Digital Commons Network^™

Estate Planning Techniques: Disclaimer-A Useful Post-Mortem Estate Planning Tool, Philip E. Heckerling

Tax Adviser

No abstract provided.

Ai-Driven Sustainable Textile Waste Utilization In New York State: Part I, Kyshia Anderson, Alyssa Dana Adomaitis

Publications and Research

While technology and awareness are advancing, a significant lack persists in how New York State utilizes innovative reports and enveloping contexts to envision solutions for textile waste, particularly evident in the context of interdisciplinary collaboration among fashion, technology, and construction design, a challenge that remains even with New York State's historical efforts in textile waste utilization (Tonjes, Manzur, Wang, Firmansyah, Rahman, Walker, Lee, Thomas, Johnston, Ly, Medina, Shi, Srivastava, Tucker, Maung, Thyberg, & Hewitt, 2024). Despite a more than nine hundred (900) percent increase in textile waste between 1960 and 2018, from 1,760,000 tons to 17,030,000 tons, current alternatives like …

The Relationship Between Leadership, Quality Outcomes, And Turnover In Healthcare, Megan L. Rhoades

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative, causal-comparative study examined the relationship between leadership effectiveness, employee engagement, quality outcomes, and turnover in non-profit acute care hospitals in Texas. Guided by a pragmatic paradigm, the research utilized archived data to analyze correlations among leader effectiveness scores, employee engagement levels, patient quality metrics, and employee turnover rates. Grounded in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the Motivation-Hygiene Theory, Job Demands-Resources Theory, Path-Goal Theory, and Relational Leadership Theory, the study explored how leadership behaviors and engagement strategies influence organizational outcomes. Results revealed a strong positive correlation between effective leadership and employee engagement, indicating that leaders who provide support, recognition, and …

The Dream We All Share, Austin C. Pence

Student Works

We all dream about the same things— owning a home, traveling where we want, and taking care of the people we love. For a lot of us, that feels far away. 1 Original Graphic by Austin Pence, Source: Investor.gov, U.S. government resource providing financial education and investment tools. After all, we’re college students. Between tuition, housing, and Taco Bell runs, saving for retirement feels about as real as gray hair.

But here’s the truth: the earlier you start saving— even just a few dollars a month—the easier your financial life becomes later. You don’t need to be rich to start; …

The Artificial Intelligence (Ai) Economy In The Mountain West, 2025, Dre Boyd-Weatherly, Sean Curry, Krish Sharma, Kristian Thymianos, William E. Brown Jr.

Economic Development & Workforce

This fact sheet reports on the artificial intelligence (AI) readiness of five Mountain West metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs): Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ; Salt Lake City-Murray, UT; Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO; Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV; and Albuquerque, NM. Using data from the Brookings Institution's “Mapping the AI Economy” report, the MSAs are benchmarked based on their overall population, employment, talent, adoption, and innovation.

Compensation Transparency In The U.S. Healthcare Workforce, Brandon Perkins

Honors Projects

This study investigates how perceptions of pay transparency among U.S. healthcare workers relate to work engagement, burnout levels, and intentions to stay with their current institution. A quantitative survey was conducted of 200 clinical and non-clinical employees across academic, nonprofit, for-profit, and government healthcare organizations. Self-reported views of transparency were evaluated in relation to validated measures of work engagement, burnout, stay intentions, and pay secrecy. The results showed that increased perceived compensation transparency was highly connected with greater work engagement and lower levels of burnout. Both engagement and burnout appeared as major indicators of the employees' intentions to stay with …

Beyond Compliance: Rethinking Ethical Accounting Through Ai And Esg, Rafael L. Portillo

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

With the increasing adoption of these modern technologies in world markets while maintaining these ethical principles, there is an increasing need for alignment between technology development and ethical responsibility. For instance, in the world of accounting, there is an increasing demand to maintain alignment between technology development and ethics. It is for this reason that these researchers have chosen to explore the link between Artificial Intelligence, ESG, and financial reporting ethics.

