Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

A Dual Perspective Towards Building Resilience In Manufacturing Organizations, Steven A. Fazio

Theses and Dissertations

Modern manufacturing organizations exist in the most complex and competitive environment the world has ever known. This environment consists of demanding customers, enabling, but resource intensive Industry 4.0 technology, dynamic regulations, geopolitical perturbations, and innovative, ever-expanding global competition. Successful manufacturing organizations must excel in this environment while facing emergent disruptions generated as biproducts of complex man-made and natural systems. The research presented in this thesis provides a novel two-sided approach to the creation of resilience in the modern manufacturing organization. First, the systems engineering method is demonstrated as the qualitative framework for building literature-derived organizational resilience factors into organizational structures …

How Information Technology Investment Influences Firm Financial Vulnerability, Andrew S. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Information technology (IT) investments have increased over the last half-century without clear justification in academic or practice-based literatures. One area that has not been adequately addressed in the past literature is the role of IT investments in mitigating firm financial vulnerability. This dissertation specifically attempts to understand the marginal effects of IT investments on financial vulnerability as defined by firm risk and R&D depreciation. Two research questions are pursued to help explain the role IT investments play in firm financial vulnerability: 1) What is the relationship between IT investments and R&D depreciation? and 2) What is the relationship between IT …

Investor Reaction To Exploration Versus Exploitation Using An Asorptive Capacity Lens, Kevin Walsh

Theses and Dissertations

In his seminal work, March (1991) points to innovation as a key to a firm’s survival. In this dissertation proposal, I seek to build on March’s research by leveraging his construct of balancing a focus on improving existing capabilities (“exploitation”) while simultaneously creating new competencies (“exploration”). These two approaches to innovation are often viewed as requiring a firm to leverage very different skills. Not only are there differing skills, but the level of risk and potential reward also vary based on a firm’s decision to focus on exploration versus exploitation. The reaction of investors to this dichotomy is the focus …

Organizational Effectiveness In Women-Owned Small Businesses Within The Defense Sector Of Northern Alabama: A Case Study Approach, Kerry Shurron Prowell

Theses and Dissertations

Research into how human capital influences organizational effectiveness in WOSBs as they pursue government contracts is lacking. Understanding the impact of human capital upon organizational effectiveness in WOSBs may also help in recognizing how knowledge and skills contribute to the firm's ability to secure a government contract. Using the case study method, the influence of human capital on organizational effectiveness in WOSBs seeking government contracts is a phenomenon this study explored. Firstly, this research has discovered the importance of knowledge within human capital as a contributor to core competencies; furthermore, this finding was meaningfully observed through the lived experiences of …

The Impact Of A Transformational Leader On Employees Displaying Organizational Citizenship Behavior In Two Medium-Sized Customer Support Organizations, Jameen Heleena Mathews

Theses and Dissertations

This narrative analysis study explored the relationship between transformational leadership styles and employees exhibiting discretionary behaviors related to performance in an organization. The study investigated the relationship between transformational leadership and its impact on employee discretionary behavior, the impact that transformational leadership has on the employee, and the organization's overall performance. It investigated whether or not there are any specific dimensions of transformational leadership that influence organizational citizenship behavior in customer support organizations. Understanding how a transformational leader behaves and interacts with employees in an organization is important when considering its contribution to employee performance and workplace behaviors. As employers …

Factors Affecting Irs Audit Rate Probability: Empirical Evidence From Rgv Region, Issack Guyo

Theses and Dissertations

IRS tax audits are intended to curb tax evasion; however, they are costly to conduct and have negative impacts on taxpayers. The purpose of this study is to find out factors that lead to high IRS audit rate in a region from the perspective of the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). Relationship between IRS tax audit rate and determinants of tax evasion identified by Davis, Cebula, & Boylan (2020) among others are studied. A regression analysis is conducted on the regions scores on poverty rate, demography, unemployment rate and general level of education with the IRS audit rate. The results suggest …

Sales Application Engineer Turnover Intentions: An Exploration Of Education, Age And Job Tenure Through The Met-Expectations Perspective, William Kelley

Theses and Dissertations

Both individually and in combination, globalization and the increasing use of information technology are creating unrelenting competitive pressures on organizations once protected by distance (Porter, 1999; Porter & Millar, 1985; Narus & Anderson, 1985; Boyle, 1996). These once-protected firms, historically operating in competitive landscapes limited to local firms, now compete with organizations located across state lines and oceans. In order to compete and survive, firms must adjust to the new competitive dynamics wrought by these changes (Teece, 2000). As knowledge has been identified as one of the most important sources of competitive advantage (Drucker, 1999) and profitability (Grant, 1991), this …

