Business Commons^™

From The Last Frontier To The New Cosmopolitan A History Of Casino Public Relations In Las Vegas, Jessalynn Strauss

Occasional Papers

This research chronicles the history of public relations by the gaming industry in Las Vegas. Reflecting larger trends in the field, public relations efforts by the casinos and hotels in this popular tourist destination have used a variety of communication tactics over time to promote themselves to potential Las Vegas tourists. Based on archival materials from over 30 casinos and gaming corporations, this paper identifies four ways in which public relations is practiced in the gaming industry and four macro-level trends in the evolution of casino public relations in Las Vegas.

Communicating Ethics: Analysis Of Annual Letters To Stakeholders, Christopher Bryan

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This research examines how executives, leaders and managers communicate their sense of ethics. Literature from various disciplines is increasingly focusing on the strong ethical tone-at-the-top and strong ethical culture to prevent organizational wrongdoing. The literature suggests that leaders face unique challenges in communicating their ethics and that the communication of ethics is inhibited by a psychological bias and the work is grounded in the cultural communication theory of Geertz and Pacanowsky and the organizational culture work of Schein. The research focuses on CEO annual letters written to stakeholders. This form of communication is a high-profile channel of communication and written …

Negotiating Crisis In The New Media Environment: Evolution Of Crises Online, Gaining Legitimacy Offline, Augustine Pang, Nasrath Begam Abul Hassan, Aaron Chee Yang Chong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examines how crises originate online, how different new media platforms escalate crises, and how issues become legitimized offline when they transit onto mainstream media. We study five social media crises, which includes United breaks guitars and Southwest Air’s too fat to fly. Crises are triggered online when stakeholders are empowered by new media platforms that allow user-generated content to be posted online without any filtering. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter emerge as top crises breeding grounds due to their large user base and the lack of gatekeeping. Facebook and blogs are responsible for escalating crises beyond the immediate stakeholder …

Negotiating Crisis In The New Media Environment: Evolution Of Crises Online, Gaining Legitimacy Offline, Augustine Pang, Nasrath Begam Binte Abul Hassan, Aaron Chee Yang Chong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study examines how crises originate online, how different new media platforms escalate crises, and how issues become legitimized offline when they transit onto mainstream media. We study five social media crises, which includes United breaks guitars and Southwest Air’s too fat to fly. Crises are triggered online when stakeholders are empowered by new media platforms that allow user-generated content to be posted online without any filtering. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter emerge as top crises breeding grounds due to their large user base and the lack of gatekeeping. Facebook and blogs are responsible for escalating crises beyond the immediate stakeholder …

Repairing An Organization’S Image In Times Of Crises: What Strategies To Use When?, Augustine Pang, Benjamin Meng-Keng Ho, Nuraini Malik

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The image repair theory has been described as the “dominant paradigm for examining corporate communication in times of crises” (Dardis & Haigh, 2009, p. 101). While the theory, which posits five major strategies and 14 sub-strategies, has been applied extensively, a fundamental question remains: What strategies should be used when? Through meta-analysis of the image repair studies, we examine the persuasiveness/effectiveness in the use of different strategies. This study addresses the call by Haigh and Brubaker (2010) to conduct more studies to understand the use of strategies across different crisis types with a view to providing a template to equip …

Corporate Image Vacuum: Nature, Characteristics And Implications For The Organization, Noraizah Zainal Abidin, Augustine Pang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A good corporate image is important to organizations (Benoit & Pang, 2008). Even then, some organizations do not have one (Bernstein, 1984/1989; Walker, 2010). Arguably the first study to explicate the notion of corporate image vacuum through the development of the Corporate Image Grid Framework, this study examines how an image vacuum is generated and what organizations can do to fill it. The framework offers a systematic way of assessing an organization’s image to heighten practitioners’ awareness of image management of their organizations. Four organizations drawn from Fortune 2011 list of 50 most admired organizations are studied: Singapore Airlines, Google, …

Planning And Designing A Sustainable Volunteer Based Organization: The Putney Food Shelf, Annik Yvette Paul

Capstone Collection

There are many reasons why issues of food insecurity and hunger exist. Individuals, families, and households have various barriers to food security, often facing more than one at a time. Barriers include limited fixed incomes, minimum wage not equaling a livable wage, unemployment and underemployment, poverty, lack of personal transportation and/or access to public transportation, limited access to shopping areas (food deserts), and health and medical issues.

