Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons^™

Stop The Brain Drain: A Higher Education Collaborative Autoethnographic Change Study Using A Soft Systems Approach, Danny Darden, Angela Nunez, Stella Shen, Rob E. Carpenter, Ginger Vaughn, Tim Murphy

Student Posters

Knowledge loss is a common challenge within IHEs—highly educated and skilled individuals leave—often taking the knowledge to do their job well with them. Turnover in IHEs is currently at an all-time high. There is a strong correlation between knowledge management practices and organizational performance. This paper (in progress) explores this phenomenon using collaborative institutional ethnography, enabling a critical analysis of how power dynamics and uncertainty shape both individual experiences and broader workplace social structures. Participants include six IHE employees (in various IHE roles) from three separate universities in the eastern region of Texas. We aim to uncover the internal experiences …

Podcasting Towards Togetherness: Utilizing Podcasts To Improve Departmental Camaraderie And Well-Being, Michael Petrauskis, Colleen Gutman, Rosemarie Fernandez

Journal of Wellness

Introduction: Physician burnout is on the rise, and this is of particular concern in emergency medicine. Burnout is associated with medical errors, adverse events, poor professionalism, and litigation. A sense of community can build engagement and mitigate workplace stressors on well-being. Emergency physicians may have trouble connecting due to the nature of shift-work and various practice settings. Communication technology, and particularly podcasting, has the potential to help overcome these barriers and positively impact relatedness and well-being.

Approach: We developed an inward-facing podcast, “The ER Break Room” within the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Florida. Through the …

Synchronizing Work And Teaching Practices With The Spatial Dna Of Distributed Work And Learning, Manju Aishwarya Adikesavan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Phygitality, the seamless and synergistic integration of physical and digital realms, is an indispensable and irrevocable part of contemporary office-based work. Phygitality facilitates spatially and temporally distributed or multi-local working where employees work from diverse locations such as their home, office, and third places at any time of day or night. It also makes nonterritorial working at temporary workspaces accessed on a session-by-session basis possible.

This dissertation examines how phygital, multi-local, and nonterritorial working reshape individual and group work behaviors, organizational spatial practices, work-centric settings, non-work-centric settings, neighborhoods, cities, and regions. The Spatial DNA of Distributed Work encapsulates a conceptual …

A Survey-Based Quantitative Analysis Of Stress Factors And Their Impacts Among Cybersecurity Professionals, Sunil Arora, John D. Hastings

Research & Publications

This study investigates the prevalence and underlying causes of work-related stress and burnout among cybersecurity professionals using a quantitative survey approach guided by the Job Demands-Resources model. Analysis of responses from 50 cybersecurity practitioners reveals an alarming reality: 44% report experiencing severe work-related stress and burnout, while an additional 28% are uncertain about their condition. The demanding nature of cybersecurity roles, unrealistic expectations, and unsupportive organizational cultures emerge as primary factors fueling this crisis. Notably, 66% of respondents perceive cybersecurity jobs as more stressful than other IT positions, with 84% facing additional challenges due to the pandemic and recent high-profile …

Skip-Level Meetings: Perspectives Of Skipped First-Tier U.S. Tech Leaders, Samuel Blacher

Dissertations

Although significant research exists on numerous intersecting theories, such as adaptive leadership, leadership communication, and employee voice, and although they are discussed in business publications and widely yet inconsistently implemented in industry, skip-level meetings are little scholarly studied. Such meetings offer benefits for employees, direct (skipped) managers, and skip-level leaders, and through them, to organizations, yet they also hold risks and pitfalls, and are influenced by various contextual factors, such as stakeholders’ national culture and age. This exploratory qualitative study employed elements of interpretive phenomenology, followed by thematic analysis, to examine the experiences, perceptions, and emotions of a diverse set …

Confronting Indecision, Lane Allison Murray

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This course aims to increase students' understanding of indecision and how to confront it. The class provides insight into how the fear of the unknown holds people back from making decisions and about understanding one's values as a means to combat indecision. Students and teachers alike explore instances of indecision and evaluate their own impulses & thought processes by reflecting on the deeper reasons for their choices. Students will increase their comfort level of asking themselves and their peers questions about the values that guide them and, in doing so, strengthen their relationships with themselves and others.

