Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Harnessing The Power Of Cliftonstrengths®: How Multinational Corporations Can Use Deep-Level Diversity To Enhance Organizational Inclusion, Trapper Kay Pace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research explicitly investigated how multinational corporations can enhance workplace inclusion through the novel use of the CliftonStrengths® assessment as a dimension of deep-level diversity. The study gleaned insights from employees’ perspectives, employing a constructivist grounded theory approach to explicate their experiences in rich qualitative narratives. Through open-ended surveys and intensive interviews, participants were selected using purposeful sampling to ensure meaningful data collection from the study organizations’ three global regions. The researcher conducted the analysis systematically through the constant comparison of data utilizing the NVivo14 software to assist in constructing codes, themes, and a theoretical schema. Results highlighted the significance …

Empowering Voices: Exploring The Career Trajectories Of Women Of Color Hr Professionals Amid Disruptive Change, Brandi R. Muñoz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated strategies to enhance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives in organizational leadership, focusing on supporting women of color in the workplace. The specific problem addressed was the underrepresentation and barriers faced by women of color in leadership positions despite their potential contributions to organizational success. The study employed a qualitative approach, combining qualitative interviews with socioeconomic data analysis. Data collection methods included semistructured interviews with women of color and a survey to gather demographic and employment information. The sample consisted of 16 women of color human resource professionals working in various industries and organizational settings across the …

The Impact Of Internal And External Influences On Federal Procurement Specialists, Jonathan Page

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Federal procurement specialists have a unique and powerful role in how the United States government spends money. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the impact internal and external influences have on the decision-making process of federal procurement specialists. A mixed-methods research study was conducted using an electronic survey questionnaire to collect quantitative data and video interviews to collect qualitative data. The sample included individuals who held a Federal Acquisitions Certification in Contracting and worked for non-Department of Defense federal agencies. The quantitative findings found that internal and external influences impact federal procurement specialists, but the …

The Emotional Intelligence And Conflict Management Relationship In Black Women Leaders, Tina Raylyn Jackson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and conflict management styles in Black women leaders in the United States. The lack of literature surrounding Black women leaders' emotional intelligence or conflict management styles presented an opportunity to offer quantitative data connected to these constructs. A cross-sectional survey design was used to administer three surveys the Situational Test of Emotional Management- B, the Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory, and a modified version the Multidimensional Inventory of Black of Identity, that focused on Black female identity. Data from 124 participants were analyzed to learn if identity mediated the relationship between emotional intelligence …

A New Era Of Distilling: How Dynamic Capabilities Drive Transformation In The Distilling Industry, Sean M. Scally Sr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The distilling industry has a rich history, starting from when people realized that by adding water, sugar, and starch together, they could develop a drink with alcohol that was safer to drink than the water all around them. Over several centuries, this discovery has grown into a significant industry worldwide. In the United States, the distilling industry went from a farm-based barter system to a multi-billion-dollar industry in 2020 (Schwarz, 2021). The sector has faced changes in regulations and other external factors that challenge how distilleries maintain market share, status, and internal challenges due to operational capabilities and market demands. …

How An Abusive Supervision Climate Impacts Business-To-Business (B2b) Sales Performance, And The Roles Of Leader–Members Interdependence And Team Psychological Safety, Matthew J. Daniel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sales supervisors can tremendously influence the sales teams they manage, and their behaviors can influence a team’s engagement and sales performance. Because of the supervisor’s influential role, their behavior, positive or negative, can ripple throughout the organization. As a result, a supervisor who role models abusive behavior within their organization also promotes a climate of abuse and incivility that can contribute to a toxic workplace. Abusive supervision (AS) is a significant problem in many business-to-business (B2B) sales organizations that negatively impacts the financial welfare and subjective well-being of organizations and their employees. This quantitative correlational study aimed to examine how …

Where Virtual Well-Being Becomes Reality, Colleen M. Reilly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, specifically quarantine and social distancing protocols, have exposed a troubling paradox: mandated isolation meant to save lives has inadvertently contributed to a decline in America’s well-being. Prolonged isolation due to more remote work and decentralized workplaces has been associated with widespread loneliness and diminished physical and mental health, with effects compounded by limited face-to-face access to social support systems. While remote communication technologies (e.g., video chat) can connect individuals with colleagues and social networks, remote technologies might have limited effectiveness in business and social contexts. This study uses Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation Theory …

Ceo Types And Firm Efficiency, Lok Chi Lam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper investigates the connection between CEO types and firm efficiency. I utilize the general ability index (GAI) as a proxy to examine and separate CEO types: generalist CEOs and specialist CEOs. Initially, I applied the pooled ordinary least square (OLS) and fixed effect regression on 26,830 firm-year observations to explore the GAI effect on firm efficiency. The finding shows that GAI has a negative impact on firm efficiency. It indicates that CEOs with lower GAI are better at improving firm efficiency; for instance, specialist CEOs are preferable to generalist CEOs. Further analysis of CEO types using the quadrant method …

