Business Commons^™

Influenca E Reklamës Dhe Preferenca E Markës, Jehon Kadrija

Theses and Dissertations

Qëllimi i këtij studimi është analizimi i influencës që ka reklama në preferencën e markës. Për të realizuar studimin është përdorur metodologji sasiore. Të dhënat primare janë mbledhur me anë të një pyetësori i cili përbëhet nga 17 pyetje dhe ndahet në tre seksione. Në seksionin e parë paraqiten të dhënat demografike. Seksioni i dytë përbëhet nga tetë pyetje të vlerësuara sipas shkallës likert nga 1-5, me anë të cilave vlerësohet influenca që kanë reklamat në blerjen e një marke dhe seksioni i tretë përbëhet nga 9 pyetje me anë të të cilave vlerësohen faktorët që ndikojnë në preferencën e …

Automatically Detecting The Resonance Of Terrorist Movement Frames On The Web, Ugochukwu O. Etudo

Theses and Dissertations

The ever-increasing use of the internet by terrorist groups as a platform for the dissemination of radical, violent ideologies is well documented. The internet has, in this way, become a breeding ground for potential lone-wolf terrorists; that is, individuals who commit acts of terror inspired by the ideological rhetoric emitted by terrorist organizations. These individuals are characterized by their lack of formal affiliation with terror organizations, making them difficult to intercept with traditional intelligence techniques. The radicalization of individuals on the internet poses a considerable threat to law enforcement and national security officials. This new medium of radicalization, however, also …

Co-Creation Experience: Measurement Development And Influence On Value In Sharing Economy, Pei Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Since its introduction, an increasing attention has been paid to the scholarly discussion of value co-creation. One of the most essential problems in value co-creation is the development of comprehensive conceptualizations and measurement scales of value co-creation. However, most existing scales concentrate on co-creation behavior instead of co-creation experience and the development of a valid and reliable measurement scale of co-creation experience has been regarded as a top research priority. Meanwhile, the emergence of shared experience in tourism and hospitality has raised great attention from both academics and industry practitioners. Tourist shared experience such as participating in peer-to-peer accommodation inherently …

Consumer Decision Making For Accommodations In The Shared Economy, Jeffery C. Kreeger

Theses and Dissertations

Although many components of the shared economy have existed over time, it has recently blossomed into a thriving business that facilitates sharing of assets and services with strangers by using applications on the Internet. Recently, a convergence of many factors favorable to the development of the shared economy occurred and has become a new way of doing business for many and has introduced a new business model. Many people are shifting their goals from owning assets to borrowing them. This is not only economically favorable, but it is also environmentally favorable for the planet. The Lodging Shared Economy (LSE) is …

Gendering Migration Determinants: A Phenomenological Analysis Of Professional Immigrant Women From India, Noreen Ohlrich

Theses and Dissertations

The economic contributions of highly qualified (HQ) labor migrants from developing countries fuel the global talent race. The problem is that little is known about the women in this sought out talent pool. This phenomenological study addressed this neglected gendered dimension by exploring how professional Asian Indian women experienced the following aspects of international migration: (a) gendering international mobility, (b) women and the race for global talent, (c) policies and the labor market, (d) cultural stigma, (e) brain drain versus diaspora networks, and (f) the Asian Indian woman paradox.

Professional Asian Indian women from greater Frankfurt am Main, Germany were …

Three Essays On Capital Structure And Product Market Interactions, Ying Zheng

Theses and Dissertations

Capital structure can have important consequences for firm value. High leverage increases firms’ probability of bankruptcy, and is shown to be the primary cause of financial distress. As suggested by a strand of literature on capital structure and product market interactions, high leverage is costly because financial weakness could induce unfavorable actions by product market participants such as customers and competitors. While the costs of high leverage are well documented in the extant literature, little is known on the factors that influence the costs of high leverage. This dissertation addresses this gap in the literature by examining how the costs …

A Systems View Of Is Governance And It Governance: A Case Study Of The Virginia Department Of Transportation, Bernard Farkas

Theses and Dissertations

A review of the research related to Information Technology (IT) governance reveals that researchers have yet to use systems theory directly as a basis for understanding IT governance; however, analysis of these researchers’ various definitions of IT governance shows a concurrence between these definitions and the characteristics of a system. This case study research adopts a systems imagination to observe IS and IT governance in the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), which has a budget of over $5 billion and over 7,500 employees and has recently conducted a strategic assessment of its IT organization - including IS and IT governance. …

An Investigation Of Buyers’ Forecast Sharing And Ordering Behavior In A Two-Stage Supply Chain, Minseok Park

