The objective of this research paper was to examine the possibility of active investment out-performing the passive investment by using a combination-based investment style for an extensive period. The combination-based style included financial-ratio-based style, market-based style and behavioural-finance-based style in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange during the period from 1984 to 2014. The four-dimension optimisation exercise based on the combination-based style was done in the in-sampling period and the result was tested in the out-of-sample period. The results have confirmed that the combination-based style out-performed the benchmark by 13% per annum over a 14 year period, which suggested that active managers could out-perform passive investment. The out-performance could further improve by recalibrating the optimisation exercise throughout the out-of-sample period to ensure the investment style learns from and incorporates with new data. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Leaders' actions often speak louder than words, and when a pattern of incongruity between leaders' espoused values and their actions is perceived by subordinates, the individual and organizational consequences can be significant. Behavioral integrity (BI), defined as a perceived pattern of alignment (or misalignment) between a target's words and deeds (Simons, 2002: 19), has recently emerged as an interesting organizational construct, predicting a number of important outcomes. BI represents a potentially critical antecedent to trust formation, and may be an important cognitive mechanism in other related areas of interest (i.e., cynicism, deviant behavior, accountability, and political skill). This dissertation conceptually discusses potential antecedents to BI perceptions (i.e., managers' political skill and felt accountability intensity), and empirically examines the causal paths relating subordinates' BI perceptions to their trust in their managers, cynicism toward the organization, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, task performance, and deviant behavior. In addition, it proposed that organizational cynicism mediated the relationship between trust and attitudinal, but not behavioral, outcomes. The structural equation model confirmed BI's role as a significant antecedent of trust, which, in turn, was related to cynicism, commitment, and deviant behavior. In addition, cynicism demonstrated the hypothesized distinction between attitudinal and behavioral outcomes by mediating only the role between trust and both job satisfaction and commitment, but not between trust and deviant behavior or performance. This study answered a number of calls from different research streams, empirically tested BI relationships heretofore only conceptually proposed, and expanded the boundaries of BI literature to include cynicism and objectively-measured deviant behavior. Additionally, it provided further evidence for the unique role of organizational cynicism in trust-based outcomes. Finally, this study examined a number of exploratory constructs (i.e., effort, tension, political skill, and LMX) in an effort to initiate future BI-related research. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2010. / June 25, 2010. / Behavioral Integrity, Integrity, Leadership, Ethics, Deviant Behavior, Political Skill, Cynicism, Character / Includes bibliographical references. / Gerald R. Ferris, Professor Directing Dissertation; Michael K. Brady, University Representative; Pamela L. Perrewé, Committee Member; Wayne A. Hochwarter, Committee Member.

Today, organizations in different sectors are adopting or are expected to adopt Internet-based virtual worlds for a variety of business purposes. As the Internet has grown to become an important part of conducting business, virtual worlds, which provide a 3-D interactive experience, can be expected to follow a similar growth trajectory. However, little academic research has been done on organizational adoption of virtual worlds. In particular, most of these studies are confined to conceptual research. In addition, to the best of my knowledge, no academic research has been focused on why organizations are willing or unwilling to adopt virtual worlds. To fill these gaps, this study investigated empirically what factors influence organizational adoption of virtual worlds. By integrating the innovation diffusion theory, institutional theory, and the findings from prior studies on organizational adoption of the Internet into the TOE framework, this study developed a research model that posits predictors for virtual world adoption within an organizations' contexts that influence organizational adoption: technological, organizational, and environmental. The research model was tested using survey data from 130 organizations that had not adopted virtual worlds. Surprisingly, none of technological factors were found to play any role in organizational intent to adopt virtual worlds. In addition, among the organizational factors, only organizational readiness was found to play a role. Interestingly, this study found that environmental factors play a key function in influencing organizational intent to adopt virtual worlds. Notably, external institutional pressures were found to have strong effects on organizational intent to adopt virtual worlds. This study provides several theoretical and practical implications. On the theoretical side, this study enhances the understanding of organizational adoption of virtual worlds by explaining empirically organizational intent to adopt virtual worlds. In addition, this study offers strong empirical evidence for the applicability of institutional theory to yield an understanding of organizational adoption of virtual worlds and other new IT. Lastly, this study provides empirical evidence that it is important to examine environmental factors in studying organizational adoption of IT innovation. On the practical side, this study suggests that managers should pay attention to the capabilities of their organizations regarding the adoption of virtual worlds before they commit to such action. In addition, managers may need to pay attention to the institutional factors in their decisions to adopt virtual worlds. This may help their organizations avoid being left out of their respective industries or foster their image and reputation within those industries. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2009. / August 12, 2009. / Institutional Theory, TOE Framework, Organizational Adoption, Virtual Worlds / Includes bibliographical references. / Joey F. George, Professor Directing Dissertation; Bruce T. Lamont, University Representative; David B. Paradice, Committee Member; Ashley A. Bush, Committee Member.

