Business Commons^™

Life Is Good No Matter What, Daniel J. Wyrock, Emily Kosuda, Brian Raglow

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

As part of our Leadership Experience Project through the Institute of Leadership Advancement, our goal was to create an alternative revenue stream for an Akron cancer charity, Life Is Good No Matter What. As a team of three, we had to plan, development and implement our strategy over the course of a year. We researched charities and trends in the charity space which led us to the development of a product. After much time, we developed the idea of an ice cream line that not only fit the message of Life Is Good No Matter What, bus also helped define …

Seeking Personal Financial Understanding For College Students, Nathan Webel

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With the cost of college increasing it is critical that students develop sound a sound financial understanding of key topics that will effect them for the rest of their lives. Budgeting, interest rates, debt, and other key topics are not well understood by the majority of college students. This paper looks at how much students understand their debt, as well as other key finance areas and demonstrates what The University of Akron can do to produce students that understand personal finance concepts.

Getting The Green: Understanding The Market For Eco-Friendly Tires, Julia E. Mallinak, Kira L. Sizemore, Nicholas A. Moyer, Pauline G. Gaynesbloom, Kyle R. Costal

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company has developed a new tire that replaces petroleum with a more sustainable resource: soybean oil. Following an unexpected surge of popularity in the press, Goodyear decided to look into marketing options for this new tire. For this purpose, the research team is testing market reactions to eco-friendly products, reactions to specific tire names, and potential pricing options for the tire.

Previous research indicated multiple areas of concern, including a general skepticism towards “green” terminology, perceptions of low quality in eco-friendly products, and a lack of willingness to purchase eco-friendly products in older generations. The …

Recruiting And Hiring Millennial Talent In Northeast Ohio, Katharine Powell, Taylor Clawson, Rachel Scheuermann, John Brown, Brandon Johnson, Elizabeth Stoneburner

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Since October 2015, the Honors Business From and Awesome Inc. has been working with The J. M. Smucker Company to investigate the employment preferences, motivations and geographic preferences of millennial talent in Northeast Ohio. Through extensive secondary and primary research, Awesome Inc has provided an in-depth review of millennials in Northeast Ohio, and has provided two significant and applicable recommendations as supported by the research findings to assist The J. M. Smucker Company in their recruiting efforts.

Recruiting And Maintaining Millennial Talent For The J.M. Smucker Company, Emmary Sharer, Conner J. Jones, Angela Morris, Andrew Harpel, Ashley Miesle, Jessica Dixon

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this research project as part of the Honors Business Integrated Forum was to explore growth and innovation in the Millennial marketplace. Specifically, this particular project focused on how The J.M. Smucker Company could better attract and retain Millennial talent. Primary and secondary research was conducted in order to gain insight into the Millennial mindset and workplace trends. This research led to several findings about Millennial interests including their desires to create formal and informal bonds at work, uphold a work-life balance, interact with companies prior to the interview process, and live in more urban settings with social …

The Effects Promotional Incentives Have On College Basketball Attendance In Power Five Conferences, Alexander Ryan Cramer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore promotional incentives effects on attendance at men and women college basketball games in Power Five conferences during the 2015-16 season. The sub-objective was to explore the data to determine if distinct market segments emerged based on the promotional strategies measured as part of the study. The study variables are based on recommendations and suggestions from completed research exploring similar phenomenon among MLB teams (Boyd & Krehbiel, 2003, Boyd & Krehbiel 2006, Browning & Debolt, 2007, Howell, Klenosky, McEvoy, 2015). There were 20 men and 20 women teams from Power Five conference with …

Needs Assessment As A Process For Change Management: Aligning Organizational Performance And Human Capital Investment With Strategic Planning And Change Creation, Abdulaziz Alshgeri

Wayne State University Dissertations

Research suggests that 70% of change management (CM) initiatives are considered unsuccessful. The most important reason for the dismal success rate of change initiatives is that they are driven by poor and invalid strategic decisions. Frameworks that businesses implement to secure sustainable long-term competitive advantages in the marketplace are often not effective. Therefore, decision-making related to improving results is critical, and must be based on an organization’s preset criteria. Creating and prioritizing key performance indicators direct leaders’ attention to effective change decisions. Prior research addresses several approaches to decide whether change is needed, such as statistical evidence, gut feelings, or …

