Business Commons^™

Translation Of Viral News Topics Into Digital Marketing, Eba Diab

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

In today’s digital marketing driven environment, it is essential that organizations understand the strategies behind technology in advertising. Unfortunately, many marketers do not have a strategy when they begin utilizing digital marketing strategies. The purpose of this study is to understand how viral topics translate into digital marketing. The research includes a case study on United Airlines, followed by in-depth interviews with digital marketers, and accompanied by an analysis of the business’ digital marketing campaigns. Analysis of the campaigns reveal the different digital marketing strategies organizations use to build and maintain relationships with consumers. The study concludes with a discussion …

The Effects Of The Economy, Perception Of Business Law, External Anchors, And Ethical Behavior On Corporate Social Responsibility In Developing Countries, Ihab Nasser

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept that has attracted worldwide attention and gained a new resonance in the global economy. According to Werther and Chandler (2006), the meaning of CSR can be discerned from the three words in the phrase: corporate, social, and responsibility. Corporate social responsibility covers the relationship between the corporation and the societies with which it interacts (Werther & Chandler, 2006).

While CSR has received increasing attention in recent years, as a postulate for ethical and responsible behavior in business, Belal (2001) noted that most CSR studies have been conducted in developed countries, such as most …

Price And Store Image As Mitigating Factors In The Perception And Evaluation Of Retailers' Customer-Based Brand Equity, Hagai Gringarten

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Developing, improving, and achieving sustainable advantage is becoming more challenging than ever before. This is due in part to the complexity and the rapidly changing marketing environment. No matter how strong brands are, it is getting harder to achieve and sustain brand equity. Increasingly, firms realize that branding is one of the most valuable intangible assets that firms have. This study aims to provide a better understanding of customer-based brand equity (CBBE) in the era of super brands.

Consumers often base their buying decisions on impressions of price and store image. The objective of the study was to acquire an …

Managerial Competencies And Exemplary Leadership In The Lodging Industry: An Empirical Study, Fadila Maraouch

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

In facing the rising demand for improved quality, reduced costs, and constant innovation, the need to continuously upgrade knowledge, skills, and abilities is essential for all leadership roles including those held by executives, managers, and supervisors (Kay & Russette, 2000; Mirabile, 1997; Okeiyi, Finley, & Postel, 1994; Sandwith, 1993; Tas, 1988; Tas, LaBreque, & Clayton, 1996). With management scholars racing to meet this demand, competency modeling has become one of the most frequently used techniques to help organizations profile jobs, select, as well as prepare the right person for the right leadership position (Katz, 1955; Sandwith, 1993).

Under the …

Motivation And Leadership Of Financial Advisor Associates In The Financial Services Industry, James A. Mckenzie

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The purpose of this study was to apply the platform of existing knowledge and ideas in the area of sales management with regard to the motivation of financial advisor associates (FAAs) in the financial services industry in the United States. The major theories examined in this study were: social exchange theory, leader member exchange, expectancy theory, transformational leadership, and transactional leadership. The primary focus of this non-experimental, quantitative, explanatory (correlational) research was the relationships among the independent variables (psychological climate of the workplace, the branch manager's leadership style, the demographic factors and work experience of the FAAs), and the dependent …

Effect Of E-Service Quality On Customer Online Repurchase Intentions, Tung-Hsuan Liu

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

In the early years of online retailing, having an online presence and low prices were believed to be key drivers of success. More recently, electronic service quality has become essential as an online marketing strategy. Online stores provide higher service quality to create online customer loyalty, improve customer satisfaction, and keep a lasting competitive advantage.

According to the literature review, service quality is an important instrument of developing a competitive advantage in e-business. It is one of the most critical factors for maintaining long-term relationships with customers, building customer loyalty, and encouraging repeat purchases (Li & Suomi, 2007). Therefore, service …

The Gavrilovic Meat Company: Surviving And Thriving Through Years Of Chaos In Croatia, Andrew Anthony Vuksic

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Business leaders throughout the world have suffered through very difficult times within the past several years. A global financial crisis has swept through the business community with such unspeakable force that countless businesses throughout the world have been destroyed.