Considering the current statistics listed below, combined with the ever-increasing cost of food, more households will be struggling to meet their basic nutritional needs. Food insecurity and hunger is a problem faced by …

Being Critical In Marketing Studies: The Imperative Of Macro Perspectives, Nikhilesh Dholakia

College of Business Faculty Publications

In this article, I argue that an elevated macro-level perspective is imperative for conducting critical studies in the fields of marketing and consumer research. There are epistemic barriers to operating in this manner, and I offer several suggestions for overcoming these barriers. Finally, I review the research spaces for critical studies of marketing in various global settings and conclude that United Kingdom and Nordic Europe have the best epistemic climate, and this region needs to take leadership in promoting greater range of macro and critical studies of marketing in the rest of the world.

Metta, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Maybe I missed the memo. Perhaps I wasn’t paying close enough attention. Or somehow it wasn’t big enough news in London. Whatever the case may be, I was a startled when I read recently that someone named Metta World Peace was playing basketball in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers. I remember World B. Free of the NBA and He Hate Me of the XFL, but Metta World Peace was a new one.

Perceived Firm Transparency: Scale And Model Development, Jennifer Dapko

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the last few years alone, calls for transparency by consumers have grown louder. No longer are consumers willing to sit back and allow firms to make `closed door' decisions that benefit the company (and its executives) at the expense of consumers and society. This dissertation begins to answer the call for a greater understanding of transparency from both practitioner and academic perspectives. In particular, this dissertation focuses on systematically developing a succinct definition of perceived firm transparency, developing a valid measure of transparency, and empirically testing antecedents and consequences of transparency.

Two studies were conducted to develop the transparency …

Emosonet: An Emotion-Aware Social Network For Emotional Wellbeing, Zerrin Yumak-Kasap, Yu Chen, Pearl Pu

Faculty Publications, Information Systems & Technology

This paper presents our initial ideas towards developing an emotion-aware social network for the purpose of increasing emotional wellbeing. The framework will use sensors and behavior analysis methods in order to infer users’ stress level automatically with minimal user effort and use audio, animation and vibro-tactile feedback for enhanced engagement. Additionally, we will explore the role of social support, social influence and gamification for sustained behavior change.

Status: In A Relationship How Effective Is Customer Relationship Marketing On Facebook?, Courtney Weiss

Honors Projects in Marketing

Facebook provides an avenue for companies to connect with consumers in new ways. Since so many tools for communication are available on the site, it can be difficult for a company to focus its marketing efforts. This study examines how consumers respond to Facebook Advertisements and company pages on Facebook in order to determine where companies should allocate their resources on the social networking site. Specifically, it explores consumer click-through rates on Facebook Ads, as well as consumer perception of various Facebook promotional tools. The methodology includes traditional research in the form of a literature review, as well as focus …

The Growing Use Of Social Media In Political Campaigns: How To Use Facebook, Twitter And Youtube To Create An Effective Social Media Campaign, Kaitlin Vonderschmitt

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

A political campaign is carefully crafted for each candidate, to address their constituency and present the candidate and party in the best possible way. After the creation of the United States suffrage was limited to land owning white men, these men were involved in politics by reading local newspapers and visiting the politicians face to face. However as we fast forward to the 1930’s President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the radio to connect with the American public, and then in 1960’s Nixon and Kennedy’s debate introduced the mass-produced version of face-to-face politics through televisions all over the country we begin …

“Make Your Move, Choose Your Food”: A Healthy Lifestyles Empowerment Campaign, Michelle Child

