This dissertation explores factors that influenced key performance indicators for project implementation success in broadband infrastructure projects funded by the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). Key performance indicators for project implementation success were operationalized as finishing within the 36-month grant period (schedule), within the proposed budget (budget), and constructing the planned number of network miles (outputs). Drawing on research in policy implementation, public administration, nonprofit management, and project management, a framework was created to identify and categorize these factors as project-specific, organization-centric, physical environment, interorganizational, or legal environment (POPIL). A mixed methods approach investigated factor-indicator relationships using Ordinary Least Squares regression and other quantitative analyses of 67 BTOP-funded Comprehensive Community Infrastructure projects and a qualitative postmortem analysis of Citizens Telephone Cooperative's successful New River Valley Regional Open-Access Network (NRV-ROAN) project. Strong and significant regression equations were developed for the schedule adherence, output adherence, and overall project implementation success indicators. Deficient capacity of organizations to implement proposed projects was a significant and strong negative influence on each of these three indicators along with interorganizational relationship issue reports regarding the principal-agent relationship and relationships with other actors. The postmortem analysis included 17 participant interviews and further underscored the importance of sufficient organizational capacity and strong partnerships to enable organizations to overcome challenges they may encounter during implementation. In addition to testing the POPIL framework, this dissertation highlights the importance of alignment of goals and metrics across the legislative, programmatic, and project levels of implementation to ensure that programs and projects do not work at cross-purposes. For practitioners, the findings also emphasize that projects should be designed within an organization's capacity, and prospective partners should have the expertise and resources both to implement a project as proposed and respond to unexpected events. / Ph. D. / This research created and tested a framework for identifying factors that influence the ability of organizations to complete projects successfully within a planned timetable and budget. These proposed factors were categorized as project-specific, organization-centric, physical environment, relationships between organizations, or the legal environment. The framework was applied to a group of 67 broadband infrastructure projects funded through a federal stimulus grant program, the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP), to gain an understanding of why some projects were implemented successfully while others fell short of their intended goals. The quantitative analysis found organizations that did not align projects within their existing resources and expertise to allow for unexpected challenges were more likely to experience schedule delays and fail to construct the project as proposed. This analysis also found an increase in the number of issues reported between BTOP and grant recipients led to lower success rates of project implementation. A retrospective analysis of one project, the New River Valley Regional Open-Access Network, used documents and 17 interviews with participants involved in the project’s planning and completion to address the questions: What went well? What could have gone better? What should be changed in the future? Interview participants highlighted the importance of an organization’s strong leadership, carefully consideration of the limitations of an organization’s resources and expertise, and building strong partnerships before undertaking a project. Implications for practitioners include that programs like BTOP that are responsible for the implementation of legislative mandates should encourage a clear articulation and alignment of goals and priorities that is consistent from legislation through program evaluation and down to the measures used to track individual project’s progress. While BTOP was a one-time grant program, the findings are valuable for practitioners looking to increase Internet access in communities and those looking for a model to be able to evaluate grant proposals and opportunities for partnerships. The BTOP experience is also a cautionary note for grant making organizations to consider their own resources and organizational limitations as well as those of prospective grant recipients when designing programs and selecting projects to support.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/86277 |
| Date | 16 June 2017 |
| Creators | Hundley, Meredith |
| Contributors | School of Public and International Affairs, Cook, Brian J., Rees, Joseph V., Midkiff, Scott F., Jensen, Laura Smietanka |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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