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Community Cultural Wealth And Its Impact On Pandemic Relief Funding For Small Businesses, Brett Smith

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This dissertation investigates the impact of social, navigational, familial, aspirational, and resistant capital on the ability of small business owners in Pennsylvania to access relief funding during the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily the period from March 2020 to December 2020. Utilizing Dr. Tara Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth framework, the study explores systemic barriers within relief initiatives and how they affect marginalized communities.

To meet business owners where they were, and to utilize technologies born as a result of the pandemic, this study utilized Asynchronous Video Interviews (AVI) and online surveys, to capture the lived experiences of these small business owners. Not …

Identifying Youth Appeals In Alcohol Alternative Social Media Content Through Framing, Melina Oneal

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Proposed regulations for alcohol advertising prevent beverage companies from targeting people under the legal drinking age. However, similar regulations for alcohol alternative beverages are less explored, which could allow alcohol alternative products to create awareness for alcoholic beverages among youth. Alcohol alternatives beverages, including no-alcohol and low-alcohol products, are increasing in popularity and can function as compliments to alcoholic products to decrease the total alcohol volume consumed or as substitutes for alcoholic products. Framing theory can be operationalized through the Content Appealing to Youth Index, an index of content elements found in research literature to be appealing to youth, to …

Social Media Comments Of Top Athletes: A Gender Analysis, Madigan Mcgrath

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Sports are fraught with gender inequality and sexism. This research focuses on differences in public opinion regarding top athletes' personal social media. The study investigates gender differences in topic, gender differences in tone, gender differences in platform, and differences in sports. Additionally, it aims to explore the tone and topics of comments on Instagram and X. Using the methodology of content analysis, this study will examine comment tone (e.g. negative, positive, or neutral), as well as whether the topic of comments is sports-related or gender-related. Findings provide insight into gender differences in the treatment of athletes in the digital sphere.

Student Entrepreneurial Intention Research Report, Grace Liu, Monica Zimmerman, Liz Wang, Megan Teague, Manel Hanafi

University Libraries Faculty Publications

This research report presents the findings of the Provost Research Grant Project 2023,"Entrepreneurial Spirit Among College Students: A Survey from West Chester University." The average value of respondents' entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial attitude, measured on a seven-point Likert scale, was 3.8 and 4.3. These findings align closely with the global average reported in the Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students' Survey. 17.6% of the student respondents were trying to start their own businesses or became self-employed(nascent entrepreneurs) and 8.2% of students were already running their own businesses or were self-employed (active entrepreneurs). 51% of nascent or active entrepreneurs indicated that their …

The Search For Something Better: Narrative Inquiry Into Why Women In Non-Faculty Roles Left Higher Education During Covid-19 Pandemic, Amanda Corsi

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Stressors brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic for women working in non-faculty roles in higher education still need to be understood. While there is extensive research on voluntary turnover, the influence of the pandemic on how and why women choose to leave the field is still lacking. Most research on higher education professionals fails to include the perspective of women in non-faculty positions. This study conducted a qualitative narrative inquiry to understand the experiences of women in non-faculty roles who worked in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic and how that influenced their reasons for turnover decision-making. The results found …

Using Input From Administrative Staff To Make Cost-Effective Decisions For Telecommuting, Technology, And Productivity During The Covid-19 Era, Chika Egemba

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

The purpose of this research was to examine if collaborative technologies enhance productivity in the face of remote work during the COVID-19 era using the diffusion of innovation framework. Dothan Housing is a Moving to Work (MTW) Expansion Agency under the Landlord Incentive Cohort #3. This means the agency was granted certain flexibility to pursue innovation. This research study used a post-positivist philosophy and a quantitative research design to investigate the thoughts, opinions, and feelings of Dothan Housing administrative staff about their experience with telecommuting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were selected from among Dothan Housing staff who were …

Teaching Business Ethics: Plato Was Right, David F. Perri, Megan V. Teague

Management Faculty Publications

Ethical lapses in major corporations continue to draw public attention to the specter of corporate misconduct. This paper presents a pedagogical approach that is designed to enhance student understanding and appreciation of the challenges that business leaders face when confronted with the conflict between the profit-maximizing demands of capitalism and the ethical expectations of society. This is an approach that fully acknowledges the seductive nature of unethical conduct in search of corporate rewards. This paper presents a method which can be applied both in undergraduate and graduate coursework, facilitates the examination of two corruption cases (Enron and WorldCom), and highlights …

