Business Commons^™

Why Might A Video Game Developer Join A Union?, Johanna Weststar, Marie-Josee Legault

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

This paper contributes to the union renewal literature by examining the union voting propensity of workers in the high-tech tertiary sector of videogame development toward different forms of unionization. We used exclusive data from a survey of videogame developers (VGD) working primarily in Anglo-Saxon countries. When looking at the factors related to voting propensity, our data indicated that the type of unionism matters and that industry/sectoral unionism is an increasingly salient model for project-based knowledge workers. This is an important policy dimension given that the legal structures and norms in Anglo-Saxon countries still tend to support decentralized enterprise-based unionism. It …

Motives Of Corporate Political Donations: Industry Regulation, Subjective Judgement And The Origins Of Pragmatic And Ideological Corporations, Nicholas M. Harrigan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

What motivates corporate political action? Are corporations motivated by their own narrow economic self-interest; are they committed to pursuing larger class interests; or are corporations instruments for status groups to pursue their own agendas? Sociologists have been divided over this question for much of the last century. This paper introduces a novel case - that of Australia - and an extensive dataset of over 1,500 corporations and 7,500 directors. The paper attempts to understand the motives of corporate political action by examining patterns of corporate political donations. Using statistical modelling, supported by qualitative evidence, the paper argues that, in the …

Creating A Great Workplace For All Singapore: First Steps For Business Leaders, Richard R. Smith, Benjamin Ho

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In a highly competitive business world, the pressure for bottom-line results can be intense – sometimes at the expense of a positive workplace environment. Yet, it seems there are organizations that not only do well, but also have people who trust their leaders, possess deep pride in their work and organizations, and take genuine pleasure in working with their colleagues.

Examining The Paradox Of Part-Time Employees Working Overtime, Hsin Ning Yong, Jochen Reb

Asian Management Insights

Examining the paradox of part-time employees working overtime. Many studies have revealed that employees on part-time work arrangements are voluntarily working either longer hours or more intensively than what they had contracted for. So why do part-time employees work overtime? And why is it important for organisations to understand the rationale for such behaviour? Despite the increasing relevance of part-time employment, there is little research on how to structure the work, engage, develop or retain part-time employees. For organisations to effectively manage these relationships, they need to first understand what drives part-timers to work above and beyond their contracted capacity

Evaluating Patient Preferences For Different Incentive Programs To Optimize Pharmacist-Provided Patient Care Program Enrollment, Daniel M. Tomaszewski, Tim Cernohaus, Rajiv Vaidyanathan

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

BACKGROUND: Employers have increased efforts to engage employees in health and wellness programs. Providing employees with incentives to participate in these programs has been shown to improve overall enrollment and engagement. One program that has had challenges with enrollment and engagement is medication therapy management (MTM).

OBJECTIVES: To (a) determine how individuals evaluate different financial incentives to improve participation in an MTM program and (b) measure the effect of participant characteristics on incentive preference.

METHODS: This study was composed of a paper-based survey administered to participants after focus group sessions. Participants included MTMeligible beneficiaries from 2 employer groups and included …

Videogame Developers Among 'Extreme Workers': Are Death Marches Over?, Marie-Josee Legault, Johanna Weststar

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Purpose: The videogame industry is a work environment that is emblematic of O’Carroll’s (2015) encompassing model of a 24/7/365 working time model of flexibility. We use O’Carroll’s model to challenge two myths about videogame developers (VGDs): the long hours of work are in fact unpredictable hours, and flextime HR programs do not allow for real control over working hours.

Design/methodology/approach: We use a mixed methods approach (international online survey and 100 Canadian interviews) to analyse the case of VGDs - a different, but similar type of worker to the IT workers analysed by O’Carroll.

Findings: We can generalize O’Carroll’s model …

Opportunities And Challenges For Self-Monitoring Technologies For Healthy Aging: An In-Situ Study, Mirana Randriambelonoro, Yu Chen, Onur Yuruten, Pearl Pu

Faculty Publications, Information Systems & Technology

The current need to adopt a healthy lifestyle opens the way for researchers to investigate the efficiency of using technology to motivate a change towards such behavior. Senior people’s technology adoption barriers have been largely investigated in previous research but remain unclear to design efficient solution to promote behavior change in the long term. In this paper, we present the findings of an experiment with 20 older adults using pervasive sensors for 6 weeks at their homes. In particular, we present their attitudes for physical activities and self-monitoring technologies before and after the actual usage. We then discuss the opportunities …

The Opioid Epidemic: A Practice And Policy Perspective, Gail D'Onofrio

Center for Policy Research

I will be talking about the escalating opioid epidemic and some innovative solutions my colleagues and I at Yale University and throughout the state of Connecticut, are working on to mitigate the consequences of this public health crisis.

