Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Where Are All The Latinas In Information Technology? Understanding And Engaging "La Fuerza Potente" Of A Powerful Demographic, Diana Orozco

Theses & Dissertations

This study was inspired while I was researching other studies on employee motivational factors for non-profit organizations. I stumbled across the employment factors of Latinas in IT. This led me down a path of researching numbers, facts, organizational campaigns, and employment statistics. Latinas represent only 1% of the IT workforce, despite educational and organizational hiring campaigns and efforts. This led me to further inquire: What are the obstacles, what are the motivators, what is the solution and finally how would the resolutions be implemented? With many qualitative and quantitative studies that identify the deficiency, there has been little done to …

Testimonios Of Latinas In The Federal Government Senior Executive Service: Honoring Women Who Excel In Public Service, Amarylis Lopez

Theses & Dissertations

The Senior Executive Service (SES) is the highest tier of executive management and leadership in the federal government. The Latino/a population has significantly increased in the past three decades with no corresponding increase in the federal workforce and the number of Latinos/as serving in the SES remains low. As Latinos/as in the SES are largely underrepresented, their ability to influence federal policies is significantly undermined. The purpose of this study is to explore the testimonios (testimonies) of Latinas in the SES to better understand their experiences while navigating entry into the SES and maintaining their respective positions.

This study used …

Media's Impact On Cryptocurrency Adoption In Africa, Aly Z. Ramji

Theses & Dissertations

The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, blockchain, and Web 3.0, has sparked interest not only among industrialized nations but also among the African continent. The widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies in Africa can be attributed to several drivers, including high rates of mobile phone and internet penetration. Blockchain technology has the potential to increase efficiency and reduce transaction costs, contributing to the growth of cryptocurrencies on the continent. This sought to examine the impact of media on the adoption of cryptocurrencies in Africa. The research focused on how media frames events and issues, and how it influences people's thoughts, …

How Positive Practices In Organizations Are Associated With Employee Engagement Via The Moderating Effects Of Generational Cohorts In U.S. Customer Service Organizations, Deborah A. Poole

Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role that the respective workforce generational cohorts may have on the relationship between positive practices in organizations and levels of employee engagement of U.S. based adult customer service representatives of all races. Studies show that higher employee engagement positively affects employee motivation, satisfaction, productivity, and ultimately the financial success of the organization. However, the levels of engagement for front line customer service positions are some of the lowest of occupations measured by Gallup and have actually declined in recent years. The broaden and build theory of positive emotions shows that …

How Leaders And Employees Experience, Make Sense Of, And Find Meaning In Humility, David Perryman

Theses & Dissertations

By just about any measure, organizations today are more dynamic, diverse, and interdependent than at any other time in history. This environment puts unprecedented pressure on the human capacity to lead. And still, we demand more from our leaders—even as employees experience rising stress levels, declining loyalty, and deteriorating trust in their employers, and organizations face historically high rates of employee turnover along with the resulting financial and emotional costs. Clinging to romanticized notions of the larger-than-life leader blinds us to the paradoxical promise of humility; namely, that a leader’s greatest strength may lie, ironically, in the ability …

Understanding Employee Engagement: A Mixed-Methods Study, Joren M. Scharn

Theses & Dissertations

For over 4 decades businesses around the world have been conducting employee satisfaction surveys at regular intervals and this surfaced a strong positive relationship between employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and overall company performance. In recent years however, academics and researchers have reopened the debate on whether employee or job satisfaction metrics are in fact reliable indicators of productivity, suggesting that employee engagement has a far stronger correlation to productivity. This study addresses two interrelated problems that are associated with a practice that is common in working environments all over the world. According to literature, it is generally accepted that (a) …

The Initial Planning Process Of An International Service-Learning Pilot Initiative Under Development, Denise P. Krohn

Theses & Dissertations

This research explored the initial planning process of an international service-learning (ISL) initiative under development that involved a collaboration among a south-central Texas private university, a ministry of Catholic Sisters in Peru, a U.S. non-profit organization, and a Peruvian optometry school. Three collaborators were founded by the same religious order. An overlapping in mission and values influenced the context. By delving into the expectations of higher education and its pedagogical practices, ISL’s history and conceptualizations, and concepts of program planning and designing related to the fields of ISL and adult learning, this study presented significant program development aspects. Furthermore, the …

The Impact Of Culture On Hispanic Entrepreneurs As Mediated By Motivation, Challenge, And Success, Valerie V. Ballesteros

Theses & Dissertations

In the modern economic environment, demographic shifts in U.S. population resulting from changing immigration, changing economic policies and environments, and growing socioeconomic disparity, scholarly research examining the business behavior of specific groups and the impact of behavior on the broader marketplace is valuable and necessary. Hispanic entrepreneurs, when compared to both minority and non-minority business-owners, started and flourished in successful business ownership at a greater growth rate than any other group (Davila, Mora, & Zeitlin, 2014). Since the beginning of the 21st century, Hispanic entrepreneurs have become a measurable economic force. The cultural experience of the Hispanic entrepreneur is important …

Evaluating A Chaplain Corps Change Initiative: Examining The Relationship Between Change Beliefs And Job Satisfaction, Steven Thomas Sill

