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In this study, conceptual models of young adult citizenship participation eight years post high school using Putnam's (1993) theory of social capital are tested. This study uses a longitudinal database. Specifically, the models posit that accumulation of more social capital resources during adolescence will be associated with more positive future life expectations related to educational, occupational, and family life outcomes. Subsequently, these more positive future life expectations and social capital resources will be associated with a higher degree of citizenship participation (as measured by voting behavior, community integration and volunteerism) as young adults. Measures from the 1990, 1992 and 2000 waves of the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88) dataset were used. The models were examined using structural equation modeling procedures. Findings indicate that school and community social capital had mixed results regarding their effects on the final outcome variables. Teacher interactions were not found to have a statistically significant direct effect on any of the three citizenship participation outcome variables. But this result should be viewed with caution due to possible measurement problems with the construct of teacher interactions. Peer interactions did have a statistically significant, direct, effect on community integration and volunteerism, but it did not have a direct effect on voting behavior. Participation in extracurricular school activities did have a small, direct, effect on all three outcome variables. Participation in community sports activities had a positive direct effect on community integration, a small negative effect on voting behavior, and no statistically significant effect on volunteerism. Finally, participation in other types of community activities had the largest direct effects on all three citizenship participation outcome variables. The adolescent social capital variables of teacher interactions, peer interactions, and participation in other types of community activities for tenth graders did have positive, direct effects on future life expectations for twelfth graders. Extracurricular activities participation and community sports participation were not found to have an effect on future life expectations. Future life expectations were found to have a very small, but statistically significant, positive, direct effect on all three citizenship participation variables. These findings indicate that some adolescent social capital resources can have positive direct effects on the long term, young adult, educational outcome of citizenship participation. But it varies by type of social capital resource and by the particular aspect of citizenship behavior being measured. / Ph. D.

The Career and Technical Center in Coalfield County School Division (pseudonym) has maintained a history of student enrollment in career and technical education (CTE) courses and programs that are traditional by gender. That history has changed very little over the years, and students, both male and female, continue to enroll in CTE courses at the career center that are traditional for their gender. This trend persists despite Virginia Department of Education support for non-traditional enrollment and Carl D. Perkins Act legislation which encourages non-traditional enrollment in CTE. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore the perceptions of students, parents, teachers, administrators and counselors about student enrollment at the career center in CTE courses that are non-traditional. Through the use of individual interviews, the researcher gathered information from participants regarding their perceptions about barriers to non-traditional enrollment in CTE and also obtained participants' ideas about strategies for increasing non-traditional enrollment in CTE courses, courses that have the potential to positively impact students' career opportunities along with successful entrance into the work force. The results of this research will be shared with the school division as a potential resource for increasing non-traditional enrollment in CTE courses and programs at the career center. / Doctor of Philosophy / The Career and Technical Center in Coalfield County School Division (pseudonym) has maintained a history of student enrollment in career and technical education (CTE) courses and programs that are traditional by gender. That history has changed very little over the years, and students, both male and female, continue to enroll in CTE courses at the career center that are traditional for their gender. This trend persists despite Virginia Department of Education support for non-traditional enrollment and Carl D. Perkins Acts legislation which encourages nontraditional enrollment in CTE. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore the perceptions of students, parents, teachers, administrators and counselors about student enrollment at the career center in CTE courses that are non-traditional. Through the use of individual interviews, the researcher gathered information from participants regarding their perceptions about barriers to nontraditional enrollment in CTE and also obtained participants’ ideas about strategies for increasing non-traditional enrollment in CTE courses, courses that have the potential to positively impact students’ career opportunities along with successful entrance into the work force. The results of this research will be shared with the school division as a potential resource for increasing nontraditional enrollment in CTE courses and programs at the career center.

