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Title: Three Studies Examining the Potential for Relational Reasoning to Enhance Expertise in Complex Audit Domains.
Creator: Holt, Matthew, Sutton, Steven, Arnold, Vicky, Roberts, Robin, Dillard, Jesse, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This dissertation consists of three studies that explore the potential for relational reasoning to advance research on the facilitation of expertise in complex audit domains. Study One seeks to explicate the potential that theory and methods from relational reasoning and associated research have to advance the audit expertise research stream. The implications for future research on facilitating auditing expertise are discussed in synchrony with future research questions, including whether or...
Show moreThis dissertation consists of three studies that explore the potential for relational reasoning to advance research on the facilitation of expertise in complex audit domains. Study One seeks to explicate the potential that theory and methods from relational reasoning and associated research have to advance the audit expertise research stream. The implications for future research on facilitating auditing expertise are discussed in synchrony with future research questions, including whether or not such strategies will be effective in domains with more than minor relational complexity. Studies Two and Three experimentally examine the use of metacognitive skills intended to enhance relational knowledge, which is considered to be a fundamental component of domain expertise. Study Two investigates the effects of alternate forms of prompting for analogical comparison and Study Three explores the impact of combining analogical comparison with direct instruction on discerning the relational structure of a domain. The results of Study Two do not support the expected positive effects of the analogical comparison interventions. Implementation of effective interventions to prompt the comparison requires further research. Additionally, the results of Study Three do not support the hypotheses, by conventional standards. However, there is some evidence of positive effects associated with the analogical comparison intervention. This dissertation contributes to the literature on audit expertise by describing how relational reasoning can play a role in advancing research in this stream and by providing some preliminary information regarding the effectiveness of specific implementations aimed at enhancing relational knowledge.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: CFE0007192, ucf:52265
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007192

Title: Three Studies on Cybersecurity Disclosure and Assurance.
Creator: Navarro Velez, Patricia, Sutton, Steven, Robb, Sean, Poziemski, Elizabeth, Wood, David, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This dissertation comprises three experimental studies that explore how management's financial disclosure behavior and security strategies influence the costs associated with cybersecurity breaches. The first study examines the cost of litigation in connection with cybersecurity incidents. The purpose of this study is to determine how the characteristics and content of cybersecurity incidents' disclosure affects jurors' liability assessments. Specifically, this study explores how jurors react...
Show moreThis dissertation comprises three experimental studies that explore how management's financial disclosure behavior and security strategies influence the costs associated with cybersecurity breaches. The first study examines the cost of litigation in connection with cybersecurity incidents. The purpose of this study is to determine how the characteristics and content of cybersecurity incidents' disclosure affects jurors' liability assessments. Specifically, this study explores how jurors react to management timeliness in disclosing the incident and the plausibility of the explanations provided to justify the disclosure strategy. The second and third studies explore the value relevance of cybersecurity risk management (CRM) assurance. In particular, the second study examines whether engagement in voluntary assurance over CRM before the occurrence of an incident affects investors' reactions after the incident, and whether these reactions differ based on whether assurance is expected or not expected based on industry norms. The third study scrutinizes how perceptions of disclosure timeliness affect investor decisions and explores the use of CRM assurance as a potential tool to mitigate the deleterious effects of delayed disclosures of cybersecurity incidents. Overall, the results reported in this dissertation suggest that timely disclosure of a cybersecurity breach reduces liability, improves management credibility assessments, and results in higher valuation judgments. Moreover, the findings reveal that CRM assurance further leads to enhanced management credibility assessments and valuation judgments and that the impact of CRM assurance is particularly beneficial when not necessarily expected for the industry. In combination, these three studies address calls for research exploring the costs of cybersecurity and inform regulators currently engaged in developing both cybersecurity disclosure requirements and voluntary assurance services designed to address stakeholders' information needs regarding companies' cybersecurity activities. These studies also add to the literature and theory documenting the link between disclosure timeliness and litigation risk, and the value of voluntary assurance services.
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Date Issued: 2019
Identifier: CFE0007689, ucf:52438
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007689

