ABSTRACT. Small businesses often derive their early competitive advantage from authenticity, founder involvement, and deep relational ties with customers and communities. Yet as these firms grow, the cumulative adoption of practices associated with market and professional logics—formalized hiring, delegated service, standardized operations, and external governance—can displace the community logic under which the firm originated, weakening the very identity-based resources that originally fueled success. This paper develops the Small Business Identity Life Cycle (SBILC), a conceptual framework explaining how authenticity and organizational identity evolve across stages of emergence, growth, identity drift, and decline or reinvention in founder-led firms. Drawing primarily on the institutional logics perspective and the institutional complexity literature, and integrating insights from organizational identity theory, small-business life-cycle research, and small business orientation, the framework theorizes identity drift as the displacement of community-logic practices by market and professional logics within the firm, in the absence of deliberate hybridization. The SBILC also specifies the conditions under which firms can reverse drift through hybridization responses—integrating community-logic commitments into scaled organizational structures—rather than through symbolic measures alone. By framing small-business growth as an institutional transformation rather than a purely operational process, this paper contributes a logics-grounded perspective on authenticity erosion and renewal. The framework offers actionable insights for founders and advisors seeking to grow without losing the distinctive identity that underpins long-term loyalty and resilience, while providing a foundation for future empirical research on identity dynamics in small businesses.

ABSTRACT. This study examines whether scarcity cues increase consumers’ likelihood of selecting Buy Now, Pay Later through state Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).

ABSTRACT. This study examines how AI-supported experiential learning influences access, engagement, skill development, and future application intent among neurodivergent students in undergraduate marketing education. As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in academic and professional environments, educators face a critical need to design inclusive learning experiences that support diverse cognitive profiles. Despite growing adoption of AI tools, limited empirical research explores their impact on neurodivergent learners in higher education.

Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), this research employs a mixed-methods pre- and post-test design within junior-level marketing courses. Approximately 200 students will be surveyed, including a subset who self-identify as neurodivergent (e.g., ADHD, autism, dyslexia). Quantitative measures include validated Likert-scale constructs for engagement, self-efficacy, perceived skill development, and intention to apply learning, along with a course-aligned knowledge assessment. Qualitative responses provide insight into perceived accessibility and learning experiences with AI tools such as generative platforms and content automation systems.

This study contributes to marketing education by evaluating AI not only as a productivity tool but as a mechanism for reducing cognitive barriers and enhancing inclusive participation. Findings are expected to inform the design of AI-integrated curricula that support equitable learning outcomes and align with AACSB standards emphasizing learner success and societal impact. By advancing understanding of AI’s role in neurodivergent student success, this research offers practical and theoretical implications for educators seeking to create adaptive, accessible, and future-ready learning environments.

ABSTRACT. This extended abstract presents the development of a Microsoft Access-based supplier selection and performance management system designed to support supplier evaluation, approval, and ongoing operational performance tracking within manufacturing organizations.

ABSTRACT. Alabama possesses many of the core assets required to support a nationally significant maritime and naval production system, including coastal shipbuilding, inland industrial capacity, defense technology expertise, workforce training systems, and multimodal logistics infrastructure. Yet these assets remain only partially aligned. This report argues that Alabama’s strategic opportunity lies not in building a maritime-industrial system from scratch, but in coordinating the distributed capabilities that already exist across the state. Mobile County functions as the coastal anchor for shipbuilding, final assembly, and port-centered logistics, while the Shoals region is emerging as a major inland naval manufacturing node. Southwest Alabama provides heavy industrial and logistics support, Baldwin County offers expansion capacity for the coastal core, and Huntsville contributes advanced defense technology, engineering, autonomy, and systems integration. Together, these regions form a functionally complete but operationally fragmented production architecture.

The report reframes regional development around functional role assignment rather than county-by-county competition. It further argues that an educational institution or Maritime Supply Chain Center could serve as a neutral system catalyst by mapping shared capacity, translating industry needs into workforce pathways, convening stakeholders without assuming governing authority, and bridging the persistent divide between firms and training providers. By lowering the transaction costs of coordination, such a center could help align workforce development, logistics planning, supplier growth, and targeted investment across Alabama’s maritime-industrial system. If effectively connected, Alabama’s distributed assets could support a scalable, resilient, and strategically important production network for future naval and maritime demand.

