<p> The intent of the current study was to address the gap in knowledge regarding factors influencing Canadian power engineers&rsquo; decision to pursue advanced certification in British Columbia and Alberta. The purpose of the study was to explore potential relationships between advancement intention and these decision factors. The dependent variable was the intent to advance. The six independent variables are comprised of the following: (a) time commitment, (b) educational support, (c) locus of control (LOC), (d) time elapsed since previous certification, (e) responsibility, and (f) peer appraisal. The research methodology was a quantitative correlational design, followed with linear and logistic regression. An original survey was developed for the study and pilot tested for validity and reliability. Revealed in the results of the study were positive and significant relationships between the dependent variable (DV) of advancement intention and three of the six independent variables (IVs) tested through correlational analysis. The relationships were time commitment, responsibility, and elapsed time. The three remaining independent variables that did not exhibit significant relationships with the DV were educational support, locus of control, and peer appraisal. Comprehension of the influential factors regarding the intention of Canadian power engineers&rsquo; to pursue advanced certification may assist industry and academia with insight into the barriers and enablers to higher certification, and the correlation of decision factors with advancement intention.</p><p>

Increasing complexity, flatter organizational structures and rapidly changing environments require coordination and collaboration with individuals and teams across organizations. As teams navigate these complex organizational dynamics, spanning boundaries between groups is increasingly relevant for knowledge work. The extant literature has directed little attention towards examining how boundary spanning is carried out in complex, multi-organizational settings in which organization, sector and expertise boundaries are crossed during the life cycle of the collaboration. This dissertation develops a deeper understanding of the practices boundary spanners use in facilitating collaboration across diverse actors in multi-organizational work. I introduce and illustrate the phenomenon of facilitative boundary leadership -- defined as fostering teaming across organizational and sectoral boundaries for mutual benefit throughout the lifecycle of a temporary collaboration. Facilitative boundary leadership includes four components: 1) aligning objectives, which brings together diverse actors for exploratory dialogue and enables all parties to have mutual benefit; 2) curating interactions across boundaries, which promotes understanding and eases tensions; 3) establishing a collaborative structure, which provides ground rules and roles for interactions and work throughout the collaboration lifecycle; and 4) maintaining a neutral stance, which builds trust and allows the boundary spanner to move across levels and boundaries. This dissertation draws on an in-depth field study at a multilateral development organization implementing processes to enhance collaboration with external partners. I show that facilitative boundary leadership provided the relational and structural support for diverse actors from different organizations to collaborate and innovate in complex environments, despite numerous differences among actors. This research contributes to the literatures on boundary spanning, cross-sector collaboration and leadership. In addition, it offers practical implications for understanding and improving the effectiveness of collaboration in complex, multi-organizational contexts. / Organizational Behavior

In this thesis, I research the management of platforms by participating organizations and study the ensuing performance of both participating organizations and the platform. In the first essay, titled ``The Impact of High Performance Outliers on Two-Sided Platforms: Evidence from Crowdfunding,'' I study how one kind of observable on platforms affects both the subsequent entry decision of organizations and the performance of the platform. I focus on the arrival of high performing sellers and study how these ``outliers'' affect the subsequent growth and liquidity of the platform. In the context of the two largest rewards-based crowdfunding platforms, I find that outliers are followed by a relative increase in entry and transaction volume on the competing platform. Moreover, this average effect is stronger for marginal, or low quality, sellers. Within the platform hosting the outlier, transaction volume increases for sellers in the same product category as the outlier, but this average effect reverses for outliers in certain product categories. The results suggest that the impact of heterogeneous users depends on platform rules, and that in addition to pricing, competing platforms may selectively focus on attracting users with high performance potential to achieve the desired mix of buyers and sellers. In the second essay, titled ``Social Media, Loyalty, and Organizational Performance'' (written with Shiladitya Ray), we study how the interactions between users and organizations on social media relate to organizational performance outcomes. Specifically, we explore the relationship between expressions of loyalty on social media and performance. We relate the number of followers on Twitter to television show ratings and find that change in the number of individuals following an organization's Twitter account prior to the realization of a repeated performance outcome is positively associated with that outcome. We present evidence of the heterogeneity in the effect, showing that the relationship is stronger for organizations that match the demographics of the social network and niche product categories. We also show that higher levels of a show's initial following mitigates the relationship between followers and performance for shows in niche categories, and tentatively strengthens it for show's in non-niche categories. In addition to considering the theoretical relationship between social media and organizational performance, we employ a parsimonious prediction model relating the two, showing that a model with social media measures outperforms both a baseline autoregressive model and a model that includes search data.In so doing, we extend recent literature that uses real-time data to predict current economic indicators by using social media data to predict organizational performance outcomes.Our results indicate that technological innovations can diminish the distance between the organization's bounaries and outside stakeholders. This reduction in distance underlines the importance for firms to attend to their non-transaction interactions on social media. In the final essay, titled ``Organizational Management of Social Media,'' I address how organizations manage activities on social media, beginning with the decision to adopt social media and its rate of diffusion within the organization. In the context of television show adoption of Twitter, I show that larger organizations and organizations started more recently more readily adopted social media. I also provide evidence highlighting the heterogeneity in organizational approaches to social media. By looking at the heterogeneity in the rates of diffusion, I am able to distinguish differences in approaches to social media management along three dimensions: the timing, the speed, and the centrality of management within the organization. Finally, I show the changing nature of diffusion of a technology in an industry over time. By applying theories of strategy and innovation management, I underscore the importance of considering the impact of social media on the organization and processes of the firm.

