Business Commons^™

The Impact Of Using A Financial Advisor On Financial Success, William Lance Hocutt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Planning for retirement is a practical approach to preparing for an excellent financial quality of life post career. However, individuals do not have the human capital to make optimal financial decisions or know whom to turn to for financial advice when they obtain human capital. This quantitative, correlational study examined the relationship between having a financial advisor, income, education, age, gender, marital status, racial status, employment status, the number of children under 19 years old in the household, and perceived financial success. The chosen theoretical foundation for this study was human capital theory. They used 944 data sets from the …

Professional Staffing Small Business Strategies For Reducing Voluntary Employee, Gwendolyn L. Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some small business owners need help reducing voluntary employee turnover, often putting the business at risk for performance failure. Grounded in Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies professional staffing small business owners used to decrease voluntary employee turnover. The participants were five professional staffing small business leaders in the Washington, D.C., area with successful strategies to retain talented employees. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed using Yin’s five-step process. Three themes emerged: (a) employee recognition, (b) communication, and (c) advancement and training. A key recommendation for small business owners …

Recruitment And Retention Of Health Care Workers In Rural Areas, Robbie Marie Julian

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Health care worker shortage is a global problem and is challenging for human resources managers. Human resource managers need more strategies to recruit and retain healthcare workers in rural areas to decrease healthcare worker shortages, unemployment rates, patient morbidity, and mortality rates. Grounded by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies human resource managers use to recruit and retain healthcare workers in rural areas. The participants were three managers from Southern Louisiana rural area medical facilities with at least 5 years of experience developing and implementing successful recruitment and retention …

Effective Strategies For Using Telecommuting By Owners Of Small Businesses, Thomas Law

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners who lack effective strategies to incorporate telecommuting may be unable to retain teleworking employees, create a flexible working environment, or improve workforce morale, negatively impacting company productivity and profitability. Grounded in transformational leadership theory and sociotechnical systems theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies small business owners use to incorporate telecommuting to retain teleworking employees. Data were collected from five small business owners in Texas with at least 1 year of management experience and created and maintained remote working strategies. Data collection included semistructured interviews and company documents. Three themes emerged …

Strategies For Improving Supply Chain Management In United Nations Peacekeeping Missions, Mirjana Mazar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Managers of the United Nation’s humanitarian operations are under rigid pressure to deliver their programs efficiently due to 75% of supply chains experiencing disruptions, accounting for 60 to 80% of the expenses due to limited funding and increasing scrutiny by member states. Humanitarian operations are inextricably linked to the performance of a supply chain. Therefore, if the supply chain managers in the United Nations (UN) fail to understand and adopt dynamic capabilities, they can experience operational underperformance, affecting trust from financial supporters. Grounded on dynamic capability theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore strategies that executive …

Relationship Between Strategic Dexterity, Absorptive Capacity, And Competitive Advantage, Ifechide Monyei

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) manufacturing executives and managers are concerned with the rapid technological changes involving artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and big data. To compete in the global landscape, effectively managing digital and artificial intelligence changes among SME manufacturing executives and managers is critical for leaders to compete in 2023 and beyond. Grounded in the dynamic capabilities view theory, the purpose of this quantitative correlation study was to examine the relationship between strategic dexterity, absorptive capacity, and competitive advantage. The participants were 66 executives and managers of SME manufacturing organizations who use big data and analytics daily and …

Postsecondary Education, Self-Efficacy, And Organizational Commitment Impact On Previously Incarcerated Employee Job Satisfaction, Elizabeth Sadler Roney

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A study was conducted to determine if previously incarcerated employee age, postsecondary education (PSE) attainment, prior incarceration status, and assessed self-efficacy predict job satisfaction. It also considered if organizational commitment had a moderating effect on the predictors ability to forecast the criterion. Two underlying theories considered in this study are Bandura’s social learning theory and Vroom’s expectancy theory. The obtained sample of 22 participants included seven previously incarcerated individuals. Demographic data used as predictors were employee age, PSE attainment, and prior incarceration status. Three instruments used included the New General Self-Efficacy Survey to assess self-efficacy as a predictor, the Job …

Employee Development And Workforce Engagement In A Behavioral Health Organization, Lakisha R, Brimage

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ongoing training at the targeted behavioral health organization is necessary to improve employee knowledge, skills, and abilities to drive engagement and overall organizational performance. The purpose of this case study was to determine what leadership practices and strategies are currently in place and what training modules improve employee development for the purpose of improving workforce engagement. The Baldrige Excellence Framework was used to guide the qualitative case study of the nonprofit organization, which provides social services to low-income families in the United States. Data sources included semistructured interviews with two behavioral health leaders at the organization and reviews of organizational …

