Business Commons^™

Fixed Income Fund Report, December 2020, Bryant University, Archway Investment Fund

Archway Investment Fund

No abstract provided.

Equity Fund Monthly Report, December 2020, Bryant University, Archway Investment Fund

Archway Investment Fund

No abstract provided.

Teaching Applications And Implications Of Blockchain Via Project-Based Learning: A Case Study, Kevin Mentzer, Mark Frydenberg, David J. Yates

Information Systems and Analytics Department Faculty Journal Articles

This paper presents student projects analyzing or using blockchain technologies, created by students enrolled in courses dedicated to teaching blockchain, at two different universities during the 2018-2019 academic year. Students explored perceptions related to storing private healthcare information on a blockchain, managing the security of Internet of Things devices, maintaining public governmental records, and creating smart contracts. The course designs, which were centered around project-based learning, include self-regulated learning and peer feedback as ways to improve student learning. Students either wrote a research paper or worked in teams on a programming project to build and deploy a blockchain-based application using …

Using Macroeconomic Variables To Preserve The Predictive Power Of Bankruptcy Prediction Models Across Time, Edward Golas

Honors Projects in Finance

At its core, bankruptcy prediction is a binary classification problem where a researcher attempts to model a company’s financial status, defined as either bankrupt or non-bankrupt, based upon a slew of financial ratios, market indicators and even macroeconomic variables. Several studies (Altman and McGrough, 1974; Moyer, 1977 and Mensah, 1984) have noted that such models tend to suffer reduced accuracy when predicting bankruptcy for time periods other than the one in which they were trained. A possible solution to this problem is to include macroeconomic variables in the model, since such variables fluctuate over time and are suspected of impacting …

Predicting The S&P500: A Statistical Analysis Of Presidential Tweets And Economic Indicators, Christopher Ethier

Honors Projects in Economics

With the advent of social media and the explosion in popularity in them, efforts to use the information contained within them has become more and more relevant. Microblogging sites such as Twitter provide a deep information network about individuals as well as our society. With the election of President Trump, and with it his increased usage of the site, unorthodox events are now part of the norm. This paper attempts to quantify the influence President Trump has on financial markets using Twitter, in addition to using economic indicators, and to predict the value of the S&P500 using these predictors.

Rivalry Appeals In Advertising: Distinctiveness Versus Inclusiveness, David Stahr

Honors Projects in Marketing

The main objective of the research is to study how convenience and shopping products impact how consumers react to rivalry appeals in advertisements. The authors examine the effectiveness of rivalry appeals in advertisements and how they are impacted by the product type considered by consumers. In two studies, a 2 (prime: distinctiveness vs. inclusiveness) x 2 (message: competition vs. collaboration) ANOVA methodology was conducted on survey data. In Study 1, participants primed with distinctiveness (inclusiveness) and considering convenience products experienced an assimilation effect where they preferred competitive (collaborative) rivalry appeals. In Study 2, participants primed with distinctiveness (inclusiveness) and considering …

Rivalry Appeals In Advertising: Distinctiveness Versus Inclusiveness, David Stahr, Sukki Yoon, Kacy Kim

Honors Projects in Marketing

The main objective of the research is to study how convenience and shopping products impact how consumers react to rivalry appeals in advertisements. The authors examine the effectiveness of rivalry appeals in advertisements and how they are impacted by the product type considered by consumers. In two studies, a 2 (prime: distinctiveness vs. inclusiveness) x 2 (message: competition vs. collaboration) ANOVA methodology was conducted on survey data. In Study 1, participants primed with distinctiveness (inclusiveness) and considering convenience products experienced an assimilation effect where they preferred competitive (collaborative) rivalry appeals. In Study 2, participants primed with distinctiveness (inclusiveness) and considering …

Examining The Relationship Between All-Female Education And Work Outcomes, Angelica Provost

Honors Projects in Management

This thesis is aimed at studying the long-term impact an all-female secondary education has on work outcomes. Most of the current research on an all-female education pertains to current secondary students or those who are in college. There are minimal studies that analyze if one’s educational environment has a long-term influence on their career. This study hypothesized that an all-female secondary education has a long-term impact on job satisfaction, job performance, and job engagement. This impact is manifested through the Big 5 personality traits of conscientiousness and extraversion, as well as the multifaceted personality trait Core Self Evaluation (CSE). While …

How Does The Capability Of Top Management Influence Financial Reporting Fraud?, Michael Wojcikiewicz

Honors Projects in Finance

This study examines the attributes which capture the capability of a perpetrator to engage in financial reporting fraud. Fraudulent financial reporting can be devastating for a company and its employees. Capability includes such measures as the person’s position and the function in which they work. The study reveals how capability influences the occurrence of fraud, the amount of the fraud, and whether capability interacts with concealing the fraud from an audit. The results of the thesis should assist fraud professionals, investors, and regulators as well as stakeholders of corporations by examining publicly available data and highlighting characteristics that can contribute …

Fixed Income Fund Report, November 2020, Bryant University, Archway Investment Fund

Archway Investment Fund

No abstract provided.

