Comparisons between experienced and inexperienced auditors have indicated that differences in knowledge which interact with the environment result in performance differences (Frederick and Libby 1986; Libby and Luft forthcoming). Experienced auditors' recognition of and reaction to variations in relevant conditioning information for inherent risk assessments have important implications for the efficiency and effectiveness of an audit. In addition, previous research concerning subjective probability has indicated that, contrary to the theory's requirements, actual individuals have imprecise degrees of belief (Ellsberg 1961; Gardenfors and Sahlin 1982). This impression in degree of belief results in individuals having second-order uncertainty about first-order probability assessments. This study extends previous research by providing evidence concerning a knowledge effect in the inherent risk assessment task, by considering the effect of the inferability of the conditioning information and by providing exploratory evidence concerning the relationship of first- to second-order uncertainty. Second-order uncertainty, in this context, is an auditor's uncertainty about a first-order inherent risk assessment. Inferability is a dimension of audit evidence which depends on auditors' internal knowledge structures. Their knowledge enables them to infer alternative values from other information to replace values that would be inferred from conditioning information that is unavailable in the current audit evidence set. The current experiment involved responses of 210 experienced and inexperienced auditors from KPMG Peat Marwick who assessed the inherent risk of a continuing manufacturing client. Subjects were assigned to the experienced group if they had experience with five or more inherent risk assessments. Inexperienced subjects had no experience. The data were analyzed as a 2x3 analysis of covariance. The between-subject independent variables were experience and inferable conditioning information. The dependent variable was second-order uncertainty. Inherent risk assessment was a significant covariate. The results indicate that when inferable conditioning information was relatively complete, experienced auditors had significantly lower second-order uncertainty than inexperienced auditors. The interaction of inferability of conditioning information and experience was marginally significant. However, the first-order inherent risk assessments indicate that experienced auditors have higher assessments when second-order uncertainty is low.

Prior research in the diffusion of innovations literature has focused on the eventual consumer of primarily utilitarian products, such as consumer durables and "high tech" products. This research focuses on a less-explored area of diffusion: diffusion channel intermediaries for primarily aesthetic products, such as art and music. Data were collected in the form of depth interviews with intermediaries in two aesthetic product categories, art photography and jazz. Interview data were supplemented with observations of the intermediaries in situ, as well as by ancillary documentation produced by and about the intermediaries. Employing a grounded theory methodology, these data formed the basis of a theory which suggests two distinct aesthetic intermediary types, and which constitutes two alternative diffusion paths. One intermediary type, labeled the Separable-oriented (Separable Conceptualization-Oriented Intermediary), conceptualizes innovations as occurring in singular products. The other intermediary type, labeled Connected-oriented (Connected Conceptualization-Oriented Intermediary), conceptualizes innovation as occurring in larger bodies of work, these bodies connected by the intention of the producer and/or the process used to create the product. These two intermediary types are further differentiated by the activities they pursue in their intermediary role, by the channel entities with whom they communicate, and by the categories they employ in their evaluation of the innovative product. Separable-orienteds are shown to pursue activities which commodify the aesthetic product, provide variety to their constituents, and enhance the entertainment value of the product for their constituents; they communicate with commercial entities and the general public; and they consider issues of divisibility and complexity when evaluating aesthetic product for possible facilitation. Connected-orienteds, on the other hand, are shown to pursue activities which decommodify the aesthetic product, provide themes for integration of the individual aesthetic products, and enhance the educational value of the product for their constituents; they communicate more readily with the artist than with commercial entities, and define their constituency less broadly than Separable-orienteds; and they consider issues of the product's complexity beyond a given threshold, and the product's potential to proliferate beyond its current incarnation when evaluating it for possible facilitation.

