This dissertation investigates auditor independence by examining the effects of various factors on independence, both in fact and as perceived by several distinct groups. The first study examines the effects of auditing students' cognitive moral development and client risk on students' judgments related to an audit partner's acquiescence to client pressure in an earnings management scenario. The results indicate that students with higher levels of moral reasoning evaluated earnings management as less ethical and were also less likely to accept earnings management by an audit client. The results also indicate that subjects in a high client risk scenario evaluated earnings management as less ethical and were also less likely to accept earnings management by an audit client. Furthermore, this study investigated whether client risk moderates the effect of cognitive moral reasoning on ethical judgments and behavioral intentions. The results do not indicate an interaction. The second and third studies deal with potential consequences associated with the perceived impairment of auditor independence. Specifically, the second study deals with the effects of auditor-provided non-audit services on the client company's bond rating. If financial statement users believe that auditors providing non-audit services impairs the auditor's independence, they are likely to recognize an increase in information risk associated with such impairment (Johnstone et al. 2001). This could occur regardless of the true nature of the auditor's independence and would suggest a negative relationship between the amount of non-audit services purchased from the company's auditor and the company's bond rating. The results of this study support that contention. The third study investigates the effects of client importance and audit firm size on juror evaluations of auditor liability and damage awards. Previous research in accounting shows that client importance can affect sophisticated financial statement users' perceptions of auditor independence. However, no study has investigated perceptions of auditor independence in a litigation context. The results indicate that when an auditor is involved in litigation associated with an audit client that is financially more important to the auditor, jurors' evaluations of negligence are higher and they assess more in punitive damages. No effect of audit firm size on negligence ratings or damage awards is found. / Ph. D.

Environmental remediation liabilities are generated primarily as a result of past actions by a firm. The most important of these liabilities for domestic U.S. firms are related to Superfund sites as designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These liabilities are important for domestic firms because of their size, which is estimated to be approximately $300 billion (Congressional Budget Office 1994) and because of public concern for the environment. This study examines the relation among bond ratings, bond yields, and EPA-based estimates of contingent environmental remediation liabilities to test if the relationships hold as theory implies it would. Extant theory suggests that financial variables, such as environmental remediation liabilities, have incremental explanatory power beyond the information included in bond ratings for bond yield. The purpose of this study is to determine the importance of external estimates of a firm's contingent environmental liabilities for a firm's cost of debt. In addition, the manner in which a firm's contingent environmental liabilities are included in the costs of debt is examined in this study. The results of this study indicate that external estimates for environmental liabilities are associated with the bond ratings and bond yield for a data set of new bond issues collected from the period 1995 to 1997. Despite that firms are increasing their recognition of environmental liabilities, either due to regulatory pressure or other factors, the measures based on EPA data still have significant explanatory power. The results imply that firms are either still lagging in appropriate recognition or that the external measures proxy for amounts imputed by the capital markets for some probable unspecified future costs. The latter explanation is supported by additional evidence in this study that the largest monetary measure of the liability is the most significantly associated with bond ratings and bond yields. Further, the results indicate that the external estimates are incorporated in bond ratings as part of the firm's default risk and have no direct influence over bond yield beyond that included in the bond ratings. This implies that bond ratings are particularly important for any evaluation of investment in debt securities from firms that have contingent environmental liabilities. / Ph. D.

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are prevalent among health care workers worldwide and underreporting among nurses may mask the true impact of these injuries. Nursing staff are consistently among the top 10 occupations at risk for experiencing WMSDs and patient-handling tasks are the precipitating event in the majority of back injuries experienced among nursing staff. Existing research has focused on patient-handling issues within long-term care facilities, and identifying physically demanding patient-handling tasks. The first study in this dissertation (Chapter 3) was conducted to determine whether nurses in acute care facilities are exposed to the same hazards as their cohorts in long-term care. The aim was to identify the top 10 patient-handling tasks being conducted and to rank these tasks by perceived physical demand. This two-phase study consisted of a procedural task analysis of patient-handling activities, and a questionnaire to identify the characteristics of the study population and obtain a ranking of physically demanding patient-handling tasks. All nurses providing direct inpatient care were recruited to participate in both phases of this study. Compared to long-term care facilities, in which the majority of tasks have been shown to be associated with performance of ADL tasks, the most frequently observed tasks in the acute care facility were repositioning tasks. Therefore, it is important to determine the patient-handling demands and needs that are unique to each type of healthcare facility. Generalizing across facilities or units may lead to incorrect assumptions and conclusions about physical demands being placed on nurses. A laboratory simulation was used for the second study (Chapter 4). The top four physically demanding patient-handling tasks (taken from Chapter 3) were simulated to determine the effect of an assistive device and assistance from another person. Sixteen nurse volunteers were recruited and provided perceptual responses regarding exertion and injury risk. Nurses perceived that assistance decreased their physical exertion and injury risk; however they consistently perceived exertion to be relatively higher than their injury risk. The aim of the third study (Chapter 5) was to determine the level of agreement between and within different expert groups. Three groups of participants were involved, with different levels of ergonomics expertise (i.e. researchers, consultants, and graduate students). These groups viewed digitized video clips from the laboratory simulation (Chapter 4) and provided ratings of perceived exertion, perceived injury risk and common WMSD risk factors (effort, posture, and speed). The major finding from this study was that poor agreement existed between nurses and the other expert groups (researchers, consultants and students). The current research laid the groundwork for measuring the magnitude of physical exposure to injury risk in the patient-handling environment. The research supports earlier evidence that suggests nurses underreport their discomfort and injury, which, in turn, contributes to increased exposure and risk. This knowledge will enable practitioners to focus interventions and designs on those factors in the work environment that contribute significantly to increased exposure and thereby more effectively reduce WMSD risk. / Ph. D.

