<p> The intent of the current study was to address the gap in knowledge regarding factors influencing Canadian power engineers&rsquo; decision to pursue advanced certification in British Columbia and Alberta. The purpose of the study was to explore potential relationships between advancement intention and these decision factors. The dependent variable was the intent to advance. The six independent variables are comprised of the following: (a) time commitment, (b) educational support, (c) locus of control (LOC), (d) time elapsed since previous certification, (e) responsibility, and (f) peer appraisal. The research methodology was a quantitative correlational design, followed with linear and logistic regression. An original survey was developed for the study and pilot tested for validity and reliability. Revealed in the results of the study were positive and significant relationships between the dependent variable (DV) of advancement intention and three of the six independent variables (IVs) tested through correlational analysis. The relationships were time commitment, responsibility, and elapsed time. The three remaining independent variables that did not exhibit significant relationships with the DV were educational support, locus of control, and peer appraisal. Comprehension of the influential factors regarding the intention of Canadian power engineers&rsquo; to pursue advanced certification may assist industry and academia with insight into the barriers and enablers to higher certification, and the correlation of decision factors with advancement intention.</p><p>

New organisational forms, including strategic partnerships and networks, are replacing simple market-based transactions and traditional, bureaucratic, hierarchical organisations (Webster, 1992). The shift in the way marketing is being organised is accompanied by both environmental and structural changes (Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Palmer, 2000; Investor Digest, 2001 ). This new emerging paradigm of thought argues that it is more important to focus on the development and management of relationships than on discrete transactions (Ford, 1980; IMP Group, 1982; Webster, 1992; Gronroos, 1994a, 1994b, 1995, 1997a, 1997b; Berry, 1995). These business-to-business buyer-seller trading interactions have been revealed to take place under a variety of governance structures (Bradach and Eccles, 1989; Heide, 1994 ), with each one undergoing different stages of development (Dwyer et al., 1987). Despite this overall agreement, existing relationship marketing literature appears silent regarding the deciding factors that determine whether or not a business relationship is continued. More specifically the literature appears to lack any information and normative guidelines as to the relative importance of criteria when assessing the performance of a business relationship (i.e., the relative importance of performance criteria within and between relationship development stages). Consequently, this study examined the bilateral governance structure, business relationship development stages and performance measures in relationship marketing. A conceptual matrix framework was developed with the most representative performance measures in the framework being operationalised. The framework was tested with the aid of self-completion questionnaires in the UK manufacturing sector, the study setting, which has been achieved through a positivist empirical situational study in the form of scenarios. The findings provided an original contribution to academia through an evaluation of the relative importance of performance measures as deciding factors in furthering the development of a business relationship within a bilateral governance structure. For example, there was differential importance of evaluation criteria within and between stages. Within all the stages trust was significant, whilst only commitment and transaction-specific asset investments were significant within the initiation stage; opportunistic behaviour was significant within the monitoring and termination stages; and distance within the initiation and monitoring stages. When moving from the initiation to monitoring stage, commitment and distance were significant. In addition, distance was also significant when moving from the monitoring to termination stages, and when moving from the initiation to termination stages, commitment and opportunistic behaviour were significant. In addition, a contribution has been made to business practice, through the development of normative managerial guidelines to aid decision-making when moving forward or not along the relational continuum under a bilateral governance structure. For example, trust was found to be a significant determinant for all stages of the business relationship and remains constant across all these stages. This implies that suppliers, whether potential or existing, should attempt to demonstrate high levels of trust at all stages of a business relationship. This can be achieved by different actions in different stages of the business relationship.

