Business Commons^™

Bankruptcy As A Corporate Strategy : Implications For Turnover In The Top Management Team And Board Of Directors, Cynthia Lane Krom

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This paper examines Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a corporate strategy, segregating filings for corporate reorganization in the U.S. from 1998 through 2007 into those due to financial distress (FDB) and those believed to be for risk-management purposes (RMB). Twenty-seven RMB and 199 FDB firms were compared to each other, and to 226 matched non-bankrupt firms. Altman's Z-score clearly differed between the RMB and FDB firms, suggesting that the two are separate constructs financially as well as legally. A subset of 81 firms (the 27 RMB matched to 27 non-bankrupt and 27 FDB) were studied for turnover among the members of …

Organizational Ambidexterity And Synergistic Effects Of Plural Organizational Forms : A Search For Balance Between Standardization And Innovation, Jaeyoung Kang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation was motivated to answer the following questions: (1) Why are the plural organizational forms (company-owned units and franchised units) used in a chain, what is the effect of the plural organizational form on chain performance, and what factors influence the optimal combination of the plural organizational forms? Drawing on the organizational ambidexterity theory, I argue the plural organizational forms enable chains to maintain standardization across multiple units and facilitate innovation for the adaptation to changing environment simultaneously. Thus, the plural organizational forms can contribute to chain performance by reconciling and harnessing these conflicting demands. I suggest that there …

A Quantitative And Qualitative Analysis Identifying Antecedents Of Work Ethic Beliefs And The Relationship Between Work Ethic Beliefs And In-Role And Extra-Role Work Behavior : New Work Ethic Dimensions And Scale Introduced, Melissa Janine Mann

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study developed a comprehensive instrument for assessing contemporary work ethic and used the instrument to investigate antecedents of the formation of work ethic beliefs. In addition, the study investigated whether work ethic beliefs correlated with in-role and extra-role job performance. The study reviewed the literature on work ethic beginning with Weber's (1904-05) construal of the Protestant Work Ethic as the underpinning of early capitalism. The review traced the evolution of the Protestant Work Ethic construct to its contemporary, secular formulations. At issue is whether the dimensions of work ethic identified by Weber 100 years ago remain relevant for understanding …

The Development And Resulting Performance Impact Of Positive Psychological Capital, Fred Luthans, James B. Avey, Bruce J. Avolio, Suzanne Peterson

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Recently, theory and research have supported psychological capital (PsyCap) as an emerging core construct linked to positive outcomes at the individual and organizational level. However, to date, little attention has been given to PsyCap development through training interventions; nor have there been attempts to determine empirically if such PsyCap development has a causal impact on participants’ performance. To fill these gaps we first conducted a pilot test of the PsyCap intervention (PCI) model with a randomized control group design. Next, we conducted a follow-up study with a cross section of practicing managers to determine if following the training guidelines of …

Tiered Market Structures: An Empirical Examination Of Nasdaq, Kevin D. Broom

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two essays examining tiered market structures. We focus on the June 2006 restructuring of the NASDAQ Stock Exchange where the listing environment changed from two to three tiers, creating a top tier with the highest listing standards for any exchange in the world. The first essay examines market quality. Theoretical motivation indicates that different listing and disclosure requirements could result in different levels of information production across tiers, and thus different market quality characteristics. While we do find cross-sectional evidence of market quality differences, we do not find evidence of market quality changes when firms change …

Thomas Kuhn And Corporate Governance Research, William Q. Judge

Management Faculty Publications

Back in the dark ages (i.e., 1980s) when I was pursuing my doctoral degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I read Thomas Kuhn’s (1962) book on how science evolves over time. That book had a big influence on my thinking then, and it continues to influence me. Indeed, that book seems especially pertinent to this particular issue for reasons which I will explain later on in this essay.

The Payoffs Of Championing 'Tough Issues' In The Executive Suite; Why Corporations Need To Nurture Quixotic Champions, Nancy E. Mcinerney-Lacombe

Student Scholarship

When tough issues, defined as those issues that remain uncomfortably unspoken, are “championed” in the executive suite, who does it and with what results? More than 400 senior corporate executives ─ roughly half of them women ─ were surveyed to shed light on this phenomenon – where one person in a group is prepared to break the silence on a compelling –albeit uncomfortable – issue to engage their peers who would prefer to avoid both them and the issue. Our work builds on – but is distinguished from – limited and narrowly scoped previous studies on championing. We studied the …

Genuine Remorse, David J. Cherrington

Faculty Publications

The development of moral character occurs when we realize that we have done something wrong and we resolve to do better. However, this is not what we typically do. The natural tendency is to rationalize our misdeeds and justify what we have done wrong, which allows us to possess a certain sense of emotional comfort.

