Rising enrollment and aging infrastructure have led to significant housing shortages at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Both incoming and returning students face increasing difficulty in securing adequate housing, which threatens institutional reputation, student retention, and financial sustainability. To explore solutions to these challenges, this study presents a literature review of 30 studies on collegiate housing management and student housing experiences. The review reveals a notable lack of focused research on housing management within the HBCU context, despite the unique challenges these institutions face. This study identifies three dimensions of student health affected by housing challenges: mental, physical, and academic. Housing issues are further categorized into two primary areas of concern: affordability and process inefficiencies. These findings highlight the need for targeted capital investment, public-private partnerships, and policy reforms to enhance housing stability and institutional resilience. Overall, this study integrates insights from higher education, public policy, and strategic management, offering an interdisciplinary framework for addressing student housing insecurity in higher education. This study fills a critical gap by focusing specifically on HBCU housing, a topic underrepresented in existing literature.

Keywords: institutional strategy, higher education infrastructure, student housing insecurity

In this study, I investigate how consumers assess green service claims and perceive the environmental value of various sustainability initiatives in the retail service context. It distinguishes between internal corrective actions, such as implementing energy-efficient environments, and external efforts like charitable donations. These internal initiatives are further sub-categorized according to key service quality dimensions, offering a nuanced view of how consumers differentiate and evaluate the relative greenness of these approaches. I employ a scenario-based methodology across two studies. Participants evaluated six types of green service initiatives—four internally directed and two externally directed. ANOVA with post-hoc testing was used to assess differences in perceived greenness. The varied internally focused initiatives, such as offering green products and adopting energy-efficient buildings, are perceived as equally green initiatives by consumers. In contrast, externally directed efforts, such as donations to environmental causes, are viewed as significantly less green. This research contributes to the literature on sustainability perceptions by differentiating between internal corrective and external green initiatives. The findings highlight that internal efforts are seen as more authentic, offering guidance for service firms aiming to enhance their green credibility.

Keywords: sustainability, green initiative, service, retailing

In retail, planograms can have a significant impact on a customer’s experience and a company’s bottom line. For retailers, well-designed planograms can help to increase sales and improve inventory management, while customers benefit from things like an enhanced shopping experience and easier decision-making. Given the dynamics of the retail environment, one of the major issues with planograms is compliance. One of the major challenges with store level compliance is being able to visualize the store shelves to determine the state of compliance. Traditionally, retailers have relied on human judgment and labor to perform the planogram compliance tasks, resulting in lost sales, out-of-stocks and data errors. Recently, there have been technological advancements in artificial intelligence that can help to significantly improve planogram compliance. Through the lens of the technology acceptance model, this paper utilized a literature review to assess the likelihood of retailers adopting artificial intelligence tools for planogram compliance. After a thorough review of the literature, there appears to be a high likelihood of retailers adopting artificial intelligence tools, as these tools can help to revolutionize planogram compliance with an easier audit process, more accurate data, reduced labor costs and improved customer satisfaction.

Keywords: planograms, planogram compliance, artificial intelligence, generative artificial intelligence, deep learning

The leaders of family-owned firms are often themselves members of the family. Many of these firms have other family members in positions of management or employment. The family business literature details interesting dynamics that arise where the leader of the company is also a family member. We look specifically at the perceptions and observations of family firm leaders who work with family members. This research explores several major questions raised by our review of the family business literature. How do leaders feel about family employees and do they have good relations? How do they judge the performance and dedication of family members and how do they compare to non-members? Does the leader see evidence of the benefits of stewardship and socioeconomic wealth and do leaders perceive less risk of agency costs or nepotism? What are leader views toward the development of younger members, mentorship, and prior experiences of family members before they joined the firm? And finally, what are the views on compensation of family members vs. non-members? In this study we explore several research questions via personal interviews with 20 top leaders of 20 well-established family businesses located throughout the Southeastern U.S. We were impressed by how positive leaders were generally about family employees. Many of the potential negatives predicted in the family business literature were not confirmed. It was enlightening to find that leaders of family firms are highly committed to the development and preparation of up-and-coming family members Several key insights on family employee compensation were revealed.

Keywords: family-owned firms, family firm leadership, stewardship, socioeconomic wealth, nepotism, Agency Theory, family firm compensation

This article examines the paradoxical relationship between professional success and personal leisure in academia, particularly for educators who feel a strong responsibility toward their students. The author reflects on his journey as an academic and editor, drawing on three key points of advice which helped the author re-evaluate his professional boundaries. The article concludes with advice from the author encouraging all to take a balanced approach to success, one that prioritizes self-compassion and recognizes the importance of accepting limitations, thereby making room for both ambition and personal well-being. This perspective encourages a more sustainable and fulfilling academic career.

Keywords: academic career, work-life balance, professional boundaries, self-compassion

Hiring practices within Native American tribal organizations embody a distinctive convergence of cultural preservation, sovereign authority, and strategic workforce development. This paper explores the institutionalized preference afforded to tribal citizens during the recruitment and selection process, analyzing the legal foundations, procedural steps, and ethical dimensions that shape these practices. In doing so, it underscores how such hiring frameworks not only reinforce tribal self-determination but also operate within the broader context of federal employment standards and compliance expectations.

Keywords: tribal preference, Native American hiring practices, human resource management, workforce development

The purpose of this paper is to map and describe from the recruiter’s perspective the processes utilized by Executive Search Firms or Headhunters while executing a candidate search for a client. Through a dual method consisting of a systematic literature review and task analysis, 40 academic articles among 98 were identified as related to the search process and integrated on a process mapping. This analysis led to the creation of a descriptive diagram explaining the processes typically utilized by executive recruiters/headhunters. Although the literature review indicated a probable general sequential process, in many instances it becomes cyclical because candidates may become clients. The novelty of the manuscript resides with the integration of academic literature for this narrow process. In the case of practitioners (executive recruiters) the study helps those in the early career stages or new entrants, allowing them to learn more about how to carry on a search. Ultimately, it presents a comprehensive picture for all other professionals (as clients or candidates) that can maximize the use of and interaction with Executive Search Firms.

Keywords: executive recruitment, headhunters, systematic literature review, task analysis, process

Most people are familiar with the concept of video ads that appear online, including in social media platforms. An online survey was conducted at division 1 school in the Great Plains of the USA. The survey looked for user motivations for viewing Facebook video ads. The conceptual framework for this study was chosen as the Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT). Drawing on the UGT, the study uses a previously established and supported scale used in previous uses and gratification studies to measure the correlation among results. All the participants in this study were university students. The study’s objective was to determine if there was any correlation between video entertainment, video informativeness, video irritation, video credibility, overall consumer impression, consumer behavior, and consumer willingness to receive more video ads. Five out of six measurements showed statistically significant, positive associations; these include a correlation between the video ads’ entertaining power, informativeness, credibility, consumer attitudes after watching ads, and consumer willingness to receive more video ads. On the other hand, irritation with video ads proved to be an amotivator and is negatively associated with the willingness to receive more video ads, as was expected. This study measures the association and cannot predict the impact among the variables and finally concludes by offering recommendations for future studies that need to focus on finding social media ads' influence on purchases.

Keywords: Uses and Gratifications Theory, Facebook, online advertising

This article examines entrepreneurship from two key perspectives – youth and gender. Research on involvement of women in entrepreneurship is replete with notions of gender inequities. Studies on youth entrepreneurs, particularly in developing countries, seem to confirm this broad pattern. We examine whether gender inequities persist among youth entrepreneurs in the Caribbean country of Guyana or whether there are signs of change. In Guyana and the broader Caribbean, there is emergent cultural conduciveness allied with an active promotion of youth entrepreneurship by governments in partnership with non-governmental, educational and other institutions. In interrogating gender and youth entrepreneurship in this study, we utilized data derived from a survey of youth entrepreneurs conducted in two urban areas in Guyana and examined gender differences in the types of ventures established; perceptions of entrepreneurial challenges faced; access to support systems for establishing and running their businesses; and their mindsets that may influence business sustainability. This study found that 81% of female youth businesses operated in four main categories of business. Male youth businesses, however, were spread across a wider spectrum, while also competing in the areas in which female youth businesses clustered. Youth male and female entrepreneurs were almost uniform in their perceptions of entrepreneurial challenges. They were equally confident in their abilities to sustain their businesses. Both female and male youth entrepreneurs similarly accessed financial, family and entrepreneurial educational support. They evidenced few differences in the mindsets that can influence business sustainability.

Keywords: youth entrepreneurship, gender and entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial challenges, Guyana, Latin America and the Caribbean

Editorial: As this eleventh volume of QRBD comes to a conclusion, the world in which we research and publish is rapidly changing. While in this issue we explore issues related to artificial intelligence and deep-fakes, why people do or do not respond to surveys, and the history of one of the giants of the entertainment industry, around us we continue to see the dissolution of academic institutions, the destruction of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, the restructuring of both the United States government and our relationships with our allies, and the continued closures of once prominent retail staples. We have even seen the historic first round of layoffs in the traditionally people centric Southwest Airlines.

Missing data is an important issue in summed scales used in survey research. It can have a significant impact on the quality of the research by reducing the usable sample size, reducing the statistical power in small samples, limiting the generalizability of the results, and forcing the researcher to make decisions about whether to exclude responses from the analysis or to use a data replacement method. Excluding responses from the analysis reduces the usable size while replacing the missing items may result in an overestimation or underestimation of scale scores, affect the measure's reliability, and increase the likelihood of finding statistically significant results when there are none. Despite these challenges, missing data is rarely the focus of research studies. This article focuses on missing data in a sample of lawyers and law students who completed a survey that consisted of six different summed scales, each of which required that respondents answer all questions in the measure to compute an accurate score. The questions of interest in this study were 1) whether any demographic groups or combinations of groups were more or less likely to respond to all items in the summed scales and 2) whether there were statistically significant relationships between respondents' willingness to complete all items in the different summed scales. Implications for further research are discussed.

Keywords: missing data, item non-response, law students, summed scales, surveys, judges, attorneys

This paper investigates the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in academic research, for example, ChatGPT, Research Rabbit, LitMaps, Scite AI, Elicit, and Copilot. Understanding their impact on research processes is crucial as AI technologies become increasingly sophisticated. This study identifies fifty generative AI software tools and their primary functions for scholars. It examines how these tools differ in functionality complexity, accuracy, reliability, and validity in academic contexts. Through empirical data collected from experiments conducted by the researcher team, the study assesses the effectiveness of fifty AI tools that may potentially assist academic research.

The findings of this research contribute to a deeper understanding of how AI tools can enhance scholarly productivity, streamline research processes, and potentially reshape the future of academic work. By offering practical insights and recommendations, this study aims to inform scholars, educators, and institutions about the opportunities and challenges associated with incorporating AI into academic research.

Keywords: artificial intelligence (AI), AI tools evaluation, AI in scholarship, research process efficiency

Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) can help firms grow and compete more effectively in the marketplace by affording businesses the opportunity to combine their operations with those of other companies. While numerous potential benefits may be realized by engaging in such a transaction, both mergers and acquisitions bear risks as well, with research’s confirming a high failure rate for most M&As. Over the course of its more than century-spanning existence, media company Warner Bros. has experienced the peaks and valleys of M&A activity. The company known best for its venerable film studio, memorable characters, and innovative contributions to film, television, videogames, and other fields had survived many momentous shifts; in 2024, however, Warner Bros., having recently merged with Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), once again faced a major crossroads. This study recounts the history of Warner Bros., primarily focusing on the most recent three decades, to elucidate the events that led to the company’s position in Fall 2024 and then poses the question, among others, of what strategic decision the reader believes would constitute most prudent for WBD.

Keywords: acquisition, antitrust, case study, merger, strategy

We are entering an age in which disinformation, fake news, and falsified images, videos, and audio 1) are rapidly becoming indistinguishable from authentic media, 2) can be produced in real-time, and 3) can be deployed at scale and in quantities that businesses, news agencies, and nations alike may not be able to respond to effectively. Over the past four years, deepfake videos, in which an actor’s face can be replaced with a believable facsimile of a CEO’s or other famous person’s face, have become relatively commonplace in popular culture, and deepfakes have already been used at least at a rudimentary level in disinformation campaigns. ChatGPT, a generative large-language AI model that can produce authentic-sounding human-readable text, can generate fake news articles, emails, and blog or social media posts in real-time that seem fluent and realistic to the reader. Newer generative AI tools for creating audio, video, and photorealistic images can lend additional credibility to disinformation, misinformation, and fake news and spread them online faster than human reporters and government officials can fact- check or respond. This research examines the perfect storm of disinformation enabled by these combined technologies, provides a review of existing and emerging literature in the field, and includes a brief case study on Ukraine’s response to the 2022 Zelensky deepfake video at the onset of the Russian invasion to draw out recommendations for businesses, governments, and news organizations in countering AI-enhanced disruption.

Keywords: cybersecurity, identity theft, account security, multi-factor authentication

Editorial: We have all been there. We are sitting at our computers, blithefully working away on our next big publication, when all of the sudden….the inbox dings. Immediately thoughts turn to who it could be: a paper acceptance? a colleague wanting to meet for lunch? a student desperately needing help? With the unbounded excitement you switch tabs only to see: The following paper has been submitted to XYZ Journal and you have been identified as a possible reviewer. Today more than ever, the field of business has become publish or perish. In the college of business, while historically only those blessed with a tenure track position were considered appropriate for and expected to provide peer reviewers, those who teach for a living now too are being called upon to publish in some form to maintain scholarly academic or practitioner status.

This article compares age differences in the performance of emotional labor and related outcomes. We contend that younger individuals are more likely to engage in surface and active deep acting than older individuals. Accordingly, we explore whether the emotional expression of older individuals tends to be more authentic, presented in the form of passive deep acting, and we evaluate attitudinal outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction, organizational commitment) related to these intervening emotional display efforts. While results did not show a positive association between age and the use of passive deep acting, findings did indicate that surface acting negatively affects job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and active deep acting positively affects organizational commitment. A discussion of future research to refine our understanding and measurement of passive deep acting and its implications for practice concludes the article.

Keywords: emotional labor; surface acting; deep acting; passive deep acting

What type of brand content increases engagement on Twitter? A content analysis of 1,000 brand Twitter posts analyzed content types that drive engagement in retweets, replies, and likes. Significant positive effects were found for contests, sweepstakes, and emoji posts on retweets; contest and sweepstakes posts on replies; and emoji posts on likes. Significant negative effects were found for educational and exclamation posts created on retweets, replies, or likes. Diffusion of innovation and uses and gratifications theories were considered in the context of viral advertising and social media engagement. Assessment of previous studies and theories leads to a proposed social media engagement model that considers brand and consumer goals, engagement form, and engagement type. Managerial implications of findings and the model are discussed.

Keywords: viral advertising, social media, Twitter, word-of-mouth, content marketing

This study examined visual media coverage at a crucial stage of the 2024 Republican United States presidential primary, Jan. 23-29, 2024, when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out and pit former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley against former U.S. President Donald Trump, in the lead up to the New Hampshire Republican primary election. This presented an ideal opportunity to examine face-ism theory (Archer et al., 1983), which posits that media images of males display more facial prominence than images of females, which may influence perceptions of candidates. The research is also relevant to perceptions of organization leaders in public relations. A total of 552 images of Haley and Trump from YouTube videos published by major U.S. broadcast and cable television news networks were analyzed. Two coders achieved 97% or higher intercoder television network, network political party favorability, and topic. Trump’s images (67.9%) were more frequently cropped with more facial prominence than Haley’s images (58.3%). FOX, favoring the Republican Party, published images of Trump (80.6%) with more facial prominence than images of Haley (73.7%). MSNBC, favoring the Democratic Party, also published images of Trump (64.3%) with more facial prominence than images of Haley (60.9%). Images of Trump (62.7%) outnumbered images of Haley (37.3%). Over half of Trump’s images (55.8%) were unrelated to the primary and instead were more frequently related to ongoing court cases against him. Images of Haley were most frequently related to the primary (83.5%).

Keywords: Face-ism theory, United States Republican presidential primary election, public relations campaigns, political communication

Editorial: In this, our final issue of our tenth anniversary of publication, the importance of QRBD remaining a quality interdisciplinary journal has been keenly on my mind. Academia has historically been decidedly siloed, with journals having very narrow lines of specialization (one of my favorite activities during graduate school at Oklahoma State University was to go to the basement of Edmon Low Library and raffle through the dust-covered journals from the early part of the 20th century…amazed at how narrowly focused the topics contained within were). While we as scholars still primarily communicate within our fields, there has been a growing recognition of and appreciation for collaborative work and society itself almost demands interdisciplinary approaches due to the ever-growing complexity and multifaceted nature of the problems needing to be solved. While academia, particularly within the tenure system, seems to work against interdisciplinary research, I believe that as academia continues to evolve, interdisciplinary journals such as QRBD will serve to drive innovation, foster collaboration, and offer platforms for more holistic forms of knowledge.

In keeping with our new QRBD tradition, in this double issue we honor two of the many dedicated volunteers who gave their time to ensure that our journal maintains not just quality double-blind reviewing but also investment their time to aid colleagues in the development and finalization of their contributions to scholarship. As we have two in the spotlight, we first look at longtime QRBD contributor Dr. H. Paul LeBlanc III and first time QRBD reviewer Dr. Yuri Hupku.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are becoming ubiquitous in the modern world, AI agents have been increasingly adopted to serve various roles in our daily lives, such as personal assistant, salesperson, customer service agent, and virtual counselor. Thus, interacting with AI agents has become an everyday activity, which has received much research attention. Addressing the need to understand the interaction between humans and AI, this paper develops a research model of how user experience with AI agents influences users’ trust and distrust in AI agents. More specifically, it categorizes the attributes of user experience with AI agents as process-related vs outcome-related. Drawing on the two-factor theory, construal level theory (CLT), and IS success and AI trust research, the research model proposes the differential effects of process- related and outcome-related attributes of AI user experience on users’ trusting and distrusting beliefs in AI agents that are moderated by users’ construal levels as well as the subsequent effects of trusting and distrusting beliefs on continued intention to use AI agents. In addition, the research model suggests that a construal fit between users’ perception of AI agents and their AI usage context will increase their trusting belief in AI agents. By providing an understanding of the role of construal fit in promoting trust and the psychological mechanism by which various attributes of AI user experience differentially influence users’ trust and distrust in AI agents, this paper will offer guidelines on how to appropriately design and implement AI agents to enhance trust and minimize distrust.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, construal level, trust, distrust

An organization’s employer branding activities strive to communicate to both external and internal stakeholders that it is a great place to work. This paper focuses on an organization’s “external” employer branding activities (EEBAs) - recruitment messages used to attract job seekers in the external labor market. The competition for hiring skilled and qualified employees has increased over the years, and thus it is crucial for organizations to be able to attract job seekers and influence them in pursuing a position via appropriate EEBAs. While prior research has explored applicant attraction by considering separately the amount of information and attribute content in recruitment messages, this paper draws on marketing and consumer psychology literature to integrate these two related but theoretically distinct research streams and builds theory around four “external” employer branding activity (EEBA) types and their effectiveness. In addition, the feasibility of using different types of employer branding activities is discussed, based on industry, organization, and job-seeker characteristics.

Keywords: employer branding, elaboration likelihood model, instrumental-symbolic framework, recruitment messages

This research looks at the possibility of technology replacing accountants and the possibility technologists will replace accountants. The current era of accounting is dominated by mobile devices, big data, cloud technologies, and improved accounting systems. The problem is accounting firms have been slow to fully use these new technologies. To stay competitive, firms need to employ these technologies. Researchers interviewed high profile accounting technology leaders from professional organizations in the accounting industry including managers, partners at accounting firms, and data scientists. Researchers used white papers, peer-reviewed materials, and personal interviews to collect data. The findings provide an overwhelming realization that technology can aid accounting. Researcher’s found technologists cannot replace the profession’s most valued skills.

Keywords: technology, technologists, accounting, profession, strategy

Organizations have a duty to provide a safe working environment. One aspect is screening employees to prevent violent attacks from within the organization. As a result, many organizations are turning to background checks to make this determination. These background checks use databases of publicly available information. Unfortunately, it is difficult to know the quality of these databases and thus these assessments. The gold-standard of criminal background checks is the FBI database. Regrettably, the general public cannot access the FBI database for employment screening unless it is required by law, and authorized by the Attorney General.

Interestingly, organizations can access this database indirectly using the TSA’s PreCheck airline traveler security screening program. This article proposes that organizations require new hires to obtain a TSA PreCheck— thus indirectly having their background checked through the FBI database. Moreover, it is recommended that organizations routinely check that employees continue to maintain their TSA PreCheck status.

Keywords: background check, workplace safety, employment, risk assessment

Again, a hearty thank you to those who contributed to this issue through their insightful comments and personal investment in aiding the featured authors. While of course, we must maintain our rigorous double blind review process, it is perfectly acceptable to feature one of those unnamed reviewers for their excellent work. For this issue, we recognize Robert A. Smith.

As society ages, the importance of preventive health care (PHC) cannot be overstated. There are many aspects associated with PHC. This study looks at the impact of PHC seeking behaviors on two dietary behaviors while controlling for demographic variables. Social influences are identified into three groups: family, peers, and professionals. Data for this study was obtained based on a convenience sample of 390 baby boomers from Taiwan and was analyzed using SPSS through stepwise regression analyses. Study findings indicate that PHC seeking behavior, income, and personal influences affect healthy and advanced choice diets, while gender was found to affect the choice of a balanced diet. Income level, PHC seeking, and Personal Influences are the three most important predictors for baby boomers’ dietary behavior, i.e., balanced diet or advanced diet, in Taiwan.

Keywords: Taiwanese, prevention health care, balanced diet, healthy diet, advanced choice diet, perceived health knowledge, perceived health condition, baby boomers

Mobile payments have become increasingly popular due to their convenience, speed, and ease of use. There are various mobile payment options available, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, PayPal, and Cash App. However, with mobile payments being relatively new, it's essential to understand the potential security risks associated with these options, such as the potential for mobile payment companies to gather a customer's personal information for fraudulent activities. This project aimed to explore these risks and compare the features and functionalities of five popular mobile payment options: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, PayPal, and Cash App. The project also focused on determining whether SSL Proxying, a technique used by hackers to intercept and read encrypted data sent over SSL connections, was detected by the mobile payment options studied. Overall, while mobile payments offer a quick and easy way to conduct transactions, users should take appropriate measures to protect their personal information and remain vigilant against potential security threats, should take appropriate measures to protect their personal information, and remain vigilant against potential security threats.

Keywords: mobile transactions, SSL proxying, security, mobile payment apps

This study is designed to explore strategic brand marketing efforts and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives resulting from the pandemic. A survey was administered to Generation Z and Millennials analyzing top brands from Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2022. The seven top brands selected for analysis were Apple, Amazon, Coca Cola, Disney, Nike, McDonalds, and Starbucks. Most of the participants were recruited through Cloud Research’s Prime Panel during February of 2023 and linear regression models were employed for analyses. This study provided significant results into the critical importance of understanding the long-term effects of the pandemic on consumers’ expectations of marketing and CSR efforts and the impact on consumer brand loyalty, brand trust and brand equity.

Keywords: COVID-19, strategic brand marketing, corporate social responsibility, brand equity, brand loyalty, brand trust, Generation Z and Millennials

Editorial: Being the editor of QRBD is a role I never envisioned as part my future. When my friend and mentor Kaye McKinzie encouraged me to attend The International Academy of Business Disciplines in 2018, I was a bit hesitant. Save my colleagues at The University of Central Arkansas, I knew no one who would be attending and in truth, I was not particularly keen on taking on another organization. At the time, being accustomed to larger international conferences and being a rather reserved person, I envisioned yet another steady stream of business cards, handshakes, receptions, struggling to read nametags, discussions of upcoming research projects, gossip about who is leaving which school…and why, and explaining the AACSB Bridge-Program and how it is possible to have an Ed.D. and still qualify as Scholarly Academic.

