Digital Commons Network^™

Community College Management Strategies For Balancing The Budgets, Rachel Ann Sullivan Dodson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

During declining revenue, community college leaders may be unable to balance their budgets effectively. Community college managers who fail to balance budgets negatively impact a college’s financial sustainability. Grounded in Burn’s transactional leadership theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies community college managers use to balance their budgets in an environment of declining revenue. Data were collected from eight semistructured community college manager interviews and company documents: enrollment data, budget data, performance-based funding model data, and the strategic plan. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Four themes emerged: (a) budget alignment with …

Challenges With Multicultural Leadership For Project Managers: A Qualitative Multiple Case Study, Harrison Nnaemeka Nnaji

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Culturally diverse teams are becoming the norm with the rising trend of globalization. The phenomenon has been associated with a rise in the number of multicultural teams with diversified team members. The central problem addressed in this study relates to inadequate understanding of challenges posed to project managers of multicultural software development teams operating in Nigeria. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore challenges faced by this population. Avruch’s theory of culture, the Human needs theory by Burton, and the cross-cultural adaptation theory by Kim were the conceptual frameworks for this study. Participants included 15 project …

Outsourcing Interruptions And The Emergence Of Reshoring, Enrico Castillo Santos

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over the last 25 years, offshore outsourcing has been accepted as a standard business practice, primarily for the cost advantage of operating in lower costs offshore locations. Lately, the trend is reversing; business leaders are moving their manufacturing operations back home despite the near-term negative impact of the reversal decision. This qualitative multiple case study aimed to understand the factors that influenced manufacturing business leaders of U.S.-based companies to reverse previously made offshoring decisions and reshored at a high reversal rate. In this study, I applied the conceptual framework proposed by Fratocchi et al. (2016). Data were collected from five …

Public Company Ceo Strategies For Navigating A Global Economic Shock, Trevor Lee Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Covid-19 has been the most significant economic shock of the 21st century, evidenced by the S&P 500 index plunging over 30% in early 2020. Business leaders who fail to prepare for black swan events are at a high risk of failure. Grounded in Taleb’s black swan theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies some public market CEOs use to defend share price returns during economic shocks. The participants were five CEOs of five publicly traded companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange who generated positive investor returns since the pandemic began. Data were collected …

Twitter Sentiment Analysis: Applications In Healthcare And Finance, Jiali Wang

Dissertations

This research explores the influence of Twitter sentiment on healthcare and finance industries. It assesses how Twitter sentiment and culture measure influence COVID-19 statistics, and it investigates the impact of Twitter sentiment on S&P 1500 stock mispricing. Furthermore, it examines how tweet sentiment predicts major industry returns.

The first part examines how Hofstede’s Culture Dimensions (HCD) and Twitter economic uncertainty index (TEU) relate to COVID-19 infection rate and death rate. The results show certain aspects in HCD, such as power distance index (PDI) and masculinity (MAS) both are negatively and significantly associated with the infection rate, while indulgence (IVR) and …

How Do Cooperatives Enable Empowerment Among Rural Women? Evidence From The Municipality Of Cavinti, Laguna, Maria Theresa M. Castro-Bernardo, Liezel S. Cruz

Journal of Economics, Management and Agricultural Development

The persistent gender issues and their implications for sustainable development have led to several strategic yet collective schemes, such as the cooperatives, promising to contribute to (women) empowerment and social equality. Guided by Kabeer’s conceptual framework, this study analyzes the role of cooperative membership in promoting empowerment among its female coop-members in Cavinti, Laguna. Primary and secondary sources of data were used and analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. The result indicates that cooperatives play a critical role in empowering women by providing new and/or improved knowledge and skills through capacity-building training necessary to make informed decisions, thus strengthening …

Travel Motivations And Constraints Of Solo Women Travelers In Turkey, Egemen G. Tukenmez

Journal of Mediterranean Tourism Research

Developments in the field of technology and transportation have accelerated people to travel and encourage consuming tourism products. For this reason, interest of people for individual travels increases year by year along with package tours. Solo travel, which has important parts of individual travel, is one of the crucial elements in travel industry. An important part of this travel is composed by women. Women interest travel solo with different motivations. In this way, they tend to consume different types of touristic products. However, travel constraints that experienced during solo travels affect satisfaction level of solo women travelers. For this reason, …

Editors' Note, Nirupama Devaraj, Bharath Ganesh Babu

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Submission Guidelines

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Examining The Influence Of Information Technology On Health Behaviors And Health Outcomes, Mohammad Moinul Islam Murad

