Business Commons^™

The Consumer Choice Of E-Channels As A Purchasing Avenue: An Investigation Of The Communicative Aspects Of Information Qualtiy , Jaejoo Lim

All Dissertations

A conspicuous paradox is evident in the statistics concerning purchases over the internet. While a majority of the US population uses the internet to seek product information for purchasing decisions, less than two percent of actual retail sales occur on the Internet. To explain this small ratio of e-channel choice for purchase, a comprehensive model that extends DeLone and McLean's (2004) e-commerce success model was developed. The model centers on the importance of perceived information quality and its relationship to e-channel choice as a purchasing channel. Using the overarching theoretical frame of motivation, two questions were examined: (a) what influences …

Constructive Enabling: Applying A Wilderness Skills Intervention To Support The Therapeutic Change Process Of Adolescent Females In Residential Treatment, Brian K. Malcarne

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the potential benefits of a primitive wilderness skills intervention (POST) on the therapeutic change process of adolescent females enrolled in a residential treatment center. A qualitative data analysis approach was used. A convenience sample of eight female adolescents was selected by therapist referral. The data were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. Data analysis was used to assess participants' progress in the therapeutic change. Further analysis revealed a core theme connecting participants' POST experience with feelings of self-empowerment and reflective connections to their individual therapeutic change process. Constructive enabling was the …

Family Leisure Involvement And Family Functioning In Samoa, Irene Dora Annandale Fotu

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to (a) examine the relationship between family leisure involvement and aspects of family functioning (adaptability and cohesion) among Samoan families residing on American Samoa, and (b) to compare the Samoan data to a broad sample of American families to provide a cross-cultural comparison. The sample consisted of 340 adult participants. The Family Leisure Activity Profile (FLAP) was used to measure family leisure involvement. FACES II was used to measure family functioning. Regression analyses conducted on the 340 individuals indicated a positive relationship between core family leisure involvement and family cohesion, adaptability, and overall family …

Analysis Of Pricing And Reserving Risks With Applications In Risk-Based Capital Regulation For Property/Casualty Insurance Companies, Chayanin Kerdpholngarm

Risk Management and Insurance Dissertations

The subject of the study for this dissertation is the relationship between pricing and reserving risks for property-casualty insurance companies. Since the risk characteristics of insurers differ based on their structure, objectives and incentives, segmenting the insurers into subgroups would allow for a better understanding of group-specific risks. Based on this approach to analyzing insurer financial risks, we find that, in a given accident year, the pricing and reserving errors are positively correlated, especially in long-tailed lines of business. Large insurers, stock insurers, and multi-state insurers, in general, exhibit a strong correlation between accident-year price and reserve errors. However, only …

Improving Practices In A Small Software Firm: An Ambidextrous Perspective, Nannette Napier

Computer Information Systems Dissertations

Despite documented best practices and specialized tools, software organizations struggle to deliver quality software that is on time, within budget, and meets customer requirements. Managers seeking improved software project outcomes face two dominant software paradigms which differ in their emphasis on upfront planning, customer collaboration, and product documentation: plan-driven and agile. Rather than promoting one approach over the other, this research advocates improving software management practices by developing the organization’s ambidextrous capability. Ambidextrous organizations have the ability to simultaneously succeed at two seemingly contradictory capabilities (e.g. discipline and agility) which leads to enhanced organizational performance. Overall, this study asks the …

Bad News Reporting On Troubled It Projects: The Role Of Personal, Situational, And Organizational Factors, Chongwoo Park

Computer Information Systems Dissertations

An individual’s bad news reporting behavior has been studied from a number of perspectives and has resulted in a variety of research streams including the MUM effect (or reluctance to transmit bad news), whistle-blowing, and organizational silence. While many scholars in different areas have studied reporting behavior, it has not been widely discussed in the information systems literature. This dissertation research addresses an individual’s bad news reporting behavior (and its antecedents) in the troubled IT project context. Many social phenomena are multi-causal (Hollander 1971). The silence phenomenon involved in an individual’s bad news reporting behavior is multi-causal too. While prior …

Escalation Of Commitment In Information Technology Projects: A Goal Setting Theory Perspective, Vijay Kasi

