Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

A Modern Playbook For Trust Across The Health Ecosystem, Erin O'Malley

Patient Experience Journal

Public trust in health care delivery, public health, and biomedical innovation is at a historic low. While many place the blame on the COVID-19 pandemic and the proliferation of social media, the reality is that distrust is a deeply rooted structural challenge that has plagued the U.S. for centuries. It is tied to historical movements for medical freedom and centuries of systemic discrimination and earned mistrust among minoritized communities. Today, this crisis is compounded by a lack of shared values and facts and the rising dominance of tribal identity over objective science. The Coalition for Trust in Health & Science …

Healing The Social Covenant: Rebuilding Trust And Re-Humanizing Healthcare, Cynda Hylton Rushton

Patient Experience Journal

Violence against healthcare workers continues to escalate despite substantial investments in security measures, workplace violence prevention programs, and legislative protections. Although these interventions are necessary, they have not produced sustained improvements in workforce safety or retention, suggesting that workplace violence is more than a behavioral or security problem. This commentary argues that it also reflects a deeper erosion of trust within healthcare. Drawing on evidence linking workplace violence to burnout, moral injury, psychological distress, and turnover intention among nurses, we propose that repairing trust is essential to sustaining the workforce and healthcare.Building on our earlier work, Rebuilding a Foundation of …

Trust: Why A Commitment To Human Experience Matters, Jason A. Wolf

Patient Experience Journal

Trust is one of the most essential elements in our overall human existence. It is a critical part of our human experience, one that reaches well beyond the boundaries of healthcare. Trust is the element that holds society together. It emerges in the relationship of one human being connecting with another human being, and it reaches to the engagements people have with organizations, institutions, and systems as well. Trust, while hard to hold, is ever present. It is a powerful force that guides our way of being, our interactions, our choices, even if we ourselves are not directly conscious of …

Foundations Of Project Management, Michael Daniel Sherwin

Open Education Materials

This book aims to equip readers with practical tools and strategies for managing people, resources, and tasks effectively. We include examples, case studies, references, and tools and templates. We encourage you to explore references and videos to deepen your understanding of project management. It is designed for everyone, not just those individuals seeking to be project managers. Whether you are supporting or leading projects, this course will provide a foundation for developing the skills needed to drive results within an organization.

Course: GRBU 638

Creative Commons Attribution

Same-Day Cancellation Reduction In An Ambulatory Surgery Unit, Anthone Dalit Vengersammy

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: Same-day surgical cancellations in the outpatient surgery setting remain a significant operational and patient care challenge. Preventable cancellations negatively affect patient experience, operating room efficiency, staff productivity, and healthcare costs. 

Context: A microsystem and organizational culture assessment identified several factors contributing to same-day cancellations, including unclear preoperative instructions, incomplete medical clearance, inconsistent patient education, lack of standardized workflows, unclear staff responsibilities, and communication gaps among interdisciplinary teams. SWOT and gap analyses were used to identify opportunities for improvement and guide intervention planning.

Interventions: Quality improvement interventions were implemented through iterative Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles. Strategies included revising preoperative patient instructions, …

The Startup: Critical Perspectives On Technology Entrepreneurship And Digital Labor, Kochav Koren

All Duquesne Faculty Scholarship

Communication and media studies are rapidly reshaped by socio-technological forces within the framework of informational capitalism, where startups emerge as key drivers of the global creative economy. This study critically examines the global startup movement through political economy, classical sociology, and Southern perspectives to assess whether digital entrepreneurship fosters genuine, decentralized innovation or perpetuates speculative financialization and labor precarity. Employing a multi-layered theoretical framework—including Schumpeterian creative destruction, Marxist commodity fetishism, and Weberian charismatic authority—and qualitative fieldwork across North and Latin American tech hubs, the analysis reveals startups as network enterprises that both disrupt markets and reproduce structural inequalities. The findings …

Ai You Can Trust: Understanding The Role Of Structural Assurance And Situational Normality In The Use Of Generative Ai, Olushola Bunmi Abayomi