Social Networking Sites (SNS) differ from other online media in a number of aspects including the quality of content published, reach and audience, interaction frequency, accessibility, usability and immediacy. In our analysis of social commerce, we have taken into account these unique attributes of SNS and argue that social commerce differ from classical e-business models. We further maintain that the said distinctions of SNS have led to the misuse of user-generated content and abuse of users trust resulting in information security and privacy violations. Recent unfortunate incidents of security and privacy breaches have shown the negative repercussions on online businesses. In this thesis, we argue that security and privacy issues on SNS are a major barrier hindering the success of the emerging social commerce applications and preventing businesses from gaining the full economic benefit of SNS. Hence, following a deductive strategy and taking a positivist stance, the current research explores the issues of information security, privacy, and related constructs in the context of social commerce (B2C interactions) with emphasis on how they affect purchase intention. Using a systematic review of prior literature, we have identified the key concepts and related constructs of information security and privacy and the relationships between the constructs. Based on this understanding, the current study proposes to test a number of hypotheses. Data was collected using a Web-based survey administered to a sample of SNS users. The hypotheses were tested using PLS-SEM for a dataset of 514 respondents. Based on the findings of the current research, we can come to the following conclusions: (1) 'Perceived security', 'Trustworthiness', and 'Perception towards usage of information' have a direct impact on SNS users 'Purchase intention', (2) SNS users 'Perception towards privacy notices' positively affects 'Perceived privacy' and 'Perceived security', (3) 'Trustworthiness' negatively affects SNS users 'Risk perception' and 'Perceived privacy', and (4) 'Trustworthiness' of a SNS site is positively influenced by the 'perceived ability to control submitted information' and by 'Perceived privacy'. This research contributes to the body of knowledge on information security, privacy, and related constructs in a number of ways. For instance, the proposed research model which was empirically tested in the current research is the most valuable contribution. To test the proposed model, we have validated new and existing factors measuring information security constructs and purchase intention, thereby contributing to theory building. This provides a better understanding of privacy, security and related issues on SNS and explains some of the possible reasons for the slow adaptation of social commerce compared to 'classical' e-business models. From a practical and managerial point of view, this research help social media vendors to comprehend the fundamental features necessary to attract customers to their business such as building trust by enhancing security and privacy practices. Further, we suggest the use of ethical data gathering and transparent, easily accessible and readable security/privacy notices on social commerce shopping portals to help customers overcome their psychological barriers to purchase from SNS.

This thesis explores the impact of leadership, structure, process and systems investments on operational, financial and competitiveness performance in service organisations over time. In doing so, the research presented here aims to understand two questions. Firstly, how does investment impact business performance in different markets and, secondly, how does this relationship vary over time? These questions address a number of gaps within the service operations literature, as previous research has only looked at one type of investment and not understood how impact changes over time. Although some studies have looked at the relationship between investment and performance, none look at the impact on operational and financial performance. As a result, this research helps service organisations better understand how and where to make investments given their performance objectives and the nature of the market they serve. Schools were selected as examples of service organisations because they provide a similar service to each other and are measured using nationally regulated performance metrics, but operate in different ways (using different leaders, structures, processes and systems) in different markets (which vary in size and student type) with different access to resources (which vary in access to staff, students and money) and levels of competition (number, type and concentration of competitors). By studying the investments made in different schools over a five year period, this research was able to explore how different types of investment (leadership, structure, process and systems) affected impact business performance (operational, financial and competitiveness) in service organisations competing in different markets (size, customer type and competition).

Increasing complexity, flatter organizational structures and rapidly changing environments require coordination and collaboration with individuals and teams across organizations. As teams navigate these complex organizational dynamics, spanning boundaries between groups is increasingly relevant for knowledge work. The extant literature has directed little attention towards examining how boundary spanning is carried out in complex, multi-organizational settings in which organization, sector and expertise boundaries are crossed during the life cycle of the collaboration. This dissertation develops a deeper understanding of the practices boundary spanners use in facilitating collaboration across diverse actors in multi-organizational work. I introduce and illustrate the phenomenon of facilitative boundary leadership -- defined as fostering teaming across organizational and sectoral boundaries for mutual benefit throughout the lifecycle of a temporary collaboration. Facilitative boundary leadership includes four components: 1) aligning objectives, which brings together diverse actors for exploratory dialogue and enables all parties to have mutual benefit; 2) curating interactions across boundaries, which promotes understanding and eases tensions; 3) establishing a collaborative structure, which provides ground rules and roles for interactions and work throughout the collaboration lifecycle; and 4) maintaining a neutral stance, which builds trust and allows the boundary spanner to move across levels and boundaries. This dissertation draws on an in-depth field study at a multilateral development organization implementing processes to enhance collaboration with external partners. I show that facilitative boundary leadership provided the relational and structural support for diverse actors from different organizations to collaborate and innovate in complex environments, despite numerous differences among actors. This research contributes to the literatures on boundary spanning, cross-sector collaboration and leadership. In addition, it offers practical implications for understanding and improving the effectiveness of collaboration in complex, multi-organizational contexts. / Organizational Behavior

