Digital Commons Network^™

Innovation Capacity In Local Government Organizations : A Comparative Case Study Of Three Innovation Labs In The U.S, Qianli Yuan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Innovation in the public sector is a high priority on the agenda of both practitioners and academics, as government recently faces increasing citizens’ demands and growing wicked problems. It has been increasingly regarded as necessary to improve current practices that improve government performance in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and equity. In response to this demand for innovation, many government organizations established innovation labs to strengthen their capacity to introduce new and innovative solutions. Being agile and small and having a certain level of autonomy, they are advocated as a “safe space” that applies a variety of approaches, methods, and toolkits …

Conducting A Needs Assessment To Inform The Development Of A Burnout Mitigation Program For Critical Care Nurses, Leighann Marie Brock

Doctoral Scholarly Projects & Capstones

Burnout among nurses is at monumental levels, contributing to high levels of job dissatisfaction and turnover. Some interventions existed in the literature to support burnout reduction programming among nurses; however, the literature failed to identify effective burnout reduction interventions based upon the specific needs of critical care nurses who face unique stressors related to high patient acuity and other environmental considerations. This project aimed to explore critical care nurses' needs and strategies designed to mitigate burnout in the clinical setting. Outcomes from this assessment would inform future interventions for the early identification and prevention of burnout among critical care nurses. …

Complex Adaptive Systems Leadership In A Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, And Ambiguous (Vuca) Environment: A Case Study Of A First-Year Female Superintendent Of Color, Karika Ann Parker

Dissertations

Superintendents in the K-12 education system in the United States are called upon to ameliorate problems and issues derived from many internal and external forces since its inception. Current literature reveals that, superintendents face complex challenges to improve district level educational outcomes for students within environments that are more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) and do require a shift from dominant traditional (hierarchal and control) leadership approaches. The aim of this qualitative case study of interviews is to represent the single voice of a first-year female superintendent of color’s (Asian, Indian descent) perspective, perceptions, thoughts, and experiences. The interviews …

A Case Study Of Perceptions Of Academic Liaison Librarian Roles In The Instructional Design Process, Brent C. Swearingen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The academic liaison librarian model is evolving and increasingly includes a greater emphasis on collaborative work with other academic professionals. Little is known about how these new roles are viewed either by liaison librarians or their prospective partners. This study explored the evolution of the liaison model, as well as perceptions of academic liaison librarian roles in the instructional design process. Using systems thinking and frames as conceptual frameworks, the study utilized a qualitative, single-site case study for its methodology.

Charter School Leaders’ Perceptions Of School Autonomy, Sharon L. Latten-Clark

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This study explored school leaders and how they perceive and use autonomy to operate a school. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to better understand the lived experiences of school leaders and how they perceive and use their autonomy while operating a charter school in New Orleans, Louisiana. There is relatively little documentation on the perceptions of how school leaders feel they use and balance their autonomy when operating a charter school. This study builds upon the current and past research which regards principal autonomy as a driver of the success of charter schools and school quality. …

Therapists’ Demonstrated Multicultural Competence In Treating Latinx Immigrants, Dulce Diaz Benitez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studies suggest that health disparities occur when people from marginalized communities receive care that is inadequate based on their cultural needs (USDHHS, 2011). Multicultural competence (MCC) models have been proposed to provide a framework of the competencies that therapists should develop to work with multicultural populations (Sue et al., 1992). Researchers have questioned the validity of measures, which are mostly based on therapist self-report (Cartwright, 2008). The multicultural case conceptualization ability task has been used in previous studies as a measure of demonstrated cultural competence using a vignette to assess case conceptualization abilities (Ladany et al., 1997). However, it has …

Progressive Analytics Diffusions: Rewiring Our Software, Liz Wanless

Journal of Applied Sport Management

The sport industry is no stranger to the pursuit of innovation (Slack & Thurston, 2021). The sport analytics realm represents the continual emergence of innovation diffusion curves. This essay shows how innovating both research and education in response to diffusion curves in sport analytics, we can create the space to not only keep but also generate pace.

