Business Commons^™

The Implementation Of Financial Literacy Education In Public High School Classrooms, Shelby Olsen

Senior Theses

Due to the changing financial marketplace and the increased burden of financial decisions upon consumers there is a need for increased financial literacy among consumers. This thesis discusses and assesses promoting financial literacy within public high school classrooms to help provide students with the financial knowledge to confidently make informed financial decisions during their transition towards independence and into their adult lives. A strong financial literacy initiative within public high schools will help close the financial literacy gap created by little to no concrete financial education or parental background knowledge. This thesis will compile readily available curriculums and materials on …

The Asia Culture Shock Experience, Judith Lin

Senior Theses

While students go abroad to learn about new cultures and advance their language skills, there is typically an initial culture shock when entering these unfamiliar environments. It is important to understand the causes and effects of culture shock, in particular experiences in Asia, a region whose culture is significantly different from the individualist cultures in the United States and Europe. While being exposed to new cultures is increasingly important for our interdependent world, it becomes more important to observe reactions to that exposure and understand how those reactions form or how to handle them. In particular, students who study abroad …

Organizational Factors Associated With Quality Perinatal Care, Lisa H. Akers

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Provisions for perinatal care are an integral part of quality healthcare and are increasingly moving to the forefront of quality care measures in the healthcare setting (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2012; National Quality Forum, 2012; & The Joint Commission, 2010). Previous literature specifically focused attention to general quality of care, but recently there has been a call for a more comprehensive approach to measuring quality in the perinatal care setting, which necessitates the need for a better understanding of what is currently being offered (Collins & Draycott, 2015). Until now the literature has remained limited on the association …

Cultural Influences On Nonprofit Servant Leadership, Sungil Chung

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This research explores national and cultural differences in nonprofit leadership. Despite the global expansion of nonprofit organizations, limited research is found in the literature that studies national and cultural differences in nonprofit leadership specifically. This research is designed in two phases to address the overall research question of whether national cultures influence servant leadership in nonprofits. The first phase is a comparison study between U.S. nonprofit employees and South Korean nonprofit employees to examine if there are national differences on people’s preferences for nonprofit leadership. The second phase explores the relationship between Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions (i.e. power distance, individualism …

Beyond Beneficiaries Of Corporate Philanthropy: The Practice Of Corporate Social Responsibility In Nonprofit Firms, Roxann Allen

Dissertations, 2014-2019

While the nonprofit sector yields to isomorphic pressures to become more like their for-profit counterparts, they can adopt practices from the sector to move beyond beneficiaries to practitioners of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) framework, the practice of which leads increased financial performance in the for-profit sector. This study tests two main hypotheses to answer the research question, “Is the practice of CSR effective for nonprofit organizations?” The results of multiple regression analyses suggest that the people bottom line management of CSR as measured by inclusion in The NonProfit Times “Best Nonprofits to Work For “list positively predicts a more …

Clicks, Likes, And Shares: Using The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Self-Efficacy, And Impression Management To Predict Digital Activism Activities, Aaron Noland

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Social media has evolved as a space for connection, advocacy, and commerce in recent years. Nonprofit organizations have been called to engage stakeholders on the Internet generally, and social media specifically as the pervasiveness of online presence has increased. In addition, nonprofit organizations have struggled to sustain engagement with the millennial population over the same time. Millennials have been termed digital natives and use social media proficiently. The convergence of these two mandates for nonprofit organizations – to engage via social media and to engage millennials – represents the importance of this study. To begin to help nonprofit organizations develop …

The Institutional Factors That Affect The Academic And Financial Success Of Mid-American Conference Schools, Mckayla Johnson

Sport Management Undergraduate

Athletic departments and institutions are spending an increasing amount of money on athletics. They believe that increasing spending will meet their mission to improve student-athletes’ academic success. However, the question arises, is the money being spent on athletics actually contributing to that goal? Secondary data was correlated to find the relationship between the institutional, academic, and financial factors. The results of this study found that the majority of these relationships were not significant meaning that these factors are not working together to meet that mission. Therefore, those institutions who participate in the athletic department arms races will not see an …

Factors Contributing To Consumers Decisions To Attend A Sporting Event, Sarah Gensler

Sport Management Undergraduate

Previous research on consumer attendance patterns has explored the impact of single factors on desired outcomes. This is problematic because people rarely have a single motive behind their decision making to attend a sporting event. This study aimed to determine which factors were the most important to college students when deciding to attend sporting events. Using a cross-sectional survey, the research found that desire for excitement, geography, and social media all had statistical significance in influencing decision making. Contradictory to existing research, on field promotions, level of fandom, and consumer emotion were not found to be tied to their decision …

