How Much Value is at Event Risk Babatunde ... - M.MOAM.INFO (2025)

How Much Value is at Event Risk Babatunde Odusami, Widener University This paper applies a Jump-Garch approach to calculating the value at risk (VaR) of five energy commodities, namely; reformulated gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, propane, and West Texas Intermediate crude oil. The paper shows that VaRs derived from jump-garch models are able to identify and account for how much value is at unusual market risk, which standard VaR models fail to do. VaRs on the days with high jump probability are significantly larger than VaRs obtained from days with low jump probability.

Window Candlestick Patterns: Their Frequency and Profitability Julie R. Dahlquist, University of Texas at San Antonio Richard J. Bauer, St. Mary’s University Although Japanese candlestick charts date back to the mid-1700s, this tool for analyzing price movement in the stock market was unfamiliar to traders in the western financial markets until introduced by Steve Nison in the late 1980s. Over the past 30 years, candlestick charts have become a standard tool used by analysts. The candlestick charts show price action in a striking way, making them popular with traders. Patterns on candlestick charts are primarily short term, developing in one to five bars. In this paper, we investigate a particular subset of candlestick chart patterns—patterns which contain “windows.” A gap in a stock price (when one day’s trading range lies entirely outside the previous day’s trading range) is called a window in Japanese candlestick charting nomenclature. Seven major candlestick patterns contain windows: the gapping tasuki, gapping side-by-side white lines, two black gapping candles, gapping doji, collapsing doji star, abandoned baby top, and abandoned baby bottom. We consider the frequency of occurrence of these patterns, along with the profitability of using them as a trading tool over the past 60 years. Some of these patterns, such as the gapping doji and collapsing doji star, are rarely seen. In fact, we find only 89 instances of a collapsing doji star over the 1981-2011 time period. Even during that time period, there were major subsets of time in which no collapsing doji star occurred. For example, One occurred July 5, 1990 for Ericsson (ERIC) and another did not occur until March 8, 1996 for Tyco (TYC). Despite the move to decimalization, we find that the occurrence of windows has steadily increased over time. One will expect to see more windows occurring for low-priced, thinly traded stocks. This raises some interesting issues, however, as we attempt to track the prevalence of these candlestick patterns over time. As stock trading volume has increased and inflation has driven prices up, the definition of a low-priced, thinly traded stock has not remained stable. Also, database adjustments for stock splits and dividends provide prices in real terms but distort prices relative to what traders were considering historically when making trading decisions.

Modeling Covered Interest Parity Deviations – A Structured VAR Approach Vadhindran K. Rao, Metropolitan State University The study uses a Vector Autoregression (VAR) approach to modeling the Covered Interest Differential (CID) and testing Covered Interest Parity (CIP). A structural VAR is accordingly estimated using data from an emerging market. A mix of short term and long term restrictions are used to identify the underlying structural shocks and separate out permanent and temporary components. Impulse-response analysis and Variance Decomposition techniques are then used to address questions such as: a) What proportion of the variability in the CID is due to permanent shocks and what proportion to transitory shocks? b) What is the impact on the CID of a typical temporary shock? Are such shocks, for the most part, within the bounds of transactions costs? c) How quickly does the CID recover from large temporary shocks? These questions have implications for whether CIP holds in a risk-adjusted sense – that is, whether it holds after allowance is made for a country risk premium.

Foreign Exchange Volatility, Gold, and Oil Prices Daniel L. Tompkins, Niagara University Raj Patel, Parasmani Leasing & Real Estate Mikhail Melnik, Southern Polytechnic State University This paper examines the co-movements and information transmission between gold and oil prices, and the exchange rate fluctuations of the U.S. dollar with the currencies of several major natural resource exporting countries (Russia, Canada, Australia). Evidence shows there is a significant positive relationship between the prices of these commodities and the foreign exchange rates.

Market Risk-Adjusted Dividend Policy and Price-to-Book Ratio Tarek Ibrahim Eldomiaty, British University in Egypt This paper offers a new mathematical formulation that addresses the relationship between expected price-to-book ratio, dividend per share, dividend payout ratio, systematic and unsystematic risks. The sample includes the non-financial firms in the DJIA covering the period 1997-2006. The general results show that expected price-to-book ratio is: (1) positively associated with squared current stock price, (2) negatively associated with squared expected book value per share; squared unsystematic risk-adjusted dividend per share; squared systematic and unsystematic dividend payout ratio (e.g., negative signaling). The paper contributes to the current literature in two ways. First, systematic and unsystematic risks are to be considered when deciding on the dividend per share and dividend payout ratio. Second, the relationship between expected price-to-book ratio and the risk-adjusted dividends per share and dividend payout ratio is intrinsically nonlinear, which is not addressed in the relevant literature.

Outsourcing Human Resource Activities and Organizational Effectiveness Thomas J. Norman, California State University- Dominguez Hills A common belief among human resource (HR) professionals is that the HR function should become more “strategic” given the importance of human capital to organizational success. If optimal management of human capital can create a sustainable competitive advantage, this suggests that the design and implementation of certain HR activities are unique and inimitable. Thus outsourcing certain HR activities to a vendor using a standardized approach would result in a reduction in organizational effectiveness. This work analyzes recent data on HRO levels from 294 organizations showing an association between organizations utilizing HRO and employee turnover and customer satisfaction.

Is the Pro-Network Bias Justified? Output Flexibility and Advanced Manufacturing Technology Rafael Pardo, Fundación BBVA Ruth Rama, CSIC (Spanish Council for Scientific Research)

To research differences between companies engaged in production networks and vertically integrated companies we analysed a sample of 1,031 industrial plants, statistically representative of firms with over 50 employees in Spain’s manufacturing industry. We used T-tests, non parametric tests and Chi square tests; and hypotheses were tested for three subsets of companies, classified by the R&D intensity of the industry. In each set of industries, subcontracting is systematically associated to flexible production. By contrast, vertically integrated firms are more inclined to employ mass production. In every type of industry, subcontracting is a form of governance especially efficient for the diffusion of new technology. Firms which subcontract production are more likely than integrated firms to adopt advanced manufacturing technology, whatever the R&D intensity of the industry. We conclude that outsourcers seem better prepared than vertically integrated firms to meet customers’ requirements but employment of subcontracting do not lower necessarily their technology needs -- a widespread “pro-network” argument.

What Endures? The Results of One Professor’s Attempt to Assess the Impact of Using Ronald Heifetz’s Approach to Teaching and Learning Leadership on the Practices of Former Students Back on the Job John H. Robinson, Webster University For the past six years, the presenter has taught a doctoral-level leadership course that was developed based on the leadership concepts and teaching methodology developed and used by Ronald Heifetz at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, for almost three decades. Sharon Parks’ book, Leadership Can be Taught (Harvard Business School Publishing Co., 2005), is a case study of Heifetz’s concept of adaptive leadership and his teaching approach. In her book, Parks made the following statement: “Any course, program, seminar … may be experienced as valuable at the time and incorporated into what one knows. But in the long term, it may have little effect on ongoing thought and action. Leadership education is intended to affect significantly the actual practice of professional live however, so the critical question is, “What endures?” The presenter will summarize the results of an attempt to assess the impact of the course on the leadership practices of former students back on the job. The course is a “topics course” in the curriculum of a doctoral program focused on leadership and change. Students in the program come from a wide range of professions and countries. This study is a partial replication of a similar study conducted in 1989 by Ronald Heifetz and several associates at the Kennedy School (Heifetz, R. A, Sinder, R. M., Jones, A., Hodge, L. M., and Rowley, K. A., 1989. Teaching and assessing leadership courses at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 8: 536-562). An overview of the theory behind Heifetz’s Adaptive Leadership framework is provided, as well as an overview of the teaching approach used by Heifetz in his leadership courses.

Organizational Justice: A Study of a Manufacturing Organization Donna M. Williams, Grambling State University Semere Haile, Grambling State University This paper deals with the specific paradigms of procedural and distributive justice practices in manufacturing organizations in terms of employees’ attitudes of job satisfaction, and the relative effects of their intentions to remain, or to quit the organization. An important proposal is that the experience of justice in a manufacturing organization results from various styles of management. The paper will review existing literature relevant to understanding the critical issues of a manufacturing organization’s managing policies that may benefit both employer and employee across race and gender. It will illustrate with data from race and gender field work in a manufacturing organization. The results of this study will contribute to the debate whether organizational justice or injustice provides significant implications for practitioners and help to motivate further research in the manufacturing industry.

Supply Chain Relationships: Is Collaboration Reality? Wesley Boyce, University of Missouri – St. Louis Supply Chain Management often requires independent organizations to work together to achieve shared objectives. This collaboration of firms in a supply chain is necessary when coordinated actions benefit the entities jointly more than do the uncoordinated actions of individual firms. Recent research has indicated that collaboration efforts between firms in supply chains have not been as widespread as anticipated despite the commonly reported benefits that may be gained by working together. This is a critical matter that can aid the field of Supply Chain Management and companies that practice it when they are working beyond the boundaries of a single organization. This survey of the literature investigates how collaborative relationships between firms have developed over the years ranging from firms practicing a silo mentality to firms working together to compete with other supply chains. Gaps in the literature will be identified and future research directions presented that will seek to paint a picture of the current state of relationships and how collaboration has progressed in North American firms.

Marketing to the Amish: Am I Crazy? Somjit Barat, Pennsylvania State University Despite the conservative lifestyle that Amish are known to lead, a growing segment of the population is embracing the mainstream US life, including technology, jobs, businesses, education, and healthcare etc. For example, the number of Amish businesses in the Lancaster County (in Pennsylvania, the second-largest Amish community in the US) increased from 134 in 1995 to 354 in 2005, and to 2000- 2500 in 2011. Part of this shift in outlook, which started decades ago, is the result of an increase in the Amish population, thereby leading to more diversity of attitudes (according to Berger et al., 1973; Olshan, 1981), while part of it is fuelled by the current economic conditions leading to higher returns from non-agricultural activities. Consequently, today’s Amish youths are embracing modern amenities of life in impressive numbers. It is surprising that little, if any, attention has been paid to this phenomenon from a marketing perspective, especially given that other US sub cultures have garnered considerable coverage (Yoo, 2009; Yim-Yu et al., 2008). Using a hermeneutical approach (based on theoretical interpretations of a series of written monologues and typographic recordings of consumption stories from members of the Amish community), the author bases his research on the VALS framework. Specifically, the author investigates the following issues from a consumer behavior perspective: reasons for the changes in Amish lifestyle; success of Amish businesses as compared to mainstream counterparts; and marketing challenges and opportunities in reaching out to the New Amish. This research has implications from several perspectives. The US Amish population increased by almost 10% between 2009 and 2011 (population will double itself by 2026), which definitely makes them a viable subculture. Secondly, given that the VALS model has hitherto been applied only on mainstream consumers, this research tests the universality of the VALS model. Finally, this study provides innovative avenues to reach out to secluded niche markets, which is critical given the increasing multiculturalism of the American society.

The Catholic Church in the United States and the Challenge of Financial Disclosure and Transparency Rodger Brannan, University of Minnesota Duluth The Catholic Church has been in the news a great deal recently, and often not in a complimentary manner. The sex abuse scandal has taken up a super majority of the press coverage; however, another large scale problem has been uncovered as result: a glaring lack of financial accountability. The National Catholic Reporter reports that a vast majority of Catholics do not know how their donations are spent. West and Zech postulate that better financial controls would have resulted in earlier detection of the abuse scandal. They also hypothesize that more financial transparency would have resulted in more pressure being exerted on church leaders to make fundamental changes in the way the church is operated. A Business Week article calls for more financial discipline. The authors of the Business Week article are disappointed that the church has not moved towards a requirement of better financial accountability or transparency. This research paper focuses on what extent the church’s financial operations are indeed transparent. The web sites of a sample of 50 dioceses (including arch-dioceses) were examined to determine if financial statements were readily available to any interested individual. The web search method was chosen because it has become the common vehicle and medium of financial information dissemination. Information gleaned from the examination of the web sites include: the types of financial reports presented; the nature of notes presented in the financial statements, the audit report and what percent of the audit reports were issued as qualified reports. General information about each diocese is also presented. This paper cannot measure the change in financial reporting, but it can serve as an important benchmark for the present state of financial disclosure and transparency in the Catholic Church in the United States.

Auditor Due Diligence: Toward the Prevention and Detection of Fraud Committed by Broker-Dealers John S. DeJoy, Siena College Don Furman, SUNY New Paltz School of Business The purpose of this paper is to recommend another tool to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud by broker – dealers. The authors propose that the auditors of broker-dealers and investment funds be required, as part of the audit process, to conduct specific due diligence on companies with which its client invests significant assets in and/or receives significant infusions of cash from. Specifically, the audit firm of a broker-dealer and investment funds would be required to determine that the audit firms of the companies its clients invest in or receive investments from are legitimate audit firms. We define a legitimate audit firm as one that is registered with the PCAOB and/or is participating in the AICPA’s peer review process. Background: Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, a broker-dealer, created a Ponzi scheme which ultimately caused many investors to lose their life savings. Madoff’s audit firm, Freighling and Horowitz, did not participate in the AICPA’s peer review process (although enrolled in the peer review process they avoided the process simply by informing the AICPA that they did not perform audits). Freighling and Horowitz performed sham audits and David Freighling, its partner, was convicted and is serving a prison sentence for his role in the Madoff Ponzi scheme. Had the firm been participants in the AICPA’s peer review process, their shoddy auditing, and Madoff’s scheme, would have been discovered much earlier. Our proposal places the onus on the audit firm for exposing auditors who are not in compliance with professional standards. In the above example, the auditors of the feeder funds (feeder funds provided large cash investments to Madoff, who was then supposed to manage the investment) would have been required to conduct due diligence as to the legitimacy of the audit firm that was auditing Madoff. This due diligence by the audit firms would have led to the discovery that Madoff’s auditors were not participating in the AICPA Peer Review process. As stated above, that discovery would have led to the unraveling of Madoff’s scheme. This paper will explore several recent investment schemes which have been uncovered and how our proposal may have led to uncovering the schemes sooner or prevented them altogether. In addition, a number of auditing regulations will be reviewed in order to demonstrate how the auditor’s obligations can be expanded to encompass the authors’ suggestions.

Exploring Options to Change Auditor Reporting: A Comparison of U.S. and International Perspectives John P. McAllister, University of North Florida Larry L. Orsini, St. Bonaventure University Studies have indicated that readers of the standard audit report (SAR) believe that those reports should include more information than is currently the case. Indications are that this inclination goes back many years; however, the 2007-2008 financial meltdown apparently resulted in more intense calls for enhanced communications in the SAR that would benefit readers. In most jurisdictions around the world the SAR is limited to expressing a “pass-fail” judgment as to the fairness of the financial statements in accordance with specified accounting and reporting standards. In mid-2011 this subject was addressed by way of “requests for comments” by both the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB). The former is a private-sector, non-profit corporation created by the Sarbanes–Oxley Act to regulate the auditors of public companies in the U.S. The latter is an independent standard-setting body whose purpose is to set high-quality international standards for auditing services and to facilitate the convergence of the convergence of international and national standards. Even though their topics of interest are virtually identical, there appears to have been minimal collaboration between the two groups. This is surprising given recent efforts to converge US and International accounting and auditing practices. The primary purpose of this paper is to report the outcome of a careful comparison of the content of the two above-described documents and to use the results of that process to identify possible reason(s) for the apparent lack of collaboration.

Using Marginal Revenue to Marginal Cost Analysis for Determining the Minimal Class Sizes at Southeastern State Universities Lawrence R. Hudack, Troy University Beverly J. Strachan, Troy University The recent economic recession and subsequent cutbacks in state allocations for education has significantly reduced funding to universities throughout the United States. This present day, dark cloud scenario has in turn raised the tuition dependency factor at most state schools. Furthermore, the growing role of tuition driven funding has led to a fundamental business issue to come to the forefront for academic administrators: what should be the minimum class size so as to not encounter deficit spending. Accordingly, a basic microeconomic analytical tool is applied to financial data relating to revenues and costs at masters level universities throughout the Southeastern United States. The marginal revenue to marginal cost analyses consider various scenarios ranging from direct faculty salaries and benefits to full absorption costing. The study contributes to the literature by demonstrating useful strategic guidance with respect to difficult courses of action, so as to promote rational decisions rather than arbitrary, potentially inefficient class size policies. Background: GASB 34 & 35 financial reporting similar to business entities Motivation: Decreasing State Appropriation Increases Tuition Dependency…service revenue generation must cover direct costs incurred to provide such services. Study’s Objective: Decision Useful Information to make rational choices…especially with respect to a potential loss of net surplus funds due to arbitrary decisions. Data Collection: National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) The Chronicle of Higher Education AAUP Study State Higher Education Executive Officers

Replicating Hofstede in Jordan: Ungeneralized, Reevaluating the Jordanian Culture Mahmoud Alkailani, Yarmouk University

Hofstede was credited with completing the largest cross-cultural study applicable to international management theory (Swierczek, 1991; Hoppe, 1983), and a review of the literature indicates that the dimensions identified by Hofstede capture the essence of many dimensions and value orientations proposed by other researchers (Ayoun, 2008). The effect of culture on people’s life is so great that it will even affects the motives and choices of people’s behavior (Chung, 2001). The aim of the study is to update the Hofstede cultural value dimensions. We argue that scores (findings) obtained by Hofstede in his previous studies conducted in Arab countries and then generalized to Jordanian culture are not scientifically valid. This study replicates Hofstede's study with data obtained from students studying for their master degrees in different universities in Jordan. Throughout the history of studying national cultures, a number of researchers, through their intense investigation of cultures, explored different cultural frameworks (e.g., Kluckhon, 1961; Hofstede, 1991; Schwartz, 1994; Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 1998) .This paper begins by reviewing the literature on culture and cultural frameworks. In the section after that, a replication of Hofstede's study was conducted and findings were obtained. The final section concludes with a discussion of findings, and why findings obtained differ from those found earlier by Hofstede himself in previous research.

Management of Academic Journals and Conferences Tami Moser, Southwestern Oklahoma State University Patsy Parker, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Academic journals and conferences provide promotion and networking opportunities for higher education faculty. An editor-in-chief and managing editor reflect on the inaugural year’s experience of journal creation and conference management. With an initial mission to provide collaboration across disciplines, the editors discuss their sequential moves toward fulfilling their mission. The discussion includes the formation of a board of directors, finalizing the mission and vision, and working toward designing sound procedures. Insight into the academic journal production and conference management process helps academicians understand obstacles and pitfalls, as well as recognize the value of contributing to the knowledge base in their own disciplines.

Entrepreneurial Readiness Study Paul L. Wilkens, Thomas University Jenny J. Swearingen, Thomas University As the American economy continues to be mired in a recession, authors, researchers and scholars alike are attempting to identify causes and hopefully positive future trends. An often overlooked consequence of free trade agreements and globalization of the world economy is the practice of offshoring. Statistics collected from both government and industry show the loss of millions of jobs from many sectors of our economy. Major job losses have occurred in manufacturing, professional services and information technology sectors. With the seemingly permanent loss of these jobs, many writers and speakers have suggested a substantial increase of entrepreneurial ventures in our economy. The apparent hope is that jobs lost from global corporations will be replaced with small businesses becoming the growth engine of our economy. In fact, a number of economists have suggested that modern capitalism will be based on land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship. If, in fact, new businesses are to be an economic engine to propel us out of the recession and toward more stable economic environment, who will be these future entrepreneurs? To begin to answer this question, the authors have conducted a pilot study to identify individuals who are psychologically ready to take risks and become entrepreneurs. A seventeen-item questionnaire was administered to upper division business students at a liberal arts university. The responses were then compared to demographic information provided by each participant. Based on participant questionnaire scores relative to their demographic information, the authors were able to draw some initial inferences. Specifically, individuals with over 10 years previous work experience demonstrated higher readiness scores than those with less work experience. Accounting majors had considerably higher scores than marketing and management majors. Finally, participants who are citizens of the United States had considerably higher readiness scores than citizens of other countries. The next step in this study is to administer the questionnaire to a larger population that includes students with majors outside of the business.

Multimarket Contact and Entry Aggression John W. Upson, University of West Georgia Mariana S, Sanchez, University of West Georgia Multipoint competition refers to competitive situations in which rival firms compete against each other in multiple markets. In such situations, a major determinant of the competitive intensity between rivals is the level of multimarket contact, or the degree to which the two firms met as competitors in the same markets (Young, Smith, Grimm, & Simon, 2000). Theory states that as the level of multimarket contact increases, the intensity of competition between rivals decreases, a phenomenon known as mutual forbearance (Edwards, 1955). This tacit collusion occurs because multimarket contact increases the firms’ interdependence and abilities to deter each other (Jayachandran, Gimeno, & Varadarajan, 1999). The phenomenon of mutual forbearance has been supported in several studies (e.g. Baum & Korn, 1999; Haveman & Nonnemaker, 2000; Stephan, Murmann, Boeker, & Goodstein, 2003). In the analysis of aggressive actions, many of these studies focus on a very visible aggressive action: entry into a market where a rival is present. Evidence supports the assertion that as multimarket contact between rivals increases, firms are less likely to enter their rivals’ markets. However, we seek to extend this story. Although multimarket contact may decrease the likelihood of entry, entry still takes place even at high levels of multimarket contact. In fact the phrase, “as multimarket contact increases,” suggests that entry is taking place because entry is the only way to increase multimarket contact. Therefore, at least two questions remain unanswered. If market entry is an aggressive action and if multimarket contact decreases aggression, why and how do rivals ever reach a point at which their level of multimarket contact is high? To address the ‘why’ question, we draw from prior literature. To understand a firm’s actions, we must understand the benefits of those actions. Firms have at least two incentives to enter their rivals’ markets. First, increasing multimarket contact suggests that the firms have similarities in strategies and resources and therefore have similarities in market focus (Teece, Pisano, & Shuen, 1997). This suggests that firms may realize a high level of fit in markets where their rivals are already thriving. Second, firms may benefit from market entry because it gives them an additional position from which to monitor their rivals’ actions (Baum & Korn, 1999). Both these incentives suggest that even at high levels of multimarket contact, entering a rival’s market may have strategic value. Regardless of the level of multimarket contact, firms may want to capture this value. The main contribution of this paper centers on the ‘how’ of market entry. To understand the relationship between multimarket contact and market entry, we erase prior assumptions. We suggest that market entry does not have to be an aggressive action and as such, market entry and mutual forbearance are not mutually exclusive. Entry that does not draw the attention of rivals may negate the effects of multimarket contact. As such, we consider a non-aggressive means of entry: gaining a foothold in the market. Footholds, being a small position that a firm intentionally establishes within a market in which it does not yet compete (Upson, Ketchen, Connelly, & Ranft, 2012), may be viewed as less of a threat to rivals than a grand entry which secures a sizable share of the market. Foothold entry certainly answers the ‘why’ question because footholds provide firms access to the market and sufficient visibility to monitor rivals. Footholds also answer the ‘how’ question in

that by securing a small share of the market, a firm might avoid the attention of rivals and their potentially fierce retaliation. Therefore, even at high levels of multimarket contact, firms may be able to non-aggressively capture the value of achieving ever higher levels of multimarket contact. This study helps to understand how multimarket contact affects the way firms position their entry into markets. If the above assertions are correct, we should observe that as multimarket contact increases, firms are more likely to enter their rivals’ markets by gaining a foothold rather than a larger share of the market. To test this, we empirically analyze 524 product market entries made by 75 public information technology firms in the years 2004-2010. We distinguish between entry to establish a foothold and entry to aggressively gain a sizable market share. From a practical standpoint, we hope to inform managers of how to adjust their market entry strategies in light of their multipoint competitors already present in that market.

