Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons^™

Thriving In A Vuca World: A Case Study Exploring Geopolitically- Focused Intelligence Teams In The Private Sector Through A Systems Theory Lens, Angela Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

For several decades, business executives have been faced with increasing complexity in the global environment, including disruptions, rapid changes, and heightened global pressures. In an effort to maintain a strategic advantage, business leaders are increasingly leveraging geopolitically-focused strategic intelligence teams to accurately and concisely synthesize large quantities of data to support high-level business decision making. However, limited research has been conducted on the organizational development of these teams, the context in which they exist, and how they can most effectively support differing and evolving decision-maker needs. As these teams have the potential to have an outsized impact on global business …

“Work For The Night Is Coming": How Christian Hymns Frame Human Labor, Monty L. Lynn, Sarah Easter, Ryan Jessup, Greg Straughn

Management Sciences

No abstract provided.

Interlocking Directorates Among The S&P 500: Social Networks, Gender Diversity, And Corporate Governance, Eric P. Magistad

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

This multi-article investigation examines corporate board composition and the implications for regulatory penalties. Director diversity on key board committees and board interlocks influence board behaviors as they relate to regulatory risk. Directors bring experience and inter-industry ties to a board position and subsequently transfer and receive specific knowledge, practices, and contacts with other directors (Hillman & Haynes, 2010). Despite this exchange, firms may suffer regulatory oversight penalties because different directors perceive and respond to risk differently (Douglas & Wildavsky, 1983; Flynn et al., 1994). Leveraging the tenets of the cultural theory of risk perception (Douglas & Wildavsky, 1983) and of …

Lessons From Psychology For Law Practice Management, Peter G. Glenn

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

Fractal Dimension As A Predictor Of Organizational Change Success, Thomas Anthony Seitz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As many as two thirds of organizational change (OC) initiatives fail to achieve their outcome objectives. Researchers have demonstrated that successful change requires alignment among all levels of an organization. However, contemporary OC models do not quantify the degree of hierarchical alignment during the change process. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to examine whether the fractal dimension of hierarchical alignment (predictor variable) was associated with OC success (criterion variable) as described by the self-organizing fractal theory (SOFT). The research question addressed the association between the fractal dimension related to the alignment of OC beliefs and behavioral intentions …

Educating Nurse Leaders On The Application Of Watson’S Caring Science, Diane Lm Updyke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nurse leaders’ creation of a culture of caring for their nursing staff has been shown to improve nurses’ job satisfaction and retention, and ultimately patient outcomes. At the project site, there was a perceived gap in nursing leadership practice in integrating a culture of caring into leadership and management practices. Although staff and leadership identified similar caring behaviors, staff members did not perceive nursing leadership as caring, which affected the former’s job satisfaction. The purpose of this education project was to provide site leaders with information on specific caring behaviors and how to model these behaviors with staff using Watson’s …

Lived Experiences Of Mothers Balancing Work And Family In The Restaurant And Food Services Industry, Brandi M. Fannell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Women account for over half of restaurant and food service employees in the United States. The hours required to manage obligation to both jobs and families impact work–life balance among this population, which can lead to burnout behaviors such as complaints, turnover, and absenteeism. Guided by both self-efficacy and role conflict theories, a phenomenological study was conducted to understand work–life balance, engagement, and job satisfaction among working mothers in the restaurant and food service industry. Working mothers with children between ages 5 months and 17 years, who were employed full-time at casual restaurants and similar food service organizations, were interviewed …

Goodwill Going Green: How Green Branding Can Generate $1m In Revenue, Elia Meltzer, Esha S. Vartak, William M. Crone, Ryan T. Richards

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Goodwill Industries is a nonprofit organization. Not only do they specialize in charity work, but they also have a chain of stores that focus on thrift shopping. Additionally, Goodwill provides other services, such as recycling clothing, electronics, and other goods. Recently, Goodwill of Akron, Ohio received a grant of five million dollars, where the money for the grant would have to be utilized in five years. The main objective of this project was to find a way for Goodwill to use grant money efficiently, to generate revenue for a new transportation initiative.

