Business Commons^™

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 …

An Examination Of Reward-Based Crowdfunding Performance And Success, Matthew Alan Grace

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reward-based crowdfunding (RBCF), where fundraisers raise funds from a crowd of investors in return for a reward, has carved a niche as a proven option for not just entrepreneurs seeking early-stage funding, but also for established firms looking to presell or market a new product or service. Establishing crowdfunding performance and success factors is important for researchers and practitioners alike. Fortunately, a large portion of the RBCF academic literature is immediately applicable to entrepreneurs, with very little additional interpretation required. However, important questions about RBCF remain. The first paper in this three-part dissertation, a systematic literature review, examines some of …

Distinctiveness In Hospital Safety And Security, Jimmy Reid Rollins Jr.

Doctor of Education Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to understand leadership and how these ideas feed into a professional dynamic of employee behavior, organizational leadership, motivation, and workplace culture, and how there is a real human interest as employees excel, grow, mature, and become better individuals.

Participants in this study were employees of a regional health organization and employed with the job title of public safety officer, public safety supervisor, or public safety administrator. This research used a mixed methodology approach in an explanatory design. A survey was completed followed by one on one interviews.

Conducting research into the safety and security …

Franchising: A Microfoundational View Of Personality Relationships Towards Franchisee Financial Performance, Christopher Heath Rehkop

Theses and Dissertations

The franchisor-franchisee relationship is unique; it provides a blend of entrepreneurial spirit with the structure of an established corporation. Franchisees operate with a degree of independence, taking certain risks and managing the details of day-to-day business, yet are also obligated to follow prescribed systems and processes of the franchisor. Both parties have a vested interest in the success of this relationship. While many macro-level factors (economy, technology, and demographics) come into play for a franchise’s success, one micro-level variable that may be identified early during recruitment is the personality characteristic of the franchisee candidate. A micro-level or “microfoundations” approach addresses …

The Museum Professionals’ Experiences Survey: Assessing Motivational Processes In Museums Through The Context Of The Organizing Framework, Devin E. Geraci

Museum Studies Theses

Through the development and evaluation of the Museum Professionals’ Experiences Survey, this research blends Museum Studies and Organizational Behavior to understand managers’ perceptions regarding employee motivation, key drivers of motivation, trends in professional experiences’, and the different experiences of management and non-management personnel in the context of museum workplaces. With responses from 276 museum professionals in the United States, the application of this knowledge can be used to develop a workplace climate that encourages job satisfaction, high performance, and organizational commitment, and thus more positive outcomes for the museum. Recent controversies and public testimonies are evidence of negative professional experiences …

The Impact Of A Transformational Leader On Employees Displaying Organizational Citizenship Behavior In Two Medium-Sized Customer Support Organizations, Jameen Heleena Mathews

Theses and Dissertations

This narrative analysis study explored the relationship between transformational leadership styles and employees exhibiting discretionary behaviors related to performance in an organization. The study investigated the relationship between transformational leadership and its impact on employee discretionary behavior, the impact that transformational leadership has on the employee, and the organization's overall performance. It investigated whether or not there are any specific dimensions of transformational leadership that influence organizational citizenship behavior in customer support organizations. Understanding how a transformational leader behaves and interacts with employees in an organization is important when considering its contribution to employee performance and workplace behaviors. As employers …

Culture And Cyber Security: How Cultural Tightness-Looseness Moderates The Effects Of Threat And Coping Appraisals On Mobile Cyber Hygiene, Kok Wei Hoe

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

With increasing adoption of smartphone for mobile-commerce and increasing incidents of cyber breaches, it is timely to investigate how the weakest link in this security chain, human, can be strengthened. To date, there has been a gap in research examining the impact of culture on protection motivation. Most extant research focus on technological, organizational and behavioral factors affecting protection motivation. In this study, I develop a model integrating Theory of Cultural Tightness-Looseness and Protective Motivation Theory to investigate how cultural norms, define as shared expectations and rules that guide behavior of people within social groups, affect a person’s intentions to …

Leader Strategies That Increase Employee Performance In The Nigerian Public Sector, Oluwashola Martha Elias-Fatile

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Low employee performance can hinder productivity in the Nigerian public sector. Leaders of public sector organizations in Nigeria who lack strategies to increase employees’ performance experience decreased productivity. Grounded in transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies leaders in the Nigerian public sector used to increase employee performance. Participants were four public sector leaders in Nigeria who successfully developed and implemented strategies to increase employee performance. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and internal and external documents, such as training programs, training calendars, meeting agendas, staff letters of recommendation, and staff handbooks. …