How Deep-Level And Surface-Level Board Diversity, Formal And Informal Social Structures Affect Innovation, Guoli Chen, Po-Hsuan Hsu, Yen Teik Lee, Daniel Z. Mack

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Despite a growing interest in understanding how board diversity shapes firms’ innovation, findings about the impact of board diversity have remained mixed. In this paper, we conceptualize board diversity as two forms – deep-level and surface-level – and find that these two forms of board diversity have opposing effects on a firm's innovation. We also theorize how formal and informal social structures can strengthen the positive effect of deep-level diversity yet simultaneously weaken the negative impact of surface-level diversity. We test our hypotheses with a panel of 42,432 firm-year observations from 2000 to 2019. Our paper contributes to the literature …

The Dark Tetrad And The Intention To Invest In Cryptocurrency, Amy Bauer-Sinicin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The Dark Tetrad comprises four distinct negative personality traits with some overlapping qualities: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism. Characterized as being risky and speculative, cryptocurrencies are not backed by government banks like fiat currencies, nor do they offer the same privacy when engaging in transactions.

Narcissists may view cryptocurrency investment as an opportunity to showcase their financial acumen, reinforcing their self-image. Machiavellians see the decentralized, loosely regulated market as ideal for exploiting opportunities through strategic manipulation. Psychopaths, drawn by the market’s volatility, may engage in exploitative schemes for personal gain. Sadists may find satisfaction in the power and control they …

The Leadership Identity Presented On Linkedin, Carl L. Tolbert

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

LinkedIn has evolved in a way similar to other social media platforms but is unique in that it focuses on professional networking and careers. Many professionals seek to showcase their leadership skills and philosophies as part of a publicly showcased online persona. This paper aimed to examine the posts specific to leadership and thematically investigate presentation strategies, motivation, and purposes behind the posts. The paper begins with a historical review from the inception of LinkedIn through pivotal milestones in the history of the company. Key concepts from the literature are then reviewed specific to social media use and motivations behind …

Physiological Positioning And Its Effects On Seated Vs. Standing Workers, Carlos Gautreaux

Theses & Dissertations

In the digital era, distractions in the working environment significantly impede professionals’ ability to maintain attention during the workday. Recent studies underscore the benefits of adjustable desks that allow for transitions between sitting and standing, highlighting improvements in workers’ physical and psychological health. Specifically, it has been noted that standing enhances cognitive function, focus, and mental acuity while alleviating stress. Despite these insights, research has yet to systematically explore the impact of standing while working on attentional performance. Moreover, the effect of standing while working may vary between on-site and remote working environments due to differences in ambient distractions. This …

Importance Of Soft Skills Comparative Study With Cybersecurity Professionals In The Manufacturing And Finance Critical Sectors, Stanley Mierzwa, Mary Lind

Center for Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity professionals require and will benefit from having strong and competent technical and soft skills, knowledge, and abilities. Cyber-attacks continue to plague our organizations and businesses, and finding the individuals with the skills needed for industry teams to contend with these broad and varying types of breaches is essential. This research article will outline the results of a comparative quantitative study that compares the importance of soft skills or nontechnical competencies by information security and cybersecurity professionals in the finance and manufacturing critical infrastructure sectors. This research study used a validated survey instrument from a previous seminal study to capture …

Build, An Unorthodox Guide To Making Things Worth Making, Jay Nathan

Journal of Global Awareness

No abstract provided.

Remote Working Preference, Henry Dorn

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper is an analysis of the realities and perceptions surrounding the shift to remote work in America following the Covid-19 pandemic. It calls into question the benefits and drawbacks of both virtual and in person working environments. Since virtual working culture has taken a larger grasp on the population, it is crucial to understand what the outcomes of this recent shift are and how people feel about it. This paper breaks down the facts and history surrounding virtual working environments and alternatively compares the findings to in person and hybrid work. It includes a conducted survey of American workers …

Exploring Entrepreneurial Intention And Subjective Beliefs: A Comparative Analysis Of General Education Schools And Commercial Schools, Julia Riess, Bettina Fuhrmann, Gerhard Geissler

International Journal for Business Education

This study examines the entrepreneurial intentions of Austrian secondary school students, specifically comparing students from commercial schools with those from general education schools. We analyzed 2,329 data sets and found that subjective beliefs, primarily behavioral and control beliefs, significantly influence entrepreneurial intentions. In addition, demographic factors such as gender, language, acquaintance with entrepreneurs, and school type play a significant role in explaining the variance in entrepreneurial intentions.

