Business Commons^™

The Impact Of Irrational Beliefs On Dysfunctional Decision-Making In B2b Salespeople, Barron W. Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

The complexity of the contemporary business-to-business (B2B) sales landscape requires salespeople to respond faster, be more knowledgeable, and add more value to buyer interactions than ever before. As such, B2B salespeople must carefully consider the impact of their decisions since they have the potential to directly impact organizational revenue and bottom-line outcomes. The present research utilizes rational-emotive behavior theory to examine judgment and decision-making in B2B salespeople. Research questions are presented and tested with a sample of 306 B2B salespeople using structural equation modeling. The results of the analysis reveal that irrational beliefs lead to dysfunctional emotions, and in turn, …

Demands At Work: The Moderating Influence Of Motivation On The Relationship Between Challenge Demands And Employee Work Engagement, Lauren R. Dinnat

Doctoral Dissertations

Work engagement is a popular topic due to the positive outcomes linked to it. For example, engaged workers are shown to be more productive workers and better organizational citizens. The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Theory has been the most widely accepted explanatory model for work engagement due to its flexibility to be applied to all work environments. While the JD-R does not argue that motivation is fixed, it does not account for moment-to-moment changes in motivation. A state theory of motivation that examines how motivation may impact the relationships between demands and work engagement has yet to be examined. This study …

Hospital-Physician Integration And Physician Collaboration: Implications For Care Efficiency And Outcomes, Hui Jia

Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis focuses on healthcare operations management and consists of two essays that investigate empirically how the relationship between physicians and hospitals and the relationship between peer physicians, respectively, affect clinical care outcomes and care efficiency.

In the first essay, I study hospital-physician integration as a type of organization-service provider relationship. Many prior studies have provided insights into the benefits of a tight collaboration between hospitals and physicians. However, neutral and even negative effects of this relationship on healthcare performance have been observed and discussed in the literature. This mixed evidence points to a need for further study to elucidate …

Essays On Size Asymmetry In Supply Chain Disruptions, Yu Chu

Doctoral Dissertations

While size asymmetry (e.g., large buyer and small supplier) has been discussed in a no-disruption operation context (Lee & Johnson, 2012), little is known whether, how and why a large buyer reacts differently when different-sized suppliers cause different types of disruptions. Extant research suggests in a supplier-induced disruption supplier’s recovery actions yield various effects in a dependence-unbalancing setting, indicating a need for a deeper understanding of what buyers prefer in order to resolve disruptions caused by facing different sized suppliers and the rationales behind the decisions. Accordingly, this dissertation examines whether and how the supplier size and supplier-induced disruption type …

How Tempered Radicals Pursue Ideological Change Within Their Organization, Saleh M. Bajaba

Doctoral Dissertations

Organizations that are adaptive, diverse, and socially responsible are often built by employees who are able to implement change “under the radar” of those in the organization who would ordinarily fight significant change. These “tempered radicals” are insider activists who serve as the catalyst for incremental constructive changes which, over time, build better organizations. Unfortunately, little is known about what motivates tempered radicals to enact changes within their organizations. In order to better understand the motives of these internal change agents, I develop a measure of tempered radical motives (TRM). In Study 1, I develop a measure of TRM by …

Improvisation And Leadership Development: Understanding Improvisational Theater Arts As Leadership Skills, Jack Skalican

Doctoral Dissertations

Leadership development is immersed in a philosophical struggle. Past efforts at developing leaders have missed a set of skills important to the role of today’s leaders. Since Frederick Taylor invented the practice of scientific management, the study of management and leadership has largely focused on traits, practices, and behaviors that conform to this model such as planning, analysis, control, and monitoring. Missing in this focus, however, are less transactional leadership skills like intuition, improvisation, and creativity. As a result, organizations have begun drawing on improvisational theater skills as one answer to fill this leadership development gap.

