I have been involved in many aspects of student research. I believe involving students in research improves their performance in a learning community. Although I have worked with many students, both at ACU and globally through the MSR doctoral dissertation program, my most memorable time spent was with Jess Weeden, a psychology student who became interested in my research when she was a student in the Core Program. Jess traveled with me to many conferences and decided to attend graduate school at the University of Georgia after graduating from ACU. Jess was a model student during her undergraduate studies and her story was read by Dr. Schubert during the Spring 2014 graduation commencement.
Representative samples of student mentoring at ACU are provided as follows:
Undergraduate Research:
Conference Presentation: Biometric and Psychometric Indices in Yahoo Dataset. ACU Undergraduate Research Festival, March 2016 with C. Duke.
Conference Workshop: Spirituality that Shapes Identity. Academy of Management Conference, August 2013, Orlando, FL, with J. Weeden.
Conference Paper: The Ethics of Gender Neutral Work Environments. Christian Scholars Conference, June 2013, Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN, with J. Weeden.
Undergraduate Research Festival -supported Jess Weeden in preparation and presentation at the 2011 and 2012 UG research festivals. Topics: Economic Impact of the Proverbs 31 Woman, Socioemotional Wealth scale development.
Undergraduate Research Festival (2012)- supported Landon Gray, freshman Computer Science student, in the development of a presentation on recent innovations in in-memory computing appliances. I was a mentor for Landon who was a research assistant in the SITC Scholarship program for the 2011-2012 school term.
An unsolicited note from a member of the Undergraduate Research Committee can be found here.
Conference Paper: Socioemotional Wealth’s Influence on Business Success. Christian Scholars Conference, June 2012, Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN, with Jess Weeden, a sophomore in the Department of Psychology at ACU. The focus of this research is scale development using exploratory factor analysis, which supports research methods used in her discipline. A letter of reference from Jess Weeden can be found here.
McNair Scholars mentor and advisor, summer 2010. Supported research with E.J. Johnson, IV, Marketing major, entitled, “Generation Y Marketing through Social Networking”, paper and conference presentation.
McNair Scholars mentor and advisor, summer 2009. Supported research with Sandy Marshall, business major, entitled, “Stratified Banking Practices and Economic Stability: A Content Analysis of Black Wall Street”, for a paper and conference presentation.
Joseph Mead (2010-2011) – conducted research through interviews for data collection efforts to support the development of a book under the working title: Personal Excellence: A Guide to Teaching African-American Students in Christian Higher Education, also proposal for Personal Excellence: The Art of Influence and Affluence in a Relationally Divided World (Joseph Meade). Both titles promote the concept of being Missional (21st Century Vision) in diverse student populations in higher education.
Kyle Smith (2010 thru 2014) – supported the revision and submission of a paper for Journal of Management, Spirituality, and Religion (JMSR) entitled, “Evaluating the role of a non-profit in missional change management”. This paper was written to promote missional management as a grand theory similar in form to Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST), as proposed in IS research by DeSanctis and Poole in 1996. Kyle used this experience to apply for law school and was accepted at Pepperdine Law School in fall 2010. Kyle finished law school and became the Assistant Attorney General for the state of Texas in 2014 and is active in the IJM (International Justice Mission).
Coordinated consulting/internship/mentoring relationship with local company – Instrument Maintenance – for e-commerce and ERP courses. Company funded $4000 for a Research Assistant for fall 2010 and spring 2011, and awards for team projects in both classes. Joseph Mead served this company as a student web developer under a spring 2011 internship.
Received approval to use iPads in research for students enrolled in the spring 2011 IS410 ERP Systems course. Students studied the use of mobile technologies to increase the efficiency of decision making processes in companies using ERP systems. Supports SAP’s mobile initiative for enterprise systems.
Graduate Research:
David Galaz – Taught independent study special topics graduate research course, summer 2010
Serge Galore – spring and summer 2010, worked with graduate student on Health Care research in Africa
Xiaojuan Wang – worked from 2010 to present with graduate student from China to develop blackbox (application planning stage) for a relationship management system for businesses in China
Wenxin Yan – fall 2010, spring 2011, worked with graduate engineering student from China to develop a hybrid environmental/energy system and business simulation
Entrepreneurship:
Assigned projects for four student teams to complete in the 2010 Springboard competition and worked with a student application development team to compete in the 2011 Springboard competition. Second group won honorable mention and was awarded one year of free office space to develop their business.
