Business Commons^™

Performance Management: Should It Be Implemented Into Public Hospital X?, Megan O'Mahony

Masters

This dissertation will take a case study approach which will entail researching a particular discipline of employees within an organisation in order to understand and conclude on the research topic. The research topic is performance management and the aim is to see if a more formal performance management system can be put in place and accepted by the employees of this organisation, a public hospital in Ireland. In order to answer the research question “Performance Management; should it be implemented into public hospital X?” the researcher conducted both quantitative research and qualitative research methodology. The quantitative research consisted of a …

A Research Study On The Impact Management Have On Employee Engagement In A Manufacturing Company, Alice Murphy

Theses

The purpose of this paper is to discover can management have an impact on employee engagement. Many companies put millions into creating the best fit policies for their organization without focusing on management behaviour and how it affects employees alone. Leadership theories have evolved over the years and will continue to change from generation to generation. The evolving term of the meaning of 'leadership' suggests to the researcher that there will never be enough studies done in this field. Despite the vast amount of research done, there seems to be a paucity in the area of leadership in the manufacturing …

Are They Even Following Us?: Using Market Research Data To Understand Students’ Social Media Preferences, Mark Aaron Polger, Dan Sich

Publications and Research

The purpose of this paper is the exploration of students’ preferred social media (SM) tools for receiving information about their academic library. The authors administered a questionnaire at their prospective institutions: the College of Staten Island (CSI), City University of New York, USA and the University of Western Ontario (UWO) in London, Ontario, Canada. The authors examine students’ preferences for various SM tools, and analyzed the types of information students expect from the library’s SM accounts. The authors argue that the library’s SM postings should be curated based on market research that provides a better understanding of the target audience.

The January Barometer In Emerging Markets: New Evidence From The Gulf Cooperation Council Stock Exchanges, Costas Siriopoulos, Layal Youssef

All Works

© Costas Siriopoulos, Layal Youssef, 2019 International investors' interest in the capital markets in the region of Gulf countries has dramatically increased in last two decades. Thus, it would be motivating to investigate their characteristics, where the January anomaly is a major one. This paper studies the veracity of the January effect rule in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stock markets and examines the predictive power of January returns. Seven GCC stock markets are tested - the market indices in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia - from January 1, 2001 until December 31, 2018, a …

The Mediating Roles Of Psychological Autonomy, Competence And Relatedness On Work-Life Balance And Well-Being, Anestis Fotiadis, Khadija Abdulrahman, Anastasia Spyridou

All Works

© 2019 Fotiadis, Abdulrahman and Spyridou. The main objective of this current research is to investigate the impact of "work balance" on "psychological well-being" using employees within the hospitality industry in United Arab Emirates as statistical units. To meet the objective of this research, we developed a structural equation model to examine how psychological autonomy, psychological competence, and psychological relatedness affect psychological well-being and work-life balance, as well as the effect of work-life balance on psychological well-being. We also examine the mediating effect of work-life balance in these relationships. The results of this study show that psychological autonomy affect positively …

Volatility Spillovers In Electricity Markets: Evidence From The United States, Themistoclis Pantos, Stathis Polyzos, Angelos Armenatzoglou, Ilias Kampouris

All Works

© 2019, Econjournals. All rights reserved. This paper examines the degree of market integration, as observed by measuring volatility spillovers, in selected wholesale electricity spot markets from United States. We choose markets located at interconnected and non-interconnected areas. We use a Multivariate GARCH framework, which allows us to model time varying correlations and to conclude whether the markets show evidence of interdependency. We estimate the variance-covariance and correlation structure, in order to observe the evolution of interactions among markets, accounting for asymmetric effects. We find evidence of significant correlations between interconnected markets, which are mainly due to electricity transmission, since …

Analysis Of Wcag 2.0 Data Accessibility Success Criterion Of E-Government Websites, Mohamed Basel Al Mourad, Mohammed Hussein, Faouzi Kamoun, Zelal Wattar

All Works

© 2019, International University of Sarajevo. An accessible website enables the access to information and interaction for many people with disabilities so these people can contribute more effectively in the society. Today, most governments are enforcing their websites to follow the www consortium (w3c)'s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0). This paper investigates the WCAG 2.0 success criterions that make a website accessible and explores the most violated WCAG 2.0 success criterions by the developers of e-Government websites.

