Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Normative Structures Guiding Surfers' Perceptions About The Environment: An Exploratory Analysis Of Environmental Behavior And Environmental Concern, Jeffrey G. Toussaint

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship among surfers and their behaviors and concerns towards the environment. The sample included 94 respondents to a survey posted through the Eastern Surf Association (ESA) website. This study proposed that respondents who reported that surfing was their primary outdoor recreational activity would have more environmental behavior and environmental concern than respondents who did not have surfing as their primary outdoor recreational activity. Demographic and other causal factors, were used to assess the effects on the level of a surfer's environmental behavior and concern. From these hypotheses, several other relationships are …

Creating Inclusive Organizations: Its Meaning And Measurement, Bryan Christopher Hayes

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

There is growing interest in the concept of inclusion by both scientists and practitioners. The goal of the current study was to bring empirical support to the organizational inclusion literature. Inclusion was defined as a psychosocial need and a model was developed specifying its relationship to antecedent and consequence variables. The measurement model was explored with a sample of responses from 418 undergraduate students (Study 1). The measurement model was confirmed and the structural model was assessed with a sample of responses from 609 employees of a medical center (Study 2). Results of structural equation modeling provided limited support for …

Time-Based Work-Family Conflict: Myth Or Reality?, Karyn H. Bernas

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study examined a time-based model of work-family conflict for a sample of 176 working women with childcare responsibilities. Building on the work of Edwards and Rothbard (2000) and role theory, a model was proposed to test the specific variables that define time-based work-family conflict. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the proposed hypotheses. Contrary to assumptions about time-based conflict, the results suggest that role time has a very limited impact on work-family conflict. Variables that were related to role performance and satisfaction included traditional gender role expectations, family involvement, family instrumental support, leader-member exchange, role overload, and …

Leadership: The Missing Variable In The Economic Development Of Sub-Saharan Africa, Osei K. Bonsu

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Contemporary economic theories, modernization and dependency, have overlooked the fact that the development process depends on the interaction of social factors. Specifically, the theories have ignored the role of leadership in analyzing economic development. This dissertation seeks to incorporate the importance of leadership into the analysis of development. It argues that sub-Saharan African countries have not developed economically because leaders in the region have been less than successful in establishing a culture conducive to industrialization. African leaders have failed to establish the high moral and scientific cultures necessary to promote economic progress. In place of those cultural attributes, the leaders …

A Naturalistic Investigation Into The Processes And Themes Of Recovery From Chemical Dependency, Mark Thomas Blagen

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The research on recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction has generally focused on the causes of relapse. Although the study of the causes of relapse is an important endeavor, the results of this focus remain inconclusive. Understanding the process and themes of recovery is also an important question that remains a significant challenge.

This study attempts to explain, in part, why it is that one person can have many relapse indicators and still thrive in recovery, while another who has multiple layers of support and opportunity for recovery, succumbs to addiction. This study also attempts to determine if and how …

Major Factors That Influence The Employment Decisions Of Generation X Consulting Engineers, Robert William Mayfield

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to study Generation X consulting engineers (those born between the years 1964 and 1980) in Lynchburg, Virginia, to determine the major factors that influence their employment decisions. Engineering consulting firms throughout the United States, particularly those in Lynchburg, have struggled to recruit young engineers in recent years. The recruiting of young engineers has been regarded by managers and executives as the single greatest challenge to the consulting profession. Despite the consensus within the profession that the problem existed, recommended solutions have been mostly speculative in nature and unsubstantiated by supportive data. This study focused …

Antecedents And Consequences Of Consumer Ethnocentrism Across Russia's Three Sub-Cultures, Shawn Thelen

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

Shimp and Sharma (1987) extended the concept of ethnocentrism to commercial products with the development of a 17-item Consumer Ethnocentrism Scale [CETSCALE]. Consumer ethnocentrism is the belief that purchasing imported products harms the local economy, increases unemployment, and is morally wrong (Skimp and Sharma 1987). Shimp and Sharma (1987) called for studies to determine antecedents to consumer ethnocentrism and to apply the CETSCALE across geographic and regional segments. This dissertation addresses a void in the literature by examining antecedents; Inglehart's Materialism/Post Materialism (1977) and Holbrook's Nostalgia (1993), and outcome variables; product purchase preference, of consumer ethnocentrism across sub-cultures postulated to …

East European Security Revisited: Institutions, Power, And Security, Blagovest Tashev

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Drawing on the literatures on democratization, security studies, and small states this dissertation explores the relationship of small states' domestic and international institutionalization and their security. Small states have limited power not only to affect their environment but also to guarantee national security. Small states, it is hypothesized, enhance their security through the consolidation of domestic institutions and the accumulation of capacities provided by their participation in capacity-reach international institutions.

The dissertation tests the hypothesis by applying the comparative method to the post-communist states of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania. The three case studies analyze the effects of domestic …

Selected Factors That Influenced A State's Collapse: A Historical Analysis Of The Case Of Sierra Leone, I. Betty Williams Conteh

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Throughout the 1990s the United Nations Human Development Index, an annual report that measures human development, depicted Sierra Leone as one of, if not the poorest nation on the planet. In 2001, the same report depicted 162 countries in terms of human development and Sierra Leone ranked 162. This Sub-Saharan nation experienced a total collapse of its state and society beginning in 1990. The United Nations and the rest of the international community are only now beginning to work towards putting Sierra Leone together again.

