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Full-Text Articles in Business

Boardroom Climate: Understanding How It Impacts Board Level Strategic Decision Making, Bernard C. Bailey Dec 2010

Boardroom Climate: Understanding How It Impacts Board Level Strategic Decision Making, Bernard C. Bailey

Student Scholarship

This study seeks to better understand board effectiveness by opening the "black box" associated with board dynamics and behaviors. Drawing on the process oriented perspective of board level strategic decision making from Forbes and Milliken (1999) as well as the group engagement model by Tyler and Blader (2000; 2003), we analyzed surveys from 151 board directors representing 119 U. S. publicly traded companies. Our findings show that the creation of a climate of respect within the boardroom, as well as board member and top management team (TMT) collaboration are positively related to "effort norms" and "cognitive conflict" processes. TMT and …


Making Markowitz Proud: How High-Performing University Endowments Achieve Portfolio Diversification, Mimi Lord Dec 2010

Making Markowitz Proud: How High-Performing University Endowments Achieve Portfolio Diversification, Mimi Lord

Student Scholarship

University endowments with broad portfolio diversification have been correlated with performance, but antecedents to investment committees' diversification decisions have not been tested previously. Investment committee characteristics including diverse investment expertise, a learning commitment and open-mindedness are postulated to affect portfolio diversification via the mediating effect of Portfolio Theory. The use of Portfolio Theory framework leads to greater portfolio diversification among top-performing endowments than among bottom-performing endowments


The Practices Of A Non-Diversity-Focused Organization And Their Impact On Its Members' Intercultural Behavioral Comfort, Learning, And Competence, Ruth Sessler Bernstein Dec 2010

The Practices Of A Non-Diversity-Focused Organization And Their Impact On Its Members' Intercultural Behavioral Comfort, Learning, And Competence, Ruth Sessler Bernstein

Student Scholarship

The purpose of this research is to examine the impact that university student groups' practices have on their members' intercultural behavioral comfort and interactions and their cultural learning. We surveyed 360 undergraduate members of a national voluntary service organization at 50 U.S. four-year colleges. Findings indicate that an organization's ability to nurture a sense of feeling welcome and identification with organizational purpose predict skills and confidence in dealing with diverse intra-group members' a competency we call behavioral comfort. An additional practice using proactive efforts to promote social interaction predicts behavioral comfort when mediated by a sense of belonging. While high …


The Co-Production Of Social Contagion: A Comparative Analysis Of Two Social Networking Sites, Michael Fisher Dec 2010

The Co-Production Of Social Contagion: A Comparative Analysis Of Two Social Networking Sites, Michael Fisher

Student Scholarship

Theories of technology product adoption and diffusion fail to adequately explain social contagion or viral growth. Additionally\, the role of product design in users propensity to use and recommend products is both understudied and poorly understood. To address a vexing gap in knowledge about what explains viral growth\, we conducted ethnographic interviews with technology executives and users of two social networking sites that have experienced dramatically different growth patterns. Our findings reveal that product co-production and user self identity- not product attributes fuel viral growth. Social networking products co-produced by users and providers\, with meaning socially constructed by customers\, permit …


Stretching Role Breadth: The Affect Of Overachieving It Managers In Underperforming It Organizations, Linda M. Pittenger Dec 2010

Stretching Role Breadth: The Affect Of Overachieving It Managers In Underperforming It Organizations, Linda M. Pittenger

Student Scholarship

We addressed both the well documented perception that corporate information technology organizations fail to maximize returns on the significant investments firms make in them and the paucity of empirical evidence about how IT professionals contribute to the problem . Although there may be many explanations for IT performance shortcomings, we focused on people, seeking to shed light on the competencies of professionals overseeing or executing IT projects in three multinational firms operating in North America in distinctly different industries. Our findings revealed differences between two tiers of IT professionals individual contributors and managers appraised by their organizations as achieving two …


Context-General And Context-Specific Determinants Of Online Satisfaction And Loyalty For Commerce And Content Sites, Rakesh Kumar Niraj Aug 2010

