Business Commons^™

Psychological Distance: The Relation Between Construals, Mindsets, And Professional Skepticism, Jason Rasso

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examine the influence of construals (interpretations) and mindsets on professional skepticism in auditors. Auditors have been criticized lately for not displaying enough professional skepticism, particularly in their audits of complex estimates (PCAOB 2008). Regulators speculate about and academic research shows a correlation between low professional skepticism and both audit failures and audit malpractice claims (Beasley et al. 2001; Anderson and Wolfe 2002). I hypothesize that prolonging the deliberative mindset in the audit judgment and decision-making process can increase professional skepticism in auditors.

Experienced auditors take part in a 1 x 3 between-participants experiment in which they …

Consumer Acceptance Of Mobile Payments In Restaurants, Anna Shatskikh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Regardless all the advantages of MPs, it has not reach the sizable customer base. In this paper, we examined the core drivers of using mobile payments (MPs) in restaurant industry from the consumers' perspective. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), we developed a six factor model to reveal the determinants of consumers' intention to use MPs in restaurant. Security, subjective norm, compatibility with lifestyle, and previous experience with MPs were added to the traditional two factor TAM model (usefulness and ease of use). 300 respondents were recruited from an online survey agency and 258 valid responses were included in …

Aligning Human Resource Development With The Strategic Priorities Of Healthcare Organizations: The Cfo Perspective, Carla Breedlove Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

No

Chinese Consumers' Evaluation Of Domestic And Foreign Products: The Roles Of Country Of Origin And Product Usage Experience, Yuze Gao

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although COO has been a topic of central interest in international marketing research, most work has focused on consumers in western countries. The concept of product usage experience, though often implied in COO research, has yet to be investigated more directly and explicitly. The goal of the study is to examine the relationships among COO perceptions, product usage experience and purchase intention among Chinese consumers. The study examined two kinds of product usage experiences (usage variety and frequency) pertaining to products (products in general and laptop computers in specific) made in two countries (America and China). Empirical data gathered from …

Two Essays On Mergers And Acquisitions, Dongnyoung Kim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the first essay, we examine the link between CEOs political ideology - conservatism - and their firms' investment decisions. We focus on the effect of CEO conservatism on M&A decisions. Our evidence indicates that politically conservative CEOs are less likely to engage in M&A activities. When they do undertake acquisitions, their firms are more likely to use cash as the method of payment, and the target firms are more likely to be public firms and to be from the same industry. Conditional on the merger, CEO conservatism appears to have a significantly positive impact on long-run firm valuation. However, …

Two Essays On Stock Repurchases-The Post Repurchase Announcement Drift: An Anomaly In Disguise? And Intra Industry Effects Of Ipos On Stock Repurchase Decisions, Thanh Thiet Nguyen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We reexamine the stock price drifts following open-market stock repurchase announcements by differentiating actual repurchases from repurchase announcements and by controlling for the repurchasing firms' earnings improvement in the announcement year relative to the prior year. Our results show that only firms that actually repurchase their shares exhibit a positive post-announcement drift. More importantly, we find that these repurchasing firms have the same post-announcement drift as their matching firms that have similar size and earnings performance but do not repurchase. Further analysis indicates that the post-repurchase announcement drift is not a distinct anomaly but the well-documented post-earnings announcement drift in …

The Impact Of Organizations' Collaboration Strategies And Alliance Network Positions On Invention Performance, Fethullah Caliskan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the impact of organizations' collaboration strategies and network positional variables on invention performance. Organizations, particularly those pursuing a differentiation strategy, are motivated to introduce novel products and services in order to remain competitive. Thus, two questions of interest to such organizations regarding the network dynamics of the invention process are: 1) What kind of strategies allow them to attain superior invention results? 2) What is the most advantageous structural positioning in a collaborative network of innovators? Three independent studies attempt to find answers to these questions by using three complementary study approaches.

In the first study, in …

Corporate Social Responsibility And Team Identification In Professional Sports, Lisa Schleef

Masters Theses

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs are becoming more relevant, especially in professional sports. Community members have begun to expect sport organizations to have charitable foundations, given that they are in a perfect position to have successful CSR programs. Explained through team identification and social identity theory, CSR programs provide a great opportunity to bring fans together and foster team identification. CSR programs should help fans develop a positive social identity, by allowing them to become part of a group and interact with other fans. If a person is a fan of a team that helps its community and does good …

Pygmalion Music Festival As Alternative Media? A Critical Analysis Of The Intersection Of Independence And Corporatization, Patrick R. Singer

Masters Theses

This study of Pygmalion Music Festival utilizes a theoretical framework of alternative media theory to analyze the festival's position in independent and corporate music festival and concert production. Pygmalion Music Festival is a mid-sized independently owned and operated music festival held annually in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. This research investigates the progression of independent ( or "indie") music culture, how the industry has gradually become co-opted by the corporate music industry, and how Pygmalion Music Festival is situated within the indie/corporate binary. This binary is not black and white, rather an intersection that creates a blurred area between the two. "Indie" artists …

Two Essays On Investor Distraction, Erdem Ucar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In theory, all relevant information is incorporated in stock prices timely and completely and therefore prices respond related news quickly in efficient financial markets. In today's information age, technological advances provide investors with fast access to a vast number of information resources. One can argue that these advances can help market efficiency due to easy and quick access to relevant information. On the other hand, these technological advances not only facilitate availability of relevant information but also facilitate availability of all types of information--both relevant and irrelevant information signals. In essence, one can argue that there is (over)exposure to information …