The Case for Promoting Soft-Skills Development in MBA Programs Nadia Shuayto, Lawrence Technological University Patricia Castelli, Lawrence Technological University The objective of this research was to determine what skills business leaders find most critical in MBA programs to adequately prepare leaders and professionals for organizational success. A second goal was to explore the relationship between the perceptions of business and industry leaders and business school leaders on the rankings of skills deemed most important to prepare students for success in their business careers. The findings offer business school leaders empirical evidence for curriculum redesign for prioritizing skills and designing coursework to incorporate top ranked skills viewed as most important by business and industry leaders.

Alternative Structural Models for E-Banking Adoption in Vietnam Long Pham, Minot State University, USA Nhi Y. Cao, National Economics University, Vietnam Thanh D. Nguyen, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Vietnam Phong T. Tran, National Economics University, Vietnam

E-banking is seen as the newest delivery channel of banks in many developed countries and is believed to have a significant impact on the bank market. It is contended that e-banking is providing numerous opportunities for banks and non-bank financial institutions to add a low cost distribution channel to their existent distribution channels in order to better serve their customers by offering various products and services with high quality. Little research on factors influencing the adoption of e-banking has been implemented in countries that are emerging as new potential markets (such as Vietnam) with very high economic growth rates. Thus, this study has, based on an extensive review of literature on e-banking benefits for both banks and their customers and relevant theories on innovation adoption, proposed alternative models (including both moderator and mediating effects) of e-banking intention to use by customers in Vietnam. Furthermore, a set of model hypotheses presenting relationships among factors influencing e-banking intention to use have been set up. Practical implications and future studies were also discussed.

Regression Analysis Case Study Marsha (Marcy) Jance, Indiana University East A regression analysis case study will be presented. This case study can be used in a statistics course as a learning aid for students or for assessment purposes. The case study, a solution, and a grading rubric will be presented.

Reinventing the Introductory Accounting Courses Candy Bianco, Bentley University Elliott Levy, Bentley University Mary Marcel, Bentley University Mark Nixon, Bentley University Karen Osterheld, Bentley University Bentley University in Waltham, MA was fortunate to receive a significant grant from Ernst & Young to revise its two introductory accounting classes. Given that support, a team of faculty from the Accounting, Finance and Information Design and Corporate Communication departments had an opportunity to be very innovative. First, they combined Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Finance and Introduction to Business into the two-course sequence. They added a twenty-two chapter Instructional Narrative about a fictitious company going through its development from a start-up to a manufacturer. Other course enhancements include an evening program with accounting and finance professionals responding to fraud cases, short speeches summarizing articles to accounting professionals, and outside professional speakers in class. The financial calculator was introduced as a tool. Online library tutorials and team workshops were developed to support course assignments. Teaching notes and PowerPoint presentations were prepared for faculty to encourage consistency across sections and to guide adjuncts. This descriptive paper elaborates on those innovations, any of which could be considered for significant enhancements to the introductory accounting course sequence.

Temporal Shifts in Narcissism: Do Collegiate Schools of Business Play a Role? S.C. Manley, Valdosta State University In a recent Business Week article, the authors exposed a growing concern: Members of the millennial generation, with increasingly narcissistic tendencies, are now attending business schools; further, narcissism has been shown to be “toxic for organizations, and undermine the credibility and reputation of business schools” (Daly & Westerman, 2010). This growing public perception is supported by recent academic studies that show generational increases in both positive individualistic personality traits (such as self-esteem and assertiveness) and negative traits (such as narcissism). With collegiate business students already having higher measured trait-level narcissism than their non-business peers, and numerous examples of narcissistic leaders demonstrating less-than-virtuous behavior, it is important to assess the role and impact of the B-school experience. This paper proposes the examination of temporal shifts in trait-level narcissism, and if shifts exist, the assessment of whether collegiate schools of business are somehow impacting those shifts.

Using Marking Rubrics to Improve the Procedural Justice of Grading Student Work in Post-Secondary Courses Christine L. Cooper, Susquehanna University The purpose of this paper is to extend the application of procedural justice theory from organizational to academic contexts. The paper explores how careful use of marking rubrics can improve the procedural justice of evaluating college students’ academic work. The author begins by identifying commonalities between resource distributions and the parties associated with them in organizations and post-secondary courses. The author summarizes a framework advanced by Leventhal (1980) for assessing the procedural justice of any distribution of a valued resource based on the concept of equity. The framework identifies seven components of the overall allocation procedure, itself, and then sets forth six rules of fairness that can be used to assess the justice of each component of the process. The author explores how Leventhal’s theory of procedural justice can be applied to the process of grading students’ work. The author then focuses on specific components of the marking process and explores how the careful use of welldeveloped marking rubrics can improve the PJ of those components, and therefore the overall grading procedure. Finally, the author identifies practical implications that might be associated with professors’ improving the procedural justice of their grading.

The Relationship between Institutional Efficiency and Instructional Quality in Higher Education Susanne Rassouli-Currier, University of Central Oklahoma Wage setting methodologies for university faculty may be merit/ market based or administered. Failure to exploit the fact that faculty productivity depends on abilities and wages results in inefficient use of university budgets. If such inefficiencies exist it suggests suboptimal productivity of the existing faculty and the inability of attracting new qualified faculty. As motivation for this analysis, a simple model of university faculty “output” maximization is presented. Efficient budget allocation requires that faculty compensation be structured so that marginal productivities are equated across faculty. This paper examines and compares the efficiency of several regional universities in the U.S., identified as “peers” by CUPA, employing a semi-parametric approach.

“Don’t Go…Stay a While”: A Look at Grambling State University's College of Business Retention Program Daffney Felton, Grambling State University Donna M. Williams, Grambling State University Brittany Hoskin, Grambling State University The purpose of the research is to provide a comprehensive review of retention strategies currently being used by colleges and universities throughout the United States. According to the Center for the Study of College Student Retention (2008), nearly 50% of students entering higher education will not earn a degree. Additionally, state and federal funding is contingent upon retention and graduation rates. Therefore, the results from this research will provide best practice retention strategies to be utilized by the College of Business at Grambling State University in hopes of increasing retention and graduation rates.

Can Investors Self-Assess their Own Risk Tolerance? Barry R. Cobb, Virginia Military Institute Robert W. Moreschi, Virginia Military Institute Understanding risk tolerance is essential to developing optimal portfolios and for financial advisors to provide effective and compliant advice. This paper examines the capability of individuals to forecast their risk tolerance. Using a database of respondent answers to a psychometrically valid questionnaire, calculated risk tolerance scores are compared to respondent self-assessed risk tolerance scores. The dependent variable in the model is the difference between a respondent’s calculated risk tolerance score (RTS) and the same respondent’s self-assessed risk tolerance score (SRTS). Independent variables developed from the questionnaire include: gender, age, income level, education, net worth, marital status, and number of dependents. Previous research using OLS with this database indicated that while socio-economic factors are not necessarily the dominant factors in explaining risk tolerance forecast ability, the evidence suggested that highly educated men make smaller estimation errors than do other socio-economic and demographic groupings. OLS results are useful for determining which factors affect risk tolerance prediction error when all other factors are held constant. We extend and modify the OLS approach using a naïve Bayesian Network Model. Such a model can be used for classification purposes to predict the value of a dependent variable while varying any number of feature (independent) variables. We use this model to predict whether an investor is more likely to underestimate or overestimate their risk tolerance based on these demographic and socio-economic factors. The structure of the Bayesian Network Model is simplified by assuming that the values of the feature variables are independent given a value of the dependent variable. The strong independence assumption allows us to find parameters for the model by estimating seven one dimensional conditional probability density functions. Once the model is established, a probability distribution for the error in the investor’s risk tolerance score prediction can be established based on their observed demographic and socio-economic factors. We anticipate the results to be more robust than the OLS results, especially when used in real time as a decision support tool for a financial planner.

Business Students’ Perceptions of the Wealthy and Poor: Experiential Learning by Exposure to Upscale Retail Stores Mary Ann Edwards, College of Mount St. Joseph Thomas M. Edwards, Northern Kentucky University John A. Ballard, College of Mount St. Joseph How do individuals learn about people with different levels of economic privileges and their world? Kluegel and Smith (1986) argued that institutions of higher learning play a large role in affecting the perceptions of students at all levels of economic stratification. Much of this is discussions in classrooms and required readings. It is our view that experiential learning and reflection can facilitate the understanding of differences. We think this is especially important for future business leaders. The College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, Ohio, is a Catholic, coeducational institution of approximately 2500 students. Founded by the Sisters of Charity, it offers degrees in liberal arts, the natural sciences, and professional programs such as business. Degrees are conferred at the bachelor, master, and doctoral levels. Located in an urban area, the College attracts students from all socio-economic levels; however, the majority are first generation college students. To help our students consider the parameters of their social and economic backgrounds, we incorporated an experiential learning experience into our 300 level required course in Management and Organizational Behavior. Many of our students receive financial aid, have parttime jobs to meet their living expenses, and do not have extensive travel experiences. They have had limited exposure to other cultures and economic strata. The college is in close proximity to retail stores, cultural and sporting events, and other aspects of a major metropolitan area. The experiential learning involves exposure to retail outlets frequented by consumers from upper middle and upper socio-economic levels. We instruct our students to go to the downtown business district of Cincinnati to shop or observe at Tiffany, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Brooks Brothers stores. Most of the students rarely go downtown, except perhaps for sporting events, and most have not been in one or all of these stores. These students typically shop at stores that are not considered upscale. This assignment asks students to overcome their reluctance to place themselves in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar setting. The assignment asks students to observe and report upon their own feelings as they observe the stores’ merchandise, sales associates’ method of describing the items, and other shoppers’ dress and behavior. Students typically describe their initial discomfort at being in this environment and surprise at the prices of the items. They question the prices of the items and the values that shoppers who frequent these stores place on the higher-price merchandise. This initial reflection leads students to recognize that they feel a cognitive and behavioral distance from a segment of the population. The students typically did not realize that they distance, separate and devalue the shopping behaviors of wealthy individuals. The students report that they do not understand how anyone would willing to pay the seemingly inflated prices for product that they purchase much cheaper

at other types of stores. The students do not realize until the class discussion that are placing value judgments on wealthier people who have the ability to pay a higher price. Students also have a feeling of distance and separation as they realize people live very differently from the way that they live. Conversely this feeling of distance and separation is recognized when students compare themselves to low-income and poor people. The students often do not feel comfortable when encountering people in a markedly lower economic strata. Colleges attempt to overcome this separation and distancing by offering service-learning classes and events that dispel students’ discomfort when they interact with people of less economic means (e.g., see Lott, 2002). Students are taught in service learning classes that they have skills and knowledge that can be shared with others and that they can also learn from people in poorer economic situations. The importance of social justice and efforts to eliminate prejudice and stereotypes are important and significant. While awareness of the importance of diversity across a variety of scenarios is incorporated in many college curriculums, we find experiential learning with reflection and discussion as accomplished in this assignment to be very effective. The efforts taken in the liberal arts to help students to integrate their understanding of themselves and others leads to the expectation that students develop a broader understanding of themselves and their place in society. All professional degree programs also need to give students this broader understanding of interaction with the wealthy and with the poor. Students need to feel capable and competent in interactions with people across a wide range of spectrum. Students need to understand the viewpoints of those for whom and with whom they work. They need to feel comfortable and understand the values and behaviors of those who have economically privileged as well as economically disadvantaged.

The Construction of a Domain Ontology for Criminal Investigation: The Case of the Jamaica Constabulary Force Charlette M. Donalds, The University of the West Indies Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson, Virginia Commonwealth University The high level of crime that continues to plague Jamaica over the last two decades has caused the issue of security to be a top priority for all Jamaicans. Over the last decade not only has the homicide rate spiraled but crime has become highly organized, with noticeable reach in jurisdictions with large Jamaican populations such as Toronto, New York, Miami and London. Criminals too, have become quite sophisticated using a variety of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) in their criminal acts. To successfully investigate and prosecute these crimes often require the Jamaican Constabulary Force (JACF) to communicate and share intelligence with its own members and other autonomous local and international law enforcement agencies. When these heterogeneous law enforcement agencies need to cooperate for criminal investigations, a formal description of the domain (i.e., ontology) may facilitate more effective communication, improve information management and support the analysis of domain knowledge. In this paper a preliminary domain ontology, OntoCRIKS, is developed for investigating traditional and cyber crimes. How OntoCRIKS can be used to index and retrieve criminal investigation documents and how it can be used in the data mining of criminal documents are described.

The Effect of Blended Learning vs. Conventional Delivery on Students’ Academic Performance in Jamaica: The Case of the University of the West Indies Joan Thomas Stone, The University of the West Indies Charlette Donalds The University of the West Indies The need for distance education was born out of the growing demand for tertiary education amongst students from remote locations in Jamaica and other Caribbean Islands (Non-Campus Territories), as well as the overarching need to make better provision for potential students who have considerable family commitments and do not find it economically feasible to give up their livelihood for any extended period of time. However, there is the growing perception that distance education is inferior to face-to-face learning. Since 1993 the University of the West Indies Distance Teaching Experience (UWIDITE), now University of the West Indies Distance Education Centre (UWIDEC), has instituted numerous initiatives to dispel this perception. This study seeks to conduct a comparative analysis of blended learning versus conventional mode of delivery on the performance of distance learners pursuing the level one Cost and Management Accounting course. The motivation to do the study is based on the fact that there is little research in this domain in Jamaica. The findings should help to inform the formulation of our National Education Policy as well as assist School Administrators in decision making.

Strategies for Implementing Responsibility Center Budgeting in Mid-sized Universities Robert S. Balough, Clarion University of Pennsylvania Rose M. Logue, Clarion University of Pennsylvania Responsibility Center Management is a decentralized management model that has been employed successfully for over thirty years as a means of improving efficiency in institutions of higher education. Responsibility Center Budgeting (RCB) is the application of RCM principles to budgeting and financial management. The properly designed RCB system will provide incentives and rewards, reflecting true cost and benefit, resulting from management decisions with the same managers responsible for making decisions also responsible for the budgetary impact of decisions made. It is believed that the separation of responsibility from budgeting authority that exists in traditional budget models allows resource misallocations to exist and persist and, as a result, that RCB can greatly improve efficiency. In addition to improved efficiency, it is also believed that the ability of management to benefit from their decisions will improve those decisions and result in enhanced revenue flows. RCB was initially used in large institutions with large distinct divisions, such as business, medical, and law schools to allow these divisions to operate autonomously or semiautonomously. The success of RCB in these large institutions is often viewed as evidence that it can be implemented successfully by smaller institutions. While there is ample evidence of the success of the model at large institutions, its success at smaller ones is not well documented. The lack of extensive documented successes at smaller schools means that these schools will generally follow similar implementation procedures as large schools leading to unique problems; problems that can result in the failure of the system to operate effectively. This paper examines strategies for the effective implementation of Responsibility Center Budgeting in mid-sized schools. The authors present a methodology and strategy for successful implementation of RCB, discuss implementation and effectiveness issues unique to mid-sized schools, and discuss potential pitfalls to effective implementation and use of RCB at mid-sized institutions.

IMF and World Bank Economic Programs on Inflation: Relevance to NEPAD Hermann Sintim-Aboagye, Montclair State University We examine the relevance to the New Partnership of Africa’s Development (NEPAD) of IMF and the World Bank’s economic reform programs on inflation and the uncertainty of inflation in Ghana, Senegal and Uganda. The study is from 1964-2004. GARCH (1, 1) framework is used to generate a time series of conditional variances of inflation as proxies for the uncertainty of inflation and use the granger causality procedure to establish the direction of the relationship between the two variables. We divide the years covered in this study into three segments, the pre-adjustment, adjustment and post-adjustment periods. The granger causality test results show in all three economies sensitivity of the direction of relationship between inflation and its uncertainty to IMF and World inspired policies. Ghana shows significant evidence of the Friedman-Ball hypothesis in all regimes except the adjustment period and Senegal confirm the Cukierman-Meltzer proposition in the pre-adjustment period. In Uganda, results in the preadjustment period suggest an inverse relationship between inflation and uncertainty. As expected, no evidence is found during the adjustment period of what Cukierman-Meltzer calls an opportunistic central banker. Also, evidence is presented indicating the reduction of both inflation and uncertainty of inflation in the countries during the adjustment period. Results have policy implications for Nepad.

Financial Constraints and the Response of Business Investment to Financial Shocks Timothy J. Haase, Ramapo College of New Jersey In this study I elaborate on the links between monetary policy shocks and their effects on firms’ investment behavior. I account for heterogeneity by classifying firms as financially constrained and unconstrained by utilizing methods posited in the previous literature. I confirm cash retention behavior to suffice the intuition of what it means for a firm to be financially constrained. I use an exogenous, continuous series of monetary policy shocks to identify that constrained firms have statistically different responses to policy than unconstrained firms. Particularly, I find that constrained firms have a significantly larger adverse reaction to such policy.

Block versus Spot Business Models for High Frequency for Profit Broadcasters Jerry Plummer, Austin Peay State University Howard Cochran, Belmont University

. It is said that two models of income revenue exist for “for profit” high frequency broadcasters, the “block” and “spot” models. The block model employs less revenue, but more medium to long run stability, while the spot model is associated with higher revenue levels in the short run. High frequency for profit operatives have increased in the last five to ten years, with governmental shortwave outlets decreasing, and private, for profit, firms entering the market, using frequencies and transmitters vacated by the governmental broadcasters. This new market begs the question of which model to use; or how to mix the two models. The paper will detail the two models, and attempt to discern existent usages in the industry-as well as investigate the possibility of new models. Attention will be placed on the integration of IS as related to the two models, for revenue increase. It is suspected that elasticity will play a role in the final determination for each broadcaster, as well as revenue flows on both short, medium and long run positions.

Prioritizing Pro-Poor Policy Instrument to Reduce Poverty in Liberia Using Nonparametric Mokken Scale Models Aloyce R. Kaliba, Southern University and A&M College Ghirmay S. Ghebreyesus, Southern University and A&M College Mary A. Darby, Southern University and A&M College Wede E. Brownell, Southern University and A&M College Implementing a mix of micro and macroeconomics policy instruments to reduce poverty is fundamental for all developing countries. In this study, we engage Liberians in ranking potential pro-poor policy instruments to reduce poverty and promote entrepreneurial spirits. A purposeful survey was conducted in six markets in Monrovia and her vicinity using a structured questionnaire. In each single day, these markets attract diverse individuals from all over Liberia. Respondents were asked to rank twenty five pro-poor macroeconomics policies using a fivepoint Likert scale. The responses were analyzed using a nonparametric Mokken scale model. Results indicate that the survey instrument was well scaled. The respondent’s first priority was on investment in higher education and technical schools, the second priority was on public investment in rural roads and other rural networks, and the third priority was on strengthening public administration by providing training and improving system used in managing procurement and auditing public expenditure. These outcomes are important in developing future Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for Liberia. Moreover, participation by communities in identifying and prioritizing these policies need to be emphasized.

RFID: A 29¢ Solution to Electronic Attendance Mehmet F. Dicle, Loyola University New Orleans John Levendis, Loyola University New Orleans Tracking attendance can be tedious and takes up valuable class time. New technology is now available to allow instructors, at their own initiative, to largely automate this task. The authors have developed a set of software tools, which work with easily purchased and affordable RFID tags and scanners, to create an automated attendance management system. An Excel-based version is discussed. Software code is provided, open-source, for instructors to use in their own classrooms.

E-Commerce Utilization among the Disabled Mark A. Scanlan, Stephen F. Austin State University Previous studies have found that people with disabilities are less likely to own a computer and to access the Internet. This study extends these results by finding that disabled people are also significantly less likely than non-disabled to participate in E-commerce and to find product information online. This is a surprising result since people with disabilities are likely to have greater personal benefits from avoiding brick and mortar stores. I present the results for individuals with hearing, visual, and physical disabilities. I find this gap in E-commerce is due to more than differences in education and income, and hope to look at whether this gap persists to cell-phone usage.

Do you See what I See, Do you Hear what I Hear? An Analysis on the Efficacy of Keeping the FCC Broadcast Rules in a Digital Media Environment Brion A. Scudder, Indiana University of Pennsylvania The fundamental problem which is at the heart of many of the regulatory and legal issues the United States faces in the telecommunications industry is that the laws were written for a system of static modes of transmission and separate and distinct methods of consumer use. This issue is even more current and relevant as withibn months the Supreme Court of the United states is set to ruile on whether to keep broadcast media as a highly regulated forum for speech. This paper will examine whether it is time to end the FCC regulation of broadcast television media and propose some new form of regulation in response to the changing contemporary standards of society and the merging of technology that offers television viewing on cable, the Internet and mobile devices. Specifically section one will detail the overarching regulatory problem, Section two will explain the broadcast regulations that are currently in place and why they are ineffective, Section three will describe the technology such as Cable, Internet TV, and Mobile devices that the broadcasters could use as a substitute, Section three will discuss methods of regulation outside of the government, Section four will conclude with a proposal for ending the FCC broadcast regulation and moving to a regulating paradigm that is aligned with our current technological realities.

Social Media as a Means to Enhance Student Learning: Tool or Distraction? Richard McCarthy, Quinnipiac University Mary McCarthy, Central Connecticut State University If a technology provides features that are useful then it will have a positive impact on performance. Social media has morphed into one of the preferred methods of communication for many people; much has been written to proclaim its benefits including its usefulness as a tool to help students achieve success within the classroom. But is it perceived by business students to be a tool to aid in their education or is it a distraction to the learning process? Task-technology fit theory defines a model that has been used to explain information systems utilization in many different contexts. Prior research describes the relationship between the task requirements of the user and the functionality provided by the technology with the resulting impact on performance. Resultant studies have concluded that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have a significant impact on utilization. Additionally, it has identified the factors that impact the use of technology. We use task-technology fit theoretical mode to test the impact of social media as a learning tool for business students. Students from four universities were surveyed and the results are present significant difference in utilization and factors that impact social media use in the classroom. This research extends the existing body of task-technology fit research to include social media technologies. It also provides a theoritical construct to test the use of social media technologies.

