Business Commons^™

Comparative Analysis Of The Effect Of Attendance On Academic Performance Of Management And Finance Course Students, Muhammad Faisal Kamal, Muhammad Adnan Waseem, Bahaudin G. Mujtaba

HCBE Faculty Articles

The fact that attendance has a positive effect on the performance of students has been studied by many researchers. This paper provides some evidence on the assumption that the subject of finance requires more teacher-student interaction than the subject of management. Thus attendance and academic performance has more strong relationship for finance than for management subjects. The 170 responses collected from students were analyzed through OLS technique. A stronger positive relationship of attendance and performance was found for Finance as compared to Management. The findings can be applied for other subjects, keeping in view the technicality and non-technicality of the …

A Legal Review Of Stereotypes, Biases, And Discrimination Against Muslim-American Employees, Bahaudin G. Mujtaba, Frank J. Cavico

HCBE Faculty Articles

Approximately fifteen million Muslims live and work in the United States of America. Most of these Muslims are American by birth; yet some confront discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in the workplace because of their religion. Religious discrimination is illegal in the workplace in the United States pursuant to civil rights laws. This article examines the most common challenges that American Muslims face in the workplace. The article then offers pertinent recommendations to organizational leaders so they not only can fulfill their legal duties, but also attract and retain the most qualified workers regardless of their religious affiliations, beliefs, observances, and …

Social Media And Employment At-Will: Tort Law And Practical Considerations For Employees, Managers, And Organizations, Frank J. Cavico, Bahaudin G. Mujtaba, Stephen C. Muffler, Marissa Samuel

HCBE Faculty Articles

The prevalence, widespread use, and influence of technology in society today, including the workplace, is undeniable. Computers, the Internet, email, and cell phones are now indispensable parts of social interaction as well as business; and their sophistication, uses, and reach are expanding continually. Social media has completely transformed the life of many, many people. In particular, social media has materially changed the way in which people communicate. Social media affords people readily and easily usable ways to stay in touch with family, friends, colleagues, and co-workers, including the ability to rapidly share information and commentary. Business today is also taking …

Business Ethics Of Pakistanis In Islamabad And Lahore: Do Age, Gender And Data Collection Processes Make A Difference?, Bahaudin G. Mujtaba, Arif Sikander, Naveed Akhtar, Talat Afza

HCBE Faculty Articles

Pakistan is an emerging economy and a modernizing workplace. This research surveyed 318 citizens, managers, and employees in Lahore and Islamabad to measure their Personal Business Ethics Scores (PBES) based on age and gender, as well as to see if face-to-face and online data collection processes make a difference in their level of ethical maturity. Furthermore, this study contributes to the theory of moral development. The results suggest that age is a significant factor in moral development as it leads to higher scores in moral maturity. Gender is not a factor in the ethical maturity scores of these respondents. Kohlberg's …

Modularization (Md) And Its Impact On The Chinese Auto Industry, Yunshan Lian

HCBE Theses and Dissertations

Modularization (MD) in the auto industry is relatively new when compared to its use in other industrial areas. It is regarded as the third revolution in the history of the auto industry after Henry Ford's assembly line production system and Toyota's JIT (just in time) management. Modularization brought a major reorganization to the automotive parts supplier industry by realizing the firm's strategic positional advantage through mass customization While academic interest in this area also experienced significant growth in recent years, few empirical studies have been conducted because it is a difficult task to operationalize the multi-faceted, complex modularization.

Although modularization …

Organizational Practices Leading To A Positive Safety Culture: A Delphi Approach, Andrew Matthew Cwalina

HCBE Theses and Dissertations

A positive safety culture has been shown to contribute to a firm's ability to avoid or reduce the occurrence of occupational accidents and injuries. In American workplaces alone 3,582 people died and 5.1 million people were disabled in 2009 and the cost to corporate America was $169 billion and an additional productivity loss of 95 million work days. The economic cost to each American household is about $1,200. Firms that establish and maintain a positive safety culture are able to achieve a competitive advantage in the market.

