Business Commons^™

A Soft Landing And A Long Layover, John Austin, Chris Decker, Tom Doering, Ernie Goss, Philip Baker, Bruce Johnson, Lisa Johnson, Ken Lemke, Franz Schwarz, Scott Strain, Eric Thompson

Business in Nebraska

The U.S. economy achieved a soft landing in 2006. This was a desirable outcome. The economy needed a break from its rapid, and potentially inflationary, growth in 2004 and 2005, before taking off again. But, that new flight has been delayed. The aggregate economy has remained mired in slow growth in the first half of 2007. Pockets of the economy, such as the labor market, have been strong, but a weak housing sector has limited overall growth. Further, signs point to one or two more quarters of weaker growth, before the economy is able to take off again.

This outcome …

The Economic Impact Of The Nebraska Early Care And Education Industry, Eric Thompson, Mary Mcgarvey, Matthew Cushing, Randolph Cantrell, Seth Freudenburg, Travis Heller

Bureau of Business Research Publications

The early care and education industry has both current and long-term economic consequences for the Nebraska economy. The long-term impact is to help to educate and develop children into productive and higher earning adults. This impact is well understood. As stated by Nobel Prize winning economist James Heckman, “Early advantages cumulate; so do early disadvantages… redirecting additional funds toward the early years, before the start of traditional schooling, is a sound investment in the productivity and safety of our society” (Heckman and Masterov, 2005).

In addition to these long-term impacts, the early care and education industry also has current impacts …

Who Shall Lead? An Integrative Personality Approach To The Study Of The Antecedents Of Status In Informal Social Organizations, Peter D. Harms, Brent W. Roberts, Dustin Wood

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The effects of personality traits, motives, and leadership identity claims on the attainment of status in informal, social organizations were assessed in several organizations using multiple indices of status. The power motive Hope for Power was predictive of holding executive offices. Extraversion and Conscientiousness predicted peer-ratings of social influence. Extraversion, Emotional Stability, and Dominance were related to subjective beliefs of personal power and influence. Seeing oneself as a leader mediated the effects of personality traits and motives on subjective sense of power and attaining social influence, but not achieving formal office. Together, these findings offer an integrated look at the …

Emerging Positive Organizational Behavior, Fred Luthans, Carolyn M. Youssef

Leadership Institute: Faculty Publications

Although the value of positivity has been assumed over the years, only recently has it become a major focus area for theory building, research, and application in psychology and now organizational behavior. This review article examines, in turn, selected representative positive traits (Big Five personality, core self-evaluations, and character strengths and virtues), positive state-like psychological resource capacities (efficacy, hope, optimism, resiliency, and psychological capital), positive organizations (drawn from positive organization scholarship), and positive behaviors (organizational citizenship and courageous principled action). This review concludes with recommendations for future research and effective application.

Shared Leadership Theory, Craig L. Pearce, Jay A. Conger, Edwin A. Locke

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Edwin Locke contributed a chapter to the critique section of Craig Pearce and Jay Conger’s (2003a) edited book, Shared Leadership: Reframing the Hows and Whys of Leadership, published by Sage. In this letter exchange, they continue their dialogue on this important topic. They focus in particular on clarifying what each means by “shared leadership” and on what shared leadership can and should look like at the top of organizations.

Using The Social Fabric Matrix To Analyze Institutional Rules Relative To Adequacy In Education Funding, Jerry L. Hoffman, F. Gregory Hayden

College of Business: Faculty Publications

This article explains findings of part of a research project that uses the social fabric matrix (SFM) (Hayden 2006, 73-143) to analyze Nebraska’s State education finance system with regard to adequacy and rules. The emphasis is about how to approach such a problem and to demonstrate the use of mathematical expressions to articulate social beliefs as instituted through rules, regulations, and requirements.

