Digital Commons Network^™

Speaking To The Head And The Heart: Prioritizing Empathetic Communication In The Post-Covid Workplace, Kevin T. Caffrey

Administrative / Professional Faculty Articles

As of August 2022, COVID-19 continues to affect our daily lives in physical, psychological, and financial ways. Many vulnerable individuals are struggling to adapt to returning to work and as a result, employee morale is at risk. In times of crises, empathy is needed in the workplace to support one another, but many leaders and employees may not have a firm grasp of the concept. This article seeks to define empathetic communication and explore the need for prioritizing empathy amid the current post-COVID-19 workplace. Through a literature review of empathy, psychological safety in the workplace, and crisis leadership, the author …

Leadership In Nonprofit Organizations: Best Practices For Volunteer Retention, Jennifer Lawrence

DSW Capstone Projects

While there is a significant amount of research focusing on organizational leadership in business and for-profit organizations, comparatively little data has been collected and studied to address the role of leadership in volunteer organizations. By closing this gap in research and providing context around leadership, nonprofit organizations can enhance leadership, culture and climate, and volunteer engagement and retention. Fewer Americans are engaging in volunteerism in their community than any other time in the past twenty years. The Systemic Literature Review will aid in recognizing and addressing this decline which is important as volunteer organizations provide needed services to people and …

Age Diversity In The Hospitality Workplace, Cass Shum, Ankita Ghosh, Yunxuan (Carrie) Zhang, Yuang-Sheng (Ken) Chiu

Hospitality Faculty Research

Because of the large number of available positions with low-skill requirements and delay of retirement age, the current hospitality workforce is at the peak of age and generational diversity. The current hospitality industry employs employees from four generations, including Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z. After briefly explaining the difference between age and generation, we first describe generational values and characteristics in this chapter. Next, we critically evaluate the benefits and disadvantages of having age-diverse teams. Finally, we focus on the talent management and leadership needed to manage employees from different generations.

Making A List: Teaching Prospecting In Sales Courses, Alexander Milovic

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

The importance of prospecting cannot be overstated in the sales discipline. The authors introduce an exercise that allows students to develop this skill by identifying and developing a detailed prospecting list with data gleaned from real-world contact information. This project can be executed both stand-alone or as an introduction to a larger-scale sales project. Additionally, this project can be delivered beyond the classroom in a workshop-style format to assist student organizations/clubs achieve their goals (e.g., fundraising, corporate outreach). Empirical results are shared, as well as qualitative student feedback, to demonstrate the exercise’s effectiveness for teaching this vital concept.

Examining The Relationship Of Social Inclusion On Job Satisfaction And Turnover Intentions Of Us Post-9/11 Veterans, Sheree' L. Peters

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many American veterans return to the civilian workforce and report having problems reintegrating into society, as well as finding their role in the new corporate social realms. Over 80% leave their civilian jobs within the first two years of employment, and over 70% report experiencing feelings of loneliness. Recently, the World Health Organization reported that the lack of perceived social inclusion also has a significant economic impact on both individuals and societies. A quantitative, nonexperimental methodology was used to examine the moderating relationship of social inclusion on the relationship between job employee turnover intentions of post-9/11 enlisted veterans. This study …

Mechanisms In Open Innovation: A Review And Synthesis Of The Literature, Ruben H.A.J. Ogink, Martin C. Goossen, A. Georges L. Romme, Henk Akkermans

Management Faculty Publications

A large body of literature explores the role of context, structure, actors, and outcomes of open innovation (OI), yet pays little attention to the mechanisms underlying these relationships. In this review paper, we synthesize the OI literature using a context-mechanism-outcome approach to identify and classify the various mechanisms observed in empirical OI studies. Our findings demonstrate that the OI literature draws on a wide variety of mechanisms originating from the fields of management, sociology, economics, and psychology. The fifteen mechanisms most frequently observed in the literature fall into four categories: governance and policies; environmental dynamics and interactions; knowledge, skills, and …

An Analysis Of Salary Difference For Left-Handed Pitchers, Jarrett Korson

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines whether there is a difference in salary for left-handed pitchers in Major League Baseball. I review prior research regarding the valuation of MLB pitchers, salary discrimination in baseball, and left-handed pitchers to shape my methodology. Using Sean Lahman’s Baseball Database, I utilize various regression models to analyze effects on salary. Variables are transformed into cumulative, per 9- inning values and left-handed interaction variables are created to observe any difference in salary experienced only by left-handers. The models show that for variables with a statistically significant effect on salary, left-handers experience a statistically significant effect on salary above …

Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Post George Floyd And Covid-19: Reflections From Global Business Leaders On A Changing Paradigm, Charles Edward Bray Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This global study of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), encompassing the lenses of sixteen corporate executives with multi-country influence, examines efforts to address marginalization in the workplace based on identity characteristics such as race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or ability. Othering is a global phenomenon. Corporations were awakened to the magnitude of othering, shocked into reality by the murder of George Floyd and other acts of political and social violence, including femicide, globally. The COVID-19 global pandemic further exposed the impact of marginalization seen through wide health disparities across communities. The Russian invasion of Ukraine further augmented the corporate …

Climate Change Risk Perception And Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Moderating Role Of Environmental Values And Psychological Contract Breach, Badar Latif, James Gaskin, Nuwan Gunarathne, Robert Sroufe, Arshian Sharif, Abdul Hanan

Faculty Publications

Purpose – Debates regarding climate change risk perception (CCRP), particularly its scale and impact on social and environmental sustainability, have continued for decades. CCRP is experiencing a renaissance with an increased focus on environmentally relevant behaviors to mitigate the effects of climate change. However, CCRP lacks investigation from the employee perspective. Supported by the social exchange and value–belief–norm theories, this study aims to address the impact of employees’ CCRP on their proenvironmental behavior (PEB) via the moderating roles of environmental values and psychological contract breach.

Design/methodology/approach – The nonprobability convenience sampling technique was used to collect survey data froma sample …

Human Connection: A Crucial Ingredient In Vacation Experience, Ondrej Mitas, Moji Shahvali, Peter Ward, Mat Duerden, Marcel Bastiaansen

Faculty Publications

The past decade (2012–2022) has seen a blossoming of research on tourists’ quality of life. Frameworks such as subjective well-being (Diener & Seligman, 2002), the PERMA wellbeing theory (Seligman, 2012) and eudaimonia (Filep & Deery, 2010) have been used to document the numerous positive psychological effects of tourist experiences. One of the most robust findings from this literature is that engaging in tourism triggers emotions. Ranging from the excitement of hobby-focused competitions and tours (Mitas et al., 2012a) to the relaxation of a spa (Strauss-Blasche et al., 2004a), dozens of studies have now documented salubrious emotional profiles over the course …

The War On Tenure, Deepa Das Acevedo

Faculty Articles

Legislative attacks on faculty tenure are proliferating at an alarming rate. Politicians seeking to abolish or restrict the practice argue that tenure encourages bad behavior and impedes warranted terminations, granting undeserving academics “jobs for life.” But does tenure really facilitate—much less incentivize—such undesirable outcomes? This Article marshals an original and unprecedented dataset of “tenured-terminations” as well as existing social science research to show that the likely answer to both questions is “No.”

Instead, the data suggest that tenure is largely operating as it should: as a form of “just cause” employment where cause for termination is difficult but not impossible …

Can Marketing Transcend Entrenched Gender Biases?, Thinh Nguyen

Marketing Faculty Publications

Through a feminist lens, Maclaran and Chatzidakis (2022) challenge conventional assumptions about gender, emphasizing its performative nature shaped by social practices rather than inherent traits. This commentary extends analyses of key themes such as gender performativity, the male gaze, and subject-object binaries within marketing. It critiques how marketing strategies reinforce existing power imbalances and systemic biases rooted in historical narratives. The writing also reflects on media interpretations of gender issues through films like 'Turning Red' and 'Barbie'. By contextualizing gendered marketing within broader societal frameworks, this writing contributes to ongoing dialogues in media studies, sociology, and gender studies, highlighting the …

The Public’S Companies, Andrew K. Jennings

Faculty Articles

This Essay uses a series of survey studies to consider how public understandings of public and private companies map into urgent debates over the role of the corporation in American society. Does a social-media company, for example, owe it to its users to follow the free-speech principles embodied in the First Amendment? May corporate managers pursue environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) policies that could reduce short-term or long-term profits? How should companies respond to political pushback against their approaches to free expression or ESG?

The studies’ results are consistent with understandings that both public and private companies have greater public …

The Digital Footprint Effect: A Grounded Theory On The Influence Of Social Media On Human Resource Managers’ Hiring Decisions, Tanya Pawlowski

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

For over a decade, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has reported the increasing practice of hiring managers accessing social media profiles to screen job applicants (Bates, 2008). This qualitative research study investigated the role of social media in organizational hiring practices and what factors may influence human resource hiring managers’ decisions. A grounded theory methodology was applied to interview 21 human resource hiring managers with open-ended structured questions. Based on the researcher’s data collection and grounded theory data analysis, the findings showed that social media profiles play a crucial role in organizational hiring decisions when a human resource …

Learning From The Lived Experiences Of African American Senior Executives In Fortune 500 Organizations: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study Of Black Corporate Trailblazers, Otis G. Jarvis

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

African American Senior Executives (AASE) exist as a group of American citizens who hold senior management roles in Fortune 500 organizations. AASE members are responsible for decision-making in a diverse number of industries but represent a small group of leaders in Fortune 500 organizations. The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of AASE in a Fortune 500 organization in the United States. The qualitative study examined through semi-structured interviews the experiences of eleven senior executives in Fortune 500 organizations in the United States. This phenomenological study examined how the lived experience of each …

2023-2024 Faculty Handbook, Morehead State University. Faculty Senate.

