Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

University of Central Florida

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 2521 - 2550 of 11266

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Effect Of The Great Recession On Local Goverment Policy In Florida, Richard Levey Jan 2015

The Effect Of The Great Recession On Local Goverment Policy In Florida, Richard Levey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The length and depth of the Great Recession of 2008 provides an opportunity to examine the policy behavior of local governments unlike any window since the 1930's post Depression era. Utilizing Peterson's (1981) City Limits typology as a framework for local government policy allows for an evaluation of whether or not the economic downturn caused local governments to change their relative expenditures between policy categories. The City Limits typology has been widely used in the literature to explain how expenditures define a local government's role in economic development. The typology has had limited use in a pre-post natural experimental research …

Go to article

Organizational Complexity, Plan Adequacy, And Nursing Home Resiliency: A Contingency Perspective, Cherie Boyce Jan 2015

Organizational Complexity, Plan Adequacy, And Nursing Home Resiliency: A Contingency Perspective, Cherie Boyce

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Some social and organizational behavior scientists measure resiliency through anecdotal qualitative research, i.e. personality analyses and stories of life experience. Empirical evidence remains limited for identifying measurable indicators of resiliency. Therefore, a testable contingency model was needed to clarify resiliency factors pertinent to organizational performance. Two essential resiliency factors were: 1) a written plan and 2) affiliation with a disaster network. This contingency study demonstrated a quantifiable, correlational effect between organizational complexity, disaster plan adequacy and organizational resiliency. The unit of analysis, the skilled nursing facility proved vulnerable, therefore justifying the need for a written emergency management plan and affiliation …

Go to article

The Impact Of Mobbing And Job-Related Stress On Burnout And Health-Related Quality Of Life: The Case Of Turkish Territorial State Representatives, Mehmet Yesilbas Jan 2015

The Impact Of Mobbing And Job-Related Stress On Burnout And Health-Related Quality Of Life: The Case Of Turkish Territorial State Representatives, Mehmet Yesilbas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Job-related stress occurs as one of the most serious issues in modern era in developed nations. It has direct and negative effects on employees' productivity and it may have negative impacts on employees' health. One of the potential results of prolonged stressors at work place is burnout and this response may lead to physical, emotional, and psychological exhaustion that can occur at both individual and organizational levels. Burnout is a job related threat that provokes social stress and can directly affect an individual's health. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is commonly used to measure an individual's overall/global health and quality …

Go to article

Tailoring Instruction To The Individual: Investigating The Utility Of Trainee Aptitudes For Use In Adaptive Training, Carla Landsberg Jan 2015

Tailoring Instruction To The Individual: Investigating The Utility Of Trainee Aptitudes For Use In Adaptive Training, Carla Landsberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computer-based training has become more prolific as the military and private business enterprises search for more efficient ways to deliver training. However, some methods of computer-based training are not more effective than traditional classroom methods. One technique that may be able to approximate the most effective form of training, one-on-one tutoring, is Adaptive Training (AT). AT techniques use instruction that is tailored to the learner in some way, and can adjust different training parameters such as difficulty, feedback, pace, and delivery mode. There are many ways to adapt training to the learner, and in this study I explored adapting the …

Go to article

Gender And Social Capital: Implications For Women's Civic Engagement In Ecuador And Peru, Pamela Medina Jan 2015

Gender And Social Capital: Implications For Women's Civic Engagement In Ecuador And Peru, Pamela Medina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Civic engagement is a fundamental component of a healthy democracy, contributing to higher government accountability and overall improvement in "good governance". Civic engagement is particularly critical to subgroups which are under-represented in formal political structures, such as women, as it affords these groups the opportunity to voice their unique concerns. However, women participate less in many important forms of civic engagement. The United Nations and other international organizations have emphasized the importance of increasing women's voice and empowerment in an attempt to improve women's overall well-being, particularly in the developing world. Individual and contextual factors have demonstrated contributions toward influencing …

Go to article

The Darkside Of Stereotypes: The Effects Of Crime In The Media On Racial Identity And Emotions, Shantel Campbell Jan 2015

The Darkside Of Stereotypes: The Effects Of Crime In The Media On Racial Identity And Emotions, Shantel Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated how the image of Black criminality in the media affects the racial identity and emotions of Blacks. It also examined how the image of White criminality affects the racial identity and emotions of Whites as a point of comparison. These effects were studied through the lens of self-categorization theory and inter-group emotions theory. SCT posits that a person*s biases are a result of how relevant their social identity is to their self-concept. IET posits that the emotions a person feels are derived from the social group they belong to. This study analyzed 369 responses from participants who …

