Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

An Examination Of Psychological Climate Linking Mechanisms Across The Strategic Priorities Of Health And Stress, Alec Munc

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Given that employee health and well-being represent a significant source of financial costs for organizations, this dissertation seeks to address some of the pathways through which organizational efforts to improve physical and mental health may operate. This study drew from a model of safety climate (Neal & Griffin, 2000) to propose that psychological climate exerts in influence on employee health and well-being through the joint moderators of knowledge/motivation and behaviors. The model also extended beyond the typical climate linking mechanisms to include moderators both individual (behavioral activation & behavioral inhibition systems) and contextual (workplace physical exposure). Using a two-wave prospective …

Estimating The Effect Of Extended And Emergency Unemployment Benefits On The Long-Term Unemployed, James Jones

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Unemployment insurance is designed to help workers smooth consumption in the event of a negative employment shock. These benefits are traditionally funded and administrated by the individual states and territories of the United States. The depth and severity of the “Great Recession” that started in December of 2007 and ended in June of 2009 was such that, Congress was compelled on multiple occasions to extend those benefits. Legislation during this period extended the duration of unemployment benefits to the longest period in history, as unemployed individuals in many states could receive up to 99 weeks of unemployment compensation. The policy …

A Framework For Designing Of Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Network, Shengyin Li

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The lack of sufficient public charging stations for electric vehicles has long been recognized as a major hinder for massive adoption of electric vehicles (EV). This dissertation aims to develop a framework for designing charging station infrastructure networks that electric vehicle with limited travel range can be recharge en-route to complete trips to destinations and then would facilitate the adoption of electric vehicles. The rest part of this dissertation is concerned with modeling travel range of electric vehicle and users behavior of deviating from their most preferred routes when siting charging stations. The proposed multi-path refueling location model provides the …

Examining The Space-Time Constraints Concept On Tourist Behavior For Visitors To The South Carolina Coastal Area Of The United States, Sanghoon Kang

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This dissertation explored three themes with regard to the spatial aspects of tourist behavior, conducting three independent analyses. For these analyses, this dissertation research adapted Shoval's (2012) definition of the space-time constraints concept developed by Hagerstrand (1970): the purpose of trip (i.e., authority constraints), the length of visit (i.e., capability constraints), and the composition of travel party (i.e., coupling constraints). The purposes of the three analyses were to examine the relationships 1) between the space-time constraints and the spatial patterns of travel; 2) between ICT use (i.e., smartphones) and the spatial patterns of travel, space-time constraints, tourists' unplanned destination visits, …

Soviet Launch Of Sputnik: Sputnik-Inspired Educational Reform And Changes In Private Returns In America, Hyeonggu Cha

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On October 4th 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, into an elliptical low Earth orbit. This surprise triggered an arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union, and science-oriented educational reform in the U.S. The Sputnik swung off of the U.S. in military, politics, policies, and education. The Sputnik woke Americans up from complacency came from technology, science, and educational superiority. Educational reform started with emphasizing science and defense education and it was expanded to educations at all level. Early reforms, National Science Foundation (NSF), National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958, …

Leisure, Obesity And Weight Loss: An Exploration Of Leisure, The Public Health Ecological Model Of Obesity And Identity Theory, Weber Player

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Obesity is a global health crisis with complex causal relationships. From the mid 1990s to 2010, obesity related research in the clinical and social sciences has exploded. This expansion has resulted in a proliferation of obesity-related articles published in top-tier journals and the creation of new journals solely devoted to obesity research. In contrast within leisure scholarship, a review of leisure journals reveals that published research on the relationship of leisure, obesity and weight loss is minimal. However, numerous leisure scholarship/theory principles are relevant to obesity prevention and treatment. Similarly, public health officials have developed numerous systems-oriented multilevel framework models …

Entrepreneurship, Creativity, And Local Food Systems: Essays On Regional Economic Development In South Carolina, Kristen Lientz

