Digital Commons Network^™

An Evaluation Of Moderating Influences Of Employee Proactive Personality: Empowerment And Political Skill, Deborah Kaylee Ford

Dissertations and Theses

An action-orientation within the workplace is often sought out by organizations as a source for competitive advantage. Organizational leaders are increasingly reliant on independently driven employees that will take action without being instructed to do so. Toward this effort, proactive personality has become increasingly popular within the literature as a personality trait associated with an employee's propensity to take charge of situations and demonstrate initiative to make a positive impact. In identifying potential variables that will moderate the effects of proactive personality, a highly relevant construct is empowerment. Proactive personality is thought of as a trait, whereas empowerment can be …

Now Accepting Applications Online: An Examination Of Privacy Concerns, Explanations, And Control In Applicant Reactions To Internet-Based Selection Procedures, Clayton Alan Yonce

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation explores applicant reactions to Internet-based selection procedures in order to advance theory and practice related to the use modern employee selection tools. Previous authors have explored this topic area (e.g., Harris et al., 2003). However, this dissertation goes beyond previous research by proposing and testing a model that incorporates the measurement of multiple constructs that are highly relevant to organizations when utilizing Internet-based selection procedures. Such constructs include privacy concerns, explanations, control, fairness perceptions, litigation intentions, organizational intentions, and test-taking motivation. Current organizational justice theory, previous findings from studies on applicant reactions to selection procedures, and research on …

Effects Of Daily Social Support On Tension-Reduction Drinking, Deborah L. Brannan

Dissertations and Theses

Researchers have argued that in times of need having supportive, caring people available can make all the difference between achieving optimum health and well-being or suffering from mental or physical illness (Cobb, 1976; Sarason & Sarason, 1985; Thoits, 1986). The direct-effect model of support postulates that having the knowledge of available relationship resources (i.e., perceived support) and receiving benefits from those relationships (i.e., received support) both have beneficial effects on health behaviors and well-being (Cohen & Wills, 1985). According to the stress-buffering model, when stressors are encountered, the certainty of having available resources, as well as having tangible support resources, …

Assessment For Improvement In Higher Education: Faculty Perception Of And Participation In Program Assessment, Serap Emil

Dissertations and Theses

Driven by issues of accountability, the assessment movement in higher education has gained significant momentum in recent years. However, successful implementation of assessment processes varies radically across institutions and organizational units. A key issue is faculty engagement. This qualitative case study explored factors that impact faculty participation in a professional school assessment initiative. Findings indicate that factors related to individual faculty characteristics (e.g., career preparation, knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes) and institutional characteristics (e.g., leadership, resources, reward structures, work environment, and technology) influence faculty members engagement in assessment activities. To support faculty adoption of and participation in assessment efforts, leaders need …

"Outing" Queer Issues In Teacher Preparation Programs: How Pre-Service Teachers Experience Sexual And Gender Diversity In Their Field Placements, Olivia Jo Murray

Dissertations and Theses

Currently in the United States there are more than 4 million lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students in K-12 public schools (Bochenek, Brown, & Human Rights Watch, 2001). Despite the prevalence of LGBT youth and the diversification of family populations, teacher preparation programs rarely acknowledge "queer" aspects of multiculturalism (Letts, 2002). As a result, a majority of K-12 educators enter the field of teaching unwilling and/or unprepared to engage with queer issues as they relate to students and families, curriculum, and instruction. The culture of silence around homosexuality can put queer youth at risk and deter school stakeholders from …

Examining News Coverage And Framing In The Context Of Environmental Reporting: Using The Sea Lion And Salmon Controversy At The Bonneville Dam As A Case Study, Tess Mcbride

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines how the construction of news stories reveals relationships among groups of stakeholders and how their views unfold within environmental conflict coverage. This study uses a content analysis of 161 newspaper articles concerning the sea lion and salmon controversy at the Bonneville Dam, focusing on source use and blame and solution frames in environmental conflict coverage. This analysis of articles published between January 2003 and June 2010 in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California, and Montana contributes to research concerning journalistic norms (i.e., balance and objectivity) and news production routines, specifically within the field of environmental reporting. The findings indicate …

