Digital Commons Network^™

Essays On Environmental, Social, And Governance Strategy, Samuel Kim

Olin Business School Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The strategic consequences of an organization's Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) efforts are driven largely by the specific information stakeholders observe and evaluate. As firms project a growing volume of public claims and observable social outcomes, stakeholders must navigate a complex informational environment to decide how much weight to assign to what organizations say, what they do, and whether their words are consistent with their actions. Clarifying how stakeholders interpret these varied signals is therefore vital to understanding the strategic implications of ESG efforts. To that end, this dissertation asks: how are different pieces of organizational information related to stakeholder …

Who Bears The Burden: Tax Incidence And Water Governance In The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (Mrgcd) Within Bernalillo County, Michael W. Wilson

Economics ETDs

This study examines how property-value-based assessments within a large western irrigation and flood-control district distribute fiscal burdens across property owners. The empirical analysis is restricted to Bernalillo County within the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD), using parcel-level administrative data from fiscal year 2025 merged with 2021 irrigation service records and geospatial information. The analysis classifies 34,397 parcels by irrigation status, agricultural valuation enrollment, and primary use to evaluate whether non-irrigating residential and commercial parcels, including renter-occupied properties that lack direct irrigation access, bear a disproportionate share of financial responsibility for a district whose first listed priority under their primary …

“It’S Its Own Toxic”: Occupational Opportunities And Barriers For Lgbq+ Collegiate Athletic Administrators, Colleen S. O'Connell, Michelle E. Moosbrugger, Jill Kochanek, Elizabeth M. Mullin

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Athletic administrators hold positions of influence within intercollegiate sport, yet their experiences, especially in relation to sexual identity, remain underexamined. The purpose of this study was to explore the occupational experiences and environments of LGBQ+ intercollegiate athletic administrators using a narrative inquiry qualitative design. Sixteen administrators, who occupied various positions across all NCAA levels, were interviewed. Guided by Sexual Stigma and Prejudice Theory and Poststructuralism Theory, collected data were analyzed at the semantic and latent levels using reflexive thematic analysis. Two distinct themes were generated: LGBQ+ administrators described both positive and negative aspects of their workplaces. Inclusive environments were committed …

Gig Workers' Identity Construction In Pakistan's Platform Economy, Zubair Ahmed Pirzada, Shoukat Ali Mahar, Muhammad Haneef Gambhir

Business Review

The rapid expansion of Pakistan’s platform economy has introduced digitally mediated labor arrangements that fundamentally restructure occupational identities and the meanings workers attach to their work. Based on constructivist grounded theory, this study delves into the process of gig workers' self-negotiated and self-built occupational identities in the gig economy in the city of Karachi in Pakistan. Through in-depth interviews with 43 platform workers in Karachi (25 ride-sharing drivers and 18 food delivery riders), the analysis produced the Adaptive Identity Construction Framework, theorizing identity construction as a simultaneous process across temporal, algorithmic, and sociocultural dimensions. Four types of identity were formed: …

The Tragedy Of The Cognitive Commons: How Ai Could Disrupt The Regeneration Of Professional Expertise, Nolan C. Lovett

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Artificial intelligence is reshaping cognitive work, but Human Resource Development scholarship has treated this transformation as an organizational training challenge, leaving the collective regeneration of professional expertise unexamined. This conceptual paper introduces the Cognitive Commons framework, integrating commons theory, HRD scholarship, and distributed cognition to explain how rational AI adoption decisions can deplete the shared expertise pool professions require for renewal. The framework distinguishes Internalized Mastery (deep domain knowledge from sustained practice) from Distributed Mastery (orchestrating human-AI systems), and develops the Validation Tether: effective AI oversight depends on the expertise AI adoption may undermine. Early labor market and clinical evidence …

Performance, Pressure, And Prescription: A Qualitative Investigation Of Maladaptive Coping In Collegiate Cheerleading, Chris Corr, Taylor Behl