Our detailed analysis shows that students from commercial schools have stronger entrepreneurial intentions and subjective beliefs. Particularly notable are the differences in behavioral beliefs, where students from commercial schools find all aspects of …

Leading Horses To Water During A Pandemic: Assuring Communication Learning For "Quants", Thomas Hall

International Journal for Business Education

Students who are attracted to quantitative disciplines of study can be reluctant to devote much attention to the important task of communicating, and previous research (Hostager, 2018) has identified statistically significant differences in learning approaches by major among undergraduate business students. This paper presents results of learning assurance for writing skills (direct measures) even when the content of the course relates to the highly quantitative topics of data analytics and finance. The approach combines various pedagogical methods in an undergraduate, writing-intensive setting: traditional testing but in an iterative framework, “flipped classroom” intensive work using spreadsheet software, repeated submission of brief …

Working Remotely And Corporate Culture Wars In The Post-Pandemic Era, David M. Savino, Danielle C. Foster

Journal of the North American Management Society

Organizational culture is a sacred element of any organization. It is the lifeblood and the guiding force that makes each organization unique in its ability to navigate day-to-day and longer-term perspectives of corporate operations. Strong cultures help identify direction and philosophy and provide confidence in how to proceed to pursue innovative ideas and solve problems. Since 2020, the core value and the strength of many organizational cultures have been tested as a result of the increased reliance on working remotely and the adoption of a hybrid model of business operations not previously utilized to a great degree. While many survived …

Containerization Of Seafarers In The International Shipping Industry: Contemporary Seamanship, Maritime Social Infrastructures, And Mobility Politics Of Global Logistics, Liang Wu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation discusses the mobility politics of container shipping and argues that technological development, political-economic order, and social infrastructure co-produce one another. Containerization, the use of standardized containers to carry cargo across modes of transportation that is said to have revolutionized and globalized international trade since the late 1950s, has served to expand and extend the power of international coalitions of states and corporations to control the movements of commodities (shipments) and labor (seafarers). The advent and development of containerization was driven by a sociotechnical imaginary and international social contract of seamless shipping and cargo flows. In practice, this liberal, …

Leadership In Startups: How Founder Personality And Leadership Behaviors Impact Startup Success And Psychological Safety, Ria Passi, Ronald Riggio

CMC Senior Theses

New ventures created by entrepreneurs are crucial to the economy and to the diffusion of innovative technologies. However, startups often operate in highly uncertain environments characterized by constrained resources, lack of established processes, and complex market dynamics. Despite surges in startup investment, the failure rate for new ventures remains high, making it crucial to understand the factors that can contribute to their success. This thesis explores how founder personalities, leadership styles, and cultivating psychological safety impact startup performance and growth trajectories. Founder personality traits like openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness are positively associated with securing funding, achieving exit opportunities, and overall …

Stuck At Home: Does The Virtual Office Stifle Creativity?, Andrew Heng, Roy Y. J. Chua

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Remote work boosts flexibility but may stifle creativity. In her office one day last summer, Charlotte Christ, a 27-year-old marketing executive with the German office of one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers, did something she doesn’t think she could really do at home even though she often works there. At the office, she fell into a random conversation with a colleague, and together they came up with new ideas for her marketing campaign on how to offer incentives to the company’s target audiences, truck drivers.

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Cheating In Online Classes And Technostress: Perceptions Of Business Faculty, Stacy Boyer-Davis, Kevin Berry, Amy Cooper

International Journal for Business Education

This research study investigated the relationship between technostress creators (techno-complexity, techno-insecurity, techno-invasion, techno-overload, and techno-uncertainty) and faculty perceptions of student cheating in online classes. Data were collected from faculty members of the Management and Organizational Behavior Teaching Society (MOBTS), a member of the AACSB Business Education Alliance, the American Society of Business and Behavioral Sciences (ASBBS), an interdisciplinary professional organization comprised of faculty teaching in accounting, finance, management, marketing, organizational behavior, and computer information systems, and other research panels during 2021 (N = 94). Findings from regression analysis indicated that the techno-complexity subconstruct is positively related to a faculty’s perception …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Whither India’S Development: Toward Being A Super Power Or A Super Civilization?, Pradip Khandwalla

