BUSINESS IMPACT REVIEW Exploring scholarly research that bridges theory and practice and influences how businesses think, lead, and operate in a dynamic, constantly evolving marketplace.
FOREWORD
PH.D. PROGRAM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SAURABH GUPTA, PH.D.
EDITOR
Doctoral research matters most as it builds new knowl - edge that contributes meaningfully to organizations, communities, and society at large. Business Impact Review has been created with this belief at its core. This annual col - lection highlights the scholarship of our Ph.D. in Business Administration students and alumni while making visible the real-world relevance and impact of their work. The research featured in this edition spans disserta - tion abstracts, peer-reviewed journal publications, and conference papers presented at leading national and international venues. Collectively, these contributions demonstrate strong theoretical grounding, methodolog - ical rigor, and sustained engagement with questions that matter—questions confronting managers, policymak - ers, entrepreneurs, and society more broadly. To further strengthen the connection between research and practice, selected abstracts are accompanied by focused insights that translate scholarly findings into implications directly applicable to business and organizational decision-making. This publication also reflects the broader scholarly orien - tation of the Ph.D. in Business Administration program at Kennesaw State University. It emphasizes scholarship that reimagines the relationship between theory, practice, and societal relevance,particularly in areas shaped by techno - logical change, ethical complexity, and evolving service and organizational ecosystems. Faculty, students, and alumni alike engage with contemporary challenges such as artificial intelligence, sustainability, consumer vulnera - bility, trust, and governance, while remaining grounded in rigorous disciplinary traditions. The work showcased here exemplifies that philosophy by advancing knowledge that is both academically robust and practically consequential. Business Impact Review also directly addresses the Ph.D. program’s alignment with the Association to Advance Col - legiate Schools of Business (AACSB) standards for societal impact. The research presented here addresses issues with clear implications for economic development, responsi - ble innovation, well-being, and ethical leadership. By en - gaging these topics through a scholarly lens, our doctoral students and alumni contribute work that informs prac - tice, shapes policy, and supports more thoughtful and responsible organizational action. From a program leadership perspective, this publica - tion provides a transparent view of doctoral outcomes. It captures what intentional mentoring, a strong research culture, and sustained investment in doctoral education can produce over time. The diversity of disciplines, meth - odological approaches, publication outlets, and scholarly conversations represented here reflects the vitality of our
MOLLY FIRST
PRODUCTION EDITORS
PATRICK HARBIN, JARRETT ROGERS
DISCIPLINE LEADS
MANAGEMENT & SALES LEADERSHIP: BIRTON COWDEN, PH.D. MARKETING: PRAMOD IYER, PH.D. RISK & DECISION ANALYTICS: LEO MACDONALD, PH.D. ACCOUNTING: DIVESH SHARMA, PH.D. INFORMATION SYSTEMS & SECURITY: REZA VAEZI, PH.D.
DEAN, COLES COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
intellectual community and the seriousness with which we prepare researchers for academic and applied impact. At the same time, this collection is meant to be an invita - tion to prospective students seeking rigorous and relevant doctoral training; to external stakeholders interested in research-driven insight; and to academic peers committed to scholarship that makes a difference. I am proud of the work represented in these pages and of the collective effort by students, faculty, and staff that makes such outcomes possible. Business Impact Review will be published annually as an ongoing record of the program’s evolving contributions. Each edition captures a moment in time, but together they will tell a larger story, one of scholarly excellence, societal engagement, and the enduring value of doctoral research in business.
ROBIN CHERAMIE, PH.D.
ASSOCIATE DEAN, GRADUATE BUSINESS PROGRAMS
ALISON KEEFE, PH.D.
CONTENTS 1) FOREWORD
Dr. Saurabh Gupta Executive Director, Ph.D. in Business Administration Program Professor of Information Systems and Security Michael J. Coles College of Business
2) 3) 4)
GRADUATE RESEARCH DISSERTATIONS STUDENT RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS STUDENT & ALUMNI PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL ABSTRACTS
THE COYOTE AND THE ROADRUNNER: DIGITAL OPTIONS IMPACT ON INNOVATION SPEED
GRADUATE RESEARCH DISSERTATIONS
CHAIR: HUMAYUN ZAFAR, PH.D. | SECOND: SAURABH GUPTA, PH.D. | READER: KHAWAJA SAEED, PH.D.
BUSINESS IMPACT
SCHOLARLY ABSTRACT
Digital options theory, which includes knowledge and process components, contends that IT capabilities influ - ence digital options, which influence agility and, there - fore, competitive actions. This paper uses a multi-method, multi-study approach to explore innovation speed as the competitive action in the context of digital options theory. Since scales for the digital options constructs do not exist, this research seeks to establish a measurement instrument for the four digital option generators: knowledge reach, knowledge richness, process reach, and process richness. This research then leverages the constructs in an empirical study to measure the effect of IT capabilities on digital op - tions, the impact of digital options on innovation agility, and, finally, the impact of innovation agility on innovation speed. Contrary to the theoretical foundation, this study was only able to develop a single digital options generator that encompasses knowledge and process. Using this con - struct in the larger conceptual model, it was found that IT capabilities positively impacted digital options. The more lightweight the IT capabilities, the higher the impact. Dig - ital options were found to positively impact innovation agility, and innovation agility was found to positively im - pact innovation speed. Keywords: financial services, fintech, innovation speed, agility, digital options, knowledge reach, knowledge richness, process reach, process richness, IT capabilities, heavyweight, lightweight
IT capabilities → digital options → innovation agility → innovation speed (confirmed chain). CIOs and heads of innovation should treat “digital op - tions” (the ability to recombine knowledge and processes quickly) as a measurable intermediate objective. Invest - ments in IT that increase agility will pay off in faster prod - uct and service innovation, especially in financial services and fintech. A single, empirically supported digital-options construct (combining knowledge + process) performed better than four separate generators. For analytics and strategy teams, it may be more prac - tical to track a composite “digital options” index than to over‑segment capabilities. This simplifies dashboards and makes it easier to communicate how IT readiness links to speed and market response. Lightweight IT capabilities had a stronger positive impact than heavyweight ones Rather than only investing in large, rigid platforms, or - ganizations should prioritize lighter‑weight, modular, API‑driven tools that can be reconfigured quickly. This is particularly critical in fast‑moving competitive environ - ments where innovation speed is a differentiator.
