Business Commons^™

Education Crowdfunding Success: Studies On Information Asymmetry And Information Overload In Online Platforms, Mingyan Xu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Online education crowdfunding attracts public school teachers with its enormous outsourcing opportunities, but its success is constantly challenged by information asymmetry and information overload. To assist the teachers in successfully collecting teaching funds in crowdfunding, three studies are conducted to address the two challenges.

Information asymmetry exists between the fundraising teachers and the potential donors and challenges the education crowdfunding success. Virtual communication setting of online context further exacerbates this issue. Following signaling theory, it is critical for the informed teachers to create and send quality signals to the less-informed donors to enhance communication and establish mutual understanding. To understand …

Essays On Corporate Finance, Su Hee Yun

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Chapter 1. The impact of ESG disasters on Green and Brown firms

I investigate the effect of a firm’s prior ESG reputation on the market impact of ESG incidents. I find that firms with a better ESG reputation, i.e., higher ESG ratings, experience less negative stock-market reactions and analysts' forecast revisions compared to firms with a poorer ESG reputation. But managers of Greener firms, when producing earnings guidance, do not forecast a lower impact of these incidents on future earnings. Similarly, actual decreases in future earnings following these incidents are not significantly different between Green and Brown firms. Altogether, the …

Differences Are Not Deficits: Women Introverting While Black Through The Ascent To Executive Leadership In Higher Education, Jeri A. Bingham

Dissertations

Diversity of personality type in the workplace can lead to improved morale and productivity when organizations acknowledge and support the attributes and differences of employee behaviors and characteristics. Black women executives identifying as introverted who lead with their authentic personas and intersected marginalized identities, benefit employers, employees, students, and the institution’s brand and bottom line. Introversion and extroversion, ways to describe diversity of personality type, and each having different connotations in office culture, are relevant to this exploration as literature suggests that the population of both personality types is almost evenly distributed. The implications of judgement and the association to …

Order-Picking Strategies And Efficiency Models For The Fulfillment Of Multi-Line E-Commerce Grocery Orders, Zijia Wang

Dissertations

The fulfillment process for Buy Online Pickup from Store grocery orders (BOPS-Grocery) is particularly challenging, given the large item count per order and the low-profit margins. This research investigates the BOPS-Grocery model and pursues the following objectives: (i) Defining and specifying the BOPS-Grocery fulfillment process. Differentiating the process from classical warehouse order picking., identifying performance objectives, and characterizing design options and facility layout. (ii) Modelling and developing order picking algorithms specific to the straight aisle section. Formulated as an order hatching problem with picker movement minimization. No order splitting, and (iii) modeling and developing order picking algorithms specific to the …

Breaking The Cycle: The Intersection Of Poverty And Entrepreneurship, Wes Keely

Masters Projects

This study explores the systemic issues that trap individuals in the cycle of poverty and examines how entrepreneurship can serve as a pathway to break this cycle, improve socioeconomic circumstances, and foster generational wealth. Guided by the research question, “What systemic issues trap individuals in the cycle of poverty, and how can they use entrepreneurship to improve their future and that of the next generation?”, the project aimed to uncover the underlying factors contributing to poverty and evaluate entrepreneurship's potential as a transformative solution.

Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study combined phenomenological analysis with the human-centered design problem-solving framework. Data …

A Force To Be Reckoned With: Testimonios From Latina/E Senior Leaders Across Psychology Contexts, Sandra Bertram Grant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Latinas currently make up 76% of overall Latino/a/e participation in psychology (American Psychological Association, 2022); however, the numbers of Latinas in top echelon leadership positions are low (National Center for Education Statistics, 2021, 2022). Notedly, the information on the current state of Latine representation in the field of psychology is even more limited. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the testimonios of eight Latina/es regarding their professional development, decision making process, pursuit, and persistence in leadership positions, particularly within the field of psychology. This study is guided by Testimonio (Huber, 2009) as the methodological approach and analysis, …

Defining Value And Measuring Roi For Expatriate International Assignments In Firms That Internationalize As Born-Global Companies, Dale Collins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The expatriate international assignment, a time-tested tool for global organizations, is known to be expensive and fraught with risks; defining its value has proven difficult for multinational firms in the twentieth century that internationalized using multi-stage theory. Recently, born-global internationalization theory has gained momentum among emerging firms, notably technology-based firms employing expatriate assignments. This study asks, how do born-global firms define value or benefit when determining return on investment (ROI) for expatriate international assignments? Multi stage theory posits firms first establish domestic markets creating well-developed cultures and sophisticated policies designed to mitigate risk and contain costs prior to internationalizing. Born-global …

Corporate Social Responsibility Impact On Financial Performance: The Roles Of Corporate Reputation And Engagement Patterns, Ruiyang Ma

