Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

How Practices Drive Persistence: The Transformational Consumption Journey Of Native Americans In Higher Education, Gwen Locklear Almodovar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In an academic environment where many higher education institutions tout their diversity and inclusion statistics, there is a decline in the enrollment of Native American students and a decrease in Native American scholars. The President of the United States, in an October 2021 briefing and with the issuance of an executive order named The White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Native Americans and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities, saw the immediate urgency to understand the systematic causes and implement evidence-based strategies that will improve and increase student enrollment and academic advancement. This research takes …

Nonprofit Social Service Employees’ Perceptions Of Barriers Or Facilitators To Voting Registration Among Previously Incarcerated Individuals, Anthony J. Nixon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Most U.S. states have applied permanent restrictions on incarcerated individuals in custody for crimes more serious than misdemeanors. After the time is served and limitations are removed, the right to vote may not be restored to previously incarcerated individuals. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore what nonprofit social service employees perceive to be barriers or facilitators to voter registration among previously incarcerated individuals. The social acceptance model provided the theoretical framework to support the study. Data collection was completed through a brief demographic survey and individual interviews with 15 nonprofit organizers in Ohio. Data were analyzed …

Understanding The Impact Of Special Education Programs On African American Males, Jacques Houssou

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractAfrican American males placed in special education programs their entire time in high school often experience stigmatizing feelings of lack of self-worth and self-esteem as adults. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore and better understand the influence special education programs may have on African American males’ self-esteem and self-worth. Becker’s and Lemert’s labeling theory and Baumgartner and Jones’s and Gould and Eldredge’s punctuated equilibrium theory guided this study. The focus of the research questions was the influence of special education programs on African American males’ learning experiences and the changes needed. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques …

Sociodemographic Predictors Of Veterans’ Health-Related Quality Of Life, Tamala Jones Choice

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a theoretical concept that intertwines physical, mental, emotional, and social functioning, with a focus on the impact that health status has on quality of life. Although sociodemographic factors are associated with lower HRQoL, how these factors influence HRQoL in military veterans is less understood. The study’s purpose was to examine the relationships between sociodemographic characteristics (gender, military pay grade, military branch, and geographic location) and perceived HRQoL measured by the SF-8 survey among veterans living in a metropolitan community in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. A cross-sectional recruitment study design yielded 90 …

Organizational Continuity Planning For Small Nonprofit Organizations, Lucy Castro

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Natural and manufactured disasters may negatively affect a nonprofit organization’s ability to meet its mission. Organizational continuity planning is one tool to help an organization remain practical and mission focused when faced with a natural or manufactured disaster. This qualitative case study explored the essential elements of organizational continuity planning for small nonprofit organizations. Disaster management theory and emergency management theory were used to frame the study. Three research questions guided the study exploring the internal organizational infrastructure challenges organizational leaders face during natural or manufactured disasters; the ways organizational continuity planning assisted nonprofit leaders in providing needed services during …

Connected Government: An Exploration Of The Department Of Education And King And Stiver’S Theory Of Connected Government, Lilia Iokhvidov

Dissertations and Theses

The frameworks of democracy and bureaucracy are becoming increasingly important in the political landscape. Considering the changes in policy and practice, primarily in education, administrators must contemplate the opinions and suggestions of the population at large. The need arises to initiate alternative legislative activities so the public can become more active in the political scene. The public is willing to voice their views when the policy directly affects the people. The participation process involves direct communication with bureaucrats during meetings among the public, stakeholders, and agency officials. The public participates in politics by being involved in civic duty, the rights …

Navigators As A Means Of Overcoming Administrative Burdens: A Quantitative Study Of State-Administered Federal Assistance Programs, Jonathan Sternesky

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Administrative burdens are the psychological, compliance, and learning costs experienced by individuals interacting with public entities that may shape and reshape their relationship to citizenship and/or access to benefits and rights. It has long been hypothesized that third-party entities, designated as navigators, could be leveraged to mitigate the impact of administrative burden costs on citizens. For effective delivery of service, easing administrative burden costs in application processes may increase applicant likelihood of successfully navigating the bureaucratic process towards a desired end.