BARRY ROBBINS, PH.D.
GRADUATE RESEARCH DISSERTATIONS
CHAIR: STEFAN SLEEP, PH.D. | SECOND: PRAMOD IYER, PH.D. | READER: STERLING BONE, PH.D.
STRATEGIC DYNAMICS OF SFCS_ LEADERSHIP STYLES AND DECENTRALIZATION IN FOSTERING SALESPERSON LOYALTY
BUSINESS IMPACT
SCHOLARLY ABSTRACT
Salesperson loyalty has become critical for business suc - cess, necessitating a deeper understanding of its drivers. This study advances Sales Force Control System (SFCS) literature by addressing prior inconsistencies and adapt - ing traditional frameworks to today’s sales environment, characterized by decentralization and digital transforma - tion. Distinctively, it investigates how SFCS decentraliza - tion influences salesperson loyalty toward their immedi - ate managers compared to the organization, extending prior research beyond organizational commitment. Using a survey of US-based B2B sales professionals, the study examines the mediating role of perceived fairness and the moderating impacts of traditional leadership styles and new-normal sales constructs, including flexible work arrangements and technology-enabled selling. Results confirm that decentralization within SFCS positively influences salesperson loyalty, with Loyalty to the orga - nization slightly surpassing managerial loyalty. Fairness perceptions significantly mediated these relationships, highlighting fairness as a crucial psychological mecha - nism. Contrary to expectations, neither transactional nor servant leadership significantly moderated these effects, likely due to managers’ dual roles as evaluators and imple - menters of SFCS and salespeople’s growing dependence on technological resources over traditional managerial inter - actions. Notably, technology-enabled selling emerged as a significant moderator, enhancing fairness perceptions and loyalty outcomes. These findings underscore a critical shift in contemporary sales management, indicating invest - ments in sales technologies may effectively complement or even surpass traditional managerial roles. Results offer practical guidance for optimizing salesperson retention, engagement, and performance by strategically calibrating SFCS, fostering fairness, redefining managerial roles, and integrating advanced sales technologies into organization - al practices. Keywords: Sales Force Control Systems, Loyalty, Decentralization, Perception of Fairness, Technology-Enabled Selling, Leadership Styles, Flexible Work Arrangements.
Investments in sales tech (CRM, enablement, analytics) aren’t just productivity tools; they also shape percep - tions of support and fairness. Well‑implemented tech that helps reps sell more effectively can partially substi - tute for classic high‑touch managerial control. Technology‑enabled selling strengthens the positive effects of decentralization and fairness; traditional leadership styles mattered less. Decentralized SFCS increases salesperson loyalty, especially to the organization. Sales leaders should push decision rights and autonomy closer to the front line (quotas, tactics, account decisions), within clear guardrails. This improves loyalty and reten - tion—big levers in high‑cost B2B sales environments. Perceived fairness is the key psychological mechanism mediating SFCS → loyalty. When redesigning comp plans, territories, or performance metrics, explicitly test for fairness (procedural and distrib - utive). Even a “good” SFCS design will underperform if reps see it as biased or opaque.
DIERTO MATANDA MOKE, PH.D.
GRADUATE RESEARCH DISSERTATIONS
CHAIR: VELINA POPOVA, PH.D. | SECOND: MARK SHELDON, PH.D. | READER: ANDREW TROTMAN, PH.D.
AN EXAMINATION OF ASSURANCE SERVICES CURRENTLY (NOT) PROVIDED BY BLOCKCHAIN AUDITORS
BUSINESS IMPACT
SCHOLARLY ABSTRACT
Historically, financial reporting and audit procedures have depended on centralized systems, characterized by pa - per-based records, intermediaries, and a high risk of hu - man error (Han et al. 2023). However, the emergence of blockchain has introduced a distributed, transparent, and immutable ledger system that could fundamentally change how financial data is recorded, stored, published, and au - dited (Tapscott and Euchner, 2019). This study seeks to empirically examine the current state of the blockchain assurance market from the perspective of auditors and ad - visors. Specifically, this dissertation seeks to address what assurance services auditors are currently (not) providing on blockchain ecosystems and why. How do auditors nav - igate and respond to the challenges associated with block - chain assurance? What are the primary auditing needs of blockchain clients, and how do these needs influence their choice of auditing services? This study applies a qualitative approach and uses semi-structured interviews with expe - rienced blockchain auditors and advisors. The results indi - cate that auditors play a critical role in enhancing the se - curity, functionality, and scalability of blockchain systems. There is a growing need for auditors to expand beyond traditional financial controls and incorporate expertise in economics and cryptographic mechanisms into their audit methodologies. Advisors in blockchain ecosystems play a distinct role compared to auditors, focusing on strategic decision-making, business viability, and long-term opera - tional efficiency rather than compliance and security risk mitigation. They are strategic partners who assess techni - cal feasibility and drive organizational transformation eth - ical accountability, and sustainable blockchain integration dimensions largely outside the scope of traditional audit - ing practices.
