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In this study, I employed a mixed-method design to understand how nonprofit resource centers originate, operate, and evolve using a transaction cost framework to evaluate both sides of the supply vs. demand equation. The quantitative study of 125 nonprofits identified and assessed demand side factors of need, benefits and barriers. This study found that nonprofit resource centers can structure their agency design to enhance likelihood of survival. The national qualitative study of 25 nonprofit resource centers found that supply side factors of leadership, funding, and stakeholder engagement were more significant to organizational development and progression through the life cycle model. This study initially undertook an inductive approach to assess these organizations’ dynamically evolving identities as they transitioned through the nonprofit life cycle stages. A relationship between life cycle stage and organizational identity was established based on common drivers. A theoretical typology of power, autonomy and organizational development was postulated. / A Dissertation submitted to the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2017. / July 21, 2017. / Network Management, Nonprofit, Nonprofit Management, Nonprofit Resource Center, Organizational Development, Organizational Identity / Includes bibliographical references. / Ralph Brower, Professor Directing Dissertation; Irene Padavic, University Representative; David Berlan, Committee Member; Francis S. Berry, Committee Member.

Evidence suggests that public research universities, especially land grant institutions, can be instrumental in supporting a new kind of economic vitality. The university can serve as a ready pipeline for discovering, and then commercializing, new knowledge for industries. Meanwhile, companies that locate a business on a university campus are willing to pay a premium, because locating their business within close proximity to a university and its resources provides value to the business. This collaborative process of companies working closely with universities, the essence of strategic alliance theory, allows for interactive consumption of intellectual assets. These collaborations can be quite resource-intensive and can be better managed by finding ways to make the process more efficient. Accordingly, the overall purpose of this research is (1) to better understand the factors involved in the creation of a series of these public/private strategic alliances and (2) to find ways to make the process more efficient and effective.

This research addresses an issue little studied in the public administration and political science literature, public policy affecting the transgender community. Policy domains addressed in the first chapter include vital records laws, health care, marriage, education, hate crimes and employment discrimination. As of 2007, twelve states statutorily protect transgender people from employment discrimination while ten include transgender persons under hate crimes laws. An exploratory cross sectional approach using logistic regression found that public attitudes largely predict which states adopt hate crimes and/or employment discrimination laws. Also relevant are state court decisions and the percentage of Democrats within the legislature. Based on the logistic regression?s classification results, four states were selected for case study analysis: North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Massachusetts. The case studies found that legislators are often reluctant to support transgender issues due to the community?s small size and lack of resources. Additionally, transgender identity?s association with gay rights is both a blessing and curse. In conservative districts, particularly those with large Evangelical communities, there is strong resistance to LGBT rights. However, in more tolerant areas, the association with gay rights advocacy groups can foster transgender inclusion in statutes. Legislators perceive more leeway to support LGBT rights. However, gay activists sometimes remove transgender inclusion for political expediency. As such, the policy core of many LGBT interest groups is gay rights while transgender concerns are secondary items. In the policy domains studied, transgender rights are an extension of gay rights.

Various workforce and societal changes have made the issue of work-family conflict relevant for employees and organizations alike. The increasing pressures for attracting and retaining talented employees have forced many public and private organizations to develop formal family friendly policies aimed at providing employees with resources to balance their work and family responsibilities. However, the effects of implementing such formal policies are not clearly established. These formal supports are often underutilized and, even when employees use them, they may not always have the intended consequences. It has been suggested that informal workplace characteristics, such as supervisor support and a supportive work-family culture, may be as important as, or even more important than, the simple provision of formal benefits. Prior research on family-friendly policies and cultures and their effects on employees? attitudes and behaviors is limited in that it has focused almost exclusively on the experiences of individuals employed in private sector organizations, with the effects on public sector employees being largely unknown. Thus, the aim of this dissertation was to address this gap by examining and comparing work-family relationships between employees working in the public and the private sectors of the economy. This study uses data from the Families and Work Institute?s 2002 National Study of the Changing Workforce, and employs institutional theory, ecological systems theory, role theory, and social exchange theory to investigate how formal support, informal support, and work characteristics may affect employees? work-family conflict, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. The main objectives of this study were centered on practical concerns, as our investigation seeks to impact public sector?s ability to recruit, motivate, and retain qualified employees. On the whole, the findings of this study suggest both similarities and differences between public and private sector organizations with respect to the constructs measured. Contrary to our expectations and the institutional theory, there were no significant differences in the provision of formal supports between the two sectors. However, consistent with the institutional theory, the results confirmed that public sector employees enjoy higher levels of informal support and HR practices than their private sector counterparts. This study also supports the idea of social exchange between employees and their employers related to work-family issues. By revealing the key role played by the informal support in all three outcomes of interest for this study (i.e., work-family conflict, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions), our findings suggest the importance for organizations to assist their employees in maintaining good work and family relationships. Therefore, both public and private organizations seeking to help their employees manage work and family responsibilities will benefit from knowing employees? perceptions of formal support, informal support, and work characteristics, along with their specific impact on employees? work-family conflict, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions.

