Other Business Commons^™

A Machine Learning And Artificial Intelligence Sentiment Analysis Of Esg Disclosures, John Barnett Davis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This dissertation examines whether environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure sentiment extracted from SEC Form 10-K Item 1A risk disclosures aligns with Bloomberg ESG scores. The study combines SEC textual disclosures, Bloomberg ESG ratings, firm financial data, executive compensation data, and executive gender characteristics. Natural language processing and artificial intelligence methods, including FinBERT, Loughran-McDonald sentiment measures, BART-MNLI zero-shot classification, LLaMA-based ESG scoring, and readability analysis, are used to evaluate ESG-related disclosure signals. Results reveal that SEC 10-K Item 1A risk-factor sentiment and Bloomberg ESG scores represent related but distinct constructs. ESG sentiment in Item 1A is poorly aligned with third-party …

The Impact Of Sovereign Wealth Funds On Emerging Markets: A Behavioral Analysis Of Investment Decisions And Market Reactions, Grant A. Mosshart

Senior Honors Theses

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) are increasingly influential in emerging markets, yet the behavioral drivers behind their investments remain underexplored. In this paper, an analysis of SWF capital’s impact on economic development and the psychological factors, such as optimism bias and herding, that shape these decisions is examined. Utilizing a mixed-methods comparative study, the research analyzes Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings. Event study analysis reveals a divergent impact: the PIF’s high-profile developmental commitment to India generated a positive 5-day Cumulative Abnormal Return of +2.05%, confirming a macro-level “seal of approval” signaling effect. By contrast, Temasek’s commercially …

Engaging Young People In Sustainable Finance: Opening Up Opportunities For Transformation, Allison Guerette

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

The field of sustainable finance could benefit from more meaningful engagement with young people, who offer a unique perspective and have a vested interest in addressing climate change and other global issues that will shape their future. In this post-qualitative study, three young people document what they see, hear, and experience as they attend a symposium for experts on sustainable finance and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. These raw tellings are used in the cocreation of a youth sustainable finance assemblage and analysis tool, which the young people then apply to the Return on Sustainable Investment (ROSI™) methodology. Relationality, …

Design Thinking For Corporate Social Responsibility Program Proposal Creation, Michelle "Mindy" D. Danovaro

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study used action research to explore how the use of design thinking engaged employees in the creation of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program proposal in a small- to medium-enterprises (SME) in the Sacramento region of California. The purpose of the study was to assess whether employee participation in a design thinking exercise could improve employee perception of engagement, inclusion, and reciprocity during the CSR program proposal creation. The study was grounded in social exchange theory, stakeholder theory, and design thinking methodologies. The iterative research process followed action research cycles (i.e., plan, act, observe, and reflect) integrated with …

Digital Zakat And Islamic Fintech: A Bibliometric Analysis Of Global Research Trends And Collaboration Networks (2012–2025), Muhamad Dupi, Fauziyah Adzimatinur

Journal Of Middle East and Islamic Studies

This paper examines global research trends, collaborative networks, and prevailing themes in digital zakat and Islamic fintech studies published from 2012 to 2025. We retrieved a total of 194 Scopus-indexed publications using bibliometric methods on September 23, 2025, and analyzed them using VOSviewer version 1.6.20. The analysis set a minimum occurrence threshold of 5 for keywords and a minimum citation threshold of 10 for documents. The results indicate that the number of publications has been steadily rising since 2017, with the most in 2023 (42 documents). Malaysia, Indonesia, and Nigeria were the top contributors, and INCEIF University and the International …

Trusted Advisor: Reality Or Fading Myth?, Stephen C. Carlson, Susanna Warnock, Gerald Sullivan, Margaret Ryder

Atlantic Marketing Journal

The role of trusted advisor has long differentiated the role of community banking from traditional national banks in its relationship with small businesses. This study serves two purposes. First is to confirm presence of a trusted advisor relationship and secondly, understand the impact of digital banking services on the community banker – small business owner relationship. Using data collected in a survey of community bankers and small business owners in five southeastern United States, this study assesses the viability of the trusted advisor construct by applying the Integrative Model of Organizational Trust (Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman, 1995, 2007), trust-building behaviors …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

When Does The Tick Size Help Or Harm Market Quality? Evidence From The Tick Size Pilot, Yashar H. Barardehi, Peter Dixon, Qiyu Liu, Ariel Lohr

Business Faculty Articles and Research

Tick sizes affect market quality through a tradeoff between pricing fidelity and undercutting. The U.S. Tick Size Pilot (TSP), which raised the minimum tick from 1¢ to 5¢, provides a natural experiment to study this tradeoff. We find that the TSP harmed liquidity for stocks with spreads below 10¢ but improved liquidity for stocks with spreads above 15¢. These opposing effects explain the mixed results across prior studies which pool together stocks with very different prevailing spreads. We recommend researchers using the TSP for causal inference should, at minimum, split samples at 10¢-spreads to account for these heterogeneous liquidity effects.