This research used data from recently implemented assistance programs in two separate state-level jurisdictions to conduct logistical regression analyses …

Using Input From Administrative Staff To Make Cost-Effective Decisions For Telecommuting, Technology, And Productivity During The Covid-19 Era, Chika Egemba

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

The purpose of this research was to examine if collaborative technologies enhance productivity in the face of remote work during the COVID-19 era using the diffusion of innovation framework. Dothan Housing is a Moving to Work (MTW) Expansion Agency under the Landlord Incentive Cohort #3. This means the agency was granted certain flexibility to pursue innovation. This research study used a post-positivist philosophy and a quantitative research design to investigate the thoughts, opinions, and feelings of Dothan Housing administrative staff about their experience with telecommuting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were selected from among Dothan Housing staff who were …

Unbounding Rationality: Observing And Mitigating K-12 Public Education Administrators’ Cognitive Bias, Julie K. Mesaros

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Humans tend to simplify complex decisions by employing cognitive bias(es). Cognitively biased decision-making by public administrators can be adversely consequential for public organizations, public employees, and the public interest. Given the historical scope of experimental research on cognitive bias in the social and physical sciences, public administration scholars should continue to advance such research across various public sectors. This dissertation study responded to the long-ago call of Herbert Simon for empirical research situated in specific public or political contexts. This qual-QUAN mixed-method study had two main aims: (1) explore decisions that K-12 public education administrators make in personnel management and …

The Impact Covid-19 On The Healthcare Industry’S Systems And Policies: A Case Study, Jameyshia Franklin

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

People worldwide experienced some impacts from the 2019 Coronavirus at various degree. The healthcare industry worldwide was significantly affected by the high volume of patients being infected with the Coronavirus. The COVID-19 virus brought on several challenges for the healthcare industry and the federal government in the United States. Hospitals operated under severe circumstances to treat sick COVID-19 patients and keep their employees safe from contracting the disease. Government mandated social distancing, mask wearing, and cancelation and closing of services to assist with stopping the spread of the virus. This study aimed to identify how the pandemic affected the healthcare …

Descriptive Analysis Of Open Government Practices Of Four Mid-Sized Cities In New York State, Brian Bray

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

The conceptualization and implementation of open government practices have evolved over the years, encompassing numerous actions that increase transparency, participation, and collaboration. While states mandate some open government practices for municipal governments, they also often implement optional forms independently. This paper examines how four mid-sized cities implement two such optional forms: government boards and open government data.

This study was conducted in three stages. In the first stage, the author used the Democracy Cube framework, a theoretical model developed by Fung (2006), that categorizes various approaches to public participation in government decision-making along three dimensions. This model served as the …

The Powerful Actors Of The Criminal Justice System: Understanding Prosecutorial Discretion From The Viewpoint Of Prosecutors. A Public Administrator's Perspective, Ja'von Long

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Prosecutors are one of the most powerful actors in the American criminal justice system, yet there is a lack of qualitative research related to the topic. There is also a lack of policy reform that has affected prosecutors in the way that it has other actors of the system such as police officers and judges. The research seeks to increase understanding of how prosecutors view the discretion and power prosecutors hold and seeks to provide more information on the institutional and organizational pressures that can affect prosecutors and their decision-making process. The study further explores how cognitive biases along with …

Offshoring And Subordinate Financialization In Developing Countries, Logan Kuegel

Undergraduate Public Policy Capstone Projects

This study will investigate the relationship between global value chain integration and financialization in the Global South. It is intended for policy research committees in international organizations such as the United Nations (Commission on Trade and Development Special Committee on Cization), the International Monetary Fund (Development Committee), the World Trade Organization, and World Bank. The global production network represents the international division of production through intermediate offshoring, while financialization represents the entrance of traditionally nonfinancial actors (namely firms, governments/banks, and households) into the financial system.

Attempting to use a heterodox framework, this paper builds upon literature that synthesizes the two …

Bolstering Resistance To Misinformation Through K-12 Education, Allison Johnson

Undergraduate Public Policy Capstone Projects

Misinformation online and in news media is a problem because it degrades truth and hinders legitimate democratic discourse. As misinformation becomes more prevalent, we need to start finding ways to limit the extent of the problem. To do so, I recommend a policy solution based on inoculation theory. Inoculation theory, as the name suggests, uses the metaphor of a vaccine. When receiving the flu shot, we get a weakened dose of the virus, which in turn helps us to create antibodies and later be more effective at fighting the real flu. In this instance, people are exposed to weakened doses …

Curbing Diabetes Prevalence And Reducing Risk Through Policy, Grayson Blount

Undergraduate Public Policy Capstone Projects

The purpose of this policy brief is to illuminate the dire circumstances surrounding the ongoing diabetes epidemic in Kentucky. Type II diabetes mellitus, a preventable and manageable chronic illness, affects nearly 465,000 Kentuckians currently. Beyond the daily struggle associated with diabetes, many acute complications can arise that are severly detrimental to quality of life, such as blindness or lower extremeity amputation. Additionally, the costs associated with diabetes are tremendous, to patients, to providers, and to the state. It is in the best interest of all stakeholders to do whatever we can in order to reduce prevalence and improve management of …

