Business Commons^™

Is It More State Than Trait? Within-Person Variability And Inter-Rater Agreement Of Feedback Orientation, Timothy J. Bartkoski

Dissertations

Feedback is a critical component of almost all performance management systems (Aguinis, 2009), and is often positively associated with individual and organizational effectiveness (e.g., Kluger & DeNisi, 1996; Kim et al., 2016). Given this, researchers and practitioners have long sought to understand how and when feedback is likely to be most effective. Some promising new work has explored feedback orientation (FO), which describes a person’s overall receptivity to performance feedback (Linderbaum & Levy, 2010; London & Smither, 2002). Initial research has shown that FO is positively associated with feedback seeking (Dahling et al., 2012; Whitaker et al., 2012) and feedback …

Exploring The Relationship Between Financial Transparency And Sustainability Transparency In The Fashion Industry, Sohaila Hussaini

Dissertations

The focus of this research is to investigate the relationship between the corporate sustainability attributes of financial transparency and sustainability transparency in the fashion industry. Many firms in the fashion industry disclose sustainability reports to communicate their efforts and activities for promoting sound environmental, social, and governance-related policies and practices. However, recent literature suggests that within the fashion industry, incomplete disclosures and a general lack of transparency diminish the usefulness and effectiveness of such reports. This study seeks to ascertain whether observed shortcomings associated with environmental, social, and/or governance-related disclosures are associated with similar shortcomings in corporate financial reporting completeness …

Cultural Microaggressions In Multinational Organizations: Organizational Inclusivity And Employee Coping Strategies, Regina Mcwilliams

Dissertations

Cultural microaggressions are especially problematic in multinational organizations because of the sheer and vast diversity of employees, customers, and partners across numerous countries and continents. These subtly discriminatory remarks or actions often lead to negative consequences that can cost companies immeasurable revenue and profit losses, customer and employee attrition, and brand reputational damage. This study aims to understand the impact of cultural microaggressions on job outcomes and the moderating effects of inclusivity practices and employee coping strategies. We draw upon the minority stress model and use quantitative methods to determine the relationship between cultural microaggressions and various job outcomes. Findings …

Not All Best Practices Result In Best Performances: Two Empirical Studies Of Online Accounting Education, Mark Sanders

Dissertations

Exploring the impact of specific pedagogical strategies in online accounting education on student learning outcomes is central to this research. This two-study dissertation focuses on the influence of course delivery methods on student performance and the mediating function of accounting efficacy. A diverse sample of accounting and business students was quantitatively analyzed to determine the relationship between course structure, classroom justice, students’ motivation and their accounting efficacy, applicability of learned material, and final grades. Even though certain teaching practices were advantageous, the combination of these practices did not always lead to improved student performance, according to the findings. Significant determinants …

Risky Business: Ceo Risk Tolerance And Non-Gaap Earnings, Johnna Murray

Dissertations

CEO influence on non-GAAP earnings is a growing area of research. Risk-taking by CEOs is one way to gauge the extent of CEO influence on firm outcomes, especially non-GAAP earnings. This research examines the association between CEO sports hobbies, a proxy for CEO risk-taking, and their company’s non-GAAP earnings. In addition to the risk-proclivity of the CEO, non-GAAP earnings are the result of firm size, equity, return on assets, and changes in revenue. The extent of CEO influence was evaluated by a regression analysis of non-GAAP earnings using firm characteristics with CEO risk-taking measures and control variables such as CEO …

With A Little Help At Home: The Impact Of Romantic Partner Support On Daily Burnout And Workplace Incivility, Matthew Aplin-Houtz

Dissertations

With rude and discourteous encounters in the workplace becoming more common, Workplace incivility (WI) is at an all-time high. As such, workers experience levels of burnout from these negative social interactions. The literature concedes that the results of these interactions lead to mounting burnout, causing negative physical and emotional outcomes at the individual and organizational levels. Considering that the literature also supports that employees have the potential to recover from burnout symptoms through rest, obtaining the perception of control of their circumstances, and cognitive reframing, the time and activities a worker spends at home carry the potential for minimizing burnout …