Doctoral Dissertations

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has garnered significant attention. Understanding the mechanisms through which stakeholders interpret a firm’s CSR efforts and the boundary conditions that affect the relationship between CSR and its outcomes can help companies optimize resource allocation to CSR activities. This research explores the link between CSR and financial performance, highlighting the mediating role of reputation and the moderating effects of different CSR engagement patterns. Drawing on cognitive literature, this study suggests that a firm’s consistently increasing investment in CSR activities can enhance corporate reputation, which in turn improves financial performance. The effect of different CSR engagement patterns on …

Investigating Servant Leadership Measurement: A Mixed-Methods Study Integrating Content Analysis And Meta-Analysis, Kai Torsten Schramm

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to understand the similarities and differences among servant leadership measures and the variations in their effect sizes on job performance and job satisfaction. This paper explores how the items in servant leadership measures portrayed the servant leadership construct and how these relate to the outcomes. The researcher used an exploratory sequential mixed methods design. Which involved a qualitative content analysis of the measurement items and a meta-analysis of outcomes, considering the findings from the content analysis. Six key categories determined the three main themes: selfless generosity, inspiring influence, adaptive humility, integrity, empowering, and harmonious engagement. The three …

Paycheck-To-Paycheck: How Public Service Loan Forgiveness Inhibits Generational Wealth Attainment For Black Women, Ashley Patrice-Rose Sherman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Black women who attend college in the United States are more likely to borrow to cover the cost of attendance and carry the largest amount of student loan debt than any other racial and gender group. Federal student loan borrowers are encouraged to work in public service to take advantage of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), an income-driven repayment program established by the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA) of 2007. PSLF offers total debt relief after ten years of uninterrupted full monthly payments based on an income-driven repayment plan. The significance of this qualitative study will …

Utilizing Machine Learning To Forecast Sector-Level Equity Returns From Sector-Level Financial Ratios, Greg Kuppenheimer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Academics and equity analysts often utilize fundamental financial ratios to evaluate an industry's financial and operational performance. However, sophisticated econometric methods could be improved for estimating these ratios' importance in predicting sector-level stock return performance. To address this gap, gradient-boosted decision tree methods were applied to the WRDS sector-level financial ratio database to identify if financial ratios effectively forecast sector-level stock returns in future periods. The findings show that these ratios are predictive and economically material, both stand alone and in combination with other macroeconomic factors. Using these predictions, long and long-short sector-level portfolios were created, and most of these …

Influences On Small Business Leaders’ Decisions About Supportive Policies And Practices For Employees Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Abuse, Marilyn Lucille Brock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Intimate partner abuse affects millions of individuals from all segments of society, and existing literature demonstrates that it has extensive impacts on American companies through loss of workplace productivity, reduced workplace safety, and employee turnover. While several supportive policies and practices have been suggested for implementation in business environments, many business leaders do not perceive the utilization of such measures as having business value. Thus, this study addresses the question, What influences business leaders’ decisions about whether and to what degree to adopt policies and practices for responding to employees’ experiences of intimate partner abuse? This dissertation is a qualitative …

The Effect Of Financial Disclosure Medium And Ceo Gender On Perceptions Of Overconfidence And Credibility, Sheryl Moriarty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I experimentally examine how investors react to an unexpected negative earnings announcement delivered using video versus audio by an overconfident female CEO versus an overconfident male CEO. The results show that the CEO's gender does not matter in terms of the delivery medium. I predict and did not find that CEO overconfidence is lower for a financial disclosure delivered by video as opposed to audio only. Further, the hypothesis that the perception of female CEO overconfidence is higher versus male CEO overconfidence was not supported. Overall, the participants in the study did not find either the male or the female …

It Can Be Lonely At The Top, But It Doesn’T Have To Be: Workplace Loneliness As Experienced By Senior Leaders And Potential Coping Strategies, Kristen Prince

Dissertations

Workplace loneliness is a topic of growing interest among scholars and practitioners, in part because of the known impacts of loneliness on individuals’ well-being and performance. Recent literature has suggested that senior leaders may be vulnerable to feelings of workplace loneliness but lacks a thorough depiction of how leaders experience and cope with the feelings. This qualitative study explores the lived experiences and perspectives of senior leaders through interviews with 26 leaders and seven close confidants who provide a nuanced understanding of how senior leaders experience workplace loneliness and offer insight on mitigating these feelings. The findings suggest that the …

Stock Liquidity And Value Relevance Of Earnings : Evidence From A Natural Experiment, Joseph Maxwell Asamoah

Lingnan Theses (MPhil & PhD)

This thesis explores the effect of stock liquidity on the value relevance of earnings, employing the Securities and Exchange Commission's 2016 Tick Size Pilot Program (TSP) as a natural experiment to investigate this relationship. This study leverages the exogenous shock to stock liquidity induced by the program to address endogeneity issues that have historically complicated the analysis of stock market dynamics. By examining the causal effects of increased liquidity on the market's response to earnings announcements, the research provides new insights into how liquidity impacts the usefulness and reliability of accounting information from the shareholders' perspective.

