Browsing by Author "Arthur, Jeffrey B."

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Corporate Governance and Strategic Behavior: A Study of Acquisitions and CEO Compensation Practices of Publicly-Owned and Family-Controlled Firms in S&P 500
    Singal, Manisha (Virginia Tech, 2008-04-08)
    Recent research has suggested that interest alignment, i.e., the degree to which members of an organization are motivated to behave in line with organizational goals, is a source of competitive advantage that can generate rents for the firm (Gottschlag and Zollo, 2007). Drawing on agency theory, this dissertation tests whether the interest alignment premise manifests itself differently in the strategic behavior of family-controlled firms when compared to their nonfamily peers. In particular, for firms in the S&P 500, I evaluate the results of two important strategic policies; mergers and acquisitions, as well as CEO compensation practices. In studying acquisitions made by family and nonfamily firms in the S&P 500 index from 1992-2006, I find that family firms are more careful when embarking on actions leading to mergers than non-family firms, as evidenced by their selection of smaller targets and targets who are in related businesses. I also find that there is a preponderance of cash purchases by family firms that does not vary with market movements and that completion times for merger transactions are shorter than for non family firms. The care and concern with which family-controlled firms choose their "mates" translates into higher stock returns when compared with non-family firms. Overall, I believe that family-controlled firms derive value from their merger and acquisition strategy. With regard to CEO compensation practices, I find that family firms provide strong incentives to the CEO for superior performance but pay significantly lower than nonfamily firms in terms of both salary and stock-based pay. The pay-for-performance sensitivity between annual stock returns and total compensation is significantly greater for family firms in general, and for family CEOs when compared with compensation of CEOs in nonfamily firms. The pay-for-performance sensitivity is in turn positively related to firm performance, suggesting that firms with greater pay-for-performance sensitivity (family controlled firms) also perform better. The analyses in my thesis thus illustrate that family-controlled firms and non-family firms in the S&P 500 differ in their strategic decision-making. It would be fair to say that family firms have longer investment horizons and give deliberate thought to expending resources whether for acquisitions or for CEO pay, and may suffer lower agency costs than nonfamily firms due to family governance (and public monitoring) which may lead to their relative superior performance. This dissertation finds that each acquisition made by a family controlled firm generates an extra return of 0.50% when compared with a nonfamily firm, and family controlled firms earn 0.50% every year directly attributable to pay-for-performance sensitivity. The study thus underlines and reiterates the importance of instilling the long-term view in the management of all firms, lowering agency costs, and aligning the interests of managers with those of stockholders for superior financial performance
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    An Experimental Study of Psychological Contract Breach: The Effects of Exchange Congruence in the Employer - Employee Relationship
    Schaupp, Gretchen Lina (Virginia Tech, 2012-03-23)
    Although the psychological contract has been a popular topic in managerial research for the past twenty years, recent critiques of the research in this area point to several shortcomings. These are believed to result primarily from the overwhelming use of field studies, survey questionnaires, and other correlational procedures in the study of this construct. One particular research question that has generated mixed results involves the effect that one's underlying contract (either transactional or relational) has on individuals' perceptions of contract breach and feelings of violation following an employer's breach. This study sought to gain insight into this question by using an experimental study design to assess the impact that exchange congruence — or the match between the nature of the underlying contract and the nature of the breach — has on employees' perceptions of breach and feelings of violation. An experimental design was used and data was collected from 421 subjects in six treatment groups and two control groups. The treatment groups examined the effects of withdrawal breach (without resource substitutions) and both congruent and incongruent resource substitutions in transactional and relational work contexts. Also, two control groups in which no psychological breach was induced were examined. The results of the experiment differ for the transactional and relational treatments. No significant differences in perceptions of breach or violation were found with regard to the type of breach induced among the transactional treatments. Among the relational treatments, subjects that received incongruent resource substitutions perceived significantly higher levels of breach and violation than those that received congruent substitutions. Also, among the relational treatments, levels of perceived breach were significantly higher for the incongruent substitute treatment than for the withdrawal breach treatment. Therefore, the results of this study indicate that breach perceptions and feelings of violation vary for employees depending not only on the type of contract they hold, but the type of breach that they experience. In addition, the study demonstrated that an experimental design is applicable to this literature and that it could advance our understanding of the psychological contract in ways that are not possible with cross-sectional field studies.
