Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Beauty Isn't Always Better: How Salesperson Attractiveness Affects Consumers' Approach Behaviors, Veronica L. Thomas, Stephanie M. Mangus, Dora E. Bock

Marketing Faculty Publications

This research examines how a consumer's committed romantic relationship influences their decision to approach an attractive salesperson in a retail environment. To date, the majority of research espouses the benefits of salesperson attractiveness in enhancing consumers' perceptions of the salesperson and the represented retailer. This is problematic because it creates a managerial bias toward attractive salespeople and, as we propose, provides an incomplete view of the effect of salesperson attractiveness on consumers' behavior. Drawing on the interpersonal relationship literature on commitment, we propose that consumers in committed relationships activate relationship-maintenance motives that override the beauty bias when a salesperson's attractiveness …

Contextual Scaffolding And Self-Efficacy: Supporting Computer Skill Development Among Blind Learners In India, Akshay Kolgar Nayak, Yash Prakash, Sampath Jayarathna, Hae-Na Lee, Vikas Ashok

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Inclusive computer literacy education efforts, broadening the participation of blind or visually impaired (BVI) individuals, have gained traction in recent years. Existing literature investigating these efforts primarily draws evidence from affluent Global North contexts, where accessibility resources and legal frameworks are relatively more mature. Little is known about the in-situ teaching and learning challenges faced by trainers and BVI students, respectively, in resource-constrained, multicultural Global South countries like India. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a four-month contextual inquiry at two computer training centers catering to 94 BVI students in India. We notably observed a rigid, experience-driven training environment …

Racial Discrimination And Racial Identity Among Asian College Students: The Moderating Role Of Interdependent Self-Construal, Foong Yan Lee, Qianyi Wang, Eunseon Gong

Journal of Higher Education & Student Affairs

The current study examined the moderating role of interdependent self-construal in the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and racial group identification among 130 Asian college students at a U.S. institution. Using moderation regression analyses, results indicated that perceived racial discrimination was associated with lower racial group identification, and this relationship was significantly moderated by interdependent self-construal. Specifically, racial discrimination was negatively associated with racial group identification among students reporting lower levels of interdependent self-construal, whereas this association was not significant among those with higher interdependent self-construal. These findings suggest that individual differences in self-construal shape how Asian college students interpret …

Out-Group And In-Group Relational Trust In Group Coaching With First-Grade Teachers: A Single Case Study, Jentry S. Barrett, Rachel E. Schachter, Jungwon Eum, Gwen Nugent, Kathleen M. Rudasill

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Coaching has become a prominent professional learning tool for helping early childhood teachers (birth–8) implement curriculum and research-based practices in their classrooms. One coaching strategy that supports positive changes in teacher practice and child outcomes is building trust between the coach and teacher(s). However, there is limited understanding of the nature of trust-building in coaching, particularly in group coaching configurations. There are two types of trust to consider in the context of group coaching: out-group trust between an outside coach and the teachers, and in-group trust between the teachers experiencing coaching who already have a relationship. This case study aimed …

Digital Aesthetics And Post-Internet Art: Transformations Of The Saudi Art Scene Between Global Discourse And Local Narrative, Lina M. Kattan

University of Tabuk Journal for Humanities and Social Sciences

This research investigates the evolution of artistic practices in Saudi Arabia, focusing on the impact of digital infrastructures and "post-Internet" aesthetics. Addressing the challenges within the Kingdom's 2030 Vision for cultural transformation, the study examines how digital technologies are reshaping art production and exhibition. The core problem lies in understanding Saudi artists' engagement with the global digital landscape while preserving their connection to Arab and Islamic cultural traditions. The research clarifies the dynamic interplay between global digital art discourse and local storytelling, exploring how artists utilize new technologies and addressing challenges like digital archiving, virtual exhibition sustainability, and technological access …

Motivational Factors Influencing Military Service: A Structural Equation Model Of Rotc Students And Service Members’ Motivation-Confidence To Serve, Brian J. Vansingel

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Amid declining college enrollment across the United States, academic institutions with United States Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) programs must consider underrecruited populations, such as military-bound young adults, in their recruiting strategies. To support this effort, this study examined the motivational factors associated with individuals’ decisions to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. This study utilized a quantitative, correlational research design with a survey comprising multiple sections: sociodemographic variables, items across six motivational factors for military service, and a Motivation-Confidence to Serve scale. The study used data from a convenience sample of 709 respondents, including college military science students …

Children's Peer Selection In Stem: The Influence Of Gender, Ethnicity, And Disability, Meagan Girard, Kim P. Roberts

