Business Commons^™

A Self-Exploration Of A Project Leader’S Career Tilt, Transformation, And Motivational Challenges In The Face Of A Mass Organizational Layoff: An Organizational Evocative Autoethnography, Valentina Rada

Theses & Dissertations

In this study, I reflected on my behavior as a project leader in an organizational culture undergoing significant transformations. I explored motivational and engagement best practices for personal and professional career growth in a changing environment, such as layoffs due to downsizing. This study includes my research rationale for improving performance given the impacted career of a project leader. I highlighted the role of goal setting as a critical part of project leadership to facilitate performance in times of organizational crisis. Additionally, I focused on autoethnography as a research method to self-reflect on the impact of self-determination on goal achievement. …

Essays On Salesperson’S Motivation And Job Satisfaction-Performance, Claire H. Cha

Doctoral Dissertations

Salesforces are important to firms as they drive a significant part of the firm’s brand, financial, and relational performance. Salesforce performance, job satisfaction, and motivation have remained key topics of interest to practitioners as well as researchers (Hansen & Levin, 2016; Pullins, 2001; Williams & Plouffe, 2007). This dissertation includes three essays. Essay 1 aims to address a lingering question theoretically and managerially. What is the relationship between satisfaction and performance? That question is assessed with a unique longitudinal simultaneous design to test four leading hypotheses of the causal relationship between salespeople’s job satisfaction and performance. The study’s design addresses …

An Examination Of Reward-Based Crowdfunding Performance And Success, Matthew Alan Grace

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reward-based crowdfunding (RBCF), where fundraisers raise funds from a crowd of investors in return for a reward, has carved a niche as a proven option for not just entrepreneurs seeking early-stage funding, but also for established firms looking to presell or market a new product or service. Establishing crowdfunding performance and success factors is important for researchers and practitioners alike. Fortunately, a large portion of the RBCF academic literature is immediately applicable to entrepreneurs, with very little additional interpretation required. However, important questions about RBCF remain. The first paper in this three-part dissertation, a systematic literature review, examines some of …

An Examination Of Reward-Based Crowdfunding Performance And Success, Matthew Alan Grace

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reward-based crowdfunding (RBCF), where fundraisers raise funds from a crowd of investors in return for a reward, has carved a niche as a proven option for not just entrepreneurs seeking early-stage funding, but also for established firms looking to presell or market a new product or service. Establishing crowdfunding performance and success factors is important for researchers and practitioners alike. Fortunately, a large portion of the RBCF academic literature is immediately applicable to entrepreneurs, with very little additional interpretation required. However, important questions about RBCF remain. The first paper in this three-part dissertation, a systematic literature review, examines some of …

Career Choice Motivation For Commercial Pilots, Brett Watts

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Career choice motivation research studies the factors involved during a person’s decision-making process regarding which career to pursue (Skatova & Ferguson, 2014). These factors are often studied in individuals who have not yet entered the workforce, such as students. Although there is a significant amount of research on career choice motivations for doctors, dentists, and other related fields, research on career choice motivations for pilots is sparse. As air traffic is expected to grow at approximately 4.7% per year for the next 20 years (Federal Aviation Administration, 2022), a key factor in the aviation industry’s growth is the availability of …

Off The Beaten Path - A Podcast Interview Series, Shaun Holmes, Jason D'Mello

Honors Thesis

For my Honors Senior Thesis, I created a short podcast series entitled "Off The Beaten Path". My podcast delves into the lives of individuals who have who have been unafraid to grab life by the horns and choose a less traditional path in pursuit of bringing their passion or their own new creation to life. My interest in interviewing these types of individuals stems from my own life story, as well as my own desire to learn from the insights of people who have succeeded in these types of endeavors before me.

