Business Commons^™

The Relationships Among External Environments, Organizational Structures, And Performance In Pursuit Of The Clinical And Academic Missions At Academic Health Centers, Eric J. Strucko

Theses and Dissertations

Clinical and academic missions place Academic Health Centers (AHCs) at the center of the American health care system, and the future viability of these institutions requires successful performance in competitive environments. AHCs are organizations involving hospitals, physician group practices, and medical schools, and treat patients with complex conditions, conduct bio-medical and health science research, and educate future physicians and health professionals. AHCs account for 20% or $540 billion of national health care expenditures, conduct over 80% of all heart, liver, and lung transplants, utilize over $27 billion in annual sponsored research funding, and graduate approximately 17,300 medical doctors annually. Financial …

Why We Use A New Currency: The Role Of Trust And Control In Explaining The Perception And Usage Of Bitcoin, Joseph B. Walton

Theses and Dissertations

Social media, e-commerce, global peer-to-peer technologies, and the near ubiquity of computers and smartphones allow people to interact, trust, and exchange value across traditional socio-economic control boundaries and over significant distances. Since the creation in 2008 of a new cryptographic currency system called Bitcoin, a financial technology market sector of about 250 billion USD has rapidly emerged, raising questions about the nature of currency in society and whether new types of non-national money are warranted and viable. This debate has pitted heterodox economic interests against orthodox economic interests while it has rekindled interest in theories that view money as a …

Knowledge And Skill Predictors Of Voice Behavior: Voice As An Upward Influence, Zitong Sheng

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing body of research focused on improving our understanding of employee voice behavior. Yet this literature focuses mainly on factors that influence employees’ decisions regarding whether to speak up (i.e., quantity of voice behavior), rather than factors that influence whether voice behavior turns out to be effective. As a result, job attitudes and personality characteristics have been identified as the major personal factors predicting voice behavior. The current study contributes to the voice literature by viewing voice from an upward influence angle, examining the influences of the quality of content and …

Information Technology Strategies Automotive Retailers Use To Improve Customer Retention, Alexious Mulemba

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Business managers in the automotive retail industry face challenges in retaining customers in sales operations. Automotive business managers' failure to retain customers negatively affects sales, revenue, and sustainable business performance. Grounded in expectation-confirmation theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the IT strategies some business managers use in the automotive retail industry to retain customers. The participants comprised 4 business managers from 2 automotive retail dealerships in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia, who used IT strategies to retain customers. Data were collected from semistructured interviews, interview notes, and company documents. Four themes emerged: customer …

Managing Brand Value For Increased Patronage, Victor Tiwalola Olufemi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Information technology service providers (ITSPs) with low customer patronage may not remain competitive and could fail. Business leaders of ITSPs need to implement successful brand marketing strategies to gain consumers' confidence and increase patronage for their organizations' long-term sustainability. Grounded in the brand equity model, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore brand marketing strategies ITSPs implement to increase patronage. The participants included nine business leaders from three ITSPs in Lagos, Nigeria, who successfully implemented brand marketing strategies to increase patronage. Data were collected from semistructured interviews, reflective notes, and review of public documents obtained from …

Overcoming Barriers To Sustainability Of Female Entrepreneurship In Nigeria, Ndudi Bowei

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractAfrica has the highest rate of women entrepreneurs worldwide, and women in Nigeria outnumber men in entrepreneurial endeavors and make contributions to economic growth. Yet, women entrepreneurs in Africa and Nigeria face barriers that restrict business growth and hinder opportunities for sustaining profitable businesses. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the strategies female entrepreneurs in Nigeria use to overcome barriers to sustaining profitable entrepreneurial business ventures. The conceptual framework for the study was based on integration of the 5M gender-aware entrepreneurship theory–market, money, management, motherhood, meso, and macro environment–and women empowerment framework. Data was collected by …

Expatriate-Teacher Turnover In The International School Industry Of China, Richard Ik Ihejieto

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Expatriate-teacher turnover disrupts the social and academic lives of students in the international school industry of China. The human resource budgets of these schools are unsustainable and expatriate-teacher turnover significantly affects globalization and international businesses. The rate of expatriate-teacher turnover in the international school industry of China, which results in financial losses and creates anxiety for the students, necessitated an examination of expatriate-teacher turnover in the international school industry of China. This qualitative descriptive phenomenological study of expatriate-teacher turnover in the international school industry of China, was framed by the concepts of the internationalized schools in China and teacher turnover …

Managing Paradoxes Of Ambidexterity: The Impact Of Exploration And Exploitation On Firm Performance, Lixun Su

