Business Commons^™

The Moderating Effect Of Perceived Ethical Leadership On Reduced Audit Quality Behaviors, Kimberly J. Webb

Accounting Dissertations - Archive

As auditors perform the audit, they are faced with many decisions that ultimately affect the quality of the audit and can lead to the issuance of an improper audit opinion such as accepting weak management explanations without corroborating evidence, superficial review of client documentation, premature sign off of audit procedures, or underreporting of time spent on audit task. In this study, I investigate the impact of the perceived ethical leadership (EL) of the audit supervisor upon the auditor's propensity to engage in reduced audit quality (RAQ) acts. This question is of particular interest considering the renewed focus placed upon audit …

Real Earnings Management, Habitually Meeting/Closely Beating Analysts' Forecasts, And Firms' Long-Term Economic Performance, Fanghong Jiao

Accounting Dissertations - Archive

Real earnings management (REM) has gained more attention due to its more extensive application than that before the enactment of Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). Analysts' earnings forecast is an important benchmark for both the investors and the managers. Gunny (2010) finds that the signaling of future prospects overcomes the possibility of opportunism in firms that occasionally use REM to meet/closely beat benchmarks. However, the effect of repeatedly using REM to meet/beat earnings benchmarks has not been explored. This paper examines the long-term economic performance (Tobin's Q) of firms that utilize REM to habitually meet/closely beat analysts' earnings forecasts (HabitMBE). The results …

Effects Of Operations And Innovation Strategy Fit On Company Performance, James Edward Brown

Business Administration Dissertations - Archive

For a company to survive long-term, it must be able to innovate and develop new products and services. There are two types of broad innovation classifications: exploration and exploitation. These two types of innovation require different resources, have different risks, and have different time horizons for the company to receive the benefits. Operations strategies impact the type and quantity of resources available. The concept of fit has been used to match operations strategy and corporate strategy. This dissertation will extend this concept to the relationship between innovation strategy and operations strategy. Building on The Resource Based View and Punctuated Equilibrium, …

In Times Of Financial Distress: Perspectives From Valuation, Information Asymmetry And Returns, Ramya Rajajagadeesan Aroul

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations - Archive

The dissertation addresses unanswered questions in asset valuation through the lens of financial distress in three different asset markets namely equity market, residential property market and REITs market. The first two essays explore the valuation impact of financial distress in equity and residential property markets while the third essay examines the role of information asymmetry in REITs market around credit rating announcements. In the first essay, I investigate why highly distressed firms earn low returns. By employing a direct misvaluation measure, I find that distressed firms with substantial overvaluation earn negative returns. I also further study the characteristics of the …

The Fox Is Guarding The Henhouse: Can Interpersonal Conflict Damage An Organization's Information Security?, Ammar Nurbhai

Information Systems & Operations Management Theses - Archive

As computer networks grow ever more interconnected, securing an organization's information is becoming increasingly vital. At the forefront of this threat is that of the insider, an individual who is already behind the firewall. Extant literature related to the causes and motivation behind malicious insider behavior is lacking.This study examines whether workplace interpersonal conflict can motivate an individual to retaliate against an organization's digital information assets. The moderating effects of organizational justice and anger control are also explored to determine whether these constructs can mitigate the risk of retaliatory behavior. The link between Anger and subsequent aggression are also examined. …

A Review Of Team Learning, Sunhyung Lee

Management Theses - Archive

The purpose of this thesis is to review literature on team learning published from 1985 to 2013. The papers were selected from academic journals from business, as well as psychology, education and management. I examine the various terms and definitions used for team learning, as well as measurement methods. I discuss models of team learning as a process of learning and its placement within the three levels of learning: individual, team, and organizational. I also suggest future directions and areas of focus for future research into team learning and its merits in the workplace.

Negative Exchange Spirals: A Process Model Of Incivility Among Coworkers, Jennifer Grace Manegold

Management Dissertations - Archive

Increasing instances of incivility (e.g. rudeness or disrespect) in the workplace have led to the growing popularity of incivility research within the mistreatment literature. It is believed that incivility may encourage reciprocated behaviors that escalate in intensity. However, the underlying processes by which these `incivility spirals' occur are not yet well understood. Therefore, based on social exchange theory and theories of emotion and organizational justice, I propose and test a multilevel model that examines the effects of daily experienced incivility on daily negative behaviors (e.g. instigated incivility and counterproductive behaviors) via a desire for revenge and state anger. In addition, …