The goal of this study is to look at new concerns and moral risks that appear when ESG expectations, AI systems, and accounting practices interact. Earlier research usually studies …

Grand Theft Identity: The Privacy Costs Of Digitalization, Kenny Phua, Chishen Wei, Gloria Yang Yu

Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics

We study whether greater digital engagement increases the risk of identity theft by exploiting bank branch closures as a shock that shifts economic activity online. Using a quasi-natural experiment, we find causal evidence that branch closures increase identity theft, particularly in more vulnerable communities. Exposed consumers spend more time on mobile apps and shift their expenditures from offline to online channels. Adversarial activities associated with identity theft, such as unwanted calls and phishing attempts, increase after branch closures. Overall, our evidence suggests that digitalization offers consumer benefits, but also imposes hidden privacy costs.

The Token-Effort Effect: Trivial Redemption Effort Increases Price Promotions Effectiveness, Kuangjie Zhang, Thomas Allard, Nidhi Agrawal, Rajesh Bagchi

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This research documents how introducing redemption tasks requiring a token (i.e., trivial) amount of effort—for instance, by asking the consumer to enter a promo code or solve a CAPTCHA to receive a discount—increases price promotion effectiveness compared with equivalent straight discounts (i.e., applied automatically). Eight studies (including two field experiments) and three additional Web Appendix studies provide robust evidence for the beneficial effect of token-effort requirements on redemption rates. This effect occurs because the easy-to-attain redemption task induces a high perceived return on effort. Thus, this effect only occurs when the redemption task requires token-type effort but not when it …

National Halo And Culture Mixing: U.S. Consumer Acceptance Of Korean Cultivated Meat Made With Seaweed Components, Mark Chong, Angela K. Y. Leung, Tricia Marjorie Fernandez

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate U.S. consumers’ perception and acceptance of a “culturally mixed” product – i.e., cultivated meat (beef) made with Korean seaweed components – a product that involves the blending of a foreign cultural element (Korean seaweed) with a local cultural element (cultivated beef) to create a mixed cultural representation. Subsequently, it aimed to assess if the product’s country of origin (i.e., South Korea) would influence consumer perception and acceptance. Online in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 U.S. consumers recruited through two market research companies. The interview transcripts were analyzed by two trained coders …

One Size Does Not Fit All: Contract Design In Fintech Lending, Jianfeng Hu, Changcheng Song, Gloria Yang Yu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Many fintech lenders rely on standardized contract terms to support scale and operational speed. This paper examines whether modest tailoring of loan contracts can improve credit market outcomes. We conduct a randomized field experiment with a large fintech lender that varies loan due dates relative to borrowers' salary paydays. Synchronizing repayment schedules with income cycles reduces delinquency by 29.1% in the experiment and 15.7% in the administrative data. Effects concentrate among liquidity-constrained borrowers: young, low-income, and low-creditlimit individuals. Tailored repayment timing generates substantial economic benefits: borrowers save on overdue penalties, lenders accelerate cash flows, and improved repayment increases future credit …

A Transaction Cost Perspective On Option Anomalies, James O'Donovan, Gloria Yang Yu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine the impact of transaction costs on the profitability of long-short portfolios of delta-hedged option returns. Of the 24 portfolio sort variables studied, 17 generate positive and significant gross returns, but none remain profitable after accounting for trading costs. We propose a cost-mitigation approach that restores profitability to 7 key portfolios. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the choice of delta-hedging frequency has a first-order impact on transaction costs. Our findings underscore the central role of implementation costs in shaping the investment opportunity set in equity–option markets, highlighting the need to account for transaction costs when evaluating option-based strategies.

