A Relationship of Wine Ratings and Wholesale Pricing, Vintage, Variety, and Region

Wine reviews, such as those from Wine Spectator and other consumer publications, help drive wine sales. The researchers in this study utilized standardized wholesale “line pricing” from a major wholesale distributor in the Southwest to compare pricing to the ratings published by Wine Spectator and to determine whether there were any correlations among other key attributes of the wine. The study produced interesting results, including that the wholesale price and vintage of a wine are significant in the prediction of the wine’s rating.

Relationship between Changes in Cash Flow and Investments in Publicy Traded Restaurant Firms in the United States

This research investigated the relationship between investments in fixed assets and free cash flows of U.S. restaurant firms while controlling for future investment opportunities and financial constraints. It also investigated investment and cash-flow sensitivity in the context of economic conditions. Results suggested that investments in small firms (with higher financial constraints) had relatively weaker sensitivity to cash flows than investments in large firms (with higher sensitivity). Controlling for economic conditions did not significantly change results. While the debate over sensitivity of investments to cash flows remains unresolved, it has not been explored widely in industry contexts, especially in services such as the restaurant industry. In addition to its contribution to this literature, this paper provides implications for cash-flow management in publicly traded restaurant companies.

Exploring the Relationship Between Hotel Characteristics and Crime

Knowledge of crimes that have occurred in hotels has been scares. The authors explore the nature and causes of hotel crimes in a U.S. metropolitan area. Levels of crimes were directly related to size of the hotel, target market of business travelers, access to public transportation, and an unsafe image of the environment surrounding the hotel. Crime prevention programs based on the findings can be developed to protect the safety of guests and property.

A retrospective-longitudinal examination of the relationship between apportionment of seat time in community-college algebra courses and student academic performance

During the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase by postsecondary institutions in providing academic programs and course offerings in a multitude of formats and venues (Biemiller, 2009; Kucsera & Zimmaro, 2010; Lang, 2009; Mangan, 2008). Strategies pertaining to reapportionment of course-delivery seat time have been a major facet of these institutional initiatives; most notably, within many open-door 2-year colleges. Often, these enrollment-management decisions are driven by the desire to increase market-share, optimize the usage of finite facility capacity, and contain costs, especially during these economically turbulent times. So, while enrollments have surged to the point where nearly one in three 18-to-24 year-old U.S. undergraduates are community college students (Pew Research Center, 2009), graduation rates, on average, still remain distressingly low (Complete College America, 2011). Among the learning-theory constructs related to seat-time reapportionment efforts is the cognitive phenomenon commonly referred to as the spacing effect, the degree to which learning is enhanced by a series of shorter, separated sessions as opposed to fewer, more massed episodes. This ex post facto study explored whether seat time in a postsecondary developmental-level algebra course is significantly related to: course success; course-enrollment persistence; and, longitudinally, the time to successfully complete a general-education-level mathematics course. Hierarchical logistic regression and discrete-time survival analysis were used to perform a multi-level, multivariable analysis of a student cohort (N = 3,284) enrolled at a large, multi-campus, urban community college. The subjects were retrospectively tracked over a 2-year longitudinal period. The study found that students in long seat-time classes tended to withdraw earlier and more often than did their peers in short seat-time classes (p < .05). Additionally, a model comprised of nine statistically significant covariates (all with p-values less than .01) was constructed. However, no longitudinal seat-time group differences were detected nor was there sufficient statistical evidence to conclude that seat time was predictive of developmental-level course success. A principal aim of this study was to demonstrate—to educational leaders, researchers, and institutional-research/business-intelligence professionals—the advantages and computational practicability of survival analysis, an underused but more powerful way to investigate changes in students over time.

