This study was designed to explore the research question: How do alliance networks of a new venture affect the venture’s speed of internationalization? To address this question, this paper builds a theoretical framework, from the network perspective, to systematically examine the effects of multiple network constructs. The constructs included in the paper represent two different approaches in the network literature, the network content approach and the network structure approach. A set of longitudinal data of new ventures in the U.S. biotechnology industry was collected and employed for data analysis. The results show that both network content (number and features of alliances and characteristics of partners) and network structure (network density) are important to new ventures’ speed of internationalization. As an important finding of this study, the moderating role of network density in new ventures’ speed of internationalization is contingent on the type of knowledge transferred in the network.

In their book, Gigerenzer and Selten (2001) described human being as an organism that adaptively reacts to its environment by selecting ecologically rational heuristics that are contingent on task demands; that is, adaptivity assumption. Empirical evidence of the adaptivity assumption is, however, mixed. In this paper, I review prior experiments related to testing the adaptivity assumption and criticize some of the past findings. From this criticism, the research questions are formed. The research objective of this paper is to test whether or not people choose their decision strategy as a reaction to environmental conditions. In this dissertation, the use of the take-the-best (TTB) heuristic is investigated for different treatments, which are information structure, information cost, and social rationality. Participants go through 180 trials of a pair comparison task. Using the proportion of TTB trials as a dependent variable, three hypotheses regarding the effects of three treatments are tested. The results of the experiments indicate that only the social rationality is a significant factor in promoting the TTB heuristic. Besides the test of the hypothesis, an exploratory analysis of participants’ data is presented.

This dissertation examines the development and renewal of capabilities through acquisitions by drawing from absorptive capacity literature (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; Zahra and George, 2002). This dissertation examines four interrelated questions concerning (1) the impact of acquisition experience on a firm’s absorptive capacity, (2) the role of absorptive capacity in the renewal of capabilities through acquisition, (3) the impact of capabilities renewal through acquisition on a firm’s choice of future growth mode, and (4) the impact of capabilities renewal through acquisition on post-acquisition performance. These questions are examined using FDIC data and surveys administered to top managers of banks that conducted acquisitions between October 2004 and October 2006. Results of this study suggest that a firm’s past experience with internal development and acquisition impacts the development of its absorptive capacity. Furthermore, results suggest that absorptive capacity has multiple dimensions and that the respective absorptive capacity dimensions have unique independent and joint effects on a firm’s ability to renew its capabilities through acquisition. Results also suggest that the impact of the change in capabilities on the firm’s choice of future growth mechanism largely depends on the nature of capability that changed through acquisition. When firms experience an improvement or decline in important revenue-generating capabilities that are fundamental to firm performance, the firm is more likely to pursue future acquisition to either compensate for its inability to grow by its own internal means or to exploit its improved capability in a new setting. However, when management capabilities or operational capabilities experience an improvement or a decline, the firms is less likely to pursue future acquisition in order to avoid taxing the already strained capability or to take time to fully internalize the improved capability. Results also suggest that the change in capabilities through acquisition is positively associated with a change in post-acquisition performance.

While the consequences of political distortions on fiscal cyclicality have been thoroughly analyzed, there are few studies that specify which political variables create these distortions. In this paper I use political-economy theories of the deficit as a basis as to why fiscal cyclicality deviates from what is predicted by tax-smoothing and Keynesian models. Specifically, I examine the effects of political polarization, the years an incumbent has been in office, party affiliation, and fiscal federalism to partition how political characteristics affect fiscal responses to changes in GDP growth. I find that governments tend to be more responsive to changes in GDP growth further away from elections, left leaning governments are more responsive than right leaning governments, mixed results for political polarization, and that unitary governments are more responsive than federalist governments.

abstract: Including a covariate can increase power to detect an effect between two variables. Although previous research has studied power in mediation models, the extent to which the inclusion of a mediator will increase the power to detect a relation between two variables has not been investigated. The first study identified situations where empirical and analytical power of two tests of significance for a single mediator model was greater than power of a bivariate significance test. Results from the first study indicated that including a mediator increased statistical power in small samples with large effects and in large samples with small effects. Next, a study was conducted to assess when power was greater for a significance test for a two mediator model as compared with power of a bivariate significance test. Results indicated that including two mediators increased power in small samples when both specific mediated effects were large and in large samples when both specific mediated effects were small. Implications of the results and directions for future research are then discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Psychology 2013

The global economic crisis that began in 2007 affected the lives of many people in the UK. Most existing research into the effects of ‘the Great Recession’ on well-being takes an economic or subjective approach to assessing the impacts of hard times. This thesis takes an alternative perspective: the Capabilities Approach (CA) is used to assess the effects of economic crisis on people’s freedom to lead flourishing lives. The study develops a theoretical framework that combines the CA with concepts from Philosophy and Social Psychology - the theories of practical reason and personal values. These concepts are then operationalised using data from the European Social Survey and quantitative methods, including latent variable techniques and structural equation models. The study reveals that economic crisis had a two-fold effect on well-being, resulting in (1) reduced opportunities to achieve valuable outcomes and (2) diminished expectations, aspirations and goals. These effects were concentrated among socio-economically vulnerable groups, including those on low incomes and the long-term sick and disabled: the findings show that economic crisis compounded existing socio-economic inequalities. The research makes three main contributions. First, it demonstrates theoretically and empirically that subjective well-being is not a reliable indicator for evaluating the effects of hard times on well-being; nor is it, more generally, a suitable guide for public policy. Second, it demonstrates a new methodological approach to identifying latent ‘value orientations’ within Schwartz’s framework of personal values. Third, in combining the CA with theories of practical reason and personal values, this research offers a new approach to conceptualising and measuring the agency aspect of capability.