The objective of the research has been to determine which internal characteristics of municipal government agencies and which environmental factors of the municipalities across the U.S. affect the quality and the scope of adoption of municipal electronic government (e-government) initiatives. To accomplish this objective, an integrated approach was developed. The approach combined theoretical methodologies of three frameworks applied to the public sector agencies: innovation theory, information and communication technology, and e-government. It was hypothesized that theoretical premises of these frameworks complement each other in their ability to explain municipal e-government initiatives and their combination would help to address the drawbacks that characterize the present research on municipal e-government. The dependent variable in the present research is municipal e-government score. The dependent variable measures the scope and quality of municipal e-government initiatives. The research concentrates on two sets of predictor variables: internal municipal government agency characteristics and external environmental factors of municipalities. Correlation/regression analyses were performed to explore bivariate and multivariate relationships between the dependent and predictor variables and to accomplish the following goals: (1) describe the relationship between the dependent variable and the two sets of predictors (internal municipal agency characteristics and external environmental factors); (2) determine the effects of individual predictors in explaining the rate and the scope of adoption of e-government initiatives; and (3) compare the two sets of predictors in their power to explain the rate and the scope of adoption of e-government initiatives. The results of these analyses demonstrated that external environmental factors are significantly better predictors of the quality and the scope of local e-government initiatives, as measured by the e-government score, both individually and as a set.

<p>Chandler, William Carlton, The Deterrent Effect of the Undercover Compliance Check Strategy to Reduce the Sale of Alcoholic Beverages to Minors in North Carolina: A Quasi-Experimental Design. (Under the direction of MichaelL. Vasu and James E. Swiss)The problem of underaged drinking and efforts to reduce it are examined in this research by: First, assessing the deterrent effect of the widely used undercover compliance check strategy. Secondarily, the predictive and explanatorypower of identified characteristics of both alcohol sales outlets and individual sellers was assessed. Data was collected using a quasi-experimental design employing compliance checks of a proportionally stratified random sample of alcohol sales outlets across North Carolina. The research objectives were to determine if compliance checks deter minor sales and to assess the utility of using identified characteristics to focus enforcement, training and industry staffing to reduce sales. Multivariate modelscombining these characteristics were constructed. They werefound to provide more information in guiding training and scheduling than in enforcement. The major findings were: thelimited-sanction compliance checks employed did not have a statistically significant deterrent effect on future sales;minor sales violations are independent of other ABC offenses;a baseline of a 25% sale to minor rate was established; past enforcement does not predict future offending; present training efforts are not significantly associated with reduced sales; citizen complaints are not associated with actual sales; values of the seller-specific variables are difficult to ascertain and provide little enforcement guidance, but do guide training and staffing; ownership variables are associated with lower sales rates; sellers age16-21 sell at lower rates than other similarly constructed categories; and many of the traditional beliefs of law enforcement were not confirmed. The study concludes recommending: continuing compliance checks; placing less emphasis on investigating complaints and using complaints asa basis to partner with the industry; update training programs; license sellers, with training being a prerequisite; changing the administrative punishment structure to make it more equitable and establishing a minimum age to sell alcohol. <P>

Inhalt: A. Praktischer und theoretischer Entwicklungsstand von PPP in Deutschland B. Charakterisierung von PPP I. Grundkategorien von PPP II. Phasenmodell der Projektänderung und Kostensteigerungen bei PP-Projekten C. Wirtschaftlichkeitsanalyse und -vergleich I. Allgemeine Kennzeichnung II. Mögliche Gründe einer Vorteilhaftigkeit von PPP III. Risikoanalyse und Risikoverhalten als zentrales Problem des Wirtschaftlichkeitsvergleichs D. Transparenzbericht zur Deckung des Bedarfs an Informationen über Projektstruktur und -verlauf E. Schlussfolgerung und Entwicklungsperspektiven

Inhalt: A. Kooperationsvertrag B. Nichtigkeitsfallen C. Fortgang