In this thesis, I research the management of platforms by participating organizations and study the ensuing performance of both participating organizations and the platform. In the first essay, titled ``The Impact of High Performance Outliers on Two-Sided Platforms: Evidence from Crowdfunding,'' I study how one kind of observable on platforms affects both the subsequent entry decision of organizations and the performance of the platform. I focus on the arrival of high performing sellers and study how these ``outliers'' affect the subsequent growth and liquidity of the platform. In the context of the two largest rewards-based crowdfunding platforms, I find that outliers are followed by a relative increase in entry and transaction volume on the competing platform. Moreover, this average effect is stronger for marginal, or low quality, sellers. Within the platform hosting the outlier, transaction volume increases for sellers in the same product category as the outlier, but this average effect reverses for outliers in certain product categories. The results suggest that the impact of heterogeneous users depends on platform rules, and that in addition to pricing, competing platforms may selectively focus on attracting users with high performance potential to achieve the desired mix of buyers and sellers. In the second essay, titled ``Social Media, Loyalty, and Organizational Performance'' (written with Shiladitya Ray), we study how the interactions between users and organizations on social media relate to organizational performance outcomes. Specifically, we explore the relationship between expressions of loyalty on social media and performance. We relate the number of followers on Twitter to television show ratings and find that change in the number of individuals following an organization's Twitter account prior to the realization of a repeated performance outcome is positively associated with that outcome. We present evidence of the heterogeneity in the effect, showing that the relationship is stronger for organizations that match the demographics of the social network and niche product categories. We also show that higher levels of a show's initial following mitigates the relationship between followers and performance for shows in niche categories, and tentatively strengthens it for show's in non-niche categories. In addition to considering the theoretical relationship between social media and organizational performance, we employ a parsimonious prediction model relating the two, showing that a model with social media measures outperforms both a baseline autoregressive model and a model that includes search data.In so doing, we extend recent literature that uses real-time data to predict current economic indicators by using social media data to predict organizational performance outcomes.Our results indicate that technological innovations can diminish the distance between the organization's bounaries and outside stakeholders. This reduction in distance underlines the importance for firms to attend to their non-transaction interactions on social media. In the final essay, titled ``Organizational Management of Social Media,'' I address how organizations manage activities on social media, beginning with the decision to adopt social media and its rate of diffusion within the organization. In the context of television show adoption of Twitter, I show that larger organizations and organizations started more recently more readily adopted social media. I also provide evidence highlighting the heterogeneity in organizational approaches to social media. By looking at the heterogeneity in the rates of diffusion, I am able to distinguish differences in approaches to social media management along three dimensions: the timing, the speed, and the centrality of management within the organization. Finally, I show the changing nature of diffusion of a technology in an industry over time. By applying theories of strategy and innovation management, I underscore the importance of considering the impact of social media on the organization and processes of the firm.

As a result of globalization, organizations expect more from their employees. While organizations have become leaner, the productivity requirements have not decreased. Further, there is greater importance being placed on the connection between human capital and operational outcomes. This research explores the impact of management decisions on teams of employees. It also examines how organizations use and develop their workforce. In three studies, my dissertation considers how an organization manages their human capital to gain optimal operational results: 1) by leveraging multiple-team membership practices while staying cognizant of the fragility that it induces, 2) by being more thoughtful in the assignment of employees to varying work contexts, and 3) by understanding how employee development has near-term and long-term effects on the human capital pipeline and the organization’s performance.

