Explore the vast range of titles available.

In 1988, James Coleman observed that “social capital is defined by its function. It is not a single entity but a variety of different entities, with two elements in common: they all consist of some aspect of social structures, and they facilitate certain actions of actors-whether persons or corporate actors-within the structure.” If one looks at the state of social capital research, it is clear that this is truer than ever before. This paper seeks to help researchers overcome the major challenges of social capital research, namely, measuring a concept that is notoriously difficult for measurement and choosing among the exhaustive list of direct, casual and consequential measures. It does so by arguing for a typology of social capital that considers five major types of social capital and then reviewing a diverse selection of data available from national surveys. This provides a resource for scholars wishing to pursue large-scale social capital research. Additionally, it draws six lessons from this body of theory and measurement to improve the study of social capital.

Proponents of social capital theory have long argued not only that it is in the best interest of civic life to build social capital but also that social capital is vital for the economic health of communities. This has been confirmed by recent research showing that social capital, especially in its bridging form, is positively associated with job creation at the metropolitan statistical area level. At the same time, social capital is often viewed as something either inherent or absent within a community. This article takes on that assumption by presenting a policy-based approach to developing social capital. It provides two theoretical explanations for how social capital affects economic development and identifies four lessons for economic development practitioners to use to enhance social capital. These research-based recommendations for economic development practitioners and policy makers seek to improve the social capital and, consequently, the economic development of their community.

One of the by-products of the New Public Management has been the resurgence of interest in performance-related pay. The authors' goal is to identify what they know about public sector performance-related pay based on cumulative empirical research and to cull lessons for practice and theory building from the analysis. The authors' analysis confirms past inferences about the limited efficacy of contingent pay in the public sector. The reasons for the persistent failure of performance-related pay are more likely its incompatibility with public institutional rules, proponents' inability or unwillingness to adapt it to these values, and its incompatibility with more powerful motivations that lead many people to pursue public service in the first place. Because the failure of performance pay plans is often attributed to poor implementation, research should be designed to study performance pay plans that are not poorly implemented.

When Texas State Troopers invaded the Yearning for Zion Ranch occupied by polygamist Mormon’s in 2008, it was the third major raid in American history. Yet, fundamentalist Mormons represent a small and little understood element of the American religious landscape. Nonetheless their struggles in America represent the evolving conflicts between politics and private religious life. This study introduces the doctrine of plural marriage as understood by Fundamentalist Mormons and uses it as a case study to consider five aspects of the relationship between religions and politics in America. This includes a discussion of when government chooses to intervene in the practice of religious groups and the responses of those groups to government involvement, the impact of the federal system on religious actors, the dynamic justifications given for involvement and the constant tension between public concerns and private devotion.

Roberts and Ullom (1989) theorized that leadership programs should consist of training, education, and development programs. Their model has gained widespread acceptance since its inception, but has not evolved to reflect contemporary conceptualizations of leadership. This paper demonstrates a new conceptualization of the model updated for modern process-oriented leadership, the student leadership programming matrix. The new model casts program styles against individual and group functions, thereby creating a more holistic perspective of the leadership phenomenon. The model is also explored in relation to assessment, campus culture, and sample programs.

When Texas State Troopers invaded the Yearning for Zion Ranch occupied by polygamist Mormon’s in 2008, it was the third major raid in American history. Yet, fundamentalist Mormons represent a small and little understood element of the American religious landscape. Nonetheless their struggles in America represent the evolving conflicts between politics and private religious life. This study introduces the doctrine of plural marriage as understood by Fundamentalist Mormons and uses it as a case study to consider five aspects of the relationship between religions and politics in America. This includes a discussion of when government chooses to intervene in the practice of religious groups and the responses of those groups to government involvement, the impact of the federal system on religious actors, the dynamic justifications given for involvement and the constant tension between public concerns and private devotion

Concerns about increasing productivity by attracting new jobs and money have led to an explosion of economic development activities. Yet with all of this attention to local economic development, local elected officials have become myopic about its impact. Community life is the product of social, economic and political forces that arise as communities compete for economic growth. In this sense, economic development and the growth that it does or does not create comes to define the political and social, as well as the economic essence of a community. While the choice of an economic development strategy is influenced by political and social factors, so too do economic factors influence social and political characteristics. This dissertation addresses this question: Do differing economic development strategies lead to occupationally different communities that manifest differing social and political characteristics? Consequently, this dissertation focuses on the use of four models of economic development and their impact on a wide range of aggregate social and political characteristics. Specifically, it examines how the use economic development leads to changing levels of political knowledge, community social capital, and civic and political participation.

This chapter begins by reviewing syntheses of evaluations of pay-for-performance systems research conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Support for performance-related pay theoretically is grounded in expectancy theory and reinforcement theory. A National Research Council (NRC) panel, convened under contract to the US Office of Personnel Management, subsequently reviewed both public and private sector research on pay for performance. The most recent review of pay-for-performance-related research appears as a subset of a study on motivation in the public sector. In addition to assessing whether performance-related pay affects individual and organizational performance, scholars also have been attentive to its effects on several intermediate outcomes, in particular employee perceptions. Several contextual factors appear to be associated with the success of performance-related pay. A factor that appears to affect the efficacy of public performance-related pay is whether it is applied to managers or nonmanagers.