Business Commons^™

What Is The Meaning In This? Teachers' Propensity To Search For Meaning In Life During Covid-19 And The Role Of Meaningful Work, Seterra D. Burleson

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The global COVID-19 pandemic has presented notable challenges in teachers’ career paths. In the present study, Super’s life-span, life-space theory was applied to examine the interplay between K-12 teachers’ propensity to search for meaning in life and meaningfulness attributed to their work role (i.e., meaningful work) in predicting career-relevant outcomes in the face of challenging circumstances over the course of a semester. A model was proposed in which propensity to search for meaning in life led to better work and career outcomes, an effect moderated by meaningful work. Longitudinal data from a sample of 617 teachers over eight outcome measurement …

Human Resource Officer's Perspectives On Recruitment And Hiring Practices Of Diverse Candidates, Tara Kelton Mcdaniel

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

A wealth of research supports the positive impact minority teachers have on all students, but especially minority students. Benefits include an increase in academic achievement, an increase in educational engagement, and an overall sense of self-efficacy and autonomy. Unfortunately minority teachers and teachers of color are significantly underrepresented in the United States teaching workforce compared to their White counterparts. Challenges for diversifying the teaching workforce include historical factors of racism and suppression, the Whiteness of educator preparation programs as the prevailing ideology, and the presence of toxic work environment conditions during field placements and employment. While many historical and contemporary …

Three Essays On Ceo Traits, Corporate Investment Decisions, And Firm Value, Rongyao Zhang

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

More and more research has shown that the characteristics of top executives, especially CEOs, affect organizational decisions and behaviors. This dissertation primarily focuses on the role of executives’ managerial ability played in firm investment decisions, such as mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) investment, and firm value.

Essay 1 examines whether high-ability managers’ earnings smoothing is motivated by the need to mitigate the adverse effects of heightened information asymmetry triggered by M&As on managers’ reputation capital and firm value. I document that acquirers with high-ability managers engage in more pre-acquisition earnings smoothing and experience more significant announcement …

Two Essays On Antecedents And Effects Of Award-Winning Ceos, Veronika Ciarleglio

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

A vibrant stream of research in strategic management examines CEO reputation, status, media coverage, and awards on firm outcomes.

This dissertation examines antecedents that impact the likelihood of CEOs gaining higher visible status —such as winning awards — and the impact of such status on firm behavior. The dissertation addresses these issues in two essays.

In the first essay, we use signaling theory to frame the impact of industry characteristics, firm level strategic initiatives, and demographic factors on the likelihood of CEOs winning awards. Specifically, in this essay we examine how industry structure, corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, business strategies, …

Pedestrian Evacuation: Vulnerable Group Member Influence On The Group Leaders’ Decision-Making And The Impact On Evacuation Time, Terra Lynne Elzie

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As pedestrian evacuations of buildings, outdoor venues, and special events occur, dynamic interactions between pedestrians and vehicles during egress are possible. To model pedestrian and vehicle evacuations, simulation models have evolved to incorporate more realistic crowd characteristics and behaviors to provide improved results. Past studies using modeling and simulation, specifically agent-based modeling, have explored pedestrian behaviors such as decision-making, navigation within a virtual environment, group formations, intra-group interactions, inter-group dynamics, crowd behaviors such as queuing and herding, and pedestrianvehicle interactions. These studies have led to relevant insights helpful to improving the accuracy of evacuation times for normal and emergency egress …

Complex System Governance Leadership, David C. Walters

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to develop a systems theory-based framework for leadership in governance of complex systems. Recognizing complexity and uncertainty as norms for the environments in which organizations exist encouraged researchers to suggest complexity theory, complex systems, and complex adaptive systems as appropriate for addressing these conditions. Complex System Governance (CSG), based in systems theory, management cybernetics, and governance, endeavors to provide for the design, execution and evolution of functions that provide control, communication, coordination, and integration at the metasystem level to support operations and continued system existence (viability). From a management cybernetics perspective, CSG leadership has …

Application Of Optimization Techniques In Corporate Cash Management, Venkateswara Reddy Dondeti

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

For any individual person or firm, there is a trade-off between carrying too much or too little cash on hand to meet the day-to-day transactions demand for cash. The BAT model, named after three eminent economists, Baumol, Allais, and Tobin, is the foundation for almost all cash management models in use today. The goal of the BAT model is to minimize the total costs involving the brokerage fees and the opportunity cost of interest lost on the cash held on hand. The brokerage fees are incurred in connection with the transactions for liquidating securities and converting them into cash. The …

Lean Application: An Assessment Of 5s On Employee Attitudes And Productivity, Nickolaos Dimitrios Karvounis

