Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons^™

Leveraging Network Science For Customer Segmentation And Product Recommendation, Ali Nasirzonouzi

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

The rapid growth in e-commerce has forced the development and implementation of enhanced customer segmentation and recommendation systems, improving business results and improving customer experience. Traditional approaches, such as RFM analysis and clustering algorithms like K-means, are very helpful in many situations but usually fail to catch complex interdependencies among customers and products. This paper proposes a new approach using network science methodologies, a bipartite graph model, toward the advancement of customer segmentation and product recommendation. It implements a bipartite graph of customers and products using the "Online Retail II" dataset and proceeds with community detection, segmenting customers into unique …

Remembering The Titans: A Cinematic Pedagogy For Enhancing Understanding And Improving Performance In Tuckman's Stages Of Group Development In Management Education, David S. Fowler, Jon Musgrave, David F. Zinn

International Journal for Business Education

This study examines the effectiveness of using multimedia, specifically Remember the Titans, to teach Bruce Tuckman’s Group Development stages in undergraduate management education. The research investigates whether integrating film-based pedagogy enhances student comprehension and academic performance compared to traditional lecture methods. Using a quasi-experimental design, data were collected over six semesters from undergraduate business students (N = 459) at a private liberal arts university. The study compared pre- and post-implementation cohorts, employing a structured writing assignment as an assessment tool. A quantitative analysis, including independent samples t-tests, revealed a statistically significant improvement in student performance (p = 0.039) after implementing …

Experiences Of Minority Workers: A Three-Study Dissertation Evaluating Recruitment And Workplace Experiences For Minority Workers, Jennifer Saucedo

Dissertations and Theses

Through a series of three manuscripts, the dissertation explores the experiences of minority groups across different points of the employee life cycle. As minority employees often face a negative set of unique stressors inside and outside of work, this series of papers attempt to further our understanding of minority experiences during the organizational stages of recruitment and retention. The first manuscript tests the effects of recruitment material on pre-hire applicant outcomes for minorities by integrating literature on realistic job previews (RJPs) and diversity recruitment. The experimental study finds that leader diversity testimonials that provide a mix of positive and negative …

Are Positive And Negative Leader Humor Two Different Coins? A Meta-Analysis, Xiaohong Xu, Richard Hayes, Lixin Jiang, William P. Jimenez

Psychology Faculty Publications

Scholars disagree on the distinction between positive and negative leader humor, which may hinder the integration and advancement of the leader humor literature. Thus, we meta-analyzed the correlation between positive and negative leader humor, as well as their shared nomological networks (k = 161; follower N = 45,759; leader N = 7,820). Our meta-analysis indicates that (1) there is a very small but significant correlation between positive and negative leader humor (ρ = -.07); (2) positive and negative leader humor have differential relationships with most antecedents (e.g., positive affectivity) and outcomes (e.g., innovation and citizenship behavior); (3) positive affect …

Exploring Leadership In Physical Therapy: How Clarity, Connection, And Communication Influence Team Engagement, Burnout, And Achieving Organizational Objectives, Jason Collin

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods study was to identify and describe how highly effective PT leaders use the three competencies of HPTs (clarity, connection, and communication) to increase engagement, prevent burnout, and achieve organizational objectives. The second purpose of this study was to determine the degree of importance that highly effective PT leaders perceive the three HPTE core competencies impact their leadership for creating HPTs.