Title: The Impact of Technology on Management Control: Degradation, Empowerment, or Technology Dominance?.
Creator: Canada, Joseph, Arnold, Vicky, Roberts, Robin, Sutton, Steven, Benford, Tanya, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The evolution of technology brings with it the evolution of business processes. Without a doubt, technology changes how work is performed. At first glance, workplace technology appears to be a great boon to society. However, research presents opposing views on how workplace technologies impact the individual. One perspective argues that organizations utilize technology to redesign work processes, such that the worker requires less skill, autonomy, and compensation. The opposing perspective...
Show moreThe evolution of technology brings with it the evolution of business processes. Without a doubt, technology changes how work is performed. At first glance, workplace technology appears to be a great boon to society. However, research presents opposing views on how workplace technologies impact the individual. One perspective argues that organizations utilize technology to redesign work processes, such that the worker requires less skill, autonomy, and compensation. The opposing perspective argues that organizations utilize technology to empower employees to improve efficiency and profits. This dissertation consists of three interrelated studies examining workplace technology's impact on decision makers. The first study examines the capability of an enterprise system to increase the application of scientific management techniques to middle management and, consequently, to degrade middle management's work by limiting their autonomy. The second study investigates the capability of an enterprise system to facilitate the empowerment of managers via mutual monitoring and social identification. The third study builds upon the first study by examining how limiting autonomy through technology impacts the intrinsic motivation of decision makers and, as a result, affects the decision making process. Study one applies labor process theory to explain how enterprise systems can degrade the work of middle management via scientific management techniques. The purpose of this study is to test if the expectations of labor process theory can be applied to enterprise systems. In order to test this assertion, a field survey utilizing 189 middle managers is employed and the data is analyzed using component based structural equation modeling. The results indicate that enterprise system integration increases two scientific management techniques, formalization and performance measurement, but do not reveal a significant relationship between enterprise system integration and routinization. Interestingly, the results also indicate that routinization is the only scientific management technique, of the three studied, that directly limits the autonomy of the middle managers. Although performance measurement does not reduce autonomy directly, performance measurement interacts with routinization to reduce autonomy. This study contributes to the enterprise system literature by demonstrating enterprise systems' ability to increase the degree of scientific management applied to middle management. It also contributes to labor process theory by revealing that routinization may be the scientific management technique that determines whether other control techniques are utilized in a manner consistent with labor process theory. The ability of an enterprise system to facilitate the application of Mary Parker Follett's managerial control concepts are investigated in the second study. Specifically, Follett theorizes that information sharing facilitates the internalization of group goals and empowers individuals to have more influence and be more effective. This study employs a survey of 206 managers to test the theoretical relationships. The results indicate that enterprise system integration increases information sharing in the form of mutual monitoring, consequently, leading to social identification among peer managers. Additionally, social identification among peer managers empowers managers to have more influence over the organization. The study contributes to empowerment research by acknowledging and verifying the role that social identification plays in translating an empowering work climate into empowered managers. The study's conclusion that enterprise system integration facilitates the application of Follett's managerial control concepts extends both enterprise system and managerial control literature. The third study builds upon study one by examining the affect that autonomy has upon the decision maker. This study marries self-determination theory and technology dominance theory to understand the role that self-determination, intrinsic motivation, and engagement have upon technology dominance. Self-determination theory asserts that higher degrees of self-determination increase intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, self-determination research finds that intrinsic motivation increases engagement, while technology dominance research indicates that lack of engagement is an antecedent of technology dominance. Thus, applying self-determination theory as a predictor of technology dominance suggests that autonomy and relatedness associated with a task increase the intrinsic motivation to complete that task and consequently increase engagement in the task. Task engagement, in turn, reduces the likelihood of technology dominance. The proposed theoretical model is tested experimentally with 83 junior level business students. The results do not support the theoretical model, however the findings reveal that intrinsic motivation does reduce the likelihood of technology dominance. This indicates that intrinsic motivation as a predictor of technology dominance should be further investigated. Additionally, the study contributes to technology dominance literature by exhibiting a more appropriate operationalization of the inappropriate reliance aspect of technology dominance. This dissertation reveals that various theories concerning workplace technology and management control techniques have both validity and limitations. Labor process theorists cannot assume that all technologies and management control techniques are utilized to undermine the employee's value to the organization, as Study 2 reveals that enterprise systems and mutual monitoring lead to empowered managers. Likewise, proponents of enterprise systems cannot assume that the integrated nature of enterprise systems is always utilized in an empowering manner, as Study 1 reveals the increased performance measurement through enterprise systems can be utilized to limit managers in a routinized job environment. While the third study was unable to determine that the control features in technology affect the intrinsic motivation to complete a task, the findings do reveal that intrinsic motivation is directly related to technology dominance. The findings and theoretical refinements demonstrate that workplace technology and management control have a complicated relationship with the employee and that the various theories concerning them cannot be applied universally.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0004980, ucf:49569
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004980

Title: Three Studies Examining Accountability in Auditing.
Creator: Donnelly, Amy, Arnold, Vicky, Sutton, Steven, Demek, Kristina, Bedard, Jean, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This is dissertation consists of three studies investigating accountability in auditing. It is aimed at gaining a better understanding of how auditors make decision in the presence of accountability pressure. The first study is a literature review of the experimental audit research on accountability. It provides a conceptual framework for organizing prior research on this topic and offers opportunities for future research. The second study experimentally investigates accountability as a...
Show moreThis is dissertation consists of three studies investigating accountability in auditing. It is aimed at gaining a better understanding of how auditors make decision in the presence of accountability pressure. The first study is a literature review of the experimental audit research on accountability. It provides a conceptual framework for organizing prior research on this topic and offers opportunities for future research. The second study experimentally investigates accountability as a potential mitigating mechanism for the performance declines caused by ego depletion. Auditors are shown to be susceptible to depletion, but research has yet to consider how a natural element of the audit environment, accountability, influences the relationship between depletion and performance. Study three examines how auditors respond to multiple accountability pressures. It considers how a power level difference between two conflicting parties, as well as a variation in justification timing, impact auditors' decisions.Overall, this dissertation contributes to our understanding of accountability in auditing in three distinct ways. It synthesizes prior research to provide insight into what we have learned thus far and where we should go from here in terms of research. It then considers whether accountability mitigates the negative effects of ego depletion, where it finds that depletion actually improves, rather than hinders, auditor performance. Lastly, it provides insight into how auditors make decisions in the presence of multiple accountability pressures. The results suggest that auditors' decisions are affected by a power level difference between accountability sources. Justification timing is also shown to influence auditors' decisions, but not in the manner expected.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: CFE0006587, ucf:51289
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006587

