Digital Commons Network^™

Project Managers’ Use Of Lateral Influence Tactics To Achieve Team Commitment, Rochelle Evangeline Cook

Dissertations

Building on transformational leadership theory, 43 individuals from various new product development (NPD) teams were studied to understand the relationship between the project managers’ use of lateral influence tactics and team commitment as perceived by new product development team members. An explanatory correlational study was conducted to examine these relationships. Data were collected via questionnaire about each NPD team member’s view of the project manager’s use of lateral influence tactics and the NPD team member’s perception of team commitment. Perceptions of procedural justice were also tested for mediation. The study found that there is a moderate positive relationship between each …

Prospect Meadow Farm : Clients Perspective Of Beneficial Farming Acitivities, Frank J. Bayles

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This paper explores beneficial therapeutic effects of farming activities for program participants at Prospect Meadow Farm in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Prospect Meadow Farm, owned and operated by Servicenet is a therapeutic farm serving individuals with developmental and mental health conditions. This research is important because it challenges the orthodox conventions of psychiatric treatment in the United States. Furthermore, it is the first research done at Prospect Meadow Farm. The literature provides a historical context of the progress, missed opportunities and collaboration between blossoming professional occupations. Psychiatry, Occupational Therapy and Social Work occupations seem historically intertwined in progressing foundational theories related to …

Spirituality, Community And Action : An Exploration Of Catholic Sisters In Social Work, Melissa L. Eells

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study explored how Catholic sisters who practice social work understand their experiences in both religious life and the field of social work. Sisters have made significant contributions to professional social services for centuries and have done so out of deep spiritual commitments; yet, modern sisters' experiences have not been examined by researchers as a source of knowledge about how spiritual belief and social work practice intersect and impact both individual growth and institutional action. A total of 12 Catholic sisters who had worked in social work settings across the U.S. participated in semi-structured interviews for this study about …

"Eating Bitterness" : Mental Health Help-Seeking And Chinese International Students In The United States, Ran Huo

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative exploratory study examines how Chinese international students in the United States, aging from 18 to 30 years old, 1) perceive mental health help-seeking in China, 2) how they compare Chinese and American cultural views of help-seeking, and 3) how cross-cultural experiences may influence their understanding as well as their behavior related to mental health help-seeking. Twelve Chinese international students in Massachusetts and Rhode Island provided narratives through face-to-face interviews. Generally, there was reluctance among Chinese international students to identify their mental health needs, which was revealed from the examination of language use for mental health in Chinese. As …

Racial Hierarchy And Mental Health Outcomes Among Rich Nations, Jamie D. Daniels

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study examined the relationship between racial diversity and mental health outcomes among wealthy nations. It hypothesized that status anxieties would be more pronounced in those countries marked by greater diversity—a measure of social stratification or hierarchy. Lower status as measured by class has been shown in numerous studies to predict mental health outcomes, like risk of depression and psychosis for individuals. On a population level research has also found a relationship between income inequality—the degree of distance between the rich and the poor—and mental health outcomes. Regression analyses of the prevalence of mental illness against racial diversity showed no …

How Service Learning Impacts Identity Formation And Social Responsibility In Emerging Adults, Paige M. Hustead

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This qualitative study explores the impact of service learning experiences on identity formation and social responsibility in emerging adult college students. Utilizing purposeful convenience sampling, fourteen college students at a liberal arts college in the northeast were interviewed about their nonprofit volunteer experience. Study results indicated that service learning experience positively impacted the identity formation processes of participants by allowing for identity integration and continuity, exposure to idealized mentors in the field, space for reflection on professional identity, and a deeper understanding of social responsibility. This study has implications for clinical social workers because it offers in-depth insight into the …

"Light But Not White": A Race/Plus Model Of Latina/O Subordination, Alfredo Mirandé

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Control In Midwifery Assisted Childbirth: A Qualitative Examination Of The Midwifery Assisted Experience Of Childbearing, Sarah Jordan Keels

Theses and Dissertations

This study looks to uncover some of the reasons that the sub-group of women who give birth outside of a hospital setting, and the midwives who serve them, choose to have an alternative birth plan and are willing to undergo social criticism for their decision. This is a qualitative analysis based on interview data with women who utilized midwifery care and midwives themselves. In-depth interview questions focus on the decision to use a midwife, definitions of control in the prenatal and birthing experience, and any kind of facilitation midwifery is seen to give expectant mothers in relation to these concepts. …

Arts Entrepreneurship: An Essential Sub-System Of The Artist's Meta-Praxis, Jonathan Gangi

Theses and Dissertations

As the field of Arts Entrepreneurship education continues to grow, the barriers it confronts prevent maximum vitality. Leading scholars and administrators indicate that program development and formal accreditation standards are important components supporting the field's growth. As such, this document explores next steps and examines how to move the field towards academic maturity.