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The present study examined how children’s peer selection in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) may be influenced by gender, ethnicity, and physical disability. Sixty-four children (ages 6-12) from elementary schools in Southwestern Ontario completed three tasks: a simulated peer selection task, an attribution of ability task, and a stereotype belief questionnaire. In the peer selection task, participants were repeatedly asked to select one peer from a set of AI-generated photographs showing children who differed by gender (male, female), ethnicity (White, Black, East Asian), and physical disability status (able-bodied user vs. nondisabled). The Peer Selection Task was based on the …

Assessing The Possibilities And Speculations Of Blended Teaching-Learning (Btl) Based On The Online Teaching-Learning (Otl) Experience During Covid-19 In Bangladesh, Nazmun Chaitee

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

This research paper investigates the potential and viability of implementing Blended Teaching Learning (BTL) in Bangladesh, drawing on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 Online Teaching Learning (OTL) practice experiences. The study specifically focuses on examining the advantages and challenges encountered by teachers and students in online classes during the pandemic. Through a mixed-methods approach, including questionnaire surveys, interviews, and focus group discussions (FGDs), data was collected from secondary-level teachers and students in Bangladesh. The findings highlight the dedicated efforts made by educators and students in embracing and adapting to online education during the COVID-19 crisis. Furthermore, the study identifies …

Rethinking Dfw In Gateway Mathematics: Preserved, Disrupted, And Dissipated Momentum Pathways To Student Retention, John Alan Nunnery, Charles Mathies

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

This study examines how disaggregated first-year mathematics outcomes, including failure, low-passing grades, course withdrawal, and no attempt at a credit-bearing mathematics course, are associated with second-year retention at a large, diverse, urban public university. The study extends academic momentum theory by positing and operationalizing preserved (marginal passing), disrupted (failure or withdrawal), and dissipated (non-enrollment) as qualitatively distinct momentum states rather than a single condition. Using a segmented binary logistic regression model with more than 26,000 first-time, full-time students across ten entry cohorts (2012–2021), we estimate differences in retention by mathematics outcome, course type, and cohort context. Results show a pronounced …

The Presidential Address To The Association For Career And Technical Education Research: Cte Research Ecosystem Growing Scholars And Workforce Capacity, Michelle E. Bartlett

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Career and Technical Education (CTE) research has advanced knowledge, strengthened communities, informed policy, and expanded pathways to opportunity for decades. As ACTER begins a new chapter, we are invited to imagine the future of our field beyond a linear pipeline. We can embrace a view of CTE research as a living ecosystem that grows talent, supports collaboration, and sustains discovery over time. This presidential address emphasizes three priorities for that future: applied research that reaches practice, mentorship that nurtures the next generation of scholars, and partnerships that ensure knowledge becomes action. By centering learners and communities in our work, we …

Exploring Youth Soccer Coach Recruitment Practices, Han-Earl Lim

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This qualitative single-case study examined how a private-interest, nonprofit youth soccer club in the Midwestern United States recruits coaches, what coach qualities are prioritized in hiring, and how organizational and sociocultural conditions shape those practices. The study was guided by three research questions focused on (a) recruitment and early support processes, (b) hiring criteria and decision rationales, and (c) the organizational and sociocultural contexts influencing recruitment. Data were generated through five semi-structured interviews with four participants who were involved in recruitment practices (the Executive Director, the Assistant Director, and two full-time head coaches). Additional sources included an organizational mapping survey …

I Think, Therefore I Can: Self-Efficacy, Self-Regulation, And Sense Of Belonging In Introductory Physics, Danielle Christine Maldonado

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cognitive and affective beliefs in physics classrooms are important indicators of student success beyond traditional measurements of academic performance. This body of work explores major beliefs and processes, including self-efficacy, self-regulation, and sense of belonging, as they relate to academic achievement among introductory undergraduate physics students. First, this dissertation explores the development of physics self-efficacy and physics sense of belonging, two highly correlated variables. This work identifies unique sources of physics self-efficacy and sense of belonging development from current and prior academic experiences, personality factors, and demographic variables. Then, relationships between early- semester self-efficacy and sense of belonging, mid-semester …

“Black Students Matter”: A Phenomenological Study Of Black Student Experiences At A Predominately White Institution In Appalachia During The Dual Pandemic Of Covid-19 And Systemic Anti-Black Racism, Toni Owens

