Matching Items (11)
Description
This dissertation is an exploratory study that examined the differences in perceptions about supply chain management strategy, topics, tools, and techniques between procurement professionals in public and private sector organizations. This was accomplished through a survey of procurement professionals in a Fortune 500 company and a municipality in Arizona. The data were analyzed to understand how perceptions of supply chain management differed within this sample and whether the differences in perceptions were associated with formal education levels. Key findings indicate that for this or similar samples, public procurement respondents viewed their organizations' approach to supply chain management as a narrow function within purchasing while private sector respondents viewed their organization's approach to supply chain management as a strategic purchasing perspective that requires the coordination of cross functional areas. Second, public procurement respondents reported consistent and statistically significant lower levels of formal education than private sector respondents. Third, the supply chain management topics, tools, and techniques seem to be more important to private sector respondents than the public sector respondents. Finally, Respondents in both sectors recognize the importance of ethics and ethical behavior as an essential part of supply chain management.
ContributorsHeller, Jacob (Author) / Cayer, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Lan, Gerald (Committee member) / Eden, Catherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
In the United States, under the provisions set forth by a policy known as community benefit, nonprofit hospitals receive special tax exemptions from government in exchange for providing a wide range of health care services to the communities in which they are located. In recent years, nonprofit hospitals have claimed billions of dollars as community benefit justifying their tax-exempt status. However, growing criticism by numerous stakeholders has questioned the extent to which the level of community benefit claimed by nonprofit hospitals reflects the exemptions they receive. In addition, a dearth of research exists to understand the relationship between community benefit claims and the impact they have on improving the health of communities. In an effort to better understand the relationship between community benefit claims, tax status, and community health outcomes this study examines the community benefit policies of a nonprofit healthcare system representing hospitals in California, Nevada, and Arizona. It does so by reviewing materials produced by the system, her hospitals, vested stakeholders, and government that have shaped the development, implementation, and assessment of community benefit policy processes. Findings of the study suggest that the majority of nonprofit hospital community benefit claims are consumed by shortfalls reported between costs associated with providing care to Medicare and Medicaid patients and the compensation nonprofit hospitals receive from government. Results of the study also demonstrate that community benefit policies do positively impact the health of communities. However, future community benefit policies need to be refined to include measures that capture the magnitude of community health improvement if the relationship between policy and health outcomes is to be fully realized.
ContributorsMartz, Mark Patrick (Author) / Cayer, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Glaser, Mark (Committee member) / Corley, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This dissertation provides a critical analysis of public administration's understanding of the relationship between rational thought and action in its discourse on ethics. It argues that rationalist ethics assume a particular relationship between thought and action: that good knowledge leads to good, proper action. While there have been many critiques of rationalist administrative ethics, scholars have not examined the way in which rationalism persists in the way in which the teaching of ethics is conducted. The use of the case study figures prominently in this. Thus, the dissertation explores the historical and theoretical intersection of rationalism, ethics, and teaching through the lens of the case study. It begins with a history of the pedagogical use of the case study and the institutional transformations of the university. While conventional accounts of the field locate its founding in the United States in the municipal reform movement, here the founding of the field of public administration is recast through connections to reforms in the university including changes in epistemic assumptions, pedagogical methods, and curricular changes in ethics in which the case study is central and remains so as the field develops. The dissertation then considers scholarship in public administration that raises questions about rationalist ethics. Three critical approaches are explored: recognition of the uncertainty and complexity of administrative practice, critique as unmasking of power relationships, and the shift of ethics from an epistemological to an ontological inquiry. The dissertation builds on the work in this third approach and shows how it attempts to articulate a non-rationalist, or immanent, ethics. This ethics is concerned with exploring the conditions that make possible mutually beneficial relationships and meaningful lives from which categorical norms of the good life could emerge. Drawing on the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, it is argued that the distinction Deleuze and Guattari make between "arborescent" and "rhizomatic" knowledge gets to the root of the tension between thought and action and offers an innovative and useful way to advance an immanent, non-rational ethics. The challenge digital technologies and the information society present to the field is considered to illustrate the need to rethink administrative ethics and also the particular usefulness of Deleuze and Guattari in doing so. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of pedagogical practices and classroom examples that encourage a rhizomatic understanding of the theory and practice of public administration.
