Business Commons^™

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 …

Multi-Task Setting Involving Simple And Complex Tasks: An Exploratory Study Of Employee Motivation, Maia Jivkova Farkas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, employees are given autonomy in effort allocation across two tasks - complex and simple tasks, where the return to the organization is significantly higher for the complex task requiring high skill than for the simple task requiring low skill. An unavoidable feature of multi-task settings is that effort expended on one task detracts from effort that can be expended on another task. This effort trade-off among tasks becomes problematic when the returns from different tasks are unequal, with important consequences for a firm's overall performance. The design of management accounting control systems in such multi-task setting is …

Follow Me! Followership, Leadership And The Multigenerational Workforce, Ronald M. Johnson

HCBE Theses and Dissertations

This research was designed to develop an understanding of today's multigenerational workforce with respect to a preferred styles or characteristics of followership and leadership. Specifically this research sought to determine if there was a relationship between an individual's generational cohort and the preferred styles of leadership and followership, as measured by implicit theories of leadership and followership. Therefore, this study draws upon generational theory (Mannheim, 1952), implicit theories of leadership (Epitropaki & Martin, 2004) and implicit theories of followership (Sy, 2010). The changes in the composition of the US workforce which have occurred, and which will continue to occur in …

Generational Cohort Differences In Types Of Organizational Commitment Among Nurses In Alabama, April Lavette Jones

Presidential Alumni Research Dissemination Award

In hospitals in the United States, the ratio of nurses to patients is declining, resulting in an increase in work demands for nurses. Consequently, organizations face challenges with nurses' organizational commitment. Studies have revealed generational differences, as determined by birth year, in employee levels of organizational commitment in a number of organizational settings. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding the impact of generational cohorts on the organizational commitment of nurses. The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental, cross-sectional design was to address whether generational cohorts of nurses differed in their levels of organizational commitment, and to investigate whether …

An Analysis Of The Effects Of The 2003 And 2011 Acgme Work Hour Rules On Medical Resident Satisfaction At An Independent Academic Medical Center, Rachael E. Trout

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this research was to determine what effects, if any, the 2003 and 2011 ACGME work hour rules had on medical resident satisfaction at an independent academic medical center in the United States. This research analyzed results of a survey administered by an independent academic medical center utilizing its own instrument of measure. Items reviewed to determine self-perceived satisfaction included questions related to program director effectiveness, resident input, quality of life, and satisfaction with program. Four comparisons were reviewed and analyzed for statistical significance utilizing the Mann-Whitney U non-parametric test for independent samples. The results indicated neither the …

The January Effect: A Test Of Market Efficiency, Shelby Klock

Theses & Honors Papers

The purpose of this study is to test the weakform efficient market hypothesis by analyzing the effects of year end selling/buying and the January effect on stock price. Specifically, is itpossible to earn an above normal return at the beginning of the new year? Numerous past studies suggest that at year end investors sell underperforming stocks, thus negatively impacting stock price . Past studies also suggest the repurchase of previou$ year losers in January causing upward pressure on stock price. According to the weakform efficient market hypothesis, it is not possible to outperform the market …

Pay Communication: An Overview, Scale Development, And Analysis Of Its Influence On Workplace Deviance, Shelly A. Marasi

Doctoral Dissertations

Pay communication is an important yet complex organizational practice that assists organizations in achieving their compensation systems' goals and objectives (Gely and Bierman 2003). However, the management literature has neglected the pay communication concept, resulting in a scarce and undeveloped knowledge base on pay secrecy and pay openness. Given this opportunity, this dissertation focuses on pay communication and its influence on employee behaviors.

Chapter 2 presents an overview of the pay communication literature in the management discipline. A broader analysis of pay secrecy practices is provided since it is the practice primarily focused on in the pay communication literature, including …

The Reliability Of Chinese Economic Statistics, Lili Yu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

China's rapid economic growth over the past three decades has drawn attention from all over the world. The sources and reliability of the official statistics behind the tremendous growth have been the subject of heated debate among economists. This paper contributes to this data reliability debate by analyzing on the GDP statistics of China and seeks to establish whether or not the official data are valid.

