Business Commons^™

An Empirical Investigation Of Factors Influencing It Professionals’ Knowledge Sharing Behavior In Organizations, Prasad Shambulinga Rudramuniyaiah

Dissertations

Knowledge management is important for competitive advantage in knowledge-based organizations. A critical aspect of managing knowledge is the knowledge sharing behavior of organizational members. A positive relationship between knowledge sharing and organizational performance has been widely supported in prior literature. The vast body of extant literature on knowledge sharing behavior has identified that individuals possess specialized knowledge which can be valuable to the organization, specifically when it is shared. Knowledge sharing behavior however is influenced by several factors which either facilitate or inhibit knowledge sharing among individuals in an organizational context. A better understanding and management of these factors would …

Network Flexibility For Recourse Considerations In Bi-Criteria Facility Location, Jeremy North

Dissertations

What is the best set of facility location decisions for the establishment of a logistics network when it is uncertain how a company’s distribution strategy will evolve? What is the best configuration of a distribution network that will most likely have to be altered in the future? Today’s business environment is turbulent, and operating conditions for firms can take a turn for the worse at any moment. This fact can and often does influence companies to occasionally expand or contract their distribution networks. For most companies operating in this chaotic business environment, there is a continuous struggle between staying cost …

Synchronous And Asynchronous Collaboration Technology Use In Teamwork, Thanaporn Sundaravej

Dissertations

With the increasing geographic dispersion of project teams and the evolution of collaboration technologies, organizations are increasingly facilitating synchronous and asynchronous collaboration amongst dispersed team members using information technologies. While the facilitating role of collaboration technologies to enhance the outcomes of project teams has been examined in prior research, little, as of yet, is known about the influence of a project team member’s task characteristics and extent of usage of collaboration technologies on that member’s project task outcomes. This study drew upon media richness theory to examine the impacts of a project team member’s task characteristics and extent of usage …

Development Of Workforce Skills: Student Perceptions Of Mentoring In First Robotics, Katie Joan Veal Wallace

Dissertations

In today’s global economy, new workforce competencies are needed for success at both individual and societal levels. The new workforce skills extend beyond basic reading, writing, and arithmetic to include higher order processes such as critical thinking and problem solving. Technical job opportunities have grown by approximately 17%, yet the United States continues to decline in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Further, U.S. students earn average or below average test scores when compared to other developed countries. Researchers cite the need to incorporate the learning of workplace skills into secondary education curriculum, and advocates call for new teaching …

The Effects Of Capabilities And Governance On Information Technology And Business Process Outsourcing Performance: Client And Provider Perspectives, Aihua Yan

Dissertations

Research on information technology outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO) has consistently found that client firm capabilities, provider firm capabilities, and governance mechanisms (contractual and relational) are key determinants of outsourcing performance. These key determinants work together to affect outsourcing performance, however, the information systems (IS) literature has investigated them in a separate manner. This study contributes to the body of IS knowledge by examining capabilities and governance mechanisms influence on outsourcing performance independently and jointly. Based on resource-based theory, transaction cost economics, and relational exchange theories, we develop a research model to examine the independent and joint effects …

An Investigation Of Teacher Evaluation Systems And How They Can Be Transformed To Improve Teaching And Learning: A Change Leadership Plan, Kelly O'Brien

Dissertations

Numerous states have contributed to the overhaul of teacher evaluation systems by imposing mandatory guidelines for the development of new measures. The purpose of this Change Leadership plan was to build upon my research “Principal Perspectives on the Current State of the Art of Teacher Evaluations: A Program Evaluation” which revealed a need to investigate how teacher evaluation systems could be transformed by integrating technology to streamline the process and thus improve teaching and learning. Therefore, this Change Leadership plan aimed to address two important questions. How is technology being used within current teacher evaluation systems? Within current teacher evaluation …

Intent-Based User Segmentation With Query Enhancement, Wei Xiong

Dissertations

With the rapid advancement of the internet, accurate prediction of user's online intent underlying their search queries has received increasing attention from the online advertising community. As a rich source of information on web user's behavior, query logs have been leveraged by advertising companies to deliver personalized advertisements. However, a typical query usually contains very few terms, which only carry a small amount of information about a user's interest. The tendency of users to use short and ambiguous queries makes it difficult to fully describe and distinguish a user's intent. In addition, the query feature space is sparse, as only …

Selecting The Best Supply Chain Strategy: When Is A Misalignment Of Product Type And Strategy Appropriate, How Do Changes In Expected Demand Impact Strategies, And Should The Strategy Of A Product Change Over Its Life-Cycle?, William Ellegood