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the effect of the implementation of 5S on employee attitudes and productivity in an Asian based facility of a global manufacturing company. Utilizing an assessment of the 5S implementation in various areas of the facility and organizational performance data for each of those areas, a non-experimental, causal comparative approach is used to analyze the impact. The study concluded that statistically significant improvements from the implementation of 5S were found both in quality and product cost for this facility; however, the study also found statistical significance where the implementation of 5S led to a decrease in performance and …

Interpreting Summer In The Parks In The National Capital Area Of The National Park Service, Brendan J. Kane

Human Movement Sciences & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Washington D.C. has witnessed many watershed events throughout the history of the United States of America. One of these events was the Summer in the Parks (SITP) program organized by the National Park Service (NPS) from 1968-1976. Summer in the Parks was a community-based series of events including concerts, park visits, and exhibitions designed to quell racial tensions and promote park usage. Researchers have begun chronicling SITP, but have yet to explore how the story of SITP is conveyed by park interpreters to visitors and subsequently what themes are shared to inform public understanding of the historic relationship between NPS …

How Leader And Follower Mindfulness Relate To Performance And Ocb Through Conversation Quality And Empathy: A Moderated Mediation Model, Arianna White-Levatich

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Interest within the organizational research community regarding mindfulness has recently surged. Little research, however, has examined how employees’ mindfulness may influence interactions between leaders and followers. This study examined how followers’ trait mindfulness related to two specific aspects of dyadic interactions: leader – member conversational quality (LMCQ) and follower empathy toward a leader. Further, the study examined how this influence extended (via LMCQ and leader-oriented empathy) to task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), two important workplace outcomes for followers. Leader mindfulness was also expected to have a significant influence on the relationships, in that it was expected to strengthen …

Communicating With Muted Groups: The Case Of Human Trafficking, Amy Matzke-Fawcett

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

The problem of human trafficking is global, affecting men and women, adults, and children, with exploitation of various forms including (but not limited to) sex work, hospitality and entertainment, labor, agriculture, soldiering, forced begging and organ removal. While it has been the focus of movies, news articles, documentaries, legislation and research, the discussion of the communication surrounding human trafficking is still in the formative stages. What is the messaging about human trafficking in legislation, both historically and in the present day, and how did news and popular media help to frame the discourse around trafficking in the United States? Using …

Two Essays On The Information Embedded In Flow Of Exchange-Traded Funds (Etfs), Hamed Yousefi

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a pooled investment vehicle with shares similar to common equities, and it can be bought or sold on the stock exchanges. As more money flow into an ETF, its assets increase as do the number of shares outstanding. The demand for ETFs, especially after the 2008 crisis, has grown remarkably in the United States. Features such as intraday tradability, tax efficiency, low fees, and transparency have contributed to the ETFs’ appeal to investors. According to Bloomberg terminal data, as of January 2021, there were 2584 U.S.-registered ETFs, with over $5.5 trillion assets under management. Recent …

Two Essays On Antecedents And Effects Of Board Female Representation Non-Conformity, Fatemeh Askarzadeh

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Despite mounting societal demands for board gender diversity, some firms deviate below traditional norms, i.e., under-conform to expectations, while others adhere to them. To explain this variation within a national context, we build on insights from the emerging corporate governance deviance theory and gender role congruity theory. Using panel data on a globally-representative set of firms, Essay 1 shows that firms with higher entrepreneurial orientation are more likely to go below the national norms for board gender diversity. Our results also reveal that having more slack resources weakens the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and under-conformity. This study contributes to the …

Two Essays On Corruption, Fdi, And Digitalization, Mahdi Forghani Bajestani

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Corruption is detrimental to both society and economy and is yet prevalent in many countries. Thus, research in this field is imperative to help alleviate the problem. Drawing on institutional theory and eclectic paradigm, this dissertation seeks to first, delineate the mechanisms through which corruption influences economic decision-making, and second, identify its root causes and tools for controlling it.

This dissertation’s central research question is addressed in two essays. Essay 1 builds on insights from research on corruption in international business to advance our understanding of how perception of bribery in foreign markets shapes investment behaviors. The literature is dominated …

Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Using Graph Theoretical Anomaly Detection And Machine Learning, Goksel Kucukkaya

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The cyber domain is a great business enabler providing many types of enterprises new opportunities such as scaling up services, obtaining customer insights, identifying end-user profiles, sharing data, and expanding to new communities. However, the cyber domain also comes with its own set of risks. Cybersecurity risk assessment helps enterprises explore these new opportunities and, at the same time, proportionately manage the risks by establishing cyber situational awareness and identifying potential consequences. Anomaly detection is a mechanism to enable situational awareness in the cyber domain. However, anomaly detection also requires one of the most extensive sets of data and features …

