Business Commons^™

Clean Water Grow: Go Or No Go?, Simon Ngawhika, Scott Marshall

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

The $43 billion US wastewater treatment industry is a landscape in which the high costs of capital construction and the need for economies of scale feature prominently. The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that between 2004 and 2024, over $200 billion will need to be spent upgrading and expanding America’s wastewater infrastructure.

One significant challenge in maintaining treatment infrastructure is the build-up of struvite. Struvite accumulates inside treatment facility pipe networks, reducing capacity and increasing operating and maintenance costs. But discharging the components of struvite – the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorous – into the environment also has negative consequences. Concentrated …

Sentiment-Induced Institutional Trading Behavior And Asset Pricing In Securitized Real Estate Markets, Prashant K. Das, Julia Freybote, Gianluca Marcato

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Institutional investors such as pension funds or insurance companies commonly invest in the unsecuritized and securitized real estate market. We investigate how institutional investor sentiment in the inefficient commercial real estate market affects institutional trading behavior in the REIT market and subsequently asset pricing. In particular, we test two alternative theories - flight to liquidity and style investing theory - to explain the sentiment induced trading behavior of institutional investors in the REIT market for the pre-crisis (2002-2006), crisis (2007-2009) and post-crisis (2010-2012) period. We find that the applicability of either theory depends on economic conditions. In the pre-crisis period …

The Perceived Personal Characteristics Of Entrepreneurial Leaders, Ling He

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The concept of entrepreneurial leadership has attracted growing interest from leadership scholars but research is still in an early stage and empirical studies are rare. This thesis explores this new concept in an empirical study of the personal characteristics of entrepreneurial leaders (ELs). The study is underpinned by the “common characteristics” model in which ELs have characteristics of both entrepreneurs and leaders. Semi-structured interviews and a short questionnaire were used to explore business owners’ and corporate managers’ perceptions of the personal characteristics of ELs. Responses were summarised with thematic analysis and descriptive statistics.

The findings show participants perceived EL as …

Information Systems Scholarship: An Examination Of The Past, Present, And Future Of The Information Systems Academic Discipline, James Alec Love

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the topic of scholarship in the Information Systems (IS) discipline through a series of three papers. The papers, presented in Chapters 2, 3, and 4, each delve into a specific chronological period of IS scholarship which are delineated into the past, present, and future. Chapter 2 elucidates the IS discipline’s ‘past’ by categorizing the entire corpus of extant research in the Association of Information Systems Senior Scholars’ Basket of eight journals. Clusters derived from these mainstream journal publications represent a thematic identity of the IS discipline. After analyzing the corpus altogether, further analysis segments the corpus into …

Based On Teacher Perceptions, Would The Use Of Social Media Via Mobile Devices In Grades 9-12 Classrooms Increase Student Engagement In Learning Activities?, Rodney J. Johnson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research study addressed teachers’ perceptions of the use of social networking via mobile devices and the impact that social media accessed via mobile devices has on the learning engagement of students in grades 9-12 in select Louisiana high schools, in a rural southern parish of the United States (Gibbs, 2012). The study examined teachers’ perceptions of whether or not the use of social media improved students’ engagement in learning activities. Some researchers assert that the use of social media and smart cell phones is both the current and future mode of communication and that educators would do well to …

The Influence Of Personal And Educational Demographic Factors On The Productivity Of Farmers In Selected Geographic Regions Of The Ukraine, Viacheslav L. Sereda

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to determine Ukrainian farmers characteristics based on demographic information, describe their agricultural production, land ownership, best farming practices and determine factors that could influence farmers’ gross income. Of the tree Oblasts selected, a total of 250 farmers were randomly selected in two of the oblasts and 150 in the other (due to the size of the population in the smaller sample) for personal interviews by the raion specialists. Random samples were drawn from these lists using a computerized random numbers table. Survey was designed to collect necessary information. Raion specialists received one-day training …

Essays On Dividend Equivalent Rights And Ceo Compensation, Zi Jia

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation studies a little-known executive compensation device called dividend equivalent rights (DERs). DERs entitle an executive to receive dividends, known as dividend equivalents (DEs), on unearned performance-based stocks and options. In the first essay we do empirical studies on the market reaction of news about DERs and the incentives that DERs can bring. We find that about 22% of S&P500 firms allow for these payments and about 10% actually make such payments. While investors react negatively to announcements of DE payments, DERs can be beneficial to shareholders by inducing a company to disgorge unproductive cash. If a firm allows …