Dissertations

To reduce the total cost of delivering a product to the marketplace, many firms are going beyond the walls of their organization and working with suppliers and customers to implement supply chain management (SCM). Fisher (1997) presented a conceptual model contending that the demand characteristics and supply chain strategy (SCS) of a product should be aligned for SCM to be successful. This dissertation presents an original analytical model of a three echelon supply chain to demonstrate under various supply chain conditions that a “misalignment” between demand characteristics and SCS can result in a lower total supply chain cost. In addition …

Supply Chain Relationships In Procurement: Is Collaboration Reality?, Wesley S. Boyce

Dissertations

Supply Chain Management (SCM) often requires independent organizations to work together to achieve shared objectives. This collaboration is necessary when coordinated actions benefit the group more than the uncoordinated efforts of individual firms. Collaboration is a key dimension of SCM, and it has numerous key dimensions of its own. These include information sharing, resource sharing, decision synchronization, incentive alignment, goal congruence, joint knowledge creation, and collaborative communication. Trust and commitment are also key factors that intertwine with these dimensions. Successful implementation of these types of collaborative relationships can lead to a collaborative advantage, where firms working together achieve greater success …

Takt Time Grouping: A Method To Implement Kanban-Flow Manufacturing In An Unbalanced Process With Moving Constraints, Mitchell Alan Millstein

Dissertations

One-piece flow and kanban/pull methods have been used to reduce WIP and speed flowtime in manufacturing flow processes; however, these methods have limitations. For example, one-piece flow does not work well when there are relatively large set-up times required between different components. One-piece flow also requires operations to be well-balanced. Unfortunately, these conditions often do not exist. The Theory of Constraints drum-buffer-rope (DBR) method is designed for unbalanced processes, and it has been shown to be effective for products with large operation time variation. However, DBR does not generally optimize flowtime and cannot handle a process with moving constraints (bottlenecks). …

Connecting The Disciplinary Dots: Faculty Attitudes Toward The Professionalization Of Web Development, Kathleen Mary Kalata

Dissertations

Professionalization offers rewards such as prestige, financial benefits and autonomy. Fields such as nursing and social work have undergone the professionalization process. This exploratory study examined faculty attitudes regarding the professionalization of web development as defined by the Hall model of professionalism. The purpose of the study was to understand how faculty view web development as a profession. Based on the Hall’s Professionalism Scale (1968) and modified survey by Snizek (1972), the Web Development Professionalism Inventory (WDPI) was used to explore faculty attitudes toward professionalization.

This study surveyed faculty about their views on the structural and attitudinal components of web …

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 …

Building Change Readiness Practices For Information Technology Support Staff, Dianna Joseph Perkins

Dissertations

With the turbulent economic conditions of the healthcare market, organizational leaders are faced with significant factors driving unprecedented change. Healthcare organizations are challenged with reimbursement reductions, high costs, modification of government regulations, and demanding healthcare consumers. Survival for healthcare organizations in this volatile climate requires successful implementation of rapid change. Healthcare leaders recognize a correlation between competitive advantage and the implementation of advanced information technology. Unfortunately, despite the efforts of healthcare leaders, many change initiatives fail. This study explores the effects communication, leadership, and culture strategies have on individual change readiness as perceived by IT support staff in a not-for-profit …

The Relationship Between Wellness Behavior Traits And Organizational Citizenship Behavior Traits, Vicki Yeager Brumfield

Dissertations

In difficult economic times a healthy employee that has consistently low absenteeism rates and who volunteers or takes on extra responsibilities at the workplace could be an asset for any business or organization. The personnel component is a significant area of expense for most businesses that includes costs related to salaries, insurance, and training. An effective and efficient employee impacts the morale, productivity, and the fiscal health of a workplace. The aim of the present study was to examine the pattern of relationships between organizational citizenship behavior and employee wellness behaviors. Data sets that consist of a combination of a …

From Altruism To Investment: Venture Philanthropy And Its Impact On Shared Governance At Liberal Arts Colleges, Joshua D. Merchant

Dissertations

Competition for philanthropic dollars has escalated in recent years, particularly in higher education. A new type of charitable giving – venture philanthropy – has emerged and is impacting both educational policy and practice. Venture philanthropy involves donors using business models, championed practices of venture capitalists, and decision making procedures to drive their philanthropy and ongoing engagement with organizations they support.

