Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

Share Retention, Underwriter Reputation, And Initial Public Offering Underpricing, Marcia Yvonne Reid-Grant

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Initial public offering (IPO) underpricing is a costly practice that decreases the IPO proceeds accruing to the issuing firms and can derail a firm's growth objectives. The purpose of this correlational study was to determine the relationship between share retention, underwriter reputation, and IPO underpricing among a population of IPOs issued in Jamaica. The efficient market hypothesis served as the theoretical framework for this study. Archived data for 52 IPOs issued in Jamaica from 1986 to 2018 were collected and Spearman's correlation matrix and heteroscedasticity-consistent standard errors regression analysis were applied. The outcomes of this study indicated no significant relationship …

Community Public-Private Partnership Leadership Synergy In Tanzania, Hawa Yatera Mshana

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although the public-private partnership (PPP) concept in health and social health has been politically accepted as the best pathway to improving health outcomes in many developing nations, implementation lacks leadership synergy. Lack of awareness and engagement of community leaders about PPP interventions and their benefits affect accountability and ownership of health and social care interventions. The purpose of this study was to better understand factors that could promote partnership leadership synergy to enhance ownership and accountability for community health and social welfare initiatives in Tanzania. A qualitative empirical case study design was used; diffusion of innovation and the public-private integrated …

Leadership, Perceptions, And Turnover In Fire And Emergency New Zealand, Mark Anthony Long

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Fire and Emergency New Zealand experiences voluntary turnover at local volunteer fire brigades. The purpose of the quantitative component of this sequential explanatory study was to examine the relationship between volunteer chief fire officers' leadership styles, perceptions of organizational support, and voluntary firefighter turnover; the purpose of the qualitative component was to explore strategies that volunteer chief fire officers used to reduce volunteer firefighter turnover. The population for the quantitative study was 21 volunteer chief fire officers, and the population for the qualitative study was 6 volunteer firefighters. The theoretical frameworks that grounded this study were transformational leadership theory (TL) …

Corporate Social Responsibility And The Welfare Of Nigerian Niger Delta Landowners, Charles Oboh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The perception by any group of ineffectiveness in the dispensation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to major stakeholders may result in friction, reduction in productivity, and an overall loss of social and economic capital. The problem addressed in this study, which represented the gap in knowledge and practice, was that CSR initiatives in the Niger Delta region lack a community-centric framework to ensure optimal and sustainable returns on CSR investments for multinational corporations and local Nigerian landowners. The purpose of the study was to develop a deeper understanding of what it means to experience CSR for Nigerian landowners in the …

Procurement Strategies In Nigerian Ceramics Manufacturing, Emmanuel Korede Alege

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some developing nations struggle with a diminishing manufacturing output market share because of a lack of appropriate procurement strategies. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the procurement strategies that managers successfully developed and deployed to improve company performance. The strategic alignment model was the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews of 6 members of a Nigerian ceramics manufacturing company, as well as from a review of publicly available documents related to the performance of the company. A thematic analysis of the data was conducted to identify codes, extract subthemes and themes …

Strategies To Decrease Business Failure In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Pantiva Navamarat

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Southeast Asia, many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) fail each year; in 2010, SME failure rate exceeded 50%. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that some SME business leaders use to decrease the failure rate of SMEs in Southeast Asia. The target population consisted of 5 SME business leaders in Southeast Asia who demonstrated success in using strategies to decrease the failure rate of SMEs. The conceptual framework for this study was the Ulrich model, which supports the notion that a human resource manager needs to be involved in overall organizational decision making as …

Project Manager Strategies To Improve The Delivery Of Construction Projects, Luis Gaspar Crespo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The return on investment of construction organizations is at risk because construction managers fail to execute projects efficiently. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies that construction managers used to deliver projects efficiently. The selected population was 10 construction managers from a single construction organization operating in Panama. The conceptual framework for this study was the McKinsey 7S. Data were collected using semistructured interviews, observations, and a review of public documents. Collected data were compiled, disassembled, reassembled, interpreted, and then conclusions were reached, as noted in Yin's 5-step analysis. Themes that emerged from the study included …