Journal of Athlete Development and Experience

While cheerleading is a staple among athletics competition in the United States, cheerleading has perennially struggled to achieve legitimacy as a competitive and rigorous sport. However, cheerleaders experience similar stressors to those of their athlete peers. In addition, cheerleaders occupy unique and distinct stressors pertaining to expectations for appearance and behavior. While extant research has examined maladaptive coping mechanisms among competing athletes, the distinct pressures and stressors associated with cheerleading may be associated with unique engagement in maladaptive coping. Accordingly, the present study sought to examine the prevalence and propensity of maladaptive coping behaviors among a sample of current and …

An Introduction To The China Land Sales Data Set: The Universe Of Land-Use-Right Transfers In China 2000-2022, Yilin Hou, Lin Li, Qiang Ren

Center for Policy Research

The China Land Sales Data Set (2000-2022) includes the universe of land-use-right sales in China in the first 23 years of the 21st century, a period of the fastest mass urbanization and intense infrastructure construction in China’s history, that accompanied the rapid growth of China’s economy and household income. For this reason, this data set carries substance in many ways for anyone who needs to understand the occurrences in China of that period. The phrase “land sale” refers to the transfer of land-use right from the state as the sole owner of urban land to any individual, firm or entity …

Entrepreneurship Ecosystems, Desire, And Convergence, Kyle Scott

Journal of Business & Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship ecosystem research explains convergence through mechanisms such as informational cascades, institutional isomorphism, herding, clustering, and knowledge spillovers. While these perspectives account for how convergence occurs, they provide a more limited explanation of why entrepreneurs, investors, and other ecosystem participants come to pursue the same ventures, industries, and measures of success. This paper argues that convergence reflects the social mediation of desire. Drawing on René Girard's theory of mimetic desire, it develops a conceptual framework explaining how entrepreneurial desire becomes aligned within shared evaluative environments. The paper advances three propositions. First, ecosystems characterized by evaluative monism are more likely to …

Banks' Conservative Lending Since Covid-19: The Effect On Trading Rates, Daniella Puig

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation investigated how bank’s conservative lending during the COVID-19 global pandemic affected trading rates, examined through a constructivist lens and established with a flexible, mixed-methods design. Rather than addressing bank behavior and market pricing in a mechanical way, this study contextualizes mortgage lending conservatism as a response to uncertainty derived from a socially constructed interpretation of risk, the financial narrative at the time, and regulatory policy. Using qualitative interviews with mortgage lenders, combined with a quantitative analysis of survey data, this research explores mortgage lending decision- making during the crisis. The flexible design enables the use of both qualitative …

Deviant By Design: How Institutional Forces And Analyst Scrutiny Shape Financial Policy Deviance And Convergence, Jonathan W. Hensley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

This dissertation explores the institutional and economic forces shaping corporate financial policy, specifically examining why firms deviate from industry-typical leverage and cash holdings, whether they converge toward these norms, and the performance implications of such trajectories. I develop a framework, rooted in institutional theory and dynamic capital structure literature, that characterizes firms with extreme, multi-year financial policies as "deviant by design." While managers might maintain non-normative leverage or cash positions for firm-specific efficiency gains, these choices often clash with established industry templates, leading to legitimacy costs and institutional pressure for conformity.

Using a longitudinal panel of U.S. public firms from …

Cybersecurity Governance And Bank Performance In Tunisia: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Iso/Iec 27001 Certification, Asma Redissi

Arab Economic and Business Journal

This study contributes novel difference-in-differences evidence on ISO/IEC 27001 certification and bank performance in an emerging market. Using a sequential mixed-methods design combining CISO interviews and panel data from twelve Tunisian banks (2016-2023), we document a cybersecurity performance paradox: certification is operationally indispensable yet financially invisible in the short run. The DiD coefficient is non-significant for profitability (ROE: β = +0.0046, p = 0.827), while a significant delayed revenue effect emerges post-certification (NBI: β = +0.123, p = 0.036). Institutional voids and low stakeholder cyber-literacy may weaken the signaling mechanism, suggesting mandatory certification frameworks in emerging banking markets.

How Does An Advanced Educator Utilize Digital Language Teaching And Learning By Integrating Linguistic, Cultural, And Business Life Perspectives?, Hely Westerholm, Pirjo Takanen-Körperich, Ph.D.