Exploring Rwanda's Continuing Education Capacity For Information Communications Technology (Ict) Skills, Li Keen Lim

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As Rwanda strives to become the ICT hub of the region, it will need to develop its greatest asset: its people, in ICT skills. This exploratory study used 30 semi-structured interviews, observation and secondary data from different sources, schools, students and NGOs, to answer a simple question: how does an everyday, working adult Rwandan learn new computers skills for a new computer age? This study found that a wide variety of suppliers fulfil different niches that give prospective students a range of prices, content, schedules, certification, practices, etc., and that demand is increasing for a host of different reasons. It …

Cash Versus In-Kind Transfers: Comparative Differences And Individual Best Practices To Benefit Recipient Communities, Sarah Wicker

Senior Honors Theses

This research paper seeks to compare cash and in-kind transfers in the context of foreign poverty aid to determine which transfer style is most beneficial and to evaluate long-term best practices of each kind to more positively benefit the recipient communities. It does this by comparing arguments for and against each transfer model. The first argument discusses the differences in distribution costs between the two models. The second compares the cash transfer’s strong concept of choice with in-kind transfer’s typical style of controlled consumption of goods. The second argument discusses the timing and impact of targeting communities in connection to …

When The Health System Fails You: Maternal Care Under Kenya’S 2017 Nurses' Strike, Tessa Coughtrey-Davenport

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study focuses on the 2017 nurses’ strike and how the crippling of the public health system impacted maternal care in Kisumu, Kenya. Kenya has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world, and there have been many efforts to reduce this, such as delivery with a Skilled Birth Attendant and attending antenatal care visits, all of which are centered around a functioning health system. The research team used a combination of interviews with key populations and analysis of service delivery data at local health centers to evaluate the effects of the strike on maternal care. The study …

Watching Online Videos At Work: The Role Of Positive And Meaningful Affect For Recovery Experiences And Well-Being At The Workplace, Sophie Janicke, Diana Rieger, Leonard Reinecke, Winston Connor Iii

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

This study extends research on the relationship between hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment and its potential for recovery experiences and aspects of well-being (e.g., Rieger, Reinecke, Frischlich, & Bente, 2014). With the broad notion of what hedonic and eudaimonic media can entail, this research focused on unique affective experiences—namely, positive affect—and an expanded concept of meaningful affect (including elevation and gratitude). An online experiment with 148 full-time employees in the United States was conducted to investigate the unique role of positive and meaningful affect eliciting YouTube videos (compared to neutral control video) on recovery experiences and vitality and work satisfaction in …

Gender And Connections Among Wall Street Analysts, Lily Hua Fang, Sterling Huang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

We examine how alumni ties with corporate boards differentially affect male and female analysts’ job performance and career outcomes. Connection improves men’s job performance — forecasting accuracy and recommendation impact — significantly more than women’s. Controlling for performance, connection further contributes to men’s, but not women’s, likelihood of being voted by institutional investors as “star” analysts, a marker of career success. These asymmetric effects are stronger in more opaque firms and among younger analysts, but is absent from a placebo test. Our evidence indicates that men reap higher benefits from social networks than women in both job performance and subjective …

Farm Deaths And Injuries: Changing Irish Farmer Attitudes And Behaviour On Farm Safety, Maurice Murphy, Kieran O'Connell

Dept. of Management & Enterprise Conference Material

While the Irish agricultural sector accounts for just 6% of the working population of Ireland, it consistently has the highest proportion of fatal incidents of any sector - generally ranging from between 35% and 45% of all workplace fatalities in any given year. This was again evident in 2014 where 55% (30 of the 56) of the fatal workplace incidents were in the agricultural sector. Agriculture has an ageing workforce with the average age of an Irish farmer now standing at fifty-seven and farmers are eight times more likely to be fatally injured in a farm accident than the general …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 93, No. 3, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Singleton, John. Laundry Prices Increase on Campus
• Chisenhall, Jeremy & Evan Heichelbech. He’s Back – Mitchell Robinson, Basketball
• Sadrinia, Yasmine. Café Kicks Off International Year of Bosnia
• Mohr, Olivia. Student Government Association Makes Sustainability Permanent Effort
• Coyle, Cameron. WKU Chief of Police Decision is Imminent
• Alvey, Rebekah. WKU Develops New Diversity, Equality Plan
• Johnson, Kalyn. English Majors: We’re Not All Teachers
• Editorial Cartoon re: Welcome to WKU – Red Towel
• Murrer, Erick. From WKU with Love: Learning Life Lessons on the Hill
• Dimeo, Chris. Taste …

