Business Commons^™

What Do Auditors Promise Their Governmental Audit Clients? What Do Governmental Audit Clients Want? Audit Proposal Evidence From Governmental Audit Procurement Processes, Yu-Tzu Chang

Theses and Dissertations--Accountancy

This dissertation, consisting of two studies, analyzes a dataset of audit proposals to investigate auditors’ impression management strategies and audit procurement quality in the public sector. Text based analytic methods are employed to examine the content of audit proposals, which were submitted for government audit engagements in fifteen states.

The first study investigates auditors' marketing language and hypothesizes that CPA firms will project a cooperative, non-independent image in audit proposals to impress potential clients. The results suggest that CPA firms, especially larger ones, project a persona of a cooperative and trustworthy service provider than to present themselves as independent auditors. …

Assessing Organizational Data Culture To Create An Ideal Data Ecosystem, Lauren M. Leary

Capstone Collection

The year 2015 marks a critical turning point in the global development arena. The Millennium Development Goals galvanized support and collaboration across sectors and now the world is recalibrating focus to prepare for the final push with the forthcoming Sustainable Development Goal Framework. We are also in the midst of a data revolution that aims to hold governments and organizations accountable to these goals and to ultimately create synergy between systems and processes in an ever-globalizing world. This paper intends to prompt discussion and learning around organizational readiness and preparedness for these imminent changes. Drawing from best practices within the …

Self-Determination Theory And Wellness Tourism: How Do Wellness Facilities Contribute To Wellbeing?, Karen I. Thal

Theses and Dissertations

Wellness tourism as a subsector is differentiated in terms of the pursuit and enhancement of wellbeing. Wellness itself is defined as holistic wellbeing and optimal psychological states. Enhanced wellbeing is cited as the motivation and outcome of travel and in terms of dedicated infrastructure, services, and amenities at destinations. Yet enhanced wellbeing following a wellness vacation is typically assumed rather than assessed. While tourism studies have focused on wellbeing as the outcome of leisure travel, a theoretical framework that might be adapted to assess wellbeing following a stay at a wellness facility was not apparent. The majority of tourism studies …

How Culture Makes A Difference In Management: Applying Geert Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions To Management In Germany And China, Brock Foster

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Culture has been defined by many different individuals in a variety of fields with wide ranging definitions. The following paper will define culture and give the reader a framework at how to look at differences in cultures abroad. It will elaborate upon some cultural concepts of German and Chinese individuals and then go on to use Geert Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory to diagnose some of the issues that may arise when working with individuals identifying as German or Chinese. For the purpose of this paper, the individuals being referred to are the citizens in both the German and Chinese mainland. …

Organizational Trust As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Burnout And Intentions To Quit, Glenn Trussell

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This research explores an individual's trust in his or her organization and an individual's perceptions of the level of organizational trust he or she receives as potential moderators of the relationship between burnout and intentions to quit. Reciprocal trust, as defined by high levels of both individual and perceived organizational trust, was also examined as a potential moderator. Research was conducted in partnership with a regional consulting firm. Survey data was collected through MechanicalTurk. A total of 2,922 participants from eighteen business sectors across the United States and Canada were represented. Level of trust was shown to significantly impact intentions …

A Conjoint Analysis Study Of Preferences And Purchasing Behavior Of Potential Adopters Of The Bureau Of Land Management Wild Horses, Omotoyosi O. Adekunle

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This study uses conjoint analysis to examine the preferences of buyers for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wild horses based on physical attributes of wild horses and individual characteristics of the buyers. Generalized ordered logit models and multinomial logit models are used to study the impact of the buyers’ demographic characteristics such as age, gender, knowledge about wild horse care, and number of wild horses previously adopted on physical attributes of the horses such as color, age, height, training status, temperament, conformation, and unique markings. Using a choice experiment, taken together, these attributes determine buyer’s preferences for a wild horse. …

Individual Strength-Based Assessment For Adult Empowerment Ngos, Ashley T. Turner

