Doctor of Business Administration, Case Western Reserve University, 2021, Weatherhead School of Management

A firm's performance depends on, among other factors, whether its staff is willing and able to share knowledge and learn from each other. These knowledge management activities have become crucial in today's business environment due to a high rate of technological and market change. At the same time, organizational knowledge exchange is rarely considered from the viewpoint of both the provider and the recipient and especially what prevents such processes. In this mixed-methods exploratory study, we address the following research questions: What types of knowledge exchange processes do organizational members engage in, and what prevents them from doing so? What leads to knowledge hiding, and what individual and organizational factors contribute to it? In the qualitative strand of the study, we explore personnel's knowledge-sharing experiences based on 29 in-depth interviews with knowledge workers sampled from the researcher's personal network. The responses indicate that both knowledge providers and receivers feel they have a well-established relationship with one another. The findings indicate that they enjoy sharing knowledge once they have built up trust. Our findings from the qualitative study indicate the factors that positively influence knowledge-sharing behavior, but they also show the significance and prevalence of knowledge hiding. To fill this gap, we conducted a survey in the quantitative strand of this study to identify the dimensionality of knowledge-hiding behaviors and detect antecedents of such behaviors. Our research question is as follows: What organizational and individual factors affect knowledge hiding? The research model was validated using 310 survey responses and showed that organizational support (as an organizational factor) and selfishness (as an individual factor) positively affect knowledge-hiding. Our study is one of the first to integrate both organizational identification theory and perceived organizational support into an individua (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kalle Lyytinen Ph.D. (Advisor) Subjects: Organization Theory; Organizational Behavior; Personal Relationships

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2015, Organizational Communication (Communication)

The recent technological advances that have transformed access to information have also radically altered the work of academic librarians. While many academic librarians now focus on conducting information literacy instruction for college or university students, many questions remain about the identity of the librarians as they and their libraries move into an increasingly digital future. This study uses a structurational understanding of organizational identification (Scott, Corman & Cheney, 1998) to examine how academic librarians think about their work-related identities and identify with organizational targets. Using a grounded theory approach to data collection and analysis, I interviewed 18 academic librarians who are currently engaged in information literacy instruction. Analysis of the interview data indicated that the participants identified with their instructional role, considered their work to be a part of the overall student learning process on their campuses, and spent time explaining their teaching role to colleagues, friends, and family. Evidence of identification included: the librarians' self-presentation as teachers, the prioritization of instruction over other work, a dedication to the instructional component of the library's missions, participation in campus outreach to improve information literacy instruction opportunities and participation in professional development related to teaching and information literacy. Participants indicated that they used communication with both their colleagues and supervisors to help set priorities and make decisions about their day-to-day work. Given the results of this study, I conclude that the librarians' identity as an information literacy instructor serves as an internal structure (Stones, 2005) that guides their daily lives. The perceived misunderstandings of library work also serve as an internal structure against which many of the participants actively fought. Finally, the information literacy (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Claudia Hale PhD (Advisor); Brittany Peterson PhD (Committee Member); Chen Yea-Wen PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Library Science

Doctor of Organization Development & Change (D.O.D.C.), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Organization Development

Many organizations have realized the potential of their employer brand and its impact on recruitment, retention, and development efforts. Some are investing in developing brand advocates or ambassadors among their employees. However, there is limited research on the prediction of brand advocacy behaviors and brand ambassadorship. To inform this study, a literature review focused on articles from the OB/HR and Marketing domains covering employer branding and related constructs (brand value fit, employee engagement, organizational identification, brand equity, etc.), emphasizing the measurement of these constructs. The study sought to: 1) understand employee attitudes toward the organization and employer brand that predict employee brand advocacy and ambassadorship via eight hypotheses addressing organization and brand-related predictors; 2) investigate how brand ambassador program communication and features relate to a willingness to become a brand ambassador; and 3) explore brand ambassadorship motivations. Data was collected via an online survey of 215 full-time faculty and staff of a major public university featuring ten organization and brand-related construct scales. The key results of the study included the identification of four significant or moderate predictors of brand advocacy and ambassadorship, the types of messaging and features desired in a brand ambassador program, and the key motivations of brand ambassadorship. Key results suggest that brand value fit and organizational identification were the strongest predictors of advocacy, with brand equity and employee engagement also offering a level of influence. The study sought to contribute new knowledge regarding the predictors, factors, and motivations influencing brand advocacy and ambassadorship among employees.

