Workplace bullying is an epidemic in the United States. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to increase understanding of employees' lived experiences of bullying in an organizational culture. Schein's organizational cultural model provided the conceptual framework for the study. The research question addressed how individuals who were bullied or witnessed bullying in the New York State area perceived their experiences within the organizational culture. Data collection included a researcher's journal and in-depth interviews with 25 participants. Data were analyzed using Moustakas's modified van Kaam method of phenomenological analysis. From the data analysis process, three categories of bullying emerged and revealed nine themes that exposed the participants' experiences and perceptions of bullying and the organizational culture in the workplace. Findings indicated that witnesses and victims feel emotional, physical, and psychological effects from exposure to workplace bullying. Results also provided leaders with information that organizational culture, leadership, and management are related to workplace bullying. Organizational leaders and managers may use these findings to support positive social change by disclosing the effects that workplace bullying has on all members of the organization. Results may be used to develop interventions and anti-bullying policies to help employees address workplace bullying in their organizations, thereby ensuring a more positive work environment. Conducting additional research related to each of the themes may lead to a deeper understanding of how to address the many factors that facilitate bullying in the workplace.

Job satisfaction and employee turnover affect the health care industry in the form of overworked staff, inadequate health care, and loss of profits. In 2015, the United States health care industry had a shortage of over 923,000 registered nurses. Health care organizations lose an estimated $1.4 to $2.1 billion each year because of registered nurse (RN) turnover. These factors indicate that some managers lack the strategies to increase job satisfaction and reduce RN turnover. The purpose of this single case study was to use the Herzberg 2-factor theory to explore strategies 5 health care leaders use to improve nurses' job satisfaction and reduce voluntary employee turnover in a health care facility in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Participant selection was purposeful and based on their experiences implementing effective employee job satisfaction strategies. Data collection occurred via face-to-face semistructured interviews with 5 managers and the review of organizational policy documents. Data were analyzed using inductive coding of phrases, word frequency searchers, and theme interpretation. Three themes emerged: autonomy and supportive leadership improved job satisfaction, continued education improved job satisfaction and improved RN retention, and competitive pay and bonuses improved workplace satisfaction and increased workplace retention. Increasing job satisfaction and reducing voluntary turnover of RNs contributes to social change by providing health care managers with strategies that can lead to organizational growth and increased employment opportunities, which might promote prosperity for local families and the community.

Women all across the United States who work for public housing authorities greatly desire to have more career advancement opportunities. As the number of women in the workforce and moving into management positions continues to increase yearly, current cross-gender mentorship programs, even if available are often outdated and unresponsive to the demographic change. This study focused on women's careers, mentoring, and the barriers to their career progression. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore participant perceptions perception of mentoring and its effects on career advancement for women who work in public housing management to open a deeper dialogue about women and gender bias in management in traditionally male-dominated workplaces. Participants consisted of 10 senior property management managers currently employed in Florida and Georgia public housing authorities. Data collection was accomplished via an open-ended semi-structured interview protocol and recorded to ensure validity and integrity of the interview; NVivo 11 software was used to assist with the coding, categorization, and identification of recurrent patterns. In depth analysis of the coded data further revealed three essential themes of mentoring, professional leadership training programs, and access to those opportunities were critical to career progression but often unavailable or ineffective. The participants revealed that same-gender mentoring relationships were more successful than cross-gender. Participants almost unanimously agreed that mentoring and advance leadership training opportunities are critical to employee career progression for any employee, and particularly to women in male-dominated industries. Increasing the dialogue to develop more comprehensive and available cross-gender mentoring programs could be the catalyst for meeting the challenges of leading in the midst of the changing workforce.

Many small farm farmers in the United States are reluctant to use information communication technology (ICT) and e-commerce, yet little is known about their decision-making rationale. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore U.S. small farm farmers' decision making, specifically, regarding use or non-use of e-commerce, in managing farm operations by using the Miles and Snow's typology of strategic management. The purposive sample consisted of 30 small farm farming operations in Kansas and Missouri with revenue less than $250,000 per annum. Data analysis was 3-tiered and involved use of horizontalization, thematic clustering, and synthesis. Using the Van Kaam method of data analysis, 4 themes emerged: (a) small farm farmers have a family-oriented farming experience with complex factors that lead to the reliance on fellow farmers for information and support; (b) small farm farmers rely on fellow farmers for advice and support as well as the use of established procedures in their farming operations; (c) while small farm farmers see the value in ICT in farming, many view it as either impractical or non-applicable for their own operations; and (d) small farm farmers recognized that ICT has a positive impact on farms productivity, income, and growth. However, some small farm farmers were reluctant to adopt ICT due to expenditure, location, and farm size concerns. Study findings also highlighted a few business models such as community-supported agriculture investment that small farm farmers use to enhance their daily farm operations. With insights from the study, small farm farmers in the United States may be able to improve their understanding of e-commerce applications, which could potentially lead to increased annual profits for these farmers, new customers and consistent product pricing for consumers.

The insurance industry continues to experience financial scandals despite increasing pressure to integrate sound governance practices. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the corporate governance strategies insurance business leaders used to support financial performance. The targeted population consisted of 7 business leaders from 7 insurance companies in Austria who have used corporate governance strategies successfully to support financial performance. The conceptual framework of this study was the agency theory. Data for the study were gathered from face-to-face semistructured interviews and a review of company documents. The data were analyzed using Yin's 5 nonlinear interlinked steps for assembling, disassembling, reconvening, inferring, and formulating conclusions. Three themes emerged from the data analysis: the need for a robust risk-management system, effective internal control mechanisms, and consistent application and compliance with corporate governance principles and regulations. The implications for positive social change include the potential for business leaders in the local community to restore confidence in the stability and financial performance of the insurance industry by establishing corporate governance structures with a robust risk-management system and processes that support transparency and accountability.