Assignment Of E-Commerce Orders To Fulfillment Warehouses, Ahmad Basem Zamka

Theses

For large e-commerce companies such as Amazon, when an order comes, this order might be available at more than one fulfillment centers. Therefore, the question of which fulfillment center this order should be fulfilled from would arise.

In a typical situation, customer demand is fulfilled from the closest fulfillment center. However, this approach does not always provide the optimal solution since there are so many factors that could be involved in making such a decision. These factors might include inventory balance, product correlations, and future demand.

Our decision model focuses on putting future orders in consideration while assigning orders to …

Race And Racism In The Historical Imagination: Slavery And Civil Rights In Popular Culture, Denise Lynn, Sakina Hughes, Aimee Adam

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Because Hollywood films often lack black representation, films on slavery and civil rights often fail to recognize the roles that black Americans have played in their own emancipation from slavery and in the civil rights movement. Our contention is that historically inaccurate films perpetuate inaccurate understandings of Black history and thus inform contemporary race relations. We selected a more and a less accurate film about slavery and about the civil rights movement, discussing these four films in terms of their historical context.

We also conducted an experiment. After watching one of the four movies, or after viewing no movie, participants …

Occupational Fraud: Executive Compensation And Enforcements Against Auditors And Perpetrators., Erlina Papakroni

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation is comprised of three studies that examine the association of executive compensation with financial statement fraud and enforcements pursued against the independent auditor and the principal perpetrators when occupational fraud is detected.

The first study examines competing, though non-mutually exclusive, hypotheses for the path that equity compensation follows on its way to financial misreporting. We find that firms that experience financial statement fraud pay their executives higher levels and a higher proportion of equity compensation across the entire executive’s tenure. This starts in the first year of an executive’s tenure and continues up until the fraud period. These …

Shame And Guilt: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, Raika Sadeghein

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In the past few decades, we have witnessed a growing body of literature on emotions in the consumer behavior domain. Emotions are defined as “mental states of readiness that arise from appraisals of events or one’s own thoughts” (Bagozzi, Gopinath, & Nyer, 1999, p. 184). Marketers have examined the role of emotions as stimuli, mediators, moderators, and responses to the environment. The broad topic of emotions includes subtopics such as impact of emotions on consumption, attitudes, and behavioral intentions, emotional responses to market stimuli, and the impact of emotions on cognition. However, although the study of emotions is pivotal to …

Student’S Attitudes Toward Academic Dishonesty: An Exploration, David J. Burns, Randy S. Stuart, Anne Heineman Batory, Stephen S. Batory

AMTP Proceedings 2019

Academic dishonesty in college/university classrooms is widely recognized as a serious problem (Offstein and Chory 2017). Studies indicate that academic dishonesty is pervasive. Klein, Levenburg, McKendall, and Mothersell (2007), report 40-80 percent of college students are involved in academic dishonesty, whereas McCabe, Butterfield, and Treviňo (2012), report 65-87 percent involvement. Studies also report that cheating activity is increasing (Forsha 2017; Pérez-Peňa 2012), facilitated by increasing levels of tolerance (where instances of academic dishonesty are overlooked by classroom instructors (Coren 2011)), and advances in technology (Best and Shirley 2018). Consequently, academic dishonesty has become an increasingly important area of concern and, …

Retailers’ Use Of Partially Comparative Pricing In A Usage Category Context: An Exploratory Study, Ellen Campos Sousa

AMTP Proceedings 2019

Partially comparative price (PCP) happens when some products have a comparison price and other products have only the featured retailer’s price (Barone et al., 2004). It is common retailers promote advertisements with products from different product categories, but within the same usage category (e.g., products for Christmas, Mother’s Day, and a barbecue party). However, it is still unexplored how consumers evaluate the non-comparatively priced (NCP) products that belong to the same usage category as a CP product in an advertisement.