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to analyze the impact of severe economic disruptions on the IT procurement process experienced by procurement professionals. This analysis considered the social, economic, and environmental factors involved in supply chain management operations in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with eight mid-level managers and executives across sectors, including purchasing, healthcare, operations, IT, materials, and logistics. The primary theoretical framework for this study was stakeholder theory. This study highlighted essential strategies for procurement management to tackle supply chain disruptions. It identified three key themes: Identifying and Assessing, Enhancing Influence, and Organizational Goals. These insights provide business leaders with practical strategies to strengthen organizational resilience, minimize performance impacts, and ensure continuity. Organizations of all sizes can apply these approaches to better prepare for unexpected events, empowering communities to thrive amidst challenges. Key terms include Supply Chain Disruptions, Procurement, Risk Management, Stakeholder Theory, and Phenomenology.

ABSTRACT. Research Question In this contemporary business environment, the manufacturing firms are faced with both local and global pressures to leverage their economic gains with environmental and social responsiveness (Rehman et al., 2026). Civil environmental group actions, climate volatility, regulatory adherence (UN SDG Goal 11), stakeholder and international organization activisms have collectively refined the ideology behind the concept of performance of organizations beyond just the economic and financial metrics, to the inculcation of environmental principles (Chang et al., 2026). This thereby gives rise to the emergence of sustainable practices amongst businesses, particularly manufacturing sector organizations. The economic gain - environmental stewardship tensions has redefined the evaluative criteria of organizations’ performance towards eco-friendly consciousness in operations, calling for the need for improved organizational carbon reduction performance against ecocide (Requena-i-Mora et al., 2025). Recent scholarly discourse emphasizes that organization’s sustainability stands are increasingly knowledge driven and capability dependent rather than adherence driven alone (Chen & Xie, 2024; López Pérez et al., 2026). Green knowledge sharing has emerged as a strategic behavioural contrivance through which employees disseminate environmental knowledge and eco-conscious practices across various units of organizations. Despite its relevance, studies have largely examined it as an isolated antecedent without appreciating the internal capability systems that transcribe shared knowledge into measurable sustainable performance results (Din et al., 2025). To what extent does green knowledge sharing drive carbon reduction performance in reducing ecocide under the contingent roles of resource orchestration capabilities, frugal innovation, and environmental sustainability orientation in manufacturing firms?

Method and Data This study will adopt a quantitative, deductive research design to examine the hypothesized relationships of the study. A cross-sectional survey approach will be employed to test the causal relationships. The data will be collected from 330 sample respondents, which include CEOs, managers and employees who are involved in environmental management and strategic planning from selected manufacturing firms. Measurement instruments will be adapted from validated scales to ensure reliability and validity. Following a stratified probability sampling technique, a structured questionnaire will be administered electronically, and members’ participation will be guided by ethical principles, autonomy and voluntary engagements. Data analysis will employ Structural Equation Modelling using Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM) via SmartPLS to examine complex mediation pathways and multidimensional constructs. Reliability will be assessed using Cronbach alpha and composite reliability, while bootstrapping procedures will be conducted to test the direct effects, moderation effects and conditional moderation effect.

Summary of Findings The study expects significant results on the subject matter. Therefore, the researcher has hypothesized that GKS will have a significant positive effect on CRP. This is in line with the findings from Saleem et al. (2024), who emphasized that exchange of environmental knowledge will enhance firm’s environmental and organizational performance. It is also expected that ROC and ESO will distinctively and simultaneously moderate GKS and CRP. As this is in line with the study by Alqatan et. (2025), who emphasized that when internal resources are orchestrated effectively, shared green knowledge becomes more viable, ultimately leading to stronger carbon reduction outcomes. Studies show that when eco-conscious mindsets and orientations are deeply integrated into organizational strategy, firms achieve targeted carbon reduction performance objectives (Mutarza et al., 2024). Furthermore, it is hypothesized that the moderating effect of ROC on the GKS-CRP relationship is conditioned by FI.

Key Contributions The study contributes to literature by integrating knowledge-based theory with resource orchestration theory in revealing that GKS affects CRP conditionally, rather than directly, through the enhancing role of ROC. Also, the researcher introduced the concept of FI as a higher-order efficiency enhancer, emphasizing that the moderating effect of ROC is strengthened by cost-efficient innovative principles of FI. In addition to literature, the study highlighted the role of ESO as a strategic and cultural behavior that leverage organizations’ eco-conscious principles with organizational goals, led by both CEOs/managers and employees who are sustainability focused. The study was conducted amongst manufacturing sector organization in Ghana to broaden the generalizability and bring inclusion of underrepresented emerging economies on this subject matter.