Illuminating Pay Secrecy: Construct Clarification And An Exploration Of Effects Via The Incentive And Sorting Tracks, Sarah Holtzen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pay secrecy is a burgeoning debate in compensation research. On one side of the debate, it is argued that pay secrecy is a useful and beneficial practice because it can prevent potential dissatisfaction and destructive competition possible when people make unfavorable pay comparisons. On the other side, it is argued that pay secrecy is undesirable because it obscures the motivational properties of pay and does not prevent people from making pay comparisons, nor safeguard them from the resulting dissatisfaction. Despite the popularity of pay secrecy in organizations today, extant research has failed to provide any definitive answers as to whether …

The Importance Of Leadership Motivational Activities In Encouraging International Students To Return To Their Tier 1 Universities, Eric Hall

Dissertations

Abstract

The problem is international students are not returning to their undergraduate Tier 1 institutions during a period when quality student enrollment is essential, and there is scant research on academic advising strategies that can be used to combat international student attrition at these universities (O’Keefe, 2013). Studies have often lumped all international students together and made efforts to attract more international students, but the reasons why international students chose research universities, and returned, were not being investigated in this manner (Hegarty, 2014).

The purpose of this proposed study was to gain an understanding of the decision-making and reasoning processes …

Corporate Prediction Markets For Business Decisions: New Applications, Challenges And Limitations, Jessica A. Zinger

2018

Prediction markets, introduced roughly 30 years ago, are a way to leverage market pricing for information aggregation. Research has shown the markets provide accurate (often superior) forecasts. To date, research has been predominately of an economic nature. Despite numerous articles on the application of prediction markets in businesses (Hewlett-Packard, Google) the management literature has largely ignored the topic. This dissertation follows a three-paper model to begin to address the perceived gap.

Paper one introduces a new application of the market, namely its use as a determinant of employee compensation packages. Employers often claim to utilize a pay-for-performance model. However, principle-agent …

Strategies For Motivating Sales Employees' Performance Within Small Businesses In The United States, Wesley Chikwanda Chishimba

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The loss of revenue, profits, brand, and corporate sustainability are possible for companies whose managers do not use strategies to motivate employee sales performance. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies managers use to motivate sales employees' performance. A purposeful sample of 3 managers from U.S. companies with sales employees shared their strategies to motivate sales employees' performance. Methodological triangulation was used to review and analyze information from semistructured interviews, journal notes, member checking data, and review and analysis of relevant company documents. Additionally, coding indicated 4 main themes supporting the benefits of strategies to …

Motivation Strategies For Improving Consistency In Live-Entertainment Employees' Performances, Anthony G. Ricotta

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The lack of discrete motivation strategies to improve the consistency of employees' performances was the problem that instigated this research. The purpose of this single-case study was to explore the motivation strategies live-entertainment artistic directors (ADs) use to improve consistency in the artists' performances. Data were collected within an international live-entertainment company to uncover whether artists self-determined the approach to improving consistency in performance or whether consistency occurred from strategies developed by the ADs. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with ADs and senior ADs and performance evaluations of employees, and then analyzed using Miles, Huberman, and Saldana's data analysis …

Factors Affecting Employee Persistence In An Online Management Development Certificate Program, Todd D. Chester

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An important approach to prepare new managers for increased responsibility is participation in online management development programs; however, there is a lack of information about the factors that affect employee completion of these programs. This study addressed how chief executive officers (CEOs) can implement these programs to rapidly develop new managers who are qualified to serve in the leadership roles left behind by many retirees. This qualitative descriptive case study explored employees' perceptions about persistence in an online management development certificate program at a U.S. nonprofit organization. Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory and Rovai's composite persistence model provided the conceptual framework for …

Self-Determination And Human Resource Retention: Employee And Volunteer Motivation To Stay In Rural Oregon Nonprofit Organizations, Nicole Richman

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

The present study used an existing model, the Volunteer Functions Inventory, to test the functional motives of volunteers and employees to engage in or continue service with a rural nonprofit organization. Self-Determination theory provides the underlying framework for the Volunteer Functions Inventory and the six motivational functions: understanding, values, enhancement, career, social, and protective. The model was tested using a sample of 168 employees and volunteers from Area Agencies on Aging located in rural Oregon. The results indicated that the protective function, reducing personal guilt by serving others in the community with less means, similarly motivates employees and volunteers to …

