Digital Commons Network^™

2025 Crummer Truist Portfolio, Cole Cecconi, Esperanza Dickson Reyes, Gustavo Fernandez, Conner Jones, Michael Kozinski, Emily Quezada, Cristian Ramos, Polina Vlasova

Crummer Truist Portfolios

SunTrust (now Truist) endowed this portfolio to provide scholarships for future Crummer students and to give current students a practical, hands-on learning opportunity. This year, we are pleased to be able to disburse $50,000 to be used for scholarships. We are extremely grateful for this generous investment in higher education. We have all learned a great deal from this experience and the responsibility of managing real money. Our first challenge is to establish a portfolio position that takes advantage of economic opportunities while avoiding unnecessary risk and conforming to the Crummer Truist Investment Policy Statement (IPS). We are also tasked …

From Chaos To Cohesion: Building A Brand Kit, Brooke Kries

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

From Chaos to Cohesion: Building a Brand Kit is a lesson designed for undergraduate students to show how a strong visual identity supports an organization’s mission and goals. Utilizing interactive instruction, guided exercises, individual exploration, and peer discussions, students will learn how elements, such as typography, logos, and color can shape public perception and align with audience expectations. By the end of the lesson, students will have created a sample brand kit and graphic to reflect an organization’s purpose and tone.

This lesson integrates marketing theory, real-life examples, and independent hands-on learning to encourage creativity, collaboration, and strategic thinking. Students …

Concentrated Benefits And Dispersed Costs: The Contributions Of Pareto, Olson, And Ostrom, Nathan John Cuthbertson

Theses

Concentrated benefits and dispersed costs (CBDC) is a central concept in the field of public choice as well as economics more broadly. The phrase concentrated benefits and dispersed costs refers to a situation in which economic benefits are concentrated and the associated costs are borne by a larger group. This thesis argues that the elements of CBDC are common in the literature without the term being used directly. This study is an exercise in the history of economic thought. The study is structured into three case studies, with each dedicated to the work of an influential economist: Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923); …

Project Manager Risk Response Via The Schedule Duration Mechanism In New Product Development, James S. Bryant

Open Access Dissertations

This experimental study investigated the relationship between project risk level and forecasted project schedule duration. Grounded within a systematic literature review, the research is motivated by the continuing high failure rate for new product development (NPD) projects to meet their time objectives. U.S.-based project managers (PMs) were given a project network diagram, assigned to one of four experimental groups (each group also receiving varying information regarding project risks), and asked to forecast the most likely schedule duration from start to finish. The data suggest that there is no correlation between the level of project risk and the forecasted duration and …

Three Essays On Investment Strategies, Machine Learning And Risk Management, Nafise Aalipour

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation explores the role of frictions, regime dynamics, and predictive modeling in understanding persistent anomalies and managing financial risk in equity markets. Across three essays, I examine how transaction costs limit arbitrage opportunities, how market regimes shape the evolution of return anomalies, and how a hybrid econometric-machine learning framework can enhance risk forecasting.

The first essay investigates whether transaction costs and idiosyncratic risk constrain the profitability of long-term reversal and medium-term momentum strategies. Using a comprehensive dataset from 1927 to 2022, I estimate stock-level trading frictions through three distinct methods - Limited Dependent Variable models, Gibbs cost estimators, and …

Entrepreneurial Selling And Business Success In Brazil, Renato Fernandes

Open Access Dissertations

This study aimed to deepen the understanding of the relationship between Entrepreneurial Selling and business success in Brazil through two different studies about the antecedents and consequences of Entrepreneurial Selling.

