Business Commons^™

Digital Financial Services And Strategic Financial Management: Financial Services Firms And Microenterprises In African Markets, Esi A. Elliot, Carmina Cavazos, Benjamin Ngugi

International Business and Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study highlights the impact of digital financial services as enhancing the capacity of development goals as well as social sustainability. The selected emerging markets are Ghanaian financial service providers (FSP)s and microenterprise customers (CME)s, where we examine how “Ubuntu”, an African philosophy of humanism, legitimizes spaces for a more democratic, egalitarian, and ethical engagement of human beings. This study adopts a grounded theory methodology for investigation of the phenomena with a sample size of 70 relationship managers. The findings further existing sustainability literature pertaining to social sustainability and consumer wellbeing. We contribute to theory by presenting a psychological perspective …

Metaverse Marketing: How The Metaverse Will Shape The Future Of Consumer Research And Practice, Yogesh K. Dwivedi, Laurie Hughes, Yichuan Wang, Ali A. Alalwan, Sun J. (Grace) Ahn, Janarthanan Balakrishnan, Sergio Barta, Russell Belk, Dimitrios Buhalis, Reto Felix

Marketing Faculty Publications and Presentations

The initial hype and fanfare from the Meta Platforms view of how the metaverse could be brought to life has evolved into an ongoing discussion of not only the metaverse's impact on users and organizations but also the societal and cultural implications of widespread usage. The potential of consumer interaction with brands within the metaverse has engendered significant debate within the marketing‐ focused discourse on the key challenges and transformative opportunities for marketers. Drawing on insights from expert contributors, this study examines the marketing implications of the hypothetical widespread adoption of the metaverse. We identify new research directions and propose …

Extending The Diversity Conversation: Fashion Consumption Experiences Of Underrepresented And Underserved Women, Lena Cavusoglu, Deniz Atik

Marketing Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research brings in the voice of underserved and underrepresented women of various racial or ethnic origins and social classes, who have differing buying powers, sexual orientations, body shapes, and physical appearances, into the conversation of fashion diversity. Through a qualitative inquiry with 38 semi-structured in-depth interviews, the researchers analyzed the consumption experiences of diverse women to expose what the fashion scene is lacking. The study's main contribution is the depiction of overlooked diversity categories in fashion, such as the non-White and non-Black women of color, women of average sizes, and women with characteristics that the fashion industry has long …

How Do Digital Lives Affect Resident Mental Health In The Digital Era? Empirical Evidence Based On Chinese General Social Survey, Yan Chen, Mengyang Wei, Jaime Ortiz

International Business and Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications and Presentations

Having good mental health means we are better able to connect, function, cope and thrive. The widespread application of digital technology in daily life provides new ways and promising tools for residents to maintain their mental health. Given the importance of mental health for everyone, and the fact that mental health problems are prevalent worldwide, this study discusses how digital lives affects the mental health of residents. The results suggest that digital lives are significantly and positively associated with mental health. Mechanisms analysis identifies personal perceptions (self-rated physical exercise and subjective wellbeing) as the important paths for digital lives to …

Harnessing The Power Within: The Consequences Of Salesperson Moral Identity And The Moderating Role Of Internal Competitive Climate, Omar S. Itani, Nawar N. Chaker

Marketing Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this research is to examine the notion of salesperson moral identity as a prosocial individual trait and its associated effects on customer and coworker relationships. In addition, this study examines the underlying processes in which these effects occur as well as the moderating role of internal competitive climate. Our empirical investigation of business-to-business (B2B) sales professionals reveals that moral identity has both direct and indirect effects on a salesperson’s customer- and team-directed outcomes. Specifically, our results demonstrate that salesperson moral identity positively affects both salesperson-customer identification and organizational identification, which, in turn, impact customer service provision and …

Examining Users’ Information Disclosure And Audience Support Response Dynamics In Online Health Communities: An Empirical Study, Joseph A. Manga, Francis K. Andoh-Baidoo, Emmanuel Wusuhon Yanibo Ayaburi, Diego Escobari

Information Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Online healthcare communities (OHCs) facilitate two-way interaction. Examining users’ information disclosure-audience support response dynamics can reveal insights for fostering a supportive environment, community engagement, bond formation, knowledge sharing, and sustained participation in OHCs. We propose a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model of user disclosure and response dynamics in OHCs. Based on the health disclosure decision-making model and daily time series data, we examine the two-way interaction of two dimensions of disclosure efficacy with audience support response acceptance. Findings of the impulse response functions reveal that user information density leads to positive support response acceptance, whereas support response acceptance reduces the …