The Small Business Security Workbook Susan Lincke, University of Wisconsin-Parkside Research has repeatedly shown that Small Businesses often lack security competency due to insufficient money, time, knowledge, and specialized staff. Our experience also shows that smaller business lack adequate security – but that SMB management does have a clear picture of what is important in their business, and has immediate control. Our Small Business Security Workbook helps small organizations understand, plan, and design security, by leading organizations through risk management, business continuity, information security, network security, incident response, personnel security, and physical security design, etc. It does this in workbook form, introducing security concepts and leading a non-technical reader through security designs. After guiding the design, the Workbook describes the technical actions a professional IT staff must do to complete the security implementation. Our goals for the Workbook include that it is accessible to non-professionals, based upon professional standards, full-featured, easy to use, tailored to organization’s requirements, modifiable by electronic copy, usable by both education and SMB, and free. The Workbook has been used by undergraduate students in a security course to work with small business management in our community. It was rated highly by the community and students. Of our five community partner organizations that used this Workbook with student guidance, 100% were Very Satisfied with “The Quality of Students’ Work”. During our last year, students agreed (100%) or strongly agreed (28.6%) with the statement: “I felt that the community project I did through this course benefited the community partner’s organization.” The development of the Small Business Security Workbook, lecture materials, and associated case study were funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) grant 0837574: Information Security: Audit, Case Study, and Service Learning. Any recommendations expressed in these materials are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.

Online Verse Live Taught: Analysis of Gender and Course Format in Undergraduate Business Statistics Courses Jennifer L. Flanagan, Texas A&M University

With the dramatic increase of online business degree programs, the question of the effectiveness of online courses has been front and center. Do these once primarily live-taught courses successfully transfer to online-only formats without losing student productivity? Do the new formats still reach students, and is it reflected in final grades? Research was concerned with evaluating the efficacy, measured by student performance, of undergraduate business statistics courses taught online, as compared to traditional, live-taught classes and web-enhanced courses. The question was posed, Are there differences in how male and female students perform in both class formats? Performance in the classroom is traditionally measured by the grades, namely the final grade. This study looked at the impact of online learning facilities on final grades in a course with traditionally difficult content for undergraduates with regard to gender. Results found that students overall performed better in live-taught business statistics courses than in online. When gender was analyzed, the final grade for female students were significantly decreased from live taught to online courses, as compared to male students, whose grades were not significantly different between the two course formats.

Building a Focus Group Research Facility: Why Do You Want One, What Do You Need, and What Will it Cost? Stephen F. Pirog, III, Seton Hall University Elven Riley, Seton Hall University Ann Mayo, Seton Hall University This paper describes a recent business school project to design a focus group research facility that enhances teaching, fosters faculty collaboration, and serves the marketing research needs of the community. The paper presents some of the key trade-off design issues and connects these decisions to cost impact. A schematic for the facility and detailed budgeting model are presented to aid in the development of similar facilities. Discussion will focus on the methodology used to collect information and develop the facility’s design as well as how to implement the design. Design implications for attracting clients and building marketing programs around the facility also are discussed.

Use of Social Media in Nonprofit Organizations: A Case Study Jessica Manion, Penn State Harrisburg Zina Taran, Penn State Harrisburg With limited financial resources in a declining economy, nonprofit organizations (NPO) need more than ever to find effective ways to communicate and build relationships with current and potential donors, volunteers, and advocates. Such a way can be found in combining technology and innovation and adding social media to the NPO’s communication mix. With over 800 million users on Facebook alone, social media has become a far reaching marketing tool for businesses seeking to develop relationships with a wide range of customers. It can significantly aid NPO’s fundraising, campaigning, and branding. Three case studies examining the use of social media in national and local nonprofit organizations were conducted with a special focus on their current marketing strategy and reasons for their strategic choices. Factors affecting NPO’s involvement and success with social media are discussed.

Incentive for Product Modularization in the Face of Entry Farooq Sheikh, State University of New York - Geneseo

In this research we study competitive behavior in a two period game where a monopolist foresees entry in period 2, and must decide in period 1 whether to make the product in modular format or integral format. The product in period 2 is an upgrade on period 1 product. If it makes the product in integral format, its period 2 buyers are all new buyers only; period 1 buyers will not upgrade since the product they bought in period 1 has enough use to last the second period. If the manufacturer, however, modularizes the product, then in period 2, besides the new buyers there are some period 1 buyers who would upgrade their product. In period 2, there is an entrant to the market. The entrant can choose to use the integral product format or modular product format. In case both the manufacturers choose modular format, then a standard interface would obtain by default and modules could cross fit across the two product makes that obtain in the market in period 2. For simplicity, we assume that the product consists of two modules. We analyze the different scenarios that might support use of a modular product format.

Investigating Cultural Dimensions (Individualism/Collectivism) and Locus of Control for Impacting Online Buying: A Study of Three Cultures Mahmoud Alkailani, Yarmouk University The purpose of this research is to explore the impact of individualism and locus of control on peoples' intention to buy online in three different cultures: USA, India, and Jordan. This research represents a different look at those consumer characteristics that affect peoples' intention to buy on line, in three different cultures, from those have been studied in previous research. The uniqueness of such area of research stems from the fact that there has been relatively little research which studied the factors affecting online buying across national cultures. Accordingly, it is critical to realize the particular nature of differences in consumer characteristics that affect internet buying in different countries and cultures. This empirical study tries to test the effect of cultural dimension (individualism) and locus of control (LOC) on peoples' intention to buy online. Data was collected and analyzed from USA, Jordan, and India. Results indicate that individualistic cultures are more willing to adopt online buying than collectivist cultures and that cultures with external locus of control are less willing to adopt online buying than cultures with internal locus of control. Results provide practical implications to web based vendors on consumer characteristics that should be taken into account when marketing online in different cultures. Results also provide valuable insights into the nature of internet buying and the factors that limit internet-buying acceptance across cultures.

Positioned for Success: Managing Cross Cultural Business Communication for Entrepreneurs Martha D. Robinson, The University of Memphis

Much of the growth in the international business sector in the last decade has largely been fueled by entrepreneurship. Conversely, the failure rate of new start-up entrepreneurial firms is more than twice the national average for other public and private sector businesses. Current research indicates that one of the causal factors in the failures of entrepreneurial firms is poor cross cultural business communication. This article examines how the execution of business communication strategy for entrepreneurial firms can be a determinant of business success. This article develops a framework for strategic intercultural business communications for entrepreneurial firms.

Up In the Air: An Empirical Investigation into the Implications of Pricing Strategies Aaron Gleiberman, The University of Oklahoma Suman Basuroy, The University of Oklahoma This paper explores the dynamics of pricing structures currently being adopted by airlines and the relationship these structures have to customer satisfaction, firm value, and overall performance measured in a variety of ways. As a result of heavy policing by governmental and consumer protection agencies such as the Department of Transportation (DOT), airlines have had to significantly revamp their approach to ticket sales. In the current market, a quiet war is going on between airlines that offer “bundled” fees and a more “nickel-and-dime” approach. After conducting extensive focus group analyses with Top Management Team officers at several major United States airline carriers, this paper develops a battery of testable hypotheses to answer questions currently under heavy debate in this industry. Through a survey of secondary data from public websites and airline-specific tracking data, the authors analyze the relationship between public announcements of fare changes, customer complaint ratios, stock prices, and market size (determined by industry standard flight routes and number of customers carried). By controlling for various externalities such as fuel prices, season, and number of vehicles, the authors conclude that while airlines may extract the same, if not more, revenue from customers using a “nickeland-dime” approach, the long-term customer satisfaction implications may suggest more of a detriment than the strategy is worth. A brief look is also given to the DOT scorecard on Energy and Sustainability for this industry and its implications.

Color Saturation: Consumer Judgments of Beverage Attributes Using Only Visual Cues Carolyn Nicholson, Stetson University Keith Nicholson, DeLand High School Color saturation (light, medium, or dark) is an important product feature in product evaluations (Smets, 1982; Wright 1962). Beverage and food product colors also have been explored in terms of color impact on taste (Fenko et al., 2009; Zellner and Durlach, 2003). Consumers faced with unknown beverage products on the shelf have few product cues available to them for decisionmaking. What we do not yet know is how color saturation, in particular, affects these judgments that consumers make about an unknown product when it’s the only information available. This study measures how three different levels of color saturation affect consumers’ judgments about varied attributes of the beverage: aftertaste strength, age suitability, artificiality, cost, gender, calories, flavor strength, fruitiness, healthiness, sourness, and sweetness. In a between-subjects design, each of 90 subjects evaluated a photograph of a colored liquid inside a glass. Three different conditions were created using red food dye and water. Manipulation checks indicated sufficient difference in saturation between conditions. In the study, each subject saw only one condition. All other materials in the study were kept consistent. Subjects answered several opinion questions about the liquid using semantic differential scales. To camouflage the purpose of the study, each subject also viewed photos and answered similar questions about a beverage bottle and a beverage cap (invariant across conditions). Results from MANOVA show that these three color-saturated liquids were perceived very differently by subjects. The dark condition had the strongest effects overall; the darker the liquid, the stronger the perceived aftertaste of the beverage, even without subjects actually tasting it. Darker beverages were seen as more artificial (less natural) and less healthy. Subjects thought the darker beverage had more calories and was fruitier tasting. As color saturation deepened, the beverage was also expected to be sweeter. The darker the beverage, the more feminine it appeared. There were no significant differences in perceived sourness, age suitability, or beverage cost based on color saturation. Hypotheses about color saturation were supported. Consumers do make different product judgments about an unknown beverage based only on color saturation. This study shows us that humans make judgments about how a product will taste or its attributes based on its color alone. If beverage producers want to appeal to a particular audience with a new product, they need to carefully consider how color will be used in decision-making. It’s clear that companies need to decide which attributes are most important to their brand as they make color saturation decisions for their beverages.

Compliance Gaining Research: Applications in Retail Sales Earnest Jones, Sul Ross State University Esther Rumsey, Sul Ross State University Retail sales organizations seek to increase sales by fostering customer’s loyalty. One of the approaches that have been demonstrated to increase customer loyalty is issuing store cards. This study was designed to investigate customer compliance with requests to apply for a Store Card in a small southwestern town. Structured interviews with sales associates at a local retail store, surveys of customers leaving the store with a purchase, and a participant observation of customer response to application request were conducted to better understand the associate’s strategies and the rate of compliance with differing strategies. Three types of offers were made: a simple request (asking the customer if they wanted to apply for a Store Card without offering any incentives), an immediate coupon (asking the customer if they wanted to apply for a Store Card and offering a coupon for that day’s purchase if they did so); and, future coupon (asking the customer if they wanted to fill out an application for a Store Card and telling them they will receive discount coupons in the future if they have a Store Card). The results indicated that only one strategy, immediate coupon, resulted in compliance by store customer. The data also indicated that less than half the customers received a request to apply for a card. The study concluded that associate training is needed to increase customer compliance

Employee Trust: Traditional versus Telecommuting Work Environments Jerry W. Koehler, University of South Florida Tampa FL Thomas W. Philippe, St. Petersburg College, St Petersburg FL Kenneth N. Pereira, University of South Florida Tampa FL In the past couple of decades, telecommuting employees have become a significant part of the labor force. The popularity of telecommuting in the workplace has sparked management researchers to test the effects of telecommuting jobs on workers and the organization. Of interest in this study, do telecommuting work environments affect levels of trust in the organization? To answer our question, we studied the perceptions of trust in two work environments, telecommuting workers versus employees working in a traditional environment. We anticipated that largely due to the social interaction in the traditional work environment, trust would be higher than for workers who were basically working in isolation and did not have the benefit of typical organization interaction. The purpose of this study was to determine if different work environments in the same organization affected employee trust. Specifically, we hypothesized that employees working in traditional work environments within the same organization will exhibit higher levels of trust then employees assigned to telecommuting positions. In other words, we predict that due to social interaction and close proximity of workers, traditional work environments lend themselves to higher levels of trust. On the other hand, low social interaction and worker distance from each other causes lower levels of trust. To test our hypothesis, we studied two groups of subjects. One group consisted of 55 faculty members taught in a typical traditional setting. The other group consisted of 48 faculty members who taught online courses. The online faculty members work from their home, whereas the traditional faculty members taught live classes. The results of our study indicated that our hypothesis was not validated. Regarding their perception of trust, employees in both groups exhibited a similar level of trust. There was no significant differences regarding trust between the two groups.

Short-Term Return Predictability in Emerging Markets Sector Indexes Andrei Shynkevich, Kent State University This paper investigates the predictive power of technical trading rules in the emerging markets sector equity portfolios and finds that trading strategies based on technical indicators significantly outperform the buy-and-hold benchmark. Data snooping bias, data measurement errors in the form of nonsynchronicity bias and fluctuations in the currency exchange rates are unable to explain the observed outperformance. The introduction of transaction costs tempers the results, but technical analysis still possesses significant predictive power for a number of sectors. The performance of technical analysis in the emerging equity markets does not conform to historical trends observed in the developed equity markets, where predictive power of technical trading rules has declined over time, representing an anomaly.

What Determines the Financial Worth of Schooling? Sheepskin Effects, Skills or Latent Abilities Tayyeb Shabbir, California State University Dominguez Hills

Directors’ and Officers’ Liability Insurance and Managerial Compensation Chia-Wei Chen, Tunghai University Bingsheng Yi, California State University-Dominguez Hills J. Barry Lin, Simmons College D&O insurance has seen substantial increased adoption by companies. Although theoretically D&O insurance can enhance external monitoring and reduce the possibility of underinvestment, it can also raise incentive conflicts between managers and shareholders thus harm shareholder wealth. This paper examines the link between D&O insurance and managerial compensation. Using a recent sample of listed firms in Taiwan, we find strong evidence of higher managerial compensation for firms with D&O insurance than firms without D&O insurance. We also find average managerial compensation higher for a sample of firms after they adopted D&O insurance, relative to before the adoption of D&O insurance. Our empirical findings suggest that D&O insurance may weaken the quality of corporate governance and, therefore, increase the likelihood for firms with this insurance to pay their managers more than firms without this insurance at the expense of shareholder wealth. Our results offer alternative evidence in learning about the role of D&O insurance under different cultural and firm characteristics.

Market Reaction to the Announcement of the Mandatory Set-Up of Compensation Committee in the Board in Taiwan Chia-Wei Chen, Tunghai University Bingsheng Yi, California State University-Dominguez Hills J. Barry Lin, Simmons College In Taiwan on Nov 5th, 2010, it was announced that all public firms should have a compensation committee to prevent the excess payment to managers and directors. This study examines how the Taiwan stock market reacted to this announcement and factors that may affect the market reaction. We use the abnormal returns surrounding the announcement date (Nov. 5th, 2010) to capture the market reaction. The sample firms include all listed firms either traded in Taiwan Stock Exchange or GreTai Securities Market (OTC) in 2010. After eliminating the observations without required variables, the final sample consists of 1,260 firm-year observations representing about 93.2% of all listed firms. Our empirical findings show that Taiwan market reacted negatively on the announcement of the mandatory setup of compensation committee in the board. All the mean (median) abnormal returns around the announcement date are significantly negative at 1% significance level. The three day mean (median) abnormal return around the announcement date is -1.19 (-1.43) percent, the 5-day and 7- day mean (median) abnormal return around the announcement date is -3.86 (3.66) and -4.12 (-3.79) percent respectively. Such results suggest that in general investors in Taiwan do not believe that the set-up of compensation committee in Taiwan could help protect shareholders benefits. We also find that firms paying more to their directors tend to have higher cumulative abnormal returns than firms paying less. The multiple regression results show that director compensation has significantly positive impact on the abnormal returns. Such a result remains consistent when alternative subsamples or measures are applied. The study contributes to the literature in several aspects. First, the event study potentially reduces the statistic problems associated with endogeneity of compensation committee and firm performance. As most studies applied firm-year observations to cross-sectionally test the impact of compensation committee, examining market reaction to the announcement of mandatory setup of this committee offers a clear picture of how investors evaluate the function of compensation committee. Secondly, different from corporations in western countries, firms in Taiwan tend to be family controlled. High ownership concentration and relatively low percentage of independent directors on board in addition may restrict the application of empirical experience gathering mainly from western countries, such as U.S. 1 We present a comparative study by showing that the function of compensation committee could be altered by different firm characteristics and culture. Finally, market reaction to the announcement of mandatory set-up of compensation committee in Taiwan also provides a guideline for regulators to review the suitability of this act.

1

While regulators in Taiwan require all listed firms to have at least two independent directors since 2007, the proportion of independent directors on board remains relatively low compared with over 50% in western countries, such as U.S., as shown in Table 1.

The Success of Enterprise Risk Management on Improving Value Edwin H. Duett, Eastern Kentucky University Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) has become a widely discussed topic of concern among risk managers and board of directors for firms around the world. With the recent economic crisis and potential for continued financial stress, corporate officers are looking for methods to mitigate known risks and how to posture their company for emerging or new risks. Increasing number of firms are incorporating ERM and creating specialized ERM units within their firms and also adding Chief Risk Officer positions. Rating agencies are beginning to incorporate ERM into their analysis. ERM differs from traditional risk management systems. In the traditional risk management system, risks are categorized and managed separately in silos. On the other hand, ERM takes a holistic approach and attempts to manage all risks through an integrated approach. In the past traditional risk management systems focused more on the risk associated with physical assets, liability and workers. An integrated ERM system will handle these risks but also attempt to manage financial and business risks. The reduction of risks of any type should reduce volatility of losses and improve the stability of cash flows for a firm. This reduction in volatility should reduce the risk premium required by investors and increase the value of the firm. These potential impacts have been addressed in the literature (Cumming and Hirtle, 2001; Beasley, Pagach, and Warr, 2008 and others). In addition the adoption of ERM should lead to increased awareness of risk and improve strategic decision making. Significant research exists on the prevalence and adoption of ERM and characteristics of ERM programs. However, there is an absence of empirical evidence examining the impact of ERM on firm value. A recent study by Hoyt and Liebenberg (2011) examined the value impact on a sample of insurance firms. This research needs to be expanded to other types of business organizations. The focus of this study will look not only at the impact of ERM on firm value but also examine the degree to which an ERM system has been incorporated by the firm. Most studies have only looked at the adoption of ERM as verified by some type of announcement by the firm. Various rating agencies have surveyed and examined the degree and success of ERM adoption across firms. This study will look at various samples and provide insight as to the impact of ERM adoption by industry and also examine the possible link between the success of the ERM program and the impact on value. Research has to look beyond a simple announcement of ERM adoption and its impact on firm value. There is no doubt that the success of ERM systems vary significantly across firms. This study will provide insight into whether the market can evaluate these different degrees of success. The research question is whether markets can look beyond the basic announcement information provided by the firm and completely evaluate the impact of the firm’s ERM practices on value. If the market cannot fully evaluate the impact of ERM practices, the question is whether ERM actually decreases the volatility of losses and cash flows and decreases the risk of the firm.

Is Gold a Safety Asset? Mehmet F. Dicle, Loyola University New Orleans John Levendis, Loyola University New Orleans Jiad M. Alqotob, Loyola University New Orleans The current _nancial crisis has refocused investors' attention to several safehaven assets. Most notable among these are gold and US Treasuries. We compare the role of these two asset classes as safe havens from uctuations in the indexes of the worlds' largest exchanges. The lag structure of the relationship between the safe-haven assets and the indexes is estimated, while controlling for the signi_cant amount of contemporaneous correlation between asset classes which exist even in daily data. This is accomplished by following the procedure for calculating instantaneous feedback as outlined by Geweke (1982). Treasuries seem to be the safe-haven of choice for S&P investors. However, we _nd that gold o_ers a protection from volatility from a broader range of the world's equity markets than do US Treasuries.

Determinants of Mall Image in Indian context Harvinder Singh, IMT Ghaziabad Multitude of options available before the consumer has made the environment competitive for the shopping malls. Mall image may be used as a potent tool to differentiate shopping malls it is strongly associated with vital parameters of mall success. There is no research available in the Indian context, hence this research. Present study proposes and validates a four-factor model of mall image for the Indian context. Results are based on a sample of 216 respondents collected from different malls. The model is analyzed and authenticated using second-degree confirmatory factory analysis using AMOS. Results indicate that mall image is a four dimensional construct. Dimensions are: Accessibility, Atmospherics, Tenant-mix and Facilities. Research reveals that atmospherics is the strongest determinant of mall image closely followed by tenant-mix. Accessibility is the least potent. Developers and managers interesting in imparting distinct image to their malls should invest for creating superior ambience and ensure presence of appropriate tenants. Location of a mall is not a big differentiator since most of the Indian malls are situated close to the residential population.

Social Media Effect on Customer Communication Faridah Awang, Eastern Kentucky University Zailani Shafie, MARA University of Technology Seherzeda Sulejmanagic, Eastern Kentucky University Communicating with customers effectively is one the most important qualities a company can possess. Effective customer communication can promote products and build long-lasting relationships with customers. With the explosion of online social sites and user generated content (USG), effectively communicating with customers is an essential tool used to maintain competitive advantage. Companies that took advantage of social networking and USG realized that they can use this handy tool to: get opinions from their customers, provide feedback to customers, gain new customers, and even improve (create new) products and services that are sold to customers. However, social networking and USG can ruin a product’s image if quick remedial action is not taken to deal with customers’ unsatisfactory experiences. The purpose of the study was to identify managers’ perceptions and practices on the effect of social media in communicating with customers. The data was collected using qualitative research method by interviewing managers in retail trade and financial industries. The study found that social networking and effective communication can be beneficial to companies when used to advertise products and build relationships. Also, when advertising products a company is better off if pull, rather than push, advertising is used. Analysis of how managers communicate with customers revealed that:  Companies use social networking through Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and Ad words. All of these forms of social networking have a positive effect on business because they can reach a large number of people with little cost.  All the managers know that building long lasting relationships with their customers will bring positive effects on the business. To be able to build relationships, employees and managers need to have effective face-to-face communication skills. Also, loyalty programs and rewards given to loyal customers encourage relationship building.  When advertising products it is important to use the right strategy. Push over pull advertising can be less effective because the customers will feel like they are being overwhelmed by information that they never asked for. On the basis of these findings, it is recommended that social networking and pull advertising are emphasized in marketing classes to make sure that students are aware that social networking is one of the powerful pull advertising strategies, inexpensive and effective way to reach customers. Also, effective communication skills and relationship building should be incorporated in marketing curriculum.

The Effect of Social Distance on Consumer Perceptions When There is a Breach of Credit/Debit Card Security Suzanne L. Conner, New Mexico State University Credit and debit cards have become a large part of American culture. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, 176.8 million United States consumers hold 609.8 million credit cards. With the use of credit and debit cards, comes risk. In 2009, 11.1 million United States adults became identity fraud victims while credit and debit card fraud is the biggest fear of Americans, above personal health, safety, and terrorism. Because of revelations such as these, it is important to understand how consumers respond to credit and debit card theft occurrences. This research is designed to better understand this area of consumer behavior. In order to do so, Construal Level Theory (CLT) is employed to examine how the social distance of a credit/debit card information theft affects consumers. Initial results demonstrate that the social distance of the theft occurrence does affect business impressions, regret, risk perceptions, and willingness to patronize the business in future. This research is important not only because credit card fraud is increasing, but because customer trust and loyalty are difficult to gain, and if not handled correctly, theft of credit card information can cause irreparable damage for the business. This research also extends the application of CLT into an area which has not been previously tested.