CFOs and CIOs should design governance so that auditors focus on independence, controls, and data integrity, while advisors focus on design choices, business models, and long‑term viability. Blurring the roles risks both conflicts of interest and gaps in oversight. Advisors and auditors play distinct but complementary roles: assurance vs strategic/ technical integration. Auditors need new capabilities in cryptography, economics, and protocol mechanics. Firms investing in blockchain (or Web3) should insist on audit teams with cross‑functional expertise—combin - ing traditional accounting with security engineering and crypto‑economics—to avoid a false sense of assurance over technically complex systems. Current audit practice does not fully cover key blockchain assurance needs. Audit firms and internal audit functions should explicitly inventory which blockchain-related risks they do and do not cover (e.g., smart contract logic, consensus design, to - ken economics). This gap analysis can inform new assur - ance offerings and help clients decide whether and how to adopt blockchain solutions.
FRANCIS OWUOR, PH.D.
Keywords: Blockchain technology, audit quality, technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework.
Influence OF
GRADUATE RESEARCH DISSERTATIONS
CHAIR: AARON FRENCH, PH.D. | SECOND: JOHN D’ARCY, PH.D. | READER: REZA VAEZI, PH.D.
Gamification
AFFORDANCES ON
BUSINESS IMPACT
SCHOLARLY ABSTRACT
TECHNOSTRESS
Once utilitarian, company systems increasingly include game-like features such as leaderboards, points, and badg - es to increase employee engagement and motivate system use. Combinations of these elements create gamification affordances, which are experience-based action opportu - nities that employees can engage in. However, in the work environment, these affordances can also lead to feelings of stress. Research on technology-related stress, technos - tress, do not adequately explain the emergence of stress in this motivated context through the existing frameworks. Drawing from the transactional theory of stress and cop - ing, feedback from gamified systems acts as stimuli to be appraised for the magnitude, valence, and identity involve - ment of any threats posed, as well as potential individual coping options. Identity involvement has been underde - veloped as a coping mechanism in stress research gener - ally and in technostress specifically as it relates to identity threats. Using a two-study, mixed methods approach, this study first identified through a qualitative critical inci - dent technique interview four emergent gamification af - fordances during technostress formation. A second study then quantitatively examine how feedback, competition, rewards and visibility of achievement affordances, in addi - tion to the existing technostress creators, influence the for - mation of technostress as moderated through identity. The results showed IT identity moderated the classical tech - nostress creators, while gamification affordances did not contribute to the formation of technostress. The results of this study will inform organizations and system designers with a more complete understanding of how gamification affordances can adversely impact employee technostress formation uniquely in a gamified work environment.
Gamification affordances (competition, rewards, visibility) did not directly increase technostress in this study. Leaders shouldn’t automatically fear gamification as inher - ently harmful—but they also shouldn’t assume it’s harm - less. Focus attention on classical technostress creators (overload, complexity, invasion, uncertainty) when diag - nosing burnout in gamified systems.
MODERATED
IT identity moderates the impact of technostress creators.
Employees who see work systems as “part of who they are” experience stress differently. For high‑IT‑identity staff (e.g., power users, developers, analysts), organizations can invest in co‑design and autonomy; for low‑IT‑identity staff, pro - vide more training, control, and non‑gamified alternatives. The study surfaces four emergent gamification affordances via critical incident interviews. UX and HR teams can use similar incident‑collection methods before and after rolling out gamified dashboards/ leaderboards to detect unintended stress patterns early and iterate designs (e.g., opt‑out options, cooperative vs purely competitive framing).
BY IT
IDENTITY
JOSEPH WASHBURN, PH.D.
Keywords: Technostress, Gamification, Affordances, Mixed Methods, Research, IT Identity
GRADUATE RESEARCH DISSERTATIONS
CHAIR: DANA HERMANSON, PH.D. | CO-CHAIR: HONG QU, PH.D. | SECOND: LUCY ACKERT, PH.D. | READER: VINEETA SHARMA, PH.D.
BUSINESS IMPACT
SCHOLARLY ABSTRACT
This study examines the effects of communication mode richness (video versus audio) and risk priming (present versus absent) on auditors’ skeptical judgment and action following client inquiries. Auditors make inquiries with clients, and auditor assessments of risk drive audit test - ing decisions. As audit work increasingly shifts to remote settings, technological advances have expanded the range of communication modes available to auditors. This study investigates how risk priming interacts with communica - tion mode richness on auditor skeptical judgment and ac - tion. Using a 2x2 between-subjects design (video or audio; risk prime or not), undergraduate and graduate accounting students served as proxies for junior-level auditors. Par - ticipants conducted an audit inquiry regarding a potential overvaluation of inventory to simulate a real-world audit scenario. While the ANOVA models are not significant, the results revealed a significant interaction between communication mode and risk priming on the perceived plausibility of client responses and a marginally significant interaction between communication mode and risk prim - ing on the perceived truthfulness of the client responses. Risk priming had no significant effect on participants in the video condition, and in the audio condition, there was weak evidence that the client was perceived more favor - ably with risk priming. Additionally, auditors in the video condition performed more audit work (by purchasing ad - ditional information) compared to those in the audio con - dition, indicating that richer communication modes can prompt auditors to seek more evidence.
