Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item THE DEI SIGNALING THRESHOLD: WHEN AND WHY MORE MESSAGING IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER(2024) Holmes, Tara; Derfler-Rozin, Rellie; Business and Management: Management & Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)When it comes to messaging diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts to employees, organizations take great care in considering the content of the signals they create. However, despite carefully designed communications, they continue to struggle to garner employee support and participation for these initiatives. Counter to the prevailing assumption that more DEI signaling is better (Roberson, 2006; Plaut et al., 2011; Nishii, 2013; Richard et al., 2013; Leslie, 2019; Hunt et al., 2020; Shuman et al., 2023), I argue that positive effects of organizational DEI signaling do not persist with increased exposure to DEI-related stimuli. Leveraging exposure effect research, I instead propose that employee attitudes shift from positive to negative as exposure to signaling increases, thereby decreasing their desire to engage with DEI at work. Specifically, I hypothesize that low and moderate levels of signaling are associated with employees feeling more engagement towards DEI, but at higher DEI fatigue and cynicism are more likely to develop, negatively impacting employees’ DEI effort. I further posit that because managers play a central role in shaping employee attitudes and behaviors, a manager’s consistency with organizational DEI signaling is the key to minimizing negative employee attitudes that emerge because of overexposure. I test these hypotheses in an experiment and a field study with implications for the literatures on DEI in organizations, issue fatigue, and behavioral integrity.Item Creative Star or Territorial Jerk? The Interpersonal Consequences of Claiming Ownership over Creative Ideas at Work(2024) Hong, Rebekah SungEun; Venkataramani, Vijaya; Business and Management: Management & Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Employee creativity—the generation of novel and useful ideas—is vital for organizational growth and survival. To encourage creativity, organizations often reward employees who develop successful ideas, motivating them to claim ownership over their specific creative ideas. However, this dissertation argues that such idea ownership-claiming behaviors are a double-edged sword. Drawing from the Dual Perspective Model of social evaluation, this study proposes that claiming ownership of creative ideas leads to positive evaluations by coworkers of the focal employee’s creative potential but can also result in coworkers perceiving such individuals as territorial, influencing their willingness to collaborate on subsequent creative work. The study further proposes that the idea claiming employee’s granting of idea ownership to other coworkers’ ideas serves as a moderating factor, amplifying the positive effect of perceived creative potential and mitigating the negative effect of perceived territoriality on coworkers’ willingness to collaborate creatively with them. Finding support from a field study and three pre-registered lab experiments, the current research sheds light on the importance of balancing idea ownership claims with acknowledging others’ contributions to navigate the collaboration dynamics in organizations.Item NATURE-LED COMPLACENCY: BIOPHILIC WORK ENVIRONMENTS’ NEGATIVE IMPACT ON PROACTIVE AND PROSOCIAL WORKPLACE BEHAVIORS(2024) Kim, Hae Lyeng; Foulk, Trevor; Business and Management: Management & Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)While existing research has suggested that being in a biophilic work environment (BWE), or environments that incorporate nature and natural elements, would generally have positive implications for employees, our understanding of the potential downside consequences of this contextual setting is underdeveloped. Leveraging insights from Attention Restoration Theory (ART; Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989; Kaplan, 1995) and the biophilia hypothesis (Wilson, 1984), I hypothesize that the natural features of BWEs may draw one’s attention away from tasks at hand and trigger employee complacency, thereby decreasing beneficial workplace behaviors, including proactive behavior and prosocial behavior. Furthermore, I argue that the positive relationship between BWEs and complacency may be stronger for employees who are lower (vs. higher) in mindfulness. Results were mostly supported through three pre-registered studies: 1) an online experiment conducted with working professionals on Prolific Academic, 2) a multi-source field study involving 219 coworker dyads (438 employees) across 111 organizations in the Republic of Korea, and 3) an in-person experiment with undergraduate students at a large eastern U.S. university. Collectively, these studies aim to offer significant insights and implications regarding the consequences of various workplace environments.Item A Prosocial Contributor or Status Grabber? How and Why Newcomer Proactive Knowledge Sharing with Coworkers Impacts Inclusion Perceptions via Ambivalent Coworker Attributions(2023) Guan, Zhishuang; Liao, Hui HL; Business and Management: Management & Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Newcomers are often referred to as the “new blood” because they represent a source of fresh, unique, task-relevant knowledge that potentially adds value to organizations. In this research, I focus on newcomer proactive knowledge sharing with coworkers and investigate how it impacts the transition of newcomers from outsiders to insiders. Integrating attribution theory and the status characteristics theory, I propose that newcomer proactive knowledge sharing with coworkers triggers coworkers’ ambivalent attributions (i.e., perceiving it to be driven simultaneously by newcomers’ prosocial and status-striving motives). Furthermore, the ambivalent attributions affect the extent to which coworkers provide socialization support and utilize the newcomer’s knowledge, eventually exerting different influences on the newcomer’s inclusion perceptions. The results of a multi-wave (i.e., four waves) and multi-source (i.e., survey