How Inaccessible Retailer Websites Affect Blind And Low-Vision Consumers: Their Perceptions And Responses, Alex Cohen

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

Professor Alex Cohen, Marketing - How Inaccessible Retailer Websites Affect Blind and Low-Vision Consumers: Their Perceptions and Responses

Windfall Payment Savings: An Examination Of Act 13 Disbursements In Pennsylvania, Corey Young

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

State and local governments occasionally receive positive exogenous payments or windfalls that have a significant impact on their budgets. However, few works examine how budget-makers allocate such payments or if they are consumed in a manner consistent with other revenue streams. Prior research suggests that multiple factors, including the size of a windfall payment, impact how much of the funds are saved and spent. Using data from the Act 13 Unconventional Natural Gas Impact Fee in Pennsylvania, this study examines the relationship between windfall payment size and savings rates between 2011 and 2019. The results of the study indicate that …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of The Pennsylvania Wine Industry With Actionable Recommendations For Industry Improvement And Growth, Seth Porter

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Local wine industries are vital engines of agricultural economic growth, rural development, and sustainable long-term tax base creation. While the Pennsylvania wine industry has made admirable progress, the industry still has a poor collective reputation, high variance in product quality differential, and a perceived regulatory environment that creates negative externalities for local wine, agricultural production, and auxiliary enterprises. This comprehensive analysis attempts to diagnose and remedy all primary public policy, regulatory, state, non-profit, and non-state private actions that have impeded the Pennsylvania wine industry. A methodology of grounded theory qualitative processes, furthered by texting mining and document analysis techniques, were …

Corporate Social Responsibility And Bond Price At Issuances: Us Evidence, Hong Zhao, Wei Du, Hao Shen, Xinting Zhen

Economics & Finance Faculty Publications

Bondholders are arm's-length lenders with limited insider information. In this paper, we explore whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities could work as an information channel for bondholders to better understand the riskiness of bond-issuing firms. We find a significant negative relation between CSR scores and corporate bond yield spread, especially for firms which invest heavily in diversity and community relations, suggesting that CSR firms are less risky. The result is robust to different model specifications and endogeneity issues. In addition, the negative relation between the CSR score and bond yield spread is significant only if a firm has a strong …

Abusive Supervision, Leader-Member Exchange, And Creativity: A Multilevel Examination, Changqing He, Rongrong Teng, Liying Zhou, Valerie Lynette Wang, Jing Yuan

Marketing Faculty Publications

Despite the growing attention on the topic of abusive supervision, how abusive supervision affects individual and team creativity have not yet been thoroughly investigated. Drawn from the perspective of leader-member exchange (LMX), the current study develops a multilevel model to describe the relationships between abusive supervision and creativity at both team and individual levels, with a focus on the roles played by team-level leader-member exchange (TLMX) and LMX differentiation (DLMX). Based on data collected from 319 team members and their team leaders in 71 teams, the results show that abusive supervision has a negative relationship with TLMX, a practice that …

Three Ways To Ensure ‘Wellness’ Tourism Provides A Post-Pandemic Opportunity For The Travel Industry, Jaeyeon Choe, Michael A. Di Giovine

Anthropology & Sociology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Federal Employee Views Across Administrations: An Examination Of The 2010 Obama And 2018 Trump Leadership Capital And The Perceptions Of The Agency Employees, Dimple Sunayna Johnson

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

One of the many responsibilities of the president is the management of the expansive federal government. From agenda planning to reform implementation, a political leader can impact the federal employees’ job role. The federal government, however, does not administer alone, top-down mandates are managed by tiers of management, with the front-line supervisors acting as the liaison to federal employees. Understanding a president’s leadership capital alongside the federal employee perceptions of job satisfaction and supervisory support can provide opportunities to gain insight into establishing and maintaining a public sector landscape that is effective and efficient.