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Within the existing economic development literature, there is a well-established linkage between the presence of skilled human capital and economic growth. A subset of this literature has focused on the role that a specific type of skilled human capital, known as the “creative class,” may play in facilitating regional economic development. This dissertation builds upon the existing creative class literature by examining the factors that have attracted the creative class to the state of South Carolina. In addition, this research gives special attention to the entrepreneurial activities of creative class professionals who engage in small-scale farming. Recent interest surrounding the …

Tomorrow's Leading Ladies: How Core Self-Evaluations, Leadership Perceptions, And Social Support Influence Young Women's Leadership Aspirations, Lauren Ellis

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Given that women are an underrepresented population in organizational leadership, the purpose of this dissertation was to understand the forces driving college-aged women’s leadership aspirations. Using a two-study design, the current research sought to understand the influence that internal (psychological) and external (social) factors can have on a young woman’s desire to lead. In Study One, which included 228 college-aged female participants, results indicated there was a significant, positive between Core Self Evaluations (CSE) and leadership aspirations and provided partial support for the mediating effects of leadership fit on the CSE-aspiration relationship. Results from Study One failed to support the …

Understanding Group Cohesion Of Festival And Events Attendees Satifaction And Intention To Revisit, Younsuk Kong

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Festivals and events provide a venue for individuals to relax, to spend time with their family, to escape from the daily demands of modern life, to enjoy themselves and to socialize as a way to enhance their quality of life. In addition, many leaders have used festival and events for the economic development of their communities (Getz & Frisby, 1988). However, according to Petrick and Li (2006), this research has been limited to topics associated with marketing, management and economic impact. For example, Finkel, McGillivaray, McPherson, & Robinson (2013) pointed out that scholars have investigated the relationships between festival and …

The Impact Of Co-Workers On Safety Outcomes: Comparing Models Of Mediation, Moderation, And Incremental Effects, Anna Mcfadden

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The current study examined the role of co-worker support for safety within the broader context of perceived safety climate predicting safety behavior and outcomes for the mobile worker population of team truck drivers. Namely, the mediation, moderation, and incremental direct effects of co-worker support for safety were tested. The current study examined 366 team truck drivers from a single trucking company. Results indicated that co-worker support for safety did not moderate the relationship between safety climate perceptions and behavior and injury outcomes. However, co-worker support for safety did partially mediate the relationship between safety climate perceptions and safety behavior. Additionally, …

How Much Is Your Home Worth? Essays On Housing Value And Its Determinants, Anne Anders

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This first chapter uses neighborhood vacancies as a proxy for foreclosures and examines their impact on the value of surrounding neighborhood properties.

Often, the negative spillover of a foreclosure results from decay of the foreclosed property. Existence of a foreclosure within a neighborhood is proxied for by a vacant structure within 300 feet of the observed unit, resulting in a lower bound foreclosure externality.

Using the special neighbor sample of the American Housing Sample waves 1985, 1989 and 1993, small neighborhoods are observed and categorized into racially different neighborhoods (black, integrated or white neighborhood). Additionally, neighborhood-specific averages are constructed, such …

Essays On The Financial Crisis, Financial Regulation, And Banks, Danielle Zanzalari

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The conventional wisdom was that the Capital Purchase Program (CPP), under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), would benefit large banks over small sized banks, magnifying the claim that banks were 'Too Big to Fail'. In my first chapter, I examine whether investors react differently to important news regarding the CPP, depending on the asset size of banks. Using returns to common stock shareholders, I analyze the CPP announcement, bank capital infusions, and repayments and find that large banks, regardless of whether or not they entered into the CPP program and received capital, had large and significant returns at the …

New Americans' Perspectives On Retention And Adaptation Of Childrearing Practices In Vermont: Building Intercultural Relationships, Julie Richards

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With the prevalence of global migration, many communities are becoming increasingly diverse. However, along with the benefits of diversity, cultural divides can emerge. Members of the dominant culture may not be familiar with, nor understand, cultural practices of the newly arrived community member, and vice versa. This dissertation research sought to identify various cultural childrearing practices as well as New Americans' perspectives on childrearing within Vermont. Barriers and supports for cultural retention and adaptation were identified, along with potential contributions that New Americans can offer their communities in understanding who they are and what they bring to the childrearing experience.