Successfully Scaling Digital Technology Ventures: An Empirical Study Of The Strategic Choices That Maximize Firm Value, Scott Morris

Dissertations

Our study aims to understand the choices managers working for subscription-based digital ventures must make at arguably the most critical juncture of their firm’s lifecycle. With few slack resources to repair mistakes, managers at these scaling firms must make decisions that are larger in scope and scale than in the start-up phase. Tradeoffs are often required as decision-makers face choices such as investing more resources in sales and marketing to drive growth or in product development to improve quality and add new products or features. In many instances, the question is whether to forego some growth opportunities to maximize profitability …

Moving Forward By Looking Back: How Family Firms Create Competitive Advantage By Embracing Their History, Adam Goldman

Dissertations

Family businesses are the engine that drives the United States economy. While extensive implications have been made in the literature about the advantages or disadvantages of family-owned businesses compared to non-family-owned businesses, the focus of this study was to show how small to medium-sized family-owned firms (FF SMEs) based in the United States can use their unique history to create a competitive advantage. Drawing on imprint theory and the resource-based view (RBV), this history-informed study helped identify the impact that founder imprints, business traditions, and storytelling have on the business performance of FF SMEs. Using quantitative methods, the findings of …

The Impact Of Firm Size, Job Embeddedness, And Job Engagement On Turnover In Public Accounting Firms, Amy Cooper

Dissertations

Retention in public accounting firms has been and continues to be a top concern in the accounting profession. The direct and indirect cost of turnover; the decrease in accounting enrollment and graduation; the Great Resignation; and changes to work environments due to the pandemic elevate what was already a serious problem into a critical problem for the accounting profession. The size of public accounting firms is a well-used descriptor when employees talk about where they work. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the size of firm in predicting an employee’s level of job embeddedness and …

Transition To The New Revenue Standard: A Study Of Firms’ Decisions To Adopt Asc 606 Early, Irene Y. Zhang

Dissertations

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a new revenue standard through a series of updates since May 2014 (collectively, ASC 606). The standard allowed firms to adopt it a year early before the required effective date. This study provides evidence of the adoption effects of ASC 606 on firms’ financials and examines the relationship between the likelihood of early adopting ASC 606 and firm-specific characteristics. The results show that early adopters are distributed across 12 industries and 40% of them are concentrated in the computer programming and software industry. Early adopters in the software industry reported the largest cumulative …

See Me From Behind The Screen: Workplace Ostracism In A Remote Environment, Quiméka Nicole Saunders

Dissertations

Workplace Ostracism is a common social phenomenon that impacts individuals of diverse backgrounds, across various industries, and cultural experiences. Literature to date highlights direct and indirect relationships of workplace ostracism, concerning the psychological and behavioral outcomes an individual may experience and the impact to organizational goals. Of existing literature, studies have focused on acts of ostracism conducted in face-to-face (F2F) environments or in F2F workplace situations. With the COVID-19 Pandemic, many companies were forced into teleworking situations, where work continues to be conducted outside of the central work office or facility (remote). With the shift in working environments, the prevalence …

A Bright Idea: Assessing Stakeholder Impact Of Social Sustainability Strategies, Sara Theis

Dissertations

The performing arts industry is experiencing an awakening in terms of the need to integrate inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) into their practices. This is the result of calls for change in the industry from members of historically marginalized communities. The challenge is that in order for social sustainability strategies like IDEA to be effective, they need to integrate them into the organization’s culture (Serafeim, 2020). IDEA cannot be a checklist. Using stakeholder theory and resource-based view as theoretical foundations, this qualitative case study examines one exemplary organization that has differentiated on social sustainability for decades. In 27 open …

Towards A Revised Model For Cpa Firm Ownership And Compensation In A Tight Labor Market And A Changing Culture, Andrew Thomas