While much research exists showing the relationship between safety culture and accident reduction, …

A Review Of Employee Health And Wellness Programs In The United States, Bahaudin G. Mujtaba, Frank J. Cavico

HCBE Faculty Articles

Due to rapidly rising healthcare costs, employee wellness has become an important topic for small and large companies alike. As such, many organizations are now taking a proactive approach to this issue by offering incentives for employees to get healthy and remain in “good shape.” Simultaneously, some firms are penalizing employees who are smokers and those who might be above the average weight limit considered to be safe for their age and gender.

This article provides a review of trends regarding wellness programs in the modern American workplace. The authors offer practical recommendations to employers to have legal, ethical, and …

Chinese Outward Direct Investment Research: Theoretical Integration And Recommendations, Ping Deng

Business Faculty Publications

This article reports a detailed analysis of 138 peer-reviewed articles in 41 journals published in the last 12 years (2001–2012) that focus on Chinese outward foreign direct investment from a theoretical advancement perspective. It assesses how the topic has been explored both conceptually and empirically and identifies the substantive contributions to the literature using a thematic analysis. The article argues that research on the international expansion of Chinese multinational corporations offers a unique opportunity to extend and develop extant theorizing in four primary research streams: the latecomer perspective; Chinese state and government influences; the dynamics of firms and institutions; and …

The Effects Of Top Management Team External Ties And Board Composition On The Strategic Choice Of Late Movers, Jae Wook Yoo, Richard Reed

Business Faculty Publications

Within the context of the monitoring and control function of the board, we extend previous work on the agency view of governance. We examine how the top managers' external ties and board composition directly and interactively influence the strategic choices of firms. Our results indicate that top managers with intra-industry knowledge and experience tend to adopt a resource-imitation strategy whereas those with knowledge and experience from other industries tend to adopt a resource-substitution strategy. The separation of CEO and board chairperson duties also affects strategy selection. In terms of interaction effects, we find that boards with a high ratio of …

Capital Structure Deviation And Speed Of Adjustment, Tarun Mukherjee, Wei Wang

Business Faculty Publications

As a firm deviates from its target leverage, marginal bankruptcy costs change at a faster speed than marginal tax shield. This renders the speed of adjustment (SOA) of capital structure an increasing function of the starting deviation from the target. Adopting a bootstrapping-based estimation, we confirm the existence of such heterogeneity in SOA that is statistically significant and economically nontrivial. Typically, if Firm A is one standard deviation (about 17%) and Firm B is two standard deviations away from their leverage targets, then B’s SOA is 41% greater than that of A, and the half life of B’s leverage deviation …

Integrated Risk Study For Chinese Commercial Banks With Fuzzy Comprehensive Appraisal Method, Hongmei Li, Haigang Zhou

Business Faculty Publications

The Basel Capital Accord II proposes that commercial banks should supervise not only credit risk but also market risk, liquidity risk and operational risk. Using the fuzzy comprehensive appraisal method based on the Basel Capital Accord II, this paper measures the integrated risk of Chinese commercial banks. Our results indicate that the average values of the four types of risks are higher than the integrated risk of the four risks, indicating an overestimated whole risk. Our results illustrate the importance of considering the correlation between the different risk sources in order to efficiently allocate financial resources.

The Impact Of Slack Resources On High-Tech Ipos, Fariss-Terry Mousa, Richard Reed

Business Faculty Publications

Research on organization slack has focused mainly on its effect in large publicly traded firms, but little work exists on the value of slack resources for other firms. Therefore, here, we address the question: Do slack resources matter in the case of initial public offerings (IPOs)? We argue that firms that possess financial, innovational, and managerial slack resources are sending a positive signal to potential investors regarding the quality of the IPO. Using a sample of high-tech IPOs, we find support for that contention.

