College of Business

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The Mission of the Jake Jabs College of Business & Entrepreneurship (JJCBE) is to provide excellence in undergraduate and select graduate business education.

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Alcohol consumption and its adverse effects in Poland in years 1950-2005
(Hindawi Publishing Corporation, 2011-05) Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka; Mielecka-Kubien, Zofia
This study examines changes in alcohol consumption and its adverse eﬀects in Poland from 1950 to 2005. First, we estimate the total alcohol demand function and test Becker and Murphy’s (1988) rational addiction model. Next, we explore substitution eﬀects between beer, wine, and spirits and report income and own- and cross-price elasticities of demand for beer, wine, and spirits. Finally, we examine some adverse eﬀects of alcohol consumption: traﬃc accidents, suicide rates, and vandalism rates. In particular, the eﬀect of lowering the blood alcohol level limit (BAC) on traﬃc accidents is estimated.
Alcohol consumption, beverage prices and measurement error
(Alcohol Research Documentation, Inc., 2003-03) Young, Douglas J.; Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka
Alcohol price data collected by the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers Association (ACCRA) have been widely used in studies of alcohol consumption and related behaviors. A number of problems with these data suggest that they contain substantial measurement error, which biases conventional statistical estimators toward a finding of little or no effect of prices on behavior. We test for measurement error, assess the magnitude of the bias and provide an alternative estimator that is likely to be superior. Method: The study utilizes data on per capita alcohol consumption across U.S. states and the years 1982-1997. State and federal alcohol taxes are used as instrumental variables for prices. Results: Formal tests strongly confirm the hypothesis of measurement error. Instrumental variable estimates of the price elasticity of demand range from -0.53 to -1.24. These estimates are substantially larger in absolute value than ordinary least squares estimates, which sometimes are not significantly different from zero or even positive. Conclusions: The ACCRA price data are substantially contaminated with measurement error, but using state and federal taxes as instrumental variables mitigates the problem.
Alcohol prices, consumption and traffic fatalities
(Southern Economic Association, 2006) Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka; Young, Douglas J.
We examine the relationships among alcohol prices, consumption, and traffic fatalities using data across U.S. states from 1982 to 2000. Some previous studies have found large, negative associations between alcohol taxes and fatalities. However, commonly used price data suggest little or no connection between alcohol prices and fatalities. These apparently conflicting findings may result from measurement error and/or endogeneity in the price data, which biases ordinary least squares estimators toward a finding of no price effects. Using alcohol taxes as instrumental variables, fatalities are found to be negatively related to prices. In addition, alcohol consumption is strongly positively related to fatalities. However, biases may still remain, because taxes are not entirely suitable as instruments.
Alcohol taxes and beverage prices
(National Tax Association, 2002-03) Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka; Young, Douglas J.
Alcohol involvement in auto crashes, homicides, and teen drinking is an important policy concern, and the price of alcohol may have significant effects on these behaviors. Are alcohol taxes quickly and fully passed on to consumers? Given the difficulties of accurately measuring beverage prices, are beer taxes a good empirical proxy for the price of alcohol? Using pooled cross section–time series data on state and Federal alcohol taxes and beverage prices, beer taxes are found to be poor predictors of alcohol prices. Controlling for state and period effects, excise taxes appear to be over–shifted: Retail prices rise by more than the amount of the tax, and the rise occurs within 3 months.
As Compared to What? Characteristics of the AACSB Institutions That Utilize the Major Field Test in Business
(2014-09) Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka; Brown, F. William
Publishers of the Major Field Test - Business (MFT-B), an assessment of learning instrument, provide a list of institutions utilizing the instrument and a table which allows comparison of local MFT-B mean scores to those of other institutions. The absence of information regarding the comparison group’s characteristics limits the validity of that comparison. This study provides a comparison of the institutions accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and utilizing the MFT-B to those accredited institutions which do not, along with an estimation of the probability that a school will use the MFT-B for assessment purposes.
Differential Gender Performance on the Major Field Test–Business
(2013-01) Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka; Brown, William F.
The Major Field Test in Business (MFT-B), a standardized assessment test of business knowledge among undergraduate business seniors, is widely used to measure student achievement. Many previous studies analyzing scores on the MFT-B report gender differences on the exam even after controlling for student's aptitude, general intellectual ability, and motivation. The authors’ results point to two reasons behind this phenomenon. First, it is important to control for critical thinking abilities while explaining variation in MFT-B scores. Second, motivation to perform well on the test varies between genders and high- and low-performing students.
