103 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal creating connections with online adult learners in business administration programs susan d. cathcart, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa connie harrison, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa contact: susan.cathcart@columbiasouthern.edu abstract it is not always easy for adult learners to navigate an online learning experience. adult learners enrolled in online graduate programs may become vulnerable and overwhelmed with the expectations that lie ahead. at first glance, the expectations and assignments may seem insurmountable, which may negatively impact learners’ self-esteem and ability to complete the course. learners may lose the motivation to learn, become frustrated, and may decide to drop out of the course and ultimately withdraw from their program. however, all of this may be avoided if the instructor takes the time to incorporate strategies that create a positive instructor-learner connection. using over thirty years of combined teaching experience, the authors have identified opportunities and strategies to connect with learners and provide positive feedback throughout the course. holding at least one meeting at the beginning of the term will build connections and trust while creating a collegial learning environment. when a connection exists, adult learners may be less hesitant to discuss and accept the feedback. the words instructors use in responding to learners make the difference between superficial and insignificant feedback or feedback that inspires learners to become more reflective, think more critically, and question their assumptions. it is the responsibility of the instructor to provide feedback that encourages learners to be reflective while expanding their thoughts and ideas. feedback should validate the learners’ current knowledge and experience. the words used in feedback may have the power to move learners forward in their thought processes or thwart opportunities for growth and introspection. the goal is to inspire instructors to recognize the importance of connections as well as the importance of words they use and how both impact the learning experience. keywords: adult learners, online learning, connecting with learners, feedback 104 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 introduction your online course has started, and two days into the week, you have initial discussion board posts due. some learners write an essay-length post, while others write a few sentences. regardless of the length and quality of the post, your job as an instructor is to provide feedback that encourages learners to be reflective while expanding their thoughts and ideas. in addition, feedback should also validate learners’ current knowledge. the words you use in your feedback may have the power to move learners forward in their thought processes or thwart their ability for opportunities for growth and introspection. typically, adult learners enrolled in graduate programs have established careers and/or hold positions of authority. they may be respected in their fields, but when entering a new learning environment, they may become more vulnerable and question their abilities. as an instructor, you know that adult learners can be apprehensive when navigating new learning experiences. it is not surprising that they become vulnerable and overwhelmed with the tasks that lie ahead. characteristics of adult learners according to brookfield (1991), instructors should recognize and honor the characteristics of adult learners. these characteristics include the following:  learners are self-directed and empowered  adult learners want their experiences to be valued  adult learners want their knowledge to be validated  adult learners want what they learn to be relevant  adult learners want to build upon their current knowledge base  adult learners do not want to feel embarrassed; egos and self-esteem are on the line feedback has been provided with the assumption that you, as the instructor, understand as well as honor the characteristics of adult learners. however, you have noticed that some students have not internalized your feedback. is it because the feedback you are providing is not precise and in-depth? is it because the students do not consider the feedback beneficial for their growth and development? is the adult learner embarrassed or feeling devalued after reading your feedback? as a reflective practitioner, you wonder what you can do differently. when you realize feedback may be inadequate or is missing the target, it is essential to take action to rectify the situation. engaging and connecting with learners should be a priority, and schwartz (n.d.) discovered that adult learners valued the instructor-learner relationship when instructors were genuine, approachable, and available. schwartz further suggested that learners feel validated when their instructors recognize and respect the wealth of experience and knowledge that they bring to the table. providing feedback that reflects those qualities should be the goal of every instructor. 105 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal connecting with adult learners radovan and makoyec reported it is commonly accepted that connecting with learners is important because it increases the motivation to learn, increases student engagement, and increases performance (2015). the words instructors use in responding to learners make the difference between superficial and insignificant feedback or feedback that inspires learners to become more reflective, think more critically, and question their assumptions. rabidoux and rottman (2017) opined that meaningful feedback inspires learners to think more critically, reflect more deeply, and aids in the development of a stronger instructor-student connection. there are many opportunities and strategies to connect with learners throughout the course. scheduling virtual meetings will pave the way for deeper learner engagement. while it is important to respect the busy lives of adult learners, scheduling at least one virtual meeting should be required. in the first meeting, the goal is to build connections between the instructor and the learner. holding multiple meetings throughout the term strengthens connections, builds trust, and creates a collegial learning environment. peer-to-peer connections can be equally important in creating a learning community where ideas and thoughts may be exchanged among the learners. peer-to-peer collaboration, problemsolving, and sharing experiences enhance the richness of the meetings. rabidoux and rottman (2017) asked learners to reflect and write about their experiences within the online environment, and a common theme emerged. the learners shared, “…there was a feeling of being connected to the community because they had the comradery of their peers combined with the support of their instructor” (rabidoux & rottman, para. 10). the following are a set of suggested strategies for holding a virtual meeting:  request that learners keep their cameras on. this allows everyone to connect a face with a name. this helps personalize the learning environment.  begin with an icebreaker or ask learners to share something positive. by doing this, you are creating a sense of community and a level of comfort to exchange thoughts and ideas.  set expectations that establish the parameters of the course.  invite learners to share their expectations. this allows them to become an active participant in their learning experience. a second strategy to connect and engage with learners is to provide personalized written feedback in the discussion board and assignments. the goal is to provide explicit language beyond, for example, “good job, excellent response, or i agree.” instructors should give feedback that is personal, positive, and constructive. certain words engage learners, while other words can demotivate them. it is important to consider that feedback and grades may impact a learner’s self-esteem. the following are suggested or example phrases to use when providing positive written feedback 106 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2  wonderful job with the phraseology in this section. there is clarity in the words you chose to use when you expressed your thoughts.  your expertise in language arts (math, science, etc.) is supporting your writing in a variety of ways. your words are clear and concise. suggested phrases for constructive feedback are as follows:  this is a relevant topic, but have you considered expanding your thoughts and/or discussion to help your outside reader fully understand the benefits of xyz?  a bias may be showing here. it is important to remain objective and be open to what the data tells you. remember to let the data speak for itself.  it appears you did not cite here. it is important to respect and give credit to the person(s) who conducted the research you are using here to support your point..  the content was relevant and comprehensive, but what you wrote was difficult to follow because your paper lacked organization. headings would have improved the flow and readability of the paper. please refer to pages xxx in the apa manual (7th ed.) for additional guidance conclusion the words you choose will affect the learners. the examples shared above provide a starting point for building connections with learners. as instructors, you have the power with your words to inspire and encourage learners to push past their assumptions and current knowledge or to deflate and/or demotivate them. encourage adult learners with the words you choose to use in your feedback. your goal should be to help them realize there are no failures, only discoveries. 107 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal references brookfield, s. d. (1991). understanding and facilitating adult learning. wiley. rabidoux, s., & rottman, a. (2017, september 6). how to provide meaningful feedback. https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/views/2017/09/06/how-provide-meaningful-feedbackonline-course radovan, m., & makovec, d. (2015). adult learners’ learning environment perceptions and satisfaction in formal education – case study of four east-european countries. international educational studies, 8(2), 101-112. schwartz, m. (n.d.). engaging adult learners. ryerson university. https://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/learning-teaching/teaching-resources/teach-a-course/engagingadult-learners.pdf https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/views/2017/09/06/how-provide-meaningful-feedback-online-course https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/views/2017/09/06/how-provide-meaningful-feedback-online-course https://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/learning-teaching/teaching-resources/teach-a-course/engaging-adult-learners.pdf https://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/learning-teaching/teaching-resources/teach-a-course/engaging-adult-learners.pdf 108 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 register and submit your work to business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master's/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master's degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ abstract introduction characteristics of adult learners connecting with adult learners conclusion references 1 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal african-american women’s perspectives on career advancement in the u.s. commercial nuclear power industry carmen d. crawley, dba | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa robert goldwasser, dba | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa contact: crawleycarm@gmail.com abstract despite ongoing hiring in the commercial nuclear industry in the united states, african american women continue to face fewer opportunities for advancement to leadership positions than white men and women in the industry. there is a lack of empirical research in terms of african american women’s views on advancing to leadership positions. this deficiency indicates the need for additional research into the ways in which african american women are afforded leadership opportunities. the theoretic foundations of adams' equity theory, intersectionality, and black feminist thought and theory are used to examine the experiences of nine african american women who have experience being the "first" or "only" to hold their positions in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry. african american women's perceptions of leadership opportunities in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry were investigated through qualitative research. i utilized a phenomenological research design and triangulated data from analysis and interviews to validate the data collected from nine participants. the research questions are intended to elicit information regarding the lived experiences of these women to reveal the underlying phenomena. the nine participants responded to semi-structured interview questions. the study revealed that respondents perceived poor leadership behaviors, poor talent development models, and weak diversity initiatives as impediments to upward mobility and attainment of leadership positions within their organization. recommendations for enhancing the upward mobility of african american women focus on organizations developing and implementing fair policies and practices that foster inclusive work environments and restructuring talent development models to eliminate racial and gender biases. the results concluded that there are significant connections between all three theories and the mailto:crawleycarm@gmail.com 2 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 observed behaviors. the findings of this study can be utilized by all organizations to acknowledge the experiences of african american women and develop strategies to increase their upward mobility within the organization. this research has implications for practitioners desiring a more inclusive leadership development program, for organizations seeking to understand how their practices intentionally or unintentionally affect african american women in the workplace, and for african american women seeking assistance in making sense of their experiences. keywords: adams’ equity theory of motivation, intersectionality, black feminist thought and theory, inclusion, diversity, leadership behavior, nuclear, talent development 3 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal introduction/background as an african american woman with over 20 years of experience in the u.s. nuclear industry, i have encountered several situations that i felt were unjust or misunderstood, creating a lingering question, "if i were white, would the same thing be occurring?" although the united states struggles to meet the rising demand for stem (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degreed workers (lancaster & xu, 2017), african american women may continue to be overlooked and underrepresented in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry if leadership programs are not developed to provide opportunities to bridge the gap and meet the rising demand for jobs. in 2019, the commercial nuclear power industry in the united states employed approximately 100,000 individuals in permanent, highquality positions. this number increased to 475,000 when secondary occupations were considered (office of nuclear energy, n.d.). according to the nuclear energy institute (nei), between 2020 and 2025 the commercial nuclear power industry is expected to add 23,000 jobs (nei, 2019). according to research conducted by catalyst (2020), in 2017, only 2.9% of african american women in the united states hold stem degrees. simultaneously, 11.5% of science and engineering jobs were held by women of color, but only 2.5% of science and engineering jobs were held by african american women. for organizations to advance their diversity initiatives, i contend that combining multiple theories (adams equity theory, intersectionality, and black feminist thought theory) will enhance understanding of the experiences of african american women working in the nuclear industry and other white-dominated organizations. this study uses a phenomenological research design and triangulates data from formal and informal interviews to examine the unique experiences, challenges, and perceptions of leadership faced by nine african american women as "firsts" or "only’s" in a specific role, while working in the u.s. commercial nuclear power industry. this study used a social constructionist framework (mercadal, 2020), the epistemological lens of the adams theory of equity (eketu, 2018), an intersectionality framework (crenshaw, 2017), and black feminist thought (hein, 2017; collins 1990) to document the experiences of the nine african american women as they sought to climb the corporate leadership ladder. this qualitative study helps bridge current theories, methods, and research to advance business knowledge. overall, understanding african american women's experiences could help advance research, literature, and organizational leadership programs. using this study's findings, more inclusive leadership opportunities and processes should be developed to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging procedures, practices, and processes. improving diversity initiatives is essential to human resources practices, and promoting african american women can improve organizational resilience, culture, and communication for understudied populations (corrington et al., 2020). when all members of an organization are invested in its success, it thrives, and everyone benefits. methods the purpose of this qualitative phenomenology study was to investigate the perceptions and strategies of nine african american women who were pursuing leadership positions in the nuclear power industry. the study utilized thematic analysis and the iterative process of inquiry to accomplish this goal. to 4 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 extract meaningful information from massive datasets, qualitative research is a vast field that makes use of a vast array of analytical techniques. thematic analysis, which identifies recurrent patterns and presents them as overarching statements or themes, is one of the most widely used qualitative research methods (lochmiller, 2021). the iterative inquiry process (gharajedaghi, 2011, p. 93) was used as a framework for understanding reality to generate the initial set of hypotheses regarding the lived experiences of nine african american women who shared their stories and insights about working in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry. these african american women had worked in the industry for anywhere from 14 to 41 years. the iterative process, which consisted of verifying, validating, and modifying the initial hypotheses to expand and develop the emerging ideas until a satisfactory vision of the whole was reached. this process was repeated until a satisfactory vision of the whole was achieved. research question and sub questions rq1 – in their experience, how have african american women working in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry perceived leadership opportunities? sq1 – how do african american women interpret perceived inequities that impeded their advance to senior leadership positions in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry? sq2 – what beliefs do african american women have about the intersection of race and gender and their impact on leadership opportunities in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry? sq3 – how do african american women contextualize their feminist experiences while working in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry? data collection the primary source of data collected for this phenomenological study was semi-structured interview questions administered to nine african american women with 14 to 41 years of experience in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry's technical and nontechnical sectors. according to neubauer et al. (2019), phenomenology is a research method that seeks to understand a phenomenon through the eyes of those who have experienced it. the goal of phenomenology is to explain what happened and how it happened in terms of what happened and how it happened. according to tomaszewski et al. (2020), there are two types of phenomenology. the first type of focus is on describing the phenomenon and creating categories that describe the real world as seen through the eyes of participants' stories. the second type of emphasis is on explaining how something happened. before taking part in face-to-face virtual semi-structured interviews that were recorded using zoom, each of the nine participants in this study responded to open-ended questions using survey monkey. this enabled for a more in-depth look at the narratives, experiences, and opinions of each individual participant. the responses were saved in a workbook created in microsoft excel, which contained spreadsheets that were arranged in accordance with each of the following categories: all data, individual 5 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal responses, combined responses to individual questions, combined responses to the research questions, and combined responses to the subset questions. data analysis the analysis of the data was carried out by going back and looking at the responses that had been keyed into a spreadsheet made in microsoft excel, with each participant's real name being replaced by a pseudonym. every single response was sorted into categories and given a unique code. utilizing thematic analysis and iterative inquiry allowed for the identification of recurring themes that addressed issues of equity, intersectionality, and feminism. the following is an outline of these recurring themes: 1. initiatives aimed at increasing diversity; 2. behaviors associated with leadership; and 3. the cultivation of talent. emergent themes are based on the theoretical and conceptual frameworks as listed in table 1 and figure 1. table 1 emergent themes and conceptual frameworks emergent themes corresponding research questions corresponding theory 1. diversity initiatives rq1, s1, s2, s3 adams’ equity theory, intersectionality, black feminism 2. leadership behaviors rq1, s1 adams’ equity theory, intersectionality 3. talent development rq1, s3 black feminism 6 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 figure 1 theoretical framework the emergent themes centered on the qualities and actions of leaders. the narratives of study participants revealed several issues unique to african american female workers. these issues included the denial of promotions; it was a common occurrence for participants to be told they were in line for a certain position, only for someone else to receive it; and another common occurrence was being placed in a senseless competition with others for the position. the nine african american women expressed a desire to collaborate and work with people who resembled them, as well as have access to opportunities that led to promotions into management and senior leadership positions. when african american women realized they were being treated unfairly, a significant number of them became disinterested, ceased looking for new opportunities, or quit the organization. research question 1: in their experience, how have african american women working in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry perceived leadership opportunities? 7 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal the majority of female respondents identified that they identify as servant leaders. the findings suggest that a lack of mentoring, racial and gender discrimination, and stereotypes affect african american women working in the commercial nuclear power industry in the united states. even though underrepresentation became a leadership priority and diversity goals aided in promotion, the participants noticed, as attitudes of senior executives toward diversity remained unchanged, the majority of african american women were hired for administrative positions at lower levels of the industry. each of the nine participants shared similar experiences and beliefs when describing their personal history and stories the lack of support from managers and decisionmakers created additional obstacles and unique challenges for eight of the nine women. sub question 1: how do african american women interpret perceived inequities to advance to senior leadership positions in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry? according to the findings, being a team player, encouraging and uplifting others, building relationships, and respecting others were crucial for selection into leadership positions. participants also identified the ability to make decisions and communicate effectively and with confidence as desirable leadership qualities. the participants identified models of talent management that lacked rigor and appeared to be applied inconsistently as inequities that impede forward progress. according to participants, working in the nuclear industry is arduous. one concern raised by participants is that opportunities are granted to those who make senior leaders feel at ease or have a rapport with them. not communicating opportunities equally to all employees led to inequalities, irrational competition, and the belief that advancement to the desired position was unlikely, all of which discouraged african american women from ascending the corporate ladder. participants confirmed that inequities prompted them to decline leadership opportunities, retire early, or, in one case, leave the organization. sub question 2: what beliefs do african american women have about the intersection of race and gender and their impact on leadership opportunities in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry? the results indicate that additional research is required to determine why the nine participants' responses varied regarding gender, race, and ageism, sexism, or racism. a majority of study participants agreed that race and gender are improving. the underrepresentation of african american women was attributed to structural and systemic racism and bias. even though race and gender appear to be improving, white men may continue to feel threatened by african american women who do not resemble them; therefore, they may continue to look for reasons to promote people who resemble them. when white men were required to select a candidate from a diverse background, their decisions and counsel were frequently questioned. white men may believe that white women who champion their passions and interests are more likely to work with them and not challenge the status quo. when african american women speak up, however, their decisions and advice are questioned, and they must prove themselves more than their white counterparts. 8 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 sub question 3: how do african american women contextualize their feminist experiences while working in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry? the participants were aware that various types of bias, including conscious, unconscious, and affinity-based bias, still exist. due to these biases, it is challenging for them to advance in their personal development, and they have fewer opportunities to assume leadership roles, making it more challenging for them to ascend the leadership ladder. one participant cited overcoming the fear of being challenged and speaking up as one of her existing personal obstacles that may make it more difficult for her to ascend the leadership ladder. participants believed that, as african americans and members of other minority groups, they had to work harder to achieve the same level of recognition as male and white female counterparts. even though african american men had been employed in the field longer than women, it appeared that women had more opportunities now that diversity was a top priority in the industry. participants identified that the lack of support impacted their leadership opportunities and their leadership beliefs and strategies helped guide them through obstacles. the study found that discrimination caused african american women to decline opportunities, stop striving for management positions, or leave the company. it was possible for decision-makers to undo systemic oppression by recognizing inequitable patterns and by taking deliberate action to disrupt inequities in the workplace. eketu's (2018) argument was predicated upon the idea that prudent decision-making and clarity were necessary for inquiries to bear fruit. participants in the study agreed that navigating talent development and career paths while employed in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry was difficult. in the case of african american women, for instance, leadership opportunities are not given to those who are qualified and deserving, but rather to those who make senior leaders feel comfortable in their own skin. in spite of their numerous qualifications and experiences, african american women have received fewer promotions and advancement opportunities. participants identified a reliance on traditional career paths by decision-makers and a lack of intrusive mentoring as factors that influence leader behaviors. organizations with a focus on improving diversity initiatives must find ways to alter the organization's traditional culture and begin focusing on treating all employees fairly, recognizing that demeaning an employee leads to decreased motivation and "quiet quitting." because it gives these women a voice, it is important to tell the story of african american women who work in the commercial nuclear power industry in the united states and their one-of-a-kind experiences. this includes telling the story of their work in the industry, their homes, and their communities. by listening and understanding the stories of african american women, organizational leaders will begin to understand and develop methods that deconstruct stereotypes when equity, feminism, and inclusion are combined and viewed through a single lens. this will result in the creation of a sustainable natural environment for advancement to senior leadership positions and a social environment that is equitable. results equity 9 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal one of the themes that emerged centered on the characteristics and behaviors of leaders. the narratives shared by study participants revealed several issues unique to african american female workers. these issues included being denied promotion, being told someone else would get a certain position, only for someone else to get it in one instance and being placed in a senseless competition with others to get the position. african american women wanted to collaborate with people who looked like them and have opportunities that led to management and leadership roles. when african american women realized they were being treated unfairly, many of them decided they were no longer interested and stopped seeking new opportunities or left the organization. participants identified that the lack of support impacted their leadership opportunities and their leadership beliefs and strategies helped guide them through obstacles. the study found that discrimination caused african american women to decline opportunities, stop striving for management positions, or leave the company. it was possible for decision-makers to undo systemic oppression by recognizing inequitable patterns and by taking deliberate action to disrupt inequities in the workplace. eketu's (2018) argument was predicated upon the idea that prudent decision-making and clarity were necessary for inquiries to bear fruit. participants in the study agreed that navigating talent development and career paths while employed in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry was difficult. for instance, when it comes to african american women, leadership opportunities do not go to the qualified and deserving; rather, they go to those that make senior leaders feel comfortable in their own skin. despite their qualifications, african american women have experienced fewer opportunities for advancement. decision-makers' over-reliance on traditional career paths and a lack of intrusive mentorship were all factors identified by participants. organizations focused on improving diversity initiatives are successful in changing the culture of the company. despite being treated fairly, a person may still feel insulted, resulting in decreased motivation. intersectionality intersectionality may convince organizational leaders to accept african american women more readily. robinson (2017) argues that the situation of women of color is significantly different from that of white women. mckinsey & company (burns et al., date unknown): white women and men of color gain ground on women of color. to close the gap, organizations should provide professional development programs that assist leaders in recognizing racism and gendered bias. adopting this recommendation could promote moral hiring practices and the unbiased selection of african american female leaders. to determine why the responses of the nine participants varied, more research is required. responses were diverse, and the majority of responses varied when responding to questions regarding the way that gender, race, ageism, sexism, or racism, discouraged them from pursuing leadership opportunities. black feminism for hundreds of years, african american women had served as the backbone of american society, tasked with addressing the numerous demands associated with the intersections of their roles. this study researched their perspectives and experiences. african american women face societal challenges and 10 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 inequities because of racism and sexism, according to black feminism. the goal of this research was to elicit each individual's perspective on contextualizing their feminist experiences through the lens of black feminism. black feminism strives to empower african american women by encouraging new and critical ways of thinking about how racism and sexism contribute to the social problems that african american women face to gain a better understanding of why african american women were frequently underrepresented in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry. summary the findings indicate that a lack of mentoring, racial and gender discrimination, and stereotypes are factors affecting african american women working in the commercial nuclear power industry. participants in the study stated that being a team player, encouraging and uplifting others, building relationships, and respecting others were essential for selection into leadership positions. unclear talent management models that lacked rigor and appeared to be applied inconsistently were identified as inequities impeding progress. the results indicate that additional research is required to determine why the nine participants' responses varied based on gender, race, and ageism, sexism, or racism. most study participants concurred that, albeit slowly, racial and gender disparities are improving. the study participants were aware that various types of prejudice, including conscious, unconscious, and affinitybased prejudice, still exist. recommendations for future research and practice future research working in the nuclear industry presents specific opportunities and challenges for african american women. a case needs to be made for inclusion due to the dearth of women in senior leadership roles, especially women of color (barnes, 2017). future research should investigate the reasons why responses regarding race and gender were so significantly different. the first suggestion is to conduct a similar study with organizational leaders in the american commercial nuclear sector. organizational leaders and african american women's perspectives could be compared to find areas of agreement and disagreement that could then be filled in to improve communication, diversity initiatives, leadership behaviors, and talent development models. the second suggestion is to carry out research to find out why the responses to racial and gender questions were so noticeably different. it would be possible to find out if their experiences differ from those of the nine women in this study by gathering more information from a different group of african american women. the study may also gather new information due to the development of social roles and norms over time. through the data gathered, this kind of study could show how african american women have changed over time. the third recommendation is to include a cultural study in this investigation. an important aspect of organizational behavior is culture studies. the culture of an organization was determined by its norms, 11 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal values, and worldview. according to schein (2010), organizational culture is a collection of fundamental beliefs that all members of an organization share and that affect how they think, feel, and act. if you want to know how organizational culture and individual success are related, you must expand your research to include cultural differences. whether candidates with college degrees should be given preference for higher-level positions could be determined by research on the effects of educational experience on organizations. the distribution of wealth is unequal when white men and women favor relatives and people who resemble them and do not promote african american women to higher positions in organizations. higher education, groupthink, and generational wealth are unresolved issues in the study. future practice the implications of this study, seen through the lens of equity, intersectionality, and feminism, will enable organizations to create sustainable natural environments, capable of deconstructing stereotypes, and developing and equitable social environment (see figure 1). organizations with diversity initiatives aimed at the advancement of african american women should 1. foster a welcoming, inclusive environment that creates a sense of belonging, unites individuals, and enhances their sense of connection, identity, and interpersonal and communication skills. 2. leaders must be cognizant of inequities within their organizations and foster a culture in which all employees feel valued. organizations should conduct an analysis to assess the level of a leader's commitment and alignment with the core values of the organization. 3. develop mentoring, sponsorship, and coaching programs that promote candid, open communication with african american women. conclusion the lived experiences of african american women working in the nuclear industry are comparable to those working in education, other stem fields, and institutions dominated by whites. this research suggests that there were theoretical implications and implications for practitioners in this field, as well as other academic and corporate institutions that benefited from understanding the experiences of these women. african american women's lived experiences in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry face some challenges when viewed through the lenses of adams' equity theory, intersectionality, and black feminist theory and thought. overcoming these barriers would assist organizations in deconstructing stereotypes, creating a more equitable social environment, and establishing a natural progression path for advancement to senior leadership positions. stigmatization was a social process rooted in society's negative perception of individual or group traits or identities. organizations should offer professional development programs to help leaders recognize gendered racism. providing education on stigmatizing could promote policy changes that lead to ethical hiring practices. black feminism in the united states had historically developed because of african american women's antagonistic engagement with white women. as women remained at the forefront of activism against the current division and oppression in the united states. 12 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 theoretical implications african american women's lived experiences in the commercial u.s. nuclear power industry face some difficulties when viewed through the lenses of adams' equity theory, intersectionality, and black feminist theory and thought. this is especially true when looking at their experiences in the commercial nuclear power industry. the removal of these barriers would make it possible to deconstruct stereotypes, foster a social environment that is more equitable, and establish a natural progression path for advancement to senior leadership positions. all of these things would be made possible by the elimination of these barriers. the unfavorable perception that people have of certain personality traits or group identities was the seed that grew into the social phenomenon known as stigmatization. it is imperative that organizations give their leaders access to professional development opportunities where they can learn about gendered racism. by disseminating information regarding stigmatization, one can hopefully inspire legislative reforms that will lead to more moral hiring practices. the historical rise of black feminism in the united states can be attributed, in large part, to the antagonistic interactions that have historically taken place between african american women and white women. while women continued to take the lead in activism against the oppression and division that continue to exist in the united states today. recommendations for practice the implications of this study, seen through the lens of equity, intersectionality, and feminism, will enable organizations to create inclusive environments. organizations with diversity initiatives aimed at the advancement of african american women should develop processes that foster a welcoming, inclusive environment. developing a sense of belonging unites individuals and enhances their sense of connection, identity, and interpersonal and communication skills. leaders must be cognizant of inequities within their organizations and foster a culture in which all employees feel valued. organizations should conduct an analysis to assess the level of a leader's commitment and alignment with the core values of the organization. develop mentoring, sponsorship, and coaching programs that encourage candid, open communication with african american women in order to comprehend their unique characteristics that could be utilized to advance the culture of the organization. 13 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal references barnes, j. (2017). climbing the stairs to leadership: reflections on moving beyond the stained‐glass ceiling. journal of leadership studies, 10(4), 47–53. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.21503 burns, t., huang, j., krivkovich, a., rambachan, i, trkulja, t. yee, l. (n.d.). women in the workplace 2021, leanin.org and mckinsey & company. retrieved, june 29, 2022, from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace catalyst. (2020, august 4). quick take: women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem). catalyst.org. https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-science-technologyengineering-and-mathematics-stem/ corrington, a., hebl, m., stewart, d., madera, j., ng, l., & williams, j. (2020). diversity and inclusion of understudied populations: a call to practitioners and researchers. consulting psychology journal: practice and research, 72(4), 303–323. https://doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000188 crenshaw, k. w. (2017). on intersectionality: essential writings. the new press. https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/books/255 eketu, c. a. (2018). workplace equity: critique for epistemological usefulness. american journal of humanities and social sciences research, 2(7), 15–19. https://ajhssr.com/wpcontent/uploads/2018/07/c18271519.pdf hein, l. (2017). black feminist thought and why it matters today. spectra: the social, political, ethical, and cultural theory archives, 6(1), 1-4. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/104857 lancaster, c. & xu, y. j. (2017). challenges and supports for african american stem student persistence: a case study at a racially diverse four-year institution. the journal of negro education, 86(2), 176–189. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7709/jnegroeducation.86.2.0176 gharajedaghi, j. (2011). systems thinking: managing chaos and complexity: a platform for designing business architecture. morgan kaufmann. lochmiller, c. r. (2021). conducting thematic analysis with qualitative data. the qualitative report, 26(6), 2029‒2044. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.5008 mercadal, t. (2020) social constructivism, salem press encyclopedia. grey house publishing. https://library.ncu.edu/c.php?g=1134360&p=8278588 neubauer, b. e., witkop, c. t., & varpio, l. (2019). how phenomenology can help us learn from the experiences of others. perspectives on medical education, 8, 90–97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40037-019-0509-2 14 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 nuclear energy institute [nei]. (2019, july 1). commercial nuclear power industry jobs. https://www.nei.org/resources/fact-sheets/nuclear-industry-jobs office of nuclear energy. (n.d.). infographic: u.s. jobs in nuclear energy. energy.gov. retrieved march 7, 2021, from https://www.energy.gov/ne/downloads/infographic-us-jobs-nuclear-energy robinson, i. m. (2017). how african american women describe their experiences of developing a leadership style (publication no., 10642708) [doctoral dissertation, capella university]. proquest theses and dissertations. schein, e. h. (2010). organizational culture and leadership. wiley & sons. tomaszewski, l. e., zarestky, j., & gonzalez, e. (2020). planning qualitative research: design and decision making for new researchers. international journal of qualitative methods, 19, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406920967174 15 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal register and submit your work to business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master’s/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master’s degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ african-american women’s perspectives on career advancement in the u.s. commercial nuclear power industry abstract introduction/background methods results conclusion 1 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal line managers’ personality traits related to effective human resource management implementation brian s. gunderson | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa robert goldwasser | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa contact: bsgunderson@live.com abstract human resource managers are vital actors in the implementation of hrm policies and practices. effective hrm implementation depends on many antecedents, such as line managers' attributes (attribution theory), including personality traits. though there has been recent research regarding attribute theory and hrm implementation, most research has centered on performance management, social relationships, or external (environmental) attributes. this has created a gap in the literature surrounding line managers' personality traits and hrm implementation. this study examined the relationship between line managers’ personality traits, using the hexaco model of personality structure, and effective hrm implementation. the results show that line managers' personality traits associated with social and idea-related endeavors correlate more with hrm implementation than taskrelated personality traits. personality traits such as agreeableness, extroversion, emotionality, and openness to experience are significantly related to hrm implementation. in contrast, honesty-humility and conscientiousness are not. this may be due to social relationships that encourage cooperation, creativity, sociability, and sentimentality. the study expands the body of knowledge surrounding hrm implementation by line managers, which allows for creating policies, procedures, and plans for line managers' recruitment, development, and retention to enhance organizational outcomes. keywords: line managers, personality traits, hexaco, hrm implementation, attribution theory mailto:bsgunderson@live.com 2 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 introduction human resource management (hrm) implementation is the process of incorporating hr practice into the daily life of an organization by hr personnel, managers, and employees through the introduction, application, and perception of hr practices (bondarouk et al., 2018). hrm implementation is the cornerstone of hrm effectiveness (trullen et al., 2016). effective implementation of hrm policies and processes creates positive results for the company and employees (mirfakhar et al., 2018). line managers play a critical role in implementing hrm policies and processes (bos-nehles & meijerink, 2018). line managers interview candidates, develop employees, evaluate performance, and are involved in promotions and terminations (lopez, 2018). line managers are agents of the organization whose knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes (ksaos), including personality and motivation, influence hrm implementation (bos-nehles et al., 2013; kehoe & han, 2020). personality is a quality that impacts many behaviors and decisions of individuals. ashton and lee (2007) developed the hexaco model of personality structure. the hexaco model uses a sixdimensional framework containing the personality factors honesty-humility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. the hexaco model is aligned closely with the big five or five-factors model (ffm) of personality for the first three factors. the other three factors offer a more complex relation to the last two dimensions of the ffm (ashton & lee, 2007). beliefs and motivation are antecedents attributed to perceived causes (attributions) of behaviors, effects, or expected actions (kelley & michela, 1980). attribution theory (heider, 1958; kelley, 1973; weiner, 1985) offers the framework for understanding the relationship between antecedents and attributions that affect the implementation of hrm by line managers (martinko & mackey, 2019). the bulk of the research involving line managers' hrm implementation is focused on performance management systems (van waeyenberg & decramer, 2018). for example, fu et al. (2018) found that line managers' consistency in treating team members and individual responsiveness are positively related to individual job performance. the triad of social connections (line managers, coworkers, and employees) influence hrm attributions (beijer et al., 2019). employees have a positive perception of hrm policies if they have a good relationship with their line managers. therefore, employee commitment to following hr policies increases (bos-nehles & meijerink, 2018). however, additional research is required to understand how line managers' knowledge, abilities, personality, or other attributes influence how line managers implement hrm practices (kehoe & han, 2020). attribution theory identifies internal and external attributions that explain causal perceptions of various events, such as hrm implementation (heider, 1958). following the concepts of attribution theory, personality traits are personal (internal) attributes that can positively or negatively impact line managers' hrm implementation and performance. personality traits, such as agreeableness and humility, impact how line managers behave and their attitudes about policies and processes (moshagen et al., 2019). evans (2017) found that role ambiguity reduced line managers' confidence in hrm implementation, whereas overload and conflict resulted in the renegotiation of hr policies. similarly, line managers who experienced role stress or overload failed to consistently implement hrm (evans, 2017). 3 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal the use of attribution theory with hrm is in its infancy. heider (1958), in his seminal work, explained that it was human nature to seek out the causes of events. attribution theory provides the framework to understand how people explain the causes of behaviors or events (martinko & mackey, 2019). hewett et al. (2018) argued that people seek to explain the causes of the situations they find themselves in. attributions are causal reasons for events (gardner et al., 2019). attributions can be internal or external (heider, 1958). kelley (1973) linked attributes to the distinctiveness of the behavior, the consensus from others regarding the behavior, and how consistently the behavior is displayed. high consistency, consensus, and distinctiveness often result in the attribution of the outcome to the nature of the task (gardner et al., 2018). line managers' effective implementation can be explained by attributing industriousness or aptitude (weiner, 2018). a consistent measure of line managers' attributions related to effective hrm implementation had not been articulated until recently. bos-nehles et al. (2020) developed a psychometrical instrument to measure hrm implementation based upon internal and external line managers' attributions. bos-nehles et al. (2020) considered the internal attributions of line managers, like desire, and the external attributions, like hr support. personality traits have been measured for years through various instruments, like the big five or ffm (ashton & lee, 2007). in 2001, ashton and lee developed the hexaco model to measure personality traits (ashton & lee, 2007). in 2009, ashton and lee developed the hexaco-60 short measure of personality traits. this study examines line managers' personality traits as attributions related to hrm implementation. the importance of understanding the effectiveness of hrm implementation was highlighted by the call for papers in the international journal of human resource management (bondarouk et al., 2016; 2018). kehoe and han (2020) recognized the need for additional scholarship “examining the role of line managers' individual qualities in shaping the likelihood and effectiveness with which they engage in different forms of hrm involvement” (p. 120). though there has been recent research regarding attribute theory and hrm implementation, most research has centered on performance management, social relationships, or external (environmental) attributes. this created a gap in the literature surrounding line managers' personality traits and hrm implementation. as kehoe and han (2020) pointed out, there remains a need for additional scholarship regarding how the individual qualities of line managers, including personality, influence hrm implementation. this paper fills that gap. methodology for this study, a quantitative, correlation research method was used to examine the relationship between personality traits and the hrm implementation of line managers from various industries and organizations within the united states. line managers are critical to the delivery of hrm policies and practices, and as evans (2017) pointed out, an understanding of how and why they implement hrm is beneficial to organizations. there exists a lack of understanding about how personal characteristics of line managers, such as personality traits, affect their hrm implementation of policies and procedures. in addition to hrm personnel, managers are vital participants in hrm policy implementation (lopez, 2018). regarding employee commitment, employee engagement, and enhanced performance, line managers are essential leaders who champion employee involvement and influence employee attitudes toward hr policies and 4 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 practices (shipton et al., 2016). hrm implementation varies across organizations and industries due mainly to the line managers involved with hrm implementation (kehoe & han, 2020). mirfakhar et al. (2018) examined the antecedents influencing effective hrm implementation. they found that the beliefs and attitudes towards hrm practice affect organizational outcomes and encouraged additional research into personal attributes, such as personality traits and their influence on hrm implementation. further, kehoe and han (2020) examined the research regarding line managers and hrm implementation. they realized that additional research into individual qualities (personality traits) could further understand line manager involvement with hrm implementation. behaviors and the characteristic patterns of thoughts and emotions are represented in an individual's personality traits (diener & lucas, 2021). personality traits are associated with consistency and stability (diener & lucas, 2021), which are critical factors of attribution theory (kelley, 1973; weiner, 1985). beijer et al. (2019) pointed out that further study of personality factors, such as empathy and selfmonitoring, may provide additional insights into the attribution influences between coworkers and line managers. the insights and discoveries of prior researchers have led to this study's research question: rq1: is there a significant relationship between line managers' personality traits and their hrm implementation? to answer this question, the personality traits of line managers need to be identified and then compared to effective hrm implementation. this study used the six dimensions of the hexaco model: honestyhumility, emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience (ashton & lee, 2007). consequently, the following hypotheses have been developed: h10: honesty-humility is not related significantly to effective line manager hrm implementation. h1a: honesty-humility is related significantly to effective line manager hrm implementation. h20: emotionality (emotional intelligence) is not related significantly to effective line manager hrm implementation. h2a: emotionality (emotional intelligence) is related significantly to effective line manager hrm implementation. h30: extraversion is not related significantly to effective line manager hrm implementation. h3a: extraversion is related significantly to effective line manager hrm implementation. h40: agreeableness is not related significantly to effective line manager hrm implementation. h4a: agreeableness is related significantly to effective line manager hrm implementation. h50: conscientiousness is not related significantly to effective line manager hrm implementation. 5 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal h5a: conscientiousness is related significantly to effective line manager hrm implementation. h60: openness to experience is not related significantly to effective line manager hrm implementation. h6a: openness to experience is related significantly to effective line manager hrm implementation. this study used two survey instruments, one to assess the effectiveness of hrm implementation and the second to identify the dominant personality traits of line managers. the hexaco personality inventories are available in a variety of sizes and languages. the hexaco 60-item and 100-item inventories are available for download free of charge to nonprofits and academic researchers from the website (ashton & lee, 2009). in this study, the authors utilized the english version of the hexaco60 model of personality structure, a self-report form (ashton & lee, 2009). the goal was to reduce the amount of time participants must spend completing the surveys to increase participation and completion. moshagen et al. (2019) conducted a meta-analytic investigation of the hexaco inventories and found that all versions had high reliabilities and high degrees of self-observer agreement. reliability estimates (cronbach's alpha) ranged from 0.80 to 0.84 (moshagen et al., 2019). further, the reliabilities of selfratings and observer ratings were near identical (moshagen et al., 2019). each of the six domains is represented by ten items to cover a wide range of content (ashton & lee, 2009). each of the four subtraits is represented by at least 2 of the items in the instrument (ashton & lee, 2009). bos-nehles et al. (2020) developed a psychometric measurement instrument to analyze line managers' attributions for effective hrm implementation. the survey consists of 44 items covering desire (motivation), competencies, support, capacity, and policy and procedures. each dimension consists of sub-factors that influence the dimension. under desire are intrinsic motivation factors, identified regulation, external regulation, amotivation, and value-added. under the capacity dimension is role overload. under competencies is occupational self-efficacy. under the support dimension are hr support services and hr support behavior. the policy and procedures dimension includes role conflict, role ambiguity, and user-friendliness of hr forms. validity was examined by comparing middlemanagers with line managers within an organization. independent samples t-test demonstrate that the two groups are significantly different, supporting the validity of the scale measurement (bos-nehles et al., 2020). cronbach's alphas were calculated for each dimension to ensure internal consistency and reliability (bos-nehles et al., 2020). cronbach's alpha consistently scored above 0.70 for each of the five domains (see bos-nehles et al., 2020, p. 753). to calculate the sample size needed for the study, the researchers utilized g*power (faul et al., 2009). g*power (faul et al., 2009, p. 1149) “is a stand-alone power analysis program for many statistical tests commonly used in the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences;” it can be used for six correlation power analyses. for this study, a priori analysis was conducted. the calculations were based on a twotailed study, a medium effect size of p = 0.3. the researcher presumed an α error of 0.05 and a power estimate of 0.80 (1 – β). if the value for the population (the p-value) is smaller than 0.05, the researcher can identify the relationship as significant and accept the alternative hypothesis. if the p-value is greater than 0.05, the researcher should accept the null hypothesis and reject the alternative hypothesis. the assumption is that the total sample size needed is 84. 6 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 to administer the survey and contact potential respondents, the researcher utilized centiment, a marketing and research service provider. informed consent was embedded at the beginning of the survey with a yes/no response. if a respondent answered no, the respondent was disqualified from participation. only respondents aged 18+ were allowed to participate in the survey. anonymity was ensured through tagging of participants with unique identifiers. participants were not required to share personally identifiable information. security measures were implemented to protect the data during collection and transmission to the researcher. centiment does not store project data after collection and once the results have been delivered to the researcher (centiment, n.d.). discussion over three days, centiment sent out push notifications and emails about the availability of the survey. once survey responses reached 250 completes, the survey window was closed. the total sample population was n = 259. unfortunately, eight participants were removed after examining the survey results showed that all questions by the participants had the same answer and the time spent answering each question was under 0.5 seconds per question. the average time spent to complete the survey was 776 seconds (approximately 13 minutes). the removal of these participants' data reduced the sample to n = 251. data analysis was conducted using a combination of descriptive and inferential statistics to measure and test the data. tables 1 and 2 summarize the participants' sociodemographic characteristics and the varied industries represented by the line managers. 7 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 1 table 2 sociodemographic characteristics of participants representative industries of participants gender n % industry n % male 114 45.4% architecture 3 1.2% female 137 54.6% banking/financial/accounting 11 4.4% age communications/information 2 0.8% 18-24 2 0.8% construction/carpentry/electrical installation 11 4.4% 25-34 20 8.0% consulting 6 2.4% 35-44 52 20.7% education 26 10.4% 45-54 75 29.9% energy/utilities/oil and gas 3 1.2% 55+ 102 40.6% engineering 9 3.6% number of employees supervised government/public service 16 6.4% 2-5 100 39.8% healthcare/biotech/pharmaceuticals 20 8.0% 6-10 62 24.7% hospitality/tourism/food and beverage 9 3.6% 11-15 24 9.6% human resources 5 2.0% more than 15 65 25.9% information technology/it/telecommunications 14 5.6% organization size (employees) insurance 9 3.6% less than 50 46 18.3% legal/law 6 2.4% 51-100 35 13.9% manufacturing/automotive 19 7.6% 101-500 35 13.9% marketing/advertising 1 0.4% 501-1000 22 8.8% media/entertainment 3 1.2% 1001-5000 41 16.3% non-profit/social services 8 3.2% 5001+ 71 28.3% other 38 15.1% do not know 1 0.4% real estate/property 1 0.4% retail/wholesale trade 20 8.0% note. n = 251. sales 4 1.6% security 2 0.8% shipping/distribution/transportation 5 2.0% note. n = 251 8 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 there was a suitable mix of female (55%) to male (45%) line managers. line managers over 55 years old represented a large percentage of the sample (41%). line managers supervised from 2-5 employees (40%), 6-10 employees (25%), 11-15 employees (10%), and more than 15 employees (25%). there was a wide variety of industries represented, with retail/wholesale trade, education, and healthcare/biotech industries making up approximately a quarter of the industries. in addition, there was a mix of line managers from small, medium, and large organizations sampled. spearman's correlation was chosen for hypothesis testing due to the skewness and lack of normalcy encountered with the data. likewise, spearman's correlation is not impacted by outliers as with pearson's correlation. this is because pearson's correlation is a parametric test and spearman's correlation is a non-parametric test using the ranks of values rather than the values themselves (field, 2013). honesty-humility honesty-humility is associated with a tendency not to manipulate others and a decreased risk of losses due to withdrawal of cooperation by others (ashton & lee, 2007). interestingly, honesty-humility was not significantly related to line managers' hrm implementation, and there was a weak, negative correlation between honesty-humility and line managers' hrm implementation, rₛ(249) = -.109, p = .085. consequently, the null hypothesis cannot be rejected, and the alternative hypothesis cannot be accepted. line managers in the sample scored on average in the mid-range of scores. this points to line managers as being honest, sincere, and avoiding greed, overall. however, some may be more willing to engage in risky behaviors and manipulate others to get what they want. emotionality emotionality refers to the tendency to experience fear, physical dangers, anxiety, and the need for emotional support or sentimental attachments (ashton & lee, 2007). emotionality had a significant relationship with line managers' effective hrm implementation, rₛ(249) = .197, p = .002.the null hypothesis can be rejected, and the alternative hypothesis can be accepted. this is consistent with other studies related to line managers' work relationships. fletcher (2016) found a positive relationship between the meaningfulness of employee development opportunities and employees who perceived they had a good relationship with their line managers. consequently, employees perceive positive hrm policies if line managers are engaged and develop positive relationships with their employees (fletcher, 2016). positive work attachments and emotional support through work relationships seem to affect line managers' hrm implementation positively. extraversion extraversion tends to feel confident addressing groups, enjoy social gatherings, be enthusiastic, energized, and feel positive about themselves (ashton & lee, 2007). like, emotionality, extraversion was significantly related to line managers' hrm implementation, rₛ(249) = .281, p < .001. the null hypothesis can be rejected, and the alternative hypothesis can be accepted. extraversion is associated with social endeavors (ashton & lee, 2007). for example, bos-nehles & meijerink (2018) found that effective hrm implementation is a social process dependent upon the relationships between hrm professionals, employees, and line managers. beijer et al. (2019) support the conclusion that the social 9 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal environment between line managers and coworkers influences hr attributions. relational attributions involve attributions about a cause due to a relationship between people rather than internal or external attributions (gardner et al., 2019). for example, a social endeavor of line managers is exemplified by their level of servant leadership. relational attributions about a manager's serving influence the employees' gratitude (sun et al., 2019). agreeableness agreeableness tends to forgive others, be willing to compromise, be lenient, cooperative, and control anger (ashton & lee, 2007). therefore, it makes sense that agreeableness was significantly related to line managers' hrm implementation, rₛ(249) = .231, p < .001.the null hypothesis can be rejected, and the alternative hypothesis can be accepted. lopez (2018) found that line managers engaged in hrm policies and practices using their political and cognitive abilities. the line managers either proposed a decision based on their formal role, negotiated outcomes outside the formal policies, or avoided or circumvented hrm policies or procedures (lopez, 2018). line managers are willing to compromise to get what they need for their teams. in addition, evans (2017) found that role overload, role conflict, and role ambiguity led to role stress. as role stress increased, there was a corresponding variance or deviation from the intended hrm practices and policies. if line managers' role stress is reduced and they feel comfortable in their positions, they are less likely to experience anger. agreeableness will increase. conscientiousness conscientiousness is a task-related endeavor and is the tendency to be organized, disciplined to achieve work goals, strive for accuracy and perfection, and be deliberative and careful with decision-making (ashton & lee, 2007). it was surprising that conscientiousness had a weak, insignificant relationship with line managers' hrm implementation, rₛ(249) = .003, p = .961. the null hypothesis cannot be rejected, and the alternative hypothesis cannot be accepted. however, line managers from the sample scored higher in conscientiousness on average than in any of the other traits. consequently, task-related personality traits may not influence the hrm implementation of line managers. instead, there may be a relationship to leadership or another role-related attribute necessary for line managers to obtain their positions. openness to experience openness to experience had a significant, weak relationship to hrm implementation, rₛ(249) = .188, p = .003. the null hypothesis can be rejected, and the alternative hypothesis can be accepted. the openness to experience domain describes the tendency to be absorbed in the beauty of art and nature, inquisitive, use imagination freely, and interest in unusual ideas or people (ashton & lee, 2007). line managers may have unique perspectives on how to implement hr policies. the hr department plays a critical role in line managers' hrm implementation (trullen et al., 2016). hr personnel can help develop line managers' abilities and opportunities by participating in the development of hr policies and by deploying hr specialists in the field (trullen et al., 2016). hr managers can play a critical support role to help keep line managers from deviating from the hr processes due to a lack of understanding or a failure to see the value in the policies (bos-nehles et al., 2017). when managers are 10 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 free to use their imaginations and make suggestions for hrm approaches, the implementations’ effectiveness may increase. the results show that line managers' personality traits associated with social and idea-related endeavors correlate more with hrm implementation than task-related personality traits. task-related characteristics, such as conscientiousness, may be related to the line manager role but not necessarily to the function of hrm. hrm implementation is one of many functions performed by line managers. as bos-nehles and meijerink (2018) found, effective hrm implementation is a social process. it is clear from the results that personality traits such as agreeableness, extroversion, emotionality, and openness to experience are significantly related to hrm implementation. this may be due to the social relationships that encourage cooperation, creativity, sociability, and sentimentality (ashton & lee, 2007). recommendations for future research and practice as ashton and lee (2009) pointed out, the hexaco-60 model helps examine domain-level traits when time constraints exist. the 100and 200-reports offer a more thorough look at the facet levels of personality that make up the six domains of the hexaco model. therefore, future researchers could examine the facet-level attributes, which may provide more insight into effective hrm implementation beyond the initial examination of this study. the effective hrm implementation measure consists of five domains (desire, competencies, support, capacity, and policy and procedures) (bos-nehles et al., 2020). therefore, research examining correlations between the six hexaco personality traits and each hrm domain could provide a more in-depth understanding of line managers' hrm implementation practices. observers, such as line managers' supervisors, hr personnel, or employees, could provide a different viewpoint of line managers' personality traits and hrm implementation. then researchers could compare the observer reports to the self-report findings of this study to see if the results hold across studies. in addition, future research could examine the various social relationships that effect hrm implementation. in professional practice, managers and hr personnel can develop strategies that highlight the development of social traits, such as extraversion and agreeableness. training managers can develop programs to strengthen the personality traits of line managers. for example, a development program can focus on creating positive social relationships between employees and managers, or how to deal with anxiety or frustration positively, characteristics of extraversion and agreeableness. the results show significant and moderate correlations between social-endeavor personality traits (emotionality, extraversion, and agreeableness). likewise, idea-related personality traits (openness to experience) were substantial. consequently, hr practitioners should consider these traits when making promotions or talent acquisition decisions. this is not to say they are the only considerations. for example, conscientiousness may not be related to hrm implementation, essentially. however, the personality trait may well be an essential trait of leaders and managers. line managers are agents of an organization's hr. they are often encouraged to act with autonomy and flexibility concerning hrm implementation, which may require a distinct profile of competencies, personality, and motivation (kehoe & han, 2020). openness to experience is characterized by inquisitiveness, use of imagination freely, and an interest in unusual ideas or people (ashton & lee, 11 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 2007). management should consider policies and practices that provide more autonomy to line managers to make decisions. line managers can use their imaginations and curiosity to improve processes and make positive changes for enhanced outcomes. this study aimed to examine the relationship between line managers' personality traits and their effective hrm implementation. the results show that line managers' personality traits associated with social and idea-related endeavors correlate more with hrm implementation than task-related personality traits. the study is significant because it increases scholars' and business managers' understanding of personality traits related to effective hrm implementation and how those traits can influence organizational outcomes. as a result of this study, managers, employee development leaders, and hr personnel have additional information to make better hiring, promotion, and training decisions concerning line managers. 12 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 references ashton, m. c., & lee, k. 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(2018). the legacy of an attribution approach to motivation and emotion: a no-crisis zone. motivation science, 4(1), 4–14. https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000082 https://doi.org/10.1027/2151-2604a000377 https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12087 https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2354 https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12116 https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1445656 https://doi.org/10.1037/0033295x.92.4.548 https://doi.org/10.1037/mot0000082 15 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal register and submit your work to business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal https://bmra.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/bmra business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master's/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master's degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmra.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/bmra http://www.adpn.org/ http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ line managers’ personality traits related to effective human resource management implementation abstract introduction methodology discussion recommendations for future research and practice references 97 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal strategic responses of large technology companies to the covid-19 pandemic anthony cicchese, ma, mba, dba, cpp contact: anthonywc@comcast.net abstract the organizational strategies of large technology companies in response to economic recessions are fundamental to domestic and international economic competitiveness. future strategic decision-making at the firm level can be informed by understanding the different strategic responses of large technology companies to the economic recession that resulted from the covid-19 pandemic. the purpose of this research was to explore the perspectives of managers in large technology companies regarding effective strategic responses to changing market conditions during a crisis. the study design for this research was a qualitative inquiry. the population for the study was eight people in top management positions of large technology companies in the united states. study participants worked in technology companies employing 1,000 or more full-time employees. study participants had operational knowledge of their companies’ strategic responses to the economic downturn that resulted from the covid-19 pandemic. the findings indicated that the participants’ perspectives of the antecedent to their companies’ strategic responses to the economic downturn that resulted from the covid-19 pandemic were market shrinkage and reduced revenues. the predominant process for developing strategic responses was a hybrid form involving both bottom-up and top-down directives, and the predominant outcome was strategic responses comprised of new tangent products for existing clients and traditional actions such as reducing costs. implications based on the findings indicated that including middle and upper management in decision-making can elicit strategies for retaining clients and lead to developing new products and services for current clients. keywords: organizational strategies, strategic responses, changing market conditions, global crises 98 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 introduction the most critical challenges to overcome in 2021 for the technology industry are organizations facing new challenges (silvergate, 2021). the technology industry is one of the most valuable industries in the marketplace, as the total global value of the technology industry is estimated to be $5.2 trillion (comptia, 2021). in addition, the technology industry is an industry that experiences several forces that create the necessity for managers to focus on understanding the problem that marketplace changes impact the competitiveness of organizations (silvergate, 2021). technology, culture, economic development, and public policy are critical factors influencing a firm’s organizational strategy to remain competitive (unctad, 2019). organizational strategy changes such as establishing new strategic alliances and internalizing the development of some resources rather than acquiring them from other organizations in the external organizational environment can improve profitability as they are responsible for reducing costs and enhancing inimitability for competitive advantage (ferreira & kittsteiner, 2012; weaven et al., 2021). understanding the problem of marketplace changes impacting the competitiveness of organizations is crucial because a firm must not only protect its share of the market but a firm must also be capable of expanding it. exploring the business practices used to identify marketplace changes that affect organizational strategy for market share must also include understanding business practices’ results. summary of the literature historically, there have been academic studies focused on the problem of firms not responding strategically during economic recessions. a number of these academic studies focused on the strategic responses of smalland medium-sized enterprises (smes) because smaller firms are more at risk during economic recessions than are large corporations (geroski et al., 1997). specifically, when aggregate demand in a marketplace decreases systematically for multiple financial quarters, the burden is greater on new firms, which are predominantly smes, than it is on older firms that tend to be much larger (geroski et al., 1997). whittington (1989) concluded that the larger the firm, the greater the strategic discretion to respond to decreased aggregate demand that is a function of an economic recession. the observation that larger firms have more discretion when responding strategically to an economic recession has been the reason that smes have been the focus of much research on strategic responses to economic downturns (whittington, 1989). specifically, this has been the case historically because organizational strategy scholars generally were interested historically in organizational strategy innovations (whittington, 1989). larger firms have not had to develop new strategic responses historically amid economic recessions because of their superior capital resources and abilities to implement many different evidence-based strategies (pearce, 2010). smes historically have not had such capital resources and strategic response options (pearce, 2010). silberston (1983) observed that firm size does not necessarily affect the firm’s ability to respond strategically to decreased aggregate demand that results from an economic recession. large firms can be static as well dynamic in their strategic response to economic downturns (silberston, 1983). bourgeois (1981) noted that firms of any size must be both static and dynamic in their strategic responses to economic recessions. firms must be static in terms of using evidence-based, standard strategic responses 99 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal to economic downturns that they have used before (bourgeois, 1981). firms must also be dynamic or innovative when responding strategically to decreased aggregate demand due to economic recessions by developing new strategies that may be more effective and efficient than standard strategic responses (bourgeois, 1981). from 2016-2021, there have been academic studies focused on the problem of firms not responding strategically during economic recessions. this literature is also focused predominantly on smes rather than on large technology companies. the antecedents to strategic responses vary based on industry and severity of the economic recession (shah et al., 2019). klammer et al. (2017) used a survey to help develop an understanding of what managers of smes considered to be factors that led to a strategic response. entrepreneurial orientation and organizational learning as a critical factor that has a significant and positive impact on a firm responding strategically to an economic recession (migdadi, 2019). the degree to which organizational learning and entrepreneurship positively predict strategic response varies based on the industry of the sme (schmitt et al., 2018). piette and zachary (2015) found that banks are less likely to lend to smes during economic recessions that are a function of decreased aggregate demand in a marketplace because they believe that smes are less capable of effective strategic responses. lee et al. (2015) similarly observed that smes are more likely than large firms to face credit rationing by banks during economic recessions. kalyani (2020) studied the problem of less access to credit for smes during economic recessions and found that some smes are capable of innovative strategic responses to decreased aggregate demand but others are not. the cause of this variation in smes’ abilities to strategically respond to economic recessions was that successful strategic responses were focused on innovative strategies for accessing additional credit from banks (kalyani, 2020). lisboa (2017) found similar results for firms of any size, not just smes. simon-moya et al. (2016) found that firms that were established due to market opportunities have had more effective strategic responses to the decreased aggregate demand that characterizes economic recessions than firms that were established due to the founders being unemployed. typically, firms established due to market opportunities have been started by entrepreneurs rather than by corporations (simon-moya et al., 2016). companies established due to market demands were shown to be more likely to take risks and therefore were more likely to respond strategically in dynamic instead of static ways (kalyani, 2020). therefore, another source of variation for determining the extent to which an economic recession is a problem for smes is the motivation to start the company (simon-moya et al., 2016). the problem of strategic responses to economic recessions by firms is also related to the problem of personnel cuts and increased unemployment (lai et al., 2016). lai et al. (2016) found that large firms were more likely than small firms to terminate employees as part of their strategic responses to decreased aggregate demand during economic recessions. smes were more likely to respond strategically to economic recessions by implementing cost-saving strategies that did not entail cutting personnel as a first measure (lai et al., 2016). large corporations with corporate social responsibility strategies were shown to be less likely to lay off workers in their strategic responses to economic strategies than were large corporations without corporate social responsibility strategies (papacharalampous et al., 2019). the decline of corporate social responsibility strategies amongst firms responding to decreased aggregate demand due to economic recessions is another problem associated with firms’ strategic 100 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 responses (simanaviciene et al., 2017). the reduction of emphasis on or elimination of corporate social responsibility strategies during economic recessions has been shown to reduce firm valuation (papacharalampous et al., 2019). apaydin et al. (2021) examined corporate social responsibility strategic fit with firms’ strategic responses to the economic recession of 2008-2009. the authors used strategic stakeholder theory to examine strategic responses to decreased aggregate demand to identify the effects of alienating stakeholders with strategic responses to economic downturns (apaydin et al., 2021). the results indicated that strategic responses that alienated fewer or no groups of stakeholders correlated positively with corporate financial performance during and after the economic recession of 2008-2009 (apaydin et al., 2021). tatoglu et al. (2020) found that eliminating corporate social responsibility strategies related to pollution mitigation in response to economic recessions similarly correlated negatively with corporate financial performance. dynamic capabilities also have been identified as predictors of when an sme responds strategically to an economic recession and when it does not (sievinen et al., 2020). there was a positive relationship between dynamic capabilities and strategic responses in smes moderated by organizational learning (schmitt et al., 2018). there was also a positive relationship between organizational learning and strategic responses in smes without the moderation effect of organizational learning (sievinen et al., 2020). network relationships may act as an antecedent to dynamic capabilities and strategic responses to economic recessions in smes (herbane, 2019). these findings support antecedents as holding a significant role in the strategic response, but there are some characteristics of these studies which contribute support for further research including the strategic response. starting in 2020, there has been a study of the strategic responses of smes to the economic recession caused by the covid-19 pandemic (papadopoulos et al., 2020). the use of digital marketing is a positive predictor of an sme responding strategically to the economic recession caused by the covid19 pandemic (gamage et al., 2020). organizational learning is a key factor associated with smes responding strategically to the economic recession caused by the covid-19 pandemic (kottika et al., 2020). strategic alliances with large companies facilitate strategic responses to the current economic recession in manufacturing smrs (asgary et al., 2020). the outcomes of the strategic responses of organizations have also been the focus of several studies (eggers, 2020). empirical studies of strategic responses to economic recessions by technology companies are focused on small technology start-ups rather than on large technology companies (boscoianu & prelipcean, 2020). though these studies are all focused on the strategic responses of technology start-ups to the economic recession that resulted from the covid-19 pandemic, all have different conceptual foci regarding the outcome of a new or changed organizational strategy (kuckertz et al., 2020). some technology smes developed diversified investment portfolios as a strategy for weathering the economic recession due to covid-19 (boscoianu & prelipcean, 2020). new technology adoption has broadened the client bases of small technology start-ups amid the covid-19 pandemic. small technology start-ups are faster to adopt client-oriented strategic responses to the current economic recession than are non-technology smes (ebersberger & kuckertz, 2021). however, there is room for further research aimed at exploring the business practices that are involved in identifying changes that can impact organizational strategy (shah et al., 2019). there is evidence of the integral role that strategic response holds in the performance of organizations (shah et al., 2019). strategic responses hold a significant relationship with strategic performance (shah et al., 2019). 101 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal strategic response holds a significant indirect impact on the relationship between strategic orientation and strategic performance (shah et al., 2019). strategic response mediated the relationship between strategic intent and firm performance (kairupan & sudhartio, 2020). strategic response capabilities were a significant predictor of the sustainability of an organization in the technology industry (phetphongphan et al., 2018). this research contributed to the literature on the strategic responses of firms to the decreased aggregate demand of economic recessions by way of a qualitative study of large technology companies. this gap in the literature existed before this study because it was presumed by scholars and practitioners that large technology firms are at low financial risk during economic recessions when compared to smes and large firms that do not include technology development and services as a core function (amankwahamoah et al., 2016). the research findings also contributed to the gap in the practice of strategic responses by large technology companies to economic recessions per the covid-19 pandemic context of the research study. the economic recession due to the covid-19 pandemic has affected the aggregate market demands for large firms as well as for smes (haarmeyer, 2020). methods the research focused on the business practices used to identify marketplace changes that impact their organization’s strategy for maintaining and growing market share and their experience with changes resulting from those business practices. a qualitative inquiry research technique was used to support understanding of the business practices used to identify effective strategic responses to changing market conditions during a crisis. inductive reasoning was applied to support describing how business practices of the firm lead to identifying marketplace changes that affect the organizational strategy for market share and what the results are of such changes (see qureshi, 2020). the strategic response framework (srf) was used as the applied framework for this study; it was appropriate for organizing the empirical research on firms’ changes to their organizational strategies for market share, to which the qualitative inquiry has made an original contribution. rq1: what are the perspectives of managers in large technology companies regarding effective strategic responses to changing market conditions from a crisis? data collection data collection involved using zoom to conduct semistructured interviews with a purposive sample of eight managers working in large technology companies in the united states. each of the semistructured interviews was consistent with the script for interview questions. after each interview, the audio files were saved to an encrypted directory, and transcripts were created for data analysis. data analysis thematic analysis was the qualitative data analysis approach selected for this study. the thematic analysis relies on the establishment of themes where the codes created from the analysis of raw qualitative data are organized into categories and assembled to create themes. the qualitative data analysis approach applied in this project was informed by braun and clarke’s (2006) description of six 102 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 phases of analysis and saldana’s (2016) explanation of coding strategies. in addition, the thematic analysis helped to establish themes from semistructured interviews with participants that could support effectively responding to the research question. results the analysis of raw data resulted in assigning the responses of the participants to codes, based on their experience with economic downturn onset by the conditions created by covid-19. the results of the analysis included the determination that 12 codes could be assigned to the responses of managers about their experiences. the preliminary coding structure, per the concepts of the applied framework, was applied first. then, i collapsed codes created by analyzing raw data under different categories. the codes matched category names in most instances. however, a category for learning and resources was included based on participant responses, resulting in six categories. the decision rule for organizing two or more codes into a singular category was saldana’s (2016) filtering approach to categorizing by using the key concepts of a theory or conceptual framework. i used saldana’s heuristic approach to label each theme per the specific information and sentiments provided by the participants. the six categories were explored further to understand how the categories could fit within themes, using the “interpretive” approach by saldana (2016), by which categories are considered collectively and combined, when appropriate, into singular themes. three themes were developed using this approach (see table 1). table 1 themes theme definition number of participants number of occurrences damage control the company decides to respond with organizational strategy changes to limit losses due to an economic downturn. 8 24 hybrid strategic response the organizational strategy change process is top down, albeit participative, and focused on incremental deviations from standard practice organizational strategy changes 8 22 incremental institutional isomorphism new organizational strategies are similar amongst competitors and comprised of tangential new services aimed at existing clients and markets 8 11 themes theme 1: damage control. the theme damage control was developed as the underlying sentiment of the antecedent to strategic responses in the participants’ companies was to limit the loss of resources amid the economic downturn that resulted from the covid-19 pandemic. there were two subthemes 103 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal for the theme damage control. these themes were based on the different types of resources lost that the participants described as the impetus for their companies to implement the process of a strategic response to the economic downturn that resulted from the covid-19 pandemic. the first type of resource discussed was clientele. for example, p1 and p4 described their companies’ loss of resources in this way and also described that such loss was the impetus to implement the process of strategic response. p4 noted, we were, you know, we were expecting to see certain downturns in that first quarter last year. you know, projections were anywhere from 20 to 40% off of the business of top line sales and what would you know what would the effect be to the organization if you had lost you know 30 or 40% of sales during that period. the second type of resource lost was new clientele. for example, p8 described his company’s loss of resources in this way and also described that such loss was the impetus to implement the process of strategic response. specifically, p8 noted, we were worried about our ability to sell and track new customers, if our potential customers were to kind of tighten their belt, due to covid okay, so the event itself was that cold that affected your organization, and the you were concerned about the ability of your customers to okay to stay on board. none of the study participants mentioned other types of resources that could be lost during the economic downturn that resulted from the covid-19 pandemic, per the applied framework for the study, such as human resources. none of the study participants reported having any workers they managed missing work due to their or a family member’s sickness. another notable omission from the interview transcripts was the discussion of cutting costs by laying off the workers the participants manage. when asked, most participants observed that they work for large technology companies with economies of scale to endure decreased resources without having to reduce salary costs. theme 2: hybrid strategic response. the theme hybrid strategic response process was developed from the direct quotations from the interviews concerning the underlying sentiment of the processes of strategic responses. the responses involved numerous perspectives from different levels of the organization. there were two subthemes for the theme “hybrid strategic response process.” these themes are based on the different levels of participation of upper management in the strategic response process. the first type of participation by upper management was directive, meaning that the process was designed and implemented by upper management. for example, p1 and p3 described their companies’ process of strategic response as dictated by upper management. however, the direction from upper management was not described by any of the participants as an exclusively top-down process. the participants characterized the process as a hybrid one utilizing input from both upper management and middle management and lower. p1 noted, it’s hard to put a finger on anything specific because it was literally, at one point, daily meetings about what to do. and, so, we were making small incremental changes consistently on our own that generated larger changes at the top. 104 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 the second type of participation by upper management was ad hoc, meaning that the process was designed at the middle levels of the organization but included upper management. for example, p6 and p8 described their companies’ process of strategic response as dictated by upper management. p6 noted that he and his team had “a lot of autonomy and authority” in determining their strategic response to the economic downturn that resulted from the covid-19 pandemic but added that no less than the priorities of their response came directly from upper management. none of the study participants characterized the process of strategic response in their respective companies in such a way to represent the fully autonomous or top-down concept of the applied framework. the only such cases that implied an exclusively top-down process of strategic response was the participant whose companies made no changes to their organizational strategies in response to the economic downturn resulting from the covid-19 pandemic, p1. theme 3: incremental institutional isomorphism. the theme of incremental institutional isomorphism developed from the interviews underlying sentiment of the outcome of strategic responses by participants’ companies to implement strategies that mimicked other companies’ strategic responses, but only when these responses were incremental (versus innovative). there were two subthemes for the theme incremental institutional isomorphism. these themes were based on the type of incremental strategic response. the first type of incremental strategic response was the response that had not been used before by the company. for example, p5 and p7 described their companies’ new organizational strategies as having tangential new services for existing companies that they copied from competitors. p7 noted, “i can say, like, 80% of our new activities were shared by competitors.” the second type of incremental strategic response was to use responses that had been used before by the company. for example, p1 and p2 described strategies that emphasized reducing internal costs to provide lower prices to retain existing clients. specifically, p2 noted, it really was one of businesses usual act (sic), continue to act as if you were in the office continued to, you know, perform your normal tasks and duties, but be slightly more empathetic of the position that our customers might be in that, you know, expect further delays expect payment delays expect challenges, connecting and certainly because i helped lead part of a sales organization. p1 noted that budget cuts for travel were part of the final strategic response of his company to the economic downturn that resulted from the covid-19 pandemic, but that this was also a standard strategic response the company had used in the past. discussion concerning the discussions on organizational strategic responses, an interesting result was that the predominance of study participants (all except p5) described the process in terms of both autonomous or bottom-up meetings and plans and induced or top-down meetings and plans. this result constitutes a new process for strategic response insofar that the research literature using the srt has not presented the results of such a hybrid process. accordingly, the participants describing a hybrid process for both induced and autonomous processes. for example, p1 described the strategic response process as both autonomous and induced. 105 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal the outcome, or organizational strategy that resulted from the strategic response process, was described by participants predominantly as reactionary rather than innovative. only p2 and p5 described the new organizational strategies of their companies as more than incrementally different than their companies’ previous organizational strategies. the other five participants described the new features of their companies’ organizational strategies as incremental changes from their companies’ previous organizational strategies. the findings contribute to the strategic response framework, or srf (pedersen et al., 2020) by describing a hybrid process for organizations’ strategic responses that extends the srf. specifically, theme 2 describes a strategic response process involving bottom-up and top-down meetings and plans. the findings for antecedents to and outcomes of the strategic response process amid economic downturns also contribute to the srf by providing additional empirical support for the framework’s assumptions about these phases of organizational strategic responses to economic downturns. theme 1 included a description that supports the srf’s premise that antecedents to strategic response are contingent on the firm’s resources and the firm’s learning of changes occurring in how competitors approach strategy or both. theme 3 included a description that confirms srf’s conceptual variation for the new organizational strategies that result from the strategic response process. the process of strategic response, when operationalized as a binary social phenomenon, necessitates an either-or process of strategic response (schmitt et al., 2018; sievinen et al., 2020). in contrast, when operationalized as a continuous social phenomenon, the process of strategic response may be characterized on a continuum from 100% top-down to 100% bottom-up, with the range therebetween characterizing different variations of a hybrid process for organizational strategic responses to economic downturns. recommendations i recommend that leaders of large technology organizations approach the process of strategic response to economic downturns with participative decision-making at all phases of the process of strategic response. study participants whose descriptions of the strategic response process were categorized as simultaneously bottom-down and top-up all spoke very positively about the process. the hybrid approach to strategic response can begin at the planning stage of strategic response. leaders should ask for volunteers from all levels of hierarchy and across all divisions of the organization to participate in the strategic response process. during strategic response, all voices should be heard regarding how to respond amid an economic downturn or global crisis. client-facing middle managers and their subordinates may have valuable insight into what tangential products or services can be offered to retain clients who are also suffering from an economic downturn. top managers and executives should assume a hands-off role in their participation to encourage participation and avoid intimidating middle managers and their subordinates from speaking freely. 106 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 i also recommend that top management should change internal resources and the need to maintain homeostasis in the inflow and outflow of resources that are critical. managers that participated in this project were influenced by the importance of efficiency and mitigating expenses. managers should consider how an economic downturn will influence their resources and the flow of resources through the organization rather than following the activities of competitors as antecedents to change. also, i recommend that leaders be prepared to limit extreme responses to economic downturns with major deviations from previous organizational strategies. the study participants all reported either incremental or no changes in organizational strategy in response to the economic downturn that resulted from the covid-19 pandemic. the strategies described did not include plans for entering new markets but instead focused on retaining existing market share through new, tangential services to existing clients and potential new clients in the same market space. some of the strategies described using standard strategic responses to cut costs and reserve resources until economic conditions improved. conclusion the findings from this qualitative research study revealed consistency between how businesses adapt and change during economic downturns and the strategic response framework. the results from this study were consistent with the applied framework of this study. the findings included evidence of a phenomenon in economic downturns, such as the economic downturn created by covid-19, where antecedents, processes, and outcomes are involved in changes made to adapt resources to the new environment to support continued organizational sustainability. however, the findings included evidence that antecedents are typically resource-based, that processes can hold elements of being induced and autonomous, where broad guidelines are promulgated to lower managers who have autonomy for achieving change objectives, and that outcomes are typically innovative. thus, while the model for the strategic response was applicable and supported exploring interview data collected in this project, some elements of the model, such as change antecedents being based on resources and processes including a high degree of autonomy, support some elements of the model being stronger than others within the context of economic downturns. most often, change to adapt to economic downturns appears to occur within the strategic response framework in such a way that management is most concerned about the resources of the organization and that lower levels of management shall receive directives on how they must respond 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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ 56 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 the impact of organizational leaders’ perceptions of the fourth industrial revolution technologies adewoye peter ademola, dba | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, united states michelle kelly, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, united states contact: adewoyepeterademola@gmail.com abstract artificial intelligence (ai), big data (bd), blockchain (bc), cloud computing (cc), fifth generation (5g) wireless network, and internet of things (iot) are the six technologies that constitute the fourth industrial revolution technologies (firt) in the context of this quantitative study. the purpose of the quantitative study which was based on technology acceptance model (tam) and cognitive model (cm) was to understand how the perceptions of the america-based organizational leaders would affect the leaders’ acceptance of the fourth industrial revolution technologies (firt). the researcher created a questionnaire which was pre-tested by conducting a pilot study with 13 participants after which a total number of 135 respondents participated in the full study by responding to a 5-point likert scale questionnaire through an online data collection platform. cronbach’s alpha, confirmatory factor analysis (cfa), and kendall’s tau correlation techniques were adopted using r and spss statistical packages to determine the impact of the leaders’ perceptions on their acceptance of the technologies. the findings of the study indicated that there was a statistically significant relationship between organizational leaders’ perceived ease of use (peou) and the leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) of the six technologies, between perceived usefulness (pu) and the intention to use (itu) cloud computing technology, between perceived ease of use (peou) and the intention to use (itu) cloud computing technology, and between perceived ease of use (peou) and the intention to use (itu) 5g network technology. there was however no statistically significant relationship between the leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) or perceived ease of use (peou) and the intention to use (itu) the artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, and internet of things technologies. there was also no statistically significant relationship between the leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) and the leaders’ intention to use (itu) 5g network technology. recommendations for future research include mailto:adewoyepeterademola@gmail.com 57 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal investigating the impact of participants’ age on the acceptance of the technologies, targeting different and more narrowed sample populations, considering additional and new technologies, and repeating the research at a later point in time. keywords: leadership, fourth industrial revolution technologies, perceived usefulness (pu), perceived ease of use (peou), intention to use (itu). 58 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 background of the study the world economic forum (2021) described the different stages of industrial revolution the world had undergone. during the first industrial revolution, industries applied water and steam power for manufacturing their products, the second industrial revolution ushered in the use of electric power for mass production while the third applied electronics and information technology to automate production. the fourth industrial revolution enhances the third industrial revolution with smart and autonomous systems fuelled by data and machine learning (marr, 2018). the fourth industrial revolution is an enhanced version of the third with modern technologies such as the artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, cloud computing, fifth generation (5g) wireless, and internet of things (world economic forum, 2021). organizational leaders converge around new technological changes with many concerns such as cyberattacks, loss of leadership power, lack of new skills required, robots’ lack of capacity of moral reasoning and inability to make ethical decisions in complex scenarios, high cost of deployment of new technologies, and replacement of human employees by new technologies ( xu, david, jeanne, & suk, 2018). successful migration to new technologies therefore depends on organizational stakeholders’ adoption of the new innovations (kelley et al., 2018). whether the organizational leaders would accept to deploy and use the fourth industrial revolution technologies (firt) within their organizations is of great concern considering the various challenges the new technologies come with. the study therefore measured the relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceptions of the fourth industrial revolution technologies (firt) and the leaders’ acceptance or intention to use the technologies in american companies. literature review organizational leadership in the fourth industrial revolution era leadership is the capacity to direct followers to achieve goals that the followers would not achieve ordinarily (emler, 2019). according to the center for creative leadership, ccl (2021), great leaders consistently possess certain qualities that make them stand out. such leadership qualities are integrity, ability to delegate responsibilities, effective communication skills, gratitude, influence, empathy, courage, and respect (tracy, 2021 & enfroy, 2021). the challenge for leadership is to deploy new technologies in ways that not only yield fresh efficiencies but also amplifies human creativity, ingenuity and judgment (world economic forum, 2018). organizational leaders therefore will have to search for different ways to do more with less, find value where innovations overlap, and strategically invest in technologies (baig et al., 2023). artificial intelligence (ai) technology artificial intelligence (ai) is described as computer systems that perform tasks requiring human-like intelligence (garbuio & lin, 2019). haenlein and kaplan (2019) defined artificial intelligence (ai) as a system’s ability to interpret external data correctly, learn from such data, and use the learning to achieve specific goals and tasks through flexible adaptation. 59 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal big data technology the word “big” in the name “big data” suggests a large volume of the big data concept (paraschiv & danubianu, 2019). grover, chiang, liang and zhang (2018) explained that the ways businesses generate, share, communicate, access, analyze data and adapt to environmental changes have been transformed by the number of connected people, devices, and sensors. blockchain technology blockchain technology is a multiple global ledgers that permit assets to be transferred from one party to another simultaneously without the need for a third party’s involvement thereby guaranteeing utmost security (khalifa, 2019). blockchain technology enables businesses to generate required reporting information directly from financial data (mosteanu, 2019). among all the uses of blockchain technology, the bitcoin, which is a digital currency, is outstanding (da silva momo, sordi schiavi, behr, & lucena, 2019). cloud computing technology according to pise (2019), cloud computing is one of the information technology service delivery methods which permit users to store data on distant devices rather than storing data on hard drive or local devices. cloud computing comprises of three main services namely infrastructure as a service (iaas), software as a service (saas), and platform as a service (paas) (pise, 2019). fifth generation (5g) wireless technology every new generation technology is an improvement on the previous one. the first generation (1g) wireless technology focused on the simple mobile voice (mahmod, 2017) and offered extremely low degree of bandwidth efficiency and security (cisar, & maravic, 2019). the second generation (2g) focused on both better bandwidth and coverage (mahmod, 2017) and offered a much higher security and new features such as text messaging and communication with low data transmission rates (cisar, & maravic, 2019). the third generation (3g) was concerned with higher data level, multimedia backing, and spread spectrum (mahmod, 2017) in order to achieve faster data transmission (cisar, & maravic, 2019). the 4g offered access to multiple communication facilities including developed smartphone services, and mobility application (mahmod, 2017; cisar, & maravic, 2019). the fifth generation (5g) technology has many features such as data capabilities, unlimited call volumes, unrestricted data broadcast, live camera, mp3 recording, video chat, huge phone memory, and many others (mahmod, 2017). internet of things (iot) technology sethi and sarangi (2017) defined internet of things (iot) as a new kind of world where almost all the devices and appliances are connected to a network by using these devices and appliances collaboratively to achieve complex tasks that require a high level of intelligence. internet of things (iot) is not a single technology; it is rather a collection of various technologies that work together in tandem (sethi, & sarangi, 2017). 60 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 table 1 definitions of constructs and indicators table 1 helps to understand the acronyms used in the study. the parent constructs (variables); perceived usefulness (pu), perceived ease of use (peou), and intention to use (itu) were measured through the lens of the six technologies (items or indicators)-artificial intelligence (ai), big data (bd), blockchain (bc), cloud computing (cc), fifth generation (5g) network, and internet of things (iot). constructs (variables) indicators (items) definitions of indicators (items) perceived usefulness (pu) pu_ai artificial intelligence (ai) indicator for measuring or representing perceived usefulness (pu) construct pu_bd big data (bd) indicator for measuring or representing perceived usefulness (pu) construct pu_bc blockchain (bc) indicator for measuring or representing perceived usefulness (pu) construct pu_cc cloud computing (cc) indicator for measuring or representing perceived usefulness (pu) construct pu_fg fifth generation (5g) network indicator for measuring or representing perceived usefulness (pu) construct pu_iot internet of things (iot) indicator for measuring or representing perceived usefulness (pu) construct perceived ease of use (peou) peou_ai artificial intelligence (ai) indicator for measuring or representing perceived ease of use (peou) construct peou_bd big data (bd) indicator for measuring or representing perceived ease of use (peou) construct peou_bc blockchain (bc) indicator for measuring or representing perceived ease of use (peou) construct peou_cc cloud computing (cc) indicator for measuring or representing perceived ease of use (peou) construct peou_fg fifth generation (5g) network indicator for measuring or representing perceived ease of use (peou) construct peou_iot internet of things (iot) indicator for measuring or representing perceived ease of use (peou) construct 61 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal intention to use (itu) itu_ai artificial intelligence (ai) indicator for measuring or representing intention to use (itu) construct itu_bd big data (bd) indicator for measuring or representing intention to use (itu) construct itu_bc blockchain (bc) indicator for measuring or representing intention to use (itu) construct itu_cc cloud computing (cc) indicator for measuring or representing intention to use (itu) construct itu_fg fifth generation (5g) network indicator for measuring or representing intention to use (itu) construct itu_iot internet of things (iot) indicator for measuring or representing intention to use (itu) construct note. the table helps to understand the acronym used for each item. the items are the six technologies while the constructs are perceived usefulness (pu), perceived ease of use (peou), and intention to use (itu). methods hypothesis testing the study was guided by three research questions (rq1, rq2, and rq3) with each having two hypotheses (nullh0 and alternateha) which measured the relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ perceived ease of use (peou), the leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) and intention to use (itu) the technologies, and the leaders’ perceived ease of use (peou) and intention to use (itu) the technologies. bevans (2022) explained that p-values are used in hypothesis testing to help decide whether to reject or accept a hypothesis. the most common p-value threshold is 0.05. any hypothesis result with p-value that was less than 0.05 (p<0.05) was considered significant and accepted, however, any hypothesis result with p-value that was greater than 0.05 (p>0.05) was considered insignificant and rejected. kendall rank-order correlation coefficient was selected as the test statistic for each hypothesis. research questions and hypotheses rq1: what is the relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ perceived ease of use (peou) of the technologies? 62 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 h10 there is no relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ perceived ease of use (peou) of the technologies h1a there is a relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ perceived ease of use (peou) of the technologies rq2: what is the relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ intention to use (itu) the technologies? h20 there is no relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ intention to use (itu) the technologies h2a there is a relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ intention to use (itu) the technologies rq3: what is the relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceived ease of use (peou) of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ intention to use (itu) the technologies? h30 there is no relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceived ease of use (peou) of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ intention to use (itu) the technologies h3a there is a relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceived ease of use (peou) of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ intention to use (itu) the technologies models fourth industrial revolution technology acceptance model (firtam) and the cognitive model (cm) were the two research models that guided the study. fourth industrial revolution technology acceptance model (firtam) figure 1 shows the fourth industrial revolution technology acceptance model (firtam) adapted from the technology acceptance model (tam) of davis and venkatesh (1996) and koul and eydgahi (2018). the firtam applied the tam to the domain of fourth industrial revolution technologies in order to build more specificity by examining relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceptions and the leaders’ intention to use the fourth industrial revolution technologies. 63 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal figure 1 note. this fourth industrial revolution technology acceptance model (firtam) explains the impact of technology users’ perceptions on their acceptance of the fourth industrial revolution technologies, which was transformed by ademola (2021) from koul and eydgahi (2018) and davis and venkatesh (1996). the cognitive model cognitive theory is based on the idea that people’s thoughts and beliefs influence their behaviors and responses (digiuseppe, david & venezia, 2016). the ease of using a new technology influences the users’ decision in adopting the technology while the difficulties in using a new technology influences the users’ decision in rejecting the technology (koul & eydgahi, 2018; arvie & tanaamah, 2019; primasari, sudjono, & abriani, 2019; bayraktaroglu, kahya, atay, & ilhan, 2019). instrumentation pilot study in order to gather the data required to assess the participants’ perceptions of the fourth industrial revolution technologies, a questionnaire was created based on questions adapted from previous researches by sevim, yuncu, and erogluhall (2017); koul and eydgahi (2018); diop, zhao, and duy 64 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 (2019) and lee, kriscenski, and lim (2019). the questionnaire was a 5-item likert scale survey instrument which was distributed through an online survey provider which allowed for downloading the results into an excel spreadsheet for further data analysis. the instrument measured three main constructs namely perceived usefulness (pu), perceived ease of use (peou), and the intention to use (itu) fourth industrial revolution technologies. a pilot study with 13 participants was subsequently conducted before the distribution of the questionnaire to 135 participants for full study participation. running a pilot study, according to bhandari (2022), helps test the validity and reliability of a questionnaire, catch any errors or confusing points, find if any questions were particularly difficult to answer, unclear or inconsistent, and make necessary changes before performing a full study. the 13 pilot study participants from organizations based in the united states helped ensure the interview questions were valid for meaningful data collection by reviewing the wordings of the questionnaire, pointing out any errors, and checking the clarity of the questions. the participants gave feedbacks in the comment section of the questionnaire. eleven (11) pilot study participants indicated that all the questions were clear and well understood while two (2) gave useful recommendations. responding to a security-related question in the questionnaire, the first of the two pilot study participants explained that the fourth industrial revolution technologies still had a long way to go before showing any proof of security and that the spread of 5g infrastructure in the rural areas was still lacking, consequently, most organizations would probably not invest in the technologies until they had more proven indicators that the technologies could add value to their companies’ operations. the second pilot study participant suggested that the questionnaire choices be randomized because of respondents’ tendency to argue positive bias if ‘strongly agree’ was at the top of the questionnaire choices, and negative bias if ‘strongly disagree’ was at the top of the choices. validation and reliability validity, according to field (2013), is defined as the determination of whether an instrument measures what it is designed to measure while reliability is defined as the determination of whether an instrument can be interpreted consistently across different situations. cronbach’s alpha and confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) statistical techniques were used to validate and confirm the consistency of internal reliability of the questionnaire items relating to perceived usefulness , perceived ease of use , and the intention to use (sujatha & sekkizhar, 2019). cronbach’s alpha technique the researcher tested the reliability of the survey instrument by computing the cronbach’s alpha coefficient using the statistical package for social science (spss) tool. based on the cronbach’s alpha coefficient, the questionnaire was tested to be reliable with the cronbach's alpha value of 0.805 (table 2). the cronbach's alpha’s value of 0.805 is acceptable as it is greater than the minimum value (0.70) recommended by hair et al. (2014). table 2 reliability statistical test using spss 65 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal reliability statistics cronbach's alpha cronbach's alpha based on standardized items n of items 0.805 0.813 18 internal consistency reliability testing of the three constructs (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and intention to use) in the survey instrument was done and the cronbach’s alpha values derived (table 3) satisfied the minimum required value (0.70) for acceptable internal consistency reliability. table 3 constructs’ cronbach’s alpha dimension cronbach's alpha α (95% ci) perceived usefulness (pu) 0.832 perceived ease of use (peou) 0.799 intention to use (itu) 0.781 confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) technique confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) was conducted using r statistical technique to determine specific goodness-of-fit measures such as the comparative fit index (cfi), tucker-lewis index (tli), root mean square error of approximation (rmsea), and standardized root mean square residual (srmr). while the comparative fit index (cfi) and tucker-lewis index (tli) are acceptable as they are below the recommended cut-off value of 0.95 (hu & bentler, 1999), the standardized root mean square residual (srmr) exceeds the acceptable value (< 0.08) recommended by hu & bentler (1999). the root mean square error of approximation (rmsea) exceeds the acceptable value (0.07) as recommended by steiger (2007). hence, the cfa results (table 4) indicate the survey instrument has internal inconsistencies that may impact the reliability of results. table 4 confirmatory factor analysis goodness of fit measures 66 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 goodness of fit index test statistic comparative fit index (cfi) 0.781 tucker-lewis index (tli) 0.747 root mean square error of approximation (rmsea) 0.123 90% ci (0.108; 0.138) standardized root mean square residual (srmr) 0.119 data collection and analysis the research study investigated the organizational leaders’ intention to use the fourth industrial revolution technologies based on the leaders’ perceptions of usefulness and ease of use of the technologies. quantitative research method was used to examine the relationship between the perceptions of organizational leaders about the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ acceptance of the technologies. a total of 135 participants responded to a 5-point-likert-scale questionnaire. the questionnaire was delivered through surveymonkey platform and data were collected from the organizational leaders who worked with companies within the united states. surveymonkey maintained a reliable panel of respondents by processing all responses with machine learning to check for quality and compliance with the research methodology and the confidentiality of the respondents (surveymonkey, 2021). population and sample selection using a confidence interval of 95%, margin error of 5%, and effect size of 0.3, the required sample size was calculated using g*power software (faul, erdfelder, buchner, & lang, 2009) to be 134. descriptive data a total of 135 respondents working within america-based organizations completed the survey. nine participants were disqualified for lack of leadership qualities. responses were converted to numeric values for the purpose of statistical data analysis. the raw survey data collected were coded and the results from the negatively-worded questions were reverse coded using the statistical package for social science (spss) tool (sonderen, sanderman, & coyne, 2013). the median time to complete (mtc) the survey was 2 minutes, 17 seconds while the margin of error was +/8.607%. the margin of error is a range of values above and below the actual survey results. the smaller the margin of error the higher the confidence level in the results (surveymonkey, 2021). 67 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal demographic profile of respondents age table 5 shows the age distribution of the respondents; 29.63% (40 respondents) of the sample is in 1829 age range, 17.04% (23 respondents) in 30-44 age range, 27.41% (37 respondents) in 45-60 age range, and 25.93% (35 respondents) in age range that is above 60 years. there was no participant below the age of 18. the highest age range of the respondents was 29.63% (40 respondents). table 5 ages of respondents age answer choices percentages number of respondents < 18 0.00% 0 18-29 29.63% 40 30-44 17.04% 23 45-60 27.41% 37 > 60 25.93% 35 total 135 gender the gender breakdown (table 6) shows there were 70 female respondents constituting 52% and 65 female respondents constituting 48% of the sample population. the total number of female participants was higher than the male by 5 respondents. table 6 percentage gender breakdown 68 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 gender percentages number of respondents male 48.15% 65 female 51.85% 70 total 135 american regions the survey participants were from 9 regions of the united states (table 7). the highest percentage (21.05%) of the respondents was from pacific region while the lowest percentage (1.50%) was from (west north central). two participants skipped the question about their region. table 7 regional locations of the respondents region percentage number of respondents east north central 15.79% 21 east south central 4.51% 6 middle atlantic 13.53% 18 mountain 12.78% 17 new england 0.75% 1 pacific 21.05% 28 south atlantic 18.05% 24 west north central 1.50% 2 west south central 12.03% 16 skipped 2 total 135 69 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal discussion and summary of findings based on the three research questions (rq1, rq2, and rq3) in the study, kendall correlation test was conducted to determine the relationship between the leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) and perceived ease of use (peou) in relation to rq1, between perceived usefulness (pu) and intention to use (itu) in relation to rq2, and between perceived ease of use (peou) and intention to use (itu) in relation to rq3. the three correlation test scenarios were conducted through the lens of the six fourth industrial revolution technologiesartificial intelligence (ai), big data (bd), blockchain (bc), cloud computing (cc), 5g network (fg), and internet of things (iot). as shown in table 8, for each technology, kendall correlation coefficient value (τ ) was generated with its corresponding p-value. if the corresponding p-value was less than 0.05 (p < 0.05), the hypothesis result was considered significant and accepted, however, if the corresponding p-value was greater than 0.05, the hypothesis result was considered insignificant and rejected. table 8 kendall’s correlation test results and decisions research question correlation hypothesis type zvalue tau (ʈ) pvalue hypothesis result decision rq1 (what is the relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ perceived ease of use (peou) of the technologies?) pu_ai-->peou_ai null (h10) rejected alternate (h1a) 3.4716 0.2681353 0.0005174 statistically significant accepted pu_bd-->peou_bd null (h10) rejected alternate (h1a) 3.965 0.3082377 7.34e-05 statistically significant accepted pu_bc -->peou_bc null (h10) rejected alternate (h1a) 5.735 0.4470702 9.75e-09 statistically significant accepted pu_cc -->peou_cc null (h10) rejected alternate (h1a) 4.5339 0.3514791 5.79e-06 statistically significant accepted pu_fg -->peou_fg null (h10) rejected 70 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 alternate (h1a) 5.5154 0.4243429 3.48e-08 statistically significant accepted pu_iot -->peou_iot null (h10) rejected alternate (h1a) 6.5581 0.5256835 5.45e-11 statistically significant accepted rq2 (what is the relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ intention to use (itu) the technologies?) pu_ai -->itu_ai null (h20) accepted alternate (h2a) 0.67703 0.0510185 0.4984 insignificant rejected pu_bd -->itu_bd null (h20) accepted alternate (h2a) 1.2744 0.0987181 0.2025 insignificant rejected pu_bc -->itu_bc null (h20) accepted alternate (h2a) 0.74675 0.0587028 0.4552 insignificant rejected pu_cc -->itu_cc null (h20) rejected alternate (h2a) 4.2688 0.3342134 1.97e-05 statistically significant accepted pu_fg -->itu_fg null (h20) accepted alternate (h2a) 1.0004 0.0757775 0.3171 insignificant rejected pu_iot -->itu_iot null (h20) accepted alternate (h2a) 0.08433 0.0065714 0.9328 insignificant rejected 71 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal research question correlation hypothesis type zvalue tau (ʈ) pvalue hypothesis result decision rq3 (what is the relationship between the organizational leaders’ perceived ease of use (peou) of the fourth industrial revolution technologies and the leaders’ intention to use (itu) the technologies?) peou_ai ->itu_ai null (h30) accepted alternate (h3a) 0.59474 0.045596 0.552 insignificant rejected peou_bd ->itu_bd null (h30) accepted alternate (h3a) 0.18825 0.0145997 0.8507 insignificant rejected peou_bc ->itu_bc null (h30) accepted alternate (h3a) 0.25371 0.0198619 0.7997 insignificant rejected peou_cc ->itu_cc null (h30) rejected alternate (h3a) 3.4767 0.270338 0.0005076 statistically significant accepted peou_fg ->itu_fg null (h30) rejected alternate (h3a) 3.9534 0.2988926 7.71e-05 statistically significant accepted peou_iot ->itu_iot null (h30) accepted alternate (h3a) 1.2202 0.0948238 0.2224 insignificant rejected theoretical and practical implications the practical implication of the positive and statistically significant results mentioned is that businesses need to start engaging stakeholders by sensitizing them on the importance of the use of cloud computing and 5g wireless network technologies. failure to do so would mean that organizational leaders would refuse to deploy new technologies that would benefit businesses. the non-statistically significant results make it difficult to know the true perceptions of the organizational leaders. it is very important to first of all establish that organizational leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) and perceived ease of use (peou) 72 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 have impacts on the leaders’ intention to use (itu) the technologies before proffering any real-world solutions. consequently, it is recommended that researchers repeat the study at another time to see if there could be different results from the ones found in the current study as it is possible that the knowledge about the technologies could have increased and consequently influenced the organizational leaders’ acceptance of the technologies research limitations and assumptions limitations • although, the research population was narrowed to only american employees who occupied leadership positions in their various organizations, the population selected is still considered to be too broad. it is strongly recommended that future researchers narrow the population to leaders from specific industries such as telecommunications, oil and gas, health, and banking. • regardless of the acceptable value of the cronbach’s alpha achieved, the survey instrument was still found to be less than optimum when evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis (cfa). the cfa results in table 5 indicate the survey instrument has internal inconsistencies that could affect the accuracy of the results. assumptions • survey participants would respond to each question truthfully • the survey instrument would accurately measure the perceived usefulness (pu), perceived ease of use (peou), and the intention to use (itu) the technologies • survey respondents would be organizational leaders who truly worked with companies within the united states of america recommendations for action future research could include the replication of the study to include the impact of the age of the participants on the participants’ intention to use new technologies and in different geographical locations. the study could help decision makers prepare for any form of oppositions that might erupt from organizational leaders in the process of migrating to new technologies. organizational leaders might use the study as a reference when developing guidelines for implementing the fourth industrial revolution technologies initiatives. it is strongly recommended that technology industry experts who already understand the great benefits of the fourth industrial revolution technologies create more awareness about the benefits and the importance of adopting new technologies. conclusion 73 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal although the emergence of the fourth industrial revolution technologies comes along with different fears and concerns, organizational leaders and other industry stakeholders should consider 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(2018). the fourth industrial revolution: opportunities and challenges. international journal of financial research. register and submit your work to business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master’s/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master’s degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ abstract background of the study literature review internet of things (iot) technology methods hypothesis testing research questions and hypotheses the cognitive model instrumentation validation and reliability confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) technique data collection and analysis population and sample selection demographic profile of respondents age gender american regions discussion and summary of findings based on the three research questions (rq1, rq2, and rq3) in the study, kendall correlation test was conducted to determine the relationship between the leaders’ perceived usefulness (pu) and perceived ease of use (peou) in relation to rq1, between pe... theoretical and practical implications the practical implication of the positive and statistically significant results mentioned is that businesses need to start engaging stakeholders by sensitizing them on the importance of the use of cloud computing and 5g wireless network technologies. ... research limitations and assumptions limitations recommendations for action 29 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal the manipulation of merchandise returns: a strategic approach in the furniture industry kari-jo koshes, dba | jmx brands, sarasota, fl contact: kjkoshes@aol.com abstract abstract customer merchandise return rates represent a high cost to organizations, with product return rates exceeding 50% of sales and representing over $351 billion annually. the author studied the strategies used by online retail furniture companies to reduce customer merchandise return rates and utilized a qualitative case study to explore the organism’s response to an environmental stimulus based on the social cognitive theory. the study presented the influence of the consumer’s emotional state on perceived risk and the relationship with the post-purchase cognitive dissonance phenomenology by collecting data from six employees of a sarasota, florida, online retail furniture company and using a structured interview. the author recorded, translated, coded the data, and used the interview responses to uncover the top emerging strategic approaches that reduce product return rates, which include understanding customer needs, policy and procedure, and product accuracy and clarity. the study identified several implications from the findings, including improved customer relationships that emphasize customer satisfaction, greater social change that highlights a customer-centric organization approach, and enhanced organizational success that influences a firm’s financial health. keywords: merchandise return rates, social cognitive theory, post-purchase cognitive dissonance, qualitative case study 30 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 introduction the prevalence of customer product returns in the united states is staggering. rintamaki et al. (2021) found that customer merchandise returns represent over $351 billion a year, with returned products exceeding 50% of online sales (hjort et al., 2019). evaluating the effectiveness of manipulating customer product returns provides insight into the relationship between a customer and a business. the author completed the study by conducting a structured interview with online retail furniture employees in sarasota, florida, who work in the customer experience field. the study used a qualitative case study to answer the research question, what strategies do online retail furniture companies use to reduce customer merchandise return rates? the author expanded on prior research on the rate of customer merchandise returns by evaluating an online furniture retailer’s ability to decrease customer product returns. review of the literature organizations are motivated to examine why consumers return products because of the high percentage of consumers concerned about the risk. lin et al. (2020) determined that analyses on product return motivation could help organizations understand shopping behavior and increase sales. the authors generalized the indicators that influence customer return behavior as extrinsic and intrinsic motivators that stem from cognitive, social, biological, and emotional cues. customers motivated by extrinsic factors seek outcomes or results to stimulate decision-making, and customers motivated by intrinsic factors seek self-fulfillment or mastery to stimulate decision-making. the authors produced three categories to classify customer merchandise return intention: perceived behavior control, attitude, and subjective norm. organizations experience product returns for many reasons, including unrealistic product expectations, poor product quality, wrong product, and delivery issues. researchers discovered that unrealistic product expectations generate merchandise returns because of misalignments of the actual product and the anticipated product, causing frustration and disappointment (brison et al., 2020). the authors determined that poor product quality causes product returns because the merchandise does not meet the customer’s performance standards and does not meet the product norms promoted by the company (sikora, 2021). researchers revealed that wrong product purchases motivate product returns because customers receive a product they did not order and do not want or need (abdollahi et al., 2020). the authors ascertained that delivery issues stimulate merchandise returns because the product arrives in an unacceptable condition or the customer encounters scheduling issues (lok et al., 2019). the literature review topics included unrealistic product expectations, poor product quality, wrong product, and delivery issues. the literature subtopics included why the topic influences product returns, options to 31 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal reduce the influence on product returns, a weakness of the current research, and a strength of the current research. unrealistic product expectations a customer’s expectations of a product shape the consumer’s decision to return an online purchase. nitsche and gerlach (2020) described unrealistic expectations as an overestimation caused by information asymmetries, which negatively influence organizational acceptance. customers rely on implied and expressed messages to guide purchasing behavior, and when the product does not match the description, the result is a dissatisfied customer. nitsche and gerlach determined that unrealistic product expectations occur because of intentional or unintentional organizational practices (brison et al., 2020). firms that design intentional organizational practices to produce unrealistic product expectations create an environment of deception. deceptive practices occur when a retailer uses ambiguous messaging, misleading terminology, and insufficient information to convince customers of an untruth. an organization that utilizes deceptive practices violates ethical standards and misleads consumers (bozkurt & gligor, 2019). the customer reacts to the dissatisfaction by reestablishing equilibrium, resulting in a merchandise return (russo et al., 2019). poor product quality a customer’s assessment of product quality shapes the decision to return an online purchase. lin et al. (2020) cited the international standards of organizations, which stated that a product’s quality describes the generic characteristics of an item and the acceptance of a customer of the characteristics. daroch et al. (2021) stated that product quality remains the primary worry of online customers. researchers discovered that product quality ranks as one of the most significant factors influencing product returns, with online shoppers affected more because of a lack of physical contact with the product before purchase. several causes of product quality issues include decay, damage, and defects, which lead to increased product return rates because of a deviation of expected merchandise quality. organizations experience decay issues because of increased production time and delays in manufacturing and distribution to the end-user (cankaya, 2020). firms face damages because of improper handling and inefficient communication between the supplier and the purchaser (sikora, 2021). businesses endure defects because of improper staff training and machine errors that cause flaws in the production cycle (vo et al., 2019). wrong product a customer’s assessment of the receipt of the wrong product shapes the decision to return an online purchase. in a study performed on retail consumers, 20% of participants admitted to purchasing the wrong product, with 38% feeling frustrated because of the purchase (abdollahi et al., 2020). researchers dang and pham (2018) stated that a wrong product purchase occurs when a customer receives merchandise that does not match the product ordered. dang and pham revealed that the perceived risk of wrong product purchase transpires when consumers believe they must keep the order. the perceived risk of a wrong product purchase for a firm occurs when a customer returns the order (parihar et al., 2019). chalotra (2018) studied the wrong product purchase responsibility from the firm’s 32 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 perspective and assessed the errors caused by an organization that causes a customer to receive a wrong product, while o’reilly et al. (2018) researched the wrong product purchase responsibility from the customer’s perspective and assessed the errors caused by the consumer that cause a customer to receive a wrong product. both researchers determined that the responsibility for a wrong product purchase arises when an error occurs during the order processing stage. delivery issues a customer’s assessment of a delivery issue shapes the decision to return an online purchase. firms use order fulfillment to describe the transportation process between a source and a predetermined destination (lin et al., 2020). organizations use order fulfillment in an e-commerce context to demarcate the warehouse and delivery phases of the supply chain. businesses use order fulfillment as a fundamental component in shaping customer behavior, and the success of this phase of the order process affects the shopping experience. organizations describe order fulfillment as order selection, order acceptance, and order delivery, and firms measure the contribution to the overall customer-perceived performance of the product and the firm (kautish & sharma, 2019). rantala et al. (2020) performed a qualitative case study on customer behavior in business-to-business markets to understand the influence of value-based selling on consumer intentions. the authors utilized the research question to uncover the value requirements necessary to influence customer decisionmaking using data derived from consumer interactions. rantala et al. discovered that the salesperson’s goal must align with the most cost-effective and suitable customer solution and rely on sales knowledge to influence consumer behavior. the author aligned the study with rantala et al.’s research because of the shared methodology and the focus on environmental influences on customer intentionality. rantala et al. (2020) performed a qualitative case study on customer behavior in business-to-business markets to understand the influence of value-based selling on consumer intentions. the authors utilized the research question to uncover the value requirements necessary to influence customer decisionmaking using data derived from consumer interactions. rantala et al. discovered that the salesperson’s goal must align with the most cost-effective and suitable customer solution and rely on sales knowledge to influence consumer behavior. the author aligned the study with rantala et al.’s research because of the shared methodology and the focus on environmental influences on customer intentionality. research question the study explored the post-purchase cognitive dissonance phenomenology to answer the research question, what strategies do online retail furniture companies use to reduce customer merchandise return rates? brooksbank and fullerton (2020) described post-purchase cognitive dissonance phenomenology as a perceived discrepancy between cognitions that influence belief, perception, and attitude. panwar and khan (2020) observed this phenomenon in after-sales negotiations in which heightened brain activity caused customers’ emotional states to question the fairness of a deal. brooksbank and fullerton (2020) discovered that post-purchase cognitive dissonance occurs when a purchase includes customization, competitive efforts, or high costs, which increases the buyer’s perceived risk. a buyer’s cognitive state guides decision-making, and the post-purchase dissonance phenomenology motivates buyer remorse and subsequent merchandise returns. 33 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal the paper investigated online retail furniture companies’ strategies to reduce product return rates while demonstrating the relationship between the merchandise return reduction strategies, the problem statement, and phenomenology. the research question supports the problem statement by providing techniques for organizations to reduce merchandise return rates and improve organizational financial health. the author aligned the post-purchase cognitive dissonance phenomenology with the research question by reviewing cognitive customer states and the resulting decisions that influence product return rates. findings of the study the qualitative case study aimed to determine if a firm can decrease product return rates by applying a strategic approach. the author demonstrated the significance of the study to address the high rate of product returns, which exceeds $351 billion annually (hjort et al., 2019). the study asked, what strategies do online retail furniture companies use to reduce customer merchandise return rates? the author related the research question to the problem statement by addressing the ability of a firm to manipulate product return rates. the author interviewed six participants in 45-minute structured interview sessions to collect information on strategies to reduce customer merchandise return rates. the voice memo tool recorded and documented the interviews, while microsoft word transcribed and coded the data. the author measured the frequency of the responses and isolated three emerging themes to address the research question. table 1 shows the participants’ demographic data. table 1 participant summary participant summary no. of participants no. of female participants no. of male participants participants contacted participants responded response rate 6 3 3 6 6 100% theme 1: understanding customer needs the study discovered the emergent theme of understanding customers’ needs as a strategy to reduce product returns in interviews with all six participants. understanding customer needs ranked as the most frequent participant response for reducing customer merchandise returns with a 44.19% total response rate. nonaka and takeuchi (2021) explored the strategies of fast retailing’s ceo, yanai, and identified meeting the customer’s needs as the first principle to support the soul of an organization. rajaraman (2021) stated that a business could no longer choose to meet the customer’s needs but must do so to ensure the organization’s survival. sajjanit and rompho (2019) discovered the importance of a customer orientation strategy in retail that placed the customer’s needs first as a differentiator for measuring merchandise return performance metrics. 34 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 evolving needs. the participants were coded as p1-p6. participant six, who was coded as p6, answered interview question one, how do you prepare yourself to reduce customer merchandise returns, by addressing the customer’s needs. p6 stated, “remind myself that i’m walking the line between what the company wants and needs and what the customer wants and needs.” p6 revealed the importance of understanding the customer’s needs throughout the order process and the significance of specific consideration before the purchase and after delivery. tresna et al. (2021) stated that dissatisfaction that leads to product returns stems from a firm misunderstanding a customer’s needs during the many stages of the sale. trena et al. determined that a firm may not meet a customer’s need during the sale stage because of unrealistic product expectations that lead to purchasing the wrong product. trena et al. revealed that a firm might not meet a customer’s need after the product delivery because of e-commerce policies that do not support product exchange. p2 answered interview question six, how do you tailor your strategy for reducing customer merchandise returns to different scenarios by exploring the necessity of customizing a strategy to decrease customer product returns based on the customer’s needs. p2 revealed that once a customer decides to return the merchandise, the organization must develop a unique solution to discourage the product return. p2 exemplified this concept by stating that when a customer experiences a shipping issue, an employee can offer a discount to meet the customer’s needs. haverila et al. (2020) described a tailored response to a customer’s needs as a demonstration of empathy. haverila et al. explained that preventing customer dissatisfaction starts with understanding the customer’s needs and delivering a personalized experience. misunderstanding needs. p5 answered question seven, what else do you want to offer about reducing customer merchandise returns, by exploring the organization’s responsibility to confirm the purchase with the buyer before placing the order to ensure the firm does not misunderstand the customer’s needs. p5 recommended inviting a product specialist, a service specialist, and the customer to participate in a three-way call to examine the customers’ needs and the probability of the product solving the need. chudhury and gulati (2020) presented the kano model as a technique for evaluating customer’s needs, and the authors highlighted the critical components of product and service. chudhury and gulati (2020) corroborated p5’s claim that multiple employees with differing skill sets must meet with the customer to assess and understand the buyer’s needs more accurately. p1 identified the influence of misunderstanding customers’ needs on the percentage of customer merchandise return rates. p1 described a customer with a time sensitivity need and that the discovery of this need after a late product delivery frequently leads to a dissatisfied customer and a subsequent product return. ritola et al. (2020) classified the time-sensitivity customer need as operational information that drives the efficiency and effectiveness of return policies. ritola et al. explained that operational information creates value for the customer and the firm by reducing the uncertainty and costs associated with merchandise returns. table 3 provides an understanding customer needs analysis. 35 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 3 understanding customer needs analysis understanding customer needs analysis participant interview question total count of references p1 3,5 3 p2 6 1 p3 1,6 2 p4 3 2 p5 4,6,7 4 p6 1,3,4,6 7 total 19 theme 2: policy and procedure in the interviews with all six participants, the author discovered the emergent theme of an established policy and procedure as a strategy to reduce product returns. policy and procedure ranked as the second most frequent participant response for reducing customer merchandise returns with a 37.21% total response rate. urban et al. (2020) explored the benefits of customer product return policy and procedure to develop an effective organizational strategy. urban et al. highlighted the advantages of evaluating customer product return behaviors stemming from policy and applied deep learning approaches to create better merchandise return procedures. rathod (2021) demonstrated the advantages of a product return policy to decrease merchandise returns by refusing returns after 30-days past the delivery date. standardization. p2 answered interview question two, what types of training have you received to reduce customer merchandise returns by commenting on the policies and procedures adopted by the firm and the effectiveness of implementing a standard process for reducing customer product return rates. p2 explained that the firm’s product return policy requires that the customer pay a 15% restocking fee and the cost of shipping, which discourages merchandise returns. zhao et al. (2020) researched the influence of lenient return policies and procedures and determined that the more lenient the policy, the more significant the percentage of impulse buys. zhao et al. reviewed firms with lenient product return policies and identified a correlation between lenient policies and increased non-defective product returns. 36 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 p4 answered interview question four, what strategies have you successfully used to reduce customer merchandise returns by addressing policies and procedures. p4 stated, “i also think following the procedures or protocols listed out by the company has helped to be successful. customers purchasing their items can see these policies and procedures before deciding to purchase.” wang et al. (2020) explored a product return policy’s ability to differentiate a firm and establish an organizational competitive advantage. wang et al. (2020) stated that merchandise return policies and procedures decrease a consumer’s inherent risk and incentivize purchase intentions. wang et al. claimed that establishing a product return policy remains vital for e-commerce success because the policy serves as a motivator for the initial purchase and a driver of customer satisfaction. p3 stated that adopting a product return policy has influenced the firm’s product offerings by highlighting products with high rates of return. p3 explained that the firm discourages merchandise returns by analyzing the most returned items and eliminating products with a high probability of return. lin et al. (2020) revealed that a product return policy provides insight into customer return behavior and enhances merchandise return management. lin et al. utilized a structural equation modeling approach to explore practical implications, like only offering excellent products to decrease merchandise returns. flexibility. p6 answered research question five, what strategies have you unsuccessfully used to reduce customer merchandise returns, by explaining that the most effective product return policy and procedure must incorporate the flexibility necessary to address the customer’s merchandise concern. p6 described the importance of a mutually beneficial outcome for the customer and the company and stated that the firm must compromise to ensure all parties are satisfied with the resolution. abbey et al. (2018) revealed the downfall of firms that create a universal approach to product returns that lacks consideration for customer behaviors and loyalty. abbey et al. claimed that the most effective means of managing customer merchandise returns tightens restrictions on the likeliest return offenders, including customers who engage in return abuse and fraud. abbey et al. posited that organizations should reward customer loyalty and longevity by loosening return protocol to ensure a happy customer and encourage repeat patronage. table 4 provides the policy and procedure analysis. table 4 policy and procedure analysis policy and procedure analysis participant interview question total count of reference p1 2 2 p2 2 1 p3 4,6 5 p4 4 3 p5 1,4 3 37 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal p6 5 2 total 16 theme 3: product accuracy and clarity in the interviews with five participants, the author discovered the emergent theme of the importance of product accuracy and clarity as a strategy to reduce product returns. product accuracy and clarity ranked the third most frequent participant response for reducing customer merchandise returns with an 18.60% total response rate. gajewska et al. (2020) described product inaccuracy as one of the top three causes of customer dissatisfaction. le (2021) identified accurate merchandise information as a strong influence on purchase intention by helping customers select the correct products. wang (2020) revealed that accurate product information allows a firm to provide a suitable recommendation guide and reduce unsatisfied customers. reduce wrong product purchases. p3 explained the importance of providing accurate product information on the website to ensure the customer purchases the correct product and reduces product returns. p3 stated that an organization’s website should provide the customer with accurate product descriptions, pricing, and disclaimers. dang and pham (2018) discovered that a customer’s perceptions of an e-commerce company depend on website accuracy and reliable product information. dang and pham demonstrated that product clarity on the website influences purchase intention by simplifying the buying process and improving customer attitudes. additionally, dang and pham found that accurate product information reduces the customer perceived risk of purchasing the wrong product and significantly decreases the likelihood of a subsequent product return. p6 answered question three, as an online retail furniture company employee, have you ever observed any particular actions taken by your co-workers to reduce customer merchandise returns by describing the actions taken by the sales staff to provide clear merchandise information and offer realistic product expectations. p6 explained that clarity in product expectations helps to minimize the customer’s probability of receiving an incorrect item. stein and ramaseshan (2020) described product-specific information’s role in clearly influencing customer expectations. stein and ramaseshan identified utilitarian-oriented or efficiency-based customers as the most likely to utilize clear product information to decrease the likelihood of merchandise returns. influence shopper behavior. p1 answered interview question three, as an online retail furniture company employee, have you ever observed any particular actions taken by your co-workers to reduce customer merchandise returns by addressing product options. p1 stated, “making sure our website has a lot of customization options so they’re getting exactly what they need for the space they have and they’re not ordering something that they don’t.” p1 explored the importance of an online retailer to provide all product options to ensure the buyer selects the correct item. p1 stated that the availability of options improves customer satisfaction and reduces merchandise returns. todorovic et al. (2018) stated that well-represented merchandise options enhance the value of a website’s content. todorovic et al. 38 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 claimed that more options provide the customer with increased product possibilities, which increases the customer’s satisfaction with the company and the product. p5 revealed that the company and the customer must have product clarity to reduce merchandise returns. p5 explained that a company that does not understand the product could not effectively describe the merchandise to the customer. mumuni et al. (2019) described credibility as the extent to which a customer believes an organization and revealed that accurate product information increases the firm’s credibility. mumuni et al. explained that credibility plays a significant role in influencing consumer shopping behaviors, attitudes, and customer satisfaction. table 5 provides the product accuracy and clarity analysis. table 5 product accuracy and clarity analysis product accuracy and clarity analysis participant interview question total count of reference p1 3 1 p2 0 p3 1,3 4 p4 3 1 p5 7 1 p6 3 1 total 8 summary and conclusion the study uncovered several key findings regarding optimal strategies for decreasing merchandise return rates. the participants demonstrated that understanding customer needs remained the most common strategy, at 44.19%, and required an evaluation of the consumer’s evolving needs to avoid misunderstanding the buyer’s demands. the participants revealed that policy and procedure remained the second most common strategy, at 37.21%. participants highlighted the importance of standardization to enhance the effectiveness of the policy but the flexibility to tailor the procedure to the situation. the participants posited that product accuracy and clarity remained the third most common strategy, at 39 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 18.60%, and explained that accuracy reduces wrong product purchases by influencing shopping behavior. table 6 provides the emerging themes and frequencies. table 6 emerging themes and frequencies emerging themes and frequencies emerging theme frequency percentage of total understanding customer needs 19 44.19% policy and procedure 16 37.21% product accuracy and clarity 8 18.60% total 43 100% understanding customer needs the author revealed the importance of understanding customer needs as a tool to address customer merchandise return rates. the finding on the necessity of understanding customer needs substantiates makhitha and ngobeni’s (2021) assertion that an online company must embrace technology to match the customer’s needs with the suitability of a product to diminish product returns. the author contributes to the field of study by addressing the approach necessary to enhance the firm’s customer service performance. the study advances theoretical knowledge by supporting a strategic approach, influencing consumer behavior predictors. policy and procedure the author underscored the necessity of adopting policy and procedures for reducing product return rates. the study’s revelation of the significance of policy and procedure supports de las heras-rosas and herrera’s (2021) declaration that organizations actively pursuing trend identification discovered from an established product return procedure reduce threats to commerce. additionally, the author contributes to the significance of the field of study by supporting the means for increasing the profitability of 40 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 transactions. the research advances theoretical knowledge by encouraging self-regulation and selfreflection to expose compulsive behaviors. produce accuracy and clarity the author highlights the significance of product accuracy and clarity to decrease merchandise return rates. the discovery of the importance of product accuracy and clarity corroborates bozkurt and gligor’s (2019) statement that unrealistic product expectations derived from misplaced information or system errors lead to product dissatisfaction. the author contributes to the field of study by encouraging actions to influence the behavior characteristics of consumers. the study advances theoretical knowledge by addressing behavioral psychology based on targeted relationship parameters. additionally, the paper revealed similarities between the emerging themes, including the focus on manipulating customer behavior and the quest to improve the customer experience, and differences, including the customer and firm’s sense of responsibility. theoretical implications the study’s findings confirmed bandura’s (1986) sct framework by demonstrating the ability of an environmental stimulus to influence an organism’s response. the author answered the research question by explaining that an online furniture retailer embraces three strategic approaches to reduce customer merchandise returns: understanding customer needs, policy and procedure, and product accuracy and clarity. the author’s research presented the strategic approach as the environmental stimulus and the customer product return behavior as the organism’s response. there were several strengths and weaknesses of the research. one strength of the study was the data collection method, as the author received detailed responses afforded by an interview approach. a second strength was the qualitative methodology, as the author utilized the findings to address the phenomenology of post-purchase cognitive dissonance. one weakness of the study was the small sample size, which prevented the generalization of the results. a second weakness was the case study research design, which challenges applying the findings to different industries. implications for professional practice first, the study demonstrated that strategic approaches motivate consumer behaviors and enhance organizational success. the author presented a framework for identifying the most frequently adopted strategies for reducing product return rates and underscored the influence of decreasing return rates on a firm’s financial health. the participant’s responses provided applied strategic approaches, including product accuracy and clarity, that reduced unrealistic expectations and return rates while improving the firm’s financial success. second, the study introduced a concept for improving customer relationships by adopting an approach to motivate social change. the author presented a model that emphasizes client care and customer satisfaction to stimulate a rewarding shopping experience while demonstrating the effectiveness of strategic approaches to transform interactions between a firm and a customer. an organization must 41 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal embrace techniques including understanding customer needs to strengthen and manage relationships and determine product suitability, thereby reducing merchandise return rates. third, the research provided the findings to support the benefits of a customer-centric organizational approach. the overwhelming response from the participants in the study focused on the effects of an improved customer experience on the reduction of merchandise return rates. a firm’s ability to offer the necessary tools to fulfill the customer’s needs, develop processes and procedures, and deliver product accuracy and clarity, ensures the customer remains in the center of organizational operations. a company’s financial success stemming from the reduction of product return rates depends on customercentric behavior to ensure a positive customer experience. recommendations for future research for future research, the author recommends a quantitative study based on the effectiveness of the product return rate strategy. a quantitative methodology would increase the sample size and create more generalizable conclusions. the author also recommends a follow-up study on the strategic methods utilized by brick-and-mortar furniture retailers to compare the approaches used by various shopping channels. the author recommends a follow-up study that focuses on interviewing customers to determine the buyer’s opinions on the most effective strategic techniques to reduce product return rates to compare the perspectives of different groups. recommendations for practice the author recommends that online furniture retailers adopt a technique that ensures employees understand the customer’s needs by asking questions and confirming that the product meets the indicated needs. the author also recommends that decision-makers in a firm understand the customer’s needs to reduce wrong product deliveries because of misunderstanding and encourages constant communication to meet the evolving consumer needs throughout the order process. the author recommends that online furniture retailers develop policies and procedures to provide merchandise return guidelines for the company and the customer. the author recommends that an organization implement standardized practices to reduce a customer’s perceived purchase risk but allow flexibility to reward consumer longevity and motivate loyalty. a final recommendation is that the online furniture retailers ensure product accuracy and clarity to help facilitate a successful transaction and customer satisfaction. firms should verify the accuracy of website product content and employee product knowledge to reduce wrong product purchases and positively influence shopping behavior. 42 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 references abbey, 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(2020). is deep learning a game changer for marketing analytics? mit sloan management review, 61(2), 71-76. https://sloanreview.mit.edu vo, b., kongar, e., & barraza, m. f. s. (2019). kaizen event approach: a case study in the packaging industry. international journal of productivity and performance management, 68(7), 1343-1372. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm-07-2018-0282 wang, m. (2020). applying internet information technology combined with deep learning to tourism collaborative recommendation system. plos one, 15(12), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240656 wang, y., anderson, j., joo, s., & huscroft, j. r. (2020). the leniency of return policy and customers’ repurchase intention in online retailing. industrial management & data systems, 120(1), 21-39. https://doi.org/10.1108/imds-01-2019-0016 zhao, x., hu, s., & meng, x. (2020). who should pay for return freight in the online retailing? retailers or consumers. electronic commerce research, 20(2), 427-452. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-01909360-9 https://doi.org/10.358.8/ersj/2013 https://doi.org/10.1108/josm-04-2019-0113 https://doi.org/10.1108/josm-04-2019-0113 https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103481 http://buscompress.com/ https://sloanreview.mit.edu/ https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm-07-2018-0282 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240656 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240656 https://doi.org/10.1108/imds-01-2019-0016 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-019-09360-9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-019-09360-9 46 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 appendix a interview guide interview questions 1. how do you prepare yourself to reduce customer merchandise returns? 2. what types of training have you received to reduce customer merchandise returns? 3. as an online retail furniture company employee, have you ever observed any particular actions taken by your co-workers to reduce customer merchandise returns? 4. what strategies have you successfully used to reduce customer merchandise returns? 5. what strategies have you unsuccessfully used to reduce customer merchandise returns? 6. do you tailor your strategy for reducing customer merchandise returns to different scenarios? 7. what else do you want to offer about reducing customer merchandise returns? 47 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal register and submit your work to business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master’s/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master’s degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ abstract introduction the prevalence of customer product returns in the united states is staggering. rintamaki et al. (2021) found that customer merchandise returns represent over $351 billion a year, with returned products exceeding 50% of online sales (hjort et al., 2019... the author completed the study by conducting a structured interview with online retail furniture employees in sarasota, florida, who work in the customer experience field. the study used a qualitative case study to answer the research question, what s... review of the literature organizations are motivated to examine why consumers return products because of the high percentage of consumers concerned about the risk. lin et al. (2020) determined that analyses on product return motivation could help organizations understand shop... organizations experience product returns for many reasons, including unrealistic product expectations, poor product quality, wrong product, and delivery issues. researchers discovered that unrealistic product expectations generate merchandise returns ... unrealistic product expectations a customer’s expectations of a product shape the consumer’s decision to return an online purchase. nitsche and gerlach (2020) described unrealistic expectations as an overestimation caused by information asymmetries, which negatively influence organiz... poor product quality a customer’s assessment of product quality shapes the decision to return an online purchase. lin et al. (2020) cited the international standards of organizations, which stated that a product’s quality describes the generic characteristics of an item a... wrong product a customer’s assessment of the receipt of the wrong product shapes the decision to return an online purchase. in a study performed on retail consumers, 20% of participants admitted to purchasing the wrong product, with 38% feeling frustrated because o... delivery issues rantala et al. (2020) performed a qualitative case study on customer behavior in business-to-business markets to understand the influence of value-based selling on consumer intentions. the authors utilized the research question to uncover the value re... rantala et al. (2020) performed a qualitative case study on customer behavior in business-to-business markets to understand the influence of value-based selling on consumer intentions. the authors utilized the research question to uncover the value re... research question summary and conclusion the study uncovered several key findings regarding optimal strategies for decreasing merchandise return rates. the participants demonstrated that understanding customer needs remained the most common strategy, at 44.19%, and required an evaluation of ... understanding customer needs the author revealed the importance of understanding customer needs as a tool to address customer merchandise return rates. the finding on the necessity of understanding customer needs substantiates makhitha and ngobeni’s (2021) assertion that an onlin... policy and procedure the author underscored the necessity of adopting policy and procedures for reducing product return rates. the study’s revelation of the significance of policy and procedure supports de las heras-rosas and herrera’s (2021) declaration that organization... produce accuracy and clarity the author highlights the significance of product accuracy and clarity to decrease merchandise return rates. the discovery of the importance of product accuracy and clarity corroborates bozkurt and gligor’s (2019) statement that unrealistic product ex... theoretical implications the study’s findings confirmed bandura’s (1986) sct framework by demonstrating the ability of an environmental stimulus to influence an organism’s response. the author answered the research question by explaining that an online furniture retailer embr... there were several strengths and weaknesses of the research. one strength of the study was the data collection method, as the author received detailed responses afforded by an interview approach. a second strength was the qualitative methodology, as t... implications for professional practice first, the study demonstrated that strategic approaches motivate consumer behaviors and enhance organizational success. the author presented a framework for identifying the most frequently adopted strategies for reducing product return rates and under... second, the study introduced a concept for improving customer relationships by adopting an approach to motivate social change. the author presented a model that emphasizes client care and customer satisfaction to stimulate a rewarding shopping experie... third, the research provided the findings to support the benefits of a customer-centric organizational approach. the overwhelming response from the participants in the study focused on the effects of an improved customer experience on the reduction of... recommendations for future research for future research, the author recommends a quantitative study based on the effectiveness of the product return rate strategy. a quantitative methodology would increase the sample size and create more generalizable conclusions. the author also recomm... recommendations for practice the author recommends that online furniture retailers adopt a technique that ensures employees understand the customer’s needs by asking questions and confirming that the product meets the indicated needs. the author also recommends that decision-make... the author recommends that online furniture retailers develop policies and procedures to provide merchandise return guidelines for the company and the customer. the author recommends that an organization implement standardized practices to reduce a cu... references appendix a 16 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal toxic leadership and organizational commitment in faith-based healthcare organizations franchetta evans honer, dba | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, united states jodine marie burchell, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, united states contact: jodine.burchell@columbiasouthern.edu | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 abstract in response to increasing cultural diversity at faith-based healthcare organizations, sincere, responsive, and sensitive leadership is critical to ensuring the organizational commitment of african american employees. research was lacking on the relationship between toxic leadership and organizational commitment within faith-based healthcare settings. further, little research existed on the ways toxic leadership affects the organizational commitment of african american workers. the purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental, correlational study was to examine the relationship between toxic leadership and organizational commitment among african american employees of faith-based healthcare organizations. this study's theoretical framework was based on schmidt's toxic leadership theory and allen and meyer's organizational commitment theory. the variables for this study included toxic leadership and organizational commitment, categorized as affective, continuance, or normative commitment. the sample consisted of 84 african american employees of faith-based healthcare organizations working in central florida. data were collected via an online survey consisting of the organizational commitment questionnaire and schmidt's toxic leadership scale. the analysis consisted of three correlation tests to examine the relationship between (a) toxic leadership and (b) organizational commitment scales (affective, continuance, and normative). results of the spearman correlations indicated no statistically significant associations between toxic leadership and affective commitment or normative commitment. there was a significant, inverse association between toxic leadership and continuance commitment. although more research is needed to understand toxic leadership and organizational commitment in faith-based facilities, the current study provides a foundation for future investigations. keywords: healthcare, faith-based healthcare, organizational commitment, toxic leadership mailto:jodine.burchell@columbiasouthern.edu https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 17 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 introduction/background in response to increasing cultural diversity at faith-based healthcare organizations, sincere, responsive, and sensitive leadership is critical to ensuring the organizational commitment of african american employees (shelton et al., 2017). business administrators must understand and detect toxic leadership, as it can undermine an organization's mission, practice, and general work culture (singh et al., 2018). toxic leaders may employ methods that do not align with the overarching values of faith-based organizations (billings, 2020; jones, 2017; scroggins, 2019), thereby undermining workers' organizational commitment (kılıç & günsel, 2019; yaghi, 2019; yalçınsoy & işık, 2018). toxic leadership describes leadership behaviors that create unhealthy organizational cultures: intimidation, bullying, refusal to take feedback, and single-minded priorities (singh et al., 2018). organizational commitment is an understanding of employees' attachment to their employing organizations (allen & meyer, 1990). faith-based organizations are individuals united by religious or spiritual beliefs (abara et al., 2015). according to glowacki-dudka and griswold (2016), ineffective, inappropriate, or misaligned leadership can be detrimental to organizational performance (glowackidudka & griswold, 2016). the adverse effects of toxic leadership on african american employees can include poor communication, misperceptions, marginalization or stigmatization, perceptions of inequity, low job satisfaction, racial microaggressions, and reduced work performance (abara et al., 2015). research indicates that strong leadership and committed employees are essential to creating and managing a diverse workforce within the healthcare industry (etowa & debs-ivall, 2017). in addition to toxic leadership, the dependent variables for this study included organizational commitment, categorized as affective, continuance, or normative commitment. the sample population for this study was african american employees of faith-based healthcare organizations working in central florida. the researcher explored workers' experiences with toxic leadership more fully, as it intersected with race and faith. the researcher collected data via an online survey consisting of demographic questions, the organizational commitment questionnaire (ocq; meyer & allen, 1991) and schmidt's (2008) toxic leadership scale (tls). because toxic leaders who lack cultural sensitivity can create poor organizational climates that undermine relationships with minority staff (shelton et al., 2017), it is also essential to examine how toxic leadership can influence the organizational commitment of minority employees. accordingly, the sample consisted of african american employees of faithbased healthcare organizations. summary of the literature worker turnover within healthcare settings has significant economic, social, and organizational implications. healthcare workers' shortage has become an increasing problem worldwide, resulting in high economic costs associated with recruiting and training replacement workers (manzano-garcía & ayala-calvo, 2014). for example, by 2030, the nursing shortage is expected to reach 9 million (goodare, 2017). also, the quality of patient care is significantly undermined by high healthcare worker turnover (tsai et al., 2017). because healthcare is one of the fast-growing industries, addressing worker turnover is increasingly pertinent (magwenzi, 2018). worker turnover can be significantly impacted by toxic or destructive leadership. 18 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal toxic leadership leadership researchers often examine the construct of leadership through a positive lens, emphasizing the potential benefits of inspiring, motivating, and transformational leaders (bell, 2017). leaders are viewed as mentors and role models who can positively transform employees and entire organizations (magwenzi, 2018). however, a growing body of research points to destructive leadership's potential problems, also known as toxic leadership. common traits of toxic leaders include unethical behavior, oppressive management, self-promotion, anger, and egotistical administrative behaviors (abbas & saad, 2020). as hitchcock (2015) explained, "abusive leaders blame, divide, marginalize, undermine, and intimidate employees" (p. 20). toxic leaders often possess egotistical attitudes and demonstrate aggressiveness and self-centered orientations (mehta & maheshwari, 2013). toxic leaders are most likely to blame others when things go wrong rather than taking ownership of their mistakes (hitchcock, 2015). intimidation, bullying, narcissism, authoritarianism, superiority, and low self-esteem are other common traits of toxic leaders (güldü & aksu, 2016). further, toxic leaders often manipulate followers to take action that advances their personal agendas, regardless of the effects such action may have on followers or organizations (padilla et al., 2007). toxic leaders often fail to recognize their leadership's negative effects on subordinates, undermining their abilities to guide, mentor, and train employees (abbas & saad, 2020). celmece and isiklar (2017) described toxic leaders as "malevolent, maladjusted, malcontent, and harmful" (p. 9), as well as mocking, immoral, unreliable, hypocritical, and greedy individuals who do not recognize their shortcomings because of their arrogance. schmidt (2008) suggested toxic leadership is composed of five dimensions: abusive leadership, authoritarian leadership, narcissism, self-promotion, and unpredictability. these five dimensions can significantly predict employee outcomes, such as turnover intentions, job satisfaction, and satisfaction with supervisors (schmidt, 2008). based on schmidt's toxic leadership theory, schmidt's toxic leadership scale (tls) was created (schmidt, 2008). effects of toxic leadership toxic leadership can have many negative effects on workers and organizations. for example, toxic leaders' hostile behaviors toward their subordinates can create anxiety among workers and damage organizations' administrative structures (reyhanoğlu & akin, 2016). according to abbas and saad (2020), toxic leaders can undermine administrative and organizational processes, employees' mental and physical health, and worker efficacy. these destructive leaders can also foster dysfunctional group behaviors, employee absenteeism and tardiness, and turnover and resignation (abbas & saad, 2020). hadadian and zarei (2016) found toxic leadership was positively correlated with employee stress, poor employee-leader relationships, and decreased organizational performance. toxic leaders can also contribute to costly employee turnover (duffield et al., 2015). for every ten leaders and employees who leave an organization because of toxic leadership, organizations' costs can surpass $1,000,000 (march, 2016). because of the negative effects of toxic leaders throughout entire organizations, organizations must detect and eradicate it. a challenge with addressing toxic leadership is that toxic leaders are often unaware of their behaviors' negative effects on their subordinates and organizations (roter, 2012). 19 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 toxic leadership within healthcare little research has been conducted on the effects of toxic leadership within the healthcare sector; however, the few existing studies indicate several negative consequences for healthcare workers, organizations, and patients. toxic leadership behaviors are increasingly common within stressed and overloaded healthcare systems (magwenzi, 2018). the growing prevalence of toxic leadership within healthcare may be attributed to many factors, such as persistent shortages in healthcare workers, increased technology costs, and low reimbursement for healthcare costs (magwenzi, 2018). as magwenzi (2018) explained, "there is a history of indifference to toxic behaviors in healthcare that has been attributed to organizational tolerance, an unwritten code of silence, and the lack of willingness, initiative, skillset, and organizational structure needed to address toxic behaviors effectively" (p. 2). the consequences of toxic leadership in healthcare, including medical errors, adverse patient outcomes, and worker turnover, make addressing toxic leadership increasingly crucial within healthcare settings (roter, 2012). according to the joint commission (2016), workers who engage in toxic behaviors create the most significant legal liabilities for hospitals in the united states. organizational commitment organizational commitment is a multidimensional construct; thus, its predictors, correlations, and outcomes vary across the examined dimensions (meyer et al., 2002). meyer and allen (1991) developed a three-component organizational commitment model, consisting of affective commitment, normative commitment, and continuance commitment. these three components make up meyer and allen's (1991) organizational commitment questionnaire (ocq).affective commitment describes the degree to which an individual identifies and is involved with their employing organization. normative commitment describes a worker's feeling of obligation to stay with an organization. finally, continuance commitment refers to outside factors that keep an employee with an organization, as the cost of leaving is too great. drawing upon the three-component model, meyer et al. (2002) proposed that each component had distinct antecedents. the scholars suggested that the antecedents of affective commitment included personal characteristics and work experiences. antecedents of continuance commitment included individual characteristics, alternatives, and investments. finally, the antecedents of normative commitment included personal characteristics, socialization, experiences, and organizational investments. the only antecedent to span all three components, according to the scholars, was personal characteristics. three affective, continuance and normative commitment outcomes included turnover, work-related behaviors (i.e., attendance, performance, and organizational citizenship), and workers' health and well-being. effects of organizational commitment the organizational commitment of employees has many positive effects on workers and organizations. as celmece and isiklar (2017) explained, "employees who feel committed to their institution believe in the institution's objectives and values, carry out the orders and voluntarily perform what is expected of them" (p. 9). committed employees also tend to work harder to achieve organizational goals, are more likely to stay with an organization, and are intrinsically motivated (celmece & isiklar, 2017). organizational commitment can positively affect workers' performance and productivity, reduce 20 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal absenteeism, and improve work-related quality of life (celmece & isiklar, 2017). according to steers (1977) and mowday et al. (1982), organizational commitment outcomes include retention, reduced absenteeism, and improved job performance. within healthcare settings in response to healthcare workers' challenges and stressors, a growing body of research has emerged on organizational commitment within healthcare settings. for example, newman et al. (2016) examined organizational commitment concerning organizational support and staffing adequacy perceptions. the scholars found that organizational support partially mediated the relationship between perceptions of staffing adequacy and affective organizational commitment. in contrast, organizational support was a full mediator in the relationship between perceptions of flexible work schedules and affective organizational commitment. findings from newman et al.'s research emphasized the multidimensional characteristics of organizational commitment and the multitude of antecedents, mediators, and moderators that influence the construct. race, organizational commitment, and toxic leadership while researchers have explored how toxic leadership affects employees and organizations, less is known about its relationship with organizational commitment (yaghi, 2019). however, findings from available research indicate toxic leadership undermines workers' organizational commitment, resulting in increased worker turnover. as hitchcock (2015) explained, the behaviors of toxic leaders "create an environment that builds walls, and crushes creativity and loyalty" (p. 20). for example, findings from yaghi's (2019) interviews with seven senior executives from various industries revealed that toxic leadership within organizations significantly impacted turnover decisions. six participants had recently left their organizations because of toxic leadership, indicating that toxic leadership's adverse effects can span an organization's levels. as yaghi explained, holding senior-level positions within a firm does not guarantee organizational commitment, nor does it make workers impervious to toxic leaders' effects. accordingly, toxic leadership should be considered a problem affecting workers of all professional levels – from entry-level workers to senior executives. reyhanoğlu and akın (2016) also found toxic leaders had adverse effects on organizational climates, reducing workers' job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intention to stay with an organization. similar findings have been reported by balli and cakici (2016) and yalçınsoy and işık (2018). however, research lacks on how the effects of toxic leadership on organizational commitment may vary by race. an extensive review of the literature revealed a dearth of investigation on the relationships between these constructs. some scholars have studied the effects of toxic leadership on different groups, but not in the context of healthcare or with the intent of examining effects on organizational commitment. for example, scroggins (2019) studied how toxic and transformational leadership affected mentorship in african american pentecostal churches. findings revealed that toxic leadership was negatively associated with mentorship effectiveness, while the relationship between transformational leadership and effective mentorship was positive. 21 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 toxic leadership within faith-based organizations little research exists on the presence and effect of toxic leadership in faith-based organizations. however, findings from available studies reveal that faith-based organizations are not immune to toxic leadership's negative effects. for example, billings (2020) examined toxic leadership among pastors of mega-churches using a case study approach. a review of case studies of three mega-churches (mars hill, willow creek, and harvest bible) revealed occurrences of toxic leadership. it provided an important reminder that churches – or any other type of faith-based organization – are not immune to toxic leadership. toxic leadership in faith-based organizations may go unchecked when traditional hierarchal organizational structures are not present or under the assumption that leaders of faith-based organizations will not behave in destructive or toxic ways. further, as rainer (2014) explained, toxic leaders in faith-based organizations can get away with their behaviors because of charming and charismatic personalities. billings' research emphasized the importance of examining toxic leadership in faith-based organizations and elucidating the gap addressed in the current investigation. methods based on the background and literature review, the problem for this study is a lack of information regarding the relationship between toxic leadership and organizational commitment among african american workers in faith-based healthcare organizations. a quantitative, non-experimental, correlational approach was selected to examine relationships between study variables among african american workers in faith-based healthcare organizations. the variables of toxic leadership and organizational commitment were assessed via pre-validated numerical scales. research questions and hypotheses rq1. what is the relationship between toxic leadership and affective, continuance, and normative organizational commitment among african american members of faithbased healthcare organizations? h1o: there is no relationship between toxic leadership and affective, continuance, and normative organizational commitment among african american members of faithbased healthcare organizations. h1a: there is a relationship between toxic leadership and affective, continuance, and normative organizational commitment among african american members of faithbased healthcare organizations. data collection participants were recruited from groups on facebook and linkedin. the researcher searched for groups aimed at healthcare workers employed at both secular and faith-based organizations not to limit the search's scope. also, groups primarily targeted at african american healthcare workers were sought. after identifying the groups, the researcher contacted group moderators via email, explaining the study's 22 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal intent and seeking permission to post an email invitation to the group. after written permission was obtained from moderators, study invitations were posted to the group boards. the invitation contained a link to the informed consent form, which had to be completed before individuals could access the study survey. screening questions were asked at the start of the survey to ensure all respondents met the stated eligibility criteria. individuals who did not provide informed consent or were deemed ineligible through the screening questions were exited from the survey and redirected to a screen thanking them for their interest and time. eligible individuals entered the online survey, which they completed from their location of choice. the survey was comprised of demographic questions as well as likert-scale questions from allen and meyer's (1991) organizational commitment questionnaire (ocq, 23 items) and schmidt's (2008) toxic leadership scale (tls, 20 items). the survey took less than 10 minutes to complete, on average. data were collected through surveymonkey, which was the survey platform selected for this study. upon completion of the survey, participants were redirected to a screen thanking them for their time. after cleaning the data for incomplete surveys, the analysis began using spss. no follow-up procedures were employed; anonymous interaction with participants only involved the study survey's one-time completion. data analysis following the data collection, survey data were extracted from surveymonkey and uploaded into spss version 27.0. data were first examined for non-responses; surveys from participants who did not respond to most of the questionnaire (> 50%) were removed from the analysis. composite scores were developed for toxic leadership and the three organizational commitment categories (affective, continuance, and normative) through an average of the respective items comprising each scale. potential outliers were identified through the standardization of the composite scores around the mean. tabachnick and fidell (2013) suggested that standardized values exceeding the ± 3.29 standard deviations from the mean should be considered outlying values and removed or corrected. correction for this study involved changing the existing outlying score to the average of all the other scores for that item. frequencies and percentage distributions were examined for the nominal-level data. means and standard deviations were examined for continuous-level data. a cronbach's alpha test of reliability was conducted on each of the four scales. the strength of the alpha values was assessed via thresholds described by george and mallery (2016) in which α ≥ .9 excellent, α ≥ .8 good, α ≥ .7 acceptable, α ≥ .6 questionable, α ≥ .5 poor, α < .5 unacceptable. regarding internal consistency, meyer and allen (1991) reported the scales range from .74 to .89 for affective commitment, .69 to .84 for continuance commitment, and .69 to .79 for normative commitment. schmidt (2008) reported scores for the toxic leadership scale that range from .88 to .93. before data analysis, the assumptions of linearity and normality were also tested. linearity was tested with a series of scatterplots between toxic leadership and organizational commitment scales (affective, continuance, and normative). the assumption of normality was tested using two methods. first, histograms were created, and none appeared to be bell-shaped. second, a kolmogorov-smirnov test was used for each variable. significance on the kolmogorov-smirnov test (p < .05) indicates that the 23 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 assumption of normality is not supported. all four kolmogorov-smirnov tests for the scales were statistically significant, indicating that the assumption of normality was not supported for the data. accordingly, a spearman correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between (a) toxic leadership and (b) the organizational commitment scales (affective, continuance, and normative). to interpret the correlation coefficients' strength, cohen's (1988) standard was applied, whereby coefficients between .10 and .29 represented a small association; coefficients between .30 and .49 represented a medium, and coefficients above .50 represented a significant association. results a total of 91 participants responded to the survey. among these individuals, seven participants did not respond to any portion of the survey after consenting and were subsequently removed from further analysis. the final sample consisted of 84 participants. descriptive statistics frequencies and percentages for the demographic variables are presented in table 1. most of the participants (n = 30) worked in nursing. nineteen participants worked in management or supervisory positions. in terms of education, all participants had completed high school. most participants (n = 36) had obtained high school diplomas or equivalent. eight participants earned graduate degrees. twelve participants had obtained undergraduate degrees, and another 12 had obtained associate degrees or certificates. most respondents were employed full-time (n = 65), and religious affiliation was welldistributed throughout the sample. 24 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 1 frequencies and percentages for demographic variables variable n % what is your role? management 8 9.5 supervisory 11 13.1 facilities 6 7.1 nursing 30 35.7 housekeeping 6 7.1 dietary 2 2.4 other 21 25.0 what is your educational level? did not complete high school 0 0.0 high school graduate or equivalent 36 42.9 some college 16 19.0 certificate or associate's degree 12 14.3 undergraduate degree 12 14.3 graduate degree 8 9.5 what is your religion? baptist 24 28.6 christian 14 16.7 pentecostal 11 13.1 catholic 10 11.9 seventh day adventist 10 11.9 other 15 17.9 what is your employment status? full-time 65 77.4 part-time 15 17.9 prnas needed 2 2.4 temporary 2 2.4 note. due to rounding errors, percentages may not equal 100%. 25 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 composite scores were calculated for the ocq and tls through an average of the respective items comprising the scales. the ocq measures affective, continuance, and normative commitment, while the tls measures toxic leadership. cronbach's alpha was used to test the internal consistency of the scales. the strength of the alpha values was assessed through use of thresholds described by george and mallery (2016) in which α ≥ .9 excellent, α ≥ .8 good, α ≥ .7 acceptable, α ≥ .6 questionable, α ≥ .5 poor, α < .5 unacceptable. the reliability for continuance commitment (α = .75), normality commitment (α = .80), and toxic leadership (α = .99) met the acceptable threshold for internal consistency. the reliability for affective commitment (α = .61) had questionable internal consistency. therefore, caution should be applied when interpreting descriptive and inferential statistics for the affective commitment scale. cronbach's alphas for the scales are presented in table 2. table 2 cronbach alpha for the scales variable number of items α affective commitment 6 .61 continuance commitment 6 .75 normative commitment 6 .80 toxic leadership 30 .99 affective commitment participant scores ranged from 2.50 to 5.00, with m = 4.37 and sd = 0.62. continuance commitment scores ranged from 2.00 to 5.00, with m = 3.88 and sd = 0.79. normative commitment scores ranged from 2.83 to 5.00, with m = 4.23 and sd = 0.61. toxic leadership scores ranged from 1.00 to 4.60, with m = 2.18 and sd = 1.14. descriptive statistics for the scales are presented in table 3. table 3 descriptive statistics for the scales variable n min max m sd affective commitment 84 2.50 5.00 4.37 0.62 continuance commitment 84 2.00 5.00 3.88 0.79 normative commitment 84 2.83 5.00 4.23 0.61 toxic leadership 84 1.00 4.60 2.18 1.14 26 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal results for this study, the following hypothesis was tested: h1o: there is no relationship between toxic leadership and affective, continuance, and normative organizational commitment among african american members of faithbased healthcare organizations a spearman correlation test was conducted between toxic leadership and the three organizational commitment scales. cohen's (1988) standard was applied to interpret the strength of the correlation coefficients, whereby coefficients between .10 and .29 represent a small association, coefficients between .30 and .49 represent a medium, and coefficients above .50 represent a large association. there were no statistically significant associations between toxic leadership and affective commitment (rₛ = .21, p = .054) or normative commitment (rₛ = -.12, p = .269). both correlation coefficients indicated small associations between the variables of interest. there was a statistically significant association between toxic leadership and continuance commitment (r = -.43, p < .001). the correlation coefficient was negative, indicating a medium inverse association between toxic leadership and continuance commitment. these statistics indicate that as toxic leadership increases, each type of commitment decreases, but only continuance commitment was statistically significant. affective commitment was only barely not significant. due to one of the three correlations indicating significance, the null hypothesis (h1o) for the research question was partially rejected. table 4 presents the findings of the spearman correlations. discussion again, there were no statistically significant associations between toxic leadership and affective commitment or normative commitment. both correlation coefficients indicated small associations between the variables of interest. there was a statistically significant association between toxic leadership and continuance commitment. the correlation coefficient was negative, indicating a medium inverse association between toxic leadership and continuance commitment. due to one of the three correlations indicating significance, the null hypothesis (h1) for the research question was partially rejected. each of the types of commitment are discussed in more depth below. affective commitment affective commitment describes employees' emotional attachment to organizations (yousef, 2016). workers with high affective commitment stay with an organization because they want to, not because they feel obligated to do so. among participants in the current study, affective commitment scores ranged from 2.50 to 5.00, with m = 4.37 and sd = 0.62. based on these descriptive statistics, the average levels of affective commitment were relatively high within the sample. of the three types of commitment assessed, affective commitment was highest among study participants. overall, participants had a strong desire to remain with their organizations. analysis revealed toxic leadership was not significantly associated with affective commitment, suggesting that even in the presence of toxic leaders, employees may maintain strong emotional attachments to their organizations. 27 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 findings regarding the relationship between affective commitment and toxic leadership were unexpected, as previous researchers have reported the deleterious effects of toxic leadership on this type of commitment. for example, ramadan and eid's (2020) study on the effects of toxic leadership on the organizational commitment of nursing staff revealed a significant negative correlation between these two variables. mehta and maheshwari (2013) found toxic leadership were negatively associated with all facets of organizational commitment, including affective commitment. normative commitment normative commitment describes employees' sense of obligation to an employing organization (yousef, 2016). workers with high normative commitment remain with an organization because they believe it is the right thing. among participants in the current study, normative commitment scores ranged from 2.83 to 5.00, with m = 4.23 and sd = 0.61. based on these descriptive statistics, the average levels of normative commitment were quite high within the sample. overall, study participants had a strong sense of obligation to their organization and believed maintaining employment was "the right thing to do." analysis revealed toxic leadership was not significantly associated with normative commitment, suggesting that even in the presence of toxic leaders, employees may maintain a sense of obligation to remain with their employing organizations. like findings regarding the affective commitment variable, the lack of a significant relationship between affective commitment and toxic leadership was unexpected. previous research on the deleterious effects of toxic leadership on organizational commitment expected that toxic leadership would be negatively associated with affective commitment. however, no significant relationship existed. this finding contradicted those from previous investigations. for example, ramadan and eid (2020) reported a significant negative correlation between affective commitment and toxic leadership. weaver and yancey (2010) reported that destructive leadership was negatively related to employees' affective commitment. the toxic leadership components (abusive supervision, authoritarian leadership, self-promotion, and unpredictability) were negatively associated with affective commitment in manufacturing employees in paltu and brouwers' (2020) study. continuance commitment continuance commitment describes employees' awareness of the costs they would face if they left an organization (yousef, 2016). employees with strong continuance commitment may stay because the social or financial costs of leaving are too high, even if they are not incredibly happy with the organization. in the current study, participants' continuance commitment scores ranged from 2.00 to 5.00, with m = 3.88 and sd = 0.79. although participants' continuance commitment levels were lower than affective and normative commitment levels, continuance commitment was still moderate. of the three types of commitment assessed, continuance commitment was the only type correlated with toxic leadership. analysis revealed a medium inverse association between toxic leadership and continuance commitment; as toxic leadership increased, moderate decreases in continuance commitment were observed. thus, toxic leadership was associated with lower employee awareness of the costs of leaving an organization. 28 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal more broadly, these findings align with those from previous researchers who reported on the negative relationship between toxic leadership and organizational commitment. interestingly, only two previous studies could be located where continuance commitment was specifically tested concerning toxic leadership. pelletier (2010) found abusive leadership was significantly and negatively associated with continuance commitment. in contrast, paltu and brouwers (2020) studied toxic leadership and organizational commitment among manufacturing employees. they discovered a significant positive association between continuance commitment and two factors of toxic leadership (authoritarian and unpredictable leadership). paltu and brouwers' finding regarding the positive relation between continuance commitment and toxic leadership qualities reveals that the current study was not the first to demonstrate that toxic leadership may not be negatively associated with all facets of organizational commitment the literature may lead one to conclude. unexpected findings may also suggest the presence of factors that counteract the effects of toxic leaders on employees. for example, because the current study only examined toxic leadership within faith-based organizations, many of the employees likely have religious or spiritual foundations that may help to strengthen them in the presence of negative situations. it is also important to note that the presence of toxic leadership was relatively low among participants. toxic leadership scores ranged from 1.00 to 4.60, with m = 2.18 and sd = 1.14. on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 indicating high levels of toxic leadership), the average toxic leadership score was just 2.18. thus, the lack of statistical significance for affective and normative commitment may have been affected by generally low levels of perceived toxic leadership. with that said, the relatively low presence of toxic leadership is encouraging and suggests toxic leaders may be rare at the organizations included in this investigation. theoretical implications the theoretical framework for this study was based on toxic leadership theory (padilla et al., 2007; schmidt, 2008) and organizational commitment theory (meyer & allen, 1991). schmidt (2008) suggested toxic leadership is composed of five dimensions: abusive leadership, authoritarian leadership, narcissism, self-promotion, and unpredictability. these five dimensions can significantly predict employee outcomes, such as turnover intentions, job satisfaction, and satisfaction with supervisors (schmidt, 2008). when considering organizational commitment, findings from the current study highlight the importance of considering the prevalence of toxic leadership at an organization and protective factors among employees. arguably, any toxic leader has the potential to affect an organization negatively. still, it is also possible that the destructive actions of one or two toxic leaders may be diluted by an overwhelming presence of positive, strong leadership within an organization. further, protective factors or traits among individual employees, such as resilience, spirituality, and a sense of purpose, may help reduce the negative effects of toxic leadership on facets of organizational commitment – especially when the presence of destructive leaders is low. accordingly, future researchers should examine individual and organizational factors when assessing the potential effects of toxic leadership. organizational commitment describes the degree to which individuals identify with and commit to an organization. organizational commitment components include affective commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment (meyer & allen, 1991). affective commitment describes 29 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 employees' emotional attachment to organizations; continuance commitment describes employees' awareness of the costs they would face if they left an organization; and normative commitment describes employees' sense of obligation to an employing organization (yousef, 2016). in the current study, normative and affective commitment were not significantly associated with toxic leadership; a medium inverse association existed between toxic leadership and continuance commitment. thus, the only significant relationship to emerge indicated that a decline in awareness of costs associated with leaving an organization was associated with an increase in toxic leadership. findings from this study emphasize the differences in the three elements of organizational commitment and how outside factors may influence them in different ways. results also suggest the need for future research to understand better how toxic leadership may relate to each element of organizational commitment, depending on outside factors. implications for professional practice although findings from only one of the tests conducted in this study were statistically significant, professional implications may be gleaned from the results. overall, findings revealed that organizational commitment was high among employees, and toxic leadership was low. without controlling for outside variables or conducting more objective assessments of toxic leadership, it is impossible to know if participants' high commitment caused them to perceive less toxic leadership or if toxic leadership was very low at the study sites. regardless, these findings were positive and suggested that the workplace environments at the study site facilities are likely positive settings that foster employee satisfaction and commitment. the high levels of organizational commitment and low levels of toxic leadership may also reflect the faith-based nature of the study sites; however, further research would be required to make such claims. employees' organizational commitment is vital to worker satisfaction, the care provided to patients, and the overall health of an organization. organizational leaders interested in improving the commitment of all workers while improving patient outcomes and reducing expenditures should routinely check in with leaders and employees to make sure the leader/follower dynamics are healthy and conducive to success. in addition, leadership training may be a valuable tool for improving positive leadership traits and skills among organizational leaders. limitations it can reasonably be assumed that culture and geographic area of residence and work may affect conceptions of leadership and toxicity. the study was further limited by the definition of toxic leadership, as participants' understandings of toxic leadership practices may differ from the researchers. because data were gathered through a convenience sample of african american workers employed at faith-based healthcare organizations, findings are not generalizable to other populations and contexts. the study survey's anonymous and online nature presented another limitation. the researcher had no way of knowing who took the survey and trusted that only those who met the stated inclusion criteria completed it. 30 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal future research results from this investigation revealed several opportunities for future research. first, the sample for this study was relatively small, which created limitations and required cautious interpretation of findings. future researchers could replicate the current study with a larger sample by increasing the number of organizations included and broadening the geographic scope. because the current study only leveraged study sites in a small geographic region, the research could also be conducted with a broader geographic scope. with a broader, more diverse, and nationally representative sample, findings may be more reliable. this research could also be replicated with other types of faith-based organizations. for example, researchers could examine relationships between organizational commitment and toxic leadership at other types of faith-based organizations, such as schools, churches, or nonprofit organizations, rather than limit the sample to employees at healthcare facilities. additionally, scholars may assess differences in employees' organizational commitment and perceptions of toxic leadership based on whether an organization is faith-based. the current study focused on african american employees, so findings preclude understanding racial or ethnic differences in employees' organizational commitment or perceptions of toxic leadership. accordingly, an investigation into ways employees' demographic characteristics (such as race, age, and gender) may influence these factors may address a shortcoming of the current study and contribute new knowledge to the literature. besides toxic leadership, it is also essential to acknowledge that several factors could affect employees' organizational commitment. thus, future researchers could assess for moderating factors in the relationships between organizational commitment and toxic leadership. conclusion the purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between toxic leadership and organizational commitment among african american employees of faith-based healthcare organizations. to date, this investigation is among the very few that have considered toxic leadership in faith-based organizations. in addition, the handful of existing studies on toxic leadership in faith-based organizations substantiated the existence of toxic leaders in faith-based organizations. still, more research was needed to understand its presence and potential effects. analysis for this study revealed no statistically significant associations between toxic leadership and affective commitment or normative commitment. however, a statistically significant negative association existed between toxic leadership and continuance commitment. due to one of the three correlations indicating significance, the null hypothesis (h1o) for the research question was partially rejected. overall, although the statistical significance of the results was modest, the findings are encouraging. participants' relatively high levels of organizational commitment and low perceptions of toxic leadership suggest healthy workplace environments at the faith-based healthcare facilities that served as study sites. although more research is needed to understand toxic 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(2016). organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and attitudes toward organizational change: a study in the local government. international journal of public administration, 40(1), 77–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2015.1072217 http://www.ijmess.com/ https://www.kravisleadershipinstitute.org/ https://doi.org/10.33423/jlae.%20v16i4.2375 https://doi.org/10.33423/jlae.%20v16i4.2375 https://doi.org/10.21547/jss.373835 https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2015.1072217 36 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal register and submit your work to business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal https://bmra.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/bmra business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master's/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master's degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmra.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/bmra http://www.adpn.org/ http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ toxic leadership and organizational commitment in faith-based healthcare organizations franchetta evans honer, dba | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, united states jodine marie burchell, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, united states introduction/background summary of the literature toxic leadership effects of toxic leadership toxic leadership within healthcare organizational commitment effects of organizational commitment within healthcare settings race, organizational commitment, and toxic leadership toxic leadership within faith-based organizations methods research questions and hypotheses data collection data analysis results descriptive statistics results discussion affective commitment normative commitment continuance commitment theoretical implications implications for professional practice limitations future research conclusion references 77 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal emotional intelligence as a predictor of employee engagement: a study of u.s. manufacturing workers trina lang, phd, mba | capella university, minneapolis, minnesota, usa susan saurage-altenloh, phd, mba, ms | capella university, minneapolis, minnesota, usa contact: trina.lang@comcast.net abstract according to the 2016 gallup report, manufacturing workers are the least engaged workers in the u.s. (gallup, 2017). studies on emotional intelligence (ei) indicate that ei has a significant, positive relationship with employee engagement (ee). internationally, recent studies have operationalized the ei and ee constructs as a mix of unidimensional and multidimensional constructs, while domestically studies on ei and ee have been sparse, with more focus on ei and ee operationalized as unidimensional constructs examined along with other constructs. this study addressed these gaps by using the self-determination theory (sdt) to examine the extent to which ei and its dimensions of self-emotion appraisal (sea), other’s emotion appraisal (oea), use of emotions (uoe), and regulation of emotion (roe) predict ee and its facets of vigor (vi), dedication (de), and absorption (ab) in 167 manufacturing workers in the continental u.s. the research study used a quantitative methodology incorporating nonexperimental reasoning in a predictive, cross-sectional survey using linear and hierarchical multiple regression analyses to analyze the data. the results go beyond the strength of the relationship between the constructs to demonstrate how each dimension of ei explains unique variance in ee and each of its facets. data was collected using an online survey that included the wleis and uwes-9 instruments. the results of the study demonstrated that (a) ei and its dimensions have significant predictive relationships with ee and vi, (b) ei and its dimensions of sea and uoe have significant predictive relationships with de, but oea and roe do not, and (c) ei has a significant predictive relationship with ab, but sea, oea, uoe, and roe do not. these outcomes provide information about the drivers of the relationship between ei and ee that leaders in manufacturing organizations may find influential when considering hiring practices, ei initiatives, and engagement efforts in the workplace. keywords: emotional intelligence, employee engagement, self-determination theory, wleis, uwes-9 78 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 introduction gallup inc.’s most recent meta-analysis covering over 112,000 teams, over 2.7 million employees, in 276 organizations across 54 industries in 96 countries found that employees in the top quartile on employee engagement significantly outperformed the employees in the bottom quartile in many performance outcomes: (a) 81% lower absenteeism, (b) 58% fewer patient safety incidents, (c) 18% less turnover in high-turnover organizations and 43% less turnover in low-turnover organization, (d) 28% less shrinkage, (e) 64% fewer quality issues, (f) 10% higher loyalty, (g) 18% higher productivity, and (h) 23% higher profitability (gallup, 2020). the study results suggest that employee engagement plays a critical role in many aspects of organizational performance, presenting a major challenge for u.s. manufacturing organizations that represent the job category with the lowest level of engagement at 25% (gallup, 2017). with only one out of four manufacturing workers engaged in the workplace, that leaves 75% of the manufacturing workers either not engaged or actively disengaged. the research literature on emotional intelligence indicates that employees’ emotional intelligence correlates with their workplace engagement level (karamustafa & kunday, 2018; zhoc et al., 2020). recent studies demonstrate that the individual dimensions of emotional intelligence can predict employee engagement (almazrouei et al., 2015; barreiro & treglown, 2020). quantitative studies conducted in the education, health care, and business sectors of international countries find a positive relationship between the dimensions of emotional intelligence and employee engagement (pérez-fuentes et al., 2018; sarangi & vats, 2015; zhoc et al., 2020). while a plethora of research on the ei and ee concepts has been conducted in the united states over the years, recent domestic studies have shown less focus on the specific topic of ei and ee, typically examining them along with other constructs (boyatzis et al., 2017; schutte & loi, 2014). there is considerable research regarding ei and ee, yet there is a lack of research regarding how ei and its dimensions predict ee and its facets in u.s. manufacturing workers. this research incorporates the self-determination theory as the theoretical underpinning that supports the investigation of the variables included in the study’s conceptual framework. the research literature on ei indicates that ei has a significant, positive relationship with employee engagement (barreiro & treglown, 2020; pérez-fuentes et al., 2018; sarangi & vats, 2015). sdt states that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations drive an individual’s behavior, and ei forms an intrinsic structure that motivates an employee to be engaged in the workplace. ei the emotional intelligence (ei) construct relates to measuring emotional intelligence. salovey and mayer (1990) defined emotional intelligence as “a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions” (p.189). salovey and mayer (1990) conceptualized ei using four sub-constructs: (a) self-emotional appraisal (sea), defined as the appraisal and expression of emotion in the self; (b) others’ emotional appraisal (oea), defined as the appraisal and recognition of emotion in others; (c) use of emotion (uoe), defined as the use of emotion to facilitate performance; and (d) regulation of emotion (roe), defined as the regulation of emotion in self. ei and its dimensions are measured using the wong and law emotional intelligence scale (wleis) (wong & law, 2002). the 79 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal scale comprises 16 items on a 7-point likert-type scale that includes the four dimensions of sea, oea, uoe, and roe to measure ei. ee the employee engagement (ee) construct relates to measuring employee engagement. schaufeli et al. (2006) defined engagement as “a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption” (p. 1). schaufeli et al. (2006) conceptualized ee using three sub-constructs: (a) vigor, described as “high levels of energy and mental resilience while working, the willingness to invest effort in one’s work, and persistence even in the face of difficulties”; (b) dedication, described as “being strongly involved in one’s work and experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and challenge”; and (c) absorption, described as “being fully concentrated and happily engrossed in one’s work, whereby time passes quickly, and one has difficulties with detaching oneself from work” (p. 702). employee engagement and its facets are measured using the utrecht work engagement scale (uwes-9) (schaufeli et al., 2006). the scale comprises nine items on a 7-point frequency rating scale that includes the three facets of vigor, dedication, and absorption used to measure employee engagement. sdt self-determination theory is “a theory of human personality and motivation that focuses on the individual’s psychological needs and the extent to which the individual’s behavior is driven by intrinsic or extrinsic motivations” (self-determination theory, 2015, p. 1). sdt evolved from research on intrinsic motivation, which is “the inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise one’s capacities, to explore, and to learn” (ryan & deci, 2000, p. 70). in formulating a theoretical perspective for studying the emotional intelligence and engagement of workers, self-determination theory provides a useful framework. sdt postulates that when the three basic needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness are satisfied, it leads to enhanced self-motivation and well-being, and when thwarted, leads to diminished motivation and well-being (ryan & deci, 2000). when applied to the study, sdt holds that one would expect emotional intelligence and its dimensions to influence or explain employee engagement and its facets because ei acts as an intrinsic motivator, and more autonomous forms of motivation will enhance employees’ engagement at work. ei and sdt this study proposes that ei forms an intrinsic structure that motivates employees to be engaged in the workplace. vallerand et al. (2014) posited that with the ability to understand and manage one’s own emotions and others’ emotions at the interpersonal and intrapersonal levels, workers with high emotional intelligence should act more autonomously. in a study of service employees in seoul, yang et al. (2015) examined how multi-dimensional emotional intelligence impacts intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and job satisfaction using labor perceived organizational support. the results of the study revealed that three dimensions of ei (appraisal of emotion, utilization of emotion, and expression of emotion) positively influence intrinsic motivation and that one dimension of ei (appraisal of emotion) positively influences extrinsic motivation (yang et al., 2015). lumpkin and achen (2018) further illustrated the synergies between sdt and ei with the following shared characteristics: (a) ei: self-awareness and self-regulation → sdt: autonomy, (b) ei: motivation → sdt: competence, and (c) ei: empathy and social skill → 80 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 sdt: relatedness. these findings suggest that higher levels of ei should increase an employee’s selfdetermination and, in turn, enhance their engagement in the workplace. ee and sdt mueller (2019) suggested there is great merit in applying sdt as a theoretical framework in employee engagement research. sdt provides the theoretical lens that explains why employees exhibit a range of engagement levels in the workplace. sdt argues that supporting the three basic psychological needs increases intrinsic motivation and internalization, leading to higher quality motivation and performance, while trying to control motivation through extrinsic rewards and sanctions generally fails, leading to lower quality motivation and performance (ryan & deci, 2020). rich et al. (2010, p. 618) posited that intrinsic motivation is promoted by both work contexts and individual differences that foster feelings of competence, autonomy, and relatedness (gagné & deci, 2005), and it is argued to influence performance because opportunities to satisfy these three intrinsic needs facilitate selfmotivation and effective regulatory functioning through internalization of organizationally valued goals (baard et al., 2004). sdt exemplifies the logic that explains employee engagement. figure 1 presents the theoretical framework for the study. figure 1 theoretical framework the purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental predictive survey research is to apply the self-determination theory that relates the emotional intelligence construct and its dimensions of sea, oea, uoe, and roe as measured by the wong and law ei survey (wleis) to the employee engagement construct and its facets of vigor, absorption, and dedication as measured by the utrecht work engagement scale 81 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (uwes-9) for u.s. workers from manufacturing companies. the study contributes to the existing literature on the significance of ei in predicting employee engagement. the study also affirms the link between ei and ee of manufacturing workers by assessing their ei (and its dimensions) and its relationship to their ee (and its facets) via an online survey questionnaire. methods participants a total of 167 continental u.s. manufacturing workers who were 21-70 years of age, able to read and understand english, had been employed full-time in a manufacturing setting for more than one year, and currently worked for a manufacturing organization with at least 250 employees were recruited through the alchemer panel system. the participants completed a web-based survey that included four screening questions, the informed consent form, and the two instruments which were used to measure emotional intelligence and employee engagement. measures emotional intelligence. emotional intelligence was measured using the wleis developed by wong and law (2002), consisting of 16 items on a 7-point likert-type scale to measure the four dimensions of self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, use of emotion, and regulation of emotion. the wleis instrument was normed using samples of students and workers. the wleis survey instrument shows convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity of the 16-item ei scale (wong & law, 2002). the wleis also shows good convergence with other ei measures such as the trait meta-mood and the eq-i. the internal consistency of the wleis scale was evaluated by computing cronbach’s coefficient alpha for each dimension: sea = .83, oea = .75, uoe = .79, and roe = .87. the overall scale had high reliability of .90. employee engagement. employee engagement was measured using the uwes-9 developed by schaufeli et al. (2006), which consists of nine items on a 7-point frequency rating scale to measure the three facets of vigor, dedication, and absorption. the uwes-9 instrument was normed using various occupational groups from 27 different studies. the factorial validity of the instrument is demonstrated using confirmatory factor analyses, and the three scale scores have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability (schaufeli et al., 2006). the internal consistency of the uwes-9 was evaluated by computing cronbach’s coefficients alpha for each facet: vi = .81, ab = .70, and de = .83. the overall scale had high reliability of .90. the ei and ee scales demonstrated good internal consistency reliability with all cronbach coefficient alphas at or above the minimum desirable value of .70 (pyrczak & tchernibuzzeo, 2019). 82 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 results preliminary analyses the initial step in analyzing the data was to calculate the participant scores for ei and sea, oea, uoe, and roe dimensions. when complete, each participant had a mean score for ei, sea, oea, uoe, and roe. the wleis scale includes 16 questions on ei: four for sea, four for oea, four for uoe, and four for roe. the mean score for emotional intelligence was calculated in spss by taking all 16 questions and dividing the total by 16. the mean score of the four subscales was calculated in spss by adding the four scores on each subscale and dividing the total by four. similarly, the scores for ee and its facets of vi, de, and ab were calculated. the uwes-9 scale includes nine questions on ee: three questions for vi, three questions for de, and three questions for ab. the mean score for employee engagement was calculated in spss by taking all nine questions and dividing the total by nine. the mean score of the three subscales was calculated in spss by adding the three scores on each subscale and dividing the total by three. each participant had a mean score for ee, vi, de, and ab when complete. the minimum sample size for the study was calculated using g*power. the minimum sample size required for the study was 92 manufacturing workers (using an alpha of .05, a power of .80, a medium effect size of .15, and the multiple linear regression statistical test with five predictors). the study provided an actual sample size of 167 manufacturing workers, which was sufficient to conduct statistical analyses to test the hypotheses of the research questions. outliers were identified by reviewing casewise diagnostics in a preliminary linear regression model that included all the data collected (ei total vs. ee total). the extreme outliers identified in the casewise diagnostics of the preliminary model were case #’s 69, 73, 91, 147. the four cases identified in the casewise diagnostics table were removed. the case processing summary was rerun to validate 163 valid responses (cases) with no missing responses (cases) for each study variable after removing the four extreme outliers. at this point, the data were ready to run descriptive statistics. descriptive statistics were run on the 163 cases to include minimum, maximum, mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis. table 1 reflects the descriptive statistics for the nine variables used in the study. table 1 descriptive statistics variable n min max mean std. deviation skewness kurtosis sea 163 1.00 7.00 5.8819 .91300 -1.927 6.983 oea 163 3.00 7.00 5.6902 .83741 -.653 .302 uoe 163 1.75 7.00 5.9969 .80746 -1.434 4.202 roe 163 1.00 7.00 5.6012 1.05798 -1.271 2.129 ei total 163 2.69 6.94 5.7926 .68185 -.769 1.878 83 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal vi 163 .33 6.00 4.0061 1.16503 -.482 -.167 ab 163 .67 6.00 3.9550 1.12065 -.488 -.002 de 163 .33 6.00 4.3497 1.14324 -.653 .245 ee total 163 .44 6.00 4.1036 1.01476 -.556 .259 all nine variables were within the range for skewness (±2) and kurtosis (±7) (testing of assumptions, 2021). skewness looks at the symmetry of the distribution, while kurtosis looks at the pointiness of the distribution (field, 2018). correlation analysis was also used to analyze the data. table 2 presents the correlations between the variables in the study. table 2 correlation between variables variables mean standard deviation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1. sea 5.882 0.913 1 .482** .503** .395** .785** .546** .298** .527** .517** 2. oea 5.690 0.837 1 .368** .311** .698** .456** .329** .367** .433** 3. uoe 5.997 0.807 1 .493** .769** .514** .347** .583** .543** 4. roe 5.601 1.058 1 .762** .484** .298** .451** .465** 5. ei total 5.793 0.682 1 .663** .419** .637** .647** 6. vi 4.006 1.165 1 .629** .797** .913** 7. ab 3.955 1.121 1 .618** .841** 8. de 4.350 1.143 1 .908** 9. ee total 4.104 1.015 1 **correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed), n = 163. all dimensions of ei are positively correlated with facets of ee. sea has the strongest correlation with vi (.546), uoe has the strongest correlations with ab (.347) and de (.583). oea had the weakest correlations with vi (.456) and de (.367). sea and roe have the weakest correlation with ab (.298). overall, the correlation results provide preliminary support for the hypotheses. the data were also tested to verify that the linear and hierarchical multiple regression assumptions were met. the assumptions for linear regression include (a) level of measurement, (b) independence of scores, (c) linearity, (d) homoscedasticity, (e) outliers, and (f) normality. one additional assumption was tested for hierarchical multiple regression, multicollinearity (field, 2018). the level of measurement was verified using descriptive statistics. independence of scores was tested using the durbin-watson test statistic. linearity for the linear regression model was inspected by visually inspecting a scatterplot of the dv plotted against the iv. for hmr, linearity was tested in two parts. step one determined if a linear relationship exists between the dependent and independent variables collectively, which was achieved by plotting a scatterplot. step two determined if a linear relationship exists between the dependent variable 84 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 and each independent variable, which was achieved using partial regression plots. homoscedasticity was checked using the scatterplot created to check for linearity. outliers, high leverage points, and highly influential points were detected by checking casewise diagnostics and studentized deleted residuals (sdr), leverage points (lev), and cook’s distance (coo). normality was determined by looking at the distribution of residuals using a histogram with superimposed normal curve and p-p plots or normal q-q plots of the studentized residuals. last, multicollinearity was checked by inspecting correlation coefficients and tolerance/vif values. all assumptions for linear and hmr were met except for some possible outliers; bootstrapping was applied to address any potential outliers in the data (field, 2018). main analyses the study aimed to answer the following research questions: rq1: to what extent does emotional intelligence (ei) predict employee engagement (ee) in u.s. manufacturing workers? rq1a: to what extent do ei and its dimensions of sea, oea, uoe, roe predict the vigor facet of ee? rq1b: to what extent do ei and its dimensions of sea, oea, uoe, roe predict the dedication facet of ee? rq1c: to what extent do ei and its dimensions of sea, oea, uoe, roe predict the absorption facet of ee? rq1d: to what extent do sea, oea, uoe, and roe predict ee? once the data was screened by reviewing key descriptive statistics, testing the data to ensure the assumptions were met, and adjusting for outliers, spss was used to conduct hypothesis testing and answer the research questions. regression analysis was used in this study to conduct complex analyses with different types and quantities of predictor and outcome variables. linear regression allows the prediction of a continuous dependent variable (dv) based on one continuous independent variable (iv). multiple regression allows the prediction of a continuous dependent variable based on multiple continuous or nominal independent variables (hierarchical multiple regression, 2013). regression analysis was appropriate for this study because the independent and dependent variables are continuous and treated as ordinal data in the analysis (field, 2018). linear regression was run to understand the effect of emotional intelligence (predictor variable) on employee engagement and its facets of vigor, dedication, and absorption (outcome variables). the regression results for ei total to ee total demonstrate that r2 = .419 and emotional intelligence explains 41.9% of the variability of employee engagement. h01 is rejected and concludes that emotional intelligence is a statistically significant predictor of employee engagement. the regression results for ei total to vi demonstrate that r2 = .439 and emotional intelligence explains 43.9% of the variability of vigor. h01a1 is rejected and concludes that emotional intelligence is a statistically significant predictor of vigor. the regression results for ei total to de demonstrate that r2 = .406 and emotional intelligence 85 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal explains 40.6% of the variability of dedication. h01b1 is rejected and concludes that emotional intelligence is a statistically significant predictor of dedication. the regression results for ei total to ab demonstrate that r2 = .176 and emotional intelligence explains 17.6% of the variability of absorption. h01c1 is rejected and concludes that emotional intelligence is a statistically significant predictor of absorption. table 3 summarizes the linear regression results for ei total. table 3 linear regression results for ei total variable b se t p 95% ci p bca 95% ci ee total (dv) ei total (iv) 0.963 0.089 10.774 **.000 [.787, 1.140] n/a n = 163, r2 = .419, adj. r² = .415, p < .001 vi (dv) ei total (iv) 1.133 0.101 11.235 **.000 [.934, 1.332] n/a n = 163, r2 = .439, adj. r² = .436, p < .001 de (dv) ei total (iv) 1.068 0.102 10.482 **.000 [.867, 1.269] 0.001 [.882, 1.244] n = 163, r2 = .406, adj. r² = .402, p < .001; bootstrap = no significant changes ab (dv) ei total (iv) 0.689 0.118 5.862 **.000 [.457, .922] n/a n = 163, r2 = .176, adj. r² = .171, p < .001 **p < .001 hierarchical multiple regression (hmr) allows you to add blocks of variables to a regression equation and determine how much each block of variables uniquely adds to the prediction of the dependent variable (hierarchical multiple regression, 2013). hmr was used for hypothesis testing, in which each of the four dependent or outcome variables (vi, de, ab, and total ee) was analyzed against all five independent or predictor variables (sea, oea, uoe, roe, and total ei). similar statistical analyses were used in past empirical research on ei and ee (sarangi & vats, 2015). hierarchical multiple regression was run to understand the effect of the emotional intelligence dimensions of self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, use of emotion, and regulation of emotion on employee engagement and its facets of vigor, dedication, and absorption. the hmr results for sea, oea, uoe, and roe to ee total demonstrate that r2 = .425 and sea, oea, uoe, and roe explain 42.5% of the variability of employee engagement. as table 4 indicates, sea with β = .248, t = 2.937, p = .004 significantly predicted ee total. therefore, h01d1 is rejected and concludes that sea is a statistically significant predictor of ee. oea with β = .200, t = 2.358, p = .020 significantly predicted 86 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 ee total. therefore, h01d2 is rejected and concludes that oea is a statistically significant predictor of ee. uoe with β = .349, t = 3.667, p < .001 significantly predicted ee total. therefore, h01d3 is rejected and concludes that uoe is a statistically significant predictor of ee. roe with β = .181, t = 2.653, p = .009 significantly predicted ee total. therefore, h01d4 is rejected and concludes that roe is a statistically significant predictor of ee. the hmr results for sea, oea, uoe, and roe to vi demonstrate that r2 = .442 and sea, oea, uoe, and roe explain 44.2% of the variability of vigor. as table 4 indicates, sea total with β = .343, t = 3.587, p < .001 significantly predicted vi total. therefore, h01a2 is rejected and concludes that sea is a statistically significant predictor of vi. oea with β = .255, t = 2.651, p = .009 significantly predicted vi. therefore, h01a3 is rejected and concludes that oea is a statistically significant predictor of vi. uoe with β = .292, t = 2.711, p = .007 significantly predicted vi total. therefore, h01a4 is rejected and concludes that uoe is a statistically significant predictor of vi. roe with β = .244, t = 3.167, p = .002 significantly predicted vi. therefore, h01a5 is rejected and concludes that roe is a statistically significant predictor of vi. the hmr results for sea, oea, uoe, and roe to de demonstrate that r2 = .436 and sea, oea, uoe, and roe explain 43.6% of the variability of dedication. as table 4 indicates, sea with β = .321, t = 3.406, p = .001 significantly predicted de. therefore, h01b2 is rejected and concludes that sea is a statistically significant predictor of de. oea with β = .089, t = .935, p = .350 did not significantly predicted de (to be significant p < .05). therefore, h01b3 fails to reject and concludes that oea is not a statistically significant predictor of de. uoe with β = .501, t = 4.721, p = .001 significantly predicted de. therefore, h01b4 is rejected and concludes that uoe is a statistically significant predictor of de. roe with β = .168, t = 2.206, p = .050 did not significantly predicted de. therefore, h01b5 fails to reject and concludes that roe is not a statistically significant predictor of de. the hmr results for sea, oea, uoe, and roe to ab demonstrate that the four dimensions of ei are not statistically significant predictors of absorption, r2 = .183, p = .149. therefore, h01c2 fails to reject and concludes that sea is not a statistically significant predictor of ab; h01c3 fails to reject and concludes that oea is not a statistically significant predictor of ab; h01c4 fails to reject and concludes that uoe is not a statistically significant predictor of ab, and h01c5 fails to reject and concludes that roe is not a statistically significant predictor of ab. see table 4 for a summary of the hmr results. table 4 hierarchical multiple regression results variable b se b t p 95% ci for b p bca 95% ci ll ul ll ul ee total (dv) sea (iv) 0.248 0.084 0.223 2.937 .004 .081 .415 .005 .068 .413 oea (iv) 0.200 0.085 0.165 2.358 .020 .033 .368 .020 .032 .384 uoe (iv) 0.349 0.095 0.278 3.667 **.000 .161 .537 .003 .146 .523 87 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal roe (iv) 0.181 0.068 0.188 2.653 .009 .046 .315 .031 .009 .350 n = 163, r2 = .425, adj. r² = .411, p = .009; bootstrap = no significant changes vi (dv) sea (iv) 0.343 0.096 0.269 3.587 **.000 .154 .531 .002 .080 .538 oea (iv) 0.255 0.096 0.183 2.651 .009 .065 .445 .014 .065 .444 uoe (iv) 0.292 0.108 0.202 2.711 .007 .079 .504 .006 .081 .492 roe (iv) 0.244 0.077 0.222 3.167 .002 .092 .396 .008 .043 .445 n = 163, r2 = .442, adj. r² = .427, p = .002; bootstrap = no significant changes de (dv) sea (iv) 0.321 0.094 0.256 3.406 .001 .135 .507 .001 .140 .476 oea (iv) 0.089 0.095 0.065 0.935 .351 -.099 .276 .350 -.071 .280 uoe (iv) 0.501 0.106 0.354 4.721 **.000 .292 .711 .001 .268 .753 roe (iv) 0.168 0.076 0.155 2.206 .029 .018 .318 .050 -.016 .339 n = 163, r2 = .436, adj. r² = .421, p = .029; bootstrap = significant changes ab (dv) sea (iv) 0.080 0.111 0.065 0.722 .472 -.139 .300 .383 -.113 .321 oea (iv) 0.258 0.112 0.192 2.302 .023 .037 .479 .028 .008 .504 uoe (iv) 0.253 0.125 0.182 2.021 .045 .006 .501 .055 -.009 .455 roe (iv) 0.130 0.090 0.123 1.451 .149 -.047 .307 .255 -.083 .366 n = 163, r2 = .183, adj. r² = .162, p = .149; bootstrap = significant changes the study demonstrated that emotional intelligence statistically significantly predicts employee engagement and its facets of vigor, dedication, and absorption. the emotional intelligence dimension of selfemotion appraisal statistically significantly predicted employee engagement and its facets of vigor and dedication, but not absorption. the emotional intelligence dimension of others’ emotion appraisal statistically significantly predicted employee engagement and its facet of vigor, but not dedication and absorption. the emotional intelligence dimension of use of emotion statistically significantly predicted employee engagement and its facets of vigor and dedication, but not absorption. the emotional intelligence dimension of regulation of emotion statistically significantly predicted employee engagement and its facet of vigor, but not dedication and absorption. the results of the hypotheses tests are summarized in table 5. table 5 summary of hypotheses tests results rq1 h01 reject ei is a statistically significant predictor of ee rq1a h01a1 reject ei is a statistically significant predictor of vi h01a2 reject sea is a statistically significant predictor of vi h01a3 reject oea is a statistically significant predictor of vi h01a4 reject uoe is a statistically significant predictor of vi h01a5 reject roe is a statistically significant predictor of vi 88 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 rq1b h01b1 reject ei is a statistically significant predictor of de h01b2 reject sea is a statistically significant predictor of de h01b3 fail to reject oea is not a statistically significant predictor of de h01b4 reject uoe is a statistically significant predictor of de h01b5 fail to reject roe is not a statistically significant predictor of de rq1c h01c1 reject ei is a statistically significant predictor of ab h01c2 fail to reject sea is not a statistically significant predictor of ab h01c3 fail to reject oea is not a statistically significant predictor of ab h01c4 fail to reject uoe is not a statistically significant predictor of ab h01c5 fail to reject roe is not a statistically significant predictor of ab rq1d h01d1 reject sea is a statistically significant predictor of ee h01d2 reject oea is a statistically significant predictor of ee h01d3 reject uoe is a statistically significant predictor of ee h01d4 reject roe is a statistically significant predictor of ee discussion the study examined one overarching research question further divided into four sub-questions. to what extent does emotional intelligence, defined as “a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions” (salovey & mayer, 1990, p.189) predict employee engagement, defined as “a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption” (schaufeli et al., 2006, p. 702) in u.s. manufacturing workers? ei and ee the first research question (rq1) asked: to what extent does emotional intelligence (ei) predict employee engagement (ee) in u.s. manufacturing workers? the study results directly answered rq1 which focused on how ei predicts ee in u.s. manufacturing workers. the results demonstrated that emotional intelligence is a statistically significant predictor of employee engagement in u.s. manufacturing workers. manufacturing workers with higher emotional intelligence demonstrate higher engagement in the workplace. the results signified a statistically significant positive relationship between ei and ee. this finding aligns with other studies on the predictive relationship between ei and ee. for example, zhoc et al. (2020) found that ei significantly predicted student engagement and promoted key learning outcomes in a study of first-year university students in hong kong. similarly, in a study of business professionals in istanbul, karamustafa and kunday (2018) found a significant positive relationship between emotional intelligence and employee engagement. 89 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal ei and its dimensions and vigor the second research question (rq1a) asked: to what extent do ei and its dimensions of sea, oea, uoe, and roe predict the vigor facet of ee? the study results directly answered rq1a which focused on how ei and its dimensions predict the vigor facet of ee. the results demonstrated that ei, sea, oea, uoe, and roe are all statistically significant predictors of vigor. manufacturing workers with higher emotional intelligence, self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, use of emotion, and regulation of emotion demonstrate higher vigor defined as “high levels of energy and mental resilience while working, willingness to invest effort in one’s work, and persistence even in the face of difficulties” (schaufeli et al., 2006, p. 702). the results signified a statistically significant positive relationship between ei and vi, sea and vi, oea and vi, uoe and vi, and roe and vi. the only finding in previous studies that aligns with the current study is the statistically significant positive relationship between ei and vi. merida-lópez et al. (2017) found that ei was a significant predictor of vigor when studying teaching professionals in spain. extremera et al. (2018) found similar results in a study of spanish professionals. the previous studies on ei and ee that measured and reported the variables as multidimensional constructs used a combination of instruments that defined and measured the sub-constructs differently from the current study. therefore, the relationship between sea and vi, oea and vi, uoe and vi, and roe and vi were not compared with previous findings. ei and its dimensions and dedication the third research question (rq1b) asked: to what extent do ei and its dimensions of sea, oea, uoe, roe predict the dedication facet of ee? the study results directly answered rq1b which focused on how ei and its dimensions predict the dedication facet of ee. the results demonstrated that ei and its dimensions of sea and uoe are statistically significant predictors of dedication, but oea and roe are not statistically significant predictors of dedication. manufacturing workers with higher emotional intelligence, self-emotion appraisal, and use of emotion demonstrate higher dedication, defined as “being strongly involved in one’s work and experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and challenge” (schaufeli et al., 2006, p. 702). the results signified a statistically significant positive relationship between ei and de, sea and de, uoe and de, but not oea and de, and roe and de. the only finding in previous studies that aligns with the current study is the statistically significant positive relationship between ei and de. merida-lópez et al. (2017) found that ei was a significant predictor of dedication when studying teaching professionals in spain. extremera et al. (2018) found similar results in a study of spanish professionals. the previous studies on ei and ee that measured and reported the variables as multidimensional constructs used a combination of instruments that defined and measured the sub-constructs differently from the current study. therefore, the relationship between sea and de, oea and de, uoe and de, and roe and de were not compared with previous findings. 90 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 ei and its dimensions and absorption the fourth research question (rq1c) asked: to what extent do ei and its dimensions of sea, oea, uoe, roe predict the absorption facet of ee? the study results directly answered rq1c which focused on how ei and its dimensions predict the absorption facet of ee. the results demonstrated that ei is a statistically significant predictor of absorption, but sea, oea, uoe, and roe are not statistically significant predictors of absorption. manufacturing workers with higher emotional intelligence demonstrate higher absorption, defined as “being fully concentrated and happily engrossed in one’s work, whereby time passes quickly, and one has difficulties detaching oneself from work” (schaufeli et al., 2006, p. 702). the results signified a statistically significant positive relationship between ei and ab, but not sea and ab, oea and ab, uoe and ab, and roe and ab. the only finding in previous studies that aligns with the current study is the statistically significant positive relationship between ei and ab. merida-lópez et al. (2017) found that ei was a significant predictor of absorption when studying teaching professionals in spain. extremera et al. (2018) found similar results in a study of spanish professionals. the previous studies on ei and ee that measured and reported the variables as multidimensional constructs used a combination of instruments that defined and measured the sub-constructs differently from the current study. therefore, the relationship between sea and ab, oea and ab, uoe and ab, and roe and ab were not compared with previous findings. ei dimensions and ee the fifth research question (rq1d) asked: to what extent do sea, oea, uoe, and roe predict ee? the study results directly answered rq1d which focused on the extent to which sea, oea, uoe, and roe predict ee in u.s. manufacturing workers. the results demonstrated that all four ei dimensions of sea, oea, uoe, and roe are statistically significant predictors of ee. manufacturing workers with higher self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, use of emotion, and regulation of emotion demonstrate higher engagement in the workplace. the results signified a statistically significant positive relationship between sea and ee, oea and ee, uoe and ee, and roe and ee. the uoe dimension had the strongest correlation with ee. these findings align with and contradict previous studies that examine the extent to which the ei dimensions of sea, oea, uoe, and roe predict employee engagement. in a study that examined the impact of ei on work engagement of registered nurses in china, zhu et al. (2015) found that all four sub-dimensions of ei positively correlated with work engagement, and the uoe dimension had the strongest correlation with ee. these results align completely with the results of the current study. however, two additional studies did not completely align with the current study. first, in a study of business employees in oman, almazrouei et al. (2015) found that ei significantly predicted ee and that the dimensions of sea, uoe, and roe significantly predicted ee, but oea did not. the uoe dimension had the strongest correlation with ee. almazrouei et al. explained that their study sample may have influenced the insignificant relationship between oea and ee. the oman culture does not allow women to interact openly with anyone except relatives, and more than half of their participants were women. d’amico et al. (2020) conducted a study to assess if teachers who perceive themselves as emotionally competent experience higher levels of work engagement and job satisfaction and lower 91 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal levels of burnout. the study results demonstrated that ei significantly predicted ee and that the ei dimensions of uoe and oea significantly predicted engagement, but sea and roe did not. once again, the uoe dimension was found to have the strongest correlation with ee. limitations there were four inherent limitations acknowledged in the study. first, the use of an online platform restricted the researcher’s ability to (a) control the process, (b) clarify participant questions, and (c) ensure survey completion at the time it is administered (theofanidis & fountouki, 2018). second, self-reported data introduced the possibility of participant bias when assessing themselves or reporting on their own experiences. participants may also consciously or unconsciously misrepresent their actual, true behaviors or actions to appear socially acceptable, leading to responses that do not accurately reflect reality. third, rating scales can be limiting when asking questions concerning attitudes or behaviors. there is also the possibility of participants being heavily concentrated on one response side or avoiding the extreme options on the scale, resulting in inaccurate survey results. last, quantitative statistical analyses examined the relationship between variables, but they could not determine or establish causality (field, 2018). conclusions the study used sdt as a framework for examining ei and its dimensions as predictors of ee and its facets. vallerand et al. (2014) posited that with the ability to understand and manage one’s own emotions and others’ emotions at the interpersonal and intrapersonal levels, workers with high emotional intelligence should act more autonomously. lumpkin and achen (2018) illustrated the synergies between ei and sdt that suggested higher levels of ei should increase an employee’s self-determination and, in turn, enhance their engagement in the workplace. the study found that ei is a significant predictor of employee engagement and its facets of vigor, dedication, and absorption. the study also demonstrated that all four dimensions of ei, sea, oea, uoe, and roe are significant predictors of employee engagement. these findings support previous research on the alignment of the ei and ee constructs with sdt as the study’s theoretical framework. ashforth and humphrey (1995) posited that strong motivation and cognitive engagement are not possible without an emotional connection to the work or work context. emotional intelligence forms the intrinsic structure that motivates an employee to be engaged in the workplace. the study provides further understanding of the self-determination theory and the role of intrinsic motivation by demonstrating that ei can be measured as an intrinsic motivator to frame and explain how ei and its dimensions work to improve employee engagement in the manufacturing workforce. the manufacturing sector of the u.s. workforce employs the least engaged workers in the u.s. the meta-analysis conducted by gallup inc. (2020) highlighted the significance of employee engagement to many individual performance outcomes that directly or indirectly impact overall organizational performance. self-determination theory provides the theoretical lens that explains why employees exhibit a range of engagement levels in the workplace. 92 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 the study examined the extent to which ei and its dimensions predict ee and its facets in u.s. manufacturing workers. this study proposed that ei forms an intrinsic structure that motivates employees to be engaged in the workplace. findings from the study demonstrate a strong positive relationship between ei and its dimensions and ee and ei and its dimensions and vigor. however, ei and its dimensions of sea and uoe exhibited a significant relationship with dedication, but oea and roe did not; ei showed a significant relationship with absorption, but sea, oea, uoe, and roe did not. previous studies were found that used wleis to measure ei and uwes-9 to measure ee, but they did not operationalize both ei and ee as multidimensional constructs. therefore, the findings that examined the extent which sea, oea, uoe, and roe predict vigor, dedication, and absorption could not be confirmed or refuted by previous research. a recommendation for a future study is to repeat this study adding demographic information to validate or refute the current study’s findings and further examine the significance of investigating ei and ee at a more granular level. 93 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal references almazrouei, s., dahalan, n., & faiz, m. 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(2015). the impact of emotional intelligence on work engagement of registered nurses: the mediating role of organizational justice. journal of clinical nursing, 24(15-16), 2115-2124. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.12807 https://www.statisticssolutions.com/free-resources/directory-of-statistical-analyses/testing-of-assumptions/ https://www.statisticssolutions.com/free-resources/directory-of-statistical-analyses/testing-of-assumptions/ https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2552022 https://doi.org/10.1037/t07398-000 https://doi.org/10.13106/eajbm.2015.vol5.no4.13 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-019-00458-0 https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.12807 96 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 register and submit your work to business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master’s/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master’s degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ exploring the impact of micromanagement leadership in remote work environments toyia l. caise, dba | capella university, minneapolis, mn, usa janice p. tucker, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, usa contact: toyiacaise@gmail.com abstract a qualitative inquiry technique was used to explore approaches to reduce micromanagement behaviors of leaders of remote employees in the u.s. accounting industry. the virtual micromanagement model served as the framework for this research study and included the key business concepts of self-awareness to increase operational efficiency. the business problem addressed was that leaders who exercise the micromanagement leadership approach cause high employee turnover and decreased productivity. data was collected via zoom interviews, then transcribed and reviewed for accuracy. thematic analysis using inductive coding was used to analyze the data; 42 codes were aggregated into 10 categories and then grouped into 4 themes before producing a final report that addressed the research question. the research study participants were 18-65 years of age and employed full-time in an entry-level, lead, senior, or manager role within the accounting industry in the united states. the importance of reducing micromanagement behaviors was affirmed by participants as a critical element when working in a remote environment. the findings from the data analysis indicate that management teams operating within the u.s. accounting industry need organizational support through training initiatives to lead people to reduce negative behaviors from micromanaging their teams. future consideration should be given to staying abreast of technology changes and network requirements to support remote employees effectively. keywords: remote work, virtual environment, micromanagement, accounting industry, leadership mailto:toyiacaise@gmail.com 1 introduction employees who work in a micromanagement environment have lower employee morale, higher turnover, and less productivity than those who do not (bans-akutey, 2020; irani-williams et al., 2021; leong, 2019). frith (2017) found that employee performance worsens when scrutinized due to a disdain for micromanagement. king (2018) opined that 44% of employees in the u.s. stated they quit their jobs because of a bad boss. liu (2022) found that this number had increased to 65% by the end of 2022. the onset of covid-19 led many workers around the globe to move from working onsite to working remotely, presenting the challenge of trust and connection-building in a virtual world (beňo et al., 2021). wilke (2022) stated that 44% of executives desired a daily return to the office, compared to 17% of employees. parker et al. (2020) proclaimed that many leaders felt challenged managing remote staff, causing these employees to feel stressed from being distrusted by unskilled leaders who micromanage. a critical need exists to educate leaders on managing remote workers and developing practical approaches to leading in virtual environments (parker et al., 2020). a qualitative inquiry research method was used to explore micromanagement behaviors in remote work environments and identify additional training needs for leading remote workers. in addition, personal attributes and characteristics predisposing leaders to micromanage their employees and the need to create a change management plan to address trust-building and a reduction in micromanaging behaviors while leading in remote work environments were addressed. problem of practice the general business problem is that leaders who exercise the micromanagement leadership approach lead to high employee turnover and decreased productivity (bans-akutey, 2020). shuford (2019) purported that micromanagement contributes to low employee morale by powerless, unmotivated, and disengaged staff, which leads to high turnover. gallup (2021) disclosed that organizations in the united states spend more than a trillion dollars annually in recruitment, hiring, training, and productivity due to employee turnover, with over half of those employees who exited stating that their voluntary turnover was preventable. leaders realize the harmful effects of micromanagement once they lose staff and productivity (hills, 2017). kagan (2020) indicated that micromanagers closely watch employee actions and criticize their work and methods instead of merely stating what employees need to accomplish. these actions waste a manager's time on minor details when other more essential tasks could be addressed. according to bans-akutey (2020), micromanagement adds no value. micromanagers demotivate 68% of employees and hurt productivity by 55% (landry, 2020). the toxic leadership approach of micromanagement stifles innovation, risks employees' self-worth, and brews insecurities as they decrease positive workplace change and are detrimental to employee well-being and organizational success (hill, 2017; mohamed, 2021). leaders who delegate some activities may offset some undue burdens of large workloads and reduce workplace stress (sanfilippo, 2023). 