Go to article

Students’ Perceptions And Misperceptions Of The Communication Major: Opportunities And Challenges Of Reputation, Nichole Egbert, Joy L. Daggs, Phillip R. Reed Jan 2015

Students’ Perceptions And Misperceptions Of The Communication Major: Opportunities And Challenges Of Reputation, Nichole Egbert, Joy L. Daggs, Phillip R. Reed

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This study investigates undergraduate students' perceptions of the content, difficulty, and value of the Communication major. Students in majors other than Communication from two universities indicated that the content of the Communication major was valuable and, in some cases, involved difficult tasks. However, the major was perceived as easier than any other compared discipline. The students surveyed demonstrated low to moderate belief in most popular “myths” regarding Communication as an academic field. A number of potential strategies to increase awareness of the value of a degree in communication are provided, which can be adapted for use with existing departmental marketing …

Go to article

The Plight Of Being Unrecognized In The United States: Should Undocumented Immigrants Be Licensed To Drive In Florida?, Jennifer Wilford Jan 2015

The Plight Of Being Unrecognized In The United States: Should Undocumented Immigrants Be Licensed To Drive In Florida?, Jennifer Wilford

HIM 1990-2015

The United States of America is facing an important decision. Should illegal immigrants be allowed to obtain driver’s licenses? Thus far ten states and the District of Columbia as well as Puerto Rico have passed laws permitting this to come into fruition. The purpose of this thesis is to gain an understanding of the significance that licensing laws have on this country. This thesis will compare the views and beliefs of both the proponents and opponents to this law. This thesis also discusses how Florida is deeply affected due to its large Hispanic immigrant population. This issue is laden with …

Go to article

It's A Conspiracy: Motivated Reasoning And Conspiracy Ideation In The Rejection Of Climate Change, Nikilaus Wycha Jan 2015

It's A Conspiracy: Motivated Reasoning And Conspiracy Ideation In The Rejection Of Climate Change, Nikilaus Wycha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A large disconnect exists between the general public's acceptance of human-caused climate change and the prevailing consensus of actively publishing scientists. Previous research has examined both political and economic motivated reasoning, media influence in print and television, conspiracy ideation as a predictor of science rejection, and the role of the social construction of scientific knowledge in science rejection. Using these previously studied justifications for climate change rejection as a starting point, this research examines 212 written responses to a prompt at Climate Etc. asking the community to explain their acceptance / rejection of climate change. Using a textual content analysis, …

Go to article

Environmentalism And Environmental Constitutional Ballot Initiatives In Florida: The Elements Of Support For Amendment One In 2014 In The Context Of Current Environmental Attitudes., Michael Jones Jan 2015

Environmentalism And Environmental Constitutional Ballot Initiatives In Florida: The Elements Of Support For Amendment One In 2014 In The Context Of Current Environmental Attitudes., Michael Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Americans express support for “the environment” with environmental support cutting across political and demographic differences and cleavages. In the past 15 years, however, period effects, political sorting, and the emergence of a powerful anti-environmental movement have lessened the generalized levels of environmental support. Using the 2012 CCES survey, the expressed attitudes regarding multiple environmental issues found significant differences in levels of environmental support nationally by party, Tea Party attitudes, ideology, and certain demographic characteristics. For Floridians, the differences between the most pro-environmental respondents and the most anti-environmental are narrower; partisan identification itself is not significant in environmental attitudes; but ideology, …

Go to article

Integration Of Multidimensional Signal Detection Theory With Fuzzy Signal Detection Theory, Maureen O'Connell Jan 2015

Integration Of Multidimensional Signal Detection Theory With Fuzzy Signal Detection Theory, Maureen O'Connell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Signal detection theory (SDT) has proven to be a robust and useful statistical model for analyzing human performance in detection and decision making tasks. As with many models extensions have been proposed in order capture and represent the real world to a greater degree. Multidimensional Signal Detection Theory (MSDT) has had success in describing and modeling complex signals, signals that are comprised by more than one identifiable component dimension. Fuzzy Signal Detection Theory (FSDT) has had success in modeling and measuring human performance in cases where there exist ambiguity in the signal or response dimension characteristics, through the application of …

Go to article

Quantitative Assessment Of The Effects Of Microbial Degradation Of A Simple Hydrocarbon Mixture, Jessica Kindell Jan 2015