Two Essays On Politics In Corporate Finance, Xiaojing Yuan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I examine how political geography affects firms' cost of debt. Policy risk, measured by proximity to political power reflected in firms' position in the country's political map, is negatively related to corporate bond ratings and positively related to firms' cost of debt. I find firms' policy risk can be mitigated by engaging in corporate political strategies like making campaign contributions or lobbying. Consistent with the view that such political strategies effectively protect firms against uncertainty about future policies, I find policy risk has less of an impact on the cost of debt of firms that support more powerful and well-connected …

Cause-Related Controversy: An Analysis Of Corporate Sponsor Response To The Susan G. Komen/Planned Parenthood Crisis, Christina Maria Cameron

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This qualitative study advances crisis communication and relationship management application and theory by examining the crisis response strategies used by corporations during a time of crisis involving a nonprofit partner. A qualitative content analysis was performed on the Facebook pages of 57 companies that were corporate partners of Susan G. Komen in early 2012. Nineteen companies responded using their Facebook accounts during two crisis periods studied. The researcher argues that consideration must be given to additional contingent factors beyond those proposed by situational crisis communication theory. Contingent variables related to the corporations' relationship with the charity, including level of …

Factors Prospective Students Consider When Selecting An Mba Program, Lorie Plyler Briggs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper adds to existing literature regarding MBA selection processes and helps identify and better understand the needs that motivate consumers to pursue an MBA degree. Through a series of qualitative, one-on-one interviews with 17 brand-new MBA students or prospective students, this research found that while many people have "always wanted" to earn the advanced degree, most have toyed with the idea of a graduate business degree for many years. The most frequent reasons that people cite regarding their decision to seriously consider an MBA at a large southern university centers around four desires. These are, not surprisingly, the desire …

Illegitimate Tasks And Employee Well-Being: A Daily Diary Study, Erin Eatough

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on an occupational stressor that has been recently introduced to the literature, illegitimate tasks, or tasks that seem unreasonable or unnecessary at work. Previous work has demonstrated the relationship between illegitimate tasks and a narrow set of discrete emotions as well as negative employee performance behaviors. The current research contributes to the literature by expanding the nomological network associated with illegitimate tasks and uses a rigorous daily diary methodology in a full-time working sample. It was expected that illegitimate tasks reduce state levels of self-esteem as well as other employee well-being indicators including anger, depressive mood, fatigue, …

The Role Of Consumer Gender Identity And Brand Concept Consistency In Evaluating Cross-Gender Brand Extensions, Laura Rose Frieden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cross-gender brand extensions are a developing and valuable strategy that has quickly grown to become a vital component of strategic communications management. The goal of this study is to gain a greater insight on what makes for a successful cross-gender brand extension. In order to expand upon the Basic Model of Brand Extension Evaluation (Doust & Esfahlan, 2012), this study examines how marketing factors, more specifically product positioning, combined with consumer gender roles and brand concept, affect how consumers evaluate cross-gender brand extensions. In the past gender and brand concept have been studied within cross-gender brand extension research. Yet, the …

Experiments To Measure The Effects Of Timber Harvesting Equipment On Surface Lithic Scatters, Douglas J. Baughman

All Master's Theses

The importance of cultural resource preservation cannot be overstated; however local economies are at least as important. Due to conservative archaeological site protection practices in Region 5 of the United States Forest Service, the economy of Northeastern California is being adversely affected. In an attempt to help the Forest Service make more informed management decisions and improve the Northeastern California economy, I undertook experiments on the effects of timber harvesting on lithic scatters on Modoc National Forest. The experiments involved placement of 225 glass tiles (proxy lithics) in each of three plots subject to vehicle traffic and log dragging by …

Shared Leadership In Six Sigma Teams From The North Shore-Lij Health System, Brian J. Galli

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The main goal of the research was to identify the relationships that the internal research team environment and external coaching variables had with the degree of shared leadership in the context of Six Sigma teams from the North Shore LIJ Health System. Furthermore, the research ascertained the relationships that these variables had with two performance metrics: a team's ability to complete project deliverables and satisfy customer's requirements. This research also sought to understand additional factors that affected the five variables.

The research found that while shared leadership did not positively change as a team progressed through the phases of the …

The Response Of Commercial Banks To Credit Stimuli, Denise Williams Streeter

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

This dissertation calls upon the theory of financial intermediation (Diamond and Dybvig, 1983) and the credit channel theory of monetary policy effectiveness (Bernanke and Gertler, 1995) to show how commercial banks responded to the trillions of dollars of innovations to stimulate the credit markets during the 2008 global financial crisis. Specifically, loan-level data is used to conduct univariate, regression, and event-study analyses to address the research question of, "Did United States- and European Union-based commercial banks respond to credit stimuli with increased commercial lending during the stimulus period of October 1, 2007 through September 30, 2011 when compared to the …

Evolución De La Utilidad Operativa Por Unidad De Las Granjas Porcícolas De Ciclo Completo En Cundinamarca 2008 - 2012, Luisa Fernanda Sarmiento Sabogal

Zootecnia

No abstract provided.