Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effect Of Four Decades Of Deregulation On Competition And Productivity Of The U.S. Freight Transportation Industry, Seungjae Shin

Theses and Dissertations

This study reviews the competition and productivity of the U.S. freight transportation industry for the past 41 years. This study investigated the trends of HHI market concentration index values and labor productivity values of rail and truck sectors and tried to find any relationships between the two values in the separate periods before and after the abolishment of the ICC. This study also investigated how the existence of a regulatory body impacted productivity of the freight transportation industry by using a Cobb Douglas production function on annual financial statement data in the U.S. stock exchange market. This study found that: …

Successful Crisis Teams: Targeting Themes Related To Well-Being And Productivity, Dana Rae Vessio

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

While high staff turnover rates within the suicide prevention field negatively impact service delivery, they are poorly understood. Hotlines and other crisis-focused organizations cannot pinpoint what impacts well-being and productivity reliably across organizations or, rather, what creates an intersection of high points of productivity and well-being. This study employed a qualitative phenomenological approach to identify the impact of well-being and productivity amongst current and former crisis workers at a statewide hotline. Results revealed three major themes expressed by participants surrounding well-being; management support, communication, and self-regulation. Specific to productivity, participants expressed skill set and empathy as important themes related to …

Strategies For Increasing Employee Engagement In Media Organizations, Mercedeez Porsché, Ellexus Byrd

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee engagement is crucial for the success of any organization, and disengaged employees can reduce productivity and increase costs. Media leaders are concerned with the negative impact that employee disengagement can have on firms’ profitability and competitiveness. Grounded in Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore strategies leaders use to increase employee engagement in media organizations. Participants comprised five leaders within media organizations with a local presence in Georgia who successfully implemented strategies to increase employee engagement. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and a review of online and public platforms. Data were analyzed …

Psychological Safety Within An Agricultural Hand Labor Harvest Crew And Its Relationship To Productivity, Thomas Draper

Theses and Dissertations

Does psychological safety exist in Hispanic agricultural hand labor harvest crews? The purpose of the study was to ascertain the existence of the four stages of psychological safety in three agricultural hand labor harvest crews in California and to determine if those crews exhibiting the highest mean of psychological safety are the most productive in terms of pounds per person per hour packed. A protocol consisting of 17 statements was verbally administered in Spanish to the participating crews harvesting the same crop and working for the same Farm Labor Contractor. Analysis utilizing a 5-point Likert scale determined which crew exhibited …

“High Spending, Poor Productivity Gains!” Assessing Public Health System (In)Efficiency And Hospital Performance In The State Of Kuwait: Would More Private Delivery Improve Healthcare?, Aljawhara Alsabah

NYMC Student Theses and Dissertations

The healthcare sector in the State of Kuwait has been nurtured for many decades by the government, where the majority of health services in the country are controlled by the Ministry of Health (MoH). Although healthcare services in public sector hospitals are at highly subsidized rates, causing private sector involvement in healthcare to be considerably low, the growing demands for private delivery of care burgeoned participation of private hospitals in Kuwait, and improving hospital efficiency and productivity is more critical and timelier than ever. This dissertation aims to analyze public health system efficiency and hospital performance in the State of …

The 2021 Nba Rule Change: Analyzing Strategic Adjustments And Changes In Worker Productivity, Jeremy Long

All Theses

The NBA introduced a rule change for the 2021/22 season to stop shooters from drawing fouls from “non-basketball moves.” This paper seeks to determine how the 2021 Rule Change has impacted productivity in the NBA and investigate whether it has caused teams to make strategic adjustments. My analysis reveals evidence that the rule change has limited offensive players’ abilities to draw fouls on 3- point shots. While the rule change has rendered non-basketball moves ineffective, there is no evidence of strategic adjustments beyond this arena. I find only limited evidence that the rule change has impacted worker productivity. The findings …

The Role Of Nest Location On The Reproductive Success Of Piping Plovers Breeding At Rockaway Beach, New York, Clara I.D. Arndtsen

Theses and Dissertations

The study’s goal was to learn what aspects of the piping plover experience affect reproductive outcomes at Rockaway Beach Endangered Species Nesting Area. Nest location was found to help predict reproductive success. Nests further from American oystercatcher nests were likely to fledge more chicks. Reproductive success was low in 2021.

Three Essays On Creative Industries, Yue Sheng

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation focuses on agglomeration economies, productivity, competition, and price variation in creative industries (CIs). Chapter 1 examines agglomeration effects on the productivity of Chinese firms in the CIs between 2012 and 2014. We estimate productivity with a production function approach, and test whether three measures of agglomeration-namely, specialization, diversity, and density-affect the productivity of firms in creative industries. According to our results, that the density elasticity of productivity is 0.31, which suggests that agglomeration economies matter for creative industries. Urbanization economies resulting from diversity in service industries are the main source of agglomeration economies, but there is no specialization …

Essays In Development Macroeconomics, Miguel Orozco Vazquez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three chapters that cover topics on development macroeconomics.

