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Full-Text Articles in Business

Language Of Innovation: Alignment Of Boundary Objects, Humayun Rashid Aug 2006

Language Of Innovation: Alignment Of Boundary Objects, Humayun Rashid

Student Scholarship

The role of language in communication has been part of most social science and management disciplines for decades; but in the world of practice, large organizations still struggle with implementing major innovations or changes due to communication barriers between the diverse participants. The lack of acceptance and the challenges of change are especially characteristic of information technology-enabled business transformations that typically involve intense interactions between business executive/managers and information technology (IT) staff. When these diverse groups interact to achieve an over-arching company objective, communication becomes a major organizational challenge. During my discussions with executives over the years in the world …


An Uncertain Future: Economic And Behavioral Influences That Motivate Small Business Owners In The Decision To Adopt An Employee Retirement Plan, Jill B. Mccullough Jun 2006

An Uncertain Future: Economic And Behavioral Influences That Motivate Small Business Owners In The Decision To Adopt An Employee Retirement Plan, Jill B. Mccullough

Student Scholarship

While much recent national public attention has focused on the widespread replacement of large corporations' defined-benefit pension plans with defined-contribution plans, far less attention has been given to the deficiencies concerning retirement plans for employees of small businesses. As almost 50% of United States workers are employed in these small businesses, the future ramifications of an aging workforce with no retirement savings could have serious economic consequences. The objective of this study is to advance the understanding of the factors influencing small business owners in their decision to offer or not offer a retirement plan for the benefit of themselves …


Stimulating Youth Entrepreneurship In Kenya, Rosemary Kamau-Maina Jun 2006

Stimulating Youth Entrepreneurship In Kenya, Rosemary Kamau-Maina

Student Scholarship

A preliminary survey among the Kenyan youth shows that a small but growing number of college graduates are choosing to venture into small-scale businesses on graduation. The researchers interviewed some youth entrepreneurs and found that their experiences in college may have positively influenced their attitudes towards entrepreneurship. This research aims at exploring the link between the experience in colleges and the intentions towards entrepreneurship among college graduates. Institutions that operate in competitive environments are more likely to be innovative and to be more risk-oriented than institutions that do not face competition. In Kenya, privately owned institutions of higher learning do …


Managing Perplexing Congregations: The Case Of Chinese Protestant Church In North America, Siu-Hang P. Chan Jun 2006

Managing Perplexing Congregations: The Case Of Chinese Protestant Church In North America, Siu-Hang P. Chan

Student Scholarship

How religious congregations adapt to change determines whether they will continue to thrive (Ammerman, 1997). Chinese immigrant religious organizations in America face a built-in clash between the generations of Overseas-Born Chinese (OBC) and American-Born Chinese (ABC) that is most visible in their religious congregations (Ling & Cheuk, 1999). This study identifies how Chinese congregations develop interpretive schemes (Bartunek, 1984) that help bridge the generational transition and lead to successful adaptation or its hindrance.


Social Network Destruction And Effective Practices For The Recovery Of Social Capital Assets, R. Drew Sellers Jun 2006

Social Network Destruction And Effective Practices For The Recovery Of Social Capital Assets, R. Drew Sellers

Student Scholarship

The workplace is ripe for establishing and growing professionally useful social networks. Social networks evolve as organizations change and individuals come and go. But, what happens when an organization destructs? Does the collapse of the organization which gave rise to the formation of these relationships claim the social networks as collateral damage? Or, do portions of social networks persist, expand to incorporate new members, and influence post collapse outcomes? This paper provides a set of concepts for understanding the recoverability of an individual’s social capital and social network assets when an organization destructs. It seeks to determine effective practices individuals …


Resource Allocation Problem In Research And Development In The Consumer Goods Industry: How Do Economic Actors Make Decisions In Technological Innovation As To When To Rely On Markets Versus Hierarchies?, Martin Zummersch Jun 2006