As a result of globalization, organizations expect more from their employees. While organizations have become leaner, the productivity requirements have not decreased. Further, there is greater importance being placed on the connection between human capital and operational outcomes. This research explores the impact of management decisions on teams of employees. It also examines how organizations use and develop their workforce. In three studies, my dissertation considers how an organization manages their human capital to gain optimal operational results: 1) by leveraging multiple-team membership practices while staying cognizant of the fragility that it induces, 2) by being more thoughtful in the assignment of employees to varying work contexts, and 3) by understanding how employee development has near-term and long-term effects on the human capital pipeline and the organization’s performance.

ABSTRACT 1: This paper examines whether mobile telecom operators with access to different kinds of knowledge pursue different strategies in politically risky markets. Using data from 2000-2010 I find that firms with country-specific knowledge, gained via presence in the local market, and general knowledge, gained through a long history of operations, were more likely to increase or maintain investment and operations even as political risk rose to the highest levels while peer firms drop both investment and operations. Firms with market-risk knowledge, gained through previous experience confronting political risk, drop investment similar to peer firms but increase operations to capitalize on their short-term competitive advantage. Therefore, country-risk knowledge and general knowledge are associated with strategies that are durable to political risk, while market-risk knowledge is associated with the distinct strategy for political risk of increased operations. These results contribute to the literature by documenting distinct market-based strategies for firms with differing knowledge sets that remain in a market as political risk rises. ABSTRACT 2: Scholars of corporate governance have debated the relative importance of country and firm characteristics in understanding corporate governance variation across emerging economies. Using panel data and a number of model specifications, we shed new light on this debate. We find that firm characteristics are as important as and often meaningfully more important than country characteristics. In fact, 16.8% percent of firms in emerging economies have been able to exceed the 75th percentile of ratings in developed economies. Our results suggest that over recent years firms in emerging economies had more capability to rise above weak home-country institutions than previously suggested. ABSTRACT 3: Outsourcing firms seeking to avoid reputational spillovers that can arise from dangerous, illegal, and unethical behavior at supply chain factories increasingly rely on private social auditors to provide strategic information about the conduct of their suppliers. But little is known about what influences auditors’ ability to identify and report poor supplier conduct. We find that individual supply chain auditors’ monitoring practices are shaped by social factors including their experience, gender, and professional training; their ongoing relationships with suppliers; and the gender diversity of their audit teams. Providing the first comprehensive and systematic findings on supply chain monitoring, our study identifies previously overlooked transaction costs and suggests strategies to develop governance structures to mitigate reputational spillover risks by reducing information asymmetries between themselves and their suppliers.

Through a qualitative study of professionals whose careers span the public and private sectors, I develop theory on boundary crossing in a career. I find that two role orientations – gold-star and north-star orientation – activate the boundary-crossing process. Gold-star oriented professionals seek to cross sectors to help society and focus on gaining authority by climbing well-institutionalized paths of career advancement. North-star oriented professionals seek to cross sectors to solve a complex societal problem and focus on gaining expertise by learning and building community around the problem. I introduce the concept of arbitrage, a narrative-based boundary-crossing strategy where professionals claim currencies, like status and knowledge, to craft a story of value creation for the new sector. After the boundary is crossed, I find these professionals enact their roles using two distinct adaptation behaviors, depending on their career orientation. Based on inductive analyses of 40 career stories, I propose a process model of how people cross sector boundaries over the course of a career.

