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Title: Examining Evacuation Decisions of People Experiencing Homelessness During Natural Disasters Using the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM).
Creator: Ramos, Andrea, Sapat, Alka K., Florida Atlantic University, School of Public Administration, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: In this dissertation, I examined the lived experiences of people experiencing homelessness (PEH) and their perceptions of protective actions when making evacuation decisions during disasters or extreme weather events. Compared to other members of society, individuals experiencing homelessness during disasters face unique challenges, including a lack of shelter, transportation, access to news, and the need to carry all their belongings. This vulnerability is further heightened when natural...
Show moreIn this dissertation, I examined the lived experiences of people experiencing homelessness (PEH) and their perceptions of protective actions when making evacuation decisions during disasters or extreme weather events. Compared to other members of society, individuals experiencing homelessness during disasters face unique challenges, including a lack of shelter, transportation, access to news, and the need to carry all their belongings. This vulnerability is further heightened when natural disasters occur, as they lack physical protection, leading to increased exposure to hazards and adverse weather effects. The literature on homeless evacuation decision-making is limited (Donley & Wright, 2012), and the direct experiences of PEH and their decision-making processes during natural disasters remain underexplored (Brookfield & Fitzgerald, 2018; Brown et al., 2013; Every & Thompson, 2014; Gaillard et al., 2019; Settembrino, 2017). Additionally, the unsafe living conditions of PEH, coupled with the uncertainty of the COVID-19 virus, posed unique challenges for homeless communities, increasing the risk of virus transmission and exacerbating social disparities. In this study, I explored PEH’s lived experiences and perspectives when making evacuation decisions during disasters. I utilized Lindell and Perry's (2012) Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) as the theoretical framework. The PADM enabled me to analyze various factors influencing the evacuation decisions of PEH, including their physical aspects (shelter use and mobility) and social context (relationships with other PEH and employment). The findings presented in this study are the result of 41 in-depth semi-structured field interviews with PEH living unsheltered in Fort Lauderdale, Broward County.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014312
Subject Headings: Disasters, Evacuations, Homelessness, Public administration
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: EXAMINING DIGITAL POLICY TOOL CHOICE AND NETWORK STRUCTURES: A DISCOURSE NETWORK ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST STEP ACT.
Creator: Lungu, Maria, Sapat, Alka, Florida Atlantic University, School of Public Administration, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Policy formation involves an interplay of decision-making processes that shape all policy process stages. A critical aspect of the design process is selecting policy tools to align with policy goals. The First Step Act (FSA) (2018) aims to reduce recidivism and reform sentencing through a robust policy tool portfolio. However, questions persist about how policy tools are selected. This dissertation evaluates the policy design, tool choices, and collaborative networks associated with these...
Show morePolicy formation involves an interplay of decision-making processes that shape all policy process stages. A critical aspect of the design process is selecting policy tools to align with policy goals. The First Step Act (FSA) (2018) aims to reduce recidivism and reform sentencing through a robust policy tool portfolio. However, questions persist about how policy tools are selected. This dissertation evaluates the policy design, tool choices, and collaborative networks associated with these choices. Grounded in the social construction framework and using content analysis and discourse network analysis (DNA), this dissertation examines how policymakers select policy tools to achieve functionality. Research question one explores the complementarity of the FSA’s policy tool portfolio, and results demonstrate alignment between policy goals and corresponding policy tools. Research question two examines how social constructions of target populations and political affiliations influence policy tool choices; hypothesis one reveals that liberal policymakers align with those with similar political affiliations. Results from hypothesis two indicate liberal policymakers adopt a rehabilitation orientation tool approach, viewing target populations as investments and deserving of support structures. The findings also highlight limited interaction with government agency officials, reflecting a need to incorporate more administrative voices into legislative discourse.
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Date Issued: 2024
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014466
Subject Headings: Public policy, Decision making, Public administration
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Public health nurse managers' perception of Total Quality Management initiatives.
Creator: Wright, Carol Ann., Florida Atlantic University, Ray, Marilyn A.
Abstract/Description: The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore public health nurse managers' perception of Total Quality Management (TQM) Initiatives in the practice setting. Data sources included interviews with six public health nurse managers. A conceptual model was developed and subsequently analyzed in relationship to Watson's (1988) Human Theory of Caring and Total Quality Management Theory. It was discovered that public health nurse managers described favorable experiences working with TQM...