Resource Allocation Problem In Research And Development In The Consumer Goods Industry: How Do Economic Actors Make Decisions In Technological Innovation As To When To Rely On Markets Versus Hierarchies?, Martin Zummersch

Student Scholarship

In today’s global business environment, companies in the durable consumer goods industry are engaged in a very competitive environment, in that they are facing continuously increasing consumer demands for lower cost products with the expectation of increasing feature sets. This competitive pressure is felt not only on the demand side but also on the supply side. An increasing number of suppliers from low cost countries offer products at significantly lower cost positions, whereas the concentration process in the retail channel forces manufacturers to maximize efficiency and productivity gains in order to maintain pricing and margins. Therefore, companies invest in Research …


Technology And Process Enabling Trust And Performance In Distributed Collaborative Teams, Eugene A. Pierce Jun 2006

Technology And Process Enabling Trust And Performance In Distributed Collaborative Teams, Eugene A. Pierce

Student Scholarship

A changing business environment with urgency in delivering more products faster and cheaper is imposing new demands on teams where old ways of doing business are becoming obsolete. Much of the resulting interdependence of business activity in the global environment is a key driver in trying to establish effective distributed collaborative teams, also known as virtual teams. As such they are unable to always operate optimally or produce optimal solutions--forcing organizations to reexamine their project team strategies both at the individual and group level. Organizations have applied electronic mediating solutions of various types to support such virtual teams but this …


The Private Provision Of Public Goods: Terrorism Protection In The Critical Infrastructure Industries, James K. Hayes Jun 2006

The Private Provision Of Public Goods: Terrorism Protection In The Critical Infrastructure Industries, James K. Hayes

Student Scholarship

My research interest is to understand the business plan for industries to invest in security against terrorism, if and why this investment is likely to be less than socially optimal and what government's role is in promoting the appropriate level of investment in security in a free market economy. I believe that an industry's ability to pay for such protection is an important factor but have also relied heavily on the economic literature regarding the theoretical circumstances in which a private actor will willingly contribute to the provision of a public good. Unfortunately, the literature is ambiguous in its prediction …


The Role Of Cognitive Biases And Framing In Strategic Decision-Making Processes Regarding Socially Responsible Actions, Jonathan Coleman Jun 2006

The Role Of Cognitive Biases And Framing In Strategic Decision-Making Processes Regarding Socially Responsible Actions, Jonathan Coleman

Student Scholarship

This paper is intended to provide a conceptual framework about the importance of cognitive biases and framing in the strategic decisionmaking (SDM) processes used by corporations when addressing socially responsible actions. Through crises, regulation, activism and attempts to gain competitive advantage, companies are facing a dynamic environment requiring increased incorporation of social actions into corporate strategy. However, the nebulous nature of social actions and the inertia of bureaucracies have led to inefficient implementation of those actions. The conceptual framework developed in this paper sheds light on SDM processes involving corporate social responsibility (CSR), and lays a foundation for research in …


Risk Transference And Risk Perception Analysis Of Serial Entrepreneurs And Venture Capitalists, Francis A. Papay Jun 2006

Risk Transference And Risk Perception Analysis Of Serial Entrepreneurs And Venture Capitalists, Francis A. Papay

Student Scholarship

Risk is inherent in decision­making when uncertain parameters and outcomes are involved. In the creation of a new venture, both entrepreneurs and their subsequent investors assume and share a variety of risks emanating from a multitude of such uncertain parameters of the early developing venture. One such mid­stage investor, the venture capitalist, attempts to mitigate the risks of investing in a new venture by incorporating detailed market, intellectual property strategy, financial and managerial elements into his or her investment decision­making analysis. Since venture capitalists are historically successful less than 20 percent of their investments in nascent companies, it appears that …


Factors That Facilitate Intention To Venture Creation Among Nascent Entrepreneurs - Kenyan Case, Daniel Musungu Oruoch May 2006