Dissertations

The Post Senior Manager (PSM) position is a relatively new development in accounting firms. PSMs are accountants who do not make partner either by personal choice or firm decision. Research relating to PSMs in large firms has indicated that demographics, especially gender, work-life balance issues, managerial skill, and geographic preferences, play a role in determining who becomes a PSM. Research also notes that PSMs are viewed as economically vital to firms since their high skill level and billed hours represent an essential component of firm revenue. At the same time, research notes that PSMs are often viewed unfavorably for not …

Corporate Tax Avoidance And Fraud Risk, Zhonghua Cao

Dissertations

Corporate Tax Avoidance and Fraud Risk

There is mixed evidence on whether corporate tax avoidance (CTA) is positively or negatively related to aggressive financial reporting. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) requires that auditors assess fraud risks that are related to aggressive financial reporting. In this study I extend the research of CTA by examining the relationship between CTA and fraud risk. I use accrual quality related variables, performance variables, and non-financial measures (NFMs) to measure fraud risk. Drawing on agency theory and fraud risk triangle theory, I find that CTA is positively related to fraud risk. However, I …

A Digital Leadership Lens For A Physical World: Digital Transformation Levers Of Control For Incumbent Companies, Michael J. Seals

Dissertations

A new wave of advanced technologies is disrupting companies of all types and transforming business models within every industry. Long-standing industrial firms that rose to prominence in a pre-digital economy are particularly vulnerable. Prevailing views suggest these companies (hereafter referred to as incumbents) must reimagine their value propositions and transform themselves by leveraging today’s advanced technologies. The opportunities provided by these advanced technologies will significantly affect incumbents whether they participate or not. The pursuit of these opportunities, commonly referred to as digital transformation (DX), is the focus of our research.

Traditional technology-enabled business endeavors creating incremental operational improvements fell within …

A Managerial Ecosystem For Excellence In Hospital Administration, Denish Gangasingh

Dissertations

Major healthcare systems and hospital organizations face a myriad of challenges in today’s business environment, having to provide very complex and more comprehensive medical care with fewer resources. In this study, we investigate determinants of hospital performance in critical dimensions and propose an information infrastructure intended to promote excellence in clinical performance while sustaining a solid financial footing.

Senior executives must be knowledgeable in both business and clinical aspects of hospital administration because their decisions ultimately affect patient care and clinical outcomes. Key performance indicators (KPI) are necessary on both dimensions to inform their decisions. Financial and operational aspects of …

Marching Forward: A Qualitative Examination Of Adapting Enlisted Veteran Leadership Skills In The Corporate Environment, Casey W. Jensen

Dissertations

planning, resource utilization, and conforming to corporate policies all required adaptation. Veterans primarily adapt their leadership skills through internal and external networking, mentors, coaches, managing and resetting expectations, and understanding light and dark ambiguity. The theoretical contributions of this research are in paternalistic leadership and veteran enlisted research. The practical implications assist veterans in understanding how to adapt and strategies to adapt their skills. In addition, managers and peers may use this research to understand veterans' challenges better when leaving military service. Next, talent acquisition professionals can use this research to better identify military veteran candidates for specific roles and …

Factors Influencing The Adoption Of Smart-Home Appliances: Users' Perspectives, Prakash Shahi

Dissertations

Smart appliances will be a significant part of the annual $300 billion smart-home market by 2025. Their use is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 31% for the foreseeable future. Currently, 12-16% of households use smart-home products in the U.S., including thermostats, TVs, refrigerators, coffee machines, garage door openers, and vision-equipped doorbells. Smart appliances provide significant benefits to us over traditional appliances. Smart appliances simplify our lives by automating various tasks in our homes and allowing us to monitor and control them remotely from our offices, grocery stores, and wherever we may be.