First, notable Arts Entrepreneurship academic programs are compared and contrasted as a representative sample of existing curricular approaches. Second, issues of accreditation are analyzed as barriers preventing growth, followed by recommendations for removing these obstacles. Third, the Artist's Meta-Praxis conceptual framework is presented as a way to …

The State V. Perry: Comparative Newspaper Coverage Of South Carolina's Most Prominent Civil Rights Lawyer, Christopher G. Frear

Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes news coverage of civil rights lawyer Matthew J. Perry Jr. by the South Carolina's largest newspaper, the (Columbia, SC) State at three points in his career as a lawyer, political candidate, and federal judge. At each point, Perry's legal and political work in the African American freedom struggle challenged the boundaries of the socially and politically legitimate in South Carolina and the Deep South. Perry negotiated the way forward with white officials. He helped African Americans achieve access to education, political office, and the administration of justice, and in the process helped reshape the racial caste system …

Lead Exposure And Crime, Tara Elaine Martin

Theses and Dissertations

While lead exposure during childhood has been linked to criminal activity later in life, prior research has failed to develop a theoretical foundation explaining why lead and crime rates are positively related at the aggregate level. Utilizing tract-level data, I examine the relationship among elevated blood lead level rates, levels of concentrated disadvantage, and crime rates. Through a biosocial approach, I explore the lead-crime relationship using a measure of concentrated disadvantage to account for the variations across tracts. Finally, I discuss the results of this study as well as implications for public policy and future research.

The Charleston "School Of Slavery": Race, Religion, And Community In The Capital Of Southern Civilization, Eric Rose

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the interracial religious communities of antebellum South Carolina to highlight patterns of racial consciousness and nation-building and demonstrate that the southern path to modernity was much closer to that of their northern contemporaries than previously recognized. The ready-made system of human classification inherent in racial slavery did not insulate southerners from the modern impulses that transfigured northern racial relations; instead, this dissertation argues that Carolinians white and black, free and slave, participated in a discourse of religious modernization that redirected the potentially destabilizing social implications of evangelicalism and progress into an idealized community structure that served the …

An Experimental Investigation Of Reciprocity And Formal Controls With Labor Market Competition, Michael John Majerczyk

Theses and Dissertations

DISS_abstract> Most experimental research related to agency settings, such as participative budgeting, has examined how formal controls, such as audits and reviews, influence the behavior of managers. Alternatively, a growing literature in managerial accounting examines the effects of using informal social controls. Some of these studies have examined the ability of the gift-exchange model from economics, founded on reciprocity, to function as a suitable control. Within the social context of an experimental labor market, I examine the relationship between the type of control employers implement (i.e., reviews, a formal control versus reciprocity, an informal control) and the amount of budget …

Unequal Pay: The Role Of Gender, Kathleen M. Gillespie

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Evolution And Social Effects Of Faith-Based International Nongovernmental Organizations, Christina Ingle

Honors Projects

The objective of this paper was to look at the cultural, social, and environmental of faith-based INGOs on Guatemala society within the framework of participatory development, which is the aim to include aid recipients in development projects to ensure long-run sustainability and stability. I related the evolution of faith-based INGOs to the historical eras that Latin America has experienced since the age of colonization, namely the time of the domination of the Roman Catholic church, the establishment of Spanish missions in Latin America, liberalism secularism, and neoliberalism. In a case study of Guatemala, I looked at the influence of Roman …

Elucidating Perceived And Actual Cancer Risk In Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Differentially Impacted By Environmental Hazards To Inform Future Public Health Interventions, Lashanta J. Rice

Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, racial and ethnic minorities, economically disadvantaged and medically underserved groups bear a disproportionate amount of the cancer burden. Myriad social and environmental factors attribute to these disparities including disparate exposures to environmental pollutants, which account for two percent of all cancer deaths nationally. There is empirical evidence demonstrating risk perceptions and cancer worry are shaped by race/ethnicity and social and environmental experiences. Cancer risk perceptions among Non-Whites, especially Blacks compared to Whites is lower for various reasons. Low perceived cancer risk may explain persistent cancer disparities, since protective health behaviors are higher among persons who perceive …

The Contribution Of Status Lineages In The Rise Of The State: A New Theory Of State Formation, Yamilette Chacon

Theses and Dissertations

In social theory, ancient societies are frequently seen as `traditional' in the sense of being static. If static, there is a problem for theory for we know that, over time, societies have evolved to become more complex. This dissertation proposes a dynamic model for the social structure of the chiefdom based in a synthesis of anthropological and experimentally grounded sociological theory. Its purpose is to explain 1) why the chiefdom is an effective social structure in that it promotes collective action and 2) why the chiefdom becomes increasingly unstable over time. Because of that instability, the chiefdom may stand at …

Pedagogies Across Borders: Perspectives From Teaching Staff And Students Engaged With Transnational Programmes In Hong Kong, Pj Magne, T Heffernan, O Poverjuc

Professional Services

No abstract provided.

Conscience And Community: Exploring The Relationship Between Conscience Formation And Systemic Corruption (In Nigeria), Augustine E. Ebido

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on the impact of the moral community (or social context) on the formation of conscience and its implication for moral responsibility. It is an interdisciplinary approach to theological reflection that is particularly attentive to psychological, philosophical, sociological, and neurobiological viewpoints showing how these have either distorted or broadened our understanding of conscience in its relation to community and social responsibility, or its formation in relationship to our moral development. It stresses reciprocity of conduct (for we are "responders") and the complementarities of internal and external sanctions. It insists that the influence of conscience on behavior is undermined …

Minority Languages For Instruction: A Comparative Study Of Teachers’ Perspectives In Tanzania And Brazil, Jean Antunes

Master of Education

Research has pointed to the benefits of children learning in their mother tongue, and much has been discussed and done to assert the rights of ethnic minorities toward the use of their language in education. However, it has also been shown that there are instances in which education in the mother tongue is not preferred. This has many implications for the education systems of multilingual countries such as Tanzania and Brazil that have to deal with a multiplicity of languages in the school. Education stakeholders face these issues on a daily basis. In view of these implications this study set …

Making Lemonade: Nonprofit Survival During The Great Recession, Latitia Mccree

Wayne State University Theses

ABSTRACT

MAKING LEMONADE: NONPROFIT SURVIVAL DURING THE GREAT RECESSION

by

LATITIA MCCREE

May 2014

Advisor: Dr. Dapne Ntiri, Ph.D.

Major: Interdisciplinary Studies, Nonprofit Sector Studies

Degree: Master of Arts

The Great Recession that officially began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009 significantly impacted the quality of life for many US families. Jobs were permanently lost, homes were foreclosed, and personal savings were depleted. This caused many families to seek aid from nonprofit organizations. As the demand for nonprofit services rose, many nonprofit organization's revenues and resources declined.

A case study of the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit was conducted …

Recipe For Disaster? An Exploration Of Work-Family Spillover Conversations In Food Memoirs, Richard Blair

Wayne State University Theses

When our work identity changes our interactions within our family we experience work-family spillover. Recently sociologists have become increasingly intrigued by this role conflict and how it affects individuals. This spillover can affect individuals in either a negative or a positive way. Though this research shows the potential impact of work-family spillover there is very little discussing how specific occupations understand this conflict. My research focused on the occupation of chefs and explores their experiences with work-family spillover. After completing a qualitative content analysis of the autobiographies of five different chefs, this research has shed light on how these individuals …

Mediated Histories: Representations Of Nineteenth-Century American Life At Greenfield Village And Crossroads Village, Jaclyn Millichamp

Wayne State University Theses

Living history museums are a prevalent form of history museum in which periods in history are portrayed through the use of artifacts and structures from the era, as well through the use of interpreters, which demonstrate processes from the past or discuss events with visitors. These sites have been scrutinized in the last few decades due to their constructed nature that often downplays negative aspects of the past. Since history is multi-faceted, it is impossible to present a clear recreation of history, and therefore, the creators of these sites have considerable leeway in how they choose to depict aspects of …