Show moreThe purpose of this descriptive study was to explore public health nurse managers' perception of Total Quality Management (TQM) Initiatives in the practice setting. Data sources included interviews with six public health nurse managers. A conceptual model was developed and subsequently analyzed in relationship to Watson's (1988) Human Theory of Caring and Total Quality Management Theory. It was discovered that public health nurse managers described favorable experiences working with TQM implementation and the team process. Although the study's findings did not support a direct relationship between Watson's Theory and congruence with public health nursing practice and TQM initiatives there is an implied relationship to the universal nursing theories of caring with a strong emphasis on advocacy in guiding public health nursing practice. Recommendations for nursing administration, practice, education and research are presented.
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Date Issued: 2000
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12707
Subject Headings: Total quality management, Nurse administrators, Public health administration
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The planning living-lab network™.
Creator: O’Brien, Mariana G., Vos, Jaap, Graduate College
Date Issued: 2011-04-08
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3164650
Subject Headings: Action research, Public administration, City planning
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Impact of Lived Experience Representative Bureaucracy on the Perceived Humanness and Deservingness of Clients: Analyzing First Responders’ Attitudes Toward People with Opioid Use Disorder.
Creator: Lofaro, Ryan J., Sapat, Alka K., Florida Atlantic University, School of Public Administration, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: Representative bureaucracy theory has mainly been used to understand how identities related to race, ethnicity, and gender influence how bureaucrats administer public services. Although representation through lived experience has expanded the scope of the theory, this theoretical thread has mostly focused on the perspectives of management. In addition, the literature has generally analyzed the values, beliefs, and actions of minoritized bureaucrats rather than those of the racial and ethnic...
Show moreRepresentative bureaucracy theory has mainly been used to understand how identities related to race, ethnicity, and gender influence how bureaucrats administer public services. Although representation through lived experience has expanded the scope of the theory, this theoretical thread has mostly focused on the perspectives of management. In addition, the literature has generally analyzed the values, beliefs, and actions of minoritized bureaucrats rather than those of the racial and ethnic majority. The purpose of this dissertation is to employ lived experience and traditional representative bureaucracy theories to understand the influence of first responders’ experiences with addiction on their viewpoints regarding the humanness and deservingness of clients with opioid use disorder; examine how white first responders perceive clients of different races; and analyze the effect of lived experience on sentiments regarding clients of color. In this dissertation, I surveyed county- and municipal-level EMS-providers and law enforcement workers in the United States, utilizing a survey experiment and mediation models for the analysis. Results show that indirect and direct lived experiences—respectively, having a family member or friend who has experienced an addiction and feeling addiction has had a direct impact on respondents’ lives—predicted increases in client deservingness, mediated by ascribed humanness and driven largely by EMS-providers. However, responding to opioid overdoses and administering naloxone— on-the-job lived experiences—were associated with reduced deservingness and ascribed humanness in both law enforcement and EMS organizations. Regarding the race of the client, white police personnel had more positive views of white clients with opioid use disorder relative to Black and unidentified clients, with effects amplified by on-the-job and indirect experiences but blunted by direct experiences.
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Date Issued: 2023
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014282
Subject Headings: Public health administration, Bureaucracy, Opioid Crisis
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Sisyphusian predicament: existentialism and a grounded theory analysis of the experience and practice of public administration.
Creator: Hollar, T. Lucas., College for Design and Social Inquiry, School of Public Administration
Abstract/Description: Public administration addresses issues that competing and aligning groups determine to be meaningful enough to address. However, there seems to be no shared universally objective ways of remedying anything. Everything is up for argument. Additionally, attempting to solve one set of problems often creates other connected problems and/or unintended consequences. So, public work ever [sic] never ends. This dissertation's purpose was to contribute a new theoretical understanding of the experience...
Show morePublic administration addresses issues that competing and aligning groups determine to be meaningful enough to address. However, there seems to be no shared universally objective ways of remedying anything. Everything is up for argument. Additionally, attempting to solve one set of problems often creates other connected problems and/or unintended consequences. So, public work ever [sic] never ends. This dissertation's purpose was to contribute a new theoretical understanding of the experience and practice of public administration. Its research addressed if and how a grounded existential theoretical framework could emerge that would help practitioners and scholars understand and describe public administrative efforts and experiences. Currently, there is no existential theory of public administration. This dissertation sought to initiate work in that direction. This dissertation employed a grounded theory methodology to collect information from Senior Executive Service (SES) members, to analyze the information for emerging concepts and theoretical relevance through constant comparison, and to discover/construct a theoretical framework for understanding public administrative efforts and experiences. "The grounded theory approach is a general methodology of analysis linked with data collection that uses a systematically applied set of methods to generate an inductive theory about a substantive area" (Glaser, 1992, p. 16)., This dissertation identified the emergence of three categories/themes that organized what the SES members were saying, doing, and perceiving. These categories include "the environment," "the work," and "the individual." The core category/theme, "the Sisyphusian predicament," theoretically unifies these categories/themes through a metaphorical application of existential concepts. It describes the issues administrators experience (never-endingness, boundedness, and finitude in the face of infinitude (managing the scope and scale of one's intentions; generating and authoring relevance, significance, and meaning; and the choice for metaphysical revolt/ microemancipation). There are scholarly and practicable applications of this framework. This dissertation contributes exploratory work towards developing a new theoretical alternative within public administration. It provides an alternative approach for viewing and understanding organizational processes within public organizations. Additionally, an existential approach facilitates a plurality of competing schools of thought wherein administrators can select approaches to decision making and acting on the basis of context and utility.