A Comprehensive Study Of Intrapreneruship As A Cultural Form Of Innovation And Sustainable Competive Advantage, Timothy Charles Mcdowell

Theses and Dissertations

Intrapreneurial activity within the firm varies within the contexts of employee perception and motivation. The problem explored in this study is to better understand complex internal workings of organizational dynamics, discovering what factors energize employees to perform intrapreneurially in the aerospace industry. This study examines antecedents and consequences of intrapreneurial activity within firms leading to innovation as a sustainable competitive advantage. The need for specific research is evident from limited data available regarding intrapreneurial motivation from the individual perspective within the aerospace community. The phenomenon of intrapreneurship within the aerospace industry often occurs over multiple years. This study examines the …

A Phenomenological Study Of Executive's Perspectives Of Hope Theory In Executive Coaching, Steven Hodlin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The executive coaching and positive psychology fields are growing; however, minimal research exists regarding the coaching experiences of executive coachees with the various approaches a coach can utilize. The problem addressed in this study was the lack of research on consistent standards regarding how executive coaching should be conducted. The primary purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of executives who have been coached using approaches based on Snyder's hope theory, Buckingham and Clifton's theories of strength-based approaches to leadership, and the theories of positive psychology advanced by Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi. The participants in this …

Strategies Used By Nonprofit Leaders To Motivate Volunteers, Michael C. Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A motivated volunteer workforce is essential to many nonprofit organizations and the success of the organizational leaders. The purpose of this qualitative single-case study was to explore motivational strategies used by 3 leaders of a nonprofit organization in Minnesota's Valley X through the conceptual lens of Maslow's theory of human motivation. Data were collected using semistructured interviews, organizational documents, and online databases. Using thematic analysis, 4 key themes emerged: process strengths, process opportunities, results strengths, and results opportunities. Open communication, appreciation events, building relationships, and recognition and rewards are strategies that nonprofit leaders can use to motivate their workforce, especially …

Exploring Which Leadership Styles Are Effective With Millennial Employees, Samuel Long

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Managers struggle with how to motivate the Millennial generation employee. Research that explores which leadership styles are effective with Millennial generation employees is limited. The purpose of this study was to explore what leadership styles are effective with Millennial employees, which led to a key research question: Which leadership styles facilitate employee motivation for the Millennial generation? The theoretical framework was based on the social learning, transformational leadership, and servant leadership theories, which were used to identify effective leadership styles. In the theoretical framework, different motivation theories were presented to establish the context in which motivation was discussed. This quantitative …

Strategies For Improving Labor Productivity In Construction Companies, Lakew G. Buli

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Even with advanced technology and new project management methodologies, construction company leaders continue to face challenges to improve labor productivity. This multiple case study was an exploration of the strategies that construction company leaders use to improve labor productivity in Doha, Qatar. The case population consisted of 6 construction company leaders operating in Doha, Qatar, who successfully identified and implemented strategies to improve labor productivity. The conceptual framework for this study was the expectancy theory. The data collection process included semistructured interviews and company documentation. Data were compiled and organized, disassembled into fragments, reassembled into a sequence of groups, and …

Organizational Politics And Employee Behavior: A Comparison Between The U.S. And Lebanon, Yara A. Elkhalil

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizational politics (OP) is describe by many researchers as actions which affect activities, behaviors, and most importantly decision making through the use of power. Guided by Hofstede's cultural dimension theory and Mallol's, Holtom's and Lee's job embeddedness theory, the aim of this study was to examine employees' reactions toward OP regarding the substantially different cultures of the U.S. and Lebanon. These specific two countries were selected due to a gap in published research on culture and value differences. Research questions examined the extent to which cultural values differed and how employees respond differently facing OP. A survey-based research design included …

Engagement Strategies For Catalyzing It Sales Team Performance In Asia, Jeb Stephen Hurley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sales leaders who can foster sales team engagement drive an organization's sales performance. Some information technology sales leaders lack team engagement strategies that support revenue results above market growth rates. The purpose of this qualitative, single-case study was to explore the team engagement strategies of 6 sales leaders, in various offices in the Asia-Pacific region of a single, public information technology company, who demonstrated the ability to support year-on-year revenue results above market growth rates. Participants demonstrated the ability to foster team engagement and consistently deliver year-on-year revenue results above market growth rates. The conceptual framework for this study was …

