Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Foundation For Measuring Community Sustainability, Pamela A. Mischen, George C. Homsy, Carl P. Lipo, Robert Holahan, Valerie Imbruce, Andreas Pape, Joe Graney, Ziang Zhang, Louisa M. Holmes, Manuel Reina

Carl Lipo

The Effects Of Natural Resource Dependence And Democracy On The Incremental Budgeting Theory And Punctuated Equilibrium Within A Budgetary Context, Barrak Algharabali

Barrak Algharabali

Law’S Facilitating Role In The Field Of Social Enterprise., Evelyn Brody

Evelyn Brody

Limits On State Regulation Of Religious Organizations: Where We Are And Where We Are Going, Lloyd Hitashi Mayer

Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

The breadth of activities and organizational forms among religious organizations rivals that of nonprofits generally, and religious organizations are vulnerable to the same types of problems that justify state regulation and oversight of nonprofits. Such problems include excessive compensation, improper benefits for board members and other insiders, misleading or fraudulent fundraising, employment discrimination, unsafe working conditions, consumer fraud, improper debt collection, and many others. Religious organizations are different, however, in that under federal and state law they enjoy unique protections from state regulation. This paper describes how such federal and state protections limit state regulation of religious organizations under current …

Environmental Advocacy: Insights From East Asia, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

Is U.S. Public Sector Labor Relations In The Midst Of A Transformation?, Harry C. Katz

Harry C Katz

In this article the author assesses whether a fundamental transformation is underway in public sector (state and local government) labor relations in the United States by revisiting the arguments made by the author and Kochan and McKersie (1986) regarding the transformation of labor relations in the private sector. The author argues that the economic pressures that led to a transformation of private sector labor relations starting in the 1980s have not played a comparable role in recent developments in the public sector because of the political nature of labor relations in that sector. Other insights are drawn from a comparison …

Community-Engaged Operations Research: Trends, New Frontiers And Opportunities, Michael P. Johnson Jr.

Michael P. Johnson

Philanthropy And 9/11: How Did We Do?, David R. Jones, David A. Campbell

David Campbell

No abstract provided.

Looking Beyond The Undergraduate Classroom: Factors Influencing Service Learning's Effectiveness At Improving Graduate Students' Professional Skills, Yi Lu, Kristina T. Lambright

Kristina Lambright

This study provides a greater understanding of which factors influence the effectiveness of service learning projects at improving graduate students’ professional skills. Data for this study was gathered from students in eight Master of Public Administration (MPA) courses taught during two semesters at a large state university. Younger students were more likely than older students to believe that their service learning project was helpful in improving their professional skills. We also find that students who spent more time working on a service learning project outside of class reported their projects were more helpful in improving their professional skills. In addition, …

Monitoring Contracted Provider Service Delivery In The Hollow State: Understanding Barriers Preventing Proper Use Of Service Monitoring Tools, Kristina T. Lambright

Kristina Lambright

The article discusses the barriers that prevent a contracted provider from using service monitoring tool, any source of information used by a government agency to monitor service inputs, outputs, and outcomes that a contracted provider is required to give to a government agency. A motivation barrier exists when the contracted provider is unwilling to use the tool properly. In addition, an ability barrier exists when the contracted provider lacks the resources or skills to use to tool.

The Performance Puzzle: Understanding The Factors Influencing Alternative Dimensions And Views Of Performance, Anna A. Amirkhanyan, Hyun Joon Kim, Kristina T. Lambright

Kristina Lambright

There is a large literature on the determinants of organizational performance, and its multidimensional nature is well recognized. However, little research has examined how different organizational and environmental factors influence different stakeholders’ performance assessments of the same service. We address this gap by comparing the factors influencing performance evaluations by different constituencies of child care centers in Ohio. We operationalize performance using (1) regulatory violations documented during state licensing inspections, (2) satisfaction with the center’s quality reported by center directors, (3) satisfaction with the center’s quality reported by teachers, and (4) satisfaction with care quality reported by parents. Our findings …

Putting The Pieces Together: A Comprehensive Framework For Understanding The Decision To Contract Out And Contractor Performance, Anna A. Amirkhanyan, Hyun Joon Kim, Kristina T. Lambright

Kristina Lambright

Contracting out is currently one of the most prevalent mechanisms of the privatization movement. Understanding its trends and rigorously analyzing its implications is an increasingly salient issue for public management research. This article builds a multi-stage theoretical framework addressing two broad research questions. The first is to identify the array of economic, political, organizational, and institutional factors that may impact a government agency's decision to contract out. The second is to detail the various organizational and environmental factors influencing contractor performance. Particular attention is paid to effective contract monitoring and its relationship to contractor performance.