Nova Southeastern University 2013 Annual Report, Nova Southeastern University

NSU Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Sources Of The Persistent Gender Wage Gap Along The Unconditional Earnings Distribution: Findings From Kenya, Richard U. Agesa, Jacqueline Agesa, Andrew Dabalen

Economics Faculty Research

Past studies on gender wage inequality in Africa typically attribute the gender pay gap either to gender differences in characteristics or in the return to characteristics. The authors suggest, however, that this understanding of the two sources may be far too general and possibly overlook the underlying covariates that drive the gender wage gap. Moreover, past studies focus on the gender wage gap exclusively at the conditional mean. The authors go further to evaluate the partial contribution of each wage-determining covariate to the magnitude of the gender pay gap along the unconditional earnings distribution. The authors' data are from Kenya, …

They Want To Be Global Citizens: Now What? Implications Of The Ngo Career Arc For Students And Faculty Mentors, Andrew M. Robinson

Human Rights and Human Diversity Faculty Publications

Once faculty have inspired their students to want to become Global Citizens, many of these students will approach them for advice about careers that will enable them to live out their commitment to global justice. This article seeks to inform such discussions by providing students and their faculty mentors with information to help consider whether the NGO sector is a good fit for the student, how to prepare for it, and how to advance within it. It does so by providing a snapshot of the nonprofit/NGO career arc based upon analysis of 220 responses to a survey conducted in 2010 …

Selecting An “Email” System, Thomas Lynema

Academic Leadership Academy

This poster displays the steps involved in choosing an email system for an organization.

Ua7 Office Of Research & Economic Development, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Unprocessed records created by the Office of Research & Economic Development (ORED) formerly known as the Institute for Economic Development and Public Service, and its reporting offices:

• Center for Research & Development
• Office of Technology Transfer & Industry Relations
• Sponsored Programs (UA57)

When Do (And Don’T) Normative Appeals Influence Sustainable Consumer Behaviors?, Katherine White, Bonnie Simpson

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

The authors explore how injunctive appeals (i.e., highlighting what others think one should do), descriptive appeals (i.e., highlighting what others are doing), and benefit appeals (i.e., highlighting the benefits of the action) can encourage consumers to engage in relatively unfamiliar sustainable behaviors such as “grasscycling” and composting. Across one field study and three laboratory studies, the authors demonstrate that the effectiveness of the appeal type depends on whether the individual or collective level of the self is activated. When the collective level of self is activated, injunctive and descriptive normative appeals are most effective, whereas benefit appeals are less effective …

The Use Of Management Control Systems To Formulate And Implement Csr Strategy: A Levers Of Control Perspective, Diane-Laure Arjaliès, Julia Mundy

Business Publications

Little is known about the role of management control systems (MCS) in managing the strategic processes that underpin Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). To enhance our understanding of this phenomenon, this study employs Simons’ (1995) levers of control framework to explore how organizations leverage MCS in different ways in order to drive strategic renewal and trigger organizational change while simultaneously supporting society’s broader sustainability agenda. Drawing on data gathered from France’s largest listed companies – members of the CAC 40 – we provide insights into the structures and processes that companies employ to design, implement and monitor their CSR strategy. In …

The Effect Of Voluntary Disclosure On Firm Risk And Firm Value: Evidence From Management Earnings Forecasts, Stephen R. Foerster, Stephen G. Sapp, Yaqi Shi

Business Publications

This study investigates whether the voluntary disclosure of management earnings forecasts influences investors’ assessment of firm risk and firm value. We find a significant negative relationship between the issuance of management earnings forecasts and a variety of measures of firm risk (idiosyncratic risk, stock return volatility, beta, and bid-ask spreads), with more frequent, more precise and more accurate earnings forecasts further decreasing firm risk. Our results therefore suggest that information quality is an important determinant of both diversifiable risk and nondiversifiable systematic risk. We also demonstrate that management earnings forecasts are positively associated with firm value as captured by Tobin’s …

The Effect Of Alternative Business Model Representation Techniques On Business And Audit Risk Assessment, J. Efrim Boritz, Kun Huo