ContributorsCallen, Jeffrey Craig (Author) / Catlaw, Thomas J (Thesis advisor) / Corley, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Kim, Yushim (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This dissertation examines the performance of various federal departments on the success of their integration of personnel based on race and gender. It determines if there are variations in the success rate and explores the reasons for the variations based on the literature review and data analysis. The data used are federal employee data compiled by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Merit System Protection Board, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission through use of personnel surveys from 1979 through 2002 and annual reports. The study uses a cross-sectional model to test whether women and minorities in General Schedule grades 13 -15 have benefited from the implementation of Affirmative Action policy in their prospective agency over time. The effect of department size and affirmative action on the success rate of women and minorities was observed. The data shows that women at the GS 13 -15 grades have made significant gains in their participation rates at all of the departments within the study from 1979 - 2002. The gains made by minorities at the GS 13 -15 grades were not at the same rate as women. In several departments, the participation rates were either flat or decreased. The regression model showed that there is a linear relationship between the success of women and the success of minorities at the GS 13 -15 grade levels within federal departments.
ContributorsSaunders, Romona (Author) / Cayer, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Alozie, Nicholas (Thesis advisor) / Lan, Gerald Z (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Government performance and accountability have grown to be predominant areas within public administration literature over the last forty years. The research presented in this dissertation examines the relationship between citizen satisfaction and local government performance. Citizen review of service delivery provides vital feedback that facilitates better resource management within local government. Using data from a single jurisdiction, two aspects of citizen satisfaction are reviewed. This includes citizen review of overall city performance, and citizen satisfaction with individual service delivery. Logit regression analysis is used to test several factors that affect citizen evaluation of service delivery in local government, while ordinary least squares regression is used to test the relationship between personal factors and citizen evaluation of specific local services. The results generated four major findings that contribute to the scholarly body of knowledge and local government knowledge application. First, citizens who are predisposed to supporting the local jurisdiction are more likely to rate service delivery high. Second, customer service is important. Third, those who experience government services similarly will collectively react similarly to the service experience. Finally, the length of residency has an impact on satisfaction levels with specific services. Implications for the literature as well as for practice are discussed.
ContributorsMcNamara, Catherine (Author) / Alozie, Nicholas O (Thesis advisor) / Cayer, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Lucio, Joanna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Public risk communication (i.e. public emergency warning) is an integral component of public emergency management. Its effectiveness is largely based on the extent to which it elicits appropriate public response to minimize losses from an emergency. While extensive studies have been conducted to investigate individual responsive process to emergency risk information, the literature in emergency management has been largely silent on whether and how emergency impacts can be mitigated through the effective use of information transmission channels for public risk communication. This dissertation attempts to answer this question, in a specific research context of 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak in Arizona. Methodologically, a prototype agent-based model is developed to examine the research question. Along with the specific disease spread dynamics, the model incorporates individual decision-making and response to emergency risk information. This simulation framework synthesizes knowledge from complexity theory, public emergency management, epidemiology, social network and social influence theory, and both quantitative and qualitative data found in previous studies. It allows testing how emergency risk information needs to be issued to the public to bring desirable social outcomes such as mitigated pandemic impacts. Simulation results generate several insightful propositions. First, in the research context, emergency managers can reduce the pandemic impacts by increasing the percent of state population who use national TV to receive pandemic information to 50%. Further increasing this percent after it reaches 50% brings only marginal effect in impact mitigation. Second, particular attention is needed when emergency managers attempt to increase the percent of state population who believe the importance of information from local TV or national TV, and the frequency in which national TV is used to send pandemic information. Those measures may reduce the pandemic impact in one dimension, while increase the impact in another. Third, no changes need to be made on the percent of state population who use local TV or radio to receive pandemic information, and the frequency in which either channel is used for public risk communication. This dissertation sheds light on the understanding of underlying dynamics of human decision-making during an emergency. It also contributes to the discussion of developing a better understanding of information exchange and communication dynamics during a public emergency and of improving the effectiveness of public emergency management practices in a dynamic environment.