Using grounded theory and an exploratory-confirmatory mixed methods design, this dissertation demonstrates that Entrepreneurial Selling is crucial for business success. The database was sufficiently diverse for an in-depth analysis of the entrepreneurial Brazilian context: 777 entrepreneurs participated in the studies, ranging from first-time founders and serial entrepreneurs, leading B2B, B2C, and B2B2C companies from 31 segments, from startups struggling to make their first million to established companies already earning more …

When Does Top Management Team Diversity Matter In Large Organizations?, James M. Plecnik, Shan Wang, Frances Fabian

Accounting Faculty Works

Top management teams (TMTs) drive strategic leadership, but there is little clarity on when the composition of these upper echelons most impacts organization performance. Drawing from the categorization-elaboration model, we study an 18-year sample of approximately 4500 organizations and over 32 000 executives and find a positive relationship between TMT functional diversity and organization performance, but only for the smaller organizations. We tested how organization size (and correlates of age/complexity) negatively interacts with functional diversity. Testing for TMT integration proxies, top management tenure counteracted the negative impact of size, making functional diversity beneficial in large organizations as well. Additionally, CEO …

How Deep-Level And Surface-Level Board Diversity, Formal And Informal Social Structures Affect Innovation, Guoli Chen, Po-Hsuan Hsu, Yen Teik Lee, Daniel Z. Mack

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Despite a growing interest in understanding how board diversity shapes firms’ innovation, findings about the impact of board diversity have remained mixed. In this paper, we conceptualize board diversity as two forms – deep-level and surface-level – and find that these two forms of board diversity have opposing effects on a firm's innovation. We also theorize how formal and informal social structures can strengthen the positive effect of deep-level diversity yet simultaneously weaken the negative impact of surface-level diversity. We test our hypotheses with a panel of 42,432 firm-year observations from 2000 to 2019. Our paper contributes to the literature …

Growing Together: Strategies For Attracting And Retaining Community-Reflective Early Learning Professionals, Tonya Jo Coker

Educational Leadership Professional Doctorate Dissertations

The recruitment and retention of a diverse early learning workforce remains a critical challenge in special education. This study explores the multifaceted issues of workforce shortages, turnover rates, and the disparity between the demographics of educators and students in the Department of Early Learning within an education service district in Oregon. Through a detailed analysis of historical and current data, this study identifies systemic challenges contributing to the difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified staff, especially those who are representative of the communities they serve. Using improvement science as a methodological framework, the study tested change ideas focused on recruitment, …

Do Active Sustainable Equity Funds Outperform Their Passive Peers? Evidence From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Fei Fang, Sitikantha Parida

School of Business

Sustainable investing has grown rapidly, but it remains unclear whether actively managed sustainable funds outperform passive ones. This study compares the performance of high-sustainable active U.S. equity mutual funds and their index peers from September 2018 to April 2022, dividing the period into pre-crash, crash, and post-crash phases around the COVID-19 market downturn. On average, both active and index funds underperform, with the sharpest losses occurring during the crash. High-sustainable funds outperform low-sustainable ones, particularly during the crash. However, high-sustainable active funds do not outperform their passive counterparts in any period. These results suggest that active management does not offer …

The Effect Of Distance On Persuasion In International E-Mail Marketing Campaigns, Peter Magnusson, Stanford A. Westjohn

Marketing Faculty Publications

We investigate the relative effectiveness of different persuasive appeals in international e-mail customer acquisition marketing campaigns. We conducted three separate experiments, including two lab experiments and one field experiment, to examine the impact of different persuasive appeals on customers. Our research specifically focuses on consensus and authority-focused persuasive appeals. Our findings consistently show that when there is a small cultural distance between the seller and potential buyer, consensus appeals are more effective. On the other hand, when there is a large cultural distance, authority appeals are more effective.

