Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons^™

A Quantitative Study Of Multilayered Market Systems And Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Mukhail Hamza

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for approximately 50% of the world's gross domestic product. However, these economic agents suffer from inadequate access to liquid funds to finance their operations. The liquidity gap has led to early bankruptcy and liquidation, stagnant growth and development, and fewer employment opportunities. The problem under study was the effect of funding limitations on SMEs' business operations and growth. The purpose was to examine the impact of multilayered capital systems as alternative funding for SME growth. This study was informed by Gilbrat's law and the theory of financial exclusion. The research questions addressed the use …

Factors That Motivate Millennial Public Servants In The Workplace, Lisa Maria Mallory

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is an abundance of scholarly literature examining the Millennial generation's characteristics and their uniqueness in the workforce, but few studies have examined the lived experiences of Millennials and what motivates them in the public sector workplace. Given the size of the Millennial cohort, the largest and most educated in history, this generation of public servants merits more research. This phenomenological study sought to determine what factors motivate Millennial public sector workers through a criterion sample of 20 District of Columbia government employees. Data obtained from interviews were analyzed through use of NVivo10 allowing for the identification of themes, findings …

Adelphia: An Exploratory Case Study Of Corporate Culture And Ethical Judgment, Susan Bishop

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

White collar corporate corruption continues to be prevalent in the United States, costing shareholders billions of dollars annually. This study of the collapse of Coudersport, PA firm, Adelphia Communications, explored how and why leadership of this prominent and successful company made unethical decisions, created an atmosphere of moral disengagement, and led to the downfall of the company. Taped interviews with 10 executives who were employed at the company during the years of its rise and demise (1996-2006) were transcribed, hand coded, and analyzed to explore the ethical culture and leadership practices at Adelphia. These insights offer a possible explanation for …

Autonomy In The California Disability Services System, Lisa Ann S. Carbone

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Legislation concerning California residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) requires recipients of services to be treated as independent individuals while emphasizing self-determination. At the same time, under regulatory procedures, recipients are considered dependent on the delivered services and not self-determinant. Neither the California Department of Developmental Services nor the trade associations representing community service providers have established a unified, systematic practice to support self-determination. This phenomenological study explored the experience of adults with ID/DD working toward self-determination.

Specifically, it explored how medical and social models contribute to shaping and actualizing the independence of this population. Interviews with eight adults …

Preparing Senior Executives To Address Organizational Culture During An Organizational Merger, Kenneth T. Hannigan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Executives planning for an organizational merger often neglect or overlook the importance of creating a positive organizational culture. Researchers have demonstrated that organizational culture is important to the success of mergers. Workers' compensation industry executives who managed mergers successfully often includ organizational culture in their merger strategy. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the strategies that business executives used to unify organizational cultures during an organizational merger. The population for the study consisted of 3 CEOs with operations in northern Florida, who successfully merged companies within the workers' compensation managed care industry. For each of these …

Assessing The Significance Of Modularizing Contract Manufacturing Organizations, Christian Sampson Yorgure

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizations are under constant threat from global competition, socioeconomic factors,

and political forces that are often unforeseen and dynamic. Consequently, decision

makers adopt strategies, some including the principles of modularity, as a

countermeasure. The problem addressed in this study was the lack of knowledge about

the significance of modularizing contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs). The

purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to assess the significance of modularizing

CMOs by statistically analyzing capacity utilization, efficiency, and profit margin

between modular and nonmodular departments in a focal CMO. This study was grounded

in the theory of modularity and the research question addressed what …

Crisis Preparedness Of Leadership Behaviors Among Elected Leaders During Hurricanes, Fredric Marc Francis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Crisis preparedness is the responsibility of every person, business, and leader, and leadership behavioral skills are an essential characteristic of crisis preparedness. The purpose of this case study was to explore the decisions of elected leaders along the Gulf Coast during Hurricanes Katrina and Ike in order to understand their leadership behaviors in crisis preparedness. The conceptual framework was based on the emergency management theory presented by McEntire in 2004, which helped to define the necessary components for leaders' successful crisis preparedness. Data were collected through interviews with 5 members from the National Emergency Management Agency along with a document …

