Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies To Enhance The Profitability Of Firms, Franklin Alexander De La Rosa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ineffective corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies can negatively impact a company’s competitive advantage. A lack of competitive advantage may lead a business leader to experience poor performance and lost profits. Grounded in the stakeholder theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies some commercial banking, loan, and savings association leaders used to ensure successful CSR programs to enhance profitability. Participants comprised four leaders in Puerto Rico who successfully established CSR strategies to improve organizational profitability. Data were collected from semistructured interviews and banking websites. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Three themes emerged: …

Obstacles And Enablers For Employing Internal Control Practices Faced By Nonprofit Leaders, Tammy L. Holloway

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Fraud has had disturbing effects which can hurt many nonprofits. Having weak practices can increase risk and invite perpetrators. Small nonprofit organizations are especially at risk. The research problem is that many small nonprofits do not employ strong practices within their organization, which leaves them open to fraud. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the obstacles and enablers that leaders of small nonprofit organizations in the eastern United States face when employing proper internal control practices to protect the organization from fraud. Agency theory framed this study when examining agency problems that leaders face when employing …

Relationship Between Perceived Language Proficiency And Economic Life Satisfaction For Migrants, John Ndunduma

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United States needs migrant workers to fill the labor market gap because baby boomers are retiring from the US workforce in large numbers beginning in 2020. Approximately 2.1 million migrants came from Africa to fill the U.S. labor shortage. Many of these African migrants faced challenges with English language proficiency. There are benefits to the United States involved with increasing the economic wellbeing of migrants, such as reducing remigration, increasing the high-skilled labor force, and increasing cultural diversity. This study used Maslow’s motivational theory to test significant relationships between perceptions of English language proficiency (PELP) and economic life satisfaction …

Strategies To Reduce Employee Turnover In The Insurance Industry, Ebony Phillips

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee turnover continues to increase in the insurance industry because no minimum skill or education level is required to enter the U.S. insurance industry. Insurance leaders are concerned with reducing employee turnover, as it creates a risk to employee productivity and profitability. Grounded in Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation, the purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore strategies five insurance leaders from central Kansas used to reduce employee turnover. Data were collected using semistructured virtual interviews and a review of company records. Data were analyzed using Yin’s five-step approach, and three themes emerged: (a) supportive leadership, (b) incentives/benefits, …

Generational Shifts In The Perception Of Workforce Commitment, Christopher Donald Raiford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Costs of staffing, training, and retention have always been significant expenses for U.S. corporations. The most recent addition to the workforce, the millennial generation cohort, presents a new set of challenges to leadership. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences related to the perception of commitment of millennial generation participants employed in the U.S. community banking sector. The conceptual framework included generational theory and organizational theory. Data were collected from 11 participants via semi-structed Zoom interviews. Data were analyzed for codes, categories, and themes. Results indicated that (a) millennials value leadership that invests in …

Monetary Policy Transmission Channels And The Performance Of The Real Sectors In Selected Sub-Saharan African Countries: A System-Gmm Approach, Ifeoma Florence Onaga, Augustine C. Arize

Faculty Publications

This study investigated the impact of monetary policy channels on the real sector performance in selected subSaharan African countries. This study covers the period 1990 to 2020. The broad objective of the study was to examine the impact of monetary policy transmission channels on the real sectors of selected sub-Saharan African countries within the period, 1990–2020. Using the system generalized method of moments (sys-GMMs) amidst other preestimation and post-estimation tests, it was discovered that credit and exchange rate channels positively drove agricultural productivity, while interest rate channel exerted a negatively significant influence. Conversely, credit and exchange rate channels were found …

Predicting Market Risk Premium, Jirayu Chupanich

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The purpose of this study is to address the financial challenge of predicting market risk premiums and to determine which factors and models are most effective. This research employs three methodologies: single regression, combined regression, and a time-series model. The study focuses on the accuracy of prediction models in four different countries: India, Thailand, Korea, and Taiwan, over the period from January 2009 to December 2023. The findings of this study demonstrate that certain factors in the single predictive model can outperform the historical MRP in these four countries, providing significant evidence for the emerging market, as this result aligns …

Life After Death: A Field Experiment With Small Businesses On Information Frictions, Stigma, And Bankruptcy, Shai Bernstein, Emanuele Colonnelli, Mitchell Hoffman

Faculty Publications

In an RCT with US small businesses, we document that a large share of firms are not well-informed about bankruptcy. Many assume that bankruptcy necessarily entails the death of a business and do not know about Chapter 11, where debts are renegotiated so that the business can continue operating. Firms also exhibit bankruptcy-related stigma, believing that bankruptcy is embarrassing, a sign of failure, and a negative signal to employees and customers. Short educational videos that address information or stigma increase knowledge and decrease stigma, both immediately and durably over 4 months. Videos increase reported interest in using Chapter 11 bankruptcy …