The Impact of Recall Blame Attributions on Product Judgment and Purchase Intention Hee-Kwon Jung, Black Hills State University This paper examines the effect of recall blame attributions on product judgment and purchase intention. In addition corporate social responsibility becomes an object of criticism consumers also raise questions about why these recalls keep happening and who is to blame. In recent toy recalls, country of origin (COO) is pointed out by consumers and media as one of the major recall blame attributions. Among different recall blame attributions which considered as responsible parties for product recalls, this study focuses on three different blame attributions of product recall, the company, a manufacturing country, and the retailers, as highly responsible parties for product recalls. Survey executes to target consumers who are the actual or potential purchasers to explore how the COO, company and retailers as recall blame attributions affect consumers’ product judgment and purchase intention. Through the results and findings, theoretical and managerial implications and suggestions for further research are derived.

Understanding Smartphone Continuance Behavior from a Symbolic Consumption Perspective: The Moderating Role of Concern for Face (CFF) across Culture HoEun Chung, Fayetteville State University Smartphone market is increasing and now reaching approximately up to 63.2 million people (Comscore, 2011). Smartphone is defined as a hybrid device that combines functions of PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) and digital mobile phone ( Laudon & Laudon, 2004). Based on PC like operating systems including iOS, Android, Windows OS, Smartphone is characterized with touch screen, WiFi for Internet access, 3G or 4 G for network system, GPS (global positing system) and various application systems, which provide users with an advanced multi-media center. Although consumers are attracted to purchase the device due to its versatile functionality and aesthetic features, their continuance intention with a Smartphone is questionable, which previous research overlooked to examine especially across different cultural background. From marketing management standpoint, it is critical to understand the psychological factors of Smartphone users’ continuance intention from loyalty building perspective.

Salespeople as Corporate Psychopaths Robert S. Owen, Texas A&M University-Texarkana

The study of psychopathy for the past century has been focused primarily on incarcerated criminals. Interest more recently, however, has been seen toward psychopathic personality traits associated with white collar crime and with non-criminal behaviors in top managers that result in a variety of corporate dysfunctions – including many well-publicized corporate failures. The effects of psychopathic traits in salespeople is of interest to the present author. As a personality type or as a psychological construct, psychopathy has to do with a person who lacks conscience, empathy, and remorse. (A substantially more detailed description can be found elsewhere, such as Harris, Skilling, and Rice 2001). Current thinking, supported by brain studies, is that psychopathy is more than a mere personality construct - that the lack of empathy and remorse seen in psychopaths is caused by innate born-with brain functions. Lacking conscience, empathy, and remorse, the person lacks social inhibitions that are deemed wrong or harmful to society, and this gives him or her great power to do anything s/he wants - whether it be to take a life, to cheat on a corporate report, or to steal from the church treasury. For example, many students caught cheating on a test will be embarrassed and apologetic; a psychopath is more likely to be annoyed that she/he got caught and to repeat the behavior with greater skill the next time. In the study of incarcerated criminals, Cleckley (1941) found many who appeared to be relatively normal and charming people, even though they were clearly documented as having committed horrendous crimes, and in many cases, over and over and over (as in serial murder or rape). Hare (1993; Babiak and Hare 2006), although focused on the kind of studies that Cleckley had done with incarcerated criminals, has speculated that a great number of otherwise normal, charming individuals with psychopathic traits are likely to be considered “successful” managers in corporate positions while actually being inept, relying on charm, deceit, lies, and such, to move into positions of power while slowly destroying the organization. Although this kind of speculation regarding corporate psychopathy is reaching the popular press, it remains relatively unscrutinized through scholarly study. An issue with salespeople is that many of the personality traits that tend to be seen in psychopaths - charm, an uncanny ability to lie, no empathy for harm that might be caused, no sense of remorse after harm is caused - could make the salesperson look good in the short run, but can be very harmful to an organization in the long run. Studies show, for example, that a salesperson’s success in persuading a potential customer are related to such issues as developing impressions, evaluating peoples’ reactions, and making adjustments based on these sorts of issues (e.g., Weitz 1978). It turns out that such abilities are especially good in psychopaths, making it easy for a consciousless psychopath to oversell or even to commit fraud that initially appears to indicate high personal performance. With a stellar short-term track record, it could be possible for a salesperson to show high performance that results in higher positions with new companies, eventually working his/her way into corporate positions of product managers and

chief executive positions. Personal selling is hypothesized here to be a very good starting point in a fast-track corporate career for a psychopath.

A Pilot Study: Are Women in Middle Management More Stressed Out Than Other Employees? Margaret A. Thompson, Clayton State University Many women are leaving corporate America to start their own companies or raise families. This is a serious human resource drain; these are talented, educated women. But, another, equally important talent drain occurs within companies. According to a recent report, many women who stay in companies want to advance, but are held back because of organizational structure, lifestyle choices, institutional bias, and individual mindsets (Barsh, J. & Yee, L, 2011). Those women who want to advance, but who are stuck in middle management, may be the most stressed out employees, the least healthy, and the least able to do anything about it. Highly stressed individuals cannot perform to their highest potential. This paper reports nontraditional, working college students’ perceptions of stress levels and stress management skills of female middle managers. The results should be beneficial to Human Resource professionals who are advocating stress management practices for a healthy, high performance workplace.

Neither Cyclical nor Optional: The CSR Mandate in Good Times and Bad Gwendolyn Yvonne Alexis, Monmouth University Does the global economic crisis alleviate the need for multinational corporations (MNCs) to engage in discretionary community based activities of a proactive nature? One might argue that hard economic times should lower the standards by which socially responsible corporations are judged. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) implies taking into account non- economic stakeholders and the impact of a corporation’s operations on these stakeholders who are neither investors in a firm or workers in its employ. Moreover, many community stakeholders are not even consumers of the products or services offered by corporation operating in their midst. At a time when corporate resources are tight, might it not be corporate irresponsibility for a corporation to spread itself thin by placing the interests, needs, and desires all stakeholder groups on an equal footing? Nonetheless, taking account of the needs of a broad range of community stakeholders is integral to the CSR concept, so much so that the emerging standard for measuring good corporate citizenship is a firm’s demonstrable commitment to global ethical codes (e.g., the Global Compact) and to multiple stakeholder accounting (MSA). This paper analyzes the interaction of CSR, MSA, and good corporate citizenship and argues that these interrelated concepts merge to make CSR a permanent fixture in the global economy, one that is neither cyclical nor optional. It reaches the conclusion that the global recession will be neither a boon nor a bane for the CSR movement because CSR is not a question of economics; it is instead a moral mandate of the global age, one that has been made irreversible by the emergence of a global civil society.

The Hospitality Balancing Act: A Comparative Qualitative/Quantitative Study of WorkLife Balance across Nations in the Hospitality Industry J. A. Shoemaker, Saint Leo University Judy Holcomb, Saint Leo University Donald R. Tapia, Saint Leo University Balancing the demands of the workplace and a personal life is an important issue across industries. It can be particularly difficult to achieve “work-life balance” in industries where nontraditional hours and unusual schedules are the norm. Hospitality has historically been one such industry. While numerous studies have been published detailing critical factors that affect worklife balance in the hospitality sector, very little information is available to illustrate similarities or differences in work-life balance cross-culturally for hospitality workers. A three-tiered, qualitative and quantitative research approach was conducted to compare and contrast the perceptions of work-life balance among 1) hospitality employees, 2) on-property human resource managers and general managers, and 3) corporate human resource executives. Participants in each of the three tiers were drawn from across several Central American nations including two locations in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. Participating hotel employees were asked to respond to a confidential survey about the presence or absence of several commonly understood work-life balance factors in their own organizations. On-property HR Managers were contacted for individual telephone interviews to discuss how work-life balance is perceived and achieved at their locations. Corporate HR leaders were contacted for individual telephone interviews to discuss organizational policies and standards for work-life balance across their organizations. Trends were compared across all three tiers as well as within and between nations. Future research will compare the current data set with similar data from the United States. Recommendations to establish a framework of effective work-life balance standards across the hospitality industry will be discussed.

The Role of Hope in Small Business Success: Beyond Dreams and Wishes Terrell S. Seaton, Our Lady of the Lake University Jacquelyn Alexander, Our Lady of the Lake University F. Irene Waggoner, Our Lady of the Lake University This collective case study explored the role that hope played in selected small businesses and specifically the role of hope in the leaders of those businesses. The businesses were individuallyowned or family-owned and each employed fewer than 30 people. The businesses were considered successful or thriving based on reputation with local competition and observation of customer patronage at the time of the research. The research suggested hope provides compelling motivation for business success. Three research questions formed the foundation for how the cases were approached: (a) what does hope mean, (b) what does hope mean in the context of small business success, and (c) what roles do hope and a leader’s ability to promote hope within self and among employees play in the successful organization? The results of this collective case study suggested that hope does indeed occupy a central role in the creation and management of small businesses’ success. The four most important findings are as follows: (a) hope can be shared back and forth with others in an organization, (b) hope is a defense against complexity, (c) small and incremental changes contribute to sustaining hope, and (d) hope compels organizations and individuals to progress. In addition, the study also indicated that hope provides options for leading in times of organizational crisis. Implications for leaders of small businesses and suggestions for future research are promising.

Corporate Philanthropy: An Appropriate Measure of Ethical Behavior? Mitchell Adrian, McNeese State University Lonnie Phelps, McNeese State University Ashley Gatt, McNeese State University Corporate philanthropy and charitable donations are often used as a visible example of ethical behavior by businesses. However, when viewed under the historic concepts morality, the act of charitable giving may have little or no connection to ethics. Most cultures recognize philanthropy as “good”, but ethics is more about choices we make when the normal “rules” no longer serve the situation and the decision maker faces a choice for which he or she is unprepared. By reviewing definitions and philosophies of ethics, this manuscript shows how charitable giving, while “good,” should not be used as a measure of business “ethical behavior.”

Future Labor Market Needs of the State of West Virginia Serkan Catma, West Liberty University The most recent economic recession has contributed significantly to high unemployment rates in the United States. As of November 2011, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.6% annually nationwide. The individual states have also been facing this high unemployment trend since 2008. The unemployment rate in the state of West Virginia (7.6%) is slightly lower than the national average but significantly higher than the natural rate of unemployment. The weak U.S. labor market is surely a great source of worry to many economists and policy makers. The main purpose of this study is to document future labor market needs by estimating labor shortage/surplus per occupation with expected growth in the state of West Virginia (WV). Department of Labor (DOL) has been projecting fastest growing occupations for years. However, none of the previous projections included the supply side of the future labor markets. In this study, degrees conferred for WV Higher Education Institutions between 2006 and 2010 were used to estimate average annual labor supply. A matrix was created to match the relative degree(s) to each fastest occupation or occupation groups in the state. Average number of graduates per degree was subtracted from annual growth projected by the DOL to compute labor surplus per occupation type. Estimated labor surplus for registered nurses was found to be about 47% of average annual graduates assuming that the mobility of graduates is limited with WV. Due to high national demand for registered nurses, this surplus is expected to be eliminated by allowing labor mobility among states. One interesting finding is that the supply of education administrators was estimated to be less than demand which would create a shortage of 197% of annual graduates. Graduates of human resources or human resources management programs were also estimated not to meet the annual demand creating a shortage of 42%. Shortage for Public Relations Managers/Specialists was estimated to be 17% of graduates per year. Our estimations show the need for undergraduate programs that specialize in educational leadership/administration, human resources management, and public relations/management to eliminate future labor shortages in the state of WV.

Cultural Differences of Nations and Intellectual Capital Disclosure Jay Holmen, University of Wisconsin—Eau Claire Hypothesis: variations in intellectual capital disclosures are related to the cultural differences of nations. Twenty-six studies analyzing the intellectual capital disclosure for twenty-one countries were used to obtain disclosure measures. Hofstede’s four dimension cultural model provided measures of the culture of these twenty-one countries. A multivariate regression analysis related the three categories of intellectual capital (structural, human and relational capital) to the four dimensions of culture (power distance, individualism, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance). Structural capital was found to be related to power distance and uncertainty avoidance; human capital to both power distance and individualism; and relational capital to individualism.

The International Audit Firm in a Changing Environment Andrea Tsentides, Marymount Manhattan College Amid a global economic crisis, a turbulent political climate, increased government regulation and changing accounting standards, international audit firms have the challenging task of adapting to the new environment. Despite growing attention to the culture within international audit firms, an understanding of how these large organizations respond to these challenges is lacking. Previous research suggests that the structure of large audit firms makes them somewhat inflexible and slow to respond. Building on older studies, this paper argues that although the international audit firms have made certain changes, their current organization and culture may not allow for those changes to be implemented effectively.

Auditor Reputation and Client Share Price Eugene R. Blue, University of the District of Columbia This study investigates the impact of financials restatement on other audit clients not party to the restatement. Does the required restatement by one client of an audit firm have an adverse effect on the market price of shares of the audit firms other clients? Auditor reputation has been a ripe topic for investigation of audit failure and its impact on the share price of the firm being audited. The literature suggests the audit serves three functions: 1. a signal to parties outside the firm regarding the company’s prospects, 2. as a source of insurance for recovery of losses and 3. as a method to reduce agency costs. It is proposed here that the existence of the restatement adds noise to the signal received by the market and adversely impacts the reliance the market places on the audit product. The signal noise adds to uncertainty of the quality of the signal, thereby reducing what the market is willing to pay for the stock of all of the audit firm’s clients. An experimental approach is used to examine the manipulation of the independent variable. Here, the independent variable is the history of the audit firm. Subjects were randomly divided into two groups. Both groups were given financial statement information from a hypothetical publicly traded firm. In addition, subjects were given clean audit letters from the most recent audit. However, subjects from one experimental group were given information that the audit firm had experienced three audit failures in the past five years. Subjects in the other group were not given this information. Subjects were then asked to report how much they would be willing to pay for one share of the hypothetical firm’s stock. The results suggest that the group given the restatement history were willing to pay an amount significantly less that the group not receiving the audit firm’s history.

Use of Organizational Culture in Decision Making by Thai Accounting Executives Judy Ramage Lawrence, Christian Brothers University Sudean Chen, National Taipei College of Business Howard Lawrence, University of Mississippi

This study evaluates and explores the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as the theoretical framework for predicting and understanding the use of organizational culture in decision-making among Thai accounting executives, and at the same time evaluates the robustness of the TPB model. The results have a number of theoretical and practical implications. In particular, the study shows that interventions should focus on attitudes and perceived behavioral control in order to encourage the usage of organizational culture in both day to day operation control and decision making and in corporate strategic financial planning. Three hypothesis posit that 1) intention to use organizational culture predicts the use of organizational culture in decision-making, 2) attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control account for intention to use organizational control, and in addition, 3) the characteristics of the Thai accounting executive and their organizations are more effective in accounting for and predicting intention to use organizational culture by Thai executives. In general, the results of this study demonstrate that TPB provides a useful framework for predicting and understanding the intention to use organizational culture in decision-making among Thai accounting executives. This was accomplished by means of directly measuring the three constructs, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.

An Examination of the Effects of the First- Time Homebuyer Tax Credit Benjamin R. Silliman, St. John’s University Maria Pirrone, St. John’s University The first-time homebuyer tax credit was first created in 2008 by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 signed by President George W. Bush on July 30, 2008 (P.L. 110-289). It was amended by the Obama Administration at the beginning of 2009 and at other intervals. Like most credits, the purpose was to stimulate the economy while providing assistance to first- time home buyers. The credit expired after September 30, 2010 for most taxpayers (April 30, 2011 for military families). This paper will detail the amendments to the credit and examine the ambiguities caused by the amendments. Taxpayers with similar situations may have been treated differently. A question that is addressed is whether this refundable tax credit amounted to an interest free loan. Given this recent and short-lived policy phenomenon, the paper will examine the impact of the first-time homebuyer credit on the housing market and other parts of the economy.

The SEC and the PCAOB: An Analysis and Comparison of Enforcement Activities Barbara Lamberton, The University of Hartford David N. Wiest, Washington and Lee University Regulatory burden has frequently been mentioned as discouraging economic growth and job creation in the United States. The creation of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the first an independent federal agency charged with regulatory authority over the auditing profession, has been viewed by some as a prime example of burdensome business regulation. Much of the criticism surround the PCAOB focuses on the need for the agency, its proposals to change the way the audit profession operates, and its relationship with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The purpose of this paper is to study the regulatory environment facing auditors of publicly-held companies by conducting an archival examination of the relationship between the PCAOB and the SEC as well as each agency’s enforcement and penalty trends. To accomplish this, the study examines 26 PCAOB settled disciplinary orders, five adjudicated disciplinary orders , and 277 SEC Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases (AAERs) covering years 2008 through 2011. The analysis of AAERs focuses on those with suspensions from practice and/or allegations of auditor violations. To provide further insight the archival methods are supplemented with an in-depth examination of publicly available documents such as the relevant sections of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which created the PCAOB, the Strategic Planning documents of both the PCAOB and the SEC, and selected PCAOB inspection reports. The study finds that while some of the criticisms about regulatory burden may have merit, there is very little overlap in the events and companies to which the two agencies have responded, and the PCAOB and the SEC seem to approach enforcement and penalties against auditors from a different perspective, suggesting that both agencies may have unique and distinct roles to play.

The Role of Internal Audit on Good Governance in the Jamaican Public Sector: A Risk Management Perspective Jacqueline E. Chevers, The University of the West Indies Trevor Munroe, The University of the West Indies Delroy A. Chevers, The University of the West Indies Corporate disasters in the international community such as Enron Corp. and Global Crossing as well as the collapse of major financial institutions in Jamaica like Mutual Life Insurance Company and Century National Bank, demonstrate the importance of having well established and stringent control measures to enforce good governance practices. It is widely felt that corporate governance reviews and audits of enterprise risk management are the top two emerging activities in this domain. However, there is relatively little research in this area in Jamaica, especially the role of Internal Audit and the importance of risk management. Hence the research objective is to show that the Internal Audit function can contribute significantly to the governance process in Jamaica. The study intends to provide a model to evaluate the effectiveness of governance in the Jamaica Public Sector.

The Emergence of Electronic Civic Engagement among Asian and European Countries between 2003 and 2010: Initial Impacts of the Great Recession Donald J. Calista, Marist College James Melitski, Marist College If the social media revolution is already here in the public sector, does it rest on solid underpinnings? This paper addresses this issue by comparing the civic engagement of worldwide regions. It reviews the biannual evaluations of country Websites prepared by the United Nations (UN) between 2003 and 2010. Two regions are compared because they represent countries and populations that are heavily involved in electronic media; in particular, for Asia and Europe. The importance of this study is that it is not only longitudinal, but it is also broadly comparative. Their outcomes purposes will heighten familiarity with civic engagement worldwide. Three indexes will be measured across the two regions. They are: 1) telecommunications infrastructure; 2) Web services; and 3) E-participation. Telecommunications infrastructure essentially gauges the preparedness of countries for various forms of electronic communications. The Web services index examines how far along countries have advanced first by providing electronic transactions to customers and then on to establishing collaborative enterprises to engage citizens. The index employs the following levels: Stage I: Emerging Presence; Stage II: Enhanced Presence; Stage III: Interactive Presence; Stage IV: Transactional Presence; Stage V: Networked Presence (United Nations, 2003; 2008). Electronic e-participation covers varying forms of asynchronous and synchronous interactions with citizens to measure the progress of collaboration with constituents. The scale for each dimension ranges from 0.00 to 1.00. Of special interest is to learn the impact of the economic crisis that began in 2008 and is still unwinding, notably, among industrialized democracies. Accordingly, the UN’s own earlier assessment predating the Great Recession provides a basis for creating a hypothesis regarding its impact. The UN may be prescient in declaring: “despite the tremendous [technological] changes ushered in during the past fifteen years, changes to political structures and democratic institutions have been on the whole more evolutionary than revolutionary, especially in most developed countries regarded as e-government leaders” (UN, 2008, p. 109). If so, then, a reversal from past experiences may be underway in that European countries may no longer be in the forefront of supporting proactive social media through its Websites. It is significant to learn the degree to which the public sector, namely, in Asian and European countries have created appropriate staging for social networking. Have Websites extended themselves into the realm of social networking? Is it likely that their usefulness will be bypassed by social media, largely because the latter is demand-based and the former supply-based? An early vision for civic engagement expressed by the president of the National Academy of Public Administration now appears to be on the horizon (O’Neill, 2001): “the new technologies will allow . . . citizen[s] new access to the levers of power in government. As more information reaches . . . citizen[s], the greater the potential for them to influence and make informed choices regarding how government touches their lives. That potential gives new meaning to a ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the people’ ” Researchers have noted that the scantiness by which the UN’s serial data sets have been employed longitudinally. This study fulfills such an analysis. It also serves as a vehicle to learn

how social media applications are being implemented worldwide. Therefore, this comparative study provides a deeper grounding in understanding how innovative technologies empower the civic engagement of citizens.

The Adverse Effect of Tax Base Sharing on Commercial and Industrial Property Values in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Dmitry Shishkin, Georgia Gwinnett College The article deals with the adverse effect of tax base sharing on commercial and industrial property values in the Twin Cities Metropolitan area. A comparative statics model is developed to analyze the effect of tax base sharing on local communities’ willingness to attract businesses inside their boarders. The model predicts that the burden of explicit and implicit taxation resulted from the tax base sharing will discourage communities from accepting businesses and will deter businesses from locating in the localities that are part of the tax base sharing program. The empirical results show that per capita commercial and industrial property values in the cities that located inside the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area and therefore are subject to the tax base sharing program are 38% lower than in the cities located outside of the area.

