Scholars have given considerable attention to how activists influence social change in organizations. These studies have primarily examined how external pressures (e.g., protests, boycotts) affect the likelihood of firm concessions to social activists. However, extant research has not given due attention to internal organizational factors that motivate responses to activists’ demands. Additionally, the literature does not adequately address the issue that many organizations do not respond to social activist threats, and that when they do, concessions may be purely superficial. In this dissertation, I argue that it is the organization’s interpretation of the social movement threat that influences its responses to activists. Particularly, I contend that organizational responses to activists are dependent on (1) the extent to which the changes demanded by activists are consistent with the values and beliefs of the organization and (2) the external pressures affecting an organization’s interpretation of the salience of the social movement threat. I investigate these predictions in a unique empirical context, looking at the spillover of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) social movement from the field of criminal justice agencies into the organizational field of colleges and universities. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2018. / February 20, 2018. / Activism, Institutional theory / Includes bibliographical references. / Bruce T. Lamont, Professor Directing Dissertation; Deana A. Rohlinger, University Representative; R. Michael Holmes, Jr., Committee Member; Gerald R. Ferris, Committee Member; David Maslach, Committee Member.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-80). / by Michael P. Chaudoin. / Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1991.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-154). / by Joowan Kim. / Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1991.

Reputation greatly affects the daily work-related interactions and career progression of all individuals. Depending on quality of an individual’s reputation, it has the ability to either generate or inhibit opportunities for success. Despite the importance of understanding how reputation develops and functions, academic investigation into individual reputation is limited. In particular, the role of stakeholder perceptions and how certain characteristics of stakeholders might affect these perceptions have received no attention. Also, the high quality reputation research that does exist often uses a measure that neglects to capture a frequently discussed key dimension of reputation — prominence. The purpose of this two study dissertation is to address these two needs (i.e., the role of stakeholders and the measurement of reputation). Study 1 developed a psychometrically sound measure of reputation. The measure captures all three dimensions of reputation (i.e., performance, prominence, and character), and demonstrates convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity. Study 2 utilized the newly developed measure to investigate the role of stakeholder perceptions in the development of focal individual reputation by testing a moderated mediation model of reputation’s antecedents. Data were obtained from multiple sources in a large insurance sales based organization. Results provide mixed support for the effects of stakeholder characteristics, but indicate that stakeholders do in fact perceive focal individual reputation differently. Furthermore, the roles of political skill and objective performance both were found to play significant roles in the prediction of reputation, using the new reputation measure developed in Study 1. The implications of the results are discussed, and directions for future research are proposed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2016. / June 2, 2016. / Political Skill, Reputation / Includes bibliographical references. / Gerald R. Ferris, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Jack Fiorito, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Irene Padavic, University Representative; Chad H. Van Iddekinge, Committee Member.

The purpose of this dissertation was to extend the research surrounding the impact of leaders' political skill on the valuable outcomes experienced by their followers at work through the high-quality relationships developed between politically skilled leaders and their followers. Further, this research was intended to establish possible characteristics or behaviors exhibited by politically skilled leaders, and perceived by their subordinates, through which leaders influence the quality of relationships with their followers. This was accomplished through examining a model of relationships at work in which leaders' political skill positively influences the quality of the relationships that leaders have with their followers through the mediating mechanisms of displayed leader humility, displayed leader empathy, and the leader's personal perceptions of control over the relationship with the follower. Leader follower relationship quality, in turn, positively influences followers' perceptions of organizational justice, their own well-being, their engagement in organizational-citizenship behaviors, and the congruence between leaders' ratings of their followers' performance and the followers' self-rated performance. Using a sample of 145 leader-follower dyads, it was found that leader political skill does impact leader-follower relationship quality through the mediating mechanisms of leader humility, leader empathy, and perception of control, and leader-follower relationship quality was significantly related to followers' perceptions of justice, well-being, and organizational citizenship behaviors. The hypothesis that relationship quality would positively influence performance rating congruence was not supported. This dissertation continues to expand the knowledge and understanding of how leaders, particularly those with political skill, are able to impact their relationships with their followers and the value that those relationships can produce. Strengths, limitations, and implications for both theory 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 2017. / March 24, 2017. / Leadership, Political Skill, Work Relationships / Includes bibliographical references. / Gerald R. Ferris, Professor Directing Dissertation; Susan S. Fiorito, University Representative; Chad H. Van Iddekinge, Committee Member; Gang Wang, Committee Member; James K. Summers, Committee Member.

Self-regulation involves individuals altering their behavior in order to achieve desired goals, act in accordance with certain ideals or beliefs, and generally to follow the rules governing appropriate behavior in society (Bauer & Baumeister, 2011; Baumeister, Vohs, & Tice, 2007). It is a well-established and widely-researched construct with applications cutting across a multitude of disciplines (e.g., psychology, education, management). However, empirical efforts to determine how self-regulation affects employees, and how it interacts with workplace phenomena, is still in a nascent state. In my dissertation, I examine the role of self-regulation within the workplace in an effort to evaluate how self-regulation affects employee well-being and several other important work outcomes. In the first essay, I demonstrated how both trait and state self-regulation moderated the perceptions of abusive supervision – employee well-being (i.e., job tension) and work outcomes (i.e., supervisor directed deviance) relationships. In the second essay, I tested an empirical model demonstrating that contextual factors (i.e., positive or negative) affect employees' state self-regulation, and subsequently, how the availability of employees' state self-regulatory resources mediate the perceptions of the abusive supervision – bullying relationship. In the third essay, I demonstrate that employees engaging in basic work tasks are subject to regulatory depletion (i.e., ego depletion) that ultimately results in negative work (e.g., increased deviance), family (e.g., work-family conflict), and personal (e.g., reduced well-being) outcomes. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2017. / February 2, 2017. / abusive supervision, self-regulation, well-being / Includes bibliographical references. / Pamela L. Perrewé, Professor Directing Dissertation; Bruce T. Lamont, University Representative; Gerald R. Ferris, Committee Member; Chad H. Van Iddekinge, Committee Member.