data from newcomers and coworkers) longitudinal study based on 336 newcomers in a large technology company support the proposed serial mediating relationships between newcomer proactive knowledge sharing with coworkers and their inclusion perceptions via coworkers’ ambivalent attributions and behavioral reactions. The data also demonstrates that leader encouragement of learning is a viable leader strategy that makes coworkers more likely to interpret newcomer proactive knowledge sharing is driven by prosocial motives. This research has significant implications both theoretically and practically. From a theoretical perspective, it advances our understanding of newcomer socialization, knowledge sharing, and workplace inclusion. From a practical perspective, it helps newcomers better navigate the process of knowledge sharing by illuminating potential social consequences. Practitioners can leverage these insights to create more inclusive onboarding experiences for new employees.Item Expanding the Fisheries Management Tackle Box: A Multiple-Model Approach to Support Better Decisions(2023) Hayes, Christopher Glenn; Wainger, Lisa; Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Marine fisheries provide critical ecosystem services but face an array of stressors like climate change and overfishing. Managing fisheries is challenging due to limited information and the need to make complex tradeoffs among ecological and social objectives. Decision processes that include integrated social-ecological models and equitable stakeholder engagement are increasingly recognized as approaches to improve the likelihood of achieving management goals compared to those that rely solely on stock assessment models with limited stakeholder input. Additionally, advanced technologies offer new opportunities to understand marine ecosystem dynamics, including human behavior. This research adds two examples of underutilized tools: multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and agent-based models (ABMs). In the first case, I compared management recommendations for the Chesapeake Bay oyster fishery arising from A) stakeholder engagement using group negotiations and B) preferences elicited from individuals using an MCDA approach. The recommendations were consistent across methods, suggesting that group effects did not bias group negotiation outcomes. The second case investigated New England groundfish reporting behavior based on stock dynamics, quota markets, and fishery observer coverage. First, having an observer onboard was found to significantly reduce the probability and magnitude of reporting error (ie., an observer effect) using a linear mixed effects model of data from vessel trip reports and remote vessel monitoring systems. Next, an ABM was used to explore emergent responses to policy changes - varying levels of observer coverage and the strength of the observer effects - on fish catch, reporting error, and profit outcomes, given fisher interactions and responses to fish population dynamics. Scenarios with strong observer effects resulted in increasing marginal improvements in reporting accuracy at high levels of observer coverage. MCDA and ABM can contribute to a multiple-model approach by allowing fisheries managers to integrate diverse stakeholder perspectives and use additional data sources that could lead to better fishery outcomes.Item MODEL CITIZEN OR SQUEAKY WHEEL? HOW EMPLOYEES OF LOWER SOCIAL CLASS ORIGINS FACE AMBIVALENT REACTIONS AT WORK(2023) Park, Hyunsun; Tangirala, Subrahmaniam; Business and Management: Management & Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Employees of lower social class origins can elicit ambivalent reactions when they make it into elite, high-status organizations. On the one hand, they can be seen as misfits and face discrimination in work outcomes, such as lower performance evaluations and job rewards. On the other hand, their achievements can be viewed as admirable and earn them higher than usual evaluations and rewards. Drawing on the ambivalence-amplification theory, I propose that such ambivalence toward employees of lower social class origins leads to especially amplified reactions to their behaviors. When they engage in behaviors that support the existing norms in the organization (such as being courteous and helpful), those behaviors are seen as role-congruent and rewarded more highly than similar behaviors of employees with higher social class origins. By contrast, when they engage in behaviors that challenge such norms (such as speaking up with ideas and concerns), those behaviors are seen as role-incongruent and receive more negative evaluations than similar behaviors of higher-class employees. Through a field study of working professionals and two experiments, I examine this idea in the context of social caste in India. I replicate these findings in the context of socioeconomic status in the U.S. using two experiments.Item Addressing Follower Motivation Within the Kelley Typology of Followership Using Significance Quest Theory(2022) Forgo, Emily Elizabeth; Hanges, Paul J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis sought to build upon the Kelley typology of followership by examining the motivational factors that affect follower behavior in follower-leader interactions that the original theory did not explore. The motivational mechanism I argued accounted for differences in follower behavior was Significance Quest theory. This thesis examined whether the interaction between the activation of an individual’s significance quest and the closeness to a network perceived as valuable to them would influence follower behavior. Additional factors, such as narratives valued by the network and regulatory focus orientation, are also explored. Partial support was found for two hypotheses. Implications and future directions of these findings are discussed.Item HOSPITAL CROSS-SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS TO PROMOTE POPULATION HEALTH(2022) Barath, Deanna; Chen, Jie; Health Services Administration; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Health reform efforts continue to hold hospitals accountable for the care they provide by connecting hospital payments to hospital quality. With an understanding