Venture philanthropy has the potential to improve the financial vitality of colleges and universities. However, it also poses significant questions to the academy as more colleges and universities engage with donors who embrace its tenets. The primary research question seeks …

An Interpretivist Case Study Of Leadership Transition In The Context Of A Southern Baptist Church, Ronald Tuck

Dissertations

This ethnographic study examined the experiences of key individuals involved in a senior leadership transition in the context of the church. Leader transition constitutes a significant aspect of organizational leadership theory, yet succession planning is often neglected in the context of churches. This study revealed that leadership transition is not a single event in the history of a church organization, but rather an evolution of events involving a multiplicity of factors and individuals. Narratives from five individuals directly involved in the pastoral leadership transition process informed the study: the search committee chair, the outgoing and incoming pastors, and two differently-located …

Increasing Adolescent Interest In Computing Through The Use Of Social Cognitive Career Theory, Osama Eljabiri

Dissertations

While empirical research efforts are sufficient to provide evidence of the role of most constructs in the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), this dissertation shifts the research focus and finds serious shortcomings in defining the construct of computer technology learning experiences design.

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate whether, and to what extent, the proposed SCCT-enhanced framework can increase self-efficacy and interest of pre-college and college students in computer-based technology through the newly proposed “Learning Experiences” construct; in particular, whether it can reduce the gender gaps.

As a result of a comprehensive literature review, the dissertation connects learning, …

Svmaud: Using Textual Information To Predict The Audience Level Of Written Works Using Support Vector Machines, Todd Will

Dissertations

Information retrieval systems should seek to match resources with the reading ability of the individual user; similarly, an author must choose vocabulary and sentence structures appropriate for his or her audience. Traditional readability formulas, including the popular Flesch-Kincaid Reading Age and the Dale-Chall Reading Ease Score, rely on numerical representations of text characteristics, including syllable counts and sentence lengths, to suggest audience level of resources. However, the author’s chosen vocabulary, sentence structure, and even the page formatting can alter the predicted audience level by several levels, especially in the case of digital library resources. For these reasons, the performance of …

An Exploratory, Correlational, Self-Rater Study On Authentic Leadership Values Of Adventist Local Conference Chief Financial Officers In The United States, Juan R. Prestol-Puesán

Dissertations

The Problem

Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) local conference treasurers, or Chief Financial Officers, are trusted by church members to manage the finances of the church and provide financial leadership, yet the denomination does not know how treasurers develop their values and leadership capacity as financial administrators. This study examined how treasurers compare with the leadership values of morality, integrity, and fairness prevalent today in positive forms of leadership theories. It explores SDA treasurer or financial officer self-assessment with the rating that their team members provide, allowing us to know the authenticity of their values as leaders.

Method

This is a census …

Major Gifts To The Seed Company : Who Gives Them And Why, Michael E. Toupin

Dissertations

The Seed Company, a faith-based organization committed to Bible translation projects for hundreds of minority language communities, depends upon major donor support for its success and growth. There is a dearth of research available regarding philanthropic characteristics of major donors within The Seed Company resulting in a significant knowledge gap for healthy major donor programs based upon objective data. This study confirmed the value of several development approaches, particularly the importance of intentionally building a sense of community and relationship around the cause of the organization.

The study analyzed relationships between demographics, experiences related to the organization, and six independent …

Use Of Funds In A Nonprofit Organization As Predictor Of Organizational Effectiveness And Efficiency, Throstur B. Thordarson

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this study is to explore predictive relationships between how funds are used in a religious not-for-profit organization (NPO) and member recruitment. Financial data, from Seventh-day Adventist conferences at the organizational level, were correlated with data on membership recruitment from these same conferences.

Method. This study used a linear time-series analysis where relationships between variables and past values were explored over a 12-year period. Financial data were collected from year-end audited statements and financial activity statements. Published statistical records were used to collect data on membership and member donations.

Findings. This study concludes that Seventh-day Adventist …

The Influence Of The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People During A Merger Of A Fire Department And Emergency Medical Services In A Midwestern State : A Single Case Study From 2007 To 2013, Lisa Barnes Greco

Dissertations

Problem. Organizational mergers are difficult and often chaotic at best, fraught with unknowns that can derail the best of plans. In this study, two cultures, fire suppression and emergency medical services, were brought together in order to create a stronger fire department by consolidating resources and knowledge and to appease an ever-tightening municipal budget. How to save the best practices from each side and create a new culture was the conundrum the leadership team faced.

The purpose of this study was to understand how Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People influenced the change dynamics experienced during the …

An Evaluation Of The Bachelor Degree In Accounting Program In A Ghanaian Private University, Samuel Adaboh

Dissertations

Problem: There is the growing demand by all stakeholders (teachers, students, employers, governments, and society) for universities and colleges to be more accountable in preparing their products for the challenges of the 21 ^st century. Such demands have fueled interest in the evaluation of student learning in virtually all disciplines in college. There are calls for pedagogic innovations that will improve student learning in college. If any success can be achieved in addressing the challenge of improving the quality of products from higher education, then colleges and universitieshave need for reliable data. Such data can be obtained partly through an …