Toward A Taxonomy Of Diversity At Work: Developing And Validating The Workplace Diversity Inventory, Aisha Smith Taylor

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this research was to develop a taxonomy of workplace diversity and examine its implications for understanding and predicting diversity at work. A 7-dimension taxonomy was originally developed by reviewing contemporary literature on diversity in the workplace. The taxonomy is grounded in Social Identity Theory. Preliminary research found that each of the seven dimensions of the taxonomy were present in 78 critical incidents describing work-relevant diversity dynamics. The current study reports the development and administration of an instrument, the Workplace Diversity Inventory (WDI), which was used to empirically examine the 7-factor model of the taxonomy in over 20 …

Perceptions And Voices Of South Sudanese About The North-South Sudan Conflict, Machar Wek Aleu-Baak

Dissertations and Theses

The conflict in Sudan reflects historic hatred and ethnic discrimination between Northern Arab Muslims and Southern African Christians and Animists. The longest and worst conflict began in 1983 and ended in 2005, when African Christians and Animists struggled to form an interim autonomous government. This conflict claimed 2 million lives from both sides and displaced almost 4 million people from the South. This thesis attempts to understand how people from Southern Sudan perceive the root causes and sustaining factors of the Sudanese conflict between Arab Muslims and African Christians. This research looks specifically into the roles of ethnic differences and …

The Moving To The Beat Documentary And Hip-Hop Based Curriculum Guide: Youth Reactions And Resistance, Jennifer Wallin-Ruschman

Dissertations and Theses

Many of the academic and popular treatments of hip-hop overlook the complexity of the phenomenon. Hip-hop is often portrayed solely as a source of corruption and regressive tendencies or, alternatively, as a sort of savior for otherwise marginalized individuals and source of revolutionary power. This thesis situates hip-hop between these poles and draws out its progressive and regressive aspects for analysis. Considering its vast global influence and a growing body of academic literature, hip-hop has been notably understudied in the field of psychology. Alternatively, educational theorists and practitioners have realized the power of hip-hop in revisualizing an emancipatory education that …

Family-Supportive Supervisory Behaviors As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Job Strain And Workers' Blood Pressure, Christopher Scott Harper

Dissertations and Theses

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in industrialized nations. Research indicates that job strain may be significantly related to cardiovascular disease in employees with little to no social support. Using the JDC-S model developed by Karasek (1979) and elaborated upon by Johnson and Hall (1988), the family-supportive supervisory behaviors (FSSB) measure created by Hammer et al., (2009), and the blood pressure wrist monitor device Omron317T, this study examined FSSB as a moderator of the relationship between job strain, job demands, job control and workers' blood pressure on work and non-work days. Sixty-nine grocery store workers from …

The Prevalence And Predictive Nature Of Victimization, Substance Abuse & Mental Health On Recidivism: A Comparative Longitudinal Examination Of Male And Female Oregon Department Of Corrections Inmates, Anastacia Konstantinos Papadopulos

Dissertations and Theses

As a consequence of increased awareness and the current scholarly debate regarding women's differential predictors of recidivism, criminal justice agencies are working with researchers in the field to expand their knowledge in this area. In 2007, Portland State University researchers in collaboration with the Oregon Department of Corrections conducted an investigation of factors emerging in the pathways and gender responsive literature as predictive of women's recidivism in a randomly selected sample of female (n=150) and male (n=150) inmates. This study used information gathered from that investigation for two purposes: (1) to assess the prevalence rates of victimization experiences (childhood, adolescent …

Poverty And Conflict: A Self-Perpetuating Cycle In The Somali Regional State (Region 5), Ethiopia: 1960-2010, Bisrat Teshome

Dissertations and Theses

Region 5 is one of the most impoverished and insecure regions of Ethiopia. For decades, the region has suffered from a multitude of armed conflicts involving state and non-state actors. Region 5 is also one of the most underserved states of Ethiopia with some of the lowest levels of human development indicators nationwide. Although the adversities of poverty and conflict are widely acknowledged in their own respect, there has been little or no inquest into why poverty and conflict have prevailed under the same space for decades. Poverty and conflict have often been seen as separate phenomena that are dealt …