Value Creation Mechanisms In The Contemporary Art Market, Niharika Goel

Theses and Dissertations

As marketing theory has evolved, value co-creation has taken center stage in exchange processes. The goal of this dissertation, situated at the intersection of market systems and the visual art market, is to generate a deeper understand of the fundamentals of value co-creation at the level of practice, in part because the visual art world is organized as a Bourdieusian field of cultural production with its own set of rules, narratives, individuals and institutions. While individuals can effectively position themselves in this field to accumulate social capital, they are inextricably linked to others. Hence, it is imperative to understand the …

Essays On Decision Problems Under Uncertainty, Mahsa Mardikoraem

Theses and Dissertations

One of the fundamental questions in many operations and decision problems is how to incorporate available information into the decision-making process in uncertain environments. In two essays, we develop tools for operations decision problems. In the first essay, we consider the case when only partial information (mode and a few percentiles) about the probability distribution of the variable of interest is available. In the second essay, we consider the case when a sample observation from the variable of interest and its predictors, along with prior distributions about the parameters of the probability model, are available.

Essay 1. Maximum entropy distributions …

The Effect Of Product Likes On Consumer Behavior In Online Shopping, Quynh Le

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the impact of likes in the context of online shopping websites. Likes are popular metrics in digital and social media marketing. Previous research has investigated the roles of likes on consumer behavior and product sales in the context of social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram. However, little has been known about another type of likes, product likes, which are used on online shopping as an information cue for consumer’s purchase decisions. We propose four studies to understand the impact of product likes in the context of online shopping websites where transactions occur. We expect that the …

The Role Of The Top Management Team In Orchestrating Big Data Analytics For Competitive Advantage, Sujatha Rayburn

Theses and Dissertations

In today's big data era, the recognition of big data analytics (BDA) as a competitive differentiator is making companies invest heavily in its potential. However, for most companies, this requires a significant transformation that needs to be led from the top. Thus, the top management team's (TMT) managerial resources will be key to how BDA resources and existing BDA ordinary capabilities are further orchestrated as dynamic capabilities. This study grounded in the Upper Echelons theory, the Dynamic Managerial Capabilities (DMC), and Resource Orchestration frameworks sought to understand the impact of the managerial resources of cognition, human and social capital on …

There’S More Than Meets The I(Dentity): A Multidimensional View Of Identity Threat, Christina B. Hymer

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation provides a multiple identity perspective to how people experience challenges towards their identities ("identity threats"). While research on identity threat has normally focused on identity threat in relation to a single identity, my dissertation challenges this assumption by examining how connections between multiple identities (e.g., professional, spouse) affect how people experience identity threats. I provide a review of identity threat research, after which I establish an intrapersonal identity network view of identity threat that considers how the centralization of a threatened identity, as well as the density of one’s identity network in terms of enhancing and conflicting relationships, …

Three Essays On Corporate Governance And Financial Reporting Quality, Hyo Jin Yoon

Theses and Dissertations

Corporate governance broadly refers to the oversight activities undertaken by internal and external actors to assure a fair distribution of cash flows and wealth transfers among the contracting parties. One of the most important functions of corporate governance is to ensure the integrity of the financial reporting process. A substantial body of work highlights the role of corporate governance mechanisms in curtailing earnings management that stems from managerial opportunism. Prior research has also found a direct link between weak corporate governance and financial misstatements and reporting frauds. While the effects of governance mechanisms on corporate reporting quality are well documented …

Essays On Cryptofinance, Robert Douglas Viglione

Theses and Dissertations

Cryptofinance is a term that describes the application of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technology to the traditional domains of finance; this includes both asset pricing and corporate finance. This work first documents the new technology, peer-to-peer financial instruments and how they trade, evaluates the small but growing literature in finance and economics, and then explores important relationships that explain cross-country differences in cryptocurrency premiums. The first finding is that investors pay a persistent premium over global prices in countries with less economic freedom, particularly when there exist barriers to trade, less secure property rights, or foreign exchange and capital controls …

Two Essays Investigating Numerical Information Influence On Consumer Preference And Predictions, Gustavo Schneider

Theses and Dissertations

Numerical information is ubiquitous in consumer contexts, consumers rely on numerical information to evaluate product attributes, make judgments and decisions, and make predictions for relevant outcomes. This dissertation investigates how numerical information influence consumer judgment and preferences.