Factors That Facilitate Intention To Venture Creation Among Nascent Entrepreneurs - Kenyan Case, Daniel Musungu Oruoch

Student Scholarship

This study was conceived after the realization that there was inadequate literature linking intention to venture creation and psychosocial factors in Kenya. The critical question of the study was; how do psychosocial factors impact on an individual's intention to venture creation? The data was sourced from college students and nascent entrepreneurs in Nairobi. This paper explores the relationship between perceived desirability and feasibility, and intention to venture creation. Further, the paper seeks to establish the relationship between perceived social norms, social support network and entrepreneurial experience on perceived feasibility and desirability. It also seeks to establish the relationship between these …


Investment Consumer Satisfaction: Discovering Lasting Loyalty In Financial Advisory Relationships, Betty A. Moon May 2006

Investment Consumer Satisfaction: Discovering Lasting Loyalty In Financial Advisory Relationships, Betty A. Moon

Student Scholarship

The Baby Boom generation's peak earning years are rapidly coming to a close as its members approach age sixty. The reduction of defined benefit pension plans, minimal retirement savings, and greater life expectancies has created a looming economic crisis. The need for Boomers to save more and prepare better is well-researched and publicized. And while an ever-increasing amount of investment and financial information is available to the public, this wealth of information seems to overwhelm consumers into inaction. Clearly they could use some good advice. What has not received much academic research attention is the value Boomers place on professional …


Immigrants Transnational Activities For Home Community Development: The Nigerian Immigrants In The United States Of America, James B. Ogundule May 2006

Immigrants Transnational Activities For Home Community Development: The Nigerian Immigrants In The United States Of America, James B. Ogundule

Student Scholarship

Immigrant's remittances represent a substantial flow of capital from developed economies to their countries. Unfortunately, the efforts have negative consequences because the recipients take advantage of the asymmetric information dilemmas and divert the resources for personal use against the immigrants' desires (Chami, Fullenkamp, & Jahjah, 1989). Nigerian immigrants in the United States have been engaged in various social, ethnic, professional networks to maintain their cultural heritage and identity. Over the years, they have transformed their efforts into generating and transfer economic capital for the development of their home communities. In a qualitative research study, by the author (Ogundele, 2005), several …


Reporting Medical Error: A Behavioral Perspective, Anna H. Gibson May 2006

Reporting Medical Error: A Behavioral Perspective, Anna H. Gibson

Student Scholarship

A current problem in practice in the medical industry is the underreporting of medical errors. Accordingly, there is no way of knowing whether the harm from medical errors is accurately calculated. Rates of error reporting in high reliability organizations (HROs) exceed those in other industries, including health care. HROs and error reporting have traditionally been examined through a lens of organizational culture and but not from the perspective of individual variations. To study the effect of individual variations on medial error reporting, we build on existing social cognitive theory, specifically adapting Albert Bandura's Triadic Reciprocality Model. The adapted model explores …


Bridging The Governance/Management Gap: A Study Of Effectiveness In Cooperative Organizations, Brian L. Newton May 2006

Bridging The Governance/Management Gap: A Study Of Effectiveness In Cooperative Organizations, Brian L. Newton

Student Scholarship

Academicians and practitioners continually reexamine the performance and interaction between nonprofit cooperative boards and managements as they relate to organizational effectiveness. Despite the volumes of academic research and the scores of practitioner-based "how-to" journals, neither present theory nor practice seems to have it rights. Perhaps the paradox is due to the difficulties of governance and the role that boards perform- or fail to perform- or maybe it fall squarely on the shoulders of management and the complexity of leadership. Regardless of the reasons, a performance gap exists (Nicholson & Kiel, 2004). If left unheeded, this gap will cause ineffectiveness and …


Framing Social Change Management: A Conflict Resolution Praxis With An Economic Correlate, Maurice Apprey May 2006