Relationship Between An Entrepreneur’S Self-Efficacy, Self-Leadership, And Startup Sustainability In Nigeria, Juliet Ehimuan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Self-efficacy and self-leadership have been identified as important indicators of business sustainability. Business owners and investors are concerned about sustainability because most businesses fail within the first five years. Grounded in self-efficacy and self-leadership theories, the purpose of this quantitative correlation study was to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy, self-leadership and startup sustainability. The participants were 156 entrepreneurs who completed the entrepreneurial self-efficacy scale and the abbreviated self-leadership questionnaire delivered via email. The multiple linear regression analysis results indicated the model was able to significantly predict startup sustainability, F(2, 129) = 432.47, p < .001, R2 = .87. Self-efficacy provided a significant contribution to the model (t = 8.424, p = < .001, β = .914). In contrast, the contribution of self-leadership was not significant (t = 0.185, p = .853, β = .20). A key recommendation is the utilization of mentoring programs and structured leadership internships that enhance self-efficacy by providing startup leaders with exposure to more seasoned corporate leaders, and successful peers who have had similar experiences to theirs. The implications for positive social change include the potential development of training and capacity-building programs that can be provided to entrepreneurs and other startup leaders to enhance their ability to sustain their startups, leading to more successful businesses, job creation, and economic growth.

The Examination Of Servant Leadership Style On Employee Empowerment And Employee Resistance, Michael J. Ojeda

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is little known about the impact of servant leadership style on organizations and limited research examining social exchange theory related to employees’ perceptions. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational research study was to examine social exchange theory related to employees’ perceptions of servant leadership style, employee empowerment, and employee resistance within small businesses. The general management problem is employees' perceptions of servant leadership style, employee empowerment, and employee resistance that these perceptions could decrease employee engagement in small businesses. Because influencing employees’ perceptions could lead to positive work outcomes and attitudes, this study addressed the relationship between employees’ perceptions …

Strategies To Improve Employee Motivation In Addiction Treatment, Dawn Marie Belamarich

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Addiction treatment leaders are experiencing challenges in motivating qualified and committed professionals within their businesses. Without strategies to motivate and retain employees, addiction treatment businesses will fail, and patient outcomes can suffer. Grounded in Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation, the purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore strategies addiction treatment leaders used to improve employee motivation. The participants were 10 addiction treatment leaders with demonstrated experience in utilizing leadership strategies to improve employee motivation. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, a review of the literature on employee motivation in addiction treatment organizations, and a review of organizational archival …

Generational Shifts In The Perception Of Workforce Commitment, Christopher Donald Raiford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Costs of staffing, training, and retention have always been significant expenses for U.S. corporations. The most recent addition to the workforce, the millennial generation cohort, presents a new set of challenges to leadership. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences related to the perception of commitment of millennial generation participants employed in the U.S. community banking sector. The conceptual framework included generational theory and organizational theory. Data were collected from 11 participants via semi-structed Zoom interviews. Data were analyzed for codes, categories, and themes. Results indicated that (a) millennials value leadership that invests in …

Strategies To Improve Hospital Patient Satisfaction To Increase Performance-Based Reimbursements, Celso G. Silla Iii

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) created the hospital valued-based purchasing (VBP) program focused on controlling cost, inefficiencies, and quality-of-care. Hospital leaders are incentivized or penalized based on meeting quality outcomes and risk millions of dollars in reimbursement if they do not meet the quality-of-care standards specified in the CMS hospital VBP program. Grounded in the transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies hospital leaders used to improve patient satisfaction to increase VBP performance-based reimbursements. Participants included eight hospital leaders from seven hospitals in California who successfully implemented …

Strategies To Increase Emergency Department Patient Flow, Judith Faith Jones

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractOvercrowding in emergency departments (EDs) is a systemic issue, resulting in inefficiencies affecting patient care quality. Hospital leaders struggle with reducing bottlenecks in EDs and providing a better patient care experience. Grounded in the general systems theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies used to reduce inefficiencies in EDs. The participants included five directors, administrators, and clinical managers from a hospital ED in Idaho Falls, Idaho, who successfully used strategies to reduce inefficiencies in EDs. Data were analyzed from semistructured interviews and a review of organization documents and artifacts following Yin’s five-step data analysis …

Human Resource Managers’ Strategies To Reduce Coercive Management Practices, Lakerria Shantel Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Coercive management is a detrimental phenomenon in the health care industry that negatively impacts the organization and employees. Human resource managers in the health care industry who fail to identify and implement strategies to reduce coercive management practices experience poor employee engagement, increased voluntary turnover, and counterproductive work behavior by employees. Grounded in the leader-member exchange theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies human resource managers in the health care industry use to reduce coercive management practices. The participants were four human resource managers from the health care industry in Georgia who successfully developed …