The Impact Of Disclosing Auditor Independence And Tenure On Non-Professional Investor Judgment And Decision-Making, L. Tyler Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study experimentally investigates how disclosing both the auditor’s obligation to remain independent of its client and auditor tenure in the audit report influence non-professional investors’ judgments and decision-making, especially the decision about whether to invest in a particular auditee. In the Auditor’s Reporting Model (ARM) proposal, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) asserts that inclusion of additional information in the audit report will improve the informativeness of the audit report for investors and as a result will modify its relevance to investment decisions. Using an experiment, I find that these disclosures positively influence non-professional investor judgments of auditor …

Incorporating Network Theory And Visulatisation Into Cluster Analysis: A Hybrid Methodology Applied To European Ict Clusters, Eoin M. Byrne

Theses

Industry clusters (Porter, 1990; 1998a) have been the focus of numerous studies, economic strategies and policy globally (Ketels et al., 2013). Cluster analysis has focused on identifying and mapping clusters yet there is a need to develop a deeper understanding of how clusters operate and to visualise cluster ecosystems. Linkages and networks are a key component of clusters and thus, network theory has the potential to enrich the literature and analysis of clusters. This research addresses three objectives: 1. Review cluster theory and analysis techniques to investigate the potential to apply network theory and visualisation to cluster analysis; 2. Develop …

The Structure Of Work Placement In A Third-Level Accounting Programme : Employers' Perspective, Laura O'Callaghan

Theses

Extant literature on the benefits of work placement extols the virtues of embedding work placement in accounting degree programmes, not only for the students, but also for the employers. It provides employers with an extended period to vet students for graduate position (Gault et al, 2000; Beard, 2007), a cost-effective solution to hiring for short-term projects (Ferkins, 2002) and a valuable link with local colleges (Gault et al, 2000; Me Gann and Anderson, 2012). However, there is a dearth of literature exploring how placement should be structured to maximise these benefits (Buckley and El Amond, 2010; Sheridan and Linehan, 2003). …

Social Acceptance Of Renewable Energy : Exploring A Citizen Centric Paradigm, Paul O'Brien

Theses

The energy landscape in Ireland is being transformed. Energy policy is geared towards substantially decarbonising the electricity system by 2050. The implementation of large scale renewable energy generation remains a key policy objective. The scale of the transformation presents challenges in terms of policy and technology, as well as social acceptance.

This study was conducted to explore social acceptance of renewable energy within the context of a broader energy transition. A concurrent mixed method design integrates three distinct strands of primary research. A series of semi-structured interviews with multidisciplinary energy professionals explored contemporary social issues, from a developer, utility and …

An Exploration Of The Smart Cities Concept: The Case For The Cork Region, Marguerite O'Connor

Theses

The term “Smart City” has gained a lot of attention from policy-makers, business leaders and citizens in recent years. The definition of what a smart city is differs depending on the city, region or individual that you ask but most definitions define it as local governments’ projects and initiatives that are implemented through some form of information and communication technologies, which are designed to enhance the quality of life for citizens and stakeholders whilst maintaining a sustainable future. This study aims to build an understanding of what the Smart cities concept actually means to Cork and the implications of Information …

The Exploration Of Machiavellianism, Logan Taylor Penticuff

Online Theses and Dissertations

Dyads, whether in an academic or practical setting, are commonplace. Workforces and academic settings alike are often comprised of groups of two or more individuals working together towards a common goal. As these interactions continue to be prevalent and important in the various settings, the context in which these interactions takes place and the people involved, influence the efficiency of these pairings. More specifically, the realm of business harbors more individuals considered high in a personality trait referred to as Machiavellianism (i.e., Mach) than other common professions. To better understand how Machiavellianism influences commonplace dyads in settings applicable to everyday …

Assessing The Effectiveness Of Safety Training Provided To Corrections Personnel In Appalachia, Ali K. Al Yammahi

Online Theses and Dissertations

The context of the study was assessment of whether corrections officers in Appalachia are receiving adequate health and safety training who attended health and safety trainings sessions provided by the OSHA Training Institute and Education Center on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University. Participants included in the study were corrections officers who have been working in corrections for a minimum of two years. Participants were required to be working in Appalachian corrections during distribution of the questionnaire. Participants were selected by using convenience and snowball sampling procedures. The questionnaire was sent on 4 separate occasions, 10 of the expected 30 …

A Mediacentric Examination Of The Corporate Psychopath, Pamela Martha Brooks

Online Theses and Dissertations

The psychopathic personality disorder is an extraordinarily complex and multidimensional phenomenon. While its study has primarily focused on criminal and forensic populations, many researchers are broadening the scope of psychopathy research to include those in the corporate world. This, after striking similarities were revealed between the personalities of corporate leaders and clinically diagnosed psychopaths. One profession that may be attractive to psychopathic personalities is the media, specifically television and radio. This exploratory study utilized a blend of original and archival data. Calculated effect sizes were used to examine the existence of personality facets among three groups of media professionals and …

The Effects Of Strong Ties On Socialization, Colton Alan Burgess

Online Theses and Dissertations

Organizations that successfully socialize newcomers benefit from effective workforces comprised of employees who experience higher job performance, satisfaction, and commitment. Organizational insiders, known as social agents, play an integral role in facilitating the socialization of newcomers, as these individuals make up the networks in which newcomers work. To better understand in what ways social agents help assimilate newcomers, a more thorough understanding is needed concerning how tie strength between individuals facilitates the socialization process.

