Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

How To Maximize Your Small Business's Impact On Social Media, Brianna J. Arnaud

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is meant to be a learning tool to help small businesses use free social media accounts as business marketing tools. The manual is broken down into chapters highlighting the importance of “Knowing your Audience,” “Branding,” “Constructing a Post,” “Using Visual Rhetoric,” and “Expanding your Audience.”. This thesis is inspired by scholars of English, internet linguistics, journalism, gender theory, professional writing, and rhetoric. It is also inspired by a survey of 18 small businesses in the Lafayette, Louisiana area. The survey helped to focus my research on the social media issues of small businesses in the southern region of …

Essays On Capital Structure Of Nations, Giovanni Perez

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Trade Rout: As Trade Tensions Built Between U.S. And Canada, This American Border Town Felt The Freeze, Matt Cutler, Isaac Carey

Capstones

A close business relationship with Canada has allowed Plattsburgh to thrive as a manufacturing town. Over 100 Quebec-based companies operate there, and 15 percent of the workforce in the county gets its paycheck from a Canadian company. Even more impressive, this comes at a time when manufacturing jobs are declining nationwide. While factories are shutting down across the rust belt, in Plattsburgh they are opening up.

There is just one problem.

All of this was made possible by the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. And just this April, the Trump administration abruptly threatened to pull out of the …

Managing Data-Driven Change: A Model Of Unintended Deviation, Sang-Mun Ray Cho

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Data-driven change in hospitality gaming is desirable because of the opportunities to leverage untapped sources of rich and abundant marketing data. However, change has been difficult to implement as indicated by a lack of widespread adoption. Some have attributed these difficulties to cultural, structural, and other generic factors but these explanations fail to explain the root dynamics of data-driven change.

In this dissertation, it is theorized that data-driven change requires a particular form of social interaction, which are called analytical bonds (AB). The suggestion was that there is a sender of an analytic deliverable and a receiver that makes a …

An Examination Of Perceived Leadership Behaviors And Employee Engagement In The Us Federal Government: An Exploratory Study, Jason Barker

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Leadership can exist in any organization or entity. It has been studied extensively and examined comprehensively. There have been various theories of what type of leadership is ideal or suitable for a group or organization. From transformational to transactional leadership, leadership styles exist that can contribute to organizations and the style they employ. Employee engagement can be based on either or both transformational and transactional leadership factors. Transformational leadership behaviors generally show an increase in employee engagement. Employee engagement has an association with job satisfaction and leadership perception. Leadership styles will be defined, in addition to factors in the employee’ …

Triple Bottom Line As A Method To Increase Business Value And Foster Positive Social And Environmental Change, Jayleene West

Master's Theses

The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) business model has transformed the business world by changing the way businesses operate. By focusing on the people and the environment, businesses have grown to see substantial profit and avoid risks along the way. Companies are using the TBL to build their brand and customer loyalty by enhancing the environment and society. This paper analyzes four companies that are leaders in their industry and are founded on the TBL; Seventh Generation, New Belgium Brewing, Patagonia, and Ben & Jerry’s. Recommendations have been made by performing a literature review on the advantages and disadvantages of the …

New York's Fight For $15: Who Wins, Who Loses?, Piter Ortega

Capstones

2016-17 State Budget: A $15 minimum wage plan is passed that will increase the earnings of more than 2.1 million low-wage workers in New York.

Link to capstone:http://www.piterortegaprojects.com/minimum-wage/

A Discourse Analysis Of Diversity And Inclusion Terminology In The High-Tech Industry, Michelle Nader

Master's Theses

The field of Diversity and Inclusion is a growing interest within the High-Tech industry, particularly within the San Francisco Bay Area of California. To combat misconceptions of Diversity and Inclusion, this thesis aims to define and analyze the language used at 20 companies in the High-Tech sector. The trends, nuances, and practices of how companies use language in their programming and data dictates the direction of the company. This thesis investigates the underlying complexities of where Diversity and Inclusion is within the industry today and goals for the future. Findings from this research suggest that companies can strengthen their Diversity …

An Exploratory Study Of Acculturation Experiences Of Graduate Student Immigrants At The University Of San Francisco, Courtney Lamar