that there is no one size fits all solution and a long history of operating within the silo of the medical sector, hospitals have slowly begun to look beyond health care and invest in population health strategies. These upstream strategies usually promote health and wellbeing by addressing the social needs of patients and the social determinants of health: the conditions in which we live, work, and play. The central research question asks if hospital investments in population health strategies improve hospital quality of care. As cross-sector partnerships have long been at the center of solving large population health concerns, this dissertation seeks to assess how hospitals are engaging partners across-sectors, establish a taxonomy of hospital partnership engagement, and examine variation in hospital and community characteristics across the taxonomy in Chapter Two. This taxonomy will then be used to assess the provision of community-oriented health services in Chapter Three and readmission rates in Chapter Four. Data sources include the 2018 American Hospital Association Annual Survey Database, Area Health Resource Files, Minority Health Social Vulnerability Index, Care Compare data for unplanned readmission rates, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Impact File. The analysis resulted in a four-cluster taxonomy of hospital partnership engagement (HPE) that ranged from little to no partnerships to many partnerships and often at formal levels of engagement. In general, partnership engagement increased with hospital size, teaching status, nonprofit ownership, multihospital systems, greater proportions of Medicaid discharges, urbanicity, hospital competition, median home value, household income, educational attainment, and non-white population. Partnership engagement declined with the proportion of Medicare discharges, critical access hospitals, and sole community providers shortage area designation, poverty, and elderly populations. HPE was also found to be a significant predictor of the total sum of community health services provided by hospitals, as well as each of those services, even after accounting for state-level effects. Lastly, high levels of HPE were associated with lower 30-day unplanned readmission rates. Results demonstrate an association between HPE and hospital quality, indicating that hospital investments in population health strategies can improve hospital quality.Item APPLICANT REACTIONS TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SELECTION SYSTEMS(2022) Bedemariam, Rewina Sahle; Wessel, Jennifer; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Practitioners have embraced the use of AI and Machine Learning systems for employeerecruitment and selection. However, studies examining applicant reactions to such systems are lacking in the literature. Specifically, little is known about how job applicants react to AI-based selection systems. This study assessed fairness perceptions of hiring decisions made by AIdriven systems and whether significant differences existed between different groups of people. To do so, a two-by-two experimental study where participants in a selection scenario are randomly assigned to a decision-maker condition (human vs AI) and outcome variability condition (hired vs rejected) was utilized. The results showed that the condition had a significant effect on the interactional justice dimension. The interaction effect of outcome and condition had an impact on job-relatedness, chance to perform, reconsideration opportunity, feedback perceptions, and interactional justice. The three-way interaction of outcome, race and condition influences general fairness reactions and emotional reactions. Given these findings, HR personnel should weigh the pros and cons of AI, especially towards applicants that are rejected.Item Putting the 'I' in Creativity Assessments: the Impact of Identities on Creativity Assessments and Willingness to Implement Ideas(2022) Dennis, Alexander Stuart; Bartol, Kathryn M; Marr, Jennifer; Business and Management: Management & Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Managers’ assessments of the creativity of ideas are crucial to organizations. Research suggests that there are distinct individual differences in the way managers assess creative ideas, yet it remains an under-researched topic. One such difference, shared social identities (e.g., nationality or organizational membership), can alter perceptions of creative ideas, yet no research has yet examined the other form of identities, role identities, despite research showing that role identities can influence the generation of ideas. I examined the effects of creative and economic managerial role identities on creativity assessments because past research shows these two identities play important roles in creativity. I theorized that the activation of either a creative or economic role identity would affect creativity assessments in three ways. First, that the activation of a creative managerial role identity would positively moderate the relationship between idea novelty and creativity assessments, while the activation of an economic managerial role identity would negatively moderate the relationship between idea novelty and creativity assessments. Second, that social comparison orientation would negatively moderate that relationship. Third, that the activation of a creative managerial role identity would strengthen the positive effects of creativity assessments on managers’ willingness to implement the idea, while the activation of an economic managerial role identity would weaken the positive effects of creativity assessments on managers’ willingness to implement the idea. I proposed several alternative hypotheses which examined whether trait levels of creative and economic managerial role identities had a significant effect on these relationships. I conducted four online experiments to test these hypotheses. The result of these four experiments did not support the hypotheses. However, across the four studies there was consistent evidence of a direct positive effect of trait creative managerial role identity on creativity assessments and an indirect positive effect on willingness to implement through higher creativity assessments.