The Impact Of Instagram Usage On Body-Esteem In Young Women In College, Kirsten Etzinger

Honors Projects

Instagram as a platform is increasing in popularity, especially among young women. Young women may use Instagram to keep up with their peers, follow trends, or as a way to express themselves. However, it is evident that young women can be negatively affected by the content they are exposed to on Instagram. This study examines the impact that increased Instagram usage can have on body-esteem in young women in college by evaluating their degree of Instagram usage, motivation to use social media for body comparison, and feelings of body-esteem. An online survey was conducted with BGSU college-age female students and …

Strategies Call Center Managers Use To Reduce Employee Turnover, Sheena R. Wheeler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Excessive employee turnover can disrupt an organization's efficient operational performance. Call center managers remain concerned with excessive employee turnover due to the expense of lost productivity, recruiting, and training new employees. Grounded in Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation, the intent of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies call center managers use to reduce employee turnover. The participants consisted of five managers in one financial service call center in Nebraska who used successful strategies to reduce employee turnover. Data was collected using semistructured interviews and a review of the employee handbook. Four themes emerged through Yin’s 5-step process: …

Leadership Strategies To Initiate And Reinforce Knowledge Sharing Among Employees, Morufat Olajumoke Oshineye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Knowledge loss due to the exit of experienced employees with critical knowledge results in significant financial and nonfinancial impacts on employees and organizational competitiveness. Business leaders are interested in finding strategies to initiate and reinforce employee knowledge sharing to prevent business failure. Grounded in social cognitive theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies business leaders in Nigerian oil and gas public sector agencies use to initiate and reinforce knowledge sharing among employees to prevent knowledge loss. The participants were five business leaders in Nigerian oil and gas public sector agencies who successfully initiated and …

Small And Medium-Sized Enterprise Beauty Salon Employer Strategies Used To Improve Employee Retention, Angela Lynette Loyd

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Retention strategies are important to beauty salon leaders as they directly affect retaining a reliable workforce. Grounded in self-determination theory, the purpose of this generic qualitative case study was to explore retention strategies used by some SME beauty salon leaders in the United States to improve employee retention. The participants were five SME beauty salon leaders who retained at least two employees for 2 consecutive years. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and company documents. The four themes from the thematic analysis were leadership, psychological needs satisfaction, motivation, and engagement. A key recommendation is to have SME beauty salon leaders …

Call Center Managers’ Strategies To Address Employee Turnover, Kimberly Dickens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee turnover is a threat to call center sustainability. Call center leaders who lack strategies to reduce employee turnover have an increased risk of business failure. Grounded in Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore strategies call center leaders use to reduce employee turnover in insurance call centers. The three participants were call center leaders from three different call centers in Raleigh, North Carolina, who implemented strategies to reduce employee turnover. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and reviews of public documents from participants’ company websites and analyzed using thematic analysis. Two themes emerged: …

Relationship Between Perceived Language Proficiency And Economic Life Satisfaction For Migrants, John Ndunduma

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United States needs migrant workers to fill the labor market gap because baby boomers are retiring from the US workforce in large numbers beginning in 2020. Approximately 2.1 million migrants came from Africa to fill the U.S. labor shortage. Many of these African migrants faced challenges with English language proficiency. There are benefits to the United States involved with increasing the economic wellbeing of migrants, such as reducing remigration, increasing the high-skilled labor force, and increasing cultural diversity. This study used Maslow’s motivational theory to test significant relationships between perceptions of English language proficiency (PELP) and economic life satisfaction …

Leadership Strategies To Improve Business Performance In The Information Technology Industry, Edward Turay

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ineffective leadership adversely affects performance at both the organizational and individual levels. Information technology (IT) leaders are concerned about ineffective leadership because it can result in the deterioration of employee morale, an increase in employee turnover, and decreased profitability. Grounded in Herzberg’s two-factor motivation theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore leadership strategies managers in the IT industry use to improve business performance. The six participants were senior and mid-level managers of two IT firms in Beirut, Lebanon who had at least 5 years of experience managing their organization’s leadership strategies. Data were collected using …