Social And Human Capital: Contributing Effects Of Incarceration On Neighborhoods, Jacqueline Victoria Swofford

Dissertations and Theses

Interest in human and social capital's contribution to the desistence of crime is increasingly popular amongst criminologists, economists and policy makers. However, little attention has been drawn to the influence human and social capital indicators contribute towards the relationship between the re-entry process and juvenile crime at the neighborhood level. The current study hypothesizes the existence of a mediating relationship between human and social capital indicators (2000) and the rates of receiving formerly incarcerated persons (1997-2002) and juvenile arrest (2006-08) in 92 Portland, Oregon neighborhoods. Portland, Oregon receives more formerly incarcerated persons from Oregon's state correctional facilities than any other …

Runaway And Homeless Youth: Changing The Discourse By Legitimizing Youth Voice, Donald Dale Schweitzer

Dissertations and Theses

Undoubtedly, runaway and homeless youth (RHY) are one of the most vulnerable, yet underserved groups in our country. Well-meaning advocates have developed programs and services in an attempt to remedy this, yet there is little evidence of their effectiveness. Moreover, according to the research literature, a low utilization rate of current services by youth is a major concern. From a constructivist theoretical position, this study posits that the missing element is youth voice and the researcher hired formerly homeless youth to conduct the analysis of focus group data gathered from RHY who were participating in a range of services funded …

Self-Efficacy And Drinking With Friends: An Investigation Into The Drinking Behaviors Of Japanese College Students, Staci Jean Wendt

Dissertations and Theses

Recent studies have documented an alarming rate of alcohol use in Japan (Eisenback-Stangl et al., 2005; Milne, 2003; Shimizu, 2000). Indeed, permissive social and cultural norms for alcohol use exist within Japanese culture (Shimizu, 1990, 2000). Japanese college-students may be at further risk due to their developmental time period, where increases in alcohol use are typically seen. Furthermore, drinking habits formed during this time period may be difficult to alter later in life (Frone, 2003). Thus, social, developmental, and cultural factors exist to influence drinking among Japanese college students. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the drinking …

Writing Her Way To Spiritual Perfection: The Diary Of 1751 Of Maria De Jesus Felipa, Stephanie Oliver

Dissertations and Theses

Throughout the colonial period of Mexican history, cloistered nuns wrote spiritual journals at the request of their confessors. These documents were read and scrutinized, not only by the confessors, but also by others in the hierarchy of their Orders. They are important sources of study for historians in that they provide a window into the religious culture of the times and the spiritual mentality of their authors. This thesis will examine one such record, discovered in a collection of volumes at the Historical Franciscan Archive of Michoacán in Celaya, Mexico. The diary covers eleven months of 1751 in the life …

Early Childhood Inclusion: Teacher Perception Of The Supports Needed To Fully Include Children With Special Needs, Meredith Villines

Dissertations and Theses

Inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood settings remains a goal for many early care and education centers and professionals. In this study, the perceptions of supports needed to accomplish this goal were examined. Early childhood teachers from a university-based child care center, which is inspired by the schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy, were interviewed and asked to explore their feelings and thoughts on fully including children with disabilities in their classrooms. An examination of their perceptions led to the identification of four major themes: a) everyone is valuable in the classroom community, b) additional training is needed, c) …

Examining The Effects Of Climate Change And Urban Development On Water Demand: A Multi-Scale Analysis Of Future Water Demand In Hillsboro, Oregon, Lily Arielle House-Peters

Dissertations and Theses

In the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area, suburban cities such as Hillsboro are projected to grow as people seek affordable housing near a rapidly growing metropolis. This thesis examines the combined impact of climate change and urban development on both neighborhood and municipal scale residential water demand in Hillsboro, Oregon. I use two models, a surface energy balance model, Local-scale Urban Meteorological Parameterization Scheme (LUMPS), and a system dynamics model, CCDomestic, to investigate changes in residential water demand in the 2040s at two distinct spatial scales, the neighborhood and the municipality. I calibrate and validate each model to the reference period …

