All posts by Business School

Business Analytics

Exact Solutions to the Capacitated Clustering Problem: A Comparison of Two Models

Mark Lewis, Haibo Wang, Gary Kochenberger
Annals of Data Science, March 2014, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp 15-23

In this paper, we investigate a natural nonlinear alternative to a standard linear model for CCP and compare the two models on a set of test problems. Our results show that moderate sized instances of CCP can in fact be solved optimally with modern exact methods in modest amounts of time and that the quadratic model generally outperformed its equivalent linear alternative in terms of quickly finding optimal or near optimal solutions.

Management

The Impact of Media Information on Issue Salience Following Other Organizations’ Failures

Vinit M. Desai
Journal of Management, vol. 40 no. 3, March 2014, pp. 893-918

Research on organizational decision making seeks to understand how external events shape how organizational decision makers attend to particular issues and allocate scarce resources across the organization’s activities. The author investigates whether supplemental information available to decision makers about their own and other organizations impacts this process. He finds that media coverage about particular issues following failures throughout the field can influence decisions regarding resource allocation and that coverage about other organizations may in some cases be more influential than coverage about the focal firm. The study and its findings forward our understanding regarding how organizations scan their environments and how multiple, interacting forms of external information may collectively influence internal organizational processes.

Management

Investing in HRD in Uncertain Times Now and in the Future

Wayne F. Cascio
Advances in Developing Human Resources February 2014 vol. 16 no. 1, pp. 108-122

The Problem We live in uncertain times, exacerbated by many direct and indirect effects of the global financial crisis. However, there is a lack of understanding about how human resource development (HRD) is responding to the global financial crisis or how HRD scholars and practitioners can best respond to these new realities and thus successfully ensure the future of HRD.

The Solution To appreciate the future, it is critical to understand the past. Thus, this reflective piece outlines several factors that have caused, and continue to cause, uncertainty in the global economy, including structural changes in labor markets and developments in technology. A literature review revealed several HRD responses of firms to these new realities. These include technology-delivered instruction and social-learning tools. The article concludes by identifying characteristics of effective training and examines some distinctive practices of three firms that have been recognized as the global best in class for their leadership-development efforts.

The Stakeholders Scholars and practitioners interested in the HRD, technology-delivered instruction, and social-learning fields.

Information Systems

Engagement in Online Social Networks: the Impact of Self-Disclosure and Humor

Jehad Imlawi & Dawn Gregg
International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, Vol. 30 Issue 2, February 2014, pp. 106-125

This study proposes an engagement model that supports acceptance and use of course-based online social networks for engaging student, and hence, improving the instructor’s credibility. This research demonstrates that instructors who create course-based online social networks can increase student engagement in these online social networks, and improve the instructor’s credibility. This increase in engagement is seen when the instructor posts private information related to the course and when the instructor makes humorous posts. However, it is not seen when the instructor posts private information unrelated to the course. These results should be useful for instructors who are trying to improve student engagement and to enhance their own credibility.

This research utilizes Communication Privacy Management theory and Instructional Humor Processing theory to expand our understanding of how instructor self-disclosure and use of humor via a course-based social network impacts student outcomes. The research also contributes to the theory by providing an engagement model that is unique to online educational settings.

Finance, Management, Sustainability

Determinants of corporate carbon reduction targets

John Byrd, Elizabeth S Cooperman, Ken Bettenhausen
Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, Volume 15 Issue 4, January 2014, Pages 271-289

This paper examines attributes affecting a corporation’s choice of an intensity-only (carbon emissions relative to sales, production, etc.) versus an absolute carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions goal. We investigate alternative hypotheses for this choice including: 1) a high growth hypothesis whereby high growth companies select an intensity goal, to continue to grow without an absolute emission reduction; 2) a high emissions industrial sector hypothesis where firms in high CO 2 emission industries prefer an intensity goal that is …

Management

HR strategy: Optimizing risks, optimizing rewards

Wayne Cascio and John Boudreau
Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp.77 – 97

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to suggest that in the arena of human capital, risk-mitigation may overshadow risk-optimized decisions, and show how a more balanced approach can be achieved by understanding and applying frameworks from behavioral decision theory, as well as framing human capital risk using tools and frameworks that have a long history in other management arenas, such as finance.

Design/methodology/approach – Review risk-optimization frameworks in human resource and general management, distill key connections, suggest ways to enhance risk optimization for human capital, and offer suggestions for future research and practice.