Servant Leaders As Change Agents, Janice P. Tanno, David K. Banner

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Servant leadership (SL) produces high performance and employee engagement. Non-SL senior leaders lacking business ethics have caused negative outcomes. This study explored the lived experiences of senior leaders’ decision-making in SL organizations. Maslow’s theories, decision theory, spirituality, Cicero’s virtue theory of ethics; SL comprised the theoretical/conceptual foundation. Data collection used purposive sampling of 18 senior leader participants in SL organizations employing Giorgi’s descriptive psychological structures of experiences analysis method. Findings confirmed ethical decision-making in SL organizations. Recommendations included examining CEO ethical leadership and firm performance interrelations and promoting ethical decision-making at all levels. Conclusions supported teamwork as the one …

A Multifaceted View Of Ceo Compensation And Performance: A Case Study, John Nirenberg

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

This case addresses CEO pay, a topic that annually stimulates the question of whether or not executive compensation is based on performance or something else and why it is so high in absolute terms. The societal impact of the new class of executives among the largest companies in the United States set apart from the rest of the world in a cocoon of wealth and privilege inflames resentment among workers, widens an already unfathomable distance between those at the top and the rest of us, and endangers the social amity among citizens of the polity . Positive social change might …

Perceptions Of Followers About Ethical Leadership And Attendant Effects On Organizational Success, Adejobi S. Odeneye, Stephanie N. Hoon, Karla S. Phlypo

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Attainment of goals without consideration for the needs of stakeholders remains the focus of leaders. Ethical leadership (EL) studies’ focus on leaders’ perspectives represented a research gap that necessitated this study. Followers are the least researched among stakeholders; thus, this study explored EL from their viewpoints. Stakeholder theory, social learning theory, eudaimonia, and utilitarianism were the conceptual frameworks that guided this study. Twenty participants drawn from followers in a public organization in New Jersey were questioned about their experiences and expectations of EL using open-ended interview questions. Participants with shared experiences were selected based on convenience, snowball, and criterion sampling …

Market-Entry Strategies Of Startup Owners, Evgeny Tsaplin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Russia's startups fail at high rates. The purpose of this multiple case study was to understand the market-entry strategies used by accelerated startup managers to succeed in business longer than the first 3 years. The target population for this study was 3 startup owners who completed an acceleration program from the Internet Initiatives Development Fund and continued to operate businesses that generated revenue. The participants in the study were located in 3 different cities in Russia: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Tomsk. The conceptual framework for the study was Raheem and Akhuemonkhan's theory of enterprise development and von Bertalanffy's general system …

Attraction And Retention Of Individual Donor Funding In Nonprofit Organizations, Andria Coleman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Individual donors are an important source of revenue for nonprofit organizations. However, there is limited information on the attraction and retention of individual donors in nonprofit organizations. This single-case study addressed strategies 3 nonprofit leaders in the Northeast United States use to attract and retain individual donors. The conceptual framework was Kaplan and Norton's strategy map and the 2015-2016 Baldrige Excellence Framework used to evaluate organizational performance. Data collection included semistructured interviews; review of company documents; analysis of data available via GuideStar, an online provider of information on U.S. nonprofit organizations; analysis of data available about U.S. agencies; and review …

Instructional Behavior And Its Impact On Student Engagement, Debra Joan Crumpton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this quantitative study was to expand understanding of leadership behaviors and their influence on follower engagement. Researchers have shown that engagement is a predictor of retention and organizational performance. Leadership theory and the conceptual framework of worker engagement were the study's theoretical anchors. Despite a proliferation of leadership studies, engagement antecedents are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to narrow the gap in the literature by examining the extent to which there may be a relationship between college instructors' behaviors and student engagement. Although not traditionally regarded as frontline leaders, extant leadership literature affirmed college …

Strategies To Combat Tenant Fraud In The Rental Housing Market, Dr. Gwendolyn B. Dawson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many business executives lack strategies to detect and eliminate tenant fraud in subsidized rental housing. The purpose of this multicase study was to explore strategies some business executives used to detect and eliminate tenant fraud in subsidized rental housing. The conceptual framework used to guide this study was the theory of planned behavior. Data were gathered using semistructured interviews with 6 purposively selected business executives of public housing authorities, supplemented with a review of policies and procedures that business executives used. Yin's 5-step analysis, which entails examining, categorizing, tabulating, creating a data display, and testing the data, guided the process …

A Grounded Theory Of Emergent Leadership In Nonhierarchical Virtual Teams, Randall Fleming