Coefficient Omega was introduced by McDonald (1978) as a reliability coefficient of composite scores for the congeneric model. Interval estimation (Neyman, 1937) on coefficient Omega provides a range of plausible values which is likely to capture the population reliability of composite scores. The Wald method, likelihood method, and bias-corrected and accelerated bootstrap method are three methods to construct confidence interval for coefficient Omega (e.g., Cheung, 2009b; Kelley & Cheng, 2012; Raykov, 2002, 2004, 2009; Raykov & Marcoulides, 2004; Padilla & Divers, 2013). Very limited number of studies on the evaluation of these three methods can be found in the literature (e.g., Cheung, 2007, 2009a, 2009b; Kelley & Cheng, 2012; Padilla & Divers, 2013). No simulation study has been conducted to evaluate the performance of these three methods for interval construction on coefficient Omega. In the current simulation study, I assessed these three methods by comparing their empirical performance on interval estimation for coefficient Omega. Four factors were included in the simulation design: sample size, number of items, factor loading, and degree of nonnormality. Two thousands datasets were generated in R 2.15.0 (R Core Team, 2012) for each condition. For each generated dataset, three approaches (i.e., the Wald method, likelihood method, and bias-corrected and accelerated bootstrap method) were used to construct 95% confidence interval of coefficient Omega in R 2.15.0. The results showed that when the data were multivariate normally distributed, three methods performed equally well and coverage probabilities were very close to the prespecified .95 confidence level. When the data were multivariate nonnormally distributed, coverage probabilities decreased and interval widths became wider for all three methods as the degree of nonnormality increased. In general, when the data departed from the multivariate normality, the BCa bootstrap method performed better than the other two methods, with relatively higher coverage probabilities, while the Wald and likelihood methods were comparable and yielded narrower interval width than the BCa bootstrap method. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester, 2014. / August 11, 2014. / coefficient omega, confidence interval, reliability, structural equation modeling / Includes bibliographical references. / Yanyun Yang, Professor Directing Thesis; Betsy Becker, Committee Member; Russell Almond, Committee Member.

Accountability is an important organizational phenomenon that has been recognized by both academicians and practitioners as a fundamental element in the successful operation of organizations (Tetlock, 1985; 1992; Ettore, 1992). Prior research has focused on different ways in which individuals are affected by accountability conditions. However, research has heretofore overlooked the possibility that individuals seek informal accountability for others. Phenomenological researchers (Tetlock, 1985, 1992), Frink and Klimoski (1998) called for the development models of accountability that include both external (to the person) and internal conditions, objective and subjective factors, and formal accountability mechanisms (e.g., accounting procedures) and informal accountability mechanisms (e.g., norms and culture). The current research has attempted to enfold these ideas as well as to examine informal accountability for others as a tool of social influence with attendant job and individual outcomes. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Management in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2006. / July 26, 2006. / Accountability, Others / Includes bibliographical references. / Wayne A. Hochwarter, Professor Directing Dissertation; G. Stacy Sirmans, Outside Committee Member; Gerald R. Ferris, Committee Member; Jack Fiorito, Committee Member; Angela T. Hall, Committee Member.