Despite the usefulness …

Lean Accounting: A Connection To Strategic Partnership & Collaboration Between Management Accountants And Operations Managers, Colleen Mpofu

Dissertations

Technological advances, such as automation and artificial intelligence, have transformed the accounting profession. There is a consensus in the academic and practitioner literature that management accountants must move from their traditional role into one that serves as a strategic partner. However, literature that examines how management accountants have moved from this traditional role to one that is more strategic is limited. This study combines concepts from three different literature streams to explore how utilizing lean accounting practices relate to management accountant’s participation in strategic decision making, partnership with operations managers, and overall operational performance in manufacturing firms utilizing a lean …

How Could Venture Capitalists Improve Their Performance At Fund Management Level Via Better Allocating Their Financial And Human Capitals - A Cross-Fund Approach, Fei Han

Dissertations

Venture capitalists’ performance has been studied at the levels of portfolio company and fund. But no similar study at the fund management entity level has been documented. This study fills in the gap to examine the drivers of the venture capitalists’ performance at the fund management entity level. This study uses the capital allocation theory to develop five hypotheses on its performance. Each of them embodies an aspect of the feature of capital allocation in the venture capital investment process. With an expanded concept of capital for capital allocation, this study examines the allocation of both the financial capital and …

How Are Intrapreneurs Successful In Product Development? A Study Of Intrapreneurs In Established Firms, Christopher Johnson

Dissertations

The term Intrapreneur dates to the 1980s and refers to an entrepreneurial thinking employee within an established organization who thinks across the boundaries of organization units. Due to business competition and the pace of innovation, large firms rely on intrapreneurs to lead process improvements, incremental innovations, new product development, or vertical technology development. These individuals often lead activities positioning the firm to innovate and differentiate from the business competition. Despite the need for firms to turn to the front-line intrapreneurs to reinvigorate the business, it is still unclear what separates the successful intrapreneurs from the unsuccessful. This study contributes to …

Which Attributes Separate Top-Performing Outside Salespeople From The Rest?, Paul Niemann

Dissertations

For decades, sales organizations have faced the ongoing challenge of attaining the maximum sales results from their salespeople. Whether a salesperson has plenty of skill but lacks the will to reach their potential or has the will to become a top salesperson but lacks the necessary skills to reach their potential, the failure of sales organizations to obtain maximum results from their salespeople is a problem. Some salespeople have plenty of skill but lack the will to reach their potential, while others have the will to become a top salesperson but have not yet acquired the necessary skills to reach …

Frequent Top Leadership Transitions And Their Effect On Followers: The Moderating Roles Of Followership Characteristics And Organizational Culture, William Butler

Dissertations

Modern for-profit, large businesses are often organized as a collection of business units, with each unit having a top leader responsible for the unit’s results. While there is much literature about CEO transitions, there is scant literature about leadership transitions at an individual business unit level. Moreover, there is no literature concerning frequent leadership transitions at this level. This study developed and validated a new measure to assess employee perceptions of top leadership transition frequency. To measure employee reactions to perceived top leadership transition frequency, the EVLN scale was utilized. This study identified that employee Exit or Neglect are likely …

The Impact Of Target Audit Quality On The Likelihood Of Future Goodwill Impairment, Elizabeth Boyle

Dissertations

US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) require that in an acquisition, the purchaser must record a premium when the purchase price exceeds the fair value of the target’s identifiable net assets (both tangible and intangible). This premium lives on the balance sheet as an intangible asset called goodwill. Goodwill has an indefinite life, but over time it may become impaired due to overpayment of the original acquisition, unrealized synergies, changes in the business, legal issues, etc., and as a result, require a write-down. This impairment not only impacts the acquirer’s balance sheet but can also impact the market value of …

Exploring The Influence Of Industry 4.0 Technology On Buyer-Supplier Relationships (Supplier Transparency) And Supply Chain Agility, Honey Zimmerman

