This thesis comprises three essays in corporate finance, with a focus on corporate risk management and debt diversity. The first chapter examines the impact of derivatives use on the cost of equity for German non-financial firms. Using hand-collected data on derivatives use for a sample of German non-financial firms, I find that user firms have a 306 basis point lower cost of equity than non-users. This reduction in the cost of equity of users is attributable to their lower market, size, and value risk factor exposures. The observed negative relation between derivatives use and the cost of equity remains robust to specifications that account for potential endogeneity arising from a firm's derivatives hedging and capital structure decisions. I find that the reduction in the cost of equity is largest for smaller firms and for firms making use of foreign currency and interest rate derivatives. Moreover, new derivatives users experience a significant reduction in the cost of equity capital in the first year of adoption. In the second chapter, I empirically examine the impact of derivatives use on firms' distress risk using hand-collected data from the annual reports of German non-financial firms. The time period of this empirical analysis spans from 1999 to 2010. I find that derivatives using firms have lower distress risk. I use Heckman's two-stage treatment effect model to account for the unobservable factors that could affect the decision of the firm to use derivatives. Even after accounting for the unobservable factor bias, the results confirm that hedging reduces financial distress risk significantly. Moreover, I find that firms using foreign currency and interest rate derivatives can benefit via the reduction in financial distress risk. Using a comprehensive data for 46 countries firm's choice of the debt instrument, I find that firms use debt from many sources. Firms those sources debt from only one source or more specifically from the Bank, significantly lower their investment during the financial crisis. However, the firms those source debt from public market shows insignificant negative impact during the financial crisis. Later, I find that during the financial crisis time firms with higher financial distress exhibit negative impact on the bank debt. Whereas, firms with higher financial distress during the financial crisis shows a positive association with public debt. Findings of this study suggest that during the crisis period firms with access to the bond market issue bonds to substitute bank debt. However, this substitution is not one-for-one, so the firms experience deleveraging and consequently underinvestment.

This doctoral thesis aims to explore the innovation adoption process in project-based organizations. In particular, I developed a theoretical framework that explains how intra- and inter- project learning influenced by different management practices. I further generated various hypotheses based on the conceptual framework by conducting qualitative interviews. Empirically, I used survey data to test those hypotheses. I collected data from 147-construction industry, most of the companies were contractors and real estate companies. The results strongly support our hypotheses and suggest that different management practices facilitate different types, i.e. tacit and explicit, knowledge transfer among projects and it further influences speed of innovation adoption and speed of innovation routinization. This dissertation contributes to management theory and practice by establishing a comprehensive framework which explains how different types of knowledge flows among different types of projects, i.e. innovative and routine projects, finally influence innovation adoption behavior of project-based organizations. Overall, this research has important implications for how project-based organizations can enhance innovation adoption and routinization to realize the economies of repetition.

This thesis contains three studies on the topic of labour market search. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the studies. Chapter 2 reports an experimental study which examines how social comparisons affect behavior in a sequential search task. In a control treatment subjects search in isolation, while in two other treatments subjects get feedback on the search decisions and outcomes of a partner subject. The average level and rate of decline of reservation wages are similar across treatments. Nevertheless, subjects who are able to make social comparisons search differently from those who search in isolation. Within a search task we observe a reference wage effect: when a partner exits, the subject chooses a new reservation wage which is increasing in partner income. We also observe a social learning effect: between search tasks, subjects who have been paired with a more patient and successful partner increase their reservation wages in the next task. Chapter 3 reports a study in which we provide the first microeconometric estimates of the hazards to matching on both sides of a labour market, decomposed into two constituent parts. Namely, (i) the rate at which job-seekers and vacancies contact each other (i.e. having interviews), and (ii) the probability that a contact results in a match. To do this, we use unique data which contains information on job-seekers, vacancies, interviews and interview outcomes. We use a specification which addresses the problems of the temporal aggregation bias and spatial spillovers highlighted by the two-sided estimates. Our estimates suggest that market tightness affects the matching rates mainly through affecting the meeting rates. In both the raw data and the estimates, we find the decline in the matching hazard is driven by the decline in the contact hazard, and not by a fall in the matching probability. And we also report the effects of various characteristics on matching decomposed into the effects on meeting and matching probability. Using the same data as Chapter 3, Chapter 4 provides further evidence on the mechanism by which job-seekers and vacancies decide whom to contact during their search. Since the data features an environment where both sides of the market have access to a database (or marketplace) of potential partners, a natural model of search is one of stock-flow matching, and we show that the predictions of this model outperform those of a simple random matching model. Our descriptive and econometric evidence shows that it is the inflow rate of new agents, rather than the total stock of agents, which determines the contact rates of existing agents, consistent with the predictions of the stock-flow model. Chapter 5 summarizes the findings of this dissertation and concludes.

