Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / The focus of this study was to examine the controversial issue of racial profiling. This study examined the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of 112 police officers from four separate police departments. The study began with the premise that racial profiling was a widespread issue in law enforcement. It looked to identify attributes, similarities, and differences of contrasting police agencies that would explain why some groups engage in racial profiling and others do not. The research was also undertaken to determine what might mitigate racial profiling practices. This study examined the issue from three different positions. The first step was to determine whether police officers believed that racial profiling was problematic in their respective departments. The cohort overwhelmingly reported that they did not believe racial profiling was a serious problem. The second goal of the study was to determine if a department's organizational culture (attitudes, values, and behaviors) contributed to racial profiling attitudes and practices. This study found, through an examination of organizational commitment, that organizational culture did affect racial profiling practices. Police departments with more committed officers showed lower search disparity rates between minority and majority motorists. Finally, racial profiling attitudes and practices were examined controlling for training. Police departments where a majority of officers received racial profiling training showed lower search rate disparities between majority and minority motorists. They also showed higher levels of commitment to the organization. A statistical analysis found that training and Organizational Commitment were shown to have a statistically significant effect on racial profiling practices. Attitudes, however, appeared to be unaffected. Quantity of training appeared to be the critical factor; quality of training was not examined as a part of this research. Police departments that committed to department-wide training showed lower search rate disparities between minority and majority motorists. Further research is needed to identify the connection between training, organizational culture, and officers' individualized behavior.

The proposed study examines the effect of CEO-board social connections on corporate policies. Motivated by the independent board view and collaborative board view, I propose two opposing hypotheses explaining the effect of CEO-board connections on corporate policies: monitoring hypothesis and advising hypothesis. In my first essay, I validate the two competing hypotheses of CEO-board connections by investigating the effect of CEO-board connections on monitoring and advising role of the board, and firm valuation. I find that CEO-board connections have a negative effect on board monitoring and positive effect on board advising and firm valuation. The results are robust to endogeneity concerns and different model specifications. Disentangling the Channels, I also show that the predicted effect of CEO-board connections on board monitoring and advising have opposite effects on firm valuation. Lastly, I provide evidence that the effect of CEO-board connections on firm performance is stronger in firms with high growth opportunities. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

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This experiment examines the effects of financial reporting bases (GAAP and income tax) and service levels offered by external accountants (audits and reviews) on loan officers. The effects are measured using a loan approval decision and four perceptions: (1) appropriate interest premium, (2) likelihood of default, (3) confidence in the financial report, and (4) usefulness of the financial report. Analysis of variance techniques are used to ascertain the effects of accounting reports on the perceptions of loan officers; legit model development is used to isolate the effects on loan approval decisions. Reviews result in higher interest premiums than audits. Loan officers also associate higher default risks with reviews and tax-basis financial reports. Loan officers are most confident with audited GAAP-basis financial reports and least confident with audited income tax basis financial reports. In addition, loan officers indicate that GAAP-basis financial reports are more useful than income-tax-basis financial reports. Neither reporting basis nor service level affected their loan-approval decisions, however. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses are used to develop surrogates for decision usefulness using Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts (SFAC) Number 2. The most dependable surrogate for decision usefulness developed involves two characteristics that SFAC Number 2 suggests as being nonessential to accounting information: certainty and precision. The reporting basis affected this surrogate and decision usefulness itself in the same manner; in both cases, GAAP-basis financial reports are more useful than tax-basis financial reports. Managers, accountants, and loan officers should be aware that using income-tax-basis financial reports can detrimentally affect loan officer perceptions of default risk, confidence, and decision usefulness. Further, using a review rather than an audit may affect loan officer perceptions of confidence and interest rates. Future research could introduce additional independent variables. These variables include the effects of a statement of changes in financial position, financial ratios, industries, or differential reporting. Research using qualitative characteristics of accounting information could lead to strong measures of decision usefulness that would be beneficial in ascertaining effects on loan-officer perceptions and decisions. / Ph. D.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

Using a sample of firms listed in China's A-share stock market, this study investigates whether the regional institutions and CEO's political connectedness will affect the listed firms' hiring and firing decisions about CEOs, and what are the channels of these effects. I find that, for state-owned enterprises, politically connected CEOs are less likely to be nominated to firms in industries with more specific knowledge, with more competition, cross-listed in Hong Kong stock exchange, and in regions with stronger institutions. However, there is no such pattern for non-SOEs. Second, as a consequence, CEOs' political connectedness of CEOs in SOEs reduces the sensitivity of their turnover to firm performance for SOEs. There is no such political connectedness effect on CEO turnover-performance sensitivity in non-SOEs. Third, the reduction on turnover performance sensitivity is mitigated by stronger institutions. The additional analysis finds evidence partially explaining why the politically connected CEOs are less likely to be dismissed because of their poor performance, that is, SOEs with politically connected CEOs can (1) get more subsidies from the governments when their performance is poor, and (2) tend to hire more employees when the regions in which they locate suffer from severe unemployment problem. / Yuan, Qingbo. / Adviser: T.J. Wong. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: 2123. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-57). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

This study examines the relationship between British and American officials and the fifty-five Wehrmacht general officers who were held as prisoners of war in the United States during World War II. This relationship transformed as the war developed and new national security concerns emerged in the immediate postwar era. As largely evidenced by the records of the United States War Department and the British War Office, the transformation of this relationship illustrates two important points. First, despite some similarities, the respective priorities of British and American authorities regarding their POW general officers differed significantly. British officials consistently interrogated and eavesdropped on all of their senior officer prisoners, primarily seeking operational and tactical intelligence to aid the Allied war effort. By contrast, American officials initially had little regard for the value of Wehrmacht general officer POWs. Second, by the end of the war, admiration for the prowess of German officers and the German military tradition in particular, coupled with anxiety about Soviet intentions and the strength of the Red Army, drove Washington into a collaborative relationship with many of the Wehrmacht general officers in its custody. The evolution of America's national security concerns in the years immediately following the end of World War II impacted its policy governing the treatment of high-ranking prisoners of war.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Thesis (D. Min.)--Reformed Theological Seminary, 2006. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 323-341).