Small retail business leaders use online marketing to connect with consumers and the community. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the strategies some small retail business leaders use to implement online marketing to increase sales. Data were collected from 4 small retail business owners who successfully used strategies to implement online marketing in California. The conceptual framework for this study was Rogers's diffusion of innovation theory. Data collection techniques and sources were semistructured, face-to-face interviews, and review of public business documents, company websites, social media websites, and analytical tools. A thematic analysis of the data yielded 4 themes: social media platforms and strategies, online marketing strategies and challenges, online content strategies, and follow-up strategies. Business leaders of small retail organizations who want to increase revenue, remain competitive, overcome challenges associated with online marketing, and increase communication by implementing new technology might elect to align with the strategies identified in this study. The implications for positive social change include the opportunity for small retail business leaders to increase revenue while providing more job opportunities to benefit employees, employees' families, and the community.

Owners of small businesses contribute approximately 39% of the gross domestic product and create 2 out of every 3 new jobs, but only 25% of startup small businesses stay afloat after 5 years. Guided by the resource-based view theory of the firm, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies small auto dealership business owners use to sustain businesses in New York City. Data were collected through semistructured interviews from 3 participants who owned small auto dealership businesses and succeeded beyond 5 years. Data analysis entailed using coding techniques and cluster analysis. Member checking was used to strengthen the credibility and trustworthiness of the interpretation of participants' responses. The 3 themes that emerged in the final report related to small business owners' strategies for success, influence of customer satisfaction on small business survival, and influence of prior industrial experience on small business owners' success. Findings from this study may contribute to social change by indicating some strategies that business owners use to sustain business and mitigate harmful effects of job loss. Data from this study may contribute to the prosperity of small business owners, their employees, and local community. The beneficiaries of this research include small business owners, practitioners, and policy makers.

There is an unwarranted number of men and women that experience an unwanted sexual contact occurrence while on active duty, that is not reported through the military's sexual harassment or sexual assault system channels. A reporting system that is cumbersome and ineffective may hinder a leader's perception in implementing effective sexual harassment and sexual assault policies and procedures. The purpose of this descriptive multiple case study was to explore the ways a reporting system influenced the decision making processes of leaders and the importance of a fluent information flow through communication channels regarding the reporting system for sexual misconduct within an organization. The conceptual framework for the study was comprised of Freire's dialogical pedagogy theory, leadership decision making, and Bandura's social cognitive theory in cultural context. The research questions addressed the perceptions of 10 retired, senior military leaders, regarding how a leaders' decision making processes may be influenced by a reporting system. The data sources included interviews, observations, journaling, and historical documents. The results suggested that leaders' decision making processes were motivated by the following factors: (a) reporting process, (b) leader decision making processes, (c) gender in the workplace setting, (d) reporting deterrent factors, (e) hostile work environments, (f) leader contributions, and (g) social comparisons. The results of this study contribute to positive social change through their potential to be used to deter or eliminate sexual misconduct at the individual, organizational, and societal levels.

The aim of this study is to combine queer theories with quantitative methods. In social sciences, queer theories are being widely and increasingly used. Quantitative method is also widely used, and as a traditional method it can be regarded as a cornerstone in social sciences, sociology in particular. However, the two perspectives, queer theories and quantitative method, seem at a first glance to be very different in their understanding of social phenomena. Queer theories have, with some exceptions, mainly focused on qualitative research concerning such phenomena as sexuality, while the field of science is quite diverse. In this field, except from qualitative, queer research, there are also quantitative studies that use surveys to gather information.This study combines the two perspectives, thus creating a study inspired by queer theories and focusing on the methodological problems that occur when embracing queer theories’ elements of difference and social constructivism, and using a method which aims to standardize… The study also explores if the descriptions of sex and sexuality proposed by queer theories are reflected in the population. Using surveys, information have been gathered from students of five different institutions at Uppsala University.

The choice of firm boundaries is one of the most fundamental elements of organizational strategy. It determines industry positioning, enables the development and leverage of distinctive capabilities, and ultimately establishes the basis for sustainable competitive advantage. In the modern economy, organizational unbundling and vertical disintegration has become a recurrent theme across many industries, reflecting a major transformation in industrial organization and firm strategy. What are the drivers of this modern trend of vertical disintegration? How do we reconcile this modern phenomenon with the vertical integration logic of previous decades? Beginning with Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) as the underlying framework, we draw from the Information Processing, Coordination and Capabilities literatures to develop an integrated theoretical framework for examining and rationalizing the determinants of vertical disintegration. The recent restructuring of the US electric utility industry provides a suitable empirical context to undertake a rigorous examination of this theoretical framework: a context that manifests institutional heterogeneity, high levels of uncertainty, intense coordination requirements, and a variety of competing market and organizational institutions in transition. We employ multi-level modeling techniques, to account for firm heterogeneity and time-variant institutional parameters in our longitudinal panel data, thus allowing for a richer analysis of institutional effects. The results show that there has been systematic vertical disintegration in the electric utility industry over the period of study, 1994-2002, influenced by both firm-level and state/federal-level institutional factors as well as structural market attributes, which serve as proxies for demand and supply uncertainty. Using IT investment intensity as a proxy for firm-level IT Capability, we also established an overall significant negative effect of IT on vertical integration, consistent with previous studies about the effects of IT on firm size. The main findings confirmed several standard TCE propositions, and also address several known shortcomings, most notably the ambiguity in the treatment of uncertainty. In addition, the robust examination of the empirical evidence associated with the restructuring of the Electric Utility industry allowed us to isolate the relative effects of various institutional mechanisms and structural market attributes. These findings help to illuminate the understanding and ultimately the programming of deregulation effects.