Business Commons^™

Perceived Product Creativity And Mental Contrasting: Desired Future On Consumers’ Product Replacement Decisions, Yong Seok Sohn, Kun Woo Yoo, Jin K. Han

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Consumers often imagine what it would be like to own a new product. Does engaging in such thoughts on desired future impact consumers’ purchase intentions, and if so, what is the underlying process? This study sets out to investigate the posed questions by assessing self-regulatory strategies consumers employ upon pondering on a desired future. Based on Oettingen’s fantasy realization model, the authors take a comparative approach of two modes on desired future—mental contrasting and indulging—en route to purchase intentions. In mental contrasting, an individual juxtaposes a desired future with his/her present reality, whereas, indulging is simply envisioning a desired future. …

When Silence Is Golden: The Use Of Strategic Silence In Crisis Management, Phuong D. Le, Hui Xun Teo, Augustine Pang, Yuling Li, Cai-Qin Goh

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Purpose: Scholars have discouraged using silence in crises as it magnifies the information vacuum (see Pang, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to argue for its viability and explore the type of silence that can be used. Design/methodology/approach: Eight international cases were analyzed to examine how silence was adopted, sustained and broken. Findings: The findings uncovered three intention-based typologies of strategic silence: delaying, avoiding and hiding silences. Among such, avoiding/hiding silence intensified crises and adversely affected post-silence organizational image when forcefully broken, while delaying silence helped preserve/restore image with primary stakeholders if successfully sustained and broken as planned. Research …

Trading Regularity And Fund Performance, Jeffrey Busse, Lin Tong, Qing Tong, Zhe Zhang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We construct a new measure of trading regularity, capturing the extent to which investors trade on a regular basis. Institutional investors that regularly trade outperform those that trade less regularly. The performance of funds that regularly trade persists for at least a year. Among those who trade most regularly, larger funds perform relatively worse, because they incur higher transaction costs associated with their larger trades. Institutions that regularly trade generate superior performance, in part, by behaving as contrarians and by trading more aggressively on information. By contrast, we find no relation between trading regularity and performance among index funds.

Professionalism Kills The Trading Star: Explaining Member Participation In Trading Communities, Sabine Benoit, Jens Hogreve, Christina Sichtmann, Nicola Bilstein

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Trading communities provide non-commercial members with an online platform on which to exchange goods. Its success depends on member participation; however, little is known about its drivers. Based on literature we identify five drivers. To capture their impact over time,we test a latent growth curve model with longitudinal data, comparing the effects at an initial point of time with their impact on the growth of member participation over three subsequent periods. The results show that providers’ responsiveness and community identification have a positive effect on the initial level, but not on growth. Members’ enjoyment has no level effect, but a …

2019 Causes Count: The Economic Power Of California's Nonprofit Sector, California Association Of Nonprofits, The Nonprofit Institute, University Of San Diego

State of Nonprofits in California

California’s nonprofits bring more than $40 billion into California each year from out-of-state sources, and one in every 14 California jobs is at a nonprofit.

Like the inaugural Causes Count report in 2014, this “Causes Count 2.0” report summarizes the noteworthy size, variety, diversity, activities, accomplishments, and overall magnitude and importance of California’s nonprofit sector.

The research was conducted by The Nonprofit Institute at the University of San Diego, working alongside Calnonprofits staff. The research involved finding and scrutinizing many different sources of data to create this synthesized exposé of the breadth, depth, and strength of California’s nonprofit sector.

Policymakers, …

An Evaluation Of The Forecast Performance Of Dsge And Var Models: The Case Of A Developing Country, Shahzad Ahmad, Adnan Haider

Business Review

This paper estimates a DSGE model and three versions of VAR models (VARX, BVARX and BVAR) to analyze forecasting performance of these models in context of Pakistan. VAR models and a medium-scale DSGE model are estimated using quarterly data (1980Q4-2017Q2). Expanding window recursive out-of-sample forecasts for GDP growth, call money rate, CPI inflation and percent change in exchange rate are generated and compared over the period 2009Q1-2017Q2. Forecasting performance is analyzed by the comparison of bias and root mean squared errors (RMSE). Analysis of forecasting performance over 1-8 quarters forecast horizon reveals that BVAR model provides relatively better forecast in …

Providing Protection For Better Outcomes: The Need For Boundary Walls At Schools In Pakistan, Abbas Ali Gillani

Business Review

This paper explores the importance of a boundary wall at school as a measure of protection and safety, by testing the correlation between a school having a boundary wall and its total enrolment. By using panel data estimation with year and district fixed effects we find that across all levels of schooling, having a boundary wall was correlated with higher total enrolment. Enrolment at primary, middle and high school was 4.0 per cent, 2.3 per cent and 3.0 per cent higher. Gender-wise breakup of the results shows similar correlation for both boys and girls at primary level. However, at middle …