Exploratory Innovation: A New Perspective On Family Firms' Under-Diversification Puzzle, Po-Hsuan Hsu, Sterling Huang, Massimo Massa, Yaru Qian, Hong Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We propose a new perspective on family firms’ puzzling under-diversification in product spaces: these firms first need to succeed in exploratory innovation so they may diversify into new product markets. We construct a large database of family ownership and patent records of U.S. public firms, and show that family firms produce more exploratory patents than others, a relation that is stronger among under-diversified family firms. In addition, we find that such innovation indeed helps family firms diversify business risks. A causal interpretation of our result is supported by (i) using the property division standard in state-level divorce laws as an …

Equity Fund Monthly Report, December 2025, Archway Investment Fund

Archway Investment Fund

No abstract provided.

Annual Report 2024-2025, Houston Academy Of Medicine - Texas Medical Center Library

Annual Reports: 1943 - Present

This file contains the Annual Report for the library from 2024-2025.

Digital Communications Between Firms And Investors: Impact Of Explanatory Responses On Investor Engagement In Online Financial Q&A, Runyu Wang, Zili Zhang, Keng Siau, Ziqiong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The emerging trend of digital communications between firms and investors through online question-and-answer (Q&A) platforms is recognized as a vital strategy for managing investor relations, contributing to enhanced market efficiency and information transparency through increased information exchange. Potential investors can seek responses from firm managers to address their information needs, thereby mitigating market uncertainties. To provide foundational insights, we conduct a survey of investors to assess their awareness, usage, and perceptions of firm-investor Q&A platforms. In the subsequent empirical study, we specifically focus on the substance of managers’ responses, which are primarily aimed at clarifying firm events or information. In …

How Negative Accounting News Events, Voluntary Esg Assurance, And Assurance Provider Influence Consumer Purchasing Intentions, Clark Hampton, Macy Knutson, Adi Masli, Chad Stefaniak

Faculty Publications

Consumers are increasingly conscientious of societal and environmental impacts of their purchases, prompting companies to make environmental, social, and governance (ESG) claims and engage in voluntary ESG assurance. However, prior literature lacks insight into whether consumers consider negative accounting news events (e.g., error/irregularity restatements) and their effects on purchasing intentions. Using real world consumers of sustainable goods, we investigate how varying levels of negative accounting news events (i.e., error or irregularity restatements), the presence of ESG product-quality assurance (e.g., cage free egg certification), and the type of assurance provider (e.g., an accounting firm that also audits the financial statements, an …

Prevalence And Characterization Of Post-Acute Sequelae Of Sars-Cov-2 Infection (Pasc) In Rwanda, Fernand Rwamwejo, Vivianne Umuhire Niyonkuru, Gilbert Rukundo, Eric Remera, Edson Rwagasore, Les Sztandera, Ruranga Charles, Elizabeth Krebs

School of Business Faculty Papers

Objectives

Reliable, population-level estimates of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) remain scarce for sub-Saharan Africa. We aimed to quantify PASC prevalence and identify associated factors among adult COVID-19 survivors in Rwanda.

Methods

A nationally representative cross-sectional telephone survey (August-October 2024) sampled 3143 adults from the national COVID-19 registry. PASC was defined as new or persisting symptoms ≥3 months after acute illness and lasting ≥2 months. The prevalence was calculated, and multivariable logistic regression identified factors independently associated with PASC.

Results

Overall, PASC prevalence was 34%. Leading symptoms were back pain, headache, dizziness, fatigue, and reduced sexual desire. Higher odds …

The Persistence Of Homophobia In Men’S Friendship Norms, Sherrie Y. Xue, Stephanie C. Lin, Christilene Du Plessis

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Across five studies and one supplementary study (five preregistered; N = 3,215 adults), we found that men, more than women, avoided shared experiences (e.g., going to the movies, sharing food) with individuals of the same gender. Furthermore, persistent societal expectations that men should be unambiguously heterosexual underpinned this pattern: Men felt more apprehensive about signaling same-gender romance in platonic relationships than women did. In turn, romantic prototypicality drove the pattern of men (more than women) avoiding shared activities, above and beyond differences in how hedonic, enjoyable, and feminine the activities were; our findings further suggested that men’s reluctance to share …

