Business Commons^™

Developmental Test And Requirements Best Practices Of Successful Information Systems Efforts Using Agile Methods, Jeremy D. Kramer, Torrey J. Wagner

Faculty Publications

This article provides insights into the current state of developmental testing (DT) and requirements management in Department of Defense information systems employing Agile development. The authors describe the study methodology and provide an overview of Agile development and testing. Insights are described for requirements, detailed planning, test execution, and reporting. This work articulates best practices related to DT and requirements management strategies for programs employing modernized Software Development Life Cycle practices.

Impact Of Framing And Base Size Of Computer Security Risk Information On User Behavior, Xinhui Zhan

Masters Theses

"This research examines the impact of framing and base size of computer security risk information on users' risk perceptions and behavior (i.e., download intention and download decision). It also examines individual differences (i.e., demographic factors, computer security awareness, Internet structural assurance, self-efficacy, and general risk-taking tendencies) associated with users' computer security risk perceptions. This research draws on Prospect Theory, which is a theory in behavioral economics that addresses risky decision-making, to generate hypotheses related to users' decision-making in the computer security context. A 2 x 3 mixed factorial experimental design (N = 178) was conducted to assess the effect of …

Predictive Modeling Of Webpage Aesthetics, Ang Chen

Masters Theses

"Aesthetics plays a key role in web design. However, most websites have been developed based on designers' inspirations or preferences. While perceptions of aesthetics are intuitive abilities of humankind, the underlying principles for assessing aesthetics are not well understood. In recent years, machine learning methods have shown promising results in image aesthetic assessment. In this research, we used machine learning methods to study and explore the underlying principles of webpage aesthetics"--Abstract, page iii.

Private Ordering And Improving Information Flow To The Board Of Directors: The Duty To Inform Bylaw, Jennifer O'Hare

Faculty Publications

It seems that almost every day there is another report of a corporate scandal at a public company. Whether the scandal involves sexual harassment by senior management or widespread illegal conduct by employees, the first question asked by investors and the media is usually, “Where was the board?” And the board’s response is almost always, “We didn’t know.” Directors of public companies rely on officers to provide the information the board needs to manage the corporation, but, strangely enough, officers may not even be legally required to provide information to the board. The Delaware General Corporation Law is silent on …

The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence On Higher Education, Yizhi Ma

Masters Theses

"A perfect storm is hitting higher education. Decreased funding from traditional funding sources, such as State Governments, and transformative changes caused by artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize higher education. Higher education needs to change and evolve quickly and continuously to prepare students for the upheavals in the job market caused by AI, machine learning, and automation.

As AI continues to make inroads into our world and our lives, its impact and effects can no longer be ignored. What kinds of organizational changes in higher education are necessary? How can higher education continue to prepare students for the AI evolution and …

A Qualitative Study Exploring Motivation And Engagement Among Millennial Volunteers In Nonprofit Organizations, Joanne Quinones

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation focused on capturing the lived experiences of Millennials and explore their motivation and engagement for volunteering in a nonprofit organization. This study illustrates the importance of civic and social engagement in our society. The Millennials have been labeled as “Genme or the me generation” (Twenge, Campbell, Hoffman, & Lance, 2010, p. 1117; Twenge, 2006, p. 1), as they have been criticized for focusing on their own self-interest. While millennials have been considered as being technologically savvy, since they grew up with the internet. The millennials, have a social interest in offering support to a cause versus an …

Exploring Factors Related To Customer Service Representatives’ (Csrs) Performance In Call Centers., Ruth R. Jayson-Polk

Theses and Dissertations

This study provides critical research on individual change and its impact on individual performance using the ADKAR change management model. This applied dissertation was designed to research improvement in call monitoring performance scores between two groups of customer service representatives’ (CSRs): the experimental group receiving the ADKAR change management intervention, and the control group, who did not receive the ADKAR change management intervention. The ADKAR change management model (Hiatt, 2006) provided the theoretical framework for the study.

The literature review revealed that change management is a critical component of organizational change but is driven by individual change. The literature informs …

Principles Or Templates? The Antecedents And Performance Effects Of Cross-Border Knowledge, James B. Oldroyd, Shad Morris, Jeff P. Dotson

Faculty Publications

Managers understand the importance of knowledge management systems for project-based work. Efforts are often made to ensure knowledge is codified and disseminated throughout the firm so employees can draw upon them to complete their projects. Unfortunately, however, such efforts often lead to stockpiles of information that remain untapped and underutilized. This study seeks to answer two questions. First, how can managers influence workers to utilize different types of codified knowledge in the first place? Second, do different types of codified knowledge have differential effects on performance? We find that increased individual experience drives the use of knowledge principles while workers …