Fandom: A Study On How College Students Selected A Favorite Professional Sports Team, Zachary R. Brown

Sport Management Undergraduate

This research aimed to uncover key factors in how college students select a favorite sports team. An important issue in today’s sport industry is recognizing fans motives for supporting their favorite sport teams. Sport managers need to better understand fan’s motives in order to address the team's needs and increase the fan base. Also, the team needs to cultivate a relationship for fan involvement to garner economic benefits. The subjects for this study were college students at St. John Fisher College. Using an online survey, the results of this uncovered that team factors were the most important in someone supporting …

Media Constructed Retirement Articles Of Professional Baseball Players, Kevin T. Berge

Sport Management Undergraduate

The career of an athlete may shape the narrative that the media uses when writing articles on that player when they retire. Many people fail to understand how the media constructs articles the way they do on Major League Baseball (MLB) players upon retirement. This research study used a mixed method approach to show how the media covers certain professional MLB players when they retire. The researcher counted how many times chosen variables were mentioned in two different articles of sixteen retired MLB players, and then extracted quotes from those articles. This study found that superstar pitchers and superstar hitters …

What Factors Affect An Athlete's Injury Reporting Decisions, Zachary Mallard

Sport Management Undergraduate

The purpose of this research was to find out what factors impact or have an influence on the decisions and coping behaviors athletes after they have sustained an athletic injury. Semi-structured interviews with 11 SJFC student-athletes explored their thought processes and behaviors during the process of dealing with injury. Time loss factors play a critical role in their thinking about reporting and dealing with injuries. Eligibility concerns and role on the team also shape their reporting and return to play. Throughout the entire process, athletes discussed their identity changes when coping with injuries.

Parkview Pet Hospital: Veterinary Practice Management System Development, Ian T. Wiedenman

Honors Thesis

Parkview Pet Hospital is continuously searching for new deployments in their information technology architecture. As such, the organization needs a centralized system for recording and tracking key business processes and the data/metadata they create, as well as storing data regarding the company's inventory, employees, clients, client’s pets, and critical organizational actions. The problem, as it stands, is that the hospital lacks a robust system for storage of data, as well as templates for data entry, and reporting services that reliably produce the properly formatted data that serves both employees and clients alike. Parkview Pet Hospital has used many practice management …

Exploring The Meaning Of Luxury To Gen Z, Lauren Mabuni

Honors Thesis

In an age when marketers are spending five times more to reach Millennials than all other demographics combined (Swant 2015), Generation Z, Millennials’ entrepreneurial and diverse younger siblings born from the mid-1990’s to 2010’s, are quietly becoming one of the of the most powerful consumer segments in the U.S. and around the world. Despite the fact that most brands are still clamoring for their piece of the Millennial pie, Generation Z is already influencing a staggering $829 billion in household spending in the U.S. alone (IBM 2017). Diverse, ambitious and predicted to account for 40% of the population in key …

Exploring Millennial Generation Employees’ And Managements’ Perspectives Of The Potential Overuse Of Smartphones In The Workplace By The Millennial Generation, Brooke Kincade

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

The Millennial Generation is entering the workforce at a rapid rate. This generation has grown up with technology and many Millennials have smartphones. As a result of the Millennial Generations knowledge and desire to use a smartphone, many organizations have begun exploring ways to embrace or combat smartphone behavior; however, many organizations are still struggling to recognize and understand the implications to both the employee and the company. This research study explored the potential overuse of smartphones in the workplace by the Millennial Generation. The study described the specific use of smartphones by this Generation to better understand whether they …

A Study Of Innovating And Non-Innovating Firms’ Perception Of Environmental Dynamism And Innovation In A Mature Regulated Industry, Patrick Siong Kuan Tan

Dissertations and Theses Collection

Can large firms be innovative in an industry that is mature and regulated?”

Business managers in mature regulated industries, like new and unregulated industries, operate under very challenging conditions, albeit a bit different, and need to create competitive advantages. One potential route to do this is through innovations.

