Business Commons^™

Managing Sales And Product Returns Under The Word-Of-Mouth Effect : Pricing, Quality, And Restocking Fee Decisions, Sun Yuen Hui

Theses & Dissertations

This paper considers a two-echelon supply chain involving a manufacturer and a retailer who make their pricing, quality, and restocking fee decisions under the word-of-mouth (WOM) effect. To investigate the decision-making problem for the sales and product returns, we construct a leader-follower game model in which the manufacturer first determines his quality effort and the wholesale price and the retailer then decides on her retail price and the restocking fee. Our results show that the wholesale and retail prices under no WOM effect are smaller than those when the WOM effect exists; and, as the WOM has a higher impact …

A Simulation Experimental Study On The Utility Of Pay Changes, Liu Ye

Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis, we conduct an experimental simulation of 131 students from a university in Hong Kong and investigate the relationship between pay changes and the perceived values (i.e., utility). Applying traditional psychophysical methods, we measure the utility of pay changes (i.e., pay raises and pay cuts) of different sizes by individual responses (i.e., happiness/unhappiness). Drawing on utility theory and expectancy theory, we examine the function that best fits this relationship by considering common function forms including linear, quadratic, logarithmic, and power functions. Using regression techniques, we find that a quadratic function best fits the data, and the utility function …

The Mediating Role Of Representational Predicaments : Between Autocratic Leadership And Subordinates’ Workplace Behaviors, Nan Wang

Theses & Dissertations

A representational predicament for an employee is a negative experience in which that employee believes that a key authority, such as his/her supervisor, has unfavorable perceptions about himself/herself caused by misconception, bias, or ignorance. That implies he/she is experiencing injustice at the workplace. Drawing for underlying explanations on the theories of interactional justice and equity, this study examines, through quantitative and qualitative methods, how autocratic leadership influences subordinates’ representational predicaments and in turn adversely affects subordinates’ behaviors in the workplace. The model developed in this thesis proposes that a subordinate is likely to have a stronger experience of representational predicaments …

An Improved Model For Trust-Aware Recommender Systems Based On Multi-Faceted Trust, Peihu Zhu

Theses & Dissertations

As customers enjoy the convenience of online shopping today, they face the problem of selecting from hundreds of thousands of products. Recommender systems, which make recommendations by matching products to customers based on the features of the products and the purchasing history of customers, are increasingly being incorporated into e-commerce websites. Collaborative filtering is a major approach to design algorithms for these systems. Much research has been directed toward enhancing the performance of recommender systems by considering various psychological and behavioural factors affecting the behaviour of users, e.g. trust and emotion.

While e-commerce firms are keen to exploit information on …

Ethical Leadership In Social Enterprises : Multilevel Investigation Of Its Influence On Team And Individual Prosocial Voice, Pok Man Tang

Theses & Dissertations

This research paper seeks to draw on social learning theory (Bandura, 1977) as an overarching framework to examine how unit managers’ ethical leadership style affects the team and individual prosocial voice behaviors in the context of social enterprises in Hong Kong.

Ethical leadership has been found to be conducive to both desirable team and individual employee behaviors. However, scholarly understanding of the multi-level effects of ethical leadership and the underlying mechanisms involved is rather limited. Moreover, previous research has directed attention almost exclusively to the influence of ethical leadership in the context of commercial organizations. This narrow stance has curiously …

Designing Multi-Target Salesforce Incentive Contract, Wenxin Huang

Theses & Dissertations

Multi-target incentive contracts are widely observed in practice to stimulate salesforce effort. However, little is known about their effectiveness and the issues involved in designing them. In this thesis, we investigate the incentive contracting problem between a manufacturer and an agent when the realized sales of a product are affected by both the agent's selling effort and the type of the agent. The agent's type is uncertain to the manufacturer, whereas the agent can observe the actual type when exerting her selling effort. Again, this is unobservable by the manufacturer. For contract design problem, we develop a principal-agent model with …

Information Leakage And Stackelberg Leadership In Cournot Competition, Huajiang Luo

