Previously a narrowly researched phenomenon (Fine & Nevo, 2008), interest in underemployment is gaining momentum and current research (Erdogan, Bauer, Peiro, & Truxillo, 2011a; 2011b; Feldman & Maynard, 2011) in the area has provided increased attention. Underemployment is a multi-disciplinary issue where individuals are unable to obtain adequate employment according to several underlying dimensions (Feldman, 1996). Until recently, research has been sparse and the research findings have been conflicting due to the atheoretical application of theory and different operationalizations of underemployment (McKee-Ryan & Harvey, 2011). The purpose of this two-study dissertation is to develop a psychometrically-sound measure of the underemployment construct by evaluating its theoretical underpinnings and applying deductive scale development techniques (Hinkin, 1998), and to test a hypothesized research model that evaluates the antecedents and consequences of underemployment. Three data samples (N = 143; N = 322; N = 213) were utilized to assess the psychometric properties of the new subjective underemployment (UDE) scale. Study 1 results confirmed overall subjective underemployment as a higher-order factor for underlying underemployment dimensions (i.e. Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities, Wages, Job Status, and Job Field). The UDE scale demonstrated adequate composite reliability, content, convergent, and discriminant validity. It related highly and positively to two existing underemployment scales (i.e., Scale of Perceived Overqualification and Bolino - Feldman's Underemployment scale). The UDE scale was related moderately and positively to relative deprivation, weakly and positively to narcissism, perceived entitlement, situational constraint, and psychological contract breach. It also related weakly and negatively to job satisfaction. In Study 2, the research model evaluation (N = 213) supported the criterion-related validity of the new UDE scale. Although an examination of demographic variables as subjective underemployment's antecedents revealed no significant relationships, two job-related factors (i.e., objective underemployment and psychological contract breach) positively predicted subjective underemployment. Subjective underemployment also positively predicted negative affective well-being, and negatively predicted positive affective well-being, justice perceptions (i.e., distributive and procedural), and social support (i.e., supervisor and coworker). The results also offered evidence of potential boundary conditions and moderation effects for voluntary or involuntary employment situation on subjective underemployment. Contributions to research, study strengths and limitations, and directions for future research are provided. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2013. / April 19, 2013. / Job skills mismatch, Labor Underutilization, Overeducation, Overqualification, Skill Underutilization, Underemployment / Includes bibliographical references. / Gerald R. Ferris, Professor Directing Dissertation; Pamela P. Perrewe, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Charles F. Hofacker, University Representative; Jack T. Fiorito, Committee Member; Wayne A. Hochwarter, Committee Member; Chad H. Van Iddekinge, Committee Member.

Today's firms form diverse alliance portfolios that are difficult to manage. While transaction costs theory predicts whether managers will internalize certain alliance activities, we do not know how managers respond when considering an entire portfolio of alliances simultaneously. Although alliance portfolio diversity increases overall transaction costs (Goerzen & Beamish, 2005), new theorizing is necessary to predict how managers economize their alliance portfolio's transaction costs. I suggest that managers respond to increasing alliance portfolio diversity by internalizing their related alliances. Specifically, I develop theory that suggests total asset specific investments made for related alliances are greater than the sum of the firm's partner-specific investments. The reason is that managers also make shared asset specific investments when they form related alliances. According to transaction cost theory, higher asset specificity suggests that managers will internalize tasks previously performed by alliance partners. I predict that when managers integrate their related alliances, they realize increased economic performance. I will describe my plan to test these predictions with panel data from 500 firms from 1998-2007. I found weak support for my prediction that increased alliance portfolio diversity will lead to subsequent increases in firm diversity. I found support for the prediction that alliance portfolio diversity leads to increases in alliance portfolio integration, and for the prediction that managers will decrease their portfolio's representation of their related alliances after integration. I did not find support for the prediction that related alliance integration increases performance. Implications for theory and important future research questions are discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2011. / August 5, 2011. / Alliance portfolios, alliances, Shared asset specificity, transaction cost economics, vertical integration / Includes bibliographical references. / James G. Combs, Professor Directing Dissertation; Larry Giunipero, University Representative; Bruce T. Lamont, Committee Member; Chad Van Iddekinge, Committee Member; R. Michael Holmes, Jr., Committee Member.

In most firms, the Human Resources (HR) department is responsible for the development of effective HR practices that help the organization meet or exceed its business objectives. However, the implementation of those practices ultimately falls to the firm's line managers. This study used planned behavior and social context theories to propose that line manager HR practice implementation level mediates the relationships between line manager capacity, HR competencies, motivation and political skill, and key employee outcomes including subordinate turnover intention, job performance, job satisfaction and procedural justice perceptions. Using data from 109 matched line manager-subordinate response sets, sequential equation modeling (SEM) analysis showed that line manager HR competencies and political skill were significant predictors of HR practice implementation level. In turn, HR implementation level was a significant predictor of employee outcomes. Finally, HR implementation level fully mediated the relationships between line manager HR competencies and political skill and employee outcomes. In addition to these issues, this study also reviews the implications of a proposed HR practice implementation model. Finally, directions for future HR implementation research are discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2012. / March 16, 2012. / HR Implementation, Human Resource Practices, Line Managers, Social Context Theory, Theory of Planned Behavior / Includes bibliographical references. / Gerald R. Ferris, Professor Directing Dissertation; Ronald E. Goldsmith, University Representative; Jack T. Fiorito, Committee Member; Chad H. Van Iddekinge, Committee Member.