Decision-Making Framework For Circular Economy In Remanufacturing, Saleh Maffoudh Bagalagel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Product recovery and remanufacturing have received increasing attention in the past two decades due to environmental, legal and economic drivers. The concept of reverse logistics has evolved from an initiative to recycle raw materials such as paper and glass to a broad sustainable product recovery and remanufacturing approach to enable a transition to circular economy. Advanced manufacturing companies need to develop smart manufacturing-remanufacturing systems to maximize product value recovery utilizing Industry 4.0 principles. Research articles have accumulated over the years to suggest solutions to many product recovery and remanufacturing implementation problems. However, the common case of a family of products …

Barriers To Succession Planning: A Case Study Of Atlanta Nonprofit Organizations, Adonnis J. Jules

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Succession planning is not a common practice among nonprofit organizations, despite support for its effectiveness in supporting leadership development and providing organizational stability during a planned or unplanned transition. Nonprofits have acknowledged that their leadership ranks are thin, and a leadership transition tends to bring challenges to the organizations when vacancies need to be filled. Barriers exist that prevent nonprofits from engaging in succession planning, but little research has examined the nature of these barriers. This study focused on nonprofit organizations across four different industry sectors to determine the extent of their succession planning efforts and the barriers that exist …

Employee Ownership And Moral Hazard: How Broad-Based Equity Sharing Can Lower Agency Costs And Reduce Inequality, Colin Clinton Hudson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Providing incentives to top managers by offering equity has become the norm; this practice, however, does not hold for all levels of employees. After tax incentives for employee ownership were introduced through the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, there has been little legislative support to encourage companies to implement broad-based equity sharing programs. Moreover, decades of neoliberal policies have incentivized the pursuit of short-term profits and speculation, which contribute to economic instability and explain the growing gap between productivity and real wages observed since the late 1970s. Developments in the literature contend that employee ownership aligns the goals …

Airbnb Release Of Latent Economic Value And Return To Equilibrium, Daniel Joseph Trujillo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We empirically consider Airbnb’s effect on a new variable in Short Term Rental (STR) research, second homes, employing a model pre-Airbnb diffusion (2009), and post-Airbnb diffusion (2019). In doing so we test our hypothesis that second home use will be converted to short-term rentals with the advent of Airbnb. We do so through a natural experiment examining housing stock. We create a schema to segregate tourist and non-tourist counties based on economic variables and deploy these in our research framework observing a shock to housing supply. Notably, we observe a structural change in the use of second homes resulting in …

"It's Personal": A Case Study Analysis Of The Strategic Management Of Resources In A Historically Black University Athletic Department., Brigitte M. Burpo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a qualitative case study examination of the strategic management of critical resources in an HBCU athletic program. It begins with a historical overview of HBCUs and HBCU athletic departments focusing on the systemic and societal influences that contributed to the current state of HBCU athletic programs. This dissertation later discusses the influence of a lack of financial resources on HBCU athletic departments further depletes the ability to operate with a competitive advantage. Chapter One focuses on the historic background of HBCUs and their formation as well as the societal influences that depleted critical resources. Chapter Two covers …

In Search Of Work-Life Balance: Organizational And Economic Challenges Confronting Women In Banking And Management Consulting Firms In Southwest Nigeria, Oluwafisayo Ogundoro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Married women in the banking and management consulting firms in Nigeria encounter challenges that affect their commitment to their families while working long hours in demanding jobs. This study explores the challenges married women encounter and the impacts they have on women’s family lives, social lives, and health. I analyze primary and secondary sources to understand how organizational work culture such as long working hours, work competitiveness, and Nigeria’s unstable economy negatively affect the work-life balance of married women in banking and management consulting firms. Although participants shared the belief that their workplaces practiced “equality,” their descriptions of daily life …

Evaluating The Impact Of Training Employees To Identify Victims Of Human Trafficking, Emily Roman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human trafficking is a global epidemic that steals the freedoms away from those who have been oppressed by it. Providing victims with resources begins with identifying them. Unfortunately, identifying victims is not an easy task. Trafficked victims are controlled and protected by their traffickers, and recipients may not even realize that they are victims of human trafficking. Also, the vague nature of trafficking makes it difficult for service providers, such as those in law enforcement, healthcare, and social services, to identify victims readily. Furthermore, research efforts imply a general lack of training provided for employees to know how to identify …

Paving The Way For Merleau-Ponty’S Eye And Mind In Organizational Communication Studies, Johan Bodaski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The body is a sense-based medium that creates and interprets organizations. Bodies create organization. An aesthetic theory of organizational communication reveals the significance of the body to the organization. Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of aesthetics offers a theory of aesthetic organizational communication that is yet to be developed. Merleau-Ponty’s aesthetic essay on painting, Eye and Mind, describes the body as the medium through which painters turn the world into painting. His philosophy of painting builds bridges between aesthetics, the body, and organizational communication.