ContributorsZhong, Wei (Author) / Lan, Zhiyong (Thesis advisor) / Kim, Yushim (Committee member) / Corley, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Lant, Timothy (Committee member) / Jehn, Megan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
A sustainability strategy is a distinctive pattern in an organization’s sustainability programs that are designed to encourage individuals and organizations to behave in more sustainable ways. Local governments worldwide have increasingly pursued sustainability strategies to improve their community health and environment by adopting sustainability programs that span a variety of environmental issues and use a diverse set of policy instruments. Despite increasing prevalence of sustainability efforts at the local level, as yet, there has been little understanding of variation in their sustainability strategies and its relationship with environmental performance outcomes. Prior research has mainly focused on the number of programs that local governments adopt and assumed that local governments with more sustainability programs are more likely to improve the environment than local governments with fewer programs. However, local governments’ sustainability strategies require more nuanced understanding about variations in their sustainability programs, in particular across their program design in that a sustainability strategy relates to both quantity and design aspects of programs.
I address these research gaps in three essays that explore the research question of (1) how design features of sustainability programs vary across US local governments, (2) which factors influence variations in program design, (3) how these factors are related to environmental quality outcomes in communities. By assessing US local governments’ sustainability programs, I found that even for local governments that adopt a same number of sustainability programs, they design their programs differently, especially across the breadth of environmental issues that local governments address in their sustainability programs and the breadth of policy instrument that are used in their programs. Findings suggest that pressures from external stakeholders and variations in local governments’ organizational capacities are related to local governments’ decisions to purse different types of sustainability strategies. Finally, I find that local governments that design their programs more comprehensively are likely to have greater environmental performance outcomes in their community. My dissertation expands existing research in a significant way by focusing on the importance of program design and its link with improved environmental performance, thereby providing important implications for distinguishing among local governments’ sustainability strategies.
I address these research gaps in three essays that explore the research question of (1) how design features of sustainability programs vary across US local governments, (2) which factors influence variations in program design, (3) how these factors are related to environmental quality outcomes in communities. By assessing US local governments’ sustainability programs, I found that even for local governments that adopt a same number of sustainability programs, they design their programs differently, especially across the breadth of environmental issues that local governments address in their sustainability programs and the breadth of policy instrument that are used in their programs. Findings suggest that pressures from external stakeholders and variations in local governments’ organizational capacities are related to local governments’ decisions to purse different types of sustainability strategies. Finally, I find that local governments that design their programs more comprehensively are likely to have greater environmental performance outcomes in their community. My dissertation expands existing research in a significant way by focusing on the importance of program design and its link with improved environmental performance, thereby providing important implications for distinguishing among local governments’ sustainability strategies.
ContributorsJi, Hyunjung (Author) / Darnall, Nicole (Thesis advisor) / Corley, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Feiock, Richard C. (Committee member) / Maroulis, Spiro (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
In the U.S., one of the most affluent countries in the world, hunger and food waste are two social problems that coexist in an ironic way. Food banks have become one key alternative solution to those problems because of their capacity to collect and distribute surplus food to those in need as well as to mobilize collective efforts of various organizations and citizens. However, the understanding of U.S. food banking remains limited due to research gaps in the literature. Previous public values research fails to address the key role of nonprofit organizations in achieving public values, while prior nonprofit and food bank studies suffer from insufficiently reflecting the value-driven nature in evaluating overall social impacts. Inspired by these gaps, this study asks the following question: how does food banking in the U.S. respond to public value failure?
To address this question, this study employs the interpretive approach as the logic of inquiry and the public value mapping framework as the analytic tool to contemplate the overall social impacts of U.S. food banking. Data sources include organizational documents of 203 U.S. food banks, as well as other public documents and literature pertaining to U.S. food banks.
Using public value mapping analysis, this study constructs a public value logic, which manifests the dynamics of prime and instrumental values in the U.S. food banking context. Food security, sustainability, and progressive opportunity are identified as three core prime public values. Instrumental values in this context consist of two major value categories: (1) intra-organizational values and (2) inter-and ultra-organizational values. Furthermore, this study applies public value failure criteria to examine success or failure of public values in this context. U.S. Food banks do contribute to the success of public sphere, progressive opportunity, sustainability and food security. However, the practice of U.S. food banks also lead to the failure of food security in some conditions. This study develops a new public value failure criterion based on the inherent limitations of charitable service providers. Main findings, contributions, and future directions are discussed.
To address this question, this study employs the interpretive approach as the logic of inquiry and the public value mapping framework as the analytic tool to contemplate the overall social impacts of U.S. food banking. Data sources include organizational documents of 203 U.S. food banks, as well as other public documents and literature pertaining to U.S. food banks.
