Business Commons^™

Towards A New Gis Maturity Model: An Organizational Usage Perspective, Omer Abdulaziz Alrwais

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The first condition required for an Information Technology (IT) system to produce value is that it be used by its designated target group of users. Despite the prevalence of “system use” in IS literature, it has been often limited to the individual level. The organizational perspective is rarely considered. This dissertation focuses on system usage in the GIS domain through an organizational lens. GIS is a technology with the potential to transform government by enhancing business processes and providing a platform to manage spatial and non-spatial data, which is expected to result in better decision-making. However, little is known about …

Faculty Perceptions Of Condensed Online Learning In Higher Education, Harold Irvin Mellieon, Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the past 10 years the realm of distance and online education has been expanding very fast. With the help of the Internet, it has cut the need for a student to be in the same space as the instructor in order to receive information and be assessed for learning. As more universities are using distance-learning platforms, faculty members are having issues adjusting and being successful. While the educational landscape continues to be reformed with technology in the United States, there are individuals and institutions that are engaging in distance learning to better serve a larger population of students. It …

The Formation And Implementation Of Interorganizational Relations In The Experiences Of Managers, Furkan Amil Gur

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Relations between organizations are vital for firms and their strategies. A common approach organizes interorganizational relationships into competition, cooperation, and coopetition. To contribute to this research, in this dissertation I focused on how managers interpret competitive, cooperative, and coopetitive relations with other organizations. Specifically, I studied managers’ interpretations of the characteristics of their interorganizational field and relationships, how they identify their competitors and cooperators, and their accounts of the practices and aspects involved in the planning and implementation of competitive, cooperative, and coopetitive relations. To capture managers’ interpretations, in this study I chose a grounded theory approach, selected the seafood …

Essays On Empirical Asset Pricing, Mu-Shu Yun

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This work contains three essays on empirical pricing. In the first essay, I propose to re-examine the evidence on mutual fund managers' illiquidity and volatility timing ability by using a holdings-based approach, which is free from the artificial timing bias occurred in the traditional return-based timing method. Through testing the timing evidence by the holdings approach, I am able to know to what degree the results in the literature are biased by no-information reasons. In the second essay, I investigate mutual fund managers' skills from their reactions to the observable market condition, which is a relatively overlooked dimension in the …

Factors Influencing The Perceived Effectiveness Of The Transition Assistance Program Among Exiting Military Servicemembers At Military Installations In Louisiana, Timothy L. Rose

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As proven in the aftermath of World War II, whenever the U.S. government shifts its efforts from wartime mobilization to peacetime demobilization, the Department of Defense (DoD) faces the complex task of transitioning military personnel to civilian life. In March of 2015, the researcher began an exploratory evaluation of the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) employment workshops. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected personal and professional demographic characteristics on the perceptions of the effectiveness of the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) in accomplishing its stated purposes among exiting military servicemembers at military installations in Louisiana. …

A Dynamic Model Of The Choice Of Technology In Economic Development, Haiwen Zhou, Ruhai Zhou

Economics Faculty Publications

In this overlapping-generations model, there is unemployment in the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing firms engage in oligopolistic competition and choose technologies to maximize profits. With capital as a fixed cost of production, increasing returns in the manufacturing sector exist. In the unique steady state, first, when individuals become more patient, the savings rate increases while the level of an individual’s income decreases. Second, an increase in population or percentage of income spent on manufactured goods does not change steady-state technology while the level of an individual’s income decreases. Third, an increase in the wage rate leads manufacturing firms to choose more …

The Word Outside And The Pictures In Our Heads: Contingent Framing Effects Of Labels On Health Policy Preferences By Political Ideology, Sungjong Roh, Jeff Niederdeppe

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study uses data from systematic Web image search results and two randomized survey experiments to analyze how frames commonly used in public debates about health issues, oper- ationalized here as alternative word choices, influence public support for health policy reforms. In Study 1, analyses of Bing (N = 1,719), Google (N = 1,872), and Yahoo Images (N = 1,657) search results suggest that the images returned from the search query “sugar-sweetened beverage” are more likely to evoke health-related concepts than images returned from a search query about “soda.” In contrast, “soda” search queries were more likely to incorporate brand-related …

Marketing Research For Mission-Based Thrift Suggests Relationship Marketing Strategy, Jon M. Martin

AMTP Proceedings 2016

In order to alleviate the risks associated with a lack of objective marketing research data and to apply marketing research in a unique niche, the author, in collaboration with a local mission-based thrift (“Thrift XYZ”), conducts marketing research regarding the motivations and preferences of shoppers and donators for one primary thrift location in North Carolina as a gratis community service. The findings are that XYZ’s shoppers and donators routinely and regularly shop and donate (respectively) with XYZ and that the nature of this target market is ideal for developing and applying a relationship marketing strategy with each/both groups.