From Plate To Picture: The Role Of Gastronomic Offerings In Tourism Marketing, Patricia Picazo, Sergio Moreno-Gil, Robin B. Dipietro, Forest Ma

Faculty Publications

Gastronomic offerings are key components of travel and destinations. However, scant research has focused on how gastronomic offerings are projected to tourists. Using signaling theory as a framework, this study investigated the presence of gastronomic offerings in 25,231 promotional photos to assess how the pictures represented the food offerings at resorts in five countries. Data were gathered from the brochures published by two leading tour operators in the European market, “TUI” and “Thomas Cook.” The results of content analysis showed that gastronomic offerings were often secondary to cultural and natural assets in brochures. In addition, the number of photos with …

The Impacts Of Artificial Intelligence (Ai) On Ethics And Ethical Gaps In Accounting, Isaac Hendren

Honors Theses

This study examines the ethical impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the accounting industry in Tennessee by identifying how national trends in AI adoption potentially surpass the ethical oversights established by the regulatory bodies, such as the AICPA, and relating these trends to Tennessee. A Qualtrics survey was distributed to accounting professionals across both firms and corporations across Tennessee, resulting in 64 responses. Results indicate that AI adoption is in its early stages and that significant awareness gaps remain regarding transparency and bias. As AI becomes more widely adopted, these ethical gaps could create risks that harm stakeholders. The study …

The Influence Of Culture + Technology On Night-Time Economy, Jianping Xu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

As a vital component of modern urban economies, the night-time economy has emerged as a crucial pathway for stimulating domestic demand and promoting consumption upgrading. With the rapid development of digital technologies and increasingly diversified cultural demands, the deep integration of 'Culture + Technology' has provided new momentum for the innovative development of the night-time economy. This study focuses on how 'Culture + Technology' empowers the night-time economy, exploring its impact mechanisms, current status, and development pathways through theoretical analysis, case studies, and empirical surveys.

First, this paper constructs a theoretical framework for 'Culture + Technology' empowering the night-time economy …

Fragmentation In The U. S. Fed Cattle Market: Implications For Price Transparency And Discovery, Taralee M. Hudson

Department of Agricultural Economics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The U.S. fed cattle market is one plagued by recurring stakeholder concern. Market participants frequently raise questions about the transparency of fundamental information under existing reporting frameworks, and the extent to which Private Negotiation, the dominant trading institution, effectively facilitates price discovery. Although extensive research has sought to address these issues, much of it has failed to account for the market’s increasingly fragmented structure. This thesis is comprised of three chapters that collectively examine price transparency and discovery through the lens of market fragmentation. Each chapter presents research related to the fed cattle market and is intended to stand …

The Role Of Social Media In Beauty Marketing: Insights From Kidfluencers, Brand Withdrawal, And Consumers’ Attitudes, Avery Giddings

Business/Business Administration

This thesis examines the evolving role of social media in beauty marketing by analyzing industry trends, ethical considerations, and consumer perceptions. The paper first outlines how social media has transformed digital marketing, enabling brands to merge advertising, community-building, and e-commerce. Two case studies highlight contrasting dynamics within this landscape: the rise of “kidfluencers,” which raises concerns about privacy and potential financial exploitation; and Lush Cosmetics’ decision to withdraw from major social media platforms, a move rooted in ethical branding but accompanied by economic challenges. To further investigate consumer attitudes, a survey of 150 U.S. participants assessed social media usage patterns, …

The Impact Of Top Management Team Heterogeneity On Corporate Green Innovation, Xueyan Luo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

At present, green innovation has become a key path for enterprises to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. However, existing research pays limited attention to how internal governance factors—especially top management team (TMT) heterogeneity—affect green innovation. Based on Upper Echelons Theory, managerial cognition theory, and institutional theory, this paper constructs a framework of “TMT heterogeneity–green strategic orientation–green innovation,” and explores the impact of different types of heterogeneity and the moderating role of regional innovation environments. Heterogeneity is categorized into conflict-type (gender, age, financial background) and complementary-type (educational, professional, overseas background) to better explain its mechanisms.

