This thesis is primarily concerned with laws guiding valuation for expropriation and compensation in Zimbabwe. The thesis aimed to identify and close gaps in the regulatory and legislative frameworks guiding property valuation approaches when land is expropriated in line with the current international best practice. A case study approach was used based on expropriated properties whose compensation amount was approved by the Compensation Committee (CC) during the multi-currency period (2009 – 2019). Stratified random sampling was adopted, and a sample size of 146 respondents was used. The researcher collected data using a semi-structured questionnaire and literature survey. Respondents were chosen from Members of the Compensation Committee (MsCC), Designated Valuation Officers (DVOs), Private Valuers (PVs), and Former Commercial Farmers (FCFs). Documents that were reviewed include statutes, official reports, and newsletters. Questionnaires were sent to research subjects by electronic mail due to the COVID-19 pandemic induced lockdown. Two computer software packages, including Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-26) and ATLAS.ti 8, were used for data analysis. The researcher identified gaps in the existing laws and practice of expropriation and compensation in Zimbabwe. Notable gaps include provisions which are not clear, lack of detailed guidelines, unavailability of legal provisions on property valuation for expropriated communal properties and valuation inconsistencies. Furthermore, it was noted that FCFs were dissatisfied with the expropriation and compensation process and MsCC emphasised the need to take a historical overview of the expropriation and compensation crisis in Zimbabwe. Therefore, this study contributed to knowledge and practice by proposing amendments to existing Zimbabwean statutes guiding expropriation and compensation and designed a framework for expropriation and compensation. Results of this study are expected to bring closure to lingering issues surrounding expropriation and compensation in Zimbabwe. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Construction Economics / PhD / Unrestricted

The market consensus during the financial crisis was that financial sector CEOs were engaged in excessive risk taking induced by compensation practices. Thus, the primary focus of this paper is to determine whether empirical evidence supports this assertion. As such, I examine bank CEO compensation, bank risks, and the relation between bank CEO risk taking incentives and bank risks and the effect of the 2007/9 financial crisis on this relation. I find that banks on average reduced their exposure to credit, capital, total, and unsystematic risks, and increased their exposure to liquidity, portfolio, off-balance sheet and (accounting) foreign exchange risks, from 2003 to 2006. These trends largely reversed during 2007 to 2009. During the 2007/9 financial crisis, banks experienced significant structural shifts in all risk indicators (except for capital and foreign exchange risks) which increased significantly consequent on the economic downturn. I also find that banks remained highly sensitive to changes in short- and long-term interest rates and foreign exchanges rates throughout the period. My findings also support a bank size effect. I observe consistent real growth in CEO base salary annually, from 2003 to 2009, which suggests that there is resilience in this form of compensation to the financial crisis. However, only small banks paid significantly higher base salary during the financial crisis to offset the similar decline in annual bonus payments caused by deteriorating financial and market performances during that time. I find that CEO portfolio option values were more responsive to changes in total risk during the pre-financial crisis period (2003 to 2006) than during the financial crisis (2007 to 2009). Also, I find evidence of banks size effects in compensation components, compensation structure and compensation sensitivity. My results are robust to other sample formations and statistical indicators. After adjusting for the simultaneity bias between bank CEOs' risk taking incentives (measured by the sensitivity of CEO option portfolio and pay for performance sensitivity) and bank risks (using accounting and market based measures), my findings reveal significant shifts in the relation between compensation and bank risks during the financial crisis. Specifically, during the financial crisis, CEOs with more sensitive pay for performance were related to banks with greater capital risk, and banks with higher portfolio risk had CEOs with more sensitive pay for performance. Also, banks with greater total and unsystematic risks during the financial crisis had CEOs with less risk taking incentives. Other indicators during the financial crisis show that less stable banks had CEOs with less risk taking incentives, while banks with greater asset return risk had CEOs with less sensitive option portfolios. Overall, these results do not support the risk inducing incentives of bank CEO compensation especially during the financial crisis.