Public Company Ceo Strategies For Navigating A Global Economic Shock, Trevor Lee Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Covid-19 has been the most significant economic shock of the 21st century, evidenced by the S&P 500 index plunging over 30% in early 2020. Business leaders who fail to prepare for black swan events are at a high risk of failure. Grounded in Taleb’s black swan theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies some public market CEOs use to defend share price returns during economic shocks. The participants were five CEOs of five publicly traded companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange who generated positive investor returns since the pandemic began. Data were collected …

Outsourcing Interruptions And The Emergence Of Reshoring, Enrico Castillo Santos

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over the last 25 years, offshore outsourcing has been accepted as a standard business practice, primarily for the cost advantage of operating in lower costs offshore locations. Lately, the trend is reversing; business leaders are moving their manufacturing operations back home despite the near-term negative impact of the reversal decision. This qualitative multiple case study aimed to understand the factors that influenced manufacturing business leaders of U.S.-based companies to reverse previously made offshoring decisions and reshored at a high reversal rate. In this study, I applied the conceptual framework proposed by Fratocchi et al. (2016). Data were collected from five …

Nonprofit Leader Strategies For Revenue Growth And Financial Sustainability, William David Woods

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nonprofit leaders must ceaselessly endeavor to become more entrepreneurial by accumulating strategies for growing organizational revenue and promoting financial sustainability when charitable contributions cannot fund their business operations. The failure to obtain charitable contributions can lead to nonprofit closure. Grounded in behavioral portfolio theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies a leader of a small Wisconsin nonprofit used to increase revenue and financial sustainability when charitable contributions were insufficient to finance business operations. Data collection included semistructured interviews; organizational documents and reports; financial records and reports; social media; and internet reports. Data were analyzed …

The Impact Of Using A Financial Advisor On Financial Success, William Lance Hocutt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Planning for retirement is a practical approach to preparing for an excellent financial quality of life post career. However, individuals do not have the human capital to make optimal financial decisions or know whom to turn to for financial advice when they obtain human capital. This quantitative, correlational study examined the relationship between having a financial advisor, income, education, age, gender, marital status, racial status, employment status, the number of children under 19 years old in the household, and perceived financial success. The chosen theoretical foundation for this study was human capital theory. They used 944 data sets from the …

Generational Shifts In The Perception Of Workforce Commitment, Christopher Donald Raiford

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Costs of staffing, training, and retention have always been significant expenses for U.S. corporations. The most recent addition to the workforce, the millennial generation cohort, presents a new set of challenges to leadership. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences related to the perception of commitment of millennial generation participants employed in the U.S. community banking sector. The conceptual framework included generational theory and organizational theory. Data were collected from 11 participants via semi-structed Zoom interviews. Data were analyzed for codes, categories, and themes. Results indicated that (a) millennials value leadership that invests in …

Business Sustainability Among Women Entrepreneurs In Ghana, Gabriel Yaw Asante

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Women entrepreneurs in Ghana are not prepared for entrepreneurship and face individual and contextual barriers that include social, cultural, economic, political, demographic, institutional, and technological perceived support. Guided by the institutional theory, the purpose of this qualitative exploratory multiple case study was to explore business strategic information that women entrepreneurs in Ghana need to learn to make their business sustainable beyond 5 years. Ten successful women entrepreneurs from 5 industries in Ghana, who had the training, experience, and information on the causes of business failure and had applied that information to gain business sustainability beyond 5 years, were recruited. Data …

A Randomized Trial Of Behavioral Nudges Delivered Through Text Messages To Increase Influenza Vaccination Among Patients With An Upcoming Primary Care Visit, Mitesh S. Patel, Katherin L. Milkman, Linnea Gandhi, Heather N. Graci, Dena Gromet, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

Purpose: To evaluate if nudges delivered by text message prior to an upcoming primary care visit can increase influenza vaccination rates.

Design: Randomized, controlled trial.

Setting: Two health systems in the Northeastern US between September 2020 and March 2021.

Subjects: 74,811 adults.

Interventions: Patients in the 19 intervention arms received 1-2 text messages in the 3 days preceding their appointment that varied in their format, interactivity, and content.

Measures: Influenza vaccination.

Analysis: Intention-to-treat.

