Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

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 …

The Effects Of Cultural Dissimilarity On Employee Job Attitudes And Productivity, Sherrice Olithia Lyons

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizations in Jamaica have been impacted by globalization and the opportunities and challenges of cultural incompatibilities. Most previous studies on cultural incompatibilities have focused on the impact on expatriates leaving a gap in the literature with respect to the implications for host country nationals, and specifically Jamaicans. This quantitative study focused on employees of 2 companies in Jamaica, an energy company and a hospitality company. It examined cultural dissimilarity with respect to host country nationals and expatriates, and its effect on the productivity, job satisfaction, affective commitment, and normative commitment of these employees (N = 110). In addition to the …

Why Not Mexico? Policy Recommendations For A Globally-Oriented Economic Strategy, Víctor Manuel Hernández-Rodríguez

CMC Senior Theses

Mexico, one of the world’s largest economies and an increasingly relevant actor in international affairs, is at a crucial point in defining its future policy course. Given the uncertainty surrounding the global economy, as well as the political situation in Mexico, it is important to have a clear vision for policy going forward. This thesis offers a foundation for a national economic strategy with a long-term vision, upon which future administrations can build as appropriate to maximize on the country’s economic potential. The task is undertaken through a three-part approach. First, a thorough and analytical overview of the country’s economic …

Traumatic Brain Injury In Adolescence: The Relationship Between High School Exiting And Future Productivity, Jeffrey S. Garofano

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability among children and adolescents. Brain injury survivors are often left with persistent impairments that have the potential to impede daily functioning, delay or prevent the attainment of developmental milestones, and subsequently limit future productivity in adulthood. A shared goal of both neurorehabilitation and the educational system is to prepare youth for a productive adulthood with both systems of care having substantial, yet independent, literature bases regarding factors associated with productivity (e.g., engagement in employment or post-secondary education). It is currently assumed that because type of high school exiting …

Financing And Productivity: Evidence From Indian Manufacturing Industry, Tingyi Wu

Master's Theses

India grows rapidly in recent years, not to mention its high-technology industry. What are secrets behind this fast-growing situation? This paper intends to find the answer using a firm-level panel data in India and examine the loan-productivity relationship via both contemporaneous and lagged models. I find positive and statistically significant results that loans play an important role in firms’ performances.

Essays On Economic Growth In India, Sujana Kabiraj

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation comprises of three distinct studies that contribute to the field of economic growth in India. First, we investigate patterns of growth at the district level (second level administrative units) using radiance calibrated night lights data for 2000-2010. We examine growth both at the aggregated district level, as well as along the rural and urban dimensions. We find evidence of both absolute and conditional convergence, with convergence among rural areas being the primary driver. However, there is no evidence of convergence among urban areas. Moving further along similar lines, we explore the effect of credit shocks, generated by scheduled …

Height, Weight, And Durability In Major League Baseball, Joshua Yeager

CMC Senior Theses

Using data from the 2000-2016 Major League Baseball seasons, this paper looks at the determinants of durability amongst baseball athletes, durability is measured in games played for batters and innings pitched for pitchers, with a particular focus on height and weight. This paper finds evidence that lighter, shorter batters play significantly more games than taller, heavier batters. Additionally, amongst pitchers, there is only circumstantial evidence that height and weight are important determining factors of player durability. Finally, I find that starting pitchers increase the likelihood of becoming injured in the regular season by 10.3% and 21.8% if their hits per …

Green Buildings: Lease Structure, Productivity, And Regional Economic Impacts, Eun Kyu Lee

ETD Archive

In an effort to apply the sustainability movement to the built environment, sustainable construction has gained substantial strength and momentum in global society. A growing body of literature reveals the positive effects of sustainable, or green, buildings in terms of real estate market premiums, energy cost savings, employee productivity, and regional economic growth. In this context, my dissertation examines three research topics pertaining to sustainable buildings, and does so in three separate chapters.

