This thesis randomly sampled the general aviation pilot population of Utah, Nevada, and Idaho for the purpose of determining the extent of the near midair collision hazards in these areas. The conditions investigated were all possible situations associated with a flight, and all that could be readily answered on a data form without encountering bias in the study. The thesis provided certain insights into what hazards are to be expected in the general aviation population of the three states under study. It also indicated as much as possible, what the causes were of the hazards and what actions could be taken to remedy or, at best, lessen them.

The possibility of developing leading economic indicators of housing starts, on a localized basis, was studied in Tremonton, Utah, for the period from 1958 to 1965. Data on any economic variable which might show a leading relationship to housing starts was gathered and synthesized to ascertain any predicting tendencies. Several of the variables researched, particularly contracts awarded to Thiokol and Thiokol employment, showed a high positive correlation to housing starts; however, none showed any consistent leading pattern. An accelerator relationship was found to exist between the average rate of change in Thiokol employment and housing starts. This finding, though not directly applicable to the study, resulted in the most economically rational explanation for the absence of a leading indicator.

This study sought to determine whether an MBA degree from Utah State University (USU) was meeting the emotional intelligence (EI) needs of the workplace from the perception of its graduates. This research assessed perception of EI skills with a researcher-designed instrument that consisted of a 22-question survey that was e-mailed to USU students who completed an MBA between 2000 and 2006. The survey questionnaire given to MBA graduates was titled Assessment of Emotional Intelligence and was divided into three distinct parts. The first category (questions 1-10) had to do with industry expectations as perceived by MBA graduates. The second category (questions 11-20) emphasized curriculum in USU’s MBA program, and the third category (21-22) asked for demographic information that was not available from student records or the initial participation postcard. The findings from this research present evidence of the MBA program’s strength in teaching teamwork and collaboration. There was strong agreement that the program taught these skills and that they are expected skills in the workplace. This finding, however, was both affirming and concerning at the same time because it was found that the ratings for none of the other related EI competencies were comparably equal with those of teamwork and collaboration. The lack of correlation between the latent variables, or constructs, employed in this analysis implied that the MBA program could benefit by offering more instruction in EI competencies.

A growing body of research has demonstrated that the negative consequences of workplace mistreatment extend beyond just the perpetrator and victim of these incidents. Specifically, scholars have explored the outcomes of mistreatment for observers—individuals who witness acts of mistreatment between two parties at work but are not directly involved—and how observers' subsequent reactions impact the organization and its members. With this two-chapter dissertation, I review the existing research on observer responses to witnessed mistreatment and add to the literature by extending our knowledge of how and why observers respond to mistreatment. Chapter 1 provides a review of the extant literature on observer responses to mistreatment with the goal of developing an understanding of the empirical and theoretical foundations of the field. Chapter 2 then seeks to add to our understanding of how observers respond to witnessing mistreatment and what the underlying motivations of these responses are. To do so, I first conduct a competitive test between the three dominant theories in the existing literature (i.e., deonance, social emotional, and cognitive theories) utilizing a critical incident technique (Study 1). Additionally, I present a new theoretical basis for considering the self-focused motives (i.e., self-presentation theory) that might drive observer reactions, and in turn introduce additional responses that individuals might have in response to observing mistreatment. I test a full theoretical model that considers these newly proposed self-focused mechanisms and outcomes, in addition to dominant other-focused mechanisms and outcomes in an experimental study (Study 2) and field study (Study 3). Overall, my results support that observers engage in a wide array of responses after observing mistreatment and that a number of these responses are motivated by empathy and reputation management. These results indicate that social emotional and self-presentation theories are useful in explaining observer responses.

A voluminous literature describes change in established organizations, but research investigating change in nascent firms, often called pivoting, is just emerging. Current research on pivoting raises questions about what it means for an entrepreneurial firm to pivot, what antecedents drive pivoting, the processes involved in pivoting, and the consequences of pivoting. A central challenge is that scholars have offered multiple pivot definitions that focus on various aspects of a venture that change during a pivot, (strategy, structure, overriding goals, resources, activities, and identity), making it difficult to identify distinctive characteristics of a pivot. Compounding this difficulty is the existence of numerous change-related constructs (e.g. strategic change, strategic reorientation, business model innovation) that share key characteristics with pivoting, making it difficult to distinguish pivoting as a distinct construct. With this multi-chapter dissertation, I tackle these conceptual challenges by first systematically reviewing the literature on pivoting and related constructs and analyzing key similarities and differences between pivot conceptualizations. In doing so, I have arrived at a consensus definition of pivoting that distinguishes it from other change-based constructs. I also compare this definition of pivoting with related constructs to uncover important similarities and differences between pivoting and other change related definitions. To more fully uncover the process of pivoting, I conduct a qualitative study by interviewing entrepreneurs to probe for information on the various elements of pivoting (antecedents, types of pivots, and consequences) and to assess different potential processes through which pivoting occurs. Overall, by linking this information together I provide clarity on how pivots differ from other change-related constructs and present an emergent theory of entrepreneurial pivoting.

Research on territorial behaviors in organizations is an emerging field (Brown, Crossley, & Robinson, 2014). Current theoretical approaches to territoriality rely heavily on a psychological ownership perspective; however, there is a wealth of theory organizational scholars can integrate from other disciplines (Altman, 1975; Ardrey, 1965; Brown, Lawrence, & Robinson, 2005). The purpose of this dissertation is to integrate an evolutionary perspective into organizational scholarship to explore new antecedents of territoriality. This research draws upon uncertainty management theory to hypothesize a moderated-mediated model predicting territorial behaviors. A measurement instrument is developed to test territoriality and findings from a three-wave field study are presented. Theoretical implications for the construct are discussed and areas for future research are suggested.

