120 research outputs found
Women in Israel: The Struggle for Change & Reform
No full textAuthor of Women in Politics and Living Without a Constitution: Civil Rights in Israel.https://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/bennettcenter-posters/1191/thumbnail.jp
The Risks and Rewards of Shareholder Voting
No full textThe SEC’s recent staff roundtable on the proxy process and its resulting guidance, interpretation, and proposed rules has made shareholder voting the most prominently debated corporate governance issue of recent times. The number of comment letters submitted to the SEC has been voluminous and includes eight submitted by this Article’s author. Yet, the author doubts many of the writers of these letters, except in the context of their political agendas, have really thought deeply about the role shareholder voting plays in the governance of corporations, the collective action problem imbedded in such voting (and how it needs to be managed), the inability of proxy advisors to solve the collective action problem, the objective of shareholder voting, and how and when shareholder voting creates value. This Article is dedicated to filling the gap in the collective understanding of shareholder voting
The Role of Melanocortin Plasticity in Pain-Related Outcomes After Alcohol Exposure
No full textThe global COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on the rates and dangers of alcohol misuse in adults and adolescents in the US and globally. Alcohol exposure during adolescence causes persistent molecular, cellular, and behavioral changes that increase the risk of alcohol use disorder (AUD) into adulthood. It is established that alcohol abuse in adulthood increases the likelihood of pain hypersensitivity and the genesis of chronic pain, and humans report drinking alcohol to relieve pain symptoms. However, the longitudinal effects of alcohol exposure on pain and the underlying CNS signaling that mediates it are understudied. Specific brain regions mediate pain effects, alcohol effects, and pain-alcohol interactions, and neural signaling in those brain regions is modulated by neuropeptides. The CNS melanocortin system is sensitive to alcohol and modulates pain sensitivity, but this system is understudied in the context of pain-alcohol interactions. In this review, we focus on the role of melanocortin signaling in brain regions sensitive to alcohol and pain, in particular the amygdala. We also discuss interactions of melanocortins with other peptide systems, including the opioid system, as potential mediators of pain-alcohol interactions. Therapeutic strategies that target the melanocortin system may mitigate the negative consequences of alcohol misuse during adolescence and/or adulthood, including effects on pain-related outcomes
THE RHETORIC OF CROWDFUNDING: A SOCIAL MOVEMENT FRAMING PERSPECTIVE
No full textCrowdfunding has emerged as a popular funding option for entrepreneurs who cannot or choose not to raise funds through traditional venture funding channels. Drawing from research on social movements, this dissertation examines how the rhetoric used in crowdfunding investment narratives influences the likelihood of receiving funds from individual investors. Specifically, I draw from frame theory to examine how the use of rhetoric associated with diagnostic, prognostic, and motivational framing influence the performance of crowdfunding campaigns. I also draw from the literature on frame resonance to examine the effect of industry rhetoric on the efficacy of framing rhetoric. Frame theory suggests that explicitly identifying the problem and solution, using rhetoric that conveys the urgency and severity of the problem, and conveying the efficacy of both the individual investors and the campaign, will lead to improved crowdfunding performance. Frame theory also suggests that the use of industry rhetoric and adversarial rhetoric will moderate the effects of framing rhetoric on crowdfunding performance. The findings indicate that problem, solution, and efficacy rhetoric each positively influence crowdfunding performance, but that linking, severity and urgency rhetoric do not. The findings do not support the moderating role of industry or adversarial rhetoric on the efficacy of framing rhetoric
THE ROLE OF IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT IN A RESOURCE DEPENDENT RELATIONSHIP
No full textVenture capitalists (VCs) perform valuable services to entrepreneurs and to the economy as a whole by accelerating innovation through the funding of high potential, nascent ventures. The operational duties of a VC are many, but they have two overriding and important functions—making sound investments in great companies and securing Limited Partners who fund VC portfolio companies. Research to date has focused primarily on operational issues such as governance, vetting of opportunities and VC added value to nascent ventures. However, very little research has investigated the behaviors of VCs. Of particular interest to the author is the impression management behavior of VCs. A better understanding of VC behaviors and motivations will establish a framework that can then be linked to performance. Once performance and behaviors are linked, best practices can be conceptualized. Linking organizational impression management (OIM) to positive firm performance would contribute theoretically to the resource base of the firm (Barney, 1991) as OIM could then be considered a resource used to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
The competition for deals and Limited Partners (LPs) has become fierce. First, for limited partner funding, a recent paper by the Kauffman Foundation has splashed cold water on the viability of the VC investment class; in other words, it has significantly underperformed over the past decade. Second, the sourcing of potential VC investment opportunities has also become very competitive. The advent of “crowdsourcing”, “super angels”, expanded government grant programs for funding, and the advent of social media, for visibility, allow new ventures to seek alternative funding and/or build a “buzz” without the backing of top-tier VCs. The availability of these alternative funding options can have a negative effect on VCs. If a VC is shut out of the 10 or 12 a year billion-dollar companies that are created each year, they will not be able to deliver benchmark returns.
