Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons^™

Impact Of Change Management On Employee Behavior In A University Administrative Office, Kendra M. Turner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This qualitative case study focused on the effect of a system implementation upgrade on employees' job performance within a central administration department of a major research university in the Southern United States. Review of literature revealed a lack of a specific model or process for system implementation upgrades and its impact on employees' performance in a university administrative office. Guided by Kotter's research on change management models, the research questions examined the attitudes and behaviors of employees involved with the business process project. Data collection was through purposeful sampling and face-to-face interviews with 11 employees. Data were analyzed through pattern-matching …

The Sustainability Management Control System: Factors To Consider In Metric Conceptualization, Corne Mouton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The performance metrics embedded in sustainability management control systems (SMCS) provide organizational leaders the ability to affect the implementation and continual improvement of sustainability strategies. Leaders in oil sands companies lacking adequate information on the efficacy of the sustainability performance metrics and their use to enhance their SMCS could be at a competitive disadvantage. Guided by stakeholder theory, the purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies Alberta-based oil sands company leaders use for critical planning, developing, and implementing SMCS performance metrics. The target population comprised of 20 oil sands company leaders from an Alberta, Canada, organization who …

Emotional Intelligence In Leadership And Project Success Within Virtual Teams, Betsy Ferronato

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Previous literature has focused on the traits of various leadership styles. Due to the lack of research on leadership styles, the focus of this study was to identify which emotional intelligence characteristics of a leader are significant to the success of virtual team projects. Supported by emotional intelligence and transformational leadership theories, the research questions addressed (a) whether, among virtual teams, a relationship exists between overall emotional intelligence scores and the success of virtual project teams, and (b) to what extent virtual team leaders' abilities to express and use their emotions predict the success of virtual team projects. The target …

Primary Care Nurse Practitioners And Organizational Culture, Leanne Christine Rowand

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nurse practitioners (NPs) were introduced to the British Columbia healthcare system 12 years ago. Integration challenges related to infrastructure and relationships between administrators and physicians continue. The purpose of this project was to understand how nurse practitioners, working in primary care roles, experience the organizational climate within their healthcare agency. Kanter's empowerment theory guided this project. Data were collected using the Nurse Practitioner Primary Care Organizational Climate Questionnaire. A total of 64 NPs relayed their degree of perceived organizational support. NPs scored highest on Autonomy and Independent Practice (Mean [M] = 3.54, Standard Deviation [SD] = 0.59). Organizational Support and …

Two Essays On Marketing Capabilities, Hamed Mehrabi

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

A critical decision for any firm involves allocating investment to different types of marketing activities. One argument is that firms should invest resources in both explorative and exploitative activities to develop ambidexterity. Considering the extensive theoretical and practical implications of ambidexterity, several research gaps exist in this area provide opportunities for both theoretical and practical contributions. In this dissertation, I identify and explore three important research opportunities.

First, based on one argument regarding ambidexterity, firms should pursue exploration and exploitation in a balanced manner. This is even though there is little evidence confirming that being ‘out of balance’ actually hurts …

Exploration Of Leadership Skills For Organizational Strategy Execution, Regina L. Banks-Hall

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Multinational corporate leaders acknowledge that a lack of business direction by senior leadership results in a 68% failure in the execution of organizational strategies. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore what best practice solutions automotive manufacturing senior leaders created to help front-line managers execute organizational strategies. The population consisted of 20 automotive manufacturing senior leaders located in Michigan with significant years of automotive experience and at least a year of experience employed as an automotive manufacturing senior leader. Vroom's expectancy theory served as the conceptual framework for the study describing the enhancement of employee performance related to …

Leadership Strategies And Employee Performance Within Small Business, Letica Carla Sellers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The survival of the small business industry is important to the United Sates workforce and economy. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore leadership strategies of 2 small business managers in a manufacturing setting who had a demonstrable record of improving employee performance to meet organizational goals. The conceptual framework for this study was Burns and Bass's transformational leadership theory. The small business managers were from 2 small manufacturing plants in the coastal plains region of South Carolina. Data were collected from semistructured interviews, archival documents, and observations of the managers during their daily activities. Data analysis …

Examining The Role Of Emotional Intelligence In The Work And Life Balance Of Foster Care Workers, Pamela Applewhite Applewhite

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Foster care workers are an important part of the social service system, as they are the first line of support for children without families or who have been subjected to tragic events leading to their need for foster care. Foster care workers often experience work-life boundary issues due to the emotional nature of their work. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between (a) emotional intelligence and absenteeism and (b) emotional intelligence and work-life balance with foster care workers. Data was collected from foster care workers in the state of South Carolina employed with the Department …