The recent burgeoning of academic and practitioner interest in nonprofit-business partnership and other forms of cross-sector social partnership (CSSP) reflects their perceived importance as mechanisms for creating value, by addressing intractable social, economic and environmental problems (Austin & Seitanidi, 2012a; Le Ber & Branzei, 2010a; Porter & Kramer, 2011; Selsky & Parker, 2005). The literature identifies an emerging trend over the past few decades towards strategic nonprofit-business dyadic partnerships, whose stated aim is, at least in part, the creation of social value, alongside organizational value for the participating organizations (Seitanidi & Crane, 2009; Vock, Van Dolen & Kolk, 2013; Waddock, 1988). This research reconceptualizes value as a socially constructed, discursively constituted concept. It tracks the evolution of a time-limited dyadic nonprofit-business partnership between a credit card company and a young people’s charity in the United Kingdom, in real time. The empirical work commenced at the very outset of the PhD, progressing in tandem with the exploration of relevant literatures. The initial research question was intentionally broad, with sub-questions emerging inductively from the data analysis. The overarching research question is: “How do partners involved in nonprofit-business partnership construct value through their discourse?”. This positions the thesis to investigate how partnership talk functions, which is identified as an under-researched aspect of nonprofit-business partnership and other forms of CSSP. The particular perspective on discourse theory adopted for this thesis draws on the work of discursive psychologists, such as Potter and Wetherall (1987), but is also sensitized by post-structuralist ideas. It therefore recognizes the multiplicity of possible interpretations and questions conceptions of value which treat it as an objective concept, existing outside of discourse. It combines ethnographic techniques with discourse analysis, taking full advantage of the high level of pre-negotiated access to this case. This enables the detailed analysis of partnership talk to be integrated with an ethnographic sensitivity to context. This research opens up the ‘black box’ of partnership talk to reveal the micro-level discursive practices through which the partners deploy their communicative skills to construct the value of the partnership. In this thesis, partnership talk is found to be characteristically both collaborative (as opposed to competitive) and asymmetrical (in terms of its structure). However, where the partners engage in joint planning activity and the funding relationship is not salient, the talk becomes more symmetrical, with both partners contributing to the dialogue on a more equal basis, thus more conducive to the co-creation of value. The findings capture discursive practices involved in aligning for value, building value and affirming value in collaborative partnership talk. Where the partnership talk becomes misaligned, for example, where tensions or sensitivities arise, the partners employ various discursive practices to defend and repair the value of the partnership and to avoid overt conflict. A key contribution of this research is a multi-level Value Construction Model, which is grounded in the close analysis of partnership talk. This is not a positivistic or prescriptive model, but rather a descriptive and explanatory model, based on patterns discovered inductively in partnership talk data and recognising the diversity of cases and research settings and the complexity of multi-party partnership talk.