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This thesis documents the campaign “Make Your Move. Choose Your Food.” This healthy lifestyles empowerment campaign was one of six conducted in Bowling Green, Kentucky during February 2012 for the Public Relations Student Society of America’s (PRSSA) 2011-2012 Bateman Case Study Competition through the public relations capstone courses Journalism 454 and 456. The objective of this campaign was to encourage children, teenagers, parents, educators and community organizations to improve their individual health and the health of the community. My team, consisting of four public relations seniors and myself, created three overall objectives grounded in research, planned strategies specific to our …

Eat More Chicken And Lead More People: Perceived Measures Of Servant Leadership At Chick-Fil-A, Michael Mishler

Masters Theses

This present study used survey data from 31 employees working at 2 Chick-fil-A locations to assess the supervisor's perceived level of supervisor's level of servant leadership and how the level (a) affects coworker's perceptions of performance, (b) job satisfaction, and (c) relational trust amongst coworkers. The participants ranged in ages from 18-50. The average age for the participants was 26. The data for the study was collected through the distribution of surveys to individuals who currently work at Chick-fil-A. The two selected locations were approximately 300 miles apart in Virginia. The study employed quantitative research methods in order to collect …

Deregulation Of Indian Telecommunication: An Analysis Of Customer Benefit, Jordan Johnson

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study investigates whether mobile customers were made better off following the deregulation of the Indian telecommunications industry. It will establish a link between industry deregulation and affordability and accessibility for customers. Results indicate that as a result of deregulation and increased FDI, customers saw decreased usage charges and greater cellphone coverage and accessibility. Also covered is a case study of the Brazilian telecommunications industry.

Late Night Television And Its Impact On The Music Industry Via Album Sales And Social Media, Matthew Robin

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Experiential learning has been a large part of my college experience. My work experiences have allowed me to understand the music industry in a very unique way. One experience was my semester in Los Angeles, where I worked at Jimmy Kimmel Live! It was there that I was able to see the influence that these shows could have on musical guests and vice versa. The late-night landscape is as booming as it ever has been, with many different outlets for talent. I wanted to demonstrate that the process of getting an artist on a late-night show is a very …

Towards Self-Emancipation In Ict For Development Research: Narratives About Respect, Traditional Leadership And Building Networks Of Friendships In Rural South Africa, Kirstin Krauss

The African Journal of Information Systems

In this paper, the author contends that if the outsider-researcher involved in Information and Communication Technology for Development really wants to make a difference and honestly address the emancipatory interests of the developing community, social transformation will have to occur on both sides of the “development divide.” This statement implies both an understanding of the researcher’s own ethnocentrism, prejudice, assumptions and inabilities as well as local concerns, needs, expectations and realities. Using critical social theory as a position of inquiry and learning from the enculturation phases of critical ethnographic fieldwork in a deep rural part of South Africa, the paper …

Sex And Stereotyping In Sin City: A Content Analysis Of Las Vegas Magazine Advertisements, Michelle Irene Aikin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There have been numerous studies regarding gender stereotyping, the objectification of women, and how sex is used to sell products and services. In a city that is notorious for "what happens here, stays here," it is important to be aware of Las Vegas cultural marketing trends and how they compare with society-wide values. Using sex excessively in advertisements may have a negative impact on the Las Vegas community and the shaping of a negative image of the city. How much sex appeal is used and the levels of sexuality in Las Vegas print advertisements has not yet been researched. A …

The Impact Of Celebrity Endorser Type And Source Credibility On The Advertising Attitudes And Purchase Intentions Of Indian Rural Consumers, Sidharth Muralidharan

Dissertations

India is among the fastest growing economies in the world and has the second largest population out of which 70% are considered rural. The rural consumer has witnessed a lifestyle shift wherein they have become brand conscious, consumption of media content has increased and a rising income has opened up possibilities never experienced before. Understanding the love for cinema, celebrity endorsement has become a popular marketing strategy being employed by advertisers in India. The purpose of this study was to find out which celebrity endorser type (national, regional or non-celebrity) was the most effective on rural consumer’s attitude toward the …