This research aims to fill this gap, proposing that items that are not naturally within the same product category may …

Service Print Advertisements: The Impact Of Brand Personality Perceptions, Attitudes, And Consumption Intentions, Lisa M. Sciulli

AMTP Proceedings 2019

The purpose of this research is to examine respondents’ perceptions regarding service print advertisements. Brand personality characteristics, attitudes towards the service, the ad itself, and subsequent consumption intentions for these services will be explored. Statistical positioning tools provide analytical evidence whereby identified attribute ratings may yield desired service offerings. Results will be further tested with multiple regression to reveal predictive capabilities of the findings with consumption intentions. An advertising framework for positioning strategies for service organizations is provided with theoretical and managerial implications.

Previous research suggests that before a service is purchased consumers look for cues to make assessments of …

Market Orientation Across Firm Performance Levels; Manager, Salesperson, And Customer Viewpoints, Thomas L. Powers, Dawn B. Valentine

AMTP Proceedings 2019

Market orientation and its impact on firm performance has been a topic of research interest for many years, yet research is still needed to extend this stream of literature in two important areas. Previous research has largely examined a company management perspective of market orientation, excluding the perspective of front line personnel, and that of customers. In addition, performance has been primarily assessed using subjective perceptions as opposed to objective measures. This study is intended to extend the literature beyond these traditional perspectives by examining market orientation from three different viewpoints including managers, salespeople, and customers as it relates to …

Use Of Social Media By Sales Students For First Post-Graduation Job-Search: An Exploratory Study, Linda G. Mullen, Randy S. Stuart, Michael L. Thomas

AMTP Proceedings 2019

As students who studied/majored in professional sales approach graduation and start looking for their first post-graduation/entry-level positions, what avenues are used to pursue these opportunities? One might suspect that with the explosion of social media and the millennial generation’s prolific use of said media this would be their preferred choice for job hunting. Are sales students engaging social media and other online activities to land entry-level career positions or are they still using traditional methods (i.e. College/University Career Fairs, College/University Career Services, Internships, etc.) to find these positons? This paper looks at the avenues millennial students who studied/majored in professional …

Exploring Self-Efficacy With An Emphasis On Direct Selling, Robert A. Peterson, Gerald Albaum, Victoria L. Crittenden

AMTP Proceedings 2019

Self-efficacy, the confidence that one has in his or her capabilities to achieve a goal, is one of the most widely studied constructs in personal selling and sales management research. With few exceptions, self-efficacy has been studied as antecedent to sales performance. The present study differs from prior marketing-related studies of self-efficacy in that it explores whether a direct selling experience can enhance business/professional self-efficacy and personal life self-efficacy. In other words, in the present study self-efficacy is treated as consequent to a direct selling experience. An online survey was conducted in which a nationally representative sample of 495 current …

Perceptions Of Service Profession-Status Stereotyping: Comparisons Of Turkish And American Millennials, Musa Pinar, Coleen Wilder, Tulay Girard, Sinan Nardali

AMTP Proceedings 2019

Employment opportunities in the service industry have created jobs for both genders and raises the question about how these jobs are influenced and evaluated regarding occupational stereotyping based on prestige and gender (Gottfredson, 1981). For example, Oswald (2003) found that high prestige male occupations were rated significantly higher than high prestige female occupations. Likewise, low prestige male occupations were rated significantly higher than low prestige female occupations, which is indicative of occupational status stereotyping. A relatively small number of studies have been carried out after new service occupations were created from advancements in technology and demographic changes (Belt et al., …

