In the United States, public school enrollment is typically organized by neighborhood boundaries. This dissertation examines whether the federally funded HOPE VI program influenced performance in neighborhood public schools. In effect since 1992, HOPE VI has sought to revitalize distressed public housing using the New Urbanism model of mixed income communities. There are 165 such HOPE VI projects nationwide. Despite nearly two decades of the program’s implementation, the literature on its connection to public school performance is thin. My dissertation aims to narrow this research gap. There are three principal research questions: (1) Following HOPE VI, was there a change in socioeconomic status (SES) in the neighborhood public school? The hypothesis is that low SES (measured as the proportion of students qualifying for the Free and Reduced Lunch Program) would reduce. (2) Following HOPE VI, did the performance of neighborhood public schools change? The hypothesis is that the school performance, measured by the proportion of 5th grade students proficient in state wide math and reading tests, would increase. (3) What factors relate to the performance of public schools in HOPE VI communities? The focus is on non-school, neighborhood factors that influence the public school performance. For answering the first two questions, I used t-tests and regression models to test the hypotheses. The analysis shows that there is no statistically significant change in SES following HOPE VI. However, there are statistically significant increases in performance for reading and math proficiency. The results are interesting in indicating that HOPE VI neighborhood improvement may have some relationship with improving school performance. To answer the third question, I conducted a case study analysis of two HOPE VI neighborhood public schools, one which improved significantly (in Philadelphia) and one which declined the most (in Washington DC). The analysis revealed three insights into neighborhood factors for improved school performance: (i) a strong local community organization; (ii) local community’s commitment (including the middle income families) to send children to the public school; and (iii) ties between housing and education officials to implement the federal housing program. In essence, the study reveals how housing policy is de facto education policy.

As cyber attacks become more sophisticated, the risk to all networked computer systems increases. Whether public or private, whether federal, state, or local, the threat is equally real. Consequently, local governments must respond accordingly to understand the threats, take measures to protect themselves, and determine how to respond in the event of a system breach. Additionally, since cyber criminals do not respect geographic or administrative boundaries, local leaders must be prepared to instantly interact with other governments, agencies, and departments to suppress an attack. Guided by the theory of intergovernmental management (IGM), this exploratory research investigated how Information Technology (IT) Directors in Florida county constitutional offices use intergovernmental relations and management activities as part of their information security efforts. Specifically, this research sought to determine: 1) which IGM activities do county IT Directors most often perform; 2) do county IT Directors make more use of vertical or horizontal IGM relationships; 3) is there a relationship between office/county demographics and the IGM activities its IT Directors most often perform? To answer these questions, an electronic survey was distributed to 209 directors, of which 125 responded. Overwhelmingly, the findings indicate that these Directors rarely engage in IGM activities regardless of the purpose or type of government/department contacted. However, when seeking intergovernmental assistance, it is most often horizontally with other Departments within their own government and least often vertically with Federal offices. The most frequently performed intergovernmental activity is seeking technical assistance, however seeking program/project information is also perform more frequently than the other activities explored in this research. The least frequently performed activities involved seeking to modify established IT partnerships. Further, there was evidence of relationships between certain office/county demographics and IGM activity. The discovery of these patterns and relationships can be used to aid policy and program development, as well as to stimulate deeper inquiry into the intergovernmental dimensions involved in protecting local elements of the U.S. Critical Digital Infrastructure.

The continued steady growth of public sector unions compels public administrators to understand the influence labor organizations exert upon local governments. The following study demonstrates the extent of union influence upon police expenditures in Florida. Union influence not only increases total police expenditures and personal services expenditures, it also causes operating expenses to rise. Union influence is less pronounced, and possibly even non-existent in capital outlays expenditures because of possible lack of interest on the part of the union in this area and also because of the existence of economically predetermined policies regarding capital outlays such as vehicle purchases. Public sector unions, by formalizing and enhancing the exit-voice phenomenon within government systems, influence the expenditures of local government. This influence manifests its presence specifically in local government expenditures. By examining the association between unionization and the level of expenditures in local government, this study attempts to illustrate the influence of unions upon local governments. Specifically, this study assesses the impact of police unionization has upon local government police department expenditures for municipalities in the state of Florida. A qualitative inquiry combines with a quantitative study to examine the extent of union influence on police expenditures in Florida.

The aggregate annual expenditures of federal, state and local governments, in concert with universities and school districts represents incredible purchasing power and requires great prowess in its expenditure. Over the course of centuries, procurement has been used as a policy tool to improve society. This research delved into defining and determining the involvement of state and local governments in socially responsible activities related to the expenditure of public funds. Data collected in 2005 by the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing, Inc., was reviewed to determine if the expectations set for the private sector known as corporate social responsibility could be applied to the public sector. The study found that the definition as established for the private sector with regard to procurement social responsibility may also be employed in the public sector. A composite index of Public Procurement Social Responsibility (PPSR) was created as a benchmark for future comparison. Further, the presence of top-down management support for socially responsible initiatives in procurement in the areas of formal policies, goals and objectives and performance tracking mechanisms dictated higher PPSR scores for agencies. Mean Scores for PPSR were reviewed using independent variables of agency type, location, population served, procurement volume, and budget size. While top-down support of PPSR initiatives dictated strong involvement of an agency, there was no correlation between agency type, size, procurement spend, or population size on the mean score of a governmental entity, with or without the presence of PPSR drivers. The variables that influence the PPSR activities of an agency are similar across all demographics. What appears to drive the participation in socially responsible initiatives of government is the buy-in and mandate through regulation, policy and example set by management. This posture is emulated not only professionally, but the data indicates that it influences personal behavior as well. In order to bring about societal change, results are best achieved through the creation of policy for participation, establishing benchmarks for measuring success and integrating performance review milestones for achievement of goals and objectives related to PPSR.