This dissertation explores three current issues relevant to the accounting and business communities by empirically examining the effect these issues have on the bond credit market. The first study examines the effect earnings predictability has on both the initial bond rating and the initial pricing of the issue. Earnings predictability is measured as (1) the annual earnings surprise (actual minus analyst forecast) and (2) the dispersion of initial analyst forecasts. The results indicate a negative association between a lack of earnings predictability and both bond ratings and initial bond price. The results are consistent with creditors interpreting greater earnings variability as a dimension of default risk incremental to the benchmark model. These results add to the existing literature by documenting a favorable benefit in the credit arena for firms that have predictable earnings. The second study investigates the effect perceived auditor independence has on the rating assigned to newly issued bonds. The magnitude of non-audit service fees is utilized as a proxy for auditor independence. The results of the study document a consistent negative relationship between the level of non-audit fees provided by the external auditor and the bond rating received by the client for new issues. Several non-audit fee measures are used in the study (raw measure, log scaled, asset scaled, unexpected) and each possess a significant negative association with a firm's bond rating. Importantly, no economic effect was discernable in a classification accuracy analysis. The third study examines what effect, if any, longer auditor tenure has on the client's bond rating. There is some contention that longer auditor tenure can lead to substandard audits either through the auditor's excessive desire to retain the client or through general auditor complacency. However, the issue of auditor tenure is far from one-sided. An alternative view asserts that longer auditor tenure increases client-specific knowledge and, thus, results in increased audit quality. Results indicate a positive association between auditor tenure and the client's bond rating on new issues suggesting that longer auditor tenure is perceived to be beneficial by bond rating analysts. This is consistent with financial statement users perceiving longer tenured auditors to have more client specific knowledge thus increasing auditor competency and a better audit. Overall, these results contribute to the existing knowledge-base in accounting by empirically demonstrating how several important issues of interest to the accounting profession are impounded into a firm's bond rating. This research provides a detailed look at how one important group of knowledgeable financial statement users, i.e. bond rating analysts, incorporate several issues that are relevant and important to the professional community. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to examine older adults' perceptions of health by exploring life course factors perceived as shaping the meanings of health in their daily lives. Using life course and life span perspectives as the theoretical framework to guide this mixed method study, I identified the contextual factors that influence older adults' health perceptions and behaviors. Through self-report questionnaires from 111 individuals (M age = 74 yrs., S.D. = 5.64) and in-depth interviews with 30 of the older adults from the larger sample (11 women and 19 men), I gained an understanding of how individual experiences and societal expectations influence the meanings older adults attach to health. Results indicated that being female and having more years of formal education were associated with higher health ratings. Findings from the qualitative inquiry enhanced the quantitative results by highlighting the contextual factors that influenced older adults' health ratings. Examination of how the older adults came to their health rating provided definitions of health based on physical status, activity level, and social comparisons. Life course influences emerged as the older adults described what their health means to them. Activity level, independence, and age prescriptions were reflections of childhood health experiences that the older adults used to relate their present meaning of health in their everyday lives. / Master of Science

Yes / The discrepancy between caregiver-ratings and self-ratings of abilities is commonly used to assess awareness in people with dementia. We investigated the contribution of caregiver and dyadic characteristics to the difference in perspective between caregiver-informants and people with dementia about difficulties experienced, when considering awareness of condition. Methods: We conducted exploratory cross-sectional analyses using data from the IDEAL cohort. Participants were 1,038 community-dwelling people with mild-to-moderate dementia, and coresident spouse/partner caregivers. The Representations and Adjustment to Dementia Index (RADIX) checklist reporting difficulties commonly experienced in dementia was completed by 960 caregiver-informants and 989 people with dementia. Difference in scores was calculated for 916 dyads. Demographic information, cognition, informant-rated functional ability and neuropsychiatric symptoms were recorded for the person with dementia. Self-reported data were collected on mood, comorbidity, religion, importance of religion, relationship quality, and caregiver stress. Results: For most dyads, caregivers reported more RADIX difficulties than people with dementia. Caregiver RADIX ratings were more closely associated with informant-rated functional ability and neuropsychiatric symptoms than with cognition. More RADIX difficulties and higher stress were reported by female caregivers. Greater RADIX difference was associated with more caregiver stress, and older age but less depression in people with dementia. Conclusion: Few dyadic characteristics were important, but caregiver stress was higher where caregivers reported more RADIX difficulties and/or the difference in perspective was greater, whereas partners with dementia reported better mood. In addition to offering information about awareness of condition, the caregiver rating and difference in perspectives could indicate where more support is needed. / The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The IDEAL study was funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) through grant ES/L001853/2. m. ESRC is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). ‘Improving the experience of Dementia and Enhancing Active Life: a longitudinal perspective on living well with dementia. The IDEAL-2 study’ is funded by Alzheimer’s Society, grant number 348, AS-PR2-16-001.