Our team has recommended utilizing the most popular …

Impact Of Leadership Skills On Entrepreneurs’ Business Success In Saudi Arabia, Omar Alaqeel

Theses and Dissertations

Most entrepreneurial businesses fail within the first 5 years of establishment. One of the major causes is the lack of leadership skills by the entrepreneurs. The aim of this quantitative study was to define the leadership skills that were required by entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia in creating and sustaining entrepreneurial business successfully beyond 5 years and to identify the environmental factors affecting entrepreneurship ecosystem in Saudi Arabia. The population of interest in this study was entrepreneurs from Tasamy in Saudi Arabia. Tasamy is a non-profit organization that focuses on supporting entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia. To answer the research questions for …

Worker Experience A Year Into Covid: Job Demands And Resources In The Philippines, Emerald Jay D. Ilac, Jaimee Felice Caringal-Go, Ma Tonirose De Guzman Mactal, Mendiola Teng-Calleja

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

This study aimed to examine the positive and negative job characteristics that impact employees’ working experience in a country located in the Global South during the COVID-19 pandemic using the job demands and resources (JDR) theory as a framework. Data collection happened approximately one year after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines. Data came from a qualitative online survey of 122 workers which was then subjected to thematic analysis. For both demands and resources, four superordinate themes emerged: intrapersonal, interpersonal, work or task-related, and organization- related. Intrapersonal job demands included health and safety, and the complexity of …

The Impact Of Food Justice Advocates In Creating And Influencing Public Policy, Michael Joseph Chadukiewicz

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This case study explored the impact that food justice advocates had on creating and implementing public policy to provide access to adequate, healthy, and culturally appropriate food for the residents of New Haven, Connecticut. The problem the case study explored is in 2020 food insecurity affected 22% of the residents of New Haven, more than twice the national average. This qualitative case study used grounded theory to analyze the experiences of 31 food justice advocates that were members of a coalition of researchers, food service providers, non-profit agencies, grassroot organizations, and residents tasked with improving the city’s emergency food system. …

Recognizing And Addressing Conflict That Emerges From Sociotechnical Change In Higher Education, Kathleen Ann Watkins-Richardson

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Today’s unprecedented technology growth impacts at many levels—from individuals to groups to society. This study aims to characterize how exponential digital technology growth and organizational change is explained and experienced in a university setting deploying new instructional technologies—and how or where conflict emerges. Organizational conflict is a phenomenon that takes many forms and may not be fully recognized. This dissertation highlights theories of technology invention and disruption, the dynamics of sociotechnical change (defined as the interdependencies between people, technology, and the environment) and response in organizations, complex adaptive systems, and practice theory of change. It considers current technological forces at …

The Effects Of Received Grandmothers’ Affection On Adult Grandchildren’S Health Behaviors Using Affection Exchange Theory, Leslie Ramos Salzar, Priyanka Khandelwal, Yvette Castillo

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

Background: Affection exchange theory (AET) explains the value of received affection for overall wellbeing in family relationships. However, this study extends prior work by investigating AET in grandmother-grandchild relationships and grandchildren’s individual well-being. This study seeks to understand the relationships between adult grandchildren’s received grandmother affection and health-related behaviors such as diet, exercise, substance abuse, and sleep.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 229 university student participants. Multiple regression analyses were performed to analyze received grandmother affection and grandchildren’s health behaviors.

Results: Using cross-sectional survey methods, it was found that grandchildren’s reports of received memories and humor, and celebratory affection influenced …

Approaches To Preventing Applicants From Faking Personality Assessments: Construct Contamination Under Faking Conditions, Peter A. Fisher

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Personality testing is a popular and useful predictor of future job performance in personnel selection. Personality assessment faking behaviour, however, threatens the usefulness of personality in personnel selection by reducing the validity of assessment results and creating distrust in the assessment results. Recent research exploring a new, computer-mediated assessment response format, the Rapid Response Measure (RRM; Meade et al., 2020), has the potential to dramatically change the way personality assessment is conducted in high-stakes, personnel selection. An initial investigation of the RRM suggests that it may significantly reduce personality assessment faking behaviours. The means by which the RRM is proposed …