Faculty Senate Records

Morehead State University Faculty Handbook for 2023-2024.

Understanding And Application Of Systems Thinking To Diversity Challenges At Higher Education Institutions, Odell Jones

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

This research argues that establishing and sustaining leadership diversity within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is a complex-systems challenge and that those responsible for leading efforts to establish and sustain diversity, referred to as DEI leaders, should adopt a mindset of systems thinking and apply problem-solving methods and tools informed by systems thinking. Semi-structured interviews with DEI Leaders at HEIs were conducted regarding background and perceptions of their work, and how they thought about and made choices concerning diversity challenges. Interview questions were designed to gain an understanding of the degree to which these leaders think about DEI and if they …

Competition And Sensegiving: Nonprofit Markets And Organizational Signaling, Adam Eckerd, Jacob Fowles, Jamie Levine Daniel, Riley Sandel

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

In this paper, we investigate how an organization’s position within its nonprofit marketplace influences how nonprofits convey images about themselves to their stakeholders. We discuss the nature of competition in the nonprofit sector and explore the different competitive positions that nonprofits find themselves in. We assess how this positionality affects the ways that nonprofits attempt to convey images, or senses, of themselves to external audiences. We find that these sensegiving approaches are affected by competition, particularly when considered together with the stage of the organization’s lifecycle.

Exploring Financial Data Protection And Civil Liberties In An Evolved Digital Age, Amanda Lindner

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

There is no comprehensive financial privacy law that can protect consumers from a company’s collection sharing and selling of consumer data. The most recent federal financial privacy law, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”), was enacted by Congress over 20 years ago. Vast technological and financial changes have occurred since 1999, and financial privacy law is due for an upgrade.

As a result, loopholes exist where companies can share financial data without being subject to laws or regulations. Additionally, federal financial privacy related laws provide little to no recourse for consumers to self-remediate with litigation, also known as a private right of …

Removing The Masc: Dismantling Gendered Occupations Through Social Work Education, Austin M. Raines

DSW Capstone Projects

The “Masculine mystique” refers to a psychological mask that men wear, enabling them to maintain power and distance themselves from traits associated with femininity” (Kahn, 2009, p. 283). This capstone project seeks to solve the Social Work Grand Challenge of improving the lives that hegemonic masculinity harms and limits. It emphasizes the relationship between the two areas of life (work-home), once thought to exist in different realms but are today more interwoven than ever (Lin & Burgard, 2018; Sok et al., 2014). Men have higher rates of traumatic injuries and exposure to significant physical risks, violence hazards, and stricter normative …

Former United States Political Figures On S&P 500 Boards: Three Essays, Tyler K. Wasson

2023

Corporate political activity has been considered an increasingly important component of corporate strategy (Schuler, et al. 2019). Corporate political activity research examines how corporations interact with political officials to attempt to influence their political environment in ways that benefit their economic activity (e.g., Funk & Hirschman, 2017; Lawton, et al. 2013). In this dissertation I present three novel research studies on one area where corporate political activity research is underdeveloped, the presence and impact of government experienced directors, individuals who were either elected or appointed to work for the United States (U.S.) government and then served as a director on …

Explore The Best Organizational Change Model For Chinese State-Owned Enterprises In The Financial Service Industry To Address Global Challenges, Chenyang Feng

Theses and Dissertations

Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) in the financial service industry has reached a tipping point of making changes to address incoming global competition. The unprecedented wave of policy shifts in the market will uncage powerful rivals worldwide and demand the SOEs to change. This study reviewed the best practices and unique challenges to the SOEs in the context of organizational change and strove to explore the best organizational change model for Chinese SOEs in addressing global challenges. This study began by reviewing the background and literature about Chinese SOE development and organizational change, then developed an instrument consisting of critical items …

Evaluating The Effects Of Organizational Culture On Post-Merger Integration, John M. Rose

Theses and Dissertations

This doctoral research project examines the impact of organizational culture on post-merger integration in the travel and travel services industry for acquisitions valued under $5B. The study uses a mixed-method research approach to determine whether culture plays a critical role in the success or failure of M&A deals. The research focuses on 50 M&A transactions that occurred between three and five years ago at the time of the study. Participants from both sides of the transactions completed an integration outcomes survey, reporting on financial, cultural, and overall success. In addition, each side had five participants who completed the Organizational Cultural …