One of the most essential, and thankless, roles in academia is reviewing. Quality reviewing is seldom rewarded, requires significant time commitment, and most importantly, serves as the threshold of quality publications…without quality reviewers, journals have no quality! As QRBD enters its second decade, a new element will be to highlight someone from the reviewer team who made significant contributions to the quality of the current issue.

As with all technology, broadband is ever-advancing. Not only are internet speeds increasing, but internet access is becoming more readily available in both businesses and homes. Where once those living in rural areas had limited to no access to high-speed internet connections, now they have choices including cable, DSL, satellite, and low-orbit satellite. During the recent COVID lockdowns, our society not only became more reliant on the internet but also became more comfortable with using the internet in ways they had not previously. A major change was working in non-traditional business environments that are often composed of one’s home. The US Federal government has recognized the importance of internet access with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which provided $65 billion for broadband. Recently there have been many stories about how broadband has impacted economic growth. (Why Broadband, n.d.) This directly drove our research. If the US is investing this much money into broadband expansion, where is the proof that it has a direct impact on the economy? We could not find any recent study at the granular level in the US. This study focused on broadband availability and unemployment from 2010 to 2018 at the county level. Some unexpected, interesting insights are provided.

Keywords: broadband, inflation, unemployment, Divisions

Many companies still rely heavily on the usage of business checks to pay employees, partners, and invoices. However, the manual process of writing and formatting these checks can be time consuming and burdensome. Although there are existing automated check writing processes, they are mostly designed to writing an individual checks. In this study, we present an alternative approach to automating the business check writing process using Python. Bulk check writing is where multiple checks are printed from a single input file (.csv,. json, .xml). To accomplish this, we utilize the Python programming language and the Python-docx library. The proposed automation solution allows us to write and format business checks that meet MICR E-13B banking specifications. The process also allows multiple output file formats such as MS docx and PDF. With the utilization of python-docx library, we manipulate a template file using a “search and replace” technique to create formatted checks with the desired information. The results of our study demonstrate the capabilities and the efficiency of the automated business check writing process. To execute the process, users only need to execute a Python program and use an ordinary printer to produce a physical copy of the needed checks. Our approach can easily integrate into existing workflows. This allows businesses to save valuable time and resources while increasing productivity. Overall, the presented automation process provides great economic advantage through its efficiency, accuracy, and speed.

Keywords: MICR, E-13B, business check, Python, python-docx

This study was conducted to evaluate the possibility of an accounting firm existing without physical office space. Developing a virtual firm is a response to the idea of a work-life balance, the pandemic and advanced technology. The study evaluated the effects of a virtual office on the employee, management, and the firm. There are no prior studies directly related to a firm without an office, but five studies were used to discover what the advantages and disadvantages are when having employees work from outside an office. The previous studies focused on how a healthy work-life balance affects employees, how employees working on flextime affect the firm, how telecommuting employees affect management and the firm, and how various work arrangements affect employees. Management values face-to-face interaction with their employees, causing issues for managers with employees who work at locations outside the office. The research question asks if a physical firm is necessary for 21st-century accounting, and the research shows the answer to that question is no, a physical firm is not necessary. Not having a physical firm would save the firm in cost, help create a healthy work-life balance for employees, and decrease employee turnover. However, the lack of a physical firm will make it difficult for managers to manage their employees due to the loss in face-to-face interaction a physical firm provides.

Keywords: accounting, virtual, work-life balance, firm, 21st century

During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses faced an economic shock never seen before. This paper addresses what firms could do to enhance resilience in a crisis of this magnitude. We argue that diversity in boards can enable firms to bounce back from a crisis. Moreover, a board’s involvement in a crisis management plan is critical in strengthening firm resilience. We have applied an information processing perspective to examine two diversity dimensions: board cognitive diversity and board gender diversity. Survey data of 271 responses collected between April and June 2020 from the US are used in the structural equation modeling analysis. The results show that, on the one hand, board cognitive diversity is a desirable feature, significantly improving a board’s contribution to a crisis management plan, which strengthens a firm’s resilience. On the other hand, board gender diversity poses a negative impact on resilience. The paper concludes with discussions and future research proposals.

Keywords: COVID-19, resilience, boards of directors, cognitive diversity, gender diversity, crisis management plan

Social commerce, the use of social networking capabilities for commercial transactions and activities that are primarily driven by social interactions and user contributions, has evolved quickly and attracted much research attention. Drawing on the stimulus–organism–response framework and the affordance theory, this paper develops a research model to examine the impacts of IT affordances and users’ virtual experiences on users’ purchase intentions in social commerce platforms. More specifically, a research model is developed to explore how the IT affordances (product visibility, interactivity, personalization and social connections) of social commerce platforms affect users’ virtual experiences in terms of their cognitive experiences (information support, preference fit, social presence, and flow) and affective experiences (product affection, emotional support, familiarity, and closeness), which in turn influence users’ trusting intention in social commerce and their intention to purchase products from the social commerce platforms. The model also highlights the mediation role of user’s virtual experiences in the relationship between IT affordances and users’ trusting intention and purchase intention in social commerce platforms. This conceptual paper not only emphasizes the importance of understanding the implications of IT affordances and user experiences for social commerce but also provides theoretical guidance to assist online vendors in designing effective social commerce platforms for optimal user experiences and successful product promotion.

Keywords: social commerce, social networking, Affordance theory

Management Control focuses on execution of the policies, among others, resources of the company. Intensified competition among high tech industries aggravated by rapidly changing and challenging external environment, companies realized the importance of operational performance excellence and current financial results improvements. Companies are formulating and paying attention to strategic goals and development of the effective mechanism of these goals implementation. This case study investigates the management control in telecom companies in Canada in light to the balanced scorecard (BSC) as a tool of management control. It provides a review of the BSC approach, paying special attention to the financial perspective of the BSC, in general, and financial perspective of the telecom companies, in particular. The case specifically describes the results of investigation of the financial indicators used by Canadian telecom companies for their performance evaluation and communication. It also provides the methodology of these indicators’ development and integration into the BSC. The importance of the paper is in the developed design methodology of the BSC model, which incorporates four Canadian largest telecom companies’ business practice. Developed model can be used as a pattern in the industry for better and distinct performance results presentation for telecom managers, investors, and public.

Keywords: BSC, financial perspective, telecom companies, management control

This study investigates the existence of salary disparity in various academic fields by sex, rank, and size of universities. We focus our study on three groups in the following fields: Business colleges; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs; and Nursing and Social Sciences programs. The numbers of female and male faculties are approximately the same in these fields (i.e. male-dominant, and female-dominant, respectively). We support our research with an empirical analysis of data gathered from the faculty in these three main disciplines of 4-year public universities in one state in the south-central U.S. in 2018. Controlling for faculty heterogeneity, we use factorial N-way ANOVA for our analysis. Our findings indicate that smaller universities pay less than larger public universities and tenure-track professors earn more than non-tenure-track professors in the College of Business and STEM programs. In the Nursing and Social Sciences Disciplines, we found that women typically earn higher salaries than men at every rank in Tier 3 Universities.

Keywords: wages, sex pay gap, academic disciplines, discrimination, faculty heterogeneity

Two competing issues introduce additional tension for faculty teaching courses with group projects during this Covid-19 pandemic: digital or hybrid formats; however, students prefer and perform at higher levels in face-to-face (FTF) situations while intra-group trust, which leads to higher student performance, is higher in FTF than online classes. We examine the impact of digital group communication on student satisfaction. One area of concern to students is the issue of perceived injustice. This issue was underscored in student feedback on course evaluations. We developed a questionnaire to measure the intervening role of group processes in the classroom: goal sharedness, accountability, freeloading and intragroup trust. We find that satisfaction with team performance is lower in online courses. In addition, each group process studied significantly affects the relationship between type of group communication and student satisfaction, while the role of intragroup trust has the greatest impact. We also note that students perceive a significantly higher level of freeloading in digital classroom situations. Faculty can improve student satisfaction and performance by advising and training students in each of these four group processes early in each course, especially in digitally delivered classes.

Keywords: type of group communication, intragroup processes, student satisfaction

This article attempts to distinguish the difference in luxury hotel-chains’ stocks with the economy hotel-chains’ stocks in the weeks after the SARS COVID-19 pandemic announcement on March 11, 2020. The five largest U.S., publicly traded hotel-chains: Choice, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Wyndham Hotels were examined. With an event-study, expected returns were calculated for the five firms and compared to the return of the S&P 500.The three luxury firms, Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott, Average Cumulative Abnormal Returns (ACAR’s) were tested against two economy hotel-chains, Choice and Wyndham, in a Wilcoxon rank-sum test. The study showed that the luxury hotel-chains proved to have negative ACAR’s ten and 15-weeks after the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic, indicating that the luxury hotel-chains were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic announcement. On the other hand, the economy hotel-chains did not see a significant ACAR after the announcement. The Wilcoxon-test concluded a difference between luxury hotel-chains’ ACAR’s and economy hotel-chains’ ACAR’s in the beginning stages of the pandemic. Thus, investments made in economy hotel-chains would have provided the investor with little to no losses when comparing it to luxury-focused hotels.

Keywords: U.S. lodging industry, event-study, COVID-19, hotel stock-prices

This research explores several aspects of an individual-oriented virtual community (e.g., social networking site) that may influence an individual’s evaluation of privacy risks, which may in turn influence individual private disclosure. Based on the notion of discontinuity, this study develops the concept and measurement of perceived community virtuality. Evidence from a study of 271 individual-oriented virtual community members indicates that individuals would assess information privacy risk beliefs based on their perceptions of various aspects of the community’s virtuality. In addition, such information privacy risk beliefs positively influence individuals’ private disclosure. Among the four dimensions, culture virtuality, geographic virtuality, and relationship virtuality load significantly on the perceived community virtuality construct. This result implies that individuals’ perceptions on these three dimensions have effects on their assessment of how virtual their communities are. The finding from this study reveals that, when an individual perceives that his/her virtual community members’ cultural background, geographic location, and/or the relationship networks are different from his/her physical life, the individual may consider higher information privacy risks in the virtual community. From a practical standpoint, this study provides guidance to individual-oriented virtual community platform organizations on how to reduce individuals’ privacy risk beliefs via refining the platform environment. Organizations that host virtual community platforms may want to develop initiatives to decrease individuals’ perceptions of a community’s virtuality specifically for the relationship and copresence discontinuities. Limitations and future research are discussed.

Keywords: virtual community, information privacy, private disclosure

Within an ever-changing marketplace, along with the continued evolution of accreditation standards, those chosen to lead the college business classrooms are being expected to be a combination of industry experts and teachers…all in an effort to yield the best educational outcome possible. While traditional qualifications such as research and teaching accomplishments are still being sought, this increase in industry qualifications raises the question of whether those hired based on industry experience are as effective in the classroom as their more traditionally trained counterparts. Using 355 sets of students’ evaluations of business classes from three public southwestern universities with AACSB accreditation, matched with career information about the respective instructors, this study sought to verify if having industry experience positively impacts classroom effectiveness as well as if years of teaching experience, level of one’s degree, and whether one is currently in an administrative role with their university impacts the student ratings of the instructor. Results supported some hypotheses and previous research while not supporting others. As industry experience was predominately found to not improve one’s effectiveness, the results raise questions for hiring officials and university leadership.

Keywords: management education and careers, classroom management, academic career development, student evaluations of teaching

The nation's universities have traveled an uncertain path since March of 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic created new challenges across the academic landscape and each institution was required to pivot, and then reinvent the way they educated students. The authors of this paper attempt to create a narrative that follows one such mid-sized southern university as they react to the pandemic in the spring of 2020, and then prepare and attempt to maintain a high level of rigor and engagement in its midst. Specifically, this study tells the story of 600-700 statistics students enrolled each semester from fall 2019 to spring 2021. The student success data and the policies enacted by the university combine to give insight into what happened, what worked, and what else could be done.

Keywords: teaching innovation, digital learning strategies, pandemic response, Covid-19

In recent years Institutions of Higher Education have refocused their instructional methods toward online or remote options. This rearrangement has brought challenges to many universities and colleges, the likes of which have not been seen before. Preparing, encouraging, and converting faculty to online instructors has been one of the core issues. Within Higher Education at major colleges and universities a professor whose primary responsibility is teaching strictly online has not been widely accepted. This paper explores the relatively recent changes in Higher Education, types of instruction, the traditional faculty structure, and calls for the addition of an online faculty rank, to include logistics, and recommendations.

Keywords: higher education, faculty, faculty ranks, online instruction, online faculty

Mobile apps are a prevalent element of daily life, particularly within Generation Z. Online dating applications are being used by tens of millions of Americans and are a multi-billion-dollar industry. An online questionnaire collected information related to dating apps in general and Tinder, specifically, from 469 18-25-year-olds. Respondents indicated a lack of awareness of popular dating apps and sites other than Tinder. Of the eight dating apps and websites mentioned in this study, more than half of the respondents did not have an awareness level or sufficient knowledge to evaluate on six of the eight. Respondents identified several strengths of dating apps including being modern and easy to use, highlighting key reasons for the success of the mobile app. On the other hand, respondents were most concerned with safety as well content factors, such as the emphasis on appearance rather than personality. Respondents’ agreement with statements related to Tinder were very similar to the level of agreement with responses related to dating apps in general. Therefore, this begs the question: are 18-25-year-olds simply basing their perceptions of all dating apps solely on Tinder, at the expense of other platforms?

Keywords: dating apps, Tinder, Uses and Gratifications, Generation Z

Drawing on the Spiral of Silence theory, this study investigates young Millennial and Generation Z voters’ willingness to voice their political beliefs in divergent public opinion climates during elections in the digital media era. Young voters in every generation have typically been more cynical, more susceptible, and less informed than older age groups, and more easily influenced by unbalanced media consumptions and skewed social and political contexts. However, this pattern is changing through ‘given’ and ‘chosen’ media consumptions and generational political characteristics. Utilizing a quasi-experimental design of 2 (pro- vs. anti-voting message exposures) x 2 (self pro- vs. self anti-voting attitudes) x 2 (young Millennial voters (N=81, in 2004) vs. young Generation Z voters (N=102, in 2016)), the study found that young voters in the internet and social media eras were not silent any longer. This study observed the deviating patterns of the fading Spiral of Silence, the dual Spiral of Voice, and the reverse Spiral of Silence among the two youngest generations in the American political landscape, and the tendency was stronger for Generation Zs over Millennials. Generation Z young voters in the 2016 election year were much more expressive regardless of public opinion climates and even more expressive in incongruent opinion environments, and formed stronger counter views, compared to young Millennial voters in the 2004 election year.

Keywords: Spiral of Silence, young voter, public opinion, Millennials, Generation Z

What if your personally identifiable information is compromised? How will you react and what measures will you take to prevent this from happening again? Data breaches have become ubiquitous: from large retailers to government agencies and private citizens - all are targeted with persistent attacks: phishing, malware, zero-day threats, credit card and financial data theft, and healthcare records theft. As we look for means to mitigate these attempts, many of us have used various biometric measures from fingerprints, palm prints, retinal scans, to voice authorization, multi-factor authentication and wearable verification or identification devices. This research continues the exploration of previous work (Lahoud, 2020) by focusing on the acceptance determinants for users of wearable ECG-based authentication devices, and by studying the influence of critical endogenous factors such as Subjective Norm, Experience and Perceived Risk on privacy, adoption and purchase decisions.

Keywords: wearables, ECG-authentication, structural equation modelling, partial least squares Technology Acceptance Model

This study evaluated and analyzed how eight craft breweries in Southern New Jersey communicated Sense of Place (SOP) to build brand identity through their websites. In the highly competitive market of craft breweries, many utilize their distinctive geographic identifiers to market their unique SOP to their customers. SOP can be described as the entire group of cognitions and affective sentiments held regarding a particular geographic locale (Altman & Low, 1992; Jorgensen & Stedman, 2001). In this study, SOP was evaluated through Gruenewald’s (2003) Multidisciplinary Framework for Place Conscious Education (MFPCE), which details five indicators: perceptual, sociological, ideological, political, and ecological. A sixth indicator, temporal, was also added (Cavaliere, 2017). Additionally, an effective brand identity strategy informs, guides, and helps develop, nurture, and implement a business’s overall branding strategy (Madhavaram et al., 2005). Brand identity activities ought to be significantly influenced by an indepth understanding of, and appreciation for, an organization’s unique SOP. Since a website is often used by a business as a comprehensive tool to communicate their unique products and services, the increasingly competitive online domain depends on a business’s ability to orchestrate verbal and visual stimuli on product web pages to effectively convert page visitors into buyers (Schlosser et al., 2006). Only one of the eight breweries communicated SOP through all six indicators. Their website communication was comprehensive, descriptive, effective, and visually appealing. This model allows breweries to create interesting, memorable, and engaging website content that drives consumers to experience the place and product.

Keywords: Sense of Place, craft breweries, brand identity, Multidisciplinary Framework for Place Conscious Education (MFPCE), website communication

One recent graduate-student-authored working paper that sparked a chuckle among several of its readers asserted that rapidly increasing real GDP in the short run caused by an unanticipated increase in the money supply "proves the validity of monetarism." The claim was ridiculed because the Keynesian and Austrian macroeconomic schools hold the same tenet, thus the unique validity of monetarism was not proven by the student. This turned out to be an unpleasant surprise to the paper's mathematically gifted but economically challenged author. The present writers aresympathetic. An earlier version of this paper analyzed Brazil's 2004-2016 business cycle, which included the nation's worst economic recession in more than a century. The behavior of different macroeconomic aggregates was examined, including real GDP, the money supply, interest rates, savings, industrial production of higher- and lower-order goods, and inflation. While the paths of said aggregates were found to well fit the pattern of predictions made by Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT) with the authors ready to begin statistical tests, some thoughtful off-the-record criticisms advised gathering more data and evaluating them in light of the theoretical predictions made by ABCT's main competing paradigm, monetarism. Hence the purpose of this paper. The results reveal that the critics had a valid point: when a new paradigm is brought into the picture, what previously looked like a good-enough fit can change. Thus, the value of paradigmatic analysis, an analytic method undertaken way too infrequently today.

Keywords: monetarism, Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT), Brazil, recession, macroeconomics

Despite significant efforts by the U.S. government to achieve gender equality, gender-based differences in worker compensation persist. Women tend to make less money than their male colleagues in most workplaces. Rather than only considering salary and the sex of the faculty member, this study explores the existence of salary disparities by sex, academic rank, and size of universities within business programs. We discuss the existing trends in-depth and offer some thoughts on the prospects for the future. Findings from our study could inform decision-making and have policy implications for public universities and individual states in the U.S. We base our empirical analysis on data gathered from the faculties in the College of Business of 4-year public universities in one state in the south-central U.S. Controlling for faculty heterogeneity, we use factorial N-way ANOVA for our analysis.

Keywords: pay gap, business faculty, sex, gender equality

The present work investigated the ability of female hairstyle, as a solitary visual cue, to affect observer inference of wearer occupation, personality, desirability for hiring, and influence ratings on estimated attributes in a service scenario. Faceless pencil drawings of five female hairstyles were presented to respondents at websites, and they clicked the occupation or personality they intuited for each hairstyle from a choice list. For a hiring scenario, respondents ranked hairstyles in order of hiring preference. In a service scenario, respondents rated hairstyles on competency, interpersonal warmth, and anticipated service satisfaction. Hairstyle significantly predicted estimated service occupation and personality. Also, significant differences were found among the hairstyles in a hiring scenario, and for the rated attribute of interpersonal warmth in a service encounter scenario. Only hairstyles typical of young, white women were investigated. Inferences from a combination of hairstyle with other visual elements (such as face, clothing, and accessories) were not explored. Respondent samples were largely female. Results indicate consumers have visual expectations for female hairstyle in the studied service occupations. This effect carried forward into the hiring scenario, suggesting a hiring bias based on hairstyle. It is recommended that service providers pre-test their personal photos for communication effect before posting at provider websites, LinkedIn or Facebook.

Keywords: social cognition, impression formation, relationship marketing, service encounter

This paper examines the role of inequality of opportunity on regional economic growth in the United States. We use data from the commuting zone level to estimate the relationship between intergenerational mobility, as measured by absolute and relative mobility, on per capita income growth from 2000 to 2013. We find that the geographic relationship which exists between observations in the dataset reduces the reliability of estimated coefficients and standard errors obtained using ordinary least squares estimation. We control for spatial autocorrelation caused by this geographic relationship and find that both absolute and relative mobility have a positive effect on growth, adding to the body of evidence which identifies access to opportunity as a critical determinant of economic growth. We also find that absolute and relative mobility both have a 20 percent greater marginal effect on growth than when estimated using ordinary least squares. These findings have important policy implications as they confirm the importance of the inequality of opportunity in local economic development.

Keywords: intergenerational mobility, per capita income growth, spatial econometrics

Gamification, the use of game design elements in non-game contexts (Deterding, Dixon, Khaled & Nacke, 2011), is permeating various types of information systems (IS) and becoming a promising approach for motivating and engaging IS users. Despite the potential benefits of using gamification elements in information systems, there is still limited understanding of how gamification influences IS users’ motivations and task performance. This paper focuses on the implications of gamified IS for task performance through its impacts on the goal adoption and achievement behaviors of IS users. Drawing on the Achievement Goal Theory, regulatory focus theory and gamified IS research, a theoretical framework is developed to investigate how gamification influences IS users’ goal choices, goal striving behaviors and task performance. The model proposes that the motivational gameful experiences offered by a gamified IS affect IS users’ goal orientations toward achievement, which in turn affect users’ task performance, mediated by their self-regulatory goal-striving strategies. By providing an understanding of how various gameful experiences of gamified IS influence users’ goal orientations and their task performance with an IS, this paper will offer guidelines on how to appropriately design and implement gamification to improve the task performance of IS users.

Keywords: gamification, goal orientation, regulatory focus, performance

Unmanned aerial systems (UASs) are increasing in usage — commercially, recreationally, and by government, military, and police. This research documents how off-the-shelf UASs, or drones, are vulnerable to hacking and how easy it is for an attacker to seize control of a Wi-Fi or radio-frequency-controlled drone. A simple programmable drone for education named the Tello EDU drone was used for this study. For drones of this type, a smartphone can connect to the drone’s access point via Wi-Fi, allowing the phone to send movement commands from an app. An open-source packet sniffing tool named Aircrack-ng and a USB Wi-Fi antenna were used to disrupt and replace the connection between the Tello drone and a target’s smartphone. A custom Python program was used to disconnect the Tello drone and take over the drone. Overall, this research shows that it is possible to take full control of a drone in under 45 seconds. To illustrate the adversary activities, the Cyber Kill Chain framework was used, and each step is detailed in full for further research and immediate use in cyber education and research. To mitigate against such attacks, a few recommendations are put forward. Specifically, for a drone of this type, WPA2 should be enabled by default with strong, unique passwords for each device, and support for 802.11w must be made available. With proper precautions, Wi-Fi and other radio-frequency-controlled drones’ vulnerability to exploits can be minimized.

Keywords: drone hacking, kill chain, unmanned aerial systems, drones, cybersecurity

Workplace diversity, guided by laws as well as managerial policy for equal opportunity in hiring decisions, becomes part of organizational climate through goal-directed diversity policies and behavioral practices. Organizational managers may strive to effect strategic diversity goals, but they may not accomplish diverse workplaces which suggests a gap may exist during hiring decisions. The purpose of this study is to assess and explore relationships between perceived organizational diversity climate with relationships to individual work ethic, beliefs, personality, culture values, and resistance to change. In this study 400 participants volunteered to participate with 202 completing measures in this online study from a global, southern university and many reported years of work and military experience. Findings indicate that attitudes about workplace diversity are positively related to multidimensional work ethic variables of morality ethics, centrality of work, hard work, and no wasted time. However, workplace diversity attitudes were negatively related to resistance to change, subsuming variables of routine seeking, emotional reaction, and short-term focus. Organizational diversity fairness, inclusion, and fulfillment climate is positively related to work ethic and to exploratory findings for Hofstede’s culture values of power distance, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance. Significant regression predictors of diversity climate include hard work, delay of gratification, humanistic, and organizational beliefs. Research implications suggest that knowledge of managerial and employee diversity attitudes and work ethic may pinpoint needs for diversity and cultural training. Development initiatives may include shared workplace experiences on diverse, inclusive work teams and/or opportunities to work at global sites in order to build subsequent diverse, cohesive organizational climates.