Ethics In The Age Of Digital Trading: Rethinking Responsibility In Modern Investing, Kennedy Solomon, Melissa Fitzpatrick

Honors Thesis

The rise of digital trading platforms such as Robinhood has transformed retail investing into an accessible activity for the general public. While these platforms claim to democratize investing through commission-free trading and intuitive interfaces, their gamified designs and aggressive marketing raise significant ethical concerns. This paper explores how such apps target inexperienced users, encouraging potentially reckless financial behavior under the guise of empowerment.

Does Artificial Intelligence Bias Exist In Mortgage Underwriting Software? Investigating Bias, Regional Disparities, And Fair Ai Models, Dorian Cornelius

Dissertations

This quantitative study closely emulated Zou and Khern's (2022) analysis of AI Bias in Mortgage Applications. They used the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) dataset from the Federal Financial Institution Examination Council's (FFEIC) website to review mortgage loan data from 2019 to determine if there was bias in the AI mortgage application approvals. Those researchers concluded that bias does exist in the AI mortgage underwriting software. Since their study, research has demonstrated that discrimination continues to exist in AI software. Therefore, this research expands on Zou and Khern’s study to determine if there are differences in the mortgage loan approval …

From Socially Responsible Enterprises To Crypto-Anarchy: We Cover Quite A Range, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Deniz Atik, Delphine Godefroit-Winkel

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

Provision Cfo: Empowering Strategic Financial Excellence For Small Businesses And Entrepreneurs, Cindra Vang

Doctor of Strategic Leadership (DSL) Capstone Abstracts

Project Overview

ProVision CFO offers strategic financial management solutions tailored to the unique needs of entrepreneurs, small businesses, and rapidly growing organizations. This project aims to equip clients with robust financial strategies and actionable insights necessary for sustainable growth, operational excellence, and long-term success. ProVision CFO provides comprehensive financial guidance including fractional CFO and accounting services.

Project Themes

The ProVision CFO framework encompasses three key components designed to optimize financial performance and organizational effectiveness. Component One—Strategic Clarity: Establishing clear financial goals aligned with organizational vision, mission, and values. Component Two—Financial Optimization: Providing accounting services to streamline financial processes and enhance …

Adaptation For Whom? Understanding The Impacts Of Dyke Policies On Small-Scale Farmers In Ca Mau Province Of Vietnam, Nguyen Minh Quang, Nguyen Van Minh, Nguyen Vo Chau Ngan, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Low-lying deltas worldwide are extremely vulnerable to sea-level rise. As the risks of climate-induced flooding become increasingly clear, the thirst for infrastructure-driven adaptation increases. This highlights a patent need to understand the impacts of engineering adaptation solutions, especially those targeting built structures such as dykes and sluices, on farmers from a bottom-up, farmer-centred perspective. The study addresses this call by examining cases where dyke policies, while successful in some dimensions, have undermined small-scale farmer livelihoods in Ca Mau ― Vietnam’s southernmost rural province. It identifies areas in need of attention and adds empirical data related to this group of farmers. …

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.

A Business Model For Communication Design Enterprises (Paper), Con Kennedy

Academic Articles

Several international reports and studies indicate that the Communication Design sector has a skill deficit in entrepreneurship and business management, and a greater understanding of these topics is needed. Some authors advocate applying existing business models for design enterprises. However, the skill deficit prevails. It is worth noting that these reports discuss the entrepreneurship deficit in general terms without an explanation of the causes of this deficit or how to remedy the issue. Therefore, this paper explores the development of a Business Model specific for Design Entrepreneurs for deployment in Communication Design enterprises. A theoretical framework for a specific business …

Cross-Market Effects Of Consolidation: Evidence From Banking, Andrew Bird, Ding Du, Stephen A. Karolyi

Accounting Faculty Articles and Research

The U.S. banking sector had nearly 70% fewer banks in 2022 relative to 1989, primarily because of mergers. We develop a methodology to estimate cross-market spillover effects of bank mergers and test whether the operations of incumbents facing consolidating competitors in one market are affected in other markets. We find that nonmerging banks within a market that are one standard deviation more exposed to mergers in other markets increase deposits by 2.1% relative to their less exposed competitors. Our methodology may be applied elsewhere to assess the aggregate impacts of industry consolidation and illustrates challenges with product-based or geographic market …