Watchdogs Of The Economy: The Development Of Irish Economics Profession’S Independent Voice, Joseph K. Fitzgerald, Brendan O'Rourke

Articles

Histories of the development of professions show a profession’s relationship with the state as key to its authority. Yet professions, to gain technocratic authority, also strive to depoliticise their discourses to gain technocratic authority. This dilemmatic tension is particularly true for the economics profession. The historical development of the Irish economics provides an interesting case, where a complicated relationship with the state ultimately strengthened the profession within a society. An initial formalisation trajectory of Irish economics was thrown off course by the formation of an independent Irish state in the 1920s. This marked a period of isolation for the profession …

Explicating The Influence Of Religion In Forming Corporate Governance: Insights From The Philippines, Leveric T. Ng, John Paolo Rivera

Graduate School of Business Publications

Religion plays a role in shaping personal values and directing an organization’s moral filter. It is an avenue to impose social morality that may impact corporate governance. We examined the influence of religion in the formation and development of good corporate governance through ethical leadership in the Philippines – a country that has strong religious culture. Invalidating scholarly literature on religion and enterprise; we looked into the conception and interpretation of religion and corporate governance through a key informant interview of 30 executive directors from private corporations in the country.We found that corporate governance may arise from religious convictions; where …

Eliciting Emotional Attachment: Jordan Brand And College Fan Purchasers, C. K. Harrison, K. Babiak, Jacob K. Tingle, J. R. Dickens, S. Bukstein, Juan Pablo Urrutia, Patrick Kaltenbacher

School of Business Faculty Research

: It is widely documented that emotions play an important role in product marketing and branding. The current study explores the role that a human brand association can play in eliciting emotional responses and attachments from consumers that drive their subsequent behaviour. The human-centred Jordan Brand was examined because it uses the likeness/image of Michael Jordan. The study revealed the impact of consumer responses and decision-making through survey analysis (N = 1,133) at two Jordan Brand partner university’s athletic events. The results demonstrate that the partnership between the university athletic department and Jordan Brand elicits strong emotional responses, the propensity …

Impact Of Targeted Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion (Dei) Initiatives On The Retention And Graduation Rates Of Students Of Color At Community Colleges, Momoh Sekou Dudu

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

In the United States of America, students of color (SOCs) encounter significant barriers when they seek higher education. As a result, many institutions of higher learning pursue diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to enhance these students’ chances at social and academic attainment. For community colleges across the nation, because they enroll a disproportionately large number of SOCs due to their combination of open enrollment policies, low tuition and geographic proximity, targeted DEI initiatives are a strategy of choice in dealing with their abysmal retention and graduation rates among this student demographic. This dissertation, anchored in sociological-based theoretical frameworks—specifically William …

Third Sector Organizations In Iceland: Size, Scope, And Scale, Jeannie Entenza

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to contribute missing data to existing studies on the comparative nature of global third sector economies. Iceland, a modern, high-income, high-service society on the cusp of the Arctic Circle has not been included in these studies while the other four Nordic countries have all been analyzed. This study aims to map over 12,000 registered third sector organizations in Iceland to demonstrate the type and level of public-facing organized activity in the country. The quantitative research design relied heavily on the concept and inspiration of the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project and proved that Iceland was indeed …

Implications Of An Exogenous Shock (Covid-19) On Wine Tourism Business: A Portuguese Winery Perspective, Alexandre Guedes, Britta Niklas, Robin M. Back, Joao Rebelo

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study investigates the impact of an exogenous and unexpected shock (COVID-19) on the wine tourism business from the winery's perspective. A sample of 146 Portuguese wineries was surveyed. The econometric results show that the share of wine tourism sales, the amount of dependence on exports and the assertiveness of brand recognition have a structural effect on direct-to-consumer tasting room wine sales, even when the winery's business is disrupted by a shock that degrades the dynamics and flows of international trade. The research establishes a starting point that allows to understand the implications of an exogenous shock on the structure …

Beyond Local Food Consumption: The Impact Of Local Food Consumption Experience On Cultural Competence, Eudaimonia And Behavioral Intention, Bingna Lin, Saerom Wang, Xiaoxiao Fu, Xiaoli Yi

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the relationships among local food consumption experience, cultural competence, eudaimonia, and behavioral intention. Building upon acculturation theory, need hierarchy theory and self-determination theory, the current study develops a conceptual model of local food consumption as international tourists' acculturation process.

Design/methodology/approach: This study collects data from 305 Chinese outbound tourists and uses partial least squares-structural equation modeling to examine the developed model.

Findings: The findings reveal a significant effect of the local food consumption experience, consisting of novel, authentic, sensory and social dimensions, on cultural competence, which subsequently evokes eudaimonia and behavioral response toward local …