MA IDS Thesis Projects

The purpose of this culminating comprehensive project is to advise adult empowerment focused NGOs on the importance of identifying and leveraging the strengths of the individuals they serve. Given the evidence that all individuals innately have strengths, it is important to be aware of them in order to properly engage such assets. Character strengths are studied in this paper as one of the main pillars in the field of positive psychology. This culminating comprehensive project reviews the literature on positive psychology to best understand how empowerment can be achieved. Accompanying this research is a sample resource guide that was designed …

Models Of Faith: The Role Of Faith-Based Organizations In International Development, Mara Hochberg-Miller

MA IDS Thesis Projects

Faith-based organizations make up a large percentage of organizations doing development work both domestically and internationally. Faith-based development organizations (FBDOs) can be successful because they have spiritual drive to work for the social good, and large religious organizations to support them. However, not all FBDOs practice good development, and in the past many of them have undertaken development projects that proved to be damaging and detrimental to the host communities. The purpose of this research is to explore how different FBDOs conceptualize and operationalize their faith while doing development work abroad. Through exploring different models of faith-based development and analyzing …

Aplikimi I Menaxhimit Të Dijes Në Biznesin E Ndërmarrjeve Të Vogla Dhe Të Mesme Në Kosovë, Edona Krasniqi

Theses and Dissertations

Në këtë temë diplome trajtohet roli i menaxhimit të dijes në bizneset e vogla dhe të mesme në Kosovë. Në fillim kemi një shqyrtim të literaturës ku shpjegohet menaxhimi i dijes, llojet e tij si dhe mjetet se si menaxhimi i dijes mund të funksionojë në çdo biznes. Në këtë punim janë të paraqitura problemet që kompanitë kosovare por edhe më gjerë hasin në implementimin e menaxhimit te dijes, gjithashtu në bazë të hulumtimeve primare dhe atyre sekondare dhe përdorimi e metodës së pyetësorit tregojnë se ku kanë ngecje kompanitë në implementimin e menaxhimit të dijes me qëllim të avancimit …

Sistemi Bankar Dhe Niveli I Kredive Joperformuese Në Kosovë, Ermira Gashi

Theses and Dissertations

Kreditë joperformuese po rriten per shkak te ngadalesimit te procesit të kredidhënies dhe shtrëngimit të standardeve duke bërë krahsimin nëpër vitet e fundit ku normat e kredive joperformuese ne vitin 2012 ishin 6.5% ndersa ne vitin 2010 kane qenë 5.9%. Sa I përket kredive joperformuese ka ndikim të dyanshëm me rritjen e numrit të bankave mund të zvoglohet analizimi i gjendjes financiare te klientëve pasi qëllim është rritja e procesit të kredidhënies, kurse në aspektin pozitiv rritja e numrit të bankave mund të ndikojë në uljen e normave të interesit alternativë kjo e cila rrit gjasat që klientet të performojnë …

Aplikimi I Koncepteve Tё Menaxhimit Tё Operacioneve Nё Ndёrmarrje, Marigona Metaj

Theses and Dissertations

Në këtë temë të diplomës trajtohet roli i Menaxhimit të Operacioneve në ndërmarrje. Në fillim janë shpjeguar konceptet kryesore në MO, dizajnimi i produktit apo shërbimit, dizajnimi i procesit dhe dizajnimi i rrjetit të bizneseve. Pastaj janë shpjeguar planifikimi dhe kontrolli në ndërmarrje, kemi cekur edhe planifikimin dhe kontrollimin e kapacitetit dhe inventarit. Dhe në fund të shqyrtimit të literaturës është shtjelluar menaxhimin e kualitetit, menaxhimin e resurseve njerëzore, menaxhimin e riskut, menaxhimin e projekteve dhe menaxhimin e parashikimeve, subjekt i cili është shumë pak i shtjelluar nga ekonomistët shqiptare.