Theses & Dissertations

The Air Force Chaplain Corps is experiencing a period of rapid change that challenges traditional approaches to providing ministry for Air Force personnel. The need for an effective chaplaincy has never been greater; the Air Force’s critical manning shortages and worldwide duty requirements are adding stress and uncertainty to the lives of Airmen (Losey, 2015). To better support these Airmen the Chief of Chaplains directed a change initiative aimed at increasing the effectiveness of unit-based ministry, including aggressive goals for the amount of time spent in direct unit engagement. This study utilized a survey to explore beliefs of Chaplain Corps …

A Case For Spiritual Change Readiness: A Correlational Study, Wanita Nicole Mercer

Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to investigate whether a relationship existed between spirit at work and attitudes towards organizational change among adults working in various industries. The Spirit at Work Scale (SAWS) measured the independent variable and the Attitudes Towards Organizational Change (ATOC) scale measured the dependent variable. Four factors (engaging work, sense of community, mystical experience, and spiritual connection) measured spirit at work. Three factors (cynical attitudes, fearful attitudes, and accepting attitudes) measured attitudes towards organizational change. Three hundred and ten responses were collected via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk online workforce and analyzed. A Pearson’s correlation test …

Personal Decision Factors Considered By Information Technology Executives: Their Impacts On Business Intentions And Consequent Cloud Computing Services Adoption Rates, Marcus Lee Smith Jr

Theses & Dissertations

During its infancy, the cloud computing industry was the province largely of small and medium-sized business customers. Despite their size, these companies required a professionally run, yet economical information technology (IT) operation. These customers used a total value strategy whereby they avoided paying for essential, yet underutilized, resources (e.g., full-time IT personnel and computing equipment with excess capacity) by outsourcing most, if not all, of their entire IT function. Since that time, the cloud industry has expanded the breadth of its service offerings greatly and the economies of scale have reduced the unit price point. In addition, research suggests other …

Breaking Television News: Is Social Media Coverage You Can Count On?, Eileen Canosa Teves

Theses & Dissertations

This mixed methods study explored how 10 television journalists and photojournalists handled social media’s integration and its impact on television news. A quantitative survey modeled after Moore and Benbasat’s (1991) instrument using the Diffusion of Innovations theory as a foundation measured how participants adopted social media in newsgathering and dissemination. Through qualitative one-on-one interviews, data revealed that participants believed social media was advantageous in collecting and reporting television news. Television journalists were able to locate sources, experts, and visual images. Social media allowed participants to report live from the scene and deliver news quickly. The innovation enabled participants to connect …

The Generational Divide: Generational Differences In Psychological Capital, Heather Staples

Theses & Dissertations

Human resource development has customarily focused on social and human capital; however, an innovative new theory within positive organizational behavior focuses on psychological resources. The purpose of this research was to examine the differences across generations on dimensions of psychological resources using the core construct psychological capital. Using a quantitative survey research approach, this study focused on the differences among the three largest generations in the current workforce: Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y. The independent variable, generations, was defined through a self-identified connection with age and significant events. The dependent variable, psychological capital (PsyCap), was defined as a …

Correlating Coworker Relations, Employee Involvement, And Leadership With Associate Commitment In Select Healthcare Companies Using A Mixed Sequential Explanatory Design, Kimberly Ann Lee

Theses & Dissertations

Increasing patient demands and decreasing reimbursement require better efficiency and effectiveness in health care systems and, subsequently, in health care teams. These environmental and societal factors are further complicated by the complex initiatives set forth by the Affordable Care Act (2010). In this study, the researcher sought to examine and identify the strongest variables of health care teaming and to explore resulting themes through the perception of groups of health care associates. This mixed sequential explanatory design first examined the relationships between coworker relations, employee involvement, and leadership with associate commitment and with each other. An existing database of associate …

The Impact Of Generational Differences On Organizational Relationships: A Communication Perspective, Mecca M. Salahuddin

Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods sequential explanatory study was to investigate the relationship between an individual’s generation and the communication styles used with other generations, and explore the influence of intergenerational communication styles on organizational relationships. The study utilized the Global Perceptions of Intergenerational Communication (GPIC) survey to assess participants’ perceptions of others and one’s own communication styles on three factors: accommodation, nonaccommodation, and respectful avoidance. Three hundred and eighty-five participants of staff and administrators employed at five community colleges located in South Texas completed the survey. Principal component analyses and multiple analysis of variance analysis results showed the …

Work Support, Work-Family Enrichment, Work Demand And Work Well-Being Among Chinese Employees : A Study Of Mediating And Moderating Processes, Shuwen Tang

Theses & Dissertations

Work and family are the central and salient domains in one’s life. Juggling work and family life has become a challenge for many employees and families (Hammer et al., 2005). This study proposed a theoretical model in which work to family enrichment functioned as the mediator between work support (support from supervisor, co-workers and organization) and work well-being (job satisfaction and psychological health), and also examined whether work demand buffered the impact of work support on work well-being. The inclusion of work to family enrichment extends prior research on Job Demands – Resources model (Demerouti & Bakker, 2007), and allows …