Assessing The Influence Of Religious Involvement On Health Behaviors Among Gender And Racial/Ethnic Groups, Charlotte Roshelle Winston

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between measures of public and private religiosity and various measures of health behavior. Previous studies have shown that religious involvement is associated with health outcomes (Koenig & Vaillant, 2009; Chatters, 2000; Meisenhelder, 2003). However, many studies use religious attendance as the single measure of religiosity This research used multiple indicators of religiosity that reflected both public and private dimensions in order to predict various health behaviors, including preventive health behaviors, abstention from alcohol and smoking, and physical activity. In addition to taking a multi-dimensional approach to assessing the religion-health relationship …

An Analytical Model To Assess Technology Needs In A Rural Community, Orlando Ray Terry

Theses

Information technology (IT) has shaped fundamental changes throughout society. IT has facilitated the shift from an industrial age to a network age. In addition to altering commerce, education, government and communications, IT affects the construction of and response to social problems such as poverty and inequality. The very existence of the "digital divide"--or lack of access to IT for certain segments of the population-- is evidence of the ability of technology to worsen existing inequality. At the same time, technology promotes organizing efforts to disadvantaged communities, and it can connect people to a range of opportunities. The community technology movement--a …

Investigating Variability In Teaching Performance...Seeking Pathways To Excellence, Francine Endler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher learning is critical to student learning (Darling-Hammond, 2002, 2010). The work documented here is driven by an investigation of a long-standing and complex problem of educational practice: the inequitable learning opportunities for students that result from variability in the selection, learning and placement of practicing and aspiring teachers. A multidisciplinary perspective is used to situate the problem of practice theoretically, within a body of empirical research, and within a context of educational practice. Among the perspectives used to examine the problem of practice are theoretical frameworks that support the claim that the problem is a matter of social justice. …

The New Endangered Species: Community-Anchoring Public Schools, Karen Ferrick-Roman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Often, school closures are seen as a "natural order" of events in communities with extreme economic struggles. My work challenges this premise.

In Pennsylvania, communities where schools selected for closure are often composed of rural, largely white or urban, largely minority, populations living at the margins amid the persistent yet growing economic divide. Within this milieu, communities and people at the margins are swept up in general educational trends, such as the risk of charter schools, siphoning students and funding from traditional, community-anchoring public schools and perpetuating systematic power and economic inequities, driven by political and philanthropic initiatives. The economic …

Black Existential Philosophy: Truth In Virtue Of Self-Discovery, James B. Haile

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the past 20 years, within the discipline of philosophy there has been a burgeoning interest in the fields of Race theory, Africana, and African American philosophy, especially in the scholarship and questions concerning the experience and meaning of black existence; that is, within black existential philosophy. Despite this interest, though, there has yet to be a sustained study of the categories of black existential philosophy nor its concepts--there seems to have been the acceptance of traditional European existential categories and concepts merely applied to the questions of black existence. This work, though, offers a sustained examination of the existential …

Parental Substance Abuse And Child Welfare Outcomes: A Study Of Biological Mothers And Their Children In Out-Of-Home Placement In Allegheny County, Courtney Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study uses logistic regression to examine whether parental substance abuse makes biological mothers more or less likely to have their children returned home if the children have been removed by the Office of Children, Youth and Families (CYF). CYF handles the executive branch child welfare responsibilities for Allegheny County, which includes the city of Pittsburgh, PA. The sample in this study included children who had been removed from the home for the first time in 2012, and was split by age, creating two models. Parental drug abuse was found to make the child less likely to reunify in both …

Are You My Brother's Keeper: Challenging The Systemic Racism That Fosters Low Expectations For Black Males In Public Schools, Shana Denise Nelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation in practice investigates the problem of systemic racism fostering a culture of low expectations for Black males in public schools. This work frames this problem as a matter of social justice and utilizes Critical Race Theory to examine how it robs Black males of their academic potential. This work argues that to address this problem, educators must engage in learning opportunities that help to identify and challenge their race-based assumptions and stereotypes, develop their racial consciousness, cultural competencies, and professional practices, and recognize, interrupt, and address systemic racism. Provided is a working agenda that offers recommendations for how …