The first study discusses the effect of lease structure on the tenant’s willingness to pay for energy-efficient building features, and compares the tenant’s stated willingness to pay …

How Tenure In Higher Education Relates To Faculty Productivity And Retention, Cindy Kay Manjounes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some public university systems are considering abolishing tenure as a cost-saving mechanism, but little is known about how this change may impact organizational outcomes related to faculty retention and research productivity. Using Almendarez' human capital theory, the purpose of this concurrent mixed methods study was to explore how tenure relates to faculty retention and productivity at a convenience sample of public universities in mid-western states. Qualitative questions focused on faculty perceptions of factors that affected retention and productivity. Quantitative data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and publicly available information from institutions was used to explore questions about relationships …

Law Enforcement Employees' Experiences Of Skillful Recognition By Leaders, Dimitra Patterson Cornelius

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The performance of public agency employees and their management teams have long been subject to critical comments and public doubt. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of police leaders and staff with regard to skillful recognition of excellent performance within the profession. Twenty law enforcement employees, including leaders, sworn officers, and nonuniformed civilian employees in southwestern North Carolina, consented to in-depth, semistructured interviews concerning their lived experiences. Leader-member exchange (LMX) theory was the conceptual framework for this study. A modified van Kaam analysis resulted in the identification of 5 significant, but broad, themes. The themes …

Psychological Capital As A Mediator Between Team Cohesion And Productivity, Robert John Cesaro

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizations attempting to optimize productivity are seeking new ways to develop psychological capital in teams. The researcher conducted a quantitative study to determine whether team cohesion, as assessed by the Revised Group Environment Questionnaire (RGEQ), impacts team productivity, as assessed by the Performance Measurement Team (PMT) Manufacturing Resource System (MRS); whether this relationship can be attributed to a team's level of psychological capital, as assessed by the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-12); and whether psychological capital mediates the relationship between team cohesion and team productivity. Forty-five PMTs in a large U.S. defense manufacturing organization were surveyed using the PCQ-12 and the …

Improving Micro-Finance Productivity Through Data Analysis, Ryan D. Taylor

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

After nearly three months of gathering, creating, organizing, and analyzing data from social entrepreneurship programs in Peru and Ghana, correlations have been found within the data which may be used in the pursuit to eliminate poverty around the globe. These correlations were found through completing both linear relationship analyses and multi-variable regression analyses. The most statistically significant factors when looking at correlational relationships with number of missed and late payments were APR, loan duration, loan date (year fraction), gender or principle loan participant, and participation in incentive programs. The most poignant of these variables in terms of statistical significance was …

Enhancing Workplace Productivity And Competitiveness In Trinidad And Tobago Through Ict Adoption, Kennedy Jerome Swaratsingh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The productivity of Trinidad and Tobago's public sector workplaces is related to their absorptive capacity for technological adoption. Guided by the technology acceptance model, which suggests that individuals' and institutions' use of technology increases in relation to perceived ease of use and apparent value, this case study explored how Trinidad and Tobago used information and communications technology from 2001 - 2010 to improve public sector workplace productivity. Study data were collected from 22 individual interviews with senior executives from the government of Trinidad and Tobago, members of the e-business roundtable, and local industry experts, and from reviewing the archives of …

Productivity Standards, Marriage And Family Therapist Job Satisfaction, And Turnover Intent, Gilbert Ernest Franco

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Turnover among mental health professionals is high, which can have a direct impact on access to services and continuity of care. Informed by goal-setting theory, social-cognitive theory, and self-efficacy, this quantitative study investigated how California community mental health agency productivity standards were related to self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and marriage and family therapist (MFT) turnover intent among 141 MFTs. Participants completed a Demographic and Productivity Questionnaire, Job Self-Efficacy Scale, Job Satisfaction Scale, and Turnover Intention Scale. The relationship between participant age, gender, experience, number of work hours, licensure status, and job site with job satisfaction and turnover intent were assessed using …

Innovation And Productivity: Evidence From China, Jingying Xu

Honors Theses

This paper investigates a lesser-known effect of innovation on the productivity of manufacturing firms in China using data that cover more than 330,000 firms across 40 sectors from 1998 to 2008. Innovation plays a key role in the productivity of firms and it matters for all types of firms, new as well as established. The ratio of new product output to the firm’s total outputs is used to measure innovation ability in this paper. A higher ratio is expected to have a positive impact on a firm’s productivity since new products are likely to be more differentiated than old products …