2 purpose of the research study the purpose of this qualitative inquiry research study was to explore the perspectives of leaders in the u.s. accounting industry on effective leadership approaches to reduce the micromanagement of employees in remote work environments. as noted by mishra et al. (2019), a need existed for this qualitative inquiry research study as leaders who lack confidence in their capabilities engage in micromanaging behaviors. simms (2023) and stephen (2020) concurred that leaders often use micromanaging behaviors to the detriment of employees and the organization. hills (2017) agreed that business leaders need more information regarding micromanaging behaviors so organizations can overcome them and increase employee retention. micromanagement decreases employee morale and makes them feel undervalued. leaders need to be self-aware and transparent, communicate, set clear expectations, build positive team cultures, and remain flexible with the agility to shift in today's world (dale & sheets, 2020; simms, 2023). moreover, virtual work environments require leaders to find new ways to perform traditional tasks, including trust and team building (mutha & srivastava, 2021). shapira and horsager (2022) revealed that establishing trust is how organizations gain employee loyalty, not won overnight, but as a consistent process. research question this qualitative inquiry research study explored leaders' perspectives in the u.s. accounting industry regarding practical leadership approaches to reduce the micromanagement of employees in remote work environments. the research study was guided by one research question. r.q. what are u.s. accounting industry leaders' perspectives regarding effective leadership approaches to reduce the micromanagement of employees in remote work environments? eleven interview questions were asked of all participants. follow-up and probing questions were used to clarify and gain additional insights into the participants' responses. iq1.1 what is your current role in accounting? iq1.2 tell me about challenges at work that slow your productivity. iq1.3 what is your current manager's leadership style? iq1.4 what training opportunities have you attended? iq1.5 are the managers being trained? iq1.6 were there training opportunities before covid? iq1.7 what are your feelings or attitudes towards working remotely? iq1.8 are there any challenges with feeling connected with your team? iq1.9 how long have you been with your present employer? iq1.10 what satisfaction do you have in your current role? iq1.11 do you work well with your manager? 3 foundation and framework simms (2023) stated that managing employees by excessively monitoring and controlling their work affects their ability to build trusting working relationships with team members. bansakutey (2020) advised that a micromanager's behavioral tendencies can impact their team's ability to develop a sense of accomplishment, causing them to become less productive. negative leadership behaviors cost organizations by having to replace employees due to illness or turnover and the reduced production of disengaged workers (crosby, 2018). the u.s. bureau of labor statistics (bls, 2023) found that in july of 2022, 5.9 million workers chose to leave their jobs, compared to 3.5 million in the same period in 2019. brady (2022) surveyed 3,000 workers and found that 82% said they would consider leaving their jobs because of a bad manager. farrugia (2022) posited that replacing full-time employees can cost twice the employee's salary to replace them due to recruiting, onboarding, training, and loss of organizational knowledge. leaders in the u.s. accounting industry lack coaching and training to develop practical leadership approaches to reduce the micromanagement of remote employees that causes high employee turnover, decreased production, and cost to the organization (meinert, 2019). the literature and gap in practice support the need for a better approach to address these leadership training disparities within remote environments. the central argument was that developing better leadership practices creates self-awareness with intended self-regulation to increase "motivation, trust, competence, relatedness, and autonomy" through coaching and mentoring (van de ridder et al., 2020). frameworks provide the principles and practices necessary to be applied throughout the research process (schaefer, 2016). the selected applied framework for this qualitative inquiry research study was the virtual micromanagement model (vmm), which arrogated from the dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness (disc) personal assessment tool adapted by william moulton marston in the 1920s (mindtools.com, n.d.). goldsby et al. (2021) opined that self-leadership is parallel to emotional awareness, as these leaders practice accountability using the disc four-quadrant personality assessment model that measures communication and conflict styles. the disc model outcome analyzed the communication and conflict differences based on their behaviors, mindsets, and personalities by understanding their relationships and potential conflict styles (goldsby et al., 2021). micromanagers tend to focus on minor details instead of seeing the bigger picture of what employees need to achieve, which aligns with the dominance and conscientious quadrants of the disc models. an adaptation of the vmm is illustrated in figure 1. the disc model is illustrated in figure 2. figure 1 4 disc model note. adapted from disc model blauw rood geel groen gedragsstijlen" by evho1984 is licensed under cc by-sa 4.0. figure 2 vmm note. adapted from micromanagement model by gartner.com. the vmm framework explored portions of the disc model, mainly dominance and conscientiousness, and considered self-awareness as a guiding tool to reduce micromanagement leadership behaviors and approaches that facilitate increased organizational turnover and heighten awareness of additional training needs of leaders identifying with a micromanaging stressed, depressed, lower esteem lack of trust lack of engagement lower productivity higher turnover rates 5 type of behavioral style. caruso (2020) purported that the disc model was a likely tool to assess one's leadership style and engage the team to cultivate trust and understanding. the virtual micromanagement model included concepts that explored micromanaging behaviors in remote work environments from the employee's perspective and those of midlevel managers as the research study's expert stakeholders. the virtual micromanagement model focuses on the most desirable and feasible solutions that increase productivity, decrease employee turnover, and lead to successful leadership practices in the united states accounting services sector. the applied framework guided the design of the interview questions in this study to explore micromanaging behaviors in leadership. the category of interview questions included the participants' experience, the participant's role in the research study, barriers to being productive, management styles, job commitment and satisfaction, remote work environment, work-life balance, training offered before and after the pandemic, and approaches to and the influence of personal development on the company's business model. there have been many publications surrounding micromanagement, but scholarly research involving micromanagement within remote environments is sparse. kay (2019) shared that the social entity of a business is bound to its economic success. effectively managing virtual teams has become the heartbeat of leadership skills since the covid-19 pandemic for guiding highperforming teams (patrick, 2021). suit (2018) stated that micromanagers lack useful or effective leadership modeling and are not self-aware, requiring adequate leadership development. sahni (2020) recommended that organizations effectively train their leaders for sustainability to ensure it has a highly agile and creative approach to thrive. capparelli et al. (2022) discussed the significance of business continuity and ways to share the operational burden by distributing roles and responsibilities through conducive cultures for maximum effect. hammet (2018) opined that there is no place for micromanagement in value-creating organizations because trust leads the way. patrick (2021) proposed that managing team performance is daunting within remote work environments. understanding the needs and benefits of remote work environments and reducing negative behaviors is significant, given that most business models are moving toward hybrid or remote work schedules (tribou & kidd, 2022; wilke, 2022). methodology this qualitative inquiry research study relied on purposive sampling. the interview technique was the chosen data collection method to leverage in-depth, one-on-one interviews via zoom. recruitment occurred through user interviews, a fee-based recruiting service that targeted and selected accounting employees to participate in the interviews at various employment levels, such as accountants, senior accountants, auditors, cpas, credit analysts, clerks, and mid-level managers within the united states, which constituted the expert stakeholders. the purposive sampling technique was chosen as the best method to link the research objectives to address the research question of u.s. accounting industry leaders' perspectives regarding effective leadership approaches to reduce the micromanagement of remote employees and thus enhance the research study's validity and trustworthiness building upon its credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability of both data and results (campbell et al., 2020). 6 the capella university institutional review board (irb) approved the informed consent form, interview guide, and screening questionnaire before conducting the interview sessions. nine participants were sampled for this study. the interviews lasted 45 minutes to 1-hour and were conducted august 22-31, 2022. the general population inclusion criteria consisted of participants ages 18-65 years old. the participants were employed full-time in an entry-level, lead, senior, or manager role within the accounting industry. these criteria comprise the chosen population as they were the most affected by micromanagement behaviors in remote work environments and constituted the expert stakeholders within the accounting industry. exclusion criteria consisted of anyone not residing in the united states who did not have a computer with a webcam, tablet, or smartphone with internet capabilities to connect via zoom or provide an electronically signed informed consent through docusign. the data collection for this research study followed the interview technique and interpretative methods used in qualitative research to describe, decode, and then translate concepts and phenomena (basias & pollalis, 2018). the interview technique was the chosen data collection method to leverage thorough one-on-one interviews converted into text for in-depth analysis. the data analysis for this qualitative inquiry stemmed from braun and clarke's (2006) six-phase thematic analysis technique to systematically identify, organize, and offer insight into meanings or themes across data sets, incorporating an inductive approach. dedoose, a research and evaluation data app (reda), was employed to assist in identifying and labeling codes. the dedoose software incorporated a patterning process with inductive analysis that aided in transforming these codes into categories as they emerged from the data, utilizing a packed code cloud visualization analysis that magnifies text, then duplicating the patterning process to inductively transform categories into themes as they came forth from the data. the thematic analysis enabled greater freedom of independence to interpret meaning from participant responses. an interview guide was the primary data collection instrument for collecting the participants' responses. the interview guide contained the purpose of the qualitative inquiry research study, research question, justification, probing interview questions, and the interview format. the interview began with participant demographic information and ended with a script to close the interview. the interview questions were written in a semi-structured format to stimulate dialogue and follow-up questioning to promote additional information from the interview participants. a test run interview took place with participants not part of the research study to allow for the practice of digital equipment and interview techniques with mock data to assimilate conducting an actual interview. all nine participants self-identified as u.s. accounting industry remote employees and reviewed and electronically signed the informed consent form via docusign prior to confirming an interview time slot; as all interviews were virtual, site permission was not required. the signed 7 informed consent is saved as a digital file on an encrypted flash drive and is available for seven years. participants were expected to participate in a 45–60-minute interview session unless they opted out by verbally expressing that they no longer wished to participate. table 1 represents the participants' self-identified demographic data. table 1 participant demographics participant # gender job title state start time end time p1 f accountant supervisor ca, usa 17:00 18:00 p2 m manager ca, usa 17:00 18:00 p3 m accountant ny, usa 19:00 20:00 p4 f accountant oh, usa 18:00 19:00 p5 f bookkeeper fl, usa 12:00 13:00 p6 f accountant ca, usa 18:00 19:00 p7 m accountant nc, usa 17:00 18:00 p8 f accountant fl, usa 18:00 19:00 p9 f accountant va, usa 18:00 19:00 *note. participant demographic characteristics from user interviews screening information provided by selected participants except for job title and start and end times, which were captured at the appointed interview times. the pro version of the online platform zoom was used to allow for the recording and transcription of the interview. verbal authorization from each participant was obtained before beginning the interview, using voice recording or manually compiling field notes. the interviewees were advised of the participants' expectations of open and honest communication and that they could refuse to answer or decide they no longer wished to participate. during the in-depth, one-on-one interview sessions, participants were made to feel relaxed and spoke freely and candidly, and breaks were offered, which they declined. other participant requests during the interview sessions were honored, including pausing the recording, repeating and rewording questions, and providing clarifications of context. data analysis braun and clarke's (2006) six-phase thematic analysis approach included becoming familiar with data by reading all the data collected, taking notes, transcribing the data, and then rereading it to become familiar with every dimension. the transcripts of the audio-recorded zoom interviews were sent to each participant within 24 hours of their interview, and they were asked to return any corrections within 48 hours of receipt. the transcripts were uploaded into the dedoose software program, and the potential initial inductive codes were highlighted. for example, the job title accountant became an initial code, as did beliefs and bonuses. the codes were then placed into categories as they emerged from the data with grouped similarities from areas identified that overlap between codes. 8 the analysis was refocused on themes. dedoose software utilizes a packed code cloud visualization analysis that magnifies text; the more applied the code has been, the larger the text of that code appears in the cloud. sorting the different codes into potential themes was best done through visualization (braun & clarke, 2006). themes related to micromanagement, toxic leadership, leadership styles, training and development, job satisfaction, employee turnover, and the remote work environment best align with the virtual micromanagement framework. braun and clarke (2006) posited that evident themes exemplify coherent patterns in the participant's perspectives relating to the research question. a selection of the main passages within the data set was used to discuss the themes regarding the main ideas presented by the participants concerning the r.q., such as how training and leadership development could benefit leaders who exude micromanaging behavioral styles to prove the significance of the theme. from a thematic map of coded data, the essence of each theme was clearly defined and in line with the research question for manageable overlap (braun & clarke, 2006). a total of 42 codes emerged from the participant transcript data. the codes were collapsed into ten categories. the ten categories were paired with their definitions and relationally linked to codes. four themes emerged from the participant's transcript data incorporating an inductive approach to transform categories into themes, more fully described in prior sections. categories could be present in more than one theme due to the interconnectedness of concepts. the themes represent topics that emerged from a pattern of ideas. the relationship between the 42 codes, ten categories, and four themes is presented in table 2, and details on how the themes emerged follow. table 2 relationship between codes, categories, and themes codes categories themes culture, team, beliefs, better at home, better at office, hindrances to performance, remote challenges, cannot turn off, income source, flexibility, independence, bonuses, clients, connectedness, computer issues culture, team, beliefs, better at home, better at office, hindrances to performance, remote challenges, cannot turn off, income source, flexibility, independence, bonuses, clients, connectedness, computer issues culture, ideations, remote environment, motivation t1: purposeful actions to build a positive workplace culture will help leaders in the u.s. accounting industry achieve better outcomes by decreasing toxic environments 9 people person, trust, guidance, confidence, communication, delegate, ego, acknowledgement, survey, quickbooks, on-the-job, online work, new computer system, excel, harassment, seeking, college, openings, hours, accountant, biller, bookkeeper, manager, supervisor, list checker leadership skills, recognition, motivation, training, turnover intention, surveillance, remote environment, culture, career, ideations t2: training initiatives are effective approaches to harnessing desirable and feasible solutions to managing negative behaviors and bridging the gap that can move leaders from training disparities to increased confidence and self-awareness from being supported by their organizations. seeking, college, openings, hours, income source, flexibility, independence, bonuses, clients, culture, team, acknowledgement, beliefs, surveillance, buzzword, better at home, better at office, hindrances to performance, remote challenges, cannot turn off, connectedness, computer issues, people person, trust, guidance, confidence, communication, delegate, ego turnover intention, motivation, recognition, culture, ideations, surveillance, remote environment, leadership skills t3: intentional organizational efforts drive employee retention through openness to change, trust building, organizational commitment, and performance to produce job satisfaction that will lead to reduced turnover intention. better at home, better at office, hindrances to performance, remote challenges, cannot turn off, connectedness, computer issues, survey, quickbooks, onthe-job, online work, new computer system, excel, culture, team, harassment, surveillance, buzzword, acknowledgement, income source, beliefs, flexibility, independence, bonuses, clients, accountant, biller, bookkeeper, manager, supervisor, list checker remote environment, training, surveillance, recognition, motivation, career, culture, ideations t4: virtual work environments require leaders' support and proper resources to enhance organizational success. theme 1 workplace culture the first theme identified is that purposeful actions to build a positive workplace culture will help leaders in the u.s. accounting industry achieve better outcomes by decreasing toxic environments. this theme represented an aggregation of critical insights from participant responses relative to the need to build positive workplace cultures that decrease toxic working environments. p6 said: "it's becoming a toxic work environment and unhealthy situation, and we used to be a really close team before, so the fact that concerns are not being heard is affecting my job satisfaction; my job satisfaction in the workplace: remotely and in person." p8 indicated that "there is a lot of non-work-related drama." p9 posited that "i would say he kind of needs to try harder to, like, talk to his bosses, i guess because of the way that the agency pretty much formed that company culture. a lot of people were very tired of it because there weren't a lot of people; i 10 knew that, like, oh, they cannot really get rid of me. they don't have a lot of people, so they kind of need me kind of thing. i know that sounds bad". theme 1 confirmed buffer's (2022) findings on the shortfalls of team engagement and connection and westfall's (2020) findings that a toxic leader could cause reduced productivity, injured morale, lowered motivation, and increased surveillance of remote workers. therefore, organizations should take purposeful action to build positive workplace cultures conducive to the evidence-based research study of buffer (2022) and the findings of westfall (2020). theme 2 training initiatives theme 2 represents the culmination of ideas that managing negative leadership behaviors requires organizational support from training. these ideas related to identifying, understanding, and accepting industry needs concerning training disparities suggested additional training of leaders within the u.s. accounting industry. the topic of training of managers or awareness of any additional training needed primarily focused on benchmarking with industry peers and competitors preand post-covid, attending leadership development-specific training, identifying internal initiatives or programs in operation or being planned, and researching the need for additional training opportunities. however, participant responses captured staff frustration from training disparities of leadership within their organizations. p9 expressed that a particular manager was not empathetic and showed a lack of concern or attempt to put forth an effort to attend available training, stating: "some he could make, some he just could not attend." p6 explained that these companies bring in knowledgeable people into a position who have a skillset "but do not know how to deal with people." p5 concurred and added, "there needs to be a different management training program on how to talk to people, motivate employees, and keep your personal feelings out of it." while p3 and p4 would like to get direct answers to their direct questions with "clear communication" without all of the "egos." p2 provided additional commentary about diving deeper into backgrounds and doing personality assessments. in contrast, p1 expounded on "old mindsets" and how we cannot make people likable. theme 2 confirmed the findings of gant (2021) that training and development significantly contribute to organizational success and gale's (2019) findings that most leaders find training or mentoring beneficial in assisting them in developing the necessary skills to lead and become effective high performers and also confirming bans-akutey's (2020) findings of promoting lower-level employees with minimal leadership skills and the detriment caused by their lack of selfawareness and leadership agility to manage negative behaviors. training initiatives are effective approaches to achieving the most desirable and feasible solutions to managing negative behaviors as they will bridge the gap that would lead to successful leadership practices, as confirmed by the findings of gant (2021) and caruso (2020). theme 3 organizational efforts 11 the third theme identified is that intentional organizational efforts drive employee retention through openness to change, trust building, organizational commitment, and performance to produce job satisfaction that will reduce turnover intention. theme 3 represents the participants' conceptual understanding of motivational drivers of job satisfaction that reduce turnover intention. during the interview, participants responded to questions about the importance of being satisfied in their positions or shared motivational examples of how they were or were not. p5 had a wonderful working dynamic and shared that was not the case 5 years ago when her husband told her to "quit her job daily before she did." p1 expressed "wanting to quit because it gets frustrating." p4 explained that although "i love my team, there is one person i do not like working with mostly due to the lack of desire for technology changes causing burnout and frustration." p6 described concerns not heard or addressed "affecting her job satisfaction both remotely and in-person," further implied that "friends are hiring friends creating office cliques causing turnover and creating more work." p7 agreed in comparison to workload increases, stating, "the lack of pay for the amount of work, they cannot fill positions." p7 addressed a personal experience about job satisfaction and claimed: if you are not satisfied at the job you work at all day, because i've been this way for years, just so miserable, you live a miserable life; i'll be honest there. because if you do that job about 40 hours a week, and you're miserable, and then you come home, that misery spreads to your family. it just doesn't equate to a high-quality life. (p7) weinberger et al. (2022) opined that in an atmosphere of long work hours to meet inflexible client deadlines and high job burnout, public accounting firms experienced restrictions to make employees happy while ensuring high-quality work was done. the data collected suggests that job satisfaction is a crucial element of operational efficiency, and organizations must intentionally drive employee retention. theme 3 confirmed kay's (2019) findings that people take pride in where they work and what they do and want to be happy in the workplace, making job satisfaction vital to their retention, and men et al. (2022) discovery of employee benefits from organizational trust association with job satisfaction from feelings of connectedness when the appropriate language and behaviors are used by leaders, which could reduce turnover intention and increase their commitment, and performance. theme 4 remote work environments the fourth and final theme identified is that remote work environments require leaders' support and proper resources to enhance organizational success. the remote work environment's theme describes the summation of participant responses related to barriers due to working within the constraints of remote environments. participants expressed satisfaction with decreased traffic commute, fewer distractions, less laundry, increased rest, and more family time. although the participants did not interact with office personnel as much, they missed the leftover food from onsite office meetings. participant responses indicated that the majority embraced the flexibility 12 of a virtual working environment. such statements suggest a desirable and feasible solution that increases productivity and decreases employee turnover. however, this was only the case for some; others had difficulties with production, and these barriers are the primary focus within theme 4. p1 emphasized two staff members who needed help grasping the concept of working from home. p2 "would like to see more team building." p4 experienced "network issues." p5 and p6 both explained that they "miss people." while p9 stated that if time management was not adhered to, it "slowed down productivity a bit." p3 expressed virtual challenges as "you cannot physically see what they are doing." p7 shared an experience of not being able to disconnect from work: you know, that's how it started or used to be for me; like i had a hard time walking away from my desk at the appropriate time because more and more things would pop up at six or seven or eight o'clock at night. and i would work until eight or nine o'clock at night. and then it was the person that was under me that said, what are you doing? this doesn't have to get done right now. yeah, and so i was like, at that point, i was like, gosh, she's so right. what am i doing, killing myself for nothing? so, i have learned that i need to have the off switch by a certain time i've gotten better. it's not perfect, but i've gotten better. (p7) such statements suggest the need for additional support from leaders to ensure remote teams remain connected while working outside the traditional office setting and maintaining proper technology and other resources required to fully operate virtually, including knowing when to unplug for the day. theme 4 confirmed the buffer (2022) findings that 40% of workers struggle to unplug while working remotely and the parker et al. (2020) study that 40% of leaders reported having decreased self-confidence managing remote staff. contribution to the field the research question that guided this study was: what are u.s. accounting industry leaders' perspectives regarding effective leadership approaches to reduce the micromanagement of employees in remote work environments? the answer is that purposeful actions are necessary to build a positive workplace culture with practical training initiatives to manage negative behaviors. in addition, intentional organizational efforts and leaders' support to obtain proper resources require an implementation to become impactful while leading in remote work environments. the participants demonstrated an understanding of micromanagement, but many were unaware of available tools to effectively address leadership approaches to reduce or avoid micromanaging behaviors. the participants' responses to interview questions indicated their openness to best business practices to be integrated to reduce micromanagement behaviors in the workplace. the participants openly and continuously expressed the need for more training the management team should undertake as they lack communication and people skills that motivate them to produce. 13 this research study extends research on micromanaging behaviors in virtual environments by exploring ways to reduce negative leadership approaches. it adds to the theoretical development by integrating and building upon the theory of trust and self-awareness to achieve better outcomes by reducing micromanaging behaviors, increasing job satisfaction, and decreasing employee turnover. the results of this research study showed that the management team had a basic understanding of the impact of leadership on staff resulting from negative leadership behaviors. some management teams had encountered toxic work environments and were working towards solutions to address participant concerns, while others had yet to implement favorable working conditions. the gap identified in the assessment of advancement toward reducing micromanagement behaviors relative to the capabilities within the virtual micromanagement model was supported by the participant's narratives around the participant's understanding of positive company cultures and the results of the data analysis shown in table 3. table 3 data analysis assessment of advancement towards reducing or avoiding micromanagement code p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7 p8 p9 total no advancement 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 initial experience 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 implemented solutions 1 1 1 1 1 5 benchmark progress total 3 2 2 3 3 1 1 3 2 note. analysis adapting a four-point progress scale where 1= no advancement. the vmm framework explored portions of the disc model to consider self-awareness as a guiding theory to reduce micromanagement leadership behaviors and approaches that facilitated increased organizational turnover and heightened awareness of these leaders' additional training needs. the effective training initiative’s theme supported the idea that feasible solutions to managing negative behaviors can move leaders from training disparities to increased confidence and self-awareness from being supported by their organization. the results of this study support gale's (2019) findings that most leaders would benefit from training or mentoring that assists them in developing the necessary skills to lead and become effective high performers. managers' perspectives on handling the covid-19 crisis and their experience and attitudes in the complexities of our new virtual reality showed that as work 14 shifted to a home office environment, workers experienced working a significant amount of time outside regular work hours, leading to burnout (beňo et al., 2021). contribution to literature the findings from the data analysis aligned with the literature and were unrelated to the management team's ability to achieve benchmark progress. concerning theme 1, the participants indicated that their companies have yet to successfully implement any training or development programs, which aligned with the literature that micromanaging leaders need more support within the company on practical approaches using self-awareness as a guiding tool to lead people effectively, best done through coaching and mentoring (van de ridder et al., 2020). in relation to theme 2, the findings from the data analysis confirmed the training gap relating to practical approaches to reduce micromanagement behaviors knowledge and demonstrate a need for further areas of development. theme 2 contributes to the literature by supporting corporate-led training initiatives that develop the confidence and self-awareness of its leaders to manage negative behaviors. compared to the existing literature, the findings from the data analysis in theme 3 dispute the practitioner literature of the study completed by leong (2019). in the practitioner literature, leong (2019) indicated that delegating duties to staff increased job satisfaction by increasing their skillset and building trust through more responsibility and accountability. the findings from the data analysis confirmed that participants within the u.s. accounting industry who express job dissatisfaction derived from increased workloads and lack of pay. theme 3 refutes the findings of leong (2019) as these participants do not require additional duties to feel valued; according to their excerpts, better wages and backfilling open positions would be better suited. in comparison, the findings from the data analysis in theme 4 aligned with the academic literature of beňo et al. (2021). the academic literature opined by beňo et al. (2021) indicated that the covid-19 crisis had dramatically shifted the virtual work environment. the findings from the data analysis confirmed that participants were still working through remote challenges. covid-19 awakened the business climate like nothing many have seen, creating a need for virtual environments of greater trust efficiency and non-micromanaging remote relationships (beňo et al., 2021). scholars and practitioners should focus on post-pandemic information about virtual environments to stay abreast of technology changes and network requirements to support remote employees effectively. scholars and practitioners also need to focus more on team building and engagement and the continued development of leaders. several recommendations were derived, drawing upon findings from the data analysis of this qualitative inquiry, for scholars and practitioners with a vested interest in reducing or avoiding micromanagement behaviors in virtual environments. one such finding was the preference for working remotely over the need for social interaction. the participants indicated they missed people but would rather remain home than experience the office culture and manager egos. researchers who study 15 organizational leadership could delve deeper into the implications of an adverse corporate climate. recommendations and conclusions the results from this qualitative inquiry study relate to scholars and practitioners in the u.s. accounting industry. the results could be disseminated among scholars and practitioners in the broader accounting industry to support efforts to reduce the micromanagement of employees in remote environments. scholars and practitioners should focus on post-pandemic information about remote work environments and stay abreast of technology changes and network requirements to support remote employees effectively. scholars and practitioners also need to focus on team building and the continued development of leaders. several recommendations for scholars and practitioners were derived from the findings of this qualitative inquiry study. one such finding was the preference for working remotely over the need for social interaction. the participants indicated they missed people but would rather remain home than experience the office culture and manager egos. researchers who explore organizational leadership could delve deeper into the implications of an adverse corporate climate. another finding was a lack of engagement identified by participants from not knowing when to unplug for the day. buffer (2022) reported that although corporations provided the technology to adapt within remote work environments, they fell short in team engagement and connection efforts despite virtual meetings. researchers exploring the implications of team engagement would further the practitioner knowledge base on the inclusivity of remote staff and build better connections with leaders and the organization. employee performance worsens when scrutinized due to a disdain for micromanagement (frith, 2017). the problem identified herein was that leaders who exercise the micromanagement leadership style cause high employee turnover and decreased productivity (bans-akutey, 2020). the findings from this qualitative inquiry may help scholars and practitioners better understand the development and training needs required to reduce micromanagement behaviors, increase productivity, decrease employee turnover, and lead to successful business practices. leaders who practice micromanagement result in high employee turnover, decreased productivity, and increased employee replacement costs (bans-akutey, 2020). the problem was addressed through four themes, showing that purposeful actions are necessary to build a positive workplace culture with practical training initiatives to manage negative behaviors. in addition, intentional organizational efforts and leaders' support to obtain proper resources require implementation. the four themes derived from the thematic analysis informed the problem, lent insight into why the problem continues, how best to decrease the problem, and stated the benefits of doing so. 16 leaders in the u.s. accounting industry lack coaching and training to develop practical leadership approaches to reduce the micromanagement of remote employees that causes high employee turnover, decreased production, and cost to the organization (meinert, 2019). leaders should reduce their micromanaging approaches to leadership in the workplace. through individual coaching and mentoring, leaders should create self-awareness and self-regulation and enhance employee motivation, autonomy, competence, trust, and relatedness. martin et al. 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(2018). the effects of micromanagement on employees' mental health. h.r. gazette. https://hr-gazette.com/micromanagement-mental-health/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriswestfall/2020/09/24/the-4-signs-youve-got-a-toxic-boss-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/?sh=1b20fd281d3b https://www.forbes.com/sites/chriswestfall/2020/09/24/the-4-signs-youve-got-a-toxic-boss-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/?sh=1b20fd281d3b https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=aone&u=googlescholar&id=gale|a18822273&v=2.1&it=r&sid=aone&asid=14e52549 https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=aone&u=googlescholar&id=gale|a18822273&v=2.1&it=r&sid=aone&asid=14e52549 https://doi.org/10.1177/009102601003900105 https://www.gallup.com/workplace/315530/ultimate-guide-micromanagers-signs-causes-solutions.aspx https://www.gallup.com/workplace/315530/ultimate-guide-micromanagers-signs-causes-solutions.aspx https://gusto.com/company-news/the-state-of-hybrid-and-remote-work https://gusto.com/company-news/the-state-of-hybrid-and-remote-work https://hr-gazette.com/micromanagement-mental-health/ theme 2 training initiatives contribution to literature recommendations and conclusions references 37 business management & research applications: a cross-disciplinary journal covid-19 pandemic and research on the mediating role of absorptive capacity on the relationship between business analytics capability and small-tomedium-sized enterprise performance benjamin a. holman | founder, saving david, inc. christine c. whitaker | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama contact: christine.whitaker@columbiasouthern.edu abstract this initial study's key purpose was to investigate whether absorptive capacity performed a mediating role on the relationship between business analytics capability and small-to-mediumsized enterprises (smes) performance in the united states. the study's findings are more relevant now as the covid-19 pandemic continues to impact small-to-medium-sized enterprise (sme) businesses in the united states. the study derived from the resource-based view approach, the dynamic capabilities dimension perspective, through the theoretical lens of the reconceptualization of absorptive capacity by zahra and george (2002). the study empirically tested mediation through a series of regressions based on baron and kenny (1996). as recent extensions of the resource-based view theory, absorptive capacity and business analytics embody the dynamic capabilities, business intelligence, and knowledge management for modern business firms to align, modify, and reconfigure during a dynamic and volatile global business environment. throughout the pandemic, it appears businesses have had to continually regain economic ground. this paper is an effort to apply the findings of research on the importance of absorptive capacity and business analytics capability as it pertains to the reality of the covid-19 pandemic on smes. the study contributed to the theoretical body of knowledge on dynamic capabilities by empirically demonstrating how smes may manifest improvement in performance in the twenty-first century by utilizing data in collaboration with business analytics at the realized absorptive capacity dimension. in wake of the ongoing covid-19 pandemic, exploring the research study's findings may provide insight to help smes survive during these difficult times, and even thrive, by increasing their absorptive capacity to utilize data analytics effectively. keywords: resource-based view, absorptive capacity, business analytics, dynamic capabilities, information technology, small-to-medium-sized enterprise (sme), covid-19 mailto:christine.whitaker@columbiasouthern.edu 38 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 introduction with the catastrophic global health crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic, a catastrophic global economic crisis has also occurred, bringing severe repercussions for small-to-medium enterprises (smes). studies have revealed that smes struggled through the shut-down due to quarantine restrictions across every business sector with a loss of revenue, loss of workers, and many closing their doors altogether (adam & alaifi, 2021). to survive the covid 19 pandemic, many smes have been forced to adapt to digital technologies and move to online platforms to keep their current customer base while seeking to gain new ones (gudandovskaya & liniņa, 2021). understanding how to utilize digital data might be considered the holy grail of business management in the twenty-first century: the digital technology era where everywhere people go, there is a digital trace recorded, stored, and retrievable (english & hoffman, 2018; mahmood & mubarik, 2020). dramatic technology changes were already taking place with how businesses are conducted with upwards of forty billion digital data devices connected digitally by 2021 (tang, 2018). a decline in the sme share in the economy of five percent year-over-year was already occurring before the pandemic, with the reduction amounting to a potential loss of five percent of five trillion dollars in the gross domestic product (gdp) (kobe & schwin, 2018). the covid-19 pandemic brought even more dramatic change with the mandated quarantine on a global scale resulting in a struggle for many smes. with people remaining in their homes, earning less, spending less, many smes’ survival depended on the level of absorptive capacity and the ability to utilize digital technology (adam & alaifi, 2021). absorptive capacity is an sme's ability to identify the value of new information, assimilate it, and apply knowledge from external sources (ajeeli, 2018). guo et al. (2020) found that smes who can identify and adopt digital technology are more able to survive the pandemic. covid-19 warrants revisiting research examining the mediating role of absorptive capacity on business analytics to potentially improve performance in smes during the pandemic and into the digital future. in presenting the research study, methodology, findings, results, and applications to the current covid-19 pandemic sme environment, insights may be gleaned to assist smes in navigating the tumultuous environment by utilizing business analytics for knowledge and other tools through increasing absorptive capacity. research in a modern era with data from various modes, it is incumbent upon a modern business to possess varying degrees of capacity for creating value from digitized data (ajeeli, 2018; alessandra et al., 2016; sakhdari, 2016). the purpose of the initial research study was to address the gaps existing in the literature on whether absorptive capacity performed a mediating role on the relationship between business analytics capability and small-to-medium-sized enterprises (smes) performance (qian & jung, 2017; turulja et. al., 2017). the theory postulated that in the twenty-first century absorbing new knowledge helps organizations create value; the inference is value creation is restricted if absorptive capacity is low or non-existent (božič et al., 2016). 39 business management & research applications: a cross-disciplinary journal research significance by showing the connection through a microlevel process in line with the dimensions presented by zara and george (2002), the study attempted to unlock the black box on how sme ownership elicited more data transformation into knowledge capability through business analytics and, thereby, enhancing performance. first, it identified the role absorptive capacity among ownership plays in fostering knowledge, revealing critical capability antecedents, and providing new theoretical arguments regarding how such precursors are linked. second, the research responded to calls for research on capabilities among small-to-medium-sized enterprises (sme) and entrepreneurs from a resource-based view approach (ajeeli, 2018; qian & jung, 2017; vidgen et al., 2017). finally, the study contributed to research on sme absorptive capacity apparatuses as essential building blocks for knowledge generation. congruent to prior points is the application to the covid-19 pandemic period. thus, the contribution of this paper is three-fold. first, it adds to the theoretical literature regarding dynamic capabilities by empirically demonstrating the mediating role absorptive capacity plays on business analytics capabilities among sme members for improving performance. the study's findings exposed the extent to which smes collected and processed data and managed knowledge for better decision-making for improving performance. second, this paper demonstrates how business analytics capabilities and absorptive capacity shape the value creation and value capture processes of businesses. in particular, the study postulates that the ability to exploit opportunities during a crisis is by imitating and innovating using modern technologies to extract knowledge from data. third, with billions of devices connected digitally, a lifeline for most organizations during the covid 19 pandemic was in utilizing technology for extracting knowledge from data. moreover, by extracting knowledge from digital data through business analytics at the realized absorptive capacity dimension, smes can innovate, adjust resources quickly, seize new opportunities, tap into viable new networks, change information technology systems, and reconfigure organizational structures. in times of crisis, lack of preparedness and low level of innovativeness often force companies to close, lay off employees, defer new products, services, or restrict market expansion. thus, the dynamic capabilities offered through realized absorptive capacity identified in the study confer benefits to smes for weathering the covid-19 pandemic. therefore, in presenting the research study, methodology, findings, results, and applications to the current covid-19 pandemic sme environment, insights gleaned could assist smes towards the significance of business analytics and absorptive capacity. research objective the global covid-19 pandemic brought an economic crisis, along with the catastrophic health crisis, which changed the way people buy and spend, which brings about severe repercussions for smes not using technology (adam & alaifi, 2021). indeed, to survive the covid 19 pandemic, many small-to-medium-sized enterprises (smes) companies have had to adopt digital technologies and move to online platforms to keep their current customers while seeking to gain new customers (gudandovskaya & liniņa, 2021). studies reveal an upward trend in sme failures and, correspondingly, a decline in their share of the economy of five percent year-over-year (kobe & schwin, 2018). this reduction amounts to a loss of five percent of five trillion dollars overall in 40 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 gdp of over two billion dollars and brings into question the future of smes. at the same time, large or big businesses have increased their data analytics investment by spending over one hundred billion dollars towards big data in 2016 (trelewicz, 2017). before the pandemic, research had already exposed the high failure rate of smes compared to large businesses. at the same time, the research highlighted the fact that larger businesses embraced business analytics technologies at a greater than many smes. thus, the researchers aimed to focus on applying the study's findings to assist smes' performance during the crisis and into the future. in this regard, it seemed applicable to revisit as a result of the covid-19 pandemic (kobe & schwin, 2018; u.s. small business administration, 2020). the research considered business analytics as a range of technological tools, applications, and abilities for transforming data into insightful knowledge. in the research literature, business analytics was widely accepted as an essential resource for businesses of all sizes (english & hoffmann, 2018; bayrak, 2015). two areas for further inquiry were discovered: the low level of adoption of technology in the form of business analytics and the lack of absorptive capacity among smes. literature review before delving into the main focus of the research study, it is important to mention that since the outbreak of covid-19 and the delta variant, there have been many instances of human suffering, historically pinned as one of the most significant global health crises in modern times (lu, wu, peng, & lu, 2020). furthermore, it is established that along with this human suffering, the coronavirus has also brought significant severe or devastating effects on all businesses, especially smes. this is witnessed in the fluctuating business environment in terms of market volatility, supply chain restraints, and drastic fluctuations in demand, respectively (gong, hassink, tan, & huang, 2020). hence, it is the focus of this paper and the applicability of the research to understand the various ways smes can adapt to sustaining their business operations and enhancing their business performance during the covid-19 pandemic. addressing the gap it can be duly stated that any crisis, irrespective of its origin, i.e., human-made or natural causes, carries the potential for damage on any business in terms of survival (donthu & gustafsson, 2020). research cites the failure rate of smes remains significantly high compared to larger businesses that often embrace business analytics (kobe & schwin, 2018; u.s. small business administration, 2020). covid-19, the delta variant, or any crisis serves as a nefarious purpose for exerting pressure on a business restricting their capability to change in a short period to crisis appropriately. in congruence with such points, reduction in both sales along with economic difficulties of the times, smes can face issues in cash flow, inventory supply, operations, human resources, and strategy that levy the type of stress to their potential demise (omar et al., 2020). in times of general crisis, and the current covid-19 pandemic, many smes are in danger of closing their doors (guo et al., 2020). examining the research study's findings may provide further insights and tools to contribute to lowering the current failure rate of smes. 41 business management & research applications: a cross-disciplinary journal hypothesis of the research in times of crisis, a sme’s survival can depend on the level of absorptive capacity and the ability to utilize digital technology (adam & alaifi, 2021, guo et al., 2020). the research questions examine if potential and realized absorptive capacity mediates the relationship between business analytics capability and smes performance. examining the findings can potentially provide insight into increasing absorptive capacity and improving sme performance. based on the literature review conducted for the initial study, the following research questions and hypotheses were constructed: rq1: does potential absorptive capacity mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and sme performance in the united states? h1o: potential absorptive capacity does not mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and sme performance in the united states. h1a: potential absorptive capacity does mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and sme performance in the united states. rq2: does realized absorptive capacity mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and smes performance in the united states? h2o: realized absorptive capacity does not mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and sme performance in the united states. h2a: realized absorptive capacity does mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and sme performance in the united states. theoretical framework the purpose of the initial research study was to address the gaps existing in the literature on whether absorptive capacity performed a mediating role on the relationship between business analytics capability and small-to-medium-sized enterprises (smes) performance (qian & jung, 2017; turulja & bajgorić, 2018; vidgen et al., 2017). several theories identified conditions, behaviors, resources, and capabilities leading to competitiveness or competitive advantage (english & hoffman, 2018; fillingim, 2018; ghasemaghaei, 2019; garg & khullar, 2020). among them was the absorptive capacity theory (djerdjouri, 2020; duan et al., 2020; vidgen et al., 2017). using the absorptive capacity framework, smes were able to display their business analytics capabilities—how information was processed and efficiently used (qian & jung, 2017; turulja & bajgorić, 2018; vidgen et al., 2017; zahra & george, 2002). published research identified two areas for further inquiry, the low level of adoption of technology in the form of business analytics and the absence of absorptive capacity by smes (ajeeli, 2018). with digitization such as radio frequency identification (rfid), wireless sensor networks (wsn), the internet, cloud computing, and internet of things application software with electromagnetic fields spurring major technological breakthroughs, the need for knowledge generation from business analytics for smes seem paramount (bayrak, 2015; english & hoffmann, 2018; lee & lee, 2015; tang et al., 2018). the resource-based view (rbv) approach is among the approaches 42 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 used to investigate business phenomena and frequently cited in the literature (ajeeli, 2018; islami et al., 2020). recent extensions of rbv include dynamic capabilities, business intelligence, and knowledge management perspectives, which attempt to address the need for a firm to align, modify, and reconfigure in a dynamic and volatile global business environment (solesvik, 2018). the theory supports the importance of business analytics capability and promotes the idea of unique resources that contribute to competitive advantage (wójcik, 2015). current thought puts forth that such special resources have certain fundamental qualities: valuable by providing opportunities or neutralizing threats, rare, imperfectly imitable, and non-substitutable no strategic equivalent substitute for, neither rare nor imperfectly imitable (solesvik, 2018). emphasis on rare emerges because it is a key element of the meaning of valuable within digitized data; valuable and rare resources afford a significant competitive advantage. business analytics defined business analytics refers to the scientific process, including technologies and practices, to collect and translate data into knowledge for strategic decision-making (mahmood & mubarik, 2020; tang et al., 2018). large companies use business analytics for improving performance: improve decision-making, enable the creation of innovative and valuable products and services, reduce costs, increase sales, or expand into new markets (fillingim, 2018; ghasemaghaei, 2019; garg & khullar, 2020). for business intelligence or knowledge, it is widely accepted as crucial and considered a key factor in large business domination over smaller ones as many smaller smes lack the resources or capability to use business analytics successfully (english & hoffman, 2018; fillingim, 2018; ghasemaghaei, 2019; garg & khullar, 2020). a limited number of studies had focused on the paradigm involving smes' performance and the association with a deficiency in knowledge due to deficiency in business analytics capability and the lack of absorptive capacity (ajeeli, 2018). as such, this study examined the mediating role of absorptive capacity on the relationship between business analytics capability and small-to-medium-sized enterprises (smes) performance (qian & jung, 2017; turulja & bajgorić, 2018; vidgen et al., 2017). business analytics encompasses methodologies, databases, machine architectures, analytical algorithms, skills, and processes to facilitate analyzing data for making pragmatic and strategic business decisions. it is more of a process rather than a product encompassing a range of tools and applications for transforming data into insightful knowledge (english & hoffmann, 2018). business analytic technologies and software platforms include metadata collection, business reporting, spreadsheets, search tools, online analytical processing (olap), data mining, modeling, predicting, or forecasting, performance management, customer relationship management (crm), management information systems (mis), and data extraction, transformation and loading (etl) (bayrak, 2015). the cost of low absorptive capacity the term, absorptive capacity, is credited to cohen and levinthal (1990) based on positing research and development (r&d) activity creates new knowledge and innovation and that 43 business management & research applications: a cross-disciplinary journal absorptive capacity improves an organization's ability to identify, assimilate, and exploit knowledge from external sources (ajeeli, 2018; cohen & levinthal, 1989; daspit et al., 2016; sakhdari, 2016). the theory postulates that absorbing new knowledge helps organizations create value, then, the inverse is value is not created when absorptive capacity is restricted (božič & dimovski, 2019; sakhdari, 2016). the problem identified in the literature supports the need for the study to address challenges with smes ability to process not only information but also the ability to recognize and create value (ghasemaghaei, 2019; sjödin et al., 2019; turulja & bajgorić, 2018; vidgen et al., 2017; yang & tsai, 2019). studies have established, when absorptive capacity is low, the ability to acquire, assimilate, transform, and exploit knowledge is restricted (diaz-molina, 2019; jiménez-barrionuevo et al., 2019). hence, the problem was two-fold. first, the issue involved implementing business analytics capability to extract valuable information from data. second, the problem consisted of having the absorptive capacity needed to recognize the value in new information and create useful products and services, spur operational savings, or spearhead market expansion and, thereby, enhance small-to-medium-sized enterprises’ (smes’) performance. thus, added to the challenge of collecting and utilizing technology in the form of business analytics is, once adopting such techniques, having the ability to recognize the value of information extracted from the data (cenamor et al., 2019). crucial connections to data in the current business environment, it is critical for smes to leveraging technology to analyze data and possessing a level of absorptive capacity for improving performance and surviving (jiménez-barrionuevo, garcía-morales, and molina, 2019). as pape (2016) explains, the problem is exacerbated by the difficulties with processing vast volumes of data simultaneously at the high velocity at which data arises in different forms (e.g., text, video, numerical, images) in the digital age, along with the need to filter out irrelevant information (tang et al., 2018). there were 2.5x106 terabytes of data in 2016 created or generated every day with an estimation of data generation doubling every forty months (coleman et al., 2016). by the end of 2021, estimates project upwards of forty billion devices will be connected digitally (tang et al., 2018). that is hardware connecting devices to networks and servers, software applications providing access and control of connected systems. practically everything that could be connected will be connected (tang et al., 2018). conceptual model the model can be hypothesized as follows: the independent construct was business analytics capability, whereas the dependent constructs was performance of small-to-medium-sized enterprises (smes) with the mediating variables of potential and realized absorptive capacity. measurement of data use, technology, and people impacting operations, innovation, competitive advantage, and organizational performance were considered. 44 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 methodology materials and methods the research methodology encompasses approaches, philosophies, and designs to address the research aim and objectives. creswell and creswell (2019) present methodology as the roadmap for answering research questions with several options available in dealing with the research philosophy. the study took on the post-positivist worldview, which rejects the notion truth is absolute, and what is known about reality can be challenged through specific observations and measurements with identification of causes that influence effects and testing. the quantitative approach supports the post-positivist traditional scientific research method through the chosen deductive process. framework and research design from the dynamic capability's perspective, knowledge through business analytics capability merges to combustible effect at the realized absorptive capacity dimension and, thereby changes, as cohen and levinthal (1990) and zahra and george (2002) mention, the trajectory of knowledge into new ways. hence, the absorptive capacity framework shed light on contextual factors, external and internal to an organization (ajeeli, 2018; djerdjouri, 2020; coleman et al., 2016; turulja & bajgorić, 2018). the framework captured the contextual factor of realized absorptive capacity's role in seeing real results from data. in other words, if smes instituted or empowered data transformation through realized absorptive capacity— transformation and exploitation, it could indirectly affect performance in remarkable ways (see figure 6). the study advanced small business research by conceptually identifying and empirically examining tangible and non-tangible aspects of smes that function as precursors of organizational capability. the researcher employed a quantitative non-experimental correlational survey design approach to gather numerical data to find patterns, trends, averages, make predictions, and test the causal relationships between the independent and dependent variables. the population was limited to a minimum sample size of eighty-five respondents of smes, classified by the naic, owners or core knowledge workers, personnel with specialized technological knowledge and owner-level management impact or authority, that were based in the united states (creswell & creswell, 2019; jenkins & quintana-ascencio, 2020; paltridge & phakiti, 2018). population smes comprise over sixty percent of businesses in the u.s. (kobe & schwin, 2018). the current study was limited to small-to-medium-sized enterprises (smes) as defined by and in accordance with naics, owners or core knowledge workers, personnel with specialized technological knowledge and owner-level management impact or authority, based in the united states. from a pool of owners or core knowledge workers, a representative sample was selected utilizing a random selection method. the population sample consisted of only data according to the following three factors in determining sample size: (a) margin of error, (b) effect size, and (c) statistical power. of the 1048 questionnaires sent, 52 questionnaires were received from smes owner, owner-level management, or core knowledge workers. the percentage of industry sectors include 45 business management & research applications: a cross-disciplinary journal the most frequently observed industry(s) as non-traditional and real estate, each with an observed frequency of (20%). other industries include energy (4.0%), food and beverage (8.0 %), healthcare (12.0%), government (4.0%), education (8.0%), media (8.0%), information technology (it) systems (8.0%), and professional services (8.0). methods of analysis the underlying assumptions driving the research were data, evidence, and rational thought shaping knowledge, and evidence leading to the null hypothesis's acceptance or rejection. the study collected data using a published assessment and a validated tool that applied multilevel mediation to account for top-down (i.e., owner, individuals, etc.) organizational capability interactions (ajeeli, 2018; brannen, 2017; jenkins & quintana-ascencio, 2020). a pearson correlation analysis was conducted among business analytics (ba), performance (pf), potential absorptive capacity (pac), and realized absorptive capacity (rac). cohen's standard was used to evaluate the strength of the relationships, where coefficients between .10 and .29 represent a small effect size, coefficients between .30 and .49 represent a moderate effect size, and coefficients above .50 indicate a large effect size (cohen, 1988). the alternative method of bootstrapping was incorporated for the smaller sample size a statistical procedure that resamples through simulation (peeters, 2016). table 1 presents the results of the correlations. table 1 pearson correlation results among ba, pf, pac, and rac note. n = 25. holm corrections used to adjust p-values. the observations for ba had an average of 4.93 (sd = 1.36, sem = 0.27, min = 1.75, max = 7.00, mdn = 5.14, skewness = -0.81, kurtosis = -0.08). the observations for pf had an average of 4.28 (sd = 1.43, sem = 0.29, min = 1.00, max = 6.00, mdn = 4.60, skewness = -0.70, kurtosis = -0.55). the observations for pac had an average of 4.72 (sd = 1.74, sem = 0.35, min = 1.00, max = 7.00, mdn = 5.30, skewness = -0.98, kurtosis = -0.32). the observations for rac had an average of 4.70 (sd = 1.62, sem = 0.32, min = 1.00, max = 7.00, mdn = 5.00, skewness = -0.90, kurtosis = -0.10). table 2 presents the observed correlations with the bootstrapped results for the standard error and the 98% confidence interval of each correlation. the observed correlations with the bootstrapped results for the standard error and the 98% confidence interval of each correlation include a 46 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 correlation coefficient between pf and pac of 0.57, indicating a large effect size. this correlation indicates that as pf increases, pac tends to increase. a significant positive correlation was observed between pf and rac (rp = 0.79, p < .001, 95% ci [0.57, 0.90]). the correlation coefficient between pf and rac was 0.79, indicating a large effect size. this correlation indicates that as pf increases, rac tends to increase. a significant positive correlation was observed between pac and rac (rp = 0.83, p < .001, 95% ci [0.65, 0.92]). the correlation coefficient between pac and rac was 0.83, indicating a large effect size. this correlation indicates that as pac increases, rac tends to increase. table 2 observed correlations with bootstrapped results for the standard error and the confidence interval results and interpretation the following results and interpretations of the study were based on 1048 questionnaires sent with 52 questionnaires of owners, owner-level management, and core knowledge workers accepted. the variables for business analytic capability were data use, technology, and people (vidgen et al., 2017). the absorptive capacity variables used were potential and realized absorptive capacity based on zahra and george's (2002) acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation (ajeeli, 2018; vidgen et al., 2019). the variables for performance were both financial and nonfinancial measurements—market share, sales, profit, and human resource growth (ajeeli, 2018; wood et al., 2015). the following results determined whether the research questions and hypothesis were rejected or failed to reject the null hypothesis. for research question (rq1), does potential absorptive capacity mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and smes performance in the united states, the null hypothesis (h1o) was not rejected. a baron and kenny mediation analysis was conducted to assess if pac mediated the relationship between ba and pf (baron & kenny, 1986). four steps and three regressions were conducted. the results indicated potential absorptive capacity did not mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and smes performance in the united states. based on an alpha of 0.05, the first regression with ba predicting pf results was significant, f(1, 23) = 30.21, p < .001 and showing that ba was a significant predictor of pf, b = 0.79, satisfied the first criterion. 47 business management & research applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 3 unstandardized loadings (standard errors), standardized loadings, and significance levels for each parameter in the path analysis model (n = 25) note. χ2 could not be calculated; -indicates the test was not conducted as the observed variance/covariance values were used. the second regression of ba predicting pac was significant, f(1, 23) = 37.57, p < .001, showing ba was a significant predictor of pac, b = 1.01, which satisfied the second criterion for mediation. the third regression with ba and pac predicting pf was not a significant predictor of pf when ba was included in the model, b = -0.06, did not satisfy the third criterion for mediation. the fourth result showed that ba was a significant predictor of pf when pac was included in the model, b = 0.85, which did not satisfy the fourth criterion for mediation. since item 3 and item 4 were not met, mediation was not supported. hence, the null hypothesis was not rejected. table 4 unstandardized loadings (standard errors), standardized loadings, and significance levels for each parameter in the path analysis model (n = 25) 48 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 note. χ2 could not be calculated; -indicates the test was not conducted as the observed variance/covariance values were used. for research question (rq2), does realized absorptive capacity mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and smes performance in the united states, the null hypothesis (h2o) was rejected. a baron and kenny mediation analysis was conducted to assess if rac mediated the relationship between ba and pf (baron & kenny, 1986). three regressions were conducted. the results indicate realized absorptive capacity does mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and smes performance in the united states. based on an alpha of 0.05, the first regression with ba predicting pf was significant, f(1, 23) = 30.21, p < .001 showing that ba was a significant predictor of pf, b = 0.79, which satisfied the first criterion for mediation. the second regression with ba predicting rac with the regression of rac on ba as significant, f(1, 23) = 65.37, p < .001 and results showed that ba was a significant predictor of rac, b = 1.03, which satisfied the second criterion for mediation. the third regression with ba and rac predicting pf with results showing that rac was a significant predictor of pf when ba was included in the model, b = 0.47, which satisfied the third criterion for mediation. the fourth test showed that ba was not a significant predictor of pf when rac was included in the model, b = 0.31, which satisfied the fourth criterion for mediation was satisfied. all four criteria were satisfied indicating complete mediation was supported. hence, the null hypothesis was rejected. summary of hypotheses no. hypothesis status 1 h1 potential absorptive capacity does not mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and sme performance in the united states accepted 2 h1a potential absorptive capacity does mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and sme performance in the united states. rejected 3 h2 realized absorptive capacity does not mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and sme performance in the united states . rejected 4 h2a realized absorptive capacity does mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and sme performance in the united states. accepted discussion of initial research findings realized absorptive capacity was accepted as a sme’s ability to transform newly acquired knowledge and exploit it for commercial ends through knowledge transformation and knowledge exploitation (zahra and george, 2002). the null hypothesis (h2o) was realized absorptive capacity does not mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and sme performance in the united states. the alternative hypothesis (h2a) was realized absorptive capacity does mediate the relationship between business analytics capability and sme performance in the united states. the results showed realized absorptive capacity does mediate the relationship between business 49 business management & research applications: a cross-disciplinary journal analytics capability and sme performance in the united states. theoretically, the study has significant implications for smes in strategic management, knowledge management, entrepreneurship, or information technology during the covid-19 pandemic. in line with recent theoretical extensions of dynamic capabilities, business intelligence, and knowledge management, indeed, the study’s findings point to smes better able to align, modify and reconfigure in a dynamic and volatile business environment by using data effectively through business analytics and realized absorptive capacity (ajeeli, 2018; jiménez-barrionuevo et al., 2019; solesvik, 2018). the study incorporated three theories: duan et al., 2020; jiménez-barrionuevo et al., 2019; vidgen et al., 2017; solesvik, 2018; yang & tsai, 2019. first, the primary theory was the absorptive capacity theoretical framework, which focused on smes’ mechanics for capturing and exploiting knowledge. secondarily and thirdly, it incorporates the principles of the resource-based view and dynamic capability within the structural capital (s.c.) dimension of intellectual capital, which includes business analytics capability (ajeeli, 2018; daspit et al., 2016; djerdjouri, 2020; jiménez-barrionuevo et al., 2019; sakhdari, 2016). business analytics capability from the dynamic capability perspective speaks directly to what smes need to weather the current challenges of the pandemic, utilizing technology such as business analytics for processing a vast amount of digital information in the twenty-first century to adjust dynamically. furthermore, the theory postulates the significance of absorbing new knowledge—transforming and exploiting knowledge helps organizations create value. the inference suggests value creation is restricted when absorptive capacity, especially realized absorptive capacity, is absent or low (božič & dimovski, 2019; jiménez-barrionuevo et al., 2019; sakhdari, 2016). herein lies a potential implication regarding the study’s findings: utilizing the framework and mediation analysis helped discover the nexus between realized absorptive capacity and transforming and exploiting knowledge for improving smes’ performance through business analytics capability. figure 1 venn diagram of absorptive capacity dimensions note: a venn diagram shows the logical relation between sets. 50 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 observe in figure 1, the merging of colors or components reaching zenith proportion toward even greater performance. findings demonstrate knowledge through business analytics capability merges to combustible effect at the realized absorptive capacity dimension. thereby, as cohen and levinthal (1990) and zahra and george (2002) mention, the trajectory of knowledge changes into new ways. the framework captured the contextual factor of realized absorptive capacity’s role in seeing real results from data. if smes institute or empower data transformation through realized absorptive capacity, transformation, and exploitation, it could indirectly affect the sme’s performance in remarkable ways. realized absorptive capacity entails the transformation and exploitation of data (vidgen et al., 2017). it encompasses the intentionality of allowing knowledge to flow freely throughout the organization to achieve ongoing improved performance. in concluding the results, this study sought to fill the gap in the literature regarding the lack of data usage by smes as well as the low adoption of technology such as business analytics among smes compared to big businesses. data alone does not necessarily provide knowledge; realistically, one does not acquire knowledge simply by holding it (daspit et al., 2016). added is having the uncanny ability to recognize the value of new information. there is potential misreading in cohen and levinthal’s (1990) original work positing a firm’s competitiveness is its ability to exploit new technological developments. they called it, absorptive capacity, the capability that not only enabled exploitation of new extramural knowledge but predicts more accurately the future. in cohen and levinthal’s (1990) deliberation is the power of cumulativeness, a seemingly neglected concept within the literature regarding absorptive capacity. the accumulation of building on existing knowledge affords more efficient accumulation subsequently—hence, exponential reoccurrence. dynamic progression has the potential to bring about remarkable performance. succinctly, erudition becomes more precise over time and benefits the erudite. the study supports zahra and george’s (2002) reconceptualization about realized absorptive capacity (e.g., transformation and exploitation), by demonstrating how not embracing technology for analyzing data, not implementing current trends in organizational methods and visual analytics, nor ensuring organizational designs are aligned with the realized absorptive capacity, the study shows how smes are following a recipe for disaster. examining cohen and levinthal’s (1994) statement in fortune favors the prepared firm regarding the then-premier economic rivalry closely: “…between japan and the united states, that, in large part, japan’s competitive advantage is due to american industry’s apparent inability to match japan’s quick and effective use of external [knowledge]” (227). herein lies solecism: focusing on just knowledge through business analytics and not including realized absorptive capacity will not materialize improved performance. cohen and levinthal (1994) misses the essence of zahra and george (2002) for today: all the knowledge in the world will not bring transformative results. realized absorptive capacity offers transformative and exploitative power. hence, revamp cohen and levinthal (1994): perceive, in a world [of so much data] and uncertainty, there is a benefit to [joining business analytics and realized absorptive capacity], it is called [the privilege] to exploit and perform better, which smes can. 51 business management & research applications: a cross-disciplinary journal covid-19 pandemic and research findings discussion the covid-19 pandemic brought a crisis challenge of mt. everest proportions to many small-tomedium-sized enterprises (smes), and this had a large effect as smes are an important part of our worldwide economy supporting local economic growth, providing jobs, and meeting the needs of their customers (chan et al., 2019). a study examining the effects of disruptive digital innovation (ddi), a discovery that increases breakthrough capabilities, explained how small businesses must respond and change or risk becoming obsolete. chan et. al. (2019) shared how kodak company failed to keep up with the digital market and died away. conversely, another example is the rental vacation home service airbnb, using an online platform, has thrived during covid-19 by adapting to new demands. while crisis and threats to business can be commonplace, covid-19 has brought a much higher level of crisis with a global impact and how long this could go on. fasth, elliot, and styhre (2021) conducted a study of 1,000 sme business leaders in sweden to understand their crisis management plans. these research findings indicated that many smes rarely had a crisis plan and were subject to large revenue losses. the research also suggested, in addition to having a general crisis plan, including analytic methods can help generate new ideas and solutions. positive examples of absorptive capacity during the pandemic the covid-19 pandemic has also brought some positive influence on smes and entrepreneur endeavors that utilized several factors to build their business including data analytics. davidsson, recker, and von briel (2021) presented a study analyzing the positive effects of using virtual collaboration tools, new customer needs, data analytics, and leveraged technological advances that created booming businesses during the covid-19 pandemic including the peloton in-home fitness system to provide workouts from home and customizable meal-delivery services such as hello fresh. in providing further discussion regarding the impact of covid-19, and in light of the findings of the presented research, smes can benefit from pursuing efforts to improve their realized absorptive capacity, thereby increasing their business analytics methods capabilities during covid-19 and beyond with transforming results (gudandovskaya & liniņa, 2021). while many smes have struggled during the covid-19 pandemic, a few have thrived. as smes continue to navigate their way through this time of crisis, hopefully, they will find new opportunities. the research study sought to fill the gap in the literature regarding the lack of data usage by smes as well as the low adoption of technology such as business analytics among smes compared to big businesses. data alone does not necessarily provide knowledge; realistically, one does not acquire knowledge simply by holding it (daspit et al., 2016). sme's who make more efforts towards digitalization and adopting of digital technologies can help them better respond to public crises and the current covid-19 pandemic (gru et al., 2020). 52 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 these results of this study can confirm that knowledge alone may not assist sme survival in times of crisis. transformative results, like sme's experienced when they exhibited absorptive capacity through using virtual-collaboration tools, data analytics, and leveraged technological advances to develop thriving businesses during the covid-19 pandemic (briel, 2021). adapting cohen and levinthal's (1994) statement, “in a world [of so much data], uncertainty, and competition, there is a benefit to merging business analytics capability with realized absorptive capacity. it is called [the privilege] to exploit and perform better” smes who can align, modify and reconfigure in a dynamic and volatile business environment, by using data effectively through business analytics and increasing absorptive capacity, have greater potential to provide a competitive advantage and improved business performance. this is especially true when responding to the ongoing covid19 pandemic. 53 business management & research applications: a cross-disciplinary journal references adam, n. a., & alarifi, g. 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(2021). fast stepwise regression based on multidimensional indexes. information sciences, 549, 288-309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ins.2020.11.031 https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23366 https://doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.02.006 https://doi:10.2307/4134351 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ins.2020.11.031 59 business management & research applications: a cross-disciplinary journal register and submit your work to business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal https://bmra.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/bmra business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 27694666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, 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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ covid-19 pandemic and research on the mediating role of absorptive capacity on the relationship between business analytics capability and small-to-medium-sized enterprise performance abstract introduction research research significance research objective literature review addressing the gap hypothesis of the research theoretical framework business analytics defined the cost of low absorptive capacity crucial connections to data conceptual model methodology materials and methods framework and research design population methods of analysis results and interpretation summary of hypotheses discussion of initial research findings covid-19 pandemic and research findings discussion positive examples of absorptive capacity during the pandemic references 77 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal strategies for small business administration 8(a) business development program-certified firms in program years 4-6 sherri l. johnston., dba, mpa, pmp | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa michelle preiksaitis, jd, phd, sphr, shrm-scp | coastal organizational research and learning strategies llc (corals llc) http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3064-2392 contact: sherri.johnston@columbiasouthern.edu abstract this study explored the practices of 8(a) principal-owners who were active in the small business administration 8(a) social or economically disadvantaged business program during years 4 to 6 (midphase). the study aimed to determine whether specific practices contributed to federal contracting bidding outcomes during the competitive phase of the program and to create a taxonomy of best practices. the qualitative inquiry study employed the critical incident technique. participants (n = 11) interviewed were 8(a) program principals who had completed at least year 6 of the program. critical incidents (n = 81) recollected from their bidding experiences during the midphase of the program were documented, explored, and analyzed. thematic analysis data analysis process resulted in themes: from these themes, a taxonomy of strategic practices for use by 8(a) firms was created, which included: developing additional relationships, learning to price competitively, creating high-quality proposals, and ensuring proper communication. the study was limited to the experiences of 11 individual principals from multiple businesses which operated and bid on federal projects during the midphase of the 8(a) program. the taxonomy may aid future principals in the early to midphases of the 8(a) program to build an overall strategy for successful transition from the program into a sustainable small business in the federal contracting sector. no other critical incident technique studies have been conducted on the midphase members of 8(a) contract bidders. the study filled a gap, providing valuable insights to current or potential 8(a) federal contractors. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3064-2392 78 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 keywords: economically and socially disadvantaged small businesses, sba 8(a) business development program, small business survival, federal contracting 79 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal introduction section 8(a) of the small business act of the united states was designed, in part, to increase the participation of socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses in federal contracting. in 1997, the federal government assigned an annual goal to the small business administration (sba) to award at least 23% of federal contracts to small businesses (schilling et al., 2017), with 5% specifically set aside for 8(a)-certified firms. while these goals have been met in some years (sba, 2019), the complex, lengthy, and costly federal contracting bidding processes create challenges and barriers for small businesses owned by socially or economically disadvantaged principals. often, contract dollars remained unclaimed by 8(a) bidders because of failing to continue through on bidding for the awards. to address this situation, this study collected structured insights from successful 8(a) bidders and compiled a taxonomy of practices for future 8(a)-certified (8ac) bidders. background many small businesses, including 8acs, fail to win federal contract awards. in fy19, only 38% (2,273 out of 5,872) of 8acs received new contract awards (united states small business administration, 2020; usa spending, 2020). schilling et al. (2017) showed that small businesses fail to hold continuous contracts for successive years or win the awards of multiple contracts valid for more than a year, even with sba aid and 8(a) program considerations. while sba scorecards reflect how many contracts are issued or won by various types of small businesses, before our study, only two other studies have explored what successful business owners have done to win bids and sustain their businesses throughout the program years. coley (2015) and wagner (2019) noted that strategic plans created early in the program lead to more successful graduates of the 8(a) program. further, bradt (2020) noted that the successfully negotiating the midphase of the program showed the highest likelihood of completing it successfully. studied problem and gap in practice berteau and swan (2018) reported that despite graduating from an 8(a) program, 10 years later, more than 60% of these businesses were no longer bidding on or receiving government contracts. shear (2019) noted that 23% of 6, 7, and 8-year program participants during fiscal years 2014-2017 did not receive any competitive bidding awards; they lost out to larger businesses, according to wagner (2019). wagner noted that these 8(a) participants elected instead to apply only to the protected and set-aside contracts, which created false senses of fiscal security. by not competing for competitive contracts, a gap in practice occurs in these businesses, and their principals do not gain the skills and experience necessary to compete for federal contracts without relying on the benefits of the 8(a) program (lewis, 2017). due to the lack of competitive efforts, 8acs were not learning how to transition from the program (bradt, 2020). this study attempted to fill this gap in practice by creating a taxonomy of strategic practices for 8acs to learn how to succeed during their transition. 80 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 research approach the project employed a critical incidents technique (cit) within a qualitative inquiry design using as participants, principals of 8acs who had successfully maneuvered through the midphase of 8(a) competitive processes and had become a competitive bid award winner. cit participants were asked to recall times when their behaviors or actions positively or negatively impacted the outcome of a competitive bidding event. those instances were collected as data points called critical incidents (bott & tourish, 2016; chell & pittaway, 1998). the cit process allows for respondents to contribute numerous incidents, with the possibility of collecting hundreds or even thousands of incidents through several interviews (flanagan, 1954). data saturation aims to reach a point where new incidents’ contribution does not add further information for analysis (fitzgerald et al., 2008). cit sampling strategy is different from most research techniques. instead of a planned number of participants, sample size in a cit project is based on the number of incidents collected (butterfield et al., 2005), with varying numbers of incidents determined as saturation based on the study and various cit experts. as few as 50 incidents (lockwood, 1994) or as many as 100 critical incidents (santha et al., 2016) have been used as targets for category building. it was assumed that each participant would contribute at least eight to ten incidents to set the a priori minimum sample size at eight participants and 50 minimum incidents. for this study, 11 participants were interviewed, providing 81 remembered incidents. research question what strategic practices do successful 8ac principals use during years 4 to 6 of the 8(a) program which they perceived contributed to winning (or losing) competitive bids on federal contracts? strategic planning socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses experience challenges and barriers to federal contracting, including cost (josephson et al., 2019; orazem et al., 2017), complexity (josephson et al., 2019; schilling et al., 2017), and insufficient past performance (cox et al., 2014; manuel, 2015). skrt and antoncic (2004) concluded that achieving firm-wide support for a precisely formulated strategy can benefit smaller firms’ growth. improving strategic planning could have a positive effect on the development of 8acs. strategic management often uses both the resource-based view (rbv) of the firm and the competitivebased view (cbv) of the organization to establish how to create a unique and sustainable position in a competitive environment. the rbv holds that organizations should look inside of the company at its capabilities and resources, instead of outside at the competitive environment, to find the sources of competitive advantage and gain a unique and sustainable position (barney, 1991; jurevicius, 2013; luo 81 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal & child, 2015). the cbv provides that small firms gain opportunities by leveraging commonly traded resources acquirable by other firms through relationships (tehseen et al., 2019). applied framework according to wagner (2019) and bradt (2020), earlier competition attempts can be combined with, and supported by, strategic use of unique benefits of the 8(a) program such as sole-source and set-aside opportunities and the resources the sba provides to 8acs. both wagner and bradt identified the middle phase of the 9-year term of the 8(a) business development program as a pivotal developmental point in the program. this study employed an applied framework of dynamic capability-based strategic planning within the middle phase of the nine-year term of the 8(a) business development program. three phases of 8(a) program wagner (2019) and bradt (2020) described three phases for sba 8(a) participation: early, middle, and late. figure 1 shows the phases of the 8(a) 9-year program with phase activity suggestions from wagner’s and bradt’s research. this study focused on the middle phase (highlighted in figure 1). 82 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 figure 1 8(a) 9-year program phase strategies note. lists created from research findings by wagner (2019 [w]), and bradt (2020 [b]). *13 cfr § 124.509 provides specific “non-8(a) business activity targets” which are expressed as a % of an 8acs total revenue. these targets increase over the 9-year period. see table 1. 83 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 1 8(a) business activity target timeframes 8(a) participation year in sba transition phase business activity target 1 15% 2 25% 3 35% 4 45% 5 55% sba’s phases of the program whereas figure 1 shows three phases of the 8(a) program, the sba looks at the program as two-phased: developmental and transitional. within these two phases, the sba requires that 8acs have income other than federal contracts and sets business activity targets (bats) to avoid over-reliance on set-aside contracts (what are non-8(a), 2020). table 1 sets out the bats for the final transitional phase of the program, which bradt (2020) had called out as an important strategic focus of late phased 8acs. as part of the developmental phase, the sba and federal regulations also provide a 7(j) program which is available to 8acs. bradt (2020) outlined the need for 8acs to actively seek training in critical business development activities using the 7(j) program to build business development skills. further, the sba provides a mentor-protégé and joint venture (jv) program to allow 8acs to partner with larger and more experienced and resourced companies (gallagher, 2015; lewis, 2017). jvs mitigate barriers such as a lack of past performance records, or limitations in finances, infrastructure, resources, and capabilities (wagner, 2019). a graduating company can partner with an 8ac protégé, provide 60% of the contract’s support, and receive the 8(a) program’s benefits while mentoring that organization. literature review historically, challenges to participating in federal contracting include the costs, complexity, time factors, and past performance requirements. orazem et al. (2017) found investment in time and resources to pursue a government contract and the required relationships is a significant barrier. the delay between bidding and acquisition of a government contract award financially constrains small businesses needing to sustain salaries and operations (cox et al., 2014). additionally, absent a guarantee for selection, the pre-bid costs 84 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 to establish the bid requirements can cripple small, fledgling businesses (fortney et al., 2015). to participate in federal contracting, companies must develop separate product lines and corporate systems for marketing tactics, audits, human resource management, operational activities, and social responsibility (josephson et al., 2019). the expensive systems, learning and compliance investments (josephson et al.), and lowered profit margins (schilling et al., 2017) required to meet the government’s strict standards often outweigh scale and efficiency benefits experienced while awaiting contract award (josephson et al., 2019). a 1993 statute reform required the government to evaluate and document a contractor’s performance on contracts and orders with a value higher than the simplified acquisition threshold (manuel, 2015). fortney et al. (2015) and cox et al., (2014) noted that unique procurement processes and rules, such as highly specialized cost accounting practices, also reduced high-quality providers and bidders. these costs on disadvantaged small businesses create reliance on the set-aside bids, deterring them from competitive bidding. changes to size, definitions of disadvantaged, and the complex 8ac requirements also deter small businesses or lead to specific anti-competitiveness. for example, alaska native corporations, nhos, and tribes can own multiple 8acs concurrently and an indefinite number of 8acs over time, making them exempt from the one-time-eligibility rule (koprince & patterson, 2019). these can result in super 8acs that out-resource and out-bid the regular 8acs. previous researchers identified challenges and barriers experienced by firms when attempting to participate in federal contracting, but not specifically on 8acs. orazem et al. (2017) used a survey of startups, venture capital firms, and angel funds and did not focus on disadvantaged small businesses. cox et al. (2014) focused on nontraditional government suppliers, specifically contracting with the dod. although schilling et al. (2017) identified challenges and barriers experienced by small businesses contracting with the dod, they did not identify the experiences of 8acs. josephson et al. (2019) studied the performance implications of the business-to-government exchange on publicly traded firms but did not include privately held firms. existing literature did not offer 8acs suggested solutions for reducing the identified challenges or mitigating the barriers beyond calling for changes in government regulations. the literature reviewed did not allude to the effects of the super 8acs on regular 8acs because the studies were focused on other groups of federal contractors. this study specifically focused on creating a taxonomy of the effects of critical incidents experienced by 8acs on the bidding outcomes for federal contracts. participant recruitment the 11 participants (see table 2) were recruited using a nonrandom, vertical, and horizontal snowball sampling process. seed practitioners encouraged others to participate (taherdoost, 2016) and to refer others (geddes et al., 2018; sharma, 2017). screening requirements included: owning an 8ac as a principle (51%+), participating in the 8(a) program for at least 6 years, having bid on at least one competitive contract within the program, and having a duns and naics number and code (used to validate the contract award). 85 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 2 participant profiles p# primary region of business naics description products/ services employees federal contract awards 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 southeast southwest east coast southwest mid-atlantic mid-atlantic southeast southwest east coast southeast mid-atlantic management consulting computer design industrial construction site preparation contractors management consulting commercial and institutional construction scientific and technical consulting services commercial and institutional construction s p&s s p&s s s s p&s s s s 0-50 0-50 0-50 0-50 0-50 0-50 0-50 0-50 51-100 >100 0-50 $30-40m $20-30m $20-30m $11-20m $11-20m $11-20m $1-10m $1-10m $11-20m $150-200m $1-10m note. reflects data as of february 20, 2021. data retrieved from usaspending.gov. interviews were conducted via zoom between january 29 and february 12, 2021. interview lengths were 12 to 59 minutes, with the average interview at 37 minutes. a semi-structured interview protocol was used which had been reviewed by two field experts. data saturation (81 critical incidents) ended the interview portion of the data collection (see table 3). the data collection for this project was done during the second year of the covid-based pandemic, and therefore, the project findings are relevant to the change to procurement and strategy which has become a new business normal. table 3 critical incident classification by bidding outcome type bidding outcome type count percentage successful unsuccessful total 47 34 81 58% 42% 100% data analysis data analysis occurred in four phases, including a) compilation and review of data with analysis and descriptive coding, b) aggregating the codes into categories, c) interpreting the data, and d) and reporting, using yin (2016) qualitative research analysis process, but adapted to the critical incident technique. 86 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 the interview data were analyzed by applying contextual codes relating to experiences bidding on federal contracts; codes were aggregated into categories by similarity. twenty contextual codes were defined, and 148 instances of the codes were noted (see table 4, also see data links for the full codebook). table 4 associated contextual code frequencies associated contextual code frequency percentage assessing costing for bid relationship with sub contractors or teaming partners past performance proposal quality relationship with customer relationship with contracting officer understanding the rfp staffing strategy technical writing networking small bidder pool relationship with ptac unable to get appropriate bonding business development effort communication with government access to government facilities marketing strategy 8(a) company insourcing project management skills government insourcing grand total 31 20 19 14 13 10 6 5 4 4 4 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 148 20.95% 13.51% 12.84% 9.46% 8.78% 6.76% 4.05% 3.38% 2.70% 2.70% 2.70% 2.03% 1.35% 1.35% 1.35% 1.35% 1.35% 1.35% 1.35% 0.68% 100% note. reflects the number of times an associated contextual code was assigned to the critical incident data and the percentage of the occurrence. the participant responses were aligned with defined practice categories (table 5) 87 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 5 practice category definition practice category description relationships 8ac has established relationships with the sub contractors, teaming partners, contracting officers, customers, and ptacs in various ways that affect the bidding outcome. technical expertise the 8ac has skills or experience that can show the government that the same or similar work that the 8ac has successfully completed affects the bidding outcome. proposal preparation the 8ac understands the requirements of the rfp and uses technical writing skills to prepare a high-quality proposal, including a technical description of work to be completed, pricing, staffing strategy, and the presentation that affects the bidding outcome. pricing the 8ac can adequately price a bid that affects the bidding outcome. marketing and business development the 8ac uses networking through attending events, conferences, having association memberships, or other social networking channels, and undertakes marketing activities to promote the selling of a product or service that affects the bidding outcome. limit competition the 8ac makes use of set-asides and sole source contracting benefits or other potential contracting programs that create a smaller bidding pool that affects the bidding outcome. resourcing the 8ac has created internal capabilities for tasks that are usually outsourced to subcontractors that may reduce costs that affect the bidding outcome. communication the 8ac has an open line of communication between all parties, allowing questions to be answered, influencing the bidding outcome next, codes were aggregated into categories. table 6 reflects the frequencies of the associated contextual codes applied to the critical incident data and the percentage of practice category occurrence. the practice categories with the highest frequencies emerged as relationships, pricing, proposal preparation, and technical expertise, comprising 85% of the total code frequencies. the data were aggregated into categories by codes and analyzed for frequencies. 88 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 table 6 associated contextual code frequencies by practice category practice category/associated contextual code frequency percentage relationships relationship with sub contractors or teaming partners relationship with customer relationship with contracting officer relationship with ptac pricing assessing costing for bid proposal preparation proposal quality understanding the rfp staffing strategy technical writing technical expertise past performance project management skills marketing and business development networking marketing strategy access to government facilities business development effort resourcing 8(a) company insourcing unable to get appropriate bonding government insourcing limit competition small bidder pool communication communication with government total 46 20 13 10 3 31 31 29 14 6 5 4 21 19 2 10 4 2 2 2 5 2 2 1 4 4 2 2 148 31.08% 13.51% 8.78% 6.76% 2.03% 20.95% 20.95% 19.59% 9.46% 4.05% 3.38% 2.70% 14.19% 12.84% 1.35% 6.76% 2.70% 1.35% 1.35% 1.35% 3.38% 1.35% 1.35% 0.68% 2.70% 2.70% 1.35% 1.35% 100.00% the categories were then distributed and associated with the successful and unsuccessful outcomes (see table 7). 89 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 7 practice category frequencies by outcome outcome/ practice category frequency percentage successful relationships technical expertise proposal preparation pricing marketing and business development limit competition resourcing communication unsuccessful pricing relationships proposal preparation resourcing marketing and business development technical expertise communication total 92 28 20 17 12 8 4 2 1 56 19 18 12 3 2 1 1 148 62.16% 18.92% 13.51% 11.49% 8.11% 5.41% 2.70% 1.35% 0.68% 37.84% 12.84% 12.16% 8.11% 2.03% 1.35% 0.68% 0.68% 100.00% note. reflects the frequency of a practice category by category for assignment to critical incident data and the percentage of the occurrence. relationships (31%), pricing (21%), and proposal preparation (20%) topped the practices that emerged from both the successful and unsuccessful outcomes (see table 8). table 8 practice category frequencies and counts practice category successful frequency successful percentage unsuccessful frequency unsuccessful percentage relationships pricing proposal preparation technical expertise marketing & business dev resourcing limit competition communication total 28 12 17 20 8 2 4 1 92 18.92% 8.11% 11.49% 13.51% 5.41% 1.35% 2.70% 0.68% 62.16% 18 19 12 1 2 3 0 1 56 12.16% 12.84% 8.11% 0.68% 1.35% 2.03% 0.00% 0.68% 37.84% 90 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 findings from the critical incidents data when participants recollected a critical incident, this lent credence to how the event contributed to the success or failure of the bid. the following data provides both participant (p) comments as well as indication when those involved a critical incident (ci). a critical incident was defined as a bidding outcome, either successful or unsuccessful. from these data points, the practice categories emerged from the discussions with the participants and supported the final taxonomy from the research (johnston, 2021). building relationships the literature noted that relationship building with subcontractors was critical to the success of the bidding process and the results of the study affirmed this. in ci-25, p3 won the contract after competing against five other contractors; p3 thought their win was due to their relationship with…”a great group of subcontractors, and we typically will team up with the right subcontractor.” however, the literature did not mention relationships with customers, contract officers, or procurement technical assistant centers (ptacs). the study results did find these were pivotal relationships. in ci-60, p9 indicated that the other relationships with the contracting officer and the customer had a positive impact on bidding outcomes and stated that: the more you get into talk and see the contracting officer, the government program managers, the site leads and get to learn their requirements and then brief your company’s capabilities and meeting the requirements, the more comfortable they are at maybe awarding you that contract, knowing that you know you’re proven that you can meet those requirements. in ci-43, p6 indicated that the onset of covid-19 has placed a hardship on 8acs building these relationships and stated that: just individual jobs they do that around here also the same people will bid a job, just at costs below just to get on the base so they can get access to the contracting officers...a lot, and of course this is precovid but pre-911 we could go talk to the contractor officer anytime we wanted. then it started tightening up a little bit on the bases, and it wasn’t as open and now you can’t get to them at all because they’re all working from home. that’s your end to get these jobs to get in with the contracting officer. especially 8(a)’s, sole source. in ci-65, p10 bid on an idiq contract and had a successful bidding outcome. p10 expressed the importance of an 8ac’s relationship with the customer, saying: certainly, was based on our relationships. we had been working in [the area] doing [specialized] work along with bunch of other work for [other customers], and the new [customer’s employee] came in…we got the contract because one of our clients in [the overseas location] had moved...looked around and 91 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal said wait a second, i need some help here you guys did...i need you...redo it here and we got a direct award...sometimes there’s relationships with the customer and that works, really, really well. pricing while pricing was not part of the literature review findings, the study results showed that strategic pricing was critical toward winning awards. in ci-47, p7 bid on the contract that required a long proposal with four parts and did not win the bid. p7 stated, we are always skeptical on the price, and we always need help on that, and i think everybody do[sic] need help, because you don’t know what the other people bidding, they might be bidding almost 50% lower than you. in ci-29, p4 bid on a contract with subcontractors they knew well, and the subcontractor gave them a good price. this helped them to bid more competitively. p4 recounted, having the price advantage of people who were willing to, you know, really be thoughtful, put a good price to it on every single trade involved, and then we self-performed the [type of work], which was a small percent that really gave us competitive edge. we won that by about 20% and we still made overhead and profit we expected, so no misses. ci-54 combined pricing with relationships: p9 bid on the opportunity with a mentor in the formal relationship under the mentor-protégé program. p9 was the prime, and the mentor was the subcontractor. p9 relied on the subcontractor’s knowledge of the business and came in with a high price. p9 stated, so, we relied on one of their individuals to have knowledge about [the customer], the requirements, as well as what it would take to hire qualified people. which, as you know, informs our pricing. so again, we relied heavily on their corporate knowledge about [the customer] and what would it take to price it correctly, and unfortunately, we were high, so we’re high on price which led us to not get the award. relying on the pricing of others without direct understanding can lead to a failed bidding attempt. in ci37, p4’s bid required using a specialized subcontractor. p4’s subcontractor’s high price inflated the overall bid. due to lack of a previous relationship, p4 decided to overlap the work of the subcontractor to provide comfort. however, this duplication increase the costs and they lost the bid. p4 shared that this one was another situation…where there’s a lot of subcontractors, a lot of things were missed by the lowest bids from our subs…the [specific sub-contractor] bid with assumptions that may have been wrong and those assumptions brought the price up to keep them safe, as opposed to…going after exactly how it was written and…assuming that the government would be forgiving. proposal presentation the literature review explained that understanding the proposal and bidding process is a significant barrier 92 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 to 8ac success. this study validated this explanation and the barrier’s significance and provided context through the use of the critical incidents reflected by the participants. small business owners must understand the federal rules and regulations that favor their government experience over others in the same industry (josephson et al., 2019). in ci-47, p7 lost a bid and stated: the sba small business folks...that teach us how to approach it...we didn’t get more training on approaching these types of large contracts that we’re bidding on…do you fit, how do you fit in this contract…is the company capital ready to handle this type of contract…you know you’re trying to fit in, let’s say that you know, because you’re a small company. in ci-49, p8 won a bid with competition from two companies for a basic ordering agreement, stating, i don’t really feel like a whole lot put me above another contractor, other than already kind of knowing the system on how to do proposals. and knowing what the [customer] is looking for. p8 felt that knowing how to put together a high-quality proposal was the tipping point. in ci-57, p9 shared that they lost a bid despite knowing the work and the price line; a late cost submission by their partner contributed to a high price and negative outcome. p9 was the subcontractor to a primary that prepared an inadequate proposal, lacked a staffing strategy, and had inadequate technical writing skills. p9 stated: it was right up our wheelhouse, and you know as a pretty good contract and when it came up for recompete, it…happened to be oasis contract vehicle which my company did not have...i did know a few other businesses that had the oasis contract, approached them to be the prime and we would be their subcontractor knowing that...we knew the work, we had all the people lined up for the positions, we knew how to bid the customer...relied heavily on this new prime to put together good proposal. past performance and technical experience a contractor’s technical experience and past performance on contracts are known requirements to successfully bid on contracts. past performances are stored in the contractor performance assessment reporting system (cpars), indicating the level to which bidders have professionally conducted contract management, maintained proper business relationships, and conducted appropriate oversight of subcontracting efforts with smaller businesses (manuel, 2015). cox et al. (2014), mccuin (2017), and orazem et al. (2017) noted the importance of past performance and technical expertise, and this study confirmed these previous findings. in ci-54, p9, as prime contractor, used the mentor program to bid (unsuccessfully) on an opportunity with a subcontractor mentor. p9 relied on the subcontractor’s knowledge due to p9’s lack of past performance and technical experience. we relied on one of their individuals to have knowledge about [the customer], the requirements, as well 93 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal as what it would take to hire qualified people (p9). because p9 did not have the past performance with the work for the customer, the 8ac had to rely too heavily on the mentor and came in with a price that was too high. p9 associated the unsuccessful outcome with past performance and technical expertise inexperience. in ci-65, p10’s past experiences led to a successful bid on an idiq contract: [our] team had really pulled together kind of here’s what we’ve done for [the customer] here’s what we’ve done, also for [another customer]…we could give them a solution that made sense, and we already had essentially a product that we could adapt to what they needed, and so that was…the ability to do that. in ci-24, a successful bid on a design-build project stemmed from past experiences and technical expertise: we’ve also had our project managers [who] have had experience working at the [customer location] for over 20 years…so, we were able to…check all those boxes (p3). p3 referred to their previous technical experiences in later comments. p1 reminded that past experiences only happen if you start bidding to learn. because i had invested time and research, i’m going to bid. sometimes you got a bid, so you learn. p3 agreed that the smaller contracts make sense to start with, for practice and learning: yes, yes, because when you look at the data, it’s kind of like if you put a hockey stick sideways, you know your [years] 1-2-3-4-5 is very flat, and then it starts going up and hopefully year seven, eight, or years eight through ten it peaks a little bit higher. some other tips towards past performance include debriefing. p3 indicated: a lot of times if i lose a bid, we asked for the debrief. right, you always ask for a debrief. marketing, business development, resourcing, and communication building relationships is a strategic practice, although the marketing, business development, resourcing, and communication aspects of this were not discussed by either bradt (2020) or wagner (2019). lacking these strategies led to failed bids, according to the critical incidents reflected by the participants of this study (table 9). 94 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 table 9 marketing and business development, resourcing, limited competition and communication ci p# type comment 14 60 68 81 28 12 32 1 9 10 11 4 1 4 m&bd m&bd m&bd r r r lc you got to have some connections at these military bases. so one, you’re very interested in the requirement, two, your briefing your company’s capabilities, so you can perform…when they see your proposal come across their desk it’s not just another proposal. this guy came in to see me, you know i remember them, and then they read your proposal, and then perhaps it gives you just that little bit of a leg up. we did have a relationship in that office, it was someone who i had worked with in the white house...and she had reached out to us and said hey, i’m standing up this office. i’m really struggling…i need someone, so we talked to her. we went through the whole process and we lost it…but they were requiring some bonding and we couldn’t fulfill that…i won, but i didn’t get it. and we have the experience, we have all the manpower, we have everything in place to do the work, we price it, we get best price, but it was a problem which is one of the…bonding, it doesn’t make sense, why the sba does with bonding for the 8(a)’s. they’re supposed to be something to help...it’s not realistic for a small business to have $10 million in bonding…probably one of the biggest obstacles that we have in the program…we were probably the lower the price, but i didn’t provide the bond. the strategy of our company is finding jobs where the scope of work includes a lot of [type of work] because that is a heavy cost that not a lot of general contractors can do themselves. so, we have a unique advantage in that field that one was entirely because we insourced the [type of work] aspect. they wanted us to stand up a contract…we built the program, we hired for the program, we structured the program, we built the entire program and then in year seven they insourced it...you can’t control what the government wants to do it says that in your contract. 95 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 49 55 8 9 lc c the [customer] they’ve given us multi awards. so, we’re in there with a smaller bidder pool, and those are successful getting task orders for us because…our strategy, it’s just getting a smaller bidder pool…and that’s kind of why we’re going to be successful, getting out of 8(a) program, because of that past experience. every year there’s someone else entering and…leaving the boa...every year it either stays the same or someone’s leaving, and someone’s coming in, but it’s still limited group of contractors. my business partner is really our pricing guru, so we did a lot of research, this time not just leaning on them put together a great technical, very competitive price based on our research, submitted it and then unfortunately, when i check back with the contracting officer for some reason, they did not ultimately receive our proposal...it was it was entirely devastating note. m&bd = marketing and business development; r = resources; lc = limited competition; c = communication. summary of findings to create a taxonomy of practices, a critical incidents technique was used with 11 8ac principals recollected ideas and thoughts surrounding lost and won bid awards in the federal contracting system. the johnston (2021) taxonomy was supported by relevant data from the study. the overarching findings of the study provided that creating relationships with other vendors, subcontractors, contracting officers, ptac, and customers, having or finding technical expertise to create the proposals or relying on the ptac assistance provided by the sba program, creating well documented and accurate proposals, having appropriate resources in place to support the proposal, including a valid staffing strategy, using networking and business development to market the organization appropriately in order to meet required bats and past performance requirements, take advantage of the small bidder pools in the early phases of the program to understand and overcome competition in later phases, and pricing appropriately to ensure that enough funding from winning the contract is earned to keep the organization running but not overbidding and losing the contracts. the final and full strategic framework from the findings is found in the appendix, which highlights the previously known ideas which were confirmed by this study, originally provided in figure 1, combined with the new findings from this project. new findings included that participating on teams as a prime, sub, mentor-protégé, and joint venture member were all important and that developing relationships with contracting officers, customers and ptacs were critical incidents to successfully negotiating the middle phase of the program. further, the final debriefing meeting request was an essential practice that the participants stated was used for both successful and unsuccessful bids in order to learn more about what 96 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 they did (or could have done) to win the bid. 97 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal references 8a magazine. 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(n.d.-b). https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/all-small-mentor-protegeprogram u.s. small business administration. office of policy, planning & liaison, office of government contracting & business development. (2019). fy 2020 goaling guidelines. https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/202005/fy20_small_business_goaling_guidelines_draft_2020.pdf under what circumstances can a joint venture be awarded an 8(a) contract?, 13 c.f.r. § 124.513 (2020). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.513 usa spending. (2020, may 15). spending data. https://www.usaspending.gov/ wagner, r. (2019). a growth strategy for 8(a) companies [white paper]. rwco richard white & company: https://richardwagnerco.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/8a-strategy-whitepaper.rwco_.2019.pdf what are non-8(a) business activity targets?, 13 c.f.r. § 124.509 (2020). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.509 https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-6513.20180022 https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/fy17-cbj_fy15-apr.pdf https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/aboutsbaarticle/fy_2018_congressional_budget_justification_fy_2016_annual_performance_report.pdf https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/aboutsbaarticle/fy_2018_congressional_budget_justification_fy_2016_annual_performance_report.pdf https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-newsroom/press-releases-media-advisories/federal-government-achieves-small-business-contracting-goal-sixth-consecutive-year-record-breaking https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-newsroom/press-releases-media-advisories/federal-government-achieves-small-business-contracting-goal-sixth-consecutive-year-record-breaking https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-02/fy%202021%20cj-508_final.pdf https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-02/fy%202021%20cj-508_final.pdf https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/8a-business-development-program https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/8a-business-development-program https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/all-small-mentor-protege-program https://www.sba.gov/federal-contracting/contracting-assistance-programs/all-small-mentor-protege-program https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05/fy20_small_business_goaling_guidelines_draft_2020.pdf https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05/fy20_small_business_goaling_guidelines_draft_2020.pdf https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.513 https://www.usaspending.gov/ https://richardwagnerco.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/8a-strategy-white-paper.rwco_.2019.pdf https://richardwagnerco.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/8a-strategy-white-paper.rwco_.2019.pdf https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.509 101 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal what are the rules governing sba’s mentor/protégé program?, 13 c.f.r. § 124.520 (2020). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.520 what is a small disadvantaged business?, 13 c.f.r. § 124.1002 (2020). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.1002 what is graduation and what is early graduation?, 13 c.f.r. § 124.302 (2020). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.302 what is the purpose of sba?, 13 c.f.r. § 101.100 (2020). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/101.100 what is the purpose of the 8(a) business development program?, 13 c.f.r. § 124.1 (2020). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.1 what size business is eligible to participate in the 8(a) bd program?, 13 c.f.r. §124.102 (2020). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.102 what types of assistance are available through the 7(j) program?, 13 c.f.r. § 124.702 (2020). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.702 who is socially disadvantaged?, 13 c.f.r. § 124.103 (2020). https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.103 yin, r. k. (2016). qualitative research from start to finish (2nd ed.). the guilford press. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.520 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.1002 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.302 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/101.100 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.1 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.102 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.702 https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/13/124.103 102 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 register and submit your work to business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master’s/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master’s degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ abstract introduction section 8(a) of the small business act of the united states was designed, in part, to increase the participation of socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses in federal contracting. in 1997, the federal government assigned an annual goa... background studied problem and gap in practice research approach the project employed a critical incidents technique (cit) within a qualitative inquiry design using as participants, principals of 8acs who had successfully maneuvered through the midphase of 8(a) competitive processes and had become a competitive bid... the cit process allows for respondents to contribute numerous incidents, with the possibility of collecting hundreds or even thousands of incidents through several interviews (flanagan, 1954). data saturation aims to reach a point where new incidents’... cit sampling strategy is different from most research techniques. instead of a planned number of participants, sample size in a cit project is based on the number of incidents collected (butterfield et al., 2005), with varying numbers of incidents det... research question sba’s phases of the program whereas figure 1 shows three phases of the 8(a) program, the sba looks at the program as two-phased: developmental and transitional. within these two phases, the sba requires that 8acs have income other than federal contracts and sets business activi... as part of the developmental phase, the sba and federal regulations also provide a 7(j) program which is available to 8acs. bradt (2020) outlined the need for 8acs to actively seek training in critical business development activities using the 7(j) pr... literature review historically, challenges to participating in federal contracting include the costs, complexity, time factors, and past performance requirements. orazem et al. (2017) found investment in time and resources to pursue a government contract and the requir... to participate in federal contracting, companies must develop separate product lines and corporate systems for marketing tactics, audits, human resource management, operational activities, and social responsibility (josephson et al., 2019). the expens... changes to size, definitions of disadvantaged, and the complex 8ac requirements also deter small businesses or lead to specific anti-competitiveness. for example, alaska native corporations, nhos, and tribes can own multiple 8acs concurrently and an i... previous researchers identified challenges and barriers experienced by firms when attempting to participate in federal contracting, but not specifically on 8acs. orazem et al. (2017) used a survey of startups, venture capital firms, and angel funds an... existing literature did not offer 8acs suggested solutions for reducing the identified challenges or mitigating the barriers beyond calling for changes in government regulations. the literature reviewed did not allude to the effects of the super 8acs... participant recruitment findings from the critical incidents data building relationships the literature noted that relationship building with subcontractors was critical to the success of the bidding process and the results of the study affirmed this. in ci-25, p3 won the contract after competing against five other contractors; p3 thought... in ci-60, p9 indicated that the other relationships with the contracting officer and the customer had a positive impact on bidding outcomes and stated that: the more you get into talk and see the contracting officer, the government program managers, the site leads and get to learn their requirements and then brief your company’s capabilities and meeting the requirements, the more comfortable they are at m... in ci-43, p6 indicated that the onset of covid-19 has placed a hardship on 8acs building these relationships and stated that: just individual jobs they do that around here also the same people will bid a job, just at costs below just to get on the base so they can get access to the contracting officers...a lot, and of course this is pre-covid but pre-911 we could go talk to ... in ci-65, p10 bid on an idiq contract and had a successful bidding outcome. p10 expressed the importance of an 8ac’s relationship with the customer, saying: certainly, was based on our relationships. we had been working in [the area] doing [specialized] work along with bunch of other work for [other customers], and the new [customer’s employee] came in…we got the contract because one of our clients in [th... pricing while pricing was not part of the literature review findings, the study results showed that strategic pricing was critical toward winning awards. in ci-47, p7 bid on the contract that required a long proposal with four parts and did not win the bid. p... we are always skeptical on the price, and we always need help on that, and i think everybody do[sic] need help, because you don’t know what the other people bidding, they might be bidding almost 50% lower than you. in ci-29, p4 bid on a contract with subcontractors they knew well, and the subcontractor gave them a good price. this helped them to bid more competitively. p4 recounted, having the price advantage of people who were willing to, you know, really be thoughtful, put a good price to it on every single trade involved, and then we self-performed the [type of work], which was a small percent that really gave us competitive e... ci-54 combined pricing with relationships: p9 bid on the opportunity with a mentor in the formal relationship under the mentor-protégé program. p9 was the prime, and the mentor was the subcontractor. p9 relied on the subcontractor’s knowledge of the b... so, we relied on one of their individuals to have knowledge about [the customer], the requirements, as well as what it would take to hire qualified people. which, as you know, informs our pricing. so again, we relied heavily on their corporate knowled... relying on the pricing of others without direct understanding can lead to a failed bidding attempt. in ci-37, p4’s bid required using a specialized subcontractor. p4’s subcontractor’s high price inflated the overall bid. due to lack of a previous rela... this one was another situation…where there’s a lot of subcontractors, a lot of things were missed by the lowest bids from our subs…the [specific sub-contractor] bid with assumptions that may have been wrong and those assumptions brought the price up t... proposal presentation the literature review explained that understanding the proposal and bidding process is a significant barrier to 8ac success. this study validated this explanation and the barrier’s significance and provided context through the use of the critical inci... the sba small business folks...that teach us how to approach it...we didn’t get more training on approaching these types of large contracts that we’re bidding on…do you fit, how do you fit in this contract…is the company capital ready to handle this t... in ci-49, p8 won a bid with competition from two companies for a basic ordering agreement, stating, i don’t really feel like a whole lot put me above another contractor, other than already kind of knowing the system on how to do proposals. and knowing what the [customer] is looking for. p8 felt that knowing how to put together a high-quality proposal was the tipping point. in ci-57, p9 shared that they lost a bid despite knowing the work and the price line; a late cost submission by their partner contributed to a high price and negative outcome. p9 was the subcontractor to a primary that prepared an inadequate proposal,... it was right up our wheelhouse, and you know as a pretty good contract and when it came up for recompete, it…happened to be oasis contract vehicle which my company did not have...i did know a few other businesses that had the oasis contract, approache... past performance and technical experience a contractor’s technical experience and past performance on contracts are known requirements to successfully bid on contracts. past performances are stored in the contractor performance assessment reporting system (cpars), indicating the level to whic... in ci-54, p9, as prime contractor, used the mentor program to bid (unsuccessfully) on an opportunity with a subcontractor mentor. p9 relied on the subcontractor’s knowledge due to p9’s lack of past performance and technical experience. we relied on one of their individuals to have knowledge about [the customer], the requirements, as well as what it would take to hire qualified people (p9). because p9 did not have the past performance with the work for the customer, the 8ac had to rely too heavily on the mentor and came in with a price that was too high. p9 associated the unsuccessful outcome with past performance and technical expertise... in ci-65, p10’s past experiences led to a successful bid on an idiq contract: [our] team had really pulled together kind of here’s what we’ve done for [the customer] here’s what we’ve done, also for [another customer]…we could give them a solution that made sense, and we already had essentially a product that we could adapt to ... in ci-24, a successful bid on a design-build project stemmed from past experiences and technical expertise: we’ve also had our project managers [who] have had experience working at the [customer location] for over 20 years…so, we were able to…check all those boxes (p3). p3 referred to their previous technical experiences in later comments. p1 reminded that past experiences only happen if you start bidding to learn. because i had invested time and research, i’m going to bid. sometimes you got a bid, so you learn. p3 agreed that the smaller contracts make sense to start with, for practice and learning: yes, yes, because when you look at the data, it’s kind of like if you put a hockey stick sideways, you know your [years] 1-2-3-4-5 is very flat, and then it starts going up and hopefully year seven, eight, or years eight through ten it peaks a little ... some other tips towards past performance include debriefing. p3 indicated: a lot of times if i lose a bid, we asked for the debrief. right, you always ask for a debrief. marketing, business development, resourcing, and communication summary of findings to create a taxonomy of practices, a critical incidents technique was used with 11 8ac principals recollected ideas and thoughts surrounding lost and won bid awards in the federal contracting system. the johnston (2021) taxonomy was supported by relev... the final and full strategic framework from the findings is found in the appendix, which highlights the previously known ideas which were confirmed by this study, originally provided in figure 1, combined with the new findings from this project. new f... references 104 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 business and publication model of cardiology journals anmol mohan | karachi medial & dental college, karachi, pakistan | https://orcid.org/0000-00034927-5489 saida yaqoob | jinnah medical & dental college, karachi pakistan | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-59436074 qazi shurjeel uddin | dow university of health sciences, karachi, pakistan | https://orcid.org/00000003-4850-2125 furqan ahmad jarullah | jinnah medical & dental college, karachi, pakistan | https://orcid.org/00000002-9724-759x priyanka mohan lal | the ziauddin medical university, karachi, pakistan | https://orcid.org/0000-00022572-8511 vikash kumar | the brooklyn hospital center, new york, usa | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-00582421 um ul wara | karachi medical & dental college, karachi, pakistan aliza ayax | karachi medical & dental college, karachi, pakistan | https://orcid.org/0000-0002-00766378 usha tejwaney | valley health system, new jersey, usa | https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5645-1861 shivaram p. arunachalam | department of medicine & radiology, mayo clinic, rochester, minnesota | https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3251-5415 contact: anmolmohanvan@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5943-6074 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5943-6074 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4850-2125 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4850-2125 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9724-759x https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9724-759x https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2572-8511 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2572-8511 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0058-2421 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0058-2421 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0076-6378 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0076-6378 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5645-1861 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3251-5415 105 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal abstract objective: traditional and open-access publishing strategies have been reviewed more recently, notably in light of the recent standoff between elsevier and the university of california over cost and access. although peer-reviewed publications are the primary means of disseminating science, the industry remains a mystery to many. we aimed to determine cardiology publisher market share, access type, geographic distribution, and relative research impact better to understand the traditionally opaque realm of academic publishing. methods: scopus was queried in october 2022 to retrieve all items in the "medicine" subcategory of "cardiology." the following information was cataloged: journal name, publisher, scimago journal ranking (sjr) score, nation, and publication model. journals were grouped by their publication model, while publishers were grouped by ownership type. overall trends were examined regarding publisher type, publication model, and geographic location. results: more than half of all cardiology journals commercial entities publish 73.6% (231/314). within the category, elsevier and springer nature together published 36.3%(114/314) of the journal titles. universities provided 8% (25/314) of cardiology publications in the marketplace, while professional societies contributed 18.5 % (58/314). europe and north america publish more than two-thirds of all cardiology journals together. sjrs were greatest for commercially published papers on average. conclusion: the publication of cardiology journals is substantially centralized within a few multinational commercial corporations. although most cardiology journals were open-access, their influence was comparable to that of subscription journals. further disagreements between universities and publishers could impact future manuscript submission, review, and citation, destabilizing existing publishing arrangements. keywords: journal publishers; publication model; open access; cardiology journals. 106 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 introduction the internet revolution has significantly impacted the scientific publishing industry, catalyzing them to transition from printed paper editions to electronic journals. [1] with the internet enabling easy and costeffective distribution of scientific content, the publishers introduced access or publishing restrictions enabling them to monetize the material that may have been produced through public funding. [1] the publishers stated that these paywalls were installed to cover costs such as employing administrative staff, maintaining of journal’s website, and evaluating and editing the article. [2] the publishing entities employ various business models to cover these costs, which are discussed subsequently. the first model is the traditional subscription-based journals in which the literature can only be accessed via an institutional license, a journal subscription, or a fee per article set by the publisher. [1] the subscription payment covers the costs mentioned above. many authors prefer to publish in subscriptionbased journals mainly because no charges are incurred upon them. secondly, subscription-based journals have a higher impact than their open-access counterparts due to a long rigorous peer-review history. [3] the second model is open access, in which no fees are levied on readers; however, writers must pay article processing fees (apc). [4] through these apcs, the open access journals cover the costs associated with publishing an article. [4] open access journals are the optimal way of disseminating ground-breaking research, plus the increased readership may also boost citations. [4] however, since these journals base their revenue on the number of articles published, many researchers have questioned the integrity of the peer-reviewing process and the standard of literature published in open access journals. the third model is an amalgamation of open-access and subscription-based models that is a hybrid model in which authors possess the autonomy of publishing in either of the categories. many publishing giants like elsevier, springer nature, wolters, and kluwer have started publishing hybrid journals. [5] they cover the costs associated with publishing through both apc and subscription charges. many researchers, however, have expressed reservations regarding this business model and accused journals of “double-dipping,” which means that authors pay apc to publish their articles in open access and libraries subsequently pay for articles that are behind the subscription paywall due to haphazard indexing of articles in hybrid model journals. [6] in recent years considerable increase in survival rates of patients diagnosed with cardiovascular illnesses has been observed. [7] this all has been due to the applications of research done in cardiology. [7] hence, we aim to understand the business and publications model of cardiology journals and their effects on the output of cardiology-related research. methodology our study did not require approval from the ethical review board as there was no human involvement, and data was freely accessible on the internet. 1. data collection and organization: 107 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal a comprehensive literature search was done using scopus, a multidisciplinary citation database covering nearly 36,377 titles from over 11,678 publishers. maintained by elsevier, scopus provides access to journal discipline, category, and country to ensure channeled search. we explored surgery journals available on the site for the year 2022 to aid data collection & analysis. data regarding journal name, scimago journal ranking (sjr), publisher name, country of origin, continent, publication model, and language were manually extracted for all surgery journals and entered on an excel sheet, which was later reviewed by two authors. journals that were inaccessible, discontinued or continued as different journals were excluded. sjr is a freely available portal for ranking journals based on the number of citations and the prestige of the journal. journals that were not ranked using sjr were also excluded from the study. publishers were categorized into commercial, university, and professional society while publication models were grouped into open access, subscription, and hybrid. 2. data analysis we used spss version 25.0 (ibm corp, new york usa) for the data analysis. categorical variables were reported as frequencies and percentages. a fisher's exact test was carried out to evaluate the course of the publication model across the top 12 publishers. a kruskal-wallis test was employed to observe the division of sjr across the top 12 publishers, publisher type, publication model, and the continent of the publisher. results were interpreted with 95% confidence intervals, and a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. anova test was not used since data were not normally distributed. results general trends: a total of 314 cardiology journals were identified through the scopus database. four or more journals used approximately twelve publishers, and other publishers were used by less than four journals. more than half of all cardiology journals (n=203, 64.6%) are published by the top 12 publishing entities, as shown in fig 1. of this, elsevier (23.6%, 74/314), springer nature (12.7%, 40/314), and wolters and kluwer (6.1%. 19/314) jointly accounted for 55.3% of all cardiology journals published. regarding publisher type, commercial organizations publish more than half of all cardiology journals (73.6%, 231/314). professional society accounted for 18.5% (58/314), whereas universities contributed 8% (25/314) of cardiology journals in the marketplace. region-wise, europe and north america jointly publish more than 2/3rd of all cardiology journals, as shown in table 1. 108 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 table 1. distribution of sjr across top 12 publishers, publisher type, publication model, and continent of publisher. median range mean p top 12 publishers .000 elsevier 0.756 0.100-10.3 1.22 springer nature 0.759 0.114-7.80 1.18 wolters kluwer health 0.700 0.255-4.90 1.73 sage 0.740 0.203-2.45 0.925 wiley 0.806 0.404-5.15 1.20 oxford university press 2.12 0.256-4.34 2.07 karger 0.806 0.547-1.22 0.843 thieme 0.404 0.200-1.59 0.668 taylor and francis 0.501 0.112-0.809 0.464 hindawi 0.437 0.106-0.904 0.470 bentham 0.390 0.112-0.815 0.469 edzioni minerwa medica 0.259 0.149-0.794 0.400 publisher type .937 109 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal commercial 0.580 0.100-10.3 0.876 professional society 0.483 0.101-7.80 1.14 university 0.546 0.124-4.34 0.844 access type .001 subscrip�on 0.555 0.100-7.80 1.07 open access 0.411 0.100-6.12 0.711 hybrid 0.689 0.112-10.3 1.05 con�nent .000 africa 0.378 0.106-0.904 0.402 asia 0.418 0.112-2.35 0.509 europe 0.541 0.100-6.12 0.774 north america 0.793 0.101-10.3 4.34 oceania 0.643 0.429-0.892 0.652 south america 0.183 0.101-0.400 0.206 110 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 fig. 1 marketplace presence of the top 10 publishers of cardiology journals. the standalone numbers represent the number of journals owned by each publishing entity. values in parentheses indicate the proportion of all cardiology journals (314) published by the respective entities. publishers with four or fewer journals were designated as “other publishers” publication model: types of publishers: about one-third of the cardiology journals work upon the open-access model, as shown in table 1. the proportions of open access, subscription-based and hybrid journals across the commercial, university, and professional societies are shown in fig 2. the distribution of journals was not significantly correlated with the three publisher types. 111 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal fig. 2 proportions of subscription-based, open-access and hybrid journals in commercial, professional society, university, and all publishers. the number of journals and proportions are represented by the standalone numbers and the values in parentheses, respectively .distribution of journals across individual publishers: the distribution of open-access, subscription-based, and hybrid models across various publishing entities is shown in fig 3. amongst the top 12 publishers, only one (oxford university press) was society-based. edizioni medica minerva was the only publisher that did not contain any open-access journal of cardiology. springer nature (75%) and bentham (66.7%) published the highest hybrid journals. more than half (64%) of other publishers’ journals were of open-access type. there was a significant variation in distribution between the publication model between the top twelve publishing organizations. (p<0.001) 112 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 fig. 3 proportions of subscription-based, open-access and hybrid journals by the top 12 publishers. publishers with four or fewer journals were designated as “other publishers.” scimago journal rank (sjr) indicator: table 1 displays the mean sjr score for the twelve publishers, publishing model, access type, and continent-wise distribution of journals. there was a statistically significant variation in score between the twelve publishers, the business model of the journals, and the location where the journal is headquartered (p<0.05). however, there was no statistically significant difference in scores across different publishing entities. discussion the current study depicts key trends in cardiology journals’ business model. this is the first extensive review to the best of our knowledge. our analysis revealed that more than two-thirds of the market is contributed by commercial entities. region-wise, europe dominated the cardiology journals business market in contrast to the radiology journals market, in which north america is the highest contributor. [8] the region-wise discrepancy can partly be attributed to the fact that research funding is highly correlated with the publication output, which leads to a more significant number of journals published by some regions. [9] 113 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal we observed that a greater number of cardiology journals worked upon the open-access model, and less than one-third of the journals were subscription-based journals. this contrasts with vijayasarathi et al., who reported that a greater number of radiology journals were subscription-based. this may be attributed to the fact that cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide which is why research in cardiology is vital to conduct and disseminate. [10] open-access journals have a broader audience and are even accessible to people not belonging to the scientific field and hence have a more significant societal impact. [11,12] furthermore, as evidenced by the fact that publications in openaccess journals are expanding at a rate of 30% per year, the idea that open-access journals do not implement rigorous peer-review and publish sub-standard articles is quickly diminishing.[1] approximately more than one-third of the journals were based on the hybrid model. this can partly be due to the benefits provided by the hybrid model journals, such as dissolving the paywall of apc so that authors can publish their work in reputable open-access journals. [13] furthermore, the hybrid model provides an opportunity for the publisher to observe the transition from a subscription-based model to a purely open-access model. [13] however, the hybrid model is not yet perfect, and several limitations have been pointed out. for instance, the apc of hybrid journals is much higher than pure open-access journals. [14] hybrid model publishers have been accused of “double-dipping” by generating revenue both from apcs paid by authors and the subscription fees of relevant categories paid by the readers. [6] in addition, few publishers do not make articles fully accessible until apc has been completely received. this may consume months, and those articles can only be accessed by a fee, thus generating money from the articles that are supposed to be open access. hence, this highlights an unclear demarcation between the two revenue streams. [15] the study by qureshi et al. revealed that two-thirds of cardiology publication output from the world is from high-income countries. therefore, europe and usa dominated the cardiology business marketplace region-wise. [16] high-income countries were associated with a higher output of research and lower cardiovascular morbidity rates, while in low-income regions, it was vice versa. [16] the analogy may explain that the high subscription fees or apcs cannot be afforded by the authors belonging to middle-income and low-income regions and therefore remain deprived of scholarly literature. [17] there is an increasing awareness amongst researchers about the effects of journals’ business model, which is evident by the cancellation or limitation of contracts between mit, the university of north carolina, the university of idaho, the university of virginia, and the state university of new york with elsevier. [18] there is now a demand that publishers ease access and publishing restrictions so that the flow of research is not obstructed and improvement in public health is not hindered. limitations certain limitations must be considered while viewing the current study. firstly, the scopus database may not include articles that do not fall under the purview of typical cardiology journals. secondly, the scopus database is a branch of the publishing behemoth elsevier. even though scopus is affiliated with an autonomous advisory group, the possibility of a conflict of interest cannot be overlooked. thirdly, scopus does not consider some publications' hybrid models that might overestimate or underestimate the number of open access or subscription-based journals. furthermore, the sjr is not a 114 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 precise method for assessing a journal's impact and has its limitations [20]. sjr was chosen over journal impact factor (jif) as the citation metric since it provides open access, whereas jif requires a subscription to the journal citation reports database. both metrics have significant advantages and disadvantages outside this article's scope, and past literature has demonstrated that sjr can be a valuable tool for assessing journal quality. [19-21] conclusion in summary, about 12 entities dominate the cardiology journals marketplace, out of which only one (oxford university press) is society-based while the rest are commercial organizations. region-wise, north america and europe collectively publish more than two-thirds of all cardiology journals. in addition, out of the three models, the least amount of journals worked on a subscription-based model. the sjr score significantly differed across the top 12 publishers, business model, and the location of the journal. the publication paradigm is anticipated to be a key topic in future talks between institutions and leading commercial publishers. future research about the influence of subscription cancellation on paper submission, access, review, and citation is necessary. funding: not applicable. ethical approval: not applicable. authors' contributions: anmol mohan, sadia yaqoob, furqan ahmad jarullah wrote the main manuscript. qazi shurjeel uddin, priyanka mohan lal, muhammad taha arshad shaikh and vikash kumar did the analysis. um ul wara and aliza ayaz helped in the second revision. usha tejwaney and shivram p. arunachalam reviewed the manuscript and made the final changes. all the authors reviewed the final manuscript acknowledgments: none. conflict of interest statement: no conflict of interest declared. data availability statement: not applicable. 115 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal references 1. laakso, m., welling, p., bukvova, h., nyman, l., björk, b.-c., & hedlund, t. 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business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master’s/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master’s degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ abstract introduction methodology results discussion limitations conclusion 118 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 instructional and student services costs in private postsecondary education and retention rates in texas robert tucker | hardin-simmons university, abilene, tx ikwukananne udechukwu | columbia southern university, orange beach, al contact: rleetucker@gmail.com abstract the purpose of this quantitative correlational-predictive study was to determine to what extent, if any, instructional costs and student services costs together and separately predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. the decisions on where post-secondary institutions allocate their funds, has become an imperative. based on tinto’s theory of institutional departure, the predictor variables were instructional costs and student services costs, and the criterion variable was retention rates of postsecondary private institutions in texas. ninety-nine post-secondary institutions were used for this study. the data used for the study were secondary data obtained from ipeds (integrated postsecondary data systems). the results of the multiple linear regression indicated that there was a collective significant effect of instructional costs on retention rates f(1,58) = 4.754, p<.05, adjusted r2 = .060). if the instruction cost increases by 1 unit, the average retention rate increased by 6.61 units. this indicates that there is a positive relationship between instructional costs and retention rates. the results of student services costs only showed p = 0.33, which is more than the expected 0.05 level of significance. keywords: retention, costs, instructional, student services, postsecondary, texas, private, tinto, ipeds mailto:rleetucker@gmail.com 119 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal introduction the purpose of this quantitative correlational-predictive study was to determine to what extent, if any, instructional costs and student services costs predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. retention rates in private postsecondary institutions have been deemed unacceptably low relative to rates in public postsecondary institutions (seidman, 2018). according to the integrated postsecondary educational data system (ipeds) website, in 2018, overall public institutions had a reported retention rate of 81.2% while private institutions had a reported retention rate of 59.8% (ipeds, 2019). in 2019, texas public institutions retained students at a rate of 77% while private institutions retained students at a rate of 71% (ipeds, 2019). low retention rates are often correlated with poor completion rates. low rates of completion result in decreased revenue for the institution, scheduling challenges, and teacher workload changes (seidman, 2018). furthermore, decreased revenue often results in budget shortfalls (barr & mcclellan, 2018). this concern over revenue has led institutions with operational challenges to explore ways to help improve retention rates. the causes of poor retention rates have been studied extensively. studies on academic success, integration of transitions, transfers, and prediction models have attempted to analyze causes and solutions for low retention rates (aulck & west, 2017; musamali, 2019; raju & schumacker, 2015; saunders-scott et al., 2018). retention rates are dependent on many variables, to include college preparation, financial aid, and personal factors. according to bowman et al. (2019), “higher education studies often focus on many of the same types of predictors, which include student demographics, precollege academic achievement, institutional characteristics, and college experiences” (pp. 135–136). however, scholars have not proposed solutions to these challenges (aulck & west, 2017; seidman, 2018). instructional costs and student services costs have become the main categories related to costs for higher learning institutions (gansemer-topf et al., 2018; lopez, 2018). instructional costs are those that are linked directly to academic instruction, while student services costs are those related to other auxiliary academic services provided by colleges. according to the ipeds (2019), instructional costs are expenses of the colleges, schools, universities, departments, including other instructional divisions of the institution. instructional costs also include expenses for departmental research and public service that are not independently budgeted (ipeds, 2019). student services costs are expenses specifically for admissions, registrar, and other activities (ipeds, 2019). as gansemer-topf et al. (2018) and dominguez-whitehead (2017) defined, student services costs are aimed at positively contributing to the students’ emotional, academic, physical, cultural, and social health and well-being. although student services are those that are not directly used for academic purposes, student services costs help provide services that both affirm and support academic work (dominguez-whitehead, 2017). these student services contribute directly to the student experience and provide guidance and direction for overall student engagement, often manifesting in academic success (dominguez-whitehead, 2017). few studies, however, have addressed to what extent retention rates are predicted by expenditures for instruction and student services (gansemer-topf et al., 2018). dahlvig et al. (2020) and millea et al. 120 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 (2018) argued that there is a link between funds spent on instruction and research and retention rates in universities. specifically, millea et al. (2018) stated, “instructional costs, including other costs related to support services, are associated with retention rates” (p. 309). dahlvig et al. (2020) also noted that financial costs such as those related to student support services are associated with retention rates and graduation rates. previous researchers did not specifically focus on instructional costs and student services costs, and their association to retention rates in private postsecondary institutions (dahlvig et al., 2020; millea et al., 2018). this is vital to address, given that understanding the relationship among instructional costs, student services costs, and retention rates could lead to effective development of strategies that could be implemented in private postsecondary institutions in order to increase retention and revenue (dahlvig et al., 2020; millea et al., 2018). the current study extended prior research by dahlvig et al. (2020) and millea et al. (2018) on the recognition that there is a positive correlation between dollars spent for instruction and research and higher retention rates in universities. millea et al. (2018) found in their study that academic success and expenditures for instruction contribute to higher retention rates for students. dahlvig et al. (2020) stated further, “it is imperative that colleges and universities examine how they allocate finite dollars in ways that increase retention and graduation rates” (p. 1). this statement implies the examination of how colleges and universities allocate their finite resources in terms of instructional services and student services costs, as these are both associated with retention rates (dahlvig et al., 2020; millea et al., 2018). strategies for allocation of financial resources could increase retention and graduation rates (dahlvig et al., 2020). background of the study relative to public institutions, in general private institutions have lower retention rates. in texas, public institutions retain students at a rate of 77%, while private institutions retain students at a rate of 71% (ipeds, 2019). retention rates are generally a concern for postsecondary education due to low completion rates and high dropout rates, which result in overall decreased revenue for institutions. defined by the variance between firstand second-year college students and degree completion, low retention rates contribute to lost revenue with added expenses for prevention (barclay et al., 2018; national center for education statistics, 2016; national student clearinghouse research center, 2018). in private postsecondary institutions, low retention rates result in decreased revenue, reduced services, and lack of infrastructure (seidman, 2018). texas institutions draw students largely from the state of texas (texas higher education coordinating board, 2019). the education system in texas is a large publicly funded system from elementary to postsecondary. by targeting postsecondary private institutions in texas, the findings of this study will enhance our understanding of student service costs and instructional costs, both in research and in practice, in private institutions in texas. discovering the relationship between retention rates and cost of services may assist private postsecondary institutions in designing effective strategies that could aid in increasing retention rates. 121 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal problem statement it was not known to what extent, if any, instructional costs and student services costs predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. low completion rates in private postsecondary institutions continue to be a problem, as they significantly contribute to lost revenue for the institution, scheduling challenges, teacher workload change, and budget shortfalls (barr & mcclellan, 2018; seidman, 2018). this was especially vital to address, given that retention rates have not improved in recent years (seidman, 2018). with low retention rates, institutions bear significant losses in tuition and opportunity costs for instruction and services. despite these, the predictive nature of the relationship between instructional and student services costs and retention rates has not been thoroughly explored. purpose statement the purpose of this quantitative correlational-predictive study was to determine to what extent, if any, instructional costs and student services costs together and separately predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. the predictor variables were instructional costs and student services costs, and the criterion variable is retention rates of postsecondary private institutions in texas. the data on retention rates and the costs for instructional services and student services come from archived, secondary data on the integrated postsecondary data systems website (ipeds, 2019). research questions and hypotheses based on the problem and the theoretical foundation of the study, the following research question was developed: rq1: to what extent, if any, do instructional costs and student services costs together and separately predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions? h10: instructional costs and student services costs together do not statistically significantly predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. h1a: instructional costs and student services costs together statistically significantly predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. h20: instructional costs do not statistically significantly predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. h2a: instructional costs statistically significantly predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. h30: student services costs do not statistically significantly predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. h3a: student services costs statistically significantly predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. 122 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 advancing theoretical knowledge based on the identified research gap and a need for further research, this study addressed the predictive quality of instructional and student services costs on retention rates (millea et al., 2018). based on tinto’ original theory on student departure, this study has value for postsecondary leadership in making decisions to allocate resources for increased retention rates (millea et al., 2018). knowing the predictive quality of costs can help institutions in making appropriate financial and operational decisions in attempts to find ways to improve retention rates (banks & dohy, 2019). parallel to tinto’s seminal work, instructional costs were an extension of academic success while student services costs were extended from student engagement. while tinto took a qualitative view, this study took a quantitative approach to the variables. application to business administration administrators and supervisors in higher education remain mindful and concerned with retention rates of students. aside from the obvious societal problem of students dropping out and incurring expense and debt without degree completion, retention of students provides needed resources for institutional operations. in developing budgets in higher education, officials work to project enrollment to help determine budget allocations, scheduling for classes, faculty teaching assignments, and student activities. these costs generally fall into two categories—instructional costs and student services costs. business leaders in most industries work to forecast future growth or declines. this study focuses on the business side of higher education. definition of terms instructional costs: instructional costs are costs that are linked directly to academic instruction. as defined by the ipeds (2019), instructional costs refer to “a functional expense category that includes expenses of the colleges, schools, departments, and other instructional divisions of the institution and expenses for departmental research and public service that are not separately budgeted” (ipeds, 2019, glossary). example outputs generated from instructional costs include “general academic instruction, occupational and vocational instruction, community education, preparatory and adult basic education, and regular, special, and extension sessions” (ipeds, 2019, glossary). student services costs: student services costs are costs that are not directly connected to academic instruction. as defined by ipeds (2019), student services costs belong toa functional expense category, including expenses for admissions, registrar activities, and activities. the primary purpose of student services costs is to positively contribute to students’ emotional and physical well-being, as well as their intellectual, cultural, and social development outside the context of the formal instructional program (dominguez-whitehead, 2017; ipeds, 2019). examples of output from student services costs “include student activities, cultural events, student newspapers, intramural athletics, student organizations, supplemental instruction outside the normal administration, and student records” (ipeds, 2019, glossary). according to dominguez-whitehead (2017), such services contribute directly to the student experience and provide guidance and direction for overall student engagement. 123 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal literature review increasing the retention of students in higher education is a challenge for institutions and leadership (lascher, 2018; lenhardt, 2017; rodriguez et al., 2019). the value of focused research on retention is to provide data and information that can help institutions make decisions that help students remain in school with the goal of completing a college degree. in this literature review, the researcher explores and analyzes the developments related to retention in postsecondary institutions. the gap is presented, followed by the foundational theory and the theoretical concepts. historically, research into retention has concentrated efforts in providing solutions to alleviate institutional departure or high retention rates while giving recommendations to institutions on how to create or support programs and initiatives to help students remain in school (dos santos, 2018; little et al., 2018; sadowski et al., 2017; tinto, 1975). solutions to increase retention rates include ways to help students succeed academically (hepworth et al., 2018) while developing a sense of belonging through student services (davis et al., 2019). these solutions point back to tinto’s theory of institutional departure, in which the recommendation for integration of academic success and student engagement became foundational in studies of retention in postsecondary institutions (tinto, 1988). the degree of student engagement is often reflected in the retention rates of the colleges. hence, the goal of the current researcher was to determine to what extent, if any, instructional costs and support services costs predict retention rates in private nonprofit colleges in texas. designs for postsecondary institutions are guided by accreditation standards, funding, facilities, personnel, inventory, and curriculum (clapper, 2016). additionally, the societal need for students to complete their education, with the goal of contributing to an educated workforce, is a responsibility for institutions of higher learning (clapper, 2016). the need for students to be academically successful contributes to higher retention rates and persistence toward completing a degree (ingmire, 2019; millea et al., 2018; schneider & clark, 2018). related to academic success, the findings of the study of saunders-scott et al. (2018) demonstrated that a relationship of grit and stress contributed positively to academic success and increased retention rates more than standardized test scores. institutional costs researchers have shown that overall resource allocation has a significant impact on retention rates. authors such as iwamasa and thrasher (2019) and hepworth et al. (2018) cited the need for more allocation of resources for academic preparation in higher education to improve retention rates. through a quantitative research study on instructional costs, iwamasa and thrasher (2019) examined and analyzed data from the national center for education statistics and the federal reserve economic data system over a 10-year period. iwamasa and thrasher found that increases in instructional costs are linked to retention outcomes. costs in areas other than instruction contribute to higher retention rates of students, as also indicated by webber and ehrenberg (2009). the authors of this study conducted a study regarding instructional costs and its impact on retention or persistence rates. using ipeds data collected through the delta cost project, the researchers compared costs in postsecondary institutions to retention rates and test scores and pell grant recipients. their conclusion was that redirecting some costs to student services for students underprepared for college work contributes to improved retention 124 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 (persistence) rates (webber & ehrenberg, 2009). this important study was similar to the current study but focused primarily on test scores and students from a lower economic status (webber & ehrenberg, 2009). in addition, the study by webber and ehrenberg is now outdated with the current climate resulting in possibly reduced relevance for contemporary times. regardless, it is a valuable study for the need to identify costs that possibly lead to improved retention rates for institutions. this body of findings supports the importance of costs in enhancing retention outcomes. methodology the variables selected for the study were retention rates as the criterion variable and student services costs and instructional costs as the predictor variables. data for the variables were derived from the ipeds website. the target population included private postsecondary institutions. the sample population included all private postsecondary institutions in texas who report data to ipeds. any and all institutions accepting federal funds through title iv financial aid are required to report data to the ipeds. the population of interest involved private, postsecondary 4-year institutions in texas. there are 99 private postsecondary institutions in texas. in this study, the researcher focused on accredited institutions in the state of texas that are considered nonprofit 4-year institutions and for-profit 4-year institutions. the focus on accredited institutions was due to the availability of archived data on the variables. the unit of analysis was the following: the factors of instructional costs and student services costs (i.e., the predictor variables) and retention rates (i.e., the dependent variable). this study used publicly available ipeds data on the variables. these data were used to analyze a minimum of 68 selected private postsecondary education institutions. research design the research design chosen for this study was a correlational-predictive design as the study was aimed at determining if the independent variables predict the dependent variable (johnson, 2001). the data were drawn from archives because of the existence of comprehensive information relevant to answer the research question that were available. the institutions and variables were selected from the ipeds website to facilitate comparative statistics. the archived data were available for both the dependent and predictor variables. the current correlational-predictive quantitative study did not require the manipulation of variables. the variables in this study were drawn from the synthesis of the problem statement and form gaps found in the literature. lodico et al. (2006) recommended a quantitative methodology when the researcher analyzes numerical data to determine whether relationships exist between the variables. the method described by lodico et al. (2006) using predictive, correlational, and regression analysis was deemed appropriate for this study. the data were compiled in excel spreadsheets and then exported to spss. spss was used to conduct predictive statistical analysis and to generate graphs and charts for each research question. regression analysis was used, and multiple datasets were combined into a single dataset for final analysis. 125 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal population and sample selection the general population for the research of this study included 99 private postsecondary institutions in the state of texas. the samples for the study included private postsecondary institutions in texas. texas was selected due to the number of private institutions and the expectation that most students in texas come from a similar educational system. the researcher gathered secondary ipeds data that were previously cleaned and legally reported. institutions that receive governmental aid in the form of title iv funds are required to report their institutional data to include categories such as admission, test scores, tuition costs, numbers of staff, faculty, credentials, accreditation information, trustees, affiliations, retention, expenses, budgets, and endowments. the ipeds data are gathered each year by institutions, and the data are part of the national center for education statistics, an entity within the u.s. department of education and the institute of education science (ipeds, 2019). the nces is mandated by congress to collect, analyze, and report statistics on the condition of american education (ipeds, 2019). data analysis procedures archived secondary non-dichotomous data from the ipeds website on at least 68 private postsecondary institutions were included in the data analysis. inferential and predictive statistics were performed using spss. inferential statistics including regression analysis were used to analyze the predictive nature of the predictor variables (instructional costs and student services costs) on the criterion variable (retention rates). spss was also used to analyze measures of central tendencies of study variables (mean, median, mode). because each research hypothesis has one criterion variable and at least one predictor variable, the most appropriate statistical test relevant to the research question was regression analysis. the interval of the criterion variable is 0–100 (percentage) based on students returning to the same institution between first and second year (ipeds, 2019). the data that were used in the linear regression analysis were tested for the following assumptions: • the dependent variable is continuous. • the observations are independent, meaning that each participant counts as one observation, as tested by the durbin-watson statistic. • there is a linear relationship between the dependent variable and each independent variable, and the dependent variable and the independent variables together, as tested by a partial regression plot between each independent variable and the dependent variable. • homoscedasticity of residuals, as tested by plotting the standardized residuals against unstandardized residuals. • no multicollinearity, determined by inspecting coefficients. • no significant outliers as determined by casewise diagnostics • the residuals are normally distributed, tested by normal p-p plot or q-q plot (generated as a part of the mr procedure). 126 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 to make valid inferences from the regression analysis, the residuals of the model should follow a normal distribution. the skewness for a normal distribution is zero, and any symmetric data should have a kurtosis near zero (field, 2017). skewness and kurtosis tests suggest that the predictor variables were not normally distributed (see table 1). therefore, there was a need to transform the data. as per the analysis conducted, log transformation was needed for the predictor variables. table 2 presents the skewness and kurtosis of the transformed data for the predictor variables and are all within the acceptable range for data following normal distribution. the log-transformed data of the predictor variables were used in the regression analyses conducted. as such, the assumption of normality was met. table 1 skewness and kurtosis of study variables variable skewness kurtosis retention rate -.250 -.251 instructional costs 3.596 12.856 student services costs 4.191 19.859 table 2 skewness and kurtosis of log-transformed predictor variables variable skewness kurtosis instructional costs -.282 .639 student services costs -.583 1.238 descriptive findings the study included data on postsecondary private institutions in texas regarding retention rates for the year 2019, the costs of student services for the academic year 2018–2019, and the instructional costs for the academic year 2018–2019. after removing institutions with missing values, a total of 60 valid observations listwise were obtained. table 3 presents the descriptive statistics of the study variables. the predictor variable, instructional costs, had a mean of $30,112,201.43 with a standard deviation of $66,138,529.14. the predictor variable, student services, costs had a mean of $13,178,501.65 with a standard deviation of $27,450,811.64. the criterion variable retention rate had a mean 67.05% with a standard deviation of 18.41. table 3 descriptive statistics of study variables variable min max mean sd retention rate 19.00 100.00 67.05 18.41 instructional costs $66,137.00 $333,206,848.00 $30,112,201.43 $66,138,529.14 student services costs $11,375.00 $169,832,000.00 $13,178,501.65 $27,450,811.64 127 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal data analysis procedures after pre-processing the raw data to a final data set, a total of 60 institutions were included for data analysis. these 60 institutions were below the minimum required sample size of 68. based on the post hoc analysis conducted using g*power, a sample size of 60 institutions had a power of 74.7% which is below the 80% power of test target. results the main research question that was addressed for this study was “to what extent, if any, do instructional costs and student services costs together and separately predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions?” multiple and simple linear regression analyses were conducted to test the three study hypotheses. the results for each hypothesis testing are shown in the follow subsections. hypothesis 1 multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to test hypothesis 1. the predictor variables were the instructional costs and student services costs while the criterion variable was the retention rates. the results of the multiple linear regression analysis for the hypothesis 1 are shown in tables 4 through 6. the regression model that was developed has an r of .278, which indicates a low degree of correlation (see table 4). the r2 value indicates how much of the total variation in the criterion variable, retention rates, can be explained by the predictor variables, instructional costs and student services costs. in this case, only 7.7% of the criterion variable variation can be explained by the regression model that contains two predictor variables. table 5 shows how well the regression model predicts the criterion variable. the results showed that, overall, the regression model does not statistically significantly predict the criterion variable, f(2,57) = 2.386, p=.101. in other words, the regression model that was developed was not a good fit for the data. table 6 provides the necessary information to predict retention rates from instructional costs and student services costs, as well as determine whether these predictor variables contribute statistically significantly to the model. the results showed that both instructional costs, t = 1.147,p=.256 and student services costs, t = -.304, p=.762, were nonsignificant predictors of retention rates. therefore, the results showed that there was not enough statistical evidence to reject the null hypothesis 1 and it can be concluded that instructional costs and student services costs together do not statistically significantly predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. 128 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 table 4 model summary for hypothesis 1 model value r .278 r square .077 adjusted r square .045 std. error of the estimate 17.990 table 5 anova test for hypothesis 1 model sum of squares df mean square f sig. regression 1,544.364 2 772.182 2.386 .101 residual 18,446.486 57 323.623 total 19,990.850 59 table 6 regression coefficients for hypothesis 1 model unstandardized coefficients standardized t sig. b std. error beta constant 22.318 21.353 1.045 .300 instructional costs 8.735 7.615 .363 1.147 .256 student services costs -2.340 7.698 -.096 -.304 .762 hypothesis 2 simple linear regression analysis was conducted to test hypothesis 2. the predictor variable was the instructional costs while the criterion variable was the retention rates. the results of the simple linear regression analysis for the hypothesis 2 are shown in tables 7 through 9. the regression model that was developed has an r of .275, which indicates a low degree of correlation (see table 7). the r2 value indicates that only 7.6% of the criterion variable variation can be explained by the regression model that contains one predictor variable. on the other hand, table 8 shows how well the regression model predicts the criterion variable and the results showed that, overall, the regression model statistically significantly predicts the criterion variable, f(1,58) = 4.754, p<.05. in other words, the regression model that was developed was a good fit for the data. table 9 provides the necessary information to predict retention rates from instructional costs, as well as determine whether this predictor variable contribute statistically significantly to the model. the results showed that instructional costs, t = 2.189, p<.05 was a significant predictor of retention rates. it can be inferred from the results the following regression equation: retention rates = 21.502 + 6.614 * (instructional costs). the regression coefficient represents the mean increase of retention rate for every additional one unit in instructional cost. if the instruction cost increases by 1 unit, the average retention rate increases by 6.61 units. this indicates that there is a positive relationship between instructional costs and retention rates. therefore, the results showed that there was enough statistical evidence to 129 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal reject the null hypothesis 2 and it can be concluded that instructional costs statistically significantly predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. table 7 model summary for hypothesis 2 model value r .275 r square .076 adjusted r square .060 std. error of the estimate 17.848 table 8 anova test for hypothesis 2 model sum of squares df mean square f sig. regression 1,514.455 1 1,514.455 4.754 .033 residual 18,476.395 58 318.559 total 19,990.850 59 table 9 regression coefficients for hypothesis 2 model unstandardized coefficients standardized t sig. b std. error beta constant 21.502 21.017 1.023 .311 instructional costs 6.614 3.034 .275 2.180 .033 hypothesis 3 simple linear regression analysis was conducted to test hypothesis 3. the predictor variable was the student services costs while the criterion variable was the retention rates. the results of the simple linear regression analysis for the hypothesis 3 are shown in tables 10 through 12. the regression model that was developed has an r of .237, which indicates a low degree of correlation (see table 10). the r2 value indicates that only 5.6% of the criterion variable variation can be explained by the regression model that contains one predictor variable. on the other hand, table 11 shows how well the regression model predicts the criterion variable and the results showed that, overall, the regression model does not statistically significantly predict the criterion variable, f(1,58) = 3.438, p=.069. in other words, the regression model that was developed was not a good fit for the data. table 12 provides the necessary information to predict retention rates from student services costs, as well as determine whether this predictor variable contribute statistically significantly to the model. the results showed that student services costs, t = 1.854, p=.069 was a non-significant predictor of retention rates. therefore, the results showed that there was not enough statistical evidence to reject the null hypothesis 3 and it can be concluded that student services costs do not statistically significantly predict retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. 130 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 table 10 model summary for hypothesis 3 model value r .237 r square .056 adjusted r square .040 std. error of the estimate 18.038 table 11 anova test for hypothesis 3 model sum of squares df mean square f sig. regression 1,118.594 1 1,118.594 3.438 .069 residual 18,872.256 58 325.384 total 19,990.850 59 table 12 regression coefficients for hypothesis 3 model unstandardized coefficients standardized t sig. b std. error beta constant 29.194 20.550 1.421 .161 instructional costs 5.747 3.099 .237 1.854 .069 to address the research question and test the hypotheses of the study, multiple linear regression analyses were performed. for each hypothesis, one regression model was formulated and tested for significance. in the first hypothesis, the overall model and the proportion of variance in retention rates that was explained by both instructional costs and costs of student services were assessed first. for the second and third hypotheses, a model for instructional costs and another one for costs of student services were formulated separately. in this section, the details of the findings are presented, including how they address the research question. supporting studies from the literature reviewed in this research are also presented in relation to the results. overall organization the quantitative study has one main research question and three sets of alternate hypotheses. the results from the analysis of the data revealed that both instructional costs and costs of student services are significant factors for predicting retention rates. in terms of the research question, a general confirmation of the query has been found. hypothesis 1. in the first hypothesis, the relationship explored was that of instructional costs combined with student services costs in relation to retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. based on the result, there was not a collective significant effect of instructional costs and costs of student services on retention rates, resulting in accepting the null hypothesis due to being not statistically significant. this brings to question the retention rate theory previously identified of 131 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal integrating instruction and student services. additionally, accepting the null hypothesis does not support the idea of allocating resources for both areas, instructional services and student services together. taking this to another level, the lack of significance of this points to the idea that together instructional services and student services costs do not predict retention rates. the literature reviewed for this study supports the premise that academic instruction has a significant influence on student retention. wright-kim et al. (2019) claimed that costs linked to instruction and institutional grants were positively correlated to student retention and graduation rates. in related studies on retention, scholars have highlighted the need for postsecondary institutions to provide services to students while controlling expenses and attracting much needed revenue (horn et al., 2019; pike et al., 2011). based on these claims, it is suggested that to promote positive retention rates, institutions should consider spending on instruction for students while maintaining positive cashflow for the institution. this invariably supports the conclusions of horn et al. (2019) and pike et al. (2011). for the second half of the results regarding the first hypothesis, the researcher concluded that student services costs in combination with instructional costs are not significantly related to retention rates. in the literature that was reviewed for this study, it was discovered that redirecting some costs to student services for students underprepared for college work contributed to improved retention (persistence) rates (webber & ehrenberg, 2009). conclusions could be made that spending for services that are not related to academic instruction may improve retention of students, although the current research does not support this supposition. webber and ehrenberg’s focus on underprepared students was not a consideration in the scope of this study. hypothesis 2. in the second hypothesis, the relationship explored was that of instructional costs and retention rates of students in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. based on this result, instructional costs as an individual independent predictor variable, had significant impact on retention rates, at p = 0.33, which is more than the expected 0.05 level of significance. the second null hypothesis was not rejected. in relation to the existing literature reviewed for this study, the result for the second hypothesis was intuitive to research about instructional expenditures of an educational institution, which was mostly found as a significant contributor to the increase in retention rates of students (gansemertopf et al., 2018; kim, 2018; saunders-scott et al., 2018). researchers have generally recommended that in order to achieve high retention rates postsecondary institutions must allocate resources for academic instruction of students while controlling expenses and bringing in revenue (braxton & francis, 2018; hornet al., 2019; pike et al., 2011; sadowski et al., 2017). much of the literature reviewed for this study presented claims that were consistent with the results of this study. for example, iwamasa and thrasher (2019) found that increases in instructional costs are linked to retention outcomes. schneider and clark (2018) also agreed with the findings of iwamasa and thrasher, citing that an increase in instructional costs increases retention rates. schneider and clark suggested reforms in the resource allocation and spending of institutions in order to improve retention rates. included in the reforms is the allocation of resources for academic instruction in order to increase retention and graduation rates of students (schneider & clark, 2018). the common findings in existing literature conform to the results for the second hypothesis for this study. 132 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 hypothesis 3. in the third hypothesis, the relationship explored was that of student services costs and retention rates of students in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. based on the result, student services costs as an individual independent predictor variable, had no significant impact on retention rates, at p = 0.980, which was greater than the expected 0.05 level of significance. based on this statistical result, the third null hypothesis was not rejected. the result for the third hypothesis was found to be counterintuitive against the common claims of researchers about student services costs of an educational institution, which was mostly noted in other research as a significant contributor to increases in retention rates of students (musamali, 2019; nakata et al., 2019; white, 2018). researchers have generally claimed that allocating resources, not just in academic aspects of education may be necessary to achieve high retention rates (webber & ehrenberg, 2009). nakata et al. (2019) conducted a study on the role of student services on student retention rates and degree completion, finding that student support services were effective and timely, which increased student success and retention outcomes, leading to increased completion rates. overall, previous studies have highlighted the significant relationship between student services costs and student retention rates (lenhardt, 2017; musamali, 2019; nakata et al., 2019). the findings of such research, however, were not aligned with the results of the third hypothesis of the current study in private institutions in texas. theoretical implications the overall finding of the study is that collectively, instructional costs and student services costs were not significant independent predictors of the dependent variable, retention rates. when examined individually as dependent predictor variables, however, instructional costs significantly predicted retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. surprisingly, student services costs were not significant predictors of retention rates. looking into the theoretical framework of tinto’s (1988) theory of institutional departure, the integration of academic experiences with social engagement are recommended to have positive influences on retention rates. in this model, tinto acknowledged the need for academic success and a sense of belonging for students, influence the student’s decision to drop out or pursue his or her academic course. in essence, the theory implies that academic success, which is aligned with instructional costs, and sense of belonging, which is aligned with services costs, are both important contributors to student retention. the implications of the results to tinto’s (1975) theory include the possible exploration of how the model may be modified to show implications for academic success and to the sense of belonging with respect to student retention. the possibility of increasing the statistical power of the current study data may also be explored to determine whether the individual effects of the two independent predictor variables (i.e., instructional costs and student services costs) on the dependent variable (i.e., student retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions) will adjust from insignificance to one of significance. practical implications based on the findings, only instructional costs and not student services costs have significant impact as a predictor of student retention rates in the state of texas in private postsecondary institutions. therefore, 133 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal the implication to practices in private postsecondary educational institutions in texas will be to ensure that resources are allocated to academic instruction and not as much to student services. given the relatively new focus on online courses, this result is consistent with the need to focus attention and resources on academic instruction over student services. previous researchers have shown that one of the two independent predictor variables have resulted in insignificant impact to retention. several authors have also argued the need for institutions to allocate resources for instructional purposes to help ensure student success (caruth, 2018; white, 2018). belfield et al. (2016) argued that instructor performance influences the retention rates of students. a practical implication of the study findings is that resources should be assigned to ensure that instructors have the necessary skills to become effective educators. allocating resources for training of these instructors is a possible practical implication of the current study’s findings. future implications the findings of the study revealed that while both academic and nonacademic aspects of education contribute to retention rates for students in postsecondary schools in texas, instructional services resources are primary. the findings of the study could imply that in the future, leaders in the field of postsecondary education in texas must consider allocating resources to academic aspects pertaining to the needs of the students. these allocations may promote improved retention rates for students in postsecondary schools in texas. the future mindset of educational leaders, especially decision-makers in their respective institutions, must be on supporting and advocating for instructional service in order to promote retention. in line with the findings of the study, a future implication would be for further exploration outside the scope of the study, such as identifying specific instructions and services where resources must be allocated in order to promote student retention. in other settings, these explorations may also be applied in the future to determine whether the findings are indeed applicable in real-life settings, and to possibly identify aspects of the operations that may be added into the model of student retention in postsecondary schools. strengths and weaknesses of the study the main weakness of the study is the limited sample size used, which may have led to the inability to meet the desired statistical power in the data. this is a weakness that may have implications to the findings of the study. specifically, a below-target level of power increases the probability of type ii error. a type ii error is the failure to reject a false null hypothesis. this error may be higher for this study, as two out of three null hypotheses were not rejected. another weakness of the study is that the findings are only applicable to the participating private institutions in the state of texas. the findings may not be generalized to the entire united states. this weakness could be addressed in future research. since the data comes from reported data of institutions receiving governmental funding, a potential weakness exists from inaccurate or incomplete data reporting from the institution. 134 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 the strengths of this study include the proven predictive value of allocating resources to instruction for increased retention rates. additional strengths include the indirect connection to tinto’s theory of institutional departure and the regional application for private postsecondary institutions in texas. an interesting strength is the indirect need for support for online education over residential experiences in retaining students. recommendations for future research the researcher recommends several improvements that future research may consider when studying this topic or the field of student retention in postsecondary institutions. these are the following: (a) increase or expand sample size, (b) expand geographical coverage, and (c) changes in analysis and data handling. the discussion of each recommendation is presented in the succeeding paragraphs. the first recommendation for future scholars is to include more samples to improve the statistical power of the study. the current study had a limited sample size that was below the initially set number of datasets for the study. increasing the sample size, per this recommendation, could decrease the probability of a type ii error, as discussed in the previous sections of this chapter. moreover, the validity of the findings may also be improved. the second recommendation is to expand the geographical coverage of the study beyond the current participating schools and outside of the state of texas. with this expansion of scope, additional samples may also be necessary. expanding the geographical area of interest may provide further insight into the problem and improve the generalizability of the findings. additional analyses such as clustered modeling and comparison of different areas may also be performed. the partial residual plots show a linear relationship between retention rate and instructional costs while controlling for costs of student services. furthermore, when two different simple linear regressions are performed with instructional costs and student services costs as independent variables, respectively, only instructional costs predict retention rates. in line with these observations about the data’s descriptive statistics and linear modeling, it is advised that running two separate simple linear regressions should be considered by future scholars. recommendations for future practice one recommendation for future practice is that institutions should place value on both instructional needs and student engagement needs in the classroom experiences and beyond. this may require a different approach to allocating resources for learning and pedagogy. moreover, in terms of resource allocation, leaders should focus attention on instructional services in budgeting and resource allocation. given that there is a predictive relationship between expenditures for instructional purposes, if an institution is concerned with declining retention and seeks to improve their retention rate, resources should be allocated toward instructional improvement. this may include increased development funds, tutorial systems, and focus on quality instruction. 135 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal one final recommendation is to resist the temptation to spend excess resources in student 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(2019). academic motivation, engagement, and achievement among college students. college student journal, 53(1), 99–160. 140 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 register and submit your work to business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master’s/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master’s degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ abstract introduction background of the study problem statement purpose statement research questions and hypotheses advancing theoretical knowledge application to business administration definition of terms literature review institutional costs methodology research design population and sample selection data analysis procedures descriptive findings overall organization theoretical implications strengths and weaknesses of the study references wu, z. (2019). academic motivation, engagement, and achievement among college students. college student journal, 53(1), 99–160. 48 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 low resource availability and the smallto medium-sized retail enterprise’s ability to implement an information security strategy mary ceil holland, dba| columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa jodine marie burchell, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 contact: jodine.burchell@columbiasouthern.edu abstract improperly protecting businesses from cyber-attacks can result in unnecessary expenses, hardships, increasing threats, and vulnerabilities that foster data exposure and loss. this pragmatic qualitative inquiry study was designed to explore the influence of lower resource availability on small-to mediumsized retail enterprise’ (smes) ability to implement information security strategies in the retail industry in the northeastern region of the united states. this study explored the perceptions and experiences of 38 participants holding positions as ceos, cios, issos, security managers, and other information security professionals employed by an sme with 250 or fewer employees in the retail industry. narratives provided insight into the research questions: (a) how does resource availability influence smes’ ability to implement an information security strategy to protect networks and systems from vulnerabilities? (b) how do smes in the retail industry develop and implement an information security strategy to maintain business operations? thematic analysis grouped similar statements and repetitions that identified patterns, themes, and subthemes. national institute of standards and technology (nist) special publication documents were also analyzed. the results suggest that the retail industry has several information security strategies consistent with limited resources. a holistic approach to developing and implementing an information security strategy with limited resources is achievable. the current research can help retailers strategically use cost-effective tools and controls to develop, implement, or enhance their information security strategy to improve business objectives and financial performance. enhanced cybersecurity strategies within organizations may lead to more significant opportunities, competition, and performance in the retail industry. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 49 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal keywords: information security strategy, information security management, security plan, cybersecurity, cybersecurity strategy, smes, small business, sociotechnical theory, sociotechnical design, joint optimization 50 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 introduction/background in a complex, competitive, and dynamic business environment, small and medium enterprises (smes) may not be equally able to implement an effective information security strategy. advancements in technology introduce new challenges to protect networks from human threats and vulnerabilities, such as the potential for being hacked and loss or alteration of customer data, employee data, and company proprietary information. smes with limited financial resources and experienced information technology personnel find it challenging to mitigate risks posed by cyberattacks (chen, 2016). without such talent and skills to stay abreast of threats that could stifle profits, the ultimate cost of an unprotected network or infrastructure because of a data breach or even a hack is the potential for going out of business (bhattacharya, 2011; chen, 2016; clapper & richmond, 2016; keller et al., 2005). numerous companies make a wide variety of cybersecurity products available to small businesses. still, the lack of scaled-down or customizable tools, limited budgets, and technical knowledge outweigh spending on tools in which knowledge is limited (watad et al., 2018). some small businesses may understand the need for cybersecurity, but many fail to take adequate measures to protect against a cyberattack (raghaven et al., 2017). additionally, long-term income loss, damage to the company brand, and customer trust could lead to changing competitors (raghaven et al., 2017). because of limited resources, some smes may use fewer preventive measures than larger organizations, such as backing up data regularly, developing a password policy, encrypting privacy and proprietary data, and adopting employee cybersecurity training (keller et al., 2005; raghaven et al., 2017). protecting and defending assets against malicious threats from compromising confidentiality, integrity, and availability could determine future operations’ longevity (hall et al., 2011; sleznick & lamacchia, 2018). the immersion and interaction of technology, human, and organizational attributes contribute to preserving and securing information assets and resources (zaini et al., 2018). the risks and vulnerabilities tie into the sociotechnical systems, whereas human and technology factors are vital elements. sociotechnical systems theory (sts) demonstrates that technology alone is not enough to thwart vulnerabilities (hall et al., 2011). however, when coupled with the human element, smes may stand a better chance of survival. summary of the literature information technology is ever evolving and existing, or new threats can target any industry or company. large and small organizations from financial, retail, political parties, and credit card companies have been victims of information and cybersecurity attacks (miller & engemann, 2015). resources such as people, technology, processes, and limited budgets prevent smes from building a robust information security framework. lacking financial funds affect performance technology upgrades, asset acquisition, new market development, capacity expansion, and diversification (kumar & rao, 2015). insufficient information technology knowledge and resources to hire employees may place small businesses at risk of compromising information technology systems and business data (berry & berry, 2018). implementing information security tools is not consistent across all small businesses. some of the most significant challenges include limited resources for the cost of information security, lacking knowledge and awareness of information security issues, and information security tools 51 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal designed for sme budgets. the following are some relevant topics related to this study found in the literature. sociotechnical systems theory (sts) sts provided the theoretical framework and lens for this study. within sts, the social and technical aspects work together to resolve problems and bring about change. sts was relied upon heavily during the 1950s (trist, 1981). more specifically, newer work designs, organizational restructuring, and employee roles were more defined in several industries: mining, automobile, textiles, chemical plants, power stations, medical, and large national retail chain stores (trist, 1981). further, sts has been used in various engineering, manufacturing, and technology disciplines, including problems stemming from technology’s socio or human and technical elements. sts portrays how technical and social elements fit together in the workplace smoothly as possible, as in joint optimization where people and technology coexist rather than place people into the technical element (trist, 1981). coles-kemp and hansen (2017) contended that real-world everyday cybersecurity problems were an emergent result of human activity and separating social and technical elements would not be astute. in the current research, sts is used as a lens to explore how information security strategy in smes in the retail industry in the northeast protects information systems from threats and vulnerabilities that may appear because of limited resources. coupling the socio, human, and technical elements of technology narrows the gap to help smes make better-informed decisions to develop and implement an appropriate strategy. leaders and information security according to uffen et al. (2012), executives’ behavior and decision-making could lead to potential information security risks and directly impact information systems and management’s cybersecurity level. senior executives and lower-level managers share the responsibility to protect company assets by managing the information security program (soomro et al., 2016). transactional and transformation leadership styles impact employees’ adherence to cybersecurity policy (humaidi & balakrishnan, 2015; singh, 2015). soomro et al. (2016) examined management’s support in information security and suggested examining cybersecurity holistically. a cross-departmental leadership approach that includes human resources management, information security policy development and execution, information security awareness, and training is vital to maximizing resources and efforts to decrease cybersecurity issues (soomro et al., 2016). sme information security smes comprise a large part of the u. s. and world economy. due to the inherent susceptibility to information security attacks, some smes consider cybersecurity as an issue only for large enterprises and fail to employ sound cybersecurity practices. those organizations that have measures do not quite understand the exact information security practices they use (hayes & bodhani, 2013). some smes partner with large enterprises, and the large enterprise fail to provide cybersecurity assistance. smes with limited it resources and little investments in cybersecurity have become soft targets for cybercriminals (sleznick & lamacchia, 2018). cybercriminals can infiltrate large enterprises that often use smes because of that weakness (hayes & bodhani, 2013). assessing the infrastructure and focusing 52 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 on components such as information security policies, procedures, internal employee, network, and external cybersecurity threats would propel organizations in the right direction toward protecting assets. organizational security infrastructure organizations experienced an imbalance in information security infrastructures. organizations with reliable information security infrastructure and countermeasures to combat risks and vulnerabilities to information systems, assets, and business data prevail over organizations without a plan (hettiarachchi & wickramasinghe, 2016). hettiarachchi and wickramasinghe (2016) found that organizations encountered various vulnerabilities and threats to increase organizations information security levels. due to industry diversity, organizations experienced varying risks. for example, national defense and healthcare posed a higher risk than education (hettiarachchi & wickramasinghe, 2016). information security infrastructures should consist of viable cybersecurity policies that address vulnerabilities, threat control, and countermeasures to mitigate possible risks and safeguard future vulnerabilities (hettiarachchi & wickramasinghe, 2016). information security strategy information security strategy is an essential element in information security. previous research show smes experience significant challenges regarding information security standards (alshboul & streff, 2015; chen, 2016; gonzález et al., 2013). using the sts approach, werlinger et al. (2009) developed a comprehensive list of social, organizational, and technological challenges to understand factors that affect adopting cybersecurity practices. alshboul and streff (2015) examined the national institute of standards and technology (nist) 7621 special publication for an information security model to create a new framework to assess and manage risks. beebe and rao (2009) used formal, informal, and technical controls to examine the intricacies of information security, security systems, and deterrent strategies. seeholzer (2012) explored previous researchers’ eight information security roles (competitor, power relationship, reorganization, public image, umbrella, objectives and priorities, and continual change) to determine the effect on information security strategy, information systems strategy, and business strategy. seeholzer (2012) concluded that role selection was critical to information security strategy implementation. ahmad et al. (2014) research found that prevention and technical controls were organizations’ primary strategies to address cybersecurity issues. also, utilizing multiple strategies to ensure adequate information security measures and maintaining policies could address potential cybersecurity issues (ahmad et al., 2014). gonzález et al. explored information security policy and linked business and technological strategies to ascertain what affected information security policy implementation and its role in business value. information security policies failing to protect the organization’s infrastructure results in business and intellectual property losses that could add unwanted costs to the industry. it security managers must identify the risk and have a mitigation strategy to thwart such losses. for example, hallova et al. (2019) examined the causes of information security-related incidents’ impact on business practices and creating and improving policies to protect sensitive data. the results revealed that the security of information systems depended upon 53 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal compliance with security policy and business safety standards, and the human factor affects the security of information and communication technology at all levels. information security culture smes have various perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes toward information security. engaging employees to value a cybersecurity culture that protects data, knowledge, and information is essential. for example, paulson and coulson (2011) studied business information systems’ impact on information security and organizational security culture. to improve processes and decision-making, organizations needed to understand the psychology surrounding information security and the business information tools’ capability to implement a culture where employees embraced information security (paulson & coulson, 2011). organizational information security culture is multi-faceted and includes employees, processes, and systems. greig et al. (2015) assessed information security culture, knowledge levels, and information security policy awareness and behavior in a retail store. they found that employees engaged in inappropriate information security practices and behaviors. despite poor security practices, greig et al. found that the organization employed a coping environment where employees fulfilled business objectives without complying with information security policy, which increased the potential for cybersecurity threats. greig et al. ascertained that designing systems and processes to support employees, cybersecurity education, awareness, and routinely assessing the security infrastructure is vital to an appropriate information security culture. information security risk management information security risk management explores and utilizes psychosocial models and behavior science to create a defense mechanism to improve risks and design a plan for managing acceptable risk levels that could allow managers to operate effectively to compete with competitors. because of the dynamic changes in cyber threats, putte and verhelst (2013) noted that management and information technology professionals experienced challenges in establishing exacting countermeasures to mitigate risks. putte and verhelst (2013) held that a successful risk analysis required business continuity managers to look both up and downstream to locate and isolate root causes of cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities to determine the impact during and after an incident. this general risk approach limited losses to information technology systems, critical business data, and processes that ultimately decrease financial losses (putte & verhelst, 2013). administrative internal control and accountability can be helpful in information security governance. for example, mishra and dhillon (2006) surmised that more significant cybersecurity threats existed in information technology systems when employees’ goals were misaligned. mishra and dhillon subscribed to an integrated approach to cybersecurity and proposed that information system governance encompassed informal, formal, and technical levels. to maximize effective security measures, managers established and governed certain functions or activities within each level. these levels maintained a controlled environment that minimized risks that pertained to information systems and organizational processes. organizations that effectively managed the informal structure and considered behaviors, individual values, and norms created a better cybersecurity environment and internal controls protecting business processes. berry and berry (2018) surveyed small businesses’ approaches to risk management 54 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 and cybersecurity threats and found that smes severely lacked information security techniques and countermeasures to protect information security assets. the top three risks included access to the business by others, the internet, and cybersecurity, all related to information technology. these risks can potentially lead to becoming a victim of future cybercrime (berry & berry, 2018). methods based on support from the background and literature review, the researcher explored how scarce resources influence smes’ ability to implement an information security strategy to protect business data and other assets from risks, threats, and vulnerabilities. a qualitative, pragmatic inquiry design was used to help with collecting, synthesizing, and interpreting data to explore this phenomenon in the retail industry in the northeastern region of the united states. the pragmatic qualitative inquiry design was selected to help discover commonalities within participants’ experiences and explore underlying factors that influenced information security strategy implementation despite limited resources. a thematic data analysis aided in the identification of codes, patterns, and themes. research questions rq1: how does resource availability influence smes’ ability to implement an information security strategy to protect networks and systems from vulnerabilities? rq2: how do smes in the retail industry develop and implement an information security strategy to maintain business operations? data collection questionnaire data. data were collected using a questionnaire and surveymonkey, an online survey tool, to help locate it sme leaders that possessed some level of experience in information security and were working in the sme retail industry. participants were identified by the position held and the duties and responsibilities performed in the retail sales industry. a plethora of predefined responses from the literature was used, and an option for ‘other’ was also provided so that participants could add their thoughts. the questionnaire was launched in the northeastern region of the united states. because the questionnaire was administered via survey monkey, eligible participants selected a location, date, and time conducive to their schedule and completed the questionnaire in 10 minutes or less. after the questionnaire, data were downloaded onto a microsoft spreadsheet and scrubbed for incomplete responses. the result was 38 usable responses. document review. nist special publications (sp) were used to aid in data triangulation. any organization can use sps, regardless of the industry, resources, or size. nist provides guidelines for organizations’ various information security needs based on information from evolving threats. thus, several sps were reviewed and used that complimented the subtopics generated from data analysis. for example, nist sp 7621 revision 1 discussed information security fundamentals for small businesses. sp 800-100 serves as an information security guide for managers. other topics include cybersecurity training, templates for strategies and plans, risk management, protecting wireless networks, information 55 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal systems, organizational monitoring, bringing your own devices (byod), and many other tools and technologies that can help meet or exceed business objectives. data analysis the authors extracted and downloaded responses from surveymonkey into a microsoft excel spreadsheet and assigned participant pseudonyms that represented individual responses. next, repetitive reviews were included, and a microsoft word document was created that contained the responses to assist in developing or using predefined themes and subthemes from the responses. a comprehensive literature review, participants’ responses, and the theoretical foundation revealed the sme retail industry strategies with limited resources to protect networks from risks and vulnerabilities. a thematic analysis addressed the research questions: how does resource availability influence smes’ ability to implement a cybersecurity strategy to protect networks and systems from vulnerabilities? how do smes in the retail sales industry develop and implement an information security strategy to maintain business operations? the authors grouped similar statements and repetitions that identified patterns and main themes. several subthemes such as cybersecurity controls and training, knowledge and skills, information security involvement, and contingency planning coincided with participants’ responses and manifested throughout the thematic analysis process. six major themes were prevalent for the two research questions and will be discussed in more detail below: theme 1: low resource availability negatively affects implementing an information security strategy. theme 2: low resources lead to many challenges in developing and implementing an information security strategy. theme 3: challenges must be handled despite lower resource availability. theme 4: network and systems protection relies on readily available tools and internal resources. theme 5: assessing the effectiveness of the strategy relies on a continuous effort. theme 6: keeping a wish list of goals for information security strategies is prudent. results the target population consisted of varying levels of information technology personnel and sme owners employed in the retail industry in the northeastern region of the united states. participants were members of surveymonkey, an online data service platform that provides customized survey development and service to paid subscribers. a sample of 330 responded to the questionnaire. after reviewing to ensure the questionnaire was fully completed, 38 responses were usable. table 1 depicts a concise description of the participants. 56 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 table 1 sample description (n=38) demographic category response percentage gender male 18 47.37 female 20 56.63 age 18-29 9 23.68 30-39 13 34.21 40-49 10 26.32 50-59 4 10.53 60-69 1 2.63 70+ 1 2.63 position ceo 7 18.42 cio 2 5.26 isso 1 2.63 security manager 9 23.68 it professional 10 26.32 security professional 7 18.42 the themes generated from the data addressed the research questions. for research question 1, how does resource availability influence smes’ ability to implement an information security strategy to protect networks and systems from vulnerabilities? there are three themes found (table 2). table 2 main themes for research question 1 theme number of number of participants (n=38) documents low resource availability negatively influences implementing an is strategy 31 (81.58%) 2 low resources lead to many challenges in developing and implementing an is strategy 35 (92.11%) 6 challenges must be handled despite lower resource availability 36 (94.74%) 0 57 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal theme 1: low resource availability negatively affects implementing an information security strategy a thematic analysis of the collected data revealed that limited resources impacted information security strategy implementation. the cost of safeguarding information and systems is unavoidable. nieles et al. (2017) alluded that cost and resources are necessary to implement information security plans, policies, or strategies, with the highest costs being resources and personnel. some participants responded that cybersecurity controls and training suffered. in contrast, others indicated that too little investment was spent on cybersecurity controls and not being able to afford security training. information security controls protect the organizations’ infrastructure and minimize risks and vulnerabilities to physical property, information, computer systems, or other assets. many participants experienced some form of resource limitations to provide the necessary protection and the cost associated with employee cybersecurity training. the appropriate technology is not acquired. many participants’ organizations allowed byod. byod has benefits/challenges such as working from anywhere and cost-savings for employers but also poses significant information security risks such as data theft, loss of devices, and malware. despite the risks and vulnerabilities, several participants’ organizations depended upon public wifi for business operations. maimon et al. (2017) ascertained that public wifi introduced risks such as unencrypted, nonauthentication, and malware distribution capability, jeopardizing users’ security, and privacy. some participants noted that implementing an information security strategy required too many resources. protecting it is both a business requirement and a business expense. miniscule resources created challenges for two participants’ organizations to identify and secure intrusion detection systems (ids) or other visibility tools to protect hardware and software from harmful activity. realistically, operating an ids requires highly skilled professionals, and smes with limited budgets may not be able to hire an expensive specialist and possibly abandon the effort to employ ids altogether. the ability to gain expertise/knowledge is limited. limited resources impact the ability to gain expert knowledge to develop an information security strategy that prohibits expending funds on formal external training such as conferences, certifications, or other security-related courses. scarce resources, including a lack of experienced personnel, increase risks and add to the ongoing cybersecurity problem. surprisingly, one-half of participants revealed that limited resources hampered opportunities to improve the experience and stifled their ability to gain the necessary skills required to develop and implement an information security strategy. moreover, several participants indicated that limited resources impacted their ability to retain high-skilled employees. evolving technology and retaining information technology personnel are crucial to business success. some small businesses find it challenging to retain highly skilled it employees because of the demand for increased salaries or other compensation. therefore, when departing the organization, those employees with system knowledge or specialized work skills are difficult to replace. because of the lack of financial resources to hire or retain knowledgeable employees, smes open the doors to unwanted cybersecurity activity that could compromise networks, systems, and data breaches. almost one-third of the participants asserted a lack of information to help smes develop and implement an information security strategy. previous research indicated that cost is a significant factor when organizations use the money on security controls and tools where knowledge is 58 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 limited and the capability to obtain resources to increase opportunities to get additional training is constrained (chen, 2016; keller et al., 2005; raghaven et al., 2017; & watad et al., 2018). theme 2: low resources lead to many challenges in developing and implementing an information security strategy participants’ most significant challenges stemmed from leadership’s low proficiency and knowledge, ranging from basic information security concepts, strategy development and implementation, leaders who don’t understand the risk, and difficulty prioritizing assets. the results of data analysis revealed that these challenges were attributed to a lack of management know-how, the capacity of information security involvement for profitability, business operations disruptions, and the ability to protect data and assets. based on resources, information security may not be a top priority. without understanding risk, leaders are challenged to invest in the right technology, people, and processes to grow the business. management lacks skills/nonexistent of an information security toolbox for management. with the non-existence of a toolbox for management to use as a guide to develop and implement an information security strategy, many participants disclosed that their greatest challenges stemmed from leadership’s lack of knowledge. some participants indicated that leaders did not understand the risks of not having a strategy. from a holistic business approach including financial, technology, assets, and physical security, senior leaders and management are responsible for determining acceptable levels of risks to ensure systems and processes protect information and assets that prevent cia breaches (nieles et al., 2017; putte & verhelst, 2013; uffen et al., 2012). as the senior-most leader in organizations cios require skills to identify, understand and address risk factors associated with technology, operations, and information at the organizational level. cios should keep senior executives apprised of the successes and challenges of the overall information security architecture. without understanding risk, leaders are challenged to invest in the right technology, people, and processes to grow the business, impacting external stakeholders. additionally, how leaders conduct business and the overall organizational culture impact their approach to information security. several participants indicated that leaders had difficulty prioritizing assets. identifying and prioritizing assets is one of the first steps in creating an inventory of the organization’s assets (cawthra et al., 2020). simple basic measures can protect assets and business data and information such as files and databases, and customer information from adverse events. many participants divulged leaders lacking the knowledge to develop an information security strategy/plan was a challenge in their organization. insufficient knowledge is synonymous and ties in with the low resources thwarting opportunities to obtain the necessary skills to help implement an information security strategy, as indicated by participants. numerous participants divulged leaders experienced adversities with understanding the concept of information security. without the necessary skillset, it is difficult for leaders to provide direction and govern the information security architecture to thwart unwanted cybersecurity incidents. realizing the responsibilities of management is indicative that senior leaders lacked skills, experienced challenges, and need the direction and guidance that an information security toolkit can provide. uncertain level of involvement in information security for business profitability. of the participants, 5 of 7 ceos were unsure of their participation in information security to make a profit. businesses expect to make a profit or close the gap on competitors using readily available information 59 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal maintained on hand. for example, loyal customers may purchase goods or services, and valuable customers, attract new customers. supplier, manufacturer, or even distributor lists are helpful information for business performance. therefore, information should be afforded some measure of protection to prevent the risk of being compromised. some participants reported their organizations had trouble understanding minimal information security guidelines for small businesses. a few others experienced an ongoing battle with identifying risks and vulnerabilities. young et al. (2011) argued that complete risk control was impossible because of the nature of the risks. however, risks were reduced as investments in information security increased. a couple of participants had problems estimating the cost of information security. young et al. implied information security protection incurred both direct and indirect costs. compromising information can be extremely costly but investing in cybersecurity is less expensive even if using some of the most basic and available security protections (gordon et al., 2018; young et al., 2011). keeping pace with evolving technology, including hardware and software, requires skilled employees to manage networks and systems to thwart potential vulnerabilities. some participants posited that their organizations had difficulty keeping pace with evolving technology, whereas others experienced problems assigning responsibility to update security software and hardware. overall, numerous participants were indeterminate of their involvement with information security for profitability. the inability to provide for future emergencies/contingency planning. information systems should operate with minimal interruption. in emergencies or other disruptions to servers or networks, recovering as quickly as possible is the ideal goal. swanson et al. (2010) asserted that business continuity planning (bcp) is essential to information security. organizations should have a backup plan to keep the business ongoing during turbulent times to maintain critical business processes and customer service. some participants surmised that low resources were a problem that impacted their ability to provide for future emergencies. surprisingly, almost one-third of participants, including ceos, lacked a contingency or bcp, making it extremely difficult to continue operations should a disaster occur. one of the most straightforward strategies for disaster recovery is creating an information systems backup policy and ensuring that designated employees regularly back up all information systems as specified in the policy (swanson et al., 2010). inability to adequately protect business data and assets. a couple of participants’ organizations found it difficult to secure resources to assist with cybersecurity. similarly, another group had problems limiting employees’ access to data and information. yet, others experienced challenges in securing wireless access points and networks. financial, human, and technology resources are required to operate a business, regardless of the industry. sme owners and it personnel should understand that internal and external systems, processes, and security risks can negatively and positively impact business operations (zaini et al., 2018). limited resources, lacking knowledge, and little security investment opens the door for potential cybercriminals and other attacks. the most basic information security strategy can positively impact financial performance. theme 3: challenges must be handled despite lower resource availability nearly all participants mentioned that information security challenges in the organizations should be addressed appropriately despite limited sources. when inquired about how their organizations handle 60 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 challenges, data analysis implies that organizations used various activities as a type of information security strategy. the majority indicated that establishing clearly defined security roles and responsibilities of it personnel eliminated conflicts of interest or no one employee had access to all internal control keys. defining roles and responsibilities for specific tasks held organizations and employees accountable and increased efficiency. as a result of scarce resources, employees in small organizations may fill several roles. nieles et al. noted that small companies had the same leverage as large companies in roles and responsibility separation and securing information because separating roles did not rest merely on company size. many participants continuously observed security and reviewed policy compliance and suggested reviewing and updating policies annually and informing employees when changes occurred in the organization and technology. previous researchers also addressed security policy and plans challenges (beebe & rao, 2010; colwill, 2010; gordon et al., 2016, 2018; hallova et al., 2019; soomro et al., 2016). to handle key challenges, some participants reviewed their security posture. examining the overall status of information assurance resources and capabilities ensures alignment that affords the best defense and provides opportunities to make changes when necessary. several participants indicated that valuing and promoting information security as a core business practice was a challenge that required addressing despite limited resources. connecting and aligning information security protocols to business objectives to include the human element is vital to organizational performance. security processes, procedures, and technology are investments and should integrate into overall business objectives. these processes create a dynamic security program, and repositioning the organization, including people, processes, and technology, toward risk management helps to reduce internal and external threats. for research question 2, how do smes in the retail sales industry develop and implement an information security strategy to maintain business operations? there are three themes found (table 3). table 3 themes for research question 2 theme number of participants (n=38) number of documents network and systems protection relies 35 (92.11%) 9 on readily available tools and internal resources assessing the effectiveness of the strategy 35 (92.11%) 6 relies on a continuous effort keeping a wish list of goals for security 37 (97.37%) 3 strategies are prudent 61 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal theme 1: network and systems protection relies on readily available tools and internal resources because of the interconnectedness and the ability to share information using the internet, protecting sensitive and valuable data such as customer information, financial data, or even login information to systems and protected files can be challenging. as such, networks and systems require protection against threats and losses. the transport layer security (tls) protects data during electronic dissemination across the internet and provides cia protection of data between two communicating applications (mckay & cooper, 2019). this research did not address the tls but instead focused on participants’ strategies to protect their networks and systems from cyber vulnerabilities. planning, engagement, and governance control. information security governance influences policy development oversight and continuous monitoring activities (bowen et al., 2006). when inquired about their organizations’ strategies to protect networks and systems from cyber vulnerabilities, organizations used varying strategies, while several used more than one strategy. nearly one-half of participants’ organizations subscribed to a holistic approach by balancing human and technical controls. technical and non-technical multidimensional factors require a holistic approach to information security protection (sadok & welch, 2019; soomro et al., 2016; uffen et al., 2012). many participants enforced their organization’s security policy. both socio and technical aspects of sts are crucial in an information security policy, and information security policy awareness reduces incidents and threats (gonzález et al., 2013; greig et al., 2015; humaidi & balarkrishnan, 2015). the information security equation often overlooks the human element. for example, very few participants indicated that their organizations offered cybersecurity education training regularly. according to bowen et al. (2006) and soomro et al., information security awareness and training can help improve the security posture, intensify vigilance, and decrease security issues. thus, leaders should integrate security education training and awareness into business objectives. viable internal human resources. it personnel enables the workforce to communicate, obtain data, process information, and manage information systems and other assets such as intellectual property, customers, and sensitive data that the organization depends on for business operations. technical knowledge, skills, and experiences are needed to protect information and assets. numerous participants indicated their organizations used viable internal human resources by striving for knowledgeable it staff with technical expertise as a part of their strategy to protect networks and systems from cyber threats and vulnerabilities. because of the complexities of evolving technology, cybersecurity work has changed, and organizations find it challenging to resolve issues designing and building complex systems. therefore, some organizations use varying self-created methods to attempt to solve problems. participants in this study indicated the positions held in their organizations; however, the researcher did not examine participants’ knowledge, skills, or experience. organizations can build a dynamic cybersecurity workforce by describing work in the form of tasks and what is required to perform that work through knowledge and skills. surprisingly, only two participants indicated that only privileged users manage systems and networks as an information security strategy. privilege users have trusted it account holders who perform systems management, maintenance, access, and control tasks that ordinary users or other it employees are not authorized to act (pillitteri et al., 2020; waltermire et al., 2018 ). regardless, organizations should maintain a privileged management policy and monitor, audit, control, and manage privileged account usage. 62 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 identification and deployment of tools and technologies to authenticate controls and track access. using technology and tools to identify and track users to authenticate unauthorized access to data, resources, and assets decreases risks and vulnerabilities. participants utilized various strategies to maintain the security and integrity of data, information systems, and networks. some participants used continuous monitoring and auditing as a part of the risk management process encompassing the security architecture and programs to help leaders make risk tolerance cybersecurity decisions regarding threats and vulnerabilities. a few participants used multi-factor authentication to alleviate the risks of unauthorized access to information. other participants depended upon automatic updates to software and patches. ensuring software and patches are updated swiftly increases security measures against threats and vulnerabilities (souppaya & scarfone, 2013). internal tools and resources such as monitoring, security training, and privileged user access to manage systems and networks to decrease the potential threats and increase business objectives are significant components of developing and implementing an information security strategy. theme 2: assessing the effectiveness of the strategy relies on a continuous effort assessing the effectiveness of information security strategy can provide insight into how the organization values information security and help management make better-informed decisions to compete. the inquiry into how participants assess the effectiveness of information security strategy in their organizations centered around a continuous and concerted effort to review and evaluate processes, procedures, security posture status, security threat landscape, and customer value. several participants indicated that their organization uses abundant processes or procedures to assess the effectiveness of their information security strategy. employee compliance and process evaluation. some participants’ organizations examined and audited data logs. in the retail industry where charge cards are offered, the payment card industry data security standard (pci dss) mandates those organizations that “store, process or transmit cardholder data” for credit cards to “track all access to network resources and cardholder data” (kent & souppaya, 2006, p. 2-8). many indicated their ability to review and change security policies as needed. for example, organizations should review at least annually and update as soon changes to processes or procedures and technology occur (paulsen & toth, 2016). some organizations offer continuous cybersecurity training which is vital to protecting business information and resources. several monitored and evaluated employees, processes, and technology for compliance. ensuring policies and procedures are current and align with employees and technology to fulfill business objectives is the embodiment of an information security strategy. strength of the security posture. cyber threats to systems and information could be internal or external, whether accidental or willful. the strength of an organization’s security posture comprises information, networks, systems, and resources such as people, hardware, software, policies, and capabilities to protect and respond as conditions change. several participants assessed their security strategy based on the ability to identify, remediate, and manage risk. conducting a risk assessment helps determine vulnerabilities and reveal uncommon risks that jeopardize business performance and resilience. a few participants reviewed the cia triad to protect their data. reviewing information to provide the cia is vital to safeguarding information, tangible and intangible assets, and the 63 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal organization’s reputation. ransomware, malicious codes, insider threats, and data breaches can halt profitability when the appropriate cybersecurity protections are not in place (nieles et al., 2017). various participants assessed their strategy on the organization’s ability to maintain data privacy and protect consumer information. customer and other private information should be protected through measures, including operational safeguards, privacy-specific safeguards, and security controls. not preserving data integrity leads to attacks such as deletion, modification, or unauthorized insertion of corporate information such as emails, employee financial records, and customer data (cawthra et al., 2020; mccallister et al., 2010). security threat landscape. a few participants assessed the effectiveness by the number of incidents received and resolved. organizations might measure the number of incidents handled to the amount of work that the incident response team performed rather than the quality of the team unless consideration was given to the quality of the team’s work. a significant number of participants assessed their effectiveness capacity to keep abreast of evolving cyber threats and vulnerabilities. interestingly, intrusion and malware detection methods have been ineffective in defending against advanced persistent threat (apt) tactics (zou et al., 2020). the disguise and sophistication of apt make it difficult for organizations to notice. of those instances noticed, the apt appears to be random and uncorrelated. however, the attack action in apt does leave traces behind that can only be audited or recorded by security sensors such as systems audit logs or firewall logs (zou et al., 2020). in essence, participants realize threats and vulnerabilities and the appropriate countermeasures to minimize or lessen the degree of impact on the security infrastructure. focusing on customer service. one-half of the participants assessed the effectiveness of their information security strategy on the organization’s ability to meet or exceed aggressive delivery timelines and customer demands. meeting deadlines to satisfy consumer demands is a significant factor in the retail industry that may come with a price. only two participants focused on customer needs to help maintain consumer retention and prevent stakeholder loss, which may be contrary to some scholars’ beliefs. for example, according to fleming (2021), many small businesses use technology and facility enhancements as creative ways to rethink customer service to meet business objectives while envisioning new business opportunities and increasing customers even amid the covid-19 pandemic. because of evolving technology and threats and vulnerabilities, information security strategies must be reviewed regardless of organizations’ scope and methods. assessing processes and procedures can identify areas for improvement. theme 3: keeping a wish list of goals for security strategies is prudent poorly configured work systems and employees’ security behaviors can provide an open door for employees and external hackers to break into networks. protecting the information, people, and organizational reputation is paramount to business operations. an information security mindset can increase data protection and thwart potential threats and vulnerabilities from wreaking havoc on organizations. participants responded to the type of information security strategy they desired to implement. 64 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 resilience and sustainable information security architecture. the ability to anticipate, prepare, detect, respond, and adapt to essential changes and unexpected disruptions is necessary to survive and succeed. safeguarding stakeholders’ interests, ensuring employees comply with policies, and maintaining technology capabilities can help avoid unwanted activity. participants desired various information security strategies, as garnered from data analysis, and based on organizations’ needs. some participants desired to leverage information security to achieve a competitive advantage. some wanted to balance organizational needs and business capabilities. others wanted to integrate the is strategy into business and regular processes. various participants yearned to achieve business and it alignment. multiple participants desired amendable security policies that aligned with business functions and processes. according to patterson (2020), developing it makes it nearly impossible to separate business and it strategies. integrating it strategy into overall business strategy adds value to an organization. communicating and collaborating between senior leaders and it personnel is critical in designing, implementing, managing, and improving it solutions and controls for it architecture to meet, align and support business objectives. prevention. many participants desired to protect networks and data from viruses, spyware, and malicious codes. the damage that threat events may cause to systems varies considerably. unwanted activity may affect the cia of information, while another may affect the system’s availability. plenty of participants wanted a strategy that could reduce the success rate of an attack. various participants desired more leadership involvement. the assurance that information security is enforced and leadership-driven from the top-down could indicate that leadership is needed to forge compliant behavior. effective information security arises if infused in the entire organization and is practiced by all employees and at every level (guhr et al., 2019). nearly one-half of participants’ organizations wanted a trained staff to prevent, detect, and respond to risks and vulnerabilities. responding to risks and vulnerabilities such as natural disasters, fire, medical emergencies, or even burglary could positively impact information security. security event management and its role in monitoring. maintaining a real-time view of information security risks across an organization requires the involvement of the entire organization. diverse participants desired an information security strategy to control and monitor internal and external threats and vulnerabilities effectively. according to dempsey et al. (2011), an adequate information security continuous monitoring strategy addresses monitoring requirements and activities within the organization, mission/business process, and information systems tiers. each tier has unique responsibilities in the monitoring process that reveal anomalies. comprehensive and all-encompassing solid security architecture. businesses face new and challenging risks to safeguard information and resources. protecting data, assets, and resources should be considered in all business activities, including external legislation, internal security policy, business functions, organizational structure, and the leaders’ commitment to introduce and invest in an information management system for managing information security (šikman et al., 2019). only a few participants wanted an information security strategy supporting the cia triad and protecting competitive advantage, reputation, and customer trust. senior decision makers’ commitment to obtaining the necessary tools, systems, hardware, software, and human resources to support the cia triad of information and manage risk is of great value to stakeholders and the organization. three participants wanted a strategy focused on detection, prevention, deterrence, response, and deception. paulsen and 65 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal toth (2016) surmised that safeguarding organizational information required limiting access to sensitive information, encrypting sensitive business data, and training employees. additionally, regularly monitoring to ensure timely discovery of cybersecurity events and rapidly responding to degradation in information systems, security processes, and procedures help to reduce the impact on the security architecture. summary despite limited resources, lacking knowledge was the most significant challenge reported by participants. however, information security strategy does exist in some form or fashion in the retail sales industry in the northeastern region of the united states. participants’ smes should customize a security program to fit their unique needs. smes desire some sort of information security strategy. because of lacking resources and not networking or sharing knowledge with competitors, scaled-down versions or ready-made policies, regulations, or publications that require minimum implementation effort to understand would be ideal. conversely, smes should make a concerted effort to review public service organizations or federal government websites and use the step-by-step ready-made templates to resolve potential internal and external cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities. pursuing knowledge and additional skills and understanding the swift change in information security vulnerabilities could lead to better information security strategy development and subsequent implementation. sme participants experienced challenges ranging from the inability to acquire necessary knowledge and skills, purchase software upgrades, relying on public wireless networks, and byod, all of which create risks to their organizations. furthermore, despite limited resources and tools, smes were resourceful in tapping into readily available tools and internal resources to assess the effectiveness of their information security strategy, which resulted in an information security continuous monitoring program. in essence, taking a holistic approach to implementing an information security strategy with limited resources is achievable. several external agencies, resources, and tools were presented throughout the current research that provided free instructional courses and templates for various policy documents to aid the sme retail industry in enhancing or expanding their information security strategy goals to remain profitable. summary of findings and conclusion this pragmatic qualitative inquiry design aided in exploring how lower resource availability influences the sme retail industry in the northeastern region of the united states’ ability to implement an information security strategy to protect business data and other assets from risks, cybersecurity threats, and vulnerabilities. a thorough look at each of the research questions provides unique information. research question 1 how does resource availability influence smes’ ability to implement an information security strategy to protect networks and systems from vulnerabilities? 66 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 revenue from the sme retail industry contributes to a significant part of the economy. results imply that protecting the cia of stakeholders and business information and assets from unauthorized disclosure, modification, use, or deletion has been an enormous challenge for the retail industry because of limited resources, knowledge, skills, and tools. there is a lack of direction and commitment to understanding information security at the senior leadership or management level. additionally, a plethora of information security concerns exists in participants’ organizations. even with minute resources and employing a strategy commensurate with resources on hand, both the human and technology factors posed significant risks to stakeholders and consumers. participants’ knowledge can be improved through technology and educational means, whether acquired via on-the-job training, online, or externally. scarce resources and budgets lead to participants requiring information security guidance, solutions, and practical training, enabling organizations to enhance implemented cost-effective information security strategies to help decision-making and retain resiliency. participants appear to meet business objectives regardless of the scarce resources, knowledge, and skillsets. the themes 1) low resource availability negatively affects implementing an is strategy, 2) low resources lead to many challenges in developing and implementing an information security strategy, and 3) any challenges that must be handled despite lower resource availability are supported in the literature. the results point to specific capabilities, information sources, strategies, and decision styles aligned with current literature. research question 2 how do smes in the retail industry develop and implement an information security strategy to maintain business operations? the results reflect that many participants used multiple security strategies. because leadership lacks the resources to hire it experts and address the ideal strategies that participants’ desired, the results of this study implied that some participants are not prepared and have little confidence in their ability to manage risk. smes need to find the value in risk assessment and grasp the consequences that exposing data could cause to their organizations and compromise the whole security posture. that lack of preparation also creates vulnerabilities. to remain resilient, management and senior leadership positions require understanding, anticipating, and guarding against risks. grasping the concepts of information security is needed by both leadership and employees. it skillsets are an absolute must to maintain systems, controls, and protect information. addressing vulnerabilities is multi-faceted, and developing and implementing information security strategies should focus on systems, people, processes, and policies. all participants used technology, anticipated revenue growth, and desired holistic security strategies to achieve a competitive advantage. however, investing and implementing such strategies requires time and resources, which ends up in costs, and subsequently increases the profit margin for the retail sales industry. risks, threats, and vulnerabilities threaten the existence of the retail sector. lacking resources and varying vulnerabilities lead to outdated technology and the inability to protect data and assets. the themes 1) network and systems protection rely on available tools and internal resources, 2) assessing the strategy’s effectiveness relies on a continuous effort, and 3) keeping a wish list of goals for security strategies is prudent is supported throughout the literature. retailers are responsible for a significant amount of valuable data, and it is worth investing in more advanced protection. having a plan or a strategy to secure data is crucial to the industry’s livelihood. overall, the findings suggest that 67 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal the sme retail industry knows that threats and vulnerabilities place their organizations at risk. smes can appropriate and orchestrate the means to respond to cybersecurity threats that negatively influence information security strategy implementation impacting organizational performance. theoretical implications the theoretical framework for the study is the sociotechnical systems theory (sts, trist, 1981). the theory suggests that activities and situations are influenced by socio (human) and technical (technology, resources, processes) elements. sts is an open system in which continuous change happens, whereas people and technology function together as a unit or a complex system to achieve the business’ objectives. sts suggests that people, technology, and the environment directly influence the output of a product. a significant connection between this theory, people, the environment, and the technical factors that influence processes and procedures to implement an information security strategy is highlighted throughout the study. people, technology, and the external environment are connected and work together to generate an output (profit). sts is adaptable in decreasing evolving threats and other unpredictable developments to retain the cia of information and assets. given the increase in cyberattacks, retailers are vulnerable to various threats. employees require the right tools to exceed business objectives. sts factors help manage risks and quickly adjust and adapt when conditions, changes, or disruptions occur. when the human element operates and interacts with the technical element, a new complex system proactively addresses challenges, improves customer experience, and increases competitive advantage. integrating technical, the cybersecurity environment, and human factors as core business practices can produce a holistic information security strategy that thwarts threats and vulnerabilities that protect data and assets. a significant connection exists between the elements and smes’. information security strategy implementation can either amplify or mitigate threats and vulnerabilities and provide a means to improve performance. the current study includes valuable information for the sme retail industry to determine the effectiveness of the security strategy and aid senior management and other decisionmakers to ascertain low but cost-effective tools and controls that can best enhance and protect data and assets. implications for professional practice the sme retail industry can use the results of this study to understand how employees perceive information security development and implementation. all participants were from the northeastern part of the united states, had either worked in the sme retail industry over the past year, or were currently providing it security support offered their perceptions based on personal experience. security training is a necessary investment, but not a priority. the plethora of challenges experienced by participants can be resolved through security education and training from the senior leadership to the lowest level employees. because of unavailable resources, some employees fill multiple roles outside the scope of their skillsets. evolving technology and ensuing persistent threats and vulnerabilities have shown that it support requires advanced tools, skills, and knowledge to leverage information security as a necessary asset of business operations. leadership may venture out to federal and local business agencies for security information and advice and create an information toolkit for their organizations. senior leadership knowledge and awareness are paramount to protecting data and maximizing profits to achieve a competitive advantage. the retail industry suffers greatly without the prerequisite security awareness 68 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 knowledge and skills to execute security controls that protect data and other critical business assets and manage risks. a second implication is that written documentation, such as an information security policy, is necessary. without guidance or security protocol, employees can unwittingly or inadvertently create threats and vulnerabilities to undocumented processes and procedures. for example, compromising customer and stakeholder data through point-of-sales transactions can become a problem. a written information security policy covering significant aspects of business objectives integrated with the overall information security infrastructure can create a well-trained staff that can detect, prevent, and responds to risks and vulnerabilities. based on the results of this research for future implications, there are plenty of lessons to learn for individuals who desire to establish a non-ecommerce retail sales business. first, an awareness of the plethora of challenges forged by limited resources is critical to expected financial performance. it and information security should be considered core business practices during the planning phases. it increases process speed and returns cost-saving benefits to the business. adhering to pci security compliance and controlling data and information during point-of-sales transactions are vital to achieving a competitive advantage in the industry sector. in essence, the findings may produce practical value for sme retail business leaders to understand the redisposition of resources in information security and allow leaders to focus on resources that improve value creation and overall performance. limitations the main limitation of this study is that a pragmatic qualitative inquiry design was used to conduct the study. as such, findings are not extrapolated beyond the industry selected for the study. the study was also limited by the sample population that encompasses only the retail sector comprising smes with 250 employees. participants were selected based on positions in the organization rather than specific experience levels, which were the only inclusion for this study. the researcher depended solely on the experience and knowledge of the study participants. participants may have different levels of knowledge about resource allocation and information security strategy implementation. the questionnaire depended upon subscribers to surveymonkey. the data from a small sample of sme owners, it professionals, information systems security officers, chief information security officers, chief information officers, information systems security managers, system administrators, security managers, and other business leaders do not reflect a large population of the united states but rather the northeastern geographical area. recommendations for future research the first recommendation for future research is to determine the sme retail industry’s senior leadership involvement in information security. the amount of time sme retailing ceos devote to information security to increase their knowledge and, subsequently, their effectiveness toward asset protection and risk management is critical to business existence. meeting with cisos and cios to obtain the organization’s information security architecture status is a start. still, the ceo’s role as the senior-most leader is of a different caliber. 69 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal a second recommendation for future research is to determine how the sme retail industry provides security education training to the organization and assess program effectiveness. continuous security training and relevant materials serve to remind employees across the entire organization. cost-effective and accessible training materials are available on federal, state, and local business websites. frequent email reminders and illustrative posters can demonstrate organizations’ commitment to protecting data and assets. a vigilant workforce can help mitigate threats and vulnerabilities more effectively during early detection. the third recommendation for future research is for the federal government to take a more proactive approach and offer additional resources and assistance, not just to retailers but also to other sme industries. because of resource limitations, some smes may use or rely on older methods to protect information. however, advancing cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities could easily infiltrate and infect networks with malicious malware. the federal government can require smes to validate their information security program based on a set of guidelines managed by the federal government. this initiative will also help larger businesses linked to sme businesses. in hindsight, the goal is for smes and the federal government to collaborate and work together to reduce cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities and preserve sme existence because failure to do so places consumers and stakeholders at risk. conclusion this pragmatic qualitative inquiry design was used to explore the influence of lower resources on the sme retail industry in the northeastern region of the united states’ ability to implement an information security strategy to protect business data and other assets from cybersecurity risks, threats, and vulnerabilities. the value of this study highlights the importance of how a holistic approach can be used when employing the socio (human) and technical (technology, procedures, processes) factors in the retail industry to develop and implement information security strategies effectively. some invaluable free and up-to-date training resources, along with identified publications containing varying templates to construct written policy and other guidance, are emphasized in the study. due to evolving technology, the sme retail industry needs to be informed about the latest threats, vulnerabilities, and the necessary resources and tools applied to information technology systems, procedures, and processes to implement a strategy that fits business objectives and enhances profitability. very little research has explored how smes develop security strategies given limited resources. however, little research has been conducted specifically in the retail industry. protecting stakeholders’ interests and the overall financial performance is no easy feat, but in-depth solutions are required to minimize security risk. participants’ ensuing accounts provided a broad understanding of their organizations’ security strategy and a narrower focus on the distinct variations in individual experiences. subsequently, analyzing the meaning of the phenomenon and integrating the descriptions of participant experiences garnered six dominant themes: 1) low resource availability negatively affects implementing an is strategy, 2) low resources lead to many challenges in developing and implementing an information security strategy, 3) challenges must be handled despite lower resource availability, 4) network and systems protection rely on available tools and internal resources, 5) assessing the strategy’s effectiveness relies on a continuous 70 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 effort, and 6) keeping a wish list of goals for security strategies is crucial. despite limited resources, sme retailers need to know how to best utilize the resources on hand and leverage many external resources to integrate information security and business objectives in the most cost-effective manner that contributes to security strategy implementation. capturing the essence of the phenomena required inquiring how participants perceived their organizations’ security strategy could only be analyzed within the context in which it occurred. an openended questionnaire forged detailed descriptions of participants’ perceptions, experiences, and the most meaningful areas that contributed to understanding the phenomenon. developed themes reinforced comprehension of the phenomena. synthesizing the results with agency documents such as nist sps provided additional depth to the research narrative. conclusion evolved based upon cia protection of information, despite limited resources, and leveraging information security to capture competitive advantage and increase financial performance for all stakeholders. 