The purpose of this research was to examine the role of cross-border knowledge transfer in international acquisition performance. Multinational corporations need to manage resource flows within complex networks of relationships between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries. Geographic distance and cultural differences between units in global networks make managing these flows a challenging enterprise, particularly when flows concern intangible expertise and capabilities from and to recently acquired foreign firms. Building upon the large body of acquisition implementation research, and recent developments on the knowledge-based view of the firm, this study developed a general model of antecedents, and performance consequences of knowledge transfer in international acquisitions. The theoretical model was examined using a cross-sectional research design. Primary questionnaire data from 121 executives from U.S. multinationals that acquired foreign firms between 1998 and 2000 were supplemented with secondary data from various archival sources. Several structural equation models were analyzed using LISREL 8.3 to test the theoretical model. One of the strongest results of this study was a significant positive effect of knowledge transfer on international acquisition performance. This finding confirms assumptions made by several acquisition researchers, and provides important support for the knowledge-based view. If knowledge transfer is critical to attain international acquisition success, then it becomes important to identify which factors increase knowledge transfer intensity in international acquisitions. The theoretical model that was developed in this dissertation predicted that knowledge transfer is a function of absorptive capacity and combinative capability that characterize the acquisition. Absorptive capacity refers to the capability to understand and use new knowledge. Results from this study indicate that two dimensions of absorptive capacity, available complementary knowledge and prior related experience, are both important antecedents of knowledge transfer. In the context of distant acquisitions, the prior target country experience is particularly critical, while the prior acquisition experience is most important for nearby acquisitions. Combinative capability refers to a firm's capacity to combine and recombine existing knowledge. The theoretical model predicted that this capacity is a function of the opportunity, motivation, and ability to share knowledge. The provision of the opportunity to share knowledge through acquisition integration, and rich communication strongly related to knowledge transfer in the sample of international acquisitions. The findings also direct attention to the importance of providing the motivation to share knowledge through key employee retention, and status bestowal of acquired employees. The third dimension of combinative capability, which comprised the ability to share knowledge through mutual understanding of acquisition partners, could not be confirmed. The results indicate that, within the international context, foreignness is a liability that generated impediments to developing knowledge sharing opportunities. Moreover, contrary to expectations, the effect of knowledge transfer on international acquisition success was stronger for nearby acquisitions than for distant acquisitions. Exploratory analyses indicated that this may be a function of the greater importance of preserving knowledge, rather than transferring knowledge, in the context of distant acquisitions. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Management in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2004. / February 12, 2004. / Mergers and acquisitions, knowledge transfer, international strategic management / Includes bibliographical references. / Bruce T. Lamont, Professor Directing Dissertation; Gary Knight, Outside Committee Member; James G. Combs, Committee Member; K. Michele Kacmar, Committee Member; David J. Ketchen, Jr., Committee Member.

Building on resource dependence theory, this dissertation seeks to explain why target firm directors are retained from the target organization and if this retention has an effect on post-acquisition performance. Both acquisition level characteristics and director level characteristics were assessed in a sample of 173 acquisitions to examine director retention. Findings indicate that power imbalance, relative board size, acquisition relatedness, and director interlocks influence target director retention. No support for a link between director retention and performance was found. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Management in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2009. / July 21, 2009. / Target Directors, Mergers, Acquisitions, Acquired Directors, Director Retention, Boards of Directors, Resource Dependence / Includes bibliographical references. / Annette L. Ranft, Professor Directing Dissertation; Michael Brady, Outside Committee Member; Bruce T. Lamont, Committee Member; Timothy R. Holcomb, Committee Member.

A recent trend in organizational research has shifted our focus toward dysfunctional behaviors in the workplace. We understand how and why many employees behave badly, and we acknowledge that at times, supervisors are to blame. Abusive supervision represents one such body of literature describing the effects of hostile management on employees and organizations. Our knowledge of the outcomes of this type of supervision is sound and based on an increasingly large number of investigative studies. However, we still have little awareness of the reasons abusive supervision continues to occur. The present study sought to provide an enhanced understanding of the antecedents to abusive supervision. Building on the work of three previous studies and incorporating recent theoretical developments, this research examined the effects of justice violations, emotions, and subordinate behaviors on abusive supervision. Experimental findings indicated that supervisors' experiences of interpersonal justice from their own superiors determined their interpretations of and responses to subordinates' behaviors through an underlying emotional mechanism. In addition, this study provided support for the Affective Model of Justice Reasoning and introduced a new lens through which to view the entire process of abusive supervision. The implications include a deeper understanding of the reasons supervisors engage in behaviors that are detrimental to their employees and organizations, and a more informed picture of the far-reaching effects of organizational justice. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2010. / December 11, 2009. / Displaced Aggression, Anger, Emotions, Affect, Organizational Justice, Abusive Supervision / Includes bibliographical references. / Pamela L. Perrewé, Professor Directing Dissertation; Robert Brymer, University Representative; Gerald R. Ferris, Committee Member; Jack T. Fiorito, Committee Member; Chad Van Iddekinge, Committee Member.