Theses & Dissertations

In duopoly Cournot competition with sequential moves, it is well known that each player prefers Stackelberg leadership without demand uncertainty. We study the same game when the demand is uncertain, and firms possess some private information about the uncertain demand. There are two effects of private information in this game. First, when the Stackelberg leader moves first, its private information is leaked to, or inferred by the Stackelberg follower via the output quantity. Hence, the Stackelberg follower makes decision based on more accurate information than the leader. Second, the leader incurs a cost to signal its information to the follower, …

Joint Lead Time And Price Quotation : Dynamic Or Static?, Guo Zhang

Theses & Dissertations

Intuitively, quoting dynamic lead time and price to customers based on real-time system state provides more efficient capacity utilization and increases revenue compared with quoting static lead time and price. However, dynamic quotation may require higher operational costs for the firm and it is often inconvenient to customers. This study aims to compare dynamic and static lead time and price quotations under fixed capacity and different potential demand rates. We hypothesize that there exists a potential demand rate under which the additional costs of dynamic quotation and the additional profit from dynamic quotation are equal. Thus static quotation may yield …

Effects Of Goal Interdependence On Help-Seeking Through Knowledge Sharing And Knowledge Hiding : The Moderating Roles Of Reciprocity Beliefs, Yuen Lam, Fanny Bavik

Theses & Dissertations

The effects of goal interdependence on employees’ performance outcomes have been well documented in the literature. Yet, the relationship between goal interdependence and employees’ proactive behaviors remains largely unexplored. Integrating the theory of cooperation and competition with the employee proactivity literature, this study investigates how cooperative goal interdependence and competitive goal interdependence respectively influence employee knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding, and in turn shape their propensity to seek help from coworkers. It further examines reciprocity beliefs as an individual factor in affecting the indirect effect of goal interdependence on help seeking. Specifically, positive reciprocity belief is hypothesized to moderate the …

Financial Fraud Detection By Using Grammar-Based Multiobjective Genetic Programming With Ensemble Learning, Haibing Li

Theses & Dissertations

Financial fraud is a criminal act, which violates the law, rules or policy to gain unauthorized financial benefit. As an increasingly serious problem, it has attracted a lot of concerns. The major consequences are loss of billions of dollars each year, investor confidence and corporate reputation. Therefore, a study area called Financial Fraud Detection (FFD) is obligatory, in order to prevent the destructive results caused by financial fraud. In general, traditional modeling approaches are applied and based on pre-defined hypothesis testing of causes and effects for FFD problems. In addition, the evaluation criteria are often based on variable significance level …

Competitive Market Research And Product Design, Haixiu Wang

Theses & Dissertations

To learn the uncertainty of customer preference on the attribute of new product, usually a firm needs to do market research. Developing a product on an attribute which is less preferred by customer may lead to a failure. In addition, a firm used to take efforts to design the product. In recent years, we observed a new business model in which the firm does not take effort to design new product, nor does she do market research by herself. She provides rewards to attract outside designers to design new product. Some designers may take effort and design products based on …

Buyer Beware : Consumer Response To Manipulations Of Online Product Reviews, Mengzhou Zhuang

Theses & Dissertations

Online product reviews have become an important and influential source of information for consumers. Firms often manipulate online product reviews to influence consumer perceptions about the product, making it a research topic of urgent need for theory development and empirical investigation. In this thesis, we examine how consumers perceive and respond to the three commonly used manipulation tactics. Firstly, an exploratory pre-study via in-depth interviews with online shoppers indicates that consumers commonly have the knowledge for online review manipulations as well as for detecting them. In the first study, a survey was used to investigate the three popular manipulation tactics …

Open-Minded Discussion In Interdepartmental Collaboration : Contribution Of Goal Interdependence And Social Motives, Jiewei, Antonia Lu

Theses & Dissertations

Combining theories of social motives, goal interdependence, and conflict management, this study theorized a model in which interdepartmental goal interdependence affects conflict outcomes between different departments through open-minded discussion dynamics adopted by employees from different departments in the organization. This study also proposes that social motives moderate the link between inter-departmental goal interdependence and open-minded discussion.