Context-General And Context-Specific Determinants Of Online Satisfaction And Loyalty For Commerce And Content Sites, Rakesh Kumar Niraj

Faculty Scholarship

We use the context-general and context-specific factor approach to examine the generalizability of satisfaction and loyalty models across two disparate online contexts -- online retailing and content site browsing. Our conceptual models include the moderating effects of user-characteristic Web expertise, besides main effects of Web site factors and Web expertise. Results indicate that satisfaction and loyalty judgments are sensitive to both context-general and context-specific determinants, as well as to some interactions between them. Among context-general determinants, ease of use and customer service are positively related to satisfaction, Web community to loyalty, and Web expertise to both satisfaction and loyalty. Flow, …


The Mechanisms And Effects Of Boundary Spanning For Enterprise-Class System Development Project Success, Alan G.D. Fisk Apr 2010

The Mechanisms And Effects Of Boundary Spanning For Enterprise-Class System Development Project Success, Alan G.D. Fisk

Student Scholarship

Information System Development (ISD) relies on cross-functional teams with distinct cultures and non-overlapping knowledge. Developing a shared understanding of the business needs and associated IS solutions by drawing upon these disparate knowledge sets is critical for project success. We extend theorizing regarding the mechanisms and effects of boundary on ISD success by exploring the relationships between acculturation, competence, and boundary spanning roles. We utilize survey data derived from 139 ISD projects in a global US automotive OEM, completed between 2006 and 2009. We show that the presence of boundary spanning roles, acculturative processes, and cross-domain knowledge and experience acquisition are …


The Impact Of Charisma In Employee Volunteer Programs: Do Employees Motivate Their Coworkers?, Don E. Teague Mar 2010

The Impact Of Charisma In Employee Volunteer Programs: Do Employees Motivate Their Coworkers?, Don E. Teague

Student Scholarship

The influence of charismatic coworkers on employee motivation to volunteer is examined in a corporate context in which group social identity has already been established. Beyond "asking" or volunteers, inspiration and personal experience are recruiting tools whose effects on motivation we measure for 117 corporate employee volunteers. Employee group social identity is tested as an antecedent variable mediated by charismatic recruiting. The results indicate that inspiration and charisma positively influence motivation among employee volunteers and mediate the effect of group social identity. This study responds to the nonprofit sector's call for more theory-driven research on employee volunteering with practical applications …


How Many Minds Does A Team Have? Contextual Ambidexterity And Goal Harmony In Healthcare, Sridhar Belavadi Seshadri Feb 2010

How Many Minds Does A Team Have? Contextual Ambidexterity And Goal Harmony In Healthcare, Sridhar Belavadi Seshadri

Student Scholarship

"Ambidexterity: Noun: 1. ambidextrous ease, skill, or facility; 2. unusual cleverness; 3.duplicity; deceitfulness." Retrieved March 21, 2010, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ambidexterity Despite their research and educational prowess, Academic Medical Centers are in a crisis. Public reporting of quality and patient satisfaction data, increasing costs, stiffer competition, and anticipated tightening of budgets have created new levels of urgency among medical school deans and hospital CEOs to increase the effectiveness of the clinical enterprise on multiple fronts. This study models an AMC as a loosely coupled system and examines how interdisciplinary teams--comprising administrators, physicians, and nurses--work to harmonize seemingly disparate quality improvement …


The Payoffs Of Championing 'Tough Issues' In The Executive Suite; Why Corporations Need To Nurture Quixotic Champions, Nancy E. Mcinerney-Lacombe Jan 2010

The Payoffs Of Championing 'Tough Issues' In The Executive Suite; Why Corporations Need To Nurture Quixotic Champions, Nancy E. Mcinerney-Lacombe

Student Scholarship

When tough issues, defined as those issues that remain uncomfortably unspoken, are “championed” in the executive suite, who does it and with what results? More than 400 senior corporate executives ─ roughly half of them women ─ were surveyed to shed light on this phenomenon – where one person in a group is prepared to break the silence on a compelling –albeit uncomfortable – issue to engage their peers who would prefer to avoid both them and the issue. Our work builds on – but is distinguished from – limited and narrowly scoped previous studies on championing. We studied the …


