<p> The purpose of this study on employee ethical decision-making (EDM) in financial institutions was to explore how bankers experience tension between a firm&rsquo;s formal ethical standards and those that are actually practiced, as they make decisions about issues that arise in their daily work. Interviews with 13 bankers explored three main questions: (a) how they approach challenging business decisions that have ethical implications; (b) what factors they take into consideration as part of the decision-making process, especially where existing laws and guidelines are inadequate; and (c) what learning processes they engage in that underpin their decision making. </p><p> This qualitative inquiry utilized a single-case study method with a common rationale to provide insights into the ethical decision making across the financial industry. Three data collection methods were used: (a) a pre-interview questionnaire, (b) in-depth interviews using a critical incident technique, and (c) a review of publicly available industry documents. Four key findings emerged: 1. Bankers experienced significant tension between the espoused theories and theories-in-use of their organizations. 2. The majority of bankers endeavored to preserve their integrity and find meaning in their careers while accepting the tensions they experienced and even defending the industry. 3. Six factors impacted informal and incidental learning processes utilized by bankers for ethical decision making 4. All bankers engaged in at least one of three levels of reflection as part of their decision-making process. </p><p> Deeper insights into the data were revealed through a cross-interview analysis, and three analytical categories were used to further synthesize and interpret the data: (a) lack of fit between individual and organization priorities; (b) time horizon as a determinant of ethical decision making; and (c) individual, organizational, and environmental forces impacting learning. </p><p> Five conclusions were drawn from the descriptive findings and the analysis: 1. EDM in financial institutions is a complex social process. 2. Organizational strategies designed to help EDM actually prevent it. 3. Speaking up is hindered by the desire to preserve integrity. 4. Informal learning is important for EDM, but insufficient. 5. HR must have a voice as employee advocate.</p>

<p> The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental study was to examine the effect of student-managed investment fund participation on financial knowledge, financial satisfaction, and the occurrence of best practice financial behaviors. Student-managed investment funds are experiential learning opportunities where student-led investing occurs in an academic setting. Households in the United States headed by millennials age 25-34 are exhibiting declines in retirement plan participation, financial knowledge, best practice financial behaviors and household net worth. The specific business problem addressed is the lack of financial knowledge necessary to make best practice financial behavior decisions at an early age. Participants for the study consisted of three groups of alumni who graduated between 2007 and 2016 from a selected Tennessee university: finance majors within the College of Business, College of Business students who participated in a student-managed investment fund, and all other College of Business students. An online survey was distributed to 301 College of Business graduates and 131 complete responses were received (N=131). The two methods used for statistical analysis for this study were one-away ANOVA and an analysis of two independent group means. The findings provided statistical support for the impact of student-managed investment fund participation on financial knowledge, but did not provide statistical support for the relationship between student-managed investment fund participation and financial behaviors or financial satisfaction. As such, educators and policymakers should utilize experiential learning opportunities in financial education initiatives to increase financial knowledge. Recommendations for future research include a longitudinal study of student-managed investment fund participant financial knowledge, satisfaction, and behaviors.</p><p>

While recovering from decades of conflict and trying to adjust to an incipient free market economy, public higher education in Afghanistan is currently confronted with rapidly increasing enrollment and inadequate government financing. The imbalance between high demand for and insufficient supply of higher education has led to a decrease in the quality of education and an urgent need to develop non-state sources of funding. Using Johnstone’s (1986) diversified funding model as the conceptual framework, this exploratory case study reports actors’ attitudes and perceptions of the financing policy options for Afghan public higher education and the impediments to introduce this model in Afghanistan. Data were collected from documents and semi-structured interviews with Afghan administrators, politicians, instructors and students during four months in Kabul in 2008. The findings show that: (a) the state has most likely reached the maximum financial contribution to public higher education and that little more can be expected; (b) that the existing funding for this sub-sector is not managed well; (c) that the current legal framework does not support expansion of the entrepreneurial activities that are developing at the higher education institutions; (c) that the legal system does not provide incentives to develop Afghan national donor support; (d) that the introduction of user fees, though currently under consideration, is confronted with significant technical impediments, and (e) that the introduction of tuition is not on the agenda because the higher education institutions have found the introduction of “night school” as an alternative means that allows the charging of tuition under the guise of “extra” services. In light of the aggregated actors’ attitudes towards these funding options, this study identifies considerable legal, technical and political blockages that hinder the creation of a functioning diversified funding model. The findings indicate that one significant pre-requisite for any development of these new funding sources will be increased institutional autonomy. Without devolution in power from the centralized ministry to the institutions, the necessary incentives and mechanisms will probably be missing for the development of these alternative sources of funding.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1980.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1980. / Also available in print.