Findings – For human capital, risk-mitigation may overshadow risk-optimization, a balanced approach can be achieved by applying behavioral decision theory and by using frameworks from other management arenas, such as finance.

Practical implications – Organizations must acknowledge and skillfully manage the connections between human capital and competitive strategy in this emerging arena of human capital risk, or they will miss key strategic opportunities.

Originality/value – Attention to human capital risk has largely emphasized minimizing or controlling unwanted outcomes, but the paper proposes that risk-optimization requires balanced attention to risk-taking as well.

Management

Reflections on the Metamorphosis at Robben Island: The Role of Institutional Work and Positive Psychological Capital

Wayne F. Cascio and Fred Luthans
Journal of Management Inquiry, Volume 23 Issue 1, pp. 51-67

Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners from South Africa were imprisoned on notorious Robben Island from the mid-1960s until the end of the apartheid regime in 1991. The stark conditions and abusive treatment of these prisoners has been widely publicized. However, upon reflection and in retrospect, over the years, a type of metamorphosis occurred. Primarily drawing from firsthand accounts of the former prisoners and guards, it seems that Robben Island morphed from the traditional oppressive prison paradigm to one where the positively oriented prisoners disrupted the institution with a resulting climate of learning and transformation that eventually led to freedom and the end of apartheid. At a macro level of analysis, we use the theoretical lens of institutional work, and, at a micro level, positive psychological capital (hope, efficacy, resiliency, and optimism) to explain what happened. This metamorphosis led to one of, if not the greatest, societal transformations in modern history. We conclude by discussing some implications and lessons learned for organizational scholars and practitioners.

Health Management, Information Systems

Media Reinforcement for Psychological Empowerment in Chronic Disease Management

Kaushik Ghosh, Jiban Khuntia, Sudhir Chawla, Xiaodong Deng
Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Volume 34, Article 22

Although information technology (IT) is often argued to have the potential to enable greater patient participation in healthcare delivery, how IT empow ers patients to take charge of their own health is a less explored area. This study explores how IT-enabled communication plays a significant role in shaping the patients’ psychological empow erment for managing a chronic disease—diabetes. Psychological empow erment reflects a patient’s cognitive
response and motivation to manage the disease. Two dimensions of psychological …

Health Management, Information Systems

Information Technology and Voluntary Quality Disclosure by Hospitals

Corey Angst, Ritu Agarwal, Guodong Gordon Gao, Jiban Khuntia, Jeffrey S McCullough
Decision Support Systems, Volume 57, Issue 1, Pp. 367-375

Information asymmetry between consumers and health care providers is a well-known phenomenon in health care systems. Disclosure of health care quality information is one important mechanism through which hospitals can signal performance to potential patients and competitors, yet little is known about the organizational factors that contribute to voluntary disclosure. In this study we develop an empirical model to investigate the factors associated with choosing to participate in a voluntary quality disclosure initiative, specifically isolating the importance of information technology (IT) in facilitating disclosure. We extend the scope of prior work on the quality disclosure choice by augmenting it with an important decision variable: the operational costs of collecting and reporting quality data. We suggest that IT can facilitate disclosure by reducing these costs, thereby extending the literature on the value of IT. Empirical findings using data from a major voluntary quality disclosure program in California hospitals support our assertion related to the role of IT. Our results further highlight other hospital characteristics contributing to disclosure. We discuss implications of these findings for research and practice.

Information Systems

Business Decision-Making Using Geospatial Data: A Research Framework and Literature Review

Michael A Erskine, Dawn G Gregg, Jahangir Karimi, and Judy E Scott
Axioms, Vol. 3 Issue 1, December 2013, pp.10-30

Organizations that leverage their increasing volume of geospatial data have the potential to enhance their strategic and organizational decisions. However, literature describing the best techniques to make decisions using geospatial data and the best approaches to take advantage of geospatial data’s unique visualization capabilities is limited. This paper reviews the use of geospatial visualization and its effects on decision performance, which is one of the many components of decision-making when using using geospatial data. Additionally, this paper proposes a comprehensive model allowing researchers to better understand decision-making using geospatial data and provides a robust foundation for future research. Finally, this paper makes an argument for further research of information-presentation, task-characteristics, user-characteristics and their effects on decision-performance when utilizing geospatial data.

Accounting

Have CPAs Captured State Accountancy Boards?