Healthcare Providers’ Lived Experiences During Pivotal Change, Lisa Raynelle Shelley

Dissertations

This phenomenological study examined healthcare providers’ lived experiences of psychological safety and administrative leader behaviors that influenced those experiences during pivotal change. While much research addressed psychological safety among frontline healthcare staff, a gap was noticed concerning providers. This study aimed to investigate the impact of psychological safety and administrative support on provider engagement, emotional response, and retention during periods of significant change. Data were collected via a survey containing multiple-choice and open-ended questions, followed by semi-structured interviews. Four findings emerged. First, the providers’ pivotal events generated themes of “workplace power dynamics,” “systemic and organizational change,” “transformational crisis,” and “physical …

Our Findings In Marketing Research For Hartville Potato Chips, Elena Kozma, Abbie Ford, Tamia Henderson, Corey Keim, Ashley Whitten

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

To conclude the 2024 Spring semester, we will present primary and secondary research to our client (Hartville Potato Chips). This presentation will support the proposition and promotional strategy to add three more local partnerships for Hartville Potato Chips based on our research findings.

The Leadership Pivot: How Labor Market Dynamics And The Ncaa Transfer Portal Impacts Leadership, Evan Wilson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project will cover a multitude of topics specific to my major, and also will use my in depth knowledge and connections within a collegiate sport to analyze how labor market changes effect the leadership styles of leaders within a given industry. This project is going to challenge me as a student because of the in depth research and data collection that will be necessary to not only educate myself about labor markets and leadership styles, but also educate myself enough to be able to present the information in a way that is digestible to readers. The other aspect of …

Peaking Today, Taking It Easy Tomorrow: Daily Performance Dynamics Of Working Long Hours, Lieke L. Ten Brummelhuis, Charles Calderwood, Christopher C. Rosen, Alison S. Gabriel

Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Underlying the “ideal worker” image that pervades many organizational cultures is the assumption that working longer hours equates to higher performance, despite recovery research that suggests that long work hours might actually impair future work performance. In an effort to reconcile these differences in how long work hours are thought to relate to job performance, we develop and test a conceptual model in which daily boosts in same-day performance associated with working longer hours could be offset by lower next-day performance. More specifically, we examine if working a longer day than usual reduces sleep, which has the potential to diminish …

Managing Digital Transformation With Blockchain: Distributed Ledger Innovation Platforms, Nobuyuki Fukawa, Gregory J. Fisher

Business and Information Technology Faculty Research & Creative Works

Realizing its overarching potential in achieving digital transformation, leading organizations, such as Air New Zealand, have recently employed blockchain technology to manage 3D printing innovation. Despite the potential benefits, including the key role of blockchain as a supporting technology in Industry 5.0, these applications of blockchain technology in 3D printing are still at a nascent stage in practice and mostly limited to producer innovation. Additionally, 3D printing and blockchain technologies are often independently revolutionizing value capture and value creation, whereas the theoretical implications of their combined impacts on innovation management remain an underexplored domain. Limited digital transformation efforts have been …

Road Dependence And Inventory Challenges: A Case Study Of Danone Brazil’S Dairy Supply Chain., Karollyne Nakanishi

Business ETD Collections

The research examines the Danone Brazil raw milk supply chain through the Poços de Caldas factory which operates with more than 1,200 employees and functions as a key facility in Latin America. The research investigates two main questions about how Brazilian road-based transportation affects raw milk inventory stability and which localized tools or emerging technologies would enhance supply reliability.

The research design combined survey data from 42 participants with three interviews. The study reveals that stockouts and overstock and waste occur frequently because of poor road conditions and seasonal disruptions and limited local autonomy which results in monthly milk rejection …

Impact Of Global Semiconductor Shortages On Toyota’S Supply Chain And Production Efficiency Due To Covid-19., Jadouane Dounia

Business ETD Collections

In recent years, the global automotive industry has faced significant disruption, particularly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the most critical challenges has been the global semiconductor shortage, which has severely impacted vehicle production and supply chains. Semiconductors, commonly known as chips, are essential components in modern automobiles, supporting functions ranging from vehicle control and infotainment systems to safety features and autonomous driving technologies. The shortage has led to delays in delivering cars to consumers, reduced production capacity, and difficulties in maintaining adequate inventory levels. As a result, many automakers have been forced to slow down or …

Dynamic Interactions Between Natural Gas Return, Financial Market Return, And Energy Stock Return: A Var Analysis Of Conoco Phillips., Caglar Yildiz

Business ETD Collections

This study investigates the dynamic interrelationships among ConocoPhillips (COP) stock returns, natural gas prices, the S&P500 index, and changes in the U.S. 10-Year Treasury bond yield using a Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model over the period January 2020 to July 2025. Weekly data are used to estimate a VAR(4) model, allowing for lagged and contemporaneous interactions across financial and commodity markets. The variables are treated as endogenous, with the model validated through stationarity testing, Johansen cointegration analysis, and diagnostic checks.

