Business Commons^™

Faculty Perceptions Of Core Components Perceived To Be Effective In Their Prominent Graduate Entrepreneurship Education Programs, James Grant Taylor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify Core components perceived by faculty to be effective in their prominent graduate entrepreneurship education programs. The study sought to identify the best practices in graduate entrepreneurship education programs from the perceptions of faculty in the field.

Research questions guiding the study were: (1) What Core components related to the following Broad question areas are perceived by faculty to be effective in their prominent graduate entrepreneurship education programs: Activities and initiatives; Adult education principles and practices; Alumni and mentoring; Course offerings; Curriculum and degrees; Faculty data; Institutional characteristics; Instructional methods; Student companies; and …

The Effect Of Corporate Social Responsibility Investment And Disclosure On Cooperation In Business Collaborations, Sukari Farrington

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I experimentally examine whether disclosure of corporate social responsibility (CSR) investment facilitates cooperation in business collaborations. Business collaborations are essential for firms to maintain their competitive advantage. However, half of all ventures fail. A major reason for this high failure rate is a lack of cooperation among business collaboration partners, known as relational risk. Findings suggest that CSR disclosure leads to greater CSR investment, but does not result in an overall higher level of cooperation. However, CSR disclosure moderates the link between CSR investment and cooperation. When CSR investment is disclosed, cooperation is highest when both managers invest in CSR. …

Multi-Step Tokenization Of Automated Clearing House Payment Transactions, Privin Alexander

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since its beginnings in 1974, the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network has grown into one of the largest, safest, and most efficient payment systems in the world. An ACH transaction is an electronic funds transfer between bank accounts using a batch processing system.

Currently, the ACH Network moves almost $43 trillion and 25 billion electronic financial transactions each year. With the increasing movement toward an electronic, interconnected and mobile infrastructure, it is critical that electronic payments work safely and efficiently for all users. ACH transactions carry sensitive data, such as a consumer's name, account number, tax identification number, account holder …

Defining Data Science And Data Scientist, Dana M. Dedge Parks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The world’s data sets are growing exponentially every day due to the large number of devices generating data residue across the multitude of global data centers. What to do with the massive data stores, how to manage them and defining who are performing these tasks has not been adequately defined and agreed upon by academics and practitioners. Data science is a cross disciplinary, amalgam of skills, techniques and tools which allow business organizations to identify trends and build assumptions which lead to key decisions. It is in an evolutionary state as new technologies with capabilities are still being developed and …

Physician Practice Survival: The Role Of Analytics In Shaping The Future, Janene Jones Culumber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation joins an ongoing discussion in the business management and information technology literature surrounding the measurement of an organization’s business analytic capability, the benefits derived from maturing the capability and the improvements being made toward maturity. The dissertation specifically focuses on the healthcare industry in the United States and more specifically independent physician practices specializing in orthopaedics. After an extensive literature review along with expertise from industry leaders and experienced academic faculty, a survey instrument was developed to measure organizational capabilities, technology capabilities and people capabilities which together measured an organizations overall business analytic capability maturity. The survey instrument …

Understanding And Applying Emotional Intelligence: A Qualitative Study Of Tampa Veterans Administration Hospital Employees, Brenda Webb Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emotional intelligence (EI) has not been studied extensively within the Veterans’ Health Administration (VHA). The VHA is the largest healthcare organization in America with over 360,000 employees and the organization invests heavily in competency development. The Tampa VA is a level 1 facility with over 5,000 employees in the Tampa Bay area. The facilities Education office offers competency development through soft skills training, leadership development, and contracted courses that include emotional intelligence for leaders.

The purpose of this study was to better discern ten Tampa VA medical center employees understanding and application of EI competence within their personal and professional …

The Great Recession Of 2007 And The Housing Market Crash: Why Did So Many Builders Fail?, Mohamad Ali Hasbini

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The “Great Recession” of 2007 created havoc in the homebuilding industry, more than any other previous economic down cycle. Countless seasoned local homebuilders across the country did not survive. The impact of their failure on the economy, community, employment, lenders, suppliers, and subcontractors was devastating. While previous studies have sought to identify the symptoms and causes of business failure, very little research has been done on home builder business failure due to acts, omissions, characteristics, or other events which are non-financial. Specifically, those that are attributable to the failed entities' top management and leadership during the housing crisis and the …

Facilities Management: How Public Leadership Is Responding To Crisis, Rebecca Jane Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research presents the results of a qualitative and quantitative investigation to understand the challenges of public sector facilities management and maintenance to include the negative impact of deferred maintenance, it’s history, the current industry practices and the potential to reverse the negative impact of the current trend.