The findings indicate that …

Tax Client Goals, Regulatory Pressure, And Professional Decision-Making, Spenser G. Seifert

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on goal theory, I illuminate how client preferences become internalized goals for tax professionals and how these client goals influence the motivated reasoning and ultimate decision-making of tax professionals. Using this theoretical framework, I then utilize an experiment to explore how the presence of salient situational factors – goal specificity, goal progress, and regulatory pressure – influence tax professionals’ decision-making. The results suggest that, as a result of their roles as both client advocates and CPAs, tax professionals default to non-specific “do your best” goals regardless of client preference specificity. Additionally, I find that increased regulatory pressure may curb …

Environmental Implication Of Environmental Disclosure, Jie Lian

Theses and Dissertations

Recent environmental incidents and disasters have intensified awareness and concerns about environmental issues, making the reduction of the private sector’s environmental impact a pressing necessity. The path to better environmental performance depends on enhancing environmental disclosure. While an increasing number of firms are embracing environmental disclosure, and legislative efforts are steering towards mandating such disclosures, the comprehensive understanding of the environmental implications of these disclosures remains surprisingly limited. A significant gap exists in understanding the challenges of environmental disclosure in promoting sustainability and complex consequences in various contexts.

The dissertation aims to fill this literature gap by focusing on the …

Incorporating Returns Into The Assortment Optimization Landscape, Sahika Sahan

Olin Business School Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation incorporates two models for handling product returns—a pressing issue for retailers—into assortment optimization strategies: the established Sequential Returns model (SRM) and the newly proposed Bulk Returns model (BRM). In the SRM, customers are assumed to purchase products one at a time, engaging in a short trial period after each purchase to familiarize themselves with the product. They can then choose to keep the product, exchange it to continue their search, or return it and abandon the search process. Conversely, the BRM represents a new perspective tailored to convenience-driven consumers who lack the time or patience for sequentially ordering …

The Effect Of Voluntarily Disclosing An Earnings Surprise On Management Operating Decisions, Jonathan Gay

Theses and Dissertations

Prior research extensively examines the external implications of voluntarily disclosing an earnings surprise, yet the internal implications remain understudied. Using two experiments, I examine whether the preemptive voluntary disclosure of an earnings surprise influences management operating decisions. Drawing upon mental accounting and the realization effect, I predict that managers are more likely to make inefficient operating decisions when an earnings surprise is expected and that a quantitative, but not qualitative, voluntary disclosure will mitigate this value-sacrificing behavior. I find that managers are more likely to make inefficient operating decisions when a negative, but not a positive, earnings surprise is expected …

The Effects Of Management’S Esg Disclosure Strategy And Voluntary Esg Assurance On Investment Judgments, Macy Knutson

Theses and Dissertations

Many investors desire to integrate a company’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance into their investment decisions. Accordingly, most companies now disclose at least some ESG information in annual sustainability reports. However, little regulation exists over ESG reporting, creating a well-acknowledged agency problem for investors and making trust vitally important to investment. In this study, I examine two mechanisms which may facilitate trust amongst ESG investors: Management’s ESG disclosure strategy and ESG assurance. Contrary to traditional conceptions of persuasion theory, I find ESG investors reduce investment in response to more transparent negative disclosures when the ESG report is not independently …

A Comparison Of Diploid And Triploid Eastern Oysters For Aquaculture Production Under Extreme Temperatures And Salinities, Joshua H. Kim

LSU Master's Theses

Off-bottom aquaculture of Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) is a nascent industry that is increasingly supported by the use of triploid oysters, which grow faster than diploids. Despite their growth advantage, elevated triploid mortality compared to diploids under high temperature, low salinity, or a combination of these conditions challenge consistent triploid production. Identifying the environmental thresholds at which differential triploid mortality occurs and predicting its economic impact are important to informing decision-making in oyster aquaculture. The goal of this thesis was to compare the biological and economic performance of diploid and triploid oysters under high temperature and low salinity conditions. …

Driving Green Investments To Address Climate Change, Baptiste Gibrat

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

The climate crisis is no longer news, and society needs to accelerate the transition to net zero emissions. Otherwise, the consequences of climate change will become increasingly catastrophic.