ABSTRACT. There is a persistent gap in business education that most faculty recognize but few address directly. Employers say they want graduates who can communicate clearly, collaborate under pressure, present with confidence, and adapt when circumstances change. They consistently rate recent graduates below expectations on several of those same dimensions. Technical skills are not the problem. Most business programs do a reasonable job teaching finance, marketing, operations, and strategy. The gap shows up in the spaces between — when a student who understands a market analysis cannot explain it to a non-specialist, or when a capable analyst shuts down the moment feedback challenges their work. This paper makes a case for treating soft skills as curriculum-level commitments rather than optional enrichment. Drawing on four theoretical frameworks and on NACE’s 2025 Job Outlook data, it offers a practical framework organized around five areas: communication, presentation, professional presence, teamwork, and adaptability. The goal is not to add new courses or overhaul existing ones. It is to use what is already there more intentionally.

ABSTRACT. The teaching activity involves the systematic use of generative AI to design and deploy experiential learning artifacts that enhance student engagement and applied learning. The process follows a structured instructional design workflow consisting of four stages: content generation, refinement, implementation, and iteration.

ABSTRACT. In this interactive presentation, I discuss my experience of teaching through a coursepack comprising case studies curated by Harvard Business Impact in an online undergraduate organizational communication course. Not only did the case studies appear to have engaged my students, but I also found their case analyses more dynamic and insightful.

ABSTRACT. This teaching moment examines an applied mentorship model within a student-run marketing agency designed to strengthen career readiness and professional skill development among undergraduate marketing students. The Ground Work Agency (GWA) operates as a co-curricular experiential learning environment where students collaborate with real clients on marketing initiatives while participating in layered mentorship relationships involving faculty advisors, peer leaders, and client stakeholders. The agency structure mirrors professional marketing environments through collaborative workflows, leadership roles, revision cycles, and client-facing communication. Students progressively assume greater responsibility while developing strategic thinking, adaptability, leadership, and professional communication skills through sustained applied practice. Student feedback and reflections indicate increased confidence in navigating professional expectations, teamwork, client communication, and project accountability. This applied mentorship-centered model demonstrates how student-run agencies can complement traditional business education by providing immersive experiential learning opportunities that support professional identity development and workforce readiness.

ABSTRACT. Every major federal breach disclosure mandate — FCC at 7 days, SEC at 4 days, HHS at 60 days — rests on the same untested assumption: faster disclosure produces better outcomes for investors and capital markets. This dissertation tests that assumption using the FCC's 7-Day Rule as a natural experiment across 1,054 breach disclosures at publicly traded firms from 2006 to 2025. Three essays examine whether mandatory timing works as intended across three independent mechanisms — market valuation, post-breach return volatility, and executive turnover.

It doesn't. At least not the way regulators think it does.

Essay 1 finds that disclosure timing carries no independent valuation effect (CAR = +0.57%, p = 0.539, n = 898), confirmed via equivalence testing within ±2.10 percentage points at 80% power. What markets do price — hard — is who the firm is: FCC regulatory status (−2.20%, p = 0.010), prior breach history (−0.22% per breach, p = 0.003), and health data exposure (−2.51%, p = 0.004). Essay 2 finds that mandatory timing increases post-breach return volatility by +1.83% (p = 0.047, n = 891), with costs falling hardest on the smallest firms (+7.31%) and reversing for the largest (−3.39%) — a firm-size gradient consistent with information processing capacity constraints. Essay 3 finds that immediate disclosure produces a transient governance response at 30 days (+5.3 percentage points, p = 0.008, n = 896) that fades by 90. FCC regulatory status itself produces nothing sustained (+3.71 pp, p = 0.391). Boards respond to the breach and how fast it surfaces — not to which agency is watching.

The three essays tell the same story from different angles: mandatory timing affects how markets learn, not what they ultimately price. It imposes real costs — increased uncertainty, accelerated governance disruption — without delivering the valuation benefits the policy logic assumes. These findings extend Myers and Majluf's (1984) information asymmetry framework to cybersecurity regulation and carry direct implications for evaluating the SEC's 2023 4-day rule, a standard even stricter than the one examined here.