Information Systems & Operations Management Dissertations - Archive

Information Technology (IT) has radically changed our daily lives and it has the potential to help us adopt healthy behaviors and improve health outcomes. This two-part study investigates the influence of IT on health behaviors in population health management. Crises lead to severe uncertainty, high-risk perceptions, and vulnerability among people. Crisis communication through social media platforms influences people to undertake recommended behaviors that mitigate crisis consequences. Political leaders utilize Twitter to deliver crisis messages that offer mental support and empower local communities to spawn resilience and adaptability with emergent collective behaviors necessary to respond to the crisis. The primary objective …

Reviewers And Referees

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Statement From The Indiana Academy Of The Social Sciences And Board Of Directors

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Volume 25, Full Contents

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Mission And Editorial Policy

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Author Biographical Notes

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Of Movements And Markets: Religious Competition And The Problem Of Black Church Relevance, Omar M. Mcroberts

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Why do cross-denominational public religious movements such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference appear, despite the market-like competitive behavior of churches? Religious economy theory offers one set of explanations, based on a supply-side approach to the dynamics of numeric religious growth and decline. Namely, ecumenical movements are engaged by denominations, or religious firms, in membership decline. The history of national Black ecumenical movements, however, points to ways that religious economic theorizing fails to account for the multiple modes of social consciousness regarding church survival that motivate institutional religious activity. Black churches have existed not merely as a market but as …

Layout And Suggestions On China’S Science And Technology Innovation Centers At Different Levels, Wenzhong Zhang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Science and technology innovation center plays an important role in transforming the mode of economic development and enhancing industrial competitiveness. The formation and development of science and technology innovation center depend on the gathering of innovative talents, the support of first-rate universities and research institutions, and the cooperation and mutual promotion between innovation organizations and enterprises. In the course of future development, China should build a multi-level network system of science and technology innovation centers with international centers which can connect to global innovation networks, national centers which are capable of leading national science and technology research and development and …

Antecedents Of Employee Experience: A Systematic Review Of Literature, Arushi Grover, Ginni Chawla

Management Dynamics

No abstract provided.

Lessons From History: The Remarkable Leadership Of Eleanor Roosevelt And Why It Matters Today (Part 1), Emilio F. Iodice

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

Few people had a greater impact on their generation than Eleanor Roosevelt. She was what she professed to be: a person not afraid of criticism, willing to sacrifice and take responsibility and to lead others by her example. Her life was filled with moments of courage, wisdom, compassion, empathy, and amazing emotional intelligence. The following is Part I of an overview of her life, her leadership secrets, and how she dealt with enormous challenges as a person ― a human being and a woman who grew up in an age of prejudice and discrimination.

Roles Of Religious Guides In Tourism: A Qualitative Study From Japan, Ricardo Nicolas Progano

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage travel has become an important element in contemporary tourism, as visitors flock to sacred locations (UNWTO, 2015). However, some aspects of pilgrimage travel remain relatively understudied, with one of them being the roles of guides in these locations. Based on previous academic works, the present study aims to bridge this gap by analysing the role of religious figures who engage in guiding activities aimed at the general public. For this, Shippōryū-ji, a Shugendō temple located in Japan, is presented as the case study. As previous research on the subject is scarce, a qualitative approach was deemed suitable. Utilising interview …

Economic Implications Of State-Wide Covid-19 Response Aggressiveness, Bryan Foltice, Michael Edward Parker

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

This paper aims to evaluate how the aggressiveness of each state’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic affected their respective economies from Q2, 2020 through Q2, 2021. In our study, we utilize the scale developed by McCann (2021, April 6), which ranks the least aggressive state response to the most aggressive state response at three different points of the pandemic. Through this methodology, we test the impact of the aggressiveness of each state governments’ response with the resulting economic impact within that state. Namely, we examine how this level of response affected each state’s unemployment rate, gross domestic product growth, and …

Pre-Check Security Processes In Selected Brazil Airports- Changes And Gains, Camila Miliani, Fabio Sanches, Jonatta Haniere, Rodrigo Cortes, Tais Gargano, Vanessa Reis

Student Works

The recommendation of this Research Project is to implement the precheck program at 10 Airports in Brazil with more than 5 million passengers a year. The passengers’ satisfaction, security improvement and OPEX savings would be a reality.

The expectation of OPEX savings at these 10 Airports are R$ 3.360.000,00 per year, (US$ 634.000,00) due to the possibility of using the current infrastructure and yet, reduce one Protection Agent per inspection module, per airport.

