Public Administration Commons^™

A Case Study Of Participant Responses To Organizational Change Involving Technology In The National Security Domain: How Informal Processes Iterate Structure And Outcomes, Brian E. Martinez

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Nuanced differences between organizations and the pace of change within the national security domain have routinely produced equivocal results involving information and communication technology (ICT) development. These results are characterized by unpredictable costs, unrealistic delivery schedules, and dubious ICT performance in-use. This research is a case study exploration of organizational change involving technology (also referred to as ICT) in the national security domain of the public sector.

This research used machine learning and manual content analysis to compare the results of three experiments on interview transcripts. The first experiment investigated linkages between empirical and interpretive elements of organizational change. Empirical …

Assessing The Relationship Between Flood Risk Perceptions And Adaptive Behaviors Of Households, Dontá Council

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation research is to examine the multiple relationships that explain household adaptive behaviors to flooding, and if risk perceptions play a mediating role in these relationships. Given the shift in transferring risks from public flood risk governance structures to households, there is a renewed interest in promoting private adaptive behavior amongst households that are vulnerable to flood impacts. Currently, the literature purports that flood risk perceptions rarely account for the variance explained in statistical models that examine household adaptive behaviors. This study analyzed an integrated conceptual framework that explored the mediating role of risk perceptions. The …

Conceptualizing Governance Decision Making: A Theoretical Model Of Mental Processes Derived Through Abduction, Matt Loesch

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The field of Public Policy and Administration is heavily influenced by the decisions individuals make regarding matters of governance. These types of decisions can affect a broad scope of government-related activities ranging from esoteric debates about political ideology to policy development to specific ways in which people directly interact with public services. Unfortunately, in the view of this research, there is no sufficient model for conceptualizing governance decision making. This creates the focus of inquiry for this work, which is to examine how governance decisions are conceived of and formulated. The purpose of this research is then to analyze the …

A Study Of Public Seaport Governance In The United States, Christopher Michael Williams

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Seaports are important economic engines serving many metropolitan areas in the United States. Most seaports in the U.S. are public-owned and managed by a set of elected or politically appointed board members. Indeed, this is public governance in action but the field of port governance seems to be focused on the study of operating efficiencies and less concerned with the public governance aspects of seaports.

The term “governance” in a public organization conveys a level of democratic accountability to the citizenry for management of public-owned resources but, until now, studies of seaport governance in the U.S. have not focused on …

Ethical Accountability Of Licensed Professional Counselors: A Comparative Study Of State Regulations And The Effects On Ethical Behavior, Kelly J. Doolan

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Accountability is an integral aspect of occupational regulation and professional licensure and helps to promote ethical behavior within professional occupations. States have the autonomy to implement laws and enact sanctions against professionals who are in violation of the regulations and professional norms of the field. This research explores accountability and ethical behavior in the licensed professional counselor occupation. The purpose is twofold, it examines how states vary in their approach to setting legal and professional accountability measures as defined by minimum requirements for education and practice and it explores the relationship between ethical outcomes as defined by disciplinary violations and …

Technology, Institutions And Their Interactions: How Do These Explain E-Participation Degree And Levels? A Cross-Country Analysis, Pragati Rawat

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation aims at explaining the difference in the degree of e-participation across countries using institution and technology variables. It further looks at how the factors differ in their influence across the three levels of e-information, e-consultation, and e-decision making. Institutional and technology variables are identified using the literature review of offline and online public participation (or e-participation). Using the policy feedback theory and Giddens’ structuration theory a conceptual model depicting the complex relationship between institutional and technology variables is developed. The dimensions of digital divide, namely ICT affordability and skills, are found to be the most important explanatory variables. …

Is There A More Distinct South? Comparing Key’S, Elazar’S And The U.S. Census Bureau’S Version Of The South Through The Lens Of The Affordable Care Act, Robert Christopher Kenter

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Most scholars agree the American South is a region with unique and distinct political traits. What is less clear, though, is just which states constitute “the South.” Are they the eleven former confederate states, as Key argues? Or are they the US Census Bureau’s version of the South? Or is Elazar’s version the “True South”? Since colonial times, there has been little disagreement on which states comprise the New England region, but scholars of the American South have never agreed upon a set of states that make up the South (Anderson & Baumann, 2016; Kinsella, 2013). The purpose of this …

Countervisuality As Policy Feedback: A Critical Policy Study On The Symbolic Role Of Visual Culture In Contemporary Antiracist Resistance, Lindsay N. Plott-Buckner

