Helisse Levine

Online Media, Market Orientation, and Financial Performance in Nonprofits

The combination of social, political, and economic changes causing simultaneously decreasing funding and increasing demand for services is driving nonprofit managers to engage in proactive marketing in a for-profit model, including the use of online media. This research extends the MARKOR model of market orientation to examine the relationship between market orientation practices, as reflected in the utilization of online media, and their effects on the financial viability of nonprofit organizations (NPOs). The Wayback Machine website (http://waybackmachine.org) provided a unique ability to track site content over time, for comparison with each organizations financial indicators at corresponding points in time. The results of this study confirm the positive relationship between higher market orientation via online media presence and improved financial viability for the sampled group of NPOs. This study provides a simple, actionable, and free measure that NPOs can use to assess their current and planned online media.

The Great Recession’s Institutional Change in the Public Employment Relationship Implications for State and Local Governments

Interest in public sector employee benefits and compensation has resurfaced due to the economic downturn spurring a wave of actions that may threaten a once secure future of millions of public workers. The purpose of this article is to explore the ramifications of compensation and benefit changes on the fiscal health of state and local governments. This article reviews the evolution of labor relations in the public sector, recent institutional changes in employment and compensation, and implications on the fiscal health of state and local governments and their employees. The authors argue that these changes or threat of such changes, including restructuring collective rights, unionization, union dues collection, and the issues that can be bargained, are shifting the playing field for public sector employees and employers. Not since the passage of the right to unionization and collective bargaining in the 1960s have such major changes been on the horizon. These institutional changes will have longstanding effects including cost of government, types of workers attracted to government and even type and quality of services provided. Given also that employee compensation typically represents a major portion of the overall cost of state and local governments, it is not unexpected that political officials will continue to seek to rethink the employment relationship in order to ensure the fiscal health of their governments and those who serve in the public sector.

A Conceptual Content Analysis of 75 Years of Diversity Research in Public Administration

Diversity is an important facet of public administration, thus it is important to take stock and examine how the discipline has evolved in response to questions of representative democracy, social equity, and diversity. This article assesses the state-of-the-field by addressing the following question: How has research on diversity in the field of public administration progressed over time? Specifically, we seek to examine how the focus of diversity has transformed over time and the way the field has responded to half a century of legislation and policies aimed at both promoting equality and embracing difference. We utilize a conceptual content analysis approach to examine articles published on diversity in seven key public administration journals since 1940. The implications of this study are of great importance given that diversity in the workplace is a central issue for modern public management.

The career progression of women in state government agencies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the impact of the utilization of organizational practices on the career progression of women to executive positions in state‐level government organizations in the USA.Design/methodology/approach – The design included an online survey instrument sent to a purposive sample of 600 female administrative agency executives in 50 states. A standard multilinear regression model tests the predictive power of three composite explanatory utilization variables on the dependent variable, career progression of women to upper level management. The composite predictor variables are: utilization of work/family practices; utilization of diversity practices; and utilization of promotional practices.Findings – Contrary to expectations, the relationship between career progression of women and family‐friendly utilization does not appear to be statistically significant. However, the time it takes respondents who utilized family‐friendly practices in their organizatio...

Cost savings of diabetes outcomes: impact of nurse practitioner practice regulatory policy

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded healthcare coverage to millions of Americans in the context of an existing primary care provider shortage. Nurse practitioners (NP) will play an essential role in expanding access. Maximising their contributions requires fully modernising and standardising NP regulatory policies. Evidence supports associations among NP regulatory policy, access to care, and health outcomes of chronic illnesses. This study examined the relationship between NP regulatory policies in the 50 states and their potential impact on the cost–savings of NP diabetes management. Multiple–block regression identified significant relationships. As the USA continues to implement the ACA, the authors suggest reducing NP scope of practice restrictions will build primary care capacity, increase access and improve health outcomes, and deliver direct and indirect savings for chronic disease management. Modernising nurse practitioner regulatory standards is important to improve cost savings and sustainability for primary care health with particular attention to chronic conditions.

Organizational Change Skill Acquisition and Change Agency Preparedness in U. S. NASPAA-Accredited MPA Programs

New challenges in our global and regional economies question managers’ ability to navigate change in the years ahead. Because colleges and universities are the incubators for future leaders, we argue that MPA programs across the country must train leaders of public organizations in organizational change and leadership skills to be successful during this transformation. Although a growing body of literature focuses on how employees and managers perceive organizational change and change management (e.g., culture change, effect of globalization), a considerable rift exists between the analysis and the practical application. Filling this gap, and in keeping within NASPAA’s accreditation guidelines to prepare students to be “leaders, managers, and analysts in the professions of public affairs, public administration, and public policy,” the purpose of this research is to identify the skills required by graduate students of public administration programs to effect change in public organizations and determine whether NASPAA-accredited MPA programs are providing these skills as reflected in course curricula and program catalogs. We caution that in light of NASPAA’s emphasis on universal competencies, coupled with the current economic and fiscal constraints faced by all levels of government, the ability of public affairs and administration graduate students to master organizational change skills should be considered a fundamental objective in the assessment of NASPAA-accredited MPA programs’ learning outcomes.

Local option sales taxes and county rainy day funds

Rainy day stabilization funds (RDSFs) and local option sales taxes (LOSTs) are two strategies local governments deploy to combat fiscal stress. While the literature on both is robust, it has thus far failed to consider empirically that the two may be connected. One way the marginal LOST dollar could be spent is by saving it for future use. We test the connection with a sample of 414 counties and correct for selection bias with the Heckman correction technique. We find that each

Quiet Casualties: An Analysis of U Non-Immigrant Status of Undocumented Immigrant Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

10 increase in LOST revenue per capita is associated with a

Gender Differences in the Leadership Styles of MPA Directors

0.10 increase in undesignated general fund balance. Though small, the positive effect size supports the theory that LOSTs contribute to a greater propensity to save.

Borrowing for the future: The unintended consequences of build america bonds on low investment grade issuers of municipal bonds

Although immigration policy is a key component of public administration scholarship in the United States, research into Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) for both documented and particularly undocumented immigrants has been tangential in focus. This exploratory study questions1. the effect of immigration reform on U.S. undocumented immigrant women of IPV and2. how changes in the number of undocumented immigrants affect IPV victimization rates and the regulations concerning U non-immigrant status. A least-square trend line suggests that the 10,000 U visa applications permitted annually will not cover the undocumented female population of IPV let alone the victims qualified under the U non-immigrant status. Based on a review of the laws and policies regarding the U-Visa we provide several recommendations to reform immigration laws directed toward immigrant victims of IPV. This study adds to the growing, but still weak body of knowledge on abused immigrant female populations in the United States and how federal legislation toward immigration reform and policy will help these women become valuable contributors to our society.