The research topic was to understand the feasibility of implementing the precheck security process in Brazil Airports. Using the U.S. benchmark, and the current Brazilian legislation, GYN …

Scamazon?: Antitrust Concerns In An Incorporated E-Commerce Marketplace, Aidan Macsweeney

Honors Projects in Accounting

The purpose of this Honors Thesis is to develop an understanding of how Amazon Inc. operates and competes in its own e-commerce marketplace. The paper seeks to answer the research question: Is the relationship between Amazon seller type and list price consistent with regulator antitrust concerns? The goal is to analyze Amazon listings in 27 product categories and how their price/sales effects vary by seller type: Amazon, Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA), and Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM). Special attention will be given to identifying price trends by category, the impact of the "Buy Box", and competing offers on the same listings. …

Unpacking Athletics: An Exploration Of Identity Development For Division I Women College Athletes, Kathleen E. Scanlon

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation explored how former Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women athletes made meaning of their undergraduate experience and how it influenced their post-graduate lives. The study research questions focused on three areas: a) how participants constructed meaning from their athletic experiences and what role those experiences had in shaping their identity; b) how the participants made sense of the various systems they experienced and what bearing various identities had on their meaning making; and c) what concrete knowledge, skills and qualities participants felt they possessed today that they attribute to their intercollegiate athletic experiences.

Three semi-structured interviews …

An Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Virtual Reality In Distance Learning, Rashana Weerasinghe

Honors Scholar Theses

This study focuses on the applicability of emerging technologies in education. To explore this, our research was conducted through an “Intro To Emerging Technology” course taught by the OPIM Department at the University of Connecticut. The class meets in two modalities: virtual reality environment and video-conferencing platform. Our research explores the learning outcomes produced by the different classroom environments, seeking to better understand the impact of virtual reality in distance learning. The purpose of this is to identify and predict how virtual reality will be integrated into a distance learning environment and understand if it can be used as a …

Towards Structured Planning And Learning At The State Fisheries Agency Scale, Caleb A. Aldridge

Theses and Dissertations

Inland recreational fisheries has grown philosophically and scientifically to consider economic and sociopolitical aspects (non-biological) in addition to the biological. However, integrating biological and non-biological aspects of inland fisheries has been challenging. Thus, an opportunity exists to develop approaches and tools which operationalize planning and decision-making processes which include biological and non-biological aspects of a fishery. This dissertation expands the idea that a core set of goals and objectives is shared among and within inland fisheries agencies; that many routine operations of inland fisheries managers can be regimented or standardized; and the novel concept that current information and operations can …

Revitalization Through Food: Bringing Back Smalltown, Usa, Alyssa Chavez

Honors Projects

What makes a small town in the middle of nowhere USA unique, and what does food have to do with it? The following paper will discuss the impact of food on the revitalization process of small towns in the United States. This paper will attempt to answer questions concerning the revitalization process, how to measure the success of revitalization, and how food turns a town into a destination. Sidney Alive, a non-profit downtown revitalization group located in Sidney, Ohio, will be presented as a case study to discuss what could be a real-life success story. This case study will evaluate …

2022 - The Third Annual Fall Symposium Of Student Scholars

Symposium of Student Scholars Program Books

The full program book from the Fall 2022 Symposium of Student Scholars, held on November 17, 2022. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.

Exploring The Strategic Elements Of Backers’ Persuasion In Reward-Based Crowdfunding, Sabina Grižančič, Mateja Drnovšek

Economic and Business Review

In this paper we investigate the strategic elements that project founders' use in reward-based crowdfunding campaigns to achieve a higher level of persuasion. Exploration of these elements not only provides insights into an entrepreneur's experience with crowdfunding but also provides material for comparing results reported by other (quantitative) studies. We conducted an empirical study with 13 Kickstarter project founders through in-depth, semi-structured interviews which were analysed through a reflexive thematic analysis approach. Drawing from our findings, we propose four strategic elements that founders use to persuade backers and achieve success drawing from individual-level experiences and observations.

An Autoethnograpy Of A Baby Boomer In Higher Education: Challenges And Catalysts For Change, Deborra Finlan

Theses & Dissertations

Higher education as a baby boomer brings mental, physical, and economic adjustments, concerns, and insecurities. Additionally, life delivers unexpected challenges and barriers which can cause hardships requiring various types of motivation. Fortunately, there are also catalysts which can contribute toward successes. Literature from four major elements were the focus in this study: motivation, adult learning, challenges, barriers, and catalysts. Theorists and theories included Vroom’s expectancy theory of motivation with the added factor of cost, and Ryan and Deci’s theory on self-determination; Mezirow’s transformative learning and Knowles’s self-directed learning; Cross’s theory on educational barriers—situational, dispositional, and institutional; and Cobb’s social support …