Use Of Ethnic/Culturally Based Incongruent Cues In Informational Versus Transformational Advertising, Neleen Leslie

AMTP Proceedings 2019

This study compares the relative effectiveness in the use of culturally incongruent cues in informational and transformational advertising. A case study was done to explore the extent to which ethnic/ culturally incongruent cues are used in advertising in informational and transformational advertising and to compare the effectiveness of these ads between the two advertising forms. The study sought to address two questions: (1) To what extent are ethnic/culturally incongruent cues used in informational or transformational advertising? and (2): Is the use of culturally incongruent cues more effective for informational or transformational ads?

A content analysis approach was used to extract …

Global Awareness Of Marketing Students, Michael Latta

AMTP Proceedings 2019

Undergraduate and MBA Marketing programs typically include education goals such as:

“To prepare students for a changing domestic and global business environment characterized by organizational and cultural values, diversity, opportunity, and growth.”

They also include learning objectives such as:

“Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to think strategically about the global business environment.”

Presumably this approach to educating undergraduate and MBA students will prepare them to become ‘global citizens.’ The question may be asked about what undergraduate and MBA marketing students know about changes in global extreme poverty, education access for women around the world, and number of …

The Impact Of Brand Love, Brand Attachment, And Electronic Shopping Experience Satisfaction (Eses) On Consumer Willingness To Write Reviews, Michelle Le, Joanne T. Cao, Gallayanee Yaoyuneyong

AMTP Proceedings 2019

The purpose of this study is to examine the willingness of a consumer to write an online review in relation to their love for a brand, their attachment to a brand, and their satisfaction with shopping online for that brand. There are limited empirical studies that investigate the impact of Brand Love, Brand Attachment, and Electronic Shopping Experience Satisfaction (eSES) on online reviews. Brand Love is the extent of emotional attachment that a content consumer feels for a certain brand or trade name whereas Brand Attachment measures the degree or strength to which consumers connects themselves with a brand. Lastly, …

The Relationship Between Retail Store Types And Consumer Price Expectations, Sua Jeon

AMTP Proceedings 2019

As consumers hold distinct belief about competing retailers, there has been considerable development in the way brands are managed in the field of retailing and firms are making significant efforts to create ever richer and more differentiated store identities (Beristain and Zorrilla 2011). Given the abundant choices of retail formats and diverse product categories and brands available to consumers, retailers use every means available to survive and compete (Kumar et al. 2017).

This study provides useful managerial insights into the roles of price expectations in consumer purchase decisions in different product categories along with both national or store brands. With …

Dynamics Of Business Decision Making: Understanding The Role Of Emotions, Nikolina Koporcic, Miika Nietola

AMTP Proceedings 2019

In recent years, there has been a need for deeper understanding of the cumulating knowledge in different science disciplines about human emotions in decision making. Indeed, many traditional economic theories operate with the preconception of utility maximization, which partly contradicts with the recent findings in behavioral economics and neurosciences. In other words, science has shown that we can make suboptimal business decisions under the influence of changing emotional states. Moreover, traditional economic literature has often highlighted the strict division between rational decision making and the effective dimensions of the human mind. This conceptual article therefore challenges these conceptions by exploring …

Social Media Listening: Revealing The Indirect Effects Of User Generated Content (Ugc) On Product Adoption, Nga Ho-Dac, Ian Clark Sinapuelas

AMTP Proceedings 2019

Industry studies suggest social media listening espouses several advantages. Evidence from academic research however is lacking and the need to investigate its impact especially in the context of product development is needed. This research explores how UGC influences market outcomes indirectly via its impact on product development. Building on current findings from empowerment-product demand and new product adoption research, we propose that product improvements building on consumer social media conversations are more likely to succeed. Using a system of equations modeling in the open source software context, we verify that increasing forum posts lead to a greater number of codes …

