The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the effects of activity-based costing (ABC) and activity-based management (ABM) on managerial and employee behavior.

The primary purpose of the study was to investigate whether takeover markets are allocationally efficient using Tobin's q as the variable which summarizes the investment opportunities of firms. Chapter I presented the purposes, hypotheses, methodology, and limitations of the study. The two hypotheses proposed were as follows: Acquiring firms' q should be significantly higher than that of control firms, on average, and target firms' q should be significantly lower than that of control firms, on average. Chapter II presented the review of literature on takeovers and theory of investments. Chapter III presented the research design adopted to test the above hypotheses. The methodology to calculate q-values and methods to reduce the bias which may result from choice-based sampling were also given. A paired comparison t-test was employed to test the hypotheses. Sample firms were selected from the COMPUSTAT RESEARCH and COMPUSTAT INDUSTRIAL tape.

The problem with which this study is concerned is that of determining and analyzing the problems of human resources created in Iran. These problems are rooted deeply and stream from Iranian history, culture, and social environment. The main purposes of this study are three. The first is to determine and analyze problems of human resources created in Iran, including social environment, education, and employment. The second is to study and evaluate the manpower policy of Iranian economic development. The third is to apply human resource development in planning, educating, training, and developing the human resources required for the economic development of Iran. Based on the reports and recommendations of the three research groups, a detailed plan and strategies are written to develop Iran's human resources.

The problem with which this research is dealing is the lack of any explanatory model which explains both the perception and the adoption of new products. One objective of this study is to advance a new conceptual framework concerning both the perception and the adoption of new products. The second objective of this study is to evaluate this new framework theoretically and empirically. Bunge's evaluative criteria are used to evaluate the new model theoretically while Hunter, Schmidt, and Jackson's meta-analysis technique is used to evaluate the model empirically. An extensive review of literature pertaining to the definition of innovation, the adoption process, and innovativeness is included in the second chapter. Chapter three covers research plan and methods. The new model and its assumptions are presented in chapter four. The results of both theoretical and empirical investigations of the new model are reported in chapter five. Finally, chapter six includes a discussion of the main findings and provides some suggestions for future research. An interpretive and postulational model is introduced in this study. The model is built on three main assumptions and contains thirty-one different theoretical constructs. Those constructs are bounded together by forty-six theoretical propositions. Those propositions are the postulates …

While the proliferation of literature on the subject of growing incivility in society demonstrates the increasing importance given to civility by corporate America, there has been little academic investigation of the concept. The limited number of academic studies on civility reveals immense negative consequences for uncivil behavior. One question for marketers of businesses is whether lack of civility among front-end personnel can negatively influence sales. This dissertation is an attempt to fill this research gap by exploring responses to uncivil behavior under the theoretical framework of attribution theory. Using the CDSII scale based on attribution theory, experimental research design was used with current civil and uncivil behavior by the store employees and past experiences (positive, negative, and no-experience) with the store as stimulus. The consumers' perception of civility, attributions and behavioral intentions were measured and used as dependent variables. The results of the experiment showed that when a customer discerns employee behavior to be uncivil, the customer's perception of the level of the ability of the employee to control his own behavior decreases. The results of the study enhance the knowledge of two important consumer behaviors, namely complaining and switching behaviors by empirically studying their antecedents in a particular market …

This research was undertaken to test the effects of conservatism on the decisions made by auditors. The evaluation of the research results provided by the two psychological tests indicated that, when measured on the construct of resistance to change, auditors as a group are essentially heterogeneous and slightly conservative. However, the auditors' test scores on the construct of aversion to risk reflected a homogeneous group who were distinctly conservative. Based on these results, this research seems to indicate that the firm effect is more important in auditors' decision making than personal characteristics except, perhaps, in the area of compliance testing decisions. If this is indeed the case, it could be said that the different audit philosophies held by the public accounting firms and instilled in their auditors may be the prime cause of the substantial differences that have been continuously found in auditor judgments.

The purpose of this research was to determine if personality type and system response time have any effect on state anxiety and user response time. The sample for this study consisted of senior and graduate level college students who possessed basic know 1 edge of a text editor. Each test subject was administered the Jenkins Activity Survey to determine scores for Type A versus Type B, speed and impatience, involvement, and competitiveness. The test subjects were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups (good, variable, and poor system response time). They were required to edit a text file which contained multiple errors. The test subjects were provided hard copies of the file with errors (errors highlighted) and the file as should appear without the errors. The test situation for each test subject was identical, except for changes in system response time. The A-state scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was administered to the test subjects immediately prior to the edit task in order to determine pre-task state anxiety levels. The A-state scale of the STAI was again administered immediately after the edit task in order to determine post-task state anxiety levels. Analysis of variance, analysis of covariance, regression, …

A packaging model is presented in this study which attempts to show some important aspects of a consumer's cognitive process in relation to packaging. This packaging model is based on the theories of imagery, emotion, and perception (and sensation). Perception of a packaged good occurs because the motivation system of a consumer selects particular information that the packaged good provides. Unlike the situation which occurs in behaviorism, stimulus is as important as response, and motivation explains why people don't perceive all the information available in the environment. When perception occurs, two subsequent responses are possible in the mind of a consumer: the connotative response and the denotative response. A connotative response is an evaluation of the perceived, i.e. emotion. Denotative response is imagery which is produced by conditioned sensory response. Imagery may elicit emotional response. Thus, imagery may reinforce consumer behavior positively or negatively. Emotion with regard to a packaged good is, then, the combination of emotions elicited by the perceived and the imagery evoked. This packaging model tries to explain purchasing behavior through the concepts of imagery and emotion.