This thesis has two objectives. First, two types of antecedents to strong tie development are explored: orientation practices deployed by organizations to promote interaction between newcomers …

Investigating Key Components Of Classroom Engagement In Workforce Development Programming, Susan Leslie Cornelius

Online Theses and Dissertations

This is a qualitative study about students who attended First Line Supervision classes at a rural Kentucky Appalachian university. First Line Supervision classes are taught in six hour blocks and are designed to teach students leadership skills. These students took a series of leadership based topics to better prepare themselves for a leadership role in their current employment. In addition, they were seeking the necessary information needed to be successful in filling the educational gaps within their organizations. This study is important because participants identified: key components of classroom engagement; experiences in the classroom; types of classroom engagement currently taking …

Identifications Of Challenges And Success Factors Of Females Entering And Advancing In The Profession Of Emergency Management, Audra Cronen

Online Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on how women in the emergency management field have identified and overcome challenges when entering and advancing in the profession. The two research questions were:

• What barriers have females experienced when entering and advancing in the field of emergency management?

• In what ways have females overcome barriers when entering and advancing in the field of emergency management?

These questions were answered by five women who work in the field of emergency management and responded to a series of interview questions. These women made it clear that while this is a predominately male-dominated field of work, …

Who Leads Nonprofit Organizations And What Does It Matter? A Mixed Methods Study Of The Impact Of Different Sector Experience On Nonprofit Leadership, Darrent Robert Tune

Dissertations

The nonprofit sector serves an important economic and community-building role in California and the rest of the United States. However, the nonprofit sector may be facing a leadership deficit due to inadequate succession planning and training of future leaders. Given that nonprofit organizations are often pressured to become more business-like and that many nonprofit organizations may need to adhere to regulations imposed upon them by government funders, nonprofit organizations may be able to find qualified leaders from the for-profit and public sectors.

The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed methods study was to build on prior research on the sector …

Implementation Of Operational Excellence: Challenges Related To Employee Perception And Organizational Culture, Ruben Fontes

Dissertations

Industries that are traditionally technical and hierarchical present a variety of challenges for today’s leaders, particularly given the rapidly evolving, technology-driven global business environment. In addition, the movement toward more collaborative and horizontal work environments encourages a uniquely collective perspective comprised of individuals who are expected to continually shift between innovation and conformance. Success in the contemporary business environment largely depends on a firm’s speed and efficiency in relation to its competitors, which challenges leaders to not only remain on the cutting edge of their respective industries, but also stay “in tune” with the inner workings of their organizations in …

Brokers And Investment Advisors, Nathaniel Phillip Graham

Theses and Dissertations--Finance and Quantitative Methods

Brokers and investment advisors are a large and important part of the financial industry. Using a novel data set that includes the majority of the financial advisory industry, in this dissertation I document the size of the financial advisory industry and the prevalence of customer complaints in the industry, which I use as a proxy for misconduct. I then test for two potential drivers of advisors’ misconduct: professional standards in the form of fiduciary responsibilities and influence from social networks. I find that variation in fiduciary duties—specifically fiduciary versus suitability standards— does not appear to affect advisors’ propensity for misconduct. …

Web Of Ties: The Effect Of Relationship Ties On Government Funding For Nonprofit Organizations, Anthony Heath Rico

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Chapter 1 raises the research question guiding this study. Do relationships that board members of nonprofits have to officials in other agencies affect the likelihood of acquiring grants? The objective of this study was to examine the role that relationship ties played in the nonprofit sector’s ability to receive grants.