Nova College, the undergraduate center of Nova University, was faced with the need to make additional organizational and structural changes in order to meet mandated requirements of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as well as to accommodate increasing student enrollment and growing competition from a large public university. This study was concerned with the changes made in the Business Programs and Career Division of Nova College. An assessment was done to determine the areas most in need of change. This led to developing and implementing institutional priorities through a system of managerial objectives. Several research questions were asked in the process of investigating the problem: 1) Was there a need to make internal structural changes and was there an awareness of this need? 2) Could the perceived problems be diagnosed and corrected in reasonable time? 3) Was there an effective operating framework and could one be developed if needed? 4) Did mission statement and goals exist for the College and could these be further developed if needed? 5) Was the current organizational structure meeting the institution's goals and could the structure be altered if needed? 6) Were the necessary skills for managing an academic division defined and could they be be defined? The central thesis was that the specific strategic approach of developing and implementing a system of management objectives would establish institutional priorities for Nova College thereby leading to a more effective use of resources. The methodology used in this research project was a case study presented with historical descriptions. Four management models were used to assess, evaluate and diagnose the current situation. The goals which existed at the beginning of the project were compared to the new system of institutional priorities implemented by the conclusion of the project. The conclusions or results of this research project demonstrated that the central thesis was valid: the operation, administration and management of an academic unit can benefit from the adoption of clearly defined managerial objectives. More spec ~ fically th~ findings showed that: 1 ) A need did exist to make internal structural changes in the Career Division and Business Programs at Nova College and key personnel were aware of the need. The redesign of the organ ization is consistent with and supportive of the mission and goals of the College. 2 ) Some of the problems which existed were resolved through the creation of a new organizational framework and the development of a series of systematic operational procedures for both the Career Division and the Business Programs. 3) No mission statement existed at Nova College. Therefore, one was developed which became the first step in the process of developing and implementing institutional priorities and goals. 4) The skills necessary to manage the Business Programs had not been defined. A skills inventory was developed using as resources those writings which had addressed the issue of managerial competencies such as the AMA Masters Program and the McBer Report about leadership of non-traditional college programs. Finally, a combination of management skills and concepts were applied in seeking a solution to the problem. The most easily identified was management by objectives (MBO), but the author also employed the analysis of the critical contributing factors, an adaption of systems management techniques, an assessment of structure and strategy, and the major components of an organization development intervention model. Further continuing research and adaptation will be necessary to achieve all of the goals for Nova College set forth in this paper.

<p>This dissertation develops new theory and evidence to show that human-capital based competitive advantage of firms varies with external markets, firm structure, and firm openness to factor markets. The dissertation includes three empirical studies. </p><p>The first study examines how labor market frictions due to strict employment protection regulations can be a source of competitive advantage for affiliates of corporate groups over standalone firms in environments where benefits from internal market flexibility are high. Utilizing the variation in labor laws and capital market development across 16 West-European countries, the study finds a stronger competitive advantage for group affiliates in countries with rigid labor markets, but flexible capital markets. In these environments, group affiliates are more prevalent and they outperform standalone firms in terms of growth and profitability. </p><p>The second study examines how structural features of a firm and the nature of managerial resources interact to influence top managerial mobility in corporate groups. Using a novel dataset on intragroup managerial mobility, the study documents decreased internal redeployment of managers to affiliates with minority shareholders, especially if those managers are high-performing. These results are driven by hired managers. In contrast, family-related managers, who are related to the controlling shareholders, are more likely to be deployed to partly-owned, strategically peripheral and affiliates operating in regions where societal trust levels are low. These results suggest the importance of trust as a managerial attribute. </p><p>The third study examines how disclosure of firm performance affects top manager mobility into and out of firms. Using managerial mobility data for 610,000 managers in over 32,000 corporate groups across Europe, the study shows the key tradeoffs in managerial markets associated with disclosure: disclosing firms lose more managers, especially if firms are performing well. Importantly, those departing managers leave to larger firms and to positions of greater responsibility. However, the results suggest that disclosing firms are better able to acquire new managers from other high-performing firms. Further, survey evidence suggests that disclosing firms can mitigate managerial outflows by implementing better human capital management practices. The study contributes to understanding how firms can capture value from strategic human capital, while protecting and refreshing sources of competitive advantage that are embodied in firm's top management.</p><p>Taken together, these three studies contribute to understanding conditions under which firms can capture value from strategic human capital, and the key tradeoffs associated with accumulating and protecting knowledge resources while tapping into external knowledge flows.</p> / Dissertation

This study revealed whether training programs designed to improve the moral reasoning of business-to-business salespeople in large company settings have an effect. It also revealed whether there were differences in the moral reasoning of two categories of those salespeople: marketers of products (tangible; produced, then sold) and services (intangible, perishable; can be produced, sold, and consumed simultaneously). Finally, it assessed salespeople's perceptions of company-provided ethics training programs. Representing 21 different Fortune-1000 companies scattered across the Mid-Atlantic, Northwestern, and South-Central United States, 100 salespeople agreed to serve as study participants. Approximately half the participants were products marketers and half were services marketers. The study utilized a multi-method design. To assess marketers' moral reasoning as well as potential differences in their scores, the researcher had four groups of approximately 25 salespeople each self-administer the Defining Issues Test-2. Comparisons of scores were made in both salesperson categories between those who had participated in company-provided ethics training and those who had not. Data revealed no significant differences between any of the four groups of salespeople at the postconventional, or principled level, of moral reasoning. However, at the preconventional and conventional levels of moral reasoning, data revealed differences between salespeople's scores and those of the DIT-2 population. Salespeople found test descriptors used in those levels to be far less salient than the population as a whole. To understand salespeople's perceptions of company-provided ethics training programs, the researcher, utilizing the phenomenonological tradition of inquiry, conducted in-depth interviews with nine of the 100 DIT-2 participants. Three broad themes, representative of all nine interviewees, emerged from the data. Salespeople shared their views of their profession's, and their own, ethicality. Describing company ethics programs to which they had been exposed, salespeople revealed their views of their employers' rationale for the training as well as their own estimation of its relevance and value. These emerged against a backdrop the researcher named "The Sales Ethos." Salespeople revealed aspects of their values and character which helped explain their views of ethical issues in the sales profession. The researcher drew five broad observations from the interview data and closed with recommendations for human resource development practice and further research.