This case study focuses …

The Role Of Family Endorsement In Venture Creation And Sustainability, Thomas Daniel White

Doctoral Dissertations

Entrepreneurship research has shown that family social support is an important factor in an entrepreneur’s venture creation and sustainability efforts, yet little is known about the nature and impact of family processes that occur prior to venture start, or how early endorsement of a venture impacts the entrepreneur. These processes are important to consider, because they may facilitate or inhibit ongoing family social support and influence the entrepreneur’s venture creation and sustainability decisions. Utilizing a family systems theoretical framework, I draw on theories of self-perception, social support and conservation of resources to address three issues. First, I introduce the construct …

Modeling The Consumer Acceptance Of Retail Service Robots, So Young Song

Doctoral Dissertations

This study uses the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) and domestication theories as the underlying framework of an acceptance model of retail service robots (RSRs). The model illustrates the relationships among facilitators, attitudes toward Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), anxiety toward robots, anticipated service quality, and the acceptance of RSRs. Specifically, the researcher investigates the extent to which the facilitators of usefulness, social capability, the appearance of RSRs, and the attitudes toward HRI affect acceptance and increase the anticipation of service quality. The researcher also tests the inhibiting role of pre-existing anxiety toward robots on the relationship between these facilitators and attitudes …

Understanding The Effects Of Regulatory Focus On Proactive Behavior, Brian P. Waterwall

Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past decade, motivation research has focused on what motivates employees to engage in behaviors that fall outside of ones' job/task requirements and bring about meaningful change in the organization's environment, proactive behaviors (Bateman & Crant, 1993; Crant, 2000). Recently, regulatory focus theory has received considerable research attention because of its potential to explain additional variance in behavior beyond other motivational constructs. Regulatory focus theory suggests that during goal striving, people will display behaviors associated with their current motivational state. Drawing from prior research examining motivation and behavior, I propose and test a model that examines the effects of …

Individual And Organizational Celebrity: Two Essays On Media Attributions And Organizational Agency, Laura D'Oria

Doctoral Dissertations

Organizational researchers are increasingly interested in how organizations are perceived by their constituents, because such perceptions have important implications for strategy formulation, strategy implementation and organizational outcomes. In this two-essay dissertation, I focus on a specific type of social approval asset, celebrity – the extent to which a social actor attains high levels of public attention and elicits positive emotional responses. Specifically, I examine how celebrity emerges at different organizational levels.

In Essay 1, I first develop a theoretical multilevel framework of business celebrity, building on agenda setting theory and framing theory. Second, I propose a typology of business celebrity …

Social Loafing Construct Validity In Higher Education: How Well Do Three Measures Of Social Loafing Stand Up To Scrutiny?, Jacquelyn Deleau

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the construct validity of social loafing using convergent and discriminant validity principles. Three instruments that purport to measure social loafing were factor analyzed: A ten-item instrument by George (1992), a 13-item instrument by Mulvey and Klein (1998), and a 22-item instrument by Jassawalla, Sashittal, and Malshe (2009) for a total of 45 items that were compiled into a single instrument with which data were collected, correlated, and factor analyzed.

One hundred and sixty graduate and undergraduates enrolled in management courses at a small private Northern California university were surveyed. Thirteen classes were …

Constrained Multi-Group Project Allocation Using Mahalanobis Distance, Abdulaziz Saud Alkabaa

Doctoral Dissertations

Optimal allocation is one of the most active research areas in operation research using binary integer variables. The allocation of multi constrained projects among several options available along a given planning horizon is an especially significant problem in the general area of item classification. The main goal of this dissertation is to develop an analytical approach for selecting projects that would be most attractive from an economic point of view to be developed or allocated among several options, such as in-house engineers and private contractors (in transportation projects). A relevant limiting resource in addition to the availability of funds is …

Developing Entrepreneurial Ecoystems: Integrating Social Evolutionary Theory And Signaling Theory To Explain The Role Of Media In Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Jason Andrew Strickling

Doctoral Dissertations

Entrepreneurship drives innovation, social change, and economic development locally, regionally, nationally, and worldwide (Konczal, 2013). The activities, relationships, and entities utilized to enhance entrepreneurial activity are just one important part of what scholars have termed the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE), in acknowledgement of the interconnectedness of these factors with other market dimensions.

