Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Management." Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-97).

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 124-132).

<p> As organizational leaders are faced with challenges associated with leading in complex and often changing environments, the use of reflection or reflective thinking becomes ever more important and necessary. Also, the use of reflection has been mentioned as a key ingredient to effective leadership in more recent years. Reflection&rsquo;s importance is highlighted in various disciplines (such as education, nursing, and medicine); however, it is not as prevalent in business disciplines and with business leaders. This current study is important, since leaders in general are often encouraged to meet bottom-line demands with brevity, which may leave little time or concession for reflection or slowing down and assessing learning in situations. In addition, taking time to challenge prevailing mindsets or assumptions tends to occur only after a crisis or when something adverse has happened personally or within the organization. In this qualitative study, 20 upper-tier leaders from various organizations and disciplines participated in in-depth interviews regarding their descriptions and uses of reflection in their leadership roles&mdash;individually and organizationally. A snowball sampling technique was utilized to assist in obtaining many of the participants. The interviews, which were conducted and recorded based on the availability of the participants, included reflection descriptions, processes, strategies, experiences, and predominant practices that the interviewed leaders may use on a regular basis. Following this, interview data was transcribed, reviewed, and analyzed using computer-aided software, where key themes and sub-themes were discovered, shared, and documented. In this study, it was found that all 20 participants used reflection to some extent on a regular basis in their leadership. They were able to share in-depth on reflection processes and strategies used; how reflection has aided their overall development, their learning from experiences, thinking and decision-making, and effectiveness; and how reflection has contributed to their success as leaders. Several leaders also indicated that they used reflective practices without ever calling them &ldquo;reflection,&rdquo; and the majority currently used some sort of a system or systematic process for reflection for themselves individually, with direct reports, or with colleagues.</p>

<p> Leaders must be aware of the impact and influence demonstrated to followers through leader characteristics. The quantitative research study with a correlational design determined the impact of servant leader characteristics toward followers, and if there were any differences between the two roles pertaining to the leader characteristics of altruistic calling, persuasive mapping, emotional healing, organizational stewardship, and wisdom. A sample of 18 followers and four servant leaders completed the Servant Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ) instrument via survey monkey software link. Analyses were conducted utilizing the Spearman correlation testing to determine strength and direction of the correlation (p &lt; .05), and Mann Whitney U for analyses of differences between the roles. The results provided positive correlations between servant leaders and followers pertaining to each of the leader characteristics. However, there was no difference in the levels of correlation in the identified five variables between the two roles as defined in the research questions. The coefficient results are primarily based on the low sample response. Implications for leadership include effective leadership practices through mentoring, while providing a level of trust consistent with follower tasks and performance. These outcomes are critical for increased success as demonstrated through servant leader characteristics.</p>

Invoking the self-evaluation maintenance model (Tesser, 1988), I argue that a pay differential leads to both social undermining and work effort behaviors through envy. In addition, I further propose that an employees internal pay standing and his or her self-esteem moderate the effects of pay differential on employee social undermining and work effort. Using Taiwanese employee data of 614 dyads nested within 186 members of 46 teams collected with the round-robin survey method, I analyzed the data with social relations model (SRM), which was used in dyadic data analyses studies, and found that a pay differential was positively associated with social undermining behaviors and envy partially mediated the pay differential effect on social undermining behaviors. Moreover, pay differential effects on envy was stronger when the focal employees internal pay standing was low, and the envy effects on social undermining was stronger when the employee self-esteem was low.

<p> In recent years, several firms started offering online trade-in programs to buy back used products from consumers. Trade-in programs have caught the attention of consumers as well as investors. They provide a convenient outlet for consumers to unlock the residual value of their used products. Selling in a secondary market, such as eBay or Amazon&rsquo;s Marketplace, entails waiting and dealing with anonymous buyers, whereas trading in ensures timely payment and a smoother transaction. The business model of trade-in managers (i.e., firms offering trade-in programs) takes advantage of (i) the mismatch between the consumer&rsquo;s willingness to replace a product and its remaining useful life, and (ii) the varying willingness to pay across different consumer segments or geographical markets. In such an environment, the firm&rsquo;s ability to acquire large quantities at a lower price, and rapidly sell them at a higher price determines its fate. Clearly, the management of trade-in programs calls for the need to jointly manage inventory and pricing decisions. </p><p> This dissertation investigates the use of pricing in trade-in programs. In particular, it focuses on how the price of a trade-in rebate affects consumers and related firms. Furthermore, it studies how trade-in managers can use dynamic pricing in their daily operations.</p>

No description available.

Using fund mergers as shocks to fund size, I analyze return-to-scale properties of mutual funds. The results show that acquiring funds experience performance deterioration after abnormal size increases due to mergers. Funds that have a larger shock in size at the time of mergers are more likely to experience worse declines in performance after the events. In the post-merger period, investors redeem their shares from the poorly performing acquiring funds, and both the declining performance and persistent capital outflows lead to decreases in size. As fund size decreases, performance tends to recover. These findings provide evidence that is consistent with mutual funds having decreasing returns to scale and more broadly with theoretical models of delegated portfolio, such as Berk and Green (2004).

This dissertation consists of two chapters, each representing an independent study on Initial Public Offers. The first study tests the implications of some of the leading IPO underpricing models, using over five years of bid and allocation data on a Hong Kong sample of bookbuilt offerings, subject to clawback restrictions. I find that these allocation restrictions significantly modify the nature of the bookbuilding mechanism, reducing the amount of information underwriters are able to extract from road show participants. However, far from inducing a complete breakdown of the IPO price discovery process, I find that clawbacks enhance it. My tests show that when institutional investors have alternative ways to convey valuable pricing information to underwriters, the information gains from those alternative channels can more than offset the loss of road show information. Moreover, this can be done at no incremental cost in terms of underpricing, since the institutional investors who chose the alternative channels of can settle for larger allocations of shares with the standard underpricing levels. The second study evaluates the implications of three of the extant IPO models relating underpricing and aftermarket liquidity. Using the aforementioned sample of bookbuilt Hong Kong IPOs, this study tests the predictions of the these three models by evaluating not only the direction and sign of the theorized relation between underpricing and aftermarket liquidity, but also the role played by the shareholder base and information environment factors suspected of shaping this relation. The public availability of bid and allocation data in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has made it possible to conduct such an in-depth evaluation of these models, an undertaking not yet attempted by prior empirical research. Test results show little support for models that posit that aftermarket liquidity and liquidity risk are responsible for higher underpricing. In contrast, I find strong support for models that conceive observed underpricing as a significant driver of post-IPO liquidity.

The first essay investigates whether there is an informational linkage between option trading activities and underlying stock depths. I find that option trading activities and underlying stock depths are informative for predicting each other, indicating that a linkage does exist. I further find that underlying stock depths beyond best prices contain more information than same-side depths at best prices for predicting future option trading activities, which is corroborated by my additional finding that institutional investors are more likely to place underlying stock limit orders less aggressively than individual investors. My findings indicate that standing underlying stock limit orders play an important role in price discovery between options and underlying stock markets.The second essay empirically examines whether specialists face adverse selection and evaluates the performance of the six measures of adverse selection or trade informativeness. I find that specialists face adverse selection. I find that the Glosten-Harris (1988) measure is the most reliable, that the Huang-Stoll (1997) measure is the least reliable, and that the ranking among the George-Kaul-Nimalendran (1991), Lin-Sanger-Booth (1995), PIN (1996), and Hasbrouck (1991b) measures is ambiguous.