Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become increasingly important in enabling governments to deliver services to their citizens. Developing countries have limited understanding of what needs to be in place for governments to be considered ready for the implementation of eGovernment projects. As a result, most developing countries embark on these projects inadequately prepared, which results in failure. Large sums of money are spent on eGovernment initiatives which do not provide the envisaged benefit for citizens and businesses. This study therefore discusses factors influencing eGovernment initiatives by governments to improve services to their citizens, businesses and among their constituents. It further examines the stage of readiness of the South African government in implementing eGovernment initiatives to improve its services. The discussion uses Actor Network Theory (ANT) and in particular the concepts of 'moments of translation' and 'irreversibility' as a lens through which to understand and interpret the social phenomenon. Although a number of eGovernment researchers have argued that strong leadership and clear vision are required to implement eGovernment initiatives, the view is that governments have continuously failed to achieve the intended results. eGovernment potentials which are well documented in Information Systems and eGovernment research literature have not been institutionalised by governments to derive benefits due to limited capabilities in the administration of the public service. The study used ANT as the underpinning theory. A deductive approach with interviews was used for data collection in a selected provincial government (of the Western Cape) in South Africa. The outcome of this study is a general framework of readiness for eGovernment initiatives in South Africa, and more generally, Africa, to guide and determine the stage of readiness for eGovernment initiatives to achieve the intended results. This research contributes the application of the moments of translation and irreversibility of ANT as a lens through which the interplay between role players of socially constructed phenomena such as eGovernment readiness can be studied. Other forms of contribution are the application of an iterative process to moments of translation, and institutionalisation of each stage of moments of translation, during the implementation of eGovernment projects.

The process and mechanisms of knowledge transfer are discussed extensively in the innovation literature, but much existing work is based on evidence from leading innovator economies, such as the United States and European countries. Emerging innovator economies are generally understudied; yet, for several reasons, the insights derived from leading innovator economies may not be generalizable to emerging innovator economies. In this dissertation, I explore three classic questions about knowledge transfer in the case of China, one of the world’s fastest-growing emerging innovator economies. Overall, this dissertation sheds light on the barriers of knowledge transfer in a less developed economic and social context and the role of institutions in mitigating these barriers. Also, it enriches our understanding of the drivers of the growth of Chinese innovation. In the first essay, I study the effect of university research on industrial innovation. Prior research shows that university research can boost local industrial innovation in the United States and Europe, but little is known about whether this relationship holds in China. To examine this question, I leverage a policy shock that was designed solely to improve Chinese universities’ personnel management but turned out to also have boosted university research. Results show that firms in city-industries that have better access to university knowledge produce significantly more patents than their counterparts following this policy. The quality of patents also improves, as indicated by an increase in the average length of patent renewal. Examining the underlying mechanisms, I do not find evidence that patent-based knowledge transfers drive these increases. Instead, person-based transfers are the key drivers of these effects. In the second essay, I study the peer effects of Chinese star returnees. The return migration of expatriate star scientists is believed to have played a key role in boosting Chinese universities’ research performance, but empirical analysis on this topic remains sparse. Results show that star returnees indeed promote the receiving universities’ total knowledge production but have only a modest spillover effect on their domestic colleagues. The knowledge that star returnees bring to the receiving university does not seem to flow beyond the scope of star returnees’ own teams. In the third essay, I study the geography of university–industry collaboration exploiting the launch of China’s high-speed rail. While existing research discusses mainly the costs of discovering new knowledge and partners (i.e., the search costs), I employ a novel lens and examine the impact of a reduction in geographic frictions on the costs of building trusts and negotiating contracts (i.e., the transaction costs). Results show that the launch of high-speed rail induces collaboration and this effect is driven mainly by an increase in new partnerships. Moreover, collaborations that are subject to higher transaction costs ex ante are more likely to take place after high-speed rail is present, implying that a reduction in geographic frictions can promote U–I collaboration by lowering transaction costs.