Dissertations

Constantly evolving technologies enable supply chains around the world to thrive and become progressively more sophisticated and responsive. Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies connect supply chain networks like never before. Still, anecdotal evidence suggests that few firms have implemented such technologies enterprise-wide. Therefore, to investigate the value created from the implementation of such technology, the focus of this study was on buyer-supplier relationships (BSR) and firm supply chain agility (FSCA) in the context of I4.0 technologies. Using mixed methodologies within a single-case study, we set out to answer the research question: Does I4.0 technology influence buyer-supplier relationships and firm supply chain …

Optimizing Vaccine Supply Chains With Drones In Less-Developed Regions: Multimodal Vaccine Distribution In Vanuatu, Deng Pan

Dissertations

In recent years, many less-developed countries (LDCs) have been exploring new opportunities provided by drones, such as the capability to deliver items with minimal infrastructure, fast speed, and relatively low cost, especially for high value-added products such as lifesaving medical products and vaccines. This dissertation optimizes the delivery network and operations for routine childhood vaccines in LDCs. It analyzes two important problems using mathematical programming, with an application in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. The first problem is to optimize the nation-wide multi-modal vaccine supply chain with drones to deliver vaccines from the national depot to all health zones …

Forecasting Demand For Optimal Inventory With Long Lead Times: An Automotive Aftermarket Case Study, Chris Anderson

Dissertations

Accuracy in predicting customer demand is essential to building an economic inventory policy under periodic review, long lead-time, and a target fill rate. This study uses inventory and customer service level as a stock control metric to evaluate the forecast accuracy of different simple to more complex predictive analytical techniques. We show how traditional forecast error measures are inappropriate for inventory control, despite their consistent usage in many studies, by evaluating demand forecast performance dynamically with customer service level as a stock control metric that includes inventory holdings costs, stock out costs, and fill rate service levels. A second contribution …

Now Is The Time: The Effects Of Linguistic Time Reference And National Time Orientation On Innovative New Ventures, Jintong Tang, Jun Yang, Wenping Ye, Shaji Khan

College of Business Administration Faculty Works

Two perspectives stand out in examining international variations in innovative new venture creation: institutions and national culture. However, systematic insights into the interconnections between institutional and cultural perspectives and their effects on entrepreneurship are severely lacking. In order to fill this gap, the current research integrates two prominent yet under-explored institutional and cultural factors: linguistic future-time reference (FTR) as an institutional factor and long-term orientation as a cultural factor, and considers how they are linked through the time perspective reflected in risk and uncertainty perception. Drawing upon linguistic relativity theory and cultural theory, we propose that institutions with strong FTR …

An Empirical Analysis Of Factors Affecting Autonomous Truck Adoption, Christopher Mondy

Dissertations

Autonomous vehicles have the potential to revolutionize the transportation industry. The segment of truck transportation is no exception. Autonomous vehicles have the potential to improve trucking safety, to increase shipping velocity, and to decrease costs. Additionally, autonomous trucks could be an important tool to help alleviate the ongoing driver shortage that the trucking industry is contending with.

Autonomous truck adoption is not guaranteed. Transportation equipment decisions are market-based, and autonomous trucks must present a compelling business case to transportation professionals. As such, it is imperative to understand the decision-making factors that drive transportation solution adoption, and how autonomous trucks could …

Budget Gaming: Politics, Ethics, And Compensation, Gretchen Decker

Dissertations

Practitioners are frustrated with the budgeting process, frequently complaining that budgets cause undesirable and political behaviors in the organization (Jensen, 2001). One of the most frequent problems is budget gaming, which critics consider non-value added and frustrating. In a 2010 survey, over 95% of respondents acknowledged that budget gaming exists at least “occasionally” (Libby & Lindsay, 2010). Previous studies indicate budget gaming is frustrating, prevalent, and wasteful (Hansen et al., 2003; Libby & Lindsay, 2007; Neely et al., 2003).

I conducted an experiment to investigate organizational influences (organizational politics, compensation condition, ethics attestation) and their impact on budget gaming. The …