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/165673
Subject Headings: Public administration, Philosophy, Public administration, Moral and ethical aspects, Administrative agencies, Management, Policy sciences, Public administration, Research, Methodology
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Professional Public Administration: A Synthesis of an Inchoate Concept.
Creator: Heilman, Joseph Christian, Sementelli, Arthur J., Florida Atlantic University, College for Design and Social Inquiry, School of Public Administration
Abstract/Description: The term profession is found throughout the scholarly literature; despite frequent use of the term, there exists little or no means of providing a common conception of the term. Consequently, calls for increasing professionalization of public administration appear to be premature. Therefore, this dissertation utilizes inductive research to generate theory, which synthesizes the inchoate concept of the professional public administrator. The motivation to pursue this line of inquiry stems from...
Show moreThe term profession is found throughout the scholarly literature; despite frequent use of the term, there exists little or no means of providing a common conception of the term. Consequently, calls for increasing professionalization of public administration appear to be premature. Therefore, this dissertation utilizes inductive research to generate theory, which synthesizes the inchoate concept of the professional public administrator. The motivation to pursue this line of inquiry stems from a personal need to weigh in on the perennial debate about what skills, knowledge, and information should be communicated to future generations of public administration thinkers and practitioners. To that end, this research will provide a theoretical framework grounded in the literature, which federates the term professional and the professional concept in such a way that purposeful debates can be had. It is, as will be shown, an attempt to link understanding and interpretation.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004734, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004734
Subject Headings: Public administration--Management., Public administration--Moral and ethical aspects., Grounded theory., Motivation (Psychology)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Chief nursing officer sustainment in the continued practice of nursing leadership: a phenomenological inquiry.
Creator: Prestia, Angela S., Sherman, Rose O., Florida Atlantic University, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing
Abstract/Description: The highly complex role of the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) requires the refinement of a multitude of competencies and leadership skills in this unprecedented time of healthcare reform. As the senior most patient advocate in our medical centers the CNO is responsible for translating research into practice, policy development and implementation creating value based patient-centric strategies to transform health care. The ability to sustain and thrive in this role is essential in repositioning...
Show moreThe highly complex role of the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) requires the refinement of a multitude of competencies and leadership skills in this unprecedented time of healthcare reform. As the senior most patient advocate in our medical centers the CNO is responsible for translating research into practice, policy development and implementation creating value based patient-centric strategies to transform health care. The ability to sustain and thrive in this role is essential in repositioning nursing as a knowledgeable discipline actively contributing to the redesign of healthcare. This exploratory descriptive phenomenological study was designed to explore and describe the elements that contribute to the sustainment of CNOs in their practice of nurse executive leadership. Ray’s (1989) Theory of Bureaucratic Caring, Authentic Leadership Theory (Wong & Cummings, 2009), and Resiliency Theory (Earvolino- Ramirez (2007) provided the theoretical lens through which this study was grounded. Semi-structured telephonic interviews were conducted with twenty CNOs all with two consecutive years experience in their current role. Six themes emerged after thorough content analysis which describes the lived experience of sustainment. Each theme was supported by several subthemes. Themes emerged as: Loving the Profession, Having a Broader Impact Reflecting on One’s Own Work, Learning to Manage Conflict, Maintaining Work/Life Balance Working with Supportive Leaders.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004320
Subject Headings: Health services administration, Leadership, Nurse administrators, Nursing ethics -- Philosophy, Nursing services -- Administration, Outcome assessment (Medical care), Public health personnel
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Gendered images of expertise, leadership and virture: applying Stivers' theoretical framework to police practices as represented in publications from 1979 to 2009.
Creator: Larson, Robin Lynn., College of Design and Social Inquiry, School of Public Administration
Abstract/Description: In this dissertation, a theoretical framework is developed from Camilla Stivers' (2002) argument that images of expertise, leadership and virtue are used to defend public administration's legitimacy in the face of criticisms about the inefficiencies of government and the power wielded by bureaucrats. Stivers argues that these legitimizing and traditional images have historical and cultural roots in ideas associated with masculinity, and that this harms women in the public sector. The realm of...