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation examines the impacts of exploration, exploitation, and ambidexterity on firm performance in three essays. Since exploration and exploitation have their own advantages and disadvantages, there are many debates over their impacts on firm performance. To synthesize the conflicting empirical results, the first essay conducted a meta-analytic study and demonstrates that ambidexterity in the product domain increases firm performance while ambidexterity in the market domain does not significantly influence firm performance. In addition, the results show that it is not necessary for all firms (e.g., resource-constrained firms) to pursue ambidexterity. Thus, the second and third essays examine how to …

Collaborative Entrepreneurship And Building Small Business Communities In The Nigerian Fashion Design Industry, Damilola T. Fasinu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A critical part of being an entrepreneur is the ability to work with others. Researchers who explore entrepreneurship acknowledge collaboration and information sharing as key as more obvious skills such as opportunity recognition and determination. Collaboration allows a firm to be entrepreneurial and constantly innovative by exploring new markets. Continuous innovation and market exploration are the foundation of collaboration. Entrepreneurship is a critical factor in the growth of developing countries, as it enables a country to grow economically and encourages sustainable business activity. Therefore, this study explores the collaborative entrepreneurship of communities of some small businesses in Nigeria for their …

Three Essays On Health Economics And Policy Evaluation, Shishir Shakya

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation consists of three essays on the U.S. Health care policy. Each paragraph below refers to the three abstracts for the three chapters in this dissertation, respectively. I provide quantitative evidence on how much Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) affects the retail opioid prescribing behaviors. Using the American Community Survey (ACS), I retrieve county-level high dimensional panel data set from 2010 to 2017. I employ three separate identification strategies: difference-in-difference, double selection post-LASSO, and spatial difference-in-difference. I compare how the retail opioid prescribing behaviors of counties, that are mandatory for prescribers to check the PDMP before prescribing controlled substances …

The Shifting Scheme Of Athletic Fundraising: Investigating Private Giving Under The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act, Kirsten Nicole Brown

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

With a consistent decline in state funding to public higher education, institutions have become more reliant on private funding to institutional support. The shift in government policy through the introduction of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) (2017) created financial uncertainty within athletic departments and university foundations. The TCJA eliminated the 80 percent tax deduction on season ticket donations and increased the standard deduction. With these policy changes, athletic development officers speculated a decline in donations in 2018 and beyond. Using quantitative methodology and a longitudinal approach, this study examined athletic donations from January 1, 2013 to July 31, …

Three Essays On The Effect Of Pain-Of-Payment On Consumers' Financial Decisions, Farnoush Reshadi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In the past few years, we have witnessed a growing level of consumer debt. Although being in debt increases consumers’ stress and reduces their financial well-being, many consumers still take on high levels of debt and hold on to it even when they have financial resources to pay off the debt. Thus, it is of utmost importance to study factors that may influence consumers’ debt repayment. In this dissertation, I study consumers’ debt repayment behavior through the lens of the double-entry mental accounting theory (Prelec and Loewenstein 1998). This theory argues that consumers’ debt repayment behaviors are driven by pain-of-payment--negative …

Three Essays On Energy Markets, Sultan Alturki

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation includes three essays investigating topics relevant to the energy markets. The first essay employs a new dataset to measure the impact of investor sentiment regarding oil prices on the U.S. inflation premium. The empirical analysis relies on Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) and out-of-sample forecasts. The results indicate that a one standard deviation positive shock to overall investor sentiment regarding oil prices results in a significant increase in the U.S. inflation premium by approximately 1.2% over the subsequent 10 weeks. Compared to individual investor sentiment, institutional investor sentiment regarding oil prices has a larger impact on the U.S. inflation …

Assessing Public Health Workforce Informatics Competencies: A Study Of Three Health Departments In Metro Atlanta, Olatanwa Adewale

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Background: There is a need for the public health workforce to be current and versatile in technology usage. Public health leveraging technology usage in service delivery has the potential to improve efficiency and bring it to the forefront in the provision of healthcare services. The purpose of this study was to assess public health workforce informatics competencies in select Atlanta health districts and determine the correlates of public health informatics proficiency.