Committee: Margaret Brooks Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Deborah O'Neil Ph.D. (Committee Member); Debbie Thorne Ph.D. (Committee Member); Clare Barratt Ph.D. (Other); Truit Gray Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Administration; Management; Marketing; Organizational Behavior

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2023, Communication

The purpose of this study is to investigate organizational identification among YMCA members. These members of the nation's largest community-service nonprofit organization have never been examined within an identification context. Moreover, organizations that operate through paying-members have largely been excluded from the literature as well. this study aimed to measure YMCA members' organizational identification levels, identify whether activity type or frequency of participation was related to identification level, examine whether identification is related to likelihood of speaking favorably about the organization, and to identify where YMCA members receive information about the organization. Using a quantitative survey administered via Qualtrics at regional YMCA branches in Southwest, Ohio, this study found that activity type and frequency of participation were not significantly related to organizational identification, but that likelihood of speaking favorably about the organization was positively related to identification. Overall, YMCA member identification levels were found to be moderate and the main sources where members receive information about the YMCA were email, the YMCA's website, and signage posted around the facility. Implications and directions for further research are discussed

Committee: Jennifer Ptacek (Committee Chair); Jason Combs (Committee Member); Alan Abitbol (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Ohio University, 2022, Business Administration

Although both positive psychology and organizational identification have been heavily studied, the literature does not reflect the impact of members' and leaders' positivity on organizational identification in business student organizations. This research was conducted by engaging student participants in professional business organizations at a Midwestern college of business. The first hypothesis (H1+) is that student organization member positivity is positively related to organizational identification. The second hypothesis (H2+) is that student organization leader positivity is positively related to organizational identification. The findings in this study indicate that students with a higher degree of positivity identify with their student organizations. Additionally, this study shows that student organization leaders with a higher degree of positivity also had higher organizational identification for their student organization. Since research indicates that positivity increases productivity, student leaders, then, who are more positive when leading their members, may lead the organization to achieve more during their tenure. This also has implications for training student leaders and organizational members in subjective positivity to enrich personal growth and enhance organizational outcomes.

Committee: Mary Tucker (Advisor); Shawnee Meek (Committee Member); Hazel Dadanlar (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Administration; Management

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Educational Studies

This cross-sectional exploratory study examines the role of student organization involvement in alumni giving at a large Midwestern university and offers insight into development strategies for the university. The extant literature shows a link between student involvement and alumni giving but the specific mechanism by which this occurs is unclear. Grounded in resource dependency theory and organizational identification theory, the author identified greek letter organizations and religious student organizations ("external student organizations") as unique in that they are affiliated with the university but funded, managed and staffed by non-university employees, and they solicit donations from students and alumni that fund their operations, not the university's. Using data from a university alumni survey program called the “Mascot Room” for the purposes of this dissertation, the author surveyed respondents who were participants in these two types of student organizations and compared their giving records to their peers. The findings include that while participation in greek letter organizations increases the likelihood of those students being alumni donors, those students are also likely to direct some of their charitable giving away from the university. Those students who did donate to their greek letter organization were more likely to be university donors. The author uses the results to call for focusing targeted development efforts on this subset of students and for collaboration between development and student affairs officers to engage with them as undergraduates.

Committee: Tatiana Suspitsyna Ph.D. (Advisor); Eric Anderman Ph.D. (Committee Member); Mary Tschirhart Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Higher Education; Higher Education Administration

Bachelor of Science (BS), Ohio University, 2016, Communication Studies

The resident assistant job is multi-faceted, time consuming, and difficult. Part of the difficulty that students in this job face stems from the identity conflicts they experience on the job. However, not much is known about identity conflicts, particularly how an individual deals with identity conflicts and how these conflicts may related to organizational identification. This study provides a foundation for understanding the identity conflicts of resident assistants and the relationship of identity conflicts to organizational identifications. Eleven in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 resident assistants and one director to explore their job experiences. The resident assistants all experienced three identities: police, counselor, and student. They handled identity conflicts the way one handles cognitive dissonance through changing their actions, changing their beliefs, or rationalizing the difference. These identity conflicts created a decision point for resident assistants to either bolster or diminish their organizational identification by acting on behalf of the organization or on behalf on another identity. The panopticon complex, taken from Bentham's architectural design, emerged as a theme throughout analysis. This complex identifies the constant surveillance that resident assistant experience in their lives as a result of the job and discusses the effects of this pressure. Student affairs personnel should consider the additional stress of this job on students and provide mandatory counseling as well as create policies to shield students from the stress of the panopticon complex.