The Political Ramifications Of Judicial Institutions: Establishing A Link Between Dobbs And Gender Disparities In The 2022 Midterms, Udi Sommers, Or Rappel-Kroyzer, Amy Adamczyk, Lindsay Lerner, Anna Weiner

Publications and Research

In the American system of government, courts are designed to operate within the legal sphere, with limited political interference. Is it possible, though, that a behavior that is at the heart of the political process can be influenced directly by a judicial decision? Focusing on voter registration big data for the universe of voters in North Carolina around the time of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the authors assess the roles of gender, political party affiliation, and age in voter registration. North Carolina is the only state whose voter registry has the necessary granularity over time and information needed. …

Somalia’S State Institutions’ Administrative Capacity Building In Education, Health, Judiciary Services, And The Central Bank, Asad Aliweyd

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

Aiweyd, A. (2023). Somalia’s State Institutions’ Administrative Capacity Building in Education, Health, Judiciary Services, and the Central Bank.

Since independence in 1960, Somalia has experienced sustained clan conflict, political challenges, prolonged civil war, and famine, severely hindering the development and maintenance of a stable federal government. Research on state-building in Somalia has focused on conflict resolution, civil war, piracy, and state failure. Further research is needed on building administrative capacity in Somalia to help develop well-functioning and stable government institutions. Administrative capacity involves the ability of governments to manage human, physical, financial, and informational resources to deliver on objectives …

How Police Investigators View Credibility Of Victims Of Sexual Assault Crimes, Lakesha Richele Boone

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sexual assault is a sensitive topic, and research has become increasingly popular. Most literature focuses on stigma, attitudes, and perceptions that victims and law enforcement have about each other. Law enforcement officers are responsible for making charging decisions based on their investigations and ways by which they determine credibility and reliability of victims. It was unclear what criteria law enforcement officers use to ascertain relevant flaws in victim character and credibility. The purpose of this study was to explore how law enforcement officers evaluate credibility of sexual assault victims during investigations. The feminist legal, just world, and rape myth acceptance …

The Effect Of Federal And State-Level Policy On Undocumented Childhood Arrivals, Kim Kaczmarowski

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) provides a 2-year reprieve from deportation and a work permit for eligible undocumented childhood arrivals. It does not provide a pathway to citizenship or confer rights or protections enjoyed by those with permanent legal status leaving recipients in a constant state of legal limbo. State-level policy can mitigate or exacerbate obstacles faced by this population. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore how federal and state-level policy in a conservative location shaped experiences of membership or exclusion. Responses were examined using segmented assimilation theory to identify layered contexts of reception. The …

Retention Of Foster Parents For At-Risk Youth In Tennessee, Marvin Amos

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Federal legislation with the Family First Prevention Service Act (FFPSA) of 2017 required Tennessee to increase foster parent retention strategies. Tennessee does not have enough available foster homes for adolescents. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore foster parent retention in Tennessee and to inform policymakers on how to adapt policy to increase the retention. The theoretical foundation for this study was based on the policy feedback theory, to identify the policy scope in Tennessee, and the two-factor theory, to guide the data analysis in the context of employee satisfaction and retention measures. Purposive sampling techniques were …

Structural Empowerment Of Nurse Leaders In New York State During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Tracey Braithwaite

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The current phenomenological study explored the lived experience of Acting Chief Nursing Officers, Chief Nursing Officers, Chief Nursing Executives (henceforth CNOs) at hospitals in New York State who were charged with responding to executive orders while maintaining quality of patient care despite staffing constraints, inadequate supplies, or lack of additional support for the duties associated with their role. Their experience of structural empowerment in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic was also studied. The theoretical framework was Kanter’s theory of structural empowerment that addressed organizational behavior in the context of employee empowerment. The research question addressed how the CNOs perceived their …

Professional Discretion Of Child Protective Services Investigators In Foster Care Placements, Leonard Fikes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Families of color in North Carolina have been disproportionately affected in the child welfare system, particularly in the foster care system. The purpose of this qualitative research study examined the discretionary powers of Child Protective Services (CPS) investigators and how they interpreted and applied child welfare policies that disproportionally impacted African American families from marginalized, underrepresented communities. Guided by Wallander and Molander’s professional discretion as the framework, this research expanded the current literature and increased awareness of racial disproportionality and the continued disproportionality of African American children in the child welfare system, especially foster care placements. The central research question …

Exploring Supervisory Experiences After The Legalization Of Recreational Marijuana In Colorado, Charles Daniel Mason