Do Football Teams Learn from Changing Coaches? A Test of the Deceleration Hypothesis
(2014-06) Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka
The paper explores the nature of change and finds evidence in favor of deceleration hypothesis: prior changes of a given type decrease the likelihood of a subsequent change of the same type while controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. We analyze leadership changes by explaining factors that influence football teams to replace their coaches. We use panel data for 33 National Football League’s teams from 1976 to 2008.
The impact of intellectual heterogeneity on academic performance in business education
(Academic and Business Research Institute, 2012-07) Brown, F. William; Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka
This study extends previous lines of research which have identified academic achievement determinates among undergraduate business students by analyzing the impact of intellectual variance on business education. A quantile regression approach is utilized to estimate whether the returns on certain student characteristics, most notably the variance in intellectual ability as signaled by ACT score distribution across student cohorts in undergraduate business programs, differ along the conditional distribution of their Major Field Test in Business (MFT-B) test scores. A systematic examination of the relationship between academic ability (using the ACT as a proxy) and academic achievement (measured by the MFT-B) found no significant effects of either hetero- or homogeneity in academic ability variance on academic achievement for high ability students. There was also no support for contentions that high ability students might be disadvantaged by the presence of low ability colleagues. Quite interestingly A positive and significant effect was found for lower ability students from 20th to 50th percentile of the MFT-B distribution. While intellectual or academic ability, as signaled by the ACT, certainly appears relevant in terms of individual achievement, there is no indication that an admissions policy which creates cohorts with heterogeneity of innate intellectual ability has any significant impact on the academic achievement high ability individuals and may in fact benefit lower ability individuals within that cohort. Limitations and further research opportunities are discussed.
Is Higher Better? Determinants and Comparisons of Performance on the Major Field Test in Business
(2012-01) Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka; Brown, William F.
Student performance on the Major Field Achievement Test in Business is an important benchmark for college of business programs. The authors’ results indicate that such benchmarking can only be meaningful if certain student characteristics are taken into account. The differences in achievement between cohorts are explored in detail by separating the effect of high-achieving students choosing certain majors (characteristics effect) from the effect of the returns on these characteristics that students realize during their college educational experience (return effect).
Published, Not Perished, but Has Anybody Read It? Citation Success of Finance Research Articles
(2012-10) Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka
Citation counts are widely used in academia in hiring, tenure, promotion, salary increases, merit pay as well as to rank departments, journals and authors. However, no previous study examined the factors that influence citations in finance journals. This article examines how the number of citations is affected by authors’ collaboration, advertising and ‘salesmanship’ efforts, journals rank, article placement in the journal, and authors’ experience. We employ 16 years of data and use the Tobit model to study the number of citations. Also, we use the hazard model to estimate the probability of an article being cited for the first time. The empirical results show significant relation between the number of citations and the ranking of authors’ university, placement of an article in a journal, the length of an article, and the number of references included but no significant effect of collaboration, grant support, and the number of presentations and acknowledgments. Additionally, we conclude that it is important to use a long time series data to analyse citations in finance.
Software applications course as an early indicator of academic performance
(Academic and Business Research Institute, 2013) Benham, Harry C.; Brown, F. William; Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka
This study’s objective is to determine if students who were unable to successfully complete a required sophomore level business software applications course encountered unique academic difficulties in that course, or if their difficulty signaled more general academic achievement problems in business. The study points to the importance of including a software applications course early in business schools’ curriculum and examines factors associated with a applications course early in business schools’ curriculum and examines factors associated with a success in the course, as well as in students’ early college GPA. An examination of the characteristics of the students who do not successfully complete the business software applications course, and a comparison to the local predictive Major Field Test in Business (MFT-B) scoring model, suggests that over 84% of the unsuccessful students would be likely to receive an MFT-B score below the 50th percentile of an institutional normative distribution and 45% would be expected to score in the bottom 20% of that same distribution. Students who failed the course were predicted to score 23% lower on the MFT than comparable students.
Triggers of Organizational Change: Duration, Previous Changes, and Environment
(2014-03) Bielinska-Kwapisz, Agnieszka
This article explores triggers of organizational change. In particular, how the likelihood of future changes is influenced by duration between the changes, the number of previous changes, and the surrounding conditions. Rule changes are analysed by examining factors that influence US states to update their excise tax rates on beer and cigarettes using panel data for 48 contiguous states. We provide evidence in favour of the deceleration hypothesis: prior changes of a given type decrease the likelihood of a subsequent change of the same type. We found support that the likelihood of organizational change increases with duration (the time between the changes). States updated their beer and cigarette tax rates in response to accumulation of inflation not letting the rates to become obsolete. Finally, our results indicate that changes in surrounding conditions positively influence the probability of change. State legislators take the opportunity of changes in the neighbouring states to change their own taxes. A logit model to estimate the probability of change and a hazard model to estimate the time to change are employed.