Gary J. Colbert and Dennis F. Murray
Accounting and the Public Interest, Volume 13, Issue 1, pp. 85-104

All states in the U.S. regulate the practice of public accounting. An important part of the regulatory apparatus is the state accountancy board (SAB). SABs implement the laws that govern public accounting. State societies of CPAs (SSCPAs), in contrast, are advocacy mechanisms that can potentially be used by members of the profession to achieve their regulatory objectives. Economic theory raises the possibility that regulatory bodies such as SABs might be captured by the profession that they regulate. We examine the composition of SABs and find that the majority of members are CPAs. A survey of CPA SAB members reveals that nearly one-third of the respondents are past leaders of their SSCPAs. We further find that the percentage of board members who are CPAs and the percentage of our respondents who are past leaders of their SSCPAs are positively associated with the rapidity with which states adopt two important accountancy laws (interstate mobility and the 150-hour education requirement) that can be viewed as being in the best interest of the profession. These findings support the hypothesis of regulatory capture and suggest that states may benefit from reconsidering the qualifications of SAB members.

Information Systems

The information artifact in IT governance: toward a theory of information governance

Paul P Tallon, Ronald V Ramirez, James E Short
Journal of Management Information Systems,Vol. 30, Issue 3, Pages: 141-178.

In recent years, chief information officers have begun to report exponential increases in the amounts of raw data captured and retained across the organization. Managing extreme amounts of data can be complex and challenging at a time when information is increasingly viewed as a strategic resource. Since the dominant focus of the information technology (IT) governance literature has been on how firms govern physical IT artifacts (hardware, software, networks), the goal of this study is to extend the theory of IT governance by …
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Marketing

How Task Structure and Outcome Comparisons Influence Women’s and Men’s Risk-Taking Self-Efficacies: A Multi-Study Exploration

David Forlani
Psychology & Marketing, Vol, Issue 12, pages 1088–1107, December 2013

To explore inconsistent findings in the perceived self-efficacy and entrepreneurship literatures as they relate to the type of complex, risky decisions (i.e., those that commit financial resources to generate new revenue) made by marketing managers, entrepreneurs, and corporate intrapreneurs, this paper uses a series of four theoretically driven, empirical studies to investigate gender differences in risk-taking self-efficacies (i.e., one’s perceived abilities to make financially risky, business development decisions). The results indicate the following: (1) no gender differences in risk-taking self-efficacies absent a task; (2) after performing a complex, risk-laden task, the risk-taking self-efficacies of subjects receiving negatively valenced outcome information and women were less than those of subjects receiving positively valenced outcome information and men; (3) this effect remains for women when experience in the task domain is high and when diagnostic information about prior outcomes is provided; (4) the reason for the effect appears to be that men and women use information about their prior decision’s outcomes differently when assessing their risk-taking self-efficacies; and (5) the effect disappears when social cues intended to facilitate accurate performance comparisons are introduced into the task environment. These findings support existing theories, identify areas needing development, and show how these effects can limit participation in both complex, risk-laden tasks and careers that are thought to involve performing such tasks.

Finance

Credit Risk Spillovers Among Financial Institutions Around the Global Credit Crisis: Firm-Level Evidence

Jian Yang and Yinggang Zhou
Management Science, (2013) Vol 59, Issue 10, pp. 2343-2359

Using credit default swap data, we propose a novel empirical framework to identify the structure of credit risk networks across international major financial institutions around the recent global credit crisis. Specifically, we identify three groups of players, including prime senders, exchange centers, and prime receivers of credit risk information. Leverage ratios and, particularly, the short-term debt ratio appear to be significant determinants of the roles of financial institutions in credit risk transfer, while corporate governance indexes, size, liquidity, and asset write-downs are not significant. Our findings carry important implications for a new regulatory standard on capital subcharge and liquidity coverage ratio.

Finance

A New Anomaly: The Cross-Sectional Profitability of Technical Analysis

Yufeng Han, Ke Yang and Guofu Zhou
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Volume 48 Issue 05, October 2013, pp 1433-1461.

In this paper, we document that an application of a moving average timing strategy of technical analysis to portfolios sorted by volatility generates investment timing portfolios that substantially outperform the buy-and-hold strategy. For high-volatility portfolios, the abnormal returns, relative to the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and the Fama-French 3-factor models, are of great economic significance, and are greater than those from the well-known momentum strategy. Moreover, they cannot be explained by market timing ability, investor sentiment, default, and liquidity risks. Similar results also hold if the portfolios are sorted based on other proxies of information uncertainty.

Finance, Management, Sustainability

Context-Based Sustainability and Corporate CO2 Reduction Targets: Are Companies Moving Fast Enough?

