Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons^™

Direct Supervisor Influence On Nurse Engagement, Kelly Elaine Tapp

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nurse engagement is essential for organizational success. If organizations can engage nurses, they may be able to improve organization and patient outcomes. The purpose of the evidence-based practice project was to use current evidence of direct supervisor influence on nurse engagement to create an educational program for clinical leads to use in their interactions with direct reports. The relationship-based care model was used as a framework for the project, and concepts included work engagement, nurse engagement, recognition versus meaningful recognition, professional development, communication, transformational leadership, and authentic leadership. Before and after attending the education program, clinical leads were given a …

Black Business Owners Overcoming Barriers In Texas, Henry Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Black entrepreneurs in the state of Texas reported that they did not achieve the same level of success as nonminority enterprises. Many Black entrepreneurs have obtained education from top tier institutions and have the managerial experiences, skills, and working knowledge that facilitate business success, but they are not able to sustain business growth. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of Black Texan entrepreneurs. This research was established using the conceptual framework of human capital. The overarching research question concerned the lived experiences of Black Texas entrepreneurs who were not as successful in business as …

Strategies For Reducing Employee Turnover In Retail Outlets, Dewayne Wilson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee turnover in the retail industry is costly, difficult, and problematic, affecting organizational wages, benefits, and schedules in relation to serving clients, customers, and stakeholders. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore effective strategies used by retail store owners in the southeastern region of the United States to reduce employee turnover. The target population was 6 successful business owners of 6 small retail businesses in the southeastern United States who had effectively reduced employee turnover. The conceptual framework for this study was the Herzberg 2-factor theory related to workplace job satisfaction. Data were collected through face-to-face, semistructured …

Increasing Known Performance Indicators Using Andragogy-Based Models, Jacqueline Conroy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Variety of training models are used in large retail organizations in South Carolina. Large retail organizations have leaders educating their employees using multiple methods of training without regard as to how adults learn. Leadership of large retail organizations in South Carolina may be investing in training materials, concepts, and facilitation methods that may not have substantive impact on known performance metrics. Knowles' theory of andragogy has been at the forefront of adult education theory as it has led many researchers to explore new methods for adults to learn effectively. A quasi-experimental study was designed to determine if an andragogy based …

Strategies Certified Project Management Professionals Use To Prevent Counterproductive Behavior, Lisa Annika Christin Hansson-Vazquez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Project managers who fail to apply strategies to prevent counterproductive work behavior in information technology projects could negatively affect users, budget costs, timelines, or projects. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that project managers used to prevent counterproductive work behavior that put project success at risk. Social learning theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected through document review of published Project Management Institute (PMI) material as well as semistructured interviews with 10 project managers who were members of a PMI chapter in the southeastern United States, and who held a project …

Profitability Strategies For Small And Medium Entrepreneurs In Michigan, Dritan Pepaj

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small businesses create 50% of all jobs in the United States, but at least 50% of all newly founded small businesses have failed since 2006, and only 1/3 have survived beyond 10 years. Small businesses have a high chance of failure in the first 5 years due to a lack of sustainable strategies. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies small business owners need to sustain their business beyond 5 years in a purposefully chosen county in Michigan. A conceptual framework was constructed based on the stakeholder theory and its derived theories to provide a …

Reshaping Management Effectiveness And Its Effect On Organizational Resilience In Multinational Enterprises, Franzelle Pertilla

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Given the state of accelerating change in technology, globalization, and society, long-term planning has become challenging, thus improving organizational resilience to environmental change has become more important. The management problem addressed the need for strategies to improve organization resilience in the face of environmental change. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of managers to use a firm's human, financial, and technological resources to improve organizational resilience. The lived experiences of organizational leaders in addressing organizational resilience was the central research question. The conceptual framework was built on the World Economic Forum's National Resilience Beta …

Exploring Management Practices Of The Health Care System For Contractors, Gary L. Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have found that military members serving in war experienced changes in physical and mental health. Military members' healthcare is managed by the Department of Defense. The problem was that management practices of the system for providing long-term healthcare for employees of a contracting company working in foreign combat zones is either minimal or nonexistent. The purpose of this case study was to explore ways that contractor managers and government managers can work together to provide healthcare for those contract employees who will be deployed with the U.S. military. The primary research question was to determine what managers of contractors …

Successful Strategies For Reducing Employee Turnover In The Restaurant Industry, Jaun Derek Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee turnover remains a ubiquitous phenomenon that could negatively impact the operations and profitability of any business entity. For decades, managers, business leaders, and individuals in academia have devoted considerable time and resources to understanding and reducing the phenomenon. This qualitative multiple case study was conducted to explore the successful strategies that restaurant managers used to reduce employee turnover. The population sample consisted of 4 restaurant managers from Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago who had successfully used strategies to reduce employee turnover. The conceptual framework used was the transformational leadership model. Data for the study were gathered using semistructured …

Strategies To Reduce Maquiladora Employee Absenteeism In Mexico, Antonio Jose Cachazo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee absenteeism is a costly problem, affecting organizations' ability to deliver products and services. Finding strategies managers use to help reduce employee absenteeism is critical to sustain operational capacity, control labor costs, and to achieve organizational success. Drawing from the Herzberg 2-factors theory, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore strategies implemented by six business organizations to reduce employee absenteeism in the maquiladora industry in Mexico. Through semistructured interviews, 11 management participants shared strategies implemented to reduce absenteeism. In addition, other data sources, such as organizational policies, management graphs, and meeting minutes were used. Data were coded …

Factors Affecting Employee Persistence In An Online Management Development Certificate Program, Todd D. Chester

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An important approach to prepare new managers for increased responsibility is participation in online management development programs; however, there is a lack of information about the factors that affect employee completion of these programs. This study addressed how chief executive officers (CEOs) can implement these programs to rapidly develop new managers who are qualified to serve in the leadership roles left behind by many retirees. This qualitative descriptive case study explored employees' perceptions about persistence in an online management development certificate program at a U.S. nonprofit organization. Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory and Rovai's composite persistence model provided the conceptual framework for …

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 …

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 …