Quantitative Assessment Of The Effects Of Microbial Degradation Of A Simple Hydrocarbon Mixture, Jessica Kindell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ignitable liquids consist of either a single organic compound or a complex organic mixture. In regards to fire debris analysis, the analyst is responsible for determining if an ignitable liquid residue is present. However, when extracted from soil-containing fire debris evidence, chemical degradation from microorganisms is observed to result in the loss of compounds based on chemical structure. It can also happen when the evidence container is stored at room temperature before analysis. This can present a challenge to the fire debris analyst when identifying and classifying the ignitable liquid residue based on the criteria established by standard test methods. …

Go to article

Influence Of Personal And State Level Variables On Perception Of State Emergency Management Network Resilience In 47 States, Victoria Jennison Jan 2015

Influence Of Personal And State Level Variables On Perception Of State Emergency Management Network Resilience In 47 States, Victoria Jennison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emergency management coordination in the United States has fallen victim to over a century of strategies to organize, reorganize, consolidate, or decentralize disaster preparedness, planning and response. Regardless of the agency in charge at the federal level, individual citizens have been responsible for their own well-being immediately after any disaster or emergency event for more than 100 years because it takes time to mobilize and deliver aid. The system most often charged with managing that mobilization during an emergency event that exceeds the response capacity of local public safety agencies is the state emergency management network. Many entities in a …

Go to article

Sexism And Women: The Implications Of Female Gender Resentment, Christine Regnier-Bachand Jan 2015

Sexism And Women: The Implications Of Female Gender Resentment, Christine Regnier-Bachand

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Do women suffer from a societal Stockholm Syndrome which leads them to display high levels of modern and traditional sexist behavior? Does a woman*s level of modern or traditional sexist behavior influence her political choices? Female gender resentment and sexist biases are an understudied area of the extant literature on sexism. Typically the focus is placed on men*s sexist attitudes and treatment of women, but is it possible that women also contribute to the subordination of their gender through sexist practices? These are questions which this thesis attempts to answer. The findings indicate that working women under the age of …

Go to article

Disciplinary Mythologies: A Rhetorical-Cultural Analysis Of Performance Enhancement Technologies In Sports, John Lamothe Jan 2015

Disciplinary Mythologies: A Rhetorical-Cultural Analysis Of Performance Enhancement Technologies In Sports, John Lamothe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In sports discourse, the relationship between athletics and technology is often paradoxical. On the one hand, modern sports rely on technology at every level, from training and tracking of players to the equipment and apparel used by athletes to the game strategies and playing fields themselves. Nearly all of these technologies are intended to increase athletic performance on some level. And yet, certain performance enhancement technologies can be criticized for being antithetical to the spirit of sports, which is framed as being a strictly natural and pure human endeavor. Using a rhetorical-cultural methodological approach, popular sports discourse is analyzed to …

Go to article

Examining The Impact Of A Fatigue Intervention On Job Performance: A Longitudinal Study Across United States Hospitals, Megan Gregory Jan 2015

Examining The Impact Of A Fatigue Intervention On Job Performance: A Longitudinal Study Across United States Hospitals, Megan Gregory

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fatigue in healthcare providers has been linked to dangerous outcomes for patients, including medical errors, surgical complications, and accidents. Resident physicians, who traditionally work long hours on minimal sleep, are among the most fatigued. In attempt to mitigate the impact of fatigue on resident physician performance and improve patient safety, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) implemented a fatigue intervention program in 2011 for medical residency programs in the United States. This caused a significant decrease in the number of hours that first-year residents were permitted to work, compared with hours worked by first-year residents in prior years. …

Go to article

Can Mutual Trust Explain The Diversity-Performance Relationship? A Meta-Analysis, Pereira Jennifer Feitosa Jan 2015

Can Mutual Trust Explain The Diversity-Performance Relationship? A Meta-Analysis, Pereira Jennifer Feitosa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Trust is gaining attention for its benefits to both teams and organizations as a whole (Fulmer & Gelfand, 2012). The difficulty of building it in comparison to the ease of destroying it calls for a deeper understanding of trust, as well as its relationship with critical team outcomes (Colquitt, LePine, Piccolo, Zapata, & Rich, 2012). Unfortunately, current research has progressed in a disjointed manner that requires the integration of findings before a more parsimonious and descriptive understanding of trust at the team-level can be developed. Beyond this basic understanding, research is needed to explore the nature of trust in teams …

Go to article

Feedback Intervention Perceptions: Development And Validation Of A Measure, Brandon Young Jan 2015