Keywords: workplace diversity, organizational climate, equity, inclusion, organizational culture

This research considers the impact of various taxes on business activity before, during, and after implementation of the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA). Business activity is measured through changes in the level of corporate business applications and other business applications, such as proprietorship, partnership, and Limited Liability Company (LLC). Type of taxes considered are corporate income tax, individual income tax, sales tax, property tax, and unemployment insurance tax. Each tax is measured by rank within each U.S. state. The purpose of the research is to (i) identify to what extent TCJA affects business activity and (ii) if impact varies from type of tax. After enactment of TCJA business activity generally increases in high tax states, with positive correlations between sales taxes and property with business activity suggesting that quality of life issues from school and infrastructure funding initially could be part of a business location decision; results otherwise vary. This research extends the use of prior time series models by using annual models and separating corporate business activity from other business activity in evaluating impact by business type.

Keywords: business activity, corporations, taxes

During a pandemic, the time frame to develop a vaccine can shrink to merely 5-9 months. Countries are shortening the normal value chain for vaccine development to mitigate the death toll during a global health crisis. An expedited process, politics, varying distribution priorities, Phase 1, 2 & 3 testing disparities, minimal oversight, financial incentives, and a lack of transparency are all issues that impact trust and the quality of a vaccine. The value chain for developing a COVID-19 vaccine is explored along with possible ethical/quality issues that could arise during this process. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests and results from Marascuilo pairwise comparison procedures were used to analyze surveys about trust, concerns, and vaccinations amid a pandemic. The results indicate that more respondents were worried about getting COVID-19 than getting the seasonal flu and that respondents from the US were less willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine as compared with other countries.

Keywords: COVID-19, value chain for vaccines, pandemic drug therapies, public opinion about vaccines

Business competitiveness in the global marketplace is dependent upon the stability, infrastructure, policies, and practices of the nations with which it does business. A nation’s competitiveness is fundamentally interconnected with its businesses and while on the world stage, it is tied to its globalist and nationalist strategies. There are objective approaches to measuring various dimensions of national outcomes of competitiveness from economic, political, and social platforms. Many internationally recognized indices seek to offer standard-based, objective perspectives and associated data on what constitutes nation-state greatness. These indices are based upon a globalist perspective, acknowledging that a nation’s competitiveness is in relationship with other nations. The paper utilizes the constructs of business competitiveness in the context of several of these internationally accepted indices.

This study operationalizes the USA’s global competitiveness from three dimensions: economic, political, and social, by analyzing indices recognized as valuable to assessing a nation’s outcomes. Further, it considers the international business competitiveness of the USA over four decades of the presidential administrations, from Carter to Obama, to advance the country’s international commerce and determine if there is alignment with the international standard measured by these indices. Also, each presidential business competitive policy and their concomitant outcomes, are analyzed based on the theoretical underpinnings of both nationalism and globalism and posit which posture best supports USA’s international competitiveness on the macro level. The paper concludes that both globalist and nationalist strategies in a globalized world have advanced the USA's international business competitiveness.

Keywords: international business competitiveness, globalization, globalism, nationalism, country indices

It is often said that “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it” (Churchill, 1948). For this reason, the practice of revisiting and dissecting past corporate failures can prove highly instructional. In fact, conducting such post-mortems might sometimes reveal not just past mistakes that should be avoided but also theoretically brilliant ideas that failed because they were either poorly-executed, insufficiently supported, or simply ahead of their time. This article presents a teaching case study of the theatrical film subscription service MoviePass’s rise and fall and, in so doing, attempts to provide an interesting and provocative narrative for examination of a company that failed spectacularly. In its wake, MoviePass left a legacy of unrealized potential and innovative ideas that eluded MoviePass’s leadership but that have percolated into other companies’ offerings. This article aims to engender an appreciation for the value of analytically discussing failure and to promote an understanding of how engaging in such an exercise can help decision makers – here, within the context of the pandemic-ravaged movie industry, an examined market generalizable to countless other areas sorely affected throughout 2020 and beyond. This illustrative case study simultaneously helps to fill a gap in management literature by examining corporate failure through a strategic lens, thereby providing an effective instructional tool for management educators and facilitating a prime opportunity for discussion of one of the industries hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: corporate failure, MoviePass, COVID-19, case study

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a new method for presenting options to insurance customers by providing clarity in the process of evaluating risky decisions when purchasing insurance. A point of interest for the insurance industry is how customers consider the fairness of an insurance contract based on the probability of a claim and the certainty equivalent of paying a fixed amount up-front to mitigate uncertain losses. Insurance providers are better able to meet the needs of their customers when they are able to communicate the utility their policies provide. This paper extends formulas currently presented as prospect theory into a format available to the insurance industry in order to improve customer awareness of the value of any given insurance policy. The goal is to identify a single score that, presented in dollar amount, would offer equivalent utility to a customer regarding the risk being mitigated. A targeted advantage of the method of arriving at a single payout utility equivalent (SPUE) is that the approach can be generalized to apply to most types of insurance as well as other decisions based on risky outcomes, such as lotteries or gambles.

Keywords: expected utility, insurance, Prospect theory, dollar weighted utility

In response to the COVID pandemic, there has been a rush to get traditional classrooms pushed into online environments as a means of keeping students safe while moving forward with their educations. There is an exploding need for students to become technologically adept across platforms and devices toward fully understanding and applying high technology as a means of meeting daily operations requirements for employers. This paper presents the COVID-compliant redesign from a teaching team for students who are new to an Information Systems course requiring online interaction as well as competency with workflow product applications. We leveraged technology in a teaching environment to optimize student learning outcomes. The course described here incorporates andragogical best practices for rapid deployment and training transfer.

Keywords: information systems, teaching, life skills

The COVID pandemic highlighted an underlying issue in higher education: Lack of employee development in business faculties throughout the country. There is concern that instructors are out of touch with students and technology. This was demonstrated by the rush to embrace technology for those who were not familiar with online teaching platforms as the pandemic increased in ferocity. The need for business faculty to expand their knowledge of technology as well as teaching methods to remain effective at teaching was immediate and experienced by many as a painful event. Business faculty members are not as knowledgeable about theory of teaching, having focused, instead, on their disciplines. Technology literacy is a challenge especially for faculty members teaching graduate programs, because the students may be more well-versed in technology than the faculty member. With the increasing numbers of students in online education and the adult students in graduate programs, business faculties must consider more effective teaching preparation to continue having a positive impact on students. By looking through the theoretical approaches of stakeholder theory, andragogy, and corporate social responsibility, faculty development can be addressed through an effective framework and integration of developmental areas, elements, and supporting activities to better address effective graduate online teaching and learning in the 21st century.

Keywords: online graduate education, faculty development, ethic of care, andragogy

Education and the accounting profession's governing bodies continue to narrowly define profit and loss using revenue and expenses without regard for environmental costs. With the current environment of COVID-19 wreaking havoc on businesses and industries, unemployment, and the economic climate, sustainability should find worth to the overall accounting and educational sector. Failure to include these environmental impacts of corporate operations continues to understate losses and overstate profits. The study has determined that higher education in the United States (U.S.) has made little headway with sustainability within the traditional college curriculum. The survey also yielded exciting information regarding the location of programs that included sustainability accounting in the curriculum and the level of accreditation of the business program. The geographic information and university accreditation status have never been collected previously by any other survey. The inclusion of sustainability accounting in the curriculum was anticipated to have increased. However, when comparing prior surveys on sustainability inclusion in accounting, progress has declined.

Keywords: externalities, financial capital, natural capital, nonrenewable resources, renewable resources, social capital, sustainability, accounting accreditation

This study examined generation differences in employee retention during the COVID-19 pandemic between three generations – Gen Z, Gen Y, and Gen X. Specifically, this study investigated the effects of transformational and transactional leadership, corporate social responsibility, technology, autonomy and work–life balance (WLB), on employee retention, and explored generation differences in these relationships. To test proposed relationships, a voluntary survey was conducted via Amazon M-Turk in April and August 2020. Based on a sample of 495 U.S. workers, the analyses using multiple regression models showed that all six factors were significantly positively related to employee retention. We further found that most important factors affecting employee retention were different between generations. For Gen Z, the most important factor was transformational and transactional leadership. For Gen Y, transformational and transactional leadership, autonomy and WLB were the most significant factors. Meanwhile, Gen X valued transformational leadership, corporate social responsibility, autonomy and WLB the most. This research provides insights for managers on how to manage employee retention differently between generations.

Keywords: leadership, corporate social responsibility, work–life balance, technology, autonomy

Minority entrepreneurship rates are disproportionately low, and their average success rates are significantly lower than that of white entrepreneurs. This study seeks to identify the demographic background and personal attributes that explain success for minority entrepreneurs. We investigate the effects of seven personality traits: conscientiousness, extroversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, openness to new experiences, achievement, and self-efficacy. These are the commonly-used Big Five with the addition of achievement and self-efficacy. We hypothesize these attributes as characteristics of leaders and entrepreneurs. We examine the significance of each personality trait on the success of minority entrepreneurs in Arkansas. Our success measures in this study include extrinsic success (revenue and the number of employees) and intrinsic success (self-assessed success scores). We use correlation and regression analyses based on responses from 287 Arkansas minority entrepreneurs. The results suggest that personality traits do not substantially explain the success of minority entrepreneurs when looking at the extrinsic measures of success. There is some evidence that intrinsic or self-reported levels of conscientiousness, emotional stability, and achievement are positively associated with subjective self-assessed success scores.

Keywords: minority entrepreneurship, personality attributes, the Big Five Factors

Face-ism theory (Archer, Kimes & Barrios, 1983), which posits that newsmakers whose media images display more facial prominence are viewed as more powerful by media consumers, informed the theoretical research perspective. The study is relevant to public relations, because how images of candidates are displayed in news content may have an impact on voter perceptions of the candidates. The unit of analysis was any still photograph of the Democratic and Republican presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the United States 2020 general election from YouTube videos published by United States television news networks Aug. 12 until Nov. 3, 2020, election day. Two coders examined 5,425 candidate photos; intercoder agreement was 96 percent or higher on each variable. A six-point body index scale served as the dependent variable. Independent variables were the networks, candidate, gender and political party. Trump’s images were the most frequent (3,276/60.4%), followed by Biden (1,386/25.5%), Harris (480/8.8%) and Pence (283/5.2%). FOX published more images of the candidates (1,051/19.4%) than any other network; CNN published the least (418/7.7%). Images of Democratic candidates (56.6%) were more frequently cropped at upper regions of the body with more facial prominence than images of Republican candidates (46.8%) who were more frequently cropped at lower regions of the body with less facial prominence, significant at <.001. Images of Trump (46.1%) showed less facial prominence than images of the other candidates, significant at <.001. Images of the female candidate displayed more facial prominence (52.9%) than male candidate images (49.9%), but the differences were not significant.

Keywords: Face-ism theory, public relations campaigns, political communication, United States Presidential Election

Much discussion has recently been placed not only on the role of diversity but also narcissism in both organizations and society as a whole. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between narcissism and an individual’s thoughts, opinions, and attitudes on diversity. Given that narcissism, by definition, causes an inward focus, the study sought to understand how this inward facing trait affects the outward facing issue of diversity. Framed within self-verification theory, we used a mixed methods approach to investigate individual expressions of diversity and their relationship to levels of narcissism. Seventy-two participants completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and an essay expressing their views on diversity. Linguistic analysis was conducted to determine if expressions of diversity were predominantly prosocial or proself. Results indicated that narcissism is related to expressions of diversity. Prosocial expressions correlated positively with positive expressions of diversity and correlated negatively with proself expressions. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: diversity, narcissism, identity, personality, mixed-methods

There is a great deal of interest in research that focuses on finding ways to control the spread of misinformation on social media networks. Prior research examined a social media network (SMN) feature called “related articles,” which provide context directly under SMN posts with potentially misinformed content about controversial topics. Other research examined how SMN users were influenced by social interactions that occurred on a particular post. In this study, we examined how both features worked independently, and together, to reduce the spread of misinformation. Through an experimental survey administered to 112 respondents, we measured the effectiveness of these SMN features in correcting misperceptions of SMN users. Results indicated that related articles proved to be the best approach to mitigate misinformation, even when displayed in combination with social engagement features. We conclude the paper with a discussion of results and concluding remarks on the impact of our study to academia and practice.

Keywords: social media networks, misinformation, mitigation techniques, related articles, social engagement, cybersecurity

Until recently gossip has been often portrayed as a trivial and even destructive behavior in work organizations. The purpose of this paper is to provide a more nuanced and balanced understanding of gossip as an adaptive socio-cultural learning practice in the workplace. From a multilevel evolutionary perspective, we emphasize that indirect reciprocity, a mechanism for the evolution of cooperation, underscores the emergence and the selective retention of gossip in the workplace. As evolutionary processes work at both individual and group levels, we also highlight that gossip has played the important roles of controlling free riders and sanctioning defectors by managing their reputations and indirectly enforcing cooperative group norms. Based on our evolutionary functional analysis, we present several propositions for future empirical studies, and discuss practical implications for managing gossip in contemporary work organizations.

Keywords: gossip, informal organizational communication, multilevel evolutionary theory

This research explores the connection between employees’ perceptions of leadership communication – specifically, their leader’s interpersonal communication competence – and employee motivation and job satisfaction. Utilizing the interpersonal leadership model developed by Lamm, Carter and Lamm (2016), the literature review explores supporting research that first develops a connection between leadership and interpersonal communication. Spitzberg’s (1983) theory of interpersonal communication demonstrates why perceived communication is important and how it correlates with motivation and job satisfaction. The Perceived Leadership Communication Questionnaire (PLCQ), the Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale (MWMS), and the Job In General (JIG) scale were used to look for correlations between perceived leader communication, job satisfaction and motivation. Elements of the three scales were combined with demographic questions into a questionnaire distributed electronically to non-faculty, university employees. The various types of positions within a university provide the opportunity to relate the results to more organizations. The results indicated that the 223 respondents had high levels of job satisfaction and work motivation. Additionally, they perceived very strong interpersonal communication competence from their leaders. The results offered support for some of the four hypotheses tested. A moderately strong, statistically significant relationship was found between the respondents’ general job satisfaction (JIG) and their assessment of a leader’s communication (PLCQ). Statistically significant, but weaker, negative correlations were found between the measure of amotivation, (MWMS-AM) and both job satisfaction (JIG) and perception of leader communication (PLCQ). These results suggest that leaders should consider the role that perceived communication has on the employee’s job satisfaction and work motivation.

Keywords: PLCQ, MWMS, JIG, leader communication, job satisfaction, work motivation

This research focuses on the paradoxical nature of user experience with information technology (IT) and draws on the Regulatory Focus (RF) theory and desirability-feasibility framework to examine how the diametric anchors of IT paradoxes (fulfills needs / creates needs, new / obsolete, control / chaos, engaging / disengaging, freedom / enslavement, assimilation / isolation, efficiency / inefficiency, competence / incompetence) influence users’ perceptions of IT performance ambiguity, their cognitive and emotional trust in IT and continuance intention to use IT. According to the desirability-feasibility framework, this research classifies the IT paradoxes into two categories – the functional desirability paradoxes and the usage feasibility paradoxes. The RF theory distinguishes between two motivational orientations – promotion focus and prevention focus. Individuals with a promotion focus are driven by the need for attainment of positive outcomes, oriented toward the maximization of gains and advancement, and likely to adopt high-level construals focused on the functional desirability of IT. In contrast, individuals with a prevention focus are driven by the need for avoidance of negative outcomes, oriented toward the minimization of losses and safety, and likely to adopt low-level construals concerned with the usage feasibility of IT. Accordingly, this research proposes that individuals’ regulatory foci determine the differential effects of the diametric anchors of IT functional desirability paradoxes and usage feasibility paradoxes on users’ perceived IT performance ambiguity as well as their cognitive trust and emotional trust in IT, which consequently influence their continued IT use intention.

Keywords: technology paradoxes, promotion focus, prevention focus, cognitive trust, emotional trust, continuance intention

Organizations today are in vital need of viewing, interacting, and interpreting vast amounts of data in quick easy design views. Management wants to visualize business growth, forecasting and trends in diagrams and dashboards. With an increase in data analytics, data visualization is a way to display information in a visual manner whether on paper, a computer screen, or a projector. Data-Driven Documents have become increasingly more important in the corporate world. It is becoming a new and popular way to share data in an interactive and creative way. With numerous tools designed to facilitate these data visualization needs, it becomes difficult to know and understand what users interpret as easy, useful, and/or efficient. We explore two popular freely available data visualization tools: D3.JS and Google Charts Tools for retail customer data. Thirty participants were recruited for the study. However, only 29 participants completed the task. A paired sample t-test was performed. The results indicated that D3.JS is more efficient than Google Charts, however Google Charts is more user friendly than D3.JS. Our research highlights the significance that different visualization tools may amplify users’ levels of effectiveness, efficiency and preference based on its presentation and ease of use. Therefore, organizations should be mindful to their selection of data visualization tools and their audience.

Keywords: data visualization, data-driven documents, Google Charts, D3.JS, open source

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been gaining fresh momentum with remarkable breakthroughs. AI-powered applications have been developed and deployed rapidly for various business functions across different industries. This paper focuses on natural language processing (NLP) in the context of patient care. The use of NLP in the medical field has been growing fast and drawing more and more attention. Although NLP has been dominantly used in clinical and translation research, the recent technological development and the increasing availability of patient data have provided opportunities for the direct use of NLP to patient care, the core of the medicine. This study assesses the applications of NLP in patient care. Specifically, it conducts a review of publications on how NLP is applied in patient care from 2004 to 2019. The analysis of the literature has provided interesting insights and trends, as well as gaps in the applications of NLP in patient care. This study informs the researchers and practitioners of the status quo of the NLP applications in patient care and helps stimulate research efforts that can lead to more advances in applying NLP to clinical decision support and operation.

Keywords: Natural Language Processing, NLP, NLP applications, patient care, clinical decision support

This study revisited two traditional public opinion theories, the Spiral of Silence and the Bandwagon effect, and proposed modified versions of the reverse Spiral of Silence as an ad-hoc approach and the digressing Bandwagon effect as a post-hoc approach to examine the patterns of political opinion formation and distribution in the blogosphere. The study analyzed textual-based interactive weblog dialogues and found that political weblogs fed crosscutting views that used to be suppressed in real-world politics. There were differing degrees of suppressing Spiral of Silence and digressing Bandwagon effects across the different types of electoral, general political and non-political weblogs through the different venues of liberal, neutral, and conservative political dialogues. Politically liberal bloggers in electoral weblogs were most likely to present crosscutting views among the various types of partisan bloggers, nullifying the Spiral of Silence and Bandwagon effects. This study identified the importance of the theoretical justifications of, and alterations to, the classical approaches in the new communication and information era.

Keywords: Spiral of Silence, Bandwagon Effect, political weblog, crosscutting political dialogue, partisan blogger

Even though more women are part of the workforce, women still face considerable obstacles in leadership. Among these obstacles, a subordinate's perception of the leader is most salient. Considerable research has been undertaken to understand the disparity of subordinate perceptive evaluations between male and female leaders. This article examines two questions: Does the gender of the leader influence the subordinates' attitudes regarding the leader's effectiveness? If so, to what extent do women suffer disadvantages from the perceptions of their subordinates? Examined through the lens of role congruity theory, this article shows that women face significant hurdles when compared to men in similar positions; however, research shows potential moderating effects such as leadership style, time, and organizational culture, calling for future research to expand the understanding of the emerging phenomenon better. Managerial implications are presented to aid firms in increasing the leadership effectiveness of women, as well as suggestions to help challenge persistent impediments to successful female leadership.

Keywords: leadership effectiveness, gender bias, female leadership, Role Congruity theory, gender stereotypes

This study examines how student perceptions of game-day and in-game promotions correlate with attending college football games. Using a quantitative survey of students at a Midwestern, state, flagship, Football Championship School (FCS) university, this study examines factors that influence student attendance of the school’s football games. Topics under study include what communication sources students prefer to use to learn about university athletic events or promotions, what factors influence the students’ likelihood of attending, and how important are different elements of the game day activities to the students’ decision to attend university athletic events? The results found that students prefer email and word-of-mouth information sources. The results also demonstrated that game-day activities that promote socialization, as well as rivalry games were the most likely to be significantly associated with past game attendance. High mean scores for socializing with friends and pre-game tailgating reinforce the importance of the social aspects of the game.

Keywords: sports marketing, collegefFootball, game-day experience, tailgating, FCS football

The consumption of media has been established as one of the elements responsible for changing the general population’s perceptions. Specifically, cultivation theory (depending on the amount of media use) points to an enhanced representation of a characterization conveyed through the media. This depiction has the potential to create an inaccurate portrayal (stereotype) leading to an increased level of anxiety. The proliferation of reported incidents (real or perceived) associated with mass shootings in the U.S. over the last 20 years is an example. This paper traces the relatively recent coverage of mass shootings in the U.S. by the media and the side effects on the school environment. Included are factors that contribute to an increase of reports concerning violence and shootings. Followed by a discussion of components that may be responsible for this escalation and an examination of the procedures that could be put into place to handle this increase.

Keywords: media, Cultivation Theory, college campuses, mass shootings, behavioral intervention teams, active bystander

There is a preoccupation in the entrepreneurship literature with the optimism of entrepreneurs and marked neglect of their pessimism and realism. This article posits that in addition to optimism, though often overlooked, “pessimism” may be a coexisting disposition in the entrepreneurs’ mindset, integral to explanations of their role performances. We developed an Entrepreneur Optimism - Realism - Pessimism (EORP) Model, which incorporates optimism, pessimism and realism within a common conceptual framework. Optimism and pessimism are dispositions that focus on current and future outcomes and the two intersect at what we term an axis of realism – the complex of challenges and outcomes from entrepreneurial activities. The EORP model is tested utilizing data derived from a survey of youth entrepreneurs in the developing country of Guyana. The findings revealed statistically significant correlations among the optimism, pessimism and realism of entrepreneurs and may have implications for an extended theoretical understanding of entrepreneurial dispositions.

Keywords: youth entrepreneurs, youth entrepreneur challenges and outcomes, axis of realism

This paper is a reminder that it is good to engage in systematic self-reflection and establish what public relations people call themselves. It provides a brief highlight of many ongoing discussions about how public relations can be professionalized, be credible and earn legitimacy. It provides a descriptive analysis of how five professional organizations (or recognized mouthpieces for the fields of public relations, marketing and advertising that they represent) regularly talk about public relations people and others who engage in related strategic professional initiatives. It does so recognizing that public relations, marketing and advertising people often compete for the same jobs and positions of organizational influence. Finally, it highlights future directions of study to bring an answer to the question of “what should we call ourselves?” once it establishes how public relations, marketing and advertising talk about themselves and their people. While both marketing and advertising are regularly mentioned in the public relations professional publications included in this analysis, public relations is almost totally absent in the analyzed marketing or advertising professional publications. Practical implications of findings are discussed, as well as suggestions for further research to pave a way forward to answering the question of what public relations people should be called.