An Experimental Study Of The Impact Of Psychological Capital On Performance, Engagement, And The Contagion Effect, Timothy Daniel Hodges

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Psychological Capital, or PsyCap, is a core construct consisting of the positive psychological resources of efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience. Previous research has consistently linked PsyCap to workplace outcomes including employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Further research has explored the ways in which PsyCap can be developed through relatively brief workplace interventions. The present study focuses on PsyCap development and the relationship to employee engagement and performance. In an experimental design with random assignment of subjects to control group (n = 52 managers and 152 associates) and treatment group (n = 58 managers and 239 employees), a field sample of …

Electronic Tendering: Recognising A More Effective Use Of Information Communications Technology In The Irish Construction Industry, Larry O'Connell

Masters

When undertaking a traditional tender in Ireland, computer applications are heavily relied upon. Documents, from drawings to Bills of Quantities, are created with an array of computer applications. These documents are subsequently exchanged from surveying firms to a number of main contractors and, additionally, from the main contractors to subcontractors. However, even though the documents have originated in an electronic
form, the majority of the documents are communicated in a paper format. Therefore, with each new communication between the parties more paperwork is created. This system of communication is inefficient and process gains can be made through the utilization of …

Reflecting On Experience For Leadership Development, Adrian Chan

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study proposes that being reflective or ruminative about one's leadership experience can have differential effects on one's leadership efficacy, implicit leadership theories and psychological capital. Specifically, through the aid of an event history calendar, conscript military trainees of high and low military experience from a SE Asian military organization were randomly assigned to recall and reflect or ruminate on his past leadership experience. Results show that type of reflection interacts with level of military leadership experience to differentially affect one's leadership efficacy, implicit leadership theories and leadership self-awareness. Reflection triggers produced significantly higher levels of implicit leadership theories under …

Development Of An Occupational Embeddedness Measure, Gary A. Adams, Jennica R. Webster, Danelle M. Buyarski

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a measure of occupational embeddedness.

Design/methodology/approach

The construct of occupational embeddedness was defined in terms of the forces that bind people to their occupation. Then a four-part study was conducted to develop a measure of it.

Findings

In Part 1, items were developed and judgmental evidence for their content validity was generated. In Part 2 the initial psychometric characteristics were examined. The results supported the internal consistency reliability and factor structure of the measure. In Part 3, Part 2 was replicated and showed that occupational embeddedness had a negative relationship to …

Up, Up, And Away: The Dynamics Of Innovation In The Us Air Cargo Transportation Industry, Janet K. Tinoco, Ryan Johnson

Management, Marketing and Operations - Daytona Beach

In 1978 the United States (US) Congress passed the Airline Deregulation Act, allowing all-cargo airlines to compete in an industry that was heretofore highly regulated and stagnant. As companies came and went, successful carriers realized that innovation was necessary to survive. This study analyzes the dynamics of innovation over the industry’s life cycle using intellectual property (IP) data. Results indicate that despite having the characteristics of a commodity, the industry follows a reverse life cycle. Furthermore, FedEx and United Parcel Service (UPS) hold the highest levels of innovation while dominating the market, signifying that innovation should be integrated into the …

An Analysis Of Reasonableness Models For Research Assessments, William D. Kight

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Individuals who screen research grant applications often select candidates on the basis of a few key parameters; success or failure can be reduced to a series of peer-reviewed Likert scores on as little as four criteria: risk, relevance, return, and reasonableness. Despite the vital impact these assessments have upon the sponsors, researchers, and society in general as a benefactor of the research, there is little empirical research into the peer-review process. The purpose of this study was to investigate how reviewers evaluate reasonableness and how the process can be modeled in a decision support system. The research questions both address …

Achieving High Organization Performance Through Servant Leadership, David E. Melchar, Susan M. Bosco

Business Faculty Publications

This empirical paper investigates whether a servant leader can develop a corporate culture that attracts or develops other servant leaders. Using the survey developed by Barbuto and Wheeler (2006), servant leader characteristics in managers were measured at three high-performing organizations. Results indicate that servant leaders can develop a culture of followers who are servant leaders themselves. This is one of the few studies to empirically test the model of servant leadership in an organizational environment. The success these servant leaders have achieved in a for-profit, demanding environment suggests this leadership style is viable for adoption by other firms.