Cholesky decomposition is employed for structural identification, with the 10-Year Treasury yield ordered as the most exogenous variable. Wild bootstrap techniques …

“Move Fast And Break Things”: Innovation, Stability, And Trust In The Growth Of Revolut., Belen Blanco Mendoza

Business ETD Collections

In this research project, I chose to examine the strategies used in the growth of the fintech Revolut, namely the ’move-fast-and-break-things’ strategy that was employed at the beginning of the company. With this in mind, I decided on two Research Questions, “With the benefit of hindsight, and a focus on problems caused by low security and poor customer support, is Revolut’s ‘move fast and break things’ philosophy a good strategy for the business?” and “Will Revolut’s new fraud prevention strategies, and advances in AI help recover the lost goodwill caused by their earlier ineffective strategies?”, which guided me …

Certain Knowledge Of Administrative Decisions Issued By Artificial Intelligence Systems In The Public Sector: A Comparative Analysis, Nayel Musa Alomran, Odai Mohammad Alheilat

All Works

This paper aims to elucidate the matter of certain knowledge pertaining to administrative decisions, those issued by artificial intelligence. It also clarifies the position of the administrative judiciary with regard to the adoption of this presumption and through a comparative analysis of administrative judicial applications in Jor-dan, Egypt, and Morocco. The text addresses the most significant evidence for achieving certain knowledge of an administrative decision – and thereby initiating the appeal period against the appellant. The question at hand is whether the administrative judiciary applies the traditional theory of certain knowledge to its counterpart issued by artificial intelligence systems, especially …

Relationship Between Transformational Leadership And Employees' Psychological Safety, Minahil Khan

SSLA Culminating Experience

This study explored how psychological safety manifests in the workplace and how it is influenced by transformational leadership. Using quantitative survey data from 101 employees—pre-dominantly based in Karachi, Pakistan—the research investigated the relationship between psychological safety and transformational leadership. It also explored whether there is a gender difference in the employees’ perception of transformational leadership and psychological safety. Findings indicate that transformational leadership has a significant positive correlation of 0.734 with psychological safety, which in turn enhances employees’ willingness to speak up and engage in creative problem-solving. Additionally results also indicated that there is no statistically significant gender difference in …

Intensive Longitudinal Models, Robert E. Ployhart, Paul D. Bliese, Sam D. Strizver

Faculty Publications

Intensive longitudinal models (ILMs) allow researchers to analyze nested data collected through frequent measurements—typically 20 or more repeated occasions—over densely spaced durations. Rather than being a single statistical approach, ILMs encompass various models unified by their capability to handle densely collected longitudinal data. We briefly summarize the nature of intensive longitudinal designs and why such designs require the use of ILMs. We then provide a classification typology to help readers understand the features of an ILM they should adopt. This classification typology provides the structure for a narrative review of existing ILM research. We conclude with specific recommendations for using …

Theatre For The People: Exploring The Need For A New National Theatre, Kai Yamanishi

Theatre and Dance Honors Projects

The Covid-19 pandemic sent shockwaves through the theater industry that have seen dozens of venues across the country laying off workers, shortening seasons, and even closing altogether. Costs have risen, audiences have been slow to return, and traditional sources of funding have dried up. What then, are theaters to do? By conducting an economic analysis and examining published and original interviews with theater practitioners, this essay explores this crisis as it has affected the regional nonprofit theater sector, specifically the members of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT). It concludes that LORT’s model is no longer sustainable because of its …

