Business Commons^™

The Rapid Increase Of Ransomware Attacks Over The 21st Century And Mitigation Strategies To Prevent Them From Arising, Sanjay Jacob

Senior Honors Theses

Cyber-attacks have continued to become more common throughout the past century as more people are exposed to the Internet. Every year, various studies, reports, and scholarly research is done to emphasis the rapid increase of attacks. In this honors thesis, the student sought to gather further information about the rise of ransomware attacks, various cyber threats, discuss the psychological manipulation that exist, and provided the reader with an ethical complement of cyber-attacks. Additionally, case studies from previous research have been analyzed and mitigation strategies have been explained to provide the reader with practical application. This research emphasizes in on key …

Understanding Romania's Poverty: A Historical Overview Of Economics And Politics And Their Implications On Poverty Today, Benjamin Bucur

Senior Honors Theses

Romania is a country with a high-income economy that is experiencing considerable growth following its economic reforms of earlier decades. With growth, tendencies for an unequal society are prevalent. Therefore, appropriate economic policies that are specifically targeted toward bottlenecks are essential. This thesis seeks to outline the major types of poverty in Romania while also offering actionable entrepreneurial and educational insights that practically combat poverty at its roots.

Business Viability & Communication Potential Of Modern Education Models, Santiago Frank

Senior Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the education sector at large. This study aims to investigate which current education model best balances the sub-criteria of business viability and communication efficacy in the milieu of our modern context. In this study, five education models have been studied in order to uncover their performance in these two sub-criteria. Each model is analyzed in terms of its objective performance. The results reveal that in-person education provides slightly better scores for communication efficacy as well as much higher student and faculty satisfaction, while online education is incredibly economically viable. While the data is unclear, in …

Antitrust For Dominant Digital Platforms: An Alternative To The Monopoly Power Standard To Restore Competition, Jordan Ramsey

Senior Honors Theses

Antitrust law is meant to promote competition by prohibiting anticompetitive business practices such as mergers and acquisitions as well as exclusionary conduct. Judicial interpretation of antitrust law has allowed dominant digital platforms to undertake anticompetitive actions without prosecution. The Sherman Antitrust Act should be amended to remove the monopoly power standard that allows firms to engage in anticompetitive conduct as long as the conduct does not create or uphold monopoly power. The amendment would make anticompetitive conduct illegal regardless of monopoly power, as long as six proof requirements are met. This would result in lessened market concentration, which would benefit …

The Christian Entrepreneur: A Phenomenological Study On The Impact Of Christian Entrepreneurs As Disciple-Makers, Charis Meegan Rooks

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

While Christian entrepreneurs have a diverse range of life experiences and perspectives, there is often an unawareness of the vital role they play in supporting the church, workplace, and community in discipleship. This phenomenological qualitative study was conducted to explore the formative life experiences (positive and negative) that shape Christian entrepreneurs’ ability to promote discipleship in the church, workplace, and community. The grounding theory underlying this study was servant leadership, which was used to understand if the church’s growth, necessary to fulfill God’s Great Commission, can be aided by Christian entrepreneurs willing to serve. Through in-depth interviews with Christian entrepreneurs …

Effective Strategies For Midsized Nonprofit Human Service Organizations In The Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area To Maintain Financial Sustainability, Ivy Ann Beckham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative multiple case study explored the perspectives of nonprofits on factors impacting and challenges associated with utilizing revenue diversification and structured spending in midsized nonprofit human service organizations (NHSO) in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The researcher conducted semi-structured one-on-one interviews with eight nonprofit officials in Washington, D.C., to gain insight into their perspectives on revenue and spending strategies. The researcher also used document review to compare and verify the information from the semi-structured interviews and add more nuances to what the interviews provided. The findings of the study demonstrated that NHSOs could implement revenue diversification and structured spending …

Assessing The Lack Of Project Management Soft Skills Toward Project Completion Rates, Rene Orlando Aleman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Project managers have a challenging yet rewarding occupation that directly affects everyone within the community. To overcome their challenges, project managers rely on their training, experience, and the skills they develop throughout their careers. This research aimed to determine if there is a correlation between applying interpersonal skills as a project manager and higher completion rates within the construction industry. Additionally, this research aimed to assess the relationship between interpersonal skills and quality completion rates in the construction industry. The study was conducted within the construction industry, specifically focusing on road and building construction, surveying project managers working for private …