An Examination Of Chain Restaurants Exterior Colors And Logo Colors, Alyssa Mary Dupont

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Technology Initiative Assessment Through Acceptance And Satisfaction: A Case Study, Virginia Otto

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This case study examines a University-wide tablet program to assess the primary users’ (students) acceptance and satisfaction of the implemented technology. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and user satisfaction research acted as the theoretical foundation that directed how to assess students’ attitudes and beliefs toward this newly adopted technology. Wixom & Todd’s (2005) Integrated Model of User Satisfaction and Technology Acceptance, served as the conceptual model to examine how students’ acceptance and satisfaction of the tablet related. Online surveys were distributed to examine if perceived usefulness and ease of use can predict user satisfaction. Multiple regression tests found that the combination …

How To Conduct Business In Latin America: A Business Student's Guide To International Success, Michelle Hicks

Honors Projects

This project is a combination of studies in the fields of Spanish and International Business. The project is aimed at a specific target audience, the members of the Global Management and Leadership Society at Bowling Green State University, which aims to help prepare students for careers in International Business. The project focuses solely on Latin America which brings Spanish and International Business together. It is formatted to first delve into a brief history, then business etiquette and finally Spanish variations in the country being examined. This project may also be found electronically at https://blogs.bgsu.edu/latinamericabusiness/

An Investigation Into The Marketing, Advertising And Labelling Of Processed Food In Ireland And Its Influences On Consumer Choice And Subsequent Health Issues, Jane Healy

Theses

Ireland has experienced much economic and social change in recent years, and as a result of this, many new food choices and commodities are on offer to the consumer. The simple diet of fresh, unprocessed foods that existed in Ireland in the past has for many consumers been replaced by processed, convenience food products. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects which the marketing, advertising and labelling of processed food in Ireland has on consumers, and how these strategies influence their choice of food. The advertising claims and the labelling of these processed foods is of interest …

Work Group Composition Effects On Leadership Styles In Aircraft Manufacturing Organizations., Monica Lynn Dunnagan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

leadership styles

homogeneous versus heterogeneous

manufacturing leaders

contractor workforce

Owner-Manager Separation And The Structure Of It Governance In Small Business, Jeffrey S. Saffer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners and small business managers tend to favor different information technology (IT) governance structures. Such differences can lead to ineffective management and control of IT in small businesses. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the extent and nature of the association between owner-manager separation in small businesses and the structure of IT governance in the businesses. Agency theory formed the theoretical framework of this study. Data were collected using a web-based survey and randomly sampled 3,697 small business owners and managers located in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Chi-square statistics indicated no significant association between owner-manager …

Talent Retention In Organizations Facing Staff Reductions Via Layoffs, George Edward Lightfoot

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

High voluntary attrition threatens the future of downsizing organizations. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how employee layoff announcements reduces the perception of organizational commitment to experienced, skilled workers in central Wisconsin. The conceptual framework integrated stress response theories including Cannon's cognitive activation theory of stress. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 20 journeyman level artisans who had witnessed the layoff process within 50 miles of Wausau Wisconsin. These interviews were analyzed via the modified van Kaam method to code, cluster, and group the findings into significant themes. Nine themes emerged from the analyses suggesting layoff implementation strategies …

Sustainable Revenue Generation System For Nonprofit Institutions Of Higher Education, Graig Arcuri

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social and individual spending on higher education has outpaced social and individual economic growth, resulting in nonprofit institutions of higher education (NIHEs) growing increasingly dependent upon unsustainable governmental subsidies and tuition increases. The purpose of this study was to examine the interactions among components of the nonprofit university system, existing revenue generation methods, and sustainability of revenue generation, thereby generating a new sustainable revenue theory for nonprofit universities within the United States. This qualitative grounded theory study used a multiphase design incorporating data from the literature review, historical documents, and phone interviews from a theoretical sampling of 10 NIHEs. Participants …

Impact Of Online Versus Face-To Face Instruction On Appraisal Student's Morality Levels, Samuel Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The financial markets have been in a state of chaos for a number of years. Some of the chaos was attributed to appraisers bending under unethical pressure exerted by lenders. The purpose of this study was to explore whether mode of instruction affected appraiser morality when participating in a Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) course, as measured by Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT-2). The research question examined the difference between the effect on the morality schema of continuing appraisal students taking the 7-hour USPAP CE course online versus students taking the course in a face-to-face environment. The research …

Impact Of Federal Acquisition Regulation Change On Contractor Misconduct, Jeffery Orazio Patrignani