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

This critical interpretive study explores the relationship between public policy and visual culture. Drawing from five areas of research literature on (1) policy feedback theory, (2) the spectacle, (3) art and visual culture, (4) Black feminist theory, (5) and critical philosophies of resistance, images of contemporary antiracist activism are conceptualized as a form of policy feedback. Photographs of Ieshia Evans, Bree Newsome, and a self-portrait by Nona Faustine are reverse searched through Google Images. Utilizing constructivist grounded theory, a collection of publicly available news articles, blogs, and social media content are analyzed to better understand how mass publics engage with …

Exploring The Relationship Between Media Influence And Policy Output: A State Comparative Study, Stephanie Savas Joannou Menefee

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Through the years, various forms of media have become political institutions able to influence the public policy agenda. Analyzing policy helps to promote a better understanding of how the policy process works, how problems appear on the political agenda, and why governments choose to act or not to act on particular policy problems. This research utilizes Baumgartner and Jones’s (1993) Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium (PET) to examine the ways in which media attention influenced public policy on marijuana in the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Vermont between 1996 and 2016.

Using qualitative research methods, the researcher conducted an exploratory, comparative …

Obesity Policy Stringency Over Time: A Four State Policy Design, Luisa M. Lucero

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Over the past several decades obesity rates in the United States have increased exponentially, reaching epidemic proportions and placing heavy financial and health-related burdens on states. States could reduce their obesity-related spending by billions of dollars, however, if they reduced their obesity prevalence by five percent by 2030, which would reduce medical costs, loss of productivity, and loss of life. Despite the incentive to improve obesity rates, not all states are taking advantage of obesity-related policy as a means to combat obesity. Using a multiple case study design and policy design as the theoretical foundation, this study explores whether or …

Factors Influencing Health Outcomes Across The Least, Average And Healthiest States In America, Somayeh Hooshmand

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Although there is a growing literature that uses national and international data to investigate health outcomes and their link to the determinants of health, empirical studies on whether or not there is a causal relationship between health outcomes and the determinants of health, to our knowledge, has not been generally done previously. To fill this gap, the main focus of this dissertation is to empirically analyze the relationship existing between health determinants and health outcomes among the least healthy state (Mississippi), the middle ranked state (Virginia) and the healthiest state (Hawaii) as measured by American Health Ranking (AHR). This study …

Civic Crowdfunding And Local Government: An Examination Into Projects, Scope, And Implications For Local Government, Martin Mayer

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Recently, through the development of online technology, civic crowdfunding has emerged as a way in which to connect citizens to community problems and projects. The growth and early success of the field underscores the importance of better understanding civic crowdfunding, how it works, and how it may impact local government. Through a mixed-methods design, this study investigates the growing field of civic crowdfunding in an effort to better understand what types of projects are proposed, where they are proposed, and why some civic crowdfunding proposals may be successful while others are not. Strengths and challenges of civic crowdfunding are discussed, …

Medicaid Expansion In The United States: A State Comparative Study Examining Factors That Influence State Decision Making, Tiffany J. Henley

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Since the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and a Supreme Court ruling that the federal government cannot compel states to expand Medicaid, a policy window has opened for states to change Medicaid policy. States are now faced with the option to expand Medicaid. Although the literature on Medicaid expansion indicates that politics plays a determining role on states’ decisions on Medicaid expansion, comprehensive analyses of dominant factors that affect these decisions on Medicaid is lacking in the field of Medicaid policy. This study will explore the decision making process of state level policies and the …

Exploring Conceptualization And Operationalization Of Interorganizational Interactions: An Empirical Study, Andrew Paul Williams

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Collaboration and other forms of interaction between complex arrangements of private, nonprofit, and public organizations to address challenging policy problems now occurs routinely. In many cases collaboration is mandated by law, and often disbursement of grants to nonprofits is contingent upon demonstrating collaboration with other organizations. To understand this contemporary landscape of public administration and develop cumulative knowledge, theory requires reliable and valid constructs of collaboration and other forms of interorganizational interaction. Theoretical rigor then underpins practice, including the growing discipline of evaluating the level of interaction between organizations or an organization’s “collaborative capacity,” and to understand more broadly how …

An Examination Of Factors That Influence Teacher Adoption Of Bring Your Own Device In The Classroom, Shawn Patrick Lloyd Hirano

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to examine if and how Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is implemented in secondary public schools by focusing on teacher adoption of BYOD in the classroom. Given the newness of BYOD, there is little research on how school districts have implemented this policy or why and how teachers have adopted the practice in their classroom. Using both Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this research investigated several key elements that could influence teacher adoption of BYOD: teacher characteristics, school culture, and professional development. The population for this mixed method study …

Determining If Development Capacity Leads To The Attainment Of Redevelopment Goals For Six Communities Affected By Base Realignment And Closure (1988, 1991, And 1993), Paula J. Loomis

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The McGuire et al. model (1994) showed that development of a strategic plan led to higher development capacity, but did not address the relationship between development capacity and redevelopment success. This study examined the link between development capacity and redevelopment success.