Interdependencies in corporate development: Relationship between strategic alliance and acquisition activities

A substantial amount of work in the field of strategic management has attempted to explain the antecedents and outcomes of organizational learning. Though multinational corporations simultaneously engage in various types of tasks, activities, and strategies on a regular basis, the transfer of organizational learning in a multi-task context has largely remained under-explored in the literature. To inform our understanding in this area, this dissertation aimed at synthesizing findings from two parallel research streams of corporate development activities: strategic alliances and acquisitions. Structured in the form of two empirical studies, this dissertation examines: 1) the strategic outcomes of alliance experience of previously allying partners in terms of subsequent acquisition attempts, and 2) the performance implications of prior alliance experience for acquisitions. The first study draws on the relational view of inter-organizational governance to explain how various deal-specific and dyadic characteristics of a partnership relate to partnering firms' post-alliance acquisition attempts. This model theorizes on a variety of relational mechanisms to build a cohesive theory of inter-organizational exchanges in a multi-task setting where strategic alliances ultimately lead to a firm's decision to commit further resources. The second study applies organizational learning theory, and specifically examines whether frequency, recency, and relatedness of different dimensions of prior alliances, beyond the dyad-level experience, relate to an acquirer's superior post-acquisition performance. The hypotheses of the studies are tested using logistic and ordinary least square regressions, respectively. Results analyzed from a sample of cross-border alliance and acquisition deals attempted (for study I) and/or completed (for study II) during the period of 1991 to 2011 generally support the theory that relational exchange determines acquiring firms' post alliance acquisition behavior and that organizational routines and learning from prior alliances influence a future acquirer's financial performance. Overall, the empirical findings support our overarching theory of interdependency, and confirm the transfer effect of learning across these alternate, yet related corporate strategies of alliance and acquisition.^

Relationship of Lifestyle Medical Advice and Non-HDL Cholesterol Control of a Nationally Representative US Sample with Hypercholesterolemia by Race/Ethnicity

Objective. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the associations of lifestyle medical advice and non-HDL cholesterol control of a nationally representative US sample of adults with hypercholesterolemia by race/ethnicity. Methods. Data were collected by appending sociodemographic, anthropometric, and laboratory data from two cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Survey (2007-2008 and 2009-2010). This study acquired data from male and female adults aged ≥ 20 years (N = 11,577), classified as either Mexican American (MA), (), other Hispanic (OH) (), Black non-Hispanic (BNH) (), or White non-Hispanic (WNH) (). Results. Minorities were more likely to report having received dietary, weight management, and exercise recommendations by healthcare professionals than WNH, adjusting for confounders. Approximately 80% of those receiving medical advice followed the recommendation, regardless of race/ethnicity. Of those who received medical advice, reporting “currently controlling or losing weight” was associated with lower non-HDL cholesterol. BNH who reported “currently controlling or losing weight” had higher non-HDL cholesterol than WNH who reported following the advice. Conclusion. The results suggest that current methods of communicating lifestyle advice may not be adequate across race/ethnicity and that a change in perspective and delivery of medical recommendations for persons with hypercholesterolemia is needed.

Toward a unified theory of task -oriented and relationship -oriented leader behavior: A multi -country generalizability study

The theoretical foundation of this study comes from the significant recurrence throughout the leadership literature of two distinct behaviors, task orientation and relationship orientation. Task orientation and relationship orientation are assumed to be generic behaviors, which are universally observed and applied in organizations, even though they may be uniquely enacted in organizations across cultures. The lack of empirical evidence supporting these assumptions provided the impetus to hypothetically develop and empirically confirm the universal application of task orientation and relationship orientation and the generalizability of their measurement in a cross-cultural setting. Task orientation and relationship orientation are operationalized through consideration and initiation of structure, two well-established theoretical leadership constructs. Multiple-group mean and covariance structures (MACS) analyses are used to simultaneously validate the generalizability of the two hypothesized constructs across the 12 cultural groups and to assess whether the similarities and differences discovered are measurement and scaling artifacts or reflect true cross-cultural differences. The data were collected by the author and others as part of a larger international research project. The data are comprised of 2341 managers from 12 countries/regions. The results provide compelling evidence that task orientation and relationship orientation, reliably and validly operationalized through consideration and initiation of structure, are generalizable across the countries/regions sampled. But the results also reveal significant differences in the perception of these behaviors, suggesting that some aspects of task orientation and relationship orientation are strongly affected by cultural influences. These (similarities and) differences reflect directly interpretable, error-free effects among the constructs at the behavioral level. Thus, task orientation and relationship orientation can demonstrate different relations among cultures, yet still be defined equivalently across the 11 cultures studied. The differences found in this study are true differences and may contain information about cultural influences characterizing each cultural context (i.e. group). The nature of such influences should be examined before the results can be meaningfully interpreted. To examine the effects of cultural characteristics on the constructs, additional hypotheses on the constructs' latent parameters can be tested across groups. Construct-level tests are illustrated in hypothetical examples in light of the study's results. The study contributes significantly to the theoretical understanding of the nature and generalizability of psychological constructs. The theoretical and practical implications of embedding context into a unified theory of task orientated and relationship oriented leader behavior are proposed. Limitations and contributions are also discussed. ^