Identifying At-Risk Students : A Study Of Freshmen And The Beginning College Survey Of Student Engagement, Amy Ponvelle Hebert

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored the usefulness of variable measures gained from the Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE) as a way to predict student academic performance and identify potential at-risk students. First-year GPA was used as a measure to determine at-risk status and selected BCSSE variables and institutional data were examined as predictors of student performance. The target population included all first-time freshmen at a small, regional university in the south in the fall 2010, 2011, and 2012. The accessible population for the research questions on BCSSE completion included all students who completed the BCSSE in the given years of …

Essays On Mortgage Securitizations, Hong Lee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation studies how the affiliation between different entities in securitization process make different market outcomes, and how this estimation of affiliation effects is susceptible to limitations in securitized residential mortgage data. Three essays constitute the dissertation. The first essay illustrates the limitations and potential bias in the loan-level trustee data. Substantial amounts of loan attributes and risk factors are missing. The patterns of data omissions dramatically vary across different risk factors, sponsors, and trustees, and over the time. Missing of one risk factor is in general positively correlated with missing of the other. Omissions of loan attributes are systematically …

The Hidden Layer Of Buyer-Seller Relationships, Stephanie Marie Mangus

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Using social capital theory (SCT), this research conceptualizes trusted advisor relationships (TAR) and empirically tests the implications of such intense relationships on important performance outcomes. Essay 1 was conducted to offer an in-depth analysis of the conceptualization of trusted advisor relationships. A hermeneutical phenomenological approach was used to interpret the data derived from fourteen in-depth interviews with professional salespeople and their business-to-business (B2B) clients. These data supported the development of a conceptual model and definition of TARs. Essay 2 was conducted to explore the measurable components of trusted advisor relationships and solidify an operationalization of the construct for used in …

Identifying And Quantifying Factors Affecting Injury Severity Of Young Drivers Involved In Single Vehicle Crashes Occurring Within Curves On Rural Two-Lane Roads In Louisiana, Cory Hutchinson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates factors affecting young driver injury levels for single vehicle crashes occurring within curves on rural two-lane roads in Louisiana. Although the number of fatal and serious injury crashes involving young drivers is declining, young drivers are still overrepresented in crashes and crashes are still the leading cause of death for young drivers. Driver injury prediction models are formulated using binary logistic regression and Bayesian Network (BN) modeling. Binary logistic regression models have commonly been used in safety studies to analyze injury levels of occupants involved in crashes over the past few decades. More recently, a few safety …

Has The Fasb And Iasb's Shift Toward An Asset/Liability View Enhanced The Predictive Usefulness Of Roe?, Regina Cavalier Rosa

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past several decades, accounting standard setters have been gradually shifting financial reporting toward an asset/liability view, by rewriting the underlying conceptual framework and issuing accounting standards that reflect this view. The asset/liability view enhances comparability of a firm’s investment base to that of its peers, and thus enhances the comparability of a firm’s return of equity (ROE). This, in turn, increases the transparency with which firm-specific performance differs from its peers. Greater transparency would be expected to improve predictive usefulness, but would also place greater pressure on a firm to meet the performance of its peers. In the …

Essays On Corporate Innovation, Lai Van Vo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I explore the underlying mechanisms through which a firm innovates and invests in Research and Development (R&D). It consists of two essays. The initial essay investigates the effects of aggregate stock market liquidity on innovation at both the aggregate and firm levels for publicly traded firms in the U.S., and shows a significant and positive effect at both levels of aggregation. Next, the essay provides two underlying mechanisms through which aggregate stock liquidity enhances innovation. First, high stock market liquidity reduces the cost of raising external capital, making it easier for firms, especially for small firms and …

Finding The Right Balance: Antecedents And Consequences Of Making, Buying, Or Concurrently Sourcing Human Capital, Joshua S. Bendickson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Strategically determining organizational boundaries is one means to achieving better performance. This dissertation examines vertical integration, strategic acquisitions and concurrent sourcing to better understand the strategies used to acquire human capital and the impacts of these choices on performance outcomes. Using transaction cost economics and the organizational capabilities literatures I develop hypotheses to determine and explain the relevant antecedents to these strategic decisions. I then determine how the decision to make or buy (or both) human capital impacts competitive advantage and how competitive advantage impacts financial outcomes (i.e., revenue, and sales). Hypotheses are tested using data on 30 organizations from …