Chapter 2 ties the research agenda to existing research. Nonprofit organizational and financial behavior was explained in terms of resource dependence. Since nonprofit organizations face uncertainty in resource allocation, the behavior of the organization and the board members change in reaction to uncertainty. The relationships that board members possess serve …

Conduit Bond Financing Of Local Governments—Perspective From The U.S. And China, Zihe Guo

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

As an alternative way to issue bonds, conduit financing has been widely used by local governments and nonprofit organizations. Conduit financing allows one entity to issue debt on behalf of single or multiple borrowers. In the state of California in the U.S., a local agency is allowed to issue municipal bonds in compliance with law, but can also borrow through a joint powers agency (JPA). In this case, the JPA serves as a conduit. Conduit financing is preferred by local agencies in certain circumstances because it is more convenient or fixed issuance costs can be split between several conduit borrowers …

Business-To-Business Marketing Perceptions: Customer Knowledge Management And Customer Engagement, Lorraine Marzilli Lomas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract: Business-to-business (B2B) marketing involves several components including the marketing management decision-making process and the buying behaviors of the B2B clientele and the end users. Disregarding customer knowledge management (CKM) and inaccurate analysis of data cost companies billions of dollars per year. The objective of this exploratory single-case study was to develop an in-depth analysis of the problem that some marketing managers have limited knowledge of how to use CKM strategies to improve B2B customer engagement. The dynamic capabilities and technological opportunism theories comprised the study's conceptual framework. Data collection consisted of participant observations, member checking, and semistructured interviews with …

Developing Strategies Of Organizational Sustainability For Solo And Small Business Medical Practices, Gerald Lloyd Anderson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Recent trends point toward a decline in solo and small business medical practices, yet, the need and demand still exists for this model of health care. The purpose of this case study was to explore effective approaches to help physicians in solo practice and small medical group primary care practitioners (PCPs) retain their small business medical practices. The study included purposive sampling and face-to-face interviews: 11 physicians, predominately primary care practitioners, in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan region, were interviewed until data saturation was reached. A component of systems theory (strategic thinking) and the dynamic capabilities concept were used to frame the …

Exploring Managerial Solutions For Faculty Satisfaction At Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Bridget Pinckney Dewees

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

American higher education in general, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in particular, have experienced a 30-year decline in faculty satisfaction, which has had a negative impact on overall institutional effectiveness. The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to explore managerial solutions for faculty satisfaction by applying Herzberg's 2-factor theory to the insights and experiences of 12 tenure-track faculty members at an HBCU in the southeastern United States. Data were collected through semistructured interviews. The results were sorted, coded, and organized using content analysis software into key Herzberg factors that influenced faculty satisfaction at the study site. Work …

Effectiveness Of The Kimberley Process And Corporate Social Responsibility In The U.S. Jewelry Industry, Robert Previti

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United States jewelry industry recognized that the illegal import and trade of conflict diamonds is a matter of serious international and national concern, leading to human rights abuse. As such, human rights and conflicts became the primary impetus for establishing the Kimberly Process (KP) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the effectiveness of the KP and CSR policies in deterring the use of conflict diamonds in the U.S. jewelry industry. This study was an investigation as to whether conflict diamonds are entering the U.S. jewelry supply chain and a review …

Examining Employee Motivation, Environmental Systems, And Corporate Social Responsibility In Proenvironmental Behavior, Brian Warrick

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The World Health Organization has pointed to climate change as the most significant issue in the 21st century as a result of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution. Organizations are leaning toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental management systems (EMS) to reverse the current trend; however, these efforts are often ineffective or pooly implemented. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the extent to which employees' proenvironmental behavior relates to their protection motivation and organizational identification, as well as their perception and knowledge of the organization's CSR and EMS, respectively. Using social identity as the theoretical framework, …

Empirical Forecasting Of Returns During The Great Recession Through Economic Value Added, Godwin Ohene Sekyere

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

US economic recession from 2007- 2009, also known as the Great Recession, negatively impacted the financial sector as well as other aspects of society. Researchers have found value-based measures and accounting measures as effective performance measures, but they have found inconclusive results when comparing the strengths of economic value added (EVA) and accounting measures in predicting stock performance. This study used data from the Great Recession to further compare EVA and accounting measures. The purpose of this cross-sectional or correlational study was to determine the relative predictive strength of EVA during the Great Recession to determine whether a model with …

Mitigating The Effects Of Withdrawal Behavior On Organizations, James Fitzgerald Alexander

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Withdrawal behaviors such as absenteeism, tardiness, turnover intention, and employee disengagement adversely affect organizations, costing billions of dollars annually. However, there is limited research on the best practices for minimizing the effects of employee withdrawal. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore best practices leaders need to mitigate the effects of withdrawal behaviors on organizations. The social learning theory (SLT) served as the conceptual framework for this study. Ten participants were interviewed, including 4 healthcare leaders and 6 health service workers from a correctional facility nursing department in the Southeastern United States. Scholars have indicated that correctional …