Performance

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the contingencies that alter the link between entrepreneurial orientation (“EO”; a strategic posture characterized by behaviors and attitudes that display innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking) and firm outcomes. While conceptual claims unite on the belief that firms largely benefit from emphasizing innovation through proactive and risky initiatives, the empirical findings on a positive link between EO and performance are inconclusive. As such, several scholars have explored the contingencies that illuminate the boundary conditions to EO, however, most of this research has focused on external contingencies, i.e. those connected to the environment, while internal contingencies, i.e. those connected to the firm, have been fairly disregarded. Not only will the industry and market play a significant role in a firm’s ability to effectively carry out their desired strategic initiatives, so too will firm characteristics, such as communication and culture, as these internal factors are directly related to the level of value created from strategic actions. Therefore, this dissertation is an attempt to further clarify the boundary conditions of EO by focusing on these firm specific attributes. Chapter two, titled “Family communication patterns and entrepreneurial orientation in family firms” exposes the impact of specific family communication patterns on the performance outcomes from an entrepreneurial orientation. This chapter contributes to the corporate entrepreneurship literature, by confining the positive effects of EO to certain firm specific characteristic, as well as to the family business literature by further demonstrating the heterogeneity between family firms. Thereafter, chapter three, titled “Entrepreneurial orientation, organizational culture, and firm performance: The importance of a balanced approach”, argues and tests the importance of organizational culture, as defined by the competing values framework, as a contingency variable of the EO-performance relationship. This empirical chapter exploits a configurational approach, using fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis
(“fs/QCA”) to analyze the arrangements of different entrepreneurial orientation and organizational cultures that yield superior performance. Through this exploration, I advance research on the EO-performance relationship by integrating the firm’s corporate culture as a means of alleviating concerns with resistance by certain stakeholders to the ambiguity associated with entrepreneurial ventures.

Geometric modification as the most effective passive flow control method has recently received wide attention due to its enormous potential in enhancing performance characteristics of airfoils or hydrofoils without expensive manufacturing and maintenance cost. Two primary passive flow control modifications, known as leading-edge tubercles and internal slots and their applications in airfoils/hydrofoils have been investigated in this dissertation. For the hydrofoil, since free surface effects cannot be neglected, the interaction between the hydrofoil-motion induced waves on the free surface and the hydrofoil has been studied as well. In the theoretical approach aspect, an empirically-based model based on an iteration scheme has been proposed for predicting the lift coefficients of twisted airfoils with leading-edge tubercles by using experimental data for untwisted airfoils. With both numerical and experimental investigations, this dissertation has discussed the application of a custom optimized-design internal slot on a NACA 634-021 airfoil blade to allow ventilation of flow through the slot from the pressure side to the suction side of the blade, in support of delaying flow separation, and stall. The combined effect of an internal slot in an airfoil and transverse leading-edge tubercles on its performance has been further studied both numerically and experimentally. Moreover, performance of a NACA 634-021 hydrofoil in motion under and in close proximity of a free surface for a large range of AoAs has been studied. Lift and drag coefficients of the hydrofoil at different submergence depths are investigated both numerically and experimentally. The results of the numerical study are in good agreement with the experimental results. The agreement confirms the new finding that for a submerged hydrofoil operating at high AoAs close to a free surface, the interaction between the hydrofoil-motion induced waves on the free surface and the hydrofoil results in mitigation of the flow separation characteristics on the suction side of the foil and delay in stall, and improvement in hydrofoil performance. A similarly submerged hydrofoil with a custom-designed internal slot has further been studied. The performance characteristics of the slotted hydrofoil in the presence of the free surface are investigated both numerically and experimentally.

The observation of contrast effects (CE) in response
to differential relnforcenent has subsequently elicited a
diversity of experimental results and theoretical interpretations. Adaptation Level (AL ) concepts have provided
a mechanism for integrating such data within a psychophysical
frame-of-reference approach. The application of
this approach to the somewhat neglected area of response-produced
stimuli associated with effort, suggests that
proprioceptive stimuli may be effectively evaluated in a
simllar manner. Following shifts in the amount of effort
required to produce a constant reward magnitude, performance
measures demonstrated positive and negative contrast
effects (PCE; NCE) in relation to an appropriate control
performance. Data analysis suggested that the combined
effects of greater effort and shift conditions tended to
increase resistance to extinction. The findings are not
consistent Kith traditional (e. g., Hull, Spence) concepts
with regard to CE and the influence of effort on performance. It is suggested that such effects are more consistent with a contextual, or frame-of- reference, viewpoint.

The purpose of this research was to identify the impact of students’ choice of time
of day for class activity and their sleep quality on academic performance in
multidisciplinary distance education courses at a southeastern U.S. state college. The
research addressed the relationship of other individual student characteristics (i.e., age,
gender, race/ethnicity, educational background, or course workload) and external factors
(i.e., marital status, hours of employment, part-time or full-time status, or caretaker
responsibilities represented by the number of children and/or elderly that the student was
actively caring for in their home) to the students’ academic performance and to the
students’ choice of time of day for class activity and sleep quality. This study analyzed
distance education students’ Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) Global Sleep Quality Scores, their demographic and external factor survey responses, a test grade, and the time of day that the student submitted their test. This study targeted the distance education student population, as they are part of a rapidly growing sector within higher education, and they had previously not served as the primary subjects in research regarding sleep quality and external factor impacts on academic success. Analyses of 208 distance education students resulted in the following research findings: sleep quality was found to be related to academic success, with significant findings of, for example, poorer sleep quality correlating with a lower test grade (r = -0.15; p = .03), likewise the number of hours spent working was related to academic success, with a significant finding of more hours spent working correlating with a lower grade (r = 0.377; p = .008). In this study most other factors were found to have no significant relationship with a students’ grades (age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational background, or course workload, marital status, or caretaker responsibilities). These research findings may enlighten students of the potential impacts of taking distance education classes if they anticipate having to work extensively or if they have, or expect to have, poor sleep quality. Additionally, educational institutions and faculty can learn ways to design better distance education courses and provide improved guidance for students to encourage academic success.