Video (richer) communication led auditors to perform more additional audit work than audio. Audit firms should be intentional about when to use video vs audio in remote inquiries. For high - er‑risk areas (e.g., revenue, estimates, inventory), video may prompt more evidence‑seeking and therefore higher audit quality—though with higher time/budget implications. Risk priming interacts with communication mode and changes how plausible/truthful client responses appear. Embedding brief, structured risk‑priming steps (e.g., checklist reflection on possible misstatements) before client calls can help junior staff engage more analytically, especially where communication modes may bias them to - ward over‑trust or distraction. Remote audit communication design can materially affect skeptical judgment, even before considering technical audit procedures. Audit methodology teams should treat “commu - nication mode + mental priming” as part of the audit program design—not just logistics. Training and templates for virtual inquiries can standardize good prac - tice and reduce inconsistent skepticism across teams.
THE EFFECTS OF COMMUNICATION MODE RICHNESS AND RISK PRIMING ON AUDITORS’ SKEPTICAL JUDGMENT AND ACTION
KATIE HARRIS, PH.D.
Keywords: audit inquiry, communication mode, risk priming, skeptical judgment and action
GRADUATE RESEARCH DISSERTATIONS
CHAIR: SUNAY MUTLU, PH.D. | SECOND: DIVESH SHARMA, PH.D. | READER: KELLY HA, PH.D.
FIRM-LEVEL CLIMATE CHANGE EXPOSURE AND ANALYSTS’ INFORMATION
BUSINESS IMPACT
SCHOLARLY ABSTRACT
This study examines whether firm-level climate change exposure is associated with financial analysts’ information environment. As climate change is becoming an increas - ingly prominent global topic and firms are disclosing more information regarding climate change risks and opportu - nities, it is important to understand whether this infor - mation is useful to participants in the capital market. This study extends prior research by focusing on a specific as - pect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure— climate change exposure—and its relationship with ana - lysts’ forecasts. Specifically, I investigate whether a firm’s score for climate change exposure derived from earnings calls is associated with increased usefulness to analysts as evidenced by analysts’ forecast properties. Results show a negative association between climate change mentions in earnings calls and the number of analysts following a firm, the accuracy of analysts’ forecasts, and analysts’ fore - cast revisions, and a positive association between climate change mentions in earnings calls and analysts’ forecast dispersion. These findings should be of interest to aca - demics, practitioners, and standard setters, as the results suggest that either financial analysts do not find climate change mentions in earnings calls to be useful in their analyses or that analysts may interpret the climate change mentions as greenwashing. Keywords: Climate Change Exposure, Analyst Forecasts, Information Environment, Earnings Calls, ESG Disclosure, Corporate Social Responsibility, Greenwashing, Forecast Accuracy, Analyst Following, Capital Markets.
Climate mentions in earnings calls are linked to lower analyst coverage and accuracy, and higher dispersion. Simply talking more about climate in earnings calls, with - out clear, decision‑useful metrics and explanations, can ac - tually reduce the usefulness of analyst coverage (fewer ana - lysts, more disagreement, less accuracy). Investor‑relations and CFO teams should tighten climate-related messaging around concrete financial mechanisms, not high‑level rhet - oric, to avoid being discounted as noise or greenwashing.
Analysts may be treating many climate disclosures as potential greenwashing.
ESG or sustainability teams need to coordinate closely with finance and legal to ensure climate statements are supported by verifiable actions (capex, risk mitigation, scenario analysis). This can protect credibility with the sell‑side and reduce the risk that markets ignore or penal - ize your climate narrative. A novel bigram-based climate exposure metric from earnings calls provides a granular way to measure firm-level climate discussion. Corporates and asset managers can repurpose this type of text‑analytics approach internally (e.g., across transcripts and filings) to benchmark their own climate communica - tion against peers—and to monitor whether shifts in nar - rative are associated with better or worse analyst behavior (coverage, forecast quality).
LESYA STALLINGS, PH.D.
GRADUATE RESEARCH DISSERTATIONS
CHAIR: CANAN MUTLU, PH.D. | SECOND: PATRICIO DURAN, PH.D. | READER: RAJARAM VELIYATH, PH.D.
Examining How Female Board Representation Shapes Corporate Social Responsibility through Internal and External Legitimacy Critical Influence:
BUSINESS IMPACT
SCHOLARLY ABSTRACT
Our study investigates the relationship between board gender diversity and corporate social responsibility (CSR) outcomes by examining the dual sources of legitimacy that empower women directors to influence CSR. Drawing on critical mass theory and institutional legitimacy frame - works, this study posits that female directors derive legit - imacy from internal and external sources. Internal legiti - macy emerges from positional power, specifically through formal leadership roles such as board chair or committee chairs, providing women directors with institutional au - thority to drive CSR initiatives. External legitimacy mani - fests when firms operate within industries characterized by higher female board representation among industry peers, creating normative pressure that facilitates enhanced CSR outcomes. Using a dataset of US based public companies, this study employs quantitative analysis to examine the direct and interactive effects of board gender diversity, critical influence, and industry female board prevalence on CSR performance. Findings reveal that board gender di - versity, critical influence and industry board gender diver - sity significantly predict stronger CSR performance. The study does not find significant interaction effects between critical influence and industry gender prevalence, suggest - ing these legitimacy sources operate independently rather than synergistically. These findings advance theoretical understanding of gender diversity’s impact on corporate governance by identifying specific pathways through which female directors influence organizational outcomes.