Menaxhimi i operacioneve është i rëndësishëm si në ndërmarrje të …

Llojet E Auditimit, Petrit Kelmendi

Theses and Dissertations

Monitorimi i cilësisë nga jashtë është komponentë e rëndësishme e menaxhimit të cilësisë. Ajo i ofron bordit dhe grupeve të tjera që mbështeten në punën e auditorit të jashtëm konfirmim të pavarur të cilësisë së punës së kryer. Monitorimi i cilësisë nga jashtë duhet të bëhet nga persona të kualifikuar të cilët janë të pavarur nga organizata dhe të cilët nuk kanë konflikt të interesit.

Tema e marrë në studim është një çështje shumë e rëndësishme për të kuptuar rolin që ka Auditimit i jashtëm në mbarëvajtjen e sistemit në të cilin po jetojmë (apo në çfarë do sistemi tjetër). …

Balancing Act: Successfully Combining Creativity And Accountability In The Practice Of Marriage And Family Therapy, Nathalie Duque Bello

Department of Family Therapy Dissertations and Applied Clinical Projects

The conditions that allowed early MFTs the freedom to creatively explore different interventions and theories of change are no longer available in today’s mental health care system. Although there are many benefits to the structure of managed behavioral healthcare organizations, a thorough review of the literature demonstrates that many therapists working in managed care agencies struggle with maintaining their theoretical creativity, claiming third-party payers’ service requirements and paperwork a barrier to their creativity. A phenomenological transcendental research method was utilized to understand the phenomenon of successfully combining creativity and accountability in the practice of marriage and family therapy from the …

Suitable Financing: A High-Tech Semiconductor (Photonics) Start-Up Context, Sarkar Mahbub Akhter

Theses

This research investigates the financing options available to a "High-Tech Start-up" when a technical person seeks to start a business from innovations emerging from his or her daily work. In seeking to understand the different factors which might influence the choice of a particular type of financial source, firstly a thorough literature survey has been performed. In the main part of the study, a qualitative research approach was considered to be the most appropriate one and as part of it, a number of interviews with entrepreneurs, CEOs and CTOs have been conducted. Findings from these people with financial experiences are …

An Examination Of The Factors That Influence The Strategic Priorities Of Ireland's Public And Private Higher Education Senior Managers, Ruth O'Donnell

PhDs

Globally, higher education is experiencing transformative changes, and higher education institutions now operate in highly competitive and dynamic environments. Funders of higher education, including governments, subsequently, require the strategic spending of funding, and expect higher education institutions to deliver a satisfactory return on investment. In this landscape, and in the context of Ireland’s challenging economic environment in recent years, this research seeks to understand precisely what factors influence the strategic priorities of Ireland’s higher education senior managers. Research on strategic planning in Irish HE is limited, particularly in the context of Ireland’s volatile economic environment, in recent years, and global …

10b5-1 Plans And Earnings Management By High-Level Executives, Joshua A. Thomas

CMC Senior Theses

Using historical firm financial and insider trading information, this paper examines whether high-level insiders manipulate earnings ahead of their own 10b5-1 equity transactions. The empirical evidence suggests that high-level executives appear to manipulate earnings through real activities such as abnormal discretionary expenditures and abnormal cash flows from operations to influence equity prices ahead of their own transactions under Rule 10b5-1. Evidence also suggests that executives appear to be unlikely to engage in earnings management through highly scrutinized means such as accruals. An interpretation of these results is that high-level executives may be using 10b5-1 plans as an offensive tool to …

Market Microstructure And Abnormal Returns: An Analysis Of Nyse And Sgx Securities, Alex Ng

Honors Theses

This paper investigates the differences in the abnormal returns of securities in the context of the earnings announcement in both the United States (NYSE) and Singapore (SGX) markets[1]. Despite the similarities between both exchanges, there exist two key market microstructure differences: the free float factor (i.e. the portion of listed share capital that is freely traded on the market) and lot size (i.e. the minimum number of shares that an investor can trade in a single transaction). While the difference in the lot size can be attributed to the intrinsic institutional differences between both exchanges, the involvement of …