The Effect Of Massage Therapy On Test Anxiety Experienced By Traditional-Aged Undergraduate Business Students, Jorge A. Pazmiño

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

Test anxiety impacts traditional-aged undergraduate business students and influences their academic performance and overall well-being. This study explored the efficacy of massage therapy (MT) as a means of mitigating test anxiety within this demographic. Building on existing literature that addresses the consequences of anxiety and alternative coping mechanisms, this research study focused on MT as a potential strategy for test anxiety management. The study employed the Adult Manifest Anxiety Scale–College Version (AMAS-C) to gather data from participants at a private liberal arts institution in the East South-Central region of the United States. An experimental group received an MT intervention, while …

Nonprofit Leader Experiences In Sector-Bending After Lean Six Sigma Training: Tension, Concepts, And Changed Behaviors, Beverly Codallos

Dissertations

Government, business, and nonprofit represent three distinct types of organizations governed by different legal frameworks designed to facilitate collective action (DiMaggio & Anheier, 1990). The emergence of hybrid forms and increasing isomorphic pressures in the nonprofit sector (Bromley & Meyer, 2017; McCambridge, 2014) have challenged the traditional separation of organizational forms. This study explored the phenomenon popularized as sector-bending, “a wide variety of approaches, activities, and relationships that are blurring the distinctions between nonprofit and for-profit organizations, either because they are behaving more similarly, operating in the same realms, or both” (Dees & Anderson, 2003, pg. 16). This qualitative study …

Limited Attention To Detail In Financial Markets: Evidence From Reduced-Form And Structural Estimation, Henrik Cronqvist, Tomislav Ladika, Elisa Pazaj, Zacharias Sautner

Business Faculty Articles and Research

We show that firm valuations fell after a key expense became more visible in financial statements. FAS 123-R required firms to deduct option compensation costs from earnings, instead of disclosing them in footnotes. Firms that granted high option pay experienced earnings reductions, while fundamentals remained unchanged. These firms were more likely to miss earnings forecasts, and they experienced recommendation downgrades and valuation declines. Our findings suggest that market participants exhibited limited attention to option costs before FAS 123-R. As we reuse the FAS 123-R natural experiment, we show how one can address confounding channels by integrating reduced-form and structural estimation.

Ceo Extraversion And The Cost Of Equity Capital, Biljana Adebambo, Robert M. Bowen, Shavin Malhotra, Pengcheng Zhu

Accounting Faculty Articles and Research

We examine whether CEO extraversion, an important personality trait associated with leadership, is associated with firms' expected cost of equity capital. We measure CEO extraversion using CEOs' speech patterns during the unscripted portion of conference calls. After controlling for multiple CEO and firm-specific variables, we find a strong positive incremental association between CEO extraversion and firms' expected cost of capital. Moreover, cost of equity increases when a more extraverted CEO replaces a less extraverted CEO. In addition, we find that firms with relatively extraverted CEOs take more risk and exhibit lower credit ratings, which is associated with higher cost of …

Development Of A Safety Performance Decision-Making Tool For Flight Training Organizations, Marisa Aguiar, Carolina L. Anderson, Dothang Truong, Gregory S. Woo, Kenneth Byrnes

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

The purpose of the research was to create and validate a safety performance decision-making tool to transform a reactive safety model into a predictive, decision-making tool, specific to flight training organizations, to increase safety and aid in operational decision-making. Using Monte Carlo simulation, the study conducted simulation runs based on operational ranges to simulate the operating conditions with varying levels of controllable resources in terms of personnel (Aviation Maintenance Technicians and Instructor Pilots) and expenditures (active flight students and available aircraft). Four What-if Scenarios were conducted by manipulating the controllable inputs. Changes to the controllable inputs are reflected by variations …

Product Elimination Decision And Its Impact On Consumers: The Special Case Of A Local Speedway, Mark Mitchell, Jacob Voegel, Michael Smith

Atlantic Marketing Journal

After 60+ years of operation, Myrtle Beach Speedway was closed and the property sold. The new owners will redevelop the property for commercial and residential purposes. Businesses routinely eliminate products for a variety of reasons, including under-performance and/or a desire to redeploy those resources elsewhere. What is often overlooked is the impact on consumers. In addition to reducing fan access to racing, a closed race track removes a racing opportunity for aspiring race car drivers and crew members. It can also mean shuttering tracks that once had historical significance. The history of raceway closures in the Myrtle Beach, SC area …

Management Of Operations In Projects Including Planning, Organization And Control From The Beginning To The End Of Implementation, Burim Isa Berisha Dr.Sc