Determining The Influence Of Electronic Messages On Consumer Behavior Based On Perceived Source Trust And Credibility, Mackenzie Sawyer, Nick Sellers, Rhett Coleman, Jaejin Lee

AMTP Proceedings 2016

With the growing presence of the internet, it is difficult for consumers to separate valuable information from useless information, and for marketers to determine what information consumers deem valuable. This paper aims to discover which message source - Corporate, Social, or Independent - is most trustworthy in the eyes of consumers. Corporate sources include paid platforms such as the company’s website and social media channels managed by the company, social sources include reviews posted on social media platforms by unpaid users who are not directly associated with the company, and independent sources include reviews from online articles, specialized publications, discussion …

The Effect Of A Risk-Based Deposit Insurance Program In Korea, Youngil Oh

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Countries introduce a deposit insurance system to prevent bank-run and stabilize the financial market by protecting depositors. However, deposit insurance with a flat-rate system induces the insured banks to take more risky activities, an example of moral hazard. To deal with this problem, the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation ('KDIC') adopted a Risk-Based Insurance Program ('RBIP ') for the Savings Banks ('SBs') on July 1, 2013, by charging a higher rate for the weak SB s and a lower rate for the healthy SBs. To mitigate the initial drastic impact on the SBs in an economic regression, the KDIC had reduced …

The Determinants Of Successful Angel Investors, Hu Guen Sohn

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Angel investors are wealthy individuals who provide capital for business start-ups in return for an ownership stake. The outcomes of angel investments are not high for all angels and not evenly distributed among all investors. I examine what characteristics of angel investors affect the outcome of their investments.

This research is based on a North American survey data set. I use the internal rate of return to measure the performance of angel investments. More specifically, I use three different standards to code it as success or failure: median standard, mean standard, and higher standard. Then, I use OLS and a …

Battle Of The Beds: The Economic Impact Of Airbnb On The Hotel Industry In Chicago And San Francisco, Katherine Goree

Scripps Senior Theses

The sharing economy is the private redistribution of goods via peer-to-peer sharing. Since internet use has saturated the U.S., the sharing economy has become widely internet-based. Airbnb, a website and app that facilitates the short-term rental of space to stay in another person’s home, has become a major component of the sharing economy.

This study includes an empirical analysis of the hotel occupancy rates in two major markets, San Francisco and Chicago, and how they have or have not changed, from the 2008 launch of Airbnb through the end of 2014. The study hypothesizes that Airbnb has had a statistically …

The Impact Of Technology On The Entertainment Distribution Market: The Effects Of Netflix And Hulu On Cable Revenue, Nicole P. Aliloupour

Scripps Senior Theses

Online streaming has revolutionized the way that people consume films and television. This study will examine how Netflix and Hulu have disrupted the North American distribution oligopoly and asses whether their low subscription prices are adversely affecting major cable companies who dominate the distribution sphere. A review of existing literature on the topic will explore the influence of the Internet on the entertainment distribution oligopoly as well as consumer trends and behavior favoring Netflix and Hulu. Additionally, data from 2007 to 2014 will be used to analyze variables that indicate a correlation between Netflix’s and Hulu’s growth and Time Warner …

Organizational Learning: The Path To Growth, Rachael M. Huang

Scripps Senior Theses

Organizational learning is a topic that has been widely studied under a number of different approaches. The common, essential themes that are present in any theory of organizational leaning reflect the necessity of balancing explorative and exploitative tendencies within organizations. Organizational learning is the key to organizational effectiveness and development, and involves a collective action and mindset that allows for the reflection of current processes and the reevaluation of the efficiency of these processes within organizational structures. In this way, knowledge is embedded into organizational systems so that continuous learning can be implemented on an organizational scale. As a result, …

Comparison Of Option Price From Black-Scholes Model To Actual Values, Matthew J. Krznaric

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The Black-Scholes model is a widely used method for pricing European-style options in a straightforward way, through the use of calculations and ideal market assumptions. Due to certain unrealistic ideal conditions exercised by the model, The Black-Scholes technique of pricing options may not be entirely accurate in implementation. This paper addresses these problems due to the model limitations, determining how The Black-Scholes method compares to the results when using the actual data. Using a mix of historical S&P500 data and generated normal distributions, we first calculated and graphed option prices through the Black-Scholes formulas. With the help of R, we …

