Business Commons^™

Competitive Strategy And Firm Performance In Multinational Manufacturing Organizations: A Focus On Strategic Alignment, Kianoosh Ebrahimi

Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to study to examine the impact of strategic alignment and the concept of fit on manufacturing firm performance in order to achieve its strategic objectives. This study also examines the impact of market concentrate, manufacturing competitive dimensions, and corporate link strategies on firm performance. The design for this research is correlational research following a quantitative, deductive approach. Data collected through a survey based on completed questionnaires to measure perspectives of leadership teams about strategic directions discussed in this research. The survey was designed based on the drawn framework from the literature review. A quantitative …

Administrative Trust As A Contributor To Forensic Coach Burnout And Exit, Benjamin Schultz Pyle

Dissertations

This study sought to determine whether a relationship exists and its extent between intercollegiate forensic coach trust in university administrators and burnout and exit in intercollegiate forensic coaches. Specifically, this study examined the relationship between intercollegiate forensic coach trust in their university administrators with both intercollegiate forensic coach satisfaction and intercollegiate forensic coach burnout in predicting intercollegiate forensic coach exit from forensics.

Fifty-seven intercollegiate forensic educators participated in the research, including 37 directors of forensics. Data analysis revealed significant relationships between intercollegiate forensic coach trust in university administrators, intercollegiate forensic coach satisfaction, intercollegiate forensic coach burnout, and intercollegiate forensic coach …

The Impact Of Strategic Alliances On Corporate Performance: Exploring Mechanisms And Conditions In The Context Of Oil And Gas Industry In The Uae, Khalid A. Al Kindi

Dissertations

Strategic Alliances are fast gaining traction in the oil and gas Drilling Industry in the World and the UAE in particular, in contrast to the challenges that arise in the markets as a result of globalization and as a business strategy to enhance the corporate performance of the firms involved in the alliances. The alliances are also in the focus of academic and business researchers and interest in Strategic Alliances has significantly increased over the past decades. This research aims to study to what extent do strategic alliances impact the corporate performance of the firms involved in these alliances in …

Perceived Source Characteristics Of E-Wom Senders Effects On Purchase Intentions And Behaviours: An Experimental Study In The Uae, Hala Saeed Hasan Al Ghusain

Dissertations

The popularity and power of Electronic Word of Mouth (e-WOM) have raised the attention of academia and businesses in the past decade. A plethora of relevant literature investigated the motives of the sender to engage in e-WOM, besides the actual content of the message, leaving unanswerable questions concerning the receiver’s perception of the message and the interpersonal similarities with the sender. This study aimed at filling this gap by assessing the potential impact of e-WOM cues on the receiver experimentally by consulting i) social comparison theory, and ii) social judgment theory. Two experiments were designed and conducted incorporating mixed-method research …

The Influence Of Youth Leaders’ Competencies, Emotional Intelligence, And Climate For Creativity On The Performance Of The Uae Governmental Organizations, Shamsa Saif Suhail Almarri

Dissertations

Nowadays, leadership is an essential asset in youth society. Thus, this study aims to identify the required capabilities to determine their readiness and openness amongst other qualities to be able to identify those youths who are able to take on federal government leadership positions in the upcoming 4th Industrial Revolution which is important for the future economic success of the country. This research utilized the leadership competencies theory to locate the important competencies that are needed to create strong youth leaders. The research has suggested a model and a positivist research philosophy was used to examine the suggested model. A …

Managing Value Co-Creation Effectiveness Within The Healthcare Setting Of The Emirate Of Abu Dhabi: Patients’ Perspectives, Mariam Hamad Al Meraikhi

Dissertations

Value co-creation is an emerging trend in the healthcare context, a topic that is attracting increasing attention in modern healthcare settings as the emphasis shifts to encouraging patient engagement in care delivery. Value co-creation seems appropriate for the healthcare setting because of the intrinsic involvement of patients in activities associated with promoting and protecting their health. However, its application in healthcare is still evolving. This study develops a model of how various actors in healthcare delivery can collaborate to improve the delivery and quality of healthcare services. Deeper insights into how to achieve value co-creation in delivering care have received …

Value Creation By Private Equity Firms: A Resource-Based View, Kei Pang

Dissertations

Despite the growing importance of the private equity (PE) industry in the United States, it is unclear how PE firms create value. This study contributes to the PE literature and strategic management research by examining PE firm resources and competencies that drive the success of equity-backed management buyout deals. Specifically, my work proposes a framework to describe the key value creation drivers and sub-drivers that position PE firms for success in all four stages of the PE value chain: Fund Raising, Deal Sourcing, Governing/Managing, and Exiting. I utilize Porter’s (1985) value chain analysis (VCA) and the resource-based view (RBV) to …

Safety Climate And The Use Of Personal Protective Equipment By Petroleum Refinery Workers, Mark Zapp

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the impact of peer and supervisor influences of task risks associated with refinery workers’ use of PPE while working in an industrial environment. The study focused on the safety climate model to discover the perceived value workers placed on safety and Fishbein and Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior’s roadmap for understanding their use of PPE.

