Four members of Tusculum family present research papers, earn awards at international conference

KAUAI, Hawaii – Four members of the Tusculum University family recently demonstrated their expertise on a global level by presenting research papers that earned awards at an international business conference.

Representing Tusculum University at the conference were, left to right, Dr. Lisa Andrus, Dr. Christi Sayles, Cheri Flynn and Dr. Jacob Fait.

Dr. Jacob Fait, Dr. Christi Sayles, Cheri Flynn and Dr. Lisa Andrus, represented Tusculum at the 16th annual meeting of the Applied Business and Entrepreneurship Association International conference. The global organization annually holds its conference in Hawaii.

The ABEAI website said the organization provides a friendly and scholarly forum to exchange research papers and ideas among faculty members and practitioners in business and entrepreneurship.

Dr. Fait, who serves as dean of the College of Business, and Dr. Andrus, director of alumni engagement and an adjunct professor, discussed their research paper “The Impact of Perceived Hard Work on Consumer Tipping Behavior.” Dr. Sayles, an assistant professor of accounting, and Flynn, chairwoman of the undergraduate business program, an associate professor of accounting and a lawyer, presented their paper “A Four-Year Comparative Analysis of CPA Examination Performance by Accounting Education Delivery Method.”

The presentations won best research papers of their particular sections of the conference and will be published in the fall 2020 edition of The Journal of Business Leadership.

In addition to presenting her research, Dr. Andrus was chairwoman of the conference and its marketing, management and organization behavior section. She is also a member of the organization’s Board of Advisers. Dr. Fait has been selected as chairman of the 2020 ABEAI conference.

Other conference presenters came from higher education institutions such as the University of South Carolina, Austin Peay University, Alabama A&M University, the University of Connecticut, Iona College and Pepperdine University in the United States, as well as universities in Prague and the Czech Republic.

“This conference was a terrific opportunity to showcase the extensive business knowledge within Tusculum’s College of Business and Institutional Advancement Office,” Dr. Fait said. “We were proud of Dr. Andrus’ leadership in running this outstanding conference and know our presentations will enhance the prestige in which Tusculum is held among colleagues across the globe.”