Business Commons^™

Barriers And Drivers Influencing The Growth Of E-Commerce In Uzbekistan, Madinakhon Tursunboeva

Theses and Dissertations

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) has become a major retail channel for businesses in developed countries. However, it is still considered an innovation in developing countries. Specifically, e-commerce in Uzbekistan is in the early stages of emergence despite its advance in recent years in terms of Internet penetration, a strong retail sector, new national regulations, and a young population. The study aimed to identify barriers and drivers influencing e-commerce growth in Uzbekistan. A Delphi research design was utilized to answer the research questions of the study, which categorized and ranked factors that Uzbekistani entrepreneurs are facing when engaging in e-commerce processes. A …

Low In Advantageous Personality Traits? Find An Alternative Path To Higher Job Performance, Ares Boira Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

Extensive research has provided evidence that the trait positive affect (PA) and the personality trait conscientiousness are positively related to job performance (JP). Although recent studies have challenged the common perspective that these traits do not change, their variability is often low. Thus, their stability makes these traits especially useful for hiring practices. However, for developmental purposes, that same characteristic might pose limitations to effective increases in employees’ performance. The current study aims to offer a solution to contribute to the research and practice of employee development. Given the potential difficulty of changing an individual’s PA, this article develops hypotheses …

The Moderating Effect Of Employee Bottom-Line Mentality On The Relation Between Personality And Unethical Pro-Organizational Behaviors, Jordan Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) refers to unethical actions that employees engage in to benefit the company they work for. The issue of employees engaging in UPB has been high-lighted in various high-profile scandals, such as the Volkswagen emissions scandal. The current study examined the interaction between employees’ personality traits, perceptions of bottom-line mentality (BLM), and UPB. The results suggested that when employees who are low on trait conscientiousness and honesty-humility are placed in an environment in which they perceive to have high levels of BLM, they are more likely to engage in UPB than those individuals who had higher levels …

Athletic Identity, Institutional Support Services, And Transition Factors: An Analysis Of Student-Athlete Perceptions And Implications, John Nowak Kaczorowski

Theses and Dissertations

Brewer, Van Raalte and Linder (1993) defined the term athletic identity as the degree to which a person identifies with the role of an athlete and seeks outside acknowledgement of that role. Those who have a high athletic identity tend to be those who have achieved elite levels within athletics. These elite athletes tend to base their self-worth and self-esteem on their ability, performance and the appreciation of their athletic talent, while gradually neglecting other aspects of psycho-social development (Cieslak II, 2004). These resulting deficits have been attributed to what is called identity foreclosure in the literature. High-stakes athletes can …

Proactive Personality And Voluntary Turnover: The Moderating Effects Of Development And Perceived Career Opportunities, Amy F. Huber

Theses and Dissertations

The present thesis reports the research and quantitative examination of the relation

between proactive personality and voluntary turnover, as well as the moderating influences of participation in development activities and perceptions of available career opportunities. Zero- order correlations and moderated binary logistic regression are used to test the hypotheses within an archival data set of 295 participations from a multinational European organization. A significant correlation was found between proactive personality and participation in developmental activities. Additionally, participation in developmental activities was found to be a negative predictor of voluntary turnover. Results of the moderated logistic regression analysis showed that both …

Examining The Application Of Experiential Learning Techniques Across Sport Management Programs, Elizabeth Sattler

Theses and Dissertations

The Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA) has identified experiential learning projects as an integral element to be included in sport management curriculum (COSMA, 2016). However, often the experiential learning opportunities offered by sport management programs are limited to a required internship experience (Foster & Dollar, 2010). While internship programs have been widely accepted and implemented by sport management programs (Eagleman & McNary, 2010), there is little evidence of the implementation of other experiential learning practices within sport management programs. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to investigate the widespread application of experiential learning practices of sport management faculty. …

Analyzing Twitter Usage Differences Between Student Season Ticket Buyers And Non-Buyers, Matthew Aloysius Kinney

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the importance of social media to college students as it relates to purchasing game tickets. More specifically, the thesis examines the role that Twitter and marketing play in purchase intentions of students that actually purchase tickets. The results demonstrate that those who have purchased a ticket membership package are more likely to follow said organization on Twitter. Results also found that no significant difference exists in Twitter Intensity based on whether or not a student has purchased a ticket membership package.

Financial Conflict Messages And Marital Satisfaction: The Mediating Role Of Financial Communication Satisfaction, Samantha Josephine Shebib

Theses and Dissertations

The current study explores how methods of handling financial disagreements contribute to, or detracts from, marital satisfaction. In addition, satisfaction with communicating about financial obligations in marriage is predicted to contribute to marital satisfaction.