This dissertation integrated the role of emotions into the ethical decision-making process, which traditionally has been conceptualized as an exclusively logical process. The study examined the process by which the arousal of emotion impacts individual moral deliberation and ultimately moral behavior. Although most existing research emphasizes the cognitive elements of ethical decision-making, this study provides evidence to support a new conceptualization of moral deliberation -- one in which emotion is a necessary component leading to ethical decisions and ethical behavior. Theory and research in the areas of ethical decision-making and affective events offer insights into how emotion specifically impacts moral deliberation and behavior. Based on these insights, a model of affective morality is developed and tested. The model suggests that ethical decisions and behavioral outcomes depend upon the content and degree of individual affective reactions in response to ethical situations. The sample used to examine the proposed model consisted of 227 college students from 5 different disciplines at a large 4-year public research university. The results provided empirical evidence, which suggests that peer influence is a stronger determinant of ethical behavior than individual affective reactions. Specifically, an individual seems to be more likely to engage in ethical behavior when his/her peers also behave ethically. Although, affective reactions were not a significant antecedent to ethical behavior, the form of the relationship observed does suggest that moral deliberation may be shaped by individual affective reactions and future study is warranted. Furthermore, the results suggest that previous conceptualizations of moral deliberation have been incomplete in their neglect to include the role of affect or emotion. Both theoretical and practical implications of these research findings are discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2004. / May 19, 2004. / Affective Events Theory, Moral Deliberation, Business Ethics / Includes bibliographical references. / K. Michele Kacmar, Professor Directing Dissertation; John Corrigan, Outside Committee Member; Monica Hurdal, Committee Member; Dave Ketchen, Committee Member; Pamela Perrewé, Committee Member.

Cancer is a deadly, complex disease with 14 million new cases diagnosed every year and the endeavour to develop a cure is a global multidisciplinary effort. The complexity of cancer and the resulting vast volume of data derived from its research necessitates a robust and cutting-edge system of mathematical and statistical modelling. This thesis proposes novel mathematical models of quantification and modelling applied to heterogeneous preclinical cancers, focusing on the translation of animal studies into patients with particular emphasis on tumour stroma. The first section of this thesis (quantification) will present different techniques of extracting and quantifying data from bioanalytical assays. The overall aim will be to present and discuss potential methods of obtaining data regarding tumour volume, stromal morphology, stromal heterogeneity, and oxygen distribution. Firstly, a 3D scanning technique will be discusses. This technique aims to assess tumour volume in mice more precisely than the current favoured method (callipers) and record any cutaneous symptoms as well, with the potential to revolutionise tumour growth analysis. Secondly, a series of image processing methods will be presented which, when applied to tumour histopathology, demonstrate that tumour stromal morphology and its microenvironment play a key role in tumour physiology. Lastly, it will be demonstrated through the integration of in-vitro data from various sources that oxygen and nutrient distribution in tumours is very irregular, creating metabolic niches with distinct physiologies within a single tumour. Tumour volume, oxygen, and stroma are the three aspects central to the successful modelling of tumour drug responses over time. The second section of this thesis (modelling) will feature a mathematical oxygen-driven model - utilising 38 cell lines and 5 patient-derived animal models - that aims to demonstrate the relationship between homogeneous oxygen distribution and preclinical tumour growth. Finally, all concepts discussed will be merged into a computational tumour-stroma model. This cellular automaton (stochastic) model will demonstrate that tumour stroma plays a key role in tumour growth and has both positive (at a molecular level) and negative (at both a molecular and tissue level) effects on cancers. This thesis contains a useful set of algorithms to help visualise, quantify, and understand tissue phenomena in cancer physiology, as well as providing a series of platforms to predict tumour outcome in the preclinical setting with clinical relevance.