Title: Three Studies Examining Nonprofessional Investors' Decision Making.
Creator: Triki, Anis, Arnold, Vicky, Sutton, Steven, Schmitt, Donna, Hampton, Clark, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This dissertation consists of three studies exploring nonprofessional investors' decision making. Technological advancements witnessed by the capital markets in recent years have caused significant changes to the dissemination and use of information, particularly by nonprofessional investors. Among these developments is the growth of social media that allows anyone to post information upon which others may rely and the availability of DAs that assist decision makers in evaluating the quality...
Show moreThis dissertation consists of three studies exploring nonprofessional investors' decision making. Technological advancements witnessed by the capital markets in recent years have caused significant changes to the dissemination and use of information, particularly by nonprofessional investors. Among these developments is the growth of social media that allows anyone to post information upon which others may rely and the availability of DAs that assist decision makers in evaluating the quality of information reported by an organization. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the benefits of using DAs that are capable assessing the quality of information reported to capital market participants and to investigate the effect of information retrieved from social media on nonprofessional investors' decisions.Study 1 highlights concerns over the ease of spreading video disclosures via social media outlets. Recent evidence from practice and research suggests that the trend of issuing video disclosures is growing and that investors are exposed to the risk of including deceptive information contained in those videos in their decision making process. The theoretical model introduced in this study suggests that investors can use deception detection DAs to identify deceptive behavior in video disclosures, and that the use of such DAs affects their perceptions of disclosure credibility. This study posits that management's pre-existing reputation affects investors' perceptions of disclosure credibility, and that the negative output of a deception detection DA can dilute the effect of management's pre-existing reputation on investors' perceptions of disclosure credibility. Using data from 376 nonprofessional investors, the findings support the proposed theoretical model and suggest that deception detection dilutes the effect of management's pre-existing reputation on investors' perceptions of disclosure credibility. The effect of management's pre-existing reputation on investors' perceptions of disclosure credibility is significantly weaker when the output of deception detection DA detects deception than when it fails to detect deception. Supplemental analyses suggest that the effect of deception detection is not limited to investors' perceptions of disclosure credibility, but also affects investors' willingness to invest. Deception detection dilutes the effect of management's pre-existing reputation on willingness to invest as well. These findings suggest that investors can mitigate the risks associated with video disclosures and improve their decisions by using deception detection DAs. Study 2 highlights concerns over the spread of linguistic manipulations in corporate disclosures. Recent evidence from the accounting literature suggests that managers strategically use linguistic manipulations and that investors unintentionally include the effect of these linguistic manipulations in their decisions. This study builds on the existing literature on linguistic manipulations and argues that providing investors with a DA that is capable of detecting linguistic manipulations can assist them in making investment decisions. The theoretical model introduced Study 2 suggests that the detection of linguistic manipulations (the occurrence of an expectation violation) moderates the effect of managers' incentives on investors' willingness to invest through disclosure credibility such that the effect of managers' incentive on investors' willingness to invest is expected to be weaker when the DA detects linguistic manipulations than when the DA fails to detect linguistic manipulations. Using data from 472 nonprofessional investors, the findings do not support the proposed theoretical model and suggest the effect of management incentive on investors' willingness to invest through disclosure credibility is not moderated by the detection of linguistic manipulations. These findings show that detecting linguistic manipulation has the same effect on managers with incentive to manipulate the language used corporate reports as those with no incentive to manipulate the language used in corporate reports. Study 3 highlights concerns over social media outlets that have enabled investors to communicate between themselves at an unprecedented rate. This study highlights the risk of using information retrieved from social media outlets and argues that investors are exposed to the risk of including erroneous information in their information set. This study uses the (")Social Identification of the De-individuation Effect(") model (SIDE) to argue that visual anonymity has an effect on investors' willingness to invest through their perceptions of disclosure credibility and that this effect depends on whether investors' have low or high social identification with the group of forum users. Using data from 401 nonprofessional investors, the findings do not support the proposed theoretical model. Nevertheless, findings from this study suggest that investors' social identification has an effect on their perceptions of disclosure credibility, and that social identification and visual anonymity have a joint effect on investors' willingness to invest. More precisely, investors with low social identification are more influenced by forum comments when they read the forum comments via text than when they view the forum comments via video; and, investors with high social identification are more influenced by forum comments when they view the forum comments than when they read the forum comments. While findings from this study provide support for the moderating role of social identification advanced in SIDE, the moderating role of social identification is in the opposite direction. Thus, this study fails to provide support for SIDE.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: CFE0005894, ucf:50879
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005894