71 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal references ahmad, a., maynard, s. b., & park, s. 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(2020). an approach for detection of advanced persistent threat attacks. ieee, 53, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1109/mc.2020.3021548 https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2012/ https://doi.org/10.6028/nist.sp.1800.18 https://jwpress.com/ https://doi.org/10.1108/09685220910944722 http://10.0.3.248/j.dss.2011.02.009 https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarped/v7-i3/4379 https://doi.org/10.1109/mc.2020.3021548 76 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 register and submit your work to business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, 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occupational mentorship & the black female in the corporate midsouth theosphist j. j. mcintyre, sr., dba, mba | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa jodine marie burchell, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 contact: drtjmcintyre@gmail.com abstract career advancement barriers have become increasingly prominent in corporate manufacturing compared to other industries for black female professionals. based on extant literature, the crux of race and gender stereotyping in the corporate environment may be due to a lack of mentorship, formal and informal leadership development networks, and senior-level management's diversity support. therefore, additional research is required to understand how occupational mentorship may contribute to the career success of black females working in corporate manufacturing in the midsouth region of the united states. open-ended and in-depth interview questions were presented to 15 black female participants to understand their lived experiences related to the contribution of occupational mentorship on their professional development and career advancement opportunities in corporate manufacturing. additionally, the transcendental phenomenological design was employed to unveil thematic commonalities and philosophical meaning related to the lived experiences of black females, having participated in either formal or informal mentorship in corporate manufacturing. colaizzi’s seven steps of analysis were leveraged, facilitating the emergence of 6 significant themes regarding lived experiences pertaining to occupational mentorship. the more prevalent themes include: 1) mentorship aids in career advancement when supported by sponsorship and assimilation to corporate norms and organizational behaviors and 2) occupational mentorship improves self-efficacy, competency, skillset, and professional readiness for promotion. this study will assist in providing black females with strategies as to how occupational mentorship may be leveraged for professional development and career advancement. regarding business application, corporations will gain in-depth knowledge regarding the https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 2 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 function, value proposition, diversity and inclusion, and design and implementation of structurally organized mentoring programs. keywords: occupational mentorship, corporate manufacturing, black women, black women, career advancement, professional development, professional competency, glass ceiling, affinity contradiction theory, human capital investment, social learning theory 3 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal introduction the lack of career guidance through structured occupational mentorship opportunity has limited the number of black females occupying senior leadership positions in mainstream corporate america. amongst black female corporate professionals, the lack of mentorship is rated the most salient factor contributing to professional development and career advancement barriers in the workplace (cohen, et al., 2018; onyango et al., 2016). as such, corporations are being challenged to understand how occupational mentorship improves the professional development and career advancement for black females working in corporate manufacturing. black females are left to fend for themselves due to balancing intersectional identities of being both black and female (sims & carter, 2019). due to intersectional identities, black females have expressed that mentorship by senior-level executives has provided guidance and protection while aspiring to executive-level positions in the corporate arena. in this context, occupational mentorship will be described as a social, personal, and professional exchange of knowledge and/or information between a seasoned executive (mentor) within an organization and a less experienced or junior professional (mentee/protégé) (greco & kraimer, 2019; postlethwaite & schaffer, 2019; welsh & dixon, 2016). further aligned to this context, organizational leaders are interested in exploring the impact of occupational mentorship as it relates to the protégé, in targeting their key strengths to maximize their potential in the professional workplace, while improving the career advancement and professional development of black females working in corporate manufacturing in the mid-south region of the united states. summary of the literature although diversity and inclusion efforts are becoming more prevalent in corporate america, as a tool being leveraged to improve the representation of race and gender minorities, the current research findings reveal that diversity-valuing behavior within an organization is not enough to advance the career of females and minorities in the corporate setting. some literature exists regarding the potential value-add of occupational mentorship, however this study aids in determining the benefit that occupational mentorship provides within the black female professional demographic and the impact of occupational mentorship on the overall success of the enterprise. mentoring one of the primary functions of mentorship is to provide formal and informal guidance to less experienced professionals while increasing the visibility of the protégé (carroll & barnes, 2015; weinberg, 2019). the intent of such mentoring is to expose the protégé to experiences and leadership opportunities in such a way that their strengths can be highlighted and then leveraged for further development and potential implementation towards higher-level roles within the organization over time (carroll & barnes, 2015; holder et al., 2015). essentially, the general function of the mentor is one that seeks to aid the protégé in targeting their key strengths to maximize their potential in the professional workplace (weinberg, 2019). the function of the mentee may be to help facilitate mutuality, where the 4 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 mentor is mutually influenced by the mentee, and therefore, able to adapt to the developing and dynamic needs of the given protégé throughout the mentor-mentee relationship (weinberg, 2019). the mentoring function the mentor should function as a professional coach, in that they listen to the protégé, understand his or her areas of professionalism that need development, to provide advice, knowledge, and professional counsel as the protégé seeks to develop into a thriving member and contributor to the enterprise (carroll & barnes, 2015; weinberg, 2019). the occupational mentoring process should function to focus on career advancement to improve both psychological and social development while understanding unwritten processes having to do with organizational culture (weinberg, 2019). the primary function of mentorship should work to provide a network of senior-level leaders and peers that aid in career guidance regarding best practices for career success within a given organization (weinberg, 2019). regarding the existence of microaggressions, in a study designed to examine the function of mentorship for black females in the corporate setting, research was conducted to capture the lived experiences of racial microaggression against black females occupying senior management positions in industries such as apparel, beauty, financial services, hospitality, media, pharmaceuticals, and publishing. holder et al. (2015) found that one of the major coping strategies leveraged by the females to overcome racial microaggression on their journey to senior-level management was occupational mentorship. while a mentor will likely help a mentee to network, a sponsor will actively include the mentee in their own professional network. the participants communicated the function of mentorship because it also transitioned into sponsorship while leveraging advice from other black females regarding how to overcome racial microaggression in the corporate environment. participants also discussed that they were excluded from certain networks, support, and mentorship opportunities—which created a barrier to their career advancement. the participants shared how being provided with access to certain networks, mentorship, and projects (having high visibility) that helped to cultivate their professional proficiency while providing exposure to key decision-makers of the organization as well which expedited career advancement opportunities. additionally, holder et al. (2015) found that for these senior black executive females, the primary function of mentorship was effective in bringing them to the table on significant projects that may highlight leadership skills in a way that improves professional proficiencies while getting them a promotion. in a study performed to explore how the mentoring function optimizes career advancement and professional development in u.s. accounting organizations, guthrie and jones (2017) found that in both males and females, career development and role modeling were the most active functions involved in their mentoring relationships. the findings of guthrie and jones (2017) reveal that career development and role modeling are most salient in mentoring relationships. based on the contextual meaning of the findings derived by guthrie and jones (2017), career development functions are defined as sponsorship by senior leaders/mentors, recommendations for promotion, being assigned to high-profile assignments for improved visibility, and provision of career guidance and advice as it relates to career goals. similar to the findings of female participants, guthrie and jones (2017) found that male participant scores for mentoring function mirrored the findings of the female, but at higher rates. the two primary functions of mentorship found in men were also career development and role modeling. the salient 5 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal functions related to career development and role modeling were increased for both males and females when paired with same-gender mentors, and where relationships were more informal than formal. another interesting finding of guthrie and jones (2017) is female mentors have higher function scores for career development and role modeling when paired with male mentors. although male to female mentoring relationships creates controversy relative to the potential of sexual involvement, guthrie and jones (2017) found that female participants' desire for informal (male to female) mentor relationships yet exists. as such, females believe that having a male mentor is more beneficial to their career development in an environment and/or industry dominated by males. value proposition of mentoring the value of mentorship is such that it benefits the mentee by providing a transfer of knowledge to a less experienced professional (ragins et al., 2017). additionally, the value of mentorship benefits the mentor because they can refine their skill set by way of discovering new processes and methodologies while training the protégé (ragins et al., 2017). improved skillsets of the mentor and protégé are paramount because tactically competent employees favorably impact the financial performance of their organizations (lewis, 2017; rand & pajarillo, 2015). additionally, some current research study findings reveal that the value of mentoring is that it provides holding behavior against race and gender discrimination, potentially harming the professional development and career development of black females working in the corporate setting (ragins et al., 2017). based on the current literature, we found that occupational mentorship benefits three primary entities: 1) the mentor, 2) the mentee, and 3) the organization. mentee value proposition mentorship is a professional benefit to an organization in that it allows acclimation for young professionals just entering their profession and an organization. organizational mentorship programs are beneficial because they provide insight into the new professional in terms of culture and overall organizational behavior. this professional socialization process that occurs through the channel of mentorship helps towards building citizenship ad camaraderie within the workplace. camaraderie builds the professional's sense of belonging within the organization and allows for increased confidence as they take on new challenges—especially when partnered with senior-level professionals to help support their career success (clement, 2014; menges, 2016). mentor value proposition mentors bring value to the mentorship relationship by acting as a conduit for organizational knowledge transfer, providing as a benchmark for premier job performance, and by protecting and transferring the values and philosophies of the organization as well (ragins et al., 2017; whittemore et al., 2014). additionally, mentors can develop their professional skills by teaching others. the mentor is also able to understand some of the challenges, questions, and concerns that newer, less experienced professionals are faced with when entering the job market and a new organization. and finally, there is a fair amount of knowledge exchange as it relates to generational trends and new business philosophies that allow 6 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 more senior-level professionals to maintain their relevance within the organization and with younger, less experienced colleagues (ragins et al., 2017; whittemore et al., 2014). organizational value proposition mentorship can provide value to an organization by enhancing superior performance due to the advanced development of skill sets and professional competencies. this benefit can become pervasive within the organization and positively influence the work environment for change towards the overall organizational goals (rand & pajarillo, 2015). when an organization’s human resources are engaged with mentoring, it boosts the organizational morale primarily, and due to an increasing level of productivity that manifests as an uncommon advantage to the enterprise. the advantage of having mentored professionals engages the professionals so that they are passionate about new business technologies and methodologies for success in the marketplace. (rand & pajarillo, 2015). methods based on the background and literature review, the problem addressed in this study is a lack of knowledge regarding the perceived contribution of mentorship on career success (personal performance and upward mobility) and development (advancement in knowledge and skill base) specific to the black female. a qualitative, transcendental, phenomenological design was used to aid in collecting, synthesizing, and interpreting data to explore the experiences of black females in corporate manufacturing in the mid-south region of the united states. this study aimed to understand the participant’s experiences with occupational mentorship and their perceptions of the factors contributing to their career advancement and professional development. research questions rq1: what are the experiences of the black female relative to occupational mentorship and subsequent career advancement and professional development in corporate manufacturing? sq1: how has occupational mentorship contributed to the career success (personal performance and upward mobility) of the black female professional working in corporate manufacturing in the mid-south region of the united states. sq2: how has occupational mentorship contributed to the personal development (a.k.a. advancement in knowledge and skill base) of the black female professional working in corporate manufacturing in the mid-south region of the united states? data collection data were collected using in-depth interviews with 15 black female participants from several states in the midsouth region of the us. participants were recruited using several methods. the criteria for participation was adult black female, full-time employment as a leader in manufacturing industry, residing in the midsouth region of the us, and having been part of a mentor/mentee relationship. digital contact was made via linkedin, facebook, instagram, and other social media platforms. active 7 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal listening was engaged, where participants were prompted to expound upon their responses if such responses were unclear. questions were open-ended with a limited structure to allow more fluidity and authentic discussion during the interview process. the interviews lasted up to three hours in duration. the interview sessions allowed for meaningful discussion. rich data was extracted with authentic experiences contributing to a meaningful research process, unattainable with a quantitative approach to this research study. additionally, participants were only encouraged to divulge their lived experiences based on their personal level of comfortability in doing so. data analysis epoche was used to exercise an analytical lens from the interviewer's perspective instead of the researchers’ personal worldview. the goal was to explore the meaning behind the phenomena and address the research questions and overall interview process. epoche helps the researcher consciously understand the participants' lived experiences openly and with transparency that flows from the participant to the researcher to gain the essence of experiences lived (moustakas, 1994). the interviews were manually transcribed and formatted into a text file. the data were loaded into dedoose, a qualitative and mixed methods data analysis tool. while analyzing the data derived from the interview sessions, we made certain to adhere to colaizzi’s (1978) recommended methodologies. colaizzi’s (1978) process for interview data analysis is as follows: transcribe, extract, interpret, categorize, describe, identify, and validate. the responses that emerged from participants during the interview process were coded and analyzed. themes were developed by way of the coding process performed. the most frequently identified commonalities shared across the participants solidified the themes. common themes discussed in this research study occurred more than 50% of the time throughout the participants interviewed. results a total of 15 participants were interviewed to answer the main question: what are the experiences of the black female relative to occupational mentorship and subsequent career advancement and professional development in corporate manufacturing? the sample makeup is depicted in table 1. 8 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 table 1 participant information (n=15) participant state industry years 1 tn 7 2 tn 12 3 tn 6 4 mo 7 5 ky 5 6 ok 20 7 ms 12 8 ar 10 9 ky 10 10 al 9 11 tn 5 12 al 9 13 tn 7 14 mo 5 15 tn 15 9 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal word cloud a word cloud depicts the meaning of the interview participants' responses in word chunks based on the frequency of words used to describe the phenomenon. a word cloud can be beneficial in creating visualization analyses that improve the researcher’s ability to comprehend the meaning of statements provided. figure 1 provides a visualization of the lived experiences of black females with occupational mentorship and its impact on their occupational mentorship on career advancement and professional development in corporate manufacturing. figure 1 word cloud visualization major themes there was an emergence of 6 major themes derived from an analysis of the in-depth interview sessions, which captured the participants' authentic lived experiences. the purpose of the overarching research question was to address the impact of occupational mentorship on the career advancement and professional development of black women working in corporate manufacturing. two major themes were derived from the impact of occupational mentorship on career advancement and professional development in corporate manufacturing. the first question pertained to the perceived value that occupational mentorship provides from a professional readiness perspective. the second question pertained to tokenism theory and how it impacts occupational mentorship outcomes. the third question pertained to the impact of occupational mentorship related to penetrating the glass ceiling. and the 10 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 fourth question pertained to the effectiveness of occupational mentorship while taking on job shadowing, training, and cultural observation in the workplace. the following themes will be discussed in more detail below: theme 1: mentorship aids in career advancement when supported by sponsorship and assimilation to corporate norms and organizational behaviors. theme 2: occupational mentorship improves self-efficacy, competency, skillset, and professional readiness for promotion. theme 3: initiating mentorship is perceived as an aggressive male attribute but necessary to favorably impact career advancement for black female professionals' development outcomes. theme 4: mentorship by white males may be a solution for addressing tokenism and preventing affinity contradiction. theme 5: occupational mentorship provides exposure to high-profile assignments, professional networks, and visibility for penetrating career advancement barriers. theme 6: occupational mentorship provides insight to learning proven strategies for career success when customized to the career trajectory of the black female professional. overarching research question the overarching research question for this study is as follows: what are the black female experiences relative to occupational mentorship and subsequent career advancement and professional development in corporate manufacturing? theme 1. mentorship aids in career advancement when supported by sponsorship and assimilation to corporate culture, norms, and organizational behaviors. in synthesizing interviewee responses, it became clear that mentorship is essential for the business professional because she must identify ways to learn the corporate culture to align herself well to said culture and its people, establishing trust that helps with gaining sponsorship. mentorship allows its professionals to be aligned with the corporate objective to move the organization forward in a synchronized manner while improving professional development and career advancement for their professionals. from a sponsorship perspective, participant 4 stated, i got to know my mentors after hours, both personally and professionally, to gain sponsorship that contributed to my career advancement. 11 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal participant 3 mentioned, you need both an advocate and a mentor because a sponsor will speak up for you when you’re not in the room. a sponsor has worked with you, should believe in you, and will say great things about you that will elevate you, improving your visibility—so that people will know who you are…what you can do…and value what you bring to the table. participant 3 elaborated on how professional goals can be ambiguous for fledgling black female professionals and stated, opportunities can be identified for you when your potential is recognized. mentors and sponsors will help guide your career when you don’t where to go next in your career. it’s okay to be general in terms of your goals, but we must be intentional about identifying both mentors and sponsors that have attributes and strengths that will bring value to your career. from an assimilation perspective, participant 6 stated, you have to be willing to fit in, to stand out. fitting in has allowed me access into certain circles of professionals that could teach me how to adapt to the organizational environments while pushing my career forward. participant 12 corroborated this statement, saying that one of my old managers and mentors would say, “it’s just a game. it's all a game. it’s the social game— and you have to be willing to align yourself to the game.” participant 7 also corroborated these findings and discussed how black professionals in senior management positions are …embarrassed because the other blacks have not assimilated to the corporate culture, and therefore, don’t want to be associated with those black professionals. participant 12 elaborated on corporate assimilation and standard protocol that she learned from mentorship, stating, i had to adopt his demeanor, and his approach to solving problems, which helped with my mentor’s decision to sponsor me and recommend me for promotion as well; and that’s because he trusted me. theme 2: occupational mentorship improves self-efficacy, competency, skillset, and professional readiness for promotion. this finding is essential for the participant as a business professional because professional competencies and skill development may assist the professional with building confidence to fearlessly pursue and occupy leadership roles while being equipped to drive favorable results in so doing. organizations need 12 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 competent professionals by way of diverse people, which will improve the organization's diversity and inclusion perception, perhaps further enabling the organization to take advantage of cutting-edge methodologies to perform above and beyond their competitors in the marketplace. the findings derived from theme 2 were that the participants believed that investing in themselves was necessary for promotion and that mentorship played a significant role in their self-investment for professional skill development. the participants further expressed that before being educated and/or having trained through occupational mentorship or other mediums, they were apprehensive about promotion due to fear of failure. lack of investing in themselves and/or seeking out a mentor created thoughts of being unprepared or unqualified for promotion. participant 14 stated that she eventually got trapped in certain roles and labeled as a worker bee. she elaborated further and stated, it took me a while to pursue a mentor and pay attention to my career path and related jobs as well as special projects required for me to accomplish my career goals and get where i wanted to be. i was always busy at work and then at home with my family; and i just didn’t have the time to broaden my knowledge in my field for promotion readiness. so instead, i just decided to learn my current job well at the time, but because i was stagnant, i was labeled as a ‘worker bee’ and was overlooked for promotion—until i connected with a mentor that showed me the ropes and provided guidance as to what other skills and related roles i needed to pursue to further develop professional competencies—and eventually promotional readiness that advanced my career as well. the idea of professional unreadiness was prevalent, where participants expressed their need to be equipped for career advancement. participant 15 stated, i knew promotion couldn’t happen for me until i gained new transferrable skills for the position i wanted, and mentorship helped me to get there. several of the participants interviewed discussed the importance of being fully equipped through mentorship for management positions leading up to the c-suite. the participants discussed their apprehension of taking on management positions until they were prepared with the right skill set to thrive in such roles. participant 15 elaborated, i need to be confident in what i know because i know how hard it is for black females in this industry (referring to corporate manufacturing). i need to feel prepared with the right skills so as not to take on a responsibility that i am unfamiliar with and completely unprepared for. theme 3: initiating mentorship is perceived as an assertive male attribute but necessary to favorably impact career advancement. based on synthesis of the participants’ responses, this theme is essential for the business professional because mentorship and related career advancement are accessible to those who ask for it by aggressively pursuing occupational mentorship. when occupational mentorship opportunities are created that address diversity and inclusion, such organizations may mitigate undue attrition, attract the most talented diverse professionals, and drive favorable financial performance. the findings derived from theme 3 was that initiating mentorship—although perceived to be a male attribute—improves career advancement and 13 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal professional development outcomes. although the common theme across the broader group of participants was that improving skills by way of initiating mentorship opportunities was necessary, the participants expressed apprehension about aggressively pursuing training to advance their careers due to it being associated with assertiveness typically demonstrated by white males only. participant 5 elaborated that her experience with pursuing professional development through a mentor has been more motivational instead of focusing on professional competencies. participant 5 further explained that one must be very specific about what you are seeking to learn or gain in terms of skillset when it comes to professional development. although there may have been those willing to provide mentorship, her personal experience was that you only get what you ask for. by initiating and pursuing professional development and some follow-up, the participants experienced favorable results in their professional competencies and job readiness skills. participant 8 stated, i thought that if i worked hard, that elevation would come, but i was missing something; so, i pursued mentorship. after taking the initiative to pursue a mentor, it helped to move career forward; and the mentor could see certain skills in me that helped to guide my career path and helped me identify certain projects to pursue to cultivate those skill sets continually and i was able to experience promotion shortly thereafter. according to participant 5, speaking in terms of professional skill development through occupational mentorship, you have to seek mentorship out for yourself, and then follow-up. another participant expounded on how important it is for black female professionals to take the initiative in learning new skills by way of occupational mentorship, and stated, they expect more from you, so you have to prove your worth and earn your promotion more than white males. theme 4: mentorship by white males may be a solution for addressing tokenism and preventing affinity contradiction. based on the synthesis of participants’ responses, white males' occupational mentorship may help prevent tokenism while improving mentorship outcomes contributing to professional development and career advancement. theme 4 may address the adverse stigma that organizations are only concerned about diversity and inclusion from a perception standpoint alone but rather committed to supporting and engaging their influential white male executives to participate in diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as occupational mentorship targeted at black female professionals. several participants discussed that the majority did not necessarily perpetuate tokenism, but something blacks have enjoyed and, therefore, have conformed to the lack of diversity and inclusion to prevent other 14 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 black females from career advancement. participant 10 explained her personal experience and stated, i have had other black females praise me for my skill, but then as soon as they see you are about to get promoted, they turn on you. if you have more potential or skillset, then other black females in your area don’t want to see you thrive in your career; and this is mainly due to their fear of losing their positions, or they're being jealous of your potential. participant 10 concluded, professionals that look like you may not always be willing to sponsor or mentor you. participant 2 shared her personal experience on how to address the issue of tokenism and the lack of real diversity it perpetuates and stated, sometimes other blacks can’t speak for you due to the corporate political game. but having a welldiversified coalition of mentors and sponsors have helped my career. they don’t have to look like me; and more specifically, in this type of environment, you need your white male counterparts speaking on your behalf and to keep them in your corner. participant 6 corroborated this sentiment and stated, you need a board of people to mentor you. my mentor was a german guy that i still speak to today. i need people of all different backgrounds…and people in different places…i have white jewish mentors, german mentors, african mentors, you name it…but we have connected on both a personal and professional level. these people know me because i was willing to share my authentic self with them without reservation due to color of skin, background, creed, or sexual orientation. theme 5: occupational mentorship provides exposure to high-profile assignments, professional networks, and visibility for penetrating career advancement barriers. based on our synthesis of the participants’ responses, a lack of exposure to opportunities that allow black females to drive favorable results on high-profile projects may cost the professional the visibility and experience needed to improve professional competencies and gain promotion into management and other senior-level positions. commitment by way of integrating high-profile assignments into their occupational mentorship programming may help bring innovative, cutting-edge ideologies and solutions to address critical business needs, and thereby having the organization reap the benefits that diversity and inclusion provide from a business performance perspective. the findings derived from major theme five were that professional exposure through occupational mentorship could help penetrate the glass ceiling. several participants discussed how accessing senior-level leaders above the glass ceiling could benefit the other side of this professional barrier. one of the primary ways discussed was through professional exposure to high-profile meetings, networks, and assignments. participant 7 stated, your contribution to your team and organization can help to penetrate the glass ceiling. it’s no longer about just doing your job, but it’s about determining the business need and taking the initiative to drive favorable results, improving processes and methodologies as to how we do business. we assume that it’s 15 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal gender and race that holds us back, but the main crux of the issue has to do with you getting the attention and gaining exposure to the right people so that they are aware of your contribution to the business— which occupational mentorship can help to provide those opportunities. participant 2 also stated, we have to seek out those that are above us to see what they can impart in us. this is all a part of occupational mentorship. sometimes that includes high-profile projects that can provide you with the exposure and experience required to rise above the ceiling; and this is what happened for me. theme 6: occupational mentorship provides insight to learning proven strategies for career success when customized to the career goals of the black female professional. based on a synthesis of the participants’ responses, learning best practices, protocols, and rules of engagement as it relates to conducting business tactically may mitigate risk in terms of egregious error(s) and missteps transpiring that could have a detrimental impact on the professional’s career advancement opportunities. additionally, the participants shared the importance of having targeted training and jobshadowing opportunities, specifically aligned to their overall career goals. sharing best practices for success related to tactical processes and procedures may provide consistent and high-quality results aligned to the organization’s professional standards. moreover, such standard operating procedures can be improvised after the mentor's fundamental concepts have been mastered. as such, standard practices for success may be improved more expeditiously when the fundamentals of the business and related process have been garnered. occupational mentorship provides insight about learning best practices and proven strategies for career success through targeted job shadowing. several participants discussed that occupational mentoring provided opportunities for job shadowing. participant 14 stated, job shadowing and knowing how to do a myriad of things is good for your experience and provided a blueprint for success to drive favorable results on major projects having significant visibility throughout the organization; however, job shadowing should be specific and aligned to prepotent career moves to be effective in getting you to that next level in your career. job shadowing is what i needed to learn proven strategies for success and what i have enjoyed. but because i have a vast knowledge of how to do many things, i have experienced success on projects and related tasks i was unfamiliar with before the opportunity. participant 14 also elaborated, because i knew how to leverage the strategies for success gained from my mentors, i was always the person approached when down a teammate, or needing to fill-in for a project due to the comfort level i have had with high profile assignments while knowing how to achieve success based on what i learned from job shadowing and observing my mentors. when participants were not trained with guidance related to heuristics and rule of thumb methodologies 16 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 for success towards prepotent career moves, the participants expressed that they lost opportunities to shine in the absence of their superior. for example, participant 14 indicated that although she was trained to do a myriad of tasks on the team, that she was unable to help her boss when he left for paternity leave due to a lack of training that was specific to the next step in her career path—which was his job. participant 14 stated, i told my boss that he had never trained me in preparation for his being out of the office. however, he had trained the next person in charge, who when my boss left for his maternity leave, he went to a counterpart that was beneath me to help run processes when he (my boss) left for maternity leave. i became frustrated and communicated my concern that with my being the senior member on the team, that i should have received the opportunity was a young white male in a lower-ranking order and a lower pay grade than mine. his excuse was that i was already overloaded and was not familiar with best practices for their reporting processes and presentations to take on the additional responsibility. i wasn’t included or trained as it relates to best practices exercised by my boss, in terms of how he ran his reports that were required when he was out of office. i told him that i felt overlooked, but he said it was never their intent to overlook me, and that he was sorry and should have better communicated and provided the best practices and protocol for the tasks needing to be done during his time out. the participant also shared that she had another opportunity extended to her where she had spent some time training for. she made sure to engage her mentor for role-specific job shadowing and best practices for success in her current and future roles and was able to get further promoted shortly after. participant 6 shared the sentiments, and personal lived experiences of participant 3 and stated, my mentors have advice about protocol and best practices. i have leveraged my mentors as partners, bouncing ideas and concepts off of them to do things better. summary the findings of this study pertain to the influence of occupational mentorship on the professional development (professional competencies) and career advancement (upward mobility) of black females working in corporate manufacturing in the mid-south region of the united states. the participants involved in this study were asked open-ended questions to understand their personal lived experiences regarding the impact of occupational mentorship in their careers in corporate manufacturing. analysis of the data for this research study identified six significant themes with detailed analysis provided for enhanced insight into the participants' personal lived experiences in this study. discussion implications for professional practice the findings from this study indicate that black females value occupational mentorship in corporate manufacturing, especially when provided with high-profile assignments and opportunities to drive favorable results thereby. however, several participants interviewed conveyed the importance of social learning (developing professional competencies while understanding cultural norms and behaviors 17 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal through observation) and sponsorship working in tandem, being integrated into occupational mentorship. the participants interviewed shared thematic commonalities that they felt inadequate in terms of competency for c-suite type of positions. additionally, participants expressed that they were challenged in controlling their anger and/or related responses when feeling overlooked, disrespected, and/or overwhelmed in their jobs. several of the participants interviewed communicated that social learning can help address issues related to the lack of professional competencies and adjustment to attitude to properly communicate and engage the corporate climate around them. finally, several interview participants expostulated that partnering with white male counterparts would provide an opportunity to penetrate the glass ceiling, therefore, having the opportunity to exhibit competencies and social norms learned by way of occupational mentorship. from a practical perspective, occupational mentorship initiatives in corporate manufacturing may benefit black females working in the midsouth region of the united states if coupled with social learning and professional sponsorship by senior management, namely their white male counterparts. cultural and behavioral assimilation. the literature seems to embrace innovativeness, advanced degrees, and cutting-edge ideologies that female professionals provide, findings reveal that black female professionals feel pressured to assimilate before they are able to apply cutting edge methodologies and ideologies for solving business problems and driving favorable results for the business. this is inversely related to some extant literature, where cook & glass found that female leaders (females in general) are expected to stand out with having advanced degrees and employing innovative methodologies for success—all while black females are pressured into “playing the game” so as not to stand out, but to gain rapport by assimilating to acceptable organizational norms and leadership behaviors demonstrated by their mentors and predecessors (smith et al., 2019). the implication for black female practitioners is that they (black females) may need to understand and embrace current operating procedures, while being slow to demonstrate innovativeness until rapport has been established amongst their peers and superiors to gain the rapport and trust that will aid in sponsorship for career advancement. implications for business is that the awareness of the burden that black females experience to assimilate may thwart their creativity. therefore, the organization’s initiatives to create assimilation should be balanced within an incentive for those willing to share and act on their creative thoughts by establishing formal recognition and rewards systems. professional competency and preparation. findings from this study have revealed that black females may be reluctant in taking risks as it relates to assuming senior management opportunities if feelings of professional unreadiness persist. findings also reveal a difference in cross-lateral roles compared to high-profile and highly visible assignments. bradford et al. (2017) described how cross-lateral lateral moves provide professional readiness in cross gender and race study. however, smith et al. (2019) discussed high-profile and highly visible projects as providing human capital investment. the implication of this study and related findings for black female professionals is that they should avoid lateral moves (role changes equal in power and influence); and that cross-lateral moves do not breed feelings of professional readiness in black females. however, professional readiness stems from highprofile projects with exposure to talented colleagues and complex business problems. black females may gain human capital and perceived professional readiness through meaningful business experiences and not multiple roles and related titles—which should be pursued by black females working in 18 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 corporate manufacturing in the midsouth region of the united states. the implication for business and the organization at large is that a survey prompting feedback from their black female professionals may provide benefit in ascertaining which skill-sets are perceived as most needed to adequately prepare and fortify professional readiness in black females seeking to advance into senior level management positions. aggressively pursuing mentorship and innovativeness. study findings indicate that it may be palatable for white females when compared to black females. rincon et al. (2017) and cohen et al. (2018), noted that male bias exists as it relates to females taking an assertive role in pursuing mentorship to push their careers forward. findings of this study indicated the need for strategic pursuit and organizational support with formal programming to alleviate pressures and misperceptions of black females desiring to take ownership of their careers by independently pursuing mentorship. thus, the implication for practice is that black female professionals should participate in structurally organized mentoring programs sponsored by the corporation to protect their image, and prevent the perception of the “angry black female” to create a buffering affect against micro-aggressive and ambient discrimination, while on their journey towards pursuing professional development and career advancement in corporate manufacturing. the implication for business and the organization at large is that additional training may be required as it relates to diversity inclusion, emotional intelligence and social role stereotypes to raise the awareness of the double-standard at play to improve opportunities for black females seeking career advancement, but while removing the negative stigma by with diversity training that helps corporate executives recognize when gender role play and related stereotypes are interfering with work relationships and helping behavior by way of occupational mentorship in the workplace. tokenism and affinity contradiction. regarding this aspect of theme 4, the findings from this study reveal that white male sponsorship may counter-act adverse influence or contradiction of black-onblack mentoring relationships or lack thereof. the common theme is that tokenism is no longer systemic at the organizational level, but at the individual and/or community level where affinity exists specific to black females and perhaps other minority and/or protected classes in general. cook and glass (2018) found that even a single female token in organizational leadership will positively impact effective organizational change and address tokenism—and that a single high-status-female in corporate leadership is enough to bridge the gap between qualified female professionals being promoted to seniorlevel managerial positions—even in male-dominated industries. the implication for practice with black females is that white men may be most willing to help sponsor and mentor them in white-male dominated environments for career advancement, and not other black females. as such, black female professionals may bode well relative to professional development and career advancement through mentorship when mentored by senior white male executives. the implication for business and the organization at large is that it should engage, incentivize and recognize diverse mentors, namely white male senior executives, when they participate in mentorship programming to improve their (white male) vested interest. professional visibility aiding with penetrating career advancement barriers. career advancement and barrier penetration may be primarily provided to black females when exposure to high-profile 19 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal projects and networks are targeted and customized, in a manner that supports the professional goals of the mentee. cohen et al. (2018) found that one of the most eminent prohibiting factors of career advancement for females working in the accounting profession was described as a lack of being exposed to projects and professional networks. thus, the implication for the black female professional in practice is that one of the benefits that should be pursued by way of occupational mentorship is exposure to a network of high-powered corporate executives, having the influence required to penetrate career advancement barriers, supporting upward mobility for black female professionals working in corporate manufacturing. the implication for business and the organization at large is that senior level executives of diverse races, namely white male senior executives, should seek to participate in affinity group meetings and activities, where questions and concerns are addressed regarding professional development, career advancement and occupational mentorship opportunities. targeted roles. projects and promotion rates improved when exposure to high profile projects and networks are harnessed as leverage for specific and anticipated outcomes relative to career advancement. job-shadowing and general cross-training and lateral moves; however, black females coined as worker bee and stuck in lateral zones if job-shadowing and lateral moves aren’t aligned to a specific career trajectory. the findings of this study also revealed that occupational mentorship programs should be structured in a way that is specific with mentor and mentee’s thoughts on career goals to receive customized training suitable for prepotent career moves, supporting professional development and upward mobility within the business environment. moreover, the mentee’s exposure to professional network groups should be customized to those that may be influential to provide opportunities within certain roles, departments and professional disciplines aligned to the interests and skill sets of the mentee. interview participants stressed an importance for having the right type of training and network exposure—and that training, job-shadowing experiences and exposure to networks should be targeted and customized to refrain from the worker bee syndrome, resulting in black female professionals being overlooked for executive level positions where both tactical and strategic experiences were required. the implication for practice is that black female professionals should pursue occupational mentorship where a targeted set of diverse training experiences, job-shadowing opportunities are professional networks are provided to equip black female professionals with a specific set of skills, fostering leadership skills and professional competencies that are aligned to their specific career goals. additional implications for practice may be that black female professionals should pursue on the job training, job shadowing and professional networking that is aligned to a specific career progression; and that on-the-job training experiences should be focused on job assignments and professional networks that are not generalized, but highly specific to ensure upward mobility, rather than lateral movement into functional roles. one of the most eminent implications for practice may be that black female professionals should avoid being pigeon-holed into functional and administrative busywork to prevent being looked over for promotions. implications for business and the organization at large may be that direct managers are required to document the career aspirations of their black female professional subordinates, to assist with a career roadmap and professional development plan for career advancement and mentorship 20 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 perhaps required to accomplish their career goals. the career planning may be reviewed during performance assessments cycles, and continually tweaked to meet the specific needs of the professional as they aspire to gain the skills required to facilitate career advancement. managers may be appraised based on their success in the professional development of their subordinates, specifically those of protected classes such as the blake female professional. limitations the following/additional limitations exist in this study: 1) the qualitative phenomenological approach (research design) is based on perception and lived experiences rather than by survey or numerical data, making results subjective to experiences. 2) lived experiences of participants will only capture those of women of color and not applicable to other races/gender. 3) the sample population would only consist of black females having mentored either formally or informally. 4) research is primarily being analyzed through the lens of social learning theory based on observational learning (direct and/or indirect) and not based on cognitive abilities, and therefore, primarily looking at learning through others and not independently based on knowledge alone. 5) data collection is by way of interview questions, which cannot be quantified for objective facts, but responses will be analyzed for subjective experiences, which requires the unbiased of the instrument (researchers). one important limitation of this study is participants only include black professional females within corporate manufacturing in the midsouth region of the u.s. this demographic is limited in terms of gender, nationality, and industry due to the scope of this study being specific to black females working in corporate manufacturing in the mid-south region of the united states—and therefore, unavoidable. as such, this research study may not be relevant across varying nationalities, industries, and demographic areas of the u.s. when a sample population is small, there is some aspect of underrepresentation that could create bracketing as the researcher analyzes the data. another notable limitation of this study is that the 1st author and primary researcher is of a protected class as well, being a black male. as such, the researcher will need to make certain that epoche is exercised not to allow personal bias or experience to influence the participants' response or misinterpret findings based on the black male experience. by ensuring against researcher bias, the research study is a valid document that accurately captures the essential lived experiences of the participants involved. 21 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal future research the research conducted in this study was to explore the influence of occupational mentorship on the professional development (professional competencies) and career advancement (upward mobility) of black females working in corporate manufacturing in the mid-south region of the united states. our recommendation for future research would be to analyze the impact of occupational mentorship across multiple ethnicities and regions, using a quantitative approach for an objective view relative to the number of promotions by region due to occupational mentorship. additionally, other research studies could be designed to measure the skill level through self-rating systems to understand the perceived impact of occupational mentorship on professional development (improved skillset). conducting research across regions and ethnicities may help determine if the impact of occupational mentorship differ throughout various regions of the united states and/or by ethnicity. the recommended quantitative approach would quantify the number of interview participants that have been favorably impacted by occupational mentorship based on number of promotions and participants experiencing career advancement and/or professional development. additionally, the quantitative approach could allow for ratings as to the level of expertise by self-evaluation and ranking to understand perceived self-efficacy (or lack thereof) for those black females having undergone occupational mentorship in the corporate manufacturing arena in various regions of the united states. another recommendation would be to examine the concept helping behavior within specific affinity groups. one of the primary takeaways of this study was related to a social dynamic that creates affinity contradiction, which seems to occur when individuals share affinity in one or more areas, be it race, gender, communities, and more. where affinities exist, in this case, black female professionals in the midsouth region of the united states working in corporate manufacturing, individuals within this peer group may contradict one another in terms of helping behaviors that may support professional development and career development amongst their fellow colleagues. affinity contradiction theory suggests that non-white token professionals not only seek to prevent dilution of majority, but may seek to cause adverse impact to the career of other non-white professionals where both non-white professionals are contending to maintain or gain senior level executive status in the corporate environment. affinity contradiction theory (act) speculates that as affinity increases in minority people, there is an inverse relationship between personal and professional commonality and citizenship behavior within said groups. moreover, act proposes that where affinity is most prevalent amongst a group of people, the less they are willing to support each other—and may even pursue action to cause adverse impact to their peers to prevent upward mobility of individuals within their shared affinity groups. this phenomenon has been graphically depicted in figure 2 below. figure 2 is a graphical depiction that demonstrates the inverse relationship between affinity and helping behaviors, and can be described as the affinity contradiction model. essentially, when affinity increases within a group of individuals, then helping behaviors may decrease simultaneously and ultimately transition into hurting behavior. moreover, the graph reflects how helping behavior can transition in hurting behavior, where adverse actions or discussions are engaged in by one party, to cause undue harm 22 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 to their opposing party, but only where affinity is shared. this phenomenon may be primarily due to the fear that one party has of being replaced by the contending party, where shared affinity exists. figure 2 affinity contradiction theory model affinity contradiction behavior expounds upon tokenism theory, which was originally used in literature by martin luther king in his book entitled why we can’t wait. in this book, king (1964) describes tokenism as a marginal attempt to facilitate the acceptance of black people in both the workplace and us mainstream society at large. additionally, other token non-whites may be used as leverage to fortify career advancement barriers for the sole purpose of preventing dilution of majority think in corporate america. recommendations for practice recommendations for business practice would be to leverage occupational mentorship for career advancement and professional development; however, while pursuing sponsorship by white male counterparts and undergoing assimilation to the corporate environment by way of social learning. maintaining partnerships with white male executives may address organized tokenism and reverse affinity contradiction (act) discussed in the previous section. additionally, for mentees pursuing professional development and career advancement, our recommendation would be to engage in selfinvestment through occupational mentorship for improvement of tactical skillsets and professional competencies as aligned to the human capital theory. the participants interviewed all conveyed the need for sponsorship by white male counterparts—or those who may not share affinity with the mentee; and 23 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal leveraging this to emulate standard protocol as it relates to organizational behavior, social corporate norms and to counteract the adverse impact of tokenism and affinity contradiction. some other recommendations: first, having a coalition of sponsors will improve mentorship outcomes related to career advancement— and primarily due to addressing any perceptions of professional incompetence. second, participants should learn the art and science of playing the “political game.” participants noted the importance of learning how to play “the game” through social learning, mirroring corporate social norms and fully assimilating to the corporate environment. becoming one with the organization, its people, culture, and corporate norms is a primary way to gain influence with peers and superiors while improving your likeability. successfully emulating social corporate norms and behaviors is achieved through observation, which includes mastering the approach and methodologies used by her mentor to excel in the workplace. moreover, social learning by way of observation provides benefit to the mentee by learning the interpersonal aspects of the business when dealing with people and aspiring for career advancement. third, mentees should pursue occupational mentorship for best practices for success, and guidance on projects to improve knowledge and skillset while approaching a business problem. having guidance on highly visible projects helps with the mentees' ability to drive favorable results while improving feelings of self-worth, efficacy, and professional competency, leading to productivity in the workplace. fourth, minority professionals should seek to understand affinity contradiction and its impact on their working environment. black female professionals should strive to have a diverse coalition of mentors across multiple nationalities to maintain relevance in diverse corporate environments. by pursuing mentoring relationships with mentors that do not look like them (the mentee), the mentee may successfully address the “crab mentality” with organized tokenism. the mentee may also experience an adverse impact on their career imposed by those they share the highest affinity. as such, a diverse coalition of mentors based on ethnicity will potentially address the issue of affinity contradiction, where professionals refuse to participate in citizenship behavior—which exists when the highest level of affinity is shared amongst a community of professionals. the micro aggression that occurs related to affinity contradiction may fail due to diverse mentoring relationships being pursued by the mentee. finally, organizations may benefit from this study by integrating sponsorship, social learning, and human capital metrics into their occupational mentorship programs and initiatives. essentially, organizations can seek to do the following: 1) assessments can be created to measure and improve the sponsorship opportunities that exist within or outside of their mentorship relationship to ensure that the mentee is partnered with a tenured professional that will champion for them in the workplace, both publicly and privately, 2) leverage mentorship to discuss social norms, organizational behavior/climate and ways to assimilate the mentee in terms of professional dress attire, communication, teamwork and to other unwritten rules related to organizational culture and social protocol; 3) utilize occupational mentorship to provide black females opportunities to spearhead highly visible projects where guidance is provided as to best practices for success to improve the mentee’s knowledge base, experience, skillset(s), performance and the overall result of the project based on the success factors thereof . 24 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 conclusion the findings derived from this phenomenological study contribute to the body of knowledge related to the impact of occupational mentorship on the professional development (professional competencies) and career advancement (upward mobility) of black females working in corporate manufacturing in the midsouth region of the united states. additionally, the findings derived from this study may guide organizations as it relates to the effectiveness of their occupational mentorship programs. where such programs do not exist, the findings of this study may guide at the time of, or prior to, implementation. findings reveal that occupational mentorship should be infused with concepts related to sponsorship, social behavior, and high-profile projects. by leveraging the key takeaways and concepts potentially required for successful implementation of occupational mentorship programs, the impact of said programs may favorably impact the organization by improving citizenship behavior and driving favorable performance for the enterprise. regarding the professional (mentee), the findings of this research may provide benefit to the black female professional working in corporate manufacturing in the midsouth region of the united states. the primary themes derived from this research study is that occupational mentorship should be supported by sponsorship, corporate social behavior, and high-profile projects that provide visibility to the professional. the participants postulated that sponsorship provides support through senior executive leadership championing for the mentee, either behind the scenes or covertly, to support their career advancement and professional development process. the second theme related to career advancement was that occupational mentorship should focus on teaching social behavior that allows the mentee to assimilate to the corporate culture. the last most significant theme was that occupational mentorship, sponsorship, and assimilating to corporate norms should be combined with favorable performance on high profile projects that allows the mentee to gain influence, rapport, and the attention required for improvement in career advancement and professional development (improved skillset). the most important take-away from this study is how occupational mentorship improves social learning and human capital. the participants shared that they were able to experience career advancement and professional development through occupational mentorship/sponsorship contingent that they learned the social, behavioral norms of the organization (slt) and willing to conform accordingly while gaining knowledge, experience and driving favorable results on high profile assignments (hct). however, the most prominent theme was understanding people and winning friendship, and gaining influence with their willingness to fit in. the resounding themes derived from our findings were that we are people working in an organization that is ran by people; and when the mentee has learned the social behavior of the corporate environment—and willing to conform—it’s then, that leadership will seek out opportunities for you to drive favorable results by way of spearheading high profile projects, while championing for you behind the scenes to facilitate upward mobility within the organization. occupational mentorship has a favorable impact on the career advancement and professional development of black female professionals working in the midsouth region of the united states by helping her to develop sound interpersonal skills. if the black female professional is to thrive in a male-dominated culture, such as corporate manufacturing, she must be willing 25 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal to undergo occupational mentorship that are diverse in nature. having a diverse coalition of mentors will help address career advancement barriers related to tokenism and affinity contradiction. moreover, occupational mentorship is a great tool that will aid in the black female professional’s opportunities to forge healthy professional relationships with their colleagues, while simultaneously demonstrating authenticity in getting to know them, not just professionally, but personally. 26 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 references bradford, s.k., rutherford, b.n., & friend, s.b. (2017). the impact of training, mentoring, and coaching on personal learning in the sales environment. international journal of evidence-based coaching and mentoring, 15(1), 133-151. bryant, g. (1984). the working woman report: succeeding in business in the 80s. new york, n.y: simon carroll, m. & barnes, e. (2015). strategies for enhancing diverse mentoring relationships in stem fields. international journal of evidence-based coaching and mentoring, 13(1), 58-69. clement, s. (2014). the use of virtual mentoring in nursing education. online journal of nursing informatics, 18(2). cohen, j., dalton, d., holder-webb, l., & mcmillan, j. (2018). an analysis of perceptions in the accounting profession. journal of business ethics, 8(v), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-40544 colaizzi, p.f. (1978). psychological research as the phenomenologist sees it. existential phenomenological alternatives for psychology (pp. 48-71). new york, ny: oxford university press. cook, a. & glass, c. (2018). women on corporate boards: do they advance corporate social responsibility? department of management, 71(7), 897-924. https://doi:10.1177/0018726717729207 dedoose.com (2017). great research made easy! retrieved from http://www.dedoose.com. greco, l. & kraimer, m. (2019). goal-setting in the career management process: and identify theory perspective. american psychological association, 105(1), 40-57. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000424 guthrie, c. & jones, a. (2017). maximizing mentoring in public accounting: the effects of structure on outcomes for male and female proteges. american psychological association, 29(2), 137-154. holder, a., jackson, m., & ponterotto, j. (2015). racial microaggression experiences and coping strategies of black women in corporate leadership. american psychological association, 2(2), 2326-3598. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000024 king, m. l. (1964). why we can’t wait. new york: harper & row. menges, c. (2016). toward improving the effectiveness of formal mentoring programs: matching by personality matters. group and organization management, 41(1), 98-129. miles, m., huberman, a., & saldana, j. (2014). qualitative data analysis: a methods sourcebook (3rd https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-4054-4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-4054-4 https://doi:10.1177/0018726717729207 http://www.dedoose.com/ https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000424 https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000024 27 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal ed.). thousands oaks, ca: sage. moustakas, c. (1994). phenomenological research methods. thousand oaks, ca: sage publications. onyango, n., linge, t., & sikalieh, d. (2016). individual barriers to women’s ascension to ceo positions in kenya. international journal of novel research in humanity and social sciences, 3(4), 28-36. postlethwaite, b. & schaffer, r. (2019). creating a mentoring program that works: a process for decisionmakers. graziadio business review, 22(3), 1-18. ragins, b., ehrhardt, k., lyness, k., murphy, d., & capman, j. (2017). anchoring relationships at work: high-quality mentors and other supportive work relationships as buffers to ambient racial discrimination. personnel psychology, 70, 211-256. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1997.9707154067 rand, m. & pajarillo, e. (2015). a robust social and professional connection between master educator and doctor of nursing practice (dnp) student instructor. virtual mentoring and preceptorship via distance education. nurse education today, 35, 696-699. rincon, v., gonzalez, m., & barrero, k. (2017). women and leadership: gender barriers to senior management positions. intangible capital, 13(2), 319-386. https://doi.org/ 10.3926/ic.889 sims, c. & carter, a. 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(2014). methods for knowledge synthesis: an overview. heart & lung, 43, 453-461. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1997.9707154067 https://doi.org/10.33423/jbd.v19i2.2058 https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2017.1513 https://doi.org/10.1177/1059601119838689 28 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 register and submit your work to business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master's/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master's degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ abstract introduction the lack of career guidance through structured occupational mentorship opportunity has limited the number of black females occupying senior leadership positions in mainstream corporate america. amongst black female corporate professionals, the lack of... summary of the literature although diversity and inclusion efforts are becoming more prevalent in corporate america, as a tool being leveraged to improve the representation of race and gender minorities, the current research findings reveal that diversity-valuing behavior with... mentoring one of the primary functions of mentorship is to provide formal and informal guidance to less experienced professionals while increasing the visibility of the protégé (carroll & barnes, 2015; weinberg, 2019). the intent of such mentoring is to expose ... the mentoring function the mentor should function as a professional coach, in that they listen to the protégé, understand his or her areas of professionalism that need development, to provide advice, knowledge, and professional counsel as the protégé seeks to develop into a... regarding the existence of microaggressions, in a study designed to examine the function of mentorship for black females in the corporate setting, research was conducted to capture the lived experiences of racial microaggression against black females ... in a study performed to explore how the mentoring function optimizes career advancement and professional development in u.s. accounting organizations, guthrie and jones (2017) found that in both males and females, career development and role modeling ... similar to the findings of female participants, guthrie and jones (2017) found that male participant scores for mentoring function mirrored the findings of the female, but at higher rates. the two primary functions of mentorship found in men were also... value proposition of mentoring the value of mentorship is such that it benefits the mentee by providing a transfer of knowledge to a less experienced professional (ragins et al., 2017). additionally, the value of mentorship benefits the mentor because they can refine their skill se... mentee value proposition mentorship is a professional benefit to an organization in that it allows acclimation for young professionals just entering their profession and an organization. organizational mentorship programs are beneficial because they provide insight into the n... mentor value proposition mentors bring value to the mentorship relationship by acting as a conduit for organizational knowledge transfer, providing as a benchmark for premier job performance, and by protecting and transferring the values and philosophies of the organization a... organizational value proposition mentorship can provide value to an organization by enhancing superior performance due to the advanced development of skill sets and professional competencies. this benefit can become pervasive within the organization and positively influence the work ... methods word cloud a word cloud depicts the meaning of the interview participants' responses in word chunks based on the frequency of words used to describe the phenomenon. a word cloud can be beneficial in creating visualization analyses that improve the researcher’s a... figure 1 word cloud visualization major themes there was an emergence of 6 major themes derived from an analysis of the in-depth interview sessions, which captured the participants' authentic lived experiences. the purpose of the overarching research question was to address the impact of occupatio... the following themes will be discussed in more detail below: theme 1: mentorship aids in career advancement when supported by sponsorship and assimilation to corporate norms and organizational behaviors. theme 2: occupational mentorship improves self-efficacy, competency, skillset, and professional readiness for promotion. theme 3: initiating mentorship is perceived as an aggressive male attribute but necessary to favorably impact career advancement for black female professionals' development outcomes. theme 4: mentorship by white males may be a solution for addressing tokenism and preventing affinity contradiction. theme 5: occupational mentorship provides exposure to high-profile assignments, professional networks, and visibility for penetrating career advancement barriers. theme 6: occupational mentorship provides insight to learning proven strategies for career success when customized to the career trajectory of the black female professional. overarching research question the overarching research question for this study is as follows: what are the black female experiences relative to occupational mentorship and subsequent career advancement and professional development in corporate manufacturing? theme 1. mentorship aids in career advancement when supported by sponsorship and assimilation to corporate culture, norms, and organizational behaviors. in synthesizing interviewee responses, it became clear that mentorship is essential for the business professional because she must identify ways to learn the corporate culture to align herself well to said culture and its people, establishing trust th... i got to know my mentors after hours, both personally and professionally, to gain sponsorship that contributed to my career advancement. participant 3 mentioned, you need both an advocate and a mentor because a sponsor will speak up for you when you’re not in the room. a sponsor has worked with you, should believe in you, and will say great things about you that will elevate you, improving your visibility—so t... participant 3 elaborated on how professional goals can be ambiguous for fledgling black female professionals and stated, opportunities can be identified for you when your potential is recognized. mentors and sponsors will help guide your career when you don’t where to go next in your career. it’s okay to be general in terms of your goals, but we must be intentional abou... from an assimilation perspective, participant 6 stated, you have to be willing to fit in, to stand out. fitting in has allowed me access into certain circles of professionals that could teach me how to adapt to the organizational environments while pushing my career forward. participant 12 corroborated this statement, saying that one of my old managers and mentors would say, “it’s just a game. it's all a game. it’s the social game—and you have to be willing to align yourself to the game.” participant 7 also corroborated these findings and discussed how black professionals in senior management positions are …embarrassed because the other blacks have not assimilated to the corporate culture, and therefore, don’t want to be associated with those black professionals. participant 12 elaborated on corporate assimilation and standard protocol that she learned from mentorship, stating, i had to adopt his demeanor, and his approach to solving problems, which helped with my mentor’s decision to sponsor me and recommend me for promotion as well; and that’s because he trusted me. theme 2: occupational mentorship improves self-efficacy, competency, skillset, and professional readiness for promotion. this finding is essential for the participant as a business professional because professional competencies and skill development may assist the professional with building confidence to fearlessly pursue and occupy leadership roles while being equipped... it took me a while to pursue a mentor and pay attention to my career path and related jobs as well as special projects required for me to accomplish my career goals and get where i wanted to be. i was always busy at work and then at home with my famil... the idea of professional unreadiness was prevalent, where participants expressed their need to be equipped for career advancement. participant 15 stated, i knew promotion couldn’t happen for me until i gained new transferrable skills for the position i wanted, and mentorship helped me to get there. several of the participants interviewed discussed the importance of being fully equipped through mentorship for management positions leading up to the c-suite. the participants discussed their apprehension of taking on management positions until they ... i need to be confident in what i know because i know how hard it is for black females in this industry (referring to corporate manufacturing). i need to feel prepared with the right skills so as not to take on a responsibility that i am unfamiliar wit... theme 3: initiating mentorship is perceived as an assertive male attribute but necessary to favorably impact career advancement. based on synthesis of the participants’ responses, this theme is essential for the business professional because mentorship and related career advancement are accessible to those who ask for it by aggressively pursuing occupational mentorship. when oc... initiating mentorship—although perceived to be a male attribute—improves career advancement and professional development outcomes. although the common theme across the broader group of participants was that improving skills by way of initiating mentorship opportunities was necessary, the participants expressed apprehension about aggressively pursuing training to advance their car... i thought that if i worked hard, that elevation would come, but i was missing something; so, i pursued mentorship. after taking the initiative to pursue a mentor, it helped to move career forward; and the mentor could see certain skills in me that hel... according to participant 5, speaking in terms of professional skill development through occupational mentorship, you have to seek mentorship out for yourself, and then follow-up. another participant expounded on how important it is for black female professionals to take the initiative in learning new skills by way of occupational mentorship, and stated, they expect more from you, so you have to prove your worth and earn your promotion more than white males. theme 4: mentorship by white males may be a solution for addressing tokenism and preventing affinity contradiction. based on the synthesis of participants’ responses, white males' occupational mentorship may help prevent tokenism while improving mentorship outcomes contributing to professional development and career advancement. theme 4 may address the adverse stig... several participants discussed that the majority did not necessarily perpetuate tokenism, but something blacks have enjoyed and, therefore, have conformed to the lack of diversity and inclusion to prevent other black females from career advancement. p... i have had other black females praise me for my skill, but then as soon as they see you are about to get promoted, they turn on you. if you have more potential or skillset, then other black females in your area don’t want to see you thrive in your career; and this is mainly due to their fear of losing their positions, or they're being jealous of your potential. participant 10 concluded, professionals that look like you may not always be willing to sponsor or mentor you. participant 2 shared her personal experience on how to address the issue of tokenism and the lack of real diversity it perpetuates and stated, sometimes other blacks can’t speak for you due to the corporate political game. but having a well-diversified coalition of mentors and sponsors have helped my career. they don’t have to look like me; and more specifically, in this type of environment,... participant 6 corroborated this sentiment and stated, you need a board of people to mentor you. my mentor was a german guy that i still speak to today. i need people of all different backgrounds…and people in different places…i have white jewish mentors, german mentors, african mentors, you name it…but w... theme 5: occupational mentorship provides exposure to high-profile assignments, professional networks, and visibility for penetrating career advancement barriers. based on our synthesis of the participants’ responses, a lack of exposure to opportunities that allow black females to drive favorable results on high-profile projects may cost the professional the visibility and experience needed to improve professio... your contribution to your team and organization can help to penetrate the glass ceiling. it’s no longer about just doing your job, but it’s about determining the business need and taking the initiative to drive favorable results, improving processes a... participant 2 also stated, we have to seek out those that are above us to see what they can impart in us. this is all a part of occupational mentorship. sometimes that includes high-profile projects that can provide you with the exposure and experience required to rise above th... theme 6: occupational mentorship provides insight to learning proven strategies for career success when customized to the career goals of the black female professional. based on a synthesis of the participants’ responses, learning best practices, protocols, and rules of engagement as it relates to conducting business tactically may mitigate risk in terms of egregious error(s) and missteps transpiring that could have ... occupational mentorship provides insight about learning best practices and proven strategies for career success through targeted job shadowing. several participants discussed that occupational mentoring provided opportunities for job shadowing. partic... job shadowing and knowing how to do a myriad of things is good for your experience and provided a blueprint for success to drive favorable results on major projects having significant visibility throughout the organization; however, job shadowing shou... participant 14 also elaborated, because i knew how to leverage the strategies for success gained from my mentors, i was always the person approached when down a teammate, or needing to fill-in for a project due to the comfort level i have had with high profile assignments while know... when participants were not trained with guidance related to heuristics and rule of thumb methodologies for success towards prepotent career moves, the participants expressed that they lost opportunities to shine in the absence of their superior. for e... i told my boss that he had never trained me in preparation for his being out of the office. however, he had trained the next person in charge, who when my boss left for his maternity leave, he went to a counterpart that was beneath me to help run proc... the participant also shared that she had another opportunity extended to her where she had spent some time training for. she made sure to engage her mentor for role-specific job shadowing and best practices for success in her current and future roles ... my mentors have advice about protocol and best practices. i have leveraged my mentors as partners, bouncing ideas and concepts off of them to do things better. summary the findings of this study pertain to the influence of occupational mentorship on the professional development (professional competencies) and career advancement (upward mobility) of black females working in corporate manufacturing in the mid-south re... discussion implications for professional practice the findings from this study indicate that black females value occupational mentorship in corporate manufacturing, especially when provided with high-profile assignments and opportunities to drive favorable results thereby. however, several participan... cultural and behavioral assimilation. the literature seems to embrace innovativeness, advanced degrees, and cutting-edge ideologies that female professionals provide, findings reveal that black female professionals feel pressured to assimilate before ... the implication for black female practitioners is that they (black females) may need to understand and embrace current operating procedures, while being slow to demonstrate innovativeness until rapport has been established amongst their peers and supe... professional competency and preparation. findings from this study have revealed that black females may be reluctant in taking risks as it relates to assuming senior management opportunities if feelings of professional unreadiness persist. findings als... aggressively pursuing mentorship and innovativeness. study findings indicate that it may be palatable for white females when compared to black females. rincon et al. (2017) and cohen et al. (2018), noted that male bias exists as it relates to females... thus, the implication for practice is that black female professionals should participate in structurally organized mentoring programs sponsored by the corporation to protect their image, and prevent the perception of the “angry black female” to create... tokenism and affinity contradiction. regarding this aspect of theme 4, the findings from this study reveal that white male sponsorship may counter-act adverse influence or contradiction of black-on-black mentoring relationships or lack thereof. the co... the implication for practice with black females is that white men may be most willing to help sponsor and mentor them in white-male dominated environments for career advancement, and not other black females. as such, black female professionals may bod... professional visibility aiding with penetrating career advancement barriers. career advancement and barrier penetration may be primarily provided to black females when exposure to high-profile projects and networks are targeted and customized, in a ma... targeted roles. projects and promotion rates improved when exposure to high profile projects and networks are harnessed as leverage for specific and anticipated outcomes relative to career advancement. job-shadowing and general cross-training and late... interview participants stressed an importance for having the right type of training and network exposure—and that training, job-shadowing experiences and exposure to networks should be targeted and customized to refrain from the worker bee syndrome, r... additional implications for practice may be that black female professionals should pursue on the job training, job shadowing and professional networking that is aligned to a specific career progression; and that on-the-job training experiences should ... one of the most eminent implications for practice may be that black female professionals should avoid being pigeon-holed into functional and administrative busywork to prevent being looked over for promotions. implications for business and the organiz... limitations the following/additional limitations exist in this study: 1) the qualitative phenomenological approach (research design) is based on perception and lived experiences rather than by survey or numerical data, making results subjective to experiences. 2) lived experiences of participants will only capture those of women of color and not applicable to other races/gender. 3) the sample population would only consist of black females having mentored either formally or informally. 4) research is primarily being analyzed through the lens of social learning theory based on observational learning (direct and/or indirect) and not based on cognitive abilities, and therefore, primarily looking at learning through others and not indep... 5) data collection is by way of interview questions, which cannot be quantified for objective facts, but responses will be analyzed for subjective experiences, which requires the unbiased of the instrument (researchers). one important limitation of this study is participants only include black professional females within corporate manufacturing in the midsouth region of the u.s. this demographic is limited in terms of gender, nationality, and industry due to the scope... another notable limitation of this study is that the 1st author and primary researcher is of a protected class as well, being a black male. as such, the researcher will need to make certain that epoche is exercised not to allow personal bias or experi... future research the research conducted in this study was to explore the influence of occupational mentorship on the professional development (professional competencies) and career advancement (upward mobility) of black females working in corporate manufacturing in th... the recommended quantitative approach would quantify the number of interview participants that have been favorably impacted by occupational mentorship based on number of promotions and participants experiencing career advancement and/or professional d... another recommendation would be to examine the concept helping behavior within specific affinity groups. one of the primary takeaways of this study was related to a social dynamic that creates affinity contradiction, which seems to occur when individu... affinity contradiction theory suggests that non-white token professionals not only seek to prevent dilution of majority, but may seek to cause adverse impact to the career of other non-white professionals where both non-white professionals are contend... figure 2 is a graphical depiction that demonstrates the inverse relationship between affinity and helping behaviors, and can be described as the affinity contradiction model. essentially, when affinity increases within a group of individuals, then hel... figure 2 affinity contradiction theory model affinity contradiction behavior expounds upon tokenism theory, which was originally used in literature by martin luther king in his book entitled why we can’t wait. in this book, king (1964) describes tokenism as a marginal attempt to facilitate the a... recommendations for practice recommendations for business practice would be to leverage occupational mentorship for career advancement and professional development; however, while pursuing sponsorship by white male counterparts and undergoing assimilation to the corporate environ... first, having a coalition of sponsors will improve mentorship outcomes related to career advancement—and primarily due to addressing any perceptions of professional incompetence. second, participants should learn the art and science of playing the “political game.” participants noted the importance of learning how to play “the game” through social learning, mirroring corporate social norms and fully assimilating to the corpora... third, mentees should pursue occupational mentorship for best practices for success, and guidance on projects to improve knowledge and skillset while approaching a business problem. having guidance on highly visible projects helps with the mentees' ab... fourth, minority professionals should seek to understand affinity contradiction and its impact on their working environment. black female professionals should strive to have a diverse coalition of mentors across multiple nationalities to maintain rele... finally, organizations may benefit from this study by integrating sponsorship, social learning, and human capital metrics into their occupational mentorship programs and initiatives. essentially, organizations can seek to do the following: 1) assessme... conclusion the findings derived from this phenomenological study contribute to the body of knowledge related to the impact of occupational mentorship on the professional development (professional competencies) and career advancement (upward mobility) of black fe... regarding the professional (mentee), the findings of this research may provide benefit to the black female professional working in corporate manufacturing in the midsouth region of the united states. the primary themes derived from this research study... the second theme related to career advancement was that occupational mentorship should focus on teaching social behavior that allows the mentee to assimilate to the corporate culture. the last most significant theme was that occupational mentorship, s... the most important take-away from this study is how occupational mentorship improves social learning and human capital. the participants shared that they were able to experience career advancement and professional development through occupational ment... the resounding themes derived from our findings were that we are people working in an organization that is ran by people; and when the mentee has learned the social behavior of the corporate environment—and willing to conform—it’s then, that leadershi... references bradford, s.k., rutherford, b.n., & friend, s.b. 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(2014). methods for knowledge synthesis: an overview. heart & lung, 43, 453-461. 1 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal forward-looking practices to improve the soft skills of software engineers president kenneth m. styron, dba | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa contact: ken@columbiasouthern.edu abstract a four-round modified delphi project surveyed 25 united states software engineering experts. the study examined software engineering leaders’ perceptions of soft-skills importance after a business problem identified a lack of soft-skills as a contributing factor toward the 68% organizational project failure rate in north american. software project failures lead to reduced organizational performance. an original soft-skills framework guided the data collection and analysis process, which included communication, social, leadership, and thinking practices. a literature review matrix identified 35 potential soft-skill practices included in the round 1 instrument. the experts winnowed, ranked, remarked on, and added to the practices over three iterative rounds, using contextual rationales and ratings of desirability and feasibility. six practices were identified as the best ways to improve software engineers’ (se) soft skills, including ses must listen to team members and stakeholders, incorporating the information they hear into the conversation; ses must speak clearly and concisely; ses must communicate expectations to team members; ses must synthesize messages from others and consider their perspectives; ses must employ sound reasoning to make informed and timely decisions; ses must understand, articulate, and solve complex problems through analytical thinking. the round 4 confidence rating resulted in a 100% finding of confidence (45% mostly confident; 55% very confident). communication, leadership, and thinking skills remained in the final framework; social skills were removed. leaders should use the findings to guide se training and coaching to improve their team members’ soft skills. keywords: soft-skills, delphi, software engineers, communication, thinking, leadership, software project failure, collaboration 2 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 introduction jim johnson, the standish group founder, stated that over 80% of north america software projects fail to meet stakeholder expectations, deadlines, and budget estimates (johnson, 2020). capretz and ahmed (2018) noted that deficiencies in the soft skills of software engineers (ses) lead to failed software projects. in a technology-driven world, soft skills provide the personal attributes that enable workers to interact effectively and work harmoniously with stakeholders; leaders must know how to properly use communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, decision-making, and interpersonal relationships to foster productive work environments (matturro et al., 2019). engineers traditionally focus on technical aspects of programming (groeneveld et al., 2019); however, the contemporary global environment requires engineers to collaborate with stakeholders using soft skills to obtain competitive advantages (dean & east, 2019). this modified delphi study responded to capretz and ahmed’s (2018) call for research on improving se soft skills. background the soft-skill deficiencies of ses negatively affect business outcomes (dean & east, 2019). engineers with high levels of technical abilities often possess meager soft skills, resulting in difficulty working with others; soft skills’ criticality mirrors that of technical skills in software engineering (capretz & ahmed, 2018). soft-skill deficits affect business outcomes related to worker behavior, safety, engagement, and productivity (dean & east, 2019). customers can be impacted when a worker’s soft skills create angst or disappointment, especially those in customer-service roles in technology companies. business problem and gap in practice sixty-eight percent of organizational projects (and 80% of software projects) fail in north america, resulting in lower performance (johnson, 2020). project failures consume valuable human and capital resources yet leave core business requirements unsatisfied (watt & abrams, 2019). large project failures threaten the very existence of organizations (guidiy et al., 2018). zaman et al. (2019) found that organizations wasted an average of $97 million for every $1 billion spent on software development; lauesen (2020) contributed waste to unmet deadlines, budget overruns, and lagging program requirements. the problem led to an identified cause, in the literature, as a deficiency in se’s soft skills (capretz & ahmed, 2018), which resulted in a high failure rate in north american software projects (johnson, 2020) that decreased their organizations’ competitive advantages (dean & east, 2019). the literature identified multiple practice gaps regarding ses’ soft-skill training and acquisition. first, when leaders do not understand the required soft skills, they cannot coach ses to develop the skillset. the leaders’ gap in knowledge adds to the problem. next, when ses cannot leverage soft skills to understand customers, manage expectations, build trust, and resolve problems, their gaps in practice lead 3 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal to reduced organizational effectiveness and increased software project failures (hyder & iraqi, 2019). thus, the practice gaps appeared in leaders and their engineers. without soft skills, poor communication and misunderstandings lead to expensive and time-consuming project failures (watt & abrams, 2019). ses have limited knowledge about soft skills because these skills have not been a part of the mainstream software engineering curriculum (capretz & ahmed, 2018) and, likely, have not been provided in other underlying technical training and education throughout the engineers’ lives. learning new skills is difficult; therefore, understanding which practices enhancing soft skills will help software engineering leaders oversee the design of training programs and guide ses toward self-development (giray, 2019). need and justification for the project matturro et al. (2019) stated that further work was necessary to determine what actions industry leaders could take to develop soft skills to enhance software development teams’ performance and software projects’ outcomes. dean and east (2019) noted the need to develop and implement strategies to address soft-skill deficits that negatively affect business outcomes. zorić and stojanov (2018) directed future research on specific soft skills in the software industry to improve the soft skills of ses because the significance and need to improve these skills is critical, but industry leaders lack specificity as to what the best practices might be. limited research and information about achieving the right balance of technical and soft skills prevent engineers from practicing these skills to overcome project failures (rao, 2018). the importance of soft skills has received more attention from organizational leaders due to increased cultural diversity, globalization, and technological advances (abujbara & worley, 2018). literature review, theory, and frameworks this study used a modified delphi technique, a unique qualitative method that uses a literature review and matrix to prime the data collection process. while qualitative methods are known for their deductive analysis processes, the modified delphi approach combines inductive and deductive processes and is closely related to a mixed-methods approach (linstone & turoff, 2002). as a result, the literature review becomes part of the data collection process. this literature review explains the literature supporting the applied and soft-skills frameworks, each of which guided the study. a detailed literature review matrix can be accessed through supplementary data using the link provided at the end of the study (hereafter cited as supplementary data). the applied framework for the study previously used soft-skills frameworks incorporated competency clusters. four competency skill clusters identified from the literature review included social, thinking, communication, and leadership skills. clustering competencies in frameworks helps to streamline project design by reducing duplication (mahasneh & thabet, 2016). figure 1 represents the applied framework, which combined the soft-skills framework competencies with the gap in practice, business problem, and goal for the study. 4 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 figure 1 applied framework review of conceptual literature a focused approach to collecting and analyzing the literature is provided in table 1, which identifies the keywords and search strings used for the process. table 1 searching approach keyword search strings soft skills “soft skills,” “nontechnical skills,” “personal skills,” “people skills,” “interpersonal skills,” “competencies,” “transferable skills,” “softskills” software engineering “software engineers,” “software engineering,” “software development,” “software programming,” “software projects,” “software,” “engineers,” “programming” soft skills and software engineering “soft skills” and “software engineering,” “soft skills” and “software engineers,” “soft skills” and “software development,” “soft skills” and “software programming,” “soft skills” and “software project” 5 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal literature related to the business problem software engineers’ ineffective soft skill practices have historically led to software project failures, preventing organizations from creating competitive advantages. failed software projects cost organizations millions of dollars yearly (zaman et al., 2019) and waste valuable resources (watt & abrams, 2019). researchers have called for identifying effective soft skill practices for ses to enhance project success (ahmad et al., 2019; matturro et al., 2019). istiyowati et al. (2020) surveyed 66 educators and professionals to obtain their perceptions about the competencies programmers need, finding that a gap in practice persists. ses’ soft skills are critical to the success of organizations. organizations cannot compete in highly competitive global markets driven by technology because of the current business problem. literature leading to the soft-skills framework soft and hard skills. soft skills first appeared in the 1972 u.s. army training manual (moss & tilly, 2001). kechagias (2011) described soft skills as the intraand interpersonal skills essential for personal development, social participation, and workplace success. soft skills were widely used in the 1990s (charoensap-kelly et al., 2016), but soft skills have received little attention (ahmed et al., 2015). technology professionals initially overlooked soft skills, but recognizing soft skills as important has increased over time (capretz & ahmed, 2018). in the early stages of mainframe computing, technical skills were valued more than soft skills in the computer industry; however, the current era of personal computers, mobile devices, and social networking emphasizes the importance of soft skills over technical skills (kappelman et al., 2016). waychal and capretz (2018) conducted a qualitative descriptive research study of 136 software engineering students attending classes in canada, japan, and india. they found that software engineering had become an all-pervasive discipline, transitioning from traditional process and technology dimensions to more human sciences. cook (2019) suggested that the software industry had changed due to the increasing demand for software in global markets and the advancement of technology. new socioeconomic and technological challenges are changing the soft skills required in a digitalized world (chaibate et al., 2019). soft skill practices are evolving due to software engineering becoming a people-intensive discipline (capretz & ahmed, 2018). communication skills and practices. hidayati et al. (2020) reported communication skills as one of the top skills required by global software development teams. effective communication forms a pillar for collaborative activity (júnior, 2018). understanding the various stakeholders is essential because meeting their needs and requirements is fundamental for project success (vanebo & kjorstad, 2020). zahid et al. (2018) suggested that software projects’ successes and failures are linked directly to ses’ ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders. inactive, inaccurate, or missing communication contribute to software project failures (lehtinen et al., 2014). stevens and norman (2016) clustered the concepts of conveying complex ideas efficiently, articulating thoughts clearly, fostering open communication, and listening as pivotal communication skills; 6 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 mahasneh and thabet’s (2016) model also included listening, but added presenting, reading, speaking, and writing as additional and necessary communication skills. communication skills are the practices ses use to convey information so that information is received and understood (gishin, 2020). alqaisi (2018) defined communication as a dynamic process where the sender and receiver of information engage interactively by exchanging feedback using verbal, nonverbal, written, and visual communication practices. johansson (2018) described communication as conveying and sense-making messages and discourse between parties. effective communicators confidently deliver verbal messages using clear and concise language that they adjust depending on their audience (barron & rose, 2021). using qualitative analysis, coffelt et al. (2016) surveyed 165 u.s. employers about effective communication skills and identified active listening as a critical element for conversing with others and considering their thoughts. listening allows communicators to give full attention to the speaker and respond appropriately by synthesizing messages and seeking further clarification (barron & rose, 2021). johnson (2021) suggested that nonverbal cues reinforce communication. hand gestures, facial expressions, and voice tone influence the delivery of verbal messaging while maintaining eye contact and nodding are essential active listening practices (johnson, 2021). active listening and nonverbal cues are critical communication practices that enable people to understand others’ messaging. ginting et al. (2020) conducted a qualitative study using kirkpatrick’s model to observe the effects of team-building training on soft skills with mba students in indonesia. they found that conveying information using visual communication necessitates presenting information in an organized and concise manner. new technological innovations have created new communication channels, including texting, instant video conferencing, and social media platforms that call for different communication skills and practices (mcknight et al., 2019). effective communication practices include choosing the appropriate technique, channel, and approach when communicating (galli, 2021). communication is a critical soft skill necessary for working with team members and stakeholders; however, technological advances are changing ses’ communication practices with each other and stakeholders. discerning the practices that enable effective communication may enhance ses’ ability to communicate with others. understanding the audience is important when communicating. galli (2021) suggested that communicators consider an audience’s intellectual level and understanding to explain complicated ideas clearly by converting concepts into straightforward explanations. communicators should consider cultural differences when developing messaging (sekhar, 2019). conversing with members in the workplace using synchronous communication increases understanding and ensures members comprehend shared information (brink & costigan, 2015). successful communicators steer conversations to arrive at a consensus by delivering ideas effectively and confidently (sekhar, 2019). communication is critical to the software development process (defranco & laplante, 2017). effective communication practices involve the sensible transmission, understanding, and assimilation of information necessary for the success of software projects (ravindranath, 2016). sharing information is essential for software development, but understanding others’ points of view may be more important. comprehending others and being understood is critical for communicating with team members and 7 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal stakeholders. identifying the forward-looking practices that effectively improve communication during the software development phase may increase project success. communication is a critical component of leadership to accomplish objectives (cunningham et al., 2020). badjie (2020) asserted that communication is a manifestation of leadership used to convey a leader’s vision to followers. bolte et al. (2018) conducted a qualitative study that surveyed 72 employees of german companies about digital leadership. bolte et al. found that open and transparent communication forms strong social relationships with followers. clear communication encourages followers to provide feedback to improve the workplace environment and solve complex problems (galli, 2021). setting a clear vision and explaining the purpose for accomplishing objects is critical for maintaining followership (promsri, 2019). influential leaders communicate expectations so that followers clearly understand what is required to be successful (galli, 2021). social skills and practices. social skills refer to how a person interacts with others in social settings (dubey & tiwari, 2020). humans successfully interact when the parties can understand each other by recognizing behavioral cues (baron-cohen, 2000). advanced social skills provide the tools to communicate effectively, work collaboratively in teams, and complete projects successfully (kerzner, 2017; werewka & wietecha, 2018). mahasneh and thabet (2016) clustered these skills into categories that referred to recognizing others’ feelings and knowing how to use this knowledge to help and influence others, calling the cluster social-intelligence soft skills. werewka and wietecha (2018) also acknowledged the importance of clustering social skills to identify ses’ soft skill competencies. the social skills construct contributed to the soft-skills framework by exploring the literature on how ses interact with stakeholders. social skills directly relate to the practices used to work with others through social communication and interactions to accomplish goals (gishin, 2020). zaman et al. (2019) conducted a qualitative study surveying 242 project managers based in pakistan to understand the soft side of software projects and reported that the social aspects of complex intensive jobs such as software engineering require reading and reacting to social settings to achieve positive business outcomes. social skills help people identify underlying feelings, motives, and behaviors (zaman et al., 2019). social aspects include interpersonal relationships, personality traits, interaction, and collaboration with others objectively and subjectively (ahmad et al., 2019). people with strong social skills can accurately understand other people’s thoughts and behavior and respond accordingly to accomplish goals (zaman et al., 2019). social skills are essential to collaboration, where different groups work together to accomplish common goals. the success of software projects depends on ses’ ability to understand others and build relationships that reinforce teamwork. social practices include interpersonal skills that build relationships by creating trust, adapting to others when communicating, respecting others’ attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs, and being comfortable with oneself (stevens & norman, 2016). establishing and maintaining positive relationships is essential to achieving organizational outcomes in team environments (lansdell et al., 2020). working effectively in team environments contributes to achieving desired goals (gishin, 2020). teamwork is a vital social skill that requires working with others as team members and team leaders in diverse teams of different ages, genders, races, religions, and political positions (pieterse & van eekelen, 2016). individuals should 8 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 appreciate team diversity, showing respect for the values of others by treating people fairly (gibert et al., 2017). building relationships beyond existing teams to create networks of valuable partnerships increases the available resources to accomplish tasks (gibert et al., 2017). creating and maintaining positive relationships is essential to working with others. social practices enable ses to accomplish project goals and objectives effectively with diverse teams and stakeholders. teamwork also includes resolving conflicts without degrading relationships (stevens & norman, 2016). the ability to understand feelings and emotions is known as emotional intelligence; a critical social skill used when working with people (almeida & morais, 2021). pekaar et al. (2018) conducted a qualitative multilevel path analysis of weekly diaries of third-year students enrolled in higher professional education in the netherlands. pekaar et al. (2018) found that understanding emotion increases social effectiveness (pekaar et al., 2018). regulating emotion enables people to work together smoothly (johnson, 2021). remaining calm and in control even during disappointments, setbacks, or confrontations rather than responding defensively to others is vital to maintain positive relationships (gibert et al., 2017). expressing feelings so as not to cause judgment when providing feedback is essential to creating open communication (almeida & morais, 2021). showing empathy for others is an indispensable practice for working with others. empathetic leaders can effectively build and maintain relationships, making them assets to the organization (gentry et al., 2016). effective social practices maintain project performance by avoiding communication breakdowns, sharing knowledge, building relationships, promoting trust, and aligning project expectations (kerzner, 2017). understanding and controlling emotions in social settings are essential social skills to maintain relationships. identifying the practices that enhance social interactions may help ses effectively work with team members and stakeholders to increase project success. thinking skills and practices. a critical responsibility of ses is solving complex problems (de campos et al., 2020; jia et al., 2017) while avoiding frequent software development problems (zykov & attakorah, 2020). ses also must think creatively to produce quality software (jia et al., 2017). ses must apply logical thinking to gather and analyze information, design and test solutions, and formulate plans (ahmed et al., 2015). werewka and wietecha (2018) defined thinking skills as the ability to analyze, verify, and assess problems using analytical thinking, systems thinking, and unconventional thinking to find an appropriate solution. similarly, mahasneh and thabet (2016) clustered analytical thinking, conceptual thinking, critical thinking, decision-making, decisiveness, problem-solving, reasoning, and systems thinking skills. identifying thinking skills related to analytical thinking, critical thinking, and problem-solving may increase ses’ abilities to solve problems using innovative and out-of-the-box thinking. cognitive skills include creative thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving (weber et al., 2010). hawawsheh (2020) defined the thinking process as understanding the problem, generating ideas, and planning the implementation of solutions. analytical thinking involves thinking logically to understand, articulate, and solve complex problems based on available information (gishin, 2020). deming (2017) suggested that there is no substitute for humans capable of performing open-ended tasks that require flexibility, creativity, and judgment. technology advancements have increased the complexity of 9 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal problems, necessitating the demand for engineers to excel at analytical and problem-solving skills (waychal & capretz, 2017). the complexity of software development has increased with technological advancements and a globally connected work environment. thinking skills are essential in today’s complex and competitive environment. analyzing and processing information is critical for solving complex problems; therefore, understanding the forward-looking practices that positively contribute to problem-solving may increase ses’ ability to find new and innovative solutions. de campos et al. (2020) revealed that critical thinking, the aptitude to make informed decisions by using appropriate questioning with the ability to act independently and wisely, is a crucial component of problem-solving. individuals must be able to self-direct, discipline, regulate, and correct (almeida & morais, 2021) to proactively modify behavior to deal with changes (barron & rose, 2021) and become more effective (gupta & gouttam, 2017). practical problem-solving includes generating, evaluating, and implementing numerous possible solutions to resolve issues (pallathadka, 2020). problem solvers evaluate and assimilate information from multiple sources (barron & rose, 2021). gibert et al. (2017) suggested that creative thinking is essential to problem-solving. creative thinkers consider the bigger picture, long-term implications, and wide-ranging possibilities when developing solutions. existing practices or methods do not limit potential solutions; problem solvers are open to new ideas and adapt to changing environments (gibert et al., 2017). decision-making is the most critical component of problem-solving (de campos et al., 2020). when problem-solvers identify solutions, they make effective decisions founded on sound reasoning (barron & rose, 2021). weber et al. (2009) conducted a qualitative delphi study to assess the soft-skill competencies of entrylevel managers in the united states. weber’s findings indicated that creative thinking, making sound decisions, and solving complex problems were important soft skills. leadership skills and practices. successful leadership requires soft skills that influence the innovation and performance of others to achieve a common goal (northouse, 2018). the changing nature of leadership has shifted from authoritarianto relationship-based styles, requiring leaders to build and maintain relationships through person-focused skills (gentry et al., 2016). se leaders must lead and run projects, take ownership and responsibility for their actions, and support what they consider important and correct (de campos et al., 2020). jena and satpathy (2017) argued that leadership is a critical soft skill because leaders play a more important role in situations where others do not directly manage individuals. leadership in the workplace boosts productivity (de campos et al., 2020) and contributes to project success (zhang et al., 2013). while mahasneh and thabet (2016) and werewka and wietecha (2018) failed to include leadership as a primary construct, dubey and tiwari (2020) and ballesterossánchez et al. (2019), and weber et al. indicated that leadership is a vital soft skill for ses. leadership is influencing people to achieve common goals (northouse, 2018). most importantly, leadership is available to everyone (shuck & herd, 2012). jena and satpathy (2017) argued that leadership is more important when others do not directly manage individuals. dubey and tiwari (2020) conducted a quantitative analysis of the soft skills gap with novice information and communication technology professionals in india and found that leadership is one of the most critical soft skills in the it 10 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 sector, including software engineering. leadership skills enable leaders to handle difficult situations resiliently (abujbara & worley, 2018). professional leadership practices are also necessary when negotiating with others, creating collaborative environments, and resolving conflicts (weber et al., 2010). successful leaders practice good leadership and lead by example (galli, 2021). effective leadership results in excellent teamwork and collaboration, which improves organizational performance (ravindranath, 2016). software engineering requires engineers to take leadership roles during different stages of software development; therefore, identifying effective leadership practices is essential for enhancing ses’ ability to lead. gibert et al. (2017) recommended that leaders inspire a strong desire for followers to succeed by steering members toward successful goals and task completion. leaders should help individuals to improve the skills and abilities necessary to achieve success by providing constructive feedback (gibert et al., 2017). evaluating, analyzing, and providing criticism on employees’ behaviors and abilities inspires employees by helping them to improve through self-development (ginting et al., 2020). developing employees using coaching and mentoring unleashes their full potential and abilities (srivastava & jain, 2017). because communication with team members and stakeholders is critical for project success, determining which leadership practices increase communication and followership may help ses lead and communicate more effectively with team members. leadership influences innovation as well (sopa et al., 2020). innovative behavior that generates, promotes, and helps employees realize new ideas in the workplace has become a critical leadership practice that drives innovation (da silva et al., 2016). according to edison et al. (2018), innovation is critical for ses to create and sustain competitive advantages. innovative behavior generates effective solutions for complex problems (de campos et al., 2020). successful leaders create supportive environments for innovation (rybakova et al., 2019). one way of doing this is empowering employees to take risks and even fail when exploring new opportunities, which is critical for innovation (promsri, 2019). bolte et al. (2018) suggested that leaders must accept mistakes to enable innovation. kuratko et al. (2014) explained that tomorrow’s competitive advantages are grounded in today’s innovation; therefore, taking risks and exploring new ideas are essential. klein (2020) argued that leaders must have a vision for the future and be innovative. findings from soft-skills literature researchers attempted to address software projects’ failure by investigating the soft-skill practices influencing projects’ success. the findings of nine studies from 2014 to 2021 indicated soft skill practices critical to ses and project success (table 2). practitioners have yet to address the underlying factors that cause catastrophic project failures as software projects fail (zaman et al., 2019). 11 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 1 software engineering soft skill studies reference method findings (ahmed et al., 2015). qualitative exploratory mapping study communication, team player, problem-solving, and interpersonal skills were in high demand for ses. (bailey, 2014). qualitative case study the most important skill for software developers was problem-solving, followed by adaptability, accepting constructive criticism, listening, teamwork, time management, idea generation, exhibiting a customer mentality, investigating using interpersonal skills, communicating in inter-team environments, transferring knowledge and verbal communication. (matturro et al., 2019). qualitative systematic mapping study. the most mentioned skills were communication, teamwork, analytical, organizational, interpersonal, leadership, and problem-solving. (mtsweni et al., 2016). quantitative analysis of industry experts’ opinions. the study reported that team player, personal integrity, group work, time management, open communication, listening skills, problem-solving, critical thinking, trustworthiness, and ability to work under pressure as the most in-demand skills and attributes. (groeneve ld et al., 2019). qualitative systematic literature review of software engineering. identified communication, teamwork, self-reflection, conflict resolution, mentoring, and leadership as important soft skills for ses. (iriarte & orè, 2017). qualitative systematic literature review of it project success. the most mentioned soft skills for it project managers were communication, leadership, conflict management, thinking, innovativeness, change orientation, negotiation, motivation, and problem-solving. reference method findings (de campos et al., 2020) qualitative systematic literature review of employability soft skills of engineers. the literature review revealed the most employable soft skills of problem-solving, critical thinking, creative thinking, communication, teamwork, ethics, and emotional intelligence. 12 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 (zykov & attakorah, 2020) qualitative case study of human factors. researchers found that communication, experience, team composition, motivation, teamwork, management, conflict resolution, and problem-solving soft skills increased project success. (burbekov a, 2021) quantitative and qualitative data analysis. the researcher found that creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability, and emotional intelligence ranked highest among those soft skills in demand for 2020. note. a complete literature matrix used to create the round 1 instrument can be accessed through appendix a in the supplementary data file (see references). working with people, guaranteeing customer satisfaction, and developing favorable atmospheres that promote collaboration are essential to complete projects successfully on time and within budget (ravindranath, 2016). internal conflict and dysfunctional group dynamics can hinder team effectiveness, which is critical for creating competitive advantages (komla et al., 2018). soft skills help people overcome interpersonal challenges by equipping individuals with empathy and communication skills to lead more effectively, which increases performance and productivity (rao, 2018). researchers have identified over 30 soft skills that may improve ses’ soft skill deficiencies; however, agreement on which soft skill practices are most important varied among researchers. the extensive list of soft skill practices may confuse ses as to which practices are most effective. researchers disagree on which soft skills are more important, creating conflicting results as to which soft skill practices are beneficial for improving the soft skills of ses. societal and technological innovations such as the internet, social media, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things are changing how people interact and work together (golay, 2020). current and historical practices identified in the literature review may help leaders address ses’ soft skill deficiencies. leaders would benefit from new knowledge about the soft skill practices that may improve the soft skills of ses. improving the soft skill practices of ses may increase project success, allowing organizations to develop the competitive advantages necessary to compete in a technologically driven world. the soft-skills competency framework a pre-study soft-skills competencies framework (figure 2) was created from the literature review and contributed to guiding the instrumentation for round 1 of the study. the study tested the framework using the modified delphi process. 13 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal figure 2 soft skills competencies framework note. this competency framework identifies clusters of soft skills, which was transformed by styron (2021) from werewka and wietecha (2018) and mahasneh and thabet (2016). research technique a modified delphi technique identified forward-looking practices to improve the soft skills of ses as viewed by a nationwide panel of software engineering leaders with soft skills acumen. the study determined the extent to which consensus was achieved regarding the practices’ desirability and feasibility, and included the following research questions: rq1: what are the forward-looking practices that successful software engineering leaders perceive could improve the soft skills of software engineers? 14 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 rq2: to what extent is there consensus among a panel of soft-skilled, expert software engineering leaders as to desirable, feasible, and forward-looking practices which could improve the soft skills of ses? sampling and recruitment panelists for this project consisted of expert leaders with soft skills and the acumen of software development teams. the project experts were required to have the following characteristics: • led software development teams in the united states for at least 5 years; • their teams exhibited excellent team dynamics and high project completion rates; • possessed soft skills acumen. software development included internal and external software solutions. a third-party service, user interviews, recruited participants for the project. this proprietary service gives researchers access to over 400,000 vetted members of the company’s community (user interviews, n.d.). the recruitment announcement included a description of the project, inclusion criteria, survey format, potential benefits, participant expectations, and time commitment, as recommended by skulmoski et al. (2007). experts were told to expect four rounds of online surveys during a 4-to-6-week period, each requiring between 15 and 30 minutes to complete. user interviews compiled a list of qualified members interested in participating in the project. i vetted the final list of participants using their self-reported work experience and knowledge of software development and by manually reviewing their linkedin profiles. the panel size of industry experts is also essential to produce quality output results (skulmoski et al., 2007). while vernon (2009) claimed that panel size did not correlate to a study’s effectiveness, skulmoski et al. claimed larger groups may produce more convincing results but require more effort, recommending sizes of 15 to 20 members. bardecki (1984) warned against panels smaller than 10 members and advised that delphi studies have a 20% to 30% dropout range. therefore, 25 participants were recruited to allow for attrition. data collection and analysis the instruments used for each round are pivotal to a successful modified delphi study. the literature review guided the creation of the round 1 instrument; each subsequent round emerged from the previous round’s results. participants table 3 provides the participants in the study and their backgrounds, expertise, and experiences. i reviewed the backgrounds of 46 expert applicants. of those, 19 were rejected due to not having the required 15 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal experience (i.e., 13 had less than 5 years of experience, seven had worked on less than 5 projects, and 16 had led less than 3 projects). twenty-seven experts were invited to participate; twenty-five accepted the invitation. table 3 participant demographics p# occupation locality employees race gender p1 senior se northeast u.s. 51-200 a f p2 it consultant / se northeast u.s. 201-1000 boaa m p3 computer se southwest u.s. 10,001+ w m p4 senior web application developer midwest u.s. 2-10 w f p5 senior front-end developer midwest u.s. 10,001+ w m p6 senior se and manager northwest u.s. 51-200 u m p7 se northeast u.s. 10,001+ boaa m p8 software engineering manager northeast u.s. 11-50 hol m p9 chief software architect midwest u.s. 1001-5000 w m p10 android se northwest u.s. 1001-5000 a m p11 se midwest u.s. 201-1000 boaa m p12 se northwest u.s. 51-200 w f p13 lead se northwest u.s. 51-200 u m p14 sr. software development consultant northeast u.s. 11-50 w m p15 computer se northeast u.s. 10,001+ a m p16 engineering program manager northeast u.s. 10,001+ a f p17 se / software architect northwest u.s. 11-50 w m p18 business owner / se southeast u.s. 11-50 w m p19 computer se northeast u.s. 201-1000 w m p20 director of technology northwest u.s. 1001-5000 boaa m p21 se southwest u.s. 10,001+ w m p22 software engineering manager northeast u.s. 10,001+ w m p23 se northeast u.s. 1001-5000 boaa m p24 associate director of it southeast u.s. 1001-5000 w m p25 senior customer engineer northwest u.s. 10,001+ w m note. of the 25 participants, 12 had academic degrees or certifications, 22 were considered experts in their organizations, and 8 were recognized as experts in software engineering. abbreviations used are united states (u.s.), female (f), male (m), asian (a), black or african american (boaa), hispanic or latino (hol), unknown (u), and white (w). 16 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 data collection following a strict timeline reduced attrition. a test run of round 1 occurred on october 14, 2021, and the pilot ran smoothly. participants received the round 1 survey via survey monkey on october 18, 2021. the rounds and their response rates and dates are in table 4. table 4 data collection timeline and survey response rates round start date end date participants completed response rate 1 october 18, 2021 october 23, 2021 25 24 96% 2 october 25, 2021 october 29, 2021 24 23 96% 3 november 1, 2021 november 3, 2021 23 23 100% 4 november 4, 2021 november 10, 2021 23 23 100% data analysis and preliminary findings this modified delphi project consisted of four rounds of survey analysis. the iterative process of the modified delphi project requires analysis and findings between rounds because the results of each round inform the next rounds’ survey instrument (day & bobeva, 2005). round 1 round 1 began using the instrument created from the literature matrix, which was loaded into survey monkey and sent to the 25 participants who had accepted the invitation. that instrument contained 45 items (35 practices and 10 additional questions and comments). the instrument, literature matrix, and round 1 response tables can be accessed through files found in the supplementary data. instrument wording appears in appendix b of the tables’ titles for tables b1 to b45 (see supplementary data). participants were encouraged to agree or disagree with each item, provide feedback for their choices, and provide additional items with rationale. table 5 shows how the items changed between rounds 1 and 2 based on participant feedback. more than 50% of the participants agreed with the 35 practices. however, 44% of the participants disagreed with ses must use nonverbal postures, hand gestures, facial expressions, and voice tone to reinforce the intended message, which was the practice receiving the most negative feedback and agreement level. 17 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal a total of 11 practices were revised using the participants’ comments to increase clarity or capture the intended context of the original statement (table 5). for example, i revised that ses must be willing to take and accept risks that may result in failure to explore new opportunities because 29% of the experts provided the rationale for avoiding failure. table 5 soft skill practice revisions original statement type of practices revised statement communication software engineers must speak clearly and concisely with confidence. software engineers must speak clearly and concisely. software engineers must synthesize messages from others considering their perspectives. software engineers must synthesize messages from others and consider their perspectives. software engineers must communicate with the appropriate technique, channel, and approach. software engineers must consider the context and setting when choosing communication methods. software engineers must consider the intellectual level and understanding of the audience to explain complicated ideas clearly. software engineers must consider the background of the audience and be able to break down complicated ideas into concepts that can be simply understood by those who are not technical. social software engineers must establish and maintain positive relationships inside and outside an organization. software engineers must establish and maintain positive relationships with coworkers, clients, and vendors. software engineers must consider the diversity of other team members. software engineers must consider the many different perspectives of team members. thinking software engineers must identify and fill gaps in information required to solve problems. software engineers must identify and fill gaps in information required to solve problems. leadership software engineers must influence others to take action(s) otherwise not considered. software engineers must lead others to take action(s) otherwise not considered. software engineers must lead by example. software engineers must lead by example following rules, so as not to be hypocritical. 18 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 software engineers must inspire a strong desire to succeed among team members by steering others towards successful goals and task completion. software engineers must inspire a strong desire to succeed among team members by encouraging others towards successful goals and task completion. software engineers must be willing to take and accept risks that may result in failure to explore new opportunities. software engineers must be willing to take and accept risks to explore new opportunities. note. see appendix b in supplementary data for full list of participant comments leading to the changed items. recommendations were categorized into the four soft-skill categories, providing eight new communication practices, 10 new social practices, eight new thinking practices, and nine new leadership practices. common themes identified from the comments that were not part of the original list of practices included written communication, empathy, health and wellness, and time management. suggestions such as health and wellness were excluded from round 2 because they are not soft skills. table 6 provides the new instrument created from round 1 results for round 2. table 6 additional practices moved to round 2 communication practices software engineers must learn and practice public speaking. software engineers must listen to team members and stakeholders, incorporating the information they hear into the conversation. software engineers must use written communication to explain ideas clearly. software engineers must be open to receiving feedback and constructive criticism from supervisors, managers, and team members. software engineers must be able to write reports that provide details explanations about processes and objectives and describe design choices and products. software engineers must be able to use storying telling to convey complex ideas and keep others engaged in discussion. software engineers must have good presentation skills. software engineers must control the conversation, keeping the conversation open but within the scope of the conversation, so the main idea does not get lost. social practices software engineers must realize when team members need help and reach out to them. software engineers must have humility and know when to say, “i don’t know.” software engineers must use empathy to understand and relate to problems others may share. software engineers must be able to improve their skills by teaching others. software engineers must set boundaries to avoid unhealthy relationships. software engineers must ask for help when the need arises. 19 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal software engineers must play devil’s advocate in a respectful manner. software engineers must cooperate with others by working alongside team members to achieve the goals of the organization. software engineers must ask team members what they can help with rather than asking if they need help. software engineers must speak up when they see something inappropriate that makes them or others uncomfortable. thinking practices software engineers must be able to change priorities according to demands. software engineers must reflect on events to avoid problems in the future. software engineers must be aware of implicit biases and work on combating them. software engineers must be able to consider that their perspectives are wrong and adjust their approach to solving a problem. software engineers must be able to use design thinking to adapt ideas to new places. software engineers must be aware of time while developing new ideas and find solutions with real timelines. software engineers must balance practical and ideal solutions because the ideal solution could take unlimited time or resources. software engineers must be life-long learners. leadership practices software engineers must be able to lead and manage teams efficiently. software engineers must make sure everyone has everything they need to be successful. software engineers must share goals publicly. software engineers must motivate employees by giving them new responsibilities to increase their investment in the organization. software engineers must give team members the opportunity take new challenges. software engineers must know when and how to delegate tasks. software engineers must give team members the opportunity to learn new skills. software engineers must look for opportunities to mentor team members. software engineers must empower team members. round 2 in round 2, the experts rated the desirability and feasibility of the forward-looking practices using specially worded likert-type scales for the desirability and feasibility ratings created by linstone and turoff (2002) for this type of delphi study. the scale consisted of the following ratings: 1 = very undesirable, 2 = undesirable, 3 = neither desirable nor undesirable, 4 = desirable, and 5 = very desirable. the feasibility scale mirrored the desirability scale, changing desirable to feasible. delphi studies use a predetermined cutoff point to determine initial consensus, typically from 70% to 80%. while 27 practices earned > 80% for desirability, they were < 80% for feasibility, requiring omission from round 3. for example, the experts rated ses must be open to receiving feedback and 20 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 constructive criticism from supervisors, managers, and team members at 100%; however, the participants reported a 70% feasibility for the practice. participants were asked for rationales for ratings of 1 or 5. an example of an item receiving mixed feedback was that ses must have good presentation skills. p12 said it was not required for the job (giving a 3 rating), while p19 gave a 5 rating, saying, “presentation is a key aspect in delivering information to a group of people.” using the 80% cutoff point, 15 practices moved from round 2 to round 3 (table 7). table 7 round 3 practices by category communication software engineers must speak clearly and concisely. software engineers must synthesize messages from others and consider their perspectives. software engineers must actively listen to speakers, giving full attention to the speaker. software engineers must listen to team members and stakeholders, incorporating the information they hear into the conversation. social software engineers must collaborate with and support team members by sharing resources, ideas, and encouragement to achieve desired goals. software engineers must ask for help when the need arises. software engineers must cooperate with others by working alongside team members to achieve the goals of the organization. thinking software engineers must understand, articulate, and solve complex problems through analytical thinking. software engineers must learn and seek to fill gaps in information required to solve problems. software engineers must be adaptable and receptive to new ideas. software engineers must employ sound reasoning to make informed and timely decisions. software engineers must balance practical and ideal solutions because the ideal solution could take unlimited time or resources. software engineers must be life-long learners. leadership software engineers must clearly communicate expectations to team members. software engineers must communicate a clear vision and purpose to team members and stakeholders. 21 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal round 3 the process for round 3 included the experts’ weight-ranking the remaining 15 practices. the rankings were a (highest = 4) to d (lowest = 1). only practices with a or b were calculated into the final frequency rate, and an agreement level of 80% was used to rank the practices. table 8 provides the final six practices for round 3, ranked in order. this list answered the study’s first research question: what are the forward-looking practices that successful software engineering leaders perceive could improve the soft skills of software engineers? table 8 top-ranked and ordered practices with categories rank practice soft skill category 1 software engineers must listen to team members and stakeholders, incorporating the information they hear into the conversation. communication 2 software engineers must speak clearly and concisely. communication 3 software engineers must clearly communicate expectations to team members. leadership 4 software engineers must synthesize messages from others and consider their perspectives. communication 5 software engineers must employ sound reasoning to make informed and timely decisions. thinking 6 software engineers must understand, articulate, and solve complex problems through analytical thinking. thinking round 4 confidence levels for the final listed practices resulted from the round 4 iteration from the experts. table 9 items were sent to 24 participants, and 23 responded; they were asked to rate each item on a 5point likert scale regarding confidence, where 1 = not confident at all, 2 = somewhat unconfident, 3 = neither confident nor unconfident, 4 = mostly confident, 5 = very confident. every participant ranked the items as either mostly confident (45%) or very confident (55%) and provided feedback rationalizing their scores. table 9 organizes their comments among confidence levels. because all of the remaining practices received ratings of 4 or 5, they all comprise the study’s final findings, answering research question 2: to what extent is there consensus among a panel of soft-skilled, expert software engineering 22 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 leaders as to desirable and feasible, forward-looking practices which could improve the soft skills of ses? table 9 final confidence ratings of participants p mostly confident p1 p5 p6 p7 p10 p12 p15 p17 p18 this captures the majority of the role of software engineers. software engineer must also have good organizational skills i think this is a perfect group of practices software engineers must have for soft skills. having these 6 critical skills together will make them good team players, good thinkers and thus keep them on track for any project. i think the 6 practices identified are the most important soft skills that a software engineer must have. i would also add that software engineers must be able to identify, evaluate and provide solutions that align to current timelines, budget, and the reality of the project. i feel that grouping this six skills together is good and proper because they all work hand in hand. most of the choices are focused on clear communication and rational decisions and i believe that those are central to improving soft skills. the more engineers communicate effectively the better off the projects they work in will be as well as their relationships with teammates. considering others’ perspectives is crucial towards getting to the best solution as well by getting a wide range of inputs and opinions. i think it is a very solid list of soft skills for software engineers. the above-mentioned attributes strongly develop and make them successful in their workplaces and even beyond. i know i’m confident in this six practices we have been talking about. sometimes get mixed feedback from the team. some say everything is very clear and others say things can be more clear when i propose something though being able to code, think analytically, and find solutions is very important, in the current work environment, being able to communicate effectively is what separates the great developers from the rest. you can find plenty of people who can sling code, but finding someone who can understand the problem from all perspectives, and work in tandem with other arms of the business to find solutions is truly valuable. i feel that 23 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal p23 working on increasing the skills of software engineers in the soft skill area helps make developers that understand the whole problem, the purpose of the exercise, and come up with timely and effective solutions. in my experience i have seen more projects fail because of poor communication on expectations and reasons for the project than i ever have from technical issues. with agile and other formats taking hold in all areas, the ability to understand the larger picture and communicate it is going to be the linchpin of any good organization. i like that it emphasizes clarity of communication, which i think is a huge bottleneck to technical communication very confident p8 p9 p11 p13 p16 p19 p20 p21 p22 this is a very good list, however, i did feel there were some other skills that were equally if not more important than some listed above i feel mostly confident that i have these skills, but probably all of them still have room for improvement. these skills seems to group around communication and problem solving, which are all critical skills for being an effective software engineer this looks like it aligns mostly if not completely with my rankings from the previous session. i agree with all of these statements and i think these are the most important items out of the sets that were included in the previous sessions. in addition to being able to solve problems and create sound designs & implementations (which is really the core task of being an engineer), engineers need to be able to listen and communicate well, which is the core of most of the statements above. going through those skills again, makes me even realize how more they are important and how they are going to skyrocket the improvements of soft skills of software engineers, because they all work together. i respond affirmatively to each of these statements without reservation. i feel like success is contingent on the individual’s willingness to embrace soft skills, that being a software engineer is more than being smart. if an individual is willing, then i’m mostly confident that these skills will work. yeah, it was worth it i remember that these are ones that i thought were the most important, so i’m happy to see that other people felt that way also. note. comments are provided verbatim. 24 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 discussion and implications in the pre-study applied framework (figure 1), the stated study goals were to identify the forwardlooking practices that experts recommended, by consensus, as desirable and feasible soft-skills practices of software engineers. the pre-study soft-skills framework (figure 2) included four categories and 12 competencies. the study experts agreed that of those original categories and competencies, three categories and six competencies (table 8) were applicable. social skills did not appear as one of the final categories, with leadership, communication, and thinking skills remaining as categories and contributing to the final framework. the final soft-skills competency framework is shown in figure 3. figure 3 styron soft-skills competency framework application to the literature the project’s findings align with scholarly and practitioner literature emphasizing soft skills’ importance. this project extended the research of matturro et al. (2019). industry experts’ identification and evaluation of current, historical, and forward-looking practices produced a list of desirable and feasible top-ranked practices, adding to the literature concerning soft skills and software engineering. 25 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal this project confirmed the research of hidayati et al. (2020) and júnior (2018), who reported communication as one of the top skills required by software development teams. alqaisi’s (2018) study explained that communication is a dynamic process where the sender and receiver interchange interactively, exchanging feedback with each other to communicate emerged out of the six remaining practices. gishin (2020) explained that communication, in the form of understandable information conveyance, was the most critical soft skill. sekhar (2019) stated that software engineers must consider cultural differences when developing messaging. each of this study’s findings supported these previous research studies. cunningham et al. (2020) stated that communication is a critical component of leadership used to accomplish goals. the forward-looking practice of “ses must communicate expectations to team members” supported the research of galli (2021), who offered that leaders must communicate expectations so that followers clearly understand what is required to be successful. the leadership practice emphasizes the importance noted by galli (20201) that the foundation of effective leadership is rooted in communication. the forward-looking practices related to the category of thinking soft skills accentuated the importance of analytical thinking and problem-solving by ses, as noted by gishin (2020) and waychal and capretz (2017). the practice of “ses must employ sound reasoning to make informed and timely decisions” confirmed the research of barron and rose (2021), who found that making effective decisions requires sound reasoning based on the evaluation and assimilation of information from multiple sources. the thinking practice of “ses must understand, articulate, and solve complex problems through analytical thinking” reinforced the research of werewka and wietecha (2018). these two thinking practices stress the importance of ses’ analysis, verification, and assessment of problems to create viable solutions. this project contributed to practitioner knowledge by narrowing the knowledge gap for applying practices to improve ses’ soft skills. the literature review of historical and current practices identified 35 soft skills practices, and the expert panel suggested an additional 35 practices that may increase the soft skills of ses. seventy practices identified in this project may assist leaders with developing ses’ soft skills. fifteen practices were deemed desirable and feasible by the panel of experts at 80% agreement; however, 27 were rated desirable and feasible at 70% agreement, providing practitioners with additional practices that may be beneficial for improving soft skills. the final results present the six top-ranked practices that may be the most important to practitioners. the results of this project contribute to practitioner knowledge by providing these practices from industry leaders. the insight gained from this project may help solve the specific business problem noted by capretz and ahmed (2018) that ses’ soft skill deficiencies result in high software project failure rates. improving ses’ soft skills may increase project success. 26 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 project application and recommendations the findings of this project may be applied to the business need for strategies to address the ses’ soft skills deficits that affect project outcomes, as noted by dean and east (2019). the continued growth of the software industry has increased the demand for leaders to develop the abilities of ses to increase project success (capretz & ahmed, 2018). organizational leaders attempt to meet this demand by investing in interactive training and workshops to help engineers build soft skills (hyder & iraqi, 2019). p18 stated, i feel that working on increasing the skills of ses in the soft skill area helps make developers that understand the whole problem, the purpose of the exercise, and come up with timely and effective solutions. in my experience i have seen more projects fail because of poor communication on expectations and reasons for the project than i ever have from technical issues. the results of this project may assist leaders with developing training programs that highlight the importance and application of practices to improve ses’ soft skills. i recommend that software engineering leaders use the six top-ranked practices identified by the experts in this project to form the basis for training programs to improve the ses’ soft skills. the confidence of the expert panel indicates that these practices may improve soft skills for ses and other professionals. ibrahim et al. (2017) proposed role-playing and game activities for soft skills development. i recommend that leaders use gamification techniques to assist ses with understanding, articulating, and solving complex problems using analytical thinking. gamification may increase the transfer of soft skills that, according to charoensap-kelly et al. (2016), are more difficult than hard skills because soft skills are more challenging to measure. ses should embrace leadership by clearly communicating expectations to team members. leadership workshops would help engineers build the soft skills necessary to meet the demands of their organization. recommendations for future research include evaluating the feasibility of specific soft skills identified in this project and comparing the soft skill practices used by ses with software engineering leaders. how do the soft skills necessary for success differ between these two roles? future research may contribute to software engineering and add to the body of knowledge concerning soft skills. conclusion this study emphasized the importance of soft skills for ses to communicate with others, work in teams, problem-solve, and lead projects. p1 summed it best by stating, “soft skills are about the human connection. we’re not just machines even though we interact with them a lot.” soft skills enable ses to work with people and accomplish the organization’s goals (capretz & ahmed, 2018). this project intended to and did provide industry leaders with real-world practices to improve the soft skills of ses. 27 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal references abujbara, n. a. k., & worley, j. a. 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(2020). survey of human factors in crisis responsive software development. arxiv.org e-print archive. https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.12019 appendices a and b to the study are located in the supplementary data file found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xfh_i3agv7yvj7x7_d_48utdqxk_m4xd/view?usp=sharing https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.12019 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xfh_i3agv7yvj7x7_d_48utdqxk_m4xd/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xfh_i3agv7yvj7x7_d_48utdqxk_m4xd/view?usp=sharing 36 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 register and submit your work to business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master’s/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master’s degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ abstract introduction background the soft-skill deficiencies of ses negatively affect business outcomes (dean & east, 2019). engineers with high levels of technical abilities often possess meager soft skills, resulting in difficulty working with others; soft skills’ criticality mirro... business problem and gap in practice literature review, theory, and frameworks the applied framework for the study review of conceptual literature table 1 literature related to the business problem the soft-skills competency framework figure 2 research technique rq2: to what extent is there consensus among a panel of soft-skilled, expert software engineering leaders as to desirable, feasible, and forward-looking practices which could improve the soft skills of ses? sampling and recruitment panelists for this project consisted of expert leaders with soft skills and the acumen of software development teams. the project experts were required to have the following characteristics: • led software development teams in the united states for at least 5 years; • their teams exhibited excellent team dynamics and high project completion rates; • possessed soft skills acumen. software development included internal and external software solutions. a third-party service, user interviews, recruited participants for the project. this proprietary service gives researchers access to over 400,000 vetted members of the company’s community (user interviews, n.d.). the recruitment announcement included ... experts were told to expect four rounds of online surveys during a 4-to-6-week period, each requiring between 15 and 30 minutes to complete. user interviews compiled a list of qualified members interested in participating in the project. i vetted the ... the panel size of industry experts is also essential to produce quality output results (skulmoski et al., 2007). while vernon (2009) claimed that panel size did not correlate to a study’s effectiveness, skulmoski et al. claimed larger groups may produ... data collection and analysis the instruments used for each round are pivotal to a successful modified delphi study. the literature review guided the creation of the round 1 instrument; each subsequent round emerged from the previous round’s results. participants table 3 provides the participants in the study and their backgrounds, expertise, and experiences. i reviewed the backgrounds of 46 expert applicants. of those, 19 were rejected due to not having the required experience (i.e., 13 had less than 5 years ... table 3 data collection data analysis and preliminary findings table 7 table 8 table 9 note. comments are provided verbatim. discussion and implications figure 3 application to the literature project application and recommendations 109 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal strategic cybersecurity risk management practices for information in small and medium enterprises chad j. ashley, dba, mba | bluehalo, director of strategy and innovation michelle preiksaitis, jd, phd, sphr, shrm-scp | coastal organizational research and learning strategies llc (corals llc) http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3064-2392 contact: chadashley.dba@gmail.com abstract over the past decade, the number of cyberattacks affecting united states smalland mediumsized enterprises (smes) has increased substantially; with an average per-breach loss of $500,000 usd. cyber-breaches most often result in business closure within 6 months of the breach. a modified delphi technique used with a 20-member panel of cybersecurity experts was conducted to discover ways smes could prevent these breaches. using four sequential survey rounds sent using confidential surveymonkey links, information and cybersecurity experts shared their ideas about forward-looking practices for strategic cybersecurity risk management for smes and then, after data analysis reduction occurred, provided expert opinions regarding their level of agreement with and consensus regarding strategic, cybersecurity, risk-management practices for smes. the experts were located through the userinterviews platform, and their credentials were validated using linkedin data. both qualitative and quantitative analyses led to a final list of 20 practices that could protect and secure business information, organized among three previously identified categories: security culture, strategic alignment, and value. after acquiring the list of practices, the final survey round asked the experts to rate the practices for desirability and feasibility. comments from experts regarding their reasons for their choices and ratings were also documented, analyzed thoroughly, themed and discussed. the identified practices led to a new framework: the ashley information protection framework (aipf). sme information professionals could use the aipf to improve the overall security posture of their businesses and protect business intelligence from cyberattack. other cybersecurity researchers could use the aipf for future research on specific practices identified by this study. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3064-2392 110 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 keywords: cybersecurity, strategic risk management, secure business information, business intelligence, security culture, strategic alignment, value creation, the ashley information protection framework, small and medium businesses introduction the trend towards the use of big data, technology, and business intelligence has grown exponentially over the past decade. similarly, the threat and reality of cybercrime has increased, especially for smallto medium-sized enterprises (smes), which have fewer resources to protect against such attacks. cyberattacks affected nearly 70% of surveyed owners of smes in 2020 (tharnish, 2020) and over 58% of those surveyed admitted that security breaches occurred because of those attacks. recent data showed that covid-19 and the resulting move to more remote work and online data usage created new and unique security challenges for smes (lallie et al., 2021). bocetta (2019) found that 20% of all smes were victimized by cybercriminals and of those who experienced such attacks, nearly 60% of them were driven to close because of financial and reputational damages caused by breaches. ibm (2019) similarly noted that for smes, cybercrimes cost, on average, $2.5 million per breach. since 2019, with unprecedented inflation and the impact of the pandemic, these costs are significantly higher. connectwise (2022) reported that the changes to types of cybersecurity breaches from 2021 to 2022 will include a move from previous “big game hunting” methods (targeting huge organizations and utility grids) to smaller wins with smes, which will give them more targets and less exposure to being caught (p. 19). the u.s. small business administration’s (sba) chief information officer (cio) encouraged all smes to implement cybersecurity strategies into their business plans (brands, 2020). numerous researchers have explained why smes ignore this advice, including lack of knowledge (bada & nurse, 2019; scott, 2019; small business administration, 2019; watad et al., 2018), inadequate resources (bada & nurse, 2019; paulsen & toth, 2016; scott, 2019; small business administration, 2019; watad et al., 2018), lack of appreciation of cybersecurity threats (foley, 2017; teymourlouei, 2018), and failure to recognize how human errors lead to breaches (watad et al., 2018). connectwise’s 2022 report showed that more smes will fail to prevent breaches as the cost of talent increases post-pandemic will mean fewer dollars available for cybersecurity. as the war in ukraine has increased the tensions between russia and the u.s., connectwise also warned that smes need to be ever vigilant for cyber-breaches. this study sought to find feasible and manageable strategic cyber-protective practices for smes to implement. background cybercriminals exist in a dark world that is difficult to locate. most sme leaders focus heavily on their day-to-day and strategic goals related to their service model or product lines and fail to recognize the danger of cyber-vulnerabilities until it is too late. ghafir et al. (2018) showed how malicious cyberattacks advance in lockstep with technological advances; sme owners must include a dependable information technology (it) infrastructure to support modern customer requirements and provide access to their services (watad et al., 2018). yet, few cybersecurity 111 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal strategy studies have focused on the special needs of smes, mostly focusing on large organizational needs and product lines. while the cost of it products can seem steep, the potential for loss due to cybercrime is much greater (watad et al.). many cybersecurity frameworks exist which lead large organizational leaders and cios through complex, dense, and expensive processes to protect their business information (paulsen & toth, 2016). wild (2018) found 250 different cyber and information security frameworks in use, and since then, many more have been created. kaušpadienė et al. (2019) noted that there are no strategies or guidelines for smes to use; scott (2019) warned that most cybersecurity trainings are designed for larger organizations and not smes, even though at least 40% of sme data breaches are a result of employee error and human vulnerabilities. finally, survey and research data continue to highlight the sme owner overall lack of appreciation of their own potential for victimization; a false sense of security in thinking they are too small to be noticed leads them into the traps of cybercriminals (foley, 2017; mccollum, 2019). it business problem and gap in practice the united states (u.s.) sba (2019) noted that 99% of all companies with employees in the u.s. were considered small businesses, they accounted for 33.3% of all export revenue totaling $429.3 billion and employed nearly half of all u.s. private-sector employees. while the global pandemic due to covid-19 paused many sba and government reporting centers, the number of smes moving to remote and hybrid worker models during that time has created a heightened problem for smes with fewer skilled workers to help create solutions (connectwise, 2022). considering the statistical relationship between cyberattack losses and sme closures, the impact to u.s. workers remains a concern and problem to the u.s. economy and sme functionality. the problem of cyberattacks remains a concern for all sme owners. the literature review section of this article regarding smes and vulnerability to cybercrime shows that a gap in practice exists – smes simply do not recognize their potential for breach, they do not establish protective practices, and they do not have strategic plans in place to avoid cybertheft of their company and informational assets. this study’s goal was the creation of a framework and a list of strategic practices that pertain specifically to smes, endorsed and established by knowledgeable sme cybersecurity experts. the practices were geared toward potential losses of five types of data defined by the council of economic advisors (2018): personal identifying data, confidential intellectual property information, digital infrastructure knowledge, financial data, and infrastructure control data. terms and definitions this study relied on the following terms and definitions of those terms to assist in a consistent and interpretable set of findings and results. these terms and definitions were shared with the expert panel to ensure that everyone understood the foundation of the problem and meaning of each word or strategic practice. 112 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2  cybersecurity: protecting information assets by addressing threats to information processed, stored, and transported by internetworked information systems (isaca, n.d.).  information security: protecting information from unauthorized users, improper modification, and denial of data availability (hitrust, 2020a; isaca, n.d.).  security culture: “a pattern of behaviors, beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, and ways of doing things” (isaca, 2012, p 91).  small and medium enterprise (sme): independent businesses with fewer than 500 employees (u.s. small business administration, 2019).  small and medium business leadership: the persons who make smes’ strategic decisions, manage the employees, allocate resources, or shape organizational culture.  strategic alignment: information and cybersecurity plans and activities that enable enterprise business strategy and objectives (international organization for standardization, 2018; isaca, 2012).  value creation: demonstrating business value by positively contributing to business objectives resulting from information and cybersecurity activities or investments adjusted for risk (isaca, n.d.; isaca, 2012). project questions two project questions guided the data collection process of the study and explained the overarching aim of the study. question 1: what forward-looking practices did a panel of is strategic experts identify as best fitting the needs of strategic cybersecurity risk management of sme business information? question 2: on which of the practices were is strategic experts able to reach consensus as to their desirability and feasibility for strategic cybersecurity risk management of sme business information? applied framework this project's initial guiding framework amalgamized 15 information and cybersecurity frameworks into three key business concepts: security culture, business alignment, and value creation (figure 1 and table 1). 113 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal figure 1 applied framework of study note. framework pieces adapted from “sba official: hacks cost small business average of $500,000,” by w. heilman, colorado springs gazette, (https://gazette.com/business/sbaofficial-hacks-cost-small-business-average-of-500-000/article_dc5e7e0a-f74f-11e9-a5b1bb5b760b734b.html). “small and mid-size businesses need to focus on cybersecurity,” by m. chevalier, security magazine, (https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/89202-small-andmid-size-businesses-need-to-focus-on-cybersecurity). table 1 information security existing frameworks with their sources framework apa citation cobit 5 information systems audit and control association. (2012). cobit 5: a business framework for the governance and management of enterprise it https://www.isaca.org/bookstore/cobit-5/wcb5 information technology infrastructure library (itil) rouse, m. (2020). information technology infrastructure library (itil). https://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/itil nist cybersecurity framework (csf) national institute of standards and technology. (2018). framework for improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity. https://gazette.com/business/sba-official-hacks-cost-small-business-average-of-500-000/article_dc5e7e0a-f74f-11e9-a5b1-bb5b760b734b.html https://gazette.com/business/sba-official-hacks-cost-small-business-average-of-500-000/article_dc5e7e0a-f74f-11e9-a5b1-bb5b760b734b.html https://gazette.com/business/sba-official-hacks-cost-small-business-average-of-500-000/article_dc5e7e0a-f74f-11e9-a5b1-bb5b760b734b.html https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/89202-small-and-mid-size-businesses-need-to-focus-on-cybersecurity https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/89202-small-and-mid-size-businesses-need-to-focus-on-cybersecurity 114 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.6028/nist.cswp.041620 18 iso/iec 38500 information technology – governance of it for the organization holt, a. (2013). governance of it: an executive guide to iso/iec 38500. bcs learning & development limited. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/capella/detail.action?d ocid=1213991 iso 27000 series international organization for standardization. (2018). information technology — security techniques — information security management systems — overview and vocabulary. https://standards.iso.org/ittf/publiclyavailablestandards/ nist sp 800-53 privacy framework national institute of standards and technology. (2020). nist privacy framework: a tool for improving privacy through enterprise risk management, version 1.0. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.6028/nist.cswp.011620 20 nist sp 800-171 ross, r., pillitteri, v., dempsey, k., riddle, m., & guissanie, g. (2020). protecting controlled unclassified information in nonfederal systems and organizations. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.6028/nist.sp.800-171r2 hitrust csf hitrust. (2020b). hitrust csf version 9.4 https://hitrustalliance.net/csf-license-agreement it governance for sme josi, p. (2012). it governance for sme. http://www.isaca.ch/images/downloads/downloads/diplomar beiten/it_governance_for_sme.pdf nist nice framework newhouse, w., keith, s., scribner, b., & witte, g. (2017). national initiative for cybersecurity education (nice) cybersecurity workforce framework. https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/specialpublications/nist. sp.800-181.pdf?trackdocs=nist.sp.800-181.pdf cyber security governance: a component of mitre’s cyber prep methodology bodeau, d., boyle, s., fabius, j., & graubart, r. (2010). cyber security governance. the mitre corporation. https://www.mitre.org/publications/technical-papers/cybersecurity-governance an information security governance framework da veiga, a., & eloff, j. h. p. (2007). an information security governance framework. information systems management, 24(4), 361-372. 115 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal information security governance: framework and toolset for ciso's and decisionmakers volchkov, a. (2018). information security governance: framework and toolset for ciso's and decision-makers. auerbach publications. full it service management fitsm. (2016). part 0: overview and vocabulary. https://www.fitsm.eu/downloads/#toggle-id-1 the information assurance for smes (iasme) governance standard for information and cyber security dresner, d. g. (2018). the iasme governance standard for information and cyber security. (5). https://iasme.co.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2019/04/iasmestandardv5.pdf enterprise risk management committee of sponsoring organizations [coso]. (2017). enterprise risk management: integrating with strategy and performance. https://www.coso.org/documents/2017coso-erm-integrating-with-strategy-and-performanceexecutive-summary.pdf literature review a modified delphi technique relies first on a thorough literature review to identify the practices previously found in research and practice (stewart et al., 1999). then, the researcher can use all known practices as a foundation for moving forward and finding new, forward-looking practices or strategies. this section identifies the most pertinent of research used to seed the initial delphi round. the evolution of cybersecurity risk management literature practitioners recognized that the information revolution gave firms a strategic and competitive advantage (porter & millar, 1985; rastogi & von solms, 2005), while the evolution of the personal computer introduced risk into the world of it (dlamini et al., 2009). risks from information loss led to elementary security practices (i.e., passwords, physical locking of storage rooms); most early efforts related to information security focused on the technical aspects of security designed to manage cybersecurity risks (b. von solms, 2000). with the expansion of the internet and early e-commerce, firms focused on policy, procedures, standardization, best practices, and security plans (b. von solms, 2006; s. h. von solms, 2010). firm leaders learned that these practices failed to address the human factor (da veiga & eloff, 2007). managers were encouraged to communicate information security importance from topdown, and to lead by example (corriss, 2010; da veiga et al., 2020). throughout the early 2000s, information security experts and leaders began growing their knowledge and understanding of the need to implement risk management for their it protections 116 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 (dlamini et al., 2009; gashgari et al., 2017; posthumus & von solms, 2004). yet, smes continued to disregard the dangers of cyberattacks. while many sets of best practices have been created for and by large firms, scaled and appropriate practices for smes remain a gap in the body of knowledge and practices. the known practices were organized by the three categories gleaned from the frameworks listed in table 1. security culture security culture elements focus on human behavior, ways of working, and heightened security awareness across the organization. bull (2019) asserted that a robust security culture has more influence on the successful implementation of a security strategy than security professionals' traditional hard skills. noncompliance and poor enforcement undermine the strategy's goals (bull, 2019). companies should make security an everyday occurrence with rewards or reprimand for employee security behavior, creating a culture (dresner, 2018). many security experts proposed policy management, awareness, and training and education initiatives that work for larger firms with extensive resources (santos-olmo et al., 2016). smes, however, could not afford to adopt these initiatives to protect themselves from malicious actors, despite the potential for devastating loss by failing to do so. research showed that a preventative information security culture mitigates human-related threats in organizations (da veiga et al., 2020; parsons et al., 2015). finding an appropriate security culture definition for smes was difficult since multiple definitions exist. van niekerk and von solms (2010) argued for a four-element definition: artifacts, espoused values, shared tacit assumptions, and knowledge. alhogail (2015) agreed that artifacts, values, and assumptions make up an is culture but did not note knowledge as an element. nel and drevin (2019) found 24 cultural factors in their study. nasir et al.’s (2019) meta-analysis of 79 studies identified 12 elements, plus multiple sub-elements. a scouring of the literature resulted in the security culture elements listed in table 2 which fueled the survey instrument of the round 1 modified delphi approach. table 2 literature review summary table for security culture citations solutions for round 1 of delphi study (bull, 2019; isaca, 2018; santos-olmo et al., 2016) audit the company culture to establish a set of kpi's to create a baseline security culture. (alhogail, 2015) develop methods to measure employee security competence. (isaca, 2018; nel & drevin, 2019) regular training programs create awareness for employees on how to respond to security threats. 117 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (coso, 2017; da veiga et al., 2020; international organization for standardization [ios], 2018) establish a comprehensive training program to promote information security knowledge among employees. (coso, 2017; ios, 2018; santos-olmo et al., 2016) a corporate learning initiative should be enacted to ensure the aspect of information security are communicated to all levels of the organization. (alhogail, 2015) all employees should be trained on legal regulations regarding cybersecurity. (nel & drevin, 2019) companies should invest in the personal needs of the employees to enhance loyalty and reduce the risk of insider threats. (santos-olmo et al., 2016) security policies and practices tend toward simplicity to ensure employee convenience and easier adherence to information security practices. (alhogail, 2015; da veiga et al., 2020; nel & drevin, 2019) a comprehensive employee management system should be enacted that includes good and bad consequences of information security behaviors. (alghamdi et al., 2020) develop awareness programs that are "top-down" in the organizations to ensure that all levels understand the policies, practices, and consequences of protecting business information. (josi, 2012; newhouse et al., 2017) develop strategies to mitigate insider threats to systems and networks. (dresner, 2018; santos-olmo et al. 2016) develop access control plans to control who can access business information with a “need to know” way of working. (da veiga & eloff, 2007; newhouse et al., 2017) leadership provides sponsorship for cybersecurity governance. strategic alignment multiple researchers have pointed to the need to align business process, services, and practices to ensure a more supportive security-focused culture (josi (2012; volchkov, 2018). as with security culture, the literature and existing frameworks were scoured to create the strategic alignment practice lists for the participants to use as a seed to their inputs. 118 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 decision-makers struggle with prioritizing activities and their respective value, making alignment with the larger business difficult (hayden, 2016). sme resource scarcity means that alignment is even more important for them to ensure resources are available for security activities (alghamdi et al., 2020). pratt (2019) recommended including lower-level employees in the planning process and petrie (2017) explained that using performance management metrics which included security imperatives would assist with strategic alignment goals. other researchers warned that all corporate governance activities need to include a component of information security (schinagl & shahim, 2020; s.h. von solms, 2010). strategic alignment of information security to business goals is not without its challenges. onethird of firms lacked an alignment between technology strategy and security in 2019 (pratt, 2019), only 15% of smes had a security component in their strategy in 2020 (lloyd, 2020) and connectwise (2022) found the numbers for alignment and inclusion were even more dire for smes in 2021 and 2022 (finding two-thirds were underprepared for cyberattacks). table 3 provides the literature-based findings of practices which fed the round 1 survey for the study. table 3 literature review for strategic alignment elements citations solutions for round 1 of delphi study (pratt, 2019) create a process where security teams and it teams, developers, and functional business teams all collaborate early in the development cycle to ensure alignment of security and business goals (hayden, 2016) business leaders and information security teams jointly fill in osterwalder's business model canvas to understand all facets of the business, security, and customer relationships. (granneman, 2018; volchkov, 2018) create an aligned business and security strategy and roadmap to span a three3-year period. (granneman, 2018; stackpole, 2019) create a cross-functional committee to establish a centralized technology budget structure to offer transparency into it security investments to internal stakeholders. (petrie, 2017) create information security key performance indicators that tie directly to business goals and imperatives. (bodeau et al., 2010; josi, 2012; volchkov, 2018) align information security practices with business strategy to support organizational objectives. 119 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bodeau et al., 2010; dresner, 2018; fitsm, 2016) leadership must be actively involved and committed to strategic planning related to security services in the organization. (bodeau et al., 2010; hitrust, 2020b; national institute of standards and technology, 2018) develop an organizational strategy to manage cybersecurity risks that supports business objectives. (national institute of standards and technology, 2020) develop appropriate activities (strategy making) to enable the organization to manage data with sufficient granularity to manage privacy risks. (bodeau et al., 2010; dresner, 2018; hitrust, 2020b) develop a risk management profile for use in strategy formulation. value creation as noted in both the strategic alignment and security culture sections, sme resource-limitations mean that value creation for the business is a critical component of a cyber-focused implementation framework. the value creation component of the applied framework was built using elements included in cobit 5 (isaca, 2012), iso 27000 (international organization for standardization, 2018), iso 38500 (holt, 2013), and volchkov (2018). additional customerfocused security strategies recommended by farshchi and douglas (2010), dickson (2019), boehm et al. (2019), and wu and saunders (2016) were also included. a company can create value with cybersecurity by creating a level of cybersecurity threat awareness across the business (berkman et al., 2018). suer (2018) explained that leadership needs proof that information security adds to business value for them to consider it an essential function, while scala et al., (2019) showed how establishing a set of measures that show the impact of information security on achieving organizational objectives helps provide that value-add proof. showing the expensive results of cyberbreaches also lends to proving value-creation (connectwise, 2022). bailetti and craigen (2020) and hepfer and powell (2020) recommended that the value of cybersecurity practices should be communicated to stakeholders to build confidence and trust that confidential business information is protected. table 4 provides the value creation items and the literature from which they were derived. 120 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 table 4 value creation items from the literature citations solutions for round 1 of delphi study (information systems audit and control association, 2012) ensure value creation is a foundational governance principle. (holt, 2013) develop means to ensure it services meet current and future business requirements. (volchkov, 2018) develop strategies to optimize it investments supporting organizational objectives. (international organization for standardization, 2018) ensure the governance plans answer stakeholder needs by enhancing societal values. (volchkov, 2018) develop a performance measurement strategy to report information security metrics that ensure organizational objectives. (hepfer & powell, 2020) communicate the firm's cybersecurity practices to customers, to build trust and confidence that critical business information is protected. (scala et al., 2019) develop information security metrics that measure security practices’ impact on organizational objectives. (suer, 2018) develop a set of kpi's that measure the value of security investments. (xu et al., 2019) proactively make cybersecurity investments to protect business information that gain a competitive advantage. (xu et al., 2019) cybersecurity investments to protect business information should be made reactively as cyber threat information is made available. (bailetti & craigen, 2020) communicate to stakeholders the importance the company places on protecting business information. 121 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal modified delphi technique this mixed-method study used a modified delphi technique, rather than a classic delphi technique. instead of beginning with interviewing or focus group questioning for round 1, the modified technique started the data collection with a survey seeded with practices and suggestions from the literature and frameworks, as shown in tables 2, 3, and 4; it also elicited from the participants updated, future-looking, and additional information about each of those ideas (stewart et al., 1999). solomon et al. (2021) noted that the modified delphi technique is “used in the social sciences as a method for formalizing input from multiple parties, using voting and discussion” (p. 342). in this study, four consecutive rounds of data collection and analysis occurred. participant recruitment and requirements purposive, nonprobabilistic sampling was used for this study to take advantage of expert knowledge regarding the study’s cybersecurity focus, as recommended by palinkas et al. (2015) and skulmoski et al. (2007). varying opinions exist about the best sample size and homogeneity needed for a delphi expert panel (akins et al., 2005; avella, 2016; keeney et al., 2001). a typical delphi panel size is between 10-20 panelists and will see a participation rate of 70% (akins et al., 2005; hasson et al., 2000). in this study, an a priori goal of 18 panel members was exceeded; 20 panelists contributed throughout all four rounds of the study. attrition, which is normal for delphi studies, was low; in this case, only two out of the 22 (9%) originally identified participants left the study prior to its completion. based on comments from multiple participants, the low attrition was gained due to the experts’ interest in both contributing to the results and learning about the final decisions of the panel. participant characteristics skulmoski et al. (2007) said to ensure delphi participants had knowledge relevant to the study topic, a willingness and capacity to participate, time to actively engage, and the ability to effectively communicate. potential participants found through userinterviews were provided the following criteria and the required expert qualifications (keeney et al., 2001) to decide to selfselect for the study:  3+ years of current experience in the information security, or cybersecurity, or it management field;an  bachelor’s degree or higher in a related field or demonstrated equivalent experience; and  experience in strategy formulation or consulting related to small and medium-sized business operations, cybersecurity, or information security activities. 122 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 selected participants’ qualifications were then cross-checked using linkedin before receiving invitations and informed consents for the study participation. capella university irb approval and forms were used to recruit, gain consent, and confirm qualifications of the participants. delphi data collection and analysis delphi techniques use rounds of data collection and analysis, and in this study, four rounds were used. the analyses built on each round. round 1 data collection a survey based on the findings from the literature review was created and reviewed by two delphi technique experts. two modifications occurred, including adding expert panel comment options to round 1 and a ratings section. a sample item of round 1 is provided in figure 2. figure 2 sample instrument question from round 1 round 1 was opened on june 5, 2021 and closed on june 12th, 2021 with one reminder sent june 10th. a response rate of 95% was achieved with average completion time of 24 minutes over the 20 participants (the one participant who failed to complete the survey was removed from the study). round 1 included 35 strategic information and cybersecurity solutions organized by security culture, strategic alignment, and value creation (tables 5, 6, and 7, respectively, with tallied responses). the panelists offered 64 unique comments on security culture, including solution rewording, disagreement explanations, or general unrelated comments (i.e., p9 said “completed..very interesting. i'm involved in this activity in my current company...looking forward to the next survey...best.” 123 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 5 round 1 panelists responses – security culture solution total number of occurrences agree "as is" agree, but reword disagr ee comme nts audit the company culture to create a set of key performance indicators (kpi) to establish a baseline security culture 14 4 2 5 develop methods to measure employee security competence. 18 2 0 3 create regular information and cybersecurity training programs to create awareness for employees on how to respond to security threats. 17 3 0 5 establish a comprehensive training program to promote information security knowledge among employees. 18 2 0 3 a corporate learning initiative should be enacted to ensure the aspect of information security are communicated to all levels of the organization. 12 8 0 9 all employees should be trained on legal regulations regarding cybersecurity. 12 2 6 9 companies should invest in the personal needs of the employees to enhance loyalty and reduce the risk of insider threats. 14 2 4 6 security policies and practices tend toward simplicity to ensure employee convenience for easier adherence to information security practices. 12 3 5 6 a comprehensive employee management system should be enacted that includes good and bad consequences of information security behaviors. 14 4 2 5 develop awareness programs that are "topdown" in the organizations to ensure that all levels understand the policies, practices, and 17 2 1 3 124 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 consequences of protecting business information. develop strategies to mitigate insider threats to systems and networks. 18 2 0 2 develop access control plans to control who can access business information with a “need to know” way of working. 15 5 0 5 leadership provides sponsorship for cybersecurity governance. 16 3 1 3 table 6 round 1 panelists responses – strategic alignment solution total number of occurrences agree "as is" agree, but reword disagr ee comme nts create a process where security teams and it teams, developers, and functional business teams collaborate early in the it and enterprise software development cycle to ensure alignment of security and business goals. 17 3 0 5 business leaders and information security teams joint fill in osterwalder's business model canvas to understand all facets of the business, security, and customer relationships. 12 4 4 6 an aligned business and security strategy and roadmap should be created to span a three-year period. 9 7 4 9 create a cross-functional committee to establish a centralized technology budget structure to offer transparency into security and it investments to internal stakeholders. 14 0 6 4 create information security key performance indicators that tie directly to business goals and imperatives. 17 1 2 2 125 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal align information security practices with business strategy to support organizational objectives. 18 0 2 1 ensure that the information security strategy considers the current and ongoing needs of the business strategy. 18 1 1 2 leadership active involvement and commitment to in strategic planning related to security services. 14 5 1 6 develop an organizational strategy to manage cybersecurity risks that supports enterprise objectives. 18 2 0 2 develop appropriate activities (strategy making) to enable the organization to manage data with sufficient granularity to manage privacy risks. 19 1 0 1 develop a cybersecurity risk management profile for use in strategy formulation. 20 0 0 0 table 7 round 1 panelists responses – value creation solution total number of occurrences agree "as is" agree, but reword disagr ee comme nts ensure value creation is a foundational governance principle. 14 4 2 5 develop means to ensure it services meet current and future business requirements. 19 1 0 2 develop strategies to optimize it investments to support organizational objectives. 19 1 0 1 ensure the information and cybersecurity governance plans answer stakeholder needs by enhancing societal values. 11 0 9 7 126 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 develop a performance measurement strategy to report information security metrics to assure the achievement of organizational objectives. 19 1 0 1 communicate the firm’s cybersecurity practices to build trust and confidence that critical business information is protected in the eyes of the customer. 18 0 2 2 develop information security metrics that measure security practices' impact on organizational objectives. 20 0 0 0 develop a cybersecurity kpi scorecard that reflects measures the value of security investments. 16 4 0 4 cybersecurity investments to protect business information should be made proactively to obtain a competitive advantage. 17 3 0 3 cybersecurity investments to protect business information should be made reactively as cyber threat information is made available. 12 3 5 7 communicate to the stakeholders the importance the company places on protecting business information. 20 0 0 0 round 1 data analysis the round 1 comments (n = 134) included ideas to update, enhance, or reword the original solutions. enhancements to the original solutions. a significant number of changes and updates were made before moving the new list to round 2. the following shows examples of how the round 1 qualitative data were analyzed and used. the original solution “security policies and practices tend toward simplicity to ensure employee convenience for easier adherence to information security practices” received a comment from p3 that adding “effectiveness” and expanding the solution to include the four “p’s” – policies, procedures, processes, and practices was appropriate. other commenters ignored the term “employee convenience”, instead saying "easier adherence," "easily understand and comply," and "easy to understand and comply." synthesis yielded a more robust solution, “security policies, procedures, processes, and practices should be kept simple, clear and effective to ensure that employee can easily understand them, making it easier to comply” for round 2. 127 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal while some experts disagreed with solutions, their comments were uncompelling; thus, the solutions advanced to round 2. however, multiple panelists disagreed with the solution, “an aligned business and security strategy and roadmap should be created to span a 3-year period.” the comments showed that while the initial part of the practice was accepted, the period was too long. round 2’s version was, “an aligned business and security strategy and roadmap should be created and updated annually.” tables 8 through 10 show the updated solutions that were passed to round 2 of the study. overall, 25 original solutions (out of 34) were re-worded and nine new solutions were added (see tables, red comments). table 8 round 1 synthesized solutions passed to round 2 – security culture original solution synthesized solution justification audit the company culture to create a set of key performance indicators (kpi) to establish a baseline security culture. periodically audit any existing company policies and culture to create a set of key performance indicators (kpi) to establish a baseline security culture reinforced with cybersecurity training and awareness programs. completeness – added a time element to indicate the activity should not be a single event. the training and awareness programs were added to ensure the audit is to create actions and the kpi are a measure of progress. develop methods to measure employee security competence. develop methods to measure employee security competence and address any identified gaps. completeness create regular information and cybersecurity training programs to create awareness for employees on how to respond to security threats. create periodic information and cybersecurity training and awareness programs that educate employees on how to detect and respond to security threats. completeness – added the time element to ensure that this activity is not a one-time activity. establish a comprehensive training program to promote information security knowledge among employees. establish a comprehensive training program to promote information security knowledge among employees with additional training available depending on the employee role (i.e., secure coding for developers). completeness – addition of role specific training as appropriate. 128 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 a corporate learning initiative should be enacted to ensure the aspect of information security are communicated to all levels of the organization. a corporate learning initiative should be enacted or implemented to ensure that all appropriate aspects of information security are communicated to all levels of the organization. clarity all employees should be trained on legal regulations regarding cybersecurity. all employees should be trained on applicable legal regulations regarding cybersecurity. clarity companies should invest in the personal needs of the employees to enhance loyalty and reduce the risk of insider threats. companies should evaluate employee needs on a regular basis to identify any potential issues that could lead to the risk of insider threats. completeness and clarity – evaluation and identification of employee needs to reduce insider threat are more clearly actionable. security policies and practices tend toward simplicity to ensure employee convenience for easier adherence to information security practices. security policies, procedures, processes, and practices should be kept simple, clear, and effective to ensure that employees can easily understand them making it easier to comply. completeness – addition of the two other “p”’s to include practices and procedures and the element of understandability to ease compliance. a comprehensive employee management system should be enacted that includes good and bad consequences of information security behaviors. a comprehensive employee management system should be enacted that reinforces positive behavior and ensures bad behavior and poor security habits are addressed and corrected appropriately. completeness develop awareness programs that are "top-down" in the organizations to ensure that all levels understand the policies, practices, and consequences of protecting business information. develop awareness programs that are "top-down" in the organizations to ensure that all levels understand the policies, procedures, processes, practices, and the importance of protecting business information. completeness – addition of the four “p’s” 129 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal develop strategies to mitigate insider threats to systems and networks. develop strategies and plans to understand and mitigate insider threats to systems and networks. completeness develop access control plans to control who can access business information with a “need to know” way of working. develop and maintain access control plans to control who can access what business information based on a “need to know” principles. clarity leadership provides sponsorship for cybersecurity governance. leadership provides sponsorship, ownership, and direction for cybersecurity governance. completeness develop employee training and reward programs to enhance employee "buy-in". cybersecurity news and general how-to's should be regularly shared with staff to encourage a sense of security culture normalcy. if a cyber incident occurs, employees should be informed of needed behavioral changes, and training programs should be developed if needed. educate and enhance awareness of information security as a way of working life. create an ongoing risk register that can be used to promote information security knowledge among employees. review program practices to ensure that new procedure has minimal impact on work products. monitor the network with security information and event management (siem) tools. new solution. new solution. new solution. new solution. new solution. new solution. new solution. note: additional practices suggested by the panelists are in red. 130 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 table 9 round 1 synthesized solutions passed to round 2 – strategic alignment original solution synthesized solution justification create a process where security teams and it teams, developers, and functional business teams collaborate early in the it and enterprise software development cycle to ensure alignment of security and business goals. create a process where security teams and it teams, developers, and functional business teams collaborate early in the it and enterprise software development cycle to ensure alignment of security and business goals with clearly defined objectives. completeness business leaders and information security teams joint fill in osterwalder's business model canvas to understand all facets of the business, security, and customer relationships. business and information security teams document all facets of the business, security, and customer relationships such as the osterwalder's business model canvas appropriateness – reworded to use the bmc as an example tool and not the only tool that can be used. each business may need to use a different tool. the goal of the study is to find practices that an sme can use not all will be able to use the bmc. an aligned business and security strategy and roadmap should be created to span a 3year period. an aligned business and security strategy and roadmap should be created and updated annually. appropriateness – the panelist recommendations were clear that the span of 3 years is too long for this topic because the landscape changes rapidly. all comments that suggest rewording suggested a 1-year period was appropriate. create a cross-functional committee to establish a centralized technology budget structure to offer transparency into security and it investments to internal stakeholders. create a cross-functional committee to establish a centralized technology budget structure offering transparency into security and it investments to internal stakeholders. no change – the comments were more observational and not recommendations to reword the solution. 131 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal create information security key performance indicators that tie directly to business goals and imperatives. create information security key performance indicators that align directly to business goals and imperatives and clearly articulate the risks that are being addressed. completeness the addition of "clearly articulate the risk that are being addressed" more aligns this practice with the key business concept "strategic alignment". the practice is strengthened by the addition. align information security practices with business strategy to support organizational objectives. align information security practices with business strategy to support organizational objectives. no change – the comments were more observational and not recommendations to reword the solution. ensure that the information security strategy considers the current and ongoing needs of the business strategy. ensure that the information security strategy considers the current and ongoing needs of the business strategy. no change – the comments were more observational and not recommendations to reword the solution. leadership active involvement and commitment to in strategic planning related to security services. leadership maintains active involvement and commitment to strategic planning related to security services. completeness the addition of maintains to the solution adds a "time element" to the solution and clarifies the ongoing role of sme leadership to address the evolving security threats. develop an organizational strategy to manage cybersecurity risks that supports enterprise objectives. develop an organizational strategy to manage cybersecurity risks that supports enterprise objectives with clearly defined ownership. completeness the addition of "clearly defined ownership" strengthens the solution. identification of who will own the implementation of the strategy is critical. develop appropriate activities (strategy making) to enable the organization to manage data with sufficient granularity to manage privacy risks. develop appropriate activities (strategy making) to enable the organization to manage data with sufficient granularity to manage privacy and security risks. completeness the addition is logical and enhances the solution by adding “security risks” to privacy risks. 132 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 develop a cybersecurity risk management profile for use in strategy formulation. develop a cybersecurity risk management profile for use in strategy formulation. no change – no recommended rewording or comments were provided by the panelists. note. no new solutions were proposed. table 10 round 1 synthesized solutions passed to round 2 – value creation original solution synthesized solution justification ensure value creation is a foundational governance principle. ensure value creation is a foundational governance principle. no change – comments did not offer rewording. develop means to ensure it services meet current and future business requirements. develop means to ensure it services meet current and future business requirements. the original wording will remain for this practice. a review of the original practice sources from iso38500 intended to address any it services are meant to do what is necessary not overengineered or underengineered to meets its purpose. ensuring any it service meets requirements required resources. requirements in technical disciplines are another way to describe how resources are expended (tasks and money are not separable). develop strategies to optimize it investments to support organizational objectives. develop strategies to optimize it investments to support organizational objectives including the identification and reduction of risk. completeness. 133 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal ensure the information and cybersecurity governance plans answer stakeholder needs by enhancing societal values. ensure the information and cybersecurity governance plans answer stakeholder needs by enhancing societal values. no change – comments did not offer rewording. develop a performance measurement strategy to report information security metrics to assure the achievement of organizational objectives. develop a performance measurement strategy to report information security metrics to allow for informed decision making in the pursuit of organizational objectives. completeness communicate the firm’s cybersecurity practices to build trust and confidence that critical business information is protected in the eyes of the customer. communicate the firm’s cybersecurity practices to build trust and confidence that critical business information is protected in the eyes of the customer. no change – comments did not offer rewording. develop information security metrics that measure security practices' impact on organizational objectives. develop information security metrics that measure security practices' impact on organizational objectives. no change – comments did not offer rewording. develop a cybersecurity kpi scorecard that reflects measures the value of security investments. develop a cybersecurity kpi scorecard that measures the value of security investments. clarity cybersecurity investments to protect business information should be made proactively to obtain a competitive advantage. cybersecurity investments should be made to proactively to protect business information. clarity cybersecurity investments to protect business information should be made reactively as cyber threat information is made available. cybersecurity threats should be continuously monitored, and new investments should be made as additional threat information becomes available. the panelist comments state that investments are made based on a "reaction to new information" and aligns with the intent of the original practice. 134 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 communicate to the stakeholders the importance the company places on protecting business information. communicate to the stakeholders the importance the company places on protecting business information. no change – comments did not offer rewording. develop additional security planning to support organizational growth objectives. cybersecurity investments to protect business information should be made to address current and emerging risk to the organization. new solution. new solution. note: additional practices suggested by the panelists are in red. round 2 data collection the synthesized and new solutions from tables 8, 9, and 10 became the foundation of the round 2 instrument. the goal for round 2 was to learn whether the experts felt the solutions gleaned from literature from large firm research could also be desirable (useful) and feasible (existing, affordable, and manageable) for smes. the rating system used likert-type scales as shown in table 11. table 11 round 2 instrument ratings rating level desirability feasibility 5 very desirable very feasible 4 desirable feasible 3 neither desirable nor undesirable neither feasible nor infeasible 2 undesirable infeasible 1 very undesirable very infeasible the round 2 survey was opened from june 15 to 22, 2021, with email reminders sent on june 18th and 20th. the survey achieved a 100% response rate (n = 20) and, on average, participants spent 27 minutes completing the survey. the predetermined requirement for earning a “desirable and feasible” final rating was 4 or above for each category. round 2 data analysis the round 2 scores for desirability and feasibility were analyzed using the threshold of 75% for advancing the solution to round 3. tables 8 to 10 provide the advanced solutions with their scores. 135 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 8 security culture solutions advanced to round 3 solution desirability feasibility periodically audit any existing company policies and culture to create a set of key performance indicators (kpi) to establish a baseline security culture reinforced with cybersecurity training and awareness programs. 90% 75% create periodic information and cybersecurity training and awareness programs that educate employees on how to detect and respond to security threats. 95% 95% establish a comprehensive training program to promote information security knowledge among employees with additional training available depending on the employee role (i.e., secure coding for developers). 95% 80% a corporate learning initiative should be enacted or implemented to ensure that all appropriate aspects of information security are communicated to all levels of the organization. 100% 75% security policies, procedures, processes, and practices should be kept simple, clear, and effective to ensure that employees can easily understand them making it easier to comply. 95% 75% develop awareness programs that are "top-down" in the organizations to ensure that all levels understand the policies, procedures, processes, practices, and the importance of protecting business information. 90% 85% develop and maintain access control plans to control who can access what business information based on a “need to know” principles. 100% 95% develop employee training and reward programs to enhance employee "buy in". 85% 80% cybersecurity news and general how-to's should be regularly shared with staff to encourage a sense of security culture normalcy. 90% 75% 136 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 if a cyber incident occurs, employees should be informed of needed behavioral changes, and training programs should be developed if needed. 95% 95% monitor the network with security information and event management (siem) tools. 100% 85% table 9 strategic alignment solutions advanced to round 3 solution desirability feasibility an aligned business and security strategy and roadmap should be created and updated annually. 100% 85% ensure that the information security strategy considers the current and ongoing needs of the business strategy. 90% 85% develop an organizational strategy to manage cybersecurity risks that supports enterprise objectives with clearly defined ownership. 100% 75% table 10 value creation solutions advanced to round 3 solution desirability feasibility ensure value creation is a foundational governance principle. 90% 75% communicate the firm’s cybersecurity practices to build trust and confidence that critical business information is protected in the eyes of the customer. 85% 90% cybersecurity investments should be made to proactively to protect business information. 95% 80% cybersecurity threats should be continuously monitored, and new investments should be made as additional threat information becomes available. 100% 75% communicate to the stakeholders the importance the company places on protecting business information. 95% 100% 137 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal solution desirability feasibility cybersecurity investments to protect business information should be made to address current and emerging risk to the organization. 100% 75% after applying the 75% threshold, 20 solutions moved to round 3 from a field of 44 (table 11). the panel rated one solution as undesirable: “ensure the information and cybersecurity governance plans answer stakeholder needs by enhancing societal values,” with a desirability score of 55%. all other omitted solutions were rated infeasible for smes, even though they were desirable. table 11 percentage of solutions advanced to round 3 key business concept total count desirable feasible advanced to round 3 security culture 20 20 11 55% strategic alignment 11 11 3 27% value creation 13 12 6 50% round 2 themes comments provided by the panelists for each of the solutions presented were qualitatively analyzed to create themes. round 2 theme 1: types of training to assist with sme cybersecurity. p2 thought “departmental” training was appropriate, and p3, p4, and p20 suggested that “role-based training was desirable as a security culture-building practice.” however, comments recommended not training people about legal issues. p1 stated, “i can’t see a company of my size trying to train everyone on legal regulations of cybersecurity.” p9 stated this was desirable “but heavy” and p13 suggested that “this one seems tough because legal regulations regarding cybersecurity is broad. currently, it is trying to achieve the fact that employees are made aware of cybersecurity trends and actions; applicable regulations may be an unnecessary uplift for ‘all employees’”. p2 said, “i don’t need to have contract knowledge,” and p3 said, “few benefit from knowing the legal framework surrounding it all.” round 2 theme 2: top-down solutions for sme cyber policies difficult. some commenters were negative about upper-leadership’s inputs into policymaking. p6 stated, “many think they are above the law. in many ways, they are,” yet p7 said, “if senior leadership is not driving and leading by example, this all falls apart quickly.” p1 said, “my c-suite has zero interest in any sort of security initiatives, let alone taking ownership of any,” and p4 warned, “you don’t want 138 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 someone in leadership that knows nothing about security telling you what you need.” overall, commenters suggested that upper leadership in smes may be part of the security problem. other thoughts from round 2 to round 3. panelists did comment that the study was useful. p1 offered via the user interviews internal messaging platform, “really enjoying the surveys so far! interesting questions i've never thought about before that i'm going to implement in my own organization.” p11 offered, “this was very insightful. really in-depth questions which really made me think about different possibilities and scenarios.” p16 offered, i am deeply into cyber security, grc and been managing some large initiatives for fintech and social media companies. i usually like to stay ahead of the curve and these studies/surveys are one way to know and see how researchers are reinventing the cybersecurity landscape. round 3 data collection the round 3 survey, consisting of the remaining 20 solutions, was opened to participants from june 23 to 30, 2021, and received a 100% response rate with an average of 8 minutes spent. panelists rank-ordered the solutions within each category using a scale of 1 = most important, 2 = next most important, etc. figure 3 shows a sample survey question. figure 3 round 3 strategic alignment sample question round 3 data analysis the ranking decisions were analyzed using weighted averages, as per the following equation, where r = response count for the answer choice and w = weight of the ranking choice: 𝑟𝑟1𝑤𝑤1 + 𝑟𝑟2𝑤𝑤2 + ⋯𝑟𝑟𝑛𝑛𝑤𝑤𝑛𝑛 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑟𝑟 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑟𝑟𝑛𝑛𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑟𝑟𝑛𝑛𝑟𝑟 139 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal weights were reverse ranked to give the highest ranked item (1) the highest ranked store (i.e., 11 for security culture). tables 12 to 14 show the weighted average rankings for round 3, provided from highest ranked item (most important) to lowest ranked item (least important). table 12 security culture weighted average rankings solution score develop and maintain access control plans to control who can access what business information based on a “need to know” principles. 7.80 monitor the network with security information and event management (siem) tools. 7.25 develop awareness programs that are "top-down" in the organizations to ensure that all levels understand the policies, procedures, processes, practices, and the importance of protecting business information. 6.65 security policies, procedures, processes, and practices should be kept simple, clear, and effective to ensure that employees can easily understand them making it easier to comply. 6.45 establish a comprehensive training program to promote information security knowledge among employees with additional training available depending on the employee role (i.e., secure coding for developers). 6.10 develop employee training and reward programs to enhance employee "buy in". 6.00 if a cyber incident occurs, employees should be informed of needed behavioral changes, and training programs should be developed if needed. 5.90 a corporate learning initiative should be enacted or implemented to ensure that all appropriate aspects of information security are communicated to all levels of the organization. 5.80 create periodic information and cybersecurity training and awareness programs that educate employees on how to detect and respond to security threats. 5.60 cybersecurity news and general "how-to's" should be regularly shared with staff to encourage a sense of security culture normalcy. 4.55 periodically audit any existing company policies and culture to create a set of key performance indicators (kpi) to establish a baseline security culture reinforced with cybersecurity training and awareness programs. 3.90 140 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 table 13 strategic alignment solutions weighted average rankings solution score develop an organizational strategy to manage cybersecurity risks that supports enterprise objectives with clearly defined ownership. 2.45 ensure that the information security strategy considers the current and ongoing needs of the business strategy. 1.85 an aligned business and security strategy and roadmap should be created and updated annually. 1.70 table 14 value creation solutions weighted average rankings solution score cybersecurity threats should be continuously monitored and new investments should be made as additional threat information becomes available. 4.50 cybersecurity investments to protect business information should be made to address current and emerging risk to the organization. 4.40 cybersecurity investments should be made to proactively to protect business information. 3.55 communicate to the stakeholders the importance the company places on protecting business information. 2.95 communicate the firm’s cybersecurity practices to build trust and confidence that critical business information is protected in the eyes of the customer. 2.85 ensure value creation is a foundational governance principle. 2.75 round 4 data collection the round 4 survey measured the experts’ confidence level in the final set of solutions. open from july 2 to july 7, 2021, it received a 100% response rate with average time spent of 12 minutes. the instrument listed the solutions with the following scale of choices: 141 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 5 = very confident (low risk of being wrong), 4 = confident (some risk of being wrong), 3 = neither confident nor unconfident (neutral), 2 = unconfident (substantial risk of being wrong), 1 = very unconfident (great risk of being wrong). round 4 data analysis solutions receiving at least 70% of the panelists rating of 4 or higher were considered credible. tables 15 to 17 show the confidence rating scores. table 15 security culture confidence rating scoring totals solution 1 2 3 4 5 percent develop and maintain access control plans to control who can access what business information based on a “need to know” principles. 1 1 1 5 12 85 monitor the network with security information and event management (siem) tools. 1 1 3 5 10 75 develop awareness programs that are "top-down" in the organizations to ensure that all levels understand the policies, procedures, processes, practices, and the importance of protecting business information. 0 0 2 9 9 90 security policies, procedures, processes, and practices should be kept simple, clear, and effective to ensure that employees can easily understand them making it easier to comply. 0 0 2 6 12 90 establish a comprehensive training program to promote information security knowledge among employees with additional training available depending on the employee role (i.e., secure coding for developers). 0 1 9 10 8 95 develop employee training and reward programs to enhance employee "buy-in". 1 2 6 4 7 55 if a cyber incident occurs, employees should be informed of needed behavioral changes, and training programs should be developed if needed. 0 1 2 7 10 85 a corporate learning initiative should be enacted or implemented to ensure that all appropriate aspects of information security are communicated to all levels of the organization. 0 1 4 5 10 75 create periodic information and cybersecurity training and awareness programs that educate employees on how to detect and respond to security threats. 0 1 3 4 12 80 142 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 cybersecurity news and general "how-to's" should be regularly shared with staff to encourage a sense of security culture normalcy. 0 2 2 8 8 80 periodically audit any existing company policies and culture to create a set of key performance indicators (kpi) to establish a baseline security culture reinforced with cybersecurity training and awareness programs. 0 1 6 5 8 65 note: the practices highlighted in red did not meet the 70% confidence threshold. table 16 strategic alignment confidence rating scoring totals solution 1 2 3 4 5 percent develop an organizational strategy to manage cybersecurity risks that supports enterprise objectives with clearly defined ownership. 0 1 2 7 10 85 ensure that the information security strategy considers the current and ongoing needs of the business strategy. 0 2 2 7 9 80 an aligned business and security strategy and roadmap should be created and updated annually. 0 0 6 4 10 70 table 17 value creation confidence rating scoring totals solution 1 2 3 4 5 percent cybersecurity threats should be continuously monitored, and new investments should be made as additional threat information becomes available. 0 0 0 10 10 100 cybersecurity investments to protect business information should be made to address the current and emerging risk to the organization. 0 0 1 10 9 95 cybersecurity investments should be made to proactively to protect business information. 1 1 1 8 9 85 communicate to the stakeholders the importance the company places on protecting business information. 0 2 2 7 9 80 143 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal communicate the firm’s cybersecurity practices to build trust and confidence that critical business information is protected in the eyes of the customer. 0 3 2 6 9 75 ensure value creation is a foundational governance principle 1 1 6 5 7 60 note: the practice highlighted in red did not meet the required 70% confidence threshold. round 4 reasons for low confidence. the security culture had two low-confidence practices. the reasons for low-confidence ratings seemed somewhat conflicting. while multiple commenters stated that reward programs were unnecessary practices, other comments in the training area stated that certificates (often considered rewards) were important to give out after training. representative comments included p5’s “i don’t see the need for reward programs related to training. employees should be paid competitive wages, and their comp[ensation] will be based on job responsibility which entails the protection of information/security, etc.”; p8 stated, “training is critical, rewards may not be necessary,”; and p6 wrote that the focus should be on operations and not individual’s buy-in: i think this should be placed closer to the back of the list. we're talking about small companies, again, so i just don't think we should be focusing so much on the individual's buy-in to the program and more focused on the technical operations of the program. i think this is a valuable item, however. just not number 6. p9 stated, initial training process involves getting the employee a visual certificate for completing levels of training. management makes it a point to elevate employees who do well in training. p20 added, some employees need incentives to peak [sic] interest. no harm has ever come from offering rewards. p14 offered that developing employee buy-in was a good practice and should be mandatory. these comments suggested that there may not be a consensus among experts on the need to create a reward program to gain employee buy-in as it pertains to developing and building a security culture. p3 stated, you can’t manage what you don't measure. and p14 stated, this is a good practice and should be mandatory. p6 felt the practice deserved a higher overall ranking, this should be much higher up in the list. kpi's need to be established, reviewed, and measured frequently. p5 expressed, 144 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 operating effectiveness of existing internal control should be examined on at least an annual basis. external reviews or evaluations are essential for accountability and independence. the removal of periodically audit any existing company policies and culture to create a set of key performance indicators (kpi) to establish a baseline security culture reinforced with cybersecurity training and awareness programs seemed related to sme skepticism. p7 stated, getting this established is much easier than maintaining it. p8 offered, good practice, but goals need to be set with achievable milestones. this comment may suggest that achievable milestones are either overlooked or not established properly. p9 stated: this has been driven more by the weight of the damages to the organization instead of regularity...we have had some big hits this year, and our kpis did not help us get that under control...we are still developing strategies and kpis. the low-confidence value creation practice was ensure value creation is a foundational governance principle. p3 offered, sounds like this comes out of lean.. if it doesn't create (or have) value, don't do it. p9 stated, we review our process based on this key point....it is a fundamental agile principle. p14 offered this practice should be mandatory, and p6 stated, this will help the overall program succeed! p5 wrote, encourage value creation throughout an organization will yield more motivation and a better security culture. despite these five positive comments, the item earned lowered confidence due to significant neutral responses. results and discussion the results of the study fulfilled its original purpose of discovering strategic cybersecurity riskmanagement practices for smes and learning whether an expert panel agreed on the importance, desirability, feasibility, and confidence level of those practices. using an applied framework, the study was guided by previous research, the stated problem, and the gap in practice. two project questions were answered by the study: question 1: which forward-looking practices did a panel of is strategic experts identify as best fitting the needs of strategic cybersecurity risk management of sme business information? tables 8, 9, and 10 provided the forward-looking practices from the panel participants, while tables 12, 13, and 14 provided the ranked importance levels. question 2: which of the practices were is strategic experts able to reach consensus on as to their desirability and feasibility for strategic cybersecurity risk management of sme business information? 145 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal tables 15, 16, and 17 provided the panel experts’ choices of the solutions and practices they were most confident, as a team of experts, in assisting smes with their cybersecurity riskmanagement choices. discussion isaca (2012) defined a security culture as “a pattern of behaviors, beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, and ways of doing things” (p. 91). the study results confirmed the isaca definition. for example, the comments related to create periodic information and cybersecurity training and awareness programs that educate employees on how to detect and respond to security threats included p3’s, make it so and p14’s, this is a good practice and should be mandatory. adjust to the changing times/environment. p2 stated, should be mandatory, and p9 added, yes, we have training to match most recent types of attacks.... this has worked. the study replicated nel and drevin’s (2019) suggestion that training and awareness efforts are critical to building a security culture. strategic alignment is defined as information and cybersecurity plans and activities that enable enterprise business strategy and objectives (international organization for standardization, 2018; isaca, 2012). the results showed that the three practices suggest that a sme should align the business and security strategy using roadmaps that address current and future needs and risks, which comports with granneman’s (2018) suggestion that a roadmap for both the business and security strategy should be created. pratt (2019) had found one-third firms lacked cybersecurity strategies and connectwise (2022) has increased that estimate to two-thirds post-pandemic. the study panelists commented that smes most certainly need a cybersecurity strategy. p6 remarked, this is a key objective for an smb. security has to be seen as an enabler for the organization. p3 supported p6’s assertion, the whole reason for the security is to support the organization’s mission, and p20 stated, an aligned strategy is critical in meeting business goals. p10 added, my confidence assessment increases to the extent that information security policy is “written” into general business strategic thinking, one panelist offered his firm is actively engaging in this practice. value creation is defined as the demonstration of business value by positively contributing to business objectives resulting from information and cybersecurity activities or investments adjusted for risk (isaca, n.d.; isaca, 2012). the concept of value creation is predicated on the premise that information security should advantage the business in some way. the literature showed revenue, profits, innovation, customer retention, and growth are enhanced when robust cybersecurity practices are enacted in smes (lloyd, 2020). a key consideration for any business is the customers they serve. bailetti and craigen (2020) and hepfer and powell (2020) recommended that the value of cybersecurity practices should be communicated to stakeholders to build confidence and trust that confidential business information is protected. the study showed a theme of communicating the firm's security posture to customers and stakeholders. p5 stated, this is one of the best things that can be done, assuming there is data to back this up, and this is important at all companies. it gets more consideration when it is a public declaration or 146 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 contractual requirement for a certain level of information security (e.g., encryption of data, etc.). p20 stated, always communicate steps you’ve taken to harden security and effective communication with stakeholders is critical. p14 offered that communicating with customers and stakeholders is good practice and should be mandatory. another theme from the study that emerged centered around when and how to invest in creating value. p10 noted, investing in cybersecurity is critical to managing a program and in creating value. when addressing the practices that suggested investing in current and emerging threats and monitor the environment to uncover new threat information, p3 offered, match protection to the threat and adapt your security program to meet the threat environment. p9 supported p5 comments, i have learned that there are things you may not be able to plan for. you have to adjust across the board when new threats happen. p10 noted, proactive investment is critical to staying ahead in a rapidly evolving sector. this theme is supported by the findings in the literature review, where it was noted that some scholars suggest investments to protect business information should be made proactively, creating a competitive advantage. application and recommendations while the cyber threat continues to increase, sme leaders are unprepared (connectwise, 2022). this study produced practices that experts found were appropriate and implementable by smes which resulted in a new sme-focused cybersecurity risk-management framework (see figure 4). figure 4 the ashley information protection framework 147 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal note: the themes that emerged from the study results are noted on the original applied framework to create the new framework. practical application information security is a complex evolving issue to address. the aipf includes roles for all employees. table 18 shows the practices mapped to a theme and the critical factors in practice. one way to use this framework is to examine the critical factor and then apply the practice. for example, for strategic alignment key business concept, the critical factors are “define where you are going,” “define ownership,” and “only address needs.” the critical factors establish the goal and the practices define how to achieve the goal. table 18 key to using the ashley information protection framework key business concept theme practices critical factor in practice security culture training and awareness develop awareness programs that are "topdown" in the organizations to ensure that all levels understand the policies, procedures, processes, practices, and the importance of protecting business information. top to bottom awareness establish a comprehensive training program to promote information security knowledge among employees with additional training available depending on the employee role (i.e., secure coding for developers). train everyone based on needs if a cyber incident occurs, employees should be informed of needed behavioral changes, and training programs should be developed if needed. communicate changing training needs create periodic information and cybersecurity training and awareness programs that educate employees on how to detect and respond to security threats. teach employees to recognize issues 148 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 cybersecurity news and general "how-to's" should be regularly shared with staff to encourage a sense of security culture normalcy make security the “new normal.” simplicity security policies, procedures, processes, and practices should be kept simple, clear, and effective to ensure that employees can easily understand them, making it easier to comply. keep it simple access control develop and maintain access control plans to control who can access what business information based on a “need to know” principles. need to know for access monitor monitor the network with security information and event management (siem) tools. trust but verify periodically audit any existing company policies and culture to create a set of key performance indicators (kpi) to establish a baseline security culture reinforced with cybersecurity training and awareness programs. evolve with the times strategic alignment ownership develop an organizational strategy to manage cybersecurity risks that supports enterprise objectives with clearly defined ownership. define ownership needs-based ensure that the information security strategy considers the current and ongoing needs of the business strategy. only address needs roadmaps an aligned business and security strategy and roadmap should be created and updated annually. define where you are going. value creation 149 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal communicati on communicate the firm’s cybersecurity practices to build trust and confidence that critical business information is protected in the eyes of the customer. gain the trust of the customer communicate to the stakeholders the importance the company places on protecting business information. gain the trust of the stakeholder when and how to invest cybersecurity investments should be made proactively to protect business information. be proactive cybersecurity threats should be continuously monitored, and new investments should be made as additional threat information becomes available. data-driven investments cybersecurity investments to protect business information should be made to address the current and emerging risks to the organization. evolve your investments area for additional studies additional studies to assist smes in maintaining an adequate security posture are critical. finding ways of taking large firm practices and scaling them for smes is a needed gap in practice that future researchers could fill. for example, while develop additional security planning to support organizational growth objectives, achieved a 95% desirability score but a 60% feasibility score, research on how to increase feasibility is warranted. the aipf is future-looking in terms of emerging and evolving threats for current sme businesssize, but not with rapid growth. research which includes a growth-factor of risk is needed. as a firm grows, they tend to hire employees most often from other firms, changing culture, shifting training needs, and incorporating risks from loyalty shifts. a research project within that realm is encouraged. conclusion a panel of 20 cybersecurity experts agreed that 20 specific strategic practices (table 18, column practices) could apply to smes to assist them with reducing their risk of cyberbreaches. the aipf 2021 framework was created which extended the existing body of knowledge of business information protection to smes. sme owners and principles can take the findings from this study to begin creating and guiding their own cybersecurity strategic planning and practices. 150 june 2022 | volume 1, number 2 references akins, r. b., tolson, h., & cole, b. r. 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(2019). the global risk report 2019. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/wef_global_risks_report_2019.pdf world economic forum. (2020). the global risk report 2020. http://reports.weforum.org/globalrisks-report-2020/wild-wide-web/#view/fn-20 wu, y. a., & saunders, c. s. (2016). governing the fiduciary relationship in information security services. decision support systems, 92, 57-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2016.09.008 xu, f., luo, x., zhang, h., liu, s., & huang, w. (2019). do strategy and timing in it security investments matter? an empirical investigation of the alignment effect. information systems frontiers, 21(5), 1069-1083. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-017-9807-6 http://www3.weforum.org/docs/wef_global_risks_report_2019.pdf http://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-report-2020/wild-wide-web/#view/fn-20 http://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-report-2020/wild-wide-web/#view/fn-20 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2016.09.008 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-017-9807-6 abstract introduction background terms and definitions project questions applied framework the evolution of cybersecurity risk management literature security culture strategic alignment value creation modified delphi technique participant recruitment and requirements participant characteristics delphi data collection and analysis round 2 data analysis round 3 data collection round 3 data analysis round 4 data collection round 4 data analysis application and recommendations practical application area for additional studies conclusion 78 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 employee burnout, gender, and turnover intent in the banking industry toni k. bonton, dba | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, usa janice p. tucker, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, usa contact: drtkbonton@gmail.com abstract the impact gender has on employee burnout, and turnover intention among customer banking professionals in the southern united states was the focus of this study. a quantitative correlational approach was used to examine the relationship between gender, burnout, and turnover intent. eighty-four customer-oriented banking professionals completed the job satisfaction and turnover intention surveys. the results of this study revealed there is a significant relationship between banking professionals’ job satisfaction and their intention to leave their job but there was no statistically significant difference in gender-based responses to burnout and turnover intent. both men and women who experienced burnout were less satisfied with their jobs and more likely to leave their employment. the results of this study may assist leaders in the banking industry to better understand employee burnout and turnover intent and to develop methods to reduce turnover and minimize burnout. keywords: gender, burnout, turnover intent, banking, job satisfaction 79 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal introduction job burnout usually presents itself through various dimensions, such as emotional debility (exhaustion), mistrust in the motives of others (cynicism), and personal performance inadequacy (inefficacy) (leiter & maslach, 2017; van der merwe et al., 2020). burnout indicators lead employees to seek solutions that alleviate job stress (crego et al., 2013; mark & smith, 2018; williams et al., 2017). burnout can result in employees' intention to leave the organization. job-related stress is shared across a variety of industries. organizational demands for levels of production, coupled with concerns about insufficient training, limited advancement opportunities, unreasonable workloads, less-than-ideal hours, and inadequate pay, can begin to affect employees (subramony et al., 2021) negatively. turnover intent is defined as whether an employee will continue in or resign from their position (crego et al., 2013; mark & smith, 2018; williams et al., 2017). employees who have more interactions with customers are more prone to burnout and have high turnover rates (babakus & yavas, 2012; hassard et al., 2018; leiter & maslach, 2017; maslach & jackson, 1981; mcfarland & dixon, 2021; walsh, 2013). success in customer-oriented industries is defined as serving and satisfying customers while meeting acceptable sales quotas. customer-oriented industries include hospitality, culinary arts, accounting, academia, health care, retail, and journalism (guthrie & jones, 2012; hassard et al., 2018; subramony et al., 2021; walsh, 2013). while empirical data support a relationship between burnout and turnover intentions, limited theoretical research exists on gender-based responses to burnout and the resulting turnover intent in the banking industry (babakus & yavas, 2012; li et al., 2019; salama et al., 2022). the purpose of this quantitative study was to understand burnout and the resulting turnover intent in the banking industry by surveying customer-oriented bank employees experiencing job-related stress (also known as burnout) and considering or having considered resigning. background of the study the psychological anxiety stemming from job demands can cause employees to experience burnout because of decreased emotional well-being and soundness (self-assessed by the employee (cannon & herda, 2016; leiter & maslach, 2017; park, 2021). customer-oriented employees, such as bank professionals, have the task of recognizing and interpreting the needs of the customer so they may recommend products designed to ensure customer satisfaction and meet the needs of the customer (cruz-santiago et al., 2020; enkhjav et al., 2020; olusa & bolaji, 2020; udu & eke, 2018). the success or failure of this customer-employee exchange defines the salesperson's job performance. burnout symptoms can become prevalent when the pressure to perform at an expected level becomes excessive or overwhelming such as high sales quotas, long hours, and demanding customers (lacoste, 2018; schwepker & ingram, 2016). as symptoms of burnout persist, employees seek to explain the causality of these symptoms because humans have the predisposition to control themselves and their environment (crego et al., 2013; mark & smith, 2018; williams et al., 2017). trying to understand and identify the sources of burnout is a thought process that exhibits the dimensions of the attribution theory by causing the individual to question: (1) the source of the blame, (2) the level of influence from internal and external forces, and (3) how long the symptoms are expected to last (crego et al., 2013; mark & smith, 2018; williams et al., 80 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 2017). the outcome of this thought process may determine how each employee chooses to respond to the burnout they are experiencing (i.e., turnover intentions) (crego et al., 2013; mark & smith, 2018; williams et al., 2017). previous research has indicated men and women assign and respond to causality differently (adenugba et al., 2019; guthrie & jones, 2012; maslach & jackson, 1981). uncovering the relationship between gender, burnout, and turnover intent among banking professionals could help managers address situations concerning burnout and the resulting turnover by being better prepared for them (babakus & yavas, 2012). while extant research is present concerning burnout and the resulting turnover intentions within the banking industry, a paucity of research exists in examining the susceptibility to burnout and the resulting turnover intentions based on gender from the perspective of the impacted individuals (adenugba et al., 2019; babakus & yavas, 2012; guthrie & jones, 2012; maslach & jackson, 1981). babakus and yavas (2012) found banking professionals are prone to experiencing burnout and the resulting turnover intent because of the job demands associated with an expectation of constant customer orientation. existing empirical data supports the notion that individuals in customer-oriented industries are known to experience burnout and the subsequent turnover intent (lacoste, 2018; schwepker & ingram, 2016). however, data is scarce on gender-based responses, burnout, and turnover intent (adenugba et al., 2019; guthrie & jones, 2012; paredes-aguirre et al., 2022). the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between gender, burnout, and turnover intent among customer-oriented banking professionals in the southern united states. two research questions with corresponding hypotheses guided this correlational study. rq1: what is the relationship between gender and burnout among banking professionals? h10: there is no significant relationship between gender and burnout among banking professionals. h1a: there is a significant relationship between gender and burnout among banking professionals. rq2: what is the relationship between gender and turnover intentions among banking professionals? h10: there is no significant relationship between gender and turnover intentions among banking professionals. h1a: there is a significant relationship between gender and turnover intentions among banking professionals. literature review banking professionals are responsible for acknowledging and interpreting customer needs, recommending products and services to clients, and maintaining customer satisfaction (cruz-santiago et al., 2020; enkhjav et al., 2020; olusa & bolaji, 2020; udu & eke, 2018). customer satisfaction is measured by the number of customer-employee exchanges each employee has throughout a specified period that ends in a sale or financial benefit to the company (cruz-santiago et al., 2020; enkhjav et al., 81 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 2020; schwepker & ingram, 2016). pressure to meet high sales quotas, work long hours and satisfy demanding customers can evoke symptoms of burnout among employees (olusa & bolaji, 2020; schwepker & ingram, 2016). employees process and respond to stress differently based on gender (adenugba et al., 2019; guthrie & jones, 2012; maslach & jackson, 1981; olusa & bolaji, 2020). one of the most valuable resources a company can have is its employees (rama devi & nagini, 2013). when employees meet or exceed the performance expectations set by the organization's leaders, the organization has a higher competitive advantage than comparable organizations (abate et al., 2018; rama devi & nagini, 2013). if organizations want to increase employee productivity, they must ensure their employees can maintain a healthy work-life balance (hermanson et al., 2016; omar et al., 2021). an employee with a healthy work-life balance can meet the demands of a job and personal life equally or at least at a level that does not cause any undue discomfort (abate et al., 2018; hermanson et al., 2016; omar et al., 2021; rama devi & nagini, 2013; walsh, 2013). stress and burnout stress has been characterized as a stimulus that produces a mental reaction that forces the individual to determine how the individual approaches the stimulant (masood, 2011). whether physical or psychological, once the threat of stress is presented, the natural response is to equalize the emotional arousal until the danger is eliminated or diminished (cannon & herda, 2016; giorgi et al., 2017; park, 2021). although stress is unfavorable, a certain amount of stress can be expected when delivering a job performance that an organization would deem successful (hassard et al., 2018). however, when the push to meet or exceed company expectations becomes excessive, employees experience burnout and face the pressure of deciding whether to continue working with the organization (hassard et al., 2018). stress can harm memory or the ability to retain pertinent, job-related information, delay reaction times necessary to function correctly, diminish the focus needed to complete assigned tasks, reduce accuracy, inhibit creativity, and hinder performance (masood, 2011; muresan, 2015). additionally, stress can impair effective and efficient decision-making skills and contribute to errors in cognitive tasks (muresan, 2015). these effects, however, only occur once the stress becomes excessive or overwhelming. until then, the stress serves as arousal and prompts the employee to continue at a specific capacity to reach a certain level of performance (akther et al., 2017; muresan, 2015). figure 1 depicts the relationship between work performance and stress level. figure 1 the progression of employee work performance in relation to the progression of employee stress level. 82 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 note. adapted from "sales productivity reported to occupational stress in the retail banking field," by j. d. muresan, 2015, economic insights – trends & challenges, 67(3), p. 134. copyright 2015 by economic insights – trends & challenges. reprinted with permission customer-oriented professionals are thought to have a higher propensity to burnout and turnover intent because of high expectations (schwepker & ingram, 2016). a personal banker is responsible for making the customer happy by making them feel the bank can be trusted with their financial needs; however, the banker is also responsible for bringing in new accounts, loans, credit cards, and other financial products. when the banker's needs parallel customer needs, equilibrium occurs. however, when the financial products made available by the bank do not meet the needs of the customer, the banker is tasked with finding a way to satisfy and retain the customer while figuring out a way to ensure the organizational goals of the bank leaders are accomplished (schwepker & ingram, 2016). burnout is inevitable when the banker is continuously tasked with rectifying customer-company misalignment (babakus & yavas, 2012; zah, 2022). in its simplest definition, burnout refers to long-term exposure to job-related stress (mcfarland & dixon, 2021). diaz (2022) defined job burnout as overwhelming emotional exhaustion and mistrust of leaders of the organization and their peers. emotional debility can emerge when an individual can no longer perform at an expected level but has the requisite skills and ability or lacks the physical or emotional energy to continue performing at the desired level (cannon & herda, 2016; maslach, 1982; park, 2021). when an individual experiencing burnout is emotionally exhausted, coupled with cynicism, selfimposed feelings of inadequacy about one's performance and competence can ensue (guthrie & jones, 2012; leiter & maslach, 2017; van der merwe et al., 2020). this aspect of burnout has been defined as a mental reduction of personal accomplishments or inefficacy that causes individuals to doubt what was once thought personally or professionally possible (maslach, 1982). for banking professionals, burnout is quite common because of the demanding work environments. the burden of success falls on the individual employees of each branch. burnout is experienced for myriad reasons. holland et al. (2021) found almost half of the banking professionals in the united states experienced moderate stress. a shortage of skills and the inability to interpret and implement complex policies force banking professionals to work with little to no training or skill development, which fosters 83 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal burnout (verdana & satrya, 2022). this lack of training also exposed the employees to possible legal ramifications and unemployment if the respective financial institutions were closed for noncompliance, which increases work-related stress (paruk & singh, 2012). burnout can also stem from the occupational hazards associated with banking, such as the threat of violence and other acts of criminality (belias et al., 2013; bunn et al., 2013; poisat et al., 2014). employees that handle cash have a greater risk of being exposed to violence while at work (i.e., bank robberies and atm bombings); however, there may be a difference in gender-based responses to that violence (belias et al., 2013; bunn et al., 2013; poisat et al., 2014). female banking professionals may also be at higher risk of being targeted by criminals that prey on their perceived weakness in employing applicable cash-handling policies and procedures (belias et al., 2013; poisat et al., 2014). low wages may contribute to burnout among banking professionals. verdana and satrya (2022) concluded that job satisfaction and motivation among bank employees might be linked to the fact bank employees are paid lower wages than other industries. snyder (2022) found salaried female bank employees earn an average of 4% less than their male counterparts, and minorities earn, on average, 4.5% less than nonminorities. turnover intent turnover intent describes an employee's preoccupation regarding their future employment with an organization (ali, 2018; kaufmann et al., 2022; leiter & maslach, 2017). the decision to leave an organization can stem from several factors; however, turnover often stems from employee burnout (ali, 2018; babakus & yavas, 2012; kaufmann et al., 2022). job demands that lead to burnout can cause an individual to feel forced into deciding whether remaining with an employer would reduce or eliminate the stress brought on by the working conditions they are experiencing (crego et al., 2013; mark & smith, 2018; williams et al., 2017). job satisfaction and organizational commitment can provide some insight into turnover intent. job satisfaction is an optimistic emotional state that occurs when an employee is content with all, or at least a majority, of the present job situations, including management, salary, working environment and conditions, organizational peers, growth opportunities, and the potential for professional longevity (abate et al., 2018; giorgi et al., 2017; yorulmaz et al., 2017). turnover intent arises when an employee is no longer satisfied with their job, and there is an absence of trust in management to have the employee's best interest at heart (ali, 2018; giorgi et al., 2017; kaufmann et al., 2022). an employee that is no longer satisfied with their job and management feels no obligation or further commitment to the organization (abate et al., 2018). addai et al. (2022) found a direct link between the job insecurity of banking sector employees and their turnover intentions. when employees do not feel equipped to perform the job, turnover is a response to uncertainty about success within the organization and future job security (mei-fang et al., 2011; schwepker & ingram, 2016; yan et al., 2021). role conflict, ambiguity, and overload can also lead to employee turnover. role overload occurs when an employee perceives the demands of a job are excessive and go beyond their abilities and motivation to perform the required job duties (mei-fang et al., 2011). even in the absence of role conflict and ambiguity, role stress can lead to turnover as the demanding nature of customer-oriented industries often 84 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 requires an employee to allocate as much time as possible to engage in customer interactions (giorgi et al., 2017; mei-fang et al., 2011; yan et al., 2021). this ambiguity causes employees to take more time to complete other required tasks, such as administrative duties, reports, customer follow-ups, attending a meeting, and planning future sales activities (giorgi et al., 2017; mei-fang et al., 2011; yan et al., 2021). turnover resulting from role overload may result from an employee's desire to act in a job capacity with less responsibility (schwepker & ingram, 2016). the working environment in the banking industry leads to a high level of turnover (shahid et al., 2012; sliter et al., 2012). larger banks can sometimes have a turnover rate as high as 50%, with about 40% of that total attributed to tellers alone (addai et al., 2022; sliter et al., 2012; springer, 2011). tellers serve as primary frontline employees and are often the most underpaid banking professionals, have heavy workloads due to higher customer contact, and have irregular schedules (shahid et al., 2012; sliter et al., 2012). working more and being paid less leads to a higher propensity to turnover (addai et al., 2022). turnover can also serve as a stressor to employees. organizations facing high turnover rates task themselves with continuously spending money on hiring and training new employees and funding programs that promote employee retention and discourage employee attrition (sen, 2012). analyzing the relationship, if any, between burnout, turnover intent, and gender may be the best way of understanding the managerial implications behind analyzing burnout and the resulting turnover intent (cohen et al., 2020; tiwari et al., 2019). gender men and women view burnout and turnover intent differently as they have different expectations from their respective careers (adenugba et al., 2019; guthrie & jones, 2012; olusa & bolaji, 2020). research on gender-based issues is gaining prominence as more women enter the workforce. since 2017, women have accounted for more than half of the professionals in the financial services industry (parker, 2020). despite the figures, the number of women in executive and board positions totals less than 20 percent (chart of the week imf, 2022). the under-representation of women in senior management roles in the banking industry may mediate job-related stress among women (bunn et al., 2013; snyder, 2022; springer, 2011). traditional stereotypes limit the opportunities available for women in the banking industry (snyder, 2022). women have fewer opportunities to advance their careers and face pay inequalities compared to their male counterparts in the same industry (cohen et al., 2020; tiwari et al., 2019). this "glass ceiling" can cause women to be more assertive, task-oriented, aggressive, and competitive toward their organizational peers (cohen et al., 2020; tiwari et al., 2019). the perception of a healthy work-life balance varies between men and women. researchers suggested women still assume a primary role in caring for a family (cohen et al., 2020; tiwari et al., 2019). women reported having a higher responsibility in family care, while men reported a higher priority in work roles (cohen et al., 2020; tiwari et al., 2019). differences in gender roles at home affect the amount of job-related stress levied by a disproportionate work-life balance and the possibility for burnout and turnover intent (cohen et al., 2020; spector & zhou, 2014; tiwari et al., 2019). for this 85 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal reason, turnover may be lower among professionals prioritizing work roles over family roles (cohen et al., 2020; spector & zhou, 2014; tiwari et al., 2019). women comprise most of the banking industry but are grossly under-represented in upper management positions (bunn et al., 2013; springer, 2011). women primarily hold jobs that require a more nurturing relationship to build rapport or foster successful customer-company interactions, such as tellers and a growing number of bankers (bunn et al., 2013). the emotional nature of these positions may be a mediating factor in determining why women are usually sought to fill these positions (cohen et al., 2020; springer, 2011; tiwari et al., 2019). methodology the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to explore the relationship between gender, burnout, and turnover intentions among customer-oriented banking professionals within the southern united states. research on gender responses to burnout and causal attribution currently exists (jones et al., 2012). however, the primary focus is not on a gender-based proclivity to burnout and turnover intent from a narrative perspective (guthrie & jones, 2012). understanding the differences in gender responses to burnout and the resulting turnover intent may provide insight into how employees and employers should interpret and ultimately approach the symptoms of burnout and the resulting consequences (attar et al., 2021; o'neill & davis, 2011). the focus of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between gender, burnout, and turnover intent among banking professionals. male and female employees process job-related stress differently; therefore, burnout and the resulting turnover intent may be experienced differently (attar et al., 2021; guthrie & jones, 2012). male and female employee responses (independent variable) were separated and tested for gender-based differences. the dependent variables were burnout and turnover intent. each dependent variable was measured separately against the independent variable to check for a correlation between the variables. the first research question addressed the relationship between the independent variable, gender, and the dependent variable, burnout. the second research question focused on the relationship between the independent variable, gender, and the dependent variable, turnover intentions. the following research questions and hypotheses were used to guide this qualitative study: rq1: what is the relationship between gender and burnout among banking professionals? h10: there is no significant relationship between gender and burnout among banking professionals. h1a: there is a significant relationship between gender and burnout among banking professionals. rq2: what is the relationship between gender and turnover intentions among banking professionals? 86 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 h10: there is no significant relationship between gender and turnover intentions among banking professionals. h1a: there is a significant relationship between gender and turnover intentions among banking professionals. the maslach burnout inventory was the original measurement of burnout symptoms experienced by professionals in customer-oriented industries or professionals with high levels of customer interactions (maslach & jackson, 1981). the original instrument measured symptoms of burnout by surveying feelings of mental overextension and exhaustion (emotional debility), uncertainty or mistrust in the objectives of others (cynicism), and feelings of professional incompetence or an inability to perform as expected in the workplace (inefficacy) (maslach & jackson, 1981). babakus and yavas (2012) modified the original survey instrument to include elements meant to cater to the banking industry and assess turnover. using the modified maslach burnout inventory, participants self-assess themselves and their work environment by answering questions regarding the office culture, personal performance, job duties, and future career plans (babakus & yavas, 2012). after conducting a pilot study, the factors in the instrument underwent further construct analysis to quantify the reliability of the instrument (babakus & yavas, 2012). except for one, all correlation coefficients regarding reliability exceeded the 0.70 benchmarks (babakus & yavas, 2012). the remaining construct revealed a coefficient of 0.63; however, the deficiency was not enough to hinder the overall reliability of the instrument (babakus & yavas, 2012). data collection survey data was collected from customer-oriented banking professionals within the southern united states. a third-party service, zoho survey, was selected to identify and administer the electronic survey to qualified participants based on specific inclusion criteria. participants needed to self-identify as male or female and be currently employed in a customer-facing position within a banking institution in the southern united states. for the purposes of this study, the southern united states included: alabama, arkansas, georgia, kentucky, louisiana, mississippi, north caroline, south caroline, tennessee, virginia, and west virginia. customer-facing job titles included: bank teller, customer service representative, specialist or agent, loan processor, bank associate, and service consultant. the survey invitation was extended until a total of 84 usable responses were collected. participants received an invitation to participate in the study via an online panel. the survey link directed the participants to an anonymous, self-administered survey page hosted by zoho. the purpose of the study, confidentiality measures taken, participant requirements, and instructions for survey completion were on the landing page of the survey. if participants wished to continue, they were asked prerequisite qualifying questions. if participants met the requirements, they were required to agree and sign the informed consent form before proceeding to the survey. participation in this study was strictly voluntary. each participant was free to refuse, continue, or cease participation at any time during the study. to ensure anonymity, zoho does not collect personally identifiable information (zoho, 2021). each participant was assigned a unique identifier before 87 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal answering the survey questions. the survey data obtained preserved confidentiality by encrypting all collected data with a 256-bit algorithm and password protection, which will be held in a secured lock box for five years, at which point, all data will be destroyed. data analysis the minimum sample size needed to minimize type 2 error was 84. a post hoc analysis is shown in figure 2, indicating the 84 (.80) threshold was met. the data was exported from zoho to r commander (rcmdr) for descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. figure 2 g*power post hoc the target population for this study was customer-oriented banking professionals within the southern united states. the descriptive statistics of qualified, completed surveys are shown in table 1. all participants were between 18 and 24, had a minimum of a high school diploma, and were in contact with customers at least 20% of the time. men comprised 51% of the participants, while women accounted for 49%. thirty-seven percent of men were between the ages of 35-44, and 34% of women were between 18-24. the highest level of education among men was a postgraduate degree, 51%; however, among women, the highest level of education was a bachelor's degree, 41%. eighty-eight percent of men reported having more than 40% of customer contact, while 78% of women reported having more than 40% of customer contact. table 1 descriptive statistic of completed surveys 88 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 male female category n % n % participants 43 51% 41 49% age 18-24 7 16% 14 34% 25-34 14 33% 13 32% 35-44 16 37% 10 24% 45-54 4 9% 2 5% 55+ 2 5% 2 5% education high school diploma 5 12% 7 17% college certification 5 12% 9 22% bachelor's degree 11 25% 17 41% postgraduate degree 22 51% 8 20% customer contact 20-39% 5 12% 9 22% 40-59% 14 33% 14 34% 60-79% 16 37% 9 22% 80-100% 8 18% 9 22% the summary of the data set is shown in table 2. the mean for burnout among women was 3.6967, with a standard deviation of 0.5953, meaning the burnout rating did not deviate much from the mean. the 89 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal standard deviation for burnout among men was 0.6371, meaning the burnout rating did not deviate much from the mean of 3.9197. the turnover intent rating deviated more from the mean for men and women. the turnover intent mean for women was 2.8598, with a standard deviation of 1.3579. the turnover intent mean for men was 3.1802, with a standard deviation of 1.1906. neither of the variables resulted in a value higher or lower than 1; however, the skewness of burnout was positively skewed, while the skewness of turnover intent was negatively skewed. the results for kurtosis were similar. since the variable has a kurtosis within the acceptable range +/-2, outliers were not expected. table 2 summary statistics dataset variable m sd skew kurto n burnout female 3.6967 0.5953 0.4841 -0.7790 41 male 3.9197 0.6371 0.0069 -1.2028 43 turnover intent female 2.8598 1.3579 -0.1128 -1.2173 41 male 3.1802 1.1906 -0.1081 -0.7153 43 cronbach's α was computed to confirm the reliability of each variable. similar to the original reliability testing by babakus and yavas (2012), one variable revealed a coefficient of less than 0.70, but the deficit was not enough to impede the overall reliability of the instrument. the reliability scores of each variable are demonstrated in table 3. table 3 reliability of survey instruments variable n α burnout 84 0.67 turnover intent 84 0.93 90 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 a series of tests to examine outliers and normality were conducted. histograms, scatterplots, and box plots were constructed to create a picture of each variable's data distribution by gender. the burnout histogram, shown in figure 3, was slightly right-skewed among female participants and slightly leftskewed among male participants; however, no outliers were portrayed in the boxplot in figure 4. figure 3 burnout histogram figure 4 burnout boxplot 91 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal the qq plot presented in figure 5 illustrates a positive linear relationship between gender and burnout among female participants. the same appeared to be true for male participants. figure 5 burnout qq plot similar to the burnout histogram, the turnover histogram depicted in figure 6 was faintly right-skewed among female participants and somewhat left-skewed among male participants. as with burnout, no outliers were illustrated in the boxplot shown in figure 7. figure 6 turnover intent histogram 92 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 figure 7 turnover intent boxplot the qq plot presented in figure 8 demonstrates a positive linear relationship between gender and turnout among male participants however, not among female participants. turnover intent among female participants does not appear to have a linear relationship. figure 8 turnover intent qq plot an anderson-darling normality test was used to calculate the p-value of both variables according to gender and confirm or deny whether the variables were normally distributed. the normality test revealed burnout (p = 0.053) and turnover intent (p = 0.221) among male participants were normally distributed. however, only burnout among female participants (p = 0.79) was normally distributed, while turnover intent (p = 0.003) among female participants was not normally distributed, as shown in table 4. 