This research is a systematic, in depth empirical test of the strong form of the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) using the dual-fund industry as the research subject. Unlike most strong-form EMH research, this study deals with a small, homogeneous sector of the investment company industry with a comparable origin date. To obtain homogeneity of the research subjects, the sample size is necessarily small (7), thus, making it difficult to find statistically significant results. In general, portfolio performance is negatively correlated with variability in measures of portfolio characteristics such as the major mix, common stock categories, portfolio turnover, etc. The better-performing dual funds were more consistently managed while the lower-performing companies had significant and sometimes frequent changes in portfolio policies. In line with the efficient market hypothesis, "passive" management, i.e., low turnover, few changes in major mix or common stock composition, shows better results in the dual-fund industry from inception through 1973.

Despite the obvious importance attached to the psychological significance of height and weight in everyday life, few researchers have studied the relationship of these variables to the sales performance of ordinary life insurance salesmen. In the present study, it was hypothesized that (1) taller and/or heavier ordinary life insurance salesmen are more successful than shorter and/or lighter ordinary life insurance salesmen; (2) those who possess more "ideal statures" are more successful than those who do not; and, secondarily, (3) life insurance companies tend to hire taller and/or heavier applicants for life insurance sales positions. The results of this study offer further support for the view that many sales managers and recruiters tend to believe that "the bigger they are, the better," and to select applicants accordingly, with the qualification that in this sample, female agents were taller, but lighter than average. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the life insurance industry and future investigations.

This dissertation addresses the influence of "positivism" in accounting research. Accounting research has been overwhelmed by "positivism" to the extent that the "scientific method" has become sacrosanct. The dysfunctional consequences include the extreme emphasis placed on methodology. Researchers believe that the methods applied, rather than the orientations of the human researcher, generate knowledge. This belief stems from an extreme objectivist ontological orientation. A second consequence of the "positivistic" influence is a change in direction of intellectual inquiries. Obsession with measurement and quantification has all but eliminated concern for values. Specifically this dissertation asserts that the "scientific method" has been misapplied and misunderstood. The misapplication is that a method developed in the natural sciences has been blindly accepted and endorsed in the social sciences. It has been misunderstood in the sense that the abstract Cartesian-Newtonian view of reality has been mistaken for reality itself. The ontological assumptions inherent in this view have become integrated in the Western mind. The axiomatic nature of these assumptions have been ignored. The primary purpose of this dissertation is to project a point concerning research and knowledge. Hence, there are no "research findings" in the conventional sense.

Patient perceptions of health care quality are critical to a health care service provider's long-term success because of the significant influence perceptions have on customer satisfaction and consequently organization financial performance. Patient satisfaction affects not only the outcome of the health care process such as patient compliance with physician advice and treatment, but also patient retention and favorable word-of-mouth. Accordingly, it is a critical strategy for health care organizations to provide quality service and address patient satisfaction. The urgent care (UC) industry is an integral part of the health care system in the United States that has been experiencing a rapid growth. UC provides a wide range of medical services for a large group of patients and now serves an increasing population. UC is becoming popular because of the convenient locations, extended hours, walk-in policy, short waiting times, and accessibility. A closer examination of the current health care research, however, indicates that there is a paucity of research on urgent care providers. Confronted with the emergence of the urgent care industry and the increasing demand for urgent care, it is necessary to understand how patients perceive urgent care providers and what influences patient satisfaction and retention. This dissertation addresses four …

Despite a long-standing tradition to view gender as a unitary theoretical construct, there is an increasing approbation afforded to gender identity as a multifarious construct. Over and above physiological characteristics, gender identity is a psychological and a social construct. More than simply a biological classification, both gender and gender identity have been explored as portentous moderators of consumers' cognitive and emotive states, brand attributions and shopping behaviors. How might gender differences be manifested in building and sustaining brand relationships? This is the seminal question addressed in the present research. The overarching objective of this research is to address how the broadened conceptualization of gender impacts customer-based brand equity across U.S. and Chinese consumers. The focal populations of interest are related to markedly different levels of brand penetration in each a post-developed and transitional market setting. Furthermore, it provides a platform for investigating how gender identities may differ across two of the largest consumer buying groups in the global marketplace. Toward this goal, this research explores the multidimensionality of gender as a construct, and then empirically investigates how an extended view of gender may or may not impact consumer-based brand equity. Based on an integration of extant theories in gender identity …

Safety is an important aspect of ethical, socially responsible logistics. Current U.S. motor carrier (MC) safety research topical coverage includes the effects of individual and environmental influences, carrier safety management, and regulatory compliance on carrier safety and driver fatigue/safety performance. Interestingly, little research on the subject of truck drivers' safety attitudes and behaviors exists and the underlying decision-making processes that guide drivers' safety-related behaviors have received little attention. Furthermore, researchers have not provided an integrated framework that explains individual, organizational, and regulatory factors' impact on drivers' safety decision-making and performance. Truck drivers' safety judgments, decisions, and actions must adhere to societal safety norms. To that end, ethical decision-making theory that draws from the deontological and teleological traditions in moral philosophy provides a theoretical foundation and integrated framework necessary to better understand drivers' safety decision-making processes. The current research sought to determine how drivers rely on safety norms and perceived consequences in forming safety judgments and behavioral intentions. Furthermore, the study was designed to explore how various factors (i.e., individual, organizational, and regulatory) influence drivers' safety decision-making processes. Specifically, the study sought to answer the broad question, "How do commercial motor vehicle drivers make safety-related decisions, and how do individual, organizational, …