Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Women's Work And Wealth: Measuring The Impact Of Incremental Liberations, 1850-1870, Hannah Kelly

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Using a two-way fixed effects difference-in-difference model, this project analyzes data from the IPUMS Full Count census for 1850, 1860, and 1870 at a state level for 48 states. Four models assess the impact of property laws on women's real property holdings, labor force participation, household types, and real property values.

By quantifying the impact of various legal reforms on women's economic empowerment, this project fills a gap in the understanding of the intersection between law, society, and women's economic agency during a transformative period in pre-industrial American history. These impacts can implicate the effectiveness of legislative measures in advancing …

A Wicked Leadership Approach To Democratizing Stem Education, Simone M. Le Gendre

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

STEM Company Inc. (SC; a pseudonym) is an educational services company located in Canada. Over the past 4 years, the organization has worked on an international project portfolio that has reflected a niche area of education that is currently underserviced in the traditional and private educational landscape. SC’s clients have engaged in procuring curriculum, resources, and programming at the intersection of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). This focus has caused an organizational challenge as SC’s initial operational framework and business practices were broadly based on human capital development. My intersectional identity as the …

Corporate Social Advocacy: A Study Of Brand And Consumer Activism In The Era Of Social Media, Christa L. Taylor

Student Theses and Dissertations

As corporations recognize the importance of balancing profitability with social responsibility, the adoption of corporate social advocacy has become a critical approach for addressing pressing social issues, fostering trust, and enhancing brand reputation. Growing public pressure has forced corporations to take a more vocal stance on social and political issues. Considering that corporate social advocacy is an emerging trend and is viewed as a practice outside of a corporation’s standard business practices, organizations have been presented with a new challenge of achieving legitimacy in their advocacy and taking on an expanded role as corporate citizens. This study explores the ways …

Coffee In Brasil: Sustainability And The Role Of Intermediaries, Livia Petzinger

Capstone Collection

ABSTRACT

Coffee is traded in a highly complex global value chain where countless sustainability initiatives have emerged to address social, economic, and environmental issues, challenges which persist due to dominance of the market structure by largescale traders and roasters. Specialty coffee and direct trade have emerged as alternative trade arrangements that promote high-quality coffee through the use of sustainable practices, transparency, and a shortened supply chain. This research analyzes the role that intermediaries in the Brazilian specialty coffee supply chain play in the implementation of sustainability initiatives asking what kinds of sustainability practices they implement and why, and how this …

Exploring Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy In The Lived Experiences Of African-American Male Former Division I Basketball Players: A Phenomenological Study, James Jameel Pugh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the self-perceived career goal achievement capabilities of African-American former Division I basketball players through the lens of Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy (CDMSE) and its impact on their post-athletic career decisions. Through a phenomenological approach, this study aims to contribute a nuanced understanding of the experiences, behaviors, and perceptions of these athletes' post-collegiate sports career transitions. Embedded within the literature review framework, this study illuminates likely factors influencing CDMSE by examining Self-Efficacy, Athlete Identity, Identity Foreclosure, and Career Maturity. Additionally presented is an overview of the unique culture within revenue-generating collegiate sports and, specifically, previous research on the experiences …

Empowering Change To Shape Tomorrow: An Integrated Marketing Communications Plan For The Building Wealth Initiative, Ramtin Ranjpour

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

We are witnessing a renaissance — one where organizations are expected to be a community with a valued culture. With the rise of this wave, incorporating integrated marketing communications (IMC) into organizations is more vital than ever. This project uses the public relations theory of relationship management, and the marketing model of AIDAR (attention, interest, desire, action, retention) to craft a professional IMC plan for the Building Wealth Initiative (BWI), an Inland Empire nonprofit organization specializing in financial literacy and services. The project uses focus groups and secondary research through informal online observations to gain the essential understanding for creating …