Essays On Application Of Machine Learning To Financial Statement Fraud, Lin Xia

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation is composed of two studies, both of which revolve around the application of machine learning to financial statement fraud. The first study entitled, “Complementary Role of Algorithm and Theory for Financial Statement Fraud” investigates the nature of relationship of theory building research and machine learning algorithms. Recent research on financial statement fraud has seen an increase in the use of machine learning techniques. While some machine learning based studies build on variables from causal inference research, others claim that machine learning algorithms work better with raw accounting variables and thus cast doubt on the role of …

Risk Factors And Fraud Loss Magnitude: Informing Anti-Fraud Strategies, Robert Elias

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Fraud research posits risk factors may be utilized to identify individuals who are predisposed to perpetrate fraud (ACFE 2024). I find perpetrators who exhibit the following risk factors result in statistically higher fraud losses: living beyond their means, excessive pressure to perform within the organization, having excessive control issues regarding their job, are reluctant to take vacations, have a “wheeler-dealer” attitude, or addiction problems. I further find perpetrators who exhibit risk factors which are likely to be observed in a work setting are more likely to result in higher fraud losses. However, perpetrators who exhibit risk factors which are more …

Rethinking Compliance: How Goal Congruence Can Lead To Noncompliance And Positive B2b Performance, Paige Harrison Fender

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Traditional marketing theories (e.g., agency theory) suggest that aligning goals with a partner firm will enhance compliance and lead to better overall performance for both firms. The research on positive deviance, in contrast, suggests that a firm may deviate from contractual terms in order to accomplish shared goals and enhance performance. Merging these perspectives and pulling from more nuanced discussions of compliance, this dissertation explores the potential deleterious effects of goal congruence on compliance. Specifically, we examine the conditions in which goal congruence leads to both compliance and noncompliance and how these conditions impact performance. Additionally, this dissertation examines how …

Predicting Crises On The African Frontier Stock Markets With Investor Sentiment Indicators: A Machine Learning Approach, David Korsah, Lord Mensah

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This study examined the predictive ability of machine learning algorithms in identifying crises within African stock markets. The study employed seven distinct machine-learning models, analyzing historical stock prices from eight stock markets, three major sentiment indicators, and the exchange rates of local currencies against the US dollar, with each data spanning from May 1, 2007, to April 1, 2023. Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) emerged as the most effective algorithm for predicting crises. Historical stock prices and exchange rates were identified as the most critical features for prediction. On the sentiment side, investors’ perceptions of potential volatility on the S&P 500, …

A Conceptual View Of Data For Decision-Oriented Databases: A Knowledge-Driven Approach, Sung-Kwan Kim, Wenjun Wang, Seunghyun Kim

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Typical database design goes through three levels of data modeling: conceptual modeling, logical modeling, and physical modeling. In particular, conceptual modeling is important since it captures and documents user data requirements. Conceptual modeling serves as a blueprint for designing a database by defining information content to be included in a database. Presently, decision-oriented databases have no well-accepted conceptual modeling approach to apply. While some use conceptual modeling approaches for transaction-oriented databases such as the ER (Entity-Relationship) model, they are not well-suited for decision-oriented databases. It is hard to map from the ER Model to decision-oriented data models. Others attempt to …

Preventive Health Care Information Seeking Behaviors Among Baby Boomers In Taiwan, Alexander N. Chen, Michael J. Rubach, Tracy Suter, Hsin Ke Lu, Mark E. Mcmurtrey

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Preventive health care is widely acknowledged as one of the most effective ways to reduce medical costs and enhance people's health. Preventive health care information (PHCI) is a crucial component. This study examines the PHCI-seeking behaviors of Taiwanese baby boomers. The study found some support for the idea that the preferred media used influenced the likelihood of Information seeking behavior. People with good health conditions were found to be more likely to seek PHCI, while people with greater health care needs sought out PHCI less frequently. The study examined social influences, which were found to be important. Three different types …