Exploring Incivility Toward Employee Absenteeism, Productivity, And Effective Communication: Veterans Health Administration, Sharron Miller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Uncivil behavior in the workplace can cause absenteeism or low job performance among employees, yet little academic literature addresses this relationship, particularly in the public sector. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to use the transactional analysis of communication (TAC) model to explore the ramifications of incivility in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The central research questions focused on employee perceptions of incivility and effective communication within the VHA. Twelve VHA employees were recruited for participation through a snowball sampling technique. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with the participants along with some VHA archived video training. Data were …

Increasing Productivity Of Retained Employees After A Workforce Reduction, Jason Michael Matyus

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is an increased use of downsizing across telecommunications in the northeast United States, and organizational leaders are challenged to motivate the productivity of the retained employees. Guided by systems theory, the purpose of this single case study was to explore successful downsizing strategies of a small group of organizational leaders and managers in the operations of telecommunications in the northeast United States. The study participants, chosen for their motivation success in motivation after downsizing, consisted of 2 purposefully selected business leaders who completed individual, face-to-face interviews and a focus group of 5 managers. The coding of data and word …

Corruption And Productivity, Chris Kelly

All Theses

Corruption is suggested to have a negative impact on productivity and thus growth. Several studies have studied the relationship closely, including Hall and Jones (1999) and Lambsdorff (2003). This paper seeks to build on their foundation and specify a new and robust model by looking at the effect of corruption controls on total factor productivity through a two-stage least squares regression. Since it is through public institutions that corruption manifests, also examined are differences between `inclusive' and `extractive' institutions. Also important is the degree to which a state is centralized. Extraction by way of corrupt institutions differs in highly centralized …

Can Policy Spur Technological Growth?, William Sargent

Honors Theses

The long-term slowdown in productivity growth for OECD countries, despite increased resources allocated to R&D, has once again raised the issue of limits of technological change. I explore the relationship between labor productivity growth and R&D intensity, using macro-level panel data from OECD countries. My empirical analysis essentially tests the semi-endogenous growth theory against the fully-endogenous Schumpeterian growth theory. The semi-endogenous framework assumes diminishing returns to R&D and requires positive population growth to generate long-run growth. The fully-endogenous framework assumes growing product variety and requires a constant share of R&D inputs in overall inputs in order to generate positive long-run …

Group Productivity In Varying Communication Mediums: Testing Face-To-Face And Virtual Interaction, Jessica Walker

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Research in the field of industrial organizational psychology identifies key factors that affect team productivity in the workplace. One such critical factor is communication mode and the integration of technology into work interaction. Using an experimental design modeled after Straus and McGrath's 1994 study on productivity when using face-to-face (FTF) and chatroom communication, this study focuses on a Deaf population and adds computer-mediated video communication. Fourteen groups of 3-5 participants were each assigned one of the three nodes of communication and given three timed tasks to answer together. At the end, participants filled out an individual survey reflecting upon the …

Identifying The Factors That Influence Conflict Management Behavior Of Human Resource Professionals In The Workplace: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Personality And Conflict Management Behavior, Gail Joyce Shapiro

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Effective conflict management in the workplace can reduce the negative consequences of conflict. These negative outcomes can include low productivity, health-related stress, increased employee turnover, or litigation. A Human Resource (HR) professional can help mitigate these negative outcomes in the workplace when using effective conflict management behavior with employees. However, there is a void in research pertaining to HR professionals’ use of conflict management behavior.