The concept of IS ecosystem has grown beyond the organisational confines. Whilst the expansion of the IS ecosystems concept looked promising for the developing world the nature of its impact is not clearly understood in broader society. Most of the research available on implementation studies that involved IS ecosystems, past and present, have been in developed countries. A need arose to conduct studies in developing countries, especially those with an almost equal balance between formal and informal economies coined hybrid economies, shifting focus to the interplay between ICT4D and mainstream IS governed by a continuously changing context. A gap arose to understand the evolution of the IS ecosystem beyond the organisational confines, its impact on society its context, and how it is being influenced by society and its context. The aim of the study is to enlightened academia and industry on the IS ecosystems evolution through the theoretical lenses of Actor Network Theory (ANT), Structuration Theory (ST) and the Knowledge Creation Theory, especially the concept of Ba, by exploring the emergent and designed associations that impact it and how it influenced these associations. This study deploys a qualitative research strategy with an interpretive theme using inductive reasoning as the main method of enquiry with some elements of abductive reasoning. The case study approach is chosen with the focus on selecting data during a mobile payment implementation project in South Africa via interviews and observation, supported by internal and external documentation. The interpretation of the data collected led to discovering how different a mobile payment IS ecosystem evolved in the organisational, business and consumer environments. The results indicate that, although the implementation was successful in some settings like the organisational environment where more control can be exercised, when the implementation extends beyond the borders of the organisation the power dynamics change. The research further highlights how the mobile payment IS ecosystem influences and is being influenced by society and its context. It also highlights how context (time and space) “is both constitutive of social action and itself the outcome of social action. Social action reinforced the notion that context is a social structure which is identical to Giddens duality of structure theorem. This led to the understanding that the IS ecosystem is a never constant but constantly evolving and dynamic. Since social structures was evaluation in this study it also highlights the impact on IS ecosystem pre and post pandemic conditions. Additionally, traditional contextual analyses focus on the environment, this study proposes a different view on contextual analysis that may benefit future contextual analysis. Given this consideration, future research may consider focusing on the phronetic research approach to extract more detailed contextual data and how it impacts the value and well-being of the actors participating in the evolution of an IS ecosystem. This study will also contribute to the development or conception of new methods to aid similar IS ecosystems evolution and research studies in a pre and post pandemic environment.

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Abstract In terms of income, the cities of the United States now have the greatest income inequality than any other democratic nation in the developed world. However, if you assess the economy of the United States through the lens of traditional indicators—inflation, unemployment, increases/decreases of the Dow Jones average, and gross domestic product—the country in general, along with great cities of the country display optimistic economic growth (Pre-Covid-19). The disconnect between traditional notions of economic growth and many families’ well-being/prosperity remains a by-product of an inefficient wealth distribution eco-system. This study/simulation at its core attempts to assess various causal conditional propositions and increase the knowledge regarding these relationships in regards to the creation and distribution of income. The intent of the study is to provide policy makers with needed insight to assist with the development of a solution to these social and economic problems by taking an in-depth look at the historical business investment and income distribution of two geographical sectors of the country—Michigan and New Mexico metropolitan regions. By creating an unique economic inclusion simulator that links correlation with quantitative based models, the question presented is whether a correlation exists between various growth, prosperity, and economic inclusion variables and the potential future impact on the economic growth of various metropolitan statistical areas, federal, state and local tax revenue receipts. The most important contribution of this research is the reframing of the issue that the business phenomena (metropolitan economic low growth) rest in the markets failure to effectively incorporate/include a large share of the cities’ population into the wealth and capital creation process—a business proposition for long-term growth and prosperity for metropolitan areas could be impacted significantly by public policies that enhance economic inclusion. This simulation will demonstrate various levels of impact with the goal to enhance the knowledge and practical application of economic and taxation growth models at the metropolitan level. This model will use growth and prosperity variables as they relate to economic inclusion variables to achieve this goal, quantifying why or why not successful economic inclusion will increase the economic growth of the metropolitan sectors of America. / Business Administration/Strategic Management

Drawing from both the for-profit and nonprofit literature on organizational governance through boards of trustees, two studies were completed for this research linking financial performance to three board influences – 1) board member inputs such as resources and knowledge, 2) board structure through policy adherence, and 3) board dynamics such as engagement and cohesiveness. The first study is exploratory and combines publicly available performance data with survey results drawn from presidents and board members of nonprofit Associate’s Colleges; due to a disappointingly small sample size, the results are inconclusive but suggestive, leading to a different, resource-dependence-based approach to board effectiveness in a second study. The second study draws on a data base of nonprofit cultural institutions that includes measures of board members’ contributions of time and money. Results from the second study show relationships between financial self-sufficiency and the financial resources contributed by board members – relationships that likely reflect differences in size and structure and business models of the cultural organizations. The two studies combined suggest that the type and management of resources a board brings to a nonprofit organization relate to the financial performance of the organization. Based on this evidence, suggestions about how to improve an organization’s financial performance and financial self-sufficiency through the selection and practices expected of board members and their ability to contribute to the organization are presented. Further research may include a more qualitative exploration of the impact on nonprofit performance of the efforts, contributions and interpersonal dynamics of board members in nonprofit organizations. / Business Administration/Interdisciplinary

