Business Commons^™

Coworkers And Leaders: The Relationship Between Trustworthiness, Trust, And Employee Engagement, Lianne Young

Dissertations

A highly engaged workforce provides numerous organizational and individual benefits (Shuck et al., 2016), the culmination of which leads to a competitive advantage difficult to emulate (Burke et al., 2013). It remains challenging to understand how engagement develops, with little research available explaining the process (Shuck, 2020). High employee engagement levels provide a competitive advantage, but stagnant engagement levels remain a significant obstacle (Shuck, 2020).

Shuck (2020) recommends further research focusing on methods to increase engagement. Trustworthiness and trust are antecedents and drivers of engagement (Chughtai & Buckley, 2008; Federman, 2010; SHRM, 2017). A lack of trust has negative impacts …

Moving Forward By Looking Back: How Family Firms Create Competitive Advantage By Embracing Their History, Adam Goldman

Dissertations

Family businesses are the engine that drives the United States economy. While extensive implications have been made in the literature about the advantages or disadvantages of family-owned businesses compared to non-family-owned businesses, the focus of this study was to show how small to medium-sized family-owned firms (FF SMEs) based in the United States can use their unique history to create a competitive advantage. Drawing on imprint theory and the resource-based view (RBV), this history-informed study helped identify the impact that founder imprints, business traditions, and storytelling have on the business performance of FF SMEs. Using quantitative methods, the findings of …

Online Communities Of Practice In The Contact Center Environment: Factors That Influence Participation, Jimmie Ray Black Jr.

Dissertations

Knowledge is a critical element of competitive advantage. More specifically, tribal knowledge developed by workers from on-the-job experiences is of significant value and is also one of the most difficult forms of knowledge to capture and leverage across the workforce. In an effort to capture, store, and share tribal knowledge, organizations have begun to adopt a concept of social learning known as communities of practice. However, low participation by community members in many organizations has resulted in mediocre results. This has been particularly evident in the contact center environment, which has its own unique culture and challenges. Without a solid …

Strategic Human Resources In Casino Operations: Revealing The Perceptions Of Casino Operators And Human Resource Leaders, Gary Burrus Jr.

Dissertations

The casino industry in America continues to grow. As the industry expands, the competition for revenue generation and market share increases. This requires the ability to differentiate from the competition and create competitive advantage, within a highly commoditized industry. In service of this need, capable gaming executives are necessary to design and execute the strategy required. Human resource (HR) leaders are not immune from this requirement. Human resource leaders are in an excellent position to create an HR strategy aligned with organizational strategy to capitalize on an employers’ workforce in support of differentiation and sustained competitive advantage.

Six research objectives …

The Pursuit Of Competitive Advantage And The Strategic Behavior Of Firms In Adopting Self-Service Technology, Timothy David Saur

Dissertations

In 2002 Zuboff and Maxim published their book titled The Support Economy. In the book the authors predict a new era of capitalism that holds great promise for companies and individuals who can design useful, usable, and desirable information systems, knowledge networks, and social software. Since the time of publication advances in technology have allowed the use of self-service products to expand into once unforeseen areas. Self-service technology is used by companies to lower cost, to increase market share, to develop new revenue streams, and to position their products as innovative. Yet the body of research surrounding the organizational strategy …