A Quantitative Study Of The Relationship Of Work Ethic, Worker Retention, And Job Satisfaction In The Native Hawaiian Population, Donala Kahealani Kawaauhau

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A number of publications on the well-being of Native Hawaiians report high unemployment levels, high poverty levels, and minimal educational achievement in the population with theoretical origins attributed to the advent of a Western market economy. However, there are no studies that analyze the relationship between work ethic and retention, or satisfaction and retention in the Native Hawaiians working in this economy. Understanding the aforementioned relationships could help state and federal agencies focus spending on interventions that lead to productive employment solutions for Native Hawaiians. This quantitative study tested Weber's protestant work ethic theory to compare the work ethic of …

Governmental Procurement Restrictions, Deficit Reductions, And The Sustainability Of Alaska Native Corporations, Paul O. Fondren

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) came under political scrutiny in the United States in 2009 during a climate of economic recession and governmental spending reductions. Since then, ANCs have faced increased governmental regulations that immediately changed the ways that their leaders previously achieved growth and success. The purpose of this explanatory case study was to identify elements of ANC strategic plans that lead to success and growth when operationally implemented. The central research questions investigated what executable strategic plans ANC leaders need to ensure sustainable business growth and what practices have led to success and failures. Data were collected from interviews …

The Effects Of Education And Allocentrism On Organizational Commitment In Chinese Companies: A Multi-Level Analysis, Shuhong Wang, Dbl Insights Llc, Xiang Yi

Research, Publications & Creative Work

As Chinese companies move to the world stage of business, they must leverage a more knowledgeable and collaborative workforce to meet new challenges. This study investigates how two prominent individual attributes, education and allocentrism, create work tension for human capital practices in Chinese companies. By surveying nearly 500 workers in four Chinese companies and using multi-level methodology, we demonstrate that higher levels of education work to the detriment of employees’ affective organizational commitment and positively influence seeking-to-leave behavior. In addition, this study suggests a positive relation between allocentrism and affective organizational commitment. Personalized leadership, a common leadership style in high-power …

A Mixed Methods Perspective: How Integral Leaders Can Contribute To The Growth Of Emerging Leaders, Susan M. Hayes

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Given that organizational complexity continues to increase, leaders are looking for credible information, and a process that helps them become a better leader. Emerging leaders are faced with trying to be the best leader they can be while leading teams of people who think and act differently from them. To assist emerging leaders with their leadership, this study explores the literature and looks to highly respected and admired leaders for how they became the leader they are today. The purpose of this study was fourfold: first, to identify and describe first and second tier integral theory leaders from a sample …

A Mixed Methods Study: Dimensions Of Cross-Cultural Professional Success: Experiences Of Western Women Living And Working In Eastern Cultures, Tami J. France

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

In this world of global interconnectedness women continue to develop cross-cultural careers and their experiences impact and influence global scholarship and practice. Through this study, the relationships, resources, and characteristics that support female expatriate success were explored, with additional focus on the role of mentor and coach relationships. The mixed-methods study was conducted using a sequential approach to research that began with one-on-one semi structured interviews with ten professional women from the United States and Canada working or formerly working in China and Hong Kong. A survey was designed based on the interview findings. Professional women from western countries working …

Resource Planning In Engineering Services Firms, Vincent Hargaden, Jennifer K. Ryan

Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics: Faculty Publications

We develop a model to enable engineering professional services firms to improve the management of their competitive resources, i.e., skilled engineers, to be better able to respond to customer demand. The model was informed by semistructured interviews with senior executives from engineering, information technology (IT) services and technical consulting firms. As a result, we capture many of the complexities associated with the resource planning process in the professional engineering services sector. In the resulting model, the key attributes of supply, demand, and operations constraints are identified. Based on information obtained from the interviews, a number of test firms are created.We …

Quality Management And Innovation: New Insights On A Structural Contingency Framework, Dara Schniederjans, Marc Schniederjans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

With increasing market competition, organizations are striving for greater innovation in products and services. Quality management has the potential to invigorate an organization’s product, process and administrative innovation when strategically aligned with internal contingencies. This paper seeks to address the relationship between social and technical quality management with innovation. Moreover, this paper empirically assesses contingency factors including organization size, task and managerial ethics which play roles in moderating the relationship between quality management and innovation. Based on an empirical study we find social quality management practices, not technical quality management practices, are positively associated with innovation. We also find a …