Corn Leaf Disease Prediction Using Deep Learning, Meghana Varayuri

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Corn is a widely cultivated agricultural product, serving as a cornerstone in food production and industrial applications such as biofuels, playing a crucial role in the global economy. This study explores the application of deep transfer learning to accurately classify major corn diseases from leaf images, aiming to enhance disease management strategies for improved agricultural productivity and sustainability. The customized Dense net 201 model achieved 95% prediction accuracy on an untrained dataset. Data augmentation improved the model’s accuracy from 91% to 95%. This supervised learning approach enhances the model’s performance by increasing the diversity, leading to better generalization and accuracy. …

Shame, Guilt, And Behavioral Responses To Conflict In Organizational Life: A Correlational Study, Lori Anne Shaw

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between self-conscious emotions, namely shame and guilt, and constructive and destructive behavioral responses to conflict among working adults in the United States. Researchers have underscored the importance of task-focused conflict and adaptive leadership in fostering positive conflict outcomes. However, the connection between shame and guilt and behavioral responses has yet to be explored. Drawing upon the Conflict Dynamics Profile and the Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3, this correlational study examined the associations between shame and guilt and 15 distinct behavioral responses to conflict among a sample of 203 participants, mostly women employed full-time. The cross-sectional survey …

Ethical Leadership And Moral Foundations Congruence, Sarah Willey

Dissertations

Research has examined follower perceptions of ethical leadership, but rarely accounts for the (mis)alignment between a follower’s sense of ethics and morality and that of a leader. This research examined the effects of a leader’s expression of each of the five Moral Foundations dimensions on ethical leadership perceptions, moderated by the respondent’s preferences for each of these foundations. To address this question, a policy capturing design was used to manipulate leaders’ high and low levels of each of the five foundations. The results of multilevel analyses indicate that at least for some dimensions of Moral Foundations, a follower’s evaluation of …

Exploring Recognition, Rewards, And The Multi-Generational Workforce During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sara J. Hollenbeck

Doctor of Education Program Dissertations

This study sheds light on the importance of rewards and recognition programs in improving employee engagement and highlights the need for organizations to rethink their rewards and recognition strategies to better meet the needs of multi-generational employees. One problem found in organizations was that many current multi-generational employees had low engagement due, in part, to outdated rewards and recognition programs (Agarwal et al., 2018; North, 2017; O.C. Tanner Institute, 2021). There was a gap in research regarding multi-generational employees in multiple professions and their perceptions of rewards and recognition and how those monetary and non-monetary rewards could affect their engagement …

The Influence Of Coaching Behaviors On Gen Z Collegiate Athletes And Team Morale, Erik Bennett

PhD in Organizational Leadership

A coach's behavior significantly influences both athlete and team morale. As a generational change occurs, the behaviors exhibited by coaches may also require change. As members of Generation Z (Gen Z) begin to fill collegiate sports rosters, understanding their unique characteristics and preferences becomes critical for effective coaching strategies. Drawing upon generational studies and the interviews of six collegiate athletes within the Gen Z cohort, how coaching behavior influences collegiate athletes' athletic performance and team morale was analyzed within this cohort. Using a qualitative approach, data gathered from the six Gen Zaged collegiate athletes were analyzed to reveal patterns of …

The Blessed Assembly: Irreplaceable Physical Co-Presence In Worship And Healthy Hybridity Reimagined After The Pandemic In The Digital Age, Yvette, Ying Wai Lau

Doctor of Pastoral Music Projects and Theses

Because of the unprecedented and unexpected force of the pandemic since 2020, most churches around the world have experienced some online worship during the lockdown of their cities or the mandated closure of the church buildings. For many people, online worship seems to be an equivalent, if not better, alternative for gathering together—a physical co-presence in worship—even after the pandemic has ended. As necessary and vital as online worship experiences have been for Christians during the pandemic, the witness of the church from Pentecost throughout Christian history indicates that gathered worship in physical spaces is irreplaceable for faith formation and …