The Study Of Antecedents Of Customer Loyalty Towards Established Mobile Service Providers In Malaysia., Nicole Yap Chen Yan

Student Works (2010-2019)

Despite the high churn rates, the Malaysian telecommunications industry is growing. However, the lack of customer focus in this market has yielded one of the worst customer loyalty levels. The competitiveness of the domestic market has been further intensified with the implementation of mobile network portability (MNP), which has further complicated the issue of customer loyalty, as research has shown that better deals and low switching costs means that satisfied consumers never mind changing service provider. This shows that satisfaction no longer ensures loyalty (Grabowich & Guy, 2007). The purpose of this research is to identify the major antecedents that …

The Relationship Between Competitive Balance And Revenue In America's Two Largest Sports Leagues, Matt D. Pautler

CMC Senior Theses

This paper looks at the impact that competitive balance has on team revenues. The hypothesis that this paper is operating under is that higher levels of competitive balance will lead to higher levels of revenue. Two different measures of competitive balance will be used and regressions will be run to investigate whether high levels of the competitive balance measure are associated with high levels of revenue. The results of the data indicated that over all three time horizons (ten year, five year, and two year), high levels of variability in playoff appearances were associated with high revenue for Major League …

Impact Of Microfinance On Socioeconomic Status Of The Poor: The Case Of Malawi, William J. Oliver

Student Scholarship

Over the past 30 years, microfinance (MF) has grown to a $30 billion industry involving over 3,000 organizations. Half of these microfinance institutions, however, have nothing more than anecdotal stories about the impact of MF on poverty. The connection between MF and poverty eradication is far from resolved. This paper addresses an ongoing debate by drawing upon two bodies of literature: poverty eradication and microfinance measurement. It articulates a causal model of the effects of MF on poverty that is unique in three regards. First, it measures the effect on socioeconomic status (SES) using for the first time a reflective …

Boundary Crossings: Professional And Situational Influences On Nonprofit Leaders And Their Organizations, Antoinette E. La Belle

Student Scholarship

A leadership crisis in the nonprofit sector looms. "Crossovers" from the corporate sector present an alternative source of CEO talent but a dearth of empirical research about boundary crossing has limited our understanding about the effects of leader origin on organizational performance. We surveyed 631 leaders who had crossed one to three boundaries--sector, organization and/or position--into top U.S. nonprofit jobs. Analysis of 18 combinations of leader experience including sector path, recent origin and role shift revealed--regardless of boundary--striking similarities rather than stark differences in how nonprofit CEOs lead. The effects of leaders' sector experience and diversity of experience on behavioral …

Boundary Crossings: Professional And Situational Influences On Nonprofit Leaders And Their Organizations, Antoinette E. La Belle

Student Scholarship

A leadership crisis in the nonprofit sector looms. "Crossovers" from the corporate sector present an alternative source of CEO talent but a dearth of empirical research about boundary crossing has limited our understanding about the effects of leader origin on organizational performance. We surveyed 631 leaders who had crossed one to three boundaries--sector, organization and/or position--into top U.S. nonprofit jobs. Analysis of 18 combinations of leader experience including sector path, recent origin and role shift revealed--regardless of boundary--striking similarities rather than stark differences in how nonprofit CEOs lead. The effects of leaders' sector experience and diversity of experience on behavioral …

Causal Ambiguity And Its Impacts On Firm Performance, Richard I. Araya

Student Scholarship

Dynamic capabilities and associated shifts in learning make firm's capabilities hard to imitate, and are critical in achieving sustainable competitive advantage. Consequently, strategic management literature has recognized that the presence of causal ambiguity plays a pivotal role in generating inter-firm differences in obtained rents. At the same time, causal ambiguity may hamper internal diffusion of capabilities within the firm negatively affecting its performance (Szulanki, 1996). Overall, the relationship between dynamic capabilities, causal ambiguity and firm performance has remained poorly understood. In this study, we seek to address this gap by developing a causal model that depicts how management perceptions of …

Causal Ambiguity And Its Impacts On Firm Performance, Richard I. Araya

Student Scholarship

Dynamic capabilities and associated shifts in learning make firm's capabilities hard to imitate, and are critical in achieving sustainable competitive advantage. Consequently, strategic management literature has recognized that the presence of causal ambiguity plays a pivotal role in generating inter-firm differences in obtained rents. At the same time, causal ambiguity may hamper internal diffusion of capabilities within the firm negatively affecting its performance (Szulanki, 1996). Overall, the relationship between dynamic capabilities, causal ambiguity and firm performance has remained poorly understood. In this study, we seek to address this gap by developing a causal model that depicts how management perceptions of …

Influence Of Continuous Improvement (Ci) On Job Satisfaction., Ong Chee Wei

Student Works (2010-2019)

The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of Continuous Improvement (CI) on job satisfaction in Malaysia industry. Based on previous studies, it was anticipated that overall job satisfaction would be higher for employees who are working in companies that implementing Continuous Improvement practices and lower for employees who are working in companies that not implementing Continuous Improvement practices. The instrument of Continuous Improvement was adapted from Culp (1992), Limon (1993) and Ying (2000). In the mean time, employee’s job satisfaction was measured based on Job Satisfaction Survey (Spector, 1985). The collected data was tested with descriptive statistic …