Feedback Intervention Perceptions: Development And Validation Of A Measure, Brandon Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reactions toward performance feedback have critical implications for organizations and are of great interest to practitioners. Unfortunately, the measurement of employee experiences with feedback intervention varies widely and the literature is flooded with atheoretical, untested measures. Measurement is also commonly done at a global reaction level, largely neglecting the complexity of feedback intervention. The current study presents and tests a new multidimensional measure of feedback intervention perceptions. The measure is intended to capture facet level perceptions regarding the characteristics of five feedback intervention components (i.e., Performance Measurement, Feedback Content, Feedback Delivery, Organizational System Support, and Feedback Source). Items were generated …

Go to article

The Nuts And Bolts Of Leadership Training: A Meta-Analysis, Christina Lacerenza Jan 2015

The Nuts And Bolts Of Leadership Training: A Meta-Analysis, Christina Lacerenza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Organizations within the United States spent over $70 billion on corporate training in 2013; 35% of this budget was allocated to management and leadership, making this field the leading training area for organizations (O'Leonard, 2014). Despite this spending, only 13% of companies believe that they have done a quality job training their leaders (Schwartz, Bersin, & Pelster, 2014). This calls into question the utility and effectiveness of current initiatives. In response, this study meta-analytically organizes leadership training literature to identify the conditions under which these programs are most effective. Thus, the current meta-analysis provides the following contributions to the field: …

Go to article

Can I Get An Amen? Central Florida Black Pastors' Perceptions Of The Impact Of The Black Church In The Black Community, Jeffrey Williamson Jan 2015

Can I Get An Amen? Central Florida Black Pastors' Perceptions Of The Impact Of The Black Church In The Black Community, Jeffrey Williamson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study uses phenomenological methods to answer the research question, “what do black pastors perceive as the role of the church in the black community?” I asked 20 Central Florida black pastors 17 questions, most of them open-ended, to determine their perceptions of the current black church. First, these pastors are dismayed at the condition and the position of the current black church. They view the history the black church as strong and stalwart, and the Civil Rights Movement as an example of what the institution is capable of doing and being. Second, they perceive the primary roadblock of the …

Go to article

The Blending Of The Traditional And Professional Approaches To Communication: Department Chairs Share Administrative Challenges, Opportunities, And Best Practices, Rod Troester, Molly Wertheimer Jan 2015

The Blending Of The Traditional And Professional Approaches To Communication: Department Chairs Share Administrative Challenges, Opportunities, And Best Practices, Rod Troester, Molly Wertheimer

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

The genesis of this article was a 2013 Eastern Communication Association panel that gathered department chairs of blended communication programs (those combining a traditional communication studies perspective with a mass media perspective) to exchange challenges, opportunities, and best practices of administering such programs. The article reviews the available literature and synthesizes and summarizes the experience of participating department chairs tasked with administering blended departments.

Go to article

Editor's Note, Janie M. H. Fritz Jan 2015

Editor's Note, Janie M. H. Fritz

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the Editor’s Note to Volume 34, Issue 2 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

Go to article

Examining Undergraduate Communication Degree Programs: Mission Statements, Assessment Plans, And Assessment Evaluations, Mike Allen, John Bourhis, Nancy Burrell, Arooj Mukarram, Michael G. Blight, Clare M. Gross, Megan Lambertz, Christopher J.E. Anderson Jan 2015

Examining Undergraduate Communication Degree Programs: Mission Statements, Assessment Plans, And Assessment Evaluations, Mike Allen, John Bourhis, Nancy Burrell, Arooj Mukarram, Michael G. Blight, Clare M. Gross, Megan Lambertz, Christopher J.E. Anderson

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

One hundred undergraduate communication programs listed in the NCA directory were examined in this investigation. The process involved gathering the university mission statement, departmental mission statement, program assessment plan, and program assessment evaluations. Results demonstrate that 98 institutions utilized mission statements, 81 departments provided mission statements, 18 departments made assessment plans available and the researchers obtained 4 assessment evaluations.