Examining A Regulatory Flexibility Framework Of Psychological Distress: Integrating Distress Tolerance, Emotion Differentiation, And Emotion Regulation Flexibility, Germaine Yue Qi Tng

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Several theoretical accounts identify emotion regulation (ER) difficulties, including poor abilities to withstand or distinguish negative emotions, as a transdiagnostic risk factor for symptoms of psychological distress. Considering this, nascent evidence hints that ER flexibility may be a mediating mechanism that explains the relationship between specific ER abilities (i.e., distress tolerance, negative emotion differentiation) and distress symptoms. Across time-lagged (Study 1) and three-wave longitudinal (Study 2) investigations of college-aged adults, a regulatory flexibility framework of distress was examined in which ER flexibility mediates the respective pathways from distress tolerance and negative emotion differentiation to psychological distress symptoms. Furthermore, we explored …

The New China Model: Combating Economic And Political Order, Jack R. Swords

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Contemporary world politics centers around the actions of the two largest powers on Earth, the United States and China. They are both each other’s greatest adversary yet at the same time are each other’s largest trading partners. This thesis explores the nature of China’s economic climate that has seen it grow to one of the world’s foremost powers. However, the East Asian Nation faces economic challenges centered around the three D’s: Debt, Deflation, and Demographics. This thesis analyses what the nature of these challenges are and how China is responding to them within the ever-advancing world of economic and political …

Policy Frameworks And Citizens’ Use Of Fintech Solutions: The Pros And Cons In Egypt, Salma Al-Mohamady

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the significant influence of financial technology (FinTech) on the banking industry, consumer finance, and economic growth. It specifically concentrates on the swiftly changing FinTech environment in Egypt. The study investigates the impact of incorporating advanced technologies on worldwide financial practices, which has significantly transformed traditional banking models and facilitated the emergence of inventive financial services. The transition is clearly apparent in Egypt, where the expansion of FinTech has been driven by advances in regulations, adaptation to technology, and a population that is becoming more comfortable with digital solutions.

Using a combination of quantitative …

Starbucks Workers United And The Future Of American Labor Activism, Sophia Drake Braymen

Honors Projects

This essay explores the goals, motivations, and methods of Starbucks Workers United (the campaign of the labor union Workers United that is aimed at organizing Starbucks employees), as well as the Starbucks Company’s response to it. The analysis is informed by the author’s interviews with both a Workers United organizer and a Starbucks corporate employee. This essay explores the position of Starbucks Workers United within the broader history of American labor activism and our current epoch of union decline, as well as what the recent breakthrough in cooperation between Workers United and Starbucks means for American workers going into the …

Commercial Property Vacancies In American Cities, Emily Dinh

University Honors Theses

This paper examines the alarming impacts of the vacancy phenomenon on commercial properties across American during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase in remote work encourages people to work from home more frequently. This does not only lessen employees' foot traffic to offices, but also disconnects the engagement of consumers and visitors to public areas, such as malls, stores, and other amenities. Many commercial properties have closed, shrunk their operating spaces, or reallocated for safety and security reasons. Reduction in occupancy rate among mentioned properties influences negatively on business owners, their associated partners, residents of the impacted areas, and …

Investment Strategies Of Gcc Sovereign Wealth Funds: Aligning National Development And Geopolitical Goals, Roy Conners

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) prioritize and implement investment strategies in the context of national development and geopolitical dynamics. Using a qualitative case study approach, it analyzes the assets, key industries, leadership, and historical evolution of major GCC SWFs (ADIA, Mubadala, ADQ, QIA, and PIF) based on publicly made available information.

The findings show that GCC SWFs prioritize investments in strategic sectors, geographical destinations, and the private sector. These investments align closely with their respective national development plans, such as 'We the UAE 2031', Qatar National Vision 2030, and Saudi Arabia’s …

Empirical Essays On Retail Investors, Institutional Investors, And Anomalies, Yuqing Yang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of five chapters on market efficiencies through retail and international mutual fund investors.

