Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 30 of 60

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Benchmarking Regional Competitiveness: The Role Of A Region's Economic Legacy In Determining Competitiveness, Rebekka Dudensing Dec 2008

Benchmarking Regional Competitiveness: The Role Of A Region's Economic Legacy In Determining Competitiveness, Rebekka Dudensing

All Dissertations

Studies benchmarking or indexing regional competitiveness are increasingly common in the popular and professional press. Indices are popular because they condense a large amount of data into a single number or grade that facilitates the easy comparison of regional economies. However, researchers question both the benchmarking methodology and the appropriateness of applying one region's successful economic development practices to a dissimilar region. The goal of this study is to improve the benchmarking methodology by identifying possible variable weights for three competitiveness outcomes (growth in population, employment, and per capita income) and exploring whether policy inputs (innovation inputs, knowledge workers, labor …


Theoretical And Practical Implications Of A Hedonic Pricing Model: Empirical Observations From Wholesale Automobile Auctions, Jeffrey Roach Dec 2008

Theoretical And Practical Implications Of A Hedonic Pricing Model: Empirical Observations From Wholesale Automobile Auctions, Jeffrey Roach

All Dissertations

Wholesale auto auctions are convenient structures for economists as they attempt to observe the marginal effects of quality changes on the market-clearing price. However, what may be categorized as a quality change might rather be a market signal of an environment with adverse selection. This dissertation analyzes the effects of seller type and tests their sensitivity to econometric model specification.
General hedonic attributes and their various applications are reviewed. This dissertation explores the basic auto auction environment and dispels inaccurate notions about the auction structure. Following Bartik's (1987) analysis, multi-market data are used to produce hedonic estimates for seller, mileage …


Population Growth And Planned Birth Policy, Yigang Zhang Dec 2008

Population Growth And Planned Birth Policy, Yigang Zhang

All Dissertations

China's planned birth policy is based on 'population pessimism', which states population growth affects the income level negatively, though the role of population growth in cross-country growth regressions is ambiguous. There are 'population pessimism', 'population optimism', and 'population neutralism'. Also, a new concept 'demographic dividend' was raised in recent years, which states a rise in the rate of economic growth can be induced because of a rising share of working age people in a population while still holding 'population neutralism'. The planned birth policy results in a decreasing fertility rate, which slows down the population growth and changes the age …


Estimation Of Emergency Room Visits: Implications For Uninsured In South Carolina, Anusha Pokuri Dec 2008

Estimation Of Emergency Room Visits: Implications For Uninsured In South Carolina, Anusha Pokuri

All Dissertations

This study assesses the relationships between the percentage of emergency room visits, the percentage of uninsured population, and socio-demographic characteristics. This is accomplished by developing linear models of the relationships among these variables for the 46 counties of South Carolina for the year 2000. The results showed that the percentage of non-White population and percentage of business establishments that employ fewer than 50 workers had significant positive influence on the percentage of uninsured population. The median household income and high percentage of population with educational attainment beyond high school had a significant negative influence on the percentage of uninsured population. …


Economic Analysis Of Adoption Of Water-Saving Land Improvements In Northern China, Xuanwen Wang Dec 2008

Economic Analysis Of Adoption Of Water-Saving Land Improvements In Northern China, Xuanwen Wang

All Dissertations

Determinants for farmers' choice of water-saving land improvements in Northern China are analyzed with a sample survey of 401 villages. The analysis focuses on two aspects of adoption, whether or not to adopt and if a technology is adopted, how much land to which to apply the technology. In the first stage, 'whether to adopt', multinomial logit models are applied to analyze the discrete choice of alternative land improvement strategies. In the second stage of adoption, 'how much to adopt', both sample selection models and OLS models are utilized to measure the adoption extent of field leveling, use of borders, …


Building A Knowledge Economy Index For Southern Metropolitan Areas, Kristine Koutout Dec 2008

Building A Knowledge Economy Index For Southern Metropolitan Areas, Kristine Koutout

All Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to determine if the methodology used to build the South Carolina Research Authority Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) for states can be replicated and applied to Southern Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). Data to imitate the KEI measures for workforce education and fast growth firms were available at the MSA-level; however, academic R&D was used as a proxy for industrial R&D in this index because data was not available for MSAs. An index for Southern MSAs was built based on the coefficients from the OLS results. Workforce education was the most important factor for increasing mean …