Methods: A 10-item instrument adapted from the recommendations of a Working Group document by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the 2015 Informatics Capacity and …

Financial Development And Unemployment In Malaysia, Puong Hung Hii

Student Works (2020-2029)

In the past decades, the topic financial development and economic growth has been popularly discussed by scholars. From the past literature, financial development is an important component in promoting economic growth. However, there has been less study about the relationship of financial development and unemployment rate. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relationship between the financial development and unemployment rate in the case of Malaysia from year 1981 until 2018. This study analyses the relationship by using two model equations to test separately the effect of each financial development indicators (Domestic Credit to Private Sector and Stock Market Capitalization) …

Determinants Of Defense Expenditure In South Korea, So Yeon Lee

Student Works (2020-2029)

This research pointed out the importance of defense spending as an „economic means‟ for national security in South Korea while due to the aftermath of US-China trade war, the threats and tension between North Korea and other neighboring countries such as China have become much more severe. In this context, an empirical study was conducted to investigate the factors determining national defense expenditure with secondary data from 1960 to 2018. The domestic factors namely economic growth, arms trade, the threat of North Korea and the Republic of Korea (ROK)-United States (US) defense alliance were established as those explanatory variables. The …

Government Debt And Economic Growth, Cai Xin Ng

Student Works (2020-2029)

The level of Malaysia government debt have been hiking in recent years which leads to controversies regarding the sustainability of the debt level. The question that borrowings will stimulate or inhibit the economy remains as an important issue to be addressed. This paper examines the impact of government debt on economic growth in Malaysia. Utilizing the macroeconomic data between 1970 and 2018, we first apply an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework to examine the relationship between government debt and economic growth. The short term and long term relationship as well as cointegrating relationship between government debt and economic growth were …

Female Labour Force Participation In Malaysia, Li Huan Lim

Student Works (2020-2029)

The main objective of this study is to analyse the participation rate of the female labour force in Malaysia in 2015. The female labour force participation rate is the per cent of the female population ages 15 and above are economically active, either by working or by looking for work. Since the independence of Malaysia, the participation of women tends to be lower than men labour force in the labour market. However, these gender differences in labour participation rate have been narrowing substantially in recent decades. The increase in the female labour force may due to education opportunities lead to …

Initial Public Offerings And Pricing Anomalies, Hon Wei Leow

Student Works (2020-2029)

Initial Public Offering (IPO) is a form of fundraising through the stock market of which has evolved as an essential platform to study the performance of newly issued shares. In the case of an emerging market like Malaysia, the pricing anomalies that measure the performance of initial return and flipping activity of IPO remain an interesting subject. During the period of Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008-09, it is believed that the market sentiment will affect the initial return of new IPO and oversubscription will be negative, and hence firms will be unwilling to do the new listing on the …

Essays On Risk Management Of Insurance Companies, Olga Kanj

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation examines the risk management of insurance companies. It consists of three essays, which study the risk management of property and casualty (P/C) insurance companies. The first essay examines the impact of board diversity on firms’ risk-taking strategies using Canadian P/C insurance companies. The findings show that board ethnic diversity significantly decreases company risk as measured by reinsurance, asset risk, and leverage risk. Ethnic background values of the board members could be the reason behind this effect, board members with ethnic backgrounds from countries with high (low) Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) decrease (increase) the risk. Results also show that …

Environmental Communication Dominated By Corporate Giants, Molly Powers

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

There are grave disparities between the environmental communication put forth by agribusiness corporations, and the extensive malpractice and abuse that actually occurs. Through their monopolizing power and wealth, corporate giants are able to continue to maximize their profits at the expense of animal, environment, and public well-being. Following a major shift from personalized farming to industrialized food production in the early 20th century, we have become increasingly dependent on what we see and hear in the news media discourse, largely controlled by these dominating corporations, to stay informed on industrialized agricultural practices. This creates an environment in which the connection …

Environmental Goal Misalignment Between Logistics Service Providers And Shippers, S.M. Mehdi Jourabchi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The ongoing debate about who, ultimately, should pay for greening the transportation industry has exposed a gap (i.e. misalignment) between logistics companies and their clients (shippers). This thesis examines this gap in detail.

Study 1 utilizes conceptual theory building to discuss the conditions under which closer environmental collaboration between logistics service provider (LSP) and shipper can be realized within the supply chain. Our theoretical framework discusses the misalignment of LSPs’ and shippers’ incentives regarding green initiatives. Our conceptual framework aims to address the general dependency of LSPs on shippers and to assess whether and when it can be converted …

Enabling Flexibility Through Strategic Management Of Complex Engineering Systems, Walter Louis Barnes Ii

Doctoral Dissertations

”Flexibility is a highly desired attribute of many systems operating in changing or uncertain conditions. It is a common theme in complex systems to identify where flexibility is generated within a system and how to model the processes needed to maintain and sustain flexibility. The key research question that is addressed is: how do we create a new definition of workforce flexibility within a human-technology-artificial intelligence environment?