The problem studied was whether supervisors evaluated telecommuters differently than their on-site co-workers and, if they did, was this difference explainable by the models on performance ratings by Landy and Farr (1980, 1983, 1989)? For this study, telecommuting referred to employees who are full-time employees, but work off-site using electronic communication devices and telecommuted at least one day per week. Twenty organizations nation-wide were surveyed. Hypotheses stated that there was no difference in supervisory performance appraisal criteria, supervisory performance ratings whether the supervisor selected employees to telecommute or the supervisor telecommuted or not, and the frequency between formal performance appraisals for telecommuters and non-telecommuters. Performance appraisal criteria and other questions concerning the evaluation process were analyzed. The data supported the first hypothesis of no difference in performance appraisal criteria used to evaluate telecommuters and non-telecommuters. The second hypothesis was not supported by the data. The three groups disagreed that telecommuters were generally better performers than their on-site co-workers. Supervisors and telecommuters disagreed on their perceptions of telecommuters as rated as better employees. It was assumed in the third hypothesis that supervisors who themselves telecommuted would not rate telecommuters as better employees than their co-workers. Due to the small sample size, the results were inconclusive. In the fourth hypothesis, it was assumed that supervisors who had the final say about who would be eligible to telecommute would not perceive telecommuters as better employees. Based on the analysis, the hypothesis could not be supported or refuted due to the small sample size. Finally, the fifth hypothesis relied on measuring the number of months between formal reviews to determine if telecommuters were evaluated more frequently than their onsi te co-workers. The analysis verified that there was no difference between the two groups. Because no prior research has been conducted about differences in evaluating telecommuting and nontelecommuting employees, there is no data available for comparison purposes to discover any trends or changes. Future research on this subject should include a review of actual performance appraisal records to determine if differences in ratings for telecommuters and nontelecommuters exists.

The granting of credit is a necessary risk of doing business. If companies only accepted cash, sales would be negatively impacted. In a perfect world, all consumers would pay their bills when they become due. However, the fact is that some consumers do default on debt. Companies are willing to accept default risk because the value of defaults does not exceed the value of the additional sales generated. This creates an issue in regards to the valuation of uncollectible accounts. In order for a company to disclose the true value of its accounts receivable, it must establish an allowance for bad debt. Traditionally, companies estimate their bad debt expense and the related allowance for doubtful account by one of two methods: 1) As a percentage of total credit sales or 2) An aging of accounts receivable (that assesses a higher likely rate of default, the older the account becomes past due). By their very nature, these methods take into account only endogenous variables based on past experiences. For many years, the aforementioned methods of estimating bad debt were the only viable ways of determining the allowance for bad debts. However, with the explosion of technology and the easy availability of information, a more comprehensive method of determining bad debts seems appropriate. Neural network computer systems, which mimic some of the characteristics of the human brain, have been developed and may offer an alternative method for estimating the allowance for bad debt. These systems can predict what events may happen, analyze what did happen, and adjust the factor weights accordingly for the next set of event predictions. Thus, it is noteworthy to explore the use of neural networks to predict what a reasonable allowance for bad debt should be for an entity based on an array of interacting variables. Since, a neural network can incorporate both endogenous and exogenous variables one would expect to use such a system to develop a tool which gives a better estimation of the allowance for bad debt than the traditional approaches. In the current study, the findings indicate that neural networks over the balance of the time are better predictors of a company’s ending allowance for bad debt than regression. On a case by case basis, even when neural networks provide a less accurate estimate than regression, statistical analyses demonstrated the neural networks are a less volatile method and their predictions are less likely to result in a significant difference from actual allowance. Neither approach provides results that are exactly the same as the actual ending balance of the allowance for bad debt amount. Even though regression provides a more accurate estimate 45 percent of the time, this result is mitigated by two items: 1) On average, the absolute difference between actual and predicted is much lower when neural networks are used and 2) The standard deviation derived when using neural networks is only a third of the standard deviation derived from regression when applied to the absolute differences between the actual and predicted allowance.