Chapter 1 This chapter briefly introduces this dissertation.

Chapter 2 This chapter Anomalies Never Disappeared: The Case of Stubborn Retail Investors delves into the “stubborn” retail investors and finds that anomalies traded against by retail investors never disappear in the long run, defying the conventional wisdom that anomalies are disappearing in recent years as market efficiency improves. Incorporating retail trading, I develop asset pricing models that surpass existing prominent models in explaining these long-run alphas. I hypothesize that retail investors exacerbate anomalies: the more …

Bridge The Gap: Using Advocacy To Bridge The Gender Wage Gap In Sports - A Comparative Analysis Of Venus Williams And The Us Women’S National Team, William E. Mitchell

Student Theses and Dissertations

For decades sports and activism have been synonymous. Many remember Jesse Owens and Tommie Smith’s Olympic protests, Mohammed Ali’s anti-war protest and Collin Kaepernick kneeling to bring attention to racial injustices. More recently many joined in celebration and applauded when the US Women’s National Team secured equal pay. However, many women in sports remain invisible. Activism is a viable form of seeking change, but can the route taken by Venus Williams work in team sports? This project will seek to examine if activism is a viable change agent in sports especially in closing the gender pay gap. While several female …

Fluid Futures: The Revitalization Of Yangzhou Through Its Historical Waterways, Feiyang Wu

Masters Theses

In China, cities such as Yangzhou, which in pre-modern times played central roles in the political, cultural, and economic functioning of the country based on their geographic location, proximity to water-based trade routes, and connections to the imperial court, are today facing uncertain futures due to waterways no longer being critical to trade, and government-driven development being focused on first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. With this, the working-age population migrates from smaller cities toward these urban giants, leaving behind aging relatives, a less robust and diversified economic base, and few attributes other than cultural tourism that …

Uncovering The Mimicry Of Online Review Breadth And Depth And Its Subsequent Effect On Consumer Responses, Andrea Pelaez Martinez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Word-of-mouth (WOM) in marketing occurs when consumers discuss a company's product or service or any consumption experience with their friends, family, and others with whom they have any relationship. With the advent of social media, this phenomenon has expanded rapidly into virtual environments where consumer conversation is enabled through chats, forums, social media posts, and online reviews. In response to this rapid growth of online WOM, academics and practitioners have focused their interest on this phenomenon and its implications on consumers, firms, and society. So far, the evidence of the critical role that online WOM plays in helping consumers make …

“I’M Not Your Friend”: Content Type Influence On Parasocial Relationship Formation On Youtube, Sage E. Driscoll

Honors Projects

Media consumers are increasingly using online video platforms, such as YouTube which has record high numbers of viewers and subscribers compared to other media sites. This viewership increases the popularity of content creators who can be divided into two main categories; relationship-based or idea-based content. YouTube viewers bond with their favorite celebrities which has translated into parasocial relationships. In this study, explanatory qualitative research examines whether the two types of content found on YouTube, relationship-based or idea-based, influences the parasocial relationships formed. As the results show, relationship-based YouTubers consistently form more intense parasocial relationships than idea-based YouTubers.

Call And Response : Experiments In Storytelling, Deanne Fernandes

Masters Theses

Being part of RISD's inaugural Masters of Illustration cohort has been an immense honor. This journey has been nothing short of transformative and healing, as it has allowed me to unearth layers of self-discovery through my creative practice.

In my thesis, I introduce a fresh research methodology rooted in the principles of call and response, with adaptability, creativity, and storytelling as its foundational pillars. Through the lenses of visual storytelling, experimental animation, graphic journalism, and fictional world-building, I demonstrate how these techniques can effectively bridge the gap between theory and practice. This dynamic approach fosters meaningful connections among diverse perspectives …

Naturify 2300, Yarina Yiwei Dai

Masters Theses

In my art practice, I explore the interplay between human desires to manipulate and anthropomorphize nature, as seen in the technological augmentation of plants and living entities. This investigation delves into how this intersection, alongside empathy towards these creations, contributes to fears of uncontrollability and the risks of addiction and excessive dependence on technology.