Keywords: public relations, professionalization, legitimacy, credibility, business

We have presented two streams of research at several IABD conferences: one stream described the relationship between technology and group performance; a second explored cultural differences and impact on interpersonal relations. We gathered data from two focus groups and surveys of American and Chinese university students, testing whether Millennials across two different cultures would use technology in similar fashion to complete classroom assignments. We also collected the perspectives and interpretations regarding cultures of China, the United States and Western Europe from a group of leaders of privately owned businesses in China. Data suggest that several intervening variables need to be considered and that culture has a direct impact on students’ use of and preference for technology. Generalized trust has a direct impact on the choice of technology. In addition, national culture directly affects generalized trust. Our original perception included the expectation that group processes were essential in resulting in higher group performance. Results indicate, for example, interpersonal trust, a more specific concept than generalized trust, has a major impact on the performance of any group, and peer learning is both a mediating variable and a desirable outcome for faculty and students. So, this level of interpersonal trust is impacted by the type/level of technology and it also mediates the relationship between technology and group performance. We present this extended version of our research model and discuss the implications it suggests for further research, including asking questions to help us learn more about the impact of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter, and the unprecedented situation in which we find ourselves today.

Keywords: national culture, generalized trust, communication types, intragroup processes, impact of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter

Increasingly, adult students, including those with significant industry and/or military backgrounds, seek graduate degrees in business fields. Many of these midcareer adults already hold positions of responsibility and leadership, so they are more sophisticated and prepared than early university students. This paper describes teaching methods used in a graduate program that address the needs of experienced, working adults using multiple, integrated learning theories. Student experiences are integrated into the classroom to prepare students to return to their organizations to solve problems/present solutions in a consistent, well developed manner.

Keywords: graduate business education, integrated learning theories, applied learning

In today’s globalized society, organizations are competing for clients all over the world. Increased accessibility of technology has expanded globalization and made it possible for companies to move business efforts from a local to global scale. The opportunity to connect with global customers has created a challenge for companies—a competitive global market. This paper explains how organizations should utilize storytelling to combat global competition. Storytelling will move consumers along the customer journey model by creating personal connections with consumers, guiding how consumers ask and act, and turning consumers into brand advocates. A review of pertinent literature on the competitive global market, storytelling, and the customer journey model is included. The impact of technology and innovation in global markets is reported. Organizations’ roles in creating programs and training employees with an understanding of the cultural values of the markets they do business in is also discussed. The review of storytelling shares the permeance of stories and how organizations use them to connect with customers. Lastly, the paper explains the progress of customers connecting with a brand through the five pathways of the customer journey model: aware, appeal, ask, act, and advocate.

Keywords: customer journey model, storytelling, globalization, global competition

This paper describes the design and implementation of a Learning Management System (LMS) based on cloud notebooks and cloud storage. Cloud notebooks were developed to replace a Google Sites-based course website that previously functioned as an LMS. Prior to using the course website, Moodle was used briefly as the LMS. Compared to these two previous systems, the current notebook based LMS, also referred to as a Learning Management Notebook (LMN), is simpler to use and navigate. It can easily be modified, updated, and maintained by an instructor and lends to rapid development using affordable cloud resources. The paper discusses the user interface design, the mapping of a previously implemented course website onto a set of cloud notebooks, and the integration of the notebooks with cloud storage. It also describes the features that can be added to expand the scope of the LMN. Based on the experience gained with the deployment of the LMN in different courses, the advantages and disadvantages of using the LMN are discussed. The conclusion arrived is that, depending on the degree to which an instructor chooses to use the features of a typical LMS, the cloud-based notebooks can be a viable alternative to a traditional LMS such as Moodle or Canvas. When used in conjunction with cloud storage, a tablet computer and a collaboration platform such as Microsoft Teams, the LMN can offer many of the same features and advantages of a traditional LMS, but with better customizable options and easier navigation and manageability.

Keywords: e-learning, LMS, OneNote, cloud notebooks, LMN

A holistic approach to digitization enables decision-makers to achieve new efficiency in corporate performance management. The digitalization improves the quality, validity and speed of infor-mation retrieval and processing. At present, most corporations are confronted with the problem of not being able to organize, categorize and visualize decision-relevant information. To meet the challenges of information management, the Management Cockpit provides an information center for managers. In accordance with the specific working environment of the executives, the Man-agement Cockpit offers a quick and comprehensive overview of the company's situation. Today, the current situation of a company is no longer only influenced by internal factors, but also by its public image. Social media monitoring and analysis is therefore a crucial component for the exter-nal factors of successful management. Real-time monitoring of the emotions and behaviors of con-sumers and customers thus contributes to effective controlling of all business areas. The intelligent factories promise to collect data for internal factors, but the current reality in manufacturing looks different. Production often consists of a large number of different machines, with varying degrees of digitization and limited sensor data availability. In order to close this gap, we developed a com-pact sensor board with network components, which allows a flexible design with different sensors for a wide variety of applications. The sensor data enable decision makers to adapt the supply chain based on their internal and external observations in the Management Cockpit. Due to the realtime- and long-term monitoring and analytic possibilities the Management Cockpit provides a multi-dimensional view of the company and supports an holistic Corporate Performance Management.

Keywords: corporate performance management, Management Cockpit, decision making, data mining

Vietnam was named “Asia's 2018 Leading Destination” (Das, 2019). However, with a substantial increase in both international and domestic visitors, Vietnam has also experienced environmental challenges. The increase in guests has also given way to an increased growth in hotel development. And with this, Vietnam has offered the Green Lotus Award to organizations that are working toward environmental protection. However, more guests still trend toward patronizing the non-green hotels, noting room rate differences and easier access to the non-green properties. Through content analysis of 2,000 guest comments from TripAdvisor, this study has focused on hotel customer satisfaction in Vietnam using technical quality, functional quality, the physical environment, and the natural environment as factors of satisfaction. Ultimately, this information should provide the green hoteliers a useful understanding on guest satisfaction points between green and non-green hotels that they can use to expand their customer base. The study revealed that guests are most satisfied with the cleanliness of green lotus hotels and the staff’s helpfulness or knowledge of green hotels and non-green hotels.

Keywords: Servicescape, technical quality, functional quality, customer satisfaction, green hotels

Academia has long lamented the plight of the adjunct and seemingly ever-growing dependence on these part-time, no job security academics bearing the load of teaching on four-year and two-year college campuses. As reported by the AAUP, more than 50% of today’s college faculty are part-time (2018). While much attention has been paid to adjuncts, little of this focus has been directed toward adjuncts in the business college. The purpose of this exploratory paper is to investigate and discuss the job satisfaction of adjuncts within the college of business. In Study #1, a semi-random sampling of business adjuncts representing doctoral, masters, and bachelor’s degree-granting institutions within the United States were administered a modified version of the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire. Using their categorical ratings, the 192 participants’ levels of intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction with their positions were explored in relation to demographics such as years of teaching, industry experience, degree level, and the reason for being an adjunct. In Study #2, longitudinal data was gathered from the participants to see how their job satisfaction levels had changed during a five-year period as well as to investigate how many of the participants were still teaching, either in a part-time or full-time status.

Keywords: job satisfaction, business college, adjunct faculty, college faculty, part-time faculty

Gamification, the use of game design elements in non-game contexts (Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, & Nacke, 2011), is permeating various types of information systems (IS) and becoming an important way of engaging IS users. Despite the potential benefits of gamification, organizations often have difficulty sustaining user engagement with a gamified IS. This paper focuses on how a gamified IS can be designed to engage users and motivate them to continue system use. Drawing on the affordance theory, motivation theory, flow theories, and gamification research in the IS field, a theoretical model is developed to investigate the impacts of gamification on IS user engagement and continuance intention. The model proposes the positive effect of gamification affordances of a gamified IS on users’ experience of cognitive absorption, the mediating effect of satisfaction of users’ motivation needs on the relationship between gamification affordances and aesthetic experience, and the positive effects of cognitive absorption and aesthetic experience on users’ continuance intention to use the gamified IS. By providing an understanding of how various game components improve users’ experiences and foster their engagement with an IS, this paper will offer guidelines on how to appropriately design and implement gamification features to engage IS users over time.

Keywords: gamification, motivational needs, cognitive absorption, aesthetic experience, continuance intention

The availability, affordability and pervasiveness of mobile and wearable devices is at an all-time high. At the same time, the increasing magnitude of security breaches, including sophisticated hacking methods, ransomware, malware and phishing attacks, have reached alarming levels. In most incidents, personally identifiable information is compromised, such as login credentials, credit card and healthcare records (Armerding, 2018; Berghel, 2017; Bonner, 2012). This study details how the workplace perceptions (i.e. within corporations and business establishments) of wearable ECG-based authentication will ultimately impact how readily a new form of mobile technology will be adopted. The framework of this research is based on extending the Technology Acceptance Model in order to define and evaluate whether such devices will be accepted and used to the extent possible to prevent fraudulent activities by validating identity and authorizing access. This research uses a theoretical model that was developed and tested against empirical data collected using a survey instrument. A measurement model was established using structural equation modelling with partial least squares to validate the model’s hypotheses. Findings of this research confirmed the hypotheses suggesting that the Technology Acceptance Model indeed offers a suitable, robust and predictive framework for the acceptance of ECG-based wearable authentication devices in the workplace.

Keywords: wearables, ECG-authentication, Technology Acceptance Model, structural equation modelling, partial least squares

Many companies practice performance management in the framework of a heterogeneous, grown mix of numerous separate decisions, instruments, processes and systems and not in terms of a strategically and systematically planned management system.

Due to the inefficiency of the above-mentioned performance management style, a holistic and integrated approach is a key factor. Performance management must be able to meet central objectives and requirements and set the groundwork for long-term corporate success.

This article presents a central approach of the conception of holistic and long-term performance management. The five equal part disciplines are illustrated and demonstrate the issue and com-position complexity of a performance management due to their characteristics and combination. The objective of this article is to display and communicate the performance management issue and its context through an easily comprehensible system without following a general recipe.

Keywords: holistic, corporate performance, management, project management

This study explores the impact of social media (Facebook and Twitter) on the name recognition of political candidates, using the 2020 Democratic primaries in the U.S. as a case study. The main objectives of this study were to: (1) identify the way(s) Americans use social media to engage in politics; (2) determine how users see political posts on social media; (3) test users’ digital literacy by asking if they knew why they saw these posts; and (4) explore whether these social media posts have any impact on a user’s opinion of a political candidate. A national survey was conducted using mixed-mode IVR/online methodology to ask American social media users questions about the four Democratic candidates who were polling highest at the time of the survey (March 2019). The findings indicate a relationship between social media posts about a political candidate and that candidate’s level of name recognition. The results of this study provide useful contributions to the emerging field of digital literacy research. Particularly, this study offers insight into Americans’ confidence levels in identifying political posts from political advertisements and their knowledge about how and why they see political posts in their social media feeds.

Keywords: digital literacy, social media algorithms, election campaigns, social media advertising

This paper is a contribution to the sparse scholarly literature on youth entrepreneurship in Latin America and the Caribbean. Uniquely, it provides a case study on financing youth entrepreneurship in the developing country of Guyana, both from the standpoint of youth entrepreneurs and the agencies that provide such funding. Based on a review of literature we developed a six-fold typology of sources of youth entrepreneurship financing in developing countries. The utility of this typology is that it enables identification of stakeholders for youth entrepreneurship financing in a country or community. This paper is derived from a broader case study of the factors impacting youth entrepreneurship in the town of Linden, Guyana. Its objectives are to identify the sources for youth entrepreneurship financing; determine the profile of youth entrepreneurs who access loans and grants for business start-up and expansion; and, explicate the problems agencies report in providing financing for youth entrepreneurs in Guyana. We obtained data from a survey of youth entrepreneurs in Guyana; agency interviews with governmental, non-governmental and other entities supporting youth entrepreneurship; and, secondary sources. Among the findings are that: 77% of youth entrepreneurs surveyed sourced capital for business start-up from their personal savings and/or family and friends. Some agencies from which youth entrepreneurs derived funds were less than sanguine about youths’ entrepreneurial prospects; and, programs supporting youth entrepreneurship were not coordinated, scattered across different levels of government and other agencies, did not evidence a common purpose and were advertised inadequately. Invariably, these agencies lacked adequate funding and were inconsistent in their delivery of financial support for youth businesses.

Keywords: youth entrepreneurship, developing countries, entrepreneurship in Guyana, Latin America and Caribbean youth, informal economic sector, youth unemployment

Does doing good to society make firms less likely to have financial trouble? This paper looks at the benefit of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and examines whether firms’ CSR engagement affects their chance of falling into financial distress. After analyzing a broad U.S. database spanning 25 years from 1991 to 2015, we find that CSR engagement indeed reduces the likelihood of firms falling into financial distress, and the results are statistically robust and economically significant. Further, we find the impact of CSR on the likelihood of financial distress is more pronounced in economic downturns and for firms with high levels of international involvement. Collectively, our result suggests that CSR lowers financial distress risks by improving firm-stakeholder relationships, which enhances our understanding of the stakeholder view of CSR with longitudinal approach and contextual consideration of firms.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, financial distress, economic downturns

While no longer considered a core course, programming is an important part of many business school information systems (IS) programs. The choice of a language for introductory courses is an important one, and Python has become a good choice in recent years. Python is now considered the most popular programming language, largely due to its clean syntax and built-in functionality, plus it is in high demand by employers of our graduates. In this paper, we discuss the reasons for Python’s rise in popularity and how those factors make it suitable for introductory IS programming classes in the business school. We also describe its use in our own introductory class within the context of the IS 2010 Curriculum Guidelines.

Keywords: Python, pedagogy, programming, business course, scripting language

There are relatively few current academic resources related to the evolving issues regarding the use of cryptocurrencies to divide or hide marital assets in divorce cases, as well as for the purposes of tax evasion and money laundering. Cryptocurrencies are decentralized digital currencies that do not require transactional approval by a third party like a bank. Instead, users are assigned a random, encrypted pseudonym that allows them to store and trade currency for goods and services in an anonymous and unregulated manner. Since the introduction of the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, in 2009, cryptocurrencies have revolutionized online payment processing, but they have also provided a new medium for hiding assets. Hiding funds via Bitcoin and related cryptocurrencies has captured the international attention of divorce lawyers, digital forensic experts, governmental tax agencies, and law enforcement bodies including the FBI. The constantly fluctuating value, anonymity, and rapid transfer of bitcoins and other virtual currencies have posed significant problems for law enforcement as well as courts and regulatory agencies. Because the use of cryptocurrencies is a comparatively new way to finance crime, fund illicit activities, and hide assets from spouses and governments, the rules and regulations governing the use of cryptocurrencies have struggled to keep pace with the technology. The purpose of this research is to assemble and review existing literature, along with relevant, up-to-date case law related to these emerging topics in the use of cryptocurrency.

Keywords: cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, money laundering, divorce, tax evasion, regulation

Charter school enrollment is increasing across the United States. One unexplored question is the effect charter schools have on student behavior in traditional public schools. Our study focuses on Arkansas, where we have access to data on charter school enrollment by school district. A two-way fixed-effects analysis finds that an increase in charter school enrollment is associated with fewer disciplinary infractions in traditional public schools. School districts with increased charter competition experience an increase in the percentage of gifted and talented students. We also find no relationship between charter enrollment and the percentage of African-American students in traditional public schools, which contradicts a common critique that charter schools are causing segregation.

Keywords: charter schools, school choice, disciplinary infractions

Do deep learners perceive on-line homework systems (OHS) differently from surface learners? This question is important because accounting instructors control the assignment of OHS to both kinds of learners. A second question is if one of the groups benefits from the use of OHS at the expense of the other group? Prior studies document students’ satisfaction with OHS, but not from the lens of deep/surface learning theory. This exploratory study analyzes survey results from 207 accounting students to compare responses between learners with deep verses surface characteristics. Survey questions focused on perceptions of long-term retention, study attitudes, solving accounting problems and overall satisfaction. The survey results suggest that deep learners perceive OHS assignments similarly to surface learners, but five statistically significant exceptions were discovered: (1) more surface learners feel they are using OHS to get a grade or (2) to pass the course, (3) more deep learners find OHS helpful for long-term memorization, (4) deep learners are more likely to believe OHS is best suited for “A” students, and (5) deep learners are more likely to prepare in advance of an OHS session. Additional study is recommended. While this study found that the perception of OHS is favorable for both deep and surface learners, it also found that in both types of learners approximately 30% would prefer to use pencil and paper and create their own study tools.

Keywords: online homework systems, accounting, Deep/surface Learning theory

In a recent Washington Post article, Kessler (2018) claimed that the current U.S. President averaged fifteen false claims a day in 2018. In the past two years, the news media has reported on false claims made by the President and his spokespersons and confederates on an almost daily basis. Scholarly research on the subject of public deception by political leaders recently has not kept pace with this phenomenon. More importantly, scholarly research has not looked into the long-term effects of such public communication on the listeners. This paper takes two approaches to the study of this phenomenon. First, a content analysis of newspaper articles published on the topic of the current President’s “false” claims was conducted (N = 178). Second, a survey of U.S. adults was conducted (N = 300) to determine the cumulative effects on citizens’ perceptions on the importance of truth-telling among political leaders. Both analyses were compared to determine the degree of disconnect that may exist between reporting and public perception of presidential deception and circumvention, and the communicative virtues of truth-telling and integrity.

Keywords: public deception, truth-telling, post-truth politics, communication virtues, ethics

We started this research by considering students’ learning preferences. Our students, digital natives, seem to be enthralled with anything electronic. We were surprised that our findings did not support this. We compare students from China, a dramatically different culture, and the U.S. as they complete group assignments using three forms of interaction: face-to-face (FTF); social media (technology-based); virtual meetings (technology-based). We use a pre-tested survey to compare experiences and preferences of both samples. Similarities and differences are presented and discussed. Results indicate more effective project performance for both samples occur with FTF interaction than any form of technology-based communication. Both samples also agree that FTF is the most preferred form of interaction and virtual meetings are the least preferred. FTF interactions lead to higher performance than do virtual interactions, and outcome, grades, satisfaction, experience and efficiency are all higher. FTF communication is also more effective than social media in dividing up project work and encouraging the exchange of ideas.

U.S. students experience an even more positive view of FTF communication, while Chinese students rely more heavily on social media. The major role of social media for Chinese respondents is to gather additional personal information to expand the radius of trust. Since this expanded radius increases the comfort level, it allows for enhanced group and individual performance. The role of trust is the same in both American and Chinese cultures, although the Chinese need greater personal interaction to gain the requisite level of trust for high performance.

Keywords: U.S./Chinese comparative study, digital natives, group work, face-to-face and technology-based communication, trust

Stock market development has been fundamental to the domestic financial liberalization programs of most emerging markets. Recently, it has also become a major channel of foreign capital flows to emerging economies. Using a panel data set, this study investigates the relationships between the stock market development and economic growth in five African countries (Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, South Africa and Mauritius). The results show that in the long run, the growth of the stock market size is not related to GDP growth. However, in the short run, the growth of the stock market seems to stoke improvement in liquidity and income growth. Our results partially support previous empirical studies. In terms of government policy, an increase in market capitalization and income level, and a favorable exchange rate can be used to drive economic growth in the short run. In the long run, economic growth can be achieved by growing the income level, increasing the value of stocks traded, and encouraging more companies to list on the stock exchanges.

Keywords: Africa, economic growth, stock markets

Legalized gambling is present in 48 of our 50 states and 43 of these states have actually authorized multiple casinos. Casino gambling is becoming a part of American’s social fabric. Casino gambling’s banning, demarketing or counter-marketing is a very daunting task at this stage. Instead, the authors develop and explore a new strategy of “protective marketing “to apply to all stakeholders including casino gambling customers who are negatively impacted by it. We first define protective marketing, and then we discuss the negative impact of casino gambling. We conclude by presenting the teleological and deontological ethical cornerstones of protective marketing. We reinforce the ethical bases by applying “Hohfeldian” rights and duties to protective marketing. Finally, we offer several proactive protective marketing strategies.

Keywords: public policy, business ethics, protective marketing, casino gambling, demarketing

In today’s complex business environment, organizational success is more closely tied to leader performance than ever before because organizational leaders must deal with high levels of complexity in the process of communicating organizational goals and directives while simultaneously overseeing operations and communicating performance information. Given the complexity and importance of leaders to organizational success, it was surprising that very little research has focused on developing integrated predictive models of general leader performance. Such models could provide guidance for both future research and practical guidance in selecting and developing leaders. As such, this study identified a number of constructs believed to be influential to leader performance, including cognitive ability, personality, motivation, and leader skills, then tested the applicability of those constructs to leader outcomes using a model of general leader performance. Support was found for the relationship between cognitive ability and performance, as well as the mediating effects of leader skills to the cognitive ability to performance relationship. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed for these findings, as well as rationale for why other relationships were not detected.

Keywords: leader, leadership, performance, fluid intelligence, psychological capital, core self-evaluations

Servant leadership has become more significant in organizational research since Greenleaf’s (1970) pioneering work on the subject. It has grown in prominence due to empirical evidence demonstrating it represents highly effective leadership practice. Some of the core aspects of Greenleaf’s initial definition, including listening, empathy, awareness, and commitment to growth of the individual are conceptually related to psychological safety. The servant leadership aspect of conceptualization, when modeled to employees, serves as the impetus for their own development of cognitive capacities and independent thinking behaviors. Based upon this follower-centric logic, this research examines servant leadership’s influence on effective followership through psychological safety as a mediator. Participants consist of 416 working employees in various industries and organizations. Three hypotheses are offered and supported, using structural equation modeling. Psychological safety was found to mediate the relationship between servant leadership and effective followership. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed, along with study limitations and future research opportunities.

Keywords: servant leadership, psychological safety, effective followership

In the face of legal requirements to control discrimination and financial outputs that indicate increased productivity and revenues from diverse work forces, all while providing satisfactory outcomes for all stakeholders, today’s organizations face incessant pressure to diversify the work force at all levels. As a response to these heightened expectations, virtually all contemporary organizations employ some form of diversity planning. However, change at the top of organizations has been slow, and change at lower levels of organizations has been inconsistent, thereby resulting in too few African Americans being promoted into executive positions, an indicator of stalled socioeconomic status for African Americans. That is, organizations, on average, are capping upward mobility for African Americans through a variety of behaviors.

While much continues to be made about the importance of a diverse work force, the numbers of African Americans in executive positions continues to be disproportionately low. This paper reviews the research literature which articulates the tacit organizational factors that contribute to low representation of African Americans in executive positions, because organizations are powerful purveyors of change. This complex snapshot of the variable factors, all under the control of the organization, contribute to low representation of African Americans in executive positions. A cultural assessment it is recommended as a first step to assist in identifying potential tacit organizational barriers.