Leaders often manage both chaos and diversity. We can improve our leadership
effectiveness by better understanding our motives and behaviors, and those of our
followers. A potential tool for leadership development is the Instinctual Variant
Questionnaire (IVQ). Based on Enneagram theory (pronounced “ANY-a-gram”), this
online instrument is designed to assist users in identifying how three behavioral drives, or
variants, may be helping or hindering their dispositions. Each reside in us, but one
typically dominates, one supports, and one tends to impede our behaviors and motives.
Through an understanding of one’s variants and order of preference, it is possible to
increase self-awareness of our motives and behaviors. While the IVQ proposes to
measure one’s preferred order of variants, no formal test of reliability and/or validity was
found published prior to this study. The purpose of this study was to test the reliability
and criterion-related validity of the IVQ. Reliability was tested using Cronbach’s alpha.Results indicated alpha values between .82 and .85 for the three variants measured,suggesting internal reliability.Validity was tested using data collected from a 120-person sample. The instrument’s results were compared to self-reported primary variant types obtained from those who had a high confidence level in accurately identifying their most dominant type. The IVQ was found to be a strong predictor of the three self-reported variant types. Three binary logistic regression models were run. Omnibus tests were significant for all three models at the p < .001 level (self-preservation chi-square statistic = 82.57, social chi-square statistic = 56.47, and sexual chi-square statistic = 51.77). A multinomial regression model, using self-reported dominant types as the dependent variable and IVQ scores as the independent variable, confirmed predictability of the IVQ. When z-scores were obtained based on the classification hit-rates from all four independent models, classification accuracy was found to be a significant improvement over guessing. Further analysis also suggested age, gender, marital status, education level, or number of years spent studying the Enneagram do not factor into IVQ results. Support for the IVQ to beused as a tool by leaders to better understand themselves and their followers is presented.

Performance effectiveness was explored from the perspective of action identification theory. The theory holds that any behavior can be identified in many ways, from depictions emphasizing the action's details (low level identities) to those emphasizing the action's effects and self-evaluative implications (high level identities). For optimal performance, the theory suggests that easy actions should be indentified in relatively high level terms, whereas more difficult actions should be identified in lower level terms. This general prediction was tested for self-perceived effectiveness in "giving a speech." Subjects delivered a prepared speech to either a sympathetic audience (easy task) or an antagonistic audience (difficult task). As predicted, a focus on the lower level identities promoted greater self-perceived effectiveness (e.g., persuasion) for the difficult than for the easy task, whereas a focus on higher level identities (e.g, self-evaluation) proved more optimal for the easy task.

Research, tests and analysis are presented on several reinforcements placed in the asphalt overlay of a roadway built over soft organic soils. Non-destructive Evaluation (NDE) methods and statistical analysis were used to characterize the pavement before and after rehabilitative construction. Before reconstruction, falling weight deflectometer, rut and ride tests were conducted to evaluate the existing pavement and determine the statistical variability of critical site characteristics. Twenty-four 500ft. test sections were constructed on the roadway including sixteen reinforced asphalt and eight control sections at two test locations that possessed significantly different subsoil characteristics. NDE tests were repeated after reconstruction to characterize the improvements of the test sections. Test results were employed to quantify the stiffness properties of the pavement based on load-deflection data to evaluate the relative performance of the reinforced sections. Statistical analysis of the data showed the stiffness of the reinforced sections was consistently higher than the control sections.

The western and northern parts of South Florida have shallow layers of organic and plastic soils under existing roads. These roads often exhibit large amount of cracking and distortion in a short period of time. Traditional repairs are often not practical due to high costs and extended construction time. In an effort to develop rehabilitation strategies that could be strictly applied to the surface layer, a pilot test site was selected along the alignment of SR 15/US 98 in northwest Palm Beach County, where severe pavement distresses were observed due to the presence of thick organic layers. PaveTrac MT-1, GlasGrid 8501, PetroGrid 4582, and ARMI were used as promising asphalt reinforcing products in 24 experimental pavement sections, including 8 control sections without any reinforcement. A comprehensive field testing and monitoring program involving FWD, rut and ride quality measurements was conducted at the preconstruction, 6-month post-construction, and 18-month post-construction stages. Due to large variability in the sub-surface conditions, a statistics-based data analysis protocol was developed for performance evaluation and relative comparisons of the test sections and, in turn, reinforcing products. Post construction data from both 6 months and 18 months demonstrated that stiffness of reinforced sections were significantly higher than the control sections. Procedures were developed to identify and statistically quantify the benefits derived from the reinforcements only, so that the relative performance of various products could be monitored over time. Based on the field testing data available to date, a framework was developed in this study for the prediction of pavement life, which is essential for conducting a detailed Life Cycle Analysis