Do Relationships Matter? Assessing The Association Between Relationship Design And Contractor Performance, Anna A. Amirkhanyan, Hyun Joon Kim, Kristina T. Lambright

Kristina Lambright

Contracting relationships vary in the extent to which they are complete and involve formal contract specification as well as the extent to which they are based on strong relationships and rely on cooperation and trust. Where a contracting arrangement falls on these two continuums constitutes what this paper refers to as "relationship design" and is likely to impact contractor performance. We use data from a survey of child-care centers and Head Start agencies in Ohio to examine the association between the design of contracting relationships and contractor performance. Contractor performance is assessed in two ways: an objective measure of violations …

Closer Than “Arms Length”: Understanding The Factors Associated With Collaborative Contracting, Anna A. Amirkhanyan, Hyun Joon Kim, Kristina T. Lambright

Kristina Lambright

This article focuses on collaborative relationships between contractors and government agencies and explores which contract characteristics, contractor traits, and environmental factors are associated with the development of such relationships. The study uses data from the Partnership Impact Research Project, a three-round longitudinal survey of over one hundred child care centers and Head Start agencies in Ohio. Our findings suggest that stronger collaborative contracting relationships are associated with greater contract specificity, better contractor service quality, and contractor affiliation with a larger organization. On the other hand, a contractor’s financial autonomy and nonprofit status are negatively related to collaborative relationship strength. We …

How Valuable Are Capstone Projects For Community Organizations? Lessons From A Program Assessment, David A. Campbell, Kristina T. Lambright

Kristina Lambright

Many MPA programs use capstone courses as culminating experiences to assess students’ capacity to apply program knowledge and skills to challenges facing public or nonprofit organizations. This paper examines whether capstone projects in one university’s MPA program were beneficial to organizational partners. Using data from a survey of capstone supervisors and 10 follow-up interviews, the paper finds that supervisor engagement, project location, and faculty involvement were significant factors in determining whether projects were beneficial to host organizations. The findings indicate that closer relationships among the three primary participants in capstone projects (student, supervisor, and instructor) will lead to more successful …

Faith-Based Assumptions About Performance: Does Church Affiliation Matter For Service Quality And Access?, Anna A. Amirkhanyan, Hyun Joon Kim, Kristina T. Lambright

Kristina Lambright

To date, the common rhetoric and assumptions on the performance of faith-based organizations (FBOs), ironically, appear to be faith based rather than empirically supported: There is a paucity of research evaluating the effectiveness of FBOs that uses sufficiently rigorous methods and multiple measures of organizational performance. This study seeks to inform the debate on the relative effectiveness of FBOs by comparing religiously affiliated and secular nonprofit nursing homes using two distinct but complementary measures of organizational performance: service quality and access for impoverished clients. Using nationally representative panel data on 11,877 church-affiliated and secular nonprofit nursing homes, this study examines …

Environment, Equity And Economic Development Goals: Understanding Differences In Local Economic Development Strategies, Xue Zhang, George C. Homsy

George Homsy

What role do local governments play in promoting sustainable economic development? This article uses a 2014 national survey to analyze the relationship between local environment and social equity motivations and the kinds of economic development strategies local governments pursue (business incentives or community economic development policies). Municipalities that pay more attention to environmental sustainability and social equity use higher levels of community economic development tools and lower levels of business incentives. These places are also more likely to have written economic development plans, and involve more participants in the economic development process. By contrast, communities that employ higher levels of …

Measuring Success: Community Analytics For Local Economic Development, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Sandeep Jani

Michael P. Johnson

Planning For Aging In Place: Stimulating A Market And Government Response, Mildred Warner, George C. Homsy, Lydia J. Morken

George Homsy

Using a national survey of local governments, we explore the drivers of planning and service delivery for older adults. Our regression models find that planning for aging and elder engagement are the most influential factors explaining the level of community services for elders. Services are lower in less dense suburban and rural communities, and market-based services are lower in communities with more senior poverty. This creates two challenges for planners: to help generate a market response for aging services, and to articulate the link between the built environment and services so communities that lack supportive physical environments can become better …

Powering Sustainability: Municipal Utilities And Local Government Policymaking, George C. Homsy

George Homsy

Sustainability policymaking presents numerous challenges to local governments. Municipal leaders, especially in smaller cities and towns, report that they lack the fiscal capacity and/or technical expertise to adopt many environmental protection policies. This paper investigates whether the more than 2,000 municipally-owned utilities have the potential to mitigate those problems. Data from two surveys of local governments in the United States (n=861), modeled in a pair of negative binomial regressions, finds a positive correlation between those cities with municipal power companies and those with an increased number of community-wide sustainable energy policies. Follow-up interviews with officials reveal the potential mechanisms driving …