<p> The proliferation and changing nature of electronic communications (e.g., email, texting, instant messaging, Skype, etc.) as a necessary resource for knowledge requires continuing research in order to understand how these technologies affect relationships among managers and their employees. I seek to measure the extent to which employees&rsquo; perceived email content monitoring (PECM), defined as the extent to which employees believe that their emails are being read regardless of whether that is done within the organization, affects their behavior and job attitudes. Further, employees&rsquo; supervisors can monitor how and when employees utilize electronic communications as a means of evaluating job performance. Employees&rsquo; perceived email activity monitoring (PEAM), defined as the extent to which employees perceive that their usage of email is being monitored by their supervisors, can have negative attitudinal effects. Job attitudes can be especially impacted where the monitoring of the actual content of emails and/or email usage behaviors is considered to be inappropriate, overly intrusive, or beyond the scope of traditional managerial monitoring practices.</p><p> In order to help understand the implications of electronic communication monitoring in the workplace, I investigate how theoretical social exchange mechanisms of leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived organizational support (POS) influence employee attitudinal outcomes including job satisfaction, organizational commitment, stress, and work/life conflict. I also develop a concept of &ldquo;monitoring justice&rdquo; that can be employed by managers to defer the potential for negative implications of monitoring. Further, I explore how the level of importance that individuals place on being connected to their organization via electronic communication technology can exacerbate the social exchange relationships and resulting job attitudinal outcomes. </p><p> The findings of this study suggest that formal monitoring of email content reduces levels of social exchange and results in negative employee attitudes regarding their work environment. However, where employees determine that there is a sufficient level of monitoring justice, these negative responses to monitoring were not found to be significant. Further, I found that high levels of monitoring of electronic communication usage behavior significantly decreased social exchange levels and negatively impacted attitudinal outcomes. This negative result was increased where employees attributed high levels of importance to remaining connected to their organization. This dissertation suggests that organizational leadership take the perceptions of their employees and overall effects on job attitudes into account when engaging in electronic communication monitoring practices.</p><p>

<p> A gap in the knowledge base was found in that no research had been performed examining customer satisfaction as an antecedent to co-creation of value. This is important because organizations have difficulty engaging customers in co-creation of value, which has can increase loyalty, trust, innovation, and competitive advantage. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction, as well as its constructs, and engagement in co-creation of value. Because an examination was made of interactions between individuals, the social exchange theory was used as foundational support for the study. The theory states that behavior between individuals is determined by the rewards and costs involved. Six research questions were used regarding the relationship between customer satisfaction, each of its components, and customer engagement in co-creation of value. A survey was distributed in a convenience manner until 256 adults who lived in the United States and had recently experienced hotel services responded. Data were examined using Pearson correlations and ordinary least squares multiple regressions to answer the research questions. The findings indicated overall customer satisfaction (r = .409, p &lt; .001), reliability (r = .446, p &lt; .001), assurance (r = .413, p &lt; .001), tangibles (r = .227, p &lt; .001), empathy (r = .369, p &lt; .001), and responsiveness (r = .399, p &lt; .001) each had a significant and positive relationship with customer engagement in co-creation of value. Recommendations for future research include examination of other potential engagement factors and development of an engagement platform.</p><p>

The primary purpose of this research is to study the linkage between perceived job design characteristics and information system environment characteristics before and after the replacement of a legacy information system with a new type of information system (referred to as an Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP system). A public state University implementing an academic version of an ERP system was selected for the study. Three survey instruments were used to examine the perception of the information system, the job characteristics, and the organizational culture before and after the system implementation. The research participants included two large departments resulting in a sample of 130 workers. Research questions were analyzed using multivariate procedures including factor analysis, path analysis, stepwise regression, and matched pair analysis. Results indicated that the ERP system has introduced new elements into the working environment that has changed the perception of how the job design characteristics and organization culture dimensions are viewed by the workers. The understanding of how the perceived system characteristics align with an individual's perceived job design characteristics is supported by each of the system characteristics significantly correlated in the proposed direction. The stronger support of this relationship becomes visible in the causal flow of the effects seen in the path diagram and in the step-wise regression. The perceived job design characteristics aligning with dimensions of organizational culture are not as strong as the literature suggests. Although there are significant correlations between the job and culture variables, only one relationship can be seen in the causal flow. This research has demonstrated that system characteristics of ERP do contribute to the perception of change in an organization and do support organizational culture behaviors and job characteristics.

This study focuses on empirical investigations and seeks implications by utilizing three different methodologies to test various aspects of trader behavior. The first methodology utilizes Prospect Theory to determine trader behavior during periods of extreme wealth contracting periods. Secondly, a threshold model to examine the sentiment variable is formulated and thirdly a study is made of the contagion effect and trader behavior. The connection between consumers' sense of financial well-being or sentiment and stock market performance has been studied at length. However, without data on actual versus experimental performance, implications based on this relationship are meaningless. The empirical agenda included examining a proprietary file of daily trader activities over a five-year period. Overall, during periods of extreme wealth altering conditions, traders "satisfice" rather than choose the "best" alternative. A trader's degree of loss aversion depends on his/her prior investment performance. A model that explains the behavior of traders during periods of turmoil is developed. Prospect Theory and the data file influenced the design of the model. Additional research included testing a model that permitted the data to signal the crisis through a threshold model. The third empirical study sought to investigate the existence of contagion caused by declining global wealth effects using evidence from the mining industry in Canada. Contagion, where a financial crisis begins locally and subsequently spreads elsewhere, has been studied in terms of correlations among similar regions. The results provide support for Prospect Theory in two out of the three empirical studies. The dissertation emphasizes the need for specifying precise, testable models of investors' expectations by providing tools to identify paradoxical behavior patterns. True enhancements in this field must include empirical research utilizing reliable data sources to mitigate data mining problems and allow researchers to distinguish between expectations-based and risk-based explanations of behavior. Through this type of research, it may be possible to systematically exploit "irrational" market behavior.