This thesis is made of three self-contained essays on the agricultural sector of Tanzania, each of them focusing on an aspect of direct policy relevance. In the first essay, I study whether an inverse relationship exists between cultivated area and physical productivity (yield per acre) for a set of important annual crops. I define size as the area of a plot on which a crop is grown, thus introducing a more disaggregated level of analysis than the common plot or crop levels of analysis. I control for the existing hypotheses in the literature potentially explaining this inverse relationship and propose to control for two new hypotheses which are only testable at this level of analysis. In the second essay, I look at output marketing for a set of important crops. I stress the links between the market failure theoretical narrative and empirical applications, and argue this has resulted in less attention being paid to the reasons why farmers may enter -or not- the market for a particular crop. I estimate participation and supply equations for a set of important crops and show that the rationale for entry differs across crops. This calls for a more flexible conception of `the market'. The first two essays use the Tanzanian National Panel Surveys to conduct econometric analysis. The third essay is based on primary data collected in 2016 in order to carry analysis of the Bambara nut, an underutilised crop. Because underutilised crops hardly feature in national datasets, primary data is needed to understand their socio-economic dynamics. Focusing on the Mtwara region of Tanzania, I study the importance of Bambara for local livelihoods using a mixed-methods study based on both quantitative and qualitative data. This study contributes to the growing interest on underutilised crops and their importance in designing more sustainable agricultural strategies.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the impact of brand experience and brand image on consumers’ perceptions of trust in the context of the UK financial services sector. Since the financial crisis in 2008, trust has been an issue for financial services brands with scandals surfacing continually such as the “Libor Scandal” in 2012 (BBC News, 2013); the manipulation of foreign exchange markets by proprietary traders in large banking institutions (Financial Times, 2014); a number of banks being fined a total of £2.7 bn (BBC News, 2013) and so on. In these kinds of scenarios of declining trust, it is of paramount importance that financial services brands not only focus on their brand identity but also consistently deliver a favourable brand experience and build a strong brand image to contribute in the restoration of trust in financial services. Therefore, this study makes a timely contribution by providing a nuanced understanding of how and to what extent brand experience and brand image impact consumers’ perception of trust in the context of financial services from an interdisciplinary perspective. The theoretical model incorporating brand experience, brand image and a number of important interdisciplinary trust constructs has been developed from the interdisciplinary literature on trust and brand (Mayer et al., 1995; Aaker, 1997; McKnight et al., 1998; McKnight and Chervany, 2001-2002; McKnight et al., 2002; Mayer et al., 2007; Ennew and Sekhon, 2007; Ennew et al., 2011; Brakus et al., 2009) through inductive top-down theorising (Shepherd and Sutcliffe, 2011). The model explains the relationship between a number of brand and trust constructs. It proposes that in the context of financial services sector, where the perceived risk is high, trusting belief positively impacts trusting intention (H1); the structural assurance dimension of institutional trust has a positive effect on trusting belief (H2) and on trusting intention (H3); the situational normality dimension of institutional trust has a positive effect on trusting belief (H4) and on trusting intention (H5); the faith in humanity dimension of dispositional trust has a positive effect on trusting belief (H6) and on structural assurance dimension of institutional trust (H7) – whereas the trusting stance dimension of dispositional trust has a positive impact on trusting intention (H8) and on structural assurance dimension of institutional trust (H9). The theoretical model also proposes that a positive brand experience has a positive impact on trusting belief (H10) and likewise a positive brand image has a positive impact on trusting belief (H11). As part of theory testing following an objectivism ontological and positivism epistemological position, a survey-based quantitative approach was employed to test the hypotheses. Under the auspices of a large MNC with offices in the major cities of UK and in many countries of the world, a sample was drawn from its UK based employees, which was reasonably representative of the UK population. As the respondents were asked to answer questions about their main bank, any male or female who lives in the UK and has a UK bank account would qualify as being suitable subjects for this research. A total of 420 paper based questionnaires were distributed to this sample through customer services operatives and managers. Of them 301 questionnaires returned, 300 were usable and one was incomplete, thus resulting in a