Business Commons^™

Time And Change: A Meta-Analysis Of Temporal Decisions In Longitudinal Studies, Helen Hailin Zhao, Abbie J. Shipp, Kameron Carter, Erik Gonzalez-Mulé, Erica Xu

Management Faculty Publications

Longitudinal research has grown in popularity in the field of management and organizations. However, the literature has neglected to consider the important ways in which researchers' temporal decisions can influence observed change in longitudinal studies. Researchers must make a set of temporal decisions to capture change, such as the temporal precision of the hypothesized form of change, the selection of a sample that is expected to exhibit the change, the choice of variables to be measured repeatedly, the frequency of measurements, and the time interval between measurements. However, these decisions typically are based on "educated guesses," which makes their effects …

Women Leaders' Lived Experiences Of Bravery In Leadership, Michelle E. Bartlett

Educational Foundations & Leadership Faculty Publications

Purpose

The research aims to understand the stories of women leaders who have demonstrated bravery in leadership. By analyzing their lived experiences through storytelling and narratives, it seeks to shed light on the challenges and motivations behind their brave actions, contributing to a deeper understanding of bravery in leadership within gender and organizational contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts a qualitative multiple case study approach, focusing on the autobiographical accounts of three women leaders to explore their experiences of bravery in leadership. Utilizing narrative analysis (NA), it is grounded in ethical leadership theory and narrative identity theory. The research method involves …

Leadership And Environmental Sustainability: An Integrative Conceptual Model Of Multilevel Antecedents And Consequences Of Leader Green Behavior, Hannes Zacher, Clara Kühner, Ian M. Katz, Cort W. Rudolph

Psychology Faculty Publications

Environmental sustainability is a strategic and ethical imperative for organizations, and numerous studies have investigated associations between leadership and employee pro-environmental or “green” behavior. However, these studies have typically focused on leadership styles that conflate leader behavior with its assumed antecedents or consequences. Moreover, the literature on relations between leadership and environmental sustainability constructs is fragmented and in need of systematic integration to effectively guide future research and practice. Accordingly, we pursue three goals in this conceptual paper. First, after a brief review of key insights from extant theoretical and empirical research, we define leadership in the context of environmental …

Two Essays On Investor Sentiment, Amin Amoulashkarian

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

The body of literature on investor sentiment underlines its impact on future stock returns, with general consensus that investor sentiments and future returns are negatively correlated (Baker and Wurgler, 2006; Brown and Cliff, 2004). This extends to the notion that a bullish investor would expect returns to be above average, while a bearish investor anticipates below-average returns (Brown and Cliff, 2004).

The first essay proposes a model to examine the influence of unexpected volatility of investor sentiment on the equity risk premium. Assumptions underpinning the model include risk-averse investors, homogeneous expectations regarding asset returns and price changes, and sentiment-influenced expectations …

The Effect Of Sustainability Information Disclosure On The Cost Of Equity Capital: An Empirical Analysis Based On Gartner Top 50 Supply Chain Rankings, Lingyu Li, Xianrong Zheng, Shuxi Wang

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

While disclosing financial information has been widely proved to reduce the financing cost of a company, the impact of non-financial information, such as sustainability information, disclosing on the financing cost of the company is still in debate. The goal of this paper is to explore the impact of disclosing sustainability-related information on the cost of equity for firms. The paper first introduces the concept of sustainability information disclosure, and then exhibits its benefit through exploring its impact on reducing a firm’s financing cost. It uses the Gartner supply chain top 50 rankings to construct the experiment environment to test for …

Towards A Formal Theory Of Humor In Organizations, Richard Joseph Hayes

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Current theories and models of humor conceptualize humor at the individual, dyadic, and organizational level. These theories laid the foundation for research and empirical findings that have established humor’s impact in the workplace. Yet, because these theories are not integrated, they individually do not offer a comprehensive view of humor in the workplace across different levels, hindering the development of multilevel research designs. Additionally, the ambiguity of these narrative theories hampers empirical testing precision. This dissertation expands the literature by introducing a mathematical, multilevel model of humor and tests that theory using computational simulation methods. Synthetic environments reproduced observed correlations …