History has been known to speak loudly, and with accuracy relative to the expansion of public facilities and the challenge to maintain them. The challenge to keep pace with the growing population and the ever-changing requirements for contemporary designs are felt in every sector of our public facilities. Regardless, we, the public …

Kinetic Problem Solving, Charles Arant

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Government leaders stand to benefit from improved program management capabilities within their organizations. Often, they are faced with crisis situations that require a rapid-fire, precise, effective problem solving process. Some of these programs are more severe or complex than others. With time and certainty of the solution as constraints, efficient program management supporting the Defense Acquisition Life Cycle remains an enigma for organizations at best and a hazard at worst.

Program management dealing with crisis problem solving, which is characterized by critical events and high cost, is a real-time process where requirements are identified and resolved to achieve a desired …

Determinants Of Tipping Rates: New Findings And Extensions, Christopher Carl Olson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a movement underway to eliminate the practice of tipping restaurant servers that is gaining momentum (Goldberger, 2015). In lieu of gratuities, restaurants are simply raising menu prices or assessing a service charge and paying servers a fixed hourly wage (Kummer, 2016). Before restaurateurs can adopt such a strategy, they need to thoroughly understand the factors that affect tipping behavior in order to develop meaningful fixed wage rates that do not diminish service levels or employee morale. The first step in this process is a better understanding of the determinants of tipping rates.

The existing research has identified many …

Vital Signs Of U.S. Osteopathic Medical Residency Programs Pivoting To Single Accreditation Standards, Timothy S. Novak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Osteopathic physician (D.O.) residency programs that do not achieve accreditation under the new Single Accreditation System (SAS) standards by June 30, 2020 will lose access to their share of more than $9,000,000,000 of public tax dollars. This U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) funding helps sponsoring institutions cover direct and indirect resident physician training expenses. A significant financial burden would then be shifted to marginal costs of the residency program’s sponsoring institution in the absence of CMS funding. The sponsoring institution’s ability or willingness to bare these costs occurs during a time when hospital operating margins are at …

A Study On The Efficacy Of The Medicare Bundled Payments For Care Improvement Initiative At A Large Community Hospital In The Southeast United States, Elizabeth E. Kerns

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2013, Medicare launched the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Initiative which linked payments for multiple services for a complete episode of patient care. With this innovative reimbursement model, hospitals accepted fixed target payments for certain types of clinical diagnoses that were intended to support better care coordination and better outcomes for patients at lower cost to Medicare. This was one of many programs aimed at addressing the serious challenges facing United States healthcare, including costs that are skyrocketing to unsustainable levels and lack of coordination of care across venues.

Preliminary Medicare results showed that bundled payments might lead …

Toward A Systemic Model For Governance And Strategic Management: Evaluating Stakeholder Theory Versus Shareholder Theory Approaches, James A. Stikeleather

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The research’s intent is improvement in governance and strategic management initially by comparing Shareholder Theory and Stakeholder Theory and making results useful for both Practitioner and Academic audiences. A conceptual model for how a society establishes and evolves the roles it legitimizes for a business to support reasoning about those roles and the process originating the expectations, responsibilities, obligations, contributions and freedom to act in the roles is proposed. Understanding this process would enable better governance and strategic management of a firm while avoiding unintended consequences when fulfilling the role and consequences for failing the role. The model becomes a …

A Longitudinal Study Of The Effects Of Cognitive Awareness Training On Transaction Processing Accuracy: An Introduction To The Ace Theoretical Construct, John Townsend

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the impact of Cognitive Awareness training on transaction processing accuracy rates within the US Financial Services Industry. Grounded in the theories of Inattentional Blindness and Error Management Culture, this paper supports and extends both theories through the development of a new theoretical construct. The ACE Construct is a novel approach that combines cognitive science, organizational development, and operational efficiency practices into a single approach designed to improve transaction processing accuracy. The study involved the design and implementation of a novel training program, with performance data observations sampled over seven months, to evaluate the impact of Cognitive Awareness …

Enhancing The Internet Of Things Architecture With Flow Semantics, Allen Ronald Deserranno

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Internet of Things (‘IoT’) systems are complex, asynchronous solutions often comprised of various software and hardware components developed in isolation of each other. These components function with different degrees of reliability and performance over an inherently unreliable network, the Internet. Many IoT systems are developed within silos that do not provide the ability to communicate or be interoperable with other systems and platforms. Literature exists on how these systems should be designed, how they should interoperate, and how they could be improved, but practice does not always consult literature.