93 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 4 anderson-darling test of normality variable a p-value burnout female 0.659 0.079 male 0.723 0.053 turnover intent female 1.242 0.003 male 0.481 0.221 results pearson's r was used to analyze the correlation between gender, burnout, and turnover intentions among male participants. parametric tests are used to calculate a correlation coefficient based on the actual value of the variable (akoglu, 2018). the correlation coefficient shown in table 5 signifies a moderate relationship because the value (r = 0.372) is in the 0.3 to 0.5 range moderate classification for pearson's r (akoglu, 2018). table 5 pearson's correlation of gender, burnout, and turnover intent 95% ci cor lower upper t df p-value male 0.372 0.080 0.604 2.562 41 0.0142 94 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 a non-parametric test was used for turnover intent among female participants because it was not normally distributed. spearman's rho was used to analyze the correlation between gender, burnout, and turnover intent among female participants. the results of the spearman's rho test, represented in table 6, indicate a moderate relationship between burnout and turnover intent among female participants because the value (r2 = 0.311) is within the 0.30 to 0.39 moderate range classification for spearman's rho (akoglu, 2018). table 6 spearman's correlation of gender, burnout, and turnover intent spearman's rho s p-value correlation coefficient female 7910.3 0.0478 0.311 the research was intended to address the impact of gender on burnout and gender on turnover intent in the banking industry. an independent sample t-test was used to examine the gender differences in burnout. the mean of female participants was 3.70, while male participants rated their burnout higher at 3.92. a p-value of .05 or less would indicate the results are not significant. as shown in table 7, the pvalue is 0.101 indicating the results are not statistically significant thus, the null hypothesis cannot be rejected and there does not appear to be a relationship between gender and burnout. an independent t-test was also used to determine if there was a relationship between gender and turnover intent. as shown in table 7, the p-value for turnover intent was .254 which indicates the results for gender differences in turnover intent are not significant. it does not appear gender affects a banking professionals’ intention to leave their job and the null hypothesis cannot be rejected. table 7 independent sample t-test 95% ci mean (f) mean (m) diff lower upper t df p burnout 3.70 3.92 0.22 -0.490 0.046 1.658 81.968 0.101 turnover intent 95 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 2.86 3.18 0.32 -0.876 0.235 1.148 79.470 0.254 summary of findings and implications the correlation coefficient for the pearson's r conducted on burnout and turnover intent among male participants indicated a moderate positive relationship. the spearman's rho conducted on burnout, and turnover intent among female participants also indicated a moderate positive relationship. while there does appear to be a correlation between a person’s level of burnout and intention to leave their banking job, there was no significant difference between males and females and job burnout and their intention to leave their jobs. these results imply males and females who experience workplace burnout are more likely to indicate they intend to leave their jobs, but their gender did not appear to influence their decision. the results of this study indicate there is a significant relationship between burnout among banking professionals and their intent to leave their job but there is no significant relationship between gender and turnover intentions among banking professionals. implications the theoretical foundation that framed this study was the attribution theory. the attribution theory suggests people desire to understand the underlying cause of behaviors and that understanding can influence their response to those behaviors (lee et al., 2022; weiner, 2012). individuals genuinely need to figure out why something is happening and what can be done to change the undesired outcome. thus, understanding the relationship between employee burnout, and turnover intent has significant implications regarding an organization's ability to help employees manage their burnout and reduce turnout. this study provides added knowledge to the limited research concerning the impact of gender on burnout and turnover intent in the banking industry. this study also gives valuable data and unbiased results, using a quantitative approach and statistical analysis to determine if gender relates to burnout and turnover intent. although the study is credible, it focused on customer-oriented banking professionals in a small part of the united states and may not be generalizable outside the banking industry or geographic location studied. the data obtained in this study can be used to help employers manage employee turnover by helping alleviate, or lessen, burnout. employers who recognize employees’ responses to work-related stress can support employees in identifying the onset of burnout and being aware of what may be causing the symptoms (ahmadi & maleki, 2022; guthrie & jones, 2012). in addition to educating employees on their responses to job stress, employers can institute programs to aid employee retention by helping employees manage job stress (scott, 2022). developing an understanding of how burnout and turnover intent affects employees of all genders is beneficial for an organization to diminish turnover intent by empowering their employees to minimize work-related stress. 96 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 recommendations and conclusion further research on the impact of gender, burnout, and turnover intent is needed. one suggestion for future research is to examine how additional demographical factors, like age, education, or even race, may influence gender-based responses to job stress and the resulting turnover intent. because burnout and the resulting turnover intent may change as banking professionals spend more time in their position or the industry, a future research study could focus on the amount of experience a banking professional has in their position or the industry overall. this study could also be expanded upon by including mixed methods, such as one-on-one interviews in addition to the survey, to gain comprehensive viewpoints. organizations should foster an environment where employees can create a healthy work-life balance by encouraging employees to utilize their paid time off. organization decision-makers should also ensure employees are aware of benefits like employee assistance programs or similar employer-funded counseling programs where employees can seek assistance with work-related stress and other issues that may affect their ability to perform at work. another recommendation is for managers to periodically conduct internal surveys to monitor employee burnout and its propensity to become turnover intent. improving employee responses to burnout and the resulting turnover intent can be beneficial to organizations. promoting a healthy work-life balance may improve an organization's capacity to combat turnover intent. there can be a complex relationship between gender, turnover intent, and employee burnout. however, the exact nature of this relationship is dependent upon various factors, including the industry, organizational culture, and individual experiences of employees. role overload, discrimination, and a lack of social support in the workplace can lead to burnout and increased turnover intentions (rusch & kosters, 2021). employees may feel leaving the organization is the only way to alleviate their stress and improve their work-life balance. employees who feel undervalued or unsupported in their work may be more likely to experience burnout and ultimately decide to leave the organization (zah, 2022). more research is needed to fully understand the relationship between gender, turnover intent, and employee burnout and to develop effective interventions to address these issues in the workplace. 97 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal references abate, j., schaefer, t., & pavone, t. 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(2017). a meta-analysis of the relationship between teachers' job satisfaction and burnout. eurasian journal of educational research, 71, 175–192. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/ejer/issue/42485/511775 zah, s. (2022). can we predict turnover intention in palestinian nursing students? the relationship between resilience, burnout, and turnover intention. nursing & healthcare international journal, 6(3), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.23880/nhij-16000263 zoho. (2021). privacy policy. https://www.zoho.com/privacy.html https://doi-org.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/10.4102/sajems.v23i1.3710 https://doi-org.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/10.4102/sajems.v23i1.3710 https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2017.812124 https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/ejer/issue/42485/511775 https://www.zoho.com/privacy.html 103 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal register and submit your work to business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master’s/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master’s degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ abstract introduction background of the study literature review figure 1 gender methodology table 1 figure 3 figure 4 figure 5 figure 6 table 4 results table 5 table 6 table 7 summary of findings and implications implications recommendations and conclusion corporate social responsibility: a quantitative analysis of the differences between black and white employees in the financial services industry jeffrey hughes, dba| experian employer services, costa mesa, ca, usa janice tucker, phd| columbia southern university, orange beach, al, usa contact: jhughes1250@gmail.com mailto:jhughes1250@gmail.com abstract corporate social responsibility initiatives affect all stakeholders within an organization to varying degrees. there is often a lack of understanding by key company decision-makers of how csr activities affect employees of different races. the purpose of this casual-comparative study was to examine the differences in mean csr scores between employees in the financial services industry who self-identify their race as white or black. the stakeholder theory, which stresses the interconnectedness of various organizational stakeholders, provided the theoretical framework of this study. one hundred and fifty participants employed in the financial services sector and living in the midwest region of the us were recruited to complete turker's csr survey. an independent samples t-test was used to evaluate the mean differences in csr scores in black and white employees. the findings indicated a statistically significant difference between the two groups' attitudes and perceptions of csr. an organization's leadership team should be mindful of these differences when creating and implementing csr initiatives, as it may impact their ability to recruit and retain top talent and maximize their overall profitability. keywords: leadership, human resource management, corporate social responsibility, race, stakeholder theory introduction corporate social responsibility is a business model that focuses on the environmental, ethical, social, and financial impacts of strategic business decisions (hayes & khartit, 2022). saad et al. (2021) and soni and mehta (2020) found that how organizations advertise and maintain positive corporate social responsibility (csr) activities can directly increase employee engagement, motivation, and retention. when csr policies and practices are promoted effectively, they can directly impact an organization's bottom line. csr efforts can provide tremendous benefits for leadership and human resource management (hrm) teams by assisting them in attracting and retaining top talent (schaefer et al., 2020). there is a gap in the literature on how the effects of csr activities differ among employee race groups. logan (2019) states, "when corporations embrace a responsibility to race, they have an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to operating ethically while differentiating their organizations from those of the past and present that directly or indirectly support racial inequality and injustice" (p. 985). mcwilliams et al. (2019) suggest that organizations need to understand how csr-related actions affect their ability to attract and retain women and minorities in the future. many research studies focus on the impact of csr activities on different cultures (rank & contreras, 2021; rosati et al., 2018; simpson & aprim, 2018), but there is a lack of research that focuses specifically on differences by race. by utilizing a quantitative, nonexperimental, casual-comparative approach, this research study examined the differences in mean csr scores between black and white employees in financial service organizations in the midwest region of the united states. the results of this study may assist leaders and hrm teams in understanding how csr activities impact these two primary racial groups working within midwest financial service organizations. the general problem examined in this study is a lack of an organization's leadership team's understanding of how csr activities can impact financial services employees who self-identify as black or white. existing research studies regarding how csr activities impact employees within an organization focus on increasing employee engagement (saad et al., 2021; soni & mehta, 2020), employee motivation (hur et al., 2018; kunz, 2020), and employee retention (lee & chen, 2018; zainee & puteh, 2020). background of the study the growing awareness of societal and environmental challenges continues to increase the need for studies on how csr activities impact organizations. stakeholders are pressuring companies "to become more accountable towards their employees, customers, suppliers, environment, and society as a whole" (saad et al., 2021, p.32). positive perceptions of an organization's csr activities generate significant benefits (hayes & khartit, 2022; schaefer et al., 2020). additionally, research studies have shown that csr activities impact employees within an organization by increasing their engagement (saad et al., 2021; soni & mehta, 2020), motivation (hur et al., 2018; kunz, 2020), and retention (lee & chen, 2018; zainee & puteh, 2020). a gap exists in the research on how csr activities impact employees of different ethnicities. for example, a study by rank and contreras (2021) used a qualitative method to analyze how generations differ in work beliefs, such as internal csr perception and leadership motivation. their stated limitations note that focusing solely on age groups was too simplistic. additionally, simpson and aprim (2018) used a quantitative method to evaluate how csr activities attract prospective employees from undergraduate students in ghana. the stated limitations note that further research should encompass gender and social-cultural factors. there are additional factors that financial service industries must be mindful of when considering their engagement in csr activities. in light of historical financial scandals in the united states, including enron and worldcom and the 2008 bank failures, financial service organizations must maintain their integrity and hold themselves accountable to their stakeholders through oversight of their csr programs (andrei et al., 2018). diaz et al. (2020) point out that there is a low percentage of people of color in the financial services industry and that blacks are 1.4 times more likely than whites to leave a financial services firm. by leveraging the stakeholder theory as a theoretical framework, the aim of this study was to examine the differences in the mean csr scores between employees working in financial service industries in the midwest region of the united states who self-identify as black or white. popularized by r. edward freeman, the stakeholder theory "presumes a virtuous circle by which business is best served when the interests and values of all stakeholders are accommodated in company practices" (moon, 2014, p. 22). freeman and dmytriyev (2017) examine the relationship between csr and stakeholder theory. they identify that stakeholder theory and csr incorporate the social significance of an organization's operations. therefore, the stakeholder theory is essential in building relationships and generating value for each stakeholder, encompassing employees and their relationship with the organization. introduced in 1984 by r. edward freeman, the stakeholder theory advocates that organizations and their leaders should create value for all stakeholders, not just their shareholders (dmytriyev et al., 2021). for example, an organization's focus on non-financial constituencies, such as consumers, employees, and local communications, can result in significant benefits, like improved employee morale and job satisfaction (freeman, 1984). this theory provides a foundation for understanding how financial services employees who selfidentify as black or white in the midwest region of the united states can be affected by csr activities. additionally, the stakeholder theory and csr both emphasize the importance of an organization's csr toward communities and society as a whole (freeman & dmytriyev, 2017). figure 1 illustrates the relationship between stakeholder theory and csr. a company's overall purpose, mission, and values on all of its stakeholders can be examined through the lens of the stakeholder theory, which can guide how the organization should operate. figure 1 the relation between stakeholder theory and csr note. freeman and dmytriyev (2017) utilize this visual to illustrate the relationship between the stakeholder theory and csr in society. summary of the literature with today's business complexities, an organization committed to csr is concerned with growth and profitability and its impact on the economy, the environment, culture, and society (kumar, 2019). with recent publicized acts of police violence against black individuals, particularly in the midwest, it is even more critical that organizations focus on racial injustice when assessing their commitment to society (taylor & wilcox, 2021). by focusing on corporate responsibility to race (crr), organizations can advocate for racial justice, improve race relations, and enhance society's equality and harmony (logan, 2021). increasing stakeholder interest and more complex global business phenomena have pushed the development and integration of socially responsible proactive measures within business organizations over the last few decades (freeman & dmytriyev, 2017). various theoretical frameworks can be found within the existing literature regarding csr and its incorporation within an organization. some of these different theoretical frameworks include mainstream theories like legitimacy, stakeholder, and institutional theories (fernando & lawrence, 2014; vashchenko, 2017). the stakeholder theory is one of the most prominent theoretical frameworks in literature (vashchenko, 2017) and is this study's theoretical foundation. stakeholder theory the stakeholder theory is based on the "relationships between an organization and its stakeholders" (fernando & lawrence, 2014, p. 157). freeman's (1984) theory is centered around the idea that stakeholders' interests should be a primary focus when management makes business decisions. an organization's success depends on its ability to manage relationships with its stakeholders, which includes its customers, employees, suppliers, communities, financiers, and other stakeholders (freeman & phillips, 2002). an organization's stakeholders can be classified into two stakeholder groups: primary and secondary (clarkson, 1995). primary stakeholders, like employees, customers, shareholders, and government, directly influence the company and are essential for its survival. secondary stakeholders, like the media and special interest groups, indirectly affect the company and are not critical for its survival. although secondary stakeholders are not essential for a business's survival, these groups can cause significant damage to an organization (freeman, 1984). thus, a company's management must acknowledge the equal value of all stakeholders, eliminate tradeoffs between them, and align their interests. (freeman & dmytriyev, 2017). to advance the stakeholder theory and argue whether its salience is relevant, donaldson and preston (1995) identify the theory as having three perspectives: descriptive, instrumental, and normative. from a descriptive perspective, the company comprises various stakeholders, each with its own interests. the instrumental view implies that stakeholder management is connected to financial results, suggesting that stakeholder interests should be managed appropriately to contribute to a positive bottom line. the normative perspective, which forms the basis for the stakeholder theory, proposes that the stakeholders' interests are intrinsically valuable, thereby identifying that each stakeholder deserves consideration for its own sake rather than simply because of its potential to serve another group, such as the organization's shareholders. figure 2 depicts how stakeholders are identified based on their interest in the organization or the organization's interest in them. figure 2 contrasting models of the corporation: the stakeholder model note. donaldson and preston (1995) utilize this visual to illustrate that individuals or groups with an interest in a particular organization do so to obtain benefits, and no set of interests and benefits has primacy over another. the stakeholder theory states that stakeholder pressure is a crucial driving force behind csr adoption (yu & choi, 2016). in the stakeholder framework, identifying differences between a corporation's economic and social goals is no longer relevant because the critical issue is the business's survival. milton friedman opposed the stakeholder theory by arguing that management should concentrate on activities that generate as much revenue as possible. specific initiatives like csr can reduce profit maximization, violating shareholders' obligations (freeman & dmytriyev, 2017). moreover, friedman (1970) asserts that csr is fundamentally an immoral concept that impacts the rights of an organization's owners and that leadership engaging in these initiatives is stealing from its shareholders. friedman also argued that a distinction should be made between the goals of organizations and the goals of individuals and the government (hart & zingales, 2017). the main focus of organizations should be maximizing their profits, while individuals and the government should focus on handling ethical issues. based on stakeholder theory, however, there is plenty of evidence that social responsibility can be associated with profit maximization (elrick et al., 2018). corporate social responsibility according to davis (1973), csr is defined as "the firm's consideration of, and response to, issues beyond the narrow economic, technical, and legal requirements of the firm" (p. 312). carroll (1979) described csr as "the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time" (p. 500). matten and moon (2008) defined it as "policies and practices of corporations that reflect business responsibility for some of the wider societal good" (p. 405). in addition, turker (2009) described it as "corporate behaviors that aim to affect stakeholders positively, and that goes beyond its economic interest" (p. 413). an organization's csr initiatives tend to have a direct focus on a broad range of societal concerns, such as labor standards, human rights, and global warming (moon, 2014). in today's business environment, organizations are increasingly focused on csr initiatives. a business that creates a sustainable business model will support maximizing its investment and profit (goedeke & fogliasso, 2020). mosca and civera (2017) suggest that the intention of csr may be a way to establish a foundation for an organization to become an active social and sustainable partner. turker (2009) explains that "the increasing pressures of businesses on humanity and the natural environment have raised concerns among people all around the world considerably" (p. 411). furthermore, the increase in stakeholder engagement, consumer sensitivity to ethical concerns, the rise of non-governmental organizations (ngos), and the immediate demands of employees continue to spark the need for the continued growth of csr concepts within organizations (carroll, 2015). race ray (2019) states, "seeing race as constitutive of organizations helps us better understand the formation and everyday functioning of organizations" (p. 26). the racial makeup of the american workforce is continuously changing, making it a critical topic that organizations must research and comprehend. according to the 2022 us census, employees who self-identify as white (75.8 %) currently encompass most of the united states labor force (us bureau of labor statistics, 2022). employees who self-identify as black account for 13.6% of the workforce. however, it is important to note that the united states workforce is becoming increasingly diverse yearly. for example, long and van dam (2019) reported before the pandemic that people of color (blacks and hispanics) were overtaking white hires in the prime age bracket of 25 to 54-year-old workers. colby and ortman (2015) forecast that the percentage of white americans will continue to decrease, reaching 43.6% by 2060. the results suggest that the country's workforce will consist of a combination of ethnicities and races rather than one group holding a majority share, demonstrating the importance of understanding how business initiatives and decisions affect each ethnic group within the workforce. organizations must be equipped with solid diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei) programs and the ability to recruit diverse top talent to remain competitive in today's marketplace programs. however, corporate leadership is often reluctant to implement these dei programs as they can lead to complications for organizations. according to leslie (2019), the primary objective of organizational diversity initiatives is to improve the workplace experience for marginalized groups. several of these initiatives focus on generating non-discrimination, resource, and accountability practices and can lead to unintended consequences for the organization. for example, the outcome of the initiatives can negatively impact the organization's diversity directive and lead to decreased diversity representation in the organization or increased career gaps amongst races. additionally, these initiatives can create a negative spillover where the outcome of the diversity initiatives causes undesirable effects, such as negative attitudes from nontargeted employees towards the organization, which can directly impact company performance. although diversity and inclusion programs have kept race at the forefront of organizations' minds, racial tension remains prominent and has become more prevalent in the united states in recent years. after the murders of george floyd, breonna taylor, ahmaud arbery, and rayshard brooks in 2020, racial tensions rose significantly, sparking discussion regarding race, police brutality, and institutional racism (tarin et al., 2021; taylor & wilcox, 2021). the attack on the united states capitol in 2021 further sparked racial tensions nationwide (cameron, 2021). these events have resulted in varying realities for racial groups in the united states due to experienced and publicized harassment, discrimination, and racism (bowdler & harris, 2022). therefore, understanding the needs and differences between specific ethnic groups in the workplace, such as black and white races, is necessary. corporate social responsibility and race the racial diversity of an organization can impact its csr activities and overall performance. during a six-year study, sharma et al. (2020) examined 204 organizations across nine industries and twenty-one countries to determine how racial diversity affected corporate social responsibility performance (csrp). a company's csrp in this study was based on evaluating its financial, social, and environmental performance. according to the findings, racial diversity can positively affect csrp until a certain point, and then it can negatively affect the organization's overall performance. therefore, organizations focusing on addressing the underrepresentation of minority groups in the workplace should continuously monitor their csrp progress to minimize any negative impact. yacobian et al. (2022) examined the direct impact of consumers' perceptions of a company's csir behaviors by surveying 160 millennial and generation z undergraduate students. their results found that non-white consumers have more awareness of and concern for the behaviors of an organization's csr initiatives. these findings suggest that people of color can be more concerned with an organization's csr initiatives than white people. methods this study was centered around one research question, which focused on determining if the mean csr scores (dependent variable) significantly differ between the two independent variable race groups of black and white. research question. – what is the difference in the mean csr scores between financial services employees in the midwest region of the united states who self-identify as black or white? this study includes null and alternative hypotheses for the quantitative research question regarding the difference in the mean csr scores between the two identified race groups. h0 – there is no statistically significant difference in the mean csr scores between financial services employees in the midwest region of the united states who self-identify as black or white. ha – there is a statistically significant difference in the mean csr scores between financial services employees in the midwest region of the united states who self-identify as black or white. a quantitative explanatory methodology was used to collect survey data to identify the differences in mean csr scores between employees who self-identify as black or white in financial service organizations within the midwest region of the united states. a quantitative approach is best when using a survey method, such as turker's (2009) 5-point likert csr survey instrument used in this study, to test hypotheses and expand on existing theories by explaining a phenomenon based on data collected (verhoef & casebeer, 1997). the population for this study was employees working in financial service organizations in the midwest region of the united states who self-identify as black or white. centiment, a third-party online organization that builds surveys and recruits potential targeted participants from their audience panel, was utilized to collect survey responses based on this population's specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, including using purposive sampling techniques to recruit and acquire potential participants. a total of 64 responses were required for each race group based on the g*power calculation. all the respondents needed to reside in the midwest region of the united states and self-identify as black or white to participate in the survey. this study used the five likert scale csr development survey scale designed by turker (2009) to identify the differences in mean csr scores between the two target groups. an aggregated data score was calculated for each variable using the scale 1 = strongly disagree; 2 = disagree; 3 = neither agree nor disagree; 4 = agree; 5 = strongly agree. a lower score from a respondent indicates they experience no level of satisfaction based on the csr activities, versus a higher score indicating an increased satisfaction based on the csr activities within their company. data collection participants were asked to classify their self-identified race for the first demographic question. they could choose black, white, or other/prefer not to answer. if they selected either black or white, they would advance further in the survey. if they selected other/prefer not to answer, they were thanked for their participation, the survey stopped, and no further data was collected. next, participants were asked to confirm whether they lived in the midwest region of the united states. for clarity purposes, this question identified the following states (north dakota, south dakota, nebraska, kansas, minnesota, iowa, missouri, wisconsin, illinois, indiana, michigan, and ohio) as the midwest region of the united states. if participants confirmed they currently resided in the midwest region, they advanced to complete the survey. if not, they were thanked for their participation, and the survey ended. the next question asked participants to identify what financial service organization best described where they worked. this question listed government – local, state, or federal, credit union, commercial or retail bank, mortgage company, investment bank, investment company, brokerage firm, insurance company, and none of the above. if the participant selected none of the above, they were thanked for participating, and the survey ended. a choice of any other available option allowed them to move forward with completing the survey. additional demographic questions identified the participant's age range (18-29, 30-44, 45-59, 60 years or older), biological gender (male or female), the highest level of education (high school diploma, associate degree, bachelor's degree, master's degree, doctorate), and current household income ($0-$24,999, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000-$199,999, $200,000 and higher). each of these questions also included an option for the participants to select that they preferred not to answer. participants were not prevented from completing the survey due to their responses to any of these additional demographic questions. after completing the seven demographic questions, the participants advanced to completing turker's (2009) 17-question csr survey scale. in each question, participants were asked to select one (strongly disagree) to five (strongly agree) on a 5-point likert scale to describe their opinion of how their company demonstrates csr. the 24-question survey, which included all of the demographic qualifying questions and turker's complete csr scale, was slated to take participants 15-20 minutes to complete. names and other personally identifiable information about participants were not collected during the survey. centiment uses a unique tagging system to assign each participant who enters the survey an anonymous identifier. this system ensured that participant information was kept confidential, and they could not complete the survey multiple times. once all survey data had been collected, an encryption protocol through transport layer security (tls) was utilized to transmit the data in excel format for analysis. data collected will be stored on an encrypted flash drive in a fireproof safe for a minimum of three years. after three years, the flash drive content will be erased, and the device will be destroyed. data analysis the study sample consisted of 150 participants (75 black and 75 white), which exceeded the minimum of 128 surveys needed to ensure a .80 power (64 black and 64 white respondents). based on these results, post hoc g*power was calculated, confirming the results had a power of 0.86, corresponding to an 86% chance the study results are significant. additionally, testing was completed to determine the validity of the questions from turker's (2009) 17-question csr survey. this test was accomplished using the r commander scale reliability test. according to the results, the 17-question csr survey was internally consistent and reliable, with 0.9139 alpha reliability and 0.9149 standard reliability. descriptive and numerical summaries of the csr variable's maximum and minimum values and each race group's mean and standard deviation (sd) were calculated. the mean results comprised all participants' responses to the 17 questions from turker's (2009) csr survey scale based on the 5-point summated likert rating scale. participant responses from one (strongly disagree) to five (strongly agree) were added together and divided by 17 to understand the overall mean per race group. the results of the sd assisted in understanding how far the survey question responses varied against the mean results (andrade, 2020). a lower distance from the mean of the dataset indicated that the mean represented the data well. in contrast, a higher distance indicated that the mean was not representative of the data (richard, 2010). statistical data analysis is enhanced by using graphical representations of the observations (rani das, 2016). a histogram, box plot, and qq plot of the csr variable for each race group were built to facilitate comprehension and assess the normality assumptions of the data set. a histogram helped to identify outliers or gaps in the data, and a boxplot provided information regarding the symmetry of the data and graphically displayed the normality pattern of the data. the qq plot graphically compared the two data sets to determine whether they were from populations with a similar distribution. in addition, the anderson-darling normality test was also completed on the csr variable to assess deviation from the normality to ensure normal distribution existed for both the black and white race groups (krithikadatta, 2014). levene's test was used to test the assumption of homogeneity of variance among each group (derrick et al., 2018). the researcher used r commander software to calculate and determine the p-value result for this test. if p is >.05, the group variances were treated equally; however, if it is <.05, it identified that there were unequal variances between the two groups. after these assumption tests were completed, the independent t-test was administered. the independent t-test results determined whether the null hypothesis could be rejected, suggesting whether there was a statistically significant difference in the mean csr scores between financial services employees in the midwest region of the united states who self-identified as black or white. descriptive statistics the study sample consisted of 150 participants currently employed who self-identified as black or white, worked in the financial service industry, and lived in the midwest region of the united states. table 1 presents the demographic statistics of the collected survey data. table 1 demographic statistics from survey data set demographic statistics full sample n % race black white financial srvcs industry credit union comm/retail bank mortgage co investment bank investment company brokerage firm insurance company gender 75 75 13 35 14 15 14 16 43 50 50 9 23 9 10 9 11 29 female male 79 71 53 47 age 18-29 34 23 30-44 63 42 45-59 38 25 60 and older prefer not to answer 14 1 9 1 education high school diploma 33 22 associate degree 24 16 bachelor's degree 58 39 master's degree 29 19 doctorate household income $0-$24,999 $25,000-$49,999 $50,000-$74,999 $75,000-$99,999 $100,000-$149,999 $150,000-$199,999 $200,000 and higher prefer not to answer 6 6 30 41 22 33 11 6 1 4 4 20 27 15 22 7 4 1 out of the 150 surveys, the participants who self-identified as black (n = 75) were equal to those who self-identified as white (n = 75). insurance companies (29%, n = 43) constituted the participants' most significant industry category, followed by commercial or retail banks at 23% (n = 35). the fewest participants were from brokerage firms (11%, n = 16), investment banks (10%, n = 15), mortgage companies (9%, n = 14), investment companies (9%, n = 14), and credit unions (9%, n = 13), respectively. there were more female respondents (53%, n = 79) than male respondents (47%, n = 71). the smallest age groups of workers were those 60 years of age or older (9%, n = 14), whereas the largest group ranged from 30-44 years old (42%, n = 63). the highest percentage of participants held a bachelor's degree (39%, n = 58), and the lowest percentage was a doctorate (4%, n = 6). lastly, the most prominent household incomes for the participants were in the range from $50,000-$74,999 (27%, n = 41), followed by $100,000-$149,999 (22%, n = 33) and $25,000-$49,999 (20%, n = 30). the lowest percentage of participants held a household income ranging from $75,000-$99,999 (15%, n = 22), $150,000-$199,999 (7%, n = 11), $0-$24,999 (4%, n = 6), and $200,000 and higher (4%, n = 6). the numerical summaries of the csr variable for black and white groups were calculated using r commander software (table 2). table 2 numerical summaries of csr variable for black and white groups m sd skew kurt n black 3.83 0.63 -0.13 -0.34 75 white 4.01 0.53 -1.17 4.04 75 preliminary statistics after identifying the descriptive statistics, including the demographic statistics and numerical summaries of the csr variable for black and white race groups, a histogram, boxplot, and qq plot of the csr variable for each race group was created utilizing r commander software. the graphs assisted in facilitating comprehension and assessing the data set's normality assumptions. reviewing the histogram in figure 3, both race groups primarily represent a normal distribution. however, the white race identifies outliers within the 1.5 to 2.0 frequency range, representing a negative skew. figure 3 black versus white group histogram note. this figure represents a histogram for the csr variable based on black and white race groups. the qq plot results (figure 4) identified the csr variable presented as normally distributed for the black race group. however, outliers were recognized primarily in the lower portion of the qq plot for the white race group. as a result, these outliers were identified as survey results outside of the 95% confidence line, in which the researcher was not confident that white race group results met normal distribution expectations. lastly, the boxplot results (figure 5) suggest that the csr variable's black and white race groups show signs of agreement, although two prominent outlines exist for the white race group. figure 4 black versus white group qq plot note. this figure represents a qq plot for the csr variable based on black and white race groups. figure 5 black versus white group boxplot note. this figure represents a boxplot for the csr variable based on black and white race groups. the anderson-darling test was used to assess deviations from normality. the results of the test on the csr variable based on both race groups were significant: black (a = 0.27, p = 0.68) and white (a = 1.11, p = 0.01). thus, the csr variable was not considered normally distributed. due to the requirement that the data be normally distributed to perform an independent samples t-test, the identified outliers were examined in the boxplot results for the white race group. the relative ease of online survey data collection can be found to cause participants to potentially experience disinterest when completing surveys (singh & sagar, 2021). this participant disinterest can disrupt the representativeness and validity of the survey findings. in this study, data files 137 and 144 were identified as outliers and noted in the white race box plot (figure 5) and were removed, and the anderson-darling test was re-run to assess deviations from normality. the test results on the csr variables based on both race groups were not significant: black (a = 0.27, p = 0.68) and white (a = 0.46, p = 0.26). with the csr variable found to be normally distributed, the independent-sample t-test could be used to complete the study's hypothesis testing. lastly, levene's test of the homogeneity of the meanvariance of the csr variable based on black and white race groups was performed. the test results were significant, f(1, 146), p = 0.003, identifying that the variances between the two race groups are not to be considered equal. summary of results an independent samples t-test was performed on the csr variable. the variable was considered normally distributed, and the group variances were not considered equal. the result of the welch two-sample t-test was significant, t(148) = -2.56, p = .001. the black race group (m = 3.83, sd = 0.63) and the white race group (m= .401, sd = 0.53) are considered statistically different. therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected as there is a statistically significant difference in the mean csr scores between financial services employees in the midwest region of the united states who self-identify as black or white. discussion and implications there has been a growing stakeholder interest for organizations to act on developing and enhancing their social responsibility functions. by establishing successful csr initiatives, an organization can successfully increase employee engagement (saad et al., 2021; soni & mehta, 2020), motivation (hur et al., 2018; kunz, 2020), and retention (lee & chen, 2018; zainee & puteh, 2020), along with the ability to enhance its profitability (zheng, 2020). this study supported the idea that an organization's leadership should create value for all stakeholders (dmytriyev et al., 2021). the stakeholder theory and csr emphasize the importance of a company's commitment to its community and society (freeman & dmytriyev, 2017). however, the research on the effects of csr activities on different races is limited in the literature. the results of this study provided empirical evidence that there is a statistically significant difference in the mean csr scores between financial services employees in the midwest region of the united states who self-identify as black or white. this study may help an organization's leadership team understand the importance of implementing programs designed to address the current concerns of all their employees. the results of this study are relevant to the midwest region as the region consists of over 1.63 million people employed within the financial services sector (statistical atlas, n.d.). moreover, these two racial groups comprise the majority of the workforce in the region, with the white population comprising 79.5% and the black population comprising 10.4% (us census bureau, 2022). while this study surveyed equal numbers of black and white financial services employees, the number of black employees who work in the financial services industry is only 14.6%. in comparison, white employees comprise 72% of the financial services sector (hickey, 2021). the significant disparity becomes evident when comparing the proportion of black and white employees to those of black and white individuals in the overall population, which could have skewed the results. as one of the most prominent theoretical frameworks surrounding csr, the stakeholder theory advocates that business leaders must create value for all stakeholders; an organization's success depends on its ability to manage these stakeholder relationships (freeman & phillips, 2002). this study contributes to the stakeholder theory by recognizing stakeholders' awareness and expectations regarding csr, which vary between races. the results of this study support the need for organizations to continue to broaden their strategic csr efforts to maximize their investments and profits (goedeke & fogliasso, 2020). the united states continues to face racial conflict, leading to the need for organizations to place greater emphasis on issues related to race, identity, and difference (tarin et al., 2021). the theory of crr promotes racial justice within organizations to improve race relations and enhance social equality and harmony (logan, 2021). employees perceive organizations that actively engage in csr activities as bringing positive benefits (zelazna et al., 2021). as brunton et al. (2015) found, specific measures must be taken by leadership and hrm teams to communicate effectively with employees. leadership must develop effective communication plans around their csr initiatives that can aid in recruiting and retaining top talent to maximize their overall profitability (elrick et al., 2018). the results of this study support the idea that an organization's csr approach can affect and motivate employees of diverse race groups differently. recommendations the target population for this study focused specifically on the financial service sector within the midwest region of the united states in reviewing employees who self-identified as either black or white race. future studies should be conducted in different areas of the united states to see if the results of this study could be replicated in different geographic locations. a follow-up qualitative study should be conducted to determine whether specific social and cultural factors occurring within the midwest region impacted the results of this study compared to other regions of the united states. another consideration would be to review and compare other race group populations. since the united states is seeing an increase in asian, hispanic, and black populations within the workforce, it is crucial to understand how multicultural populations influence how different races view csr initiatives within an organization (us census bureau, 2022). additionally, future studies might examine a different industry sector. given the study's focus on the financial service sector, it would be beneficial for researchers to consider how an organization's csr activities may affect the technology, retail, or healthcare sectors. furthermore, although gender was included in this study as demographic information, looking at any csr differences between male and female employees may be beneficial. it is recommended that organizations develop an effective csr philosophy that applies to all employees and that takes into consideration different employee characteristics (rosati et al., 2018). concluding remarks the purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental, casual-comparative study was to examine the differences in mean csr scores between black and white employees in financial service organizations in the midwest region of the united states. the study found a statistically significant difference in the mean csr scores between black and white race groups amongst this target population. a limited amount of literature exists on the relationship between csr and race. the results of this study contribute to the literature by providing valuable information that can be used by an organization's leadership and hrm teams to develop impactful csr strategies and initiatives that consider the apparent differences between the races of black and white employees. corporate responsibility to race provides a way to identify and analyze how a company's leadership team communicates about race. research supports that companies with successful csr programs are more profitable than those without (elrick et al., 2018; kumar, 2019; & zheng, 2020). as brunton et al. 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(2020, june 15). we're entering the age of corporate social justice. harvard business review. https://hbr.org/2020/06/were-entering-the-age-of-corporate-social-justice https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2021.102850 https://statisticalatlas.com/region/midwest/industries https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.726417 https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000287 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9780-6 https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/race-and-ethnicity/2022/ https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=b02001&geo_ids=02000us2&primary_geo_id=02000us2 https://censusreporter.org/data/table/?table=b02001&geo_ids=02000us2&primary_geo_id=02000us2 https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12162 https://doi.org/10.1155/1997/349145 https://doi.org/10.14738/abr.102.11757 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2014.07.006 https://doi.org/10.1108/rege-06-2019-0070 https://doi.org/10.1108/rege-06-2019-0070 https://doi.org/10.35808/ersj/2221 https://hbr.org/2020/06/were-entering-the-age-of-corporate-social-justice business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 1 educating black males: a jamaican case issues, lessons, and trajectory asburn pinnock, ed d | the mico university college, kingston, jamaica franklyn bennett, m. ed | the mico university college, kingston, jamaica contact: asburn.pinnock@themico.edu.jm or franklyn.bennett@themico.edu.jm or franklyngbennett@gmail.com abstract the underperformance of black caribbean males has been a long-standing phenomenon affecting the educational outcomes of men within the lower strata of society. experimenting or second-chance programs have been implemented to address this issue, but there is limited evidence of their impact. this paper presents the case of the pre-university men’s program (pump) at a teacher education institution in kingston, jamaica, from 2008 to 2020. it was investigated semi-qualitatively, incorporating focus group conversations, reflective narratives, interviews, and documentary analysis to collect the pertinent data from the men, service providers (facilitators and administrators), stakeholders, program documents, and students’ records. this investigation determines pump’s effectiveness in realizing the program objectives and adherence to second chance program standards, an administrative structure, and a support system. the findings revealed that pump has all the defining characteristics for second chance programs posited in literature; an acknowledgment of the socio-economic benefits to the men who participated in the programs is undeniable; and an opportunity to recruit male teachers to impact boys at an early age and keep them focused on a tertiary educational track is provided. pump is implemented through a functional administrative structure operated by the teacher education institution, but a not well-defined support system has undermined follow-up services for its participants. it is recommended that collaboration with other institutions and stakeholders to enhance student recruitment, funding, program diversity, administration, and support would secure program survival. keywords: underperformance, second chance program, support system, effectiveness, standards mailto:asburn.pinnock@themico.edu.jm mailto:franklyn.bennett@themico.edu.jm mailto:franklyngbennett@gmail.com january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 2 introduction the issue of the underperformance of black caribbean males is an established problem with some consensus on the complex, interrelated root causes for lower-strata men's declining participation and performance in the educational system. the literature places significant emphasis on boys’ achievement relative to girls’ (jha et al., 2017; vantieghem et al, 2014; clarke, 2005; goldberg & bruno, 1999; chevannes, 2002; parry, 1997). however, there is limited evidence of experimentation on programs designed to combat the issues specific to marginalized males (johnson, 2016). gender imbalance can be counterproductive in any society. our reality, as reflected in the gender imbalance cycle diagram (see figure 1), is that there are low numbers of males graduating from high schools, even fewer matriculating to teachers’ colleges, and few being trained as teachers. this results in fewer male teachers graduating, thus fewer teacher role models for black boys in schools. the decreasing number of male teachers in the jamaican classroom is creating social problems among boys. figure 1: gender imbalance cycle in teacher education (pinnock, 2021) the jamaican experience relative to boys or men reflects the global reality. according to a united nations report (2015) on worldwide gender distribution in education, it is quite clear that women far outnumbered men in the practice of education in all but one level of education. sixtyseven percent of the teachers at the primary level are females; 52 % of secondary education teachers are women, but 58 % of teachers at the tertiary level are men. bouchrika (2020) informed that a 2019 unicef report indicated that at the primary level, 5.5 million more girls are out of school than boys, and more girls than boys are completing secondary education. at the postsecondary level, 56.6 % of the enrolled student population in tertiary institutions are females. low numbers of ms graduating from high schools fewer males matriculating to teachers’ colleges few males being trained as teachers less male teachers graduating less male teacher role models for black boys in schools less graduating males from high school business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 3 outlined below is the co-relationship between male/female and african american males/other races, presented from the american perspective: according to an article written by amy l. solomon and published by the national institute of justice, an estimated 13 million people in the u.s. are admitted to and released from local jails. and more than 700,000 people are admitted to and released from state and local prisons each year, with men accounting for more than three-fourths of those arrested. the numbers are even more staggering for african americans, who comprise almost 40 percent of the entire prison population. but even more troubling is the fact that, on any given day, one in 15 black men are in prison. and among young african american men—those ages 20 through 34—the ratio lowers further to one in nine. "in fact, young, male african american high-school dropouts have higher odds of being in jail than being employed," solomon reports. these shameful statistics suggest that creating channels of re-entry are imperative (weathersby,2015, p3). comparing the above with the jamaican experience, in a statin report (2019), of the 1,272 prison inmates admitted at the central prison in the capital city in 2018, 96.1 % were males. in 2018, the u.n. survey on world prison population reported 3,884 prison inmates, of which 96.7% were males. gayle (2002), in his research on young males’ survivability, found that one-fifth of the perpetrators of crime and violence are males 20 years and younger. these data provide emerging insights into what factors account for the males who do not make it to college and or are qualified for a job. the data highlight jamaica’s sad reality that there are more males in prisons. inferences are likely to be drawn, too, that there are more males in the cemeteries, more males on the streets, and more males unemployed. there are perceptions among well-thinking jamaicans that these men are preoccupied with gender thinking, i.e., having the thought that males are getting by or beating the system. therefore, education beyond the primary level or lower secondary level does not seem attractive to them. many jurisdictions employ corrective measures, often called second chance programs, to address this issue. second chance programs are used worldwide to support disadvantaged or marginalized youth. inherent in these programs are socio-economic benefits. not only will they redirect socially misaligned young men from deviant behavior, but the second chance programs will also recreate gender equilibrium by returning males to the education landscape, especially at the tertiary level. this will also impact the economy positively as it will reduce the dependency of these men on the state resources while putting them in a position to add to its economic growth. in the case of pump at a teacher education institution, the program adds other benefits, including the induction of males into the teaching profession and the provision of other productive alternative pathways, hence helping to break the cycle of black male delinquency. literature review second chance programs have given the disadvantaged or marginalized alternatives and hope. in 1992 and 1993, mark mcfadden conducted an ethnographic inquiry into the effects of a bridging program aimed at homeless and educational deprived youth in sydney, australia. it implemented a program of pedagogic strategy for change and relied on bernstein’s concept of classification and framing and gidden’s theory of structuration in interpreting the research. mcfadden (1996) found both concepts helpful in highlighting how different groups could navigate their way through what he referred to as the bridging program. participants were now in a position where they matriculated and were offered positions in tertiary institutions; some still had an uncertain future, while others remained the way they came. another second chance program was conducted in mexico in 1995, where ron hubbard used a second chance program to detoxicate and rehabilitate substance abusers. related literature on the design and structure of second chance programs suggests that programs that serve as educational bridges are more effective when they address the pedagogical experience of the participants (mcfadden, 1996). mcfadden opined that the previously failed strategies would fail again because they would no doubt remind the participants of their disappointing and sometimes painful past. adding to the advice on program design and structure, european centre for the development of http://www.nij.gov/journals/270/pages/criminal-records.aspx#notereference29 http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/pjim06.pdf http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/pjim06.pdf january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 4 vocational training (2021) posits that the characteristics of a second chance program include deliberate interaction of young people through community support; a creative alternative to mainstream education through an environment that engenders friendliness and mutual respect; development of the whole person through the engagement of a multi-professional team or staff; diagnostic assessment of the learners for individualized instruction and related engagements; relevant connection with the formal education sector, in that outcomes from the second chance program should be useful in the formal sector (employment and higher education); provision of flexibility in practice in dealing with registration, attendance, instruction, assessment and sanction; promotion of positive attitudes through stakeholder awareness of the benefits of second chance program; utilizing eclectic teaching and learning methods through integration of andragogy, coaching, competency based education and training (cbet), practical and field work; and the inclusion of motivational activities through formal and informal means. savelsberg et al. (2017) concur with these program components but emphasize the importance of relationship building, mentoring, and the persistent presence of service providers securing coverage (protection) for the participants. the desired outcomes of second-chance programs suggest that second-chance measures allow participants to gain a formal qualification that eluded them in mainstream school. besides academic accomplishments, second chance programs can enhance participants’ soft outcomes and skills such as self-awareness, self-planning for the future, and emotional intelligence. these skills can position participants for gainful employment or further education if developed or enhanced. second-chance opportunities can also result in positive outcomes for at-risk youth facing complex barriers to learning, such as substance abuse, housing or health issues, the lack of parental support, and involvement in crime (european centre for the development of vocational training, 2021). limitations and challenges of second chance programs restrict the full extent to which set targets are realized. mcfadden’s ethnographic research (1996) noted that some students were successful while others dropped out or remained disadvantaged. the real key to this is to find out the factors that enabled success in a second chance program and how those may be harnessed to design a program to ensure success. it was noted that pedagogy that participants could not relate to saw them revert to old practices, which undermined changed behaviors (mcfadden,1996). lindguist et al. (2015), in evaluating a second-chance program for adult offenders, found other challenges that undermined the program's effectiveness. some of these challenges include delays in buy-in from policymakers, frequent staff turnover, and limited record-keeping. in their research, savelsberg et al. (2017) concurred with the observation of lindguist et al. (2015) regarding the inconsistent goodwill and investment by service providers or staff. they provided other challenges to the second chance program implemented, such as limited funding, especially in follow-up areas after the program was completed. that quick fix instead of an incremental approach did not address participants’ long-term needs. the literature concludes that a proper support system in a non-threatening environment should help in the program’s success. methods this investigation evaluates the pre-university men’s program (pump) at a teacher education institution in kingston, jamaica, from 2008 to 2020 to determine its effectiveness in realizing the program objectives, adherence to second chance program standards, and administrative structure and support system. the evaluation was carried out at the teacher education section of the institution that operates continuing education programs. it is a public entity with over 170 years of service to the western hemisphere. pump was evaluated through a quasi-qualitative means, which incorporated focus group conversations, reflective narratives, semi-structured interviews, and documentary analysis to purposively collect the pertinent data from the men (20 graduates), service providers (10 facilitators and five administrators), four stakeholders, pump document or curriculum and students’ records for the period 2008 to 2020. each of the program’s objectives guided the business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 5 thematic analysis and presentation of the data. the literature supports such a research design to facilitate quasi-qualitative data analysis (knodel & saengtienchai, 1999; barron & tracey, 2018). semi-structured interviews and focus group conversations were held separately with the men, service providers, and other stakeholders of pump. these participants interacted with the program from 2008 to 2020. the interviews and conversations aimed to unearth their experiences and solicit feedback on the program's impact. participants were also allowed to share their reflective thoughts electronically. available students’ records (admission, attendance, performance, and behavior) and pump documents or curricula were accessed with permission. the semi-structured interview schedule, focus group conversation guide, instruction guide for reflective thoughts, and checklists for document analysis were validated through vetting done by colleagues and then updated based on the feedback. data from students’ records, the pump document, reflective thoughts, semi-interviews, and focus group conversations were used for inductive and deductive content analysis. pre-determined themes also guided the analysis. the quasi-qualitative analysis proved useful in evaluating and forming conclusions on pump's effectiveness. all participants were informed about the study's purpose and obtained consent before participation. anonymity and confidentiality using pseudonyms were maintained throughout the research process to ensure that participants felt comfortable sharing their honest opinions and insights. the intervention as one of its kind at the national tertiary education level, the pre-university men’s program (pump) was established in part as a response to gayle's (2002) research on young males’ survivability. it signaled that one-fifth of the perpetrators of crime and violence are males twenty (20) years and younger and established the link between a lack of adequate, equitable, and targeted investments in education and its relationship to crime and violence (gayle, 2021, presentation on underrepresentation of males in higher education institutions). it is not coincidental that gayle (2021) revealed that being an uneducated male in jamaica is the main requirement for gang recruitment. his findings revealed that a jamaican male batters his woman more than 50% of the national average of latin american and caribbean countries. a survey conducted with boys from montego bay, spanish town, and kingston, jamaica, revealed that boys who sat three subjects in csec were four times less likely to be harmed by gun or knife violence or be involved in a gang (gayle, 2021). therefore, pump, as a second chance initiative, has been implemented in jamaica with these objectives: 1. increase the number of men accessing tertiary education. 2. increase the number of male teachers in the classroom. 3. provide an alternate pathway to crime and violence. pump is a one-year matriculating program into a four-year bachelor’s degree in education. it simultaneously inducts the men into the teaching profession. pump develops competencies in literacy, numeracy, communication, information technology, and technical vocations to the csec level. it provides advanced-level engagement in psychology, resource management, and spiritual and moral studies. opportunities are also provided in mentoring, study skills, social interactions, entrepreneurship, employability skills, and personal and civic awareness or pride. pump is scheduled as a full-time day (2 semesters) and a part-time evening (3 semesters) program. it weighs thirty to thirty-six credits based on the time-of-day participants access the program. the men are integrated into the entire life of the university college. this integration gives the men access to sports, clubs and societies, inter-house and collegiate competitions, residential accommodation, and participation in all events of the university college. this immersion is designed to give them a real identity as an emerging ‘model man’an outstanding teacher and leader in the community. structurally, pump embraces compatible philosophical, psychological, and sociological principles. these principles govern curriculum development, which are in tandem with second chance programs. in the main, an ad hoc approach (williams, 2013) was used by a team of educators who were growing in reflective and reflexive practice as a strategy to respond to immediate societal demands. pump january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 6 incorporates a holistic focus and an interdisciplinary approach, thus catering to the needs of the whole person or man (european centre for the development of vocational training, 2021). the disciplines included were language, science, mathematics, humanities, vocation, sports, and arts (see table 1). table 1 pump structure semester 1 credit semester 2 credit csec english language / city & guilds english skills csec english language / city & guilds english skills 3 csec mathematics / city & guilds mathematics csec mathematics / city & guilds mathematics 3 research & information technology research & information technology 3 introduction to teaching profession 3 resource management 3 mentorship mentorship 3 human development (advanced level) 3 spiritual & moral development or any other (advanced level)) 3 career & personal development 0 tvet (skill area) 3 entrepreneurship 3 voice & speech 3 tvet (skill area) 3 sports & the arts 0 12 24 progressivism as an educational philosophy and constructivism as an educational theory underpinned how courses were designed, developed, and implemented. this provided the facilitation for reflectivity and student-centredness, which should give a voice to learners (schneider, 1996). this teaching methodology incorporated sacred texts (erickson, 2002) for rehabilitation. from a sociological perspective (functionalist), building social cohesion through civic pride and promoting values, attitudes, ethics of care, and justice were incorporated into the program as a practice for participants and the service providers or staff. savelsberg et al. (2017) endorsed such inclusion since it engenders respect, protection, trust, and realness when interacting with the men in the program. also, in terms of providing mentors for the men in the program, careful attention was given to select model male alumni and maternal females who practiced pastoral care. sponsorship was solicited from the corporate sector, alumni, and government sources. in the initial years of pump, sponsorship was solicited by some members of parliament. according to mcfadden (1996) and savelsberg et al. (2017), funding is necessary for second chance programs to survive. other features built into the program were flexibility which provided laxity in movements within reason; diagnostic assessment used as a frame of reference for actions; motivational activities to spark internal and external drive for success; and relational engagements for building and maintaining healthy human relationships with each other (see european centre for the development of vocational training; 2021, savelsberg, et, al.,2017; lindguist et al., 2015; mcfadden, 1996). business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 7 findings & discussion: other lessons learned pump’s effectiveness was qualitatively measured in terms of the extent to which its objectives regarding the scope and quality of impact on the men who participated in the program were realized for the review period. its adherence to second chance program standards, administrative structure, and support system was also included. the related findings are shared under categorized themes aligned with pump's objectives and discussed accordingly in the context of the relevant literature on recommendations for successful secondchance programs explored. motivators that propelled the participants towards academic pursuits vis-a-vis their counterparts or contemporaries based on data gleaned at student selection interviews (admission records) and students’ reflections, the men were attracted to pump because it gave them another opportunity to access education, and more so at the tertiary level, the possibility of getting financial assistance, an escape route from the negative influences of their community, and the chance to be recognized as 'm students’ and eventually teachers. the following are reflections from some students who pursued the program: mikmac: “my pump journey was one filled with substance; it helped to prepare me for my journey in the degree program”. osh: “it is a great start for young men who have the zeal to keep fighting”. mrk: “i was struggling with self-esteem issues for a period in my life and when the teacher education institution accepted someone like me, who society looks down on, i was elated. when others who are disabled see me, they will be encouraged to continue and go forward.” for these recruits, pump is seen as an empowering mechanism for those on the margins of society. table 2 summarizes the profile of the men enrolled in pump. it was instructive that ‘men at risk’ or the marginalized males, as coined by miller (1991) and as seen by the caribbean policy research institute-capri (2020), are in the below 35 years age group. in contrast, children first’s claudette richardson-pious (2020), in a presentation on ‘at risk youth issues and challenges in jamaica,’ pointed out that empirical evidence revealed that ‘unattached youth’ accounted for 30% of the youth population and these youth are from 10 to 24 years old; of which 26.2% are males. these vulnerable men, according to these researchers, are illiterate, undereducated, unemployed, not participating in any training program, murder victims, and primary perpetrators of crime (capri, 2020; richardson-pious, 2020). these realities reinforced similar findings the office of the children advocate (2011), and levy (2012) shared with the jamaican public that youth, mainly men (70.9%) in the age groups 12 to 18 years and 17 to 45 years respectively, are delinquents. table 2 profile of men enrolled in pump:2008 2020 age range education at-risk community 10 14 years none none none 15 – 19 years dropped out of upper secondary; completed secondary with 2-3 csec subject passes involved in, and being influenced by others in unlawful activities urban; urban innercity; rural january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 8 20 – 24 years dropped out of upper secondary; completed secondary with 2-3 csec subject passes; attended evening classes and obtained 2 – 3 csec subject passes involved in, and being influenced by others in unlawful activities; seasonal or odd/menial employment urban; urban innercity; rural 25 – 29 years completed secondary with 2-3 csec subject passes; attended evening classes and obtained 2 – 3 csec subject passes seasonal or odd/menial employment; child support demands; being influenced by others in unlawful activities; ex-inmate urban; urban innercity; rural menial from the program's onset, the men could identify with pump based on what was advertised for recruitment and information gleaned during their admission processing. they started feeling accepted. this realization of the convergence of students’ needs and the focus of the program is consistent with the typical participants’ profile for second chance programs advanced by the european centre for the development of vocational training (2021); savelsberg et al., (2017); lindguist et al., (2015) and mcfadden, (1996). intrinsic and extrinsic sources of motivation were active through the men’s desire for self and professional improvement and encouragement from participants, past teachers or school administrators, church members, family members, politicians, community members, corporate sponsors, and past pump students. other stakeholders’ endorsements of pump as a rehabilitating endeavor were summarized in the following excerpts: sh: “…an incubator for our male youth…it counteracts absenteeism of fathers and low percentage of males in the classroom…” rev: “…has taken the men out of the rough and shaped them into value…” tp:” a highlight of this program is the men’s enthusiasm, evident through the questions they ask…” dr: …” critical and useful program to facilitate young men who could be considered late starters….” the men's shared experiences affirmed that pump strongly appealed to their needs, especially allowing them to gain a formal qualification and be again connected to the formal education system. other stakeholders of pump were convinced that the program was directing the men away from the socioeconomic barriers that restricted their personal and professional pursuits before their enrolment in pump. this reality is fully aligned with the desired outcomes advanced by savelsberg et al. (2017) and supported by the european centre for the development of vocational training (2021). ways in which program structure and teaching methodologies facilitated educational attainment. a consensus among participants and the service providers (staff) is that pump, as a one-year matriculating program, prepared males to qualify for entry into a bachelor’s degree in education (teaching) program of their choice. between 2008 and 2020, approximately 200 men were enrolled in pump, and over 150 have been empowered in many ways. the program’s 75% success rate suggests that many men have developed the competencies facilitated through the courses. this outcome supports mcfadden’s (1996) experience that a bridging program should provide success to persons previously considered failures in mainstream education. from the analysis, more than 135 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 9 matriculated to undergraduate programs at muc and have done well. one of these transformed men, mikmac, became president of the guild of students in 2014. he shared: “pump prepared me for life. this preparation enabled me to serve in the most senior level of student governance. in my second year of study, i served as assistant students’ relations officer, students’ relations officer in my third year and president of the guild of students in my final year. serving in these positions gave me valuable, life changing experiences. i could not have bought the gains i have garnered from my experiences…,all of this came through pump”. the following thoughts from one of the program administrators captured the real educational impact of pump: den: “its inaugural years admitted 25 men, of which 21 matriculated into b ed programs. subsequent years witnessed men who came in on a five-year track graduating with honours…” the data revealed that to orient the men into teaching; engaging opportunities were provided in mentoring, study skills, social interactions, and personal and civic awareness or pride. both the service providers (staff) and students admitted that employability skills were integrated throughout the program. the teaching methodologies included practical, hands-on, and student-friendly activities encouraging authentic and alternative learning assessment. these program characteristics are consistent with mcfadden’s (1996) notion that the pedagogy used in a second-chance education should not allow participants to revert to old practices, which undermine changed behaviors. according to the men who participated in pump, the program was scheduled to facilitate the fulltime day and part-time evening students. this is an occurrence of the flexibility built into pump, adherent to the criteria outlined by the european centre for the development of vocational training (2021) and savelsberg et al. (2017), in that a second chance program should offer flexible provision. none of these men pursued the program in the evening because they were unemployed. although one of them was employed, he was accommodated to retain his status as a day student, as explained here: while rom was a full-time day student, he was employed, but the program’s flexibility accommodated his working schedule. his employers were so impressed with his overall performance in the program and on the job that he was promoted. rom expressed “…the great thing about the degree that i’m doing from this institution is that i am not limited to teaching in a classroom. i can enter the institution and still use my voice to try to empower others who come from situations like mine, to make something of themselves...” in general, the men accepted that as day students, they were integrated fully into the institution's life as a strategic means to give them a real identity as an emerging ‘model man’. this integration allowed them to deport themselves as a typical student and access to sports, clubs/societies, inter-house and collegiate competitions, residential accommodation, and participation in all institution events. to be placed in an environment where participants experience non-discrimination but confidence building and comfort is a high global recommendation for the provision of second-chance education (see european centre for the development of vocational training, 2021; savelsberg et al., 2017; lindguist et al., 2015; mcfadden, 1996). the following are recollections from the participants regarding pump: ke: … “although we integrate with the wider college…this is on a social level…. the other students behaved in a way for you to know there is a difference in qualification…. anyway, they help you with your work…” ric: “we are shown love and are called sons by ms bec who not afraid to open her eyes on us if we not behaving right. if she found out we are in need of anything, she secretly gave it to us. she and ms j provided breakfast for us too. ms j keeps us professional with pd…they and others even prayed with us…and inspired us with bible verses...” january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 10 rom:” i finished my pump year as a top student and got an award. i got a scholarship in my first year in the degree program. although i withdrew from the program because of migration, pump made the difference in my life for any other career path i choose….” one of the service providers cautioned that “although the program is fulfilling, it is challenged by inconsistent adherence to set standards. however, attention is given to learning and mentorship”. this reality check is consistent with the inherent barriers of second chance programs, which should be addressed deliberately. the tips given by the european centre for the development of vocational training (2021) and other advocates (savelsberg et al., 2017; lindguist et al., 2015) to develop a second chance program indicate the inclusion of well-tailored strategies to meet participants’ needs. if not established, such efforts will not realize many benefits as workable links with internal and external systems for support, such as referral and other interconnected services, would not be accessible to the participants. this creates a gap in the balance of service in a fulsome sense. program experience influenced alternative pathways and classroom male teacher presence over the twelve years of the more than 135 men who matriculated to undergraduate teaching programs, 76 graduated as trained teachers, increasing the male teacher presence in jamaican classrooms. during their undergraduate years, several men got involved in leadership engagements and ably served as house captains. many were (and are still) active in sports and music and represented the teacher education institution well in sports and music competitions. a proud moment occurred in 2011 when nb, a cricketer, was recruited for the west indies cricket team. also, ms, another cricketer, was selected to play for the national cricket team for the visually challenged. again, these transformed men became role models to others of similar backgrounds. empowered pump men are now trained coaches, primary school teachers, and teachers of physical education, music, social studies, and business studies in high schools. some pump graduates are trained guidance counselors in schools. those who did not move into teacher education programs or other programs of study elsewhere were channeled into employment opportunities and other gainful activities. one of them secured an overseas sports scholarship. pump graduates shared how the program added value to their lives: chr: “the program is so developed that it caters to the holistic development of the human being. courses such as mentorship and personal development taught me how to be confident, focused and to prepare my mind to set goals and work towards achieving them. can you believe it...i am a trained teacher and in a school working and taking care of my family…”? new me: … “i remember the awards function we dressed formally for...it was first for me to wear a suit and eat with knife and fork and do the other things...they guided us well…mr s, sir b..and ms dw…. thanks…” osh: “it is a great start for young men who have the zeal to keep fighting; take my word, you will love your time spent there once you apply yourself. i now know ‘i am a forceful energy; i can’t be stopped. live life above elevation’…” evidently, pump mentored, engendered survival and problem-solving skills in, and built brotherhood among the men. they experienced kindness, empathy, and reciprocity. their experiences, although diverse, would be cherished. the processes involved were not always welcomed, but they had to endure with a good amount of fun. the renewal these men experienced validates mcfadden’s (1996) idea that change will happen in a supportive environment. the fact that these men’s economic well-being, among other things, improved is a strong indication that the list of individual benefits for participants in a second chance program advanced by the european centre for the development of vocational training (2021) is useful to guide program development and implementation. the pump experience is consistent with these benefits or desired outcomes. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 11 barriers experienced and hurdled despite the expressed positives of pump, the dropouts, shortfall in student enrolment (reduced from 25 students to under 15), limited funding, and gaps in family support have been active threats to the program's survival. these realities are consistent with barriers experienced in second-chance programs described by savelsberg et al. (2017). critical stakeholders of the program have been concerned and, through their expressed thoughts, shared the following: dev: “...an excellent program as seen in the men’s desire to learn. some of them were unable to complete the program and this affected their ability to go onto higher learning. funding is a challenge, therefore sponsorship is needed…” rk: “...these men have grown in discipline despite pockets of disciplinary challenge...” sek: “...attendance is challenged due to the financial state of these men...” a minority of the men who did not complete the program or were unsuccessful in their completion admitted that: preacher: “… i am called to preach…. the activities involved cause me not to give the time for my studies…. i was in demand...so i had to stop…i thought i could cope...but i was far behind in my work so i couldn’t continue...” inmate: “…. teaching is not for me because i still struggle to manage my anger. letting you know i was an inmate…, not easy to share and …. you didn’t use it against me. i did not continue to the degree… i find a work….” disappointed: “... because i did not sit the math exams you paid for is used against me to move into the degree program…. i still could get a chance and do the exam next time…” the admitted reasons for being unsuccessful in the program were in the locus of control of these men. this realization means more individualized counseling opportunities are needed to resolve personal struggles and career pursuits. this individualized provision is a necessary feature advanced by the european centre for the development of vocational training (2021) to be present in second-chance interventions. other barriers encountered, as gleaned from the data analyzed, were administrative. students’ records were in place, but follow-up records relative to students’ progression were inconsistently kept or not in place. as cautioned by savelsberg et al. (2017), this gap of limited record-keeping resulted in many instances in which approximations were used to report the men’s experiences after they completed their pump year and graduated as trained teachers. the analysis of the data shows that implemented initiatives or strategies to mitigate the challenges experienced during the period under review included fundraising through an annual 5k run/walk called ‘pump it up’; internal subsidies where possible, a student work program; and sponsorship from targeted members of parliament and corporate interests. all advocates of second chance programs agreed that limited funding undermines the full effectiveness of any such program implemented (see european centre for the development of vocational training, 2021: savelsberg et al., 2017; lindguist et al., 2015; mcfadden, 1996). conclusion: trajectory pump has reflected all the defining characteristics of second chance programs posited in literature, and an acknowledgment of the socioeconomic benefits to the men who participated in the programs is undeniable. it will redirect socially misaligned young men from deviant behaviors and recreate gender equilibrium by returning males to the tertiary landscape and increasing male teacher presence in the classrooms. this will also impact the economy positively as it will reduce the dependency of these men on january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 12 state resources while putting them in a position to contribute to the country’s economic growth. in the case of pump, it even goes further and provides an opportunity to recruit male teachers to impact boys at an early age and keep them focused on a tertiary educational track and or some other productive alternative pathways, hence helping to break the cycle of black male delinquency. pump is implemented through a functional administrative structure operated by the institution, but a not well-defined support system has undermined follow-up services for its participants. in using the successes of pump as a platform to move forward, the following is recommended: 1. consider a multi-agency national student recruitment drive to increase young men's college intake significantly. 2. solicit consistent funding and referral support through multi-ministry government and non-government alliances. 3. collaborate with other colleges and educational institutions to offer the pump program and significantly increase male classroom presence. 4. diversify pump to appeal to men not inclined to become teachers. the program could include opportunities for other valuable courses of study and entrepreneurial skills to serve the public and private sectors. 5. strengthen the program's administrative support and undertake a longitudinal study of every cohort of men enrolled in pump and beyond so that the program's real impact can be properly ascertained. references admans, r., (2019) the guardian, 5th september 2019 edition. gaps in academic skills of girls and boys widen. https://www.the guardian.com barron, i. & tracey, j. 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(2008). culture, gender and math. science (new york, n.y.) 320. 1164-1165. jha, j, menon, n. and chatterjee, d. (2017). boys’ underperformance in education: revisiting the issue in the commonwealth. commonwealth of learning. learning for sustainable development. http://hdl.handle.net/11599/2810 johnson, b. (2016) the impact of single sex classrooms on the academic achievement and attitude of boys in a rural primary school in jamaica. the mico university college journal of education, 7, 110-126. knodel, j. & saengtienchai, c. (1999). studying living arrangement of the elderly: lessons from a quasiqualitative case study in thailand, journal of cross-cultural gerontology 14(3), 197-220 levy, h. 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(2019), boys versus girls’ educational performance: empirical evidences from global north and global south. net journal dept. of sociology, international islamic university, islamabad, pakistan. accepted 25 september 2019 https://www.ftp.iza.org/ https://idl-bnc-idrc.dspacedirect.org/ https://www.amp.theatlantic.com/ http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/riss20 https://moey.gov.jm/literacy-numeray-results-show-girls-outmastering-boys http://www.jstor.org/stable/27865332 https://www.ftp.iza.org/ january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 14 united nations, (2015). the world’s women 2015: trends & statistics, new york: united nations department of economics & social affairs, statistics division. https://unstats.un.org vantiegham, w., vermeersch, h. and van houtte, m. (2014). why gender disappeared from the gender gap: (re-)introducing gender identity theory to educational gender gap research. social psychology of education: an international journal, 17(3), 357-381. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-014-92488 waterford.org (2019). how to use brain-based learning in the classroom. https://www.waterford.org weathersby, i. jr. (2015). a second chance: education’s role reversing mass incarceration. the atlantic education, the atlantic monthly group. https://www.amp.theatlantic.com https://unstats.un.org/ https://www.waterford.org/ https://www.amp.theatlantic.com/ 16 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 circular strategies to improve consumer goods returns katia c. chaban, dba | capella university, minneapolis, mn, usa janice p. tucker, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, usa contact: katchaban@gmail.com abstract as the importance of sustainability as a business strategy continues to grow, u.s. consumer goods companies must incorporate sustainability goals for critical business processes such as the product return process to minimize profit and waste. a general business problem is that leaders in the u.s. consumer goods industry have faced significant challenges in implementing sustainable solutions to reduce consumer product returns' economic and environmental impact. the circular economy (ce) is an approach to transition from the traditional take-make-waste linear business model to a closed-loop model focused on regenerating natural resources and extending the value of materials and goods. a gap in business practice is that leaders responsible for the product return process for consumer product companies across the u.s. have been slow to adopt circular business models. the purpose of this qualitative inquiry research was to explore the perspectives of thirteen circular economy (ce) experts with at least three years of ce experience to discover innovative strategies for the returns process to improve the adoption of a ce business model. the framework for this study was an adapted ce framework based on the butterfly diagram from the ellen macarthur foundation. the expert data collected through semi-structured interviews was analyzed using thematic analysis. five themes emerged from the analysis, including supply chain, business model disruption, reverse logistics, design, and ce enablers. keywords: circular economy, triple bottom line, sustainability, consumer product returns, strategic planning, business model 17 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal introduction the current linear business model, which focuses on resource extraction and promotes high consumption of goods, is unsustainable for the long term (baden & frei, 2022; rodriguez et al., 2020). with current business models in place, there will be a need for two planets equivalent to the size of the earth to provide resources for consumer consumption and store waste in 2030 (the world counts, 2022). business leaders need to focus on sustainable innovation by balancing the concerns about the degradation of the environment and inequalities in society while still enjoying economic prosperity (weidner et al., 2021). the triple bottom line (tbl) was introduced in 1994 as a way for business leaders to think about capitalism differently and encourage leaders to examine a company's social, environmental, and economic impact based on the growing focus on sustainability (elkington, 2018). the circular economy (ce) is recognized as an opportunity for prosperity without compromising the planet (circle economy, 2021). the ce is a solution that supports redesigning business practices through the extended life of products to achieve sustainable business models (bocken et al., 2019). the consumer product returns process is a vital component of the business model for the consumer goods industry that needs to become more sustainable. consumer product companies in the united states spend $100 billion annually handling returns (zhang et al., 2021) and contribute negatively to the environment due to waste created by the process, with an estimated 10% of all returns going to landfills (ader et al., 2021). managing product returns is complex and based on customer expectations regarding convenience, low cost, and sustainability. for example, poor practices such as having the consumer pay for returns would decrease expenditures with the same company (espinosa et al., 2019). baden and frei (2022) indicated that customers who can return their products for free increase their spending by up to 450%. however, there are growing customer expectations related to the importance of environmental, social, and governance (esg); 25% of consumers indicated they would focus on environmental issues related to their shopping habits (gatzer & magnin, 2021). this study focused on exploring how the ce can improve managing returns in u.s. consumer products companies to address the tbl. the results of the study could assist company leaders in transitioning from their current linear business models to a circular business model. this transformation could create value for the company and positively impact the environment. problem of practice the general business problem is that u.s. consumer goods leaders have faced significant challenges in implementing sustainable solutions to meet their consumers' social, environmental, and financial concerns. for instance, the economic impact of consumer product returns results in an average annual lost revenue of 3.8% annually (zhang et al., 2021). zhang et al. (2021) estimated that in the united states in 2020, retail return rates were 5-10% in physical stores and up to 40% for online purchases worth an estimated value of $428 billion of products returned each year costing companies billions of dollars (zhang et al., 2021). 18 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 the specific business problem is many consumer goods companies are using outdated strategies for the returns process. leaders of consumer goods companies in the u.s. have been slow to adopt new business models such as the ce (rodriguez et al., 2020), to address the 6 billion pounds of returned goods waste in the united states annually (hartmans, 2022; hautala, 2022). manufacturers and retailers spend $100 million annually to handle product returns and $550 billion on returns deliveries emitting 16 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually (hartmans, 2022; zhang et al., 2021). because of the slow adaptation to the circular economy, consumer goods companies are not able to obtain components of the tbl, including economic benefits of up to $2 trillion (by 2030), productivity improvements, and cost savings in manufacturing up to 24%, and the reduction of resource dependence and waste (karman & pawlowski, 2022). purpose of study the purpose of this qualitative inquiry study was to explore sustainable innovative strategies regarding sustainability for the returns process to overcome the high physical and financial costs of consumer goods returns. there are negative impacts on consumer product companies based on the cost of processing returns. in addition to the hundreds of billions of dollars it costs companies to handle product returns, only 5% of products returned are defective (zhang et al., 2021). however, 10% of all returns end up in landfill sites (ader et al., 2021), suggesting millions of dollars of usable product is wasted. to address sustainable innovation and transform current business models to the ce, consumer product leaders need more information on transforming their business models. changing from the current linear business models to the ce is complex as firms must innovate for profitability while balancing sustainable development (ardito et al., 2018; jain et al., 2020). the intent of the study was to create practical strategies for sustainable innovation regarding product returns by exploring the opinions of ce experts. the gap in practice is that leaders responsible for the product return process for consumer product companies across the united states have been slow to adopt circular business models (rodriguez et al., 2020). frei et al. (2020) stated that the returns management process had been an overlooked business process even though it affected a company’s profitability. they also found limited alignment between the current practice of handling product returns with the ce. research question this generic qualitative inquiry study explored the knowledge and experience of ce experts. the study was guided by a single research question (r.q.) designed to close the gaps in practice and address the specific problem to support the adoption of the ce for the returns process. r.q.: what are the perspectives of ce experts of consumer goods companies in the united states to discover innovative strategies for the returns process to improve the adoption of a ce business model? 19 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal summary of the literature background this study was focused on the consumer goods industry. a consumer good, known as a final good or product, is a product ready for consumption by a consumer and can be broken out further into durable goods intended to last longer than three years (boyce, 2022). durable products are fast-moving consumer goods purchased more frequently and have a shorter life than durable consumer goods and account for 35% of resource inputs into the economy and 75% of waste globally (ellen macarthur foundation, 2013). consumer spending is how personal consumption is measured. spending in the united states is estimated to be over $14 billion in 2023 (ibisworld, 2022a). the estimated retail sales value in 2022 in the u.s. was $5,788 billion and is expected to grow by an annualized 1.6% over the next five years (ibisworld, 2022b). in 2002, the percentage of business performed online was 8.98%, but by 2027, the estimated future rate of online purchasing will be 34.99% (ibisworld, 2021). the growth of spending and online shopping will increase returns, creating more cost and complexity for companies (zhang et al., 2021). circle economy (2021) labeled the consumer goods industry as consumables and defined it as one of society’s seven needs and wants. this industry is diverse, including products across multiple industries, such as clothing, food, electronics, and textiles (circle economy, 2021). the report indicated that consumables account for 5.6 billion tons of the 59.1 billion tons of greenhouse gas (ghg) emitted in 2019 (circle economy, 2021). such environmental impact is measured throughout the value chain and includes the phases of take, process, produce, provide and end of use. each value chain step has a component of waste in addition to the end-of-use phase of a consumable or product use (circle economy, 2021). the other critical process in the consumer goods value chain that occurs before the end of life and is central to this study is the returns process which includes the management of the return that needs to ensure a positive customer experience with the intent of value recovery of the product (pat research, n.d.). the product returns process has not had a strategic focus (ader et al., 2021; frei et al., 2020). however, the product returns process is worth $428 billion in the united states (zhang et al., 2021) and causes significant waste issues (hartmans, 2022; hautala, 2022). consumer online consumption grew by 27%, while brick-and-mortar stores grew by 8% from march 2021 to march 2022 (alldredge et al., 2022). consumers care about and are influenced by environmental, social, and governance (esg) behaviors by the companies they purchase from (alldredge et al., 2022). the returns process needs to have a strategic focus on sustainability based on the growth of consumption, the focus on esg, the generation of waste, and lost profitability. the following sections will help acquaint the reader with sustainability, the ce, the triple bottom line, and trends related to the consumer product industry. research utilizing scholarly and practitioner literature will illustrate the challenges businesses have had transforming current business models to the ce that demonstrated the need for this study. 20 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 sustainability in business since the industrial revolution, the population of the world has continued to grow, the amount of material flowing through the economy has tripled, and instead of using what is already available, the extraction of natural material continues to occur (circle economy, 2022). according to salguero-puerta et al. (2019), the linear economic model evolved during the industrial revolution. product creation started with resource extraction of natural resources and ended with product waste. since then, several drivers have forced the convergence of environmental concerns with the corporate agenda, including the impacts of globalization in business related to sustainable development (elkington, 2006). the linear model is unsustainable as the linear economy has caused a waste management issue affecting current and future world populations (jaeger & upadhyay, 2020; salguero-puerta et al., 2019). addressing more than just economics in a business model has become necessary. companies have taken small steps to incorporate sustainability into their business strategy (hatami & segel, 2021). the term sustainability was defined in 1987 as "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (united nations, n.d., para. 2). introduced at the 2005 world summit, sustainable development was a way for society to create strategies related to economics, society, and the protection of the environment. however, this triple bottom line approach has still not been widely adopted (ardito et al., 2018). sustainability, the principle of producing goods and services while conducting minimal environmental damage, is fundamental to business (hatami & segel, 2021). sustainable development is an approach that considers both economic development and ecological concerns. sustainable innovation, which improves products or processes and focuses on ecological integrity and social equity without compromising profits, is still a new but steadily emerging research topic (weidner et al., 2021). ardito et al. (2018) described that companies should design growth strategies based on social inclusion, economic development, and the protection of the environment. there is growing pressure from consumers and governments to reevaluate organizations' business models to determine where they may be insufficient to meet such pressures (jain et al., 2020). over 80% of the executives surveyed indicated that they are increasing transparency in sustainability as sustainability plays a role in consumers' decision-making, impacting consumption and profits (deloitte, 2022). companies must think innovatively about their value chain to reduce environmental impacts, such as improving waste, reducing energy and water consumption, attracting new consumers, meeting profit goals, and growing market share (jain et al., 2020). the circular economy the ce was created to address sustainability. the ce enables sustainability by reducing waste and pollution by using fewer products, using products for longer, regenerating them, and recycling them (circle economy, 2022). the ce works on three principles: taking out waste and pollution, extending the life of products and materials, and ensuring natural systems are being restored (ellen macarthur foundation, n.d-a.). according to prieto et al. (2018), the ce is a globally accepted solution to prevent pollution, protect the environment, and create economic wealth. the ce has seen legal and financial 21 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal support in the united kingdom, china, the european union, south korea, and the united states (prieto et al., 2018). according to kalmykova et al. (2018), stock optimization (or the looping structure of the ce for reuse and recycling) has been seen in economic theories discussed by scholars since the 1980s. the spaceman economy was structured as a cyclical system with the reproduction of materials, and the steady-state economy sought to balance growth and environmental integrity. industrial ecology was the idea of integrating industrial systems with biological systems, and lastly, a concept using a closed resource flow system was known as cradle-to-cradle (kalmykova et al., 2018). however, it is the ce that has gained the most traction. in china, a law to promote the ce was introduced in 2009, and the european union introduced a ce package focused on waste reduction in 2015 (moreau et al., 2017). in addition, practitioners globally, such as the ellen macarthur foundation, started promoting awareness of the ce. the definition from the ellen macarthur foundation became the most widely cited one, adopted by both academia and governments to drive consistent dialogue about the topic. the ce is based on building resilience by diversity, shifting to renewable energy, thinking in terms of systems instead of just the parts, and thinking in circles to identify opportunities for value creation (ellen macarthur foundation, 2013). the ce framework is also referred to as the butterfly diagram and has become compelling based on the opportunities business may have in a closed-loop or circular model (howard et al., 2019). the ce framework includes two material cycles, biological and technical, and the material flow for each represents the wings in the butterfly model. the biological flow focuses on nutrients and their return to the biosphere, including composting processes that help regenerate natural capital. the technical cycle involves materials that neither degrade nor provide any nutrients, such as plastics, wood, and metals, so they do not naturally cascade. in the technical cycle, the intent is to prolong the optimal value of that material by maintaining, reusing, redistributing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, and recycling. the ce model is different from the current linear model. the ce model focuses on the cascading materials and their reuse, treating each resource as valuable, versus the linear model, which is dependent on accessing resources in large quantities (ellen macarthur foundation, 2013). the linear economy has provided great prosperity, as the global gross domestic product (gdp) has grown significantly between 1900 and 2000. still, the linear economy is material and energy-intensive (ellen macarthur foundation, 2013). thinking circularly when innovating can provide benefits related to technological innovation, improved materials use, energy efficiency, and different profit opportunities for business and reduce environmental impact. for a business to design circularly, it needs to understand where waste or leakage occurs in its supply chains (ellen macarthur foundation, 2013). the cost of managing returns impacts profitability(zhang et al., 2021), and is a source of waste creation for a company (hartmans, 2022), so addressing the business practices of the consumer goods industry by evaluating the use of the ce as a business model is strategically necessary. 22 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 the importance of the triple bottom line the term triple bottom line (tbl) was introduced in 1994 when there was a need to integrate the environmental topic with social and economic agendas. the intent was to demonstrate to companies that there were methods to create value in multiple dimensions (elkington, 2006). the tbl created new questions related to the purpose of the business, the appropriate balance between shareholders and stakeholders, and what balance there should be with the components of the tbl. according to elkington, three significant waves occurred from the 1960s to 2006, highlighting the need for an environmental agenda. these waves included environmental legislation in regions governed by the organization for economic cooperation and development (oecd) regions, the impact of acid rain on politics, issues like ozone depletion and rainforest destruction, and the impacts of the chernobyl disaster. sustainable development governance was introduced in 2002 by the u.n. world summit with the advent of globalization in business. however, the challenge with the tbl was that the three components conflicted as they were not all measured in the same way (elkington, 2018). in addition, there were challenges related to simultaneously enjoying the rewards for all three components (weidner et al., 2021). ardito et al. (2018) indicated that since world summit discussions in 2005 focused on the three pillars of the tbl, it was far from a dominant business model. the difficulty of aligning stakeholder goals and focusing only on short-term gains has caused challenges in moving to sustainable business models. the need to mitigate trade-offs between the three pillars of the tbl requires a strategic shift in firms, leading to restructuring, new supply chains, and a redefinition of the innovation value chain (ardito et al., 2018). in addition, because there was a requirement for stakeholders to all agree to make changes, stakeholders’ goals may not be aligned, making it hard to gain consensus. the fact that there has not been a standard approach to the implementation and measurement of tbl made it challenging to see elkington's vision of reconciling economic, social, and environmental aspects (ardito et al., 2018). industry trends consumer spending for personal consumption on goods and services has seen steady growth. consumer goods include clothing, electronics, sporting goods, kitchenware, hobby and craft supplies, office stationery, perfume, and fragrance (ibisworld, 2022a). after the coronavirus, there was an expectation for increased spending due to profoundly ingrained spending habits and government financial injections in conjunction with wage growth. in 2002, consumer spending was worth $9,088.7 billion, and in 2027, consumer spending is expected to be worth $15,907.1 billion (ibisworld, 2022a), of which the retail environment is worth $6,252.9 billion (ibisworld, 2022b). in 2013, the consumer goods industry globally was estimated to be responsible for 75% of solid waste and drove a significant loss of natural resources based on a rise in consumers (ellen macarthur foundation, 2013). if not addressed, the increased purchasing of manufactured goods would create significant issues related to the depletion of natural resources and waste (ellen macarthur foundation, 2013). e-commerce became an important channel for retailers during the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, contributing to the challenge of returns and waste. as shoppers stayed indoors, online sales increased by 50.5% in 2019 (young, 2022). online spending as part of retailed sales has continued to increase since 23 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 2012 as the comfort of spending online and the experience of convenience made online shopping attractive. in 2012, e-commerce sales as a total percentage of retail spending were at 8%, and in 2021, the number doubled to 19.1%, worth $4.55 trillion in the united states (young, 2022). de leeuw et al. (2016) reported that the return percentage of online apparel purchased in the united states was 30% in 2013. in 2020, just over 10% of online purchases were returned, with an estimated cost of returns to businesses equating to $101 billion (dopson, 2021). up to 50% of returned products are sold again, returned to the manufacturers, or sold at significantly discounted prices to other companies. the rest equated to five billion pounds of garbage in landfill sites, and the transport alone created an estimated fifteen million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions (calma, 2019). challenges to adapting to the ce significant research has occurred related to the challenges of the transition from the linear business model to the circular model, including the lack of practical guidance on how to make the transition (bocken et al., 2019; gonzalez et al., 2020; prieto et al. 2018). bocken et al. (2019) analyzed tools for ce business model innovation. the researchers recognized a need to adapt the business model to become circular based on pressures for sustainability and found several published tools. bocken et al. (2019) attributed the speed of adoption to the fact that literature supporting the transformation was still surfacing. similarly, gonzalez et al. (2020) indicated that the process of circular business model innovation (cbmi) remained under-explored, resulting in a lack of guidelines for firms as most of the literature was theoretical, and further insight was required. bocken et al. (2019) found that tools were not in use for a few reasons, including their complexity or, conversely, that they were too generic, for instance, the use of osterwalder’s business model canvas to use as a transformation tool. the ce adoption has been slow because the process is complex. innovation challenges due to cbmi are iterative, not sequential, and implementing would require the organization to enter unchartered business practices requiring changes to supply chain partnerships and the development of new organizational capabilities (gonzalez et al., 2020). transformation uncertainties are related to going against how the business performs today (bocken et al., 2019; gonzalez et al., 2020; linder & williander, 2017). the change is complex, as firms must innovate for profitability while balancing sustainable development (ardito et al., 2018; jain et al., 2021). businesses do not have organizational structures that treat sustainability as a material business issue (desmet et al., 2021) or ownership or leadership for the process of returns (ader et al., 2021; frei et al., 2020). there is a need to implement critical success factors to make better decisions (julianelli et al., 2020; sehnem et al., 2019). linder and williander (2017) identified an issue with a lack of supporting regulation. according to lahti et al. (2018), legislation had been introduced in various countries to stimulate an economy to be circular, but such legislation also drove uncertainty.to support more accurate decision-making, improved use of digital technology to gather and analyze informative data is necessary (ader et al., 2021; subramoniam et al., 2021). in addition, it is difficult for shareholders to agree to change due to a lack of metrics and short-term gain (ardito et al., 2018; sehnem et al., 2019). researchers frei et al. (2020) and de leeuw et al. (2016) cited significant challenges specific to the returns process and how the process impacted profitability. however, while de leeuw et al. focused on 24 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 understanding the effects of operational practices on the returns process and how to improve profitability, frei et al. focused more specifically on the barriers to implementing the ce to deal with returns. de leeuw et al. found several challenges, including simple returns policies and refunds for online retail where a consumer had no opportunity to inspect a product before purchase, were even more costly. de leeuw et al. analysis focused on consumer behavior factors such as determining consumer justifications for product returns, including defective products, products that were not a fit, and products that consumers regretted purchasing, suggested that the more accessible retailers make it to perform returns to bolster customer satisfaction, the more returns they will experience. frei et al. (2020) identified in their research that there existed a belief that returns were just a cost of doing business. the adapted ce framework the ce framework (butterfly diagram) from the ellen macarthur foundation has been adapted specifically for this study. the framework focuses on the business practice of consumer product returns due to profit and waste leakage and highlights where the problem occurs with the red arrow. the adapted ce framework also includes the challenges related to the gap in practice. the adapted framework will only utilize the ce’s technical flow as this study does not look at biological flows. the technical wing focuses on retaining the value of a product for as long as possible. this technical cycle applies to this study as the cycle aims to minimize the products going to landfills, eliminate waste and pollution, and circulate products and materials longer (ellen macarthur foundation, n.d.-b, definitions). figure 1 is an adaptation of the butterfly diagram representing the circular framework. the left side of figure 1 highlights the study problem that consumer product company leaders have not taken advantage of ce business models to improve the product return process impacting the company’s profitability and the environment (ader et al., 2021). the red arrow points to when the consumer returns something to where they purchased it. the center of the framework includes the spine of the butterfly representing a condensed product lifecycle from what is contained in the original diagram. the portion of the spine utilized for this framework excluded the components of natural materials being extracted from the earth and then processed. the spine now includes the product manufacturer providing the product to the retailer that sells it to the consumer, who can return the product to where it was initially purchased. zhang et al. (2021) stated that the retail returns rate exceeded 10% in the united states in 2020, valued at $428 billion of products returned. the circles in the diagram illustrate that the intent is to maintain, reuse, redistribute, remanufacture, and refurbish products in the ce, which are critical concepts in creating the interview questions. the last desire is to recycle as it is a minor value activity, and in a welldesigned ce, the focus is on preventing waste (ellen macarthur foundation, n.d.-b). figure 1 the adapted circular economy framework 25 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal note. from the butterfly diagram: visualising the circular economy, ellen macarthur foundation, 2021 https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy-diagram. 2019 copyright@ ellen macarthur foundation. adapted with permission. the literature review revealed many challenges that caused the gap in practice, including leaders being slow to adapt to the ce business model and not using the circular economy to improve the product return process. these challenges are outlined on the right side of the framework and include transformation uncertainties related to going against dominant business practices (bocken et al., 2019; gonzalez et al., 2020; linder & williander, 2017) and change complexity associated with the balance of investment and profits (ardito et al., 2018; jain et al., 2020). businesses do not have organizational structures that treat sustainability as a material business issue (desmet et al., 2021) or ownership or leadership of returns management (ader et al., 2021; frei et al., 2020). there needs to be improved technology (ader et al., 2021; subramoniam et al., 2021), and there are challenges related to shareholders (ardito et al., 2018; sehnem et al., 2019). for the returns process specifically, there are challenges due to the impact of packaging (frei et al., 2020; sehnem et al., 2019), consumer behavior or expectations (ader et al., 2021; de leeuw et al., 2016; frei et al., 2020) and the diversity of products (frei et al., 2020). overcoming these challenges will be critical in advancing a ce business model. product manufacturer provider/retailer landfill remanuf acturer/ refurbish recycle provider/retailer maintainconsumer leaders not using circular economy to improve product returns process problem waste leakage profit leakage circular economy (technical cycle) gap leaders slow to adapt to ce business model lenient return policies lack of collaboration in supply chain product packaging lack of leadership/org structure short term view of economics disposal decisions third parties/competitors inadequate data/metrics consumer behavior shareholders not aligned challenges reuse/re distribute product diversity against dominant business practices about:blank about:blank 26 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 methodology summary of methodology a general inquiry qualitative methodology was used to explore ce expert professional opinions. expert sampling with interview questions were the research instrument. ten open ended interview questions, listed in the appendix, were designed to explore experts' perspectives on the ce and answer the research question of what are the perspectives of ce experts of consumer goods companies in the united states to discover innovative strategies for the returns process to improve the adoption of a ce business model? the study approach included a field test to test the reliability and validity of the interview questions and help ensure the questions yielded the intended results. participant information prior to scheduling the interviews, participants were asked to complete the informed consent document and a screening questionnaire using a google docs form. the screening form collected qualification information on years of ce experience, industry experience, education level, and location to ensure participants met the ce expert criteria and for descriptive statistical analysis. if a respondent showed interest but did not meet expert participant requirements, they were thanked for their time and excluded from the study. consumer goods companies are often multinational so having the global experience of the participants provided broad perspectives. the overall participant experience in the ce averaged 5.46 years, with an average of 3.15 years working in the consumer product goods industry. the participants' locations were in eight countries, including australia, belgium, canada, india, italy, the netherlands, and the united kingdom, with the highest number sourced from the united states. the years of ce experience ranged from the united states with an average of 4.8 years, and the rest of the participants had an average of 6 years. table 1 includes the participant data, including years of ce experience, interview duration, and overall industry experience. table 1 participation information participant years of ce experience interview duration industry experience 1 5+ 54:40 consulting across multiple industries 2 3+ 55:38 manufacturing, consumer product industry, information technology 3 5+ 56:33 financial/investment, healthcare/pharmaceutical, manufacturing, electronics, consumer product industry, 27 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal travel & hospitality, mining & energy, information technology, education 4 3+ 59:07 financial/investment, consumer product industry, ngo 5 3+ 69:55 manufacturing, information technology, ngo 6 3+ 59:06 consulting across multiple industries 7 3+ 54:07 mining & energy, ngo, manufacturing, consumer product industry 8 5+ 55:48 financial/investment, manufacturing, electronics, policies development 9 3+ 52:31 financial/investment, healthcare/pharmaceutical, manufacturing, electronics, consumer product industry, information technology 10 20+ 54:07 healthcare/pharmaceutical, manufacturing, consumer product industry, consulting, ngo 11 10+ 52:48 electronics; information technology, ngo consulting 12 5+ 68:54 healthcare/pharmaceutical, manufacturing, consulting, consumer products industry 13 5+ 57:29 consumer product industry data collection process data collection for this study occurred through semi-structured interviews, which began on july 18, 2022, ending with the final interview on september 15, 2022. linkedin was the source for recruiting. recruitment occurred using the linkedin inmail feature to email directly to linkedin members with the necessary ce experience and through linkedin groups focused on the circular economy. in this study, expert sampling was used to target a population of knowledgeable ce participants. in total, 151 individual emails were sent via linkedin. there were 13 interviewees who met the expert ce criteria and were willing to participate in the study. the semi-structured interviews occurred through zoom conferencing and were recorded as per the informed consent that each participant signed. each interview included introductions, a review of the information provided in the recruitment communication, and the ability to ask clarifying questions. after the completion of the interview, the audio recording was converted to a transcript utilizing the transcription services available on zoom. once the transcripts were available, the transcript was downloaded into a .doc format and saved to a password-protected and encrypted hard drive. a transcript review was performed by listening to the interview audio while editing 28 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 any issues and deidentifying any personal information related to the participant or organizations mentioned in the document. participants were sent a copy of their transcript and asked to verify the content's accuracy and reply within five business days with any changes which needed to be made. data analysis analysis for this study was based on inductive thematic analysis, which focused on the data collected in the interviews. the process included three cycles with multiple iterations within each cycle. the first cycle included the initialization and construction phases. the second cycle included rectification and finalization, where themes were validated to ensure they answered the study question. the final cycle was the creation of the final report. initialization and construction phases the initialization phase included both manual coding as well as the use of automation. the importance of this phase was to become acquainted with the data collected to adequately move to the subsequent phases of the construction process, which was to assemble data into categories. initialization in cycle one, initialization was used to understand the data collected from the 13 interviews from the transcripts and field notes and create initial codes. the initial manual coding began with organizing the field notes collected during the interviews, highlighting the data on printed transcripts, and making any memos on the transcripts manually. based on this initial data collection, a manual codebook was created in an excel spreadsheet. the codebook provided the first view of all codes created and a way to determine if there were any initial patterns. a review was performed to ensure alignment with the adapted ce framework for critical terms such as maintain, reuse/redistribute, remanufacture/refurbish, and recycle and any synergies with the identified challenges. several more codes related to design, incentives, supply chain, consumer, and reverse logistics emerged that aligned with the literature review. the initial manual codebook included 42 codes and was the basis of creating the code framework in the dedoose software for further iterations of analysis. the subsequent iterations of coding in this cycle were performed in the dedoose software. the use of automation supported understanding the data in more depth and understanding if there were any dependencies within the codes. the qualitative data analysis software dedoose enabled assigning descriptors to participant data, including location and years of ce experience, uploading the interview transcripts, creating the code tree from the initial manual codebook, and performing document excerpting. the results of a systemic and in-depth review throughout the entire dataset using dedoose resulted in 454 excerpts meaning how many highlights were created, 59 codes, and a total of 1202 code applications, which is the total number of times the codes were used across the excerpts. 29 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal construction phase the construction phase commenced by organizing the codes in a systematic order. the dedoose software offered multiple qualitative analysis tools to identify trends in the codes across the participants, the frequency of use of the code across all the excerpts, and the pairing of codes. reviewing these reports and data helped to understand the codebook's framework further and assisted with categorizing the codes. the code presence report determined the top codes across all participants, indicating a significant trend of importance. the code that was present across all the participants was the supply chain. while this code did not have the highest code count, it is considered important due to its presence across all participants. codes that were present across 12 participants were strategy, reuse, government legislation/regulation, consumer behavior, and ce values. understanding frequencies helped to understand the importance and usage of the codes and assisted with the categorization process. the code application chart was another analysis tool that demonstrated the codes' importance by understanding how often they applied to an excerpt. the top 10 code usage across all excerpts were ce values, material composition, reuse, consumer behavior, strategy, government legislation/regulation, service models, collaboration, financial incentives, and new partners/markets. lastly, the code cooccurrence report provided the frequency of code pairings across all the excerpts, demonstrating interdependencies. the highest code pairing of 13 times was service models and asset ownership showing a solid relationship, like strategy and ce values paired ten times, and recycling ecosystem and collections ecosystem paired nine times. lastly, the top 5 codes paired with other codes were ce values paired 150 times, material composition paired 127 times, reuse paired 121 times, strategy paired 105 times, and recycling paired 86 times, demonstrating a connection across all codes. categories were created after multiple reviews of the data and understanding the perspectives of the ce experts. understanding frequencies, total code counts, code pairing, and a logical review of the data and the codes, both manually and automated, yielded 11 categories moving towards the final steps of defining the themes to answer the study question. rectification and finalization phases after the first cycle of initialization and construction was complete, the second cycle commenced. this phase was used to validate any emerging themes against the literature review and ensure that it did not show researcher bias. this cycle included reviewing the relationships and similarities of the categories. the logical organization of the categories produced the final five themes used to address the study question. each theme is critical to change. however, in most cases, there are dependencies among the themes. only one will not completely transform a business to solve the problem of returns but using all five as a framework and thinking as a business ecosystem will enable leaders to progress. table 2 demonstrates the progress of the 59 final codes to the 11 categories that comprise the final five themes. 30 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 table 2 codes to categories to themes codes categories theme cradle-to-cradle design, derive value, design for durability, material composition, product design, product traceability, and transparency design rethinking the entire product design lifecycle, including strategies related to product returns and the material used in products, is critical to enabling a circular business model. collections ecosystem, recycling ecosystem, reverse logistics, waste management reverse logistics a comprehensive strategic focus on reverse logistics operations is vital to address collections and recycling ecosystems to improve the returns process new partners/markets, smart contracts, supply chain, supply chain transparency supply chain ensuring transparency and innovation with new partners in the supply chain is critical to improvements to the returns process and the adoption of a circular business model asset ownership, business model, service models, brand reputation, common definition of ce, competition, the definition of future consumer behavior and consumption, financials, global, patient capital/investment, strategy, business education and awareness, consumer behavior, consumer confidence/relationship, culture, mindset, new skills/roles, transformation circular business models, strategy, transformation, consumer relationships transforming to circular business models to improve profit and waste leakage of the returns process requires rethinking the entire ethos, with disruption related to revenue streams, investment strategies, and changes to customer behavior and relationships enablers, metrics, environmental impacts, financial incentives, volumes of waste, innovation, technology, collaboration, disruption, government legislation/regulation, knowledgeable and supportive leadership, ce values, closed loop, recycling, refurbishment, repair, repurpose, reuse, upcycling enablers, innovation, ce values ce business model transformation will require the use of a multitude of enablers, including understanding and utilizing ce values and principles to promote, facilitate, and support the change note. the category of challenges is found throughout all the themes. 31 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal results theme narrative the last cycle of data analysis was to present the story of the data and connect it to the study question of what are the perspectives of ce experts of consumer goods companies in the united states to discover innovative strategies for the returns process to improve the adoption of a ce business model? the gravity of the impact of the linear business model, confirmed by the ce experts, was an affirmation of the importance and the criticality of assisting leaders in consumer goods companies to transform into a ce business model using ce expert recommendations and strategies from the five themes. the following sections describe the themes in more detail and provide actionable strategies identified by the experts to support each theme. theme 1. rethinking the entire product design lifecycle the first theme identified included strategies related to product design and the material used in products which are critical to enabling improvements in the returns process based on the significant code usage for design methods and material composition of products. p5 indicated, “the design stage is critical as today's business focuses on the products they produce and waste management, but it must start with the raw materials and the product design.” jaeger and upadhyay (2020) and sehnem et al. (2019) also highlighted the lack of circular design in products. p3 indicated, “product companies are not incented today to include the circular impact in their design. the intent of the design was for function, and there was no consideration that the product would return.” p3 offered, “the sweet spot is in the product's design, research, and development to ensure a positive impact.” p2 also said, “the product's design, including defining the material specification, has been a primary requirement contributing to the ce not only is designing products to focus on renewably sourced or compostable types of materials, but it is also designing away from materials detrimental to the environment, such as petroleum-based products.” p1 indicated: it is imperative to look at the value of raw materials differently and rethink the purpose of that material to be profitable. the material specification is critical in the design, and today, materials are chosen based on what is cheap and what is easy, but specifying materials based on what can be recycled, refurbished, or reused is also a requirement for a ce business model. p12 offered, “product design needs to be different. product designers need to consider the entire lifecycle of a product and look forward and understand what materials will not be available through the supply chain in the future.” adding the returns process as a part of the design process would address the concern that the returns management process had been an overlooked business process even though it affected a company’s profitability (frei et al., 2020). p8 also suggested “a cradle-to-cradle approach to design, essential elements were the increased use of collaboration and ce education.” the participants offered several suggestions on how to design in addition to including circular materials within the 32 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 product. p2 suggested, “thinking in a modular fashion. if the product is made modular, it can be broken into subsystems.” theme 1 aligns with the findings in the literature review related to the challenge of how products are designed. the lack of circular design in products was highlighted by jaeger and upadhyay (2020 and sehnem et al. (2019). however, the strategies identified by the various ce experts provide broader thinking on addressing the design issues. p2 said: the product's design, including defining the material specification, has been a primary requirement contributing to the ce not only is designing products to focus on renewably sourced or compostable types of materials, but it is also designing away from materials detrimental to the environment, such as petroleum-based products. a summary of the strategies for theme one that participants discussed and dependencies on other themes are included in table 3. table 3 theme 1 strategy strategies psource dependent themes design from a cradle-to-cradle perspective, including the returns process p12, p8, p10 2 design for durability to ensure extended use of the product or materials p1 3 use environmentally friendly materials in the design p2, p10 3 design for modularity p2 2, 3, 4 design for disassembly p10 2, 3, 4 design based on user cycles p6 2, 3, 4 include technology within the product to allow for traceability p2, p7 5 note. psource indicates the participant who discussed the strategy. theme 2. viewing reverse logistics strategically the second theme focused on having a comprehensive strategic focus on reverse logistics operations which is vital to address collections and recycling ecosystems to improve the returns process. p3 indicated that in their experience, “if a company is not encouraged or incented to take a product back, 33 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal they will not design a process to take the product back, which is critical to improving the returns process.” the returns process is logistics, and p7 indicated: if a consumer product company has the logistics to sell and distribute a product, there is a need to have the same level of logistics to bring that product back properly. the design of a returns process needs to consider taking things from multiple locations and centralizing them again in an efficient manner. the data also showed that a high code co-occurrence with collections ecosystems and recycling systems makes the ability to collect and recycle returns a vital component of a strategy. the challenge of lenient return policies can be reduced with traceability and clear ownership in a wellorganized collections ecosystem. p1 suggested, “there needs to be a strategy related to how to get the product back from the consumer and offered that there are exciting start-ups to consider that are focusing on the packaging component of the returns process.” javed et al. (2021) suggested using reverse logistics to improve disposition decisions. p1 echoed that suggestion and said, “consider new start-ups driving transparency in the supply chain using blockchain technology and other digital technologies, which could apply to a reverse supply chain and the returns process.” p7 offered, “traceability helps to understand the material composition's purpose and how the product should be handled, not disposed of.” p4 posed a question “is it better or worse for a company to invest in their reverse logistics and the extra cost burden more than the negative publicity they get?” and to further that suggestion, p12 suggested changing the landfill is cheaper mindset “what if instead of being a cost center, reverse logistics became a revenue center?” p7 also offered, “clear ownership was essential to discourage the easy decisions of sending returns to landfill.” asset ownership will be discussed further in theme 4, but a change in the ownership of a product is essential to change the detrimental decisions made when products are returned. a summary of the strategies for theme two that various participants discussed and dependencies on other themes are included in table 4. table 4 theme 2 strategy summary strategies psource dependent themes implement easy collections systems with the use of incentives to ensure products are returned p1 4 improve disposition decisions for product and material composition with the use of new technologies p1, p7 5 leverage new partners to design reverse logistics ecosystems p1, p9 3, 5 define asset ownership to enable standards for disposition decisions and ensure products are returned p7 4 34 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 collaborate internally and externally with the industry to drive government incentives and regulations for standard waste and recycling management p4, p9, p11 5 consider reverse logistics as a reverse supply chain and ensure that suppliers are aligned with ce values p7 3 ensure the reverse logistics operation is revenue generating, not just a cost of doing business p12 4 note. psource indicates the participant who discussed the strategy. theme 3. ensuring transparency and innovation and new partners in the supply chain the third theme identified the supply chain as critical to improving the returns process and adopting a circular business model. this theme was identified due to the agreement of all participants in the data analysis that the supply chain must be addressed and that the need for new partnerships is vital for change. to start to plan a transformation to the ce, p1 recommended, “because every company buys from other companies, the supply chain is the place to start, including widening the vision of whom they will need to engage with for the transformation.” p11 estimated that “75% to 85% of a company's carbon footprint is in the supply chain and that the company is just a piece of that supply chain,” making it a critical item to look at for business model transformation. p4 recommended: first, a business should look at the supply chain and understand how circular it is. then understand how it impacts the product, procurement, how circular the material comes back, and whether there is an infrastructure to take that product material back to stay in place. identifying new types of partners or collaborating with the grey or secondary markets can help to facilitate the movement of returned products for a low cost and allow for traceability. p3 spoke about grey markets, “a market that offers unwanted or surplus product,” and p6 talked about how furniture manufacturers now own second-hand furniture stores where “when people don’t want their furniture, they can bring it back.” frei et al. (2020) identified that companies feared reuse competitors selling their products inexpensively, making it essential to ensure that a consumer products company has secondary markets such as online auctions within their supply chain. p2 said, “the supply chain is an ecosystem, and other smaller ecosystems, like a recycling ecosystem, could be important for business model transformation. limiting the number of actors needed in that ecosystem will improve cost.” p7 indicated, “every company in the material supply chain that buys product needs to understand circular economy concepts and interiorize those in the purchasing process.” p9 recommended, “you need to make sure you design it in such a way and collaborate in such a way and create a supply chain in a way that it's 100% reuse.” p1 echoed the need for suppliers' targets but added, “ensure very high standards regarding social responsibilities on how suppliers manage their waste and maximize the efficiency of their resources and the importance of including these in contracts with suppliers.” lastly, p5 offered, “look outside the comfort zone of the current business and look at smaller innovative companies that may even be in the same industry to take on new partnerships with a common goal of becoming more circular.” 35 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal p7 suggested, “to start asking our suppliers to ask your providers or clients even what happens with the materials.” transparency in the supply chain is essential as p6 indicated that you could have “blind spots” in the supply chain, which means that “you can have a business model that’s more circular, but that does not respect human rights.” p5 also offered, “we want to know about the footprint of our suppliers in order to understand our own carbon footprint.” a summary of the strategies for theme three that were discussed by various participants and the theme’s dependencies on other themes are included in table 5. table 5 theme 3 strategy summary strategies psource dependent themes create a baseline for circularity in the supply chain in the company p1, p2, p4, p10, p11 4, 5 ensure that the purchasing process includes ce concepts and validate contract alignment to corporate ce goals p1, p7, p8 4, 5 investigate and consider new and different partners, particularly entrepreneurial companies focused on sustainability p5 2, 5 drive transparency throughout the supply chain p5, p7 2, 5 keep the reselling of products internal to the company to manage competition related to secondary markets p2, p6 2, 4 determine future material requirements p10 1 note: psource indicates the participant who discussed the strategy. theme 4. rethinking the ethos of the business model the fourth theme suggests that transforming to circular business models to improve profit and waste leakage of the returns process requires rethinking the entire ethos, with disruption related to revenue streams, investment strategies, and changes to customer behavior and relationships. this theme emerged based on high usage of the various codes within this theme. when analyzing various models discussed across all the interviews, a service model code was created and referred to a shift from current transactional to service-based. baden and frei (2020) referred to these models as access-based approaches that provide access to products instead of ownership. p5 said, “when you change business models to a circular business model, you usually servitize products; instead of selling the product, you sell the service.” various service models mentioned in the data were subscription, leasing, rental, sharing, and product-as-service models. service models differ from a financial perspective as they look at long-term profits rather than quicker profits. p10 said, “it makes sense to ensure that products are returned to get materials back. companies will make money because 36 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 they will need to spend less on materials, and there will be a continuous customer relationship.” if service models are enabled, this will change multiple components, including the ownership of the product and how items such as insurance play a role. p10 indicated, “a business could be secured by controlling the materials needed to make a new product coupled with a design based on cycles, ensuring the product has a higher residual value and can drive a different transactional model.” changing asset ownership is essential in a service model. the significant pairing of the codes service models and asset ownership makes it a critical concept in a very different business model from today for consumer goods companies. when using circular models, there is a need for the business to retain the ownership of that product to get it back. service models make obvious disposition decisions when something comes back, resolving the challenges identified by de leeuw et al. (2016). p10 said, “in these models, companies do not transfer the economic ownership of the product.” p5 indicated, “this allows the company to repurpose, remake and rethink the product and minimize its waste.” new competencies may be required for service models. p12 shared the importance of insurance regarding products as services and said: when you are used to just selling products forward, you have a manufacturer warranty, but when things start coming back, insurance becomes a critical competence and a critical understanding that 99% of companies in the exciting business model does not have. there are different elements of a strategy to be considered. one is changing the business context. p12 recommended “change the definition of success by just profit” and “genuinely broaden the definition of value to include social and environmental impacts.” another element is viewing the strategy from a global perspective. p8 noted that globalization is both a challenge and an opportunity and said, “the world is all connected and should facilitate and contribute to innovative discussions if everyone can relax and think on how to contribute to having a better and more sustainable world.” there are also challenges related to the local context, as p3 offered, “the conditions triggering a successful ce economy in the e.u. may offer no benefit to a community in africa, south america, or north america. the concept of circularity may offer global benefits but is subject to local conditions.” p3 suggested the following: there must be a consideration of the impact of actions or programs at the local or manufacturing plant level. if a business is attempting to optimize its operations through new programs or training, local level impacts to the operation must be considered. another consideration is to have an unambiguous definition of the ce p5 suggested “strategizing what long-term consumption means for the company.” p12 explained, “the definition of success must change to a broader definition than just financial value and include that of social and environmental impact,” which echoed the work of elkington (2006) but also demonstrates that since its inception in 1994, it has still not been widely adopted. there is a potential to use ce concepts for new revenue streams. p9 offered that “shareholders want to know how to make or save money by improving the return process. however, they will also get excited 37 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal if they can create new revenue by non-linear means”, including creating a business with products that can be used in multiple cycles instead of just one. as indicated by p9, “if the shareholders are excited about making money nonlinearly, they will support continuous change.” p2 recommended “ensuring that the reverse logistics organization was transformed from a cost center to a revenue stream.” p9 recommended, “rethinking repair services to ensure that broken returns can be repaired and keep products in place longer.” however, circular business models are new territory, and as p5 said, “there must be sacrifices for the change to happen.” p6 offered: two things grab shareholders' attention when presenting a circular economy. one is cost savings, so if you tell them it will be cheaper, and sometimes with some circular economy strategies, you have a big upfront investment, and then over time, that solution will be cheaper. the second is the social aspect. not only becoming greener, but you are also educating people and creating new jobs. multiple participants mentioned the upfront costs and the need for and change in how investment is viewed, p1 offered, “the amount of money generated is not going to be immediate and up from, but more steady over time, and i think there’s a lot of talk about reframing investors thinking into more patient capital.” p5 said that support from the board was necessary as “the decisions they are taking for the business is a very long investment for the future.” p4 offered: the first start in circularity is operations internally. identify where you can save money by circular inputs like renewable energy or reuse of materials which gets your finance department aboard. you start to build out the platform to look at all of your expenses. new players or organizations may be necessary to drive change. p10 proposed: when you are a large company and you want to innovate and create a circular economy ecosystem, an ecosystem is dependent on multiple variables, then you need an emerging team. this emerging team of different people developing new technology is placed outside the organization, so they are not limited by standard operating procedures because that kills what is needed, and that is passion, and that is drive. if you outplace them, you can outpace as an organization your market growth, so when it goes out of an incubator stage, you can include them in the company. similarly, p12 offered: in order for one organization to become circular, ultimately, what you need is a troublemaker working from outside, but in the same industry, from a small enough and nimble enough organization, that will disrupt the industry because from inside, you cannot do it fast enough. consumer behavior was identified as a challenge to transforming to the ce by de leeuw et al. (2016) and frei et al. (2020). however, p10 said, “consumer behavior would also be a force for change as there will be a point where they will not accept the current approach to consumer goods handling.” p12 provided a similar thought,” consumer expectations and awareness were changing, and it will be critical for consumer goods companies to consider their actions and behaviors.” p12 indicated, "the best motivation to move to the ce is that the competition is doing it, and customers are asking for it.” 38 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 p6 suggested that “the company must understand the market, but an important strategy is to define the consumption requirements for the future and meet those needs.” p5 also suggested, “we need to start changing, starting with every individual and how we look at consumption.” p7 suggested, “understanding global consumption patterns as developed countries have higher purchasing power than less developed countries.” as business models change, it is essential to understand how consumers will accept the concept. p12 highlighted, “when companies change business models to service models, the ongoing relationships with the customer become extended, so the customer support model also needs to change.” a summary of the strategies for theme four that were discussed by various participants and the theme’s dependencies on other themes are included in table 6. table 6 theme 4 strategy summary strategies psource dependent themes determine what circular means to a business and when determining strategy consider the local context and the impacts of circular activities p5, p8, p3 1, 2, 3, 5 evaluate the business from an entire lifecycle process design perspective and determine what circular means to that business. p4, p12, p3 1, 2, 3, 5 evaluate a change to service models, including impacts of asset ownership p10 1, 2, 3, 5 determine what new competencies or capabilities are essential in a new model, such as insurance p5 1, 2, 3, 5 identify new revenue streams that can be created with a change to the business model. p9, p2 1, 2, 3, 5 to manage shareholder expectations, determine a hybrid revenue model using linear and circular strategies. p5 1, 2, 3, 5 define a portion of the business to move to circular such as packaging or operations to start. p13 1, 2, 3, 5 invest in a team to focus on circular innovation for the company with limited traditional restrictions. p10, p12 1, 2, 3, 5 create returns processes that are easy and compatible with consumer needs and behaviors p12, p9, p13 1, 2 use social media and influencers to provide education and awareness on the importance of the ce and how consumers can support the ce p8, p11 5 use appropriate incentives for consumers to return products appropriately p10 5 provide reporting related to sustainability practices to create consumer confidence p11 5 39 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal define what consumption looks like in the future p6, p5, p7 5 create long-term customer relationship models to align with service-based models p10 1 note. psource indicates the participant who discussed the strategy. theme 5. multiple enablers are necessary to support change the fifth theme identified is ce business model transformation will require using several enablers, including understanding and utilizing ce values and principles to promote, facilitate, and support the change due to very high code presence in the data analysis for several of the codes within this theme. p4 suggested, “the ce is the most significant enabling environment for moving to a ce business model.” the significant application of the codes ce values, reuse, and recycling throughout the data supported this statement. utilizing the ce principles to define what sustainability means to the business is essential, and just as important is defining what consumption means in the future to that specific business. p4 offered “the importance of defining what the ce means to a particular company and helping their h.r. and business units define what it means to them to ensure acceptance.” p7 offered, “to do this requires knowledge of the ce and new capabilities,” p8 stated: the circular economy model might be something that is simple to understand, it could be easy to comprehend, but they will own a process, and all the connections and all the phases for the product from the material to the end of the lifecycle. thinking about closing the loop and how to incorporate critical components such as reuse, repair, refurbishment, and recycling within the business is critical. an example of this comes from p10, who said, “i’m not going to sell you a chair anymore. i’m going to provide you the service of comfortable seating”. another example is from p2, who mentioned a company that manufactures water pumps to ensure fresh drinking water, however “they don’t claim themselves to be a pump manufacturer, they are a water solutions company.” lastly, p3 encouraged “the ce to be a well-understood concept through the supply chain and procurement and become second nature throughout the entire business lifecycle.” p12 stated: in order to change, i ended up working and collaborating with every single function of the company. in a company that produces a product, more time creating enlightenment is in the supply chain, and more specifically in logistics will be important. p8 offered, “collaboration with those on the same journey is essential at the beginning of a company's journey to a circular model.” p8 continued, “start from trusting other partners, other companies, and they should start sharing anything, which is a circular mindset.” p5 indicated that “about half of the innovative small companies out there actually have a solution, but it is just about looking outside your comfort zone and understanding what we need to take on new partnerships.” p1 suggested, “going circular requires the internal collaboration amongst teams as well as external collaboration even with 40 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 competitors who may become really good allies when turning circular because they may be facing the same problem.” p6 discussed the importance of multidisciplinary thinking and said, “look at industrial symbiosis, and you cannot think in your silo of what your business does, think outside the box of this industry to who also uses this product that we use, or they waste that product we use.” government legislation and regulation had a high code application frequency and were present in 12 of the 13 participants. participants 3, 4, 6, and 9 suggested that most companies will not change unless legally required. p7 also stated the importance of government attention to companies' waste management. p13 also cited drivers for ce change our customers and competition but added that it was also regulation. based on the experience of p4, they suggested focusing on ensuring that businesses look wisely at what can be done and find the appropriate incentives to mitigate any risk. p2 also recommended identifying incentives, such as financial incentives offered by the government, to move to a circular model. there is a need for new leadership with the accountability and support of stakeholders that can inspire and enable the redefinition of the business model, including leadership open to external collaboration. p4 indicated that a position, such as a chief sustainability officer, must have business unit responsibility to move forward, and it cannot be part of a communications or public relations group. p1 identified, “business needs to infuse solid leadership that understands all of the circular economy's dimensions.” p5 was aligned and indicated: businesses need something new from a leadership perspective. leaders need to go beyond the traditional way of working and are knowledgeable about the ce. these leaders are the influencers inside the company who implemented the right policies and procedures to ensure a circular system. subramoniam et al. (2021) recommended using digital technology such as (a.i.) and blockchain to improve analytics and decision-making. p2 also offered “i.t. systems must be enabled enough to capture material specifications in their products, and there is an opportunity for companies to focus on this as part of their strategy.” p13 furthered the technology discussion and offered, “there are many opportunities to improve current data infrastructures to capture the material composition of products aligned with the supply chain.” p3 said, “relevant sustainability information is collected and stored, but departments perform work on multitudes of different platforms that are unable to speak with each other,” supporting improved transparency and traceability. p2 offered, “in the iot economy, because of the connected world, it is possible actually to embed software and tools to improve traceability of products.” multiple participants recommended that technology was imperative to enable transparency and traceability in the supply chain. p12 recommended product passports and material passports, which store essential information related to the product “to know what is in the products,” which was like participants 2 and 13 when they addressed using barcodes to capture data. p6 provided insight into a digital watermark technology that can be used on plastics to improve collections and recycling ecosystems. p6 said, “a company needs to have broader metrics for recycling, removing pollution,” and, like p10, p6 said, “you want to have an economic system that improves the lives of people, removes pollution, improves health what different benefits that the circular economy could offer are.” p12 offered, “this is 41 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal where technology such as product passports can help monitor usage and track materials, enabling better decision-making for executives and leaders responsible for returns decisions.” p7 offered: the concept of neutrality as a measurement. if the business puts one ton of plastic in the market, the business must figure out how to recycle one ton, and there must be measurements for everything a company puts in the market, including packaging. another important measurement is quantifying potential liabilities based on not following regulations or not adhering to commitments to consumers related to environmental goals, which is an important metric to use in a business case. p10 offered, “the shareholder does not want to find that the company they invested in finds itself in legal suits, quarrels with customers, so liabilities is a topic to quantify.” a summary of the enabler strategies that the various participants discussed, and the theme dependencies are included in table 7. table 7 theme 5 strategy summary strategies psource dependent themes collaborate with companies that are on a ce journey p8 3, 4 collaborate with new and different groups internally and externally p1, p6, p5, p8, p12 3 through collaboration, force appropriate legislation p6 investigate financial incentives from the government p2, p4 4 infuse solid leadership that understands the ce and are influencers internally and externally p1, p4, p7, p6 4 utilize the concepts of maintain/repair, reuse/redistribute, refurbish/repurpose, and recycle in the company and think of solutions instead of products p2, p10 1, 2, 3, 4 use digital technologies to improve analytics and decision-making p2, p6, p12, p13 1, 3, 4 measure business commitments regarding ce, including the concept of neutrality p6, p7, p10, p12 4 drive shared understanding of what the circular economy means to the specific business across the value chain p4, p7, p6 4 supporting ce requires new capabilities and can create new roles across the entire value chain p7 1, 2, 3, 4 42 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 force ce conversations from the highest level of the organization and provide awareness and education throughout to create a ce culture and mindset. p3, p12 4 note. psource indicates the participant who discussed the strategy. the category of challenges is found throughout all five themes. the participants mirrored several challenges identified in the literature review, such as consumer behavior (de leeuw et al., 2016; frei et al., 2020; javed et al., 2021), product and packaging diversity (frei et al., 2020; jaeger & upadhyay, 2020; linder & williander, 2017), linear business model inertia and the desire for a quick return on investment (jaeger & upadhyay, 2020; jain et al., 2020; linder & williander, 2017), as well as the lack of supporting legislation (lahti et al., 2018; linder and williander (2017). in addition, p11 added challenges of cheap products when they said, "we are always in this mindset of making and selling the cheapest thing, and the cheapest thing is not the most sustainable," as well as a challenge related to collaborating globally and "looking at the complexity of transboundary movements" related to the global movement of materials and products. research question revisited the research question was, what are the perspectives of ce experts of consumer goods companies in the united states to discover innovative strategies for the returns process to improve the adoption of a ce business model? the answer to that question requires rethinking the current business model. in the interview with p4, when asked what business model components needed to change to improve the returns process by adopting a ce business model, they responded, "well, everything because it's moving from linear to circular. change requires thinking and an ethos that changes from top to bottom." p5 said, "if you want to look at circular business models, you have to look at two perspectives, inside and outside. what is coming into the business in terms of supply chain and how you design products. rethinking the lifecycle of selling the product from ideation to retirement will drive rethinking the quality of raw and secondary materials utilized in the process.” using creative collaboration and introducing new types of partnerships into the supply chain is critical. reframing investor thinking from quick return on investment to "patient capital" is necessary in business cases that will be more long-term and advocate selling services instead of products or where products are designed to retain their value for longer. using technology to make the product smarter to trace and monitor the materials is a critical enabler. having knowledgeable and supportive leadership driving a culture of ce awareness internally and externally is vital and having the financial incentives, and legislation in place to force an entire business ecosystem redesign is essential. contribution to the adapted framework this study adapted the original ce framework (butterfly diagram) from the ellen macarthur foundation, which did not specifically consider the consumer products returns process. the adapted model demonstrated a problem with significant profit and waste leakage and a gap in the practice of the slow adoption of the ce, as shown in the adapted ce framework in figure 1. the principles of the framework were to keep the value of a product for as long as possible and to minimize the products 43 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal going to landfills, eliminate waste and pollution, and circulate products and materials longer (ellen macarthur foundation, n.d.-b, definitions). the themes identified in the study align with those principles. the data analysis results have advanced that framework to the circular business model transformation framework (cbmtf). by viewing the framework as a circular business model with essential capabilities that reflect the five themes, the cbmtf is now a workable tool that includes the necessary strategic components to address ce transformation. the cbmtf shown in figure 2 includes the spine showing the product lifecycle of the product manufacturer providing the product to the retailer that sells it to the consumer, who can return the product to where it was initially purchased. it also includes the closed loop values shown in blue as the study findings confirmed the essential circular concepts of the ce, such as maintain, reuse/redistribute, remanufacture/refurbish, and recycle. however, the framework in figure 2 now includes the five themes in green. the entire green circle represents theme 4 (circular business model) and theme 3 (supply chain), which primarily focused on the manufacturing spine but included the whole portfolio of suppliers in the model. theme 1 (design) includes the ce values and the consumer shown in blue, and it is dependent on the supply chain. the framework shows the importance of theme 2 (reverse logistics) and focuses on the return of products from the consumer to reduce waste. lastly, the framework illustrates the importance of theme 5 with internal and external enablers necessary to support the transformation throughout the entire circular business model. the modifications to this framework provide visibility throughout the whole value chain of what must be addressed in a circular business model to resolve profit and waste leakage of the returns process and the slow adoption of the ce business model to implement sustainable business practices. leaders of u.s. consumer product companies and practitioners with the goals of moving business to a ce business model can utilize the cbmtf as a guide in conjunction with the strategies from the ce experts described throughout the five themes to strategize the business model transformation of consumer product goods companies and improve the returns process. 44 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 figure 2 circular business model transformation framework (cbmtf) summary and recommendations the insights from this study can provide business leaders and practitioners strategies to advance the movement of the ce business model and address profit and waste leakage areas such as the returns process. participants 3 and 11 offered suggestions of foresight as two final recommendations to the leaders of consumer goods companies in the united states. p3 suggested, “businesses should watch what is happening in europe concerning legislation and adopting the ce business model.” p11 offered, “material may not derive value today to recycle to make a product, so understand what that means to the business when that material is no longer available.” applications the study findings can provide critical insight to business leaders, consultants, and strategists interested in progressing the transformation to the ce and improving the progress of the consumer products industry in incorporating sustainable innovation into their strategies. the strategies identified in the study findings can be used to develop strategic roadmaps for changes to business policies or processes, consumer theme 4 circular business model provider/retailer product manufacturer landfill provider/retailer reuse/re distribute refurbish/ repurpose recycle maintain /repair theme 3theme 3 supply chain theme 2 reverse logistic s theme 1 design theme 5 enablers 45 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal assess the current business model's circularity, and formulate recommendations for related initiative planning for established and new companies. each theme within the cbmtf can be assessed individually, where leaders and strategists can identify actions necessary to start the ce transformation process. for instance, business leaders could use theme 5, having knowledgeable and supportive leadership to create a circular culture and mindset across the value chain, to define what circular means to their business, and determine future consumption requirements. creating a baseline of theme 3 to determine the circularity of the supply chain would enable an understanding of what new partnerships and collaboration are necessary. this baseline would support both tactical and strategic changes in the supply chain. to focus on improving returns specifically, looking within reverse logistics and determining exactly how decisions are made related to products and the partners that need to improve them. alternatively, leaders and practitioners can start with theme 1 to determine what is needed in product and process design to become more circular and what materials will be required in the future, which will then dictate what changes will be necessary for the supply chain. individually reviewing the themes begins with an evaluation of the appropriate transformation initiatives. however, reviewing the themes together will create a cohesive long-term strategy based on their dependencies. whatever methodology is employed, consideration of consumer behavior and buying patterns need to be incorporated. as well, measurements are vital to measure progress, improve the volumes of global waste reported by the ellen macarthur foundation, and address that less than 9% of businesses are utilizing a circular model (circle economy, 2022). recommendations this study looked broadly at the consumer goods industry, where product diversity and industry diversity are challenges. a recommendation for future qualitative research is to limit the business model transformation research to a specific industry segment where profit and waste leakage need considerable attention and address how to balance the tbl for that specific segment or industry. as noted by p7, “it is essential to understand what products can move to circular business models.” another future research recommendation is to perform exploratory research to examine the relationship between consumer behavior and business change to service-based models. because consumer behavior plays a significant role in business transformation, future research, including ce, behavioral, and marketing experts, to determine how best to change business models from ownership to a service model is vital to support ce transformation. conclusion amplifying the sustainable innovation challenge is that consumer spending is expected to increase in the united states (alldredge et al., 2022; ibisworld, 2022b), resulting in higher returns. an estimated 20% of returns from online shopping alone (shehu et al., 2020) will add to the already five billion pounds of garbage in landfill sites resulting from product returns (calma, 2019). managing customer expectations, making a profit, and managing the environmental impact make addressing sustainable innovation imperative for consumer product companies (alsayegh et al., 2020). 46 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 this research explored innovative strategies to improve the returns process for consumer product companies in the united states with ce experts. currently, business leaders utilize outdated strategies and are slow to adopt the ce to address the millions of dollars needed to manage the returns process and the millions of pounds of waste that the process creates. this study progressed previous knowledge on ce and advanced the applied framework that grounded the study into a valuable tool to improve the consumer products return process. five themes were identified related to the strategies needed for transformation. to move to the ce, companies need to consider a move to service models which alter asset ownership, rethink the design of products in conjunction with a change in source materials, and enable traceability throughout a product's lifecycle with innovative technology. it is critical to drive transparency in the supply chain, reevaluate the importance of reverse logistics with the appropriate collections and recycling ecosystems, and increase collaboration with new partners, all with the infusion of ce values throughout the value chain. these strategies can further leaders' and practitioners' pursuit of circular economy business model transformation. however, no immediate strategy will break any barriers and dramatically change the returns process's current financial and environmental impacts. p6 said, “creating products and then asking how to improve the returns process is asking the wrong question in the wrong order.” with problems with natural resource shortages occurring faster than the ability of humanity to resolve them (rodriguez et al., 2020), the pressure for sustainable innovation continues. companies will need to make significant changes to their business models and experience external incentives and consistent global regulations on the extraction and processing of materials to move forward on ce adaptation. transformation to the ce in the united states will be challenging to achieve but a goal very much worth pursuing. 47 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal references ader, j., adhi, p., chai, j., singer, m., touse, s., & yankelevich, h. 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(2022, february 18). u.s. ecommerce grows 14.2% in 2021. https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/article/us-ecommerce-sales/ zhang, q., chen, j., & chen, b. (2021). information strategy in a supply chain under asymmetric customer returns information. transportation research. part e, logistics and transportation review, 155, 102511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2021.102511 about:blank about:blank about:blank about:blank about:blank about:blank about:blank about:blank 52 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 appendix interview questions q# interview questions framework/literature alignment probing questions 1 what business challenges or lessons learned can you share related to transitioning companies to the circular economy? addresses the gap in practice by understanding what needs to change in a company to improve the adoption of the ce overall and overcome dominant practices. what types of skills are needed to transform? how were specific metrics utilized? what would you consider to be best practices? 2 what business model components do companies need to have in place to transition to the circular economy more quickly? addresses general the problem related to the slow adoption of the ce to establish context and understand best practices overall how was staff retrained to change to the new competencies? how was technology considered? how did the business reorganize to support the ce? what considerations to shareholders needed to be made? what support mechanisms (processes, resources, technologies, or capabilities) needed to be implemented? 3 what opportunities are there for consumer product companies to immediately start to implement ce principles in their business? address the gap in practice specific to the industry and continue the discussion on innovative strategies related to taking out waste and pollution, extending the life of products and ensure natural system restoration. how do companies need to reconsider their supply chain and vendors? what new competencies or processes would need to be introduced? how do reverse logistics need to be adapted? 53 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 11:31 – 13:00 4 how must consumer product companies rethink the product returns process to make it circular? address the specific problem of moving to circular for the returns process, introduce innovation for product companies, and meet the tbl. what considerations need to be made for consumer expectations? what considerations need to be made to manage shareholders? what changes need to be made in the supply chain and for product selection, or how products are sold? 13:01 – 15:30 5 with the focus on retaining the value of a product for as long as possible in the ce, what needs to be included in the product return process to achieve that goal? addresses how to utilize the circles in the framework to promote this activity centered on the circular economy. how does a company maintain the value of the product for longer? what are the options related to the reuse and the redistribution of a product? what options are there for remanufacturing or refurbishing the product or its packaging? how was technology considered? 15:31 – 18:00 6 what new services or profit opportunities can be created by aligning the returns process with circular economy principles? value creation is a component of the ce, so this question is relevant to understanding how that can happen in the returns process to address profit leakage. how were the profit opportunities identified? what cost cutting initiatives can be identified? were all shareholders in agreement that they were positive for the company? if any investment was required, how long was the roi? 54 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 18:01 – 20:30 7 what do leaders in consumer product companies need to have in order to make better decisions about how to handle products during the returns process to reduce the amount of waste? this question addresses a critical barrier causing significant leakage and impacting the ability to achieve the tbl. what processes, skills, or resources would need to be introduced into the business? what changes in leadership were made? what changes were made to third-party vendors or the types of products that are sold? 20:31 – 23:00 8 what activities do leaders need to consider to deal with the product returns challenges caused by product packaging? critical to understand how these barriers were addressed in a ce. how was redesign incorporated? how should vendors be chosen? what must occur in reverse logistics operations to support this? 23:01 – 25:30 9 what would it take to successfully manage consumer expectations when implementing the circular economy? critical to understanding how consumer-specific barriers were addressed in a ce. how do product companies balance retaining the customer with lenient returns but also adopting more sustainable business practices? what challenges have you faced managing customer expectations? 25:31 – 28:00 10 how would you be able to tell if the changes for the returns process moving to the ce worked? critical to understand success and establish repeatable measurements for leaders to use. what were critical success factors measured? what technology or processes were used to capture data for measurements? how were the various shareholder's needs addressed in the measurements? 55 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal register and submit your work to business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master’s/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master’s degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ abstract introduction summary of the literature background sustainability in business the circular economy the importance of the triple bottom line industry trends challenges to adapting to the ce the adapted ce framework methodology summary of methodology participant information data collection process data analysis initialization and construction phases initialization construction phase rectification and finalization phases theme narrative theme 1. rethinking the entire product design lifecycle theme 2. viewing reverse logistics strategically theme 3. ensuring transparency and innovation and new partners in the supply chain theme 4. rethinking the ethos of the business model theme 5. multiple enablers are necessary to support change the fifth theme identified is ce business model transformation will require using several enablers, including understanding and utilizing ce values and principles to promote, facilitate, and support the change due to very high code presence in the dat... research question revisited contribution to the adapted framework summary and recommendations applications recommendations business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 1 guardians of trust: exploring internal whistle-blowing dynamics in nonprofit finance and accounting danielle munro, dba | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, usa robert goldwasser, dba | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, usa contact: danim8860@gmail.com abstract in nonprofit organizations, where the delivery of crucial services and charitable missions often intersects with vulnerabilities to fraud and corruption, internal whistle-blowing becomes paramount for nonprofits' ethical operations and maintaining public trust. this research delves into how organizational identification and psychological safety predict internal whistle-blowing intentions among employees in nonprofit organizations. the study focuses on a specific subset of this sector, examining 81 full-time finance and accounting professionals employed in 501(c)(3) organizations in the united states. the findings reveal a significant organizational identification and psychological safety ability in predicting an employee's internal whistle-blowing intentions. specifically, organizational identification predicts internal whistle-blowing intentions by 19.96%, while psychological safety predicts 19.01%. when these constructs are combined, they predict 27.83% of the variance in internal whistle-blowing intentions. these results emphasize the need for nonprofit organizations to cultivate an environment where employees feel a strong sense of belonging and safety, as these factors are instrumental in encouraging ethical practices and transparency. this study fills a gap in the existing literature on nonprofit whistleblowing and provides actional insights for nonprofit leaders to foster an ethical, transparent work culture. keywords: whistle-blowing intentions, nonprofit, organizational identification, psychological safety, and business ethics june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 2 introduction/background nonprofit organizations play an indispensable role in current society. these organizations offer services and support that touch on various aspects of societal well-being, from health and education to poverty alleviation and human rights (kuenzi et al., 2021; mcdonald & goodman, 2021; osili et al., 2023). the commitment of these organizations to vulnerable populations is a cornerstone of their mission (swoboda & swoboda, 2016). in recent years, however, the nonprofit sector in the united states has faced growing challenges that threaten its ability to fulfill this mission effectively, including a waning of public confidence in these organizations' problem-solving skills, alongside a notable decline in donations and trust (osili et al., 2023). this diminishing trust is partly attributed to increasing instances of unethical practices, fraud, and corruption within the sector, posing significant risks to nonprofit organization's reputation, revenue, and sustainability (scheetz et al., 2022). osili et al.'s (2023) study indicates an approximate 35% decrease in public willingness to donate to nonprofits compared to two decades ago. decreased donations and the broader decline in trust and reputation present significant obstacles for nonprofits, affecting their operational capacity and long-term sustainability. unethical practices, fraud, and corruption are central to these challenges. despite its noble intentions, the nonprofit sector is not immune to unethical conduct and scandals (chapman et al., 2023). the association of certified fraud examiners (2022) reported 180 occupational fraud cases in nonprofit organizations, with substantial financial losses. these instances of fraud and corruption deplete financial resources and erode stakeholder trust. for instance, the american legacy foundation, now known as truth initiative, lost approximately $3.4 million due to poor internal controls, weak governance, and unchecked trust relationships, which allowed an employee to generate false invoices and steal funds, a scandal that likely influenced the organization's rebranding and name change (bernstein & aulgur, 2017). public scandals relating to fraud significantly decrease donor giving, as highlighted by leclair (2019). as nonprofit organizations frequently view managing or pursuing growth, achieving long-term financial sustainability, and raising funds to cover total costs as primary challenges that they face (nonprofit finance fund, 2022), the threat of decreased donor giving due to fraud, corruption, and unethical practices becoming public scandal could cause significant ethical dilemmas for these organizations and how they respond. within the past few years, a variety of exposés and research articles have been produced on misconduct and unethical practices occurring within the nonprofit sector, including prominent organizations such as oxfam, save the children, amnesty international, and ijm, which raises a need for increased accountability within the nonprofit sector (dolšak & prakash, 2022; francavilla et al., 2023; scurlock et al., 2020; tosca bruno-van, 2019). the role of internal whistle-blowing becomes critical in this context. whistle-blowing, particularly by employees in finance and accounting roles, safeguards against unethical practices, especially when the detection is often contingent on the vigilance of internal staff. however, empirical research identified a noticeable reluctance among nonprofit employees to report observed fraud and corruption, a trend contrasting with their private sector counterparts (rothschild, 2013; scheetz et al., 2020). researchers have attributed the reluctance to report unethical behaviors to various factors, including fear of retaliation, lack of trust in the reporting systems, or a sense of futility (alleyne et al., 2018). despite the critical nature of this issue, there is a significant gap in research on whistleblowing within the nonprofit sector. while there is considerable literature on whistle-blowing in the public and private sectors, the dynamics within nonprofits have not been adequately explored. this dearth of research is particularly concerning given the unique challenges, seemingly conflicting requirements, and ethical considerations in the nonprofit context (hopkins, 2016; kim, 2016; swoboda & swoboda, 2016). understanding the decision-making process behind whistle-blowing is complex, involving both personal and contextual or organizational factors. this study sought to address the gap in research by focusing on how personal and contextual factors impact nonprofit employees' decisions to whistle blow. this research was completed by delving deeper into the interplay of these factors, mainly focusing on the roles of organizational identification and psychological safety in predicting internal whistle-blowing intentions among finance and accounting professionals in 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. organizational identification, a personal factor, involves the extent to which employees align their identity with that of their organization (caprar et al., 2022). this construct influences business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 3 employees' perceptions of organizational values and their willingness to act in ways that support those values or rationalize and provide justifications when there is dissonance between values and actions and thus may influence the decisions to whistle blow (caprar et al., 2022; lira, 2020). psychological safety, on the other hand, is a contextual or organizational factor that reflects the degree to which employees feel safe to take interpersonal risks, such as reporting unethical behaviors without fear of negative consequences (edmondson, 1999; lee et al., 2021). this study explored the dynamics of internal whistle-blowing intentions within nonprofit finance and accounting. specifically, we examine the influence of organizational identification and psychological safety on employees' intentions to report fraud, corruption, and unethical practices through internal mechanisms. this investigation seeks to address a notable gap in the current research by providing empirical insights into the factors that can predict internal whistle-blowing intentions in the nonprofit sector. understanding these dynamics is critical for developing effective strategies to encourage ethical reporting behavior, ultimately enhancing transparency and accountability within these organizations, and enhancing public trust in the nonprofit sector. the subsequent literature review delves deeper into this area's theoretical underpinnings and existing research. literature review contextualizing whistle-blowing in various sectors whistle-blowing has garnered significant attention across various sectors due to its implications for governance, ethics, integrity, and organizational behavior (dobel, 2020). in the private sector, whistle-blowing is often viewed through the lens of risk management and regulatory compliance, with a strong focus on its impact on corporate governance and accountability (hayes et al., 2021). in the public sector, whistle-blowing is intertwined with public interest and safeguarding government integrity (svara, 2021). however, in the nonprofit sector, whistle-blowing takes on a unique dimension due to these organizations' mission-driven nature and reliance on public trust and donor support (chapman et al., 2023; svara, 2021). despite its importance, the study of whistle-blowing in the nonprofit context is markedly less extensive than in other sectors (rothschild, 2013; scheetz et al., 2020). within this broader landscape, the unique dynamics of the nonprofit sector present distinct challenges and opportunities for understanding whistle-blowing behaviors and intentions. the motivations, barriers, and consequences of whistleblowing in nonprofits are potentially influenced by factors unique to the nonprofit context (chapman et al., 2023). the unique dynamics of nonprofit organizations nonprofit organizations differ from their private and public counterparts in several ways. nonprofits are driven by missions aimed at social good, often operate under tight financial constraints, rely heavily on public trust and donor goodwill, and frequently need to govern themselves due to a lack of attention in federal and state regulatory frameworks (anheier & toepler, 2019; nonprofit finance fund, 2022; swoboda & swoboda, 2016). this unique combination of factors creates different challenges and dynamics around whistle-blowing. studies have suggested that the nonprofit sector may experience different internal dynamics that affect employees' willingness to report unethical practices, including a strong sense of loyalty to the mission, fear of jeopardizing the organization's reputation, and concerns about potential backlash (anglim, 2018; friedman & main, 2020; svara, 2021). despite the growing body of literature on whistle-blowing, the intersection of organizational identification, psychological safety, and whistle-blowing intentions in the nonprofit sector remains underexplored. this gap is significant given the crucial role of whistle-blowing in maintaining ethical standards and public trust in nonprofits (nuswantara, 2023; scheetz & fogarty, 2020). the current study addresses this gap by exploring how these factors collectively influence internal whistle-blowing intentions among finance and accounting professionals in nonprofit organizations. understanding the whistle-blowing dynamics in the nonprofit sector is not just an academic exercise but a practical necessity for organizations (mesquita ayres et al., 2022). insights gained from this study could be instrumental in developing more effective whistle-blowing policies and practices in nonprofits. these policies and june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 4 practices can enhance these organizations' ethical climate and accountability, strengthening public trust and effectiveness. finance and accounting professionals a combination of organizational codes of conduct and professional ethical standards uniquely binds finance and accounting professionals. their roles have historically been steeped in ethical considerations, given their significant social responsibility towards various economic stakeholders (lapteş, 2019). accountants, as producers of financial information, and finance professionals, as strategic business advisors, are critical in upholding integrity within their organizations and guarding public trust (mesquita ayres et al., 2022). professional associations have established codes of conduct and ethical standards to guide finance and accounting professionals. these codes serve dual purposes: delineating unacceptable behaviors and outlining obligations and desirable professional qualities. for instance, members of the american institute of cpas (aicpa) are expected to follow the association's code of professional conduct, while the association of financial professionals (afp) has set ethical standards for treasury and finance professionals (american institute of cpas, 2020; association of financial professionals, n.d.a, n.d.b). these codes are essential in providing a framework for professional ethical decision-making. despite these ethical frameworks, finance and accounting professionals often face pressure from both internal and external sources to act unethically, potentially leading to a disregard for professional standards (huber, 2020). their challenges include explicit or implicit pressure from colleagues, superiors, or external parties, such as clients and lenders, which can lead to ethical dilemmas and conflicts. research has indicated that despite ethical codes, these professionals have a general hesitancy to report wrongdoing (alleyne et al., 2018). their reluctance often stems from a belief that their organizations do not welcome such reports and fear of retaliation. the hesitancy to report is concerning, given that finance and accounting professionals are in a prime position to identify corruption or unethical behavior. finance and accounting professionals are expected to adhere to their ethical values and professional norms despite organizational complexities and pressures. therefore, even in the face of complicity or organizational pressures, these professionals have the capacity and obligation to exercise ethical judgment and take action, such as whistle-blowing, when encountering unethical behaviors. organizational identification organizational identification, where employees derive part of their identity from their organization, plays a complex role in whistle-blowing (caprar et al., 2022). organizational identification stems from social identity theory, which posits that an individual's sense of self is partly derived from their membership in social groups, such as their workplace (tajfel, 1974, 1982; tajfel & turner, 1979). in nonprofit organizations, employees often have a strong identification with their organization's mission and values. social identity theory suggests that this solid organizational identification might influence their whistle-blowing behavior as employees weigh the implications of their actions on their social identity and the group's integrity. this theory helps understand how organizational identification might facilitate or impede nonprofit whistle-blowing. in the nonprofit sector, this identification is often intertwined with commitment to the organizational mission (baluch, 2012; svara, 2021; wang, 2022). while a strong identification with the organization can motivate employees to protect its integrity, it can also lead to reluctance to report wrongdoing, especially if employees fear that such actions might harm the organization they deeply identify with (caprar et al., 2022; chevalier et al., 2020; karahan & bozkurt, 2021). the literature indicates a need to understand how this identification influences whistleblowing behaviors, specifically in nonprofit settings, where personal and organizational values can be particularly intricate. psychological safety the concept of psychological safety, defined as the perception of taking interpersonal risks without fear of negative consequences, is crucial in whistle-blowing (edmondson, 1999; kahn, 1990; liu et al., 2023). in environments business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 5 where employees feel psychologically safe, they are more likely to report unethical practices, as they do not fear retaliation or career damage (lee et al., 2021). this phenomenon is particularly relevant in nonprofits, where the support of a charitable mission and the close-knit nature of many organizations can amplify fears of retaliation or ostracism (scheetz et al., 2021; svara, 2021; swoboda & swoboda, 2016; wang, 2022). research in other sectors has shown a positive correlation between psychological safety and ethical voice behaviors. however, this relationship is less explored in the nonprofit context, particularly regarding internal whistle-blowing intentions (chen & treviño, 2022; zhang & cao, 2021). understanding internal whistle-blowing intentions internal whistle-blowing intentions refer to an individual's willingness to report observed unethical practices within their organization through established internal channels (latan et al., 2019; near & miceli, 1986). internal whistleblowing intentions are crucial in organizational studies as they reflect an employee's propensity to actively safeguard the organization's ethical standards before misconduct escalates into a public scandal or harms the organization (nuswantara, 2023). internal whistle-blowing serves as a vital mechanism for detecting and rectifying issues that could otherwise escalate into major scandals, damaging the organization's reputation and trustworthiness (nuswantara, 2023). the theory of planned behavior supports the study of whistle-blowing intentions instead of actual whistle-blowing activity. the theory of planned behavior is a well-established psychological theory that explains human behavior in terms of three key components: attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control (ajzen, 1991). in the context of whistle-blowing, researchers have used the theory of planned behavior to suggest that an individual's decision to report wrongdoing is influenced by their attitudes towards whistle-blowing, the perceived norms regarding whistle-blowing within the organization, and their perceived control over the whistle-blowing process (e.g., belief in the efficacy of the reporting mechanisms and protection against retaliation) (alleyne et al., 2018; mustafida, 2020). this predictive behavior theory can provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the psychological processes underlying whistle-blowing intentions and its ability to influence actual future behaviors in the nonprofit sector. integrating organizational identification and psychological safety in internal whistleblowing intentions the study of internal whistle-blowing intentions becomes particularly intriguing when examined with organizational identification as a personal factor and psychological safety as a contextual factor. employees with a strong sense of identification with their organization might experience a conflict when deciding whether to report wrongdoing, balancing their loyalty to the organization with their ethical obligations (caprar et al., 2022; graham et al., 2020; karahan & bozkurt, 2021; zhang et al., 2023). conversely, in environments with high psychological safety, employees might feel more secure in reporting unethical practices, knowing that their concerns will be addressed appropriately and without fear of retaliation (lee et al., 2021; liu et al., 2023; zhang & cao, 2021). the theory of planned behavior suggests that an employee's attitude towards whistle-blowing, subjective norms, and perceived control influence their whistle-blowing intentions (ajzen, 1991; park et al., 2005). social identity theory provides a lens to understand how an individual's identification with their organization impacts their decision to report misconduct (tajfel, 1974; tajfel & turner, 1979). psychological safety offers insights into how the perceived safety of reporting affects an individual's willingness to come forward with concerns (edmondson, 1999; kahn, 1990). the literature indicates that while there is an understanding of the individual roles of organizational identification and psychological safety in influencing whistle-blowing, there is a gap in research that integrates these two factors within the nonprofit context. this integration is critical for a comprehensive understanding of the whistle-blowing phenomenon in nonprofits, as both personal and contextual factors can interact in complex ways to influence employees' decision-making processes. in the nonprofit sector, where trust and integrity are paramount, understanding and fostering internal whistle-blowing intentions is critical (phillips, 2019; svara, 2021). nonprofits, june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 6 due to their mission-driven nature, require a robust ethical framework to maintain credibility and public support (anglim, 2018; friedman & main, 2020; mcdonald & goodman, 2021; peng et al., 2019; scheetz et al., 2022; svara, 2021). research in this area can provide valuable insights for nonprofit leaders to create cultures encouraging ethical vigilance and reporting, ensuring that the organization adheres to its values and mission. as a proactive approach for organizations to address whistle-blowing in the context of risk management and fraud mitigation, it is beneficial for organizations to understand employees' whistle-blowing intentions. this proactive approach, possible via a predictive behavior theory such as the theory of planned behavior (ajzen, 1991), would be a more effective mitigation strategy for organizations than retrospective analyses of whistle-blowing failures. a retrospective approach to addressing whistle-blowing often implies a resigned acceptance of fraud, corruption, unethical conduct, and a lapse in the organization's risk management strategies and whistle-blowing policies. recognizing whistle-blowing as a complex form of planned behavior influenced by various personal and contextual factors is essential in developing proactive strategies to encourage internal whistle-blowing in response to unethical conduct (brown et al., 2016). employing this theoretical framework, which combines these theories and concepts, provides a structured approach to examining nonprofit internal whistle-blowing intentions. the framework allows a deeper understanding of the personal and contextual factors influencing whistle-blowing intentions and behaviors. it offers a basis for developing targeted interventions to encourage ethical reporting practices. furthermore, this theory-driven research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the unique dynamics of whistle-blowing in the nonprofit sector, enhancing the sector's capacity to maintain ethical standards and public trust. methods consistent with the theoretical framework used for this study, which converges social identity theory (tajfel, 1974), the concept of psychological safety (kahn, 1990), and the theory of planned behavior (ajzen, 1991), the study proposes the following hypotheses: hypothesis 1a organizational identification significantly predicts internal whistle-blowing intentions among finance and accounting professionals in 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. hypothesis 2a psychological safety significantly predicts internal whistle-blowing intentions among finance and accounting professionals in 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. figure 1 research model the primary purpose of this non-experimental quantitative cross-sectional study is to investigate whether organizational identification and psychological safety were predictors of the internal whistle-blowing intentions of business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 7 finance and accounting professionals within 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in the united states. this study aims to fill the research gap in the nonprofit sector, particularly in understanding how these factors shape employees' intentions to report unethical practices internally. a quantitative research approach was employed, utilizing a survey-based method to gather data due to its effectiveness in quantifying relationships between variables, suitability for testing the proposed hypotheses, and ability to provide participants anonymity and confidentiality. the target population for this study comprised finance and accounting professionals employed in 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations across the united states. due to the nature of their positions, these individuals are often at the forefront of encountering financial discrepancies and ethical dilemmas, making their insights particularly valuable for the study. participants were recruited via convenience sampling, using linkedin groups, email announcements and referrals, and surveymonkey audience. the survey included eligibility questions to verify that participants met the criteria of this survey's target population, meaning that they were employed full-time in finance or accounting roles at a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. the sample size was determined using power calculations to ensure sufficient statistical power for hypothesis testing. power calculations were performed using g*power to determine the appropriate sample size for the study. the calculations were based on a beta value of 0.20, an alpha level of 0.05, and a power of 0.80. these parameters were used to ensure that the study had sufficient power to detect meaningful effects (hedberg, 2018). as this study involved multiple regression, a minimum of 72 participants was required. this study's choice of statistical methods was guided by the nature of the research questions and the data collection type. multiple linear regression analysis was selected due to its effectiveness in examining the relationship between multiple independent variables (organizational identification and psychological safety) and a single dependent variable (internal whistle-blowing intentions). this method is particularly suitable for quantifying the extent to which the independent variables predict the dependent variable, allowing for a nuanced understanding of their collective impact (pederson, 2017). additionally, the use of adjusted r² in our analysis ensures a more accurate interpretation of the data, especially considering the relatively small sample size of the study. this approach enhances the reliability and validity of our findings, providing robust insights into the factors influencing internal whistle-blowing intentions in 501(c)(3) nonprofit finance and accounting professionals. as this study involved human subjects, ethical considerations were paramount. the research protocol, including the survey instruments and participant recruitment methods, was reviewed and approved by an institutional review board (irb). participants received a detailed informed consent form outlining the study's purpose, procedures, potential risks, and benefits. participation was voluntary, and confidentiality was assured. participants had the right to withdraw from the study at any time. data privacy and confidentiality were rigorously maintained throughout the study. personal identifiers were removed from the dataset, and only aggregate results were reported. the survey was distributed electronically using surveymonkey. the study utilized previously validated survey instruments to measure the three key constructs: organizational identification, psychological safety, and internal whistle-blowing intentions. organizational identification was measured using wang et al.'s (2022) 7-item scale, which employs a seven-point likert measurement and is based on edwards and peccei's (2007) and mael and ashforth's (1992) instruments. psychological safety was measured using a 7-item scale, which employs a sevenpoint likert measurement. this instrument was initially developed by edmondson (1999); however, it was modified for this study to measure psychological safety on an organizational level, as opposed to a team level, as done by other researchers such as carmeli and gittell (2009). this study's dependent variable was measured using the 4-item measuring internal whistle-blowing intentions from park et al.'s (2005) whistle-blowing intentions scale, which employs a five-point likert scale. before analysis, the data were cleaned to check for completeness and accuracy. any incomplete responses were excluded from the final analysis. the cleaned dataset was then prepared for statistical analysis. assumptions of regression analysis, such as linearity, independence of errors, homoscedasticity, and normality, were tested and met to ensure the validity of the results. june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 8 results and discussion the study sample consisted of 81 qualifying participants, meeting the minimum threshold for a statistically robust analysis. the study's analysis began with descriptive statistics to provide a snapshot of the sample characteristics and the distribution of responses. the demographic data presented in table 1 revealed that the gender and racial representation of the sample was a relatively accurate representation of the nonprofit sector, as independent information indicates that the characteristics of the nonprofit workforce are 75.6% white and 65.7% female (independent sector, 2024). table 1 descriptive statistics of participants characteristic full sample n % gender female 51 63.0 male 24 29.6 non-binary 1 1.2 prefer not to say 5 6.2 total 81 100 age 18-29 6 7.4 30-39 23 28.4 40-49 19 23.5 50-59 16 19.8 60+ 14 17.3 prefer not to say 3 3.7 total 81 100 race or ethnicity asian 4 4.9 black or african american 7 8.6 hispanic or latino 9 11.1 middle eastern or north african 2 2.5 multiracial or multiethnic 1 1.2 white 53 65.4 prefer not to say 5 6.2 total 81 100 education level graduated from high school 9 11.1 associate's degree 7 8.6 bachelor's degree 25 30.9 master's degree 30 37.0 doctoral degree 7 8.6 prefer not to say 3 3.7 total 81 100 along with demographic information, this study also confirmed the reliability of all instruments used before undergoing statistical analysis. the survey instruments used all had more than two responses, so their reliability was business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 9 analyzed using cronbach's alpha; an acceptable reliability score is at least 0.7 (creswell, 2014; krathwohl, 2009). each instrument used in this study had a reliability score of at least 0.7 (table 2). table 2 reliability scores for survey instruments instrument dimension n cronbach's alpha organizational identification scale organizational identification 7 0.840 psychological safety scale psychological safety 7 0.819 internal whistle-blowing intentions scale internal whistle-blowing intentions 4 0.759 a nuanced understanding of the data emerges when examining the skewness and kurtosis as part of the exploratory data analysis (table 3). the skewness values for the variables all exhibit a negative skew, albeit to a varying degree. while the negative skewness in the data suggests a certain degree of variability in responses, particularly towards the lower end, the higher mean scores across all variables indicate a generally positive outlook among participants regarding organizational identification, psychological safety, and internal whistle-blowing intentions. table 3 skewness and kurtosis variable n m sd skewness kurtosis organizational identification 81 5.3598 1.0712 -0.8067 0.1774 psychological safety 81 4.9153 1.1408 -0.3988 -0.5631 internal whistle-blowing intention 81 4.2716 0.6849 -0.6986 -0.4286 linear regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. the analysis showed that organizational identification is a significant yet modest, predictor of internal whistle-blowing intentions (table 4). specifically, the findings suggest that organizational identification accounts for approximately 19.96% of the variance in internal whistle-blowing intentions. given these results, the hypothesis that organizational identification significantly predicts internal whistle-blowing intentions among finance and accounting professionals in 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations is accepted. psychological safety was also a significant, yet low, predictor of internal whistle-blowing intentions (table 5). the findings suggest that psychological safety accounts for approximately 19.01% of the variance in internal whistle-blowing intention. overall, the hypothesis that psychological safety predicts internal whistle-blowing intentions among finance and accounting professionals in 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations is accepted. table 4 linear regression for organizational identification as a predictor of internal whistle-blowing intentions n r r² adjusted r² std. error of estimate f change df1 df2 sig f change 81 0.458 0.210 0.200 0.613 20.95 1 79 <0.001 june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 10 note. the predictor variable (independent variable) is organizational identification. the outcome variable (dependent variable) is internal whistle-blowing intentions. presented statistics rounded to three decimal points where applicable. table 5 linear regression for psychological safety as a predictor of internal whistle-blowing intentions n r r² adjusted r² std. error of estimate f change df1 df2 sig f change 81 0.447 0.200 0.190 0.616 19.78 1 79 <0.001 note. the predictor variable (independent variable) is psychological safety. the outcome variable (dependent variable) is internal whistle-blowing intentions. presented statistics rounded to three decimal points where applicable. multiple linear regression was utilized to assess the collective impact of organizational identification and psychological safety on internal whistle-blowing intentions. the analysis revealed that these constructs are nearly moderate predictors of internal whistle-blowing intentions, accounting for approximately 27.83% of the variance, as indicated by an adjusted r² of 0.2783 (table 6). the model's significance, p < 0.001, affirmed the statistical significance of the results. table 6 multiple linear regression for organizational identification and psychological safety as predictors of internal whistle-blowing intentions n r r² adjusted r² std. error of estimate f change df1 df2 sig f change 81 0.544 0.296 0.278 0.582 16.43 2 78 <0.001 note. the predictor variables (independent variables) are organizational identification and psychological safety. the outcome variable (dependent variable) is internal whistle-blowing intentions. presented statistics rounded to three decimal points where applicable. discussion the finding that organizational identification significantly predicts internal whistle-blowing intentions aligns with the study's theoretical framework. the results suggest that employees who view their identity as closely tied to their organization are more likely to take actions that they perceive as beneficial, such as reporting misconduct. the results also imply that strengthening employees' identification within the nonprofit context could be a strategy to promote ethical behavior and internal reporting. the significant role of psychological safety in predicting whistle-blowing intentions underscores the importance of creating a work environment where employees feel secure in speaking up and reporting misconduct. these results align with theory and prior literature, indicating that employees are more likely to act on their ethical concerns when they trust they can report issues without retaliation. the study's findings suggest a complex interplay between organizational identification and psychological safety in influencing internal whistle-blowing intentions. the findings highlight the need for nonprofit organizations to foster a strong sense of identification among their employees and ensure that the work environment is perceived as safe and supportive of ethical reporting. business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 11 this study's findings significantly contribute to the literature on whistle-blowing intentions, particularly within the nonprofit context. our analysis provides empirical evidence supporting the role of organizational identification and psychology in predicting internal whistle-blowing intentions, a relatively underexplored area in nonprofit research. notably, the study extends the application of the theory of planned behavior, social identity theory, and the concept of psychological safety to the context of nonprofit whistle-blowing, offering new insights into how these theoretical frameworks manifest in practical, organizational settings. the revelation that organizational identification and psychological safety collectively account for a substantial portion of the variance in internal whistle-blowing intentions underscores the complexity of ethical decision-making in nonprofits. this nuanced understanding expands upon previous studies by highlighting the interplay between individual psychology and organizational culture within the unique nonprofit context. further, the study's findings are instrumental in guiding nonprofit leaders towards more effective strategies for fostering an ethical reporting environment, thereby enhancing accountability and integrity within the sector, including several practical implications for nonprofit organizations. first, strategies aimed at enhancing organizational identification should consider the ethical dimensions of such identification. second, creating and maintaining a psychologically safe environment is crucial for encouraging internal reporting of unethical practices. nonprofit leaders should focus on developing policies and cultures that support both these aspects to promote ethical behavior and transparency. while the study provides valuable insights, it has limitations. the sample size and the use of self-reported measures may limit the generalizability of the findings. future research could explore these dynamics in different nonprofit contexts and use alternative methodologies, such as qualitative approaches or case studies, to gain deeper insights. recommendations and conclusions the study revealed that both organizational identification and psychological safety hold significant predicting ability of internal whistle-blowing intentions among finance and accounting professionals in 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. the study found that a robust identification with an organization leads employees to a heightened willingness to report unethical practices in the nonprofit context. this finding underscores the crucial role of organizational identification in influencing employee behavior, particularly in ethical vigilance. concurrently, the study emphasized the vital role of psychological safety. ensuring a risk-free environment where employees can voice concerns without fear of retribution is pivotal in fostering a culture where ethical concerns are not only noted but actively reported. this novel research is significant for business administration, particularly within nonprofit management and business ethics. nonprofits, pivotal in societal welfare, operate on the fulcrum of public trust and ethical integrity. the insights gained from this study provide a strategic framework for nonprofit administrators, highlighting the necessity of nurturing organizational identification and psychological safety. these elements transcend beyond compliance and risk management, evolving into strategic tools fortifying nonprofit organizations' ethical bedrock, reputation, and operational efficacy. considering these findings, it is recommended that nonprofit organizations invest in cultivating a mission-driven culture that strongly values ethical conduct and decision-making. this recommendation involves consistently communicating the organization's mission and values and actively involving employees in decisions and initiatives that resonate with these values authentically and ethically. such practices can enhance the employees' sense of belonging and identification with the organization and decrease the possibility of unethical pro-organizational behavior and other detrimental effects of solid organizational identification observed in other sectors (caprar et al., 2022). additionally, nonprofit leaders should focus on establishing and maintaining an environment of psychological safety. this environment encompasses establishing clear, accessible channels for reporting unethical practices and ensuring these mechanisms are grounded in confidentiality and trust. leadership training emphasizing trust, respect, and open communication is also essential. such training can create a workplace atmosphere where employees feel safe to report concerns. moreover, nonprofits should engage in regular ethical training programs. these programs reinforce the importance of ethical behavior and the necessity of reporting misconduct. concurrently, a periodic june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 12 review of policies related to ethics and whistle-blowing is essential to ensure they remain effective and reflect best practices. further research in diverse nonprofit categorizations is essential to enhance the applicability and generalizability of these findings and increase understanding of the nonprofit context. exploring these dynamics across different types of nonprofit organizations, encompassing varied sizes and missions, can provide a broader understanding of internal whistle-blowing intentions within the sector. additionally, qualitative methodologies can offer deeper insights into employees' experiences and perceptions regarding whistle-blowing. longitudinal studies could also be beneficial in examining the evolution of organizational identification and psychological safety over time and their sustained impacts on whistle-blowing intentions and actual whistle-blowing behaviors. this study contributes significantly to the discipline of business administration, especially within the sphere of nonprofit management and business ethics. it provides actionable insights for nonprofit leaders, offering a blueprint for fostering ethical practices and bolstering the integrity and effectiveness of their organizations. the emphasis on organizational identification and psychological safety guides nonprofits towards ethical compliance and building robust, sustainable organizations grounded in trust and ethical responsibility. overall, the results of this study should encourage further research on business ethics within the nonprofit context. references ajzen, i. 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(2021). how can the silence be broken? caring ethical climate and employee silence. social behavior and personality: an international journal, 49(2), 1m. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.9970 https://doi.org/10.1177/08997640211017665 https://doi.org/10.2308/jfar-2020-018 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-019-00148-x https://doi.org/10.1177/053901847401300204 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.33.020182.000245 https://doi.org/10.1515/npf-2019-0031 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-021-00336-8 https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00762 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283032 https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.9970 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 1 the causes and remedies for high employee turnover in the united states hospitality industry ajmal hamam | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama robert goldwasser | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama abstract this study analyzed the causes and remedies for high employee turnover in the united states hospitality sector. the labor turnover rate increased, especially during the covid-19 period, which indicates the unsustainable operations of the hospitality industry. this study applied a qualitative design to gather information from a population of workers in the hospitality industry regarding the causes of high labor turnover and strategies that may be used to reduce the turnover. a sample of 20 workers from the u.s. hospitality industry was extracted from linkedin for the research. the researcher paid survey monkey to collect a relevant sample and provide it with an open-ended questionnaire. the response rate was 90%. after collecting the filled-up questionnaires, the researcher applied thematic analysis to synthesize the results. the factors that affected turnover were income, non-adherence to workplace ethical standards, quality of services, and the effects of covid-19. the leadership system influenced the employee perceptions of labor turnover. the management strategies that could be applied to improve employee retention included sustainable finance allocation, employee appreciation, and a conducive working environment. health crisis management was the key theme for optimizing employee turnover during the covid-19 pandemic. keywords: covid-19, employee motivation, employee turnover, ethical standards, income, leadership system, sustainable finance allocation. june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 2 introduction this research analyzes the causes and remedies for the high employee turnover in the united states hospitality industry. this study provides substantial information for formulating policies to enhance the sustainability of operations of the hospitality sector in the usa. also, the policies can be adopted by hospitality players in the global hospitality industry, hence enabling the efficiency of corporate dealings in the international market. unlike similar research, this analysis provides first-hand and robust information that reflects the actual nature of operations of the united states hospitality sector before, during, and after the pandemic. labor turnover is a crucial issue in human resource management. the specific business problem is the high labor turnover rates in the hospitality industry. however, the study will critically analyze the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the turnover rates in the hospitality industry by comparing data before and after the pandemic. the subject is worth studying because the hospitality industry has had a higher labor turnover in recent years. therefore, it will help the researcher and other interested stakeholders understand the motivators promoting employee retention and the hygiene factors that cause high labor turnover (michael & fotiadis, 2022). according to dogru et al. (2023), high employee turnover results from poor economic performance; for example, the economic recession caused by the covid-19 pandemic period reduced the ability of most firms to pay the workers, hence retrenchments as a costcutting strategy, and temporary replacements of workers, which caused a high employee turnover in the hospitality industry. the leisure and hospitality industry are critical because it depends on the availability of disposal income, leisure time, and customer satisfaction to thrive (mim & ferdous, 2021). some of the segments of this industry include travel and tourism, food and beverages, recreation, lodging, and other related fields. this multi-billion-dollar industry is essential to the united states economy because of the revenue it generates and the numerous job opportunities it provides. statista research department (2022) states that the leisure and hospitality industry is the third largest by employment in the usa, with about 15.8 million workers in october 2022. despite the industry being one of the biggest employers in the united states, it also has some of the highest labor turnover rates in the country. the study utilized herzberg's two-factor theory to understand the factors leading to hospitality industry labor turnover. the theory was proposed by frederick herzberg in 1966 and sought to understand the motivation-hygiene relationship. this theory suggests that two factors affect employee motivation: job satisfaction and dissatisfaction (holston-okae & mushi, 2018). in this theory, motivators are factors that cause job satisfaction, while hygiene factors are characteristics that cause job dissatisfaction. this theoretical knowledge supports this research because motivation and job satisfaction are critical variables in this study; therefore, it helped identify and classify the various variables of this research as either motivators or hygiene factors to determine how they contribute to labor turnover or retention. resource-based theory was also adopted for this research. the theory explains the competition for resources between firms in the same market. firms in the hospitality sector strive to control the supply of resources and acquire the most efficient production factors for the highest output (barney et al., 2011). companies may introduce competitive strategies to attract employees, such as providing enhanced salary packages compared to rival firms. providing comparatively high salaries compels workers in rival firms to quit and search for employment opportunities in companies that provide enhanced salaries, increasing employee turnover rates in firms that offer relatively low salaries (sciarelli et al., 2012). also, the theory is related to the strategic human resource management strategies that a company may adopt to ensure sustainable operations of human resource activities, which may aid in reducing employee turnover to an optimal level. business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 3 literature review ghani et al. (2022) note that equity, job characteristics, expectancy, social exchange, and maslow's theories explain job retention in the hospitality sector. equity theory relates to retention strategies such as training, salary improvement, involvement in decision-making, and promotion (hatfield et al., 2016). lloyd and mertens (2018) explain that the expectancy theory dictates workers' behavior based on expectations at work, while the social exchange theory explains the relationship between the company's offer and employees' behavior. however, dar and sakthivel (2022) state that maslow's theory relates to the difference in employees' wants, which dictates their willingness to stay in a company. the articles identify elements related to the theories, forming a framework for analyzing how the concepts modeled labor turnover in the hospitality sector during the pandemic. the critical sections of this chapter include the definition of elements of the hospitality sector, a critical analysis of labor turnover, an explanation of voluntary turnover, the drivers of high voluntary turnover in the u.s. hospitality industry, and the influence of employee perceptions regarding labor turnover in the sector. also, the review displays the rate of employee turnover in the u.s. hospitality industry during and after the covid-19 pandemic, the sustainable administrative practices that may be applied to ensure employee retention and the strategies that may have been adopted to optimize employee turnover rates during the covid-19 pandemic. additionally, this chapter critically analyzes employee turnover rates in the global hospitality sector before and after the covid-19 pandemic, which will form a framework for comparing the performance of the u.s. and international hospitality industries. moreover, this chapter identifies the theories related to labor turnover in the hospitality sector, explains the conceptual framework adopted in the study, and identifies the research gap that necessitated this study. the definition and elements of the hospitality industry according to hemmington (2007), the hospitality sector consists of restaurants and bars established for economic purposes. the international labor organization (2010) similarly identifies hotels, catering activities, and the tourism sector as elements of the hospitality industry. also, it incorporates boarding houses, motels, and centers for holidays as providers of hospitality services. moreover, pubs, nightclubs, travel agencies, conference centers, and any place established to provide meals constitute the hospitality industry. mim and ferdous identify the provision of accommodation services as a crucial element of the hospitality industry, which should include providing entertainment activities to the guests. anderson et al. (2008) identifies the importance of providing innovative catering services as a strategy for improving the sustainability of the hospitality sector, which confirms the validity of incorporating hotels as part of the hospitality industry. ehl insights (2023) lists food trucks, travel and tourism agencies, and recreational facilities, such as sports complexes, as elements of the tourism industry. additionally, langvinienė and daunoravičiūtė (2015) list bars, buffets, independent travel agencies, spas, wellness service providers, clubs, cafeterias, and camping agencies as elements of the hospitality sector. labor turnover akinyomi (2016) states that labor turnover can also be referred to as employee turnover, which is the rate at which employees terminate their contracts with a company. bhardwaj and singh (2023) clarify that the average number of employees can be calculated by considering the average number of workers available at the start and the number of employees employed in the company at the end of the analysis period. xu et al. (2023) also state the need to identify the population of workers at the start and end of an analysis period and the number of workers who left during the same period as the critical variables for calculating the labor turnover ratio. however, the organization for economic co-operation and development (2021) claims there is a difference between employee turnover and turnover ratio – the former is a raw quantity of the workers who have left an organization, while the latter is an expression of the turnover as a percentage of the retained workers. domurath et al. (2022) similarly note the june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 4 differences between the two variables and clarify that the final output of the calculation can be applied to determine the employee retention capacity. the causes of high employee turnover various factors may stir the workers' interest in terminating their contracts with a company, either because of the firm's decision or the individual staff. suraihi et al. (2021) note that factors related to the work environment, personal reasons, and external factors are the fundamental causes of employee turnover. the work-related factors may include job satisfaction, salary levels, the performance of a company and the individual worker, and the company's commitment to ensuring workers' welfare. bhardwaj and singh (2023) list a lack of growth at the workplace, the failure of organizations to appraise workers, and poor compensation as factors for voluntary labor turnover. similarly, magove and mukanzi (2018) explain that poor compensation and lack of growth compel workers to identify opportunities that may offer better remunerations and work environments than the current employer. the business cycle also determines the rates of labor turnover; for example, periods of economic boom may be characterized by high turnover because of the availability of several options for job opportunities, while a relatively high retention may characterize the low seasons because of limited opportunities (ghani et al., 2022). mrope (2022) introduces poor recruitment strategies and biased treatment of workers as factors that promote labor turnover. de-smet et al. (2022) share the same sentiments and explain the rising competition for talent as a driver of high employee turnover. mwakaswaya (2023) clarifies that other than remuneration levels, employee turnover rate varies with gender – females display a higher turnover rate than males. the employee turnover in the u.s. hospitality industry during the covid-19 pandemic labor turnover in the usa hospitality sector may have increased during the pandemic because of the reduced corporate activities of most hospitality companies worldwide. according to abdou et al. (2022), the number of voluntary and involuntary quits in the u.s. hospitality sector was 3,500,000 during the pandemic, which was 33% of the total unemployed population in the country. dogru et al. (2023) specify that the turnover rate in the hospitality sector was 65% for the general hospitality sector, 70% for the accommodations and meals companies, and 43% for the arts and entertainment organizations. croes et al. (2021) also note that more than 50% of the workforce in the hospitality industry lost their jobs. still, the author cited does not provide an exact rate of turnover and a breakdown of employee turnover for every sub-sector of the hospitality industry. administrative strategies for enhancing employee retention hospitality companies can apply sustainable management strategies to reduce labor turnover. andrews and mohammed (2020) analyzed the strategies for reducing employees' intent to quit. they established the issuance of rewards, incentives, recognition, promotion, and bonuses as the fundamental techniques for increasing worker retention. walden university (2022) also identifies rewarding staff. it provides an early explanation of the company's mission. it aims at the beginning of their contracts so that they understand the styles of operations expected while working with a company. grandison (2017) similarly states that enhancing employee work-life balance and ensuring workers' contribution to the decision-making activities of a company, recognition, training, and offering optimal payments based on workload are sustainable approaches for reducing labor turnover. deighan (2016) also lists providing care, emotional support, and an assurance of future benefits to the company as administrative strategies for decreasing employee turnover. besides, suraihi et al. (2021) identify skills development, aligning the workers' principles to the company goals, creating robust social relations at the workplace, and improving the mental health impact of the work environment as efficient strategies for reducing workers' intent to quit. schemes for reducing employee turnover in the hospitality sector during the covid-19 pandemic business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 5 according to le et al. (2023), encouraging employees to stay within their jobs was an efficient strategy for reducing employee turnover, while ghani et al. (2022) explain that sustainable recruitment involves employing only workers who ensure the sustainable operations of a company. however, ghani does not clarify how the strategy aided in reducing labor turnover in the hospitality sector. lam and solovyeva (2023) identified a job retention scheme, which included utilizing the company's financial reserves to pay employee's salaries during the pandemic to reduce layoffs. lam and solovyeva (2023) do not show how the job retention strategy reduced employee turnover in the hospitality industry during the pandemic. yin et al. (2022) explain that most hospitality companies reduced the hours worked per employee as a job retention strategy. the literature review discussed aspects of the hospitality industry, such as elements, the definition and formulation of labor turnover, the causes before and after the covid-19 pandemic, strategies for reducing employee turnover, and theories related to employees' intention to quit. however, the review did not identify robust information on the causes of high labor turnover in the u.s. hospitality sector. methods the problem this study analyzed is the causes of and remedies for high employee turnover in the united states hospitality industry. a low labor turnover is one of the indicators of sustainable operations in the hospitality sector. over the last decade, the issue of high labor turnover has become a key issue in business administration, especially in the hospitality industry in the united states (dogru et al., 2023). the covid-19 pandemic has changed the landscape of the hospitality industry, especially on matters such as labor turnover, primarily due to the massive job losses from the lockdowns and restriction of movements (bajrami et al., 2020). at an organizational level, a high employee turnover reduces a company's productivity because of the frequent exchange of workers, which causes interruptions of services and inconsistency in the quality of services. the repeated replacement of workers at close intervals also increases the expenditure on recruitment; for example, an airline sources employees and provides additional training and orientation to the activities, which may involve significant expenditure (surji, 2013). therefore, this research sought to bridge the gap between research before and after the pandemic. this research helped to fill this research gap and determine the factors influencing the high labor turnover rates in the hospitality industry in the united states. this research study aimed to explore the factors and possible solutions to the problem of high labor turnover rates in the hospitality industry in the united states. it also helped understand the impact of external environmental factors, such as the covid-19 pandemic, on voluntary turnover rates in the hospitality industry. even post-covid-19 pandemic, the turnover rate in the hospitality sector remained high. according to the bureau of labor statistics, the hospitality sector turnover rate was closer to 70-80 percent. the study utilized a qualitative approach to find more information on the research topic and answer why and how the phenomenon happened. this approach was subjective and suitable for this research question because it explored multiple variables (basias & pollalis, 2018). this study adopted a descriptive research design because many variables are involved, allowing the research to describe the phenomenon without any causal relationships or hypotheses (siedlecki, 2020). the researcher used an online interview to collect data from hotel managers who will be sourced from linkedin. the study sample consisted of 20 hoteliers from the united states hospitality industry. research questions 1. what factors affect the hospitality industry's high voluntary labor turnover rates? 2. how have the employees' perceptions affected labor turnover in the hospitality industry? 3. what sustainable employee management strategies are the most beneficial to employee retention? june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 6 4. which strategies did the hospitality companies adopt to optimize employee turnover rates during the covid-19 pandemic? the fundamental goal of this analysis was to investigate the cause of and remedies for high employee turnover in the u.s. hospitality sector. the research focused on employee turnover in the industry before, during, and after covid19 by collecting information from human resource managers in the sector. this chapter explains the procedures adopted to conduct this study. it comprises sections including the problem statement, research questions, research philosophy, research approach, research design, the study population, data analysis, and reporting procedures. the descriptive design displays simple numerical data on the characteristics of the study population, which can be fundamental for decision-making to improve the corporate sustainability of the hospitality sector (dudovskiy, 2022). this study collected information on the age, duration of employment, average salary, preferred salary, and average number of workers who may have quit within a specific duration (einola & alvesson, 2020). phenomenology aids in understanding respondents' sentiments based on their real-life experience with the phenomena under study. phenomenology includes collecting primary data through direct interaction with the respondents (kabir, 2016). this study targeted united states hospitality sector workers to provide primary information regarding the industry's operations. this research involved 20 participants randomly selected from linkedin to represent the hospitality industry based in the usa. the population of participants was sufficient to provide a response rate that produced valid results, even with a response rate of 50%. ten respondents were enough to deliver adequate information on employee turnover in the united states hospitality industry. however, if the respondents from linkedin were rejected for participation in the study or failed to submit their responses, a backup sample of 20 could be obtained from survey monkey. open-ended interview questions were used to collect data from the respondents. the interview questions provided the employees with a flexible platform for responding to inquiries based on their personal experiences in the industry, using their own words (shukla, 2020). hence, an open-ended interview question enhanced the results' robustness and applicability in formulating sustainable decisions. results and discussion the researcher applied descriptive analysis for the demographic information captured for section a of the data collection instrument. descriptive analysis identified the frequency distribution and measures of central tendencies for age, gender, and duration of employment in the hospitality industry. the audio and video responses were transcribed to create written responses – one copy for each participant. thematic analysis was applied to interpret the results. the strategy displays the theories related to the respondents' sentiments regarding high labor turnover in the united states hospitality sector. this section displays the qualitative results of the research. the results show the themes extracted from the responses and their relation to high labor turnover in the u.s. hospitality sector. the study considered a sample of 20 respondents, but only 18 interviewees returned the filled data collection instruments. hence, the response rate 18/20 (90%) was sufficient to provide valid data for the final analysis procedures. the demographic characteristics of the study sample the descriptive statistics for age, duration of contract, and gender are summarized in table 1. business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 7 table 1 descriptives for age, duration of contract, and gender variable minimum maximum average age (years) 18 79 59.94 duration of contract (years) 1 61 gender male = 55.6% female = 44.4% most respondents (35.3%) earned annual income above $75,000. however, the minority earned below $25,000 annually, while the respondents who earned between $25,000 and $50,000 and between $50,000 and $75,000 were equal (23.5%). results this section explains the responses of the sample population to the research questions. the main sub-sections include the factors affecting high turnover rates in the hospitality industry, the impact of employee perceptions on labor turnover in the hospitality sector, and the sustainable management strategies that improve employee retention. also, the results section explains the strategies that hospitality companies adopted to optimize employee turnover during the covid-19 pandemic. theme 1: factors affect high labor turnover rates in the hospitality industry the main themes related to the factors affecting high labor turnover rates in the hospitality industry included income-related factors, non-adherence to the ethical standards at the workplace, quality services, the effects of covid-19, and the leadership system. income-related factors the respondents indicated that some factors that cause the high labor turnover rates in the hospitality industry include low minimum wage and no benefits. candidate 004 stated that high employee turnover may cause low quality of service and relatively high costs, even though the respondent did not comprehensively clarify the relationship between high employee turnover and increased costs. respondent 007 stated that low pay resulted from high employee turnover and a cause of the turnover. the low payment discouraged people from working in the sector. candidate 011 also stated low pay, while respondent 12 indicated that loss of goods drives high employee turnover. respondent 12 stated that high turnover also causes workers to shift workplaces in hospitality. non-adherence to the ethical standards at workplace respondent 001 stated that some clients are abusive to the workers, discouraging them from working in the hospitality industry. candidate 002 also stated that disrespect among the clients discourages employees in the hospitality sector, while respondent 004 listed age discrimination as a factor that demotivates workers in the industry. additionally, the fifth respondent stated that nasty clients demoralize workers, while the seventh candidate stated lack of respect is a factor that discourages employees from working in the hospitality sector. candidate 011 explained that some customers feel entitled and are abusive, while respondent 013 claimed that some employees use any excuse to be absent from work unofficially and never come back. respondent 013 also stated that the public, june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 8 presumably the guests, feel entitled to the hospitality services and hence abuse workers, which, in turn, discourages the employees from performing their duties. respondent 016 listed the employer's attitude as a demotivating factor. quality services the respondents noted poor services that demotivated workers and caused a high employee turnover. respondent 004 stated that the services were of low quality, like those of respondent 009. the effects of covid-19 the first respondent stated the restrictions during the pandemic did not make sense in the hospitality environment. respondent 002 confirmed that the occurrence of the pandemic improved the attitude towards working in the sector. the third respondent also stated that the pandemic has had minimal impact on their company's operations but admitted that it severely affected the united states hospitality industry. similarly, the fourth respondent confirmed that the pandemic negatively affected the performance of the hospitality sector and caused many layoffs and early retirements. the 13th interviewee explained that the failure of people to obey the sanitation rules was the reason for the adverse effects of the pandemic on the hospitality sector. the 17th respondent explained that the pandemic enhanced their cautiousness and reduced the number of working hours. still, implementing strategies for reducing the spread of the virus caused the consequent adverse effects on the operations of the hospitality sector. theme 2: the impact of employee perceptions on labor turnover in the hospitality sector leadership system respondent 001 mentioned a 99% employee retention for 18 months, even though the participant did not mention and explain the leadership strategy adopted in their organization. the third respondent stated that experience caused longevity of the duration of employment, which indicated that the employer may have emphasized employees' experience during the selection process. however, the fifth interviewee mentioned the distinct levels of management and moving to the next level required an employee to pass the practical steps. the sixth interviewee mentioned the subordinate system of management. respondent 007 explained that their company had one good leader and bad administrators – the good manager cared. the eighth candidate stated that their organization applied the self-initiated leadership style where the employees focused on the mission statement, even though the individual. the ninth respondent argued that the bosses should include other employees in decision-making. the 11th respondent explained that the management was not keen to retain employees and tolerated customer abuse. the 13 th respondent clarified that their management did not wait for the junior employees to execute duties that the top administrators could do. theme 3: the sustainable management strategies that improve employee retention sustainable operational finance allocation the first respondent stated the need for less involvement of corporate bean counters who apply strategies to ensure minimal financial expenditure in the companies. the third respondent stated that the companies should not raise the minimum wage. contrary to respondent 003, the seventh respondent stated that hospitality companies should improve employee payments and benefits but did not state the possible financial implications of the additional financial allocations toward paying salaries and benefits to the workers. the eighth respondent also identified business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 9 compensation improvement as a strategy for enhancing employee commitment to work, while the 13 th interviewee noted the need for reasonable wages. the 15th respondent also noted good money as a motivational factor, and the 16th interviewee stated improved pay rates. employee appreciation and motivation the first respondent stated that appreciation can improve employee retention. the fourth respondent also stated the need to recognize good performance since recognition makes workers proud of their efforts. the eighth respondent similarly stated appreciation as a strategy for motivating employees, while the 12th interviewee stated moralization as a motivational factor. the 17th respondent mentioned recognition, as did the 18th candidate. creating a conducive working environment respondent 003 explained that respecting workers, treating them right, and understanding their needs, for example, optimizing the working hours to care for the workers' schedule, can encourage employee retention. the fifth respondent stated that accommodating availability, caring for, and showing concern for the employee's needs also improve worker retention in the hospitality industry. the ninth interviewee mentioned the respect an employee received from the management as a factor in improving employee retention. in contrast, the 11 th candidate mentioned respect and avoiding worker abuse as strategies for enhancing worker retention rates. the 12 th interviewee stated the need for a good working environment. the 15th interviewee noted that an environment of competent co-workers encourages the employees to retain their jobs. at the same time, the 16th respondent stated that how employees are treated encourages them to perform their duties, even though the candidate did not identify the employee treatment strategies that promote employee retention. similarly, the 17th candidate identified fair treatment but did not list the associated administrative measures for fair treatment concerning the operations of the hospitality sector. the 18th respondent also mentioned creating an enjoyable environment. theme 4: the strategies that hospitality companies adopted to optimize employee turnover during the covid-19 pandemic health crisis management is the key theme associated with the study sample's responses. the first respondent stated sanitation strategies, such as wearing masks and gloves and utilizing single-use containers. respondents 002, 003, and 004 mentioned the same ideas. the sixth interviewee suggested taking a break from corporate activities to manage the pandemic, even though this would temporarily shut down the sector. the ninth interviewee mentioned the need for support from the stakeholders. respondent 13 explained that their company continued to serve the public. respondent 15 stated that reducing the number of workers and focusing on takeout orders would ensure sustainable operations in the hospitality industry. recommendations and implications the study aimed to establish the causes and possible solutions to high labor turnover in the united states hospitality sector. the responses of the study sample identified different factors determining high employee turnover rates. the thematic analysis produced income-related factors, consistent with the explanations of suraihi et al. (2021), identifying salary levels as a critical factor. magove and mukanzi (2018) also identified poor compensation as a factor that causes turnover intention, like the findings of kusi (2013), which identify the inability of a company to provide pensions to workers as a critical driver to high employee turnover. the theme of non-adherence to ethical june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 10 standards was identified as a factor that caused high employee turnover in the hospitality sector. the findings were like the explanations of mwansa and hapompwe (2023), who also state unhealthy working conditions as promoters of voluntary turnover. mrope (2022) also noted that the poor relationship between workers and management, which indicates an unhealthy work environment, also increased employee turnover. quality of services was a critical factor in explaining the drivers of high employee turnover. the explanations by the respondents may be related to the findings of suraihi et al. (2021), which identified job satisfaction as an element of employee retention. the quality of services may be poor because of workers' low experience levels, especially with tasks requiring special skills (mwansa & hapompwe, 2023). additionally, poor-quality services may result from demotivation due to poor remuneration or a generally unhealthy environment (magove & mukanzi, 2018). the analysis established the effects of covid-19 as one of the leading causes of employee turnover in the hospitality sector. the results align with the explanations of abdou et al. (2022), who also identify the extensive staff layoffs because of the pandemic. yin et al. (2022) also note that high employee turnover is due to the covid19 pandemic. the respondents stated terrible leadership is a factor that promotes high employee turnover, in addition to the failure of the top management to involve junior employees in formulating critical decisions. the aspects of leadership that influence employee turnover were also mentioned by suraihi et al. (2021), who stated the failure of a company's management to improve workers' welfare. mwansa and hapompwe (2023) also list unsustainable relations between the management and junior workers, which is an element of the leadership system. sustainable finance allocation was one of the themes developed to enhance employee retention. the explanations are like those of wang (2022), who also notes that the reliability of financial allocations can increase the efficiency of operations of the hospitality sector and enhance the interest of employees to work in the sector. mukumbuta et al. (2019) also state that providing financial incentives is a critical factor in encouraging employee performance, while grandison (2017) stated that the provision of salaries based on the scope of duties is a factor in encouraging employee retention. a thematic synthesis of the responses identified health crisis management as the central concept. pausing or terminating the hospitality activities reduced the spread of the virus and decreased expenditure on workers who were otherwise redundant during the pandemic. the strategies mentioned by the respondents are similar to the explanations by abdou et al. (2022), who state that the involuntary turnover rate was high during the pandemic because of the closure of most hospitality companies. implications this research is crucial for both scholarly works and practical operations to improve the efficacy of the hospitality industry. the academic sector performs additional studies to establish areas requiring sustainable operations adjustments. at the same time, professional practices are the practical aspects that involve pragmatic decisionmaking for the sustainability of the hospitality sector. theoretical implications the study identified various causes and remedies for the high employee turnover in the united states hospitality sector. the responses could be explained using the existing theoretical frameworks. ghani et al. (2022) clarify that the equity theory can be applied to justify the involvement of workers in decision-making as a strategy for improving their commitment to work. the expectancy theory identified by lloyd and mertens (2018) can aid in establishing the needs of workers and adjusting the nature of the association between junior workers and the top management, which also aids in creating a conducive work environment. le et al. (2023) and lam and solovyeva (2023) indicate that some firms enacted job retention schemes to ensure that not all workers were retrenched during business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 11 the covid-19 pandemic. the job retention strategies can be explained using maslow's theory, which identifies the continual involvement of workers in decision-making. implications for practice the research aided in establishing various sentiments of the managers regarding the operations of the sector – the sentiments can be a framework for identifying the areas of inefficiencies that should be improved to attain maximum operational efficacy. the responses displayed information that can be adapted to adjust the operations of different sections of the hospitality industry to ensure minimal labor turnover. for example, formulating policies for improving the relationship between employees and managers can improve the efficiency of internal corporate operations, which boosts the quality of services. the primary information from the managers provides a solid and reliable foundation for conducting additional studies on the role of managerial efficiency, or the knowledge of top to devise sustainable management systems for efficient human resource management operations, administrators regarding sustainable human resource functions, in the efficacy of corporate operations of hospitality companies. the information also provides a ground for formulating strategic human resource practices to ensure an insignificant increase in labor turnover during pandemics or even during an economic recession. recommendations the research extracted information that can be applied in future research and practice. the research activities may be conducted regarding the hospitality sector, accounting, or general human resource management operations. the information can be utilized financial management policies, and human resource administration frameworks. recommendations for future research extensive research can be conducted regarding the hospitality sector to establish the most effective strategy for reducing employee turnover. the analysis described information that can be applied to formulate research questions regarding the accounting elements of the hospitality sector. for example, an additional study can be conducted to investigate the role of developing a professional working environment in reducing employee turnover and the impact on the revenue generation capacity of the hospitality sector. this research also provided a foundation for conducting additional research on the general aspects of human resource management in the hospitality industry. for example, an extensive study can be conducted on the management styles adopted in the industry and the related effectiveness of employee turnover. recommendations for practice the study can be a foundation for formulating administrative policies that focus on the interests of workers, for example, formulating and enacting policies that improve the working relationships between junior employees and management to improve the quality of services and enhance employee retention. policies can be formulated to regulate the mode of interaction between clients and workers in the hospitality industry, for example, regulating the kind of language of interaction between the client and workers, which improves the professionalism of the environment of corporate operations in the hospitality sector. this investigation showed aspects of human resource management that can be improved for the sustainability of the hospitality sector. for example, the lack of a standard procedure for handling a pandemic may reduce the efficacy of commercial operations in the hospitality sector. the policies are necessary to handle the problem of high employee turnover during the covid-19 pandemic or periods of economic recession. also, the results can be the foundation for formulating an optimal strategy for allocating salaries to workers based on their nature of work and level of experience, motivating employees to work in their respective firms, which may significantly reduce the rate of employee turnover. june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 12 references abdou, a., khalil, a., mahmoud, h., elsaied, m., & elsaed, a. 