Show moreIn this dissertation, a theoretical framework is developed from Camilla Stivers' (2002) argument that images of expertise, leadership and virtue are used to defend public administration's legitimacy in the face of criticisms about the inefficiencies of government and the power wielded by bureaucrats. Stivers argues that these legitimizing and traditional images have historical and cultural roots in ideas associated with masculinity, and that this harms women in the public sector. The realm of policing faced similar criticisms and defended its legitimacy by altering practices, the day-to-day actions of police practitioners. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the possibility that police practitioners have defended their legitimacy on the same basis as public administrators have done by offering images of expertise, leadership and virtue, which Stivers (2002) claims are deeply gendered. Using Ethnographic Content Analysis (ECA), imagery is qualitatively examined using using Stivers' (2002) descriptions of characteristics, qualitiers, values and actions that she associates with images of expertise, leadership and virtue... Masculine images of virtue portray the police as dedicated and committed professionals who protect the citizenry through laudable programs and initiatives. Masculine images of leadership are less prevalent, but consistently portray the police as controlling and direction-setting visionaries. Alternative imagery patterns include leadership images more aligned with femininity, such as collaboration and cooperation. Throughout the thirty-one years, these patterns of images are observed, despite differences in practices associated with the three paradigms of policing.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355628
Subject Headings: Leadership, Municipal government, Public administration, Progressivism (United States politics), Police administration, Criminal justice, Administration of
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: An empirical analysis of the roles assumed by public administrators: the case of public procurement specialists.
Creator: Roman, Alexandru V., College for Design and Social Inquiry, School of Public Administration
Abstract/Description: This dissertation examines administrative roles within the context of everyday public administration. Specifically, it studies the relationship between administrative roles assumed by public administrators and (1) the perceived presence of administrative discretion, (2) individual level beliefs regarding involvement in policy formulation and (3) tenure with organization. This dissertation has a three-fold purpose. First, it delineates the types of roles assumed by public procurement...
Show moreThis dissertation examines administrative roles within the context of everyday public administration. Specifically, it studies the relationship between administrative roles assumed by public administrators and (1) the perceived presence of administrative discretion, (2) individual level beliefs regarding involvement in policy formulation and (3) tenure with organization. This dissertation has a three-fold purpose. First, it delineates the types of roles assumed by public procurement specialists. Second, it tests whether administrative discretion, beliefs regarding participation in policy formulation and organizational tenure are significant in explaining the assumption of certain types of roles. Finally, the dissertation evaluates the implications for the public procurement process of the predominance of certain roles. vi The theoretical logic for this dissertation draws on the theory of representative bureaucracy and role theory. ... It is found that administrative discretion, individual expectations and organizational tenure are indeed important predictors of the assumption of administrative roles. Administrators who believe that they have access to relatively high levels of discretion and those who believe they should be involved in policy formulation are more likely to assume a representative type role. On the other hand, with increased tenure public administrators are less likely to assume a representative type role.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362569
Subject Headings: Public administration, Methodology, Transparency in government, Comparative government, Bureaucracy
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Task Specialization In The Public Administration Profession: A Job Analysis Of Public Procurement Practitioners.
Creator: Steinfeld, Joshua M., McCue, Clifford P., Florida Atlantic University, College for Design and Social Inquiry, School of Public Administration
Abstract/Description: This dissertation examines task specialization in the public administration profession through studying the job tasks that a public procurement practitioner performs, manages, and both performs and manages. The purpose of this dissertation was to establish a baseline to benchmark what these practitioners actually do on their jobs. Factor analysis was used to study a data set of 2,549 respondents that were administered a survey by the Universal Public Procurement Certification Council (UPPCC)...