Framing Of Covid-19 In Newspapers: A Perspective From The Us-Mexico Border, Rifat Afrin, Ahasan Harun, Gayle Prybutok, Victor Prybutok

Information Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

The degree to which the media report a health emergency affects the seriousness with which the people respond to combat the health crisis. Engagement from local newspapers in the US has received scant scrutiny, even though there is a sizable body of scholarship on the analysis of COVID-19 news. We fill this void by focusing on the Rio Grande Valley area of the US-Mexico border. To understand the differences, we compared such local news coverage with the coverage of a national news outlet. After collecting the relevant news articles, we used sentiment analysis, rapid automatic keyword extraction (RAKE), and co-occurrence …

Engaging With Omnichannel Brands: The Role Of Consumer Empowerment, Omar S. Itani, Sandra Maria Correia Loureiro, Zahy Ramadan

Marketing Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose

This study aims to integrate brand and retailer levels variables to examine the direct and indirect relationships between omnichannel retailing and consumer engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data are collected from a sample consumers of different omnichannel retailing brands operating in the skin care industry. Partial least squares structural equation modeling is utilized.

Findings

The study finds brand channels' integrated interactions (process and content consistency) to increase consumer brand engagement. Findings show retailer consumer empowerment to intensify the impact of omnichannel retailing on consumer engagement. Results also show brand channels' integrated interactions to increase consumer brand familiarity, which mediates the effect …

Constructing An Intelligent Model Based On Support Vector Regression To Simulate The Solubility Of Drugs In Polymeric Media, Sait Senceroglu, Mohamed Arselene Ayari, Tahereh Rezaei, Fardad Faress, Amith Khandakar, Muhammad E. H. Chowdhury, Zanko Hassan Jawhar

International Business and Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study constructs a machine learning method to simultaneously analyze the thermodynamic behavior of many polymer–drug systems. The solubility temperature of Acetaminophen, Celecoxib, Chloramphenicol, D-Mannitol, Felodipine, Ibuprofen, Ibuprofen Sodium, Indomethacin, Itraconazole, Naproxen, Nifedipine, Paracetamol, Sulfadiazine, Sulfadimidine, Sulfamerazine, and Sulfathiazole in 1,3-bis[2-pyrrolidone-1-yl] butane, Polyvinyl Acetate, Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), PVP K12, PVP K15, PVP K17, PVP K25, PVP/VA, PVP/VA 335, PVP/VA 535, PVP/VA 635, PVP/VA 735, Soluplus analyzes from a modeling perspective. The least-squares support vector regression (LS-SVR) designs to approximate the solubility temperature of drugs in polymers from polymer and drug types and drug loading in polymers. The structure of this machine …

Value Of Membership-Based Free Shipping In Online Retailing: Impact Of Upstream Pricing Model, Geng Sun, Huseyin Cavusoglu, Srinivasan Raghunathan

Information Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

A consumer-side innovation in online retailing is membership-based free shipping (MFS) in which a retailer bears the shipping cost for purchases made by members that have paid an upfront membership fee. On the supplier side, the agency model of selling, where a retailer allows a third-party manufacturer to sell his product on the site for a commission, has been gradually replacing the wholesale model, where the retailer buys from the manufacturer at a wholesale price and resells to consumers at a retail price. We show that the shift to the agency model enhances the value of the MFS program to …

How Do Consumers In General Evaluate, Judge, And Act Toward Shoplifting? The Moderating Effects Of Personal Characteristics And Motives, Juehui Shi, Ngoc Cindy Pham, Claudio Schapsis, Tofazzal Hossain, Arturo Z. Vasquez-Parraga

Marketing Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite the seriousness of shoplifting, consumers’ evaluations, judgements, and intentions toward shoplifting remain underexplored by scholars from business ethics, marketing, retailing, and consumer behavior. We propose a new shoplifting ethics model, which integrates Hunt and Vitell’s theory of ethics with Nadeau, Rochlen, and Tyminski’s typology of shoplifting, by incorporating the moderators of consumers’ personal characteristics (i.e., age, gender, marital status, income) and shoplifting motives (i.e., social, experiential, economic, emotional) onto the relationships among deontological evaluation, teleological evaluation, ethical judgment, and intention. Based on a two-by-two randomized experimental design, two shoplifting cases (i.e., swapping price tags, stealing products) are investigated in …

Dual-Class Share Structure And Innovation, Lindsay Baran, Arno Forst, M. Tony Via