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(2022). the impact of covid-19 on turnover intention among hotel employees: a moderated mediation model. journal of hospitality and tourism management, 51, 539–549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2022.05.010 141 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal exploring implementation strategies of iot technology in organizations: technology, organization, and environment khanhhung hoang pham, dit| walden university, minneapolis, mn, usa jodine marie burchell, ph.d. | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 contact: jodine.burchell@columbiasouthern.edu abstract in the process of adopting internet of things (iot) technology in the organization, many corporate information technology (it) leaders faced challenges during implementation. grounded in technologyorganization-environment (toe) theory, this qualitative, pragmatic inquiry study explored strategies corporate it leaders use to implement iot technology in their organizations. the six qualified research participants, holding positions from project manager to chief executive officer to founder in the healthcare industry, responded to semi-structured questions. data were collected in semi-structured interviews and industry security documents. using the thematic analysis to analyze the data, six themes were identified: using all identified internal project staff skills, aligning current iot technology with business needs, using all identified existing internal infrastructure, using all recognized external support technologies, taking full advantage of vendor support, and using all identified external influencers and influences. a key recommendation for it leaders is to use the iot ecosystem from the iot solutions to promote benefits and profits. implications for business practice for this study include improved technology to support and promote benefits to organizations and increase the number of organizations successfully implementing iot technology and continuing to use it. businesses and end-users can benefit from the iot ecosystem with iot devices in smart cities, offices, hospitals, and homes. keywords: internet of things technology, iot technology, iot implementation, implementation strategies, implementing iot technology, iot technology project, social change, toe conceptual framework, iot influencers, iot influences, healthcare iot technology, healthcare innovation, healthcare innovative solutions. mailto:jodine.burchell@columbiasouthern.edu 142 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 introduction/background researchers and corporate it leaders have encountered challenges in adopting and implementing iot technology to realize its benefits. for example, there are challenges in the implementation of iot technology with mobile cloud computing (mcc), wireless sensor network (wsn), and medical monitors or applications such as collecting iot data in real-time or shortening iot device lifecycle from energydraining on the network (dinh et al., 2017; li et al., 2018; luo & ren, 2016). thus, the studies' researchers reported issues implementing iot technology with other technologies such as mcc, wsn, or medical systems. however, some practitioners had successful strategies for adopting and implementing iot technology to benefit their organizations, such as the six research participants in this study. cloud computing service providers and corporate it departments could integrate cloud computing with wsn and mobile networks to realize benefits from iot devices' mass data. researchers and organizations proclaimed the successful implementation of iot technology with other technologies such as industrial iot (iiot), industrial 4.0, wsn, and big data to improve business decision-making strategies (castro et al., 2017; cedeno et al., 2018; kobusinska et al., 2018; song, 2017). thus, these studies researchers reported the benefits of successfully implementing iot technology in industries with the convergence of cloud computing and big data. in this study, we explored the factors of implementation strategies for iot technology that researchers and corporate it leaders successfully used to realize iot benefits for their organizations. summary of the literature after adopting the innovation, organizations and corporate it leaders have failed to integrate iot systems with existing business resources. the united states department of defense (dod) has reported that some it offices within government agencies have failed implementations of iot technology (kirschbaum, 2017). according to ives et al. (2016), 37% of us organizations strived to embrace iot technology, with 73% of the agencies unsuccessfully integrating their iot systems with existing resources noting that 59% failed during the implementation phase, and 14% failed during the integration phase. corporate it leaders need adequate implementation strategies for iot technology to realize iot benefits for their organizations. this study explores successful implementation strategies that healthcare corporate it leaders use to implement and integrate iot technology solutions in their organizations. literature resources are crediting this study as the foundation knowledge regarding conceptual framework and iot technology prior to employing the research study activities. technology-organization-environment (toe) conceptual framework depietro et al. (1990) designed the toe framework that researchers and organizations could use to research technological innovation decision-making for adoption and implementation at the firm level. depietro et al. (1990) designed the context for change, including factors of organization, technology, and environment, to form the toe framework. the organization context contains the descriptive measures in an organization, such as firm size, managerial structure, or human resources (depietro et al., 11990, p. 153). the technology context has factors describing the technology internally and externally relevant to the firm (depietro et al., 1990, p. 153). the environmental context contained factors 143 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal pertinent to an organization's interfaces, such as industries, competitors, vendors, or government regulators (depietro et al., 1990, pp. 153-154). numerous peer-reviewed articles demonstrate how researchers and organizations have applied the toe framework as the base model theory for designed frameworks to adopt and implement technology innovations. this study model would warrant success in exploring iot technology implementation in organizations with the three factors of technology, organization, and external environment. figure 1 presented the three factors of the toe framework for implementing iot technology in the organization to carry out the iot solutions and benefits. figure 1. technology-organization-environment (toe) framework. note. this figure illustrates three factors for implementing iot technology in the organization based specifically on this study. the current benefits of iot technology manufacturers added sensor(s) on an iot device for collecting a specific type of data about or surrounding the object carrying this device. the term internet of things (iot) technology relates to the network(s) connecting all iot devices attaching to objects such as the cloud network, mobile network, wireless sensor network, or only the legacy network. like computer production systems producing personal computers or mobile devices, manufacturers produce iot devices targeting consumers needing to collect specific objects data to support business decision-making. manufacturers produce iot devices, applications, and the pre-configured network connecting iot devices before selling and delivering to consumers (reyna et al., 2018), wearable or attached to parts of the body with the manufacturer's intrinsic settings (qi et al., 2018), and sophisticated network attaching device like 6lowan borderrouter manufactured by intel and weptech (hossain et al., 2018). thus, the studies' researchers reported 144 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 that manufacturers had significant roles in setting, configuring, and controlling iot devices before and after delivery to consumers. from that point of view, it is fewer it-focused on implementing iot technology than current it infrastructure implementation strategies in organizations. iot technology benefits to industries higher profit would significantly influence the business decision to adopt and implement technological innovation, especially iot technology. castro et al. (2017) reported that businesses had higher profits when they adopted and implemented iot technology, such as healthcare, logistics, industrial, security, agriculture, and the environment. henze et al. (2016) reported that organizations gained customers by enforcing personal privacy before uploading data to the cloud. qi et al. (2018) emphasized that organizations gained business partners from cost-effective and accurate conventional hub-based systems based on iot technology. these studies researchers addressed that organizations reported higher profits from adopting and implementing iot technology to advance their business alignments and decisionmaking activities. iot and fast access to information corporate it leaders and researchers could use iot networks and their natural characteristics in automation network activities to enable organizations accessing information quickly. researchers and organizations reported that staff and end-users increased data demands, especially among medical staff using healthcare iot applications (castro et al., 2017). jiang et al. (2018) found that data volume is increasing with the number of network equipment from the rapid development of iot technology. rahmani et al. (2018) reported that automating tasks increased cloud access within iot-based systems. thus, organizations addressed businesses' decision-making benefiting from iot technology primarily by fast access to information at all layers of the iot network. iot and advantages in all industries researchers and organizations observed advantages in all industries by adopting and implementing iot technology. alkhalil and ramadan (2017) reported that organizations implementing iot technology have opportunities for business advancement in all industries, such as increased sensor data collection. boukerche and grande (2018) emphasized that there were advancements in management technology for cloud computing resources. researchers also found advancements in web services to increase accessible information on food security (abeysiriwardana & kodituwakku, 2016). hence, researchers and organizations discovered opportunities for advancements in all industries by adopting and implementing iot technology. current iot implementation issues in security, privacy, scalability, reliability, and reusability researchers and corporate it leaders have encountered issues when implementing iot technology in many areas, such as security, privacy, scalability, reliability, and reusability. talbot et al. (2018) reported iot technology implementation issues with the iot environment security system failing to identify rogue iot devices in the platform. fu and xu (2018) described those hackers used transduction attacks to access data privacy within wearable devices equipped with sensors. yang et al. (2018) emphasized that the iot data in the marine field would be much more complicated than traditional data information, in which scalability issues lie among the raw and processed data. sohal et al. (2018) 145 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal reported reliability issues with the collected data using iot technology caused by attacks from malicious edge devices in the fog computing environment. jacobson et al. (2017) noted that stakeholders and developers reported reliability and reusability issues as the nature of the iot technology, especially in implementation such as failure modes or degraded security levels to maintain mobility communication. thus, researchers and corporate it leaders needed to focus on iot issues when implementing iot technology for business benefits. methods based on the background and literature review, the specific problem for this study is that many corporate it leaders lack implementation strategies of iot technology to realize iot benefits for their organizations. a qualitative pragmatic inquiry design was used to explore the strategies corporate it leaders use for iot technology implementation to realize iot benefits for their organizations. research question what implementation strategies do corporate it leaders use for iot technology implementation to realize iot benefits for their organizations? data collection the researchers employed semi-structured interviews and reviewed the literature to collect data from participants (n=6), publicly available technical reference documents (n=117), and publicly available reference documents on factors of the toe conceptual framework (n=36). this study's population consisted of it leaders from healthcare organizations in the united states. the participants are currently holding it professional roles related to iot technology implementation in healthcare organizations, such as chief operating officer (coos), president, founder, chief product innovation officer (cpio), principal program manager, and women in cyber security vice president (wicys). all six participants worked for small and medium-sized healthcare enterprises in four states of the united states: california, florida, north carolina, and washington. there were three contexts of the research model based on the toe conceptual framework as guidance for data analysis to discover the implementation strategies for implementing iot technology at organizational levels, such as technological, organizational, and environmental. there was a memberchecking procedure to validate the accuracy of the participant's inputs in this study (n=6). the study used methodological triangulation to align information among collected participant data, available literature resources, and documents related to the toe conceptual framework to validate this study's collected participants' information. data analysis after verifying the collected interview data with all participants, data were uploaded to the nvivo software, release 1.6.2 (4831). the researchers used the nvivo software to assign codes, identify themes 146 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 and subthemes, and categorize the codes into themes and subthemes to generate the database of codes for the study. there were six themes to present the findings with meaningful information organized within the study database of codes based on the collected data from interviews. participants were in the healthcare industry, volunteered, and consented to participate in the study's qualitative semi-structured interviews. the six research participants were from four different states in the united states. there were additional literature resources on top of the literature review resources to support the validation of findings by aligning participants provided information, literature resources, and literature resources related to the toe conceptual framework. results after analyzing the alignments of technological, organizational, and environmental factors of both participants' information and literature on the toe conceptual framework, the results presented included strategies for implementing iot technologies in an organization's iot project, such as iot technologies alignment with business needs, skillful internal staff and external influencers, and external support technologies. there were six major themes discovered and are discussed in more detail below. theme 1: take full advantage of vendor support. theme 2: use all identified external influencers and influences. theme 3: align current iot technology with business needs. theme 4: use all identified internal project staff skills. theme 5: use all identified current internal infrastructure. theme 6: use all identified external support technologies. theme 1: take full advantage of vendor support this theme represents an aspect of the external environment context to support the implementation strategies for iot technology in an organization. four subthemes supported this theme: identifying, assessing, and recruiting vendors for support, onsite training, consulting experience, and good technical support. identify, assess, and recruit vendors for support this subtheme is relevant to locating, assessing, and hiring the right vendors for the iot implementation project. participants’ responses support this subtheme as one of the four major points the organization could take full advantage of vendor support. for example, participant aa reported that vendors must have specialties in dealing with regulations to keep the project moving forward. participant ba reported that the organization created a backup plan when recruiting vendors and seeking vendors with specific expertise matching the required skills for the project. participant da added, “we hired some level of skilled individuals for the project. i do not want someone with no skill, knowledge, or excitement about that technology.” last, participant ea indicated that vendors provided support in either resolving challenges or attaching with the project team from the beginning to the end. the organization could 147 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal successfully identify, assess, and recruit vendors for help by following the participants' inputs. this step in identifying, assessing, and recruiting vendors for support is essential before approaching them. onsite training onsite training is a topic used to take full advantage of vendor support. the first approach is acquiring vendors with skillsets and experience in providing onsite training to implement the project. this approach helps build the foundation for implementing iot technology, and everyone in the company acknowledges that they would welcome and use this new technology soon. the second approach is organizations acting as vendors offering onsite training because they are experts in supporting their iot products. participant ca reported, “we have found some experts with many experts who are both clinical psychologists and software development engineers.” participants found themselves and their organizations as the expert in their products that uniquely provide the best onsite training and certifying as vendor roles (aa, ba, da, ea). in this strategy, the organization or customer would receive support from the best support teams that own the consequences. this subtheme provided what and how a vendor could provide onsite training based on participants' experiences. consultant experience this subtheme supports fully leveraging vendor support using the participants' vendor consultant experience. the project team could inherit the vendor consultant experience to use as strategies to implement the iot technology for the organization. consultant experience is the vendor quality to help the project team and organization implement the iot technology successfully. participant aa reported that vendor support must acknowledge the obstacles. participant da noted, “there are areas you cannot reach that is when you want the partners to be engaged in implementing your brand by reselling yourself.” last, participant ea reported that recruited vendors must have consultant experience, “i think we can use partner solutions that do the translation and aggregation we are also trying to help our partners to grow their iot practice to have the right skillsets.” the participants' inputs for this subtheme showed that vendors with consultant experience provided advice based on their perspectives on implementation to support the project team in processing the project forward in the right direction. good technical support this subtheme reinforces taking full advantage of vendor support because the organization would benefit from vendors providing good technical support. vendors with good technical support would be efficient and productive in supporting organizations. participant aa reported, “we trained customer support and service on how to install, deal with faqs, and troubleshoot devices and things. the app or instructions must be very clear and concise.” participant ba responded with specific applications, “we say we can support hundreds of devices through apple health kit or google fit. we have done a compatibility test and checked it out to ensure the data will flow.” participants da, ea, and fa provided multiple approaches to locating good and reasonable technical support, such as feasibility methods or have done similar cases in the same industry. there are several areas where good technical support can be recognized, such as technical support in training or implementing the project. hence, vendors assist the project team in implementing the project with a plan and pace by using their good technical support skills, such as building support applications and training the company support teams. 148 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 theme 2: use all identified external influencers and influences this second theme supports the implementation strategies for iot technology in an organization by using all identified external influencers and influences toward the organization's iot projects from participants' inputs. organizations can seek input from newly hired vendors or consultants of the iot project to participate in identifying and using external influencers and influences. four subthemes supported this theme, including identifying and using external influencers and influences, regulations, standards, those from other industries, and vendors. there were 19 identified secondary quality resources with 24 references supporting the participants' inputs. identify and use external influencers and influences during the data analysis process, the information from the participants formed this subtheme to support the external environment aspect of the toe conceptual framework. this subtheme has two approaches supporting each other: identifying the external influencers and influences and using the external influencers and influences. participant ba and participant ca reported that external influencers were people collaborating with the organizations directly or indirectly to promote benefits and rois based on iot solutions. the external influences could be government regulations and standards, assistance programs to promote healthcare organizations to implement iot solutions such as medicare and medicaid programs, and management telehealth services to elderly care patients (ba, ca, da, ea). participant aa and participant ba reported that organizations worked with external influencers using partnership strategies to assume product management roles or drive iot sales. participant ba noted that the organization used the identified external influences, such as regulations or standards, to deploy iot devices into practice, such as iot devices with specifications that were cleared or approved by fda. last, participant ea reported that the organization used the opc ua standard to speed up the adoption and implementation processes of iot solutions. thus, organizations identified and used external influencers and influences to motivate employees and successfully implement innovative solutions. using identified regulations and standards participants indicated that regulations and standards were external influences and influencers helping iot projects focus on complying with the iot technology, including hardware, software, data, or communication. first, participants reported regulations and standards organizations should use to adapt the iot technology and comply. second, participants provided available government accommodations and legal vendors to support and encourage organizations to implement iot technology. government regulations and standards included fcc certification, ul certification, the seal of approval from other entities, fda cleared, fda approved, or in the fda list (aa, ba). participant ca and participant da reported that iot and cloud service providers assisted healthcare companies in complying with regulations and standards, including hipaa-compliant privacy and security on aws, with monthly or annually fees on services and licenses. thus, organizations acknowledge benefits from identified and applied regulations and standards when implementing innovations. 149 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal using those from other industries this subtheme presents the identified external influencers and influences that organizations from other industries successfully used to implement similar iot technology. participants indicated that both external influences and influencers from vendors from other industries that implemented similar iot technology that guided them to successfully implement the current iot technology also supported the current iot implementation project. in addition, the iot product might have a chance to emerge in other industries. participant da reported that vendors from different industries provided valuable support to regulate the temperatures range to protect the covid-19 vaccine transported around the us during the pandemic. participant ea reported that the iot ecosystem might be the key point to connecting companies or industries together, that might lead to iot standards in the future. the participants' inputs showed that environmental factors positively impact the implementation of the company iot project, such as using identified external influencers and influences. through the vendors this subtheme reinforces that the iot project team can use external influencers and influences through the vendors currently cooperating with the iot project team to implement the iot project. the vendors would provide and discuss with the project team influencers and influence that they had positive experiences working with to complete past iot projects. this subtheme is significantly helping the iot project team identify other external influencers and influences that were not identified or used on previous themes or subthemes. participant da reported that partners and vendors recommended influences such as cloud storage services and their service rates. participant ea indicated, “my customers are more confident in my partners. so, there is no influencing but direct programs to ensure that my partners are certified or trained in the technology i need.” thus, organizations used vendor channels to use the recommended influencers and influence to implement innovative solutions. theme 3: align current iot technology with business needs this third theme reinforces aligning iot technology with business needs based on participants' responses to the current iot project as one of the organizational aspects of the toe framework. the iot project team can consolidate the organization's business needs and align them with the current working iot technology implementation project to ensure the iot technology fully supports the organization. four subthemes supported this theme, including providing current iot technology alignment with business needs, measuring the benefits of iot technology, project buy-in, and size, scope, and resources. there were 21 identified secondary quality resources supporting the participants' inputs. ensure current iot technology alignment with business needs this subtheme presents research participants' strategies to ensure current iot technology solutions align with business needs to support the iot implementation project. there are two approaches to consider. first, the iot project team identified the technology's possible solutions and current company business needs. second, the iot project team ensured the alignment of iot technology and business needs 150 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 promoting profits and benefits to the organization. each participant provided different methods to identify the possible iot technology solutions and benefits and align them with current business needs. participant ba reported the business needs of the healthcare industry were security compliance requirements on top of the infrastructure of iot systems, such as phi protection, hipaa requirements, and iot data security. participant ea reported that organizations must focus on business vision in goals, challenges, and roi and then align the iot solutions with this vision to achieve customer satisfaction. the project team must also identify the iot technology benefits to implement them correctly to support and promote benefits to the organization. thus, organizations align innovative solutions with business needs to promote benefits and profits from implementing the innovations. measure the iot technology benefits this subtheme supports the alignment of current iot technology with business needs by reporting iot technology benefits with several measuring methods. the iot project team could use implementation strategies to successfully implement the iot technology and its future benefits, promoting company profits. there are three approaches that participants focus on methods to measure the iot technology benefits, such as internal functioning departments relating directly or indirectly to implementing iot technology, focusing on organizations bringing iot technology solutions on board, and internal functioning departments benefit from implementing iot technology solutions. all three approaches above ensure organization and iot project team measure the benefits of current iot technology implementation. participant ba reported that the organization measured the success of iot solutions by monitoring the reduction in the number of hospitalization trips to er or escalations to management teams in 3, 6, 9, or 12 months and published a case study. participant da reported that organizations reorganized the iot solutions’ success by the increasing number of invoices in customers’ work orders, including millions of packaged objects shipping to business partners. thus, organizations measured the innovation solution benefits based on the success of decision-making, and functioning units applied the innovative solutions. project buy-in this subtheme reinforces presenting the iot project passing the project buy-in milestone when the project team implements the current iot technology solution for the organization. the project team could focus on two approaches to address the management buy-in and the customers' or consumers' buyin. participants provided information regarding the project buy-in topic to keep the iot project moving forward, focusing on both management buy-in and customers' or consumers' buy-in. the project team could use strategies to pass the project buy-in, such as better sales generation, better people's lives, cost of iot efforts, capital investment, reoccurring investment for upkeep, iot solutions, risk mitigation plan, data driving business outcomes, and stakeholder analysis. participant aa and participant ba reported that iot manufacturers did not have project buy-in, but the partners and customers of manufacturers have the management’s buy-in to initiate the iot financial orders to generate sales. participant da reported the iot reoccurring investment opportunities that drive sales and support project buy-in from the top management team and stakeholders. last, participant ea reported, “getting buy-in, there are two ways. first, it is providing the data that is driving the business outcome. however, the other aspect is doing this to make business sense. moreover, if it does not make business sense, then it is pointless in 151 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal that.” thus, organizations and the project teams needed to pass the project buy-in process to keep the project moving forward. size, scope, and resources this subtheme reinforces identifying the size, scope, and resources the iot project team would need to implement the iot technology solutions. first, the iot project team must propose the size, including the timeline to complete the iot project, possible expenses, available staff, and possible barriers during the project's progress. second, participants respond with iot project scope to meet stakeholder requirements and successful iot solutions. last, the iot project team must consolidate all available resources to implement the project. participant ba reported that the iot project team used the agile model for the iot project to keep everyone collaborating and communicating daily to keep the project moving forward. in another approach, participant da reported that the project team would do a pilot study to cover iot device connectivity, ensure performance, and then roll out the project to cover architecture and the number of endpoints to manage the iot solutions onsite or remotely. last, participant ea reported that data security and governance would be the keys to supporting the project buy-in. successful and profitable organizations with readiness in size, scope, and resources were ready to adopt and implement innovative solutions to promote benefits and business opportunities. theme 4: use all identified internal project staff skills this theme reinforces implementing iot technology in an organization using all identified internal project staff skills based on participant's responses. internal iot project staff's skills would be the core staffing to carry out the iot technology solution for the company successfully. this theme consists of information from all 6 participants with 135 references to the database of study codes sharing how they identify and use internal project staff skills. three subthemes supported this theme, including ensuring internal project staff skills, using identified staff's capabilities and competencies, and using identified staff from other internal functional units. there were 16 identified secondary quality resources with 18 references supporting the participants' inputs. ensure internal project staff skills this subtheme presents strategies participants used to identify, assess, and ensure internal project staff skills are sufficient to support the iot implementation project. the information from all six participants formed this subtheme to support the second organization aspect of the toe conceptual framework. this subtheme has two approaches supporting this theme: staff expertise, abilities to work with others, and experience in security and compliance. participant ba reported that the iot project team recruited project staff with iot knowledge, healthcare workflow knowledge, speaking the same language at the same level with users and customers, and iot solutions’ human aspects. participant da reported that the iot project team assessed internal staff with skill, knowledge, and excitement about the technology and provided these staff training as needed. hence, the iot project team has internal staff contributing to the project would be part of the organizational factors to share ownership of the iot solutions with internal departments. 152 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 use identified staff capabilities and competencies all six participants responded to this subtheme to support the implementation strategies for the company's iot project. the first approach is to identify and use the project staff's identified capabilities to carry out the project. this approach helped the project management team ensure sufficient skills to complete and deliver the implementation project on time. the second approach is to identify and use the project staff's competencies to guarantee the project's completeness and future related projects. both approaches ensure that the iot project team uses both project staff's capabilities and competencies to support the whole iot implementation project lifecycle. participant aa reported that the internal staff who joined the iot project team would receive training to support the new technologies with customer service capabilities, technical support in installing the iot devices, and be responsible for faqs and troubleshooting the devices. participant ca asserted that the project staff must be multidisciplined to perform the project effectively, “our approach always involves skilled clinicians, skilled software engineers, social learning experts, regulatory expertise, people who understand clinical workflows, and artificial intelligence tools.” thus, organizational factors relating to using project staff capabilities and competencies helped implement the innovative solutions. use identified staff from other internal functional units this subtheme supports using identified staff from other internal functional units to assist the iot project team in completing the iot implementation project. the project team can identify and use staff from other departments with matched skills as strategies to speed up the company iot project progress. participant aa reported that the iot project team onboarded staff from many departments, including retail, marketing, customer service, and manufacturing. participant ba said that iot project team members must be representatives from other departments to assist with those departments’ special skills or authorizations, including nurses or medical assistants. participant ca said that the organization organized an in-house engineer team to support the iot project. last, participant da reported that the iot project team hired iot experts of different expertise, including legal, hr, or marketing. hence, organizations adopting innovative solutions at the organizational level would collaborate with internal functional teams, business teams, or the entire enterprise. theme 5: use all identified current internal infrastructure this theme reinforces the implementation strategies for iot technology projects in an organization using all identified current organizations' internal infrastructure. using those strategies; the iot project team can identify all available internal infrastructure to support the iot project. this theme consists of information from all six participants with 153 references to the database of study codes sharing how they identify and use current available internal infrastructure. we used four subthemes to support this theme, including the use of identified and assessed current internal infrastructure, the use of identified adequate network connections and protocols, the use of identified adequate peripherals, and the use of identified secure internet connections. there were 21 identified secondary quality resources with 24 references supporting the participants' inputs. 153 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal use identified and assessed current internal infrastructure this subtheme presents strategies that research participants reported to identify, assess, and use the organization's current internal infrastructure to support the iot implementation project. supporting the first technological aspect of the toe conceptual framework, this subtheme has two approaches: identifying and assessing the internal infrastructure and using it to support the iot implementation project. each participant provided a different method to identify, assess, and use the current internal infrastructure. participant ba reported information regarding internal infrastructure, including transmitting data among medical devices using bluetooth, wifi, or cellular network connections. participant da reported that the iot project teams designed, planned, and determined the locations to deploy the iot solutions by using the layers of iot devices, such as api, middle, and application layers, to host applications and backend collected iot data. last, participant fa reported that the iot project team might have an iot hub and an iot gateway and then outsource the cloud infrastructure to service providers, such as amazon, google, or azure. thus, organizations identifying and using internal infrastructure to support innovative solutions would be one of the technological contexts supporting the organization's innovation solutions. use identified adequate network connections and protocols the first approach is to identify and use network connections. hence, the iot project team can have adequate network connections to support the iot technology implementation. the second approach is to identify and use the network protocols. in this strategy, the project team uses adequate network protocols for the iot technology. both approaches ensure the iot project team has adequate network connections and protocols to support the iot technology implementation project fully. participant aa reported, “iot devices represent a unique solution in that they are all connected, and connectivity comes across. it could be bluetooth, wifi, or the direct cable.” participant ba added that the infrastructure security would protect the iot devices at vulnerable locations. last, participant ea reported that the iot project team would be aware of internet connectivity and physical locations of iot devices. thus, organizations decided to adopt and implement innovative solutions when the internal existing internal technology and other innovative solutions were available to support them. use identified adequate peripherals this subtheme reinforces the theme by identifying and using good peripherals for the iot implementation project. the project team can identify, assess, and use adequate peripherals to implement the iot technology for the company. participant ba and participant ca reported that the organizations identified and used different levels of peripherals to support the iot solutions, including wifi devices, bluetooth devices, cellular devices, digital patient records, outbound data, inbound data, right source of data, and the right point of time to collect the data. participant da reported that the iot project team deployed the iot devices with poe features (power over ethernet), receiving continuous power via the ethernet cables or solar panels to charge the devices if deployed onsite or out in hard-toreach areas. last, participant ea reported, “and then the peripherals of all the different protocols, and i think we can use partner solutions that do the translation and aggregation.” thus, the existing 154 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 peripherals supporting the innovations in organizations were factors of the internal technological context supporting the innovative solutions successfully. use identified secure internet connections this subtheme reinforces using identified secure internet connections to support the iot implementation project. the iot project team can identify all secure internet connections to support the iot technology during the project implementation. participant ba reported that the project team used wireless protocols for iot devices connecting to secure internet connections, “they are communicating over a wireless protocol. you cannot see it.” participant ca reported, “i look at the flow of the data. inbound data into our technology platform and separately. the flow of outbound data into other systems, third-party systems like billing systems, dashboards, and maybe executive dashboards for the company.” participant ea said, “if you use gs, 4g, or gsm, how do you use your touch provision to ensure that the devices wake up and connect to the right mobile operators? where is the endpoint?” thus, the secure internet connections and strategies to transmit data securely over the internet were internal technological contexts, such as wifi connections, and external technical contexts, such as internet connections. theme 6: use all identified external support technologies this theme supports implementation strategies for implementing iot technology projects in an organization using all identified external support technologies based on participants' inputs. the iot project team can identify all available external technologies to support the current iot technology implementation project. this theme consists of information from all six participants with 162 references to the database of study codes sharing how they identify and use external support technologies. we used four subthemes to support this theme, including using all identified and assessed external support technologies, all identified applications, all identified cloud infrastructure, and all identified cloud storage. there were 21 identified secondary quality resources with 24 references supporting the participant's inputs. subtheme: use all identified and assessed external support technologies during the data analysis process, the information from all six participants formed this subtheme to support one of the technical aspects of the toe conceptual framework. there are two approaches: identifying and assessing all available external technologies and using them to support the current iot implementation project. specific support for iot technologies includes wlan, ieee 802 zigbee, low energy bluetooth, 3g/4g/5g, rfid, nfc, extended network management (ipv6), infrastructure as a service (iaas), software as a service (saas), platform as a service (paas), or machine learning (ml). for example, participant ba reported that healthcare organizations could use consumer data services as a marketplace for storing and securely transferring data into the clinical workflow for use with applications or decision-making. participant ca reported that external support technologies could assist in solving compliance issues and cost savings, such as hipaa-compliant service globally with trust audits and privacy security from aws. thus, organizations identified technical contexts and used current internal and external technologies to support adopting and implementing innovative solutions. 155 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal subtheme: use all identified applications the first approach is to identify and use the end-user or mobile applications, which helps the iot project team to use all the identified applications. the second approach is that the iot project team can identify and use other available applications, including online, intranet, or web server applications. participant ba reported the iot applications, “we say we can support hundreds of devices through apple health kit or google fit. i have fewer devices to support because i am an expert in every single one.” participant ca reported the benefits of using software solutions or software-driven services to support iot product design and development. participant da and participant ea reported that an iot application layer hosted the iot applications and collected data connecting to network connections internally and externally, including intranet network connections and internet services like gs, 4g, or gsm. thus, the applications that supported the innovative solutions were in technological contexts and connected to internal or external network connections. subtheme: use all identified cloud infrastructure in this subtheme, the participants provide information regarding using all identified cloud infrastructures to support this theme. the iot project team can identify and use all available cloud infrastructure to support the iot implementation project. participant ca indicated that cloud infrastructure provided cloud services, especially the hipaa-compliant aws service, privacy security, and trust audits. participant da reported that the cloud infrastructure included different components, such as hardware layer, api layer, public network, or private network in-house. last, participant fa added, “in any industries we are talking about, each device provider has its own iot cloud.” thus, the cloud infrastructures and the technology supporting the infrastructures were technological contexts that organizations used to support innovative solutions. subtheme: use all identified cloud storage this subtheme reinforces the theme by identifying and using all available cloud storage. participants provided information that the iot project team could identify and use all available cloud storage to support the current iot project. participant ca reported that the aws cloud storage service provided security, privacy, and encryption with hipaa-compliant. participant da reported that cloud service providers had different charged rates for a different types of cloud storage services. last, participant ea reported about data security and governance as well as the expiration of the cloud data storage contracts. thus, participants reported using cloud storage and its components as part of the cloud infrastructures for storing and accessing iot data in external and internal technological contexts. 156 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 summary we explored the iot technology implementation strategies of participants in the healthcare industry in this pragmatic qualitative inquiry study. there were 1,226 references from participants' inputs and literature resources supporting the study's six findings. the research analyzed collected data and the triangulation methodology and revealed the study's six findings using the research model based on the toe conceptual framework. summary of findings and conclusions there are challenges during the iot implementation phase organizations must carry out a formal iot implementation project to mitigate failures and realize iot benefits for business; this defines the problem statement of this study. the study findings are based on 1,079 references from all six participants' responses resulting in 3 factors that corporate it leaders, organization management teams, developers, and manufacturers can use to implement iot technology solutions successfully. the six research participants are from six healthcare organizations. the iot implementation project team can refine the implementation strategies with the study findings in all three factors: organization, technology, and environment. theoretical implications the study explored the iot implementation strategies of six participants from six different healthcare organizations used for their iot implementation projects. the study findings presented the iot implementation strategies for the organization's iot project, including aligning iot technology with business needs, assessing project staff skills, assessing internal infrastructure, external support technology, external influencers and influences, and recruiting vendors for support. organizational factors as organizations move to implement iot projects, the project team and corporate it leaders should recruit internal staff with iot skillsets to be core staff for the iot implementation project. second, the iot project team should use the project buy-in strategies from these findings to pass the buy-in of the top management team, stakeholders, customers, and consumers and keep the project moving forward as the project plan. finally, the iot project team, corporate it leaders, developers, organization management teams, and manufacturers should plan for ongoing investment in iot solutions per business needs. therefore, as a recommendation for actions, organizations and it leaders might establish internal training for employees and contractors regarding iot solutions, iot applications, and how to apply iot technology to daily corporate tasks to improve everyday office life. as a result, top management teams would pass the iot project buy-in faster, more employees with matched iot skillsets join the iot project team, and ongoing investments in iot solutions are acceptable and essential to promote benefits and profits to the business. 157 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal technological factors after establishing the iot project plan, recruiting staff, and passing the project buy-in process, the iot project team and corporate it leaders select the iot materials internally and externally. a recommendation to the iot project team and it leaders is to establish network connections, iot protocols, and secure internet connections to employ iot solutions to support iot decision-making. last, the iot project team, it leaders, developers, organization management teams, and manufacturers should adjust the internal iot implementation strategies to align with their business partners current iot solutions. environmental factors this study focused on the us healthcare industry and it leaders implementing the iot technology project. organizations and it leaders from different industries and countries, as well as other possible audiences, could adopt the study findings and refine the iot implementation strategies to successfully carry out the iot implementation projects. organizations, it leaders, and professionals who embrace the study findings to implement the iot technology solutions would share with other professionals within the loops or present the successful results at iot forums or conferences. internally, enterprises, organizations, and it leaders should schedule regular training courses for all employees and contractors to introduce the iot technology and current iot solutions applied within facilities. applications to professional practice in this study, the findings addressed the problem that many corporate it leaders lack implementation strategies for iot technology to realize iot benefits for their organizations. from six different healthcare organizations, all six participants provided their successful iot implementation strategies to fully address the study's research question: what strategies do corporate it leaders use for iot technology implementation to realize iot benefits for their organizations? the application to professional practice is discussed below. organizational factors and their applicability to professional practice the iot project team must communicate and recruit talents internally to successfully carry out the iot project. applying this to professional practices, the iot project team, it leaders, organization management team, and manufacturers should implement iot solutions in a full-scale organization-wide effort. managers should ensure everyone can adapt to the iot solutions and fully understand the data flow inbound and outbound. as a result, corporate it leaders, developers, and manufacturers are essential to bringing iot technology to the enterprise at full scale. technological factors and their applicability to professional practice four factors found to be essential for professionals responsible for managing iot were external support technologies, applications, cloud infrastructure, and cloud storage. in professional practice, corporate it leaders, developers, organization management teams, and manufacturers relate to the iot technology 158 june 2023 | volume 2, number 2 world and refine their internal iot technology solutions aligned with industry business partners. corporate it leaders and others should be responsible for implementing iot technology as a must-have enterprise tool to support everyone's daily life. environmental factors and their applicability to professional practice four environmental factors important in professional practice are external influencers and influences, regulations and standards, influencers and influences from other industries, and influencers and influences from vendors. the iot project team, developers, organization management team, and manufacturers should work closely to actively monitor anything relating to iot technology from the outside world, just like other contemporary technologies. in professional practice, corporate it leaders and others should be proficient in utilizing iot technology internally and combining the benefits internally and externally. this implication helped spread the iot technology and its benefits to all industries. recommendations for further research there are three possible recommendations for further research. first, participants reported that iot technology is still far from government regulations and standards; hence, the findings would have room to fine-tune in future studies. second, participants provided responses based on clinical resources, environments, and medical team members; hence, the study findings based on the medical data would not be transferable to other industries such as agriculture, transportation, or construction. therefore, future studies focusing on implementing iot technology could use similar settings as this study with a different set of semi-structured qualitative interview questions, target groups, or conceptual frameworks or theories. lastly, these study findings are based on participants' experiences in the us. hence, future iot implementation studies might include participants from other available markets, such as european or asia. in another recommendation for further study, there were excerpts that participants were repeatedly concerned about the iot data flow in both inbound and outbound. there were limitations in collecting qualitative inputs regarding iot data flow because the study focused on the overall iot implementation strategies. the study's data collection process did not allow the opportunity to drill in-depth into the iot data flow strategy inside and outside the enterprise. the iot-processed data tremendously contribute to the iot decision-making processes to benefit organizations. therefore, future studies focusing on iot data and data flow processes sharpened the iot data and increased its worthiness. conclusion organizational factors include the project staff and staff from other internal functional units, ensuring staff skills, capabilities and competencies, scope, and resources, measuring iot technology benefits, project buy-in, and ensuring iot technology alignment with business needs. technological factors include internal infrastructure, adequate network connections and protocols, good peripherals, secure internet connections, external support technologies, applications, cloud infrastructure, and cloud storage. environmental factors include external influencers and influences, regulations and standards, vendor support with on-site training, consulting experience, and good technical support. the results of a 159 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal successful iot implementation project generate the iot ecosystem from the iot solutions that corporate it 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(1990) designed the toe framework that researchers and organizations could use to research technological innovation decision-making for adoption and implementation at the firm level. depietro et al. (1990) designed the context for chan... figure 1. technology-organization-environment (toe) framework. note. this figure illustrates three factors for implementing iot technology in the organization based specifically on this study. the current benefits of iot technology manufacturers added sensor(s) on an iot device for collecting a specific type of data about or surrounding the object carrying this device. the term internet of things (iot) technology relates to the network(s) connecting all iot devices attaching to ... iot technology benefits to industries higher profit would significantly influence the business decision to adopt and implement technological innovation, especially iot technology. castro et al. (2017) reported that businesses had higher profits when they adopted and implemented iot techno... iot and fast access to information corporate it leaders and researchers could use iot networks and their natural characteristics in automation network activities to enable organizations accessing information quickly. researchers and organizations reported that staff and end-users incre... iot and advantages in all industries researchers and organizations observed advantages in all industries by adopting and implementing iot technology. alkhalil and ramadan (2017) reported that organizations implementing iot technology have opportunities for business advancement in all ind... current iot implementation issues in security, privacy, scalability, reliability, and reusability researchers and corporate it leaders have encountered issues when implementing iot technology in many areas, such as security, privacy, scalability, reliability, and reusability. talbot et al. (2018) reported iot technology implementation issues with ... methods research question data collection data analysis results identify, assess, and recruit vendors for support onsite training consultant experience good technical support theme 2: use all identified external influencers and influences identify and use external influencers and influences using identified regulations and standards using those from other industries through the vendors theme 3: align current iot technology with business needs ensure current iot technology alignment with business needs measure the iot technology benefits project buy-in size, scope, and resources theme 4: use all identified internal project staff skills ensure internal project staff skills use identified staff capabilities and competencies use identified staff from other internal functional units theme 5: use all identified current internal infrastructure use identified and assessed current internal infrastructure use identified adequate network connections and protocols use identified adequate peripherals use identified secure internet connections theme 6: use all identified external support technologies subtheme: use all identified and assessed external support technologies subtheme: use all identified applications subtheme: use all identified cloud infrastructure subtheme: use all identified cloud storage theoretical implications organizational factors technological factors environmental factors applications to professional practice organizational factors and their applicability to professional practice technological factors and their applicability to professional practice environmental factors and their applicability to professional practice recommendations for further research conclusion references business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 1 improving retention among patient care assistants in hospitals post covid-19 pandemic: a qualitative inquiry study dr. latrina hyde| columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama robert goldwasser | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama contact: lhyde1@fuse.net abstract patient care assistant (pca) retention in midwest hospitals has become the topic of discussion after the covid-19 pandemic. pcas experienced longer working hours, less time with loved ones, and increasingly stressful environments during the covid-19 pandemic. the mental health impacts of living and working in a pandemic have been well documented. pcas felt the brunt of this impact throughout the pandemic as new surges emerged, deaths mounted, capacity depleted, and risks on the job remained. in this study, the researcher used a qualitative inquiry study to investigate why hr leaders and unit managers lack the strategies to retain pca staff during and after the covid-19 pandemic. the researcher conducted face-to-face interviews with hr leaders and unit managers on the front lines during and after the covid-19 pandemic in a hospital in midwest ohio. the researcher used purposive sampling to ensure a diverse and representative sample of appropriate participants for this qualitative inquiry study. the researcher's study included multiple uses of data sources and direct encounters to enhance the study's validity. the researcher recognized three principal themes that hr leaders and unit managers could use to retain pcas during and after another pandemic. the researcher identified three key themes: compensation, burnout, and pca-to-patient ratios. this research has implications for pcas who desire equitable compensation and incentives during another pandemic and for the organization to implement successful strategies to ensure pcas are supported during and after another pandemic. keywords: pca retention, burnout, pandemic, hr strategies, compensation june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 2 introduction retention of patient care assistants (pca) is a significant concern for healthcare providers (chatzoudes & chatzoglou, 2022). experts and providers report a current shortage of pcas, partly because of patients' increasingly complex care needs (chatzoudes & chatzoglou, 2022). moreover, several factors combine to constrain the current and future supply of pcas. numerous studies reported decreased job satisfaction levels among pcas, potentially leading to them pursuing other occupations (chatzoudes & chatzoglou, 2022). demographic changes over the coming decades may also worsen the shortage of pcas in hospitals (chatzoudes & chatzoglou, 2022). as the baby boomers' population increases, the demand for pcas is expected to grow dramatically, while the supply of pcas who have traditionally filled these jobs will remain virtually unchanged (chatzoudes & chatzoglou, 2022). several factors contribute to hospitals' difficulty retaining pcas, including relatively low wages and few benefits (chatzoudes & chatzoglou, 2022). in addition, the research found that the physical demands of the work and other aspects of the workplace environment led to difficulties in retaining pcas (chatzoudes & chatzoglou, 2022). hospitals striving to retain their pcas face the challenge of meeting the needs of pcas while competing with other area hospitals offering higher pay and sign-on bonuses (chatzoudes & chatzoglou, 2022). pcas receive some of the lowest wages in the united states. the phi reports the median hourly wage in 2022 for all pca workers in ohio was $13.83 an hour (phi, 2020). health insurance coverage for pca workers is just as dismal. one in every four pca workers lacks healthcare coverage, and only 53% have coverage from their employer (phi, 2020). moreover, a study based on data from the 2022 national nursing home survey, the national nursing assistant survey, and the area resource file surveyed— whether wages, benefits, or training—found that organizational culture affected increasing the job tenure of pcas in hospitals. overall, research shows the extrinsic rewards of paid time off and a pension are the most important determinants of job tenure (wei et al., 2022). pca workers enrolled in employer health insurance plans have more than twice the tenure of those without employee coverage (wei et al., 2022). this study investigated if higher wages and job satisfaction significantly impact the retention of pcas. data from the 2022 national nursing assistant survey shows that satisfaction with wages had the second strongest association with intrinsic and overall job satisfaction (wei et al., 2022). it was also found that the higher the intrinsic job satisfaction reported by pcas, the lower their intent to leave. thus, satisfaction with wages affects the intent to leave through its direct effect on intrinsic job satisfaction (wei et al., 2022). seavey (2018) surveyed pcas in a consumer-directed program to investigate the impact of wages and benefits on retention (seavey, 2018). seavey (2018) found that access to health insurance through their job was one of the significant reasons pcas accepted job offers and stayed longer (seavey, 2018). in addition, seavey (2018) showed that when the wages of pca workers in san francisco county doubled, the retention rates of new pcas increased from 39% to 74% (seavey, 2018). in a survey of 255 pcas in 15 hospitals, seavey found satisfaction with benefits was consistently important to pcas' commitment to their jobs (seavey, 2018). while training and organizational culture have a documented influence on pca retention, they are not the only factors impacting it. some studies have not found a strong link between wages, health insurance, and retention (seavey, 2018). the researcher provided hospital strategies that can be used to retain pcas. background of the study retention is a phenomenon that allows organizations to retain top talent and is one of the critical issues facing organizations today (chatzoudes & chatzoglou, 2022). pca retention is important to healthcare organizations in maintaining patient care and patient safety. patient care assistant retention affects organizational performance, employee morale, and productivity. patient care assistants typically provide most of the hands-on care in hospitals, including assistance with bathing, dressing, and eating (donnely, 2022). the pandemic triggered a mass exodus business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 3 from the profession soon after the pandemic (falatah, 2021). pcas comprised 64% of the healthcare industry's employee full-time equivalents (ftes) (sun et al., 2023). after the transition into new stages of the pandemic, hospitals and analysts have noticed a trend in pca talent. after the distressing experiences of the pandemic in people's work and personal lives, many pcas are considering resigning to find work elsewhere. now, more than ever, pcas seek meaningful work that aligns with their values and offers them flexible work and benefits (falatah, 2021). in many cases, healthcare organizations that were slow to adapt to flexible work and did not emphasize the employee experience have already started noting the consequences (sun et al., 2023). hospitals have made many strategic efforts to increase pca retention. however, despite efforts by hospitals to retain their pcas, retention is a significant problem (wei et al., 2022). examples are sign-on bonuses, tangible benefits, increases in paid time off, incentive pay, and adapting to new scheduling practices (donnely, 2022). according to a 2022 american health care association (ahca) survey, the retention rate for hospital patient care assistants was 35.6% (ahca, 2020). for patient care assistants, one study estimated the retention rate of pcas who had been on the job for less than a year was 20% to 50%, with 80% to 90% leaving within the first year (phi, ifas, 2022). the reasons for this low retention are varied. although the jobs themselves are rewarding for many pcas, workers often face such challenges as low pay, a lack of health insurance, poor or inadequate training, little or no advancement opportunities, poor relationships with their supervisors, physical and emotional demands, and a lack of respect by management, residents' families, and society overall (duffield et al., 2009). according to castle and engberg (2019), high turnover rates of patient care assistants are associated with the worst quality of care for hospital patients (castle & engberg, 2019). castle and engberg's (2019) qualitative study examined the association between retention and turnover in hospitals using 14 care quality indicators. the indicators included rates of patient acuity and physical restraint use, catheter use, mobility, loss of bladder or bowel control, and increased depression or anxiety (castle & engberg, 2019). the analysis showed a decrease in retention from medium (40-80% per year) to high levels (more than 80% per year), associated with lower quality factor scores. however, even higher retention levels were not associated with a further decrease in quality (castle & engberg, 2019). in an earlier study, castle and engberg found that higher quality of care was associated with high patient-care assistant retention in 854 hospitals in six states (castle & engberg, 2019). bostick et al. (2016) systematically reviewed 87 research articles and government documents published from 2019 to 2021 to determine the link between staffing and quality measures in hospitals (bostick et al., 2016). bostick et al. (2016) found a significant relationship between low retention and poor-quality outcomes for residents (bostick et al., 2016). lower retention rates in hospitals have been associated with greater use of physical restraints, catheters, and psychoactive drugs, as well as more contractures and quality-of-care deficiencies (jones et al., 2018). low retention rates also affect hospitals' financial health. an estimate of the minimum direct cost of replacing a patient care assistant is $2,500 (seavey, 2018). however, this does not consider the indirect costs of retention, which include the following: (a) lost productivity until a replacement is trained; (b) lost client revenues and/or reimbursement; (c) increases in worker injuries; (d) emotional stress, and (e) a deterioration of working conditions, possibly leading to less retention (seavey, 2018). the direct and indirect average turnover cost estimate is significant at $3,500 per pca (seavey, 2018). patient care assistant retention impacts hospitals on many levels, and these organizations would benefit from innovative strategies to improve retention. literature review june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 4 the covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on healthcare systems worldwide, and one of the critical challenges that emerged during this time was pca retention (falatah, 2021). pcas played a pivotal role in caring for patients affected by the virus, often working long hours under extreme pressure, and facing high risks of exposure. the immense demands and stressors experienced during the pandemic have increased burnout rates and decreased job satisfaction among pcas, which pose a significant threat to hospital employee retention (falatah, 2021). therefore, it is crucial to address the issue of pca retention post-pandemic to ensure the availability of a skilled and motivated nursing workforce. pca retention in hospitals is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed, especially after the covid-19 pandemic, as pcas face significant challenges such as burnout and decreased job satisfaction (lewis, 2023). to mitigate these challenges and promote pca retention, hospitals should focus on enhancing work environments, implementing support programs, and providing competitive wages. this study explored the factors contributing to pca retention challenges after the covid-19 pandemic and proposed strategies that hospitals can implement to improve pca retention. employee retention has been one of the most escalating concepts in hospitals in the last decades and during the pandemic (mueller et al., 2010). pcas are valuable assets for hospitals and could be labeled as the lifeblood of an organization (jones et al., 2018). especially in pandemic times, pcas, strategic assets of any hospital, should be managed, preserved, and retained with experience and skills in focus when they feel stressed and dissatisfied with their current job role because of associated factors (falatah, 2021). in this study, the researcher reviewed articles published by the society of human resources, including peer-reviewed articles, to explore the phenomenon of pca retention in hospitals after the covid-19 pandemic. a qualitative study examined human resources strategies to retain pca in hospitals in the midwest region of ohio. herzberg's two-factor motivation theory was used in this literature review so the researcher can assess factors that motivate employees. the covid-19 pandemic has resulted in several factors contributing to the challenges of pca retention in hospitals. the pandemic placed an immense physical and emotional burden on pcas (lewis, 2023). pcas faced increased workloads, long hours, and high-stress environments, which led to burnout and exhaustion (lewis, 2023). the constant exposure to the virus also created fear and anxiety among healthcare professionals, including pcas, which further impacted their overall well-being. the pandemic highlighted existing pca shortages in healthcare (lewis, 2023). many hospitals experienced a surge in patient numbers, stretching their resources to the limit (lewis, 2023). this shortage of pca staff created a demanding and unsustainable work environment, causing pcas to reconsider their commitment to their profession (lewis, 2023). additionally, the pandemic exposed structural issues in healthcare systems, such as inadequate support, limited resources, and insufficient compensation, all of which contributed to pca dissatisfaction and increased turnover rates (lewis, 2023). theoretical foundations the researcher used herzberg's two-factor motivation theory for the study's framework (hines, 1973). herzberg's two-factor motivation theory allowed the researcher to investigate factors that motivate employees (hines, 1973). the research explored factors that affected pca retention after the covid-19 pandemic and what hr leaders can do to retain pca in the hospital setting. herzberg's two-factor motivation theory was examined in the first section of the literature review so that the research could further examine the framework of the study. the literature review examined the causes of low pca retention in hospitals in the midwest. the researcher compared herzberg's twofactor motivation theory and the expectancy theory of motivation. in comparing both theories in the pieces of literature, the researcher noted the following observations: (a) workplace burnout, (b) compensation, (c) advancement opportunities, and (d) pca-to-patient ratios. herzberg's two-factor motivation theory the researcher used herzberg's two-factor motivation theory to support their conceptual framework. fredrick herzberg created the theory in 1959 (herzberg, 2003). herzberg suggested that factors that lead to job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are different (herzberg, 2003). according to the theory, factors related to job content, such as autonomy, challenge, and opportunity to learn and grow, are generally referred to as intrinsic factors or motivators that produce job satisfaction and, therefore, the motivation to perform (herzberg, 2003). factors related to the job business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 5 context, such as a safe work environment, pay, compensation package, and supervision, are generally referred to as extrinsic factors or hygiene factors, which do not produce job satisfaction and, therefore, do not motivate performance. still, their absence is dissatisfying (herzberg, 2003). vroom expectancy theory of motivation vroom (1964) developed the expectancy theory of motivation. vroom's (1964) theory is based on organizational behavior and how it motivates employees (steele, 1964). expectancy theory proposes that motivation is highest when individuals believe that their efforts will result in a desirable outcome and that this outcome is attainable through their actions (steele, 1964). in other words, if an individual believes that their efforts will lead to success and that success will result in a desirable outcome, they will be highly motivated to perform the task. this theory has important implications for understanding the motivation process because it highlights the importance of goal setting, feedback, and rewards in motivating individuals (steele, 1964). the theory also suggests that when individuals set specific, challenging goals and receive feedback on their progress toward them, they are more likely to be motivated to continue working toward them (steele, 1964). additionally, when individuals receive rewards or positive outcomes for their efforts, they are more likely to be motivated to repeat the behavior in the future (steele, 1964). overall, the expectancy theory of motivation is a helpful framework for understanding how individuals decide their behavior and what motivates them to act. it emphasizes the importance of goal setting, feedback, and rewards in promoting motivation and can be applied in various settings to increase performance and productivity (steele, 1964). review of the literature the covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the pca workplace, and as a result, many researchers have examined pca retention considering these changes (lewis, 2023). while there is no single way to study pca retention, there are some strengths and weaknesses to other researchers' approaches (lewis et al., 2022). according to a study by renaud et al. (2017), a longitudinal design was used for pca retention after covid-19. by following the same group of pcas over time, renaud et al. (2017) could better understand how pca retention has changed in response to the pandemic (renaud et al., 2017). pca shortage in midwest ohio midwest hospitals saw an increase in the pca-to-patient ratio due to the shortage after the covid-19 pandemic (falatah, 2021). due to staffing issues, pcas encounter long work hours and less time off. after the covid-19 pandemic, pcas re-evaluated their decisions to pursue other hospital opportunities. many hospitals in the midwest of ohio face more safety concerns, the overwhelming number of patients being seen in emergencies, and the high risk of healthcare-acquired infections (donnely, 2022). the situation in midwest ohio hospitals reflects a national phenomenon, and the shortage is of great concern to many because it compromises access to quality patient care (donnely, 2022). pcas play an intricate role in healthcare. pcas help patients with hygiene, assist the patient in daily activities, take vital signs, and monitor general health conditions. shortly after the covid-19 pandemic, retention approaches in healthcare organizations often focused on short-term solutions, such as offering employee incentives or bonuses, rather than addressing the root causes of pca retention (falatah, 2021). this has led to a lack of sustainability in retention efforts and an inability to retain pcas long-term (falatah, 2021). other problems with pca retention approaches may include a lack of focus on pca development, inadequate communication, and a lack of support for work-life balance (falatah, 2021). causes of shortage after the covid-19 pandemic in midwest ohio the covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the many issues facing pcas and the us healthcare system (donnely, 2022). the nationwide pca shortage is essential to this study, though it is a complex issue. while the pca june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 6 shortage undoubtedly affects critical and emergency care, it is felt across all clinical settings, including long-term care (donnely, 2022). the pca shortage predates the pandemic (needleman et al., 2011). the pandemic's additional pressures, workload, and stress have exacerbated the situation. many pcas are leaving the profession, reporting poor working conditions and an increased psychological burden (seavey, 2018). the pca profession faces shortages due to a lack of potential preceptors, high turnover, and inequitable workforce distribution. the causes of the pca shortage are numerous and cause issues of concern (donnely, 2022). compensation as that need grows, the labor force has not kept up with demand. the federal bureau of labor statistics projects that by 2030, there will be nearly 600,000 open positions nationwide, or a 32.6% increase from 2020, including nearly 40,000 in ohio (ohmart, 2022). the average annual wage for pca in ohio was $27,870, or about $13.40 an hour, as of may 2021 (ohmart, 2022). pca compensation remains a challenge for healthcare (donnely, 2022). the nation association of health care assistants reports low wages and benefits as the primary reason pcas leave the workforce (ohmart, 2022). ohmart (2022) states other factors include burnout and a lack of respect from leadership (ohmart, 2022). pca compensation must be addressed before the shortage becomes a crisis (donnely, 2022). after the covid-19 pandemic, states such as michigan have put together tactics to mitigate low wages for pcas (hurst, 2002). such as being offered a $2.35 increase per hour. when researching the average pca pay in ohio, it is evident that pay is low. p.c.a.s. however, this tactic was only available to those facilities that were nursing homes and participated in either medicaid or medicare pass-through payments (donnely, 2022). hospitals were not offered this tactic, so these organizations struggled with pca retention even though high census pay and incentive pay were being offered by the hospitals in midwest ohio (chin, 2022). pca burnout during the pandemic, pcas had hectic working hours due to the increasing number of covid-19-positive cases and increased inpatient admissions, contributing to pca burnout during the covid-19 pandemic (carayon & gurses, 2005). the pca shortage has a tangible impact on pcas' working conditions. growing workloads erode pcas' ability to provide the care they feel their patients deserve (carayon & gurses, 2005). this inner tension can create a heavy psychological burden. (carayon & gurses, 2005). pca burnout is a deleterious and consequential syndrome that affects not only the individuals but also the organization and patients in which those pcas labor (ohmart, 2022). as many as half of the pca workforce is experiencing burnout, with the likelihood of personal consequences, job dysfunction, and potential risk to patients (ohmart, 2022). during the covid-19 pandemic, the media has rightly focused on how burnout impacts healthcare workers (falatah, 2021). during this period of acute stress, the prevalence of burnout is expected to rise (falatah, 2021). however, even pre-pandemic, pcas were showing alarming rates of burnout symptoms. this points to longstanding issues with pcas' working conditions, where prolonged stress and heavy workloads were already endemic (falatah, 2021). pca-to-patient ratios during the covid-19 pandemic, the issue of pca burnout has become even more pressing due to the increased demands placed on healthcare systems (duffield et al., 2009). pcas have been working long hours, often without adequate support or resources, which can exacerbate burnout (carayon & gurses, 2005). needleman (2011) found that pcas working during the pandemic reported higher burnout levels than before the pandemic, with increased workload and insufficient staffing cited as key contributing factors. research on the relationship between pca-topatient ratios and burnout during the pandemic is still emerging (weydt, 2009). however, seavey (2018) found that pcas working in higher patient-to-pca ratio units during the pandemic reported higher levels of burnout. this suggests that even during a crisis such as the covid-19 pandemic, pca-to-patient ratios remain an important factor in pca levels of burnout. while the relationship between pca burnout and pca-to-patient ratios is complex and multifactorial, there is evidence to suggest that higher pca-to-patient ratios can contribute to burnout among pcas business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 7 both before and during the covid-19 pandemic (ohmart, 2022). healthcare systems need to prioritize safe staffing levels and provide adequate support and resources for pca to prevent burnout and promote well-being (ohmart, 2022). methods the problem explored in this study was retention among pca staff during and after the covid-19 pandemic in hospitals in midwest ohio. thus, this qualitative pragmatic inquiry study explores strategies to retain pcas during and after the covid-19 pandemic in hospitals. the study's target population comprised eight department managers, two human resource business partners, two human resources directors, and one chief human resource officer at a level-one, 145-bed trauma hospital in the midwest. these participants were selected because each was on the front lines during and after the covid-19 pandemic. the human resources business partners contributed to turnover data and retention changes, work-life balance, emotional support, and employee health and wellness for pcas. the human resources directors contributed to the organizational strategies to retain pcas, and the chief human resources officer contributed to how these retention strategies were developed and executed. all participants contribute their professional opinions based on five years or more of on-the-job experience and five years or more in leadership. the following research question was developed to understand the retention strategies used for pca retention: rq1: what strategies do hr leaders and managers use to retain their pca staff during and after the covid-19 pandemic? data collection and analysis procedures the researcher investigated strategies to retain pcas during and after the covid-19 pandemic in a midwest hospital. participant interviews were used as the data collection method, and the target population consisted of (a) managers, (b) human resources business partners, (c) human resources directors, and (d) a chief human resources officer with at least two years of experience in leadership and employed during and after the covid-19. the researcher used purposive sampling for this study. purposive sampling allowed the researcher to focus on relatively small samples in-depth and gather qualitative responses, which led to better insight and ensured the sample represented the population of interest. (podvin, 2022). the researcher discovered the three themes: (a) pca compensation, (b) pca burnout, and (c) pca-to-patient ratios. the researcher sent a total of one hundred and thirty surveys. out of a hundred and thirty surveys, seventy-one managers reported to have at least two years of experience, nine hr leaders reported to have at least two years of experience, one hundred and six employees reported they were employed during and after the pandemic, and ninetyeight employees reported they were full-time. the researcher then sent 30 emails to participants that met the study benchmark. the researcher received 17 emails from participants who declined to participate in the study, and 13 participants responded that they were interested in participating. the researcher sent the 13 participants signed consent forms, which were signed and emailed back to the researcher within two weeks. the researcher interviewed 13 participants and conducted these interviews on-site at the facility. due to time restraints, the researcher conducted four interviews via ms teams in a private setting or office. the researcher received signed informed consent from each participant and advised that a voice recorder would be used to capture the data for accuracy. the researcher made sure that participants were free from distractions and interruptions by viewing the participants' work areas. after completing the interviews, the researcher resighted the interview questions and answers verbatim to google doc voice typing to begin applying codes to exceptions. to maintain the participants' privacy, the researcher used the following naming references: m1, m2, m3, m4, m5, m6, m7, m8, h9, h10, h11, h12, and h13. microsoft word was used to present the data, and microsoft excel was used to chart the commonality of the data. june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 8 results as a reminder, the following research question was developed to understand the strategies used for pca retention: rq1: what strategies do hr leaders and managers use to retain their pca staff during and after the covid-19 pandemic? theme 1: pca compensation pcas are vital to healthcare, and compensation drives retention (chin, 2022). the relationship between compensation and pca retention indicates that an effective compensation package has a positive relationship with pca retention and thus affects a pca's decision to stay with the organization (chin, 2022). all 13 participants reported that pca salary directly impacted pca retention during and after the covid-19 pandemic. p4 and p8 stated that pca compensation and retention are closely connected because pcas would have stayed longer with the organization if they felt fairly compensated for their work. h9 and h10 indicated that a well-designed compensation package with competitive salaries, benefits, and bonuses can motivate pcas to stay with the organization and contribute to its success. in contrast, h12 and m4 noted that a compensation package that is not competitive can make employees feel undervalued and underappreciated, which can lead to low morale and high turnover rates. h12 and m4 also noted that the organization was competitive in pay for one area with a similar job pca description. however, h13 stated that compensation is not the only factor that impacts pca retention. other factors influencing pca employees' decisions to stay with a company include opportunities for growth and development. h13 continued to state that pcas want to feel they are growing and developing in their careers. providing opportunities for training, development, and advancement can help retain talented pcas. h12 noted that an organization's culture can significantly influence pca retention. moreover, a positive, inclusive, and supportive culture can create a sense of belonging and loyalty among pcas. according to h10 and m6, the relationship between compensation and performance appraisal was also related to pca retention. the participants noted that the relationship between compensation and performance appraisal is crucial because it links a pca's performance to its compensation. performance appraisals evaluate a pca's job performance and determine appropriate compensation, including salary increases, bonuses, or promotions. h11 reported that since organizations determine compensation based on job responsibilities, market rates, employee performance, and internal equity, offering incentives and bonuses during and after the covid-19 pandemic would increase pca retention. m3 and m7 noted that when pcas feel satisfied and connected to their workplace, they are more likely to stay with the company for the long term. a positive culture can also be a competitive advantage in retaining pca's talent. organizations with reputations for being great workplaces are more likely to attract skilled and motivated pcas who want to be part of that culture. an inclusive and open culture can encourage innovation and creativity. when pcas feel comfortable sharing their ideas and are free to experiment, it can lead to developing new services and processes, contributing to the organization's growth. moreover, a culture that promotes collaboration and teamwork can lead to more effective communication and problem-solving. when pcas work well together, it can enhance overall efficiency and the quality of work produced. h9 noted that pcas are in high demand, and leaders can impact change through compensation. as noted, compensation is not the only factor that impacts pca retention. organizational culture, benefits, job satisfaction, and evaluation of performance appraisals are other factors contributing to pca retention. equitable compensation business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 9 h11 noted that pay is equally essential to the pcas and the organization. an organization's compensation program is strongly related to the organization's financial performance. during and after the covid-19 pandemic, the organization was struggling financially. however, pcas still wanted to know they were valued for their time, effort, and performance. the amount of pay and benefits during and after the covid-19 pandemic could have motivated the pcas and their direct behavior to retain them throughout the pandemic. compensation plays a vital role in an organization's retaining and attracting high-performance pcas. on the other hand, the cost of compensation also plays an essential role in the success of an organization. theme 2: pca burnout h9 and h11 noted that to empower pcas and foster a healthy work environment, leadership is seen as a crucial component. the participants also noted that managers play a major role in preventing pca burnout because they can create a friendly environment so pcas feel safe and easily complete their work. the manager should have leadership qualities to achieve positive outcomes. h10 and h13 stated that during the pandemic, the pcas had hectic working hours due to the increasing number of covid-19-positive cases, increased inpatient admissions, working long hours, staying away from families, working in high-risk areas, inadequate availability of ppe kits, and wearing personal protective equipment while handling patients, which also contributed to pca burnout during the covid-19 pandemic. however, this could have been prevented by allowing pcas to take a one-hour break during their shift. m5 and m6 also noted that taking breaks was not always at the center of attention because of patient care and low pca retention. unit managers were trying to manage breaks; however, this was difficult to manage during and after the covid-19 pandemic. m5 and m6 agreed that breaks would enable pcas to remove their ppe (personal care equipment) and enjoy their lunches, allowing for more work efficiency. moreover, provide a 14-day quarantine break to pcas who work during the covid-19 pandemic. the hospital administration gives insurance coverage or free services to all the pcas affected by the covid-19 pandemic. manager involvement the researcher discovered throughout the study that manager involvement with pca during and after the covid-19 pandemic played an essential role in pca burnout. a deficiency in manager support, including inadequate staffing, limited opportunities for professional development, and a lack of recognition for their hard work and dedication, exacerbated feelings of burnout among pcas (cottrell et al., 2023). m6 noted that monitoring workloads, leading by example, and pca feedback are all strategies that can prevent pca feedback during another pandemic. pcas should have been given work based on their strengths, which can be done within the time limit with no difficulties. organizations or leaders must ensure they are not given unreasonable tasks to do. h10, h11, h12, and h13 noted that managers set examples for the employees working under them. managers avoided pca workloads during and after the covid-19 pandemic because of pca staffing issues. managers also neglected manager feedback to pcas, as this was another cause for pca burnout during and after the covid-19 pandemic. theme 3: pca-to-patient ratios h11 and h12 noted that to ensure safe pca-to-patient ratios, it is the responsibility of nurse managers to ensure that pcas maintain appropriate ratios of patients. managers can convey to senior management the significance of having a suitable number of pcas on the unit. moreover, managers must assign pcas based on the severity of patients' conditions and the work that must be done. this ensures that patients receive the proper care without putting undue stress on pcas. h10 and h13 noted that managers performing routine checks on patient ratios and pca workloads can detect and resolve problems as quickly as possible. this may include altering the staffing levels or shifting resources per the requirements. h9 noted that managers should offer training, direction, and support to pcas, enabling them pcas to handle their tremendous workloads and maintain a high level of patient care more successfully. moreover, nurse managers are responsible for facilitating communication among pcas and encouraging open discourse regarding staffing and safety issues. june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 10 recommendations the main research question examined what strategies hr leaders and unit managers use to retain their pca staff during and after the covid-19 pandemic. participants identified several factors that led to pca turnover during and after the covid-19 pandemic. the findings suggest that pcas often face heavy workloads, long hours, low wages, high stress, fatigue, workplace violence, and harassment. these factors affected job satisfaction, productivity, health, and well-being during and after the covid-19 pandemic, leading pcas to leave the profession. the pandemic escalated work demands on pcas significantly. pcas faced longer shifts, increased patient loads, and emotionally taxing situations due to the high influx of covid-19 patients. this overload led to physical and emotional exhaustion, contributing to burnout. participants noted that pcas had to deal with the overwhelming demands of patient care during the pandemic, coupled with the fear of contracting the virus and heightened stress levels among pcas. constant exposure to such stressors and exhaustion increased the likelihood of burnout and made the work environment less sustainable. moreover, pcas faced hostility or harassment due to misinformation or fear around the pandemic. instances of violence or mistreatment from patients, families, or even within the workplace created an unsafe and hostile environment, contributing to pcas' decision to leave. pca compensation participants noted that compensation played a significant role in pca retention. pcas felt they were not being paid or compensated fairly, so they sought employment opportunities that offered better compensation and benefits. the unit managers identified that during the covid-19 pandemic, there was a shortage in many regions because of the abrupt increase in demand for pca professionals. the organization found it difficult to give above-market pay to add pcas because of financial limitations or pre-existing pay structures. participants also noted that the increasing costs for medical supplies, ppe, and infrastructure upgrades put a financial burden on the organization and made it difficult to allocate money for higher compensation. according to herzberg (2003), pay is pointed out as a hygiene factor (herzberg, 2003). the findings suggest that increasing pay can motivate pcas, especially if they feel that their current pay is not commensurate with the patient care they are giving. each participant recognized that pcas would perform better during times of crisis if compensation was above market value and additional pay incentives were given. the findings suggest that conducting several market analyses, offering flexible compensation packages, investing in retention strategies, advocating for policies, building contingency funds, and adopting technology for efficiency throughout a pandemic will allow the organization to determine the above-market wage rate for pcas. this will ensure that the organization is offering crisis pay competitively to the industry, thus reducing pca turnover and increasing pca retention due to a pandemic. moreover, the researchers suggest that hr leaders should consider offering additional incentives such as bonuses and crisis pay, which can reward employees for their work and the organization's shortcomings. recognition and rewards the finding suggests that before the covid-19 pandemic, pcas felt valued, supported, and motivated to grow and develop in their careers. this was essential for the pca's job satisfaction and overall success (hines, 1973). participants identified that pcas were not recognized and appreciated to the extent they deserved during and after the covid-19 pandemic due to the increased workload, limited resources, and societal unawareness of their contributions. the findings suggest that hr leaders can implement strategies such as regular acknowledgment and gratitude, providing emotional and mental support, offering professional development opportunities, and ensuring competitive compensation and benefits. the researcher's findings can also help the organization develop strategies to assist with recognition programs celebrating certifications, successful patient outcomes, or innovative practices. pca recognition programs, such as the pca of the month awards, highlight outstanding performance and inspire others, creating a positive and supportive work environment. these efforts will help recognize and appreciate pca's hard work during another pandemic, improving their job satisfaction and well-being. career advancement business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 11 participants noted the organization needs to facilitate continuous education and training by organizing workshops, seminars, and training sessions on the latest medical technologies and best practices. moreover, financial support in the form of tuition reimbursement programs can be offered to pcas who wish to pursue advanced degrees or certifications. by investing in their education, the organization enhances the pca's skills and improves the quality of patient care (hassan, 2022). pca burnout participants identified that the surge in covid-19 cases led to an overwhelming increase in patient load, creating a demand for more pca professionals. pcas often work long hours with limited time for breaks or days off. many units experienced pca shortages due to illness, quarantine measures, or increased demand. this put additional pressure on the existing pcas to cover shifts and increased their workload. hr leaders and unit managers can implement several strategies to foster work-life balance for pcas during another pandemic or crisis. the researcher's findings suggest providing flexible scheduling options to accommodate the diverse needs of pcas. these options could include part-time options, job-sharing arrangements, and possible opportunities for remote work. the findings also suggested that unit managers should develop robust staffing plans that consider potential fluctuations in demand. implement contingency measures to address pca shortages, such as cross-training and the ability to bring in additional temporary pca staff during emergencies. pca-to-patient ratio participants identified that the covid-19 pandemic posed unprecedented challenges, diverting attention and resources from routine healthcare operations. monitoring pca-to-patient ratios became challenging due to overwhelmed healthcare systems and urgent demands. the findings suggest that unit managers should enhance preparedness for future pandemics by implementing robust monitoring systems, utilizing technology for real-time data, and establishing clear communication channels to address pca staffing issues promptly. the participants also noted that utilizing advanced technology to establish real-time monitoring systems that provide instant updates on pca-to-patient ratios, employing data analytics to predict potential surges in patient numbers, allowing proactive adjustments to staffing levels, developing flexible staffing models that can quickly adapt to changing circumstances, such as cross-training staff to handle different roles, and establishing comprehensive contingency plans that outline specific steps to be taken in the event of a pandemic can address pca ratios during another pandemic. recommendations for future research the first recommendation is to advocate for a future qualitative inquiry study that includes pcas and excludes leadership positions. investigating the pcas' views and thoughts on how the covid-19 pandemic shifted their trajectory will allow for the implementation of different strategies to retain pcas. pcas can provide a contrasting view and supplement the researcher's current findings. p.c.a.s are cornerstone players, and their views and opinions can aid in developing different strategies not currently employed in healthcare. the second recommendation can include pcas in the research to analyze their chief complaint about how the covid-19 pandemic impacted their lives, their reasons for leaving, their effects on pca-to-patient ratios, burnout, and compensation. the study results could provide a different viewpoint and aspect of the findings. lastly, obtaining the perceptions of the pca can lead to evolving retention tactics that are not currently in place. the third recommendation is to include pcas in the research to analyze how communication played a role during and after the covid-19 pandemic. the study's results could reveal how changes in communication between management and the organization affected their perception of the organization they worked for. the pca point of view would allow the organization to make changes that are taking place during times of a pandemic and allow the organization to achieve maximum communication goals. it is possible to close the gap in pca retention during a pandemic, but to close this gap, research will have to be an ongoing task. this study highlighted the intrinsic and extrinsic roles that play a part in pca retention. pcas should june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 12 be appreciated for their hard work. they should be recognized and rewarded for their work to stay motivated and improve their performance. empowering pcas and considering their ideas in the decision-making process will make their voices heard by the organization. once they feel empowered, their productivity and commitment will increase. recommendations for practice the recommendations for this qualitative inquiry study result from data analysis from semi-structured interviews with participants from a hospital in midwest ohio. the recommendations may help implement strategies to retain pcas during and after another pandemic and reduce pca turnover during another pandemic. 1. the researchers first recommend that hr leaders provide above-market compensation packages during and after a pandemic, which is vital when retaining pcas. a practical market analysis during the pandemic can lead to higher retention of pcas. market analyses during a pandemic can allow the organization to compare its wages and adjust accordingly. also, provide crises and pay incentives during these times. this will ensure that pcas are retained and that they are being paid for working in hazardous work environments. 2. the researchers' second recommendation was that the participants recommend that unit managers provide safe pca-to-patient ratios. pca-to-patient ratios play a vital role in patient care and patient satisfaction. when the ratios are too high, it can result in overworked and stressed pcas, leading to burnout and job dissatisfaction. in contrast, when the ratios are reasonable, pcas provide better care, feel more satisfied with their jobs, and are likelier to stay in their positions. adequate staffing levels that allow for a reasonable pca-to-patient ratio are critical for ensuring pcas can provide high-quality patient care and maintain a manageable workload. by monitoring acuity during pandemic times, unit managers must prioritize staffing levels and pca-to-patient ratios to support their pca staff's well-being and job satisfaction. 3. the researchers' third recommendation is that hr leaders and unit managers must implement a plan for pca work-life balance during and after another pandemic. this can include implementing work-life balance strategies. this recommendation's first line of defense is for managers to recognize when their pcas are burned out. managers can spot increasing error rates, absenteeism, and signs of stress-related burnout more easily than anyone else in the organization. implementing employee assistance programs, seminars on work-life balance, flex scheduling, job sharing, and encouraging the use of vacation and sick leave time. moreover, during times before and after a pandemic, healthcare organizations need to promote their work-life balance policies year-round, not just in pca orientations and handbooks. lastly, frequent positive communication of these benefits. conclusion retaining pca during another pandemic is essential for the healthcare industry. pcas provide basic services to patients and assist nursing staff with vitals, maintaining patient hygiene, and listening to patients regarding their health concerns (jones et al., 2018). moreover, retaining pca is essential to patient care and patient quality. the researcher found that when hr leaders and unit managers change (a) pca-to-patient ratio, (b) pay, and (c) pca burnout, retaining pca during another pandemic will be successful. each hr leader and unit manager recognized that extrinsic and intrinsic motivators are crucial for the organization, as these factors help to improve pca performance, productivity, and job satisfaction. each hr leader and unit manager also recognized that while extrinsic motivators, such as bonuses or crisis pay, can also be effective methods, these are often short-term and can lead to decreased intrinsic motivation. furthermore, hr leaders and unit managers indicated it is necessary to use intrinsic and extrinsic motivators because they complement each other. extrinsic motivators can help provide shortterm rewards and recognition for pcas, while intrinsic motivators can create a sense of fulfillment and purpose in their work (cottrell et al., 2023). retention strategies can be successfully implemented by working closely with hr and management to identify ways to implement these initiatives that work within the organization's budget. the participants in this qualitative inquiry business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 13 study provided strategies to retain pcas during another pandemic. for example, implementing a post-covid-19 survey allows the organization to find out what pcas learned and what resources they will need from the organization if another pandemic arises. these surveys can reflect on past pca retention issues during and after the covid-19 pandemic and give insight into what an organization needs to do to retain pca during these times. other strategies the participants noted were offering flexible work hours, part-time options, or job-sharing arrangements to support pcas in balancing their work and personal lives. this flexibility enables pcas to pursue further education, attend training programs, or achieve a healthier work-life balance. moreover, other hr leaders and unit managers can utilize these strategies. references american health care association. 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(2009). defining, analyzing, and quantifying work complexity. creative nursing, 15(1), 7-13. doi:10.1891/1078-4535.15.1.7 1 navigating the supply chain: an in-depth analysis of job satisfaction, tenure, and work-life quality in logistics rosanne shontelle moon, dba| columbia southern university, orange beach, al usa janice tucker, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, al usa contact: rsmoon15@yahoo.com abstract stressful work environments cause low morale, leading to decreased organizational productivity. this quantitative correlational study examined the relationship between work-related quality of life and employees'' job satisfaction in the logistics field. the theoretical foundation that frames this study is maslow's hierarchy of needs and geert hofstede's (1980) cultural dimension theory. the job satisfaction survey (jss) and work-related quality of life scale (wr-qols) were used as the data collection instruments for this study. ninety-two participants included employees who currently work in logistics and are members of a logistics social media group. a pearson correlation coefficient was computed, and there was a significant relationship (.61) between job satisfaction and work-related quality of life among logistics workers. keywords: work-related quality of life, job satisfaction, logistics, employee morale, motivation. 2 introduction a high quality of work-life enhances work performance, commitment, and job satisfaction among employees (samavatian et al., 2020). the logistics field has attracted the attention of researchers such as sgarbossa et al. (2020), who studied human factors in production and logistics and noted that new management approaches were needed to overcome future challenges in the industry. ellram and murfield (2019) posited that studying buyer-supplier relationships is critical to developing innovative strategies in sustainability and logistics. a scholarly review of the literature shows a lack of research on the human factors affecting sustainability (ellram & murfield, 2019). previous academic researchers have focused on human resource management (hrm), supply chain management skills and competencies, human capital development, valuable logistics managers, and reverse logistics (goldsby et al., 2019). to bridge the gap in research on human factors and sustainability, factors that quantify the quality of work-life and job satisfaction within the logistics field were examined in this study. a quantitative methodology with a correlation research design was used to examine logistics employees'' satisfaction with their jobs and their perceived quality of work life. the data-gathering tools were paul spector's job satisfaction survey (jss) and the quality of working life (qowl) survey. background of the study in 1972, the quality of work-life (qwl) concept was first introduced in literature at a conference held in new york (erdem, 2020). qwl refers to the overall well-being of the workplace. various factors comprise qwl, including employee satisfaction, engagement, and overall experience at work. employees with low levels of job satisfaction often experience emotional burnout, reduced quality of life, and increased levels of anxiety and depression (li & xie, 2020). if job satisfaction is high, turnover and absenteeism rates are reduced, productivity increases, and a positive effect can be gained (kim & kim, 2020). according to zivkovic et al. (2021), research focusing on employee turnover, turnover intention, and organizational commitment in logistics is not common, constituting a clear research gap. acar (2012) states that scientific research on administrative issues, including organizational commitment, neglects the logistics industry. garg et al. (2021) conclude that future research on employee engagement in logistics should analyze employees, identify employee feelings, and monitor behavior trends. pang and lu (2018) have established that future research should focus on analyzing individual departments to understand the perceptions of organizational motivation and job satisfaction factors in different logistic departments. logistics firms are the backbone of many other sectors, keeping things going correctly and on time (garg et al., 2021). the aim of this study was to gather information on the work-related quality of life and job satisfaction of logistics employees. the problem addressed in this research is that workplace stress, discriminatory interpersonal interactions, and mistreatment of employees can cause severe damage to employee morale and ethics (saleem et al., 2020; wressell et al., 2018). job satisfaction arises when there is alignment between work motivation, leadership, and the company's organizational culture that is inclusive 3 and embraced by all employees (paais & pattiruhu, 2020). according to stoermer et al. (2017), addressing the needs and challenges of a diverse workforce is vital for maintaining positive work attitudes in employees, particularly job satisfaction. however, because of the high technological content and rapid updates occurring in innovation industries, employees endure more significant work pressure; thus, they are less satisfied with their jobs (zhang & wang, 2021). the purpose of this quantitative correlation study was to examine the relationship between workrelated quality of life and employees' job satisfaction in the logistics field. the independent variable is work-related quality of life, and the dependent variable is job satisfaction. the target sample was members of a logistics social media group with over 1,000 active members. logistics is a multifaceted term encompassing a wide range of activities and processes related to the movement, storage, and management of goods, materials, and information within a supply chain. it involves coordinating various elements to ensure the efficient flow of products from their point of origin to their destination (garg et al., 2021). according to nilsson (2019), most existing literature provides a general overview of logistics complexity. in contrast, the findings of this study will contribute to the specific body of knowledge on human factors within the logistics field by focusing on the relationship between quality of work-life and job satisfaction (nilsson, 2019). one research question with corresponding hypotheses guided this study. rq1 – what is the relationship between work-related quality of life and job satisfaction of logistics workers? h10 – there is no statistically significant relationship between work-related quality of life and job satisfaction of logistics workers. h1a – there is a statistically significant relationship between work-related quality of life and job satisfaction of logistics workers. the knowledge gained from this research can assist logistics managers and decision-makers in making position enhancements and incentives for improving their employees' retention, quality of work-life, and job satisfaction. job satisfaction is a happy or optimistic emotional state that results from evaluating one's work or work experiences (padmanabhan, 2021). literature review employee job satisfaction levels can vary daily and are affected by work experiences and stressors (pindek et al., 2021). workers who find job tasks enjoyable and meaningful will like their jobs and be motivated to perform them well (cavanagh et al., 2020). therefore, company leaders should invest in all workers because it improves firm performance (cavanagh et al., 2020). srivastava et al. (2019) found that quality of work life (qowl) and job-related outcomes have been crucial areas in human resource and organizational development (cummings & worley, 2005; leopold, 2005). the literature that grounds this study primarily focused on quality of work life and job satisfaction. 4 quality of work-life holistically, qowl is a favorable work climate and culture that supports and enhances the employee's satisfaction by supplying stimulating factors like career development options, job security, attractive compensation, and rewards (lau et al., 2001). cruz et al. (2022) argue that quality of work life is a multidimensional notion encompassing a range of factors that affect how people perform their jobs. permarupan et al. (2021) state that qowl is a tool that improves the working conditions that can benefit employees, employers, and customers. quality of work life also means consideration of individual and group differences (dawood et al., 2022). in contrast, aminizadeh et al. (2022) describe the quality of work life as the ability of staff to satisfy their personal needs through experiences they learn in the organization. qowl is associated with job satisfaction, motivation, productivity, health, job security, safety, and well-being, embracing four main axes: a safe work environment, occupational health care, appropriate working time, and a fair salary (leitao et al., 2019). it is also associated with the structured working framework, where workers socially integrate inside and outside the work (permarupan et al., 2021). it is necessary to measure the qowl status of employees and examine any influencing factors (nanjundeswaraswamy et al., 2021). quality of work life includes several activities highlighting its importance, such as solving problems and restructuring work (dawood et al., 2022). the impact of the quality of working life is manifested in reducing stress and employee burnout while increasing job productivity (dawood et al., 2022). furthermore, to enhance the quality of work-life, attention needs to be paid to factors that influence it, such as socioeconomics, demography, work, organization, self-actualization, and human relations aspects (agusto et al., 2022). qowl empowers the organization to change the job attributes and make them more employee-friendly by providing much-needed job satisfaction and retention over a more extended period (permarupan et al., 2021). qowl provides the benefits of higher worker involvement by improving the working conditions and changing the job design schema (permarupan et al., 2021). the value system of the quality of work life considers investing in individuals as the most important variable in strategic management; put differently, the fulfillment of staff needs will lead to the improvement and long-term performance of the organization (aminizadeh et al., 2022). quality of work life is gaining greater importance as the workplace demographics are changing to accommodate the vast number of millennials (ali & imran, 2020). job satisfaction according to roznowski and hulin (1992), one of the most valuable things an employer can know about its workers is if they are satisfied with their jobs (bowling & zelazny, 2022). the organization's level of support expresses job satisfaction, the employment situation, and the employee's assessment of the organization's work climate (butt et al., 2019). kasraie et al. (2014) conclude that understanding employees' job satisfaction is an important organizational goal (thu et al., 2022). some studies divide job satisfaction into intrinsic and extrinsic elements 5 whereby pay and promotions are considered extrinsic factors, and colleagues, supervision, and work are considered intrinsic factors (judge et al., 2020). locke (1969) defined job satisfaction as a pleasurable emotional state. freeman (1978) described it as a subjective variable that measures what people say rather than what they do (bakotic, 2022). spector (1997) stated that job satisfaction describes people's feelings about their jobs and various aspects of their work (bakotic, 2022). job satisfaction is an emotional and practical response to various facets of work (maamari, 2014). in general, job satisfaction is an individual's positive psychological state of satisfaction (dissatisfaction) concerning work, work environment, salary, and other relationships (thu et al., 2022). smith et al. (1969) argue that job satisfaction comprises five facets: pay, promotions, colleagues, supervision, and the work itself (thu et al., 2022). lock (1976) adds recognition, working conditions, and company and management (thu et al., 2022). job satisfaction is one factor that increases employee engagement (pavlovic et al., 2022). weiss et al. (1967) state that job satisfaction is composed of 20 clauses / sub-scales, such as ability, utilization, achievement, activity, advancement, authority, company policies, compensation, coworkers, creativity, independence, moral values, recognition, responsibility, security, social status, social service, supervision human relations, supervision technical, variety, working conditions (thu et al., 2022). job satisfaction can indirectly affect organizational performance and achieving strategic goals and objectives (day et al., 2022). employee thoughts and feelings about their jobs impact a person's physical and mental fitness (pekkan & bicer, 2022). managers need to know the influence of employee attitudes toward their jobs on performance and productivity (pekkan & bicer, 2022). ozgul et al. (2022) declared that to reduce the loss of human capital in businesses, managing employees' affective commitment and increasing their motivation is critical (mastracci, 2013). employees should be offered opportunities for advancement, i.e., pay increases, participation in policymaking, and efforts to improve their organizational engagement, job satisfaction, and performance (luminita et al., 2022). career development is projected to affect job satisfaction (hamdanesti et al., 2022). psychological empowerment may also increase peer job satisfaction (abraham et al., 2022). given that supervisors'' understanding of peers'' roles contributes to job satisfaction, aspects of the peer-supervisor relationship might also play a role in job satisfaction (abraham et al., 2022). benefits obtained from organizational communication are assumed to increase job satisfaction (irawati et al., 2021). very satisfied employees are usually regular, punctual, productive, dedicated, and confident (luminita et al., 2022). bongalonta (2022) argues that employees' value and essential role in a company's success are why most entities intend to invest their finances in human resources. when an organization has a solid human resource department to develop and form job titles, employees identify with their job roles more substantially, experience stress reduction, and are more satisfied with their jobs (barpanda & dwivedi., 2022). 6 quality of work-life and job satisfaction kasraie et al. (2014) conducted a study asking if the quality of work life, job stress, job satisfaction, and citizenship behavior are related to organizational citizenship behavior (ocb). kasraie et al. (2014) believed that the quality of work life was the essential variable among the independent variables since it identified approximately 18% of citizen behavior. kasraie et al. (2014) study concluded a significant relationship between the quality of work life, job stress, job satisfaction, and citizenship behavior. the methodology included pearson correlation, independent t-test, analysis of variance, multiple regression, and path analysis (kasraie et al., 2014). dhamija et al. (2019) conducted a study to explore the association of job satisfaction with the quality of work-life factors of bank employees, followed by the essential influential relationship of these concepts with socio-demographic characteristics in the indian service sector. the study's results show the presence of variance (r2 61.40 %) in job satisfaction as explained by the quality of work-life constructs (dhamija et al., 2019). additionally, some limitations were listed; the study considered only private sector banks, and the sample size (300) is small compared to the entire population working in respective private banks in chandigarh and its adjoining areas (dhamija et al., 2019). jabeen et al. (2018) conducted a study examining the quality of work life (qowl) and its influence on job satisfaction and turnover (job-leaving) intention of emirati women employed in various public sector organizations in the united arab emirates. jabeen et al. (2018) hypothesized that: a) quality of work life positively impacts job satisfaction b) job satisfaction, in turn, reduces turnover intention c) quality of work life directly correlates with turnover intention reduction. jabeen et al. (2018) supported these hypotheses with statistically significant results, advising employers to conduct regular surveys to assess the quality of work life to identify misalignments between employee expectations and organizational environments, job requirements, and managerial behavior. jabeen et al. (2018) suggest extending this study to different work categories and other emirates to understand better the quality of work life's impact on localization. motivation theories as a concept, job satisfaction is linked to motivation theory (al-awar et al., 2022). employee motivation is key to organizational performance and retention (bundtzen, 2020). most researchers and philosophers, including herzberg (1959), agree that motivation can be distinct into intrinsic and extrinsic (osemeke & adegboyega, 2017). muruga and vasiljeva (2021) declare that herzberg's two-factor theory was developed by a psychologist, frederick herzberg, whose interest correlated the relationship between workplace 7 motivations and employee attitude (herzberg, 1966). according to herzberg's theory of motivation applied to the workplace, there are two types of motivating factors: 1) satisfiers (motivators), which are the main drivers of job satisfaction and include achievements, recognition, responsibility, and work advancement, and 2) dissatisfiers (hygiene factors), which are the leading causes of job dissatisfaction, and include factors such as working conditions, salaries, relationships with colleagues, administrative policies, and supervision (al-awar et al., 2022). ozsoy (2019) articulates that hygiene factors do not increase job satisfaction, but the lack of hygiene factors leads to dissatisfaction. consequently, the absence of motivation factors leads to a decrease in job satisfaction, and the presence of motivation factors increases job satisfaction (herzberg et al., 1959; herzberg, 1966, 1971, 2003). motivation is crucial in all firms to enhance employee performance, which is the key to an organization's growth (yousaf, 2019). however, herzberg stated that the most viable way of satisfying individuals in workplaces is to be successful and carry responsibility. according to him, economic factors do not play a significant role in motivation (akdemir, 2020). herzberg's theory does not only study a small area of turnover intention but covers almost all factors that promote or demote the employee's turnover rate (chiat & panatik, 2019). another well-known need-based theory of motivation, as opposed to herzberg's two-factor theory, is mcclelland's needs theory of motivation (osemeke & adegboyega, 2017). maslow proposed that human needs can be organized into a hierarchy (maslow, 1943). maslow's hierarchy of needs theory states that people are motivated by five primary categories of needs: physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization (hopper, 2020). maslow's theory provides a framework for understanding these needs, their impacts on society, and what motivates humans (ryan et al., 2020). psychologists carol ryff and burton singer expanded on maslow's theory of needs when developing their theory of eudaimonic well-being (hopper, 2020). roy baumeister and mark leary also built on maslow's idea of love and belonging when creating their need to belong theory, which focused on belonging as a fundamental need (hopper, 2020). feeling isolated or left out can negatively affect mental and physical health (hopper, 2020). maslow's theory is one of the most powerful perspectives on humans'' potential growth (papaleontiou-louca et al., 2022). according to takyi mensah et al. (2023), maslow's model provides a better understanding of individual employees'' needs and that notwithstanding the ever-present and growing technology, meeting the needs and giving employees training makes the workers more secure, enhances their feeling of belongingness, and self-esteem whiles providing the opportunity for self-actualization. it suggests that people have a strong desire to realize their full potential, reach self-actualization, and find meaning in life (papaleontiou-louca et al., 2022). motivation is the driving force that enhances achievements (ihensekien & joel, 2023). it is a state inside us that demands a change, whether in ourselves or our surroundings (sentana et al., 2023). maslow and herzberg have built the concept of motivation theory with a distinctive definition and characteristics applicable in the modern day-to-day activities in management to find accurate stimulators of the workforce in an organization (dashutina & joshua, 2023). in 8 expectancy‐value theory, motivation is a function of the anticipation of accomplishment and perceived value (dashutina & joshua, 2023). vroom created the expectancy theory in 1964 (egbu & olomolaiye, 2004.; stráníková, 2008; william, 2010) and focused on the process of motivation (mansaray, 2019). three variables encompass vroom's theory: valence, expectancy, and instrumentality (mansaray, 2019). valence measures an individual's desire for specific results and stands for value. it may be positive (desired outcome) or negative (mansaray, 2019). expectancy is the worker's anticipation of a particular effort leading to a specific performance (lloyd & mertens, 2018). instrumentality is the credence that after meeting the anticipated performance, the desired reward will be received (mansaray, 2019). the expectancy theory is based on the postulation that individuals have choices and decide which option they perceive will lead to the best personal outcome (lloyd & mertens, 2018). according to vroom's motivation formula, (motivation = f (valence x expectancy x instrumentality), if one of these three variables is zero, motivation is absent (mansaray, 2019). zboja et al. (2020) explain that the initial motive for creating the expectancy theory was to explain motivation specifically, the voluntary choice made by an individual when options were available. the expectancy theory is geared toward work roles and focuses on choices, satisfaction with functions, and level of performance in the chosen work role (zboja et al., 2020). a vital point of the theory is that an individual's behavior is formed not on objective reality but on their subjective perception of that reality (gwanyo & doosuur, 2022). vroom asserted that the strength or aversion of a desire was based on extrinsic factors (zboja et al., 2020). the theory also draws on thoughts from rational science, which includes human behavior as being controlled by a desire for maximum use of a given behavior (ekundayo, 2018). applying vroom's expectancy theory to generation y and generation z alone can help bridge the gap between generational perceptions and different workplace desires (darby & morrell, 2019). douglas mcgregor developed and presented his version of content motivational theories (x and y) for the first time in 1957 in his article "the human side of enterprise," which he later expanded and published as a book in 1960 (grigorov, 2020). he further examined the shortcomings of the traditional management concept, presenting its characteristics and calling it theory x (grigorov, 2020). participation in decision-making positively alters the participants' attitude toward their jobs because it gives them job control (ngo, 2019). theory x is an autocratic management style where the manager is centralized and makes decisions without considering colleagues' opinions (touma, 2021). in theory x, the centralization of power leads employees to dissatisfaction, as it also forces them to please the manager (touma, 2021). through participation, individuals (subordinates) contribute ideas toward solving problems affecting their organization and jobs (odumegwu, 2019). locke et al. (1986) state that the participatory process improves motivation because it allows the participants to have influence and control over their tasks; as such, they more readily accept dealing with challenging tasks (ngo, 2019). appadorai (2005) argues that participation can create an asset in morale. people respond more cooperatively when necessary, and orders are given because they participate in the organization's affairs (odumegwu, 2019). participatory theorists locke and schweiger (1979) and wentzel (2004) assume that the link between 9 participation in decision-making and its desired outcomes is driven by motivational mechanisms (ngo, 2019). mcgregor (as cited in touma, 2021) suggested that people's beliefs will directly impact their behavior at work. mcgregor's theory focuses on the effectiveness of the 'hard and soft approach' and the carrot-and-stick approach, arguing that once a person reaches an adequate subsistence level, motivation comes primarily from higher needs (grigorov, 2020). marta et al. (2020) state that job enrichment makes work more interesting, challenging, and likely to satisfy employees. logistics industry due to globalization, logistics has become an essential part of the supply chain (ramanathan et al., 2014). the logistics industry is a derivative industry generated by the outsourcing of services in the process of the breakdown and specialization of the manufacturing industry (he et al., 2020). logistics involves managing the circulation of goods throughout the industry and, therefore, has a considerable ripple effect on other businesses (lee & seo, 2017). fierce competition forces logistics companies to assess their performance with a comprehensive measurement model to become more competitive (kucukaltan et al., 2016). logistics is pivotal in social production (yao et al., 2022). the pandemic has put heavy pressure on global production capacity and supply chains, opening new avenues for the logistics industry to develop (cuong & tien, 2022). logistics has also become an important component of competitiveness and innovation, significantly contributing to gdp, general incomes, and countries'' competitiveness (cherchata et al., 2022). the freight logistics industry is transforming into a decentralized and digitized freight logistics system (orji et al., 2020). many freight logistics service providers have realized the importance of adopting technologies to help manufacturers, warehouses, and retailers communicate more efficiently (ramanathan et al., 2014). the digitized freight logistics system builds on complex, interrelated hardware systems and requires novel technologies that support the exchange of financial transactions and related data (orji et al., 2020). according to the report released by the china federation of logistics and purchasing (cflp), the total value of social logistics in china from january to february 2020 is rmb 33.3 trillion, down by 11.8% compared with the same period last year (liu et al., 2020). these percentages result from the covid-19 pandemic. specifically, cflp 2020a states that road freight volume decreased by 24.8%, waterway freight volume decreased by 14.8%, air freight volume decreased by 13.8%, and inversely, railway freight volume decreased increased by 1.4% (liu et al., 2020). a shortage of skillful logistics staff has become a common problem for companies globally (zivkovic et al., 2021). employees in the logistics sector and other companies in the food supply chain that regularly work on logistics processes and activities have once again become the most valuable resource of the supply chain (zivkovic et al., 2021). the logistics industry is a crucial component of the producer service industries among tertiary industries (gao et al., 2018). therefore, companies consider employees' satisfaction and attitude toward work (zivkovic et al., 2021). methodology 10 the purpose of this quantitative correlation study was to examine the relationship between workrelated quality of life and employees' job satisfaction in the logistics field. the research focused on logistics employees'' job satisfaction and work-related quality of life. the logistic employees work in organizations such as warehouses, hospitals, farms, and transportation companies and are members of a logistics social media group. the information gathered from this study may benefit leaders in the logistics field by providing information on the relationship between their employee's work-related quality of life and job satisfaction. this information may help these leaders develop processes to increase job satisfaction and measures to improve their logistics employees' work-related quality of life. the research questions and hypothesis that drive this study are as follows: rq1 – what is the relationship between work-related quality of life and job satisfaction of logistics workers? h10 – there is no statistically significant relationship between work-related quality of life and job satisfaction of logistics workers. h1a – there is a statistically significant relationship between work-related quality of life and job satisfaction of logistics workers. the independent variable is work-related quality of life, and the dependent variable is job satisfaction. a quantitative research methodology with a correlation research design was used for this study. the rationale for choosing a quantitative approach is that it allows the researcher to assign specific and quantitative values when assessing the relationship between variables (dobrynin et al., 2018). appropriately applied and done well, quantitative methods can help bolster research inquiry with measurable and distinct evidence for the effects of interventions and other correlational questions (henson et al., 2020). additionally, the quantitative approach simplifies processing a large amount of data and allows a more straightforward comparison (basias & pollalis, 2018). the pearson correlation method is used for continuous and discrete data suitable for parametric statistics (iswatiningsih et al., 2018). it measures a monotonic association between two variables (schober et al., 2018), making it the most appropriate research tool for this study. this method is the first formal correlation measure that provides the degree of correlation between two quantities (ciric et al., 2022). the correlation coefficient also determines the degree of a linear relationship between two continuous variables, showing how close the point value data distribution is to a straight line (munandar et al., 2020). this study focused on the strength of the relationship between two variables but did not make any predictions or claims about the causality of the relationship. a regression is used to predict the value of one variable about the other. since no prediction was used in this study, the regression was inappropriate. the research study population consisted of logistics employees, and the sample was members of a logistics social media group. only participants working in the logistics industry at the time of the study were eligible to participate. g* power was used to determine the sample size. figure 1 shows the output from g*power a priori calculation. to detect a pearson's correlation 11 coefficient of r = 0.3 with 80% power (alpha = .05, two-tailed), g*power suggests 84 participants are required to avoid committing a type ii error. figure 1 a priori g* power calculation note. test conducted before the study. the study participants are members of a nonprofit international society (sole). the members of the group are employees in the logistics field representing various organizations. after receiving institutional review board (irb) approval from columbia southern university, participants were sent a link to the survey housed in survey monkey. the first page of the survey was an informed consent document that detailed the purpose of the study, duration, and procedures. participants agreed to the terms of the informed consent by electronically signing the document before they were allowed to proceed with the survey. if participants did not sign the informed consent, they could not proceed to the survey questions. participants were recruited by posting a link to the survey on a logistics social media group site. the administrator gave the researcher permission to post the link. the participants accessed the survey via the link, which directed them to the survey monkey site housing the survey. the participants were assured anonymity as no identifying information was collected from the participants. the survey was open for two weeks beginning in november 2022, and the minimum number of 84 participants completing the survey was exceeded by the end of the two weeks. after week one, the researcher reposted the link and checked every day for potential participants. the 12 researcher would have extended the survey for an additional week if the minimum participant number had not been reached. additional logistics social media groups would have been considered if the minimum number was not achieved after the extensions. all data collected will be kept for three years after completing the study. instrumentation the paul spector job satisfaction survey (jss) and the quality of working life (qowl) survey and demographic and qualifying questions were used to address the research question. the job satisfaction survey (jss) was developed by paul spector (1985) to assess employee attitudes about work and work aspects (mustafa et al., 2019). the job satisfaction survey is a multidimensional tool that includes 36 survey questions that address job satisfaction across several dimensions, including pay, promotion, supervision, benefits, contingent rewards, operating procedures, coworkers, nature of work, and communication (platania et al., 2021; spector, 1997). the internal consistency of the jss survey has a cronbach alpha of α= 0.92, suggesting that it is an instrument with high reliability (osmani, 2020). the work-related quality of life scale (qowl) is a 24-item instrument used in assessing the following six dimensions of qowl: (1) job and career satisfaction (satisfaction of one's career); (2) general well-being (happiness and life satisfaction); (3) homework interface (accommodating family and work commitments); (4) stress at work (work/job demands); (5) control at work (control of decision-making in a workplace); and (6) working conditions (physical work environment). additionally, one item assesses the respondent's overall perceptions of their qowl, and the wr-qols uses a 5-point rating scale, ranging from 1strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree (casida et al., 2019). the coworkers scale on the wrqol survey has the lowest alpha value at .60. in contrast, supervision has the highest value of .82. the total reliability for all facets is .91. according to heale and twycross (2015), an acceptable reliability score is 0.7 or higher. the work-related quality of life scale is a 24-item psychometric scale used to gauge employees' perceived quality of life as measured through six psychosocial sub-factors (easton & van laar, 2018). the reliability of the questionnaire was approved by the test-retest method and cronbach's alpha of 0.85 and 0.89, respectively (charati et al., 2021). according to the results for reliability, the total score using cronbach's alpha coefficient had been reported as 0.921 (farhadi et al., 2021). duyan et al. (2013) conducted validity and reliability of the wrqol scale in the turkish language and confirmed its 6-subscale and 21-item structure. data analysis and results a quantitative correlational study was conducted to determine if a relationship exists between job satisfaction and work-related quality of life of members of a logistics social media group. the administrator of sole logistics, a social media group dedicated to people working in the logistics field, distributed the survey housed in survey monkey. each participant was assured anonymity, agreed to informed consent, and self-identified as working in the logistics field. the 13 survey was open for two weeks and had 92 participants. while analyzing the data, two extreme outliers were determined and removed from the dataset, recalculating the total number of participants to 90. survey monkey provided a downloadable file of the data collected, which was scrubbed for missing data and reverse-coded according to paul spector's job satisfaction survey instructions. responses to the work-related quality of life survey were also calculated using the measurement scale provided. the descriptive and inferential data were compiled and analyzed through r commander. eighty-six percent of participants were over age 35. forty-six percent of the participants were male, while 53% were females. thirty-four percent of the participants had a bachelor's degree, while 24% had earned a master's degree or higher. eighty percent of participants self-identified as black/african american, while 17% were white/caucasian. a summary of the descriptive statistical analysis is presented in table 1. table 1 demographic statistics note. reflects the number and percentage of participants who completed the survey. category n % gender female 48 53 male 41 46 other 1 1 age 18-24 6 6 25-34 7 7 35-44 23 26 45-54 31 34 over 55 23 26 ethnicity white/caucasian 15 17 hispanic/latino 1 1 african american 72 80 other 2 2 education less than high school 1 1 high school 27 30 bachelor's degree 31 34 master's degree 19 21 doctorate 2 2 other 10 11 14 a post hoc analysis was conducted after the completion of the study to determine the statistical power analysis of the study. figure 2 illustrates that 90 participants completed the study, and the g*power calculation resulted in 0.8273212 power, which is higher than the .80 power predicted. the post hoc g*power results are shown in figure 2. figure 2 post hoc g*power calculation note. test conducted after study. the reliability of the data collected was calculated using cronbach's alpha coefficient in rcommander. the alpha reliability for the job satisfaction survey and the quality of the worklife survey are illustrated in table 2. these results indicate that each participant answered the survey questions about the same. table 2 reliability of survey instruments alpha reliability standard reliability job satisfaction 0.9315 0.9314 quality of work life 0.8792 0.8962 note.cronbach's alpha of survey questions. 15 the skewness of job satisfaction was found to be -0.018, indicating highly skewed data. the kurtosis of job satisfaction was found to be -0.319, indicating that data was below the peak of the skewness curve. the skewness of work quality of life was -0.006, indicating highly skewed data. the kurtosis of job satisfaction was found to be -0.202, indicating that data was also below the peak. both data sets skewed slightly to the left of the normal curve. a statistics summary of job satisfaction and work-related quality of life is illustrated in table 3. table 3 summary statistics of job satisfaction and work-related quality of life variables mean std. deviation variance skewness kurtosis n job sat 4.162346 0.8087822 -0.01819823 0.3197668 90 wrqol 86.54444 11.37429 0.006171095 -0.2024379 90 note. test conducted by variables. outliers are sampling errors, questionnaire-related issues, or erroneous data entries (mowbray et al., 2018). the outliers found when initially running the data were removed. no significant outliers were present in the data once the erroneous data was removed. the histograms for the respective variables are shown in figures 3 and 4. figure 3 histogram using job satisfaction variable note. it was depicted by the job satisfaction variable. jobsat fr e q u e n c y 2 3 4 5 6 0 5 1 0 1 5 2 0 2 5 16 figure 4 histogram using work-related quality of life (wrqol) variable note. they are depicted by the wrqol variable. each variable illustrates the boxplots depicted in figures 5 and 6 and has no outliers. figure 5 boxplot using job satisfaction variable note. the boxplot identifies no outliers. wrqol fr e q u e n c y 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 0 5 1 0 1 5 2 0 2 5 3 0 2 .5 3 .0 3 .5 4 .0 4 .5 5 .0 5 .5 6 .0 jo b s a t 17 figure 6 boxplot using work-related quality of life variable. note. the boxplot identifies no outliers. a quantile-quantile plot (qq plot) is a graphical technique for determining if two data sets come from populations with a standard distribution (dansana et al., 2020). a q-q plot is a scatter plot created by plotting the theoretical and empirical quantiles (zuzani et al., 2019). the qq plots in figures 7 and 8 show a cluster around the straight line. the data is normally distributed, and all assumptions are met. the job satisfaction variable is forecasting outliers 41 and 87. these outliers are depicted in the grayed-out area along the reference line, which indicates normally distributed data. there are also two outliers in the wrqol variable, 50 and 54. these outliers are depicted in the grayed-out area along the reference line, which indicates normally distributed data. outliers located away from the reference line and inconsistent from other data clusters indicate that data is not normally distributed. 6 0 7 0 8 0 9 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 w r q o l 18 figure 7 quantile-quantile-plot using job satisfaction variable note. the q-q plot identifies two outliers, 41 and 87, but the data is still normally distributed. figure 8 q-q plot using work-related quality of life variable note. the q-q plot identifies two outliers, 50 and 54, but the data is normally distributed. a scatter plot is one of the earliest and most widely used data visualizations (li, 2020). as shown in figure 9, the scatter plot shows a positive linear relationship between variables. subsequently, it demonstrates the correlation between job satisfaction and work-related quality of life. -2 -1 0 1 2 2 .5 3 .0 3 .5 4 .0 4 .5 5 .0 5 .5 6 .0 norm quantiles jo b s a t 41 87 -2 -1 0 1 2 6 0 7 0 8 0 9 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 norm quantiles w r q o l 50 54 19 figure 9 scatterplot using job satisfaction and work-related quality of life variables note. the scatterplot indicates a linear relationship between the two variables. the anderson darling (ad) test was used to assess deviations from normality in the study. the test result on the job satisfaction and the work-related quality of life variable was insignificant. table 4 illustrates the anderson-darling test by each variable with p-values. table 4 anderson darling normality test study variables anderson darling a p-value job satisfaction .39931 .3572 wrqol .22565 .8141 note. the p-value indicates normally distributed data. a pearson correlation coefficient was computed to determine if there was a significant relationship between job satisfaction and work-related quality of life. both variables were considered normally distributed. illustrated in table 5 is a positive correlation between job satisfaction and work-related quality of life of logistics employees. 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6 0 7 0 8 0 9 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 jobsat w r q o l 20 table 5 correlation of variables job satisfaction wrqol job satisfaction sig. (2-tailed) 1.0 .61 wrqol pearson correlation sig. (2-tailed) .61 1.0 note. **correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). b. listwise n= 90 results a relationship between job satisfaction and work-related quality of life was assessed. both variables were considered normally distributed. the pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (r) was the test statistic. the result of the test was significant, r (90) = .61% ci (0.4558578, 0.7222489), p <2.521e10. the pearson r of .61 indicates a moderate positive relationship. using the data collection instruments jss and qowl, this study revealed a significant relationship between workplace quality of life and job satisfaction of logistics workers. the post hoc query revealed enough participants to minimize type ii errors. the data collected was normally distributed and was statistically significant. the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between workplace quality of life and job satisfaction of logistics workers was rejected. summary of findings and implications the research from this study highlights employees' motivations and retention measures while advancing the knowledge gap between job satisfaction and work-related quality of life. given the significant investments in employee retention efforts within organizations, it is rational to identify, analyze, and critique the motivation theories underlying employee retention in organizations (ramlall, 2004). this research was conducted because there was a lack of literature on job satisfaction and workrelated quality of life of employees in the logistics industry. the results of this study showed a significant relationship between work-related quality of life and job satisfaction among logistics workers. the data collected was normally distributed and statistically significant; hence, the null hypothesis was rejected. the knowledge obtained from this study will contribute to the limited literature available to help executive decision-makers develop and implement job satisfaction and employee retention measures. the results of this study, which identified a correlation between job satisfaction and work-related quality of life, support maslow's hierarchy of needs and hofstede's cultural dimensions theory. maslow's hierarchy of needs is consistent with favorable quality of life and positive 21 improvements, while hofstede's cultural dimensions focus on work goals and job satisfaction. maslow's model states that people are motivated by five needs categories: physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. maslow's theory focuses on what factors motivate people and in what order. this study ties back to maslow's hierarchy of needs by focusing on what motivates logistics workers. if employees'' needs are not met, they may become unproductive and unmotivated. hofstede's model is used to understand language barriers across cultures and is divided into power distance versus closeness, uncertainty avoidance versus acceptance, individualism versus collectivism, and masculinity versus femininity. this theory is appropriate because it affects behaviors that may ultimately affect productivity. this theory is relevant because it looks at people's individual differences when determining how to best motivate them as a group. by encouraging logistics managers to provide spaces where all cultures are welcome, communication is not a barrier, and employees are treated as though they belong, the workplace quality of life and employee job satisfaction may be improved. both theoretical foundations have been proven to be fundamental to the results of this study. this study adds additional knowledge to the limited research on work-related quality of life and job satisfaction of employees within the logistics field. knowledge sharing is one of the most fundamental activities in organizational operations (ahmad & karim, 2019). individuals with different levels of education and logistic positions provided vital information to the study. ali and anwar (2021) stated that various intrinsic rewards are available that increase employee satisfaction and overall job-related productivity. acquiring data helpful in improving the quality of work life and the overall organization's productiveness is vital. logistic employees have provided a cumulation of answers that can increase organizational commitment and employee retention while disclosing what motivates employees. according to ali and anwar (2021), behavior that helps any firm succeed is most likely to happen when the employees are well-motivated and feel committed to the organization and when the job gives them high satisfaction (paais & pattiruhu, 2020). organizations should design programs that factor in or add to the motivational needs of their employees. these programs could include asking how employees feel about their quality of work-life through surveys, one-on-one counseling sessions, or other communication settings. adjusting resources that affect and improve job satisfaction is necessary. it is important to acknowledge that this research specifically focused on the relationship between work-related quality of life and job satisfaction in logistics. the study's weakness is that it concentrated only on employees currently working in the logistics field, which may limit its generalizability to other industries. future researchers could expand on this research by completing a qualitative or mixed methods study to conduct a more in-depth analysis of individuals' feelings. according to the results of this study, there is a significant relationship between job satisfaction and work-related quality of life in logistics. while this study sheds light on job satisfaction and work-related quality of life, other variables, such as working conditions and stress at work, could 22 be used to gather different perspectives about employees' expectations of job satisfaction. future researchers should consider additional variables such as tenure, age groups, job titles, etc., to understand how these factors affect employees' job satisfaction and work-related quality of life. an area for improvement is the study's sample, as it was limited to participants who were members of a logistics social media group with over 1,000 active members. future researchers could expand the data collection methods beyond these parameters for a more significant and diverse sample size. another recommendation would be to conduct research using a different industry, searching for similarities among business industries. for example, future studies could examine work quality of life and job satisfaction in the finance or human resources industries. future researchers should consider using a qualitative or mixed methods approach to expand this research. they could gain more in-depth perspectives about the participants by conducting interviews and observations. researchers could interview logistics employees on their views on training, tools, and processes that might improve their job satisfaction and work quality of life. surveying people who have previously worked in the logistics field may give different views of battletested logistics workers to explain why they left the field. concluding remarks this quantitative correlation study examined the relationship between work-related quality of life and job satisfaction of employees who work in the logistics industry. this study demonstrated a relationship between job satisfaction and work-related quality of life. this research has contributed to the knowledge of job satisfaction and work-related quality of life within the logistics industry. this research is significant to the field of study because creating an effective work environment with employees, identifying their motivation, and focusing on employee retention efforts may be critical to any organization's success. knowing what frustrates employees and what promotes productivity is important as the logistics industries expand. the results of this study can assist decision-makers in identifying the relationship between employee motivation and workplace quality of life; future research should focus on strategies to identify the causes and improve employee retention. davidescu et al. 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(2019). examining trends of hydro-meteorological extremes in the shire river basin in malawi. physics and chemistry of the earth, parts a/b/c, 112, 91-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2019.02.007 https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-023-00042-1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s44217-023-00042-1 about:blank about:blank about:blank about:blank about:blank about:blank https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-020-03763-w about:blank about:blank about:blank about:blank https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2019.02.007 i best practices for aligning projects with corporate strategic objectives in the financial technology industry raymond e. mayes, dba | capella university, minneapolis, mn, usa janice tucker, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, al usa contact: rmayes2716@gmail.com abstract project managers and corporate executives often misalign projects with strategic business objectives, causing project challenges and leading to project failures. this qualitative inquiry study aimed to explore the perspectives of project managers and senior executives in the u.s. financial technology (fintech) industry regarding best practices for aligning projects with a company's strategic business objectives. four senior corporate fintech managers and four fintech project managers who worked in the mergers and acquisitions and venture capital segments and had at least three years of experience in the fintech industry were interviewed for this study. four themes emerged from the thematic analysis and inductive coding process. theme 1, alignment process models are methodologies of tools, techniques, and approaches for aligning projects with strategic objectives. theme 2, knowledge sharing, is used for communicating organizational information regarding strategic objectives. theme 3, alignment competencies, are the skills used to align the project with the organization's strategic objectives. theme 4, project manager's awareness, is the project manager's consciousness of an organization's strategic objectives and attentiveness to those objectives. the four themes could be used to help improve fintech senior corporate managers' and project managers' practice of aligning projects with a company's strategic business objectives. these themes might assist in reducing the probability of project misalignment while effectively aligning projects with strategic objectives. keywords: project alignment, project managers, financial technology, fintech, business strategy, strategic project planning mailto:rmayes2716@gmail.com 1 introduction according to a 2021 project management institute (pmi) survey of more than 500 corporate executives, nearly 39% of critical strategic projects did not realize the intended benefits of the projects (langley, 2021). edinger (2018) reported that executives claim that about 90% of projects fail because of budget overruns, data integrity issues, and technology limitations. similarly, andriole (2021) uncovered that nearly 90% of projects did not produce a return on investment, attributing this failure to executives' lack of supporting technology projects and the enterprise's culture. khan (2018) also found that information technology (i.t.) projects have failed more than 70% of the time since the beginning of the 21st century. in addition, over 40% of projects underperform because of misalignment with a company's strategic intentions (pulse of the profession, 2018). kashyap (2023) further revealed that project managers and teams implementing projects were often unaware of what needed to be achieved, thus hindering the successful implementation of strategic projects. the primary focus of this study was to explore the perspectives of project managers and senior executives regarding aligning projects with a company's strategic business intent for reducing project failure and minimizing capital losses in financial technology (fintech) companies in the united states. the objective of this qualitative inquiry study was to gather project managers' and senior executives' perspectives on strategic project alignment best practices to reduce project failures and minimize capital losses for u.s. fintech companies. as a result, the project deliverables recommend best practices to reduce project failures and minimize capital losses for u.s. fintech companies. background of the study project management is a process that contains tools for ensuring efficiency and enabling the implementation of a company's strategy. strategic project alignment is how project managers arrange, and position projects conducive to the enterprise's strategic goals. project management involves selecting, aligning, and prioritizing projects that achieve strategic efficacy. frefer et al. (2018) noted that being mindful of the project's critical success factors outlined in a company's strategic plan could prevent project failure. a misalignment problem occurs when a project fails to achieve the company's strategic intentions for that project. senior executives and project managers are drivers for aligning projects with a company's strategy. however, a gap in aligning projects arises when project managers are unaware of a company's strategic business objectives (pulse of the profession, 2018). business problem this qualitative inquiry study focused on project managers in the u.s. fintech industry. while no specific geographic regions were targeted, project managers in the fintech industry are often located in large metropolitan areas such as atlanta, boston, and washington, dc (reynolds, 2 2020). the general business problem is that project managers and senior executives misalign projects with the company's strategic objectives, causing a high failure rate and loss of profitability (jafarzadeh et al., 2018). a strategic project alignment practice enables project benefit realization according to a company's strategic business goals (iqbal et al., 2020). the misalignment of projects with the strategic business objectives causes nearly 43% of project challenges, leading to approximately 20% of project failures (al-dubai & alaghbari, 2018). niemi and pekkola (2020) explained that budget and schedule overruns and failure to attain goals often occur in organizations that lack a clear vision of business functions, processes, and technical platforms. as a result, project misalignment with strategic business objectives can cause companies to fail to deliver the envisioned project's benefits. the specific business problem is that project misalignment in the financial services industry wastes 9.7% of project capital (pulse of the profession, 2017; welch et al., 2019). the results of misaligned projects are unrealized intended benefits and lead to a loss of productivity and capital (ateş et al., 2020). project managers who lack alignment practice often improperly align projects to implement the company's strategic objectives. in addition, this misalignment causes delays and cost overruns, and failure dulls the competitive edge and tarnishes the corporate brand. arkhipova and afonasova (2018) stated that a strategic project allows an organization to compete in specific future markets, and project failure impedes competitive advantage. nguyen et al. (2020) asserted that the lack of project supervision fosters poor labor productivity, influencing projects' quality, duration, and cost. globally, in 2017, the financial service industry experienced $97 million wasted for every $1 billion spent, and $78 million of those losses occurred in the i.t. industry (pulse of the profession, 2017). there were capital losses on poor-performing projects because organizations failed to bridge the gap between strategy and project delivery, and executives did not recognize that strategy was achieved through projects (pulse of the profession, 2018). according to arefjevs et al. (2020), successful strategic project alignment hinges on data, data analytics, and comprehending data at the strategic level. successful project alignment is the catalyst for future developments in the fintech industry; hence, strategic project alignment practices must be identified to reduce project failure and capital losses. the future trends in the fintech industry have significantly expanded through digitalization, which suggests the necessity of project managers to adhere to project management principles to produce project success (alvarenga et al., 2020; wewege et al., 2020). mamédio and meyer (2020) demonstrated that managing complex projects is about the challenges of handling misalignment, among other things, which are critical for project success or failure. harvey (2018) espoused that project managers should be aware of the deliverables and the reason for the project. the project finding may benefit enterprises in reducing capital losses and failed projects in the fintech industry. literature review 3 project failure and success are somewhat arbitrary when determining if the realized benefits from a project meet the company's strategic plan (pmi, 2021). therefore, this study is central to understanding the perspectives of project managers and senior executives in the u.s. fintech industry regarding best practices for aligning projects with a company's strategic business objectives. the phenomena addressed in this project relate to the benefits and successes when project managers align projects according to the corporate strategic objectives. stanleigh (2012) reported that in a 2004 price waterhouse cooper survey of 10,640 projects over 30 different countries, only 2.5% reached total project success. also, stanleigh indicated that nearly 70% of global companies did not have a project prioritization technique and could not link projects to strategy. calleam consulting ltd. (2014) uncovered a significant cause for project misalignment with strategy: the lack of understanding of the project's goal. the evidence suggested that the lack of a framework for strategic alignment practices impedes a company from attaining intended strategic benefits. applied framework the applied framework offers literary aid to explain a research study's background on strategic alignment. a framework gives a broad picture of the connections between significant study group categories. frequently, the current topic can be understood within a conceptual framework from earlier studies on alignment process models and alignment competencies. for qualitative inquiries, applied frameworks can be used to explain how phenomena are interpreted, aligning projects with strategic objectives. the strategic alignment model (sam) developed by henderson and venkataraman (1993) was the basis of the framework used in this study. the sam framework was developed for technology management and is the process of aligning activities, projects, and objectives with a company's mission, vision, and strategy. for this study, the sam framework has been adapted to focus on the alignment of processes and competencies as they pertain to project management in the financial technology industry. figure 1 exhibits the overarching framework for this strategic alignment project in fintech project management. this intersection of frameworks may suggest a practice for project managers to align projects with a company's strategic objectives. 4 figure 1. framework for strategic project alignment overview note. this model has been adapted from henderson and venkatrama's (1993) sams model. the fintech project alignment processes were the focus of the problem, with gaps between the alignment process model and alignment competencies within the strategic project alignment framework. although gaps are present in the framework, the gap between strategic objectives and project alignment practice was the aim of this study. previous literature shed light on processes and models for aligning projects with strategic objectives. hamdan and jaafar (2014) examined eight strategic project alignment models and found a common flaw: the gap between qualitative strategic issues and quantitative financial considerations. hamdan and jaafar noted that failure occurs when there is an absence of quantifying qualitative strategic matters. hamdan and jaafar posited the business strategy portfolio alignment model for quantifying qualitative strategic issues. this model is vital for an alignment framework because it explains why a strategic objective is needed. the framework assists in providing the reason a project is important, and this support aligns projects with strategic objectives. ansari et al., 2015, developed a framework for aligning projects with the company's strategic objectives, which includes the business strategy, intermediate process (strategic and project levels), and the elements of strategic project management. the framework shows that project management's early involvement in developing and implementing strategies is critical when aligning projects with corporate strategic objectives (ansari et al., 2015). baptestone and rabechini (2018) assessed the influence of project governance in decision-making for selecting a project in the company's best interest. baptestone and rabechini revealed that the project governance vision is migrating from project control techniques to a process that focuses on aligning with the organization's strategic management. baptestone and rabechini demonstrated that it was possible to construct a model showing the correlation between project governance and decision-making. baptestone and rabechini concluded that project governance influences decision-making. 5 jafarzadeh et al. (2018) explained that decision-makers determine which projects are given priority for receiving critical resources of time, capital, equipment, and personnel to ensure the organization's competitiveness, productivity, and profitability. jafarzadeh et al. reported previous literature developing models for project selection and alignment methodologies ranging from simple scoring to complex modeling. however, previous literature neglected to consider project interdependencies, ambiguity in decision-making, and selection criteria for prioritizing projects. jafarzadeh et al. suggested an integrated method that uses fuzzy logic, quality function development, and data envelopment analysis to prioritize selection criteria. strategic alignment orlandi et al. (2020) analyzed five models for strategic alignment of projects offered by archer and ghasemzadeh (1999), rabechini (2005), kerzner (2006), pmi (2008), and "pro-value" carvalho and rabechini (2007, 2011). orlandi et al. noted in a study conducted by pmsurvey that 49% of organizations' projects were not aligned with strategy. also, 8% stated no alignment because the company did not communicate strategic objectives, and 7% reported no alignment because strategic planning did not exist. furthermore, orlandi et al. uncovered that 11% of the organizations reported not using either of the models presented in their research; 20% used the pmi model, and 67% used the kerzner model. finally, among the responding participants, 88% reported being unaware of which model the organization uses. orlandi et al. demonstrated that most organizations do not use any model that aligns project management with organizational strategy. strategy execution aligns projects with organizational strategy (srivastava & sushil, 2017). the factors examined were business units, resource allocation, corporate governance, operational process and structure, best practices, and community coordination. from studying these factors, srivastava and sushil formulated a total interpretive structural modeling (tism) alignment model. srivastava and sushil's assessment was limited to comprehending the linkage among alignment factors. however, leadership, managing people, and change must be investigated as critical alignment factors (srivastava & sushil, 2017). korhonen et al. (2023) investigated the connection between project performance targets and organizational success. korhonen et al. (2023) research demonstrated the interconnections, supremacy, and use of certain project performance processes in defining whether a project is successful. korhonen et al. (2023) framework is useful because it sheds insight on how performance measurement can help attain success in project-based operations. srivastava and sushil (2017) and korhonen et al. (2023) emphasized that effective project alignment is the basis for effective strategy execution. srivastava and sushil investigated the seven factors of alignment that facilitated execution strategy and how these factors are linked. young et al. (2020) found a vision, change, sponsor, kpi, and monitor as project governance factors that impact project success and are useful at various stages of the project lifecycle. lecher et al. (2022) observed how businesses manage their organizational strategies' complexity by considering their projects' viability. young et al. (2020) and lecher et al. (2022) developed 6 alignment process models for assessing when projects need adjusting and evaluating the probability of sustaining strategic objectives. benefits management zwikael and smyrk (2012) asserted that the benefit manifested from projects could be defined as the emerging value that arises from a project. laursen and svejvig (2016) claimed that project benefits can be measured in financial terms (cost savings, increased revenue) as well as nonfinancial terms (stakeholder satisfaction), suggesting that organizations establish processes and governance structures that strive to deliver planned benefits. benefits management is a discipline of project governance that safeguards the corporate strategic goals of a project that are interpreted into planned benefits (svejvig & schlichter, 2020). svejvig and schlichter (2020) constructed a tri-layer (instrumental, practice, and reflective) integrative management model. the model adds to the benefits management body of knowledge by demonstrating the need for integrative thinking concerning project governance. brito and medeiros (2021) conducted a literature review to comprehend the context of strategic alignment in project-based organizations. brito and medeiros discovered a mutual influence between project governance and strategic alignment. also, brito and medeiros (2021) uncovered four emerging themes, with project management and organizational strategy in project-based business as the dominant theme. waseem et al. (2022) established that organizational support and project team cohesion bridge the gap between project governance and brito and medeiros (2021) and waseem et al. (2022) explained that an organization's challenge is developing a method of converting business strategy into project strategies and realizing project objectives. the findings revealed that strategic alignment aids an organization in selecting and prioritizing projects, while project management assists an organization in accomplishing strategy (brito & medeiros, 2021; waseem et al., 2022). the project manager's unawareness of strategic objectives causes project misalignment. shenhar and holzmann (2017) observed successful megaprojects to uncover three common elements of success: strategic vision, total alignment, and the ability to adapt to complexity. shenhar and holzmann stated that a company with a strategic vision needs leaders who understand the necessity of vision and strategy and must align projects according to the network of project stakeholders and sponsors. chi et al. (2022) have corroborated shenhar and holzmann's (2017) findings that shared vision can improve value co-creation. it is recommended by shenhar and holzmann (2017) and wan et al. (2023) that leadership promotes value co-creation through strategic awareness by articulating the vision and strategy uncomplicatedly, which is crucial to organization strategy and performance. the common problems when project managers misalign their projects with a company's strategic plans are unrealized project benefits, loss of capital and profitability, productivity, and reduced competitive edge (frefer et al., 2018). the findings from this study will aid project managers and senior executives in realizing the benefits when the company's strategic plans are aligned. a gap in practice is that the benefits of aligning project management goals with the company's strategic 7 objectives are often not considered in the project management process (raad et al., 2020). by apprising this gap in practice, project managers and senior executives will be more equipped to align projects strategically. thus, project benefit realization occurs, increasing productivity, mitigating investment loss, and sharpening a company's competitive edge. summary of literature as presented in the literature review, there is scholarly and practitioner literature describing project management and strategic alignment; there is a shortage of literature focusing on project managers' influence on strategic project alignment. therefore, this study explored project managers' perspectives on strategic project alignment. the literature summary identified practical project management competencies needed for strategic alignment project alignment. the literature shared historical and existing trends emphasizing strategic project alignment as a component of project governance that ensures the alignment of projects with a company's strategy (pmi, 2017). project management institute (2017) acknowledged that without an alignment framework, there is a high risk that projects would not adhere to the strategy and would add little or no value. frefer et al. (2018) explained that project failure was commonly attributed to the unawareness of the project's critical success factors as detailed in a company's strategic plan. frefer et al. demonstrated the need for an applied framework to align projects with the organization's strategies. ultimately, what is at stake here is that critical success factors will not align with the company's strategic intentions. welch et al. (2019) stated that project managers' lack of the skills to align projects with the corporate strategic objectives caused project misalignment, resulting in wasted capital, budget overrun, time delays, and loss of productivity. motlagh et al. (2018) asserted the necessity of improving project managers' practice of aligning projects with a company's strategic objectives. the results of welch et al. support motlagh et al. that project managers need to improve strategic alignment practices. demonstrating project managers' skill deficits in aligning projects confirms a need for a framework for aligning projects with an organization's strategic objectives. the literature data shows the value of having or not having a strategic alignment framework to align projects with organizational strategic objectives. this literature review suggests a need to extend the research on project managers aligning projects with a company's strategic plan. methodology the target population was senior corporate fintech managers and project managers from the mergers and acquisitions market segments and venture capital, senior executives, and project managers from the fintech industry market segments. the market segmentation selections were based on the market line industry 2021 profile's two most significant reported segments. user interviews inc., a fee-based participant recruiting company, was used to recruit participants. a qualitative inquiry must establish inclusion criteria for recruiting participants to be interviewed as part of the study population (meline, 2006). participants for this study needed to have 8 experience with fintech projects as senior executives or project managers to qualify. participants were classified as project managers if they maintained certification by a recognized project management accreditation body. participants classified as project managers must also have served in the financial industry for at least three years. a senior corporate executive was classified as someone responsible for supporting corporate officials in executing critical enterprise decisions and identifying opportunities to expand business scopes. participants classified as senior executives served as vice presidents in the financial industry for at least three years. project study protocol the qualitative study explored project managers and senior executives in the fintech industry's perceptions of strategic alignment practices. this project was steered by one project question. p.q.: what are project managers' and senior executives' perspectives regarding best practices for aligning projects with a company's strategic business objectives? user interviews, a third-party participant recruitment company, was given the inclusion criteria to identify and quality participants. the participants needed to have at least three years of recent experience with fintech projects as senior executives or project managers; project managers needed to have a project management certification from an accrediting body such as the project management professional (pmp) certification, and senior executives needed to be serving in a vice president or higher position and oversee department operations. once the participants were qualified, a zoom meeting was scheduled to conduct the semi-structured interviews. open-ended questions were used to create analytical agility and prevent bias. a thematic analysis obtained an expansive interpretation of answers, which allowed a data review to uncover and explore patterns and themes. the thematic analysis was based on the project question that enabled data to be categorized by observing contrasts and similarities. multiple secondary data sources were used to triangulate the data. these sources included peerreviewed articles, practitioner articles, industry reports, and online sources on project alignment by corporate strategic planned objectives. the secondary sources included articles published within the last five years and were used to support and enhance the validity and credibility of the interview findings. the eight interview questions, developed from gaps in the literature and based on concepts from the applied framework, were used to collect the perspectives of project managers and senior executives in the u.s. fintech industry regarding best practices for aligning projects with a company's strategic business objectives. the project question was used to determine the perspectives of project managers and senior executives in the u.s. fintech industry regarding best practices for aligning projects with a company's strategic business objectives. the project manager is the person the performing organization assigns to guide a team responsible for accomplishing intended project objectives. a senior corporate executive is responsible for 9 supporting corporate officials in executing critical enterprise decisions and identifying opportunities to expand business scopes. interview questions 1. can you please tell me about a time in your personal work experience when projects were aligned with your company's strategic objectives? 2. can you please tell me about a time in your personal work experience when projects were misaligned with your company's strategic objectives? 3. please outline your company's strategic objectives. 4. does your company have a process for aligning projects with strategic objectives? if so, please describe the process. if not, please describe how the company aligns the project with strategy. 5. please describe your immediate thoughts regarding project managers' competencies in the practice of aligning projects with strategic objectives. 6. can you please share your perspective on best practices for aligning projects with a company's strategic business objectives? 7. what are your thoughts regarding project managers' awareness of the company's strategic objectives for aligning projects? 8. what other comments, opinions, or experience regarding strategic project alignment competencies would you like to share? the interviews were audio recorded and transcribed using zoom business subscription features. the collected data responses were imported into an excel spreadsheet, analyzed, synthesized, and reported. tables, charts, and graphs depicted the analyzed data on project managers' and senior executives' perceptions of strategic project alignment practices for attaining a company's strategic objective. instrumentation and data collection participant privacy and confidentiality were protected through a secure zoom passwordprotected login for conducting interview recordings. all forms of the participants' identification were removed and substituted with a unique alphanumeric identifier. after the interview, the transcript was compared to the audio recording to check the accuracy of the transcription. an encrypted email with a copy of the transcript was provided to each participant for their review and verification of accuracy. participants were asked to return any corrections to the researcher within seven days. private and secure data collection was a crucial element of this study. data analysis protocol the thematic analysis explored forward-looking solutions with corporate strategic intent for project alignment and explained the results (renu & miah, 2021; watkins, 2017). dedoose (2023), a web-based fee application, was used for data analysis. braun and clarke's (2006) 6phase thematic analysis: understanding the data, developing codes, looking for themes, 10 evaluating themes, defining and identifying themes, and producing the report, was used to reduce data and find themes (braun & clarke, 2006, pp. 16-23). thematic analysis is a conventional technique for analyzing qualitative data (castleberry & nolen, 2018; humble & mozelius, 2022). the analysis started with constructing deductive codes employing main concepts from the applied framework as the foundation for the codes. deductive coding constructs codes (i.e., words/phrases) before analyzing interview transcripts (castleberry & nolen, 2018). each interview transcript coding was completed according to the established deductive codes. afterward, an additional transcript review occurred, assigning inductive codes to key frequently used words or phrases that did not fit a deductive code category. inductive coding is a process of allocating codes while reviewing interview transcripts (castleberry & nolen, 2018). after manually coding all transcripts, spreadsheets of the coded data and the frequency of codes, the code assignments to individual participants, and total deductive and inductive code categories were developed. tables were constructed for the codes' frequency, individual participants' codes, and overall code classifications. the construction of the critical themes from the code categories and initial codes was used to align the outcomes with the project question. validity, reliability, ethical considerations a qualitative project's trustworthiness depends upon the degree of reliance on the data, data analysis procedures, findings, and results (johnson et al., 2020). a purposive sampling strategy intensifies the robustness and fidelity of data collection. dependability is the data's level of trust, reliability, and permanency (johnson et al., 2020). an audit trail detailing the procedures for recruiting participants, collecting, analyzing, synthesizing data, and presenting the findings was preserved to confirm dependability. credibility denotes the confidence that the results are factual, exact, and accurate (johnson et al., 2020). the findings are presented from the participant's point of view, allowing them to review their transcripts for accuracy. keeping a project log of all activities is the suggested method for ensuring credibility. transferability is the degree of utility of the findings to a reader (johnson et al., 2020). collecting reliable data and presenting credible, verifiable results through careful documentation of steps taken to complete a project are suggested methods for improving the likelihood of transferability. the results of this study indicated that alignment process models, alignment competencies, knowledge sharing, and project managers' awareness are themes that increase project managers' ability to align projects with strategy. these findings may apply to contexts outside of the fintech project management environment. additional studies from that external context may be needed to confirm transferability. this study adhered to the belmont report's three fundamental ethical principles: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice (national commission for the protection of human subjects of biomedical and behavioral research, 1979). to maintain these principles, mitigating risks to participants happens through preserving confidentiality and without coercing participants. 11 capella university irb approval was attained prior to beginning the study, and no participants were coerced or provided incentives for participating in the study. all identifying information on the participants or where they worked was deidentified, all data collected was encrypted and securely stored for a minimum of seven years, and then all print copy data and stored electronic files will be destroyed by physical destruction (shredding, deletion, or grind to powder). data analysis primary and secondary data sources were used to construct this study. semi-structured interviews were used to collect the preliminary data, and peer-reviewed articles, practitioner articles, industry reports, and online sources on project alignment per corporate strategic planned objectives were the secondary data sources. an interview guide containing eight open-ended questions was used to ensure all participants were asked the same questions. follow-up probing questions were asked if the participants needed clarification on the interview questions. at the beginning of the interview, the participants were asked to answer several professionalexperience-related questions to confirm their eligibility per inclusion criteria. these questions were non-identifying and for classification purposes only. after that, the participants were asked the predetermined interview questions. participants had the option to decline to answer any question or opt out of the interview at any time. none of the participants opted out or declined to answer any of the questions. coding the participants included four project managers with an average of 13 years of experience. four senior executives had an average of 13.75 years of experience. five out of the eight participants work in the enterprise resource planning (erp) sector in the merger and acquisition (m&a) of the fintech industry. three participants were project managers, and two senior executives worked in erp of fintech. the remaining three participants were a venture capital (v.c.), a budget analyst, and an intelligent automation officer (iao). the first step in developing codes was to breakdown data into smaller units. the codes were generated from previous literature and the eight semi-structured interviews. the coding was organized using the software program dedoose. the coding application was made by tagging and naming excerpts in each data item. a set of initial codes was established, representing similarities of concepts and ideas from the participants. outliers were identified, representing departures from such concepts and ideas, and were combined with the codes into groupings to distinguish codes and join similarities. the codes were then sorted and collated, and the related data excerpts were grouped into potential themes. two levels of code review were used to refine the themes. the first level of review was re-reading excerpts to ascertain coherent patterns formed from the coded data excerpts. the second level of code review was re-reading to determine if the themes matched the overall data sets. key excerpts in the data sets were identified to define themes and subthemes. 12 the excerpts were then used to present a compelling, coherent discussion of the narrative derived from the data. table 1 depicts the code book structure with the code definitions, participant count, and the number of occurrences in which the code was employed. table 1 code book code definition participant count number of occurrences aligned failure projects intended to meet the organization's strategic objectives, but the deliverables did not accomplish goals. 8 22 awareness not required cognizance of the organization's strategic intent was unnecessary. 2 11 awareness of strategic objectives cognizant of the organization's strategic intent. 8 44 communications sharing and receiving information and messages on the organization's strategic objectives. 8 80 company's process for aligning projects participant description of the company's process for aligning projects with strategic objectives. 8 105 content information regarding strategy/information on project status. 6 30 continuing testing toward deliverables an alignment process verifies accuracy until reached stakeholders desired deliverable. 2 5 data collection gathering and measuring information for project selection/project status. 3 4 decision-making making use of the content for selecting actions to implement. 6 10 deliverable focus activities driven to manifest a product or service created or performed to achieve a desired project. 7 24 design defect the deliverables had shortcomings, imperfections, or lack that affected obtaining strategic objectives. 3 3 developing alignment process company in the process of scaling the alignment process. 3 9 forgetting or losing sight of strategic objectives strategic objectives were communicated but were disregarded or not remembered. 3 5 13 great quotes insightful statements of participants. 7 14 lack of an aligning process the participant is without a project alignment process. 3 3 lack of strategy the participants stated that their organization needed a strategy. 2 4 method of communication town hall, email, intranet, internet, print media, and webinars. 4 12 milestone monitoring for alignment projects are monitored at various stages to guide the alignment process. 3 7 misaligned failures projects failed because they did not address an organization's strategic objective. 3 13 negotiation project manager's competency aimed at reaching a project agreement. 3 4 ongoing at the time of conducting the project, the participant(s) described a project that was in progress. 4 5 outlined company strategic objectives the participant providing a general description and features of their organization's objectives. 8 27 perceptions regarding strategic project alignment competencies participants' point of view on strategic project alignment competencies. 8 49 pm competencies pm competencies comprise financial project literacy, risk management, soft skills, stakeholder management, team management, and leadership. 8 8 practical (realistic) objectives objectives that can be viewed as feasible or effective in actual circumstances. 5 7 project discontinued projects that were stopped because of misaligned with strategic objectives or unavailable resources. 4 116 project management methodology the practices, methods, processes, and approaches project practitioners use to lead and manage projects. 8 96 project managers' awareness the project manager is cognizant of strategic objectives status, team, and stakeholder dynamics, and situations within the project. 8 90 projects aligned activities that result in deliverables agreeing or cooperating with the organization's strategic objectives. 8 35 14 projects misaligned projects that are out of the scope of the organization's strategic objectives. 8 30 scope creep a project's requirements go beyond the original plans. 5 5 sender – receiver the directional flow of content (lateral, top to bottom, and bottom to top). 6 29 senior executives' input/involvement senior executives who are engaged or in support of a project. 5 14 soft skill – communication an interpersonal competency used to share content. 6 11 stakeholders' input/involvement one interested in supporting a project. 4 6 strategic objective change organizations plan and implement shifts to achieve a different strategic objective. 2 3 strategic objectives not communicated organization's strategic objectives are not communicated/not clearly stated. 3 4 unavailable resources lack of capacity (human, capital, time, etc.) to produce project deliverables. 5 8 unawareness of strategic objectives not cognizant of the organization's strategic intent. 6 29 note. table 1 lists each code and its definitions, the participant count for each code, and the number of code occurrences applied among the data. theme identification and analysis after determining the codes, definitions, outliers, participant counts, and the number of code occurrences, the codes were analyzed and combined to construct categories. seven categories were the results of the pairing of the 39 codes. some codes were paired in multiple categories. the identified categories were alignment methods, awareness of strategic objectives, causes for misalignment, communications, project management competencies, the importance of project alignment with strategy, and strategic alignment challenges. after formulating categories from the codes, additional analysis was needed to determine which categories presented themes demonstrating participants' perspectives regarding best practices for aligning projects with a company's strategic business objectives. all interview excerpts were compiled and assessed from each category. the overlapping excerpts from each category were associated with the other categories. further analysis was conducted on the more grounded cases of clear-cut relations and determined themes that gave intriguing and coherent points of view from participants. after creating and defining categories, the categories were analyzed and combined to construct four themes. some categories are present in more than one theme. 15 table 2 illustrates the development between codes into categories and then into theme 1: alignment process models are methodologies of tools, techniques, and approaches that can be considered most effective for strategic project alignment. table 2 codes to categories to theme 1 – alignment process models codes categories theme 1 communications project management methodology project management competencies soft skills-communications competencies alignment process models are methodologies of tools, techniques, and approaches. project management methodology project management competencies awareness of strategic objectives alignment methods unawareness of strategic objectives unavailable resources scope creep strategic objectives change forgetting or losing sight of strategic objectives causes for misalignment practical (realistic) objectives unavailable resources strategic objective change strategic alignment challenges note. table 2 represents the development of codes to categories into theme 1 – alignment process model. some codes overlap categories. table 3 presents the development between codes into categories and then into theme 2: knowledge sharing is used for communicating organizational information regarding strategic objectives. table 4 is the development between codes into categories, and theme 3: alignment competencies are the skills used to align the project with the organization's strategic objectives. table 3 codes to categories to theme 2 – knowledge sharing codes categories theme 2 senior executives input/involvement stakeholders' input/involvement communication content project manager's awareness awareness of strategic objectives knowledge sharing is used for communicating organizational information regarding strategic objectives. practical (realistic) objectives unavailable resources strategic objective change strategic alignment challenges communication content sender-receiver importance of project alignment with strategy 16 decision-making project manager's awareness project management competencies soft skill – communications awareness of strategic objectives communications communications note. table 3 represents the development of codes to categories into theme 2 – knowledge sharing. some codes may overlap categories. table 4 codes to categories to theme 3 – alignment competencies codes categories theme 3 project management methodology project management competencies communications awareness of strategic objectives alignment methods alignment competencies are the skills used to align project with the organization's strategic objectives. communications project management methodology project management competencies soft skills-communications project management competencies project management competencies soft skill – communications awareness of strategic objectives communications senior executives' input/involvement stakeholders' input/involvement communication content project manager's awareness awareness of strategic objectives note. table 4 represents the development of codes to categories into theme 3 – alignment competencies. some codes may overlap categories. table 5 shows the development between codes into categories and then into theme 4: project manager's awareness is the project manager's consciousness of an organization's strategic objectives and the attentiveness to those objectives. table 5 codes to categories to theme 4 – project manager's awareness codes categories theme 4 communication content sender-receiver decision-making pm awareness importance of project alignment with strategy project manager's awareness is the project manager's consciousness of an organization's strategic objectives and the attentiveness to those objectives. project management competencies soft skill – communications communication 17 awareness of strategic objectives senior executives input/involvement stakeholders' input/involvement content project manager's awareness awareness of strategic objectives practical (realistic) objectives unavailable resources strategic objective change strategic alignment challenges unawareness of strategic objectives unavailable resources scope creep strategic objectives change forgetting or losing sight of strategic objectives causes for misalignment note. table 5 represents the development of codes to categories into theme 4 – project manager's awareness. some codes may overlap categories. table 6 reports the codes, categories, themes, number of participants, and number of code cooccurrences. table 6 also provides information about how the code was employed across all participants' excerpts. code co-occurrences are the frequencies for which all code pairings were employed to an excerpt and overlapping excerpts table 6 theme structure themes definition number of participants number of codes number of cooccurrences number of categories methodologies project management tools, techniques, and approaches that can be considered most effective for strategic project alignment. 8 10 397 4 knowledge sharing knowledge sharing use for communicating organizational information regarding strategic objectives. 8 10 436 5 competencies skills used by project managers to align projects with the organization's strategic objectives. 8 8 395 4 awareness project manager' consciousness of an organization's strategic objectives and the attentiveness to those objectives. 8 13 339 5 note. table 6 summarizes the number of codes, categories, themes, number of participants, and number of code cooccurrences. theme 1 18 the first theme identified was alignment process models, methodologies, tools, techniques, and approaches that can be considered most effective for strategic project alignment. participants strongly supported project management methods as key components for effective strategic project alignment. table 7 shows theme 1 and supporting participant sample excerpts. table 7 theme 1 – alignment process models theme 1 participant sample excerpts alignment process models are methodologies tools, techniques, and approaches that can be considered most effective for strategic project alignment. p4: technology skills, you got to be able to use the different technologies tools for project management to keep track of it. for instance, some companies may use jira, some companies may use octane, some companies may use hp alm. there are different things out there, but whatever it is that you're using, i would suggest that the project manager comes extremely familiar with that tool to be able to make sure that the details are being tracked, be maintained, and monitored to keep the project on point." p7: "so the project manager does not all the time have to necessarily know how to code. for example, erp implementation. i would not expect my pm to know how to code, to do the actual coding, however, if that pm knows the project methodology and framework to keep that project running, to identify risk and issues and to involve all of the stakeholders and the update status, and they understand the budgeting side, then you have a very good project management that's a generalist along all those areas." p1: "and when you're doing role setting at the start of the project, if you're clear as to what those strategic objectives are, then you're aligning the resources that you need and assigning the roles and responsibilities based on those strategic objectives. because then it says, to meet this, i need to have a, b, c, and d, and i need to have these resources from a, b, c, and d, and here are their responsibilities because this drive achievement of that strategic objective. and that everything extends out from what those strategic objectives are, as opposed to it was something that was created off on the side and then you build everything out accordingly." note. table 7 lists theme 1 and examples of participants' excerpts that support theme 1. the data collected suggests that project management methodologies are essential for aligning projects with a company's strategic objectives. these methods were considered effective for strategic project alignment. project managers' perceptions are consistent with senior executives' perceptions that using project management methodologies is suitable for aligning projects with strategic objectives. theme 2 the second theme identified was knowledge sharing used for communicating the organization's information regarding strategic objectives. table 8 shows theme 2 and supporting participant sample excerpts. table 8 theme 2 communications using methods to share the organization's information regarding strategic objectives. theme 2 participant sample excerpts 19 knowledge sharing used for communicating organizational information regarding strategic objectives. p2: talking to my users to make sure that we understand what we need. p7: it happens more than you would think, however, that is the reasons a lot of projects fail because you have got to align the kpis with all of the stakeholders, not just the business that's going to benefit from it, but also from the office of the coo chief operating office, from the office of the cfo, the chief financial officer, as well as high level dotted line up to the ceo. i'd say this to say, most of the sap implementations, are large, they range from the hundreds of millions up to as much as, you know, a few billion dollars. so, you have got to have alignment as well as ongoing, ongoing conversations and updates and status reports with all stakeholders. p5: say for instance if there's slack that we've built in, senior executives like myself need to know when we've used it all up and when we believe that we're going to be off track in terms of cost, off track in terms of implementation timeline. note. table 8 lists theme 2 and examples of participants' excerpts that support theme 2. each of the participants supported communication as a factor for aligning projects with the company's strategic objectives. p3 explained that "we have a meeting every year toward the beginning of the year to communicate what is the company strategy." it was further stated by p3 that "one of the steps in doing a project for the company i work for is you have to come up with a communication plan." p3 makes it clear that when communicating strategic alignment activities, "you got to know how to say things to different groups of people. and some, you're going to have to say things differently to one group than other groups." the data collected suggests that sharing information is vital for aligning projects with a company's strategic objectives. the data further suggest that communication involves content (why, who, when, and what) to be shared for aligning projects with strategic objectives. project managers and senior executives' data agree that communication is necessary for aligning projects with strategic objectives. theme 3 the third theme identified was alignment competencies used by project a manager to align projects with the organization's strategic objectives. table 9 shows theme 3 and supporting participant sample excerpts. table 9 theme 3 – alignment competencies theme 3 participant sample excerpts alignment competencies the skills used by project managers to align projects with the organization's strategic objectives. p5: the senior executives that i've been involved with view the project managers as an important part of implementing the strategy. and they expect project managers core competencies to be in that skill set of being able to track the progress, push the progress along and communicate where things are with respect to progress. p3: i guess the one other piece that is a competency or that a project manager should have been, he has... he should have some basic financial knowledge so that you can present your numbers to your stakeholders in a way that makes sense and that supports the project. that's another thing, another competency that the project managers must have. 20 p6: as a project manager, being able to digest and understand the organization's business strategy along with those strategic objectives, i think it's pivotal in that project manager role. and then after that, being able to translate that understanding of the organization's business strategy and goals and being able to use that information to properly define the objectives for the project that you're working on clearly and being able to get agreement or buy-in from the stakeholders once you define those objectives. note. table 9 lists theme 3 and examples of participants' excerpts that support theme 3. the data collected suggests that project managers should possess project management methodology competencies. the data also suggest that project managers use non-technical competencies to align projects with strategic objectives. the participants identified multiple competencies used for aligning projects with the organization's strategic objectives. theme 4 the fourth theme identified was the project manager's awareness is the state of consciousness or mindfulness of the organization's strategic objectives. table 10 shows theme 4 and supporting participant sample excerpts. the participants supported the project manager's awareness of the organization's strategic objectives as an essential part of aligning projects with the organization's strategic objectives. table 10 theme 4 – project manager's awareness of the organization's strategic objectives. theme 4 participant sample excerpts project manager's awareness: the project manager's consciousness or mindfulness of an organization's strategic objectives and the attentiveness to those objectives. p3: "from the company strategy you get your business unit strategy, and then from the business unit strategy... so, for your business, you have individual production units for that particular business, right? so, each individual business production unit would have a strategy based on the business strategy. and then from the individual production unit strategy, that's where you get your individual, the boots on the ground, their personal goals. their personal goals align with the strategy." p6: "so from my perspective, when we step in, it's up to us to say, hey, well, this is how we can help you achieve those strategic goals. and then it's up to that person to say, hey, well, we agree, this aligns with our line of business and what we're trying to accomplish in order to meet those organizational goals as well." p1: "i think it is important to have the whom and have that flow going down, but it is really from a day-to-day operational standpoint, it is pmo and the project team, and again, understanding what your project team needs and being supportive of that." p7: "they had the wrong people managing the projects and they were not necessarily using a specific project management methodology. and also, they were not involving the correct people, meaning the key stakeholders and the executive management team to make certain that everyone was updated on the progress and the risk involving the project." note. table 10 lists theme 4 and examples of participants' excerpts that support theme 4. 21 the data collected suggests that a project manager's awareness is imperative for aligning projects with a company's strategic objectives. the data suggests that a project manager's awareness of why an objective is crucial for strategy is the common thread of communication, competencies, and methodologies for aligning projects with strategic objectives. the project manager's and senior executives' data agree with each other that the project manager's mindfulness/awareness is a requisite for aligning projects with strategic objectives. results the data collected on the perspectives from u.s. fintech project managers and senior executives regarding best practices on aligning projects with a company's strategic business objectives indicated there were many perceptions on strategic project alignment. for instance, the awareness of an organization's strategic objectives and the project manager involved in formulating strategic objectives, challenge fintech enterprises in attaining strategic objectives. p8 stated that "a lot of the times project managers are not part of that strategic meeting," signaling that for the projects are already decided on, the scope is determined before assigning it to a project manager. p5 reported, "i've never seen a situation in a strategic planning cycle where we brought in project managers for any of their input because we're relying on the senior executive team to know the capabilities." p3 indicated that when project managers are not involved with identifying strategic objectives, "at the very beginning of the project, the infancy of the project, there's a meeting between senior management and the project manager." p3 further explained: it is one of the most important parts because a lot of times, as a project manager, you don't know the ins and outs of the facility that you're working on. you got to rely on the people, the internal stakeholders to give you information. you might... if you don't, get their information, you might start chasing down the wrong thing. so, you need their input to right the ship. also, sometimes there might be a misunderstanding between senior management and what the boots on the ground see, and you need that communication to make sure that you are aligned properly and you're working on the right thing. in addition, p3 explained the need for competency for knowledge sharing: you have to know how to communicate what you're working on, why you're working on it, the risk involved with what you're working on. you have to know who your stakeholders are. so that's another important competency for project manager. while such variables challenge accomplishing the company's strategic objectives, project managers and senior executives can incorporate strategic awareness with project management methodology, competencies, and knowledge sharing to align projects with strategy. p7 suggested how project managers' input enriches constructing strategic objectives and enhances aligning projects with the strategic objective and stated: a lot of times senior management only sees data from a bird's eye view, and they don't know all the intricacies that go into that data. and that's where you got to get the input 22 from the internal stakeholders, because they know what's going on in the field that you are working in. so, the project manager is kind of a conduit between those two groups. p2 presented insight on sharing strategic objectives, stating, it would be nice if the project manager has a good understanding of why it is required. probably makes it easy to understand why things are being done. i mean, there's a big difference between your list of tasks and why. p1 described a challenge of mindfulness and awareness distraction from the strategic objectives as, "here was the strategic objective or objectives and then as you get into the project that gets lost and it just becomes a matter of meeting a deadline, then you're forgetting why you're doing it." p5 provided an interesting perspective on what information (content) is being communicated for governing the decision and actions of aligning projects with strategic objectives: when you're trying to understand either a root cause of something or the direction of something. so, you basically go through this exercise of saying, why are you doing it, you get an answer, and he'll say okay well why are you doing that, and it exhausts your explanations. so, that you're fairly comfortable that in the end, you might come up with well, your answers for the whys, they don't make sense for what we're doing, we've asked it five times, and each time with the next' why, it goes further an' further away' from your strategic objectives. so, on the other hand, with a project that is aligned, you can ask why 10 times, and it's always going to be connected. the data garnered from primary and secondary sources were the absence of project managers' involvement in constructing strategic objectives, and the insufficient awareness of the company's strategic objectives. these sources indicated the greater utilization of project methodologies and competencies to formulate objectives to increase the precision of strategic alignment. the project manager's awareness and knowledge sharing of strategic objectives mitigate project failure and misalignment. contribution to theory, the literature, and the practitioner knowledge base the purpose of this project was to explore the perceptions of project managers and senior executives in the u.s. fintech industry to identify best practices for strategic project alignment to reduce project failure and capital losses. based on the inductive analysis, the results identified four themes. the four themes included project management methodologies, competencies, knowledge sharing, and awareness. the remaining pieces of this segment depict the findings and contributions to theory, the literature, and the practitioner knowledge base. contribution to theory the premise of this project was that project failure and success are subjective when defining if the realized benefits from a project met the company's strategic intent (pmi, 2021). the project 23 attempted to explain the phenomenon of the benefits and success when project managers are aware of the corporate strategic plan for their projects. several components of the applied framework perceptions were supported through qualitative inquiry interviews and the literature reviewed. as a result of this project, primary and secondary data collection identified a gap between strategic project alignment and strategic objectives. this gap can be shortened by the project manager's awareness of why a project is essential to the company's strategic intention. theme 1 shows that the alignment process model contributes to strategic project alignment theory. orlandi et al. (2020) revealed that most organizations do not use project management techniques for aligning projects with organizational strategy. baptestone and rabechini (2018) and theme 1 suggest the same as brito and medeiros (2021), indicating project management assists an organization in accomplishing strategy. p6 described project methodology as understanding "…organizational needs and being able to translate that and compartmentalize and break that down into smaller components or work sets to achieve the overall objective or whatever the project." the methodology theme extends the theory of employing project management methods for strategic project alignment with a company's objective. theme 2 reveals knowledge sharing adds to the theory of aligning projects with an organization's strategic objectives. p1 explained that "project management, even as you learn during your certification, is 90% communication. and that is a very true statement because communication, how you communicate, what you communicate, and when you communicate is very important." jiao et al. (2020) theorized that there is a link between knowledge sharing and project success. theme 2 data supports sharing strategic content (why, who, when, what, and how) is needed for aligning projects with strategic objectives. the knowledge-sharing theme expands the theory of aligning projects with strategic objectives. theme 3 shows alignment competencies, which also include technical as well as non-technical competencies needed to align projects with strategic objectives. baptestone and rabechini (2018) explained that technical competencies are to include constructing project charters, the scope of work, and identifying performance indices. shnaiter et al. (2019) posited that there is a strong correlation between project managers' non-technical skills and the project's strategic alignment. p1 explained, "there is a new buzzword, e.q. emotional quotient, out there that i think is critical for project managers because there needs to be that awareness of how people operate, how they interact, how teams are put together." the participant's perspectives and previous theories on technical and non-technical competencies are consistent with each other concerning competencies for aligning projects with strategic objectives. theme 3, alignment competencies, enlarges the theory on strategic project alignment. theme 4 reveals project manager's awareness of the company's strategic objectives is important for aligning projects with strategy. cooper (2019) found that project failure occurs because employees are unaware of or do not understand the corporate vision and cannot explain how their job relates to it. p3 described the benefits of project managers' awareness: i personally think it helps when you have project managers who have some idea of the product or the end game that they're trying to deliver that gives them the context of the 24 objective and the strategy. and i think it makes it easier for them to work between the technology people and the systems people. contribution to literature strategic project alignment is about aligning a project with established value-based objectives, resulting in satisfied customers (fister-gale, 2007). robertson et al. (2018) claimed that misalignment between business strategy and projects impedes attaining strategic objectives. collis and rukstad (2008) revealed that businesses that do not have clear strategic declarations will more than likely fail to execute organizational strategic objectives. therefore, the framework for strategic project alignment of four themes is in a continuation of prior strategic alignment literature. theme 1, the alignment process model, aligns and supports extant literature regarding how project management methodologies can assist with strategic project alignment. hass and lindbergh (2010) revealed that many projects faced difficulties with scheduling, budgeting, and meeting the scope of projects. yamami et al. (2018) explored algorithms as a project management method to align projects with an organization's strategic intent. p2 explained, "now, if you're trying to get technology and implement the technology, you're going to need project management or some type of methodology to make sure you maximize what you're doing and have the money you're spending." theme 1 contributes to the literature by adding to the findings that suggest using alignment process models can enhance strategic project alignment. theme 2, knowledge sharing, supports and furthers the literature regarding how knowledge sharing can assist with strategic project alignment. p6 describes the importance of knowledge sharing: so, i think a lot of the resistance we get is a lot of people think you may be taking over their job, or a lot of people are just not open to change in general i think so. just proving and being able to show how specifically we're addressing some of those organizational strategic goals is helpful, especially from a controlling owner or a control manager's perspective, because once they see that, they get on board because, ultimately, everybody wants to be aligned with the overall company's goals. theme 2 contributes to the literature by concurring with previous findings that show knowledge sharing of organizational information regarding strategic objectives can prove to be effective in strategic project alignment. theme 3, alignment competencies, support, and further to the literature regarding how project managers' competencies can assist with strategic project alignment. hass and lindbergh (2010) put forth that project manager competencies will expand to include such skills as leadership, engagement, self-control, and assertiveness in delivering complex strategic projects. p4's explanation supplements the literature: yeah so i think that's vital that they be confident project managers, that they understand project management techniques and how each component of the project plan, the project 25 tools that they're using, the project structure in terms of organizational structure and the daily or weekly meetings, all these things how they actually keep the project moving forward and the people who are on that project up to date as to how to keep the project moving forward. because if you don't do that then the project gets out of line from a timing perspective gets out of line from having the proper resources perspective, it gets out of line and meeting the objectives because now the people are scrambling to just get something done and a lot of times, they don't get exactly done what was needed to be done. they're just trying to meet a deadline or a timeline because they were behind and so they cut corners and just doesn't happen right, it's bad. technical and non-technical competencies used by project managers to align projects with the organization's strategic objectives are necessary for effective strategic alignment. theme 3 contributes to the literature through findings that suggest alignment competencies (technical and non-technical) impact strategic project alignment. theme 4, project manager's awareness, extends previous literature by demonstrating how awareness can assist with strategic project alignment. awareness is the consciousness and attentiveness of an organization's strategic objectives. welch et al. (2019) claimed that capital is lost or wasted because project managers' fail to align projects with the organization's strategic objectives. pulse of the profession (2017) reported that project managers' misalignment practices waste 9.7% of capital. prior literature validates p5 explanation on unawareness: so, when you ask the why a couple of times, people say, 'well, why are you doing this?' and it's not connecting to our strategic objective first of market penetration and sales growth. so, you got this thing that you're driving that's not connecting with market penetration and sales growth. you're doing it because you think the technology is good, but the marketplace does not think the technology is good. project application and recommendations the qualitative inquiry interview results provide insightful perceptions on aligning projects with strategic objectives to business communities. according to both participants' perspectives and prior literature, aligning projects with strategic objectives is essential for the company to attain the intended benefits. according to shenhar and holzmann (2017), a company requires one to comprehend the strategic vision's value and coordinate the initiatives with the network of sponsors and stakeholders. the results reinforce the importance of such factors for fintech companies, as many participants reported the value of aligning projects with strategy. thus, project findings offer a best practice for aligning projects with strategic objectives. alignment process models, knowledge sharing, alignment competencies, and project manager's awareness make up the framework that can help a company's senior executives and project managers decrease the gaps between aligning projects with strategic objectives. project application 26 there are gaps between aligning projects with the company's strategic objectives. an effective best practice was identified as a useful potential method for lessening the gap in aligning the project with the company's strategic intentions. the themes identified are beneficial in reducing the gaps between aligning projects with strategic objectives. a highly effective strategic project alignment framework may decrease the risk of misaligning projects with strategic objectives. the results indicated that alignment process models, alignment competencies, knowledge sharing, and the project manager's awareness are essential for aligning projects with strategic objectives. organizing, crafting project charters, defining the scope of work, and identifying kpis of strategic objectives can be connected with alignment process models. communicating the reasons for implementing strategic objectives may be associated with knowledge sharing. technical competencies and non-technical competencies can be associated with alignment competencies. the project manager's comprehension of the reasons "why" for implementing a project, is linked to the strategic objectives. these elements are foundational components of the framework for strategic project alignment. thus, applying these results may be useful for an organization's senior executives and project managers who seek to improve efforts by aligning projects with strategic objectives. project recommendations the results of this study may be useful for senior executives and project managers in improving their efforts in selecting, assessing, and calibrating current projects for accurate strategic alignment. the results could also be used by start-up organizations when constructing their initial strategic plan. the framework for strategic project alignment may assist in identifying strategic objectives. this project focused on the senior executives and project managers' perspectives on best practices for aligning projects with the company's strategic objectives. in addition, the results may be able to support future research for aligning projects with strategic objectives. due to the small sample size of eight participants, delphi and quantitative research are needed to substantiate the results. these study results and recommendations could be beneficial throughout the academic and business communities and project management practitioner networks. examples of potential publication channels include the pm network, project management journal, pm world journal, and science direct: international journal of project management. conclusion the purpose of this qualitative inquiry study was to explore the perspectives of project managers and senior executives in the u.s. fintech industry regarding best practices on how to align projects with a company's strategic business objectives. the goal was to detect strategic project alignment best practices that may lessen the opportunity for fintech project failure and capital losses. the concepts of the framework for strategic project alignment are needed to improve the practice of aligning projects with strategic objectives and minimize the risk of wasting resources because of project misalignment. 27 the four themes identified from the semi-structured interviews include methodologies, knowledge sharing, competencies, and awareness. the four themes identified are essential to comprehending the perspectives obtained from the participants regarding practices that can improve aligning projects with a company's strategic business objectives. the results can potentially assist an organization's senior executives and project managers in minimizing the risk of project misalignment while effectively aligning projects with strategic objectives. the findings might encourage additional research, even affirming the outcomes of this project. references al-dubai, m. m., & alaghbari, m. a. 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(2020). the relationship between project governance mechanisms and project success: an international data set. international journal of managing projects in business, 13(7), 1496-1521. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijmpb-10-2018-0212 zwikael, o., & smyrk, j. (2012). a general framework for gauging the performance of initiatives to enhance organizational value. british journal of management, 23, s6-s22. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2012.00823.x https://doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v8i2.pp1102-1111 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8551.2012.00823.x running head: this is a short (50 characters or less) title of paper business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 1 leadership styles and flexible work arrangements as determinants of turnover intention for it professionals uzezi itesa, dba | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, united states jodine burchell, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, united states https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 contact: itesauz@gmail.com or jodine.burchell@columbiasouthern.edu abstract an increasing employee turnover rate remains a substantial concern to business leaders. the emergence of covid-19 led to a sharp rise in employee resignations, dubbed the great resignation in 2021. organizations scrambled and implemented flexible work arrangements (fwa) to curtail the spread of the pandemic. this study used a quantitative correlational approach to examine the relationship between leadership styles, fwa, and turnover intention of it professionals in the us. the theoretical foundation for the study includes the path-goal leadership theory and the flexible firm model. an online survey collected participants' responses across all us regions. the researcher analyzed valid responses from a sample of 204 participants using spss. the study reveals that 89 percent of it professionals in the us use one form or another of flexible work arrangements. the results indicate a significant negative relationship between path-goal leadership styles at the individual level and collectively with turnover intentions. the result did not establish a significant relationship between fwa and turnover intentions. however, fwa options, including flex-time schedule and compressed workweek, significantly and positively correlated with turnover intentions, while telecommuting did not significantly correlate with turnover intentions. this study implies that business leaders' leadership styles and fwa strategies can influence their it workforce turnover. business leaders should endeavor to develop and implement a mix of leadership styles and fwa strategies suitable to attract and retain a talented it workforce in their respective organizations. keywords: leadership styles, flexible work arrangements, telework, turnover intention, path-goal, pathgoal leadership https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 mailto:itesauz@gmail.com mailto:jodine.burchell@columbiasouthern.edu january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 2 introduction business leaders have always contended with the risk of employees voluntarily quitting their organization. several factors, including family and work-related concerns, may influence individuals' intentions to exit their organizations (alsam et al., 2013; post et al., 2009). the emergence of the covid19 pandemic led to a rise in the rate of employees resigning from their jobs, dubbed "the great resignation" (serenko, 2022; sheather & slattery, 2021; tessema et al., 2022). the covid-19 pandemic made nations and companies implement measures, including flexible work arrangements (fwa), to reduce the spread of the pandemic and save the lives of citizens and the workforce. in september 2021, the rate of employee resignation increased to the highest spike level on record (tessema et al., 2022). this period coincides with when businesses demanded their employees return to the office. according to a study by allman (2021), covid-19 made most organizations (nine out of 10) accelerate their cloud adoption by migrating their it infrastructure from on-premises to the cloud to enhance their business practices, including supporting remote work and other fwa. is it possible there is a link between the demand by organizations for their workforce to return to the office and the surge in resignation rates? understanding it professionals' perceptions of the influence of fwa on their turnover intentions enables businesses to formulate the appropriate strategies for retaining their workforce. this study may close the gaps identified in previous studies by examining the relationship between leadership styles, fwa, and turnover intentions using path-goal theory and the flexible firm model. the path-goal theory also referred to as the path-goal model or the path-goal theory of leader effectiveness, was developed in 1971 and revised in 1996 by robert house. the model describes the leaders' behavior as contingent on subordinates' motivation, satisfaction, and performance. path-goal theory serves as a framework that describes leaders' behavior that subordinates perceive as acceptable and a source of inspiration and satisfaction (dixon & hart, 2010; hsu et al., 2003). path-goal theory identifies directive, participative, supportive, and achievement-oriented leadership styles. the specific business problem for this study is that many business leaders lack knowledge about the relationship between leadership style, flexible work arrangements, and turnover intention for it professionals in the united states. among the measures implemented by political and business leaders to curtail the spread of the covid-19 pandemic are flexible work arrangements, such as remote work and flextime, to reduce physical contact between collocated employees. as organizations experiment with flexible work options, the management style deployed in managing a collocated workforce may likely not be suitable for driving a hybrid labor force. it is vital for business and it leaders to understand the influence of their leadership styles and fwa on their it workforce turnover intentions to aid them in formulating and implementing the appropriate strategies aimed at curtailing the increasing resignation rate. this study uses positivism as the research paradigm based on existing theories. thus, the path-goal theory or model was used to assess leadership styles (independent variable), and the flexible firm model was used to evaluate flexible work arrangements (independent variable). this research examines the influence of these two independent variables on turnover intentions (dependent variable). literature review leadership as a subject has and continues to receive enormous attention in the literature, especially in the domain of leadership styles and their influence on employee job engagement, job satisfaction, performance, and turnover intentions (belias & koustelios, 2014; golden & eddleston, 2019; guan et al., 2017). leadership style is a leader's characteristic behaviors to direct, motivate, guide, and manage groups of people. a leader's leadership style affects employee performance, productivity, satisfaction (nanjundeswaraswamy & swamy, 2014), and turnover intentions (maaitah, 2018; puni et al., 2016). business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 3 fwa is one of the mechanisms organizations deploy to deal with current organizational challenges. fwa is an employment option that empowers employees to choose and adjust where and when they work (putnam et al., 2014; rahman, 2019). studies indicate that fwa influences employees' work-life balance, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions (masuda et al., 2012; mcnall et al., 2009). the covid-19 pandemic escalated the use of fwa by companies to reduce the virus infection rates and curtail the spread of the virus among their employees in compliance with mandated government restrictions. it professionals were at the forefront of using fwa, particularly telecommuting during the pandemic, as their presence in the office was unnecessary due to organizations' adoption and adaptation of cloud services. to properly understand the influence of leadership styles and fwa on turnover intentions, the following sections discuss the path-goal leadership theory, flexible firm model, fwa, and turnover intentions. path-goal leadership theory/model the path-goal leadership theory is one of the situational leadership theories that has received increased scrutiny. the path-goal leadership model is unique because the leader tries to help followers achieve the goal (northouse, 2016). path-goal leadership theory serves as a framework that describes the success of leaders who are flexible in their leadership approach and can motivate subordinates by generating high work group effectiveness (dixon & hart, 2010). leaders encourage employees by defining goals, clarifying paths, removing obstacles that impede obtaining objectives, and supporting subordinates (northouse, 2016). the path-goal theory applies expectancy theory, which has three elements: motivation, reward, and value (northouse, 2016). a study by silverthorne (2001) supported the path-goal leadership theory as the results revealed a relationship between managers and their subordinates, while no relationship existed between managers and peers. another study shows that path-goal leadership style significantly and negatively influences turnover intensity with and without the mediating role of organizational commitment (bhayapradesita, 2019). to motivate employees successfully, influential leaders must understand and be sensitive to the needs of their employees by shifting their leadership styles accordingly. it has become vital for business and it leaders to be mindful of their it professionals' need for fwa and adopt leadership styles that enable this workforce to deliver on their tasks. suppose the it workforce preference is to use fwa; then, leadership must act by removing obstacles that may inhibit the provision of a suitable work environment that could decrease subordinates' turnover intentions. path-goal leadership is classified into the following four leadership styles. directive leadership several studies have examined the influence of directive leadership on subordinates' behavior, shared values, commitment to service quality, and turnover intentions. the results of the studies regarding the relationship between directive leadership and turnover intentions have been contradictory. directive leadership involves providing specific guidelines and structure for members and detailing their expectations (bickle, 2017; fabac et al., 2022). directive leadership is an autocratic, manipulative, and task-oriented form of leadership (bass, 1981). it has been found to affect shared values and commitment to service quality negatively but positively influence employees' role clarity (dolatabadi & safa, 2010). supportive leadership the role of supportive leaders in organizations cannot be overemphasized. supportive leaders are empathic and approachable. they do not just delegate activities but nurture and support their subordinates january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 4 until they complete their tasks (bickle, 2017). according to fabac et al. (2022), supportive leadership "includes a concern for the welfare of subordinates and the organizational climate" (p. 350). several studies have alluded to the significant positive relationship between supportive leadership style, employee engagement, job satisfaction, and employee turnover (irvine & evans, 1995; smith & macko, 2014). a study by lambert et al. (2001) examined the influence of work environment and demographic characteristics on worker job satisfaction and turnover intent. the study concluded that "job satisfaction is a highly salient antecedent of turnover intent" (lambert et al., 2001, p. 233). the same research also reveals that job satisfaction is crucial to mediating between the work environment and turnover intentions (lambert et al., 2001). participative leadership in participative leadership, leaders provide an enabling environment that enables subordinates to influence their decisions. a leader deploying a participative style seeks subordinates' views in "active group discussions, decision making, and task planning" (bickle, 2017, p. 36). the leader consults the subordinate on the most appropriate approach before deciding. the participative leadership style is most effective when the tasks are ambiguous and unstructured and without a clear path to completing a task (bickle, 2017). it professionals face different challenges requiring immediate attention to nonstructured and vague activities. participative leadership could help get everyone on the same page regarding the most appropriate deployment solution, which may result in reduced turnover intentions. achievement-oriented leadership the achievement-oriented leadership style encourages employee growth and challenges followers to propel themselves and perform at the highest possible level. achievement-oriented leadership focuses on challenging subordinates with high expectations for themselves and a desire to excel (bickle, 2017). good leaders offer achievement-oriented motivations to associates with high potential, enabling them to achieve their goals in line with organizational needs (bickle, 2017; van wart, 2013). flexible work arrangements fwa is becoming a prevalent tool organization deployed to meet today's business challenges. the emergence of the covid-19 pandemic further exacerbates the use of fwa as organizations worldwide resorted to using one form of fwa or another. fwa refers to "any of a spectrum of work structures that alter the time and/or place that work gets done regularly" (workplace flexibility, 2010, p. 1). there are three ways by which organizations can implement fwa. (1) flexible work schedule, (2) flexibility in the number of hours worked, and (3) flexibility in the place of work (workplace flexibility, 2010). flexible work schedule flexible work schedules are schedules that are nonstandard in the work setting. examples of these arrangements include flextime, compressed workweeks, flexible shift arrangements, and flexible break arrangements (workplace flexibility, 2010). this study examines the influence of flextime and compressed workweek schedules on us it professionals' turnover intentions. flex-time is a work schedule that allows flexible starting and closing times (christensen & staines, 1990). employees utilizing flextime must work 40 hours per week but can choose when they resume and close from work. rahman (2019) investigated the impact of fwa options, including flex-time schedules, compressed workweek, telecommuting, and job sharing, on work-life balance and job satisfaction among female teachers in the higher education sector in bangladesh. the measurement scale used was developed by rawashdeh et al. (2016), and data obtained from 203 respondents were analyzed using regression analysis. the study concluded that flex-time schedules, job sharing, and telecommuting have a significant relationship with work-life balance and job satisfaction. at the same time, the study found that business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 5 a compressed workweek was not significantly related to job satisfaction or work-life balance (rahman, 2019). flexibility in the number of hours worked flexibility in the number of hours worked requires employees to choose the hours they work. these arrangements may involve part-time work, reduced-hour schedules, a transition from a significant life event (sickness, childbirth), and part-year work (workplace flexibility, 2010). this study did not measure any independent variable that falls within this category of fwa. flexibility in place of work flexibility in the place of work involves employees choosing the location where they work. the available options include telecommuting, virtual work, or remote work from a home office, telework from a satellite location, and alternating areas (workplace flexibility, 2010). telecommuting has become famous for it professionals as this was the primary means of fwa mandated by organizations during the covid-19 pandemic. recent studies exploring the relationship between telecommuting and job satisfaction and work-life balance have yielded contrary results. leadership styles and turnover intentions several studies have examined or explored the influence of leadership styles on turnover intentions using various leadership theories. siew (2017) used a quantitative multiple regression to assess the relationship between leadership styles and turnover intentions within small and medium-sized enterprises in malaysia. the study used the multifactor leadership theory as the lens to examine leadership styles. the multifactor leadership questionnaire (mlq) was utilized as the measurement instrument for the research. the study concluded that "leadership styles have a strong relationship with turnover intention" (siew, 2017, p. 7). another quantitative study by ming et al. (2021) examined the relationship between leadership styles and employee retention in sibu, sarawak's hotel industry. more specifically, the study looked at the impact of directive, participative, servant, and laissez-faire leadership styles in predicting employee retention in the hospitality industry. the study utilized role theory, comprising a sample of 230 participants. the partial least square-structural equation modelling (pls-sem) was utilized to investigate the hypotheses. the study concluded that directive and servant leadership styles "are imperative elements to urge employees' intention to stay at the current workplace (hotels)" (ming et al., 2021, p. 170). similarly, dixon and hart (2010) examined the impact of path-goal leadership styles on work group effectiveness and turnover intentions. three path-goal leadership styles, instrumental, participative, and supportive, were evaluated in the study. 260 full-time blueand white-collar employees in a manufacturing firm based in the southeast of the us participated in the study via surveys completed anonymously. a descriptive and multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data. the result of the study indicates a statistically positive relationship exists between path-goal leadership styles and work group effectiveness. a significant negative relationship between path-goal leadership styles and turnover intention was partially supported. flexible work arrangements and turnover intentions several studies have investigated the relationship between fwa and employee turnover intentions. tsen et al. (2021) examined the relationship between fwa (flex time, working from home, and flex leave), turnover intentions, and the moderating role of job independence. the study utilized a mixed-effect modeling analysis with data from the international social survey program (issp). a total of 16,920 responses from 35 nations were received and analyzed. the study concludes that providing fwa january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 6 alone does not necessarily result in talent retention in organizations. the result also indicates that perceived job independence significantly moderates the relationship between fwa and turnover intentions. the study concludes that employees who view their jobs as highly independent certainly have lower turnover intentions when utilizing fwa. similarly, choi (2020) examined the relationship between fwa and employee retention of federal employees. the study employed a quantitative longitudinal analysis to evaluate the effect of telework on employee turnover. telework, a type of fwa, offers employees enhanced control over their work time and where they conduct their work activities. doing so allows them to enjoy significant autonomy regarding their work, providing them with a better avenue to attend to their family needs (choi, 2020). the study concluded that government "agencies with more teleworkers tend to experience lower rates of voluntary turnover of employees" (choi, 2020, p. 487). choi's study seems to align with previous studies (baltes et al., 1999; konrad & mangel, 2000) that show that telework reduces employee turnover intentions. a recent article by oludayo et al. (2018) concludes that a company that promotes flexible work hours experienced a rise in workers' morale as employees are motivated to operate daily (anya et al., 2021). the impact of employee turnover on businesses according to the bureau of labor statistics [bls] (2022), the number of employees who quit in july 2022 alone was 4.2 million. the estimated cost of losing an employee is one and a half to two times the employee's annual salary (gallup, 2019). aside from the employee replacement cost, employee turnover presents additional challenges that include loss of talent (roodt & bothma, 1997), loss of corporate knowledge, lost productivity (mobley, 1982), reduced employee morale, and diminished employer brand to businesses. therefore, business leaders must identify the potential causes of employee turnover and implement corrective measures. this study presents an opportunity to examine the relationship between leadership styles, fwa, and turnover intentions, as this insight could aid business leaders in making informed decisions. methods based on the background and literature review, this study examines the relationship between leadership style, flexible work arrangements, and turnover intention for it professionals in the united states. the quantitative, correlational design is used to answer two research questions (rq1 and rq2), with each having two hypotheses (null denoted by h0 and alternate denoted by ha) that measured the relationship between subordinates' perceptions of their boss's leadership styles and their turnover intentions and flexible work arrangements and their turnover intentions. this study evaluated path-goal leadership style as an independent variable at the dimension level, and four leadership styles, directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented, were subdimensions or subscales. fwa was examined at the dimension level as an independent variable, and fwa options, including flextime, compressed workweek, and telecommuting, were subdimensions. the study's dependent variable was employee turnover intention. in line with best practices, ρ-value was utilized for hypothesis testing. the standard ρ-value threshold is 0.05. in hypothesis testing, a ρ-value less than 0.05 is considered significant and accepted, while a ρ-value greater than 0.05 is considered nonsignificant and rejected. spearman's correlation coefficient was selected as the statistical test for each hypothesis. research questions and hypotheses rq1 – what is the relationship between subordinates' perceptions of their boss's leadership style and turnover intentions for it professionals? business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 7 h10 there is no significant relationship between subordinates' perceptions of their boss's leadership style and turnover intention for it professionals. h1a there is a significant relationship between subordinates' perceptions of their boss's leadership style and turnover intention for it professionals. rq2 – what is the relationship between subordinates' perceptions of flexible work arrangements and turnover intentions for it professionals? h20 there is no significant relationship between subordinates' perceptions of flexible work arrangements and turnover intention for it professionals. h2a there is a significant relationship between subordinates' perceptions of flexible work arrangements and turnover intention for it professionals. model the path-goal leadership theory (pglt) and the flexible work arrangements model depicted in figure 1 below were utilized in the study. figure 1 path-goal leadership, flexible work arrangements, and turnover intentions model january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 8 instrumentation the study utilized a questionnaire comprising questions adapted from previous studies. the survey consisted of screening, demographics, and questions compiled from three existing instruments to measure all the variables. the instruments used include the path-goal leadership questionnaire (pglq) (indvik, 1985), the flexible work arrangement questionnaire (fwaq, rawashdeh et al., 2016), and the turnover intention scale (tis-6) (roodt, 2004). the survey instrument comprises 20 questions from the path-goal leadership questionnaire (pglq), 14 questions from the flexible work arrangement questionnaire (fwaq), six questions from the 6-item turnover intention scale (tis-6), and seven demographic questions. the demographics included gender, age, education, tenure in the organization, race, role, and fwa options. aside from the demographic questions, all other survey questions were provided to participants using a likert scale. instrument validity and reliability validity and reliability are two critical concepts in quantitative research. validity is the "degree to which the measurement or study measures what it purports to measure" (gliner et al., 2017, p. 120). reliability, on the other hand, is "the extent to which the results can be reproduced when the research is repeated under the same conditions" (middleton, 2022, para 2). the validity and reliability of the instruments used in the study have been adequately validated in previous studies. cronbach's alpha is generally acceptable for measuring the reliability of instruments. the cronbach's alpha values for pglq are as follows: directive (0.81), participative (0.81), supportive (0.86), and achievement-oriented (0.69) (indvik, 1986). the borderline reliability for achievement-oriented leadership was based on only two studies. thus, indvik (1986) recommended accumulating more samples for a meta-analysis test. the cronbach's alpha value for the fwaq is 0.80 > 0.60 (rawashdeh et al., 2016). further, bothma and roodt (2013) tested and confirmed the reliability tis-6 to be 0.80, indicating high internal consistency. the instrument for this study was tested by computing cronbach's alpha coefficient using the statistical package for social science (spss). the result is depicted in table 1 below. it indicates an overall cronbach's alpha value of 0.86, representing high internal consistency and reliability. table 1. reliability of the survey instruments dimension / sub-dimension n α path-goal leadership questionnaire (pglq) scale 20 0.88 directive 5 0.67 supportive 5 0.69 participative 5 0.75 achievement-oriented 5 0.57 flexible work arrangements questionnaire (fwaq) scale 14 0.80 flex schedule 5 0.62 compressed workweek 5 0.64 telecommuting 4 0.69 turnover intention scale (tis-6) 6 0.77 overall survey instrument 40 0.86 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 9 data collection and analysis this quantitative correlational study investigated it professionals' perceptions of the relationship between leadership style, flexible work arrangements, and turnover intentions. a total of 340 respondents participated in the survey. however, 219 (64%) individuals provided complete responses, while 121 (36%) were either disqualified as not meeting eligibility criteria or abandoned the survey halfway. the survey was administered to respondents using surveymonkey. the study population consisted of it professionals working in the united states who had opted to be members of the surveymonkey panel. participants were anonymous and informed of their rights to opt-out should they wish to exercise that right. descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data received from respondents. population and sample the study's sample size was calculated using g*power. the confidence interval (ci) utilized for the computation was 95%, with an effect size of 0.3, a power of 0.80, and a margin of error of 5%, resulting in a sample size of 84. utilizing a power of 80% (β = 20%) makes it possible to discover statistical differences when they exist (miles, 2021; walmsley & brown, 2017). while the minimum sample size required for the study was 84, the study was conducted using the responses from 204 respondents after the data was cleaned for outliers. demographic characteristics of respondents table 2 below depicts the demographic profile of the respondents. notable is that there is almost an even split between the respondents' genders, with males at 51% and females at 49%. 34% of respondents have bachelor's degrees, 31% are in manager roles, 68% are white (non-hispanic), and 30% have worked in their organizations for six to 10 years. 89% of respondents identify using one form of flexible work arrangement. table 2. demographic characteristics of participants baseline characteristic n % gender male 104 51.0% female 100 49.0% age 18 – 24 21 10.3% 25 – 34 42 20.6% 35 – 44 59 28.9% 45 – 54 57 27.9% 55 – 64 19 9.3% 65 and above 6 2.9% education elementary/middle school 1 0.5% high school, diploma or equivalent (ged) 37 18.1% january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 10 associate degree 37 18.1% bachelor's degree 71 34.8% master's degree 40 19.6% doctorate degree 18 8.8% role level single contributor 47 23.0% supervisor 41 20.1% manager 64 31.4% director 28 13.7% ciso, cso, and above 24 11.8% race white (non-hispanic) 139 68.1% hispanic or latino 23 11.3% black or african american 26 12.7% american indian or alaska natives 2 1.0% native hawaiian or other pacific islander 8 3.9% multiracial (non-hispanic) 6 2.9% tenure (years) 0 – 5 38 18.6% 6 – 10 61 29.9% 11 – 15 35 17.2% 16 – 20 33 16.2% 21 – 25 15 7.4% 26 and above 22 10.8% participants utilizing fwas utilizing (fs, cw, or te) * 181 88.7% none 23 11.3% note. * fs = flextime schedule, cw = compressed workweek, and te = telecommuting. n = 204 results and discussion to determine the type of correlational analysis, the researcher conducted several tests to determine the dataset's normality and distribution. table 3 represents the dataset's numerical summary. the skewness and kurtosis values for the pglq, fwas, and turnover intentions fall within the range of 1 t0 +1 and -2 to +2, respectively, and can be considered normally distributed (grande, 2016). table 3 numerical summary of the dataset dimension mean sd skewness kurtosis pglq 5.19 0.92 -0.094 -0.637 directive 5.49 1.19 -0.429 -0.859 supportive 5.24 1.07 -1.129 -0.670 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 11 participative 4.98 1.12 -0.257 -0.216 ach.oriented 5.06 0.95 -0.016 -0.623 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- fwas 3.73 0.59 0.189 -0.345 flex-time schedule 3.74 0.70 -0.234 -0.267 comp. workweek 3.57 0.75 -0.016 -0.463 telecommuting 3.89 0.73 -0.369 -0.399 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- turnover intention 2.84 0.83 0.080 -0.369 further, additional preliminary statistics that include exploratory data analyses (eda) were conducted to test the correlation assumptions. the assumptions test consists of the level of measurement (interval or ratio), no outliers, regular distribution of the data, linearity between the two variables, and homoscedasticity in the dataset. the tests include histogram, q-q plot, box plot, scatter plot, and homoscedasticity. a normality test was also conducted using kolmogorov-smirnov (k-s) and shapirowilk tests, and both results indicate that the data is normally distributed, as represented in table 4. table 4 normality test results for main dimensions (scale) kolmogorov-smirnov shapiro-wilk statistic df sig. statistic df sig. path-goal leadership styles .049 204 .200* .988 204 .072 flexible work arrangements .042 204 .200* .987 204 .050 turnover intentions .093 204 <.001 .986 204 .036 the lack of linearity based on the result of the scatter plot encouraged the researcher to utilize spearman's rank order correlation (rho) testing. the result of spearman's correlation test is depicted in table 5 below. table 5 correlation test results for path-goal leadership styles, fwas, and turnover intention path-goal leadership styles flexible work arrangements turnover intentions spearman's rho path-goal leadership styles correlation 1.000 sig. (2-tailed) n 204 flexible work arrangements correlation .427** 1.000 - sig. (2-tailed) <.001 n 204 204 correlation -.320** .124 1.000 january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 12 turnover intentions sig. (2-tailed) <.001 .077 n 204 204 204 the result indicates a significant negative correlation between it professionals' perceptions of their boss's leadership style and turnover intentions. further, the result shows no significant relationship between it professionals' perceptions of flexible work arrangements and turnover intentions. table 6 below depicts the result of the hypotheses tested. table 6 research questions and hypotheses test summary rq1 what is the relationship between subordinates' perceptions of their boss's leadership style and turnover intentions for it professionals? h10 there is no significant relationship between subordinates' perceptions of their boss's leadership style and turnover intention for it professionals. rejected h1a there is a significant relationship between subordinates' perceptions of their boss's leadership style and turnover intention for it professionals. accepted rq2 what is the relationship between subordinates' perceptions of flexible work arrangements and turnover intentions for it professionals? h20 there is no significant relationship between subordinates' perceptions of flexible work arrangements and turnover intention for it professionals. accepted h2a there is a significant relationship between subordinates' perceptions of flexible work arrangements and turnover intention for it professionals. rejected the above tests were also conducted to examine the relationships between the sub-dimensions of path-goal leadership styles (directive, supportive, participative, and achievement-oriented), flexible work arrangement options (flex-time schedule, compressed workweek, and telecommuting), and turnover intentions. the findings reflect that each sub-dimension of leadership styles negatively correlated with turnover intentions. however, flex-time schedules and compressed workweek significantly and positively correlated with turnover intentions, while telecommuting was not significantly correlated. theoretical and practical implications this study adds to the body of knowledge on leadership and portrays the critical role that leadership styles play in employees' intentions to quit their organization. in addition, the study reveals how today's organizations have adopted the flexible firm model, as over 87% of respondents attested to using one form of flexible work option. the emergence of covid-19 allowed organizations to experiment with their workforce configuration as they struggled to navigate government-imposed restrictions. as demonstrated by this research findings, the leadership styles that managers deploy significantly influence choices of flexible work arrangements and employee turnover intentions. therefore, it is essential to provide managers with appropriate training about the optimal mix of leadership styles based on specific situations. further, hr and it leadership must collaborate in designing and deploying flexible work options to retain a talented it workforce in the united states. research limitations and assumptions business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 13 the first limitation of this study is the population under consideration, with participants only from the united states, which affected the rate of return and generalization. secondly, this study focused on the subordinates' perception, not the leaders. another limitation is related to limited outcomes associated with quantitative research as it relies on structured questionnaires involving closed-ended questions. while this study focuses on the relationship between leadership styles, flexible work arrangements, and turnover intentions, the researcher did not lose sight of the fact that other variables such as motivation, job satisfaction, salary, work stress, and benefits that could potentially influence these relationships were outside the scope of this study. the study also assumes that respondents will provide truthful responses to each question, that all respondents are subordinates who report to leaders in their organizations, and that the survey instruments will accurately measure the variables under consideration. recommendations and conclusion this study examined the relationship between leadership styles, flexible work arrangements, and turnover intentions of it professionals in the us. future research can be expanded to other geographic locations from the european union (eu), asia, or globally. the study could also be extended to see if any independent variables predict the dependent variable in similar settings and geographic regions. yet still, the study could be designed to examine two groups of participants – leaders and subordinates. it would be interesting to compare how leaders and their subordinates differ in their views on how leadership styles may influence their turnover intention. a key recommendation for practice is exploring this study's result to minimize operational costs. reducing employee turnover is one way that businesses can achieve this objective. as a function, human resources (hr) is constantly searching for modalities it can implement in compensation and benefits to retain top talent (bryant & allen, 2013). this study reveals some factors that organizational leaders can attribute to potentially impacting employee turnover. in conclusion, employee turnover intention is a leading indicator of voluntary employee turnover. as o'connell and kung (2007) put it, "employee turnover is costly" (p. 1). employee turnover costs include workforce replacement fees, workplace safety issues, loss of productivity, and morale damage (o'connell & kung, 2007). it becomes imperative that organizational leaders identify the factors that may be influencing their workforce turnover intentions. the emergence of covid-19 exacerbated employee turnover intentions when the us hit a crescendo in september 2021 dubbed "the great resignation." at the onset of the pandemic, nations, including the us and companies, instituted measures designed to curtail the spread of the virus. in the it space, organizations have increased their adoption of cloud services. this move enabled it professionals to work from anywhere across the globe through flexible work arrangements in virtual and hybrid forms. managing this new way of working was challenging for leaders who were used to supervising a collocated workforce in traditional office settings. as soon as the pandemic began to subside, some business leaders wanted their employees to return fully to the office. this period coincided with a drastic increase in employee turnover across the us. this study reveals a significant relationship between leadership styles at the dimension and subdimension levels and turnover intentions. the study did not identify a significant relationship between flexible work arrangements and turnover intentions at the dimension level. however, the sub-dimension levels revealed a significant relationship between flex-time schedule, compressed workweek, and turnover intentions. telecommuting did not significantly correlate with turnover intentions. business leaders, including hr practitioners, must take the time to identify the best mix of strategies at both the dimension and sub-dimension levels to implement to reduce their employee turnover intentions and retain top talent. january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 14 references allman, k. 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(2010). flexible work arrangements: a definition and examples. georgetown university law center. https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&amp;context=legal https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/do-flexible-work-arrangements-affect-job/docview/1809941834/se-2 https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/do-flexible-work-arrangements-affect-job/docview/1809941834/se-2 https://doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v23i1.619 https://doi.org/10.1108/jkm-12-2021-0920 https://doi.org/10.1108/jkm-12-2021-0920 https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2533 http://ruijass.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/1-002lks-final.pdf https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730110395042 https://doi.org/10.4236/jhrss.2022.101011 https://doi.org/10.1080/00207659.2021.1925409 https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12069 https://www.statisticsteacher.org/2017/09/15/what-is-power/ https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&amp;context=legal 60 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal employee motivation, job reengineering, and perceived job satisfaction: a quantitative correlational approach yomi martin | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama robert goldwasser | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama contact: martinsyomi@gmail.com abstract this quantitative research investigated the correlation between employee motivation, job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction among the civilian employees of the department of defense located in washington, d.c., united states. the theoretical foundation for the study was rooted in deci and ryan's (1985; 2000) self-determination theory of motivation. the researcher utilized a non-experimental correlational research design and an appropriate nonprobability convenience sampling method to collect data from fifty-five (55) participants. the multidimensional work motivation, job diagnostic, and the job satisfaction scales were used to measure the variables. non-parametric tests were used to measure the correlation between the variables and three hypotheses were tested. the results showed a strong and positive relationship exists between employee motivation, job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction. these findings suggest that business leaders and human capital managers of private and government enterprises may use the study as a focal point to understand a person-job fit, establish lean organizational efficiencies, and formulate strategies to improve motivation and reduce turnover. keywords: emotional intelligence, employee motivation, job design, job reengineering, job redesign, job satisfaction, metacognitive abilities, perception, perception of job satisfaction, and self-determination theory mailto:martinsyomi@gmail.com 61 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 introduction human capital management plays a pivotal role in the success or failure of an organization, and the execution of human capital strategies is essential to the effectiveness of the workforce. human capital strategists and business managers consider employee motivation as a central issue to achieving organizational goals. the study of motivation and the theoretical contribution to the field of business management is evident in the formulation of short and long-term strategies poised to boost productivity, job design, job satisfaction, and workplace engagement (deci & ryan, 1985; 2000). additionally, motivation plays a significant role in understanding human behavior poised to influence organizational performance, effectiveness, and job satisfaction (alam et al., 2020; chen et al., 2020; rakhi & kumar, 2015). deci and ryan (1985, 2000) and ryan and deci's (2017, 2020) self-determination theory (sdt) present a broad framework for understanding factors influencing intrinsic motivation, job satisfaction, psychological wellness, and all issues of direct relevance to individual growth. the sdt, developed as a traditional empirical approach to understanding motivation and personality, employs an organismic meta-theory that highlights the role of intrinsic motivation in personality development and behavioral self-regulation (deci & ryan, 1985). employees' satisfaction is highly influenced by individuals' beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions (barnyak & paquette, 2010) and the quantitative study of kumedzro (2018) revealed that motivation and perceptions are significant predictors of job satisfaction. since conception, however, the sdt has been reevaluated, modified, and enhanced to incorporate extrinsic motivation (ryan & deci, 2017, 2020). antecedent studies have investigated the question of whether motivation influences job satisfaction and job design in the workplace (breaugh et al., 2018; bruning & campion, 2018; earl et al., 2019; kumedzro, 2018; olafsen & bentzen, 2020). breaugh et al. (2018) discussed the significance of the factors influencing job satisfaction and the impact on employee motivation and found intrinsic and extrinsic motivation positively correlate with job satisfaction. the findings from the study contribute to the consideration for a study to examine the influence of employee motivation on job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace. olafsen and bentzen (2020) examined the relationship between psychological detachment and motivation and found a positive correlation exists between satisfaction, job recovery, and motivation. bruning and campion (2018) examined the role of job redesign and the impact on performance. the study, which identified the factors influencing the job design process, addressed the question of whether job redesign is influenced by intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. additionally, several researchers that have examined similar constructs found a positive correlation exists between job design, job satisfaction, and motivation (mortimer & o'connor, 2014; singh & tiwari, 2011; taylor, 2014) in the workplace. therefore, it is apparent that motivation, job design, and job satisfaction studies have been significant in understanding organizational behavior in the workplace. several studies have examined these topics separately; however, limited studies have made the connection between employee motivation, job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace. this research study focused on the use of quantitative research method and a non-experimental correlational design to investigate the correlation between employee motivation, a dependent 62 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal variable, job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction (independent variables) among civilian employees of the department of defense (dod) located in washington, d.c., united states. the correlational design employed the use of a 15-item questionnaire measured on a 6point likert scale (balasubramanian, 2012; zaman et al., 2020) to collect data from participants. the sample size was determined through the use of two distinct determinants in g*power; the correlation point biserial model with cohen's effect size, and the fixed model r² with fisher's effect size (𝑓𝑓²). the researcher estimated a priori decision effect size (p), fisher's effect size (𝑓𝑓²), and established the appropriate type i and type ii errors with a given α, and power (1-β err prob) for a two-tailed test (faul et al., 2009). prior to data collection and dissemination of questionnaires to participants, the researcher obtained approval from columbia southern university institutional review board (irb). the researcher adhered to the social behavior research standards identified by the belmont report of the u.s. department of health and human services (2018). the belmont report delineates ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research. the researcher ensured there were no harm or health risks to participants. the research data analysis consisted of four essential steps namely, (a) descriptive analysis, (b) reliability analysis, (c) exploratory data analysis, and (d) hypotheses testing. to limit type i error in hypotheses testing, a standard inferential testing α of .05 was established (lieberman & cunningham, 2009), while a power level of .95 was established to avoid a type ii error (cohen, 1992). the researcher considered the use of non-parametric tests for hypotheses testing based on the results from the test or normality. based on the non-linear results from the tests of normality, the researcher used the non-parametric spearman correlation coefficient (rₛ), kendall's tau correlation (τb), somers' delta (d), or the goodman and kruskal's gamma (g) to measure the correlation between the variables. the research study concluded with a summary of findings and conclusion, theoretical and managerial implications, and recommendations for future research. the background of the study, problem and purpose statements, research questions and hypotheses, advancing theoretical knowledge, application to business administration, and definition of terms are discussed in the introduction to the study. background of the study employees play an integral role in influencing organizational behavior, culture, and workplace dimensions, such as workflow processes, the tone at the top, teamwork, collaboration, decisionmaking, and performance, in the course of advancing organizational goals, and achieving outcomes (berdicchia et al., 2016; hassoo & akbay, 2020). the research study examined the role of employee motivation in understanding the interplay between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction. as such, the researcher assessed that the antecedent study of employee motivation may explain this relationship, in the same manner, that basic psychological needs, metacognitive abilities, emotional intelligence, and job redesign characteristics may explain the relationship between the variables under consideration. the examination of the relationship between employee motivation and job reengineering will provide private and public organizations with the ability to increase competitive advantage and maximize efficiencies. 