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- Creators: Department of Information Systems
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Description
This paper dives into the economic theory behind credit and lending markets to uncover the driving forces behind financial exclusion in modern finance. It breaks down the market size and demographic of the unbanked population in the United States and highlights the market failures and bad actors responsible for causing financial exclusion in credit markets. Finally, it introduces Zivoe Finance, a new approach to financial inclusion that is designed to expand affordable credit access across the globe. Zivoe is a decentralized credit protocol started in part by the authors of this paper that empowers anyone to fund affordable, inclusive loans in underserved financial sectors. The remainder of this paper is dedicated to understanding Zivoe Finance, how it works, the challenges the authors faced in building it, and how one can participate in its mission moving forward.
ContributorsBaca, Dennis (Author) / Abbasi, Thor (Co-author) / Sopha, Matthew (Thesis director) / Ikram, Atif (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor)
Created2022-12
DescriptionI evaluated different programs in public procurement to determine how they add value and innovate the space. I looked into cooperative purchasing programs, the Arizona Set-Aside program, and the Department of Homeland Security's Procurement Innovation Lab to determine the benefits of these programs.
ContributorsLadner, Julia (Author) / Macias, J.A. (Thesis director) / Goodman, Glen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor)
Created2022-12
Description
The following paper builds upon version one of The Women’s Power and Influence Index (WPI). The WPI Index is a product created by The Difference Engine, a center at ASU, to address gender inequality in the workplace. The WPI Index ranks Fortune 500 companies on various criteria and releases the information to the public in an easy-to-understand manner. Following the first release in 2021, we aim to help the WPI Index continue to grow by researching social movements that can inspire the Index, suggesting additional criteria for version 1.5, and raising awareness through events and social media. Part I of the paper details how social movements have utilized social pressure and social media to create broad change, setting the stage for the WPI Index’s public rankings to incentivize change. Part II provides research on new criteria we propose to be added to the Index for the next release. Lastly, part III covers how we used TikTok, events, and partnerships to help the Index gain notoriety. Altogether the paper suggests new directions and provides scientific research to further the goals of the WPI Index.
ContributorsDevries, Alexis (Author) / Holly, Sydney (Co-author) / Lee, Shania (Co-author) / Amare, Esete (Co-author) / Zaffar, Eshan (Thesis director) / Gel, Esma (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
This thesis asks what the demographics of elite marathon runners are and how they have changed over the past 40 years. Differences in age and nationality of elite marathon runners are examined for the top 100 men’s and women's marathon results each year from 1983 to 2022. This thesis found that 28 is the best age for an elite marathoner to run their best time and that the nations producing top marathon runners are more concentrated now than in the 1980s, prompting the question of whether the resources provided to athletes showing potential are more focused in a select few countries.
ContributorsLee, Jenna (Author) / Sopha, Matthew (Thesis director) / Samuelson, Melissa (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
This thesis examines the interpretations derived from the Kac Ring Model, and the adding of a modification to the original model via “kick backs,” which can be interpreted to represent time reversals in the individual Kac rings. The results of this modification are analyzed, and their implications explored. There are three main parts to this thesis. Part 1 is a literature review which explains the working principles of the original Kac ring and explores its numerous applications. Part 2 describes the software and the theoretical & computational methodology used to implement the model and gather data. Part 3 analyzes the data gathered and makes a conclusion about its implications. There is an appendix included which contains some figures from Part 3 in a larger size, as it wasn’t possible to make the figures bigger within the text due to formatting.
ContributorsGavrilov, Alexander (Author) / Sukharev, Maxim (Thesis director) / Chamberlin, Ralph (Committee member) / Peng, Xihong (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
Content creation, or the process of creating and then publishing pieces of creative work, is an increasingly popular way in which individuals can earn income. In fact, one area of content creation, video development, allows many creators to build a full-time career through content they release online through video distribution platforms like YouTube and TikTok. By building their platform and growing their follower base, creators are able to earn money simply by viewers watching their videos. Creators cultivate a brand around their personal image and how they want to be perceived, and they base their content around this brand which they tailor to a specific audience.