This study examined six base realignment and closure communities. Following the Yin Multiple Case Study Method, each community was evaluated on its own merits before being compared with other communities. In this study the McGuire et al. model was expanded to fourteen variables in three categories; citizen participation, community structure, and development instruments. Redevelopment success was measured by attainment …

The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence And Ethical Behavior: A Case Study Of Administrative Employees At A Mid-Atlantic University, Najwa Mordhah

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The current study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and ethical behavior in one of the large-sized public universities. Approximately 270 administrative employees working at Mid-Atlantic University (MAU) were asked to complete surveys that assessed their emotional intelligence dimensions as well as their level of ethical behavior. This study examined three hypotheses to investigate the relationship between each dimension of emotional intelligence and level of ethical behavior.

Results of the statistical analyses revealed that some of the four dimensions of emotional intelligence are significantly correlated, some positively and other negatively, with different levels of ethical behavior. Even though the first …

Street-Level Bureaucratic Discretion: An Investigation Of Disproportionality In The Child Welfare And Juvenile Justice Systems, Nina Frola Joyner

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

This study seeks to provide a structural explanation for a poorly understood administrative and policy phenomenon: the problem of minority overrepresentation or disproportionality in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Disproportionality is a pressing policy and practice concern regarding how to halt the continual over representation of African American and other minority youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. It has social and policy implications at the national, state and local level. Disporportionality affects the lives of youth who are unnecessarily removed from their families or adjudicated and detained as well as state and local budgets when …

The Impacts Of In-State Procurement Preference Policies On The Economy Of South Carolina, Sawsan A. Abutabenjeh

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

This research examined the impact of South Carolina's in-state preference policies on the economy of the state. To achieve this purpose, the research sought to answer the question: what are the impacts of implementing the in-state procurement preference policies on the economy of the state of South Carolina? The question was answered by using seven economic indicators: jobs, personal income, real disposable income, output (sales), Gross State Product (GSP), value added and state's population. The data related to the in-state preference policies were collected from the South Carolina Procurement Services Office. The data was then analyzed using the Regional Economic …

The State Of Representation And Segregation Among African American Women At The U.S. Department Of Commerce: An Examination Of The Intersection Of Strategic Planning With Race And Gender, Sesha Joi Moon

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The intent of this dissertation is to examine the state of representation and segregation among African American women across the workforce at the United States Department of Commerce. This study employs a triangulated research design to examine the relationship between elements of strategic planning and the employment patterns of African American women. This study's qualitative analysis includes a content analysis of 13 agency-specific strategic documents published between FY 1994 through FY 2010. This data is supplemented with a longitudinal trend analysis of personnel data for fulltime, permanent employees retrieved from the National Finance Center for the same time period. The …

A Comparative Study Of The Factors Influencing The Level Of State Government Privatization, Getachew Melkie

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Since the 1980s, privatization has gained increasing acceptance among state governments. Yet, few empirical studies have investigated the factors influencing the level of state government privatization focusing on a multitude of programs and services aggregated across departments. Most prior state level empirical research has emphasized single cases or programs but has not addressed the aggregate level of privatization undertakings across the states. The paucity of empirical research that investigated the amount of state privatization and the drivers thereof created an important gap in the literature that this study attempted to fill. Drawing on historical and contemporary privatization literature, this research …

Relational Exchange In Nonprofits: The Role Of Identity Saliency And Relationship Satisfaction, Jennifer Anne Taylor

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Research and practice in nonprofit fundraising has increasingly been focused on the benefits of relational exchange. This dissertation examines relationships between donors and nonprofit organizations and their impact on the charitable giving levels using identity salience and relationship satisfaction as key mediators of nonprofit relational exchange. Previous research has shown that there are a plethora of charitable giving motivations that contribute to supportive behaviors in the nonprofit context; however, this research does not provide a comprehensive understanding of the intervening variables. This study modified previous studies by introducing relationship satisfaction in addition to identity saliency, as mediating constructs. Results confirm …

Social Networking And Individual Performance: Examining Predictors Of Participation, Michael Anthony Brown Sr.

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation addresses relationships between social networking and individual performance. The "act" of social networking is a process and practice by which people and organizations are drawn together by family, work or hobby to interact via websites. The explosion of these new network connections in the workplace suggests the need for an exploration of the various ways organizations can affect and improve performance and productivity.