Yet, is it possible that many of these failed businesses could have survived this recent financial storm? Is there a company today that could be considered a shining example of what it takes to survive and thrive in the turbulent world of business?

The purpose of this business history study was to examine key distinctive qualities of a Croatian meat company, …

Transformational Leadership, Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, And Non-Supervisory Nurses' Intention To Leave, Audrey Gregory

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The United States is currently experiencing a nursing shortage. To compound the problem, hospital nurses are leaving their organizations and executives are scrambling to figure out the reasons behind the increased turnover. Many factors are associated with nurses' intention to leave their current employment. Among these factors are job satisfaction, organizational commitment, work satisfaction, work setting, control over practice, salary, nurse-physician collaboration, job stress, and leadership style. Effective nursing leadership is an integral factor in the retention of hospital nurses and nurses who perceive their nursing leadership as participative and transformational may be more likely to be satisfied with their …

The Relationship Between Foreign Direct Investment And Exports From The Technology Sector In Costa Rica, Rodolfo Santamaria

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The research examined the relationship between FDI, imports and exports of the technology sector in Costa Rica. A three-stage procedure was used to examine this relationship: Testing Time Series Properties, Cointegration and Granger to estimate FDI significance and effects of FDI on technology sector exports. The results suggest an export-platform for FDI supporting that the finding may be important for Costa Rica. Also, examined were links between FDI and imports, which may show the significance effects of FDI and imports.

The study followed a causal correlational approach to analyze the relationship between FDI, imports and exports, and respective regression equations. …

The Modern American Entrepreneur: Characteristics, Formative Legislation, And Modern Education, Jeremy S. Office

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

This research began by exploring traits and characteristics of the American entrepreneur. It continued by offering a history of these individuals, focusing primarily on the history of laws and regulations which have both positively and adversely affected the practice of entrepreneurialism in the United States. Current laws that affect entrepreneurship, along with the current state of entrepreneurial education in business schools, are explored in depth. This study concludes that the current system of business regulations and entrepreneurial education are flawed and that their failings have produced generations of business students who are unable to reach their full potential. A brief …

Job Stress, Burnout, Job Satisfaction, And Intention To Leave Among Registered Nurses Employed In Hospital Settings In The State Of Florida, Kenneth W. Hazell

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Burnout among individual nurses in today's society is a paramount issue that carries a two-sided relationship. The individual nurse must be free of job stress and have personally obtained job satisfaction to alleviate aspects of burnout in the work environment (Maslach & Leiter, 2005). Healthcare and nursing organizations must strategize ways to help today's nurse reduce the potentials for job stress and enforce the absence of job stress and maintain a level of job satisfaction by encompassing understanding, and decreasing the variables such as work overload, lack of control, role conflict, fit, and role ambiguity that are antecedents to worker …

A Research Study Of Role Conflict, Role Ambiguity, Job Satisfaction, And Burnout Among Financial Advisors, Courtney Fichter

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The role of the financial advisor has changed from the traditional broker to a more "counselor-type" role. This change has made financial advisors more susceptible to the traditional stressors seen by other "counselor-type" professions. Therefore, it is important to understand current levels of role stressors (role ambiguity and role conflict), job satisfaction, and burnout (exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy) among financial advisors.