Examining Social Desirability Bias In Measures Of Financial Behavior, Nicole L. Kelly

Theses and Dissertations

Surveys that investigate the financial lives of consumers consist of direct questions about financial behavior, with college students being a heavily surveyed and convenient sample (Gutter 2013). However, the subjective nature of survey data is not bias-free, indicated by the presence of disparities between the respondents' reported and actual behavior. Due to the fact that many students begin to acquire loans, establish credit, and initiate saving behaviors in college, it is important that we have a complete understanding the financial behavior of college students.

The goal of this study was to investigate the role of socially desirable responding (SDR) in …

Reconceptualizing Markets: Hip- Hop Artists, Marketing, Distribution, And Consumers, Ronald Pikes

Theses and Dissertations

Sociologists have made many contributions to the current understanding of markets. In spite of these contributions, individuals and market practices in sociology are generally overlooked, but both are important because individuals and their practices give markets their form. By overlooking market practices, sociologists disregard two of the most important forces within markets, distribution and marketing. These oversights significantly reduce our ability to understand how modern economic markets operate. Thus, the focus of this study is centered on market actions of independent hip-hop music artists and consumers of hip-hop music especially in regards to music distribution technology. Data was collected via …

Feasibility Study Of An Alternative Approach To Recycle Shipping Containers, Tofig Mammadov

Theses and Dissertations

In this research, the author proposes to study the feasibility of applying ISO shipping containers as alternative construction materials. Using retired shipping containers for dwellings, offices or other construction purposes is an environmentally friendly idea. The "green generation" constitutes a battle against harmful effects of industrial developments. Motivated by the green movement, this research addressed the recycling of shipping containers in the construction market. Particularly, this research studied the recycling of shipping containers for the purpose of student housing construction.

The design and justification of the implementation of the innovative construction materials was achieved through the application of Building Information …

Modeling And Simulation Of Evacuation Plan For Hancock Stadium, Nirmal Neranjan Weerasekara

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study is to use Modeling and Simulation of Evacuation Plan (MSEP) to support management to execute proper evacuation plan in case of emergency at Hancock Stadium in Illinois State University. Analyses of the research literature and evacuation scenarios are used to build a simulation system that will connect a description of emergency and evacuation situation with its context. It shows how an evacuation plan actually functions. The results of the study will help safety managers to understand the current situations of evacuation according to the specific simulation scenarios. The evacuation simulation is categorized according to the …

Interpersonal Leadership: The Role Of Perceived Motivation For Self-Disclosure And Self-Disclosure Appropriateness In Employee Affect For Supervisor, Caleb Barrett Malik

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has strongly supported the importance of supervisor leadership style in employee satisfaction and productivity in the workplace. Although the use of referent power is a key factor in successful leadership, little research has been conducted to identify specific communicative behaviors that enable a supervisor to establish a referent power base. Given that positive affect, specifically liking, is the basis for the enactment of referent power, this study examines the relationship between a supervisor's self-disclosure behavior and the extent to which an employee likes his or her supervisor. A sample of working professionals (N=168) was surveyed and asked to …

Measuring Predictors Of Groupthink: Instrument Development And Validation, Richard Walter Baptist

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals in any organization will often find themselves working in groups, either by force, necessity, or through volunteering. Group work is something everyone must do, and learning how to make the best of every situation and group opportunity can be the difference between a positive or negative experience. This study explores the communication within decision-making groups where a poor outcome or decision occurred. By examining the concept of groupthink, we can enhance our understanding of the factors influencing the group decision-making process and how communication can benefit organizations. This specific study expands the current body of knowledge on groupthink by …

Operating An Interior Design Firm In Saudi Arabia: Opportunities And Challenges For Professional Female Employees, Najah Alsaffaf

Theses and Dissertations

Empowering women is the aim of the research. Saudi Arabia is the research location and interior design is the subject of the investigation. Saudi Arabia is on the path of empowering women through education and facilitating job opportunities. There is vast research about entrepreneurship and obstacles that women face in Saudi Arabia, but there is no evidence of research on the interior design field in Saudi Arabia in both education and job opportunities. Finding out that the art and design scene is thriving in education indicates that there would be a need for creating jobs and employment options for design …

Pioneers Of Asynchronous Online Education At Religion-Based Institutions Of Higher Education: A Multiple Case Study Exploring The Process Of Adoption Of Online Education At Three Private Catholic Colleges, Alan D. Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined the process of adopting online education at three private colleges. All three institutions participating in the study were private Catholic colleges that offered their first online courses in the late 1990s. The research question posed for this study was: Within the participating institutions, how did online education get started and what was the process for its development?

Findings from this research indicated that, for an institution to successfully implement online education, four elements emerged: (a) some form of infrastructure needed to be in place that could support online education, (b) a latent force, referred to as …