Business Commons^™

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 …

Social Exchange Between Destination Marketing Organizations And Stakeholders In Tennessee’S Rural Counties, Angela Gray Sebby

Doctoral Dissertations

Promoting local culture and heritage, natural resources, farm-to-table opportunities, and outdoor recreation, more visitors are now travelling to rural communities for these experiences.

The goal for rural areas interested in tourism is to create viable and sustainable tourism through destination-marketing strategies. These strategies require extensive research, appropriate planning, and allocated funding, often managed by a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO). With the creation of the Tennessee Rural Development Task Force, Tennessee’s strategy is to increase economic growth in rural communities.

While there is a need for the DMO to form an alliance with industry stakeholders, lack of incentives and strained relationships …

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 …

The Impacts Of Regulatory Focus And Temporal Distance On The Evaluation Of Online Consumer Reviews, Seeun Kim

Doctoral Dissertations

As a form of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), online consumer reviews have attracted increased attention from marketing researchers and practitioners. Given the importance of consumer online reviews in the tourism and apparel industries, the current study examined how contextual factor (temporal distance of consumption) and personal factor (chronic temporal orientation) moderate the effects of regulatory-focused online reviews on consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral responses. Three web-based experiments were conducted to investigate the conceptual model using athletic shoes (Study1) and hotel (Study 2 and 3).

Study 1 showed that participants rated prevention-focused consumer reviews more favorably than promotion-focused consumer reviews when the purchase …

Exploring Corporate Social Responsibility: The Roles Of Organizational Identity And Social Creativity, Pamala J. Dillon

Doctoral Dissertations

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become entrenched in organization studies, but with much confusion as to what it actually means. There are many different definitions of the term in the literature, representing multiple perspectives of the phenomenon being studied, be it ethical, instrumental, institutional, or process-oriented. The commonality tying the CSR literature together is the focus on the role of organizations in society, whether that role is understood from an ethical standpoint or an economic one, at the institutional or individual level, or from a psychological or process perspective. In this qualitative inductive study, I explore how organizational identity and …

Retail Analytics And Optimization For Store-Wide Shelf-Space Management, Tulay Flamand

Doctoral Dissertations

A major constituent of modern-time economies, retailing is a vibrant business sector that is marked by high competition, tight profit margins, novel business strategies in online and in-store environments, and demanding consumers. Driven by massive volumes of point-of-sale data, retail analytics has become instrumental for unveiling better managerial practices. Our research falls under the umbrella of retail shelf space management. In self-service outlets, shelf space constitutes a scarce resource and its management is central to ensuring an attractive shopping experience and a profitable business. We investigate how, under a given store layout, the allocation of product categories can be optimized …

Service Improvement And Cost Reduction For Airlines: Optimal Policies For Managing Arrival And Departure Operations Under Uncertainty, Heng Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

Annual U.S. air travel demand has been growing steadily by 4-5% over the last decade, and it is estimated that the demand will nearly double in the next twenty years. It has also been estimated by the International Civil Aviation Organization that global demand for commercial aircraft will increase at an average annual rate of 4.1% by 2034 (IATA, 2014). However, airport expansions and aviation infrastructure upgrades have not kept pace with the increase in air traffic demand, as only 3% of all the new airport projects around the world are planned in the U.S. (CAPA, 2015). Thus, the operation …

Network Game Theory Models Of Services And Quality Competition With Applications To Future Internet Architectures And Supply Chains, Sara Saberi

Doctoral Dissertations

The Internet has transformed the way in which we conduct business and perform economic and financial transactions. One key challenge of the Internet is the inefficiency of the mechanisms by which technology is deployed and the business and economic models surrounding these processes (Wolf et al. (2014)). Equilibrium models for the Internet generally assume basic economic relationships. However, in new paradigms for the Internet and in supply chain networks, price is not the only factor; quality of service (QoS) is also of increasing importance. Supply chains networks, which give us the means to manufacture products and deliver them to points …

Three Essays On Hedge Fund Investments And Investment Banks, Xiaohui Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on studying how investment banks affect hedge fund equity investments through acting as prime brokers for hedge funds. The first chapter studies how the relationships between hedge funds and investment banks are maintained through equity issuance and prime brokerage business. Using a comprehensive dataset of hedge funds and IPO allocations, I examine IPO allocation decisions by investment banks to hedge funds. I find that investment banks whose prime brokers have strong relationships with hedge funds and are lead underwriters of IPOs tend to allocate more IPOs to these hedge funds. Moreover, the allocation to hedge funds is …

Follow The Crowd: How Viral Social Information And Social Identity Increase Investors’ Suboptimal Investing Decisions, Stephen Kuselias

Doctoral Dissertations

Recently enacted standards have formally allowed organizations to offer equity using the crowdfunding model. The crowdfunding model raises capital over the internet by soliciting relatively small contributions from a relatively large number of people who make up a “crowd” (Mollick 2013). Organizations using equity crowdfunding strive for the spread of viral social information to solicit investments (Belleflamme, Lambert, & Schwienbacher 2014). However, research has not yet explored how virality impacts investor decision making. In this study, I investigate whether viral social information can shift investors away from financial maximization goals, leading them to make suboptimal investing decisions. Social identity theory …