Ghana's E-Zwich System And The Characteristics Of Innovation, James T. Arthur

Masters Theses

In 2008, the Central Bank of Ghana launched the first ever biometric money, e-zwich, in hopes of promoting branchless banking and financial inclusion. Despite been hailed as an innovative policy aimed at transforming the financial industry of the country e-zwich has yet to realize its full potential. A number of studies has been conducted to highlight the many challenges the system faces. This study was also aimed at seeking an explanation to the relative ineffectiveness or failures of e-zwich system but through a theoretical framework. Using Rogers' (2003) framework on the characteristics of innovation, the study seeks to explain why …

Stepping Out From The Crowd: (Re)Branding Jamaica's Tourism Product Through Sports And Culture, Thelca Patrice White

Masters Theses

Branding and marketing, in a world where much emphasis is placed on commercialism, are inextricably linked, and carry significant weight. Brands, as we have come to know them, are seemingly ubiquitous, and represent an omnipresent way for many businesses to communicate vital information about their products to existing, as well as, prospective customers. However, while many persons consider branding to be directly related to huge corporations, branding has expanded its repertoire to include nations. While many scholars of marketing and branding have placed keen attention on the branding of corporations, very little attention has been placed on the branding of …

Does The Geographic Information Systems Benefit The Insurance Industry?, Andrew R. Brachear

Masters Theses

This research is intended to determine if the insurance companies are benefiting from Geographic Information System technology in the insurance industry. This is based on the consumers' point of view through the use of research, survey results, and technology at the insurance company's disposal. Today, this technology is used in many different areas including renewable energy, delivery business, and city planning. Insurance companies use this technology in order to determine safe driving habits. Some examples include Progressive's Snapshot and State Farm's In-Drive. These devices are used to collect data on response time, speed, and breaking. This is a possible concern …

Take Five? Examining The Impact Of Microbreak Duration, Activities, And Appraisals On Human Energy And Performance, Andrew Bennett

Theses and Dissertations

Employees in many occupations deplete cognitive resources of attention and energy (Dodge, 1913; Kahneman, 1973), impacting performance on subsequent work tasks (Dalal, Bhave, & Fiset, 2014). Individuals spend upwards of 10% of formal work time taking a break completing non-work tasks (Esteves, 2013; McGehee & Owen, 1940) in an effort to replenish these resources (Fritz, Lam, & Spritzer, 2011; Kim et al., 2014). This study used a randomized controlled experiment to answer three questions that are new contributions to the literature. First, I explored if engaging in a specific activity (watching a funny video, meditating, or completing a different work …

Reducing Challenging Behaviors In Intellectually Disabled Individuals: A Comparison Of Organizational Culture And Treatment Approach, Frances Mascolo-Glosser

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The deinstitutionalization of the intellectually disabled (ID) and their transition to community living in New York State necessitated training initiatives for staff to manage challenging behaviors safely and humanely. However, the use of physical interventions to control self-injury and physical aggression may have become organizationally habituated, and limited research has compared programs that use physical versus nonphysical interventions. This mixed-method, comparative case study compared a restraint-free day habilitation program with one that used physical interventions, examining the differences in reducing self-injury, aggression, and types of interventions applied. Qualitative differences in philosophical approach to behavior intervention strategies and staff training protocols …

Using Sustainable Development As A Competitive Strategy, Pat Spearman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sustainable development reduces construction waste by 43%, generating 50% cost savings. Residential construction executives lacking adequate knowledge regarding the benefits of sustainable development practices are at a competitive disadvantage. Drawing from the diffusion of innovation theory, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore knowledge acquisition within the bounds of sustainable residential construction. The purposive sample size of 11 executive decision makers fulfilled the sample size requirements and enabled the extraction of meaningful data. Participants were members of the National Home Builders Association and had experience of a minimum of 5 years in residential construction. The research question …

The Quest For Work And Family Balance Using Flexible Work Arrangements, Sandra Ellen Forris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract

Employees experience challenges managing home and work. The increase of women in the workforce, single-parents, childcare, elder care responsibilities, and men in nontraditional roles warrant changes in traditional working hours and flexibility in work schedules. Through the theoretical frameworks of work-family conflict, spillover, border, and boundary theories, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how flexible work arrangements (FWAs) assisted employees in meeting work and family obligations. Minimal research is available in the defense industry and the use of FWAs. A nonprobability, convenience sample was used to explore how management and nonmanagement participants from a Midwest defense …

The Impact And Interaction Of Music Familiarity And Congruency On Responses To Advertisements, Michael Blecha

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Music is commonly used by marketers to enhance the effectiveness of ads. Research shows that music can make ads more memorable and shape a viewer's response to the ad. This study explores the impact of three music characteristics, its likability, its familiarity and its "fit" with the ad (referred to as congruency), on consumer response to an ad. I hypothesized that all three music characteristics would positively impact responses to an ad. Additionally, I hypothesized that there would be a significant interaction between music familiarity and congruency with subjects responding the most positively to an ad when the music was …

Security Risk And Social Presence In E-Commerce, Amy Isabelle Wright

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The object is to investigate the relationship between consumers' sense of security of a store and their purchasing intention from the store. This was investigated by evaluating how perceptions of security vary among pure play websites with no social presence on the one hand and with social presence on the other; and click and mortar websites with no social presence on the one hand, and social presence on the other. It was also investigated by evaluating how social presence might mitigate the risk of security perceived by consumers. The research method included a scenario given to each participant which requires …

A Question Of Culture: The Impact Of College Major And Personality On Pursuits Of Different Types Of Company Culture, Kathryn E. Carroll

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

What to do with one's future and career is a question with which every collegeaged student struggles. It is not simply a matter of finding a "job" that pays the bills, but rather a "career" that they will be happy with for the length of their professional life. Furthermore, this happiness in their careers consists of many attributes from appropriate pay to satisfaction with their job tasks to the culture of the company for which they choose to work. This last attribute is possibly the hardest for young adults to define and measure. The purpose of this study is to …

The Effect On Building Elements On Direct Dementia-Care Staff Job Satisfaction, Margaret E. Byal

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This interior design research study explores the experience of direct dementia-care staff member tasks in relation to the physical environment. The study asked the following questions: 1) Do building elements in dementia-specific long-term care units interact with staff job satisfaction? 2) What building elements of patient direct-care are identified by staff as being helpful on the job and what are identified as a hindrance? 3) What, if any, environmental elements demand more dementia-specific modification? Physical environment assessments were collected, and surveys assessing job satisfaction and tasks relating to the physical environment were administered. Focus groups captured more detailed responses. Results …

The Relationship Between Simulation Assessments And Standardized Written Examinations For Emergency Medicine Residents, Sheri Leigh Etapa Clarke

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Historically, the assessment of medical resident knowledge and skill has occurred through standardized written examinations and faculty observation during real patient encounters. The written examinations, including three levels of board qualifying examinations (USMLE and COMLEX-USA) and specialty specific annual in-training examinations, are used to identify each resident’s knowledge deficiencies. Research shows that faculty evaluations are unable to predict how residents will perform on emergency medicine in-training examinations, and that practicing skills on real patients puts patients’ lives at risk. To improve patient care and enhance the learning environment, medical educators have created simulation tools for medical residents to practice procedures …

A Customer Choice Modeling Framework For Assortment Planning Of Configurable Products In Automotive Industry, Farah Dubaisi

Wayne State University Theses

Due to the increased competition in the auto industry, proliferation of the vehicle models and increased customer need for choice and customization, it has become more critical than ever to offer a variety of features and customization flexibility while at the same time restraining and, even better, cutting down the costs. Product complexity, in the automotive industry, can be measured by the size of the assortment offered, i.e., set of vehicle configurations a customer can choose from (e.g., for a given model of a brand). While complexity fosters growth with increased alignment of product characteristics and customer needs, it results …