Theses and Dissertations

Profitably balancing demand and supply is a continuous challenge for companies under changing market conditions, and the potential benefit of collaboration between supply chain partners cannot be overlooked by any firm who strives to succeed. One of the key elements to successful collaboration is sharing of forecast information between supply chain partners. However, when supply shortage is expected, buyers may inflate order quantities and/or order forecasts to secure sufficient supply. An important question that arises is how the supplier should allocate inventory to customers when shortage exists. Literature shows that certain allocation policies can reduce buyers’ order inflation behavior. However, …

Innovative Revenue Management Practices With Probabilistic Elements, Övünç Yılmaz

Theses and Dissertations

Sale of products with a probabilistic nature, where customers do not know which product they will receive at the time of service, has become popular over the recent years. In the revenue management literature, there has been a growing interest in understanding these modern approaches using analytical techniques. On the other hand, customer-centric revenue management has been replacing the long-standing inventory-centric approach because of the availability of rich data sets by focusing on understanding and predicting customer behavior and then optimizing price and/or quantity related decisions. In this dissertation, we take a customer-centric approach and do not only provide analytical …

Three Essays On Relationships Among Financial Institutions, Chia-Chun Chiang

Theses and Dissertations

dissertation investigates relationships among financial institutions. I examine relationships from three different perspectives: relationships among affiliated banks and life insurers, correlated trading among life insurers, and relationships between insurers and bond dealers in the over-the-counter markets. The primary purpose of my research is to examine the benefits and drawbacks of relationships among financial institutions. The main findings are as follows. First, life insurers with bank affiliates had higher growth rates relative to other life insurers during the 2008 financial crisis. However, these Bank-Life Financial Holding Companies performed worse than Non-Bank-Life Financial Holding Companies during the same period. It indicates that …

When Auditors’ Skeptical Judgments Do Not Lead To Skeptical Actions, Erin Michelle Hawkins

Theses and Dissertations

Auditors are required to maintain professional skepticism through the course of an audit engagement. Professional skepticism is maintained through both skeptical judgment and observable skeptical behavior (skeptical action). However, auditors who exhibit professional skepticism in judgment do not always exhibit professional skepticism in action. The present study examines whether social presence alters the likelihood of auditors acting on skeptical judgments by utilizing an experimental setting where participants interact with a hypothetical client using four different communication mediums varying in social presence. Results suggest that auditor-client interactions high in perceived social presence inhibit auditors from acting on skeptical judgments compared to …

Internet-Based Behavior Of It Professionals: Implications For Online Ergonomic Education To Prevent Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders, Priyadarshini Pattath

Theses and Dissertations

INTERNET-BASED BEHAVIOR OF IT PROFESSIONALS: IMPLICATIONS FOR ONLINE ERGONOMIC EDUCATION TO PREVENT WORK-RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS

By Priyadarshini Pattath, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2017 Director: Dr. Robin Hurst, Assistant Professor of Adult Learning, Teaching and Learning,

School of Education

The purpose of this study was to explore the preferences of medium of ergonomic education and views about self-directed online training modules to prevent musculoskeletal disorders in computer professionals and understand their perspectives and experiences about online health information seeking using a …

Two Essays On Social Sharing Effects On Consumer Memories, Li Huang

Theses and Dissertations

Social sharing is universal in everyday life. Every day consumers share news, opinions, and personal experiences using different media, including face-to-face communications, cellphones, texting, email, and other social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Twitter). Word-of-Mouth, a common type of social sharing has been found to be fundamental to marketing and has been shown to significantly impact firms’ sales and revenues. However little is known about the effects of WOM on consumer memories. Since consumer memory is an important variable in marketing due to its significant impact on consumer judgments and decisions, my dissertation addresses this gap and examines the effects of …

Multinational Foreign Affiliates In The Least Developed Countries: A Multilevel Approach, R. Scott Hibbs

Theses and Dissertations

Several studies have examined the country-level effects on multinational enterprises that go into the developing countries, including the least developed countries. Few studies have considered the firm-level effects. This study uses the multilevel modeling method as outlined by Klein and Kozlowski (2000), Raudenbush and Bryk (2002), and Bliese and Hanges (2004) to examine whether there are any systemic patterns of multinational enterprises across the least developed countries. This paper uses information on foreign affiliates in the least developed countries to examine the overall trends of multinational firms in the least developed countries. Using data from the United Nations’ most recent …

The Contextual Impact Of Innovation And Operational Spillovers On Firm Performance, Cherry Singhal

Theses and Dissertations

Extant literature across various research disciplines has investigated the influence of a firm’s technological innovation on its performance. However, the findings on this relationship remain inconclusive as it is subject to many strategic and environmental factors. In this dissertation, the relationship between a firm’s technological innovation and performance is evaluated. Additionally, this relationship is examined in the presence of various contextual factors.