Learning At Literary Festivals, Giulia Rossetti, Bernadette Quinn

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Factors Influencing Consumer Wine Choice: The Case Of Wine Tourism, Margaret Connolly

Books/Book Chapters

This research was undertaken to examine the relationship between the wine tourism activities of consumers and their subsequent wine choices. Exploratory research was undertaken giving specific attention to wine tourism, first, as a factor of influence on decision-making, second, on levels of consumer involvement and third on long-term consumer loyalty. A convenience sample of 12 wine consumers in Dublin participated in the study. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used to gather the qualitative data used. The findings clearly establish links made by consumers between their wine tourism experiences and their subsequent wine purchase preferences. The findings highlight the importance of facilitating …

Political Connections And Strategic Choices Of Emerging Market Firms: Case Study Of Russia’S Pharmaceutical Industry, Anton Klarin, Pradeep Kanta Ray

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of political connections in the emerging market context.

Design/methodology/approach – A case study analysis of three Russian pharmaceutical firms is conducted to uncover how they performed through the Russian transition – the institutional upheaval of the 1990s – and the ongoing state-led industrialization.

Findings – In the early years of transition, firms heavily rely on political networking to gain legitimacy and fill institutional voids. As institutions strengthen, the need for political networking is being substituted by arm’s length networking. Strengthening of institutions also results in a more stable …

Online Brand Advocacy (Oba): The Development Of A Multiple Item Scale, Violetta Wilk, Geoffrey Norman Soutar, Paul Harrigan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Purpose: Despite an increasing interest in online brand advocacy (OBA) and the importance of online brand conversations, OBA’s conceptualization, dimensionality and measurement are unclear, which has created confusion. This paper aims to answer calls from researchers and practitioners for a better understanding and measurement of OBA. The development and validation of a parsimonious and practical OBA scale is outlined in this paper.

Design/methodology/approach: A multi-methods, multi-stage approach was followed to develop a parsimonious OBA scale. From an initial pool of 96 items obtained from qualitative research and from items used in prior general brand advocacy scales, a test-retest reliability study …

Fake News And Propaganda: Trump’S Democratic America And Hitler’S National Socialist (Nazi) Germany, David E. Allen, Michael Mcaleer

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper features an analysis of President Trump’s two State of the Union addresses, which are analysed by means of various data mining techniques, including sentiment analysis. The intention is to explore the contents and sentiments of the messages contained, the degree to which they differ, and their potential implications for the national mood and state of the economy. We also apply Zipf and Mandelbrot’s power law to assess the degree to which they differ from common language patterns. To provide a contrast and some parallel context, analyses are also undertaken of President Obama’s last State of the Union address …

Is Cannabis Tourism Deviant? A Theoretical Perspective, Tianyu Ying, Jun Wen, Hairong Shan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

With the growth of cannabis tourism, destinations such as the Netherlands have begun to offer cannabis- related products and services to visitors, including tourists from countries where all drugs are strictly prohibited. Yet limited research has sought to understand cannabis-oriented tourists' efforts to neutralize deviant connotations, namely by justifying or rationalizing misbehavior, when deciding to participate in cannabis tourism. This research note proposes a framework of deviant consumption behavior (DCB) constructed of geographic shifting, self-identity shifting, and moral identity shifting from the perspective of cannabis-oriented tourists to delineate tourists' decision-making process around engaging in deviant behaviors. The proposed framework suggests …

Effect Of Key User Empowerment, Purchasing Strategy, Process Integration,Production System To Operational Performance, Zeplin Jiwa Husada Tarigan, Hotlan Siagian, Sautma Ronni Basana, Ferry Jie

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This study examines the influence of key user empowerment on the operational performance through the mediating role of process integration, purchasing strategy and production system. The questionnaires were distributed to 120 manufacturing companies domiciled in East Java Region. Of the 120, 70 questionnaires are valid for further analysis. Data analysis used Partial Least Square (PLS) version 3.0. The finding are as follows: Key user empowerment affects the process integration. Key user empowerment influence the purchasing strategy. Process integration affects the purchasing. Process integration also influence the production system. Purchasing strategy provide support in the company's production system. Process Integration affects …

Knowledge Management Overview Of Feature Selection Problem In High-Dimensional Financial Data: Cooperative Co-Evolution And Map Reduce Perspectives, A. N. M. Bazlur Rashid, Tonmoy Choudhury

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The term "big data" characterizes the massive amounts of data generation by the advanced technologies in different domains using 4Vs volume, velocity, variety, and veracity-to indicate the amount of data that can only be processed via computationally intensive analysis, the speed of their creation, the different types of data, and their accuracy. High-dimensional financial data, such as time-series and space-Time data, contain a large number of features (variables) while having a small number of samples, which are used to measure various real-Time business situations for financial organizations. Such datasets are normally noisy, and complex correlations may exist between their features, …

Offline Versus Online Travel Experience Sharing: The National Profile Of China, Songshan (Sam) Huang, Xiang Wei

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Purpose: This study aims to examine the demographic differences of Chinese nationals’ travel experience sharing through different offline and online platforms.