Framing Social Change Management: A Conflict Resolution Praxis With An Economic Correlate, Maurice Apprey

Student Scholarship

Development or transition economists are generally not part of the interdisciplinary team of clinicians, historians and diplomats that engage in ethno-national social change management. A model is presented that now includes an economist in a specific sub-species of social change management, namely, ethnonational conflict resolution. A SOCS model that considers the Situation, Options, Consequences and Simulation of the best option chosen has been deployed to link non-economic decision making to economic decision making using observations of variations in human development in the face of such macroeconomic issues as external debt, corruption, economic freedom and rate of growth of GDP. Interdisciplinary …


Adaptational Proximity And The Innovation Process: An End-User Focus, Robert M. Krug May 2006

Adaptational Proximity And The Innovation Process: An End-User Focus, Robert M. Krug

Student Scholarship

Organizations promote widely ranging workplace programs and initiatives with the goal of instituting change or maintaining previously adopted change. Often these programs and initiatives are designed to establish global standards through consistent member behavior. Using data from over 400 members of diverse organizations, this study examines several factors that affect program commitment and usage. Drawing upon innovation theory, I focus on the concept of end-user adaptation, or, as used herein, adaptation proximal activities. With regard to this mechanism, I propose and establish the mediating role that personal engagement plays in employee propensity to adopt adaptation proximal activities with regard to …


Bridging The Governance/Management Gap: A Study Of Effectiveness In Cooperative Organizations, Brian L. Newton May 2006

Bridging The Governance/Management Gap: A Study Of Effectiveness In Cooperative Organizations, Brian L. Newton

Student Scholarship

Academicians and practitioners continually reexamine the performance and interaction between nonprofit cooperative boards and managements as they relate to organizational effectiveness. Despite the volumes of academic research and the scores of practitioner-based "how-to" journals, neither present theory nor practice seems to have it rights. Perhaps the paradox is due to the difficulties of governance and the role that boards perform- or fail to perform- or maybe it fall squarely on the shoulders of management and the complexity of leadership. Regardless of the reasons, a performance gap exists (Nicholson & Kiel, 2004). If left unheeded, this gap will cause ineffectiveness and …


What Factors Influence High Technology Entrepreneurial Activity On A Regional Basis: A Look At Utah And Colorado, Randall I. Bambrough May 2006

What Factors Influence High Technology Entrepreneurial Activity On A Regional Basis: A Look At Utah And Colorado, Randall I. Bambrough

Student Scholarship

Regional economies, not only in the United States but throughout the world, are looking for ways to increase high-technology (high-tech) entrepreneurial activity so that they can be home to the next Microsoft, Yahoo or Google. Successful enterprises such as these have historically created jobs with wages that, according to one study, were 95% higher than the nation’s average private sector salary. In addition, tremendous individual wealth has been generated in the past by stock option grants to the “rank and file” employees of these companies. Since most highly successful high-tech companies had venture capital funding at some point, an analysis …


Practicing Pragmatic Collaboration: The Challenge Of Recognizing And Managing Rational Divergence, Surendra S. Khambete May 2006

Practicing Pragmatic Collaboration: The Challenge Of Recognizing And Managing Rational Divergence, Surendra S. Khambete

Student Scholarship

Collaboration is widely studied and continues to draw attention from academics and practitioners alike. This paper builds on an everyday practitioner’s puzzle: Why are good collaborative practices difficult to duplicate? This paper uses an existing theoretical framework to explore the concept of pragmatic collaboration, and introduces the concept of rational divergence, which can weaken collaboration. Clearly the ever­changing economic, political, social, and technical world requires managers to continuously align incentives for individuals, firms, and the industry by way of policy to create a “winning” environment. Let us suppose that all incentives to collaborate are aligned, a culture of trust is …


Leveraging Social Capital As Public Policy Resource In Pennsylvania School Districts, Suzanne K. Moore Apr 2006