International Journal for Business Education

This paper explores advanced educators’ digital working capabilities in online language teaching, with a particular focus on sharing Finnish language and culture in a foreign context. Cultural and linguistic knowledge play a significant role in enhancing students’ motivation to study foreign languages. In today’s educational environment, digitalisation and globalisation exert an increasing influence on foreign language teaching and learning.

The digital learning environment has brought about a paradigm shift in foreign language didactics. Digital language learning is both challenging and holistic in nature. Continued foreign language learning is simultaneously an individual and a social process, as digital learning cultures impose …

Aviation Disruptions And Tourism Resilience: Policy Lessons From The Indigo 2025 Crisis For India’S Hospitality Tourism Sector, Ann Mary Varghese, Vijaya Zinnoury

ICHRIE Research Reports

The December 2025 IndiGo flight disruption crisis, characterized by widespread cancellations, delays, and capacity constraints, significantly impacted India’s tourism and hospitality sectors during peak travel periods. This research report examines the cascading effects of aviation instability on tourism demand, hotel occupancy, pricing dynamics, and regional economies. Drawing on secondary data from industry reports, news coverage, and policy analyses, the study identifies systemic vulnerabilities in India’s aviation–tourism nexus. Findings indicate that flight disruptions led to large-scale hotel cancellations, revenue losses, and demand volatility, particularly in destination-dependent regions in India such as Darjeeling, Rajasthan, and Uttarakhand. The report further evaluates industry responses, …

Tourism System Fragility: Evidence From The Middle East War, Ann Mary Varghese, Vijaya Zinnoury

ICHRIE Research Reports

The ongoing Middle East conflict (2026) has triggered one of the most significant global aviation disruptions since the COVID-19 pandemic, with widespread airspace closures, flight cancellations, rerouting, and fuel cost escalation affecting airlines worldwide. This research report examines how conflict-driven aviation instability has impacted tourism demand, hospitality performance, and destination economies.

Drawing on real-time global evidence, the study finds that the closure of critical air corridors across the Middle East, which handle approximately 15% of global air traffic, led to thousands of daily flight cancellations, mass rerouting, and substantial cost increases for airlines. These disruptions propagated across tourism systems, reducing …

Beyond Sticky Floors: Executive Gender Diversity And Firm-Level Gender Pay Inequality In Uk Firms, Yasser Eliwa, Sally Ahmed, Ahmed Saleh

All Works

This study examines whether executive gender diversity is associated with gender pay inequality in UK firms. Although prior research has extensively examined board diversity, less is known about whether gender diversity within executive leadership teams is linked to differences in pay inequality across firms. Using a panel of FTSE 350 non-financial firms from 2017 to 2023 and mandatory UK gender pay gap disclosures, we estimate regression models to examine the relationship between the proportion of female executives and the gender pay gap. The findings show that greater executive gender diversity is significantly associated with lower gender pay inequality. In contrast, …

Cybersecurity Governance Of Industrial Iot In Sub-Saharan Africa: Policy Gaps, Threat Landscape, And Lessons From Comparative African Contexts, Faztudo Languisse Eng.

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The rapid deployment of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) systems across Sub-Saharan Africa's extractive, energy, logistics, and agro-industrial sectors has introduced a cybersecurity challenge of growing urgency: industrial networks that were designed for operational efficiency are increasingly exposed to cyber threats for which neither the organizations nor the regulatory frameworks are adequately prepared. This article examines the cybersecurity governance of IIoT systems in a developing African economy, using Mozambique as a primary case study and drawing comparative lessons from South Africa, Rwanda, and Kenya. Through an integrative literature review and documentary analysis of national digital, cybersecurity, and industrial policies, the …

The Strategic Role Of Frontline Sales Personnel In Semiconductor Manufacturing Markets, Daisuke Yahiro