Differing Perspectives of Environmental Legal Issues and How Government Could Deal With These Issues Clifford Fisher, Purdue University In an increasingly litigious society the courts are forced to entertain a myriad of topics. One of the most muddled and polluted involves environmental law. When our legislative branch of government is hesitant to act against polluters on their own free will, environmentalists and victims turn to the courts to resolve their problems. The courts are attempting to meet this influx with the principles and guidelines that have sufficed for centuries in tort law. Why will this same process not satisfy environmental litigation today? A combination of politicians, the public, businesses, economists, and scientists pollute this tradition, in a web of technicalities, complications in causation, and unknown answers. Politicians are the puppets of society’s playhouse. They respond when their strings are pulled. They are torn by their loyalty to the businesses, who financially back them, and by those who reelect them. Corporations pull their arms in the direction of less stringent regulations and less power among agencies, while citizens jerk their legs in the direction of protection of public risks. But this protection comes at what cost? If a casual link exists between anything, it is the public’s blind hysteria to something the media claims to cause cancer, and a politician plowing money into the newest fund to abate the problem…often supporting a ban on the basis of fear, not knowledge. Could the money be spent more wisely? Usually if dealing with the government, the resounding answer is “YES”! Business and economists base funding on more cost-effective terms. In an attempt to stifle and constrict the powers of the EPA, President Reagan propelled an economic movement in the reduction of abatements with Executive Order 12291. This was a significant introduction of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) into the political mainstream. In accordance with Pareto Superior and the theories of Coase and Pigot, CBA is a strategy that indicates the most cost-effective policies for achieving regulatory control. This is accomplished by aiding in determining if a proposal for development would be more beneficial to society than harmful. Through this process, economists are obligated to endorse those products or projects that yield a higher return. Although tenable, this analysis is not without its faults. CBA is a function of evaluating opportunity costs and placing a value on intangible and indispensable items, such as life. One of the concerns of scientists/environmentalists is that benefits, from their standpoint, are not easily calculated. It is very difficult to determine whose life has greater value. According to a lawyer or businessperson, it may be calculated utilizing potential income lost, but an ecologist would argue that every life is priceless. Whether human life or clean air and water, to give a monetary value is to consider it as a commodity to be bought and sold in the market. Approaches to controlling the costs and benefits of environmental control vary as they are viewed through different disciplines. As for the public opinion, how much is your life worth? Science is concerned with objective truths and theories that can be verified by those who have extensive training in scientific method. On the other hand, law involves rules and regulations translated by judges and juries, who lack the knowledge to adequately and thoroughly evaluate scientific evidence. The law allows and depends upon the testimony and information provided by experts. However, there is some discrepancy as to how responsive the law is to science and science to the law. Often the legal decision must be made before the evidence is definitive.

Current environmental issues on trial require a far deeper erudition of chemical reactions, the function of ecosystems, and the limit of safe exposure to carcinogens, which outreaches the scope of knowledge possessed by traditional lawyers. To properly combat the antagonist of environmental degradation, specialization in all fields of the environment would be necessary. As an old factory would have to update their production methods to meet new environmental standards (often at a great cost) practicing lawyers would have to update their array of knowledge to also meet new environmental standards for law. The process and the need to assign and determine a cause vary greatly in the fields of science and law. Law focuses on fairness. In the interest of time, those who do not have all of the conclusive evidence must make a decision. In comparison, scientists seek but rarely find “absolute truth”. Some of the most difficult and costly issues in health and the environment are created by uncertain causation occurring in tort litigation and environmental cleanup. Some diseases or environmental hazards do not possess a single cause, but a constellation of component causes. Some effects are immediate while most are latent. In these instances, the reason of detriment cannot be determined by sound science alone. Issues of liability will arise and costly court cases and/or costly settlements will result. Such examples include environmental cleanup of water where the sources of contamination are uncertain, or in compensation awards for such ailments as cancer. Jumping to the conclusion that there is a causal link between cancer and chlorine may do more damage than good. This is true especially if those funds can be allocated to environmental cleanup or research in other areas. Environmental law falls under a legal category shaded gray. There are no definitive answers, concurring universal conclusions, or well-established standards. However, there is imperfect information. Common law is not equipped to handle damages yet unknown or cases where a multitude of polluters are involved. The courts are not equipped to make decisions without the help of scientists, but they speak two different languages. Untrained lawyers are unfit to argue an adequate defense in ignorance to the medical and scientific terms and logic. Juries are unable to render a just verdict with little or no knowledge on how to interpret the data that contains an admission. So where does that leave an environmentally conscious citizen, harmed victim, or potentially endangered family with little hope in this confusion among professionals, and those entrusted to protect and defend?

An Assessment of Corporate Governance Practices in Central and Eastern Europe Camelia S. Ferrua Rotaru, St. Edward's University This paper analyzes the current state of corporate governance in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe in the areas of disclosure, transparency, and enforcement mechanisms. Our focus is on investigating the extent to which any information is disclosed to investors through public channels, such as websites. The striking finding is that disclosure in Eastern and Central European countries is weak, if present at all. This weak disclosure environment in which Eastern and Central European economies operate may prove problematic for the future development of these countries as it could lead not only to poor valuations, but also to reluctance on the part of investors to invest in the companies. Thus, firms in need of external capital should voluntarily choose to increase disclosure, select independent boards, and enforce disciplinary mechanisms that improve investor protection.

Other People's Money: From Brandeis and Elizabeth Warren Tim Wilson, Texas A and M University – Commerce This paper is a description of the evolution of the phrase "other people's money" in the context of transparency and privacy, agency duties, and conflict of interests between principals.

A Case Study - Teaching Large Class Sections of Management Information Systems Using a E-Textbook Tim Olson, University of Minnesota

Analyzing Service-Oriented Success Factors with ERP Users’ Perspective Lin-Huang Chao, Northwestern Polytechnic University Steve Wu, Northwestern Polytechnic University Blaine Garfolo, San Francisco State University This study explored the interdependencies of users’ perception on service-oriented factors (attitude, domain knowledge, communication, system understanding, relationship, system integrity, format, documentation, and system flexibility) that may affect the success on adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. An empirical investigation was conducted to test a proposed integrated model of task–technology fit, ERP user satisfaction on product, project team and services, and user knowledge as well as utilization, individual performance and system satisfaction in ERP environments. The survey was administered to examine ERP users’ perceptions of integrated circuit manufacturing industry in Taiwan, and a structural-equation modeling analysis was performed to assess the validity of the instruments used in this survey. The study provided evidence that the relationships among the service-oriented success variables did exert different effect on the success of ERP adoption. The strong relationships among the most important success factors were discovered and identified. Managers were suggested to, based on the findings of the study, take thoughtful actions to utilize the interrelationships among the most important factors so as to increase the success rate of ERP systems in their organizations.

Nonhomogeneous Poisson Process for Atlanta Region Housing Market Risks Feng Xu, Georgia Southwestern State University In this paper, we construct nonhomogeneous Poisson process models for measuring the risks in financial area. A modified filtering algorithm is proposed, and Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling methods are implemented to obtain the statistical inferences on parameters of the models and covariates influencing the risks. We apply the models developed to analyze the actual housing market risks observed in the U.S. HUD Atlanta region.

Ethical Use of Information Technology: Development of a Taxonomy for Teaching Purposes Lena Entrekin, North Georgia College and State University Geoffrey Dick, North Georgia College and State University A recognition and understanding of the most prevelant categories of information technology ethics facilitates the raising of awareness of ethical issues in the minds of students. The categories provide insight to create examples of ethical dilemmas, as well as topics for discussion. This paper reports preliminary work on the development of a taxonomy, based on the the literature and building on the work of Mason (1986), to provide a basis for the use of appropriate ethical scenarios in the classroom. Educating students in IT ethics is important because college students are entering the workforce with a limited understanding of what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior in information technology. In doing so, ambiguity and even lack of awareness of ethical behavior with respect to IT continues to frequent the business environment (Calluzo & Cante, 2004). By educating students on information technology ethics and initiating discussions requiring students to reflect on and consider ethical IT behavior, the ambiguity surrounding this topic begins to subside. This education is vital because as firms grow larger and more complex, information flow will only increase, increasing opportunities for ethical dilemmas regarding information technology to arise (Pemberton, 1998). With the consequence of reducing enterprise productivity as an effect of unethical IT behavior and the increase of opportunity for unethical behavior, an education in information technology ethics is called for now more than ever. Research was conducted through a search of electronic journal databases: Academic Source Complete, Business Source Complete, and Google Scholar. Articles identified were reviewed to determine ethical information categories. Categories were identified by if the article referenced specific examples of ethical dilemmas in information technology, identified ethical categories in information technology, or if research on ethics in information technology was included. If the article provided such information, its references were then reviewed, expanding the search. The articles considered to be relevant were then located using the academic journal databases stated previously. Upon each article’s review, the ethical categories included in the article were recorded. To determine the most common IT ethical categories, the categories recorded were examined and every category present was accounted for in a table. Five categories were identified in determining information technology’s most common ethical issues. The categories with greatest presence in the study’s articles are access, accuracy, intellectual property, piracy, and privacy.

Alumni Attitudes on Technology Offered in their Undergraduate Degree Program J. Kirk Atkinson, Western Kentucky University Phillip D. Coleman, Western Kentucky University Ray J. Blankenship, Western Kentucky University In the spring of 2011, data collected from alumni of a mid-sized, south-central public, 4-year university using a 36-question, Likert-scale survey indicated some significant differences between perceived value of the college of business technology content and the actual impact this material has on job capabilities upon graduation. Two specific questions were targeted in this study; Question 3 inquired as to whether graduates perceived that the college of business technology content impacted their job capabilities at graduation, while Question 9 asked whether that same technology content was valued by the student as important knowledge. Each of these questions were split into four parts; a) spreadsheet skills including analysis, b) database functionality, c) social networking, and d) Microsoft Office® software fundamentals. Participants were asked to either respond to each question using a strongly disagree, disagree, uncertain, agree, or strongly agree scale. Further, the discipline [major] of the respondents was utilized to allow comparison between each group within each question. A combination of t-tests and an ANOVA were performed to identify significance between the two questions of focus; and again between disciplines by question. The key findings indicate significance in the comparison between questions in every discipline group in most question sets with the exception of Information Systems majors.

Transition to a Web-based Enhanced Business: A Case Study Ghasem S. Alijani, Southern University at New Orleans Obyung Kwun, Southern University at New Orleans Adnan Omar, Southern University at New Orleans Major functions of every society depend on buying and selling goods and services. The two main channels which businesses provide goods and services include traditional and web-based. With creativity, competiveness, and advancement of technologies more businesses are taking the advantages of technology in enhancing their business. However, there are a large number of small business owners who are reluctant to enhance their traditional businesses using web-based technologies. Their major concerns include cost constraints, technology, lack of time and skills, unawareness of benefits, and incompatible with e-business. This study investigates the factors that are essential in merging a traditional business to an online one through the use of webbased technology enhancement process. Our findings reveal the importance of cost, trust, type of products/services, and use of technology in enhancing traditional businesses. This project can assist small business owners in making decision to enhance their businesses.

Who Benefits from Medical Tourism? Economic Development and the Crowding Out Effect In Asian Medical Tourism Destination Countries Shishu Zhang, University of the Incarnate Word Michael Guiry, University of the Incarnate Word The purpose of the research was to analyze the impact of inbound medical tourism on destination countries in Asia that are at different stages of economic development. Medical tourism is a rapidly growing industry catering to patients who travel across national borders to receive medical treatment (Yap, Chen & Nones, 2008). While medical tourism has presumed positive benefits for destination countries such as raised standards of healthcare through competitive market practices (Bookman & Bookman, 2007; Chanda, 2002), and creating equity in healthcare access by enabling more of the country’s population to have access to private care (Henderson, 2004; Turner, 2007), some contend that the trade in health services via medical tourists traveling abroad could also result in a dual market structure, by creating a higher-quality, expensive segment that caters to wealthy nationals and foreigners, and a much lower quality, resourceconstrained segment catering to the low income and poor (Bookman & Bookman, 2007; Chanda, 2002). Considering that limited academic research has been carried out on medical tourism (Heung, Kucukusta & Song, 2010), the proposed study will shed more light on possible negative implications of medical tourism, i.e., dual market structure and crowding out effect, in destination countries by taking into account a destination county’s level of economic development. Based on World Health Organization 2000-2009 data, the costs (total and average) and medical expenses (both government and private) of each country were compared. For China, based on a government provided dataset, the quantities of demand and supply of medical services were calculated, and the demand and supply curves were derived to obtain the equilibrium quantity and price in the Chinese market.

A Stress Roulette Wheel Model J. Eisel, Harris-Stowe State University L. Banderet, Harris-Stowe State University A. Tyler, Harris-Stowe State University A. Allen, Harris-Stowe State University D. Hardy, Harris-Stowe State University L. Harrison, Harris-Stowe State University A. Nick, Harris-Stowe State University C. Patton, Harris-Stowe State University A. Tapp, Harris-Stowe State University I. Thomas, Harris-Stowe State University J. Williams, Harris-Stowe State University Corporations, governments, schools and nonprofit entities continue to expand wellness programs by offering preventative measures; such as, weight control, drug prevention and non-smoking activities. Although increased emphasis has been placed on these initiatives, research indicates that the incidence of cancer, asthma, diabetes, suicide, sexually transmitted diseases and drug abuse has increased. Since it may be possible that stress is a primary causal factor of these targeted diseases and conditions, it is recommended that stress reduction activities be instituted. Using government data, the “Stress Roulette Model” highlights stress as a primary precursor to wellness issues. In addition, the model is meant to be used as a catalyst in prioritizing wellness program activities and recommending interactive solutions. If the stress model is utilized, a trickledown effect could decrease benefit costs and increase productivity.

Strategically Optimizing Existing Operating Room Assets to Enhance Hospital Profitability Brian D. Gregory, Gull Point Anesthesia Deborah W. Gregory, University of New England The current economic climate is causing significant financially related problems for executives in many industries. The health care sector in particular is faced with additional pressures due to regulatory and insurance related constraints, while still needing to administer superior medical care to the populations they serve. The financial dilemma facing many health care executives today has become one of how to obtain sufficient funding to maintain or improve services, while simultaneously being careful not to overburden already strained resources. Hospitals have gone through acquisitions phases, in which smaller, less scale-efficient hospitals were absorbed by larger hospitals. In an effort to contain costs further, these larger hospitals now find themselves in the position of having to outsource certain services to other hospitals. With cuts in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, hospitals are even more pressed to find sources of funding to simply meet day-to-day operating costs, let alone plan for capital expenditures. The credit crunch in the capital markets has adversely affected those hospitals that were already financially marginal by restricting their ability to raise capital at reasonable rates. With these multiple external pressures on hospitals, the need to find internal sources of funding is becoming more urgent. One opportunity that requires little capital investment presents itself in the form of using assets already in place more strategically and efficiently. Hospitals have huge fixed costs tied up in operating suites, which in most instances, are not being used effectively to generate cash flows. As noted by Robert S. Kaplan and Michael E. Porter in their September 2011 Harvard Business Review article, one of the obstacles has been ‘silo’ accounting, which provides less than optimal allocation of resources. In addition to the accounting issue, the human element plays a central role in the effective use of fixed assets. Three major sets of players in the operating suite can be identified, none of whom have the same goal, and thus do not respond to the same set of incentives. This means that they are not necessarily working towards optimizing the cash flow from the operating suite. In this paper, we show how using modeling techniques other than regression analysis (which has been traditionally employed to schedule operating rooms and personnel), can significantly increase the cash flow from assets already in place in operating room suites. Additional benefits include circumventing the drawbacks of ‘silo’ accounting, improved personnel morale, and visually simple-to-understand graphs that can accommodate unexpected changes in scheduling quickly and efficiently.

Share or Not to Share Knowledge in Virtual Communities? Yang Park, Georgia Southwestern State University Gavin J. Putzer, University of Georgia The Professional Virtual Community (PVC), also called Community of Practices or Professional Communities, has emerged by digital community members to share and to collaborate their knowledge with the purpose of business context. Many organizations recognized this collective knowledge as intangible assets that can attain higher competitive advantages. One of the critical questions in promoting a virtual community is the willingness to share knowledge with other members. Therefore, we attempted to explain why individuals elect to share or not to share knowledge with other community members when they have a choice. The contribution of this study to academics would be gaining insights into how to stimulate knowledge sharing in virtual communities. Business practitioners would also understand how to support the development and growth of virtual communities and how this pvc model would help to achieve their business needs and objectives.

The Relation between Work Motivation, Organizational Commitment, and Professional Commitment in Case of Temporary Organizations An Empirical Study Ravikiran Dwivedula, IBS Hyderabad Christophe N Bredillet, Centre for Advanced Studies Ralf Müller, Norwegian Business School The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of work motivation on organizational commitment, and professional commitment in case of employees working with temporary organizations such as projects. Our operational definition of work motivation is grounded in the work design approach. We have used the three component model- (i). Affective, (ii). Continuance and (iii). Normative states that explains the nature of commitment. Two foci of commitment- organization and profession have been considered. 141 project workers based out of India were surveyed. The findings show that the association between work motivation and affective professional commitment is stronger than the association between work motivation, and affective organizational commitment. On the other hand, continuance organizational commitment, and continuance professional commitment failed to show any significant association with work motivation. Finally, only moderate association was found between work motivation and normative organizational commitment. However, no association was found between work motivation, and normative professional commitment.

Examining Incentive-Based State Tax Legislation in the Film Industry Marie G. Kulesza, Saint Joseph College Cheryl S. Crespi, Central Connecticut State University Paul H. Mihalek, Central Connecticut State University Competition among the various states to attract the multi-billion dollar film industry has intensified. While initially the exclusive realm of Hollywood, almost all fifty states have been aggressively pursuing the film industry to produce films within their borders. States have utilized incentive-based tax legislation to attract the film industry and film production. Firmly rooted in state economic policy and fueled by a need to stimulate economic growth, create jobs and enhance state revenues, new film industry tax incentives are more aggressive with the hope to further attract new business. Incentives such as income tax credits, cash rebates, exclusions, and sales tax relief are being utilized to attract the film industry and film production. This paper examines the growth of film industry tax incentives in the United States and questions whether the economic benefits derived by these film industry tax incentives exceed the states’ investment in subsidizing film production projects through the tax incentives.

Alternatives in the Evolution of Financial Market: A Postmodern View on Schweickart’s Democratic Economy Model Eva Szalvai, Colby-Sawyer College The recent deep recession, followed by a worldwide economic crisis in 2008, claims more attention to the existent economic systems: not only the socialist system failed but the present forms of capitalistic modes of production seem to stumble as well. Affected by the global interconnectedness, researchers and practitioners are searching for alternative ways of production modes and market structures in order to escape from the devastating effects of economic cycles. In particular, the 2008-2012 economic crisis of developed economies turned attention towards financial institutions, regulations, and modus operandi of capitalistic banking system. In 2002, David Schweickart, a philosophy professor at Loyola University Chicago, published his alternative vision to capitalism, the so-called “democratic economy”. His theoretical and empirical research points toward the opportunity to organize production based on cooperatives. In his model, he maintains elements of market economy such as production markets but calls for controlled labor markets and the quasi elimination of financial markets. This research compares Schweickart suggested model with today’s economic reality searching for indicators and elements that might point towards the viability of his model. The focus of attention lies on the alternative forms of banking in today’s world economy such as ethical banking, microcredit, credit unions and saving banks. An increasing role of saving banks and ethical banking would certainly alter the financial market construct. The European Union has already acknowledged the importance of such alternative banking. In 2002, the European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks (FEBEA) has given way to the incorporation of SEFEA, European Company for Alternative Ethical Finance (Banca Etica, 2010). Although the organization of saving banks went through major changes in some European countries such as Germany, France or Spain, the strengthening SEFEA is certainly indicates the possibility of moving towards a new financial architecture. Apart from analysing the operating principles of credit unions, saving and ethical banks, the paper will also introduce some of the findings of an enthusiastic Catalan research group from Spain (Comin & Gervasoni, 2009). It is intriguing to examine if recent events and changes in financial markets would bring Schweickart’s model closer to reality, or at least, they would significantly alter the overwhelming role of traditional commercial banking in the capitalistic financial system.

Pareto’s Distribution and the Laws of Network Organization Omid E. Furutan, University of La Verne Free-Market theories of economics date back to the latter half of the eighteenth century. Adam Smith, who is best known by the concept of the “invisible hand,” with his book Wealth of Nations, revolutionized economic thinking. Today, Smith’s metaphor stands at the very center of Western economic thinking. Recently, however, another approach has emerged, one that addresses the complexities of economic reality rather than pushing them into the background to simplify the mathematics. A growing number of economists have embraced the field of behavioral economics, which acknowledges the existence of human irrationality and tries to found economic theories on a more realistic appraisal of people’s behavior. These economists are stimulated by the realization that in large networks of interacting agents the intricacies of people’s behavior may have little effect on some of the most basic economic realities. As an example, in 1897 Vilfredo Pareto discovered a pattern in the unequal distribution of wealth that appears to be universal. Economists have tried to explain this pattern of inequality through classical explanations of wealth distribution, but Pareto’s distribution has, from a mathematical standpoint, stubbornly defied such explanation. Perhaps Pareto’s distribution reflects the laws of network organization. Physicists Jean-Philippe Bouchaud and Marc Mezard of the University of Paris formulated a set of equations trying to explain Pareto’s distribution. Their finding suggests that the basic inequality in wealth distribution appears to be something akin to a law of economic life that emerges naturally as an organizational feature of a network. Their model also offers an excellent test of some arguments that politicians use to justify various policies in order to create greater equality.

Technological Capability, FDI and Economic Progress: The Case of Taiwan Tung-lung Steven Chang, Long Island University

The Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the global financial crisis of 2008 have intensified the competition in many global industries and have significantly eroded the national competitive advantage of most of export oriented countries including Taiwan. Taiwan has evolved from the peripheral stage catching up toward the frontier stage in the world economy. It has been noted that technological capability of a country can be improved by R&D spillovers via international technology diffusions (Coe and Helpman, 1995, 1997; Eaton, and Kortum, 1997; Keller, 2004; Narula, 2001; Shih and Chang, 2009). A recent study on international technology diffusion (ITD) network reveals that Taiwan is ranked among the top tier nations in terms of embodied technology and the second tier in terms of disembodied technology (Shih and Chang, 2009). We are interested in understanding the long term impact of technological capability upon Taiwan’s economic progress and the role of FDI for enhancing Taiwan’s technological capability. This paper examines the interdependent, dynamic relationships between Taiwan’s technological capability (embodied vs. disembodied technology position), FDI (inward vs. outward FDI) and economic progress. It is found that embodied technology position is critical to achieve economic progress. Further analysis also suggests that Taiwan’s investment in absorptive capacity improves its embodied technology position, and its GDP subsequently in the long-run. Nonetheless, challenges for further enhancing Taiwan’s economic progress still exist.

Examining Forces That Impact Firms: A Factor Analysis of Endogenous and Exogenous Factors and Their Effect on Business Enterprises D. Anthony Miles, Texas A&M University-San Antonio

The purpose of this exploratory study is to measure the impact of endogenous and exogenous variables impact on small-to-medium business enterprises (SMEs). With the creation and operation of a small business, one of the primary concerns is the problem of risk. The exploratory factor analysis study was conducted on a representative sample of 202 SMEs in a U.S. metropolitan area. Using a Principle Component Analysis (PCA), the findings indicate there are critical nine factors of risk that affect SME’s survival in the business environment.

Manager Quality Effects on Organization Performance: An Empirical Analysis Using Major League Baseball Data Curtis Hall, University of Arizona Roberto Pedace, Scripps College In this study, we examine how pre‐managerial experience and performance relates to managerial success and style. Prior research has documented that managers contribute to organization performance and may do so through unique management styles. However, the link between manager background and management style has been dubious because data about managers’ prior work history is typically quite limited. We overcome this limitation by examining our research question in the context of Major League Baseball, where data on pre‐managerial work history is available for a large subset of managers. This allows us to focus on two questions which have not been adequately addressed in prior studies. First, does success prior to becoming a manager translate into success as a manager? Second, how do style and experience in a previous position relate to managerial style? *

Capital Outflows: A Blessing or a Nemesis? Keunho Lee, Northern State University Capital movements among countries are generally believed to improve the efficiency of its allocation by allowing capital to be deployed more productively. Such movements, however, are not without cost, especially for countries which export capital. The lack of capital resulting from capital exports will cause output to fall. As each worker has to work with less capital, wages will have to fall also, though the rate of return to capital will increase. If wages happen to be rigid downward instead, employment will have to give and unemployment emerges. Insofar as capital outflows remain unabated and wages rigid, falling output and unemployment could persist quite some time. The case in point seems to be the Japanese economy for the past two decades. The performance of the Japanese economy has been, as is widely known, dismal during the past twenty years. The explanations for these so-called “lost decades” are in abundant supply but the big surge of capital outflows from Japan during this period is not one of them. Instead, capital exports have generally been viewed favorably, with the result that a significant compromise they claim in terms of domestic output and employment has largely been overlooked.

