Business Commons^™

When Caring Depletes: The Paradox Of Leading Employee Wellbeing During A Prolonged Crisis – Evidence From The Australian Resources Sector, Michael Mayom Ajith, Andrei Alexander Lux, Michelle Striepe, Tim Andrew Bentley

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose: The protracted COVID-19 crisis placed substantial demands on managers in the Australian resources industry. While workers' wellbeing received increased attention during this period, much less is known about how managers sustained their own wellbeing while providing care, reassurance, and operational continuity. Drawing on the JD–R model, paradox theory, and moral strain perspectives, we examine wellbeing-oriented leadership during a sustained crisis. We focus on how leadership behaviour operated as both a resource for employees and a demand on managers, shaping their own wellbeing experiences and leadership identity.

Design/methodology/approach: An interpretative phenomenological approach (IPA) was employed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with …

The Role Of Agricultural Biomass In Supply Chain Decarbonization, Ruxia Lyu, Sobhan Arisian, Zhitang Li, Mohammad S. Taskhiri, Reza Kiani Mavi

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

To achieve supply chain decarbonization, environmentally conscious manufacturers are transforming their energy infrastructure. While certain manufacturers are adopting a pure bioenergy strategy in their production processes, others are opting for a hybrid energy approach that combines traditional energy with bioenergy. This choice is often influenced by limitations in land capacity and the developmental stage of biomass conversion technologies. This paper introduces a game-theoretic model that explores the optimal approach to achieving supply chain decarbonization by strategically selecting energy portfolios. Our findings reveal that in scenarios where the market size is small, manufacturers tend to adopt a hybrid energy strategy, particularly …

Information Asymmetry: A Configurational Perspective In Buyer-Supplier Relationships, Soode Vaezinejad

Open Access Dissertations

Information asymmetry in buyer-supplier relationships has been linked to several influencing factors. However, these factors are often examined in isolation, limiting understanding of their synergistic effects. Grounded in agency theory, signaling theory, and transaction cost economics, this study adopts a configurational perspective to examine which combinations of factors lead to high information asymmetry. Using a three-part study design, we first conduct a systematic literature review to identify relevant factors, which are then refined and prioritized through a Delphi study. Building on this foundation, fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) is applied to survey data from 385 buyer managers to uncover equifinal …

The Evolving Beijing Consensus: Chinese Communist Party Political Control And Economic Trade Offs, Ian Murphy

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

China’s rapid economic rise and unique development trajectory have long been the subject of scholarly debate, often framed through the concept of the “Beijing Consensus” as an alternative to the Washington Consensus. While initial conceptualizations highlight innovation, sustainability, and national sovereignty, later analyses highlighted elements like state capitalism and authoritarianism, particularly in the wake of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. This paper argues that the Beijing Consensus is undergoing a significant evolution under Chairman Xi Jinping, increasingly prioritizing the Chinese Communist Party’s political security, regime stability, and ideological control at the expense of economic growth. This marks a notable departure …

The Financial Effects Of Clinically Significant Readmissions In Florida Hospitals, Brian Patrick Cotton

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

This study examines how the financial performance of hospitals in the state of Florida impacts the quality of care. This study used data from 2017-2019 to evaluate how the number of hospital readmissions – a proxy for care quality – are associated with and vary in relation to the stability of the financial resources held by the hospital. The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP), a Medicare value-based purchasing program, uses a mandatory pay-for-performance process that was initiated to decrease the 30-day hospital readmission rate. Hospitals with high readmissions are held accountable and financially encouraged to increase their quality of care …

Which Forms Of Work Flexibility Retain Working Mothers: A Moderated Mediation Model Of Flexibility Need, Flexibility Use, And Top Management Support, Jeanine K. Andreassi, Angela R. Grotto, Leanna Lawter, Tuvana Rua, Cynthia A. Thompson

WCBT Faculty Publications

This study investigates the relative impact of utilizing various forms of work flexibility on mothers’ retention in full-time jobs. Drawing from a model of work reentry for new mothers and Human Ecology Theory (HET), we theorize that mothers’ flexibility needs influence retention through flexibility use and that top management support strengthens this process. Using a cross-sectional Qualtrics online survey, we recruited a diverse sample of 213 women across the United States who stayed with or left their full-time jobs after childbirth or adoption. Using relative weights and path analysis, we compared six forms of flexibility. Schedule, career, and leave flexibility …

First-Job Contract Review Cheat Sheet, Johanna Jones-Morris, Ashlee Martellacci

Teaching and Learning Resources

This cheat sheet helps first-time employees understand what to review before signing an employment contract. It highlights job duties, compensation, scheduling, employment terms, benefits, restrictive clauses, worker classification, and common red flags so that individuals can ask informed questions and recognize potentially unfair or unclear terms.