Agritourism As A Viable Strategy For Economic Diversification: A Case Study Analysis Of Policy Options For The Bahamas, Erecia Hepburn Dec 2008

Agritourism As A Viable Strategy For Economic Diversification: A Case Study Analysis Of Policy Options For The Bahamas, Erecia Hepburn

All Dissertations

This research examines the prospects for developing an economic diversification policy for The Bahamas, utilizing agritourism. The Bahamas is plagued with the dominance of one traditional sector, tourism combined with the lack of economic innovation and the inability to maintain domestic demand for food security, which has the potential for economic crisis if there are any serious 'external shocks' or setbacks in mainstream tourism. Such a possible drop in tourism is most evident from experiences in 2001 with the Straw Market fire of Sept 4th, and the terrorist attacks in America on September 11th, coupled with the escalating cost of …


Temporary Organizational Change And Uncertainty: Applying Uncertainty Reduction Theory And Style Analyses To Email, Vicki Rhodes Dec 2008

Temporary Organizational Change And Uncertainty: Applying Uncertainty Reduction Theory And Style Analyses To Email, Vicki Rhodes

All Theses

This study explores how employees express uncertainty and enact uncertainty reduction techniques through electronic communication, specifically email, during temporary inter-organizational change. The context of the study is within the work environment of a nonprofit entity in the Southern region of the United States that employs just under 20 staff members and coordinates with approximately 135 partner staff affiliates on a daily basis. The Executive Director's medical leave of about three months requires that job responsibilities and organizational roles be temporarily restructured. Because email is the preferred and primary method of communication in this organization, such communications were chosen as the …


Early Predictors Of Downward Assimilation In Contemporary Immigration, Katie Holmes Dec 2008

Early Predictors Of Downward Assimilation In Contemporary Immigration, Katie Holmes

All Theses

Abstract: In this paper, I focus on the assimilative paths of second- generation immigrants using data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study. Primarily my goal is to determine early factors that put these youth at risk of downward assimilation. I use incarceration (in early adulthood) as a conservative measure for downward assimilation. While I recognize that this, in actuality, underestimates the extent of downward assimilation, I feel that it is the most efficient theoretical measure because of its extreme negative, long-term occupational, economic, and social effects. I use logistic regression to analyze a number of independent variables in my …


Disability Insurance And Female Labor Supply, Rania Malik Dec 2008

Disability Insurance And Female Labor Supply, Rania Malik

All Theses

This paper studies the household characteristics where husbands receive disability income. It tries to analyze the characteristics of the married men based on age, race, education and wage. This paper also concentrates on the labor supply pattern of married women in the disabled households and tries to find whether women in these households work more in response to the disability income received by the husbands.


Sex Trafficking: Explanations And Suggested Solutions, Tylee Potter Dec 2008

Sex Trafficking: Explanations And Suggested Solutions, Tylee Potter

All Theses

This thesis employs framing theory (Goffman 1974) to analyze interviews with sex workers and three groups of service providers experienced with sex trafficking: (1) law enforcement officials, (2) social service agents, and (3) health care providers. The data set, 'International and Domestic Trends in Sex Trafficking of Women in the United States, 1999-2000,' was collected in 2000 by Dr. Donna Hughes and Dr. Janice Raymond and entails verbatim interviews on various topics regarding sex trafficking including explanations for occurrence and solutions for combating sex trafficking in the United States. Framing theory was used to analyze the diagnostic and prognostic frames …


Effects Of Practice And Feedback On Interview Performance, Kate Williams Sep 2008

Effects Of Practice And Feedback On Interview Performance, Kate Williams

All Theses

Performing well in an interview is of crucial importance to a job seeker. While much advice and training exists regarding interview performance, little is known about what parts of training successfully improve interview skills. This study proposes the following research question: does interview performance improve with practice alone or is some type of feedback required? Participants were split into four treatment groups that either 1) did not practice an interview, 2) practiced an interview, 3) practiced an interview and generated their own self-feedback or 4) practiced an interview and received feedback from a counselor. The study isolates the effects of …


Web Site Content Management Systems: Selection And Usage At Land-Grant Universities, Deborah Dalhouse Sep 2008

Web Site Content Management Systems: Selection And Usage At Land-Grant Universities, Deborah Dalhouse

