Business Commons^™

Internal Communication Within An Institution Of Higher Education During The Covid-19 Crisis: A Case Study, Jonathan Boone Clemmons

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the role internal communication played in shaping perceptions among stakeholders during a major crisis event happening on a university campus. The main question that this study sought to answer was: how did formal and informal communication during the COVID-19 pandemic affect the perception and adoption of changes related to the pandemic? This case study utilized interviews and document analysis to understand both the change process and its accompanying communication. Workplace Social Network Exchange was the guiding theoretical framework utilized to fully understand the professional lives of participants. Four major themes were identified …

How A Community Foundation’S Disaster Framework Guided Rapid Pandemic Response, Steven W. Mumford, Isabel Barrios, Kellie Chavez Greene

Political Science Faculty Publications

Disasters create opportunities for philanthropy to rebuild equitably by prioritizing the most vulnerable community members in disaster response and addressing existing disparities and structural inequities in the recovery phase. As intermediaries between donors and local communities, community foundations are well-positioned to lead transformational disaster response.

Through its experience with Hurricane Katrina and subsequent disasters in the region, the Greater New Orleans Foundation developed a flexible disaster framework that emphasizes four broad principles — resilience, sustainability, civic participation, and equity — and specific practices in each area to guide rapid and long-term disaster response and preparedness. This article describes how the …

Esg Activities, Political Contributions, And Firm Performance, Ahmed W. Alam

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of two distinct empirical papers which I document in two separate chapters. In the first chapter, I empirically examine the impact of banks’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices on banking efficiency. Using a sample of 578 international banks over the years 2011-2019, I employ a data envelopment analysis (DEA) method to estimate banks’ technical efficiency scores. My baseline Tobit regressions reveal that high ESG performance significantly reduces banks’ efficiency. Further, I find that this relationship is non-linear at very high levels of ESG scores. These findings are consistent across the social (S) and governance (G) …

The Relationship Between Political Contributions And Federal Earmarks And The Impact Of State-Owned Enterprises On U.S. Competition, Tahsin I. Huq

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

With the reintroduction of hard earmarks in the U.S., it is essential to understand the factors that drive earmark receipt. Legislative earmarks have historically represented a significant source of revenue for several firms. We examine the relationship between political expenditure, federal earmarks, and subsequent firm performance. Using a sample of earmarks from 2008-2010 Appropriations bills, we demonstrate that Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions by firms to Senators and Representatives strongly predict both the size and number of earmarks directed to these companies. We also show that PAC contributions to a member of Congress increase the probability that a politician writes …

The Effect Of Conditional Volatility, Skewness, And Excess Kurtosis On Interest Rates, Sarah H. Al Talafha

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the lognormality assumption of per capita, real consumption growth, which is a common assumption in asset pricing models. We found that shocks to household consumption growth are persistent, negatively skewed, and have excess kurtosis. Therefore, we revisited the fundamental relation between expected growth and the real risk-free rate, assuming a non-Gaussian distribution of consumption growth, and found a robust positive association between real consumption growth and real risk-free interest rate, and a negative relationship between macroeconomic uncertainty and real rates, although less in magnitude, which is consistent with both intertemporal smoothing and precautionary savings. This paper offers …

Crisis Communication And Furloughed Hotel Frontline Employees’ Intention To Stay: The Role Of Perceived Organizational Support, Job Insecurity, And Job Affect, Tabitha A. Chapital

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated furloughed hotel employee’s intention to stay (ITS), with their hotel and hotel industry, based upon the impact of crisis communication strategy, perceived organizational support (POS), job insecurity, and job affect following a crisis. A 2 (crisis communication strategy: apology vs. excuse) × 2 (POS: high vs. low) between subjects, factorial design was employed. The study found that apology strategy and high POS result in lower job insecurity among furloughed hotel employees. A negative correlation was also found between job insecurity and ITS with the hotel industry. These findings may support practical and theoretical implications for hoteliers, specifically …

The Race To Fifty Feet: An Effort To Determine The Benefits Of Deepening The Mississippi River, Brian Miles

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This research examined the benefits and drawbacks of deepening the Lower Mississippi River to fifty feet. It established that the deepening of the Lower Mississippi River will impact not only the local area but also the inland regions that rely on the river systems and lower river ports for product movement. The perspectives of vessel operators, maritime industry experts and charterers are provided to offer insight. The sources for the research include educational literature, maritime research and interviews of industry experts. Based on this research, it is clear that this project will benefit many parties. The beneficiaries will include both …

The State Of Nonprofits In Southeast Louisiana In 2021: Adaptability & Racial Equity In Year One Of The Covid-19 Pandemic Technical Report, Steven W. Mumford