Title: Three Studies Examining The Effects of Informal Management Control Systems and Incentive Compensation Schemes on Employees' Performance.
Creator: Akinyele, Kazeem, Arnold, Vicky, Sutton, Steven, Tian, Yu, Libby, Theresa, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This dissertation is comprised of three studies investigating the effects of informal management control systems (MCS) and different types of incentive compensation schemes on employees' performance. Prior research describes informal MCS as implicit sets of structures that management adopts to encourage employees to act in a way that aligns with overall organizational goals (Berry et al. 2009). Management usually puts informal MCS in place to inspire self-regulation behaviors among employees;...
Show moreThis dissertation is comprised of three studies investigating the effects of informal management control systems (MCS) and different types of incentive compensation schemes on employees' performance. Prior research describes informal MCS as implicit sets of structures that management adopts to encourage employees to act in a way that aligns with overall organizational goals (Berry et al. 2009). Management usually puts informal MCS in place to inspire self-regulation behaviors among employees; hence, management may not reward or penalize employee behavior that is consistent or inconsistent with this informal MCS (Berry et al. 2009; Christ et al. 2008). Informal controls are implied by social pressures, such as employees' feedback, and management communication, such as a value statement or the organizational culture, where no explicit enforcement measures exist (Berry et al. 2009; Kachelmeier, Thornock and Williamson 2015). The first study examines whether the presence of a value statement (an informal MCS) can be used to motivate employees to perform important, but uncompensated subsequent tasks. The second study extends the first study by examining whether the interactive method of delivery of a value statement (informal MCS) can be used in conjunction with an incentive scheme to improve employees' performance. Lastly, the third study investigates the impact of an important aspect of organizational context, specifically organizational culture (informal MCS), and different types of incentive compensation schemes on strategy surrogation. The first study investigates whether the presence of a value statement (an informal MCS) can be used to motivate employees to perform important, but uncompensated tasks. Additionally, this study seeks to examine the type of incentive scheme that will result in the highest subsequent uncompensated task performance in the presence of an organizational value statement. Considering that incentive contracts cannot completely govern all the employees' responsibilities (Christ, Emett, Summers and Wood 2012), this study investigates how employees will perform their important but uncompensated tasks. The study shows that under fixed pay compensation, the presence of a value statement improves the performance of employees compared to the absence of a value statement. Conversely, under a piece rate incentive compensation, the presence of a value statement negatively influences the performance of employees in the important but uncompensated task. The study also shows that the intrinsic motivation of employees operating under piece rate compensation is more likely to be crowded out by their incentive pay relative to employees operating under a fixed wage. The second study examines whether the interactive method of delivery of a value statement (informal MCS) through electronic integration can be used in conjunction with an incentive scheme to improve employees' performance. Prior research shows that effectiveness of incentive systems is influenced by the presence or absence of a nonbinding value statement in the organization. A value statement is a declaration that communicates an organization's priorities and core beliefs to its customers and employees. Drawing upon the mere-exposure effect, the results of the study show that the employees who experience the interactive delivery of a value statement do not perform significantly better than employees who experience the passive delivery of a value statement. However, employees who receive a piece-rate incentive perform significantly better than employees who receive a fixed pay incentive. As predicted, the method of delivery of an organizational value statement moderates the effectiveness of a fixed pay incentive scheme.The third study draws upon the theory of inattentional blindness to investigate whether different types of organizational culture, control dominant or flexibility dominant, impacts strategy surrogation. Strategy surrogation occurs when managers focus on the measures in the SPMS on which they are compensated and completely or partially lose focus on the overall strategic objectives of the organization (Choi et al. 2012, 2013). Organizational culture is defined as a set of dominant values, beliefs, and assumptions that governs how people behave in organizations (Henri 2006). The results of the study show that there is no significant difference between employees operating under a control-dominant culture and employees operating under a flexibility-dominant culture. Similarly, the type of organizational culture does not moderate the relationship between incentive systems and strategy surrogation. However, employees operating under a pay-for-performance compensation scheme significantly surrogate more than employees operating under a fixed pay compensation scheme.Collectively these studies contribute to management accounting research by examining how different types of informal MCS such as organizational value statement and organizational culture interact with incentive compensation scheme. Specifically, these three studies highlight how and when we can use informal MCS to improve employees' performance as well as their decision making in the organization. Study one contributes to research and practice by highlighting situations where a pay-for-performance incentive scheme may result in unintended consequences. Study two contributes to the management control literature by demonstrating how utilizing technology can enhance the delivery of an organization's value statement and ultimately improve employees' performance. Study three contributes to the incentives and organizational culture literature as well as strategy surrogation research by examining institutional factors that may inhibit or exacerbate surrogation.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: CFE0006850, ucf:51783
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006850