Show moreThis dissertation examines task specialization in the public administration profession through studying the job tasks that a public procurement practitioner performs, manages, and both performs and manages. The purpose of this dissertation was to establish a baseline to benchmark what these practitioners actually do on their jobs. Factor analysis was used to study a data set of 2,549 respondents that were administered a survey by the Universal Public Procurement Certification Council (UPPCC) in 2012. The research question to be answered involved addressing what job tasks public procurement practitioners perform, manage, and both perform and manage. Hypotheses were examined that predicted task specialization existing within public procurement to the extent that practitioners in more senior job positions display more task specialization and that practitioners from larger organizations also display more task specialization. A review of literature discusses the alternative perspectives on what constitutes professionalism in the public sector. The reasons for focusing on public procurement professionalism were subsequently presented through the literature. The various views of what entails professionalism in public administration were discussed as to responsibility (Stivers, 1994), sociological issues (Simon, 1947), constitutional issues (Lowi, 1995; Rohr, 1986), technical specialization and empirical rigor (Parsons, 1939), as means of contextualizing the nature of public administrators’ roles and responsibilities in conjunction with the job tasks that are executed. Factor analysis was conducted on 75 job tasks in order to identify relationships between practitioner job tasks for the purposes of finding out what it is that public procurement practitioners actually do for their work. The job tasks found to share relationships may be grouped together for further inquiry into the nature of the relationships between job tasks and overarching competency areas of related job tasks. Additionally, factor analyses were conducted to identify relationships between job tasks in public procurement and control variables such as organization size and job position, which were predicted to impact whether or not practitioners perform, manage, both perform and manage, or do neither, for each of the job tasks surveyed.
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Date Issued: 2016
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004748, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004748
Subject Headings: Public administration., Business logistics--Management., Applied ethics., Professional ethics.
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Between the lines: The politics of passenger rail service, 1958--1970.
Creator: Alcorn, Aaron Luke, Florida Atlantic University, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, Department of History
Abstract/Description: For many modern Americans, the passenger train is but a distant memory, an artifact of the past. In the postwar United States, the status of passenger rail service deteriorated significantly. There were many reasons for this decline, but large subsidies enabled by federal highway and air transportation policies greatly favored alternate forms of traffic at the passenger train's expense. Realizing that rail service in this country was either on the verge of extinction or nationalization,...
Show moreFor many modern Americans, the passenger train is but a distant memory, an artifact of the past. In the postwar United States, the status of passenger rail service deteriorated significantly. There were many reasons for this decline, but large subsidies enabled by federal highway and air transportation policies greatly favored alternate forms of traffic at the passenger train's expense. Realizing that rail service in this country was either on the verge of extinction or nationalization, Congress and President Richard M. Nixon sought to preserve a modest network of passenger trains through the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970, which created the publicly subsidized corporation Amtrak. This study looks at changing transportation policies following World War II and ultimately identifies the role that politics played in the decline of the passenger train and the creation of Amtrak.
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Date Issued: 2001
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12785
Subject Headings: History, United States, Political Science, Public Administration, Transportation
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: If citizens talk back, do administrators listen? A structural equation model of administrative responsiveness to citizens.
Creator: Alkadry, Mohamad Ghazi, Florida Atlantic University, Miller, Hugh T.
Abstract/Description: This dissertation investigates the potential for discourse between citizens and front-line administrators---those who directly deal with citizens. It focuses on the ability and willingness of public servants to be responsive to citizens with whom they interact. There are two methods of investigation used in this dissertation: theoretical and quantitative. Citizen ability and willingness to participate in this discourse is examined using existing theory. Administrator willingness and ability...
Show moreThis dissertation investigates the potential for discourse between citizens and front-line administrators---those who directly deal with citizens. It focuses on the ability and willingness of public servants to be responsive to citizens with whom they interact. There are two methods of investigation used in this dissertation: theoretical and quantitative. Citizen ability and willingness to participate in this discourse is examined using existing theory. Administrator willingness and ability is examined using theoretical and quantitative methods. The purpose of this dissertation is two-fold. First, it identifies a point of access to administration at which the public is willing and able to participate. In doing so, it attempts to find a point of access and a form of participation that would give able and willing citizens some power in the process. This dissertation examines the concept of citizen "talk back" to administrators at the service delivery stage in public bureaucracies. Second, it examines theoretical assumptions about administrator willingness and ability to act on citizen feedback. According to critiques of technical rational organizations, administrators might be neither willing nor able to process and act upon citizen feedback. First, the dissertation explores the questions of why citizens participate, which citizens participate, how citizens participate, and different manifestations of citizen participation in the field of public administration. Meaningful participation empowers citizens at the same time that it provides information about citizen preferences. Willingness and ability of citizens to participate in the policy and administrative process is essential for meaningful citizen participation. To examine these assumptions, the dissertation presents the results of an analysis of brief interviews with ten citizens. Second, the dissertation explores theoretical arguments about organizational rationality and the effect of the "bureaucratic experience," resulting from administrator-bureaucracy interaction, on administrator willingness to be responsive to citizens. A structural equation model is used to test these theoretical arguments. Data from 147 administrators are collected using a survey instrument of 38 questions. The research results show that the structure of technical rational organizations constrains the ability of administrators to be responsive to citizens. The research also examines the effect of structural enablers, or ability of administrators to respond to citizen talk back, on personal enablers, or the willingness of administrators to respond to citizen talk back.