response rate of 71.46%. The measurement scale for trusting belief was adopted from Ennew and Sekhon (2007) and Ennew et al. (2011) trust index; the measurement scales for brand experience and brand image were adapted from Brakus et al. (2009) brand experience scale and from Aaker (1997) brand personality scale respectively – both of them were further validated in the context of financial services sector. The measurement scales for trusting intention, institutional trust and dispositional trust were developed from interdisciplinary trust literature (Mayer et al., 1995; McKnight et al., 1998; McKnight and Chervany, 2001-2002; Ennew and Sekhon, 2007; Ennew et al., 2011) and further validated. To test the factor structure and to identify poorly-performing items and scale reliability, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted followed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) for checking uni-dimensionality and validity (Garbing and Hamilton, 1996; Cadogan et al., 2009) of the measurement scales using Lisrel 8.80. Finally, hypotheses were tested through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The findings validate the interdisciplinary brand-trust theories: out of eleven hypotheses tested, nine hypotheses were accepted and two hypotheses were partially accepted. The study sheds light on the role of institutional trust and dispositional trust on financial services consumers’ overall perception of trust through influencing their trusting belief and trusting intention; and underscores the importance of having a sound and strong financial structure to engender trust. Furthermore, it reveals that although consumers have noticed the efforts of financial services institutions and regulators in putting an overarching structure for financial systems in place, they are not fully convinced that the current situation is typical and normal. The study found strong links between consumers’ perception of a positive brand image and on their perception of trusting belief. In unveiling the relationship between brand experience and trusting belief, the study found that the affective dimension of brand experience has a significant influence in influencing consumers trusting belief, whereas the intellectual dimension of brand experience is not viewed favourably by the financial services consumers. This research contributes to convergent theories of trust and mutually inclusive theories of trust and brand through adopting an interdisciplinary approach. In particular, it contributes to theory application by operationalising an interdisciplinary brand-trust conceptual model. The findings bring valuable insights that contribute towards the integrated brand-trust literature and validate the interdisciplinary theory of trust that centres around the seminal work of Mayer et al. (1995), McKnight et al. (1998), McKnight and Chervany (2001-2002) and Tan and Sutherland (2004). The research shows the impact of brand experience, brand image, institutional trust, and dispositional trust on consumers’ overall perceptions of trust in the context of the financial services sector. In addition, the study makes a methodological contribution through developing measurement scales for trusting intention, institutional trust and dispositional trust, which are particularly suitable for the financial services sector; and also by validating brand experience and brand image scales for financial services. Due to the divergent interdisciplinary perspectives of trust, the literature on trust still remains divided especially in its conceptualisation of the constructs. Hence this study makes an attempt to bring harmony to an on-going debate around trust. It also incites a debate whether trust in the context of the financial services sector should be conceptualised and operationalised from a single disciplinary perspective or through employing an interdisciplinary approach; and whether the issues of trust and branding should be treated as integrated phenomena or not. The study is of relevance to managers and policy makers, for it will inform them of the importance of institutional trust, dispositional trust, brand image and brand experience on consumers’ overall perceptions of trust; and provide them with more sophisticated measures for brand experience and brand image for financial services, which in turn will create an opportunity for them to develop more effective branding strategy. The measures of trusting intention, institutional trust and dispositional trust that have been developed especially for the financial services sector as part of this study also offer significant implications for practice. In the light of this study, policy makers, commercial organisations and other interested stakeholders in the financial services sector can measure and track trust in a more comprehensive manner than previously. They will be able to monitor changes in perceptions of trust more accurately and in a more regular fashion, understanding the level of changes on each kind of trust and the reasons for these changes in the overall perceptions of trust. This will also help firms to develop a more effective strategy to restore or enhance consumers’ perceptions of trust as it provides policy makers and firms with guidance regarding where a particular focus on types of trust should be given.