A Leader, A Follower, And Some Humor Walk Into A Meta-Analysis: A Review Of Positive And Negative Leader Humor, Richard Hayes

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Although leader humor is a growing research topic, there are still unaddressed issues surrounding this topic. In particular, there is disagreement surrounding the conceptualizations of positive and negative leader humor, conflicting theoretical predictions and empirical findings on the effects of leader humor, a dearth of research on the antecedents and correlates of leader humor, as well as a lack of research on the boundary conditions of these relationships. This qualitative and quantitative review of the nomological networks of positive and negative leader humor addressed these issues based on a meta-analysis of 67 empirical studies (N = 21,121). Results indicate that …

An Investigation On The Effectiveness Of A Problem Structuring Method In A Group Decision-Making Process, Ying Thaviphoke

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

There is no shortage of methods to address messy problems. A messy problem is a system of problems with multiple stakeholders who may hold different views of what is feasible or desirable. Decision-makers in a messy problem are prone to committing an error – especially the Type III error. One of the ways to mitigate the chance of committing the error in a messy problem is to reach a group consensus. Problem Structuring Methods (PSM) are the collections of participatory modeling methods that aim to tackle a messy problem. Despite the positive reports, literature indicates some challenges and criticisms of …

Disrupting Education: High School Principals’ Efforts To Lead Disruptive Innovation And The Influence Of Isomorphic Mechanisms, Katie Cummings Catania

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Students today require skills and dispositions different from those of the past. Despite ongoing efforts to initiate change in schools through reform efforts, little has changed within educational institutions. Current reform efforts do, however, create conditions for principals to lead disruptive innovation within their schools. Research is limited on innovation implementation in education and the various ways isomorphic forces may hinder or contribute to the design and adoption of disruptive innovations. The purpose of this study was to examine how high school principals lead disruptive innovation. Additionally, this study sought to understand how the mechanisms of isomorphism influence the adoption …

Local Workforce Development, Federally Legislated Purposes, And A Systemigram: A Mixed-Methods Study, Tracey A. Regenold

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The public system of workforce development has existed for over 45 years, yet there are still issues with adequate skill-building, training, and employment for the vulnerable populations the system is mandated to serve. This study first used a modified Delphi method to survey a sample of executive directors and board members of local workforce development areas regarding the proper systems design needed to fulfill the purposes of current federal legislation. Subsequently using a visual representation of an “ideal” local workforce development area, participants were then interviewed and asked about the utility of such a model for strategic planning and systems …

Cyber-Assets At Risk (Car): Monetary Impact Of Personally Identifiable Information Data Breaches On Companies, Omer Ilker Poyraz

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Cyber-systems provide convenience, ubiquity, economic advantage, and higher efficiency to both individuals and organizations. However, vulnerabilities of the cyber domain also offer malicious actors with the opportunities to compromise the most sensitive information. Recent cybersecurity incidents show that a group of hackers can cause a massive data breach, resulting in companies losing competitive advantage, reputation, and money. Governments have since taken some actions in protecting individuals and companies from such crime by authorizing federal agencies and developing regulations. To protect the public from losing their most sensitive records, governments have also been compelling companies to follow cybersecurity regulations. If companies …

A Framework For Adaptive Capacity In Complex Systems, Abdulrahman Alfaqiri

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Complex systems are characterized by their high level of inter-connectivity, ambiguity, and emergence. Therefore, a failure in one element of a system (e.g. cyber layer) due to external or internal disturbances can lead to a cascade effect that may influence all elements of the system. Consequently, the complex system will not be able to perform its functional performance. Threats related to complex systems are very dynamic, fast, complex and damage can be severe. Thus, to respond to the dynamic and unpredictable nature of these threats, complex systems need to be highly adaptive to survive and thrive in the face of …

The Effects Of Ceo Dismissal Risk And Skills On Risky Corporate Decisions And Ceo Compensation, Son T. Dang

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This dissertation consists of three distinct essays on the effects of CEO dismissal risk on M&A megadeal decisions, the association between CEO compensation and generalist managerial ability in the presence of CEO dismissal risk, and the alignment of the initial compensation of new CEOs following CEO dismissals with their managerial ability.