A sample of 133 employees from different business organizations in China were interviewed to recall a critical incident when they had a conflict with their coworker from different departments. SEM results and other analysis results support the hypotheses that cooperative interdepartmental goal interdependence and …

Pricing And Local-Content Decisions Of A Multinational Firm In A Duopoly Market, Nanqin Liu

Theses & Dissertations

The internationalization of production requires each multinational firm to determine the local content rate for his product that is made and sold in a foreign country. In this thesis, we investigate the local content rate and pricing decisions for a multinational firm who competes with a local firm in a market without and with a local content requirement (LCR). We develop and solve a two-stage decision problem in which the multinational firm determines his optimal local content rate and the two firms then make their pricing decisions. Our analytical results show that the multinational firm sets a lower local content …

Conflict Management Between Employees From Different Departments : Contribution Of Organizational Identification And Controversy, Taohong Zhu

Theses & Dissertations

Synthesizing theories of social identity, goal interdependence, and conflict management, this study built and tested a theoretical model in which interdepartmental goal interdependence affects conflict outcomes between different departments through constructive controversy (i.e. the open-minded discussion for mutual benefit) dynamics adopted by employees from different departments in the organization. This study also proposes that organizational identification moderates the link between interdepartmental goal interdependence and constructive controversy.

An interview sample of 129 employees from various business organizations and diverse industries in mainland China described and rated a critical incident when they had a conflict with their coworker from another department in …

Socialization Tactics As Antecedents For Goal Interdependence And Newcomer Adjustment And Retention, Changhong Lu

Theses & Dissertations

Serial (providing newcomer role models) and investiture (providing newcomer positive social support) tactics have been demonstrated as the most important predictors for newcomer adjustment. This study empirically examines the dynamics of serial and investiture tactics on newcomer adjustment and retention. It posits that goal interdependence between new recruits and their teams critically affects new recruits adjustment outcomes. This study adopts Deutsch’s theory of goal interdependence to understand when newcomers develop cooperative goal interdependence with their teams. It argues that serial and investiture tactics promote cooperative goal interdependence and reduce competitive goal and independent goal relationships and thereby result in newcomer …

Transformational Leadership For Conflict Management Between Leaders And Employees, Yang Guo

Theses & Dissertations

This study empirically investigates the dynamics and outcomes of leader-member conflict. It validates the values of cooperative conflict and damages of competitive conflict between leaders and employees, testing the effectiveness and universality of Deutsch's (1973) cooperation and competition theory. By bridging leadership and conflict management literature, it also identifies the role of transformational leadership in managing conflict effectively. Specifically, transformational leadership induces cooperative conflict and undermines competitive conflict between leaders and employees, which in turn increases task performance and leader effectiveness.

A total of 112 interviews were conducted in mainland China from 2010 to 2011. Results of structural equation modeling …

Goal Interdependence And Conflict Management For Government And Business Collaboration In China, Xinru Wu

Theses & Dissertations

This study empirically examines the dynamics and conditions of conflict managing approaches on government and business collaboration. It posits that conflict for mutual benefit critically effects government and business collaboration outcomes. This study adopts Deutsch’s (1973) theory of goal interdependence to understand when and how government officials and business managers adopt the mutually beneficial conflict approach. It proposes that cooperative goals between government officials and business managers promote the mutually beneficial conflict approach and reduce win-lose competitive conflict and avoiding conflict.

A total of 101 interviews were conducted in China in 2009. Results of structural equation modeling and other analyses …

The Effect Of Remuneration Committee On Directors' Remuneration In Hong Kong, Shuk Fong, Ada Wong

Theses & Dissertations

According to the Code on Corporate Governance Practices (CG Code), listed firms should be overseen by a board of directors that promotes the success of the firm through effective direction and supervision of the listed firm’s affairs. Remuneration paid to directors should be sufficient to attract and retain directors of a caliber required to run the company successfully, but companies should avoid paying more than is necessary. The board should appoint a remuneration committee consisting wholly or mainly of non-executive directors and chaired by a non-executive director. The role of the committee is to make recommendations to the board on …

The Impact Of Corporate Governance On The Choice Of Transfer Pricing Methods In China, Xue Han

Theses & Dissertations

Recent scandals involving related party transactions (RPTs) have attracted researchers’ and governments’ attention. Because imperfections exist in the legislation of RPTs, business groups might abuse transfer pricing of such transactions for certain purposes. These purposes include earnings management of listed companies that seek to attract investors and profit shifting from subsidiaries to parent companies. This study investigates the impact of corporate governance on the choice of transfer pricing methods in China.