This study begins with a review of the prominent research on the topic. The majority of these studies, reviewed in chapter two, point to a series of inherent contradictions in the official figures, which …

Economic Profitability Of The Bakken, North Dakota Unconventional Oil Plays Based On A Typical Well Performance With Current Market Conditions, Mehmet Apaydin

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Increases in oil prices after the economic recession have been surprising for domestic oil production in the United States since the beginning of 2009. Not only did the conventional oil extraction increase, but unconventional oil production and exploration also improved greatly with the favorable economic conditions. This favorable economy encourages companies to invest in new reservoirs and technological developments. Recently, enhanced drilling techniques including hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have been supporting the domestic economy by way of unconventional shale and tight oil from various U.S. locations. One of the main contributors to this oil boom is the unconventional oil …

The Effects Of Country Of Origin Image And Patriotism On Consumer Preference For Domestic Versus Imported Beef, Thong Meas

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Country of origin (COO) effect is a well-researched topic in the international marketing literature. It is well recognized that consumers are biased against imports, due to consumer ethnocentrism or patriotism tendency. However, the research on COO effects also suggests that consumers form certain image of origin countries (COO image) and favorable image, be it associated with the countries, their people, or general product quality, improves the evaluation and acceptance of foreign imports.

The publications related to COO effects which focus on consumer durables are abundant. However, the contrasting COO effects on food products are much less investigated. This study surveys …

The Adoption And Diffusion Of It Management Innovations: Adaptation, Reinvention, Alternative Designs, And Rhetorical Persuasion, Quang N. Bui

2014

This research examines the adoption and diffusion process of Information Technology (IT) management innovations—ones that focus on the organizing logics and governance of IT activities. IT management innovations are inherently important to organizations as they can dramatically transform the way businesses are organized and operated. However, because those innovations are tacit and composed mostly of abstract ideas, their adoption and diffusion are often plagued by ambiguity and fads, at times best described as "a solution in search of a problem." Against this backdrop, using theories from communication, sociology, Information Systems, and organizational studies, this research focuses on three underexplored aspects …

Effects Of A Support System On A First Generation College Graduate's Career Development, Matthew Kaufman

HCBE Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to identify and describe the impact of the support system on the career development of first generation college graduates.

Research Questions:

--What comprises the first generation college graduates' support system for each generation (i.e. social network, friends, family and colleagues and mentors)?

--What is the relative importance/influence of each support system component in career development for each generation?

Design/Methodology/Approach: There were a total of 21 in-depth interviews with equal number of participants for all three generations (Baby Boomers, X and Y). The interviews were recorded, transcribed and then coded. Further, there are cross …

The Impact Of User Involvement On Information System Projects, Bradford Reese Eichhorn

ETD Archive

Information systems (IS) development has been studied from many perspectives. Information systems are being viewed as a service as the economy shifts from being industrial-based to service-based. This shift is motivating the business user to become more involved with the development of the system. The once clear roles of user-as-specifier and IT professional-as-developer are blurring. This research addresses three objectives. First, we survey the actual business users themselves for their perception of activities and satisfaction with the completed system. Second, we analyze the separation of business requirements into two constructs representing the functional and presentation dimensions of these requirements to …

Blended Learning : A Program Evaluation In A Central Virginia K-12 School District, Edward A. Hoisington

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a general education course offered in a blended learning environment in a Central Virginia public school district. Three research questions were addressed in this study: How satisfied are students with a blended learning environment in a general education Economics and Personal Finance course? Is a student’s course grade affected by the following: Technology, self-efficacy, course organization, quality of instruction, and student satisfaction in a blended learning course? Is a student’s grade on a credential test affected by the following: Technology, self-efficacy, course organization, quality of instruction, and student satisfaction in a blended …

An Empirical Investigation Of The Development Of Enterprise Resource Planning (Erp) Systems Education For Third-Level Business Students, Maurice O'Brien

Masters

This study is an empirical investigation of the development of Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) education for Business students. It uses Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) as its case study to determine the benefits of practical ERP education, the challenges faced by third-level institutions and how ERP education should be provided to Business students. The researcher used observation, review of documentation, and semi-structured interviews of fifteen academics as the research techniques.

As well as being beneficial for students, employers and ERP vendors, this study finds that the provision of practical ERP education has reciprocal benefits for the third-level institution. By …

The Role Of Cognitive Effort In Decision Performance Using Data Representations :;A Cognitive Fit Perspective, Dinko Bacic

ETD Archive

A major goal of Decision Support (DSS) and Business Intelligence (BI) systems is to aid decision makers in their decision performance by reducing effort. One critical part of those systems is their data representation component of visually intensive applications such as dashboards and data visualization. The existing research led to a number of theoretical approaches that explain decision performance through data representation's impact on users' cognitive effort, with Cognitive Fit Theory (CFT) being the most influential theoretical lens. However, available CFT-based literature findings are inconclusive and there is a lack of research that actually attempts to measure cognitive effort, the …

Decision Models In Supply Chain Management: A Social Responsibility Perspective, Swathi Reddy Baddam