Winning Consumer Trust And Loyalty In Distrust-Dominated Environments: A Consumer Perspective, Rachel Y. Talton Jan 2010

Winning Consumer Trust And Loyalty In Distrust-Dominated Environments: A Consumer Perspective, Rachel Y. Talton

Student Scholarship

Driven in part by recent corporate failures, consumers are increasingly distrustful of motivations and behaviors of corporate leaders, firms, and entire sectors of the economy. How do firms win consumer loyalty in distrust-dominated environments? We use two competing theoretical lenses to investigate the most salient strategic path to firm loyalty in trust- and distrust-dominated environments, from the consumer perspective. We find that consumer distrust in a firm is a grave threat to loyalty across industries. Additionally, we show that distrust-dominated environments present unique opportunity for some firms with high consumer trust to gain loyalty, while trust-dominated environments present fewer opportunities.


Impact Of Microfinance On Socioeconomic Status Of The Poor: The Case Of Malawi, William J. Oliver Jan 2010

Impact Of Microfinance On Socioeconomic Status Of The Poor: The Case Of Malawi, William J. Oliver

Student Scholarship

Over the past 30 years, microfinance (MF) has grown to a $30 billion industry involving over 3,000 organizations. Half of these microfinance institutions, however, have nothing more than anecdotal stories about the impact of MF on poverty. The connection between MF and poverty eradication is far from resolved. This paper addresses an ongoing debate by drawing upon two bodies of literature: poverty eradication and microfinance measurement. It articulates a causal model of the effects of MF on poverty that is unique in three regards. First, it measures the effect on socioeconomic status (SES) using for the first time a reflective …


Boundary Crossings: Professional And Situational Influences On Nonprofit Leaders And Their Organizations, Antoinette E. La Belle Jan 2010

Boundary Crossings: Professional And Situational Influences On Nonprofit Leaders And Their Organizations, Antoinette E. La Belle

Student Scholarship

A leadership crisis in the nonprofit sector looms. "Crossovers" from the corporate sector present an alternative source of CEO talent but a dearth of empirical research about boundary crossing has limited our understanding about the effects of leader origin on organizational performance. We surveyed 631 leaders who had crossed one to three boundaries--sector, organization and/or position--into top U.S. nonprofit jobs. Analysis of 18 combinations of leader experience including sector path, recent origin and role shift revealed--regardless of boundary--striking similarities rather than stark differences in how nonprofit CEOs lead. The effects of leaders' sector experience and diversity of experience on behavioral …


Boundary Crossings: Professional And Situational Influences On Nonprofit Leaders And Their Organizations, Antoinette E. La Belle Jan 2010

Boundary Crossings: Professional And Situational Influences On Nonprofit Leaders And Their Organizations, Antoinette E. La Belle

Student Scholarship

A leadership crisis in the nonprofit sector looms. "Crossovers" from the corporate sector present an alternative source of CEO talent but a dearth of empirical research about boundary crossing has limited our understanding about the effects of leader origin on organizational performance. We surveyed 631 leaders who had crossed one to three boundaries--sector, organization and/or position--into top U.S. nonprofit jobs. Analysis of 18 combinations of leader experience including sector path, recent origin and role shift revealed--regardless of boundary--striking similarities rather than stark differences in how nonprofit CEOs lead. The effects of leaders' sector experience and diversity of experience on behavioral …


Causal Ambiguity And Its Impacts On Firm Performance, Richard I. Araya Jan 2010

Causal Ambiguity And Its Impacts On Firm Performance, Richard I. Araya

Student Scholarship

Dynamic capabilities and associated shifts in learning make firm's capabilities hard to imitate, and are critical in achieving sustainable competitive advantage. Consequently, strategic management literature has recognized that the presence of causal ambiguity plays a pivotal role in generating inter-firm differences in obtained rents. At the same time, causal ambiguity may hamper internal diffusion of capabilities within the firm negatively affecting its performance (Szulanki, 1996). Overall, the relationship between dynamic capabilities, causal ambiguity and firm performance has remained poorly understood. In this study, we seek to address this gap by developing a causal model that depicts how management perceptions of …