Recognizing leadership as a social influence process (Treadway et al., 2012), the purpose of this dissertation was to develop and empirically evaluate a moderated, multi-mediational model linking leader political skill, leader-subordinate relational quality, and multi-target benefitting workplace outcomes. Specifically, it was hypothesized that leader political skill would be related to both the leader and the subordinate in the form of intrapsychic (i.e., within individual) and interpersonal (i.e., between individuals) effects. These effects were hypothesized to influence the development of high-quality leader-subordinate work relationships, which, in turn, were hypothesized to influence a number of leader-, subordinate-, and organization-benefitting outcomes. Utilizing a sample of 717 subordinates and 414 leaders representing 288 unique dyads from public sector organizations, results revealed that leader political skill was positively related to each of the intrapsychic effects, but the intrapsychic effects were not related to work relationship quality. However, post-hoc analyses revealed that the intrapsychic effects of political skill were positively related to leaders' participation in transformational leadership behaviors, which were in turn related to work relationship quality. Moreover, work relationship quality was significantly related to the majority of auspicious workplace outcomes. Unfortunately, the data revealed that subordinates could not empirically distinguish between the interpersonal effects and work relationship quality; therefore, this precluded the examination of these hypothesized relationships. Regardless, this dissertation answers a number of recent calls for continued or renewed leadership research, including those for increased research on leader style (House & Aditya, 1997), political theories of leadership (House & Aditya, 1997), and examinations of leader traits/characteristics influencing the leadership process (DeRue et al., 2011). Directions for future research and implications for science and practice are discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2014. / February 14, 2014. / Leader Effectiveness, Leadership, Political Skill, Work Relationship Quality / Includes bibliographical references. / Gerald R. Ferris, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Pamela L. Perrewé, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Robert A. Brymer, University Representative; Wayne A. Hochwarter, Committee Member; Bruce T. Lamont, Committee Member; Chad H. Van Iddekinge, Committee Member.

abstract: The objective of this thesis is to explore the applicability and impact of specific tools within the public school facilities management sector. Tools assessed include a work order system, block scheduling, and a priority matrix. These tools assist with the management of staff assignments and workload, focused scheduling methods, and decision enhancement for task-level employees. The author found that application of these systems increase productivity within public sector schools. The use of these tools also increases customer satisfaction and reduces costs. The author also explores the challenges associated with these tools. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Construction Management 2020

This dissertation investigates the effect of environmental emergency spill severity on firm financial performance and the effect of firm communication prior to the environmental emergency on the spill severity firm financial performance relationship. Event study methodology was applied to measure firm financial performance in cumulative abnormal returns after the spill. A qualitative analysis of firm environmental performance communication in the Managerial Discussion and Analysis section of their 10-k Annual Report prior to the spill was conducted, followed by regression analysis of the spill severity firm performance link, as well as the effect of firm environmental performance communication prior to the spill on firm financial performance. Results provide empirical evidence that environmental emergencies hurt firm financial performance for the sampled group as a whole. The severity of the spill, as measured in the size of the spill adjusted for by firm size, has a main effect on firm financial performance such that the more severe the spill the more negative the cumulative abnormal return to the firm. Firm communication about environmental performance prior to the accident has no main effect on firm financial performance after the spill, but moderates the relationship between spill severity and firm financial performance such that the type of communication prior to the accident can either hurt the company by increasing the negative returns, or help shield the company from negative returns, depending on the type of communication and the severity of the spill. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2010. / October 22, 2010. / Firm Environmental Communication, Environmental Spill Severity, Firm Financial Performance / Includes bibliographical references. / Jack T. Fiorito, Professor Directing Dissertation; Andrew Opel, University Representative; James G. Combs, Committee Member; Gerald R. Ferris, Committee Member; Pamela L. Perrewe, Committee Member.

This dissertation studies organizational effectiveness in research and development of facilities. The basic research question of this dissertation is whether it is possible to measure organizational effectiveness in R & D units. Its main intent was to develop a descriptive model of organizational effectiveness for R & D settings. The proposed outcomes of the dissertation were achieved: (1) discovery of the major factors of organizational effectiveness in R & D settings; (2) development of instrumentation for defining and measuring organizational effectiveness in these settings; and (3) development of descriptive models that may be useful to managers in R & D settings in evaluating the effectiveness of their organizations. The research consisted of six steps replicating in another environment the methodology utilized by Cameron (1978b) to study organizational effectiveness in institutions of higher education. A mail survey of 400 R & D managers was conducted. One hundred twenty-four questionnaires were returned and compiled, representing a 31% return rate. The results show that the most popular measures of performance in R & D settings are the quality of output, the degree of goal attainment and the amount of work done on time. Eleven groupings of variables or dimensions were found to constitute organizational effectiveness in R & D facilities. They were: Organizational Synergy, Unit Health, Information Flows Within the Unit, Employee Career Development, Unit Adaptability, Employee Professional Development, Unit Creativity, Cooperation Within the Unit, Employee Motivation, Degree of Unit's Work Efficiency, and Achievement Recognition Within the Unit. Statistical procedures largely confirmed the internal reliability as well as the discriminant validity of these dimensions. Further, an indication of construct validity of the eleven dimensions was achieved.

