The federal government is often criticized for performance that fails to meet the public's expectations. Its traditional pay system receives much of the blame for rewarding seniority instead of performance. While everyone agrees that performance matters, they don't always agree on the best way...

This dissertation consists of three largely independent essays. The first finds a significant correlation between the price of crude oil and significant terrorist attacks by groups of Middle Eastern origin against Western nations. In particular, such terrorist attacks are considerably more...

The entry of women into the professional world has, without a doubt, changed the dynamics of the workplace over the past few decades. That observation still holds true today and becomes more prevalent with the changing face of the labor market in terms of diversity. However, in spite of that...

This study investigated relationships of age, gender, and supervisor level with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, stress perception, and turnover intention. The demographics were hypothesized to moderate the stress-satisfaction and commitment-turnover relationships. Hypotheses were...

In the increasingly competitive world of retail banking, organizations are focusing their attention on customer service as a means of increasing customer loyalty and retention. With this goal of increasing customer retention, the link between the attitudes of the service provider (employee...

Did the demise of Arthur Andersen and the related fallout affect the satisfaction of entry-level accountants at Big Four firms? The answer appears to be "no." Despite the considerable negative press focused on the profession, entry-level accountants still assess positively the profession and...

This dissertation analyzes why some VC-funded high-tech firms do not generate harvesting events for investors through a lucrative sale, either to another company or on the stock exchange. In other words, I seek to understand two performance outcomes: failure and persistence. Building on the...