Causal Ambiguity And Its Impacts On Firm Performance, Richard I. Araya Jan 2010

Causal Ambiguity And Its Impacts On Firm Performance, Richard I. Araya

Student Scholarship

Dynamic capabilities and associated shifts in learning make firm's capabilities hard to imitate, and are critical in achieving sustainable competitive advantage. Consequently, strategic management literature has recognized that the presence of causal ambiguity plays a pivotal role in generating inter-firm differences in obtained rents. At the same time, causal ambiguity may hamper internal diffusion of capabilities within the firm negatively affecting its performance (Szulanki, 1996). Overall, the relationship between dynamic capabilities, causal ambiguity and firm performance has remained poorly understood. In this study, we seek to address this gap by developing a causal model that depicts how management perceptions of …


The 'Where' And 'How' Of Exploration And Exploitation: Balancing Leadership Styles To Drive Innovation And Performance, Ann Kowal Smith Jan 2010

The 'Where' And 'How' Of Exploration And Exploitation: Balancing Leadership Styles To Drive Innovation And Performance, Ann Kowal Smith

Student Scholarship

Using a global sample of public companies, we explored the relationships among transformational and transactional leadership, exploration and exploitation and performance. First, balanced leadership styles drive more innovative learning outcomes than either single style. Second, elements of an expanded framework of innovative learning, including “where” ideas are sourced and “how” they are shared, fully mediate the relationship between leadership and performance. Specifically, “how” drives earnings growth and “where” drives revenue growth. We propose a nuanced ambidexterity, whereby leaders balance not only exploration and exploitation, but also idea sourcing and idea sharing to unleash their organization’s collective wisdom and drive performance.


When The Risk Of System Use If Life Or Death: A Study Of The Adoption Of Surgical Technology, Jonathan B. Brewster Jan 2010

When The Risk Of System Use If Life Or Death: A Study Of The Adoption Of Surgical Technology, Jonathan B. Brewster

Student Scholarship

Much of the research in IT innovation diffusion has been in the study of the diffusion of common technological innovations that intersect human activity in business processes (e.g. web-based e-commerce). There has been less research into the diffusion of specialized technologies in high risk environments where the potentially highly negative but low probability consequences of adopting the technology can affect the adoption decision. Such technologies are employed by highly trained individuals whose work is enhanced and transformed by the IT use. Computer assisted surgery (CAS) exemplifies this technology diffusion arena: surgeons must exhibit a high level of trust in such …


Board Level Strategic Decision-Making: Process Characteristics And Context, Bernard C. Bailey Dec 2009

Board Level Strategic Decision-Making: Process Characteristics And Context, Bernard C. Bailey

Student Scholarship

How do boards make strategic decisions? Semi-structured interviews with twenty eight directors of small to medium size publicly traded U.S. companies in the high technology sector were conducted in order to gain insights into strategic decision-making at the board level. We identified six characteristics that distinguish two divergent views about strategic decision-making. These characteristics include the role of the board chair, the boardroom climate, the board's shared vision and goals, the board's agency primacy, the board's process for decision closure and the board's level of involvement in the strategic planning process.


The Effects Of Strategic Outsourcing Management On Absorptive Capacity: A Practioner-Scholar Perspective, Beth Fitz Gibbon Dec 2009

The Effects Of Strategic Outsourcing Management On Absorptive Capacity: A Practioner-Scholar Perspective, Beth Fitz Gibbon

Student Scholarship

Common sense would say, if you are going to outsource innovation, find the most competent supplier and acquire the most codified technology. This research hypothesizes a more counter-intuitive approach by empirically measuring how a firm's outsourcing strategy affects its Absorptive Capacity, which serves here as a proxy for firm sustainability. It is proposed that a complementary buyer-supplier relationship will have a significant positive effect on a firm's absorptive capacity, thereby enhancing its long-term effectiveness, as well as its short-term efficiency. On the other hand, the more competent the supplier relative to the buyer, the less knowledge the outsourcing buyer will …


