Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Collaboration For Public Services: Explaining Outputs And Outcomes, Jennifer Hilton Montero

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses a current gap in collaborative governance literature pertaining to the performance of collaborative regimes. Specifically, it conceptualizes collaborative performance as consisting of outputs and outcomes and offers a novel way to measure them consistently across policy domains. The study tests the contextual, situational, and institutional design factors that lead to enhanced outputs and outcomes of collaborative forums. The dissertation consists of three essays, and the findings of one form the base for the others. Essay 1 systematically reviews the literature (n=274) and compares the approaches to studying collaboration in public administration to those in political science and …

Playing Down To The Competition? Making Sense Of A Golfer's Frequently Used Excuse, Alejandro J. Regalado

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Golf is a sport that continues to develop throughout the years. The development of the sport exceeds the fascinating technological advances of the clubs, balls and gadgets and has taken a new sector of people by storm. Every year golf seems to capture a new audience and more over a new generation of women have taken a liking to the sport. With all these great advances there still seems to be a question out there on why performance fluctuates so much?

This fluctuation can be seen by the avid sports observer on any weekend of a PGA tour event, yearly …

The Effects Of Individual Differences On Employment Incentives, Andrew J. Laginess

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation sought to examine the interaction between employment incentives and various individual differences. The main objectives were to create a taxonomy of incentives, explore how personal characteristics influence individuals’ attraction to different types of incentives, and shed light on how individual differences affect preferences for incentive systems that are tied to performance versus those that are independent of performance. Four studies were conducted to achieve those objectives, utilizing expert ratings and data from over 800 undergraduate students. A preliminary categorization system with 14 types of incentives was developed, which served as a framework for the subsequent exploration of incentive–individual …

Organizational Social Capital And Performance Information Use: Analyzing The Link And Its Implications For Public Management, Michele Tantardini

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of performance information is the backbone of performance management. Performance information use refers to the willingness of public managers or other relevant stakeholders to incorporate quantitative or qualitative data in their decision-making. Both routine and nonroutine performance information is considered essential in managers’ decision making. Understanding the organizational factors that motivate public managers to use performance information is an important topic in the literature and practice of performance management.

Although the number of studies on information use is growing, little is known about the impact of Organizational Social Capital (OSC). OSC is composed of the sub-dimensions of social …

Gnosticism, Transformation, And The Role Of The Feminine In The Gnostic Mass Of The Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.), Ellen P. Randolph

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Gnostic Mass of the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica (E.G.C.) suggests a heterosexual gender binary in which the female Priestess seated on the altar as the sexual and fertile image of the divine feminine is directed by the male Priest’s activity, desire and speech. The apparent contradiction between the empowered individual and the polarized gender role was examined by comparing the ritual symbolism of the feminine with the interpretations of four Priestesses and three Priests (three pairs plus one). Findings suggest that the Priestess’ role in the Gnostic Mass is associated with channeling, receptivity, womb, cup, and fertility, while the Priest’s …

Stress And Coping Style: An Extension To The Transactional Cognitive-Appraisal Model, Kerry A. Newness

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current research was to integrate multiple theories of stress appraisals and to empirically test two separate transactional cognitive-appraisal models. It was predicted that the core self-evaluation personality characteristics and motivation orientation would moderate the relationship between challenge and hindrance stressors and coping style. Furthermore, it was predicted that coping would buffer the adverse effects of stress on domain performance and satisfaction. A series of multiple regression analyses were conducted to investigate the predicted moderators. Results suggest that core self-evaluations moderate the relationship between challenge stress and problem-focused coping as predicted in the challenge model but not …