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A Grounded Theory of Emergent Leadership in Nonhierarchical Virtual Teams

by

Randall David Fleming

MS, Colorado Technical University, 2008

BA, The Ohio State University, 1984

Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Management

Walden University

November 2018

Industrial Voluntary Consensus Standards – A Process Under Threat, Joel Blumenthal

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The world relies heavily on industrial voluntary consensus standards to serve public interests through the development of uniform and harmonized social and economic procedures. The research problem focused on generating suggestions for improving collaborative practices between U.S.-based accredited and unaccredited standards development organizations that create voluntary consensus standards. The research centered on assessing the level of consensus among experts regarding what actions may be conducive to improving collaborative practices through the lenses of stakeholder and institutional theory. This modified 3-round qualitative Delphi study began with open-ended questions in Round 1 and progressed towards consensus in Rounds 2 and 3 using …

Testing Matching And Mirroring With Homophily In Onboarding Leadership Socialization, Manuel Almendarez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study was designed to test the relationship between matching and mirroring (MM) and homophilous perceptions (PHM) in leadership socialization. Elevated PHM levels were hypothesized to affect workplace acceptance levels. The need for testing leadership socialization skills was magnified with the current demographic shift known as the leadership succession crisis, creating problems with onboarding strategies. The theoretical foundations of the study were based on the social identity theory, the social presence theory, the leader-member exchange theory, and the similarity-attraction paradigm. The study conducted at Workforce Solutions North Texas in Wichita Falls, Texas was sampled based on the calculated strength of …

Improving Workers' Safety And Health In The Zimbabwean Mining And Quarrying Industry, Bernard Mabika

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Lack of effective occupational safety and health (OSH) strategies is a reason that

workplace accidents in the mining and quarrying industry remain high, making the

industry one of the riskiest operations worldwide. The purpose of this multiple case study

was to explore successful strategies mining and quarrying leaders in Zimbabwe used to

improve OSH. The key research question addressed successful strategies leaders in the

mining and quarrying industry use to improve employee occupational safety and health in

Zimbabwe. Six successful business leaders from 3 mining and quarrying mines in

Zimbabwe demonstrated an exception to unsafe practices, particularly through their

exceptional …

Strategies For Improving Energy Conservation On A Military Installation, Samuel Francis Richardson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Energy is an essential component required to execute missions throughout military organizations. Failing to sustain energy efficiency in military units could cause mission failures throughout the Department of Defense. As a result, efficient energy management has become a major priority for Air National Guard units as well as other military organizations around the globe. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to gain an understanding of strategies used by front-line military supervisors to reduce energy consumption through behavioral change on a military installation located in Maryland. The central question explored strategies that front-line military supervisors use to change …

Strategic Working Capital Sourcing Strategies For The Survival Of Small Businesses, Gregory Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Fifty percent of small businesses fail before attaining their 5-year anniversary. The lack of sufficient working capital is one of the major reasons for small business failure. Pecking order theory was employed as the conceptual framework for this multiple case study to explore the working capital sourcing strategies of 6 purposely selected successful small business owners in the Southeast region of the United States used to sustain their businesses beyond 5 years. Data sources included semistructured interviews and company documents. Data analysis included thematic coding of the material using statistical software. The modified Van Kaam method was used to analyze …

Case Study Of Inclusive Environments For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Employees, Darin Dale Stephens

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the positive changes occurring regarding American attitudes toward members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, empirical evidence indicates that LGBT individuals do not believe inclusive environments exist, as 48% of the population remains closeted at work. A gap exists in the literature relating to the formulation of practical solutions that establish and sustain inclusive environments. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify the possible influence of cultural lag on the workplace engagement of LGBT employees. Ogburn's cultural lag theory served as the conceptual framework. The following research questions guided the study: (a) The …

Strategies To Improve Business Performance With Information From Social Media, Taylor Chan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the past 3 decades, China has experienced rapid economic growth. The China retail market reached renminbi (RMB) 29,651 billion in 2016, up by 10.4% from 2015. Using traditional ways that developed before the Internet era to acquire information regarding customers' changing preferences for products and services in a fast-moving business world is insufficient to support management in the retail industry to make informed strategic decisions. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore successful customer-centric strategies that business leaders used to improve business performance with marketing information acquired from social media. The population comprised business leaders from …

Analytic Extensions To The Data Model For Management Analytics And Decision Support In The Big Data Environment, Nsikak Etim Akpakpan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