A Study On The Determining Factors Of Operational Efficiencies Derived From Outsourcing : Malaysia As An Attractive Hub., Anbalagi Andy, Jesrina Ann Xavier, Lee Siew Yoong

Student Works (2010-2019)

Outsourcing had undergone a massive evolution since 1970s and has changed the way businesses operate in the global market place. Offshore outsourcing, in particular, has become a viable strategic venture and is no longer an exception but rather it is a norm in today’s economy. Many businesses are able to gain various operational efficiencies by embarking into strategic outsourcing initiatives although existing literatures have proven that there are also significant risks associated with this type of venture. It is interesting to note that not all outsourcing efforts have provided positive results for organizations nor proved fruitful. Nevertheless offshore outsourcing has …

Retaining Talent : An Empirical Study Of Multi-Routes Model Of Job Coupling And Withdraw Tendency Among Chinese Mba Candidates., Zheng Weibo

Student Works (2010-2019)

Intellectual property and intellectual capital have become critical components of wealth creation. "Knowledge has become the pre-eminent economic resource, more important than raw material, more important, often, than money. Considered as an economic output, information and knowledge are more important than automobiles, oil, steel or any of the products of the industrial era‖ (Stewart, 2002). As the "carrier" of the talent of organizations become more significant than ever. Those employees with higher organizational performance characteristics are often entitled "core" or "talent" for their key networking status in creating organizational intelligent capital values. They can also be in fierce competition with …

Fungsi Majlis Penasihat Syariah Dalam Amalan Perbankan Islam Di Malaysia : Kajian Terhadap Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad Dan Rhb Islamic Bank Berhad., Ahmad Faizol Ismail

Student Works (2010-2019)

The Syariah Advisory Council (SAC) is an advisory board established to provide an Islamic views on products offered by the banks. SAC supports these banks by ensuring that products and services provided are complied with the Islamic Law. The SAC has an important functions related to the Islamic mucamalat tenets. These functions include two aspects which are the aspect of Islamic legal setting or fatwa, and aspect of field monitoring on the implementation and application of fatwa that have been enforced. These aspects are rules by special committee, the committee for fatwa and research and the committee of implementation and …

Preface To Special Issue: Environmental Sustainability And Business, Elizabeth Walker, Janice Redmond, Margaret Giles

Research outputs pre 2011

The issue of environmental sustainability and the need to address the collective environmental impact of business is discussed. In particular, the need to engage small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in environmental management is highlighted. The papers presented in the Special Issue of 'The International Journal of Business Studies' are dicussed.

Faktor-Faktor Yang Mempengaruhi Permintaan Harta Tanah Kediaman Di Malaysia., Rohayu Abdul Majid

Student Works (2010-2019)

Consistent with their nature as the most popular housing type in Malaysia, ten-ace houses record the highest sales and continue to dominate developers' interest in future housing development. At the same time, this particular housing type ranks high on the overhang with the highest number in unsold units to record. Ironically, there exist a significant proportion of medium income people who do not own a housing unit. The main objective of this study is to identify the factors that influence housing demand. Through the determination of components and elements, housing demand model was developed for the prediction of the total …

Stakeholder Theory: The State Of The Art, Bidhan L. Parmar, R. Edward Freeman, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Et Al.

Management Faculty Publications

A variety of forces are changing the way managers and executives make sense of their responsibilities. Globalization has brought a larger variety of participants into contemporary businesses, technological innovation has increased the pace of change, and managers are discovering that their actions have the potential to affect a broader range of people all over the globe (Clement, 2005). Additionally, the pursuit of corporate objectives can be easily disrupted by the actions of unexpected groups. These challenges, driven by change and interconnectedness, reveal a need for managers and academics to re-think the traditional ways of conceptualizing the responsibilities of the firm. …

Managing For Stakeholders, Stakeholder Utility Functions, And Competitive Advantage, Jeffrey S. Harrison, Douglas A. Bosse, Robert A. Phillips

Management Faculty Publications

A firm that manages for stakeholders allocates more resources to satisfying the needs and demands of its legitimate stakeholders than what is necessary to simply retain their willful participation in the productive activities of the firm. Firms that exhibit this sort of behavior develop trusting relationships with stakeholders based on principles of distributional, procedural and interactional justice. Under these conditions, stakeholders are more likely to share nuanced information regarding their utility functions, which increases the ability of the firm to allocate its resources to areas that will best satisfy them (thus increasing demand for business transactions with the firm). In …