Showing papers by "DePaul University published in 2009"

How brand community practices create value

Abstract: Using social practice theory, this article reveals the process of collective value creation within brand communities. Moving beyond a single case study, the authors examine previously published research in conjunction with data collected in nine brand communities comprising a variety of product categories, and they identify a common set of value-creating practices. Practices have an “anatomy” consisting of (1) general procedural understandings and rules (explicit, discursive knowledge); (2) skills, abilities, and culturally appropriate consumption projects (tacit, embedded knowledge or how-to); and (3) emotional commitments expressed through actions and representations. The authors find that there are 12 common practices across brand communities, organized by four thematic aggregates, through which consumers realize value beyond that which the firm creates or anticipates. They also find that practices have a physiology, interact with one another, function like apprenticeships, endow participants ...

Driven to distraction: Extraneous events and underreaction to earnings news

Abstract: Psychological evidence indicates that it is hard to process multiple stimuli and perform multiple tasks at the same time. This paper tests the INVESTOR DISTRACTION HYPOTHESIS, which holds that the arrival of extraneous news causes trading and market prices to react sluggishly to relevant news about a firm. Our test focuses on the competition for investor attention between a firm's earnings announcements and the earnings announcements of other firms. We find that the immediate stock price and volume reaction to a firm's earnings surprise is weaker, and post-earnings announcement drift is stronger, when a greater number of earnings announcements by other firms are made on the same day. Distracting news has a stronger effect on firms that receive positive than negative earnings surprises. Industry-unrelated news has a stronger distracting effect than related news. A trading strategy that exploits post-earnings announcement drift is unprofitable for announcements made on days with little competing news.

Estimating the Effect of Hierarchies on Information Use

Abstract: Theory suggests that greater hierarchical distance between a subordinate and his boss makes it more di-cult to share abstract and subjective information in decision making. A novel data set put together from credit dossiers of large corporate loan applicants enables us to observe the information collected by loan o-cers and also how it is used by the ultimate loan approving o-cer. We flnd that greater hierarchical / geographical distance between the information collecting agent and the loan approving o-cer leads to less reliance on subjective information and more on objective information. By exploiting non-linearities in the \assignment rules" that determine an applicant's hierarchical distance, and using information collecting agent flxed efiects, we show that our result cannot be driven by endogenous assignment of applicants. We also flnd that higher frequency of interactions between the information collecting agent and loan approving o-cer, both over time and through geographical proximity, helps mitigate the efiects of hierarchical distance on information use. Our results show that hierarchical distance in∞uences information use, and highlights the importance of \human touch" in communication.

Intuition Versus Analysis? Testing Differential Models of Cognitive Style on Entrepreneurial Self‐Efficacy and the New Venture Creation Process

Abstract: This research revealed the significant role of two distinct cognitive styles as a determinant of perceived entrepreneurial self–efficacy regarding the different stages of the new venture process. T...

Expropriation through loan guarantees to related parties: Evidence from China

Abstract: We identify and analyze a sample of publicly traded Chinese firms that issued loan guarantees to their related parties (usually the controlling block holders), thereby expropriating wealth from minority shareholders. Our results show that the issuance of related guarantees is less likely at smaller firms, at more profitable firms and at firms with higher growth prospects. We also find that the identity and ownership of block holders affect the likelihood of expropriation. In addition, we use this sample to provide new evidence on the relation between tunneling and proxies for firm value and financial performance. We find that Tobin’s Q, ROA and dividend yield are significantly lower, and that leverage is significantly higher, at firms that issued related guarantees.

A Model of Social Entrepreneurial Discovery

Abstract: Social entrepreneurship activity continues to surge tremendously in market and economic systems around the world. Yet, social entrepreneurship theory and understanding lag far behind its practice. For instance, the nature of the entrepreneurial discovery phenomenon, a critical area of inquiry in general entrepreneurship theory, receives no attention in the specific context of social entrepreneurship. To address the gap, we conceptualize social entrepreneurial discovery based on an extension of corporate social responsibility into social entrepreneurship contexts. We develop a model that emphasizes mobilization and timing as underpinnings of social entrepreneurial discovery and offer distinct conceptual aspects and theoretic propositions instrumental to future social entrepreneurship research.