Do Managers Manage Pension Expense to Avoid Reporting a Financial Statement Loss? Paula Diane Parker, University of Southern Mississippi This study examines whether or not company managers manage pension expense to avoid reporting a financial statement loss. Since capital market participants achieve a greater financial gain when a company moves from being in a negative financial loss position to being in a positive financial gain position, company mangers experience strong incentives to report positive earnings in the black than negative earnings in the red. This study extends prior earnings management research by using zero pretax earnings as the benchmark to examine the extent to which managers manage pension expense to avoid reporting a financial statement loss. Managers are predicted and shown to reduce actual pension expense to increase actual reported earnings to avoid reporting a financial statement loss.

The Current State of LIFO and Available Tax Opportunities Liz Washington Arnold, The Citadel, New York Institute of Technology Peter Harris, The Citadel, New York Institute of Technology The Last in First out Method (LIFO) is presently under severe scrutiny from the financial community, which may soon culminate in its repeal as an acceptable accounting method. There are pressures from the SEC in conjunction with the International Financial Accounting Standards Board to standardize accounting standards worldwide. In addition, there is political pressure imposed by the US Obama administration to raise additional revenues. Both groups strongly oppose LIFO, raising a strong possibility that’s its complete elimination as an accounting method will occur by as early as 2014. The author presents the present and future status of LIFO and the reasons of its imminent repeal in the near future. Assuming that this will occur, the author presents some tax opportunities available to the taxpayer in this transition period.

A Comparative Study of Corporate Accounting Malfeasance and Restatements and an Analysis of its Financial and Market Impact Liz Washington Arnold, The Citadel, New York Institute of Technology Peter Harris, The Citadel, New York Institute of Technology This study examines corporate accounting malfeasance from an exploratory and empirical perspective for 100 companies to determine if there is an association between the Jenkins recommendations SOX requirements. The exploratory perspective discusses the types of corporate malfeasance and gives the dollar impact for the financials and the market dollar impact ($140 and $857 billion respectively) of 100 companies with publicly announced malfeasance. In addition to the dollar impact, the results of the exploratory study supports previous studies which found that revenue was the most common area of corporate malfeasance and actual theft was the least. The exploratory study was followed with an empirical examination of corporate malfeasance using internal (corporate governance) and external (auditor and financial analysis) monitoring characteristics by matching the malfeasance companies with non-malfeasance companies. The results of the empirical study did not find any significant differences in the monitoring characteristics of malfeasance as compared to non-malfeasance companies even though these characteristics were chosen based on an examination of recommendations/requirements for business reporting for SOX and several accounting committees over the years.

Diversity for Strategic Advantage: Assessing Market Need and Demand for a Graduate Level Diversity Concentration Roxanne Helm Stevens, Azusa Pacific University Mark Dickerson, Azusa Pacific University This paper examines multiple perspectives on how and why multi-cultural diversity as a strategic business advantage has gained momentum. The authors explore the relationship between multicultural diversity and organizational performance starting with the general proposition that multicultural diversity promotes organizational performance. Additionally, this paper analyzes current workforce trends and considers how future leaders will be faced with managing multicultural work environments. The authors discuss the skills required for future leaders and propose a graduate level diversity concentration for equipping graduate business students to lead the organization and workforce of tomorrow. With this in mind, a research study was designed to discover the relationship between students’ perceptions and inclinations of pursuing a concentration within a Master of Arts in Management program while simultaneously assessing which concentrations potential and current students would desire. In order to evaluate students’ perceptions, survey research was utilized to evaluate perceptions of current graduate and undergraduate business students towards three incentives (influence of job market outcomes, cost of required courses, and motivational factors) to pursuing a concentration. The goal is to statistically evaluate which construct is most responsible for students’ decisions to pursue a concentration, and further to determine the interest in obtaining a diversity concentration from the students’ perspective.

Misinformation and Finance Education Mark Morlock, California State University Richard Ponarul, California State University

Misinformation and preconceived notions pose a special challenge to educators. Cognitive dissonance in students serves as an impediment to absorption of new information that conflicts with the extant misinformation. As students are being provided with information it is necessary to disabuse them of prior beliefs that constitute misinformation. In this information age there are myriad sources of information and misinformation. Even passive recipients are vulnerable to be misinformed in areas of importance to day to day life – politics, health, environment, economics and finance. This paper addresses the misinformation in financial concepts among students who enter a beginning class in finance. We propose a method for measuring misinformation among students and for identifying the distribution of misinformation among a student population. We use survey data from undergraduate students beginning their introductory course in finance to illustrate this approach and identify the nature and distribution of misinformation. We uncover a significant amount of misinformation which varies by topic. In addition, we find the distribution of misinformation among the respondents is highly skewed.

All Disasters Are Not Created Equal Reid Cummings, Kennesaw State University

Most disasters strike quickly, wreak havoc, and end as abruptly as they began. Tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods, even bombings are relatively short-lived. Although the effects are often devastating, after the danger has subsided and the initial shock is over people and businesses begin the recovery process. In most cases lives and businesses soon return to normal. This is not the case, however, with disasters which continue for extended periods of time. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 22 and continued for 150 days until September 19 when the well-head was capped. Many Gulf Coast businesses were not adequately prepared to survive such a lengthy disaster. The literature indicates disaster planning is essential yet little work addresses planning for disasters which do not end quickly. The purpose of this study is to identify, evaluate, and quantify the disaster financial contingency and recovery management plans offering the best enhancement to small businesses’ chances of surviving a long-lived disaster. It is important for three reasons. First, it will provide local, state and federal governments with indicators of how they might better assist small businesses in prior planning and preparation for survival after the occurrence of a longlived disaster. Second, it will offer research that can be used in small business and entrepreneurship education by providing insightful data for incorporation into disaster financial contingency and recovery management planning course material. Third, it will enable economic development agencies and community and social service organizations to better inform and educate small business owners on planning and preparation methods which will enhance their chances of surviving a long-lived disaster. The catastrophic Horizon disaster was clearly a rare event. While some argue it is one which is unlikely to be repeated, this study will provide a valuable resource for the planning and preparation needed for small businesses’ survival should such a tragedy strike again.

Transition to a Web-Based Enhanced Business: A Case Study Ghasem S. Alijani, Southern University at New Orleans Obyung Kwun, Southern University at New Orleans Adnan Omar, Southern University at New Orleans Major functions of every society depend on buying and selling goods and services. The two main channels which businesses provide goods and services include traditional and web-based. With creativity, competiveness, and advancement of technologies more businesses are taking the advantages of technology in enhancing their business. However, there are a large number of small business owners who are reluctant to enhance their traditional businesses using web-based technologies. Their major concerns include cost constraints, technology, lack of time and skills, unawareness of benefits, and incompatible with e-business. This study investigates the factors that are essential in merging a traditional business to an online one through the use of webbased technology enhancement process. Our findings reveal the importance of cost, trust, type of products/services, and use of technology in enhancing traditional businesses. This project can assist small business owners in making decision to enhance their businesses.

Clearing the Hurdles to Success in Teaching Computer Programming: Applying the Scientific Method to Improve Student Outcomes John D. Crabtree, University of North Alabama David W. Nickels, University of North Alabama Joan B. Parris, University of North Alabama Many recent articles advocate taking a scientific approach to teaching science and technology. Computer programming, while being one of the most valuable skills for science and technology workers, is one of the more challenging subjects for many postsecondary students. We present the results of an exploratory empirical study involving two sections of an introductory programming course taught by the same instructor in the same semester. Identical course material was presented at the same pace to both sections. The only difference was that one section received the lecture interspersed with hands-on examples while the other had the handson practice delayed until the end of the lecture. The data show that interspersing hands-on programming examples resulted in higher exam scores and a higher student retention rate than the section that worked the examples after the lecture.

An Empirical Study of the Introduction of a Code of Civility and its Impact on Student Attitudes toward Civility in the College Classroom W. Michael Seganish, Towson University Norma Holter, Towson University Lasse Mertins, Towson University Much Discourse has taken place about Civility in the university setting. Quite often, there is a discussion of civility without a discussion of incivility. This paper has identified the interconnected properties of civility and the disconnected properties of incivility. This later discussion is important so there is understanding of the kinds of conduct which are prohibited because they impact negatively on the learning environment. In order to begin to measure and test civility, a Model Student Code of Civility was developed. Prior to its introduction in week two, a questionnaire was administered to test if there were any preconceived notions of civility, i.e., acceptable action in the classroom and what actions students thought were disrespectful classroom behavior. The Questionnaire was re-administered in the twelfth week of class, using the same questions to minimize any recency effects. This would allow a measurement of whether their attitudes had changed by virtue of the introduction of this Model Code of Student Conduct and its re-enforcement. The results of the study revealed that the Code’s introduction and re-enforcement significantly affected a student’s attitude toward what constitutes disruptive classroom behavior and in the second administering of the Questionnaire, all categories rated the activities which were more disruptive. The questionnaire’s responses rated bullying and ostracizing a student, especially during class, and making snide comments or remarks were the most disrespectful actions. On the other end, unwillingness to share notes, coming to class unprepared and eating were not considered disrespectful behavior. Overall, the study was an important first step to measure disrespectful actions and ascertains whether civility in the classroom can be taught.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in a MBA Management Accounting Course Scott Lane, Quinnipiac University Following Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Ryan and Deci 2000; Gagne and Deci 2005), this paper analyses the effects of intrinsic motivation, autonomous extrinsic motivation, and controlled extrinsic motivation on learning in an MBA setting. Extensive literature has found that extrinsic motivational factors can undermine intrinsic motivation and cause perverse results when applied in situations requiring learning, creativity and decision-making under uncertainty. In addition, the effect of motivational methods can be moderated by the learning goals and learning styles of students (Valle et al. 2011). The suggestion is made that student perceived autonomy as well as student perceived mastery/competence can be increased by course projects which are based on student selected topics and goals. Increased perceived autonomy (Patall et al. 2008) and mastery should reduce the negative aspects of the extrinsic motivations inherent in higher education. Specific examples of student driven projects from an MBA Management Accounting Course are used to illustrate along with practical suggestions for implementation.

Transformational Leadership Style in Educational Sector: An Empirical Study of Corporate Managers and Educational Leaders Michael Onorato, SUNY University at Old Westbury The purpose of this article is to explore educational school leaders, and the need for transformational leadership style within the educational sector. With society’s focus on the present day school reform movement, there is significant emphasis on teacher and leadership performance. With the addition of charter school choice and new local laws, fueled by the federal government’s race to the top incentive model, educational leaders are now faced with leadership mandates that will demand enhanced performance of their schools. In addition, recent focus on teacher and school leader evaluations have fueled the public’s demand to transform educational school leadership from a status quo paradigm to a leadership framework similar to corporate leaders who must sustain performance while competing in a market driven industries. This discussion also assesses industry leaders and CEOs who practice transformational leadership and lead their respective companies to meet market and share holder demands. A discussion of transformational leadership style to support the strategic changes within the educational sector is presented with a sample of principals who employ the transformational leadership style.

Grade Expectation and Achievement: A Probability Approach to Business Courses Vishakha Maskey, West Liberty University Studies have focused on investigating effective teaching strategies and understanding student attributes enhancing their performance. Research findings also suggest that that higher grade expectation leads to grade dispute, grade inflation. Moreover, students in general have higher expectations or optimism towards their final course grade. Probability theory can be used to derive an inference towards the likelihood of grade achievement based on their prior expectation. Therefore, survey of students from three business courses at West Liberty University in West Virginia is utilized to draw inferences between grade expectation and achievement. This research finding computes the probabilities of achieving a specific grade based on their grade expectation on the first day of class. A tree diagram is utilized to compute and present the probabilities of having a certain grade expectation and grade achievement. Conditional probabilities and joint probabilities are computed to find relationship between expected grade and achieved grade. In addition, statistical differences in grade expectation and achievement between student’s gender, residency and sport involvement is also explored. Result from this study provides insight on the influence of student’s expectations on achievement, which can assist instructors in developing effective teaching strategies that can avoid grade dispute.

Hyperbolic Discounting: Evidence of Rational Behavior Philip A. Horvath, Bradley University Amit K. Sinha, Bradley University A number of researchers (Rubenstein, 2000; Thaler, 1981) have shown that investors have a preference for higher short-run returns, and a declining rate of time preference. Such preferences have been cited as evidence for both investor irrationality and short-comings of the discounted utility model proposed by Samuelson (1937). The purpose of this paper is not to dispute the existence of hyperbolic discounting, but rather to argue that it actually is the outcome of a rational decision.

Did Corporate Governance Safeguard Investor Interest in the Global Financial Crisis Suwina Cheng, Lingnan University Gladie Lui, Lingnan University Connie Shum, Pittsburg State University Wing Hung Tam, Lingnan University

This study examines the relationship between corporate governance systems and firm market performance during the financial crisis in 2008-2009. The objective of this study is to assess the capability of corporate governance mechanism to self-defend and self-regulate during periods of crisis. While most research on financial crisis focuses on financial services companies, this study focuses on all non-financial sectors. Financial statement information and stock price data are extracted from Datastream database. Information on corporate governance and firm ownership is collected from the 2008 annual reports of companies included in this study. The results of this study indicate that although whether or not the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors is the same person does not affect stock returns, having a non-executive Chair and large proportion of independent directors on the Board boosts investor confidence during the period. Firms with independent Board of Directors are better able to self-defend and selfregulate, resulting in price stability. Although prices fall, the decline is small and gradual, but the recovery from the trough is speedy. This study finds that high concentration of ownership leads to lower stock returns, which supports the Expropriation Theory of ownership concentration that suggests high concentration of management ownership intensifies the conflict of interest between majority and minority shareholders. The finding is in contrary to the Alignment Theory, which suggests that high concentration of management ownership mitigates the conflict of interest between managers and shareholders. The results of this study also indicate high ownership concentration results in firms’ ability to better self-defend and self-regulate during the crisis. In addition, managerial ownership and block shareholdings prevent stocks from sudden share price freefall while the market is tumbling and speed up share price rebound afterwards.

Searching Alpha in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Diversified Equity and Bond Funds Halil Kiymaz, Rollins College This paper aims to examine the performance of diversified emerging market funds and emerging market bond funds during the period of January 2000 and November 2011. The emerging market funds provide U.S. investors an alternative to expose their portfolios. These markets differs from developed markets with respect to wide range of market and economic characteristics, including size, liquidity, and regulation. The findings show that diversified emerging market funds generate some statistically significant alphas for their investors during the study period. Emerging market bond funds, on the other hand, do not provide any statistically significant positive alpha; in most instances alphas are negative. Further analysis of sub-periods indicates that these funds do not consistently provide excess returns and show great variations from one period to another.

Cookie Jar Accounting for Foreign Income Tim Wilson, Texas A and M University - Commerce A comparison of the financial concepts of cookie jar accounting applied to financial reporting and taxation of foreign income, emphasizing why the concept is wrong for both. Current tax policy encourages U.S. corporations to use an accounting method, "cookie jar accounting", to report income. For financial accounting, cookie jar accounting is generally associated with financial statement fraud and concealing illegal acts. For tax purposes, cookie jar accounting is accepted as tax avoidance. The purpose of the comparison is to consider the consequences of tax cookie jars, and suggest an end to current tax policies favoring tax cookie jars.

Tax Havens and Tax Equity Tim Wilson, Texas A and M University – Commerce

An examination of the ways foreign subsidiary corporations are used by individuals and multinational corporations and the effect of tax havens on perceptions of tax equity, as illustrated by the use of the phrase "tax haven" in public debate about tax equity. The purpose of this examination is to consider the effect of tax havens on tax equity, and suggest an end to current tax policies favoring tax havens.

Trust in Corporate Real Estate Services Providers Outsourcing Relationships Reid Cummings, Kennesaw State University The literature suggests trust can be used to mitigate imperfect contracts, effectively minimize the impacts of information aysmmetries between principals and agents, decrease transaction costs, and provide a way to better align the interests of parties in a business relationship. Extant research examines this construct in various disciplines, including recent study of corporate real estate management functions from the standpoint of the corporate real estate manager’s outsourcing relationships with real estate services providers. The results showed proficient and effective monitoring positively impact calculative (self-interested) trust, while perceptions of value, interpersonal relations, communication, and effective monitoring positively impact relational (socially-oriented) trust. These findings lead readers to question the role of trust in a reverse situation as well. The purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics related to trust in the context of the delivery of outsourcing services by real estate services providers to their corporate real estate clients. The results will be important because they will expand the body of knowledge of trust between principal and agent, in this case, between the real estate services provider and the corporate real estate manager, in an outsourcing relationship in which the agent is engaged to provide principally intangible services in a highly specialized arena. While this study will be useful to real estate services providers and their clients specifically, it will also be valuable to others engaged in comparable principal–agent relationships generally. By identifying the characteristics which influence trust, real estate services providers and their clients will be better equipped to mold their contractual relationships in the most advantageous ways possible, enabling both parties to reduce their transaction costs while achieving their respective goals.

Revision of the Workplace Bullying Checklist Based on the Workplace Bullying Policy Survey for Human Resource Professionals Suzy Fox, Loyola University Chicago Renee L. Cowan, University of Texas at San Antonio Kalyn Lykkebak, Loyola University Chicago Workplace Bullying (WB) consists of “repeated actions and practices that are directed against one or more workers, that are unwanted by the victim, that… clearly cause humiliation, offence and distress, and that may interfere with job performance and/or cause an unpleasant working environment” (Einarsen et al., 2003). Many survey-based studies use checklists of bullying behaviors (Fox & Stallworth, 2010; Keashly, 1998; Leymann, 1996). Unfortunately, there is little consensus among researchers and practitioners regarding its delimiting characteristics and behavioral items, generally derived from the research literature, informal conversations with scholars, students, managers, and employees, and even researchers’ personal or clinical experience. In a similar effort to clarify definitions and corresponding behaviors of a different construct, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Spector and Fox began with a broad definition, and surveyed a convenience sample of employees to develop a more rigorous, practice-based checklist (Fox et al, 2011). A similar technique is applied to revise the Workplace Bullying Checklist (WB-C), surveying Human Resource professionals regarding definitions, delimiters, specific behaviors, and recommended organizational responses. This paper presents the results of the online survey of Human Resource professionals’ beliefs and preferences regarding WB. The resulting revision shortens the measure from 28 to 20 items, including 4 new items not included in the original scale but recommended by the HR respondents. The resulting scale is more closely linked to delimiting characteristics of the WB construct endorsed by survey respondents (e.g., persistence/pervasiveness of the behavior over time). Data from 3 prior studies on the prevalence of bullying and its relation to stress outcomes are re-examined, using only the items that remain in the revised WB-C (obviously without the 4 new items). Finally we outline steps for a more formal validation study, in order to confidently utilize the WB-C as a shorter, practitioner-derived measure of workplace bullying.

An Integrated Model of OCB as a Form of Upward Influence: An Expectancy/Attribution H. Ulas Ograk, University of Louisiana at Monroe Despite a number of studies about how Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) contaminate performance evaluations and managerial decision making, the link between OCB and self-serving motives has received little attention from scholars (cf. Bolino et al., 2004). In this sense, citizenship behaviors may well be used as influence mechanisms with the intent to affect the distribution of organizational outcomes. This study is a preliminary attempt to provide a holistic model of OCB in the context of impression management. It is demonstrated in the literature that supervisors’ attribution regarding the employees’ motives has a significant effect in the performance evaluations the employees receive. This paper proposes a dyadic model that extends Halbesleben, Bolino, Bowler, & Turnley’s Attributional Model of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (2010) to include Vroom’s VIE Framework (1964).

Economic Comovement among Emerging Economies with Business Group Influences H. Ulas Ograk, University of Louisiana at Monroe Tammy Parker, University of Louisiana at Monroe Diversified business groups dominate the private sector and substitute for the organizations that support effective capital and labor markets in many countries (cf. Ghemawat & Khanna, 1998; Khanna & Palepu, 1999; Khanna & Palepu, 2000). Operating in various unrelated industries, diversified business groups surfaced in the capitalist countries that industrialized after World War II (Granovetter, 1995; Guillen, 2000; Khanna & Palepu, 1997; Leff, 1978), where business groups with operating units in technologically unrelated industries have acted as the microeconomic agent of growth (Amsden & Hiking, 1994). This paper explores the existence of common business cycles between three emerging economies: Mexico, Turkey, and India. These three economies share traits related to economic emergence and growth. Additionally, large business groups are the dominant form of organizations with considerable influence in all three countries. However, despite these similarities between these three economies, the findings do not support a common business cycle. The lack of a common business cycle may offer diversification to investors looking to invest in emerging countries.

Adoption of Technology: from Diffusion and Creative Destruction Perspective Hung Wu Chu, Baruch College Harry M Rosen, Baruch College

Smartphone market is increasing and now reaching approximately up to 63.2 million people (Comscore, 2011). Smartphone is defined as a hybrid device that combines functions of PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) and digital mobile phone ( Laudon & Laudon, 2004). Based on PC like operating systems including iOS, Android, Windows OS, Smartphone is characterized with touch screen, WiFi for Internet access, 3G or 4 G for network system, GPS (global positing system) and various application systems, which provide users with an advanced multi-media center. Although consumers are attracted to purchase the device due to its versatile functionality and aesthetic features, their continuance intention with a Smartphone is questionable, which previous research overlooked to examine especially across different cultural background. From marketing management standpoint, it is critical to understand the psychological factors of Smartphone users’ continuance intention from loyalty building perspective.