Air Force Support For The Joint Military Environment: A Nato Allied Command Operations Headquarters Case Study, James R. Hamilton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The nature of joint and international military service is built on a foundation of multiple service components sending their best officers to support, develop, and strategize for operational impact. If leaders fail to support sending or training their officers in a joint context, then military defense may become myopic, stemming from an internal focus on air or land functionality instead of an external focus on joint air and land functionality. While several studies have highlighted the need for greater support in the joint officer community, there seemed to be other factors that contribute to senior leaders guiding absence of deliberate …

The Role Of Spiritual Fitness On Burnout And Organizational Commitment In High-Stress Environments, Amy Mcdonald Stevens

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative study examined the relationships between burnout, spiritual fitness, and organizational commitment in National Guard servicemembers. Recent deployments and chronic stressors have resulted in an emergence of mental health concerns, burnout, and turnover intentions in this population. Research has indicated that elements of spirituality address these concerns and suggest that more spiritual individuals are more resilient, less susceptible to burnout, and find positive meaning in work. This study examined these variables using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1981), the Organizational Commitment Scale (Meyer & Allen, 1997), and the SOCOM Spiritual Fitness Scale (Alexander et al., 2020). Correlations …

A Predictive And Causal-Comparative Study Examining Emotional Exhaustion, Workload, Surface Acting, And Inclusion On Managers, Dana M. Morris

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative and predictive correlational design study is to examine how workload, surface acting, work group inclusion, and emotional exhaustion impact African-American and Caucasian American managers in domestic, white-collar roles. A critical variable is emotional exhaustion which has been identified as a key characteristic and predictor of burnout in the workplace. While many current burnout studies have excluded underrepresented minorities and focused on job performance and job demands in human service industries, this study addresses relevant psychological workplace factors that have been associated with detrimental mental and physical conditions of underrepresented minorities - emotional dissonance and …

Veteran Transition To The Workplace, Jameson Gordon

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Military veterans’ skillsets and experience are multi-faceted, giving veterans the capability of adaptation, leadership, and decision-making as a general foundation on which they have built many other focused skills (Albertson, 2019; Carpenter & Silberman, 2020; Davis & Minnis, 2017). The use of a directed training intervention to educate and enlighten hiring teams within the human resources field is essential to changing perspectives and giving decision-makers the tools necessary to properly screen candidates for hire. This qualitative study’s purpose was to do just that. The overall purpose was to decrease transitioning veteran unemployment rates by educating Human Resource Departments (HRDs) and …

Managing Cyber Defense As A Business Threat For Small And Medium Enterprises, Binh Quang Vo

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The U.S small and medium businesses (SMBs) are constantly attacked by cybercriminals. Alarmingly, the number of victimized SMBs is growing considerably every year. This results in the increasing loss of billions of dollars and risks to the national economy. The problem addressed was the rising number of cyberattacks critically harming SMBs resulting in revenue loss, damages to reputation, and business closure. The purpose of this research was to reveal the contemporary barriers and challenges that impact cybersecurity competencies of SMBs. This study used semi-structured interviews of participants who are currently working as cyber professionals in SMBs across industries. The goal …

Artificial Intelligent Enabled Supply Chains As A Competitive Advantage, Nathan Adato

Senior Honors Theses

The focus of this paper is on the topics of artificial intelligence and supply chain management and how artificial intelligence-enabled supply chains provide organizations with competitive advantages. The supply chain’s adoption of data collection technologies as part of digital transformation and movements of industry 4.0 creates a strong foundation for artificial intelligence analytics. Artificial intelligence has three branches sensing and interacting, decision-making, and learning. Each branch uses its algorithms and serves a different purpose for the business. Artificial intelligence-enabled supply chains create unique, inimitable competitive advantages that fit Michael Porter’s five forces.

And The Oscar Goes To... Tiktok, Dawson Bley

Senior Honors Theses

Companies have been forced to take note of the emerging social media app, TikTok, which has attracted more than a billion users to its platform and invited businesses into an uncharted market ready to be exploited. By seeking to understand and employ the unique features which have led to TikTok’s far-reaching success, many companies can similarly improve their position. In particular, traditional movie companies, which have recently suffered blows at the box office due to factors such as competition with online streaming, could benefit from an analysis of this tech to restore lost engagement and revenue. Specifically, how can the …