Computer Information Systems Dissertations

ABSTRACT ESCALATION OF COMMITMENT IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS: A GOAL SETTING THEORY PERSPECTIVE BY VIJAY KASI Aug 30, 2007 Committee Chair: Dr. Mark Keil Major Academic Unit: Center for Process Innovation Information technology (IT) projects are prone to failure. One explanation for the high failure rate among IT projects is that managers overly commit to a failing course of action, a phenomenon referred as escalation of commitment. While the notion of goals and commitment are central to the phenomenon of escalation, very few prior studies have investigated their impact on escalation. In this study, a research model rooted in goal …

Work, Family, And Community In A Triciprocal Relationship: An Exploratory Study Of Enrichment, Cindy L. Crowder

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to expand the field of work-life literature through the introduction of triciprocal enrichment model that examines work-, family-, and community-related support antecedents and satisfaction variables. The main objectives were to incorporate the concept of enrichment and the domain of community into the work-life research providing a more accurate portrayal of the myriad of ways that all three domains interact and affect one another.

Data from 202 respondents were collected, including information on their level of community involvement, their level of enrichment within work, family, and community, their satisfaction on the job, with their family, …

The Generalized Dea Model Of Fundamental Analysis Of Public Firms, With Application To Portfolio Selection, Xin Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

Fundamental analysis is an approach for evaluating a public firm for its investmentworthiness by looking at its business at the basic or fundamental financial level. The focus of this thesis is on utilizing financial statement data and a new generalization of the Data Envelopment Analysis, termed the GDEA model, to determine a relative financial strength (RFS) indicator that represents the underlying business strength of a firm. This approach is based on maximizing a correlation metric between GDEA-based score of financial strength and stock price performance. The correlation maximization problem is a difficult binary nonlinear optimization that requires iterative re-configuration of …

The Waiting Game, Dennis Moore

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A study of wait times in the hospitality industry, and the guest satisfaction as related to those waits. When faced with waiting, what are the perceptions of the customer, and what can be done to help shorten the perception to help guest satisfaction. Finally, to look into the technology that is available today and in the near future, and what some industries have done to help alleviate the wait time to satisfy their customers’ needs.

An Analysis Of The Environmental Content Of Las Vegas Strip Hotels, Andrew M. Levey

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examines the environmental content of hotel properties websites. The central question of this study is whether Las Vegas Strip properties have gone green, or plan to go green. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the frequency of the environmental content of twenty-three Las Vegas Strip hotels’ websites as well as five upcoming hotel projects and one hotel expansion project on the Strip. The twenty-eight hotels are all located along Las Vegas Boulevard, also known as the Strip. All properties examined have over two thousand rooms each. The goal is to determine how prevalent and important …

High Occupancy Strategy At Thehotel: Is It Worth The Negative Impacts?, Joe Tidwell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

THEhotel in Las Vegas, Nevada operates on a high occupancy throughout the year. Taking advantage of traffic flow through other areas of the property while maintaining a high reputation for customer service on the rooms side is the most efficient way to produce profit that will please the executive team, the guests, the employees and the shareholders of MGM Mirage.

A Comparative Analysis Of Mice Destinations Between Macau And Singapore, Cheong Su Richard Tan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Macau is probably best known worldwide for its gaming industry which has always been a staple of its economy and has surpassed Las Vegas as the world’s biggest gambling market in 2006 (Cheung, 2007). After its return to Chinese rule in 1999, the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) government decided to diversify its economy and liberalized the gaming market with an aim to transform the territory into a centre of gaming, cultural events, conference and exhibition (Pao, 2004). Recognizing the economic benefits of MICE, the SAR government aims to nurture the city into a prominent MICE destination (Macau Government Tourist …

Lodging Analysis For Glimmerglass Opera Patrons, Andrea Busby

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Thousands of people travel to the small town of Cooperstown, New York each summer to see the Baseball Hall of Fame and Glimmerglass Opera. With so many visitors to this small town in New York’s Center Leather-stocking area, it is often difficult to find proper lodging. This paper presents the problems visitors face in locating lodging, discusses the process of determining what lodging options are available, and then describes a study undertaken to investigate opera patrons’ perceptions of lodgings while attending the festival. The paper concludes with results and marketing implications for Glimmerglass Opera.