This strategic compensation model based on contingency theory of organizations proposes that a fit between the organization's business environment and compensation system will affect the firm's performance (Rockmore, 1991; Rockmore and Scarpello, 1994). This proposition was tested with a set of Korean sample data of seventy-five publicly traded companies within thirty-four three-digit Standard Industrial Classification codes. The cluster analysis applied to the 7-item task environment uncertainty components resulted in two group classifications that face relatively ‘more certain’ and ‘more uncertain’ environments. Principal component factor analysis of the 8-item compensation system components resulted in three compensation system factors and subsequent cluster analysis classified firm pay plans into two clusters, which we labelled ‘more traditional’ and ‘more innovative’. Discriminant analysis confirmed the resulting classifications of both task environment and compensation system types. With both ROA and EPS measures, significantly more ‘fits’ (firms in stable environment that use traditional compensation system or firms in uncertain environment that use innovative compensation system) showed financial gains compared with ‘nonfits’. This financial impact of the contingency was more salient for those firms that face uncertain environment. The same results were obtained when ANOVA was performed.

The high rate of voluntary employee turnover in nursing has forced business leaders to search for strategies that reduce voluntary employee turnover. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies nurse managers used to reduce registered nurse voluntary turnover. Face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted with 5 nurse managers in the San Antonio, Texas area. The conceptual framework included Herzberg's 2-factor theory and Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. Data analysis included Yin's 5-step process: (a) compiling the data, (b) disassembling the data into common codes, (c) reassembling the data into themes, (d) interpreting their meaning, and (e) reporting the themes. Member checking and methodological triangulation increased the trustworthiness of interpretations. The interpretations were then triangulated with new themes derived from nurse managers, policies, and procedures. The resulting major themes were job satisfaction, employee compensation, advancement, reward and recognition, and open effective communication. The implications for social change include (a) keeping families together, (b) employing more workers, (c) reducing unemployment, (d) stabilizing communities, (e) helping increase the economy, and (f) improving human and social conditions outside of the workplace. Findings from this study will provide positive social implications including the potential to decrease voluntary employee turnover in businesses, thus contributing to the retention of skilled employees, reducing unemployment, and decreasing revenue losses.

Currently, rotator cuff injuries are the most common problem for the shoulder and accounted for 4.1 million physicians visits. Partial and full thickness tears are more common in people over the age of 50. The increased prevalence of rotator cuff injuries in the United States population certainly affects the working population and often represents a significant economic burden for employers. Few studies have examined outcomes in worker compensation patients or considered biopsychosocial predictive variables for rotator cuff repairs. The current study aimed to characterize injured workers who have undergone rotator cuff repairs across a number of pre- and postprocedural variables, evaluate multidimensional functional and quality of life outcomes, and examine biopsychosocial variables predictive of success and failure in this sample. The current study examined 93 injured workers who had undergone at least one rotator cuff repair within the past five years. Participants were solicited through the Worker’s Compensation Fund of Utah (WCF) computerized database. The current study used a retrospective cohort design, patients’ medical charts were reviewed, and various preprocedural variables were coded for analysis including age at the time of the rotator cuff repair, lawyer involvement in the claim, prior shoulder surgery history, and quantity of other compensation claims. Of the total sample, 47 patients (50.5%) were contacted and completed outcome surveys that assessed patient satisfaction, shoulder functional impairment, disability status, and general physical and mental health functioning. Findings revealed that approximately one third of the patients were totally disabled (29.8%), had poor shoulder specific functioning (36.2%), and were dissatisfied with their current shoulder condition (31.7%). A multivariate regression model was utilized in predicting patient outcomes. Specifically, the number of WCF claims of the patient was a robust predictor of multidimensional outcomes, while age and gender were less predictive of outcomes, and the presence of a prior shoulder surgery reflected no predictive power. Results of descriptive, correlational, and regression analyses are compared to existing data for rotator cuff repair patients when available or to other surgical procedures with similar populations. The study limitations are discussed, such as small sample size, the retrospective design, and lack of matched controls.