Digital Diplomacy and Human Dimension of Cross-Cultural Sensitivity at Home and Abroad H L Jameel Hasan, Eastern Washington University

The Relationship between Supervisory Communication Style and Subordinate Communication Satisfaction: A Study of Organizational Interactional Processes Kevin J. Jones, Indiana University - Purdue University Columbus While there are many variables that influence individual performance, the communication interaction between supervisors and their subordinates is a significant influence. How a supervisor perceives the communication style of his/her supervisor may have an influence on the communication satisfaction of the subordinate. According to Wilmot (1979), two people can observe the same behavior and translate it into different relational meanings. The difference in how the supervisor and subordinate perceive the supervisor’s communication style may impact a subordinate’s communication satisfaction level. The study focused on the communicative relationship within the supervisor-subordinate dyad. A descriptive field study using paper and pencil questionnaires was selected to assess the interactional process between supervisors and subordinates. Robert Norton’s Communication Style Measure (CSM) and Cal Downs’ and Michael Hazen’s Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire (ComSat) were used to identify communication styles of supervisors and communication satisfaction levels of subordinates respectively. The results from this study show that there is a limited connection between communication style and communication satisfaction. The results show that when supervisors and subordinates agree on a communication style, the level of communication satisfaction can be predicted in this organization. Recognizing that there is a connection between the agreement on a style and satisfaction, the results suggest there is a connection to organizational commitment. The findings from this study may provide general information about the overall communication functioning, especially the coordinative functions. It may be useful in determining if there are trouble areas which may need addressing in order to derive optimum performance. A practical use for this study is to lay the foundation for subsequent studies of managerial communication functioning. The results of this study can direct an investigator toward problem areas which may need further analysis before corrective actions can be taken.

Stock Trading Fees: A Comparison of Full-service Brokers, Discount Brokers, and Direct Purchase Plans Raymond M. Johnson, Auburn University at Montgomery Joseph A. Newman, Auburn University The stock investor today has three primary ways to trade stock. The first way, and the oldest, is to use a full-service stock broker. The second way, which grew with internet use, is to buy online through a discount broker. The third way, and the newest, is to purchase stock directly from the issuing corporation through its transfer agent. Each method has advantages and disadvantages which relate to the fees charged to purchase and sell stock, set up IRAs, and reinvest dividends. The largest full-service brokers, discount brokers, and direct purchase plans will be compared for their fees in these three areas. Trades of stock for odd lot and round lots will be explored. Data will be hand-collected to perform ANOVA analyses to look for differences in fees across the three ways to trade. The expected findings are that full-service brokers will have substantially higher fees than the other two ways, but it remains to be discovered whether discount brokers and direct purchase plans will have significantly different fees, on average. The paper will end with a discussion of other factors that should be considered before deciding which way to trade stocks to help readers select the proper method for themselves. Part of the data has already been collected and a literature search has already been started for this paper. The paper should be ready for presentation by the time of the conference.

Undocumented Immigration Related to Labor Costs John E. Cullen, Mercy College School of Business The movement of undocumented people across the southern border of the United States creates an environment which destroys the free market of United States labor by increasing the supply of labor and decreasing the price of labor. The undocumented females follow up with birth on United States soil and create an economic dilemma for local municipalities that must provide public education for those babies. The babies become the basis within the United States for claims of citizenship activities and legalization of the original undocumented persons. In this scenario, the Law of Supply operates to decrease the earnings of unskilled labor. The Law of Supply also operates to decrease the possible unionization of unskilled workers, while decreasing governmental funds needed for municipal services. The cost to municipal government to provide education for the anchor baby generation appears to be an unending cost increase due to the unending supply of Third World undocumented individuals crossing the United States southern borders.

Reverse-Engineering the Business Cycle with Petri Nets Johnnie B. Linn III, Concord University A Petri net is used to model the general requirements commodity-to-commodity matrix of the national income and product accounts. By reverse-engineering the net, a general requirements process-to-process matrix is obtained, except that, since time is reversed, the “requirements” are processes that constitute a set of initial conditions. In a cyclical model, the initial conditions generate a set of processes identical to themselves, so the matrix has a characteristic equation whose eigenvalue is unity. To model a series of years, repeated powers of the matrix are taken, preserving the eigenvalue of unity, but complex roots become possible, meaning that the system can have imbedded cycles of multiple-year duration. Structural equations are spliced into the model as processes, and their impact on the cycle are identified. Imperfectly clearing markets can be modeled as processes. Cyclical phenomena that persist in the business cycle after the structural equations are accounted for may be the result not of external shocks but of the absence of processes designed to deal with cycles of that length, as the existence of long life cycles in periodical cicadas may be the result of predators having failed to develop life cycles of corresponding lengths.

A Note on the U.S. Unemployment Rate and Unionization Richard W. Taylor, Arkansas State University Jerry Crawford, Arkansas State University David Kern, Arkansas State University This study presents some weak empirical support for the hypothesis that unionization leads to a greater level of unemployment. However, the level of unemployment created by unionization is not very large. For example, if unionization increased from 12% of a state’s labor force to 22% of a state’s labor force, unemployment would only increase by about .6% on average. This small effect was not totally unexpected. Unionization has been declining in the U.S. over the past 40 years and today unions only represent around 12% of the U. S. labor force.

Liberalization Policies and Economic Growth in Chile: A Recapitulation and Reinterpretation David McCalman, University of Central Arkansas The Chilean experience in economic liberalization has attracted remarkable attention since its beginnings in the early 1990s and earlier. In spite of this studied and often multidisciplinary effort, the interpretation of the Chilean effort has been obscured. Observers have tended either to hold up the last two decades as a developmental “model,” an economic “miracle” to be copied by other developing economies; or to decry it as “catastrophic,” or at least to caution urgently against drawing generalizations from Chile’s evident success. As a whole, policy actions by Chilean authorities since 1991 do not constitute a radical break from mainstream prescriptions from a neoliberal perspective. This paper argues that the more salient elements of economic reform within Chile are found 1) in the breadth of reform across a variety of sectors and 2) the emphasis on international liberalization in regard to trade and to inward direct investment. The most salutary aspects of the Chilean experience are tied to these salient factors.

Do Unions Reduce the Wage Penalty for Obese Women? Christian Nsiah, Black Hills State University Ronald DeBeaumont, Black Hills State University Unions have been shown to reduce wage inequality, thus resulting in higher wages for certain disadvantaged groups. Overweight individuals, especially women, generally receive lower wages than thinner individuals with similar socioeconomic characteristics. This paper demonstrates that union wage protection extends to overweight workers. Specifically, we find that even obese women are not penalized with lower wages if they belong to a union.

Behind Every Good Firm: A Study on the Influence of Female Leaders Pamela E. Queen, Morgan State University While the number of female CEOs in top U.S. firms is few, the largest number of female CEOs running Fortune 500 firms was the greatest in both 2010 and 2011. While there are only 12 Fortune 500 companies that have female CEOs, these women have plenty of power. Evidence is overwhelming that having women in key leadership positions pays dividends for stock holders. Top performing firms have a higher percentage of women on their leadership teams (Collins, 2004). According to a 2011 Catalyst survey, female Fortune 500 CEOs is 2.4%; female Fortune 500 board seats are 14.8% and female Fortune 500 corporate officers are 15.4%. Interestingly, according to this survey, the percentage of women in the U.S. labor force is 46.3% while the percentage of women in management, professional and related occupations is 50.6%. In 2007, U.S. labor department numbers indicate 50% of women workers are in management positions. This study explores the influence of these female leaders. While financial success is an important part of firm performance, not all firms led by female CEOs experience stellar financial performance. Researchers find differences in leadership characteristics due to gender. Women leaders are characterized as interpersonally aware, empathetic, sociable, warm, and expressive in contrast to male leaders who are characterized as rational, emotionally stable, competent, and forceful (Becker, Ayman, and Korabik, 2002; Westwood and Leung, 1994; Heilman, Block, and Martell, 1995). Yet, female attributed leadership styles such as transformational leadership are found to be more effective (Lowe, Kroek, and Sivasubramaniam, 1996). This study creates a gender leadership index (GLI) based upon the presence of females in leadership roles including CEO, Board of Directors (BoDs), and executive vice presidents. The larger the index the greater presence of females in these leadership positions is observed. For this study, the performance of Fortune 500 firms, as compared to the GLI is evaluated over a 10 year period. Firm performance is evaluated by measures of operating efficiency, innovation, stakeholder relations, investor returns, and investor risk. Based upon research which supports a difference by gender in the moral orientation of leaders (Gilligan, 1982), the expectation is leadership priorities differ by gender with firms having a greater GLI exhibiting benefits due to better stakeholder relations, innovation, and long-term operational focus. Many women leaders believe they must outperform men to be perceived as successful (Swiss, 1996). Consequently, female leaders focus on tangible results versus politicking. This study builds upon prior research on differences in leadership due to gender; this study adds insight into the influence of female leaders at various levels of leadership positions.

Does Operational Structure Matter? A Study of Centralized versus Decentralized Business Models Pamela E. Queen, Morgan State University Olukemi Fasipe, Morgan State University The operational structure of firms impacts its performance (Hansen and Wernerfelt, 1989). Typically, its size, the diversity of its geographical locations or products determines the most effective structure to use. Some researchers find operating efficiencies are better, administrative coordination is better, and greater economies of scale are observed with a centralized operational business model (Chandler, 1977). Whereas, other researchers find a decentralized business model is less bureaucratic, more flexible, enhances growth, and better for adapting to market fluctuations. Some managers working in decentralized organizations believe that efficient coordination can also be achieved in decentralized organizations provided that division managers can communicate with one another (Alonso, Dessein, and Matouschek, 2008). The choice of a firm’s operational business model impacts the firm’s financial performance and stakeholder wealth. Typically, benefits are measured in terms of operating efficiencies, waste avoidance, decrease production costs, and increased productivity. Therefore, the choice between centralized versus decentralized business models is a critical decision for managers to achieve increased productivity and improved long-run firm performance. After the Great Depression, many large U.S. corporations adopted a decentralized form of organization to increase efficiency and improve competitive advantage in the global market (Amatori and Colli, 2011). With an increase in the need for firms to be globally competitive, the focus on organizational business models is renewed. While many U.S. firms have adopted decentralized business models, some large, successful firms continue to follow a centralized business model which appears to maximize the benefits of a centralized business model while minimizing its disadvantages. Using a sample of firms from different industries over a 10-year period (2000-2010), this study evaluates the relationship between operating efficiencies and costs to shareholder benefits and risks; thereby, answering the question whether a firm’s operational structure matters? The results show that measurements of operating efficiencies, as well as, measures of investor risk and return are significantly different for centralized versus decentralized business models. For certain measures of operating efficiency, the values are better for centralized firms.

Furthering RDT through MLB Josh Bendickson, Louisiana State University Through utilization of the Major League Baseball (MLB) context, the following manuscript attempts to theoretically expand on Resource Dependence Theory (RDT). Explanatory contributions are made toward RDT by broad uses of MLB as well as specific uses via the American League East Division. In addition to exploring the five primary mechanisms in RDT (acquisitions, joint ventures, boards of directors, political action, and executive succession), this manuscript contributes by integrating certain mechanisms together through various propositions. Incorporating Institutional Theory along with boundary condition considerations provide further theoretical development toward advancing the RDT literature.

Creating a Culture of Engagement by Putting Faculty, Students and the Community ATEASE Deanne Butchey, Florida International University Kenneth R. Henry, Florida International University Dasaratha Rama, Florida International University In recent years the Academy has come under tremendous pressure to work collaboratively with its surrounding community to solve problems in a sustainable manner thus optimizing scarce resources. The impetus has come from diverse constituents including the United Nations Global Compact and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching through its Community Engagement Elective Classification. AACSB International has also responded to this call and the report on the Impact of Research Task Force has spurred much discussion with several resulting initiatives. Numerous collegiate schools of business have become signatories of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), whose mission “is to inspire and champion responsible management education, research and thought leadership globally”. This paper describes a tool named AT-EASE GPS that can be used by organizations for examining their community engagement activities, strengthening access to relationships and resources, and supporting their stakeholders’ efforts to become comfortable with the various community groups and their problems, thus promoting research and identifying directions for guiding collaborations in mutually beneficial ways. We use the GPS metaphor to convey the fluid nature of engagement. At any moment one can zoom into specific outcomes or issues or zoom out and explore alternative directions. The AT-EASE GPS comprises six components, Accessing, Trying, Exploring, Awareness, Seeking, and Evolving perspective that describe how individuals and groups at educational institutions respond to varied environmental factors while pursuing their engagement goals. Our paper shows how the AT-EASE GPS is an intuitive and easy to use tool that can be used at many levels ranging from individuals to social networks, and across many timeframes. The AT-EASE model is motivated by recent research in neuroscience, psychology, and education that underscore the role of emotion and learning, (Ciborra, 2001; Ciborra, 2004; Immordino-Yang & Damasio, 2007; Kahn, 1990; Porges, 2004; Schore, 2009; Sousa and Tomlinson, 2011. The paper also shows the flexibility of the tool in different contextual situations and provides a road map for its use with examples of engagement from the perspective of the surrounding community through a Service Learning project, the Accounting profession, and the Academy.

Pay Fairness Judgment and Decision Making in Pay Distribution across Different Cultures Qiumei Jane Xu, Northeastern Illinois University Asel Moldousupova, Northeastern Illinois University Variations in employee characteristics might affect individuals’ judgments about pay fairness for employees doing the same job, and the strength of these factors might differ across national cultures. Through surveys of students from different culture background in an American university, I will study the differences and similarities of fairness perception for individuals with different national cultural background, in situations concerning pay distribution involving a variety of employee characteristics. I expect that variations in employees’ characteristics-tenure, education, individual job performance, work effort and family size- will affect individuals’ judgments about the fairness of pay received by employees. National cultures such as collectivism, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance will moderate the relationship between employees’ characteristics and their perception of fairness and decision making in pay distribution.

A Model for Capturing and Managing the Costs of Corporate Social Responsibility Arnoldo J. Rodriguez, Webster University The topic of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) encompasses all the best practices performed and developed by firms to improve society and create greater environmental sustainability, while generating value for shareholders. The vast breadth of the concept itself makes it difficult to define, develop and justify which are the activities relevant for the subject because at the end of the day, the managers of a firm must answer to shareholders and society for their decisions, when these two groups do not necessarily agree on their particular objectives. When firms try to capture, measure and present the "responsibility" with which a corporation has developed its strategy, academics have generated models that seek to incorporate the elements normally affected by the activities of a corporation: society, environment and profitability. Examples of these models are used by activists, investors, media, governments, academics and competition to determine the positive or negative impact of a firm. In some cases firms that are able to coordinate the three objectives are recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the FTSE4Good Index and the Global Reporting Initiative, highlighting and praising its managers to investors seeking recognition for owning those businesses. The models are composed of questions about decisions made by the firm and the impact of those decisions. One model that has recently emerged is the octagon of CSR, developed by a number of academics from the area in their book "The Octagon: A model to align CSR to strategy". It addresses and proposes the different areas and processes that a firm must develop to move to an environment of social responsibility. The work also suggests a process for the actual implementation of a CSR plan. Although the model is comprehensive and covers a wide range of dimensions related to CSR, it does not recommend a specific rule on how the firm should/is investing or spending resources on CSR practices. The model doesn’t either inform groups of interest about total firm’s total investment or the areas where businesses are focusing the effort. Information on total investment in CSR is relevant for at least three perspectives. First, it allows the firm to understand where efforts are being made and to establish an order for the allocation of resources based on predefined priorities. Second, it is useful as a management reporting mechanism to measure progress, efficiency and effectiveness of plans. Third, it can be used to communicate to internal and external groups that are interested in information about the level and destiny of the investments that the firm has committed and execute for the CSR projects. The main objective of this paper is to present the logic and the need of having firms report their CSR initiatives and then propose a model to do so. The emphasis of the note is on management accounting and not marketing or strategy, which are natural extensions of our model. That is the reason why through the paper we will present a cost model aimed at increasing the level of information relevant to business in their management of CSR. Finally, we explore some constraints of the model and the possible incorporation of additional tools of management accounting for CSR. A firm that is committed to CSR not feel limited to use and communicate the information related with this initiative. We rather think that a CSR report should be required t such as financial reports or accounting reports are required since there is evidence that investors, governments and customers give additional value to firms that incorporate the notion of a better world on the strategy. What this paper seeks to standardize is what this external communication should contain and how we should to measure it. It also addresses the question of if managers

can make optimal decisions when information is limited. Finally, the paper proposes a methodology based on the combination of two models on how to capture and manage the cost associated with CSR. Sustainability: Indecision Brings Imbalance Harold Babb, University of Richmond Thomas Arnold, University of Richmond A. Gray McDermid, University of Richmond While the core mission of universities across the United States has remained consistent in recent years, a greater appreciation for all stakeholders has taken shape through sustainability initiatives. A common framework used to understand sustainability is the three-legged stool approach: a balance of economic, social, and environmental concerns of a community. However, as universities have adopted sustainable concepts into their mission, an imbalance has emerged, placing environmental and social concerns above the economic concerns of the organization. With ever-increasing college tuitions, economic concerns can certainly not be ignored. The imbalance stems from inadequate decision-making tools for large sustainability projects that provide input from all stakeholder groups. One decision-making tool, the Arnold-BabbMcDermid (ABM) Sustainability Model, can be used by university administrators to make calculated project acceptance decisions. If leaders of the sustainability movement continue without correcting for the imbalance, sustainability could be short-lived. The question might become: is sustainability sustainable?

Presuppositions of Marketing Theory and Their Relations to Today’s Environment-Ethical Implications Gary D. Tucker, Northwestern Oklahoma State University Merriam Webster defines presupposition as “to suppose beforehand” or “to require as an antecedent in logic or fact.” With this definition in mind, we shall discuss the potential ethical tensions that may arise as we move forward in marketing decisions based on these preconceived ideas. The author seeks to examine the following three presuppositions in relation to marketing theory: 1. Marketing seeks to manage customer needs and desires to the benefit of the organization and the stakeholder. 2. Marketing seeks to build stronger relationships with consumers by building organization value perceptions. 3. The societal marketing concept seeks to make good marketing decisions by considering the wants and long-term interests of consumers, company needs, and the best interest of society for the long-run. The discussion will focus on past and present marketing literature in an effort to discern where future endeavors will focus.

Consumer Adaptation to Life Transitions Charles M. Wood, University of Tulsa Christopher D. Hopkins, Clemson University Mary Anne Raymond, Clemson University Jennifer Christie Siemens, Clemson University Individuals experience many different events which influence their consumption and spending behavior. We employ qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate how perceptions of resources and reallocations in those resources due to a life transition affect individuals’ responses to marketing activities. Three specific transitions (marriage, empty nest, and new job) were looked at across two studies. We find that consumers who anticipate a transition are most critical of role-related ads, but are most open to new product information although they tend to consider new products only when appraisals are positive. Consumers experience life transitions differently. However, the impact of time resources, appraisal, and the transition stage were found to be effective criteria for consumer segmentation.

Retailing Trends of Store Brand Food Items - A Study of Select Malls TVLNS Sairam, Osmania University B. Krishna Reddy, Osmania University The Indian organized retail has been rapidly growing over a decade and contributing mammoth to national economy. Due to increase in income levels, favorable demographics, and buying patterns an unprecedented consumption boom has been witnessed. The phenomenal change from traditional retailing to organized retailing can be attributed to the dynamic buying pattern of consumers shifting to: i) Choice preference, ii) Quality of Goods and iii) Value for Money. As a result of this and the attitudinal shift towards buying of store brands within the retail formats has unveiled new trends in retailing of store brands and can be seen now as one of the powerful force in retailing today. Store Brands are preferred by customers because it offers Quality product, Price benefit, Value addition and Packing privilege i.e., the choice to buy packed or loose quantities etc. and comparable to any national brands. The retailers are promoting the store brands as an important strategic tool in differentiating from its competitors, national brands and to increase profitability. The present study explores to know: i) Customer preference of store brand food items, ii) Customer purchase pattern of Store brand food items between packed and loose quantities and iii) The factors leading to customer satisfaction on store Brand food items. The study is expected to help retailers about: i) How to maximize sales and profitability?, ii) How to improve the quality to compete?, iii) What Pricing strategies to follow?, and iv) How to enhance the customer satisfaction? on the Store Brand Food items.

Chasing Cars or Chasing Tails: Does the Resource Based View Explain Global Brand Value? Antecedents of Global Brand Equity Robert W. Reich, Kennesaw State University Global brand equity is a highly valued intangible asset which provides competitive advantage to multinational firms in home country and abroad. The identification of antecedents which support and promote global recognition of brands is a matter of great debate among researchers. The success of global brands has been traced to universal communication of a brand promise based on personal wants needs and desires, as well as meeting quality expectations of products and services. Some firms are able to support their brands across markets better than others. The question posed by researchers is often why? A plethora of research has explored the behavioral aspects of brand meaning and communication across cultures. Few authors have explored the firm based antecedents of brand success. This study investigates the firm attributes of successful Global Brands through the Resourced Based View and explores several common firm attributes which are shared by global brand leaders. The question posed is one of cyclical loop resource deployment. Does Global brand success lead to greater firm resources or do firm resources lead to successful global brand practices? Specifically, this study explores four resource based antecedents of global brand equity and provides surprising insight into language orientation of country of origin and its relationship to global brand equity.