School of Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using a sample of dual-class firms matched with single-class firms possessing similar antitakeover protection, we find a positive association between disproportionate insider control and patent output, quality, creativity, research and development efficiency, and chief executive officer innovative risk taking. We also find, however, that the positive effects of disproportionate control on innovation are concentrated in financially constrained firms and firms in highly competitive industries, and that the positive effects dissipate within 10 years after the initial public offering. Most important, the positive effect of dual-class structures for innovation is conditional on the presence of innovative insiders in the firm. These …

What Does Not Kill You Makes You Stronger: Supply Chain Resilience And Corporate Sustainability Through Emerging It Capability, Zhaojun Yang, Xiaoting Guo, Jun Sun, Yali Zhang, Ying Wang

Information Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Global epidemics and international conflicts disrupt supply chain operations. Many enterprises employ emerging information technology (IT) to reduce supply chain vulnerability and enhance supply chain resilience. Technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain facilitate more robust supply chain operations, such as remanufacturing, just-in-time production, and automated workflow, leading to corporate sustainability along economic, environmental, and social dimensions. From a dynamic capability perspective, this article conceptualizes emerging IT capability and investigates its role in helping enterprises survive supply chain disruptions and prosper in the long run. A research model depicts the relationships among environmental uncertainty, supply chain vulnerability vigilance, emerging IT capability, …

Why Do Employees Commit Fraud? Theory, Measurement, And Validation, Bin Lin, Junqin Huang, Youliang Liao, Shanmin Liu, Haiyan Zhou

School of Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Previous research on corporate governance has extensively explored the motives of corporate fraud. However, this research has paid little attention to employees, the real executors of fraud, resulting in the psychological and behavioral decision-making process of employees who commit fraud in enterprises becoming a "black box" that has not yet been opened. Based on the theory of planned behavior, our study integrates the existing research findings on driving factors of employee fraud and anti-fraud practical experience, extracts the key factors of employee fraud motive, and develops a multidimensional scale of employee fraud motive. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) generates three …

Introducing A Linear Empirical Correlation For Predicting The Mass Heat Capacity Of Biomaterials, Reza Iranmanesh, Afham Pourahmad, Fardad Faress, Sevil Tutunchian, Mohammad Amin Ariana, Hamed Sadeqi, Saleh Hosseini, Falah Alobaid, Babak Aghel

International Business and Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study correlated biomass heat capacity (Cp) with the chemistry (sulfur and ash content), crystallinity index, and temperature of various samples. A five-parameter linear correlation predicted 576 biomass Cp samples from four different origins with the absolute average relative deviation (AARD%) of ~1.1%. The proportional reduction in error (REE) approved that ash and sulfur contents only enlarge the correlation and have little effect on the accuracy. Furthermore, the REE showed that the temperature effect on biomass heat capacity was stronger than on the crystallinity index. Consequently, a new three-parameter correlation utilizing crystallinity index and temperature was developed. This model was …

Metaverse Beyond The Hype: Multidisciplinary Perspectives On Emerging Challenges, Opportunities, And Agenda For Research, Practice And Policy, Yogesh K. Dwivedi, Laurie Hughes, Abdullah M. Baabdullah, Samuel Ribeiro-Navarrete, Mihalis Giannakis, Mutaz M. Al-Debei, Denis Dennehy, Bhimaraya Metri, Dimitrios Buhalis, Reto Felix

Marketing Faculty Publications and Presentations

The metaverse has the potential to extend the physical world using augmented and virtual reality technologies allowing users to seamlessly interact within real and simulated environments using avatars and holograms. Virtual environments and immersive games (such as, Second Life, Fortnite, Roblox and VRChat) have been described as antecedents of the metaverse and offer some insight to the potential socio-economic impact of a fully functional persistent cross platform metaverse. Separating the hype and “meta…” rebranding from current reality is difficult, as “big tech” paints a picture of the transformative nature of the metaverse and how it will positively …

A Decomposed Data Analysis Approach To Assessing City Sustainable Development Performance: A Network Dea Model With A Slack-Based Measure, Bowen Sun, Haibo Wang, Jaime Ortiz, Jun Huang, Can Zhao, Zelang Wang

International Business and Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper deals with urban sustainable development in China. We propose a network data envelopment analysis (DEA) model with a slack-based measure (SBM) to analyze the eco-efficiency of 284 Chinese cities, enabling us to find a way to open the “black box” in conventional DEA models and introduce social well-being factors into the model, and depict the role of local government in providing public service and improving social well-beings. We set up a framework of urban development by dividing the process of into two steps. The first stage is a production system translating inputs and natural resources into GDP and …

The Use Of Text Analytics To Investigate Concepts In Intra- And Inter-Disciplinary Software Piracy Research Inter-Disciplinary Software Piracy Research, Jerald Hughes, Juan A. Chavarria, Francis Andoh-Baidoo

Information Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

IS research has linked collaborators from diverse domains. IS research requires selecting and addressing an appropriate intradisciplinary or interdisciplinary scope. Identifying gaps in the current literature and deciding when and how collaborations among different disciplines may be fruitful poses challenges. We propose a process to analyze a corpus of documents from any topic, to identify potential collaboration areas.