Bioengineering and genetic modification have cultivated unprecedented developments, allowing humans to manipulate the fundamental building blocks of life. My research speculates on this technology further, modifying the genetic code of organisms and creating bioengineered wearable entities with enhanced traits or entirely new functionalities. The primary objective …

Fpdr And Portland: A Concerned Accountant's Perspective, Noah Roth

University Honors Theses

Established in 1942, the Fire and Police Disability and Retirement (FPDR) fund was intended to attract young men to serve as firefighters and police officers in the city of Portland. FPDR provides defined benefit retirement payments to some 2000 retirees from Portland Fire and Rescue and the Portland Police Bureau. Portlanders are obligated to pay these benefits through a property tax levy determined by the proprietors of the Fund itself. The overall liability owed to these retirees, and current employees, accounts for more than half of all liabilities owed by the city of Portland, representing a fiscal burden that calls …

The Research Of The Non-Financial Factors In The Investment Decision, Wenbiao Hou

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Driven by globalization and technological innovation, the complexity of investment decisions is continuously increasing. While traditional financial factors still play a crucial role in these decisions, an increasing number of real-life cases indicate that investors are relying more on non-financial factors. This paper systematically analyzes the impact of these non-financial factors in the framework of investment decision-making.

This paper employs a mixed research method, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative analyses to ensure comprehensive coverage of the topic. First, it outlines the theoretical basis and development of non-financial factors in investment decisions through a review of prior literature. Next, it collects …

Evaluating Climate Sentiment In Sec 10-K Filings: S&P 50 Companies, Ruby Chu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Evaluating Climate Sentiment in SEC 10-K Filings: S&P 50 Companies investigates how climate sentiment is portrayed in corporate financial reporting, focusing on SEC 10-K filings from leading S&P 50 companies. These filings offer detailed insights into financial performance, risks, and management discussions, providing a rich dataset for analyzing corporate behaviors with sustainability and environmental concerns. This study aims to shed light on the extent to which companies address environmental issues and the implications for environmental stewardship by analyzing how these topics are portrayed in their SEC 10-K filings. Drawing inspiration from established greenwashing indicator frameworks, the study develops a climate …

Tied Together With Ticketmaster: Analyzing The Exclusive Contracts Of Ticketmaster Through The Lens Of Antitrust Scholars, Jenna Gillam

Honors Projects

The Eras Tour Verified Fan Sale in 2022 revealed major flaws in the ticket-buying process, which many attributed to Ticketmaster's dominant industry position. The exclusive contracts of Ticketmaster have been their source of gaining a competitive advantage in the ticketing industry, but many have been critical of these contracts for restricting competition in this industry. This research analyzes the effect of the exclusive contracts of the merged Ticketmaster-Live Nation entity on competition in the ticketing industry through the lens of prominent antitrust scholars. Previous literature reveals differing ideas about whether exclusive contracts are an exclusionary practice and literature identifies the …

Financial Time Series Fusion, Completion, And Prediction With Deep Neural Networks, Dan Zhou

Dissertations

Time-series analysis is essential for a wide range of financial applications, including but not limited to bond valuation, firm earnings forecasts, firm fundamentals predictions, and firm characteristics imputations. Given its considerable value, the financial community has shown a strong interest in refining and advancing time-series analysis techniques. The study in this dissertation contributes to this field by employing advanced machine learning approaches, specifically graph neural networks, deep neural networks, and matrix/tensor methods. The primary objectives are twofold: first, to reveal complex correlations within financial time series to improve prediction accuracy, and second, to enhance the process of integrating and imputing …