Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-195). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis advisor: Ana M. Martínez-Alemán / The dearth of women in executive positions within the field of information technology (IT) has been studied extensively in the corporate sector. That is not the case within higher education, despite the data collected showing that women attain the top executive role - that of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) - at much better rates than their corporate counterparts. Given this discrepancy, as well as the importance of technology in today's society, research was needed into the structural factors contributing to women's executive attainment in higher education IT organizations. Using a sequential explanatory mixed methods design, this dissertation study compared women and men higher education CIOs along a variety of individual and organizational characteristics, and examined elements related to women's ability to attain the CIO role. The study combined quantitative descriptive data on higher education CIOs, gathered via a web-based questionnaire and analyzed for significant differences between women and men in the population, with women CIOs' qualitative explanations of the quantitative findings via semi-structured interviews. 188 women and men (38 women and 150 men) participated in the questionnaire, and nine women who filled it out participated in the semi-structured interviews. All participants were higher education CIOs working at EDUCAUSE member institutions. Integrated findings from this study suggest that though few demographic differences exist between women and men in the population, higher education IT culture is based upon masculine norms, and as such, perpetuates biases against women leaders in the profession. Despite cultural norms that potentially dissuade women from working in the field, a number of environmental characteristics emerged associated with women's ability to secure the CIO position. These included stimulating work that is connected to the mission of higher education; flexible work options available at different points in IT employees' careers; the presence of women executives in academic institutions; and a nationally based professional development community focused on mentoring future generations of CIOs. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Georgia Southern University, 2007. / "A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education." Education Administration, under the direction of Barbara Mallory. ETD. Electronic version approved: December 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 144-152) and appendices.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2006. / Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 160 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Problem of the Study The United States has wide global commitments. Thousands of Americans are serving in overseas countries as official representatives of this nation. Air Force officers, airmen and civillian employees, and their dependents, comprise a large part of U.S. representation abroad, stationed with our Air Force organizations abroad is a small but important group of Air Force information officers. They work closely with U.S. diplomatic and information service personnel and aot as public relations advisors to their commanders, official spokesmen for the Air Force and community relations representatives. It is upon the duties and responsibilities of these officers and the necessity that they be provided special training and skills to insure better performance overseas that this study was focused. It is generally accepted that Americans serving overseas require special training and knowledge. The problem tackled in the study was to determine the urgency and degree of the requirement for training and knowledge; the areas of knowledge and special technology essential for maximum productivity of Air Force information officers overseas; and wars and means to make such knowledge available to the officers. Study Methods The following study methods were used: 1. A literature search was conducted in order to examine materials on public relations, information activities abroad, international communications, foreign language and area training, and related fields. It included an examination of materials published by the Departments of State and Defense, the Air Force, Army and Navy. 2. Overseas training facilities in Washington, D.O., were visited or contacted, and various Air Force and other government officials were interviewed. 3. A questionnaire was sent to the entire population of Air Force information officers stationed in foreign countries. It assessed their attitudes and solicited their views on overseas training. Findings and Conclusions It was concluded that: 1. Special training and knowledge are required for the improved performance of Air Force information officers serving overseas. Few Air Force I.O.s are now specifically trained for foreign duties. 2. Selection, initial training, intermediate and advanced education of Air Force I.O.s should be expanded and improved. 3. Foreign language skills and training in the host area should be emphasized, along with education in cultural differences, psychological factors, international relations and U.S. foreign policy. Implication for Future Research In recent years, there has been growing awareness of the need for foreign language skills and knowledge of overseas oulturea on the part of military officers. Special training for overseas duties has been provided special categories of Air Force officers, such as attaches, military assistance and intelligence personnel. Future research should be centered on the possible expansion of overseas training systems to include Air Force information officers as recommended in this study. / 2031-01-01

