Browsing by Author "Saunders, Chad"

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    Barriers and enablers to implementing a virtual tertiary-regional Telemedicine Rounding and Consultation (TRAC) model of inpatient pediatric care using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) approach: a study protocol
    (2019-01-11) Bele, Sumedh; Cassidy, Christine; Curran, Janet; Johnson, David W; Saunders, Chad; Bailey, J.A. M
    Abstract Background Over-occupancy at the two tertiary pediatric care hospitals in Alberta, Canada is steadily increasing with simultaneous decline in occupancy of pediatric beds at regional hospitals. Over-occupancy negatively impacts timeliness and potentially, the safety of patient care provided at these two tertiary hospitals. In contrast, underutilization of pediatric beds at regional hospitals poses the risk of losing beds provincially, dilution of regional pediatric expertise and potential erosion of confidence by regional providers. One approach to the current situation in provincial pediatric care capacity is development of telemedicine based innovative models of care that increase the population of patients cared for in regional pediatric beds. A Telemedicine Rounding and Consultation (TRAC) model involves discussing patient care or aspects of their care using telemedicine by employing visual displays, audio and information sharing between tertiary and regional hospitals. To facilitate implementation of a TRAC model, it is essential to understand the perceived barriers among its potential users in local context. The current study utilizes qualitative methodologies to assess these perceived clinician barriers to inform a future pilot and evaluation of this innovative virtual pediatric tertiary-regional collaborative care model in Alberta. Methods We will use a qualitative descriptive design guided by the Theoretical Domain Framework (TDF) to systematically identify the tertiary and regional clinical stakeholder’s perceived barriers and enablers to the implementation of proposed TRAC model of inpatient pediatric care. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups with pediatricians, nurses and allied health professionals, administrators, and family members will be conducted to identify key barriers and enablers to implementation of the TRAC model using TDF. Appropriate behaviour change techniques will be identified to develop potential intervention strategies to overcome identified barriers. These intervention strategies will facilitate implementation of the TRAC model during the pilot phase. Discussion The proposed TRAC model has the potential to address the imbalance between utilization of regional and tertiary inpatient pediatric facilities in Alberta. Knowledge generated regarding barriers and enablers to the TRAC model and the process outlined in this study could be used by health services researchers to develop similar telemedicine-based interventions in Canada and other parts of the world.
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    Essays in Corporate Finance
    (2021-12-17) Nguyen, Nga; Pandes, J. Ari; Lehar, Alfred; Koskinen, Yrjo; Anderson, Mark; Wilson, Craig; Saunders, Chad
    This thesis consists of two essays in corporate finance. In the first essay, which is joint work with Yrjo Koskinen and J. Ari Pandes, we use the enactment of limited liability legislation across Canadian provinces to examine the effect of the change in liability status on firm outcomes for a group of public firms known as income trusts. We show that the switch from unlimited to limited liability increases trusts' institutional ownership, net external financing, investments, profitability, payouts, and riskiness. Our results are stronger for energy trusts, which are more capital-intensive and face potentially greater liability risks. Our event study shows positive cumulative abnormal returns around the legal changes. Overall, we present a novel approach to test the impact of limited liability on firms. In the second essay, which is joint work with Yrjo Koskinen and J. Ari Pandes, we provide an evidence of spillover effects of environmental violations. In particular, we investigate how environmental violations by polluting firms impact their (direct) neighboring peers. Using a difference-in-differences methodology, the paper shows that firms operating in the same industry and having plants located close to the violating firms are negatively impacted by the polluting firms' environmental violations. Peer firms experience lower external financing and lower valuations. However, we also find firms with higher (ex-ante) environmental scores are less negatively affected by the violations.
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    Exploring the Context Dependence of Firms’ Innovation Activities
    (2017) MahdaviMazdeh, Hossein; Dewald, Jim; Falkenberg, Loren; Hawkins, Richard; Saunders, Chad
    How do firms adjust their innovation activities to their situational and contextual setting? The extant literature does not provide a clear answer to this question as the context moves away from high-tech industries and R&D based innovations. This theoretical gap is reflected in the managerial practice in form of hardship in managing innovation in “low-tech” industries and underestimating the non-R&D opportunities of innovation across industries. This dissertation intends to contribute to filling this gap through addressing the following research questions: 1) What is the role of industry characteristics in determining the firm's decision regarding innovation both in an active decision making environment and in reaction to performance shortfall problems? And 2) what are the firm-specific factors that contribute to a firm's innovativeness and approach to innovation specially as measured by non-R&D proxies? I use three different datasets and methods each building part of the puzzle to provide a clear picture. In the first essay, I investigate the industry and firm characteristics that lead to choice of R&D and non-R&D forms of innovation in response to problems and propose theoretical insights that I verify using data on financial activities of public firms. In the second essay, I conduct a meta-analysis of innovation publications that uncovers the importance of non-cash input (absorbed slack) to firms’ innovativeness and identify the setting that such input makes the most impact. Finally, in the third essay, I use unique data about innovation activities of Canadian public and private firms to distinctly study the innovation approaches of resource industries – as one of the neglected industries in the innovation literature – and investigate how innovation in these industries is induced, measured, and utilized.
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    Mobilizing Female Entrepreneurship Research to Inform Policy
    (2024-04-15) Carlson, Jessica Lynn; Keyhani, Mohammad; Kano, Elena (Liena); Osiyevskyy, Oleksiy; Saunders, Chad; Huq, Jo-Louise; Musabende, Jacqueline
    Gender and entrepreneurship scholars are increasingly called upon to consider policy implications in both identifying research questions and analyzing research results. Similarly, policy professionals are looking to inform policy with best available evidence. Yet, gaps between policy and gender and entrepreneurship scholars remain in both the availability of policy relevant academic research and the applied use of such research within policy domains. This dissertation represents an attempt to fill at least part of this gap by three diverse methods as represented in chapters two through four. Chapter two leverages qualitative methodology to a real-time policy problem and explores how women entrepreneurs experienced the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to inform the development of specific policy supports. Chapter three leverages an application of the public organization management science approach to identify policy relevant research questions for gender and entrepreneurship scholars, alongside of a review of current literature. Chapter four advances a particular policy relevant research question of special relevance within the current Canadian context, the impact of institutional support, subnational variation and providing unpaid care on the choice to become an entrepreneur. Collectively, these papers aim to advance theory, policy, and practice in helping to close the gap between the academy and policy professionals. The main limitation of this thesis is scope, as the setting both academically and for policy is limited to Alberta. Despite this, the findings of from this thesis can be broadly applied to both theory and practice. Contributions include an increased recognition of who policymakers are and what they are looking for alongside of an extension to the institutional theory of gender inequality of entrepreneurial entry. Future research can further explore policy-relevant research questions such as implications of subnational variations in institutional context on entrepreneurship.