<p> This comparative case study provides a qualitative exploration of how four private tuition-dependent colleges approached a tuition price reset, including the organizational context, approaches, and strategies involved. As evidenced by the literature reviewed, there is an increasing awareness that the traditional business model of &ldquo;high tuition/high aid&rdquo; is no longer viable for less selective, tuition dependent colleges and universities caught in the middle of the market. Some of these colleges and universities are trying to innovate to remain competitive and financially sustainable. One innovation is to drastically reduce undergraduate tuition sticker price; a trend referred to as tuition price resets. A tuition price reset is a strategy that shifts the pricing model for an institution from &ldquo;high tuition/high aid&rdquo; to &ldquo;low tuition/low aid&rdquo; by lowering published tuition and financial aid awards, often in similar, but not necessarily equal proportion. There are a number of tuition dependent colleges that either have or will consider resetting tuition. This study provides valuable insight for those individuals and institutions seeking to understand the process that colleges and universities go through in evaluating the tuition price reset strategy. Critical factors in each institution&rsquo;s motivations, challenges and lessons learned are explored, including the background behind the analysis and decision, planning and implementation, as well as the outcomes of the decision.</p>

<p> The value proposition of the public liberal arts colleges is that they provide the quality of education typically associated with esteemed private liberal arts colleges at a comparably lower cost. These institutions emphasize access and affordability, and a rich and rigorous undergraduate education in "small" residential settings, making this type of education available to students who otherwise could not afford it. Given the decline nationally in state funding of public higher education, demographic shifts affecting who goes to college and how, the &ldquo;disruption&rdquo; of technology, and the public questioning of the value of a liberal arts degree, this dissertation looks at how three public liberal arts colleges are responding to these changes and how both the changes and institutional responses to them are shaping or reshaping their mission.</p>

<p> Public universities face significant funding challenges as states continue to look for efficiencies or outright cuts. In addition, the call for accountability in higher education continues to grow as state lawmakers, policy analysts, and researchers voice concern that degree attainment has stagnated, is too low to support economic growth, and takes too long. Business and political leaders are also increasingly interested in developing higher education accountability in response to concerns by students and families over the rising cost of a degree. Together, these themes of accountability and cost control have resulted in dramatically different policy innovations in the form of performance-based funding in a growing number of states. However, these policies have thus far produced scant evidence of success. Furthermore, the potential unintended consequences of these policies seem large, including the risk of increased selectivity resulting in increased class-based inequality and the risk of decreased educational quality. Thus, the shift from basing state support on inputs to outputs could be much more than a simple accounting change. By stressing different priorities, the shift may ultimately alter the historic access mission of public higher education. Ohio created a new policy in 2012 that funds 100 percent of undergraduate higher education state appropriations to public universities on the basis of outcomes, the most aggressive policy of its kind in the nation. This study investigated the perceptions of 24 Ohio higher education leaders regarding this policy innovation and combined those responses with related performance metrics in order to synthesize a more comprehensive understanding of early impacts and implications, particularly as it pertains to outcomes, access, and education quality. The results of the investigation suggest that that retention has improved, access has decreased, and quality has been unaffected. University leaders were largely in favor of the policy and supported increased selectivity even in the face of declining enrollments. Although concerns remain regarding at-risk student support, the study suggests that a 100 percent performance-based policy may have positive benefits and achieve the intended objectives. It may also alter our conception of the broad access mission of higher education as access is traded for student success. </p>

<p> This qualitative study focuses on the duality of the principal-agent relationship experienced by elected community college trustees in the California Community Colleges system; i.e., their roles as principal to the agent role of employee unions, and the quasi agent role in the districts association with the state. It examines this relationship through the lens of the unintended consequences of Proposition 13, including the centralization of school finance at the state level, the de facto change of the property tax from a local tax to a state tax, and the removal of the power of taxation from local boards. The study includes interviews with nine current or former elected trustees whose service began prior to the 1978 enactment of Proposition 13. Four of the nine trustees still held elective office when the interviews for this study were performed in fall 2014.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Auburn University. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 178-202).