Female board representation, especially in leadership roles, is associated with stronger CSR performance. Nominating committees shouldn’t stop at “one woman on the board.” Giving women positional power (board chair, key committee chairs) is a concrete lever to strengthen CSR and ESG execution—relevant for firms targeting sus - tainability-linked financing, indices, and stakeholder trust. Industry‑level female board prevalence creates external legitimacy pressure that supports CSR. For companies lagging peers on gender diversity, there is a competitive and legitimacy risk: as industries normalize higher female representation, boards with few/no women signal misalignment with evolving norms, potentially af - fecting access to capital, talent, and customers. Internal (role-based) and external (industry) legitimacy work independently rather than interactively. Governance teams should design a dual strategy: Internally: place women in influential governance positions. Externally: benchmark and communicate progress against industry norms. Doing one without the other leaves value on the table— either under-leveraging powerful women leaders or miss - ing the signaling benefit to markets and stakeholders.
MARI SIFO, PH.D.
Keywords: Board gender diversity, Corporate Social Responsibility, Institutional Legitimacy
GRADUATE RESEARCH DISSERTATIONS
CHAIR: ADRIANE RANDOLPH, PH.D. | SECOND: DOMINIC THOMAS, PH.D. | READER: AARON FRENCH, PH.D.
BUSINESS IMPACT
SCHOLARLY ABSTRACT
The 2020 COVID19 pandemic forced the world to shut down and many workers were required to implore digital technology and work remotely. Remote work became a significant form of conducting business, and the number of meetings daily increased in the beginning of the month of March 2020 from a little over half a billion meeting minutes to 2.7 billion meeting minutes by March 31, 2020. Information Systems (IS) researchers posit that the use of digital technology induced by the pandemic will be per - manently normalized. However, there are challenges that come with employing a remote workforce. Managerial teams have expressed their concern about effective col - laboration and participation. Social loafing, the tendency for team members to lower their participation, was one of their top concerns. In this work, perceived marginalization was researched as an antecedent to social loafing in rela - tion to several characteristics of virtual team members. We examined perceived marginalization and its effects on per - ceived social loafing and explored the influence of virtual team members’ sensitivity to marginalization on this rela - tionship. It extended the IS literature by reviewing another characteristic of teams, their composition, and how it can affect their effectiveness when faced with marginalization in an online environment. Further it tested the generaliz - ability of the Alnuaimi et al. (2010) study on moral disen - gagement by using the scale created in the study to research the effects of moral disengagement on social loafing.
Perceived marginalization is an antecedent to social loafing in online teams. For hybrid/remote teams using tools like MS Teams or Zoom, leaders should monitor not only task metrics but inclusion signals (who speaks, who’s interrupted, whose ideas are ignored). Reducing marginalization—especially around race, gender, age, appearance—can directly reduce disengagement and social loafing. Sensitivity to marginalization moderates how team composition translates into loafing. HR and people‑analytics teams can deploy short climate or “everyday discrimination” surveys to identify em - ployees with high marginalization sensitivity and tailor team‑building, norms, and leadership behaviors accord - ingly—particularly in global virtual teams. The study validates moral disengagement mechanisms (diffusion of responsibility, dehumanization, attribution of blame) in technology‑supported virtual teams. Digital workplace policies and collaboration norms should explicitly reinforce individual accountability and recogni - tion in group outputs (e.g., clear owners, visible contribu - tion tracking). This reduces diffusion of responsibility and helps prevent people from psychologically “checking out.”
Marginalization and its effect on Social Loafing in Online Virtual Teams
NICOLETTE GORDON, PH.D.
Keywords: Social Loafing, Virtual Teams, Global Support Systems, Marginalization, Moral Disengagement, IT Teams
GRADUATE RESEARCH DISSERTATIONS
CHAIR: MIA PLACHKINOVA, PH.D. | SECOND: ACE VO, PH.D. | READER: SOLOMON NEGASH, PH.D.