Board Level Strategic Decision-Making: Process Characteristics And Context, Bernard C. Bailey Dec 2009

Board Level Strategic Decision-Making: Process Characteristics And Context, Bernard C. Bailey

Student Scholarship

How do boards make strategic decisions? Semi-structured interviews with twenty eight directors of small to medium size publicly traded U.S. companies in the high technology sector were conducted in order to gain insights into strategic decision-making at the board level. We identified six characteristics that distinguish two divergent views about strategic decision-making. These characteristics include the role of the board chair, the boardroom climate, the board's shared vision and goals, the board's agency primacy, the board's process for decision closure and the board's level of involvement in the strategic planning process.


The Paradox Of Evidenced-Based Management In Higher Education, Alice J. Walker Dec 2009

The Paradox Of Evidenced-Based Management In Higher Education, Alice J. Walker

Student Scholarship

The potential role for evidence-based management approaches to transform systems of higher learning and meet the growing needs of our knowledge economy is widely proposed. Most of the empirical work on evidence-based practice and management has concentrated on dynamics directly related to the use of evidence. This study takes a broader view of the management process of inquiry in which evidence is collected, interpreted or ignored. Semi-structured interviews with 31 faculty, staff and administrative members of college quality improvement committees were conducted in a grounded approach to qualitative research. What emerged was an intriguing tale of passion, power, and paradox …


Creating Sustained Collaborations: Do Rule-Breaking, Rule-Making, And Appreciative Behaviors Foster Member Ownership?, Nonie Brennan Dec 2009

Creating Sustained Collaborations: Do Rule-Breaking, Rule-Making, And Appreciative Behaviors Foster Member Ownership?, Nonie Brennan

Student Scholarship

Non profit collaboration has long been identified as an effective approach to meeting community needs. It is particularly recognized as a solution to the challenges encountered by non profits during periods of economic duress. This study examines the relationship between the sense of ownership felt by non profit collaborative partners and their intent to sustain collaboration. We posit that three particular behaviors: rule breaking, rule making, and appreciative behavior encourage participants to develop a sense of ownership leading to collaborative sustainability. Our findings indicate that rule breaking and rule making behavior reinforces a sense of collaboration ownership which contributes to …


Driving Reform And Innovation Diffusion In Government: It Takes Guerilla Tactics To Slay A Gorilla, George K. Makiya Dec 2009

Driving Reform And Innovation Diffusion In Government: It Takes Guerilla Tactics To Slay A Gorilla, George K. Makiya

Student Scholarship

Key IT and business executives at all twenty six US Federal government departments and agencies were interviewed to assess constraints to Enterprise Architecture Programs congressionally mandated in 1996 to transform bureaucratic political institutions into efficient business enterprises. Results demonstrate the vital role of the individual in reform and innovation diffusion. Past empirical and longitudinal studies in reform and innovation diffusion have been conducted separately. This study synthesizes the twin diffusion phenomena. Our data show that "guerilla" tactics can overcome the "gorilla" forces of dominant culture and rigid institutional frameworks.


Factors Influencing Collaboration Of Western Business Practitioners And Ngos Who Assist Small To Medium Sized Enterprises In Developing Countries: A Qualitative Analysis, William J. Oliver Dec 2009

Factors Influencing Collaboration Of Western Business Practitioners And Ngos Who Assist Small To Medium Sized Enterprises In Developing Countries: A Qualitative Analysis, William J. Oliver

Student Scholarship

We examined how Western Business Practitioners (WBPs) and Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs) interact to assist Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries. Interviews with North American WBPs, and NGOs in ten developing countries provided the data for the study. Findings suggest that partnership form (on a continuum from transactional to collaborative) has a direct and positive relationship with the extent of complementarity achieved by the actors. Complementarity, recommended as best ensured by management intervention, overcomes partners' geographical, cultural and socio/political differences, reduces power differentials, mitigates distrust and promotes communication. Three elements of complementarity--learning, communication and process--are discussed.