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As the spread of COVID-19 escalated into a global pandemic in 2020, simultaneously, the nationwide media in the United States (U.S.) highlighted coverage of the country’s ongoing incidents of longstanding systemic anti-Black racism in America, another pandemic. In the Summer of 2020, a collective of Black students at West Virginia University (WVU) signed and publicly submitted a petition to the university’s leadership with a list of demands to address their needs as they were further exacerbated by the dual pandemic. This study is guided by the question, “What are the lived experiences of Black Students at West Virginia University during …

Accessing Campus Mental Health Services In A Nigerian Southwestern University: Barriers To Academic Success, Caroline Dada

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mental health disorders are a significant health concern among higher education institutions in sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria. A substantial treatment gap exists in the Nigerian healthcare system, and this gap is further worsened by cultural and religious barriers, which reinforce stigma that discourages students from seeking professional help. This qualitative narrative inquiry explored the barriers students encountered when accessing mental health services at a university in Southwestern Nigeria, to increase service access. Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted with seven professional mental health providers at a university counseling center between March and April 2025. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify …

Affordable Course Content And Open Education Resources For Undergraduate Courses Teaching Fundamentals Of Wireless Communications And Networking, Dimitrie C. Popescu, Otilia Popescu

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Wireless communication systems and networks along with the services they provide have become an essential component of the modern 21st century society, fueling job growth in the wireless industry and increasing the need for engineers specialized in wireless communication systems. As a consequence, over the past two decades, undergraduate courses teaching fundamentals of wireless communication systems and networks have become common in electrical and computer engineering and technology programs. At the same time, the number of textbooks dedicated to wireless systems and networks published by mainstream publishers has also grown, with availability in various formats and offerings and a significant …

Equity In Coastal Resilience: A Framework For University Engagement In Community-Based Projects, Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf, Jennifer L. Whytlaw, Marina Saitgalina, Ogechukwu N. Nwandu-Vincent, Khairul A. Anuar, Thomas Allen, Joshua Behr

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

As communities face intensifying climate hazards, it is vital to strengthen resilience in ways that explicitly prioritize social equity. This study examines how higher education institutions can better support government, nonprofit, and community partners in advancing equity-centered coastal resilience in the U.S. Utilizing a qualitative research design, we analyze discussions among researchers and practitioners during a three-day workshop. We present a framework derived from a thematic analysis of breakout group transcripts from a three-day national virtual workshop involving 113 researchers and practitioners. The analysis identified four core themes: the necessity of aligning projects with community-defined priorities; the foundational role of …

From Aid To Looting: Justice And Sovereignty Issues In The Ukraine–U.S. Mineral Deal, Petra Gümplova

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

This essay identifies three central moral and political issues with the the Ukraine–U.S. Mineral Deal. First, by linking financial and military assistance to access to Ukraine’s natural resources, the deal entrenches a form of resource conditionality that is highly problematic from the moral standpoint of international justice and other ethical principles. Second, the absence of a commitment to a just peace—including the restoration of territorial integrity, reparations, and security guarantees—renders the conditions for secure, long-term investment in Ukraine’s extractive economy a distant prospect, while raising the risk that a substantial portion of Ukraine’s resource wealth unlawfully seized by Russia will …

An Innovative, Interdisciplinary Intervention For Justice-Involved Emerging Adults, Courtney M. Holmes, Jeff Ciak, Marianne Lund, Zehra Sahin Ilkorkor, Grace Kye, Miguel King, Karen Akom, Sarah Jane Brubaker, Molly Hyer, Gary Cuddeback

Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

Interdisciplinary collaboration is an effective training model for counselors in training. As it is becoming increasingly likely that counselors will work in multidisciplinary teams post-graduation, engagement in clinical and research intervention teams is essential to promote learning. Benefits for counseling students include the development of self-efficacy, cultural humility, research skills, counseling skills, and interdisciplinary communication and collaboration skills. This article will discuss a federally funded, interdisciplinary intervention for justice-involved emerging adults that provides supported employment, trauma-informed mental health counseling, and peer support interventions. We will outline the interventions, structure of the project, as well as research and assessment outcomes. Future …

Neofeudalism: The Messy Political Economy Of Transitioning To Something Worse, Jodi Dean

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

No abstract provided.

Neofeudalism And Its Historical Unraveling. A Review Of Jodi Dean’S Capital’S Grave: Neofeudalism And The New Class Struggle (Verso Books, 2025), Jiang Lan

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

American Marxism political scholar Jodi Dean’s concept stands out from the numerous neofeudalism intellectual currents. In her early work, she proposed the concept of “communicative capitalism” as a more advanced form relative to traditional capitalism. However, in the development of her thought during the early 21st century, she demonstrated a trajectory from political critique to the critique of communicative political economy. Having become aware of the issue raised by McKenzie Wark in Capital is Dead concerning capitalism’s descent into an even more dire historical phase, Dean too perceives contemporary capitalism as potentially entering a state of decline, transitioning into a …

Chantal Mouffe And Albena Azmanova, Forty Years After Hegemony And Socialist Strategy (A Conversation), Chantal Mouffe, Albena Azmanova

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

No abstract provided.