ABSTRACT. EXTENDED ABSTRACT Research Question Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are being rapidly adopted into business functions worldwide with a growing number of employees now required to work with or work alongside AI tools as part of their positions. As AI integration accelerates, scholars and practitioners increasingly recognize that AI can serve as an engagement enabler or a disruptor with consequences for employee engagement. Experimental research has examined AI transparency, trust, collaboration, and workplace behavior; however, the combined effects of what AI is deployed to do and how its implementation is communicated on employee engagement have not been causally tested. Grounded in Shuck and Wollard’s (2010) multi-dimensional definition of employee engagement and the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, this study addresses two questions. First, does AI deployment purpose (augmentation vs. monitoring) differentially affect cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement? Second, does Human Resources (HR) communication transparency moderate the relationship between deployment purpose and engagement? Specifically, I examine whether transparent HR communication can reduce the negative impact that monitoring AI has on employee engagement. Method and Data I will use experimental vignette methodology designed to test the joint effects of AI deployment purpose and HR communication transparency on employee engagement. A two-by-two between-subjects design will cross AI deployment purpose (augmentation versus monitoring) with HR communication transparency (high versus low), yielding four experimental conditions. Augmentation vignettes will describe AI tools that automate repetitive administrative tasks, answer questions using organizational knowledge, and provide on-demand decision support. Monitoring vignettes will describe AI tools that conduct productivity tracking, tone analysis, and screen activity and application usage tracking. High-transparency vignettes will describe communication that includes a clear rationale for AI adoption, the data-use boundaries, training options, and opportunities for employee input. Low-transparency vignettes will describe communication that only consists of a brief rollout memorandum that has no support or explanatory details. Currently employed adults who use computers as a daily requirement for their position will be recruited via an online panel and randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. Each participant will be asked to respond to all measures from the perspective of the employee in the presented scenario. Employee engagement will be measured using Shuck et al.’s (2017) Employee Engagement Scale. Summary of Findings Drawing on the JD-R model and existing literature on AI at work, I anticipate three primary outcomes. First, I expect the monitoring purpose AI-condition to produce lower cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement than the augmentation-purpose conditions, which reflects monitoring AI’s function as a job demand that constrains autonomy and erodes trust. Second, I expect HR communication transparency will moderate the relationship between AI deployment purpose and employee engagement. Specifically, high transparency will only attenuate the negative effect monitoring AI has on employee engagement. Third, I anticipate the moderating effect of transparency will be strongest for emotional engagement, where trust-related concerns are most salient, and weakest for behavioral engagement, where the act of being monitored has a more direct influence than communication can likely offset. Key Contributions The study offers several contributions to theory and practice. Theoretically, it provides a direct causal test of the AI engagement enabler-disruptor framing by separating what AI is designed to do from how its deployment is communicated. With this separation, the study clarifies when AI is likely to function as a resource that supports engagement rather than as a demand that undermines it. Next, this study extends the JD-R model by positioning HR communication transparency as a contextual resource that can counteract AI-related job demands. Lastly, the experimental design isolates the engagement mechanism causally which provides a foundation for future longitudinal field studies to examine how engagement effects develop and accumulate over time. Practically, the study’s findings will provide HR practitioners with evidence-based support that communication transparency can help mitigate engagement risks during AI implementation, positioning HR as a strategic partner in an organization’s AI adoption effort rather than as a downstream responder to its unintended consequences.

ABSTRACT. This paper identifies consumer research classes with parallel competing mediators in order to determine when indirect effect estimates are central to phenomenological understanding. Mediation in consumer research relies on methods that examine a single mediating variable's effect on a given outcome. Although mediation allows us to more deeply examine the relationship between X and Y by isolating a middle, third variable, the true map of the phenomena in consumer research likely has parallel competing mediation occurring. Five major domains define a dual pathway class of research: personalization and privacy, anthropomorphism and trust, luxury and guilt, intention and behavior, and reliance and verification. Marketing research reports weak effect sizes. A plausible reason for this may be due to indirect effect measurements missing, incomplete, or lacking as central to phenomena, hypothesis, and analysis. Within the two pathway class, indirect effect estimation should be central to study design from hypothesis development and analysis plan. Within the two pathway class, small total effect result is indicative of two competing mediation pathways on the outcome variable. Because total effects are indirect-effect aggregates they can mislead us. Competitive mediation is theory generative. Because mediation, confounding and suppression rely on the same statistical methods, only theory, study design and analysis reveal the differences.