Government Leadership-Business Voice: An Interaction And Mediation Analysis Of Business Environment Reform In Indonesia, Jaime Chua Dec 2009

Government Leadership-Business Voice: An Interaction And Mediation Analysis Of Business Environment Reform In Indonesia, Jaime Chua

Student Scholarship

Moving beyond the competing theories on public leadership and citizen voice, the study investigates whether local public executives' influence on reform depends on business voice; and whether leadership or voice is mediated by public-private sector dialogue before either can influence reform. Extending Hirschman's Exit-Voice-Loyalty theory, the conditional effects of leadership and voice are tested to assess if quasi-exit (collusion), association membership, or dissatisfaction with government services moderate reform. Multi-group invariance tests are conducted for each moderating condition to assess if key findings are robust across business firms. Based on structural equation analysis of survey data from over 12,000 small, medium-sized, …


Smaller College Endowments: Exploring The Links Between Personality Characteristics, Risk Perceptions, And Investment Performance, Mimi Lord Dec 2009

Smaller College Endowments: Exploring The Links Between Personality Characteristics, Risk Perceptions, And Investment Performance, Mimi Lord

Student Scholarship

Research on college and university endowments frequently refers to the inability of smaller endowments to achieve the strong investment results of much larger endowments. Reasons cited are their lack of a professional investment staff and their lack of access to superior money managers. Yet there are many smaller endowments with long-term performance records that rival those of much larger endowments. This qualitative study explores factors that differentiate top-quartile and bottom-quartile endowments in the $100 million to $200 million size over a 10-year period. Findings reveal a number of personality and risk-related factors that distinguish top and bottom performers. They suggest …


Beyond Financial Structures And Operational Standards: Measuring Negotiated Accountability, Michael N. Wolfe Dec 2009

Beyond Financial Structures And Operational Standards: Measuring Negotiated Accountability, Michael N. Wolfe

Student Scholarship

Historically, accountability research has focused on operational methodologies and financial structures and disclosures designed to advantageously position, legitimate and heighten the esteem in which the nonprofit organization is held by various stakeholders. Society, however, has become increasingly interested in transparency beyond structural and financial boundaries and is more concerned with emergent forms of accountability. Grounded in recent qualitative research, the present study develops and tests a measurable form of negotiated accountability and the role this type of accountability plays in linking organizational commitment and performance in a nonprofit context. A new second-order negotiated accountability construct consisting of six dimensions is …


An Economic Development Paradox: The Impact Of Linkages And Synergies Among Local Agents In The Development Of An Emergent Bioscience Cluster And Associated Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Francisco Montalvo Dec 2009

An Economic Development Paradox: The Impact Of Linkages And Synergies Among Local Agents In The Development Of An Emergent Bioscience Cluster And Associated Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Francisco Montalvo

Student Scholarship

Although bioscience industrial clusters have been widely researched in the last decade, the role of knowledge creation, management, and transfer as driving forces for industrial cluster competitiveness remains unclear. A better appreciation of knowledge creation and retention as determinants of industrial cluster success, and the role of foreign direct investment may be of value to industry decision makers, policy makers, and researchers worldwide. Our research revealed a paradox regarding the intensity of foreign direct investment (FDI) by multinational companies (MNCs) and the limited development of a local entrepreneurial ecosystem in an emergent bioscience cluster. While cluster development seems a logical …


Why They Stay: The Ideal Selves Of Persistent Women Engineers, Kathleen R. Buse Dec 2009

Why They Stay: The Ideal Selves Of Persistent Women Engineers, Kathleen R. Buse

Student Scholarship

Women remain dramatically underrepresented in the engineering profession – and far fewer women than men persist in the field. In the first study of women who stay (vs. stray) from corporate engineering careers, we interviewed 21 long tenured female engineers and a control group of ten women who opted out of the profession after an average decade of employment to generate a grounded theory about their personal and professional “lived lives.” Women constitute only 11% of the U.S. corporate engineering workforce and remain as engineers for shorter periods of time than men. Several studies have described why women leave engineering …