A text analytics process is used to find areas of commonality and exclusivity among questions addressed in existing IS work by analyzing abstracts in papers from multiple disciplines studying 'software piracy.' We use term-term co-occurrence to find all the terms used in …

How Does Organizational Justice Work Across National Culture? Effects Of Procedural And Distributive Justice On Information Security Policy Compliance Across National Culture, Maliha Alam, Nan Xiao

Information Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Information security policy non-compliance has been a major issue in organizations. While organizational justice plays an important role in ISP compliance., previous studies have found justice works differently for people in various national cultures. This study investigates how procedural and distributive justices affect information security policy compliance across national cultures.

Unraveling Cyberloafing Paradox: Towards A Targeted Approach For Managing Cyberloafing, Bright Frimpong, Fatima Mohammed

Information Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cyberloafing remains an important issue for organizations due to the ambivalent nature of its consequences. There is a need to extend the scope of motives that influence different kinds of cyberloafing to develop a broader understanding of cyberloafing and manage its consequences. Therefore, this study focuses on the triggers of specific cyberloafing behaviors towards developing targeted cyberloafing policies to address their prevalence

Entrepreneurial Imaginativeness: A Janusian-Cognition Lens On The Role Of Multicultural Experience, Robert J. Pidduck, Daniel R. Clark, Yejun Zhang

Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

A burgeoning stream of research is emerging on the importance of entrepreneurial imaginativeness in the new venture development process. Empirical studies so far have focused predominantly on its ideation-based outcomes—the number and quality of ideas produced. Knowledge remains scant, however, on its antecedent mechanisms and mediating role in nascent venturing. Drawing from a novel Janusian-thinking lens, we integrate another growing research stream in entrepreneurship—multicultural experience—to probe how the creative, social, and practical cognitive schemas underpinning entrepreneurial imaginativeness can be cultivated through dimensions of perhaps the most distinctive form of cultural exposure: living abroad. We find evidence across two studies that …

What Is Xr? Towards A Framework For Augmented And Virtual Reality, Philipp A. Rauschnabel, Reto Felix, Chris Hinsch, Hamza Shahab, Florian Alt

Marketing Faculty Publications and Presentations

Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality, and Extended Reality (often – misleadingly – abbreviated as XR) are commonly used terms to describe how technologies generate or modify reality. However, academics and professionals have been inconsistent in their use of these terms. This has led to conceptual confusion and unclear demarcations. Inspired by prior research and qualitative insights from XR professionals, we discuss the meaning and definitions of various terms and organize them in our proposed framework. As a result, we conclude that (1) XR should not be used to connote extended reality, but as a more open approach …

B2b Ewom On Alibaba: Signaling Through Online Reviews In Platform-Based Social Exchange, Zsófia Tóth, Mona Mrad, Omar S. Itani, Jun Luo, Martin J. Liu

Marketing Faculty Publications and Presentations

Highlights

• The study explores buyers' signaling of observable and unobservable supplier characteristics on the Alibaba e-platform.

• Key B2B eWOM themes that the study identifies are: product/service quality, human touch, responsiveness, and resilience.

• Findings demonstrate that human touch is vital in B2B e-platform environments too, not only in physical reality.

• Buyers' signals aim at suppliers as well as at prospective buyers and implicitly buyers send signals about themselves too.

• Signaling Theory is applied to address the signaling process, while Social Exchange Theory informs relevant cost-benefit assessments.

Abstract

This study investigates the contemporary role of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in business exchanges through …

Political Corruption And Corporate Risk-Taking, Hinh Khieu, Nam H. Nguyen, Hieu V. Phan, Jon A. Fulkerson

School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

We use variation in corruption convictions across judicial districts in the US to examine the relationship between political corruption and risk-taking of public firms. Firms headquartered in regions with high levels of political corruption have lower total risk and lower idiosyncratic risk on average. Further analysis shows that corruption tends to encourage firms to pursue risk-decreasing investments, lower the riskiness of their operations, and decrease asset liquidity. While managerial ownership is intended to align the interests of managers and shareholders, the presence of corruption appears to encourage undiversified managers to decrease risk-taking. Our evidence is consistent with agency theory and …