Call Center Managers’ Strategies To Address Employee Turnover, Kimberly Dickens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee turnover is a threat to call center sustainability. Call center leaders who lack strategies to reduce employee turnover have an increased risk of business failure. Grounded in Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore strategies call center leaders use to reduce employee turnover in insurance call centers. The three participants were call center leaders from three different call centers in Raleigh, North Carolina, who implemented strategies to reduce employee turnover. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and reviews of public documents from participants’ company websites and analyzed using thematic analysis. Two themes emerged: …

Strategies Call Center Managers Use To Reduce Employee Turnover, Sheena R. Wheeler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Excessive employee turnover can disrupt an organization's efficient operational performance. Call center managers remain concerned with excessive employee turnover due to the expense of lost productivity, recruiting, and training new employees. Grounded in Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation, the intent of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies call center managers use to reduce employee turnover. The participants consisted of five managers in one financial service call center in Nebraska who used successful strategies to reduce employee turnover. Data was collected using semistructured interviews and a review of the employee handbook. Four themes emerged through Yin’s 5-step process: …

Solutions To Project Managers’ Job Dissatisfaction., Patience O. Nwosu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a growing talent gap in the project management field, as project managers (PMs) are exiting the field due to job dissatisfaction. Though existing literature addresses employee job satisfaction, few studies have examined the specific needs of the PM. The purpose of this qualitative Modified four round Delphi study was to find futuristic, desirable, and feasible solutions to PMs’ job dissatisfaction in the United States. The research question was designed to identify solutions to PMs’ job dissatisfaction. This study was grounded in Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristics model, which says that skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and …

Solutions To Project Managers’ Job Dissatisfaction., Patience O. Nwosu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a growing talent gap in the project management field, as project managers (PMs) are exiting the field due to job dissatisfaction. Though existing literature addresses employee job satisfaction, few studies have examined the specific needs of the PM. The purpose of this qualitative Modified four round Delphi study was to find futuristic, desirable, and feasible solutions to PMs’ job dissatisfaction in the United States. The research question was designed to identify solutions to PMs’ job dissatisfaction. This study was grounded in Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristics model, which says that skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and …

Correlation Of Motivations To View Facebook Video Advertisements With Willingness To View Future Advertisements, Mokhlisur Rahman

Dissertations and Theses

Most people are familiar with the concept of Facebook video ads. Facebook offers enormous features to place in-feed video ads to promote products. An online survey was conducted at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota. The survey looked for user motivations for viewing Facebook video ads. The conceptual framework for this study was chosen as the Uses and Gratifications Theory. Drawing on the UGT, the study uses a previously established and supported scale used in previous uses and gratification studies to measure the correlation among results. All the participants in this study were university students. The study …

University Faculty Perceptions Of Mandatory Online Training As Related To Training Self-Efficacy, Motivation, And Utility, Tori Austin

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Organizations spend millions of dollars training employees in ways to improve their skills –recently through mandatory professional development delivered virtually or through online asynchronous platforms. This research investigated how social exchange theory and self-efficacy theory inform faculty participants’ motivation to transfer such knowledge and skills from mandatory online trainings into their workplace practices. Faculty who had attended mandatory online training were asked to complete a 25-item survey about their motivation to transfer information from the training into their workplace practice as well as their perceived utility of training and their training self-efficacy. This study examined the extent to which motivation …

Distinctiveness In Hospital Safety And Security, Jimmy Reid Rollins Jr.

Doctor of Education Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to understand leadership and how these ideas feed into a professional dynamic of employee behavior, organizational leadership, motivation, and workplace culture, and how there is a real human interest as employees excel, grow, mature, and become better individuals.

Participants in this study were employees of a regional health organization and employed with the job title of public safety officer, public safety supervisor, or public safety administrator. This research used a mixed methodology approach in an explanatory design. A survey was completed followed by one on one interviews.

Conducting research into the safety and security …