The market for online education is competitive, especially for graduate programs such as the Master of Business Administration (MBA). Attrition rates vary widely, and educators must understand the needs of online students and create engaging quality programs to be competitive. Social interaction and student connectedness are particularly important in online MBA programs where one of the expected benefits is the opportunity for students to build strong professional networks. This mixed methods study explores the student interactions, connectedness, and retention in the Online MBA Program at William & Mary. While previous research has explored building community in an online educational environment, a gap remains in the literature regarding the quality and type of student connections in a part-time online graduate program tailored to working professionals. In addition to surveying faculty who taught in the program, I attempted to survey all students of the program and used the results of the Online Student Connectedness Survey (Bolliger & Inan, 2012) to inform the student participant selection process for the qualitative case study. Rooted in the social constructivist paradigm, I created the Online Student Connectedness conceptual framework and sought to determine the extent to which students and alumni of the program felt connected. I also wanted to determine what the students’ experiences of connectedness were and the quality of those connections. The results of the quantitative survey revealed a moderately high perception of connectedness among students in the program. The results of the qualitative data indicated that several factors influenced the students’ experiences of connectedness. In addition to carefully planned collaborative and group work, a feeling of comfort and perception of community were key factors. Managing students’ expectations, support from others, and connection to the institution contributed positively to the high retention rate enjoyed by the program. The results of the study offer a number of implications for practice that may be beneficial to program administrators, professors, course developers, instructional designers, and to students. Through appropriate application of social constructivist theory and adult learning theory, educators can create learning activities that promote student connectedness and thereby, increase student satisfaction and retention rates.

Entrepreneurs need resources. Previous research has established that entrepreneurs send signals of "quality" to potential resource providers in order to obtain resources. However, a behavioral research approach would contend that resource acquisition depends on much more than venture quality signals. In this dissertation, I extend beyond the signaling paradigm and investigate the resource acquisition process using a framework contingent on entrepreneur signals, resource provider dispositional differences, and their interactive effects. Specifically, I leverage regulatory focus theory and regulatory fit theory to augment and move beyond the signaling theory approach. Methodologically, I undertake two studies. The first study uses archival field data consisting of a sample of 895 new venture pitches. In each of these pitches, I analyze the displays of promotion and prevention focus sent by entrepreneurs across video and textual narratives. To complete this analysis I develop novel measures of promotion and prevention focus suitable for computer-aided textual analysis (CATA). In the second study, I use a sample of 120 investors and a quasi-experimental approach to assess the moderating role of investor-level promotion and prevention focus on the relationship between entrepreneur displays of promotion and prevention focus and resource acquisition. The findings and their implications are discussed in relation to extant new venture resource acquisition literature and regulatory focus theory.

Climate for inclusion has captured the attention of management scholars as well as practitioners due to the positive effects inclusive climates have on organizations. Prior research has shown that a strong climate for inclusion leads to desirable outcomes such as increased organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and creativity, as well as a decrease in intent to turnover (e.g., Acquavita et al., 2009; Groeneveld, 2011; Choi & Rainey, 2010; Pitts, 2009). However, the field is lacking understanding of the factors that impact inclusion climate (Guillaume et al., 2014). To answer this call for inclusion climate formation research, this dissertation considers the relationship between supervisor perceptions of organizational rationale for diversity and climate for inclusion, moderated by organizational structure (formalization and communication) as well as supervisor and unit diversity orientation. Ely and Thomas' diversity perspectives and strategy framework (2001) suggests four rationales for diversity along with four complimentary strategies. This dissertation empirically tests the validity of this widely utilized diversity perspectives framework by first developing a 13- item measure for organizational rationale for diversity, then by investigating its relationship with inclusion climate. A second order factor structure with three first order factors resulted from confirmatory factor analysis of the organizational rationale for diversity measure. A sample of 22 work units with 95 employees from across the United States provided no support for the primary hypothesis that more inclusive supervisor perceptions of organizational rationale for diversity, along with the Integration-and-Learning rationale, would have a significant relationship with inclusion climate.

Most people must commute to and from work each day, yet little research has examined this critical time between home and work and the potential spillover effects of commuting on employees' subsequent workplace behavior. Drawing on self-regulation theory and the commuting stress literature, I propose that stressful driving conditions on the way to work (e.g., bad weather, traffic congestion, long routes) can cause employees to subsequently behave unethically at work. Specifically, I suggest this occurs through a depletion of self-regulation as resources are consumed while driving under stress and thus unavailable for deterring tempting, unethical behavior. I test this mediation model in two studies using an experimental-causal-chain design. In Study 1, using a sample of 204 participants recruited at a university, I manipulated commuting conditions in a driving simulator and measured self-regulatory depletion and dishonesty using behavioral tasks in the laboratory. In Study 2, using an online panel of 117 participants, I manipulated self-regulatory depletion and measured dishonesty using modified versions of the same behavioral tasks. Overall I find some support that driving—regardless of driving-induced stress level—depletes self-regulatory resources and that reduced self-regulation leads to a higher likelihood to engage in unethical behavior.