Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Implementation Of Deterrence: A Multi-Approach Assessment Of The Impact Of Recent Changes In Anti-Drunk Driving Legislation On Reducing Alcohol-Involved Fatalities, Josef R. Soper

Dissertations

The objective of this study is to determine if anti-drunk driving legislation, enacted between January 1979 and December 1983, has significantly reduced the number of alcohol-involved traffic fatalities.

At the macro-level, 60 consecutive months of alcohol-involved fatality data were requested from the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Sixteen states supplied the requested data. The Box-Jenkins technique for interrupted time-series analysis was used to determine if a change in the state's drunk driving law impacted the frequency of alcohol-involved fatalities in that state. Results are discussed in relation to the statewide impact of anti-drunk driver legislation.

At the micro-level, …

Predicting Agency Survival As A Function Of Constituency Support In The Michigan Mental Health System, R. Dee L. Woell

Dissertations

Two public facilities for the mentally ill, Michigan Institute for Mental Health and Lafayette Clinic were examined, using a framework provided by Douglas R. Boulter (1983). The basic research question was, why did Lafayette Clinic survive while Michigan Institute did not?

The following research propositions were explored: (1) Organizations that receive strong constituency and media support are more likely to survive than those which do not; (2) Program success or failure is dependent on the decision-maker's perception of the sum of public support; (3) The media serves both as a carrier of opinion and as an influential actor in its …

Beyond Contingency Theory: Environment, Structure, And Administrator's Coping Ability In The Public Sector, Shyu-Tu Lee

Dissertations

In the last two decades, organizational-environment contingency theory has attracted much attention. A great deal of research has been done on investigating the impact of environment on organizations, suggesting the appropriate design of organizational structure. In recent years, organizational theorists have moved to investigate proactive approaches to organizational environments.

Most empirical studies, however, have been conducted in the private sector. In order to transfer the knowledge to the public sector, it is necessary to investigate whether public organizations are also subjected to environmental influence and how public administrators interact with the environment.

This study investigated the following three questions: (1) …

Determinant Factors In The Utilization Process Of Social Services In Saudi Arabia, Fahd Abdullah Ali Dileym

Dissertations

The Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare and the Deputy Ministry of Social Security provide a spectrum of social service programs and activities. However, utilization of the designated services is incapacitated by the existing gap between the potential clients and the social service providers. Certain barriers have contributed significantly to the clients' underutilization behavior of the assigned services.

Accordingly, this study had two purposes: (a) to determine whether social services provided by the Deputy Ministries of Social Welfare and Social Security are perceived by administrators, social workers, and college students to be underutilized; and (b) to compare the perceptions of the …