more satisfied than employees with supervisors of the opposite sex. It also compares and contrasts the level of satisfaction an employee has in correspondence with transformational and transactional leadership styles and whether this relationship …

Interactive Marketing Strategies In Television Networks: Incorporating Satellite Media Tours In Twitter, Kathleen Maloney

Journalism

The following study investigates how to design and implement an effective interactive marketing strategy for the television industry. The study also explores how satellite media tours and social media, specifically Twitter, can be used together in an interactive marketing plan. As new technology is continuously being developed and target audiences are increasingly demanding instantaneous interactive content, it is pertinent to understand how to successfully use these tools in a marketing plan to engage audiences. According to Nick Abramovich, the Chief Executive Officer of Synaptic Digital, a multichannel digital media creation and distribution platform (Inc Magazine, 2011), “brands are realizing that …

Essays On Sourcing Decisions: A Behavioral Perspective, David Hall

All Dissertations

This dissertation examines how managers make and perceive supply chain governance decisions. A plethora of supply chain management literature suggests that managers will a priori choose a governance form that will manage risks while pursuing benefits. A number of theories have been used to inform this view: agency, resource-based view and transaction cost economics. Agency theory, the resource-based view and transaction cost economics all share the common assumption that a manager is considering both the risks and benefits of their decisions. In addition each of these perspectives assumes managers are boundedly rational. Taken together these two assumptions suggest managers have …

Tarp Repayment, Lobbying And Political Connectivity, Ian Simmons

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In their paper "Corporate Lobbying, Political Connections, and the Bailout of Banks," Blau, Brough, and Thomas (2012) present significant evidence that firms that engaged in lobbying and maintain political connection with the federal government were more likely to receive funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), received more funds on average, and received the funds earlier than those firms that did not lobby or maintain political connections. These results fit into a large body of work showing similar results showing that lobbying has positive economic benefits to lobbying firms (Chen and Yang, 2010; Cooper and Ovtchinnikov, 2010; Faccio, 2010; …

Behavioral Life-Cycle Models Under Alternative Demographic Regimes, Timothy F. Harris

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Social security in the United States will encounter financial strains due to an aging population. The decreasing worker to retiree ratio will reduce retirement benefits relative to today’s benefits so long as the tax rate and eligibility age are not altered. Policy makers assume that they should make policies to maintain the current benefit levels.

In contrast to this assumption, this paper does not presume that policy makers should preserve current benefits. An analysis of the required tax rate to maintain lifetime utility across the current and future demographic regimes is undertaken rather than just a calculation of the tax …

Aesthetic Qualities Of Websites And Their Effects On Public Perceptions Of Agricultural Issues And Organizations, Chase Tyler Hundley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to evaluate perceptions of agricultural issues and organizations based on how information is presented visually in websites. Researchers intended the results to be used to help the agricultural industry more effectively communicate information through better website design and increased persuasiveness. The study was conducted through the use of three focus group sessions as mapped out by Krueger (1998a, 1998b, 1998c) and Morgan (1998a, 1998b). The study used non-agriculture students purposively selected from a class in the University of Arkansas School of Human Environmental Sciences as participants in the study. The subject demographics closely resembled the primary demographics …

Identifying Local Entrepreneurship Development System Policy In Rural Areas And How Local Context Shapes Entrepreneurship Policy Formation, Stacey Wright Mccullough

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As rural communities struggle to maintain a sustainable economic base in today's global economy, many are exploring strategies to encourage entrepreneurial development. The purpose of this study was to better understand how local public policy is being be used to support the creation of entrepreneurship development systems in rural communities and how local context shapes entrepreneurship public policy formation. In phase one of the study, a survey and analysis of documents available on the Internet were used to identify county and municipal policy actions associated with entrepreneurial development in 16 counties in North Carolina. In the second study phase, two …

Family Policies And Institutional Satisfaction: An Intersectional Analysis Of Tenure-Track Faculty, Heather Lee Schneller

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Gender and faculty career advancement have been examined with a focus on academic work environment, including faculty workloads, mentoring relationships, access to research networks, and work-life balance. Previous studies concerned with gender, employment, and care work only have considered child care. Additionally, the exploration of faculty and care work focused specifically on gender instead of examining the interaction of race and gender. To date, no study on academic work-life policies includes faculty perceptions of their importance and effectiveness nor has the faculty assessment of eldercare policy been examined in relation to career success.