Consumer Attitude of Using Counterfeiting Products JungKook Lee, Indiana University Purdue University Columbus Counterfeiting is a significant and growing problem worldwide, occurring both in less and well developed countries. In the USA economy, the cost of counterfeiting is estimated to be up to $200 billion per year (Chaudhry et al., 2005). Considering the countries worldwide, almost 5 percent of all products are counterfeit, according to the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition (IACC, 2005) and the International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI, 2003). A number of definitions have been used for product counterfeiting. Because research addressing counterfeit purchasing from the consumer’s perspective is still incipient, especially considering the antecedents of the construct “attitudes toward counterfeits”, this study focuses on the demand side. The aim is to propose and to test a model that deals with the main predictors of consumer attitudes toward counterfeits and their intentions to buy such products, integrating the main findings existing in the literature. In the review of the counterfeiting literature, previous articles will be examined and gaps within the literature would be identified to establish conceptual model of consumers’ attitude. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) informs about the intentions to engage in volitional acts which are usually well predicted by the combination of attitudes toward a behavior and subjective norms (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980; Fishbein, 1980). It would be noteworthy to observe, how the TRA could help us to uncover the behavioral intentions of consumers towards procurement of counterfeit products. Counterfeit products cause a considerable amount of damage in the free market economy. Moreover, future investment in research and development is placed at risk from the unfair competition generated by counterfeit products. Despite the importance of this phenomenon, there is lack of understanding of the factors that may influence customers to buy these counterfeit products. (Roberts & Martinez, 1997). Social needs i.e. social recognition, seeking a social status etc are the primary causes of consumption of counterfeits. Counterfeit products have truly become a global phenomenon over the past few years. It is estimated that counterfeit products represent a 5% - 7% share of global trade, generating in excess of $600 billion every year. Counterfeit parts increasingly infiltrate the supply chain and nearly every manufacturer is at risk today. Counterfeiting is a concern for nearly every product, company, supply chain, government and industry—and the problem is on an upward trend. Almost no product or nation is immune to this phenomenon. Some counterfeit products are packaged and labeled or re-labeled to look like real brand-name and generic products to deceive consumers into thinking that they are buying the authentic product, be it medicine, food, or fertilizers. Counterfeit products are a real and growing threat for almost all manufacturers. Cost is the most frequently cited motivation of buying counterfeit products. Brand success breeds counterfeits. (Robert & Greene, 2002)

Consumers’ Information Integration at Pre-Purchase: A Discrete Choice Experiment M. Deniz Dalman, Ithaca College Junhong Min, Michigan Technological University Consider a consumer choosing between two cell phone service providers. These two providers will make specific claims about their different attributes (e.g. dropped call rates, coverage area etc.) through their advertising. Consumers then generally will look for information in the external environment to verify those claims and by doing so; they are likely to encounter reliable independent information regarding these claims -such as consumer reports or technical reports. In this research, we investigate a) how consumers integrate and evaluate these different types of information, and b) if this process is different for High Equity vs. Low Equity Brands. Specifically, we argue that in situations where brands make claims on some experiential attributes, consumers use companies’ claims as reference points. Later, when consumers find out about the independent third party information, they compare the new information to their reference level and record it as either gain or loss with losses having greater impact than gains on choice. However, the effect of gains vs. losses does not differ among brands with different strengths. Brands use attribute claims as signals of their quality (Kopalle and Lehmann, 2006), and consumers want to verify these claims before they make a purchase decision as they generally possess disbelief towards these claims (Obermiller and Spangenberg, 1998). In order to verify these claims, they engage in external search (e.g. consumer reports, word of mouth, technical reports etc.). Attributes whose claims can be verified before purchase are called search attributes (e.g. size or color of the phone) and whose claims cannot be verified before the experience are called experience attributes (e.g. coverage area or signal strength of the phone) (Nelson, 1970). Therefore, for experience attributes, consumers face with uncertainty even after external search. When faced with uncertainty, consumers evaluate the potential gains and losses of their choices and this evaluation is based on a reference point (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979). Since consumers use claims to set their expectations regarding the product performance (e.g. Goering, 1985; Kopalle and Lehmann, 1995), we argue that the claims serve as reference points when consumers make decisions. Prior research has shown that High Equity Brands (HEB) have advantage over Low Equity Brands even if both brands claim same attribute level as consumers expect more from HEB compared to LEB which in turn affect their buying likelihood (Dalman, Desai, and Agarwal, 2009). However, we argue that when consumers encounter highly credible independent information2 during external search, they will not only use claims to set expectations but also use them along with independent information they find as a shortcut to evaluate potential gains and losses of the alternatives. Specifically, we argue that consumers will use product claims as reference points and then they will compare them with the high credible independent sources’ information. If the independent source points out more than what brand claims, consumers will record this as a gain and if the independent source points out less than We define source credibility as the information source’s perceived ability or motivation to provide accurate information (Kelman and Hovland, 1953) and independent means as having no ties with any company in the market. 2

what brand claims, consumers will record this as a loss which will affect their buying likelihood. Moreover, consistent with the prospect theory (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979), we argue that the absolute value of losses will be more than the same size gains. In order to test our hypotheses, we ran a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) with the participation of 114 undergraduate students from Introduction to Marketing class. DCE is a very suitable method to apply in our situation because 1) it can compare different models’ goodness of fit, and 2) it can estimate the valuations of brands, based on deviations from a reference point. We chose cell phone providers as product category and dropped call rates as experience attributes. Considering the technical nature of the attribute and thus measurability, this allowed us to manipulate a high credibility source which was an independent research company that tests different providers’ dropped call rates. Our HEB was Verizon and our LEB was Telstra -a fictitious brand. We manipulated both the claimed levels and research company’s finding at three levels, and price at two levels. Participants were given 12 scenarios, where in each they were shown brand names, claimed dropped call rates, independent company’s findings, and price. For each scenario, participants indicated their choice of brand by putting an X on the boxes given (participants also had an option of choosing neither of them). We then analyzed the data using Limdep. Our base model was with alternative specific (for HEB and LEB) constants only. Our Model 1 was where participants use both sources of information separately. Our Model 2 was our main interest to test our hypotheses. In this model, we defined the utility function as gains and losses (where participants use claimed levels as reference point and compare the research company’s findings to the reference and record them as either gain or loss) along with alternative specific parameters for HEB and LEB. This model was significant and it improved the fit of the Model significantly compared to Model 1. Therefore, we could show that consumers indeed recorded numbers as gains and losses rather than separately. Moreover, the brand effect could be seen on the alternative specific constants where HEB had an advantage over LEB as expected. These numbers were further verified with the fact that Verizon was chosen 70% of the time over Telstra. Moreover, the coefficient in the utility function for gains was .16 and for losses it was .69 indicating a strong loss aversion consistent with prospect theory. We later tested a third model in which we used alternative specific parameters for gains and losses for HEB and LEB along with alternative specific parameters for HEB and LEB. However, the model was not significant not indicating any separate brand effects for gains and losses. With this research, we have shown that brand claims not only serve reference points for expectations but also they use as reference points to evaluate potential gains and losses for customers. Our research has both theoretical and practical implications. As theoretical implications, our findings from this study confirms our expectations that when brands make numerical claims on experience attributes, consumers use claims as reference points, and then compares them with the information from a credible source and record them as either gains or losses. To our knowledge, this is the first research that incorporates prospect theory into prepurchase stage of decision making. This research also uses a different method (DCE) than generally used in the literature to test the pre-purchase consumer behavior. As for managerial implications, our research shows that managers need to look for different sources information before setting their claims as losses loom larger than gains.

Improving NPD Outcomes: The Moderation of Resource Leveraging and Augmentation on the Resource Flexibility and Performance Link Sanjay R. Sisodiya, University of Idaho Jean L. Johnson, Washington State University Yany Gregoire, HEC Montréal With successful product development playing a critical role in the profitability of firms, it is no surprise that new product development (NPD) is of continued interest to researchers and practitioners. For a firm to innovate, a focus must be placed on resources and capabilities that facilitate enhanced NPD (Rumelt 1987). Using project costs and speed as measures of NPD process performance, we investigate the role played by resources and capabilities and how they affect these outcomes. Specifically, using a sample of 71 international firms, we analyze the resource flexibility – performance link, by investigating the moderation by resource leveraging and augmentation.

Developments in Faculty Collaboration Networks Owen P. Hall, Pepperdine University Learning management systems have come a long way since Sir Isaac Pitman initiated the first correspondence course in the early 1840’s. Today, traditional graduate management education is facing a number of serious challenges including changing business requirements, rising tuitions, for-profit institutions, uncertain employment opportunities, faculty constraints, and changing student demographics. As a result of these dynamics the one-size-fits-all educational approach of the past is being transformed by Internet-based learning management systems. Nevertheless, the faculty remains the key to unlocking the full potential of the Internet. The purpose of this presentation is to highlight recent developments in faculty collaboration networks (FCN). The goal of FCNs is to provide a convenient platform where the faculty can converge, share, and exchange ideas to drive innovation regarding student learning. Specifically, FCNs provide the learning community with access to curriculum innovation, databases, cloud computing resources, m-learning technologies, and implementation strategies. This virtual presentation will include with a demonstration of a prototype FCN.

Transition at the Helm and Change in Financial Performance Amit Kumar, Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur (India) Gloryson Chalil, Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur (India) P.C.Padhan, Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur (India) Santoshkumar Prakash Sangem, Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur (India) This paper aims to examine the effect of transition in the top management (CEO and board of directors) and board structure in terms of proportion of independent and dependent directors on the NPAs for 35 public and private banks in India. Apart from the board structure and transition in CEO & board of directors, profit of the bank and macro-economic variables namely GDP growth rate and Repo Rate have also been included as independent variables. Using panel data for 35 banks over 5 years, we found that board structure and profit have statistically significant impact on the level of NPA but other variables viz. CEO change, proportion of new and existing directors and the macro-economic variables do not significantly affect the NPA. The result suggests that too high or too low proportion of independent directors lead to high NPA and maintaining an equal or almost equal proportion of dependent and independent directors usually leads to low NPA. Also the study indicates that the profit level bears an inverse relationship with the level of NPA.

Which is the More Effective Enforcer, the Bond Market or the Bank Regulatory Bureaucracy? Kwangsoo Kevin Lim, Central Connecticut State University Since banks are essential to the economy, governments regulate banks heavily and bail them out often at the expense of society. Bank regulation has come a long way from ad hoc supervisions to the Basel I, II, and III standard. Nonetheless the recurrence of banking crises makes us question the effectiveness of regulatory bureaucracy. The bond market provides capital to banks and subsequent monitoring. It has been brutally honest and decisive as we witnessed in the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis and the 2011 European sovereign debt crisis. This study is interested in the role of the bond market on bank regulation. The market discipline through the bond market is the third pillar of the Basel II Accord. The bond market helps bank regulation in two ways: by revealing information on banks’ default risk and via direct discipline toward underperforming banks. This study tests empirically if the amount of subordinated debts issued by banks could substitute the role of bank regulators, and if the spread of subordinated debts are associated with banks’ bankruptcy risk. The sampling focuses on the period from 2008 to 2010, when the financial crisis forced out the information on regulatory effectiveness and bankruptcy risk.

Intermediate Accounting—A Two Semester Case Approach Robert Derstine, Kutztown University James Emig, Villanova University Thomas Grant, Kutztown University Intermediate Accounting—A Two Semester Case Approach presents an alternative method for teaching the traditional lecture-oriented course. As the Intermediate course sequence is normally seen as the “training ground” for Accounting majors, the case approach can be used to involve prospective Accounting majors in more than just a typical classroom learning environment. Students work as teams in a “real-world” simulation to handle a variety of Accounting functions (review, tax, audit, and consulting) that may occur as the theoretical business they work with matures from a start-up to a public company. This article outlines the format of both Intermediate I and II and also points out the relevant skills that the students will be developing and strengthening as they move through the various stages of the courses. This innovative case approach to teaching an essential course in any Accounting program provides instructors with a way to show students how to “learn how to learn”.

SOX Generated Changes in Board Composition: Have They Impacted CEO Compensation? Timothy Gordon Coville, St. John's University Concern over the size and composition of executive compensation packages awarded to Chief Executive Officers (CEO), by their corporate boards, has been with us for decades. Recent accounting and risk management scandals have heightened mistrust of management, which in turn may increase pressure to reduce the value of, or alter the composition of, the executive compensation packages awarded. Boards of directors and their compensation committees control these annual decisions over the value and composition of their CEO’s compensation package. Were the 2002 legal and regulatory responses to corporate financial reporting scandals, which came in the form of many new initiatives and requirements on all firms, relevant to subsequent compensation package decisions? This question is investigated by first noting that the impact of these new requirements differed between firms. Some firms had already introduced the use of independent directors and fully-independent committees prior to their being made compulsory in 2002. This study investigates whether these ‘pre-adopters’ experienced less change in the value and composition of their CEO’s compensation packages, than did those firms which were forced to change their board composition and committee structures. This investigation examines the effect on CEO compensation packages for listed firms attributable to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and concurrent changes in stock exchange regulations that compelled increased use of independent directors and fully-independent committees. This analysis also advances the study of effects associated with the use of independent directors, as it employs the difference-in-differences methodology to overcome the endogeneity concerns which have consistently challenged prior governance studies. This is accomplished through examination of the effects on CEO compensation packages associated with the exogenously forced addition of independent directors to the boards of publicly listed firms. The results reveal that firms that were compelled by law to change their boards increased the performance linked components of their CEOs compensation packages more than did firms that had pre-adopted the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate board composition requirements.

Understanding the Euro Crisis John Briginshaw, Pepperdine University This paper discusses the history of and contributing factors to the Euro crisis. It puts the crisis in the context of the different needs countries may have in a currency Union. Comparing with the USA, inter-state subsidies are discussed, and parallels with the 2008-2009 credit crunch noted. While debtholders were largely made whole in that earlier rescue, some sacrifice is being requested from Greek debtholders. The paper discusses fundamental factors which may influence the abaility of individual, vulnerable Eurozone nations to recover. Possible effects on the US economy are discussed under various scenarios.

Accounting Ethics: Post-Conventional Moral Development and Non-mandatory Virtues Warren Kleinsmith, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Robert Kachur, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey In the wake of corporate accounting scandals, confidence in the integrity of the US capital markets has been negatively affected. At the heart of this problem lies the role of the certified public accountant, the gatekeeper for the integrity of these financial statements. This paper examines many of the underlying ethical accounting issues considered responsible for the recent deluge of business and corporate scandals and concludes that the profession must embrace postconventional moral development and non-mandatory virtues.

The Evolution to the Cloud – Are Process Theory Approaches for ERP Implementation Lifecycles Still Valid? Robert Kachur, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Warren Kleinsmith, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) have been implemented for the past 15 years in both large-scale and Small & Mid-size Enterprise (SME) organizations. The implementation processes have evolved as the result of perilous attempts as organizations encountered numerous problems, financial strains, organizational difficulties, organizational cultural challenges, resulting in successful implementations but also failures to the extent of bankruptcy filings. There have been a number of process theory approaches developed to support these implementation efforts in traditional infrastructures, greatly reducing the risk of failure during the past decade. Concomitantly, a possible paradigm shift is in the evolutionary process with the emergence of Cloud ERP systems. Cloud systems are ERP operations that are hosted remotely and the vendor provides all systems software, maintenance, backup and security. This paper will examine the various process theory methodologies available to ERP implementation project teams, Champions, consultants and software vendors, as alternative approaches for a successful implementation. The paper will explore if these process theory approaches are still valid given the movement to Cloud hosting and the perceived need for acceleration in implementation processes for cost and productivity purposes.

A Global Imperative for Achieving Managerial Strength and Synergy through the Mitigation of Micro-Aggression Workplace Behavior Kelvyn A. Moore, Clark Atlanta University James R. Calvin, Johns Hopkins University Ruby L. Beale, Hampton University As the reinventing and realignment of management to conduct global business continues during this decade and in future years, the new global landscape dictates even greater interaction among diverse peoples. Thus, it has become essential for business organizations to both develop and enhance desired human capital outcomes by managing micro aggression that can severely hinder the contributions and combined abilities of trans-cultural employees whose effectiveness depends on maximum capacity for making decisions, working together, and adding value to their organizations. Moreover, it is important to promote strategically directed team development to maximize human interaction and cooperation processes when doing business globally. A 2011 McKinsey study of more than 1,000 major businesses showed that when organizations worked at reducing the combined effect of bias and regressive behaviors in their decision-making processes, they were able to achieve and sustain returns up to seven percentage points higher than previously. This research based discussion looks at contemporary global human capital trends amidst possible adverse impacts of micro-aggression in light of innovative and creative process and performance from the 21st century global workforce which could significantly decrease their productivity. Subsequently, the authors discuss and provide benefits of effectively mitigating micro-aggression.

Sustainable Development and Social Justice: Lessons Learned and Best Practices from One Hundred Field Visits Around the World with Undergraduate Students Daniel F. Duran, Whittier College Undergraduate business administration students from Whittier College were provided unique opportunities to meet with senior executives from Multinational Enterprises (MNEs), NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) , and IGOs (Inter-Government Organizations) in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. These field visits numbering one hundred were planned and executed over a ten year period and focused on understanding the strategies and Best Practices used by these firms and organizations to balance sustainable development and social justice with competitive business performance. This paper will help guide other professors to more effectively plan and execute in-depth field trips and to prepare their students to drill down in these visits by conducting prior research and setting the stage for active engagement and a dynamic question and answer field trip component that challenges students and presenters alike.

Successor Origin in the Domestic and International Airline Passenger Industry Pamela C. Marett, Sul Ross State University An industry case study of chief executive officer (CEO) successor origin is presented. This is accomplished via an experiential analysis of the airline passenger industry. The sample takes in the carriers of the United States’ passenger service industry and the international passenger service industry for the time period 1982 – 2010. In contrast with convention, this study considers all possible origins of the CEO successor. It reveals interesting characteristics. The incidence of company insiders was below all rates related in the cross industry successor origin literature. In only two cases over a 28-year period was an unknown, unrelated industry outsider selected. Industry insiders were at the helm during periods of bankruptcy. Company insiders occupied the CEO position during acquisitions. Industry insiders served as CEO at more than one carrier. The international carriers displayed similar traits to the United States carriers. This work provides valuable information, raises relevant points, key questions and direction. Industry studies employing a robust definition of successor origin are necessary to enable a comparison of industry practices and for the creation of a database from which to scrutinize the power of existing successor origin hypotheses and consider new ones.

Does a Country’s Financial and Legal Systems Contemporaneously Impact the Governance and Performance Relationship: Further Evidence? Anne Anderson, Lehigh University Parveen P. Gupta, Lehigh University Andrey Zagorchev, Concord University We investigate the impact of continuous measures of financial orientation and legal system on the relation between corporate governance and firm performance. Using a sample of 1519 firms from 22 countries, we find that jointly higher-levels (lower-levels) of stock market capitalization and minority shareholders protection generate market value synergies in the governanceperformance relationship. Besides the interaction of financial orientation and investor protection with corporate governance, market- (bank-) orientation, stronger (weaker) investor protections and better (worse) corporate governance are associated with higher (lower) valuations. Firms operating in a market oriented economy with enhanced investor protection seem to have better corporate governance and higher firm performance.

Corporate Social Responsibility of Small Businesses in New Orleans Adrine Carter-Harrell, Southern University at New Orleans Biruk Alemayehu, Southern University at New Orleans John T. Lambert, University of Southern Mississippi The ethical behavior and social responsibility of small businesses in the aftermath of a natural or manmade disaster is influenced by the culture of the business environment as well as internal culture of the firm. The role of leadership, training, and competency are among the factors influencing that behavior. Data analysis collected from small businesses in the New Orleans, LA region, an area impacted in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, and to a lesser extent, the 2010 B. P. oil spill, suggests influences and drivers of organizational culture, behavior and ethics, particularly when amid a disaster.

Is Gold Still a Safe Haven Asset Kenny Ozuna, University of Texas Pan American This study tests whether gold continues to be a safe haven asset. It extends the previous literature by using recent gold, stock, and TBill data covering the period of November 1995 to December 2011, accounting for financial crisis, and using an EGARCH model. The study finds that in recent years, gold prices have not only surged to record levels but have also become more volatile. It also finds (contrary to prior studies) that gold is no longer a safe haven asset but rather a diversifying asset.

Board Independence, Board Expertise, and Credit Risk Management Wei-Xuan Li, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Chia-Sheng Chen, University of New Orleans This paper examines whether board independence and expertise improve a bank’s credit risk management. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (the SOX) and the revised NYSE and NASDAQ listing standards effect board composition. The regulation requires that a majority of board of directors of a listed firm be independent. However, the independent board requirement does not guarantee that independent directors have relevant experience or expertise on a firm’s business. The recent subprime mortgage crisis indicates that banks did not manage their risk-based capital well. We investigate whether the problem arises from the lack of expertise of board of directors. We hypothesize that the independence and expertise of the board directors should improve the credit risk management of commercial banks. This paper tests this hypothesis for a sample of national commercial banks during the pre-SOX and post-SOX periods. Our preliminary results indicate that controlling for board independence and board characteristics, a bank with a higher proportion of finance-literate directors on the board is exposed to lower credit risk compared to a bank with a lower proportion of finance-literate directors on the board. Our findings shed light on the importance of board expertise for setting up a policy to efficiently manage the credit risk in the banking industry.

A Modest Proposal to End the Asymmetry in Monetary Policy Arthur E. Gandolfi, Citigroup Anna Sachko Gandolfi, Manhattanville College The paper presents a proposal which eliminates the asymmetry in monetary policy. Because currency always trades at par relative to the unit of account it is impossible for nominal interest rates to fall below zero. Because of this, the monetary authorities who are using short term interest rates as their instrument are unable to produce negative nominal interest rates which may be required to stimulate an economy that has fallen into a deflationary or recessionary environment. The authors offer a practical way in which the tie between the unit of account and the value of currency can be systematically altered over time so that negative nominal interest rates are possible when necessary to stimulate the economy.

Squandering Home Field Advantage? Financial Institutions’ Investing in Their Own Industries Aneel Keswani, Cass Business School David Stolin, Toulouse Business School In the extensive debate about investment professionals’ ability to add value, there has been scant evidence on the role played by industry expertise. To shed light on this issue, we study own industry investing. Specifically, we analyze how well individual mutual funds as well as mutual fund companies, banks, and insurance companies invest in the shares of listed companies in the mutual fund, banking, and insurance industries, respectively. We find little evidence that such inherent industry knowledge enhances these institutions’ ability either to time the investment in their industry as a whole or to select individual stocks within it.

Framing Individual Investor Models: Experience Effect on Decisions Robert C. Forrester, Kennesaw State University This paper proposes a model to fill the gap in the literature between individual investors that do not utilize professional portfolio advisors and individual investors that do. Miller (1986) confirmed that the rationality-based market equilibrium models in finance were sound models; yet, he conceded that, on the micro level, behavioral/cognitive elements affected the decisions of individual investors and moreover, that it was important to exclude individual investors who “held modest amounts of stock and did not utilize the assistance of a professional portfolio advisor.” Miller excluded the individual investor that did not rely heavily on a professional portfolio advisor from his models because of the non-market forces that affected these investors. Miller suggested that these investors’ holdings were atypical and more than just the standard “bundles of returns” contained in traditional economic models due to their individual selection process and the non-market forces affecting the individual’s decisions in the selection. Thus, Miller suggests that individual investors that did not utilize a professional portfolio advisor are irrelevant to the development of theories of portfolio selection. A model that incorporates the strategic and information related elements and experience biases that influence an individual investor’s decisions would extend the literature and fill the gap surrounding individual investor decisions. Angel investors are high net-worth individuals that invest in non-listed start-ups. Prospect theory specifically considers individual biases and heuristics in decision making. This study will utilize prospect theory and the largest-ever data compilation of angel investor exits throughout North America, the 2007 Angel Investor Performance Project (AIPP), that contains information from 539 angel investors who were members of eighty-six angel investor groups and who had experienced 3,097 investments and 1,137 exits from their angel investments to determine if a model that incorporates individual investors that do not utilize professional portfolio advisors can be developed to extend the theories of portfolio selection.

Financial Literacy of U.S. Households: Knowledge vs. Practice Yasser Alhenawi, University Of Evansville This study explores the behavioral dimension of financial literacy. The late 2000s financial crisis called for the formulation of public policies that improve consumer finance (Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, 2011) but the majority of existing literature focuses on knowledge, not practice, and uses student samples. Therefore we know very little about actual practices at the households’ level – an important void that this paper attempts to fill. In this paper, participants are households’ primary financial decision makers. The study results indicate that more knowledge is not strongly associated with better practice. Accordingly, financial literacy should not be measured in terms of financial knowledge only. Participants score satisfactorily on the knowledge test but their practice test score is, at best, mediocre. Subgroup analysis and logistic regressions show that financial knowledge improves with age but performance does not. Proper finance education during the early stages of life has a positive impact on practice but acquiring knowledge during the late stages of life, i.e. learning-by-doing effect, does not improve performance. In this regard, this paper suggests that in order to promote financial literacy, public policies should focus on financial education during early stages of life – preferable during college years. The paper also supplies social planners and financial services providers with important findings about U.S. households’ financial performance. To mention a few, 20% of American households live without a budget, ¾ of them are in debt and about half of them do not have a clear plan to become debt-free, about 15% have had an emergency expense that led to financial distress and about 15% do not have any sort of saving/investment/retirement account.