Thesis: S.M in Management Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, September, 2020 / Hagay Volvovsky is the sole author of thesis. Ray Reagans and Ron Burt are professors and not authors. Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 17-21). / Learning is an often given explanation for why social networks improve performance. For example, a closed network allows individuals to identify and share best practices and to coordinate joint problem solving and each is conducive for learning. Despite the widespread belief that networks affect learning, there is little direct evidence linking social networks to learning. And opposing network features are often emphasized. While some scholars have emphasized the importance of closed networks, others have highlighted networks that span structural holes, a network form that encourages divergent thinking and creative problem solving. Without direct evidence, we do not know if social networks affect learning, and if they do which network forms are most conducive for learning. We analyzed learning rates across 45 teams that varied in terms of how team members were allowed to communicate with each other. All teams exhibited evidence for learning but teams in open networks learned faster than teams in closed networks. The best teams, however, combined elements of open and closed network structures. We discuss the implications of our results for research on networks, knowledge transfer, and learning. / by Ray Reagans, Hagay Volvovsky, Ron Burt. / S.M in Management Research / S.MinManagementResearch Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-107). / by Silvia Liberata Ullo. / Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 1992.

This is an outcomes evaluation of the Home-School Partnership (HSP) programme, implemented by Wordworks, an organisation based in the Western Cape Province. The programme aims to improve language and literacy for the children between four and eight years of age. To achieve this, the programme seeks to integrate parents in the process of child learning at home. The programme sensitise parents and make them realise their important role in child development. South Africa’s averages of numeracy and literacy test scores range from 30% to 35% as presented in Annual National Assessments (2011) for Grade one to six. The low language and literacy performance in South Africa is one problem that calls for action from different stakeholders. The implementing organisation train teachers to become facilitators. The facilitators will then cascade the training to parents with children aged four to eight years. This evaluation focused on addressing three evaluation questions: 1. How do teachers (facilitators) perceive the programme to have impacted on students’ literacy learning and achievement in and out of school, in terms of participation, confidence and self-esteem? 2. To what extent has the Home-School Partnership programme managed to change parents’ attitude towards child learning and improved their involvement in child learning at home? 3. What early indications are there to suggest that the Home-School Partnership programme will be sustainable after Wordworks has fully withdrawn its support? In this evaluation, a descriptive design was used. The design employed a quantitative approach to address question one as secondary data from 90 feedback reports by teachers were analysed using Microsoft excel. The data to answer the second evaluation question was gathered through interviews with six teachers and six school management members. Data from three focus group discussions with parents was used to address evaluation question three. In analysing the data, thematic analysis was used which involved the processes of open coding in generation of themes. The results of the study revealed a positive improvement of learners’ performance on various indicators that are related to child language and literacy development. Ninety percent of the 90 sampled learners showed a positive change in at least one of the several academic assessment areas. That is, 46% of learners showed some notable improvements in writing, 32% in drawing, 31% in reading and about 30% showed some improvement in vocabulary. However, these results should be interpreted with some degree of caution as the analysis was based on subjective teachers’ perceptions. Regardless of the drawbacks of the design and data collection methods, there is a growing amount of evidence from other studies to validate the findings of this study. There were some positive changes noted in parents particularly their attitude towards child learning. Parents are now more involved in child learning and have gained some important skills to support child development. However, the results need to be taken with caution as they are based on subjective perceptions of parents. There was always an increase in the number of parents who enrolled for the programme each year and more interestingly, men started enrolling for the programme in the last two years. In 2016, a total of 42 men were trained and in 2017, a total of 86 men were trained under HSP. This provides some evidence of the ability of the HSP programme to change parents’ attitude towards child learning. The HSP programme shows some signs of sustainability particularly around environmental support and organisational domains. In this regard, results of the study revealed that the HSP programme has managed to garner support from its operational environment. The programme is particularly applauded by teachers, school leadership and parents, and their appreciation is one of the indicators of sustainability. Under organisational support, the study revealed that the teachers and parents are satisfied with the timely support they are receiving from Wordworks. However, there are some gaps around programme evaluation and funding stability domains. All the schools are still fully receiving financial support from Wordworks to facilitate the HSP programme. Based on the study findings it is prudent that Wordworks prepares schools for continuity in the event that their support is withdrawn and a more robust monitoring and evaluation system needs to be put in place. It is recommended that the programme documents more success stories to showcase its relevance.

This dissertation explores (i) the effect of copyright on the reuse of prior works, (ii) the economic effects of reuse upon the original work, (iii) the impact of litigation and copyright assertions on patterns of reuse, and (iv) the effect of the expiry of copyright on the availability and supply of music through differing models of distribution. As a setting to explore these questions, I focus on the popular music industry and the phenomena of "digital sampling," where prior sound recordings are reused to create a new musical arrangement. This setting allows one to empirically track the use and reuse of information goods over time in a process of cumulative creativity, where new works of authorship build upon past works. The statistical results of this dissertation imply that copyright policy has con- strained cumulative creativity, even while reuse in this setting does not appear to cause economic harm upon original works, as reusing works do not empirically substitute for the originals upon which they are based. Rights assertions by copyright aggregators, however, does not appear to stifle reuse when the portfolios of rights aggregators are compared to other similar songs. The last set of results focus on copyright’s reuse through the re-releases of music, demonstrating that copyright expiration causes a dramatic increase in the supply of music, but these restrictions imposed by copyright appear to be mediated by new models for digital distribution of content and associated blanket licensing practices.