The following dissertation explores two research questions: 1) why do VCs engage in impression management in the first place and 2) what causes venture capitalists to change their impression management tactics? While on the surface these questions appear only to be relevant to the venture capital industry, this dissertation posits that the answers to these questions have broader and more generalizable implications. Specifically, do organizations use impression management strategies to manage resource dependence? If so, what tactics are used when? This dissertation, then, contributes to theory by expanding organizational impression research by examining the cross-level actions of organizational impression management strategies enacted by organizations to manage resource dependence. Additionally, this dissertation contributes to theory by expanding resource dependence theory (RDT) and its role in enacting organizational impression management (OIM) activities.
This dissertation argues that VCs use impression management to gain legitimacy with entrepreneurs and Limited Partners and other VCs. Then it discusses how firm and environmental factors influence impression management motivation and the construction of VC OIM strategies. This dissertation collected data from VCs to test the hypotheses. The proposed research model, based on mediation, did not yield support for the suggestion that: the relationship between resource dependence and legitimacy is mediated by OIM. Therefore a revised research model was developed to test whether possible moderated relationships between resource dependence (importance of entrepreneurs, VCs and LPs) and OIM strategies predicting legitimacy.
The revised research model testing moderation yielded four significant interactions. However, three of the four significant relationships were a negative. The importance of entrepreneurs (resource) moderated the relationship between signaling professional organization (OIM) and legitimacy and also moderated the relationship between image development (OIM) and legitimacy. But both relationships were negative. The importance of VCs (resource) positively moderated the relationship between organizational achievement (OIM) and legitimacy and also the relationship between the importance and personal credibility (OIM) and legitimacy. One relationship was positive and the other negative.
Specifically, VCs who place great importance on entrepreneurs and placed high importance on OIM tactics (signaling a professional organization and developing an image) were associated with less legitimacy. Similarly, VCs who placed great importance on the resource of other VCs produced one positive predictor of legitimacy (interacting with signaling organizational achievement) and one negative predictor of legitimacy (interacting with personal credibility).
The results of this research project were mixed and inconclusive. The relationship between OIM tactics and behaviors with resource dependence was negative in three out of four significant predictor relationships. For one set of variables, the relationship between resource dependence and OIM tactics predicted legitimacy positively. But, three additional significant interactions were negative. This dissertation looked to see if legitimacy was effective as a predictor of OIM strategies, rather than an outcome of OIM strategies. A post-hoc analysis yielded a negative relationship between increased legitimacy and OIM strategies.
Additionally, when reviewing many of the articles from the popular press quoted in this dissertation, it could be argued that VCs were engaging in OIM strategies because they lacked legitimacy due to poor performance. Therefore, the post-hoc analysis finding legitimacy, a resource, predicting OIM strategies is consistent with articles in the popular press. Overall, this dissertation suggests OIM strategies are utilized by organizations, at times to achieve legitimacy and at times the strategies are modified due to established legitimacy, but the results from this dissertation do not offer clarity on cause and effect
Conceptualizing and Measuring the Organizational Environment: A Multidimensional Approach
No full textNeither a single set of constructs nor a single set of measures of the organizational environment is widely accepted, making it difficult to build a comprehensive literature on the impact of the environment on thefirm. In this article we review three constructs-complexity, instability, and resource availability common to most environmental research. We identify theoretical omissions in Dess and Beard's (1984) measurement of these constructs, and present a revised set of constructs designed to build on their research. The new measures' construct validity is assessed using perceptual data from senior managers. We investigate the predictive validity of both our measures and Dess and Beard's by using them to predict industry performance. We also use our measures to predict two firm-level structural variables. We argue that the revised measures more accurately reflect our theoretical un-derstanding of environmental dimensions.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline
Dimensions and Constructs: A Response to Dess and Rasheed
No full textIn their thoughtful critique, Professors Dess and Rasheed raise several important issues about the conceptualization and measurement of the organizational environment in general and our work in particular In this rejoinder, we discuss afundamental difference between their position and ours regarding the place of theoretical constructs and observable dimensions in conceptualizing and measuring the environment. We also take issue with several of Dess and Rasheed's specific criticisms of our work.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline
Factors Associated with Creative Strategic Decisions
No full textThe study and practice of business strategy is fundamentally based on employing creative solutions to differentiate a firm from its competitors. Theories used to describe the causes and consequences of strategic differentiation tend to focus on organization-level characteristics such as resources, capabilities and structures. However, less is known about day-to-day processes and practices whereby strategic managers develop create solutions necessary to establish strategic differentiation. This paper presents a preliminary field study of factors suggested by previous strategy process and micro-strategy research that may lead to, and result from, creative strategic decisions. Findings produced by a longitudinal field study of 52 strategic decisions reveal that creative strategic choices arise in response to managers’ perceptions of uncertainty and competition. The findings also suggest that creativity may improve the ultimate effectiveness of strategic choices by 5-10 per cent. © 2008 The Authors
- …
