College of Business

Using longitudinal data from Growing America Through Entrepreneurship (GATE), I examine whether mentors improve nascent entrepreneurs’ new venture survival and growth. To perform the analysis, I develop a multi-level regression model with mentoring as the key independent variable and human capital as the moderator. The findings provide empirical evidence that having a mentor helps nascent entrepreneurs grow and improve their businesses’ chances of survival. Furthermore, mentorship helps new venture growth and survival for some entrepreneurs more than others. For survival, mentorship is more helpful for those without business education. For new venture growth, I find that mentorship helps those with no prior managerial experience. These results highlight the importance of mentoring for nascent entrepreneurs and the boundary conditions through which mentoring is most beneficial.

This dissertation investigated the influence of university presidents and business school deans on fundraising performance at public research universities. Drawing on strategic choice theory, upper echelons theory, and transformational leadership theory, this research suggests that managerial power and transformational leadership behaviors moderate the relationship between an institution’s fundraising strategy and its performance. To test these hypotheses, data on strategic choice, managerial power, leadership behaviors, and leader demographics were collected from 79 U.S. public research universities for fiscal years 2017–2021. Panel regression, specifically random-effects generalized least squares regression models, tested the hypotheses. The study found that university presidents and business school deans who exhibited transformational leadership behaviors, had higher fundraising outcomes. Furthermore, the study identified a significant positive effect of a dean’s prior work experience at prestigious institutions on a business school’s fundraising performance. This implies that deans hailing from elite institutions might possess qualities or networks that significantly enhance fundraising outcomes.

I investigate the link between real earnings management and customer satisfaction. Following the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires public companies to ensure the accuracy of their financial reporting, the use of non-accrual based methods to achieve financial earnings targets has become commonplace. Nonaccrual-based methods consist of decisions that curtail firm activities, which increase net income; however, these methods come at the cost of future operations. These opportunistic behaviors in the service, retail, and hospitality industries impact customers and a firm's long-term value. I hypothesize that the outcome will be lower customer satisfaction and service quality.
I use firms’ publicly available financial information to detect real earning management (REM) of selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses to understand how firms operate. Physical changes to a firm’s operating environment through these financial actions are immediately observable, generating negative electronic word of mouth. I use text analysis software to determine if the comment is positive or negative and the strength of the customers' sentiment, allowing me to observe the harmful effects of reducing SG&A expenses through the lens of the customer. In addition, I use American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) scores to provide an overall assessment. I regress my customer satisfaction and service quality measures on the REM measure to test the hypotheses on the impact of REM. Further, I analyze and establish the link between REM's impact on the firm's sales growth rates.

I examine the relationship between environmental regulation stringency and the extent of voluntary environmental disclosures by firms. The study draws on theoretical frameworks including legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory, and information asymmetry, to explore how different mechanisms influence firm behavior in the context of environmental transparency.
My empirical analysis shows a positive relationship between the stringency of environmental regulations and the level of voluntary environmental disclosures. This relationship is weakened by factors such as board independence and institutional ownership. I further confirm the positive effect of national level of environmental regulation stringency on the environmental voluntary disclosure. However, I fail to find supporting evidence on the positive moderating role of national level of environmental regulation stringency and corporate governance. In contrast, I find evidence that external institutional ownership and independent directors, who represent interests of external blockholders, have a preventive and monitoring effect on the main relationship to reduce the threat of misleading voluntary information and proprietary cost.

My first study proposes that stock price manipulation erodes trust, damages corporate reputation, reorients management towards short-termism, harms entrepreneurial innovation culture, and increases the cost of capital. I tested these ideas by linking stock manipulation data to corporate venture capital data for firms listed on NASDAQ and NYSE. The data indicate CVC investments in entrepreneurial firms are followed by a rise in market manipulation in the short run [-3 months, +3 months], but a decline thereafter. The data further indicates that stock manipulation harms the ability of CVCs to form investment syndicates and reduces the likelihood of successful IPO and acquisition exits. The hazard rate to IPO is 0.54 for CVC-backed firms that face market manipulation. Overall, the theory and evidence provide insights into how firm's manipulation can damage the effectiveness of their venture capital endeavors, ultimately contributing to sustainable growth and innovation.

