Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Resilient City: A Platform For Informed Decision-Making Process, Jarutpong Vasuthanasub

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

As over half of the world’s population lives in cities, the rapid growth in urbanization has made cities become more and more exposed and vulnerable to a broad spectrum of threats and hazards. In order to respond to such difficulties, a concept of resilience is considered a significant component for the long-term planning and sustainable development of cities. “Resilient City” is a new paradigm that challenges the idealistic principle of stability and resistance to change implicitly in sustainable development and long-term success. However, building a resilient city requires a holistic approach, as well as the appropriate adoption of knowledge and …

Assessing The Relationship Between Flood Risk Perceptions And Adaptive Behaviors Of Households, Dontá Council

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation research is to examine the multiple relationships that explain household adaptive behaviors to flooding, and if risk perceptions play a mediating role in these relationships. Given the shift in transferring risks from public flood risk governance structures to households, there is a renewed interest in promoting private adaptive behavior amongst households that are vulnerable to flood impacts. Currently, the literature purports that flood risk perceptions rarely account for the variance explained in statistical models that examine household adaptive behaviors. This study analyzed an integrated conceptual framework that explored the mediating role of risk perceptions. The …

A Case Study Of Participant Responses To Organizational Change Involving Technology In The National Security Domain: How Informal Processes Iterate Structure And Outcomes, Brian E. Martinez

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Nuanced differences between organizations and the pace of change within the national security domain have routinely produced equivocal results involving information and communication technology (ICT) development. These results are characterized by unpredictable costs, unrealistic delivery schedules, and dubious ICT performance in-use. This research is a case study exploration of organizational change involving technology (also referred to as ICT) in the national security domain of the public sector.

This research used machine learning and manual content analysis to compare the results of three experiments on interview transcripts. The first experiment investigated linkages between empirical and interpretive elements of organizational change. Empirical …

Conceptualizing Governance Decision Making: A Theoretical Model Of Mental Processes Derived Through Abduction, Matt Loesch

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The field of Public Policy and Administration is heavily influenced by the decisions individuals make regarding matters of governance. These types of decisions can affect a broad scope of government-related activities ranging from esoteric debates about political ideology to policy development to specific ways in which people directly interact with public services. Unfortunately, in the view of this research, there is no sufficient model for conceptualizing governance decision making. This creates the focus of inquiry for this work, which is to examine how governance decisions are conceived of and formulated. The purpose of this research is then to analyze the …

An Analysis Of The Differences Between Non-Profit Board Members According To The Method By Which Non-Profit Board Positions Are Acquired, Patricia N. Birungi

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the differences between individuals who acquire non-profit board positions by actively seeking out these positions and individuals who acquire non-profit board positions in other ways in regards to the concept of public service motivation, antecedents of public service motivation, and characteristics of service. First, Public Service Motivation (PSM) theory is used to study how the concept of public service motivation relates to the method by which individuals acquire positions on non-profit boards. Second, using PSM theory, this dissertation examines how antecedents of public service motivation, such as religious socialization and family socialization, are related to an individual’s …

Using An Elicited Orienting Response And Respondent Conditioning To Increase Eye Contact In Response To A Name Call In Children With Autism, Nicole Adriaenssens

Theses and Dissertations

One of the earliest and most noticeable characteristics of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is impaired eye contact. Difficulty with making eye contact presents concerns for children regarding academic, social, and safety skills—for instance, failing to respond to a teacher calling a child’s name to give instructions, looking at a peer during play, or orienting toward an adult speaker warning the child of a risky situation. Currently published research on increasing responding to name with eye contact has primarily involved separate and combined procedures such as physical prompting, visual prompting, differential reinforcement, and overcorrection. The current study evaluated the …

An Evaluation Of A Culture Interview Checklist For Behaviorally-Oriented Clinicians, Joshua Hursel Addington

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, there have been calls from within the field for behavior analysts to develop awareness of the impact of client culture on treatment. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a checklist as a tool for increasing the frequency of questions about client culture asked by behavioral clinicians during mock intake interviews. A multiple baseline across question types (diet, communication and reward/discipline) was used to evaluate the effects of a vague prompt and the Culture Interview Checklist (CIC). When instructed to ask questions about culture, none of the participants increased the number of questions asked …

The Effects Of Feedback Statements Versus Coaching Questions On Athlete Performance, Cledia Machado Caberlon

Theses and Dissertations

Coaching is a term used frequently in behavioral and non-behavioral literature, yet often with a lack of clarity on form and function. One component of coaching is feedback, which is the most common intervention in Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) and has shown to be an effective treatment when implemented correctly. However, the use of questions rather than statements to improve performance has not yet been evaluated in the coaching system. The current investigation used a coaching system to separately compare the effectiveness of both interactions (feedback statements and coaching questions) to contribute to the coaching literature. Five Mixed Martial Arts …