Guided by an intersectional perspective, this study …

On Export Intermodal Transportation Problem, Supriya Arun Jadhav

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates a logistics problem facing companies that export their products to other countries. The problem is called export intermodal transportation problem. In the export intermodal transportation problem, goods ordered by overseas customers need to be transported from production plants or warehouses of an export company to the customers destinations overseas. The transportation involves using multiple transportation modes such as trucks and rails for the inland portion and ocean liners for the overseas portion, and its objective is to have the goods moved and the cost minimized subject to various constraints. Cost can be minimized by combining orders from …

Ftc Antitrust Enforcement Relative To The Business Cycle, Seth Mullikin

All Theses

This paper sought to determine if antitrust enforcement by the FTC is explained by models that explain traditional ouput by regulatory agencies. The study examines different types of antitrust enforcement from the FTC. The results showed that some types of antitrust enforcement fit neatly into Peltzman's model explaining regulatory output, while others are more nuanced and difficult to explain.

Experience, Effectuation, And Something Good : Does The Use Of Effectuation Lead To Positive Outcomes?, Thomas E. Nelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The theory of effectuation is ascending in entrepreneurship education. Hundreds of articles have been written on the topic. Many textbooks mention the theory, and one college level textbook teaches entrepreneurship entirely from an effectual perspective. Given its acceptance, the natural assumption is that effectuation is somehow 'good.' That is, there is some unique benefit that an entrepreneur gains from using effectuation. This dissertation examines the concept of effectuation, and its value to entrepreneurship. It seeks to determine if entrepreneurs who use effectual logic outperform entrepreneurs who don't. Four hundred and fifty entrepreneurs across three states are surveyed to determine if …

Analyzing Revenue Sharing And Buyback Contracts: An Experimental Study, Chinthana Ramaswamy

Graduate Masters Theses

This paper considers a standard newsvendor problem in a two-echelon supply chain setup. We use an experimental approach to investigate the deviation of decision makers from choosing optimal values in the context of supply chain contracts. Literature suggests that the coordinating contracts, such as revenue sharing or buyback contracts, do not necessarily improve the performance. Approaches to improve the existing revenue sharing and buyback contracts are examined in this paper. A rational supplier, who is likely to commit decision errors, sets the contract parameters to a retailer. These approaches are observed in a laboratory setting where human subjects are used …

Cultural Anthropological Research In The Business Environment, Caitlin Farmer

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Observational Research In A Marketing Classroom: A Guidebook, Kristen Winterton

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Qualitative research plays an integral part in marketing research (Denzin and Lincoln, 1998). In fact, a search of the website for the American Marketing Association for the term “qualitative research” reveals literally hundreds of documents (white papers, case studies, etc) discussing methods of conducting observational research, examples of observational research studies, and the importance of observational research in marketing. Interestingly, though qualitative methods are used frequently by practitioners, they receive very limited attention in marketing textbooks. This seems particularly true of observation research, which is among the least expensive and easily conducted qualitative methods (Mann, 2003). The purpose of this …

The Effects Of A Goal-Setting Program On Cognitive And Somatic State Anxiety, State Self-Confidence, And Performance Of High School Swimmers, Jasmine R. Millan

Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a staggered approach, season long goal-setting training program on the state self-confidence, cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and performance of high school female swimmers. It was hypothesized that the use of a goal-setting training program would result in the swimmers having higher state self-confidence, lower cognitive state anxiety, lower somatic state anxiety, and improved performance. Results indicated that participation in a ten week goal-setting training program successfully helped high school female swimmers achieve higher state self- confidence, lower cognitive state anxiety, lower somatic state anxiety, and improved performance.

Division I Student-Athlete Degree Choice Assessment, Tony Terrell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Though the NCAA has established rules that require student-athletes to complete their college degree in an expeditious manner, the 40/60/80% rule may impinge on student-athlete academic decisions (i.e., degree choice).Yet limited empirical data exist regarding the nature and prevalence of student-athlete degree impingement. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Student-Athlete Degree Choice Questionnaire (SA-DCQ). The SA-DCQ assesses factors that influence Division I student-athletes' degree choice. An initial 40 item, 4 component SA-DCQ instrument was piloted with 170 Division I student-athletes. In order to develop scales, Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was conducted. PCA results yielded 13 …

Branding For A New Wellness Program: The Importance Of Brand Identity And Using Social Media, Jennifer Jenkins

Journalism

In today’s world, health organizations are all about losing weight and getting into shape. While this is important to maintain one’s health, it is not the only factor in a healthy lifestyle. Lou F. saw this great discrepancy in the wellness field, and decided that what was needed was an organization dedicated to mental health as well as physical health, encompassing fitness training, nutrition, and counseling for the everyday individual as well as the corporate world. With this idea in mind, Lou set out to create this type of organization. This paper addresses the importance of creating a strong brand …