Dissertation Support
I have worked each year to mentor PhD students at the proposal stage of their dissertation. At the Academy of Management, I’ve worked with the following students from 2012 to 2018 to help in submitting their dissertation proposals to the MSR Dissertation Awards program. A link to one recent email from one of the 2018 recipients is included in her listing.
2012 MSR Most Promising Dissertation Award Winners
Kumar Alok, Chandragupt Institute of Management, Bihar, India
“Developing a Scale for Measuring the Triguna Construct”
Marlon Monger, California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University – San Francisco, CA
“The Development of Intercultural Identities as an Untapped Resource for Business”
Kasey Sand, University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, MD
“Mindful leadership: An Empirical Investigation into Assessing the Development of Mindful Leaders and their Influence on Workplace Stress, Employee Well-Being, and Resulting Employee Performance”
2013 MSR Most Promising Dissertation Award Winners
Brad Fulton, Duke University, Durham, NC
“Bridging and Bonding: How Religious and Racial Diversity Influence Organizational Effectiveness”
Ashwini Gangadharan, The University of Texas Pan American, Edinburg, TX
“Can I Smile with Spirit?: Towards a Process Model Associating Workplace Spirituality and Emotional Labor”
Raymond Chiu, McMaster University – Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
“Religious and Spiritual Beliefs in Organizations”
2014 MSR Most Promising Dissertation Award Winners
Afra Saeed Ahmad, George Mason University, Washington, D.C.
“Implications of Revealing a Religious Identity in the Workplace”
Shiva Taghavi, HEC Paris School of Management, Paris, France
“When Your Culture Advocates You: The Impact of Religious Beliefs and Cultural Identity on Work Ethic”
Faisal Alshehri, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, East Manchester, UK
“The Effect of Islamic Beliefs on Ethical Judgments of Management and Marketing Professionals: A Behavioural Business Ethics Approach”
2015 MSR Most Promising Dissertation Award Winners
Natika Chaiyanupong, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand (Alliant International
University).
“Living the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy: A Study of Thai Business Decision Makers”
Katrin Schaefer, AUT, Auckland, New Zealand
“How Social Entrepreneurs’ Inner Realities Shape Transformational Change”
Kira Schabram, University of British Columbia: Vancouver, BC
“The Challenges of Enacting Meaningful Work: The Impact of Callings on Career, Creativity and Compassion”
2016 MSR Most Promising Dissertation Award Winners
Andrew Lynn, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
“Theopreneurs and Purpose Disruptors: Faith-Based and Purpose-Grounded Efforts for Workplace Transformation Among Postindustrial Knowledge Workers”
Pooya Pirmaleki, Kharazmi University, Tehran Province, Tehran
“Etiology of the Contradictory Results of Studies on Religion and Organizational Behavior”
Amy Nagley, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA
“Running Head: Transcendent Purpose and Emotion”
2017 MSR Most Promising Dissertation Award Winners
Edward Chávez Jr., Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
“Connecting Religious Identity Salience and Ethical Decision-Making: Examining Religion’s Link to Moral Development”
Thushini S. Jayaward, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
“Ethical Decision-Making in Organisations in Sri Lanka: A Buddhist Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis”
Mai Chi Vu, Durham University Business School, Durham, England.
“Spiritual Leadership: A Buddhist Approach to Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability”
2018 MSR Most Promising Dissertation Proposal Award Winners
Ayesha Sengupta, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, IA
“Awakening Shakti Within: Empowerment from Within to Without”
Elva A. Resendez, Texas A&M Commerce, Commerce, TX
“Exploring Spirituality and Affective Commitment as Antecedents to OCB”
Joseph E. Barbour, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
“Intrapersonal Culture Clash: The Effect of Cultural Identity (In)congruence on Three Aspects of Decision Making”