From 2006 to 2016, an estimated average of 50% of big data analytics and decision support projects failed to deliver acceptable and actionable outputs to business users. The resulting management inefficiency came with high cost, and wasted investments estimated at $2.7 trillion in 2016 for companies in the United States. The purpose of this quantitative descriptive study was to examine the data model of a typical data analytics project in a big data environment for opportunities to improve the information created for management problem-solving. The research questions focused on finding artifacts within enterprise data to model key business scenarios for …

Leadership Development Strategies To Build Leaders Through Mentorship Programs, Devin Bradley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Developing employees to assume leadership positions has never been more critical for organizational leaders given the competitive climate and the shortage of executive leaders. Organizations must develop future leaders at unprecedented rates to assume roles and responsibilities of the current executive leaders who will leave the organization due to retirement and other forms of attrition. Using mentorship theory, the purpose of this multicase study was to explore strategies that business leaders use to successfully improve their mentoring programs for employee leadership development. The target population consisted of 3 business leaders located in central Florida with successful experience in improving their …

Strategies For Motivating Sales Employees' Performance Within Small Businesses In The United States, Wesley Chikwanda Chishimba

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The loss of revenue, profits, brand, and corporate sustainability are possible for companies whose managers do not use strategies to motivate employee sales performance. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies managers use to motivate sales employees' performance. A purposeful sample of 3 managers from U.S. companies with sales employees shared their strategies to motivate sales employees' performance. Methodological triangulation was used to review and analyze information from semistructured interviews, journal notes, member checking data, and review and analysis of relevant company documents. Additionally, coding indicated 4 main themes supporting the benefits of strategies to …

Hotel Manager Strategies To Reduce Voluntary Employee Turnover, Christl Arwen Kroeten

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The voluntary turnover rate in the United States hotel industry is among the highest of all industries, resulting in lost revenue. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies hotel managers use to reduce voluntary employee turnover. The targeted population consisted of 6 managers from hotel businesses operating in the MidAtlantic region of the United States who successfully used strategies to reduce voluntary employee turnover. Job embeddedness theory, this study's theoretical framework, was used to describe reasons employees remained in organizations. Data were gathered via semistructured interviews, observational notes, and public business records regarding turnover or retention …

Copreneurs' Coping Strategies For Work-Family Conflict, Eunice Peregrino-Dartey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Family businesses including copreneurships have a high failure rate. Copreneurs experience work-family conflict (WFC), which can have a negative effect on business sustainability. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies that copreneurs used in managing WFC to achieve business sustainability for longer than 10 years. Three copreneurs from 3 copreneurial businesses located in the Greater Accra region of Ghana, who have employed effective strategies to cope with WFC to achieve business sustainability longer than 10 years, participated in the study. The WFC model for business/marriage partners (copreneurs) and the reciprocal coping model served as the …

Strategies For Successfully Managing Organizational It Projects, Joseph Rathbun

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over 70% of information technology (IT) projects in large organizations in the United States run over budget or fail to reach completion primarily due to a lack of effective strategies. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies that IT project managers used to successfully complete IT projects. Hersey and Blanchard's situational leadership theory was the conceptual framework. Purposive sampling method was used to identify 2 successful IT project managers in Central Texas. Data gathered from semistructed interviews and collected from publicly available documents were analyzed using coding techniques, constant comparison, and key word phrases. Member checking …

Effective Hiring Process Background Check Strategies, Christina Diane Waddell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Job applicants often falsify information in their application materials. Using the disparate impact theory as the conceptual framework, the purpose of this multiple case study was to identify strategies Human Resource professionals use to complete effective background checks while maintaining compliance with federal regulations. I collected data by interviewing executives of 3 organizations located in the Southwest region of the United States, who had successful strategies for performing background checks to identify falsified information in the application process. I assured the validity and reliability of the data by reviewing organizational documents and member checking of the interpretation of the data. …

Strategies For Integrating And Sustaining Disruptive Innovations In Small Businesses, Robert Allen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The evolution of technology has led to a need for business leaders to embrace disruptive technology for the purpose of capturing new markets and remaining competitive. Multiple challenges have been faced by business leaders in the processes of integrating and sustaining disruptive innovations, resulting in the failure to achieve expected efficiency and profitability. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies used by business leaders to integrate and sustain disruptive innovations. The conceptual frameworks were Roger's diffusion of innovation theory and Christensen's disruptive innovation theory. Semistructured interviews were administered to 10 business leaders and employees from institutions …