Jesselton Journal of Educators and Scholars

This study examines the strategic role of frontline sales personnel within semiconductor manufacturing environments characterized by technological volatility, operational interdependence, and evolving customer demands. Drawing upon emergent strategy, strategy-as-practice, and organizational sensemaking perspectives, the study explores how frontline personnel contribute to organizational responsiveness and strategy formation beyond conventional execution-oriented roles. A qualitative interpretive research design grounded in pragmatism and symbolic interactionism was adopted. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews involving 12 participants engaged in semiconductor manufacturing sales, customer coordination, and managerial activities in Japan. The findings reveal that frontline personnel function as strategically embedded organizational actors who contribute to operational …

Nil And Contract Law: Advising A Prospective College Athlete Through Competing Name, Image, And Likeness Agreements, Jason Kight, Marcy Faircloth, Lori Mikl, Rachel Silverman

The COSMA Journal

Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) agreements have created significant financial opportunities for amateur and collegiate athletes while also introducing complex legal, ethical, and strategic decision-making challenges. This decision-focused teaching case places students in the role of trusted advisors to Archie Stafford, a highly recruited high school athlete who must evaluate and compare multiple NIL contract offers connected to his preferred college options. By analyzing NIL agreements, students assess contract enforceability, identify key legal and business risks, weigh legal, contractual, ethical, and reputational disclosure obligations, and formulate a reasoned recommendation aligned with Archie’s academic, athletic, financial, and long-term career goals. The …

The Specifics Of Green Mortgages: A Case Study Of Poland, Mateusz Tomal, Ewa Gorlecka-Łabiak

Journal of Banking and Financial Economics

The green mortgage market in Poland has received limited research attention. Therefore, this article aims to present the specifics of the green mortgage market in Poland. To thoroughly investigate the issue, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 banking sector representatives, each with varying experience and professional roles. The study’s findings revealed that there is no formal definition of green mortgages, which hinders both banks and their customers. Currently, green mortgages are rarely granted due to their limited economic benefit to borrowers and the small number of residential properties that qualify. For banks, green mortgages present an opportunity to expand their …

Signal And Substance: Why Methodological Sophistication Fails To Guarantee Inference, Aamir Rashid, Rizwana Rasheed

Publications and Research

Despite increasing analytical sophistication, empirical research in organization studies continues to suffer from fragile inference, uneven theoretical accumulation, and contested credibility. This paper seeks to explain why these problems persist by shifting attention from authors’ methodological choices to the evaluative dynamics of peer review. Adopting a conceptual and theory-analytic approach, the paper theorizes peer review as an inferential gatekeeping system. Drawing on research design, theory evaluation, and philosophy-of-science literatures, this study develops an analytical framework to examine how evaluative routines shape what constitutes empirical rigor during the review process. The analysis identifies five recurring reviewer blind spots: inferential scope inflation, …

Can Ungrading Make Sport Management Education More Practical And Engaging?, Michael A. Odio

The COSMA Journal

In this essay I take on the subject of grades in sport management education. While grades are used as a measure of success across higher education, they are an imperfect measure of achievement and learning and have major limitations in terms of student employability. The ungrading movement brings attention to the ways grades can harm learning by shifting attention away from students’ development, and instructor or peer feedback, and intrinsic motivation, while incentivizing compliance and risk-aversion. These harms directly affect what are arguably some of the most important aspects of sport management education, as when grades are the main incentive, …

A Person For All Seasons: The Remarkable Leadership Of Mother Cabrini And Why It Matters Today, Emilio F. Iodice

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

The history of organizational management is often written in the bold, sweeping strokes of industrial barons or the calculated maneuvers of political statesmen. Yet at the turn of the twentieth century, one of the most sophisticated examples of global institutional scaling was orchestrated by a woman who stood barely five feet tall, held no formal political title, and suffered from debilitating physical frailty. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850–1917) did not merely practice charity; she engineered a global revolution of care. Over a twenty-eight-year executive career, she founded sixty-seven schools, orphanages, and hospitals across three continents, thereby transforming the social landscape of …

The Ethical Shadow: A Jungian Inquiry Into The Paradoxes Of Authentic Leadership, S. Eissa Hashemi