Exploring Academic Procrastination Among Turkish Students : Possible Gender Differences in Prevalence and Reasons

Abstract: The authors examined the prevalence of and reasons, or excuses, for academic procrastination as a function of gender and academic grade level. In Study 1, a factor analysis of responses by 203 Turkish undergraduate students to an academic procrastination measure provided evidence of reliability and validity for the revised scale. In Study 2,784 students (363 women, 421 men; M age = 20.6 years, SD age = 1.74 years) completed the validated Turkish Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students. The results were that 52% of students self-reported frequent academic procrastination, with male students reporting more frequent procrastination on academic tasks than female students. Significantly more female students than male students reported greater academic procrastination because of fear of failure and laziness; male students reported more academic procrastination as a result of risk taking and rebellion against control than did female students.

American Girl and the Brand Gestalt: Closing the Loop on Sociocultural Branding Research:

Abstract: This article describes an investigation of the American Girl brand that provides a more complete and holistic understanding of sociocultural branding. Recent research on emotional branding, together with prior work on brands' symbolic nature and their role as relationship partners, represents a significant shift in the way marketers think about brands and brand management. However, a full understanding of powerful and emotionally resonant brands has been elusive, in part because sociocultural branding knowledge has accumulated in a piecemeal way and lacks coherence and integrity. In addition, powerful brands are extraordinarily complex and multifaceted, but in general they have been studied from a single perspective in a single setting. On the basis of a qualitative exploration of the American Girl brand that is both deep and broad, the authors posit that an emotionally powerful brand is best understood as the product of a complex system, or gestalt, whose component parts are in continuous interp...

How Relevant Is the MBA? Assessing the Alignment of Required Curricula and Required Managerial Competencies

Abstract: Masters of business administration (MBA) programs are being met with escalating criticism from academics, students, and various organizational stakeholders. Central to these criticisms is the conte...

A survey of executive coaching practices

Abstract: Despite the ubiquity of executive coaching interventions in business organizations, there is little uniformity in the practices (e.g., assessment tools, scientific or philosophical approaches, activities, goals, and outcome evaluation methods) of executive coaches. Addressing the ongoing debate about the role of psychology in executive coaching, we compare the practices of psychologist and nonpsychologist coaches, as well as the practices of coaches from various psychological disciplines (e.g., counseling, clinical, and industrial/organizational). Results of surveys completed by 428 coaches (256 nonpsychologists, 172 psychologists) revealed as many differences between psychologists of differing disciplines as were found between psychologist and nonpsychologist coaches. Moreover, differences between psychologists and nonpsychologists were generally small (average d= .26). Our survey also revealed some differences in the key competencies identified by psychologist and nonpsychologist coaches.

What Moves Parties?: The Role of Public Opinion and Global Economic Conditions in Western Europe

Abstract: Do Western European political parties adjust their ideological positions in response to shifts in public opinion and to changing global economic conditions? Based on a time-series, cross-sectional analysis of parties' ideological dynamics in eight Western European democracies from 1976-1998, the authors conclude that both factors influence parties' ideological positions but that this relationship is mediated by the type of party. Specifically, they find that parties of the center and right react to both public opinion and the global economy, whereas parties of the left display no discernible tendency to respond to public opinion and also appear less responsive to global economic conditions. The findings on leftist parties' distinctiveness support arguments about these parties' long-term policy orientations as well as about their organizational structures. The authors also find little support for neoliberal convergence arguments.

The milieu of managerial work: an integrative framework linking work context to role requirements.

Abstract: Theoretical and empirical efforts focusing on the interplay between work context and managerial role requirements have been conspicuously absent in the scholarly literature. This paucity exists despite over 60 years of research concerning the requirements of managerial work and with the rather universal recognition that work context meaningfully shapes organizational behavior. The authors developed a theoretical model linking different types of role requirements to different forms of work context. They empirically tested this framework with a nationally representative sample of 8,633 incumbents spanning 52 managerial occupations. Findings from hierarchical linear modeling analyses demonstrated that discrete forms of context (task, social, and physical) exert significant and predictable effects on managerial role requirements.

The structure of strontium-doped hydroxyapatite: an experimental and theoretical study

Abstract: First-principles modeling combined with experimental methods were used to study hydroxyapatite in which Sr2+ is substituted for Ca2+. Detailed analyses of cation–oxygen bond distributions, cation–cation distances, and site 1–oxygen polyhedron twist angles were made in order to provide an atomic-scale interpretation of the observed structural modifications. Density functional theory periodic band-structure calculations indicate that the Ca2+ to Sr2+ substitution induces strong local distortion on the hydroxyapatite lattice: the nearest neighbor Sr–O bond structures in both cationic sites are comparable to pure SrHA, while Sr induces more distortion at site 2 than site 1. Infrared vibrational spectroscopy (FTIR) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis suggest increasing lattice disorder and loss of OH with increasing Sr content. Rietveld refinement of synchrotron X-ray diffraction patterns shows a preference for the Ca1 site at Sr concentrations below 1 at.%. The ideal statistical occupancy ratio Sr2/Sr1 = 1.5 is achieved for ∼5 at.%; for higher Sr concentrations occupation of the Ca2 site is progressively preferred.