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This commentary was triggered by my reading a lecture delivered by Saurabh Kumar, a former student of mine at Indian Institute of Management, who later served as India’s ambassador in various countries and international bodies. He bemoaned that China had much greater status in global affairs than India. Many others in India hanker for a super power status for India. I find this concern to be somewhat misguided. India should be aiming to be a great civilization, rather than a domineering superpower. The record of all the superpowers till now has been quite spotty in humane terms. My vision for …

Introduction To International Business, Rajaram Veliyath

KSU Distinguished Course Repository

An introduction to the global business environment, this course examines the discrete and interactive effects of the geographic, historical, sociocultural, political/legal, economic and technological forces that shape business activities across borders and their consequences.

Textbook Tasks For Social Change: Instantiation Of Development Debates And Interposition Of Pedagogical Interventions In Media Literacy Education, John N. Ponsaran

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

As materialization of their discursive stance as instructional communicators and media producers, textbook authors instantiate various development debates as well as interpose a wide range of pedagogical interventions for critical reflection and adoption by learners. This qualitative study sought to situate these development debates and the counterpart pedagogical interventions within the context of textbook task design as an application and embodiment of social justice communication. The development debates serve as the proposed contexts for media text analyses, reflective exercises, case studies, and media production, among others. Correspondingly, the interposition of interventions allows students to make sense of and act upon …

Civilian Oversight Of Police Through The Lens Of Polarities Of Democracy, Joseph A. Mcmillan, Jacqueline D. Smith, William J. Benet

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Following the murder of George Floyd, the U.S. Congress called upon the National Organization for Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) to play a role in the reimagining of policing in America, including a transformation of policing from a warrior to a guardian mentality. In turn, NOBLE partnered with the Institute for Polarities of Democracy (the Institute) to conduct an analysis of the 21st Century Policing Report (the Report), which focused on addressing a myriad of issues that challenged the relationship between the police and communities. The Report determined there were six “pillars” necessary for effective policing in America, including (1) …

Virtual Currencies And Intrapreneurial Coordination, Martin Sibileau

Journal of New Finance

Managers of conglomerates or companies with multiple business units are, like central planners in socialist countries, unable to perform economic calculation. These units exchange goods and services internally based on transfer prices, not market prices, and it is hard to ascertain the value contributed by management, which is often hired and rewarded based on political considerations. Innovation is also often unwelcome, as it may challenge privileges of executive management. Until 2016, conglomerates lacked the technology to benefit from economic calculation. In this paper, I propose that a blockchain platform supporting an internal virtual currency enables economic calculation inside conglomerates, unlocking …

Responses To General Capabilities Framework For Tertiary Education, Tony Shannon

International Journal for Business Education

The Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) is consulting on how best to develop a general capabilities framework for tertiary education. This is being done with NOUS, a business management consultancy, and the Assessment Research Centre of the University of Melbourne

Academic Freedom And Academic Integrity, Tony Shannon

International Journal for Business Education

The demand for freedom, an intense desire in fact, is a positive characteristic of our era, but human freedom does not mean acting in accord with one’s caprices or without restraint by any law. Recent controversaries at universities in Queensland have raised questions about mandating the French Review in Australian higher education as the review deals with the related issues of academic freedom and integrity.

Comments On Teqsa Discussion Paper: "Making And Accessing Claims Of Scholarship And Scholarly Activity", No Author

International Journal for Business Education

The Background and initial discussion are extracts from the TEQSA paper dated 12 October 2020, as are the subsequent statements of Principles and associated Questions. The layout here is to make it easier for interested staff to comment and contribute to our response to TEQSA if it is eventually deemed appropriate and useful to make such a submission. In any case, it is useful to have a discussion among colleagues on this important topic and what the regulator expects from providers and their staff.

Affective And Psychomotor Taxonomies, Tony Shannon, Melvin Leong

International Journal for Business Education

Taxonomies can sensitise teachers to develop their learners’ applications of their knowledge and skills in depth when utilised judiciously in preparing experiences for learning and assessments for evaluation (Tyszko and Sheets, 2019).