Master's Theses

This study explores the shared challenges during the acculturation process of graduate student immigrants pursuing higher education in the United States. 13 graduate student immigrants at the University of San Francisco discuss their experiences of cultural adjustment into U.S. culture. Through qualitative interviews and thematic analysis, this study seeks to understand the acculturation experiences of graduate student immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States. This analysis is based on the individual-level experience examining attitudes and acculturation strategies in the dominant society. Analysis, possibly policy implication for institutions of higher education, and possible directions for future research …

Recruiting Process: The Decision Is Now, Joshua Michels

Sport Management Undergraduate

The college athletic recruiting process is one cluttered with many different factors. Studies have analyzed institutional and social factors impacting a prospective student-athletes’ recruitment process. However, little research has explored recruiting from an athlete’s perspective on how they make their college decision. This study aimed to investigate the most influential factors in a Division III student-athlete’s college decision based on the college recruiting process. The purpose of conducting this research is to highlight and identify the factors that student athletes consider in regards to their recruiting process, and the school they later choose to attend and continue their athletic careers. …

Exploring Sport Related Sexual Assault On Twitter, Riley O'Brien

Sport Management Undergraduate

Sport related sexual assault has been prevalent in society. For the victims, there are limited avenues to cope with the issues they have faced in the aftermath of sexual assault. At collegiate sport organizations, there seems to be a disconnect between what is right and wrong, especially regarding sexual assault. This study navigates the rough waters of sexual assault and provides institutions with information regarding social media once there is a sexual assault case. Using Twitter, this study will search to find variables that are beneficial to victims and sport institutions alike that will help their story reach the maximum …

Merger And Acquisition Integration: Exploring Uncertainty From The Perspective Of The Middle Manager, Joseph J. Pazmany

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore middle managers’ perceptions about how organizations managed job-related, structural, and strategic uncertainty during a merger and acquisition (M&A) integration process. Furthermore, this research investigated what strategies middle managers perceived effective and ineffective for managing uncertainty and recommendations for managing uncertainty during future integrations.

Methodology. This qualitative study utilized a phenomenological research design that collected data through open-ended interviews. Fifteen middle managers participated in the study and were asked 12 questions that explored their perceptions about managing uncertainty during an M&A integration.

Findings. Overall, participants perceived strategic uncertainty …

Experiential Learning In Collegiate Academia: The Silicon Valley Immersion, Kirsten Settle

Honors Theses

A thesis in an examination of experiential collegiate learning, specifically that are found within the vocational field of entrepreneurship and business management. This student-driven project’s objective primarily is to recruit a dedicated team of diverse students from Western Michigan University (WMU) to engage in a systematic, site-based experiential learning in one of the world’s biggest tech-metropolitans, San Francisco, California. The mission is to stimulate an experience-based approach to studying a business centered curriculum through field research with some of the country’s most successful companies. Participants evaluated company culture in diverse business settings to comprehend professional prospects and project management best …

Determining Impact Of Appreciative Inquiry: A Case Study, Kimberly Davis

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This qualitative study was an exploratory, single-case study from the perspectives of Appreciative Inquiry [AI] practitioners that explored how they determined the impact of an Inquiry. Through AI worldwide, the common call to action has been for empirical, critical analysis of the theory and practices of AI (Bushe, 1998; Bushe & Marshak, 2011, 2014, 2015; Clarke, n.d.; Conklin, 2009; Grant & Humphries, 2006; Hart, Conklin, & Allen, 2008; Kessler, 2013; Tartell & Vogel, 2017; Willoughby & Tosey, 2007). Bushe and Marshak (2013) stated a lack of unifying theory of change being offered and “a rather large gulf between academics who …

Project Renew Worcester, Danni Yue, Amy Zhang, Jing Han, Omid Ashrafi, Yiming Xu

School of Professional Studies

n The client for this capstone project is RENEW Worcester which is a fledgling solar power project whose main goals are to bring renewable energy in the form of solar power into local, primarily low-income communities and are committed to the mission of making the transition off of fossil fuels to clean, renewable power. Based in Worcester, Massachusetts, they are a local chapter of Co-op Power which is a consumer-owned sustainable energy cooperative (co-op) made up of numerous different local chapters all over the New England area as well as the state of New York. The problem that we will …

Financial Outcomes From Selection Of Insurance Intervals, Shana Anderson Stewart

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the potential value of enrolling in rainfall-index for pasture, rangeland, and forage insurance for Utah producers. A stochastic optimization model is used to identify the optimal selection of insurance intervals that will provide the maximum indemnity payments less premiums. Four Utah counties were selected for analysis. Results indicate that positive returns will occur greater than 60% of the time in all counties with the selected insurance intervals. The optimal months to insure varied in each county.