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    Explaining the Relationship Between the HR System and Firm Performance: a Test of the Strategic HRM Framework
    Herdman, Andrew Orr (Virginia Tech, 2008-01-16)
    Recent meta-analytic treatments of the Strategic Human Resource Management literature suggest a relationship between the adoption of "high-commitment" HR practices and organization level performance outcomes (Combs, Lui, Hall & Ketchen, 2006). However, there is considerable variability in the manner in which the HR system construct is conceptualized and measured (Arthur & Boyles, 2007; Delaney & Huselid, 1996). Further, relative little attention has been given to how these systems of HR practices operate to influence organizational outcomes (Ostroff & Bowen, 2000). Drawing on the extant SHRM literature, the present study attempts to lend clarity to these issues by specifying and assessing a number of unique measures of the HR system. Several attitudinal, motivation and behavioral employee outcomes are also identified and assessed as possible mediators between the HR system measures and organizational outcomes. An integrated model proposing relationships both among these measures and their effects on various organizational outcomes is offered and tested. Data obtained from 202 hotel locations provided mixed support for the proposed model of relationships. However, results generally support the relationships between measures of the HR System and important organizational outcomes. Findings also reinforce the utility of expanding the measurement of the HR system beyond the formally established HR programs, the need to better understand intra-organizational variability in HR systems along functional lines and the challenges and opportunities inherent in multi-respondent designs. Finally, the failure to demonstrate the mediating role of the specified human capital characteristics in HR's relationship with firm performance presents a continued challenge to future research to effectively model this relationship.
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    How Frontline Managers Implement, and Employees Experience, Commitment HR Practices: The Roles of Individual Attributional Process and Self-Transcendence Values
    Yang, Jae Wan (Virginia Tech, 2014-06-18)
    The finding of a positive relationship between a set of well-configured commitment human resources practices and performance outcomes at multiple levels of an organization is a well-documented in the strategic human resource management (HRM) literature (e.g., Combs, Lui, Hall, and Ketchen, 2006; Kehoe and Wright, 2013). However, several recent empirical studies (e.g., Liao, Toya, Lepak, and Hong, 2009) find a significant gap between the HR practices organizations report they use and the HR practices employees report they experienced. These more recent findings call into question the extent to which formal HR programs reported by organizational leaders are actually understood and implemented by lower level managers. To the extent that formal HR programs are not fully implemented as intended suggests many organizations may not be getting the full benefits from their HR program investments. The present study addresses this issue by focusing on the problem of HR practices implementation. Drawing on attribution theory, I examine how frontline managers (FLMs) and employees recognize, interpret, and react to commitment HR practices adopted by their organization. Additionally, I tested the influence of the self-transcendence values of FLMs and employees on their attributional processes. In doing so, three models (frontline manager, employee, and multi-level models) were proposed and the hypotheses based on these models were tested. Data collected from 195 employees nested in 61 workgroups provided mixed support for the hypothesized relationships. In the frontline manager, tests of hypotheses revealed that FLMs' awareness of commitment HR programs affected their commitment HR attributions and implementation of commitment HR practices. The employee model showed that employees' awareness of commitment HR practices influenced their commitment HR attributions and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). However self-transcendence was not a significant moderator in both models. Finally, the multi-level model suggested that FLMs' implementation of commitment HR practices is a significant predictor of employees' commitment HR attributions. The findings contribute to the strategic HRM literature by demonstrating how organizations can implement commitment HR practices to attain unrealized potential benefits of commitment HR practices. The failure to demonstrate the moderating effect of self-transcendence values on attributional process of commitment HR practices presents a continued challenge for future research.
  • Public announcements of employee recognitions from customers and customer satisfaction: Longitudinal effects in the healthcare context
    Arthur, Jeffrey B. (Elsevier, 2023-03)
    This study examines the impact of periodic public announcements of customers’ employee recognitions from a non-monetary employee recognition program on subsequent changes in the number of customers’ employee recognitions and customer satisfaction. Recognized employee customer-oriented behaviors (COB) include helping and comforting patients that go “above and beyond” frontline caregivers’ expected role behaviors. Theory-based hypotheses on the antecedents and consequences of monthly variation in the number of publicly announced COB recognitions are developed by integrating theory and research on determinants of employees’ prosocial behavior, incentive-based rewards, and social dynamics found in social cognitive theory. I find that the number of publicly announced recognitions in one period is positively related to the number of recognitions in the following period. Further, I find a non-linear S-shaped relationship between the number of publicly announced recognitions and average patient satisfaction scores that varies depending on the number of publicly announced recognitions each month.