Keywords: race, executive, diversity, African American, leadership

An Enterprise 2.0 system refers to a Web 2.0 platform that an organization can implement in order to allow employees to produce and exchange information through interaction and collaboration. The purpose of this study is to develop and test a theoretical model to explain the factors that influence an employee’s intention to use Enterprise 2.0 systems. While traditional models of usage intention have focused on the influence of cognitive factors on individual behavioral intention, this study applies the tripartite model of attitude to explain how the cognitive component, the affective component, and the behavior component have influence on the individual’s intention to use an Enterprise 2.0 system. In addition, based on the expectancy-value model, this study explains how an individual’s cognitive beliefs are influenced by his/her evaluations of technological attributes of the Enterprise 2.0 system. The results suggest that, in addition to the cognition factors, the affective component (i.e., perceived enjoyment) would increase an individual’s intention to use an Enterprise 2.0 system. Further, an individual’s cognitive beliefs are influenced by technological attributes, including technological-task compatibility and Enterprise 2.0 effectiveness. The theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords: Enterprise 2.0, Web 2.0, Technology Acceptance Model, Tripartite Acceptance Model

As more types of media and software are being developed and introduced to the world, people begin to question how or if these media can affect humans and their behaviors. Since the 1970s, there have been many controversies surrounding a certain type of software – video games. From games being pulled off shelves due to public outrage to lawsuits being filed, video games have been the subject of blame for a few atrocities committed over the past twenty or so years. Several studies indicated that video games, whether violent or not, influence the behavior of individuals interacting with the artifacts. However, extant research found that video games did not trigger significant negative behaviors. This study aims to assess if there is a significant relationship between watching simulated violence in the form of video games and a negative emotional state. We examined the impact of watching short video clips of video game play by administering the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) on human subjects to gauge their emotional state, ranging from negative to positive emotional state. The games were chosen based on several criteria suggested by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which governs the content ratings in a game and assigns an age requirement for purchase and use. The results indicated that there is no huge deviation in emotional state from viewing one game to another. However, some subjects showed a very slight adverse reaction of feeling uncomfortable to viewing the more violent video game play

Keywords: emotional state, media violence, video games, video game violence, SAM, ESRB

This study examines media selection considerations for foreign markets as perceived by U.S. multinational advertisers. The main objectives are to: (1) indentify the most serious problems that American advertising managers face in their media selection for foreign markets, (2) investigate the levels of access to traditional media in international campaigns, (3) examine if advertising executives place more importance on certain factors in their media selection for overseas markets, and (4) determine if the types of advertising decisions (decentralization versus centralization) in U.S. multinational companies influence the media selection for non-domestic markets. A questionnaire was sent to advertising executives of U.S. consumer durable product manufacturers. The findings reveal that the most serious problem that American firms face is lack of reliable data about markets. Magazines, followed by newspapers, are the most accessible media in foreign markets. The findings also show that advertising managers tend to place more importance on general factors (type of product, target audience, budget size, cost efficiency, reach and frequency and competition) than they place on specific non-domestic factors (media availability, language diversity, legal constraints, level of economy, literacy and cultural considerations). In addition, the data suggest that the types of decisions have no bearing on the managers’ views of the relative importance of factors of media selection. The authors make several recommendations for future research, including examination of the: (1) impact of accelerating changes in media technology, (2) influence of various product types and market areas, and (3) significance of consumer perceptions of media.

Keywords: challenges of international media selection, levels of access to media, impact of culture, and centralization and decentralization of advertising campaigns

This paper presents a conceptual analysis of the development of integrated marketing communication concept. It is argued that in the early 1990’s advertising industry saw IMC as an opportunity to prove its value by offering an integrated approach to managing various communication functions under centralised managerial control. It was an attempt to consolidate the budgets by offering a “one-window” approach to outsourcing communication services. However, the approach faced certain difficulties in proving its value and the allure of the IMC paradigm for agencies declined. As a result, by the early 2010’s the term was used more often to refer to in-house communication strategy rather than to describe agencies’ service approach.

Keywords: IMC, integrated marketing, integrated communication, public relations

More than any time in history technology allows politicians to directly reach large audiences to increase interaction. Modern social media permits information to be more accessible, direct, and permanent. Politicians can address audiences more frequently and directly through mobile devices - a tactic which creates a perception of immediacy unseen in past political climates. Specifically, Twitter grants unfiltered communication with users, while bypassing established mainstream media. The use of Twitter politically was first revolutionized by Barack Obama. Donald Trump’s use of Twitter has elevated this social media platform to an unheard-of level. A content analysis was conducted on President Donald Trump’s Tweets from his first 100 days in office. The results indicate that the majority of these Tweets can be separated into the Burkeian categories of Identity and Division. A discussion of the substance of these Tweets, the political use of social media, and specifically President Trump’s embracing of Twitter ensues.

Keywords: Trump, Twitter, social media, content analysis, political, Burke

This study analyzes whether impairment recognition is associated with company’s desire to manage earnings and to boost income growth in following years. Corporate governance, including ownership structure can also affect impairment recognition decision. We document the decision to recognize impairment loss is associated with earnings management behavior although the magnitude of it is not. Impairment recognition amount is in general higher with improved corporate governance. But institutional ownership, viewed by many studies as a corporate governance measure, reduces both impairment loss and impairment loss reversal amount.

Keywords: impairment, corporate governance, earnings management

While it can be argued that having industry experience seems a logical requirement for a college professor, the actual impact of having industry experience in the classroom has rarely been explored. Faculty are evaluated on teaching, research, and service. One of the primary feedback measures we have in academia to measure our success in the classroom are the student evaluations. The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of having industry experience on one’s student evaluations of teaching in relation to the level of course and the department of the course. Often new faculty are assigned the lower level “service” courses in a department. However, these courses often get lower ratings for many reasons we address in this paper. In addition, it can be argued that the more experience one has in industry might make these faculty better at relating to students and they should have higher student evaluations. But, are we setting them up for success or failure? Does it depend on what they are teaching? Using 355 sets of student evaluations of teaching (SET) along with demographic information of the instructors, this study seeks to determine if either years of industry experience or years of teaching experience significantly impact the SET in relation to the level of the course or the subject area of the course across five dimensions of evaluation: objectives, preparedness, communication, encouragement, and availability.

Keywords: evaluation, business college, experience, faculty qualification, course level

There is significant interest in the growth and development of cryptocurrencies, the most notable being Bitcoin. Interest in such currencies is global, the price movements is said to be highly speculative and “bubble-like”. Since these cryptocurrencies trade like stocks, provide alternative to gold, and appreciate during uncertain times, it can be hypothesized that their prices are partly determined by the stock index, gold prices, and the fear gauge (VIX). In this paper, we test this hypothesis by conducting time-series analysis of the returns and volatilities of Bitcoin price, Stock market (S&P 500 index), and gold price. We use the Autoregressive-moving-average model with exogenous inputs model (ARMAX), Generalized Autoregressive conditionally heteroscedastic (GARCH) model, Vector autoregression (VAR) model, and Granger causality tests to determine linkages between the S&P500, gold, Bitcoin prices, and their respective returns, and volatilities. We find that Bitcoin’s volatility (a proxy for risk) is easier to forecast compared to the return, physical gold returns can influence Bitcoin returns, and Bitcoin is an uncorrelated asset class to stocks and gold.

Keywords: asset management, alternative investments, digital currency, crypto currency, Bitcoin

This research looks at user-generated reviews (digital word-of-mouth), genre, time in theater, and MPAA rating in relation to movie box office and movie box office per theater for movies by the five major studios in the United States. Currently, the largest major motion picture studios hold over three-fourths of the market share. The data for this secondary analysis was collected from online sources. IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes provided user-generated reviews (rating mean score and quantity) and Box Office Mojo provided box-office figures as well as the number of theaters in which movies played. The data were analyzed using correlations or crosstabulation with chi square test. The correlation results showed a positive relationship between the dependent measures of box office and box office per theater with the independent measures of IMDb user ratings, Rotten Tomatoes user ratings, as well as the quantity of reviews on both IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. In fact, the correlation was actually stronger for the quantity/number of reviews than it was for the overall/mean rating given in the reviews. Additionally, and not surprisingly, correlation analysis found positive relationships between box-office revenues and box-office revenues per theater and the time in theater. However, the correlation for box-office revenues was fairly weak, while the correlation for box-office revenues per theater were moderately strong. The crosstabulation with chi square test provided interesting insight into the differences between the genre and the box-office revenue and box-office per theater revenue, as well as between MPAA rating and box-office revenue and box-office per theater revenue.

Keywords: movie ratings, user generated content, word-of-mouth, box-office revenue

Sustainability is most commonly associated with the natural environment, but in reality it is a multidimensional construct encompassing goals for Profit, Planet, and People. In any organization, the Human Resources Management (HRM) function should focus on achieving the sustainability goals related to People, a component that tends to be neglected in discussions of sustainability. Sustainable Human Resources Management --the collection of HR policies, practices, and policies focused on facilitating financial, social, and ecological goals through the management of people - is the difference between organizational success and organizational excellence. Only by engaging in Sustainable HRM can an organization reach its highest potential by maximizing the ability of its “people component” to achieve its business’s goals and strategy, for today and tomorrow. Sustainable Human Resource Management enables an organization to reach its objectives, while simultaneously empowering its employees to maximize their own potential and reach their goals in life. We present a review of the literature on sustainability and HR, and then seek to integrate these two concepts by focusing on the opportunities for implementing sustainability in HR development. We use the areas of employee training and performance appraisal as examples of the creative thinking and innovation that need to be brought into HRM in order to truly further the people component of the Triple Bottom Line.

Keywords: sustainable development, human resource development, human sustainability, employee sustainability, sustainable human resource management

This study introduces a new construct, faith driven consumption (FDC), and then examines the relationships among religiosity, FDC, and apparel shopping orientation. A sample of 333 US Christian consumers was used, and the survey data were analysed with structural equation modelling. The results show that higher levels of religiosity increase the level of FDC. Moreover, FDC increases the level of brand consciousness, brand loyalty, quality consciousness, and decreases consumers’ price consciousness. More importantly, FDC plays a role in counterbalancing the impact of religiosity on brand consciousness, brand loyalty, and price consciousness. Specifially, FDC reverses the negative effect of religiosity on brand consciousness and brand loyalty. Thus, FDC is a more effective construct than religiosity when investigating the effects of religions on consumers’ behavior in the marketplace.

Keywords: religiosity, faith driven consumption, apparel shopping orientation, mediator, Christian

Approximately thirteen years ago, considerable analysis focused on the breakdown of rational decision making in the emergency preparedness efforts of local, state, and federal officials that had contributed to the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans. At the time, the collapse of the decision-making process was shaped by independent moderating forces, such as the expertise of the decision makers, resource constraints, and imperfect information. Additionally, arational mediators, including favored decision premises, political agendas, and personal opportunism impacted the decision-making process. This paper explores the extent that the same failures persist today, post-Katrina, in disaster decision-making processes—exploring propositions based on the premise of “out of sight, out of mind.” Meaning, the longer the interval between disasters, the more disaster planning and decision making will revert to the same dysfunctional and corrupt patterns witnessed pre-Katrina. Today, information has improved, in large part due to the advances in technology and use of social media. Leadership has also improved, as most recent administrations have appointed more competent directors to administrative agencies at the federal, state, and municipal levels. However, despite these improvements, arational mediators remain an issue in the crisis decision-making process. In response to the continued adverse consequences of arational mediators, we propose solutions that can potentially ameliorate their negative impact.

Keywords: administrative law, corruption, crisis management, decision making, disaster recovery, organizational structure

Improvisations in classrooms and teaching effectiveness are still the most coveted styles of professors. Stalwart philosophers like Avolio, Bass, Bennis, Burns, Gardner, and Greenleaf have each cast different kinds of philosophies of leadership, management and teaching effectiveness. Bass and Avolio improved their construct of organizational effectiveness that led to the concepts of teaching effectiveness. Bennis’s seminal concept of ‘Becoming a Leader’ became a milestone in leadership thought and in the classroom performance. Burns invented transformational leadership and criteria of such leadership to be applied in the classroom. Gardner wrote many treatises on exceptional leadership qualities from an ethical standpoint and professors imitated him. Bass improved charismatic leadership theory by eliminating Idealized Influence—attributed and behavior. And Greenleaf, a professor from Yale, innovated a term not accidentally, but showed it in practice, that applied servant leadership as a reverse psychological paradigm of “servant as a leader” in university atmosphere. But no one in the western academic campuses imitated him. Individually, taking their clues of essential premises of leadership effectiveness, this empirical research of university professors will apply those fundamental concepts of classroom leadership from such eminent gurus in academia. Empirically it will test applicable hypotheses of psychological capital and psychological ownership as Indicators of veritable teaching effectiveness in promoting excellence in instruction, research, service, and practice.

Keywords: teaching effectiveness, scholarship excellence, instruction, research, service, practice, exceptionalism

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) employ various organizational forms when entering foreign countries. In this study, our focus on institutional legitimacy allows us to examine the choice and consequence of MNEs’ organizational forms. Are the adopted organizational forms adaptive or maladaptive? While the question is applicable to any MNE, it is of particular importance to MNEs investing in the complex environment in Africa. Drawing from institutional theory and transaction cost economics (TCE), we first explore how MNEs secure legitimacy in formal institutions by conforming to accepted organizational forms, and then discuss how MNEs face challenges of maintaining legitimacy in informal institutions. We find that MNEs prefer internal and hybrid organizational forms that engage in host country state-owned enterprises (SOE) involvement. We also find that MNEs’ adopted organizational forms intensify misaligned interests of MNEs and SOEs and decrease MNE legitimacy in informal institutions, therefore, are more likely to distress the investment. This study contributes to the literature by positing organizational form as drivers of institutional legitimacy and inter-partner relationships to account for unexplored questions in foreign direct investment in Africa.

Keywords: MNE-SOE relationship, organizational form, FDI in Africa, institutional legitimacy, transaction cost

American moviemakers strive to create shows that attract the movie viewing population. This creation often includes intensive story lines, interesting topics, and popular characters or actors. Often, the dramatization overemphasizes commonly-held beliefs the audience expects. By contrast, the accounting profession wants to portray the most professional manner possible. Often the profession highlights characteristics the profession believes desirable, such as integrity. This clash in portrayals is a phenomenon studied by researchers. Little research exists today on this subject. Researchers developed a list of eight common stereotypes portrayed in American movies based on profession expectations, the view the public has of accountants and portrayal of accountants in American movies. This research studied 17 American movies released since 1982 featuring strong accounting characters. Researchers measured movies against eight common accounting stereotypes. This research found; American movies glamorize the profession. It also found that American movies heighten professional traits and American filmmakers manipulate the accounting professional’s greatest strength of integrity into a weakness for individual accountants.

Keywords: accounting, stereotypes, profession, social class, accountants

The temporal dimension of entrepreneurial intention is a less-studied but exciting research field. This paper examines the temporal aspect of entrepreneurial intention of university students between the U.S. and Chinese university students. Using the framework of planned behavior, we developed a model, in which the construct of entrepreneurial value and the construct of entrepreneurial involvement both positively influence short-term and long-term entrepreneurial intention. However, the impact is different. Entrepreneurial value is more positively associated with the short-term intention than the long-term intention. At the same time, entrepreneurial involvement produces a stronger impact on the long-term intention than the short-term one. When the temporal dimension of intention is examined between the U.S. and Chinese university students, the model suggests that Chinese university students are less likely to embark on the long-term intention than the U.S. university students. The survey method was applied. Students of one large university from a southern state of the U.S. and one large university from a southern province of China participated in the survey. Structural equation modeling was performed, results were examined, and discussions were presented.

Keywords: entrepreneurial intention, temporal dimension, cultural effect

The Internet offers a plethora of recreational opportunities beyond the realm of social media. Given that university students have discretionary time, Internet access, and recreation needs, this longitudinal study was conducted to empirically examine how undergraduate business students utilize the Internet for leisure activities. Although this research examined nine online recreation activities, results demonstrate that students participate primarily in five activities. These include non-school related surfing, shopping, downloading music, playing games other than gambling, and instant messaging. While nearly all business students participate in at least one activity, activity participation and activity time have been trending downward during the five-year study for nearly all activities. Overall, participation decreased slightly to 94% of students and total activity minutes per week declined by 16% per student. Findings also suggest that gender and academic class are factors with respect to the time spent on individual online recreation activities for undergraduate business students. Seven of the recreation activities were statistically correlated with males. Moreover, if academic class is used as a proxy for age, it appears that possibly maturation and/or education may affect the level of recreation engagement for this student population.

Keywords: online recreation, gambling, shopping, music downloading, empirical study

Due to the paradoxical nature of information technology (IT), technology users often find themselves confronted with both positive and negative aspects of technology usage (e.g., fulfills needs / creates needs, control / chaos, engaging / disengaging, empowerment / enslavement, freedom / dependence, assimilation / isolation, efficiency / inefficiency, competence / incompetence, and etc.), leading to conflicting evaluations of IT, mixed emotions toward IT, and distinct IT use patterns. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of the emotional and behavioral consequences of IT paradoxes. The framework suggests that technology users’ individual differences (i.e., need for cognition, construal level, and tolerance for ambiguity) moderate their feelings of emotional ambivalence (the experience of different emotions of opposite valence) arising from IT paradoxes. Emotional ambivalence, depending on how its underlying opposing emotions are appraised – whether as threat or opportunity and as controllable or not, in turn leads to different coping strategies that then become reflected in certain technology use patterns. The framework also highlights the mediating role of emotional ambivalence in the relationship between IT paradoxes and technology use patterns.

Keywords: technology paradoxes, individual differences, emotional ambivalence, cognitive appraisals, technology use patterns

In today’s ultra-competitive education industry many business programs may be in danger of closing within the next 20 or 30 years. As universities face enrollment, funding, and non-traditional student support difficulties - the pressure increases. These troubles stem from the growth in the popularity of business degrees among employers, while applications decline, demographics change, and the quality of non-traditional offerings are questioned. The use of academic branding has emerged as a tool in this struggle for viability/sustainability. The ultimate goal of branding for a business school is to provide an impression leading to a positive reaction. Given the importance of adaptation and change, the authors propose that brand innovativeness is becoming an increasingly important criterion in academic marketing. This paper explores types of brand innovativeness by adapting the model developed by Beverland, Napoli and Farrelly to business schools. Further, Mark & Pearson’s (2001) 12 Jungian archetypes can be added to the mix to give these innovative brands a face, a persona and marketing appeal. While brand archetypes are commonly utilized in other industries, the application of brand archetypes to business schools has just begun to be explored. From this perspective the potential tradeoffs between business school branding strategies and their attendant brand marketing initiatives become clear.

Keywords: business schools, brand innovation, brand archetypes, marketing, advertising

Millennials, also called "digital natives," are attracted to new communication technologies and may incorporate them into their daily activities. But do they? Much research considers how faculty can effectively use the newest education technology to enhance coursework materials. Faculty expectations are high regarding student use of these new technologies to complete and comprehend course assignments and materials. Using results from an exploratory study involving two focus group interviews, a 66-item questionnaire was developed to test these assumptions and begin to determine what student experiences suggest regarding their use and impact on group project performance. We collected responses from 82 students at a Midwestern United States university. Our research question is: do students' experiences with and preferences for increased/enhanced technology in the completion of group assignments support and encourage an increased emphasis on technology-based interaction by faculty?

We collected data regarding student experiences with both virtual meetings and social media and compared them with face-to-face (FTF) group member interactions in the completion of class assignments involving group projects. Direct student experience demonstrates that superior performance and satisfaction result from FTF meetings rather than technology-based interaction. Students also prefer face-to-face meetings over virtual meetings. This result is true whether comparing FTF with social media or virtual meetings. Surprisingly, students find neither virtual meetings nor social media to have significantly more positive impact on groups than face-to-face interaction along both performance and process dimensions. Recommendations for faculty are provided and suggestions for future research are included.

Keywords: millennials, group work, face-to-face interaction, technology-based interaction

As nations race to build their cyber workforces, a critical shortage of highly skilled labor in cyber is hampering efforts and weakening defensive capabilities as rogue actors progressively grow their offensive capacity. A key element of national policy and strategy will be the development of an adequate pipeline of competent, qualified cyber professionals for the next twenty years and beyond. In one such effort, the United States' National Security Agency, in collaboration with the National Science Foundation, has developed and implemented a program targeted at pipeline development from primary school through college and is sharing information on the program with the international community. This paper presents the NSA-NSF GenCyber project, along with research related to the program's effectiveness, as one approach toward multiplying both cyber and broader related fields’ career interest among students in primary and secondary schools as a means to bring forth significantly greater numbers of university graduates in cyber security, computer education, and related fields. Overall, this research suggests that cyber workforce development initiatives like the NSA-NSF GenCyber project can form the basis for building the next generation of cyber professionals and researchers.

Keywords: cooperative/collaborative learning, teaching/learning strategies, pedagogical issues, cybersecurity, gender studies

Activity-based costing (ABC) systems research has extensively studied and theorized the benefits of implementing ABC in comparison to traditional costing systems. ABC systems can improve firm profitability by the use of sophisticated cost drivers, improved cost pool measurement, and through the ability of capturing the cause/effect relationship of product costing and firm pricing decisions. However, the accounting literature often lacks empirical evidence through firm level data. This paper fills this gap by testing the customer profitability differences between complex and simple ABC system using two-years of disaggregated, product cost information in the small to medium sized distributors in the fine paper service industry. The outcome shows that increases in measurement error for activity cost drivers and cost pools using a simplistic ABC system appear to demonstrate robustness in decision usefulness for these firms. Therefore, evidence is provided that a complex system may not outweigh the time and cost required to implement a successful system in smaller firms.

Keywords: activity-based costing, measurement error, decision efficacy

Steven Hawkins and Elon Musk have both commented on the potential terror that could occur as machines develop true artificial intelligence powers. However, Wasserman shows that much machine learning is little different from age old statistical analysis, although supercharged by the latest computer technology. Terms such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning can evoke emotions in the general public and in the political arena, inconsistent with the true state of the art. In this paper we debate whether a machine can truly learn and conclude that the more useful question is about the manner in which business practice and the legal environment permit a machine to operate autonomously within the decision context. In answering the latter question we develop a stage model of machine learning systems based on the decision level of the system governed autonomously by machine algorithms. The model provides a useful framework for discussion, understanding, and governance of machine learning systems and reduces the hyperbole that can follow loaded terms such as learning and intelligence.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, machine learning, scientific framework

This paper presents a two-stage study providing a critical re-examination and re-evaluation of the concept of consumer ethnocentrism. In the first stage, the study, building on the extant literature, proposes a broadened definition of ethnocentrism as a multi-dimensional construct, and presents a validated scale for measuring consumer ethnocentrism. In the second stage of the study, the scale is applied to China, France and the US. Based on empirical data collected from 164 respondents from these three countries, the study shows that while consumers in all three countries hold similar views about the appropriateness of buying local as opposed to foreign goods, US consumers score higher than their Chinese and French counterparts with respect to preference for purely domestic brands as well as home-country-branded goods manufactured in foreign countries. The study concludes with a discussion on the implications of the findings on these varying levels of consumer sentiment about different aspects of ethnocentrism. Directions for future research are also provided.

Keywords: consumer ethnocentrism, normative thinking, local brands, lobal brands, foreign

This study builds on Thatte, Rao, and Ragu-Nathan’s (2013) research model which found positive relationships between supply chain management (SCM) practices, supply chain responsiveness (SCR), and competitive advantage (CA). As such, utilizing regression analyses this paper analyses SCR dimensions as identified in Thatte et al. (2013) to explore how they impact CA and its dimensions. The study finds that operations system responsiveness (OSR) and supplier network responsiveness (SNR) dimensions of SCR contribute to higher levels of CA. SNR and OSR are found to positively influence a firm’s ability to compete based on delivery dependability. Key OSR and SNR measures that improve CA and its components are identified and discussed.

Keywords: supply chain responsiveness, operations system, supplier network, logistic process

In 2010, Deepwater Horizon, a rig owned by Transocean and leased by British Petroleum (BP), exploded off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. The blast killed 11 crewmembers and injured 17 others. It was considered the biggest accidental marine oil spill in the world and the largest environmental disaster in the U.S. This case study assesses how British Petroleum handled the crisis. The analysis suggests that the British company attempted to pursue two-way communication with the families of the victims and keep the general public, media and shareholders updated of its endeavor to contain and close the leak. However, the evidence reveals that PB disseminated incomplete and distorted information and did not want to take responsibility. In fact, the company blamed Transocean for the spill and tried to manipulate the public by buying search phrases on internet browsers such as Google and Yahoo so the first match people see is BP’s website and not news or protest sites. The study concludes that BP was not prepared to deal with the disaster. The company had a handbook of procedures for crises, but it did not seem to help much. BP appeared to have followed the Exxon-Valdez oil spill’s public relations approach. The authors address the strengths and weaknesses of the campaign to influence public opinion and offer some ideas on how the situation could have been tackled differently.