63 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 based on the sdt (deci & ryan, 1985, 2000; ryan & deci, 2017; 2020), the researcher investigated the correlation between employee motivation, job reengineering, and the perception of employee satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod. the sdt provides a framework for investigating the role of employee motivation, and the correlational relationship with job reengineering, and perceived employee satisfaction. moreover, this research study used job reengineering and job redesign interchangeably. job reengineering represents an adaptive, proactive, and collaborative effort between employees, supervisors, and the organization, and provides firms with the opportunity to change job functions, job characteristics, improve organizational efficiency, and enhance a person-job fit (berdicchia et al., 2016; holman & axtell, 2016). this research study follows the recommendations for future research proposed by olafsen and bentzen (2020) "as this is the first known study to examine the interplay between autonomous work motivation and psychological detachment, it is, of course, necessary for the study to be replicated with other samples" (p. 9). similarly, this study follows the recommendations of earl et al. (2019) that "leaves open avenues for future research to replicate the study with other jobs, industries, and cultures" (p. 43). furthermore, this study incorporates bruning and campion (2018) recommendation that "future research should consider specific occupations to reduce the error associated with different work requirements and conditions" (p. 519). moreover, the findings from this research may serve as a focal point in developing human capital strategies to boost productivity, increase efficiencies, and improve employee performance. problem statement this research study focused on investigating the correlation between employee motivation, job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction among the civilian employees of the dod located in washington, d.c., united states. several studies have examined these topics separately; however, limited studies have made the connection between employee motivation, job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction. in a study to examine the relationship between psychological detachment and motivation among employees at intensive firms (n = 239), olafsen and bentzen (2020) found a strong relationship exists between satisfaction, job recovery, and motivation. in a study to examine the relationship between work satisfaction and job characteristics among sales engineers from a u.s.‐based workplace (n = 111,421), earl et al. (2019) found a moderate relationship exists between job satisfaction and job design. in a study to examine the role of job crafting, enrichment, engagement, and performance among working adults in the united states (n = 323), bruning and campion (2018) found a strong relationship exists between job design and job performance. in a study to examine the role of motivation on job satisfaction (n = 677), breaugh et al. (2018) found a strong relationship exists between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and job satisfaction. this research study follows the recommendations for future research proposed by olafsen and bentzen (2020) "as this is the first known study to examine the interplay between autonomous work motivation and psychological detachment, it is, of course, necessary for the study to be replicated with other samples" (p. 9). similarly, this study follows the recommendations of earl et al. (2019) that "leaves open avenues for future research to replicate the study with other jobs, industries, and cultures" (p. 43). furthermore, this study incorporates bruning and campion (2018) recommendation that "future research should consider specific occupations to reduce the error associated with different work requirements and 64 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal conditions" (p. 519). these antecedent gaps in research led to the basis for the study. the problem under consideration is relevant because it will enhance human resource managers' understanding of the impact of employee motivation on job design, planning, training, and the development of programs poised to improve skills utilization, efficiency, and productivity. the problem under consideration is significant because the study of motivation plays a pivotal role in managing human capital and understanding organizational behavior in the workplace. no current research that has examined the impact of employee motivation on job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction could be located, and it is not known if and to what extent employee motivation influences job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace. purpose statement the purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between employee motivation, job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction among the civilian employees of the dod located in washington, d.c., united states. the research study focused on the use of quantitative, correlational research design to investigate employee motivation, job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction. this research study may provide senior executives, human resources professionals, and business managers with competitive advantage on understanding the framework surrounding motivation, and the factors influencing job redesign, and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace. the findings may provide empirical support for understanding the significance of employee behavior and provide new insights into skills utilization, talent, and performance management. the study may provide a competitive advantage to senior executives, human resources professionals, and business managers on ways to further integrate the framework surrounding motivation, and assess the factors influencing job redesign, and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace. furthermore, the findings may offer empirical support for the understanding of employee behavior and provide new insights into the management of skills utilization, talent acquisition, and performance enhancement. research questions and hypotheses the three research questions and hypotheses that guided the study were as follows: rq1: what is the relationship between employee motivation and job reengineering among civilian employees of the dod? h1o: there is no significant relationship between employee motivation and job reengineering among civilian employees of the dod. h1a: there is a significant relationship between employee motivation and job reengineering among civilian employees of the dod. rq2: what is the relationship between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod? 65 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 h2o: there is no significant relationship between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod. h2a: there is a significant relationship between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod. rq3: what is the relationship between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod? h3o: there is no significant relationship between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod. h3a: there is a significant relationship between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod. advancing theoretical knowledge this research study advances and contributes to the sdt of motivation. deci and ryan (1985) developed to provide a broad framework for understanding factors influencing intrinsic motivation, job satisfaction, psychological wellness, and all issues of direct relevance to individual growth. prior studies that have used the sdt to examine the role of motivation, job satisfaction, job redesign, and job performance assessed that motivation plays a significant role in understanding organizational behavior, the utilization of employee skills, and the achievement of organizational goals (abós et al., 2019; alwerthan et al., 2018; breaugh et al., 2018; sheeran et al., 2020). this research study contributes to the current understanding of the role of motivation in the workplace and provides support for mitigating organizational challenges relating to job reengineering and the perception of employees' job satisfaction. the empirical study of ryan and deci (2020), which examined intrinsic and extrinsic motivation poised that the comparative study of motivation provides researchers the ability to identify the eudaimonia to motivation. this research study contributes to the use of the sdt and responds to the lack of research into the role of job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction (al-musadieqet al., 2019). while existing researches have demonstrated that intrinsic motivation can increase task performance, shin and grant (2019) examined the role of intrinsic motivation on job redesign task. the study, which utilized the sdt, surmised that high intrinsic motivation in one task reduces performance on less intrinsically motivating tasks. this research study relates to the work of shin and grant (2019) and focuses on providing support for the use of skills utilization in job reengineering, assessing employee-job fit, and efficiency in the workplace. the meta-analysis of steingut et al. (2017), which utilized the sdt to examine the effects of autonomous motivation and performance outcomes (perceived competence, satisfaction, and perceived relatedness) suggested that motivation affects the level of desired output in productivity, performance, and satisfaction level. this research relates to the work of steingut et al. (2017) and may be used to explore areas of theoretical interest in the meta-analysis of intrinsic motivation. this research study may provide further empirical support relevant to the use of the sdt in investigating the influence of employee motivation on job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace. 66 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal application to business administration business managers, policy development officer, business strategists, and human resources managers may benefit from the investigation of the influence of employee motivation on job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace. human resources and business strategists may be able to use the research findings as a pivotal point in developing organizational, and management strategies for talent acquisition, retention, training, turnover reduction, and productivity maximization. business managers of corporations and government agencies may use the research findings in formulating strategies for improving policies for employee development and retention performance, workflow processes, and work design. organizational leaders within government agencies, corporations, and small businesses may use the findings to formulate strategies to improve performance, job redesign processes, and efficiencies. the findings may be used as a focal point for establishing lean organizational efficiencies, understanding a person-job fit, and formulating strategies poised to enhance competitive advantage and dynamic workforce. definition of terms the following terms were used throughout the study: cognitive ability. the mental acuity involved in the acquisition and application of knowledge, including understanding, processing, and learning that represents an individual's ability to acquire and sort through various information from the environment (alcover & topa, 2018). emotional intelligence. the ability to perceive one's emotion, and that of others, and the ability to understand the meaning of these emotions, and regulate emotions (kidwell et al., 2020; neil, 2019). employee motivation. the level of energy, commitment, persistence, and creativity employee demonstrate on the job (van tuin et al., 2020). extrinsic motivation. feeling of being controlled with a sense of pressure (gagné & deci, 2005). intrinsic motivation. endorsing one's actions at the highest level of reflection, acting with a sense of volition, and having the experience of choice (lynch et al., 2020). job design. actions employees take to change the task, relation, or cognitive boundaries of a job (wang et al., 2020). job reengineering or job redesign. an organizational or individual initiative that is poised to modify the level of available demands and resources to improve a person-job fit (berdicchia et al., 2016). 67 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 job satisfaction. the pleasurable or positive attitude resulting from the overall positive evaluation of one's job or work experiences (tziner et al., 2012). perception. the process by which things, events, and relationships become phenomenally present and real (hochberg, 1956; koen et al., 2020; zhang, et al., 2020). perception of job satisfaction. the degree to which an employee believes in a positive feeling about his or her job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics(cullen et al., 2014). physical abilities. the degree to which an individual performs a physical act involving the use of the body and includes the use of strength, stamina, flexibility, coordination, and psychomotor abilities such as control precision, and finger dexterity (dodig et al., 2020; georgiev, 2019). self-determination theory. a theoretical framework that offers the assumption that human beings are active social agents that take in life experiences in social contexts and integrate these with their sense of self, thus making meaning and developing a more unified sense of self-identity (deci and ryan, 1985, 2000; ryan & deci, 2017, 2020). literature review the study of motivation has been significant in understanding the dimensions of workflow processes, the tone at the top, team dynamics, decision-making, performance measurement, and in advancing organizational goals (berdicchia et al., 2016; hassoo & akbay, 2020). the investigation of the correlation between employee motivation and job reengineering may provide private and public organizations with the opportunity to increase competitive advantage and maximize efficiencies. theoretical foundations the theoretical foundation for this study is rooted in the self-determination theory (sdt) of deci and ryan (1985). the sdt presents a broad framework for understanding factors influencing intrinsic motivation, job satisfaction, psychological wellness, and all issues of direct relevance to individual growth. the sdt, developed as a traditional empirical approach to understanding motivation and personality, employs an organismic meta-theory that highlights the role of intrinsic motivation in personality development and behavioral self-regulation (deci & ryan, 1985). since conception, however, the sdt has been re-evaluated, modified, and enhanced to incorporate extrinsic motivation (ryan & deci, 2017, 2020). the self-determination theory of motivation the sdt conceptualizes that motivation is based on the pursuit and satisfaction of psychological needs, autonomy, competence, relatedness (deci & ryan, 1985). the initial application of the sdt suggested that working toward maximal self-determination should be a central organizing principle for members of the workforce, and the results of the initial application indicated that self 68 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal determination constructs, autonomy, competencies, and relatedness enhance organizational effectiveness and employee growth (deci & ryan, 1985). the sdt purports that three physiological attributes, (a) autonomy, (b) competences, and (c) relatedness are distinct human needs influencing human and organizational behavior, employee well-being, growth, productivity, and development in the workplace (alwerthan et al., 2018; deci & ryan 2000; ryan & deci, 2017, 2020). therefore, intrinsic motivation within the context of the sdt can be achieved through the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs (deci & ryan, 2000). this study focuses on utilizing the physiological constructs of the sdt to investigate the correlation between employee motivation (intrinsic), job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction among the civilian employees of the dod. the study of employee motivation (intrinsic) may contribute to how the constructs of the sdt applies to metacognitive abilities, and job redesign characteristics. this study assessed that the desire for autonomy, which provides employees with the flexibility of addressing specific aspects of job-related objectives relates to performance or expected outcomes (the nature of job design or job reengineering). competency provides employees with the ability to project an outcome leading to scalable job satisfaction level (perceived job satisfaction and metacognitive abilities). relatedness, which pertains to the ability of an employee to integrate within the workforce and build sustainable relationships, leads to a higher satisfaction level (motivation). the sdt applies to the study under consideration, aligns with the research question and hypotheses, and provides a theoretical construct for investigating the research problem. review of the literature the researcher examined the contributions of current empirical research to employee motivation (intrinsic motivation), and extrinsic motivation, job reengineering (job redesign), and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace. the researcher extended the focus of recent empirical research to include sub-themes, such as the characteristics of job reengineering (job rotation, job enrichment, and job enlargement), metacognitive aspects of job reengineering (cognitive abilities, emotional intelligence, physical abilities, and psychomotor abilities), job design, and the perception of job satisfaction. additionally, the review of literature includes the research methodology, design, and instrumentation. employee motivation employee motivation is the level of energy, commitment, persistence, and creativity demonstrated on the job by an employee (van tuin et al., 2020). chen et al. (2020) expanded on the definition of employee motivation and defined it as undertaking an activity due to its alignment with one's values, goals, or identities. intrinsic and extrinsic motivations are pivotal central milestones to the sdt (gagne & deci, 2005). the sdt introduces a continuum of motivational orientations and incorporates intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (gagne & deci, 2005; ryan & deci, 2017; 2020). 69 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 intrinsic motivation intrinsic employee motivation is promising in the workplace as it is relatively consistent with an individual's psychological need for autonomy (ryan & deci, 2000). intrinsic motivation serves as a function of an individual's value and goal influenced by an organization's objectives. intrinsic motivation involves endorsing one's actions at the highest level of reflection, acting with a sense of volition, and having the experience of choice or the perception of satisfaction (chen, et al., 2020). the identification of intrinsic motivation can provide firms with the ability to mitigate agency problems, reducing the need for monitoring while yielding higher satisfaction and productivity (daud, 2020; shakil, 2020). grounded in the sdt, lynch et al. (2020) investigated the factors influencing motivation and psychological needs (n = 115) and found that intrinsic motivation is influenced by need satisfaction when needs are fulfilled in a particular context. grounded in the sdt, the empirical research of chen et al. (2020) investigated the role of employee intrinsic motivation on management control system design (n = 468). the results of the analysis of variance r² = .25, p < .001, cronbach α = .91 were statistically significant and showed employee motivation is positively associated with effort, individual performance, and creativity and negatively associated with turnover intentions. çirak and erol (2020) investigated the factors influencing motivation (n = 336) and found that intrinsic motivation is affected by need satisfaction when needs are fulfilled in a particular context. the results of the multivariate analysis of variance were statistically significant, f(6.323) = 4.882, r² =.083, p < .05. extrinsic motivation contrast to intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation involves a feeling of being controlled with a sense of pressure (gagné & deci, 2005). extrinsic rewards refer to financial and non-financial rewards offered by organizations to their employees to promote a specific behavior (malik et al., 2019). the antecedent studies of extrinsic rewards induce extrinsic motivation (deci & ryan 2000; ryan & deci, 2017, 2020). following its conception, the intrinsic construct of the sdt has been modified to incorporate extrinsic motivation across multiple domains (çirak & erol, 2020; gagné & deci, 2005, ryan & deci, 2020). job reengineering or job redesign reengineering is a fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes, leading to a dramatic improvement according to the critical contemporary measures of achieving results (rab & rab, 2016). reengineering as an essential aspect of business architecture and the business modeling process aims to improve the performance of an organization by introducing technical reorganization of job and task function (hackman & oldman, 1975). reengineering is realized primarily by integrating new information technologies that conceptualize the orgasmic construct of the job characteristics model, while replacing the traditional forms of workplace processes within the organization (okolo et al., 2018). additionally, reengineering serves as a way of economizing the productivity and efficiency, which may result in a high level of 70 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal job satisfaction, autonomy, and employee engagement, or if not carefully restructured, may result in unemployment (kalinina et al., 2020). job reengineering is an organizational or individual initiative poised to modify the level of available demands and resources to improve an employee-job fit (berdicchia et al., 2016). tims and bakker (2010) extended the definition to include an organizational or employee-driven process through which job functions or job characteristics are changed to enhance individual needs, workflow processes, productivity, and efficiency. job reengineering is designed to fit, size, or resize employees by increasing task diversity and job responsibility to motivate employees, increase job satisfaction, and productivity, organizational citizenship, and efficiency (cote, 2019). job reengineering is linked to the self-determination theory based on the increase in the intrinsic factors such as increased job responsibility (autonomy), a feeling of accomplishment or achievement (relatedness), and ability to grow with the job tasks related to jobs (competence). these factors help increase motivation, the perception of job satisfaction, improved work performance, and reduced attrition. job reengineering based on the jcm (hackman & oldham, 1975) is intrinsically related to the need for autonomy construct in the sdt (ryan & deci, 2017). the implementation of the five essential job characteristics constructs in the job reengineering process, job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment (cote, 2019) provide an opportunity to motivate employees. pila-ngarm and siengthai (2016) assert that job reengineering, motivation, and teamwork are positively related to productivity. the findings of guo et al. (2014) showed that a strong relationship exists between job satisfaction and high-involvement work practices, and employee satisfaction can increase participation in high-involvement practices. additionally, the study indicated that job satisfaction was positively associated with work design involvement, which required high problem-solving skill levels for job rotation plans. job reengineering provides an avenue to innovation and it creates a different job within the context of defined jobs, redefines job duties through tasks, and presents relational boundaries of the job, job identities, and the meaning of the work (okolo et al., 2018; rab & rab, 2016; tullar, 1998). job reengineering alters physical task boundaries by changing the form, scope, or quantity of tasks, modifies cognitive task boundaries, and adjusts relational boundaries to change the quality and/or the frequency of interactions with persons at the job. this research study assesses that job reengineering conceptualizes the job design model (hackman & oldham, 1975) and the sdt, meta-cognitive demand, competence, skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. metacognitive aspects to job reengineering cognitive, emotional, and physical abilities influence the manner of redesigning jobs to fit and accommodate employees without relevant skill sets to perform job functions as assigned. cognitive, emotional, and physical abilities play a significant role in ensuring that a person-job fit improves workplace productivity, and organizational effectiveness (hernaus et al., 2019). these abilities allow the job redesign process to reduce job complexities, increase employees' autonomy, job perception, job knowledge, and job skills (fisher et al., 2014). 71 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 emotions are important in understanding the behavior, attitudes, and actions in organizations. the display of motions can result in physiological and behavioral impacts in the workplace (chen et al., 2020), and can take the form of positive or negative emotions. positive and negative aspects of emotions have the propensity to influence organizational behavior, culture, and dimensions such as employees, workflow processes, the tone at the top, teamwork, collaboration, decision-making, and performance. overall, this subsection supports the discussion that cognitive, emotional, and physical abilities relating to accommodating employees without relevant abilities to improve a person-job fit, enhance workplace productivity, effectiveness, skill-building, performance, job redesign, and job satisfaction. cognitive abilities or emotional intelligence emotional ability or emotional intelligence refers to the human ability that affects the perception, interpretation, and understanding of social functioning, and the skills for processing emotion-laden information (kidwell et al., 2020). neil (2019) extended the definition and described emotional ability as a mental ability relating to an individual's emotional experience. the emotional ability or intelligence represents an individual's ability to recognize behaviors, impulses, reactions, and moods in a situation. emotional ability creates a state of readiness for action by prompting distinct behavioral responses within the individual's environment. within the workplace, employees with high emotional abilities utilize norms with more developed feelings in communication, while employees with lower emotional abilities utilize norms with less expressive feelings to communicate. beyond individual choices, emotional ability plays a significant role in relational interaction within the workplace and promotes success in job redesign. lopes (2016) noted that emotional ability or intelligence enables an organization to reduce the negative effects such as anxiety, depression, stress, and mood swing associated with job redesign to improve job performance and productivity. within the job redesign process, the components of emotional ability; emotional perception, emotional understanding, emotional facilitation, and emotion management (neil, 2019), provide the ability to accommodate employees without relevant abilities. in redesigning jobs, these four areas of emotional ability within employees are assessed to match job rotation, job enrichment, and job enlargement process, and facilitate a person-job fit. physical abilities physical ability describes the degree to which an individual performs a physical act involving the use of the body and includes the use of strength, stamina, flexibility, coordination (georgiev, 2019), and psychomotor abilities such as control precision, and finger dexterity (dodig et al., 2020). physical abilities play a significant role in redesigning jobs to fit employees with specific disabilities, mobility or health issues, physical impairments, older population, and employees with a higher rate of cognitive decline within the workforce (fisher et al., 2014). job redesign processes may incorporate the dimension of physical abilities by designing activity-based workspaces and remote work (candido et al., 2019), reengineering jobs to eliminate certain physical requirements such as weight restriction, providing reasonable accommodation for the use of electric scooters for employees with mobility or physical challenges. 72 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal emotions emotion refers to the overt reactions of the state of mind that express feelings about events or situations, or a physiological and cognitive state that results from stimulation (ihtiyaroglu, 2019; şchiopu, 2015). eketu and ayondu (2017) describe the emotion as a strong feeling of distinctive thoughts, psychological and biological states, with a range of propensity to act. emotion is a state of mind that allows an individual to react positively or negatively to situations, events, or in a decision-making process. positive emotions stem from a range of workplace fulfillment such as job security, promotion, high level of performance, and achievement (demirbag et al., 2016; ihtiyaroglu, 2019). however, negative emotions stem from a range of workplace issues such as interpersonal conflict, work overload, burnout, and emotional exhaustion (jaramillo et al., 2011). the display of motions relates to the relatedness construct of the sdt (ryan & deci, 2020), which may result in physiological and behavioral impacts in the workplace (chen et al., 2020), and can take the form of positive or negative emotions. positive emotions serve as a strategic tool for improving goal attainment in social interaction, (wong et al., 2013), lowering attrition, encouraging employee's intent to continue working (şchiopu, 2015), and fostering a great working environment. perception of job satisfaction employee satisfaction is highly influenced by the individual's beliefs, attitude, and perception of the job (kumedzro, 2018). perception is the process by which things, events, and relationships become phenomenally present and real (hochberg, 1956; koen et al., 2020; zhang, et al., 2020), and the perception of job satisfaction refers to the degree to which an employee believes in a positive feeling about his or her job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics (cullen et al., 2014). tziner et al. (2019) argued that the perception of job satisfaction culminates from an employee's positive or negative feeling because of the overall positive evaluation of job role, job duties, work experiences, and work environment. ryan and deci (2017, 2020) poised that job satisfaction can be linked to intrinsic factors of motivation deriving from internally mediated rewards related to the essence of the job. similarly, this research study assessed that the perception of job satisfaction arising from intrinsic motivational qualities such as seriousness in work, rate of interest to the job, job importance, responsibility, self-esteem, and self-control may be linked to how jobs are redesigned in the workplace. tziner et al. (2019) investigated the factors influencing emotional intelligence, work motivation, and job satisfaction in the workplace motivation and found that a strong relationship exists between job satisfaction and motivation to work. the results of the study were statistically significant n = 3,293, α = 0.96, p < 0.05. kumedzro (2018) investigated the perception of job satisfaction and retention among employees in the workplace and found that a strong relationship exists between the perception of job satisfaction and employee retention. the results of the study, which utilized the one-way analysis of variance to compare the perceptions of the three different groups were statistically significant n = 140, f(2, 137) = 0.353, p > 0.05. the sdt asserts that employee satisfaction is an important source of employee motivation, and the motivational factors constructs such as autonomy, competence, and relatedness are related to the 73 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 perception of job satisfaction (deci & ryan 1985, 2000). kumedzro (2018) argued that the perception of job satisfaction reflects how content an employee feels in his or her job role, which is an indicator of work-related well-being. furthermore, the perception of job satisfaction plays a critical role in employee retention and maintaining a sustainable level of attrition in the workplace. chi-sum wong et al. (1998) opined that the evaluation of perceived job satisfaction from the employee's perspective fosters positive behavioral and attitudinal outcomes that promote professional commitment, organizational citizenship, and job involvement. oldman and hackman (2010) argued that overall job attitudes, of which job satisfaction is one, will initiate a rationalizing process through which employees understand their roles by cognitively constructing characteristics of their job that are consistent with the workplace objectives. job perception is the effect of job satisfaction rather than the cause. according to james et al. (1978), james and jones (1980), and james and tetrick (1986), employees form job perception by assigning unique meanings to work situations based on their jobs and other relevant situational attributes. attitudes are formulated based on these perceptions and employees adjust the assignment of meanings if inconsistencies exist between their perception of the job and attitudes. this process is an interactive social learning adjustment process poised to maintain consistencies between perception and attitudes (james & tetrick 1986). based on this analogy, this research argues that job perception and job satisfaction may be reciprocally related. methodology this research study focused on the use of a quantitative research method to investigate the correlation between motivation (dependent variable), job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction (independent variables) among civilian employees of the dod. the quantitative research method refers to a scientific approach, emphasizes, and focuses on quantification, collection, and analysis of data by testing theories, hypotheses, and making accurate inferences and generalizability of the study under investigation (yue & xu, 2019). the quantitative research method uses a deductive approach that relies on statistical techniques and systematic measurements to test hypotheses, determine the correlation between variables, draw scientific conclusions, and generalize findings to a larger population (yue & xu, 2019). in contrast, the qualitative research method is an inductive approach that focuses on phenomena and utilizes unstructured or semi-structured techniques, such as observation, notetaking, document review, audio, and visual materials, and interviews to interact with participants, explore human behavior and understand social phenomena in a naturally occurring environment (creswell & creswell, 2018; koutiva et al., 2017). lenger (2019) explained the qualitative research method as a phenomenological approach that observes patterns and participants, studies human and social behavior, collects and documents evidence, and examines the social phenomenon in a naturally occurring setting. the qualitative research method serves as a phenomenological approach that observes patterns, documents evidence, and examines the social phenomenon in a naturally occurring setting. as such, the use of the qualitative method is outside the scope of this study and was not an appropriate research method for consideration for the study. the quantitative method aligns with the study's research purpose, research questions, hypotheses, and variables, and it is a proper research method for investigating the relationship between the 74 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal dependent and independent variables (zhang et al., 2019). the quantitative method examines the narrowly defined research questions by utilizing a scientific method to select samples and collect data from a population, and a statistical method to analyze data, and generalize findings to a larger population (borrego et al., 2009). additionally, previous researchers have demonstrated that a quantitative method is appropriate in investigating the relationship between motivation, job satisfaction, and job design (al-musadieq et al., 2019; edinger & edinger, 2018; nowlin et al., 2018; tao & campbell, 2020; westover et al., 2020). as such, a quantitative method was an appropriate method for the study. research design this quantitative research study focused on the use of non-experimental correlational research design to investigate the dependent (employee motivation) and independent variables (job reengineering and perceived job satisfaction). the correlational design employed the use of a 15item questionnaire measured on a 6-point likert scale to collect data from participants (balasubramanian, 2012; zaman et al., 2020). according to kamarposhti and bagheri (2015), a questionnaire is a standard method to collect field data and test hypotheses in quantitative research. a questionnaire is a common data collection method used in examining motivation, job design, and job satisfaction (bruning & campion, 2018; olafsen & bentzen, 2020; pila-ngarm & siengthai, 2017). the 6-point likert scale, which ranged from disagree very much, disagree moderately, disagree slightly, to agree slightly, agree moderately, and agree very much, were assessed on a cronbach's α scale to ensure consistency with an acceptable cronbach's α value (alwerthan et al., 2018; breaugh et al., 2018; chen et al., 2020; cronbach, 1951). the effect size of the correlation statistic, which represents the strength of the relationship between two variables was measured using the g*power. effect sizes of .10, .30, and .50 indicate a weak, moderate, or strong relationship respectively (cohen, 1988, 1992). population and sample selection in this quantitative, correlational study, the population consisted of civilian employees of the dod located in washington d.c., united states, and the sample, a sub-set and representative of the total population required a sample size between forty-two and forty-eight (42 > n ≤ 48) based on effect size p and fisher's effect size 𝑓𝑓² in g*power (figures 1 and 2). the dod is a leading employer of civilians in the united states. conducting a study within the organization would provide the opportunity to provide a greater understanding of the impact of intrinsic motivation on productivity and effectiveness. the researcher obtained approval from columbia southern university institutional review board (irb) before data collection occurs and disseminated the questionnaire to participants through electronic means while adhering to the social behavior research standards identified by the belmont report of the u.s. department of health and human services (2018). the belmont report delineates ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research. the researcher ensured there are no harm or health risks to participants, and all ethical 75 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 standards addressing informed consent, transparency, harm to participants, and confidentiality were observed and followed. additionally, the participants were required to read, acknowledge, and sign the informed consent form electronically before taking the survey. sampling method and sample size determination sampling method the two types of sampling methods for selecting participants in a scientific inquiry are probability and non-probability sampling methods (setia, 2016).probability sampling is based on chance, while non-probability sampling is based on the researcher's choice, accessibility, and availability of the population. in scientific inquiries, probability and non-probability sampling methods have been used to select participants from the total population (setia, 2016). probability sampling methods include random, systematic, cluster, and stratified sampling methods, while nonprobability sampling methods include purposive sampling, convenience sampling, or quota sampling (valerio et al., 2016). this research study adopts the use of non-probability convenience sampling. this study adopted the use of non-probability convenience sampling method, and the participants selected will be representative of the entire population. the non-probability convenience sampling is the easiest method of sampling because participants will be selected based on availability and willingness to take part in the survey (daneshjoovash & hosseini, 2019; gerlich et al., 2018; valerio et al., 2016). furthermore, the results of non-probability convenience sampling may be prone to bias because the number of voluntary participants and sample size may be different from non-participants. this can lead to volunteer bias and the sample may be viewed as nonrepresentative of population characteristics, such as age, marital status, income, or gender (daneshjoovash & hosseini, 2019). the researcher acknowledged volunteer bias based on the number of participants and the unknown number non-participants within the same population. volunteer bias occurs when the population characteristics of non-participants such as age, race, marital status, gender, or income, which may adversely influence the outcome of a study are not included in a survey (daneshjoovash & hosseini, 2019). however, this study did not consider the use of moderating variables or population characteristics, such as age, race, marital status, income, or gender, and as such, the researcher purported that volunteer-bias did not influence the study. sample size determination sample sizes ranging between forty-two and forty-eight (figures 1 and 2) were determined through the use of two distinct determinants in g*power; the correlation point biserial model to determine the cohen's effect size and the fixed model r² to determine the fisher's effect size (𝑓𝑓²). the researcher estimated a priori decision effect size (p), fisher's effect size (𝑓𝑓²), and established 76 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal the appropriate type i and type ii errors with a given α, and power (1-β err prob) for a two-tailed test (faul et al., 2009). according to lieberman and cunningham (2009), a type i error occurs in statistical analysis when the alternative hypothesis (false positive) is accepted with no true effect, while a type ii error relates to rejecting the null hypothesis when a true effect occurs. to limit type i error, a standard inferential testing α of .05 is established (lieberman & cunningham, 2009), while a power level of .95 was established to avoid a type ii error (cohen, 1992). large effect size using a large priori decision effect size 𝑓𝑓² = .5, α = .05, a power (1-β err prob) = .95, and a large fisher's priori effect size 𝑓𝑓² = .35, α = .05, a power (1-β err prob) = .95 with two predictors, sample sizes ranging from forty-two and forty-eight were determined (figures 1 and 2). figure 1 a two-tailed priori sample size calculation, correlation point biserial model using g*power (large effect size p = .5) 77 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 figure 2 a two-tailed priori sample size calculation, fixed model r2 using g*power (large effect size f2 = 0.35) data analysis and results this quantitative, correlational research study focused on investigating the correlation between employee motivation, job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod located in washington d.c., united states. the researcher used a nonexperimental correlational design to develop a 15-item questionnaire for data collection. a total of sixty-three (63) participants completed the survey; however, eight (8) surveys were found to be incomplete and not analyzed. a total of fifty-five (55) completed surveys were analyzed for the study. additionally, the survey did not consider the impact of moderating variables such as age, marital status, income, or race but highlights gender proportion during survey completion. the three research questions and hypotheses that guided this study were as follows: 78 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal rq1: what is the relationship between employee motivation and job reengineering among civilian employees of the dod? h1o: there is no significant relationship between employee motivation and job reengineering among civilian employees of the dod. h1a: there is a significant relationship between employee motivation and job reengineering among civilian employees of the dod. rq2: what is the relationship between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod? h2o: there is no significant relationship between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod. h2a: there is a significant relationship between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod. rq3: what is the relationship between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod? h3o: there is no significant relationship between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod. h3a: there is a significant relationship between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod. furthermore, this section outlines the data analysis procedures and presents statistical results in written, tabulated, and graphic formats. the data analysis procedure consisted of four steps namely (a) descriptive analysis (mean and standard deviation), (b) reliability analysis (cronbach's α assessment), (c) exploratory data analysis (outlier detection and normality tests), and (d) hypotheses testing for rq1, rq2, and rq3. data analysis procedures the data analysis procedures included four essential steps, (a) descriptive analysis, (b) reliability analysis, (c) exploratory data analysis, and (d) hypotheses testing for rq1, rq2, and rq3. the sample size was determined through the use of two distinct determinants in g*power; the correlation point biserial model for the cohen's effect size and the fixed model r2 for the fisher's effect size (𝑓𝑓²) for a two-tailed test. the researcher estimated a priori decision effect size (p), fisher's effect size (𝑓𝑓²), established a standard inferential testing α = .05 to limit type i error (lieberman & cunningham, 2009) and power (1-β err prob) = .95 to avoid a type ii error for a two-tailed test (faul et al., 2009). using a large priori decision effect size 𝑓𝑓² = .5, α = .05, a power (1-β err prob) = .95, and a large fisher's 79 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 priori effect size 𝑓𝑓² = .35, α = .05, a power (1-β err prob) = .95 with two predictors, sample sizes ranging from forty-two (42) to forty-eight (48) were determined (figures 1 and 2). descriptive analysis a total of sixty-three (63) participants completed the survey between march 2021; however, eight (8) surveys were found to be incomplete. a total of fifty-five (55) completed surveys were analyzed for the study. the researcher did not consider the impact of moderating variables such as age, marital status, race, or income. the use of descriptive analysis tables and figures allow the researcher to present relevant information such as mean, median, mode, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis of the distribution, and the total number of participants. descriptive analysis for participants and scales are shown in tables 1 and 2, and figures 3 through 5. table 1 descriptive statistics for participants scale n % mean median mode std dev skewness/kurtosis male 20 36 1.64 2.00 2 .485 (.583) / (1.724) female 35 64 1.87 2.00 2 .496 (.571) / (1.624) n = 55 table 2 descriptive statistics for scales scale mean std dev skewness skewness std error kurtosis kurtosis std error emp motiv 5.346 .329 -.007 .322 -.391 .634 job rengin 4.796 .424 .677 .322 .852 .634 per job sat 5.087 .409 -1.35 .322 .054 .634 n = 55 exploratory data analysis exploratory data analysis (eda) provides a variety of visual and numerical summaries of the data for the dependent and independent variables as a group or individually. the data from the eda identifies outlier, checks assumptions, and characterizes differences between variables. following reliability analysis assessment, the scales for the variables were formed by collapsing items following a priori dimension (buys et al., 2007; guay et al., 2000; hmieleski & corbett, 2008; 80 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal hackman & oldman, 1975; spector, 1985, 1997; tremblay et al., 2009), outliers were assessed, and the test of normality was performed. outlier detection and analysis outliers are single data points within the data that fail to follow a usual pattern. univariateor multivariate outliers influence the placement of the mean and the distribution of the variables and the use of a statistical tool such as scatterplots provide the ability to assess outliers in a data set (osborne & waters, 2002). additionally, no outlier ware found in the data set following the test for outlier (figures 3-5), which further showed that monotonic relationships exist between the variables indicating that as one variable increased or decreased, the other increased or decreased. furthermore, this showed conclusive evidence that the data set was non-linear and met the monotonicity assumption of non-parametric correlation. figure 3 scatterplot of employee motivation 81 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 figure 4 scatterplot of job reengineering figure 5 scatterplot of perception of job satisfaction 82 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal figure 6 boxplot of all scales tests of normality the test of normality for the data set was conducted using the kolmogorov-smirnov (lilliefors, 1967; steinskog et al., 2007) and the shapiro-wilk (aldor-noiman, 2013) tests. according to hanusz and tarasińska (2015), the kolmogorov–smirnov statistic for test of normality belongs to the subclass of goodness-of-fit statistics or the empirical distribution function statistics, which are based on comparison of the population cumulative distribution function fₙ(x) with the empirical cumulative distribution function fₙ(x). since the p-values from kolmogorov-smirnov and shapiro-wilk tests were less than .05, the scales did not show a pattern of normal distribution (tables 15). logarithmic and exponential transformations were performed to transform each variable; however, the variables could be statistically transformed to follow a normal distribution. as such, the original data was used for hypotheses testing. 83 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 table 3 kolmogorov-smirnov and shapiro-wilk tests of normality scale df k-s sig shapiro-wilk p-value employee motivation 55 <.001 .001 .042 job reengineering 55 <.001 .001 .005 perception job satisfaction 55 .021 .001 .024 n = 55 hypotheses testing following the non-linearity of the data set, the researcher considered the use of non-parametric tests for hypotheses testing. as previously discussed, parametric or nonparametric tests may be used for hypotheses testing based on the results of the tests of normality and data transformation. the pearson correlation may be used to predict the correlation between the dependent and independent variables if the data set for h1, h2, and h3 are normally distributed. however, if one of the data sets was non-linear, the researcher may use non-parametric spearman correlation coefficient (rₛ), kendall's tau correlation (τb), somers' delta (d), or the goodman and kruskal's gamma (g) to measure the correlation between the variables. based on the tests of normality, the data set showed the variables for h1, h2, and h3 were nonlinear and met the assumptions of non-parametric tests. as such, the use of non-parametric tests, such as the spearman correlation (astivia & zumbo, 2017), kendall's tau correlation (blest, 1999), somers' delta (nelson, 1984; newson, 2002), and the goodman and kruskal's gamma (gans & robertson, 1981; kvålseth, 2018) were appropriate for the study. table 4 shows the pvalues and non-parametric test results (rₛ, τb, d, and g) for the variables. 84 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 4 non-parametric test results for all variables scale spearman kendall somers goodman kruskal rs pvalue τb p-value d p-value g p-value employee motivation & job reengineering .644** .003 .609 .002 .738 <.001 .513 <.001 employee motivation & perceived job satisfaction .523 .001 .541 .001 .547 <.001 .597 <.001 job reengineering & perceived job satisfaction .599** .003 .519** .002 .757 <.001 .692 <.001 n = 55 **. correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). results rq1: employee motivation and job reengineering spearman correlation was used to determine the correlation between employee motivation and job reengineering among the civilian employees of the dod. the results showed a strong and positive correlation exists between employee motivation and job reengineering, which is statistically significant rₛ (53) = .644, p = .003, 95% ci [5.256, 5.435], (table 4). overall, there is a strong and positive correlation between employee motivation and job reengineering, and since the data set shows no missing values or presence of outliers, it is inferred that increases in employee motivation are correlated with job reengineering. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative hypothesis. kendall's correlation was used to determine the correlation between employee motivation and job reengineering among the civilian employees of the dod. the results showed a strong and positive correlation exists between employee motivation and job reengineering, which is statistically significant τb = .609, p = .002, 95% ci [5.256, 5.435], (table 4). overall, there is a strong and positive correlation between employee motivation and job reengineering, and since the data set 85 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 shows no missing values or presence of outliers, it is inferred that increases in employee motivation are correlated with job reengineering. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative hypothesis. somers' d test was used to determine the correlation between employee motivation and job reengineering among the civilian employees of the dod. the results showed a strong and positive correlation exists between employee motivation and job reengineering, which is statistically significant d = .738, p < .001, 95% ci [5.256, 5.435], (table 4). overall, there is a strong and positive correlation between employee motivation and job reengineering, and since the data set shows no missing values or presence of outliers, it is inferred that increases in employee motivation are correlated with job reengineering. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative hypothesis. goodman kruskal's gamma test was used to determine the correlation between employee motivation and job reengineering among the civilian employees of the dod. the results showed a strong and positive correlation exists between employee motivation and job reengineering, which is statistically significant g = .513, p < .001, 95% ci [5.256, 5.435], (table 4). therefore, the correlation between employee motivation and job reengineering is statistically significant. overall, a strong and positive correlation exists between employee motivation, job reengineering, and since the data set shows no missing values or presence of outliers, it is inferred that increases in employee motivation are correlated with job reengineering. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative hypothesis. rq2: employee motivation and perception of job satisfaction spearman's correlation was used to determine the correlation between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction among the civilian employees of the dod. the results showed a strong and positive correlation exists between employee motivation and job reengineering, which is statistically significant rₛ (53) = .523, p = .001, 95% ci [4.682, 4.911], (table 4). overall, there is a strong and positive correlation between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction, and since the data set shows no missing values or presence of outliers; it is inferred that increases in employee motivation are correlated with the perception of job satisfaction. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative hypothesis. kendall's correlation was used to determine the correlation between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction among the civilian employees of the dod. the results showed a strong and positive correlation exists between employee motivation and job reengineering, which is statistically significant τb = .541, p = .001, 95% ci [4.682, 4.911], (table 4). overall, there is a strong and positive correlation between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction, and since the data set shows no missing values or presence of outliers, it is inferred that increases in employee motivation are correlated with the perception of job satisfaction. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative hypothesis. somers' d test was used to determine the correlation between correlation employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction among the civilian employees of the dod. the results showed a strong and positive correlation exists between employee motivation and job reengineering, which 86 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal is statistically significant d = .547, p < .001, 95% ci [4.682, 4.911], (table 4). overall, there is a strong and positive correlation between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction, and since the data set shows no missing values or presence of outliers, it is inferred that increases in employee motivation are correlated with the perception of job satisfaction. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative hypothesis. goodman kruskal's gamma test was used to determine the correlation between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction among the civilian employees of the dod. the results showed a strong and positive correlation exists between employee motivation and job reengineering, which is statistically significant g = .597, p < .001, 95% ci [4.682, 4.911], (table 4). overall, there is a strong and positive correlation between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction, and since the data set shows no missing values or presence of outliers, it is inferred that increases in employee motivation are correlated with the perception of job satisfaction. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative hypothesis. rq3: job reengineering and perception of job satisfaction spearman's correlation was used to determine the correlation between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction among the civilian employees of the dod. the results showed a strong and positive correlation exists between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction, which is statistically significant rₛ (53) = .599, p = .003, 95% ci [4.977, 5.198], (table 4). overall, there is a strong and positive correlation between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction, and since the data set shows no missing values or presence of outliers, it is inferred that increases in job reengineering are correlated with the perception of job satisfaction. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative hypothesis. kendall's correlation was used to determine the correlation between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction among the civilian employees of the dod. the results showed a strong and positive correlation exists between employee motivation and job reengineering, which is statistically significant τb = .519, p = .002, 95% ci [4.977, 5.198], (table 16). overall, there is a strong and positive correlation between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction, and since the data set shows no missing values or presence of outliers, it is inferred that increases in job reengineering are correlated with the perception of job satisfaction. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative hypothesis. somers' d test was used to determine the correlation between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction among the civilian employees of the dod. the results showed a strong and positive correlation exists between employee motivation and job reengineering, which is statistically significant d = .757, p < .001, 95% ci [4.977, 5.198], (table 4). overall, there is a strong and positive correlation between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction and since the data set shows no missing values or presence of outliers, it is inferred that increases in job reengineering are correlated with the perception of job satisfaction. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative hypothesis. goodman kruskal's gamma test was used to determine the correlation between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction among the civilian employees of the dod. the results 87 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 showed a strong and positive correlation exists between employee motivation and job reengineering, which is statistically significant g = .692, p < .001, 95% ci [4.977, 5.198], (table 4). overall, there is a strong and positive correlation between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction and since the data set shows no missing values or presence of outliers, it is inferred that increases in job reengineering are correlated with the perception of job satisfaction. therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected in favor of the alternative hypothesis. summary, conclusions, and recommendations this study is significant in its practical and theoretical implications to public and private organizations, particularly within government agencies. business managers, policy development officer, business strategists, and human resources managers of private and government enterprises may benefit from the investigation of the correlation between employee motivation, job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace, and use the findings to improve efficiencies and develop strategies to foster and maintain effective collaboration and reduce turnover. organizational leaders, business managers, executives, decision-makers, and human resources professionals may use the findings as a focal point in developing human capital strategies to enhance output levels, job autonomy, improve job specialization, organizational commitment, and increase organizational citizenship. business leaders and human capital strategists may use the findings from this research to improve the job redesign process, enhance skill variety, task significance, and workplace collaboration, and employee commitment. additionally, human resources and business strategists may be able to use the research findings as a pivotal point in developing organizational, and management strategies for talent acquisition, retention, training, turnover reduction, and productivity maximization. business managers of corporations and government agencies may use the research findings in formulating strategies for improving policies for employee development and retention performance, workflow processes, and work design. the study may provide a competitive advantage to senior executives, human resources professionals, and business managers on ways to further integrate the framework surrounding motivation, and assess the factors influencing job redesign, and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace. the findings may offer empirical support for the understanding of employee behavior and provide new insights into the management of skills utilization, talent acquisition, and performance enhancement. this section contains a discussion and interpretation of the results relating to the existing body of knowledge discussed in the literature review and extends the research of olafsen and bentzen (2020), earl et al. (2019), bruning and campion (2018), and breaugh et al. (2018). in particular, this section includes the following: (a) summary of the study, (b) summary of the findings and conclusion, (c) implications including theoretical and practical applications, (d) recommendations for future research and practice, and (e) concluding remarks. 88 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal summary of the study and findings in this quantitative, correlational study, the researcher focused on extending the research of olafsen and bentzen (2020), earl et al. (2019), bruning and campion (2018), and breaugh et al. (2018) by investigating the correlation between employee motivation, job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction among civilian employees of the dod located in washington, d.c., united states. the researcher employed the use of a non-experimental correlational design and a 15-item questionnaire measured on a 6-point likert scale to collect data from participants. a total of fifty-five (55) participants completed the survey. the researcher performed an eda to identify outlier, checked assumptions, and characterized differences between variables. following reliability analysis assessment, the scales for the variables were formed by collapsing items following a priori dimension, outliers were assessed, and the test of normality was performed. no outlier was found and based on the tests of normality, the data set showed the variables for h1, h2, and h3 were non-linear, and met the assumptions of the spearman, kendall, somers' delta, and goodman and kruskal's non-parametric tests. following data collection, the data analysis procedures consisted of descriptive analysis, reliability analysis, exploratory data analysis, and hypotheses testing for rq1, rq2, and rq3. the results of the finding are presented statistically in written, tabulated, and graphic formats; the two research hypotheses, h1 and h2 relating to job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction are positively correlated with employee motivation, while research hypothesis h3 showed a positive correlation between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction. the findings showed a strong and positive correlation between the variables, contribute to the theoretical concept of the sdt, and provide strategic insights to organizational leaders and human capital managers. this research study may be used as a reference for developing human capital strategies involving the relationship between intrinsic motivation, job reengineering or redesign, and the perception of job satisfaction. rq1: employee motivation and job reengineering the first research question examined the correlation between employee motivation and job reengineering among civilian employees within the dod. the intrinsic dimension of employee motivation was strongly and positively related to the dimensions of job reengineering (skills variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback), and an increase in employee motivation correlated with an increase in job reengineering. the researcher did not consider the impact of moderating variables such as age, gender, income, marital status, or race. the finding from rq1 is similar to the empirical study of gagné et al. (2015), and oldham and hackman (2010) in which employee motivation was positively associated with job reengineering. oldham and hackman (2010) poised that jobs are designed by the organization equally for all employees, regardless of individual preferences or differences. however, this approach has not always been sufficient to serve the purpose of organizational outcomes relating to tasks and 89 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 working conditions. as such, intrinsic motivation provides an advantage in eliminating the onesize-fits-all approach of job reengineering. job reengineering based on the jcm (hackman & oldham, 1975) is intrinsically related to the need for autonomy construct in the sdt (ryan & deci, 2017). the implementation of the five essential job characteristics constructs in the job reengineering process, job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment (cote, 2019) provide an opportunity to motivate employees. intrinsic motivation enhances creativity by increasing positive affect, job satisfaction, autonomous job redesign, cognitive flexibility, and persistence (kadous & zhou, 2019), and the meta-analysis of patall et al. (2008) found that improving job reengineering increases intrinsic motivation. the recent empirical study of zhang et al. (2019) assessed that employee motivation has a strong impact on job design and employees' perceptions of supervisors. pila-ngarm and siengthai (2016) assert that job reengineering, motivation, and teamwork are positively related to productivity. a well-designed and implemented job reengineering process can lead to increased employee wellbeing (liu et al., 2018), as such, job redesign is poised to be an alternative approach to reduce job dissatisfaction and enhance the motivational potential of a job. job reengineering can solve problems related to skills utilization, work overload, attrition, redundancy, and an increase in working hours (rai, 2018). the boxplot (figure 6) indicated that as job reengineering increased, the variability, mean, and standard deviation of employee motivation increased significantly, which implied that a good and strong relationship exists between employee motivation and job reengineering. spearman correlation (rₛ (53) = .644, p = .003), kendall (τb = .609, p = .002), somers' (d = .738, p < .001), and goodman kruskal (g = .513, p < .001) were statistically significant and the data set showed no missing values or pattern of disinterest in the outlier. this research study contributes to the meta-analysis of intrinsic motivation (ryan & deci, 2017, 2020) and extends the applicability of the job characteristics model (hackman & oldham, 1975, 2010). rq2: employee motivation and perception of job satisfaction the second research question examined the correlation between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction. the researcher did not consider the impact of moderating variables such as age, gender, income, marital status, or race. the intrinsic dimension of employee motivation was strongly and positively related to the dimensions of the perception of job satisfaction (pay, supervision, benefits, nature of work, and promotion), and increase in employee motivation correlated with an increase in the perception of job satisfaction. the finding from rq2 is similar to the work of abós et al. (2019) in which employee motivation was positively and strongly related to job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion (r² = .63, f(15, 275.13) = 34.64, p <; 0.001, n = 107), which implied that 63% of the variation in overall autonomous motivation related to job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion. the finding is similar to the empirical study of alwerthan et al. (2018) in which job satisfaction is strongly related 90 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal intrinsic motivation (r² = .54, f( 1, 1073) = 215.6, p < .001, fisher's 𝑓𝑓² = .89, n = 1088), which implied that 90% of the variation in overall job satisfaction related to employee motivation. overall, the results provide empirical evidence that employee motivation positively relates to the perception of job satisfaction and may also improve the relationship between the variables. this study also contributes empirical support to the research of breaugh et al. (2018) regarding the relationship between motivation and job satisfaction. breaugh et al.'s (2018) results suggested that a strong relationship exists between intrinsic workplace motivation and job satisfaction (r² = 29, f = 26.91, i = .29, p < .01, fisher's 𝑓𝑓² = .79, n = 677), which implied that 79% of the variation in overall intrinsic motivation related to job satisfaction. the boxplot (figure 6) indicated that as the perception of job satisfaction increased, the variability, mean, and standard deviation of employee motivation increased significantly, which implied that a good and strong relationship exists between employee motivation and the perception of job satisfaction. spearman correlation (rₛ (53) = .523, p = .001), kendall (τb = .541, p = .001), somers' (d = .547, p < .001), and goodman kruskal (g = .597, p < .001) were statistically significant and the data set showed no missing values or pattern of disinterest in the outlier. rq3: job reengineering and perception of job satisfaction the third research question examined the correlation between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction. the researcher did not consider the impact of moderating variables such as age, gender, income, marital status, or race. the dimensions of job reengineering (skills variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback) were strongly and positively related to the perception of job satisfaction (pay, supervision, benefits, nature of work, and promotion), and an increase in job reengineering correlated with an increase in the perception of job satisfaction. this finding from rq3 is similar to the empirical study of oerlemans and bakker (2018) in which job reengineering and job characteristics were strongly related to job satisfaction ( r² = .241, p < .001, fisher's 𝑓𝑓² = .79, n = 121), which implied that 80% of the variation in overall job reengineering related to job satisfaction. similarly, the empirical study of tziner et al. (2019) found that that a strong relationship exists between job redesign (n = 3,293, α = 0.96, p < 0.05, fisher's 𝑓𝑓² = .63), which implied that 63% of the variation in overall job design related to job satisfaction. overall, the results provide empirical evidence that job reengineering positively relates to the perception of job satisfaction, and this study may be used to boost the job redesign process and improve employees' perception of job satisfaction. this research further contributes to the empirical study of kumedzro (2018), in which the perception of job satisfaction was strongly related to job redesign and retention (n = 140, f(2, 137) = 0.353, p > 0.05, fisher's 𝑓𝑓² = .52). this implied that 52% of the variation in overall job reengineering related to the perception of job satisfaction. windon (2019) concluded that job redesign was positively correlated to job satisfaction (n = 149, f(8, 135) = 1484.7, r²= 0.989, p = < .001, cohen's 𝑓𝑓² = 89.9), which implied 91 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 that 98% of the variation in overall job satisfaction related to job reengineering (promotions and rewards). the boxplot (figure 6) indicated that as job reengineering increased, the variability, mean, and standard deviation of the perception of job satisfaction increased significantly, which implied that a good and strong relationship exists between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction. spearman correlation rₛ (53) = .599, p = .003), kendall (τb = .519, p = .002), somers' (d = .757, p < .001), and goodman kruskal (g = .692, p < .001) were statistically significant and the data set shows no missing values or pattern of disinterest in the outlier. this research question extended the significance of the five core dimensions of job characteristics in reengineering and redesigning jobs and provides business managers and human resources professionals with the ability to recognize the influence of perception within the job satisfaction domain. furthermore, tziner et al. (2019) argued that the perception of job satisfaction culminates from an employee's positive or negative feeling because of the overall positive evaluation of job role, job duties, work experiences, and work environment. conclusions the findings from this quantitative, correlational study showed that employee motivation is strongly and positively related to job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction. similarly, the finding from the study showed that job reengineering is strongly and positively correlated to the perception of job satisfaction. the researcher did not consider the impact of moderating variables such as age, gender, income, marital status, or race. overall, the study extends the self-determination theory (ryan & deci, 1985) in three ways. first, the study provides empirical support for the findings of olafsen and bentzen (2020) which relates to the relationship between intrinsic motivation and the perception of job satisfaction. second, the study offered support to the empirical research of earl et al. (2019) which relates to the relationship that exists between job satisfaction and job reengineering. third, this study provided further support to the empirical study of bruning and campion (2018), and breaugh et al. (2018) which relates to the relationship between job reengineering, intrinsic motivation, and job satisfaction. finally, this study relates to the empirical research of shin and grant (2019) and focused on providing support for skill utilization in job reengineering, while assessing employeejob fit, and improving efficiency in the workplace. implications this quantitative, correlational study discussed two types of research implications namely (a) theoretical implications, and (b) implications for practice. 92 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal theoretical implications the findings from the quantitative, correlational study showed a strong and positive relationship between employee motivation, job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction, and a strong relationship between job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace. these findings implied that employees who perceive job reengineering as enhancing the workplace have higher intrinsic motivation, gain mastery of tasks and learn different skills (competence), experience a sense of belonging (relatedness), and feel in control of their behavior (autonomy). these characteristics align closely with the theoretical framework of the study, the sdt of ryan and deci (1985). strengths of the study this study provided further empirical evidence to support antecedent research which have investigated the question of whether motivation influences job satisfaction and job reengineering in the workplace (breaugh et al., 2018; bruning & campion, 2018; earl et al., 2019; kumedzro, 2018; olafsen & bentzen, 2020). breaugh et al. (2018) discussed the significance of the factors influencing job satisfaction and the impact on employee motivation and found intrinsic positively correlate with job satisfaction. the researcher assessed that employee (intrinsic) motivation influences the five core dimensions of job characteristics (skills variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback), as well as job diagnostic dimensions of job satisfaction (pay, supervision, benefits, nature of work, and promotion). the findings from this study contributed to the consideration for the use of the sdt framework in assessing behavior-specific aspects of intrinsic motivation for understanding practices that sustain and job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace. the researcher utilized a quantitative, correlational method and designed a 15-item survey that contained no direct benefits to the participants to minimize bias. this study adopted the use of the non-probability convenience sampling method, and the participants selected were representative of the entire population. the non-probability convenience sampling provides the ability to select participants based on availability and willingness to take part in the survey (daneshjoovash & hosseini, 2019; gerlich et al., 2018; valerio et al., 2016), which may enhance the generalizability of the findings. weaknesses of the study the results of this quantitative, correlational study may not be generalizable to cultures and geographical regions outside of the continental united states because the research centered on population sample within the dod. the researcher did not consider the impact of moderating variables such as age, gender, income, marital status, or race. the use of moderating variables may strengthen, diminish, negate, or otherwise alter the correlation between independent and dependent variables. moderating variables can influence or change the direction of this relationship (mihalas et al., 2012; sung, 2016). 93 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 significance of the self-determination theory the results of the study contributed to ryan and deci's sdt of motivation (1985), originally developed to provide a broad framework for understanding factors influencing intrinsic motivation, job satisfaction, psychological wellness, and all issues of direct relevance to individual growth. this study advances the sdt using the intrinsic motivation construct to examine the influence of employee motivation on reengineering and job satisfaction. this relationship plays a significant role in understanding organizational behavior, the utilization of employee skills, and the achievement of organizational goals (abós et al., 2019; alwerthan et al., 2018; breaugh et al., 2018; sheeran et al., 2020). this research study contributed to the current understanding of the role of motivation in the workplace and provided support for mitigating organizational challenges relating to job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction among employees. this study specifically contributes to the examination of intrinsic motivation; identified the eudaimonia of motivation by responding to the lack of research into the role of job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction; and supports the future direction in the use of sdt in advancing research and practice and improving proximal influences on workplace engagements and learning. implications for practice in the study, 94.5% of the respondents selected option 5 and 6 towards motivation anchor point in the survey, 73.7% of respondents selected option 5 and 6 towards reengineering on the job reengineering in the survey, while 83.6% of respondents selected option 5 and 6 towards perception in the perception of job satisfaction survey. these figures suggested that over half of the respondents acknowledged that intrinsic motivation enhances job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace. the main findings also suggest that organizations and government enterprises can improve efficiencies by enhancing the eudaimonia of intrinsic motivation. furthermore, this study offered empirical evidence that incorporating more autonomous forms of motivation in the workplace will lead to an enhancement of employees' engagement, learning, wellness, and basic psychological need support for supervisors and subordinates. the findings from this study supported and extended the discussion that higher motivation and perception of job satisfaction led to higher productivity, organizational commitment, and citizenship. business leaders may be able to use the findings as a focal point in developing human capital strategies to enhance output levels, job autonomy, improve job specialization, organizational commitment, and increase organizational citizenship. private and public organizations may use this study to improve the job redesign processes, enhance skill variety, task significance, workplace collaboration, and employee commitment. the findings from this study further extend the sdt of motivation by assessing that the self-directed human cognitive process culminates with employees' diverse intrinsic needs to meet job expectations, improve satisfaction levels, and organizational citizenship (ryan & deci, 2020). 94 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal recommendations this quantitative, correlational study discussed two types of recommendations namely (a) recommendations for future research, and (b) recommendation for practice. these recommendations offered a number of opportunities in terms of theory development and concept validation. recommendations for future research a few suggestions for future research spring forward from evaluating the present study and its limitations. the researcher thus proposes four recommendations for future research. first, future research can widen the scope of this study by assessing the effects of moderating variables such as age, gender, income level, ethnicity, or race. this recommendation can broaden the scope of this study and offer new insights into the effects of moderating variables on job reengineering and the perception of job satisfaction. second, this research study may contribute to the current understanding of the role of motivation in the workplace and provide support for mitigating organizational challenges relating to job reengineering and the perception of employees' job satisfaction, future research could expand on the present outcomes, and study the effects of turnover intentions and organizational citizenship. third, intrinsic motivation is closely related closely to emotional intelligence; the ability to perceive one's emotion, and that of others, and the ability to understand the meaning of these emotions, and regulate emotions (kidwell et al., 2020; neil, 2019). most recently, emotional ability has played a significant role in redesigning specific job tasks within the healthcare industry, while facilitating medical professionals' response to the covid-19; as such, future studies may expand the focus of this research and assess the role of emotional intelligence in workplace engagement and retention. finally, this study did not consider the role of extrinsic motivation; the study provides an opportunity for future research to explore extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theoretical perspective. this may assist researchers to further understanding the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and provide a better assessment of how organizational leaders and human resources professionals can further implement strategies to improve organizational behavior in the workplace. recommendations for practice a few suggestions for future practice spring forward from the results and findings of this study. public and private organizations, especially government agencies may benefit from the examination of employee motivation, job reengineering, and the perception of job satisfaction in the workplace. the main findings suggest that employee motivation improves organizational behavior and enhances the ability to re-engineer jobs with a high perception of satisfaction. as such highly intrinsically motivated employees can integrate job reengineering while improving 95 january 2022 | volume 1, number 1 productivity and efficiency. hence, this study recommends and assesses that business leaders may be able to use the findings as a focal point in developing human capital strategies to enhance output levels, job autonomy, improve job specialization, organizational commitment, and increase organizational citizenship. second, organizational leaders, business managers, executives, decision-makers, and human resources professionals of corporations and government agencies may use the research findings in formulating strategies for improving policies for employee development and retention performance, workflow processes, and work design. the findings may be used as a focal point for establishing lean organizational efficiencies, understanding a person-job fit, and formulating strategies poised to enhance competitive advantage and dynamic workforce. third, findings from this research may provide a roadmap to business leaders and human resource managers on understanding the role and influence of motivating through need, job redesign, intrinsic rewards, and leading others through intrinsic motivation. this study may provide business managers with the framework to understand the factors to consider when changing the concept and or process of a specific job to increase performance, efficiency, and job satisfaction. collectively, the findings from this study may allow managers to focus on the factors influencing employee-jobfit and the relationship between management, enlarge, rotate, and enrich jobs, and develop a better understanding of core job characteristics, critical psychological states, outputs, and the motivational factors leading to job satisfaction. 96 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal references abós, á., haerens, l., sevil-serrano, j., morbée, s., julián, j. a., & garcía-gonzález, l. 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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ employee motivation, job reengineering, and perceived job satisfaction: a quantitative correlational approach abstract introduction background of the study problem statement purpose statement research questions and hypotheses advancing theoretical knowledge application to business administration definition of terms literature review theoretical foundations the self-determination theory of motivation review of the literature employee motivation intrinsic motivation extrinsic motivation job reengineering or job redesign metacognitive aspects to job reengineering cognitive abilities or emotional intelligence physical abilities emotions perception of job satisfaction methodology research design population and sample selection sampling method and sample size determination sampling method sample size determination large effect size data analysis and results data analysis procedures descriptive analysis exploratory data analysis outlier detection and analysis tests of normality hypotheses testing results rq1: employee motivation and job reengineering rq2: employee motivation and perception of job satisfaction rq3: job reengineering and perception of job satisfaction summary, conclusions, and recommendations summary of the study and findings rq1: employee motivation and job reengineering rq2: employee motivation and perception of job satisfaction rq3: job reengineering and perception of job satisfaction conclusions implications theoretical implications strengths of the study weaknesses of the study significance of the self-determination theory implications for practice recommendations recommendations for future research recommendations for practice references business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 1 leadership style as a predictor of employee safety performance in the oil and gas industry dr. arjun kathayat, columbia southern university dr. jodine burchell, columbia southern university https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 to correspond with the first author: tel: (1)306.453.0077. cell: (1)306.575.8019, e: rjnkathayat@hotmail.com, ohnscentre@gmail.com abstract some managers experience challenges addressing workplace safety concerns and employees' needs to enhance worksite safety performance. this quantitative simple linear regression research examined if/to what extent a relationship existed between managers’ safety-specific transformational leadership style and employee safety performance in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada’s oil and gas industry. we used 89 valid anonymous responses from 32 organizations for the data analysis. the statistical test showed that managers’ safety-specific transformational leadership styles could significantly predict employees’ safety performance (f(1, 89) = 49.03, p<0.001, r2 = 0.36). additionally, the curve estimation of the data revealed that about 35.4% to 38.30% of the change in employees’ safety performance was attributed to managers' safety-specific transformational leadership behaviors. this research has broad implications, a medium to large effect size, and a higher confidence level. the findings of this research encourage the oil and gas businesses to promote and grow more safety-specific transformational leaders to attain higher employee safety performance excellence in the industry. keywords: safety-specific transformational leadership, safety motivation, safety incident, and safety performance https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 2 introduction leadership involves efficiently making a difference in the personal and professional lives of colleagues, subordinates, business organizations, communities, and other stakeholders. business issues are essential, especially those related to human suffering or losses due to preventable or controllable workplace incidents. employee safety performance is a critical business issue for the employees and colleagues working together around the safety-sensitive oil and gas job sites and the families and loved ones waiting for their safe arrival at home. both the province of saskatchewan and canada face significant workplace incidents each year, causing a tremendous amount of lost-time injury claims and even fatalities. there were 334 fatalities in canada-wide, and saskatchewan experienced 15 workplace fatalities in 2021. the compensation provided by canada to the injured workers was 7,993.6 million dollars, 8439.6 million dollars, 8612.3 million dollars, and 9,128.0 million dollars in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively. saskatchewan's wcb paid 215.8 million dollars, 222 million dollars, 222.0 million dollars, 215.7 million dollars, and 228.6 million dollars to the injured workers in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively (association of workers' compensation boards of canada, n.d.-a, n.d.-b, n.d.-c, n.d.-d). hence, it is pertinent for the business world to proactively address workplace safety-related issues, especially employee safety performance and appropriate leadership style. scholars have extensively studied workplace safety, leadership styles in general, and the significance of safety leadership for workplace safety in the past. various oil and gas industry studies discovered or recommended multiple leadership styles for workplace safety or employee safety performance. further, as per furey and rixon (2020), leadership lacked, to some extent, commitment and honesty in atlantic canada’s offshore oil sector. despite being mandated by the canada energy regulatory, only 72% of the oil and gas industry companies allocated the resources to grow the safety culture (government of canada: canada energy regulator, 2021) in 2020. on the other hand, addo and darty-baah (2019) claimed that the transformational leadership style of leaders could predict employee safety behaviors, also referred to as employee safety performance. thus, there was contradictory or confusion and ambiguity on what leadership style business organizations and managers in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada, could or should embrace to cultivate and grow higher employee safety performance in the workplace to generate values for multiple stakeholders, including owners/investors, communities, and employees of the business organizations. literature review to complete the extensive literature review in this research, the researchers scanned the reference pages of credible peer-reviewed journal articles by previous scholars. we reviewed the secondary sources, websites, conferences, and other such sources and cited if required to provide a specific context to the readers. even though it appeared there were over 110 years of workplace safety literature (eastman, 1910; hofmann et al., 2017), due to the limited time and resources, we primarily focused on how the research variables, safety-specific transformational leadership and safety performance had been researched since 2018 to date. transformational leadership a transformational leader can be described as “one who motivates us to do more than we originally expect to do” (bass, 1985a, p. 20, 1985b, p. 31), which is also introduced as “the one, best way to lead” (willis et al., 2021). during the literature review of past studies, this research observed that scholars were primarily inspired by burns’ (1978, 2003) definition or bass’ (1985a) interpretation of transformational leadership. in short, transformational leadership is a change agent (kariuki et al., 2022) note: this research was presented at the 2024 ccga symposium, regine, saskatchewan, canada on november 5, 2024 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 3 that motivates subordinates to attain more meaningful goals for teams, organizations, or individuals by “challenging the status quo” (mwesigwa et al., 2020, p. 255). the conceptual framework for this research included the full-range leadership model (frlm) by bass (1985a). the frlm is a generic leadership theory with three separate categories: transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire, also known as “non-leadership” (bass & riggio, 2006, p. 7) or passive-indifference (bass & riggio, 2006; draghici et al., 2022; khan et al., 2014; lee et al., 2019; northouse, 2019, 2022; yukl, 2013). employee (safety) performance or job satisfaction was the second theory in the conceptual framework of this research. the theoretical framework: leadership styles as a predictor of employee safety performance depicts the study's theoretical framework (see figure 1). figure 1 theoretical framework: leadership styles as a predictor of employee safety performance asafety-specific transformational leadership is the independent variable (iv) measured with the customized eight-item measuring instrument sawhney and cigularov (2019) utilized for safety-specific transformational leadership behaviors in this research. bemployee safety performance (dv) is the dependent variable measured in this research using the threeitem overall job satisfaction survey by cammann et al. (1983). components of transformational leadership past scholars identified multiple components (three, four, and even six components) of transformational leadership. bass (1985a) alluded that transformational leadership had “three components: charisma, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration” (hofmann & morgeson, 2004, p. 176), and podsakoff et al. (1990) recognized six behaviors or components of transformational leadership, as also cited by ferozi and chang (2021) and peng et al. (2020): articulating a vision, fostering the acceptance of group goals, setting high-performance expectations, providing an appropriate model, intellectual stimulation, and individualized support” (p. 112). past scholars, such as bass and avolio (1990), bass and riggio (2006), hoch et al. (2016), irshad et al. (2021), kayaalp et al. (2021), minhaj et al. (2019), mwesigwa et al. (2020), peng et al. (2020), smith et al. (2020) studied the four components or 4i’s of transformational leadership: idealized influence (ii), inspirational motivation (im), intellectual stimulation (is), and individualized consideration (ic). the 4i’s are components of transformational leadership as explained by bass and riggio (2006, pp. 5-7) and measured safety-specific transformational leadership (independent variable) with the customized eight-item measuring instrument inspired with barling et al. (2002), by sawhney and cigularov (2019). despite the criticism regarding (re)investment from shareholders/owners greater participation from employees for higher safety performance bemployee safety performance (dv) asafety-specific transformational leadership (iv) a continuous cycle of workplace safety performance excellence measured with cammann et al. (1983) – overall job satisfaction survey (3 items) measured with sawhney and cigularov’s safety-specific transformational leadership behaviors (8 items) january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 4 transformational leadership pointed out by yukl (1999), northouse (2019), and andersen (2015), transformational leadership has a broader application, as burns (1978) claimed and posited that safetyspecific transformational leaders, with those four specific components (ii, im, is, and ic), might generate an “additive effect” (northouse, 2019, p. 273, 2022), motivating subordinates to attain higher safety performance. safety performance/job satisfaction theory safety performance in this research represented employees’ ability to perform the job safely, minimizing workplace injuries or preventing workplace incidents while complying with the applicable rules and regulations (barling & frone, 2004; barling et al., 2002; najj et al., 2021). the literature agree that a close relationship exist between workplace injuries, accidents, and motivation (mariani et al., 2015). on the other hand, “job satisfaction is the pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job as achieving or facilitating the achievement of one’s job value” (locke, 1969, p. 316). as per robbins and judge (2018) and spector (2022), job satisfaction is an attitude and “the extent to which people liked (satisfaction) or disliked (dissatisfaction) their jobs” (spector, 1997, p. 2). simply put, employees with higher job satisfaction have greater positive feelings towards their jobs than employees with lower job satisfaction. safety-specific transformational leadership (predictor) safety-specific transformational leadership (sstl) is the only predictor variable of this research. business researchers have extensively studied safety-specific transformational leadership to examine or explore the effectiveness or impact of safety-specific transformational leadership on workplace safety. despite the previous research, such as lu et al. (2019) and mirza and isha (2020) on workplace safety and safety leadership, irshad et al. (2021) called out the limited knowledge of safety leadership in the body of literature. they completed a quantitative time-lagged study to examine if/to what extent safety-specific transformational leadership and safety consciousness of healthcare workers impact the employees’ perceived risk on covid-19 and psychological well-being at the workplace. safety performance (outcome variable) according to campbell et al. (1993), “performance is what the organization hires one to do and do well” (p. 40). the opponents of campbell et al. (1993) model of performance criticism, such as hesketh and neal (1999), also noticed by neal et al. (2000, p. 101) that campbell et al. (1993) do not consider “the situational factors” that can impact the individual's performance. nevertheless, campbell et al. (1993) significantly reviewed and cited literature on performance. adapting the concept from the definition of performance by campbell et al. (1993), should safety-sensitive organizations or industries, as noted in burke et al. (2002, p. 431), such as chemical processing, manufacturing, and mining, define safety performance in what the organizations hired employees to do and do well. for this research, safety performance was defined as the employees’ workplace safety-related job performance as (un)expected by the business leaders, including managers and supervisors, business organizations, industry, and the laws. the quality of employee safety performance can be expected because, as campbell et al. (1993) define it, this research posited that employees in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada, are considered hired to do work and do it safely. the business organizations in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada, generally provide employees with workplace health and safety orientation to be informed on workplace safety expectations and to perform their jobs safely. safety-specific transformational leadership and safety performance business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 5 literature, such as zhao et al. (2022), discover the relationship between safety-specific transformational leadership and safety participation. additionally, various literature on safety-specific transformational leadership and safety behaviors (draghici et al., 2022), optimal safety leadership and safety performance (willis et al., 2021), safety-specific transformational leadership and employee’s nearmiss recognition ability (lu et al., 2019), safety-specific transformational leadership and employee’s learning goal orientation (lu et al., 2019), safety-specific transformational leadership and workplace accidents (mirza & isha, 2020), safety-specific transformational leadership and safety voice (conchie et al., 2012), and safety-specific transformational leadership and safety motivation (smith et al., 2020) indicate that safety-specific transformational leadership and employee safety performance having, to some extent or significant statistical relationship. further, based on the findings of multiple literature, we posited that the general leadership style of transformational leadership and employee performance had to have, to some extent a significant relationship, even though nelviana et al. (2022) suggested that there was no significant relationship between transformational leadership and employee performance during covid-19 pandemic on remote working employees in various companies in jakarta. further, chen et al. (2018) discovered a “u-shaped relationship” (p. 19) between transformational leadership and employee task performance in northern china’s specific manufacturing, telecommunications, and hotel industries, as well as the bank of china. in addition, bazzoli et al. (2020) reported that safety-specific transformational leadership, also known as transformative safety leadership, predicted a promotive safety voice in the workplace. the literature review during this research gained no knowledge or limited knowledge on if/to what extent safety-specific transformational leadership could predict employee safety performance in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada. thus, the following research question and hypothesis are used for this research: research question (rq): do safety-specific transformational leadership style scores of managers predict employee safety performance in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada? null hypothesis 1 (h10): managers' safety-specific transformational leadership style scores do not significantly predict employee safety performance in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada. alternative hypothesis 1 (h1a): managers' safety-specific transformational leadership style scores significantly predict employee safety performance in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada. methods this research study utilized a quantitative, simple linear regression design. the two primary data sources were the safety-specific transformational leadership instrument and the employee-perceived overall job satisfaction instrument, excluding the demographic questionnaires. the existing survey instrument was adopted for safety-specific transformational leadership style (predictor) customized by sawhney and cigularov (2019). further, sawhney and cigularov (2019) completed the confirmatory factor analysis (cfa) on the measuring instrument in their study’s context. thus, this research reused sawhney and cigularov’s (2019) safety-specific transformational leadership instrument by following the approach of previous scholars and had a cronbach’s alpha of 0.93. the employee-perceived overall or global job satisfaction survey developed by cammann et al. (1983) was used even though there was a debate in academia about whether the global job satisfaction or facet-composite job satisfaction survey had greater validity (bowling & zelazny, 2022). population and sample january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 6 this research study was conducted in southeast saskatchewan, canada’s oil and gas industry. the participants were associated with multiple business organizations that provided products and services to the local oil and gas industry, including contractors and self-employed persons, and internal employees of the business organizations that explored, extracted, produced, and refined oil and gas energy in southeast saskatchewan, canada. a convenience sampling strategy and g*power 3.1.9.4 software were used to determine the sample size. effect size was 0.30, type i error (α) was 0.05, and type ii error (1-β) was 0.80 to calculate the sample size. the likelihood of type i and type ii errors was reduced with a confidence level of 95%. this research's minimum sample size was 29 employees working in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada. data collection procedures paper format survey packages were created for participants who preferred paper format and online versions of survey instruments with the help of surveymonkey, an online platform for the participants who chose technology to complete the survey instruments. responses were collected from the population interested in participating in this research voluntarily. before and after reviewing the consent form, the potential participant could freely decide to leave the study or proceed to complete the survey instruments of this research. participants completed the surveys electronically via surveymonkey online or returned the completed surveys to the author personally or via their company representative, enclosing them in sealed envelopes. the research participants from the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada, rated their managers' or supervisors’ safety-specific transformational leadership styles on a likert scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “not at all” and 5 being “frequently, if not always.” finally, participants rated their overall job satisfaction on a likert scale of 1 to 7, with 1 being “strongly disagree” and 7 being “strongly agree.” the overall job satisfaction survey with three items used in this research also had an item with a reverse (r) score. data analysis invitations were sent to 41 business organizations, including larger and small oil and gas producers, contractors, and consultants, via emails and personal text messages. among 41 business organizations, 31 oilfield businesses and one non-profit organization, which had the authority to inspect, issue, or reject operating licenses of the boiler and pressure vessels used in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, participated in this research. nine business organizations did not respond to the invitations or did not wish to participate in this research. ninety-seven anonymous responses (paper format: 34 and online surveys: 63) were collected from january 24 to january 31, 2023. only one anonymous online response was submitted on february 1, 2023, after the deadline set by this research, which was also considered in the data analysis. participants took about 2 to 10 minutes to complete online surveys, and most of the responses were submitted on the first day of the study (january 24, 2023). thus, the response rate of the oilfield business organizations for this research was 78%, and a total of 89 valid responses were accepted for the data analysis of this research. the data were compiled, cleaned, and outliers were addressed in the data analysis procedure. the assumptions associated with the research design were assessed. regression testing was performed. the results are reported below. results and discussion descriptive statistics demographic responses were coded to simplify the descriptive statistics analysis process in spss 28.0. we coded “male = 0,” “female = 1,” “yes = 1,” and “no = 0” for both “ec” and “c” in spss 28.0. “ec” was short form for the oil and gas energy companies that explored, extracted, produced, refined, or business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 7 transported oil and gas energy in southeast saskatchewan, canada, and “c” represented companies that provided products or services to the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada, including oilfield contractors/ consultants. “em” in this research represented the research participants’ experience in the number of years working with/under the current managers/supervisors, and “ie” was abbreviated for the participants’ industry experience in the number of years in this research. table 1 displays the frequency and statistics associated with the demographic of the research participants. table 1 frequency table: summary of the demographic data demographic statistics full sample demographic statistics full sample gender n % ec n % male 75 84.3% no 40 44.9% female 14 15.7% yes 49 55.1% age ie 18-25 10 11.2% 1-5 14 15.7% 26-41 38 42.7% 5-10 16 18.0% 42-57 29 32.6% 10+ 59 66.3% 58-67 11 12.4% em 67+ 1 1.1% <1 17 19.1% 1-5 35 39.3% c 5-10 12 13.5% no 14 15.7% 10+ 25 28.1% yes 75 84.3% 5-10 16 18.0% 10+ 59 66.3% note. table 1 represents the demographic statistics of the data collected from 89 participants. preliminary statistics outlier analysis outliers outside +3 to -3 standard deviations from the mean of each variable would be considered extreme outliers. the data analysis of this research did not reveal any extreme outliers in the collected data. reliability analysis table 2 reported the reliability scores of research instruments for safety-specific transformational leadership (predictor variable) and employees perceived overall job satisfaction (response variable) in this research. the reliability scores of safety-specific transformational leaderships (predictor variable) with eight items and employee's perceived overall job satisfaction scores (response variable) with three items to measure employee safety performance were significantly reliable in this research. table 2 january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 8 reliability statistics variables cronbach's alpha cronbach's alpha based on standardized items n of items predictor variable 0.924 0.929 8 response variable 0.900 0.908 3 testing assumptions associated with the research design normality testing normality testing is a statistical method for evaluating the (non-normal distribution of research data. table 3 displays the tests of normality associated with this research’s data. table 3 tests of normality kolmogorov-smirnova shapiro-wilk statistic df sig. statistic df sig. ldravg 0.148 89 <0.001 0.892 89 <0.001 jsavg 0.217 89 <0.001 0.844 89 <0.001 a lilliefors significance correction the p-values for both independent and dependent variables were significantly less than 0.05. however, “reporting p-value with null hypothesis testing” (nahm, 2017, p. 241) is not a universally accepted practice or free from criticisms. based on the literature, such as that of nahm (2017), this research posited that p>0.05 only meant “no evidence” of the normal distribution of data. still, it did not mean there was “evidence of no” normal data distribution. this research further analyzed skewness, kurtosis statistics, histograms, qq plots, and pp-plots of the dependent and independent variables to assess the normal distribution of the research data. the skewness and kurtosis of the research data should be within the range of +2 to -2 for the normal data distribution (garson, 2012). in this research, the average scores of safety-specific transformational leaderships had skewness of -0.962 with a standard error = 0.255 and kurtosis of 0.144 with a standard error = 0.506. the average scores of employees' perceived overall job satisfaction variable had skewness of -.1.166 with standard error = 0.255 and kurtosis of 1.129 with standard error = 0.506. we plotted histograms and qq-plots of both research variables (independent and dependent variables) to make an informed decision regarding the (non-normal distribution of the research data or residuals. the early data points emerged as an imaginary line closer to a slope of 45 degrees, though later, some data points scattered ununiformly. based on this finding, we assumed that the data points were approximately normally distributed enough to satisfy the assumption related to the normal distribution of the residuals of the dependent variable for this simple linear regression study. figures 2 and 3 represent the approximately normal distribution of residuals associated with the dependent variable (jsavg). therefore, we determined to test the simple linear regression in the following section of this research. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 9 figure 2 histogram regression standardized residual (dependent variable -jsavg) note. histogram of regression standardized residual showing an approximately normal distribution of residuals associated with the dependent variable (jsavg). figure 3 chart: normal p-p plot of regression standardized residual (dependent variable – jsavg) note. normal p-p plot of regression standardized residual showing an approximately normal distribution of residuals. “the p-p plot of the residuals is the preferred graphical tests for normality” (flatt & jacobs, 2019, p. 488). testing linear regression in this section, we performed simple linear regression and developed various tables and charts associated with the regression test results. the pearson correlation value displayed in table 4 shows a significant relationship between the independent and the dependent variables. january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 10 table 4 correlations test results jsavg ldravg n pearson correlation jsavg 1.00 0.60 89 ldravg 0.60 1.00 89 sig. (1-tailed) jsavg . <0.001 89 ldravg 0.00 . 89 the model summary (see table 5) with an r-square value of 0.36 is significant, suggesting that 36% of the change in employee safety performance (dependent variable) can be influenced by managers’ safety-specific transformational leadership styles (independent variable). table 5 model summaryb model r r square adjusted r square std. error of the estimate change statistics r square change f change df1 df2 sig. f change 1 0.600a 0.36 0.35 0.68 0.36 49.03 1 87 <0.001 note. where applicable, each numerical number has been rounded to two decimal places using microsoft excel. a predictor: (constant), ldravg b dependent variable: jsavg table 6 shows that the impact of managers’ safety-specific transformational leadership on employees’ safety performance is significant, f(1, 87) = 49.03, p <0.001. table 6 anovaa model sum of squares df mean square f sig. 1 regression 22.92 1 22.92 49.03 <0.001b residual 40.66 87 0.47 total 63.58 88 note. where applicable, each numerical number has been rounded to two decimal place using microsoft excel. a dependent variable: jsavg b predictor: (constant), ldravg multicollinearity multicollinearity was tested in this study, and findings indicated no significant issue. residuals business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 11 table 7 shows various statistics associated with residuals, such as cook’s distance, which has a minimum value of 0 and a maximum value of 0.264. this indicates that this study's residual or point is not highly concerning. table 7 residuals statisticsa minimum maximum mean std. deviation n predicted value 4.70 6.72 6.17 0.51 89 std. predicted value -2.89 1.07 0.00 1.00 89 standard error of predicted value 0.07 0.22 0.10 0.03 89 adjusted predicted value 4.86 6.75 6.17 0.51 89 residual -1.88 1.05 0.00 0.68 89 std. residual -2.76 1.536 0.00 0.99 89 stud. residual -2.78 1.60 0.00 1.01 89 deleted residual -1.92 1.14 0.00 0.70 89 stud. deleted residual -2.90 1.61 -0.01 1.03 89 mahal. distance 0.01 8.36 0.99 1.43 89 cook's distance 0.00 0.264 0.02 0.04 89 centered leverage value 0.00 0.10 0.01 0.02 89 note. where applicable, each numerical number has been rounded to two decimal places using microsoft excel. a dependent variable: jsavg the test results were significant, f(1, 89) = 49.03, p<0.001, r2 = 0.36. this test result could be interpreted as about 36% of the change in employee safety performance in southeast saskatchewan, canada's oil and gas industry, can be attributed to managers' or supervisors’ safety-specific transformational leadership behaviors at workplaces. we are convinced that the cases or so-called outliers mentioned were associated with the research sample. hence, the simple linear regression analysis was computed considering those cases or outliners and was valid in this research’s context. additional data analysis: curve estimation during the data analysis process, simple linear regression data points seemed skewed on one side of the charts, scattered ununiformly or appeared non-normally distributed or had a curvilinear pattern at some points. curve estimation was performed because of the data distribution in this research. we computed complex regressions with the help of spss 28.0. we compared the tests of curve estimation with the findings of this research’s central research design and data analysis: simple linear regression. the following section reports the model equations for each regression model calculated by this research. table 8 displays the comparative results of linear, logarithmic, inverse, quadratic, cubic, s-curve, and exponential regression. january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 12 table 8 result of curve estimation curve estimation (regression types) r2 f n df p-value linear regression 0.36 49.03 89 1 <0.001 logarithmic 0.37 51.22 89 1 <0.001 inverse 0.371 51.276 89 1 <0.001 quadratic 0.369 25.10 89 1 <0.001 cubic 0.369 25.10 89 1 <0.001 s-curve 0.383 54.00 89 1 <0.001 exponential 0.354 47.755 89 1 <0.001 table 8 represents the test results of various curve estimations: logarithmic, inverse, quadratic, cubic, s-curve, and exponential via spss 28.0. all seven r2 values associated with linear regression, logarithmic, inverse, quadratic, cubic, s-curve, and exponential, were statistically closer. the curve estimations in this research discovered that 35.40% to 38.30% of the change in employee safety performance in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada, could be attributable to managers’ safety-specific transformational leadership behaviors at the workplace. this successful quantitative simple linear regression study was uniquely designed to measure employee safety performance using employees perceived overall job satisfaction. this approach of measuring employee safety performance with employee’s perceived overall job satisfaction is new and alternative in southeast saskatchewan, canada's oil and gas industry. this research contributes to the literature associated with workplace safety and advances theoretical knowledge on safety-specific transformational leadership, employee safety performance, and employee-perceived overall job satisfaction. thus, by promoting safety-specific transformational leadership styles or behaviors, the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan could significantly improve and grow employee safety performance in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada. recommendations and conclusions this section discusses the recommendations and the theoretical and practical implications of this research’s findings. theoretical implications the simple linear regression data analysis revealed a significant statistical relationship between safety-specific transformational leadership behaviors (independent variable) and employee safety performance (dependent variable) measured with employees’ overall job satisfaction. the following are the theoretical implications of this research. 1. managers' safety-specific transformational leadership scores could predict employee safety performance in southeast saskatchewan, canada's oil and gas industry. additionally, this research established the significant relationship between safety-specific transformational leadership and employee overall job satisfaction. 2. this research calculated the curve estimation, especially logarithmic, inverse, quadratic, cubic, scurve, and exponential regressions. we noticed that the curve estimation and linear regression findings in this research’s context were statistically closer or similar. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 13 3. this research’s data represented individual or group levels more than organizational levels. nevertheless, this research’s findings supported the findings of hasan et al. (2021), lu et al. (2019), zhao et al. (2022), and zulkifly et al. (2021) that safety-specific leadership or safety leadership could have a (higher) impact on employee safety participation, employee safety performance, or workplace safety performance. 4. this research contributed a definition of employee safety performance by building upon campbell et al.'s definition of employee performance (1993). 5. yukl et al. (2022) stated that “most of the studies did not examine curvilinear relationships” (p. 417). still, this research made a brief scholarly effort to understand the impact of safety-specific transformational leadership behaviors on employee’s perceived overall job satisfaction or performance by performing “curve estimation” in the data analysis process. implications for professional practice this research’s research data came from various high-risk business organizations. thus, with a medium to larger effect size, higher cronbach’s alpha values of survey instruments, and significantly higher confidence level in the statistical test results of this research, we posit that this research’s findings have broad implications and applications and have wider generalizability for professional practice in the real business world. this research’s findings encourage promoting more safety-specific transformational leadership behaviors for improved workplace safety, especially employees’ safety performance and overall job satisfaction, not only in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan but also in other high-risk industries, such as construction, welding, trucking, ground transportation of controlled product or chemicals, hydro-facing, equipment maintenance, and steaming. by proactively educating leaders, managers, and supervisors about the significance of safety-specific transformational leadership, business organizations are prepared for workplace safety emergencies and to reduce workplace safety incidents or tragedies. this research also posits that other high-risk not-for-profit business organizations or governmental agencies can benefit from this research’s findings. also, this research suggests that more safety-specific transformational leadership means less burden to the healthcare system, fewer lost-time injury claims, fewer workplace fatalities, and less economic burden to compensate for workplace injuries or incidents to workers. more importantly, when business organizations in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan take sincere initiatives to improve employees’ safety performance or perceived job satisfaction, such an approach not only helps business organizations to obtain their mission, vision, and values but also assures the families waiting for the safe return of their loved ones from the job sites at the end of every day. recommendations for future research a further causal-comparative study can be done to assess the differences in the impact of safetyspecific transformational leadership behaviors on employees’ safety performance based on various age groups or generations, genders, levels of education, salary, work shifts or schedules, and work-family conflicts in southeast saskatchewan, canada’s oil and gas industry and other similar high-risk industries by using a convenience or random sampling method. future research can replicate this research in different geographical regions or countries and populations from southeast saskatchewan’s oil and gas industry to validate the broader application and generalizability of this research’s findings in other geographical regions, territories, or provinces or countries. a further correlational study can be done using other credible employee safety performance and safety-specific transformational leadership surveys used in this research to evaluate the strength of the relationship between the variables in other high-risk industries. finally, future researchers can design this research around qualitative research, triangulate the internal safety data associated with employee safety performance and safety-specific transformational leadership behaviors, and explore and validate the findings of this research in high-risk industries, including the oil and gas industry. january 2025 | volume 4, number 2 14 recommendations for practice this research makes five significant recommendations for practice. these five recommendations, addressed to multiple stakeholders, help ensure a safer industry, a more safety-conscious workplace environment, safer communities, and a better quality of life for the family members who depend on the employees’ health and safety. 1. this research recommends that practitioners and business organizations in southeast canada’s oil and gas industry embrace and promote more safety-specific transformational leadership behaviors to improve workplace safety and employees’ safety performance and achieve ever-growing employee safety performance or overall job satisfaction. 2. this research recommends that the regional, provincial, and federal governments introduce legislation recognizing safety professionals or safety leaders as stakeholders in the internal workplace system. 3. this research recommends that the occupational health and safety legislation or the employment act direct (high-risk) business organizations to train their managers, supervisors, and internal safety personnel or professionals on more safety-specific transformational leadership styles, behaviors, or skill sets. 4. this research recommends that practitioners support the provincial and federal governments in implementing the new legislation mentioned above by revisiting their traditional workplace safety management system. the practitioners: academia, safety professionals, safety associations, safety training providers, business leaders, and managers can play active roles in developing and facilitating employee training on safety-specific transformational leadership to grow more safetyspecific leaders in the oil and gas industry. 5. in oil and gas or similar high-risk industries, business organizations and managers craft, develop and execute more practical, measurable, and attainable safety goals. this research recommends that safety associations, industries, and business organizations promote safety slogans or safety goals, encouraging the honest reporting of workplace incidents, injuries, and safety-related events, such as safety audits, to employees or contractors. concluding remarks workplace safety should be a shared business responsibility of all internal stakeholders, including managers and employees. business leaders and managers should provide clear missions, visions, values, or short-term and long-term directions associated with shared objectives of workplace safety and employee safety performance while making a business effort to generate value for multiple stakeholders. employees with more effective leadership styles feel inspired or more motivated to exert their best efforts to create higher employee safety performance. through this research, we essentially made an academic effort to research what leadership styles would be the most effective or appropriate to cultivate and grow employee safety performance in the oil and gas industry in southeast saskatchewan, canada. there are three main takeaways from this research for enthusiastic readers in academia and practitioners of workplace safety: safety leadership, job satisfaction, and employee safety. first, business leaders, managers, policymakers, associations, and professionals associated with workplace safety have vital roles in creating a safer workplace and a more safety-conscious industry by promoting more safety-specific transformational leadership behaviors. these behaviors predictably help improve workplace safety, employee safety performance, and overall job satisfaction. second, this research demonstrated academically that workplace safety, especially employee safety performance, could be alternatively assessed with employee's perceived overall job satisfaction effectively. therefore, this research encourages business leaders, policymakers, safety associations, business managers, and professionals in workplace safety to employ and promote this new approach of assessing or measuring employee safety performance with employees’ (overall) job satisfaction. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 15 employees or followers also need to play proactive roles in attaining higher safety performance by reporting workplace job satisfaction honestly and encouraging coworkers to do so. third, we posit that business organizations and leaders benefit by welcoming the presence of shareholders and investors to safety-specific corporate-level meetings or activities. such opportunities offer investors the opportunity to understand the values of workplace safety and safety-specific transformational leaders’ roles in employee safety performance. moreover, such business initiatives on workplace safety, safety performance, job satisfaction, and safety-specific leadership behaviors benefit today’s stakeholders tremendously and help create a safer and more joyful place of employment for the generations of stakeholders yet to come. references addo, s. a., & darty-baah, k. 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(2021). the effect of ownermanager's safety leadership and supervisor's safety roles on safety performance in sme manufacturing. journal of technology and operations management, 16(1), 11-24. https://ejournal.uum.edu.my/index.php/jtom/article/download/13989/3340 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal i a quantitative study on the impact of servant leadership on employee engagement in the fire service industry michael jay williams jr., dba | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, united states jan tucker, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, united states contact: drwilliamsjr33@gmail.com or jptucker80@gmail.com abstract this quantitative correlational study examines the relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement within the fire service industry in the united states. declining employee engagement among firefighters adversely affects individual and organizational performance, compromising the department's ability to provide high-quality community services. while previous research has demonstrated a positive correlation between servant leadership and employee engagement in various public service sectors, a gap remains in extending this research to the fire service industry. using purposive sampling, 609 career firefighters from a metropolitan fire department in colorado were surveyed with a 16-question instrument combining the servant leadership survey (sls-7) and the shortened utrecht work engagement scale (uwes-9). with a response rate of 30%, 183 participants provided data. reliability analysis revealed high reliability for the servant leadership variable (α = .90) and the employee engagement variable (α = .986). normality tests indicated non-normal distributions for both variables. spearman's rank correlation rho revealed a moderate positive correlation, suggesting a significant positive relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement. these findings support the beneficial impact of servant leadership on firefighter motivation, well-being, and commitment. the study highlights the importance of implementing servant leadership to cultivate a positive work environment that enhances employee engagement. practice recommendations include developing formal servant leadership programs and integrating education and training with accountability and corporate social responsibility. keywords: servant leadership, employee engagement, fire service industry, public service, quantitative correlational study mailto:drwilliamsjr33@gmail.com january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 1 introduction employees constitute the foundational component that sustains an organization's operational continuity (abasilim et al., 2022). regardless of the size, location, and industry, an organization should ensure its employees have all the necessary resources to accomplish their mission efficiently and effectively. leaders set workplace norms, provide guidance to meet operational demands, and provide direction, vision, motivation, and inspiration; they create a work environment conducive to successful outcomes and facilitate communication for team collaboration (kumari & yelkar, 2022). babeľová et al. (2021) posit that leadership styles, personalities, and behaviors significantly impact employee motivation and engagement. this understanding underscores the importance of exploring the connection between leadership and employee engagement. as highlighted by dillard and osam (2021), leaders who demonstrate practical utility foster a sense of psychological safety among their team members, supporting individuality, belonging, and enhancing engagement. consequently, leadership emerges as a valuable resource for individual employees and the organization's overall success. heyler and martin (2018) stated, "servant leaders are a valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and non-substitutable resource that an organization can use to achieve a competitive advantage" (p. 240). if a correlation between employee engagement and leadership is substantiated, deficiencies in either aspect could significantly affect the organization's sustainability. greenleaf (1977) established the concept of servant leadership in his seminal studies in 1970. greenleaf distinguished ten essential elements of servant leadership: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment, and community-building (mcbath, 2018). stewart's 2022 study highlighted the variability of effective leadership styles across different work environments and individual needs. stewart's statement challenges future researchers to fortify decision-making through inclusionary and exclusionary design processes. to explore this diversity, the initial phase of the current research examined various leadership approaches, focusing on their impact on employee engagement. this examination into servant leadership aims explicitly to uncover knowledge gaps and reinforce existing research findings. servant leadership aligns with the moral ethics expected of firefighters and fire service organizations' mission of protecting lives and property while building and supporting communities. canavesi and minelli (2022) found that servant leadership encourages followers to reach their full potential. leveraging individuals' full potential using the servant leadership approach has been linked to a collective positive behavioral, attitudinal, and performance outcome. servant leadership's morale-based leadership style has emerged with a focus on promoting integrity and prioritizing the empowerment of followers. marques-quinteiro et al. (2022) suggested that society relies on firefighters to risk their lives to save others' lives and property. physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion are components of firefighters' well-being, and this study may assist leadership in developing methods to aid firefighters in coping with the rigorous job demands (marquesquinteiro et al., 2022). bentein et al. (2022) stated that a gap in the literature exists and that future research in other public sector organizations, such "as fire service," was needed to examine the generalizability of servant leadership's relationship to public sector engagement. this study exists to fill this critical gap. industry problem and purpose the problem examined in this study is the critical issue of declining employee engagement among firefighters, which significantly impacts their cognitive abilities and overall performance. this lack of engagement undermines the department's capacity to effectively respond to emergencies, deliver high-quality service to communities, maintain status as an employer of choice, and retain capable employees (kundu & nag, 2021). engaged employees enhance performance and productivity in organizations by approximately 22% more than organizations with diminished employee engagement (kundu & nag, 2021). increased workplace engagement facilitates employees' belief in the firm and their 2 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal desire to improve their work, exceed expectations, and increase efficiencies, positively impacting the organization's success (mostafa, 2021). this quantitative correlational study examined the relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement in the public service industry, specifically the fire service industry. the results of this study advance existing theories and models while filling the gap in the literature related to leadership and employee engagement. the findings substantiated a statistically significant positive correlational relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement variables. historically, employee engagement drives individual commitment to work institutions and organizational success (kumari & yelkar, 2022). low employee engagement in the public service industry may be created by factors such as compassion fatigue and customer incivility (gomes et al., 2022; mostafa, 2021). if left unresolved, these problems could result in an organization's inability to meet community needs, retain talent, and remain competitive as an employer of choice (kundu & nag, 2021). significant changes in social norms caused by the pandemic exacerbated the need to leverage employee engagement models and explore methods to foster employee loyalty, retention, and trust (kundu & nag, 2021). previous research has examined the relationship between employee engagement and servant leadership in the public and private sector industries (bentein et al., 2022; jones, 2020; slack et al., 2020; storey, 2020; zeeshan et al., 2021). however, according to slack et al. (2020), future research in various public-sector industries is needed to support the relationship between servant leadership and public-sector employee engagement. previous research evaluates the social construct around organizations and acknowledges that leadership styles undergo a natural evolution, similar to a living organism; leadership styles and theory evolve with societal norms and behavior to meet the needs of organizations and their constituents (khan et al., 2016). using previous studies as a foundation, this research examines the correlation between servant leadership and employee engagement in the fire service industry. babeľová et al. (2021) found that the functionality of the relationship between subordinates and their respective leader was related to the type of leadership style utilized. the authors also substantiated that subordinates' engagement and intention to retain employment were based on the quality of the relationship with their leader. slack et al. (2020) assert that a leader's ability to influence actions and behaviors affects public-sector employee engagement by creating an ethical environment and initiating public-sector reform. furthermore, effective leadership is foundational to an organization's ability to remain competitive and quickly adapt to changing societal conditions. consequently, slack et al. found that leadership styles aligned with best practices are the greatest resource for subordinates' success and the organization's mission. the decision to advance previous research in employee engagement and servant leadership was based on the research gap and the need for organizations to attract and retain employees to accomplish their desired mission. if a positive correlation can be discovered, servant leadership may support the fire service industry's mission to safeguard and grow communities (marques-quinteiro et al., 2022). the researcher surveyed literature using multiple platforms, including columbia southern university's online library, connected papers, and google scholar. keywords included servant leadership, leadership, employee engagement, employee resources, fire service, firefighters, job involvement, business prosperity, business success, and career growth. literature review harshitha (2015) stated that the definition of employee engagement is "a workplace approach designed to ensure that employees are committed to their organization's goals and values, motivated to contribute to organizational success, and are able at the same time to enhance their sense of well-being" (p. 97). furthermore, harshitha mentions that employee engagement was developed from previous literature (e.g., kahn, 1990) derived from cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components. if employees are emotionally and mentally invested in their work and the organization's success, a positive emotional january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 3 state can be achieved, which produces high levels of activation and pleasure from completing tasks (harshitha, 2015). however, the absence of employee engagement has polarizing effects (harshitha, 2015). multiple factors influence employee engagement. the perceived absence or low levels of employee engagement contribute to the three burnout dimensions: cynicism, exhaustion, and diminished efficiency (harshitha, 2015) various factors impact employee performance, such as motivation and leadership style (shellow, 2022). employees who experience decreased performance can significantly impact teams and cost organizations billions of dollars annually (lee & rhee, 2019; ward, 2021). through the lens of organizational performance, diminished engagement costs u.s. businesses approximately $550 billion annually (shellow, 2022). achieving high employee engagement is a means to achieve increased performance and is critical to avoid high turnover rates, shortage of skilled workforce, burnout, and low team morale. moletsane et al. (2019) stated that engaged employees are emotionally invested in creating value for their organization. shellow (2022) gave credence to the emotional connection between leaders, their leadership style, and organizational value through the theoretical framework of maslow's hierarchy of needs. maslow defines an individual's five basic needs as physiological needs, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization needs (ştefan et al., 2020). maslow's theory offers a practical means for leaders to influence employees through healthy relationships, a conduit to organizational success. there are several causes of disengaged employees. leaders can affect employees' engagement and connectivity to an organization by leveraging their leadership style to create and maintain healthy relationships (shellow, 2022). disengaged employees and low employee engagement can negatively impact organizations in many ways (kundu & nag, 2021). this research explores three common causes of low employee engagement: incivility (mostafa, 2021), dimensions of burnout (harshitha, 2015; marques-quinteiro et al., 2022), and compassion fatigue (gomes et al., 2022). workplace incivility may occur internally from coworkers and supervisors or externally from customers (mostafa, 2021). mustafa determined that customer incivility is a dynamic problem in the public service industry. several studies investigated incivility and determined that the mistreatment of employees by customers creates increased emotional exhaustion, psychological stress, and diminished psychological well-being and service performance (adams & webster, 2013; arnold & walsh, 2015; shao & skarlicki, 2014). mostafa (2021) coined the term service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviors (ocbs), which describes positive employee behaviors that directly affect customer outcomes and organizational effectiveness in a positive manner, such as working late to meet customer needs. service-oriented ocb is essential in public service industries because employees face situations that necessitate going above and beyond organizational expectations to meet customer needs (mostafa, 2021). diminished engagement causes and outcomes harshitha (2015) postulated three burnout dimensions contributing to low employee engagement: exhaustion, cynicism, and a sense of inefficacy. burnout was characterized as exposure to prolonged psychological responses to workplace stressors (ângelo & chambel, 2015). ângelo and chambel surveyed 651 firefighters and conducted a panel analysis, determining a causal relationship between organizational demands/supervisory support and burnout/engagement. research concerning firefighters' psychological occupational health has been determined to have several adverse effects due to their extended exposure to psychological stressors and physical danger (varvel et al., 2007). the job demand and resource model (jd-r) includes two psychological processes: health impairment and motivation (ângelo & chambel, 2015). gomes et al. (2022) illustrated the negative impact created when public servants such as firefighters and police officers experience burnout. several effects, such as performance issues and turnover, occur. research has established occupational stress and its relationship to serious health 4 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal problems (gomes et al., 2022). burnout has been associated with increased tendencies for suicide attempts in public service positions (febrianti & yulian, 2022). burnout syndrome is categorized as a work-related mental state that presents exhaustion and feelings of inefficiency and ineffectiveness. burnout syndrome is more prominent in professions that support emergency services and situations, such as firefighters (florio, 2010). according to gomes et al. (2022), burnout is a unique phenomenon that negatively impacts the quality of service provided by public service industries such as firefighters and police forces. data collected from 1,682 public service employees shows that burnout negatively impacts performance. furthermore, gomes et al. (2022) illustrate the data collected in 2021 from police officers through a survey, which substantiates a correlation between burnout and turnover intentions within public service industries. this research demonstrates the negative impacts on public service workers, which may result from excessive workloads imposed through ineffective leadership strategies and approaches to providing community needs. if public service professionals are operating while experiencing burnout syndrome, the service rendered is diminished, decreasing the quality of service to communities (gomes et al., 2022). external customers who experience subpar service may subject the public service worker to incivility (haider et al., 2019). gomes et al. (2022) articulate that compassion satisfaction moderates the relationship between turnover intention and burnout among public service employees. more specifically, public service employees who experience compassion satisfaction show decreased intentions to resign. compassion satisfaction is an individual's intrinsic feeling of reward for rendering care to others, making a positive difference in others' lives, and contributing to the well-being of society (haider et al., 2019). the opposite of compassion satisfaction is compassion fatigue. this negative composition leads to turnover and contributes to burnout and secondary trauma for public service industry employees. haider et al. (2019) stated that public service employees are intrinsically motivated in their organizational positions to serve the greater needs of individuals and communities. this concept is known as public service motivation theory, which emerged in the late 1980s (haider et al., 2019). haider et al. found that employees with a strong desire and willingness to contribute to greater public welfare may be exposed to debilitating circumstances that diminish their desire to provide exhaustive service to citizens. one debilitating factor that contributes to reduced employee engagement may be compassion fatigue (gomes et al., 2022). haider et al. (2019) discussed compassion fatigue through the lens of police officers who frequently have dual roles, which is also called "compassionate warrior mentality" (chopko, 2011). police officers can arrest individuals while supporting victims. similarly, firefighters are subjected to high workloads, increased task demands, and acute stress levels under extreme circumstances while protecting lives and property (gomes et al., 2022). professionals subjected to trauma or significant emergencies while performing their job duties are found to have higher rates of compassion fatigue and diminished rates of compassion satisfaction, which correlates to higher levels of burnout. compassion fatigue presents itself in the public sector as a primary contributor to professionals' intention to leave the organization. theoretical connection between engagement and leadership in fire service public service motivation theory (psm) supports the theoretical framework of the seven pillars of greenleaf's servant leadership theory. haider et al. (2019) stated that the psm concept was derived by perry and wise in 1990. the public service motivation theory describes "an individual's predisposition to respond to motives grounded primarily or uniquely in public institutions and organizations" (perry & wise, 1990, p. 368). the study's authors assert that the public sector has been recognized as a prominent pillar of society's development and prosperity. liu and zhao (2022) found that psm was a mediating variable between servant leadership, work performance, and motivation of public servants. furthermore, public service employees are more willing to aid others, which drives individuals' job satisfaction and motivation. haider et al. (2019) draw from the psm theory and total quality management (tqm) principles. psm and tqm enable researchers, business january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 5 executives, and leaders to bolster and synchronize with greenleaf's seven pillars of servant leadership by pinpointing an efficient organizational structure and optimizing resource allocation. leadership is a critical component of employee engagement (harshitha, 2015). khan et al. (2016) stated that the definition of leadership was elusive and asserted that leadership was an art, something to be completed over time, not simply by reading books. leadership was more tribal than scientific, more weaving of relationships than an amassing of information, and, in that sense, those pursuing a clear definition of leadership have difficulty pining in every detail. (p. 6). walker and aritz (2014) mentioned leadership as one's ability to influence others toward achieving goals. consequently, leadership styles are how an individual executes tactics to motivate and guide others while strategizing how to meet stakeholders' needs (khan et al., 2016). this correlational study explored the relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement in the fire service industry. according to freeman (2022), servant leadership "is a viable model for u.s fire department leaders and supervisors" (p. 1). servant leadership focuses on the follower's needs to advance individuals holistically for the betterment of the organization and the communities served (freeman, 2022; khan et al., 2016). leaders are encouraged to relinquish their power to followers, and, in return, leaders are endowed with the authority to render resources and direction to serve others to become their best selves (freeman, 2022). mostafa (2021) asserts that servant leadership behaviors are connected with employee engagement, which supports the importance of conducting this study's research to substantiate correlation through a formal research process. methods this quantitative correlational study examined the relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement in the fire service industry. the population includes 1,063,400 active career, volunteer, and paid-per-call firefighters in the united states (u.s. fire administration, 2023). purposive sampling was used to intentionally select the sample from 609 firefighters currently employed in one metropolitan fire department in colorado. this study used the utrecht work engagement scale (uwes-9), developed by schaufeli and bakker (2004), and the servant leadership survey (sls-7), developed by liden et al. (2015), to gather data to examine the relationship between employee engagement and servant leadership in the fire service industry. g*power was conducted to determine a minimum number of 84 firefighters to be surveyed to minimize the risk of type ii error. this study supports previous research on the positive relationship between employee engagement and servant leadership. therefore, the findings could be used to support developing and implementing a servant leadership training program within the fire service industry to enhance employee engagement. with servant leadership as the foundation, the fire industry may be able to create initiatives to increase firefighter well-being and retention and decrease costs (slack et al., 2020). research question rq1: what is the relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement in firefighters in the united states? h10: there is no statistically significant relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement among firefighters in the united states. h1a: there is a statistically significant relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement in firefighters in the united states. 6 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal the criteria for selecting participants for this study included full-time firefighters employed with a metropolitan fire service organization in colorado. second, only full-time employees who were line employees could participate. the exclusion criteria for non-participants included any person who was not a full-time employee of the single metropolitan fire department in colorado or any full-time employee who was not a line employee. inclusion and exclusion for survey participants were determined based on pre-existing fire department email alias groups. all line personnel emails were grouped in the line employees' email group list. all staff or non-line personnel members were grouped in the staff employees email group list. all survey participants were recruited through email correspondence. instrumentation the independent variable for this study was servant leadership, and the dependent variable was employee engagement. individual employee engagement was measured by the utrecht work engagement scale (uwes-9) (schaufeli & bakker, 2004). this 9-item, 6-point likert-scale instrument measures from 0 (never) to 6 (always/every day). servant leadership was measured by liden et al.'s (2015) sls-7, which consists of seven 7-point likert scale questions ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). the uwes was introduced in 1999. according to schaufeli and bakker (2004), reliability consists of internal consistency (cronbach's α) and test-retest reliability, also known as stability. cronbach alpha scores of .867, .819, and .903 indicate good instrument reliability. domínguez-salas et al. (2022) conducted a cross-sectional study on healthcare workers utilizing the uwes-9 to assess work engagement during the covid-19 pandemic, using mental health as a variable. the findings supported both the reliability and validity of the uwes-9. domínguez-salas et al. stated that work engagement was a fulfilling construct that can be seen as an antidote to workplace impacts such as burnout. jones (2020) utilized the servant leadership scale to identify if a correlation existed with employee engagement across several organizations and industries in the united states. the findings substantiated the survey's reliability and validity as a tool that may identify the correlation between employee engagement and servant leadership (jones, 2020). validity and reliability convergent and criterion validity were established on the sls based on the results of two qualitative and eight quantitative studies, which included approximately 1600 participants (van dierendonck & nuijten, 2011). internal consistency for the sls survey was established by examining three different studies (henson & roberts, 2006; house et al., 2004; konczak et al., 2000), and cronbach's alpha scores ranged from .72 to .89 (van dierendonck & nuijten, 2011). the validity was assessed on data collected within the netherlands and the united kingdom. the eight-factor model was confirmed utilizing a chi-squared test. these studies concluded by confirming the cross-cultural factorial validity of the eight-factor model. the generally accepted values of good fit are close to .95 for the comparative fit index (cfi) and the tucker-lewis index (tli) and less than .08 for the standardized root mean square residual (srmr) and root mean square error of approximation (rmsea) (fan & sivo, 2007; hu & bentler, 1998). according to schaufeli et al. (2002), the uwes was introduced in 1999, and its reliability consists of internal consistency (cronbach's α) and test-retest reliability, also known as stability. cronbach alpha scores of .867, .819, and .903 indicate good instrument reliability. the internal consistencies across three different versions of the uwes are shown in appendix b. the internal consistencies exceed the accepted criterion of greater than or equal to .70. data collection procedures january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 7 participant recruitment relied on utilizing the fire department's outlook email platform. the researcher communicated with participants via an internal organizational email address. the fire department's pre-existing email alias, line employees, included all 609 of the line firefighters' organizational email addresses. the surveyplanet online platform was used to facilitate the data collection procedure for this research, allowing participants to participate in the survey efficiently and effectively. the survey consisted of two combined survey instruments, totaling 16 items. the researcher uploaded the survey instrument into surveyplanet, where survey participants were asked to rate each item utilizing the 7-point likert scale for the uwes-9 (0-never, 6-always/every day) and a 5-point likert scale for sls-7 (1=strongly disagrees, 5= strongly agrees). on average, the survey duration was approximately 5 minutes. on the first page of the survey, an informed consent document was provided to participants, detailing the purpose of the study, duration, and procedures. to ensure anonymity, the informed consent advised participants of confidentiality rights and the researchers' de-identification process, which consisted of all participants being represented numerically and not by their names. participants agreed to the terms of the informed consent document by electronically signing before they were allowed to proceed to the next step of the survey process. if participants were not interested in participating in the study, they could decline participation and exit the survey at any time. if a participant decided to rescind their survey results post-survey, they were allowed to email the researcher to request removal of their survey responses from the study. the participant's data were recorded within the surveyplanet platform. the survey data is securely maintained through a data-encrypted password. the survey data was securely stored on the surveyplanet platform for three years and then permanently deleted. results the data analysis procedures included descriptive statistics in the completed survey, outliers, normality, and reliability. each variable in the survey was tested for outliers to identify response(s) that could distort the data analysis results. outliers are values that exceed the mean results (bonett & wright, 2015). the kolmogorov-smirnov test of normality was used to determine the normality of the data collected because the data for both variables were found not to be normally distributed. the reliability of the data compiled was evaluated utilizing cronbach's α to determine the result's internal reliability (bonett & wright, 2015). the sample was taken from the 609 firefighters currently employed within a metropolitan fire service organization in colorado. a total of 183 responses were collected, resulting in a 30% response rate. no responses were removed because each respondent completed each item on the survey. therefore, a sample size of 183 was used in this analysis. the duration of data collection for each data collection instrument was two weeks. the data were recorded utilizing the online survey platform surveyplanet. after the survey participation period of two weeks, the data were exported to an excel sheet. the exported data were saved and password protected. there were no variations or deviations from the data collection plan during the data collection process. approximately 92% of the respondents were male. the respondents aged 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 comprised 64% of the total age groups (appendix c). descriptive statistics measured central tendency (mean, median, mode), range, variance, and standard deviation. in addition, an outlier and variable distribution (skewness and kurtosis) analysis was performed (table 1). table 1 numerical summaries of servant leadership and employee engagement variables numerical summaries 8 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal m sd skew kurt n servant leadership 4.10 0.99 -0.23 -0.76 183 employee engagement 5.24 1.24 -0.93 -0.56 183 a post hoc analysis was conducted to ascertain the study's statistical power analysis (kang, 2021). the g*power calculation resulted in 0.9861491 power, higher than the predicted .80 power. dimensional analysis was used to determine the scale reliability. the reliability of the data collected was calculated using r commander. the reliability of the servant leadership survey was 0.90, and the reliability of the employee engagement survey was .986., as illustrated in table 2. table 2 reliability of survey instruments reliability servant leadership .90 employee engagement .986 the two variables utilized in this study were formed by coupling two separate, reliable, and valid surveys: the shortened version of the uwes-9 and the shortened version of the servant leadership survey (see appendix a). exploratory data analysis as shown in figure 1, the histogram illustrates the distribution of respondents' selection to questions across the servant leadership and employee engagement variables. according to harsh et al. (2018), histograms are used to visually illustrate outliers, skewness, and other data distribution features around the data. figure 1 histogram of frequency scores of servant leadership and employee engagement variables outlier analysis january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 9 outliers are identified errors that may have occurred based on erroneous data entries or questionnaire issues during sampling (mowbray et al., 2018). each variable was examined for outliers utilizing the normality test, and the distribution was assessed. as shown in figure 2, the box plot for servant leadership indicated seven outliers from respondents numbers 61, 70, 77, 94, 95, 106, and 159. the seven potential outliers for servant leadership were not removed from the data set. the box plot for employee engagement found zero outliers. figure 2 boxplot for servant leadership and employee engagement the quantile-quantile plot (q.q. plot) is a graphical illustration that was used to determine if the data set has a standard distribution (dansana et al., 2020). according to zuzani et al. (2019), quantiles come from the same distribution if the points form a straight line. the sample data is considered skewed if a straight line does not occur. the q.q. plots in figure 3 illustrate data clusters around the straight line. the data around servant leadership and employee engagement are not normally distributed. figure 3 q.q. plot for servant leadership and employee engagement as illustrated in figure 4, the scatter plot depicts a moderate positive linear relationship between variables. li et al. (2022) mention that scatter plots are the most widely used data visualization tools. 10 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal figure 4 scatterplot for servant leadership and employee engagement the anderson-darling normality test was used to assess deviations from normality. the test results on the servant leadership variable were significant: a = 3.5932, p-value = 0.000000005261 (table 3). thus, the servant leadership variable was not normally distributed. the test results on the employee engagement variable were also significant: a = 1.1084, p-value = 0.006489. thus, the employee engagement variable was considered to be not normally distributed. table 3 anderson darling normality test anderson darling study variables a p-value servant leadership 3.5932 0.000000005261 employee engagement 1.1084 0.000000005261 a test of the relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement was performed. both variables were found not to be normally distributed. therefore, the pearson correlation test could not be used (mukaka, 2012). the spearman's rank correlation rho was selected as the test statistic. the result of the test was significant, s = 425349, p-value < .001. the spearman's rank correlation rho of 0.5835564 indicates a moderate positive relationship. the research question concerned the possibility of a correlation between servant leadership and employee engagement. utilizing the data collection instruments sls-7 and uwes-9 and non-parametric testing, this study revealed a significant relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement in the fire service industry. the post hoc calculation revealed that the study included enough participants to minimize a type ii error. given these results, the null hypothesis of no relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement (h10) can be rejected. subsequently, this study identified a statistically significant moderate relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement among firefighters in the united states. the next section presents the study's findings, conclusions, theoretical and practical implications, recommendations for future research, and closing remarks. january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 11 recommendations and conclusions the results of this study provide insights substantiating the relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement in the fire service industry. the findings can guide fire service industry leaders to understand the significant role of leadership in promoting employee engagement and the potential impacts on organizational success if servant leadership principles are not integrated into daily practice. this research fills a gap in the literature by providing quantitative data on the connection between servant leadership and employee engagement in the fire service field. the findings support developing and implementing a servant leadership training program within the fire service industry and other public sectors by emphasizing leadership as a key facet of employee motivation and retention. this addition to existing research could broaden the understanding of various leadership types in enhancing employee well-being across different industries. the fire service industry invests heavily in its human capital to deliver top-tier services to communities, and recognizing servant leadership as a vital resource can significantly enhance organizational efficiency and effectiveness. the problem identified is that firefighters face numerous motivation-depleting challenges, such as illnesses from daily exposures, exhaustion, and burnout. this research contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the responsibility of organizations to build a leadership pipeline based on servant leadership principles. by developing and implementing such programs, fire service organizations can cultivate a culture that enhances relationships and drives employee engagement. leaders trained in servant leadership can create systems and processes focusing on positive employee outcomes, potentially reducing firefighter exposure to harmful conditions. a servant leadership-based culture can enhance firefighter well-being and retention while decreasing costs associated with high employee turnover. this study can be utilized by fire service executives and human resource professionals to improve employee engagement and workplace satisfaction. by leveraging servant leadership, organizations can link employee success with organizational success, achieving a competitive advantage through positive relationships. this study produced new knowledge specific to the fire service industry, addressing previous research gaps. according to bentein et al. (2022), future research should examine the generalizability of servant leadership's relationship to public sector engagement. effective leadership practices can prevent burnout, on-the-job injuries, poor customer service, and undesirable emergency response outcomes, which are critical for maintaining high organizational performance. the study's limitation is that it only included career firefighters, which may affect the generalizability of the findings across the entire fire service industry. future research should include volunteer or paid-per-call fire departments and explore other public service sectors to add depth to the subject. additionally, a qualitative or mixed-methods approach could broaden the understanding of employee engagement. future research should address the gaps identified by focusing on additional sectors in both public and private industries. using the uwes-9 and sls-7 research instruments across multiple industries can strengthen the reliability of these tools and expand the application of research findings. this study substantiates a significant relationship between servant leadership and employee engagement in the fire service industry. the practice recommendations are based on these findings and several theoretical foundations centered on employee engagement and leadership pillars. this approach can create a synergy of business sustainability, efficiency, and effectiveness while supporting employee well-being through healthy relationships. fire service organizations should implement formal leadership programs that include servant leadership training and benchmarks within promotion packets, aligning with the organization's mission, vision, and values. establishing a leadership education and training pipeline will foster employee engagement. emphasizing servant leadership within organizational culture can significantly improve employee engagement, performance, and retention, thus enhancing organizational commitment and loyalty. this synergetic approach focuses on creating a productive and safe workplace, allowing individual members' intrinsic motivation to thrive and supporting the organization's social fabric. 12 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal this research underscores the importance of creating a healthy work environment for firefighters by fostering strong leader-employee relationships, which increases motivation, supports retention, and creates a resilient organization capable of serving communities effectively. as dr. martin luther king jr. stated, "he who is greatest among you shall be a servant" (king, 1968). this philosophy highlights that true greatness and organizational success stem from servant leadership. by embodying servant leadership, fire service organizations can achieve their vision and mission, ensuring the well-being and engagement of their most valuable resource: their employees. references abasilim, u. d., adebajo, o. o., & gberevbie, d. e. 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(2011). the servant leadership survey: development and validation of a multidimensional measure. journal of business and psychology, 26(3), 249–267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-010-9194-1 varvel, s. j., he, y., shannon, j. k., tager, d., bledman, r. a., chaichanasakul, a., & mendoza, m. m. (2007). multidimensional, threshold effects of social support in firefighters: is more support invariably better? journal of counseling psychology, 54(4), 458-465. walker, r., & aritz, j. (2014). leadership talk: a discourse approach to leader emergence. business expert press. ward, j. m. (2021). the mediating role of employee engagement on the relationship between psychological safety perceived by federal employees and customer satisfaction (publication no. 28413091) [doctoral dissertation, valdosta state university]. proquest dissertation publishing. wienclaw, r. a. (2021). regression analysis (sociology). in salem press encyclopedia. zuzani, p. n., ngongondo, c. s., mwale, f. d., & willems, p. (2019). examining trends of hydrometeorological extremes in the shire river basin in malawi. physics and chemistry of the earth, parts a/b/c, 112, 91-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2019.02.007 https://doi.org/https:/www.wilmarschaufeli.nl/publications/schaufeli https://doi-org./10.17718/tojde.1002726 https://doi.org/10.1007%2fs10869-010-9194-1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2019.02.007 16 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal appendix a survey instrument demographic questions 1. are you currently working in the fire service industry? yes___ no ___ 2. are you a firefighter? yes ___ no ____ 3. how long have you worked as a firefighter? 0-2 year(s) 2-5 years 5-10 years 10-20 years 20+ years 4. what is your age group? 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 over 55 5. what is your gender? male female prefer not to say 6. what is your ethnicity? white/caucasian hispanic/latino black/african american native american/american indian asian/pacific islander other 7. what is the highest degree or level of school you have completed? less than a high school diploma high school degree or equivalent bachelor's degree master's degree doctorate other january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 17 survey instrument-leadership and wellness please select one for each question that comes closest to reflecting your opinion strongly disagree disagree slightly disagree neutral slightly agree agree strongly agree 1 my leader can tell if something workrelated is going wrong. 2 my leader makes my career development a priority. 3 i would seek help from my leader if i had a personal problem. 4 my leader emphasizes the importance of giving back to the community. 5 my leader puts my best interest ahead of his/her own. 6 my leader gives me the freedom to handle difficult situations in the way that i feel is best. 7 my leader would not compromise ethical principles in order to achieve success. please select one for each question that comes closest to reflecting your opinion about it. never almost never (a few times a year or less) rarely (once a month or less) sometimes (a few times a month) often (once a week) very often (a few times a week) always (everyday) 8 at my work, i feel bursting with energy. 18 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 9 at my job, i feel strong and vigorous. 10 my job inspires me. 11 i am enthusiastic about my job. 12 when i get up in the morning, i feel like going to work. 13 i feel happy when i am working intensely. 14 i am proud of the work that i do. 15 i am immersed in my work. 16 i get carried away when i'm working. january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 19 appendix b reliability of uwes scales uwes-9 (n=9,679) uwes-15 (n=9,679) uwes-17 (n=9,679) total md range total md range total md range vigor .84 .84 .75-.91 .86 .86 .81-.90 .83 .86 .81-.90 dedication* .89 .89 .83-.93 .29 .91 .88-.95 .92 .92 .88-.95 absorption .79 .79 .70-.84 .82 .81 .75-.87 .82 .80 .70-.88 note. the dedication scale of the uwes-15 and 17 are identical. test-retest reliability of the uwes scales. scale salvation army (australia) (n=293) paramedics (norwegian) (n=563) vigor 6 .64 .71 vigor 5 .64 .70 vigor 3 .61 .71 dedication 5 .58 .69 dedication 3 .56 .66 absorption 6 .58 .69 scale salvation army (australia) (n=293) paramedics (norwegian) (n=563) absorption 5 .58 .68 absorption 3 .57 .63 uwes-17 .63 .72 uwes-15 .62 .72 uwes-9 .64 .73 20 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal appendix c descriptive statistics of completed surveys demographic statistics full sample n % years of service 0-2 year(s) 10 5.46 2-5 years 12 6.55 5-10 years 24 13.11 10-20 years 52 28.41 20+ years 84 49.01 prefer not to say 1 .54 age 18-24 2 1.09 25-34 34 18.57 35-44 63 34.42 45-54 54 29.50 over 55 28 15.30 prefer not to say 2 1.09 gender female 11 13.25 male 168 91.80 prefer not to say 4 1.63 ethnicity white/caucasian 153 83.60 hispanic/latino 7 3.82 black/african american 4 2.18 native american/american indian 7 3.82 asian/pacific islander 3 1.63 other 2 1.09 prefer not to say 13 7.10 education less than a high school diploma 0 0 high school degree or equivalent 30 16.39 bachelor's degree 100 54.64 master's degree 24 13.11 doctor degree 0 0 other 27 14.75 prefer not to say 2 1.09 note. reflects the number and percentage of participants who completed the survey. 37 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal overcoming barriers to blockchain technological innovation in trade finance faced by u.s. banks clotilda mujeyi chinyanya, dba, mba, bba, pmp, acp, ssm | capella university, minneapolis, minnesota, usa contact: clotildac@gmail.com abstract the major u.s. banks have been reluctant to adopt blockchain technology in trade finance because of several barriers associated with the technology. the hesitancy in adopting the technology has led to higher costs, inconvenience to customers, vulnerability to cyber-attacks and susceptibility to forgery, and predicted losses in trade finance revenues of up to 10.5% per year for the next four years. this modified delphi project identified 18 feasible and desirable forward-looking approaches to overcoming barriers to adopting blockchain technological innovation in trade finance within u.s. banks. a panel of 13 blockchain implementation experts in the financial industry was recruited through user interviews and linkedin. qualitative and quantitative data were collected, analyzed, and documented using four iterative rounds of electronically administered surveys on the surveymonkey platform. the panelists selected the top five approaches, and 92.3% of the participants were confident with the results and rated the findings as reliable or very reliable. some of the reasons participants were confident with the results included: 69% of the participants mentioned people or talent; 61% mentioned leveraging existing infrastructure; 30% mentioned the importance of investing in r&d, and 23% mentioned financial resources and collaboration as critical to achieving the goal of blockchain technological innovation in trade finance. keywords: blockchain technology, letter of credit, trade finance, smart contract, innovation, toe framework, modified delphi technique 38 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 introduction trade finance enables global trade (international finance corporation, 2020). as dependable agents, banks play a critical role in facilitating that trade by arranging payments, financing, document processing, and guaranteeing payments to help reduce the risk of either party not fulfilling their obligations (bank for international settlements, 2014; niepmann & schmidt-eisenlohr, 2014b). letters of credit and documentary collections are two of the most common trade finance products to help mitigate the risk (niepmann and schmidt-eisenlohr, 2014a), and this project focuses on blockchain technology as an alternative to letters of credit. a letter of credit guarantees the exporter payment once the importer receives proof of shipment, and the banks of both parties act as intermediaries and guarantors in the trade process (niepmann & schmidt-eisenlohr, 2014a). although letters of credit help minimize risk, they have several disadvantages, including extensive paperwork that is slow to process, expensive, complicated, and susceptible to forgery and cyberattacks (chang et al., 2020). background financial technology firms (fintechs) are leading banks in innovation and siphoning their potential revenue (bedford & gilder, 2020; global fintech report, 2019). fintechs are active in banking, capital markets, investment management, insurance, and real estate and leverage innovative technology like blockchain (eckenrode & friedman, 2017). by contrast, banks’ “innovations” are mainly upgrades of existing products—hardly innovations compared to the more profound, revolutionary, and disruptive innovations of fintech start-ups (das et al., 2018; schindler, 2017). blockchain technology nakamoto (2008) demonstrated that banks lose their intermediary role with blockchain technology. trading parties can transact directly without involving a third party based on the integrity of cryptography (nakamoto, 2008). though blockchain technology has been in use for over ten years since nakamoto envisioned bitcoin in 2008, its use, particularly in the finance industry, has been limited. halaburda and müeller-bloch (2019) conducted a case study of bitcoin to determine whether blockchain could deliver on the promise of decentralization and found that the governance of design and updates is centralized; however, the governance of transactions and consensus contains elements of centralization and decentralization. according to sherman et al. (2019), 90% of transactions go through only 20 mining pools, a typical example of centralization in permissionless blockchains. ethereum, launched in 2015, was the first blockchain platform with smart contract scripting capabilities (herweijer et al., 2018). according to hileman and rauchs (2017), ethereum opened doors for other blockchain applications and possibilities. corda and hyperledger fabric are permissioned blockchains with smart contract capabilities (sherman et al., 2019). popular blockchain technology trade finance platforms include corda, hyperledger fabric, ethereum, and quorum. some new platforms reflect genuine innovation and address issues raised with existing platforms (hileman & rauchs, 2017). 39 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal according to hileman and rauchs (2017), 19% of cryptocurrency payments supported international trade. practitioners have identified different blockchain technology applications, including trade finance, but implementing this technology at the industry level beyond cryptocurrency is limited (casino et al., 2019). some banks like jp morgan chase with its jpm coin (jpmorgan chase, 2022) and other parties like ibm have started some form of blockchain technology in trade finance on a small scale. blockchain is predicted to account for 10% of the global gdp by 2025 (herweijer et al., 2018). unless practitioners in banks are proactive in launching new products, these cornerstone institutions of the modern economy could lose their finance industry position. indeed, the oecd (2020) predicts a wave of disruption in the finance industry. more fintechs are expected to enter the market, with hubs in australia, switzerland, and china (shine group, 2018), and technology-driven models may soon replace the finance industry’s current business models (chen, 2018). business problem and gap in practice the financial services market was a us$22 trillion industry in 2020 (the business research company, 2020), and banks are such “systemically important financial institutions” that their failure threatens global economic and financial stability (rafique et al., 2018, p. 2). major u.s. banks face possible losses in trade finance revenues of up to 10.5% per year for the next five years, starting in 2021 (browne, 2020), primarily because of their lack of innovation. current bank users are looking for alternatives to letters of credit that are inexpensive and efficient (kant, 2017). for example, letters of credit contribute to shipment delays by up to 10 days (world blockchain summit, 2019). banks could lose customers to other trade finance platforms unless practitioners become more proactive in developing new products (pwc, 2017). the innovations must help capture new markets, protect existing ones, and prevent market share loss to newcomers. blockchain technology is one such innovation. brunner et al. (2016) identified fraud, unpredictability, and complexity of transacting as the three main reasons the current trade finance model needs disruption. khoza (2019) revealed how reluctance to share knowledge among team members can be a critical factor stifling innovation. failure to innovate leads to loss of first-mover advantage and market share, and even closure of the business (bloch et al., 2012; crawford, 2015; guzzini & iacobucci, 2017). nevertheless, the major u.s. banks, i.e., jp morgan chase, bank of america, citi, hsbc, and wells fargo, continue to use paper-intensive transaction methods without developing blockchain technology because of its many associated risks: technology, regulatory, privacy, counterparty, security, and transition risks (janssens et al., 2017; vysya & kumar, 2019). although most other business processes have gone digital, letters of credit, which currently account for 15% of all trade finance (a figure expected to continue to grow until 2027), still rely on paper trails rather than digital chains (allied market research, 2020; the bank for international settlements, 2014). smart contracts that employ blockchain technology are an alternative to paper-intensive letters-of-credit payment systems. in more technical terms, smart contracts are secured digital instructions coded to automatically permit contract terms’ performance that eliminate the need for a trusted third party and reduce the risk of human error (herweijer et al., 2018; youssef, 2020). a smart contract’s advantages include cost and speed. its advocates claim that it enables trustless trading, openness, data integrity, tamper-proof transactions, and guaranteed payment (youssef, 2020). 40 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 the possible erosion of the market dominance of traditional banks by fintech is not a new problem. indeed, das et al. (2018) identified barriers to innovation in banks more than four years ago. however, no meaningfully innovated products have been released, or initiatives launched to address these barriers. the barriers include reluctance to capitalize on new ideas, unresponsiveness due to systems design, opposing internal structures, risk-averse managers, lack of formal r&d, and hesitancy to accept external knowledge. these obstacles to innovation are also not unique to the finance industry; they are endemic in many industries that must deal with red tape and archaic systems and processes. several specific factors contribute to this innovation gap, including outdated technology, reluctance to accept new technology, lack of an innovation culture, and lack of technical knowledge in leadership, all of which discourage technologically gifted employees from staying with the organization for long enough periods to affect meaningful changes (ansari, 2020; das et al., 2018). furthermore, practitioners who would otherwise choose to commit funds to research, develop, or purchase new technology are discouraged because there is no guarantee of investment return. the situation stagnates without a formal structure to stimulate innovation that is not dependent on an immediate cost-benefit analysis (das et al., 2018). the innovations coming through fintechs are numerous and cover all aspects of banking and finance (schindler, 2017). to avoid banks’ failure, practitioners must start innovating and collaborating with fintechs to merge both institutions’ strengths (pwc, 2017). project questions this modified delphi project investigated two research questions: pq1. what are the forward-looking approaches to overcoming barriers to adopting blockchain innovation in trade finance within u.s. banks, as identified by a nationwide panel of blockchain implementation experts? pq2. is there consensus among a nationwide panel of blockchain implementation experts regarding the desirability and feasibility of specific forward-looking approaches to overcoming barriers to adopting blockchain innovation in trade finance? terms and definitions blockchain is a technology that uses a distributed ledger across a network of computers based on mathematics and advanced cryptography that is either permissioned or permissionless (beck & müllerbloch, 2017). a permissionless blockchain is public, where anyone can join, and all participating nodes have full access (clohessy & acton, 2019). in contrast, a permissioned blockchain is either private or a consortium, and the initiator can admit specific nodes to perform certain functions (chang et al., 2019). disruptive innovation serves an unserved market or creates a new market (christensen et al., 2015). a distributed ledger is a digital system that logs transactions of assets with details and records them in multiple nodes simultaneously (troy & pratt, 2017). 41 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal fintech is technological innovation in the financial industry that delivers significant changes in services or products (financial stability board, 2019). a letter of credit is an irrevocable undertaking that an issuing bank will pay the exporter upon delivery of the goods or services to the importer (united nations, 2012). organizational learning is creating and sharing knowledge to integrate new insights into future processes (siddiqui et al., 2019). a smart contract is a secured digital instruction coded to automatically permit a contract terms’ performance (youssef, 2020). importance of the project banks operate in a highly regulated environment. to avoid a repeat of the global financial crisis of 2008, practitioners have concentrated on compliance with regulatory reforms at the expense of innovation (bank for international settlements, 2018; das et al., 2018; helleiner, 2011). the covid-19 pandemic presented challenges to bank executives in trade finance as their ongoing use of paper-based processes made remote working impossible (murad & daly, 2021). banks have not developed smart solutions to navigate the regulatory requirements, managing most regulatory processes manually at the cost of up to us$4 billion annually (pwc, 2017). practitioners can access innovations through licensing, collaborations, joint ventures, mergers, and acquisitions (ahuja & katila, 2001; dell’era & verganti, 2010; haucap et al., 2019; hensmans, 2017; katz & shapiro, 1985). in short, several organizations are forming ecosystems to manage trade finance more efficiently using blockchain technology. applied framework the concepts of the technology-organization-environment (toe) framework (tornatzky et al., 1990) as proposed by baker (2011) inform the methodology and analysis of this modified delphi project. the toe framework explains how the technological, organizational, and environmental concepts impact technological innovation in the firm by examining these concepts as the result of a “model of innovation orientation: drivers, actions, and outcomes” (siguaw et al., 2006, p. 563). past applications of this framework demonstrate that its models can identify how organizational competencies produce innovation outcomes that improve firm performance (baker, 2011; clohessy & acton, 2019; li, 2020; oliveira & martins, 2010; pan & jang, 2008; siguaw et al., 2006; teo et al., 2006; zhu & kraemer, 2005; zhu et al., 2006). this project uses a hybrid framework (see figure 1) to examine a specific innovation, i.e., blockchain technology, in a specific industry, i.e., trade finance, which includes several barriers identified in the extant literature on blockchain technology adoption. 42 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 figure 1 innovation framework for adopting blockchain technology in trade finance literature review technology focus the technology concept of the toe framework helps practitioners identify gaps between the technology within the firm and what is available to fill those gaps (baker, 2011). key factors that impact the adoption of it innovations include required expertise, perceived comparative benefit, and how they fit and integrate with existing technology (rogers, 1995). several technology barriers are specific to blockchain technology. for example, the computational power required in the mining process to produce proof-of-work is excessive, leading to environmental fears (koteska et al., 2017). most of the mining is done in china, and, according to the center for strategic and international studies (2022), china is the world’s leading producer and user of coal. bitcoin mining alone could emit enough carbon to increase global warming by 2 degrees celsius by 2048 (mora et al., 2018). scalability is also a crucial barrier to adopting blockchain technology in trade finance (koteska et al., 2017). lack of standardization across technology in trade finance business problem concepts barriers computational power integration complexity scalability standardization privacy support gap in practice blockchain implementation firm performance market position operational efficiency financial results strategic direction environmental turbulence outcome talent financial resources infrastructure organizational readiness top management support regulations interoperability standardization organization technology environment 43 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal blockchains prevents adoption (chen et al., 2020; vysya & kumar, 2019). public blockchains are also prone to attack because the setup of a blockchain is such that if 51% of the miners control a node, they can manipulate it, erase transaction history, and compromise the integrity of the block (bakos et al., 2021; koteska et al., 2017; vysya & kumar, 2019). the privacy issues, especially for public blockchains, are a significant deterrent to adopting this innovative technology (koteska et al., 2017). global technological developments have fostered blockchain, with several companies launching platforms in 2018 and over 550 patents under review in 2019 worldwide (herweijer et al., 2018; sherman et al., 2019). some banks have formed syndicates to tackle trade finance issues through blockchain technology and other technologies; however, none of the consortia identified by patel and ganne (2019) originated from the united states. indeed, most banks participating in such syndicates are headquartered in china, europe, hong kong, india, and singapore. scaling the operations of these syndicates remains challenging because of the heterogeneity of global trade regulations (patel & ganne, 2020). corda r3 is the most prominent blockchain consortium and is ideal for financial institutions comprising more than 40 global banks, including bank of america and morgan stanley (guo & liang, 2016). platforms like corda and quorum conducted successful interoperability trials (accenture, 2019). the trials are insufficient to cover all variables in a trade finance transaction, cannot account for all variations in platform designs, and do not incorporate legacy systems (world bank group, 2021). the world economic forum (2020) identified gaps, starting from basics like terminology. applications like vottun, overledger, and liquidapps address the interoperability issue with blockchain platforms (world bank group, 2021). different platforms, however, have different security protocols, which may compromise interoperating platforms and allow malicious interference like the oracle attack against synthetix (todd, 2019). the world bank group (2021) recommends establishing a governance body comprised of stakeholders to oversee the interoperability in blockchain, focusing on monitoring standards about the technical framework and examining the security and legal framework to supervise design and implementation. miners play a critical and pivotal role in providing computational power to validate new blocks, and 58% of miners operate from china (hileman & rauchs, 2017). mining requires a massive investment in equipment. several platforms, including bitcoin, use proof-of-work as a consensus mechanism to confirm a transaction and create a new block. executing proof-of-work consumes a considerable quantity of power, which raises environmental concerns. aggarwal and kumar (2021) suggested other consensus mechanisms to consider like proof-of-stake, proof-of-retrievability, proof-of-burn, proof-ofcapacity, proof-of-activity, proof-of-importance, proof-of-elapsed time, and proof-of-ownership. clohessy and acton (2019) found that all the five large companies in their study that successfully launched blockchain did so on private permissioned blockchains. a permissioned consortium blockchain is best for trade finance because it addresses privacy, security, transaction speed, and scalability concerns associated with permissionless blockchains (chang et al., 2019). furthermore, permissioned blockchain enables administrators to prevent illegal activities (world bank group, 2021). asim and sorooshian (2019) assessed process, infrastructure, and strategic capabilities related to technology management. in reviewing the literature on knowledge, innovation, and technology published between 1990 and 2018, the authors found that technological infrastructure is crucial in 44 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 creating and sharing knowledge. catalini and gans (2019) suggested creating ecosystems and collaborative platforms to share, manage, and reduce infrastructure costs. the approach of an ecosystem with a shared platform could simultaneously address the integration and cost barriers. organization the organization view examines those factors affecting the adoption of innovative technology specific to a firm, i.e., the skills of its labor, its leadership, size, knowledge concentration, company preparedness, and policies toward resource allocation (clohessy & acton, 2019). resource allocation must align with the strategic direction, or practitioners cannot explore all possibilities (hekkert et al., 2007). blockchain technology is new, so its potential has not yet been fully explored (iansiti & lakhani, 2017; varma, 2019). also, there is little depth in the technical workforce, with only a few people having the necessary skills to design and implement the technology at a large scale without extensive and often expensive staff retraining (beck & müller-bloch, 2017; clohessy & acton, 2019; vysya & kumar, 2019). the high capital outlay not only to procure specialized equipment but also to hire the personnel to design, implement, and manage it is a significant deterrent to blockchain adoption (zamani & giaglis, 2018). moreover, the lack of robust, time-tested standards makes it difficult for the different banks to collaborate on innovative products in trade finance because the different blockchain platforms have no uniformity (vysya & kumar, 2019). before practitioners invest in blockchain technology, executives must determine whether blockchain is the right solution to their business problems and if the organization is ready for the technology (herweijer et al., 2018). collaboration across functional teams and organizations is critical for blockchain technology innovation because skills are scarce (beck & müller-bloch, 2017). cross-functional collaboration also stimulates internal innovation (malhotra et al., 2017). demirkan (2018) claimed that collaboration helps pool resources to seize opportunities efficiently, but firms need slack in human resources to contribute to innovation initiatives within the network. however, mousa and chowdhury (2014) studied all us public firms between 1993 and 2011 and found that slack in human resources does not impact firm innovation. beck and müller-bloch (2017) recommended using innovation labs to test ideas before implementation. in their study of companies in the financial, it, education, and other industries represented by 11 large companies and nine smes in ireland, clohessy and acton (2019) reported that all participants said it was important to conduct experiments before adopting blockchain technology. slack in financial resources within a firm significantly impact innovation if the external environment is calm (demirkan, 2018). mousa and chowdhury (2014) found that slack in financial resources positively influences innovation because practitioners allocate more funds to r&d. firms with well-resourced r&d were more likely to adopt blockchain technology than those with limited resources (clohessy & acton, 2019). blockchain technology requires specific skills that are lacking in the current workforce. decisionmakers, therefore, must introduce formal training in blockchain technology to bridge the skills gap (clohessy & acton, 2019). malhotra et al. (2017) emphasized the importance of human resources as a source of innovation. according to veena et al. (2019), employees are an essential knowledge resource. in a four-year study across ten companies involved in internal crowdsourcing in different industries, malhotra et al. (2017) found that one way to stimulate innovation within the firm is to give employees 45 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal slack time to be creative. however, demirkan (2018) disproved this assertion saying there is no direct relationship between slack time and creativity among employees. according to malhotra et al. (2017), internal innovation works best when employees have a clear concept of the idea selection criteria. clohessy and acton (2019) analyzed organizational size, readiness, and support from top-level management to determine the factors influencing blockchain innovation adoption. of the companies analyzed, 15% demonstrated that organizational readiness must be combined with top management support to influence blockchain adoption positively. also, 25% demonstrated that large organizations with organizational readiness and support from top-level management adopted blockchain. support and involvement from top-level management are critical factors in blockchain adoption (clohessy & acton, 2019). the leadership of the ceo has a direct influence on innovation (zuraik & kelly, 2019). leadership must inspire enthusiasm and provide platforms that encourage idea sharing among employees to help refine the ideas (beck & müller-bloch, 2017; malhotra et al., 2017). khoza (2019) found that employees withhold knowledge if managers do not reward them for their ability. malhotra et al. (2017) and khoza (2019) concurred that employees would not share if they did not personally benefit from the innovation. however, beck and müller-bloch (2017) found that employees invested their free time while expecting only the satisfaction of being part of a significant milestone in the firm, not monetary compensation. environment the environmental component of the hybrid toe framework focuses on such external factors deterring the adoption of innovative technology as competitors, regulators, government departments, customers, and other stakeholders (clohessy & acton, 2019). because banks are cornerstones of modern economies, they are more regulated than many other industries. the requirements to follow specific standards designed for traditional trade finance makes it difficult for executives to embrace blockchain technology (patel & ganne, 2020). compliance with regulations for settling disputes, identification of regulators, the legality of smart contracts, record keeping, tax-paying, and reporting is a challenge because legislation is constantly changing (vysya & kumar, 2019). the anti-money laundering act of 2020 expanded its reach to include cryptocurrency (gibson dunn, 2020). the abundance of ideas and level of risk in developing blockchain technology makes collaboration with external parties indispensable, especially for firms with weak r&d or limited resources (demirkan, 2018; hensmans, 2017; lee et al., 2016; pisano & verganti, 2008). however, a lack of interoperability between separate blockchain networks makes sharing data necessary for collaboration between different stakeholders well-nigh impossible (lewis et al., 2019; zamani & giaglis, 2018). technological innovation works best through collaboration (demirkan, 2018). however, na et al. (2016) cautioned against collaboration when goals are unclear because it could waste resources. according to brown et al. (2020), banks could partner with fintechs to benefit from technology, products, and talent while offering better infrastructure to move banks more efficiently. according to kumar et al. (2011), market orientation is not forward-looking because it focuses on current customers; therefore, the organization may lose future opportunities. market orientation is ideal for sustained profitability in the long term because it focuses on customer retention rather than acquisition (kumar et al., 2011). still, there is no guarantee of customer retention if technology changes. 46 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 radical innovations are less likely with customer involvement because customers may make more complex suggestions and revisions than the firm can implement, resulting in conflict within implementation teams (storey & larbig, 2017). on the positive side, products co-created with customers are more likely to succeed on the market, have new uses, and be more user-friendly (storey & larbig, 2017). project design and participant recruitment the delphi technique is ideal when investigating something unknown because it supports brainstorming and critical thinking in teams and attempts to gather consensus (linstone & turoff, 2002; skulmoski et al., 2007). blockchain technology is still developing, and practitioners do not yet understand all its applications, capabilities, and shortfalls (iansiti & lakhani, 2017). this study adopted a modified delphi technique proposed by miller et al. (2020) that uses extant scholarly and grey literature and expert opinion gathered utilizing online questionnaires to reach a consensus on the barriers to blockchain technology adoption in u.s. trade finance. these questionnaires were distributed via the online service surveymonkey because it is automated, ensures the anonymity of participants using codes, accommodates longer surveys, and has no limit to the instrument’s number of questions or rounds. keeney et al. (2001) discussed some concerns with the experts in a modified delphi technique, most notably that in modified delphi projects, the expert usually self-identifies. this project, however, applied strict inclusion criteria. each participant must be a(n) “innovation manager,” “project manager,” “it manager,” or “blockchain implementation expert” at a major u.s. bank for at least three years, have knowledge and experience in blockchain technology, and have completed one blockchain technology project within the banking industry in the past three years. participants needed to meet two of the three criteria to be eligible to participate, and all the participants who completed all four phases of data collection did. following established methods (kelly, 2010; palinkas et al., 2015), purposive sampling was used to identify participants who were blockchain experts who had worked on at least one successful blockchain project in the banking industry in the past three years. the panelists were u.s.-based nationwide experts recruited using third-party services, namely user interviews and linkedin. keeney et al. (2001) also critique purposive sampling as a methodology because of the strong selection bias associated with purposive sampling. following the recommendations of skulmoski et al. (2007), a starting sample of 21 was recruited to ensure an adequate number of participants (i.e., 10 to 15) after attrition. participant recruitment was conducted on the user interviews platform and began on september 7, 2021. on september 14, 2021, a parallel recruitment drive was initiated on linkedin that targeted individuals whose profile information matched the participant selection criteria. recruitment ended on october 1, 2021, after 21 participants had signed up to complete the study. table 1 provides a demographic summary of the participants. panelists p3 and p5 dropped in round 2; their profiles appear underlined in table 1. 47 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal table 1 participant demographic information panelist age geographical region job title industry years in role # of blockchain projects p1 55+ west project manager finance >3 3 + p2 25-34 southeast project manager finance >3 2 p3 45-54 southwest directory technology & innovation health >3 1 p4 25-34 southwest project manager finance >3 1 p5 25-34 southwest senior solidity architect & senior manager finance >3 3+ p6 45-54 southwest technology consultant technology >3 1 p7 25-34 northeast crypto analyst government 1 2 p8 25-34 northeast it manager technology >3 1 p9 35-44 southwest project manager finance >3 2 p10 18-24 northeast senior analyst – strategy finance 1 2 48 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 p11 45-54 northeast project manager finance >3 1 p12 25-34 northeast blockchain implementation manager finance >3 2 p13 45-54 midwest project manager finance >3 3+ p14 45-54 southwest innovation manager finance >3 1 p15 35-44 northeast project manager finance >3 2 the job title in the criteria is non-exhaustive, so any job title that matched or matched the role described in the criteria was accepted as a good match. figure 2 analyzes the degree to which participants matched the criteria. figure 2 participants’ criteria match data collection this modified delphi project consisted of four rounds of participant involvement. participants reviewed the approaches from scholarly and practitioner literature sources and then listed, modified, and added new approaches in the first round. the categories of the approaches were technology, organization, and environment. the second round allowed participants to rate the desirability and feasibility of the approaches in the modified list on a five-point likert-type scale. those approaches that received a rating of 4 or 5 for both desirability and feasibility from at least 70% of the participants proceeded to the third round. the participants ranked the desirable and feasible approaches in order of importance in round three. participants ranked all the three categories combined. the weighted average score of the rankings 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% job title industry number of years knowledge & experience number of blockchain projects 49 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal was distributed to participants in the fourth round to record their degree of confidence in the selected approaches. in this modified delphi project, participants did not know each other and never met during the project. anonymity helped participants express themselves more freely without pressure to align with their peers and modify opinions they had already determined to be correct. the process occurred in rounds because iteration allowed participants to change their opinions based on a narrowing scope of options (eubank et al., 2016). two delphi technique experts reviewed the round 1 instrument before it was sent to participants, and it was adjusted to reflect their feedback. trustworthiness the qualitative standards for trustworthiness are “credibility, transferability, dependability, and conformability” (lincoln & guba, 1985, p. 314). credibility is the certainty that the information captured reflects the actual lived experiences of participants and is also known as the truth value. in modified delphi, the truth value relies on the fourth round, where participants rate their confidence with the study results. sandelowski (1995) identified two ways of ensuring credibility in a qualitative method: purposeful sampling and adequate sample size, especially when there is some homogeneity; thus, this study meets sandelowski’s assessment for credibility. transferability establishes the relevance of the results of a study to other situations. documenting the data analysis process from the first to the fourth round allows anyone to duplicate the study in the same or a different geographical setting. dependability determines the study’s reproducibility. clear and precise documenting allows another researcher to transfer the results to another population. however, krefting (1991) argued that most qualitative studies do not need to make sweeping statements because each study is distinct and usually inflexible. conformability assesses the impartiality of the researcher’s analysis of the data. in this modified delphi project, data analysis and presentation were critical throughout the process so that all opinions were recorded with high accuracy. data were analyzed after each round to ensure tha t the information going into the subsequent round reflected the accurate feedback from the preceding round. ethical considerations the study did not commence until irb approval was obtained in compliance with capella university’s policies. this study was not human subject research, so informed consent was not required. participants were given a unique identification code used to protect their anonymity during the data gathering process, which used the surveymonkey platform. participation was voluntary and not remunerated in any way. data collection results round 1: data collection and analysis the surveymonkey platform sent out the round 1 questionnaire to 21 participants on october 3, 2021. participants were given a questionnaire with the different approaches organized into three categories: technology, organization, and environment (see table 2, text in black). the questionnaire defined the three terms and what they entailed. participants were then asked to review the approaches suggested in each category and add anything they believed was missing from the list. 50 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 seven participants had been recruited via user interviews, and the other 14 through linkedin. one participant opted out, and the email was not delivered. an email reminder was sent out on october 5, 2021. by the end of the first phase of data collection and analysis on october 9, 2021, 15 participants had responded, three had opened the survey emails but had not completed the survey, and two emails remained unopened. efforts to reach those with unopened emails through user interviews and linkedin failed. it took participants an average of 17 minutes to complete the survey. the round 1 data collection tool included 29 approaches and six demographic questions. if participants agreed with the approach, they did not need to write anything. if they disagreed with or wanted to amend an approach, space was provided. space was also provided at the end of each section for free-form responses that the experts wanted to contribute to the study. the panelists generated 15 proposed amendments to the approaches included in the surveymonkey questionnaire and four new ones. table 2 provides a comprehensive list of the approaches with the experts’ amendments highlighted in red for comparison against the original text in black. each of the 33 approaches in table 2 was converted to a five-point likert-type scale item for distribution to participants in the second round of data collection and analysis. table 1 revised approaches after round 1 input from experts 1. leverage existing ecosystems to share, manage, and reduce infrastructure costs to overcome integration, and cost barriers. 2. adopt permissioned consortium blockchain for trade finance because all members of the consortium will be using the same platform. permissioned consortium will also address privacy, security, transaction speed, and scalability issues associated with permissionless blockchains. 3. use other consensus mechanisms to verify transactions besides proof-of-work like proof-of-stake, proof-of-retrievability, proof-of-burn, proof-of-capacity, proof-of-activity, proof-of-importance, proof-of-elapsed time, proof-of-ownership, proof-of-state, and proof-of-history. 4. invest in infrastructure and people that can support technological advancement through access and application of knowledge. 5. collaborate across functional teams to utilize the scarce skills in blockchain technology innovation by identifying where those skills are concentrated within the firm through hr. 6. blockchain is complex and mission critical, therefore, developers must work with minimum distractions. to improve implementation of blockchain innovations, developers must focus on the task at hand without the added pressure of being expected to work with people across multiple teams. 7. collaborate across organizations to form consortiums and benefit from the resources held at the consortium level like skills. 8. hold financial resources at the collaboration level because they positively impact innovation compared to a firm’s internal financial resources. 9. collaborate with other partners to pool resources together to seize the blockchain technological innovation opportunity in time. 10. firms must have slack human resources to participate in a collaborative platform that encourages sharing of ideas and process improvements which is key to blockchain. 51 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 11. create and invest in innovation labs to test ideas before implementation with the involvement of both internal and external partners. 12. business should participate more than lab as project moves towards implementation because business owns and operationalizes any innovation. 13. blockchain is decentralized and distributed, therefore, business rarely takes ownership. lab should always be highly active as this is a technology-based solution and business should assume an active role in the project oversight. 14. firms must have slack financial resources to innovate. 15. provide resources to r&d to go towards blockchain technology initiatives (deleted ‘adequate’ from the original). 16. leadership support and involvement is a key determining factor in the successful implementation of blockchain technological innovation in the firm. 17. the leadership of the ceo has a direct influence on innovation. 18. introduce formal training for blockchain that is customized to close the skills gap within the firm. 19. financial resources reflect organizational readiness and are essential components for successful implementation of blockchain innovation. 20. talented workers reflect organizational readiness and are essential for successful implementation of blockchain innovation 21. technological infrastructure reflects organizational readiness and is essential for successful implementation of blockchain innovation. 22. inspire enthusiasm in people by promoting a culture of idea sharing. 23. reward people for sharing knowledge to encourage them to share more. 24. involve all interested employees, keep them engaged, and updated on progress. 25. give employees slack time to be creative and find ways to capture the creativity in those employees to improve the outcomes of blockchain technological innovation in the firm. 26. technological innovation requires constant collaboration, communication, commitment, and dedication of the overall project team to the success of a delivery and continued improvement. 27. the lack of understanding of how blockchain technology works by top management is what sets firms behind. while training employees on blockchain is useful, training the management teams is critical. 28. establish a governance group comprised of stakeholders to oversee the improvements and integration in blockchain. 29. create user software that can run on different blockchain platforms. 30. customize knowledge acquired from collaborating with external partners like research institutions and academic institutions to suit local circumstances. 31. establish clear collaboration goals so that practitioners can determine the proper deployment of resources. 32. partner with internal and external parties to build a self-supporting ecosystem where all members benefit from technology, products, and talent while offering better infrastructure to move banks to innovate more efficiently. 33. co-create products with customers to increase innovation 52 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 round 2 – data collection and analysis the round 2 survey was emailed to the 15 participants on october 10, 2021. a likert-type scale was employed in rounds 2 through 4 of the data collection phase because this measure helps determine the level to which participants concur with or dispute a statement (sullivan & artino, 2013). the experts rated both their opinions as to the desirability and the feasibility of each approach using an ordinal likert-type scale where 1 signified “very undesirable” or “very unfeasible,” and a 5 signified “very desirable” or “very feasible.” participants rating an approach with a 3 (neutral) or lower were asked to justify or explain their ratings. a consensus in delphi studies is not an exact science. for example, scholars have defined consensus as a level of agreement of 51% (loughlin & moore, 1979), 70% (sumsion, 1998), and 80% (green et al., 1999). this modified delphi project defined consensus as 70% according to sumsion (1998) because it was in the middle range of the scale suggested by other scholars. however, there were 13 participants; the next whole number was 10 participants, or 76.9%, so an approach with either a 4 or a 5 for both desirability and feasibility was deemed a consensus. the approaches that met the consensus criteria were used to generate the data collection tool for round 3. only 13 participants had completed round 2 of data collection by october 13 despite an email reminder sent on october 12. the survey asked participants to rate 33 approaches for both desirability and feasibility and took an average of 17 minutes to complete. table 3 summarizes the results for desirability and feasibility for all 33 approaches in the order they were presented to the participants. table 3 round 2 results approach participants rating 4 or 5 for desirability participants rating 4 or 5 for feasibility participants rating 4 or 5 for both 1. leverage existing ecosystems to share, manage, and reduce infrastructure costs to overcome integration, and cost barriers. 100% 84.6% 84.6% 2. adopt permissioned consortium blockchain for trade finance because all members of the consortium will be using the same platform. permissioned consortium will also address privacy, security, transaction speed, and scalability issues associated with permissionless blockchains. 84.6% 84.6% 84.6% 3. use other consensus mechanisms to verify transactions besides proof-of-work like proofof-stake, proof-of-retrievability, proof-of-burn, proof-of-capacity, proof-of-activity, proof-ofimportance, proof-of-elapsed time, proof-of92.3% 92.3% 92.3% 53 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal ownership, proof-of-state, and proof-of-history. 4. invest in infrastructure and people that can support technological advancement through access and application of knowledge 100% 92.3% 92.3% 5. collaborate across functional teams to utilize the scarce skills in blockchain technology innovation by identifying where those skills are concentrated within the firm through hr. 92.3% 76.9% 76.9% 6. blockchain is complex and mission critical, therefore, developers must work with minimum distractions. to improve implementation of blockchain innovations, developers must focus on the task at hand without the added pressure of being expected to work with people across multiple teams. 53.8% 15.4% 15.4% 7. collaborate across organizations to form consortiums and benefit from the resources held at the consortium level like skills. 92.3% 53.8% 53.8% 8. hold financial resources at the collaboration level because they positively impact innovation compared to a firm’s internal financial resources. 61.5% 46.2% 46.2% 9. collaborate with other partners to pool resources together to seize the blockchain technological innovation opportunity in time. 100% 61.5% 61.5% 10. firms must have slack human resources to participate in a collaborative platform that encourages sharing of ideas and process improvements which is key to blockchain. 53.8% 38.5% 30.8% 11. create and invest in innovation labs to test ideas before implementation with the involvement of both internal and external partners. 100% 76.9% 76.9% 12. business should participate more than lab as project moves towards implementation because business owns and operationalizes any innovation. 76.9% 53.8% 53.8% 54 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 13. blockchain is decentralized and distributed, therefore, business rarely takes ownership. lab should always be highly active as this is a technology-based solution and business should assume an active role in the project oversight. 53.8% 53.8% 53.8% 14. firms must have slack financial resources to innovate. 46.2% 23.1% 15.4% 15. provide resources to r&d to go towards blockchain technology initiatives. 100% 76.9% 76.9% 16. leadership support and involvement is a key determining factor in the successful implementation of blockchain technological innovation in the firm. 100% 69.2% 69.2% 17. the leadership of the ceo has a direct influence on innovation. 76.9% 92.3% 76.9% 18. introduce formal training for blockchain that is customized to close the skills gap within the firm. 100% 84.6% 84.6% 19. financial resources reflect organizational readiness and are essential components for successful implementation of blockchain innovation. 100% 84.6% 84.6% 20. talented workers reflect organizational readiness and are essential for successful implementation of blockchain innovation 100% 84.6% 84.6% 21. technological infrastructure reflects organizational readiness and is essential for successful implementation of blockchain innovation. 100% 76.9% 76.9% 22. inspire enthusiasm in people by promoting a culture of idea sharing. 76.9% 69.2% 69.2% 23. reward people for sharing knowledge to encourage them to share more. 100% 84.6% 84.6% 55 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 24. involve all interested employees, keep them engaged, and updated on progress. 100% 76.9% 76.9% 25. give employees slack time to be creative and find ways to capture the creativity in those employees to improve the outcomes of blockchain technological innovation in the firm. 92.3% 53.8% 53.8% 26. technological innovation requires constant collaboration, communication, commitment, and dedication of the overall project team to the success of a delivery and continued improvement. 100% 76.9% 76.9% 27. the lack of understanding of how blockchain technology works by top management is what sets firms behind. while training employees on blockchain is useful, training the management teams is critical. 76.9% 61.5% 61.5% 28. establish a governance group comprised of stakeholders to oversee the improvements and integration in blockchain. 84.62% 53.8% 53.8% 29. create user software that can run on different blockchain platforms. 92.3% 84.6% 76.9% 30. customize knowledge acquired from collaborating with external partners like research institutions and academic institutions to suit local circumstances. 92.3% 84.6% 84.6% 31. establish clear collaboration goals so that practitioners can determine the proper deployment of resources. 92.3% 92.3% 92.3% 32. partner with internal and external parties to build a self-supporting ecosystem where all members benefit from technology, products, and talent while offering better infrastructure to move banks to innovate more efficiently. 92.3% 69.2% 69.2% 33. co-create products with customers to increase innovation. 84.6% 30.8% 30.8% 56 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 eighteen of the 33 approaches received a rating of either 4 or 5 for desirability and feasibility from 76.9% of experts. five approaches, however, scored above 90% in desirability but received meager ratings for feasibility: collaboration across organizations to form consortiums (7); collaboration with other partners to pool resources (9); leadership support and involvement (16); giving employees slack time (25); and partnering with external and internal parties to build self-supporting ecosystems (32). following xu & zammit (2020), thematic analysis was used to interpret the open-ended responses from participants, i.e., their explanations for ratings of 1 or 2, because this data collection tool sought to access participants’ in-depth narratives of facts or opinions. data analysis for the open-ended responses followed braun and clarke’s (2006) six-step process as follows: “familiarizing yourself with your data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and producing the report” (p. 87). the process of becoming familiar with the data involved extracting the raw data into a table to organize it in a way that made it easier to analyze. the data gathered from the round 2 survey was categorized into three groups: technology, organization, and environment, which also served as its initial codes. the main ideas in all categories were highlighted in yellow to reveal a pattern. searching for themes involved comparing responses to identify a pattern that could give meaning to the data. seven themes emerged from round 2 of data collection and analysis (see table 4). these themes were reviewed against the original categories. the keywords used by the participants in their responses helped define and name the themes. the final step in the coding process involved producing the report to summarize the themes captured in table 4. most comments explained why an approach was not feasible, often specifically in the banking sector. details will be covered in the results section. table 4 major themes from round 2 comments major themes comments silo organizational structure in banking 3 collaboration challenges 10 technology team versus business team 8 financial resources 4 incentives and employee engagement 3 57 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal leadership 2 innovation labs 5 round 3 – data collection and analysis on october 13, 2021, the round 3 survey was emailed to participants. the participants ranked the 18 approaches identified as feasible and desirable in round 2 in order of importance, with 1 being the most important. each rank was attributed a corresponding score; a ranking of 1 had a score of 5, a ranking of 2, a score of 4, a ranking of 3, a score of 3, a ranking of 4, a score of 2, and a ranking of 5, a score of 1. items that did not make a participant’s top five scored zero. the 13 approaches that did not meet the criteria for consensus in round 2 were excluded from this data collection tool. all participants responded within 23 hours, and the survey was closed on october 14, 2021. it took an average of five minutes for participants to complete the survey. data were analyzed using excel. the scores were added and divided by 13, the number of participants in the third round, to find the weighted average score. table 5 summarizes the full results of round 3, sorted by category table 5 round three results sorted by category category approach weighted average technology 1. leverage existing ecosystems to share, manage, and reduce infrastructure costs to overcome integration, and cost barriers. 2.92 3. use other consensus mechanisms to verify transactions besides proof-of-work like proof-of-stake, proof-of-retrievability, proof-of-burn, proof-of-capacity, proof-of-activity, proofof-importance, proof-of-elapsed time, proof-of-ownership, proof-of-state, and proof-of-history. 1.31 4. invest in infrastructure and people that can support technological advancement through access and application of knowledge. 1.00 2. adopt permissioned consortium blockchain for trade finance because all members of the consortium will be using the same platform. permissioned consortium will also address privacy, security, transaction speed, and scalability issues associated with permissionless blockchains. 0.31 58 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 organization 11. talented workers reflect organizational readiness and are essential for successful implementation of blockchain innovation 1.85 7. provide resources to r&d to go towards blockchain technology initiatives. 1.46 5. collaborate across functional teams to utilize the scarce skills in blockchain technology innovation by identifying where those skills are concentrated within the firm through hr. 1.23 15. technological innovation requires constant collaboration, communication, commitment, and dedication of the overall project team to the success of a delivery and continued improvement. 0.85 9. introduce formal training for blockchain that is customized to close the skills gap within the firm. 0.77 13. reward people for sharing knowledge to encourage them to share more. 0.62 8. the leadership of the ceo has a direct influence on innovation. 0.38 6. create and invest in innovation labs to test ideas before implementation with the involvement of both internal and external partners. 0.31 14. involve all interested employees, keep them engaged, and updated on progress. 0.31 10. financial resources reflect organizational readiness and are essential components for successful implementation of blockchain innovation. 0.23 12. technological infrastructure reflects organizational readiness and is essential for successful implementation of blockchain innovation. 0.23 environment 16. create user software that can run on different blockchain platforms. 0.69 59 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 18. establish clear collaboration goals so that practitioners can determine the proper deployment of resources. 0.54 17. customize knowledge acquired from collaborating with external partners like research institutions and academic institutions to suit local circumstances. 0.00 round 4 – data collection and analysis the round 4 survey was emailed to all 13 participants on october 14, 2021. participants received the list of the top five approaches with weighted scores generated in round 3 (see table 6). they were asked to review and rate their confidence in the findings on a five-point likert-type scale (1 being “very unreliable” and 5 being “very reliable”) as well as express their general opinions through an open-ended question: “in this round, your role is to express your confidence in the results of this project presented on a five-point likert-type scale as follows 1 (very unreliable), 2 (unreliable), 3 (neutral), 4 (reliable), 5 (very reliable). please support your confidence rating in the space provided.” all participants had responded by october 15, 2021, and it took an average of five minutes for respondents to complete the survey. table 6 round 3 top five approaches approach weighted average 1. leverage existing ecosystems to share, manage and reduce infrastructure costs to overcome integration and cost barriers. 2.92 2. talented workers reflect organizational readiness and are essential for the successful implementation of blockchain innovation 1.85 3. provide resources to r&d to go towards blockchain technology initiatives. 1.46 4. use other consensus mechanisms to verify transactions besides proof-ofwork like proof-of-stake, proof-of-retrievability, proof-of-burn, proof-of-capacity, proof-of-activity, proof-of-importance, proof-of-elapsed time, proofof-ownership, proof-of-state, and proof-of-history. 5. collaborate across functional teams to utilize the scarce skills in blockchain technology innovation by identifying where those skills are concentrated within the firm through hr. 1.31 1.23 60 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 round 4 data analysis following lemon & hayes (2020), participants in round 4 received the list of the five approaches from round 3 and rated their confidence in these approaches on a five-point likert-type scale to establish the study’s credibility. the quantitative data were analyzed using microsoft excel, expressed as a percentage. a single participant (7.7%) rated the findings as unreliable. the rest of the participants rated the finding as reliable 38.5% (n=5) and very reliable 53.8% (n=7). respondents were also allowed to share their opinions on the rating in an open-form question, and their responses will be covered in the results section. results participants rated 18 of the 33 approaches as desirable and feasible in round 2. the rest of the approaches failed for multiple reasons. the silo organizational structure in the banking industry was seen as an impediment to collaborating within functional units. collaboration, in general, raised several issues, including intellectual capital, trade secrets, and difficulty in implementation. another concern was the ownership of innovations, where some thought operationalization should be left to business, and others thought it should remain with technology. practitioners must not wait until they have slack in financial resources to innovate. the incentives that employees expect could be financial, which is not feasible. also, giving employees slack time is not feasible because everyone’s schedule is full. the participant that rated the findings from round 3 as “unreliable” commented that they disagreed with the weighted importance on the list of shared infrastructure over training employees and allocating funding for blockchain projects. specifically, the participant argued that infrastructure is no longer the main priority with recent developments in a cloud-based architecture. the dozen other participants were confident in the reliability of the findings to varying degrees and for different reasons. in particular, 69% of the participants cited people or talent as the reason for their confidence. 61% of the participants mentioned leveraging existing infrastructure as a key factor in their confidence. infrastructure with tried-and-tested processes is already in place; therefore, practitioners must determine how their firms could benefit. identifying the proper infrastructure will require expertise, so practitioners must depend on people and talent to acquire the best solution for the firm. existing infrastructure will quicken the process and move firms to the implementation phase. three of the experts used the opportunity of the open-ended question to emphasize the importance of investment in r&d for blockchain technology, precisely because it is a relatively new field. financial resources and collaboration were each flagged by 23% of participants as critical for blockchain technological innovation in trade finance. one person who rated the overall reliability of round 3’s findings as “reliable” expressed their lack of confidence that collaboration in banking is only feasible on paper. table 7 provides a comprehensive list of participants’ open-ended comments collected in round 4. the following are excerpts from two comments about the importance of blockchain technology: this isn’t just a technology upgrade, and it’s not really about finance. blockchain technology will change how everything around us works and how we interact with the world. just like when the internet 61 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal went commercial, those who moved fast and adopted survived. those who couldn’t move quickly are no longer with us. (participant a) blockchain is the banking of the future. while early adopters have a chance of leveraging first-mover advantages, latecomers will have the advantage of riding on established infrastructure and tried and tested processes. (participant b) despite self-identifying for the study, none of the participants thought blockchain was just a fad. this project supports that blockchain is worth pursuing even if these barriers remain. if bank practitioners cannot eliminate the barriers, they should find a way to work around them to move forward. all the experts thought that executives should do more to ensure their businesses are prepared for the new reality that is already here. the full comments and the rest of the submissions are in table 7 for further review. table 7 open-ended responses to round four confidence rating support for the confidence rating unreliable • shared infrastructure is no longer a #1 priority in cloud-based architecture—who in the world ranked this above all others. focus should be given to training employees and obtaining sufficient budget. reliable • it first focuses on the costs and the training of people before anything else. • blockchain is the banking of the future. while early adapters [sic] have a chance of leveraging first-mover advantages, late come [sic] will have the advantage of riding on established infrastructure and tried-and-tested processes. • confident because approaches are not only desirable, but also feasible. the approaches also cover systems, people, and processes. • if existing systems can be used as a base for development and enough money/resources are put into this space, it is likely that any financial firm can be successful with blockchain. • i support these findings and would rate them as reliable. it takes talent + drive + resources to innovate and move the needle forward and implement blockchain. leveraging existing frameworks can lower the number of resources and greenfield development, but it still takes a dedicated line item in the budget and knowledgeable people with prior expertise. the only item which i find someone [sic] unreliable is the cross-functional teams. i have spoken about this in the past, with how difficult this can be in the real world. different groups have different priorities, resources, and reporting hierarchy, which adds layers of complexity and bureaucracy, and ultimately slows down the process. 62 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 very reliable • the findings are very reliable. i find the ranking of the approaches reasonable and believe that all the approaches listed out are feasible and highly desirable. additionally, i find these findings reliable because they collectively cover the key considerations with regards to innovation—hr/talent, financing, and operational risk. • very confident with the outcome of this study due to the following reasons: a) practitioners at banks must not waste resources building new ecosystems, but find ways to utilize or improve existing ones in ways that benefit the banks and other partners of the ecosystem. doing so will enable banks to embrace blockchain quicker than starting from scratch. there is no need to reinvent what is already in existence. b) investing in people is key in any strategic initiative. talented and skilled human resources are a key component in the successful launch of blockchain technological innovation in trade finance. people may need to be trained or retrained and having people with those skills will put the firm at a competitive advantage. c) investing in r&d is crucial for any company that is serious about innovation, let alone blockchain innovation. banks should have a budgetary allocation for r&d specific for blockchain to avoid trailing other industries. d) [proof-of-work] has caused enough environmental issues, and other consensus mechanisms must be explored. e) collaboration of any kind is important and should never be trivialized. that is why my confidence level with the results is ‘very reliable.’ • i am confident with the process and the results. the approaches can help overcome barriers to adopting blockchain innovation. the three categories of organization, technology, and environment are all represented, so this is balanced. • henry ford didn’t build both the road and the cars to ride on them. there are some fantastic blockchain ecosystems out there to build on. the best thing would be to leverage one of them; otherwise, you are just building another road. there are many excellent consensus mechanisms besides proofof-work. for example, cardano and polkadot are using the same proof-ofstake algorithm. ethereum will also be moving to proof-of-stake soon. the issue with ethereum is the gas fees. polygon and a few other layers two protocols for the ethereum blockchain can elevate the gas fee issue, scale, and add security, among features. talented workers, r&d resources, and crossfunctional team collaboration are always a plus. however, none of those things will matter without support from senior management and the ceo. this isn’t just a technology upgrade, and it’s not really about finance. blockchain technology will change how everything around us works and how we interact with the world around us. just like when the internet went commercial, those who moved fast and adopted survived. those who couldn’t move quickly are no longer with us. • the approaches are holistic and not focused on one area. the technological barriers will be addressed by leveraging existing ecosystems. the solutions also place importance on talent and skill development which is critical for 63 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal the success of blockchain implementation. blockchain is new, so more resources are needed in r&d to ensure we keep exploring new things including consensus mechanisms. collaboration is key to succeeding because the person with the right skill may be in the wrong department. • the approaches listed above seem feasible and are very desirable to ensure the long-term success and growth in blockchain within the banking sector. • this [is] very reliable because [these] are things that allow blockchain technology to thrive in our world today. findings and discussion the project questions were as follows: pq1: what are the forward-looking approaches to overcoming barriers to adopting blockchain innovation in trade finance within u.s. banks, as identified by a nationwide panel of blockchain implementation experts? pq2: is there consensus among a nationwide panel of blockchain implementation experts regarding the desirability and feasibility of specific forward-looking approaches to overcoming barriers to adopting blockchain innovation in trade finance? all the project questions were addressed. the experts were confident with the findings, with 92.3% rating the findings as either reliable or very reliable. below is an overview of the top 10 approaches and a comparison between the findings of this project and existing literature. catalini and gans (2019) suggested creating ecosystems and shared platforms to share, manage, and reduce infrastructure costs. the experts disagreed with creating new ecosystems because several are already in place. the experts rephrased the approach: leverage existing ecosystems to share, manage, and reduce infrastructure costs to overcome integration and cost barriers. this adapted approach got the highest ranking. experts’ comments indicate that practitioners must not waste resources trying to create new infrastructure but must leverage what is already in place to move quicker (see table 7). “talented workers reflect organizational readiness and are essential for successful implementation of blockchain innovation” was ranked highest by the experts in the organization category and second overall. the experts also ranked eighth the approach of introducing formal training for blockchain customized to close the skills gap within a firm. malhotra et al. (2017) emphasized the importance of human resources as a source of innovation. the experts also stressed the importance of talent, skills, hr, and training to overcome the barriers. firms with well-resourced r&d were more likely to adopt blockchain technology than those with limited r&d resources (beck and müller-bloch, 2017; clohessy & acton, 2019). the experts highlighted that blockchain technology is still new, so more r&d resources must be allocated specifically for blockchain. the experts ranked this approach number three. 64 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 several platforms use proof-of-work as a consensus mechanism to confirm a transaction and create a new block, but this technological process consumes excessive electricity, which raises environmental concerns. aggarwal and kumar (2021) listed other consensus mechanisms to consider like proof-ofstake, proof-of-retrievability, proof-of-burn, proof-of-capacity, proof-of-activity, proof-of-importance, proof-of-elapsed time, and proof-of-ownership to deliver the same results. the experts added proof-ofstate and proof-of-history to the list. the approach was ranked fourth. studies identified collaboration across functional teams as critical for blockchain technology because of the scarcity of skills (beck and müller-block, 2017; malholtra et al., 2017). one expert was unsure if the cross-functional aspect would work in the banking industry, and some experts raised questions about ownership rights over collaboratively developed technology and trade secrets. nevertheless, all but one expert believed that collaboration was feasible, and the approach was ranked fifth overall. “investment in infrastructure and people that can support technological advancement through access and application of knowledge” was ranked sixth as an approach. “technological innovation requires constant collaboration, communication, commitment, and dedication to the project team to delivery and continuous improvement” ranked seventh. the experts emphasized that robust technology alone (without investing in people) will not work and emphasized how the project team environment should offer structured opportunities for talented employees to learn through internships to gain skills. one surprising find was a lack of prioritization of standardization by the experts. standardization was the only approach to appear in two categories, and its lack has been flagged explicitly by the world bank as a significant barrier. although the experts did include “create user software that can run on different blockchain platforms” on the list, its ninth place was not consistent with the extant literature. rewarding people for sharing knowledge to encourage them to share more ranked tenth; here, the experts also placed real caveats on the scholarly recommendations. the main concern was that employees usually expect monetary rewards, which may not be ideal in a business environment. project application and recommendations this study may benefit banks in trade finance and other related businesses like supply chain management and insurance firms. the project findings show how practitioners could start implementing blockchain innovation in trade finance at u.s. banks. though the study was limited to u.s. banks, the principles apply to all banks involved in trade finance. practitioners do not have to overcome all barriers to implement blockchain innovation in trade finance (hekkert et al., 2007). several “quick wins” are low-hanging fruit within a firm’s control. moreover, many of the approaches are related and support each other. for example, five approaches have human resources, talent, skill, or training elements, meaning 50% of the top ten desirable and feasible approaches can be achieved through hr initiatives. future research could focus on how practitioners can help develop employees’ skills to support blockchain technology development and improve 65 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal collaboration in the banking industry. though some approaches were desirable, they were deemed unfeasible due to the nature of the silo organizational structure in the banking industry. 66 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 references accenture. 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(2019). the role of ceo transformational leadership and innovation climate in exploration and exploitation. european journal of innovation management, 22(1), 84-104. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejim-10-2017-0142 https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406920918810 https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/the-application-of-blockchain-in-trade-finance-opportunities-and-challenges/ https://www.tradefinanceglobal.com/posts/the-application-of-blockchain-in-trade-finance-opportunities-and-challenges/ https://doi.org/10.1108/imds-05-2017-0231 https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.1050.0045 https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1050.0487 https://doi.org/10.1108/ejim-10-2017-0142 76 january 2023 | volume 2, number 1 register and submit your work to business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (columbiasouthern.edu) business management research and applications: a cross-disciplinary journal (bmra) (issn 2769-4666) is an open-access (cc by-nd 4.0), peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research as well as works that explore the applied implications of others’ research, conceptual papers, and case studies (including teaching notes for review) that have a business administration and management slant. bmra welcomes original submissions from researchers, practitioners, and master’s/doctoral students from the following disciplines: business management, occupational safety, cybersecurity, finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, public administration, health services, fire safety, human resources, project management, healthcare management, and information technology. master’s degree-level student authors must be co-authors with faculty or professional researchers in the field. bmra is a participant with the lockss archival system, alabama digital preservation network | adpnet. this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivatives 4.0 international license. https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index https://bmrajournal.columbiasouthern.edu/index.php/bmra/index http://www.adpn.org/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 1 well–being as a predictor of turnover intention: a quantitative study of occupational safety and health professionals in the u.s. randall westmoreland, dba | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, united states jan tucker, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, united states contact: randall.westmoreland@yahoo.com or janice.tucker@umgc.edu abstract this quantitative correlational regression study examines the relationship between employee well–being and turnover intention among occupational safety and health (osh) professionals in the united states. previous research highlights a decline in well-being and an increase in turnover intention among osh professionals. this study focuses on how well-being predicts turnover intention, utilizing simple linear regression data analysis from two surveys. results show a weak to moderate predictive relationship between affective well–being and turnover intention. the sample consists of u.s. osh professionals, predominantly from the western region. the findings align with self–determination theory (sdt), suggesting that satisfying basic psychological needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness—enhances well–being, influencing turnover intention. when individuals experience positive emotional states and their emotional needs are met, they exhibit higher well-being and job satisfaction. this study contributes to understanding the well–being–turnover intention dynamic in the osh field, offering insights into organizational retention strategies and employee support programs. keywords: affective well–being, autonomy, burnout, competency, job satisfaction, motivation, self– determination theory, relatedness, turnover intention, well–being mailto:phd–janice.tucker@umgc.edu mailto:randall.westmoreland@yahoo.com mailto:janice.tucker@umgc.edu january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 2 introduction poor mental and physical health is linked to employees' intention to quit and voluntary turnover (akosile & ekemen, 2022). since 2019, the turnover rate among occupational safety and health (osh) professionals has increased (nsc, 2023). burnout, decreased job satisfaction, diminished organizational commitment, and sub-optimal performance, all associated with poor well–being, can lead to an intention to quit (davis, 2021). this turnover poses problems for companies, including increased costs, liabilities, lost production, and poor morale (nsc, 2023). this study examines whether well–being predicts osh professionals' intention to quit. while the negative impacts of osh employee turnover are known, there is a lack of research on antecedent variables linked to the intention to quit among this group (wang & wang, 2021). additionally, no studies have examined motivational connections with well-being that might predict turnover intention. this study will use a quantitative approach to establish the theoretical connection between eudaimonic well–being and turnover intention by interpreting individual experiences that might otherwise present confounding variables (martela & sheldon, 2019). it will contribute to the body of knowledge by measuring variables otherwise inferred logically. employee well–being has been studied under various theoretical frameworks, generally categorized by domains of influence (heinitz et al., 2018). martela and sheldon (2019) found that job– related stressors and unmet human needs are related to poor well–being outcomes such as burnout. a logical approach to measuring well–being includes capturing the complete picture of employee well– being, including subjective aspects related to experiences of autonomy and relatedness. deci and ryan's (2012) self–determination theory suggests that three innate psychological needs—autonomy, relatedness, and competence—contribute to well–being. martela and sheldon (2019) expanded the concept of a well–being by including both subjective and eudaimonic aspects. heinitz et al. (2018) found that an organizational culture promoting self–efficacy and optimism can significantly increase employee well–being. research on the link between osh employee turnover intention and well–being is sparse, creating a gap in the literature (liu et al., 2018). while some studies have examined the relationship between turnover intention and work-related affective well–being (van katwyk et al., 2000; yan et al., 2021) or intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (deci, 1971; deci & ryan, 2012), there is a lack of research on the role well–being plays in osh employees' intention to leave their jobs. understanding how well–being interventions can help reduce burnout and turnover intention while improving workplace safety and health performance is crucial (schwatka et al., 2022; smith et al., 2020). osh employees are essential for ensuring a safe and healthy work environment (stout & linn, 2002). organizations should focus on strategies that support osh employees' well–being (board on health sciences policy institute of medicine, 2000). studies indicate a relationship between well–being and emotional responses such as organizational commitment, job satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intention among osh employees (liu et al., 2018, 2019; rifin & danaee, 2022). strategies like total worker health (schwatka et al., 2022), the inclusive talent development model (fang et al., 2020), and positive organizational behavior (pob) (guslina, 2023) influence employee well–being and reduce turnover intention. thus, studying aspects of well–being in a predictive manner might clarify antecedents of intention to quit. occupational safety and health (osh) professionals are experiencing diminished well–being, influenced by factors such as autonomy, competency, and relatedness, which in turn leads to increased turnover intention (wang & wang, 2021). from 2020 to 2022, the turnover rate for osh employees rose from 30% to 41% (ferguson, 2022), significantly impacting organizational costs related to recruitment, business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 3 onboarding, and training (lauby, 2016). voluntary turnover, a growing challenge for businesses, is directly predicted by turnover intention (yan et al., 2021). this turnover introduces administrative disruptions and increases the workload on other departments (ferguson, 2022). cultural generational shifts have also been linked to higher employee turnover (fang et al., 2020). poor employee well–being, associated with burnout, emotional exhaustion, and social loafing, contributes to the intention to quit (wang & wang, 2021). job burnout negatively affects job satisfaction, employee engagement, and performance and is positively related to voluntary turnover (liu et al., 2018). the osh field is inherently stressful, with job demands exacerbating stress levels (board on health sciences policy [bhsp], 2000). stressors in this field include long working hours, ethical conflicts, lack of personal accomplishment, and work-life balance issues, all contributing to increased turnover intention (corso et al., 2019). these stressors vary across different sectors within the osh field, including private and public sectors and specific areas such as general industry, construction, enforcement, and consultative roles (bhsp, 2000). this quantitative correlational regression study examines the relationship between employee well–being and turnover intention among osh professionals in the united states. well–being, the independent variable, is the degree to which human needs are met (martela & sheldon, 2019) and will be measured using paul spector's general affective well-being survey (van katwyk et al., 2000). the dependent variable, turnover intention, ranges from the thought of leaving to the initial actions of voluntarily exiting a position and will be measured with paul spector's (1982) turnover intention survey. the study population includes safety specialists and technicians, safety managers, and industrial hygienists currently working in the osh field in the united states. participants were identified through linkedin and facebook, utilizing professional associations such as the american society of safety professionals (assp) and the american industrial hygiene association (aiha). the research question and corresponding hypotheses that framed this study were: r.q.: to what extent does employee well–being predict the turnover intention of occupational safety and health professionals? ho: employee well–being does not predict the turnover intention of occupational safety and health professionals. ha: employee well–being predicts the turnover intention of occupational safety and health professionals. the theoretical framework for this study is the self–self-determination theory (sdt), created by edward deci and richard ryan in 1977, which was a derivative product of deci's 1971 paper in which the authors examined motivations in conjunction with intrinsic and extrinsic rewards (o'hara, 2017). self-determination theory offers some explanation of measurable behavioral outcomes by examining antecedents of motivation. this theory provides a framework for understanding the relationships between people and their environment, their experiences of well–being, and their motivation, all of which are directly associated with positive attributes of organizational commitment (akosile & ekemen, 2022). literature review the various theories and variables related to well–being and turnover intention present complexities for research on this topic. well–being has deep historical roots, dating back to ancient greek philosophers. crisp (2002) noted that aristotle viewed well–being and friendship as mutually non– exclusive, stating that "a friend is a second self" or, in other words, another with reflective values (p. 133). furthermore, the text of necomachean ethics explains that values are a core tenant of virtuous existence. a mid–20th–century take on aristotilianism and objectivism posits that virtuous actions are linked to an individual's well–being through independent thinking and self–esteem (rand, 1964). deci and ryan (2012) contemporarily argued that well–being is enhanced when the human needs of autonomy, january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 4 competency, and addition of relatedness are met. aristotle's virtue characteristics historically align with these well–being components (anderson & fowers, 2019). extensive research has explored workers' well–being and associated factors. rifin and danaee's (2022) study found burnout among medical researchers significantly associated with diminished well– being and increased intention to leave. research by smith et al. (2020) and schwatka et al. (2022) highlighted the importance of promoting well–being in occupational health and safety. despite these advancements, niosh has faced challenges in applying these concepts due to the heterogeneity of factors surrounding wellness (anger et al., 2019). motivational theory, rooted in organizational studies, has expanded our understanding of well– being. maslow's hierarchy of needs (1943) proposes a hierarchical fulfillment of physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self–actualization needs. despite its influence, criticisms of its universal applicability suggest the need for further empirical research (yurdakul & arar, 2023). discrepancy theory, introduced by hackman (1980), posits that job satisfaction arises from aligning expectations with actual outcomes. discrepancies lead to dissatisfaction, emphasizing the need for further empirical examination in different contexts (jiang et al., 2012). locke's (1978) theory of job satisfaction builds on discrepancy theory, proposing that satisfaction depends on meeting or exceeding expectations. some critics argue that locke's (1978) theory of job satisfaction neglects specific job characteristics and emotional aspects (tietjen & myers, 1998). these theories converge on well-being, suggesting that fulfilling needs, aligning expectations, and meeting outcomes are crucial for well–being. modern approaches like job demands-resources (jdr) theory, conservation of resources (cor) theory, and self–determination theory (sdt) offer precise means of quantitatively assessing worker well–being. poor employee well–being significantly impacts organizations, leading to increased turnover intentions, reduced job performance, and increased workplace accidents (liu et al., 2018; rifin & danaee, 2022). modern theoretical approaches like jdr, cor, and sdt emphasize providing necessary resources, support, and autonomy to foster well–being and job satisfaction (bakker & demerouti, 2014; heinitz et al., 2018). jdr theory identifies job demands and resources, suggesting that balancing these can reduce stress and enhance motivation (bakker & demerouti, 2014). cor theory emphasizes preserving and acquiring resources to cope with job demands (hobfoll et al., 1992). sdt highlights the fulfillment of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs for well-being and motivation (deci & ryan, 2012; šakan et al., 2020). hobfoll's (1989) cor theory focuses on acquiring and preserving resources, with resource availability and loss significantly impacting well–being. research shows that supportive leadership and coworker support mitigate the adverse effects of job demands, whereas the loss of resources leads to decreased well–being (bakker & demerouti, 2007; hobfoll et al., 2018). cor theory recognizes the spillover effect, where resource loss in one domain affects other life areas. applying cor theory in organizations involves promoting resource gain and minimizing resource loss through effective job design, workload management, and supportive organizational culture (bakker et al., 2023). based on cor theory, the jd–r model explains the relationship between job characteristics, well–being, and performance (bakker & demerouti, 2007). job demands require sustained effort and can lead to strain or burnout, while job resources help achieve work goals and reduce demands (bakker et al., 2023). the jd–r model proposes two processes: the health impairment process, where high demands and low resources lead to strain, and the motivation process, where high resources and low demands foster positive outcomes. research consistently shows that high demands increase burnout, while resources enhance engagement, well–being, and job satisfaction (wu et al., 2019). the jd–r model has been validated in various contexts, including teaching, healthcare, and telework during the covid–19 pandemic, highlighting its relevance in understanding well–being and performance (dolce et al., 2020; jyoti & rani, 2019; meyer et al., 2021). business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 5 sdt, developed by deci and ryan, posits that fulfilling the needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness enhances well–being and motivation (ryan & deci, 2012). research shows that supportive work environments increase intrinsic motivation and employee engagement (gagné & deci, 2005). burnout is influenced by motivational factors, with studies showing that unmet psychological needs lead to higher burnout rates (wu et al., 2019). addressing these needs can mitigate burnout and promote well– being (heinitz et al., 2018). in the context of employee well–being, sdt has been applied to understand the relationship between motivation, turnover intention, and burnout (teixeira et al., 2020). research by gagné and deci (2005) found that when employees perceive their work environment as supportive of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, they experience higher levels of intrinsic motivation and employee engagement. concerning the building blocks of sdt, akosile and ekemen (2022) examined the impact of core self–evaluations (an individual's fundamental beliefs about themselves) on job satisfaction and turnover intention among academic staff in higher education. they found that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation mediated the relationship between core self–evaluations and turnover intention, resulting in a connection between values and the antecedents of optimal well–being. sdt and basic needs being met have been further supported in a meta-study, including 44 quantitative studies, finding that optimizing self– determined motivation and need satisfaction to enhance well–being further impacts work outcomes (nunes et al., 2023). this study uses a quantitative methodology to examine the relationship between turnover intention and well–being among osh professionals. sdt, emphasizing autonomy, competence, and relatedness, serves as the framework (lubbadeh, 2020). simple linear regression analysis, a statistical technique for examining predictive relationships, was conducted on collected data to determine whether well–being predicts turnover intention. surveys were used to collect data. the independent variable, well– being, was measured using paul spector's (2021) general affective well–being scale (gaws), while the turnover intention was measured using michaels and spector's (1982) three–item turnover intention scale. the gaws assesses subjective well–being and emotional experiences, aligning with sdt principles (van katwyk et al., 2000). the turnover intention scale captures employees' thoughts and plans about leaving their organization. both instruments are reliable and valid for measuring the target population's well–being and turnover intention (spector & jex, 1991). motivation and human capacity theories have advanced our understanding of employee performance and behavioral variables. cor, jd–r, and sdt theories emphasize psychological needs and well–being, with factors like job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, and burnout linked to subjective well–being. applying these theories in organizations can enhance employee well–being, reduce turnover intentions, and create positive work environments. a linear regression analysis was used to investigate the relationship between well–being and turnover intention. the gaws and turnover intention scale are appropriate instruments for measuring these variables in osh professionals. methods this correlational study examines the relationship between turnover intentions and the well–being of occupational safety and health (osh) employees. this study aimed to determine relational qualities between employee well–being (the independent variable) and turnover intention (the dependent variable). for this study, employee well-being is aligned with the self-determination theory (sdt) and is characterized by optimizing autonomy, competency, and relatedness (deci & ryan, 2012). paul spector's (2021) general affective well–being scale (gaws) was used to measure positive and negative affective factors that osh professionals experience. the michaels and spector (1982) turnover intention scale measured turnover intention. a regression research design was established to ascertain the predictability of the relationship between the independent variable (iv) and dependent variable (dv). the instrument january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 6 used to measure the dependent variable is paul spector's turnover intention survey (spector, 1982). the survey contains three items and measures a person's thoughts and actions, spanning from the consideration of a transition to their final steps of job transition. each item is rated using a 6–6-point likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). the independent variable is well–being, which was measured using the paul spector general affective well–being survey (gaws). this survey measures positive and negative emotional responses (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness) and contains 20 items rated on a 5–5-point likert–type scale from 1 (never) to 5 (every day). the surveys are presented in appendix a. respondents in this study were those who worked in the safety and health field, commonly under the titles of safety professional or industrial hygienist. the target population was comprised of management or technicians within their respective trades. the study's results may be utilized by businesses to aid in retaining osh employees, thereby reducing operational losses. additional demographic data was collected for descriptive statistics and potential inferences that may lead to future studies. these data points include age, u.s. region, gender, and experience (years). the survey was compiled in survey monkey in compliance with the instrumentation requirements. alternative findings, such as the number of discrepancies in data, such as, but not limited to outliers or inconsistencies in reporting, are reported. purposive sampling was used to identify research participants using social media groups like linkedin and facebook and through industry professional associations such as the american society of safety professionals (assp) and the american industrial hygiene association (aiha). qualifying respondents were provided with the link to a survey on the surveymonkey website. outreach also occurred in person through speaking engagements at professional conferences. a quick response q.r. code system was utilized for candidates to access the survey. the survey began with informed consent, which elaborated on protecting personal data. the information gathered consisted of basic demographic details while precluding identification or place of work. once the data was collected from survey monkey, it was exported into r commander for analysis. the required sample size was determined using g*power software to avoid type i and ii errors. type i error occurs when the null hypothesis is wrongfully rejected, and a type ii error happens when the null hypothesis is erroneously not rejected (senn, 2021). the calculations are based on the inputs of one independent variable (well–being) and one dependent variable (turnover intention). input parameters within the software include hypothesis testing, effect size, and power. since the purpose of the study is to reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis, a two-tailed test was selected (senn, 2021). effect size refers to the magnitude and direction of the relationship between variables in a linear regression model with logtransformed variables and is represented as cohen's (f 2). for this study, the sample size was calculated with a medium cohen's effect size (f 2=0.15), which allows a researcher to evaluate the significance of an association under moderate conditions. the selection and implementation of effect size mitigates the potential for type ii errors (sullivan & feinn, 2012). a sample size of 60 was needed with a medium effect size of cohen's (f 2=0.15), α = .05, and β =0.8. the gaws is a transformed version of the jaws and shares its reputation (van katwyk et al., 2000). questions are identical in intent, and scoring is equivalent. van katwyk et al. (2000) publication demonstrated that measuring emotional states yields accurate results in repetition. the usefulness of the jaws survey is supported by its utilization in two studies on character strengths (weziak–bialowolska et al., 2021) and work-related positive effects (armon et al., 2014). these studies support the validity and reliability of the survey in assessing constructs related to health, well–being, and work outcomes. the gaws was selected for this study because of the robust findings and reliability among diverse participants. the gaws uses a five-point scale. the scale has specific time anchors that can be adjusted based on the assessed timeframe. the options for the response scale are: (1) never, (2) once or twice, (3) once or twice per month, (4) once or twice per week, or (5) every day (van katwyk et al., 2000). the gaws covers a wide range of negative and positive emotional experiences. these emotions can be categorized business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 7 into four subtopics or subscales, which fall along two dimensions: pleasurableness (negative vs positive emotion) and arousal (low vs high intensity). the michaels and spector (1982) turnover intention scale is an effective tool in gauging the prediction towards voluntary turnover of employees (spector, 1991). the instrument has a good reputation, as demonstrated through a meta-analysis of the relationship between unemployment, job satisfaction, and employee turnover (carsten & spector, 1987). obeng et al. (2021) further recognized the effectiveness of measuring turnover intention related to employee experience variables. the turnover intention scale has shown significant results relating to workplace psychological constructs (batura et al., 2016). research question and hypotheses rq1: to what extent does employee well–being predict the turnover intention of occupational safety and health professionals? h1o: employee well–being does not predict the turnover intention of occupational safety and health professionals. h1a: employee well–being predicts the turnover intention of occupational safety and health professionals. validity and reliability validity determines how well a measurement tool captures the construct it is intended to measure (creswell, 2014). it encompasses both internal and external components. internal validity concerns establishing a causal relationship within the study's context and ensuring correct inference about causation (duckett, 2021). external validity pertains to the generalizability of the study's findings across various settings or populations (bo & galiani, 2021). ensuring internal and external validity this study reinforced internal validity through precise definitions of well–being and turnover intention, uniform data collection processes, including pertinent demographic controls, and timing of the data collection to factor in temporal dynamics. external validity was enhanced by selecting a diverse sample of osh professionals and structuring the study to allow precise, relatable participant interactions. instrument–specific validity prior research has validated the general affective well-being scale (gaws). the gaws demonstrates robust construct, convergent, and discriminant validity, making it suitable for assessing the positive and negative emotional states proposed by the self–determination theory (van katwyk et al., 2000). similarly, the turnover intention scale's validity is well established, effectively measuring the cognitions associated with voluntary job turnover. it exhibits strong face and content validity, consistently capturing essential turnover intention elements across studies (carsten & spector, 1987; michaels & spector, 1982). validation metrics january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 8 validation of these tools is reflected in their application and supported by empirical evidence, as shown in table 1, detailing the correlation (r2) and cronbach's alpha values, affirming reliability and validity (van katwyk et al., 2000). table 1 instrument validity and reliability coefficients variables affect variable r2 coefficient α gaws –.6*** .89 quit 0.77 specific note. ***p<.001. turnover intention is represented as "quit." reliability is the consistency and stability of a measurement instrument (creswell, 2014). internal consistency reliability can be assessed using cronbach's alpha. van katwyk et al. (2000) reported that the survey produced reliable findings (cronbach's alpha =0.89). basińska et al. (2014) indicated that the gaws reported a satisfactory cronbach's alpha value, indicating high internal consistency among both scaled versions. similarly, the turnover intention scale has also demonstrated good reliability, though not reported in the seminal research (michaels & spector, 1982; spector et al., 1988). a study by hu et al. (2022) identified a derivative instrument as having acceptable conditions of construct reliability (cronbach's alpha = 0.77), content correlative validity (.68), and a high degree of internal reliability (cronbach's alpha = 0.83). two strategies were implemented to ensure the reliability and validity of the data collected in this study. first, the survey instruments were administered consistently and standardized, ensuring all participants received the same questions. this helped minimize potential measurement bias and increase the reliability of the data. second, the participants were selected using a purposive sampling strategy to include individuals with relevant experience and knowledge related to the research topic. this enhanced the credibility and transferability of the findings because the participants shared similar work experiences. data collection and analysis data for this study were gathered using surveymonkey, adhering to established survey integrity and layout guidelines. the survey was launched upon the approval of the columbia southern university institutional review board. surveymonkey's contingency offerings, such as market research solutions for inadequate responses, were prepped but ultimately not used. participant recruitment and survey implementation target osh professionals were identified via linkedin and professional groups, with permissions coordinated through direct communications with organizational leaders. a requisite sample of at least 55 participants was confirmed before survey distribution, ensuring a representative demographic and geographic spread. participants engaged with the survey via a secure link, initiating an informed consent notice that underscored the voluntary nature of participation, confidentiality, and data protection measures. data management and security surveymonkey automatically organized and monitored responses collected until the study's conclusion, excluding any incomplete submissions from the analysis. the data were then exported to microsoft excel for preliminary cleaning and subsequently to r commander for detailed analysis. