Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Entrepreneurs’ Personal Wealth Allocations In Determining Their Firms’ Capital Structures, Tianning Li

Doctoral Dissertations

We study the effect of entrepreneurs’ wealth allocations on their firm level capital structure by using a sample of small privately owned firms from the 2003 Surveys of Small Business Finance. We find that financial leverage decreases as entrepreneurs allocate more wealth on their firm investments. We also find that wealth allocation only affects capital structure in limited liability firms. Lastly, we show that the effect of wealth allocation on capital structure does not disappear after adjusting for collateral and personal guarantees.

Patients As Consumers: The Influence Of Dtca And "Becoming Little Doctors.", Karen Michele Hood

Doctoral Dissertations

Direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs (DTCA) accounts for approximately $5 billion in advertising spending in the US. Critics of this controversial practice cite confusing and misleading information negative effects on the physician-patient relationship as reasons to restrict or even ban DTCA, while proponents claim it empowers patients and facilitates discussions between physicians and patients that may improve overall health.

An ethnography of consumers in the most prominent target market for DTCA initially seeks to understand the meaning of DTCA among middle age adults in the US with chronic conditions. Participants in the study are skeptical about this category …

The Impact Of Sarbanes-Oxley On Bank Ceo And Director Compensation, Victoria Javine

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley on CEO compensation and director compensation for banks. The presence of pre-SOX regulation in the banking industry, particularly, FIRREA and FDICIA, suggests that SOX may affect banks differently than other industries. Specifically, this study examines the changes in the trends for CEO compensation and for director compensation for banks over time. The results indicate that compensation for directors and CEOs has changed for all firms over time, but the sign and the significance of the change varies with respect to the type of compensation. Additionally, the differences in director/CEO compensation for banks and …

Toward A Theory Of Consumer Interaction With Mobile Technology Devices, Charles Scott Rader

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the phenomenon of consumer interaction with mobile technology devices (MTDs). MTDs include electronic “gadgets” such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones that are carried and used frequently by consumers. The emphasis in this dissertation was on developing an explanatory framework to account for everyday experiences of MTD consumption. In light of limited consumer research on the pervasive phenomenon, an inductive, theory-building approach was taken, employing the constant comparative methodology of grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss 1967; Glaser 1978). Data was gathered primarily through in-depth interviews with 20 participants who had extensive …

Consumer Participation In Using Online Product Recommendation Agents: Effects Of Trust, Perceivedcontrol, And Perceived Risk In Providing Personal Information, Xiaojing Sheng

Doctoral Dissertations

Online product recommendation agents are gaining greater strategic importance as an innovative technology to deliver value-added services to consumers. Yet the active role of consumers as the participants in using this technology is not well understood. This dissertation builds on the technology-based self-service (TBSS) literature, consumer participation literature, the service-dominant logic, and the trust literature on recommendation agents to develop a research framework that explains the role of consumer participation in using online product recommendation agents.

The objective of this dissertation is three-fold: (1) to examine the effects of consumer participation and privacy/security disclosures in using online product recommendation agents, …