BUSINESS IMPACT
SCHOLARLY ABSTRACT
Within the context of global mobile money providers (MMPs) like Western Union, bill payment has become a prominent offering with a transaction volume of $88 billion between MMPs and service providers like utility companies. There are, however, currently no MMP offer - ings or remittance services that specifically allow Zambi - ans in the US diaspora (remitters) to make direct bill pay - ments to service providers in Zambia for essential goods and services like food, education services, or utilities con - sumed by their friends and families still living in Zambia. To address this gap, the study introduces OneMoney, a mobile application prototype developed to facilitate direct bill payments from remitters in the US diaspora to service providers in Zambia. The scope of the study is focused on the remitter’s usability experience with the prototype, of which the study identified seven key usability attributes that enhanced their user experience. Overall, users found the prototype intuitive and easy to use and gave it a usabil - ity score of 92.95 out of 100. The study used the Cognitive Walkthrough and System Usability Scale evaluation meth - ods to evaluate the usability of the prototype. The design science research (DSR) methodology guided the develop - ment and evaluation of the prototype through the Mental Modal theoretical lens. This study is significant because it provides a proof of concept that remitters in the US dias - pora can utilize the prototype to make direct bill payments to service providers in Zambia for goods and services consumed by their beneficiaries. Future research will ex - amine the usability of the prototype from the beneficiary’s perspective. Keywords : Remittances, Mobile Money Application, Payment Assistance Requests, Service Provider Integration, Design Science Research, Usability, Prototype
Direct bill‑pay remittances solve a trust and misuse problem in traditional cash remittances. Fintechs, banks, and MMPs can differenti - ate by offering purpose‑tied remittance products (tuition, utilities, healthcare) that pay providers directly. This reduces misuse risk, increases remitter trust, and can open new fee‑generating B2B integrations with local ser - vice providers. Seven usability attributes (clear login purpose, data/billing/cost/receipt visibility, partial payments, clear icons/text) drove an SUS ≈ 93. Product teams working on financial or cross‑border apps can use these specific attributes as a design checklist to re - duce abandonment and improve adoption—especially in low‑trust, high‑stakes use cases like international bill pay. Design Science Research + Mental Model Theory ensured the UI matched users’ prior experience with remittance apps. When building new financial services for diaspora or emerging markets, reusing familiar metaphors and flows (icons, navigation, task structure) shortens onboarding, lowers support costs, and increases conversion—critical for pilots and scale‑up.
ONEMONEY: A DESIGN SCIENCE RESEARCH ARTIFACT FOR MOBILE REMITTANCES FROM THE USA TO ZAMBIA
OWEN CHILONGO, PH.D.
ESG: CEO CHARACTERISTICS, INSTITUTIONAL INVESTORS AND BRAND EQUITY
GRADUATE RESEARCH DISSERTATIONS
CHAIR: PRAMOD IYER, PH.D. | SECOND: NIK NIKOLOV, PH.D. | READER: LEO MACDONALD, PH.D.
BUSINESS IMPACT
SCHOLARLY ABSTRACT
Research in marketing and management has sought to answer why organizations devote resources and effort to invest in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives. As such, scholarly attention has begun to focus more on understanding the antecedents of ESG, frequently through the lens of stakeholder theory. Scholars have also focused on the role of the CEO in ESG because the CEO, as leader of the firm, shapes the values and orientation of an organization and plays a pivotal role in setting the firm’s strategic actions. Hubris is a prominent character trait of many corporate executives. Narcissism and psychopathy are also the most prominent negative personality traits discussed in psychological and management literature. But how do other stakeholders of the firm protect their inter - ests if the CEO’s cognitive traits bias ESG participation? Traditionally, firms have given priority to larger institu - tional stakeholders while tending to ignore the voices of retail investors whose individual power is too diffused to exert any significant influence on the case for ESG invest - ments. I use upper echelon theory (UET) and stakeholder theory to focus on how undesirable CEO characteristics influence ESG performance. While prior research on ESG has concentrated on a limited number of CEO personali - ty traits, this research expands and provides new insights into CEO characteristics and presents a model for how and why other stakeholders may affect the role of the CEO in driving ESG performance and brand equity (BE).
“Dark” CEO traits (hubris, narcissism, psychopathy) shape ESG strategy and outcomes.
Boards and CHROs should explicitly incorporate psy - chological risk into CEO selection, evaluation, and suc - cession planning—especially where ESG and brand equity are central to strategy. Governance mecha - nisms (e.g., ESG‑linked KPIs, strong independent directors) can be designed to counterbalance self‑serving ESG behaviors. Institutional investors and ESG‑linked compensation can moderate the effect of CEO traits on ESG and brand equity. Investor‑relations and comp committees can strategically use ESG‑linked pay and active engagement with long‑term oriented institutional holders to “channel” even ego‑driven CEOs towards ESG actions that genuinely build brand equity rather than symbolic gestures. The model integrates UET and stakeholder theory to explain when and why CEOs pursue ESG. Strategy and sustainability teams can use this framework as a diagnostic: map CEO traits, stakeholder power (insti - tutional vs retail), and incentive design to anticipate how strategic initiatives like ESG will really be prioritized— and where extra governance safeguards or stakeholder pressure are needed.
SOWMDEB SEN, PH.D.
Keywords: ESG, CEO, Brand, Stakeholders, Compensation, Investors.
STUDENT RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
“Dark Side of AI Risks and Ethical Concerns”
Sustainable Influencer Services Meet Luxury: A Risky Match.