On Sabbatical My Travels With Jackie – A Sabbatical Story, Todd C. Harris

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

It’S More Than Nursing: The Experiences Of Psychological Safety Of Pre-Licensure Nursing Students Who Identify As Black, Indigenous, And People Of Color, Melissa Marie Anozie

Dissertations

The healthcare environment mandates its staff are able to communicate freely and openly to provide high quality patient care leading to positive patient outcomes. As the largest healthcare profession and those who are at the bedside most often with patients, registered nurses play a vital role in ensuring these outcomes. As advocates for the most vulnerable, nurses must communicate often but before doing so, they must feel psychologically safe. Psychological safety is how one perceives the benefits, risks, and consequences of asking a question, sharing an opinion, reporting an error, or revealing one’s true self to others. It is a …

Advocacy Experiences Of Licensed Professional Counselors Who Serve Minor Survivors Of Abuse And Neglect, Earniesha S. Lott-Kennebrew

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

LPCs in Louisiana operate in multiple professional roles and maintain various responsibilities, including advocacy for clients. Although numerous advocacy opportunities occur when counselors are working with children, a minimal amount of research exists regarding advocacy training, as well as the associated intricacies and responsibilities of advocacy. Lack of awareness of advocacy issues is a prominent barrier to advocacy involvement and it is suggested that counselor education programs are infusing advocacy education into courses but are not necessarily teaching specific constructs of advocacy. Thus, relevant and existing advocacy literature is sparse.

The purpose of my qualitative phenomenological research is to understand …

Who They Are Versus What They Want: How Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, And Compliance Profiles Can Aid In Developing Employability, Bonnie S. O'Neill, Jason Fertig, Pamela Wells, Carelle B. Bassil

Management Faculty Research and Publications

This paper draws attention to a behavior-based assessment instrument that is frequently utilized in industry settings but less utilized in the academic classroom. The authors argue that this instrument, the dominance, influence, steadiness, and compliance (DISC) profile, can be useful in training and developing soft skills desired by employers. They also examine the effects of gender and work experience on the various DISC patterns to better understand how this instrument may be useful for coaching and mentoring in those academic and organizational contexts. In this study, DISC pattern data were gathered from 1547 undergraduate and graduate students across multiple universities …

Appreciative Administration: How The Appreciative Education Theory-To-Practice Framework Is Being Infused Into Higher Education Administrative Practices, Meagan Elsberry

Faculty and Staff Publications & Presentations

This qualitative grounded theory study updated the framework, including a definition, of Appreciative Administration. Bloom et al. (2013) first introduced the concept of Appreciative Education in a New Directions for Student Services article. Appreciative Education’s framework is harnessed by the power of the organizational development theory of Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987), the relationship-building theory-to-practice framework of Appreciative Advising (Bloom & Martin, 2002; Bloom et al., 2008), and an Appreciative Mindset. Bloom and McClellan (2016) coined the phrase Appreciative Administration to describe how higher education administrators could lead their organizations by harnessing the power of Appreciative Education. To date, …

Integrating Media Literacy Into General Education Core Courses For Undergraduates, Christen Embry

Dissertations

This study aimed to understand the essential nature of media literacy, evaluate pre-developed higher education classes for existing media literacy context, and recommend best practices for incorporating media literacy into an undergraduate curriculum. This mixed-methods study of media literacy in undergraduate college courses explored the presence and absence of media literacy lessons within core classes by auditing 15 online course shells accessed through the university’s Learning Management System (LMS). Specifically, all the courses surveyed included the first skill of media literacy, Access; 33% of the classes included Analyze; 27% included Creation; 20% included Reflection; and 20% included Action. Once the …

Exploring The Attitudes And Perceptions Of Educators Regarding Disabled Students In The Inclusive Classroom, Christopher Closson

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This mixed methods study was designed to investigate teachers’ perceptions and attitudes regarding students with disabilities in the inclusive classroom. According to Hogan, Lohmann, and Champion (2013), inclusive classrooms are now the norm in many K-12 schools across the United States, which has made the job of general education teachers all the more difficult. This study examined educator attitudes and perceptions in three northeast Tennessee school districts, regarding disabled students in the inclusive classroom. Teachers with a clear understanding of their perspectives toward inclusion are better able to establish classrooms with full inclusion and provide students with disabilities an education …

Great Recession And Corporate Recovery: Empirical Evidence Of The Impact Of Firms' Internal Control System, Gbolahan Oladayo

Theses and Dissertations

In Previous studies, we are made to understand that recession has a detrimental effect on corporate valves. Hence, I investigate substantial evidence that firms with a good internal control system, even during the financial crisis of 2008, were able to minimize redundancies that could have negatively affected the recovery of their company’s post-recession. Thus, firms with effective internal control systems are able to recover from negative events significantly faster (as measured by the firm’s values) than those without such systems.