Milan As A Future Art Capital: Opportunities And Limitations Within The European Art Landscape, Camilla Zoe Nicelli

MA in Art Business Dissertations

Italy is renowned world-wide for its cultural heritage but contemporarily being resistant to innovation, however Milan can be viewed as an exception. it’s a city which combines art, fashion, finance and design, and it has been recognised as a future art capital. Nevertheless, there is a significant absence of scholarly research analysing the Milanese art market in a systematic manner. The aim of this dissertation is to answer the following research question: “What factors will allow Milan to establish itself within the European art landscape, and what are the challenges that might limit its rise as an art capital?”. This …

When Money Moves In: The Consequences Of Housing Wealth, Darren Aiello, Jason Kotter, Gregor Schubert

Faculty Publications

We construct a novel dataset of millions of household moves over 25 years to examine how housing wealth affects purchase decisions. We find that a $1 exogenous increase in housing equity leads movers to pay a $0.06 premium on their next home, controlling for property characteristics and time-varying local prices. This behavior is driven by search frictions— wealthier households pay a premium rather than incur additional search costs. In aggregate, these decisions spill over to the broader housing market and cause upward regional price pressure. A 10% increase in equity gain among incoming movers increases local house price growth by …

Modern Day Saints And The Production Of A Contemporary Pilgrimage Site: Comparative Analysis Of St. Pio Of San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy And Sai Baba Of Shirdi, India, Kiran Shinde, Anna Trono Prof

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Places valorised by saints have attracted pilgrimage for a long time as devotion to saints is a way to achieve both material wellbeing and spiritual growth. Yet, the cult following of modern-day saints in contemporary societies has become a topic for exploration only in recent years (Di Giovine, 2010; Shinde & Pinkney; 2013, Srinivas, 2008). A few excellent hagiographies discuss the material and non-material world created around charismatic modern-day saints with global followership (Waghorne, 2004; Weiss, 2005; Shepherd, 1986). Given the immense popularity of modern-day saints many questions arise- what kind of pilgrimage landscape is created around them? Are they …

The Soft Target Curriculum: Using Nigeria's 2026 Cascading Breaches To Teach Foundational Cybersecurity Failures, Chinedum Amaechi, Doris Asogwa, Samuel Alade

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

SourceURL:file:///home/amaechi/Documents/ *Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice (JCERP)*. **Title:** The Soft Target Curriculum: Using Nigeria's 2026 Cascading Breaches to Teach Foundational Cybersecurity Failures.docx

Background: Between March and April 2026, a single threat actor allegedly compromised four Nigerian institutions across banking, payment infrastructure, government registry, and power distribution sectors. The breaches exposed millions of records and disrupted critical services, yet all four exploited elementary vulnerabilities taught in introductory cybersecurity courses. Objective: This pedagogical case study analyzes the four breaches as a unified phenomenon of "normalized negligence" and provides ready-to-use teaching materials for cybersecurity educators. Methods: Using open-source intelligence analysis of …

How Does Consumer Animosity Affect Consumer Behavior? The Case Of Filipino College Students As Consumers Amid The West Philippine Sea Conflict, Reynaldo Bautista Jr., Luz Suplico Jeong, Myla Arcinas

DLSU Business & Economics Review

There are consumers who participate in political consumerism by avoiding, rejecting, or condemning products and services from countries perceived as aggressors through their military or economic action. This study examines how Filipino college students in Metro Manila, Philippines, who are frequently exposed to social media, will be affected as consumers amid the current tension in the West Philippine Sea. Using the theories of social identity, uses and gratifications, and echo chamber as frameworks, 770 college students from private and public universities in Metro Manila were surveyed. The results show that consumer animosity strongly predicts both purchase intention (β = 0.591, …