Abayomi, Olushola and Noordeen, Abdul Rahman , (2025). ICIS 2025 TREOS. 31
Darby, V ., Shin, H., & Eastman, J.K. (2025). 39(9), 1281-1298. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-07-2025-0506 ( AMS 2025 )
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a transformative force, permeating nearly every sector with the potential to revo - lutionize decision-making, automation, and service delivery. Weak AI, tailored for specific tasks; In contrast with general AI or Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), is capable of human-like cognition, offers significant promise but also carries profound societal risks (Hendrycks & Mazeika, 2022). This research-in-progress investigates the dark side of AI, highlight - ing risks such as job displacement, privacy violations, and ethical challenges, while proposing pathways for balanced gov - ernance. AI’s rapid diffusion generates systemic risks. Automation threatens routine-intensive occupations, with evidence suggesting widening inequality and polarization in labor markets (Chen et al., 2022). Privacy concerns intensify as AI-en - abled systems collect massive datasets, often without informed consent, creating potential for misuse and surveillance (Murdoch, 2021; Radanliev et al., 2024). Ethical risks include algorithmic bias, opaque decision-making, and reinforce - ment of societal inequities (Vallor & Bekey, 2017). These interconnected risks create feedback loops where unemployment, data exploitation, and algorithmic control may exacerbate social instability. This Technology, Research, Education, and Opinions (TREO) seeks feedback to refine theoretical framing and methodological design. Insights from ICIS participants will inform the final survey instrument, literature review expansion, and interview protocol development. Our goal is to advance a socio-technical understanding of AI risks and propose adaptive governance mechanisms that align AI deploy - ment with human values, protecting fairness, privacy, and societal well-being.
This study examines the influence of luxury consumption by sustainable influencers. Studies have examined the social costs of luxury consumption regarding how luxury brand consumers are perceived by observers. However, how it applies to sustainable influencers is underexplored. Using a 2 x 2 experiment design, we test the effect of luxury consumption by sustainable influencers on consumer’s behavioral intentions. The results show that there is an interaction between the type of influencer (i.e., non-sustainable vs. sustainable) and brand consumption (i.e., non-luxury vs. non-luxury) such that when sustainable influencer displays luxury consumption, audiences’ social media intention and word-of-mouth (WOM) inten - tion decrease, while this effect is not found when a sustainable influencer is not luxury consumers. This study offers im - portant theoretical and managerial implications to sustainable influencers who rely on visual content featuring him/her - self in content creation and luxury brand managers seeking to collaborate with influencers associated with sustainability.
Deciphering the Dynamics: AI’s Influence on Employee Decision-Making.
Pallepogu, J. P. (2025, Feb–Mar). 20th Doctoral Conference in Management ( ANVESH 2025 ), Nirma University, Ahmedabad, India.
Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy as a Necessary Condition for Venture Success.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming organizational decision-making by enabling employees to process vast datasets, automate routine tasks, and focus on higher-order thinking. While integrating AI into workplace deci - sion-making processes offers significant potential, it is important to address challenges related to trust, cognitive load, and ethical considerations to ensure its effective implementation. This research will investigate the impact of AI adop - tion on employee decision-making, focusing on how cognitive load, AI sophistication, and trust influence decision qual - ity. The study will build on Agency Theory and Bounded Rationality Theory to explore AI’s role as a decision-support tool that mitigates cognitive limitations, and fosters trust through transparency, explainability, and ethical alignment. Amixed-methods approach will be employed, combining a systematic literature review, qualitative interviews, and quan - titative surveys to validate hypotheses and identify patterns. The findings are anticipated to reveal that well-designed and ethically governed AI systems build trust, mitigate risks, and improve decision quality. By proposing a conceptual model, this study will enhance scholarly understanding of AI’s implications in the workplace while offering practical strategies to optimize employee engagement and decision-making in an AI-driven landscape. It will bridge academic and practical per - spectives, addressing trust and ethical concerns critical for sustainable AI integration and providing insights to improve productivity and employee well being.
Ballard, L.A., Morgan, K.J. , Phelan, S.E., & Roman, J.R. (2025). Presented at the Annual meeting of the Southern Management Association (SMA) in Greenville, SC.
Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) has been widely studied as a predictor of entrepreneurial outcomes, yet the mecha - nism through which ESE influences performance remains underexplored. Drawing on Bandura’s concept of efficacy-based foreclosure, we propose that ESE operates as a necessary condition for venture success. Entrepreneurs with insufficient confidence systematically exclude higher performance pathways from consideration, creating cognitive ceilings that ex - ternal resources cannot overcome. Using Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) on three years of panel data from the Na - tional Survey of Military-Affiliated Entrepreneurs(2020–2022), we find that ESE functions as a bottleneck constraining what performance levels are possible. The necessity relationship holds consistently across cohorts, ESE dimensions, and demographic subgroups, with ESE thresholds increasing progressively at higher performance magnitudes. These findings reframe ESE from a factor that contributes to success to one that constrains it. We conclude by offering insights on how entrepreneurship education and support programs might use these findings to sequence interventions.
Cybersecurity-Induced Stress in Nursing: The Impact of Security Protocol on Healthcare Professionals
Brown, T. T. , Robinson, S. M., & Vaezi, R. ( AMCIS 2025 ).
This research study is geared towards investigating demands made by cybersecurity protocols placed on healthcare profes - sionals, focusing on nurses as the sample group. With technology, a principal component of many patient care protocols, rising cybersecurity threats require stringent protocols to protect patient data, potentially affecting the daily responsibil - ities of healthcare staff. As front line workers, nurses face a unique overlap of demands. The nurse’s role in direct patient care has now intersected with complex cybersecurity policies, procedures, and protocols, which our study will examine in relation to Security Related Stress.
STUDENT RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
Unleashing the Machine: Exploring the Dual Power of AI’s Agentic Behavior and Anthropomorphic Design in an Agent’s Decision-Making
Careers in the Rough: Paper Development Workshop.
Wehrle, K, Simosi, M., Li, C., & Roman, J.R. (2025). Presented at the 85th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management in Copenhagen, Denmark ( AOM 2025 ).