Farmers' Cooperatives In China: A Typology Of Fraud And Failure, Zhanping Hu, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Since the 1990s, agricultural cooperatives—particularly what China calls Farmers’ Specialized Cooperatives—have experienced rapid expansion in China. After more than two decades of growth and policy support, what is the overall performance of the ever-increasing numbers of these cooperatives? We visited 50 cooperatives across the country, most of which had officially been lauded as successful, to make a first-hand evaluation of their overall status and performance. We argue that, judging by either international or Chinese standards, the vast majority of these agricultural cooperatives are not authentic and fail to deliver expected benefits to smallholders. We categorize them into five types: genuine …

Labor Unions And Occupational Safety: Event-Study Analysis Using Union Elections, Ling Li, Shawn Rohlin, Perry Singleton

Center for Policy Research

This study examines the dynamic relationship between union elections and occupational safety among manufacturing establishments. Data on union elections come from the National Labor Relations Board, and data on workplace inspections and accident case rates come from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The results indicate that union elections improved occupational safety. First, workplace inspections trended upwards before the election, then decreased immediately after the election, due almost entirely to employee complaints. Second, accident case rates were relatively stable before the election, then trended downwards after the election, due to accidents involving days away from work, job restrictions, and job …

Organizational Transformation That Supports Community Employment, Amie Lulinski, Tibisay Guzmán, Avery Valins, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

A presentation at the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) Conference in Harford, Connecticut, on June 27, 2017.

Gender Inclusion Activities In Entrepreneurship Ecosystems: The Case Of St. Louis, Mo And Boston, Ma, Banu Ozkazanc-Pan, Karren Knowlton, Susan Clark Muntean

Management and Marketing Faculty Publication Series

Women-owned businesses have an economic impact of nearly $3 trillion in the U.S. Despite the tremendous opportunity for economic growth they present, women entrepreneurs lag behind their male counterparts in terms of number of start-ups and scaling of businesses. To understand how and why this may be taking shape, we focus on the role of entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) or those organizations that act as intermediaries between the resources of a local ecosystem and entrepreneurs. All organizations that have as their proverbial mission to serve, support or partner with entrepreneurs can be categorized as ESOs. Given their role as decision …

A Profile Of Project Manager Work Engagement: A Field Survey, Thomas G. Henkel, James W. Marion Jr, Debra T. Bourdeau

Publications

Engaged employees are those who are involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work and who are most likely to drive innovation, generate new ideas, have a sense of connection with their work activities, and are involved with the demands of their job (Gallup, 2013). Nowhere is the concept of employee engagement more important than with managing an organization’s projects. Ensuring a project manager is emotionally engaged with his or her work is crucial for project success to meet greater challenges in today's 21st-century global marketplace. In this research study, project managers were asked to respond to an employee …

Time Travel, Labour History, And The Null Curriculum: New Design Knowledge For Mobile Augmented Reality History Games, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This paper presents a case study drawn from design-based research (DBR) on a mobile, place-based augmented reality history game. Using DBR methods, the game was developed by the author as a history learning intervention for fifth to seventh graders. The game is built upon historical narratives of disenfranchised populations that are seldom taught, those typically relegated to the 'null curriculum'. These narratives include the stories of women immigrant labour leaders in the early twentieth century, more than a decade before suffrage. The project understands the purpose of history education as the preparation of informed citizens. In paying particular attention to …

Neighborhood Segregation And Black Entrepreneurship, Eric Fesselmeyer, Kiat Ying Seah