Technology And Social Anxieties, Attitudes And Behavioral Intentions Of Singaporeans Towards Using Self-Service Technology (Sst), Mukesh Kumar

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The interactions between customers and service organizations, known as service encounters, have generally been between front-liner and consumers. Gradually however, these encounters are changing with the introduction of self-service facilities that are quickly replacing service staff. The use of self-service technology has seen an incredible amount of growth globally over the last few years. Self-service technologies are currently being used in more diverse ways for new services than once thought possible. The expenditure on self-service kiosks is expected to rise by 88% and the dollar value of transactions taking place through self-service technology should exceed 1.3 trillion by 2007 (Avery, …

Expatriate Training For The Hotel And Gaming Workforce: Don't Leave Home Without It, Chien Chien Serene Lim

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Globalization is fast becoming the new trend of the hospitality industry. It remains as a highly complex and controversial concept that is not a new phenomenon. Researchers have suggested that globalization is likely an irreversible forceful process that will change the face of businesses (Mrak, 2000). In the recent Global Relocation Trends Survey conducted annually by GMAC Global Relocation Services (2007), it was reported that more than two-thirds (69%) of the multinational corporations surveyed reported an increase to the number of international assignments. This is the highest percentage that was ever reported, with more companies (65%) indicating their intent in …

Managing Halal Quality In Food Service Industry, Siew Fun Vivienne Soong

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Muslim world population survey conducted in 2005 found that Islam is the fastest growing religion on earth, both through birth and adoption. There were 2 billion Muslims scatted around 148 countries and the figures are rising each day. It is estimated that by 2010, the Muslim population will exceed 3 billion (Evans, 2005). The recorded growth rate for Muslim population is as follows: the Europe Muslim population of around 25 million increased at a rate of 140% over the past 10 years, America’s by 25%, Australia’s by 250% and Asia’s increased by 12% over the same period. The healthy …

Cherokee Nation Long-Range Communication Plan, Mike Miller

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Cherokee Nation is the second largest Indian tribe in the United States. It has the rights of a sovereign nation, though those rights are somewhat limited by Congress. Because Congress can take away a tribe’s sovereignty, it is important for tribes to maintain a strong public image among the dominant culture, because politicians do not attack popular entities. This paper proposes a long-term plan to keep Cherokee Nation in good favor with the general public, and more specifically the opinion leaders and elected officials who can impact the Nation’s future. The plan will include budgets, staffing plans and major …

Effects Of An Upbeat And Positive Attitude In Customer Service Interactions, Brent Pritchett

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In an extension of research demonstrating the effects of an upbeat and positive attitude in customer service interactions, the experiment and case studies examined in this paper identified evidence in support of displaying a positive behavior during customer service interactions. In the experiment, casino table game dealers were identified that exuded a consistent upbeat and positive attitude. These dealers were compared to other dealers who were inconsistent in their behavior. The experiment revealed that dealers, who engaged customers with a positive attitude, earned more in tipped income. In a series of case studies, service surveys were taken from customers that …

The Relationship Between International Expansion And Firm Performance: An Investigation Of U.S.-Based Restaurants And Firms, Soyeon Jung

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study has three objectives. First, based on the above argument, this study aims to examine whether there is an association between international expansion and U.S.-based restaurants performance in terms of accounting-based measures. Second, this study intends to examine how the performance of service firms will indeed change within an observed time frame of international expansion. Finally, the research hopes to provide insights and assistance both to academics and to company strategists who are in charge of the international operations of service firms.

Personal Characteristics, Job Characteristics, Job Satisfaction, And Organizational Commitment Of Taiwanese Expatriates Working In Mainland China, Sheng Wen Liu

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

With a population of 1.2 billion, mainland China has become a major target country for many foreign companies looking to expand their businesses because of its inexpensive labor and its large market. Since 1987, many manufacturers in Taiwan have moved to mainland China to reduce labor costs. In 2006, there were 70,256 companies from Taiwan operating in mainland China with fiscal expenditures exceeding US $42.8 1 billion dollars (Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, 2006). If Taiwan's foreign direct investment (FDI) and offshore investment expenditures were included, Taiwan would have had the second largest FDI in mainland …

Kosova Economic Outlook, Agron Parduzi

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Culture On International Business Negotiation: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of Taiwan, Hong Kong, And Mainland China, Jung-Tsung Tu