Results: Participants had a mean (SD) age of 50.7 (16.2) years; 55.8% (41,771) were female, 70.6% (52,826) were White, and 19.0% (14,222) were Black. Among the interventions, …

Optimal Design And Operation Of Integrated Hydrogen Generation And Utilization Plants, Ijiwole Solomon Ijiyinka

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

There are considerable efforts worldwide for reducing the use of fossil fuel for energy production. While renewable energy sources are being increasingly used, fossil fuel still contribute about 80% of the energy used worldwide. As a result, the level of CO₂ is still increasing fast in the atmosphere currently exceeding about 410 parts per million (ppm). For reducing CO₂ build up in the atmosphere, various approaches are being investigated. For the electric power generation sector, two key approaches are post-combustion CO₂ capture and use of hydrogen as a fuel for power generation. These two solutions can also …

The Relationships Among Financial Literacy, Financial Behaviors, Financial Attitudes, And Homeownership Within Low-Moderate Income Households In Los Angeles County, Aliyu Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how financial literacy, financial capability, financial self-efficacy, and future time perspective affect the likelihood of low-moderate income (LMI) households in Los Angeles County owning a home and holding a mortgage. It draws on existing literature on financial literacy, financial capability, financial self-efficacy, future time perspective, and homeownership to develop a theoretical framework that identifies the factors that influence LMI households’ access to homeownership. Using secondary data merged from six surveys conducted by the University of Southern California (USC) Understanding America Study (UAS) from 2015 to 2022, it analyzes the relationships among financial literacy, financial behaviors, financial attitudes, …

On The Volatility And Market Inefficiency Of Bitcoin During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Cesar C. Rufino

DLSU Business & Economics Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has been causing unprecedented economic downturn worldwide. As it wreaks havoc on every aspect of global economic activities, stakeholders are wondering how its impact can be quantified to craft viable responses. In the exotic field of cryptocurrencies, prior to the pandemic, everyone was excited about Bitcoin and its multitude of potentials. However, a day after COVID-19 was officially announced by the World Health Organization as a pandemic, the rate of return to Bitcoin dropped by an unheard-of one-day decline of -46.5%, and people started to rethink the prospects of Bitcoin. A day after this steep decline, Bitcoin …

Dynamic Connectedness In The Asean’S Equity Markets During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Yuthana Sethapramote, Suthawan Prukumpai, Lawrence B. Dacuycuy

DLSU Business & Economics Review

The COVID-19 pandemic unleashed shocks that triggered severe global economic contraction and spawned sizeable financial market fluctuations. This paper examines the dynamic connectedness between ASEAN stock markets and major global stock markets using the dynamic connectedness framework developed by Diebold and Yilmaz (2009, 2012). Empirical results reveal that ASEAN stock markets and other emerging markets have experienced higher spillovers from global equity markets during the pandemic than in normal times. In addition, the role of ASEAN region spillovers has increased significantly during the COVID-19 outbreak. This study contributes to the existing literature by investigating the extent of dynamic connectedness between …

Income Recovery Of Thai Workers From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Athakrit Thepmongkol, Amornrat Apinunmahakul

DLSU Business & Economics Review

This paper examines how COVID-19 and the resultant lockdown affected Thai workers and how their income has recovered as of the end of 2020. We conducted three phases of telephone surveys to track the income dynamics of Thai workers during the months of May, August, and November 2020. The initial COVID-19 impact on Thai worker income was enormous and very broad. On average, Thai workers’ income fell by 47.03%, and 69.7% suffered such a loss. Over the six months survey period, most Thai workers had just begun to stabilize their income, but only a few were actually able to recover. …

A Sector Prioritization Index With Carbon Emission Intensity Considerations, Krista Danielle S. Yu, Christine Alyssa P. Solis, Viknesh Andiappan

DLSU Business & Economics Review

Globalization has influenced the production processes. The varying degree of regulation on carbon emissions has caused some economies to continue with their production practices which can cause them to miss their commitments to international organizations. Previous literature has developed prioritization and vulnerability indices for sectors that account for the socioeconomic metrics, but they were unable to integrate the environmental effects that sectors generate. This study proposed a sector prioritization index with carbon emission intensity considerations to include the environmental effects based on a

multiregional input-output model. The results show that electricity sectors, services sectors, transport sectors, and energy- intensive industries …

The Role Of Public Investment In Pandemic Recovery, Aris Zoleta

DLSU Business & Economics Review

The goal of this study is to review the risk associated with increases in sovereign deficits and the role of public investment in pandemic recovery. The estimates of DSGE models show that fiscal authority provides more emphasis on debt to GDP than output and deficits. In addition, the stochastic simulation shows that increases in public investment do not limit the increases in private investment. And both public and private investment exhibit procyclical behaviors in the presence of government spending shock. Lastly, the output is more persistent during episodes of technology shocks than during an increase in government spending. The paper …

Nexus Of Innovation And Firm-Level Productivity: Evidence From Philippine Manufacturing Firms, Zandro M. Catacutan, Willington O. Onuh