Methodology: This study used phenomenological qualitative methodology to collect responses from 16 petroleum refinery contractor workers from Los Angeles, California, regarding the influences peers, supervisors, and task risk have on their use of PPE. Respondents …

Phenomenological Study On The Lived Experience Of Black Women In Positions Of Leadership In California State Government, Tonia Burgess

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of Black women in their roles as leaders in the California state government with respect to support received and barriers encountered.

Methodology: The phenomenological qualitative study involved exploring the lived experiences of 12 Black women in positions of leadership in northern California state government with regard to the supports they received and the barriers they encountered during their careers in California state government. Patton (2015) asserted that phenomenology's philosophical interpretation occurs when individuals only know what they experience. Additionally, "to fully understand the phenomenon, it must be …

Dames Paving Pathways To Directorships. A Study About Female Leaders In Art Museums In The United States, Mechele Manno

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine and describe the career pathways of female art museum directors in the United States

Methodology: This phenomenological study described lived experiences of eight female art museum directors with over five years of directorship experience from museums with operating budgets over $10 million and in states that receive the highest private funding: CA, DC, IL, MA, NY, OH, PA, and TX. Data collection consisted of in-depth interviews using a scripted interview guide in research categories: a) motivation; b) career advancement; c) barriers; and d) support.

Findings: All major findings were …

A Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Study Of Chief Nurse Executives On Creating A Culture Of Inclusiveness, Toloue Aria

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed methods study was to identify and describe the leadership strategies that exemplary chief nurse executives use in inpatient acute care hospitals located in Southern California to create an organizational culture of inclusiveness using Kennedy’s (2008) 5 leadership qualities of cultural differences.

Methodology: A sequential mixed methods research design was selected to answer this study’s research questions. The researcher was a part of a thematic group of 10 peer researchers and 7 faculty advisors. Through purposeful sampling, the researcher selected 18 exemplary chief nurse executives for survey data collection using instrumentations developed …

A Qualitative Study On Grooming Talent For Higher Education, Christine Holt

Dissertations

A vast number of higher education leaders and staff have reached the age and service requirements to be eligible for retirement. In the modern workplace, higher education institutions have become more complex and have to adapt to technological advances. As a result of these occurrences, the skill level of employees must keep pace and continue to evolve. Higher education institutions must prepare and sharpen the skills and competencies of employees through leadership development programs.

In this qualitative case study of 24 participants representing three universities and two search firms, the focus was on designing and implementing succession planning and leadership …

High-Speed Rail Safety Analysis Based On Dual-Weighted Complex Network, Liu Lv

Dissertations

This study uses a complex network model to analyze the causes of accidents in high-speed railway operations. By identifying the key factors that led to high-speed railway accidents, hidden safety hazards were discovered. This will help improve the operational safety of the U.S. high-speed rail line under construction.

The analysis uses the regional high-speed railway network in Guangzhou, China as a case study, including the railway (including high-speed railway) accidents that occurred in the company's jurisdiction from 2013 to 2017. With comparative analysis between general railways and high-speed railways, the changes of high-speed railway safety factors are explored. Data analysis …

Online Fulfillment: F-Warehouse Order Consolidation And Bops Store Picking Problems, Wen Zhu

Dissertations

Fulfillment of online retail orders is a critical challenge for retailers since the legacy infrastructure and control methods are ill suited for online retail. The primary performance goal of online fulfillment is speed or fast fulfillment, requiring received orders to be shipped or ready for pickup within a few hours. Several novel numerical problems characterize fast fulfillment operations and this research solves two such problems. Order fulfillment warehouses (F-Warehouses) are a critical component of the physical internet behind online retail supply chains. Two key distinguishing features of an F-Warehouse are (i) Explosive Storage Policy – A unique item can be …

A Phenomenological Study On The Impact Of Servant Leadership For Establishing A Culture Of High Performance As Perceived By High School Principals, Darrick Rice

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and describe the perceived impact of Patterson’s (2003) 7 servant leadership constructs on high school principals in establishing a culture of high performance.

Methodology: The qualitative phenomenological study described the lived experiences of high school principals who lead schools that have implemented Patterson's (2003) 7 servant leadership constructs for establishing a culture of high performance in Los Angeles County, California. The researcher was a part of 8 peer researchers and 2 faculty advisors. The data collection included virtual face-to-face semi structured interviews using a protocol developed by the thematic team. …

Organizational Stressors As Predictors Of Burnout, Kristen Albritton

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine if organizational stress, measured by role conflict and role ambiguity, predicts burnout among employees. A review of the related literature identified variables that demonstrate a relationship with burnout, supported by the Maslach (1998) theory of burnout and Katz and Kahn’s (1966) organizational role theory. The researcher also examined whether organizational level and demographic variables (gender, education level, and job tenure) moderate the relationships between role conflict, role ambiguity, and burnout.