Using Mintzberg's notions of intended, realized, and emergent strategy, the notion of strategic implementation is examined and reconceptualized around interpretive ideas. The idea of frame of reference is central. A software development organization is researched in an effort to answer key questions raised by this reconceptualization. These questions revolve around whether a professional organization like this one can get from strategic intent to strategic realization deliberately, or if there is a substantial emergent element to the outcome. Key issues are the agreement on intended strategy at the outset, the adequacy of communications, the nature of the frame of reference, the enactment of a realized strategy by the organization, and the relevance of political models of strategy formulation for strategy implementation. Methods include participant observation, sociometry, semantic differential with discriminant analysis, cognitive mapping, and ethnography. The results showed that there was no organizational agreement about strategic intent. The organization was also not cohesive in terms of administrative communication, technical communication, and social interaction. The cognitive map revealed a web of interrelated variables which indicated that the members believed that the likeliest outcomes of the project would be dissatisfaction, turnover, non-advancement of their careers, and commercial and technical failure. Among the major causal variables in the map were: the intensity of organizational politics, the lack of incentives built into the effort, the aforementioned lack of effective communications, and the lack of agreement on strategic intent. The study concludes with the building of an integrated model of this implementation effort. This complex model has four tracks: an "institution building" track which concerns the enactments of the members of the development organization; a technical track, concerned with task elements; a marketing track, concerned with the formulative and political activities of that function; and an organizational political track, concerned with the formulative and political activities of the organizational context within which the development project was embedded. Variables from all four tracks must be taken into account for implementation to be fully understood.

The major purpose of this study was to examine same and cross-gender conflict to determine whether the gender of the other party is related to the choice of conflict-handling behavior in a given situation. Within the context of multiple-choice responses to given conflict situations in a constructed instrument, this study examined the interaction of three variables: (1) the gender of the individual responding to the conflict situation; (2) the choice of conflict-handling behavior by that individual in a given situation; and (3) the gender of the other party as described in the conflict situation. The added dimension of the appropriateness (according to contingency conflict management theory) of the conflict-handling behavior chosen in response to the situation given, was also examined. Significant differences were found regarding choice of conflict-handling style in relation to the gender of the other party. The sex of the respondent was not found to relate to either of these variables. Specifically, subjects chose accommodating more often with females, and avoiding and compromising more often with males. Competing and collaborating were chosen with equal frequency, regardless of the gender of the other party. So-called "appropriate" choice of competing and accommodating was found more often with female others, while avoiding and compromising were chosen "appropriately" more often with male others. Women chose collaborating "appropriately" more often with other women. Men did not differ based on the other party's gender in this regard. Other interesting results emerged from this study. Overall, women subjects chose the "appropriate" style, given the situation, more often than did men subjects. Also, "appropriate" choices were made more frequently in response to situations in which a male was described as the other party. This may reflect a male bias in the theory or perhaps gender bias in the workplace. Additional research is needed, both to further the development of the instrument constructed for use in this study, to identify whether a bias exists in available theory, and to identify intrapersonal processes that would provide greater understanding of these findings.

The objective of this study is to investigate relationships among various dimensions of corporate reputation and strategic performance. Strategic performance may be considered to be the relationship of the whole organization to its environment. The literature on strategic management has recently focused on the use of finance theory and measures of risk in addition to traditional accounting measures of performance. The disciplines of management, economics, psychology, and sociology all suggest relationships between reputation and performance. This study examines possible relationships between corporate reputation and strategic performance. The reputation data is from Fortune's annual survey of corporate reputations from 1982 to 1984. The sample consists of the 98 firms that were surveyed in all three years. Performance and risk data for the same firms are from the Compustat data base for the years 1977 to 1984. The sample was divided into two equal groups of 49 firms each, so that results for one group could be checked by comparison to results for the other. The two groups were matched for equal representation of industries and for overall reputation. The results show that reputation is related to certain measures of strategic performance, especially return on assets. Other accounting and market measures of performance and risk generally are not related to one another or to reputation. In general, reputation is not related to total stock return, but change in perceived quality of management is strongly related to total stock return. Change in quality of management is also related to prior quality of management. The conclusion is that reputation is a major aspect of performance. The Fortune survey data may be regarded as a valuable predictor of future return on assets. The relationship of change in perceived quality of management to total stock return merits further study.