The study consisted of a quantitative …

The Benefits Of Evidence Based Practices In Public Administration: Does Therapeutic Listening Training Increase Emotional Intelligence To Affect Change Management Outcomes In Public And Private Sector Organizations, John Sillup

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Abstract

This doctoral dissertation considers change management as it relates directly to evidence-based practices in public administration. The problem under study was the lack of scholarly research on the effect of an administrative leader’s emotional intelligence (EI) has on follower self-efficacy during change management. This study provided findings on the effect of therapeutic listening training as a means to increase emotional intelligence to potentially affect change management outcomes in public and private sector organizations. Change management is a systematic and structured process of developing and implementing strategies and interventions for organizations transitioning from current state to a desired state. The …

State Government’S Impact On Campus Services For Unaccompanied Homeless Students, Tori Nuccio

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

College campuses have been creating targeted support programs in the last decade to assist students coming from at-risk backgrounds including those who are homeless. Although research has begun to look at the impact these programs are having on the students they serve, little research has been done on how outside support has influenced the development and construct of these programs. My research addresses this gap in prior works via an exploratory study of how the existence of statewide supports, including the formation of networks, within three different cases impact colleges’ ability to build support programs. As part of a case …

Being Watched In An Investment Game Setting: Behavioral Changes When Making Risky Decisions, Z. Tingting Jia, Matthew J. Mcmahon

Economics & Finance Faculty Publications

We design a laboratory experiment to test for behavioral differences due to observation within a novel arena: investment games. We find that fund managers are more risk-averse when investors can observe their investment allocations. This effect is more pronounced when investors, in addition to observing the allocations, can also observe the investment outcomes. Interestingly, allowing investors to observe how their investment is allocated does not impact how much they invest. Last, when the outcome of the risky investment is public knowledge, disclosing managers’ allocations leads them to return more tokens to investors and to expropriate fewer tokens for themselves at …

Fare Free Public Transportation Bus Systems: An Examination Of Funding Strategies To Replace Passenger Fare Collection, Amy Vanguilder

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

American public transportation systems have been moving people for more than a century. To some, the transit bus may alleviate frustrations related to finding parking or having to pay expensive parking fees. To others, public transportation may be their lifeline for all travel needs including work, school, medical appointments, and even recreation. While these direct benefits assist those citizens that do use public transportation, public transportation can also bring other benefits indirectly to society in the form of decreased congestion and pollution. As more and more people begin using public transportation systems, they will soon find that public transportation systems …

Data-Driven Decision-Making: An Analysis Of Needs Assessment Methodology In Northwestern Pennsylvania Nonprofit Organizations, Jason Brady

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This research examines the community needs of a specific region, Northwestern Pennsylvania, in order to determine how well the community’s current social needs are being addressed by nonprofit organizations in this area. A comprehensive review of related literature is provided in order to establish a theoretical framework for this topic. This background is utilized in the development and execution of a community needs assessment for the Northwest Pennsylvania region. This assessment, presented in the form of an online survey, resulted in 714 unique responses within the selected region. Quantitative and qualitative methods are applied to the gathered data in order …

The Impact Of Training And Development On Employees In The Northeast Region Of Florida State Government: An Evaluation Of The Northeast Region Professional Development Training Program, Sandy Beaumont

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Critical positions in state government are oftentimes understaffed. Researches have studied the factors that lead to staff shortage such as low salary, high caseloads, and a stressful environment. Therefore, it is challenging to keep those positions filled at maximum capacity. In state government, employees are the organization’s human capital requiring investment to retain a quality workforce. Investment of training and professional development in addition to training of normal work duties are vital to the endurance of employees. Government seeks for ways to improve its workforce and to obtain long-term quality employees without salaries and other financial incentives that are comparable …

Using Input From Landlords Participating In The Dothan Housing Authority's Housing Choice Voucher Program (Hcvp) To Streamline Operations And Increase Retention, Michael C. Threatt

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

The Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) is a public-private partnership between a landlord, voucher holder, and a Public Housing Authority (PHA). However, this public-private partnership appears to be a two-sided partnership instead of a three-way partnership as the HCVP was designed. Over 110,000 landlords have withdrawn from the HCVP since 2009, which has negatively affected housing choices for voucher holders. This phenomenon of landlords leaving the HCVP is a catastrophe problem for the rental housing crisis that is a part of the larger affordable housing crisis. The perception of institutional bureaucracy for landlords is their reality, and the unintended consequence …

United States Department Of Defense Acquisition Of Leading-Edge Information Technology Services And The Impact Of Public Market Research On Efficiency And Effectiveness, Thomas Denning

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This dissertation examines the acquisition of leading-edge IT services (LEITS), like those associated with cyber, agile software development, and cloud migration. In an effort to build on previous research, the purpose of this dissertation is twofold: to examine how Public Market Research impacts the LEITS acquisition process in the DoD and to discover strengths and value-added components that exist in the current government acquisition process leading to greater efficiency and effectiveness. Through a mixed methods approach, this dissertation provides recommendations for how to conduct the most efficient and effective LEITS acquisitions, striving to maximize a constrained budget, minimize time to …