Concern for equity through equalization criteria has a long history in the analysis of state education systems. Concern for adequacy has become important in analysis recently, although court rulings indicate that it should have been of analytical importance …

Fitting Disposition Codes To Mobile Phone Surveys: Experiences From Studies In Finland, Slovenia And The Usa, Mario Callegaro, Charlotte Steeh, Trent D. Buskirk, Vasja Vehovar, Vesa Kuusela, Linda Piekarski

UNL-Gallup Working Papers Series

Using mobile phones to conduct survey interviews has gathered momentum recently. However, using mobile telephones in surveys poses many new challenges. One important challenge involves properly classifying final case dispositions to understand response rates and non-response error and to implement responsive survey designs. Both purposes demand accurate assessments of the outcomes of individual call attempts. By looking at actual practices across three countries, we suggest how the disposition codes of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, which have been developed for telephone surveys, can be modified to fit mobile phones. Adding an international dimension to these standard definitions will …

The Growth Dividend: How Has It Been Allocated?, Eric Thompson

Bureau of Business Research Publications

A growing economy and population in Lincoln, Nebraska have generated an expanding tax base for the city. Growth has been especially rapid in the property tax base. As noted in a recent report by the UNL Bureau of Business Research (2005), the average new housing unit generates annual property taxes for the City of Lincoln substantially greater than does the average existing housing unit. This additional property value is referred to as the “growth dividend” in the Bureau of Business Research report. This growth dividend is available for a variety of uses, including capital outlays on infrastructure, tax relief, or …

Being Ethical When The Boss Is Not, Mary Uhl-Bien, Melissa K. Carsten

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

A missing element in discussions of ethical leadership is: What happens to enforcement of ethics if it is the managers who are behaving unethically? In this article we address this question by describing a framework of upward ethical leadership. This framework expands conceptualizations of leadership beyond top-down models to a view that considers employees to be active participants in the leadership process. Upward ethical leadership is defined as leadership behavior displayed by individuals who take action to maintain ethical standards in the face of questionable moral behaviors by higher-ups. It is fostered when employees are encouraged to establish personal power …

Nebraska’S Micropolitan Statistical Areas: A Growing Piece Of A Shrinking Pie, Randolph Cantrell

Business in Nebraska

They have been called “urban islands in a shortgrass sea” (Popper and Popper, 1986) and “middle places” (Swanson, 2007). They are the small urban centers that dot the Great Plains and are home to an important share of the region’s non-metropolitan population and economic activity. Compared to the much larger metropolitan centers such as Omaha and Lincoln, they may appear to be minor players in the state’s social and economic landscape—but that would underestimate their role. Individually they anchor the regional “pillars of growth” identified by Thompson (Thompson et al., 2007), and collectively they play a determining role in the …

Impact Of Information Technology Innovations On Resources And Services Of Management Institute Libraries In Mumbai: A Librarians’ Approach, Satish Kanamadi, B. D. Kumbar

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Abstract

Management libraries are facing a piquant situation and unforeseen challenges in this age of information technology. They are reeling under pressure to fulfill their obligation of meeting the diverse information needs of clientele. IT has brought in sweeping changes in the traditional way libraries are functioning. Libraries need to evaluate, measure the impact of information technology on them. This will equip them with the knowledge of turning this information Technology into a boon for improving their services. This paper is one such attempt with reference to management libraries affiliated to University of Mumbai, Mumbai City, India.

Complexity Leadership Theory: Shifting Leadership From The Industrial Age To The Knowledge Era, Mary Uhl-Bien, Russ Marion, Bill Mckelvey

Leadership Institute: Faculty Publications

Leadership models of the last century have been products of top-down, bureaucratic paradigms. These models are eminently effective for an economy premised on physical production but are not well-suited for a more knowledge-oriented economy. Complexity science suggests a different paradigm for leadership—one that frames leadership as a complex interactive dynamic from which adaptive outcomes (e.g., learning, innovation, and adaptability) emerge. This article draws from complexity science to develop an overarching framework for the study of Complexity Leadership Theory, a leadership paradigm that focuses on enabling the learning, creative, and adaptive capacity of complex adaptive systems (CAS) within a context of …

