Business Commons^™

The Relation Between Globalization And Personal Values Across 53 Countries And 28 Years, Irina Florentina Cozma

Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this research is to examine the relation between the change in globalization and change in personal values (work and general life values). An analysis across 28 years and 53 countries suggests that changes in different personal values have different relations with the change in globalization. Moreover, this relation is influenced by the demographic characteristics of the sample. The present research contributes to the literature in the following ways: 1) linking globalization (an economic concept) and personal values (a psychological concept), 2) providing an analysis of the relation between the change in personal values and the change in …

The Role Of Social Network Websites In Consumer-Brand Relationship, Hyejune Park

Doctoral Dissertations

This research explored the phenomenon of online social network in the context of consumer-brand relationship. The specific research objectives were: (a) to examine whether perceived benefits of a Brand’s Social Network Website (BSN) predict BSN relationship quality; (b) to investigate whether perceived benefits of BSN predict perceived relationship investment; (c) to examine if online social connection strengthens the relationship between perceived benefits of BSN and BSN relationship quality; (d) to examine if experience with BSN strengthens the relationship between perceived benefits of BSN and BSN relationship quality; (e) to investigate whether BSN relationship quality predicts brand relationship quality; (f) to …

A Survey Of Tennessee Extension Agents’ Perceptions Of The Tennessee Extension Agent Performance Appraisal System, Joseph Leonard Donaldson

Doctoral Dissertations

This study aimed to describe extension agent perceptions of the Tennessee Extension Agent Performance Appraisal System. A survey instrument was developed to address the research questions. The instrument had two sections: Satisfaction with the Current Appraisal System (14 items) and Satisfaction with Appraiser Performance (7 items). The instrument was reviewed by an expert panel and pilot tested with a group of 39 extension agents. The instrument was deployed online to the study population.

The population studied consisted of all extension agents employed by the University of Tennessee and Tennessee State University in January, 2010 (N=312). The total completed responses were …

Development Of An Organizational Hardiness Construct: Examining Configurations Of Sensemaking, Organizational Identity, And Enactment., Joshua Lloyd Ray

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to develop the construct of organizational hardiness which is thought to distinguish organizations that thrive under conditions of turbulence and uncertainty from organizations that whither under these same conditions. This new construct is based on individual hardiness which is a constellation of personality dispositions that a large body of empirical work has suggested supports individual performance under conditions of turbulence and uncertainty. Paralleling the individual hardiness dispositions of challenge, commitment, and control, organizational hardiness is posited to consist of the organizational level constructs of sensemaking, organizational identification, and enactment. The development of organizational hardiness …

Complex Adaptive Systems Theory Applied To Virtual Scientific Collaborations: The Case Of Dataone, Arsev Umur Aydinoglu

Doctoral Dissertations

This study is the exploration of the emergence of DataONE, a multidisciplinary, multinational, and multi-institutional virtual scientific collaboration to develop a cyberinfrastructure for earth sciences data, from the complex adaptive systems perspective. Data is generated through conducting 15 semi-structured interviews, observing three 3-day meetings, and 51 online surveys. The main contribution of this study is the development of a complexity framework and its application to a project such as DataONE. The findings reveal that DataONE behaves like a complex adaptive system: various individuals and institutions interacting, adapting, and coevolving to achieve their own and common goals; during the process new …

Locally Produced Food Purchasing Through Retail Grocery Channels: An Evaluation Of Relevant Customer And Store Environment Attributes, Jeffrey Michael Campbell

Doctoral Dissertations

The study examines the phenomenon of purchasing locally produced foods in retail grocery stores. Theoretical foundations from the theory of planned behavior and from the stimulus-organism-response framework were used to support and test a model that hypothesized relationships between attitude, subjective norms, perceived consumer effectiveness, perceived product availability, intention to purchase, store atmospheric responsiveness, price consciousness, and extent of purchase behavior in a retail grocery setting.