Values Assigned To National Parks By Hispanics In The United States: Castillo De San Marcos And Fort Matanzas Nm And Great Smoky Mountains Np, Carla Mora-Trejos

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The integrity of Parks and Protected Areas (PPA) depends on management that acknowledges their position as part of the socio-cultural context and demonstrates awareness and attention to ethnic and racial dimensions of the communities adjacent to these areas. The Unites States National Park Service has dedicated resources and effort to determine ways to keep units in the national park service relevant in a changing world. The fastest growing and second largest demographic in the Unites States is the Latino or Hispanic population. Very little has been published about this rapidly growing population of Latin Americans residing in the United States …

Disability Status, Disability Type, And Training As Predictors Of Job Placement, Jessica Stahl

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Human Capital Theory was used as a means to formulate predictions regarding the placement rates for disabled and non-disabled individuals who participated in job training programs at a non-profit agency in the Southeast. Research suggesting that disabilities are viewed as an economic liability by employers was reviewed, along with empirically based rejoinders to this stereotype. The first goal of this study was to address flaws in the existing categorization systems of disabilities, and to justify a categorization system that was more detailed than the typical psychological/physical disability distinction in the I/O and vocational rehabilitation literature (e.g., Ren, Paetzold, and Colella, …

Three Essays On Corruption And Government Finance, Yukun Sun

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There are three chapters in my dissertation. In chapter one I study the impact of government corruption on tax avoidance by corporations with tax liability in China. I begin by developing a model of a firm's choice of tax avoidance based on the level of corruption in the firm's province. I show that a higher level of government corruption and a higher tax rate are predicted to increase a firm's tax avoidance. My empirical estimates show that a one-standard-deviation increase in government corruption corresponds to a 6% increase in tax avoidance by firms, based on data from nearly 600,000 firms …

Administrative Relationships, Agency Theory, And The Summer Work Travel Program: 2012-2013, Mark Reardon

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This study discusses the ability of the Summer Work Travel Program (SWTP) to meet the objectives outlined in its authorizing legislation, the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961. These goals include educational exchange between participants and the U.S. community, cultural exchange between participants and the U.S. community, and the promotion of peace exemplified by SWTP operators and the U.S. community. The study adopts agency and transaction cost theory to guide its discussion of the administrative relationship between the U.S. State Department and those designated as Summer Work Travel Sponsors. This study's findings include instances of informational and preference …

An Embedded Case Study Of The Proposed Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Statute & The Proposed Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Statute, James Vines

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The purpose of this explanatory, embedded case study was to understand why the proposed Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention statute and the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment statute did not passed. The data for the study was conducted through direct observations of congressional committee hearings, document analysis and open-ended interviews. The proposed Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention statute addresses cyberbullying by imposing criminal sanctions. The proposed Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Statute seeks to provide federal grants to institutions of higher education to implement anti-harassment programs. The findings revealed that vague terminology, language dealing with LGBT people and sexual orientation as well …

Estimation Of Procurement Auctions With Secret Reserve Prices, Di Wu

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The first two chapters of my dissertation are essays on estimation of procurement auctions with secret reserve prices. In the last chapter, I develop a test on strong disposability versus weak disposability for non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) estimators. In auctions with secret reserve prices, the possibility that the item goes unsold in the first round generates a particular form of multi-round auction in which information on bids is revealed after each round. If bidders have an imperfect estimate of project costs, the information revealed by observing the bids of others in the previous round can mitigate the classic winner's …