Thesis advisor: Janet E Helms / Asian-born racially and culturally dominant group members (ABDs) enjoy greater social, political, and economic power and privileges in their Asian home countries, but their migration to a White dominant society in the US changes their social status as presumed members of Asian American racial and ethnic groups. However, it is not known how ABDs’ disparate psychological experiences of social dominance across two cultural contexts affect their racial and acculturation-related experiences in the US. Thus, the current study investigated the interactions among social dominance orientation, experiences with anti-Asian racism, racial identity schemas, and acculturation strategies of ABDs. Asian-born individuals, self-identified majorities in their Asian home countries (N =192), completed a demographic questionnaire and measures that assessed their levels of social dominance orientation (SDO), racism distress levels, racial identity schemas, and acculturation strategies. Multivariate multiple regression analyses and simple linear moderation analyses were used to investigate relationships among SDO and racism distress and racial identity schemas and acculturation strategies. The findings showed that ABDs’ levels of SDO and racism distress were related to ABDs’ racial identity schemas. ABDs’ levels of SDO were positively related to their use of the Assimilation strategy in the US, but not to other types of acculturation strategies. Moreover, racism distress levels did not moderate the relationships between ABDs’ levels of SDO and their racial identity schemas, or between SDO and acculturation strategies. ABDs’ racial identity schemas and acculturation strategies were related and SDO moderated the relationships between racial identity and acculturation. In this exploratory study to examine Asian acculturation strategies and racial identity, the obtained results suggest that ABDs’ preferences for social hierarchy have implications for their racial and acculturation processes in the US. Limitations and implications of the results for research and clinical practice are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

The intention of this document is to explore the potential of lighting design to work as an orientation tool in relatively large-scale buildings, where users lack the environmental clues needed to create effective cognitive maps.Cognitive mapping is the process of mental structuring of an overall image or representation of the spaces and layout of a setting, for the purpose of wayfinding.The motivation of this thesis comes from observing the frustration experienced by students using the KTH Architecture building, documented through an empirical study and interviews.Literature review of human apprehension of spatial evidence that enable individuals to orient in the world is used to define the underlying structure for the design intervention.Understanding human cognition from an existential-phenomenological perspective through the work of Medard Boss and Ludwing Binswanger, together with the technical understanding of the objective fabric of the environment present in wayfinding literature are used to account for the lighting intervention on a studio floor from the KTH Architecture building.The thesis intention is to understand what architectural elements humans use to create a mental map for decision making when moving trough space, and use lighting rather than signage to accentuate, articulate and complement necessary architectural features for the process.

While intergroup contact is effective in reducing prejudice toward outgroup members, especially under positive conditions (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006), more research is needed to concentrate on how to avoid and overcome negative psychological experiences of intergroup contact, e.g., intergroup anxiety and discomfort (Dovidio, Kawakami, & Gaertner, 2002; Stephan & Stephan, 1985). The anxiety and discomfort people feel during intergroup contact largely involve ego concerns (Crocker & Garcia, 2006), or the implications of cross-group interactions for one’s self (see also Vorauer & Kumhyr, 2001). Therefore, it is suggested that one approach to improving peoples’ expectations for and experiences in intergroup contact is setting the goals that would shift their focus away from the self and toward learning about their outgroup partners. Adapting a goal distinction framework from the academic achievement literature (Dweck & Elliot, 1983; Grant & Dweck, 2003), we hypothesized that shifting one’s focus from performance to learning will reduce their negative affect and enhance group members’ expectations for and experiences in intergroup contact. In both studies 1 and 2, participants’ self-reported data did not converge with our original predictions. However, participants’ nonverbal behaviors observed in Study 2 evidenced support for the positive effect of the learning orientation on participants’ experiences in anticipation of and during intergroup contact.

Addressing the scarce knowledge of sustainability practices in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the purpose of this paper is to identify how and if there is a link between intellectual capital (IC) and entrepreneurial orientation (EO), and if this connection contributes to a company’s sustainability performance. Based on a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with Swedish SMEs, our findings show that despite the limitations these companies experience in terms of financial and human resources, a focus on tackling sustainability issues appears to inspire entrepreneurial behaviour. Specifically, seeking opportunities when it comes to product development or process improvement to incorporate sustainability, and exploring these opportunities without knowing the real outcome, are dimensions associated with an entrepreneurial orientation. Although the literature has discussed the positive effect that entrepreneurial orientation has on sustainability investments, as well as how intellectual capital contributes to the sustainability performance of a firm, we also found that entrepreneurial orientation can overcome limitations with intellectual capital and therefore contribute to the sustainability performance of SMEs.The link between EO and IC has not been studied before, nor how it may impact the adoption and maintenance of sustainability practices. But our findings further indicate that Swedish SMEs, operating in a country with a high Sustainability Index, have high requirements when it comes to sustainability, and with few resources, entrepreneurial behaviour is common to explore opportunities associated with sustainability. Furthermore, drawing on our findings we attempt to provide theoretical contributions in the field of entrepreneurship, sustainability, and intellectual capital, as well as practical recommendations that will help business owners, managers, and policymakers to better enable sustainability practices

The hospitality industry continuously seeks to recruit available talents from a variety of sources in order to provide uniquely satisfying services to customers. This has become a more challenging task with companies expanding their business into markets where cultures are dissimilar to those of the US, and the customers are more diversified. Although various studies have discussed different aspects of recruitment, they have not examined the relationship between recruitment messages and cultural difference extensively. Additionally, the current understanding with regard to person-organization (PO) fit perception is limited as well. This study aims to investigate the influence of context orientation, which is defined as the level of information explicitness in the transmitted communications (Hall, 1977), on job seekers' preference for recruitment messages, PO fit, and job application intention. Measurement items were developed based on a review of the literature. Using a paper-based questionnaire, a total of 350 college students majoring in hospitality and tourism management from three universities located in US and Taiwan, were sampled. Factor analysis was employed to identify the underlying structure among measurement items. Overall, eleven factors were extracted: six factors measured context orientation, three factors measured recruitment messages preference, and two factors measured PO fit. Structural equation modeling and multiple regression analysis were then incorporated to examine proposed relationships between constructs. Results from the statistical analysis indicated the relationships between context orientation, preferences for recruitment messages, PO fit, and job application intention were all positively related. Additionally, individuals who exhibited the qualities of low-context orientation were found more likely to prefer recruitment messages that incorporated a higher level of detail, precision, and directness. However, the proposed theoretical model was validated with the US group only. This study did not find support with the Taiwan group and with both groups combined. The findings provided some insight into the study of recruitment in the hospitality industry and its relationship with cultural differences. Further, the managerial implications were explored and a discussion of both the limitations of and suggestion for future research were discussed. / Ph. D.

<p>The morphologies and growth behavior of Cu₆Sn₅ intermetallic compound (IMC) formed between Sn-based solder and large-grain polycrystalline Cu substrate were systematically investigated. Hexagonal Cu₆Sn₅ grains were observed to form at certain reflow condition, which matches well with the literature results for IMC growing on single crystal substrate. The kinetics of IMC growth was also investigated and different mechanisms were proposed for different evolution stages. It was observed that facet formation should be a growth shape rather than an equilibrium shape, and the orientation relationship between Cu and Cu₆Sn₅ was studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and were visualized on inverse pole figure. </p>

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