The Reversal Strategy: A Test Case For An Emerging Market, Hilal Anwar Butt, Mohsin Sadaqat

Business Review

The reversal strategy in the Pakistan Stock Market has shown significant profits for the time period January 1993 - September 2017. The available asset pricing models are unable to link these returns with the risk premium. This paper explores an alternative channel of predicting risk premium. It suggests that reversal profits can be considered as compensation for providing liquidity to the market during times of high volatility. Results reveal that reversal is stronger for illiquid and volatile stocks. Furthermore, firms that show reversal, are cash constrained, have lower return on asset (ROA) and equity (ROE), lesser operating profitability (OP), investment …

Emotional Intensity: An Additional Dimension To Understand Emotional Confidence And Purchase Intentions, Wajid Hussain Rizvi

Business Review

This paper explores the role of emotional intensity as a determinant of emotional confidence and purchase intentions. It analyzes the difference between low and high emotional confidence and emotional intensity groups in terms of their purchase intentions in the car buying context. Only valence and combined valence-intensity structural models were used to assess respective influences on emotional confidence. The results reveal that the combined impact of valence and intensity has a greater positive and significant influence on emotional confidence. Furthermore, groups with higher emotional confidence and higher emotional intensity show higher purchase intentions. This study contributes to a better understanding …

Financial Sector In Singapore, Hwee Kwan Chow, Sai Fan Pei

Research Collection School Of Economics

This chapter reviews the financial development strategies adopted by the Singapore government as it navigates internal and external changes to build a vibrant center of finance in the Asia Pacific region. Sections 2 and 3 provide an overview of the structure of the financial system and the financial governance framework respectively. This is followed by a discussion, in Section 4, on the outward looking development strategy that underpinned the successful development of Singapore’s financial sector. Section 5 highlights the reforms undertaken in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis that led to the building of a well-diversified and thriving international …

Rank And File Equity Compensation And Earnings Management: Evidence From Stock Options, D. Kip Holderness Jr., Adrienna Huffman, Melissa F. Lewis-Western

Faculty Publications

The wide-spread use of rank and file equity-based compensation suggests that executives believe that rank and file employees can affect firm outcomes, and some research supports this view. If equity-based incentives influence rank and file employees’ productive efforts, they might also influence their earnings management decisions. We find that increases in rank and file employees’ option-based compensation—our proxy for equity-based compensation—are associated with increases in earnings management and that this relation is attributable to real activities (as opposed to accrual) earnings management. Cross-sectional tests indicate that the relation is stronger when rank and file option compensation is likely to generate …

Property, Agency, And The Blockchain: New Technology, And Longstanding Legal Paradigms, Sarah Jane Hughes

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article, presented first as the keynote address at the February 2019 Symposium “The Emerging Blockchain and the Law” at Wayne State, explores the need for repetitive considerations of how blockchain technology affects our traditional concepts of property and agency. The article concludes that well-tested norms of property and agency may matter more, not less, when new technologies such as blockchain are used.

Developments In The Law Affecting Electronic Payments And Financial Services, Sarah Jane Hughes, Stephen T. Middlebrook, Tom Kierner

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This short article surveys developments in the law affecting electronic payments and financial services from June 1, 2017 to June 1, 2018. During this period, significant developments occurred that affected the regulation of initial coin offerings (ICOs), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s proposal to issue “special purpose national bank charters” to FinTech companies, the CFPB’s final regulation of prepaid, general-purpose cards, state regulation of payroll cards, and how lawyers taking cryptocurrencies from clients as payment for services or for safekeeping should protect them. The survey also presents newly issued BitLicenses under the New York Department of Financial …

Conceptualizing The Regulation Of Virtual Currencies And Providers: Friction Points In State And Federal Approaches To Regulating Providers Of Payments Execution And Custody Services And Products In The United States, Sarah Jane Hughes

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This essay evaluates the state of regulation by the United States government and State legislatures of participants in emerging virtual-currency businesses. It points to friction points as both the federal government and the States experiment with their own regulatory authority over virtual-currency businesses and provides a taxonomy of differing approaches to regulating such businesses. The essay takes the position that the States need to act in the near term if they wish to maintain their longstanding role as regulators of non-depository providers of financial products and services--or they risk being preempted by Congress or federal regulatory actions. This essay also …

Shadow It Use, Outcome Effects, And Subjective Performance Evaluation, Drew Allen, F. Greg Burton, Steven D. Smith, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