The relationship of spirituality and the health promoting behaviors of diet and exercise of African -American women

Public health data show that African-Americans have not adopted health-promoting behaviors of diet and exercise. Spirituality, important in the lives of many African-American women, may be associated with health-promoting behaviors. This study was designed to determine how spirituality relates to health-promoting behaviors in African-American women. Burkhardt's theoretical framework for spirituality was adopted and measures were selected for the three elements of the framework: connectedness with self, others, and environment. ^ The study used a descriptive cross sectional correlational design to investigate the relationships of the independent variables of spirituality, sociodemographics, and BMI, to the dependent variables of diet and exercise, to answer the two primary questions: What is the role of spirituality in impacting the health-promoting behaviors of African-American women? Of the independent variables of spirituality, sociodemographics, and BMI, which are the best predictors of diet and exercise? ^ Central and South Floridian African-American women (n = 260) between 18 and 82 years of age completed several questionnaires: Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II, Spiritual Perspective Scale, Brief Block Food Frequency, and socio-demographic information. ^ Hierarchical regression identified 40% of the variability of diet to be explained by socio-demographic (education) and spirituality variables (stress management and health responsibility) (p < .001). Twenty-nine percent of the variability of exercise was explained by socio-demographic (education) and spirituality variables (stress management) (p < .001). Canonical correlation analysis identified a significant pair of canonical variates which indicated individuals with good nutrition (.95), increased physical activity (.79), and healthy eating (.42) also had better stress management (.88), better health responsibility (.67), higher spiritual growth (.66), better interpersonal relations (.50), more education (.49), and higher self-esteem (.33). The set explained 57% of the variability (p < .001). ^ An understanding of the factors that influence these women's decision to utilize health-promoting strategies could provide health professionals with additional information to enable them to design culturally and spiritually related health messages for African-American women. The findings of this present study speak of the importance of focusing on stress management, health responsibility, spiritual growth, interpersonal relations and self-esteem along with diet and exercise; this will likely provide improvement in the health-promoting behaviors of African-American women. ^

The relationship of managers' self -reported leadership practices and their spirituality

The role of spirituality in leadership in business and other organizations has gained growing recognition. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between spirituality and nine selected transformational leadership practices. Community leaders (N = 138) in business, education, and other professions who were graduates of a 10-week leadership program, Leadership Fort Lauderdale, from 1994 to 2004 completed the Spirituality Assessment Scale (SAS), the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI), and four transformational leadership items of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). ^ The predictor variables were participants' scores on the LPI and MLQ. The criterion variable was their score on the SAS. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis: Is there a combination of nine selected transformational leadership practices that would account for a significant portion of the variance of each of two spirituality measures? The Definitive and Correlated dimensions and Total spirituality score of the SAS were used in the analysis. ^ Results showed that two of the LPI leadership practices were significantly related to spirituality. The variable Inspiring a Shared Vision accounted for 10% of the variance of the SAS Definitive dimension. The variable Encouraging the Heart accounted for 30% of the variance of the Correlated dimension. For the Total spirituality score, two models were revealed. In the first model, Encouraging the Heart accounted for 28% of the variance of the total spirituality score. In the second model, Encouraging the Heart and Inspiring a Shared Vision together accounted for 31% of the total spirituality score. None of the transformational leadership practices from the MLQ were significantly related to spirituality. ^ The data partially support the hypothesis: two of the nine leadership variables did in combination correlate with leaders' spirituality. The results also support at least a partial relationship between spirituality and certain transformational leadership practices among leaders in various spheres, such as education, business, and other professions. ^