This dissertation suggests a social networking participation model that may help organizations predict and understand the value proposition that affects acceptance or rejection of participation. Innovation adoption, governing by network and social capital are important …

Choosing To Serve: Modeling Antecedents Of Public Service Motivation In Undergraduate Students, Vivian Walker Greentree

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

This research builds upon the public service literature to better understand the distinctive nature of motivations associated with pursuing careers in the public sector. Previous research has shown that a wide variety of socialization experiences help to develop one's public service motivation (PSM). However, the research has fallen short of providing a comprehensive explanation. Additionally, a majority of the research focuses on those already employed in the public sector, with a dearth of exploration into students' preferences. This study utilized Perry's (1996) original survey instrument to measure PSM scores (both composite and dimensions) in college students, those who we must …

A Test Of Direct And Partially Mediated Relationships Between Leader Member Exchange, Job Embeddedness, Turnover Intentions, And Job Search Behaviors In A Southern Police Department, Mark D. Bowman

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Job embeddedness has been found to predict turnover intentions, job search behaviors and turnover, and job embeddedness researchers assert, but have not tested, that job embeddedness is a mediator of other organizationally significant factors relative to organizational outcomes. A relationship not previously explored is the role of a supervisor in job embeddedness, which was operationalized in this study as leader-member exchange. A single panel survey was conducted in a police department in the southern United States with 276 current members holding the rank of police officer. Usable surveys were completed by 128 of those police officers, which is a response …

Regional Emergency Response Teams: Case Studies In Hampton Roads, Virginia, Thomas E. Poulin

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The majority of local governments lack sufficient resources to respond effectively in an independent manner to a disaster or large-scale emergency. To achieve success, they must work closely with other organizations. The research problem is that regional emergency response relationships are not well understood, which could lead to ineffective or inefficient practices. The research purpose was to describe and analyze regional emergency response in Hampton Roads, Virginia. The research methodology involved a qualitative approach, utilizing interviews and archival research. Organizational leaders of the Hampton Roads Marine Incident Response Team and the Southside Tidewater Regional Hazardous Materials Response Team were interviewed …

A State Comparative Study Of The Factors Influencing Nursing Home Quality Of Care Regulation, Tancy Joe Vandecar-Burdin

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

While over one million elderly reside in U.S. nursing homes, little attention has been given to the factors that influence state nursing home regulation and how state regulations differ from the federal regulations. The focus of nursing home research literature has been on factors that impact quality of care at the individual patient and organizational level. The state comparative literature, which examines the differences between state policy choices, focuses on fiscal nursing home policymaking. An important gap exists in the literature in that state decision-making regarding nursing home quality of care policy has not been explored.

This study of U.S. …

Determinants Of Increased Safety Belt Use By High School Students In Motor Vehicles: The Influence Of Parents And Peers And Implications For Virginia's Graduated Driver Licensing Laws, Georjeane Linley Blumling

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of injuries and fatalities for persons 15-19 years of age in the United States. The higher fatality rate is caused in part from the lack of driving experience and the increased risk taking behaviors of adolescent drivers. Graduated driver licensing laws have been enacted in most states to address the risks associated with inexperience by adding restrictions on nighttime driving and limiting the number of teen passengers in the vehicle for novice drivers.

Inconsistent use or non-use of a safety belt when riding in a motor vehicle is a prevalent risk taking …

Exploring Interactions During Multiorganizational Policy Implementation: A Case Study Of The Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program, Madeleine Wright Mcnamara

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Organizations face implementation challenges compounded by complex and interconnected public problems. In the environmental arena, the inabilities of individual organizations to resolve these problems independently are exacerbated by the scope, duration, and tremendous diversity of tasks coupled with a lack of funding. As a result, multiorganizational arrangements are created as public, private, and nonprofit organizations work together to implement policy. These relationships increase organizational capacities through the diversification of resources and expertise.

Multiorganizational implementation is complicated by various legal authorities, missions, goals, and operational procedures that guide individual organizations. One way to approach these complexities is to expand our understanding …

The Perspective And Practice Of Leadership By Managers Within The Virginia Department Of Corrections: An Instrumental Case Study, Elizabeth M. Gagnon

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the extent to which the perspective and practice of leadership by managers in the Virginia Department of Corrections (DOC) reflect the Leadership Perspectives Model (LPM), and the extent to which their perspective varies by level of management. The LPM is a model of leadership that consolidates leadership study into five distinct leadership perspectives that managers use in their understanding and practice of leadership. This study builds upon research in which the a LPM was tested and validated within a sample managers from municipal government agencies (M. R. Fairholm, 2004a, 2004b).

The findings of this study reveal that …