The Influence Of Selected Factors On The Science Achievement Of Eighth Grade Students In Louisiana, John Dana Gaspard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study is to determine the influence of selected demographic and academic factors on the science achievement among middle school students in Louisiana. The dependent variable for this study was Science achievement as measured by the Eighth Grade LEAP Test. The independent variables consisted of selected demographic characteristics and student scores on the ELA, Reading, Mathematics, and Social Studies sections of the Eighth Grade LEAP Test and their subtests. The target population of this study was Eighth Grade students in the public schools of Louisiana who were required to successfully complete the LEAP test in order …

The Effect Of Innovation On Corporate Tax Avoidance, Peng Guo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

A large body of literature examines the determinants of corporate tax avoidance. In this paper I examine a new determinant of tax avoidance: innovation. Firms with more innovation generate more patents. Due to information asymmetry between the managers of the firm and tax authorities, firms have considerable discretion in choosing which country the patent revenue is generated in. In this study, I predict that firms with more patents will choose to attribute the revenue from those patents to countries with low tax rates. Using a relatively new data source which contains data on patents, I find evidence consistent with my …

On The Governance Of Innovation: Institutional Ownership Vs. Stock Price, Huong Thi Thu Le

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Firms can change their outstanding shares to manage their stock price levels. Those with lower stock prices tend to attract more speculative trading, which causes higher price volatility and may force their managers to excessively focus on short-term earnings at the expense of R&D and other long-term projects. Thus, I hypothesize that keeping high stock price levels allows firms to (i) limit speculative traders’ influences on stock prices and thus mitigate investor short-termism, and (ii) enhance R&D productivity. Indeed, I find that high-priced firms are less likely to cut R&D to reverse an earnings decline, less likely to fire their …

Does U.S. Macroeconomic News Make Emerging Financial Markets Riskier?, Esin Cakan, Nadia Doytch, Kamal P. Upadhyaya

Publications and Research

This study analyzes the impacts of US macroeconomic announcement surprises on the volatility of twelve emerging stock markets by employing asymmetric GJR-GARCH model. The model includes both positive and negative surprises about inflation and unemployment rate announcements in the U.S. We find that volatility shocks are persistent and asymmetric. Asymmetric volatility increases with bad news on US inflation in five out of the twelve countries studied and it increases with a bad news on U.S. unemployment in four out of twelve countries. Asymmetric volatility decreases with good news about US employment situation in eight countries out of twelve countries. Such …

Leader Benefits: Exploring How Leaders Benefit From Lmx, Jeffrey Muldoon

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Leader Member Exchange (LMX) theory has emerged as one of the most prominent leadership theories over the last thirty years. Scholars found that subordinates with elevated levels of LMX experience higher degrees of job satisfaction and work motivation, experience lower levels of burnout and turnover intentions, and demonstrate stronger contextual and focal job performance. Yet the work outcomes for supervisors have not been heavily researched. Scholars assume, but have not demonstrated, that supervisors gain cognitive and affective benefits beyond job performance from their relationships with subordinates. These benefits are crucial because they are common to social exchange and differentiate supervisor/subordinate …

Liminal Experience Of East Asian Backpackers, Huong T. Bui, Hugh Wilkins, Y S. Lee

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Acknowledging the increasing popularity of independent travel from East Asia, this article explores the backpacking experience of young travellers of the region, from a socio-anthropological angle. Using liminality theory as a guideline and adopting a qualitative investigative approach, 31 interviews with East Asian backpackers were conducted. The findings suggest there are dual facets of the liminal experiences of the backpackers. On one hand, young travellers were motivated to escape from temporal, spatial and social pressures at home. On the other, their narratives reflected a strong commitment to home through a sense of filial piety, an awareness of their identity and …

(Re)Constructing Career Strategies After Experiencing Involuntary Job Loss, Sue Mulhall

Articles

This research article focuses on experiences of involuntary job loss following organisational change as occasions for career (re)construction. Using narrative inquiry, it explores the career stories of four former professionals on an Irish active labour market programme assisting the long-term unemployed to transition to employment. The article portrays how, and in what ways, the participants respond when confronted with transformation. Offering an empirically grounded understanding of the character and conduct of those encountering transition with greater nuance than that currently found in the literature, the article comprehends the approach that the former professionals use to (re)construct their career strategies. By …

Multi-Criteria Approach Using Simulation-Based Balanced Scorecard For Supporting Decisions In Health-Care Facilities: An Emergency Department Case Study, Waleed Abo-Hamad, Amr Arisha