I classify transfer pricing methods into two major groups (i.e., market-based and cost-based methods). I hypothesize that companies with weak corporate governance are more likely to use cost-based pricing …

Goal Interdependencies And Opportunism For Supply Chain Partnership In China, Lanjun Wu

Theses & Dissertations

The possibility of opportunistic behavior is an important barrier to the collaboration between partners in the supply chain as partners pursue their self-interests with guile. Opportunistic behavior threatens the partners’ relationships, influences their work accomplishment and prevents future collaboration. This study hypothesizes that opportunism is not just the result of people’s self-interests pursuit but depends on how they think their self-interests are related. Opportunism in organizational partnerships could be understood in terms of how partners perceive their goals are related to each other. When partners believe that their goals are competitively or dependently rather than cooperatively related, they are more …

Conflict Avoidance In Cooperative And Competitive Relationships : A Cross-Cultural Study Between Chinese Subordinates And Western Superiors, Chun Yan Peng

Theses & Dissertations

Many international companies have entered China because of its expanding opportunities. However, for expatriate managers to innovate and implement their strategic plans in order to exploit these opportunities, they must know and work with their Chinese subordinates. But conflict is inevitable within organizations, especially when people with different cultural backgrounds work together. Culture not only affects people’s preferred ways of doing things but also influences their styles to deal with conflicts. Compared with Westerners, Chinese people have been found to employ indirect ways and prefer to avoid conflict. To facilitate effective communication, it is imperative for Western managers to understand …

Effects Of Goal Interdependence And Social Identity On Departments And Their Relationships In China, Liyan Wang

Theses & Dissertations

Synergy among departments is increasingly considered vital for organizations to use their full resources to deal with threats and explore opportunities in the rapidly changing marketplace. Although valuable, developing synergy among departments is a difficult management challenge.

Departments within organizations often have their own business goals, yet the coordination of these goals is a precondition for overall organizational effectiveness. The need for goal coordination makes departments interdependent (Thompson, 1967), but this interdependence may become particularly problematic when the different departmental goals are incompatible (St. John & Hall, 1991).

Because of the value of cooperative goals for coordination, managers want to …

Goal Interdependence And Leader-Member Relationship For Cross-Cultural Leadership In Foreign Ventures In China, Yi Feng, Nancy Chen

Theses & Dissertations

This study empirically examines the impact of goal interdependence and leader-member relationship on cross-cultural leadership in joint ventures in China. Its two research questions are how to facilitate leader-member relationships between foreign managers and Chinese employees in joint ventures in China, and how foreign managers and Chinese employees can develop cooperative goals in Chinese contexts.

Four hypotheses were generated. Hypothesis 1 examined the effects of leader-member relationship between foreign managers and Chinese employees on cross-cultural leadership. Hypothesis 2 studied the impacts of different goal interdependence on the leader-member relationship between foreign managers and Chinese employees. Hypothesis 3 and 4 investigated …

The Influence Of Work Status On The Work Outcomes Among Part-Time Workers In The Service Industries Of Hong Kong, Fung Yi, Millissa Cheung

Theses & Dissertations

This research examined the influence of work status on attitudes and work outcomes. The two attitudes of perception of psychological contract violations, (violation of employment promise by employers) and fairness perception (fair treatment at work) were studied. This research examined the relationship between attitudes and work outcomes (organizational commitment, e.g. loyalty; organizational citizenship behavior, voluntary action done by employees for the sake of organizations and turnover intention). Individuals with family responsibility are attracted to work part-time voluntarily. Corporate downsizing has often forced individuals to go into part-time work involuntarily. Voluntary and involuntary work status had moderating effects on attitudes and …