Developing A Governance Framework For A Commercially Successful, Inclusive, And Safe Metaverse, Hamady Dia

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study aimed to fill a significant gap in the literature on empirical research on the governance structure of the Metaverse. The purpose of this study was to describe Metaverse strategy and innovation management experts’ views on how business leaders and policymakers may collaborate on shaping a governance structure for the Metaverse. This study used a multiple case study design to collect data from a purposeful sample of eight Metaverse experts using a semistructured interview format. This study was framed by three key concepts: Rogers’s concept of diffusion of innovations, Ball’s concept of the Metaverse, and Fernandez and Hiu’s concept …

Nonprofit Administrator Strategies To Procure And Retain Long-Term Donors, Dr. Maxine Rolle

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract Nonprofit sector administrators inability to procure and retain long-term donors can result in reduced revenue and possible organization failure. Nonprofit administrators who lack strategies to procure and retain long-term donors can negatively impact organizational performance and success. Grounded in network theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore strategies nonprofit administrators use to procure and retain long-term committed donors to remain operable. The participants comprised four administrators of four separate nonprofit organizations in Fort Lauderdale, Florida who procured and retained long-term committed donors to remain operable for at least 5 years. Data were collected through semistructured …

Strategies For Revitalized Immigrant-Owned Small Businesses To Sustain Growth Following Emergencies, Goi Jooyul Yol

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic revealed obstacles for immigrant small business owners (ISBOs) to sustain growth. ISBOs need strategies for growth sustainability following emergencies because United States immigrant-owned small businesses accounting for 28% of the main street businesses, declined by 36% in revenues between January to April 2020 due to the pandemic. Grounded in the entrepreneurial ecosystem framework and business continuity management model, the purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore strategies four South Dakota ISBOs used to revitalize their businesses to ensure sustainable growth after the COVID-19 emergency. Data were collected by conducting semistructured interviews and reviews of organization …

Learning From The Lived Experiences Of African American Senior Executives In Fortune 500 Organizations: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study Of Black Corporate Trailblazers, Otis G. Jarvis

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

African American Senior Executives (AASE) exist as a group of American citizens who hold senior management roles in Fortune 500 organizations. AASE members are responsible for decision-making in a diverse number of industries but represent a small group of leaders in Fortune 500 organizations. The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of AASE in a Fortune 500 organization in the United States. The qualitative study examined through semi-structured interviews the experiences of eleven senior executives in Fortune 500 organizations in the United States. This phenomenological study examined how the lived experience of each …

Medical Imaging Professionals Experiencing Workplace Interprofessional Conflict: A Phenomenological Study, Robert Carroll Moody

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Workplace interprofessional conflict in hospitals presented serious concerns regardingpatient care delivery and hospital efficiency at the systemic level. Literature evaluating conflict in hospitals inconsistently defined interprofessional conflict and oversampled nurses and physicians in research studies. An unknown systemic factor was likely influencing interprofessional conflict between healthcare professionals. Complex systems theory, the theory of professions, and social conflict theories were utilized to organize the literature review and guide research design targeting allied health professionals and their lived experiences with interprofessional conflict. Medical imaging professionals were selected as a purposeful sample within the larger population of allied health. Interpretive phenomenology was used …

When Speaking Up Fails: Experiences Of Unsubstantiated Equal Employment Opportunity Allegations On The Workforce, Scottie Visser

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Many organizations have long encouraged employees to speak up about wrongdoing, promoting cultures of open communication to ensure just environments; however, each year a significant proportion of workplace allegations are deemed unsubstantiated as a result of various factors, such as lack of evidence, subjectivity, false claims, and investigative limitations. Because researchers have focused on substantiated claims and reasons for reporting, they have discovered little about either the experiences of employees who speak up and have their claims deemed unsubstantiated or the potential impacts of such outcomes. This interpretative phenomenological study involved exploration of the lived experiences of 10 employees who …

Auto-Exploited: Narrative Explorations Of The Commodification Of Time, Grace C. Willis Ms.

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of the phenomenon of the auto-exploitation of the modern individual through and in conjunction with the commodification of time. It explores the eruption of gig-work in recent decades in the United States, and the ways in which the modern individual is both consumer and product, buying and selling her own constructions of identity in order to gain time, fiscal currency and a sense of socioeconomic worth from herself and others. Using theoretical frameworks of Karl Marx, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Catherine Rottenberg and Byung-Chul Han, I explore the ways in which the modern individual is …

Disparities In Mental Health Technology Among African Americans: Breaking Cultural Inclusion Barriers, Nyoki Cosey-Brown

DSW Capstone Projects

Mental health technology is a healthcare delivery model of the future. The engagement in virtual healthcare was intensified when traditional healthcare methods were inaccessible during the federal restrictions implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing digital apparatuses for healthcare improved the convenience, efficiency, and accessibility of various mental health services that were inoperable in past healthcare models. However, the historical constructs of stigma, discrimination, inequity, exclusion, and structural racism in mental healthcare were prevalent problems that remained present in virtual mental health platforms concerning the experiences of African-American patients and professionals who utilized the spaces.