Human Psychology Factors Influencing Agile Team Autonomy In Post-Pandemic Remote Software Organizations, Ravikiran Kalluri

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Agile project management methods are gaining in popularity in the software industry as software development teams are being asked to be adaptive to market needs and resilient to change and uncertainty. With increasing market uncertainty, global competition, and time-to-market pressure, it is becoming a challenge to develop an innovative product and deliver it on-time without the opportunity that comes from team autonomy to experiment and learn from failures in a remote workplace. To resolve this challenge, it is critical to understand the myriad human psychological factors in play that influence Agile team autonomy in a remote work environment.

The role …

Two Essays On Industry Tournament Incentives, Sarah Almisher

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

A large body of literature has developed on the disparities in compensation among chief executive officers. Financial media has highlighted the fact that CEOs in the United States receive excessive pay and that the gap among executive compensation is soaring. High compensation creates incentives for CEOs to take higher risk in firm policies to land a more attractive position managing another firm and attaining higher pay which is considered the ultimate prize (Kale, Reis, and Venkateswaran 2009; Coles, Daniel, and Naveen 2006). This creates a tournament in the managerial labor market. We define this tournament as the pay differential between …

Firm Capabilities, Great Power Competition, And The Structural Reshaping Of Globalization, Samuel Wilson

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

The changing nature of modern globalization has given rise to strategic competition between great power states, who utilize global firms and policy interventions in commercial markets to pursue state-level objectives. Multinational executives operating in global markets must contend with the consequences of great power competition between countries like the US and China, developing novel strategies and capabilities to defend firm performance in the face of trade wars and geopolitical confrontation. Through the analysis of risk factor disclosures of foreign multinational firms operating in China, as well as cases of Chinese economic and industrial espionage against US firms, this study utilizes …

Component Maintenance Strategies And Risk Analysis For Random Shock Effects Considering Maintenance Costs, Chao Zhang, Yadong Zhang, Hongyan Dui, Shaoping Wang, Mileta Tomovic

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Maintenance can improve a system’s reliability in a long operation period or when a component has failed. The reliability modeling method that uses the stochastic process degradation model to describe the system degradation process has been widely used. However, the existing reliability models established using stochastic processes only consider the internal degradation process, and do not fully consider the impact of external random shocks on their reliability modeling. Furthermore, the existing theory of importance does not consider the actual factors of maintenance cost. In this paper, based on the reliability modeling of random processes, the degradation rate under the influence …

Socio-Economic Management Theory Related To Bpm: A Case Study Of Dysfunctions In Digital Transformation Strategy, Yanfei Zhang, Emmanuel Monod, Gerard Beenen, Yuewei Jiang, Chris H. Willis

Management Faculty Publications

This research claims that dynamic strategies demanded by today’s digital environment exacerbate inconsistency between an organization’s digital transformation efforts and its enterprise architecture (EA) planning process. This phenomenon leads to redundant investments, delayed implementation, and frequent failures in digital transformation projects. In order to investigate this inconsistency, we apply the socioeconomic approach to management (SEAM) theory. Through critical analysis of four case studies in a large manufacturing organization, we clarify the relationship between digital transformation and EA and reveal the dysfunction in strategic implementation from a SEAM and business process management (BPM) perspective. In practice, this research integrates digital transformation …

Investors' Reactions To Alliance-Engendered Acquisition Ambiguity: Evidence From Us Technology Deals, Panos Desyllas, Martin C. Goossen, Corey C. Phelps