ETD Archive

Recent events in emerging countries concerning supplier unethical practices and the resulting fatalities have stressed the need for social responsibility in supply chains. Rising consumer awareness regarding such events and their negative impact pose a challenge in supply management decisions for firms. This research integrates the risk of supplier irresponsibility and the impact of such events from the consumer perspective in developing supply management decision models for maximizing economic performance of firms. Two important issues in supply management: supplier selection and supplier development are addressed through stylized modeling approach.First, a supplier selection decision model is analyzed that will aid a …

An Empirical Examination Of Relational Governance And Service Capabilities On The Success Of Professional Service Firms Offshore Outscoring The Client Perspective, Renee M. Castrigano

ETD Archive

Professional services, such as accounting, finance, engineering and management consulting, are significant contributors to the U.S. economy accounting for the largest value added industry within the private sector. Knowledge-intensive professional services reached this level of economic prominence by responding to heightened competition, managing rising costs, utilizing key resources, and re-directing their focus to internal core competencies through the strategic decision to engage in offshore outsourcing relationships. By 2015, the Congressional Research Study report predicts 3.4 million, or 13.7 of professional service jobs will be offshore outsourced. Offshore outsourcing is a firm level strategic decision to relocate business activities to an …

Examining The Impact Of Disruption, Supplier Quality And Knowledge Transfer: Recommended Strategies For Meeting Demand And Supplier Development, Rebecca E. Clemons

ETD Archive

I investigate the effect of supply-chain disruption on a firm's decisions on investment in quality, and on ordering decisions, when there is a choice between suppliers, and a variable rate of knowledge transfer. I find that supply-chain disruption has a negative effect on profit, which can be mitigated by appropriate policies for order allocation and supplier development. When the probability of disruption is high, the firm should seek alternative sources of supply (even if they have lower levels of quality). Under certain conditions, the firm can improve its profit by investing in quality improvement efforts at the alternative supplier. I …

An Inquiry Into The Antecedents Of Consumer Purchase Of Non-Deceptive Counterfeit Goods: Theory, Practice And Problems, Heather L. Kirkwood-Mazik

ETD Archive

With counterfeit good consumption growing at alarming rates each year, this topic is increasingly demanding attention of marketing academics. This dissertation examines two sets of factors that influence consumer attitude toward counterfeits: sociocultural influences and psychological influences. Based on a review of the literature, two constructs, namely information susceptibility and normative susceptibility are combined to form a group of sociocultural influences expected to influence consumer attitude toward counterfeits. In addition, five constructs are combined to represent psychological influences, namely value consciousness, self-identity, integrity, materialism and perceived risk. Data was collected through a web-based survey and features a cross-sectional design. Utilizing …

Order Acceptance To Increase Shop-Floor Profitability, Salil Menon

ETD Archive

Managers of manufacturing and service facilities often face situations where incoming demand exceeds available capacity. In such situations a firm can accept, reject or renegotiate the order in order to match the demand and supply. Order acceptance research studies this decision, both at the firm and supply chain level, in order to help the firm select orders that meet their business objectives. Prior research has focused on developing order acceptance models for diverse business situations. This thesis builds upon prior research by incorporating rejection techniques in the development of order acceptance models. A tunable two-step order acceptance model consisting of …

Three Essays On Pricing And Volume Distributions Of Cross-Listed Stocks, Jing Wang

ETD Archive

This dissertation provides empirical evidences in global cross-listed stocks trading volume and pricing. The first essay documents the global trading volume distribution of cross-listed stocks and examines factors that make a host market competitive in attracting order flows from the counterpart domestic market. The results show that host markets are more successful in attracting trading volume when they have a higher information factor, have lower bid-ask spreads, provide better investor protection and information disclosure, share the common language or legal origin with the counterpart home markets and locate closer to the home market. The second essay investigates the market competitiveness …

Spheres Of Semi-Legality: Discourse, Media And Informal Economic Practices In St. Petersburg, Russia (2000-Present), Maria Rosaria Roti

Wayne State University Dissertations

My dissertation project focuses on how the post-Yeltsin (2000 onwards) market economy actually works and how people define, identify and engage within this newly structured market economy. In order to understand this phenomenon my ethnographic study focuses on business in Russia from two perspectives. First, it discusses how Russian enterprises operate in Russia with the socially embedded informal economic practices inherited from the Soviet system, including trust, personal networks, patron-client relationships, system avoidance, bribery, and corruption. Second, it examines how foreign firms operate under these existing economic conditions in Russia while simultaneously still following FTC regulations and international law. Keeping …