Political Science Reports, Studies, and Presentations

In 2021, the Greater New Orleans Foundation partnered with the University of New Orleans to study the regional nonprofit sector in Southeast Louisiana, exploring the sector’s adaptability to the COVID-19 pandemic and racial equity in its nonprofits’ leadership. This study followed a spring 2020 survey focused on the pandemic’s immediate impact. A total of 756 public charities received an online survey in January and February 2021; 335 responded, for a 44% response rate. Results suggest nonprofits adapted to the pandemic’s financial toll and increased demand for essential services by shifting services online, accessing federally backed emergency loans, and reducing staff …

Idiosyncratic Volatility And Interruption Mechanisms In South Korean Stock Markets, Seungho Shin

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine how the volatility interruption mechanisms affect idiosyncratic volatilities in Korean stock markets. Collecting the South Korea Stock Market (KOSPI) data from June 15, 2015 to March 31, 2019, we collect each residual„ from three different estimated models: CAPM, FF3, and FF5. To estimate the conditional idiosyncratic volatility, we employ two conditional time-varying measurements: GARCH and TGARCH. Our results show that the conditional idiosyncratic volatility increases when stock prices reach the upper and lower static limits, indicating the implementation of adopting static VI mechanism neither stabilize market conditions nor reduce excess volatility along …

Catalysts And Impediments To Tax Increment Finance In Tulsa’S Historical African American Neighborhood, Bria A. Dixon

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis assesses how Tulsa, Oklahoma grew to utilize tax increment financing (TIF) to produce economic activity in Tulsa’s historic downtown area. Specifically, how the creation, history, and maintenance of ONEOK Field, a $60 million, 6,000-seat sports venue in Tulsa’s historically African American neighborhood became the catalyst for Tulsa’s current TIF policy. In examining the fiscal outcomes of ONEOK Field, this thesis finds implications for inequitable investment in and around Tulsa’s Greenwood TIF district

Incomplete Markets And Financial Innovation: Consequences For Risk-Sharing, Household Welfare, And Portfolio Choice, Nicolas Duvernois

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation consists of three chapters measuring the degree of risk-sharing in a panel of US households, and its impact on welfare and portfolio choice. Conventional wisdom suggests financial innovation improves risk-sharing by completing markets and lowering transaction costs--households engage in risk-sharing to insure against idiosyncratic income shocks to improve their own welfare. In the first chapter, using household level income and imputed consumption data, I find that households' ability to smooth permanent shocks has slightly increased while transitory insurance remained unchanged. However, I find that participating households have higher consumption insurance. Their ability to insure permanent shocks has improved …

Kid Smart: Relief Effort Through The Arts, Adam Leblanc

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this internship report is to analyze the nonprofit organization KID smART through the lens of my Arts Administration education and training. I will provide a breakdown of the organization’s structure and the components of my internship that occurred during KID smART’s programmatic response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through my S.W.O.T. analysis, I connect KID smART’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to best practices of the Arts Administration industry. In conclusion, I offer recommendations of how KID smART can improve as it grows and continues to serve the New Orleans community

Mapping The Impacts Of Political Risk In Corporate Finance: A Firm-Level Diversification And Debt-Maturity Perspective, Mohammad Sydul Karim

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In the first chapter, using political corruption conviction data from the U.S. Department of Justice, I examine the impact of local corruption on firms’ debt maturity structure while exploring both demand-side and supply-side explanations. My results support the demand-side story and indicate that firms located in high corruption areas utilize less short-term debt to mitigate liquidity and refinancing risks. Consistent with this, I find the effect is more pronounced among firms with smaller size, lower asset redeployability, and higher volatility. My findings remain robust to the inclusion of an array of controls expected to influence debt maturity preferences as well …

Corporate Sustainability, Rawan Barri

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two essays that examine the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in finance. In the first essay, we examine the bondholder wealth effects of socially responsible firms. Using an extensive U.S sample from 2006 to 2016 and two methodologies – corporate yield spreads and bond credit ratings – we provide evidence that proactive environmental and social practices are reflected in the price of corporate bonds. Furthermore, we examine the impact of managerial ownership on the relationship between CSR and bondholder wealth effects. We postulate that higher equity ownership induces managers to take on more firm risk …

Social Power Of Jazz Festivals, Olga Bekenshtein

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Jazz festivals occur in all parts of the world, small cities and metropolises, urban and rural landscapes, stadiums, churches, streets, and abandoned factories. Being a part of the entertainment industry, they have the potential to impact social change. Jazz festivals help us reconsider notions of identity and community, and their communal experience has the potential to undermine dominant social norms. The industry of jazz festivals is based on Black music and has a history of positive and negative social outcomes. Evaluating festivals through the symbolic meaning of music provides an optic into how festivals marginalize and exploit African American cultural …