Using public value mapping analysis, this study constructs a public value logic, which manifests the dynamics of prime and instrumental values in the U.S. food banking context. Food security, sustainability, and progressive opportunity are identified as three core prime public values. Instrumental values in this context consist of two major value categories: (1) intra-organizational values and (2) inter-and ultra-organizational values. Furthermore, this study applies public value failure criteria to examine success or failure of public values in this context. U.S. Food banks do contribute to the success of public sphere, progressive opportunity, sustainability and food security. However, the practice of U.S. food banks also lead to the failure of food security in some conditions. This study develops a new public value failure criterion based on the inherent limitations of charitable service providers. Main findings, contributions, and future directions are discussed.
ContributorsTsai, Chin-Chang (Author) / Bozeman, Barry (Thesis advisor) / Stritch, Justin (Committee member) / Corley, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Research suggests that a particularly important variable in determining success in public participation is the presence of a facilitator. Data from a study of 239 public participation case studies is analyzed using descriptive and statistical analysis to determine the impact on success of the participation efforts if a facilitator is present and whether or not internal versus external facilitators have a significant impact on success. The data suggest that facilitators have a positive impact on the success of public participation efforts and, in particular, that public participation efforts that use facilitators are more successful when the facilitator is a third-party intermediary (external) versus a member of the lead agency's staff (internal).
ContributorsWastchak, Daran Reginald (Author) / Cayer, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Lucio, Joanna (Committee member) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Over the past six years, the use of drones for recreational and commercial purposes has increased dramatically. There are currently over one million registered drones in the United States, and this number is expected to increase in the foreseeable future. For now, drones are a local phenomenon. The operational limitations prevent them from long range activity and federal policies prevent them from operating beyond the visual line of sight of the controller. The localized nature of drone operation makes them a particularly salient issue at the local regulatory level. At this level, cities must contend with the uncertainty of drone operation and a complex regulatory environment. Within a single metropolitan region, there are cities that may attempt to restrict the use of drones through various local ordinances while neighboring cities may have not even considered, let alone adopted, any type of regulation. The reasons behind these policy choices are not clear.
In an effort to understand the factors involved in the decisions to adopt a local drone use policy, this dissertation leverages qualitative methods to analyze the policy process leading to local decisions. The study capitalizes on rich contextual data gathered from a variety of sources for select cities in Orange and Los Angeles Counties. Specifically, this study builds a conceptual framework from policy innovation literature and applies it in the form of content analysis. This initial effort is used to identify the catalysts for policy discussion and the specific innovation mechanisms that support or detract from the decision to adopt a local drone use ordinance. Then, qualitative comparative analysis is used to determine which configuration of factors, identified during the content analysis, contribute to the causal path of policy adoption. Among other things, the results highlight the role that uncertainty plays in the policy process. Cities that adopt a drone use ordinance have low levels of uncertainty, high numbers of registered drone users, and at least two neighboring cities that also have drone use policies. This dissertation makes a modest contribution to policy innovation research, highlights how a configurational analysis technique can be applied to policy adoption decisions, and contains several recommendations for regulating drone use at the local level.
In an effort to understand the factors involved in the decisions to adopt a local drone use policy, this dissertation leverages qualitative methods to analyze the policy process leading to local decisions. The study capitalizes on rich contextual data gathered from a variety of sources for select cities in Orange and Los Angeles Counties. Specifically, this study builds a conceptual framework from policy innovation literature and applies it in the form of content analysis. This initial effort is used to identify the catalysts for policy discussion and the specific innovation mechanisms that support or detract from the decision to adopt a local drone use ordinance. Then, qualitative comparative analysis is used to determine which configuration of factors, identified during the content analysis, contribute to the causal path of policy adoption. Among other things, the results highlight the role that uncertainty plays in the policy process. Cities that adopt a drone use ordinance have low levels of uncertainty, high numbers of registered drone users, and at least two neighboring cities that also have drone use policies. This dissertation makes a modest contribution to policy innovation research, highlights how a configurational analysis technique can be applied to policy adoption decisions, and contains several recommendations for regulating drone use at the local level.
ContributorsNelson, Jake (Author) / Grubesic, Tony H. (Thesis advisor) / Kim, Yushim (Committee member) / Corley, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Mossberger, Karen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019