Can You Hack It? Validating Predictors For It Boot Camps, Courtney Gear

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Given the large number of information technology jobs open and lack of qualified individuals to fill them, coding boot camps have sprung up in response to this skill gap by offering a specialized training program in an accelerated format. This fast growth has created a need to measure these training programs and understand their effectiveness. In the present study, a series of analyses examined whether specific or combinations of predictors were valid for training performance in this coding academy. Self-rated, daily efficacy scores were used as outcome variables of training success and correlation results showed a positive relationship with efficacy …

Diversification And Market Neutral Portfolios In S&P500, Alan S. Agnew

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Our goal is to investigate strategies to deal with the risks associated with holding asset in the stock market. We first deal with risk of holding a specific stock, by the use of diversification. Later, we’ll attempt to deal with the market risk, which is the risk of entire market going up and down. Data used in this project comes from daily adjusted closing price of stocks listed in the S&P500 index ranging from January 3^rd, 2000 to December 31^st, 2015 and the data is processed using statistical software R.

Sections 2 through 4 of this …

Intended Continued Use Social Networking Sites: Effects On Job Satisfaction And Performance, Ned Kock, Murad Moqbel, Kevin Barton, Valerie L. Bartelt

Information Systems Faculty Publications

Hedonic information systems are those that are used primarily for pleasure. Previous research has established that the intention to use hedonic information systems is explained mainly by perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment, with perceived usefulness to one’s job being given less importance. Facebook could be seen as a hedonic information system. This paper employs a cross-sectional survey of 178 professionals who used Facebook to various degrees. Predictably, the authors’ empirical results show that perceived enjoyment is indeed a much stronger determinant of intended continued Facebook use than ease of use or usefulness to one’s job, explaining a considerable …

Financial Decision-Making And The Normalization Of Deviance, Dilata Ranadive

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Two perspectives have dominated the discourse on the causes of the financial crisis of 2008. The first attributes the financial crisis to intentionally malevolent behaviors, whereas the second attributes it to the natural market fluctuations. However, there is still a third, possible perspective. While the first two perspectives focus on the intention of the actors, the third perspective focuses on the response of the observers. This is what Vaughan (1996) refers to as "normalization of deviance". In normalization of deviance actions or decisions that are initially regarded as aberrant or atypical are re-conceptualized and adopted as the new criterion. The …

Three Essays On Big Data Analytics, Traditional Marketing Analytics, Knowledge Discovery, And New Product Performance, Zhenning Xu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, companies have become aggressive in investing in Big Data Analytics (BDA) for marketing purposes, particularly new product development. One of the basic features of BDA is its promise in delivering automated recommendations or knowledge. For this reason, companies attempt to ascertain if BDA can improve new product performance beyond what Traditional Marketing Analytics (TMA) can.

The overarching question is whether different combinations (BDA and TMA in different levels) of analytics capabilities are able to generate different kinds of knowledge for Knowledge and Information Fusion that could improve new product performance. The aim of this study is to …

Product Market Competition, Corporate Investments And Risk, Hussein Ali Ahmad Abdoh

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This doctoral Dissertation examines the impact of product market competition on the cash flow investments and risk. The Dissertation is comprised of three essays. First essay investigates the link between a firm's competitive environment and the ratio of idiosyncratic volatility to systematic volatility. I postulate that competition has a higher effect on idiosyncratic volatility than the systematic volatility for two reasons. First, market power works as a tool that passes on firm-specific cost shocks to customers but is irrelevant to passing on the industry-wide cost shocks. Second, firm's competitive advantage relative to its peers in the industry is affected by …

A High Performance Work Practice Scale: Validity And Invariance Across Five Cultures, Gabriela Flores

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In this study, a comprehensive high performance work practice (HPWP) model is developed from an existing taxonomy of HPWPs. Using data collected in organizations across seventeen countries, the model is evaluated for equivalence across five cultures and two economic groups. Findings support the generalizability of the seven factor model across these contexts. Finally, the model is evaluated within a larger network of theoretically related antecedents and outcomes. Specifically, the behavioral perspective of HR and the resource based view are used to develop hypotheses relating the use of HPWPs to strategy and organizational resources.