Methodology: The mixed methods study identified and described eight PT leaders’ perceptions of how they use clarity, connection, and communication to build and sustain HPTs. PT leaders were selected through purposive and snowball …

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 …

Organizational Readiness As A Predictor Of Successful Trauma-Informed Change Within Child Welfare Agencies, Jennette Allen-Mccombs

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

The literature is replete with calls to reform the child welfare system (Dettlaff et al., 2020; Lindell et al., 2020; McTavish et al., 2018). Five child welfare organizations in one northeastern state in the U.S. participated in a pilot program to implement trauma-informed organizational change (TOC). This study explored the extent to which child welfare agencies demonstrated readiness to adopt change. The researcher used a directed content analysis approach to analyze previously collected staff meeting minutes, consultant notes, and other TOC-related documents collected during implementation. Findings support Armenakis et al.'s (2000) organizational readiness for change theory, which suggests that increased …

Does Felt Obligation Or Gratitude Better Explain The Relationship Between Perceived Organizational Support And Outcomes?, Robert Eisenberger, Xueqi Wen, Dianhan Zheng, Jia Yu, Zihan Liu, Jing Zhang, Lei Wang, Tae-Yeol Kim, Sara Krivacek, Thomas J. Zagenczyk, Min-Kyu Joo, Salar Mesdaghinia, Deog-Ro Lee, Tae-Hyun Kim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The employee-organization relationship (EOR) is a key component of organizational behavior. Researchers have consistently shown that employees who perceive that they are supported by their organizations (favorable EORs) tend to have positive attitudes and behave in a manner that helps the organization to reach its goals. For many years, the reciprocity norm (e.g. felt obligation) has been a widely accepted explanation for the EOR. Yet, despite calls to explore additional pathways, little work has examined other mediating mechanisms between favorable EORs and outcomes. We draw on the affect theory of social exchange to argue for the mediating effects of gratitude, …

Exploring The Dynamics Of Volitional Personality Change: A Psychoeducational Intervention Study With Young Adults Transitioning To The Workforce, Erica Baranski, Ramona L. Martinez, Zihan Liu, Kevin Hoff

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

College graduates transitioning to the workforce completed a 13-week, light, psychoeducation intervention designed to increase volitional personality change motivation via weekly email newsletters. Contrary to expectations, the intervention did not significantly enhance overall change motivation or consistently inspire desired trait change goals following the study period or after 6 or 10 months. However, participants in the intervention group did report increased desire to change emotional stability at specific points during the study. These findings underscore the limitations of this particular psychoeducational intervention approach and help to fill in the boundary conditions of when and how personality change is possible. Additionally, …

It's Just A Game! Effects Of Fantasy In A Storified Test On Applicant Reactions, Marie L. Ohlms, Klaus G. Melchers, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

There is increasing attention to storification of assessments (i.e., embedding a storyline into a non-storified assessment) in research and practice and to gamified and game-based assessment in general. However, there is a surprising lack of agreement and of recommendations regarding what level of fantasy of the storyline one should choose for the storification from the perspective of applicant reactions. A distinction is typically made between fantasy (e.g., fighting aliens) and realistic (e.g., workday simulations) storylines, with both choices having their advantages and disadvantages. In this study, a sample of 195 participants was shown either a storified realistic test, a storified …

A Head-To-Head Comparison Of Situational Judgment Tests And Assessment Centers For Measuring And Predicting The Same Performance Dimensions, Iman Shakeri, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

To date, a limited set of studies have compared the criterion-related validity of low-fidelity (SJT) versus high-fidelity (AC) simulations for predicting job performance. Unfortunately, these studies validated these simulations through the overall assessment rating (OAR) instead of on the basis of specific dimensions. Given SJTs and ACs were compared that measured different dimensions, our understanding of the relative and comparative validity of these assessment approaches in measuring the same set of dimensions is still limited. Therefore, this study aims to conduct a head-to-head comparison of the criterion-related validity of the AC and the SJT (and their incremental validity) while keeping …

Retirement And Organizations: Advocating Organizational Responsibility For Retirement In Practice And Scholarship, Valerie Caines, Gokhan Ertug, Prashant Bordia, Deidra J. Schleicher

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this editorial we discuss organizations’ role in the process of retirement. We argue that organizations have abdicated their moral obligation to older workers, thereby negatively impacting older workers’ wellbeing and their successful transition to retirement. We also note that organizational studies scholars have not paid adequate attention to that negligence, or its alternatives. We suggest that, among other reasons, this oversight can be a result of the comparatively privileged socioeconomic positions of faculty in business schools vis-à-vis older workers in many other occupations, as well as to a discord between traditional human capital and human resource management theories and …