The study follows a non-experimental, cross-sectional design using data collected from a survey. Results of linear regression analyses reveal role conflict and …

Employees Support As A Determinant Of Merger Success: Exploring The Organizational Context And Its Interventions During Post-Merger Integration, Abdulla Humaid Saif Aljarwan Alshamsi

Dissertations

Mergers is an extreme form of organizational change, which usually has an adverse impact on the merging organizations employees’ wellbeing. In literature it was argued that organizational integration after merger, which is referred to as Post-Merger Integration (PMI) is usually resisted by employees, which is considered as a major contributor to the high failure rates of mergers. It was further argued that employees’ resistance toward integration is attributed to stress, uncertainty, ambiguity and lack of clarity on the changes that merger and integration initiate. Therefore, PMI activities were assumed to psychologically traumatize employees and jeopardize their sense of belonging, attachment, …

Do User-Generated Ratings Affect Hotel Valuations? – An Analysis Of The Chicago Hotel Market, Shailesh Patel

Dissertations

Today’s travelers are increasingly relying on aggregated online opinions to make purchase decisions. One of the sectors most impacted by these online reviews is the hospitality industry, where consumer review websites such as TripAdvisor, Expedia, and Bookings.com play a critical role in influencing consumer's choice of hotel and the price they will pay for the room. Recently, there have been studies investigating the various aspects of user-generated online reviews and ratings. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of user-generated ratings on hotel valuations. Our paper does this using regression analysis to study the impact of TripAdvisor …

Investment Advisor Succession Planning: Attitudes, Norms, And Control, Don Mueth

Dissertations

This study investigated succession planning intentions of investment advisors who lead their small businesses. We employed the theory of planned behavior to better understand the attitudes, norms and perceptions of control that impact these business leaders’ intentions to plan. Our research included a pilot study of interviews with 10 investment advisors and a main study of advisor survey responses. With a sample size of 198 participants, we analyzed survey responses measuring traditional TPB constructs as well as involvement in outside activities. Using two-step structural equation modeling, our model fit was acceptable, and our results supported our hypotheses that beliefs, attitudes, …

Design Thinking As A Common Language Between Higher Education And Employers, Johnna Denning-Smith

Dissertations

This qualitative study explores student skill preparedness for the work force through semi-structured interviews and focus groups with current college students, faculty members, and employers. Responses from study participants were transcribed, coded, and thematically organized into the following four categories of skills that employers seek in recent college graduates: critical thinking skills, resiliency, workplace skills, and discipline specific skills. The findings include participant perceptions of the importance of these skills and whether higher education effectively prepares recent graduates for the workforce. As part of this discussion, design thinking is presented as a bridge between these groups and as a solution …

Generational Diversity: Absenteeism Examined Through Perceptions Of Organizational Justice And Authentic Leadership, Ebony Lisa Spencer-Muldrow

Dissertations

This study explored the impact of authentic leadership (AL) on employee perception of organizational justice and employee propensity to engage in negligible absences—those that could be avoided by the employee but are not. The study sought an understanding into possible differences between the absence behaviors of the Millennial generation and Generation X. Data were collected from 214 participants primarily located in the Midwest United States. Participants were nearly equally distributed between the two target populations. Participants completed a comprehensive, web-based survey comprised of Colquitt’s (2001) Organizational Justice Measure (OJM) and the Walumbwa et al. (2008) Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ), along …

An Examination Of Optimal Level Of Ceo Narcissism: Why, How, And When Narcissism Impacts Firm Performance, Scott Boswell

Dissertations

Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) may have narcissistic tendencies that impact the firm and its performance. We explore the definition of narcissism, how it is measured, and when it might be optimal or harmful to the firm’s performance. Leaders exhibiting higher scores on one or more Dark Triad traits often are viewed negatively both inside and outside the firm. Should such negative perceptions disqualify a leader who displays a measure of a Dark Triad trait? This research answers the primary question, is there an optimal level of CEO narcissistic traits and if so, are there moderating factors that impact the level? …

A Comprehensive And Absolute Corporate Sustainability Assessment And Enhanced Input Output Life Cycle Assessment, Joseph M. Wright

Dissertations

Stresses due to economic activity are threatening to exceed environmental and societal limits with the potential to jeopardize local communities and create global crises. This research proposes new methodologies and analytic techniques to comprehensively assess corporate sustainability and enhance the efficiency of estimating environmental and social impacts with Input Output Life Cycle Assessment (IOLCA).