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractColorado became the first state to decriminalize recreational marijuana in 2014. This new public policy resulted in unproven regulatory changes in any population in the United States. The purpose of the study was to discover the core perspective and experiences of 12 supervisors who experienced this phenomenon in their professional occupations, through the lens of accountability. The risk perceptions of supervisors’ due to policy shifts regarding recreational marijuana in Colorado were analyzed using the Delve system and hand coding. Findings indicated employees’ use of marijuana had a direct impact on productivity, which decreased significantly over time. Employees displayed signs of …

International Military Peacekeepers And Sex Offenses Committed In The Central African Republic, Michael Tabung Njong

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractStudies have been conducted on the sexual offending of the local population by peacekeepers, but few have been conducted on the lived experience of professionals providing support and assistance to these victims. This qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to explore the lived experiences of experts providing support and assistance to victims of sex offenses committed in the Central African Republic by international military peacekeepers. The classical deterrence and retributive justice theories guided the study. Participants were recruited through snowball sampling and data collected through face-to- face interviews and analyzed using the Modified Van Kaam method. Two research questions were used …

Identifying And Examining Key Themes Emanating From The U.S. Legislative Tobacco Policy Subsystem, Arnon Dayak

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Americans’ continuously increasing tobacco use in the form of smoking presents an ongoing and rising negative health impact on this leading cause of preventable death. Despite existing U.S. federal level tobacco regulation through the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA), U.S. tobacco use remains ubiquitous demonstrating existent ineffectiveness of tobacco control legislation. Unknown underlying attributing factors present critical information gaps which, when exposed, could improve tobacco regulation. Using a case study approach, the question, “What key themes are aligned with legislative subsystem actors when voting on the FSPTCA” was examined. Multi-source data streams using existing secondary datasets including …

The Rome Statute And Its Significance In Combatting Impunity For Rape In Ethiopia, Kassahun Yibeltal Sahilu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The goal of ending impunity for atrocity crimes including rape is globally appreciated and accepted with little reservation; however, the actual relevance to the domestic situation in Ethiopia has not been previously explored. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the Rome Statute, a treaty on atrocity crimes, in combating impunity for perpetrators of rape in Ethiopia in light of Feminist Theory and Domestic Politics of Theory of Treaty Compliance. The research explored the significance of the treaty considering the actual condition of the country by conducting semi-structured group and personal interviews with two lawyers working …

Three Essays On Rural Education: Descriptive Studies Focused On Federal Rural Definitions And Policy Changes, Kyung Ha Oh

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Rural education issues in K-12 public schools are understudied despite a large rural student population in the U.S. This dissertation studies how different federal definitions of rural change how rural school districts and their diverse communities are portrayed, in comparison to their non-rural counterparts. This study also explores the recent federal rural policy changes on rural district revenue and student academic outcomes.

This dissertation consists of three descriptive essays. The first chapter shows how we choose to define ‘rural’ changes what differences are accentuated between rural and non-rural districts. Definitions of ‘rural’ is closely related to who gains access to …

A Multilevel Jurisdictional Analysis Of The Impact Of Walmart On Host Communities, Matt Young

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

This research takes a holistic approach to answer the empirical question about what impacts Walmart has on host jurisdictions. This consists of a thorough review of the extant literature; a formalization of Walmart’s potential impact into a theoretical framework; a consideration of endogeneity within Walmart’s operations from multiple angles; a nationwide analysis of impacts on labor and retail markets at both the county and municipal level; a nationwide analysis of the impacts on housing prices and property tax revenue post Walmart; a multistate analysis of host jurisdictions’ reactions to these changes through the lens of local sales taxes; finally, a …

Three Essays On Consumption Taxation In Indonesia, Partomuan Transparenter Juniult

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Consumption taxes play a major role in revenue generation for many developing countries. They are also used to encourage or discourage certain consumption behaviors. However, the administrative aspects of implementing these taxes can create challenges for the tax authorities, and lead to distortions in taxpayer behavior. To overcome these challenges, efforts have been made to simplify policies and utilize technology to improve administration and compliance. My dissertation aims to provide empirical evidence on the effects of three consumption or commodity tax policy reforms in Indonesia. The dissertation consists of three essays as follows.

In my first essay, titled “The effect …

A Case Study Of Cross-Sector Collaboration In Community Schools In Central Pennsylvania, Jesscia Knapp

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

As societal problems become increasingly complex, organizations are more frequently embracing collaborative problem-solving methods to address issues that a single organization could not successfully solve alone. One such wicked problem is the state of education in the United States, particularly in low-income communities and school districts. The community school model is a method of education reform that requires cross-sector partnerships in order to be successful. This study examined the factors that led to successful cross-sector partnerships between Communities in Schools of Pennsylvania (CISPA) and two partner school districts in the implementation of the community school model in Pennsylvania. The results …