Quantifying A Mining Investability Quotient To Mitigate Junior Mining Investment Risk, Jonathan Mickey Merguerian

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Uncertainty and risk are inherent features of investing in mineral exploration ventures. Investors rely on qualitative and quantitative analysis to evaluate risk of capital. The distinction between risk and uncertainty pertaining to mineral exploration is that risk is an opportunity for loss and uncertainty can be described as the range of probabilities that some condition may occur (Rose, 1987). Stakeholders rely on a combination of investment conferences, risk analysis equations, press releases, financial reports, and investment research to determine if an investment potential. J. M. Cozzolini developed a formula for Risk Adjusted Value (RAV) of an exploration venture. The study …

Essays In Accounting And Finance, Sayan Sarkar

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In my first essay, I investigate changes in a number of firm characteristics surrounding the change in debt policy (i.e., becoming unlevered). I do so to investigate why firms may lower their debt levels, and add insights to the zero-leverage puzzle. My main findings are that tax based explanations and market timing explanations do not explain the observed behavior of firms that become totally unlevered. My findings are most consistent with the pecking order theory (Myers and Majluf, 1984) and with Jensen's (1986) theory of free cash flows. I also investigate whether financial constraint is somehow related to the decision …

Mapping Decisions Of Reporting Asset Misappropriation Within An Accounting Department Using Behavioral, Cognitive, And Cultural Traits, Nora Alaniz Bouqayes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The problem of global fraud continues to be pandemic with the cost to organizations exceeding $3.9 trillion of lost revenues every year. Accounting research is slowly embracing the behavioral science research and has expanded limited literature addressing the traits of fraud perpetrators. This study begins to examine behavioral, cognitive, and cultural traits of reporters of fraud in accounting departments. This study narrows the area of interest to asset misappropriation as part of the Occupational Fraud and Abuse Classification System created by the Association of Fraud Examiners. An initial instrument to measure traits is developed and used to map decision paths …

Ceo Ownership And Firm Performance: Evidence From The 2003 Dividend Tax Cut, Hong Kim Duong

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study investigates whether and how CEO ownership impacts firm performance by using the large tax cut on individual dividend income enacted in 2003 (The 2003 Dividend Tax Cut) as an exogenous shock. My findings suggest that CEO ownership of dividend payers significantly increased after the shock in the form of higher annual restricted stock grants and more option exercises. I document that the change in CEO ownership has an asymmetric impact on firm performance and investment efficiency. Only dividend payers with CEOs who moved closer to optimal ownership experienced improvement in investment efficiency and performance. In contrast, dividend payers …

Interactive Learning: Developing An Esimulation Portal Framework, Ayman Tobail, John Crowe, Amr Arisha

Articles

The emerging eLearning paradigm is becoming increasingly used in many academic disciplines. The concept acknowledges learning processes that no longer deploy only traditional teaching methods. It can be argued that today’s third level education students are part of a new virtual era where the blackboard has been replaced by the interactive whiteboard, so more interactive and virtually orientated teaching aids are required to assist in the transition from traditional learning to eLearning. The key objective of this paper is to propose a simulation-based learning framework that integrates web-based simulation and a web content management hierarchy model. Using the highly complex …

Interactive Learning: Developing An Esimulation Portal Framework, Ayman Tobail, John Crowe, Amr Arisha

Articles

The emerging eLearning paradigm is becoming increasingly used in many academic disciplines. The concept acknowledges learning processes that no longer deploy only traditional teaching methods. It can be argued that today’s third level education students are part of a new virtual era where the blackboard has been replaced by the interactive whiteboard, so more interactive and virtually orientated teaching aids are required to assist in the transition from traditional learning to eLearning. The key objective of this paper is to propose a simulation-based learning framework that integrates web-based simulation and a web content management hierarchy model. Using the highly complex …

Legitimising Expertise: Analysing The Legitimation Strategies Used By Economics Experts In Broadcast Interviews, Joseph K. Fitzgerald, Brendan O'Rourke

Articles

Few would doubt that economists have taken a prominent role as experts on policy issues [Maesse, J. 2015. Economic experts: A discursive political economy of economics. Journal of Multicultural Discourses 10, no.3: 279–305] and some contend that no other social science discipline has gained such prominence [Fourcade, M., E. Ollion, and Y. Algan. 2015. The superiority of economists. Journal of Economic Perspectives 29, no.1: 89–114]. This prominent societal role has long been evident and leans on their perceived objectivity with regard to the economy and policy advice. Yet, the Great Recession of 2008 put past understandings of the economy, and …

Strategy/Enterprise Discourse Bounds In Business Talk., Brendan O'Rourke

Articles

Corporate strategy emerged as large non-owner managed firms became economically important (Knights and Morgan, 1991). Strategy became the substitute for the earlier enterprise discourse, which depended on the dominance, in entrepreneurial capitalism, of owner-managed firms. The discourses of strategy and enterprise developed as separate academic areas and as logics of two very different economic domains. From the late 1970s however, large organizations (Kanter, 1983:27) and governments have been urged to be more entrepreneurial (Klein et al., 2010; Osborne and Gaebler, 1993). Meanwhile, small firms were encouraged to be more strategic (Carr, 2000). This article looks at evidence from small …