This study addressed the impact of the external environmental context of individual organizations on their internal structures and service configurations, as they attempted to adapt to a changing political economy, via an examination of a portion of the Georgia child welfare system's response to the introduction of the principles of managed care. Based, in part, on Hasenfeld's (1992) notion that institutional and political economy perspectives are the most important theoretical approaches to understanding external influence on the service delivery systems of human services organizations, the current study presents conceptual and analytical models, which also includes network theory. In 1995, members of the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children (GAHSC) began sculpting a strategy for addressing managed care approaches to child welfare service delivery and funding in their state. This phenomenon provided an excellent context for studying the external environmental factors associated with the adoption or rejection of a controversial new methodology. A survey instrument, based on Dillman's (1978; 1991) Total Design Method, was developed and administered to assess Chief Executive Officers' and Managers' perceptions of the influence of external, political and economic, institutional, and network influences on their organizations' decisions to adopt managed care principles. The sampling frame included all residential child caring agencies licensed by Georgia's Department of Human Resources' Office of Regulatory Services (N=114). The final response rate for the survey was 33% (n = 37). Survey items were grouped according to theoretical constructs (i.e., perceived political and economic pressure, perceived institutional pressure, perceived network pressure, and perceived adoption of managed care principles) via the creation of index scores based on responses to the survey items. Regression analyses on the index scores for these four variables provided limited support for political economy theory and network theory as significant predictors for the adoption of managed care principles. Limitations in the design and implementation of this study are discussed to inform the applicability of these findings to human service organizations. Possible implications are also presented for human services organizations, social work practice, and future research in this area. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Social Work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2003. / March 27, 2003. / Social Welfare Organizations, Organization Theory, Human Service Organizations, Index Scoring, Multiple Regression / Includes bibliographical references. / Wendy P. Crook, Professor Directing Dissertation; Richard Chackerian, Outside Committee Member; Thomas E. Smith, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_181760 |
| Contributors | Jr., Johnny M. Jones (authoraut), Crook, Wendy P. (professor directing dissertation), Chackerian, Richard (outside committee member), Smith, Thomas E. (committee member), College of Social Work (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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