The rising cost of healthcare remains mystifying on a global scale. Some of the main factors contributing to the exorbitant costs in healthcare are doctors' visits and hospital readmissions, many of which result from preventable diseases, such as obesity. Adoption of simple health practices, such as reducing unhealthy food consumption, could help prevent these diseases. Despite this, a considerable number of adults fail to adopt preventive behaviors. In the current research, we explore how people can be nudged toward adopting healthy practices. Specifically, drawing upon implicit theory (Dweck, Chiu, & Hong1995), we argue and show that people who have a fixed mindset (also known as entity theorists) are likely to engage in more unhealthy consumption, compared with those who have a growth mindset (also known as growth theorists). Our findings show that priming people with a growth mindset, a mindset where people perceive that people and their behaviors can change, reduces unhealthy consumption. The research presented here has significant managerial implications because it could change how we encourage and approach individuals to adopt healthier behaviors through persuasive messaging, resulting in improved health outcomes. Finally, the study results add to the current literature on implicit beliefs can impact people’s behaviors, as well as to literature on persuasive messaging. / Business Administration/International Business Administration

This three-chapter dissertation explores firms' responses to financial shocks in three settings: severe climate events, market crash, and unexpected loss shocks. The first chapter examines how severe climate events affect small business financing outcomes and how they use credit to finance losses, using Hurricane Harvey as my setting. By using the credit reports data of 8,219 small businesses in the Harvey affected area, I estimate a treatment intensity difference-in-differences model where flooding at a firm’s location is the measure of treatment. I find that Harvey-related flooding increased credit delinquencies, especially short-term delinquencies approximately one year after Hurricane Harvey. Delinquencies also increased among firms in the disaster area whose properties were not flooded, suggesting spillover effects from flooded areas. I also find that firms without existing debt took on debt following Harvey. Firms with existing debt lowered loan balances while applying for new credit. The second chapter considers the funding challenges facing multiemployer defined benefit pension plans. I first explore whether the current funding rules have unintended consequences -- triggering employer withdrawals. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 requires that a multiemployer pension plan with an actuarial funded percentage of less than 80% must take corrective actions to improve financial health. In this paper, a regression discontinuity design is used to establish the causal effect of funding rule requirements on employer withdrawals from multiemployer pension plans. I find that multiemployer pension plans subject to funding rule requirements are about 14 percentage points more likely to experience employer withdrawals. Next, I investigate whether employer withdrawals exacerbate the funding challenges of multiemployer pension plans. Using an event study methodology, I find that plans with ex-ante employer withdrawal experiences are more vulnerable to financial shocks such as the 2008 financial crisis. This study provides important policy implications for regulators concerning best practices to build pension plan resilience to insolvency events. The third chapter investigates how rivals' loss shocks affect a firm's pricing decisions. I develop a simple theoretical model and predict that a firm's relative financial position matters. Unaffected firms may benefit from rivals' loss shocks by charging a higher price. I empirically examine the relationship in the setting of the U.S. property/casualty insurance industry. I find that insurers who only write personal lines outperform their adversely affected rivals and charge a higher price following rivals' commercial-line loss shocks. The competitive effects of loss shocks are more pronounced in states where rate regulation is not stringent. / Business Administration/Risk Management and Insurance

Business travel is ubiquitous and business travelers move by various modes of transportation across geographies, time zones and cultures. This research sought to understand why business travelers, specifically executive leadership, continue to travel for business in the digital age. A qualitative, inductive, flexible pattern-mapping approach (Bouncken et al., 2021) was utilized in seeking to understand patterns and relationships matching the underlying precept of coding and thematic analysis to understand travel for the purpose of conducting business. Additionally, the aim of this research is to contribute to a gap in the literature regarding thought process(es) that take place when senior executives consider a decision to travel for the purpose of conducting business. Social capital theory and its subset, relational capital, was used as references to further develop the interview guide with questions regarding the purpose of senior executive travel. Specifically, senior executives are defined here as those executives who fill the role of Director, Managing Partner, Vice President (V.P.), Geography General Manager (G.M.), United States government official, or higher, in their respective organizations. The interview guide was used to conduct semi-structured interviews of executives, who hold primary roles within their various organizations. Results from the study indicate four areas these senior executives describe as their main purpose for business travel. These areas are as follows; relationship maintenance, analysis, relationship building, and building social capital – that which facilitates cooperation and coordination such as networking, cognitive understanding, and trust. / Business Administration/Interdisciplinary