Three common methods have been used to assess the existence of rating bias in performance ratings: the total association approach, the differential constructs approach and the direct effects approach. One purpose of this study was to examine how the direct effects approach, and more specifically differential prediction analysis, is more useful than the other two approaches in examining the existence of rating bias. However, the usefulness of differential prediction depends on modeling the full rater race X ratee race interaction. Therefore, the second purpose of this study was to examine the conditions where differential prediction has sufficient power to detect this interaction. This was accomplished using monte carlo simulations. Total sample size, magnitude of rating bias, validity of predictor scores, rater race proportion and ratee race proportion were manipulated to identify which conditions of these parameters provided acceptable power to detect the rater race X ratee race interaction; in the conditions where power levels are acceptable, differential prediction is a useful tool in examining the existence of rating bias. The simulation results suggest that total sample size, magnitude of rating bias and rater race proportion have the most impact on power levels. Furthermore, these three parameters interact to effect power. Implications of these results are discussed. / Master of Science

The United States relies on its vast network of roadways to transport people, goods, and services across the nation. These roads need to be maintained to an acceptable level in order to effectively provide a safe, reliable, and efficient road. The use of infrastructure management systems (IMS) has aided in keeping an inventory of existing roads, identifying assets in need of repair, and assisting in allocating funds for maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation. The current practice in the United States has shown a lack of consistency in the way assets are rated in each state. Individual states have employed their own methodology for rating each asset type. This makes comparison of assets between states difficult. Several methods in use have provided a way to effectively rate an asset, but no method exists that can be used to compare ratings in different states. To successfully maintain the network of roads across the United States, a method to assess assets between states is necessary. Consistency between states in their data collection, rating calculation, and rating reporting are all necessary to identify poor sections of roadway. Another useful reporting item will be a condition rating of all the assets contained within a corridor. A corridor is a series of travel routes which move people between two major points of interest. By analyzing corridor level condition ratings, it will be possible to examine the overall condition of all the corridor sections across the nation and identify sections that need assistance in raising their condition. The objective of this thesis was to develop a framework for rating assets at the corridor level. The framework was developed to be applied to any asset contained within a roadway and allow the combination of individual asset ratings into a single corridor rating. The final methodology not only reports the overall corridor condition, but the functional and structural health of each individual asset, the rating of all of an asset type within a corridor, and performance indicators for individual items on a single asset. The methodology was tested using data provided by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to test if the methodology would produce ratings similar to those in use. For the application methods were developed for two major roadway assets; pavements and bridges. The product of this thesis is a general framework which can be applied to roadway corridors to assess the overall condition of all the assets contained within the corridor's boundaries. It can be used in conjunction with an IMS to help improve and maintain the overall condition of the roads, which are critical to the United States. Without unification of condition rating methods into a single method it will never be possible to compare assets from every state in the nation. / Master of Science

Self-ratings of work performance have been investigated by researchers for a number of years. Previous research has shown that self-ratings are often lenient, inaccurate, and lack convergence with other performance measures. However, self-ratings are less likely to produce a halo effect when compared to other performance appraisal measures. Further, it has been suggested that the inclusion of self-ratings may decrease an employee's defensiveness in the appraisal system. The current study investigated boundary conditions (Type A / B personality type, social comparison information, and public / private rating settings) that might facilitate more accurate, and less lenient self-ratings. Limited support was found for the research hypotheses. A number of theoretical and empirical explanations can be offered to interpret the findings. / Master of Science

This study attempts to increase critical thinking among teams by making them cognizant of seven critical thinking dimensions. Forty three-person teams of undergraduates worked together on a complex decision-making task. Each team received training in and was asked to ensure their group exhibited the characteristics of cognitive skills, affective dispositions, both of these or neither. Critical thinking was assessed using self-report, behavioral observation rating, and expert outcome analysis. The findings suggest training in affective dispositions increases the exhibition of at least one dimensions of critical thinking. A behavioral measurement is presented and evaluated with respect to established critical thinking methods.