The strategic direction and choices which the firm takes and whether to innovate or not innovate are largely influenced by its environment. And, in mature regulated industries, large incumbents face a triple challenge. Its size, the maturity of the industry and regulations governing the industry are three conditions that are generally deemed …

Asset Assessment For Women: A Case Study Of Imasayi Village In Ogun State, Nigeria & Ngo Development: A Strategic Plan, Olamide Adeyinka

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper presents the findings of an asset assessment performed with women in a village southwest of Nigeria, Imasayi Ogun state. This paper not only describes the process and results of a qualitative study, but also presents the implementation plan for an NGO that will work with the women of Imasayi to implement community-wide development projects. The research upon which this paper is based used the framework of seven capital domains, which are then used in turn to structure findings, recommendations and NGO planning and analysis. For the purpose of this paper, the marketplace is identified as significant for Imasayi’s …

The Relationship Between The Human And Social Capital Characteristics Of Nascent Entrepreneurs And Expected Job Growth In The United States, William Dwight Burge

Dissertations

The global financial crisis (GFC) that began in 2007 negatively impacted new business creation (Davidsson & Gordon, 2015). Entrepreneurship has been identified as a viable way to generate jobs in the United States since the 1970s (U.S. Small Business Administration, 2014). However, the literature suggests that there has been a decline in entrepreneurship in the United States (Clifton, 2015; Singh & Ogbolu, 2015). Capital is important to those individuals involved in entrepreneurship (Cetindamar, Gupta, Karadeniz, & Egrican, 2012), specifically, human capital and the social network connections or social capital resources of the entrepreneur (Becker, 1993; Schutjens & Völker, 2010).

This …

Is Human Capital Development The Missing Element Of The Aerotropolis Model?, John Roosevelt Hubbard

Dissertations

Until the early 20th century, transportation by land or water served as the primary methods of trade. As competition in the global marketplace increased in the 21st century air transportation emerged as a new and faster method of trade. Convinced of the economic benefits of air transportation, many policymakers of airport communities were quick to make plans for growth such as building infrastructure around the airport. This aerotropolis model often ignored the human capital development required for success.

Central to this study is this question: Is human capital development the missing component of the aerotropolis model economic development strategy? The …

Building Trust Through The Dynamics Of Emotions And Moods: A Conceptual Framework And Empirical Investigations On The Role Of Affect In Interpersonal Trust Development, Changhong Serena Lu

Dissertations and Theses Collection

In this dissertation, I strived to understand the role of individuals’ affect in the development processes of interpersonal trust within organizations. To achieve the goal, I conducted two studies, one conceptual framework and one empirical investigation. Trust scholars have long recognized the affective component of trust experience. However, previous theoretical arguments and empirical findings are not well integrated to provide a cohesive understanding on various dynamic roles that emotions and moods can play in the trust development. Recognizing that the trustor and trustee may face diverse relational problems at various stages of their trust relationship, I first suggested a Phase …

Financial Assessment Of Agricultural Lands At Risk To Coastal Salt Marsh Migration In Relation To Climate Change Induced Sea Level Rise In Dorchester County, Maryland, Jewell Porter

Sustainability and Social Justice

The increasing rate and effects of sea level rise is a major environmental concern in the Chesapeake Bay. This paper evaluates the impacts of rising sea level on coastal salt marshes and the surrounding agricultural lands at risk in Dorchester County, Maryland to build off existing environmental monitoring work performed by NOAA’s Sentinel Site Program. The results of the spatial analysis were used to estimate monetary benefits to incentivize farmers to protect these marshes by making their land available for marsh migration to occur. Looking at three scenarios of sea level rise and marsh migration, grain crops (corn, soybeans, and …

Residential Summer Camp Counselor Retention Rates Implications And Recommendations For Boys & Girls Clubs Of Metro-Denver’S Gates Camp, Molly J. Mcphee

Sustainability and Social Justice

Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver’s Gates Camp is a residential summer camp in Ward, Colorado. There has been an observed and verified trend of a lack of returning staff, despite staff members’ expressed positive experiences as a camp counselor. Returning staff improve the quality of programming for youth, by building upon their skills gained the previous summer and sharing their knowledge of the camp environment, culture and traditions with new staff. Through the use of a survey, completed by counselors who worked at Gates Camp between the summers of 2011 and 2016, trends as to why individuals choose …

An Analysis Of Structural And Psychological Barriers To The Adoption Of Demand Response Smart Grid Technologies: Lessons Learned, John M. Richards

Sustainability and Social Justice

Over the past decade, America’s utility grid has undergone fundamental changes on a scale not seen during the past 100 years (Energetics Incorporated, 2014). These changes have largely been driven by the need to replace aging infrastructure, modernize the grid, incorporate new sources of energy, and better balance the supply and demand of energy. In order to address some of these changes, utilities have increasingly implemented smart grid programs that provide customers with consumer-focused demand response technologies that aim to reduce peak demand. This report examined the success these technologies have in reducing peak demand for smart grid programs by …

Information Technology Prioritization, In Merger Integration: A Grounded Theory Approach, Sandesh Dayanand Raikar