The Effects Of Performance Feedback On Behavioral Self-Monitoring, Noell Jankowski

Theses and Dissertations

Self-monitoring is a process in which an individual observes and records their own behavior. In the field of behavior analysis, there is limited research on behavioral self-monitoring (BSM) and the components that are necessary to maintain its effects. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to identify effects of implementing a feedback intervention with BSM on participants’ compliance in completing BSM tasks. Participants were three undergraduate students at a southeastern university who self-monitored their own safe driving behaviors in their personal vehicles. The independent variable was the implementation of a feedback intervention and the dependent variable was compliance with …

Subtyping Stereotypy And Delineating Effective Type-Based Treatment, Katherine Therese Haggerty

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often engage in automatically reinforced stereotypic behaviors. These behaviors are often repetitive in nature, lack variability, and persist over time with no identifiable social function. This research used an adapted subtyping procedure to categorize stereotypy based on behavioral patterns in a pairwise functional analysis. Following subtyping, experimenters exposed participants to up to two treatment procedures to determine whether the subtyping procedure is predictive of the efficacy of different treatments. Results from this research showed that stereotypy can be categorized into different subtypes and that those with behaviors categorized into Subtype 1 were responsive …

Behavioral Skills Training For Active Shooter Scenarios: Human Service Staff, Jacqueline Marie Noto

Theses and Dissertations

Active shooter scenarios have become increasingly prevalent in school and healthcare settings. Unfortunately, little information is available on training for active shooter scenarios when a staff member is also responsible for a client. Behavioral skills training has been shown to be an effective way to train safety skills in prior research. We found that behavioral skills training was more effective than an informational video at increasing correct responses to three different active shooter scenarios among three behavioral clinicians. These findings may impact how active shooter training is conducted.

Using Video-Based Feedback And Self-Monitoring To Improve Athletic Coaching Interactions, Kayce Lee Nagel

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined if video-based feedback combined with self-monitoring will improve the quality of specific feedback statements delivered by coaches. The study involved four collegiate softball coaches. The primary dependent variable was the quality of coaching interactions delivered by the coaches as measured by items completed from a checklist of feedback characteristics. The coaching interaction was defined as any feedback statement that is referencing behavior relevant to task performance. The secondary dependent variable was the athlete’s performance. The independent variable was video feedback combined with self-monitoring. The results showed an improvement in all four participant’s coaching interactions. The group …

Training Technicians To Conduct Trial-Based Functional Analyses Via Telehealth, Kacie Mcgarry

Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies have supported the use of trial-based functional analysis performed by teachers in classroom settings. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of training technicians to conduct trial-based functional analyses via telehealth. Telehealth-based training was effective for producing high-integrity implementation by technicians and that using Trial-Based Functional Analyses in classrooms resulted in an efficient means of conducting functional analysis in areas with limited resources.

The Effect Of Varying Durations Of Noncontingent Access To A Preferred Item On Compliance, Ashley Patricia Shuler

Theses and Dissertations

The high-probability (high-p) sequence is frequently used to increase compliance. It involves presentation of a series of instructions with which a participant has historically complied immediately before the presentation of an instruction that has a lower probability of compliance (i.e., a low-p instruction). To date, the high-p sequence has received mixed support in the literature. Thus, researchers have begun to investigate alternatives to the sequence, one of which involves omission of the high-p instructions and noncontingent access to preferred items immediately before the delivery of the low-p instruction. In the current study, the effect of varying durations of noncontingent access …

Effects Of Progressive Ratio Schedules On Responding Following Exposure To Varying Economies, Laura Perry Senn

Theses and Dissertations

In the field of behavior analysis, access to reinforcement is generally referred to as being either an open or a closed economy. However, little research exists on the varying degrees of reinforcer exposure that may occur between the parameters of “open” and “closed.” The current study compares varying degrees of economies utilizing closed, 33% open, 66% open, and open economy conditions with three participants diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Prior to analysis, all participants completed an evaluation to determine whether their preferences remained stable over multiple sessions and whether they were sensitive to a satiation operation. Results are evaluated in …

An Evaluation Of Behavior Analytic Jargon On Parents Of Children With Autism, Ruth Beatrice Whipple

Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that profession specific jargon can be perceived negatively by individuals outside of that profession perhaps due to a lack of understanding. Much of the current research has focused on the social validity of utilizing technical terminology with laypersons and has shown that overall there is a preference for nontechnical terminology according to public opinion. Yet, little research has been done in the area of parent training to assess the effects of jargon on more direct measures of performance such as a parent’s accuracy with implementing a treatment procedure. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate …