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    "Thank you for letting me be myself": Exploring the effects of identity management strategies on engagement levels of lesbian, gay and bisexual employees
    Boyles, Patricia (Virginia Tech, 2008-08-20)
    In spite of the fact that discussions regarding the social inequality of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals have been at the forefront of the U.S. national dialogue over the last decade, and estimates suggest that LGB employees comprise between 6 and 17 percent of the workforce (Gonsiorek & Weinrich, 1991), little is known about the experiences of these individuals at work. The limited research that exists suggests that inclusive diversity programs (e.g. gay-friendly organizational policies and practices, such as same-sex partner benefit programs), LGB employee experiences and fears of discrimination, and decisions regarding the disclosure of their sexual orientation are of central concern for LGB employees. However, at present only a small number of empirical studies have been conducted, resulting in relatively inconclusive findings. For example, research on the role of the environment at work with respect to LGB employee disclosure decisions has generated evidence that disclosure is related to both reduced and increased levels of discrimination. Explanations for these mixed findings includes evidence that the decision to disclose or not disclose one's LGB identity is driven by a multitude of factors such as individual attitudes suggesting that elements of the organizational environment may be more useful if considered a context in which LGB employees enact disclosure decisions. In addition, evidence suggests that the decision to disclose one's LGB identity is much more complex than a simple "to tell" or "not to tell" dichotomy. This complexity, theoretically and empirically captured in the concept of identity management strategies, has been argued to have detrimental effects on the well-being and productivity of LGB employees. However, as of yet there has been little research conducted to empirically investigate these claims. I propose that employee engagement, articulated by Kahn (1990) as a psychological presence in which workers are able and motivated to fully employ and express themselves physically, cognitively and emotionally at work, offers a useful framework in which to examine the potential effects of identity management. Employee engagement incorporates both the well-being of employees and the repercussions with respect to their performance, conceptually capturing the range of outcomes speculated to be related to identity management. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of identity management on LGB employee engagement. Data was collected via an online survey of a national sample of self-identified LGB employees, obtained through announcements posted on gay and lesbian news and information websites, social network websites, and occupation-related online discussion boards. Findings suggest that while aspects of Kahn's model of engagement apply to LGB employees, other configurations of the conditions of engagement may be more appropriate for these workers. Additionally, the findings indicate that in work environments perceived as less psychologically safe with respect to being lesbian, gay or bisexual, strategies of identity management used to avert disclosure of one's sexual orientation may help reduce the negative impact of non-disclosure on engagement, while integrating one's LGB identity at work, particularly in environments perceived as psychologically safe, may have positive implications for LGB employee engagement.
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    The Upper-Echelon Perspective of Firm Competitive Behavior: Empirical Evidence from the U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry
    Offstein, Evan Hayden (Virginia Tech, 2004-11-17)
    How firms compete for an advantage is among the most critical questions in Business Strategy. While several researchers link executives to key strategic outcomes, much less is understood on how the Upper-Echelon team drives the actual competitive behavior of the firm, which is manifested in the launching of observable and purposeful competitive actions within the marketplace. Considering that competitive behavior research tends to overlook the importance of human assets, in general, and executive human assets, in particular, I explore how the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the Chief Executive (CEO), Top Management Team (TMT), and Board of Directors (BOD) impact a firm's competitive behavior. In addition, I examine how sources of Social Capital, or the relationships between these Upper-Echelon actors, influence a firm's competitive behavior. Moreover, I argue and test for the moderating influence of executive compensation on firm competitive behavior. Applying relational demography to capture Human Capital and sources of Social Capital within the U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry, I find some empirical support that executives do, indeed, affect firm competitive behavior. Overall, the empirical evidence indicates that the Human Capital of the CEO, TMT, and BOD can influence all dimensions of a firm's Competitive Intensity. Unexpectedly and, contrary to prediction, executive dissimilarity (not similarity) tended to greatly influence a firm's Competitive Activity and Repertoire Complexity. Also, the moderating impact of executive bonus and incentive pay was largely supported. This dissertation contributes to both the competitive behavior and Upper-Echelon literatures. Notably, this dissertation adds to the very limited work that attempts to theoretically link and empirically test for executive impact on firm competitive behavior. By so doing, it begins to open the "black box" on how human assets at the Upper Echelon affect strategic outcomes through a firm's competitive behavior.