Sustainability assessments and management require consideration of both social and environmental impacts as outflows of economic activity. There are a number of assessment tools available to gain insight into environmental and social impacts; but in most cases, these approaches lack essential components for a comprehensive and …

Global Optimization Algorithms For Image Registration And Clustering, Cuicui Zheng

Dissertations

Global optimization is a classical problem of finding the minimum or maximum value of an objective function. It has applications in many areas, such as biological image analysis, chemistry, mechanical engineering, financial analysis, deep learning and image processing. For practical applications, it is important to understand the efficiency of global optimization algorithms. This dissertation develops and analyzes some new global optimization algorithms and applies them to practical problems, mainly for image registration and data clustering.

First, the dissertation presents a new global optimization algorithm which approximates the optimum using only function values. The basic idea is to use the points …

Changing The Focus: Worker-Centric Optimization In Human-In-The-Loop Computations, Mohammadreza Esfandiari

Dissertations

A myriad of emerging applications from simple to complex ones involve human cognizance in the computation loop. Using the wisdom of human workers, researchers have solved a variety of problems, termed as “micro-tasks” such as, captcha recognition, sentiment analysis, image categorization, query processing, as well as “complex tasks” that are often collaborative, such as, classifying craters on planetary surfaces, discovering new galaxies (Galaxyzoo), performing text translation. The current view of “humans-in-the-loop” tends to see humans as machines, robots, or low-level agents used or exploited in the service of broader computation goals. This dissertation is developed to shift the focus back …

An Automated Feedback System To Support Student Learning Of Conceptual Knowledge In Writing-To-Learn Activities, Ye Xiong

Dissertations

As a pedagogical strategy, Writing-to-Learn (WTL) intends to use writing to improve students’ understanding of course content. However, most of the existing feedback systems for writing are mainly focused on improving students’ writing skills rather than their conceptual development. In this dissertation, an automatic approach is proposed to generate timely, actionable, and individualized feedback based on comparing knowledge representations extracted from lecture slides and individual students’ writing assignments. The novelty of the proposed approach lies in the feedback generation: to help students assimilate new knowledge into their existing knowledge better, their current knowledge is modeled as a set of matching …

Peer-To-Peer Consumption In 3d Printing Design, Weizhi Chen

Dissertations

Three-dimensional printing or additive manufacturing is a new element in new product development that emphasizes on digitalization and innovation. However, due to its new emergence, existing research has rarely explored its mechanism and benefits especially in marketing, new product development and innovation. This research addresses the mechanism of 3D printing under collaborative consumption in the age of personal fabrication. The primary focus of this research lies at the intersection of marketing, 3D printing in collaborative consumption, and data science. Online peer-to-peer 3D printing sharing platform myminifactory.com is utilized as primary study context. In this research, two types of product design …

Mind Maps And Machine Learning: An Automation Framework For Qualitative Research In Entrepreneurship Education, Yasser Farha

Dissertations

Entrepreneurship Education researchers often measure entrepreneurial motivation of college students. It is important for stakeholders, such as policymakers and educators, to assert if entrepreneurship education can encourage students to become entrepreneurs, as well as to understand factors that influence entrepreneurial motivation. For that purpose, researchers have used different methods and instruments to measure students' entrepreneurial motivation. Most of these methods are quantitative, e.g., closed-ended surveys, whereas qualitative methods, e.g., open-ended surveys, are rarely used.

Mind maps are an attractive qualitative survey tool because they capture the individual's reflections, thoughts, and experiences. For Entrepreneurship Education, mind maps can be utilized to …

Institutional Logics And The Double Bottom Line: A Study Of Chikum Microfinance Bank Limited, Daniel Anyanwu

Dissertations

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) serve a social mission, while also having to focus on financial sustainability. Microfinance emerged as an alternative to traditional aid to the poor and aims to help alleviate poverty through providing them with financial services. MFIs can be self-sustainable and even profitable through income generating activities. This twin goal of commercial viability and social mission has generated much scholarly interest in the competition between two seemingly incompatible logics of action. Assumptions about the incompatibility of profit and mission motives have dominated the literature and led to a neglect of how some MFIs may be successful in integrating …

Servant Leadership Behaviors That Positively Influence On-Time Delivery Of Committed Work By Agile Teams In A Scaled Agile Framework, Rob Barclay

Dissertations

This research found strong evidence that leaders who use Servant Leadership Behaviors (SLBs) positively influence on-time delivery of committed work by scrum teams in a Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). In organizations using a Scaled Agile Framework to manage large programs, Agile teams plan work called “stories” within an iteration, which can range from one to four weeks. The stories are ultimately intended to deliver functionality to the end-user and have enough information within them for business and technical people to understand the intent, develop, test, and demonstrate a vertical slice of system functionality.

Our research used Servant Leadership theory to …