I assessed the impact of the Merge in Ethereum by analyzing the change in its market capitalization following the event. This study can provide insights into market preferences for proof-of-work versus proof-of-stake protocols. A difference-in-difference analysis was conducted, using Ethereum Classic as the control group and Ethereum as the treatment group to estimate the local average treatment effect following the Merge as the intervention. As a robustness check, the analysis was repeated using the Top 100 cryptocurrencies as the control group. I find no evidence that the Merge improved the market capitalization of Ethereum relative to Ethereum Classic or the Top 100 cryptocurrencies.

This quantitative research study explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the utilization of telehealth in mental health services, focusing on the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The study assessed changes in appointment types across location, modality, gender, age, race, and rurality. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and introducing a COVID-19 moderation factor, the study investigates the adoption of telehealth technology and its effects on traditionally underserved groups. The research method involved a quantitative analysis of de-identified patient appointment data from FY 2017 to FY 2022, encompassing 66 million appointments. Empirical research was assessed for any impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on the proliferation of the telehealth modality in mental health. The study incorporated statistical analyses, including time series regression, to test the hypothesis that telehealth positively influenced mental health service delivery, with the COVID-19 pandemic as a moderating factor. Descriptive statistics were used to present the mean and standard deviation scores for the independent and dependent variables. Frequency statistics were used to describe the independent variables for the study further. Three regression models were used to answer the hypotheses. Comprehensive results were presented, showcasing the impact of the pandemic on telehealth adoption, and behavioral intentions. Specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered the landscape of doctoral healthcare provider visits, generally decreased in-person visits while substantially increased video and phone visits. The findings highlighted sizable shifts in healthcare dynamics, emphasizing the influence of demographic factors on visit types and the complex interplay with COVID-19. This study contributed valuable insights into the transformative role of telehealth in mental health care, especially during global health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through this research, I provide quantitative evidence on the use of gender identity pronouns in business communication as it relates to sexual stigma theory and psychological safety theory in the workplace. This theoretically grounded, empirical investigation uncovers what impact, if any, psychological safety has on the use of gender identity pronouns in the workplace. My research measures the degree to which respondents feel psychologically safe enough to use their gender identity pronouns in a work context and which other factors (such as age cohort or the sociopolitical leanings of the company where they work) impact their decision to do so.

This empirical study examines decision-making in project selection in the face of overwhelming flood infrastructure needs and inadequate resources, particularly in vulnerable communities. The motivation for this study is to explore the interconnectedness between socioeconomic dimensions and environmental risks in the decision-making process for selecting projects. The study evaluates the Palm Beach County project selection framework and the impact of multi-criteria decision-making on project selection by proposing a new framework. The new project selection framework emphasizes the integration of flood risk and social vulnerability index criteria to evaluate the relationship between the new criteria in the decision-making framework and project selection.
The analysis is comprised of 24 models grouped into three distinct groups and compared using paired t-tests. The analysis reveals that of the three groups, the group which incorporates both flood risks and social vulnerability criteria consistently outperforms the others, demonstrating its effectiveness in providing a more equitable investment for vulnerable communities that are more susceptible to floods. The findings provide valuable insights and recommendations for practitioners and scholars, emphasizing the need for a theoretical framework with objectivity to guide optimal infrastructure investments for decision makers.

Local social capital, defined as the level of community interaction and social participation of a region, has been theorized to positively affect economic outcomes and discourage opportunistic behaviors in various settings. I examine whether local social capital is related to positive outcomes for entrepreneurs and their financial backers in the settings of reward crowdfunding and small business lending.
In my first study, I look at how local social capital influences the creators of successful reward crowdfunding campaigns. These creators, in turn, may influence the sentiment of their investors, or backers, towards their projects through missed delivery deadlines and poor communication. With comments collected from successful Kickstarter crowdfunding pages, I use textual analysis to construct a measure of the sentiment of project backers following the fundraising deadline.