Universities Can’T Be Politically Neutral, But They Can Be Pluralistic, Enzo Rossi

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

No abstract provided.

Lawyers Without Courts In Trumpland, Arjun Appadurai

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

No abstract provided.

Borderlands, Nepantla And Interdependence: Some Notes About Onto-Epistemology In Gloria Anzaldúa’S Work, Martha Palacio Avendaño

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

The purpose of this piece is to introduce some of the key concepts in Gloria Anzaldúa’s work. A Chicana feminist philosopher, Anzaldúa was born in a little town in Texas in 1942 and passed away in 2004. I am going beyond her idea of borderlands to point out that her idea of Nepantla offers multiple options for approaching our social reality, such as tracing diagnoses and evaluating the social conditions for the constitution of an emancipatory political subjectivity. Nepantla constitutes an analytical way for understanding the plurality of gender experience as well as a path of knowledge in the process …

Organizing Identities: The Power Of Technofeudalism In A Precarious World – Milei, Youth Precarity, And Post-Partisan (“Anti-Everything”) Identities In Contemporary Argentina, Valeria Brusco

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

This article explains why an anti-state radical-right agenda can become politically effective in contemporary Argentina by shifting the focus from ideology to the organization of identities. Drawing on survey evidence (ENCResPA, 7,130 online cases collected in 2022) and a corpus of anonymized semi-structured interviews with young people (2024–2025), I argue that Milei’s appeal is best understood as a form of negative politicization: a post-partisan stance built around rejection of mediation (parties, unions, experts, public institutions) and condensed moral narratives (“caste,” “cuts,” “freedom”). I identify an “Anti-Everything/Anti-Todo” identity as an electorally available and affectively intense orientation that travels efficiently …

The Present Interregnum: The Ultra-Right Revolution, María Pía Lara

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

This paper deals with recent political consequences of presentism as conceptualized by the historian Francois Hartog. It clarifies how our experiences of time and history have enlarged the present and the past and have almost disappeared the future (except for catastrophic views). The consequences of these changes in the experiences reflect profound changes in expectations about the future, and how this regime of historicity allows people to become disoriented. They were moved into the margins of precarity. As a result, many of their views on politics find resonance redesigned by the distorted narratives of ultra-right leaders who blame those who …

Why I Am An Activist, Mirella Elgersma

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

No abstract provided.

Case Study: The Economic And Legal Challenges Moving From A Township To A City, George F. Dierberger Dr., Ibrahim Keita Dr., Cory Erickson

Journal of the North American Management Society

The paper examines the economic and legal challenges moving from a township to a municipality in the state of Minnesota. One of the authors was a member of the township board as they went through the process of educating the citizens on the risks and rewards of changing from a township to a municipality.

Maximizing Online Intersession Enrollment Through Targeted Course Offerings, Heather S. Mcmillan, Charles D. Mcallister

Journal of the North American Management Society

Abstract

Online winter intersession courses have become an increasingly important strategy for universities seeking to support accelerated student progression while generating incremental tuition revenue. This study examines ten years of winter intersession enrollment data from a public, master’s-level comprehensive university in the Midwestern United States to identify course characteristics associated with higher student enrollment. Using 12,520 individual enrollment records, the analysis focuses on course type (general education versus major requirement), course classification (lower level, upper level, blended undergraduate/graduate, and graduate), and course discipline. A series of ANOVAs and Bonferroni post-hoc tests reveal significant differences in enrollment across these dimensions, with …

Organizational Pitfalls Of The Dual-Identity Leader, Yvonne Randolph, Asa Wilson

Journal of the North American Management Society

The dual-identity leader (D-IL) is an individual assigned to one job description yet is, in practice, fulfilling an additional position’s role. This secondary role is self-determined; has not been assigned yet is being allowed by those with governance and/or executive authority. Three case examples of the D-IL are presented and discussed as a problematic leadership configuration for an organization. The personal characteristics driving this approach are identified as a foundation for clarifying the organizational consequences of such an executive leader. Preventative and corrective tactics are discussed that eliminate or minimize the adverse impact of the D-IL’s organizational behavior.