ABSTRACT. Research Question Today, there is a rapid growth of both geofencing technology and influencer marketing as independent persuasive marketing strategies. However, the integrated theoretical perspective that explains how their convergence motivates offline action remains unexplored. This paper intends to address the questions: 1.) How do influencer-endorsed geofenced marketing communications drive consumer intent to visit physical retail locations? 2.) What psychological mechanisms affect this behavioral response and under what conditions? This study proposes that consumers’ motivation to convert online action into offline behavior is directly tied to how closely they relate to the messenger, when that message is amplified in an influencer-endorsed geofenced invitation. We ground this concept in Cialdini’s Social Proof Theory (1984, 2001) and Mehrabian & Russell’s Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework (1974) to demonstrate how geofenced influencer endorsements strengthen the consumer’s fear of missing out (FOMO) and drives their willingness to visit brick-and-mortar retail locations. This framework engages with both Signaling Theory (Spence, 1973; Erdem & Swait, 1988) and Construal Level Theory (Trope & Liberman, 2010) to further explain how a consumer’s proximity to a retail location can activate psychological pressure that leads to in-store visits, while influencer credibility performs as a signal-like mechanism that strengthens the pathway between FOMO and in-store visit intention.

Method and Data This paper is a conceptual study, and no empirical data has been collected. This theoretical framework is developed through an examination of established marketing and consumer behavior theory and extant literature across social proof theory, the S-O-R framework as applied to location-based mobile marketing, influencer marketing, FOMO, and customer engagement theory. This paper explores a novel boundary conditions proposition (SDCA) alongside five propositions to examine influencer-endorsed geofenced marketing. A conceptual model is provided depicting the stimulus-to-response pathway with the aforementioned moderating boundary conditions. SDCA scale development, field experiments with retail partners, and scenario-based survey experiments are included in future research directions. A TikTok influencer study (Hazari et al., 2024), an influencer marketing research agenda (Aw and Agnihotri, 2023), and Good and Hyman’s (2020) FOMO conceptualization are a few foundational works included in this paper.

Summary of Findings This study offers five propositions. First, influencer-endorsed geofenced invitations are stronger stimuli than brand-only geofenced invitations. Second, social proof in these invitations is positively associated with the consumer’s sense of FOMO as they perceive an emotional sense of urgency and exclusion from the geographically proximate and influencer-endorsed retail experience. Third, FOMO positively predicts the consumer's in-store visitation intention because the associated sense of social anxiety motivates the consumer’s behavioral response. Fourth, FOMO mediates the relationship between the dual stimuli, influencer marketing and geofencing technology, and the consumer’s visit intention. Fifth, influencer credibility, sponsorship disclosure, and influencer familiarity are the boundary conditions that moderate the social proof to FOMO path. Influencer credibility makes the social proof stimuli stronger because the consumer trusts the messenger (Erdem & Swait, 1998), sponsorship disclosure weakens the relationship by making the consumer aware they are being marketed to which erodes trust and perceived authenticity (Myers et al., 2024; De Veirman & Hudders, 2020). Influencer familiarity strengthens the social proof to FOMO path because it creates a more personal connection between the influencer and the consumer. The proposed fourth moderator, SDCA, proposes influencers who adapt content because of the consumers location create more persuasive signals and intensifies FOMO responses.

Key Contributions This paper makes four key contributions to marketing theory and practice. First, it converges SPT with the S-O-R framework to describe how geofenced influencer endorsements trigger the psychological mechanisms that motivate offline consumer behavioral responses. Second, it strengthens the influencer marketing literature by explaining why influencers are more effective in geofenced areas, responding to calls by Aw and Agnihotri (2023) for theory-building within digital contexts. Understanding this phenomenon, marketers and brands can provide practical guidance for more dynamic online to offline retail strategies. Marketers and brands will better understand why a consumer’s personal connection with an influencer is more valuable than the influencer’s follower count. Findings also show that sponsorship disclosure should be carefully formatted within digital invitations due to their ability to diminish the consumer’s perceptions of the influencer’s authenticity which can dampen the effects of social proof. This paper addresses the challenges facing physical retail stores in competition with e-commerce by theorizing how digital influence can drive physical store traffic through the convergence of geofencing technology and social media influence.

References are available upon request.