Fixed Income Fund Report, October 2020, Bryant University, Archway Investment Fund

Archway Investment Fund

No abstract provided.

Investigating Justice And Bullying Among Healthcare Workers, Michele N. Medina-Craven, Kathryn Ostermeier

Management Department Faculty Journal Articles

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between workplace bullying, organizational justice dimensions and intentions to leave. The authors posit that workplace bullying is positively related to intentions to leave, and that this effect is transmitted through lower justice perceptions.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors surveyed 146 healthcare workers, using factor analysis and the Preacher and Hayes (2008) PROCESS macro to test their hypotheses.

Findings

The study results indicate that workplace bullying is positively associated with intentions to leave. This effect is transmitted through lower entity-based distributive justice perceptions.

Research limitations/implications

The study sample was cross-sectional and collected …

Fixed Income Fund Report, September 2020, Bryant University, Archway Investment Fund

Archway Investment Fund

No abstract provided.

Fixed Income Fund Report, August 2020, Bryant University, Archway Investment Fund

Archway Investment Fund

No abstract provided.

Music March Madness: Predicting The Winner Of Locura De Marzo, Kevin Mentzer, Zachary Galante, Brenna Rojek, Rachel Cardarelli

Information Systems and Analytics Department Faculty Journal Articles

Each Spring, thousands of middle and high school students enrolled in Spanish classes vote for their favorite songs in the annual Locura De Marzo competition. This alternative March Madness competition gives us an opportunity to build and test models to predict which songs will win which furthers the Hit Song Science literature. Using decision trees and support vector machine (SVM) models we find similarities with the challenge of predicting the popular NCAA Basketball bracket including the importance of seed and the difficulty in predicting a “perfect” bracket

Fixed Income Fund Report, July 2020, Bryant University, Archway Investment Fund

Archway Investment Fund

No abstract provided.

Personality Configurations In Teams: A Comparison Of Compilation And Composition Models, Kathryn Ostermeier, Mark Davis, Robert Pavur

Management Department Faculty Journal Articles

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the facilitating and inhibiting influence of team-level negative affectivity and conscientiousness on a dyad of emergent states, adopting and comparing both the composition and compilation perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected over three time points from 410 undergraduate students nested within cross-functional project teams (N = 62). The data, including individual self-reports and judges’ ratings of team performance, were aggregated to the team-level using both composition (mean) and compilation (skewness) approaches.

Findings

The findings indicate that mean-levels of negative affectivity were associated with decreased psychological safety. The use of skewed conscientiousness counterintuitively …

Fixed Income Fund Report, May 2020, Bryant University, Archway Investment Fund

Archway Investment Fund

No abstract provided.

From Listening To Lyrics To Buying Brands: The Effectiveness Of Lyrical Product Placement, Mary Bridget Gomes

Honors Projects in Marketing

Brand placement is a nonconventional medium for companies to use to help consumers gain brand awareness and ultimately purchase a product. The purpose of this study was to investigate brand placement in different genres of songs to identify the participants’ degree of recall and recognition of these brands and determine if participants were enticed to purchase the brand, in order to draw conclusions of what genre and speed make a placement effective. Brand placement has been used in music videos, television shows and movies. Studies have seen a positive effect on purchase intent from these placements, yet there is a …

How Search Personalization Impacts Consumer Behavior, Jessica Taylor

Honors Projects in Marketing

Almost half the world’s population is online, roughly 3.2 billion people and one of the main uses of the internet is for search. Search engines like Google receive over 63,000 searches per second on any given day, with users looking to find information to questions, interact with communities, and purchase products online. Personalization enables search engines to provide the most relevant results and helps companies reach their target audiences more efficiently. This study focuses on personalization and its various forms, including targeted advertisements, the disadvantages of search, Cookies, and data privacy. The goal of this study is to understand (a) …

Sales Position Mobility: Exploring Women's Mobility In Sales Positions, Nyatasha Jackowicz

Honors Projects in Marketing

This thesis consists of literature research and a survey study to answer the question "Is there a consistent movement over the course of a sales career from outside sales to inside sales among women" The survey will help find correlations between specific job qualities and how they link to inside and outside sales positions. The survey will find qualitative information on specific sales professional's career paths and provide an in-depth view on motivational and job factors that have also affected female salespeople's decisions to pursue inside sales roles over outside sales roles.