Management Faculty Publications

We study how, when target firms are engaged in strategic alliances, the ambiguity surrounding an acquisition's anticipated synergies influences investors' reactions to announcements of acquisitions. Drawing on behavioural finance research and the resource redeployment literature, we predict that investors' limited access to the information encoded in the target firms' alliances and the uncertainty around the re-deployability of their embedded resources generate a negative relationship between the number of target alliances and investors' reactions. We also hypothesize that this negative effect is exacerbated when the alliances involve foreign alliance partners but is attenuated when acquirers are experienced in acquiring targets with …

Mechanisms In Open Innovation: A Review And Synthesis Of The Literature, Ruben H.A.J. Ogink, Martin C. Goossen, A. Georges L. Romme, Henk Akkermans

Management Faculty Publications

A large body of literature explores the role of context, structure, actors, and outcomes of open innovation (OI), yet pays little attention to the mechanisms underlying these relationships. In this review paper, we synthesize the OI literature using a context-mechanism-outcome approach to identify and classify the various mechanisms observed in empirical OI studies. Our findings demonstrate that the OI literature draws on a wide variety of mechanisms originating from the fields of management, sociology, economics, and psychology. The fifteen mechanisms most frequently observed in the literature fall into four categories: governance and policies; environmental dynamics and interactions; knowledge, skills, and …

The Dynamics Of Entrepreneurial Networking Logics: Evidence From United Kingdom High-Tech Start-Ups, Joanne Jin Zhang, Charles Baden-Fuller, Jing Zhang

Management Faculty Publications

Purpose – This study aims to explore how entrepreneurial firms’ networking logics may change under different types of perceived uncertainty. The arrival of new knowledge from the entrepreneurial firm’s network may alter the perceived technology and market uncertainty that in turn determines how the firm adopts or combines the two opposing logics of causation and effectuation. Focusing on the roles of external advisors recruited by the firms, the study probes the details of the cyclical process and the mechanism through which networking logics are altered.

Design/methodology/approach – In this study the authors conducted a 3-year longitudinal multiple case study of …

Two Essays On The Role Of Empathy In Consumer Response To User-Generated Content, Mohammadali Koorank Beheshti

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Empathy is known to be the basis of all human interactions and an essential component of human psychology. Empathy includes a cognitive component (perspective-taking) and an affective component (e.g., emotional contagion). The two essays of my dissertation investigate how each of these components of empathy affect consumer responses to user-generated content.

Essay 1: Although both price and online review ratings are important cues in consumers’ product quality judgment, most previous studies have treated price and review ratings as separate inputs into consumer decision-making. The current research shows that the two cues are intertwined, such that consumers’ perception of the same …

Two’S A Crowd? Implications Of Economic Geography For Corporate Governance, Matthew Farrell

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Although literature on corporate governance and economic geography often explores similar constructs, theories, and other matters, little work has been done examining their joint effects. This two-essay dissertation integrates these literatures in order to partially fill this gap by asking the following research questions:

1.) Do geographic proximity and multiple directorships function as substitutes or complements?

2.) How is the governance of highly innovative firms affected by the presence of Marshallian externalities?

While some scholars suggest that multiple directorships lead to board members neglecting their advisory and monitoring obligations, others have embraced the idea that holding multiple board seats can …

Acquisition Career Progression Model For Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officers, Andrew John Heckel

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The United States Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) officer community does not have a dedicated career progression model that is focused on progressively building an acquisition knowledge base which makes it more difficult to be a successful program manager and to promote as an operational leader. This thesis outlines a career progression model that is designed as an acquisition knowledge management strategy for Navy EOD officers. The model utilizes the existing billets manned by Navy EOD officers to gain the knowledge and experience required to attain Acquisition Professional Membership within the Department of Defense. Most importantly, the model is used …

Three Essays On Stock Price Informativeness, Stock Price Momentum, And Firm Investment Efficiency, Chen Chen

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Scholarly studies documented that stock price informativeness plays a critical role in market efficiency. In this dissertation, we participate this stream of literature by investigating the effects of stock price informativeness on the magnitudes of stock price momentum and the outcomes of corporate merger and acquisition decisions.