Chapter 1 - Misallocation of Resources and Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from Mexico. This paper aims to measure the gross output loss due to misallocation of resources in the manufacturing and service sectors in Mexico during 2008-2018 and identify the inputs of production related to it. To do so, I use Mexican Economic Censuses and an extension of Hsieh and Klenow (2009). I also include resource misallocation computations using data processed with a Bayesian model for editing and imputing data to correct for measurement error (MEC data), which …

“The Real Cost Of Mining: How Digging For Rare Earth Metals Could Pose A Greater Cost Than Evs Can Save”, Brahim Khalil Yatim

Honors Theses and Capstones

The Paris Climate Agreement proposes to have 20% of all road transport vehicles be electric by the year 2030. Implementation of this policy is critical to help obtain a 2 degrees Celsius reduction in the increase of global temperatures by 2030. This paper dives into the true costs of taking on a project that large scale. This study finds that though the benefits of this project would result in a 351,785,600 tons of GHG saved by the electric conversion there are significant environmental and human costs associated with the mining necessary to complete the agreement's goal. With current technologies and …

Agents At Work: Modeling How Space Can Influence People In The Workplace, Jovan Poposki

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

People interact with space in ways that are important to consider when designing an office. Not considering this relationship has led to the dissatisfaction of employees post-occupancy. In this thesis, I present an agent-based model that incorporates several characteristics of agents, such as work ethic and sociability, and explores their behaviours and social interactions in the workplace. The model is first tested on a commercial workspace, varying agent parameters to see how they change the behaviour of the model. I find that agents with extreme personalities are happiest, and show a bimodality in the distribution of time spent in various …

“For The People: A Collaborative Space Assessment”: A Joyful Interpretation Of Room Design, Anne Holland

Honors Projects

To create a space that matters one must focus on the needs of the people who will use it. It is easy to create a beautiful space, however if that space does not function for those it was built for it has no point. Currently in the basement of Founders Residence Hall on the Bowling Green State University campus there is an old unused cafeteria space. This space has not only the potential but the ability to become something new, something of use. It is an area that could not only be renovated and redone by the Honors College but …

Is United States’ Economic Power In Decline? Can China Replace The U.S. As The World’S Next Economic Superpower?, Islam Bakirci

Dissertations

The decline of American economic power has been passionately debated for decades. Starting from the Kennedy administration, there were many cases that declinist scholars interpreted as the beginning of American economic power decline. The financial crisis of 2007-09 is the latest case of the same debate. However, unlike the previous cases, declinist scholars who support the idea of U.S. economic power is in decline after the financial crisis, strongly believe that this time the decline is different. This time the decline is real. In addition, the same scholars also argue that China, as an economic challenger which is different from …

Biased Technical Change, Institutional Shift, And The Functional Distribution Of Income: Who Benefits From Economic Growth?, Adam Szymanski-Burgos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Starting from the mid 1970s and early 1980’s, the US and other advanced economies observed a widening divergence between the growth of average and median real hourly labor compensation and the average growth of labor productivity. This decoupling between labor compensation and productivity indicates a decline in the labor share of national income. Opposite to movements in the labor share, the share of national income remunerated as capital income has increased with the rise of capital incomes concentrated largely in corporate sector profits. Key developments since the middle of the 20th century have coincided with the onset of medium-run fluctuations …

Work Ethic And Productivity: The Mediating Role Of Leadership, Everly Tapp

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Employee work ethic and workplace productivity are vital for organizational success. Past research has shown leadership style to be influential on both, with the manager-employee relationship impacting employee’s attitude and output in the workplace. This study investigated the relationship between employee work ethic and workplace productivity, while also examining the impact of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles on agriculture equipment dealership employees. The leadership style of service managers, as measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) (5x-Short), was compared to the workplace productivity and work ethic scores of the service technicians they manage. Service technician workplace productivity data was …

Strategies To Monitor And Deter Cyberloafing In Small Businesses: A Case Study, Veronica Pugh Dooly

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some information technology (IT) managers working for small businesses are struggling to monitor and deter cyberloafing. Strategies are needed to help IT practitioners to discourage cyberloafing and improve productivity while maintaining employee satisfaction. Grounded in adaptive structuration theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore strategies some small business IT managers use to monitor and deter cyberloafing. The participants were nine IT managers who successfully implemented cyberloafing monitoring and deterrence strategies in the United States. Data were collected via semistructured interviews and organization employee policy handbooks (n = 4) provided by the participants. Data were analyzed using …