The use of shadow IT (information technology systems not sanctioned or monitored by a company’s IT department) may be seen as either a form of organizational misbehavior or proactive and creative problem-solving. We examine whether these differing possible perceptions have implications for the subjective evaluation of subordinate performance. In our experiment, participants choose whether to award a bonus to an employee when different IT systems are used (normal vs. shadow IT) across different outcome levels (high vs. low outcomes). We find that employees using shadow IT are less likely to receive the bonus in both high and low outcome conditions …

The Effects Of Different Types Of Internal Controls On Employee Self-Control, Drew Allen, William G. Heninger, Scott L. Summers, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

One key reason companies implement internal controls is to reduce the likelihood of unethical behavior. Yet, research on ego depletion from psychology suggests that some controls may cause reductions in employees’ self-control, which could lead to increases in unethical behavior. Therefore, this study examines how different types of controls—namely preventive, detective with immediate feedback, and detective with delayed feedback—impact self-control and ethical judgments. Based on the results of three different experiments with 462 participants, we find no significant relation between self-control and the types of internal controls tested. Furthermore, we find that the types of controls tested have no effect …

Robotic Process Automation In Public Accounting, Lauren A. Cooper, D. Kip Holderness, Trevor L. Sorensen, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

This study investigates the adoption and use of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software— often referred to as bots—in the public accounting industry. Accounting firms use RPA software to automate the input, processing, and output of data across computer applications in order to streamline repetitive and mundane business processes. We conducted individual, semi-structured interviews with 14 accounting professionals including at least two RPA leaders at each of the Big 4 accounting firms to gain insights into how RPA software is currently being used. Interviewees note that bots are implemented in all areas of the firm but have gained the most traction …

The Role Of The Business Press In The Pricing Of Analysts’ Recommendation Revisions, Minkwan Ahn, Michael S. Drake, Hangsoo Kyung, Han Stice

Faculty Publications

We investigate the information-dissemination role of the business press by examining the coverage of analyst recommendation revisions. Consistent with the press providing wider dissemination of analyst reports, we find evidence that coverage of analyst recommendation revisions significantly increases the initial market reaction to these revisions and decreases the subsequent price drift. Furthermore, we find that news flash coverage, rather than in-depth coverage, of a recommendation revision drives both the initial market reaction results and drift results. Finally, we show that broader press coverage influences the activities of large-trade institutional investors but not highfrequency traders. Overall, our findings suggest a complementary …

Strategies For Implementation Of Electronic Health Records, Carlene Vassell-Webb

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Implementation of electronic health records (EHRs) is a driver for the improvement of health care and the reduction of health care costs. Developing countries face substantial challenges in adopting EHRs. The complex adaptive system conceptual framework was used to guide this single case study to explore strategies that health care leaders used to successfully implement the EHR system. Data were collected from 6 health care leaders from an island in the Caribbean using a semistructured interview technique. Data were analyzed using the Bengtsson's 4-stage data analysis process, which includes decontextualization, recontextualization, categorization, and compilation. The results of the study yielded …

Small Business Strategies For Information Technology Implementation In Developing Countries, William Archibold Kwabiah

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Leaders of small businesses need dynamic capabilities created through careful implementation of information technologies (ITs) to enhance efficiency, performance, and output. The purpose of this multicase study was to explore strategies leaders of small businesses used in developing countries to implement ITs for improved business performance. The framework for this study was the technology, organization, and environment model. The sample population consisted of 10 leaders of small businesses located in the Accra region of Ghana. The study participants had at least 5 years of experience working with small businesses that implemented IT. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and review …

Financing Post-2015 Development Goals: Shaping A New Policy Framework For Aid In Liberia, Apollos Ikechukwu Nwafor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Liberia, Africa's oldest democracy, has made several efforts in becoming a developed economy and ending poverty, but these efforts have been hampered by lack of appropriate financing mechanisms to achieve this goal. The most recent challenge which was the purpose of this study was to understand how Liberia can finance and achieve the sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations in September 2015. Despite substantial external aid, Liberia was only able to meet 3 out of the 8 Millennium Development Goals, and more than 60% of the population remain extremely poor. The main research question was to understand what …

Strategies For Sustainability Of Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises In Ghana, John Kwaku Amaglo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 92% of all Ghana firms, providing 60% of citizens' employment and contributing about 70% of Ghana's income from gross domestic products. Within the first 5 years of operation, 40% of new businesses fail. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies used by Ghanaian SME manufacturing leaders in the fruit industry to sustain business for longer than 5 years of operation. The conceptual framework for this study was open systems theory and complexity theory. The population for this study was 5 Ghanaian SME manufacturing business leaders in the fruit industry …