Diversity Training: Analysis Of The Impact Of Self-Efficacy, Gwendolyn Combs, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Although the importance of diversity in organizations is widely recognized, diversity training is under attack. Drawing from self-efficacy theory and research, we developed a questionnaire to measure one’s efficacy of successfully coping with widely recognized diversity initiatives. Then we conducted a study examining the effect of self-efficacy-based diversity training on the level of participant’s measured diversity self-efficacy (DSE) and the possible mediation of this DSE on intentions to pursue positive diversity-related initiatives. The field experimental design showed that training incorporating efficacy components significantly increased trainees’ (N = 276) measured DSE. Diversity training was also shown to be positively related to …

2007 Survey Of Summer Sessions Students At The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

During Summer 2007, UNL Summer Sessions (FlexEd) surveyed summer students to learn about their experience in taking a summer course(s). The survey results will offer confirmation of what we are doing well and will provide guidance on areas of improvement and better strategies for marketing UNL summer opportunities. A total of 227 students completed the survey. Fifteen summer classes were selected to complete a paper-based or electronic version of the survey. The classes were from three different summer sessions and used different delivery mechanisms (on-campus, studio, distance education).

Economic Impact Analysis: The Potential Impact Of An Nhra Drag Racing Facility In Lancaster County, Eric Thompson, Seth Freudenburg, Travis Heller

Bureau of Business Research Publications

Entertainment venues are an important component to the quality of life in cities and states. Venues provide local residents with an opportunity to attend events that interest them without requiring them to travel to another city. This saves local residents money and allows residents to attend more events. Both factors increase the quality of life for local citizens, in much the same way that having more local shopping options raises the quality of life.

Lincoln’s need for new entertainment venues to improve the quality of life and to retain or attract younger residents has been a recent topic of discussion …

On The Lack Of Participating Policy Usage By Stock Insurance Companies, Geoffrey C. Friesen

Department of Finance: Faculty Publications

Stock insurers can reduce or eliminate agency conflicts between policyholders and stockholders by issuing participating insurance. Despite this benefit, most stock companies don’t offer participating contracts. This study explains why. We study an equilibrium with both stock and mutual insurers in which stockholders set premiums to provide a fair expected return on their investment, and with a policyholder who chooses the insurance contract that maximizes her expected utility. We demonstrate that stockholders cannot profitably offer fully participating contracts, but can profitably offer partially participating insurance. However, when the policyholder participation fraction is high, the fair-return premium is so large that …

Emerging Near-Real Time Forage Monitoring Technology With Application To Large Herbivore Management In Mongolia, Dennis P. Sheehy, Jerry W. Stuth, Douglas E. Johnson, Jay Angerer, Douglas Tolleson

Erforschung biologischer Ressourcen der Mongolei / Exploration into the Biological Resources of Mongolia, ISSN 0440-1298

Large herbivore livestock and wildlife in Mongolia depend almost entirely for substance on forage standing crop produced each year on natural pastureland. Consequently, both livestock and wildlife are continuously subject to environmental risk, especially drought and severe winter storms, while livestock are also subject to financial risk. As consumption-based livestock production changes to commercialized livestock production, steps taken by the livestock herder to avert both environmental and financial risk to livestock can increase environmental risk to large wild herbivores. A realistic and workable pastureland and risk management system will be critical for conservation of large herbivore habitat. New technologies are …

2007 Nebraska Business

College of Business: Trade Publications

2007 Nebraska Business

Positive Psychological Capital: Measurement And Relationship With Performance And Satisfaction, Fred Luthans, Bruce J. Avolio, James B. Avey, Steven M. Norman

Leadership Institute: Faculty Publications

Two studies were conducted to analyze how hope, resilience, optimism, and efficacy individually and as a composite higher-order factor predicted work performance and satisfaction. Results from Study 1 provided psychometric support for a new survey measure designed to assess each of these 4 facets, as well as a composite factor. Study 2 results indicated a significant positive relationship regarding the composite of these 4 facets with performance and satisfaction. Results from Study 2 also indicated that the composite factor may be a better predictor of performance and satisfaction than the 4 individual facets. Limitations and practical implications conclude the article.