Leveraging Social Capital As Public Policy Resource In Pennsylvania School Districts, Suzanne K. Moore

Student Scholarship

This study bridges literature and methods in several fields including public finance, social science and public administration. Survey and archival data were utilized to examine social capital of school board members in 170 Pennsylvania school districts. Specifically this study examined the impact of board member internal and external social capital on two organizational outcomes--community support for school spending and student performance. In addition to measuring external social capital leveraged in the board members' official capacity, an additional dimension was measured to capture the transferability of social capital through board member relationships in the community outside of their role as public …


Emotional Contagion By Branch Managers On Performance In A Financial Sales Setting: The Positive Deviant 'Infectious' Branch Manager, Raymond Massa Apr 2006

Emotional Contagion By Branch Managers On Performance In A Financial Sales Setting: The Positive Deviant 'Infectious' Branch Manager, Raymond Massa

Student Scholarship

This paper examines the factors that could influence moving up the median productivity and decreasing the transaction costs involved with building and maintaining a commission based financial sales team. The prime initiating influence, it is hypothesized, is the Positive Deviant Branch Manager who in his/her capacity as the leader can 'infect' individuals within the branch so as to generate better results. This paper will review Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Emotional Contagion, Self-Efficacy, Optimism and Development and relate these to the findings from an exploratory field work consisting of six pilot interviews. This preliminary research suggests that as a method of selection, …


Reciprocal Learning: An Application To Achieve Better Home Care Effectiveness, Margo Kraft Mar 2006

Reciprocal Learning: An Application To Achieve Better Home Care Effectiveness, Margo Kraft

Student Scholarship

The proposed research will investigate homecare giver practices that employ reciprocal learning in home healthcare settings. A conceptual framework will be presented in order to explore the effectiveness of healthcare practitioners who implement and utilize the reciprocal learning processes. These processes include theories of performance, learning, and relationships. The thesis is that these patients experience greater homecare results than those who do not receive reciprocal learning care. The researcher's conceptual framework will provide basis for a study to gain insight into the precursors of reciprocal learning practices, the nature of reciprocal learning relationships between caregivers and patients, and how these …


Corporate Governance In The Era Of Sarbanes-Oxley: Regulation, Governance, And Performance, Larry W. Ettner Mar 2006

Corporate Governance In The Era Of Sarbanes-Oxley: Regulation, Governance, And Performance, Larry W. Ettner

Student Scholarship

The results of governance research are mixed concerning the financial consequences of externally induced regulations. The debate hinges on the assumption that adoption of regulation is an exogenous factor in determining performance. Drawing on basic insights from institutional theory and innovation studies, I argue that response to regulation is in fact a mediator of the relationship between 'quality of governance' and financial performance. Focusing on the adoption of Sarbanes-Oxley (Sarbox) regulation by publicly traded companies, I hypothesize that governance quality is likely to affect financial success by influencing organizational responses to Sarbox. Using multiple year data from two large datasets, …


Organizational Renewal: Using Appreciative Inquiry To Build Network Capital, Thomas H. Carlson Feb 2006

Organizational Renewal: Using Appreciative Inquiry To Build Network Capital, Thomas H. Carlson

Student Scholarship

The intention of this research project is to explore linkages which exist, both in theory and in practice, between Appreciative Inquiry and social network theory. The approach employed here is to design a multidimensional organizational intervention using socialconstructionist concepts and approaches from appreciative inquiry, positive psychology and social network theory. The intention of this study is to explore the proposition that social innovation, as opposed to traditional problem solving techniques, can be an effective means of addressing challenges of team building, group learning, and organizational renewal and performance improvement. The intervention will be conducted with a newly formed unit of …


Closing The "Equity Gap" In Startup/Seed Investment For Ict Ventures (Israeli Experience), Jimmy Schwarzkopf Jan 2006

Closing The "Equity Gap" In Startup/Seed Investment For Ict Ventures (Israeli Experience), Jimmy Schwarzkopf