Lobbying Legislation And Cumulative Abnormal Returns, Brenan Stewart

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (Pub.L. 110-81, 121 Stat. 735, enacted September 14, 2007) was passed by the U.S. Congress in order “to strengthen public disclosure requirements concerning lobbying activity and funding. It placed more restrictions on gifts for members of Congress and their staff, and provides for mandatory disclosure of earmarks in expenditure bills.” Treating this event as a natural experiment, we examine how this legislation affected the Cumulative Abnormal Returns (CARs) of firms that lobbied in the year(s) leading up to the passing of the legislation. We find that companies that lobbied in the …

Meeting “The One” At Midnight Is Your Destiny: The Role Of Yuan In Use Of The Taiwanese Social Network, Dcard, Wen-Yueh Shu

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study examines how Taiwanese college students understand the traditional, culturally Chinese concept of Yuan and its role in their use of a new and distinctive Taiwanese social networking site—Dcard. Particular attention is paid to the Dcard’s unique friending mechanism, which provides users the opportunity to connect (or not) with one, seemingly random new friend each day at midnight. Through thematic analysis of 15 semi-structured long interviews, the study finds that Dcard users understand Yuan as a multi-faceted concept pertaining primarily to interpersonal relationships (relationalism). Users perceive Yuan to influence relationships in a predetermined, causal fashion (fatalism), but they still …

An Exploratory Study Of How To Navigate Brand Management And Improve Sales Performance Through Control Policies, Pavuth Sriaranyakul

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of alcohol and tobacco control policies on sales performance when two central elements of marketing, communication and promotion programs, are significantly restricted. The study took place in Thailand, which has some of the strongest tobacco control regulations in the world, along with moderately strong alcohol control regulations. Under these regulations, tobacco firms operate in a dark market, with near-total regulatory prohibition on advertising, promotion, and even the display of their products. Alcohol firms operate in a less restrictive or “grey” market, as they face restrictions on advertising and promotion content, …

Assessing Rice Consumers’ Preferences And Willingness To Pay In Haiti, Cleeford Pavilus

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the last 30 years, rice has become the number one food staple in Haiti, and rice imports have outpaced domestic production to supply the country’s increasing rice demand. Policy makers support the claim that increasing local rice supply will not only reduce the dependency on imported rice but also upheave the national economy. However, there is a lack of information on Haitian consumers’ preferences for rice to aid the development of the local rice supply chain. This research aims to bridge that gap by assessing Haitian consumer preferences and willingness to pay for selected rice quality characteristics. The results …

Philosophia Soteria: How Occupational Safety And Health Professionals Influence Decision Makers, Daniel Jay Snyder

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify ideas about how occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals influence decision-makers on matters impacting occupational health and safety management systems. A modified nominal group technique was used that involved 67 participants in ten nominal groups and identified the most important ideas about how OSH professionals can influence workplace safety and health decision making. The research produced themes of communication, scientific, professionalism, leadership, adaptability, and business acumen that resulted in six domains of occupational safety and health professional influence.

Risk And Return Comparisons Of Pre-Harvest Marketing Strategies, John Leander Turner V

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper analyzes risk and returns associated with pre-harvest corn grain marketing strategies for the state of Arkansas. Farming is characterized by a volatile environment. Numerous risks are taken by producers in order to provide commodities that are bought and sold by various parties in the supply chain. Price, yield, and production costs vary daily and can have large variation between years. Risk and Return Comparisons of Pre-harvest Marketing Strategies examines the effectiveness of using pre-harvest marketing strategies to enhance returns and to mitigate inherent price risk in the Memphis cash corn market. Thirteen strategies are compared to the October …