The purpose of this research is to measure demographics, levels of role conflict, role ambiguity, job satisfaction, and burnout to identify any significant relationships. The theoretical framework includes Maslach's Burnout Inventory (1981), Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory (1959), and role …

Workplace Aggression Behaviors, Organizational Justice, And Intention To Leave Among U.S. Telecommunications Workers, Thomas A. Wilson

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Workplace aggression behavior is a global phenomenon that casts a dark shadow on many of today's organizations, both public and private. As it frequently leads to violence, workplace aggression behaviors, which include harassment and bullying, have become a growing concern in the United States (Bandow & Hunter, 2007). Employees subjected to workplace aggression report a wide range of physical, psychological, and social complaints that prevent them from effectively performing their jobs (Fox & Spector, 2005). Employees who perceive feelings of injustice may experience decreased loyalty to their organizations (Tyler & Lind, 1992). Several researchers have examined aggression; however, little is …

Characteristic Leadership Traits Most Admired By Supervisors In An Organizational Culture, Juan Odio

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

This critical analysis reviews literature on characteristic leadership traits desired in leaders by male and female supervisors. The majority of the literature on leadership has focused on the characteristic leadership traits most admired by supervisors as it relates to organizational culture without distinguishing gender. The assumption that both gender groups have similar beliefs is perceived when there is a lack of clarity in the literature. Furthermore, only a few studies have examined how females as a separate gender feel about their leaders. This topic is of great significance because it seeks to understand whether females feel the same as males …

Data Mining To Identify Quality Of Care Factors Associated With Liability Claims And Risk Management Strategies In Florida Nursing Homes, Ernande Fortune

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The challenges facing the nursing home industry are increasingly important to the population of the United States. As the population grows older, the number of people that will require services from a nursing home will increase. In today's environment the nursing home business is facing many challenges that will define the future of the industry. Among them is the plaintiff attorney lawsuit against nursing homes, rising liability costs and vulnerability to lawsuits. A reduction in liability claims should allow nursing homes in Florida to remain solvent and stay in business to take care of those who cannot take care of …

Factors Influencing Career Success Of Minority Healthcare Industry Executives, Celesia D. Valentine

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Research has been conducted on the effects of a "glass ceiling" that still exists in US organizations for racial, ethnic, and female executives. A new barrier, defined as a "concrete ceiling" that is more difficult to penetrate, denser and less easily shattered than the glass ceiling has recently been identified as a barrier to progress namely for women of color (Catalyst, 1999,2000,2001; Moore & Jones, 2001).

The primary purpose of this non-experimental, correlational, (explanatory), causal comparative (exploratory) study is to investigate the relationships among ethnicity, race, and gender on career success outcomes of healthcare executives and to examine those factors …

The Relationship Between Psychological Capital And Social Venture Program Initiation, Paul L. Van Putten Ii

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Entrepreneurship is viewed as one of the greatest sources of societal productivity in cultural history (Spinosa, Flores, & Dreyfus, 1999), and recently social entrepreneurship has become an increasingly viable method for not-for-profit organizations to garner profit through implementing community enhancing programs (Hopkins, 2005, Morial, 2006; Wickham, 2005).

Literature suggests that psychological capital has an impact on an entrepreneurial administrators' ability to implement new programs, but few studies have investigated the relationship between the not-for-profit administrators' psychological capital and their ability to initiate social venture programs (Jensen & Luthans, 2006; Olson, & Bosserman, 2001).

This dissertation study developed a theoretical framework …

Culture As A Mitigating Factor In The Perception Of Path-Goal Leadership Styles And Workgroup Effectiveness, Alison Rampersad

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Sustaining a competitive edge in today's global business environment depends upon highly effective levels of teamwork from within an organization. During the last few decades, there has been a continuing trend of flattening or compressing the organizational hierarchy and depending on groups of employees working together as units, or workgroups, in a variety of industries. Corporate stockholders and stakeholders tend to consider workgroups an effective way to improve various aspects of organizational performance.