In the first study, meta-analysis is utilized to quantitatively aggregate existing empirical research in this domain. Cultural and institutional aspects of the nation in which the firm operates are examined for their potential in explaining variability within the …

Toward A Theory Of Full Life Cycle Recruiters, Michael C. Campion

Theses and Dissertations

Despite their operational and strategic importance to their firms, recruiters remain virtually invisible within management scholarship today. In this dissertation, I draw on research from a variety of theoretical perspectives and use role theory as a foundation for developing a theory intended to generate insight into the major individual, social, and contextual factors that underpin their behavior and performance. I define full life cycle recruiters as quasi-agentic brokers of resources among parties internal and external to a firm who operate at the intersection of social systems, are involved in recruiting, assessment, and onboarding processes, and adopt multiple micro roles with …

The Effect Of Social Exclusion On Shoplifting, Christopher Ling

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the effect of social exclusion on shoplifting. Shoplifting is a serious problem for marketers, yet surprisingly little attention in the literature has been paid to its underlying social factors. The current research therefore seeks to document conditions under which, and the process through which, consumers may engage in aggressive behavior in the form of shoplifting. Supporting the proposition that shoplifting is an antisocial response to social exclusion that depends on prior shoplifting experience, four studies provide evidence that prior shoplifters (vs. nonshoplifters) are more likely to shoplift again when they are socially excluded because they expect that …

Three Essays On Privatization, State Ownership, And Corporate Policies, Ruiyuan Chen

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the impact of state ownership on corporate policies in the context of privatization. The first essay provides new evidence about the agency costs of state ownership on corporate cash holdings and new insight into the corporate governance role of country-level institutions. Consistent with agency theory, we find strong and robust evidence that state ownership is positively related to corporate cash holdings. Moreover, we find that the strength of country-level institutions affects the relation between state ownership and the value of cash holdings. In particular, as state ownership increases, markets discount the value of cash holdings more in …

Two Essays On The Impact Of Memory On Consumer Well-Being And Self-Definition, Kara Bentley

Theses and Dissertations

Consumer memory is an important variable for marketers to study because it is well documented that memories influence consumer attitudes, preferences, and behavioral intentions (Chattopadhyay and Alba 1988). In my dissertation, I focus on two specific types of consumer memories that are important for consumer well-being and self-definition – memories of shared (social) experiences and memories of special experiences. In my first essay, I contend that shared experiences are remembered better than individual experiences because of their positive impact on consumer well-being, while in my second essay, I investigate the manner in which memories of special experiences, which are inherently …

Exploring Determinants And Consequences Of International Diversification: A Multi-Level Perspective, Ettore Spadafora

Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation explores determinants and consequences of international diversification and consists of two essays. Essay I focuses on the relationship between international diversification and firm performance (ID-P). Drawing on the global strategy literature and the institution-based view of strategy, we propose that the mixed findings of extant research on the ID-P relationship can be explained by the contextual conditions in which this relationship exists, including home-country formal and informal institutions. The model is tested in a meta-analysis (HOMA, MARA, and HiLLMA analyses) of firm-, industry-, and home country-level factors driving the ID-P relationship. The sample consists of 359 primary studies …

Institutional Brokerage And The Governance Of Global Value Chains: The Case Of The Us Apparel Industry., Alessandro Perri

Theses and Dissertations

In this qualitative study of the apparel industry, I analyze the governance of buyersupplier interfaces in outsourced global value chains through an institutional theory lens. I set forth that transactional and relational cross-national barriers, linked to institutional distance between home and host country in outsourced production networks, and supplier capabilities are key determinants of variations in the governance mode chosen by lead buyers for their outsourced value chain. I further posit that lead buyers respond to the additional costs imposed by home–host country institutional distance and by structural supplier capability constraints, by means of governance modes that provide institutional brokerage, …

Branded For Success: A Longitudinal Examination Of Brand Associations As Drivers Of Team Identification For A New Sport Brand, Henry Wear

Theses and Dissertations

The competition for the sport consumer has intensified over the last decade, and many teams are now seeking to establish a foothold in the marketplace (Baker, McDonald, & Funk, 2016). To form a competitive advantage in the sport industry, many sport organizations are beginning to think of their organizations as brands to be managed (Ross, 2006). From a sport marketer’s perspective, it is difficult to rely on brand characteristics based on success or team composition to promote a sport brand and develop fans due to the unpredictable nature of the sport product. Conversely, brand characteristics regarding the logo, color scheme, …

Theme Park Demand, Theme Park Attractiveness, And Visitors’ Theme Park Choices, Yingsha Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship among theme park demand, theme park attractiveness, and visitors’ theme park choices. It consists of three studies reported through five chapters. Key data were obtained from the website of an online travel agency, TripAdvisor, using web scraping techniques. The first study developed a new approach to measure tourist source markets’ theme park demand and theme park attractiveness by solving a reverse gravity model via particle swarm optimization. Findings from this study should help theme parks to evaluate more accurately the demand market and their own competitiveness compared to other theme parks. The second study explored …

Wearing Your Ethics: Investigating Consumer Purchase Intention Of Ethically Produced Fashion Products, Hannah E. Weiner

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the body of knowledge that exists in the area of ethical production by examining factors that influence purchase intention of ethically produced fashion products. The findings of this study provide a further understanding of ethical production by providing answers to the objectives. These results will also provide insight to firms wanting to effectively convey pro-environmental efforts to consumers. The findings may also assist marketers in understanding the consumers’ attitudes toward ethical manufacturing practices and their motivations for wearing their ethics and purchasing ethically produced fashion products.