Sour Grapes While You're Down And Out: Self-Serving Bias And Applicant Attributions For Test Performance, Kyle Garret Mack

Dissertations and Theses

Recent research has shown that outcome favorability (Ryan & Ployhart, 2000) and perceived performance (Chan, Schmitt, Jennings, Clause, & Delbridge, 1998a) are key determinates of justice judgments, suggesting that self-serving bias is a critical mechanism in the formation of applicant reactions. However, organizational justice theory continues to be the dominant paradigm for understanding applicant reactions. Chan and Schmitt (2004) have suggested a far ranging agenda for research into reactions, which includes considering reactions in a longitudinal framework and considering the natural effect of time on reactions. The current study incorporates these theoretical approaches and addresses these gaps in the research …

Working Mothers' Decisions, Experiences And Feelings About Using On-Site Childcare, Stephanie Larae Hixson-Somanchi

Dissertations and Theses

On-site childcare is an ever-increasing form of childcare. By understanding the decisions, experiences and feelings of mothers using on-site centers, informed policy decisions about viable childcare models can be made. In the broadest terms current literature reveals that economic, societal, functional, and psychological factors influence a mother's decisions in regards to using childcare. This study used these markers as the basis for the development of questions to ascertain the experiences, feelings and decisions of mothers using on-site childcare. A phenomenological method was used. Twenty-four participants using on-site childcare from four organizations in different industries were located through a snowball sample …

Internal Displacement In Colombia: Violence, Resettlement, And Resistance, Juan Esteban Zea

Dissertations and Theses

The majority of the estimated four million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Colombia who have fled from their lands and homes have migrated to urban centers. This study, performed in Bogotá, Colombia between April and September 2009, examines how IDPs cope with living in a new, urban environment after violent displacement. I held interviews with IDPs, the non-displaced public, and government workers; performed participant-observation in government offices and neighborhoods; and examined archival material. The work examines cultural anthropological topics of violence, migration, and resistance. A discussion of state and structural violence reveals the current hardships many rural Colombians face. Analysis …

Engaging A Systems Approach To Evaluate Domestic Violence Intervention With Abusive Men: Reassessing The Role Of Community, Courtenay Silvergleid Wallpe

Dissertations and Theses

The domestic violence movement has had remarkable success illuminating the scope, prevalence and consequences of battering, but has been more limited in its ability to successfully intervene and prevent abuse of women by their intimate male partners. Surprisingly, there has been little research directed at understanding why intervention strategies with perpetrators are only minimally effective. Studies have focused on assessing the degree to which and for whom individual components such as arrest, prosecution and psycho-educational programs for abusive men are successful, but few explorations have attempted to describe limitations and challenges to the domestic violence intervention 'system as a whole'. …

Understanding The Development Of Self-Determination In Youth With Disabilities In Foster Care, Jennifer L. Powers

Dissertations and Theses

Youth in foster care who experience disabilities face many challenges as they transition out of foster care and into adulthood. In order to assist these youth, it is crucial to understand factors that may impact their self-determination, which research links to positive transition outcomes for youth with disabilities (Wehmeyer, Palmer, Agran, Mithaug, & Martin, 2000). While much of the existing research on the correlates and outcomes of self-determination focuses on young people with disabilities overall, and little is known about whether factors such as abuse, family stressors and extended length of time in care, and frequent placement changes influence self-determination. …

Investing And Vesting International Students' Expressive Resources In Social Capital At Portland State University, Mami Kikuchi

Dissertations and Theses

The study expands the conceptual and methodological precepts of social capital by examining how international students receive social capital from their friends and how students provide social capital to their friends in a North American university setting. The author examines the degree of emotional support that the participants provide ("Investing" social capital) and the support they receive from their friends ("Vesting" social capital), and the relationships between the two social capital variables. In addition, the study examines the influence of demographics and social interaction on social capital, and the influence of social capital on satisfaction. The study suggests that vesting …