This thesis develops a framework to drive green investments, which reduce society’s dependance on fossil fuels. Initially, the research provides a comprehensive examination of these investments, followed by an exploration of three strategies to enhance their adoption: leveraging financial instruments and capital markets, implementing regulatory frameworks, and harnessing the power of technologies. To integrate these elements within a comprehensive framework, the study employs market research, reviews relevant literature, and includes interviews with …

Recruitment And Retention Of Physician Assistants In Rural Medicine: A Novel Approach, Sean Grabbe

Theses and Graduate Projects

Improving the health of patients requires having access to well trained medical providers. This is one of the main goals of the physician assistant profession. For many years research has documented how to recruit and retain physician assistants in the rural areas of the United States. Although created to fill the gaps in primary care medicine physician assistants have moved as all of medicine has into specialization. This gap in primary care has not closed and is most significant in rural areas. This paper reviews the plethora of research and elaborates on the known and best methods for recruitment and …

Investigating The Engagement Behaviour Of Omni-Digital Banking Customers, Guhan R

Theses and Dissertations

Digital banking is rapidly growing in India, positioning the country as the global leader in digital banking users as of 2022, with approximately 295.5 million users, surpassing the United States by over 70 million. This growth reflects a shift from Omni-channel to Omni-digital banking, where customers exclusively use digital platforms, enhancing digital engagement. However, research specifically focusing on Omni-digital banking behavior remains limited, with most studies concentrating on online and mobile banking.

To address this gap, a study was conducted using a new research model based on UTAUT2 variables, targeting Omni-digital banking customers in Tamil Nadu. A sample of 1,082 …

Corporate Social Advocacy: A Study Of Brand And Consumer Activism In The Era Of Social Media, Christa L. Taylor

Student Theses and Dissertations

As corporations recognize the importance of balancing profitability with social responsibility, the adoption of corporate social advocacy has become a critical approach for addressing pressing social issues, fostering trust, and enhancing brand reputation. Growing public pressure has forced corporations to take a more vocal stance on social and political issues. Considering that corporate social advocacy is an emerging trend and is viewed as a practice outside of a corporation’s standard business practices, organizations have been presented with a new challenge of achieving legitimacy in their advocacy and taking on an expanded role as corporate citizens. This study explores the ways …

Central Tracking And Billing System For Insurance Bills, Kehinde Alabi

Harrisburg University Dissertations and Theses

In this article, we introduce a new centralized billing platform designed for insurance bills including auto insurance, health insurance, home insurance, life insurance, etc. This system consolidates all bills for individual users eliminating the need for them to manage and pay bills separately. Users stand to benefit from significant time and effort savings each month, reducing the likelihood of missed payments and associated late fees. Insurance billing organizations and banks can also capitalize on timely payments and reduced physical mailings, leading to cost savings and environmental benefits. The proposed system offers users the ability to track and review their historical …

Adapting Agile Principles For Digital Media Startups, Chukwudi Ukonne

Harrisburg University Dissertations and Theses

This paper explores the adaptation of Agile Project Management principles to address the unique challenges faced by media startups and digital news ventures. Operating in fast-paced and dynamic environments, these entities require flexible project management approaches to respond to evolving landscapes and rapidly changing audience demands. Drawing on existing literature and empirical studies, the paper critically analyzes the application of Agile methodologies in media contexts, examining factors influencing successful Agile transformation and the implications for project outcomes. Additionally, the paper provides a review of theories such as Agile Manifesto and Scrum, providing insights into their origins, main arguments, and applications …

Importance Of Mentoring Programs For Successful Remote Work Project Completion, Karlo Lozic

Harrisburg University Dissertations and Theses

Covid-19 has upended the work environment tremendously. Around 50% of employees now work remotely at least some days of the week. And while researchers have studied extensively the impact of remote work on productivity and project performance, the importance of mentoring programs for successful remote work project execution has been neglected. One of the main bottlenecks remote projects face is the need for knowledge sharing which would otherwise occur naturally in the office. A potential solution to solve the bottleneck and encourage the process of knowledge sharing is by establishing formal mentoring programs which can guide remote workers and not …

Sustainability In Project Management, Beatriz Bertoni

Harrisburg University Dissertations and Theses

Sustainability is becoming an essential part of project management, integrating considerations for the economy, environment and society into how projects are planned and executed. This thesis explores the role of sustainability in project management, looking at why it matters, the challenges involved and how it can be effectively included in project practices. The study highlights the need to move beyond traditional project management, which focuses mainly on time, scope and cost, often neglecting long-term impacts. The main research question investigates how sustainability can be integrated into project management to balance these important aspects.

Chapter 1 introduces the concept of sustainability …

Best Practices In Traditional Project Management For Innovation And Cost Control Activities In The Biopharma Industry, Swarali Lele

Harrisburg University Dissertations and Theses

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of accelerated drug development and approval has been well-resonated throughout the world. However, the drug development process is tedious, takes enormous time and resources, and requires regulatory approval. Innovation and financial efficacy are crucial to speeding up the process as industries strive to balance these two parameters. Through qualitative methodology, this research provides project management-related measures to improve innovation and cost control activities in the biopharma industry. It discusses the factors impacting innovation and sustainability and action items for the organization to improve its quality.