Detection Of Financial And Political Fake News As A Measure To Prevent Instability In Financial Markets, Konstantyn Malyshenko

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This article explores the role of social networks as a catalyst for instability in financial markets. Its purpose is to present strategies for mitigating the media’s influence on adverse outcomes, primarily by analyzing the information cascades and related transactions in stock markets. The innovative aspect of this research lies in the development of methods for analyzing specific types of information, particularly media reports, to identify indicators of fake that distort public perception. The focus of this study is on fake news and the analysis of its potential linguistic features for identification purposes. A significant outcome of this research is the …

Exploring The Determinants Of Brain Drain: Evidence From A Cross-Country Panel From 2013 To 2021, Martha Joy J. Abing, Charlyn M. Capulong, Maria Rizalia Y. Teves, Resa Mae C. Laygan, Diane Mae P. Sangga, Junrie C. Vendra, Adama D. Villarico, Honey Mae E. Beruela

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This study investigates the factors influencing brain drain, the flight of human capital from their home country. The study examines the drivers of brain drain by looking into the effects of the following: global peace index, CO2 emissions per capita, real minimum wage, and happiness index and its individual indicators. Using pooled OLS on an unbalanced panel, the results reveal a statistically significant yet negative effect of the happiness index and the real minimum wage on brain

drain. This suggests that happy nations attract skilled professionals and emphasizes reduced skilled emigration in high- income countries. Results highlight the impact of …

Diffusion Of The Internet And Digital Divide In Post-Soviet Countries, Behrooz Asgari, Cosmos Amoah, Sudipa Majumdar

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This study explores the diffusion process of the internet in countries that were previously known as the U.S.S.R. and are currently divided into 15 countries. Utilizing the S-shaped logistic curves, this paper forecasts future trends in internet diffusion in these economies. Data varied in range, with each country having different time frames for similar variables. The logistic curves for each country determined the length of time of internet diffusion, maximum carrying capacity, and different stages of the diffusion process, namely, emerging, growth, maturity, and saturation. The results show that all countries have exceeded the emerging and growth phases, with 13 …

Winner-Take-All In International Markets? Performance Persistence Of Social Platforms, Yang Yang, Liang Chen, Jiang Wei, Yang Liu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Strategy research has long linked sustained competitive advantage to barriers to imitation. We highlight network effects as an alternative mechanism and adopt a geotemporal perspective to theorize how firms sustain advantage as it unfolds over time in international markets. Our study examines this question through the performance persistence of social platforms, focusing on how institutional and demand-side conditions shape the sustainability of platforms’ competitive advantages. We propose that intellectual property rights protection may restrict the degree of freedom in information dissemination, dampening the role of network effects in sustaining superior performance, whilst demand heterogeneity may enhance the value of sizable …

From The Classroom To The Workplace: The Role Of Internships In Shaping Student Values, Jasmine Williams

Honors College Theses

A significant degree of research on workplace values has been conducted to better understand how employees are motivated in the hopes of reducing turnover. There also exists a significant body of literature on how internships impact career outcome and can effectively prepare students for the workforce. However, previous studies have not explored the differences between students who have completed internships in comparison to those who have not. The goal of this research is to determine whether internships create a significant impact on students’ workplace values (e.g. intrinsic, extrinsic, altruistic, and social) when compared to students who have not completed an …

Cracking The Code Of Ai Autonomy: Examining The Role Of Challenge And Hindrance Appraisals And Ai Literacy In Task Satisfaction, Rujuta Parekar

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

AI is constantly evolving and being rapidly integrated into the workplace. Limited research has examined how this integration is affecting employee outcomes, and particularly the impacts of whether employees are expected or mandated to use AI for their work. The present study utilized the challenge-hindrance framework to examine the effect of autonomy in using AI on task satisfaction through challenge and hindrance appraisal among working adults. Since the ability to understand and use AI can influence how individuals perceive it, the moderating effect of AI literacy on the hypothesized research model is also examined. A multi-wave research design was used …

Information Discovery, Interpretation, And Analysis By Institutional Investors Around Earnings Announcements, Sami Keskek, Abdullah Kumas