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Date Issued: 2000
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12634
Subject Headings: Public administration--Citizen participation, Political participation, Bureaucracy
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Outlining a theory about the practical use of theory: A discourse-practice theoretic analysis of academic public administration symposia genre.
Creator: Jaja, Cheedy, Florida Atlantic University, Miller, Hugh T.
Abstract/Description: Academic public administration (APA) supposedly provides theoretic and programmatic guidance for bureaucratic public administration (BPA). But in reality, a relationship best characterized as a gap between "theory" (APA) and "practice" (BPA) is deemed to exist between the two social practices. Scholars who have analyzed APA theoretic literature ascribed the theory-practice problematic to methodological inadequacies, the implication being that investment in appropriate social science methods...
Show moreAcademic public administration (APA) supposedly provides theoretic and programmatic guidance for bureaucratic public administration (BPA). But in reality, a relationship best characterized as a gap between "theory" (APA) and "practice" (BPA) is deemed to exist between the two social practices. Scholars who have analyzed APA theoretic literature ascribed the theory-practice problematic to methodological inadequacies, the implication being that investment in appropriate social science methods would enhance the intellectual rigor and social utility of APA discursive works. To provide a much richer perspective on the theory-practice problematic, this study conceptualizes theoretic discourses as social actions. When scholars theorize, they invariably want to get things done, thus they are involved in social actions linked to some purposes, interests, and issues. As individuals with disciplinary affiliations and commitments, APA scholars bring purposes and interests to their work. So, what kinds of purposes underpin APA theoretic works? Since actions are meaningful within social practices, a corollary question is: What disciplinary influences constrain or authorize APA discourse, and why? To answer the questions posed: first, a discourse analytic method is utilized to analyze textual cohorts (i.e., authorial intentions, issues, themes, genre forms, and methods) in symposia articles published in five mainstream APA journals over a fifteen-year period. Second, a conceptual framework for understanding the disciplinary conditions authorizing and restricting theoretic discourse is outlined using the parameters of practice theory. Discourse analysis and practice theory are complimentary methodological and analytic tools. Discourse analysis focuses on discourse systems, whereas practice theory seeks to explain the relationships that obtain between human actions and social systems. In other words, discourse-practice approach focuses on the individuals' choices of discursive activities and explains how these choices are shaped by the social practices within which the discursive activities unfold. Using insights from practice theory, a speculative perspective relating the failure to reconfigure the discipline's telos in light of changed objective conditions is offered as the basis for the theory-practice problematic in academic public administration.
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Date Issued: 2001
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/11970
Subject Headings: Public administration, Policy sciences, Discourse analysis, Critical theory
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Abortion policy in the fifty states: A comparative analysis.
Creator: Parsons, Sharon Kay, Florida Atlantic University, Pritchard, Anita
Abstract/Description: This study investigates the influence of state characteristics, socioeconomic, cultural and political, on the variation of abortion legislation and accessibility in the American states. State discretion in abortion issues, historically and including the present time, has resulted in a lack of uniformity of regulations in the 50 states and a wide variance of accessibility to abortion services across the nation. Although abortion is considered one of the most divisive and controversial policy...
Show moreThis study investigates the influence of state characteristics, socioeconomic, cultural and political, on the variation of abortion legislation and accessibility in the American states. State discretion in abortion issues, historically and including the present time, has resulted in a lack of uniformity of regulations in the 50 states and a wide variance of accessibility to abortion services across the nation. Although abortion is considered one of the most divisive and controversial policy issues, it has largely been neglected in the literature as a public policy study at the state level. Therefore, a systematic and empirical basis for explaining the variance in abortion laws and accessibility is also lacking in the research. This study attempts to fill in that gap and the results of the analysis of the data reveals several important findings. First, there is little indication that accessibility is related to state legislation on abortion. Second, the measures for current legislation are not highly correlated. Each policy appears to be a separate issue for state legislators. Third, socioeconomic characteristics, as expected, are important to the pre-Roe measures of legislation and abortion rates. These characteristics are also important to recent abortion rates, Medicaid funding for abortions, and service provision. However, certain political variables, in particular public opinion/ideology, are also important to the variance of current measures. Fourth, traditional state characteristics do not explain the variance in two of the legislative variables included in the study--the number of post-Roe restrictions passed and parental notification/consent requirements. And last, religion, as measured by denominations or religious groups with an anti-abortion platform, does not play an important role in explaining variation in abortion laws or accessibility, contrary to the predictions. A larger percentage of Catholics is associated with increased service provision and less restrictive Medicaid funding for abortions. Fundamentalists are not important to the variation of either legislation or accessibility. This finding, in particular, is in contrast to not only the predictions of this study but also to the popular beliefs and assertions on the subject.