This dissertation integrates previous definitions of the EE and proposes a new definition that emphasizes the importance of the social environment and the role of communication for change and EE development. Building on evidence from diverse streams of research to further our understanding of entrepreneurial ecosystem activity, this dissertation …

Highly-Educated Immigrant Entrepreneurs' Location Decisions, Nastaran Simarasl

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I draw on theories from sociology, economics, and economic geography, namely ethnic enclave theory, location theory, and heterolocalism theory to investigate factors that highly-educated immigrant entrepreneurs take into account when they decide where to locate their start-up. In doing so, I use an experimental method, conjoint analysis, on a sample of first-generation graduate students at the University of Tennessee to examine the factors that highly-educated aspiring immigrant entrepreneurs take into account when deciding about their start-up location. This dissertation is one of the first studies to bring theories from other disciplines to provide a more comprehensive understanding …

Governance Of Supply Chain Information Flows, Joonhwan In

Doctoral Dissertations

With the recognition of the criticality of information flow in the supply chain, much research has examined various pertinent areas such as information sharing and the use of IT applications, and generated valuable insights about how an organization could reap the benefits through an effective supply chain information flow by building on the implicit assumption that organizations in the supply chain cope with issues around supply chain information in a similar way, which would lead to the conjecture that the quality of supply chain information is equivalent across supply chain members. However, many organizations still struggle for poor information flow …

Applications Of Business Analytics In Marketing: Joint Modeling Of Correlated Multivariate Outcomes, Sumin Han

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation I develop a general regression methodology for mixed multivariate outcomes. This methodology extends the generalized linear mixed model paradigm (glmm) to allow for correlated multivariate normal random effects across regression equations for differing outcomes. This methodology, referred to as joint modeling, is particularly useful in business and marketing applications where multiple outcomes of varying data type must be analyzed simultaneously with regression.

I apply joint models to binary and continuous measures of customer loyalty in a large multinational survey of car owners. Survey respondents’ word-of-mouth and desire to switch brands were used as proxies for attitudinal loyalty …

Examining The Nature And Consequences Of Interfunctional Bias In A Corporate Setting, William Adam Powell

Doctoral Dissertations

Interfunctional bias is examined in this dissertation as a potential barrier to interfunctional cooperation. Interfunctional cooperation is desirable in modern corporate organizations as a contributor to effective service delivery, operations planning, and sales performance. Interfunctional stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination are hypothesized to relate positively, and together provide the bias-based theoretical basis through which barriers to interfunctional cooperation can be more thoroughly understood. Based on the extant literature in marketing and psychology, competing models of interfunctional bias are developed and hypothesized. In the first of three studies a questionnaire-based survey of supply chain employees’ perceptions of salespeople permitted the examination of …

Cross-Functional Integration In The Supply Chain: Construct Development And The Impact Of Workplace Behaviors, Daniel A. Pellathy

Doctoral Dissertations

Cross-functional integration (CFI) is central to supply chain theory and practice. However, researchers have yet to settled on a consistent definition or measure of CFI, creating confusion over its conceptual content and making it difficult to validate given operationalizations. In addition, researchers have only recently begun to explore the impact of workplace behaviors on CFI and supply chain performance. The two studies in this dissertation seek to contribute to the supply chain literature in both of these areas. Study 1 develops a comprehensive definition and valid measure of CFI based on a systematic process of construct development. Study 2 employs …

The Effect Of Corporate Social Performance On Acquisition Performance, Sammy G. Muriithi