International Journal of Business and Technology

The project usually arises as soon as the client’s need is identified, and goes through all the extensive phases and sub-phases to take its true form and put into operation. The project is divided into two main parts that include Planning and Implementation that are separate in these stages: definition, planning, organization, control, completion. Planning involves a detailed calculation of the project. This includes known facts, admissible facts and risk calculation. Activity model used by IKOMs Planning as a process involves the cost that accompanies it. The manager must strike the balance between cost and benefit. Project control uses data …

Project Planning And Control, Burim Isa Berisha Dr.Sc

International Journal of Business and Technology

Operations management is important because it relates to the creation of products and services on which we are all dependent. Operations management is also quite motivating; operations are the center of many changes that affect business - changes in customer preferences, changes in the supply chain caused by technologies based on the businesses where we work, where we want to work and so on.

Operations Management includes the role of operations management, the various characteristics of processes, management activities, the responsibilities of managers, and the timely evolution of Operations Management.

Operations Management is a constant change, fostering creativity which allows …

Management Of Small Enterprises And Family Businesses In The Republic Of Kosovo, Burim Isa Berisha Dr.Sc, Burim Berisha B.B

International Journal of Business and Technology

Small businesses represent the driving force of an economy. They are the key that enables the production and marketing of thousands of products and services thus becoming the basis for a sound economic development. Consequently, small businesses are of vital importance to the economy.

Small business is a generator of innovation and a source of new jobs. The trend shows that small businesses are the backbone of all developments and movements in the economic system.

The small business scope is present in almost every pore of social and economic life.

According to the Statistical Register for Businesses, there are 9,358 …

The Process Of Adapting Innovations In Banking Services By Businesses In Kosovo, Burim Isa Berisha Dr.Sc, Burim Berisha B.B

International Journal of Business and Technology

This dissertation addresses the importance of a business model from businesses in Kosovo, which is able to adapt innovations from the banking sector such as digital services, and through which become part of a global market where such developments occur step by step. very fast At the beginning of this paper will be given definitions related to the main concepts that are addressed such as business model, innovations in banking services - digitalization of services and the role and importance of linking a business model with banking services of the time. After the theoretical part, from which the main concepts …

Agency Theory And Audit Quality, Burim Isa Berisha Bb

International Journal of Business and Technology

Auditing plays a vital role in reducing both: information asymmetry by empirically confi rming the validity of fi nancial statements and agency problems. The principal- agent confl ict illustrated in agency theory, where principal (owner) lack reasons to believe their agents (managers) because of information asymmetries and contradictory motives. Information asymmetry deals with the study of decisions in transactions where one party has more or superior information than other. Agents (either directors or auditors) may be trustworthy without further incentives to align interest or monitoring strategies such as audit or increased regulation. However, the simple agency model would recommend that …

The Process Of Adapting Innovations In Banking Services By Businesses In Kosovo, Burim Isa Berisha Dr.Sc, Burim Berisha B.B

International Journal of Business and Technology

This dissertation addresses the importance of a business model from businesses in Kosovo, which is able to adapt innovations from the banking sector such as digital services, and through which become part of a global market where such developments occur step by step. very fast At the beginning of this paper will be given definitions related to the main concepts that are addressed such as business model, innovations in banking services - digitalization of services and the role and importance of linking a business model with banking services of the time. After the theoretical part, from which the main concepts …

The Interaction Between Spending Policies And Asset Allocation For College And University Endowment, Ryan Erickson

Honors Projects in Finance

The analysis revealed better combinations of asset allocation and spending policy for college and university endowments that efficiently balance the desirable outcomes of stable spending in real terms against maintaining the purchasing power of the endowment over time (intergenerational equity). Using the variability and correlation of historical asset class returns, we created a forward-looking, projection-based, multivariate Monte Carlo simulation of individual asset class returns. The simulation incorporates the relationships between inflation and asset class returns, and the relationships among asset class returns. The projected time series of asset class returns produced a time series of endowment portfolio returns given an …

Blockholder Mutual Fund Participation In Private In-House Meetings, Robert Bowen, Shantanu Dutta, Songlian Tang, Pengcheng Zhu

Accounting Faculty Articles and Research

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) in China is unique worldwide in requiring disclosure of the timing, participants, and selected content of private in-house meetings between firm managers and outsider investors. We investigate whether these private meetings benefit hosting firms and their major outside institutional investors—blockholder mutual funds (i.e., funds with ownership ≥5%). Using a large data set of SZSE firms, we find that blockholder mutual funds have more access to private in-house meetings, and top management is more likely to be present, especially when a meeting is associated with negative news. Furthermore, when blockholder mutual funds attend negative-news meetings with …