Technology And The American Criminal Justice System, Taylor Hunt

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

The American prison population has grown to over 2.3 million citizens incarcerated (“United States of Incarceration,” 2016) and there are more than 900,000 police officers in the nation (“Law Enforcement Facts,” n.d.). These over 3 million people use technology every day in either their work or incarcerated lives. As the effectiveness of the criminal justice system is being questioned, now is the time to perform an assessment of the technology used and make technological recommendations to lower crime, incarceration, and recidivism rates simultaneously. To obtain that technology assessment, a student research study was conducted and consisted of research and interviews …

The Impact Of Coaches' Character On Youth Basketball Players, Natasha Hill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

If utilized effectively, recreation and sports can serve as major tools for developing youth, improving the educational environment, and increasing the number of productive adults that are healthier physically and mentally to positively impact society. Most research targeting recreation and sports developing youth has the perspective primarily of parents and youth. Evaluating the character strengths of coaches and youth athletes who actively participate in team basketball is vital.

An exploration of the value of basketball and character strengths of (n = 64) youth athletes, between the ages of 12 to 16 years, and the impact of their involvement with coaches …

How Gender Norms Impact Women's Access To Financial Inclusion, Caitlyn Goodman

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to determine if there is a relationship between gender norms and women's access to financial resources. Using data from the World Bank and the World Values Survey, I use a linear regression model to assess how attitudes toward education, jobs, and over-all equal rights impact women's account ownership.

An Exploratory Comparative Study Of Experts And Generalists As Change Management Leaders In Non-Core Areas Of Organizations, Steven Glenn Burton

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Large-scale organizational change is a necessary undertaking critical to the ongoing success of most firms. Despite the necessity of such change, it is also an undertaking that fails at approximately twice the rate that it succeeds. Prior work on change leadership primarily looks at characteristics of the individual leader and does not differentiate on areas of the organization where change will be occurring. The work conducted in this research compares categories of change leaders and looks at change within a specific area of a firm, its non-core business area.

This exploratory research compared core-area technical experts to generalists as change …

Free Trade And Corporate Social Responsibility: Ethical Dilemmas In Global Economic Development, Sarah Papion

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Through the lens of the free-trade-optimist, it is black and white: corporations bring jobs, and jobs equal a happy and healthy economy. A major oversight in this neoliberal Utopian ideology is that corporations are not in the business of building communities, nor do they have an interest in keeping their operations stationary enough to allow economic growth to occur over a span of years. Corporations abandon communities as quickly as they arrive to find their next cheap labor hub. Quite contradictory to the original purpose of free trade, economic growth in Free Trade Zones is not long term or secure. …

Did Hollywood Take Theatre "By Hook Or By Crook?", Catherine S. Wright

MSU Graduate Theses

Hollywood and Theatre have been partners in producing entertainment for over 100 years. The relationship was fruitful for both parties, but Hollywood moguls and playwrights battled over ownership of the work and crafting of its creative nucleus, story and character. Theatre was the dominant entertainment right before the rise of motion pictures. Once Hollywood’s talkies closed the curtain on silent films, playwrights had a high creative worth to movie makers. In the cinema, story and dialogue were essential for its survival and growth. Playwrights were courted by the Hollywood studio heads but were not offered equal partnership as they were …

A Study On Fiscal Policy And Economic Growth From An Institutional Perspective, Thúy Ái Hồ

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

This dissertation studies the interrelationship between fiscal policy and institutions (property right protection and economic freedom, in particular) in affecting economic growth. The vast literature on economic growth examines institutions and fiscal policy as separate determinants of economic growth, and has not established a theoretical basis or empirical link on the interaction between them. This dissertation takes a unique approach to the growth literature by studying a channel that institutions affect growth – the fiscal policy channel.

Among the first ones who incorporate economic institutions into a growth model with fiscal policy, I construct a theoretical framework in Chapter 2 …

An Examination Of The Progressive And Regressive Factors That Business Owners Consider When Choosing Whether Or Not To Implement An Exit Strategy, David C. Pickard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This purpose of this dissertation is to examine the progressive and regressive factors that affect a small business owner’s decision to implement an exit strategy. An exit strategy can be defined as an entrepreneur's strategic plan to sell his or her investment in a company he or she has controlling interest in. An exit strategy gives a business owner a way to reduce or eliminate his or her stake in the business and, if the business is successful, make a substantial profit. Exiting a business is a complicated process which includes among other things, the evaluation, preparation, marketing, and ultimate …