Nonparametric Identification And Estimation Of Stochastic Frontier Models, Jun Cai

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation studies nonparametric identication and estimation of stochastic frontiermodels. It is composed of three chapters. The rst chapter investigates the identication and estimation of a cross sectional stochastic frontier model with Laplacian errors and unknown variance, which is built on a nonparametric density deconvolution strategy. Chapter two studies a zero-ineciency stochastic frontier model utilizing a penalized sieve estimator, which allows flexible function forms and arbitrary distributions of ineciency. The third chapter explores identication and estimation of a nonparametric panel stochastic frontier model based on Kotlarski's Lemma and moments derived from conditional characteristic functions.

Return To School 1 Year After Traumatic Brain Injury: A Study Using The Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems National Database, Kathryn Tarnai

Masters Theses, 2020-current

For many individuals, recovery from moderate to severe brain injuries involves returning to a level of pre-injury productivity. Specifically, previous research has focused extensively on factors predicting return to employment, where students are inconsistently categorized with those in competitive employment. Moreover, research dedicated to return to school for students in secondary and tertiary education is largely qualitative; very few studies have utilized predictive modeling on a sample composed solely of students. For this study, a model including days of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA), length of stay (LOS), rehabilitation discharge Disability Rating Scale (DRS) scores, and educational level was used to predict …

Examining The Impact Of It Investment On Insurer Productivity: A Bootstrapped Malmquist Frontier Analysis Approach, Jee Yuen Yew

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This paper attempts to examine productivity changes of insurance companies in Singapore as represented by bootstrapped Malmquist indices, generated from a data envelopment analysis (DEA)-based frontier analysis, and attribute these changes to an increasing investment in information technology infrastructure and equipment, and increasing investment in staff enhancement. Through this analysis, the author finds that there has been a general increase in productivity and efficiency from 2011 – 2017, as seen from changes in the kernel density functions of productivity change between the two periods. The author also finds, through running a panel tobit regression model, that there is a positive …

Essays On Globalization, Labor Market, And Productivity, Hoang Pham

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation studies issues at the intersection of globalization, labor market, and productivity in developing countries. It is composed of three chapters.

Chapter 1 studies how a country's trade policy affects competition in its domestic labor market. In a heterogeneous-firm model with oligopsonistic local labor markets, this chapter demonstrates that opening up to trade can affect distortions in such markets. These distortions arise because firms are large and able to exercise market power over their local workers. Using a panel dataset of Chinese manufacturing firms from 1998-2007, I measure firm-level labor market distortion, captured by the ratio between marginal revenue …

Principales Factores Que Inciden En El Desarrollo Empresarial De Las Mipymes Del Sector Calzado, En La Localidad Antonio Nariño En La Ciudad De Bogotá, Luis Alejandro Álvarez Moncada, Javier Felipe Giraldo Acosta

Finanzas y Comercio Internacional

El sector calzado ubicado en la localidad de Antonio Nariño en la ciudad de Bogotá conglomera gran parte de la fabricación y distribución de calzado en el país, por lo cual esta investigación tiene como objetivo identificar los principales factores que inciden en el desarrollo empresarial de las pymes de la localidad de Antonio Nariño de la ciudad de Bogotá. Este documento analiza las principales problemáticas que afectan el sector calzado en la localidad Antonio Nariño, esto se hace mediante la indagación a expertos y encuestas estructuradas a microempresarios, para hallar los factores que están afectando las pymes Este análisis …

Propuesta Metodológica Para El Cálculo Diferenciado Del Impuesto Predial En El Suelo Rural, Paula Andrea Méndez Ramírez

Economía

El suelo rural ocupa la mayor parte del territorio colombiano, aun así y pese a las grandes diferencias económicas y sociales, el cálculo del impuesto predial no difiere en gran medida respecto a las áreas urbanas. Vincular los tributos de la tierra al uso y función eficiente del suelo, postula ser un mecanismo efectivo para incentivar y reactivar el sector rural, brindar garantías a sus habitantes y desincentivar el acaparamiento de tierras como instrumento de acumulación de riqueza. Conforme a lo anterior, el objetivo del presente documento se centra en proponer un rediseño de la metodología de cálculo del impuesto …

Implicaciones De La Productividad Total De Los Factores Como Instrumento En La Negociación Del Salario Mínimo En Colombia 1993 2017 : Una Discusión Teórica Y Empírica, Kelly Johanna Lara Ospina