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Project on Government Oversight listed 632 reported acts of government contractor misconduct since 2007 that resulted in settlements or fines totaling $41.95 billion in the government contracting industry. Government contracting officials changed the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) in 2009 to reduce acts of misconduct. The purpose of this causal-comparative study was to discover if the change to the FAR in 2009 significantly reduced the rate of reported contractor misconduct and to investigate the impact of the change on government contractor ethics business processes. Deterrence theory guided this study of how the change to the FAR in 2009 impacted the …

Financial Resources And Technology To Transition To 450mm Semiconductor Wafer Foundries, Thomas Earl Pastore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Future 450mm semiconductor wafer foundries are expected to produce billions of low cost, leading-edge processors, memories, and wireless sensors for Internet of Everything applications in smart cities, smart grids, and smart infrastructures. The problem has been a lack of wise investment decision making using traditional semiconductor industry models. The purpose of this study was to design decision-making models to conserve financial resources from conception to commercialization using real options to optimize production capacity, to defer an investment, and to abandon the project. The study consisted of 4 research questions that compared net present value from real option closed-form equations and …

Enhancing Strategies To Improve Workplace Performance, Francine Williams Richardson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

When employees become dissatisfied at an organization, they may develop negative behaviors that can impede profits and productivity. The purpose of this single case study was to explore what strategies are essential for organizational leaders to improve workplace performance. Maslow's hierarchy of needs served as the conceptual framework for this study. Data collection involved face-to-face, semistructured interviews of 20 managers, floor employees, and clerical staff from a business organization in Southwest Georgia. Participant selection was based on employees' tenure of at least 1 year of experience within the organization. Interviews were transcribed and then coded for common patterns and themes. …

Cointegration, Causality And Price Discovery In The Nafta Markets: A Study Of Sector Indices And Trade Flow Data From The Perspective Of Us Markets, Aamir Khan

Finance and Real Estate Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation examines the long-run linkage among the equity markets and sectors of the NAFTA economies by employing Cointegration and Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) framework. In addition, I also seek to identify the short-run & long-run causality and the direction of adjustment factor among the sectors of the US, Canadian and Mexican markets. Furthermore, I develop a multivariate model to examine the long-run impact of exchange rates on the linkage among the NAFTA markets & sectors. In addition, I also investigate the impact of US trade flow on the causal relationship it has with that of the Canadian & …

It's A Matter Of Give And Take: Exploring The Role Of Knowledge Transfer In The Supply Chain, Kimberly Whitehead

Business Administration Dissertations - Archive

Firm interdependence within supply chains continues to grow. This is driven by the need to leverage tangible and intangible resources within the supply chain for innovation, process management, customer satisfaction and meeting diverse stakeholder expectations. This research expands our understanding of supply chain collaboration by introducing new knowledge-based constructs that operationalize the abilities of a firm to transfer knowledge. These abilities are referred to as distributive capabilities. The distributive capabilities of an organization represent its ability to transfer commercially relevant knowledge through collaboration to a known recipient firm. Earlier research in this domain has focused on the abilities of a …

The Effect Of Marketing Communication On Individuals' Gift-Giving: Role Of Cause Type, Appeal Characteristics, And Donor Mindset, Mehdi Tanzeeb Hossain

Marketing Dissertations - Archive

In two essays, this dissertation focuses on an important domain of research in marketing: how marketing communications affect individuals' donation. For example, Globalgiving provides a myriad of projects for potential donors to form their own donation "portfolio". However, research till date has put up little effort in identifying the potential differences between such causes which may influence donors' portfolio decision making process. To address this issue, the first essay breaks down the donation objects/causes into two components--namely environment-focused (e.g., ozone layer depletion) and humanitarian-focused (e.g., poverty)--and examines the differential effects of individuals' holistic/analytic thinking style on environmental/humanitarian gift-giving. Six studies …

Tax Receivable Agreements In Initial Public Offerings: An Analysis Of The Innovation Incorporated In Ipo Agreements, Amy Foshee Holmes

Accounting Dissertations - Archive

A Tax Receivable Agreement (TRA) is a binding commitment between a newly public firm and the firm's founders to include a tax-sharing arrangement, obligating the IPO firm to make annual cash payments to the pre-IPO owners. The opportunity for shared tax benefits arises when the pre-IPO owners sell equity and achieve a step-up in basis of assets for the IPO firm. The newly created tax assets and the prior existing tax assets can offset future taxable income at ordinary corporate tax rates. This tax-sharing arrangement will typically provide for payments of 85 percent of the tax savings. This type of …