When The Romance Is Over: Follower Perspectives Of Aversive Leadership, Michelle C. Bligh, Jeffrey C. Kohles, Craig L. Pearce, Joseph E. (Gene) Justin, John F. Stovall

Leadership Institute: Faculty Publications

While leadership is indisputably one of the most pervasive topics in our society, the vast majority of existing research has focused on leadership as a positive force. Taking a follower- centric approach to the study of leadership, we integrate research on the Romance of Leadership and the dark side of leadership by examining followers’ perceptions of aversive leadership in the context of public high schools. Although Meindl, Ehrlich, and Dukerich (1985) demonstrated that the Romance of Leadership also includes the overattribution of negative outcomes to leaders, subsequent research has failed to explore the implications of this potentially darker side of …

International Trade, Consumer Behavior And Trust: Factors Affecting Agribusinesses In Developing Countries, Ronald Hampton, Ingrid Fromm, Bonani Nyhodo

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

With the increasing complexity of global food systems, producers in developing countries are faced with challenges associated with market access to developed and other developing countries. There is clear evidence that the fastest growing developing countries are the ones engaging in trade and participating in the global market. The difficulty for developing countries, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in those countries is the logistics and agreements needed to enter international markets and benefit from trade. Global production networks are becoming extremely complex. Arms-length trade is now confined to commodities with low returns, thus access to high-income yielding activities requires …

Development Of A Global Measure Of Job Embeddedness And Integration Into A Traditional Model Of Voluntary Turnover, Craig Crossley, Rebecca J. Bennett, Steve M. Jex, Jennifer L. Burnfield

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Recent research on job embeddedness has found that both on- and off-the-job forces can act to bind people to their jobs. The present study extended this line of research by examining how job embeddedness may be integrated into a traditional model of voluntary turnover. This study also developed and tested a global, reflective measure of job embeddedness that overcomes important limitations and serves as a companion to the original composite measure. Results of this longitudinal study found that job embeddedness predicted voluntary turnover beyond job attitudes and core variables from traditional models of turnover. Results also found that job embeddedness …

Changes In Ceo Compensation Structure And The Impact On Firm Performance Following Ceo Turnover, David W. Blackwell, Donna M. Dudney, Kathleen A. Farrell

Department of Finance: Faculty Publications

We document changes in compensation structure following CEO turnover and relate them to future performance. Compared to outgoing CEOs, incoming CEOs derive a significantly greater percentage of their compensation from option grants and new stock grants. The voluntary turnover sample shows similar changes in compensation structure while the forced turnover sample results suggest that new stock grants drive the significant increase in incentive compensation following turnover. Post-turnover performance is positively associated with new stock grants as a percentage of total compensation in the full sample and when analyzing forced and voluntary turnovers separately. We find limited evidence that future operating …

Radical Change Accidentally: The Emergence And Amplification Of Small Change, Donde Ashmos Plowman, Lakami T. Baker, Tammy E. Beck, Mukta Kulkarni, Stephanie Thomas Solansky, Deandra Villarreal Travis

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

A decision to offer breakfast to homeless people led to radical change in a church and its environment. Existing theories of change do not fully explain observations from our qualitative study; however, complexity theory constructs suggest how and why such change emerged. We offer four key findings. First, the radical change was unintended, emergent, and slow. Second, destabilizing conditions helped small changes to emerge and become radical. Third, subsequent actions amplified an initial small change and, though not intended to do so, promoted radical change. Finally, the dynamic interaction of amplifying actions, contextual conditions, and small changes led to continuous …

A Soft Landing, Steady Growth, And Accelerating Farm Income, John Austin, Chris Decker, Tom Doering, Ernie Gross, Nick Hernandez, Bruce Johnson, Ken Lemke, Frank Schwarz, Scott Strain, Eric Thompson, Keith Turner

Business in Nebraska

After years of accelerating growth, the U.S. economy achieved a soft landing in 2006. The rate of economic growth remained positive but slowed sufficiently to reduce inflation pressures and the need for further interest rate increases. At the same time the economy remained strong enough to continue the current expansion which has been in place since late 2001. Such a soft landing is vital because it should allow the economy to continue to expand for years to come, but with moderate inflation.