Elections And Asset Pricing: The Politically Sensitive Equity Of Us Military Contractors, Matthew Mark Ross

Wayne State University Dissertations

I quantify the relationship between political uncertainty and equity volatility in the months around US elections from 1989-2012. The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) data are employed to measure political uncertainty faced by military contractors, capitalizing on the unique monopsony-oligopoly business environment of these firms. I employ a GARCH (1,1) model with cross-sectionally correlated moments to produce daily firm-election volatility measures. Volatility increases 11% for local, 27% for midterm, and 43% for presidential elections. These measures demonstrate that all election categories: local, federal, presidential, and midterm exhibit differential effects on equity volatility. My results …

Essays On The Role Of Competitor-Specific Human Capital On Initial Public Offerings (Ipos) Performance, Tapan Seth

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation splits the idea of competitor-specific human capital into two types: competitor-specific-direct (CSD) human capital and competitor-specific-indirect (CSI) human capital, and inspects how these two types of human capital held by IPO Top Management Team (TMT) members are associated with IPO performance. Furthermore, by utilizing research on human capital, competitive dynamics, and knowledge-based view of the firm, this dissertation identifies important antecedents that result in higher degree of impact of such human capital on the IPO firm, and IPO firm's capabilities absorb such knowledge that results in higher valuations at IPO. By employing a multi-year panel data of new …

Creating And Fostering Singerian Inquiring Organizations Through Psychological Empowerment In The Context Of Information Assurance, Kristen Lee Brewer King

Doctoral Dissertations

Singerian Inquiring Organizations (SIO) (Courtney, et al., 1998; Courtney, 2001) are knowledge-based enterprises based on Churchman's theory of Singerian inquiring systems (Courtney, 2001). For Singerian organizations to thrive, employees must feel unfettered to quest for knowledge, share what knowledge has been found, and express opinions about the findings of others. In short, employees must feel empowered to act in order to foster the well-being and development of the organization and its stakeholders. Both the psychology and organizational behavior literature have examined psychological empowerment as a way to challenge individuals and/or employees to take control of and interest in organizational situations; …

Undergraduate Education Background And Ethical Decision Making, Ian H. King

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

This research study sought to identify differences in ethical decision making between individuals with a liberal arts educational background and a business educational background. The study surveyed undergraduate degree students from liberal arts and business school programs. The Defining Issues Test, Version 2 (DIT-2) was given to respondents to identify differences of the DIT-2 results among the study participants consisting of undergraduate seniors. The research results yielded significantly higher mean postcoventional moral judgment scores by the liberal arts majors compared to the business majors.

Two Essays On Insider Trading And Option Grants Around The Filing Of Influential Patents, Liu Pan

Doctoral Dissertations

Research documents that insiders, who have access to private information, appear to trade with profits before major corporate events like mergers, bankruptcy, dividend announcements, and future cash flow news (see, e.g., Seyhun, 1990; Seyhun and Bradley, 1997; John and Lang, 1991; Jiang and Zaman, 2010). Another recent stream of studies find that the size and quality of a firm's patent portfolio are positively related to the firm's future stock returns (Hirshleifer, Hsu, and Li, 2012; Pandit, Wasley, and Zach, 2011). However, there is little systematic evidence on whether insiders act opportunistically when they possess private information about the firm's patent …

Two Essays On Insider Trading And Option Grants Around The Filing Of Influential Patents, Liu Pan

Doctoral Dissertations

Research documents that insiders, who have access to private information, appear to trade with profits before major corporate events like mergers, bankruptcy, dividend announcements, and future cash flow news (see, e.g., Seyhun, 1990; Seyhun and Bradley, 1997; John and Lang, 1991; Jiang and Zaman, 2010). Another recent stream of studies find that the size and quality of a firm's patent portfolio are positively related to the firm's future stock returns (Hirshleifer, Hsu, and Li, 2012; Pandit, Wasley, and Zach, 2011). However, there is little systematic evidence on whether insiders act opportunistically when they possess private information about the firm's patent …

Reassessing Anomalies And Puzzles, Keming Li

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations - Archive

While standard asset pricing models assume a frictionless environment and investors are risk-averse individuals who maximize their utility based on all the available information in real time. The asset pricing literature has empirically documented numerous anomalies and puzzles, which cannot be explained by the traditional finance theory. Investors are exposed to these entire abnormal phenomenons, but at the same time investors do not fully understand them. This problem motives numbers of recent publications and also my dissertation.My dissertation is consisting of three essays. The first essay looks at the components of information uncertainty. Specically, I decompose information uncertainty into fundamental …