Committee: Laura Black Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Communication

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2006, Business Administration : Business Administration

This dissertation presents an alternative approach to investigate how actors construct social identities or identifications, multiple organizational identities, and legitimacy as occasioned, situated accomplishments with political implications. The concept of elasticity is introduced to facilitate the exploration of how members discursively accomplish the inclusion or exclusion of varying categories of multiple organizational identities, and with what consequences. The study examines the discursive social practices of key organizational representatives and decision makers in the context of a controversial period in the history of the Episcopal Church USA following the consent of its General Convention to the election of its first openly gay bishop in August, 2003. I base my research on the assumptions and methods of discursive psychology, an alternative approach to social psychology that focuses upon everyday language use as the unit of analysis instead of assuming that such discourse is simply a representation of generalized cognitive schema. The research focuses upon how human subjects are both producers and products of discourse, and how social realities are both constitutive of and constituted by discursive social practices.

Committee: Dr. Glen Kreiner (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Labor and Human Resources, The Ohio State University, 2010, Business Administration

This thesis examines the extent to which organizational identification modifies the relationship between some job demands and resources (workload, feedback, supervisory support and organizational support) and workforce engagement level. This study also explores the impact of organizational identification on the relationship between the same job demands and resources (workload, feedback, supervisory support and organizational support) and the workforce burnout level. By examining these moderating factors, I clarify how factors other than the relationship between the employee and the job, employee and the supervisors, and employee and the organization influence workforce engagement and burnout levels. Thus, this research proposes an extended analysis to comprehend workforce engagement and burnout by presenting their definitions, how they are correlated and what are their antecedents (job demands and resources). Furthermore, current research indicates that these moderator effects are appropriate. First, highly identified individuals tend to support institutions embodying those identities which may lead to high levels of dedication and absorption - two components of engagement. Second, highly identified individuals are knowledgeable of their membership and express emotional attachment to that membership, which can be compared to three psychological conditions to evaluate engagement level: meaningfulness, safety and availability. Third, social identifies and organizational identification are “relational and comparative” which may alter the impact of job demands on burnout, since employees may evaluate the demands as a source of differentiation. A questionnaire was administered to employees in 3 different companies with different sizes (small, medium and large – total N = 122), different economic sectors (auto-parts, technology and communication and agriculture), and a five step hierarchical multiple regression analyses conducted to detect main interaction effects. The (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Robert Heneman (Advisor); David Greenberger (Committee Member); Steffanie Wilk (Committee Member) Subjects: Organizational Behavior

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2010, Communication Studies (Communication)

This dissertation adds to this body of research on organizational identification and nonprofit organizations by focusing on grant-funded employees in the nonprofit sector. It argues that grant-funded employees are liminal workers by virtue of the nature of their employment, philosophical differences and the organizational structures. This liminality experienced by this group of workers in the nonprofit sector influences their identification processes. It contends that in the midst of multiple identification targets, the most significant factor in fostering organizational identification among grant-funded employees in this study is the passion to help alleviate poverty and the desire to transcend themselves. The study conceptually frames what it means to be a grant-funded employee in a nonprofit organization and the most potent factors in fostering organizational identification among liminal workers.

Committee: Laura Black PhD (Committee Chair); Tom Daniels PhD (Committee Member); Devika Chawla PhD (Committee Member); Judith Millesen PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2008, Communication Studies

Since World War II, the American military-industrial complex has governed political, economic, and scientific change on a global scale. Largely because of the agricultural industry's political power in domestic and foreign policymaking, it continues to hold a privileged status in matters of war and peace. The purpose of this dissertation is to direct an increasingly urbanized American public's attention to this reality and to show what is globally at stake in the industry's participation in today's war on terror. Through case studies and extended theoretical analysis of the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) multiple hidden roles in the G.W. Bush administration's response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, I argue that democratic protection of public well-being is under attack. My investigation develops a model for partisan advocacy and ethical stakeholder citizenship that envisions a public culture of active and informed dissent. Through rhetorical criticism guided by the philosophy of Kenneth Burke, I show the political functions of organizational texts in the public experience of war. My argument is that the USDA's global solicitation of public participation in its narration of war unethically blocks off critical self-understanding and deflects critical publicity. I propose that a Burkean perspective offers a necessary measure of ambivalence toward rhetorics of transcendence, purity, self-defense, and control that appear in the organizational production of war drama. Specifically, Burke's notion of rhetoric of identification, which explains the intertwined workings of cooperation and conflict, offers a device for contesting the USDA's self-proclaimed moral identity in the war on terror.

Committee: Lynda Dixon PhD (Committee Chair); Steve Jex PhD (Committee Member); Michael Butterworth PhD (Committee Member); Rekha Mirchandani PhD (Committee Member); Catherine Cassara-Jemai PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Rhetoric