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

This paper examines the “authenticity paradox” in leadership through the lens of Jungian psychology, moving beyond traditional behavioral frameworks to explore the depth of the leader’s psyche. Drawing on Shaw’s (2023) pillars of authenticity — self, followers, and context — the study investigates how leaders navigate conflicting existential and relational demands. By utilizing the concept of individuation, the paper analyzes the tension between the “unified self” and the “fluid self,” particularly as it relates to Mostafa Malekian’s (2021) five dimensions of self-alignment. The research highlights a “central clash” within the cultural context, where collective archetypes and cultural complexes impose idealized …

The Philosophical Aspect Of Spirituality And Entrepreneurial Leadership In The Indian Knowledge System, Nidhi Kaushal

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

Entrepreneurs have an obligation to conserve their literature, art, and culture in any format because it helps to fortify their cultural heritage and memories. In the context of entrepreneurship, a useful and insightful examination of the ancient Indian knowledge framework has proposed the growth of culture-based enterprises, which reflects the magnificent integration of human values with traditional wisdom-based work ethics. The nature of today's modern entrepreneurship is an adjusted specification based on innovative context, which is different from the ancient fundamental policies and practices. This study introduces cultural entrepreneurship and its originality through the traditional and indigenous art and skill …

Moral Identity, Joseph P. Hester

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

Foundationally, our communal awareness offers a complexity of meaning, but don’t be deterred, it also provides an avenue for understanding ethics, suggesting a definition of “humanity” as “community.”

Ethics: The Connective Tissue Of Human Life, Joseph P. Hester

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

America needs to take a deep breath and reconsider the purposes of democracy, but more, infuse some modicum of commonsense into political decision-making. How many unnecessary wars and homeland killings must we endure and how many lies must we listen to as Trump filibusters his way onto the world’s stage? Seeking lucidity in Trump’s actions may be a stretch and even many of his supporters are asking for explanations, values’ consistency, and Constitutional clarity. I could go on, but this comment sets the tone for this editorial comment.

Summer/Fall 2026

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

No abstract provided.

Socio-Demographic Correlates Of Consumers’ Readiness To Use Ai In Financial Decision-Making, Michał Buszko, Tomasz Szopiński

Journal of Banking and Financial Economics

This study investigates the socio-demographic factors associated with readiness to use AI-driven tools in financial decision-making. It uses data from a representative survey of Poles and conceptualises an AI readiness index. It then estimates the relationships between socio-demographic characteristics and this index using an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression model. Additionally, robustness checks are conducted with heteroskedasticityrobust standard errors and multiple imputation. The OLS results were supplemented by one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with Tukey’s Honestly Significant Difference (HSD) post hoc tests to identify groups’ differences. The results demonstrate that gender, age, education, and income are significantly associated with consumers’ …

Sales Innovativeness Climate And B2b Salesperson Performance: The Roles Of Persistence, Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy And Creative Selling, John Charles Peter Edwards, Steven Peter D'Alessandro, Morgan Miles

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose: Persistence is widely viewed as essential for success in business to business (B2B) selling, yet it remains unclear how persistence translates into higher sales performance when selling requires experimentation and novel customer solutions. This study examines whether a perceived sales innovativeness climate enables persistence and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and, in turn, creative selling, driving B2B sales performance.

Design/methodology/approach: An online survey of 346 US-based B2B salespeople was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

Findings: The perceived sales-innovativeness climate is positively associated with ESE, persistence, and sales performance. Persistence is positively related to sales performance and ESE, …

Transformative Phygital Service Research (Tpsr): An Agenda For Future Research, Saadia Shabnam, Sanjit K. Roy, Yonathan Silvain Roten, Gaganpreet Singh, Taewon Suh, Hairong Li

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose – This paper aims to develop a transformative phygital service research (TPSR) framework to explain how hybrid physical-digital service systems shape consumer well-being, autonomy, dignity and inclusion. While prior phygital service research (PSR) advances understanding of hybrid experiences and human-centred ecosystems, key ambiguities persist around agency, governance and interpretive labour in algorithmically mediated interactions. Existing frameworks address value co-creation but lack clarity on how digitally enforced rules and redistributed labour drive transformation. TPSR addresses this gap by theorising contradiction-driven processes through which human–AI arrangements and socio-technical dynamics produce both empowering and erosive outcomes in phygital service environments. Design/methodology/approach – …