Network configuration in a box: towards end-to-end verification of network reachability and security

Abstract: Recent studies show that configurations of network access control is one of the most complex and error prone network management tasks. For this reason, network misconfiguration becomes the main source for network unreachablility and vulnerability problems. In this paper, we present a novel approach that models the global end-to-end behavior of access control configurations of the entire network including routers, IPSec, firewalls, and NAT for unicast and multicast packets. Our model represents the network as a state machine where the packet header and location determines the state. The transitions in this model are determined by packet header information, packet location, and policy semantics for the devices being modeled. We encode the semantics of access control policies with Boolean functions using binary decision diagrams (BDDs). We then use computation tree logic (CTL) and symbolic model checking to investigate all future and past states of this packet in the network and verify network reachability and security requirements. Thus, our contributions in this work is the global encoding for network configurations that allows for general reachability and security property-based verification using CTL model checking. We have implemented our approach in a tool called ConfigChecker. While evaluating ConfigChecker, we modeled and verified network configurations with thousands of devices and millions of configuration rules, thus demonstrating the scalability of this approach.

Financial Structure, Acquisition Opportunities, and Firm Locations

Abstract: This paper investigates the relation between firms’ locations and their corporate finance decisions. We develop a model where being located within an industry cluster increases opportunities to make acquisitions, and to facilitate those acquisitions, firms within clusters maintain more financial slack. Consistent with our model we find that firms located within industry clusters make more acquisitions, and have lower debt ratios and larger cash balances than their industry peers located outside clusters. We also document that firms in high tech cities and growing cities also maintain more financial slack. Overall the evidence suggests that growth opportunities influence firms’ financial decisions.

Complexity of some geometric and topological problems

Abstract: We show that recognizing intersection graphs of convex sets has the same complexity as deciding truth in the existential theory of the reals. Comparing this to similar results on the rectilinear crossing number and intersection graphs of line segments, we argue that there is a need to recognize this level of complexity as its own class.

Implementing Supplier Codes of Conduct in Global Supply Chains: Process Explanations from Theoretic and Empirical Perspectives

Abstract: Western buying companies impose Supplier Codes of Conduct (SCC) on their suppliers in developing countries; however, many suppliers cannot fully comply with SCC and some of them even cheat in SCC. In this research, we link contract characteristics – price pressure, production complexity, contract duration – to the likelihood of supplier’s commitment to SCC through a mediating process: how the buying companies govern their suppliers. Our structural equation model analysis shows that the hierarchy/relational norms governance is a perfect mediator of contract characteristics’ effects on the likelihood of supplier’s commitment; the market governance, an insignificant one. The managerial implications are provided for successfully implementing SCC in global supply chains.

How Much Did Banks Pay to Become Too-Big-To-Fail and to Become Systemically Important?

Abstract: This paper estimates the value of the too-big-to-fail (TBTF) subsidy. Using data from the merger boom of 1991-2004, we find that banking organizations were willing to pay an added premium for mergers that would put them over the asset sizes that are commonly viewed as the thresholds for being TBTF. We estimate at least $14 billion in added premiums for the eight merger deals that brought the organizations to over $100 billion in assets. In addition, we find that both the stock and bond markets reacted positively to these deals. Our estimated TBTF subsidy is large enough to create serious concern, since recent assisted mergers have allowed TBTF organizations to become even bigger and for nonbanks to become part of TBTF banking organizations, thus extending the TBTF subsidy beyond banking.

Nanodiamonds in the Younger Dryas Boundary Sediment Layer

Abstract: We report abundant nanodiamonds in sediments dating to 12.9 ± 0.1 thousand calendar years before the present at multiple locations across North America. Selected area electron diffraction patterns reveal two diamond allotropes in this boundary layer but not above or below that interval. Cubic diamonds form under high temperature-pressure regimes, and n-diamonds also require extraordinary conditions, well outside the range of Earth9s typical surficial processes but common to cosmic impacts. N-diamond concentrations range from ≈10 to 3700 parts per billion by weight, comparable to amounts found in known impact layers. These diamonds provide strong evidence for Earth9s collision with a rare swarm of carbonaceous chondrites or comets at the onset of the Younger Dryas cool interval, producing multiple airbursts and possible surface impacts, with severe repercussions for plants, animals, and humans in North America.