A Credit Rating Model In A Fuzzy Inference System Environment, Amir Karbassi Yazdi, Thomas Hanne, Yong J. Wang, Hui-Ming Wee

Marketing Faculty Publications

One of the most important functions of an export credit agency (ECA) is to act as an intermediary between national governments and exporters. These organizations provide financing to reduce the political and commercial risks in international trade. The agents assess the buyers based on financial and non-financial indicators to determine whether it is advisable to grant them credit. Because many of these indicators are qualitative and inherently linguistically ambiguous, the agents must make decisions in uncertain environments. Therefore, to make the most accurate decision possible, they often utilize fuzzy inference systems. The purpose of this research was to design a …

Dividend Payments And Excess Cash: An Experimental Analysis, Z. Tingting Jia, Matthew J. Mcmahon

Economics & Finance Faculty Publications

There is an observed positive correlation between the size of firms’ dividends and the amount of cash they keep on hand. We specify a new channel of precautionary cash holdings as related to dividend-smoothing, which predicts that increased dividends should cause firms to keep more cash on hand. In the reverse direction, theory’s predictions depend on the source of the increased cash on hand. General dividend smoothing theory predicts that temporary increases in cash due to natural market fluctuations should not affect dividends. If the increased cash is due to a permanent increase in profitability, both the marginal benefit and …

Enhancing The Value Of Professional Experience In Undergraduate Education: Implications For Academic And Career Counseling, Jack Gault, Evan Leach, Marc Duey, Ted Benzing

Marketing Faculty Publications

Rising costs and competition for entry-level employment increasingly call into question the value of a university degree. Now more than ever, career counselors must identify key factors that enhance employability for graduating seniors. Existing research shows professional experience is vital to securing quality postgraduate employment but offers little insight into ways perceived value varies by experience characteristics. This study surveyed value perceptions of more than 600 U.S. hiring managers. Results revealed a significant preference for hiring undergraduates with off-campus professional experience relevant to their full-time position at graduation. An experience of 3 to 5 months duration was considered valuable.

Shareholder Protection And Agency Costs: An Experimental Analysis, Jacob Lariviere, Matthew J. Mcmahon, William Neilson

Economics & Finance Faculty Publications

Two competing principal–agent models explain why firms pay dividends. The substitute model proposes that corporate insiders pay dividends to signal and build trust with outside shareholders who lack legal protection. The outcome model, in contrast, surmises that when shareholders have legal protection, they demand dividends from insiders to prevent them from expropriating corporate funds. Either way, dividends represent an agency cost paid to align the interests of shareholders and insiders. Expropriations by insiders and reduced investment by shareholders are also agency costs, but they are difficult to identify with archival data. Using a laboratory experiment, we identify the impact of …

Principles Of Microeconomics, Anthony J. Cataldo Ii

Accounting Textbooks

This text covers the material required in an Introductory Microeconomics or Principles of Microeconomics course. This text coverage and course coverage is required for all business degree undergraduates. I would expect this text to have a 20-year shelf life.

Introduction To Financial Accounting (2nd Edition), Anthony J. Cataldo Ii

Accounting Textbooks

Introduction to Financial Accounting covers all material covered and tested in an undergraduate degree level course required for all business majors. This text should have a shelf-life of 20-years, if past experience is any indicator.

Managerial Accounting (2nd Edition), Anthony Cataldo

Accounting Textbooks

This text covers the material required in an introductory managerial accounting course and compliments my text on introductory financial accounting. Both are texts and courses required for all business degree undergraduates. My objective is to make this material available to students at a very low cost. I have used variable costing and other techniques included in this text in business litigation engagements involving GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan and other automobile manufacturers, testifying in Nevada, California, Texas, and Arizona.

Green Markets: An Experimental Analysis Of Technology And Policy, Nick Busko, Matthew J. Mcmahon

Economics & Finance Faculty Publications

This paper compares the effects of technology innovation and pricing policy in green markets on the provision of the public good. We extend the standard model of impure public goods to draw a distinction between green goods and green services, which are both subsets of impure goods. The motivating example of a green good with a price policy is a consumer installing a subsidized solar panel on her roof, while that of a green service is a consumer paying a surcharge for green electricity generated by her utility company. Experimentally, subjects face several sequential allocation decisions designed to mirror the …