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the preferences of clients of programs administered by selected federal agencies and the preferences of the federal managers who administer the programs in assessing performance measurement systems. Using the general progression of previous budgetary models used in the public sector, the researcher developed the Modified Balance Scorecard (MBSC), a performance measurement model designed specifically for use within the public sector. Surveys based on the MBSC were administered to public managers and to clients of those managers in order to determine their preferences. The results showed that managers preferred public good measures and clients preferred financial measures. Both groups' second preferred index of measures was internal management process measures. This research is important in policy formulation and provides many implications regarding the effective presentation of policies. These results can be used to help craft policies for maximum effectiveness, based on the preferences of the respective groups.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 expanded rural Medicaid and Medicare coverage. However, different vehicles of delivering care (e.g., hospitals, health clinics, etc.) have differing organizational capacity that may or may not enable them to overcome the challenges of expanded provision. Consequently, this research employed structural contingency and organizational performance models to investigate the impact of organizational factors on productivity growth, while recognizing that contextual factors also affect the delivery of care. Latent growth curve modeling was used to study a national panel of 708 U.S. hospitalbased Rural Health Clinics for the years 2005 to 2008. Productivity was measured through dynamic slacks-based data envelopment analyses. Unconditional and conditional linear growth curve models were fitted to data. Findings revealed that 1) hospital-based clinics with higher baseline levels of productivity in 2005 had a slower rate of growth in productivity for the years 2006 to 2008, 2) hospital-based clinics with physicians had significantly higher productivity, 3) hospital-based clinics in urban focused areas had significantly higher productivity, 4) newer hospital-based clinics had significantly higher productivity, and 5) prospective payment system was negatively related to the rate of change in productivity growth. Organizational and contextual factors included in this study significantly explained initial differences in productivity but were unable to explain productivity growth. Future research could improve the study by 1) including additional explanatory variables, such as the use of technology and disease management programs, 2) adjusting productivity measures by case mix measures, and 3) conducting truncated panel data regression with Monte Carlo simulation.

Improving organizational performance is an essential goal for any type of organization. This process involves varieties of methods, polices and strategies. One of the important elements of organizational performance is trust-building process which deeply depends on leadership efforts of ranked employees and managers. Literature has enough empirical evidence on influence of trust and trusted work environment on organizational performance. Aftermath of recent riots and clashes in Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz National Police (KNP) officers are demoralized by the actions of both previous and current governments which bear corruption, bribery and clan type of ruling. These facts led to untrustworthy environments and relationships among officers with concentration of power on the top. In order to provide trusted environments and trust among officers, there is need for more linear type of management, especially in terms of supervisorsubordinate relationships. There is urgent need for reforms at KNP which would focus more on governance and collaborative management style administration. Organizational social capital and organizational citizenship behavior develop strong foundation for trusted relationships and committed actions in communities and organizations. These two concepts were examined in public organization setting in this study. Organizational social capital is a source for trust building process where participative decision-making, feedback on performance, empowerment and interpersonal trust among employees are important elements of this phenomenon. On the other hand, organizational citizenship behavior is a source for entrepreneurship and organizational commitment. iv The measurement models of four dimensions of organizational social capital (participation, feedback on performance, empowerment and interpersonal trust) and organizational citizenship behavior represented by organizational commitment were examined in this study. The influence of organizational social capital and organizational citizenship behavior on perceived organizational performance of KNP is observed by utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Moreover, all possible correlations among all dimensions of organizational social capital with each other and with organizational commitment were tested. This study utilizes the data accomplished in 7 regions of Kyrgyzstan and a capital of Bishkek. The total number of respondents participated in the survey were 267 KNP officers from different KNP departments. This study tested eleven hypotheses where nine of them were statically supported. The results of this study indicate that the dimensions of organizational social capital (participation, feedback and empowerment) have statistically significant relationships with perceived organizational performance through mediating variable of interpersonal trust. However, the relationship of participation and feedback with perceived organizational performance through mediating variable of organizational commitment was insignificant. On the other hand, results indicated positive correlations among the three dimensions organizational social capital with high factor loadings. Overall, the results suggest that organizational social capital with its dimensions is the main source of trust-building process which enormously influences perceived organizational performance. Moreover, by practicing empowerment it is possible to increase number of committed officers which is also an important factor in improving organizational performance.