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Date Issued: 1991
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12285
Subject Headings: Women's Studies, Political Science, General, Political Science, Public Administration
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Operational Association of New Institutionalism by Semiotic Comparison of Organizational Abbreviated Communications Through Natural Language Processing.
Creator: Trautman, Benjamin E., Sementelli, Arthur, Florida Atlantic University, School of Public Administration, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Abstract/Description: The link between organizational theory and its application in practice is explored in this research through the lens of Peircian semiotics. An investigation is conducted of how organizations convey their culture through mission and vision statements and the reflection of these statements within New Institutionalism. Through the use of a novel computational model that merges quantitative analysis with traditional qualitative methods, this study evaluates the relevance and effectiveness of...
Show moreThe link between organizational theory and its application in practice is explored in this research through the lens of Peircian semiotics. An investigation is conducted of how organizations convey their culture through mission and vision statements and the reflection of these statements within New Institutionalism. Through the use of a novel computational model that merges quantitative analysis with traditional qualitative methods, this study evaluates the relevance and effectiveness of institutional theories. The three main schools of New Institutionalism—rational choice, historical, and sociological institutionalism —are examined to determine how well municipal mission and vision statements align with the theories' principles. The analysis interprets organizational communications identifying similarities or differences between theoretical concepts and the expressions of found organizational culture. The findings produced by the analyses offer insights into the relationship between theory and practice. It highlights the challenges in interpreting the intended meanings behind organizational communications, as well as, the practical utility of theoretical models for organizational behavior. This study contributes to the organizational theory library by introducing a new methodological approach to examine and compare institutional theories and the communicative strategies.
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Date Issued: 2024
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014448
Subject Headings: Natural language processing, New institutionalism (Social sciences), Semiotics, Public administration
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: An analysis of accountability in public-private health care programs serving vulnerable populations.
Creator: Cleare, Thomas W., School of Public Administration, College for Design and Social Inquiry
Abstract/Description: References to accountability are common throughout public administration literature. However, a clear model to assess accountability in government programs is not fully developed. This research fills this gap and provides policymakers with a tool they can use to assess accountability in both public and contracted programs and enables them to make more informed contracting-out decisions. In addition, the Integrated Accountability Framework introduced in this research will serve as a guideline...
Show moreReferences to accountability are common throughout public administration literature. However, a clear model to assess accountability in government programs is not fully developed. This research fills this gap and provides policymakers with a tool they can use to assess accountability in both public and contracted programs and enables them to make more informed contracting-out decisions. In addition, the Integrated Accountability Framework introduced in this research will serve as a guideline for how public administrators can improve accountability in the programs they administer and oversee. For the public and private health care programs analyzed in this study, the findings indicate that the publicly delivered programs provided more accountability to the vulnerable populations served than the contracted-out health care programs.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3169917
Subject Headings: Health services administration, Public administration, Moral and ethical aspects, Municiipal services, Contracting out, Administrative responsibility
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The Significance for, and Impact Upon, Public Administration of the Correspondence Theory of Truth or Veridicality.
Creator: Slagle, Derek Ray, Miller, Hugh T., Florida Atlantic University, College for Design and Social Inquiry, School of Public Administration
Abstract/Description: The dissertation is about the significance for, and impact upon public administration of the correspondence theory of truth or veridicality, and its underlying epistemological assumptions. The underlying thesis is that, unduly influenced by the success of the natural sciences, and naive in accepting their claims to objectivity, many disciplines have sought to emulate them. There are two principle objections. Firstly, all other considerations aside, the supposedly objectivistic methodologies...