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I investigate the impact that corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement may have on post-acquisition performance outcomes. I argue that prospective targets are among the audiences that observe the firm's corporate social activities and make judgments out of the signals portrayed by such activity. With prospective targets being largely more successful than their counterparts, it stands to reason that they would prefer to be acquired by successful firms that would likely assure benefits in the long term. The socially responsible acquirer would likely be viewed as the more attractive suitor since the established moral and reputational capital present …

Subordinate Humor And Leader-Member Exchange Relationships: Laugh And The Boss Laughs With You?, Nancy Marietta Scott

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation used a political lens to investigate humor in a leader-member exchange (LMX) framework to explore how subordinates can use humor to manage relationships with their superiors and the subsequent outcomes associated with the quality of these relationships. This dissertation linked humor to outcomes that had not previously been studied, such as political skill and employee guarding tactics. This dissertation uniquely contributes to the current body of research by 1) empirically investigating subordinate humor in an LMX framework, 2) exploring how political skill affects the relationship between humor and LMX relationship quality, and 3) examining an unexplored outcome of …

Rogue And Deviants: A Game-Theoretic Perspective On Opportunism In Strategic Alliance Relationships, Anton Pavol Fenik

Doctoral Dissertations

Opportunistic behavior is often studied in interfirm relationships, yet we don’t know the different types of behavior that are hidden behind the general opportunism label. Therefore, using game theory as guidance, this dissertation examines the roots of and influences on two types of opportunistic behaviors in strategic alliances. Specifically, the author suggests that the strategic alliances literature would benefit from recognizing that opportunistic behaviors don’t always originate from the firm (rogue-firm opportunism), but instead often originate from individual alliance employees (deviant-personal opportunism). Moreover, this dissertation examines how relational factors between two alliance partners impact these two types of opportunistic behaviors. …

Joint Optimization Of Allocation And Release Policy Decisions For Surgical Block Time Under Uncertainty, Mina Loghavi

Doctoral Dissertations

The research presented in this dissertation contributes to the growing literature on applications of operations research methodology to healthcare problems through the development and analysis of mathematical models and simulation techniques to find practical solutions to fundamental problems facing nearly all hospitals.

In practice, surgical block schedule allocation is usually determined regardless of the stochastic nature of case demand and duration. Once allocated, associated block time release policies, if utilized, are often simple rules that may be far from optimal. Although previous research has examined these decisions individually, our model considers them jointly. A multi-objective model that characterizes financial, temporal, …

The Design And Evaluation Of An Anonymous, Two-Way, Ethics Management Reporting System, Jacob A. Young

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite a recognized need for whistleblowing systems in academic research, little to no attention has been given to the necessary requirements for and specific design of effective whistleblowing systems. In order to increase the rate of reporting, it is critical for reporting systems to be designed with the intent to reduce employee fears and inhibitions by reducing the potential for retaliation. Therefore, the goal of this three-essay dissertation was to enhance a firm's ability to solicit and investigate concerns by proposing and evaluating a system aimed at fostering anonymous, two-way communication between employees and investigators of wrongdoing.

In essay one, …

Managing The Co-Creation Of Innovation: The Influence Of Team Regulatory Style And Reflexivity On Customer Idea Selection And Innovation Outcomes, Matthew Brady Shaner

Doctoral Dissertations

The cocreation of new products with customers has been shown to be associated with higher new product quality, the development of products that more closely match customers' unmet needs, lower development costs, and faster speed-to-market (Hoyer, Chandy, Dorotic, Krafft, & Singh, 2010; O'Hern & Rindfleisch, 2010). However, little is known about the evaluation and selection process in the cocreation of innovation (Bayus, 2013). To be successful, product development teams must identify customer ideas that have the potential to both fulfill unmet market needs and be profitable for the firm. This dissertation looks at two cognitive factors related to team decision-making, …