Employees’ Job Positions, Psychological Ownership, And Commitment To Change, Bo Zhang

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Organisational change is crucial to the development of enterprises. However, when enterprises are implementing major changes, there are great differences in the attitudes and behaviours of employees in different job positions toward changes. Research in this area is insufficient. Therefore, this dissertation investigates the problem of employee commitment amid enterprises’ organisational changes. This dissertation is committed to determining why employees at different levels and with different roles have different degrees of commitment to change and confirming the role of job positions in affecting employees’ psychological ownership of the change process. According to the findings, the impact of employees’ job rank …

A Case Study Of Practitioner Perceptions On The Online Transition Of Student Support Services At A Mississippi Community College, Christopher M. Bagwell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

The study explored how practitioners perceived the transition to online student support services at a Mississippi community college during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study utilized the qualitative research approach of a single case study to gather data. Data was collected through open-ended surveys designed to acquire and interpret perceptions on an array of research questions. Forty-one administrators and staff participated in the study. The researcher employed hierarchical coding to narrow the data into themes. Subsequent rounds of coding and peer review were conducted to develop two principal themes of technology and institutional/personal preparedness. Kotter’s Change Model was utilized to evaluate …

Exploring Change And Stability In Counterterrorism Policy, Prosecution, And Sentencing Of Terrorists In America Over The Last Three Decades In The United States, Georgianna Grace Bettis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the effects of legislation changes on how terrorists are adjudicated in American federal courts. The overarching question is: how have prosecutorial and sentencing outcomes changed in response to homeland security policy shifts over the last few decades? The project examines the impact of policy on changes to terrorists’ sentencing in three time periods, marked by three major events: The 1993 World Trade Center Attack, the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, and the attack on the Twin Towers (9/11/2001). In addition to terrorists’ demographic and background attributes (i.e., gender, age, terrorism category), the …

Exploring The Interpersonal, Leadership, And Organizational Factors Related To The Burnout Of Bilingual, Latinx Professional School Counselors [Explorando Los Factores Interpersonales, De Liderazgo Y Organizacionales Relacionados Con El Agotamiento De Los Consejeros Escolares Profesionales Bilingües Y Latine], Crystal Marie Prado

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the relationship between interpersonal competencies, educational leadership styles of campus principals, organizational practices, and the burnout of professional school counselors (PSCs). A mixed-methods research design was utilized to examine the correlation between identified predictor variables and the level of burnout as measured by the five dimensions of the Counselor Burnout Inventory (CBI; Lee et al., 2007), the three subscales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory: Educators Survey (MBI-ES, Maslach et al., 1986), and personal narratives documenting the participating PSC's most significant professional experiences. The investigation included 100 bilingual, Latinx PSCs from four urban/suburban school districts of border towns …

The Field-Building And Grantee Experimentation Role Of Foundations In Impact Investing As Illustrated By A Gender-Lens Investing Case Example, Courtney Bolinson, Laura Allan

The Foundation Review

This article argues for foundations to play two critical roles in the impact investing ecosystem: to commission and/or support research that helps build more equitable and socially just impact investing and to fund grantee-specific experimentation in areas of impact investing and social enterprise that are nascent or developing.

To illustrate what this can look like, this article presents action research conducted on gender-lens investing, describing in detail a 2019 Mastercard Foundation grant to Engineers Without Borders Canada. The project involved two main goals: testing and developing gender-lens investing tools and processes with seed-stage investees during pre- or post-investment phases and …

Deliberately Developmental Leadership In Organizational Settings, Glenn Allen Nixon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate leadership development strategies in organizations in North Texas needed to create prepared, competent leaders who can become and help create deliberately developmental leaders. Open-ended and semistructured interviews were used to collect data, with questions centered on effective leadership development strategies for creating competent leaders and effective leadership strategies for creating deliberately developmental leaders. The idea was to understand if organization’s leadership focused on the need for leadership development, if organizational members were being identified for leadership, and if systems exist to address future organizational leadership needs. Three types of organizations were …

Understanding Superintendents’ Approaches To The Implementation Of District Systems In The Context Of A Crisis, Jarad C. Munroe

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic presented a crisis that district superintendents and their leadership teams had not before experienced. In a matter of weeks, school systems needed to transition away from a traditional learning model, where teaching and learning occurred in a physical classroom, to a virtual learning environment. School districts were provided little time to strategically develop a model to transform their systems to continue to meet student learning goals. The districts were still expected to fully operate, while prioritizing the acquisition of resources that could provide the means for a deliberate shift to establish a virtual learning system. This qualitative …

The Lived Experiences Of Students In A Summer Bridge Ninth Grade Transition Program: A Phenomenological Case Study, Ricardo C. Randall

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of students in one summer bridge program as they transitioned to high school. Every year, eighth grade middle school students go through the process of making the transition from middle school to high school. For many students, the transition to high school is the most difficult of all transitions. In order to assist students to successfully transition to high school, many school districts in our nation have implemented Middle School to High School Summer Bridge Programs to augment academic achievement and strengthen the essential skills needed for the preparation …