Keywords: British Petroleum (BP), corporate communications, crisis communication, Deepwater Horizon, environmental disaster, public relations effects, reputation management, restoration of public trust

The nature of leadership studies has changed relatively little within the last fifty years, with little innovation of teaching approaches toward improving knowledge and application of leadership history, nature, and skills. Graduate leadership curricula in schools of business have traditionally focused on leadership theories, but literature points to a lack of results to indicate this approach is successful, based on the lack of quantity and quality of effective leaders and those demonstrating leadership abilities. Calls to improve the curricula emphasize the need to focus on organizational goals, develop employees to be empowered contributors, and focus on processes and integration instead of individuals as unique leaders, with characteristics possessed by few. Toward addressing this issue, the use of the Baldrige National Quality Award Leadership Criteria (1.1) has been shown to be an effective way to introduce graduate students to both the study of quality and the study of leadership within an integrated and systematic approach to assessing organizational effectiveness. This paper outlines the Baldrige Leadership framework as well as the advanced approach to leadership that specifically addresses vision and values, promoting legal and ethical behavior, creating a sustainable organization and communication.

Keywords: leadership, teaching, Baldrige, development, quality

The focus of this study is how students use both face-to-face (FTF) and computer-mediated communication (CMC) to complete group projects for class. Specifically, our research question is: How do students use FTF and CMC throughout the process of completing group projects as course assignments? We conducted two focus group interviews to answer this question. All students came from a mid-sized private, mainly commuter Midwestern university who had experience mainly with on-ground courses, and some blended and online coursework. We found that students: are more satisfied with FTF interactions; believe that they perform better in FTF situations; prefer FTF meetings; use technology for efficient and task-oriented activities; and, generally follow a "U-shaped" curve when combining FTF and CMC interactions during group projects, i.e., more FTF at the beginning and end of a group project with an increased usage of CMC in the middle, after trust is developed. Faculty should be aware of this information when making group project assignments in their courses.

Keywords: group projects, face-to-face interaction, computer-mediated communication

Diverse and well-built supply chains can stimulate business success by increasing innovation that generates new business opportunities and revenue. The National Minority Diverse Supplier Council (NMDSC) projects a 70 % increase in Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) by 2045. This poses opportunities to pursue new emerging, diverse business segments through MBE relationships as well as stimulate economic growth in underserved communities. This paper documents some of the strategic opportunities for effectively managing relationships with MBEs to maintain growth. Specifically, integrating corporate and purchasing social responsibility with diversity supplier strategic initiatives. For example, growth in LGBTQI MBEs could bring new means of reaching growing consumer segments. However, there are deficiencies with recognizing uniqueness of MBEs as qualification criteria places emphasis mostly on ethnicity and gender. Also, the process of public social identification could potentially complicate matters for LGBTQI MBEs, mainly stigma placed on disclosure of sexual orientation and gender identification. Drawing on a constructivist view of our nation’s social-cultural impediments, this paper advances the need to address cognitive effects that could negatively affect business decision-making which lead to negative, out-group stereotype-like categorizations by enacting inclusive, non-traditional initiatives to progress the practice of corporate and purchasing responsibility.

Keywords: supply chain management, corporate social responsibility, automaticity, diversity supplier

An important concern for many mature companies that are deeply structured or aligned by functional area is how to infuse or nurture a culture of trust and innovation that supports improved product quality, speed of service and cost. Such organizational structures are antithetical to promoting collaboration across functional boundaries, yet highly efficient within their respective structural domains. The purpose of this paper is to report on one company’s efforts to break down functional area barriers in order to stimulate more effective cross functional organizational teaming or collaboration.

The individuals selected for this program were recognized by top management to be opinion leaders within individual functional areas that had the potential to make meaningful future contributions in moving the entire organization forward. The participants had the potential opportunity to be involved with the development, implementation and management of enterprise wide information-based solutions to solve significant company issues.

Analysis of qualitative and quantitative data during the pilot program with ten-year follow-up, yield three logical conclusions: 1) a top-down leadership program can serve as a nucleus for the creation and nurturing of a community of practice (CoP) that not only imbues the participants with appropriate management practices but can also reduce organizational barriers to the flow of information; 2) the knowledge created in the CoP concerning the interdependencies among the functional areas is a valuable business asset in itself; 3) knowledge ties created in the CoP extend beyond the duration of the formal program and persist over time.

Keywords: Community of Practice, knowledge networks, innovation, collaboration

Small businesses in Appalachia are an important segment of its local economy. One way small businesses can promote themselves is through social media. This study discusses the use of Facebook by local restaurants/cafes in Garrett, Allegany and Washington counties of Appalachia. For this purpose, the Facebook posts created by 25 local restaurants/cafes during 2016 were extracted and analyzed. The relationship between characteristics of the posts including their types and timestamp as well as the words used in them are analyzed and their relationship to the popularity of the posts (in terms of number of likes) are evaluated. To analyze this relationship, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) as well as three predictive models, namely the classification and regression tree (CART), random forest (RF) and support vector machine (SVM) are used. Surprisingly, it was found that Facebook use by local restaurants is not necessarily compatible with the trends that can lead to the popularity of their posts. Using a clustering method, it was found that the words that affect the popularity of a post point either to a menu item or to an event/deal. It was observed that posts containing promotional words have a higher chance of being popular. Moreover, the posts containing words related to seafood were also more popular than those that did not.

Keywords: Facebook, small business, Appalachia, Maryland

This paper analyzes the level of state legitimacy in Spain across the belongingness to groups of population. The state legitimacy is the degree of citizen support to their institutions. However, does every citizen of the country give the same legitimacy scores to the State? Is there any variable that determines significant differences? In this sense, this research introduces segmentation variables of state legitimacy such as nationality, age, religion, political ideology or sexuality. Source data for this study is derived from the last round of European Social Survey (ESS) for Spain in 2014. With a sample of 1.925 citizens it is proved that political party, religion, some of discrimination groups (race, gender and sexuality) and nationality determine different scores in the state legitimacy. These results are very relevant for government because it can establish which are the most sensitive groups, and develop effective social politics and communication campaigns. Moreover, the final objective of the state is obtaining the trust within its institutions and the citizen satisfaction and an analysis depending on the membership group offers more detailed information.

Keywords: state legitimacy, segmentation, Spain

Previous research has provided substantial support for the role that attitudes play in predicting turnover intentions. In particular job satisfaction has been found to be a consistently significant predictor of turnover intentions. Little attention, however, has been paid to the cross-level effects of managerial attitudes on the subordinate job satisfaction - turnover intentions relationship. Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), this study examined the cross-level interactions of both manager job satisfaction and manager turnover intentions on the subordinate job satisfaction - turnover intentions relationship based on a sample of respondents involved in the merger of two banking institutions. The results of the analysis confirmed that the negative relationship between subordinate job satisfaction and subordinate turnover intentions was stronger when manager job satisfaction is high, suggesting that managers’ attitudes may have influence on the turnover intentions of subordinates if those attitudes are apparent to subordinates. Manager turnover intentions, however, did not moderate the subordinate job satisfaction-turnover intentions relationships.

Keywords: turnover, turnover intentions, HLM, job satisfaction

The US restaurant industry is a multibillion-dollar revenue generating machine. The relatively low food costs have been sustained, in part, on the backs of illegal immigrant workers who are systematically underpaid, overworked, and otherwise exploited. In the restaurant industry approximately one quarter of the lower paying positions are staffed by illegal immigrants. Given that US industries in the service, construction, and food sectors are dependent on illegal workers to the point of advertising for them in their native lands, the term “illegal” is disingenuous and illogical. If immigrants are invited either expressly or impliedly, the real dichotomy is between “invited” and “uninvited” immigrant workers. Immigration reform efforts at the federal level have repeatedly failed. The viable solution of promoting the fair treatment of unauthorized workers where they actually live and work and how this will create competition for their valuable, economic work among the states, will be introduced. Fair treatment of invited immigrants, undocumented and unauthorized or not, is explored as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Four potential strategies are evaluated: fair compensation, fair supply chain, standards of advocacy, and training and support. The long-term economic outcomes of these strategies for the food service industry will be analyzed by comparing and contrasting the costs and complexities involved in each approach.

Keywords: immigration law reform, social responsibility, competitive advantage, restaurant workers

The purpose of this study was to explore if Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) who hold upper echelon positions value ethics continuing professional education (CPE) differently from non-upper echelon CPAs. In addition, this study explored if upper echelon CPAs viewed the effectiveness of completed ethics CPE differently compared to CPAs in non-upper echelon positions. Based on upper echelon theory, differences in survey responses were anticipated between the two groups. CPAs licensed by the Minnesota Board of Accountancy were surveyed regarding mandatory ethics CPE. CPAs self-reported their position titles. Based on position titles the survey population was coded as upper echelon or non-upper echelon. Across ten variables survey responses were statistically analyzed between the two groups. No statistically significant differences were found between the two groups. Open ended questions were also included in the survey. Responses to open ended questions were analyzed between upper echelon and non-upper echelon CPAs. Responses to open ended questions, both positive and negative, were similar between the groups. The residual question is why there were no differences.

Keywords: ethics, accounting, CPE, Upper Echelon theory

Due to the constantly changing and involving information technology (IT) in recent decades, employees are continuously faced with new IT tools at workplaces. IT adoption is a dynamic process and in the initial use of new IT tools employees can experience strong emotions that determine their technology adaptation behaviors. This research draws on the Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT) and Cognitive Appraisal Theory (CAT) to examine the effects of IT users’ regulatory foci on their emotions and technology adaptation behaviors. The RFT distinguishes between two motivational orientations: the promotion focus that concerns advancement, growth and maximization of gains, and the prevention focus that concerns security, safety and minimization of losses. Recognizing the critical role of regulatory focus in determining evaluative and emotional sensitivities as well as locus of control, this research proposes that individuals’ regulatory foci are significant antecedents influencing their cognitive evaluations of and emotional responses to their IT usage experiences, which consequently determine their technology adaptation behaviors. More specifically, it posits that positive or negative disconfirmation of desires about performance of a new IT will elicit challenge or deterrence emotional responses in promotion-focused individuals, whereas positive or negative disconfirmation of norms about performance of a new IT will evoke achievement or loss emotional responses in prevention-focused individuals. These discrete emotional responses will in turn lead to distinct technology adaptation behaviors.

Keywords: promotion focus, prevention focus, emotions, technology adaptation

November 16, 2017 will mark the forty-fifth anniversary of the end of the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. In 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) began what eventually became one of the most controversial studies in the history of medicine. The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male (hereafter, "Tuskegee," for short) lasted for forty years (1932-1972) and involved inviting 600 indigent African-American sharecropper men (about two-thirds of whom had contracted syphilis) from Macon County, Alabama to participate in a study in return for receiving promised medical treatment for "bad blood" (symptoms associated with conditions/diseases ranging from lethargy and anemia to syphilis), free food, and burial. According to the conventional historical narrative, the 600 men were deliberately not treated for syphilis. A renewed counter-narrative, since at least 1999, disputes many of the putative facts of the popular narrative. This paper will first explore artificial scarcity and economic exclusion in the industrial organization of American medicine leading up to and after Tuskegee. It will then examine the twin narratives. Third, it will review studies documenting demographic health disparities and their changes during and after Tuskegee. Finally, utilizing a sample of recent data, it will discuss an empirical test by the authors suggesting that alarming demographic health disparities still exist in the American population, and very tragically echo the pattern that led to the development and implementation of Tuskegee.

Keywords: health economics, economic history, industrial organization, regulation, market structure

Despite being the world’s second largest economy, China accounted for only 7% of global Venture Capital (VC) activities in 2013. In further expanding the industry, China can unleash an engine of creativity and investment. This matters to business and political leaders today because entrepreneurs are critical to China’s growth, yet face severe difficulties raising capital. Given China’s immature capital markets, a healthy VC industry is particularly essential to the SMEs that drive the economy. VC is currently experiencing a boom in China, but it goes regularly through boom and bust cycles. In this way the industry is failing to achieve its potential. The regulators of China’s financial industry should act to improve the stability and dependability of VC investment. From the perspective of the VC firms, there is currently a lot of money on the sidelines. Deploying those funds will make them productive, and allow the general partners to practice their craft and the limited partners to profit from their investments.

Keywords: China, venture capital, financial markets, SMEs

China’s rapid economic development over the past four decades is often explained by the clashing of its culture with those of the United States and Western Europe. A recent conference brought twenty Chinese business leaders from private companies to the United States. Their descriptions of China’s culture differ dramatically from Hofstede, Hofstede, and Minkov’s (2010) depiction and also strongly disagree with the notion that clashing cultures underscores China’s rapid development. We present these descriptions and discuss how they differ with Hofstede’s paradigm. Our findings indicate that there is a clash of cultures that occurs externally, while there are three additional sources of clashes that occur internally within China. Combined, they result in differences between today’s Chinese cultural characteristics and Hofstede’s measurements along three national culture dimensions: Individualism vs. Collectivism, Power Distance and Long Term vs. Short Term Orientation. These business executives have developed a two-step process to reach their goal of becoming the global leaders in innovation: locate companies with today’s best practices, wherever they are, and import them into China’s economy; gain experience with these best practices and become the innovation leader of the world. They are in the process of doing just this. Private companies in China are no longer relying on a five thousand year legacy. Instead, they are creating their own legacy of economic success, one that has brought them significantly closer to their goal of becoming the world’s innovation frontrunner.

Keywords: country culture, culture clash, sources of Chinese economic success, economic legacy

The effects of the Great Recession have made financial knowledge and adroitness in money management functional imperatives for consumers worldwide. As consumers, college students face unique financial challenges in addition to many broader financial challenges facing the wider population. Researchers point to a deficiency in US college students’ financial knowledge and link this to a lack of personal financial education in college curricula. While there is no widespread urgency to improve students’ financial literacy, some colleges are instituting programs to address this issue. Often a top-down approach is taken to the development of such programs with students having little or no input. Developing and applying a socialization model of the student as a financial consumer, this study identified students’ agents of financial socialization, the important lessons and perceived adequacy of what they learned from those agents, and their current attitudes toward college-based financial education. It provides an understanding of college students’ preferred delivery methods and desired program content for college financial education. Qualitative research was conducted at a state university in the Southeast. Ten focus groups including ethnic minority groups and a non-traditional student group were convened. Students saw their families as providing inadequate financial socialization, recognized and reported serious deficits in their financial knowledge and preferred their colleges and professors to fill this gap.

Keywords: college students, financial socialization, financial education, personal finance, consumer economics, financial consumer

The entrepreneur is one who creates, organizes, and manages a business in pursuit of profit (Shane, 2012). These individuals are inherent risk-takers, given that many new businesses fail. Entrepreneurial ventures generate wealth, new money. “Existing businesses may remain confined to the scope of existing markets and may hit the glass ceiling in terms of income” (Seth, 2015, p. 14). New and/or improved services, products, or technologies facilitate new markets to be developed, employment opportunities offered, and new wealth created. Strengthening the entrepreneurial enterprise can occur on three levels, through: pricing strategies, social bonds, and structural interdependence. Each level is successively more complex and enduring. It is the authors' hypothesis that entrepreneurial businesses are particularly good at social bonding and structural interdependence. However, pricing strategies and price incentives prove way more challenging for the average entrepreneur.

Keywords: social bonding, structural interdependence, customer relationship management

External economic pressures and a shift from a manufacturing economy to a more knowledge-based economy have many people turning to higher education. To meet educational and training demands of the workforce, traditional, non-profit colleges and universities as well as for-profit institutions use multiple techniques to attract new students and influence enrollment decisions. Many institutions use video advertisements and television commercials as a way to reach prospective students. This exploratory study uses content analysis to assess the message variables in non-profit and for-profit institutional communication, specifically video advertisements prior to the enactment of the federal gainful employment regulations, high profile for-profit institutional closures and Federal Trade Commission litigation related to misleading advertisements that appeared on television, radio, print, online and other media. Results of the content analysis suggest non-profit institutions used advertising messages that are more transformational and emotional in nature to attract and recruit their primary demographic as well as speak to myriad stakeholders including parents and alumni. For-profit institutions more frequently used informational messages but employed a more balanced approach or tempered the informational messages with an emotional approach in messaging. Differences were also found based on message variables of belonging and presentation of future opportunities.

Keywords: for-profit institutions, non-profit institutions, advertising, marketing

This paper illustrates the effect of product substitutability on customer service. A situation is considered in which we have two products, which could serve as substitutes for one another. This means that in the case of a retailer, if product A runs out of stock, then customers purchase product B instead. In such a system, intuitively, one would expect that such substitutable demand should affect the inventory control of the related items. We find that, as expected, product substitution does indeed result in the improvement of customer service. However, the importance of these improvements is dependent on the existing levels of customer service. In addition, we find that the benefits of product substitution outweigh the loss. In fact, we find that we are never worse off as a result of product substitution.

Keywords: product substitution, customer service, inventory management, operations management

Preventive health care information (PHCI) is available from multiple sources both in the United States and internationally. There have been a multitude of studies published about the nature of health seeking behaviors for those in the US. This paper analyzes a survey of 390 baby boomer respondents in Taiwan, a country whose life expectancy is very similar to the US, but one where their health care insurance program has been enacted for a longer period of time. According to this study, four different types of PHCI were identified, printed materials, internet, employer provided information, and mass media, i.e., TV, newspaper, and radio. Six different demographic and socio-economic factors were examined with these four component factor variables (CFV’s). Results of this study will provide some policy applications to researchers and government in Taiwan. Some lessons can also be learned for US, especially when we have a comprehensive health insurance plan. The predicted increased demand on medical appointments has been realized in this country and the health seeking behavior of this demographic remains consistent with previous results in the US. One potential to offset the onslaught of demand on our medical system is to increase the health of the US through PHCI but to do this, we must get it in the hands of the consumer. This research focused in Taiwan will provide some insights to both people in Taiwan as well as in the US regarding PHCI.

Keywords: PHCI, health information media, baby boomers, Taiwan

In the digital age, the amount of information and sources concerning Medical Tourism is overwhelming. Knowledge is power in an era of healthcare uncertainty. As health care options have grown in global proportions, it has become more difficult for potential patients to locate the material necessary to make informed decisions or to even know which factors to consider during their information search. Individual financial circumstances vary greatly. This paper suggests how medical tourism makes financial sense for many patients and payers. Proximity and culture play roles in that medical tourists may prefer locations that are not too far from home. Or at least don’t seem quite so far because of the cultural similarities such as language and food. Medical tourists want to know that they are safe not only concerning medical care but also in their travels. Legal issues are also an important consideration as medical tourists may forego some of the rights they take for granted in the U.S. Information on medical tourism is available from government sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and accrediting organizations including the Joint Commission International. Additional organizations to include the Medical Tourism Association exist for the purpose of guiding would-be medical tourists through the process.

Keywords: healthcare, tourism, medical tourism, advertising, marketing

In 2010, Google lost an age discrimination court case, Reid v. Google (2010), for undisclosed damages. In addition to being called a “fuddy-duddy”, Reid asserted that he was denied important development opportunities and was terminated, because he was not a cultural fit for Google, a company that shows a notable preference for younger employees. This precedent setting case highlights a problem that is epidemic throughout industry. Companies are terminating fuddy-duddies. This paper posits that termination is often unnecessary and the result of poor employee development. At the same time, this paper highlights employee development as an underused organizational resource to protect these valuable employees. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that 2016 will see fully one-third of the workforce being filled by employees aged 50+ years. While hiring mature workers has strengthened in recent years, there is little to suggest that development opportunities are targeting mature employees; conversely, anecdotal information indicates that development opportunities are decreasing as employees age. A final purpose of this paper is to introduce the fuddy-duddy as a valuable, albeit underdeveloped, employee who is the target of discriminatory practices, thus setting the stage for organizations to find themselves with legal problems. Taken together, such organizational behavior creates a gap in human resource practice as well as a gap in mindful management practices that support the entire organization.

Keywords: older workers, human resource development (HRD), organizational development, human resource management (HRM), age discrimination

This study investigates the succession experiences of second generation family business successors (children of the founder) and how these experiences influence their approach to planning and implementing the next generation succession process. A multi-case qualitative study approach is employed, using structured interview data collected from twelve second generation family business owners/leaders located across South Georgia. The exploratory study focused on succession planning, successor development, individual learning, and the culture of stewardship of firm leadership. The focus on second-generation leaders of family businesses and the depth of description of their experiences offers important additions to the family business literature.

Keywords: family business, second generation successors, succession, succession planning, successor development, individual learning, culture of stewardship

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is a practice energy companies use globally to pump large volumes of water, sand, and chemicals to crack shale, releasing natural gas into wells. Communities and environmental organizations have mobilized globally to protest fracking, citing dangers to people, animals, communities, and the natural environment. While the U.S. is the undisputed leader in shale gas development and use, the practice has been explored, proposed, or instituted globally in a number of countries. This paper surveys global fracking and activism, offering a framework for developing specific measures of that impact. We propose three key measurement criteria for judging effectiveness: (1) goal attainment (i.e., whether desired outcomes are obtained, and the progress of proposed policy through the legislative or bureaucratic process); (2) participation, influence, and share of voice (i.e., which actors are participating in public debate, which actors are not participating, presence and issue engagement online, what is the nature of the debate, and evidence that the activists and their positions are considered credible and valuable to the debate); and (3) organizational maintenance (i.e., whether the organization has needed resources and whether it is growing) Our measurement framework also addresses the impact of media and political systems on the environment for public relations practice that are relevant to the issue of hydraulic fracturing debate.

Keywords: activism, public relations, hydraulic fracturing

Coombs’ crisis communication response strategies were used to conduct a content analysis of corporate responses to data breaches in the U.S. healthcare and business industries. Twenty of the largest incidents of a data breach during 2014 were studied. The organization’s responses from the ten largest breaches during 2014 in U.S. healthcare and business/retail industry categories were studied to learn common practices when responding to data breaches. A content analysis instrument was developed that incorporated categories of responses identified by Coombs and others. Two coders reviewed the organization’s response and recorded the appropriate information on the coding sheet. Efforts were taken to ensure inter-coder reliability. This exploratory research discovered that four of Coombs’ response strategies were regularly employed across the responses studied and that content from eight categories identified during the coding was located in at least half of the corporate responses. There is a great opportunity for further research, as little research has been conducted for such a large and important field.

Keywords: data breach, response strategies, crisis communication

The amount companies invest in social causes has grown extraordinarily in recent decades. One social cause that has gained momentum with companies is “femvertising”—the celebration of women empowerment through advertisements. Examples include Dove’s “real beauty” campaign and the “like a girl” challenge by Always.

High levels of perceived company-cause fit are known to enhance consumer attitude. In the case of femvertising, however, such a link is not always evident. Companies as diverse as Verizon, Dodge, and Under Armour have released commercials encouraging women to acquire or proudly display traditionally masculine traits, such as athleticism, ambition, decisiveness, and courage. Most femvertising campaigns also reference feminine traits, including a focus on appearance and nurturing and the construction of the ideal androgynous woman: pretty, yet strong; decisive, yet gentle. While androgynous-woman scripts have been used in advertising as early as the 1970s and 1980s, this is the first time large corporations have taken an essentially activist (feminist) stance.

This exploratory study investigates the effects of femvertising on consumer attitude and purchase intention based on company-cause fit. Through focus groups, it examines the knowledge and attitudes of men and women toward femvertising and companies that engage in it. The results offer both theoretical implications for CRM scholars and practical ones for corporations and advertisers considering gender welfare causes within a marketing strategy.

Keywords: Femvertising, CRM, gender, corporate social responsibility, company-cause fit

Electronic Logistics Marketplaces (ELMs) are exotic, technological innovations that have not taken off as much as electronic marketplaces (EMs) have. It has been argued that ELMs have a great potential to improve the transportation performance of the participants, but the literature on ELMs is very scarce at best. This article, using a simulation model based on real world shipment data, demonstrates the benefits that may be obtained by a shipper participating in such an ELM. Results clearly show that the benefits obtained by a shipper participating in such an ELM may be quite substantial. This is true even for those ELMs that have been configured with the primary intent of improving transportation carrier performance, without any regard to the performance of the participating shippers. Although much research needs to be done on ELMs, the mutual benefits these systems to shippers and carriers alike, should provide tangible incentives for further conceptual and empirical exploration.