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

We examine the causal effect of neighborhood segregation on black entrepreneurship. We address neighborhood sorting by analyzing city averages and omitted variable bias by instrumenting for segregation using historical railroad configurations. We find that segregation has a significant positive effect: a 10 percentage point increase in the dissimilarity index decreases the racial gap by about 3.3 percentage points. To minimize the effect of cross-city sorting, we use a narrower sample constructed from outcomes of young adults and find a similar effect. Our findings are importantbecause historically, entrepreneurship has been an avenue out of poverty, and entrepreneurship has been promoted as …

Neighborhood Segregation And Black Entrepreneurship, Eric Fesselmeyer, Kiat Ying Seah

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

We examine the causal effect of neighborhood segregation on black entrepreneurship. We address neighborhood sorting by analyzing city averages and omitted variable bias by instrumenting for segregation using historical railroad configurations. We find that segregation has a significant positive effect: a 10 percentage point increase in the dissimilarity index decreases the racial gap by about 3.3 percentage points. To minimize the effect of cross-city sorting, we use a narrower sample constructed from outcomes of young adults and find a similar effect. Our findings are importantbecause historically, entrepreneurship has been an avenue out of poverty, and entrepreneurship has been promoted as …

Open Access On Campus: Bringing Nonprofits To The Libraries, Melanie Allen, Rachel Caldwell, Nick Guernsey, Ann R. Viera, Alan H. Wallace

UT Libraries Faculty: Other Publications and Presentations

Low attendance at Open Access Week events caused academic librarians to ask: What can we do to further open access without asking faculty and students to attend events during such a busy time of the semester? Instead of reaching out to faculty directly, librarians at the University of Tennessee Libraries are reaching out beyond the campus community. Health sciences, social sciences, and scholarly communication librarians offer a workshop to East Tennessee nonprofit organizations to assist them in finding and accessing scholarly research. After the workshops, participants are invited to be interviewed on camera about why public access to research matters, …

Geb 6895 Integrated Business Applications, Yancy Edwards

Service-Learning Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Analysis Of How Companies Should Prepare To Recruit And Manage Generation Z, Corey Pires

Honors Projects in Management

No abstract provided.

Daily Fantasy Sports: Chance Or Skill?, Danielle Bergner

Honors Projects in Mathematics

Online daily fantasy sports is a billion dollar industry that has caused controversy for the last few years with states debating its legal status. As of today, under the current United States federal laws and regulations, betting money on daily fantasy sports online is considered legal. However, several states have decided to ban these games within their borders believing they are based on chance and should be considered gambling which they have ruled to be illegal online. Each state has the right to make their own rules of what they consider gambling even if the federal government has allowed it. …

The Business Of Brandy: The Changing Roles Of Women In Apple Brandy Production In Lower Mustang, Nepal, Madeline Sachs

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Lower Mustang, Nepal is famous across the country for its well-known trekking circuit and an agricultural climate especially suitable to apple cultivation. Home to the indigenous Thakali ethnic group, the region was made accessible by motor vehicle via the Jomsom-Beni road just ten years ago. While before the road transportation of fresh apples was nearly impossible, necessitating the production of dried apples and apple brandy, now farmers make a lucrative profit off of high demand throughout the country. Additionally, the production of apple brandy has boomed, and the region has four to six distilleries in production at any one time. …

At The Intersection Of History, Diplomacy, And Domestic Affairs: Vietnam’S Difficult Position In The South China Sea Dispute, Michael Lanin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Connecting the entirety of Southeast Asia to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the South China Sea is among the world’s most vital commercial and strategic arenas. Robust shipping lanes funnel several trillion dollars in trade through the South China Sea annually; and lucrative fisheries and potentially vast hydrocarbon resources fill its waters. The South China Sea also hosts a tremendously complex geopolitical puzzle which hinges on overlapping maritime sovereignty claims made by Vietnam, China, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei. The ensuing multilateral dispute has escalated tensions in the region, leading to intense militarization, diplomatic gridlock, and trivialization of international law. …

Extreme Risk And Small Investor Behavior In Developed Markets, Lorne N. Switzer, Jun Wang, Seungho Lee

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

This paper examines the responses of small investors of ten developed markets as they are exposed to extreme risk. We focus on mutual fund flows that are induced by extreme market episodes (measured daily, weekly, and monthly) versus volatile periods captured by the traditional standard deviation metric. The extreme-day measure captures the behavior of small retail investors in the US and Canada better than the traditional standard deviation measure, based on funds flows to equity mutual funds. The evidence for the other countries of the study is mixed. Small investors in countries in the G-7 with more collective (as opposed …