This research explored mental health …

Technology As A Change Agent For Social Work Supervision, Hermaya Onunwor

DSW Capstone Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a critical impact on the social work profession, with social workers relying heavily on technology to deliver services. There have been concerns about the effectiveness of these evolved practices, and practitioners are questioning whether they are acceptable as emergency orders caused by the pandemic begin to lapse. To address these concerns, a systematic literature review was conducted to synthesize scholarly literature on the effectiveness of telesupervision in social work practice. This capstone project aims to provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of telesupervision in social work practice

When evaluating the training and development of social …

Adaptation To Sport Retirement In Division I Student-Athletes, Andrea Cota Powell

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation utilizes a mixed-methods design to explore adaptation to sport retirement among Division I student-athletes. Sport retirement is a major life transition that can elicit changes in support systems, identity crises, and feelings of loss, failure, and grief. Transitioning out of sport is a phenomenon that over 90% of collegiate student-athletes experience when their four years of NCAA eligibility expires. It is a phenomenon that all athletes experience at some point in their lives. To transition out of sports, one must adapt to post-sport life. Study one of this dissertation explored the phenomenon of occupational retirement through concept analysis …

Soft System Methodology Applied To Stakeholder Engagement In Social Services Nonprofit Organizations, Robyn Chin

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explored the challenges of a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), a non-profit social service organization, and the value of employing a systems thinking approach to problem formulation and problem-solving to address its challenges. Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), a systems-informed framework, encourages collective learning and fosters an appreciation for differing perspectives about problem formulation amongst stakeholders instead of rushing to solve predefined issues. One common challenge from current research is that due to reliance on sparse profits and grants earmarked for programmatic endeavors, there is insufficient funding for organizational development. The literature also identified a deficit in stakeholder engagement …

The New Jersey Fee-For-Service Model: Evidence Of Social Entrepreneurship In A New Public/ Private Business Relationship, Christine Wiltsee

Full-Text Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on a shift in the case management function in New Jersey’s Division of Developmental Disabilities. The shift, predicated on the state operating within the Medicaid Home and Community Based Model, resulted in a restructuring from exclusively state operated services to a new public/private relationship. The focus of this study was the unique market opportunity that resulted and the engagement of social entrepreneurs. Using the framework developed by Dees (1998), the characteristics of a social entrepreneur were explored. Through semi-structured interviews with individuals who initiated new for-profit businesses in social services, data were collected that evaluated and compared …

Essays On The Effect Of Corporate Social Responsibility (Csr) On Financial Decisions, Min-Jeong Kwon

Wayne State University Dissertations

Stock repurchases are controversial. Researchers often view the positive association between free cash flow and the volume of the stock repurchases to be in the shareholders’ interest and the positive association between executive options and stock repurchases to be in the managers’ interest. Using firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings as a measure of ethical culture—one that increases the cost of self-serving behavior for managers— we examine whether a firm’s CSR rating is related to its stock repurchase decisions. Although the baseline regression shows a positive association between CSR and repurchases, we find that CSR amplifies the positive association between …

An Exploration Of Factors Contributing To Service Longevity At Asia-Pacific International University, Ritha Maidom

Dissertations

Problem

In educational institutions of higher learning, turnover is seen as a double-edged sword that brings both benefits and problems. While turnover allows the opportunity to bring in a new employee who may be able to benefit the institution more than the one being replaced, the process of finding a replacement tends to be costly in terms of time, energy, and financial resources. As a young institution, Asia-Pacific International University (AIU) found turnovers challenging in more than one way because of its lack of stability in areas such as finance and human power. It could benefit from a clearer understanding …

Operationalizing A Culture For Successful Lean Transformations: A Framework And Model-Based Tools, Amir Najarzadeh Dr.

Theses and Dissertations--Manufacturing Systems Engineering

Lean manufacturing has been embraced by many companies as a business model to promote operational excellence. However, a high percentage of lean implementation attempts have failed; many organizations have not been able to sustain continuous improvements to achieve lean transformations. This failure is often attributed to the sole focus on the hard-side (tools) of lean, at the expense of the soft side (culture). The majority of research exploring the cultural dimensions of lean either aims to increase awareness about culture or addresses it only in a cursory manner. To bridge this gap this study aims to identify and assess the …