Women: Radically Glorified, Oppressed, Or Set Free?, Easton Finger

Senior Honors Theses

A woman’s identity in society has often been debated, starting from the beginning of time. The answer to this identity question has been sought in systems ranging from oppression, slavery, radical feminism, and over-exaltation of power. This thesis suggests that the value of women and their role is not found in those systems but in the knowledge of their Creator. Two questions will be posed, including how women’s identity has been previously defined and can a woman’s identity be found in her Creator God. The history of women in biblical times will be reviewed, as well as how Christ valued …

Cross-Cultural Managerial Behavior – A Comparative Study Between The Republic Of Korea And The United States Of America, Colson Richter

Senior Honors Theses

Among the many trade partners the United States engages with, the Republic of Korea is the nation’s seventh largest trading partner – exchanging over $154.9 Billion in 2020 (USTR, 2021). Despite this strong economic relationship between these two nations, the cultural distance that these societies have is one of the largest within anthropological academia (Hofstede, 2017). This reality creates the need for a solid framework of a management-focused, cultural understanding between these two countries.

In this study, academic literature will be collected and reviewed to lend insight into particular areas of culture that an American and Korean perspective would be …

Tracking The Donor Dollar: A Critical Examination Of Ngo Impact, Joshua Werth

Senior Honors Theses

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) comprise the backbone of civilization. Whether intended or not, governments fail to improve social situations, financial standings, and spirituality comprehensively. NGOs attempt to cover these areas. From Angola to Zambia, countless NGOs exist around the world; however, many fail due to a misplaced focus internally on the annual donations received rather than externally on the disenfranchised. Additionally, even if NGOs manage to stay afloat, they will need help procuring funds and then distributing those resources with the most effective impact for the impoverished. The honors thesis proposed will attempt to determine more effective impact measurements for NGOs, …

Sports Leagues And Organizations’ Financial Recovery From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Matthew Quackenbos

Senior Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 caused a global shutdown that immediately stopped all revenue of hosting sporting events for sports leagues. This resulted in a financial struggle for these leagues and organizations that they had to work to overcome. Using public access to financial statements and records, this report examines the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports leagues and organizations and how they were able to recover in the years following the pandemic.

Analyzing The Value, Function, And Regulation Of Cryptocurrency, Joshua Ide

Senior Honors Theses

Cryptocurrency is an emerging asset in the financial field designed to act as an alternative medium of exchange to fiat currency. The researcher explores the value, function, and regulation of cryptocurrency to explain the complex system and provide insight into the asset’s prospects. The conclusion indicates that cryptocurrency has a wide variety of uses beyond traditional currency transactions. It also indicates that the recent downturn in the cryptocurrency market is correlated to the drop in the stock market that began in 2021 and is prolonged by economists’ fears of a recession in 2023. Future research should monitor whether the cryptocurrency …

Legitimate Business As Mission Ventures And Effective Witness, Summer Rogers

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis discusses the practice of missionaries creating cover businesses solely for visa purposes, which brings a dishonest presence and harms the ministry. In contrast, Business as Mission (BAM) is a strategic business model to bring the gospel overseas through social, economic, and spiritual impact. Through a literature review, best practices for legitimate BAM ventures are explored based on studies done by BAM professionals and experts. Research shows that Christian businesspeople can establish an authentic image and credible witness through BAM businesses that are integrated into the local community, generate a profit, and incorporate biblical principles into business operations. BAM …

Understanding Workplace Conditions Contributing To Physician Burnout Prevalence In Maryland State, Fatima Adefunke Queen

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Physician burnout is a three-dimensional work-related response to prolonged and unresolved stress. The prevalence of up to 50 percent is higher among primary care providers in the U.S. and is a significant healthcare problem. This qualitative multiple-case study explored workplace conditions contributing to physician burnout in Maryland State. In a purposive sample, the researcher interviewed twenty-one (21) physicians comprised of Medical Doctors (M.D.), Doctors of Nursing Practitioners (DNPs), and Nurse Practitioners (NP). The Shanafelt's well-being framework was applied to understand physician burnout, workplace conditions, and attrition. Data was collected and analyzed using semi-structured interviews and literature. Five themes analyzed are: …

Effective Communication In The Virtual Environment, Michael Binda

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Technology has helped change the way we communicate. The onset of COVID-19 has accelerated the use of technology to communicate. The virtual environment has allowed organizations and stakeholders to communicate utilizing technology regardless of proximity, time, and distance to continue moving the organization forward. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand effective communication strategies for organizations to adopt and share in order to gain support and engagement from a growing audience of those attending virtual meetings. Organizations and leaders when communicating with consistency, clear, transparent, and authentic communication were the drivers on what leaders and subordinates feel constitutes …