The State Of Nonprofits In Southeast Louisiana: The Impact Of Covid-19, Steven W. Mumford, Kellie Chavez Greene

Political Science Reports, Studies, and Presentations

The Greater New Orleans Foundation (GNOF) in partnership with the University of New Orleans’ (UNO) Political Science Department undertook a study to gain insights on the impact the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is having on nonprofit organizations located in Southeast Louisiana and to share this information as a resource to philanthropy, nonprofits, and civic leaders in our region. GNOF and UNO conducted online and phone surveys beginning March 23, 2020 through April 13, 2020 which targeted 501(c)3 public charities, excluding churches, foundations, and unique groups of larger nonprofits such as hospitals, universities, and charter schools. Our research examined ten essential questions …

Individual Hosts Vs. Company Hosts On Airbnb: Role Of Authenticity And Trust On Consumers’ Behavioral Intentions, Joyce Han

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Airbnb has become a dominant player in the sharing economy. Authenticity is one of Airbnb’s fundamental key factor, but recent hospitality studies lack addressing types of hosts and how they compare in terms of different dimensions of authenticity affecting consumers’ trust in hosts. The current study identifies two types of Airbnb hosts, individual hosts and company hosts, and aims to examine the role of authenticity and trust in hosts on consumer’s intention to revisit and recommend Airbnb. The findings suggest that there exist positive relationships between dimensions of authenticity and trust in hosts and between trust in hosts and behavioral …

Money, Fdi And Economic Growth In Mena Countries., Huda Alsayed

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

First chapter examines the link between FDI, trade, capital formation and economic growth in 12 MENA countries using panel analysis for yearly data between the period 2001 to 2017. Using cointegration and Hausman test, our results indicate that, all the variables are stationary at first level, and long run relationship exist between our variables. A model of endogenous growth highlight that MENA countries favored FDI to trade, where trade has negative relation with economic growth. Capital formation and labor has positive and significant relation. We also, address the relation of education level, as we know that increase in Education level …

State Ownership, Financial Constraints, And The Determinants Of Capital Structure, Sultan Alshuwaier

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of state ownership in Saudi firms listed in the stock market. The first chapter studies the influence of state ownership on financial constraint on investment. Some scholars believe state ownership has a negative effect on the firm value. However, by using two measures of financial constraint, the investment cash flow sensitivity and the Kaplan and Zingales financial constraints index, the finding indicates that the existent of government ownership decreases financial constraint in firms. Also, the results show that the higher government ownership percentage the less financial constraint in firms. The …

Corporate Leverage, Constraints, And Compliance, Abdullah Khaled Alnamlah

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The first chapter evaluates the zero-leverage effect on firms' financial constraints. Moreover, using investment- and cash-to-cash-flow sensitivities as financial constraint indicators, the results suggest that unleveraged firms are expected to face lower constraints relative to leveraged firms. Lastly, the results indicate that the zero-leverage effect on firms’ financial constraints is more likely stronger for smaller firms, zero-dividend firms, firms with lower proportions of tangible assets, and growth firms. The second chapter develops a new quantitative measure that reflects the extent to which a firm complies to Shariah relative to the other firms located in a certain region at a certain …

The Impact Of Intangible Capital And Diversity Reputation On Firm Performance, Makeen Huda

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the effects that intangible capital and diversity reputation have on firm performance. In Chapter 1, entitled “CEO Overconfidence and Intangible Corporate Investments,” we extend the corporate investment and CEO overconfidence literature by examining how CEO overconfidence affects investment-cashflow sensitivity using a new measure of Tobin’s q and cashflow. Specifically, we incorporate intangible capital, which neo-classical investment theory mostly ignores, in the empirical analysis. We develop three overconfidence measures and their interaction with the respective standard and new cashflow settings to capture the investment-cashflow sensitivity effect of CEO overconfidence. We use three investment measures (physical, intangible, and total …

Pricing Of Idiosyncratic Risk In An Intermediary Asset Pricing Model, Hasib Ahmed

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Standard asset pricing theories suggest that only systematic risk is priced. Empirical studies report a relationship between idiosyncratic volatility or risk (IVOL) and asset price. The most common explanation for this anomaly is that households under-diversify creating a Bad Model problem. This paper uses an Intermediary Asset Pricing Model (IAPM) as a way to control for under-diversification in evaluating the relationship between IVOL and asset price. We find that IVOL premia is lower in an IAPM. Our findings indicate that under-diversification can explain the anomaly partially.

