Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Integrating Coaching And Self-Determination Theory: The Development And Validation Of The Managerial Coaching Questionnaire, Hunter Thomas Black

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Despite increasing practitioner application and decades of research on the topic of managerial coaching, the topic continues to lack conceptual clarity, foundational theory, and sound measures. As a result, there is little understanding of the underlying psychological mechanisms connecting coaching behaviors to employee outcomes. This dissertation develops a new theory-based framework and survey measure of managerial coaching behaviors (the managerial coaching questionnaire; MCQ) grounded in self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Time-lagged results support the theoretical propositions of the framework with results showing a positive relationship between the MCQ and employee wellbeing mediated by employee need …

What Drives Merger Waves? A Study Of The Seven Historical Merger Waves In The U.S., Katherine Ching

Scripps Senior Theses

Historically, merger and acquisition (or M&A) activity has occurred in cyclical patterns, forming what are known as “merger waves.” To date, there have been a total of seven waves. Though it is widely acknowledged that merger waves exist, there is no consensus on what drives these waves. Through both qualitative and quantitative analysis, this paper aims to determine the causes of merger waves and looks at those causes through two different lenses: the neoclassical view, which states that economic shocks cause merger waves, and the behavioral view, which states that increases in merger activity are due to managerial behavior and …

To What Extent Do Religious Institutions Provide A Societal Value? Is The Tax-Exempt Status Justified?, Annabel Hou

Scripps Senior Theses

Religious institutions have been tax-exempt from almost all taxes for more than two centuries. The two primary justifications used to protect this ‘status’ is the constitution and the concept that churches provide positive externalities that believers and non-believers all benefit from. This paper examines the relationship between religiosity and five socially important characteristics: high school graduation rate, a divorce rate, incidence of domestic violence, and levels of substance abuse and crime. I run multiple simple and full regressions across 207 counties in Texas. In four of the five analyses, religiosity has a strong statistically significant desirable impact. With the addition …

Knowledge Boundaries Shape The Cognitive And Structural Foundations Of Innovation: Dyad-Level Expertise Exchange In Teams Of Specialists, Daniel Jordan Slyngstad

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Innovation in academia and industry is increasingly achieved via complex problem solving in teams making use of knowledge from multiple areas of expertise. These expertise-diverse teams have proliferated in response to the demands of contemporary knowledge work, and members often possess intellectually distant skillsets that impose novel constraints on the means by which they must collaborate—in particular, they must rely more on distributed taskwork. Yet, research continues to place emphasis on the goal of enabling teams to achieve innovation by increasing knowledge shared in common, overcoming obstacles to cognitive parity, or via sustained periods of problem solving by the team …

Farm To Label: A Critique Of Consumer Activism In The Sustainable Food Movement, Olivia Whitener

Pomona Senior Theses

“Local,” “organic,” “natural,” and “Fairtrade” are just several of the many claims adorning the food products that line grocery store shelves. These promises of environmental sustainability and social responsibility are pillars of the “good food revolution” sweeping the nation as consumers demand alternatives to the products of the industrial food system. Green consumerism, the premise that consumer demand for environmentally sustainable goods will bring about ecologically beneficial outcomes, is at the heart of the sustainable food movement. This thesis takes a critical look at the operation of green consumerism in the food system. It explores the ideology and shortcomings of …

Island Invasion: The Silent Crisis In Hawaii, Sophia Janssen

Pomona Senior Theses

Keeping out invasive species may, upon first review, seem like a trivial environmental cry from ecologists and deep environmentalists; a belated wish to return to an undeveloped world where nature was pristine. However invasive species create problems that impact all of us and can have far more severe consequences than changing a stunning landscape. These problems are heightened in islands like Hawaii, where the fragile ecosystems have developed over centuries of evolution and adaptation. The introduction of a disease-carrying mosquito can put the people of Hawaii at risk to many vector-born illnesses and create an epidemic, taking human life. The …

How Organizations And Their Brands Leverage Marketing Partnerships To Enhance Their Success: The Guidelines To Navigating Both Reaffirming And Repositioning Strategic Partnerships, Remi A. Edwards

CMC Senior Theses

Understanding the different factors, influencers, and outcomes that form a successful brand partnership allow for marketers to make informed decisions that benefit their company. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the literature regarding partnership marketing and issues a set of guidelines for marketers to strategically market their brand by way of collaboration. With two distinct strategic frameworks, reaffirming partnerships and repositioning partnerships, this paper seeks illustrate the efficacy of brand collaboration and how to achieve success based on varying brand goals.

Leveraged Buyouts: The Predictive Power Of Target Firm Characteristics, Yutao (James) Jiang

CMC Senior Theses

This paper utilizes a hazard model to predict the probability of leveraged buyout transactions for public firms. Rather than testing specific hypotheses, this paper incorporates all plausible predictors identified in existing literature to better delineate the effects of different characteristics. Largely confirming past results, I find that LBO transactions are more likely to occur for companies with more stable cash flows, less market visibility, lower market valuation, lower ownership concentration and lower costs of financial distress. By including LBO transactions from 1980 to September 2018, I find preliminary evidence that since the financial crisis of 2008 – 2009, private equity …

The Changing Nature Of Work, Leadership, And Organizational Culture In Future Ready Organizations, Saloni Dhir

CMC Senior Theses

Abstract

The relationship between individual and organizational performance is a key challenge for leaders in modern organizations, especially with the current disruption in technology and innovation. This thesis is a literature review and compilation of the relevant empirical evidence on various processes of industrial groups and organizational characteristics such as the changing nature of work, leadership, and company culture in detail. I investigate the complex challenges that millennials and organizations are facing in the current VUCA work environment as well as their potential responses to these changes. I map out the evolution of the concept of work and compare changes …

The Effectiveness Of Collaboration Within Supply Chain Management: A Case Study Of Adidas Group, Daniel Carr

CMC Senior Theses

For a multi-national company like Adidas, supply chain management is one of the most crucial aspects of business operations. Products cannot be sold unless Adidas’s supply chain is well-managed and efficient, and public perception of a brand/company is critical to success.