Strategies To Sustain Positive Leader-Employee Relationships To Increase Productivity, Bont'e Twyman-Abrams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Senior executive leaders face ongoing challenges assessing whether their leadership teams have the competencies to respond to rapidly changing business conditions resulting from negative leader-employee interactions. The purpose of this qualitative single-unit case study was to explore strategies that team leaders at an online, for-profit high school education system located in Delaware, used to sustain positive leader-employee relationships to increase employee productivity. The population consisted of 5 current team leaders (faculty members and executives) at the study site who had experienced team member losses, yet had implemented effective strategies to sustain positive leader-employee relationships and increased employee productivity. The conceptual …

Strategies Used By Banking Managers To Reduce Employee Turnover, Amena Shahid

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee retention of an organization's most talented and skilled employees is vital to success. A lack of managerial strategies for motivating teams and a lack of understanding employees' needs adds to an increased rate of employee turnover in banking organizations. Some bank managers do not possess the abilities and strategies required to reduce employee turnover. Grounded by the motivation-hygiene theory; the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore successful strategies some bank managers used to reduce employee turnover. The population consisted of 5 banking managers in 3 banking organizations located in Toronto GTA, Ontario Canada in which successful …

Law Enforcement Employees' Experiences Of Skillful Recognition By Leaders, Dimitra Patterson Cornelius

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The performance of public agency employees and their management teams have long been subject to critical comments and public doubt. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of police leaders and staff with regard to skillful recognition of excellent performance within the profession. Twenty law enforcement employees, including leaders, sworn officers, and nonuniformed civilian employees in southwestern North Carolina, consented to in-depth, semistructured interviews concerning their lived experiences. Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory was the conceptual framework for this study. A modified van Kaam analysis resulted in the identification of 5 significant, but broad, themes. The themes …

Absenteeism In An International Custom Software Engineering Company, Jennifer M. Mudek

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Absenteeism has a negative impact on organizational output in the form of lost productivity and profit reduction for software engineering companies. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to explore the strategies that software engineering managers utilize for reducing absenteeism. The theory of planned behavior formed the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews from a purposeful sample of 11 managers at an international custom software engineering company. Data collection also included organizational data on employee absences for the past 5 years (2011-2015), e-mail memos, newsletters, employee handbook, and employee performance reviews. Based on …

Exploring Generation Y Leaders' Motivation And Retention Within The Service Industry, Jason Earl Wiggins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The retention of millennial leaders continues to be a concern for executive leadership. The problem addressed in this study was the gap in research regarding how the motivation of Generation Y leaders affects employee satisfaction and retention factors. The purpose of this phenomenological inquiry was to explore the retention rate for 20 Generation Y service leaders in the southwestern United States to illuminate patterns of satisfied millennial leaders by drawing from employers' role in motivating and retaining millennial leaders in the service industry. Herzberg's 2-factor theory, Vroom's expectancy theory, Adams's equity theory, and Maslow's hierarchy of needs comprised the conceptual …

Strategies For Retaining Employees In The Hospitality Industry, Melvia Edna Scott

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee retention is a critical issue for business leaders. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported over 4.5 million employee separations in 2014 because of resignations, layoffs, or terminations. Hospitality managers face some of the lowest employee retention rates of any industry, which leads to poor customer satisfaction and decreased profitability. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the perceptions of 3 hospitality managers from 3 different mid-sized hospitality organizations in Brevard County, Florida. The conceptual framework for this study was built upon motivation theory; existence, relatedness, and growth theory; and expectancy theory. The data were …

Hotel Managers' Motivational Strategies For Enhancing Employee Performance, Vanessa Lizzette Barbosa-Mccoy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

More than 600,000 employees depart the hospitality industry for a variety of reasons such as lack of motivational strategies (MS) of hotel general managers (GMs). The purpose of this multiple case study using census sampling was to explore what MS hotel GMs used to enhance employee performance. The 3 GMs of 3 full-service branded hotels with a guest capacity of 160-699 were randomly selected in South Florida. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with the hotel GMs, employee performance evaluations, and results of guest and employee satisfaction surveys from the hotel GMs. Data analysis involved methodological triangulation to determine how …

Strategies Software Company Sales Managers Implemented To Reduce Voluntary Employee Turnover, Pete Taylor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The high rates of voluntary employee turnover in software sales organizations have forced business leaders to search for strategies that reduce voluntary employee turnover. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies of a small group of sales managers who had demonstrated reduced voluntary employee turnover in their software manufacturing companies. Ten managers from 5 software manufacturing companies who had a minimum of 5 years of management experience were recruited and participated in semistructured, face-to-face interviews. The conceptual framework included Herzberg's 2-factor theory for exploring the relationship between job satisfaction and voluntary employee turnover. Open and …