Mega Versus Local Sport Sponsorships, Jakeun Koo

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study aims to fill the gap by comparing mega sport sponsorships to local sport sponsorships relative to consumers’ perceptions. Specifically, the study examines whether or not event size has significant impact on consumers’ perceptions of goodwill. In the relationship between event size and perceived goodwill, sponsorship duration and sponsor-event congruence are tested as moderating variables. Finally, it is anticipated that perceived goodwill affects attitudes toward the sponsor, subsequently influencing purchase intentions. To support the hypotheses, the current study conducted an experiment with a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial design: (1) event size, (2) sponsorship duration, and …

Design, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A User Training Program For Integrating Health Information Technology Into Clinical Processes, Ze He

Doctoral Dissertations

Health information technology (IT) implementation can be costly, and remains a challenging problem with mixed outcomes on patient safety and quality of care. Systems engineering and IT management experts have advocated the use of sociotechnical models to understand the impact of health IT on user and organizational factors. Sociotechnical models suggest the need for user-centered implementation approaches, such as user training and support, and focus on processes to mitigate the negative impact and facilitate optimal IT use during training. The training design and development should also follow systematic processes guided by instructional development models. It should take into account of …

The Influence Of Consumer Freeloading Behavior On An Observer's And Perpetrator's Affective Commitment, Mohamad A. Darrat

Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation explores the relationship between customer affective commitment and freeloading behavior. Consumer freeloading results when a consumer takes advantage of a system or market procedures in a way that allows him or her to obtain benefits from a value proposition with no or reduced monetary costs. Thus, the freeloading consumer works the value equation in his/her favor at the expense of the marketer and/or other consumers. In addition to examining the point of view of the consumer performing the unethical behavior, the dissertation also examines the impact of such behavior on a third party observer. How do loyal consumers …

Using Latent Class Cluster Analysis To Identify And Profile Organizational Subclimates: An Exploratory Investigation Using Safety Climate As An Exemplar, Amy Frost Stevenson

Doctoral Dissertations

Organizational climate refers to the shared meaning organizational members attach to the events, policies, practices, and procedures they experience as well as to the behaviors they see being rewarded, supported, and expected (Schneider, Ehrhart, & Macey, 2011). Climate scholars have most frequently used referent-shift consensus and dispersion composition models (Chan, 1998) to conceptualize and measure organizational climate. Based on these models, climate emergence has been characterized by low variance or high consensus of individual-level climate perceptions (Chan, 1998; Ehrhart, Schneider, & Macey, 2013; Hazy & Ashley, 2011; Kuenzi & Schminke, 2009) within formally defined organizational groups (e.g., work teams).

Climate …

Evaluating Indicators Of Job Performance: Distributions And Types Of Analyses, Richard J. Chambers Ii

Doctoral Dissertations

Distributions of job performance indicators have historically been assumed to be normally distributed (Aguinis & O'Boyle, 2014; Schmidt & Hunter, 1983; Tiffin, 1947). Generally, any evidence to the contrary has been attributed to errors in the measurement of job performance (Murphy, 2008). A few researchers have been skeptical of this assumption (Micceri, 1989; Murphy, 1999; Saal, Downey, & Lahey, 1980); yet, only recently has research demonstrated that in certain specific situations job performance is exponentially distributed (Aguinis, O'Boyle, Gonzalez-Mulé, & Joo, 2016; O'Boyle & Aguinis, 2012). To date there have been few recommendations in the Industrial-Organizational Psychology literature about how …

Examining Consumers' Cognitive And Behavioral Responses To Belief Disconfirmation, Aadel A. Darrat

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores possible reasons for why consumers persist in their beliefs despite being exposed to substantial disconfirming evidence. The theory of cognitive dissonance (Festinger 1957) provides an important foundation for the pervasiveness of the confirmation bias and belief perseverance. Four main research paradigms of cognitive dissonance theory are discussed: free choice, induced or forced compliance, belief disconfirmation, and hypocrisy. Confirmation bias and belief perseverance are positioned in the belief disconfirmation paradigm.

Confirmation bias refers to the general tendency to readily accept evidence that supports one's beliefs and to reject or avoid evidence that goes against such beliefs. Belief perseverance, …

Paths To Leadership Of Ncaa Division I Female Athletic Directors, Haley Blount Taitano

Doctoral Dissertations

The focus of this study was to examine the paths to leadership of NCAA Division I female athletic directors. Over forty years after passing Title IX of the Education Amendments Act, female athletic directors still make up less than 10% of NCAA Division I athletic directors. This stagnant statistic along with a limited amount of existing research on the subject were the main catalysts for this investigation.