The tremendous impact of electronic data processing on the lives of the American people is being felt in every segment of our economy. Regardless of the area of activity, be it business, education, government, industry, or the service areas, electronic data processing is performing an increasingly· important function. The volume of paper work, the magnitude of government reports, and the demands of management for information, have created mammoth challenges for electronic data processing. These challenges are complex. However, electronic data processing equipment and personnel are making favorable gains on the problems posed by these challenges.

The purpose of this study is to consider the theoretical basis of commercial loan pricing. Is commercial loan pricing most representative of pricing to reflect risk in the Markowitz sense or do banks ration their loanable funds based on credit risk or expected long-term customer value? Alternatively, does each theory contribute to the explanation of loan pricing? Some of the pricing theories noted in this study have been tested at the aggregate banking level, however, few studies have been performed at the loan level. Moreover, the author is not aware of any study that tests which theory noted here best describes actual pricing practices for bank loans. In fact, DeVany (1984) and Goldfeld (1984) have noted that models of bank behavior have undergone little direct testing. Goldfeld acknowledges that the sparse empirical work in banking exists because much of the theoretical analysis is at the level of the individual bank where appropriate data are not available. This study overcomes that problem by using the loan portfolio of one of the top 50 bank holding companies in the nation as a case study. Portfolio theory, credit rationing, and customer relationships provide the basis for this investigation of how banks price commercial loans. Portfolio theory indicates that the risk of a particular loan as well as its contribution toward the riskiness of the entire loan portfolio provides the most information about loan pricing. Credit rationing, however, indicates that the contract interest rate an applicant is willing to accept acts as a signal of loan quality and predicts the bank's expected return on the loan. Finally, theories about customer relationships indicate that customer traits such as variability of deposits and length of the relationship play a role in the way banks price loans. The data used in this study are at the loan level and were obtained from one of the top 50 bank holding companies in the nation. Loan pricing procedures are examined by performing a series of cross sectional generalized least square regressions where the expected return on the loan is the dependent variable in each regression. The non-nested J-test and Cox-test help determine whether any of the model specifications tested in this study provide significantly greater explanatory power in commercial loan pricing than the competing model specifications. The empirical findings of this study should be considered exploratory in nature because of its reliance on data from one bank. Moreover, these results assume that each of the models have been properly specified. With these caveats in mind, the results are consistent with credit rationing and customer relationship theories (Hodgman and Kane and Malkiel). Moreover, the non-nested Cox-test indicates that the credit rationing specification used in this study provides more explanatory power with regard to loan pricing than the customer relationship specification. The regression of the portfolio theory specification provided statistically significant results, but with coefficients of the wrong sign. Contrary to theory, the results suggest that the expected return on loans increases as the variance decreases. In addition, the regression results do not provide strong support that loans are priced relative to the risk they contribute to the total portfolio. In a matter related to loan pricing, this study also found that collateralized loans are associated with a smaller expected return than non collateralized loans. This finding is consistent with Boot, Thakor, and Udell (1991) who suggest that firms use collateral to obtain more favorable loan terms. The conclusions and implications of this study revolve around the illiquid nature of commercial loans which creates an inefficient market characterized by asymmetric information. In light of the scarcity of information related to potential commercial loans, it is not surprising that customer relationship theories provide some explanation of current pricing practices. Certain aspects of a customer relationship, such as deposits and length of the relationship can provide banks with valuable information about the riskiness of loans. Moreover, relationships that cover several bank services may enable a bank to supplement thin loan margins. Finally, the support, albeit weak, of credit rationing can also be explained with asymmetric information. Because of adverse selection and moral hazard, there is a point at which further increases in the contract interest rate on a loan will lead to declines in the expected return to the bank. Beyond this point, the profit maximizing bank should ration rather than loan its funds.

The research investigated architecture and engineering design firms that have a reputation for being competent in the utilization of advanced information technologies. It is believed that competency in the use of these technologies has contributed to the ability of A&E design firms to perform engineering design services effectively and efficiently. Review of the literature suggests that the use of advanced information technologies has had lasting interactive effects on the strategy, structure, management, tasks, and the personnel of organizations. There does not, however, appear to be any dissertation research on the impact of advanced information technologies on architecture and engineering firms. The research conducted addressed critical questions relating to the effective integration and use of advanced information technologies that face firms conducting design services in the A&E industry. The objective of the research was to determine the impacts that advanced information technologies have had on A&E design firms and to determine if those impacts have been favorable or not. Additionally, a group of "competency" indicators was developed as part of the research. This list of indicators or factors of competency can be used by managers and engineers in the industry to qualitatively assess their individual firms in terms of effective utilization of advanced information technologies.