Title: Re-Thinking the Intentionality of Fraud: Constructing and Testing the Theory of Unintended Amoral Behavior to Explain Fraudulent Financial Reporting.
Creator: Dill, Andrew, Sutton, Steven, Arnold, Vicky, Schmitt, Donna, Schminke, Marshall, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: My three-paper dissertation is aimed at applying the concepts of bounded ethicality and ethical fading to accounting fraud. Typical of relatively new fields such as behavioral ethics, theoretical models are scarce (Tenbrunsel (&) Smith-Crowe, 2008). As such, the purpose of Study 1 is to unify disparate theories and ideas from psychology and behavioral ethics as a means of constructing a theory, the Theory of Unintended Amoral Behavior (TUAB), which includes the concepts of bounded ethicality...
Show moreMy three-paper dissertation is aimed at applying the concepts of bounded ethicality and ethical fading to accounting fraud. Typical of relatively new fields such as behavioral ethics, theoretical models are scarce (Tenbrunsel (&) Smith-Crowe, 2008). As such, the purpose of Study 1 is to unify disparate theories and ideas from psychology and behavioral ethics as a means of constructing a theory, the Theory of Unintended Amoral Behavior (TUAB), which includes the concepts of bounded ethicality and ethical fading. In addition, the pressure for management to meet earnings expectations is discussed through the lens of the TUAB as an example of how one may unknowingly misreport.Studies 2 and 3 apply the TUAB to investigate how certain contextual factors interact with egocentric biases to increase the likelihood of ethical fading. Specifically, Study 2 consists of an experiment exploring how inferior pay among managers interacts with egocentric perceptions of fairness and envy to affect the likelihood of one engaging in ethical fading and fraudulent behavior. Study 3 also utilizes an experimental methodology to examine how the pressure to meet earnings forecasts interacts with egocentric perceptions of fairness and negative affect to influence the probability of ethical fading and fraudulent acts.The results for Study 2 indicate that one who is paid at a lower rate is more likely to view this disparity as unfair, which leads to a greater feeling of envy. Although envy had no significant direct effect on ethical fading in the primary analyses, a supplemental analysis revealed that a person's risk preference might moderate this relationship. The primary findings of Study 2 suggest that individuals who experience a higher degree of ethical fading are more likely to commit fraud, and that ethical fading, along with perceived unfairness, seem to be significant psychological processes that explain how differences in pay may lead to fraud. The primary finding of Study 3 is that, like Study 2, fraud is more likely to occur as an individual experiences a higher degree of ethical fading. Furthermore, this study suggests that those who are closest to meeting an earnings target are the most likely to engage in fraudulent behavior. Finally, the results failed to find any support that one's egocentric perceptions of fairness and negative affect contribute towards his or her ethical behavior in a goal achievement setting. The primary contributions of this dissertation is that it unifies various theories and ideas from psychology and behavioral ethics to establish a testable theory (TUAB) that includes the concepts of bounded ethicality and ethical fading, serves as an initial test of TUAB, and provides evidence that unethical behavior is not necessarily the result of one consciously forsaking his or her ethics for some other desired goal (i.e., profit).
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006097, ucf:51211
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006097

Title: The Expansion of Financial Regulation to Include Humanitarian Issues:An Examination of the Development of Conflict Mineral Reporting Requirements Using Actor-Network Theory.
Creator: Tennant, Robert, Roberts, Robin, Robb, Sean, Sutton, Steven, Roberts, Sherron, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This study conceptually and empirically examines the establishment of certain financial regulation that resulted from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2007-2009. The crisis led to the establishment of the most extensive change in the regulation of the financial sector since the Great Depression (Green, 2011). During the forty years leading up to the crisis, the United States had engaged in a process of increased deregulation to promote greater efficiency (Yaron (&) Hendershott, 1998). The...
Show moreThis study conceptually and empirically examines the establishment of certain financial regulation that resulted from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2007-2009. The crisis led to the establishment of the most extensive change in the regulation of the financial sector since the Great Depression (Green, 2011). During the forty years leading up to the crisis, the United States had engaged in a process of increased deregulation to promote greater efficiency (Yaron (&) Hendershott, 1998). The belief that reduced regulation would improve efficiency and foster innovation became the mantra of many economic advisers to policy setters, to the point that as the regulations were relaxed there tended to be little fanfare or outrage to changes in regulation policy. This is true with both republican and democrat administrations throughout this period. Since 2000, there have been two major legislative actions that can be viewed as antithetical to the principle of deregulation, the first being Sarbanes-Oxley, which occurred as a result of Enron and other accounting scandals. The second, known as the Dodd-Frank Act, resulted in legislation that bailed out various sectors of the economy and fundamentally changed the structure of financial regulation in the United States.Specifically, I examine one part of this regulation related to corporate disclosure of activities that deal with conflict minerals. Within the political debates over regulation of corporate disclosure, an interest in corporate activities in war-torn areas emerged. Ultimately, regulation was adopted that required corporations to disclose operative activities that included mining of minerals in countries affected by political conflict. My research explicates using an actor-network approach, how and why activities in the U.S. political arena led to mandated disclosure of corporate activities dealing with the mining of local mineral deposits eventually referred to as (")conflict minerals.(") My findings show that a confluence of unlikely parties found common ground in their assessment of the issues surrounding the mining of conflict minerals and worked together towards the adoption of disclosure regulation that lead to more transparency in corporate reporting of their involvement in commercializing mineral deposits.
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Date Issued: 2017
Identifier: CFE0006668, ucf:51234
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006668

Title: Three Studies Examining the Effects of Psychological Distance on Judgment and Decision Making in Accounting.
Creator: Weisner, Martin, Sutton, Steven, Arnold, Vicky, Robb, Sean, Messier, William, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This dissertation comprises three studies, a literature review and two experimental studies, that center on the effects of psychological distance on judgment and decision-making in accounting. Construal level theory (CLT) of psychological distance (Liberman and Trope 1998; Trope and Liberman 2003), a framework recently developed in the field of social psychology, constitutes the theoretical foundation for each study.The first study reviews extant literature on CLT and illustrates the theory's...
Show moreThis dissertation comprises three studies, a literature review and two experimental studies, that center on the effects of psychological distance on judgment and decision-making in accounting. Construal level theory (CLT) of psychological distance (Liberman and Trope 1998; Trope and Liberman 2003), a framework recently developed in the field of social psychology, constitutes the theoretical foundation for each study.The first study reviews extant literature on CLT and illustrates the theory's potential for investigating previously unexplained phenomena within the accounting domain. Selected publications that apply CLT in contexts that are of particular interest to accounting researchers are emphasized and a series of broad, CLT-based research questions pertaining to various accounting domains are offered. The second study applies CLT to the audit context by investigating whether the performance of common auditing tasks that require varying degrees of abstract thinking affect decision-makers' overall mindset and hence their subsequent judgment. Results from the second study have important implications for audit practice as auditors work in environments that require frequent shifts in focus due to multiple client or project demands. The third study applies CLT to the enterprise risk management context by examining how spatial distance from a risk assessment object and risk category (i.e., the type of risk) affects decision-makers' assessment of the probability that the risk will materialize. The third study thus informs the corporate governance literature by identifying psychological distance as a potential source for judgment bias during the risk assessment process.Overall, the results reported in this dissertation suggest that psychological distance systematically affects individuals' judgment subject to the caveat that the judgment of concern falls within the domain of the decision-maker's routine cognition. By presenting empirical evidence from both the audit and the risk management domain, the studies contribute to our understanding of the heuristics and biases in judgment and decision-making in professional settings that are of interest to accounting research.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: CFE0005735, ucf:50091
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005735