Smart home appliances have been argued to have a transformative impact on our daily lives in the future. Through the technology Internet of Things, smart home appliances are able to collect data from our surroundings and offer customs services. They have the possibility to automate daily tasks and contribute to energy saving, security, and more. Though smart home appliances can offer several benefits, concerns exist about data collection and research gaps as previous research has mainly been applied from a technical standpoint and less on a societal one. Research on different target groups and contexts is needed as it is important when creating digital services. One of these target groups that needs further research is students and their perspective on smart home appliances. As such, this study has focused on students' expectations of smart home appliances in future student housing, thereby shifting focus from a technical perspective to a societal one by using group- and follow-up interviews. The outcome contributes to an increased understanding of students’ aspects and expectations when creating smart home appliances in student homes. These insights can assist developers, researchers and designers in creating future smart home services, custom for students.

We consider the problem of uniting dynamic game theory and the rational expectations hypothesis. In doing so we examine the current trend in macroeconomic literature towards the use of dominant player games and offer an alternative game solution that seems more compatible with the rational expectations hypothesis. Our analysis is undertaken in the context of a simple deterministic macroeconomy. Wage setters are the agents in the economy and are playing a non-cooperative game with the Fed. The game is played with the wage setters selecting a nominal wage based on their expectation of the money supply, and the Fed selecta the money supply based on its expectation of the nominal wage. We find it is incorrect to use the rational expectations hypothesis in conjunction with the assumption that wage setters take the Fed's choices as an exogenous uncontrollable forcing process. We then postulate the use of a Nash equilibrium in which players have rational expectations. This results in an equilibrium that has Stackleberg properties. The nature of the solution is driven by the fact that the wage setter's reaction function is a level maximal set that covers all possible choices of the Fed. One of the largest problems we encountered in applying rational expectations to a dynamic game is the interdependence of the players' expectations. This problem raises two interesting but as yet unresolved questions regarding the expectations structures of agents: whether an endogenous expectations structure will yield rational expectations; and can endogenous expectations be completely modelled. In addition to the questions mentioned above we also show that the time inconsistency problem comes from either misspecifying the constraints on the policy maker or an inconsistency in interpreting those constraints. We also show that the Lucas critique holds in a game setting and how the critique relates to the reaction functions of players. / Ph. D.

With the emergence of digital channels, new technologies and increased data availability- omnichannel strategy has increasingly been viewed as crucial for retailers to meet evolving consumer expectations and drive firm performance. Channel integration is a key element of this strategy, which refers to the degree to which retailers coordinate various channel functions to provide a seamless customer experience across various channels. With emerging capabilities in the industry inevitably raises consumer expectations, consumers perceive value only beyond a certain degree of channel integration. While higher degrees of coordination help meet elevated consumer expectations, these are endogenous to coordination costs. These coordination costs are not evident beforehand and can steeply rise to sabotage the presumed strategic dividends associated with channel integration. In addition to the degree of channel integration, retailers face decisions about the speed of omnichannel adoption given the entrenched competitors and strategic benefits associated in terms of securing a dominant market position and accelerated organizational learning. This dissertation contributes to the marketing channels and coordination literature with (a) a systematic review of the multichannel marketing literature by synthesizing current knowledge, its evolution, and future directions; and (b) Two theory-driven empirical research studies that provide new insights and novel implications to enrich our understanding of omnichannel integration decisions, and certain characteristics of coordination costs can derail the strategic dividends from channel integration. Together these research studies contribute to a growing literature that has outlined the complex nature of these coordination costs but few of which explain their role in determining the outcomes of omnichannel retailing. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Omnichannel retailers coordinate their online (e-commerce, mobile) and offline distribution channels (physical stores, catalogues) to provide value to customers, enabling seamless transition across various channels. With emerging capabilities in the industry inevitably raises consumer expectations, which the retailers cannot fulfill without a higher degree of channel coordination. Additionally, retailers facing competitive pressures must decide how quickly to implement a higher degree of channel coordination, which can steeply drive-up coordination cost. So, the effectiveness of retailer’s channel coordination efforts and its speed of implementation is not clear. I investigate these issues first with a systematic review of multichannel marketing literature and then examine marketing strategy factors that impact the effectiveness of channel coordination efforts. Building a unique dataset of U.S. retailing firms and using various analytical techniques, I develop two theory-driven empirical studies that reveal that channel coordination and its speed can deliver value to customers and help drive firm performance, however certain characteristics of coordination costs can undermine the benefits.