The Hidden Side Of Work-Family Boundary Management: Uncovering The Role Of Cognitive Boundary Work And Boundary Context, Victoria Daniel

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Work-family life is becoming increasingly complex for the modern-day working parent, making boundaries that define the physical, temporal, and psychological aspects of work and family domains evermore important in how people choose to structure and manage the interface. However, the literature on boundary management has predominantly studied the enactment of certain boundaries and treated these boundary constructs as stable (e.g., general preferences and tendencies to behaviourally integrate or segment work and family). This research has also largely been conducted in contexts where the environment naturally created a way to organize the interface without the employees having to do as much …

Managing Information For Innovation Using Knowledge Integration Capability: The Role Of Boundary Spanning Objects, Chandan Acharya, Divesh Ojha, Rahul Gokhale, Pankaj Patel

Publications and Research

Knowledge Integration (KI) or the capability to collate and process distinctive stocks of organizational information is central to innovation. Although an essential capability, KI is also challenging to accomplish in practice due to relational obstacles. The relational obstacles arise because of knowledge boundaries: (a) syntactic boundary where the challenge is to transfer the knowledge; (b) semantic boundary where the challenge is to translate the knowledge; and (c) pragmatic boundary, where the challenge is to transform the knowledge to realize relational rents. In this paper, we propose that these relational obstacles could be resolved through a common lexicon, common meaning, and …

Behaviors That Impact The Economic Outcomes Of Mergers & Acquisitions; The Premium Price Paid And Return On Investment, Darryl Laws

Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study explores the impact of overconfidence bias, lying for strategic advantage, and co-operation (or non-cooperation) among 29 highly experienced private equity fund and investment managers. Using four structured experiments, M&A professionals were assigned buyer and seller roles and allowed to choose among investment opportunities. Within a game theory framework, the buyers and sellers bargained over the purchase price. The results of these experiments were explored using a linear regression format. The skill level of the participants was measured using a financial literacy test prior to the experiments and two overconfidence measures were constructed. Lying for strategic advantage was …

Microfoundations Of Dynamic Managerial Capabilities: A Personality Perspective, Alan Jiun Haw Tea

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Research in dynamic capabilities (Teece 2007) looks at how organizations derive and potentially sustain competitive advantage by dynamically making sense of opportunities, marshalling and manipulating assets and resources in response to these opportunities (Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000; Teece, 2007). The study of dynamic managerial capabilities is concerned with the microfoundations – attendant attributes as it were – that underpin managers’ ability to effectively participate in the dynamic capabilities of sensing, seizing and reconfiguring (Helfat & Martin, 2015b; Helfat & Peteraf, 2015). Apart from the predominant cognitive account of microfoundations, there remains an under-theorized and underresearched gap in the field of …

Do People Want To Be Designated As A High Potential? The Relationship Between Designation, Managerial Aspirations, Leader Development Efficacy, And Task Persistence., Alexandria Brown

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

High-potential programs are becoming increasingly popular in organizations, and the academic literature lacks research to inform the structure of these programs. Participants in these programs are often selected from the broader organization and then are put through a series of developmental activities (such as mentoring and stretch assignments). These programs are time-consuming for both the employee and the organization. Therefore, the organization must be selecting individuals that genuinely want to be a participant. It is also essential to understand the individual differences that make an individual more likely to succeed in a high-potential program. These individual differences include managerial aspirations …

Leadership Experiences Of Organization Open Innovation In Caribbean Small And Medium Enterprises, Helen Merlyne Bhola-Paul

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Caribbean Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) represent 95% of Caribbean businesses and contribute 40% to the region’s GDP; however, they rank lowest at 4% for organization innovation. The general problem addressed in this study was that leaders of SMEs of the Windward Islands in the Caribbean did not have a system in place to lead and promote strategic knowledge sharing to increase open innovation. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the lived experiences of leaders of innovative SMEs in the Windward Islands to manage and lead their organizations to drive organization open innovation in a …