Title: The Diffusion of Digital Dashboards: An Examination of Dashboard Utilization and the Managerial Decision Environment.
Creator: Reinking, Jeffrey, Arnold, Vicky, Roberts, Robin, Sutton, Steven, Hampton, Clark, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This dissertation consists of three related studies examining the diffusion of digital dashboard technology throughout today's organizations. Dashboards, once reserved for the executive level, are now available to managers at the lower levels of the organization. For these managers, dashboards have become an integral part of their work life to support their decision environment, to provide consistency in measures, to monitor performance, and to communicate information throughout the...
Show moreThis dissertation consists of three related studies examining the diffusion of digital dashboard technology throughout today's organizations. Dashboards, once reserved for the executive level, are now available to managers at the lower levels of the organization. For these managers, dashboards have become an integral part of their work life to support their decision environment, to provide consistency in measures, to monitor performance, and to communicate information throughout the organization. Prior research in the practice literature has shown that dashboards improve managerial performance and organizational performance as well as communicate organizational goals and objectives; however, empirical research has not been conducted in this area to confirm this anecdotal evidence. Using three theories, the phenomenon surrounding the diffusion of dashboards to the lower levels of the organization are examined based on 1) dashboards as a source of interactive management control and strategy alignment, 2) the impact of dashboard quality on strategy alignment, decision environment, and performance, and 3) the impacts on dashboard utilization from the antecedents of information content and task uncertainty and the consequences of user satisfaction and managerial performance. The first study investigates why dashboards have been diffused to the lowers levels of today's organizations. The primary focus of this study is to develop an understanding about the extent of dashboard utilization by decision-makers and the antecedents and consequences of utilization that is responsible for the widespread acceptance of this technology. The data for this study is collected and analyzed through an explanatory cross-sectional field study utilizing a semi-structured questionnaire. Using data from interviews with 27 managers, a framework is developed that indicates strategy alignment and dashboards associated with interactive management control are the primary antecedents that drive dashboard diffusion. The dimensions of dashboard system quality and dashboard information quality mediate the relationship between an interactive dashboard and the extent of dashboard utilization, which leads to higher levels of managerial performance and organizational performance. This study contributes to the dashboard, strategy, and MCS literature by revealing that dashboards are not isolated technologies, rather they play an important role in the execution of strategy at the operational levels of an organization. In addition, dashboards can also function as an interactive management control, which leads to high levels of diffusion of dashboards throughout organizations. Prior strategy literature has examined strategy alignment at the higher levels and this study extends this research stream by investigating strategy alignment at the lower operational levels of the organization.The second study utilizes the IS Success Model to explore the impacts of the antecedents of dashboard system quality and dashboard information quality on the managerial decision environment in addition to the resulting consequences or 'net benefit' of managerial performance and organizational performance. A field survey is used to collect data from 391 dashboard using managers to enable the analysis of the relationships predicted in the theoretical model. The theoretical model is analyzed utilizing PLS. The results show that two dimensions of dashboard quality, system flexibility and information currency, have a positive effect the managerial decision environment. The model indicates support for the consequences of managerial performance and organizational performance resulting from higher levels of decision quality in the managerial decision environment. The model also reveals that when the dashboard measures are strategy aligned, lower levels of dashboard system flexibility are associated with improved managerial decision environment. Therefore, when organizations design their dashboard systems to support strategy alignment, managers should not be afforded high levels of system flexibility to maintain their attention on the key performance indicators selected to align with strategy. This result is a primary contribution to the strategy literature that reveals that strategy aligned dashboards are more effective in environments where the dashboard flexibility is lower. Additionally, study two also extends the strategy literature by examining strategy alignment at the lower levels of the organization, since prior research has concentrated on the higher level strategic outcomes.As dashboards become highly diffused and more managers utilize the technology, the likelihood that dashboard designers cannot provide dashboard content that fits the tasks performed by managers is higher. The third study investigates this fit between dashboard information content and task uncertainty to understand if the fit between the technology and task impacts the extent of dashboard utilization by managers based on the theory of task-technology fit (TTF). TTF predicts higher levels of utilization will increase user satisfaction and managerial performance. Data is collected from 391 managers that utilize dashboards in their weekly work life to analyze the relationships predicted in the theoretical model. PLS is utilized to analyze the theoretical model and indicates weak support of TTF impacting the extent of dashboard utilization. The model supports the hypotheses for the links between the extent of dashboard utilization and user satisfaction and managerial performance. Based on the weak findings from this theoretical model, a second model is developed and analyzed. The second model measures TTF through the mediation of task uncertainty between dashboard information content and the extent of dashboard utilization, while the first model measured TTF through interacting task uncertainty and dashboard information content. The results of the second model show strong support that TTF, as measured through mediation, increases the extent of dashboard utilization. This study contributes to the literature by empirically showing that more extensive levels of dashboard utilization are achieved through the antecedent of TTF, resulting in increased managerial satisfaction and managerial performance.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0005052, ucf:49969
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005052