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Each year international business amounts to more than $1 trillion U.S. dollars (WTO, 2005). Both foreign investment and international trade are growing substantially, causing increasing interdependence of national economies as well as furthering the globalization of companies. Presently, Greater China's economy holds an increasingly large influence on the world. Despite the enthusiasm for increased economic exchange, many people have found that cultural differences have hindered their ability to efficiently conduct business due to their lack of understanding of the cultural differences among Chinese citizens living in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China. People engaged in the negotiations of agreements in …

Perceptions Of Age Discrimination, Organizational Justice, And Employee Attitudes On Intentions To Leave In The Engineering Industry, Courtney L. Bibby

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (2006) reported that the annual turnover rate for employees of U.S. firms rose to 41% in 2005. Employee intentions to leave among young adults are a concern in many industries where the demand for skilled employees begins to exceed the supply. This is especially true in the engineering industry, because talented and knowledgeable employees are difficult to replace.

Employee turnover represents a practical dilemma for many businesses due to the loss of qualified personnel and additional recruitment and training costs. Although little is known about employee turnover intention within the engineering …

Variable Check-In Time: Raising Room Revenue With Multiple Daily Check-In Times, Matthew Kaplan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

An exploration of a new theory of hotel room valuation and pricing called “Variable Check-In Time”. The theory holds that hotels could increase room revenue by instituting multiple daily check-in times, rather than the typical, universal 3:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. room-day. In doing so, hotels could accommodate guests for more hours per day, thus raising the room night’s salable value. The paper presents the concept of the room-hour and of room-hour utility, making a quantitative case for increased room revenue on utility-maximization grounds. A model for the optimization of room-hour utility is presented, as well as a demonstration of …

Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy: An Examination Of Harrah’S Entertainment, Inc., Michael Mehling

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This professional paper is going to examine marketing communications, specifically the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) strategy. The paper will look at how to develop an IMC strategy, discussing the necessary components. The author will then apply Harrah’s current strategy of their Total Rewards program to the IMC model discussed in the literature review.

Developing A Managerial Plan To Guide The Planning Process For Charity Events, Nicole Molina

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this paper was to develop a managerial plan to guide the planning process for charity events. A guideline was developed, tested and refined based on a case study of the Prostate Cancer Foundation charity held in October, 2007 at Wynn Las Vegas. A strategy arose from an adaptation of the standard business plans outlined by the Small Business Administration. The resulting business plan, detailed event checklist and timeline will be a guiding tool when planning other charity events.

Radical Impact Of Change In Actions And Confidence Index On Reverse Decision Making An Application Based Study, Swatee Trimbak Paithankar

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

While making decisions under uncertainty, people are often unaware of the logical approach to form the decision process. It is assumed that collecting details, analyzing and evaluating data is enough to make 'proper' decisions. However, past research in the decision making arena has significantly validated that there exists a class of decision problems which is complex, ill-structured and not defined to the level where decision makers can draw logical conclusions based on existing traditional decision approaches. RDM (reverse decision making), one of the novel approaches of decision making under conditions of uncertainty, has shown potential towards addressing some of these …

Wireless Lan 802.11x In U.S. Educational Institutions: Technology Adoption And Digital Divide Perspective, Sang-Baek (Chris) Kang

Dissertations

The current study of wireless local area networks (WLAN) adoption in educational institutions is motivated by three reasons. First, most students are exposed to information technology when they are at K-12 schools. Indeed, educational institutions represent the largest segment in the WLAN market in the United States in terms of the number of adopters. Second, WLAN requires a substantial financial investment before it can enable an "anytime, anywhere" learning environment, and may thereby aggravate the digital divide between rich and poor schools. Third, although WLAN is infrastructure technology, it has different characteristics compared to other infrastructure information technologies; traditional infrastructure …

Mobile Information Communication Technology For Crisis Management : Understanding User Behavior, Response And Training, Elizabeth Avery Gomez

Dissertations

SMS text-messaging is an interoperable communication vehicle known to be dependable for mass media alert notifications in crisis management. SMS text-messaging also offers potential as one viable two-way communication alternative for field responders in crisis response. Both continuously changing mobile information communication technologies and the importance of precise information exchange constitute a need for communication protocol training and practice. This study introduces a technology-mediated training technique based on speech act and communicative action theories. These theories are used to inform the design of a baseline measure for task performance improvement and to suggest a model to predict communication readiness. Because …