Workforce flexibility is the management of organizational labor capacities and capabilities in operational environments using a broad and diffuse set of tools and approaches to mitigate system imbalances caused by uncertainties or changes. …

Career Funneling, Perceptions Of Success, And Their Impact On College Students At Scripps, Pitzer, And Claremont Mckenna Colleges, Carina A. Schick

Scripps Senior Theses

The U.S. News top college ranking lists have created a narrowing definition of collegiate and career success. Students are told an elite education is the ticket to a successful life, one filled with a high achieving career, meaning, and happiness. Through peer, familial, and media interfaces students are inundated with societal definitions of success such as fame, wealth, and status. Socialization primes adolescents to work towards these goals. This idealized type of success is only accessible to a select few, leading to dissatisfaction and creating pressures on students to work towards their college admission at early ages. This thesis examines …

The Impact Of California Senate Bill 826 On Employee Perspectives And Stock Performance On California Tech Firms, Kimberly M. Kaneshina

Scripps Senior Theses

On September 30, 2018, California Senate Bill 826 (CA SB 826) was passed. This Bill requires a quota for women to serve on California headquartered and public corporate boards. This study focuses on California tech firms, which I define as firms that are reliant on technology to create their main product or platform; but, are not aerospace or telecommunication firms. My thesis is a two-part analysis: exploring employees’, who worked at companies that were impacted by this Bill, perspectives, as well as, discovering if there is a relationship between percentage of female directors and stock price performance. Most employees were …

English Proficiency Of Vietnamese Business Graduates: Requirements Of Government, Private Universities, And Foreign Employers, Tien Tung Le

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

English is the global language of business, trade, tourism, technology, science and politics. It is also the official language in many foreign companies (Kam, 2002) and proficiency in English is therefore an advantage for acquiring employment in foreign companies where the working environment is multilingual, professional and highly competitive.

As a dynamic developing country in Southeast Asia, Vietnam has attracted substantial foreign investment since the introduction of Doi Moi or the Renovation policy in 1986. Over the last three decades, a number of foreign companies have established themselves in the country, creating numerous employment opportunities for young Vietnamese people, especially …

Modelling Cross-Market Linkages Between Global Markets And China’S A-, B- And H-Shares, Thi Tuan Anh Do

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

One of the biggest challenges in quantifying joint risk and forming effective policies in financial management and investment strategies is to fully understand the characteristics of market associations in low and high volatility periods. Market interdependence, therefore, is a hot topic that has received interest from academics and industry experts, especially since the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. China, being the world’s second-largest economy, has been the centre of many studies investigating stock market dependencies. While China has three major share types, namely A-, B- and H-shares, with different market players, market characteristics and operating efficiency, the number of studies …

Understanding Pro-Environmental Binning Behaviour Of National Park Visitors: A Cross-Cultural Study, Kourosh Esfandiar

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The growing importance of people’s pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs) in relation to reducing their negative impacts and/or increasing their positive impacts in natural areas has attracted considerable research interest. Visitor engagement in pro-environmental activities is one of the key elements in maintaining and improving a national park’s ecological and biological resources. These resources are often the main components of tourism products developed in nature-based destinations.

A specific concern for many national park managers is the generation of litter by visitors. A PEB to solve the problem of litter management in national parks is binning i.e. putting litter in a bin. As …

Injury Surveillance In Community Cricket And The Exploration Of Insurance Claims Systems, Geordie Mcleod

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The aims of this industry funded PhD thesis were 1) To understand the injury causes, trends and burden in community cricket and 2) To examine the Cricket Australia National Club Risk Protection Program (NCRPP) insurance scheme for suitability as an injury surveillance tool for community cricket.

This thesis sought to identify and understand the injury profile of community cricketers through existing literature and injury datasets, being, Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit (VISU) hospital data, Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and NCRPP insurance claims data. This thesis also undertook a novel assessment of data validity and completeness from various sources, against industry standards …

How Quality Management Has Been Impacted In The Face Of Covid-19, Eldina Siljkovic

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The Coronavirus pandemic has impacted many facets of the United States. This study focuses on its magnitude in comparison to prior pandemics such as Anthrax, SARS, and Ebola. In addition to this comparison its impact on Quality Management within the agricultural sector and food supply chain was also assessed. The results of these studies showcase that COVID-19 has grown exponentially in comparison to prior pandemics and will continue to do so as we enter the winter season. Agricultural equipment manufacturing companies saw a drastic decline in quarterly revenues within 2020 in comparison to 2019. Millions in net sales were lost …