Student Scholarship

In Israel\, an innovative program called Entrepreneur/ Executive in Residency (EIR) was initiated by venture capital firms to increase the probability that ICT startup/seed ventures will be funded. EIR programs help VCs to maintain 6%-10% of their portfolio (measured in invested dollars per year) in ventures in the startup/seed stage. This research\, based on qualitative interviews with Israeli VC executives and entrepreneurs who participate in EIR programs\, promotes understanding about how EIR programs work to increase the perceived confidence coefficient of the VC partners until it overcomes the “equity gap” that exists in assessing startup/seed entrepreneurial deals. Variant types of …


The Rx For Electronic Health Care Records: Time, Not Incentives, Edward W. Wright Dec 2005

The Rx For Electronic Health Care Records: Time, Not Incentives, Edward W. Wright

Student Scholarship

Despite promotion as a national objective, information technology remains relatively underutilized in US healthcare. To better understand this reluctance by physicians to implement technology that will arguably improve the efficiency and effectiveness of American healthcare, we studied fifteen family medical practices - interviewing decision makers about the adoption of electronic health record systems. A resulting conceptual model provides a pragmatic explanation of the variables that influence adoption. Prior adoption theories that rely upon intention to use as a predictor of adoption proved inadequate to our purpose. These theories tend to ignore the decision to acquire technology--the heart of the EHR …


Change Leader Career Development: The Interplay Of Social Capital\, Sponsorship And Self Identity During Planned Organizational Change, Zara F. Larsen Dec 2005

Change Leader Career Development: The Interplay Of Social Capital\, Sponsorship And Self Identity During Planned Organizational Change, Zara F. Larsen

Student Scholarship

This paper describes how in absence of strong sponsorship and often regardless of project outcome\, leaders of high impact corporate change initiatives must simultaneously develop bonding social capital to become sustainable members of the enterprise’s leadership team. This particularly holds for executives brought in from outside the firm to lead change. We present the findings of a qualitative research study of 42 projects led by 30 executive leaders from a diverse portfolio of primarily manufacturing companies\, leaders who were either Insiders (those established within their firms) or Outsiders (leaders brought in as fulltime employees from outside the firm specifically to …


Collaboration Between Competitive Firms In The Upstream Oil Industry: The Effect Of Operational Control On Valve Creation, Arun K. Sharma Dec 2005

Collaboration Between Competitive Firms In The Upstream Oil Industry: The Effect Of Operational Control On Valve Creation, Arun K. Sharma

Student Scholarship

In this study I investigate the relationships between oil company competitors as they collaborate to develop mutually owned oil-field projects. Using fundamental theoretical principles derived from Transaction Cost Theory and Property Rights Theory\, I have analyzed fourteen interviews with oil company leaders in an attempt to better explain partnership behavior. The typical oil-field partnership governance model (the Joint Operating Agreement – or JOA) is designed to minimize transaction costs and equitably distribute profit in accordance with Transaction Cost Theory. Property Rights Theory\, however\, more accurately describes JOA partner behavior by accounting for residual rights of control\, which are a more …


Collaboration And Competition Tensions In Multi-Unit Organizations Facing Volatile Business Environments, Baldev Singh Dec 2005

Collaboration And Competition Tensions In Multi-Unit Organizations Facing Volatile Business Environments, Baldev Singh

Student Scholarship

Today’s volatile business environment with unpredictable and shifting customer demands is forcing units within the hierarchy of the organization to respond collectively. But these very units are in competition for corporate support and resources in pursuit of their own interests – expand\, enhance their position\, and ensure differentiation – or their conception of the organization’s interest. This research explores the tensions among inter-unit competition and collaboration and the collective ability of the units to effectively cope with shifting demands of turbulent business environment while optimizing the overall organizational performance. The research findings extend our understanding of collaboration beyond mutual gains\, …