Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

Steven Tippins

Abstract

Marijuana reform has created a question of the potential market size of the legal marijuana industry on a local, state, or national level. The problem is that having no banking services has forced legal marijuana dispensaries to be cash-only businesses and created an increased risk of theft. The lack of normal banking services has also affected the ability to manage money earned from operations. This hermeneutic phenomenological study was grounded by the conceptual framework of the motivations of humans and humans' need to feel safe. The participants of this study were owners and operators in the legal marijuana industry of Colorado. Data were collected through eight interviews, though the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 made data collection more challenging because of the added pressure on potential participants. The data analysis plan for this study consisted of transcribing and reviewing the data, coding themes and supporting themes, and synthesizing and reporting findings from the data collected. The study's findings included the participants' concerns about safety in their cash-only operations, their methods for conducting business, and the banking options available to them. Common themes that emerged from the interviews were cash, banking, safety, business size, and Marijuana Enforcement Tracking Reporting and Compliance. The study's findings contribute to social change on organization and industry-level by providing accounts of how owners and operators navigate the banking dilemma of the legal marijuana industry.

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