Earnings Management? Erroneous Inferences Based on Earnings Frequency Distributions

Abstract: A vast literature following Hayn [1995] and Burgstahler and Dichev [1997] attributed the so-called 'discontinuities' in earnings distributions around zero to earnings management. Despite recent evidence that these discontinuities are likely caused by other factors, researchers and teachers continue to point to the shapes of these distributions as evidence of earnings management. We provide three sets of further evidence that these discontinuities are likely caused by factors other than earnings management: (1) we provide, as an example, a detailed analysis of the severe effects of sample selection in a recent study; this study erroneously concludes that the shape of an earnings distribution is evidence of earnings management, (2) we provide a simple explanation for the shape of the earnings distribution that is most often cited as evidence of earnings management; the relation between earnings and prices differs with the magnitude and the sign of earnings, and (3) we provide further examples that support the main point of our paper; evidence beyond the mere shape of a distribution must be brought to bear before researchers can draw conclusions regarding the presence/absence of earnings management.

Low-status compensation: A theory for understanding the role of status in cultures of honor.

Abstract: The mechanisms that link herding regions to cultures of honor have never been empirically tested. The objective of the present article is to show the important role that issues of status play in linking herding regions to cultures of honor using the theory of low-status compensation (P. J. Henry, 2008b) as a framework. Four studies are presented. Study 1 replicates the finding that counties in the American South conducive to herding have higher murder rates than do counties conducive to farming but shows those differences are mediated by indicators of status disparities in a county. Study 2 replicates the findings of Study 1 with an international sample of 92 countries. Study 3 tests the theoretical idea that people who are low in socioeconomic status face stigma in society and show self-defensive strategies generally. Finally, Study 4 provides experimental evidence that low-status tendencies toward aggressing in the face of insults may be due to strategies to protect their sense of social worth. The results are contextualized within the theory of low-status compensation as a theory for understanding the role status plays in predicting some forms of violence.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth Talk about Experiencing and Coping with School Violence: A Qualitative Study

Abstract: This qualitative study used five focus groups of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth attending public high schools to examine their experiences with school violence. Core themes focused on lack of community and empowerment leading to youth being without a sense of human agency in school. Negative attention themes were indicative of the vulnerability that the youth felt at school. As principal means of coping, the LGBT youth escaped and avoided stressors by distancing themselves from school. From emergent themes of LGBT youth's experiences of school violence, recommendations to make schools safe and supportive learning environments for them are provided. These included the need for policies and rules, peer education, planned educational activities, and in-service training for school personnel about LGBT youth to create inclusive school communities.

B→πlν semileptonic form factor from three-flavor lattice QCD: A model-independent determination of |Vub|

Abstract: We calculate the form factor ${f}_{+}({q}^{2})$ for $B$-meson semileptonic decay in unquenched lattice QCD with $2+1$ flavors of light sea quarks. We use Asqtad-improved staggered light quarks and a Fermilab bottom quark on gauge configurations generated by the MILC Collaboration. We simulate with several light-quark masses and at two lattice spacings, and extrapolate to the physical quark mass and continuum limit using heavy-light meson staggered chiral perturbation theory. We then fit the lattice result for ${f}_{+}({q}^{2})$ simultaneously with that measured by the BABAR experiment using a parameterization of the form-factor shape in ${q}^{2}$, which relies only on analyticity and unitarity in order to determine the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element $|{V}_{\mathrm{ub}}|$. This approach reduces the total uncertainty in $|{V}_{\mathrm{ub}}|$ by combining the lattice and experimental information in an optimal, model-independent manner. We find a value of $|{V}_{\mathrm{ub}}|\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{3}=3.38\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.36$.

Motivators and Inhibitors for University Faculty in Distance and e-learning

Abstract: This article reports on four United States studies of how rewards systems, extrinsic and intrinsic, could play an important role in providing incentives for university faculty to teach (or remain teaching) electronic and distance education courses. The first three studies conducted prior to 2003 reported faculty were inherently motivated to teach e-learning and distance education. The fourth study in 2003 reported key findings that differed from the earlier studies. Using a principal components analysis, the researchers found nine indicators of motivation to participate or not participate in electronic or distance education. The implications from the fourth study indicated that, while faculty members were inherently committed to helping students, faculty members wanted their basic physiological needs met by university administration through extrinsic motivators, such as salary increases and course releases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]