Impact Of Relative Liquidity Of Stocks And Bonds On The Financing And Investment Decisions Of A Firm, Sohale Altamimi

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation consists of two essays. The first essay investigates if market illiquidity is a significant determinant of capital structure decisions. We hypothesize that firms would likely compare the illiquidity of two sources of external funding at a given point in time and issue the one with lower illiquidity. Therefore, if the level of illiquidity is a key driver of firms’ capital structure decisions in that year, the higher the level of stocks illiquidity, the more of its financing needs are satisfied by the issuance of debt, and the higher the level of bonds illiquidity, the less of its financing …

Volatility Interruptions, Idiosyncratic Risk, And Stock Return, Saad A. Alsunbul

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of implementing the static and dynamic volatility interruption rule on idiosyncratic volatility and stock returns in Nasdaq Stockholm. Using EGARCH and GARCH models to estimate the conditional idiosyncratic volatility, we find that the conditional idiosyncratic volatility and stock returns increase as stock prices hit the upper static or dynamic volatility interruption limits. Conversely, we find that the conditional idiosyncratic volatility and stock returns decrease as stock prices hit the lower static or dynamic volatility interruption limit. We also find that the conditional idiosyncratic volatility is higher when stock prices reach …

State Ownership, Firm Specific Risk And Momentum Trading, Saeed Nassir Algahtani

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation consists of two essays. In the first essay, we investigate the relation of government ownership to the idiosyncratic volatility of Saudi Arabian firms that traded in the Saudi stock exchange between 2010 and 2016. The results show that publicly traded firms with an increase in government ownership have less idiosyncratic volatility. Furthermore, we investigate market leverage ratio, dividend payout ratio, and illiquidity ratio as potential roles in which government ownership influences the idiosyncratic volatility. The results prove the negative relationship between government ownership and idiosyncratic volatility. In the second essay, we investigate the association between government ownership and …

Financial Regulation, Banking, And Sovereign Debt, Rhada Boujlil

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation consists of two essays. In the first essay we study the efficiency of banks during the period of (2000-2017) that witnessed a fierce financial crisis in the light of the regulatory acts enacted in response to the crisis (Basel III 2010). We investigate the combined impact of compliance with Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital, common equity Tier 1, and leverage requirements on bank operating efficiency. We measure operational efficiency of 68 insured, U.S. federally and state-chartered, commercial banks, with consolidated assets of $15 billion or more, over a sampling period of 18 years. We seek to identify …

Differential Impact Of Investor Sentiment On The Capital Asset Pricing Model And Discounted Cash Flows Model Estimates Of The Rate Of Return On Equity, Vinh Tran

Senior Honors Theses

Traditional asset pricing models such as Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) have been used widely in academics and practice due to their simplicity and popularity. The CAPM is a prescriptive model that describes the relationship between a stock’s required return and risk relative to the movements in the market, while the DCF is a descriptive model that measures the realized rate of return on a stock based on the market price of the stock, which in turn incorporates investor perceptions about the stock and the market. In an ideal, efficient market where investors behave rationally, …

The Effectiveness Of Government Mandated Disclosure Reform, Sakshi Raj

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The higher the level of information asymmetry between a firm and its investors, the higher is the firm’s reluctance to raise money externally, potentially leading to investment distortions. An improved disclosure system reduces information asymmetry and therefore, lessens the adverse selection effects of external financing, thereby moderating investment inefficiencies. In this paper, we examine the impact of potentially improved transparency stemming from stricter disclosure requirements (Clause 49) on financing and investment decisions of Indian firms. The results show that reliance of Indian firms on internal financing in the pre-reform period gives way to greater use of external financing …

Innovation, Ownership And Ipo Underpricing, Roman Bohdan

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of two empirical essays. The first chapter titled: “Hedge Fund Activism and Dual Ownership of U.S. Multinationals”. Harford, Wang & Zhang (2017) conclude that holding high cash balances abroad to avoid US taxes causes internal capital markets and investments distortions. We posit that hedge funds target MNCs with more severe internal capital and agency problems. We demonstrate that upon acquiring dual ownership in these firms, hedge funds reduce internal capital problems and improve investment, especially innovation, efficiencies. To further reduce agency costs of foreign cash holdings, hedge funds engage dual firms in focused acquisitions. These improvements are …

How To Maximize Your Small Business's Impact On Social Media, Brianna J. Arnaud

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is meant to be a learning tool to help small businesses use free social media accounts as business marketing tools. The manual is broken down into chapters highlighting the importance of “Knowing your Audience,” “Branding,” “Constructing a Post,” “Using Visual Rhetoric,” and “Expanding your Audience.”. This thesis is inspired by scholars of English, internet linguistics, journalism, gender theory, professional writing, and rhetoric. It is also inspired by a survey of 18 small businesses in the Lafayette, Louisiana area. The survey helped to focus my research on the social media issues of small businesses in the southern region of …