Content creators often build profitable businesses based off of their personal brand in order to create a career that can potentially outlast fleeting fame and fortune. These businesses founded by content creators are uniquely positioned compared to a traditional business, due to the lasting relationships that creators nurture with their audiences. They create a deep-rooted connection based on authenticity and trust that the creator instills in their followers. Compared to influencer marketing, where creators are paid by a company to sell their products, products that creators personally create are able to make a larger impact on their audience since their product is rooted in the brand they have fostered and is specifically targeted toward their follower base.
This paper focuses on exploring the background of YouTube, TikTok, and other methods creators can utilize to build their personal brand, and how they can leverage success on their platform to create businesses and strategically position themselves in the market. By considering individual success stories of content creators, this paper examines the factors that contributed to the growth of each of their platforms and the success of their businesses. Through these examples it becomes apparent that gaining popularity on YouTube and then converting that popularity to a successful business lacks a direct path for success and is not guaranteed for each person by following a specific formula.
ContributorsSwarup, Ava (Author) / White, Victoria (Co-author) / Nance, Elizabeth (Co-author) / Giles, Charles (Thesis director) / Schlacter, John (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / The Sidney Poitier New American Film School (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
The interpersonal, subjective, and communication skills we carry with us are crucial to our professional successes, sometimes even more crucial than the technical skills we use to execute tasks. The engineering industry is wildly technical and competitive in order to define a better tomorrow for the human population. However, such a technical field often neglects the use of these soft skills, both originating from students, employees, and companies. In this thesis, I delve into the importance and various applications of soft skills within the engineering industry, the presence of a gap among engineers' expected versus actual soft skill usage, and if anything can be done to mend that gap.
ContributorsHove, Colton (Author) / Montoya, Detra (Thesis director) / Schlacter, John (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
Based on the findings from previous studies and research, social media use and psychological issues among minors are increasing overtime. However, there are still questions about whether or not these factors are related to one another. The goal of my study is to better understand the relationship between social media use and the psychological issues among minors by analyzing their self-esteem, self-efficacy, social anxiety, locus of control, and peer pressure. My research examined minors' time spent on social media, their influencer engagement, and the social media platforms they use and how these factors impact the constructs of interest: self-esteem, self-efficacy, social anxiety, locus of control, and peer pressure. My study was conducted by distributing a survey to minors (ages 12-17) that asked about their social media use and habits. Based on my findings, I concluded that minors that use a large number of social media platforms have lower self-esteem and high levels of peer pressure, the more frequently a minor uses social media, the higher their self-esteem is, and the more social media influencers that the minor is following, the lower their self-efficacy is. Additionally, using certain social media platforms, following certain types of influencers, and participating in certain engagement behaviors had different effects on the minor’s self-esteem, self-efficacy, social anxiety, locus of control, and peer pressure. An implication from my results is that social media can be a positive outlet for a minor's mental health and it can impact a minor positively or negatively depending on how they use it.
ContributorsSmaw, Rebekah (Author) / Dong, Xiaodan (Thesis director) / Gray, Nancy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
This research explores Amazons growth amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and how it impacted its innovation initiatives. It examines the strategies employed by Amazon to drive innovation, explores the challenges encountered during this period of expansion, and identifies opportunities for innovation in a post-pandemic era. Additionally, this study offers insights and recommendations for organizations navigating similar circumstances.
ContributorsGolbienko, Adam (Author) / Lee, Christopher (Thesis director) / Slimp, Joshua (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
Women’s historical lack of agency over the presentation and preservation of their contributions to society leaves us with immeasurable gaps in understanding how they have shaped our modern world. Despite the political and social progress of the last century, the U.S. still struggles to reach equitable representation of men and women in our political system up and down the ballot. Due to a variety of social, economic, political, and interpersonal reasons research has found that this disparity stems not from women losing elections but not getting to the campaign trail in the first place.
Through a collection of oral histories of women politicians and political candidates, this project explores the nuance and importance of including the narratives of these self-identified outliers. While publicly the beginning of a politician’s journey is generally their campaign, in reality, there are many stepping stones before any of them get to that point. Regarding the women’s representation gap, getting to candidacy seems to be the final hurdle, while in their personal journeys to office it is just the beginning. These oral histories provide a deeper look into the impacts that masculine ethos, the gendered psyche, political ambition, self-confidence, familial roles, and timing have in these women's considerations of political careers.
ContributorsWells, Phoebe (Author) / Sturgess, Jessica (Thesis director) / Pout, Daniel (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor)
Created2022-05