The Impact Of Humanitarian Photography On The Generation Of Sympathy And On Donation Behavior, Marta Barberini

Dissertations and Theses

This paper presents findings of an exploratory study to evaluate the impact of humanitarian photography on the generation of sympathy and donation behavior. Considering the large amount of money spent each year by charity organizations on marketing strategies, it seems crucial to shed light on the persuasive impact of images in this context. The overarching purpose of this study was to discern what impact, if any, a number of features in a photograph have on sympathetic reactions. Specifically the author examined facial expressions (sad vs. happy), eye contact vs. no eye contact and total number of subjects portrayed. Findings supported …

Diatom-Based Stream Bioassessment: The Roles Of Rare Taxa And Live/Dead Ratio, Nadezhda Dimitrova Gillett

Dissertations and Theses

It is unclear whether accounting for the number of rare taxa or differentiating live (cells with visible chloroplasts) and dead (empty cells) diatoms would enhance the accuracy and precision of diatom-based stream bioassessment. My dissertation research examines whether the number of rare taxa and percentage (%) live diatoms can be used as indicators of human disturbance in streams/rivers. To address my objectives, I analyzed two datasets collected at different spatial scales. The large scale dataset was collected over the course of five years and included more than 1300 sites and over 200 environmental variables from 12 Western US states (US …

Efficient Encoding Of Vocalizations In The Auditory Midbrain, Lars Andreas Holmstrom

Dissertations and Theses

An important question in sensory neuroscience is what coding strategies and mechanisms are used by the brain to detect and discriminate among behaviorally relevant stimuli. To address the noisy response properties of individual neurons, sensory systems often utilize broadly tuned neurons with overlapping receptive fields at the system's periphery, resulting in homogeneous responses among neighboring populations of neurons. It has been hypothesized that progressive response heterogeneity in ascending sensory pathways is evidence of an efficient encoding strategy that minimizes the redundancy of the peripheral neural code and maximizes information throughput for higher level processing. This hypothesis has been partly supported …

Participatory Action Research With Dignity Village: An Action Tool For Empowerment Within A Homeless Community, Heather Irene Mosher

Dissertations and Theses

With homelessness continuing to rise over the past two decades, disenfranchised unhoused people have sparked a national movement to build for themselves democratically governed communities of affordable housing. Dignity Village, in Portland Oregon, is one of the longest running and most organized self-help housing communities in the nation. This paper presents a theoretical systems-based model of a developmental pathway out of homelessness in the U.S. that has as one of its key steps membership and participation in humane and dignified "self-help micro-housing"; communities such as Dignity Village.

This research involved working collaboratively with Dignity Village on a participatory action research …

Parental Differential Treatment (Pdt) Of Siblings: Examining The Impact And Malleability Of Differential Warmth And Hostility On Children's Adjustment, Brianne H. Kothari

Dissertations and Theses

Parental differential treatment (PDT), the within-family differences in parenting experienced by siblings (Rivers & Stoneman, 2008), has been linked to detrimental adjustment outcomes for children (e.g., Conger & Conger, 1994). The primary goal of this research was to more closely examine how differential treatment in two domains of parent-child relations-displays of warmth and hostility- were associated with child outcomes. A secondary data analysis was conducted on a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) of a parent training intervention. Participants in this sample were high risk children and families, and they were randomly assigned to one of three groups: an intensive parent training …

Hombres En Accion (Men In Action): A Community Defined Domestic Violence Intervention With Mexican, Immigrant, Men, Rosemary Carmela Celaya-Alston

Dissertations and Theses

Studies suggest that knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about domestic violence influence the behaviors of Mexican men. However, few interventions have targeted men in efforts to provide domestic violence awareness and health education to a relevant at-risk community that is also challenged by low literacy. Mexican immigrant men, particularly those less acculturated to the dominant U.S. culture, are significantly less likely to access services and more likely to remain isolated and removed from their communities and, more importantly, from their families. The purpose of this study was to explore and examine how cultural beliefs and behaviors influence the potential of domestic …