Pallepogu, J. P. (2025, May). ACM SIGMIS-CPR 2025: Computers and People Research Conference, Baylor University in Waco, Texas, United States.
Artificial intelligence (AI) use is transforming organizational decision-making. Much of the focus of existing deci - sion-making research has been on AI models’ ability to process vast datasets, automate routine tasks, and allow individ - uals to focus on higher-order thinking [1, 2]. This focus has primarily drawn on the bounded rationality model, which implies that human decision-makers operate within limits of cognitive capacity, time, and accessible information, often leading to satisfying rather than optimal decisions [3]. AI agents, though, unlike traditional decision-making tools, have two added unique characteristics: Agentic Behavior and Anthropomorphic presentation [4]. Agentic behavior allows the shaping of experiences and outcomes. The rapid progress in these AI’s based agents presents a risk where they are likely to drive agentic behavior themselves [5]. In addition, the anthropomorphic representation of these agents is likely going to lead to changes in how individuals interact with these agents [4]. This research investigates these two characteristics as they are juxtaposed with the decision-makers’ agentic behavior. Drawing from the research on agency theory as well as micro-structuration principles, this research aims to present a socio-technical perspective on employee decision-making. Agency Theory explains the relationship between principals (e.g., employers) and agents (e.g., employees or systems), where agents act on behalf of principals but may have misaligned interests, leading to potential conflicts [6]. In the context of AI, it functions as an agent for employees, filtering, analyzing, and presenting relevant information. Anthropomorphic presentation is defined as the tendency to imbue the real or imagined behavior of nonhuman agents with human-like char - acteristics, motivations, intentions, or emotions [7], including constant maturity. Researchers have argued that the interac - tion between humans and AI is likely to lead to a new agency, referred to as synthetic agency [8-10]. The key contribution of this research is to explain these interactions and how the variance in interactions can influence decision-making in an organization. The use of AI can be done in many different ways, depending on how well an individual appropriates the technology [11]. Applying this framework to AI, we can explore how AI agents interact with users, affect decision-making, and adopt human-like behaviors. For instance, AI may contribute new ideas, clarify information, or disagree, prompt - ing users to reconsider choices. Integrating these interaction types helps analyze how AI systems shape decision quality, trust, and perceived intelligence through structured, human-like interactions. This deeper understanding underscores the impact of AI in collaborative environments and emphasizes the need for transparency and ethical considerations in AI applications. By proposing a conceptual model, this study will enhance scholarly understanding of AI’s implications in the workplace while offering practical strategies to optimize employee engagement and decision-making in an AI-drive landscape. In addition, we hope that the model will provide practitioners with some guiding principles on how to mitigate the long-term risks of AI.
Careers in the Rough is a workshop that offers scholars an opportunity to receive feedback from leading careers scholars on their careers-related research proposals and near-final manuscripts. Prior to AOM, participants are asked to submit their work to one of two tracks. The first track, aimed at early Ph.D. students, allows participants to submit a well-de - veloped research proposal in the planning stage. The second track invites participants to submit a near-final manuscript. For both tracks, participants are asked to include a maximum 250-word description of a dilemma, question, or concern they wish to address during the PDW. Based on the research topic, we will create mentoring groups, consisting of two junior and two senior scholars, who are then tasked with reviewing the junior scholars’ research proposals (Track I) and/ or manuscripts (Track II) and providing constructive feedback, with the intention of facilitating junior scholars’ prog - ress towards publishing high-quality careers scholarship. During the two-hour long PDW, mentoring groups will meet to discuss their feedback on the research proposals/manuscripts, devoting about 50 minutes to each. Accomplished careers scholars with experience publishing high-impact research will serve as mentors. This session offers junior careers scholars both opportunities to receive constructive feedback on their research and to discuss the publication process and network with prominent careers scholars, who serve as editorial board members and associate editors of leading careers journals. As such, this session facilitates the publication of impactful careers scholarships and fosters the development of the next generation of careers scholars.
Symbolic Consumption as Self-Preservation: Psychological Vulnerabilities and Identity
Wilkerson, A. W. (2025) . Extended abstract presented at the Atlantic Marketing Association Conference ( AMA 2025 ), Portland, ME, September 11–13, 2025.
This extended abstract presents a conceptual study exploring why low-income consumers engage in luxury fashion con - sumption despite financial limitations. The research reframes these purchases as emotionally driven acts of identity repair, introducing the constructs of perceived social identity lock-in and moral self-validation to explain how consumers cope with exclusion and affirm self-worth through symbolic consumption. A conceptual model is proposed and a sequential mixed-methods design is outlined for future empirical testing. This work contributes to Transformative Consumer Re - search by centering emotional coping in aspirational consumption and offers practical insights for inclusive, dignity-based branding strategies. Progress towards publishing high-quality careers scholarship. During the two-hour long PDW, mento - ring groups will meet to discuss their feedback on the research proposals/manuscripts, devoting about 50 minutes to each. Accomplished careers scholars with experience publishing high-impact research will serve as mentors. This session offers junior careers scholars both opportunities to receive constructive feedback on their research and to discuss the publica - tion process and network with prominent careers scholars, who serve as editorial board members and associate editors of leading careers journals. As such, this session facilitates the publication of impactful careers scholarships and fosters the development of the next generation of careers scholars.
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