Business Publications

We investigate the effects of business model representation techniques, specifically format and presence of causal linkages, on business risk and audit risk assessment. We conduct an experiment involving auditing students with previous audit work experience as participants and business model information based on an existing public company. Participants given business model representation in either diagrammatical or tabular format make more accurate risk assessments than those given the same information in a free-form narrative format. Contrary to our prediction, overall performance in diagram and table conditions does not differ statistically. The inclusion of causal linkages in the business model representation has …

The Soft Stuff Is The Hard Stuff: How Relationships And Communications Can Drive The Execution Of Business Strategy, Linda Clark-Santos, Nancy K. Napier

International Business Program

In this chapter, we take a somewhat contrarian approach and explore the value of “soft” skills—specifically, building strong relationships and communicating effectively—in driving the effective execution of strategy. We divided the chapter into five parts. First, we describe what happens with relationships and with communication that might contribute to the failure to execute business strategy. Next, we discuss why relationship and communication problems happen—including the power of organizational culture, competition among peers, the rise of cynicism, the isolation of executives, and the impact of organizational design. The third section focuses on what happens as a result of these problems. The …

Ethical Decision Making Considering Stakeholder Interest, Sheila Hadley Strider

2010-2016 Archived Posters

A focus on short-term profit as an exclusive measure of business success has led to an erosion of stakeholder trust and opened the door for ethical misconduct. This study explored attributes of ethical conduct by business leaders and developed a process for decision making taking stakeholder interest into account.

A Middle Management Perspective On Strategy Implementation, Ahmad Salih

2010-2016 Archived Posters

Twelve middle managers and three management consultants were interviewed in this qualitative phenomenological study to explore their views on the organizational dynamics of strategy implementation. Data covered the critical factors influencing strategy implementation, the contribution of middle managers on strategy implementation, and the challenges associated with the implementation process.

Exploring Factors Required For Small Business Success In The 21st Century, Kevin J. Miles

2010-2016 Archived Posters

In the U.S., new small businesses have had a high failure rate in their first 5 years of operation. Small businesses create jobs and drive innovation that is critical to the economy. The purpose of the study was to explore factors that could improve the small businesses survival rate.

Aligning Financial Strategy With Customer Categorization Based On Environmental Scanning, Timothy Osita Anyiwe

2010-2016 Archived Posters

A qualitative multiple-case study about strategies needed to align financial strategy with customer oriented practices. Interview data from 30 personnel of 2 retail businesses were coded and analyzed. Emerging themes included planning, customer supremacy, viability, and clarity. Implications for positive social change included impetus for economic stability and prosperity of society.

Performance Prediction Of Commodity Prices Using Foreign Exchange Futures, Yisa Ajao

2010-2016 Archived Posters

In an experimental quantitative research design, data from the Futures Market for commodities and foreign exchange futures covering 1986-2011 were obtained and addressed. A General Regression Neural Network was overlaid on this data to deduce a time-series prediction model for wheat prices. Performance prediction error was only 4.42%.

Ua42/1 Wku Winter Term Annual Report, Wku Summer Sessions & Winter Term

WKU Administration Documents

Annual report of WKU Winter Term course enrollments, college data, course sections and marketing.

Ua19/16/1 Cross Country / Track & Field Media Guide, Wku Athletic Media Relations

WKU Administration Documents

WKU track and field media guide for 2013-14 season.

Community And Individual Well-Being In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2013 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca J. Vogt, Cheryl A. Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph L. Cantrell, Bradley Lubben

Nebraska Rural Poll

By many different measures, rural Nebraskans are positive about their community. Many rural Nebraskans rate their community as friendly, trusting and supportive. Most rural Nebraskans also say it would be difficult to leave their community. In addition, most rural Nebraskans disagree that their community is powerless to control its future.

Differences of opinion exist by the size of their community. Residents of smaller communities are more likely than residents of larger communities to rate their community favorably on its social dimensions. However, residents of larger communities are more likely than residents of smaller communities to say their community has changed …