Accounting Faculty Publications

This study examines how institutional investors allocate trading across the earnings an- nouncement cycle and whether industry trading concentration strengthens that activity. The analysis is motivated by two complementary ideas: public disclosures can increase the value of investors’ prior information, and even sophisticated investors face costly information processing. These perspectives imply that institutional trading need not be concentrated only before disclosure and may be strongest after earnings announcements, when investors combine newly released public information with prior firm- and industry-specific signals. Using daily institutional trading data from Ancerno, we find that institutional net trading is positively related to earnings surprises …

“What Is In Vogue?” A Critical Study Of Photography, Psychology, And Power In Vogue Magazine, Hannah Eve Osinoff

MA Theses

Capitalizing on our obsession with beauty and power, this thesis examines, through psychological and art-historical lenses, how Vogue’s use of photography increased the public’s fascination with elitist culture. Using archives and secondary sources, this thesis aims to prove that photography was so powerful that it compelled readers to covet what they did not have. Accordingly, Vogue serves as a key example of how photography informed cultural perceptions of beauty and class. Ultimately, photography has and continues to impact fashion and media, as exemplified by Vogue’s early dominance of this medium and the resulting change in culture.

An Investigation Into The Scottsdale Art Week: Cultural Focus, Location, And Sustainability In An Already Saturated Environment, Sophia K. Meshel

MA Theses

This thesis examines the role of regional art fairs within the wider American art market and examines how these events contribute to the growth of local cultural artistic ecosystems. While firmly established international art fairs often dominate attention within the global market, lesser known regional fairs play an important role in connecting artists, galleries, collectors, and cultural platforms within specific communities. Through analysis of established regional fairs and consideration of factors such as artist selection, audience engagement, institutional partnerships, and economic impact, this study investigates how art fairs can move beyond temporary commercial events to become meaningful cultural platforms. Particular …

A Firm’S Operational Risk: Data Set And Empirical Evidence, Vivek Astvansh, Joseph J. Simpson

International Business and Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications

Problem definition: A firm’s stakeholders would benefit from a quantitative measure of the managerial disclosure of its operational risk and the implications of this disclosure. However, a quantitative and scalable measure of a firm’s disclosed operational risk is unavailable. Thus, the firm’s stakeholders remain unaware of its disclosed operational risk and the risk’s implications. Methodology/results: U.S. law requires a public firm to textually disclose its operational and nonoperational risks in Item 1A of its annual report (i.e., Form 10-K). We train 64 transformer models on U.S. public firms’ Item 1A text to score 131,920 firm-years (16,959 firms, 2005 to 2024) …

Strategic Signaling Or Structural Friction?: How Ai Disclosure Moderates Resource-Performance Dynamics In Hotels And Restaurants, Jaewan Heo

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an increasingly important strategic issue in the hospitality industry. While prior research has primarily examined AI as an operational technology that improves efficiency and service delivery, less attention has been paid to how AI-related disclosures influence investor evaluations of firm resources. This dissertation investigates whether AI-related disclosures moderate the relationship between organizational resources and financial performance in publicly traded hospitality firms.

Drawing on signaling theory and the resource-based view, this study conceptualizes AI disclosures as strategic signals that shape investor perceptions of firm capabilities and future value creation. Firm-level financial data were obtained from Compustat …

Partisan Local Media And Corporate Voluntary Disclosures: Evidence From Sinclair Acquisitions, Ming Li

Theses and Dissertations

I investigate the impact of local media’s political orientation on firms’ voluntary disclosure, exploiting the acquisitions of local TV stations by Sinclair Broadcast Group, a conservative media conglomerate. Drawing on the media bias theory and implementing a staggered difference‐in‐differences design, I find that the local partisan media affects management earnings forecasts. Specifically, Conservative-leaning CEOs in designated market areas (DMAs) affected by Sinclair’s acquisitions forecast more optimistically, increasing forecast frequency and inflating forecasted earnings. The impact is stronger if the DMAs are more Liberal-leaning before the acquisitions and when firms have weaker corporate governance. I also find that the stock market …

Curating The Other: Colonial Genealogies, Institutional Logics, And Market Classification In The Construction Of 'Latin American Art', Mariana Duque Mordecai