This quantitative, correlational research study examined whether personality has an impact on assertive or cooperative conflict management behavior of HR professionals in the workplace. Statistical testing found a significant relationship between the harmonious, people-person (a …

How Population Density Influences Agricultural Intensification And Productivity: Evidence From Ethiopia, Anna Leigh Josephson

Open Access Theses

We use household-level panel data to estimate how population density impacts agricultural intensification and farm income in Ethiopia. We hypothesize that increases in population density affect agricultural intensification and farm income directly through information flows, institutional development, and reduction in transactions costs. Increases in population density also affect agricultural intensification and farm income indirectly through farm size, agricultural wage rates, and staple crop prices. We find that increases in population density lead to lower farm sizes, which has major implications for agricultural intensification and household well-being. Our analysis indicates that increases in population density cause farmers to purchase more inorganic …

Foreign Direct Investment And Local Firm Productivity: Evidence From Thailand, Sasima Wongseree

Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract The enormous costs incurred to government for foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows raised question whether its benefits are worthwhile. In this dissertation, I use productivity estimates as outcomes to explore the direct and indirect impacts of FDI inflows on local firms in manufacturing sector of Thailand during 2001 to 2006.

Chapter 1, I introduce the overview of the entire dissertation.

Chapter 2, I briefly reviewed investment climates and FDI conditions in Thailand. Then I constructed a comprehensive firm-level dataset from several data sources for FDI examination. The main dataset offers quantity and capacity outputs along with revenues at product-level. …

Essays On Foreign Direct Investment, Agglomeration And Productivity, Fariha Kamal

Economics - Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the role of foreign direct investment and agglomeration economies in the process of industrial development, with a focus on the productivity of manufacturing firms. The first chapter analyzes the importance of the source of foreign direct investment on the performance of domestic Chinese firms. The second chapter studies the interaction between foreign and domestic manufacturing firms operating in the same industry and located within the same Chinese city. The third chapter examines the response of multinational companies to changes in domestic institutions. My findings highlight the importance of the source of foreign direct investment, proximity to economic …

Generational Perceptions Of Productive/Unproductive Information Received From Management Through Different Communication Channels, Eva Lynn Cowell

Doctoral Dissertations

This exploratory study identified generational preferences for receiving information from management through different communication channels and determined if age predicted productivity for productive and unproductive information received through different communication channels. This is the first study to empirically examine the relationship between age cohorts, communication channel preferences, information categories, and productivity. Sample participants worked as Extension agents at a major land-grant university. The four generations represented in the sample utilized multiple communication channels and were geographically dispersed throughout the state. The survey was administered electronically and completed by 204 (74%) of the eligible 275 employees in the organization. Independent Samples …

The Relationship Between Information Technology And Construction Productivity, Dong Zhai

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past decades, information technology has been impacting industries, economics, the way of life and even the culture throughout the world. Productivity has been attracting much attention as an important indicator of economics, and numerous researchers have investigated the relationship between information technology and productivity. Construction is one of the largest industries in the United States, but little research has been conducted to investigate the relationship between information technology and construction productivity.

The major objective of this dissertation is to determine the degree (if any) to which information technology usage, specifically the use of information technology to automate and …

Email Overload: The Implications Of Virtual Communication At The Office, Matthew John Hearne

Theses and Graduate Projects

This investigation focuses on the implications of email overload on worker productivity, stress, and privacy in the workplace. This research attempts to confirm the affects of email overload at the office by comparing case study results with the review of related literature and subsequently offering a conclusion based upon this comparison.

A Macroeconomic Analysis Of The Sources Of Economic Growth In India, Sohini Sahu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Economic liberalization in 1991 marked a significant turning point for India since its independence in 1947. After decades of slow growth, the economy suddenly took off at a steady and fast pace after 1991. We investigate the factors that propelled India's long-term economic growth and short-run economic cycles pre and post 1991. Using a multi-sector dynamic general equilibrium model specifically tailored for transition economies, we find that service sector productivity, coupled with a structural shift in the economy, have been the drivers of the recent spate of growth in India. In the period 1960-1980, productivity fluctuations in the agricultural sector …

Characteristics For Success: Predicting Intervention Effectiveness With The Job Characteristics Model, Sallie Weaver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study examines the effects of the five core job characteristics (skill variety, task significance, task identity, autonomy, and feedback) proposed by Hackman-Oldham (1974) at the team level by investigating whether the model variables are related to the effectiveness of a motivationally-based team-level productivity enhancement intervention. Previous literature has almost exclusively focused on the effects of these job characteristics at the individual level and their direct relationships with employee attitudes and subjective measures of performance. This thesis aims to further the job characteristics literature by exploring the effects of the characteristics at the team level, as well as the …