Out Of The Heart Springs The Communication Of Leadership, Jodi A. Kohut

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This study is based on the philosophical and biblical notions that words are a sacred gift from God and should be used with care. This study is concerned with how a leader uses these words in the organizational context. Edification is presented as a performative speech act by connecting its intention, “to build” to the rhetorical functions of the locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary acts. Using Sullivan’s (1988) foundation for extending these language functions to the organizational context, the author proposes that edifying language has functions across three dimensions: 1.) Perlocutionary, subordinate building properties 2.) Illocutionary, relationship building properties and 3.) …

Interpreter Roles And Transition For Public School Students Who Are Deaf: A Multiple Case Study, John Hinz

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative multiple case study research project examines interpreter use for students who are Deaf in the public school system and juxtaposes it with interpreter use found in the work sector after the school-to-work (STW) transition. Semi-structured interviews with 16 Deafness professionals and 6 study participants who are Deaf, as well as workplace observations yield bits of data which are coded and themed for review. Results confirm that interpreter use is abundant in public schools and scant in the work sector. Further results determine that STW placements for students who are Deaf can be haphazard, while employers are largely unaware …

Too Big Not To Fail: United States Corporate Media And The 2008 Financial Crisis, Justin Lars Bergh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates United States newspaper coverage of the 2008 financial crisis, with a particular focus on the debate that took place in press coverage surrounding the proposed 700 billion dollar Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Specifically, this study aims to understand how, when faced with a crisis that threatened hegemony, the state and economic elites, working in and through media, were able to effectively convince the subordinate classes to consent to state intervention aimed at perpetuating a financial system that has historically profited from the relative financial insecurity of the subordinate classes. In order to understand media's role in …

Summitt, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

From across the nation, from the world of basketball and the world of sport, the reaction to Pat Summitt relinquishing her position as head basketball coach at the University of Tennessee has been overwhelming in praise, admiration, and volume. Those who played for Summitt talked of the tremendous impact that she had on their lives, praising her as a coach and human being, often referring to her as a mother-figure. Those who knew her in other capacities talked about her strength in the face of adversity. This quality distinguished Pat Summitt throughout her career and not just in the past …

Adaptations To Technology And Its Effect On Communication And Cohesion In The Family Context, Vanessa Pratt

Undergraduate Research Conference

My research addresses different aspects of family life that have been know to be affected by technology. Researchers have established several empirically based frameworks to analyze the impact of technology on the family. These frameworks emphasize the areas of family cohesion, communication, adaptability, boundaries, and personal self-esteem.

Art And Space: Impacting The Workplace, Erin V. Mccool

Senior Honors Theses

Art in its various forms and applications has always been a part of the human experience. Art can be intrusive, thought provoking, or simply beautiful. Although art comes in many different styles and forms, art continues to capture our imagination. The purposes of this thesis are to discover how art affects human activity in the workplace as well as the qualities that make artwork in the workplace successful. Based on the findings of this study, artwork will be created for the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence at Liberty University in order to create a lively, creative environment. By …

Spring 2012 Issue Introduction: A New Publisher For Omj And An Issue Filled With Articles About Awareness And Change, William P. Ferris

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Adaptive Learning In Concept And Implementation, Steve Meisel

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Leadership, Complex Adaptive Systems, And Equivocality: The Role Of Managers In Emergent Change, Robert J. Blomme

Organization Management Journal

When managers are confronted with the necessity to change their organization owing to a turbulent and unpredictable environment, their change efforts are often not very successful. As managers are part of the change context itself, they have to act in a way that is different from the traditional role of the administrative leader to become successful change leaders. This article attempts to redefine organizational change using complexity theory and the work of Karl Weick and Ralph Stacey as a basis. Organizational change can be defined as emergent change in complex adaptive systems and is based on self-organizational principles. One important …

Leadership And Awareness As Key Issues In Information Security Management, Kees Boersma

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.