Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Who Mediates Matters: The Impact Of Individual Mediator Competency Skills On Individual And Civil Conflict Mediation, Erin V. Rowland

Doctoral Dissertations

Until this point, research in the field of conflict mediation concerning how third-party entities impact mediation outcomes has largely focused on the macrolevel factors of those entities and the disputing parties – geographic proximity of the mediating states to the disputants, the presence of alliances, the existence of enduring rivalries, etc. However, even when macrolevel factors are relatively similar, differences still exist in mediation outcome. This research proposes that some differences in mediation outcome are due to the impact of individual mediator factors, more specifically individual mediator competency skills in the form of Knowledge, Know-how, and Behavioral competencies. Borrowing from …

Did Public Organizations In Saudi Arabia Increase Openness When They Implemented New Public Management (Npm)?, Bader Alabdulkarim

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the impact of new public management (NPM) on Saudi ministries’ openness. The study sample is three Saudi ministries: the Housing Ministry, the Health Ministry, and the Ministry of Commerce. Moreover, this study creates the NPM Index to measure the ministries’ NPM implementations. Furthermore, this research uses the Public Participation Spectrum (SSP) to measure openness. This dissertation collects data from the sample's annual reports for 2017, and the main finding is that implementing NPM did not increase ministries’ openness. The ministries showed different NPM implementations levels with the same level of openness.

Policy Of Current Hospital Translation Services And Recommendations For Future Adjustments For Spanish-Speaking Patients, Isidora Rose Beach

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Beyond The City-County Divide: Race, Referenda, And Representation In Consolidated Governments, Christopher Johnson Acuff

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite an abundance of research on the impacts of city-county consolidation, the majority of studies to date have focused on outcomes related to efficiency, effectiveness, and economic development. However, two areas which have gone relatively unexplored, particularly from a quantitative perspective, relate to the impact of consolidation on minority representation, as well as the determinants of successful referenda often required in establishing these forms of government. The existing literature on representation is sparse, and often relies on anecdotes or a small number of individual examples. Further, while several in-depth studies have attempted to assess the factors which contribute to successful …

Preferences For Employment In The Government Workforce, Michael Christopher Moltz

Doctoral Dissertations

Why do people choose to work for government vs. private business? Addressing this question is necessary to address emerging concerns among public management scholars and practitioners alike about attracting, selecting, and retaining the most qualified people for government employment. The extant literature related to this topic is mostly concerned with attitudes of those who are already employed by government. Less attention is given to those who want to work for government (regardless of current employment circumstances). Furthermore, the literature, with few exceptions, only considers this topic within the context of single-nation studies. Relatively few studies examine the topic in a …

The Tasks Of Elected Officials Within The Policy Process Of Interlocal Cooperation, Stephen Matthew Adkins

Doctoral Dissertations

Interlocal cooperation provides local governments with a third means of service provision, after direct provision and contracting out, that allows problems to be addressed at the regional level. Much of the academic literature on this topic places appointed officials as those who take the lead role in these types of arrangements. This research explores the involvement of elected officials, specifically city mayors, in interlocal cooperation. Based on 64 responses from mayors in the southeast region, this research finds statistically significant relationships between mayoral comfort level with tasks associated with interlocal cooperation and a number of variables including city size and …

Public Support For Social Welfare Policies: A Cross-National Examination, Andrew Lee Morelock

Doctoral Dissertations

What explains public support for social welfare policies? The extant literature on this topic suggests that people’s attitudes are mainly a reflection of their political ideology and economic self-interest. However, this explanation fails to recognize the role that the public sector plays in influencing individuals’ social welfare policy preferences. The literature, with few exceptions, also does not thoroughly acknowledge how national context alters people’s attitudes. Data from 23 national samples in Europe, North America, Eastern Asia, and Oceania taken from the 2006 ISSP are examined using multilevel regression. The dependent variable is a measure of individual’s views of governmental responsibility, …

The Relationship Between Demands And Resources And Teacher Burnout: A Fifteen-Year Meta-Analysis, Tammy Marie Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations

This meta-analysis explored the phenomenon of teacher burnout— the biggest contributor to teacher attrition (Owens, 2013; Unterbrink, 2014; Yu, 2015). The focus of this study was to use meta-analytical procedures to explore the relationship between burnout dimensions (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of personal accomplishment) and specific demand and resource correlates. Demand correlates included work overload, role conflict, role ambiguity, and student misbehavior. Resource correlates included peer support, supervisory support, and decision-making. This meta-analytical research method encompassed fifteen years of published and unpublished studies from January 2000 through January 2015. A total of 116 studies met the following inclusion …

Citizen Confidence In The Public Service: An Examination Of Established And Emerging Democracies In North America And Eurasia, Nurgul Ryskulovna Aitalieva

Doctoral Dissertations

How do levels of confidence in the public service differ across countries? Are these attitudes about the public service determined by similar individual-level attributes across countries? Do country-level correlates explain variation between countries in citizen attitudes toward the public service? Data from the 2005-2009 World Values Survey for 21 North American and Eurasian countries, in addition to aggregate-level measures of national context, are analyzed using multilevel binary logistic regression.

The study shows that there is a significant amount of variation in the confidence attitudes not only within each country but also across countries. Citizens of Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, and Finland …

Service Satisfaction, Competence And Caring: Examining The Influence Of Experience With The Public Bureaucracy On Citizen Attitudes Of Trust In Government, Lauren Kriston Harding

Doctoral Dissertations

Examining the relationship among government performance, service satisfaction and trust in government advocated by the New Public Management, this research contributes to a better understanding of the performance-trust hypothesis and its assumptions. This study evaluates the satisfaction link of the performance-trust hypothesis, investigating influences on service satisfaction and how these translate into trust. In particular, two implicit assumptions of the performance-trust hypothesis are explored. First, citizen experience with public services is examined as a measure of specific support for government. Second, the role of citizen interactions with the bureaucracy is assessed, specifically identifying the influence of citizen attitudes toward public …

Rethinking A Carbon Tax In An Era Of Budget Deficits, Chad Covert

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Effectiveness Of Environmentally Sustainable Practices In Municipal Government: A Case Study Of The City Of Knoxville’S Department Of Parks And Recreation, Anthony Michael Brown

Masters Theses

Sustainability practices produce programs and services that meet current needs while preserving the environment and natural resources for the future. City parks and recreation departments are facing budget shortfalls and increasing expectations from customers. Governments are now embracing sustainability practices to create financial savings while also fostering relations with customers.

The purpose of this single case study was twofold: (1) to examine the effectiveness of one city department’s strategies in outsourcing its environmental sustainability program through a performance contract with Ameresco; and (2) to examine the perceptions of key department employees about the effectiveness of the sustainability initiative. A …

Political Communication In A Digital Age: 2011 Tea Party Senators And Social Media, Kaitlyn M. Barrett

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.