Essay 1 explores the effect of stock price synchronicity on momentum. The momentum anomaly is widely attributed to investor cognitive biases, but the trigger of cognitive biases is largely unexplored. In this study, inspired by psychology studies linking cognitive biases to the noisiness of information, we examine whether momentum returns are associated with …

Two Essays On The Effects Of Ceo Social Activism, Habib Islam

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

The first essay theorizes and quantifies the effects of CEO activism on firms’ financial performance. We examine this relationship within the framework of screening theory. We find that CEO social activism generally leads to adverse investor reactions. This negative effect is most prominent when there is interdimensional incongruence in CEO social activism messages. In addition, we find that the negative effect of CEO social activism is moderated by organizational characteristics that resolve incongruence caused by disparate signals.

The second essay seeks to understand how a CEO’s social activism influences corporate social performance. We hypothesize that CEO social activism will have …

Pedestrian Evacuation: Vulnerable Group Member Influence On The Group Leaders’ Decision-Making And The Impact On Evacuation Time, Terra Lynne Elzie

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As pedestrian evacuations of buildings, outdoor venues, and special events occur, dynamic interactions between pedestrians and vehicles during egress are possible. To model pedestrian and vehicle evacuations, simulation models have evolved to incorporate more realistic crowd characteristics and behaviors to provide improved results. Past studies using modeling and simulation, specifically agent-based modeling, have explored pedestrian behaviors such as decision-making, navigation within a virtual environment, group formations, intra-group interactions, inter-group dynamics, crowd behaviors such as queuing and herding, and pedestrianvehicle interactions. These studies have led to relevant insights helpful to improving the accuracy of evacuation times for normal and emergency egress …

Three Essays On Ceo Traits, Corporate Investment Decisions, And Firm Value, Rongyao Zhang

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

More and more research has shown that the characteristics of top executives, especially CEOs, affect organizational decisions and behaviors. This dissertation primarily focuses on the role of executives’ managerial ability played in firm investment decisions, such as mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) investment, and firm value.

Essay 1 examines whether high-ability managers’ earnings smoothing is motivated by the need to mitigate the adverse effects of heightened information asymmetry triggered by M&As on managers’ reputation capital and firm value. I document that acquirers with high-ability managers engage in more pre-acquisition earnings smoothing and experience more significant announcement …

Two Essays On Antecedents And Effects Of Award-Winning Ceos, Veronika Ciarleglio

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

A vibrant stream of research in strategic management examines CEO reputation, status, media coverage, and awards on firm outcomes.

This dissertation examines antecedents that impact the likelihood of CEOs gaining higher visible status —such as winning awards — and the impact of such status on firm behavior. The dissertation addresses these issues in two essays.

In the first essay, we use signaling theory to frame the impact of industry characteristics, firm level strategic initiatives, and demographic factors on the likelihood of CEOs winning awards. Specifically, in this essay we examine how industry structure, corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, business strategies, …

Complex System Governance Leadership, David C. Walters

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to develop a systems theory-based framework for leadership in governance of complex systems. Recognizing complexity and uncertainty as norms for the environments in which organizations exist encouraged researchers to suggest complexity theory, complex systems, and complex adaptive systems as appropriate for addressing these conditions. Complex System Governance (CSG), based in systems theory, management cybernetics, and governance, endeavors to provide for the design, execution and evolution of functions that provide control, communication, coordination, and integration at the metasystem level to support operations and continued system existence (viability). From a management cybernetics perspective, CSG leadership has …

Questionable Research Practices Among Researchers In The Most Research-Productive Management Programs, Sven Kepes, Sheila K. Keener, Michael A. Mcdaniel, Nathan S. Hartman

Management Faculty Publications

Questionable research practices (QRPs) among researchers have been a source of concern in many fields of study. QRPs are often used to enhance the probability of achieving statistical significance which affects the likelihood of a paper being published. Using a sample of researchers from ten top research-productive management programs, we compared hypotheses tested in dissertations to those tested in journal articles derived from those dissertations to draw inferences concerning the extent of engagement in QRPs. Results indicated that QRPs related to changes in sample size and covariates were associated with unsupported dissertation hypotheses becoming supported in journal articles. Researchers also …