Given the growing interest in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD), especially in developing countries, this thesis adopts neo-institutional theory to investigate the extent and types of CSRD practices and factors influencing its adoption in oil and gas companies operating in Libya. Two methods of data collection were used: namely, semi-structured interviews and annual reports. The semi-structured interviews were conducted first with 14 oil and gas firms’ managers working in Libya, to identify the factors influencing CSRD adoption, and second with 6 external actors to confirm or reject such claims. The second method involved a collection of 106 annual reports for the period 2009-2013, to first identify the extent and types of CSRD practices, and second to proceed with a regression test to assess the relationship between CSRD determinants and the extent of CSRD practices. The findings from the qualitative analysis show that managers perceive a diversity of coercive, mimetic and normative pressures interplay to influence CSRD in the Libyan context. Particularly, the adoption of CSRD is influenced by the state through its governance body - the National Oil Corporation (NOC), foreign business partners, other foreign-owned companies’ behaviour, the need to uphold firms’ reputation, and pressures to meet societal expectations. Other determinants identified include government ownership, parent company factors, board size, board meeting, firm size, age, presence of CSR committee, and profitability. Furthermore, the absence of clear legal requirements, a shortage of knowledge and awareness, the absence of civil society organisations, the absence of the Environmental General Authority’s (EGA) role, and a lack of motivation from the government were found to act as major impediments to CSRD development. The findings obtained from the quantitative analysis show that the level of CSRD is low when compared with Western countries, but in relative terms, the most disclosed types of CSR information were related to the human resources and environment. Moreover, the findings obtained from the CSRD regression model suggest that CSRD practice is positively associated with government ownership, joint venture ownership, foreign ownership, frequency of board meetings, parent company factor, and firm size. However, CSRD has no statistically significant relationship with board size, CSR committee, and age of the company, while profitability is negatively associated with CSRD practices. These results contribute towards the literature adding to the knowledge of CSRD practices’ “implementation”, by empirically providing evidence for the context of CSRD in Libya. This is achieved by explaining how specific external and internal determinants contribute to or impede the development of CSRD practices. These findings, therefore, could be useful to corporate regulators and policy makers in developing a more focussed agenda of CSRD activity, when considering regulations for disclosure.

Former Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude once made the ambitious claim that one million public sector workers would own and run the services they provide by 2015. It never happened, but there are still approximately 110 Public Service Mutuals (PSMs) in England. Yet whilst mutuality permeates the discourse of this policy, mutualism in PSMs, as both ethos and practice, is under-theorised and under-researched. This thesis addresses these gaps using a critical realist approach. Drawing on a review of literature on mutuality and co-operation, mutualism in PSMs is conceptualised as interrelated cultural and structural emergent properties, comprising mutual ideas, relations and practices. These are applied in an empirical research project to explore the mutual in PSMs. A large N survey of healthcare providers was followed by in-depth comparative case studies of an NHS Foundation Trust and two PSMs. Using a critical realist framework, mutual structures and generative mechanisms, together with agent (employee) interaction with them, were investigated. The findings revealed that organisational mutual practices of ownership, shared benefit, voice and transparency can cause the emergence of the mutual relations of trust, co-operation and reciprocity when allied to a common purpose. In turn, the causal powers of these mutual relations strengthen organisational mutual practices. However, this does not occur quickly or automatically and the corporate agency of managers and staff, coalescing around joint projects, is necessary for the mutual in Public Service Mutuals to emerge and thrive.

No description available.

Stream quality along the Natchez Trace Parkway was evaluated by hydrologic unit code 4 (HUC4) watersheds and habitat assessment scores as a broad and local scale, respectively. Water chemistry parameters and rapid bioassessment techniques for habitat and fish and invertebrate communities were sampled in 18 streams and six HUC4 watersheds. Forest, agriculture, and developed land use had little variation at HUC4 level; land use impacts could not be determined. Turbidity and TSS were important factors determining habitat scores and created a “boundary” separating southern and northern watersheds. A latitudinal trophic shift was observed of fish omnivoreinsectivore- piscivore in southern watersheds to generalist-insectivore-herbivore species in northern watersheds. Fish families were correlated significantly to the water chemistry matrix. Fish species were correlated significantly with the habitat matrix using Canonical Correspondence Analysis. Management implications differ considering the function of these two scales. Only turbidity and percentage cobble substrate were significant at both scales.