The work brings together a proposed reference architecture for the IoT …

What Factors During The Genesis Of A Startup Are Causal To Survival?, Gilbert T. Gonzalez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research presents the results of a qualitative and quantitative investigation into what factors are present at time zero that increase the probability that a startup will achieve long term sustainability.

Survival rates for startups in the United States (U.S.) are disappointingly low and economically inefficient. The data shows that the U.S. clearly lags its peer countries in the survival rates of startups. The U.S ranked an unacceptable 11th of 14 among its peer countries in first-year survival rates in recent years. Startup failure does not only impact the entrepreneur; it also impacts creditors, vendors, community stakeholders, and employees. While …

Crashapp™ –Concurrent Multiple Stakeholder Evaluation Of A Dsr Artefact, Timothy M. Papp

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The successful design, implementation, deployment, and use of mobile software applications is rare. While many mobile apps are developed, few succeed. This design science research project builds and evaluates CrashApp™, a mobile application that connects lawyers and clients before, during, and after car accidents. The effective, widespread use of this app depends on satisfying the needs of three groups of stakeholders – the end-users (clients), the owners (lawyers), and the software developers. The research objective is to investigate the key differences among the three stakeholder groups on evaluation criteria for mobile app success. Evaluation strategies and methods are selected to …

Leaders Who Learn: The Intersection Of Behavioral Science, Adult Learning And Leadership, Natalya I. Sabga

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines if a relationship exists among three rich research streams, specifically the behavioral science of motivation, adult learning and leadership. What motivates adult professionals to continue learning and how is that connected to their style and efficacy as leaders? An extension of literature to connect Andragogy, Self-determination and Transformational Leadership Theory is explored. Responses to questions adapted from the Carré Model of Adult Orientation and Implication on Learning and Training Activities (Carré, 1997) and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Avolio & Bass, 2000) are compared among a sample of adult professionals in leadership positions. Results indicate that learning motivation …

An Examination Of Innovation Idea Selection Factors In Large Organizations, Troy A. Montgomery

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A review of the innovation literature reveals theoretical models and success factors that pertain to the front end of innovation. However these models and factors fail to offer insight into factors large organizations consider when specifically performing the activity of idea selection. To bridge this gap, a grounded theory method was used to extract knowledge on innovation idea selection from 28 senior executives and innovation directors from 10 different, large organizations (defined as annual revenues greater than $1 billion). Analysis of the interview data resulted in the identification of 5 systemic and 4 implementation factors that large organizations consider when …

The Effects Of Loneliness On Consumers’ Digital Engagement With Social Media Ads, Yu Qin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social media has become an integral part of consumers’ lives and a popular platform for interactive marketing communication. In an age boasting of unprecedented digital connectivity, loneliness (defined as perceived social isolation) has, paradoxically, becoming widespread, affecting consumers’ preferences for products and brands in the marketplace. The present research extends the feelings-as-information theory and develops a conceptual framework in which loneliness modifies people’s cognitive processing style and induces concrete thinking in the context of evaluating social media messages. Using a mixed methods research approach, I first take a close look through the lens of a qualitative study at what it …

Breach: Understanding The Mandatory Reporting Of Title Ix Violations As Pedagogy And Performance, Jacob G. Abraham

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines how institutions generate, teach, and authorize normative performances through texts and/as pedagogical practices. Through an analysis of the University of South Florida’s mandatory reporting policy, training, and Title IX Incident Report Form, this project examines how institutions construct and privilege certain values, performances, and individuals as means of generating the legal compliance of the institution independent. These practices are valued independent of how such compliance enables and limits the relationship between students and teachers. I argue the University’s texts and pedagogical practices serve to substantiate, authorize, and perform the materialization of certain privileges and the normative standards …

Product Shadows And Ad Evaluations, Nazuk Sharma

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior research shows that stylistic ad manipulations (i.e., the style or manner in which product visuals are presented in an ad) impact consumer perceptions (Yang, Zhang and Peracchio 2010). This dissertation explores the impact of presence (versus absence) of a product’s shadow in the ad frame, as a visual stylistic manipulation influencing consumer ad perceptions. While many stylistic manipulations have been explored in the past, product shadows in how they impact ad perceptions have not been explored.

Drawing on a holistic understanding on object shadows from the visual art, cognition and psychophysics literature streams, this dissertation investigates how product shadows …

Hate Is A Strong Word: The Influence Of Hate-Acknowledging Advertising On Brand Outcomes, Lisa Monahan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Given a lack of tactics for addressing brand hate, most managers tend to ignore brand haters, and instead dedicate their resources towards consumers who like or love their brand. Similarly, relative to the volume of research on positive brand emotions, the academic literature exploring negative brand emotions is limited. Moreover, research indicates that compared to positive brand information, negative brand information is more diagnostic, and ultimately more damaging.