Job Satisfaction, Employee Engagement, And Turnover Intention In Federal Employment, Kristina J. Calecas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The U.S. Federal Government had a turnover of more than 3.6 billion employees in 2018. The purpose of this secondary data analysis was to use data drawn from the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey to determine if there were a statistically significant relationship between job satisfaction, employee engagement, and turnover intention among U.S. Federal Government employees. The population for this study consisted of 598,003 individuals surveyed in 2018. The multiple linear regression results revealed a statistically significant relationship between job satisfaction, employee engagement, and turnover intention, F(2, 563,432) = 33,273, p <.001, R² = .106. Herzberg’s motivationhygiene theory and Adams’s equity theory were used as frameworks for this study. The study can be extended to more specific branches of the U.S. Federal Government. The study could impact social change by allowing human resource managers to change strategies related to retention to decrease turnover and retain knowledge in the U.S. Federal Government. Retention efforts could be translated to other industries to create long-term employment and increase overall employee job satisfaction.

Employing Persons With Disabilities In Madagascar, Lila Hanitra Ratsifandrihamanana

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Madagascar, the barriers to persons with disabilities' employability are multifaceted and relate to accessibility, funding, attitudes, and policies. Managers lack knowledge on disability and still perceive disabled persons as incompetent and associate them with costly accommodation needs. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the management strategies and leadership styles that managers could use to enhance the employability chances of persons with disabilities. The conceptual framework featured the concepts of empowerment, employability, disability identity, and relevant transformational leadership theories. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 28 managers in private companies, institutions, cooperatives, and organizations in 3 regions …

Capital Financing Strategies Of Small-Scale Contractors In Nigeria, Tony Emeka Anamege

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small-scale contractors in Nigeria, as small business owners, face challenges accessing external sources of capital financing. Inadequate sources of working capital is one of the major reasons for poor business performance and failure. A multiple case study approach was used in this study to explore how small-scale contractors obtained capital financing to grow their businesses. The study population included small-scale contractors in the construction industry in Nigeria. Credit rationing model was chosen as the conceptual framework for the study. Semistructured interviews were used to collect data from 5 participants. Data analysis included thematic coding of the data using qualitative data …

Small Business Merger And Acquisition Strategies For Raising Capital In Emerging Economies, Bennet Kpentey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

About 70% of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) involving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies fail because the strategies employed do not integrate all the critical success elements, leaving SMEs without the needed capital to take advantage of strategic and market opportunities. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the M&A strategies SME owners in Ghana employed to raise capital. Seth's value creation theory was the conceptual framework adopted for this study. The population consisted of 5 SME owners in Ghana who had successfully raised financial resources through inbound M&As within the past 10 years. Data …

Successful Strategies For Using Knowledge Management In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Josephine Kayaga Nsubuga-Mugoa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Knowledge management (KM) is vital for an organization to succeed in a highly dynamic and competitive world. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that managers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) use to effectively integrate KM into business practices. The study population comprised 5 managers from 2 SMEs operating in Uganda. The eligibility criteria for this study were that participants had to be from Ugandan SMEs with a knowledge-intensive environment, managers with some responsibility of KM in the organization, and experienced with at least 1 year of successful KM practices. The conceptual framework for this …

Developing Talent Pipelines For Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises In Saudi Arabia, Lutfi A. Bafagih

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Firms lose strategic business opportunities to create sustainable growth because leaders do not establish talent pipelines. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies used by the leaders of Saudi firms to develop talent pipelines. The conceptual framework for this study was the resource-based view. The overarching question that guided this study explored strategies business leaders in small and medium-sized enterprises in Saudi Arabia used to establish talent pipelines to create sustainable growth. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 8 business leaders of 4 firms operating in western Saudi Arabia and a review of company documents. …

Employee Resistance To Disruptive Technological Change In Higher Education, Barbara Ann Miller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employees can be resistant to work-based change, specifically when the change is due to disruptive or new technology. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of 20 Swiss-based educational employees adapting to online technologies introduced in their workplaces. Disruptive innovation theory provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with 20 purposely selected participants from 3 Swiss-based higher education campuses. The modified Van Kaam method was used to organize and analyze the data. Four themes from participants' responses were identified: educational employees are not resistant to technology-based change, educational …

Factors That Predict The Adoption Of Online Shopping In Saudi Arabia, Momen Nachar

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the increased numbers of online consumers, e-commerce growth is slow in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In this correlational study, the technology acceptance model (TAM) was used as a theoretical framework to examine whether perceived ease of use of e-commerce platforms and perceived usefulness of e-commerce platforms could predict consumers' intention to adopt shopping online. A pre-existing TAM survey instrument was used to collect data from consumers (N = 95) who live in a City and have shopped at least once online. The regression analysis confirmed a positive statistically significant relationship between perceived ease of use of e-commerce platforms …