An online survey methodology was used to collect 600 responses across the United States. A two-step approach to structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships. Confirmatory factor analysis with measurement model development …

Designated Directors In The Boardroom: Their Impact On Governance And Performance And Shareholder Wealth Effects, Laura Seery Cole

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the appointment of designated directors on boards of directors. Designated director appointments are uncontested board appointments by activist investors, whereby normal nominating and voting election procedures are circumvented. Instances such as these, where directors are appointed rather than elected, are a form of shareholder access to the proxy. In this dissertation, new evidence is provided that is relevant to the proxy access debate by investigating the hypothesis that firms with appointed designated directors have different firm and governance characteristics than firms with elected directors. In particular, the following questions are asked: what are the shareholder wealth effects …

A Resource-Based Perspective On Green Supply Chain Management And Firm Performance, Jon Frederick Kirchoff

Doctoral Dissertations

Due to the perceived performance implications of green supply chain management, research in this area has grown in recent years. However, the literature is limited on the determinants of green supply chain management and its performance implications. Thus, the literature has yet to furnish an accepted explanation for why green practices are manifested in supply chain management and, whether a positive relationship exists between green supply chain management practices and firm performance.

This dissertation responded to these challenges through exploring the antecedents and consequences of green supply chain management. This dissertation built on the theoretical base of the resource-based view …

Ceo Serps: Are They Related To Firm Risk And Who Approves Them?, Colin D. Reid

Doctoral Dissertations

This paper investigates whether CEO supplemental executive retirement plans (SERPs) are associated with firm risk. Sundaram and Yermack (2007) show that CEOs manage their firms more conservatively as their debt incentives increase. Using new executive compensation disclosures mandated by the SEC, I find a negative association between CEO SERPs and firm risk but only for unsheltered SERPs. I find that when a CEO SERP is protected by a lump sum payment or by a trust (i.e. sheltered), the negative association between SERPs and firm risk is greatly diminished and even eliminated in some models. Furthermore, I show that having a …

The Role Of Financial Services Advertising On Investors' Decision-Making, Tae Jun Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study assesses the effect of financial services advertising on investors’ decision-making by adopting a two-sided approach: a stimulus-side analysis to document the nature and prevalence of advertising strategies and advertising disclosures being used and a response-side investigation to examine the investors’ processing of and receptiveness to financial services advertising. By performing a content analysis of recently published financial services magazine advertisements, this study provides a contemporary look at whether and how financial services companies inform, persuade, and communicate with average investors. Results from this content analysis method is also used as a foundation to help design realistic test …

Examining The Relationship Between Work/Life Conflict And Life Satisfaction In Executives: The Role Of Problem-Focused Coping Techniques, Heather S Mcmillan

Doctoral Dissertations

Determining not only what makes people, but also how many people are, satisfied personally and with work has become an ongoing stream of research for both academics and practitioners. The idea of satisfaction is of such concern today that Gallup-Healthways conducts a survey, and reports, on the daily well-being of Americans (http://www.gallup.com/poll/106915/ gallup-daily-us-mood.aspx). Given the importance of satisfaction to individuals, organizations and society at large, it is imperative to understand the predictors and mediators of satisfaction. Research has been conducted on the negative (i.e., inverse) relationship between satisfaction and work/life conflict, as well as the positive relationship between coping and …

Essays On Gross Receipts Taxes, Zhou Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation focuses on the incentives and economic effects of gross receipts taxes (GRTs) versus corporate income taxes (CITs). Conventional wisdom holds that GRTs are very poor tax instruments; however, several states have shown renewed interest in GRTs since 2002. An interesting question to ask is why states are reconsidering GRTs in spite of all criticisms. Are GRTs really as bad as what conventional wisdom says? There is little rigorous theoretical or empirical work on GRTs. My dissertation aims to help fill this gap by providing both theoretical and empirical analysis on the comparative advantages and disadvantages of GRTs versus …

Securities Processing: The Effects Of A T+3 System On Security Prices, Victoria Lynn Messman

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates the settlement period, including payment delays and failed deliveries that occur during the processing of U.S. equity transactions, and its effects on observed stock prices. Payment and delivery occur three to six calendar days after the trade date in the standard three business day settlement cycle, referred to as T+3.

First, the buyer benefits from a payment delay, during which time he can earn interest on the cash needed to settle the trade. Since the seller has no analogous opportunity, I anticipated that the cost of the payment delay would be reflected in equity prices at a …