Design/methodology/approach: Cross-tabulation analysis was applied on a national sample of 6081 respondents in China.

Findings: The study found that Chinese women tend to share travel experience more often than Chinese men; old people in China tend to use the face-to-face approach more than online or social media to share their travel experience. About 66.5 per cent of the survey sample used WeChat Moments to share their travel experience, highlighting WeChat as the dominating social media platform in China for …

Halal Accreditation And Certification In A Non-Muslim Country Setting: Insights From Australia Halal Meat Supply Chain, Mohd Hafiz Zulfakar, Caroline Chan, Ferry Jie, Veera Pandiyan Kaliani Sundram

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

It is a known fact that most halal food products, especially meat are now sourced from various part of the world and the majority of halal food exporters/producers come from non-Muslim countries. This has led to growing concerns from the halal consumers, especially the Muslim communities with regards to whether the halal status of these food products can really be guaranteed throughout the supply chain in these countries and whether the halal foods claimed are authentic. This study aims to better understand the current halal meat certification in Australia, a predominantly non-Muslim country. By adopting a case study approach, this …

The Moderation Of Gender And Generation In The Effects Of Perceived Destination Image On Tourist Attitude And Visit Intention: A Study Of Potential Chinese Visitors To Australia, Songshan (Sam) Huang, Robert Van Der Veen

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The overall purpose of this study is to examine the moderating roles of gender and generation in the effects of perceived destination image on tourist attitude and visit intention among Chinese potential tourists to Australia. Australia is one of the preferred destinations to Chinese tourists, and the China market emerges to be increasingly important to destination marketing organizations in Australia. Echoing the call for more gender studies in the tourism literature and also based on the generation theory, this study employed a cross-sectional questionnaire survey design and used structural equation modelling in its analysis. Survey data were collected through convenience …

Contextualising Social Capital In Online Brand Communities, Stephanie Meek, Madeleine Ogilvie, Claire Lambert, Maria M. Ryan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Online brand communities (OBC) are growing in number and becoming an increasingly important interface where marketers can effectively facilitate the relationship between their brand and consumers. A qualitative study using a four-month netnography over three OBCs followed by focus groups with OBC members explored the dynamics of social capital in these communities. Findings indicate that social capital is an important driver in the success of OBCs, and all the elements of social capital including a shared language, shared vision, social trust and reciprocity are evident. Moreover, results from this study indicate that these elements are crucial in developing the network …

Tackling Social Media Data Analysis: Comparing And Contrasting Qsr Nvivo And Leximancer, Violetta Wilk, Geoffrey N. Soutar, Paul Harrigan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to offer insights into the ways two computer-aided qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) applications (QSR NVivo and Leximancer) can be used to analyze big, text-based, online data taken from consumer-to-consumer (C2C) social media communication.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used QSR NVivo and Leximancer, to explore 200 discussion threads containing 1,796 posts from forums on an online open community and an online brand community that involved online brand advocacy (OBA). The functionality, in particular, the strengths and weaknesses of both programs are discussed. Examples of the types of analyses each program can undertake and the visual output available …

Encouraging Students To Draw On Work Experiences When Articulating Achievements And Capabilities To Enhance Employability, Denise A. Jackson, Susan Edgar

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Employability drives higher education policy yet despite the investment in developing ‘rounded’ graduates, students experience difficulties in articulating their achievements and capabilities during graduate recruitment. The purpose of this research was to trial and evaluate a career development intervention aimed at drawing on work experiences when applying for graduate roles. Students (N = 136) from two contrasting disciplines, Business and Physiotherapy, and two institutions participated in a two-staged intervention. A focus group was also conducted with career advisors (N = 9) to examine student engagement with career development learning. Findings indicated that students were confident in their ability …

Does Audit Committee Accounting Expertise Help To Promote Audit Quality? Evidence From Auditor Reporting Of Internal Control Weaknesses*, Ling Lei Lisic, Linda A. Myers, Timothy Seidel, Jian Zhou

Faculty Publications

In this study, we examine whether audit committee accounting expertise helps to promote audit quality by motivating auditors to conduct diligent internal control audits and make appropriate internal control assessments because audit committee accounting expertise safeguards auditors from dismissal following adverse internal control opinions. Among clients with existing and likely internal control material weaknesses (as proxied by future restatements of audited financial statements), we find a greater likelihood of adverse internal control audit opinions when the audit committee has greater accounting expertise (measured by the proportion of accounting experts on the audit committee). Among all clients, we find a lower …