Dissertations and Theses Collection

This exploratory study, examines the significance of Information Technology (IT) Prioritization during the due diligence phase, in a merger integration scenario. In a world where firms are becoming increasingly dependent on information systems and technology, IT continues to play a progressively significant role within organizations. There is growing literature, on the increasing importance of IT in the business environment. However, till date, neither has there been a study regarding the role and impact of IT prioritization and IT integration schedule on the overall synergy savings, nor is there a study on the relationship between IT prioritization and the achievement of …

Worcester Black Small Businesses And Racial Inequality In Wealth, Shamen Laquan Radcliffe

Sustainability and Social Justice

This research presents findings from scholarly literature, two background cases, and three key informant interviews about why Black small businesses might receive less loan assistance through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) than White small businesses. Specifically, it addresses whether racial inequality in wealth explains why Black small business owners receive less loan assistance than their White counterparts in the City of Worcester. By examining existing literature around topic, this research offers policy recommendations to improve conditions for Black small businesses and their minority counterparts in the small business market.

Water-Based Strategies For Making The Small Beverage Industry In New England More Sustainable And Climate-Change Resilient, Michelle Kozminski

Sustainability and Social Justice

Water is a vital resource to the ecosystem, human life, and the economy. However, it is a limited resource that is threatened by a changing climate. The small beverage industry relies on large amounts of high quality water and is therefore at risk due to the uncertainties of climate change. This paper explores how the small beverage industry in New England approaches water to ensure that the industry is sustainable in the long term. A water threatened brewery in California, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, is used to determine “best practices.” Three small beverage companies in New England are examined to …

Relationship Between Generations Of Entrepreneurs And Entrepreneurial Traits, Ihsan Eken

Theses & Dissertations

This quantitative descriptive study investigated the relationship between 3 different generations of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship traits. The specific purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial traits and generations of U.S. entrepreneurs in Southwest (San Antonio), Northeast (Dallas), Center (Austin), and Southeast (Houston) Texas, to see whether generational differences are associated with entrepreneurial traits. 3 different generations of entrepreneurs were investigated in the study: baby boomers, generations Xers, and millennials. The research aimed to contribute beneficial insights to their understanding in enterprising potential and differentiate themselves in entrepreneurial traits in (a) need for achievement, (b) need for …

Umass Memorial Healthcare Information System Job Ladder, Matthew Simoncini, Vamsi Kavuru, Antariksh Nanda, Tahaseen Mahaboob Basha, Vikram Patil

School of Professional Studies

The capstone project report emphasizes the importance of a job ladder and the need of an hour to implement it at UMASS Memorial health care. The scope of this project is to create a well-established job ladder at UMASS with pre-defined standards on job levels related to Information Technology department that would facilitate in hiring, developing and promoting employees at various stages.

A Learning Framework For The Ywca Central Massachusetts, Dayna Ankermann, Manjushree Burdekar, Priyanka Joshi, Ying Song, Yumeng Chen, Xing Xie

School of Professional Studies

After meeting with the Director of Wellness and Health Equity at the YWCA Central Massachusetts (which will be referred to as the YWCA from here on out), we learned that as a non-profit gym and health center, it is heavily underfunded. The main focus of the project was to determine how to upkeep the facility while bringing in new customers with limited resources and budget. Due to the needs of the YWCA, our group focused on six aspects: revenue stream, donor retention, increasing membership, customer experience, social media marketing, and membership fee structure. After completing extensive research, we were able …

Human Services Management (Hsm) Certificate Program Expansion To Western Massachusetts Feasibility Study, Paul Campbell, Patrick Deschenes, Maria Pacheco, Bradley Paul, Elizabeth Vittum, Jing Zhang

School of Professional Studies

One of the most popular cost-savings programs that the Providers’ Council currently offers its members is a Certificate in Nonprofit Human Service Management (HSM) provided in partnership with Clark University and Suffolk University. As human services providers are struggling to hire and retain qualified staff, the need to provide professional development opportunities to help grow and expand a skilled health and human services workforce is a critical issue facing nonprofit organizations and communities in Massachusetts. This feasibility study examines the viability of Providers’ Council and Clark University expanding its HSM Certificate Program to organizations and staff located in western Massachusetts. …

Somali National University, Sharmarke Abdulla, Nikala Pieroni, Jenna Caskie, Sergii Odnodvorets, Tanyue Gong, Lahari Dasari

School of Professional Studies

The executive summary presents an overview of the principal conclusions and recommendations for Somali National University Faculty of Education (FoEd) regarding the following concerns: Difficulty with recruiting high quality prospects to the FoEd; Ineffective and counterintuitive use of social media as a tool to improve brand equity, as well as as a tool to attract and communicate with prospective and current students; Unbalanced gender ratio of current student body; Absence of student services and student supports; Low student retention rate; Limited resources for academic advising; This document is the result of a Clark University School of Professional Studies Capstone Project.