Keywords: electronic logistics marketplaces, electronic marketplaces, simulation, transportation performance

Discussion on the “sandwich generation”, those adults who are providing care to both children and parents, has only begun. Recent data indicate that more than 40,000,000 adults in the United States are providing care to family members. Anecdotal information also indicates that adults in the early years of careers, the 20s and 30s, many fully employed in organizations, are often providing secondary and backup support for those caregivers, and care for grandparents as well as parents and many are often caregivers for their own children. Many of these adults are frequently fully employed as a worker for another organization. The impact is that employees are being paid to work a full time job for an organization while working another job outside of the paid employment, thus working additional hours every week as unpaid volunteers. However, a review of the human resource literature indicates a dearth of data or other information to educate human resource practitioners and their companies about the issues that come with employees who are also involved in care giving. This paper notes the literature gap and examines the coming crisis in an area that requires immediate attention. Demographers estimate that more than 50,000,000 people will be aged 85 or older by 2050, and the preponderance of those aged citizens will require support and care from employed family members. Key topics are discussed relative to the impact on employee performance in organizations, family support and the responsibilities of society, government, business and organizations. Recommendations and conclusions are provided.

Keywords: human resource management, elder care, benefits, sandwich generation, stress

The purpose of this study is to examine audio recordings of naturally occurring conversations between monozygotic and dizygotic twin siblings. This study uses both semi-structured interviews and conversation analysis, investigating communication patterns, practices, and phenomena in everyday twin-to-twin talk. Conversational excerpts displaying the theme of twinness are chosen to guide this study. Thus, the following research questions are posed: (1) How does society’s perception of twin siblings influence their interactions with one another? (2) How does society’s perception of twin siblings influence their interactions with other people? Findings suggest that the theme of twinness is frequently discussed among the twin sibling participants at home and at school. The family systems theory provides an opportunity to understand the twin sibling subsystem. Although most of the twin siblings’ conversations reveal positive sides or benefits of being a twin, one set of twin siblings struggle with de-identification from each other. The purpose of this study is to better understand the relationship and communication between this unique dyad.

Keywords: twin siblings, conversation analysis, systems theory

Many studies of women in organizations have focused on analyzing barriers to the ascent of women to top managerial positions. As important as this research is, we argue that those women who make it to the top are noteworthy statistical outliers and that more research should center on them. This paper proposes a framework for the study of female Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and the personal and organizational antecedents to the appointment of a woman as CEO – a salient event in organizational life. While the framework is based on Upper Echelons theory, the study of female CEOs can be fertile ground for testing hypotheses based on many micro- and macro-level theories and for understanding career progression and leadership development.

Keywords: Upper Echelons theory, Institutional theory, female CEOs, glass cliff

The focus on collaboration is increasing in this age of digital learning. Collaboration, combined with advances in technology, has been argued by researchers and educators as the next big push in enhancement of learning. However, no clear measure of the collaborative process exists. Most studies have viewed collaboration as a dichotomous variable or have used post-hoc analysis to understand the impact of collaboration. In this study, we argue that extent of collaboration needs to be measured as a continuous process variable. Based on previous literature in information systems, management, and education, specific dimensions of collaboration are outlined and an instrument is developed. The instrument is then tested for validity and reliability across seven different criteria in line with existing literature. The paper also outlines how the instrument developed in this article can be used to measure the extent of collaboration in future management research as well as presents guidelines to enhance collaboration between teams.

Keywords: collaboration process, instrument development, measurement, quasi-experiment

In recent years, mobile payment has emerged as a new payment method transcending both the temporal and spatial constraints. However, the adoption of mobile payment has been slow. Mobile payment refers to the use of mobile devices to initiate, authorize, and confirm payment transactions (Au & Kauffman, 2008). Drawing on the traditional technology adoption theories and more recent research on mobile payment adoption, this paper develops a research model to explore important factors underlying users’ intention to adopt mobile payment. The model focuses on the effects of perceptions of mobile payment characteristics (perceived relative advantages, perceived effort expectancy, perceived compatibility, and perceived risks of mobile payment), characteristics of mobile payment use context (time criticality and spatial criticality of access to payment service), subjective norm concerning mobile payment usage, and individual characteristic of potential users (individual mobility). An online survey study was conducted to test the research model and its associated hypotheses. The survey results suggest that the individual mobility of potential users, the perceived compatibility and risks of mobile payment, and the characteristics of mobile payment use context are significant predictors of the intention to adopt mobile payment.

Keywords: mobile payment adoption, perceived characteristics of mobile payment, characteristics of use contexts, individual mobility

This study investigated the use of online information resources by the farmers in Bangladesh. The research was conducted in two districts—Tangail and Munshiganj. To explore the access and use of information by the farmers, this study has taken Roger’s “Diffusion of innovation” model as a theoretical framework. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were used in the research. For quantitative data, a survey questionnaire was used to gather information from the respondents. For qualitative data, interviews were carried out among the farmers. Some agriculture extension officers (service providers) were also interviewed to assess the patterns of their service to farmers. This study found that most of the farmers are not familiar with the online agricultural information sources due to lack of technological facilities, such as a computer and Internet connection. Farmers are not concerned about using ICTs or online information sources, rather, they are worried about the low prices of their products and high prices of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, fuel and transportation. Their primary sources of information are television, radio, newspaper, fellow farmers and agriculture extension service providers.

Keywords: e-agriculture, ICT adaption, Digital Bangladesh, web portals, Diffusion of Innovation

Prior studies have identified several interacting forces that are shaping the demand for accounting and auditing services. Chief among these forces are technology and regulation. One group of studies argue that technology driven by automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics has been a major force in the diminishing demand for humans in certain professional and service oriented jobs. Accounting and tax filing software are ubiquitous and appear to be replacing trained accountants and exerting downward pressure on the demand for accountants and tax preparers. The Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act, especially section 404, requires increased disclosures and compliance by publicly and privately held companies. Several studies point to the increased hiring of accounting professionals as contributing to the high cost of compliance with SOX regulations. In light of this conflict in opinion, and relying on prior evidence of the demand reducing effect of technology, this study investigates if there is a structural change in demand for accounting and auditing services in the SOX regime proposing the year 2003 as a breakpoint. We use several breakpoint tests and forecast failure tests for this investigation. The most compelling evidence for upward shift in accounting and auditing employment due to SOX regime is provided by the Quandt-Andrews test. This test not only concluded that there is an upward structural shift during the SOX regime, but it also identified the year 2003 as the most likely breakpoint. We suggest several extensions of this study to include a test of the interacting effect of the two arguments.

Keywords: Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Section 404, demand for accounting services, structural changes, breakpoint tests, Chow test, Quandt-Andrews test, Forecast Failure test

We examined the interactive relationship between perceived technology difficulties and political efficacy on employees’ job satisfaction. Technology difficulties refer to the inabilities to maximize usage of the technology. The sample consisted of 325 individuals employed in a wide range of work environments. We hypothesized that political efficacy, which we define as success at achieving outcomes by influencing others, would minimize the harmful effects of technology difficulties on employees’ job satisfaction. Results strongly support our hypothesis. Specifically, individuals with low levels of political efficacy reported lower levels of job satisfaction as technology difficulties increased. Further, job satisfaction increased for high political efficacy individuals as technology difficulties increased. Implications of these results, strengths and limitations of this research, and directions for future research are offered.

Keywords: innovation, political efficacy, information technology (IT) usage, technology difficulties, satisfaction

Historically, women in leadership roles have faced a multitude of challenges in businesses, politics and non-profit organizations. In 2013, females accounted for only 4.2 percent of the Fortune 500 CEOs and 4.5 percent of Fortune 1000 CEOs (Knowledge Center, 2013). Research reveals that female managers tend to receive greater scrutiny and criticism than males, and are commonly evaluated less favorably, even when performing exactly the same leadership roles as men (Eagly, Makhijani, & Klonsky, 1995). While females in general have less representation in leadership roles for both organizations and political offices, this research explores the “double-glass ceiling” that many African-American women encounter. The double glass ceiling is described as two invisible barriers, for being a female and an African-American, which can hinder a person from climbing the corporate ladder.

In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the race/gender disparities in many organizations, it is important to recognize both the historical patterns of inequity among different groups and inherent views of students that plan to enter the workforce; understanding both of these issues would provide insight about mitigating these differences. The primary research goals were to 1.) Highlight disparities between various race/gender groups in leadership roles of organizations, 2.) Explore differences in how African-American male and female college students use self-identification labels and view life priorities, and 3.) Use the historical disparities in the workplace among various race/gender groups and different viewpoints among African-American college students as an impetus for future research directions to better understand why these in congruencies exist.

In this research, the viewpoint of African-American female students about life events, leadership roles and climbing the corporate ladder is explored. African-American students, 47 female and 53 male, enrolled in senior level undergraduate management courses at a four-year university were randomly surveyed to compare how male and female viewpoints differ. After tallying the survey, the ten graduate students’ participant was discovered who were enrolled in 400 level courses. Students were asked about positive and negative labels used to describe themselves and to rank life events in order of importance/priority; these life events included getting married, starting a career, raising children, climbing the corporate ladder, contributing to society, and seeking personal fulfillment. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were used to analyze how males vs. females responded to the survey questions. The results reveal interesting differences between African-American female and male students’ views about self-identification labels and life priorities.

Keywords: African-American female, leadership, double-glass ceiling, student, future

This study takes an empirical look at the three-way comparison of different learning environments (blended, face-to-face, and online) for an introductory Managerial Accounting course. The research compares student’s midterm exam, final exam and total final grade results in this course that was taught by the same instructor using blended learning, face-to-face, and online media delivery. An Analysis of Variance test was used on students’ performance outcome in this course to determine if a significant difference existed. This research demonstrates that there is no significant difference in the three different learning environments. It concluded that course instruction and pedagogy are more important for student learning than the type of media delivery and instructors should focus their efforts on the quality of designing and developing course’ content.

Keywords: online learning, blended learning, students’ performance

For many global investors, the instrument of choice for accessing stock markets in Latin America is the American Depositary Receipt (ADR). These ADRs are created when a financial institution holds shares of Latin American corporations in trust and issues receipts which are then listed on stock markets in the U.S. The objective of this study is to provide empirical documentation on the risk-adjusted performance of Latin American ADRs. The first part of the study examines the nature of these ADRs, based on depositary bank, sponsorship status, industry classification, and listing. The second part of the study evaluates the performance of the ADRs using statistical measures grounded in modern portfolio theory. Market returns are adjusted for the degree of total risk and systematic risk inherent in each ADR, and the securities are then ranked on the basis of risk-adjusted performance. In addition to standard Sharpe, Jensen and Treynor performance measures, two newer evaluation metrics, the Modigliani and Sortino measures, are used for ranking the ADRs. The results of this study would be of interest to global investors, managers of international financial institutions, multinational corporate executives, global portfolio managers and academicians in the area of global business and international finance.

Keywords: ADRs, Latin America stocks, portfolio performance measurement

This paper analyzes the rationales and success factors for mergers in nonprofits by synthesizing a long list of existing literature as well as conducting interviews with industry practitioners. Mergers and acquisitions are relatively new in the nonprofit sector. With the general decline in funding levels, nonprofits are now facing a more competitive environment as a growing number of organizations are competing for a pool of funding that has stagnated globally. Funders and board members also have increasingly been calling for nonprofits to become more collaborative and efficient. As in the corporate world, such mergers may not always yield the desired synergies and efficiencies. However, in the nonprofit world, unsuccessful mergers can have dire consequences for the organization’s indigent clients who often have few other alternatives to obtain the support they may be receiving. Because of this potential outcome, it is important that nonprofits understand reasons for merging, have realistic expectations for outcomes and, above all, contemplate a merger as part of a strategy to expand or augment their mission. This paper argues that although most mergers are conceived in the middle of a cash crisis, successful mergers need to be part of a long-term strategy that is designed to strengthen or expand the organization’s mission. Similar to its corporate counterpart, a nonprofit merger should be considered as an opportunity for the organization to better serve its constituencies and as a solution to a broader organizational strategy.

Keywords: mergers and acquisitions, nonprofits, organization strategy

Medical needs of Americans are increasing as the population is aging and struggling with obesity. The addition of new medical technology and techniques, their widespread availability, and procedural improvements have created a more open market for medical providers. Costly procedures in cardiology and orthopedics serve as examples of increasingly needed medical treatments. Individuals, businesses and insurance companies have struggled to find ways to pay for these necessary procedures. Traditionally, in the U.S. the majority of medical procedures have been performed locally. Because of the rising costs associated with these procedures individuals and some healthcare providers are now looking to foreign markets. The performance of medical procedures by foreign providers has created a whole industry referred to as Medical Tourism. The growth of the field of Medical Tourism has presented significant questions, as well as substantial risks and rewards that need to be addressed before the consumer decides what is right for their particular circumstances.

Keywords: medical, tourism, medical tourism, healthcare, advertising, marketing

Connectivity through the use of smartphones takes place both on the job, as employees “multi-task,” talking/texting with friends and family, and out of the workplace, as employees continue to work on job-related tasks. Our research examines how work productivity increases and decreases through the use of smartphones. It increases, e.g., when work related outcomes are accomplished during off-work hours, while productivity decreases, as when social connections are maintained during working hours. As more and more people become tech savvy, social and business connectivity blurs the boundaries between work and home. In 2010 there were 62.6 million smartphones, and in 2014 the estimate of smartphones in the U.S. went up to 163.9 million, a little over half of the number of people in the U.S. (Number of smartphone users…, 2015). Globally, over one-quarter of the population has smartphones (1.8 billion phones for 7.1 billion people) and this is expected to increase to over a third of the population by 2017 (eMarketer, 2014). Adding to the complexity of determining the impact on productivity is the concept of Work/Home Interference (WHI). WHI is also affected positively and negatively by the use of smartphones, both increasing the tension created by this interference when home life is affected and decreasing this tension when recovery occurs from WHI. Recovery, the notion of “human sustainability,” re-energizes employees which is required for organizations to be successful in a competitive environment. Connectivity is changing our culture so that completing work-related tasks at home is both more expected by employers and accepted by employees.

Keywords: multitasking, work/home interference, smartphones at work, Millennials, human sustainability

We developed Bilateral Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models to compute the relative efficiency scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. DEA models compared the teams and took inputs and outputs into consideration. As inputs, we proposed total salary, population of host city, and total runs against (opponent’s points). Outputs included wins, popularity (via Facebook likes), and team revenue. The data were collected from the 2013 season. 30 MLB teams were categorized into two groups. Group 1 included 15 high salary teams, while Group 2 included 15 low salary teams. Results show that low salary teams have significantly higher relative efficiency scores than high salary teams, on average.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, relative efficiency, Major League Baseball, Facebook likes

Monsanto, a sustainable agriculture company, has become widely known for its dark history of polluting the environment, mislabeling products, and suing customers. Activists and humanitarians have protested the company’s practices, and customers have boycotted its products. As a result, intense negative media publicity has portrayed Monsanto as being a greedy, unethical, and arrogant monopoly. The company ignored, in the past, various kinds of criticism but now is forced to confront its 2011 title as the world’s “most evil corporation.” This study assesses Monsanto’s public relations efforts in the last four years to repair its badly-damaged reputation. The authors note that important publics have been ignored and objectives have not been well articulated in the process of rebuilding the company’s reputation. They also propose a long-term plan to minimize deeply-rooted beliefs against Monsanto. The plan sets up specific and measurable objectives and suggests research methods and tools to evaluate the outcome.

Keywords: corporate reputation, negative publicity, pollution, and agriculture

Identifying outstanding leaders is important in the dynamic business environment. Leadership has been studied as traits, behaviors, and path-goal based theories to the present cognitive approaches. High-potential leaders exhibit the characteristics of assertiveness, independence, and flexibility to changing environments along with social responsibility and enhanced positive psychological capital with employees. Outstanding leaders are generally optimistic and make value-based decisions through a self-reliant and directed approach to managing. Leadership can be described as quotients of intelligence (IQ) and emotions (EQ) or (EI) emotional intelligence that may lead to performance success with use of management competencies (MQ) in the formula IQ + EI = Success, plus MQ. Even with EI enhancing higher leadership, there exists a gap in the literature relating the construct to decision-based values and heightened creativity. The purpose of this research is to assess leadership knowledge and the relationships with values, emotional intelligence, and creativity. Participants include 797 global university students with an average age of 35 years who reported having full-time work employment and managerial experiences. Research evidence suggests that high leader knowledge was significantly related to EI and the values of self-direction, security, power, and stimulation. Leaders were found to have significant scholarly, mechanical, and scientific creativity. High EI individuals evidenced self-direction, achievement, conformity, universalism, and benevolence values. Emotionally intelligent individuals held self-concepts described through scholarly and everyday creativity. The hope is that this evidence on leadership enhances the understanding about the influence of emotional intelligence and value-based decision-making found in outstanding, creative leadership.

Keywords: leadership, values, emotional intelligence, creativity

Leadership research has focused primarily on questions of who leaders are and/or what they do. More development is necessary regarding what motivates and guides the leader to act and what guides specific leadership behavior. This conceptual paper provides foundational thought and construct development for a powerful internal motivation to leadership. This motivation builds on the concept of servant leadership and followership, but shifts the focus to leading in order to honor God and to act universally according to His character and design. “Theocentric leadership” takes the approach that many leaders feel an obligation and desire to put God in the center of everything they do, and servant leadership is a natural outgrowth of this adherence to God’s will. God-centered leaders experience a powerful obligation to serve, mentor, develop, and nurture their followers and others around them. The Bible and other religious teachings provide well-developed guidance on the practice and virtue of leadership. While this particular paper addresses Theocentric leadership from the Christian perspective, it is certainly likely that adherents to the world’s other great religions (and perhaps even agnostic or atheist non-believers) are motivated similarly to service, nurturing, and development of followers. Implications for future research and practical application in modern organizations are proposed.

Keywords: theocentric leadership, servant leadership, religion, values, God-centered

In this paper, we explore some of the variables including lingual, text, software dissimilarities, and human differences with a survey of English speakers exposed to poorly translated text. As in previous studies, results are somewhat inconclusive, necessitating further research on this elusive concept.

Keywords: machine translation, foreign language translation, translation comprehension

Service learning has become an increasingly popular pedagogy on university campuses, partially due to pressure on colleges and universities to produce students who are strong community citizens. This occurs at a time when institutions of higher education find themselves increasingly pressed for resources and seeking ways of maximizing the impact of their expenditures. In their 2010 empirical study on impacts of service learning, Weber and Weber examined the impact of service learning on four variables appropriate to developing better citizens, an inherent aspect of service learning: Civic Participation, Self-Efficacy Toward Service, Attitude toward Helping Others, and the Role of College Education in Addressing Social Issues. They found a number of positive significant results for student service learning participation and made suggestions for future research, but were unable to conclude that taking a second or more service learning class had an impact on study variables. This study took a different approach to examining the impact of repeated exposures to service learning, proposing a specific pattern of results for various levels of service learning experience. Results suggest that there is a clear pattern of response levels on study variables to service learning, but that hypothesized differences in mean levels of those responses are not all significantly different. If it is true more generally that repeated exposures to service learning produce non-significant increases in student outcomes, universities should reexamine their strategies regarding the provision of service learning opportunities so as to maximize the results of their expenditure of scarce resources.

Keywords: service learning, impact of service learning, multiple exposures to service learning

Price perception is an important issue in consumer decision-making because it directly affects the buying process. Several studies have established the importance of this factor when consumers think about purchasing a product or service. Price is related to customer response behavior and emotion. Some behaviors such as dissatisfaction, anger, and outrage have been identified as some of the customer reactions to pricing of products and services. The issue of price in marketing, selling and shopping is at the core of customer desire for products and services. The marketing mix (product, price, place and promotion) presents the foundation for strategic marketing. The findings in this study provide some understanding of how price perceptions are formed (Grönroos, 1994; Subhash, 1989). It provides the evidence to develop a framework for the formation of price perception based on a review of the literature and an analysis of the empirical data. As such, we are able to develop an understanding of the factors affecting price perception formation in a developing country, Guatemala. This knowledge has not previously been synthesized.

Keywords: price perception, consumer behavior, Guatemala, shopping

Management nowadays is confronted by a variety of information originating from either internal or external sources. Thereby, the difficulty to focus on the relevant and company critical key-figures information increases. In practice, information management is often a major weakness of efficient corporate management. That weakness is caused by the lack of a centralized, categorized and summarized presentation and analysis of strategy and decision-relevant information. Manage-ment cockpits, a kind of information center for managers, are an approach to meet the challenges of information management. They are a specific work environment for decision makers to get a quick and simple overview of the company’s economic situation. In the most completely equipped premises, the entire process is supported - from acquiring information, to analysis, decision-mak-ing, and communication. Use of management cockpits, a cross-functional, KPI-based and strategy-oriented controlling and management process, can be successfully established in companies as well as the work of interdisciplinary management teams, which are supported. In order to provide these possibilities, the management cockpit is equipped with a range of functionalities that allow the structuring, categorization and management-adequate visualization of information along with extensive analysis and simulation options. Management cockpits, as a communication and collab-oration platform, are a starting point and valuable process companion on the way to holistic and sustainable performance management.

Keywords: corporate performance management, Management Cockpit, performance measurement

Much has been written about the potential for knowledge workers and communities of practice (CoPs). The potential for innovation, creativity, and knowledge sharing is intriguing and shows promise. The appropriate work environment and organizational culture are necessary to support knowledge workers and the promise of CoPs; this may be a change for some from the existing work environment and expectations, which are structured under more traditional management approaches. A review of organizational culture and the roles of technology and social media describe some of the challenges organizations must address. The alignment with knowledge management efforts and CoPs is discussed in terms of tacit and explicit knowledge. Social networks contribute to learning, creativity, and innovation. CoPs should identify technology needed to support work activities, which then can be enabled by management. Reviewing practices relative to employee empowerment and participation are necessary as well as acknowledgment that knowledge workers and their CoPs, not management, are responsible for sharing knowledge and improving their performance in the organization. As CoPs and their members can become significant capital assets, competitive advantage may be at risk without necessary support.

Keywords: communities of practice (CoPs), knowledge management (KM), tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge, knowledge sharing

Much of the discussion concerning propaganda and mass persuasion developed during World War I and World War II. At the time, the word propaganda was replaced by words such as communication and information because they do not imply value judgment and tend to embrace the development of new communication technologies. In the core of propaganda and persuasion there is the intention of a sender of the message to manipulate recipient’s behavior/perception. Although some scholars argue that modern communication has become almost equal to manipulation (Lasswell, 1927; Lippmann, 1997), there are authors who have something to oppose to it (Habermas, 1984; Peters, 1999). On the opposite from manipulation side of communication they see what I call “genuine communication.” Drawing on the work of Peters, Arendt, Lazarsfeld, and Merton, this paper defines genuine communication and examines its complicated overlapping relations with manipulation.

Keywords: genuine communication, manipulation, propaganda, Russian media, annexation of Crimea

A debate over the past forty years has centered on the role of television advertising. The two dominant positions in this debate have been the "mold" and "mirror" theories. The "mold" theory states that advertising leads societal attitudes, values, and beliefs while the "mirror" theory suggests the opposite. The majority of work supporting these positions comes from earlier studies conducted in the United States. However, this study sought to test the validity of the "mirror" by examining the portrayal of women in the UK television advertising, and comparing results with those of an earlier U.S. television advertising study.