ABSTRACT 1: This paper examines whether mobile telecom operators with access to different kinds of knowledge pursue different strategies in politically risky markets. Using data from 2000-2010 I find that firms with country-specific knowledge, gained via presence in the local market, and general knowledge, gained through a long history of operations, were more likely to increase or maintain investment and operations even as political risk rose to the highest levels while peer firms drop both investment and operations. Firms with market-risk knowledge, gained through previous experience confronting political risk, drop investment similar to peer firms but increase operations to capitalize on their short-term competitive advantage. Therefore, country-risk knowledge and general knowledge are associated with strategies that are durable to political risk, while market-risk knowledge is associated with the distinct strategy for political risk of increased operations. These results contribute to the literature by documenting distinct market-based strategies for firms with differing knowledge sets that remain in a market as political risk rises. ABSTRACT 2: Scholars of corporate governance have debated the relative importance of country and firm characteristics in understanding corporate governance variation across emerging economies. Using panel data and a number of model specifications, we shed new light on this debate. We find that firm characteristics are as important as and often meaningfully more important than country characteristics. In fact, 16.8% percent of firms in emerging economies have been able to exceed the 75th percentile of ratings in developed economies. Our results suggest that over recent years firms in emerging economies had more capability to rise above weak home-country institutions than previously suggested. ABSTRACT 3: Outsourcing firms seeking to avoid reputational spillovers that can arise from dangerous, illegal, and unethical behavior at supply chain factories increasingly rely on private social auditors to provide strategic information about the conduct of their suppliers. But little is known about what influences auditors’ ability to identify and report poor supplier conduct. We find that individual supply chain auditors’ monitoring practices are shaped by social factors including their experience, gender, and professional training; their ongoing relationships with suppliers; and the gender diversity of their audit teams. Providing the first comprehensive and systematic findings on supply chain monitoring, our study identifies previously overlooked transaction costs and suggests strategies to develop governance structures to mitigate reputational spillover risks by reducing information asymmetries between themselves and their suppliers.

Through a qualitative study of professionals whose careers span the public and private sectors, I develop theory on boundary crossing in a career. I find that two role orientations – gold-star and north-star orientation – activate the boundary-crossing process. Gold-star oriented professionals seek to cross sectors to help society and focus on gaining authority by climbing well-institutionalized paths of career advancement. North-star oriented professionals seek to cross sectors to solve a complex societal problem and focus on gaining expertise by learning and building community around the problem. I introduce the concept of arbitrage, a narrative-based boundary-crossing strategy where professionals claim currencies, like status and knowledge, to craft a story of value creation for the new sector. After the boundary is crossed, I find these professionals enact their roles using two distinct adaptation behaviors, depending on their career orientation. Based on inductive analyses of 40 career stories, I propose a process model of how people cross sector boundaries over the course of a career.

<p> The proliferation and changing nature of electronic communications (e.g., email, texting, instant messaging, Skype, etc.) as a necessary resource for knowledge requires continuing research in order to understand how these technologies affect relationships among managers and their employees. I seek to measure the extent to which employees&rsquo; perceived email content monitoring (PECM), defined as the extent to which employees believe that their emails are being read regardless of whether that is done within the organization, affects their behavior and job attitudes. Further, employees&rsquo; supervisors can monitor how and when employees utilize electronic communications as a means of evaluating job performance. Employees&rsquo; perceived email activity monitoring (PEAM), defined as the extent to which employees perceive that their usage of email is being monitored by their supervisors, can have negative attitudinal effects. Job attitudes can be especially impacted where the monitoring of the actual content of emails and/or email usage behaviors is considered to be inappropriate, overly intrusive, or beyond the scope of traditional managerial monitoring practices.</p><p> In order to help understand the implications of electronic communication monitoring in the workplace, I investigate how theoretical social exchange mechanisms of leader-member exchange (LMX) and perceived organizational support (POS) influence employee attitudinal outcomes including job satisfaction, organizational commitment, stress, and work/life conflict. I also develop a concept of &ldquo;monitoring justice&rdquo; that can be employed by managers to defer the potential for negative implications of monitoring. Further, I explore how the level of importance that individuals place on being connected to their organization via electronic communication technology can exacerbate the social exchange relationships and resulting job attitudinal outcomes. </p><p> The findings of this study suggest that formal monitoring of email content reduces levels of social exchange and results in negative employee attitudes regarding their work environment. However, where employees determine that there is a sufficient level of monitoring justice, these negative responses to monitoring were not found to be significant. Further, I found that high levels of monitoring of electronic communication usage behavior significantly decreased social exchange levels and negatively impacted attitudinal outcomes. This negative result was increased where employees attributed high levels of importance to remaining connected to their organization. This dissertation suggests that organizational leadership take the perceptions of their employees and overall effects on job attitudes into account when engaging in electronic communication monitoring practices.</p><p>