Using a sample of Chinese A-share listed …

A Study On The Influence Of Entity Internet Hospital Platforms And Health Literacy Facilitation On Postoperative Patients’ Platform Usage, Hong Ye

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Entity Internet Hospital (EIH) is emerging online medical service platforms in China. Currently, while EIHs in China are developing rapidly, their usage rates remain low. However, postoperative patients have substantial follow-up consultation needs. Consequently, incentivizing postoperative patients to use EIH from the demand side is a highly challenging proposition in the current era. Grounded in Technology Acceptance Model and Health Belief Model, this study examined the impacts of platform and health literacy facilitation on platform usage (including intention and frequency) among 631 postoperative patients with cardiovascular disease from four medical institutions in Wuhan, and explored the moderating role of literacy …

Research On The Impact Mechanism Of The Development Level Of Smart Agriculture On Farmers' Income, Baoping Liu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Agriculture is a fundamental and strategic industry essential to national food security and farmers’ well-being. Faced with global population growth, climate change, and resource constraints, the traditional high-input agricultural model is unsustainable. Smart agriculture, empowered by IoT, big data, and AI, has become critical for agricultural transformation and sustainable development. However, existing research overemphasizes technical efficiency and neglects how smart agriculture systematically affects farmers’ income, especially its transmission mechanism and regional heterogeneity.

Against China’s rural revitalization and digital village strategy, this study investigates how smart agriculture development influences farmers’ income, using a hybrid framework of macro empirics and micro analysis. …

A Study On The Impact Of Ceos’ Financial And Technical Backgrounds On The Innovation Strategy Of The Enterprise, Jianyu Cheng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Amid regional economic integration and market competition, innovation has become a key driver for enterprises to gain competitive advantages and ensure sustainable development. As primary decision-makers in corporate strategy and resource allocation, chief executive officers (CEOs) impact the selection and implementation of innovation strategies through their financial and technical backgrounds, which influence their strategic cognition and risk preferences, leading to heterogeneous innovation behaviors. While existing research has examined the relationship between CEOs and corporate innovation, studies have inadequately explored CEOs’ diverse background characteristics, particularly the interaction between financial and technical backgrounds. Given the rising trend of CFOs and CTOs advancing …

Corporate Strategic Changes In Response To Negative Performance Gaps: The Role Of Listing Board In China, Lei Yu

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation investigates how Chinese listed companies respond strategically to negative performance gaps under different institutional environments defined by the Main Board and ChiNext Board of China’s capital market. Drawing on Performance Feedback Theory and New Institutional Theory, it explores whether and how listing board heterogeneity moderates the relation between performance shortfalls and corporate strategic transformation, and further examines the boundary effects of internal governance factors including ownership type, CEO power, and resource slack.

Using panel data of A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2019 obtained from the CSMAR database, this study employs multiple regression analysis and interaction modeling to …

The Impact Of Value Co-Creation On Organizational Resilience In Small And Medium-Sized Traditional Foreign Trade Enterprises, Dan Yan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Against the backdrop of increasing uncertainty in the global business environment, international scholarly attention to individual, group, and organizational resilience has risen significantly. Chinese export trading enterprises—especially small and medium-sized export trading enterprises(SMETEs)—face disadvantages such as small scale, weak financing capacity, limited access to information, and low brand strength. After experiencing shocks from digital transformation, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia–Ukraine war, and the European energy crisis, these firms have been compelled to reconsider how to enhance their organizational resilience in order to adapt to an increasingly turbulent external environment.

First, this study selects Company H as a representative case of …