A study of the relationship between employee virtuality and technology deviance as mediated by leadership and employee perceptions

Recent studies found that organizations have been investing significant capital in developing teams and employees in geographic areas where labor and resources are considerably cheaper. Furthermore, organizations are moving core operational activities such as research and development and back-office processes to globally distributed teams. ^ However, several factors that are inherent to these virtual teams can have a negative impact on employee perceptions and engagement; specifically, the physical and temporal differences between employees and their supervisors, the lack of meaningful social interaction intrinsic to working relationships, and cultural biases that can be fostered when close, daily interactions is not there to help bridge the dissimilarity. ^ When strategies are not in place to mitigate these deficiencies, it can cause virtual employees to disengage emotionally and intellectually from the organization, or lead them to feel justified in working against the best interest of the company. ^ Past research indicates that although deviant behavior in the workplace is not new, transgressions committed by employees have been increasing significantly every year. Beyond the focus of why employees are motivated to act against the organization, to what extent do the recent changes to the organization’s structure influence this type of behavior through their actions at the macro (organizational) and micro level (leadership). ^ In addition, there is a related phenomenon that has aided the transformation of the workplace—namely, the ubiquity of technology. In the context of workplace deviance, established research has documented an increasing trend of employees utilizing company technology as a medium and amplifier when harming the organization. It is important to understand whether technology has facilitated or hindered workplace deviance by virtue of the technology itself (as a means), and as part of the new employee roles created by the evolving technology (i.e., virtual employees). Therefore, it is important to identify how individual attitudes and behaviors can be affected by an employee’s degree of virtuality. ^ This study will add to the understanding of how social interaction and physical proximity, leadership and other perception factors contribute to the changes organizations are experiencing as their structure evolves and adapts to compete in the new global environment. ^

The mediating effect of innovation on the relationship between corporate reputation and performance in U.S. firms

In recent years, corporate reputation has gained the attention of many scholars in the strategic management and related fields. There is a general consensus that higher corporate reputation is positively related to firm success or performance. However, the link is not always straightforward; as a result, it calls for researchers to dedicate their efforts to investigate the causes and effects of firm reputation and how it is related to performance. In this doctoral dissertation, innovation is suggested as a mediating variable in this relationship. Innovation is a critical factor for firm success and survival. Highly reputed firms are in a more advantageous position to attract critical resources for innovation such as human and financial capital. These firms face constant pressure from external stakeholders, e.g. the general public, or customers, to achieve and remain at high levels of innovativeness. As a result, firms are in constant search, internally or externally, for new technologies expanding their knowledge base. Consequently, these firms engage in firms acquisitions. In the dissertation, the author assesses the effects of domestic versus international acquisitions as well as related versus unrelated acquisitions on the level of innovativeness and performance. Building upon an established measure of firm-level degree of internationalization (DOI), the dissertation proposes a more detailed and enhanced measure for the firm's DOI. It is modeled as an interaction effect between corporate reputation and resources for innovation. More specifically, firms with higher levels of internationalization will have access to resources for innovation, i.e. human and financial capital, at a global scale. Additionally, the distance between firms and higher education institutions, i.e. universities, is considered as another interaction effect for the human capital attraction. The dissertation is built on two theoretical frameworks, the resource-based view of the firm and institutional theory. It studies 211 U.S. firms using a longitudinal panel data structure from 2006 to 2012. It utilizes a linear dynamic panel data estimation methodology for its hypotheses analyses. Results confirm the hypotheses proposed in the study.