Little is known about the role of public health public information officers (PIOs) during public health emergencies. This study uses interpretative methods to learn about the organizational structures that facilitate and constrain emergency risk communication efforts during public health emergencies. Interpretive thematic comparative analysis of PIOs experiences and reflections about their involvement in the 2009-2010 H1N1 response will be used to illustrate how social interactions between and among PIOs, public health staff, and representatives from other agencies create implicit and explicit structures that facilitate and constrain emergency risk communication. The application of three specific concepts from structuration theory, namely, agent, duality of structure and institutionalized processes will be key in the exploration of the role of the PIO within the context of emergency planning and response. Participants in this study were individuals from Kentucky, North Dakota, New Jersey and California who served as a PIO during the 2009-2010 H1N1 pandemic influenza response. The study’s findings suggest that social interactions between organizational members, in addition to the organization of public health systems in each state, contribute to the similarities and differences in the enactment of the PIO role. Further, this study also suggests that the permeability of emergency response plans, another type of organizational structure, facilitate and constrain PIOs’ emergency risk communication efforts. Finally, this study also suggests that the involvement of PIOs in emergency planning and exercises impacts the types of relationships that are created and maintained before and during emergency responses.

Research paper (M.I.M.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MTech. degree in Business Information Systems)--Tshwane University of Technology, 2010. / Information and Communications Technology has been accepted globally as an enabler of public and private sector businesses. This study argues that the correct positioning of a chief information officer (CIO) is vital to achieving effective service delivery. On the contrary, empirical evidence shows that CIOs in the South African public sector tend not to have the necessary influence to use ICTs strategically to change the plight of the millions of poor South Africans, through service delivery. Using Structuration Theory as a lens, the contribution of this study is towards improving the rigor with which we understand chief information officers and their place in the improvement of South African public service delivery.

Background and context: Given the constant evolving developments in information technology (IT) in healthcare in Canada and Ontario, and the relatively nonexistent body of literature on IT management issues from the perspectives of top IT managers (i.e. Chief Information Officers, IT directors, IT top managers) in hospitals, a follow up study of IT management issues to the study done by Jaana et al. is conducted. Purpose: To develop an authoritative list of IT management issues in Ontario hospitals and compare the results to the earlier study and the literature. Methods: Using the Ranking Type Delphi technique, the responses from IT top managers in three main panels of Ontario hospitals were solicited through a controlled iterative feedback process. The hospitals were divided into the academic panel (n = 6), community panel (n = 12), and the rural panel (n = 8) for a total of 26 out of 33 participants who completed the study. Results: 26 issues were raised and a total of 24 issues were ranked in the study. Among the 14 common issues between the three panels, the top five issues were limited funding, keeping infrastructure current, external security threats, increasing cost, and managing demands for IT projects. Comparing with the study by Jaana et al. (2011), a total of 7 new issues emerged which are concerned with technology, regulatory challenges, and human issues. A total of 10 issues were dropped from the earlier study spanning areas of strategic, technological, organizational, and human issues. The participants in the study did not significantly differ individually based on their background characteristics, where the only significant difference observed between the hospital panels was due to hospital characteristics. During the brainstorming phase a total of 195 issues were provided which were consolidated by two researchers to form a list of 26 IT management issues, with an inter coder reliability of 88%. The issues with a 4.5 out of 7 rating and higher on a Likert scale were retained to narrow down the list. This resulted in 19 issues for the rural and community panels, and 21 issues for the academic panel, with 14 of the 26 issues being common to all three panels. The ranking phase was conducted with two rounds of ranking due to the low consensus levels during the first round. The consensus level after two rounds was; W academic = 0.235, W community = 0.254, and W rural = 0.381. Contributions: This study presents a significant contribution to the management of medical informatics field by providing an approach to categorize IT management issues to observe trends overtime as well as present the application of a seminal framework to explain the changes in these issues as organizations change and grow overtime. At the management and practical levels, the list of prioritized issues provides an evidence base for top IT managers to make IT related decisions at the organizational level. The list also acts as a second benchmarking tool to evaluate hospital performance overtime with the various issues. At the policy development level, provincial governments can use the list to devise comprehensive IT management strategies to address the various regulatory issues reported. Future research can focus on exploring the resonating behind the rankings provided and replicating this study over time and across various geographies so that a large survey can be developed to follow the evolutions of IT management issues in healthcare over time.