of the Ph.D. Thesis Netrdová, P.: Current trends in quantitative analysis of geographical data: potentialities and limitations of spatial analysis The thesis is a contribution to the discussion about the potentialities of the quantitative approach in geography. It follows the current trends in quantitative analysis of geographical data, specifically spatial analysis, particularly from the perspective of changes in the concept and character of applied methods and their possible contribution in geographical research. Due to the research focus of the author, the entire work is focused primarily on the issue of using quantitative methods in terms of social geography. Attention is focused particularly on statistically spatial analyses, which are the most widely used techniques in social geography, with a wide range of possible applications. One of the goals of this work is to bring the current development in quantitative geography closer to the Czech academic community, and thus contribute to the increased awareness of the potentialities of the application of quantitative methods and spatial analyses in geographical research. Methodological problems in the analysis of spatial data, theoretical changes in the concept of quantitative analysis and also newly emerging quantitative methods have not so far...

In this thesis, three culturally similar yet distinct Chinese societies, China, Taiwan, and Singapore, are analysed in the context of their (in)tolerance towards homosexuality. Although they share many cultural similarities rooted in Chinese cultural heritage, these three societies are not always socially and politically homogenous. Differences in the political and social systems among the three societies contribute to divergences in social tolerance of homosexuality. Therefore, social tolerance of homosexuality and the social mechanisms behind it are explored in this thesis in order to comprehend the three Chinese societies better. The thesis starts with an introduction to the primary purpose of the research and contextualises homosexuality in historically traditional Chinese culture. It then discerns whether Chinese people are more or less homophobic compared with others on a global scale. Next, through quantitative approaches and under Inglehart’s postmaterialist theoretical framework, the research examines the socioeconomic and sociopolitical heterogeneity among Chinese societies. Overall, the findings confirm that homosexuality is still a form of identity politics in Chinese societies, and political and economic structures profoundly influence the tolerance of homosexuality. Also, Mainland China displays some unusual patterns with respect to the relationship between the economy and the tolerance, which sheds new light on the particularity of Chinese politics. / Graduate

Corporate scandals have disrupted the trust and confidence in leaders over the last two decades. Researchers have not addressed the spiritual intelligence of leaders and the role it might play in influencing organizational trust. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the role of spiritual intelligence in leader influence on organizational trust. The research question addressed the role of spiritual intelligence in leader influence on organizational trust within a global insurance company. The conceptual framework was based on intelligence theory, leadership theory, spiritual intelligence theory, trust theory, and servant leadership philosophy. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with a purposive sample of 16 employees from a global insurance company. Participant selection included senior leaders in the organization or employees who reported to one of those senior leaders. Data were coded, analyzed, and interpreted manually to identify 5 themes using the methodological framework of reflective lifeworld research: emotional intelligence, servant leadership, integrity, trustworthiness, and moral compass. Findings showed that spiritual intelligence plays a critical role in leaders' capacity to make good decisions, build relationships, and provide a sense of empowerment. Senior leaders who leverage their spiritual intelligence may create an organizational culture of trust and empowerment, and may become role models for others to follow.

Abstract Education policymakers in Nigeria lack the knowledge on the views of Niger Delta youths, who rely on entrepreneurship education and its contents to fight poverty and unemployment in their area. This study's purpose was to gain deeper understanding of the views of Niger Delta youths on entrepreneurship education, its contents, and its role in fighting their area's high rate of poverty and unemployment. This study was framed and guided by three key concepts that focus on the challenges of poor communities: youth unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa, entrepreneurship education, and youth entrepreneurship. To address this issue properly, a qualitative multiple-case study was designed. Data were collected from multiple sources: semi structured interviews, archival data from government labor reports , and the researcher's field notes.Data analysis was completed through thematic and cross-case synthesis analysis. . The findings showed that the Niger Delta is less privileged in financial availability, deepened in economic recessions under unemployment, poverty, inflation, hunger and starvations, with less chance of obtaining education, without qualification for employable white-collar jobs, neglected by the government of Nigeria, irrespective that Niger Delta region is the city of petroleum production that gives approximately 95% of Nigerian national revenue annually. With the adoption of entrepreneurship education in their school system and through training and skill acquisition, the Niger Delta would contribute to poverty alleviation, increased business career ownership, and meet the daily economic demands of their families, and be able to have a voice in social change. Social change can potentially be achieved through economic restoration and the enhancement of youths' education and employment status, which in turn would help decrease the rate of poverty.