All Theses

American land-grant universities generate large amounts of information for their Web sites, which serve a variety of audiences in addition to students, faculty, and staff. Many of these universities are beginning to search for Web site content management systems (CMS) to help organize this information. However, there are hundreds - if not thousands - of systems in this emerging arena, with no clear market leader. This paper provides a snapshot of the experiences of communicators at several universities where content management systems are in use. The purpose is to provide criteria to help Web site managers at universities and other …


Proximal And Longitudinal Outcomes Of Person-Environment Fit: A Positive Psychological Approach, Tiffany Greene-Shortridge Aug 2008

Proximal And Longitudinal Outcomes Of Person-Environment Fit: A Positive Psychological Approach, Tiffany Greene-Shortridge

All Dissertations

The current study proposed a model that incorporated a positive psychological approach into the person-environment fit domain. Within a longitudinal investigation, person-organization fit, person-job fit, and person-supervisor fit were examined in relationship to both organizational and employee outcomes through direct and indirect paths. Psychological empowerment and specific positive psychological states were examined as sequential moderators of the various proposed relationships. This study's sample consisted of 174 patient health care employees, excluding nurses and practitioners. In addition, supervisor ratings of performance were collected for the sole purposes of this study. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to test the proposed measurement …


Restrictions On Credit: A Public Policy Analysis Of Payday Lending, Petru Stoianovici Aug 2008

Restrictions On Credit: A Public Policy Analysis Of Payday Lending, Petru Stoianovici

All Dissertations

Using state level data between 1990 and 2006, I find no empirical evidence that payday lending leads to more bankruptcy filings, which casts some doubt on the debt trap argument against payday lending. I capture the intensity of the payday lending activity in a state by the number of payday lending stores.
I control for restrictions on payday lenders by including into the analysis six variables that I construct that rank legislative provisions across states and across time.


Organizational And Family Resources As Predictors Of Well-Being,Family Functioning, And Employee Performance: A Longitudinal Study, Heather Odle-Dusseau Aug 2008

Organizational And Family Resources As Predictors Of Well-Being,Family Functioning, And Employee Performance: A Longitudinal Study, Heather Odle-Dusseau

All Dissertations

The current study was undertaken to better understand what resources individuals use in work and family domains that allow them to balance work and family responsibilities and the outcomes associates with these resources. Hospital employees of a metropolitan area hospital (N = 174) completed surveys at two time periods (4 months separation) on perceptions of resources in work and family domains, as well as organizational, family, and well-being outcomes. In addition, supervisors rated employees' performance at Time 2. Structural Equation Modeling techniques were utilized in order to assess theoretical models. Results revealed that perceptions of availability of family-friendly benefits at …


Influence Of Overseas Travel Experiences On The Worldviews Of U.S. Backpackers, Mark Kanning Aug 2008

Influence Of Overseas Travel Experiences On The Worldviews Of U.S. Backpackers, Mark Kanning

All Dissertations

Backpacking as a type of overseas travel has become a global phenomenon represented by people of various nationalities forming a postmodern dynamic, nomadic global community of travelers influencing, and being influenced by, each other and the locales in which they visit. Typically associated with overseas budget travel, backpacking has become an important component of global travel and tourism. However, research on backpackers. from the United States have not been well represented in the travel and tourism literature. Recent publication has called for research to be conducted on backpackers originating from around the world including the United States. This dissertation addresses …


Employment-Based Health Insurance And The Minimum Wage, Laura Bucila Aug 2008

Employment-Based Health Insurance And The Minimum Wage, Laura Bucila

All Dissertations

This dissertation contains a detailed picture of the employment-based health insurance coverage in the past twenty years, and it provides new estimates of the effects of increased federal and state minimum wages on the coverage of low-wage workers by this type of health insurance. I use March Current Population Surveys collected from IPUMS, for 1988 to 2005. Previous studies have found no significant evidence that increased minimum wages reduce fringe benefit receipt (Beeson Royalty 2000; Simon and Kaestner 2003). In contrast to these studies, I use a difference-in-difference approach and I define treatment groups as being individuals in the lowest …


A Grounded Theory Of The Dynamic Nature Of Constraints To Leisure And Successful Coping Process, Harriet Dixon Aug 2008