The theoretical framework of this …

Favorability Of Financial And Nonfinancial Performance Measures And Analysts' Recommendations, Thomas F. Lewis Jr

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the extent to which sell-side analysts make full use of available financial and nonfinancial information signals in formulating stock recommendations. Prior research shows that investors rely strongly on sell-side analysts’ recommendations and that sell-side analysts pay considerable attention to nonfinancial measures in making their decisions. However, prior research has primarily focused on the mere presence of nonfinancial measures and not the extent to which the direction of such measures (i.e. favorability) is associated with firm value, or assessed the extent to which any interaction between financial measures and the direction of nonfinancial measures may influence analysts in …

A Sensitivity Analysis For Relative Importance Weights In The Meta-Analytic Context: A Step Towards Narrowing The Theory-Empiricism Gap In Turnover, James G. Field

Theses and Dissertations

Turnover is one of the most important phenomena for management scholars and practitioners. Yet, researchers and practitioners are often frustrated by their inability to accurately predict why individuals leave their jobs. This should be worrisome given that total replacement costs can exceed 100% of an employee’s salary (Cascio, 2006) and can represent up to 40% of a firm’s pre-tax income (Allen, 2008). Motivated by these concerns, the purpose of this study was to assess the predictive validity of commonly-investigated correlates and, by extension, conceptualizations of employee turnover using a large-scale database of scientific findings. Results indicate that job satisfaction, organizational …

Review Of Whistleblowing Studies In Accounting Research Examining Corporate Internal Whistleblowing Policy, Lei Gao

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three studies. The first study provides a review and synthesis of past accounting research regarding factors that influence whistleblowing. The second study is a content analysis to examine the variation of organizations’ internal whistleblowing policy, including both the content characteristics of the policy and the linguistic characteristics of the policy. In terms of the content characteristics of the whistleblowing policy, this study focuses on who is covered in the policy, where to report, employees’ responsibility, corporate investigation procedures, disciplinary action against the wrongdoer, and anti-retaliation policy. In terms of the linguistic characteristics of the internal whistleblowing …

An Information Theoretic Investigation Of Complex Adaptive Supply Networks With Organizational Topologies, Joshua V. Rodewald

Theses and Dissertations

Supply networks exist throughout society in manufacturing and knowledge-intensive industries as well as many service industries. Organizations have been noted to behave as complex adaptive systems or information supply networks with both formal and informal structures. Thoroughly understanding supply network structure and behavior are critical to managing such organizations effectively, but their properties of complex adaptive systems make them more difficult to analyze and assess, forcing researchers to rely on unrealistic data or assumptions of behavior. This research proposes an information theoretic methodology to discover such complex network structures and dynamics while overcoming the difficulties historically associated with their study. …

How Should We Motivate Effort, Shamima Khan

Theses and Dissertations

This research uses an experimental design to study if the pattern and positioning of rewards influence the amount of effort participants put in. The three key hypotheses tested here are: 1) are people more likely to complete a task if the incentives are given in more regular intervals, 2) do uncertainty of reward timing hurt or help in maintaining motivation, 3) is intrinsic motivation more influential than the patterns in which incentives are structured? The treatments in this experiment are created by varying the reward structure of candies and pens in exchange of a simple math test completion. Among the …

Standardet E Auditimit Të Brendshëm, Bardhyl Veliu

Theses and Dissertations

Ky punim diplome ka për qëllim njohjen për së afërmi me fushën e auditimit, respektivisht auditimit të brendshëm (intern), duke filluar me konceptet e përgjithshme të auditimit, dhe duke përfunduar me konceptet më të ngushta që kanë të bëjnë me auditimin e brendshëm që zhvillohet në tri komunat e zgjedhura për këtë studim, respektivisht komunat: Prishtinë, Fushë-Kosovë, Preshevë dhe Bujanoc. Për më tepër, ky dokument pasqyron pjesën më të madhe të termave dhe nocioneve të përfshira në këtë fushë. Më tej, sqaron rëndësinë që ka auditimi i brendshëm për këtokomuna, si dhe efektet pozitive që mund të vijnë si rezultat …