High Health Care Cost In The U.S. And Its Impact On An African American Church Community In East Orange, New Jersey, William Charles

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Access to affordable quality health care has been a long debating issue in the United States. Many scholarly research articles indicated that the cost of insurance premiums, deductibles, co-payments, and prescription drugs continue to rise every year. Despite various efforts to reduce the cost of health care in the United States, the trend remains the same. Au contraire, more Americans are unable to afford the cost of prescription drugs. More Americans postpone their medical treatments. More Americans find it difficult to financially address their health care needs. It can be inferred that high health cost has a significant impact in …

Teamstepps And Organizational Culture, Amelia Arca Quinto

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Patient safety issues remain despite several strategies developed for their deterrence. While many safety initiatives bring about improvement, they are repeatedly unsustainable and short-lived. The index hospital’s goal was to build an organizational culture within a groundwork that improves teamwork and continuing healthcare team engagement. Teamwork influences the efficiency of patient care, patient safety, and clinical outcomes, as it has been identified as an approach for enhancing collaboration, decreasing medical errors, and building a culture of safety in healthcare. The facility implemented Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS), an evidence-based framework which was used for …

The Effects Of Positive Leadership Behaviors And Organizational Justice On Employee Engagement, Felicia A. Long

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Increasing employee engagement has been a challenge for many organizations in recent years, especially in America. Most research has focused on organizational factors related to engagement; few have explored interactional issues from a positive leadership perspective. This study sought to contribute to research on engagement by exploring its relationship with fairness and trust This study viewed fairness from the perspective interactional justice, as defined by the interactional justice scale of Colquitt’s Organizational Justice Scale (OJS). This study also viewed trust from the perspective of leader trustworthiness, a positive leadership attribute. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the …

Remote Leadership: Assessing Productive Work Environments In A Post-Pandemic Future, Kimberly Diane Snodgrass

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Leaders of organizations have faced many challenges with respect to remote work during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The purpose of this research was to examine the most productive work environment for employees post-pandemic, the role leadership plays in the success of remote work, and how employees view remote work. This research was limited to one small community bank that had experience with employees working in a traditional office setting then working remotely to adhere to COVID-19 protocols. This study focused on middle management and below, excluding senior management from the research. The conclusion of this research was that most employees …

Exploring Target Marketing At Private Universities Directed To The Nontraditional Student Population, Connie Chester Christian

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Nontraditional Adult Learners exist worldwide. These potential students can improve self-confidence, increase their wages, and improve workforce opportunities with provided education opportunities. This current study explores value proposition within private institutions with the influence of marketing to the nontraditional adult learner. Exploration includes the challenges and constraints the nontraditional student faces and the impact these challenges present. Marketing programs directed to specific populations and the component that the marketing strategy implements for post-secondary educational opportunities.

Organizational Cultures Effect On Productivity In Manufacturing, Jonathan Karl Foley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Manufacturing industry continues to struggle due to the inability to fill scheduled orders as a result a depleted workforce. Now more than ever, the importance of sustaining a workforce is essential to the success or failure of an organization. Organizational culture initiatives such as job satisfaction, employee commitment, and employee motivation represent a pivotal addition to all organizations. A strong leadership foundation that can develop and establish strong working cultures by utilizing these initiatives to retain employees is imperative to combat high employee turnover, low morale, and decreased productivity. The study has been affected by a qualitative approach, employing a …

Financial Capability – Examining The Impact Of Financial Education On U.S. Military Members, Philip Mason Chapman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In 2018 a national survey was conducted of 27,091 participants designed to gauge financial capability. While the survey revealed that financial education matters, there is a gap between those with a military background and their civilian counterparts. This dissertation is designed to address how this discrepancy can exist when military individuals have unlimited access to financial education. Even with this access, investors with a military background make poorer financial decisions while simultaneously claiming to have a higher level of financial satisfaction and financial knowledge. Financial education has long been associated with an individual’s desire to seek professional financial assistance and …

Impact Of Audit Time Pressure On Audit Quality, Janae Monet Mcclam

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative research correlational study aimed to determine the effects of time budget pressure on the auditor and whether those effects impact audit quality. The study population consisted of active external auditors registered with a certified public accounting (CPA) license, employed by CPA firms, who hold a minimum of a bachelor's degree in accounting, and have at least one year of accounting experience auditing financial statements. The population consisted of 1,072. The sample size was 283 participants, and the number of respondents was 287. This study contains two dependent variables, auditor judgment and audit quality, and one independent variable, time …