Coevolution Of Soes And The Chinese Economy: The Roles Of Soe Heterogeneity From The Institutional, Strategic, And Organizational Perspectives, Kenneth G. Huang, Runtian Jing, Jun Xia, Man Zhang, Weiguo Zhong, David Zhu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

State-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China play a critical role in national economic development and the country's positioning on the global stage. Chinese SOEs have undergone substantial transformations from traditional government-run entities to a variety of corporate forms exhibiting different levels of state involvement. Despite their substantial influence, the internal diversity of SOEs – from wholly state-owned to mixed-ownership – has not been thoroughly examined. This paper provides an overview of SOEs' critical roles in the Chinese economy, the relationship between SOEs and privately owned enterprises (POEs), and the challenges of SOEs in different stages of Chinese economic development. It then …

When Leaders Self-Sacrifice In Times Of Crisis: The Roles Of Employee Emotional Suppression And Leader Coping Strategies, Xingyu Wang, Xueqi Wen, Zihan Liu, Yixing Lisa Gao, Juan M. Madera

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

While literature articulates the relevance of self-sacrificial leadership to crisis situations, little attention has been paid to employees’ attitudinal and behavioral responses to self-sacrificial leadership. This is a particularly salient gap in the scholarship, given the decisions leaders must make to address challenges in the hospitality industry (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic). Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this pair of field and experimental studies examines how individual differences in employee emotional suppression and leader coping strategy moderate the impacts of self-sacrificial leadership on employee perceptions of leader effectiveness. By sampling U.S. hospitality employees, the studies reveal that leaders who display …

Leadership Practices For High-Performing Teams: Insights From Senior Military General Officers And Flag Officers, Kimberly Mitchell

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods study was to identify and describe how senior military general officers and flag officers (GOFOs) used the three competencies of high-performance teams (HPTs; clarity, connection, and communication) to achieve objectives in their organizations. The second purpose of this study was to determine the degree of importance that senior military GOFOs perceived the three high-performance team effect (HPTE) core competencies impacted their leadership for creating HPTs.

Methodology: This mixed methods study identified and described nine senior military officers’ perceptions of strategies to lead HPTs while focusing on the three core competencies: clarity, connection, and …

Leadership Coaching And The “Mad Major”, Ray Forbes

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Interested in gaining some valuable lessons for leaders and leadership coaches to add to your repertoire? Want to further express your curiosity and explore the opportunity to learn more about leadership and leadership coaching from a very unusual, non-academic and very iconoclastic source? If so, this article may be for you. This commentary is essentially the abbreviated story of a single-minded, highly dedicated leader’s lifelong quest to bring needed change to a very large narrow-minded bureaucratic organization. It will briefly explore the strategy-infused approach of one of the most controversial and little known figures in modern military history. This individual …

Collaborating For Inclusion: Awareness And Understanding In Action At Six-String Biotech, Danny Lackey, Richard Jonsen

Rohrer College of Business Departmental Research

It was early summer 2020. The Breonna Taylor and George Floyd murders were front of mind across the United States. People were flooding the streets of cities large and small, demanding an end to racist policies and actions embedded in the United States’ social fabric. At Six-String Biotech, ten employees of color went to company executives with their concerns about inclusion and equity inside their organization and the need for change. This case tells how Six-String Biotech responded to these employees, engaged in difficult internal conversations, and began a change process to create a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable organizational …

Institutional Liquidity Costs, Internalized Retail Trade Imbalances, And The Cross Section Of Stock Returns, Yashar H. Barardehi, Dan Bernhardt, Zhi Da, Mitch Warachka

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Order flow segmentation prevents direct interactions between U.S. retail and institutional investors. Using the imbalance in observable internalized retail trades, we show wholesalers use retail flow to provide liquidity to institutional investors, especially when liquidity is scarce. Our institutional liquidity cost () measures average absolute retail trade imbalances, positing that institutions holding stocks with greater such averages more often resort to the expensive wholesaler-provided liquidity. is correlated with expected institutional price impacts. Unlike existing illiquidity measures, has economically meaningful relations with institutional holding horizons and yields annualized liquidity premia of 2.7%–3.2% post-2010, even after excluding microcap stocks.