The Relationship Between Leisure Traveler's hotel Attribute Satisfaction and Overall Satisfaction

Manystudies have been conducted about hotel attributesrelated tothehotel choice decision as a part ofacustomer’s pre- purchase behavior(Dolnicar&Otter, 2003). Althoughit iscritical for hotel managerstounderstand post-trip behavior because such behaviorsmaydirectlyinfluence their futurebehavior, therearefew researchstudieswhich examine hotel attributesrelated to acustomer’spost-trip behavior.This studyteststhe relationship between leisure traveler’shotel attribute satisfaction and overall satisfaction in the post-trip behaviorperspectiveina hotel setting andexaminestherelative impactofhotel attributesatisfaction in influencing overall satisfaction. Multiple regressionwas used totestthe relationship and hotel attribute satisfaction isan important antecedent tooverall satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications ofthe studyare discussed.

Effect of Medical Advice for Diet on Diabetes Self-Management and Glycemic Control for Haitian and African Americans with Type 2 Diabetes

Adequate care of type 2 diabetes is reflected by the individual’s adherence to dietary guidance; yet, few patients are engaged in diabetes self-care at the recommended level, regardless of race/ethnicity. Few studies on the effect of dietary medical advice on diabetes self-management (DSM) and glycemic control have been conducted on Haitian and African American adults with type 2 diabetes. These relationships were assessed in total of 254 Blacks with type 2 diabetes (Haitian Americans = 129; African Americans = 125) recruited from Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, Florida by community outreach methods. Although dietary advice received was not significantly different between the two Black ethnicities, given advice “to follow a diet” as a predictor of “using food groups” was significant for Haitian Americans, but not for African Americans. Haitian Americans who were advised to follow a diet were approximately 3 times more likely to sometimes or often use food groups (or exchange lists) in planning meals. Less than optimal glycemic control (A1C > 7.2) was inversely related to DSM for African Americans; but the relationship was not significant for Haitian Americans. A one unit increase in DSM score decreased the odds ratio point estimate of having less than optimal glycemic control (A1C > 7.2%) by a factor of 0.94 in African Americans. These results suggest that medical advice for diet plans may not be communicated effectively for DSM for some races/ethnicities. Research aimed at uncovering the enablers and barriers of diet management specific to Black ethnicities with type 2 diabetes is recommended.

Relationship of Lifestyle Medical Advice and Non-HDL Cholesterol Control of a Nationally Representative US Sample with Hypercholesterolemia by Race/Ethnicity

Objective: The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the associations of lifestyle medical advice and non-HDL cholesterol control of a nationally representative US sample of adults with hypercholesterolemia by race/ethnicity. Methods: Data were collected by appending sociodemographic, anthropometric, and laboratory data from two cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Survey (2007-2008 and 2009-2010). This study acquired data from male and female adults aged ≥ 20 years (N = 11,577), classified as either Mexican American (MA), (), other Hispanic (OH) (), Black non-Hispanic (BNH) (), or White non-Hispanic (WNH) (). Results: Minorities were more likely to report having received dietary, weight management, and exercise recommendations by healthcare professionals than WNH, adjusting for confounders. Approximately 80% of those receiving medical advice followed the recommendation, regardless of race/ethnicity. Of those who received medical advice, reporting “currently controlling or losing weight” was associated with lower non-HDL cholesterol. BNH who reported “currently controlling or losing weight” had higher non-HDL cholesterol than WNH who reported following the advice. Conclusion: The results suggest that current methods of communicating lifestyle advice may not be adequate across race/ethnicity and that a change in perspective and delivery of medical recommendations for persons with hypercholesterolemia is needed.

Acculturation and Diabetes Self-management of Cuban Americans: Is Age a Protective Factor?

Migration to the United States has been linked to obesity and poor diet quality. We investigated the relationship among diabetes self-management, diet, age and acculturation factors for 182 Cuban-Americans (Females = 110, Males = 72) with type 2 diabetes recruited from a randomized mailing list in South Florida. Inadequate glycemic control (β = 0.257), BMI (β = 0.251), total fat intake (β = 0.251), and smoking (β = 0.200), were positively associated, while understanding of overall diabetes care (β = -0.165), was negatively associated with migration (N = 162, adj.R2 = 0.286, F = 14.65, p < 0.001). These associations suggest that effective diabetes education targeting acculturation issues is lacking.