The Social Media Magnet: A New Paradigm In Inbound Marketing Instruction, Kyle A. Huggins, J. Elliot Cunningham

AMTP Proceedings 2019

Social media has changed the marketing environment in ways that traditional marketers could have never imagined just a decade ago. It has rapidly provided a mechanism to communicate on a one-to-one level, allowing marketers to tailor specific messages and content towards a fine-tuned segment of customers. Multiple philosophies on best practices in this digital landscape have provided various methodologies for targeting these customers. During this time of change, these practices have led to the refinement of digital services, including behavioral advertising, search engine optimization, pay per click, content marketing, social media marketing, and organic inbound marketing, among specialized others. In …

I Will Like Your Product, But First Let Me Take A Selfie, Patrick A. Barbro

AMTP Proceedings 2019

Through the proliferation of smartphones, social media, photo sharing, and selfies, the way consumers have become used to seeing themselves has changed. This paper aims to examine the influence of image type and consumer selfie taking on image and product evaluation. More specifically, this research seeks to address the question: how does a consumer’s exposure to their own image influence their evaluation of products and self-images? The selfie phenomenon and its effect on how consumers evaluate images likely play a key role.

Through three experiments, this research examines the influence of image type and consumer selfie taking on image and …

Firms Beware! Your Response Matters, Nicole Dilg Beachum

AMTP Proceedings 2019

On April 9, 2017, security personnel dragged a doctor off United Airlines Flight #3411 when he refused to give up his seat on an overbooked flight. Another passenger videotaped the entire incident, sharing it on social media. The video went viral on Twitter with over 87,000 shares and more than 6.8 million views in less than 24 hours. The following day, the CEO of the company responded to the public’s criticism in a statement and internal email to the company (that later went public). His remarks included an apology, but he also attempted to justify how the encounter was handled, …

The Effectiveness Of Celebrity Endorsement On Purchase Behavior: Do Celebrities Raise The Bar?, Delancy Bennett, Yana Andonova, Nwamaka A. Anaza

AMTP Proceedings 2019

Research on the interplay between celebrity endorsers, high-low pricing, and quality has not been examined in the literature. This raises the question of whether celebrity endorsement can compensate for the effect of low prices on consumer quality perceptions. Across two studies, one using archival data and one using an experiment, we find evidence that the presence of celebrity endorsers can offset the effect that a low price has on consumer quality perceptions. Further, willingness to purchase is higher for a low-priced product endorsed by a celebrity. These findings have implications for marketing theory and practice.

Message Strategies Of North American For-Profit Colleges And Universities: A Qualitative Analysis, Michael J. Clayton, Matthew Hettche, Robert Hashbrouck

AMTP Proceedings 2019

A decade ago For-Profit Colleges and Universities (FPCUs) were experiencing booming enrollments and were well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunities presented through online learning platforms. Due to regulatory changes and heightened awareness of the low retention and graduation rates of these institutions, enrollment has plummeted and several major firms, including Sanford Brown and ITT have closed. Competition for students has intensified with a greater proportion of revenue being allocated toward marketing. In fact, for some FPCU marketing spending now exceeds the amount of money spent on their core service, teaching. This paper examines the message strategies of North American …

The Fall Of Sears From Within: How Customer Sentiments Refuted Retail Capital And Authority, Michael D. Harris, Ismet Anitsal, Melek Meral Anitsal

AMTP Proceedings 2019

This research aims to understand the relationship between Sears Holdings Corporation and its customers, while exploiting feedback from customers to identify reasons for Sears’ decline. The problem statement is dependent on identifying aspects that affect consumer behavior most and linking a connection to the increased number of dissatisfied Sears’ customers. In order to analyze this phenomenon, customer attitudes were compiled over the key four years of Sears history using a customer sentiment analysis. This empirical method of research was chosen because of the large impact that consumer sentiments have on spending, allowing the development of both internal and external views …