The Creation Of Student-Run Public Relations Firms: A Historical Look At Student-Run Firms, Hannah Hazdovac

Journalism

This study explores the history and background of student-run public relations firms on

college campuses and the benefits, if any, that students receive as a result of working

in such a firm. The public relations industry estimated at growing 18 percent between

2006 and 2016 (Todd, 2009). Even with the sudden expansion of the public relations

industry, and subsequently, public relations education, evidence suggests that recent

public relations graduates often times do meet entry-level outcome expectancies of

employers, leaving a need for a change in curriculum (Creedon, Dostal, Gael, Smith &

Walker, 1999). It is becoming increasingly more important to …

Essays On Time-Varying Risk And Investor Sentiment: Evidence From The U.S. And G-7 Countries Using Multivariate Garch Modeling, David William Johnk

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This dissertation investigates the effects of investor sentiment on asset prices in both the U.S. equity market (chapter III) and international market (chapter IV). It employs a conditional version of the CAPM using a parsimonious generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model in which the risk premia, betas, and correlations are time-varying. Investor sentiment is presented from two direct measures (surveys) and one indirect measure as conditional information variables; whereas, previous studies used macroeconomic fundamentals. Furthermore, investor sentiment is not assumed to be fully irrational. It is decomposed into its rational and irrational components. Both rational and irrational components are tested …

Essays On Hedge Fund Performance, Sang Heon Shin

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This dissertation consists of two essays on hedge fund performance. The first essay models exposure of hedge fund to risk factors and examines time-varying performance of hedge funds. From existing models such as ABS-factor model, SAC-factor model, and four-factor model, we extract the best six factors for each hedge fund portfolio by investment strategy. Then, we find combinations of risk factors that most explain variance in performance of each hedge fund portfolio by investment strategy. The results show instability of coefficients in the performance attribution regression. Incorporating time-varying factor exposure feature would be the best way to appropriately measure hedge …

Do U.S. Firms Fly Higher When Bypassing The U.S. Capital Markets? An Investigation Of The Short- And Long-Run Performance Of Foreign Ipos?, Robert N. Killins

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This dissertation studies the performance of U.S. firms that partake in a foreign IPO – bypassing their domestic exchanges and raising their equity in a foreign market. Chapter one provides an introduction and brief review of the main research questions and results. Chapter 2 provides a detailed literature review on initial public offerings-IPOs. This includes relevant studies on the long- and short-run performance of IPOs, theories for IPO underpricing and an international component of the IPO literature. Additional cross-listing literature is also reviewed to provide a more complete and balanced understanding of the international market for equity. Chapter 3 develops …

Factors That Predict Hispanic/Latino Entrepreneurs' Intentions To Use Thirteen Entrepreneurial Behaviors, Rosanna Saladin-Subero

All Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine what attitudinal, normative, and control beliefs most significantly predicted Hispanic business owners' intentions to engage in 13 entrepreneurial behaviors. In 2011, Hispanic business owners from five cities in Greenville Country, South Carolina were invited to participate. Only owners of for-profit business that had been in operation for a year or more participated. Seventy four Hispanic business owners were interviewed or completed an online survey.
Aizen's Theory of Planned Behavior (1980, 1991, 2002a, 2002b, 2006) was used as the framework for constructing a survey to examine stated intentions, and concomitant attitudes, norms, and …

Playing At Work: Creating A Physically Creative Training Center, Christine Grotke

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project explores the idea of fostering creativity in the physical work environment through the use of a training center. The training center would be a place where employees and management of an organization could learn about the Creative Problem Solving process using elements such as play, incubation, and an individual’s interaction with their physical surroundings. Once the physical requirements of what makes a creative environment are learned in the training center, the techniques could then be applied to the workplace in order to encourage a more productive and positive atmosphere. The research and different studies in this paper help …

The Relationship Among Training Policy, Knowledge Transfer, And Performance Improvement: A Study Of Private Sector Organizations In The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, Fayez M. Shafloot

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore human resource (HR) managers' perceptions of training practices (i.e., needs assessment, trainee preparation, training program review, accountability, management support, knowledge transfer, and performance improvement) in Saudi private sector organizations. The research questions were: (1) How do HR managers perceive the importance and or occurrence of training needs assessment, trainee preparation, training program review, accountability and management support? (2) How do HR managers perceive knowledge transfer and performance improvement as a function of training? and (3) What training factors do HR managers identify as being important to the delivery of training?

Data were …

An Analysis Of Consumer Response To Businesses’ Expression Of Beliefs, Justin P. Boyter

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.