With the advent of the borderless organization, the workgroup has emerged as a significant entity involved in decision-making; project planning, design and implementation; inter-departmental endeavors; and other …

An Attribute Model For Analyzing The Relative Value, Market Share And Yearly Shipments Of Newly Produced General Aviation Airplanes, Mitchell R. Cannon

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The airplane manufacturing industry has evolved into a low production rate –high unit price environment. The ability of manufacturers to easily and quickly estimate airplane market value, market share and yearly shipments during the conceptual design phase of product development has become increasingly important. The purpose of this review was to explore the influence attributes affecting the value of newly produced general aviation airplanes utilizing attribute based product valuation, market share and yearly shipments regression models.

Conclusions derived from the critical analysis are: (1) product valuation models exist and are abundant, (2) many of the product valuation models are either …

Impact Of Offshore Outsourcing On Competitive Advantage Of U.S. Multinational Corporations, Yoram Benit

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Offshore outsourcing became a common business practice by most U.S. and Western businesses after the Internet became viable. It is expected that by 2015 the U.S. market will outsource 3.3 million employment opportunities and will pay an estimated $136 billion in salaries to Asian countries (Hemphill, 2004). Outsourcing became a necessity for corporations to reduce cost and maintain competitiveness in the marketplace, but its effectiveness in achieving superior performance and competitive advantage needs to be explored.

The relationship among offshore outsourcing, market freedom, and competitive advantage is an important issue for multinational corporations to conduct business and gain competitive advantage. …

Relationships Between Emotional Intelligence And Individual Workplace Performance, Tina Bauer Goldsmith

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The intelligence quotients for intellectual ability or expertise in work environments are no longer leading factors in being hired or promoted (Cherniss & Goleman, 2001; Wolff, Druskat, Koman, & Messer, 2006). More recently, what appears to matter more importantly is competence for effective people management skills (Ashkanasy & Dashborough, 2003; Diggins, 2004; Douglas, Frink, & Ferris, 2004; Silberman, 2001; Wolff et al., 2006). One research question and five hypotheses were generated for the study to gain a better understanding of the relationships and factors contributing to emotional intelligence and individual workplace performance, and to elucidate which of the two emotional …

Effects Of Similarity-Dissimilarity, Team Cohesion, And Hospital Cross-Functional Team Effectiveness On Organizational Performance, Zulfikar Dennis Kalam

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Healthcare organizations in the United States are faced with internal operating pressures as well as external regulatory and political pressures. Coupled with competitive forces and competition for healthcare dollars, improving hospital efficiency and maintaining quality patient outcomes are critical mandates for hospital administrators. To meet the increased demands of a highly complex service delivery model, hospital administrators can capitalize on hospital teams to deliver patient care in a more effective and efficient manner.

The purpose of this exploratory (comparative) and explanatory (correlational) online survey research was to test a hypothesized model about actual and perceived similarity-dissimilarity, openness to diversity, team …

Personal Characteristics, Job Characteristics, Job Satisfaction, And Organizational Commitment Of Taiwanese Expatriates Working In Mainland China, Sheng Wen Liu

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

With a population of 1.2 billion, mainland China has become a major target country for many foreign companies looking to expand their businesses because of its inexpensive labor and its large market. Since 1987, many manufacturers in Taiwan have moved to mainland China to reduce labor costs. In 2006, there were 70,256 companies from Taiwan operating in mainland China with fiscal expenditures exceeding US $42.8 1 billion dollars (Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, 2006). If Taiwan's foreign direct investment (FDI) and offshore investment expenditures were included, Taiwan would have had the second largest FDI in mainland …

Impact Of Culture On International Business Negotiation: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of Taiwan, Hong Kong, And Mainland China, Jung-Tsung Tu

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Each year international business amounts to more than $1 trillion U.S. dollars (WTO, 2005). Both foreign investment and international trade are growing substantially, causing increasing interdependence of national economies as well as furthering the globalization of companies. Presently, Greater China's economy holds an increasingly large influence on the world. Despite the enthusiasm for increased economic exchange, many people have found that cultural differences have hindered their ability to efficiently conduct business due to their lack of understanding of the cultural differences among Chinese citizens living in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China. People engaged in the negotiations of agreements in …

Perceptions Of Age Discrimination, Organizational Justice, And Employee Attitudes On Intentions To Leave In The Engineering Industry, Courtney L. Bibby

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (2006) reported that the annual turnover rate for employees of U.S. firms rose to 41% in 2005. Employee intentions to leave among young adults are a concern in many industries where the demand for skilled employees begins to exceed the supply. This is especially true in the engineering industry, because talented and knowledgeable employees are difficult to replace.