Human Resource Strategies For Improving Organizational Performance To Reduce Medical Errors, Dr. Mary Ellen Taylor-Hyde

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Preventable medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Healthcare leaders must consistently promote the delivery of quality and safe care of patients to reduce unnecessary errors and prevent harm. The purpose of this case study was to explore human resource strategies for improving organizational performance to reduce medical errors. The study included face-to-face interviews with 5 healthcare clinical managers who work within a multifaceted health system in the Midwestern region of the United States. Complex adaptive systems theory was used to frame this study. Interview notes, publicly available documents, and audio recordings were transcribed …

Building Consensus Among General Counsel To Address Managerial Legal Strategy Perspectives, Evan Andrew Peterson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The research problem for this study focused on organizations' inability to derive strategic value from the law due to the lack of integration between legal strategy and business strategy. The purpose of this study was to build consensus among in-house general counsel working across business industries in the United States with regard to techniques that will alter unreceptive managerial viewpoints toward the strategic value of law within the corporate setting. The research question centered on assessing the level of consensus among general counsel relative to those techniques. This 3-round qualitative Delphi study began with open-ended questions in Round 1 and …

The Relationship Between Ethnic Identity And Leadership Style, Kim Renee Haney-Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported workforce disparities in the representation of minority ethnic groups in leadership positions for more than 5 decades. In 2011, Executive Order 13583 initiated the Government-wide Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan, directing federal agencies to recruit a diverse workforce, cultivate inclusion across occupations, and develop strategies to enable leading a diverse workforce. This plan is important considering other research studies show various approaches to understanding leadership behaviors; however, empirical studies have yet to explore if there is a relationship between ethnic identity and leadership style to inform diversity and inclusion efforts. The …

Perceptions Of Leadership And Employee Performance In Child Welfare Agencies, Deatrice Haney

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Child welfare leaders reflect their organizations' mission and vision and are entrusted to provide support to employees, who in turn provide services to one of the most vulnerable populations, children. Little, however is known about how leaders perceive their roles and responsibilities in terms of providing sufficient supervisory and guidance to child welfare workers in order to support organizational goals. Guided by Houses' path-goal theory, this phenomenological study examined the perceptions of child welfare leaders related to leadership behaviors, strategies to improve administration, work performance, communication, and fostering an inclusive work environment. A sample of 16 participants working as administrators, …

Motives Why Employees At Fort Mcpherson Accepted Or Rejected Their Relocation, Tashan Renea Whitsett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Base closures and relocations reduce costs to the Department of Defense but necessitate the relocation of personnel, organizations, and functions. When Fort McPherson closed, Fort Bragg received the organization's personnel and equipment. The problem in this study was the lack of knowledge and understanding within the U.S. military, especially among civil service and contractor employees affected by realignments and closures, regarding (a) the decision process to accept or reject offers to relocate, (b) the potential health effects related to relocating, and (c) the effect that personnel relocations and losses have on the military mission. This study is essential because no …

A Phenomenological Study Of Cross Gender Mentoring Among U.S. Army Officers, Scott Randolph Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Leader mentoring in the military has not been well researched, especially that involving cross-gender pairings. A phenomenological study was conducted to gain insight into the perceptions, thoughts, and feelings of military officers regarding their decision to engage in mentoring, to include with members of the opposite gender. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 20 male and 20 female U.S. Army senior commissioned officers to collect information regarding mentoring selection perspectives and decisions and to examine emerging themes, concepts, and patterns, using NVivo 11 Pro Plus. Negative themes that emerged among both male and female participants concerned adverse perceptions of members within …

Humanitarian Aid Workers' Perceptions Of Stress Management Services, Annette Hearns

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Humanitarian aid workers live and work in harsh circumstances far from loved ones and support mechanisms. The problem is that international aid must continue to work effectively despite stress levels. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand how aid workers perceive their work-related stressors, examine their subsequent experiences of in-house stress management services, and describe the factors that influence aid workers' decisions to access in-house stress management services. The conservation of resources theory was used to understand aid workers experience of stress. A purposive sampling technique was used to identify 12 aid workers with a minimum of 5 …

Testing A Psychological Readiness Training Intervention On Ptsd, Depression, Anxiety, & Stress In First Responders, Renee Kosor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Exposure to traumatic events is rare for the general public but common for first responders. However, there is little proactive emotional health care occurring inside the first responder community. No preventive treatment for depression, anxiety, stress, and PTSD exists. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a psychological readiness training intervention on 361 police officers and firefighters in a medium-size Midwestern city. A combined positive psychological capital and cognitive behavior therapy approach was used to frame the study. This study used a pretest, posttest quasi-experimental design. The participants were a convenience sample of 119 volunteers from …