Racial Differences In Job Attribute Preferences: The Role Of Ethnic Identity And Self-Efficacy, Jakari N. Griffith, Gwendolyn M. Combs

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Using a sample of 149 white and 190 black business students, the authors examined racial differences in job attribute preferences. Results of this study indicate there were significant racial differences in 19 of 21 job attributes examined, with black students placing greater importance on job attributes than white students. Investigation of the mechanisms contributing to this difference reveals that the relationship between race and job attribute preferences was mediated by ethnic identity. Furthermore, the relationship between ethnic identity and job attributes was moderated by personal efficacy, with higher self-efficacy levels leading to greater importance placed on job attributes.

The Influence Of Exploration On External Corporate Venturing Activity, Varkey K. Titus Jr., Jenny M. House, Jeffrey G. Covin

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

We utilize the exploration/exploitation framework to examine how a firm’s engagement in exploration influences its portfolio of external corporate venturing (ECV) activities. Three forms of equity-based ECV are considered: corporate venture capital investments, joint ventures, and acquisitions. The organizational learning literature is used to investigate how a firm’s engagement in exploration influences its usage of acquisitions relative to its overall portfolio of ECV activities. The investing firm’s industry technological dynamism is posited as a moderator of the relationship between exploration and the relative usage of acquisitions. Utilizing a sample of 1,326 firm-year observations between 1996 and 2008, we find that …

Contagion Effect Of Global Leaders’ Positive Psychological Capital On Followers: Does Distance And Quality Of Relationship Matter?, Joana S. P. Story, Carolyn M. Youssef-Morgan, Fred Luthans, John E. Barbuto Jr., James A. Bovaird

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

A key assumption of effective international human resource management (IHRM) is that global leaders influence and serve as role models for their followers, regardless of the inherent distance (physical and frequency of interaction) between them in today’s global context or the quality of the relationship. Although considerable attention has been devoted to cultural differences between global leaders and their diverse followers and teams, this study investigates the impact that distance and quality of the relationship has on a sample of a Fortune 100 multinational firm’s global leaders’ level of positive psychological capital (PsyCap) contagion effect on their followers located around …

Inventory Optimization In Manufacturing Organizations, Scott William Lemke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Inventories totaling 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars represent an opportunity for U.S. manufacturers. This exploratory case study researched supply chain strategies used to manage inventory in manufacturing operations of a U.S. manufacturing company. A mature value chain contained within a single organization using the value chain framework was the basis for this study. Individual interviews conducted with 16 managers responsible for defining and implementing inventory control strategies, and 4 internal users provided primary information for the study. Other sources of information included a value chain map created through the observation of operations, various inventory measurements, and policies and guidelines related to …

Project Duration, Budget, Individual Role, And Burnout Among Construction Managers, Matthew M. Motil

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Professionals who experience burnout are less productive and lead to decreases in both profitability and human resource (HR) capital. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between construction project duration; project budget; an individual's role on a project; and Maslach's three dimensions of burnout, (a) professional efficacy, (b) emotional exhaustion, and (c) cynicism, for the target population of construction management team members working within the Midwestern United States. Using data from an online survey, a multiple linear regression analysis was used, along with a separate multiple linear regression model, to quantify the relationship of each dimension …

Evaluating Success Factors In Implementing E-Maintenance In Maintenance, Repair, And Overhaul (Mro) Organizations, Peter Rocky Toves

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite more than a decade-long process to transition aircraft maintenance practices from paper-to electronic-based systems, some organizations remain unable to complete this transition. Researchers have indicated that while organizations have invested resources in technology improvements, there remains a limited understanding of the factors that contribute to effectively managing technology-enabled change. The purpose of this case study was to identify and explore socio-technical (ST) factors that inhibit an effective transition from a paper-based system to an electronic-based system for aircraft maintenance. A conceptual model applying theories of change management, technology acceptance, systems thinking, and ST theory informed the research. Thirteen participants …