Economía

En la negociación del salario mínimo en Colombia se destapan las cartas de los empresarios, trabajadores y del gobierno en plena época navideña. Manteniendo una serie de roles que van de acuerdo al tipo de intervención en dicha negociación. La investigación realiza un análisis de esta discusión bajo los postulados teóricos de la escuela neoclásica que ejerce una influencia directa en el comportamiento político de los interventores. Además analiza las implicaciones sobre la medición de la productividad teniendo como referencia principal la productividad total de los factores durante el período 1993-2017 en la fijación del salario mínimo, poniendo en cuestión …

Do Shifts In Labor Shares In Productivity Growth Affect Poverty And Inequality? A Comparative Study Of Sub-Saharan Africa And Asia, Precious W. Allor

Masters Theses

This paper examines whether productivity growth induced by intersectoral labor movement affects inequality and poverty. To address this question a nonparametric shift-share decomposition technique is employed to decompose productivity growth into the structural change component; the component of productivity growth that is induced by the intersectoral labor movement, and the technological change component; the component of productivity growth that is induced by capital or improvements in productive efficiency. The paper then examines the long-run impact of structural change-induced productivity growth on poverty and inequality for a sample of 28 countries, and with a focus on Sub-saharan Africa and Asia. The …

Understanding Employee Engagement: A Mixed-Methods Study, Joren M. Scharn

Theses & Dissertations

For over 4 decades businesses around the world have been conducting employee satisfaction surveys at regular intervals and this surfaced a strong positive relationship between employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and overall company performance. In recent years however, academics and researchers have reopened the debate on whether employee or job satisfaction metrics are in fact reliable indicators of productivity, suggesting that employee engagement has a far stronger correlation to productivity. This study addresses two interrelated problems that are associated with a practice that is common in working environments all over the world. According to literature, it is generally accepted that (a) …

Labor Experiences Of Public High School Counselors: Neoliberalism, Productivity, And Care, Avery Harwood

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the day-to-day realities for public high school counselors inside their schools. The national average student-to-counselor ratio in public high schools in the U.S. is 482:1. This is almost double the recommended counselor caseload by the American School Counselor Association, which recommends 250 students per counselor. However, counselors’ inflated caseloads are not the only reason why counselors are overworked. Using a year’s worth of ethnographic research, I analyze the bureaucratic and care labor practices of counselors and the ways in which their labor exploitation reflects years of neoliberal discourse influencing the functioning of public education. This neoliberalization of …

The Relationship Between Workspace And Office Placement And Workforce Productivity And Wellbeing, Mladen Cvijanovic

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The quality of the physical workspace environment has been widely debated in research and corporate communities. Inadequate workspace conditions have been associated with elevated levels of work-related stress, productivity, and job satisfaction. However, scholarly literature offers very little on the relationship between workspace and office placement, and workforce productivity and wellbeing. The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative study was to examine the impact of customized workspace and strategic office placement on work related stress, productivity, and job satisfaction. Optimal distinctiveness theory and cognitive-motivational-relational theory provided the theoretical framework for this study. Nine research questions in this study were designed to …

Essays On Macroeconomics, Sangmin Aum

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation investigates how technological progress shapes economy. Technological changes have heterogeneous effects on economic agents as they are often biased toward certain tasks or sectoral activities. The dissertation aims at understanding the sources of heterogeneity and their impacts on aggregate outcomes, focusing on economic growth and labor allocation.

The first chapter investigates a bi-directional relation between technology and occupational structure (job allocation). Jobs have polarized in the U.S. since at least the 1980s, but the growth of high-skill jobs has been stagnated since 2000s (skill demand reversal). I document that software innovation has increased compared to equipment innovation and …

A Cross-Cultural Examination Of The Effect Of Employer Support On Employee Productivity, Shawn Tuman, Haley Lipton

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The purpose of this creative, collaborative, capstone project is to conduct a cross-cultural examination of the effect of employer support on employee productivity by compiling, examining, and synthesizing conclusions from existing research. In a world of growing globalization and technological innovation, the speed of productivity is often the cornerstone that differentiates successful businesses from unsuccessful businesses, providing a competitive advantage to the quick while the others fall behind. Often this increased level of efficiency comes at a cost beyond the price of the product and the salary of employees, a deeper, psychological cost. By reviewing research focused in the United …

Impact Of Motivation On Project Teams’ Performance In Information Technology, Ramu Karanam

Dissertations and Theses

Sufficient motivation is a critical ingredient for any organization to derive optimal performances from their workforce. Project teams are an integral part of the efficient conduction of an information and communication technology company’s core operations. This study is dictated towards the evaluation of the main factors that influence the level of motivation portrayed by team members of information technology project teams. Through a comprehensive literature review, the research was able to uncover insightful trends in motivation patterns among project team members that might be useful to project managers. The findings of this research conclude that a project team manager can …