Dissertations

The rapid growth of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has increased its use in productivity, content creation, and decision support; however, adoption depends on user trust, as GenAI performs tasks that are often associated with human judgment. Drawing on the Trust in Technology Model, this dissertation examines how structural assurance and situational normality influence Trust in GenAI, and how Trust in GenAI affects trusting intentions and users' willingness to depend on GenAI. Structural assurance and situational normality, captured through several factors, were modeled as antecedents of Trust in GenAI and, in turn, trusting intentions. The model was tested using survey-based experimental …

Identifying The Threshold: Using Regulatory Focus As A Predictor Of Ceo Adaptibility During Environmental Changes, George B. Constantine Iii

Dissertations

Building on research on CEO turnover and strategic leadership, this study examines how decision makers' regulatory focus shapes strategic decision-making and how this can contribute to performance decline, often resulting in CEO replacement. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, the study theorizes that measurable chronic regulatory focus attributes influence decision makers’ capacity to adapt to environmental change—conditions under which prior research suggests executives may become rigid and persist with established strategies. Despite its relevance for strategic adaptation, such chronic trait behavior has received limited attention in the current business literature. To address this gap, effectuation theory is integrated into a simulation-based …

Staff Matters: Is Our Dental Practice's Culture As Strong As We Think It Is?, Jodi Schafer Sphr, Shrm-Scp

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This article explores how workplace culture influences employee retention, team morale, and patient experience in dental practices. The author discusses indicators of healthy and unhealthy workplace cultures, leadership behaviors that shape organizational climate, and practical strategies for gathering employee feedback, improving communication, and reinforcing accountability. Small, consistent actions are presented as effective tools for building a positive work environment.

J Mich Dent Assoc August 2026

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Each month, the Journal of the Michigan Dental Association delivers news, information, and features about Michigan dentistry to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200-plus members. It remains the main publication reaching Michigan dentists and is available worldwide through ADA Commons.

The August 2026 (Volume 108, No. 8) issue of the Journal is published in print format to provide updates and insights for Michigan's oral health community and MDA members. Print editions occur every other month beginning with January.

The August 2026 issue of the Journal of the Michigan Dental Association explores clinical, professional, legal, leadership, and public …

The Evolution Of The Modern Library Brand: Transforming Community Engagement Into Sustainable Revenue, Slone Williams

Georgia Library Quarterly

This article examines the development of the Cobb Library Shop, an e-commerce initiative launched by the Cobb County Public Library to generate sustainable funding through brand engagement. Built on a modest startup budget, the shop integrates a multichannel sales strategy and leverages internal talent to create a scalable, community-centered retail model.

The project achieved a full return on investment within 14 days and continues to demonstrate steady revenue expansion. By combining entrepreneurial practices with public service values, this case study highlights how libraries can diversify funding streams, enhance community engagement, and establish a replicable model for revenue-generating library systems.

Exploring Factors Related To Retention Of Young Soccer Officials, Jacob K. Tingle, Lynn L. Ridinger, David J. Hancock, Joseph Foran, Lucas Ribeiro

School of Business Faculty Research

Purpose/Rationale

The purpose of this study was to examine factors (needs and motivations) that contribute to retention of young soccer officials.

Design/Methodology/Approach

An online survey was distributed to soccer referees who received their first USSF officiating license as a juvenile.

Findings:

Correlational and regression analyses yielded five key findings: (1) Self-Determination Theory (SDT) principles are salient to retention; (2) Intrinsic Motivation and Sense of Community significantly impact retention; (3) variables across scales were highly correlated and had large effect sizes; (4) findings were similar across demographic variables; and (5) small increases to Relatedness and Choice had a large impact on …

Toward A Conceptual And Methodological Understanding Of Supervisor Gaslighting In The Workplace, Gabriela Peschiera

All Dissertations

The term ‘gaslight’ has infiltrated popular media, with articles, TV shows, and podcasts dedicated to identifying gaslighting behaviors and mitigating its effects. Despite the term’s popularity, much of the existing literature solely focuses on gaslighting in intimate partner relationships, medical settings, and political campaigns. As a result, little is known about how it operates in the workplace context and whether it is distinct from other well-established workplace mistreatment constructs. In this dissertation, I explored the mechanisms of supervisor gaslighting by developing a scale and testing its distinctiveness from other workplace mistreatment and positive workplace behaviors. While two scales were recently …

Strategic Ties That Bind: How Founder Identity Shapes Enduring Imprints Across The Firm And Community, Michelle Gras