The housing sector played an important role in the U.S. economy’s recent slowdown. Housing prices and con-struction activity …

Relational Leadership Theory: Exploring The Social Processes Of Leadership And Organizing, Mary Uhl-Bien

Leadership Institute: Faculty Publications

Relational leadership is a relatively new term in the leadership literature, and because of this, its meaning is open to interpretation. In the present article I describe two perspectives of relational leadership: an entity perspective that focuses on identifying attributes of individuals as they engage in interpersonal relationships, and a relational perspective that views leadership as a process of social construction through which certain understandings of leadership come about and are given privileged ontology. These approaches can be complementary, but their implications for study and practice are quite different. After reviewing leadership research relative to these two perspectives I offer …

Social Capital-Related Co-Production In A Marketplace, Lynne Ann Pryor

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study employs a social capital perspective and critical ethnographic methods to investigate the operation of co-production in a socially-rich marketplace. The phenomenon of interest is a form of co-production between and among marketers and consumers that is related to social capital (referred to herein as social capital-related coproduction or SCRC). By examining a more complex form of co-production than typically depicted in the marketing literature, this research extends knowledge about the nature, boundaries, and effects of co-production.

Moreover, the concept of SCRC is useful to gain insights about how social and commercial elements may interact in marketplaces. It contributes …

Preliminary Economic Impact Analysis For The Lincoln Arena Task Force, Eric Thompson

Bureau of Business Research Publications

The entertainment industry is part of the growing service sector in the state and national economy. The industry both creates employment opportunities and contributes to the quality of life within communities. To fully grow the entertainment industry, however, a city requires appropriate venues to host entertainment events. In the City of Lincoln, Nebraska, there has been a recent proposal to develop a new arena facility for this growing City. The following report addresses some of the economic consequences of developing a new arena in Lincoln. In particular, the report estimates the potential economic impact of the proposed project, that is, …

Complexity Leadership Theory: An Interactive Perspective On Leading In Complex Adaptive Systems, Benyamin B. Lichtenstein, Mary Uhl-Bien, Russ Marion, Anson Seers, James Douglas Orton, Craig Schreiber

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Traditional, hierarchical views of leadership are less and less useful given the complexities of our modern world. Leadership theory must transition to new perspectives that account for the complex adaptive needs of organizations. In this paper, we propose that leadership (as opposed to leaders) can be seen as a complex dynamic process that emerges in the interactive “spaces between” people and ideas. That is, leadership is a dynamic that transcends the capabilities of individuals alone; it is the product of interaction, tension, and exchange rules governing changes in perceptions and understanding. We label this a dynamic of adaptive leadership, and …

The Effect Of A Smoke-Free Ordinance On Eating And Drinking Places In Lincoln, Nebraska, Mary Mcgarvey, Eric Thompson, Bree Dority, Jyothsna Sainath

Bureau of Business Research Publications

The Lincoln Smoking Regulation Act which prohibited smoking in most public places and places of employment in Lincoln, Nebraska including restaurants and bars was implemented in January 2005. This report examines the impact of the ordinance on the following measures of business activity in Lincoln:

• Sales revenue of eating and drinking places

• Employment of eating and drinking places

• Gross revenues from keno.

We examine the impact of the ordinance during the year 2005, the first year that the ordinance was in effect. While restaurant and bar activity in Lincoln rose during 2005 by some measures, we focus …