The Interactions Between Real Earnings Management And Short Selling Activity, Yu Zhang

Accounting Dissertations - Archive

This study builds on two streams of literature that recently draw the attention of researchers: real earnings management (REM) and short selling. Graham et al. (2005) reports that managers choose REM over accounting methods to manage earnings. The survey results suggest that REM is likely to be more prevalent than accrual-based earnings management, and should deserve more attention from academic research. Short selling has become a big concern to researchers due to the recent financial crisis and the combat against naked short sales. I empirically test how short sellers trade on firms' REM information, and whether short selling activity can …

Agency Costs, Ceo Compensation, And Leasing Activities, Linying Zhou

Accounting Dissertations - Archive

Various elements in firms' capital structures have been documented to be associated with conflicts of interests among shareholders, creditors, and managers. In this paper, I hypothesize that the use of leases affects manager incentives and mitigates the conflicts of interests between shareholders and bondholders. I test this hypothesis by examining whether leasing shares in the capital structure are associated with CEO pay-performance sensitivity. My results show that a firm's leasing share is positively associated with its CEO's pay-performance sensitivity, suggesting that leasing activities reduce the agency cost of debt financing. My results remain robust after controlling for recognized mechanisms of …

A Vision Of Capitalism, As It Was Meant To Be: A Social Purpose Business Plan For Foodshed Productions, August Miller

Capstone Collection

FoodShed Productions, a social enterprise is pursuing a mission: to raise the caring capacity of communities and resilience of our local environments through resident education in organic backyard farming. As a social enterprise, FoodShed Productions, a for-profit, earns its economic viability doing work more often associated with non-profits, measuring its worth by the social, environmental, and economic benefits of its operations. The communities in Boulder County, CO. are served by FoodShed Productions through a social process in which “We Build, We Coach, You Keep Growing,” toward the goal of self-reliance.

The topic of this CLC is a Social Purpose Business …

Improving Professional Skills Through Adversity: A Phenomenological Study Of Mergers And Acquisitions, Randy Anita Rutledge

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Company mergers and acquisitions often create tremendous conflict for employees because they force them into a spiral of organizational change. In this environment, employees are challenged with redefining themselves within a new organization. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to discover and explain the particular conflict experiences of professional employees who experienced the merger and acquisition of their company. A phenomenological research study was conducted to discover and describe the shared conflict experiences of professional employees during the merger and acquisition of their consulting firm. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 self-identified professional employees. It was found through …

The Role Of Freedom In Assessing The Relationship Between Tourism Competitiveness And Quality Of Life: The Case Of Central America, Marketa Kubickova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation study is to investigate the relationship among tourism competitiveness, quality of life, and freedom. The main premise is that the degree of freedom shapes the relationship between tourism development and quality of life. The study hypothesized that the greater the degree of freedom is, the greater impact tourism development will have on quality of life of residents of a destination. The theoretical framework of this study is based on combining Sen's capability approach with the tourism competitiveness theory. Tourism competitiveness aims at enhancing the quality of life, while Sen's capability approach provides the ingredients for …

A Multivariate Analysis Of Consumers’ Beliefs, Attitudes, And Behaviors Associated With Locally Produced Food And Farmers’ Market Patronage, Sara Williamson

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

While farmers’ market vendors rely on loyal and frequent patrons to purchase their products, it is unclear how the intrinsic differences among farmers’ market shoppers serve as indicators of potential shopping frequency at farmers’ markets. The objectives of this thesis are to identify consumers’ intrinsic values associated with characteristics of local foods, examine how these values are reflected in consumption behaviors among farmers' market shoppers, and explore the relationship between consumption activities and shopping frequency at farmers' markets. Results suggest that the differences between frequent and infrequent farmers’ market shoppers could be explained by the individual’s levels of high and …

The Effects That Liquid And Solid Cattle Manure Have On The Water Quality Of Drainage Ditches In Putnam County, Ohio, Janelle Horstman

Honors Projects

Lake Erie has experienced harmful algal blooms with increased frequency since the mid-1990s due to excess nutrients from Rivers, such as the Maumee River, and largely agricultural watersheds. Nonpoint source pollution from agriculture contributes to eutrophication, algal blooms, and the degradation of water quality. This creates stress on aquatic fauna, reduced aesthetic quality, odor, and limits of the water for usage of drinking, recreation, and industry. This research paper asks what the contributions of having access to manure application records, soil records, and information about antibiotics have on what is known about manure management and antibiotic resistance, which has been …