Africa Meets America: The Impact Of Collectivism And Individualism On Attitude Towards Shopping, Charles Blankson, Thuy Nguyen, Esi A. Elliot, Sayed Abbas Ahmed, Pumela Msweli

International Business and Entrepreneurship Faculty Publications and Presentations

The adoption of marketing strategy does not occur in cultural vacuums. Instead, marketing strategies unfold within social contexts that encode values, beliefs, and patterns of behavior. The increasingly inter-dependent global economy results in the acculturation of tensions between global and local consumer cultures. This dynamism however offers new opportunities for international firms to redefine and reevaluate their glocal (global/local) marketing strategies. Relying on Triandis cultural dimensions, this research contributes to international marketing literature by answering two key research questions, namely, what are the differences between African (Ghanaian) and American consumers’ cultural characteristics? and how do the cultural differences explain attitude …

Free Cash Flows And Price Momentum, Jiajia Fu, Fangming Xu, Cheng Zeng, Lily Zheng

School of Accountancy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study investigates the role of free cash flows and (cross-sectional and time-series) price momentum in predicting future stock returns. Past returns and free cash flows each positively predict future stock returns after controlling for the other, suggesting that cash flows and momentum both contain valuable and distinctive information about future stock returns. A strategy of buying past winners with high free cash flows and shorting past losers with low free cash flows significantly outperforms the traditional momentum trading strategy. The enhanced performance is not sensitive to investor sentiment, time variations, or transaction costs. Further analysis shows that the incremental …

Deepen Electronic Health Record Diffusion Beyond Breadth: Game Changers And Decision Drivers, Xuan Wang, Jun Sun, Ying Wang, Yi Liu

Information Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cloud computing, financial incentive and patient-centered care are the game changers that deepen EHR diffusion beyond breadth. Based on the innovation diffusion theory (IDT), technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework and alignment literature, this study examines how these changes shape business requirement, service value and society need that drive different phases of EHR diffusion in terms of planning, adoption, usage and upgrade. A longitudinal analysis with the USA National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) reveals the impacts of different drivers on EHR diffusion. In addition to quantitative results, interview observations corroborate the relationships among game changers, decision drivers and EHR diffusion. The findings …

How Do Individuals Justify And Rationalize Their Criminal Behaviors In Online Romance Fraud?, Martin Offei, Francis K. Andoh-Baidoo, Emmanuel Wusuhon Yanibo Ayaburi, David Asamoah

Information Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Online romance fraud (ORF) is a growing concern with such serious negative consequences as financial loss or suicide to the victim. Majority of empirical studies on online romance fraud using attachment, deception, protection motivation and relation theories focus on the victim. While neutralization offers insights into how individuals justify their deviant behaviors, the results have not been consistent in different contexts. In the ORF context, offenders may not only rely on justifying techniques but also rationalize their actions by denying risk both to the victim and the offender. Thus, drawing from the neutralization and denial of risk theories, we develop …

Complementary Effects Of Crm And Social Media On Customer Co-Creation And Sales Performance In B2b Firms: The Role Of Salesperson Self-Determination Needs, Omar S. Itani, Ashish Kalra, Jen Riley

Marketing Faculty Publications and Presentations

Highlights

• Social media, CRM technology & social CRM enrich the knowledge of salespeople.

• Social media, CRM technology & social CRM support value co-creation efforts.

• Knowledge mediates the effects of social media, CRM technology, and social CRM.

• Job autonomy & sales quota ease moderate the effect of knowledge on value co-creation.

• Value co-creation increases sales performance.

Abstract

This study examines the effects of salespeople's social media and customer relationship management (CRM) technology use on value co-creation through knowledge and the downstream impact on sales performance. Based on task-technology fit and self-determination theories, the findings reveal that social media, CRM technology, and …

Unraveling The Link Between Simulation Ehr Training And Task Performance: The Mediation Role Of Stress, Murad Moqbel, Vanessa Garza Clark, Aroop K. Pal, Lauren Pulino

Information Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Past research has explored the link between computer-mediated communication (CMC) and task performance, but it remains unclear how (i.e., under what mechanisms) CMC impacts task performance. Drawing on media naturalness theory and the stimulus-organism-response model as our theoretical framework, we develop a research model and describe how simulation-based EHR training (a type of CMC) can improve EHR-based task performance by mitigating stress. We empirically test the model with a unique experimental dataset from EHR lab assessment and questionnaires that 225 participants completed. The structural equation modeling analysis results show that simulation EHR training helped improve EHR-based task performance (both effectiveness …