Master of Arts (M.A.), Xavier University, 2019, Psychology

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether mindfulness meditation presented in a job advertisement could have an effect on organizational attraction. Additionally, this study examined if openness to experience could have a moderating effect on the relationship between mindfulness and organizational attraction. Two job advertisements were created for an entry-level consultant position to represent the two conditions. Using Amazon's Mechanical Turk to collect data, the final sample consisted of 130 participants. Independent-samples t-tests were conducted to determine if mindfulness meditation made individuals perceive an organization to be more attractive than the same organization not offering mindfulness meditation. Contrary to predictions, there was not a significant effect of mindfulness meditation on any of the three dimensions of organizational attraction (i.e., general company attractiveness, pursuit intentions, and company prestige). Moderated regression analyses indicated that openness to experience moderated the relationship between mindfulness and general company attractiveness, but not the other two dimensions of organizational attraction. These findings suggest that organizations should not expect a significant increase in applicants due to adding mindfulness meditation in their job advertisements. However, this study has practical implications for organizations looking to recruit a specific group of individuals: people high on openness to experience.

Committee: Diab Diab Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Mark Nagy Ph.D (Committee Member); Morrie Mullins Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Ohio University, 2012, Business Administration

The objective of the study is gain a better understanding of gender diversity efforts within organizations and their effectiveness. To this end the study develops a framework for characterizing and measuring the effectiveness of organizational efforts for gender diversity using a comparative case study. An extensive framework is developed that encompasses effort characteristics including catalysts, objectives, methods and practices, and measurement strategies. The framework also captures factors that help gauge effort effectiveness including perceived effort outcomes, barriers and challenge for women in IT, and informal ways women in IT overcome these barriers. The framework is further developed using an empirical comparative case study that evaluates the characteristics of nine organizational efforts. The data proves to be rich and full of interesting trends, as it was analyzed across different companies, industries, initiative types, and employee role types. As a result of the analysis, this study provides five recommendations to improve the current state of gender diversity in the IT workforce.

Committee: Hala Annabi PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Gender; Industrial Engineering; Information Systems; Information Technology