A Grounded Theory Of The Dynamic Nature Of Constraints To Leisure And Successful Coping Process, Harriet Dixon

All Dissertations

This study followed the grounded theory design of Strauss and Corbin (1990, 1998) in order to generate a theoretical model that describes, explains, and predicts the dynamic nature of constraints to leisure experienced by adults who had been previously constrained from learning to swim but were successful in coping with constraints. Theoretical and convenience sampling techniques yielded a final sample size of 28, with 23 participants being female and five males. All participants in the study stated he or she was interested in learning to swim earlier in life, but were constrained, and were, at the time of the study, …


The Influence Of Electronic Word Of Mouth In An Online Travel Community On Travel Decisions: A Case Study, Irem Arsal Aug 2008

The Influence Of Electronic Word Of Mouth In An Online Travel Community On Travel Decisions: A Case Study, Irem Arsal

All Dissertations

As a result of embracing the Internet, online travel communities have become an important information source for travelers. The members of these communities communicate through postings called electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) the act of sharing information on a particular topic. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is informal communications among consumers regarding the usage or characteristics of goods and services on the Internet (Litvin, Goldsmith, and Pan, 2008). Furthermore, the influence of eWOM has been found to be influential on consumer purchasing behavior (Guernsey, 2000). Thus, an understanding of the potential of eWOM in online travel communities on travel decisions has implications for tourism …


Drug Use Sequencing And Kandel's Gateway Hypothesis, John Reid Aug 2008

Drug Use Sequencing And Kandel's Gateway Hypothesis, John Reid

All Theses

This thesis tests the hypothesis by Kandel (1975) that there is a specific sequence of drug use that users follow. Using the same scalogram analysis technique utilized by Kandel in her original Gateway Hypothesis study, a distinct sequence of use was discovered. This thesis is based on the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2005). This study confirmed Kandel's earlier findings in that this study determined that there is a sequence of drug use. The current study also confirms Kandel's position that licit drugs precede the use of illicit drugs. This study's findings differ from those of Kandel, however, …


Stereotype Threat And Women's Perceptions Of Leadership Self-Efficacy, Phillip Lipka Aug 2008

Stereotype Threat And Women's Perceptions Of Leadership Self-Efficacy, Phillip Lipka

All Theses

The following research examined the effects of stereotype threat on women's leadership self-efficacy. Previous research has demonstrated that women's leadership aspirations are negatively affected by the presence of stereotype threat, and the current research served to expand on this literature by examining possible factors that could moderate women's vulnerability to this threat. It was proposed that women with a weaker adherence to sexist beliefs, less investment in gender ideals, and higher self-esteem would be less susceptible to stereotype threat and would perceive themselves as more capable leaders. Participants completed a survey that primed their gender identity in order to invoke …


Pedestrian Conspicuity: The Effects Of Retroreflector Placement And Retroreflectivity, Justin Graving Jul 2008

Pedestrian Conspicuity: The Effects Of Retroreflector Placement And Retroreflectivity, Justin Graving

All Theses

One factor that has been causally linked to nighttime pedestrian-vehicle collisions is pedestrians being insufficiently conspicuous to drivers. Pedestrian conspicuity can be enhanced by use of retroreflective material, and this on-road experiment investigated the influence of retroreflector configuration, the coefficient of retroreflection (RsubA) of those retroreflectors, and pedestrian motion on conspicuity. There were two retroreflector configurations, three levels of RsubA, and the test pedestrian either walked or stood in place. Data from 121 participants are reported. The pedestrian was detected by more participants and at greater distances when the pedestrian was walking and wearing retroreflectors on the wrists and ankles …


Online Travel Information Search Behaviors: An Information Foraging Perspective, Evan Jordan Jul 2008

Online Travel Information Search Behaviors: An Information Foraging Perspective, Evan Jordan

All Theses

Information search has been a topic of research for a multitude of studies across
several fields, including travel and tourism. However, information search on the internet,
especially in travel and tourism, has rarely been examined. As a result, this research was
undertaken to explore travel information search behaviors on the Internet.
This thesis uses information foraging theory (Pirolli & Card, 1999) as a basis to
examine online travel information search behaviors. In addition, other established
measures of online information search (Hodkinson, Kiel, & McColl-Kennedy, 2000)
were used to supplement findings based upon information foraging theory. Groups of
students from two …