In Essay 1, I study the link between CEO dismissal risk and risky M&A decisions and find that higher-dismissal-risk CEOs engage in more M&A megadeals than their counterparts. Such megadeal transactions lead to lower acquirer post-M&A abnormal returns, suggesting that risky investment decisions are driven by CEOs’ career concerns. …

Why Do Nonprofits Fail? A Quantitative Study Of Form 990 Information In The Years Preceding Closure, Mackenzie Arbogust

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Nonprofit organizations are an important piece of the community and economy in the United States. Each year, nonprofit organizations close their doors and stop providing services to the community. While there are large amounts of literature around financial health and vulnerability and governance best practices of nonprofit organizations, few of the studies have ever looked specifically at failed organizations. In general, the end stages of the life cycle of nonprofit organizations have not been well studied and are not well understood. This study draws on resource dependency theory and institutional theory to identify financial and governance factors that may serve …

A Quest To Identify The Emerging Leadership Skills In Vuca World And Investigation Of Their Applications In Various Organizational Levels And Security Environments, Ali Can Kucukozyigit

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The theoretical framework of this research is based on “skills approach” that emphasizes the leader’s capabilities (skills, knowledge, and capabilities) that can be learned, taught, and fostered. VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) environment is chosen as the focal point of this research as the leadership skills are extracted from studies referring to such environment. Although the acronym is dominantly used in management and business domains, the military also uses it to describe the complex operational environments like in Iraq and Afghanistan. The identification of individual leadership skills and delivering the right skill, at the right time, to the right …

Trust Issues: A Case Study Of The Relationship Between Trust And Reform Implementation, Courtney R. Wilson

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Reform creation and implementation tends to focus on the mechanics needed to ensure intended outcomes are achieved. School relationships are affected by the tension caused by reform implementation. Research suggests trust among teachers and between teachers and their administrator affects the way teachers make sense of, implement, and use new reform efforts. Given the demands reforms place on schools, trust has the potential to impact and encourage the implementation of reform and the maintenance of relationships. A qualitative case study method was used to decipher the impact trust plays in the implementation of reform. The concept of trust is used …

Two Essays On Ceo Overconfidence In Relation To Speed Of Adjustment Of Firm Financial Policy And Ceo Inside Debt, Xiang Long

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This dissertation is a thorough examination of CEO overconfidence, and consists of two essays. The first essay focuses on the relationship between CEO overconfidence and the adjustment speed of firm financial policy. No research has examined the relationship between CEO overconfidence and firm financial policies adjustment speed. Previous studies focus solely on the adjustment speed of leverage, we are motivated to examine the adjustment of firm leverage and the adjustment of cash holdings together because there is evidence that firm leverage and firm liquidity are related. We find that CEO overconfidence places an important role in adjusting firm leverage and …

The Accumulation Of It Capability And Its Long-Term Effect On Financial Performance, Jin Ho Kim

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Many scholars have been studying information technology (IT) capability and its impact on business performance. However, it has been debated whether the IT capability influences firm performance because prior literature shows mixed results. To understand this phenomenon, I performed two studies in this research, placed in two parts. First, by deploying the new concept of accumulation of IT capability, I attempted to reinvestigate the relationship between IT capability and business performance. Next, I examined what factors influence the accumulation of IT capability. In the first part, I suggested two novel constructs that measure the extent of the accumulation of IT …

Three Essays On Ceo Characteristics And Corporate Bankruptcy, Rajib Chowdhury

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Scholarly studies have focused on the impact of managerial characteristics on various corporate activities. Following this stream of literature, this dissertation empirically examines the potential effects of three major Chief Executive Officer (CEO) characteristics, i.e., CEO ability, CEO risk taking behavior induced by compensation structure, and CEO overconfidence on corporate bankruptcies. Essay 1 examines whether chief executive officers (CEOs) are to be blamed for corporate failure. Using alternative measures of CEO ability, we document that high-ability CEOs are less likely to be associated bankruptcy. Bankruptcy-related high-ability CEOs manage to salvage their post-bankruptcy careers either with the reorganized firms or with …

Two Essays On The Microstructure Of The Housing Market: Agents' Diffused Effort And Sellers' Behavior Bias, Zhaohui Li

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

For the first essay, we generalize the classic Williams [1998 RFS] brokerage model by introducing the diffused effort. That is, the agent can cross-utilize effort spending on one listing to another one. Besides, the agent can manage heterogeneous housing assets. One counterintuitive finding in Williams’ paper is the absence of the agency problem. As a special case in our model, we recover the agency problem. We examine the positive externality due to the diffused effort and show that it depends on the agent’s inventory size. Hence there exists a trade-off between agents’ effort spending on existing listings and on finding …

Application Of Theory Of Constraints (Toc) In Managing Project Information Constraints, Ferdinand Z. Prantl

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Projects for D. Eng. Degree

The scope of this doctoral project is the non-traditional application of Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) from the area of Theory of Constraints (ToC) in mitigating disruption in distribution facilities during phased upgrades caused by information constraint. The relevance of this project is that industrial equipment upgrades pose a significant risk of disrupting the operation of automated distribution facilities. It is partly due to a very high expected availability rate, as well as tight coupling with other upstream and downstream elements of the larger supply chain network. As a consequence of disruption in this scenario, losses incurred not only within the facility being …