Title: Interactive Data Visualization in Accounting Contexts: Impact on User Attitudes, Information Processing, and Decision Outcomes.
Creator: Osidipe, Oluwakemi, Sutton, Steven, Arnold, Vicky, Schmitt, Donna, Benford, Tanya, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: In 2009, The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a mandate requiring public companies to provide financial information to the SEC and on their corporate Web sites in an interactive data format using the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). This dissertation consists of three separate, but interrelated studies exploring issues related to interactive data visualization in financial reporting contexts. The first study employs theories in information systems ...
Show moreIn 2009, The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a mandate requiring public companies to provide financial information to the SEC and on their corporate Web sites in an interactive data format using the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). This dissertation consists of three separate, but interrelated studies exploring issues related to interactive data visualization in financial reporting contexts. The first study employs theories in information systems (task-technology fit and the technology-performance chain model) and cognitive psychology (cognitive load) to examine the link between characteristics of interactive data visualization and task requirements in a financial analysis context, and the impact of that link on task performance and user attitudes towards interactive data technology use. The second study extends the first by examining the effects of prior interactive data technology use on future choice to use an interactive technology. This study uses the IS continuance model to examine antecedents to continued interactive technology use based on previous assessments of task-technology fit and performance impacts from the first study. The third study employs an elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to understand the interactivity concept and its impact on information processing and belief/attitude formation. This study examines the impact of increasing interactivity on investor perceptions of forecast credibility and on a firm's attractiveness as a potential investment choice. Overall, these three studies provide insights on factors that impact decision-making in interactive financial reporting contexts, and how characteristics of interactive data visualization impact information processing, user perceptions, and task performance.
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Date Issued: 2014
Identifier: CFE0005225, ucf:50634
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005225

Title: Three Studies Examining Auditors' Use of Data Analytics.
Creator: Koreff, Jared, Sutton, Steven, Arnold, Vicky, Baudot, Lisa, Brazel, Joe, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This dissertation comprises three studies, one qualitative and two experimental, that center on auditor's use of data analytics. Data analytics hold the potential for auditors to reallocate time spent on labor intensive tasks to judgment intensive tasks (Brown-Liburd et al. 2015), ultimately improving audit quality (Raphael 2017). Yet the availability of these tools does not guarantee that auditors will incorporate the data analytics into their judgments (Davis et al. 1989; Venkatesh et al....
Show moreThis dissertation comprises three studies, one qualitative and two experimental, that center on auditor's use of data analytics. Data analytics hold the potential for auditors to reallocate time spent on labor intensive tasks to judgment intensive tasks (Brown-Liburd et al. 2015), ultimately improving audit quality (Raphael 2017). Yet the availability of these tools does not guarantee that auditors will incorporate the data analytics into their judgments (Davis et al. 1989; Venkatesh et al. 2003). The first study investigates implications of using data analytics to structure the audit process for nonprofessionalized auditors. As the public accounting profession continues down a path of de-professionalization (Dirsmith et al. 2015), data analytics may increasingly be used as a control mechanism for guiding nonprofessionalized auditors' work tasks. Results of this study highlight negative ramifications of using nonprofessionalized auditors in a critical audit setting. The second study examines how different types of data analytics impact auditors' judgments. This study demonstrates the joint impact that the type of data analytical model and type of data analyzed have on auditors' judgments. This study contributes to the literature and practice by demonstrating that data analytics do not uniformly impact auditors' judgments. The third study examines how auditors' reliance on data analytics is impacted by the presentation source and level of risk identified. This study provide insights into the effectiveness of public accounting firms' development of data scientist groups to incorporate the data analytic skillset into audit teams.Collectively, these studies contribute to the literature by providing evidence on auditors' use of data analytics. Currently, the literature is limited to demonstrating that auditors are not effective at identifying patterns in data analytics visualizations when viewed before traditional audit evidence (Rose et al. 2017). The three studies in this dissertation highlight that not all data analytics influence judgments equally.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: CFE0007210, ucf:52289
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007210

