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Matthew Effect and public administration research: An analysis of the relationship of institutional prestige to research funding levels and departmental research productivity at U.S. schools of public administration
Title
The Matthew Effect and public administration research: An analysis of the relationship of institutional prestige to research funding levels and departmental research productivity at U.S. schools of public administration.
Creator
Popejoy, Michael William., Florida Atlantic University, Lynch, Thomas D.
Abstract/Description
The Matthew Effect is a biblical metaphor coined by Derek de Solla Price to describe a violation of Robert K. Merton's Norms of Science particularly the Norm of Universalism. It is based on the principle of accumulative advantage operating in socially stratified systems to produce the same result: the rich get richer at a rate that makes the poor become relatively poorer. Prestige attracts a disproportionate share of scarce resources available for research. Applying the Matthew Effect theory...
Show moreThe Matthew Effect is a biblical metaphor coined by Derek de Solla Price to describe a violation of Robert K. Merton's Norms of Science particularly the Norm of Universalism. It is based on the principle of accumulative advantage operating in socially stratified systems to produce the same result: the rich get richer at a rate that makes the poor become relatively poorer. Prestige attracts a disproportionate share of scarce resources available for research. Applying the Matthew Effect theory to public administration research revealed for the first time in the discipline that the most prestigious institutions did attract more research funding than their less prestigious counterparts. Using measures of prestige, research funding, and research productivity, a series of bivariate and multivariate analyses were run on the sample survey data from 69 respondent U.S. schools of public administration. The results indicated that the schools rated as prestigious did attract more funding and schools that were better funded did more research. Also, schools that actively sought grants achieved more grant funding. However, the reverse was not true. The increased funding levels and increased research productivity did not influence prestige in the short-run. The results support the literature from sociology and education that prestige, funding and productivity are positively related but that prestige is not enhanced in the short-term by higher levels of research productivity or funding. The existence of the Matthew Effect operating on the discipline of public administration was confirmed. The dissertation also focused attention on the relative effects of productivity and prestige on funding levels using grant-getting activities as a measure of faculty research productivity. The results demonstrated that prestige outweighed grant-getting activity, but was not the sole determinate in establishing funding levels.
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Date Issued
1994
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12380
Subject Headings
Public administration--Research--United States, Research--United States--Finance, Universities and colleges--Research--United States
Format
Document (PDF)
Government Finance Officers Association's (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program: Differences between successful and denied applicants
Title
The Government Finance Officers Association's (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program: Differences between successful and denied applicants.
Creator
Long, Donald C., Florida Atlantic University, Lynch, Thomas D.
Abstract/Description
This dissertation focuses on the Government Finance Officers Association's (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program. The number of applicants has steadily increased since the awards program was initiated in 1984. In order to win the award an agency must receive a favorable rating by reviewers, based on guidelines established by GFOA. This exploratory research relates to those local government agencies which applied for the award during the 1991-92 fiscal year. Very limited...
Show moreThis dissertation focuses on the Government Finance Officers Association's (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program. The number of applicants has steadily increased since the awards program was initiated in 1984. In order to win the award an agency must receive a favorable rating by reviewers, based on guidelines established by GFOA. This exploratory research relates to those local government agencies which applied for the award during the 1991-92 fiscal year. Very limited research has been conducted on this GFOA awards program. No research has identified differences between winning and denied agencies. The broad research question is: Is there a significant difference between winning and denied applicants for the award, according to the studied variables? The hypothesis is that there are differences between the groups, according to the studied variables. A survey of all 584 applicants was conducted during March, 1993. A total of 544 surveys were returned. The statistical techniques employed in the study include t-tests, chi-square analysis, and discriminant analysis. The null hypothesis that there is no difference between the means of the two groups (winning and denied agencies) is rejected for thirteen (13) of the thirty-eight (38) variables. Through discriminant analysis, the research identifies seven variables which create the best discriminant function. These variables include population size (POPULATE), use of performance measures (PERFMEAS), use of word processing (WORDPROC), previous receipt of the GFOA financial reporting certificate (GFOACERT), agency participation as a program reviewer (REVIEWER), number of pages in the annual budget (PAGES), and participants' views that the program uses a fair process of evaluation (FAIR). Future research into the GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards program should include more detailed analysis into the variables which appear to be associated with winning agencies.
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Date Issued
1994
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12376
Subject Headings
Government Finance Officers Association, Local budgets--Awards, Budget--Competitions
Format
Document (PDF)
Is operating budget execution really a coherent process?
Title
Is operating budget execution really a coherent process?.
Creator
Campbell, Kenneth Alan, Florida Atlantic University, Mendell, Jay S., Lynch, Thomas D., College for Design and Social Inquiry, School of Public Administration
Abstract/Description
Most of the debate within public budgeting has centered on whether the incremental or non-incremental approach is best. In a theoretical context, little attention has been paid to the actual execution of an entity's budget. Specific theoretical objectives must be met for execution to take place: the objectives have been arranged in different ways, yet the basic requirements have remained constant. The dissertation compared these established theoretical objectives with actual budget execution;...
Show moreMost of the debate within public budgeting has centered on whether the incremental or non-incremental approach is best. In a theoretical context, little attention has been paid to the actual execution of an entity's budget. Specific theoretical objectives must be met for execution to take place: the objectives have been arranged in different ways, yet the basic requirements have remained constant. The dissertation compared these established theoretical objectives with actual budget execution; it concentrated on whether actual budgeting practice met the requirements of budget execution as depicted in normative theory. The research question asked to what extent is practice consistent with theory. The reality of budget practice was determined through survey responses. The questions were based on the procedures required for carrying out the theoretical objectives of execution. Surveys were sent to budget practitioners within the two-county area in southeast Florida. These individuals are responsible for public sector budgeting within their various entities on a state, county, and local level. The survey asked for the respondents perceptions of actual practice as it related to budget execution within their entity. The individual responses were evaluated and analyzed. Factor Analysis was used to determine the loading of eleven specific objectives. The patterns created by the factor loading were explored; it established how the objectives were viewed and whether there was a monolithic approach to execution. The results of the factor loading suggested that, in practice, budget objectives are not recognized as a cohesive process. Theory failed to match actual budget execution. Established procedures found in theory are only partially recognized by those who practice budgeting. A chi-square analysis of the survey results were examined to establish internal validity of the survey instrument and determine whether the responses were influenced by the independent variables. The results of the chi-square failed to note any influence on the responses.
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Date Issued
1994
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12374
Subject Headings
Fiscal policy, Finance, Public, Budget
Format
Document (PDF)