Effects Of Emoji Usage On Perceptions Of Sender, Lindsay Isaac

Theses and Dissertations

While texting gains traction as one of the most prevalent forms of communication, emojis – small digital icons used to express emotions and represent faces, weather, animals, plants, activities, and more – have become popular substitutes for the visual cues missing from text-based communication. Despite their pervasiveness and proposed role in enabling users to perform the “emotion work” required for interpersonal impression and affinity development, the effects of emoji usage on perceptions of the sender are not thoroughly examined, especially outside of the workplace. The current study employs a self-administered, mixed experiment to determine the effects of emoji usage – …

Exploring The Predictive Validity Of Personality For Job Performance Across Occupations Using A Person-Centered Approach, Sherif Al-Qallawi

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study is to shed light upon the complex and long-debated relationship between personality and job performance from a new angle. Using a person-centered approach to examine personality, this study is the first to examine the criterion-related validity of personality profiles in predicting job performance in a corporate sample while accounting for occupational membership. More specifically, using an archival dataset from a Fortune 100 company, the current study involves hypotheses and research questions related to the existence and distribution of personality profiles across occupations, incremental validity of personality profiles in predicting performance, differential predictive validity for personality …

Consequences Of Public/Private Selves On The Stigmatized Individual In The Workplace, Dinah Miriam Camilleri

Theses and Dissertations

Although workplace discrimination based on group membership has been studied, there is little research focused on the experience of stigmatized individuals and the organizational outcomes of perceived stigmatization. This study aimed to determine whether perceived stigmatization leads to negative consequences such as emotional exhaustion, counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs), and reduced job satisfaction through the process of public/private self-schematization. A sample of 302 employees identifying as religious minorities were surveyed three times over a period of four months. Findings indicate that self-schematization mediated the relationship between perceived stigmatization and emotional exhaustion while partially mediating the relationships between perceived stigmatization, job satisfaction, …

Composition, Conflict Expression, And Psychological Safety In Teams: A Longitudinal Investigation, Ngoc Son Duong

Theses and Dissertations

Research on conflict in organizations has previously been investigated as conflict management style, conflict content, and conflict culture. Weingart and colleagues (2015) proposed a new framework of examining conflict as conflict expression, which can be defined as an individual’s particular verbal or non-verbal behaviors in expressing disagreement. The current study aimed to expand the nomological network surrounding conflict expression in teams. First, the study examined the effect of each conflict expression on team performance. Second, the study examined team composition in terms of personality and political skill as antecedents of conflict expression. Third, the study examined the effect of political …

16pf Couples Counseling Report: Predictors Of Marital Satisfaction, Personality Similarity, And Relationship Adjustment Among Spouses Of Male Combat Veterans Following Deployment, Harley Cassandra Dungee

Theses and Dissertations

A majority of research regarding military populations focuses on service members solely and often ignores spousal difficulties. The current study utilizes the 16 Personality Factor Couple’s Counseling Report (16PF CCR) variables to assist in clarifying factors that impact relationship functioning among female spouses of male combat veterans post-deployment. Results of the present study demonstrated a positive significant relationship between Overall Marital Satisfaction and one of the nine Individual Satisfaction areas. A significant and negative relationship was found between Overall Marital Satisfaction scores and one of the sixteen Primary Personality factors. Personality Similarity had a significant negative and a significant positive …

Considering Leadership Style, Trust, And Uncertainty Avoidance On Leader Member Exchange, Alexander Michael Dechurch

Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to further research the impact of leadership style on leader-member exchange (LMX), and to investigate the role of individual uncertainty avoidance and trust on LMX when paired with the two leadership styles (transactional and transformational leadership). Three samples were collected. Sample 1 included 32 dyadic undergraduate student and leader pairs from a midsize southern private university; Sample 2 included 118 leaders recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk); Sample 3 included 141 followers recruited through Mturk. Results indicated positive relationships between follower and leader perceptions of transactional and transformational leadership style and leadermember exchange. Moreover, there are …

Investigating Factors Affecting Venture Growth Intention For Women Entrepreneurs, Beth Johanna Gitlin

Theses and Dissertations

During the past several years the number of women-owned firms increased by 45% from 2007-2016, a rate five times faster than the national average. However, their overall venture growth is far below the national average. The benefits of studying the internal and external context in which this phenomenon has occurred will help us to understand what types of interventions may contribute to enhancing venture growth intention for women entrepreneurs. In light of the scant research linking factors such as self-confidence, access to role models, perceived family support and risk-taking to venture growth intention for women entrepreneurs, this study examines a …