Title: The Effects of Risk and Trust on the Achievement of Sustainable Competitive Advantage from B2B E-Commerce Trading Relationships.
Creator: Hampton, Clark, Sutton, Steven, Roberts, Robin, Arnold, Vicky, Khazanchi, Deepak, Benford, Tanya, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This dissertation consists of three interrelated studies focusing on the use of business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce (e-commerce) to facilitate supply chain transactions. B2B e-commerce enabled supply chains produce substantial savings for organizations by reducing the amount of time and money necessary to negotiate contracts, processes orders, and pay suppliers. However, doubt exists as to whether reduced transaction costs are a sustainable competitive advantage for organizations....
Show moreThis dissertation consists of three interrelated studies focusing on the use of business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce (e-commerce) to facilitate supply chain transactions. B2B e-commerce enabled supply chains produce substantial savings for organizations by reducing the amount of time and money necessary to negotiate contracts, processes orders, and pay suppliers. However, doubt exists as to whether reduced transaction costs are a sustainable competitive advantage for organizations. The advent of widespread and cost effective B2B e-commerce enabled supply chains coupled with increasingly complex, dynamic, and global competitive markets are encouraging organizations to form long-term relationships with their trading partners to achieve sustainable competitive advantage from improved supply chain performance. Competition is no longer restricted to large firms and end-product producers, but now encompasses the extended organizational supply chain. Using three separate, but related theories, these studies investigate 1) the factors affecting satisfaction with B2B e-commerce trading relationships, 2) the antecedents and effects of risk and trust on assurance desirability in B2B e-commerce partnerships, and 3) the impact of enterprise risk management procedures on the achievement of sustainable competitive advantage from B2B e-commerce enabled transnational alliances. Critical to achieving sustainable competitive advantage from B2B e-commerce capabilities is the existence of long-term mutually satisfying buyer(-)supplier relationships. The first study examines the antecedents of relationship satisfaction between B2B e-commerce trading partners. Using the relational view of the firm, a theoretical model is developed to investigate the direct and countervailing effects of trust and risk on relationship satisfaction. In addition, the indirect effects of justice and commitment on relationship satisfaction are also investigated. A field survey is used to collect data from 205 industry professionals concerning B2B e-commerce trading partnerships. Structural equation modeling is used to evaluate the hypothesized model relationships. The results support all hypotheses and indicate good model fit with strong explanatory power. This study contributes to the accounting information systems and strategic management literature by investigating the interactive but independent roles of risk and trust within B2B e-commerce trading relationships. The second study examines the integrative effects of power, risk, and trust, along with their antecedents, on the desirability of assurance over a trading partner's e-commerce processes. Using the resource advantage theory of competition as a foundation, a research model is developed to examine the relationships among the various trading partners and organizational factors that drive demand for a high information governance structure such as assurance. A field survey is used to collect data from 205 industry professionals to enable the evaluation of the complex relationships in the overall research model using structural equation modeling. The results support all hypotheses and provide good model fit, strong explanatory power, and strong support for the theory. This study expands the literature on management control systems within interorganizational relationships by addressing three contemporary concerns in the literature: (1) the minimal consideration of the impact of information technology in these relationships, (2) the minimal consideration of the impact of variances in the relative power of the trading partners, and (3) the need to consider the dual influence of risk and trust. Globalization places greater emphasis on the development of transnational alliances. The greatest benefits from alliances are derived from high-level information sharing, but risk escalates with information sharing. The purpose of the third study is to examine the influence of enterprise risk management (ERM) on risk and trust associated with transnational alliances and the resulting impact on interorganizational information sharing. Survey data is gathered from 200 senior-level managers monitoring transnational alliances. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypothesized relationships. The results provide strong support for the hypothesized relationships and the overall research model, showing that high ERM leads to decreased risk, increased trust, and improved information sharing.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: CFE0004117, ucf:49108
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004117

Accounting (2)	+ -
construal level theory (2)	+ -
Actor-Network Theory (1)	+ -
Auditing (1)	+ -
Auditor judgment (1)	+ -

B2B E-Commerce (1)	+ -
Bounded Ethicality (1)	+ -
Data analytics (1)	+ -
Digital Dashboards (1)	+ -
Disclosure (1)	+ -
Earnings Forecasts (1)	+ -
Employees' Performance (1)	+ -
Empowerment (1)	+ -
Enterprise Systems (1)	+ -
Ethical Fading (1)	+ -
Expertise (1)	+ -
Financial Statement Fraud (1)	+ -
Health care (1)	+ -
Incentive Compensation Schemes (1)	+ -
Informal Management Control Systems (1)	+ -
Information Technology (1)	+ -
Interactive Data Technology (1)	+ -
Interactive Data Visualization (1)	+ -
Interactive Financial Reporting (1)	+ -
Interactive Management Control (1)	+ -
Interorganizational Relationships (1)	+ -
Key Performance Measures (1)	+ -
Knowledge Structures (1)	+ -
Knowledge Transfer (1)	+ -
Labor Process Theory (1)	+ -

Sutton, Steven (13)	+ -
University of Central Florida (13)	+ -
Arnold, Vicky (11)	+ -
Roberts, Robin (5)	+ -
Benford, Tanya (3)	+ -

Hampton, Clark (3)	+ -
Robb, Sean (3)	+ -
Schmitt, Donna (3)	+ -
Akinyele, Kazeem (1)	+ -
Baudot, Lisa (1)	+ -
Bedard, Jean (1)	+ -
Brazel, Joe (1)	+ -
Canada, Joseph (1)	+ -
Demek, Kristina (1)	+ -
Dill, Andrew (1)	+ -
Dillard, Jesse (1)	+ -
Donnelly, Amy (1)	+ -
Holt, Matthew (1)	+ -
Khazanchi, Deepak (1)	+ -
Koreff, Jared (1)	+ -
Libby, Theresa (1)	+ -
Messier, William (1)	+ -
Navarro Velez, Patricia (1)	+ -
Osidipe, Oluwakemi (1)	+ -
Poziemski, Elizabeth (1)	+ -
Reinking, Jeffrey (1)	+ -
Roberts, Sherron (1)	+ -
Schminke, Marshall (1)	+ -
Tennant, Robert (1)	+ -
Tian, Yu (1)	+ -

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