Assessing The Implementation Of Internal Branding Training In The Hotel Industry, Peter Juskiw

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Internal branding (IB) evolved from marketing to engage employees in a company's strategic planning. IB has been studied extensively in the hospitality industry, but not with human resource (HR) departments. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to assess the effectiveness of corporate training designs in instilling IB corporate values in global employees of a multinational hotel chain to determine whether European core values could be transferred across different cultural backgrounds. Structured interviews on IB were conducted with 22 HR practitioners of a luxury hotel chain to capture essential information through the lived experiences of the participants, all of whom …

Organizational Culture: An Analysis Of The Aggregate Impact On Financial Performance, Arijan Alagic

Honors Program Theses

Strong organizational culture, although an intangible asset, can produce tangible gains for businesses in the form of stock returns. This study uses Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work for in America to identify companies with strong organizational culture. Of those 100, I used the stock performance of 20 public companies who have (1) been on the list for at least 10 years and (2) have been publicly traded for at least 10 years. Each of the companies is assigned a matching industry sector and the returns are compared to the overall stock market, represented by the S&P 500. From …

The Professional Development Of Students Through Global Experiences, Myle Duong

Honors Program Theses

As globalization increases from advancing technologies and innovation, more businesses are entering the international market. With this, comes a demand for a culturally competent workforce. To possess cross cultural skills, college students must develop Cultural Intelligence. According to the Cultural Intelligence Center, Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is defined as the ability to relate and work effectively in culturally diverse situations. Research shows that college students who go abroad have a higher probability of standing out to employers due to the knowledge and risks associated with going global, and make further efforts to immerse themselves in cultures (10 Benefits to Studying Abroad). …

Social Loafing Construct Validity In Higher Education: How Well Do Three Measures Of Social Loafing Stand Up To Scrutiny?, Jacquelyn Deleau

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the construct validity of social loafing using convergent and discriminant validity principles. Three instruments that purport to measure social loafing were factor analyzed: A ten-item instrument by George (1992), a 13-item instrument by Mulvey and Klein (1998), and a 22-item instrument by Jassawalla, Sashittal, and Malshe (2009) for a total of 45 items that were compiled into a single instrument with which data were collected, correlated, and factor analyzed.

One hundred and sixty graduate and undergraduates enrolled in management courses at a small private Northern California university were surveyed. Thirteen classes were …

Organizational Image/Reputation, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Organizational image refers to people’s global impressions of an organization and is defined as people’s loose structures of knowledge and beliefs about an organization. Organizational image represents the net cognitive reactions and associations of customers, investors, employees, and applicants to an organization’s name. Accordingly, it serves as a template to categorize, store, and recall organization-related information.

Is Saying “Sorry” Enough? Examining The Effects Of Apology Typologies By Organization On Consumer Responses, May O. Lwin, Augustine Pang, Jun-Qi Loh, Marilyn Hui-Ying Peh, Sarah Ann Rodriguez, Nur Hanisah Binte Zelani

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Apology has been found to be the most effective strategy in times of crises. However, there is a dearth of research on the kinds of apology used and how primary stakeholders, in particular consumers, received them. This study aims to examine consumer responses to the types of apologies offered post crises against the levels of attribution of responsibility. We also assess the potential mediating role of ethical concerns by developing the Perception-Behavioral Model of Crisis Response. An experiment was conducted to ascertain consumers’ impression of the organization post-apology. The results showed that the attribution of crisis responsibility significantly influences complaining, …

How Crisis Managers Define Ethical Crisis Communication In Singapore: Identifying Organizational Factors That Influence Adoption Of Ethical Stances, Augustine Pang, Yan Jin, Benjamin Meng-Keng Ho

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This study explores the veracity of the six ethical variables proposed in the contingency theory of strategic conflict management – the role of PR practitioner, the role of top management, nature of the crisis, the activism of stakeholders; government regulation/intervention; diversity to different cultures and exposure external business environments. In-depth interviews with 10 communication professionals in Singapore were conducted. In line with the patriarchal management structure, the top management plays a critical role in determining ethical stances, with practitioners playing important consultative positions. Also, the role of the relevant government almost predisposes the organization toward certain ethical stances. The study …

Advancing The Scientific Understanding Of Trust In The Contexts Of Negotiations And Repeated Bargaining, Dejun Tony Kong, Robert B. Lount, Mara Olekalnsc, Donald L. Ferrin

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

More than half a century ago, Deutsch (1949, 1958) recognised the critical role that trust plays in negotiations and related forms of social interactions. Despite this very early recognition, and rapidly expanding research on trust in several fields, only in recent decades have negotiation researchers begun a systematic exploration of trust in the contexts of negotiations and repeated bargaining. In the last two decades, researchers have increasingly focused their attention on the role of trust in negotiations.