Effectiveness Of Exceeding Expectations And Demonstration Of Concerns For Repairing Trust In Collaborative Relationships, Kyi Phyu Nyein

Theses and Dissertations

Interpersonal trust in collaborative relationships has been found to lead to positive outcomes, such as satisfaction, perceived leadership effectiveness, teamwork, and successful organizational change (Fulmer & Gelfand, 2012). However, trust can decline naturally or can be broken due to unmet expectations as trust involves expectations of positive intentions from another individual or positive outcomes from the relationship (Bhattacharya, Devinney, & Pillutla, 1998). In order to continue and achieve successful collaboration, trust must be repaired using different trust repair strategies such as providing apology or denying the responsibility. The current research examines exceeding expectations and demonstration of concerns as two understudied …

Job Characteristics And Turker Motivation: A Crowdsource Study Of Amazon Mechanical Turk, Michael William Mcferran

Theses and Dissertations

There is substantial opportunity for I-O psychology to study and further understand the growing industry of gig work. The research gap in the limited domain of gig work prompted the exploration of studying what perceived job characteristics matter for crowdsource workers on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and whether job characteristics predict traditional workplace outcomes in the gig economy. Participants from MTurk allowed the research question to be efficiently assessed within a gig related crowdsourcing sample. This study demonstrated that traditional theories from I-O psychology can apply to crowdsource based work. Specifically, job characteristics were related to job satisfaction and organizational …

Self-Confident, Inside And Out: Exploring The Antecedents Of Internal And External Self-Confidence In Women Leaders., Nisha Hafeez Quraishi

Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to examine levels of internal and external self-confidence in women leaders. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to explore the antecedents of self-confidence levels in women leaders, predicting that benevolent sexism would lower self-confidence through stereotype threat. 150 female leaders filled out an online survey. The results did not provide support for six out of the seven proposed hypotheses. The results found that benevolent sexism was negatively related to external self-confidence, but overall did not impact self-confidence. An exploratory analysis was conducted to further examine potential mediators and moderators in the relationship between hostile and …

Examining The Relationship Of Constructive Deviance With Individual Differences, Job Characteristics, And Organizational Climate, Michael Sawdy

Theses and Dissertations

Recent research has demonstrated that deviant behaviors can have both positive intentions and outcomes (Galperin, 2002; Morrison, 2006; Warren, 2001). These behaviors are often referred to as constructive deviance, but little is known about the antecedents of these behaviors within organizations. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on constructive deviance by investigating individual characteristics, job characteristics, and organizational climates as predictors of constructive deviance. After investigating each of the predictors independently, a dominance analysis was conducted to determine the strength of each predictor relative to one another. Surprisingly, although role breadth self-efficacy and autonomy have previously been …

The Effects Of Class-Wide Function-Related Intervention Teams In Two Middle School Art Classrooms, Kimberly Davis Monson

Theses and Dissertations

Classroom management is a common challenge in middle schools. Class-wide Function-Related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a multi-tiered intervention designed to decrease problem behaviors at the classroom level (Wills et al., 2010). It is comprised of evidence-based practices such as teaching classroom expectations, increasing teacher praise, and using positive reinforcement in an interdependent group contingency. CW-FIT has shown promise in a variety of school settings, but it has not been tested in middle school art classrooms. This was initial investigation examining the effects of CW-FIT using a single-subject ABAB design in two middle school art classrooms. Results indicated that class on-task …

Is It Enough? Challenges Generalizing Social Skills Gains Into Community Settings, Taylor William Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

Group social skills training (GSST) is an important intervention approach to help children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to find more success in social engagement and inclusion. However, there is a lack of research using direct behavioral observations, especially in generalization of acquired skills to settings other than the treatment setting. We provided social skills training to 25 adolescents with ASD using a curriculum shown to have positive effects (the UCLA PEERS® curriculum). We also administered the Autism Social Skills Profile (ASSP) and Social Communication Questionnaire – Current (SCQ-Current) to the parents of participants before and after the …

Personality Inventory Dsm-5: A Spanish Translation For Hispanics In The United States, Jessica Abigail Carmona

Theses and Dissertations

The Personality Inventory DSM-5 (PID-5) was created to measure personality pathology and help in the development of a dimensional conceptualization of personality disorders (Krueger, Derringer, Markon, Watson, & Skodol, 2012). It measures five maladaptive personality traits: Negative Affect, Detachment, Antagonism, Disinhibition and Psychoticism. The PID-5 has also garnered significant support for its hierarchical structure, five-factor structure across samples and translations, and its ability to predict variance in internalizing and externalizing disorders (Krueger & Markon, 2014). The current study builds on this literature by translating the PID-5 into Spanish spoken in Latin America and testing the replicability of the five-factor structure, …