A Human Factors Study Of Risk Management Of Complex Agile Scrum Projects In Large Enterprises, Ravi Kalluri

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Agile Project Management methods have gained phenomenal success in the IT software world in managing projects of high complexity and uncertainty. However, Agile projects come with their unique set of risks. This paper seeks to explore the risks posed by human factors to complex Agile Scrum projects in large enterprises. Project Risk Management is crucial in determining the future performance of a complex project. Increasing project complexity makes it more and more difficult to anticipate potential events that could affect the project and to make effective decisions to reduce project risk exposure. This is even more true for Agile projects …

Comparisons And Contrasts Of It Systems And Socioeconomic Status In School Districts, Hannah A. Ross

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

In a technology thrived society, one would think that anyone can have access to technology – especially in schools. However, it is not always the case due to budgets and other factors. As technology becomes an essential part of the workforce, students need to know certain web applications that companies use. This study will compare four school districts within the Tidewater area of Virginia. The following school districts include Hampton City Schools, Newport News Public Schools, York County School Division, and Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools. Each school will be compared and contrasted by the technology applications that are used …

Psychological Resilience Of Entrepreneurs: A Review And Agenda For Future Research, Robert J. Pidduck

Management Faculty Publications

Given that entrepreneurs face substantial adversity in initiating and developing new ventures, a burgeoning stream of research has sought to understand the concept of entrepreneurs’ psychological resilience. To structure and synthesize what we know about entrepreneurs’ psychological resilience, we systematically review the empirical literature to provide insights on how it has been conceptualized and operationalized, along with its key antecedents and outcomes. Based on our review, we advance a promising agenda for future research, grounded in connecting the psychological resilience of entrepreneurs to other research areas connected to the new venture development process. Overall, we point to the urgent need …

Evaluation Of House Staff Candidates For Program Fit: A Cohort-Based Controlled Study, Soo-Hoon Lee, Phillip H. Phan, Sanjay V. Desai

Management Faculty Publications

Background: Medical school academic achievements do not necessarily predict house staff job performance. This study explores a selection mechanism that improves house staff-program fit that enhances the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Milestones performance ratings.

Objective: Traditionally, house staff were selected primarily on medical school academic performance. To improve residency performance outcomes, the Program designed a theory-driven selection tool to assess house staff candidates on their personal values and goals fit with Program values and goals. It was hypothesized cohort performance ratings will improve because of the intervention.

Methods: Prospective quasi-experimental cohort design with data from two house staff …

Employee Green Behavior: A Meta-Analysis, Ian M. Katz, Rachel S. Rauvola, Cort W. Rudolph, Hannes Zacher

Psychology Faculty Publications

Due to climate change, the need to protect biodiversity and reduce pollution, and governmental regulations, many organizations are aiming to become more environmentally sustainable. In this context, researchers and practitioners are increasingly interested in the construct of employee green behavior (EGB). EGB has been considered by numerous empirical studies over the last two decades and its associations with demographic characteristics, individual differences, workrelated perceptions, and job attitudes. To systematically synthesize the rapidly growing literature on EGB, we conducted a meta-analysis (k = 135 independent samples; total N = 47,442 employees). Results showed positive associations between EGB and, for example, proenvironmental …

Application Of Optimization Techniques In Corporate Cash Management, Venkateswara Reddy Dondeti

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

For any individual person or firm, there is a trade-off between carrying too much or too little cash on hand to meet the day-to-day transactions demand for cash. The BAT model, named after three eminent economists, Baumol, Allais, and Tobin, is the foundation for almost all cash management models in use today. The goal of the BAT model is to minimize the total costs involving the brokerage fees and the opportunity cost of interest lost on the cash held on hand. The brokerage fees are incurred in connection with the transactions for liquidating securities and converting them into cash. The …