Keywords: television advertising, roles of women, Mirror theory

The number of women occupying mid-management positions in organizations has steadily increased. Subsequently, generations of organizational employees may have been supervised by a female manager. Moreover, the types of organizations where these women manage are increasingly diverse yet some of the sectors are traditional in nature and remain male-dominated. Perspectives about these managerial women as well as initiatives designed to facilitate their effectiveness continue to evolve. Since these women have garnered increased responsibilities within organizations, studies have explored their management styles as well as the challenges they encounter. Few studies, however, explore female subordinate attitudes about these women. More specifically, little is known empirically about the dynamic between managerial women and their female subordinates.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the presence of and attitudes towards women who manage within male and female-dominated cultures and to gain knowledge about the nature of their presence within these environments. Women’s attitudes and perceptions about managerial women in male and female-dominated organizational cultures is examined. The study also explores whether female subordinate attitudes and perceptions vary based on organizational type. Two hundred twenty-six participants completed a self-assessment instrument. ANOVA results indicate that female subordinates in male and female-dominated cultures were dissimilar in their attitudes toward women managers.

Keywords: women managers, female subordinates, male and female-dominated organizational cultures

This research draws on the Regulatory Focus (RF) Theory to examine the effects of IT users’ regulatory foci on their intention of IT substitution. IT substitution refers to the replacement of one IT with another IT that satisfies identical needs. The decision of IT substitution is likely to evoke considerations of both incumbent and alternative ITs. The RF Theory distinguishes between two motivational orientations – promotion focus and prevention focus, and provides a useful framework to understand IT substitution behaviors. Individuals with a promotion focus are driven by the need for attainment of positive outcomes, and are thereby oriented toward the maximization of gains and advancement. In contrast, individuals with a prevention focus are driven by the need for avoidance of negative outcomes, and hence are oriented toward the minimization of losses and safety. An individual’s RF guides his/her information processing and decision making, thereby influencing which information he/she specifically seeks out and retains when making a decision about IT substitution. Accordingly, this research classifies two sets of factors influencing IT substitution intention along the RF perspective. It proposes that the promotion-focused individuals will draw on the advancement-oriented factors (e.g., the relative advantage of alternative IT and the descriptive norm regarding IT substitution) to make IT substitution decisions; while the prevention-focused individuals will reply on the safety-oriented factors (e.g., the satisfaction with incumbent IT, the perceived risk of alternative IT, the perceived effort expectancy of alternative IT, and the injunctive norm regarding IT substitution) to make IT substitution decisions.

Keywords: IT substitution, promotion focus, prevention focus

Engaging in community partnerships provides unique benefits to students, faculty, institutions, and community organizations around the world. Benefits of creating such relationships – known as community engagement in some circles, and in other circles as ‘service learning’– leads to financial benefits for the institution, enhances the prestige and visibility of the institution, and strengthens democratic values by reinforcing civic responsibility in students, while expanding job opportunities for graduates. Despite the benefits from creating academic projects designed to engage students in the community as a part of the educational experience, implementation of service learning is not universal. This paper reviews some of the benefits of service learning, identifies commonly perceived difficulties in implementing service learning, offers solutions on how to overcome such difficulties, and finally provides real suggestions to begin implementing service learning, either individually or institutionally.

Keywords: community partnerships, community engagement, service learning, collaborative learning projects, hands-on-learning

In order to market and promote the services that they provide PR-agencies need to utilize marketing techniques that are different from those used in product marketing. When analyzing the ways PR-agencies tend to work with their clients, one can relate to the concept of service quality management (SQM). Agency’s customers compare perceived service with expected service. The authors examine various approaches to service quality assessment and introduce an innovative multiplier system for assessing the newsworthiness of media events for media-relations services. This multiplier can be used by PR-agencies to negotiate and manage client’s expectations and reduce the risk of dissatisfaction with provided services.

Keywords: media relations, PR-agency management, service quality management, PR-effectiveness

This paper examines the effectiveness of corporate sponsorship in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctioned sporting events and attempts to examine consumer attitudes and purchase intentions towards companies such as AT&T that sponsor NCAA sporting events. This paper addresses four key concepts: consumer awareness of sponsorship; the perceived fit between sponsorship and the sponsoring company; consumer attitudes towards the sponsoring brand; and consumer purchase intention toward the sponsoring brand. Research results indicate that approximately 44.9 percent of respondents are aware of AT&T sponsoring NCAA sanctioned sporting events. In addition, research indicates that consumer attitudes towards the sponsoring brand have a strong direct relationship with purchase intention toward the sponsoring brand. Furthermore, results indicate that sponsoring brand equity has a positive effect on attitudes toward the sponsoring brand; and corporate sponsorship helps sponsoring firms increase brand equity; and sponsored organization recognition has a favorable impact on consumer purchase intention toward the sponsoring brand.

Keywords: sport sponsorship, consumer attitudes, purchase intention, sports marketing

This study examines the advertising tendencies of degree granting institutions in the University System of Maryland during period of economic downturns. The purpose of this paper therefore is to determine how much degree granting institutions in the University System of Maryland spend on advertising during the period of economic downturn and the effect on enrollment. Data were collected from the University System of Maryland 2008 Joint Chairmen’s Report (JCR) on Advertising and the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) enrollment report. Regression statistical analysis was used to analyze the data.

Keywords: advertising tendencies, advertising expenditures, economic downturns, colleges, universities, enrollment

A congenial physical environment is a critical success factor in the hospitality industry. This study explores the influence of community sanitation on the relationship between corporate identity and corporate image in the hospitality industry in Ghana. In-depth interviews were employed among clients in two of Ghana’s best hotels (a five and four star hotels respectively) situated in a local community. The results indicated that while a blend of a perfect servicescape and perfect community environment is ideal, hotels can still insulate themselves from the less than perfect community environment and still develop a favorable corporate image based on the right strategies. Common themes identified in the strategies include: spick and span immediate environment, appealing servicescape, neatly-dressed employees and excellent customer service. The implication is that the hospitality industry should leverage the controllable factors to create a competitive advantage while they seek to minimize the threats they face.

Keywords: Ghana, corporate identity mix, corporate image, corporate sanitation, business operations

Ever since Chile's return to democracy, at the beginning of the 1990's, electoral participation in the country has been on a steady decline. This phenomenon is consistent with that of many countries in the world, especially in democracies that have allowed voluntary voting. Because of this, it is not clear that this disaffection for politics is a problem in and of itself, even if many analysts contend that it may be (Chuaqui, 2005; Contreras et al., 2013) when considered alongside other behaviors characteristic of Chilean idiosyncrasy.

In regards to gender composition and political participation, in Chile more than half of the population is made up of women. However, they only occupy 12.7% of popular representation seats. On the other hand, even if Chilean congresswomen make up only 13% of the upper house and 14.5% of the lower house, compared to a Latin American average that surpasses 20%, both candidates who made it to the second round in the last presidential election, in accordance to the current political Constitution, were women, and subsequently, the first seat in Chile is once again occupied by a woman.

This paper tackles the problem of the general population's diminishing participation in parliamentary and presidential elections - only 46.5% of the electorate voted in the last election, this being the lowest recorded participation rate despite recent modifications to electoral legislation which sought to raise it. It also attempts to explore the reasons that might explain the apparently contradictory phenomenon that, considering such a low representation of women in political power in Chile, it was two women who disputed the presidency of the Republic in the last elections held in November and December 2013. Finally, it also speculates about a correlation between the low participation of citizenry at the polls and the triumph of women in spite of the scarce representation of Chilean women in seats of power.

Keywords: Chile, women, politics, abstention

Market timing is a strategy of making buy and sell decisions of financial investments by attempting to predict future market prices through measures of value, market sentiment (bullish/bearish), or moving averages. This study examined the use of the Simple Moving Average (SMA) as an investment guide for employees, having little financial understanding, who are individually responsible for the investments of their personal defined contribution retirement plan. Specifically, the study examined four simple moving averages (SMAs) as a tactical (market) timing strategy for making buy and sell decisions for individuals that have defined contribution plan assets, such as 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, 407 plans, along with Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). The results of the four SMAs (10-month SMA, 12-month SMA, 15/40-weekly SMA, and 50/200-daily SMA) were compared against a buy/hold strategy. The results of this historical post-hoc examination determined that employing the SMA to trigger the decision to be invested or not invested in mutual funds was significantly better than the traditional buy and hold strategy.

Keywords: simple moving average investing, moving average investing, defined contribution plan investment strategy, buy and hold investing

The growth of the shared ownership industry, also known as the timeshare industry, has been noted to be one of the few tourist sectors which has experienced continual growth since its inception. The product lifecycle of the shared ownership industry has, however, not been without challenges due to worldwide economic woes, taxation issues, and changing consumer needs, wants, and expectations. The present study set in the island country of Aruba assessed owner interest in car club membership, an extension of the timeshare/shared ownership product.

Keywords: interval ownership, timeshare ownership, car club membership, product extension strategy

Internet technologies help people to reach information easily, but the reliability of the source or the appropriateness of the website is debatable. Using virtual communities as an example, people tend to add their personal opinions and very subjective comments, based on their past experiences. However, virtual communities should not just be viewed as a source of learning or information, but also a platform for self-expressing and socializing. This paper reviews the concepts of communities and virtual communities. These concepts are further developed using the example of a virtual community from Turkey, called eksisozluk.com. The paper describes how the system at eksisozluk.com works, how people communicate, and the special aspects, which make this online dictionary a community rather than a website.

Keywords: virtual communities, online communities, user-generated content, communities of practice, Eksisozluk, suser

To answer the question why do individuals choose a particular genre of music as a favorite, the lived experiences of music listeners were explored. The researcher interviewed five adults about their music listening. In-depth interviews were recorded and transcribed. Empirical phenom-enology was used to analyze responses. Respondents experienced life-changing moments in the selection of music genre preference. Themes common to all respondents are described. Implica-tions of music listening to health are discussed.

Keywords: music, transformation, identity, catharsis, phenomenology

The World Bank (2013b) views reducing corruption as a method to decrease poverty and promote economic growth around the world. This study considers religiosity as a factor that could reduce corruption and in turn promote economic growth. There are a large number studies that have looked at the relationship between corruption and economic growth and others that have considered the influence of religion on corruption. However, few have considered their combined influence, and those that did only considered the type of religion and not the influence of the level of religiosity on corruption and economic growth. This study attempts to fill the void in the literature by combining these factors to consider the impact of religiosity on corruption and in turn its influence on economic growth within a nation. The basic premise is that the more a nation’s citizens practice their religion, the more they will incorporate their beliefs in their personal and business lives and be less corrupt, hence promoting economic growth. The results suggest that the negative impact of higher levels of religiosity dominated the possible positive impact it had on corruption and did not lead to an increase in economic growth.

Keywords: religiosity, economic growth, corruption

This case study reveals the development of a successful online public speaking course over a three-year period. Designers reviewed current approaches to online Public Speaking and considered the challenges identified across institutions and those specific to this southeastern research university. In order to meet student and faculty needs, this Virtual Public Speaking with a Professional Focus model includes traditional principles of public speaking, while capitalizing on current technology commonly used in the workplace to deliver the course online and to teach online professional presentation strategies for synchronous and asynchronous delivery. The course design is described, including the learning outcomes, the nature of specific assignments, and opportunities for student interaction. The logistics for implementation, especially technology training, are also discussed. Finally, student and faculty feedback are provided, including the current survey of students participating in the most recent iteration of the model. Findings highlighted students' positive perceptions of growth regarding their expanded skills with public speaking and the use of technology. Although the challenges seemed great, the current model maintains rigor while providing a highly relevant course to business students who learn development and delivery strategies not only for this class, but also for their future oral presentations in college and careers.

Keywords: public speaking, virtual presentations, learning outcomes, professional preparation

Enterprise 2.0 is about the use of social software for communication and collaboration in and between companies. Consulting firms market the idea as more efficient and effective than “classical” tools like email. But many companies are very reluctant in replacing email as the main tool for communication and collaboration because they don’t see the advantages. It is the main objective of this article to give some recommendations based on real figures of cost- and-benefit estimations in selected German companies. This is done by presenting two case studies which show that Enterprise 2.0 has two possible positive impacts for business processes: (1) business processes can be redesigned to be more efficient and effective and (2) even already optimized business processes can benefit from improvements in productivity, execution time and information quality by Enterprise 2.0.

Keywords: business process, Enterprise 2.0, social business software, social network

Many companies practice performance management in the framework of a heterogene-ous, grown mix of numerous separate decisions, instruments, processes and systems and not in terms of a strategically and systematically planned management system.

Due to the inefficiency of the above mentioned performance management style, a holistic and integrated approach is a key factor. Performance management must be able to meet central objectives and requirements and set the groundwork for long-term corporate success.

This article presents a central approach of the conception of holistic and long-term per-formance management. The five equal part disciplines are illustrated and demonstrate the issue and composition complexity of a performance management due to their characteristics and com-bination. The objective of this article is to display and communicate the performance manage-ment issue and its context through an easily comprehensible system without following a general recipe.

Keywords: holistic, corporate performance, management, project management

Business negotiations are often plagued by various forms of unethical tactics. This paper focuses on deception, a widely used unethical tactic in negotiations. Building on existing research, this study examines emotional deception and informational deception and the likelihood of their use in intra- and cross-cultural negotiations by Mexican negotiators. Based on responses from 116 Mexican managers, this study shows that Mexican negotiators are more likely to use informational deception rather than emotional deception in both intra and cross-cultural negotiations. The study however did not find any difference between intra- and cross-cultural negotiation behaviors of Mexican managers with respect to the extent of use of deceptions. The study also found that for the most part, female and male negotiators exhibit very similar behavior in both intra- and cross-cultural negotiations.

Keywords: cultural values, deception, intra-cultural negotiation, cross-cultural negotiation

This research project introduces a short in-class learning exercise involving students’ forecasting the likely earnings for their selected major that has been very well reviewed by the students. The data collected establishes that for this sample from a regional public university, many students make sizable errors when estimating median earnings for their selected major. The evidence weakly supports the view that students with business-related majors have more accurate earnings forecasts than do students with non business-related majors. Stronger support is found for the hypothesis that students selecting lower earning majors are more likely to overestimate earnings for their major than are students selecting higher earnings majors. There does not appear to be any robust linkage between students’ grade outcomes and the accuracy of their earnings forecasts. The potential implications for students of large earnings forecasts errors also is examined.

Keywords: earnings forecasts, college major

This study examines perceptions about the role of women in leadership positions. Specifically, it examines the views of university students and their opinion of women in current leadership positions. A sample of 136 students was randomly surveyed to find out who they currently view as leaders and visionaries of today’s society. The survey included questions about positive and negative labels used to describe themselves. Finally, students were asked to develop a preferential order of life events, which included getting married, having children, climbing the corporate ladder, and seeking personal fulfillment. This study is unique for the questions asked to students concerning their perceptions of future life events, the personality characteristics of leaders and their own personality characteristics. Other studies have focused on the characteristics of leadership but the authors did not discover any other studies that linked future perceived events with leadership.

Keywords: women, leadership, future life events

In the past two decades, women have dominated the public relations practice, leading to a feminization of the field. Women’s enrollment in public relations courses has skyrocketed and now exceeds 80 percent in undergraduate programs. Studies on women in public relations have focused on the field’s loss of status, salary disparity, discrimination, stereotyping, and practitioner roles. Few studies, however, have investigated women who broke through the glass ceiling and forged their own pathway in the practice. Several studies have revealed that women are much more inclined to consensus build and focus on the interests of others, which are important characteristics in the two-way symmetrical model of the practice. This study used a phenomenological approach to investigate the pathways of women entrepreneurs in communications, those women who founded their own public relations and marketing communications firms and bypassed the glass ceiling by constructing their own reality. Thirty women – ten from Los Angeles and Orange Counties, ten from New York City, and ten from London – who head top public relations and marketing communication firms, which they founded, were interviewed in-depth about the ethical challenges they face and how they deal with them. Ethical dilemmas involved client credibility, billing, and various employee issues. Although the participants practiced a coalescence of the four models of the practice, the women leaned more heavily toward the two-way symmetrical model. Requiring courses on ethics and gender issues in public relations was recommended for undergraduate and graduate programs, along with ethical training for professionals.

Keywords: agency women in public relations, female entrepreneurs in communications, ethics in public relations, ethical challenges and dilemmas in communications

Human trafficking is one of the most immoral crimes afflicting our civilization. In fact, it is the single fastest growing criminal offense. Most victims of human trafficking are forced into the sex trade by coercion and deception. Other forms of trafficking involve forced labor in sweatshops, factories, migrant agricultural work, and even domestic servitude. This public affairs plan focuses on human trafficking in the sex industry. The main purpose of the plan is to highlight the severity of global human trafficking and raise awareness of this ever-growing issue among specific target publics in the United States. The plan is based on personal interviews with knowledgeable sources and a nation-wide online survey.

Keywords: human trafficking, Moldova, sexual slavery, and United Nations

Like any business, colleges and universities must build relationships with new students and retain relationships with current students to enhance their chances for economic success. More recent studies continue to demonstrate that participation in campus activities encourages greater student retention rates as well as personal growth and satisfaction. Campus (experiential) events promote interaction between students and the university, helping to build longer-term bonds between the student and the college or university. Thus, campus events begin to develop relationships with the students and reinforce the brand through interaction and the qualities of the events themselves.

However, offering programs and events that help to cement this relationship only works if those students know about and attend the events. A survey of 516 students at a Great Plains, public university was conducted to find out about student attitudes toward the current program offerings, what they would like to see in the future, as well as suggestions for what prevents and encourages them to attend the events. Results of the survey suggest that student participation in campus activities was extremely low, a small percentage of students on the campus were likely to attend these events, and that these students were likely involved in other campus organizations. Differences were also found based on the students’ year in school and whether they lived on campus or commuted. The major reasons that students identified for not attending, being motivated to attend and suggestions for preferred program types are also discussed.

Keywords: promotion, campus activities, student participation

In the aftermath of the recent economic recession, many state supported institutions of higher learning faced significant budget reductions. Among the ways to cope with these reductions were public calls for pay cuts for highly paid university professors, and business professors are typically among the highest paid faculty at many public colleges and universities. Moreover, there is often a general perception that business professors are not as qualified as other professors, work less and do less research, while producing poorer students than other campus units. While these perceptions were, and perhaps still are, widely held, the facts are less clear. This case study examined data from a single mid-sized Midwestern public comprehensive university with an AACSB accredited business program in order to explore the question of whether business professors there are overpaid, underworked and under-qualified. Results show that for this case, claims that business professors are overpaid, underworked and underqualified are not supported by the data.

Keywords: faculty workload, faculty qualifications, faculty salaries, business professor salaries

Managers are responsible for employees, yet some managers are reluctant to deal with underperformance, poor performance, and problem employees. When managers fail to manage these issues, they expose their organizations to the risk of losing productive employees, as well as, to incurring costs associated with keeping nonproductive workers on the payroll. In addition, U.S. courts are holding employers responsible for the acts of employees at state and federal levels. Liability has not been limited to the execution of job responsibilities, but also to employee behavior in general. The concept of negligent retention is reviewed in a management context, including performance issues for managers and employees. Organizational liability may be an issue if managers know about negative employee behavior and fail to act to protect stakeholders, including other employees and customers. Organizations are responsible for preparing and training managers to deal with employees and may need to further develop managers who can effectively and consistently evaluate and develop employees. Proactive management includes due diligence at all levels of management, not limited to training, addressing performance issues, addressing policies and procedures, establishing behavior standards, and enforcing accountability. Confronting poor management practices and poor performers immediately, when training and development of managers and employees may have a positive impact, may also reduce potential future legal problems, improve management practices, improve performance, and help retain productive employees.

Keywords: poor performance, liability, management, development

Student job placement upon graduation is a persistent factor in the assessment of both academic programs and individual student success. This study seeks to explore what strategies and actions can be taken to make hospitality students more competitive in the job search process. By identifying these strategies, attempts can be made to execute them in academic programs, resulting in an increase in student job placement success upon graduation. In-depth interviews with lodging industry recruiters yielded five emergent themes: (a) impression management; (b) interpersonal skills; (c) work experience value; (d) academic isolation; and (e) student accountability. Practical implications and remedies are explored for academics, industry, and the individual student. Further, the strategies offered may be applied to or modified for any student and/or job applicant in any job search situation. Possible benefits exist for academic programs, the individual student, the hospitality industry, and society as a whole.

Keywords: job placement, industry recruiters, hospitality student, Millennial

Website Usability is often described as how easy a system is to learn, remember, and use. Making a website easy to use requires more than following a checklist of “best practices.” It is important that the purpose of the site be pre-determined prior to the start of the “design” process. In the past, users were tethered to a desk by power and communication cords in order to do their work. Advances in technology have enabled the development of “mobile computing.” Mobile devices no longer need to be chained to a desk. As a consequence, the constructs underpinning Usability have evolved. More emphasis is placed on the characteristics of hybrid devices such as: weight, size, battery life, reception (bars), number of buttons, and touch screen capability. Traditional themes to include load time, screen size, single hand operation, browser compatibility, color schemes, and contact links also need to be considered. For the most part, if all these elements are taken into account a website has a strong chance of being successful however, there is no guarantee.

Keywords: usability, websites, web usability, web design, navigation

The purpose of this study is to develop and test a research model that investigates the effects of different disconfirmation judgments about information technology (IT) on users’ satisfaction with and trust in the technology. The research model distinguishes between different disconfirmation judgments (i.e., expectation disconfirmation, desire disconfirmation, and norm disconfirmation) and examines their distinct effects on IT satisfaction and IT trust. A survey was conducted to test the research model and its associated hypotheses. The results indicated the predominant effect of desire disconfirmation on IT satisfaction. Desire disconfirmation was found to be a better predictor of IT satisfaction than expectation disconfirmation and norm disconfirmation. The results also revealed the significant effect of norm disconfirmation on IT trust and the full mediation effect of IT satisfaction between desire disconfirmation and IT trust. The findings of this study suggest that IT products/services should be designed to meet or exceed users’ desired performance and normative standards to foster IT satisfaction and trust.

Keywords: IT disconfirmation judgments, IT satisfaction, IT trust

New social media tools emerge regularly linking people to people, people to organizations, and organizations to organizations. Today, there are hundreds of social media tools and apps. The fields of advertising, marketing and public relations all make claims about social media as tools to further their field’s strategic objectives. While corporate uses of social media for advertising, marketing, and public relations, are quite common, we know very little about how social cause groups use social media to interact with publics, media, donors, government officials, and corporations. Can the traditional models of social media in strategic communication, initially employed by profit seeking firms, be applicable or even desirable for activist groups? This essay explores a new model of social media that sells ideas rather than products or services.

Keywords: activists, social media, corporate communication, Projek Dialog, Sina Weibo, Wechat, public relations

This study investigates framing of news stories through the lens of the agenda setting function of mass media. Specifically, this intuitive study examined how the tone of one article and the time that has passed since exposure influences an individual’s perception of a public figure. A sample of college students (N=147) read an article about a public figure and was surveyed either two days or two weeks later. Findings show that the tone of the article affected respondent’s perception of the public figure. The individual’s level of ability to relate, sympathize and believe the public figure was a “good” person was affected by the passage of time. Additionally, this study investigated respondents’ perceptions of the effect media coverage has on public opinion. The results from this study underscore the impact even limited media, has on the public agenda.

Keywords: publicity, agenda setting, media impact

This paper explores underlying psychological mechanisms of employment relations in East Asian immigrant businesses in the United States. Positive functions of kinship and the impacts of kin altruism on psychological contract and commitment are conceptualized from a theoretical perspective of kin selection. In addition, the transmission of Confucian cultural values from home countries to the host country and their influences on employment relations in East Asian immigrant businesses are explicated from a sociocultural evolutionary perspective. Honoring filial piety in a patriarchal family structure is a traditional Confucian value, and such a cultural idea is understood as a unit of cultural transmission. This paper hence proposes the thesis that paternalistic Confucianism as a system of cultural values tends to reinforce biologically evolved kin altruism among East Asian immigrant entrepreneurs while helping them maximize their genetic as well as economic payoff. Several propositions are also presented for future empirical studies.

Keywords: immigrant business, kin altruism, psychological contract