Government mandates are often used to promote equality in the workplace, often imposing additional costs upon employers. Economic theory suggest that these additional costs will be shifted onto the employees through a reduction in wages. However, when wage shifting is not an option due to anti-discrimination laws, how will employers respond to the additional costs imposed? Gruber (1994) found that wage shifting occurs when the groups benefiting from a government mandate are easily identifiable to the employer, despite the existence of anti-discrimination laws. This study seeks to further the work of Gruber (1994) and examine wage shifting at an industry level. We look at industries that have a large percentage of workers who are benefited by a government mandate to see if the wage shifting in these industries was more significant. This study finds that, as the percentage of workforce receiving benefits increases, the amount of wage shifting grows.

Lumbar fusion performed among injured workers has dramatically increased over the past two decades, coinciding with the increased use of more advanced surgical technology. Despite recent changes in how this surgery is performed, few outcome studies have been conducted, particularly among workers compensation populations. In prior studies, several biopsychosocial risk factors were found to be predictors of functional outcomes of lumbar fusion. Considering the recent changes in lumbar fusion surgery, there is a need to identify how patient outcomes have changed among injured workers, and whether a biopsychosocial model continues to be predictive of outcomes. The current study aimed to address multidimensional patient outcomes associated with lumbar fusion and examine the relationship between presurgical biopsychosocial variables and outcomes by testing the predictive efficacy of a multiple variable model. Injured workers (N = 245) who underwent their first lumbar fusion between 1998 and 2007 were included in a retrospective-cohort study performed in two phases that involved coding presurgical information documented in patient medical charts in the Worker's Compensation Fund of Utah computer database (Phase 1) and administering a telephone outcome survey with patients at least 2 years post-surgery (Phase 2). Of the total sample, 45% (n = 110) of patients were contacted and completed follow-up outcome surveys on several measures of patient satisfaction, quality of life, fusion status, dysfunction level, disability status, pain, and general physical and mental health functioning. Results revealed injured workers reported a solid fusion rate of 89.0%, disability rate of 28.7%, and a poor outcome rate of 57.1%. Multiple linear regression analyses demonstrated an eight variable model was a statistically significant predictor of multiple patient outcomes. Involvement of a nurse case manger, vocational rehabilitation, and litigation at the time of fusion were the most prominent predictors across outcome measures, while age and depression history showed modest prediction of outcomes. Prior back operations, number of vertebral levels fused, and type of instrumentation showed no statistically significant prediction of outcomes. Results were evaluated and compared to prior lumber fusion studies on injured worker and fusion outcome literature, in general. Specific implications for our findings and limitations associated with this study were addressed.

Patient engagement in research has many benefits including the alignment of research aims, projects, and outcomes with those of the ultimate end-user. As a result, patient engagement is becoming increasingly established in many areas of health research. Missing from this growing body of evidence are details about how patient partners (i.e., individuals with lived experience of a health condition including informal caregivers, family and friends) are compensated for their contributions as well as existing barriers or challenges to compensation. The overall aim of my thesis is to synthesize and assess the current landscape of patient partner compensation. First, I conducted a systematic review that identified a cohort of published patient engagement research and assessed the prevalence of reporting compensation and identified current compensation practices. Second, we surveyed researchers identified by the systematic review and their affiliated institutions to understand researcher attitudes towards compensation and any experienced barriers and challenges to offering financial compensation to patient partners. Third, we conducted a scoping review to synthesize available guidance and policy documents that inform patient partner compensation. Broadly, these projects found that: 1) reporting of patient partner financial compensation is modest and non-financial methods of compensation (e.g., co-authorship) are reported more often, 2) researchers are generally positive about their abilities and intend to offer financial compensation to patient partners, however institutional barriers including lack of policy or support persist, and 3) the majority of identified guidance recommend offering financial compensation to patient partners and discuss benefits of such practices including fostering a sense of equality between researchers and patient partners. Findings from this thesis may influence research practices by informing stakeholders of the benefits of offering financial compensation to patient partners and guiding the development of compensation strategies. Lastly, findings may inform implementation strategies at the institutional and funder level, including adoption of guidance and procedure, to better support researchers in navigating compensation.

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