This case study analyzes the effectiveness of Adidas's distinct “collaborative approach” to supply chain management, which is characterized by not only monitoring and auditing suppliers, but also training them to make Adidas’s standards their own and approaching suppliers with the intention of building long-term relationships where the suppliers can become self-sufficient.

This study reviews the structure of Adidas's supply …

M&A Performance: Market’S Initial Reaction As An Unbiased Indicator Of Post-Acquisition Performance, Nikolaos Papageorgiou

CMC Senior Theses

This paper investigates the reliability of the stock market’s initial reaction to M&A announcements as a predictor of actual post-acquisition performance. The two prevailing methods for evaluating M&A performance are event studies (stock market-based measures) and accounting-based measures. The present study combines these two performance evaluation approaches in a single empirical examination. Both the post-merger buy-and-hold abnormal returns and changes in ROA are used as actual post-acquisition performance variables. The acquirer’s cumulative abnormal return (CAR) around the announcement is used as the market predictor variable. An econometric model is employed to test the predictive power of the announcement-period CAR on …

Are Cds Auctions The Tail Wagging The Dog? An Empirical Study Of Corporate Bond Return Volatility At The Time Of Default, Jennifer Mace

CMC Senior Theses

Over the past decade, numerous engineered credit events and cases of market participants manipulating bond prices to influence Credit Default Swap (CDS) auction payouts have occurred. These cases have become increasingly common, and the CFTC has stated they may constitute market manipulation and undermine not only the CDS market but also the credit derivative and default markets. Although there is a plethora of news and media coverage on publicized cases, there is no previous empirical research on evidence of these practices. This paper is motivated by the desire to determine if there is indirect evidence of bond price manipulation around …

The Impacts Of Supra-Regional Multi-Resort Season Passes: A Hedonic Pricing Model Of Single-Day Lift Tickets For Us Ski Areas, Sijia Lai

CMC Senior Theses

Numerous media analyses claim that supra-regional multi-resort season passes (mega passes) are negatively impacting skiing, snowboarding, and winter-sport communities. In particular, media claims that ski areas on these season passes are charging higher single-day lift ticket prices to nudge people to buy their season pass products. To test this claim, I use a hedonic pricing model to estimate the impact of season passes on adult single-day lift ticket prices. By applying OLS regressions to a dataset of 302 US ski areas for the winter of 2018-19, I find that the ski areas on the leading season passes (Ikon and Epic …

The Fall Of The 10-K Report: Measuring The Impact Of Accounting Ratios On Financial Performance, Matthew Daruty

CMC Senior Theses

The annual 10-K report has historically been the most important aspect in assessing the position of a publicly held company. However, as the flow of information has increased with the dawn of new technologies, less and less attention has been paid to these audited financial statements. In order to assess if investors are still reacting to the information contained in the annual report, this paper examines the relationship between accounting ratios and stock price in banks traded on United States stock exchanges. By examining accounting ratios instead of simply looking at Earnings Per Share, new information was revealed regarding what …

How Can California Best Promote Electric Vehicle Adoption? The Effect Of Public Charging Station Availability On Ev Adoption, Viraj Singh

Pomona Senior Theses

To promote higher air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Californian government is investing heavily in developing public charging infrastructure to meet its electric vehicle adoption goal of five million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2030. This thesis investigates the effect of public charging infrastructure availability on electric vehicle adoption at the zip code level in California. The analysis considers other factors that may influence electric vehicle adoption such as education level, income, commute time, gas prices, and public transportation rate. The findings suggest that public charging infrastructure availability does significantly positively correlate with electric vehicle registrations. Linear …

The Sea Turtle As A Marketing Symbol For The Anti-Plastics Movement, Hannah Chiu

Pitzer Senior Theses

The anti-plastic straw movement uses the sea turtle to bring an empathetic symbol to broaden the scope of the plastics problem in the ocean, giving the public a powerful visual image for the first time in the history of the anti-plastics movement. In this thesis, I build on existing conversations on charismatic megafauna and flagship species, to explore the emerging anti-plastic straw movement and its use of the sea turtle as a symbol. I also provide an analysis of the imagery and comments on social media sites of green marketing companies and non-governmental organizations. These social media sites, such as …

The Impact Of Socioeconomic Status On College Students’ Experiences, Shaafi A. Farooqi

Pitzer Senior Theses

This qualitative research project examines the role of socioeconomic status in shaping the experiences of students attending Pearson College, an elite liberal arts college in Southern California. One hour-long, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) students in order to better understand APIDA student experiences and their views on the college’s efforts to support class-based diversity and inclusion. Findings include insights into challenges faced by college students, how they understand privilege and identity, and where college students find support. These results have implications for Pearson College, and similar liberal arts colleges, to implement changes to …