Iris Nursing Strong Program: Benchmark Study, Sonia Bunyard, Keviesha Lacy

MSN Capstone Projects

The change project we are presenting is the IRIS-Nursing Strong program. IRIS stands for: Increasing, Reason & Relaxation, Implementation, Strategies all aimed to prevent nursing burnout. The Iris flower symbolizes hope and strength as nurses are healthcare providers who constantly provide that hope and strength to their patients. We plan to develop this program in the workplace to infuse that hope and strength back into the nurses who spend so much time taking care of others. The goal is to offer a non-judgmental environment, recognize early signs of distress in ourselves and our peers, provide …

The Impact Of Human Resource Management Practices On Empowering Workers In Public Shareholding Insurance Companies Listed On The Amman Financial Market, Ali Al-Otoum, Suhil Bni Mustafa, Manal Al-Hawamdeh, Anwar Al-Qa’Ideh

Jerash for Research and Studies Journal مجلة جرش للبحوث والدراسات

This study aimed to identify the impact of human resources management practices on empowering workers in public shareholding insurance companies listed in the Amman Financial Market. An applied study from the viewpoint of senior and middle management managers in these companies. The study sample consisted of (337) employees from the upper and middle management staff. From the study community. (337) questionnaires were distributed, (327) questionnaires were retrieved, (13) questionnaires were excluded because they were not valid for analysis, 314 questionnaires were analyzed. The researchers used the descriptive analytical approach in this study, the study found that the level of human …

The Leadership Role In Strategy, Wilfredo Moran

Publications and Research

This paper offers the crucial role that leaders play in the strategy of an organization. The paper will discuss how to develop a strategic vision and a mission statement that tells the direction the company is taking and why. In addition, the paper will show how to set goals and objectives, craft strategies, evaluate the strategy, and how to evaluate performance. This paper will show that the role of leadership is the most important factor in crafting a winning strategy for the organization.

The Sources Of The Authority Of Academic Leaders In Jordanian Universities From The Viewpoint Of The Faculty Members Working With Them مصادر سلطة القادة الأكاديميين في الجامعات الأردنية من وجهة نظر أعضاء هيئة التدريس العاملين فيها, Meqbel M. Alkhazaleh, Saleh Naser Oleimat, Eid M. Kanan

Jordanian Educational Journal

Abstract:

The study aimed to identify the sources of the authority of academic leaders in Jordanian universities from the viewpoint of the faculty members working with them. A random stratified sample was chosen, consisting of (384) faculty members. The survey descriptive methodology was used, and a questionnaire consisting of (27) items, distributed in (6) fields, was used. Its validity and reliability were confirmed. The study reached the following results: the degree of appreciation of the exercise of the sources of the authority of academic leaders in Jordanian universities from the viewpoint of faculty members working with them was medium. The …

Expanding Workplace Inclusion Of Employees Who Are Parents Of Children With Disabilities Through Diversity Training, Lisa M. Stewart, Julie M. Rosenzweig, Anna M. Malsch Tamarkin, Eileen Brennan, Jessica Lukefahr

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Employed parents raising children with disabilities manage exceptional care responsibilities along with their work careers. This study examines the effects of targeted diversity training on human resource (HR) professionals’ knowledge of the work–family experiences of these parents, and on their self-efficacy in providing workplace supports. Using computer-based training in field settings, 64 U.S. human resource professionals in an international company participated in two diversity training sessions. Data related to knowledge and efficacy of dependent and disability care were collected before the first training and immediately after the second. HR participants demonstrated significant increases from pretest to posttest on the trained …

How University Students Are Taught About Sustainability, And How They Want To Be Taught: The Importance Of The Hidden Curriculum, Lucy Millicent Turner, Smitha Hegde, Indrani Karunasagar, Rebecca Turner

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Purpose: India is unique, having enshrined in law the teaching of sustainability education (SE) within all levels of formal education. This study aims to examine the integration and perceptions of SE within the higher education (HE) sector in India and identify any lessons that can be exported about the teaching of SE from the Indian HE environment. Design/methodology/approach: Focusing on a science-based teaching and research institute at a private university in India, a quantitative, cross-sectional study examined the extent to which SE was integrated into the university and how it was perceived by students and staff. Data were collected through …

Perceptions Of Female Principals Of Education Schools In The Taybeh And Al-Wasatiyah Districts In The Hashemite Kingdom Of Jordan Towards The Development Of Intellectual Capital, Khalid Mahdawi

Jerash for Research and Studies Journal مجلة جرش للبحوث والدراسات

This study aimed to identify the perceptions of the female School principals toward intellectual capital development (recruiting, creating, boosting, and retaining of the intellectual capital). The study used the questionnaire as the study tool to collect data from the study population, after analyzing the data, there were many results; one of the most important one was that, the school in Directorate of Education for Taybeh and Al Wasatia Districts are implementing intellectual capital in medium practice level for all the study variables; because the weakness in Policies and educational program toward intellectual capital development, also absence the challenge and innovation …