The Future Of Mindfulness In The Workplace, Aidan Serrano

Honors Projects in Management

Having employees who are more mindful in the workplace, holds the potential to transforms every aspect of a company. By being more aware of themselves and the worlds they operate in, workers could find opportunities to improve their own experience and the way they interact with each other, customers, stakeholders, and more broadly how they plan and prepare for the future. Although there is much interest in these programs among companies today, efforts to realize the benefits are still embryonic and face many challenges. Of companies who have launched programs, many have been around for three years or less and …

Gender And Dissent Effects On Teams' Decision-Making Quality, Luisa Martinez

Honors Projects in Management

Research shows that having a devil’s advocate improves a team’s decision-making quality. This finding has been proven to hold even under a hidden profile condition, where information is shared unequally among the members. Teams with asymmetric information are more likely to combine unshared information leading to superior decision-making when a team member plays the devil’s advocate. This experimental study aims to examine whether the gender of the devil’s advocate in a three-person team affects the team’s ability to succeed in a hidden profile condition challenge. This study utilizes experimental research to observe the effect of the gender of the devil’s …

The Relationship Between Locus Of Control And Athletic Performance, Allyson Mccorison

Honors Projects in Management

The purpose of this study was to expand the conversation of locus of control through quantitative research. A hypothetical model was tested to determine if there is a significant relationship between an athlete's locus of control and their athletic performance. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were posited as mediators in the relationship. To test the hypothesized model, data was collected for Division 1 athletes (n=136). The data was analyzed using Preacher and Hayes (4) macro, with results indicating no significant relationship between locus of control and athletic perofrmance. Intrinsic motivation was found to be a predictor of athletic performance. Limitations, discussion, …

The Modern Church Crisis: What Church Leaders Can Learn From Three Counter-Reformation Saints, A Managerial Analysis, Peter Vise

Honors Projects in Management

The Catholic Church is currently in a crisis, yet this is not the first time and likely will not be the last. In the past, men and women of virtue, now saints, have arisen to successfully lead the Church through such crises. Hence, the principal question of this thesis is whether a leadership analysis of these saints, from the perspective of contemporary management theory, can help us understand their effectiveness and provide insights that would be useful for modern Church leaders. To satisfactorily answer this question, it would help to find a period in history like ours, namely the Reformation. …

It's All Greek To Me: Greek Membership Impacts At Bryant, Stephanie Souza

Honors Projects in Information Systems and Analytics

A large aspect of student life for college campuses across the country includes Greek Life, whereby students must gain membership and are initiated into a secret society style of organization. Upon expansive research and thorough analysis of the field focused on Greek involvement implications, impacts, and outcomes, there were many conflicting conclusions across studies that had a wide variety of differing input and control factors. With little definitive and holistic research that could reflect all colleges and chapters of Greek Life, this project takes specifically to the climate of Greek Life at Bryant University. Many studies primarily focus on the …

Mitigating Global Supply Chain Risk In The Fashion Industry, Danielle Nikosey

Honors Projects in Global Supply Chain Management

Purpose – Many supply chains offshore manufacturing to countries such as China to take advantage of low-cost labor, substantial capacity, and expertise. Such low-cost country strategies create supply chain complexity and therefore increase risk potential. Using the fashion industry as a context, this study examines criteria that the fashion industry considers to mitigate risk when selecting their international suppliers.

Methodology – The primary data collection for this paper consisted of an extensive literature review and in-depth qualitative interviews with supply chain professionals of fashion companies. A variety of different businesses and professionals were studied for this research.

Findings – Examples …

A Stochastic Approach To Portfolio Optimization Using Competing Risk Metrics, Juan Gonzalez

Honors Projects in Finance

This thesis presentation presents a stochastic approach to portfolio construction using various risk metrics as underlying models for portfolio optimization. The risk models utilized in this thesis include Mean-Variance, Minimum-Variance, Value-at-Risk (VaR), Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR). To evaluate the efficiency and overall performance of these models, historical data for 30 specific stocks was selected. The stock selection process focused on the selecting stocks that are highly volatile and correlated with one another. Empirical results reveal that portfolio optimization strategies outperform the benchmark. Additionally, results showed that the Minimum-Variance model constructed the best portfolio for the predetermined backtesting time period.

The Influence Of News Sentiment On Common Asset Pricing Models, Liam Mahler

Honors Projects in Finance

This paper aims to explore the influence of daily news article sentiment as a predictor of the returns on an investment. A daily sentiment score is developed and it is used to augment five commonly researched models, CAPM, Fama & French Three Factor, Carhart Four Factor, Fama & French Five Factor, and Fama & French Five Factor with Momentum. This study looks at six different securities over a five-year period. Along with this, two different variations of the factor are looked at, one of which is a simple factor that scores days without an article as zero and another that …

Managing The Going Concern Risk In An Uncertain Environment An Analysis Of Regulatory Guidance And Financial Relief For The Covid-19 Pandemic, Nicholas C. Lynch, Michael F. Lynch, Charles Cullinan

Accounting Department Faculty Journal Articles

manufacturing company Regal Beloit reports that it has drawn $255 million on its line of credit, even though it "has a strong balance sheet and does not currently intend to use the borrowed proceeds, but believes an abundance of caution regarding its cash position is prudent at this time." Management's Responsibility The responsibility to prepare financial statements on a going concern basis under U.S. GAAP and the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) falls on management. Managers must look forward for a "reasonable period of time," defined as 12 months from the financial statement issue date or 12 months from the …