John W Byrd, Ken Bettenhausen, Elizabeth S Cooperman
International Review of Accounting, Banking, and Finance, Volume 5 Issue 3/4, Fall/Winter 2013, pp. 87-104.

Corporate sustainability activities are often ad hoc; that is, the extent to which a company moves toward being more sustainable is based on organizational feasibility or economic acceptance rather than true sustainability criteria. This paper examines corporate climate and carbon policy through the lens of context-based sustainability (CBS). CBS argues that true sustainable efforts must consider the ecological capacity of the environment and the fair allocation of this capacity. Only by doing so will the result be an outcome of a livable and sustainable world. The paper combines aspects of physical science (atmospheric CO2 carrying capacity) and philosophy (inter-generational equity and resource allocation) with corporate policy. When applied to climate change this implies examining corporate efforts relative to climate stabilization paths and further examining what a fair allocation of future emissions would be. We look at the documented carbon reductions for a sample of large US corporations including EPA Climate Leadership Award Winners in 2012 and a larger sample of companies from the same industries and compare their carbon reductions to several allocations of the global carbon budget required to limit climate change to just 1°C or 2°C. We find that the emissions path of these US corporations only satisfies the most generous, business-as-usual allocation of carbon emissions.

International Business, Marketing

Comparing Hybrid Services in the United States and China

Lawrence F Cunningham, Clifford E Young, Zuohao Hu
International Journal of Information Systems in the Service Sector (IJISSS), Vol 5 Issue 1, 2013, 17-32

This paper examines how customers view a set of hybrid services (eleven generic and self-service technologies) in the US and China. The data are collected using questionnaires on location in the US and China and are analyzed using multidimensional scaling. The study indicates that two dimensions, customization/standardization and high/low contact, explain over 80% of the variance in the classifications. Although there are differences when comparing the results of the US and China samples, the results are very …

Management

A Meta‐Analytic Investigation of the Within‐Person Self‐Efficacy Domain: Is Self‐Efficacy a Product of Past Performance or a Driver of Future Performance?

Traci Sitzmann, Gillian Yeo
Personnel Psychology, Volume 66 Issue 3, September 2013, Pages 531-568

We conducted a meta-analysis to determine whether the within-person self-efficacy/performance relationship is positive, negative, or null and to compare the strength of the self-efficacy/performance and past performance/self-efficacy within-person relationships. The self-efficacy/performance within-person corrected correlation was .23 but was weak and nonsignificant (ρ = .06) when controlling for the linear trajectory, revealing that the main effect was spurious. The past performance/self-efficacy within-person corrected correlation was .40 and remained positive and significant (ρ = .30) when controlling for the linear trajectory. The moderator results revealed that at the within-person level of analysis: (a) self-efficacy had at best a moderate, positive effect on performance and a null effect under other moderating conditions (ρ ranged from –.02 to .33); (b) the main effect of past performance on self-efficacy was stronger than the effect of self-efficacy on performance, even in the moderating conditions that produced the strongest self-efficacy/performance relationship; (c) the effect of past performance on self-efficacy ranged from moderate to strong across moderating conditions and was statistically significant across performance tasks, contextual factors, and methodological moderators (ρ ranged from .18 to .52). Overall, this suggests that self-efficacy is primarily a product of past performance rather than the driving force affecting future performance.

Information Systems

Information systems for collaborating versus transacting: Impact on manufacturing plant performance in the presence of demand volatility

Saldanha, Terence J.V.; Melville, Nigel P. Ramirez, Ronald; Richardson, Vernon J.
Journal of Operations Management. Sept. 2013, Vol. 31 Issue 6, p313-329.

Research at the nexus of operations management and information systems suggests that manufacturing plants may benefit from the utilization of information systems for collaborating and transacting with suppliers and customers. The objective of this study is to examine the extent to which value generated by information systems for collaborating versus transacting is contingent upon demand volatility. We analyze a unique dataset assembled from non-public U.S. Census Bureau data of manufacturing plants. Our findings suggest that when faced with volatile demand, plants employing information systems for collaborating with suppliers and customers experience positive and significant benefits to performance, in terms of both labor productivity and inventory turnover. In contrast, results suggest that plants employing information systems for transacting in volatile environments do not experience such benefits. Further exploratory analysis suggests that in the context of demand volatility, these two distinct dimensions of IT-based integration have differing performance implications at different stages of the production process in terms of raw-materials inventory and finished-goods inventory, but not in terms of work-in-process inventory. Taken together, our study contributes to theoretical and managerial understanding of the contingent value of information systems in volatile demand conditions in the supply chain context.