International Auditing Considerations At Carrefour S.A., Timothy Seidel, Bill Tayler

Faculty Publications

Carrefour S.A. is a multinational retailer headquartered in France that operates over 10,800 stores worldwide consisting of hypermarkets (a supermarket and department store under one roof), supermarkets, and convenience stores, as well as e-commerce websites. The objective of this three-part case study is to expose students to international (or multi-national client) audit issues/considerations. Multi-national clients often have multiple locations or components that require separately audited financial information that is included in consolidated or group financial statements. The first case exposes students to the need to allocate materiality across components of a group audit. The second part of the case then …

Information Flows Among Rivals And Corporate Investment*, Darren Bernard, Terrence Blackburne, Jacob Thornock

Faculty Publications

Using a novel pairwise measure of firms’ acquisition of rivals’ disclosures, we show that investment opportunities drive interfirm information flows. We find that these flows predict subsequent mergers and acquisitions as well as how and how much firms invest, relative to rivals. Moreover, firms’ use of rivals’ information often hinges on the similarities of their products. Our results suggest that rivals’ public information, far from being unusable, helps facilitate investment and product decisions, including acquisitions and product differentiation strategies. The findings also support a learning mechanism that could partly underlie the emerging literature on peer investment effects.

Digitally Engaged Consumers: A Multi-Level Perspective Of Higher Education Actors And Their Technology Readiness, Treasa Karney, Roisin Vize, Taeshik Gong

Conference papers

Advances in digital technology and innovation have fundamentally changed the way Higher Education (HE) communities, interact, consume and co-create value (Freberg and Merle 2016; Neier and Zayer 2015). However, differences have persisted between the potential of technology enabled learning and the less consistent realities of technology use within university learning and teaching (Henderson et al. 2015). Therefore, a key aim of this research is to examine how technology readiness of students influences their interaction, engagements, and value co-creation with staff. Through applying the lens of value co-creation, i.e. where value is co-created among actors through their active role of engagement, …

Déjà Vu: The Effect Of Executives And Directors With Prior Banking Crisis Experience On Bank Outcomes Around The Global Financial Crisis*, Anwer S. Ahmed, Brant E. Christensen, Adam J. Olson, Christopher G. Yust

Faculty Publications

We investigate the effect of executives and directors with prior banking crisis experience on bank outcomes around the global financial crisis (GFC). Executives and directors with previous experience leading banks through a bank crisis may have been uniquely able to understand the risks, recognize the warnings signs early, and thus respond more effectively to the GFC. Controlling for other executive, director, and bank-level characteristics, we examine whether bank performance, risk taking, and accounting quality in the period immediately before and during the GFC are affected by having executives or directors who previously served as bank executives or directors during the …

Reward Type And Performance: An Examination Of Organizational Wellness Programs, William G. Heninger, Steven D. Smith, David A. Wood

Faculty Publications

We examine organizational control in the context of wellness programs—organizational initiatives designed to improve the physical and mental health of employees. In a field study setting, we examine the associations of three different types of incentives (cash, gift cards, and tangible rewards) with wellness program performance. We find that employees who successfully complete program challenges are associated with greater weight loss. We also find participants choosing gift cards are associated with the greatest program success, even though cash rewards are selected more than twice as often as gift cards. Tangible rewards are the least frequently selected reward and are associated …

Analyst Forecast Bundling, Michael S. Drake, Peter Joos, Joseph Pacelli, Brady Twedt

Faculty Publications

Changing economic conditions over the past two decades have created incentives for sell-side analysts to both provide their institutional clients tiered services and to streamline their written research process. One manifestation of these changes is an increased likelihood of analysts’ issuing earnings forecasts for multiple firms on the same day. We identify this bundling property and show that bundling has increased steadily over time. We provide field evidence that the practice is a cost-saving measure, a natural byproduct of analysts focusing on thematic research, and a reflection of forecast updating that occurs in advance of important events. Our empirical analyses …

The Value Relevance Of Taxes: International Evidence On The Proxy For Profitability Role Of Tax Surprise, Jon Kerr

Faculty Publications

Despite evidence that tax surprise is incrementally value relevant, the literature has done little to broaden the investigation beyond the United States or examine circumstances that affect informativeness. After extending to the international setting, I examine the impact of tax enforcement. I report strong results of greater value relevance when tax enforcement is high and that the value relevance of tax surprise is mostly contained within its interaction with tax enforcement. These findings highlight the importance of tax enforcement in determining the information content of tax surprise and suggest that extant and future discussions should be broadened to include it.