Show moreThe dissertation is about the significance for, and impact upon public administration of the correspondence theory of truth or veridicality, and its underlying epistemological assumptions. The underlying thesis is that, unduly influenced by the success of the natural sciences, and naive in accepting their claims to objectivity, many disciplines have sought to emulate them. There are two principle objections. Firstly, all other considerations aside, the supposedly objectivistic methodologies apparently applied to the explanation and prediction of the behavior of interactions of physical objects, may simply be inappropriate to certain other areas of inquiry; and more specifically objectivist methodologies are indeed inappropriate to understanding of human subjects, and their behavior, relations and interactions, and thus to public administration. The second objection is that it is of course logically impossible for any supposedly empirical discipline, as the natural sciences claim to be, to justify the belief in a supposedly objective realm of things-in-themselves existing outside, beyond, or independently of the changing, interrupted and different 'appearances' or experiences, to which an empirical science is qua empirical, necessarily restricted. Correspondence of any empirical observations or appearances (and the consequent or presupposed theoretical explanations) to an objective realm, upon which the claim to objectivity is based, is unverifiable. In light of the above it becomes evident that far from being objective, the natural sciences themselves, and the empirical observations upon which they are supposedly grounded, are subject to conceptual mediation and subjective interpretation; subjective and inter-subjective coherence replacing objective correspondence as the criterion of veridicality. Consequently it becomes clear that the presuppositions and prejudices of the observers enter, in the forms of concepts and preconceptions, into the very observations, and even more so into the theoretical constructions, or theories, of the natural, and indeed human and social sciences, and their claims to be authoritative and true. Subsequent discussion is then focused on both the coherence of individuals' experiences and understanding, and their inter-subjective coherence - which both rises from and constitutes, a "community". The role of language facilitates such coherence.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004548, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004548
Subject Headings: Discourse analysis, Information theory -- Philosophy, Philosophy of mind, Polarity (Linguistics), Public administration -- Language, Public administration -- Research -- Philosophy, Social constructivism, Visual perception
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Democratic accountability for outsourced government services.
Creator: Keeler, Rebecca L., College for Design and Social Inquiry, School of Public Administration
Abstract/Description: Public administration scholars have raised serious concerns about loss of democratic accountability when government services are outsourced to private forprofit businesses because of the very different values and missions of the two sectors. Particular concern for democratic accountability arises when administrative discretion is delegated to governments' private sector agents. Furthermore, if contractors may adversely impact individual rights or interests, or may adversely impact vulnerable...
Show morePublic administration scholars have raised serious concerns about loss of democratic accountability when government services are outsourced to private forprofit businesses because of the very different values and missions of the two sectors. Particular concern for democratic accountability arises when administrative discretion is delegated to governments' private sector agents. Furthermore, if contractors may adversely impact individual rights or interests, or may adversely impact vulnerable populations, special democratic responsibilities arise. It is these three features of outsourcing transactions that constitute the elements of the proposed framework used in this research in order to assess need for heightened attention to democratic accountability. Some scholars argue for application of constitutional and administrative law norms to some government contractors., Public service ethics and transparency requirements found in administrative law are heavily value-laden and mission-driven. If applied to certain government contractors, they can help to bridge the sectors' mission and value differences, thus enhancing democratic accountability for the services performed by governments' private sector agents. This research offers an analytical framework for identifying features of outsourcing transactions that call for enhanced democratic accountability measures such as ethics and transparency requirements, and explores the application of ethics and transparency requirements to governments' contractors. Contracts and laws governing three Florida local government service categories were subjected to close systematic textual and legal analysis: residential trash collection, building code inspection, and inmate health care., The analysis revealed circumstances calling for greater attention to democratic accountability in that the selected outsourcing transactions delegated to contractors the authority to exercise police power, make public policy, and commit expenditures of public funds. Contracts and laws haphazardly required contractors to abide by public service ethics and transparency requirements, thus beginning to adapt the mission and value system of their private sector agents to those of government.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1927311
Subject Headings: Contracting out, Privatization, Public administration, Decision making, Public contracts, Management
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Neutral competence, political guidance and administrative autonomy: A structural equation model of the politics-administration dichotomy.
Creator: Demir, Tansu., Florida Atlantic University, Miller, Hugh T.
Abstract/Description: The politics-administration dichotomy has been one of the most disputed theories of public administration. Despite serious challenges and critics, neither the theoretical utility nor the normative power of the dichotomy has totally disappeared over the decades. The dichotomy has been advocated on the grounds that the dichotomous division of labor and authority between elected leadership and administrative leadership is prerequisite for autonomous (and effective) public administration. This...
Show moreThe politics-administration dichotomy has been one of the most disputed theories of public administration. Despite serious challenges and critics, neither the theoretical utility nor the normative power of the dichotomy has totally disappeared over the decades. The dichotomy has been advocated on the grounds that the dichotomous division of labor and authority between elected leadership and administrative leadership is prerequisite for autonomous (and effective) public administration. This dissertation (1) conceptualizes the politics-administration dichotomy, (2) specifies a theoretical model, and (3) tests and evaluates the theoretical model with empirical data collected from a nationwide sample of city managers serving in council-manager local governments. Results of structural equation modeling demonstrate that the internal theoretical logic of the politics-administration dichotomy could not be confirmed with empirical data. The dissertation then discusses implications of the findings for the field of public administration.
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Date Issued: 2005
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12177
Subject Headings: Public administration, Organizational effectiveness, Representative government and representation--United States, Bureaucracy--United States
Format: Document (PDF)

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