With the increase of severity and scope of disasters, collaborative networks have become the main tool to tackle with complex emergencies. Networks, however, are mostly effective to the extent they are maintained over time. This study analyzes whether organizational goal convergence, information-communication technology utilization, and inter-organizational trust impacts network sustainability. The main research questions of the study are: (1) How are organizational goals, technical/technological capacity of organizations, and trust among organizations of a network are related to the sustainability of collaborative network relationships? (2) Which of the above-mentioned factors plays the most significant role in affecting network sustainability? Covering the context of emergency management system in the United States, this study utilized a self-administered survey that was electronically distributed to county emergency managers across the country. The data consisting of 534 complete responses was analyzed in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Inc. software‟s PASW (Predictive Analytics SoftWare) Statistics version 18.0 and transferred to Amos 18.0 software for structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. The findings suggest that organizational goal convergence, information-communication technology utilization, and inter-organizational trust have positive and statistically significant relationships with network sustainability; and, interorganizational trust is the strongest factor followed by information-communication technology utilization and organizational goal convergence. The study contributes to the literature on network sustainability with specific suggestions for emergency management practitioners.

Each year approximately five million people are treated in the nation's intensive care units making intensive care one of the most expensive components of the U.S. healthcare system. Of these patients, 400,000-500,000 will die annually giving the ICU the distinction of having the highest rate of mortality and complications in the hospital setting. Studies have demonstrated that one in ten patients who die each day in ICUs might survive if intensivists were present to manage clinical care and direct treatment plans (Randolph & Pronovost, 2002; Dimick, Pronovost, Heitmiller & Lipsett, 2001; Pronovost et al., 2002). The utilization of supplemental remote telemedicine has been investigated as a means of compensating for the limited resource of intensivists (Breslow et al., 2004; Rosenfeld et al., 2000). One specific use of this technology, the electronic intensive care unit or eICU®, has previously demonstrated the potential to improve physiological and economic outcomes in ICU patients through the use of integrated decision-support and patient data systems. The present study focuses on the eICU® as a 21st century technology capable of improving the quality of patient care and identifies those factors most likely to impact the success of this clinical intervention. This research utilizes a non-experimental pre-and post-intervention study design and examines patient data collected on all admissions to five ICUs managed by two regional tertiary care hospitals during a 36-month time period. Each ICU is equipped with eICU® software systems that allow intensivist surveillance of patients from a remote facility. The data is analyzed using both structural equation modeling and decision tree regression modeling to statistically evaluate the effects of patient, hospital and unit characteristics on proximal and distal outcomes in ICU patients. As the development of clinical complications subsequently affects patient length of stay, cost of stay, and mortality, it becomes increasingly imperative to seek interventions capable of reducing the risk of unfavorable patient outcomes. This study closely examines one such intervention, the eICU®.

Supply reduction efforts by drug law enforcement departments are a significant factor in improving the effectiveness of drug control policies. As with other public organizations, the performance of drug law enforcement departments is one of the most important concerns for policy makers. Therefore, improving the performance of these departments is crucial in order for governments to constrict illegal drug markets and prevent illegal drug distribution. The literature suggests that social capital may have significant implications for policy makers and practitioners in terms of enhancing organizational performance.Social capital has recently been examined at the organizational level. It may contribute to organizational effectiveness by increasing motivation, solving coordination problems, facilitating information flow between individuals and organizations, and developing knowledge within organizations. Because of the nature of the work, drug law enforcement departments or agencies require information sharing, cooperation, and motivation, all possible derivatives of social capital.Using a measurement model of organizational social capital, this study examines relationships among three dimensions of organizational social capital. The influence of social capital on the perceived performance of drug law enforcement departments is investigated using structural equation modeling. Possible correlations among these dimensions or domains of organizational social capital are also empirically tested.Using survey data from 12 city law enforcement departments in Turkey, this study examines three social capital dimensions: (1) the structural dimension, concerning the extent to which officers within a department informally interact with each other; (2) the relational dimension, referring to the normative qualities of relationships among officers, such as trust and reciprocity; and (3) the cognitive dimension, reflected by shared language, shared interpretation, and shared vision.Four research hypotheses were tested and supported by the statistical results. The study's findings indicate that the relational and cognitive social capital variables have a direct and positive relationship with the perceived performance of drug law enforcement departments. Relational and cognitive social capital, as latent constructs, were shown to have a strong relationship with organizational performance. Structural social capital, however, does not have a direct relationship with but may indirectly influence performance. This result indicates that structural social capital may influence organizational performance only indirectly, through its joint influence with two other social capital domains. On the other hand, strong and positive intercorrelations were found among the three dimensions. The results suggest that social capital is essential for drug law enforcement departments because police officers who know, understand, and trust each other are more likely to work together efficiently and effectively towards achieving organizational performance.According to the findings, informal structures shaped by informal relations among officers within the departments may also be an important factor for organizational performance. Investing in the development of social interactions and networks and building trust within organizations is important in order for administrators to improve organizational performance. The results of this conceptually grounded and empirical study suggest that drug law enforcement departments or agencies should pay close attention to promoting social capital among officers in order to fight effectively against drug trafficking.