This study examined the career paths of eight NCAA Division I female athletic directors, paying particular attention to their personal and professional experiences that led to becoming a Division I athletic director. Critical …

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 …

Take No For An Answer? Unpacking Persistence And Examining Its Impact On Salesperson Performance, Nawar Naim Chaker

Doctoral Dissertations

Common wisdom suggests that persistence is a critical determinant of sales performance and, consequently, salespeople are often advised “don’t take no for an answer.” While the importance of persistence to sales success is seemingly unquestioned (albeit unexamined in the literature), anecdotal evidence suggests that the incremental business generated through salesperson persistence may be tempered – if not overshadowed – by its accompanying costs (e.g., time spent pursuing hesitant prospects). The goal of this research is thus to explore the impact of persistence on salesperson performance. Grounded in social influence theory, this study views sales persistence as a combination of influence …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Eco-Fashion Consumption: Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory, Wei Fu

Doctoral Dissertations

This study integrates the simple information-processing model (Bettman, 1979) and the cognitive-experiential self-theory (Epstein, 1998) to delineate the hierarchical structure of individual differences, responses, and consumer behavioral tendencies toward eco-fashion. The results indicate that consumers’ need for variety positively influences their affective responses and eventually their purchase intention toward and willingness to pay more for eco-fashion. However, the results do not support the relationship between consumers’ fashion interest and affective responses. Moreover, consumers’ ecological consciousness and social consciousness positively influence their cognitive responses and eventually their purchase intention and willingness to pay more toward eco-fashion. Further, consumers’ cognitive responses have …

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 …

Does Political Giving Impact Shareholder Wealth? Evidence From State Campaign Finance Reforms, Douglas Brian Blank Ii

Doctoral Dissertations

Does corporate political giving actually affect shareholder wealth? While firms value political participation, some lawmakers oppose corporate involvement in politics. Yet, the existing literature has established a correlation between campaign finance and corporate outcomes without fully documenting a causal relation. I use an innovative database of political giving to exploit changes in state campaign finance laws as an exogenous shock to political giving. Specifically, I use the staggered adoption of externally imposed legal limits to political giving across U.S. states to expose how shareholder wealth responds. I find shareholder wealth declines following legally imposed reductions in political giving. The causal …

Essays On Hedge Funds Performance: Dynamic Risk Exposures, Anomalies, And Unreported Actions, Chi Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

The first chapter analyzes hedge fund activeness and its impact on hedge fund perfor- mance. We propose an innovative method to estimate time-varying risk exposures of hedge funds. The activeness is measured as the time-series average of sum of changes in risk exposures. We examine cross-section and time-series variation of activeness among hedge funds. The activeness can be explained by fund characteristics such as age, lockup period, performance fee, and past performance. Using four performance measures, we find little evidence of active funds outperforming others over the sample period 1994 through 2013. We find that activeness tend to yield better …

Can Everyone Be A Leader? A Multi-Contextual Study Of Leadership, Xueting Jiang

Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation is composed of three independent but interrelated essays. Each essay focuses on a specific perspective to study leadership at the individual level or at the team level and beyond. My first essay, Consequences of Leader Self-Efficacy Dissimilarity in Self-managing Teams, looks at the impacts of leader self-efficacy dissimilarity upon shared leadership and the consequent effects on team effectiveness in self-managing teams. My second essay, A Longitudinal Study on Leadership Identification in Self-managing Teams, explains why leadership structures may vary in self-managing teams and how individuals develop their leadership roles in a non-hierarchical organizational context. My third …

Three Essays On Corporate Control, Ning Pu

Doctoral Dissertations

Chapter 1 compares and contrasts the activism styles and outcomes of hedge-fund activists versus traditional institutional activists in an attempt to understand what drives the returns of institutional activism. Contrary to the popular belief that hedge-fund activism is designed to achieve a short-term payoff at the expense of long-term profitability, I find some evidence consistent with the hypothesis that hedge-fund activists can be effective monitors, especially when multiple hedge funds collaborate on the monitoring efforts. This result is supported by examining the relations between the holdings by different types of hedge-fund activists and the outcomes of proposed M&A deals, such …

“Race Talk” In Organizational Discourse: A Comparative Study Of Two Texas Chambers Of Commerce, Natasha Shrikant

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation takes an interpretive, discursive approach to understanding how organizational members create meanings about race, and other identities, through their everyday communication practices in the workplace. This dissertation also explores how these everyday discourses about race might reproduce, negotiate, or challenge ideologies that maintain the dominant position of Whiteness in United States racial hierarchies. I draw from data collected during eight months of ethnographic fieldwork (from Jan-Aug 2014) with two chambers of commerce in a large Texas city: an Asian American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) and what I call the “North City” Chamber of Commerce (NCC). The AACC explicitly …

Three Essays On Auditor Liability, Jeffrey Scott Pickerd

Doctoral Dissertations

Auditor liability is an important topic of accounting research as auditors respond to a constantly changing financial reporting and regulatory environment. Through three independent essays, I intend to explore how estimate uncertainty, financial statement aggregation, audit quality indicators, a company's investor base, and the size of the alleged misstatement can impact auditor liability both in the courtroom, as determined by jurors, and in out of court settlement, as determined by attorneys. I find that jurors do hold the auditor more likely to be negligent when audit quality indicators suggest the auditors did a poor quality audit. I also find that …