Arbitrage Risk, Investor Sentiment And Maximum Daily Returns, Kenneth A. Tah

Doctoral Dissertations

We test the cross-sectional relation between daily maximum return (MAX) and return in the following month for stocks with high and low idiosyncratic volatility. We use portfolio level analysis and firm-level cross-sectional regression to find that the negative and significant relation between MAX and expected stock return (known as the "MAX effect") is a non-January phenomenon observed predominantly on a sample of stocks with high idiosyncratic volatility. We find that the effect of investor sentiment on the MAX effect depends on arbitrage risk. Our findings suggest that arbitrageurs find it difficult to correct the mispricing of stocks with extreme positive …

An Empirical Investigation Of Technology Usage, Virtual Status, Organizational Justice, Need For Affiliation, Organizational Identification And Their Influence On Work Success, Julia Crider Graham

Doctoral Dissertations

Advancements in information communication technology have led to a growth in the telecommuting work force and increased interest in telecommuting research. Antecedents of work success are re-examined. This study attempts to disclose the relationships among communication technology usage, need for affiliation, organizational justice, employee's virtual status and organizational identification and how these factors affect work success.

Four main questions drove this research: "Do organizational justice and employee's virtual status moderate the relationship between communication technology usage and organizational identification?" ; Do organizational justice and employee's virtual status moderate the relationship between need for affiliation and organizational identification?"; Do organizational identification, …

Anchoring Bias, Idiosyncratic Volatility And The Cross-Section Of Stock Returns, Cedric Tresor Luma Mbanga

Doctoral Dissertations

Ang, Hodrick, Xing and Zhang (2006) document an anomaly in the cross-section of stock returns. They show that high idiosyncratic volatility (IVOL) firms earn lower returns in the following month. Specifically, they find after sorting stocks in quintile portfolios based on the previous month's IVOL that a zero-investment portfolio long the most volatile quintile of stocks and short the least yields about -1% during the subsequent month. The evidence reported in Ang, Hodrick, Xing and Zhang (2006) is primarily puzzling because traditional asset pricing theories suggest that (i) only systematic risk should be priced, (ii) to the extent that markets …

A Case Study Of E-Leadership Constructs: An Assessment Of Leadership In A Healthcare Organization, Kevin James Lovelace

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to identify the components of e-leadership theory and how it can be used to teach healthcare leaders to develop virtual teams in a healthcare organization. This study will define a way in which leaders can use e-leadership components to increase the efficacy of virtual teams. In particular, this study will examine the perceptions executive leaders have of e-leadership constructs.

This study used a mixed method concurrent triangulation design to examine perceptions of e-leadership theory which may be used to improve the efficacy of virtual teams. The e-leadership theory as a construct was first measured …

Hospital Competitive Strategies And Performance Outcomes, Wei Wu

Doctoral Dissertations

Hospitals are under increasing pressure to improve performance and healthcare outcomes. The existing literature does not point to a clear conclusion on whether competition can help address the performance challenges of hospitals which lead to improvements in clinical outcomes. Prior research on the effects of hospital competitive strategies usually focuses on one strategy or one type of outcome at a time. As such, there is a dearth of systematical studies on different hospital competitive strategies and their consequent performance outcomes.

The main objective of this dissertation is to examine several hospital competitive strategies and quantitatively validate the implications of each …

The Effects Of Group Personality Composition On Project Team Performance: Operationalizations And Outcomes, Mark Collins

Doctoral Dissertations

Teams are used to achieve organizational goals and objectives, and their success has led to a broad increase in their use in businesses, non-profits and NGO’s. Extant research suggests that group personality composition is related to team performance (Barry and Stewart, 1996; Halfhill, Nielsen, Sundstrom, and Weilbaecher, 2005; Peeters, Rutte, Tuijl, and Reymen, 2006; Bell, 2007). Project teams are frequently used in the business world and undertake a wide variety of tasks (Hackman, 1990). This paper investigates the relationship between the group personality composition of project teams and team performance. The study context is project teams involved in a semester-long …