In chapter one, four theories of organizational communication are described: communication constitutes organization (CCO), text/interpreter, ventriloquism, and …

Measuring Organizational Climate At The Abilene-Taylor County Public Health District, Sarah Floyd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to answer the question, according to the Competing Values Framework, what is the organizational climate of the Abilene-Taylor County Public Health District (ATCPHD)? Organizational climate for this study refers to the collective perceptions of employees on their interactions with their peers, management, and the organization. This study surveyed the 64 employees at the ATCPHD with the Organizational Climate Measure (OCM). Forty employees participated in the study. The study determined that the climate of the ATCPHD, according to Competing Values Framework (CVF), was the Human Relations organizational climate with a secondary climate of Relational Goals. …

Protecting Investment, Profit, And Personnel: Corporations As Social Change Agents, Carole C. Fotino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper describes a three-level toolkit - The Investment Sustainability Toolkit. The Toolkit assists firms in improving the efficacy of one segment of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative by creating at the first level, a strategy of conflict prevention. This strategy is followed by Common Elements of Conflict that Resolves/Becomes Violent, and Key Areas for Stabilization as Level II. The third and final level of the toolkit describes specific initiatives for increasing success, through The Screening Checklist.

The paper assesses through case study, the efforts of Firestone, Inc. in Liberia regarding regional development, stabilization, and economic development. This is done …

An Analysis Of Workplace Violence Incidents In Virginia Community Colleges And The Major Employers, Betsy E. Summerfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The media during the past ten years has given considerable attention to the workplace violence in factories, service organizations, and the public school systems throughout the United States. This study compared patterns of workplace violence in the 23 member institutions of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) with the patterns of workplace violence in selected for-profit service and manufacturing employers in Virginia, to determine if workplace violence incidents occurring in the VCCS's member institutions reflect the workplace violence incidents experienced by business and industry within each member institution's service region. Chi-square analysis showed a significant difference in non-violent conflict training …

Hardiness And Job Fitness For The Intensive Family Preservation Specialist: A Correlational Study, Sandi Fisher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is costly to train the counselors who serve in intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS). The hiring agency must pay for traveling expenses in addition to any fee paid for training. When an IFPS worker chooses to terminate employment before the end of two years of employment, this puts a strain on an already tight budget. This problem could be alleviated by finding an efficient pre-hire screening instrument. The three personality traits described in Hardiness Theory literature: commitment, challenge, and control, are traits often used to describe the ideal IFPS worker. This study assessed IFPS workers to determine if the …

Assessment Of Discrepancies Between Residential Employees' Work Values And Program Directors Perceptions Of Residential Employees' Work Values, Trinetia L. Respress

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study assessed discrepancies between residential employees' work values and program directors' perceptions of the residential employees' work values. Additionally, work values of residential employees were analyzed to identify variations when considering gender, age, educational level, length of service, job classification, and current position. The study was undertaken to assist in developing a clearer understanding of the work values of residential employees for the purpose of enhancing administrator-associate relationships and to determine factors in the work setting that might contribute to longevity and more productive, satisfied, motivated employees. Data for the study were gathered from 172 program directors and residential …

Organizational Culture: How Changes Impact Attitudes Toward Job Satisfaction, R. M. Browder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to examine how a shift in elements of organizational culture impacted attitudes toward job satisfaction in a medium-sized, consumer-owned electric utility over a period of 13 years. The unit of analysis was a municipal utility distributing electrical energy to approximately 27,000 customers. Data collection included the Science Research Associate Employee Inventory, a review of the organization's documents, and a subjective Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. A one-tailed z-test was performed to test whether or not the proportion of employees answering favorable in one survey was greater than the proportion answering favorable in the other survey. It …

The Differences Between Industrial And Municipal Executives' Practices And Perceptions Of An Npdes Water Pollution Control System In Tennessee, Anthony L. Fulkerson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences between industrial and municipal executives' practices and perceptions toward the administrative requirements of a water pollution control system as set forth in a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. This was a descriptive study that utilized a two-part attitudinal survey designed to obtain the perceptions of the executives (N = 171) of all major industries and all major municipalities in the State of Tennessee who had direct responsibility for the administrative requirements of an NPDES permitted water pollution control system. Descriptive statistics were used for the analysis of data with …