MA in Art Business Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how “Latin American art” emerged as a category within the intertwined fields of museums and the art market, revealing how institutional, linguistic, and economic practices shaped its visibility and limits. It argues that the label was never neutral, but a performative construct born from colonial histories and sustained by market logics that translated cultural difference into economic value. Drawing on decolonial theory, the study examines the creation of MoMA’s Latin American Collection (1943) and Sotheby’s establishment of its Latin American Art Department (1979) to trace how regional identity became a curatorial and commercial framework. Through discourse analysis, …

Revisiting The Foundation Of Strategic Core Theory: Informal Roles And Teamwork Roles In Work Team Centrality, Allen Thomas Shorey

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Strategic core theory makes a distinction between roles within a team that are central to the team’s workflow (i.e., core roles) and those that are not central (i.e., non-core roles) (Humphrey et al., 2009). This line of work has shown that attributes, such as job-related skill of core team members, were more predictive of team performance than those of non-core members. However, this line of work has primarily examined core and non-core roles as defined by formal taskwork roles. In this thesis, I examine patient care teams and management simulation teams with the principal conviction that (a) informal roles and …

A Multi-Study Examination Of Student-Athlete Mental Health And Mental Health Service Delivery In Mid-Major College Athletic Programs, Grace Louis

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Student-athlete mental health has become a central priority in intercollegiate athletics, with the NCAA emphasizing its Mental Health Best Practices (2016) and strengthening and expanding these standards through updated recommendations in 2024. These efforts reflect a broader cultural shift toward recognizing the unique psychological stressors faced by college athletes, including performance pressure, identity foreclosure, high time demands, and transitions both into and out of sport (Moreland et al., 2018; Hughes & Leavey, 2012). Additionally, student-athletes frequently delay or avoid help-seeking due to stigma, time constraints, identity-protective behaviors, cultural norms emphasizing toughness, and limited mental health literacy (Gulliver et al., 2012; …

Mistreatment As Instrumental Or Obstructive? How Appraisals Of Customer Mistreatment Impact Entrepreneurial Action, Nicholas A. Smith

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Theory on entrepreneurial action emphasizes the role of cognition in guiding when and how entrepreneurs act. Research in this area has accordingly focused on identifying antecedents of entrepreneurs’ cognitive processes, often emphasizing environmental or economic conditions that broadly influence how entrepreneurs evaluate opportunities. Yet, much less attention has been given to how everyday social interactions spark cognitive processes that influence venture-directed behavior. This dissertation integrates the transactional theory of stress to examine customer mistreatment, defined as low-quality interpersonal treatment from customers, as a social stressor that impacts entrepreneurs’ cognitive appraisals and resulting venture-directed behavior. Here, I argue that mistreatment from …

Can A "Good Jab" Lead To A "Good Job?": Teasing As An Organizational Performance Feedback Tool, Jared P. Wilson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Performance feedback is a valuable tool for bolstering workplace performance, but the prospect of receiving feedback is often aversive, leading to decreased acceptance, increased turnover intent, and increased recipient stress. One plausible explanation for why critical feedback can be aversive is that feedback is face-threatening. Politeness theory suggests that pro social agents can intentionally attenuate face-threat while still communicating intrinsically threatening information. Pro-social teasing, a humorous form of off-record communication, is one such method, offering a potentially less aversive mode of performance feedback. A sample of 133 participants read a vignette where they took on the role of a grocery …

Feasibility Of Corn Stover For Biogas Production In Northwestern Illinois: A Case Study Of Jo Daviess And Carroll Counties, Anthony Amotoe-Bondzie

Masters Theses

The growing demand for renewable energy and sustainable waste management has intensified interest in agricultural residues such as bioenergy feedstocks. This study evaluated the feasibility of converting corn stover into biogas through anaerobic digestion (AD) in Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties, Illinois, with consideration of the Savanna Industrial Park as a potential centralized processing hub. Although corn stover represents one of the largest biomass resources in the United States, this research identifies a critical gap between theoretical availability and practically recoverable feedstock. Using a mixed-methods framework, the study integrates biomass quantification, methane yield modeling, economic analysis, and policy assessment. Results …