All Dissertations

This dissertation examines how founder identity creates long-lasting imprints on organizations and the communities in which they operate by researching a historical case study in the U.S. textile industry.  This research responded to calls in the imprinting literature for greater attention to secondhand imprinting mechanisms, multiple sensitive periods, and durability of founder influence over time (Marquis & Tilcsik, 2013; Marquis & Qiao, 2025) and draws upon the theoretical lenses of founder identity theory (Fauchart & Gruber, 2011) and organizational imprinting theory (Stinchcombe, 1965; Marquis & Tilcsik, 2013).  The findings suggest that founder identity persistence is not solely a consequence of …

Religious Practice And Attitudes Toward Immigration And Racial Justice In America, Amya Douglas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This study aims to understand how Christians’ knowledge of Scripture and involvement in the church have an impact on their social-political views, specifically, racial justice and immigration. By using the survey responses from the 6th wave of the Baylor Religion Survey, more frequent church attendance and reading Scripture were correlated with a greater recognition of racism in terms of being against white supremacy and white nationalism, supporting racial justice when asked about racial gaps, and possessing greater support for immigrants. This study highlights the distinction between religious affiliation and religious practice, and it suggests that certain policy sentiments can be …

A Machine Learning And Artificial Intelligence Sentiment Analysis Of Esg Disclosures, John Barnett Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This dissertation examines whether environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure sentiment extracted from SEC Form 10-K Item 1A risk disclosures aligns with Bloomberg ESG scores. The study combines SEC textual disclosures, Bloomberg ESG ratings, firm financial data, executive compensation data, and executive gender characteristics. Natural language processing and artificial intelligence methods, including FinBERT, Loughran-McDonald sentiment measures, BART-MNLI zero-shot classification, LLaMA-based ESG scoring, and readability analysis, are used to evaluate ESG-related disclosure signals. Results reveal that SEC 10-K Item 1A risk-factor sentiment and Bloomberg ESG scores represent related but distinct constructs. ESG sentiment in Item 1A is poorly aligned with third-party …

Navigating The Dark Side: Emotional Labor's Impact On Hr Professionals' Wellness, Esmeralda Amelia Rendón

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative descriptive study was designed to document and describe how female-identifying human resource (HR) generalist practitioners serving as sole or primary employee relations practitioners in small- to medium-sized organizations across the United States experience and manage emotional labor in their roles, cope with its demands, and how these experiences impact their wellness and perceptions of organizational support. Despite the centrality of emotional labor (EL) in human resource professionals’ (HRPs) roles, little was known about how HRPs in these underresourced environments cope with these demands. Data were collected through semistructured virtual interviews with eight participants and analyzed using Braun and …

Mda At Your Service: Updating Your Practice Roster With The Mda, Mda Membership Department Staff

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This question-and-answer article provides practical guidance for MDA members on updating practice rosters, accessing continuing education opportunities, addressing staffing shortages through virtual assistants, and participating in the MDA LEAD Program. The article highlights available member resources and emphasizes professional development, workforce support, and leadership growth within organized dentistry.

The Back Page: A Toast To The Future: From Boomers To Gen Z Zoomers, George T. Goodis Dds, Gerald J. Halk Dds

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This article highlights a leadership brunch that brought together multiple generations of dental leaders to encourage engagement in organized dentistry. The gathering emphasized mentorship, leadership development, and the transfer of institutional knowledge to younger dentists. Participants celebrated the future of the profession while discussing the importance of community involvement, leadership participation, and professional growth.

The Information Content Of The Implied Volatility Term Structure Slope For Forecasting Commodity Market Volatility, Lawrence E. Mckenzie

Doctoral Dissertations (DBA)

This study evaluates the implied volatility term structure (IVTS) slope (𝜅) for forecasting 21-day realized volatility against traditional time-series benchmarks and a 3-month continuous futures baseline. Using a matched sample of eight energy and agricultural commodities spanning 2007 to 2019, the study explicitly tests whether the option-implied slope contains unique predictive information beyond deferred price histories. The empirical findings yield three primary insights. First, redundancy testing indicates that the slope parameter delivers a statistically significant, independent risk signal even when controlling for deferred continuous futures paths. Second, an integrated joint encompassing framework that combines near-term historical volatility, generalized autoregressive conditional …