The Effect Of Compulsory Voting Laws On Government Spending, James Brookie Jul 2008

The Effect Of Compulsory Voting Laws On Government Spending, James Brookie

All Theses

The United States' voter turnout is often cited as being disappointingly low. Compulsory voting laws are offered as a possible solution to increase voter turnout and overall political participation. Opponents of the law complain that voters affected will be more politically liberal and in turn seek to enlarge the size and scope of the government. In order to determine whether this is true, a test was run on the effect compulsory voting laws have on the government revenue of 109 nations. The data held that no significant relationship exists between the two variables observed. This paper will discuss compulsory laws …


Perceiving Aperture Widths During Teleoperation, Suzanne Butler Jul 2008

Perceiving Aperture Widths During Teleoperation, Suzanne Butler

All Theses

When teleoperating robots it is often difficult for operators to perceive aspects of remote environments within which they are working (Tittle, Roesler, & Woods, 2002). It is difficult to perceive the sizes of objects in remote environments and to determine if the robot can pass through apertures of various sizes (Casper & Murphy, 2003; Murphy 2004). The present experiment investigated whether remote perception could be improved by providing optic flow during robot movement or by positioning an on-board camera so that the forward portion the robot is in the camera's view. Participants judges the sizes of remote apertures viewed through …


The Negative Consequences Of Alcohol Consumption And The Analysis Of Variables That Can Affect Or Reduce Alcohol Consumption, Zapora Johnson Jul 2008

The Negative Consequences Of Alcohol Consumption And The Analysis Of Variables That Can Affect Or Reduce Alcohol Consumption, Zapora Johnson

All Theses

Alcoholic beverages are consumed all over the world and have been consumed for centuries. The excessive consumption of alcohol many times results in negative consequences. These consequences not only can affect the individual consuming the alcohol, but also others around them. This research looks at some of the negative medical consequences that can develop from an individual consuming alcohol excessively. The cost of an average hospital stay for an individual with liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, and esophageal cancer was analyzed along with the opportunity cost for the wages that would be lost if an individual could not attend his place …


An Examination Of The Motivations Of Sporting Event Volunteers At Clemson University, Blair Schuyler Jul 2008

An Examination Of The Motivations Of Sporting Event Volunteers At Clemson University, Blair Schuyler

All Theses

In 2006, The Corporation for National and Community Service partnered with the Bureau of Labor Statistics to add a volunteer section to the Current Population Survey (CPS) that is sent out to 60,000 households each year. That year it was reported that 61.2 million people volunteered their time, effort, and labor through or for an organization. An additional 5.3 million people did volunteer work informally through helping their communities. Organizations across the world, specifically sports organizations, rely heavily on volunteers for success. Volunteers at the 2004 Summer Olympics (45,000), based off the assumption of working a full 8 hour for …


Racial Differences In Depressive Symptoms Among Older Adults, Emily Green Jul 2008

Racial Differences In Depressive Symptoms Among Older Adults, Emily Green

All Theses

The costs are very high, both emotionally and economically, to those who suffer from depression and those close to them. Depressive symptoms vary among individuals, by gender, between racial and ethnic groups, and by socioeconomic status (SES). Group differences in rates of depression have been noted for decades, especially between African Americans and non-Hispanic whites. The role of race in mental health is still relevant today, and many issues regarding risk factors and differences between racial and ethnic groups remain unanswered. This study examines the differences in rates of depressive symptoms between African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites. Particularly, socioeconomic status …


Person-Supervisor Fit: Implications For Organizational Stress, Organizational Commitment, And Job Satisfaction, Hilary Schoon Jun 2008

Person-Supervisor Fit: Implications For Organizational Stress, Organizational Commitment, And Job Satisfaction, Hilary Schoon

All Theses

Traditional fit literature has focused on person-organization fit. However, Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, and Johnson (2005) recently introduced the idea of person-supervisor fit in a meta-analysis on fit. Person-supervisor fit was hypothesized to be the degree of similarity between personality dimensions, values, and goals. This paper first defines fit and then reviews the literature on the topics that apply to person-supervisor fit. This study was conducted with supervisors (faculty members) and subordinates (graduate student teaching and research assistants) from different departments in one university to determine the relationship between person-supervisor fit with subordinates' organizational stress, subordinates' organizational commitment, and subordinates' job satisfaction. …