Dunbar’S Number In Motion: Agent-Based Simulations Of Friendship Formation, Christopher R. Cooke, Cameron D. Lutz

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS)

By contrasting Lévy flight and random walk strategies in simulated agents, we discern the effect of movement behavior on the total duration of social interactions. Our agent-based simulation results approximate empirically observed Dunbar social circle formation using simple behavioral rules of interaction and compatibility to mimic exogenous attribute-based friendship formation. We simulate the complexities of social interactions among agents with unique attributes and a time budget for social engagement over a one-year period. Two distinct simulations were conducted to evaluate the behavioral contributions of Lévy flight and random walk movement patterns on cumulative interaction duration and the formation of Dunbar …

Impact Of Transformational Leadership On Job Satisfaction Among Staff In Private Child Care Agencies, Carmin Marie Johnson

Online Theses and Dissertations

Leadership styles and behaviors can impact employees' job performance and satisfaction. Murari and Mukherjee (2021), highlight that “building trust, clear vision, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, self-awareness, transparency, individualized consideration, wisdom and knowledge, and congruent values” (p. 3612); are the faces of transformational leadership. Positive or negative behaviors can significantly affect job performance and total job satisfaction. The behavior of leadership has a significant impact on the success of employees and organizations. Leadership behavior affects many organizations, such as schools, community organizations, governmental organizations, and private agencies. Creswell (2012) describes correlational design as a form of research that uses data analysis …

Structured Activities To Introduce Management Research To Undergraduate Business Students, Amanda S. Hinojosa

International Journal for Business Education

Following the frameworks for research and inquiry-based learning, this paper describes a series of activities which can be used in undergraduate management classrooms to expose students to management research. The focus of these activities on finding reputable article summaries allows instructors to introduce management research, explain how to evaluate it, and discuss the key implications of research without overwhelming students with the prose and technicalities presented in full research articles. The activities presented in this paper are intended to help students become informed seekers and consumers of research about organizational behavior and human resource management topics. Through bounded exploration in …

Internationalization And Its Challenges At U.S. Regional Comprehensive Universities: The Transformational Leadership Role Of Senior International Officers, Ibrahma F. Yaro, Aaron W. Hughey

Counseling & Student Affairs Faculty Publications

This interpretive phenomenological analysis investigated the role of transformational leadership and the challenges that senior international officers (SIOs) face in internationalizing regional comprehensive universities (RCUs) in the United States. Twelve in-depth interviews were conducted with SIOs from five regions: the West, Midwest, South, Southeast, and Northwest. The findings indicate that the transformational leadership approach is the primary leadership style utilized by senior international officers for the effective and successful internationalization of their institutions. The findings highlight a wide range of challenges that a senior international officer may encounter at a regional comprehensive university in the United States. The study outlines …

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 …

Can Whistleblowing Improve Organizational Effectiveness? Evidence From Financial Reporting Misconduct, Hong Kim Duong, Sadok El Ghoul, Omrane Guedhami, Emmanuel Sequeira, Zuobao Wei

Accounting Faculty Publications

Background

While whistleblowing (WB) has attracted growing research interest in recent years, several critical WB-related issues remain underexplored.

Purpose

This study examines the impact of external WB allegations on a firm’s organizational capital (OC). Such allegations often indicate management’s failure to address employee concerns internally, spotlighting potential deficiencies in internal reporting systems, employee communication, training, and trust in organizational fairness. To mitigate reputational damage, restore employee trust, and prevent future incidents, we posit that WB firms respond by increasing OC investment.