Cities And Sustainability: Polycentric Action And Multilevel Governance, George C. Homsy, Mildred E. Warner

George Homsy

Polycentric theory, as applied to sustainability policy adoption, contends that municipalities will act independently to provide public services that protect the environment. Our multilevel regression analysis of survey responses from 1,497 municipalities across the United States challenges that notion. We find that internal drivers of municipal action are insufficient. Lower policy adoption is explained by capacity constraints. More policymaking occurs in states with a multilevel governance framework supportive of local sustainability action. Contrary to Fischel’s homevoter hypothesis, we find large cities and rural areas show higher levels of adoption than suburbs (possibly due to free riding within a metropolitan region).

Climate Change And The Co-Production Of Knowledge And Policy In Rural Us Communities, George C. Homsy, Mildred Warner

George Homsy

Climate change requires action at multiple levels of government. We focus on the potential for climate change policy creation among small rural governments in the US. We argue that co-production of scientific knowledge and policy is a communicative approach that encompasses local knowledge flowing up from rural governments as well as expertise and power (to coordinate and ensure compliance) flowing down from higher level authority. Using environmental examples related to land use policy, natural gas hydro-fracturing, and watershed protection, we demonstrate the importance of knowledge flows, power, and coordination in policy creation. Co-production of knowledge and policy requires respect for …

Citizen Trust In Civil Servants: A Cross-National Examination, David J. Houston, Nurgul R. Aitalieva Ph.D., Andrew L. Morelock, Chris A. Shults

Nurgul R. Aitalieva, Ph.D.

Shared Services In New York State: A Reform That Works, George C. Homsy, Bingxi Qian, Yang Wang, Mildred Warner

George Homsy

No abstract provided.

Multi-Generational Community Planning: Linking The Needs Of Children And Older Adults, Mildred Warner, George C. Homsy, Esther Greenhouse

George Homsy

No abstract provided.

Incentive Zoning: Understanding A Market-Based Planning Tool, George C. Homsy, Gina Abrams, Valerie Monastra

George Homsy

No abstract provided.

Using Smart Growth And Universal Design To Link The Needs Of Children And The Aging Population, R. A. Ghazaleh, Esther Greenhouse, George C. Homsy, Mildred Warner

George Homsy

The United States is undergoing a critical demographic transition: The population is aging. By 2040, the proportion of people over the age of 65 will top 20 percent, and people under the age of 18 will make up almost 23 percent of the population. As a result, the oldest and the youngest populations combined will make up almost half of all U.S. residents. This trend is also a global one, directly affecting planning practice worldwide (WHO 2007). As planners work to plan and design sustainable and livable communities they will need to simultaneously consider the needs of these similar, yet …

Advancing Global Cultural Competencies: International Service Learning Within Naspaa Member Programs, Susan Appe, Nadia Rubaii, Kerry Cook Stamp

Susan Appe

This article posits international service learning (ISL) as a pedagogy that supports internationalization in the field of public affairs and one known to advance global cultural competency in other professions. We present a baseline study of the extent to which ISL is being made available to master’s students in NASPAA member programs, and the extent to which existing programs are responding to key challenges of ethics and assessment. The exploratory analysis shows a lack of clear understanding of ISL in professional public affairs education and very few ISL programs being offered in the field. Among the programs that do exist, …

Preparing For And Responding To Student Incivilities: Starting The Dialogue In Public Affairs Education, Stanley H. Barrett, Nadia Rubaii, John Pelowski

Nadia Rubaii

Almost all faculty, even those in graduate public affairs programs, will at some time encounter incivility in the classroom. How we respond sends an important message about how we as individuals, programs, and a profession value civility. Master’s of Public Administration and Master’s of Public Policy programs have a particular responsibility to graduate individuals who not only have substantive expertise but also meet the highest standards of civility. In this essay, we present a series of recommendations for how individuals, programs, and institutions might respond to incivility. While not all of these recommendations will be appropriate for all programs, and …

Promoting Social Equity, Diversity, And Inclusion Through Accreditation: Comparing National And International Standards For Public Affairs Programs In Latin America, Nadia Rubaii

Nadia Rubaii

Purpose – Given widespread acceptance of the importance of addressing social inequalities in Latin America and the critical role that public policy and public administration can have on advancing these goals, this paper examines the extent to which accreditation of public affairs education programs can be a tool to advance those goals. Design/methodology/approach – International and national accreditation standards are compared using content analysis for their reference to social equity and diversity in their standards regarding faculty, students, curriculum content, and learning outcomes. The research applies content analysis of key documents and thematic coding. Findings – International accrediting agencies focused …