Employee turnover represents a practical dilemma for many businesses due to the loss of qualified personnel and additional recruitment and training costs. Although little is known about employee turnover intention within the engineering …

Leadership Style, Leader-Member Exchange, And Performance For A Family-Run Taiwanese Multinational Enterprise, Yintsuo Huang

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

During Taiwan's modem surge in economic development, family businesses became one of the most important organizational units in the society. Taiwanese family operated enterprises combine traditional values with Japanese and Western business practices; this influences organizational leadership styles. Most leadership theories focus on leader development; however, the relationship between supervisor-leaders and subordinate-managers is important in the leadership process. To be competitive, multinational enterprises are challenged to develop effective global management and leadership relationships and practices when conducting operations between headquarters and subsidiaries that extend across nations and cultures.

The purpose of this explanatory (correlational) and exploratory (comparative) research survey was …

Effect Of Strategy And Internet Business Adoption On Performance, Shu-Hung Hsu

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Organizations that implement competitive strategies and Internet business adoption in the market place can gain a competitive advantage and improved financial performance. The purposes of this explanatory and exploratory, mixed method study, were threefold: 1) to describe the relationship between competitive strategies and Internet business adoption, the relationship between competitive strategy and financial performance, and the relationship between Internet business adoption and financial performance; 2) to examine the effects of the different levels of Internet business adoption (prospecting, business integration and business transformation) and different strategic types (cost leadership and differentiation) on financial performance (profit margin, asset turnover, return on …

Relationships Between Goal Setting, Innovation, Project Management, Quality, Speed To Market And New Product Success, Ying-Chieh Yang

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Successful new products and services are critical for business success in the global economy. Many companies, however, continue to find successful new product development (NPD) difficult. Few studies have investigated the impact of organizational culture on NPD. The literature suggests that environmental conditions intervene in NPD, but little research has been conducted on relationships between organizational culture, environmental conditions, and NPD success.

This dissertation develops a theoretical framework based on Nakata and Sivakumar's (1996) culture-NPD model which integrates four cultural values, environmental uncertainty, and firm size as keys to NPD success. Research questions and hypotheses originate from this theoretical framework. …

Validation Of A Rolling-Logit Model To Predict Tse Corporate Bankruptcy, Chia-Liang Lin

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

For more than 50 years, predicting corporate bankruptcy has been a critical topic of global interest resulting in significant research devoted to the development and refinement of corporate bankruptcy prediction models. However, most studies overwhelmingly concentrated on using single period's information to identify bankruptcy risks and very few studies investigated the role of previous information in prediction models. Morris (1997) and Um (2001) used a rolling-logit model based on previous and present information to measure the risks of corporations, but presented an inconsistency about the predictive ability. This inconsistency suggested more research efforts to verify the predictive ability of the …

Factors Influencing Baseball Fans' Brand Loyalty: A Comparison Of Florida Marlins And Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Yun-Tsan Lin

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Factors influencing Major League Baseball fans' brand loyalty is important because these fans bring significant financial benefits to the industry every year, and stimulate economic growth in the United States. An intercept and quota sampling plan resulted in a sample of 285 Florida Marlins fans and 213 Tampa Bay Devil Rays fans for this comparative and correlational study. The purpose was to test for an explanatory relationship among fans' characteristics, influencing factors, and the loyalty of fans to a winning team and to a losing team. Comparative and multiple regression analyses tested hypothesized relationships among fan characteristics, brand association attributes, …