Research design

We employ a difference-in-differences approach, comparing OC changes in WB-targeted firms with those in a propensity score-matched …

Examining Antecedents Of Diversity Initiative Fatigue: A Moderatedmediation Model, Anne Simpson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This thesis investigates the relationships between bias awareness, motivation to respond without prejudice, racialized attitudes, and diversity initiative fatigue (DIF) among employees within an academic setting, specifically focusing on faculty and staff at Western Kentucky University. Data were collected through a survey-based approach to measure these constructs and assess their relationships. This study hypothesized that bias awareness negatively correlates with DIF and motivation to respond without prejudice mediating this relationship. Furthermore, the research examines how racialized attitudes moderate the relationship between bias awareness and motivation to respond without prejudice. By examining these relationships using a moderated mediation model, the study …

Expanding On The Relationship Between Incivility And Resource Depletion: Examining Race And Personal Tolerance For Mistreatment As Moderators, Aishwarya Kurmar

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Workplace incivility is ubiquitous, regularly impacting working adults. Through the framework of Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, I examined the relationship between workplace incivility and resource depletion using daily diary methodology. Workplace incivility negatively impacts employee outcomes at the organizational and individual level. As such, it was hypothesized that workplace incivility would have a positive correlation with increased resource depletion, measured as psychological fatigue. Under selective incivility theory, disenfranchised groups face increased instances of incivility. Following this theory, non-whites were hypothesized to experience a greater association between workplace incivility and resource depletion. Additionally, an individual’s personal tolerance of mistreatment for …

Social Comparison And Pressure: Examining The Roles Of Sex And Rank, Ashley East

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Faculty in academia face intense competition and growing expectations, often shaped by perceptions of others’ performance. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these dynamics were magnified, making social comparison a critical factor in understanding academic workplace pressures. The purpose of this study is to examine the changing work pressures and social comparison tendencies among academics during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is hypothesized that social comparison tendencies will be positively related to time pressure (H1a) and telepressure (H1b), with moderation by sex (H2a and H2b) and organizational rank (H3a and H3b). Using a panel survey of 197 tenure-track and tenured faculty members in …

Uncovering New Perspectives On Job Performance In Diverse Work Settings: A Job Demand-Resource Theoretical Approach, Myesha P. Holmes

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The aim of this study was to integrate the agility literature within the theoretical framework of the Job Demand-Resource (JD-R) Theory to examine and validate whether employee agility (job resources) and work overload (job demands) influence the relationship between subjective wellbeing, work engagement, and job performance among remote, hybrid, and onsite workers. Data was collected through a Qualtrics Online panel, utilizing five standardized and validated scales, from a sample of 504 full-time employed respondents across the United States. The data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results indicated a significant relationship between employee …

The Influence Of Generative Artificial Intelligence On Leadership: An Exploration Of Technology Professionals' Perceptions Regarding Leadership, Adaptation, And Organizational Culture In The Digital Age, Paul Thomas Herdman

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has introduced new complexities for organizational leadership, requiring technology professionals to adapt in real time to evolving digital tools, strategic demands, and cultural dynamics. Although prior research has examined AI’s broad influence on business processes, few studies have explored how technology leaders experience and interpret the leadership challenges and opportunities arising from GenAI. This qualitative dissertation addressed that gap by investigating the perceptions of senior technology professionals regarding GenAI’s influence on leadership roles, competencies, decision making, and organizational culture. Using Lanigan’s (1977) phenomenological method of human science, this study explored the lived experiences …

Warring Identities: The Transition From Servicemember To Civilian Employee, Michael Beeson

Business Administration Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation explores the role that military service identity plays in the transition to civilian employment. While there is a large volume of research on both the servicemember transition out of the military and military service identity, this dissertation contributes to this literature by examining the intersection of military service identity and the transition to civilian employment. This dissertation is designed to examine the nature of the military identity as servicemembers separate from the military and transition to civilian employment using competing theoretical identity frameworks rooted in identity and social identity theories. First I conduct a survey study that examines …