What Are The Determinants Of Interpersonal Trust In Dyadic Negotiations? Meta-Analytic Evidence And Implications For Future Research, Serena Changhong Lu, Dejun Tony Kong, Donald Lee Ferrin, Kurt T. Dirks

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Given the practical importance of interpersonal trust in dyadic negotiations, scholars have increasingly turned their attention to the study of determinants of trust in negotiations. However, research in this area has not been well connected or integrated, which limits the ability of scholars and practitioners to ascertain the state of current scientific knowledge and identify questions for future research. Based on attribution theory and social exchange theory, we present a conceptual framework for understanding how a variety of factors combine to influence the development of interpersonal trust in dyadic negotiations. Then, to verify the conceptual framework, we identified and meta-analysed …

Take A Break! Benefits Of Sleep And Short Breaks For Daily Work Engagement, Jana Kuhnel, Hannes Zacher, Jessica De Bloom, Ronald Bledow

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The current study investigates the benefits of a good night’s sleep and short work breaks for employees’ daily work engagement. It is hypothesized that sleep and self-initiated short breaks help restore energetic and self-regulatory resources which, in turn, enable employees to experience high work engagement. A daily diary study was conducted with 107 employees who provided data twice a day (before lunch and at the end of the working day) over 5 workdays (453 days in total). Multilevel regression analyses showed that sleep quality and short breaks were beneficial for employees’ daily work engagement. After nights employees slept better, they …

A Sensitivity Analysis For Relative Importance Weights In The Meta-Analytic Context: A Step Towards Narrowing The Theory-Empiricism Gap In Turnover, James G. Field

Theses and Dissertations

Turnover is one of the most important phenomena for management scholars and practitioners. Yet, researchers and practitioners are often frustrated by their inability to accurately predict why individuals leave their jobs. This should be worrisome given that total replacement costs can exceed 100% of an employee’s salary (Cascio, 2006) and can represent up to 40% of a firm’s pre-tax income (Allen, 2008). Motivated by these concerns, the purpose of this study was to assess the predictive validity of commonly-investigated correlates and, by extension, conceptualizations of employee turnover using a large-scale database of scientific findings. Results indicate that job satisfaction, organizational …

Elements Of Effective Interorganizational Collaboration: A Mixed Methods Study, Patricia A. Greer

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Interorganizational collaboration is a process used by committed stakeholders within a problem domain to solve 'messy’ or complex issues. Joint identification and resolution of complex problems is achieved through an iterative process, using elements for success: committed members, resources, time, communication, trust, shared goal, defined process, and collective identity. This study utilized an exploratory sequential mixed methods process as a practical approach, resulting in richer data and increased understanding of the phenomenon of collaboration. The guiding research problem explored which elements influence successful collaborations and, specifically, how collective identity is developed, sustained, and related to the perception of success. The …

Design Thinker Profile: Creating And Validating A Scale For Measuring Design Thinking Capabilities, Dani Chesson

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study developed a scale for assessing design thinking capabilities in individuals. Many organizations today are turning to design thinking to tackle the complex challenges they face. As organizations move toward adopting this way of working the need to develop design thinking capabilities in individuals becomes imperative. The capabilities needed for engaging in design thinking are skills that we all have to some varying degree, but we do not all use them to their full potential when solving problems. The scale developed in this study measures the degree to which an individual uses design thinking capabilities when engaged in problem …

Inclusive Leadership's Evolving Context: Organizational Climate And Culture Connect, Maria E. Dezenberg

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Conventional forms of leadership that are prominent in organizational life today are seemingly antithetical to the landscape of our dynamic, global society. The continued focus on traditional hierarchies with leadership that functions in a “chain of command” manner begs the question of how organizations can reshape routines and relationships to reflect processes of inclusion and collaboration that have the capability of provoking progressive change in organizations. Diversity and Inclusion scholars have identified the newer construct of inclusive leadership as apt to advance climates and cultures of inclusion through social processes that encourage inclusive practices and behaviors. These fluid aspects of …