In contrast to such findings and practices, this dissertation proposes a strategy whereby using advertising to openly acknowledge that a brand is hated (i.e. hate-acknowledging advertising) can be advantageous for corporate polarizing …

Essays On Sales Coaching, Carlin A. Nguyen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In general, scholars and practitioners agree that sales coaching enhances sales performance. Sales firms continue to invest billions of dollars towards coaching endeavors. However, despite the positive benefits of sales coaching, the fact is that most sales coaches are ineffective. In three essays, this dissertation aims to offer insight that will help companies and coaching programs improve the effectiveness of their sales coaches.

The first essay explores the sales coaching process and how it is affected by factors related to the sales manager (coach) and the salesperson (coachee). Using in-depth interviews, we identified various skills, behaviors, and abilities that reflect …

The Effect Of Expanded Audit Report Disclosures On Users’ Confidence In The Audit And The Financial Statements, Peter Kipp

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I investigate how nonprofessional investors’ confidence in the financial statements and the audit report is influenced by the firm specific details of a critical audit matter (CAM) disclosure in conjunction with the description of the audit procedures engaged to address the CAM in the audit report. Using participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk as a proxy for nonprofessional investors in a 2x2 +1 (control) between-participants experiment manipulating CAM disclosure detail (Detailed/Generic) and the description of the audit procedures engaged to address the CAM (Detail/Generic) I find that greater detail in the description of the CAM results in higher confidence in …

Modeling In Finance And Insurance With Levy-It'o Driven Dynamic Processes Under Semi Markov-Type Switching Regimes And Time Domains, Patrick Armand Assonken Tonfack

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mathematical and statistical modeling have been at the forefront of many significant advances in many disciplines in both the academic and industry sectors. From behavioral sciences to hard core quantum mechanics in physics, mathematical modeling has made a compelling argument for its usefulness and its necessity in advancing the current state of knowledge in the 21rst century. In Finance and Insurance in particular, stochastic modeling has proven to be an effective approach in accomplishing a vast array of tasks: risk management, leveraging of investments, prediction, hedging, pricing, insurance, and so on. However, the magnitude of the damage incurred in recent …

Essays On The Tax Policy And Insider Trading, Han Shi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the first essay I examine the relation between firm advertising and tax aggressiveness. Advertising increases firm visibility in both the product and the financial market. While investors would appreciate more tax savings, they are aware of the negative impact of tax aggressiveness on consumers’ views of the firm and hence its competitive positions in the product market. We find that firms that spend more on advertising have fewer tax sheltering activities, lower book-tax differences, and higher cash effective tax rates. Specifically, an increase of 1% on Advertising_i,t (ADVGP_i,t), the firm pays an additional tax of $0.70 …

Evaluating The Relative Importance Of Influencing Factors On Cruise Vacations: A Conjoint Analysis, Frida Bahja

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on exploring the relative importance of six influential factors in cruise customers’ decision-making process such as: cruise vacation price, cruise duration, distance from the cruise port, itineraries, environmental friendliness of cruise line and cruise online reviews. The decision on which influencing factors to select was made based on the review of literature.

The complexity of cruise customers’ decision-making process for these six attributes with several levels was examined with Choice-Based Conjoint (CBC) Analysis. CBC was selected due to its realistic approach to purchase decisions, in the form of trade-offs. The online survey collected data anonymously. The survey …

How Online Reviews Influence Consumer Restaurant Selection, Nefike Gunden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since social media has been growing rapidly, the restaurant industry has been exploring this area extensively. Given that social media provides restaurant consumers with an opportunity to share their dining experiences, several studies have examined the impact of social media on consumer restaurant selection (Tran, 2015). As a part of the social media umbrella, online reviews are significant factors that influence consumer restaurant selection (Park & Nicolau, 2015; Yang, Hlee, Lee, Koo, 2017). However, there is a lack of understanding with regard to which attributes of restaurant online reviews are the most influential when it comes to customer decision making. …

The Effect Of Behavioral Skills Training On Shot Performance In Field Hockey, Kelsey O'Neill

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Behavior analysis procedures have been used to improve sports performance and enhance player safety across a wide variety of sports. The current study evaluated the effects of behavioral skills training on three common field hockey hits, a slap shot, drive, and sweep for young field hockey players. The procedures were evaluated in a multiple baseline across behaviors for three players. Results showed increases in each type of shot once intervention was implemented.