This study investigate factors that led to the collapse of Sierra Leone--factors such as …

Latin American-United States Security Relations And The Power Asymmetry Divide, Matthew R. Slater

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Security relations between Latin American and the United States are generally well explained by hegemonic stability theory. Succinctly stated, hegemonic stability theory explains that in systems with a hegemonic power there is a greater likelihood of security cooperation. This is because a hegemon provides public goods, such as a stable currency or security from outside interference, and in turn, the less powerful states acknowledge the leadership of the dominant state. When compared to other regions it is readily apparent that the U.S. and Latin America do not have major security issues on the level of East Asia, the Middle East, …

Sources Of Inter-State Alignments: Internal Threats And Economic Dependence In The Former Soviet Union, Eric A. Miller

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation develops a framework for understanding the alignment patterns of states of the former Soviet Union (FSU) vis-à-vis Russia. The framework challenges traditional alignment theories, such as balance of power and balance of threat theories, and suggests that these theories provide less accurate predictions of alignment behavior in the FSU than the present framework because of a variety of situational and contextual factors. In particular, the present framework highlights the impact of two variables on alignment patterns, (1) the internal political threats to leaders, and (2) the economic dependence on Russia. These two variables produce a four-outcome model, presented …

Deception In Advertising: A Content Analysis Of The Legal Parameters Of Deception, E. Carla Mitchell

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

One of the primary attributes of a free market economy is the uninhibited flow of truthful information regarding the goods and services available in the marketplace (Azcuenaga 1995). This free flow of information, in the form of advertising, enhances market performance by informing consumers and enabling firms to compete equitably based on the attributes of their offerings. Studies reveal that, for the vast majority of marketing managers, the regulatory environment serves as the primary influence in advertising strategy development and decision-making (Davis 1994). However, in their theory development, behavioral researchers often ignore the legal aspects promulgated by the FTC. Furthermore, …

Depression And Social Support As Moderators Of Withon-Person Relationships Between Daily Events And Daily Adjustments During Adolescence, Rebecca M. Plesko

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Everyday for 2 weeks, adolescents described the events that occurred each day and provided measures of their daily self-esteem and depressogenic adjustment. Adolescents also provided trait measures of depression and social support. Within-person relationships were found between social and achievement, positive and negative daily events and daily adjustment. Depression and social support moderated specific within-person relationships. Less well-adjusted adolescents were more reactive to social positive events than better-adjusted adolescents, but surprisingly, better-adjusted adolescents were more reactive to social negative events than less well-adjusted adolescents. Better-adjusted adolescents were also more reactive to achievement positive events than less well-adjusted adolescents. Girls were …

They Did Not Teach: Veterans' Experiences In A Mid-Career Transition Program At An Urban University, Joseph Franklyn Shipes

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

This descriptive phenomenology examines the lived experiences of veterans who attempted a mid-career transition into teaching. The study identifies and describes experiences that led to the outcome decisions of 22 men who enrolled in a Military Career Transition Program (MCTP), completed a Master's Degree in Education, but did not become public school teachers. Self-descriptions of their experience were collected in multiple, open-ended interviews and analyzed using Moustakas's (1994) protocols.

Participants described a transition in four stages (a) preliminary conditions for change, (b) socialization and adjustment, (c) refocusing career goals, and (d) reflective assessment. Planning for career change began with ideal …

Organizational Climate And Commitment: A Case Study Of An Urban Nonprofit Organization, William Sawyer Grant

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

This qualitative study investigates the relationship between the two constructs: Organizational Climate and Organizational Commitment.

Litwin and Stringer (1968) suggested that a molar model is needed to explain employee behavior and motivation. Climate was proposed as this molar construct. Research concerning Organizational Climate resulted in multiple definitions and little consensus concerning the number and use of multiple dimensions of this construct. The almost exclusive use of survey methods coupled with methodological confusion with Organizational Culture created difficulty with the use of this important construct.

Organizational Commitment research resulted in a number of competing definitions. Research by Meyer and Allen (1997) …

Clinton's Foreign Policy And The Politics Of Intervention: Cases Of Ethnic Cleansing And Democratic Governance, Daneta G. Billau

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the sources of U.S. President Bill Clinton's foreign policy, with special attention to understudied political elements of intervention. The basis of this study is the Clinton Doctrine, in which Clinton opposed ethnic cleansing, and supported democratic governance worldwide. The primary research question asks to what extent and why was there a variation in Clinton's application of his own doctrine in the specific cases of Rwanda in 1994, Haiti in 1994, and East Timor in 1999. To address this question, the following five hypotheses are posited:

H1: The more vital interests are at stake, and the closer the …

Complementarity Of Politics And Administration: An Empirical Examination, Jothi S. Themozhi

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Studies

This dissertation is designed to examine the impact of the complementarity of politics and administration on local governments' fiscal performance. The study adopts Svara's Politics-Administration Complementarity Model, which explains the mutual interdependence and reciprocal influence of administrative relationships between the elected and appointed officials of local governments towards a General Management City (a traditional mayor-council city that appoints a professional city manager to conduct the city's administration without formally adopting the council-manager form).

By adopting the politics-administration complementarity model to a general management municipal administrative structure, this thesis hypothesizes that cities with general management administrative structures achieve measurable fiscal …