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 9 measures to maintain data confidentiality included password–protected and encrypted files and stripping datasets of direct identifiers like ip addresses to ensure participant anonymity. ethical adherence and data retention in keeping with the belmont report's ethical guidelines, data collection was conducted with utmost respect for participant rights, ensuring informed consent and provisions for withdrawal without detriment. data security protocols were rigorously followed, with all information securely stored on controlled-access cloud systems. per spector's (2022) requirements, data is retained for three years poststudy before secure eradication, except for essential aggregated data maintained for analysis continuity. coding coding for the delivered instrumentation aligned with specific guidelines, establishing a standardized system to capture and categorize participant responses efficiently. surveymonkey was utilized to assign numerical codes or labels to responses, and participants were given i.d. numbers to facilitate data removal requests if needed. according to van katwyk et al. (2000), scoring the general affective well–being scale (gaws) involved numerically coding responses from 1 to 5, reversing codes for negative emotions for accurate affect measurement, and handling missing items by either averaging or substituting central values. scoring could aggregate all items or differentiate between positive and negative responses across subscales of positive and negative arousal states. the three-item turnover intention scale by michaels and spector (1982) uses a nominal scale to gauge intentions of leaving current employment quickly, with no specific coding requirements due to its straightforward design. both instruments, including their scoring guidelines, are available from author paul spector. reliability analysis following the data summaries, a further analysis of the data's reliability was performed. in this study, measuring reliability is crucial to ensure the collected data's consistency and accuracy (garcía– lirios et al., 2022). it indicates the stability and dependability of the measurements and ensures an assessment of the degree of measured error present in the data. reliability was measured with cronbach's alpha, one of the most common methods (amirrudin et al., 2021). cronbach's alpha calculates the internal consistency reliability of a set of items or variables by assessing the degree to which they correlate. the formula for calculating cronbach's alpha coefficient (α = (k / (k – 1)) * [1 – (σσ²i / σ²x)]) was utilized, yielding coefficient scores of .91 (gaws) and .89 (t.i.). outlier identification and examination outlier identification and examination in a study can be conducted using various techniques, including box plots, quantile–qualile plotting (q.q. plots), and residual analysis (uba et al., 2021). box plots provide a visual representation of the distribution of the data, allowing for the identification of extreme values as points located outside the whiskers of the plot. q.q. plots compare data quantiles against expected quantiles from a theoretical distribution, enabling the detection of deviations from normality and potential outliers. all calculations were performed in the r commander program. test of normality regression analysis allows the researcher to demonstrate the relationship between independent and dependent variables by estimating the independent variables' coefficients for their statistical significance (rajalaxmi et al., 2019). contrary to common belief, normality tests on the broad dataset are january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 10 unnecessary, as the focus should be on the residuals' distribution rather than the independent variables (knief & forstmeier, 2021). residuals representing differences between observed and predicted values should ideally follow a normal distribution, confirming the regression model's assumptions (godfrey, 2019). deviations in this distribution, such as issues with homoscedasticity, would require adjustments to the model. in linear regression, a "best–fit" line is calculated to minimize the squared differences between the observed data and the predicted outcomes (lee, 2022), where the slope coefficient indicates the unit change in the dependent variable to the independent variable. the intercept represents the anticipated value of the dependent variable when the independent variables are zero. the regression line is determined by calculating the slope coefficient (β₁) and the intercept term (β₀) (godfrey, 2019). the slope coefficient is computed (β₁ = σ((xᵢ – x̄)(yᵢ – ȳ)) / σ((xᵢ – x̄)²) and signifies the rate or extent of change in the dependent variable per unit change in the independent variable. the intercept term is derived by subtracting the product of the slope coefficient and the mean of the independent variable from the mean of the dependent variable (β₀ = ȳ – β₁x̄). computation of these factors was done in r commander. the software further calculated the reportable f–statistic and r2 value [(f=mean square regression (msr) / mean square regression (mse)); (r2 = regression sums of squares (ssr) / total sums of squares (sst))] as a primary relationship indication. additional statistical measures were considered to assess the measured relationship and conduct a hypothesis test on the regression coefficient in the regression analysis. this included determining the t–t–score, degrees of freedom, and the p-value. the t–t–score is calculated by dividing the estimated coefficient by its standard error. degrees of freedom are obtained by subtracting the number of predictors from the sample size minus one. finally, the p–p–value is obtained by comparing the calculated t–t–score to the critical t–t–value from the t–t–distribution table at a specified significance level. if the p-value is less than the chosen significance level (p<0.05), the null hypothesis is rejected; otherwise, it will fail to be rejected. the formulas for the t are t = (β₁ – β₁̂) / se(β₁̂), df = n – k – 1. calculations for statistical values were performed in the r commander program. last, the breusch–pagan test for heteroscedasticity (homoscedasticity) and variance inflation factor (vif) analysis was conducted in r commander. according to đalić and terzić (2021), homoscedasticity refers to the assumption in regression analysis that the variability of the residuals is constant across different independent variable levels, indicating equal variance. multicollinearity is a high correlation between independent variables in a regression model, which can lead to issues in the estimation and relational interpretation of the coefficients. results and discussion this data set reflects the results of 90 individual responses to the employee well–being (iv) and turnover intention (dv) surveys. in total, 95 surveys were distributed, of which 90 were valid, yielding a response rate of 94.7%. upon careful examination of each survey, five were excluded because the respondents had not answered all the questions or were disqualified. accordingly, a subset of 90 surveys was considered for this analysis. r and r commander software were used for descriptive statistical analysis and outlier analysis. a post–hoc analysis of the sample power was calculated at 0.94. cronbach's alpha (α) assesses the extent to which test items are internally consistent or interconnected. the potential range of this measure is from zero to one. all dimensions and subdimensions displayed satisfactory internal reliability (with a cronbach α value equal to or greater than 0.70) (tavakol & dennick, 2011). a numeric summary breakdown of the target well–being variables, including positive and negative emotions and turnover intention, was performed. in this case, turnover intention stands as the dependent variable. this included standard deviation (s.d.) measurements, skew, and kurtosis with accompanying count. the mean score for the well–being variable was 68.6, with a standard deviation of 13.9, a skewness of –0.34, and a kurtosis of –1.35, based on a sample of 90 participants. similarly, the mean score for the turnover intention variable was 3.1, with a standard business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 11 deviation of 1.72, a skewness of 0.29, and a kurtosis of –0.87, based on a sample of 90 participants. these results suggest that both categories are normally distributed. table 2 numeric summaries of the well–being and turnover intention (t.i.) variables m sd skew kurt n well–being 68.6 13.9 –0.34 –1.35 90 ti 3.1 1.72 0.29 –0.87 90 note. the total for the gaws is calculated in reverse coding (r.c.). exploratory data analysis the subsequent step involved reviewing each variable for any potential outliers and determining the distribution of each variable by subjecting it to standard tests for normal distribution. these tests include histograms, boxplots, and q–q plotting. figure 1 illustrates the distribution of data for the well– being and turnover intention variables. the boxplots showing no outliers are presented in figure 2, and q–q plots indicating normal distribution are presented in figure 3. figure 1 graphical summaries of data distribution for the well–being and turnover intention variables note. data appears normally distributed. figure 2 boxplots of the well–being and turnover intention variables january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 12 note. the boxplot of the variables shows no outliers. figure 3 q–q plotting of the well–being and turnover intent variables note. frequency scores for the well–being and turnover intent variable. data within the shaded area is within the 95% confidence interval (p>0.05) and is considered normally distributed. a simple regression analysis examined whether a person's job satisfaction predicts their organizational commitment. the results of the test were significant: f(28.04, 88) = 29.92, p = < 0.001, r2 = 0.24). this can be interpreted as 24% of the change in turnover intention being attributable to a person's affective well–being, indicating weak to moderate predictability. the breusch–pagan test is used to examine if the variances of the error terms in a regression model are constant or vary across different levels of independent variables, otherwise referred to as heteroscedasticity (astivia & zumbo, 2019). it involves regressing the squared residuals from the original regression onto the independent variables. if the coefficients of this auxiliary regression are statistically significant, it suggests the presence of heteroscedasticity. homoscedasticity refers to the assumption in a regression analysis where the variances of the error terms are constant across all levels of the independent variables. at the same time, heteroscedasticity indicates that error term variances vary across independent variables. the breusch– pagan test helps researchers determine if their regression model violates the assumption of constant variances and enables them to make appropriate adjustments. figure 4 illustrates that the residuals do not show problematic patterns, while q.q. plotting indicates acceptable heteroscedasticity. table 3 shows that the data was found to be homoscedastic. figure 4 residual analysis of dependent and independent variables business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 13 note. residuals vs. fitted indicate no pattern, while q–q plotting indicates normal distribution. table 3 breusch–pegan test for homoscedasticity variables p–value b.p. well–being (iv) 0.83 0.04 ti (dv) note. where applicable, each numerical value is rounded to the second decimal place. the breusch–pegan test results show a p-value greater than 0.05, indicating that the data is homoscedastic. recommendations and conclusions the analysis of online survey data shows a weak to moderate predictive relationship (r²=0.24) between affective well–being and turnover intention, aligning with deci and ryan's (2012) self–selfdetermination theory (sdt) that emphasizes autonomy, competence, and relatedness. low pleasure and low arousal emotions (e.g., boredom and discouragement) are strongly associated with quitting. emotional exhaustion and cultural factors also influence turnover intentions, with men experiencing higher burnout due to less emotional communication. turnover intention is linked to job satisfaction, autonomy, and other factors, suggesting the need for comprehensive evaluation in future studies. the findings highlight the importance of emotional well–being in predicting turnover intention and suggest that improving affective well–being through targeted interventions can reduce turnover rates. to mitigate negative emotions and support employee retention, business leaders should enhance job satisfaction, promote autonomy, and foster positive work environments. future research should explore mediating factors, cultural influences, and longitudinal impacts to deepen understanding of these dynamics. notably, this study measured well-being in terms of affectation of emotional response. under sdt, well–being is emphasized by eudemonic qualities; however, the physical characteristics of vitality are also interconnected (ryan & frederick, 1997). this study focused on the affective state of well–being, january 2025 | volume 4, number 1 14 which refers to an individual's emotional experiences and positive affect, which, deci and ryan (2012) explain, can serve as a reliable indicator of overall well–being, without the need to measure aspects of physical vitality directly. however, it should be noted that physical vitality is associated with emotional states; thus, it is crucial to acknowledge this as a potential study limitation. according to self-determination theory (sdt), the theoretical implications of these findings are significant. sdt posits that psychological well–being is influenced by the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness (deci & ryan, 2012). in this study, affective well–being, which encompasses emotional experiences, both positive and negative, was found to have a moderately predictive relationship with turnover intention. this finding fits with sdt because it suggests that when individuals experience positive emotions and meet their emotional needs, they are more likely to have higher levels of well-being, job satisfaction, and autonomy. furthermore, these findings imply that aspects of competency and relatedness are interconnected with arousal states of emotion. the study found that low–pleasure and low–arousal emotions, such as boredom, discouragement, and depression, were more strongly associated with turnover intention. this finding implies that negative emotional experiences can substantially impact an individual's intention to leave their job. sdt emphasizes the importance of positive affect and emotional well–being in promoting the optimization of motivation, engagement, and persistence in goal-directed behavior (deci & ryan, 2012). the results of this study highlight the importance of considering emotional experiences to understand turnover intention. this suggests that businesses need to go beyond traditional measures of job satisfaction and consider employees' emotional well–being when designing policies and practices. by addressing the emotional needs of employees, organizations can create a more positive and engaging work environment that promotes retention and productivity. subsequently, this study provides insights into negative emotions, such as boredom and discouragement, that influence turnover intention. businesses can use this information to identify potential risk factors for turnover intent and develop proactive strategies to mitigate negative emotional experiences. organizations can develop targeted interventions and strategies to improve employee satisfaction, engagement, and retention by analyzing affective well–being and understanding its relationship with turnover intention. future research should explore the mediating and moderating factors that may influence the relationship between affective well–being and turnover intention. this study identified a moderately predictive relationship between these variables, but other variables may strengthen or weaken this relationship. for example, job satisfaction, perceived organizational support, and work-life balance could act as mediators or moderators in this relationship (wood et al., 2020). investigating these factors will provide a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics between affective well–being and turnover intention. future researchers should consider longitudinal studies to examine the relationship between affective well–being and turnover intention. while this study identified a moderately significant relationship, it cannot establish temporal associations. longitudinal research designs would allow for examining how changes in affective well–being over time or season predict changes in turnover intention (madigan & kim, 2021). this would provide stronger evidence for the impact of affective well–being on turnover intention and inform the development of interventions aimed at improving affective well–being and reducing turnover intention. these findings have significant implications for organizations and managers. by understanding the impact of affective well–being on turnover intention, businesses can develop targeted strategies and interventions to enhance employees' emotional experiences and job satisfaction. this includes promoting autonomy, providing opportunities for growth and development, and fostering positive workplace relationships. such efforts can reduce turnover rates, create a more positive and productive work environment, and contribute to successful business outcomes. in conclusion, this study highlights the critical role of emotional well–being in predicting turnover intention among occupational safety and health professionals. the findings suggest that organizations can significantly benefit from prioritizing their employees' emotional and psychological business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 15 needs. by fostering an environment that supports autonomy, competence, and relatedness, businesses can enhance job satisfaction while reducing turnover rates and building a more engaged and resilient workforce. future research should continue to explore the intricate relationships between emotional well– being and turnover intention, considering various mediating and moderating factors and adopting longitudinal approaches to capture temporal dynamics. addressing these aspects will also provide a better understanding of how to effectively promote employee well–being and retention in diverse organizational contexts, further contributing to the growing body of employee research well–being and work-related motivational expressions. references akosile, a. l., & ekemen, m. a. 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australian construction industry business leader's perceptions of digital strategy are relatively positive; there are distinctive views on the challenges and opportunities of utilizing digital transformation strategy while applying innovative digital business model; application of digital transformation strategy to scaling innovative digital business model to process, people and technology, and organizational excellence, performance, and growth are the most common prospects; and uncertainty, readiness, data management, and lack of capabilities are the most common digital transformation strategy to business model innovation challenges. the findings of this study may help construction industry business leaders understand the positive impact of utilizing digital transformation to business model innovation while applying digital transformation to business model innovation for gaining sustainable competitive organizational growth. keywords: digital transformation, digital transformation strategy, business model innovation, sustainability, competitive, growth. june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 2 introduction/background the emergence of advanced technology has brought about a rethink of how businesses operate. for survival, businesses adopt appropriate strategies and scale innovative digital technologies to transform their current business models (van tonder et al., 2020). however, studies focusing on strategies for scaling construction industry business model innovation (bmi) at the enterprise level are lacking. the purpose of this study is a) to explore strategies available for construction industry businesses to scale the digital transformation of their business models and b) to examine relationships between the constructs, which include digital transformation strategy, digital transformation, business model innovation, and sustainable competitive growth, which is the goal of digital transformation. digital technologies and digitalization require digital capabilities and a digital transformation strategy, while business model innovation is best done with digital transformation (van tonder et al., 2020). this study is contextualized within the construction industry and its business model innovation, focusing on improving customer pain points, using the right resources, and process change to gain sustainable competitive growth. construction industry leaders face constant pressure to meet evolving customer needs and expectations in a dynamic business environment, demanding successful innovation for sustainable growth and improved customer, employee, and stakeholder experiences (carnes et al., 2017). they recognize the importance of scaling digital transformation and reconfiguring existing business models to improve digital capabilities and digital-focused innovation (christensen et al., 2016; gallant, 2020). disruptive innovation involves creating new ventures, companies, and wealth while controlling the destructive process of existing ones. digital transformation can improve digital capabilities and enable sustainable competitive growth for construction organizations. however, business leaders are unsure of the appropriate strategy for scaling and implementing necessary changes at the enterprise level (bhattacharya & momaya, 2021). this research aims to investigate and suggest an appropriate digital transformation strategy through the diffusion of innovation theory lens for implementing and scaling digital transformation at the enterprise level of australia's construction industry organization business model. digital transformation is crucial for future enterprises, with 2020-2021 being a turning point. it has significantly impacted construction processes, manufacturing, e-commerce, distance work, and electronic signatures. however, small construction industry businesses often lack effective strategies and resources for digital transformation, leading to a lack of adoption of new strategic innovations (bouwman et al., 2019). organizational leadership and appropriate strategies are needed to overcome these challenges. the changes in customer behavior, volatile customer demands, and increasing market dynamics, accompanied by an explosion of customer touchpoints and fast-changing competitive and technological dynamics, have increased the emphasis on adopting tested and tried strategies for scaling innovative digital transformation at the enterprise level toward more significant customer satisfaction and sustainable competitive growth (fuchs & hess, 2018; kalaignanam et al., 2021). the lack of adequate digitization and digitalization of the construction industry business model in the australian construction industry is getting to a critical point and nearing a breaking point. according to ullah et al. (2021), most construction industry business leaders know advanced technologies that can change their business models and innovate the industry. yet, the most prevalent barriers are costs, organization policies, awareness, reluctance, user demand, technology integration, government support, and funding. overall, the highest barrier or risk scores are observed for high software and hardware costs, high complexity of the selected technology dissemination system, and lack of government incentives, r&d support, policies, regulations, and standards (ullah et al., 2021). the construction industry, a significant economic contributor, faces challenges in automating processes and operations despite advanced technologies like the internet of things and artificial intelligence (robinson et al., 2021; ullah et al., 2021). despite global openness to innovation, construction firms are often reluctant to adopt new methods (suprun & stewart, 2015). the industry's fragmentation has further exacerbated the issue, with many companies adhering to manual methods. large corporate construction management organizations still use manual techniques for handling extensive data and site operations (ceipek et al., 2021; matzler et al., 2018). the slow business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 3 progress in digital transformation in construction can be attributed to a lack of a clear strategy. despite the importance of choosing an appropriate digital transformation strategy for scaling the digital transformation of business model innovation at the enterprise level (mallinguh & zoltan, 2020), limited research has explored this idea within the construction industry context. this research highlights the influence of digital transformation strategy on digital transformation business model innovation for sustainable competitive growth. creating and implementing a digital transformation strategy has emerged as a significant concern for many businesses operating in the construction sector; however, the method by which a digital strategy can be created still needs to be discovered (albukhitan, 2020). extant literature suggests that not everyone is familiar with this idea; neither research nor practice has consensus on the significant ideas of digital change strategy (morakanyane et al., 2017). many digital transformation exercises have failed (fabac, 2022). a reasonable and all-around strategy is at the core of successful business achievement. butt (2020) highlights the importance of technology and innovation management in organizational strategies but acknowledges the challenge of low awareness about specific technologies is a drawback that needs further examination. scaling innovative technologies can improve efficiency, effectiveness, adaptability, agility, consistency, client experience and reduce costs (obrenovic et al., 2020). however, the impact of technology innovations on construction business transformation is under-examined (ardolino et al., 2018). issues like failure to recognize target objectives and lack of leadership capabilities can lead to curated and price-focused digital transformation efforts. a comprehensive strategy for digital change is crucial; unfortunately, many business leaders have viewed and approached this as mere software installation. successful digital transformation is not just about technology acquisition and installation but also requires boldness and risk-taking (kane, 2018; kane et al., 2015). organizations should experiment rapidly, frequently, and economically with products, services, productivity, processes, people, strategies, and business models. employees across all age categories must work for organizations focused on digital progress. literature review a review of the literature revealed limited knowledge of the strategies construction industry business leaders adopt to scale innovative digital transformation business models for gaining sustainable competitive growth in the construction industry. roger's (2003) diffusion of innovation theory explores digital transformation strategies, business model innovation, and sustainable competitive growth in the construction sector. it is logical to use this theoretical lens simultaneously as literature confirms the suitability of this approach (kofford et al., 2020; kunamarszalek & klysik-uryszek, 2020; theodoulidis et al., 2017). it identifies four gaps in existing research: a lack of a comprehensive list of digital transformation strategies, a lack of practical approaches, a need for a systematic theoretical foundation, and a lack of focus on business leaders' experiences. the research aims to develop a conceptual model containing a detailed process and practical approaches for business model innovation in the construction industry, improving the perception of business leaders' success and promoting economically sustainable competitive growth. youn et al. (2020) reiterate that the doi theory, a concept developed by rogers (2003), explains the diffusion process of innovation among social systems. it is explained by four key elements: the innovation itself, communication channels, time, and the social system. these elements are crucial for construction management scholars to understand the empirical research analysis. to apply the theory correctly, it is essential to examine these elements from the innovation itself (santos et al., 2015; wani & ali, 2015). within each element's definition are specific requirements that must be met to properly apply the entire theory (kaminski, 2011). the theory's four main elements are of interest to construction management scholars. to better understand the empirical analysis of this research, it is essential to take an in-depth look at these four elements by starting with innovation itself. june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 4 adoption of diffusion of innovation theory at scale the diffusion of innovation theory, doi (rogers, 2003) suggests that there are five different categories of individuals that go through the process of adopting innovation at the enterprise level and that these individuals adopt a new idea by going through five distinct steps: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption (al-rahmi et al., 2019). celik et al. (2014) developed a mobile learning adoption scale (mlas) based on rogers' (2003) diffusion of innovations theory. the scale consists of four sections: innovation-decision process stages, types of m-learning decisions, innovativeness level, and attributes of m-learning. the scale was developed in four stages: literature review, explanatory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and reliability analysis. the scale yielded valid and reliable scores (celik et al., 2014). diffusion of innovation in organizations rogers' (2003) diffusion of innovation theory (doi) posits that communication can occur within a social system where individuals, groups, organizations, or subsystems share a common goal or objective. for over four decades, this theory has gained significant interest from various disciplines, including management, economics, marketing, and sociology. it has emerged as a topic of discussion within the organizational transformation research community and business leaders to understand how new ideas, processes, and products diffuse and spread within and across organizations. internal and external factors, such as the construction industry, influence innovation diffusion in an organization. however, kale and arditi (2010) argue that the diffusion of innovation models used in prior studies of specific industries, such as the construction industry, are overly restrictive. adopting new technologies increases knowledge sharing and helps the organization achieve competitive growth. al-zoubi (2013) studied the adoption of e-business and discovered that increased technology explicitness and accumulation can support the internal transfer of technological knowledge and the capacity to adopt novel technologies. organizational innovation decisions can be optional, collective, or authority. optional decisions allow employees to choose whether to adopt or reject an innovation. collective decisions involve joint decision-making among team members. authority decisions involve a few individuals making decisions on behalf of the organization. contingency decisions, linked to earlier decisions, lead to the fastest adoption rate. the diffusion of innovation theory evaluates these decisions (jones et al., 2021). diffusion of innovation in construction industry organization innovative digital transformation in the construction industry means operations, product, and process innovations enabled by emerging technologies that have become a primary condition to withstand the global competition in the market (brondoni, 2015). innovations in the construction business can impact products, processes, operations, and business models, impacting value chain players, customers, and suppliers, creating a cyber-physical system connecting people and technologies (liao et al., 2017). wang et al. (2016) suggest that innovative digital technologies can facilitate and facilitate communication across all phases of value creation. with the diffusion of innovation in the construction industry, enabled by emerging technologies, several benefits are expected to improve the industry processes and operations. specifically, according to chen et al. (2018), construction production processes will primarily be based on emerging and enabling technologies due to the emergence of digital technologies. because these technological shifts significantly impact customer behavior, businesses in the construction industry must adopt or fail and may even be forced out of business. there is no question that several benefits are expected within the construction industry, thanks to the introduction of these innovative technologies. in particular, the new technologies would combine mass customization, shorter lead times, and better product quality to make production processes more adaptable. by combining mass customized business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 5 production, shorter lead times, and higher product quality (chen et al., 2018). also, the new technologies would allow australian construction industry organizations to innovate, strengthen, and integrate their supply network, responsiveness, and innovation to stimulate demand. therefore, the innovative digital transformation business model paradigm has become the primary reference for operations, process, and product innovation. digital transformation digitization converts analog data into digital format for computer storage, processing, retrieval, and dissemination (verhoef et al., 2021). it aims to make tasks smarter and more efficient within and outside an organization while maintaining value-creation strategies. digitalization involves the integration of digital technologies into existing business processes to make them smarter, enhancing customer value and user experiences (kiron et al., 2017). it is more about process improvements than cost minimization and has permeated nearly every business sector, necessitating a transformation in current business models and structures. the current global trend informs that digitization and digitalization have become the benchmarks for measuring the quality of service any organization provides. krause and pellens (2017) assert that digitization and digitalization are not trends that can be reversed, and businesses can choose to participate. lipsmeier et al. (2020) add that digitalization permeates all organizational structures, procedures, and systems, not to mention business culture. tüllmann et al. (2016) state that organizations in the digital era must strategically consider digitalization as part of their business model and offerings to ensure long-term growth and competitiveness (lipsmeier et al., 2020). digital transformation aims to improve an economic entity by transforming processes, operations, and workers' perceptions through data, computing, communication, and connectivity technologies. however, there is no welldefined context-dependent definition (haffke et al., 2017). digital transformation can occur in society or industry, and improvement is the operational objective, not just technology implementation (vial, 2021). this lack of clarity and consistency in digital technologies is a concern that needs further investigation. considering the above three elements, the construction business customers' expectations and behaviors have fundamentally changed due to digital transformation and the resulting innovation in business models. as a result, traditional businesses in the construction industry are under much pressure to adjust, disrupting many markets. based on existing literature, there are three phases of digital transformation. regarding this conclusion, digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation were identified as underlying building blocks (bumann & peter, 2019). digital transformation and the resultant business model innovation have generally adjusted customers' assumptions and behavior, coming down on established firms and upsetting various business sectors (verhoef et al., 2021). hence, dt has become a business strategic imperative and is no longer an option. digital transformation not only refers to technological changes but also impacts the business; otherwise, it is not a transformation (hinings et al., 2018). also, matt et al. (2015) maintain that digital transformation leads to changes in existing business models and a multiplicity effect on the processes, products, organizational structures, and management perspectives. on that note, verhoef et al. (2021) posit that digital transformation requires specific organizational structures or strategies that define the steps for it to succeed and bears ramifications for the metrics used to foster growth. digital transformation strategy a digital transformation strategy is required to overcome the challenges business leaders face during a digital transformation process. becoming a digitally mature organization is more than technology acquisition and implementation; it is a previous idea that has become siloed. kane et al. (2015) agree, stating that strategy and not technology drives innovative digital transformation of a business model for sustainable competitive growth. in addition, kane et al. (2015) emphasize the importance of a digital sound strategy and a culture ready for change in reshaping businesses. they highlight the need for risk-taking and attracting and retaining the best talent for a digitally oriented company as adopters of innovation seek sustainable competitive advantage. june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 6 the digital age is characterized by rapid advancement, development, innovation, and disruption, necessitating companies to adapt and remain competitive in this rapidly evolving landscape (albukhitan, 2020). digital transformation involves more than innovation, resource allocation, or system redesign. to remain competitive, organizations must anticipate changes and prototype innovation strategically. a digital transformation strategy helps business leaders respond to their needs, including ongoing digitalization, future vision, and how to arrive. to be safeguarded from digital interruption, organizations must foster three central capabilities: mindfulness, informed independent decision, and quick execution. the development of events and execution of a digital transformation strategy has turned into a vital worry for some organizations across several enterprises. yet, how such a strategy can be created remains an open inquiry. prior studies determine that what separates a digital organization from its rivals is a clear digital transformation strategy combined with organizational culture and leadership, poised to drive the planned transformation (kane, 2018; kane et al., 2015). a digital transformation strategy aims to create new possibilities for the future instead of simple information technological changes seeking to correct past mistakes (ghani et al., 2019). on that premise, ghani et al. (2019) agree that digital transformation aligns business processes and organizational culture with changing needs, particularly in uncertain environments. it requires a fundamental change in decision-making, work execution, and information acquisition. understanding digital technologies' strategic changes is crucial for organizations (hess et al., 2016). digital transformation aims to increase flexibility, enhance customer-centric processes, and reduce costs (hofmann & rüsch, 2017). the critical construct of digital transformation is the customer, and processes must be developed to understand their needs by digitalizing the customer experience (corver & elkhuizen, 2014). products and services must be digitalized by creating an experience when using and adapting the product to satisfy their needs (mhlungu et al., 2019). to successfully execute this, operations must be digitalized, such as automating and standardizing processes. internal success factors for digital transformation include keeping up to date with customer needs, adopting a user-centered approach, and digitalizing the value chain. a well-crafted digital transformation strategy can reconfigure the existing business model, offering new products or services, focusing on niche markets, or adding value to the customer experience. digital strategy is defined as organizational steps and actions crafted by leveraging digital resources to create differential value. individuals with the necessary skills in artificial intelligence, mobile development, data analysis, cybersecurity, cloud computing, digital strategy development, and data architecture must drive it. gudergan and mugge (2017) agree that a clear definition of initiatives related to a digital transformation strategy is crucial for a business model's effective and efficient transformation process. therefore, business leaders must create a bold digital transformation strategy and enterprise culture that would foster innovation in employees and encourage them to experiment with new technologies within their business models. the next section discusses the methods used in this research study. methods the methodology and design for this study are qualitative and pragmatic inquiry. an exploratory, descriptive research design was adopted to establish the impact of digital transformation strategy on business model innovation for gaining sustainable competitive growth. this study used open-ended, semi-structured interviews with construction industry business leaders who have experience using digital transformation strategies to implement business model innovation within their organizations. ten participants from various organizations with varying levels and years of experience were interviewed. data analysis included a thematic analysis. to navigate the research process, explore the phenomena, and address the organizational complexities of innovative digital transformation, this study considers the following central question: what strategies do construction industry business leaders use to scale innovative digital transformation business models for gaining sustainable competitive growth at the enterprise level? business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 7 the descriptive outcome from this study provides insights for construction industry business leaders in applying digital transformation strategy to business model innovation and overcoming challenges as part of the change journey, addressing a gap in the construction management body of knowledge. as a result of addressing the research questions through pragmatic qualitative research and thematic data analysis, it is anticipated that this will serve as a tool for construction industry business leaders to explore and experiment with business model innovation practices that fit their context and priorities to promote construction business sustainability and organizational growth. results and discussion ten construction industry business leaders from different organizations agreed to participate in this research project. two participants were female, and eight were male. all participants have at least twelve months of experience with digital transformation at the enterprise level, which they gained through applying business model innovation in the context of their various organizations. the categories of participant experiences were created to identify the set of experiences across participants. the demography shows that six participants (60%) had ten or more years of experience. four participants (40%) had less than ten years of experience working with digital transformation strategy while applying business model innovation within the construction industry business context. the qualitative textual data was harmonized and coded using an inductive method, with a data scrutiny and analysis cycle. level 3 coding, axial or thematic coding, involved thoroughly reviewing previous coding levels to develop themes. the textual data was read multiple times, and the five final themes, multiple patterns, and related subpatterns were discovered when the three coding levels ended. each research question was followed by a set of aligned themes that support the results. table 1 provides a comprehensive list of the five themes. table 1 main themes theme description 1 construction industry business leaders use digital transformation strategy while applying business model innovation to challenge the status quo. 2 construction industry business leaders use digital transformation strategy while applying business model innovation to remodeling people, technology, and processes. 3 challenges encountered and strategies to overcome and opportunities arising 4 business model innovation increases enterprise quality and performance 5 business model innovation increases sustainability, competitiveness, and growth. the data for this pragmatic qualitative study is mainly textual. themes were gleaned from the analysis of unstructured textual data from participant qualitative interviews related to digital transformation strategy and business model innovation as applied within each participant's respective construction industry organization. each theme was further broken down into related patterns and sub-patterns to better describe participant understanding and perceptions. the following sections present the findings by research question and the aligned themes describing participants' experiences applying digital transformation strategies to business model innovation within their respective construction industry organizations. the results from this study support construction industry business leaders in exploring and understanding the research questions of this study more thoroughly. theme 1: business model innovation challenges the status quo june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 8 theme 1 focuses on how construction industry business leaders use digital transformation strategies while applying business model innovation to gain sustainable competitive growth and challenge the existing business model or status quo towards services and product remodeling. several patterns aligned to examining every aspect of the current business model and organizational setting. the aim is to look at the business from a bird's eye and understand where the missing points and management support. participants recognized that after questioning everything to continue to apply and reflect, it became apparent to some participants how they might use their knowledge to evaluate the value of currently available products and services. the evaluation results of current products and services would then inform needed remodel processes and procedures and efforts to improve those existing ones or to determine an exit strategy where little to no value of a current product or service was evident. investigating business model innovation within the context of the construction industry organization helped participants understand the value of having management support or buy-in for the proposed change. also, studying business model innovation within the context of construction industry organizations allowed the participants to understand the real reasons for embarking on a digital transformation journey. participants reasoned that the motivation for embarking on business model innovation was that they did not want to be left behind in a data-driven economy where everything was being digitalized. the participants also reasoned that undergoing a digital transformation journey enlightened them on creating a learning environment for ideas to flourish and organizational learning. the data analysis of interviews with participants revealed that it helped them uncover budgetary ideas and carefully consider the cost of employing a digital transformation strategy while applying business model innovation within the construction industry context. participants discussed the impact of cost and funding on successful business model innovation in the construction industry. they acknowledged the funding uncertainty but expressed interest in innovation from all funding sources. participant p007 recalled the experience of how private construction industry organizations struggle to get financing. the participants mentioned that using digital transformation strategy while applying business model innovation in the construction industry started with benchmarking with their competitors to evaluate how their products and services fared against others. it is a time of learning, establishing the appropriate leadership, and seeking management support for the desired change. this theme supports agile thinking and focuses on establishing a digital culture in iterating through the change process. theme 2: business model innovation remodels processes, people, and technology in theme 2, participants identified organizational remodeling of service focusing on processes, people, and technology capabilities to counter competitors' aggressive digitalization of their organization. also, the participants cited inspiring innovation across the organization, discovering new talents and human resources, and evaluating and revising partnership strategy. the participants in this study cited three patterns, vision, customer touchpoints, and service offerings, as the motivation for utilizing digital transformation strategy while applying business model innovation, which supports construction businesses in applying into practice a new approach to their existing business. focusing on customer touchpoints is crucial for digital transformation, driving continuous feedback loops, and empowering construction industry leaders to understand customer needs and provide expected value. the ways construction industry organizations implement feedback loops vary, as mentioned by participant p009. further, participant p003 explained how understanding customer needs has illuminated the value customers find in the organization's services, which helps to inform future remodeling needs. customer service was pivotal for participants who expressed their desire to serve customers better and differently from their competitors. participants acknowledged that initial training is significant for construction industry business leaders, but embedding business model innovation across the organization requires ongoing training and practice opportunities for leaders and members. also, the participants agreed that training is critical for business leaders and staff members so that everyone shares a common foundation for transformation. business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 9 the main differentiation of an organization from its competitors is its digital strategies. participants recalled how the transformation journey was set to distinguish them from their peers in the construction industry. participants reiterated the need to evaluate current organizational technology platforms and capabilities to ensure the infrastructure can withstand the transformation of the business model. participants found that construction industry leaders and subordinates need a startup mindset to adopt business model innovation. this involves rethinking the business from a startup perspective, fostering an entrepreneurial mindset, and recognizing opportunities. redesign of organizational structure transcends traditional department siloes and, by nature, promotes collaboration across all departments in a construction industry organization, eliminating the long-standing, status quo, internal siloes. participant 5 explained how collaboration across various business units is central to their collaborative design process and structure. the participants indicated that cross-pollination of ideas across the organization increases innovative thinking among project workers and other organizational staff members. participant p007 described that collaboration and cross-pollination resulted in more significant innovation leaps. external partnerships with our organization are the primary market for the construction industry business given to our customers. a foundational level of trust between leaders and vendors is essential before rolling out a significant change effort like business model innovation. this is another factor of success, which leaders ensure the organization is ready for and ready to embrace the digital transformation of business model innovation. ensuring the organization is prepared sets the stage for success. the participants acknowledged that continuously responding to the ever-shifting market needs requires the construction industry business to remain agile and nimble. agility and nimbleness were center stage for the participants when the external disruptions beyond their control prompted unprecedented business shutdowns during the global pandemic. theme 3: challenges and opportunities theme 3 addresses the challenges construction industry business leaders face in applying and embedding business model innovation practices within their organization. participants described the challenges, such as the institutional, strategic, and operational barriers slowing down their digital transformation journey. while challenges often impede the progress of the change effort, construction industry business leaders must embrace these obstacles as learning opportunities for improvements toward more success. construction industry leaders face financial uncertainty, unexpected disruptions, and unquantifiable uncertainties, making it crucial to monitor and evaluate the shifting landscape of competition to implement business model innovation. construction industry business leaders also face financial risks and obstacles when adopting business model innovation practices. working with a strong internal business development team helps assess the market and run different financial models, enabling decision-making to navigate financial risks and uncertainties. participants expressed energy and were inspired to advance business model innovation. participant p007 identified how this was not initially something the company paid attention to and what they should have considered earlier in the digital change process. the other financial challenge that participants mentioned was supporting our staff members in understanding and embracing the need for the company to have a healthy margin to continue the core of its business in the construction industry. leaders in the construction industry must confront staff members' negative perceptions of "profit-making." in the past, many employees only sometimes knew how business model innovation helps the company stay alive and continue providing a valuable service that meets the needs of the home building industry. participants also agreed that no business model transformation is devoid of risks and financial responsibility. june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 10 the other funding challenges construction industry business leaders face are financial support and incentives to help embed innovation across the organization. for other construction industry business leaders, their perception was a shift from funding uncertainty to a funding opportunity, an opportunity to apply their skills of business model innovation and respond not as followers but as leaders. the participants acknowledged that business disruptions induced by external factors beyond organizational control prompt an extraordinarily efficient and effective response from the company, given their ability to directly apply their learning and skills in business model innovation practices. construction industry leaders and staff are pivoting to meet students and staff needs during unprecedented times. some see this uncertainty as an opportunity to work with financial institutions for a more equitable construction sector. higher home loan interest rates have led to increased funding uncertainties in the construction industry, posing challenges to business model innovation and providing opportunities for decision-making and planning. theme 4: increases organizational performance the patterns identified within this theme show how construction industry business leaders aligned business model innovation across all enterprise systems. participants described how business model innovation increased organizational performance when embedded across the entire organization. participants perceived that when a digital transformation strategy is used with business model innovation and embedded within each of the structural systems of the construction industry organization, the outcome is increased organizational quality, excellence, and an appropriate culture of innovation within the organization. participants recognized that the digital transformation of their current business model brought about a positive change in worker's motivation and overall performance across the enterprise. alignment of business model innovation practices and support within organizational structures of the construction industry business embodies the strategic systems of the organization. this is critical in moving from a stand-alone to an integrated systems-lens by implementing digital transformation of business model innovation. organizational excellence requires commitment from everyone and new business concepts. participants recognized the importance of embedding a time resources commitment to business model innovation within the strategic planning of a construction industry organization. participants acknowledged the continuous cycle of challenging existing systems in their work and the development of embedding business model innovation across all organizational systems, including the strategic system. staff members are crucial organizational assets, and embedding business model innovation within talent systems influences organizational excellence. creating a culture that views change as an opportunity keeps it dynamic. construction industry organizations strategically embed business model innovation into talent systems to retain and grow top talent, aligning hiring with business expectations and skills. the construction industry adapts to customer needs through innovative business models, fostering growth through strategic partnerships, addressing market uncertainties, and enhancing organizational performance. another illustration of how business leaders in the construction industry embed business model innovation to promote organizational excellence is aligning business model innovation with internal processes and infrastructure. participants noted that an ongoing process of reflection within the internal infrastructure had produced a community of learning and sharing throughout the organization, which included and promoted leadership practice and modeling. theme 5: increases organizational sustainability and growth the ongoing efforts of construction industry business leaders to embed business model innovation based on digital transformation strategy within the internal framework of standards and processes of their organization collectively result in organizational resilience, sustainability, and growth. business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 11 participants emphasized the importance of incorporating client voice in all their needs, aligning business model innovation with external systems. despite market uncertainties, their commitment to innovation has led to a deeper understanding of customer needs. it is important to note that becoming strategic about how to remain competitive in a market-driven environment in the construction industry has also played a role in deepening understanding of customer needs to capture desired value. delivering value to customers correctly at the correct times is critical to success. at the same time, the recognition by construction industry business leaders that they cannot be everything to and for every customer. knowing and articulating the value of the construction industry business to customers and stakeholders allows construction industry business leaders to recognize when partnerships are beneficial and when they are not. construction industry business leaders bring their training and expertise in business model innovation to the forefront of relationships, internally and externally, that are rooted in meaningful, purpose-driven partnerships. participants perceive that adopting business model innovation to impact the construction organization increases growth internally and externally. adopting digital transformation strategies and business model innovation led to increased profit margins, transforming the construction industry from sustainability to viability. implementing business mode innovation in construction organizations fosters a culture of innovation, enabling businesses to adapt to new customer engagement methods despite some businesses experiencing overdrive to survive. according to other participants, a culture of innovation has become a defining advantage for the construction industry, eliminating a culture prone to wastefulness. implementing the digital transformation strategy on business model innovation was a novel choice. some participants clarified that they realized that making an innovative change to improve an organization's sustainability and growth requires taking appropriate risks. discussion this study elucidated insights that support construction industry business leaders' efforts to nurture and embed business model innovation into organizational competitiveness, sustainability, and growth. hence, continuous business model innovation is a journey to thrive in uncertainty and build resilience. most construction industry organizations are private, so business model innovation diffusion varies considerably among construction industry businesses. enterprises in every industry want to use digitally driven operations to increase their efficiency, productivity, agility, and operational resilience. considering the magnitude, capacity, and scope of digitally transforming a business model, construction industry business leaders must embrace business model innovation as a process that is staged and optimized over time, not an isolated event or linear set of activities (christensen et al., 2016; mhlungu et al., 2019; perkin & abraham, 2021; peter et al., 2020). from the word go, being sustainable, competitive, and promoting organizational growth within an ever-evolving and ambiguous construction industry landscape requires keen insight to recognize and navigate the layers of complex, interconnected components. therefore, construction industry business organizations should focus on measures to capture competitive advantage through sustainable business model innovation (young et al., 2021). beyond merely service innovation, business model innovation is a subject of ongoing study interest in business circles. further research was required due to the need for more writing on value proposals, value creation, and value capture in the private sector, particularly in the context of a business organization in the building industry (lewandowski, 2017; moussa et al., 2018). how the construction industry business applies value proposition, value creation, and value capture hinges upon the context of the construction organization, resulting in diversified business models within the construction industry business realm (christopher & de vries, 2020; lewandowski, 2016). the results of this study demonstrate how business model innovation within the construction industry business context focuses on process and structure innovation, in addition to product and service innovation. june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 12 applying business model innovation is incumbent upon construction industry business leaders' acquisition of knowledge and its application towards the planned change. hock-doepgen et al. (2021) argued that knowledge management (km) skills are an essential source of innovation in today's business world, characterized by rapidly evolving communication and information technologies. therefore, business leaders in the construction industry must acquire the necessary knowledge before adopting the new business model to fully utilize the intended value. this intermediary, learning-focused phase characterized the initial efforts by construction industry business leaders to evaluate and reconfigure resources to identify and develop the organization's transformation capability to evolve from its current business model to a more innovative business model at scale (christensen et al., 2016; teece, 2010). successfully applying business model innovation is incumbent on construction industry business leaders' ongoing acquisition of knowledge. the results from this study highlight the importance of training and practice, alongside the challenge of creating time for continuous learning, potentially inhibiting progress and success of the change effort if left unprioritized or under-prioritized. construction industry businesses are active entities, and business model innovation is complicated. construction industry business leaders and staff in the construction sector frequently possess the necessary technological expertise but frequently need more crucial strategic business insight to manage digital transformation. considering this, it can be difficult to fully understand novel reconfigurations of value generation, value proposition, and value capture that go beyond an established business model with probable deep roots in the status quo model (schneckenberg et al., 2017). the results of this study also show how construction industry business funding plays a key role in why business leaders look to adopt business model innovation and how construction industry business leaders apply digital transformation strategy with business model innovation, which accounts for the variances of business model innovation practices between large organizations and construction industry business organizations that are selffunded. most construction industry businesses primarily, if not solely, depend on owner funding or contracts for services, products, and programs to generate the revenue needed for continued existence (stephens & keane, 2005). while the drivers for business model innovation are different, interest in business model innovation comes from both ends of the funding continuum, with construction industry business leaders acknowledging that funding transformation will always be a challenge. despite limited funding availability for some construction industry businesses, there is an increased urgency to proactively adopt a new model for doing business or risk extinction. however, this sense of urgency is not universal for all construction industry businesses. in anticipation, organizations must proactively prepare and be dynamic planners for their future, which may best be described as uncertain. that is where a sound digital transformation strategy becomes imperative (albukhitan, 2020). the construction industry's businesses offer diverse services, varying in value proposition due to compliance-driven requirements. innovation in business models depends on individual funding structures and flexibility (lewandowski, 2017; moussa et al., 2018; schoemaker et al., 2018). the study reveals construction industry business leaders' short and long-term transformation intentions, aiming for a stronger, resilient, customer service-focused, flexible, accessible, and data-driven organization, reflecting changes impacting stakeholder expectations. christiansen et al. (2016) and foss & saebi's (2017) research highlight the importance of systemic business model innovation in the construction industry. they emphasize the need for flexible and quick organizational design, ensuring value delivery across interconnected layers. this iterative process evolves through knowledge acquisition and experimentation. the ongoing efforts of construction industry business leaders to embed business model innovation within the internal fabric of their organization woven across all systems in the organization results in engaged and motivated staff that deliver products and services to meet customer needs within construction business expectations. the results from this study show the importance of embedding business model innovation across organization systems, which results in increased organizational excellence alongside organization sustainability and viability. an embedded culture of business model innovation begins with leadership that prioritizes business model innovation and supports the change effort surrounding it. nevertheless, the effect of some crisis arose and is still business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 13 being felt, presenting an opportunity to capture the responses of construction industry business leaders in applying business model innovation. while much remains unresolved to date, notable and visible accomplishments were made by construction industry businesses leveraging business model innovation practices to address the needs of customers confronting mounting challenges. business model innovation led to transformational changes within some construction industry businesses, as highlighted in the results of this study. these outcomes included: a) an embedded culture of business model innovation, b) growth in profit margin, and c) increased efficiency and productivity of the construction industry business as a trusted innovation expert and partner. current research affirms that the success of a transformational change effort rests upon the shoulders of leaders (acton, 2021). the work of business model innovation to move the construction industry business from sustainability to viability is ongoing, continually evolving, and never static. business model innovation provides a sustainable and viable path toward a desired future state of education that hopefully becomes increasingly more just and more equitable, embracing vulnerability and risk for the sake of learning and growing, honoring the transformation of the status quo, and confronting the ever-changing education landscape for what it is and for what it could be. implications for professional practice applying a digital transformation strategy in business model innovation is essential for construction industry organizations. in an increasingly competitive construction industry market laden with unpredictable and evershifting external forces, construction industry business leaders look to adopt business model innovation to promote organizational resilience, growth, and performance. the pragmatic qualitative results from this study, affirmed by current literature, highlight positive outcomes for the construction industry business landscape when business model innovation practices become embedded into the culture of the construction organization. strategic thinking is a mindset that promotes business model innovation, lean start-up methodologies, and agile development in digital entrepreneurship (ghezzi & cavallo, 2020). it involves knowledge management capacity, understanding innovative digital change strategies, and strategic decision-making. quality leadership and organizational learning are crucial for survival. construction industry leaders should focus on growing, sharing, and preserving knowledge related to business model innovation. systemic thinking involves transforming an organization into a cohesive system, promoting flexibility and accountability. redesigning the human resources department's structure and processes can help adopt business model innovation. hiring the right people requires defining the necessary knowledge, skills, and talents. construction industry leaders should provide resources to foster innovative thinking and ensure agility in response to market needs and crises. creating a research and development fund can motivate and encourage innovation. recommendations and conclusions this study explores the role of digital transformation strategies in business model innovation in the construction industry. it examines the perceptions of construction industry leaders and their values derived from adopting these strategies. the study emphasizes the importance of agility and continuous learning among business leaders and the workforce. it also highlights leaders' challenges in implementing these strategies and the need for increased enterprise buy-in. the study also highlights the need for a learning organization that leverages the knowledge of its business leaders and staff. future research should explore the components of an effective learning system that supports digital transformation strategy while applying business model innovation. advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, iot, vr, uav, and blockchain technology are used to gain a competitive advantage in the construction industry. future research should explore the profound implications of digital transformation strategy on the construction industry business and how emerging technologies influence supply chains, production, customization, resources, and efficiency. it also highlights the importance of digitalization in the construction industry, as it offers routes to growth and resilience. further research will reveal areas that require further investigation and analysis. june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 14 conclusion this pragmatic qualitative study explored how construction industry business leaders utilize digital transformation strategy to apply business model innovation to meet strategic business and technological demands and promote sustainability and organizational growth. construction industry leaders face complexity and chaos due to uncertain structures arising from business model innovation, aiming for organizational survival, evolution, development, and adaptation. the study explores the perceptions of construction industry business leaders regarding the application of business model innovation. it identifies five themes: challenging the current status quo, utilizing digital transformation strategies to improve processes, people, and technology, addressing challenges and opportunities, enhancing organizational quality and performance, and enhancing sustainability, competitiveness, and growth. this study provides insights into the construction industry's digital transformation business model innovation efforts. it contributes to limited research on this topic and offers lessons learned from construction industry leaders. the findings support scaling and strengthening innovation efforts and provide a starting point for exploring digital transformation strategies in the construction sector. this study highlights the application of digital transformation strategy in business model innovation for construction industry leaders, enhancing sustainability, competitiveness, and organizational growth in a complex, ever-evolving industry influenced by customer touchpoints, market uncertainties, and economic variables. business model innovation in the construction industry is not universally applicable, but principles can transform business structures, processes, networks, and profit models for sustainable competitive growth. however, there are gaps in literature specific to this context. references acciaro, m., & sys, c. 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for knowledge transfer, qualitative research allows for an in-depth exploration of these complexities. the study aimed to investigate knowledge transfer strategies used by retired small family farm owners in the northeastern u.s. a total of 13 were interviewed using a semi-structured format, focusing on strategies employed to facilitate knowledge retention. data was analyzed through coding and theme identification to provide comprehensive insights into the barriers, facilitators, and situational factors affecting knowledge transfer. findings contribute valuable knowledge to the existing literature on knowledge transfer and offer practical recommendations for improving knowledge retention in small family farms. keywords: qualitative research, knowledge transfer, small family farms, expertise preservation, strategies, rural entrepreneurship. june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 2 introduction/background small businesses play a crucial role in the u.s. economy. however, small business owners often face challenges regarding succession planning. complications such as emotional attachment to the business, finding time to mentor successors, and determining the financial arrangements to transfer assets often arise when owners consider handing over control. these challenges are especially significant for family businesses, where succession planning and management professionalization are essential but often receive little attention, particularly regarding human resource management (fama & jensen, 2017). while small business owners may hesitate to relinquish control, having a clear succession plan that includes knowledge transfer is key to ensuring the long-term success of their businesses (rothwell, 2015). the dynamics between retiring owners and the next generation can complicate the succession process in family-owned businesses, including small family farms. family relationships and dynamics often influence decision-making, power struggles, and conflicts during succession (dyer & hatch, 2006). emotional attachments, differing interests, and unresolved conflicts may affect objective decision-making (mohamad et al., 2023). while business operations involve various components such as people, technology, resources, and policies (argote et al., 2022), succession decisions are often driven by familial considerations rather than business needs. this "extraverted" approach to succession can lead to suboptimal decisions (stavrou, 2023). during succession, considerations such as competence, merit, and long-term viability should guide the selection of successors, yet family dynamics can overshadow these factors (garcia & sosa-fey, 2020). the tradition of passing ownership from parent to child is deeply rooted in small businesses, including family farms (cooper et al., 2013). gran (2022) found that 60-70% of small business owners desire to pass their business on to family members, but only 15% succeed. the succession process is fraught with challenges, particularly the transfer of knowledge across various areas such as finances, marketing, staffing, and legalities (castaneda & cuellar, 2020). many small business owners lack access to the resources or networks that could provide them with insights on best practices for knowledge transfer (huang, f., 2019). the demands on owners' time and a lack of formal training in business management and knowledge transfer often make the process seem overwhelming (castaneda & cuellar, 2020). this study defines small family farms as those employing fewer than 20 individuals with annual sales under $5 million and serving local or regional markets. participants were retired small family farm owners from the northeast u.s., and their interviews provided detailed insights into their experiences with knowledge transfer. the information gathered contributed to developing strategies, policies, and interventions to optimize knowledge transfer and foster sustainable growth in small family farm businesses. summary of the literature review business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 3 successful knowledge transfer is vital for the long-term sustainability of small family farms, and understanding the mechanisms, processes, and strategies employed by retiring owners is crucial in safeguarding the future of such businesses. knowledge transfer in small businesses small businesses, especially family-owned farms, often face challenges related to the continuity of critical knowledge, which is essential for their survival and growth. knowledge transfer (kt) refers to the process through which knowledge is shared, disseminated, and applied within an organization (mthuli et al., 2021). effective kt enables the preservation of expertise, skills, and business insights, which are essential during business transitions such as succession. however, small businesses—particularly family-owned ones—often struggle with ensuring this knowledge transfer due to various obstacles such as limited resources, emotional attachment to the business, and the absence of formal knowledge-sharing systems (fama & jensen, 2017; rothwell, 2015). the literature suggests that many small business owners, particularly in the agricultural sector, fail to recognize kt's value until they prepare for retirement or the transfer of ownership (castaneda & cuellar, 2020). when knowledge transfer is delayed or poorly executed, it can significantly lose operational continuity, leading to inefficiencies, decreased productivity, and eventual failure (wickert & herschel, 2001). the successful transfer of tacit knowledge— knowledge that is not easily written down or formalized—is particularly challenging in small businesses where informal networks and personal relationships are central to operations (mitton et al., 2007). challenges in knowledge transfer for small family farms small family farms face unique challenges when it comes to knowledge transfer. many of these farms rely on informal systems of knowledge transmission, such as personal mentorship and onthe-job training (langmann et al., 2021). this informal nature of knowledge sharing makes it difficult to establish a standardized process for ensuring critical knowledge is passed on to the next generation. the lack of formalized processes often results in knowledge gaps when an owner retires or transitions ownership to a successor. another key challenge is the emotional attachment that small business owners have to their businesses. nows (2022) notes that business owners often find it difficult to imagine a time when they will no longer oversee operations, leading to delays in succession planning and kt. furthermore, family dynamics can complicate the process, as succession decisions are often influenced by personal relationships and emotional attachments rather than business considerations. studies have found that family power struggles, conflicting interests, and unresolved family issues can hinder effective succession planning (mohamad et al., 2023; muskat & zehrer, 2017). small family farms also tend to overlook the strategic importance of knowledge transfer. while much focus is placed on the practical and operational aspects of running the farm, the significance of passing down knowledge regarding finances, marketing, staffing, and long-term goals is often underappreciated (cooper et al., 2013). june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 4 theoretical framework this study uses two key theories as a foundation: social constructionist theory (sct) and ethnomethodology. sct is particularly relevant to understanding knowledge transfer in the context of small businesses, as it emphasizes the role of social interactions and shared meanings in shaping how knowledge is transferred (gergen, 2009). the theory suggests that knowledge is co-constructed through social interactions, which can be crucial in transferring tacit knowledge within family-owned businesses. in small family farms, where relationships are often close-knit and informal, sct provides a lens through which to examine how knowledge is shared, transferred, and applied. on the other hand, ethnomethodology focuses on the everyday practices that individuals use to make sense of their social world. this approach highlights how knowledge transfer occurs in informal, context-dependent ways through language, demonstrations, and shared experiences (garfinkel, 1967). in small family farms, much of the knowledge transfer happens through informal conversations and mentorship, and ethnomethodology allows researchers to understand how these interactions shape the transfer process. by observing the everyday interactions between retiring farm owners and their successors, the study aimed to uncover the subtle, context-dependent ways knowledge is passed on. methods the study design utilized a qualitative, pragmatic inquiry to address the question: what strategies do small family farm owners employ to facilitate knowledge transfer? the population for this study consisted of retired small-family farm owners located in the northeast sector of the u.s. small-family farms are typically defined as businesses that employ fewer than 20 people, generate average annual revenues of less than $5 million, and primarily serve local or regional markets. using purposive and snowball sampling techniques, the sample included 13 retired small family farm owners in the northeast u.s. who were interviewed to explore successful knowledge transfer strategies. potential participants were identified through local business associations, chambers of commerce, and government databases that categorize businesses by size, location, and revenue. a screening questionnaire was sent to potential participants to verify that they met the inclusion criteria, including the business size, location, and revenue. participants were required to have retired from their business and have been actively involved in the ownership transition and knowledge transfer process. data collection this study's primary data collection method included semi-structured interviews, which allow for open-ended and follow-up questions based on the participants' responses, allowing for a deeper understanding of the participants’ unique experiences. the interview questions were designed to explore the participants' experiences with knowledge transfer, including their strategies for ensuring business continuity, handling succession, and addressing challenges in knowledge dissemination. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 5 additionally, the researcher used content analysis to review the farms' operations documents, including business manuals, succession plans, and training documents. this analysis aimed to triangulate the interview findings and gain a broader understanding of how knowledge transfer strategies were formalized or documented within the small family farm context. data analysis the data analysis for this study was conducted using thematic analysis. thematic analysis involves identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns within the data (braun & clarke, 2006). the researcher used an inductive approach to coding the interview transcripts, allowing themes to emerge directly from the data rather than being pre-defined. the interview data were coded to identify key themes related to knowledge transfer strategies, challenges, and success factors. these codes were then grouped into categories, and patterns were identified across participants' responses. results the primary research question that guided this study was: what strategies did retired small family farm owners utilize to foster knowledge transfer to ensure the continuity of critical expertise, skills, and organizational insights to the next ownership? four major themes emerged from the analysis of the transcribed interviews (see table 1). table 1 emerging themes and frequencies theme frequency percentage of total mentoring and hands-on learning 42 32.30% family dynamics and interactions 37 28.46% communication and respect 28 21.55% technology and documentation 23 17.69% total 130 100.00% theme 1: mentoring and hands-on engagement june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 6 mentorship, particularly through hands-on engagement, was identified as a central strategy in knowledge transfer. this finding supports research by gantt et al. (2024), who emphasized the importance of long-term, empathetic mentorship. participants frequently discussed the value of teaching by example, describing their mentorship in practical, everyday farm activities such as operating equipment and performing essential tasks. rf12 stated, “i simply taught them day in and day out. i worked with them, showed them everything.” rf6 echoed this sentiment, highlighting the importance of informal knowledge sharing and experiential learning. this theme was categorized into three subthemes: 1. skill development and knowledge transfer—participants emphasized their role in helping successors develop technical skills and knowledge about farm operations. 2. personal and professional growth – mentorship also supported the personal development of successors, fostering confidence, motivation, and professional growth. 3. engagement and relationship building – building strong interpersonal relationships between mentor and successor was crucial to successful knowledge transfer. the frequency of key terms such as mentor, teaching, and hands-on in interviews confirms the centrality of this theme (see table 2). table 2 code words related to "mentoring and hands-on engagement" code word referenced by total times mentioned mentor rf1, rf4, rf8, rf11, rf13 12 teach, taught, teaching rf3, rf6, rf9, rf13 11 receptive rf5, rf9 3 hands-on rf2, rf4, rf5, rf8, rf13 7 learning by doing rf7, rf8, rf13 9 showed, showing, shown rf1, rf2, rf8, rf10 7 theme 2: family dynamics and interactions family dynamics played a significant role in knowledge transfer. trust was identified as a crucial business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 7 component in fostering a positive, effective learning environment. bell (2019) found that trust influences intergenerational farm succession, and this study reinforced that finding. key family values, such as mutual respect and emotional support, emerged as vital for ensuring that knowledge was successfully passed down. participants stressed the importance of trust in the mentor-mentee relationship, with rf10 stating, “the first is trust; if the person who is learning is receptive, great. because if they don’t want to learn, you’re not gonna teach them a damn thing.” participants also emphasized the significance of intergenerational relationships, noting that clear communication between family members—particularly between parents and children—was essential. rf13 described family dynamics: “the process of passing knowledge involved balancing traditional methods with new approaches,” which aligns with research on multigenerational leadership (dewanto et al., 2024). table 3 code words related to "family dynamics and interactions" code word referenced by total times mentioned trust rf3, rf6, rf7, rf9, rf13 12 relationships rf1, rf2, rf4, rf6, rf9 12 family rf2, rf4, rf8, rf12, rf13 14 respect rf1, rf10, rf11 5 intergenerational rf2, rf4, rf5, rf8 5 theme 3: communication and respect communication and mutual respect were highlighted as key to successful knowledge transfer. several participants noted that passing knowledge was significantly hindered without open, honest, and empathetic communication. rf7 emphasized the importance of “passing on not only technical knowledge but also the culture and passion associated with the work.” similarly, rf13 described the role of respect: “issues such as personality conflicts and a lack of respect can hinder the learning process significantly.” this theme involved subthemes such as: 1. interpersonal skills – effective communication requires listening and empathizing with others. 2. feedback and dialogue – open, two-way feedback was essential to fully transfer knowledge. june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 8 3. equality and dignity – respecting the learner and fostering a culture of equality were foundational for ensuring a positive learning experience. table 4 code words related to "communication and respect" code word referenced by total times mentioned empathy rf1, rf4, rf6, rf13 8 personality rf5, rf9, rf10 5 listening rf6, rf10, rf12 6 appreciation rf1, rf6, rf11, rf13 4 support rf1, rf4, rf6, rf8 8 theme 4: technology and documentation technology and documentation were critical for preserving knowledge and ensuring future success. participants discussed how technology was increasingly necessary to manage farm operations, particularly record-keeping, automation, and database management. as rf13 noted, “we kept explicit notes in notebooks… every single field, every single crop, everything we do. you make a note. well, that’s how we did it.” however, there was also a generational divide regarding the use of technology. for example, rf2 and rf7 expressed frustration with newer technologies, while recognizing their importance for efficient farm management. key subthemes in this category included: 1. record-keeping – maintaining detailed records documenting farm activities and techniques was critical for knowledge transfer. 2. automation – technology tools such as quickbooks and databases were increasingly necessary for managing farm operations. table 5 code words related to "technology and documentation" business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 9 code word referenced by total times mentioned technology rf2, rf4, rf6, rf7, rf8 12 record-keeping rf1, rf2, rf7, rf13 9 databases rf4, rf7, rf9, rf13 7 quickbooks rf2, rf6, rf8, rf13 6 automation rf2, rf4, rf6, rf8, rf13 6 summary of findings and conclusion the findings from this study reveal that knowledge transfer in small family farms is a multifaceted process, requiring a combination of mentorship, effective communication, trustbuilding, and strategic use of technology. successful strategies involve hands-on learning, a deep respect for family dynamics, and a structured approach to record-keeping and technology integration. however, challenges like personality conflicts, technological resistance, and inadequate documentation often hinder the transfer process. addressing these challenges through clear communication, empathy, and updated technological practices is essential for ensuring that knowledge is effectively passed to the next generation of farm owners. small family farms can ensure the continuity of their operations and knowledge base by fostering supportive relationships, respecting diverse learning styles, and utilizing modern tools. knowledge transfer in small family farms involves systematically passing on vital expertise, skills, and organizational insights from retiring owners to their successors. this study revealed the significance of formal and informal methods in ensuring critical knowledge is preserved and effectively utilized. key findings emphasize the importance of experiential learning, where hands-on mentorship and day-to-day training are central. this process aligns with existing literature, highlighting that knowledge transfer goes beyond information sharing—it embeds skills and practices through direct engagement and interaction. a notable example of successful knowledge transfer involved retiring farm owners gradually integrating their successors into farm operations. the success of these transitions was attributed to structured mentorship programs where owners provided consistent, empathetic guidance over extended periods. integrating detailed documentation and technology, such as digital recordkeeping systems, further supported these processes. this approach mirrors the findings of harvey and valerio (2022), who emphasized the combination of direct mentorship and modern tools for enhancing learning outcomes and ensuring operational continuity. in contrast, knowledge transfer failures often arise from personality conflicts and resistance to new methods or technologies. participants observed that such failures were linked to a lack of mutual respect and ineffective communication, where either the successors were unreceptive, or the mentors struggled to convey their knowledge. resistance to adopting new technologies or june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 10 failing to thoroughly document processes also hindered the transfer, corroborating findings by mthuli et al. (2021), which stress the importance of technological integration in knowledge transfer. the study identified several challenges in knowledge transfer, including maintaining accurate documentation, overcoming resistance to change, and fostering an environment of trust and open communication. participants underscored the importance of systematically capturing knowledge through traditional and digital notebooks. successful identification of critical knowledge often involves collaboration and discussion among senior members. practical strategies to encourage knowledge sharing included regular meetings, workshops, and leveraging technology for easy access to information. designating individuals as mentors or knowledge transfer facilitators was also crucial in ensuring the process was structured and continuous. these findings align with biloslavo and lombardi's (2021) research, which stresses the importance of structured roles and strategic practices in knowledge transfer. implications the study’s findings offer valuable insights into knowledge transfer strategies among retired small family farm owners and have broader implications for the theories of knowledge transfer and organizational learning. the findings present significant theoretical implications for knowledge transfer and organizational learning, particularly within small family farms. the study reinforces that experiential learning and hands-on mentorship are vital to successful knowledge transfer. this supports experiential learning theory, which asserts that learning through practical experience is essential for understanding and skill development. furthermore, using modern technology and traditional documentation methods highlights the importance of combining tacit and explicit knowledge for effective learning and transfer. this study challenges existing theories, primarily focusing on formalized, structured approaches, such as standardized training programs or written manuals. instead, it underscores the value of informal, relationship-based methods often overlooked in traditional knowledge transfer models. the results suggest that future theoretical frameworks should emphasize knowledge transfer's social and relational aspects, recognizing that trust, mutual respect, and personal interaction are crucial. additionally, while technology is an important tool, it should not be seen as the primary method for knowledge transfer, but rather as a supportive resource that complements traditional practices. this study advances knowledge transfer theories by demonstrating the interplay between mentorship, documentation, technology, and interpersonal dynamics. it suggests that future frameworks should adopt a more holistic approach, considering human and technological factors. this research expands existing theories by illustrating that effective knowledge transfer in small family farms is achieved through a combination of traditional methods and modern innovations, providing a nuanced understanding of how knowledge is preserved and transmitted in familial business settings. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 11 references argote, l., guo, j., park, s.-s., & hahl, o. 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(2001). knowledge‐management issues for smaller businesses. journal of knowledge management, 5(4), 329–337. https://doi.org/10.1108/13673270110411751 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-021-00348-4 http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0009.2007.00506.x https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2017.1345208 https://doi.org/10.1002/sej.1349 https://doi.org/10.1177/02662426030213005 https://doi.org/10.1108/13673270110411751 business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 1 perceptions of african american women project managers on managing projects and career progression in the aerospace and defense industry minina q. johnson, dba | capella university, minneapolis, mn, usa janice p. tucker, phd | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, usa contact: mininajohnson@yahoo.com abstract organizations within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry are improving their efforts to implement diversity in the workplace. still, the opportunity to increase the representation of african american women in leadership roles often needs to be improved. the general business problem is that the percentage of african american women in senior and executive project management roles in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry remains low, revealing a lack of diversity and inclusion among project teams, resulting in a high probability of project failure and reduced profit. a gap in practice was that leaders in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry are not implementing effective diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei) strategies or best practices to ensure african american women have opportunities to advance their careers in project management. the purpose of this qualitative inquiry research was to explore the perspectives of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry regarding strategies and best practices that can increase african american women's representation, project success, and profitability. the framework for this study was an adapted representational intersectionality framework based on the intersectional theory of kimberlé crenshaw and black feminist thought by patricia hill-collins. the expert data collected through semi-structured interviews was analyzed using thematic analysis. four themes emerged from the analysis, including display an executive presence that exudes self-confidence, worth, and value to overcome barriers in the workplace, supportive and influential relationships are instrumental to career advancement, purposeful visibility increases opportunities for career progression, and inclusive hiring practices and processes when selecting diverse leaders. keywords: underrepresentation, african american women, project management, barriers, career progression june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 2 introduction project management plays a significant role in executing complex projects in the aerospace and defense industry (rodriguez-segura et al., 2016; san cristóbal et al., 2019). in 2021, women represented 38.1% of the workforce in the project management field (zippia, 2022). african americans represented 7.1% of the project management workforce (zippia, 2022). based on these gender and racial statistics, african american women represented approximately 2.7% of the project management workforce. african american women are shown to be one of the most underrepresented demographics within the project management profession, with native americans, alaska natives, and unknown races being the least represented (zippia, 2022). white men have dominated corporate america for decades and have been the sole contributors to numerous professions, including project management (paneque de la torre, 2020). to break the stigma, women continue to shatter glass ceilings and prove themselves credible and worthy of bringing value to the project management field and leading from the c-suite and executive levels (paneque de la torre, 2020). equivalently, african american women face obstacles in obtaining leadership opportunities and are underrepresented in senior and executive management roles (corbett, 2022). project management teams are designed to combine diverse functions together to brainstorm and execute projects and programs effectively and successfully. diversity encompasses gender, race/ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, veteran status, and religion, adding value to projects (project management institute [pmi], 2020). creating diverse and inclusive work environments has increasingly focused on companies and organizations. by investing in and implementing diversity and inclusion training, organizations gain a competitive advantage over companies that have yet to embrace the importance of incorporating these aspects into their organizations (cox & blake, 1991). a study in 2020 by the project management institute (pmi) revealed that 23% of project professionals feel their voices are not heard or represented within their organization (pmi, 2020). the pmi findings show efforts to create diversity, but there is a gap in inclusivity within the project teams (pmi, 2020). lack of inclusion is a significant factor impeding african american women from advancing to senior and executive management positions within various organizations in corporate america (beckwith et al., 2016). furthermore, gender bias and racial discrimination based on stereotypes have been recognized as causes obstructing qualified african american women from leading teams and projects and excelling in their careers (hewlett & wingfield, 2015; ketzner et al., 2019). this study explored the perspectives of african american women project managers on strategies and best practices to overcome barriers while managing complex projects and attaining career advancement within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. scholarly articles and research literature have identified perceived and actual barriers experienced by african american women in their journeys to attain senior management and executive leadership roles in multiple industries. however, there is little literature regarding the underrepresentation of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. by acknowledging the barriers, african american women project managers could identify strategies and best practices contributing to their career progression, which could subsequently result in attaining leadership roles. additionally, business leaders could utilize the results of this study to gain a deeper understanding of lived experiences and perspectives of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. the emergent themes may provide insight into effective interventions that can be used to address the underrepresentation of african american women project managers in senior and executive leadership roles, which may increase the probability of project success and profitability within their organizations. problem of practice the general business problem is african american women face barriers when seeking senior and executive management roles in for-profit companies (beckwith et al., 2016; kramer, 2020). in 2009, ursula burns became the first african american woman chief executive officer (ceo) of a fortune 500 company, xerox, and served until 2016 (scipioni, 2022). as of may 2022, six african american chief executive officers were listed on the fortune business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 3 500, but only two are women —walgreens' ceo roz brewer and tiaa chief executive thasunda brown duckett (mcglauflin, 2022). undeniably, these women are capable and worthy of obtaining executive positions in their respective companies. however, one must be curious about what barriers or challenges they experienced during their career journeys to become ceos and how they overcame the adversities. taking note and understanding the stories of these african american women ceos and others in senior and executive leadership can benefit other african american women seeking those same roles in their careers. women in project management continue to strive to be recognized as equivalent to their male counterparts in this male-dominated profession (paneque de la torre, 2020). women want the opportunity to lead and manage complex projects and programs and flourish in their careers. women are closing the talent gap in the aerospace and defense industry (ketzner et al., 2019). the scarcity of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry hinders organizations from obtaining diverse viewpoints during the initiation and execution of complex projects that could result in favorable and profitable business solutions (ali & konrad, 2017; hunt et al., 2015). diversified involvement and contributions amongst the project teams could increase profitability and performance, providing a competitive advantage for companies in the aerospace and defense industry (hunt et al., 2015). the specific problem is the percentage of african american women in senior and executive project management roles in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry remains low, which reveals a lack of diversity and inclusion among project teams and results in a high probability of project failure and reduced profit (barron, 2019; hunt et al., 2015; zippia, 2022). a previous study identified that 31% of aerospace and defense industry women benefit from gender diversity programs (ketzner et al., 2019). however, there remains a lack of visibility of african american women leading and managing complex projects and programs in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. not copiously implementing inclusive leadership causes a hindrance to career and leadership advancement for african american women who are educated, qualified, and have working experience in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. purpose of study the purpose of this qualitative inquiry study was to explore the perspectives of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry regarding strategies and best practices that can increase african american women's representation, project success, and profitability. implementing strategies and best practices can increase the representation of african american women project managers, project success, and profitability in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. previous studies have shown that diverse and inclusive leadership teams and the labor force can range from raising customer bases to more significant innovations (bernard, 2021; rodriguezsegura et al., 2016). research question rq: what are the perspectives of african american women project managers in the united states aerospace and defense industry regarding strategies and best practices that can increase african american women's representation, project success, and profitability? summary of the literature wage inequality, lack of professional development, hiring discrimination, and inequities are obstacles professional black women often confront in the workplace (frye, 2019; wingfield, 2020). these obstacles can create a domino effect for african american women seeking to attain leadership roles and advance their careers. although previous research has been conducted examining african american women's perspective regarding the lack of representation and the barriers to obtaining senior and executive leadership roles in higher education, information technology, and june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 4 various medical professions (brown-deveaux et al., 2021; camp-fry, 2021), there is a gap in the literature regarding the underrepresentation of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. african american women continue to face barriers when seeking to advance their careers in for-profit companies (beckwith et al., 2016). the percentage of african american women in senior and executive project management roles in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry remains low, which reveals a lack of diversity and inclusion among project teams and results in a high probability of project failure and reduced profit (hunt et al., 2015). diversity, equity, inclusion training, mentorship, and sponsorship of african american women in the workplace have been addressed. still, no literature has been located on how these programs and initiatives have been utilized by leadership in the workplace and if there is an increase in the representation of african american women project managers on project teams and within leadership. the underrepresentation of african american women project managers within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry indicates that organizations should fully acknowledge the talent of their employees and the need for diverse project team members and leadership within the workplace. overlooking the merit and talent of african american women in the workplace brings attention to the disparaging corporate culture that organizations continue to foster that hinders african american women from career advancement. the black women project manager's representational intersectionality framework is the applied framework for this qualitative inquiry study. the black women project managers representational intersectionality framework was built on the key concepts found in kimberlé crenshaw’s intersectionality theory (crenshaw, 1991) and patricia hillcollins’s black feminist thought (collins, 1990; collins & silva-reis, 2019). these two frameworks are centered on the adversity of diversity, equity, inclusion, and underrepresentation of african american women in society. the critical concepts of intersectionality and black feminist thought guided this qualitative inquiry study to explore strategies and best practices to increase african american women's representation, project success, and profitability within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. intersectionality crenshaw proposed intersectionality, an analytical framework suggesting that multiple social categories intersect, creating unique dynamics and effects of oppression and inequality. social categories include, but are not limited to, gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, age, and class (crenshaw, 1989). intersectionality brings awareness of systemic injustice and social inequalities that can occur and provides measures to confront intersectional discrimination through policies and law (cij, n.d.). african american women are often hindered by the privileges and limitations associated with other social groups they associate with (karmakar, 2022). wiley and bikmen (2012) contended that intersectionality calls attention to how the diversity within societal settings and their association with systematic beliefs, practices, and norms can lead people dominating in vastly different societal settings to experience firsthand the interlocking of privilege, inequity, and marginalization. crenshaw reasoned that the intersectional experience is more than the intermingling of racism and sexism, and any research that does not consider intersectionality cannot adequately address the realization that black women are viewed as a subsidiary (crenshaw, 1989). wage inequality, the lack of professional development, hiring discrimination and inequities, and high turnover rates of professional african american women who encounter marginalization could conceivably contribute to organizations and businesses not acknowledging intersectionality and its magnitude when implementing and executing their diversity and inclusion programs in the workplace (bagalini, 2020). black feminist thought for more than a century, african american women have called for a more inclusive feminist movement with intersectionality as the foundation to collectively address the survival and thriving of all women (st. julien & business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 5 hallgren, 2021). black feminism was derived in the 1960s during the civil rights movement to highlight that sexism is not the only plight african american women face; racial oppression is a fight that feminism has failed to address in society. comparable to the intersectionality framework, black feminist thought is identified as a standpoint theory proposing african american women have a “self-defined standpoint” regarding their own lived experiences related to the interconnection of race and gender oppression within society (carter, 2019; downing, 2019). collins (1990) addressed the overlapping identities of african american women by analyzing and adding the matrix of domination, causing the oppressed intersections of gender, race, ethnicity, and class that african american women often experience in their daily lives (collins, 1990). an epistemological study conducted by dotson (2015) on black feminist thought emphasized collins’s standpoint on how women were suppressed along racial, gender, class, and educational lines while bringing awareness to the oppressive imagery of african american women. research by yates-richard (2020) revealed that historical efforts to control african american women's narrative and image are designed to make racism, sexism, and other variations of social injustice appear normal and inevitable parts of everyday life. the imagery and the intersecting factors of gender and race continue to complicate the representation of african american women in the workplace. through diverse and inclusive strategies and best practices, organizations and businesses can exert effort not to repeat past mistakes and ensure that african american women are acknowledged and not ignored or overlooked. black women project managers representational intersectionality framework this qualitative inquiry study aimed to develop a composite of strategies and best practices based on the experiences of african american project managers who have attained leadership roles in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. based on the evaluation of literature addressing the underrepresentation of african american women in other industries and professions, the applied framework created for this qualitative inquiry study is the black women project manager's representational intersectionality framework. as illustrated in figure 1, this framework shows how social identities overlap and intersect, potentially causing complex identities that challenge the inclusivity of african american women project managers on project teams and with opportunities for career advancement in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. the goal of implementing the black women project manager's representational intersectionality framework is to contribute to a better understanding of intersectionality and the various dimensions of diversity and inclusion that can lead to the underrepresentation of african american women. figure 1 black women project manager representational intersectionality framework note: author created image adapted from taylor (2019). june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 6 the black women project manager's representational intersectionality framework illustrates that social identities play a significant role and create an interconnected bias in society and, more importantly, the workplace. the social identities indicated in this framework that can impact the career advancement of african american women are gender, race, and education/qualification. african american women often struggle with notions such as marginalization, discrimination, sexism, and making a space for themselves professionally in their careers (chance, 2020; esposito & evans-winters, 2021). utilizing the black women project manager's representational intersectionality framework provides an opportunity to contextualize these notions, lived experiences, and how the non-dominant social identities of african american women can influence their career advancement in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. the focus of this qualitative inquiry study was to explore the perspectives of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry regarding strategies and best practices to increase representation, project success, and financial return. the black women project manager's representational intersectionality framework aims to provide an intersectional lens to prevent the exclusion and marginalization of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. through the lived experiences of african american project managers, this study highlighted these concepts for african american women and identified the problems hindering the representation and career advancement of african american women project managers. industry trends diversity and inclusion unlike their white peers, african american women are often discounted as valuable contributors in professional spaces due to low exposure to new challenges, such as leading advanced complex projects, causing steep learning curves, difficulty thriving in the workplace, and subsequent changes in the project team’s dynamic (brewtonjohnson, 2021). the subconstructs for the lack of diversity and inclusion of african american project managers on project teams within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry are gender and race, as proposed by crenshaw (1989), along with education and qualifications. key phenomena addressed in this study are related to the potential intersectional social identities experienced by african american women project managers that hinder their representation and career advancement in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. a study by the project management institute (2020) concluded that 88% of their respondents believed that building project teams diversified in gender, age, race, experience, sexual orientation, nationality, and culture adds value and diverse skills to projects. diversity and inclusion are critical aspects that can increase the representation of african american women on project teams. common problems associated with the lack of diversity and inclusion in project management teams are cost overruns, schedule slippage, and lower productivity, resulting in project failure rates. gender, racial, and ethnically diverse companies were 25% more likely to have financial returns (hunt et al., 2015). racial and ethical diversity significantly impacts financial performance in businesses. the increase in gender diversity and representation of women has yielded positive results for many years for top-level firms (hunt et al., 2015). the practice of diversity and inclusion can assist with extending the knowledge and expertise in managing projects with more detailed planning and control tailored to a project's specific needs. this qualitative inquiry project pursued to identify strategies and best practices to improve the diversity and inclusion gap hindering the representation of african american women project managers and their career advancement in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. african american women are more likely to aspire to hold a powerful position; however, their advancement into leadership roles has remained stagnant (pace, 2018). in 2015, 0.2% of the ceos and 1.2% of executive or seniorlevel roles were employed by african american women within s&p 500 organizations (barron, 2019). there is an underutilization of african american women’s perspectives by organizational and human resources leaders and a business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 7 lack of career advancement strategies and paths to improve their recruitment, talent development, diversity and inclusion, and succession planning strategies (barron, 2019). companies are successfully hiring african american women into the frontline, entry, and mid-level jobs, but there is a significant regression in representation at management levels. the lack of representation in the boardroom, conscious and unconscious biases, and lack of career support increase organizational risk concerning the recruitment and retention of future african american employees, executives, and leaders (korn ferry, 2019). african american women are hindered from obtaining management and leadership positions and feel they are seen but not heard despite their education, qualifications, and credentials to lead teams and projects (biu, 2019). to maximize and increase productivity, organizations should employ diverse staff and leadership within their workspaces (krithi & pai, 2021). however, work is still required to promote career advancement and more representation of women in leadership roles. mentorship and sponsorship corporate america continues to make strides to ensure workplaces promote diversity and inclusion for women and minorities. organizations were encouraged to increase diversity at the c-suite level and enhance the mentoring and sponsoring culture to develop corporate leaders and fill the gap with a diverse pool of potential executives, including african american women (smith, 2018). to ensure inclusivity, organizations should strive to provide african american women with the same access to mentorship and sponsorship within the workplace. the lack of mentorship can negatively affect organizations financially and structurally (smith, 2018). previous studies revealed that the lack of inclusion or barriers to corporate mentor relationships hinders african american women from promotions and career advancement (smith, 2018). research suggests that organizations should increase mentorship and sponsorship for african american women seeking promotions and developing the skills and confidence to advance in executive leadership (fuhrmans, 2019). contrarily, mentorship is inadequate within the workplace, and more sponsorship opportunities should be incorporated to advocate career advancement for women and minorities (ibarra, 2019). organizations can support the advancement of african american women through formal mentorship programs and informal networking opportunities. however, the research found that younger african american women have less access to these relationships than their older counterparts (boatner et al., 2021). sixty-one percent fewer millennials than baby boomers say they have benefited from formal mentorship to a moderate or great extent in their professional careers. seventy-one percent fewer millennials say the same about informal mentorship. smith (2018) proposed that for more african american women to be represented in c-suite positions, sponsorship must provide them the direct advocacy and support to attain those positions. research has revealed that most leaders are white, non-hispanic men who choose to sponsor people who resemble them (altimare, 2022). these actions and mindset of leaders are leaving african american women at a disadvantage in attaining adequate sponsorship to assist with career progression from leadership. african american women must acquire the mentorship or sponsorship critical in preparation for corporate leadership or c-suite selection. summary of literature the literature review provided insight and understanding of african american women's barriers and experiences regarding representation and career progression in various industries. despite the emphasis placed on hiring women into their respective professions, the underrepresentation of african american women continues (beckwith et al., 2016; connley, 2020). there is a need for businesses and organizations to gain and fully acknowledge the significance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and understand that intersectionality concerning gender and race is an ongoing issue (connley, 2020; pace, 2018; smith, 2018). the lack of inclusion and perceived or actual barriers have been identified as factors impeding african american women from career advancement in various industries and businesses in corporate america (beckwith et al., 2016). gender bias and racial discrimination based on stereotypes have been recognized as causes obstructing qualified african american women from leading and managing project teams and excelling in their careers (hewlett & wingfield, 2015; ketzner et al., june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 8 2019). wolff (2020) highlighted 20 women who were devoted to research and development for military capabilities and manufacturing in the aerospace and defense industry. however, african american women were not represented, showing a gap in diversity, inclusivity, and lack of recognition of african american women in the aerospace and defense industry and what they contribute to the industry. the objective of this qualitative inquiry study was to explore the perspectives of african american women project managers in the aerospace and defense industry regarding strategies and best practices that can increase african american women’s representation, project success, and profitability. methods the purpose of this qualitative inquiry study was to explore the perspectives of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry regarding strategies and best practices that could increase african american women's representation, project success, and profitability. the study explored the perspectives of african american women project managers who overcame barriers in the workplace to attain senior or executivelevel leadership roles within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. the study focused on identifying strategies and best practices that will be instrumental to the career progression of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. their statements were collected and reviewed for common themes amongst the 10 participants in the study. all results are as simple raw data counts by themes and ranking. participant information each participant self-identified as a current or former female african american project and program manager responsible for leading diverse project teams within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. during the interview process, specific information regarding years of experience as a project or program lead or manager, job titles, degree attainment, certifications, and leadership attainment for each participant were solicited for categorization purposes for the education and qualification concept of the framework. by identifying their educational and qualification achievements, results showed that six participants have obtained master's degrees or higher, and four participants have obtained industry-standard certifications in project management. recognizing their leadership attainment within their organizations, four participants held non-managerial roles as project or program managers, and six were senior-level leadership as project or program managers. none of the participants were executive or csuite level project or program managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. a summary of the demographic characteristics of the participants is illustrated in table 1. table 1 participant information participant years as pm in the industry job title educational achievement (masters degree or higher) certification leadership attainment (senior or executive) pm1 7 management and program analyst no certified scrum master; certified scrum product owner senior pm2 30 senior program manager no pmp senior business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 9 participant years as pm in the industry job title educational achievement (masters degree or higher) certification leadership attainment (senior or executive) pm 3 11 program manager no pmp; certified scrum master no pm 4 5 program manager masters degree no no pm 5 2.5 associate director, program services yes no senior pm 6 17 senior program manager no pmp senior pm 7 12 supervisory contract specialist masters degree no senior pm 8 4 it program manager masters degree no senior pm 9 5 acquisition program manager masters degree no no pm10 4.5 acquisition program manager masters degree no no note. participant demographics were derived from the interview transcript. during the data collection process, demographic questions were asked for categorization at the begin of each interview. for clarity, one participant’s job title is supervisory contract specialist. the participant was asked to define the roles and responsibilities of a contract specialist and how their duties aligned with project management. the participant expressed that contract specialists are project managers who manage contracts within project management teams, integrated project teams, and informational processing teams by developing acquisitions for procurement from initiation to the closing of projects and programs. additional research was conducted regarding the duties of a supervisory contract specialist using the u.s. office of personnel management classification guide. the classification guide provides a thorough, detailed description of a contract specialist within the department of defense. for a supervisory contract specialist, duties included but were not limited to determining the approaches and methods necessary to carry out the assignment, including designing overall plans and strategies for the projects to meet mission or program goals, requirements, and time frames (opm, 1983). these duties aligned with project management focus on the initiation, planning, execution, control, and closeout of projects accomplished to meet the expectations and success of a specific goal. upon review, the participant was deemed credible as a viable participant in this qualitative inquiry study. data collection process the data collection for this study began with a screening questionnaire provided through user interviews based on the inclusion criteria. four screening questions were provided to the participants electronically through user interviews. the participants had to answer each screening question to verify whether each met this study's inclusion criteria. the participants were selected based on the following criteria: • self-identify as a woman/female • self-identify as african american/black june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 10 • current or former full-time project/program lead or manager in the u.s. aerospace and/or defense industry • currently or formerly led diverse project teams in the u.s. aerospace and/or defense industry participants were selected if all the screening questions were in the affirmative. ten participants were selected for this study. once deemed eligible to participate in the qualitative inquiry study, each participant was required to review and electronically sign the informed consent via docusign before scheduling an interview. all interviews were scheduled through the user interviews recruitment platform at a time that was feasible for the participant. data collection was conducted through 45-60-minute interviews via zoom video conferencing service at a time feasibly scheduled by each participant. interviews commenced using an approved list of open-ended interview questions. each interview was recorded and transcribed utilizing zoom transcription services. data analysis utilizing a six-phased thematic analysis process of braun and clarke (2006), an inductive content analysis was used as the data analysis method for this qualitative inquiry study. once corrected and verified for accuracy, all interview transcripts were uploaded into the dedoose data analysis platform. using the inductive analysis approach, initial codes were created in dedoose to identify patterns and relationships within the data. the concepts of the black women project manager representational intersectionality framework were utilized to begin the initial coding: (a) gender, (b) race, and (c) education and qualifications. through zoom one pro, every interview was audio-recorded and transcribed to establish the confidence and trustworthiness of the data. the transcriptions were generated and saved as microsoft word documents utilizing the scheduled interview date and time and the participant's unique identifier. to ensure accuracy, the audio recordings were replayed repeatedly to correct the interview transcripts and eliminate any transcribing errors in the interview questions' responses. an accurate copy of the interview transcript was provided to the respective participant to review for accuracy and verification. by repeatedly listening and rereading the interview transcripts of the participants, similar perspectives and patterns that addressed the research question began to emerge. once immersed in the data, initial coding was established through an inductive analysis approach. the initial coding structure was based on the concepts of the applied framework. the initial coding expanded to codes based on data extraction from the participants’ interview transcription. words and key phrases were mentioned in the interviews. ninety-three codes emerged from the transcribed interviews. a code application chart was created depicting the initial codes derived, a definition to explain the meaning of the code, the number of participants that mentioned the code during their interview, the participant identifier the code was found, and the number of occurrences the code appeared throughout the collective interview transcriptions of the participants. codes were defined based on the data retrieved from the interview transcriptions. upon analyzing the initial codes of the data, the coded data were compiled into categories. initial codes were evaluated and analyzed to properly sort and develop the categories based on the data provided in the interview transcripts. nine categories were derived from sorting the initial codes, as shown in table 2. details are provided in table 2, including the names of the nine categories, the definitions for each category, the associated initial codes, and the number of occurrences throughout the interview transcripts. upon analyzing the initial codes of the data, the coded data were compiled into two sets of themes were identified. words and key phrases were analyzed to uncover themes about the barriers african american women project managers encounter while managing complex projects and seeking to attain the strategies and best practices that could increase african american women's representation, project success, and profitability based upon seven categories of participants opinions. the themes derived from the interview transcripts are strategies and best practices derived from the transcripts that could increase african american women's representation, project success, business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 11 and profitability in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry: (a) display an executive presence that exudes selfconfidence, worth, and value to overcome barriers in the workplace, (b) supportive and influential relationships are instrumental to career advancement, (c) purposeful visibility increases opportunities for career progression, and (d) inclusive hiring practices and processes when selecting diverse leaders. table 2 contains the initial code associated with the theme, the categories associated with the theme, the theme name, and definitions of each theme. table 2 coding to categories to themes codes categories themes definitions asked questions to become acknowledgeable, brought adversities to the forefront, build and utilize your network, champion for others, champion for yourself, confident in who you are, developed pathway for career development, gain trust and comfortability of others, have to prove others wrong, have to prove yourself in the workplace, imposter syndrome, know your worth, learn from mistakes, make sure your voice is heard, motivating factors to continue advance career, preparation of pm duties, professional image, seized opportunities, sought and received guidance, the only african american in the workplace personal considerations for career advancement display an executive presence that exudes selfconfidence, worth, and value to overcome barriers in the workplace signature display and branding of selfconfidence, integrity, and worthiness in the workplace advocacy of male mentors, advocates and champions, build and utilize your network, carve out their own space, developed pathway for career development, employee resource groups, initiated mentor/mentee relationships, interest from mentors on career goals, lack of assistance with career goals, lack of leadership involvement, lack of support from other african american women, lack of current or past manager or leader involvement with individual development plans, lack of visibility and reach with leadership and executives, relationship with african american women mentors and advocates, leadership programming, obtaining recommendations for career development opportunities, relationship with caucasian women mentors and advocates, seeks women mentorship, support from other african american women, surface-level relationship with mentor, training opportunities, women leaders in project management guidance on career development; mentorship and supportive networks supportive and influential relationships are instrumental to career advancement uniquely selected network of people who foster support and advocacy against adversity while attaining career advancement june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 12 codes categories themes definitions advocacy of male mentors, advocates and champions, barriers with obtaining promotions, build and utilize your network, a developed pathway for career development, hiring based on field experience, interest from mentors on career goals, jobs, promotions, and opportunities for progression are given to people that look like them, lack of affirmation regarding job performance, lack of assistance with career goals, lack of career advancement opportunity, lack of compensation, lack of current or past manager or leader involvement with individual development plans, lack of leadership involvement guidance on career development; influence of manager and leader involvement; workplace practices purposeful visibility increases opportunities for career progression intentionally affording opportunities to increase the visibility of qualified african american women project managers advanced education is an advantage, barriers with obtaining promotions, barriers based on gender, barriers based on preconceived notions, barriers based on race, barriers created by influence, being more efficient and innovative, certification and credentials are an advantage, checking the box, conditioned to overlook barriers, cultivate a team atmosphere, diverse leadership influence careers, diversity contributes to organizational success, diversity in leadership, diversity in the workplace, diversity of thought, education gets you in the door, entering spaces not created for african american women, good ole' boys club, have to prove others wrong, have to prove yourself in the workplace, inferiority of african american women, intentionally setup to fail, lack of affirmation regarding job performance, lack of assistance with career goals, lack of current or past manager or leader involvement with individual development plans, bias received as an african american woman pm, women leaders in project management perceived or actual barriers hindering opportunities; impact of diversity and inclusion; influence of education and qualifications; influence of manager and leader involvement; challenged on abilities and competency inclusive hiring practices and processes when selecting diverse leaders inclusive measures when seeking to hire in leadership positions results theme 1: display an executive presence that exudes self-confidence, worth, and value to overcome barriers in the workplace in response to increasing the representation of african american women within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry, theme 1 displays an executive presence that exudes self-confidence, worth, and value to overcome barriers in the workplace emerged from the data analysis. an executive presence involves african american women, eliminating perception disparities by manifesting self-confidence, value, and worth to attain career advancement. having an executive presence sets the standard for how african american women are seen in the workplace despite the barriers they encounter. before detailing the strategies and best practices, it is crucial to understand some of the barriers that drive the significance of african american women project managers having to show themselves differently in the workplace. all participants voiced their experiences with various racial and gender-related obstacles in the workplace throughout their careers. one barrier, ageism, emerged from the data and was identified by six participants. as a young professional, pm1 expressed, business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 13 race-wise, i will say that the unconscious bias happens. i noticed this now, as i am leading larger projects and projects that have a higher visibility within the [organization/company]. you enter into a meeting and people are surprised to know that you're the project lead. you know that you are the one who's coming in, and you will be delegating and assigning action, and that a large chunk of federal money is now under your purview. while somewhat satisfying it can be to raise your hand and say, “oh, yes, i'm the pm” or introduce myself, as you know, “hello! i'm [name]. i'm the lead pm. i'm the one that's been sending you all of these emails.” it's signaling, but it's a little satisfying to see this surprise wash over their face, and then everyone kind of has to readjust. but it is a little disheartening because sometimes in those same meetings after the initial shock of learning that this younger black woman is in charge of a 30-to-50million-dollar project, then it's “well, maybe you should do it this way,” or “since this is your first time doing it, you know, this is the way that things should be done.” so, it takes a little bit of time to help people understand who is in charge and how i will be leading the team to success. (pm1). another barrier that emerged was tokenism. tokenism in the workplace derives when diverse employees are recruited for specific events, such as hiring events or dei-focused conferences, and used as collateral to give a false perception or representation of diversity (asare, 2022). four participants expressed their being subjected to tokenism or being viewed as the token because of the position held. pm2 expressed serving on diversity panels for the interviews and felt like she was the token black females to check two boxes for race and gender. pm6 voiced her experience with tokenism and being a dei leader within the organization, we have more of in our company, “oh, how many people of color do you have in your network?” so, whenever there's something that goes on that's related to dei, you're the first one that they contact. i'll say in the last two years of being this role, i've gotten more exposure that i feel like is a tokenism kind of exposure. being put on programs, now all of a sudden, you're on a high potential list. you have all this stuff that now, because of you being in this role and you being at this level, that you're getting more people tapping you to go do stuff. i always get tapped to go talk to people about dei and all that kind of stuff, especially during black history month. but i definitely feel that there is a, “oh, okay, let me see who i could have to go do this, that, and the other.” and you're that person usually. (pm6). three participants voiced their ideas on how to deal with microaggressions. pm5 spoke on her experience regarding being articulate and questioned on how she obtained her position, someone say, “man, you're well spoken.” well, what does that mean? does that mean all african americans speaking ebonics or something like? why are you saying that? oh, well, i didn't know that. or, “how did you get here? i mean oh, what did you do?,” as if it’s an anomaly. it's not an anomaly for you to get there. so, why is it an anomaly for me as a black female to be able to be in this space or to be in this particular job? i worked hard for this job. (pm5). when dealing with microaggressions, pm1 found that having a sense of humor and being able to address the microaggressions when it happens was an effective action in the workplace, i've found having a pretty good sense of humor when you catch those microaggressions that come your way. to not staying too deep into it, but just a quick comeback. that usually surprises people when you suddenly let them know, “hey? i caught that. that wasn't appropriate.” so, i'll say something equally as witty and inappropriate, and then we can all go about our day. is that sinking to the level of the microaggressor? maybe, but, if it's done with some kind of humor, then at least it's non-confrontational. but i have found that that helps get the point across. where that doesn't work is to not have a very public conversation, but to instead pull that person aside to say, you know, “listen, that wasn't appropriate,” or “what you said made me feel like x y and z.” that usually helps because people are caught off guard or june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 14 surprise that you would confront them even the friendliest way. that usually sends them running, “oh, i didn't mean it like that,” or, “oh, i'm so sorry! that's not how i wanted you to take it.” blah blah blah whatever, but it has to be addressed. as uncomfortable as it may be or as exhausting as it is to have to address it, you just you can't really let it go, because then they'll think it's okay. (pm1). participants expressed that these barriers were encountered due to the perception that their counterparts had about them or african american women. pm10 spoke on how the perception of african american women and how they present themselves in the workplace are often skewed compared to their counterparts and cause disparities when seeking career advancement. pm10 expressed that, perception is big here. i'm an african american woman. i have tattoos. i have a nose piercing. i wear my hair in natural state. i'm looked over if a white woman comes in the same way. i feel like for interviews, per se, i need to cover up. i need to possibly take my nose ring out. i don't do a lot of makeup. i think we're judged by that a lot. whereas to my white counterpart, she can come in with purple hair, tattoos, a blouse, slacks, and flats, and she's considered the face of a program. i don't have that option. i see a lot of that. i think it's more so for the african american women than it is for even asian women. i feel like we have to go the extra mile for promotions and to be seen to get leadership roles on just programs. (pm10). so, to combat these barriers, participants expressed various strategies and best practices to prepare for the work environment as an african american woman project manager. two participants expressed the importance of branding and creating a signature image that differentiates you from your peers to lessen the barriers of perception in the workplace. pm5 expressed the significance of how you dress in the workplace despite how others present themselves. as an african american woman seeking to advance your career, dressing, and presenting yourself for the next level is imperative. pm5 stated: people say, “oh, yeah, we have casual friday.” well, there's no casual friday to me. every day, you keep yourself together. how i got there was i would dress up and have on a suit or dress every day, monday through wednesday. and, these gentlemen said, “man, you always look so nice, but then you get a little bit more casual on thursday or friday.” when you say that i'm like, “oh, no, no! i need to fix that.” my brand counts and i want people to look at me like i'm always together when i show up for a meeting. you want people…when somebody says your name, because your brand is so strong because your work product is so strong, it's like, “oh, i know her.” even if when that one person doesn't know your name, somebody else in that room knows you because your reputation proceeds yourself. if your name is synonymous with this great reputation and great brand, people are willing to take a chance on you. (pm5). seven participants expressed the importance of self-confidence and knowing your worth as an african american woman in the workplace. two participants expressed being confident in who you are and speaking with confidence. pm3 voiced, you have to be so confident in who you are, that no one can change your opinion of you. like, you have to be so locked in that i am the subject matter expert in the room, period. no buts, no ands, no commas, period. that's the sentence. (pm3). pm3 continued with, honestly, i started speaking more confidently. i stopped justifying my responses. “the response i gave is the response it is, and if you're not gonna accept it from me, i'll say it one more time, and then i'm gonna call in the backup that's appropriate to address you. (pm3). pm6 spoken on knowing her worth and why she continues to pursue career advancement, business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 15 my motivating factor is i have my own goals and aspirations, and that’s what propels me forward to continue. knowing my value, my worth, and knowing that this is something i enjoy doing, and i’m not gonna let these barriers prevent me from being successful. just keep pushing through and keep educating people from the dei perspective so that they can expand their network and give people opportunities. and then when we do get these opportunities, making sure that we show up the way we need to. (pm6). participants expressed the importance of taking your seat at the table in meetings and not sitting in the back of the room or on the wall. pm2 expressed how a mentor provided her with guidance on having presence in the room, when all of her colleagues and everyone else was not around, she and i would have one on one conversations. she would just lay it out. “here's the thing you should watch for. never sit in this seat. always sit in the middle.” this is why i sit in the middle seat of the table. “like that person. i need you to be as animated as this person,” or those kinds of things. i think having that kind of advice when you haven't been at that table before at that level is always important. (pm2). in addition to taking your seat at the table, two participants expressed the importance of being prepared. five participants were proponents of asking questions and not being afraid to do so. pm5 stated, when you are asked to come and support a meeting, you have been invited to a space you are supposed to be in that space. i used to be the type of person, early in my career where i would sit in the outskirts. i wouldn't sit at the main table. i would sit on the outskirts where the seats were against the wall. i would try to blend into the wall because i didn't want anyone to call on me. it was because i didn't like to speak. i didn't want to be put on the spot. i didn't enjoy impromptu speaking. and a mentor of mine said, “you were invited to be in that room. you need to take a seat at the table. you deserve to be at the table, and you deserve to speak up and say something, and people will listen. but if you go and you blend into the wall, how will they know want you have to offer? how will they know that you do have something important to say if you're blending into the wall?” so, i reluctantly did it. i sat at the table, and i was nervous, and i'm like, “oh, my god! am i supposed to be here at the table? what if they call me?” and yeah, what if they call you? well, if they call you, then you have an answer you're supposed to be there. be prepared when you get there. i'm always prepared before i go into a meeting. if i don't know exactly… a lot of times, people come up with an agenda and sometimes you don't know if they're going to require you to present something or they need something from you. be sure to ask, “are you expecting anything from me? did you need me to present something?” just make sure you're aware. always have something to talk about. it's inevitable that somebody's going to call on you about something. so, if you're familiar with that meeting, and what the subject is about, you kind of know what happens in the meeting. be prepared. always have a couple of speaking points so that you're not caught off guard. especially if you're not good at impromptu speaking, then prepare. (pm5). lastly, five participants express the importance of championing for yourself and speaking your voice. pm4 voiced that, i knew that i wanted more for myself. so, once i got promoted up, i felt better with asking. so now, “what do i need to do? where do i need to go next? you saw that i had the potential to perform in this department. i'm gonna show you i can, and i need you to help me to get to my next level.” (pm4). pm3 conversed about imposter syndrome and how to be better champion for yourself, we have to acknowledge imposter syndrome. like we have to have that like ‘me talking to me’ moment in the mirror that says, “hey, i know we're still trying to figure out who we are in this environment, in this june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 16 office, in this space, but it's okay that we're figuring it out. it's okay we're still figuring out who we can chat with, who we can't, who we can laugh with, who we can't, who we can share with, who we can't.” all of those things contribute to imposter syndrome, and we have to call it out. and we have to be okay with saying “okay, we're working through that. it's fine we're working through it.” (pm3). theme 2 supportive and influential relationships are instrumental to career advancement in response to strategies and best practices to increase african american women’s representation within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry, theme 2, supportive and influential relationships are instrumental to career advancement, refers to a uniquely selected network of people who foster support and advocacy against adversity while attaining career advancement. all participants identified mentors, sponsors, advocates, and champions as being instrumental to their career development as project managers and to the attainment or progression to senior or executive-level leadership roles in the workplace. additionally, participants identified family, friends, and clergy as emotional supporters, encouragers, and motivating factors to their continuous aspirations to attain career advancement. pm7 stated, i've received encouragement from my circle. my circle are sister friends that i have. we encourage one another, and we just uplift each other. i think that when you are feeling blue and you got one of them, it's empowering and it takes you to that level. having good spiritual advisors, or deacons or ministers that you could go to and have those encouraging words poured into you to take you through that next barrier. seeing my mini-mes, my sons, and the progression of their life. that's my encouragement. (pm7). nine participants identified mentors, sponsors, advocates, and champions as a means to grow professionally and open the pathway to career advancement. pm5 expressed the significance of “having mentors that can help guide you, help you to prepare yourself in the right way, how you show up to your job, how you come across, help you develop your brand early on, all make a difference.” pm10 voiced having a supervisor who advocated for her and provided her feedback on a low rating received on her annual appraisal, i received all 5 except for one area. i got a 3, and she was brutally honest. she told me where my weakness was and what i needed to work on. she took her time and helping me write my appraisal. i had never had that before. usually, it's whatever you turn in. if you turn in anything, and the supervisor just sign off on it and you get what you get, and that's what it is. this supervisor here actually helped me write a good assessment for myself because writing is one of my weaknesses. but she helped me. she advocated for me to get time off and money. i didn't know there was such a thing that i could get both. she helped. she was truly a blessing in that. i don't know if that's gonna be my only experience with having somebody to really advocate and help you see yourself so you can become better. (pm10). six participants expressed that networking and employee resource groups were instrumental to gaining exposure to executives, leaders, and peers they did not work with daily. pm8 voiced her appreciation of “not only being able to expand my own network, but tapping into the networks that people like my mentors or my sponsors have access to.” for young professionals beginning their careers, pm2 stated the employee resource groups are beneficial for “interns come in, begin creating their village, and know who to go to, instead of sitting in silence.” pm5 expressed that employee resource groups in her organization “provide the opportunity to identify the gaps that we have in terms of dei, from the black/african american perspective.” pm5 continued stating that employee resource groups “create exposure and awareness of top diverse talent and expand people’s networks in hopes that when opportunities come available, more diverse talent is considered because leaders have expanded their network.” eight participants expressed that expanding their networks was a best practice. pm6 voiced that, business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 17 expand your network. make sure people know who you are. you really have to be more aggressive about it. i feel like i'm nice to everybody. i was more casual about building my network and being intentional about making sure that people knew who i was. it's also letting people know what you wanna do and being intentional about letting as many people as you know that as well, as you're building and developing those relationships. so, when those roles come available because you're in their network, that's what i really feel like they're using, their using their network. they are not using, “oh, yeah, you have all this list of stuff. you're great. you can be perfect candidate.” they're really using the people that they believe that they can trust, and the only way they could do that is by knowing who you are. i feel like having that network really helps. and then the other thing, i would say, is also building a network within the african american community. i think that that's also important. i feel like a lot of us struggle and have the same barriers when trying to reach and attain these roles, and also reach and attain career advancement. but having other people to see, to leverage ideas off of, and expand your network that way also. (pm6). according to the data analysis, having a supportive and influential relationship is important to the professional growth of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. the data showed a significant problem within the african american women professionals’ community, and this qualitative inquiry study would be remiss if ignored. the data analysis showed areas of concern regarding how african american women support one another in the workplace. six participants expressed their experience with mentorship and support from other african american women leaders and executives. four participants spoke highly of their mentorship experiences and stated their relationships felt more organic and relatable. pm1 expressed, as an african american woman, while [organization/company] itself has all of these programs for mentorship and for development coaching, and things like that, i have found that finding a black woman in leadership, and just learning more about them and reaching out to them to say, “hey, i see that you're doing great things, and i'm interested in learning more. would you mind having a conversation with me?” and then from there asking, “if i could learn more from you know, would you be willing to be a mentor?” i found that that has been helpful. (pm1). two participants expressed that their relationship with african american mentors was more surface-level and that conversations were sporadic. pm3 voiced, so, it's unfortunate. i hate saying this but african american women in executive positions have never really given me much space to even connect with them. like, i've been in big meetings and it's the director of this, the director of that, realizing she's an african american woman as well. after the meeting, i’ve tried to catch her for just a couple of seconds to introduce myself in person, and just, “hi! i'm [pm3], i support xyz.” i just wanted to introduce myself in person to try and open the door to connect and things like that. and it's like, “oh, hey,” and just brushed off. but, with white women, anytime i've done that, a lot of times, it's like, “i've heard about you. you led xyz, right? yeah. oh, your reputation precedes you,” and “what do you do here? we need to connect. put some time on the calendar.” then, different standpoint, they'll feed me projects that are gonna get me visibility, “hey, we have annual metrics and annual objective review, quarterly objective review. i need you to facilitate the data collection and prepare it for presentation.” that's like a mini project in itself that they could give to anyone, but they gave it to me. they would let me present it and say, “i didn't collect this data. [pm3], who is our xyz capacity, collected it. she's prepared to brief.” anytime it's been an african american female in the executive role, i didn't get the same. i don't know why. that's always been a mystery for me, but equally it's been motivation because i don't wanna be like that. i don't think that's gonna be how we get more female pms, african american female pms, doing that. so, i just kind of made it my personal oath to anyone that walks in a meeting with me that is an african american pm, assistant junior pm, coordinator. you’re gonna have my name. you’re gonna know how to connect me. so, unfortunate. (pm2). june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 18 more prevailing revelations in the data analysis is the lack of support between african american women in the workplace. three participants shared their experience with other african american women. pm10 shared, from my viewpoint, working where i am, black women are not so quick to extend the olive branch. it's sad. when i came back to the [organization/company] into program management, i came in on a program, kind of like the palace acquire program. i came in as a [rank] because i already had a master’s degree, and then the next year you get promoted to [rank]. the next year you get promoted to a [rank]. well, the classes that were before me, the people that were in the programs before me, i noticed they don't want to talk about lesson plans. they don't want to talk about the classes or the past. it's kind of like, “well, i already did that.” okay. well, we know that. let's hope somebody else get there. there's not a lot of that. so, i try to be that person. if i come across somebody, i'm gonna help you. we're all trying to make it. we're all doing the same thing, whether we wanna admit that or not. but no, african american women are not trying to hold hands. (pm10). pm2 voiced her experience with african american women in the workplace and how african american women can start the change, when we see each other in the workplace, in the same meeting, we need to know we're on the same side. i am not your competition, sis. we're fighting the same battle. the last thing we need to do is fight against each other. so don't sneak me. i won't sneak. you don't chop me on an email. i won't chop you. if we need to talk through something before you ‘per your last email’ me, call me so we can talk it through. so, instead of ‘per my last email,’ it can be ‘per our conversation.’ “this is what we're doing. glad we got to sync up. looking forward to the next meeting.” we have to start doing that because i feel like the environment makes us forget it. yes, it's dog eat dog, but we're not each other's dog. it's somebody else and i think that's hard. i think that's hard because the generations that came before me, they didn't have that support. they didn't have that black girl magic club, and they were sneaking each other and chopping each other. and if you were the black girl that became the token, and the white boys like you, like, “oh, yeah, bring her in for everything,” then you're hated, and it doesn’t need to be like that. i just i want so badly for the current generation of black females in program management, especially in the defense space, we gotta be together. we gotta be together. that doesn't mean we get on zoom, and say, “hey, girl!” we know when, but we gotta start sticking together more. (pm2). theme 3 purposeful visibility increases opportunities for career progression in response to strategies and best practices to increase african american women’s representation within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry, theme 3, purposeful visibility increases opportunities for career progression, refers to intentionally affording opportunities to qualified african american women project managers to increase their visibility in the workplace. purposeful visibility coincides with having a supportive influential relationship. pm5 expressed the african american women are challenged with gaining visibility because there is a lack of access to executives to make the connections needed to obtain opportunities for advancement. pm5 stated that, one of the dei challenges that we observed is that we don’t have enough representation at this company in executive leadership roles, specifically director and above, you can count them on your hands, which is a problem. i had a dual role where i supported a caucasian male executive director and also with talking with others in his demographic, the common problem was that a lot of the leaders and executive leaders don't have visibility to african americans on different levels because they're not in their network. as a result of them not being in their network, when you go identify people to fill these senior level roles, who gets these opportunities, not black people because they don’t know who we are. (pm6). business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 19 two participants expressed that african american women lack opportunities because leaders are providing opportunities to people they know and trust. pm6 voiced that, i feel like a lot of it is that people don't trust what they don't know. so, if you don't look like them, then they feel like, “oh, no! how do i possibly trust them because i had never experienced somebody that doesn't look like me before.” so, i try to break down that by really having one-on-one conversations with people so that they can get to know me. setting up meetings on their calendar, so that they are comfortable coming with me. so, it's always you have to establish this level of trust with people so that they can respect you as somebody they can come to get stuff done. because essentially what we're doing as program managers are removing barriers for people so that they can be successful and then they can ultimately deliver on their goal and to do that they need to be able to trust you. so, it's really trying to overcome it by implementing those types of things. it’s all about relationship building. i use relationship building to overcome the bias barriers. (pm6). when speaking on gaining comfortability with leaders, pm6 stated that, a lot of times people want to be around folks that they know. we’re like that too, right? we want to be around people that you're comfortable with. well, how do you make people feel comfortable? well, they have to get to know you. it can't be that i'm unapproachable. if i'm unapproachable and a person can't talk to me, i'm talking about white men, then they're not gonna select me. i don't care how good that i am. i don’t care how talented i am. they are not comfortable. so, how do you have to make them feel comfortable? you have to make them feel comfortable. (pm6). theme 4 inclusive hiring practices and processes when selecting diverse leaders in response to strategies and best practices to increase project success and profitability within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry, theme 4, inclusive hiring practices and processes when selecting diverse leaders, refers to having more inclusive measures when seeking to hire in leadership positions. eight participants voiced the significance of having diverse teams and leadership, with diversity of thought being a key phrase that emerged from the data by five participants. regarding project success and profitability, pm6 stated that having diverse teams has produced great results and created an environment where team members feel empowered to bring their ideas and expertise to our program, which has proven successful. four participants voiced how diversity drives efficiency and innovations and enables the workplace to be more open to ideas and problem-solving. pm3 voiced, having diverse teams, not just from a race perspective, but from a gender and age perspective, i think, has definitely contributed to a lot of my successful programs and projects. simply, you had that generational blend mixed with creativity. that comes from having mixed gender teams and mixed generations. so, i definitely think that it's contributed to our agility to get things done with. you know, having some folks step outside of comfort zones, and some folks stay in, and vice versa. i think it's definitely contributed to the amount of diversity on the team. (pm3). seven participants stated that having diverse leadership in their organizations has influenced the career progression. pm8 voiced that “it's nice having a person of diversity or a person with a diverse background on your leadership staff, but one is not enough and there needs to be more.” pm10 stated that in the working environments that she has experienced, diversity is not very strong, and it is sometimes challenging to not be the norm with an idea or suggestions.” six participants expressed that they have experienced being the only african american woman in the workspace. one participant, pm3, noted she has experienced being the only african american and the only woman project manager in her workplace. pm1 stated, june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 20 i would venture to say that if it had not been for the diverse leadership that i've had the opportunity to work with and support, i might not be where i am today. there is uniqueness that comes with having women who are in charge, women who are running operations who are in senior leadership positions, and there is a unique opportunity in having black women who are in those roles. (pm1). with the lack of opportunities, participants voiced developing their pathway to career advancement through advanced education, certifications, and leadership development training. the data emerged that nine participants believed that the advanced education and qualifications only get african american women in the door for interviews. when it comes to competitiveness and marketability compared to their counterparts, all participants voiced those educations and qualifications gave them an advantage to career opportunities. pm8 expressed, education does increase marketability. however, i don't think if i just had the same degree, other certifications, gpa, xyz, as said white person, i would be in the position that i'm in. i just don't. i knew that long before i started working that i would have to be better than just to be considered equal, and as much as i think that's something that needs to change. i don't see it changing anytime soon, at least. because again, if i could just hire one, that means i've hired all, right. so yeah, it's unfortunate. it's very unfortunate. i know what i've witnessed, and people like my younger brother, who are coming up and i about to start working, i can only tell him the same thing. my parents told me like you've got to be here, even if they're there. you got to be here just to even meet somewhere in the middle. (pm8). pm3 stated her journey of career advancement started with certifications, i started asking questions about certifications and i had heard about the pmp. anytime, i brought it up in my workspace, to just be frank with you, it was around middle-aged white men and we're talking about trainings and things like that. anytime i would voice my interest, and researching, not even doing it. i just wanna know more about it. shot down. “you don't have the experience.” okay. so, i started saying, okay. i started writing and presenting myself differently after that because it's hard to…for me, it was always hard to accept i didn’t have the experience because outside of work, my career, i ran an entire cheerleading program. so, what do you mean i don't have…my experience doesn't look like yours, but that doesn't mean it's not there. so, i just would start to use that as my motivation and push. when i was going for my scrum master certification, i remember telling my pm at the time, who was a white male. because, let's face it, that's what that realm looks like, especially in defense. he told me, “i don't even know what that is. you don't need to be pursuing that.” i wasn't approved for it to be reimbursed. anything. so, i said, “okay, i'm gonna do it on my own,” and i did, and i took the course, past the test. cool. i put it in my weekly report, because, as a contractor, you know, you have to put that in your weekly report. “what is this? why is that in there?” “well, you asked me what i did this week. part of what i did.” fast forward like 4 months, our [organization/company] oversight was asking, “do we have any scrum masters on the team?” so, when i'm unmuted myself, i said, “i'm a scrum master.” “how did we not know that?” well, i said, “well, my company was aware that i took the training.” (pm3). pm6 stated how being in a leadership development program to increase her leadership skills and business acumen, i've been in a lot of leadership programs to help increase my business acumen. so, i was in [leadership program]. [leadership program] really focused on the soft skills, not necessarily your technical skills. how do you lead? how do you lead yourself, and how do you lead others. i really enjoyed that because it was so fluffy. it was so people-focused. even though i am a technical leader, that area, people development, people leadership, is really a place that excites me and is very enjoyable for me. so, i really enjoyed that program. i was part of a program called [leadership program]. this one was a hard program. this program was sponsor by the business unit president. at the time, it was [name], and so we had to work together on a business plan. it was a big project. what i did to stand out in that program is i decided i was going to be business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 21 one of the speakers to present it to the business president. i was so nervous, cause again, i didn't like speaking. but, hey, i'd knock it out the park because i said this is what i'm gonna do when i practice, and i prepare. so, i think that i've grown a lot by being in those programs, but i've also grown my network. (pm5). the opportunities for african american women in the project management field is minimal. when it comes down to inclusive hiring practices, the data analysis showed there an exclusion of african american women project managers. five participants verbalized being looked over for promotions into career progressive positions and leadership roles. pm6 expressed her experience with being looked over for a promotion, my goal was to get promoted by the end of the year last year. my manager knew that that was my goal. he was on board for helping me get promoted and told me that i would be great for a specific program that included the next level of responsibility. however, when it came time to apply for the role, he told me to apply, i received a 30 min interview where hr wasn’t present and then hired his friend, a white female that previously worked on the program as a risk manager and who didn’t have previous program manager experience. when i questioned him, he stated, “she had a little more experience than you.” again, the other lady was a department manager with no pm experience, and this was a senior pm role. my manager gave the job to that lady, a white female in his network, and did not give it to me, a black female who was already on his team. this same manager stated previously that i was a high performer and was doing a great job as a program manager. this practice has happened for the almost 15 years that i’ve been in this company. i call it internal nepotism. they hire people that they know and that look like them, these people are friends and other people in their network, and they do this hiring or providing opportunities at the expense of people that look like me. so, and they knowingly do that repeatedly. (pm6). pm5 expressed her experience and how she chooses to not settle for a position and champion for herself, when i took the program management role for [program], that's a big role. that's a covenant position and i really believe that some of my peers thought it was given to me, but nothing was given to me. i had to work really hard for that job. i had to interview twice. the first time i interviewed. i didn't get the job and i had to wait a whole year to reinterview. the second time i interviewed for the job, they wanted me to be a program integrator. and i said, “you know what? nope, no, thank you. i'm not interested in being a program integrator. i'm interested in being the program manager, and i need a promotion. if this does not come with the promotion and it doesn't come with the title program manager, i'm not interested.” i am not taking something that’s below my experience level. i know i deserve it. i've worked hard for it. i have the experience for it. so, you're not gonna lessen me. you're not gonna put me in this role at a lower level and then i'm gonna knock it out the box, and then you're gonna go and give it to somebody else. no, i'm sorry. (pm5). in support of this theme, pm8 expressed the importance the disparities of the workplaces and the lack of representation of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry, when i look around at the makeup of who my peers are, i still think that there are room for improvement. i know african american women that i work with, but in my opinion, there's so much more where that came from. they’re phenomenal women that i know, who have applied for positions that i have said, “you should apply for this,” and they don't even get an interview and then you see the candidate who they did offer walk in the door. it's unfortunate because you know our possibilities. you know what this person brings to the table. i would say absolutely there's a lot of room for improvement. i'm one of a few women, black women in senior leadership, but i think there should be more. i still think the numbers are very skewed. (pm8). final answer to research question june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 22 table 4 provides potential solutions to the research question based on the opinions and perspectives of the participants of this qualitative inquiry. the research question of this qualitative inquiry is, “what are the perspectives of african american women project managers in the united states aerospace and defense industry regarding strategies and best practices that can increase african american women's representation, project success, and profitability?” table 4 strategies and best practices to increase african american women’s representation, project success, and profitability question elements solutions strategies and best practices to increase african american women's representation, project success, and profitability african american women must have an executive presence that exude selfconfidence, worth, and value to overcame barriers in the workplace. african american women project managers must have supportive and influential relationships are instrumental to career advancement. purposeful visibility of african american women project managers to increase opportunities for career progression. inclusive hiring practices and processes when selecting diverse leaders provides space for educated african american women project manager to be considered. contributions this qualitative inquiry study sought to explore the perspectives of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry regarding strategies and best practices that can increase african american women's representation, project success, and profitability. utilizing the thematic analysis approach developed by braun and clarke (2006), the research question was answered based on the perspectives of african american women project managers within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. the findings from this qualitative inquiry derived from inductive analysis reveal four major themes: (a) display an executive presence that exudes selfconfidence, worth, and value to overcome barriers in the workplace, (b) supportive and influential relationships are instrumental to career advancement, (c) purposeful visibility increases opportunities for career progression, and (d) inclusive hiring practices and processes when selecting diverse leaders. there is an acknowledgment that diversity and inclusion training and implementation are occurring within aerospace and defense organizations. however, the data collected from this qualitative inquiry contribute to theory, literature, and the practitioner knowledge base by assisting u.s. aerospace and defense industry leaders to understand the challenges and adversities hindering african american women project managers from advancing their careers. the following section addresses how the findings of this study contribute to the theory, literature, and practitioner knowledge base. contribution to theory and literature the contribution to theory and literature originated from the applied framework of this qualitative inquiry. the black women project manager's representational intersectionality framework was adopted from the intersectionality and the black feminist thought frameworks. the black women project managers representational intersectionality business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 23 framework provided the foundational concepts that correspond with the research question. the themes derived from the data analysis supported the key concepts of the framework, identifying that social identities overlap and intersect, potentially causing complex identities that challenge the inclusivity of african american women project managers on project teams and with opportunities for career advancement in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. the themes of strategies and best practices that influenced african american women project managers’ career advancement confirmed and aligned with the research literature regarding the intersectionality of gender, race, and education and qualification in the workplace. the concepts of the black women project managers representational intersectionality framework formed the foundation for understanding that obstacles continue to exist for african american women in the workplace, more specifically for african american women project managers seeking career advancement. themes 1 through 3, executive presence, supportive and influential relationship, and purposeful visibility, increases opportunities for career progression aligned with the gender and race concepts of the applied framework and the intersectionality and the black feminist thought frameworks. the data provides evidence that african american women must present themselves in a certain manner and have advocates and champions to be seen in the workplace. african american women are perceived differently as professionals and continuously marginalized in the workplace. the gender bias combined with systemic racism in the workplace continues to cause barriers of visibility and access to leaders that can assist with career progression. theme 4, inclusive hiring practices and processes when selecting diverse leaders, aligned with the education and qualification concept of the applied framework because disparities with hiring diverse leadership still exist. african american women are attaining advanced degrees and obtaining certifications to show themselves competitive and marketability in the workplace while their counterparts are advancing without credentials. african american women are subjected to having to go above and beyond but are still not considered for leadership position. contribution to practitioners knowledge the data from this qualitative inquiry contributes to the practitioner's knowledge by using the findings to explore career advancement programs specific to african american women in the project management field. little to no research has been conducted on african american women in project management or employed in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. being one of the least represented demographics in project management, the findings of this qualitative inquiry can initiate much needed conversations to identify elements that are hindering the career progression of african american women and how changes can be implemented to increase the representation and improve inclusion factors in project management and within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. application and recommendations through the perspectives of the 10 participants, the findings captured in this qualitative inquiry not only provided information on how they navigated barriers as project managers and created a career progressive pathway for themselves, but they also provided insight on the importance of developing diverse teams and leadership within u.s. aerospace and defense organizations. implementing diversity and inclusion within project teams benefits organizations' success and profitability in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. creating a culture where diversity of thought is acceptable provides an all-encompassing path for innovation and a competitive advantage for organizations. however, there is room for improvement regarding increasing the presence of qualified african american women project managers in senior and executive leadership roles within the industry. the gap in practice for this qualitative inquiry was that leaders in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry are not implementing effective diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei) strategies or best practices to ensure african american women have opportunities to advance their careers in project management. business leaders in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry might apply the findings of this qualitative inquiry study to increase the representation of african american women project managers in their organizations and increase the probability of project success and june 2024 | volume 3, number 2 24 profitability within their organizations. the following recommendations align with the findings and research literature review of this qualitative inquiry: • recommendation 1. organizational leaders must acknowledge, support, and invest in the career development and advancement of african american women project managers seeking to elevate in organizations within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. • recommendation 2. workplace initiatives must be reevaluated to ensure that intentional and purposeful diversity, equity, and inclusion measures are being implemented to support african american women, including but not limited to fair and equal compensation, hiring practices, and promotion opportunities. • recommendation 3. further research is needed on the barriers of african american women in the project management fields, not only in the aerospace and defense industry. the first recommendation conveys the significance of organizational leaders being advocates and champions for african american women project managers. with the population of african american women project managers, the barriers encountered to advance their careers are often overlooked. african american women project managers should be afforded the same opportunities as their counterparts without constantly having to prove themselves worthy or competent. the second recommendation strives to enhance the systemic inequality that african american women project managers experience when managing projects and programs with their counterparts. the findings of this qualitative inquiry can be advantageous to increasing the representation of african american women project managers. when reevaluating workplace initiatives, it would be significant to survey african american women project managers within each organization to identify other biases and discriminations and bring them to the forefront of leadership. the inferiority of the barriers african american women encountered should not impede african american women from excelling in their project management profession in the any profession. their comfortability to speak on these adversities should be well received from leadership and there should be assurance provided that african american women are heard and safe in their workspaces. the third recommendation is to further the research on the experiences of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. african american women project managers remain one of the smallest demographics in the project management field across all industries. with dual biases of gender and race, additional research can be beneficial to leaders and future african american women project managers on how to navigate barriers and promote career progression. the information from this qualitative inquiry study is appropriate for distribution to academic and industry publications specific to the project management field and the aerospace and defense industry. the findings and information presented in this study can assist future african american women project managers and business professionals seeking career advancement. this information can also provide insight to organizational leaders on the existing barriers within their organization, allowing them to make changes to the disparities hindering career advancement for their african american women employees. this qualitative inquiry also provides scholars and practitioners with information on african american women in the project management field and aerospace and defense industry to further the research and discussion on barriers and improvement of diversity and inclusion of african american women in leadership. conclusion the purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of african american project managers on strategies and best practices to overcome barriers while managing complex projects and attaining career advancement within the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. the findings from this study support the literature referencing the underrepresentation of african american women in leadership roles and the adversities encountered when attaining business management research & applications: a cross-disciplinary journal 25 career advancement. some african american women are advancing their careers into senior and executive-level leadership roles. however, there is an opportunity for more. a wealth of knowledge was gained from the research regarding project management and creating a diverse and inclusive workspace in the support of african american women project managers in the u.s. aerospace and defense industry. this qualitative inquiry study began with an understanding that gender and racial inequalities and conscious and unconscious biases existed in the work environment. interviewing african american women project managers who shared similar experiences provided additional clarity that further endeavors are necessary to create 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https://www.zippia.com/manager-project-management-jobs/demographics/ business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 1 strategies to obtain working capital for small businesses: a qualitative multiple case study solomon atamaya, dba | walden university, minneapolis, mn, usa jodine marie burchell, ph.d. | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 contact: satamaya@gmail.com abstract small business owners who cannot access working capital risk business survival through liquidity shortages, lost customers, and falling profitability. the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study grounded in the pecking order theory was to explore the strategies employed by small business owners to obtain working capital for business continuity beyond 5 years. the participants included 8 small business owners in maryland with successful strategies to obtain working capital for business continuity beyond 5 years. data were collected through semistructured 1-on-1 interviews. thematic analysis followed yin’s (2017) 5-phase process of compiling, disassembling, reassembling, interpreting, and concluding. five key themes emerged: (a) financing through retained earnings, (b) financing through nontraditional lending sources, (c) limited access to external funding in the early years, (d) reliance on external financing during later and critical business stages, and (e) minimizing operational costs and expenses. a key recommendation is that entrepreneurs use internal financing as much as possible to sustain operations, minimizing the need for external funds. one implication of these findings includes the potential for small business owners to sustain operations for more than 5 years, thereby providing jobs and generating tax revenue for citizens and communities. mailto:satamaya@gmail.com june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 2 introduction/background small and medium enterprises (smes) are critical to developed and developing u.s. and global economies. in 2020, smes employed 50 million individuals, constituting 45.9% of the private workforce (u.s. small business administration office of advocacy, 2024). globally, 90% of businesses are smes, comprising more than 50% of jobs worldwide (world bank, 2022). smes contribute to international trade by positively influencing exports. in 2018, 97.5% of total u.s. exports were from smes, generating 32% of export earnings (united states census bureau, 2021). despite their contributions to the economy, smes face challenges in accessing financing, which is the primary constraint to growth. facilitating access to capital requires informing entrepreneurs, organizations, scholars, and policymakers on strategies that facilitate fund acquisition. this study provides insight into how smes can access funding. poor management skills, financial literacy, and an inability to access finances are the main reasons for business failure (kindström et al., 2024). smes play a critical role in maryland’s economy by creating employment, promoting innovation, and expanding the tax base. in 2024, more than 1.2 million people worked for maryland smes, comprising 48.6% of the private workforce (u.s. sba office of advocacy, 2024). in maryland, 19,266 small businesses opened and 15,192 closed between march 2022–2023. access to financial resources is essential for operating expenses, debt, inventory, and business growth. many business leaders attribute business failures to external factors, although internal management capabilities and approaches significantly impact business sustainability (lattacher & wdowiak, 2020). smes encounter challenges obtaining working capital (u.s. federal reserve bank, 2017). insufficient access to funds, including lines of credit, leads to the failure of 29% of small businesses within the first 5 years of operation (shabat, 2019). the general business problem is that some small business owners cannot access capital, threatening business survival through liquidity shortages, lost customers, and falling profitability. the business problem for this research is that some small business owners lack strategies to obtain working capital for business continuity beyond 5 years. literature review scholars have looked beyond bank financing to uncover other ways for small business owners to sustain operations beyond 5 years. in brooks’s (2019) study, three small business owners participated in face-to-face, semistructured interviews to discuss strategies they used for business continuity. data analysis found five themes: sufficient startup funding, access to private lenders, and business owners’ motivation and awareness. small business funding small businesses, defined as commercial entities with fewer than 500 employees (u.s. sba office of advocacy, 2020), play an essential role in economic growth through employment and trade (ahmad et al., 2020; malesios et al., 2021). despite their economic contributions, smes face challenges in accessing financing, which is the primary constraint to their growth (world bank, 2022). to grow faster than their sustainable growth rate, company leaders must have access to capital to fund working capital, increase inventories and employees, and purchase property, plant, and equipment. challenges in accessing funding increase the risk of insolvency business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 3 and the loss of competitive advantage (kalemli-ozcan et al., 2020). smes are disadvantaged in accessing finance compared to large organizations due to limited credit history, incomplete record-keeping, insufficient collateral, and a lack of business planning expertise (brown et al., 2022; huang et al., 2020; roy & shaw, 2021). inadequate working capital could contribute to the failure of small business startups, as owners require funds during the initial years of operation to pay creditors, taxes, wages, and overhead costs (mazzarol & reboud, 2020). small businesses contribute to maryland’s economy by creating employment, promoting innovation, and expanding the tax base. according to the u.s. small business association office of advocacy (2020), maryland small businesses employed more than 1.2 million people in 2017. small business insolvency in maryland remains high, with over 3,911 small businesses exiting in 2019, resulting in 14,033 jobs lost. in response, government and private organizations have united to provide loans to small businesses in maryland. the small business development financing authority offers a range of funding programs to small businesses that do not meet the established requirements for commercial loans (maryland department of commerce, 2021). some u.s. states, including maryland, have implemented grants and programs for small business support and success. access to financing remains challenging, and borrowers may become discouraged. access to credit or other sources of financing is necessary for the success, growth, and economic sustainability of small businesses (włodarczyk et al., 2018). commerce incentive funds are a means to help business leaders create jobs, support the local economy, help disadvantaged small businesses, and promote startup businesses (maryland department of commerce, 2021). in 2016, maryland’s incentive-based loans exceeded $90 million. government agencies, such as the u.s. small business association, provide loan guarantees to small businesses and encourage local banks to work with startups or established companies wanting to expand. the u.s. small business association’s microloan program provides loans of up to $50,000 to small businesses. microloan program loans have considerably lower interest rates than loans from other lending institutions, but there are restrictions. state and federal governments have implemented funding options for small businesses, including credit access, favorable banking regulations, debt and equity financing, and microfinancing. small business owners’ strategies to acquire working capital are a common topic of scholarly inquiry (ahmed, 2019; durst & gerstlberger, 2020; smith, 2018; wani, 2018). durst and gerstlberger (2020) explored support programs by governments worldwide to facilitate small business enterprises’ access to capital. the researchers found significant regional differences in approaches to financing small business enterprises. domestic banks are the leading financing providers in canada, and u.s. government legislators have extensively used loans, equity financing, and surety bonds to promote small business owners’ access to financing. durst and gerstlberger concluded that government policies play a critical role in small business owners’ acquisition of a line of credit. pecking order theory pecking order theory addresses corporate finance by providing a model for the cost of financing as theoretically asymmetric (myers & majluf, 1984). the model suggests that business owners acquire financing from three primary sources: retained earnings, debt, and new equity. retained earnings are the cheapest and preferred funding source, followed by debt and equity. the pecking order theory is particularly applicable to smes, as shown in studies of micro, small, and medium enterprises (mittal & raman, 2020; rao et al., 2019). smith (2018) used the june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 4 pecking order theory to investigate the strategies used by small business owners in the southeast united states to secure working capital for continued operations. a review of company documents and semistructured interviews with six business owners showed that participants were more likely to have used personal funds, customer revenue streams, bootstrapping, and personal credit to initially fund their business. covid-19 although the long-term impact of the covid-19 global pandemic on small businesses is unknown, early responses were alternately encouraging and disheartening (depietro, 2020; dunkelberg, 2020). positive outcomes have included low-interest or interest-free lines of credit, higher lines of credit, waived late fees, and deferred payments. covid-19 increased the need for small business credit, as indicated by the demand for government-provided financial assistance. u.s. legislators introduced financial aid through small business loans to pay employees’ salaries while businesses were not operating, with many loans forgivable. although small businesses often fare better during economic difficulty and uncertainty (harel, 2021), the covid-19 pandemic was an unprecedented economic catastrophe. smes are typically more credit-constrained than larger operations (cao & leung, 2020; kumar & francisco, 2005). industry-sector small businesses often operate in niche and particular markets (wong & aspinwall, 2004). in the united states, most organizations are small businesses responsible for a substantial share of employment (humphries et al., 2020). small businesses in maryland facing continued covid-19 financial impacts were eligible for support from the maryland government through the 2021 covid-19 relief grant program, which delivered $10 million in funding. the grant provided working capital to assist qualifying maryland small businesses with disrupted operations due to covid-19. the covid-19 pandemic introduced more significant challenges in accessing capital due to national and international economic difficulties (shafi et al., 2020), as the inability to access funding increased the risk of insolvency and the loss of competitive advantages (kalemli-ozcan et al., 2020). the maryland small business covid-19 relief grant program helped during the 2020–2021 fiscal year when the state’s small businesses faced continued financial impacts from the pandemic. in 2020, state leaders established the program through bipartisan legislation, offering noand low-cost 5-year term loans ranging from $25,000 to $200,000 (maryland department of commerce, 2021). grant funding allowed qualifying maryland small business owners to obtain working capital and offset disrupted operations due to covid-19. methods this qualitative descriptive multiple case study explored small business owners' strategies to obtain working capital for business continuity beyond 5 years. the population of the study was business owners of small manufacturing and wholesale businesses in maryland with 500 or fewer employees. the sample comprised eight small business owners. eligible participants (a) owned a small manufacturing and wholesale business in maryland for at least 5 years, (b) employed 500 or fewer people, and (c) used successful strategies to obtain working capital for business continuity. participants engaged in one-on-one semistructured interviews via zoom. to ensure confidentiality, i used alphanumeric codes instead of names (e.g., pl, p2, p3 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 5 …). because i did not acquire the participants’ financial data, i searched publicly available documents to support this study. i located three pertinent documents on the u.s. small business association website: financial statements, investment performance, and financial portfolios. i used nvivo 14 qualitative coding software to identify similar words and phrases and manually reviewed the data for redundancy, accuracy, and theme identification. in line with a multiple case study design, the thematic data analysis approach provided an enhanced understanding of the phenomenon and the participants’ experiences. results and discussion five major themes emerged from coding: (a) financing through retained earnings, (b) financing through nontraditional lending sources, (c) external funding not readily accessible in earlier years, (d) external financing used at later and critical stages of business, and (e) minimizing business operational costs and expenses (see table 1). the themes are discussed in the following subsections. table 1 main themes and frequencies themes n participants referencing the theme n times referenced 1. financing through retained earnings 8 8 2. financing through nontraditional lending sources 7 19 3. external funding not readily accessible in earlier years 7 16 4. external financing used at later and critical stages of business 6 21 5. minimizing business operational costs and expenses 4 13 theme 1: financing through retained earnings the small business owners interviewed in this study identified retained earnings as the most common financing approach. most participants used this option to sustain operations and borrow as little as possible, especially in the first 5 years. p2 and p4 reported using 90% internal financing to incur minimal debt. p2 said, “it makes the most sense to use business profits first. external financing is the last resort.” p4 reported, “by using retained earnings, i avoided paying unnecessary interest charges.” with low or zero interest, internal funding has less risk and cost than other financing sources. p3 said, “each of these funding sources has associated costs, one more than the other. so, what i try to do is first utilize the cheapest one, of course. the cheapest one is my capital, so we use that first.” most participants preferred using business earnings (theme 1) and personal financing (theme 2 subtheme), with two drawing almost exclusively from company funds. june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 6 theme 2: financing through nontraditional lending sources the participants employed less traditional efforts to minimize debt in their financing choice. personal resources were common funding sources. p8 stated, the first 5 years was personal funding, mainly personal funding. we didn’t refinance our house like some entrepreneurs do. we chose not to do that. we used personal savings, withdrew from our 401(k), and [drew from] any other funds we could get. p1 used self-funding to raise capital and sustain operations. in some instances, the participants preferred personal borrowing due to their inability to raise funds from other sources. p2 mentioned applying for a loan, receiving a rejection, and turning to her family to help sustain her business. across the participants, nontraditional financing sources included personal funds (n = 8), personal borrowing (n = 5), family and spousal savings (n = 4), and franchising and payment plans (n = 4). subtheme 1: personal funds all participants reported accessing personal funds or savings to finance business operations, which they identified as an easy internal funding strategy. the business owners discussed using their investments, savings, and salaries from the company and other jobs. p4 responded, “it was mostly savings. i utilized my saved funds.” some participants had side jobs and external salaries in their businesses’ early stages. p1 stated, “most of our capital has been self-funded.” subtheme 2: personal borrowing five of the eight participants reported using financing options that required personal borrowing, such as retirement plan withdrawals, credit cards, and home equity loans. pl reported using retirement funds to maintain business continuity. the participant said, “when i have [a] need to fund anything, i take out money from my ira and my 401(k) accounts.” some participants relied on credit or home equity for business funding. in some situations, the business owners obtained money from their or their family members’ credit limits and credit cards. p2 said, “when i have required short-term funds, i have to use my son’s credit to access funding.” p3 recalled, “we didn’t borrow much. it was just personal savings, taking money out from our 401(k) accounts, using simple stuff like credit cards to purchase items … required to operate the business.” p3 reported using his home’s equity to finance his business. subtheme 3: family–spousal savings four participants mentioned using family or spousal savings to fund their businesses in the early stages. in some cases, personal funds were necessary due to the inability to obtain external financing. p2 said, “i actually tried to get a loan, but i didn’t succeed. so, in my first year or so, i relied on family money.” other participants reported using personal money to start business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 7 the business. p6 stated, “we commenced operations in 2013 utilizing initial equity from family. so about 40% of startup capital was from family funds.” subtheme 4: franchising and payment plans four participants used franchising, and payment plans for continued operations. p1 and p6 developed payment plans with other companies to purchase high-value equipment. p6 explained, “our suppliers allowed us to spread out repayment over a period of time to avoid having to apply for bank loans.” pl reported, “spreading out payments allowed me to use internally generated cash flow. … it’s only when we need to make a capital purchase that we seek external funding sources.” theme 3: external funding not readily accessible in earlier years the third theme from the interview data was that external funding was not readily accessible in the early years of the business. the small business owners found accessing loans and external funds challenging and sometimes impossible. some participants were uninterested and skeptical of loans; others tried to obtain loans but could not. p2 stated, “i actually tried to get a loan but was unsuccessful. so, i mostly used family money during my first year of operations.” p2 shared a letter from a bank detailing a lack of credit history as the primary reason for denial. the participants interested in small business association (sba) loans said the application questions were cumbersome, and they could not handle the process at the time. bank rates for new businesses were also unfavorable, which dissuaded participants from accessing the funds. the owners found that the likelihood of obtaining favorable interest rates increased with the business’s years of existence. only two participants had obtained bank loans within the first 5 years of operation. p6 stated, “following the first few years of operations, it became easier to access bank loans with more favorable interest rates, terms, and conditions.” p7 said, “after the first 3 years, i was able to get a loan from the bank. though it was not much … it helped me with my business.” theme 4: external financing used at later and critical stages of business most small business owners reported using external financing after the first five years of operation. theme 4 had four subthemes: external financing is often used at critical business stages (n = 6), careful consideration of external debt before use (n = 5), use of new equity (n = 5), and other sources of external financing (n = 2). subtheme 1: external financing often used at critical stages of business in addition to using external funding in later years, the small business owners also reported pursuing outside funds to survive difficult times. p3 said, “at a time when we had nowhere to turn or had no hope of survival, external funding really helped us sustain our operations and keep our doors open for business. external funding may sometimes be expensive, but that is the cost of keeping the business open.” the participants considered external financing options when their businesses did not generate sufficient revenue for profitable operations. when p5’s business had a positive cash june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 8 flow, she used the profits earned for operation. however, the covid-19 pandemic had reduced the business’s profitability, and she planned to take out a loan. subtheme 2: careful consideration of external debt before use the participants reported exhausting their internal funds before examining external financing options. most small business owners in this study felt that although external financing could benefit the business, its pursuit required careful and thoughtful consideration. when external funding was necessary, the least expensive source was preferable. p2 stated, i utilize external debt according to the associated cost of the funds. i utilize the loans with lower associated costs before the ones that have higher costs. however, i try not to draw down on the loans i consider to be expensive. p4 and p7 considered all available sources’ interest rates before choosing. p7 had access to bank loans, sba loans, and credit with varying interest rates. the participant explained, “i first consider what kind of operations i need the funds for. if it’s a long-term opportunity, i go with the lowest interest rate for. if it’s a short-term business opportunity, i’ll take what i can get.” p4 said that loan providers’ interest rates must be reasonable for her to take a loan. low interest rates and extended repayment periods emerged as preferences for securing external funding sources. even with an extended repayment plan, p7 said, “it’s always better to pay the loan off within a year.” loan terms were additional considerations. p7 stated, it is important to note the terms and conditions written in loan documents, and a borrower needs to be very careful, as there are lots of details in the fine print. not paying attention to these terms and conditions can be very costly if issues arise in the future. participants suggested obtaining external funding to improve and expand the business, not to operate the business or pay bills. p5 stated, “we’ve used loans to fund improvements in our business but not [to] finance regular business operations.” although expansion may be beneficial, most participants recommended avoiding incurring significant debt to the business’s detriment. p7 found that “taking on loans and debt when you’re trying to expand could end up hurting your business, especially if you use company income to pay back the debt.” p2 “avoid[ed] outside loans or credit as much as possible.” p6 and p7 reported acquiring loans to support their businesses during the first 5 years of operations. both participants noted the positive impact on their businesses and their ability to repay the loans. p6 stated, “to fund our business, we’ve maintained a 60/40 split between bank debt and internal cash. … the equipment was expensive, and we didn’t have enough internally generated cash to buy it.” p7 reported receiving loan approval after 3 years of maintaining business records. p7 said, “the only problem with bank loans is when a business owner cannot repay the funds.” subtheme 3: use of new equity business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 9 raising new equity was unattractive to most small business owners in the early stages. one participant had used new equity as a source of funding. although equity providers had approached two participants, they were skeptical. pl, a clinical services provider, believed the private equity company would be too profit-focused, affecting the quality of his business’s services and goodwill to clients. the participant said, we are currently negotiating [a] potential equity investment from a company now, but i am not sure we will accept their investment offer. this is because we have concerns as to the quality of care that will be provided by these investors should they assume ownership of the company. p3 used new equity to sustain the business at a difficult time, staying open because of the new equity plan. p3 stated, new investors have really helped the business, especially in difficult times. even though their support tends to be expensive, they keep the business open. had it not been for new equity and debt, the business would have been closed due to a lack of inventory. the only asset the company would then have is the building, and that would have gone into foreclosure without any earnings. five participants discussed the option of private equity, and most reported choosing not to engage with a private equity firm. p4 said, “early on, when i realized i needed more than my original investment to keep the business going, i looked into hiring a private equity firm. i wasn’t willing to give up a share in my company’s success.” p5 stated, “if there are going to be stakeholders in the business, i’m going to decide who they are.” p8 expressed similar sentiments, saying, “i’d rather let my uncle bob invest and get a portion of the profits than hire a private equity firm. and i don’t like my uncle bob very much.” subtheme 4: other sources of external financing additional external financing sources included third-party debt funding, sba loans, government grants, and moneylenders. few participants had access to or used external funding sources. p7 could access and preferred to use multiple external funds as he did not want to “put all his eggs in one basket.” he reported engaging with different financial institutions to “spread things around” and sustain his business. p7 shared two loan approval documents and pointed out the differences in some terms and conditions. two participants reported accessing sba loans. p7 stated, “i have found the sba loan quite beneficial to keeping my business on track. the terms can’t be beat.” p8 said, when it came time to secure more money to grow my business, i researched all sorts of external options: bank loans, private lenders, and sba loans. sba was the best option, hands down. they had the lowest interest rates without requiring property as collateral. the sba provides subsidized loans with favorable terms to help small businesses grow. unlike loan officers at the big banks who would not lend to p7, the sba provided loans that allowed him to run his business. he said, “the best thing for any small business is to engage june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 10 with the sba to access subsidized loans. i don’t know what is happening in america regarding loans, but sba is still the best source for loans.” two small business owners reported different means of acquiring external funds. p1 had received a government grant to provide services to the local county jail. p3 was the only small business owner to report borrowing from a moneylender, obtaining a lower interest rate than the banks but with a shorter repayment period. theme 5: minimizing business operational costs and expenses the final theme was managing the business to reduce operational costs. as shown in prior themes, internal funding was the most frequently used source, and external financing was not readily accessible in the first 5 years of business operations. because they did not have access to bank loans in the first 5 years of business operations, five of the eight participants used the financial strategy of operating and managing their businesses to minimize expenditures. three subthemes emerged: minimizing business expenses (n = 4), not paying self (n = 3), and leveraging relationships (n = 2). four small business owners discussed minimizing expenses by reducing the number of employees, overworking, and taking on multiple roles to reduce payroll costs. p1 explained, business owners use various strategies to minimize their business expenses. so, the main thing for us is to ensure we didn’t accumulate so much debt that would now begin to threaten our survival. to achieve this, we kept our operational expenses to a minimum. p2 reported working overtime as the office manager, instructor, and coordinator. p2 remarked, “i didn’t even feel the pain of working long hours. i’ll be in the office [from] about 7 in the morning until 11:30 p.m. i did that consistently throughout the year. i just spent my sweat and blood.” the participant was also conservative with her office space requirements. she explained, “i don’t need to impress anybody. i just need to meet the customer’s needs.” p8 reported leasing all office equipment “minus my lexmark printer and brother fax machine to minimize costs and manage cash flow.” among the approaches the participants reported taking to keep their business expenses at a minimum, the most common was working extra hours. subtheme 2: not paying self the participants minimized operational costs by reinvesting their earnings in the business. pl, p2, and p8 did not pay themselves in the early years of business operations. p8 said, “i did not pay myself at some points and took pay cuts at other times.” pl remarked, “we still use a lot of sweat equity. i have other sources of income, so i don’t always earn a salary.” three of this study’s participants worked without pay for a time to ensure business continuity. subtheme 3: leveraging relationships other strategies included leveraging relationships and sharing office space. p2 explained, “my friend allocates me a space within her office, and i pay her … monthly without the burden of a lease. also, i am surrounded by the right people.” p1 reported sharing office space with other physicians when starting his business to minimize costs. as the company progressed, he began to business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 11 expand. these two participants benefited from professional and personal relationships. shared office space reduced their operational costs, enabling them to sustain operations. implications the findings from this study may provide information for potential entrepreneurs to start sustainable small businesses and maintain operations for over 5 years. the lack of strategies to obtain working capital hinders the sustainability of some small businesses. sme owners face several constraints, including limited finances and low entrepreneurial knowledge (nkwabi & mboya, 2019). unfortunately, external financing is not always readily accessible in the first 5 years of business operations. given the high failure rate of small businesses and the associated level of risk, bank lenders have had to reallocate credit from riskier markets to safer ones (cortés et al., 2020). this shift has led to decreased external debt available to small business owners and their subsequent preference for internal funding. thus, careful consideration is urged when considering external funding sources. as the pecking order theory suggests, small business owners typically use internally generated money or personal savings before seeking external debt or new equity (myers & majluf, 1984). most of this study’s participants’ funding choices aligned with the pecking order theory. entrepreneurs seeking to start a small business may devise helpful capital-sourcing strategies from this study’s findings and business leaders may use this information to prepare themselves for the funding challenges ahead of them. one additional implication is that with the proper funding, small businesses that are successful and can sustain operations for more than 5 years provide tax revenue to citizens and communities. small business sustainability has a significant social impact on the local economy and citizens’ livelihoods. limitations qualitative findings are specific to the individuals studied and not transferable to other populations, settings, or phenomena. using a qualitative thematic data analysis was a limitation because reliability and validity depend on the researcher’s determination of relevant themes and data saturation. another limitation was the time-intensive data analysis in case studies, particularly those with participant interviews. in one-on-one interviews, social desirability bias may result when participants provide answers to present themselves in the best light rather than answering truthfully. recommendations and conclusions small businesses play an essential role in economic development (ayandibu & houghton, 2017; dar et al., 2017; mills, 2018; ribeiro-soriano, 2017), and their high failure rates negatively impact state, local, and global economies. this qualitative descriptive multiple case study focused on how small business owners accessed financing to sustain operations. the five themes from participant interviews represented strategies the successful small business owners used to obtain funding. a small business’s long-term survivability extends from sustainability beyond the first 5 years. given the high failure rate of small businesses, june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 12 entrepreneurs must increase their financial knowledge and strategic understanding of funding operations. one recommendation is for entrepreneurs to use internal financing to sustain operations, as this study’s participants often did, minimizing the need for external funds. small business owners could consider using personal funds, including savings, home equity, investments, outside salaries, and personal loans. another recommendation is investing business profit into expanding and sustaining operations. small business owners should use lower-cost sources of funds for as long as possible before pursuing external financing. although often necessary at critical operating stages, external debt requires informed and thoughtful consideration. small business owners must understand funding terms and conditions and examine interest rates across sources, including bank and sba loans. as shown in theme 4, small business owners should minimize business expenses to reduce operational costs and ensure sustainability. one way to reduce costs is by leveraging business relationships. p8 leased all office equipment to maintain cash flow, and p1 and p2 leveraged relationships to obtain a business site. future research future researchers could repeat this study but increase the number of participants and expand the geographical range. a quantitative approach could show correlations between variables, such as business type, credit history, and internal and external financing. a mixed methods study would benefit from a qualitative participant perspective combined with quantitative data. this study involved eight participants from diverse industries and sectors, and the sample size and composition were appropriate to obtain different entrepreneur experiences. future researchers may want to adopt a narrower scope centered on the perspectives of successful small business owners in a single sector or industry. focused studies could be helpful for industry professionals and organizations. this qualitative study focused on the owners of successful small businesses in maryland. future research should conduct a similar study in other states, cities, or countries. using participants across a broader geographical range could improve reliability and validity. references ahmad, n., iqbal, q., & halim, h. 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(2018). strategies to sustain small businesses beyond 5 years (publication no. 1834008878) [doctoral dissertation, walden university]. proquest dissertations and theses global. włodarczyk, b., szturo, m., ionescu, g. h., firoiu, d., pirvu, r., & badircea, r. (2018). the impact of credit availability on small and medium companies. entrepreneurship and sustainability issues, 5(3), 565–580. https://doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2018.5.3(12) wong, k. y., & aspinwall, e. (2004). characterizing knowledge management in the small business environment. journal of knowledge management, 8(3), 44–61. https://doi.org/10.1108/13673270410541033 world bank. (2022). world bank sme finance. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/smefinance yin, r. k. (2017). case study research: design and methods (6th ed.). sage publications. https://doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2018.5.3(12) https://doi.org/10.1108/13673270410541033 https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/smefinance business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 1 retention strategies in the information technology (it) industry after a pandemic: a qualitative study arrey tabe carter. dba| columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa contact: arreycarter2@gmail.com abstract this research analyzed retention strategies in the it industry post-covid-19, using qualitative interviews with 12 it managers and supervisors. four key themes critical to employee retention were discovered: (a) leadership, (b) communication, (c) well-being, and (d) organizational commitment. leadership is crucial for navigating pandemic-related challenges and fostering a supportive work environment. transparent communication is essential for strategy development and maintaining mental health. well-being programs, like flexible work schedules and mental health services, are essential for boosting productivity and employee happiness. organizational commitment increases morale and retention through career development and recognition initiatives. the study highlighted the importance of adaptive leadership, effective communication, holistic well-being initiatives, and a strong organizational commitment to retaining it professionals during crises. the study also suggested that telecommuting positively impacts well-being by offering flexibility and improving work-life balance. future research should explore the long-term effects of these strategies and the role of technology and leadership development in enhancing employee retention in other industries. june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 2 introduction/background as the world continues to grapple with the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, the it industry faces unprecedented challenges in retaining its workforce. steil et al. (2022) asserted that the covid-19 pandemic has increased the importance of it professionals in facilitating digital transformation due to social distancing measures and changes in work relationships. as a result of the covid-19 outbreak, many it employees were compelled to work remotely from their homes, either by official recommendation or order. as a result, working remotely and conducting virtual meetings with colleagues became the new normal (espersson et al., 2023). according to yang et al. (2023), the extended period of working from home negatively impacted women's well-being and work-life balance. the covid-19 pandemic emphasized the need for effective it retention strategies, considering remote work and the economic downturn. organizations need to focus on ensuring job satisfaction for employees. employees unhappy with their work are likelier to leave their jobs, resulting in organizational retention problems. donovan (2022) highlighted the factors determining the success of working from home, such as social and organizational support, technological needs, working environments, communication, and management styles. according to gong et al. (2020), a link exists between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. this link affects the psychological empowerment of work engagement. this study focused on the unique challenges faced by the it industry in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic. retaining it professionals is crucial for organizations (steil et al., 2022). the researcher introduced the need to complete a study that will influence how the workforce will thrive in this post-covid-19 era. the study is essential to assess how organizations manage retention strategies in the it industry after the pandemic. khan and la torre (2021) mentioned that information and communication technologies have rapidly evolved, leading to the digital age of the 21st century. these technologies have facilitated the implementation and improvement of other technologies. apart from losing an experienced and professional worker, the company may also lose credibility with stakeholders who have developed trust in the employee (sai & pinapati, 2023). the implications of this matter are profound for the reputation and success of the company. therefore, companies need to have a plan to oversee key employees' departures. this study explored the reasons for it employee turnover and aims to provide a way to address employee retention in the workplace effectively. the covid-19 pandemic has brought about countless changes, especially in the information technology business sector. covid-19, a respiratory disease first identified in wuhan, china, in 2019, has rapidly spread worldwide, resulting in severe health issues and fatalities (barik & jain, 2023). companies were forced to adapt to the new normal, which included remote work and other work arrangements that were not as common pre-pandemic. chin (2022) mentioned that a considerable number of employees are currently struggling with physical and mental health issues due to the covid-19 pandemic. one key aspect that has been dramatically affected by these changes is employee retention. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 3 organizations in the information technology industry have faced challenges in retaining their employees during these trying times. rajabifard et al. (2021) reported that the covid-19 pandemic triggered a severe global recession, confirmed by the world bank and the imf. employee retention is crucial for long-term success (lee et al., 2023). in the current covid-19 pandemic, employability and job security have become significant employee concerns. as a result, employees are more inclined to work for organizations with high brand value, which can provide them with a sense of security for their future and help them cope with the economic situation in the country (barik & jain, 2023). according to roop (2022), the great resignation has caused a significant reduction in the workforce for many businesses. companies face significant challenges in finding suitable replacements for their vacant positions (lee et al.). according to baranes and brown (2023), during covid-19, remote work technologies introduced new problem-solving methods that have become institutionalized. in today's customer-centric world, all sectors compete to increase productivity while ensuring they are their employees' preferred workplaces (barik & jain, 2023). working from home has become increasingly popular, particularly in the it and it-enabled industries. the transition towards remote work is intended to keep employees engaged, facilitate communication with internal and external stakeholders, retain the best talent, and maintain low attrition rates (prasad et al., 2020). employee retention is critical for long-term success (lee et al., 2023). as a result, companies may need to adopt new retention strategies to ensure that their employees remain engaged, motivated, and productive. in today's world, organizations face fierce competition due to technological advancement, globalization, and constant changes in the work environment (durrah et al., 2024). by focusing on the experiences and perspectives of employees, a qualitative study can provide a more nuanced understanding of the factors that influence employee retention in the it industry. literature review after the pandemic, researchers began studying retention tactics in the it industry by reading peer-reviewed articles to understand the literature. in december 2019, sars-cov-2 was discovered in wuhan, china (bragazzi et al., 2023). the world health organization (who) categorized covid-19 on february 11, 2020 (bragazzi et al.). the covid-19 pandemic presented the it sector with hitherto unseen difficulties, chief among them being staff retention. embregts et al. (2021) identified potentially valuable insights from previous infection outbreaks, which encompassed three themes: emotional responses (i.e., fears and anxieties, stress, tension, confusion, and no supplementary challenges); ethical dilemmas (e.g., locking doors to prevent wandering service users from infecting others); and work attendance (i.e., refusal and exclusion of service users). temel et al. (2023) outlined that in the 21st century, coronaviruses have led to epidemics worldwide. this literature review looked at the pandemic's effects on it workers and the necessity of retention plans. this qualitative pragmatic study explored techniques employed in the it sector for retaining employees after the covid-19 pandemic. the literature review introduced theoretical frameworks such as blau's (1964) social exchange theory and bakker and demerouti's (2007) job demands-resources model (jd-r) to provide a foundation for understanding retention dynamics. jing et al. (2023) noted that the jd-r model also emphasizes the involvement of two june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 4 distinct psychological mechanisms contributing to job stress and motivation. the first is the health impairment process, wherein high job demands can potentially result in burnout by depleting employees’ cognitive and physical energy, consequently giving rise to health-related issues (jing et al.). the second is the motivational process. job resources function as intrinsic and extrinsic motivators to augment work engagement and facilitate exceptional performance, thereby fostering the commitment and achievement of work-related objectives (jing et al.). the significance of the study is to address turnover challenges and ensure the long-term success of it organizations. sandhya and sulphey (2019) noted that with the pressure of cost on one side and the need to reduce turnover on the other, organizations are looking beyond monetary measures to retain an engaged workforce. the research design involved semistructured interviews with it professionals from diverse backgrounds and regions to gain insights into their experiences and perspectives on retention strategies. the research design aimed to provide an appropriate framework for the study (sileyew, 2019). the study’s findings may contribute to developing effective it industry retention strategies after the pandemic. post-pandemic work landscape the post-pandemic work landscape has significantly transformed traditional work and organizational structures, primarily by adopting hybrid work models that allow employees to split their time between remote and office settings (chan et al., 2023). this shift, driven by covid-19, is expected to remain in place (carroll and conboy, as cited in chan et al.). furthermore, digital transformation has played a vital role, enabling seamless communication and collaboration through digital platforms (van heerden & naicker, 2023). however, challenges remain concerning team members' technical competencies in remote settings (morrison-smith & ruiz, 2020). managers must also embrace data-driven decision-making due to the vast amounts of data generated by these digital tools (porath, 2023). cloud-based applications, video conferencing, and project management software have become essential for maintaining productivity in this new work environment. employee well-being and burnout the shift to remote work during the pandemic has highlighted challenges in managing employee well-being. ji et al. (2023) noted that the adverse effects of working from home became more pronounced, while heiden et al. (2023) found no significant impact of telework mismatch on well-being or burnout. organizations must implement telework policies carefully to avoid adverse outcomes for employees working remotely more than they prefer. employee well-being extends beyond traditional benefits to mental, emotional, and physical health. addressing well-being is crucial for ethical and strategic reasons since work-leisure ambiguity can lead to stress and reduced productivity (stasiła-sieradzka et al., 2023). companies that prioritize employee well-being tend to see higher engagement and retention. key satisfaction factors include job flexibility and workplace culture (hoare & vandenberghe, 2024). prioritizing well-being initiatives can foster a positive work environment and enhance employee satisfaction. career development and training opportunities business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 5 career development significantly enhances employability and achieves career goals (adnyani & dewi, 2019; niati et al., 2021). duli (2019) noted that organizations lacking employee training limit career advancement opportunities. afiyati (2018, as cited in niati et al., 2021) stated that career development fosters increased responsibilities and recognition, boosting employee loyalty. access to training enhances skills and positively correlates with retention (duli, 2019), although disparities in access can create barriers for marginalized groups (allmang et al., 2019). research indicates that training influences employees' perceptions of being valued and leads to improved task performance, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behavior (lee & bruvold, 2003; schmidt, 2007, as cited in hassett, 2022). effective career development initiatives can therefore enhance job satisfaction and motivation. additionally, mccartney and colon (2023) emphasized the importance of early and frequent implementation of career development programs, particularly in the tech industry, where talent retention is critical. workshops and resources can provide valuable insights into employee growth. li et al. (2024) outlined that continuous resources help postdoctoral researchers build resilience and achieve career advancement. methods the study design included a qualitative pragmatic inquiry to address the following research question: what strategies do managers in the it industry use to retain employees after the covid-19 pandemic? the target population consisted of office workers from any it company, both remote and physical, located in north and south america, europe, and asia. using a purposive sampling strategy, the sample for this study included 12 office workers of adult age and any experience level within the target population. data collection this study’s primary data collection method included semistructured interviews conducted via a video calling system, zoom, using a semistructured topic guide. the researcher accurately documented everything said during the interviews without altering or omitting any information. semistructured interviews offered flexibility, allowing the researcher to adapt questions based on participant responses. this adaptability was crucial for capturing emerging themes and insights in a rapidly evolving it landscape. data analysis a thematic analysis method was used, providing a structured and rigorous approach to analyzing qualitative data. by employing this method, the study aimed to derive clear and meaningful themes related to retention strategies, contributing to developing actionable insights. this research aimed to generate insights and develop a deep understanding of the retention strategies in the it industry after the pandemic by gathering rich and detailed information about the participants' experiences, perspectives, and behaviors. the qualitative data analysis involved transcribing the recordings and coding the identified themes. the researcher calculated the june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 6 frequency of each theme and derived percentages to evaluate their prevalence within the data. this analysis aimed to address the research question regarding retention strategies used by it managers during the pandemic. the four key themes identified were (a) leadership, (b) communication, (c) well-being, and (d) organizational commitment. results and discussion the primary research question that guided this study was: what strategies do managers in the it industry use to retain employees after the covid-19 pandemic? theme 1: leadership effective leadership was an important theme in this study for the retention of employees. leadership can be described as an intentional process of influence that shapes relationships and activities within organizations (daniëls et al., 2019). influential leaders can adapt and overcome challenges to achieve results (doody et al., 2024). several participants noted the need for leaders to be effective. participant ab emphasized the need for leaders to support employees’ work-life balance, especially during the pandemic. participant ad noted that mentorship is crucial for effective retention strategies. participant cf stressed the importance of clear pathways for employee growth. participant co highlighted the role of empathy in fostering a supportive workplace. participant df mentioned developing action plans based on team feedback. participant ff pointed out that fostering innovation is vital for growth and competitive advantage. flexibility the value of flexibility in the workplace emerged as a significant theme among participants. ray et al. (2021) highlighted that flexibility allows employees to manage their time between work and personal activities to suit their needs. this flexibility represents a compromise between various stakeholders, especially employees and organizations, balancing differing interests (bal & izak, 2021). participants emphasized the importance of this flexibility during the pandemic. for instance, participant hn noted that retaining it employees required flexibility, support, and clear communication. participant ta pointed out that remote access was vital for maintaining team productivity. at the same time, participant nn highlighted that leaders should focus on flexibility and set realistic goals to sustain team motivation. furthermore, participant tg mentioned that leadership training programs focusing on flexibility are essential for developing effective leaders. lastly, participant yl stressed that retaining top talent is crucial for the company’s long-term success. overall, the adaptation of workplace policies regarding flexibility is likely to impact employee well-being significantly (ray et al., 2021). the participant's responses are displayed in table 1. table 1 emerging theme-leadership participant interview questions total count of references business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 7 yl 2,3,5,7 5 tg 1,3,4,6,7 9 ta 2,3,7 4 nn 1,2,3,4,5,7 12 re 1,3,4,5,7 8 hn 1,2,3,4,5,6 12 ff 3,5,6,7 4 df 1,2,3,5,6,7 23 co 1,2,3,4,5,6 30 cf 1,2,6,7 11 ad 1,2,4,5,7 7 ab 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 20 total 145 theme 2: communication the interviews highlighted effective communication as a key theme in enhancing teamwork, employee performance, and retention. participant ab noted that improved communication and collaboration led to increased efficiency in their team. participant co emphasized the importance of open dialogue for successfully reintegrating employees into the workplace. at the same time, participant cf stated that maintaining frequent communication channels helped create a sense of community, making employees feel valued and informed. moreover, transparent communication practices can reduce burnout and alleviate resource-conservation behaviors (kim & lee, 2021). sun et al. (2023) claimed that a culture of transparent communication enhances workplace productivity and employees' psychological well-being. participant yl added that empathy, support, and flexibility are crucial managerial strategies during challenging times, highlighting the significance of understanding individual employee circumstances. virtual meetings in 2020, the covid-19 pandemic significantly increased the use of virtual meetings, as face-toface interactions became difficult. participant tg noted the importance of maintaining clear communication between employees and management through emails, virtual meetings, and internal newsletters to keep everyone informed and engaged. as emphasized by dimbleby and burton (2020), more prominent organizations require more communication. participant ta highlighted the critical role of virtual meetings in facilitating effective communication and collaboration within teams. furthermore, kalogiannidis (2020) pointed out that effective business communication is vital for enhancing the overall performance of businesses, as it ensures proper coordination between various stakeholders. the participant responses are in table 2. table 2 emerging theme -communication june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 8 participant interview questions total count of references yl 2,3,4,5 6 tg 2,3,5 6 ta 1 1 nn 6 1 re 6 1 hn 1 1 ff 1 1 df 1 1 co 2,4,5 5 cf 1,5,7 3 ad 7 1 ab 1,2,3,4,6,7 6 total 33 theme 3: well-being several participants emphasized the importance of ensuring work well-being in employee retention. participant co highlighted meditation sessions as a beneficial way to reduce stress. participant ab emphasized that a holistic and empathetic approach is essential for addressing retention challenges during the pandemic, focusing on employee well-being, communication, and growth opportunities. compensation and benefits are also crucial for attracting and retaining talent, as noted by participant df. according to cleary et al. (2020), effective workplace relationships are vital for job satisfaction and teamwork, with employee well-being playing a significant role. suharman et al. (2023) stressed the importance of creating boundaries between personal and professional life and adopting healthy lifestyles to maintain well-being. participant ta pointed out that competitive compensation packages and performance-based incentives recognize the contributions of senior staff. according to the world health organization (cited in de oliveira et al., 2019), good mental health enables individuals to manage daily stress while maintaining productivity. finally, participant re underlined the importance of offering mental health resources to enhance staff productivity and well-being. burnout preventing work burnout is important for employee retention. burnout syndrome is a decrease in job performance and satisfaction due to prolonged exposure to work-related stress and adverse working conditions (de oliveira et al., 2019). participant ad advocated for a hybrid work model that blends in-office collaboration with remote flexibility to satisfy diverse employee preferences, emphasizing the need for ongoing adaptation of retention strategies based on employee feedback. the world health organization (as cited in de oliveira et al., 2019) noted that while enhancing work environment quality is crucial for safeguarding employee health, many organizations prioritize spending on medical procedures over preventive measures. participant co discussed the implementation of flexible work arrangements, such as remote work options and flexible hours, to help employees balance their work and personal responsibilities. the primary indicator of burnout syndrome is the inability to cope with workrelated stress (de oliveira et al., 2019). participant nn pointed out the importance of regular business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 9 check-ins for the timely resolution of team issues and effective communication. as otto et al. (2021) noted, employers and employees can actively prevent burnout through their interactions. the participant's responses are in table 3. table 3 emerging theme-well-being participant interview questions total count of references yl 1 1 tg 5 1 ta 1,2 2 nn 1 1 re 1,4 2 hn 2 1 ff 3 1 df 1,2,6 4 co 2,3,4 3 cf 1,24 3 ad 1,37 3 ab 2,3,4 3 total 25 theme 4: organizational commitment several participants touted the value of organizational commitment in retention. organizational commitment can be defined as aligning employee efforts with organizational objectives (loan, 2020). participant tg highlighted that remote work options can significantly enhance employee satisfaction and retention, while participant cf stressed the necessity of unbiased hiring practices to promote equality and diversity. moreover, participant nn indicated that recognizing and appreciating employees is vital for boosting morale and productivity. regarding career development, suharman et al. (2023) noted that growth opportunities can enhance job performance. participant ad advocates for mentorship and support programs for underrepresented groups to foster retention and advancement. participant hn emphasized that such opportunities are crucial for increasing organizational commitment. furthermore, participant ab suggested that addressing the unique needs of it employees can create a supportive and rewarding work environment. at the same time, participant ff called for additional training to enhance skills and career growth. participant df also urged the importance of mental health resources and ensuring continuous career development despite challenges. finally, participant yl pointed out that better team cohesion is essential for overall performance and productivity. the participant responses are in table 4. table 4 emerging themeorganizational commitment participant interview questions total count of references yl 1 1 tg 2 1 ta 3 1 june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 10 nn 4,5 2 re 3 1 hn 5,7 2 ff 3 1 df 5 1 co 2 1 cf 7 1 ad 7 1 ab 3 1 total 14 recommendations and conclusions the covid-19 pandemic triggered an unprecedented transformation in the information technology (it) industry, reshaping traditional work arrangements and propelling digital transformation at an accelerated pace. it professionals emerged as key players in enabling this transition, particularly in managing remote work infrastructure and digital services (sheposh, 2024). with over half of the american workforce transitioning to remote environments, employee well-being and work-life balance became primary concerns, leading to significant retention challenges. organizations were compelled to rethink how to maintain employee satisfaction, morale, and loyalty in the face of prolonged uncertainty. this context underscored the relevance of implementing robust employee retention strategies tailored to a distributed, digitally dependent workforce. monica and reddy (2020) noted that modern employees are likelier to remain with organizations offering value-aligned benefits and meaningful engagement. this study employed a pragmatic qualitative inquiry approach to explore retention strategies in the post-pandemic it sector. twelve it managers and supervisors from facebook communities, including cybersecurity professionals, women in cybersecurity, and csl, participated in semistructured interviews. these sessions were conducted using zoom. zoom offers flexibility and ensures participant comfort while enabling rich, open-ended responses (archibald et al., 2019). the inclusion criteria focused on individuals currently working in managerial roles within the it field. through in-depth interviews and thematic analysis, four overarching themes emerged: (a) leadership, (b) communication, (c) well-being, and (d) organizational commitment. these themes provided a comprehensive framework for understanding how it managers navigated employee retention amid post-pandemic disruptions. leadership was identified as a fundamental theme influencing employee retention. effective leaders exhibited empathy, flexibility, and innovation. participants stressed the value of mentorship, career development, and adaptive leadership practices that responded to employees' evolving needs. integrating flexible work arrangements, including staggered schedules and remote access, was a critical sub-theme. barry et al. (2022) found that such flexibility protected public health and supported workforce continuity. leaders who emphasized communication clarity, realistic goal-setting, and inclusive decision-making were more successful in maintaining employee engagement and retention. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 11 communication became the second central theme for sustaining trust, productivity, and emotional stability. interviewees described open dialogue, empathetic listening, and transparent policies as key to fostering collaboration and preventing isolation. participants frequently utilized virtual meetings, emails, and newsletters to maintain consistent contact. hyland-wood et al. (2021) emphasized that compassionate expression enhances communication credibility, aligning with participant feedback. roos et al. (2020) highlighted virtual meetings as cost-effective tools for maintaining knowledge flow, especially during remote operations. participants stressed that remote and hybrid models could only succeed with consistent, two-way communication, emphasizing empathy and inclusion. the third theme, employee well-being, was pivotal to morale and performance. participants described introducing wellness initiatives, such as meditation sessions, hybrid work models, and wellness check-ins, to address pandemic-induced stress. work-life balance, access to mental health resources, and holistic support systems contributed to employee satisfaction and retention (tuzovic & kabadayi, 2021). managers also reported tailoring strategies to address individual employee preferences and using feedback loops to refine interventions. these actions helped reduce burnout and created a mutual care and responsibility culture. organizational commitment, the fourth theme, involved cultivating loyalty through inclusive practices, recognition programs, career growth opportunities, and equity in hiring. chegini et al. (2019) linked commitment to enhanced performance and reduced turnover. participants emphasized building a strong organizational culture and addressing underrepresentation through mentorship programs and diversity initiatives. leaders encouraged vacation use, training investments, and team building to foster long-term loyalty. hyland-wood et al. (2021) noted that communication must be accompanied by actionable change to impact retention. this study highlighted the strategic role of leadership, communication, well-being, and organizational commitment in navigating post-pandemic employee retention in the it sector. these themes align with contemporary literature and provide a framework for practical implementation. organizations are advised to assess benefit structures, promote equity, invest in leadership training, and create robust feedback channels. future research should explore retention strategies in the industries and evaluate leadership adaptability across organizational cultures concerning leadership development, self-awareness, emphasizing its function in cultivating effective leadership, principally via the application of diverse feedback regarding leader performance concerning actions and results (liu et al., 2021). this research provided a comprehensive analysis of retention strategies in the it industry after the covid-19 pandemic. leadership is about getting communities on board to help themselves wherever possible and making people face things that have to be faced, like social distancing and quarantine (grint, 2020). according to zerfass et al. (2020), communication can be essential for the development, adjustment, presentation, execution, implementation, and operationalization of strategies. transparent communication mediates organizational culture and mental health (sun et al., 2023). the insights gained from the participants' experiences underscore the importance of adaptive leadership, effective communication, holistic well-being initiatives, and solid organizational commitment to retaining it professionals during crises. grego-planer (2019) defined organizational commitment as the degree to which a person identifies with and participates in a june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 12 specific organization. trust is fundamental for advocating employee well-being (sun et al., 2023). the results of this study demonstrated the critical role that leadership plays in overcoming the obstacles that the pandemic presents. creative and compassionate leaders create a positive work atmosphere. a test of leadership theory was presented by the covid-19 pandemic, which ravaged the globe in late 2019 and early 2020 (grint, 2020). communication emerged as a crucial factor, emphasizing the need for transparency and regular updates to keep employees engaged and informed. through this communication lens, interaction also plays a key role (van ruler, 2020). well-being initiatives, including flexible work arrangements and mental health resources, were vital in maintaining employee satisfaction and productivity. the definition of well-being ranges from early notions of job characteristics and attributes of one’s environment to psychological elements, including life satisfaction, pleasant or unpleasant affect, and quality of life (roos & borkoski, 2021). organizational commitment, through career development opportunities and recognition programs, was identified as essential for boosting morale and retaining top talent. job satisfaction is a primary factor behind organizational commitment (chegini et al., 2019) this research offered significant perspectives on changing employee retention within the it sector. the identified themes and strategies provided a framework for organizations to enhance their retention efforts, especially in times of crisis. leadership, communication, well-being, and organizational commitment are crucial in employee retention post-pandemic. it employees embraced telecommuting post-pandemic. telecommuting can positively affect employee wellbeing by providing greater flexibility, reducing the stress and time cost of commuting, increasing employee productivity, and allowing employees to balance their home and work lives better (bilotta et al., 2021). future research should build on these findings, exploring the long-term impact of the recommended strategies and further investigating the role of technology and leadership development in improving employee retention in other industries. references adnyani, n. l. p. r., & dewi, a. s. k. 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(2020). strategic communication: defining the field and its contribution to research and practice. in future directions of strategic communication (pp. 159-177). routledge. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 1 driving change: motivations and barriers to electric vehicle adoption rebecca l. bergh | university of washington, seattle, washington, usa maya q. tang | university of washington, seattle, washington, usa lily tang | university of washington, seattle, washington, usa jennifer chen | university of washington, seattle, washington, usa rajeshwari r. sabadra | university of washington, seattle, washington, usa ryan rucker, ed.d. | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa contact: dr. ryan rucker, 803-730-6714, ryan.rucker@columbiasouthern.edu abstract washington state aims to have 100% of passenger vehicles be zero-emission vehicles (zevs) on the road by 2035, yet consumer adoption remains slow, and public confidence in this goal is low. this research explored how residents make vehicle-purchase decisions, their sentiment toward evs, and the adequacy of current ev infrastructure. a statewide survey revealed weak correlations between individual demographics and the likelihood of ev adoption, while highlighting key barriers, including high upfront costs, limited charging infrastructure, and concerns about total ownership costs and environmental impacts. existing infrastructure data indicates significant expansion is required to support projected ev growth. based on quantitative and qualitative findings, three recommendation areas emerged: policy measures to incentivize adoption or reassess the zev timeline; environmental strategies focused on battery recycling and grid modernization; and technological improvements in charging access, vehicle capabilities, and infrastructure resilience. these efforts must be implemented in parallel to meaningfully accelerate ev adoption and move toward washington’s 2035 zev target. keywords: electric vehicle, consumer behavior, infrastructure, policy, technology november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 2 introduction/background in 10 years, all 2.83 million passenger vehicles driving on washington roads are expected to be powered purely by electricity — if the state’s top leadership achieves its goal of 100% zevs by 2035. however, the state has a long way to go. only about 2.8% of all passenger vehicles on the road in washington fit into this category (data.gov, 2024). additionally, these battery-electric vehicles (evs) accounted for only 10.8% of all new passenger vehicle registrations in the state in 2024 (data.gov, 2024). to meet its goal, the state must accelerate zev adoption among drivers by providing robust charging infrastructure and other incentives. understanding how consumers make these big purchases is a good starting point for identifying possible pathways to the 2035 goal. literature review research on electric vehicle adoption has highlighted multiple factors influencing consumer behavior, including cost, range anxiety, incentives, and infrastructure availability. prior studies emphasize that while financial incentives and environmental awareness encourage adoption, gaps in charging infrastructure and policy inconsistencies remain significant barriers. multiple studies have identified cost, range anxiety, and charging accessibility as the primary determinants of ev adoption. liao et al. (2017) found that while environmental benefits play a role in purchase decisions, total cost of ownership, charging convenience, and perceived technological risks remain the most influential factors. their research emphasized that financial incentives, such as tax rebates, significantly increase ev adoption rates only when coupled with strong charging infrastructure development. similarly, rezvani et al. (2014) analyzed psychological and social influences on ev adoption, noting that while environmental consciousness and social influence contribute positively, concerns about battery life, resale value, and charging reliability hinder widespread adoption. their findings suggest that consumer education and policy addressing these concerns could improve adoption rates. this aligns with recent washington state efforts to enhance ev incentives and awareness campaigns. a 2021 report from the international council on clean transportation (icct) further supports these findings, stating that while ev purchase intentions have increased globally, adoption remains heavily dependent on external incentives and infrastructure availability. the report suggests that states with aggressive incentive programs and high charger density achieve significantly higher adoption rates than those with weaker policies. one of the most frequently cited barriers to ev adoption is the availability of charging stations. studies indicate consumers are reluctant to transition to evs if charging is inconvenient, unreliable, or significantly slower than refueling a gasoline-powered vehicle. sierzchula et al. (2014) found that while financial incentives positively correlate with ev adoption rates, their effectiveness diminishes in regions with low charging station availability. this highlights the importance of infrastructure expansion as a parallel strategy to financial incentives. washington state faces regional disparities in charging station distribution. reports from the washington state department of transportation (2021) indicate urban centers like seattle have relatively strong charger networks, but rural areas remain underserved. a study by nicholas and hall (2022) on charging infrastructure gaps emphasized that policy-driven investments in charger deployment significantly impact ev market penetration. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 3 their findings suggest that states with comprehensive charging infrastructure strategies achieve higher adoption rates than those relying solely on purchase incentives. studies have demonstrated that government incentives play a crucial role in shaping consumer decisions, but the structure and accessibility of those incentives matter. hardman (2019) analyzed recurring vs. one-time incentives, concluding that long-term financial benefits, such as reduced electricity rates, access to carpool lanes, and lower maintenance costs, often drive higher adoption rates than one-time purchase rebates. additionally, diaz and clark (2023) explored the effectiveness of ev rebate programs. they found that while upfront financial incentives boost sales, their long-term impact is limited when consumers face high operational costs or limited charging access. their findings suggest that aligning incentives with infrastructure expansion is essential for sustained adoption. a 2022 study by the u.s. department of energy (doe) examined ev adoption trends across states. it concluded that states with higher levels of public-private partnerships in ev infrastructure development experienced faster adoption rates than those relying solely on government-funded programs. this highlights the need for washington to engage private-sector stakeholders in expanding charging networks. the findings from these studies reinforce the importance of a dual approach that enhances incentives while addressing infrastructure gaps. this research builds on these insights by: 1. assessing washington residents' attitudes toward evs and identifying the key motivations behind their purchasing decisions. 2. examining regional disparities in charging access and determining the prevalence of "ev deserts.” 3. evaluating the effectiveness of current incentive programs in meeting the state’s 2035 zev goal. by comparing these findings with existing literature, this research aims to validate whether washington state aligns with broader ev adoption trends or faces unique barriers that require specialized policy interventions. these insights will help policymakers refine existing strategies, improve infrastructure planning, and design more effective consumer engagement programs to accelerate ev adoption. methods the problem this study addresses is that washington state’s goal of achieving 100% zeroemission vehicle adoption by 2035 is challenged by slow consumer adoption, insufficient charging infrastructure, and uneven regional access. fast charging still lags gasoline refueling in both speed and availability, especially in metropolitan areas where long wait times and limited power grid capacity create additional barriers. these infrastructure gaps, coupled with consumer concerns, inhibit ev adoption and jeopardize the state’s ability to meet its transportation decarbonization milestones. if these challenges persist, the consequences could be significant. environmentally, continued reliance on internal combustion engine vehicles will contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. economically, slow zev adoption may hinder growth in washington’s clean energy and transportation sectors, limiting job creation and innovation. socially, underserved areas — particularly rural and low-income communities — may face ongoing exclusion from sustainable transportation options, reinforcing existing inequities. these november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 4 setbacks risk compromising public health and undermining the state’s leadership in climate and sustainability policy. while prior studies have identified broad factors affecting ev adoption, such as cost, range anxiety, and environmental attitudes, few have examined washington-specific barriers, such as regional charging disparities and infrastructure limitations. this study contributes to the field by integrating consumer survey data and vehicle registration trends to identify obstacles and forecast infrastructure needs. the findings provide actionable insights for policymakers and planners working to align ev adoption strategies with washington’s 2035 zev goals, while also informing broader efforts to support equitable and effective ev transitions. research questions • what individual characteristics and external factors contribute most to consumer behavior in the context of purchasing a new electric vehicle? • what is the current capacity of charging stations in wa, and what is the gap to where it needs to be to fulfill the 2035 goal of 100% passenger zev? • how do people feel about electric vehicles and related policies/legislation? sample selection the target population for this research project consisted of washington state residents aged 18 or older who own a vehicle. this included individuals who have purchased either electric or non-electric vehicles and who may be responsible for making vehicle purchase decisions within their household. by including both electric and non-electric vehicle owners, this study explores the factors influencing vehicle purchases, particularly what factors were most important in the decision-making process. understanding the motivations, preferences, and considerations of these consumers provided valuable insight into the effectiveness of incentives, market trends, and potential barriers to ev adoption. the subject selection process used convenience sampling. invitations to the survey were distributed through social media platforms and the professional and personal networks of the researchers to reach a diverse group of vehicle owners. additionally, qr codes linking to the survey were posted at multiple ev charging stations within the research area to encourage participation from electric vehicle owners. although convenience sampling may limit representativeness, the chosen methods enabled efficient data collection from a relevant and informed population, facilitating a meaningful analysis of purchasing motivations and general sentiment toward evs. data collection procedures this research project employed a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative analyses. the former was used on existing data sources, including vehicle registration records and alternative fuel station information. coupled with established statistics on ev driving range, ev battery charging speed, and ev operation recommendations, the researchers used both large datasets to analyze the discontinuity of charging infrastructure in washington state. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 5 this study also employed a qualitative approach, using open-ended survey questions, to explore consumer attitudes and decision-making processes regarding ev adoption. this thematic analysis was essential for understanding the motivations, barriers, and firsthand experiences that influence ev purchase decisions. the survey conducted for this research included both structured and semi-structured questions to collect qualitative and quantitative data. survey respondents were asked about their experiences with evs, general driving preferences and habits, concerns regarding ev range and infrastructure, and opinions on current incentive programs. demographic questions in the survey were included to help the researchers understand how different consumer characteristics may influence the decision to purchase an ev and to gain insight into overall sentiment toward ev adoption. validity and reliability the survey's overall distribution limited the sample population because it relied on researchers’ individual networks, both personal and professional. as a result, a large majority of survey respondents are from western washington. additionally, missing zip codes and zip codes not in washington were removed from the survey results to avoid unintended variation and to ensure any analysis could be traced back to a washington resident. additionally, the zip code question in the survey was displayed last and was required. therefore, if someone left this question blank, it could be considered an incomplete response. filtering these values reduced missing responses among participants. because the survey was only available online, it was limited to people with an internet connection and either a computer or a mobile device. a future iteration of this research could adopt a more programmatic approach to distribute the survey to a broader population and improve accessibility. both existing data sources were quite large and, in some contexts, lacked documentation indicating which variable meant what. one example of this is the “status code” variable in the dataset for alternative-fuel charging stations. it was discovered that a value of “p” in this dataset meant the station was planned and not yet available. these were removed from the analysis to better gauge truly existing infrastructure. ethical considerations this research followed key ethical principles regarding data privacy, consent, anonymity, and bias in survey data. participants were informed of the study’s purpose through a project description, and participation was voluntary, in line with ethical guidelines on consent and transparency (acm, 2022, sections 1.3, 1.7). anonymity was preserved by omitting identifiable information and using broad demographic categories (acm, 2022, sections 1.6–1.7). to ensure data privacy, qualtrics encrypted responses and limited access to authorized personnel. survey bias was minimized through careful review of questions for neutrality (acm, 2022, section 1.1). for secondary data, ethical considerations included legal access and data accuracy. datasets were obtained from publicly accessible sources such as washington’s open data portal and the national renewable energy laboratory and will be cited appropriately (acm, 2022, section 1.5). data were evaluated for reliability and relevance to ensure sound analysis and conclusions (acm, 2022, section 2.1). november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 6 results and discussion survey demographics the survey, used for both quantitative and qualitative analysis, received 267 responses, but 220 were included after filtering to match the target population of washington state residents aged 18 or older who own a vehicle. while the survey aimed to understand washington state residents' views on evs, the use of convenience sampling likely led to demographics and responses that do not fully represent the target population. most respondents were from western washington, with a sizeable portion from a south-central zip code and a small number from eastern washington. the skewed distribution of demographic factors also suggests that the survey responses are unlikely to be representative of the target population. figure 1 shows the distribution of demographics within the survey population, skewed towards certain groups. 74.1% of respondents had annual household incomes greater than $100,000, 75.1% owned their primary residence, 89.4% were between the ages of 25 and 64, and 72.4% had completed a college degree. as a result, the conclusions drawn from the survey data are likely to reflect the perspectives of these majority groups rather than those of the broader target population. however, analyzing the survey data would still yield valuable insights for forming recommendations regarding ev adoption. figure 1 distribution of survey respondent demographics note. the survey's demographic questions yield a wide range of perspectives. although the question about annual household income could have included more layers at the higher end to better split the income distribution. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 7 what individual characteristics and external factors contribute most to consumer behavior in the context of purchasing a new electric vehicle? based on survey results, all demographic factors included — current car type, age, annual household income, primary residence, and education level — show some correlation with the likelihood of purchasing an ev. current ev owners were more likely to consider another ev purchase. in contrast, hybrid owners had a median response of “neither likely nor unlikely” and non-ev owners had more responses for “unlikely” (figure 2). households with higher incomes had more responses indicating “somewhat likely” or “extremely likely” to purchase an ev (figure 3). responses from homeowners were split between “likely” and “unlikely,” while renters and those in other housing situations had more “unlikely” responses (figure 4). lower education levels had more "unlikely” responses, while higher education levels were split between “likely” and “unlikely” or had higher counts for “likely” (figure 8). the overall pattern of responses shifting from “unlikely” to split or “likely” or vice versa across demographic groups suggests a possible relationship between these factors and the likelihood of purchasing an ev. however, the varied response distributions within each demographic group make it difficult to identify specific individual characteristics that impact the likelihood of purchasing an ev. figure 2 likelihood distribution by current vehicle type note. the median likelihood for each group were: non-ev – somewhat unlikely, ev – extremely likely, hybrid – neither likely nor unlikely. figure 3 likelihood distribution by annual household income november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 8 note. the median likelihood for each group was: $0-$49,999 – extremely unlikely, $50,000$99,999 – somewhat unlikely, $100,000-$149,999 – somewhat unlikely, and more than $150,000 – somewhat likely. there was low granularity for amounts over $150,000, suggesting that more income range options could have been included in the survey. figure 4 likelihood distribution by primary residence note. the median likelihood for each group were: own – neither likely nor unlikely, rent – somewhat unlikely, other – extremely unlikely. figure 5 likelihood distribution by education business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 9 note. shows the distribution of likelihood of purchasing an ev across different education levels. the median likelihood for each group was: less than high school* – extremely likely, high school graduate – somewhat unlikely, some college – extremely unlikely, 2-year degree – extremely unlikely, 4-year degree – neither likely nor unlikely, professional degree – somewhat unlikely, master's – somewhat likely, and doctorate – neither likely nor unlikely. to further explore this relationship, the correlation coefficient was calculated between the likelihood of purchasing an ev and the demographic factors. this was done to quantify the strength of the relationship between these variables and determine whether individual characteristics influence the likelihood of an ev purchase. the signs of the coefficients for the demographic factors generally reflect the relationships observed in the survey data. for example, the age range had a coefficient of -0.150, and the highest level of education had a coefficient of 0.323, indicating the likelihood tending towards “likely” with younger ages and higher levels of education. however, all the coefficients were between -0.5 and 0.5, suggesting a weak or negligible correlation between the likelihood of purchasing an ev and the demographic factors (turney, 2024). this suggests that individual characteristics, specifically demographics, do not significantly impact ev purchase likelihood. these findings are consistent with previous research on the influence of demographics on ev adoption, which found weak or indirect effects (rezvani et al., 2014; sierzchula et al., 2014). according to the survey results, the external factors affecting ev adoption were high ev purchase prices and a lack of charging infrastructure. survey participants were asked to rank specific barriers to ev adoption from largest (1) to smallest (7) and the count of each ranking for each barrier is shown in figure 9. high ev purchase price and the lack of charging infrastructure were consistently ranked among the top 2 barriers, with high counts at rankings 1, 2, and 3. other barriers with higher rankings included total cost of ownership and battery reliability, which had relatively high counts for rankings of 2, 3, and 4. other studies examining the relationship between various factors and ev adoption also found that car or ownership costs, a lack of charging infrastructure, and reliability are influential (carley et al., 2013; liao et al., 2017; sierzchula et al., 2014). this highlights the need to address high ev purchase prices and lack of charging infrastructure to increase ev adoption. november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 10 figure 6 participant ranking of ev adoption barriers from largest (1st) to smallest (7th) note. the median ranking for each barrier were 3, 3, 6, 5, 4, 4, and 3, respectively. decision tree classification model a selection of survey variables was used in a decision tree classification model to predict whether someone was “somewhat” or “extremely” likely to purchase an ev. the question of whether someone currently owns an ev was intentionally left out because of the obvious correlation between owning one and purchasing another. the goal of the model was to determine whether a combination of variables was more effective at predicting the target outcome: the likelihood of purchasing an ev. these variables could be leveraged to improve ev adoption across the state. while not all variables were classified as having high importance, the variables used in the model were: income range, whether someone owned or rented their primary residence, confidence level in the state having the infrastructure to support its 100% zev goal, how high someone thinks their energy bill might be if they charge an ev at home, sentiment toward the us phasing out gasoline-powered vehicles, rating of availability of ev models on the market, age range, highest level of education attained, awareness level of government incentive and longitude of respondent’s zip code. by adjusting the constraints to prevent overfitting and memorizing the data, ensuring splits are performed with enough data, and reducing variance by requiring leaves to have more samples, the model’s accuracy is 87.5%. table 1 details the classification report. it is slightly better at classifying class 2 outcomes (likely) vs. class 1 outcomes (unlikely). the confusion matrix for the decision tree model shows high prediction accuracy, with only 5 actual values misclassified. the most important features of the model are (in ranked order): sentiment toward the phasing out of gasoline-powered vehicles, bill expectations for at-home ev charging, primary residence (own or rent), and age. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 11 table 1 decision tree model classification report score precision recall f1-score support class 1 0.84 0.89 0.86 18 class 2 0.90 0.86 0.88 22 accuracy 0.88 40 macro avg 0.87 0.88 0.87 40 weighted avg 0.88 0.88 0.88 40 note. the full classification report shows the precision, recall and f1-score of the decision tree model. the model is slightly better at predicting class 2 (90%) than at predicting class 1 (84%). the top four features could be applied to larger populations in specific contexts. the decision tree predicts whether someone will be likely to buy an ev based on their sentiment toward the phasing out of gasoline-powered vehicles, to be excited or neutral (phased_out < = 2.5), the individual being a homeowner (residence < = 1.5), and the assumption that one’s bill might be on the lower side (bill < = 2.5). in contrast, the model predicts an unlikely response when sentiment toward phasing out of gasoline-power vehicles in negative (phased_out > 2.5), assumed bill increase is on the higher side (bill > 2.5), and they are older (age > 3.5). what is the current capacity of charging stations in wa and what is the gap to where it needs to be to fulfill the 2035 goal of 100% passenger zev? two primary data sources were used in the calculations to address the issue of current charging infrastructure capacity and the growth needed to meet washington’s 100% zev goal by 2035. the first is an export of the national renewable energy laboratory’s database of alternative fuel stations. the export includes 2,904 stations and information about each, including latitude and longitude, connector types and counts, accessibility (public vs private), and many other variables. for this research project, the data have been filtered to include only stations not in “planned” status, resulting in a final total of 2,785 stations analyzed. to quantify “ev deserts” in the state, additional data (charger types & speeds, n.d.) was merged with this dataset. some stations had multiple connector types, while others had connector types not listed in the specifications data source. only stations with available specifications were analyzed. ev deserts the survey results reveal challenges with the current ev charging infrastructure in washington. most notably, respondents cited simple availability, deficient or broken stations, and range anxiety (a lack of comfort driving longer distances due to poor station coverage). november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 12 given the current infrastructure's limitations for the state's ev population, significant improvements are needed to sustain a fleet that’s 24 times its current size. to help address infrastructure gaps, additional analysis of charging-station location data was conducted to understand the prevalence of “ev deserts” in washington. for this paper, “ev deserts” are defined as areas with limited charging availability, including both connector specifications and quantities, as well as station count. more specifically, charging stations with fewer than 10 nearby stations were classified as “ev deserts.” in this case, “nearby” is defined as outside of the minimum driving range for the average ev after charging at that station for 60 minutes, but inside the maximum driving range after charging at that center station for 60 minutes. the station’s maximum connector speed was used for this analysis. stations with dc fast chargers, including chademo and tesla chargers, are outliers in these results because it takes only 20 to 60 minutes to get a full charge on an ev using one of these connectors. once fully charged, driving range varies by car make and model, but on average, evs have a driving range of approximately 270 miles (vehicle technologies office, 2024). it was determined that 300 of the stations analyzed fit into this category and therefore represent an ev desert in washington. that does not include areas without any stations. in summary, approximately 11% of the level 2 charging stations have little to no continuity to the rest of the state’s ev infrastructure. it should also be noted that this analysis was based on charging for 60 minutes. filling up a gasoline-powered vehicle takes between 5 and 8 minutes, on average (gasbuddy, 2018). figure 7 ev charging continuity business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 13 note. blue areas are regions of ev charging continuity for stations with at least one j1772 level 2 charger. therefore, the areas left blank on the map would be considered “ev deserts” — where either no charging station exists or there is very limited availability and little continuity to other nearby charging stations. a conversion factor of x/1.3 was used to convert air miles to approximate driving miles (m. a. diaz et al, 2003) these areas of discontinuity are further emphasized by examining where along the longitudinal lines alternative-fuel charging stations exist and how that corresponds to where electric vehicles are registered (see figure 8). the mirroring of these two distributions reveals the lack of infrastructure support for driving outside of the immediate area for ev owners. figure 8 longitudinal distribution of charging stations and registered electric vehicles note. longitude data for both charging stations and registered evs in washington were binned into equally distributed groups. the lines represent a percentage of the total for each measure. infrastructure demand tesla remains the most popular ev manufacturer in washington state (see figure 9), yet its presence in the public charging infrastructure remains limited. as the number of tesla vehicles continues to grow, it will be essential for both the manufacturer and the state to invest in expanding accessible, non-proprietary charging infrastructure. recent organizational changes at tesla (kirkham et al., 2024) underscore the risks of relying heavily on a single manufacturer for public ev charging access, further highlighting the need for diversified infrastructure solutions. november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 14 figure 9 new and renewal transactions by car make note. this line chart displays electric vehicle registrations by make, focusing on the top five manufacturers. tesla has experienced the most substantial growth in the past five years. to assess current demand and future needs for ev charging infrastructure, washington state vehicle registration data from 2019 to 2024 was analyzed. in 2024, electric vehicles accounted for 4.1% of all registration transactions. since 2019, ev registrations have grown by an average of 20% annually. if this growth rate continues, evs will not match the number of all vehicles on the road until approximately 2041, well beyond the state's 2035 goal. this estimate does not account for the slower decline of internal combustion engine (ice) vehicles, which have decreased by only 5% per year. with over 2 million ice vehicles currently registered, significant turnover will take time. survey results also highlight strong support for targeted infrastructure expansion. sixty-one percent of respondents preferred new charging stations along major highways, followed by workplace and shopping center locations (see figure 10). figure 10 new charging infrastructure potential business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 15 note. the answer to the question “where do you want to see charging stations built?” varied between age ranges, but not significantly. for this question, respondents could select up to 3 options or type in their own option (which are also reflected in the table). the number indicates how many people in that age group selected that option; the percentage is proportional to the total number of people in that age group who answered that question. this question was only asked of people who indicated they currently own an electric vehicle. how do people feel about electric vehicles and related policies/legislation? three open-ended survey questions yielded 192 responses, from which seven key themes emerged: infrastructure, financial/economic concerns, environmental impact, product lifecycle, policies/regulations, behavioral factors, and emotional responses. infrastructure and environmental concerns were most frequently mentioned, often accompanied by strong emotional reactions. question 15 responses (n = 116) emphasized infrastructure, environmental impact, and emotion. emotional sentiment was present in 59% of responses, with 83% of those expressing negative views — primarily pessimism, resistance to change, and range anxiety. infrastructure concerns appeared in 48% of responses, focusing on the reliability, availability, and speed of charging stations, as well as limitations of the power grid. environmental motivations were cited by 25%, though 16 respondents raised sustainability concerns, particularly about battery disposal and electricity sources. financial concerns (19%) related to ev costs and equity issues. policy-related feedback (15%) reflected support for more decisive government intervention through incentives and emissions regulation, though opinions were mixed on the best way to achieve climate goals. additionally, some respondents indicated that electric vehicles do not adequately meet their transportation needs, particularly in terms of interior space and hauling capacity. november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 16 question 26 reinforced these themes. pessimism (30%) and resistance (23%) remained high, with respondents citing inadequate infrastructure and technology. environmental awareness (21%) persisted, though often tempered by practical concerns. infrastructure issues — charging access (15%), range anxiety (15%), broken stations (16%), and slow charging speeds (8%) — were frequently cited as barriers. financial concerns (13%) focused on costeffectiveness but also noted burdens from upfront expenses and home charging setup. question 32 responses largely mirrored q15 and q26, with high levels of pessimism (30%) and resistance to change (23%), especially around cost, infrastructure, and technological constraints. calls for policy intervention (10%) continued, emphasizing affordability and adoption incentives. overall, the analysis indicates that while environmental motivations exist, ev adoption is significantly hindered by infrastructure deficits, financial barriers, and emotional skepticism — highlighting a need for policy action and system-wide improvements. recommendations and conclusions policy implications this study underscores the need for enhanced policy interventions to support electric vehicle adoption. addressing the cost barrier is paramount; revising existing trade policies — such as tariffs on imported evs and batteries — may improve market competitiveness, expand model variety, and reduce prices (magill, 2024; workman, n.d.). incentives should also target current ev owners, not solely first-time buyers. long-term benefits — such as toll lane access regardless of carpool status — could reduce the total cost of ownership and encourage retention. given widespread skepticism about washington’s 100% zev target by 2035, a reassessment of the timeline or adoption percentage is warranted. public resistance, particularly in regions with limited infrastructure, suggests significant groundwork is needed before such goals are achievable. environmental considerations respondents highlighted environmental concerns tied to both vehicle disposal and the ev lifecycle. transitioning from internal combustion engine (ice) vehicles necessitates structured buyback and recycling programs to recover critical materials and reduce landfill waste. further, the sustainability of evs is contingent on reducing environmental harm from battery production. this includes investing in battery recycling, reducing reliance on rare-earth materials, and supporting next-generation battery technologies. to fully realize evs' environmental benefits, the charging infrastructure must also transition to renewable energy sources. integrating solar, wind, and hydroelectric power, alongside grid-scale storage solutions, is critical for reducing reliance on fossil fuels and ensuring consistent, clean energy delivery. finally, strengthening grid resilience is essential as electricity demand rises. upgrading the power grid, supporting decentralized energy solutions (e.g., home solar and battery storage), and enhancing demandresponse systems will be vital to supporting widespread ev use without overloading current infrastructure. a transitional strategy should also address non-ev emissions. policies promoting fuel efficiency, cleaner fuels, and carbon offsets for ice and hybrid vehicles can ensure environmental progress before full electrification. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 17 technological improvements key technological advancements are necessary to support broader ev adoption. expanding and standardizing charging infrastructure — particularly along major transit routes — will alleviate range anxiety and improve the feasibility of long-distance travel. mobile applications that integrate data from all major charging networks can further help drivers locate available charging stations. manufacturers should develop evs with greater power, durability, and utility to expand market appeal for industries and off-road applications. enhanced battery insulation and temperature control are also needed to ensure reliability in extreme climates. improving charging station security is another critical concern. implementing tamper-resistant designs, remote monitoring, and vandalism deterrents will help maintain consistent access and reduce service disruptions. together, these policies, environmental, and technological strategies can collectively address the barriers identified in this study and support a more sustainable and accessible ev ecosystem. limitations and future work this study, while informative, was limited by its reliance on convenience sampling, which may affect the generalizability of its findings. the demographic distribution of respondents suggests that the sample may not accurately represent the broader population. it is therefore crucial for future research to consider a more systematic and stratified approach to survey distribution. this will ensure a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing ev adoption across different regions and accessibility levels. the qualitative analysis was conducted manually, introducing potential subjectivity and interpretation bias. employing automated sentiment analysis tools or inter-rater reliability measures in future studies could enhance the consistency and objectivity of qualitative data interpretation. despite these limitations, the analysis offers meaningful insights into the barriers to ev adoption in washington state. the resulting recommendations serve as a foundation for future policy and program development. these recommendations, when refined through feasibility studies and stakeholder engagement, will not only ensure alignment with state infrastructure capacity and consumer behavior patterns but also enhance their practicality and effectiveness. implementation will require significant financial investment over the next decade, likely supported by federal funding, public-private partnerships, and targeted state initiatives. a phased strategy — incorporating near-term incentive adjustments, medium-term infrastructure development, and long-term regulatory reforms — will be critical to ensuring a sustainable and equitable transition to electric vehicles in washington. this approach provides a clear roadmap for the future and instills confidence in the management of the transition. november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 18 references aaa washington annual ev survey shows strong interest in electric vehicles, charging gap hurdles. 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(n.d.). electric cars imports by country. https://www.worldstopexports.com/electric-cars-imports-by-country/ business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 1 a quantitative study on generational cohorts, work-related quality of life, and turnover intentions in the mid-atlantic technology industry david stearrett | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, united states contact: dstearrett@outlook.com abstract the labor landscape of the technology industry has been historically competitive, with notably high employee turnover. this study examined the relationship between generational cohorts, work-related quality of life, and turnover intention to provide a timely review of the current labor landscape and the relevance of work-related quality of life to turnover intention across generational cohorts. participants included 87 currently employed it professionals in the midatlantic region of the united states. in a multiple regression analysis, the data revealed that generational cohorts value work-related quality of life equally, and no statistically significant differences were detected between the groups. the relationship between work-related quality of life and turnover intention was also reconfirmed through piecewise regression, which revealed a strong inverse relationship. the findings of this study revealed that employers should focus on work-related quality of life equally across generations within the workforce, and that investing in it yields a significant reduction in turnover intention among employees. keywords: generational cohort, work-related quality of life, turnover intention, employee satisfaction, productivity. mailto:dstearrett@outlook.com november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 2 introduction/background voluntary turnover is a challenge for many organizations worldwide and poses a substantial financial burden for businesses (li & fox, 2023). replacing employees who have voluntarily departed incurs direct costs, including advertising fees for the open position, recruiting expenses, and training new hires (sipple, 2023). these activities cost american companies an estimated one trillion dollars annually (mcfeely & wigert, 2019). the costs of turnover can be further categorized into decreases in productivity while awaiting the replacement employee, losses in technological competencies, and customer departures. employee turnover places additional burdens on staff, increases burnout within existing teams, and exacerbates departmental performance. voluntary turnover has also been linked to a contagious effect within the workforce, whereby additional employees consider departing their organizations (chung et al., 2022; geurts et al., 1998) managing employee turnover is one of the most significant concerns of organizations, as evidenced by a society for human resource management (shrm)(n.d.) survey, wherein hr professionals listed this topic as the top management concern. of further concern is the increase in millennial turnover, which is growing as millennials continue to occupy larger segments of the labor pool (emmanuel, 2021). numerous research studies have been conducted on management styles and techniques that could be leveraged to minimize employee departures (e.g., barkhuizen & gumede, 2021; shin & alam, 2022) a significant current problem in business is the declining number of employees in the it industry (federal reserve bank of st. louis, 2023) and the increased voluntary turnover rate. specifically, managers do not understand how each generation’s turnover intent differs when accounting for work-related quality of life (wrqol). de la cruz (2022) described how different generations hold varying values that influence and shape their actions. employee turnover leads to decreased productivity and increased costs associated with training and onboarding new employees (pirrolas et al., 2023). the threat of turnover can also lead to offering higher salaries and benefits packages to retain current employees (pitstick, 2022; rubin & cambon, 2023). lewis (2022) reported that the average turnover rate across all industries in 2022 was 10.6%; the technology industry had the second-highest rate at 12.9%, behind professional services. research has indicated that although external factors are relevant considerations, internal factors are a stronger driver of employee turnover (nguyen & lee, 2022). internal and controllable conditions are primary contributors to employee turnover and organizational success, causing leaders to face greater scrutiny towards their ability to mitigate. employees who feel their employer fails to meet their expectations are more likely to depart due to a breach of the psychological contract —an inferred expectation that employees develop (moquin et al., 2019). in 2023, the united states saw its largest salary budget increase in over two decades, mainly to maintain competition in tight labor markets and meet rising employee expectations (mayer, 2023). the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationships among work-related quality of life, generational cohorts, and turnover intent among it employees in the mid-atlantic region of the united states. the tight labor market for it employers (kumar, 2022) emphasizes reducing turnover and retaining talent to avoid increased costs (pitstick, 2022; rubin & cambon, 2023) and to minimize productivity decreases within the workforce (pirrolas et al., 2023). work-related quality of life can be used to predict turnover business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 3 intention (ishfaq et al., 2022; poku et al., 2022), and job satisfaction (rostami et al., 2021). investigating turnover intent amongst generational cohorts aligns with the literature pointing to generational differences within the workforce (de la cruz, 2022) and to notable differences in generational cohorts’ responsiveness to variables such as person-environment fit and its relationship to turnover intention (rattanapon et al., 2023). differences in employee attitudes, such as those across generations, influence an individual's decision to depart from their organization in the it industry (guha & chakrabarti, 2016). the generational cohorts in the labor force include baby boomers, generation x, millennials, and generation z (dimock, 2019). each generation's turnover intention was examined using the six questions from bothma and roodt's (2013) turnover intention scale and the 24 questions from easton and van laar's (2018) work-related quality of life scale. a purposive sample was utilized to obtain the required participants. literature review turnover has a significant impact on the business community and is considered a major issue. prior research has found a few different outcomes when considering the impact of generational cohorts upon turnover intention (abate et al., 2018; lee & kim, 2021; loignon, 2021; lu & gursoy, 2016), adding to the need to examine it through particularly narrow lenses to target specific populations of interest. the literature has also identified numerous variables that can affect an employee's desire to leave an organization, furthering interest in understanding how a generation may be responsible for this phenomenon. prior research on work-related quality of life has predominantly focused on the healthcare industry, underscoring the need to examine other application domains (barber, 2022; ishfaq et al., 2022). to this author's knowledge, none have combined generational cohorts, turnover intention, and work-related quality of life into a single study focused on the it industry in the us mid-atlantic region. theoretical foundations for this study, many theories were considered as the foundation, yet only one was chosen: strauss and howe’s generational theory (1991). strauss and howe (1991) published a book emphasizing the generation cohort structure in america. the resulting theory has become known as generational theory and is found across a range of literature on topics of interest to generations. the four segments of the theory are: a high, an awakening, an unraveling, and a crisis. the first turning is described as a high. this turning is a period of intense acceptance and satisfaction. individuals are eager to conform to society's standards and confident about the direction they are heading. this turning is commonly associated with the silent generation. the awakening is described as a period in which individuals seek to recapture their personal independence and break from the existing social order. while social order is high from the prior period, there is a lack of desire among individuals. most recently, this was the period when the baby boomer generation grew into adulthood. the unraveling is described as a period of low institutional trust. social order has become less available, and there is less desire for it. the authors reference cynicism as a common theme during this turning. generation x is the present generation linked to this description. lastly, a crisis is a period in which a low social order exists, but a desire for social order reemerges. this is a period of rebuilding in response to a perceived necessity to survive. millennials are associated with this specific turning. november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 4 the prevailing theme and rationale behind this theory are its cyclical, recurring period and traits. generations that fall into similar turnings are viewed as similar in nature by the authors. this similarity is the reason this generational theory was chosen as the founding theory for this study. as generational cohorts recur over time, the value of studying their differences is critical and reusable for future generations. turnover intention turnover is defined as either functional or dysfunctional: functional turnover involves removing poor performers from an organization, and dysfunctional turnover involves top performers departing (boswell et al., 2008). when an employee opts to depart on their own, a sudden chasm can be created that may require an employer to react to mitigate impacts to productivity quickly (pirrolas et al., 2023), departmental knowledge (smith, 2023), and compensation packages (pitstick, 2022; rubin & cambon, 2023). employers must continuously be apprised of changes in working conditions, employees' personal values, and global economic conditions to maintain profitability within their organizations. drivers of turnover intention there is an ever-expanding body of literature on turnover intention, especially studies examining its motivating factors. moquin et al. (2020) conducted a quantitative study to examine how psychological contract breaches affect employee drivers of turnover intention. these psychological contracts are understood as understandings that employees develop, both formally and informally, and the outcomes when employees feel their expectations are not met. many employer expectations are set within organizations' human resources departments, where a primary focus is on managing employee growth and expectations. al balushi ak et al. (2022) constructed a quantitative experiment based upon social exchange theory, where they examined the impact of employee growth potential perceptions on turnover. in this experiment, the analyzed data confirmed a strong inverse correlation between career growth opportunities and turnover intention. employees who believed these opportunities existed and that employers assisted them in their growth felt less inclined to leave their current roles. junianti (2023) conducted a study to examine the impact of wage growth on employee turnover intention. the scholars identified a common theme of employees responding to wage growth and its potential with a reduced level of turnover intention. however, alterman et al. (2021) examined a salary-related element by investigating whether pay secrecy affected an employee's turnover intention. the study's data did not reveal that pay secrecy, on its own, was a main influence on turnover intention. rather, distributive justice was discovered to be the more reliable prediction method. elrayah and mabkhot (2023) examined how organizational commitment and job satisfaction impacted employees’ turnover intent. the correlational analysis revealed that both organizational commitment and job satisfaction were reliable determinants of employee turnover. when employees felt more committed to their organizations and were overall more satisfied with their work, they had less desire to leave. hussain et al. (2023) bolstered the strength of the interrelation between job satisfaction and turnover intention in an additional study, showing that each independent variable was inversely correlated with turnover intention. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 5 additional support for the role of job satisfaction in turnover intention can also be found in kanchana and jayathilaka’s (2023) study, which found that job satisfaction was inversely correlated with employee turnover. impacts of turnover on organizations a review of the literature reveals numerous variables that influence an employee's decision to leave their organization. the existence of various reasons for turnover creates a critical need for businesses to measure the impact on performance. for firms, financial success is a major driver of growth and sustainability that must be taken into account. mia et al. (2022) conducted a study grounded in human and social capital theory to investigate financial success and turnover. the authors reported that a negative correlation between firm success and turnover levels was confirmed. liu et al. (2023) focused on a single area of financial risk for organizations with high turnover intention: counterproductive work behaviors. the authors revealed a strong positive correlation between turnover intention and counterproductive workplace behaviors. chung et al. (2022) conducted a study to examine how employee departures in the organization may influence the decision-making of the remaining employees. the study revealed that an individual turnover event was positively correlated with other employees’ decisions to depart an organization. this influence, dubbed the contagion effect, confirms that turnover is not a concern only at the individual level but can also influence other team members. the study also confirmed the negative correlation between turnover and firm performance. in a separate study, oh and chhinzer (2021) confirmed the existence of a contagion effect, as an individual's turnover event was positively correlated with other individuals' decisions to depart. generational cohorts generational cohorts have long been discussed in a variety of research topics and organizational strategic decisions. considerations surrounding generational cohorts have typically arisen from potential differences between groups, including what these differences could mean for a wide range of strategic decision-making and forecasting. generational cohorts maintain differences in values and attitudes that could be of interest to organizations seeking to capitalize on their workforce composition. srivastava and mishra (2019) conducted a study to examine the potential role of age in several work-related variables, including turnover intention. the authors found that job satisfaction, pay satisfaction, and work-life balance were positively correlated with age. this revealed that millennials were more likely to depart their organizations than other generations. hung kee et al. (2019) conducted a similar study to investigate how generational cohorts may influence employees' turnover intentions. this study found that the generational cohorts maintained distinct values. one area highlighted was baby boomers' higher overall satisfaction and commitment levels. to further consider how or why some of these differences exist, it is crucial to understand what makes the generations similar or different. weeks and schaffert (2019) created a study to explore how different generations perceived meaning in the workplace. this mixed-methods research study found that each of the four generations shared the belief that it was important to november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 6 have meaning in the workplace; however, each generation interpreted this differently, which shifted and impacted the ability to extrapolate to other areas of interest. work-related quality of life work-related quality of life is a complex metric that assesses a range of factors in an employee’s work life. intention. engström et al. (2023) designed an experiment to examine work-related quality-of-life inputs and their relationships with turnover intention. the results indicated that job satisfaction, work-home interface, and stress levels were negatively correlated with turnover intention. supporting the findings of engström et al. (2023), els et al. (2021) created a research study examining the relationship between work-related quality of life and turnover intentions. each of the nine sub-variables showed a statistically significant negative relationship with turnover intention. poku et al. (2022) conducted a quantitative study examining work-related quality of life and turnover intention in ghana. the author's analysis of the calculations revealed that work-related quality of life, along with all its subcomponents, showed a strong negative correlation to turnover intention. methods the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationships among work-related quality of life, generational cohorts, and turnover intent among it employees in the mid-atlantic region of the united states. within the confines of this study, it employees were defined as individuals working in software development, data processing, or system design. participants were composed solely of currently employed individuals who live in the mid-atlantic region of the united states. five variables of interest are included in the research study. turnover intention represents the sole dependent variable within the study. the independent variables are generation x membership, generation y membership, generation z membership, and work-related quality of life. generational membership was captured through demographic questions that solicited an individual's date of birth and age at the time of survey completion. the individuals’ year of birth was then assigned to the appropriate generational cohort according to the categories defined in table 1. work-related quality of life was measured using the 24-item easton and van laar (2018) work-related quality of life scale. turnover intention was measured using the sixquestion turnover intention survey from roodt (2004). the main research question in the scope of this study was “what is the relationship between work-related quality of life, generation cohorts (generation x, y, z), and turnover intent of employees in the it sector of the united states?”. table 1 generational membership year of birth generational membership business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 7 1965-1980 generation x 1981-1996 generation y 1997-2012 generation z population and sample selection employees within the it industry who are 18 years or older and live in the u.s were the general population for this research study. there are roughly 12.1 million individuals employed within this industry in the united states (internal trade administration n.d.). within the it industry, the target population was established as active employees from within generation x, generation y, and generation z cohorts. additionally, the researcher defined the target population as those employed in the mid-atlantic region of the united states. for this research study, it industry employees were defined as individuals working in software development, data processing, or system design. the designation of mid-atlantic region employees was intended to capture any unique conditions within this region. this region includes the following states: delaware, maryland, new jersey, pennsylvania, virginia, and west virginia. individuals in the sample group completed an online qualtrics survey that collected data relevant to the researcher’s goal. a purposive sample comprised individuals who met the research study criteria. an a priori power analysis was completed, and the results indicate a total sample size of at least 77 individuals was required for analysis. prolific facilitated the process of recruiting individuals who met the following criteria: individuals who are presently employed, working within the definition of the it industry, belong to generation x, y, or z cohorts, and are working within the mid-atlantic region of the united states. this survey was completed online, so participants needed access to a device with an internet connection. the sample size for this research study was calculated using g*power. the program utilized one dependent variable, turnover intention, and three independent variables. while there are four total independent variables (generation x membership, generation y membership, generation z membership, and work-related quality of life) in this study, the decision to utilize a slope dummy requires that one dependent variable be excluded at a time, leaving only three predictors by which to calculate the sample size. analysis was run with α = .05 and β = .80. the completed analysis indicated that a minimum sample size of 77 was required to use multiple linear regression and generalize the results. instrumentation the beginning of the survey presented the participant with the required consent form to continue in the research study. only participants providing an agreement to this consent form were allowed to continue. next, respondents were presented with demographic questions to collect data on age, employment status, industry of employment, gender identity, and year of birth. two additional validated instruments were utilized to collect data within the survey. the survey authors provided prior permission to use the turnover intention survey and the workrelated quality of life survey. november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 8 turnover intention was measured using the six-question turnover intention survey (roodt, 2004). the six-question turnover intention survey (tis-6) uses a likert scale to indicate the degree of agreement with the two extremes. three of the questions use “never” to “always”, one question uses “very satisfying” to “totally dissatisfying”, one question uses “highly unlikely” to “highly likely”, and a final question uses “always” to “never”. the survey calculates a final score from responses to each of the six questions and indicates the individual's turnover intention. work-related quality of life was measured through the easton and van leer (2018) work-related quality of life survey. the survey is a 23-item psychometric scale with six distinct factors of measure. the survey uses a likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. the survey has proven valuable for assessing an employee’s overall level of workplace contentment (easton & van leer, 2018). each of the six factors has its own set of scores, which are averaged, and the factor scores are then averaged together to produce a final score. validity and reliability instruments must be demonstrated to be both valid and reliable. various types of validity exist, each with its own considerations. the tis-6 demonstrates criterion-predictive validity. criterion-predictive validity refers to the ability of an instrument to accurately predict an outcome based on its reported scores (kimberlin & winterstein, 2008). to confirm the criterionpredictive validity of the survey, the authors used a sample of 2,345 individuals within a company and compared those who departed within 4 months with a random sample from the full sample. when comparing the two groups, the authors detected a statistically significant difference in turnover intention scores between those who remained in the organization and those who departed (bothma & roodt, 2013). the difference in the means of the two compared groups was found to have a significant effect, η2 = .14. in terms of reliability, the authors conducted further analysis to yield an α = .80, which was in line with other studies that had conducted a similar reliability analysis of the scale (bothma & roodt, 2013). a cronbach's alpha of .80 indicates good reliability. the work-related-quality-of-life scale also demonstrates acceptable validity and reliability. this scale fits a validity profile most fitting with construct validity. construct validity refers to the premise that scales measuring similar outcomes should yield similar results (easton & van laar, 2018). the authors have conducted numerous comparative studies to validate the construct validity of this scale. two surveys compared are the ghq-12 (general health questionnaire) and the warr job satisfaction scale. the ghq-12 showed a negative correlation of -.57, in the expected direction, because higher scores on this survey tool reflect poorer mental health. the warr job satisfaction scale has a criterion-adjusted correlation = .873, further supporting construct validity. the work-related quality of life scale comprises six components that contribute to the total score: general well-being, home-work interface, job-career satisfaction, control at work, working conditions, and stress at work. the reliability of each component was analyzed, as was the overall assessment score. each component received a good reliability rating, as measured by ⍺ (see table 2). business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 9 table 2 reliability scores for wrqol component cronbach's alpha general well-being 0.88 home-work interface 0.825 job-career satisfaction 0.863 control at work 0.812 working conditions 0.752 stress at work 0.814 overall wrqol 0.912 data collection procedures the data collection process for this research included using qualtrics survey creation tools to build the required questionnaire and the prolific service to recruit eligible participants. this recruitment process used previously established criteria to select only those within the target population. individuals must have been presently employed, working within the it industry, within either the generation x, y, or z cohorts, and located within the mid-atlantic region of the united states. these participants were also required to have reliable internet access to complete the survey. data analysis procedures a total of 88 responses were received from users recruited through prolific and collected via the qualtrics survey link; however, one response was removed due to data quality issues. this resulted in a final sample of 87. of the respondents, roughly 29% were female and 71% were male. the total respondent pool had a corresponding generational cohort distribution of about 27% generation x, 52% generation y, and 21% generation z. table 3 sociodemographic characteristics of participants november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 10 baseline characteristic n % gender female 25 29 male 61 71 generation gen. x 23 27 gen. y 45 52 gen. z 18 21 note. n = 87 participants were on average 36 years old (min = 22, max = 57, sd = 9.64) reflects the number and percentage of participants answering “yes” to each descriptor. table 4 provides a review of the descriptive statistics for turnover intention and workrelated quality of life. the mean turnover intention score was 14.663 (sd = 5.654). the values ranged from a minimum calculated score of 6 to a maximum score of 29. the skewness score of .692 indicates that the data is moderately skewed. the descriptive analysis showed work-related quality of life with a mean of 3.821(sd = .664). table 4 descriptive statistics m sd sem min max skewness kurtosis turnover intention 14.663 5.654 0.607 6 29 0.692 -0.289 work-related quality of life 3.821 .664 0.072 1.867 4.944 -0.514 -0.087 results this researcher utilized the results of 87 completed surveys to test the study’s research questions. multiple linear regression was chosen as the statistical method. to run multiple linear regression, several assumptions must first be met, including normality, independence of observations, homoscedasticity, and absence of multicollinearity. the normality of the residuals was tested in jasp using a qq plot of standardized residuals (figure 1). the qq plot indicates the residuals are normally distributed, so the data met the first assumption. figure 1 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 11 qq plot of standardized residuals an independence-of-fit test was conducted using the durbin-watson statistic. the test returned a value of 2, indicating there was no correlation between the residuals. to test for homoscedasticity, a plot of residuals versus predicted was constructed. as shown in figure 2, the values in the plot are well distributed and meet the requirements for linear regression. multicollinearity was assessed by examining tolerance and variance inflation factors (vifs) in the regression model. the results of the calculation revealed that all tolerance values were above .25 and all vif values were below 4, as shown in table 5. figure 2 residuals vs predicated plot november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 12 table 5 tolerance and vif values tolerance vif work-related quality of life 0.95 1.053 generation x slope 0.624 1.602 generation y slope 0.61 1.64 a multiple regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses. due to the inclusion of the slope dummy within the multiple regression model, three calculations were conducted, with one slope included for each of the three generations. the results of the multiple regression indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in turnover intention related to work-related quality of life between the generations. for the generation x slope, the results of the regression produced a pr(>|t|) value = .98. for the generation y slope, the results of the business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 13 regression provided a pr(>|t|) value of .799. finally, for the generation z slope, the regression results yielded a pr(>|t|) value of .74. the output of the multiple linear regression analysis indicated that generational cohorts did not differ significantly in this study, so a stepwise regression was used, and the cohorts were removed from the model. this resulted in a simple regression model with turnover intent acting as the dependent variable and work-related quality of life acting as the independent variable. results indicate that work-related quality of life explained 66.9% of the change in turnover intention. this was calculated from the r-squared value of .669. the r-squared of .669, along with an r value of .82, indicated a strong correlation between the variables. the data also suggested a significant impact for each degree change in work-related quality of life. the regression model estimated a decrease of –6.96 in turnover intention score for each degree increase in work-related quality of life. table 6 summarizes the regression output. table 6 moderator analysis: turnover intention and work-related quality of life effect estimate se t p intercept 41.274 2.073 19.91 < 2e -16 work-related quality of life -6.964 .535 -13.03 < 2e -16 summary of findings the output of this quantitative study revealed that no statistically significant difference existed between the generational cohorts in the importance of work-related quality of life for turnover intention. each of the three cohorts’ responses, measured using multiple regression, yielded p-values greater than .74, which is significantly higher than the required .05 threshold for significance. the results of this analysis indicate that although generational cohorts may have noted differences in several valuable attributes, no significant differences exist in the level of importance placed on work-related quality of life, after concluding that no differences existing in the degree of importance attributed to work-related quality of life amongst the cohorts, a secondary analysis using a stepwise regression, was conducted to interpret the degree of impact that work-related quality of life had upon turnover intention. this analysis yielded a statistically significant impact, with final calculations revealing that each degree of increase in work-related quality of life decreased the turnover intention score by 6.96. this research study yielded several potential implications for both theoretical and practical considerations. the results suggest that work-related quality of life is a valued aspect of employment and an important variable for employees across all generations. this study has confirmed that work-related quality of life is also a significant predictor of turnover intention for employees. the theoretical implications section will discuss how the findings impact the existing theoretical literature surrounding generational theory. the professional practice implications will discuss how the results of this study can be utilized in the business world. the two key results of this study include important implications for professional practice across the business landscape. the initial result found that no differences exist amongst the generational cohorts in the degree of importance attributed to work-related quality of life. with november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 14 the growing diversity of the labor pool and within each organization, crafting an optimal business strategy to manage generational differences remains highly important. prior research into this area has confirmed that there are differences between the generations (de la cruz, 2022), that result in changes in responsiveness to how some variables impact turnover intention (rattanapon et al., 2023). this research concludes that employers can rely on a single strategy for work-related quality of life to help manage workforce expectations across generational cohorts. work-related quality of life is equally important for each generation. the second result of this study confirmed the strong relationship between work-related quality of life and an individual's turnover intention. this relationship is highly valuable to understand because it can influence key success factors within an organization and reduce turnover. managing turnover effectively helps the organization increase productivity (madraswale & velmurugan, 2023) and mitigate the impacts of the highly competitive labor market in the it space (koong et al., 2002; kumar, 2022). the study not only confirms the strength of the relationship but also provides an impact calculation that organizations can use. as the data show, each degree of change in an employee’s work-related quality of life score would result in a 6.9-point reduction in their turnover intention survey results. this data point allows employers to target the amount of change needed in work-related quality of life to reach their desired turnover level in the organization. this can then be translated into a cost equation for an organization to leverage in strategic conversations. recommendations while this study achieved its purpose of understanding the relationship among generational cohorts, work-related quality of life, and turnover intention in the mid-atlantic region, there are numerous avenues for future research. these additional areas of consideration are intended to expand the academic conversation and provide further guidance to the business world. each of the recommendations for future research maintains the general structure of this research study, with some manipulation of a single aspect of the study. the first recommendation for future research is to shift the focus from generational cohorts to the various regions of the united states. one of the initial assumptions of this research study was that the region would shape an individual's perceptions and beliefs through shared culture. future researchers could examine whether differences across geographical regions lead to distinct perceptions of the importance of work-related quality of life. this would be a valuable input for organizations spanning a larger geographic area that need to maintain strategies to manage their dispersed employees properly. a second recommendation would be to conduct a similar study but replace turnover intention with actual turnover. with this change, the study could be converted into a longitudinal study to measure the level of importance individuals claim exists, and then, later, such as 6 months or a year, check which employees had left their organizations. this would allow the determination of how strongly the relationship between work-related quality of life and actual turnover intention varied across generations. it is possible that, while intention may not differ across generations, actual turnover may show significant differences. a final recommendation for future study is to replace turnover intention with productivity. one of the impacts of turnover intention discussed was its effect on productivity within an organization. the present study could determine the exact degree of change in turnover intention when an individual realizes a change in work-related quality of life. using productivity business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 15 in place of turnover intention could help an organization to understand the quantitative change in productivity they could achieve through encouraging greater levels of work-related quality of life. conclusion the labor force in today’s business world continues to become more diverse and globalized, and, as such, continued emphasis will be needed on strategies that enhance motivation, productivity, and employee commitment. continued workplace shocks, unionization, politics, and global events will be relevant to monitor due to their potential to influence employee sentiment. the increase in generational diversity in the workforce and the globalization of organizations will add additional challenges for organizations. while numerous organizations have remained successful, others have fallen and dissolved due to mismanagement and changing conditions. the technology landscape appears poised to remain a competitive labor environment, and with the second-highest turnover rate in 2023 (lewis, 2022), there is a strong emphasis on staying apprised of current and forecasted conditions. this research has provided further timely context on the perceived differences among the generational cohorts comprising today's labor pool, as well as reemphasizing the criticality of work-related quality of life to an individual's intention to depart their organization. work-related quality of life among mid-atlantic it employees is a universally influential factor in managing turnover intention in the workplace. the result of this research is further justification for employers to focus on this critical value to avoid pitfalls such as contagious turnover, decreased productivity, loss of trade secrets, and increased costs to support continued recruitment for vacated positions. the unique needs of the existing labor pool should remain a point of interest for organizations, and inclusion in the overall workforce strategy will enable greater potential to navigate this dynamic area. references abate, j., schaefer, t., & pavone, t. 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(1991). generations: the history of americas future, 1584 to 2069. william morrow and company. weeks, k. p., & schaffert, c. (2019). generational differences in definitions of meaningful work: a mixed methods study. journal of business ethics, 156(4), 1045–1061. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3621-4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3621-4 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 1 the impact of the four transformational leadership dimensions on organizational commitment in small and medium-sized organizations in the us michael o’malley, dba | columbia southern university, orange beach, al, usa contact: mpo203@yahoo.com abstract research has shown that transformational leadership is linked to higher employee satisfaction, organizational commitment, innovation, and overall performance. it has been particularly effective in organizations seeking to drive change, inspire creativity, and retain top talent. this study explores the impact of transformational leadership on employee organizational commitment in small and medium-sized enterprises (smes) in the united states, focusing on the four key dimensions of transformational leadership: inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and idealized influence. while prior research has established a relationship between leadership styles and employee outcomes such as job satisfaction, loyalty, and productivity, there is limited understanding of how each transformational leadership dimension influences organizational commitment, particularly within smes. this quantitative correlational study surveyed 159 employees from various nongovernmental industries in the us, including healthcare, manufacturing, and technology, to assess how each leadership dimension affects employee commitment. the findings provide insights for smes seeking to reduce turnover and improve leadership effectiveness. understanding these relationships is critical for organizations striving to retain talent and foster a committed workforce in an increasingly competitive business environment. keywords: transformational leadership, organizational commitment, sme (small and mediumsized enterprise. mailto:mpo203@yahoo.com november 2025 | volume 4. number 3 2 introduction leadership theories have evolved from traditional, transactional approaches to more contemporary, transformational models. as conceptualized by bass and avolio (1993), transformational leadership has gained prominence for its emphasis on inspiring and motivating followers to achieve higher levels of performance and commitment. however, the impact of each of the four dimensions of transformational leadership on employee organizational commitment has yet to be adequately researched, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises (smes) in the united states. each of the four dimensions of transformational leadership may have a different impact on employee organizational commitment, and this information can be critical to smes seeking to improve leadership effectiveness. this study aims to provide details on the relationships among the four specific dimensions of transformational leadership, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and idealized influence, and organizational commitment in smes, thereby improving leadership practices that can help reduce undesired turnover. leadership practices can significantly influence employee satisfaction and commitment. insights from this study can inform leadership development programs, helping organizations identify future leaders' key traits and behaviors and develop a more effective and adaptable leadership pipeline. focusing the research on smes is purposeful because smes experience more employee turnover than large corporations (us bureau of labor statistics, 2020). large corporations have more resources to maintain employees (gelencsér et al., 2024). smes must work smarter to retain their employees. the research supports smes aiming to improve organizational commitment. background several key theorists and seminal thinkers have significantly influenced the field of transformational leadership. james macgregor burns introduced the concept of transformational leadership in his 1978 book leadership (burns, 1978). burns distinguished between transactional and transformational leadership, emphasizing the latter as a process in which leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of morality and motivation. building on burns' work, bernard bass further developed the theory of transformational leadership in the 1980s. his 1985 book, leadership and performance beyond expectations (bass, 1985), expanded on the idea by identifying specific behaviors and characteristics of transformational leaders. bass also introduced the multifactor leadership questionnaire (mlq) to empirically measure transformational leadership. bruce j. avolio collaborated extensively with bass and has contributed significantly to research on transformational leadership. avolio refined the mlq and explored the developmental aspects of transformational leadership, emphasizing its role in organizational change and effectiveness (bass & avolio, 2000). bass and avolio developed the four dimensions of transformational leadership, often referred to as the "4 i's”. the four dimensions are: idealized influence (ii): leaders function as role models and are admired, respected, and trusted. they demonstrate high standards of ethical and moral conduct and are consistent, dependable, and lead by example. inspirational motivation (im): leaders inspire and motivate followers by providing meaning and challenge to their work. they communicate a clear, appealing, inspiring vision that expresses confidence and enthusiasm. intellectual stimulation (is): leaders encourage innovation and creativity by challenging assumptions and soliciting new ideas from followers. they support followers in trying innovative approaches, developing their critical thinking skills, and stimulating and encouraging a free exchange of ideas within the organization. individualized consideration (ic): leaders pay special attention to each follower's needs for achievement and growth by acting as a coach or mentor. they provide individualized support, acknowledge each follower's unique contributions, and provide opportunities for learning and growth (bass & avolio, 1993). these dimensions work together to create an environment in which followers are motivated to achieve higher performance levels and are committed to the organization's goals. john p. meyer and natalie j. allen are key figures in the study of organizational commitment. meyer and allen (1991) divided organizational commitment into three types of commitment (affective, normative, and continuous commitment. when viewed together, all three types of commitment negatively affect turnover intention and actual turnover (robbins & judge, 2017). raymond mowday is another prominent figure in the field of organizational behavior, particularly known for his work on organizational commitment. mowday, along with richard steers and lyman porter, developed the organizational commitment questionnaire (ocq), which has been widely used to measure employees' affective commitment to their organizations. according to mowday, organizational commitment is "an attitude or orientation toward an organization that connects and reinforces a person's identity with the organization" (mowday et al., 1979, p. 2). employees with greater organizational commitment are more focused on their work with consumers, clients, service providers, supervisors, workgroups, occupations, and organizations, and they act more positively in these relationships (bingham et al., 2013). literature review transformational leadership several scholars and practitioners have expanded on and supported bass and avolio's transformational leadership theory. lim et al. (2017) suggested that transformational leadership significantly impacts employee turnover intention. improved transformational leadership results in greater job satisfaction and organizational commitment, which, in turn, reduces employees’ turnover intention (lim et al., 2017). the study by gelencsér et al. (2024) focused on employee retention across small and medium-sized enterprises (smes) and large enterprises within a dynamically evolving business environment. in smes, retention often hinges on personal relationships, flexible work conditions, and opportunities for broader responsibilities (gelencsér et al., 2024). conversely, large enterprises tend to rely on formalized structures, such as career development programs, competitive compensation packages, and structured employee engagement initiatives (gelencsér et al., 2024). mohammed (2020) indicated that sme managers should take appropriate measures to identify employees' needs and concerns by communicating openly and effectively with them. sincere communication with constructive feedback may foster coordination between employees november 2025 | volume 4. number 3 4 and departments and reduce employee turnover (mohammed, t., 2020). employees who felt proud of their organization were more likely to remain with it, and working in an ethical environment enhances employees' commitment (yasin, 2021). yasin further noted that responsible organizational leadership focuses on employees' personal growth and establishes a caring climate, making employees want to remain (yasin, 2021). by investing in transformational leadership practices that foster employee commitment, smes can reduce turnover rates, minimize recruitment costs, and maintain a talented, motivated workforce (gutu et al., 2022). manoppo (2020) examined how transformational leadership affects turnover intention, with work stress and organizational citizenship behavior (ocb) as mediators. transformational leaders help reduce work stress by creating a positive and empowering work environment, which can decrease employees' intention to quit (manoppo, 2020). organizational commitment the available literature demonstrates a significant relationship between organizational commitment and turnover (abid et al., 2019; silitonga et al., 2020; yu et al., 2019). several scholars have researched variables related to organizational commitment, including job satisfaction, mentoring, productivity, and innovation (afsar & umrani, 2020; al-ahmadi & kasztelnik, 2021; bhargavi & yaseen, 2016; durmishi & popovski, 2020; hadi & tola, 2019; laksmana & riana, 2020; paais & pattiruhu, 2020). these researchers found that organizational commitment can be developed in various ways. transformational leadership is effective, but it is just one of the possible ways of doing so. authors agree that the independent variable, transformational leadership, is one of the most popular leadership theories used in organizational research and has been linked to organizational commitment (ausat et al., 2022; keskes et al., 2018; rahmatullah et al., 2022; silitonga et al., 2020). dalton (2023) also explored how transformational leadership influences organizational commitment, focusing on the mediating role of organizational trust. the study showed that trust enhances the effectiveness of transformational leadership in fostering employee commitment (dalton, 2023). nguon's (2022) article conceptualized how transformational leadership influences job satisfaction, innovative behavior, and work performance. the research showed that transformational leadership helps leaders and employees improve their abilities and knowledge, motivates them, and prevents them from leaving their jobs (nguon, 2022). ratina et al. (2021) examined the impact of transformational leadership on employees' affective commitment, with job satisfaction and organizational culture acting as intervening variables. the findings indicated that transformational leadership positively affected commitment, and both job satisfaction and organizational culture mediate this relationship (ratina et al., 2021). considering employees’ organizational commitment is critical for predicting employee retention (yu et al., 2019). employees committed to their organization are more likely to remain with the company and exhibit higher levels of job satisfaction (benson, 2018; gumus et al., 2018). organizations with elevated levels of employee commitment experience greater productivity, innovation, and overall performance (fant, 2019). research by abid et al. (2019) indicated that a supportive work environment, leadership, and job autonomy enhance employees' vitality and learning, thereby fostering greater organizational commitment. marta et al. (2021) suggested that organizations can enhance employee commitment by enriching job roles, empowering employees, and promoting work motivation and satisfaction. by addressing these factors, organizations can create more committed, engaged, and loyal workforces, leading to long-term organizational success (marta et al., 2021). haque et al. (2019) found that leadership characterized by ethical behavior and concern for stakeholders positively influenced organizational commitment and lowered turnover. methods this study adopted a quantitative, correlational methodology to examine the relationship between the four dimensions of transformational leadership (independent variables) and organizational commitment (dependent variable). quantitative research uses large sample sizes to quantify the problem by generating numerical data transformed into usable statistics (tominc et al., 2018). this study's independent variables are the four dimensions of transformational leadership: inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, and idealized influence. organizational commitment is the dependent variable. this study enhances understanding of how the dimensions affect organizational commitment and how smes can improve it, thereby reducing costly turnover. research question and hypotheses what is the relationship between employee perceptions of idealized influence, individual consideration, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and organizational commitment? null hypothesis: there is no statistically significant relationship between employee perceptions of idealized influence, individual consideration, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and organizational commitment. alternative hypothesis: there is a statistically significant relationship between employee perceptions of idealized influence, individual consideration, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and organizational commitment. population and sample the target population was employees aged 18 or older working for smes in the us. surveymonkey, an online survey platform, was used to administer the survey, and its database was used to select participants who met the qualifications. qualified participants were provided with a link to complete the research survey on surveymonkey. this link allowed potential participants to review information on consent, responsibility, and accountability, giving them complete control over their decision to participate. survey screening questions on surveymonkey asked participants to identify their age, gender, geographic location, organization size, and income level. a minimum of 159 participants were required for the study. the 159 participants were determined using g*power 3.1 software application for an f-test family linear multiple regression model, considering an effect size of .10, an error probability α of .05, and a required statistical power of .90. data collection procedures november 2025 | volume 4. number 3 6 once potential participants were selected, they were asked to read the study information and choose to participate or decline. only participants who signed the informed consent form and answered ‘yes’ were allowed to proceed with the survey. for survey participants, confidentiality was assured, and informed consent was obtained via surveymonkey at the beginning of the survey. participants who agreed to participate in the study were asked to complete two surveys. to maintain anonymity, no personally identifiable information, such as names or social security numbers, was collected. the recruitment letter served as the survey preamble, and at the beginning of the survey, participants were asked to complete the informed consent form, which also allowed them to opt out. the survey was opened and remained open until the established number of completed surveys was reached, at which point it was closed. the researcher presumed that participants were honest and upfront about their perceptions of leadership styles and their effects on organizational commitment. survey instruments the first survey instrument included validated scales to measure transformational leadership using the multifactor leadership questionnaire (mlq) developed by bass and avolio (2000). the mlq is the most widely used instrument to assess transformational leadership theory (kirkbride, 2006) and is considered the best-validated measure of transformational and transactional leadership (ozaralli, 2003). the mlq captures a wide range of leadership behaviors, including transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire styles, providing a holistic view of a leader's approach. it emphasizes transformational leadership, which has been shown to correlate with higher employee engagement, innovation, and organizational success (muenjohn & armstrong, 2008). the validity of the mlq-5x, developed by bass and avolio (2000), has been extensively studied, yielding several key findings. construct and convergent validity were tested against the transformational leadership inventory (tli) using confirmatory factor analysis for factorial validity (rowold, 2005). rowolds’ results indicated a significant fit of the data to a nine-factor model. the mlq also performed well in terms of convergent validity, showing a strong correlation (> 0.7) with the existing measures of leadership in the literature, including the leadership practices inventory, the implementation leadership scale, and the multifactor leadership questionnaire (braathu et al., 2022). antonakis (2001) also studied the validity of the mlq-5x. antonakis found that it demonstrated solid validity, ranging from .74 to .94. the results of these studies suggest a strong correlation between the mlq and established measures of leadership, thus confirming the tool's reliability as a valid measure of leadership. reliability was also tested using internal consistency (cronbach, 1951), interclass correlation (icc), and test-retest reliability (rowold, 2005). rowold calculated cronbach's alpha for each mlq subscale, and the results were very good, ranging from .84 to .97. the alpha reliability coefficient for the mlq ranges from .60 to 0.92 (avolio et al., 1999). using interclass correlation (icc), rowold (2005) found that the interrater agreement for each subscale was satisfactory or high. rowold also determined that the test-retest reliability was high and significant. in summary, the mlq-5x is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring leadership factors. organizational commitment was measured using the organizational commitment questionnaire (ocq) developed by mowday et al. (1979). the ocq is also a widely used instrument that identifies 15 items conveying three characteristics of organizational commitment, with responses rated on a 7-point likert-type scale. the ocq covers key aspects of organizational commitment, including emotional attachment to the organization, belief in the organization's values, and a desire to maintain membership. according to mowday, convergent validities across six diverse samples range from .63 to .74, with a median of .70, indicating consistent evidence of convergent validity (mowday et al., 1979). in an additional study, cronbach's alpha for the ocq typically ranged from 0.82 to 0.93 (carmines & zeller, 2022). a 2020 study by verma found a cronbach alpha of 0.79. a study by cohen (2007) also showed strong internal consistency across cultures, with cronbach's alpha above 0.80. in summary, studies have found that the ocq correlates well with other measures of job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and organizational citizenship behavior, providing evidence of convergent validity. the reliability of the ocq is also well documented. the fifteen-item ocq is designed to assess respondents’ loyalty and desire to remain with the organization, their beliefs in and acceptance of the organization's values and goals, and their willingness to put in extra effort to help the organization succeed (yousef, 2003). according to kanning and hill (2018), cronbach's alpha values lie between .82 and 93, and internal consistency examination resulted in a satisfactory reliability value in each case, with cronbach's alpha ranging between .72 and .93. cronbach's coefficient alpha reliability estimates for the seven dimensions of a learning organization were acceptable, showing results above .80 (yang et al., 2004). dunham et al. (1994) also found that the ocq demonstrated high reliability, with cronbach’s alpha above 0.85. in summary, the ocq has been extensively tested for validity and reliability, and it is regarded as a reliable and valid instrument for measuring organizational commitment (mowday et al., 1979). data analysis research data was collected from 159 qualified participants. demographic information for the participants is presented in table 1. the information shows an even mix of males and females, as well as a diverse mix of ages, geographic locations, organization sizes, and income levels. this data indicates a reasonable mix of respondents that adequately represents the study's target population. table 1 shows the descriptive statistics of the participants. table 1 descriptive statistics of participants characteristic full sample n % age <18 18-29 30-44 45-60 >60 total 0 25 52 59 23 159 0 15.7 32.7 37.1 14.5 100 november 2025 | volume 4. number 3 8 gender male female prefer not to say total 75 83 1 159 47.2 52.2 0.6 100 geographic location new england atlantic east central west central mountain pacific prefer not to say total 5 48 40 24 7 30 5 159 3.1 30.2 25.2 15.1 4.4 18.9 3.1 100 income level ($) 0-24,999 25,000-49,999 50,000-74,999 75,000-99,999 100,000-199,000 >200,000 prefer not to say total # of employees 1-10 11-50 51-200 201-500 >500 total 22 32 28 33 27 11 6 159 0 59 62 38 0 159 13.8 20.1 17.7 20.7 17.0 6.9 3.8 100 0 37.1 39.0 23.9 0 100 note: demographic data indicates a good representation of the target population. the software tools microsoft excel and r commander were used to analyze the survey data. these tools are commonly used in research settings and are renowned for their ability to analyze statistical data (mcgrath, 2015; schumacker, 2015). the statistical technique used for data analysis was a linear multiple regression test. multiple regression tests are appropriate when there is more than one independent variable, and the objective is to use them to predict an outcome (pederson, 2017). certain assumptions need to be met for the results of a multiple regression analysis to be valid. these assumptions ensure that the model's estimates are reliable and the statistical inferences (e.g., hypothesis tests, confidence intervals) are valid. here are the key assumptions for multiple regression: • linearity: the relationship between independent and dependent variables should be linear. non-linear relationships can lead to biased estimates. • independence of errors: the residuals (errors) should be independent. the durbinwatson test can detect violations, such as autocorrelations. • homoscedasticity: the variance of residuals should be constant across all levels of the independent variables. heteroscedasticity can affect the efficiency of estimates and the validity of hypothesis tests. • normality of residuals: the residuals should be normally distributed. this assumption is particularly important for valid hypothesis testing. • no multicollinearity: the independent variables should not be highly correlated. high multicollinearity inflates standard errors, making it difficult to determine the individual effect of each predictor. • fixed independent variables: the independent variables should be measured without error. measurement errors can lead to biased estimates. • no influential outliers: outliers or leverage points can disproportionately affect the regression model. they should be identified and addressed. • sufficient sample size: a sufficiently large sample size is required to achieve stable and reliable estimates. a common guideline is to have at least 10-20 observations per predictor variable. (wooldridge, 2020) a review of the study data indicates that the assumptions for multiple regression were met. multiple regression explains the variation in a dependent variable and estimates the strength and direction of the relationships between the dependent and independent variables (wooldridge, 2020). a p-value < 0.05 indicates a significant relationship. this multiple regression test is an important test for addressing the research question because it indicates the impact of each independent variable on organizational commitment. table 2 shows the multiple regression results. table 2 multiple regression coefficients estimate std. error t value pr(>|t|) intercept idealized influence individual consideration inspirational motivation intellectual stimulation 40.7685 0.8231 0.3232 2.298 -0.7321 3.898 0.627 0.532 0.566 0.567 10.457 1.312 0.608 4.060 -1.291 <2e-16*** 0.192 0.544 0.0001*** 0.199 note: the relationship between the independent variable of inspirational motivation and the dependent variable of organizational commitment is highly significant. results results from the multiple linear regression analysis indicate that, among the four dimensions of transformational leadership, idealized influence, individual consideration, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation, the latter significantly impacts organizational commitment among the respondents. inspirational motivation refers to a leader's ability to inspire and motivate followers by creating a compelling vision of the future and making followers excited about the goals they are working toward. the results of this study november 2025 | volume 4. number 3 10 imply that inspirational motivation may be the most important aspect a leader should employ to encourage greater organizational commitment among employees in us smes. summary, conclusions, and recommendations leadership is a dynamic and multifaceted process that involves influencing, guiding, and motivating individuals to achieve organizational or group goals. effective leadership is crucial as it shapes the vision, direction, and success of the organization or team. leadership is not a onesize-fits-all process but a complex interplay of styles, strategies, and contexts. effective leaders understand the importance of adaptability, ethical practices, and continuous learning to lead their teams and organizations toward success (kotter, 2012). transformational leadership inspires and motivates followers to achieve their highest potential and foster significant organizational change. it emphasizes vision, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (bass & riggio, 2006). studies such as those by ratina et al. (2021) and islam et al. (2021) highlight its effectiveness in driving innovation and commitment. the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to explore the impact of each of the four transformational leadership dimensions on employee organizational commitment in us smes, thereby providing valuable insights for organizational leaders seeking to create a dedicated and engaged workforce and reduce turnover. the results indicated that the transformational leadership dimension of inspirational motivation significantly positively impacted organizational commitment among the respondents. fostering organizational commitment in smes requires intentional efforts, such as offering professional development opportunities, recognizing employee contributions, maintaining transparent communication, and cultivating a sense of belonging. these practices help smes grow by creating a motivated and dedicated workforce. leaders have a significant influence on organizational commitment. strong leadership fosters commitment by building trust and aligning with organizational goals. silitonga et al. (2020) showed that transformational leadership positively influences organizational commitment through trust-building mechanisms. this research provides results consistent with these findings and greater detail on each transformational leadership dimension. the psychological insights into why employees respond positively to inspirational motivation stem from several well-established psychological theories and principles. these insights explain how inspirational motivation taps into intrinsic human needs, emotions, and cognitive processes. for example, self-determination theory (deci & ryan, 1985) postulates that people have three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. by aligning the vision with personal values, employees feel a sense of ownership over their work (autonomy). leaders who encourage innovation and set challenging goals foster a sense of achievement (competence). inspirational leaders articulate a vision that gives employees a sense of purpose (relatedness). as a result, employees feel intrinsically motivated, leading to higher engagement and commitment (deci & ryan, 1985). in social identity theory (tajfel & turner, 1979), people derive part of their self-concept from group membership. inspirational leaders create a shared sense of identity by communicating a compelling vision that unites employees. when employees feel connected to a purpose beyond their individual roles, they develop a stronger sense of identification with the organization. the sense of belonging fosters loyalty and commitment as employees align their personal identity with the organizational vision (tajfel & turner, 1979). cognitive dissonance theory (festinger, l., 1957) states that people strive for consistency between their beliefs, values, and actions. when leaders align the organization’s goals with employees’ personal values, employees are motivated to reduce cognitive dissonance by committing to the vision. the alignment of goals and values fosters a sense of purpose, reducing internal conflict and enhancing commitment (festinger, l., 1957). in expectancy theory, motivation is influenced by the belief that effort will lead to performance and desirable outcomes. inspirational leaders clearly articulate how employees' efforts contribute to organizational success and individual rewards. employees are motivated when they see their efforts meaningfully contributing to organizational growth. an increased belief in the ability to make a difference boosts engagement and commitment (vroom, 1964). in conclusion, many theories provide insight into the impact of inspirational motivation and why it significantly impacts organizational commitment. employees respond positively to inspirational motivation because it satisfies fundamental psychological needs for meaning, identity, and connection. it also activates positive emotions, reduces uncertainty, and aligns personal and organizational goals, creating an environment where employees feel valued, motivated, and committed. implications for professional practice inspirational motivation is important because it not only drives action towards goals but also fuels a more profound sense of purpose, creativity, and personal growth by igniting passion and excitement, making individuals more likely to persevere through challenges and achieve their full potential, especially when linked to a meaningful vision or cause (shafi et al., 2020). inspiration can spark new ideas and approaches to problem-solving, leading to more creative solutions. when people feel inspired, they are more likely to be fully invested in their work or personal goals and to experience a more positive mood and greater overall happiness (kaur bagga et al., 2022). through inspirational motivation, leaders build their followers' trust and confidence, enabling them to fully contribute to the leader's vision and the organization's mission. employees develop a strong emotional connection to their organization when they experience a combination of factors that foster trust, alignment, engagement, and personal fulfillment (crossley et al., 2024). inspirational leaders contribute to this personal fulfillment by motivating teams and individuals to reach higher performance through a compelling vision (ratina et al., 2021). these connections are deeply rooted in the employees’ perception of how well the organization meets their needs, aligns with their values, and supports their growth. leaders who demonstrate empathy, authenticity, and vision build trust and inspire loyalty (silitonga et al., 2020). fostering a strong emotional connection requires organizations to create a supportive, fair, and growth-oriented environment that aligns with employees' values and aspirations (saks, 2006). leaders play a crucial role in cultivating these connections by demonstrating trust, empathy, and a shared vision. in summary, inspirational motivation appeals to employees because it aligns with their intrinsic needs for purpose, growth, and connection. leaders embodying this leadership style create an environment where employees feel inspired to perform at their best while maintaining a strong emotional connection to their work and the organization (bass & avolio, 1993). leaders november 2025 | volume 4. number 3 12 should be aware of these implications and focus on inspirational motivation to be more effective leaders. strategies for applying inspirational motivation applying inspirational motivation in an sme can have significant practical implications for leaders and organizations. inspirational motivation emphasizes articulating a compelling vision, instilling confidence, and inspiring employees to exceed expectations. it enhances employee performance by aligning personal goals with organizational objectives. it also encourages optimism and a sense of purpose, boosting employee morale and productivity (bass & avolio, 1993). leaders consistently communicating how employees’ roles contribute to the company’s mission can result in higher work engagement. smes should design leadership training programs emphasizing inspirational motivation to attract and retain talent. here are key strategies for implementing inspirational motivation in the workplace: develop and communicate a clear vision • develop a vision that aligns with the organization's goals and resonates emotionally with employees. communicate this vision consistently through speeches, emails, and one-on-one conversations. • demonstrate commitment to the vision through actions, not just words, and be a role model for the desired behaviors and attitudes to inspire employees (kotter, 1996). lead by example • show passion, dedication, and confidence in achieving the organization’s vision. • display ethical behavior and act with integrity to build trust and set a positive example for employees. foster a positive and supportive culture • encourage teamwork, promote collaboration, and recognize the contributions of each team member toward the shared vision. • support innovation by providing a safe space for employees to share ideas, take calculated risks, and learn from failures. use motivational communication • inspire through language by using uplifting and encouraging messages in meetings, emails, and informal conversations. • focus on the "why" by highlighting the purpose and impact of employees' work to connect them emotionally to the vision (paais & pattiruhu, 2020). empower employees • set meaningful goals by aligning individual roles and responsibilities with the organization's vision and strategic objectives. • delegate authority and encourage autonomy by entrusting employees with decision-making responsibilities relevant to their expertise. recognize and reward achievements • celebrate success by publicly recognizing individual and team contributions to achieving the vision. • encourage peer recognition by creating a culture where employees celebrate each other's successes (durmishi & popovski, 2020). stay adaptable and resilient • monitor progress by regularly assessing the alignment of goals, employee morale, and progress toward the organization’s vision. • be open to feedback, actively listen to employee suggestions, and adapt strategies to maintain alignment with the organization’s vision. concluding remarks the purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to determine how the four dimensions of transformational leadership impact organizational commitment in smes in the us. smes experience more employee turnover than large corporations (us bureau of labor statistics, 2020). this research focused on smes because organizations are increasingly recognizing the significance of employee engagement and retention for sustaining long-term success. low employee commitment is associated with lower job satisfaction and higher turnover rates (grabowski et al., 2019). an overall positive organizational commitment among employees can reduce voluntary employee turnover. understanding the factors influencing employee commitment, such as leadership behaviors, is crucial for addressing these concerns. organizational commitment is fundamental to addressing employee turnover and promoting job satisfaction and performance. the findings of this study suggest that inspirational motivation has a significant positive relationship with organizational commitment, implying that organizational commitment can be improved by encouraging leaders to adopt this transformational leadership dimension. inspirational motivation is a powerful tool for leaders to foster team engagement, innovation, and commitment. by aligning personal and organizational goals, crafting a compelling vision, and fostering a positive, collaborative work environment, smes can achieve long-term success while ensuring employee satisfaction and loyalty. this study's results provide compelling evidence that can help smes improve organizational commitment by applying the transformational leadership 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(2019). enhancing firm performance through internal market orientation and employee organizational commitment. international journal of human resource management, 30(6), 964-987. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1380059 https://www.surveymonkey.com/ https://doi.org/10.2478/ngoe2018-0009 https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/jolts_12092020.pdf https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2017.1380059 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 1 effective strategies human resource business leaders use to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that reduce worker turnover kerese saneka whyte-phillips, dba| walden university, minneapolis, mn, usa jodine marie burchell, ph.d. | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 contact: jodine.burchell@columbiasouthern.edu abstract human resource (hr) business leaders prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei) champion a more dynamic and innovative workforce, thereby alleviating labor turnover —a costly hindrance to growth. hr business leaders orchestrate these strategies, promoting an environment where diverse talents are valued and equitable opportunities abound, reducing labor turnover. rooted in social identity theory (sit) and the equity, diversity, and inclusion (edi) framework, this qualitative, pragmatic inquiry sought to identify and explore the practical strategies hr business leaders employ to implement dei initiatives, thereby reducing employee turnover in the southeastern united states. the participants were seven hr business leaders in the southeastern united states who had successfully implemented dei strategies to reduce labor turnover. data were collected through semistructured interviews and publicly available documentation, which were analyzed using braun and clarke’s thematic coding and analysis approach. the four emerging themes were promoting continuous training and development, cultivating a positive organizational culture, gaining leadership buy-in, and effectively allocating employees. a key recommendation is that hr business leaders continuously promote training and development in unconscious bias, inclusive leadership, and cultural competence, with leadership buy-in essential for fostering an inclusive culture. june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 2 introduction/background diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei) have become integral to the corporate ethos, driving a strategic imperative across organizations in the 21st century. the reality is that some human resource (hr) business leaders lack the knowledge to effectively implement dei initiatives within their organizations, which may lead to increased employee dissatisfaction and turnover. brimhall et al. (2016) argued that dei practices are not ancillary but are central to a company’s strategic planning. this perspective frames the discussion on hr leaders' specific challenges in effectively implementing dei initiatives. supporting this claim, al-suraihi et al. (2021) highlighted that inefficiencies in dei programming can lead to employee dissatisfaction and increased turnover, with substantial financial costs. the analysis of this evidence suggests that the lack of a comprehensive dei strategy can undermine employee morale and retention. furthermore, marsden (2016) quantified employee turnover costs, revealing significant financial losses resulting from recruitment and training expenses and lost productivity. the conclusion drawn from this evidence is that the absence of effective dei initiatives harms workforce cohesion and performance and incurs significant costs to the organization. understanding and addressing the challenges in dei implementation is critical for hr leaders aiming to cultivate a thriving, innovative, and engaged workforce. hr leaders play a pivotal role in shaping an organization's culture. failing to apply dei principles may lead to workplace cultures that marginalize minority groups, resulting in higher turnover rates. embracing dei can enhance productivity and reduce turnover. addressing ineffective dei implementation is crucial to minimizing its impact on employee retention (turi et al., 2022). summary of the literature a literature review was conducted to inform the following research question: what effective strategies do hr business leaders employ to implement dei initiatives that reduce labor turnover in the southeast united states? first, i addressed the conceptual framework, including a critical analysis of supporting theories—social identity theory (sit) and the equity, diversity, and equity (edi) framework. second, i critically analyzed and synthesized scholarship on potential themes and phenomena related to the study’s purpose: to explore the practical strategies hr business leaders use to implement dei initiatives that reduce employee turnover in the southeast united states. ultimately, i compared various standpoints and evaluated my study concerning previous research and findings. in this section, i provide a comprehensive and substantiated review of professional and academic literature related to my research on the practical strategies hr business leaders employ to implement dei initiatives to reduce employee turnover in the southeast united states. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 3 social identity theory sit posits that individuals derive a sense of self from group memberships, influencing intergroup behavior (tajfel & turner, 2004). tajfel’s early work on categorization and intergroup relations laid the groundwork for sit, further developed in the 1970s and 1980s (tajfel, 1974; tajfel & turner, 2004). the theory suggests that people categorize themselves and others into various social groups, favoring their group (in-group) over others (out-group), which can lead to prejudice and discrimination (tajfel, 1974). sit is crucial for understanding in-group bias and out-group antagonism, offering insights into the psychological underpinnings of group dynamics (tajfel & turner, 2004). this framework facilitates a deeper understanding of how individual self-concepts are intertwined with group membership, laying the groundwork for subsequent discussions on intergroup conflict and cohesion. one of the critical developments in sit literature is the concept of social creativity. this term refers to strategies individuals use to maintain a positive social identity in the face of negative group status. in the southeast united states, where cultural and demographic diversity is particularly pronounced, hr business leaders align dei practices with organizational goals to foster an inclusive culture. these leaders’ diverse strategies include redefining the parameters of comparison, choosing alternative dimensions for contrast, or changing the values associated with the group’s attributes (tajfel & turner, 2004). this detailed explanation of social creativity provides a deeper understanding of how individuals navigate their identities in challenging group dynamics. sit contends that an individual’s self-concept is partly derived from perceived membership in social groups, which can profoundly influence workplace behavior and attitudes. effective dei strategies that recognize and celebrate diversity can enhance employees’ sense of belonging and identity within the organization, which, according to sit, should lead to increased organizational commitment and reduced turnover (feitosa et al., 2022). conversely, inadequate or misaligned dei efforts may exacerbate social identity threats, leading to higher turnover rates. a further extension of sit is the self-categorization theory (sct), developed by turner, hogg, oakes, reicher, and wetherell in 1987. sct delves into the cognitive processes behind group behavior, proposing that social identity is a system of self-categorization that operates at different levels of abstraction, from personal to social identity, depending on situational and contextual factors (ray et al., 2008). this focused approach promises to enhance the practical application of dei strategies, potentially setting a precedent for future research to explore regional specificity within the hr field. equity, diversity, and inclusion framework the edi framework is a critical lens through which to view and understand strategic measures in business that will help with issues such as labor turnover. it reflects a commitment to justice and acknowledges the rich tapestry of human experience. edi frameworks also serve as strategic blueprints to guide the implementation of policies, practices, and cultural norms that seek to foster an environment where every individual can thrive (landrine, 1995). as such, the edi framework is not merely a moral imperative but a business strategy that can lead to a more stable and productive workforce, benefiting both employees and employers. june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 4 the american psychological association (apa) core edi work, as an institution, is identified in the model as science, practice, education, and advocacy that is inclusive and equitable, responding to the unique challenges and opportunities of social and cultural diversity. organizations must embed edi throughout all aspects of the work. beginning in the 1960s, grassroots activism groups, black psychologists nationwide, various apa members, and edifocused divisions challenged the apa to reflect on and respond to its membership’s lack of diversity and improve oppressive structures within the organization and profession (evans, 2021). in june 2018, chief diversity officer maysa akbar, phd, began developing an edi framework to guide future edi planning at the apa (evans, 2021). this evolving edi framework draws on the apa’s 2005 diversity policy, its 2007 diversity plans and reports, and best practices from the field of organizational edi. apa’s edi framework reflects the view that equity, diversity, and inclusion are vital to the progress of the association, the field of psychology, and broader society (evans, 2021). as the apa evolves, its commitment to edi will continue to serve as a guiding force for future developments within the field. sit and edi complementarity the contemporary workplace is not just a collection of individuals but an amalgamation of diverse backgrounds, each bringing unique experiences, perspectives, and identities to the table. this diversity is not just a fact but a significant aspect that organizations need to understand and leverage. amidst this diversity, organizations strive to foster a sense of equity and inclusion, not only as a moral imperative but also as a strategic endeavor to reduce worker turnover (davidescu et al., 2020). the interplay between sit and edi frameworks is pivotal in understanding and implementing effective diversity initiatives that can enhance worker retention. employees’ social identities can profoundly impact their sense of belonging, engagement, and, consequently, their intention to stay or leave an organization (alnehabi & al-mekhlafi, 2023). research shows that edi initiatives improve job satisfaction, enhance company reputation, and foster more significant innovation, thereby reducing turnover (roberson, 2019). the edi framework is not just a set of policies and practices, but a strategic approach aimed at promoting fairness (equity), acknowledging and valuing the richness of diversity, and creating inclusive environments where all employees can thrive. this framework is not just a nice-to-have but a necessity for organizations in today’s diverse workplace, offering a promising path to enhance worker retention. sit and edi can be complementary when applied to worker retention strategies. sit, an influential psychological theory, highlights the importance of group membership and its impact on self-esteem and behavior. by acknowledging and valuing the diversity within social identities, edi initiatives can strengthen employees’ attachment to their organizational identity, enhancing the inclusive nature of group membership (leroy et al., 2022). this understanding of sit can provide a profound insight into employee behavior and retention, enlightening organizations on the importance of diversity and inclusion. the relationship between sit and edi in the workplace is theoretical and a practical tool for organizations to enhance worker retention. it lies in recognizing that individuals seek environments where their social identities are valued and can maintain a positive self-concept. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 5 by embracing edi principles, organizations play a crucial role in creating environments where individuals feel valued and included, regardless of their background. these organizations also celebrate and integrate diverse perspectives into decision-making processes. organizations that adeptly execute edi initiatives tap into the foundational human yearning for belonging and recognition as postulated by sit (kelly et al., 2022). by instituting affinity groups and mentorship programs that respect and celebrate the social identities of employees, organizations can effectively mitigate the alienation that can occur in diverse work settings. the key to this success lies in applying sit principles through tailored edi programs, which are designed to meet the psychological needs of all employees, thereby enhancing the organizational culture and promoting a sense of value and belonging among them. organizational dynamics current organizational dynamics rely on achieving a work-life balance, which impacts employee well-being and productivity. davidescu et al. (2020) investigated the intricate relationship between job flexibility, job satisfaction, and performance. their research indicates that employee welfare necessitates work-life balance policies and sustainable human resource management. professional and personal commitments can conflict in fast-paced workplaces. companies must offer flexible employment arrangements to meet the needs of their employees. more scheduling autonomy may help employees balance work and life. a work-life balance improves job satisfaction, engagement, and overall well-being. work-life balance attracts top talent, enhances morale and productivity, and succeeds. thus, work-life balance benefits individuals and firms. the implications of organizational policies and practices on workforce diversity and inclusion are examined. rebbeck et al. (2022) presented the frameworks of genomic and genetic diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei). the findings highlighted the need for proactive measures to address systemic inequities and foster more equitable workplaces. this subject emphasizes the growing status of dei as both a moral obligation and a strategic advantage for organizations across various sectors. diversity and inclusion bring diverse perspectives, experiences, and skills to firms, enhancing innovation, creativity, and overall performance. research-based dei techniques improve organizational performance, sustainability, and stakeholder responsiveness. rebbeck et al. emphasized evidence-based dei. empirical research and stakeholder input can increase diversity and inclusion. dei techniques that are evidence-based reflect data-driven organizational management, where research drives action and progress. the extensive literature on organizational dynamics reveals the interplay between hrm, diversity, equity, inclusion, and organizational behavior. alnehabi and al-mekhlafi (2023) found that corporate social responsibility (csr) impacts employee performance and turnover intentions. effective corporate strategies, employee attitudes, and context are essential for improving csr and employee outcomes. research on csr has shown that organizational practices, employee attitudes, and outcomes are interconnected. by changing employee perceptions of company values, csr efforts improve engagement, motivation, and commitment. in their 2023 study, alnehabi and al-mekhlafi emphasized the importance of business identity june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 6 and commitment to maximize the positive influence of csr on employee outcomes. according to this holistic approach, csr programs must align with a business's culture and strategy. the csr employee outcomes study emphasizes the importance of comprehensive organizational management. understanding the complex interplay between corporate social responsibility (csr), employee attitudes, and company success enhances social responsibility and employee well-being. csr benefits employees and the community, so companies should investigate. staff turnover staff turnover and retention pose significant challenges within organizational studies, demanding a nuanced understanding of the factors influencing employees’ decisions to stay or leave. huning et al. (2020) provided a comprehensive examination of turnover intentions, emphasizing the multifaceted nature of this issue by incorporating variables such as job embeddedness, managerial support, and job satisfaction. they argued that these factors, individually or in combination, play a crucial role in an employee’s likelihood of remaining with an organization. this research enables companies to pinpoint the specific causes of turnover and tailor retention strategies accordingly. al-suraihi, et al. (2021) furthered this discussion by advocating for targeted retention initiatives to reduce staff turnover. they proposed that organizations can effectively diminish the intent to leave by strengthening job embeddedness, enhancing job satisfaction, and providing robust managerial support. importantly, al-suraihi et al. stressed that retention efforts must be holistic, addressing employees’ diverse expectations and incentives across different levels of the corporate hierarchy. such comprehensive approaches should integrate human and organizational elements to foster a more cohesive and supportive work environment. the studies by al-suraihi et al. and huning et al. offer valuable insights that can help organizations develop more effective retention strategies. understanding the factors influencing turnover enables companies to create an environment that retains valuable human capital and mitigates the disruptive effects of high turnover rates. methods based on the background and literature review, the specific problem addressed in this study is that many hr business leaders in the southeast united states lack effective strategies for implementing dei initiatives to realize the benefits in their organizations. a qualitative, pragmatic inquiry design was used to explore hr business leaders' strategies for implementing dei initiatives that reduce employee turnover. research question what practical strategies do hr business leaders use to implement dei initiatives that reduce labor turnover in the southeast united states? data collection business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 7 the researchers used semi-structured interviews to collect data from participants in the southeast united states (n = 7). the study population consisted of hr business leaders in mediumto large-sized organizations in the southeast united states who have implemented dei strategies that reduced labor turnover. a member-checking procedure was used to enhance the trustworthiness of the researcher’s understanding of the interviews. data analysis once all the interviews had been member-checked, the data were uploaded into nvivo 14, and the transcripts were read multiple times. the researchers used the software to assign meaningful codes, categorize them based on patterns, and ultimately identify the themes. each identified theme was compared to the existing literature and the conceptual framework. this process helps to ensure that the findings are grounded in theory and contribute to the knowledge of dei initiatives and employee retention. results after analyzing the data and alignment through the sit and edi framework, each central theme evolves into practical strategies that hr business leaders can use to implement dei initiatives that may reduce labor turnover. four core themes were identified during the data analysis phase and are discussed in more detail below. theme 1: promoting continuous training and development. theme 2: cultivating a positive organizational culture. theme 3: gaining leadership buy-in. theme 4: effectively allocating employee resources and support. theme 1: promoting continuous training and development. the data analysis revealed that promoting continuous training and development is an effective strategy for implementing dei that reduces labor turnover in the southeast united states. promoting constant training and development programs is integral to employees’ professional growth. by investing in their workforce development, organizations demonstrate a commitment to their employees’ futures, which can lead to increased job satisfaction and loyalty (armstrong & taylor, 2020). by applying dei principles, these programs can enhance employee competencies and foster a culture where everyone is valued and understood. subthemes encompass inclusive recruiting and talent development, a comprehensive training program, and the efficacy of implemented training programs. june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 8 subtheme 1: inclusive recruitment and talent development inclusive recruitment and talent development emerge as a strong subtheme in the interviews, primarily focusing on policies such as candidate advocates, removing outdated or insensitive language, and multiple pool outsourcing. several interviewees emphasized the importance of creating candidate advocacy systems, where instead of discussing why a candidate might not be a good fit, the conversation is shifted toward why they should be hired. ip002 and ip007 stated that they were used to encourage a positive recruitment environment and help build connections for candidates within the organization, fostering a sense of belonging from the outset. it also helps when job postings use inclusive language, which is vital to promoting diversity. ip002 and ip007 highlighted initiatives to continuously review and update language that may be outdated or exclusive to specific groups, thereby creating a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all employees. ip007 emphasized the importance of updating language when recruiting and throughout the talent development process as a key element in implementing the dei initiative. finally, multiple interviewees said that by tapping into diverse sourcing pools, such as historically black colleges and universities (hbcus) or professional organizations that cater to underrepresented groups. ip006 also indicated that maintaining a strong recruiting and hiring pool was one of the practices employed. maintaining a robust recruiting and hiring pool ensures the talent pipeline remains inclusive, addressing both recruitment diversity and long-term retention, as noted in ip002. these findings demonstrate that implementing these strategies leads to a diverse and inclusive workforce and reduces turnover by fostering a culture where all employees feel valued and included, from recruitment through talent development within the organization. subtheme 2: comprehensive training program the analysis revealed that comprehensive training programs are vital in implementing dei initiatives and reducing employee turnover. successfully implementing comprehensive training programs requires hr business leaders to commit to integrating dei into the organization’s strategic objectives. according to minghua (2022), this involves continuously assessing and customizing the training programs to meet the employees’ needs. it was consistently emphasized that structured and ongoing training increases awareness, fosters inclusivity, and enhances employee retention. several comprehensive training programs were identified throughout the interview, including inclusive language training, unconscious bias training, sexual harassment training, and allyship or bespoke training. ip007 emphasizes that words matter, and that implementing inclusive language training ensures that associates can navigate the evolving social landscape and feel a sense of belonging. ip002 shared the same strategies and referred to this as an initiative focusing on inclusive language to ensure employees feel included and respected in the workplace. during the study, unconscious bias training was identified by numerous hr business leaders as comprehensive and essential for fostering a fair and inclusive culture. ip007 and ip006 emphasize that this training helps leaders business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 9 and employees understand bias, make more balanced decisions, and create a more inclusive work environment, which directly correlates with reducing turnover. ip005 further supported this by stating that unconscious bias training opened awareness across the organization and positively impacted retention rates. the findings suggest comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei) training programs promote inclusivity, enhance employee retention, and reduce turnover. subtheme 3: efficacy of training program while analyzing the data, the efficacy of the training programs on retention appears positive across different organizations. training programs designed to promote dei are among the most direct methods for influencing workplace culture and employee behavior. the results garnered by such programs measure their effectiveness. research conducted by the society for human resource management (shrm) showed that employees who perceive their workplace as inclusive and fair are more likely to be engaged and less likely to leave (gonzales, 2023). research supports the efficacy of training programs as a strategy for implementing dei to reduce labor turnover. when thoughtfully designed, inclusively delivered, and continuously reinforced, such programs can positively transform organizational culture, reduce turnover, and enhance overall business performance. several participants reported significant improvements in retention rates after implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei)related training programs. for instance, ip004 experienced a retention increase from 17.2% to 24.3% following the introduction of dei training, which is an 80% increase overall. ip002 reported a 75% retention rate among participants in their organization. on the other hand, ip003, ip005, and ip006 had retention rates of 90%, 75%, and 20%, respectively. the study found that the effectiveness of the comprehensive training program used by each hr business leader, coupled with both pay equity analysis and accessibility analysis, plays a significant role in helping to lower labor turnover rates by addressing key issues that affect employee retention. ip006, ip007, and ip001 agreed that conducting a pay equity analysis ensures that employees are compensated fairly for their work, regardless of gender, race, or other demographic factors. fair compensation reduces the likelihood of employees feeling undervalued or discriminated against, leading to higher retention rates. the findings indicate that financial fairness is crucial to job satisfaction and loyalty. employees who perceive themselves as being paid equitably are likelier to remain with an organization. theme 2: cultivating a positive organizational culture upon reviewing the data, a positive organizational culture is a theme tied to several key strategies and initiatives that enhance inclusivity, diversity, and employee retention. the interviews highlight the following practices that contribute to cultivating a positive organizational culture. kim and jung (2022) suggested that departments that adopt a positive culture characterized by openness, respect, and support for diversity experience notably lower turnover rates than those with a less inclusive culture. lowering the turnover rates is a pivotal role of hr leaders in integrating dei principles into organizational culture. the participants who contributed to this theme identified several tools to cultivate a positive organizational culture. these were subthemes: transparent and effective communication, secure feedback mechanisms, and organizational cultural competency. june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 10 subtheme 1: transparent and effective communication having the necessary channels, such as transparent and effective communication, improves a positive organizational culture. several participants highlighted this subtheme throughout the data collection process, using town halls, one-on-one meetings, zoom calls, and staff meetings. ip001 emphasized the importance of fostering open dialogue through town halls, one-on-one discussions, and team meetings to encourage employees to express their concerns more comfortably. as a result, there was a deeper understanding of employee needs, leading to enhanced retention rates. ip001 also noted that employees felt empowered to approach leadership without fearing reprisal, substantially contributing to their sense of ease and commitment to the organization. while open communication is beneficial, not all employees may feel at ease sharing despite efforts to create a safe environment. regardless, the study revealed that clear and open communication within a company is essential for reducing turnover rates, as it fosters trust and demonstrates that the organization values its employees. however, it is essential to acknowledge the potential obstacles, such as the fear of retaliation and difficulties in meeting the diverse communication needs of various employee groups. subtheme 2: secure feedback mechanisms secure feedback mechanisms, identified as a subtheme, enable employees to share their thoughts, experiences, and concerns anonymously without fear of retaliation. these systems are pivotal for successfully implementing dei strategies as they provide insights into employee sentiment and help identify areas of improvement within any organization, promising progress and growth (huebner & zacher, 2021). ip001 discussed the use of anonymous prospective surveys to gather honest employee feedback. it was noted that some employees, particularly those in lower positions, hesitated to answer specific questions due to fear of retaliation. ip001 engaged in open dialogue to address this concern, ensuring that employees felt comfortable sharing their thoughts directly, knowing their feedback would remain confidential. additionally, ip003 mentioned the regular use of employee surveys, focus groups, and performance evaluations to assess the impact of dei programs on retention. these mechanisms enabled anonymous feedback, which helped the organization make informed decisions and continually improve its initiatives. ip005 also emphasized using quick surveys and polls, such as those offered by surveymonkey, as an effective tool for gathering immediate feedback on dei initiatives. this allowed for realtime feedback and adjustments to ensure alignment with employee expectations and needs. subtheme 3: organizational culture competency some participants addressed organizational culture (competency) as a theme to reduce labor turnover, mainly focusing on creating a sense of belonging and connection with other employees, involving employees in decision-making, empowerment, and amplifying voices. ip002 and business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 11 ip007 contributed to creating a sense of belonging, helping employees feel connected, and increasing their tenure with the organization. ip005 also emphasized the importance of creating spaces for transparent communication and fostering a sense of belonging through clear messaging and active involvement during one-onone interactions with team members. this enhances employee buy-in and commitment to the organization. involving employees in decision-making was also discovered in this study by ip003, which explained that their dei task force included employees from diverse backgrounds in decision-making, thereby helping to create a more inclusive workplace. this engagement resulted in positive outcomes for employee retention and organizational culture. finally, it was noted that allowing employees to empower and amplify their voices contributes to developing an excellent organizational culture. ip007 echoed this by emphasizing how their focus on “belonging” prioritized empowering and amplifying employee voices. the findings indicate that all participants employed effective strategies to implement dei and reduce labor turnover within their organization. one of the mediums used to promote a positive organizational culture was transparent and effective communication between leadership and subordinates, which involved selecting the most suitable method of communication, whether via email, zoom call, or town hall meeting, to convey information in a way that would ultimately help lower labor costs. secure feedback mechanisms and organizational culture competency added positivity to the organization. all participants echoed that it serves as a vehicle to reduce labor turnover and establish a diverse workspace where all employees feel valued and belong. the current study findings, which include a positive organizational culture characterized by transparent and effective communication, secure feedback mechanisms, and cultural competency, are consistent with the sit and edi framework. the need to understand and integrate dei initiatives is particularly acute in addressing labor turnover, which remains a persistent challenge for business leaders in the southeast united states. in an organizational context, employees’ social identity is shaped by their affiliation with the company and its culture. a positive organizational culture that promotes inclusivity and diversity can enhance employees’ sense of belonging and reduce turnover (sokler, 2024). hr leaders who understand the dynamics of sit can leverage this knowledge to foster a work environment that supports diverse identities and cultivates a strong, unified organizational identity. implementing dei initiatives aligned with the edi framework can lead to a more positive organizational culture directly linked to increased employee retention. theme 3: gaining leadership buy-in. to effectively mitigate turnover, hr business leaders must execute plans that receive top management endorsement, also known as securing leader buy-in. several participants explained june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 12 that this is one of the most crucial strategies for reducing labor turnover. leadership buy-in refers to the dedication and proactive endorsement from an organization’s senior leaders for a specific plan or initiative (viterouli et al., 2024). when executives authentically participate in dei initiatives, their presence can significantly impact an organization’s culture, making it more inclusive and equitable. according to the society for human resource management, employees who view their workplace as diverse and equitable are more inclined to be job-satisfied, less prone to turnover, and more likely to endorse their organization as an exemplary workplace (navarra, 2023). the individuals involved in this theme mentioned that they utilized two strategies. under subtheme 1, the first strategy involved addressing dei through leadership training. the second strategy, categorized under subtheme 2, focused on mentorship and sponsorship. table 4 provides a breakdown of the participants who reported using each specific strategy and the frequency of each strategy mentioned in the data. following this, a comprehensive discussion of each strategy will be presented. subtheme 1: addressing dei through leadership training four participants contributed to this theme by highlighting the importance of leadership training in achieving organizational goals. ip002 addressed the need for leadership training and education, focusing on unconscious bias training and anti-harassment training for leaders and managers. this participant illustrates the correlation between leadership training and the retention of early talent, highlighting the connection between diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei) initiatives, leadership education, and decreased turnover. ip005 emphasized the role of training and development for leaders and associates, explicitly focusing on unconscious bias training, by stating, “we offered a series of training and development opportunities for our executive leaders, middle management leaders, and associates.” ip005 connects leadership buyin to the overall dei strategy and highlights how leadership education helps address employee turnover. ip006 noted that leadership buy-in is one of the most significant challenges in implementing dei. to address this, ip006 focuses on educating leaders about the business case for diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei), emphasizing the return on investment, and utilizing communication strategies to align leadership with dei goals. participants emphasized the importance of leadership education and training in securing buy-in and ensuring the successful implementation of dei initiatives to reduce labor turnover. subtheme 2: mentorship and sponsorship it is essential to have leadership support for successful dei initiatives, especially those aimed at reducing employee turnover. through mentorship and sponsorship, leaders actively develop talent and an inclusive environment where employees feel appreciated and empowered. mentorship and sponsorship, which are critical components of leadership support, significantly contribute to reducing turnover. several participants highlighted how these strategies directly contribute to this goal by promoting personal and professional growth, increasing employee engagement, and fostering a more inclusive work environment. ip004 highlighted the importance of mentorship and sponsorship as a key component of their dei program. ip003 emphasized the significance of mentorship as a crucial component of their organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei) strategy. in conjunction with other strategies, such as training and development efforts, mentorship programs have played a pivotal role in reducing turnover rates by equipping business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 13 employees with essential resources and support. by establishing structured mentorship programs, organizations can provide personalized support to help employees navigate their career paths, increasing job satisfaction and retention. mentorship is centered on providing guidance and fostering growth, while sponsorship entails leaders proactively supporting their protégés and helping them obtain promotions and leadership roles. participants who contributed also highlighted sponsorship as a crucial tactic for retaining top talent and minimizing turnover. ip002 discussed the role of peer mentoring and sponsorship in retaining early-career talent. participant ip002 described how the organization's early talent program aimed to assist young professionals in honing their skills and fostering a stronger connection to the company through mentorship and sponsorship. consequently, the company witnessed a notable increase in retention rates, achieving a 75% retention rate 3 years after the program was introduced. ip005 expressed a similar viewpoint, emphasizing the profound impact of leadership engagement in mentorship and sponsorship programs. ip005 highlighted the establishment of a strong rapport between leaders and employees through mentorship programs as a critical element of their dei strategy. these programs are pivotal in cultivating trust and communication between staff and leadership, which is indispensable for reducing turnover. the results indicate that these approaches play a crucial role in fostering a sense of inclusion and commitment within the company by providing avenues for career development and ensuring that employees have supporters at the leadership level. in essence, mentorship and sponsorship are vital elements of practical dei efforts, positively impacting not just employee retention but also the overall prosperity of the organization. theme 4: effectively allocating employee resources and support. several participants identified the effective allocation of employee resources and support as an emerging theme from data collected through interviews with hr business leaders. employee resource support plays a crucial role in sustaining dei efforts and, by extension, reducing labor turnover. it encompasses a range of programs and policies designed to provide employees with the necessary tools, guidance, and support networks to thrive in the workplace. (catalino et al., 2022). some participants recognized the theme of employee resource and support as a salient theme derived from data gathered via interviews with hr business leaders. employee resource support is essential for sustaining dei initiatives and reducing employee turnover. it encompasses various programs and policies designed to equip employees with the tools, guidance, and support systems necessary for workplace excellence. catalino et al. (2022). several participants recognized the theme of employee resource and support as a salient theme derived from data gathered via interviews with hr business leaders. employee resource support is essential for sustaining dei initiatives and reducing employee turnover. it encompasses various programs and policies designed to equip employees with essential tools, guidance, and june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 14 support systems, enabling them to excel in the workplace (catalino et al., 2022). participants who contributed to this theme employed two primary strategies, also known as subthemes, to enhance this across the organization: (a) business engagement groups and (b) voluntary selfidentification instruments. subtheme 1: business engagement groups three participants reported implementing a business engagement group (beg), a business resource group (brg), or similar support groups to reduce labor turnover. data collected from all three participants suggested that begs and brgs are voluntary, employee-led groups that promote a diverse and inclusive workplace. all participants who contributed to this subtheme explained that beg and brg support employees from diverse backgrounds, serving as a forum for dialogue and promoting understanding across various dimensions of diversity. ip002 highlighted their active involvement in employee resource groups, underscoring their early initiative in launching a network at one of their companies. ip002 also emphasized how peer mentoring programs cultivate a sense of belonging, ultimately reducing turnover. ip003 also emphasized that employee resource groups are vital to their dei strategy, underscoring their pivotal role in fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace. ip003 emphasized the significance of employee resource groups within its dei strategy. these groups offer valuable support and resources to employees, resulting in enhanced employee retention and lower turnover rates. ip007 recounted how business resource groups (brgs) are a cornerstone of many organizations, serving as a key component of the organization’s inclusion and belonging strategy. this approach promotes a greater sense of connection and support among associates, enhancing employee retention. all three participants ascribed the weight of support groups and resource networks in enhancing inclusivity and reducing labor turnover. subtheme 2: voluntary self-identification instruments four out of seven participants used self-identifying tools as a dei strategy to reduce labor turnover. participants emphasized allowing employees to self-identify across various diversity dimensions, including gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. ip001 explained how surveys were used to collect demographic information, such as nationality and ethnic background, to better understand the representation of different groups within the company. the data gathered from these surveys was then used to ensure that employees had the necessary resources and opportunities to succeed. additionally, ip002 and ip006 emphasized the importance of acknowledging employees’ diverse identities to provide tailored support through mentorship and peer advocacy programs. both agreed that by incorporating self-identification into their dei strategies, organizations could reduce turnover by addressing employees’ unique needs and cultivating a more inclusive and supportive environment. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 15 based on the information gathered through this study, it is concluded that utilizing employee resource groups (ergs) and support systems, in conjunction with self-identified tools, creates an environment where all employees feel valued and included. these ergs (beg or brg) serve as platforms for minority groups to voice their concerns, raise a sense of belonging, and directly contribute to the company’s dei goals by working with hr leaders to identify areas of improvement (hays-thomas, 2017). additionally, these groups can provide valuable support through mentoring and networking, which not only aids personal development but also reduces labor turnover. hr business leaders leverage self-identified tools, such as surveys and feedback mechanisms, to measure the effectiveness of dei initiatives, ensuring that programs are responsive to the evolving needs of the workforce (mor barak et al., 2016). this responsiveness is crucial as it demonstrates an organization’s commitment to its employees, reducing feelings of alienation and the likelihood of turnover. empirical studies corroborate that a supportive workplace culture that values diversity and practices inclusion significantly correlate with employee retention (kim & jung, 2022). in essence, by integrating ergs and self-identified tools into their dei strategies, hr leaders can enhance employee engagement and reduce labor turnover, which can be costly. summary of findings and conclusion this qualitative pragmatic inquiry identifies and explores effective strategies hr business leaders use to implement dei initiatives that reduce employee turnover in the southeast united states. the study population consisted of hr business leaders in the southeast united states who have implemented dei strategies that reduced labor turnover. however, several limitations of the current research warrant further investigation to enhance the generalizability and depth of our understanding. the limitations of this study were (1) potential selection bias, (2) reliance on self-reporting by hr leaders, (3) business size, and (4) number of participants and geographical location. future researchers should continue exploring effective strategies hr business leaders use to implement dei initiatives that reduce employee turnover and expand to garner more insight. the present study identified four key themes that hr business leaders arrayed to implement successful dei strategies that reduce labor turnover: (a) promoting continuous training and development, (b) cultivating a positive organizational culture, (c) gaining leadership buy-in, and (d) effectively allocating resources. findings indicate that when employees feel that their workplace is fair and welcoming, they have access to the resources they need and the freedom to express their identity. they are likelier to form a strong attachment to the organization and less likely to seek opportunities elsewhere. this phenomenon can directly influence employee turnover. therefore, this study’s findings support the idea that providing employees with resources and support is an effective strategy for implementing dei and reducing employee turnover. the applications to professional practice and future research are discussed below. applications to professional practice the results of this research study could be valuable for hr business leaders who need effective strategies to execute dei initiatives aimed at decreasing employee turnover and should be used as recommendations to help their business reduce labor turnover. a strong recommendation that june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 16 hr business leaders should adopt is promoting ongoing or continuous training and development in unconscious bias, inclusive leadership, and cultural competence. this approach increases awareness among employees and leaders, fostering a more inclusive work environment. unconscious bias workshops and inclusive leadership sessions significantly improved employee retention by enhancing diversity and inclusion. these training programs equip employees with the skills needed to contribute fully and equitably, creating a sense of belonging that motivates them to stay. leadership buy-in is not just another recommendation that all hr business leaders should adopt, as it is seen as an essential element in promoting an inclusive culture. leaders who actively champion dei initiatives by participating in these efforts build trust among employees. when leadership and employees establish trust, it helps cultivate a positive organizational culture. town hall meetings, employee resource groups, and direct conversations with leadership allowed employees to express their concerns and feel included in decision-making. as a result, companies saw increased engagement and retention, particularly among minority groups, as employees felt their voices were being amplified and respected. therefore, leadership buy-in is crucial in raising an inclusive culture that encourages employee loyalty, ultimately lowering labor turnover. hr business leaders can tackle high turnover resulting from ineffective dei strategies by providing a positive organizational culture. regular employee surveys and feedback mechanisms can help leaders monitor the effectiveness of their dei initiatives and make necessary adjustments. by incorporating these strategies and cultivating a positive organizational culture, hr leaders can improve retention and create a more diverse and inclusive workplace, leading to long-term business success. the research community should focus on further exploring these interventions to develop scalable, evidence-based solutions for dei challenges across industries. for the research-scholar community, these findings present an opportunity to explore further how dei initiatives can positively impact employee retention when tailored to specific organizational and regional contexts. scholars should focus on refining metrics for measuring the effectiveness of dei strategies, such as employee engagement surveys, performance evaluations, and dei dashboards that track diversity-related outcomes, as stressed by ip001. disseminating this knowledge through literature, conferences, and training sessions can help bridge the gap between academic research and practical business application. such endeavors will solidify the role of dei as a cornerstone of modern hr management. furthermore, there is a need to continue evaluating the long-term impact of dei initiatives, particularly in industries and regions with higher turnover rates, to ensure that hr leaders are equipped with strategies that adapt to changing workforce dynamics and contribute to sustainable dei efforts. recommendations for further research business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 17 future research should strive for a more representative sample to mitigate potential selection bias. this could be achieved by stratifying the sample to encompass hr leaders from diverse industries, organizations of varying sizes, and differing levels of dei maturity. utilizing stratified random sampling would enable the capture of a wide range of perspectives, offering a more comprehensive understanding of dei practices across the business landscape. furthermore, hr leaders’ dependence on self-reported data presents another limitation. validity can be improved by cross-referencing information from multiple sources. subsequent research could integrate employee surveys, turnover records, and third-party evaluations of organizational culture to support the self-reported impact of dei initiatives. objective metrics enable a more comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness and obstacles associated with dei strategies. the third limitation pertains to the emphasis on medium-sized businesses with established hr practices, possibly neglecting the intricacies of smaller companies or those with less formal hr frameworks. future research should encompass small and large businesses and non-traditional organizations like startups and nonprofits, which might adopt innovative dei strategies because of their flexibility and mission-oriented approach. finally, the current study’s participant pool is limited to the southeast united states, which may need to represent the dei landscape fully. future research should consider expanding the geographical scope to include organizations from different regions, thus enabling a comparison of regional differences in the effectiveness of dei strategies. moreover, increasing the number of participants would bolster the reliability of the findings and permit more comprehensive statistical analyses. although the current study has established the necessary foundations, additional research is essential to comprehend how dei initiatives can mitigate employee turnover comprehensively. by enhancing sample representation, integrating multiple data sources, expanding the scope to encompass various organization types and sizes, and broadening the geographic reach, forthcoming research can offer invaluable insights for hr business leaders striving to cultivate inclusive and stable work environments. conclusion dei initiatives encompass a range of policies and practices designed to promote a diverse workforce, ensure equitable treatment, and reduce labor turnover. this qualitative pragmatic inquiry identified and explored effective strategies hr business leaders use to implement dei initiatives that reduce employee turnover in the southeast united states. the study was grounded in sit and edi frameworks. seven hr business leaders in the southeast united states who have implemented successful dei initiatives that reduce labor turnover participated. data were collected using semistructured interviews and publicly available documentation, which were analyzed using thematic coding and analysis. june 2025 | volume 4, number 2 18 thematic analysis is a research method used to identify and interpret patterns or themes in a data set; it often leads to new insights and understanding (naeem et al., 2023). four major themes were identified and presented as strategies: (a) promoting continuous training and development, (b) cultivating a positive organizational culture, (c) gaining leadership buy-in, and (d) effectively allocating employee resources and support. a key recommendation that hr business leaders should adopt is promoting ongoing or continuous training and development in unconscious bias, inclusive leadership, and cultural competence. by investing in their workforce development, organizations demonstrate a commitment to their employees’ futures, which can lead to increased job satisfaction and loyalty (armstrong & taylor, 2020). another recommendation is having leadership buy-in, which is not just another recommendation that all hr business leaders should adopt, as it is seen as an essential element in promoting an inclusive culture. leadership buy-in denotes the dedication and proactive endorsement from an organization’s senior leaders for a specific plan or endeavor (viterouli et al., 2024). as a result, companies saw increased engagement and retention, particularly among minority groups, as employees felt their voices were being amplified and respected. other implications include economic outcomes that can result in more significant investment in local services and infrastructure, stimulating local economies and providing more opportunities for community development. moreover, when businesses champion dei, they often attract a diverse customer base and tap into new markets, further expanding economic growth and creating a more inclusive marketplace that reflects the community’s demographics. these changes may allow employees to make long-term plans, invest in their development and families, and contribute to the economy through consistent consumer behavior. future researchers should continue exploring effective strategies hr business leaders use to implement dei initiatives that reduce employee turnover and expand to garner more insight. although hr business leaders have arduous tasks in implementing dei initiatives, adopting the practical strategies from this research will help reduce labor turnover in the southeast and other regions. references alnehabi, m., & al-mekhlafi, a.-b. a. 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(2024). time for change. in advances in human resources management and organizational development (pp. 267–307). igi global. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-3466-9.ch014 https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-3466-9.ch014 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 1 managerial competencies and innovative work behavior in smes salwa hassan ali abdelwahed | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama robert goldwasser | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama contact: salhas5648@gmail.com abstract this quantitative correlational study examined the relationship between leaders’ managerial competencies and innovative work behaviors (iwb) in smalland medium-sized enterprises (smes). the study's target population was human resources managers in smes operating in the united states and singapore. the theoretical foundation for this study was rooted in the resource-based view (rbv) and the theory of competitive advantage. the researcher utilized a non-experimental correlational research design and a purposive sampling method to collect data. the researcher used the online survey platform centiment to recruit participants for the study. centiment collected data from 126 participants (63 in the united states and 63 in singapore). the participants completed a 5-point likert survey with 5 demographic questions, 17 questions from the innovative work behavior instrument, and 60 questions from the managerial skills assessment instrument (msai). the researcher analyzed the collected data using r commander software to determine the correlation between the leaders' managerial competencies (independent variable) and innovative work behavior (dependent variable). the results showed a statistically significant positive relationship between the leader's managerial competencies and innovative work behavior (iwb) in smes, with a stronger relationship in singapore than in the united states. this study provided empirical evidence regarding the relationship between managerial competencies and iwb in smes. the study's findings indicated that leaders' managerial competencies trigger innovation in smes by influencing workplace innovative behavior, and that collective culture has a greater impact on the significance of this relationship than individual cultures. owners/managers of smes and policymakers can benefit from this study's findings to better understand the relationship between managerial competencies and iwb in smes, and to build strategies and programs accordingly to enhance innovation and iwb in smes. future researchers in business administration who are interested in investigating leadership and innovation in smes can build on the results of this study. keywords: small and medium enterprises (smes), managerial competencies, managerial skills, innovation, innovative work behavior (iwb), resource-based view (rbv), and competitive advantage. mailto:salhas5648@gmail.com november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 2 introduction/background this quantitative, correlational study addresses the problem of limited resources that hinder smes' ability to grow and thrive in today’s competitive, unpredictable market. smes play a vital role in driving economic growth and creating job opportunities, particularly in emerging markets and developing countries, making sme development a high priority for many governments and development institutions worldwide. smes represent about 90% of businesses and more than 50% of employment worldwide, making sme development a high priority for many governments worldwide (world bank, 2024). nowadays, market volatility, recurring financial crises, and disruptive technologies put greater pressure on companies to innovate and adapt quickly to meet rapidly changing customer needs and expectations, thereby maintaining their market share and staying competitive. innovation has become a necessity for any company to remain competitive in the business world. competition and globalization require business leaders to explore alternative approaches to doing business, developing unique products and services that can enhance market share, ensure sustainability, and create a competitive advantage (alshebami, 2021). however, smes, especially in developing countries, face challenges in accessing financial and physical resources to compete effectively in today’s dynamic market. smes suffer from inadequate resources for innovation, as they face challenges in acquiring advanced technologies or expertise and are constrained by their size, which limits their ability to operate at an economic scale. a lack of managerial competencies in smes, such as adaptability and innovation, negatively impacts the performance of smes, resulting in resource loss, an unproductive workforce, and ultimately, bankruptcy and business closure. so, there is a need to investigate the strategic resources that smes can identify and develop internally to build a competitive advantage around their core competencies. human resources are naturally unique, and when developed, they can invent new methods of doing business and utilize the organization's resources efficiently and effectively to produce differentiated products and services. managers/owners are leaders in smes, and their managerial competencies have a broad impact on innovation processes and on sme competitiveness. managers in smes, as leaders of innovative processes within the company, play a crucial role in stimulating innovative work behavior (iwb) among employees. the effectiveness of this leadership depends on the managerial skills and competencies of the leaders. leaders' competencies can lead to organizational success, while their incompetence can lead to failure in a competitive business environment (damianus et al., 2022). many companies that cannot innovate and adapt to continuous business changes due to a lack of skilled leaders and innovative employees have closed or lagged, losing market share. literature review there is limited literature regarding the relationship between the leaders’ managerial competencies and innovative work behavior in smes. most smes struggle to secure sufficient resources to mitigate the negative impacts of a global crisis on their operations, particularly compared with large firms (zutshi et al., 2021). today, smes must adopt survival strategies to address the various global challenges that impact their performance, including international market competition, global financial crises, the emergence of multinational and transnational corporations, and trade wars (gamage et al., 2020). while globalization poses challenges, such as increased competition and exposure to external economic crises, it also presents new business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 3 expansion opportunities and enables smes to reach a broader customer base (iqbal & khan, 2023). unlike large multinational companies, smes offer more radical innovations due to their innate agility and flexibility in responding to rapid market changes. accordingly, smes can thrive when they can identify and develop their strategic resources and adopt an innovative culture to offer differentiated goods and services. adla et al. (2020) argued that human resource management (hrm) in smes tends to be centered on leaders whose personal characteristics and attitudes toward risk and change influence hrm and innovation within the organization. to address the problem of limited resources in smes that impact their innovation and success in today’s competitive market, this study poses two guiding questions: 1) “do management competencies (independent variables) have a statistically significant relationship with innovative work behavior (dependent variable) in smes?” and 2) “does the relationship between managerial competencies (independent variable) and innovative work behavior (dependent variable) differ significantly between smes in the usa and smes in singapore?”. to better understand the relationship between the study variables, the researcher examined scholarly research material from columbia southern university online library and google scholar using keywords such as small and medium enterprises (smes), managerial competencies, managerial skills, innovation, innovative work behavior (iwb), resource-based view (rbv), and competitive advantage to guide database searches. the following sections provide an overview of the theoretical framework and key concepts employed in this study. resource-based view (rbv) and the theory of competitive advantage the researcher employed the resource-based view (rbv) and the theory of competitive advantage to frame the study. rbv has become dominant within the field of strategic management, and its strength lies in its ability to assist researchers by revealing how organizations can utilize productive resources to generate economic benefits and defining the attributes of resources that can help generate sustainable benefits (davis & dewitt, 2021). the rbv, as proposed by barney (1991), asserts that a company's sustained competitive advantage is rooted in its valuable, rare, inimitable, and irreplaceable resources. rbv states that developing unique capabilities and resources enables businesses to deliver superior offerings and gain a competitive advantage (mashavira & chipunza, 2021). competitive advantage theory, developed by michael porter in 1985, suggests that businesses can obtain a competitive advantage and determine their market position by either selling products at a lower price or through differentiation (daniela, 2014). recently, traditional competitive advantage strategies, such as cost leadership and market differentiation, have been replaced by strategies that emphasize capabilities and resources as key factors for sustainable competitive advantage (heriyanto et al., 2021). competitive advantage is created from resources and capabilities owned and controlled within a specific organization (willis et al., 2022). developing key managerial competencies — such as communication, leadership, and teamwork — ensures business continuity (kabii & kinyua, 2023), enabling smes to enhance performance, foster innovation, and successfully enter international markets. many researchers (e.g., heriyanto et al., 2021; igwe et al., 2024) have emphasized the importance of generating and implementing new ideas to support innovation in unstable, digital markets; otherwise, organizations will be overtaken by competitors that can generate novel, superior ideas. the theoretical foundation based on the rbv and competitive advantage theory is relevant to many smes that possess unique human capital. developing intangible resources, november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 4 such as human resources, which are valuable, inimitable, non-substitutable, and non-transferable, enables companies to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage (barney, 1991; mashavira & chipunza, 2021). the study by emmanuel et al. (2023) most recently validated the resourcebased view, demonstrating that developing and capitalizing on internal, inimitable resources and capabilities, such as human capital, creates wealth and value, providing the organization with a competitive advantage. therefore, there is a need for leaders who can create competitive advantage through the organization's core competencies and adapt to a rapidly changing competitive market (willis et al., 2022). in smes, managers are the leaders who stimulate innovative work behavior (iwb) and guide their followers to try new things. competent leaders can anticipate and meet customers' needs, generate new ideas to sustain the organization, and adopt technologies that benefit the business and boost performance (asghar et al., 2023). in addition, an innovative culture is a critical component of innovative behavior, and innovation activities help smes grow, expand, and overcome the challenges posed by limited resources, especially in developing countries (bokhari, 2022). therefore, understanding the concepts of managerial competencies and iwb, and how the two relate, is necessary to comprehend the impact of managerial competencies on iwb in smes. managerial competencies there are many definitions and multidimensional views of managerial competencies in the management literature. managerial competencies is a set of skills, attitudes, knowledge, and behavior that enable individuals to be effective in doing their jobs (mashavira & chipunza, 2021). from a human resources perspective, managerial competencies encompass a manager's ability to determine, develop, and deploy organizational resources, converting them into valuable products and services that add value for organizational stakeholders (ncube & chimucheka, 2019, as cited in kabii & kinyua, 2023). majadibodu et al. (2023) emphasized the role of managerial skills, such as communication, positive working relationships, and effective leadership, in cultivating a culture of innovation in smes. in contrast, lara et al. (2020) argued that managerial competencies reflect behaviors associated with human values that may be the same or differ among various cultures. asghar et al. (2023) demonstrated that managerial skills enhance motivation and provide proper guidance for managing an organization's resources, ultimately leading to a competitive edge. emmanuel et al. (2023) found that managerial competencies affect the performance of small-scale businesses in nigeria. the authors concluded that managerial competencies are a unique strength for managers in small-scale businesses, and that developing these competencies would improve organizational performance. on the other hand, alharbi (2021) emphasized the critical role of innovative leadership in maintaining the organization's competitiveness in today's uncertain and changing market. the author added that various characteristics of innovative leadership, such as open-mindedness, confidence, action orientation, delegation, and collaboration, enable leaders to inspire others and influence their behavior toward achieving the organization's goals. managerial competencies can drive innovation by enabling managers to identify new opportunities, develop innovative offerings, adapt to changing market conditions, lead their teams, and encourage employees to adopt new processes, thereby ensuring competitiveness (igwe et al., 2024). innovative work behavior (iwb) business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 5 innovative work behavior (iwb) refers to an individual's behavior that supports the initiation, exploration, championing, and implementation of ideas to generate innovative outcomes (de jong & den hartog, 2010). innovative behavior emphasizes a creative attitude and transitioning from traditional to advanced perspectives (loi, 2024). iwb includes generating, promoting, and implementing inventions, applying new work methods, and offering improved services and products (sutardi et al., 2022). many studies have linked iwb to organizational performance and competitive advantage, as innovation enables organizations to maximize the benefits of limited resources. for example, sutardi et al. (2022) noted that employees' innovative work behavior is crucial for an organization's competitive advantage, and there is a need to identify and improve the factors that influence iwb. igwe et al. (2024) emphasized the importance of innovation as a key contributor to organizational competitiveness, stating that developing employees' knowledge and skills would enhance innovation activities within organizations. a lack of innovative employees hinders the organization's ability to adapt to continuous business changes, resulting in a loss of market share and potential failure. innovation is essential for the survival and growth of smes in a world characterized by intense competition, rapid technological advancements, and recurring crises (adam & alarifi, 2021). on the other hand, asghar et al. (2023) illustrated how product innovation contributes to organizational success and sustainability by reducing production time and costs, generating new ideas to offer unique goods and services that meet customers' needs, and improving firm performance and productivity. iwb helps organizations gain a competitive advantage in dynamic environments and establish sustainability by exploring solutions and opportunities (alessa & durugbo, 2022). there is a relationship between employee perceptions of the organization's innovation climate and their innovative behavior, and leadership characteristics, such as transformational leadership, influence the organization's innovation climate (newman et al., 2020). managerial competencies and iwb many researchers (e.g., afsar & umrani, 2020; badir et al., 2020; shah et al., 2020) have provided empirical evidence that leadership style and competencies influence employees' innovative work behavior. human resources management competencies lead to improvements in employees' iwb (srirahayu et al., 2023) because competent leaders positively influence employees' creative and innovative work behavior, encouraging them to recognize opportunities and use creative methods to benefit their organization (sarwoko, 2020). therefore, organizations can train their supervisors to enhance their leadership competencies and improve perceptions of fairness, thereby stimulating idea generation and implementation among employees and enhancing iwbs in the workplace (muchiri et al., 2020). the study by grošelj et al. (2020) found that leaders with higher self-awareness can enhance their followers' positive psychological capital and increase followers’ self-confidence, enabling them to innovate and take on new challenges. recently, igwe et al. (2024) concluded from their empirical study of mobile telecommunication in nigeria that managerial competencies positively moderate the relationship between innovation and competitiveness. on the other hand, knezović and drkić (2021) concluded that psychological empowerment, participation in decision-making, and organizational justice are positively associated with iwb. furthermore, transformational leaders november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 6 can improve employees' attitudes toward the organization because employees often associate the organization's core values with their leader. small and medium enterprises (smes) there are many definitions of smes worldwide. in this study, an sme is defined as an independent, resource-constrained company that is labeled a small firm, an sme, an international new venture, or a new venture (zahoor et al., 2020). the growth of smes is crucial for advancing innovation, creating employment opportunities, and reducing poverty (majadibodu et al., 2023). a lack of financial resources and limited administrative and technical capacities expose smes to numerous difficulties and challenges in a world of intense competition, rapid technological change, and recurring crises (adam & alarifi, 2021). as a result, managers in smes need to optimize their companies' innovation and agility to continue operating amid crises (rahman et al., 2022). majadibodu et al. (2023) demonstrated that smes in south africa face difficulties surviving because they lack the resources to compete with big companies. the authors suggested that government support, such as training in business and managerial skills, would reduce the high failure rate of smes in south africa. smes need to develop their managers' business management skills, including leadership and human resources management, through learning and networking to achieve their objectives and contribute to economic growth (majadibodu et al., 2023). managerial skills and competencies significantly impact knowledge acquisition and innovation—they are essential for anticipating and meeting customers' needs, generating new ideas to sustain the organization, and adopting technologies that benefit the business and boost performance (asghar et al., 2023). smes can create a competitive advantage by boosting innovative behavior among their employees (knezović & drkić, 2021). although smes are valuable innovators due to their flexible structure, most research has focused on iwb in large companies, leaving a lack of literature on this topic in smes, especially in developing countries that face the most significant innovation challenges (knezović & drkić, 2021). managerial competencies and iwb in smes several studies (e.g., byukusenge et al., 2021; loufrani-fedida & aldebert, 2021; modi & rawani, 2020) connect managerial competencies to innovative work behavior in smes. strong leadership and effective managerial competencies in smes are essential to stimulating innovation and maintaining the organization’s competitiveness and growth (majadibodu et al., 2023). emmanuel et al. (2023) argued that the key challenge facing smes in developing countries is the mismanagement of internal and external resources, as managers in these companies lack the managerial competencies, interpersonal, and cognitive that enable them to innovate and sustain the organization’s survival and growth. an empirical study by bokhari (2022) on smes found that innovation culture significantly moderates the association between financial capital, experience, r&d, and firm economic performance. on the other hand, a study by sawaean and ali (2020) on kuwait's smes found that entrepreneurial leadership facilitates the formulation of innovation strategies and processes to develop smes' competitive advantage. managerial competencies and innovative behaviors tend to be more sensitive to prevailing national cultures in small companies than in large ones because the relationships between managers and their subordinates are more business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 7 informal. while american society is generally perceived as individualistic, singaporeans and other asian countries tend to hold collectivistic values (ayeh et al., 2016). methods the target population of this study was the human resources managers working in smes in the usa and singapore. the study was conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between leaders' managerial competencies (independent variable) and innovative work behavior (dependent variable), and whether this relationship differs between smes in the usa and in singapore. research questions and hypotheses the research questions and hypothesis that drive this study are as follows: rq1: do managerial competencies (independent variable) have a statistically significant relationship with innovative work behavior (dependent variable) in smes? h10: managerial competencies (independent variable) do not have a statistically significant relationship with innovative work behavior (dependent variable) in smes. h1a: managerial competencies (independent variable) have a statistically significant relationship with innovative work behavior (dependent variable) in smes. rq2: does the relationship between managerial competencies (independent variable) and innovative work behavior (dependent variable) differ significantly between smes in the usa and smes in singapore? h20: the relationship between managerial competencies (independent variable) and innovative work behavior (dependent variable) does not differ significantly in smes in the usa and smes in singapore. h2a: the relationship between managerial competencies (independent variable) and innovative work behavior (dependent variable) differs significantly in smes in the usa and smes in singapore. in this study, the researcher used a cross-sectional quantitative method and applied a nonexperimental correlational research design to examine the relationship between managerial competencies (independent variable) and innovative work behavior (dependent variable) in smes operating in the usa and singapore. the research focuses on the managerial competencies of human resources managers in smes in the usa and singapore and on how these competencies relate to innovative workplace behavior. the usa and singapore differ in location, stage of economic development, and culture. investigating the relationship between managerial competencies and innovative work behavior in two locations with different cultures is beneficial for obtaining comprehensive results and understanding how this relationship varies across countries with distinct cultural backgrounds. instruments the researcher used the innovative work behavior (iwb) instrument, developed by de jong and den hartog (2010), to measure the iwb variable and the management skills assessment instrument (msai), developed by kim s. cameron, to measure the managerial november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 8 competencies variable. the researcher obtained permission from the creators of the instruments to use them in this study. the innovative work behavior instrument focuses on four related dimensions of iwb: the exploration, generation, championing, and implementation of ideas. the msai questionnaire, developed by american researchers cameron and quinn, is used to assess managerial competencies. it contains 60 descriptions of behaviors, organized into 12 competencies, covering areas such as managing interpersonal relationships, teams, and employee development (roszyk-kowalska, 2016). the two instruments are valid and reliable, having been used by numerous researchers. sample size and data collection the researcher used the g*power software to determine the required sample size for the study. to detect a correlation coefficient of r = 0.3 with 90% power (alpha = .05, two-tailed), g*power suggests 109 participants are required to avoid committing a type i and type ii. after receiving irb approval, the researcher requested that centiment, the online survey platform, initiate data collection from a sample of human resources managers of smes operating in the united states and singapore. centiment sent invitations to participate in the survey from november 25, 2024, to december 12, 2024, and collected 126 responses (63 from the united states and 63 from singapore). figure 1 shows that 126 participants completed the study, and the g*power calculation yielded a power of 0.93, exceeding the required 0.80. figure 1 post hoc g*power calculation note. test conducted after the study. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 9 analytical methods in this study, the researcher used r commander software to analyze the collected data. the researcher used the r commander scale reliability test to calculate the survey reliability and the anderson-darling normality test to determine if the data were normally distributed. the spearman correlation coefficient was used to test the hypothesis because the two variables were not considered normally distributed. the researcher used correlation analysis to determine the relationship between the two study variables (managerial competencies and iwb). results and discussion according to the results, the 17 questions of the iwb instrument demonstrated internal consistency and reliability, with an alpha reliability of 0.9185 and a standard reliability of 0.9197. similarly, the 60 questions of msai showed internal consistency and reliability, with an alpha reliability of 0.9731 and a standard reliability of 0.9736. the researcher used the anderson-darling test to assess deviations from normality in the study. the test results indicated that the two variables were not normally distributed, as evidenced by a p-value < 0.05 (table 1). a p-value less than 0.05 indicates that the data are not normally distributed (paramasivam et al., 2024). table 1 anderson-darling normality test anderson darling study variables a p-value innovative work behavior 0.94724 0.01608 managerial competencies 1.1296 0.00568 note. the p-values indicate that the data for the two variables were not normally distributed. correlation test between managerial competencies and iwb variables the result of the anderson-darling test, as shown in table 1, indicates that the p-value is less than 0.05, indicating a significant deviation from normality, and that the iwb and managerial competencies variables were not normally distributed. accordingly, the researcher used the spearman correlation coefficient rather than the pearson correlation to assess the relationship between the study variables. table 2 illustrates a significant positive correlation of 0.81 between managerial competencies and iwb variables with a corresponding p-value < 0.05. table 2 correlation of variables using the spearman method innovative work behavior managerial competencies innovative work behavior sig. (2-tailed) 1.0 0.81 november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 10 managerial competencies spearman correlation sig. (2-tailed) 0.81 1.0 note. there is a positive and significant correlation of 0.81 with a corresponding p-value < 0.05 comparing the correlation between the two variables in the united states and singapore the purpose of the correlation test in each country was to compare the two countries within the same study and determine if the relationship between the study variables in the united states differs from that in singapore. because the researcher used the same two variables twice in the study, the bonferroni correction was applied to calculate the new type 1 and type 2 error rates for comparisons between the two variables in each country. the new type 1 error rate equaled .025 (0.05/2). the researcher used 63 participants from each country to answer the second research question, aiming to compare the two countries based on the value of r in each country. figure 2 illustrates that 63 participants from each country completed the study. the g*power calculation yielded a power of 0.57, which fell short of the required 0.80 for a correlation study. this underpower was one of the study’s limitations and will be discussed in the recommendation section. figure 2 post hoc g*power calculation note. test conducted after the study. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 11 table 3 and table 4 present the results of using data from 63 participants in each group (singapore and the united states) to calculate the correlation coefficient between the two variables (managerial competencies and innovative work behavior) for each country. table 3 correlation of variables in singapore country using the spearman method innovative work behavior managerial competencies innovative work behavior sig. (2-tailed) spearman correlation sig. (2-tailed) 1.0 0.85 managerial competencies 0.85 1.0 note. there is a positive and significant correlation of 0.85 with a corresponding p-value < 0.05 table 4 correlation of variables in the united states using the spearman method innovative work behavior managerial competencies innovative work behavior sig. (2-tailed) spearman correlation sig. (2-tailed) 1.0 0.71 managerial competencies 0.71 1.0 note. there is a positive and significant correlation of 0.71 with a corresponding p-value < 0.05 spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to test the monotonic relationship between the study’s two variables in each country. the results indicated a positive, significant correlation of 0.85 in singapore and 0.71 in the united states, with corresponding p-values < 0.05. table 3 and table 4 illustrate a strong positive correlation between the two variables across the two countries, with a higher correlation in singapore. summary of the study results there was a significant positive correlation between the variables, r (124) = 0.81, with a corresponding p-value < .001. additionally, spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, rho, was used to assess the relationship between managerial competencies and iwb variables for each group in the study (the united states and singapore). the correlation results showed a positive, significant correlation between the variables in each group, with r (61) = 0.85 and p < .001 in singapore, and r (61) = 0.71 and p < .001 in the united states. consequently, h1a was confirmed, and the null hypothesis, h10, was rejected. there is sufficient evidence, at the 0.05 level of significance, to conclude that a strong positive relationship exists between the leader’s managerial competencies and innovative work behavior (iwb) in smes operating in the united states and singapore. h2a was confirmed, and the null november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 12 hypothesis, h20, was rejected. there is sufficient evidence, at the 0.025 level of significance, to conclude that the relationship between the leader’s managerial competencies and innovative work behavior (iwb) is significant in smes in the usa and smes in singapore, and this relationship in singapore is higher than that in the united states. implications/recommendations and conclusions in this study, the researcher aimed to fill the gap in the literature by investigating the relationship between leaders' managerial competencies and innovative work behavior in smes, through the lens of the resource-based view (rbv) and competitive advantage theory. the study validated the assumptions of the resource-based view (rbv) and the competitive advantage theory, which posits that identifying and developing strategic resources that are valuable, rare, inimitable, and irreplaceable can lead to a sustainable competitive advantage within an organization. developing core competencies in smes, such as managerial competencies, would enhance the quality of human resources within the organization and optimize their contribution to the organization's success and growth. the findings of this study suggest that leaders' managerial competencies stimulate innovation in smes by influencing innovative work behavior in the workplace. future researchers in business administration can build on the results of this study, and owners/managers of smes can benefit by understanding the key factors that stimulate innovative behavior in the workplace and by designing programs and training to improve managerial competencies. the findings of this study also highlight the impact of national culture on the relationship between leaders' managerial competencies and innovative work behavior in smes, indicating that this relationship is stronger in singapore, where a collectivist culture prevails. cultural dimensions, including individualism and collectivism, impact innovative work behavior (yang et al., 2024). theoretical implications this study contributes to the business administration literature by advancing understanding of the relationship between leaders' managerial competencies and iwb in smes operating in two countries with distinct economic development and cultural contexts (the united states and singapore). the findings of this study provide empirical evidence of a statistically significant positive relationship between managerial competencies and iwb in smes in the united states and singapore, with the relationship being stronger in singapore. this study enriches the limited body of literature that relates leaders' managerial competencies to innovative work behavior in smes and responds to the calls from previous researchers who emphasized the need for further studies to examine how leadership relates to innovation and innovative work behavior, particularly in smes (e.g., alharbi, 2021; castillo-vergara & lema, 2022; muchiri et al., 2020). this study contributed to rbv and the competitive advantage theory. rbv is relevant to many smes that possess valuable, rare, and irreplaceable human capital. according to the competitive advantage theory, companies can create a competitive advantage by enhancing the value of their resources and internal capabilities (daniela, 2014). developing human resources enables companies to gain a competitive edge. developing employees' knowledge and skills enhances innovation in organizations, a key contributor to organizational competitiveness (igwe business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 13 et al., 2024). emmanuel et al. (2023) noted that developing and leveraging internal inimitable resources and capabilities, such as human capital, would add value to the organization and create a competitive advantage. this study validated that intellectual internal resources, such as managerial competencies, are key drivers of innovative work behaviors in smes, leading to continuous innovation and a sustainable competitive advantage. leaders' actions and behaviors significantly impact innovation within an organization by encouraging followers to think critically and by allowing new ideas to flow across business units, ultimately leading to a competitive advantage (alblooshi et al., 2021). this study also demonstrated that internal organizational resources, such as managerial competencies, innovative work behavior, and culture, are the most important factors in organizational success, particularly in smes. the study illustrated that the relationship between leaders' managerial competencies and iwb is significant in individual and collective cultures. however, this relationship is more significant in collective cultures where leaders are more supportive and emphasize collective interests over individual interests. this study provides empirical evidence that national culture significantly affects the relationship between leaders' managerial competencies and iwb in smes, and that collectivistic cultures strengthen this relationship more than individualistic cultures. leaders' collectivist orientation has a significantly positive effect on employees' innovative behavior (yang et al., 2024). leaders with a collectivist orientation tend to prioritize their team members' collective interests, focus on collective goals, and motivate their employees to engage in innovative activities that contribute to organizational competitiveness and growth (yang et al., 2024). in collectivistic cultures, leaders tend to focus more on collective achievements than in individualistic cultures, and they encourage collaboration among team members and the exchange of ideas to develop novel products and services in the organization's best interest. the findings of this study thus enrich the literature on business administration and can guide researchers interested in continuing research on the relationship between managerial competencies and innovation in smes. implications for professional practice the results of this study suggest a significant positive relationship between leaders' managerial competencies and iwb in smes. the findings of this study can thus assist owners/managers of smes in understanding the company's unique resources and how innovations can achieve sustainable competitive advantage by leveraging these resources creatively. owners/managers of smes must understand the key managerial competencies that stimulate innovation and innovative behavior within their organizations to create a competitive advantage and ensure survival and growth in an ever-changing, competitive market environment. organizational leaders must enable their employees' innovative behavior to deliver innovative services, products, and work processes, thereby sustaining their organization's competitiveness in global markets (tan et al., 2021). leaders can influence and drive innovation in smes, and their skills and leadership impact employees' tendencies to experiment and adopt innovative practices (modi & rawani, 2020). the findings of this study suggest that smes can overcome their financial resource constraints by investing in human capital. developing leaders' managerial competencies in smes is crucial to creating a productive, innovative workforce that ensures the organization's survival and growth. leaders' managerial competencies are essential for stimulating innovation. the lack november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 14 of competent leaders within an organization can result in a lack of innovative work behavior and unmotivated, unproductive employees, which in turn affects the organization's ability to cope with continuous business changes and can lead to a loss of market share and organizational failure. through effective communication and interaction with team members, leaders can understand customers' pain points, demands, and expectations, and then direct their team members to creatively and innovatively solve business problems, thereby maintaining the company's competitive advantage. a competent leader can also identify team members' skills and synthesize them through effective communication, knowledge sharing, and collaboration to develop new ways of working and deliver innovative products and services. the findings of this study also help owners/managers of smes, especially those operating in developing countries where access to financial resources is difficult, to identify and develop internal resources that can accumulate in the organization to create a competitive advantage. investing in human capital generates greater benefits than investing in other resources because it leads to an innovative, productive workforce that can maximize the organization's resources through creativity and innovation. policymakers, especially in developing countries, can also benefit from this study's findings and adopt strategies to develop leaders' managerial competencies in smes, thereby enhancing innovation and increasing their ability to grow locally and globally, ultimately leading to greater economic growth and new employment opportunities. recommendations for future research future studies are needed to examine the relationship between the study variables using different methods and analyses. replicating the study across different contexts and locations can yield more comprehensive and up-to-date results. this study also has limitations that may influence the interpretation of the results and impact the ability to generalize the study findings. discussing these limitations may help future researchers to consider expanding on this study by examining different variables, geographic locations, and demographics. for example, using the same sample size to answer both study questions resulted in an underpowered correlation analysis for the second question, as 102 participants per country were required to achieve a minimum power of 0.80. this underpower was one of the study's limitations, which the researcher could not avoid, as the study's primary question was to determine if there is a relationship between managerial competencies and iwb in smes operating in the united states and singapore. the purpose of the correlation test in each country was to answer the second question of the study: to compare the two countries and determine whether the significance of the relationship between the study variables in singapore differs from that in the united states. therefore, future research is needed to test the significance of the relationship between the study’s variables in each country, using a sample size that achieves a minimum power of 0.80 for correlation analysis, thereby yielding more rigorous results. there is also a need for further research to replicate the study in other contexts and regions, to better understand how culturally specific attitudes and behaviors, which vary across countries, impact innovative work behaviors in smes and how cultural differences influence managerial skills and decision-making. using a correlational design to examine the relationship between two variables in this study provided the researcher with the direction and strength of the relationship. however, a correlation design cannot generate predictions. therefore, future researchers can use regression analysis to examine the relationships among the study's variables and to generate predictions. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 15 similarly, although a quantitative approach was most appropriate for the purpose and scope of this study, a qualitative approach in future studies could allow researchers to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between leaders' managerial competencies and innovative work behavior and to answer questions about thoughts and experiences. the present study adopted a cross-sectional research design, limiting its ability to draw causal inferences. so, future studies could focus on longitudinal or experimental research designs. this study provides a reference for subsequent research examining how emerging technologies and ai adoption reshape the managerial competencies required of sme leaders in the digital era. advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (ai), machine learning, blockchain, cloud computing, and data analytics, are becoming increasingly indispensable for smes to succeed and grow in a competitive market. advanced technologies, for instance, enable organizations to operate efficiently, improve decision-making, drive innovation, and respond quickly to customer and market demands. advances in technologies also impact behaviors and relations in the workplace. therefore, further research can investigate how the adoption of advanced technologies and ai affects the relationship between managerial competencies and iwb in smes. recommendations for practice this study provided empirical evidence of a significant positive relationship between leaders' managerial competencies and innovative work behavior in smes. therefore, owners/managers of smes should prioritize recruiting and retaining competent leaders with the necessary education, skills, and experience to positively influence innovative work behavior within smes, thereby maximizing the organization's resources. today, innovation is essential in the current business environment, and creating an iwb is more than asking employees to generate and implement new ideas; it is about fostering a culture of creativity and a healthy work environment where people feel engaged, empowered, and rewarded for their innovative efforts. moreover, competent leaders hold the key to unlocking the creative potential of their employees, especially in smes, where leaders are more closely connected to their subordinates and, through their skills, actions, and behaviors, influence their subordinates' tendency to generate, implement, and champion new creative and innovative ideas. smes can effectively leverage their internal intellectual resources, such as leaders' managerial competencies, to enhance innovative behavior and create a competitive advantage. this study suggests that managerial competencies serve as strategic resources in smes. therefore, human resources departments in smes must engage in continuous learning and improvement to address the current and potential challenges facing the business environment. sme owners/managers need to regularly assess their managerial competencies and design training programs to bridge the gap between existing and required managerial competencies. they should also develop their leaders' skills and competitiveness to adapt to technological and market changes. leaders in smes must also offer a healthy example for their teams and create a positive work environment where people can perform at a high level, embrace experimentation, generate innovative ideas, and achieve organizational goals. in smes, leaders act as coaches and mentors to foster iwb among their followers, encouraging them to pursue new and valuable initiatives at work without fear or resistance (tan et al., 2021). additionally, leaders' skills and characteristics significantly influence business resilience and adaptation during turbulent periods. for example, entrepreneurial leaders can foster an innovative atmosphere in their organization by november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 16 reinforcing creativity and implementing new ideas to develop novel products (services) that create a competitive advantage (ishak et al., 2021). rapid technological changes significantly impact business management and the way people act and behave. disruptive technologies affect the relationship between leaders' managerial competencies and innovative work behavior. in the current competitive market environment, leaders need to develop their managerial competencies, including communication, networking, and collaboration, to enable their teams and organizations to adapt quickly and effectively cope with changing market conditions. building stronger relationships with employees in all units and fostering innovation among them would enable smes to maintain and increase their market share in a competitive market. today, competent and skilled leaders can harness the full potential of advanced technologies and ai innovations, integrate them into business decision-making processes, and create an environment conducive to successful digitization. leaders play a crucial role in driving and implementing digital transformation (dt) and ai technologies within their organizations, leveraging their ability to influence organizational culture, allocate resources, and align technological advancements with business objectives (bevilacqua et al., 2025). in addition, disruptive technologies like ai enable leaders to automate repetitive tasks, focus more on interpersonal relationships, and spend more time motivating, supporting, and guiding their team members. adaptation and transformation skills for leaders in smes can help build business networks and collaborative partnerships that facilitate the acquisition of advanced technologies, optimize resource use, foster innovation, and enable adaptation to evolving markets without straining the organization's budget. collaboration with suppliers, customers, universities, and international competitors is a key source of knowledge, facilitating innovation in smes (audretsch et al., 2023). smes need to adopt survival strategies, develop strategic resources, such as managerial competencies, and cultivate an innovative culture to offer differentiated goods and services that exceed customers' expectations, thereby navigating rapid market changes and maintaining the organization's competitiveness. therefore, owners/ managers of smes need to invest heavily in human resources to acquire the competencies necessary to stimulate creativity and innovation, thereby reducing the high failure rate of smes. it is essential to cultivate an innovative culture before adopting new technologies, as implementing them requires leaders who are innovative, transformational, and adaptive to drive change within the organization. managers/owners of smes must focus on factors that positively impact iwb to create an environment that facilitates innovation (marampa et al., 2024). in addition, leaders who embrace and encourage innovation would contribute positively to their nation's domestic income and create a lasting positive impact on communities by offering new products and services to meet customers' changing demands, utilizing innovative methods that conserve limited natural resources, reduce air and water pollution, and preserve the environment. policymakers need to adopt strategies and design training programs that improve leaders' managerial competencies in smes operating in their countries. enhancing leaders' managerial competencies would boost creativity and innovation in smes, making them more effective in contributing to economic growth and creating new job opportunities, thereby achieving social stability and welfare for both local and global communities. conclusion business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 17 the results of this study indicate a statistically significant positive relationship between leaders' managerial competencies and innovative work behavior (iwb) in smes in the united states and singapore. notably, this relationship is more pronounced in singapore than in the united states. the findings of this study fill a gap in the business administration literature and serve as a reference for future researchers interested in leadership and innovation in smes. the knowledge and findings of this study benefit practitioners, such as owners/ managers of smes, and policymakers interested in enhancing the performance of smes, particularly those operating in developing countries. today, innovation is the work of effective teams. smes that cultivate competent leaders and innovative employees are more likely to overcome the problem of insufficient resources and create a competitive advantage to succeed and grow in today’s competitive and dynamic market. investing in developing leadership will yield greater benefits than investing in physical resources, because human resources, due to their uniqueness, can optimize the benefits generated by other resources and transform them into valuable products and services that better satisfy customers' demands and expectations than competitors'. competent leaders can foster a positive culture among their team members and unlock their innovative 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(2021). from challenges to creativity: enhancing smes’ resilience in the context of covid-19. sustainability, 13(12):6542. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126542 https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12283 https://doi.org/10.14414/jebav.v23i2.2282 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13557 https://doi.org/10.1111/caim.12462 https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/smefinance https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12238 https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126542 business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 1 team leaders’ lived experiences during agile adoption: a phenomenological study nathaniel pleasant crews, phd | walden university, minneapolis, mn, usa jodine marie burchell, ph.d. | columbia southern university, orange beach, alabama, usa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4927-5489 contact: nathaniel.crews@waldenu.edu abstract rapid technological advancements and global competition have heightened the need for agility in organizations striving to meet evolving customer expectations. this study examined the experiences of software team leaders who adopted agile methods to enhance future agile adoption in organizations seeking to deliver timely customer value. it employed a qualitative phenomenological approach to describe the lived experiences of software team leaders throughout agile adoption. the research question asked about the experiences of software team leaders when successfully adopting agile methodologies for their software projects. the conceptual framework that guided this research was the agile software solution framework (assf). the objective of employing assf was to assess the level of agility demonstrated by software development teams and facilitate the identification of areas where agile implementation could suggest organizational and procedural improvements within the development environment. twenty-five software team leaders were interviewed who guided agile teams through the adoption of agile methodologies, chosen through purposeful sampling. this study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to examine participant data and gain insights into how individuals make sense of a specific phenomenon in their unique context. this study documented several valuable agile adoption techniques in its summary and recommendations section, thereby enhancing knowledge of agile methodologies among software development team leaders. in conclusion, this study examined the successful adoption of agile methodologies by software team leaders, providing insights into the challenges, successes, and key factors. this study benefits organizations by providing valuable insights into how software team leaders successfully adopt agile methodologies, helping them enhance their software development practices and increase adaptability in a rapidly changing market. november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 2 introduction/background in today’s rapidly evolving business and technology landscape, the ability of software development processes to adapt to changing user requirements is crucial for achieving optimal performance. g. lee and x. weidong (2010) emphasized the significance of software development agility in the face of these unprecedented changes. organizations recognize the need to become lean and agile in order to effectively meet the evolving needs and expectations of their customers while delivering high-quality products, services, and solutions efficiently (meyer & davis, 2000). consequently, many organizations strive to adopt agile processes to harness the numerous benefits they offer (altameem, 2015). the benefits of agile methodologies are widely acknowledged, including faster return on investment, improved software quality, and increased customer satisfaction (biddle et al., 2018). however, successfully implementing agile methodologies can be challenging, particularly in organizations with established practices and cultural norms that align more closely with traditional waterfall approaches (javdani et al., 2016; mcavoy & sammon, 2005; pillai et al., 2012). the transition to agile methodologies often requires a shift in mindset, team dynamics, and organizational processes, which can encounter resistance and hinder adoption. agile methodologies have emerged as a transformative approach to software development, characterized by adaptive, collaborative behaviors that deliver rapid, customerfocused value. beck et al. (2001) described agile as a set of principles and methods that prioritize maximizing business satisfaction through regular feedback cycles and the prioritized, time-boxed delivery of valuable business solutions. it fosters an agile mindset characterized by innovation, efficiency, and a customer-centric focus (rezvani & khosravi, 2019). agile software development encompasses a range of practices that accelerate time-tomarket by minimizing process overhead, establishing efficient feedback loops, and prioritizing customer-centric approaches (beck et al., 2001; szalvay, 2004). it emphasizes collaboration, reduced management bureaucracy, flexibility, responsiveness, and the incremental delivery of high-quality products (neurur & balijepally, 2007; rigby et al., 2016; williams & cockburn, 2003). the agile philosophy recognizes the empirical and nonlinear nature of software development, advocating for short feedback loops and valuing skilled individuals within the development process (williams & cockburn, 2003). trust is a fundamental aspect of agile methodologies, fostering collaboration between customers, team members, and management (khalil & fernandez, 2011; khalil & khalil, 2016). agile methodologies have revolutionized software development practices across industries such as telecom, healthcare, gaming, and interactive media. organizations increasingly adopt agile to respond to the challenges posed by an unpredictable world, empowering teams to deliver high-quality products and solutions (sharifi & rezaei, 2019). the involvement of customers throughout the development process is a key tenet of agile, allowing for flexibility and accommodating changing requirements (alahyari et al., 2017; misra et al., 2007; rasnacis & berzisa, 2017). in a rapidly evolving business and technology landscape, agile methodologies enable organizations to navigate constant change and achieve organizational agility (denning, 2016). they facilitate working smarter by maximizing value creation while minimizing unnecessary effort (denning, 2019). agile methodologies address the challenge of delivering value to customers swiftly, regardless of the complexity of the problems or opportunities at hand. as agile methodologies gain prominence, it becomes essential to delve deeper into their adoption, implementation, and impact. this doctoral literature aimed to explore the experiences business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 3 and perspectives of software development team leaders during the adoption of agile methodologies within agile teams working on system development. by gaining insights into their lived experiences, this research aims to uncover lessons that can guide future efforts to adopt agile practices in organizations seeking to adopt a customer-centric, adaptive approach. while agile methodologies offer significant potential for organizations, they also present challenges that can hinder successful implementation, even for well-prepared organizations (appelbaum et al., 2017a, 2017b). these challenges encompass various aspects, including insufficient agile experience, a lack of executive sponsorship, attempting enterprise-wide agile adoption without first achieving success at the project level, resistance from managers unwilling to shift their roles, unrealistic planning expectations, underestimation of planning requirements, inadequate incorporation of necessary technical practices, overreliance on agile tools, and prematurely assuming a complete agile adoption (alahyari et al., 2017; handscomb et al., 2018). upon reviewing the existing literature, a research gap emerged: the lack of heuristic studies focused on agile adoption. heuristic inquiry, a qualitative research method, involves investigators personally engaging with the phenomena under study (moustakas, 1994). these personal encounters often reveal profound and transformative experiences. heuristic analysis is a valuable tool for understanding the world and making informed decisions in situations with limited information. considering this gap, this phenomenological dissertation aims to address the need for a heuristic perspective in exploring the adoption of agile methodologies. by employing this qualitative approach, the study sought to capture the essence of individuals’ experiences during the agile adoption process, providing valuable insights into their transformative journeys. through an in-depth exploration of the experiences of successful agile adopters, this research aimed to bridge the existing gap in the literature and provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges, critical success factors, and transformative aspects of agile adoption. by gaining insights from those who have successfully implemented agile methodologies, organizations can benefit from valuable guidance and improve their own agile adoption efforts. ultimately, this study aimed to contribute to the existing body of knowledge and to provide practical recommendations to enhance the effectiveness and outcomes of agile implementations across organizations in various industries. literature review by critically analyzing the existing literature and synthesizing the key findings, this literature review provided a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge on agile adoption in software development. it contributed to the understanding of the lived experiences of software development team leaders and shed light on effective strategies and challenges in agile adoption. the agile software solution framework (assf) the core of assf is a 4-dimensional analytical tool (4-dat) for measuring team agility across four independent dimensions: scope, agility features, agility values, and process. each dimension includes several quantitative and qualitative categorization criteria. the assf has six november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 4 identified aspects of agile software development methodologies: abstraction, agility, people, process, product, and tools (see figure 1). the process aspect of the assf included three models of a software process: a software process fragment model, a software process scope model, and software process/method choreography. the process aspect encompasses various types of processes, including the development process, project and process management process, risk management process, and others. the agility aspect of the assf encompasses the concepts of agility, agile values, and principles, and includes two models: the agility measurement model (amm) and the agile adoption and improvement model (aaim; balakrishnan, 2016). the responsibilities and accountabilities of individuals or teams are associated with these models at the time of model enactment and instantiation for specific situations or projects. the amm model provides a framework for agile teams to measure agility and select an appropriate agile level for specific projects. the aaim, along with the amm, will guide organizations or software development teams in effectively adopting and improving agile practices within specific organizations for specific situations or projects (balakrishnan, 2016). the product aspect of the assf comprises three models of a software product: the software product fragment, the software product scope model, and the software product choreography. the product aspect encompasses various types of software applications, including object-oriented, agent-oriented, service-oriented, and others. the responsibilities and accountabilities of individuals or teams are associated with these models at the time of model enactment and instantiation for specific situations or projects (balakrishnan, 2016). the tools aspect of the assf provides two guiding vision models: an agile tools model and an agile workspace choreography model. the responsibilities and accountabilities of individuals or teams are associated with these models at the time of model enactment and instantiation for specific situations or projects. the tools model characterizes agile software development tools to guide self-organizing agile teams in using or abandoning specific tools for specific situations or projects. the tools model presents a mental model to represent various types of tools: development tools, automated testing tools, deployment tools, automatic documentation generator tools, and communication tools (balakrishnan, 2016). the people aspect of the assf characterized the attributes of agile people and agile teams. it provides two models: the agile people model and the agile team choreography model. agile culture the agile organizational environment must include a focus on culture to minimize or prevent mistakes early in the process, thereby reducing the need for extensive rework. organizations that are unwilling to learn from these mistakes suffer it failures and may cease to exist after one or two significant failures (charette, 2005). turk et al. (2005) investigated the assumptions underlying agile software development and found that some assumptions did not apply in all software development environments or organizations. some of these assumptions were not aligned with, or directly conflicted with, the organization's assumptions, and management must align the development needs with the development process. culture was a critical factor in the success of agile, and it must have a culture of trust to be aware of factors that can impact employees. education, partnership with executives, training, business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 5 and a willingness to adapt are all essential steps in the value chain, providing an understanding that agile is a continuous journey. booch (2007) explored collaborative development environments and found that ultimately the quality of the system is directly the responsibility of the development team and their direct labor. collaborative environments are team-centric and focus on the user experience to meet the team's needs. psychologically, there is a subtle yet essential shift in perspective. teams create a collaborative design or development environment that is distinct because software developers must manipulate deep artifacts with equally complex associations among teams and through it resources, spanning either short or long physical distances. cross-functional teams are redesigned from the ground up and function through several iterations, listening to customers who match the agile methods. agile mindset the agile mindset is a way of thinking that involves understanding, collaborating, learning, and staying flexible to achieve high-performing results. by combining the agile mindset with processes and tools, teams can adapt to change and deliver incremental value to their customers (jaafari & amiri, 2019; schwaber, 2015). during agile adoption and transformation, teams that understand the scrum process well enough and even grasp some agile principles but lack the necessary mindset often encounter roadblocks in the transition. getting the mindset right is what moves teams to high performance, a level of performance described as “optimal productivity,” “astonishing results,” and “a team that can do anything.” an agile mindset is the set of attitudes supporting an agile working environment. these include respect, collaboration, improvement and learning cycles, pride in ownership, focus on delivering value, and the ability to adapt to change. this mindset is essential for cultivating high-performing teams, which in turn deliver exceptional value to their customers. agile leadership roles agile leaders also helped teams progress in their maturity. agility is not binary; teams go through predictable stages as they enhance their ability to learn and improve. leaders create a supportive environment in which teams can progress; they provide coaches and exposure to peers who can help teams learn; and they commit themselves to improving their own abilities in parallel. where agile leadership comes into play in the management context is ensuring that the different parts of the organization, with their varying operating models, do not undermine each other. put more positively, agile leaders need to help the organization optimize for flexibility and continuous improvement, ensuring that improving customer outcomes always takes priority and that the rest of the organization supports this mission. however, other things need to be done as well. agile leaders, like most leaders, are organizational representatives and agents of change. their actions facilitate others to promote support for organizational goals. bass (2016) asserted that leaders are role models who motivate individuals towards defined visions and goals. a leader’s personal actions shape others' expectations and behaviors within the organization, which, in turn, influence job performance (demirtas & akdogan, 2015). hocine and zhang (2014) argued that leaders motivate and guide subordinates to complete organizational initiatives, thereby contributing to the project outcome. when a project is directed by effective leadership, team performance and productivity are enhanced, work quality improves, and the likelihood of positive project outcomes increases (araújo & pedron, 2015). november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 6 agile project management under traditional project management, projects were divided into distinct phases: requirements, design, coding, and testing. each phase was completed before the next phase began, and previous phases were not revisited (banerjee, 2016). in contrast to this linear sequence of traditional project management, agile project management, a more recent approach, implements short iterative cycles of product delivery (heidrich et al., 2014). product features are delivered incrementally, and code is integrated continuously. with this method, customers have a functioning product quickly, rather than waiting for months for completion under the traditional model. since its inception over a decade ago, agile software development has become a mainstream software development model. management competencies outlined in the agile project management handbook stress “flexibility over predictability, value-driven as opposed to plan-driven, with incremental rather than one-shot delivery, putting greater emphasis on a team-based approach” (taylor, 2015, p. 673). the agile approach was designed to embrace changes during project development. like the traditional project management approach, agile is set up in phases. rather than a single, large process model implemented in the conventional software development life cycle, the development cycles are broken into smaller parts, and the increments are revisited at each phase of development (leau et al., 2012). agile product owners according to unger-windeler et al. (2019), the product owner is responsible for prioritizing and overseeing the development team’s tasks, ensuring the company derives as much value as possible from the team’s work on a scrum team. you can think of an agile product owner as the project management lead in the product’s development. when they receive the high-level goals and plans from product management, product owners will translate that strategy into stories and other individual tasks for the product backlog. unger-windeler et al. (2019) also stated that product owners serve as the bridge between the product’s strategic and tactical plans. product owners can be members of the product management team, but at most companies, they are part of the development team. agile team coordination and communication coordination, referred to in the agile manifesto as collaboration, was a primary key to success during adoption. not only is adopting a large-scale agile framework complex and challenging, but teaching adaptation practices at the team level is equally complex. coordination is an essential part of collaboration; automated testing tools, infrastructure, and environment are positively impacted by agents that work together (mansor et al., 2016). shared information helps achieve common goals, and graphical elements facilitate understanding between disparate groups. communication is also vital for the transfer of knowledge and information and supports the successful coordination of projects. orłowski et al. (2017) identified the business environment as dynamic and characterized by rapid change, complexity, and uncertainty. technological progress and reduced political barriers create the possibility for people and business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 7 organizations to work almost anywhere, anytime. applying knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities ensures the successful handling of dynamic changes. agile software development williams and cockburn (2003) state that agile software development is centered on feedback and change, emphasizing that software development is an empirical, nonlinear process in which short feedback loops are necessary to achieve a desirable, predictable outcome (liechti et al., 2017). drury et al. (2012) argue that agile methods must contribute to one or more of the following: driving change, proactively anticipating change, responding to change, or learning from change. furthermore, an agile method must contribute to, rather than detract from, perceived economy, quality, and simplicity. a third requirement is to be continually prepared to use the component. thus, agile software development has been characterized differently from plan-based or traditional development methods, primarily by emphasizing adaptation to change and delivering high-quality products through straightforward processes. neurur and balijepally (2007) stated that agile and traditional methods differ in several areas, including their fundamental assumptions, approaches to control, management styles, knowledge management, role assignment, customer roles, project cycles, development models, and desired organizational structures. collaboration challenges of agile teams alzoubi et al. (2016) categorized factors that complicate communication in geographically distributed teams: physical distance, team configuration, project characteristics, and customer interaction. rizvi et al. (2015) categorized communication complexities applicable to remote teams as communication challenges that included (a) time zone differences; (b) deficient asynchronous interaction; (c) language barriers; (d) imperfect collaborative infrastructure; and (e) insufficient cooperation on priorities, requirements, and reviews. alzoubi et al. (2016) reviewed the literature to analyze the communication factors that complicate collaborations in geographically distributed teams and recommended potential solutions. they identified several mitigating characteristics, including limiting distribution to no more than 2 teams, encouraging face-to-face communication via video tools and site visits, facilitating frequent product demonstrations, supporting trust and honesty within the team, promoting organizational support for rapid, frequent communication, and systematic refactoring of development code. failure to understand business processes places the quality and sustainability of software development at risk (sundararajan et al., 2014). however, agile methodologies, especially scrum, can be a good fit for agile projects if there are regularly scheduled information exchanges, such as weekly team retrospectives and general project progress discussions (paasivaara & lassenius, 2014). to streamline knowledge sharing among agile teams, bass (2016) proposed dividing project-related information into syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic objects. syntactic objects represent the technical domain, semantic objects are part of the business area, and pragmatic objects are components of project management, including resources and scheduling. in large-scale agile projects, a knowledge-sharing strategy should be part of the agile process (bass, 2016). while emphasizing the importance of establishing knowledgesharing practices for scaling agile development, santos et al. (2015) developed a model for november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 8 integrating knowledge sharing in the organizational environment and motivation activities. they reported that successful knowledge-sharing practices among agile team members enhance the company's competitiveness. knowledge of project requirements is a critical element of the agile team dynamic (strode et al., 2009); team members depend on each other to work together and have a singular understanding of the objectives. two additional knowledge dependency paradigms are domain expertise and task allocation (strode et al., 2009). temporal dispersion refers to differences in work time or time zones, and, like spatial distance, temporal distance poses common and wide-ranging hurdles (alzoubi et al., 2016; nguyen-duc et al., 2015). espinosa et al. (2015) posited that the temporal gap has a greater impact on team performance than does the geographical gap. by studying the effects of temporal distance through a more straightforward concept of interactivity and measuring interactivity levels, espinosa et al. found that using well-chosen communication technology mitigated the effects of time zone differences on the performance of remote teams. they noted the benefit of temporal teams’ dislocation in situations where development, testing, and other activities span a wider temporal range. there is general agreement among scholars that coordination of cost and higher project complexity are consequences of temporal distance (verner et al., 2014). to mitigate these challenges, verner et al. (2014) suggested predefined overlapping work schedules and periodic co-location of teams or team members at key moments of product development. human factors influence the agile adoption process. departing from familiar traditional methodologies and embracing an agile process is challenging for some individuals (gandomani & nafchi, 2016). gandomani and nafchi (2016) studied human-related barriers to agile adaptation and found inaccurate perceptions of the new methodology might be the reason for incomplete or failed transformations. these human-related factors included resistance to change, unrealistic expectations, and cultural issues. lenberg et al. (2016) supported these findings, noting that readiness for change in software engineering firms is a function of members’ awareness of the need for change and perceptions of inclusion in organizational change. there was valuable learning on successful team collaboration to be gained from the theme of agile coordination and communication. the importance of collaboration, coordination, and communication in agile teams is often discussed and rarely disputed. these activities are supported through various practices, including pairing, customer collaboration, stand-ups, and the planning game. the learning from this theme will be further analyzed in conjunction with the findings from the interview sessions to be conducted. . agility and organizational change improved organizational agility enhances the organization’s ability to respond effectively and proactively to unexpected environmental shifts (appelbaum et al., 2017b). the customer’s role has evolved from being a recipient of a transaction, product, or service to one that enables them to improve these products and services (yang & liu, 2012). it is no longer sufficient for an organization to produce products and services that it thinks will appeal to customers. the ability to sense unexpected changes, be attuned to customers’ expectations, and adjust internal capabilities, structures, and products ahead of competitors is crucial for maintaining a competitive advantage (yang & liu, 2012). appelbaum et al. (2017b) found that organizations used to compete on economies of scale achieved through control and hierarchy. the competitive environment has shifted, and economies of scale alone are no longer sufficient; they must be balanced with strategic agility, as opportunities are short-lived. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 9 situational awareness, a key characteristic of an agile workplace, enables workers to understand how their work fits into the larger system, strengthening their focus on what they are doing, what is possible, and how their work and its connection to the larger system can be improved. ross (2018) stated that situational awareness enables workers to detect environmental changes and quickly adapt their work to them as they occur (joroff et al., 2003). ross (2018) also stated that agile organizations learn to incorporate micro improvements into the system. micro improvements accumulate over time and can lead to significant transformations, fostering a continuous improvement mindset and workers' abilities (joroff et al., 2003). rehearsing change is another characteristic of agility, which allows continuous experimentation and refinement of the change, while simultaneously increasing workers’ buy-in of the change, as opposed to the traditional change pilots, which are often used to evaluate the effectiveness and deem a change as success or failure (joroff et al., 2003). agile adoption overview agile adoption is a change in process from a traditional, sequential development model (e.g., waterfall) to one that aligns with agile values and principles (denning, 2016; gandomani & nafchi, 2016). agile is considered an alternative approach to traditional project management or product development. it can be summarized as a value-based, iterative approach under which requirements and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organizing crossfunctional teams. agile emphasizes adaptive planning, evolutionary development, continuous delivery of value, and continuous improvement, encouraging rapid, flexible responses to change. the focus during agile adoption is on process change, which moves a software team from one process, such as waterfall, to an agile process or framework. the most common change in process is the implementation of the scrum framework. it could also mean implementing kanban, lean software development, extreme programming (xp), or another agile methodology (denning, 2016; jovanović et al., 2017). the adoption also requires significant changes in the organization’s behaviors and cultures. the adoption includes new processes, people, management, culture, and technical issues. in my study, business values are considered the core component, and focus emerges as a business value that requires clear goals. the transition must facilitate and achieve business value (gandomani & nafchi, 2016). adoption cannot be achieved overnight or within a short period. change elicits responses that range from inaction to acknowledgment, rectification, and dissuasion. inaction is often due to the awareness of resistance or inability to respond (vrhovec, 2016). acknowledgment recognizes the resistance but may not do anything else. rectification intends to solve the problems. dissuasion attempts to prevent the resistance through coercion, authoritative persuasion, or supportive persuasion; inaction and acknowledgment only increase resistance. rectification and dissuasion can lower resistance; however, the most effective response to opposition is congruent rectification (vrhovec, 2016). the benefits of adopting agile are many. agile development accelerates the delivery of initial business value. through continuous planning and feedback, it can ensure that value is maximized throughout the development process. adaptive iterative planning and feedback learning loop mean that teams can continuously align the delivered software with the desired business needs, easily adapting to changing requirements throughout the process (denning, 2019). organizations can significantly reduce the project risk associated with software development (denning, 2019). finally, by following an agile process, project outcomes result in november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 10 a software system that better addresses business and customer needs. finally, by following an agile process, project outcomes result in a software system that better addresses business and customer needs. methods the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the firsthand experiences of agile practitioners and uncover critical factors and practices that contribute to the successful adoption of agile methodologies in system development projects. by understanding their lived experiences, this research aimed to shed light on the challenges they faced, the strategies they employed, and the lessons they learned throughout the agile adoption process. the target population consisted of software development team leaders in the united states who had successfully adopted agile methodologies for their teams. to recruit participants, we presented my research at three local chapters of the project management institute (pmi). the local pmi chapters assisted in distributing my recruitment flyers before my presentation, and we engaged with chapter members afterward to address any questions they had regarding the research. over 50 chapter members in the united states received research flyers. additionally, we used linkedin to contact 60 individuals (both men and women) who appeared to meet the research criteria based on their profiles. the ending sample consisted of 25 software development team leaders from various companies. data were collected via semi-structured face-to-face interviews lasting approximately 1 hour each. an interview protocol was employed, incorporating open-ended questions. the data analysis involved a thematic analysis of the collected data to identify observations, patterns, and themes that emerged from the participants’ experiences. this interpretive analysis aimed to uncover the deeper meanings and insights inherent in the participants’ experiences, enabling a rich understanding of the phenomena under investigation. research question: the central research question (rq) of this doctoral study was as follows: what were the lived experiences of software team leaders during the successful adoption and implementation of agile methodologies for their software development projects? sample interview questions: 1. what is the “burning reason” or business justification why your company chose to adopt agile frameworks and practices? 2. what were your key performance indicators (kpi) and/or objectives and key results (okrs) for your agile initiative? 3. what benefit(s) was the organization seeking from an agile adoption? 4. describe your agile mindset and the agile mindset of the software teams and business partners during the agile adoption. findings the participant demographics are displayed in table 1. the 25 participants were identified throughout data collection and analysis as p01-p25. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 11 table 1 participant demographics participant gender agile roles location experience in years agile software development p1 f sm denver, co 20 20 p2 m — — 18 18 p3 m sm sf bay area, ca 16 16 p4 m sm denver, co 18 18 p5 m sm, product owner, agile pmo lead torrance , ca 16 16 p6 f sm greenwood, in 8 8 p7 m sm, agile coach, software pm phoenix, az 11 16 p8 m software project lead, sm phoenix, az 5 12 p8 f sm, senior agile coach washington, dc, area 10 17 p10 m agile project leader washington, dc 11 18 p11 m sm grand rapids, mi 15 22 p12 m — — 7 17 p13 m sm, project lead philadelphia, pa 8 18 p14 f product owner, agile coach golden, co 12 21 p15 m agile pmo lead, sm, agile coach burbank, ca 14 20 p16 m sm, senior agile coach santa monica, ca 15 24 p17 m software project lead, sm salt lake, ut 13 20 p18 m sm, senior agile coach — 16 19 p19 m — — 20 24 p20 m enterprise agile coach, sm, senior project manager, program manager salt lake, ut 23 24 p21 m sm, senior agile coach santa clara, ca 16 22 p22 f sm, agile coach sf bay area, ca 13 20 p23 f sm, senior agile coach denver, co 16 23 p24 m — — — 27 p25 m sm, senior agile coach sf, ca 23 28 note. participants p2, p12, p18, p19, and p24 dropped out of the study. dashes indicate data unavailable for these participants. f = female; sm = scrum master; m = male; sf = san francisco; pmo = project management office; pm = product manager. the data analysis resulted in 5 themes. they are 1) cultivating an agile mindset for organizational adaptability, 2) agile leadership as a catalyst for team maturity, 3) organizational culture as a determinant of agile sustainability, 4) change management as a critical enabler of november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 12 agile adoption, and 5) tools and processes as enablers of agile efficiency. these themes are also discussed here in relation to existing scholarly literature. collectively, these findings emphasize that agile is not merely a project management methodology but a transformative organizational philosophy requiring alignment across mindset, leadership, culture, and infrastructure. theme 1: cultivating an agile mindset for organizational adaptability one of the most prominent findings from the participant narratives was the centrality of an agile mindset, which is characterized by adaptability, openness, resilience, and a continuous learning orientation. as one participant stated, “the agile mindset is about being willing to change when things don’t work and being open to learning from mistakes.” this sentiment captures the essence of agility as more than just speed—it is about the capacity to pivot in the face of uncertainty and to frame change as an opportunity rather than a threat. the literature supports this perspective, with ozkan and gok (2020) identifying the agile mindset as the foundation of organizational agility, rooted in proactive problem-solving and iterative improvement. edmondson and lei (2018) further emphasize that psychological safety— an environment where individuals feel safe to take risks and share ideas—is critical for cultivating such a mindset. without this safety, openness and experimentation are stifled. denning (2019\) also notes that embedding agile values such as respect, openness, and focus into team norms and rituals helps organizations maintain operational resilience in dynamic and unpredictable environments. theme 2: agile leadership as a catalyst for team maturity the study revealed that leadership plays a pivotal role in determining the success and maturity of agile adoption. participants consistently described leaders not as traditional authority figures, but as facilitators and enablers: “leaders here aren’t telling you how to do your job— they’re clearing obstacles so you can do your job.” this reflects the principles of servant leadership, where leaders focus on supporting and empowering their teams rather than exerting top-down control. rigby et al. (2016) argue that agile leaders are essential in scaling agile practices across organizations, serving as cultural role models and reinforcing agile principles in decisionmaking. moe et al. (2021) expand on this by showing that leaders who embrace transparency and adaptability foster team autonomy, ultimately enabling self-organization and accountability. these leadership qualities are not only beneficial to agile teams but also necessary for sustaining agility in large-scale, complex organizational environments. theme 3: organizational culture as a determinant of agile sustainability another dominant theme was the recognition that organizational culture either enables or inhibits agile sustainability. one participant warned, “if the culture doesn’t support openness and trust, agile becomes just another set of meetings.” this reflects a common pitfall where organizations adopt agile processes but fail to embrace the values that underpin them. denning (2019) asserts that culture change is not optional in agile transformations; it is the transformation. organizations with high-trust, collaborative cultures are more likely to sustain agile practices over time (poth & jähn, 2020). conversely, cultures rooted in rigid business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 13 hierarchies or blame-oriented dynamics can undermine agile by stifling transparency, feedback, and shared ownership. this finding reinforces the need for agile transformation efforts to go beyond process implementation to reshape cultural norms actively. theme 4: change management as a critical enabler of agile adoption change management emerged as a critical enabler of agile adoption, with participants citing structured rollout strategies and visible early successes as key to gaining stakeholder buyin. as one respondent explained, “we started small, proved it worked, and then expanded— people need to see success before they’ll buy in.” this incremental approach aligns with established change management models that emphasize phased implementation, stakeholder engagement, and continuous feedback loops. dikert et al. (2016) found that pilot projects serve as effective laboratories for building confidence in agile practices before scaling. van waardenburg and van vliet (2019) highlight that adaptive governance—adjusting decision-making structures based on feedback—helps organizations refine agile processes and maintain relevance in changing environments. this study’s findings affirm that agile change management is not a one-off event but an ongoing process of learning, adaptation, and scaling. theme 5: tools and processes as enablers of agile efficiency the final theme emphasizes the role of tools and processes in making agile principles actionable. participants consistently reported that well-aligned tools enhance transparency, streamline communication, and enable real-time progress tracking. as one participant observed, “our tools let everyone see exactly where things stand, so nothing gets lost in translation.” kuhrmann et al. (2017) note that tools must be integrated seamlessly into workflows to avoid becoming administrative burdens. forsgren et al. (2018) argue that tooling is most effective when paired with disciplined agile rituals—such as stand-ups, retrospectives, and backlog refinement—that maintain team alignment and momentum. the synergy between tools and processes allows organizations to balance the discipline required for consistent delivery with the flexibility needed to adapt. findings summary the findings of this study reinforce the idea that agile adoption and sustainability require a multidimensional approach that integrates mindset, leadership, culture, change management, and enabling tools. the five themes identified in this research are not discrete elements but interdependent components of a holistic agile ecosystem. a strong agile mindset empowers teams to embrace change; agile leadership removes barriers and fosters autonomy; a supportive organizational culture sustains trust and collaboration; effective change management ensures adoption gains momentum; and robust tools and processes operationalize agile values into daily practice. in a rapidly evolving business environment, organizations cannot rely on static strategies. agile offers not just a set of practices but a philosophy that equips organizations to adapt, innovate, and thrive. the study’s insights provide a roadmap for leaders seeking to embed agility into their organizations' dna, ensuring that agile is not a passing trend but a lasting capability. november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 14 by aligning strategy, culture, and execution, organizations can transform agile from a methodology into a strategic advantage—one that enables resilience, responsiveness, and sustained competitive performance. the findings from the experiences of agile leaders during a successful agile adoption highlight the significance of the assf (agile success and sustainability framework) conceptual model as a powerful indicator for formulating and planning an agile adoption project. the project manager assumes a critical role in ensuring the successful completion of a project, which entails meeting the constraints of scope, time, cost, quality, resources, and risk as approved between project management and senior management (pmi, 2013). however, project success is influenced by multiple factors beyond project management, and project managers face constant pressure from various stakeholders to achieve their goals. project management is driven by the goals of minimizing costs, delivering projects on time, achieving high-quality outcomes, and meeting stakeholder expectations. it is crucial to define and manage project success, considering that a significant portion of it projects are canceled before completion or incur substantial cost overruns (standish group international, 2014). however, the concept of project success remains subjective (berssaneti & carvalho, 2015; müller, 2016). the elements of time, scope, and cost, often referred to as the iron triangle, are closely associated with project success due to their interdependence (bronte-stewart, 2015; davis, 2013). many organizations face challenges with projects that exceed budgets, change scopes over time, and fail to meet deadlines. the literature suggests that project failure often stems from the project environment, tasks, and people, and when a project fails, it involves shortcomings in management, sales, and implementation (lehtinen et al., 2014). previous research has underscored the crucial role of project management in project success or failure, emphasizing the importance of critical tasks such as risk identification and control, schedule monitoring, and cost and scope management (nguyen, 2016). the findings of this study align with prior research, highlighting the interconnectedness of multiple variables. study participants also identified poor communication and engagement as primary contributors to project failure, leading to the inability to meet cost and time expectations and achieve customer satisfaction. conversely, participants perceived project success as meeting expectations regarding time, budget, scope, and added value to the client, thus aligning project success with failure. key elements of success included fostering a positive team environment, effective time management, clear and articulate communication, well-defined project criteria, and strong leadership. the importance of clearly defining project criteria aligns with prior research advocating the early definition of success criteria in the project development phase (heagney, 2013; joslin & müller, 2015; pmi, 2013). the involvement of project stakeholders and considering their objectives are also crucial for determining project success (bronte-stewart, 2015; heagney, 2013). stakeholder involvement allows them to select success criteria that are important to them, aligning the project’s goals with their needs and considering available resources and risks (joslin & müller, 2015; cullen & parker, 2015). as a result, the attributes used to measure project success have evolved to be more focused on quality and meeting stakeholder needs. the notion of success defined by added value to the client aligns with this stakeholder-centered focus. motivating and guiding subordinates toward achieving goals and initiatives is a key element of project success. the actions of transformational leaders play a vital role in developing expectations and behaviors within the organization, influencing performance, quality, and results business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 15 (bass, 2016; hocine & zhang, 2014; araújo & pedron, 2015; demirtas & akdogan, 2015). transformational leaders inspire their followers by fostering a shared vision and considering their needs; this qualitative analysis provided valuable insight into participants’ experiences with successful agile adoptions in the selected population. the analysis revealed that the agility aspect of the agile software frameworks (assf), including the agile mindset, was a significant contributor to successful agile adoptions. the participants reported that the agile mindset provided a foundation for effective communication and collaboration, emphasized continuous improvement, and focused on delivering value to the customer. recommendations and implications some recommendations for new research topics related to agile adoptions: 1. a qualitative or quantitative research study that explores the impact of agile transformation on organizational culture: this research could investigate how agile adoption affects an organization’s culture, including changes in leadership, team dynamics, and employee engagement. 2. a qualitative or quantitative research study that examines the role of project management in agile adoption: this research could investigate the relationship between project management and agile adoption, including the benefits and challenges of integrating agile principles into project management practices. 3. a qualitative or quantitative research study that investigates the impact of agile adoption on software quality: this research could explore how agile adoption affects software quality, including the role of testing, continuous integration, and code reviews in improving software quality. 4. identifying factors that contribute to successful agile transformation: this research could investigate the key factors that contribute to a successful agile transformation, including leadership support, training and coaching, and team buy-in. 5. comparing different agile frameworks and practices: this research could compare different agile frameworks and practices, including scrum, kanban, and lean, to identify their strengths and weaknesses in different contexts. 6. evaluating the effectiveness of agile adoption in different industries: this research could investigate the effectiveness of agile adoption in different industries, including healthcare, finance, and manufacturing, to identify best practices and challenges. research study agile adoption recommendations agile methodology has become a popular approach to software development and project management. many organizations are adopting agile practices to increase flexibility, improve speed to market, and enhance overall organizational effectiveness. however, implementing agile practices can be complex and challenging. in this paper, we will provide recommendations for executive sponsors on how to adopt and transform to an agile methodology successfully. after conducting this research study, this researcher offers the following general recommendations for agile adoption. develop a clear agile strategy: the first step in adopting agile methodology is to develop a clear strategy. this strategy should outline the goals and objectives of the agile transformation, along with the expected outcomes. the strategy should also define the roles and november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 16 responsibilities of key stakeholders, including the executive sponsor, project managers, and development teams. by having a clear strategy, organizations can ensure that everyone is aligned and working towards a common goal. provide adequate training and resources: one of the biggest challenges in adopting agile methodology is ensuring that everyone in the organization is adequately trained and has the necessary resources. this includes training in agile methodologies, tools, and techniques, as well as access to the necessary software, hardware, and other resources. organizations should also provide ongoing support and coaching to help teams adopt and integrate agile practices into their daily work. encourage collaboration and communication: agile methodology is based on collaboration and communication between team members. executive sponsors should encourage and facilitate collaboration by forming cross-functional teams and promoting open communication. this can be achieved through collaborative tools such as chat applications, online collaboration platforms, and video conferencing software. by encouraging collaboration and communication, organizations can improve their productivity and increase their overall effectiveness. foster a culture of continuous improvement: agile methodology is based on the principles of continuous improvement and adaptation. to successfully adopt and transform to an agile methodology, organizations must foster a culture of continuous improvement. this means encouraging teams to identify areas for improvement, experiment with new approaches, and regularly review and reflect on their processes and practices. by fostering a culture of continuous improvement, organizations can increase their agility and responsiveness to changing market conditions. experiment with pilots and prototypes: ensure key stakeholders have a common understanding of agile concepts and benefits. set up a robust feedback mechanism to involve stakeholders early in the process. show and communicate progress and success. envision agile benefits, desired outcomes, a foundational roadmap, and how to measure success. plan a concise, contextualized strategy for agile transformation. others throughout the organization will recognize when something extraordinary is happening and will jump on the bandwagon to adopt a promising methodology. inadequate experience with agile approaches: most new agile teams have members who are inexperienced in applying basic agile practices and unfamiliar with successful agile transformations. an agile process will expose problems and issues with the project more quickly than a more traditional development process; addressing them is also not always very clear to new and inexperienced agile teams. challenges can arise in prioritization, breaking requirements into testable, independent increments, and understanding and communicating the problems to be addressed in a retrospective, among other areas. these challenges can add up and make the difference between the team’s success or failure with agile. understand that inexperienced teams need more formal processes and guidance. focus on collaborating to design an intuitive product or process rather than extensive training. include an experienced agile resource to coach the team, leveraging their substantial experience in agile methods and success with agile practices. optimize work with distributed teams by utilizing easily accessible, intuitive communication and collaboration tools. whenever possible, maintain stability among team members on a project until its completion. this will help teams mature and develop a cadence and well-defined velocities that provide better predictability to product owners and stakeholders. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 17 invest in making training and continued coaching guidance available for the teams to consult. encourage a learning organization by launching a community of practice. executive leaders should model the behavior they want their management team to display. lead by being an example and living the values they want them to adopt, and help middle managers understand how they fit into the changing organization. aim to get business units aligned through training: this helps to ensure that managers of different areas are not siloed and understand the implications of interacting with teams that do work in the new way. the goal should be to break dependencies across the entire organization. adopt an agile funding model that allows for investment in small increments, enabling prototyping, early learning, and course correction. this approach enables cross-functional teams to learn and adapt to an agile methodology. change your metrics. identify new metrics that move away from measuring and tracking lines of code, quality issues, and reports as success factors and deliverables. focus on the “working product” and value delivery; they should be the primary measures of success in an agile environment. moreover, to achieve this, facilitate continuous collaboration between the business and the development team. process recommendations embrace an iterative and incremental approach: an agile mindset requires a focus on delivering value in small, incremental increments. this means breaking down projects into smaller, manageable chunks and delivering working software at the end of each iteration. by embracing an iterative, incremental approach, teams can quickly respond to changing requirements and deliver value to customers more quickly. prioritize collaboration and communication: these are key components of an agile mindset. teams should prioritize communication and collaboration between team members, stakeholders, and customers. this can be achieved by establishing regular meetings and communication channels, such as daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. by prioritizing collaboration and communication, teams can improve their productivity and reduce the risk of misunderstandings and miscommunications. focus on continuous improvement: an agile mindset emphasizes continuous improvement. teams should regularly reflect on their processes and practices to identify areas for improvement. this can be achieved by holding regular retrospectives and using metrics and feedback to identify areas for improvement. by focusing on continuous improvement, teams can increase their agility and responsiveness to changing market conditions. emphasize customer value: an agile mindset emphasizes delivering customer value. teams should prioritize delivering working software that meets their customers' needs. this can be achieved by involving customers and stakeholders in the development process, gathering feedback, and using metrics to measure customer satisfaction. by emphasizing customer value, teams can ensure they deliver software that meets their customers' needs and provides business value. embrace change and adaptation: an agile mindset requires a willingness to adapt to changing market conditions. teams should be open to changing requirements and be willing to adapt their processes and practices as needed. this can be achieved by using agile methodologies such as scrum and kanban, which prioritize flexibility and adaptation. by embracing change and adaptation, teams can increase their agility and responsiveness to changing market conditions. november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 18 agility recommendations developing an agile mindset is critical to successfully adopting and transforming to an agile methodology. teams should adopt an iterative and incremental approach, prioritize collaboration and communication, focus on continuous improvement, emphasize customer value, and be open to change and adaptation. by adopting an agile mindset, teams can increase agility, accelerate time-to-market, and enhance overall organizational effectiveness. the following are those behaviors demonstrated by those who possess an agile mindset: 1. respect most teamwork needs to start with respect for your fellow teammates. at the organizational level, respect for colleagues, the customer, and the product itself is also key to maintaining an appropriate work environment. 2. collaboration with increasingly complex systems being built and subsequently complex problems being solved, no one person would be able to hold all the necessary information in their head to complete a task. additionally, working collaboratively with other parts of the organization will decrease the number of handoffs necessary to deliver. facilitating collaboration through tools, office space, and behavioral norms can improve the quality and quantity of collaborative discussions. 3. improvement cycle no process should be set in stone. there is always room for improvement. an organization supporting such behavior would have a light hold on procedural adherence. 4. learning cycle allowing individuals to try something new, and yes, possibly fail, allows the staff to learn and improve themselves. individuals should not be dinged for mistakes but instead supported for taking risks and increasing the group’s knowledge. 5. focus on delivering value the main point of an agile team is to deliver value to the customer. the team should be able to focus on what is most valuable at the time and deliver, knowing that others in the organization (managers and scrum masters, for example) are there to help remove any impediments. 6. ability to adapt to change if the customer calls two hours after a meeting and wants changes, the organization rolls with it. any process to manage this change can’t impede the change. this agility mindset is the environment within which agile teams flourish. it is neither a prerequisite for agile adoption nor required for a functional agile team. nevertheless, if this mindset is cultivated and nourished, whether before, during, or after agile adoption, the teams and the company will experience excellent results, happy employees delivering outstanding value, and making customers elated. agile organizational recommendations transformation is about efficiency, agility, and adopting fresh thinking to tap into new markets or revenue streams. or, better yet, both. how do you do it? to start, take note of how other successful transformational leaders drive success. then, you will need to align business and it interests to establish priorities, a vision, and outcomes. business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 19 aligning business and technology leaders around a unified view of value is key to business transformation. critical to that effort is trust. trust stems from vulnerability and empathy toward others. listening to understand the business or it's goals, needs, and challenges can help establish a trusting relationship that will work to your benefit the rest of the way. aligned teams that trust each other and share goals also benefit from sharing wins. the more wins, the more validated the relationship. the more validated the relationship, the more momentum gained to continue toward transformation. iterative wins and organizational momentum also help justify future investment in it modernization and digital transformation to boards and other stakeholders. an agile approach provides checkpoints for both it and business stakeholders to evaluate whether they are adequately supporting and enabling one another. then collectively, transformation leaders can assess whether the path taken is appropriate or needs updating. develop a clear vision and strategy: change agents and executives should define a clear vision and strategy for agile adoption and transformation. this includes defining the objectives and goals of the transformation, identifying the teams and departments that will be impacted, and determining the resources required for successful adoption. by developing a clear vision and strategy, change agents and executives can align teams and stakeholders around a common goal and facilitate a successful transformation. lead by example: change agents and executives should demonstrate a commitment to agile methodologies. this includes actively participating in agile ceremonies, encouraging teams to adopt agile practices, and modeling behaviors that support agile principles such as collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement. by leading by example, change agents and executives can inspire teams to adopt agile methodologies, demonstrating the importance of agile transformation. provide training and support: change agents and executives should equip teams with the training and support needed to successfully adopt agile methodologies. this can include providing training on agile frameworks and practices, as well as coaching teams on implementing agile methodologies in their day-to-day work. by providing training and support, change agents and executives can help teams build the skills and knowledge required for successful agile adoption and transformation. foster a culture of innovation and experimentation: change agents and executives should foster a culture of innovation and experimentation within their organization. this includes encouraging teams to experiment with new ideas and approaches and providing support for these efforts. change agents and executives can also create a safe space for experimentation by encouraging teams to learn from failures and providing resources for testing and prototyping. by fostering a culture of innovation and experimentation, change agents and executives can help teams embrace agile principles such as flexibility, adaptability, and continuous improvement. empower teams and encourage autonomy: change agents and executives should empower teams and encourage autonomy in decision-making. this includes providing teams with the resources, tools, and support they need to make decisions and take ownership of their work. change agents and executives can also provide guidance and support to help teams make informed decisions and ensure alignment with organizational goals. by empowering teams and encouraging autonomy, change agents and executives can help teams increase their agility, responsiveness, and accountability. november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 20 agile leadership recommendations despite being the initiators of agile transformations, executives and managers can sometimes represent the biggest obstacles to successful implementation. these leave agile coaches and team leads in a frustrating professional paradox: facing the most resistance from the very people who hired them. though the reasons for this resistance may vary, the results are often the same: failed transformations, fragmented teams, and wasted time and resources. to combat this, agile experts must arm themselves with an agile transformation strategy that brings leaders firmly on board. leaders must also commit to continually investing in and supporting transformation efforts, even those that do not call for their direct participation. if the problem is that leaders are failing to grasp the benefits of agile, demonstrating them in practice can be an effective way to address it. there are two ways to approach this, at the team and leadership levels, but the key to both is to frame any changes as an experiment. one way to reassure leaders is to acknowledge the discomfort and get it out in the open. sometimes the problem does not seem so much from a resistance to agile specifically but to change in general. resistance is a typical response to all types of change, particularly in the workplace. leaders can be especially sensitive when the need for that change implies failures on their part, and managers can feel attached to a status quo that they themselves helped create. in this way, organizational transformation efforts can feel like personal criticism. agile transformation tips for upper management executives: • define the sense of urgency: as an executive, your workforce will depend on you to convincingly deliver a vision for agile change. unite your workforce by creating a burning platform that highlights the need for change and establishes a common ground for everyone. • realize commitment and buy-in of executive members: to achieve upper management commitment, the necessary stakeholders will need to be given the mandate to implement the change within their divisions and departments. budgeting will play a large role in this, as the available assets will directly determine what can and cannot be done with resources. you will want to define the impact of the agile transformation on budgets and how you will shift finances from the current to the future state, ensuring all executives have the means to implement the change. • create a transformational team: the initiative of the agile transformation itself will need a guiding team, often a virtual team spread across various areas of the organization, to implement the change and act as a soundboard during the implementation. • organize an agile maturity scale and metrics within the organization: to be able to measure progress and improvement throughout the transformation, we need a baseline measurement of agile practices and maturity throughout the organization. try to do this at least on the level of the individual teams – we will need this information to select pilot teams. • start with pilot teams: even the most comprehensive, full-blown agile transformation starts by taking baby steps. for most organizations, this will mean treading new business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 21 ground, and you will want to be careful about how to approach the transformation. select one or two teams as pilots within the organization. • define how you will scale and expand: growing beyond pilot teams, decide how you will expand the agile transformation within your organization, and set up a matching governance structure to support this discussion. • focus on added value: as an organization, a great way to add value across the board is by implementing transparent marketplaces with re-usable materials for the teams to use. to incentivize improvement, define clear kpis and okrs for everyone to follow, and ensure the teams are working towards well-understood epics. integrated agile framework michael spayd and michele madore have developed an agile transformation cultural model, which is a valuable tool for organizations seeking to adopt agile methodologies. the agile transformation cultural model developed by spayd and madore is based on the premise that successful agile transformations require a shift in organizational culture. the model comprises four key components: leadership, values, practices, and structures. the first component of the model, leadership, refers to the need for leaders to model and promote agile values and behaviors. leaders play a critical role in shaping organizational culture, and their support is essential for a successful agile transformation. leaders must be willing to embrace agile values, such as transparency, collaboration, and customer focus, and model them in their own behavior. the second component of the model, values, refers to the need to align organizational values with agile principles. values such as continuous improvement, flexibility, and responsiveness are essential for agile success. organizations must be willing to let go of traditional values and embrace new ones that support agile methodologies. the third component of the model, practices, refers to adopting agile practices and processes. this includes practices such as scrum, kanban, and lean, as well as agile engineering practices such as test-driven development and continuous integration. organizations must be willing to invest in the training and development necessary to support these practices. the fourth component of the model, structures, refers to the need to create organizational structures that support agile methodologies. this includes creating cross-functional teams, flattening hierarchical structures, and embracing self-organizing teams (see figure 3). figure 1 integral agile transformation framework november 2025 | volume 4, number 3 22 structures must be designed to promote collaboration, communication, and transparency. spayd and madore’s agile transformation cultural model provides a valuable framework for organizations seeking to adopt agile methodologies. the model emphasizes the importance of leadership, values, practices, and structures, and provides a roadmap for organizations to follow. michael spayd and michele madore’s agile transformation cultural model provides a valuable framework for organizations seeking to adopt agile methodologies. the model emphasizes the importance of leadership, values, practices, and structures, and provides a roadmap for organizations to follow. numerous case studies have demonstrated the model's effectiveness, and organizations that adopt it can enjoy a competitive advantage in the marketplace. in conclusion, an agile transformation framework model is a valuable tool for organizations seeking to adopt an agile approach to project management and software development. by following the key components of the framework, organizations can create a clear vision and strategy, establish a governance model, provide training and coaching, create a culture of continuous improvement, and sustain the transformation over the long term. with the proper framework in place, organizations can successfully navigate the challenges of agile transformation and realize the benefits of agile practices. summary in summary, this research project has provided valuable insights into the experiences and perceptions of software development team leaders as they adopt agile frameworks and practices. through our analysis of the data, we have identified the key factors that contribute to successful agile adoption, including training and coaching, management buy-in, and effective communication and collaboration among team members. we have also identified the challenges teams face during the adoption process, including resistance to change, a lack of understanding business management research and applications: a cross disciplinary journal 23 of agile principles, and difficulty transitioning from traditional project management practices. overall, this research contributes to a better understanding of the benefits and limitations of agile adoption and provides recommendations for practitioners considering it for their software development process. this study's findings revealed that agile adoption is a complex process that involves significant cultural and organizational change. the study participants identified several challenges to agile adoption, including resistance to change, lack of buy-in from senior management, and difficulty in implementing agile practices. however, the study also identified several benefits of agile adoption, including improved team collaboration, increased customer satisfaction, and faster time-to-market. this study's findings also revealed several factors that influence successful agile adoption, including leadership support, employee engagement, and organizational culture. the study participants emphasized the importance of leadership support in driving successful agile adoption, as well as the need for employee engagement and participation in the adoption process. the study also found that organizations with a culture of innovation and continuous improvement were more likely to adopt agile methodologies successfully. this study makes several contributions to the field of agile adoption. firstly, the study provides a detailed understanding of the lived experiences of individuals involved in agile adoption, helping organizations better understand its challenges and benefits. secondly, the study identifies the factors that influence successful agile adoption, which can help organizations develop strategies to support it. finally, the study highlights the importance of organizational culture in agile adoption, which can help organizations to create a culture that supports agile methodologies. in conclusion, your dissertation on a qualitative phenomenological study of agile adoption in organizations makes a valuable contribution to the field. the study's findings highlight the challenges and benefits of agile adoption, as well as the factors that influence its success. the study emphasizes the importance of leadership support, employee engagement, and organizational culture in driving successful agile adoption. the study's findings can help organizations develop strategies to support agile adoption and foster a culture that supports agile methodologies. references alahyari, h., svensson, r. b., & gorschek, t. 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