Essay 1 introduces the concept of numerical expressions—numerical quantifiers such as pairs, trios, quartets, dozens—and demonstrates that consumers prefer offers expressed using numerical expressions (e.g., buy a dozen health drinks) relative to their numerical counterpart (e.g., buy 12 health drinks). This occurs because numerical expressions are perceived to be more complete and are easier to justify, and therefore serve as goals in consumption …

Bank Liquidity Creation And Systemic Risk, Destan Kirimhan

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation includes three essays on bank liquidity creation and systemic risk. In the first essay, we examine the role of distracted institutional investors in banks in one of the most comprehensive measures of bank output, bank liquidity creation. We employ institutional investor distraction measure developed by Kempf et al. (2017). With a sample of publicly listed U.S. banks over the period of 1986-2016, we find that as institutional investors become more distracted, banks create more liquidity on the asset-side and off-balance sheet side. These results are stronger for large banks relative to small banks and are more pronounced during …

Iterate To Innovate: How Firms Strategize Design Iteration To Navigate The Uneven Landscape In The Global Mobile Application Industry, Pengxiang Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation builds on the logic of opportunity and the institutional perspective to explore how firms iterate to innovate in the uneven landscape of the global digital marketplace. In such nascent industries, innovative firms could not rely on differential positioning or valuable resources to sustain advantage but must take actions of iterative search to capture fleeting opportunities. Specifically, I focus on the role of design iteration, through which firms engage in trial-and-error learning and create situation-specific knowledge. While this logic of opportunity has received a significant upsurge of interest from strategy and entrepreneurship scholars, it largely assumes a homogeneous institutional …

Information Production And Price Discovery In The Syndicated Loan Market, Yafei Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation studies information production and price discovery in the syndicated loan market. Over the past twenty years, collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and the market-flex model have changed the landscape of the loan market. In the first chapter, I document that CLOs make up more than 60% of the investments in syndicated loans in recent years. A syndicated loan is in the portfolios of dozens of CLOs and they often disagree on the value of the loan. I examine how the disagreement affects the trading behavior of CLOs and the loan illiquidity in the secondary market. I find that such …

Organizational Dissonance In The Context Of Organizational Decline And Turnaround Of A Security Printer: A Quantitative Case Study, Tina Marie Ramirez-Dominguez

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative study was to examine organizational identity dissonance experienced by an organization's social actors in the context of organizational decline and turnaround utilizing factor structures from five years of pre-existing, employee surveys to determine whether differences in factor scores occurred over the 5-year time frame. Organizational identity dissonance is the psychological stress or discomfort experienced by an organization's social actors from holding two or more contradictory attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors (McLead, 2008) in relation to the organization's identity. A social actor is an individual participating in a communal environment (Whetten & Mackey, 2002). A communal …

Social And Human Capital Contributions Of Diverse Board Members, Sharifa Ife Batts

Theses and Dissertations

While most firms serve a diverse population, many have no minorities or women serving as Members on their board. Boards are disadvantaged when their composition fails to align with Their employee population or the stakeholder groups they serve; they are neglecting the Contributions of women and minorities as their voices are unheard. The purpose of this multiple Case comparison study builds on current boardroom diversity and board effectiveness research by Exploring how the unique human and social capital contributions of women and minority board Members increase the boards’ capabilities and impact board governance. I qualitatively examined Six boards of varied …

A Contemporary Study On The Impact Of Regulations On Business Performance, Brian C. Mulligan

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines Nobel Prize Laureate Hayek's ominous warning that economic liberty in the U.S. is at risk, due to regulations, of becoming an unplanned administrative state. The research seeks to understand the effects of regulations on business performance and how to right-size them for a healthy business environment. These objectives are accomplished with two papers: (1) a macro cross-discipline literature review and call for research on the impact of regulations on business performance, and (2) a qualitative grounded theory study from interviews from elite business executives on their perspectives on the impact of regulations on business performance. The findings …

The Relationship Of Authentic Leadership And Growth, Retention, And Productivity, Michael B. Horwitz

Theses and Dissertations

Leadership has been heralded a critical component for the achievement of successful organizational outcomes. Recent financial, social, psychological, and environmental challenges that are being faced on a global scale have raised the call for new and effective leadership. Researchers and practitioners have expressed the need for the development of good leaders. Authentic leadership (AL) has been described as the root theory of all other forms of positive leadership and offers a way to describe and develop more effective leadership and drive veritable sustained superior performance.

Authentic leaders are proposed to have greater self-awareness and self-regulated positive behaviors, seeking to develop …

The Reverse Endowment Model: Increasing A Business Family’S Philanthropic Planned Giving Through Private Placement Life Insurance And Dynasty Trusts, Kristofer R. Gray

Theses and Dissertations

Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) is the crown jewel of insurance planning for the ultra-high net-worth single-family office. However, there remains an asymmetry of knowledge regarding the arrangement between ultra-high net-worth (UHNW) and high net-worth (HNW) business families. Due to recent tax changes (2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act) and significant government economic stimulus related to COVID-19, a unique application of PPLI for HNW with an alternative policy structure, which we call the Reverse Endowment Model, may create an opportunity for business families to increase their planned giving and still pass the same amount of inheritance assets to their heirs. …