Theses and dissertations

This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students. 

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Economics and Sustainability: Analysing the Global Impact of Business Through the Lens of Sustainable Practices

Description

This thesis details the impact of sustainable practices, or lack thereof, among IKEA and Chanel. It takes these principles and analyzes the effectiveness of them and works to implement them across industries and companies of different sizes and organizational structures.

ContributorsL'Heureux, Kendall James (Author) / Foote, Nicola (Thesis director) / Alcantara, Christiane (Committee member) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
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An Intersectional Mestiza Consciousness: Redefining Colonial and Gender Narratives in Speculative Fiction

Description
Speculative fiction creates possibility in the imaginary through its ability to induce futuristic thinking. In Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s 2020 novel Mexican Gothic and Lizzie Borden’s 1983 film Born in Flames, the deployment of speculative fiction enables the authors’ feminist protagonists to resist and then defy systems of oppression. While Mexican Gothic’s…

Speculative fiction creates possibility in the imaginary through its ability to induce futuristic thinking. In Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s 2020 novel Mexican Gothic and Lizzie Borden’s 1983 film Born in Flames, the deployment of speculative fiction enables the authors’ feminist protagonists to resist and then defy systems of oppression. While Mexican Gothic’s heroine, Noemí, must navigate typical Gothic tropes to discover the true horror of colonial subjugation, Born in Flames demonstrates resistance against corrupt governmental powers in a dystopic society through feminist organization. This thesis argues that Gloria Anzaldúa’s mestiza consciousness – a framework by which to understand conflicting ideologies at identity crossroads – and Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectionality – a theory that accounts for the unique discrimination an individual faces depending on the combination of their race, gender, sexuality, etc. – can be used in tandem to recognize destructive internal and external cultural, societal, political, and economic influences. The inclusion of Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera amplifies the importance of recognizing colonial, racist, and patriarchal histories and the subsequent ability to rewrite these narratives. I contend that the application of these theories, used in conjunction with the teachings within Borderlands/La Frontera, yield an optic from which women of color in these speculative pieces may find liberation for themselves and others from unjust systems of power.
ContributorsTelles, Isabella (Author) / Van Engen, Dagmar (Thesis director) / Alcantara, Christiane (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2022-05
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Effects of Phonotactic Probability during Early Novel Word Recognition

Description
The goal of this study was to examine whether there is any effect of phonotactic probability during the early phases of novel word recognition. In order to determine this, I performed two experiments. In Experiment 1, 33 adult monolingual English speakers learned 24 novel word-object pairings, half of which were…

The goal of this study was to examine whether there is any effect of phonotactic probability during the early phases of novel word recognition. In order to determine this, I performed two experiments. In Experiment 1, 33 adult monolingual English speakers learned 24 novel word-object pairings, half of which were high English phonotactic probability words and the other half were low English phonotactic probability words. I additionally included three conditions that varied the amount of exposures to each novel word-object pairing (i.e. One Exposure Condition, Two Exposures Conditions, and Five Exposures Condition). Experiment 2 was designed to clarify results found in Experiment 1, with improved randomization and fewer conditions (i.e. One Exposure Condition and Five Exposures Condition). The findings from both experiments were statistically significant in accuracy for Training condition, but not statistically significant for phonotactic probability nor for an interaction between phonotactic probability and Training condition. Although participants demonstrated learning across conditions there is no indication of a relationship between high and low phonotactic probability and novel word recognition. Collectively, these findings suggest that future studies will be necessary to determine if there is indeed an effect of phonotactic probability on early novel word recognition.
ContributorsQuinones, Sara Cristina (Co-author) / Quiñones, Sara (Co-author) / Benitez, Viridiana (Thesis director) / Tecedor Cabrero, Marta (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Cosmetic Industry Sustainability Analysis: Case Study Comparison of The Body Shop and Bath & Body Works

Description

The cosmetic industry has a significant lack of data on sustainability practices. The global market for cosmetics is expected to grow from $288 billion in 2021 to $415 billion in 2028 as more people populate the globe (Cosmetics Market Size, Share, & COVID-19 Impact Analysis, 2022). This research paper analyzes…

The cosmetic industry has a significant lack of data on sustainability practices. The global market for cosmetics is expected to grow from $288 billion in 2021 to $415 billion in 2028 as more people populate the globe (Cosmetics Market Size, Share, & COVID-19 Impact Analysis, 2022). This research paper analyzes sustainability within the cosmetic industry. Specifically, comparing the practices between The Body Shop and Bath & Body Works. To test the hypothesis that The Body Shop is more sustainable than Bath & Body Works, a case study analysis was conducted to measure the companies’ performance in the environmental, economic, and social sectors. Comparable metrics were selected, and a pairwise comparison was completed to weigh the different metrics. To analyze the results, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to ensure consistency in metric weights, and a Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze the sector's final weights. The results verified the hypothesis that The Body Shop was more sustainable than Bath & Body Works. In all, the results support the idea that the cosmetic industry needs stronger regulations and oversight of cosmetic companies’ sustainability impact. One of the most prevalent limitations of this study is the lack of transparency and information from cosmetic companies. Moving forward, it is recommended to use data from multiple years with key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess sustainability performance more accurately.
ContributorsAbraham, Bridget (Author) / Koster, Auriane (Thesis director) / Alcantara, Christiane (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Watts College of Public Service & Community Solut (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2022-05