Go to article

Complete Issue, Volume 34, Issue 2 Jan 2015

Complete Issue, Volume 34, Issue 2

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the complete issue for Volume 34, Issue 2 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

Go to article

The Impact Of Public Service Motivation On Reentry Managers' Decision-Making Practices, Marie Pryor Jan 2015

The Impact Of Public Service Motivation On Reentry Managers' Decision-Making Practices, Marie Pryor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this exploratory study is to examine the effects of public service motivation (PSM) in predicting decision-making of criminal justice personnel (reentry managers) in the management of former prisoners. The overarching research question seeks to answer if, and in what way, PSM score influences reentry managers' approach to their work with the formerly incarcerated, who are in transition from prison back into the community. The main assumption of this study is that those reentry managers with a higher PSM score will be more inclined to take an assistance oriented approach with former prisoners and be more likely to …

Go to article

Anticipated Telehealth Device Usage In Younger Adults, Tyler Bull Jan 2015

Anticipated Telehealth Device Usage In Younger Adults, Tyler Bull

HIM 1990-2015

Telehealth and telemedicine have revolutionized the healthcare system in terms of access to information and remote medical treatment. While there is a great deal of literature on current perceptions of telehealth care systems, relatively little is known about perceived user needs and acceptance of future telehealth systems. One way to assess future attitudes is to evaluate anticipated usage of telehealth devices through perceived advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, this study seeks to assess the reliability of a new measure of technology acceptance that capitalizes on human motivation using self-determination theory. An online survey consisted of an original 40-item measure of motivation …

Go to article

The Forgotten Third Branch: The Supreme Court, Public Opinion, And The Media, Adrien Pitchman Jan 2015

The Forgotten Third Branch: The Supreme Court, Public Opinion, And The Media, Adrien Pitchman

HIM 1990-2015

The three branches of government rely on public engagement for the prosperity of the nation. Moreover, informed public opinion is a fundamental tenant of democracy. With that in mind, this paper aims to explore the relationship between the Judicial Branch and the public. Specifically, this paper examines and questions the Supreme Court’s efficacy communicating with the public. American constituents are inundated on a daily basis by the clamor of D.C. politics. The twenty four hour news cycle has given way to politicized headlines and exaggerated pundit commentary on contentious national issues. In a technological age where information is instant and …

Go to article

The Effects Of Western Medicine On The Livelihood Of Zulu Traditional Herbal Healers In South Africa, Holly K. Bahamonde Jan 2015

The Effects Of Western Medicine On The Livelihood Of Zulu Traditional Herbal Healers In South Africa, Holly K. Bahamonde

HIM 1990-2015

The majority of South African citizens experience inadequate healthcare due to underfunding, mismanagement, staff shortages, and infrastructure problems. Before a healthcare system was created, the sick turned to traditional herbal healers for care. South Africa’s Zulu healers possess specialized knowledge of local plants and medicine thought to have physical and spiritual healing properties. The country’s increasing reliance on Western biomedicine has created a current concern from indigenous medicine conservationists regarding the future of this kind of knowledge. In order to assess the effects of Western medicine on traditional healing practices, I collected data on the various uses of traditional medicine, …

Go to article

Iran-Saudi Dynamic Relations And The Role Of Oman As A Negotiator, Natalie I. Ikerd Jan 2015

Iran-Saudi Dynamic Relations And The Role Of Oman As A Negotiator, Natalie I. Ikerd

HIM 1990-2015

This thesis analyzes Iran-Saudi relations in the context of growing regional hostility. This research encompasses the domestic and foreign policies enacted by both states since 1979, accompanying a discussion of the historical background of their ties. Moreover, the future prospects of their relations regarding the utilization of Oman as a neutral negotiator for regional conflicts are examined. The significant contributing factors of each state to such dynamic ties include: the leadership, national security, religion-politics connection, and their reaction to global instability indicators. Recently, Iran-Saudi hostility has been worsening due to their policies in the region in reaction to regional events. …

Go to article

Matriarchs And Sweethearts And Rebels, Oh My! Archetypes As An Approach To Multiple Group Membership, Alissa N. (Gebben) Neal Jan 2015

Matriarchs And Sweethearts And Rebels, Oh My! Archetypes As An Approach To Multiple Group Membership, Alissa N. (Gebben) Neal

HIM 1990-2015

The purpose of this thesis was to examine a potential cognitive mechanism for simultaneous processing of age, race, and gender schemas. Marcus and Fritzsche (2014) propose that the outcome of the tripartite relationship of age, race, and sex are associated with archetypes, and that these archetypes categorize different intersections uniquely. To facilitate this, age groups selected were “old” and “young”, race groups selected were “Black” and “White”, and sex/gender groups selected were “female” and “male”. Several photographs representing each intersection were selected from LinkedIn for use in the pilot study, which were rated via a survey measuring the target’s stereotype, …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last