Articles

Health research is a priority in every economy, and this research – set in the context of building a more sustainable and efficient health-care system – examines how operations management practices can be translated to clinical applications. Health-care systems in general (and emergency departments (EDs) in particular) around the world are facing enormous challenges in meeting the increasingly conflicting objectives of providing wide accessibility and delivering high-quality services efficiently and promptly. The framework proposed in this study integrates simulation modelling, the Balanced Scorecard, and multicriteria decision analysis with the aim of providing a decision support system for health-care managers. Using …

Investigation Into The Ratio Of Operating And Support Costs To Life-Cycle Costs For Dod Weapon Systems, Gary L. Jones, Edward D. White, Erin T. Ryan, Jonathan D. Ritschel

Faculty Publications

Recent legislation, such as the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009, requires a renewed emphasis on understanding Operating and Support (O&S) costs. Conventional wisdom within the acquisition community suggests a 70:30 cost ratio with respect to O&S and acquisition of an average weapon system. Using 37 Air Force and Navy programs, the authors estimate the mean overall ratio of O&S costs to acquisition costs to be closer to 55:45, although many weapon systems displayed significant deviation from this 55 percent average. Contributing factors such as life expectancy and acquisition strategy (i.e., new system or modification) affect this variance. Their …

Analysis Of Touring Cyclists: Impacts, Needs And Opportunities For Montana, Norma P. Nickerson, Jake Jorgenson, Meredith Berry, Jane Kwenye

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

The purpose of this study was to understand the niche market of touring cyclists and to examine the potential for cycle tourism in the state of Montana. Results indicate a strong potential for cycle tourism in the state of Montana. Multi-day cyclists are generally satisfied while in Montana, but improvements are needed. Touring cyclists fit directly in line with Montana’s geotourism marketing brand pillars.

Can Using The Internal Audit Function As A Training Ground For Management Deter Internal Auditor Fraud Reporting?, Christopher K. Eller

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effects of using the internal audit function as a training ground for management and fraud magnitude on internal auditor fraud reporting decisions. Using a 2x2 between-participants experiment, the current study manipulates the use of the internal audit function as a management training ground (used as a training ground vs. not used as a training ground) and fraud magnitude (large fraud, defined as 30 percent of net income vs. small fraud, defined as one percent of net income). The results indicate that internal auditors may be less likely to report a fraud to their superior when the …

Collaboration Trend In Indian Business-Management Research: A Bibliometric Perspective, Rakhi V S

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study has brought out the current landscape of Indian collaboration in research in the discipline of Business management. Co-authorship patterns derived from 1997-2012 data in the EBSCO-Host BSP (Business Source Premier)dtabase are analyzed to show the status of Business Management (BM) collaboration in India. The growth of co-authored publications during the study period is calculated as 37.94 percent and single authored papers as 42.7 percent using the log- linear model. Three different levels of collaboration as local(LL) national(NL) and international(IL) are discussed. On examining the sectoral collaboration measured as papers authored by academic and non-academic authors it is found …

It's Not The Serve, But The Return, Marnee J. Dupont

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Transnational Regulatory Regimes In Finance: A Comparative Analysis Of Their (Dis-)Integrative Effects, Katharina Pistor

Faculty Scholarship

Financial markets have become increasingly interconnected with financial intermediaries and instruments linking local and national markets to form regional or even global ones. The global financial crisis of 2008 demonstrated once more that financial interdependence can be both a blessing and a curse. It facilitates the movement of capital and the expansion of credit, and as such promotes economic development in good times; however, in bad times it transmits liquidity shortages throughout the system triggering financial crises and economic recessions where credit expansion earlier fuelled expansion and growth. A critical question therefore is how to structure the governance of transnational …

Drug Supply Chain Security Act Of 2013 And It’S Computer System Implementation, Daryl Jones

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Since 1987, the federal government and state governments, have tried to combat counterfeit drugs from entering the United States and the states' pharmaceutical supply chain. The latest attempt to prevent counterfeit drugs from entering the state drug supply chain was the California E-Pedigree drug tracing program that was to be implemented by the end of 2017. The California E-Pedigree system uses GS1 PDMS tracing system as its guideline. Since all of the states use paper format pedigree systems, California would have been the first electronic pedigree system in the U.S.

However, on November 27, 2013, the President of the United …

2013 Q4 Market Pulse Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Market Pulse Report

The quarterly IBBA and M&A Source Market Pulse Survey was created to gain an accurate understanding of the market conditions for businesses being sold in Main Street (values $0-$2MM) and the lower middle market (values $2MM -$50MM). The national survey was conducted with the intent of providing a valuable resource to business owners and their advisors. The IBBA and M&A Source present the Market Pulse Survey with the support of the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project and the Graziado School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.