DLSU Business & Economics Review

We examine firms’ propensity to engage in innovation activities and the impact of innovation on firm-level productivity in the Philippine manufacturing firms using comprehensive firm-level data from the 2015 World Bank Enterprise Survey. We use two main specifications: the probit model to assess firms’ propensity to innovate, and endogenous switching regression to evaluate the impact of innovation on productivity and address endogeneity issues. Our empirical findings suggest that the propensity of firms to engage in innovation is low and negatively affected by R&D intensity and capital intensity. We find evidence of beneficial effects for both product and process innovations on …

Cash Conversion Cycle And Investment Cash Flow Sensitivity, Ilker Yilmaz

DLSU Business & Economics Review

The purpose of this article is to investigate the effect of firms’ cash conversion cycle on their investments’ sensitivity to cash flows. Using the data of 167 energy companies from 2010 to 2019, we run dynamic panel regressions for the models based on the Euler equation. We employed a generalized method of moments (GMM) as the estimation technique. The analyses revealed two main results. The first is that there is investment cash flow sensitivity for the sample firms indicating the existence of financial constraints. The second is that the cash conversion cycle has a significant positive effect on investment cash …

Antecedents Of Investment Decision-Making In Mutual Fund: An Indian Perspective, Som Nath Paul, Rajesh Kumar Upadhyay, -- Ashimagarg

DLSU Business & Economics Review

The growth rate of investments in mutual funds is certainly the most significant phenomenon of present financial markets. Over the years, mutual funds have been a branch whose assets have now become the largest among other financial intermediaries. In this industry, which has focused its attention on marketing, its products have been cut to a wider population. The aim of the present research is to explore the relationship between risk perception and investment decisions in mutual funds. This study is also an attempt to explore the role of expected return in the investment decision of investors in the mutual fund …

Emotional Intelligence And Conflict Management In Family Firms: Using Systematic Literature Review And Bibliometric Analysis, Kris G. Lobo

DLSU Business & Economics Review

Through systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis, the author assesses the current state of research on the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and conflict management (CM) in the family business and recommends avenues for future research. The aim of the study is to map and discover clusters taken from existing literature. In terms of methods, Tranfield et al. (2003) recommended guidelines for conducting a systematic literature review was adopted (i.e., planning, conducting the review, reporting, and dissemination) to capture nuances regarding the conceptual link between EI and CM. With limited publications that highlighted the link between emotional intelligence and conflict …

Presidential Economic Approval Rating And The Cross-Section Of Stock Returns, Zilin Chen, Zhi Da, Dashan Huang, Liyao Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We construct a monthly presidential economic approval rating (PEAR) index from 1981 to 2019, by averaging ratings on the president’s handling of the economy across various national polls. In the cross-section, stocks with high betas to changes in the PEAR index significantly under-perform those with low betas by 1.00% per month in the future, on a risk-adjusted basis. The low PEAR beta premium persists up to one year, and is present in various sub-samples and even in other G7 countries. PEAR beta dynamically reveals a firm’s perceived alignment to the incumbent president’s economic policies and investors seem to misprice such …

Machine Learning Techniques For Credit Card Fraud Detection, Amal Alamri

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Credit card fraudulent transactions are becoming an ever-growing problem in the financial market. There has been a rapid increase in the rate of fraudulent transactional activities in recent years producing considerable financial loss to many companies, organizations, and government agencies. These numbers are anticipated to increase in the near future and many scholars in this field are focused on detecting fraudulent transactions early on, using advanced Machine Learning techniques. However, credit card fraud transaction detection is not easy for two reasons: (I) fraudulent methods usually vary for each attempt, and (II) the dataset is extremely imbalanced with many more normal …

Strategies That Small And Medium-Size Business Owners Use To Repay Bank Loan Obligations In Lagos, Nigeria, Taiwo Bamikole Ala

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The failure of businesses to repay loans adversely affects credit markets. Small and medium-sized (SME) business owners in Lagos, Nigeria, are concerned because financial institutions are unwilling to provide credit because of the low loan repayment performance of those who have received credit in the past. Grounded in the theory of planned behavior, the purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore strategies some SME owners use to successfully repay bank loan obligations to sustain their businesses. The participants were three SME owners in Lagos, Nigeria, who successfully repaid their bank loans. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and …

Mortgage Broker Strategies To Overcome The Volatility Of Inconsistent Sales, Marissa Blackwell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many mortgage brokers leave the mortgage industry because of unforeseen changes andvolatility. Mortgage brokers are concerned with adequate strategies to mitigate industry volatility and inconsistent sales, which is important to successful sustainability during challenging times. Grounded in relationship marketing theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the strategies seven mortgage brokers from a single organization used to sustain sales during volatile times. Data were collected using semistructured interviews by telecommunication, a reflective journal, LinkedIn, Facebook, and broker websites. Through thematic analysis, three themes emerged: maintaining a presence with new and existing clients, understanding client needs, …