Kristina T. Lambright

Building Trust in Public and Nonprofit Networks: Personal, Dyadic, and Third-Party Influences

This article provides greater understanding of factors influencing interpersonal trust in networks composed of public and nonprofit service providers. The present theoretical model identifies propensity to trust, the perceived trustworthiness of the trustee, the relationship between the trustee and trustor, and third-party relationships as influencing interpersonal trust. The model is tested using action research data collected from a network of local social service providers. Key findings include the following: (a) Successful past cooperation between a trustor and a trustee and structural equivalence increase the likelihood the trustor will perceive the trustee as trustworthy; (b) the frequency of interactions between the trustor and trustee, trust transferability, and the perceived trustworthiness of the trustee have a direct, positive impact on whether the trustor trusts the trustee; and (c) trust between the trustor and trustee has a positive impact on expected future cooperation.

Looking Beyond the Undergraduate Classroom: Factors Influencing Service Learning's Effectiveness at Improving Graduate Students’ Professional Skills

This study provides a greater understanding of which factors influence the effectiveness of service learning projects at improving graduate students’ professional skills. Data for this study was gathered from students in eight Master of Public Administration (MPA) courses taught during two semesters at a large state university. Younger students were more likely than older students to believe that their service learning project was helpful in improving their professional skills. We also find that students who spent more time working on a service learning project outside of class reported their projects were more helpful in improving their professional skills. In addition, our ANOVA analysis indicates that for projects involving group activities, students who were members of groups that worked as teams reported that their projects were more helpful in improving their professional skills than students in less cohesive groups.

Closer Than “Arms Length” Understanding the Factors Associated With Collaborative Contracting

This article focuses on collaborative relationships between contractors and government agencies and explores which contract characteristics, contractor traits, and environmental factors are associated with the development of such relationships. The study uses data from the Partnership Impact Research Project, a three-round longitudinal survey of over one hundred child care centers and Head Start agencies in Ohio. Our findings suggest that stronger collaborative contracting relationships are associated with greater contract specificity, better contractor service quality, and contractor affiliation with a larger organization. On the other hand, a contractor’s financial autonomy and nonprofit status are negatively related to collaborative relationship strength. We also find that a contractor’s internal management capacity is positively associated with the development of shared procedures governing contractual relationships.

Faith-Based Assumptions About Performance Does Church Affiliation Matter for Service Quality and Access?

To date, the common rhetoric and assumptions on the performance of faith-based organizations (FBOs), ironically, appear to be faith based rather than empirically supported: There is a paucity of research evaluating the effectiveness of FBOs that uses sufficiently rigorous methods and multiple measures of organizational performance. This study seeks to inform the debate on the relative effectiveness of FBOs by comparing religiously affiliated and secular nonprofit nursing homes using two distinct but complementary measures of organizational performance: service quality and access for impoverished clients. Using nationally representative panel data on 11,877 church-affiliated and secular nonprofit nursing homes, this study examines the effect of ownership with several regression models. Overall, the findings fail to confirm the assumption that FBOs perform better than secular nonprofit organizations in the context of the nursing home industry. Isomorphic pressures and commercialization trends within the nursing home industry are discussed to help explain these findings.

Putting the Pieces Together: A Comprehensive Framework for Understanding the Decision to Contract Out and Contractor Performance

Abstract Contracting out is currently one of the most prevalent mechanisms of the privatization movement. Understanding its trends and rigorously analyzing its implications is an increasingly salient issue for public management research. This article builds a multi-stage theoretical framework addressing two broad research questions. The first is to identify the array of economic, political, organizational, and institutional factors that may impact a government agencys decision to contract out. The second is to detail the various organizational and environmental factors influencing contractor performance. Particular attention is paid to effective contract monitoring and its relationship to contractor performance.

What Impacts the Learning in Service Learning? An Examination of Project Structure and Student Characteristics

This paper examines factors that can influence how effective a service-learning project is at achieving learning objectives. It is based on data collected from seven Master’s of Public Administration (MPA) courses taught during one semester at a large state university. We find that the key factors of influence on how effective a service-learning project is at achieving learning objectives are (a) the extent that the project is integrated with class materials, (b) whether or not students work in groups, and (c) whether or not the participating students are full-time.

Getting What You Ask For: Barriers to Proper Use of Service Monitoring Tools

This article provides a greater understanding of the contract monitoring process by identifying barriers that prevent contracted providers from using service monitoring tools properly. To evaluate barriers to proper tool use, seven case studies were conducted on early childhood programs in three communities in upstate New York. The case studies specifically focused on the reporting forms that the early childhood programs completed. Data sources included (a) interviews with government agency and contracted provider employees, (b) content analysis of key documents relating to the service monitoring tools, and (c) attendance at meetings between government agencies and contracted providers on the service monitoring tools. This article identifies lack of contracted provider ability and misunderstandings between government and contracted providers as key barriers to proper tool use. This study also finds evidence suggesting a link between the overall strength of technical assistance systems and understanding problems.

Lessons outside of the classroom: Examining the effectiveness of service learning projects at achieving learning objectives.

Abstract This paper investigates how the delivery of course material affects student learning. It explores whether service learning projects are more effective than traditional classroom assignments at achieving different learning objectives. Student evaluations of their group projects and final exam scores from three sections of a MPA research methods course were compared as part of this study. One of the sections participated in a service learning project for their group project; the other two sections wrote mock research proposals for their group project. Based on the results from student evaluations of their group projects, there is some evidence suggesting that service learning projects may be more effective than traditional classroom assignments at helping students master course material and link theory to practice. However, participating in a service learning project did not have a significant impact on student performance on the final exam.

IN thE EyES Of thE BEhOlDERS feedback Motivations and Practices Among Nonprofit Providers and their funders

This article examines how funders and the nonprofit organizations they support view current feedback practices and explore the similarities and differences in their perspectives. A survey of funders and nonprofit service providers in a six-county area in south-central New York State found that funders value feedback as a way to verify that funded activities have been completed and to assess outcomes, whereas providers use feedback to improve service and to ensure that their organizations are responsive to clients. Some funders were uncertain about how providers use feedback, some providers were uncertain about how funders use it, and some respondents in both categories were not confident about the capacity of their own organizations to use feedback information. Many funders and providers discuss feedback results and implications with each other, but funders and providers collaborate less in other aspects of the feedback process. These findings have implications for theory and practice and for future research.

Program Performance and Multiple Constituency Theory

This article seeks to deepen our understanding of performance measurement in the nonprofit human services sector by investigating issues related to funder and provider motivations for collecting and analyzing program-level performance information. Using survey and interview data from nonprofit human service organizations and their funders (nonprofit and local government), we analyze this study’s research questions through the lens of multiple constituency theory. Consistent with multiple constituency theory, the study found similarities and differences in funder and provider motivations for collecting performance information. The study also indicates that other key constituents (such as service beneficiaries, donors to nonprofit organizations, and other levels of government that provide resources to local governments) play a role in defining program performance. The article suggests that multiple constituency theory applies to program-level performance and that understanding program performance requires considering the perspectives of multiple stakeholders.