Explore the vast range of titles available.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the types of information that were shared by the institution, and faculty/staff responses to the information shared, with the goal of providing recommendations for other institutions facing concurrent crises.Design/methodology/approachThis mixed-methods case study examines a public university's experiences managing the Covid-19 pandemic crisis while simultaneously navigating financial challenges that had been building over time. Using data from university-wide mediated communications and a survey of on-campus stakeholders during the Covid-19 pandemic and university retrenchment process, this paper explores institutional communication, stakeholder response to organizational communication and faculty/staff reactions to information in the midst of concurrent crises.FindingsThe study found that the university used instructing and advising information within its messages from its top administrator but fell short of incorporating empathy for its stakeholders in its initial responses.Research limitations/implicationsUsing the situational crisis communication theory (Coombs, 2019), which recommends the use of an ethical base response to crises, implications are provided for other organizations facing concurrent crises during the Covid-19 pandemic, to also incorporate empathy in their messages to stakeholders whose livelihoods are being affected, across multiple platforms.Originality/valueWeathering the Covid-19 pandemic and long-term financial pitfalls have proven to be a disruptive phenomenon for higher education institutions. This research expands understanding of institutional communication and stakeholder reactions in a higher education institution facing both the Covid-19 crisis and a retrenchment.Peer reviewThe peer-review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-09-2020-0415.

Laboratory directors and administrators play vital roles in the recruitment and retention processes of their employees. A total of 71 laboratory directors from hospitals across 51 counties in Tennessee responded to questionnaires regarding recruitment and retention strategies. Respondents reported strategies for recruitment and retention, which were agreed to be effective by management. Overall, these major strategies were consistent regardless of geographic location and limited differences were noted with regard to urban-rural locations. The findings that varied significantly between urban and rural locations included: 1) rural employees needed additional supervision; 2) rural hospitals relied on local residents more so than urban hospitals; 3) rural laboratory administrators noted more limited access to resources; and the 4) lower effectiveness of recruitment agencies and family relocation programs for rural hospitals. This is significant given the disparities often associated with rural areas, and the potential to develop more successful recruitment and retention strategies for those areas. Active managers in clinical laboratory science programs in the hospital setting should note effective strategies for both, recruitment and retention of personnel, and note the potential impact of geography on such processes.

There is a need to assess the scholarly activity of the field of public administration at the institutional level as it continues to develop as a separate, autonomous discipline and to evaluate academic and university reputation, impact, and directions of the public administration scholarly community. The authors surveyed public administration journals based upon criteria from Thompson Reuters Journal Citation Reports to determine productivity, quality, and overall institutional impact and then created an index. The study is based on previous attempts to rank universities in the field of public administration while drawing influence from the ranking systems found within other social science disciplines. The analysis shows what universities published in top public administration journals over a five-year period, 2006–2010, according these criteria. Discussions of the implications on teaching and research in public administration and public affairs are also considered.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine-preventable diseases increased nationally, associated with low childhood vaccination coverage. Studies on parental vaccine hesitancy in southern U.S. states is limited, and childhood vaccine uptake has decreased since early 2020. Our study purpose was to examine parental vaccine hesitancy before and after the COVID-19 pandemic among Arkansas residents. A repeated cross-sectional design using telephone surveys was conducted among Arkansas parental guardians of children aged ≤6 years in 2019 (n = 407) and 2023 (n = 402). Parental hesitancy towards routine childhood vaccines and vaccine confidence was assessed. Weighted multiple logistic regression models examined associations between sociodemographic factors and parental hesitancy. Parental hesitancy increased 15-percentage points from 2019 to 2023 (35.7 % [38.6% – 43.0 %] to 50.3 % [40.7 % - 60.0 %]), while those expressing no hesitancy declined (64.3 % [56.7 % - 71.0 %] to 49.7 % [40.2 % - 59.0 %]). The association between parental age and vaccine hesitancy differed by region, with older parents in the Southwest region (and similarly in the Northeast and Northwest) showing greater hesitancy compared to those in the Central region (OR 1.21 [1.07–1.35]). Compared to parents of public-school children, those with privately schooled (OR 2.60 [1.22–5.51]) or homeschooled children (OR 2.65 [1.24–5.67]) had higher odds of hesitancy. Despite low annual response rates, findings suggest an increase in parental vaccine hesitancy following the COVID-19 pandemic in Arkansas. Vaccine hesitancy remains a concern in our largely rural population. Repeat analyses with similar survey tools is needed to understand if these trends are maintained in the Arkansas population or similar southern rural populations. •Parental vaccine hesitancy was assessed before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.•A cross-sectional telephone survey and weighted logistic regression were employed.•Parental hesitancy rose 13 points; non-hesitant parents declined 20 points (2019–2023).

Purpose Unclaimed property is an important part of state government operations, yet very little research has been conducted on the function of returning unclaimed property to owners or the related public administration operation of unclaimed property. The purpose of this paper is to offer an exploratory study of unclaimed property in the USA and the factors that influence management. Design/methodology/approach The authors use Agency Theory to examine the role of unclaimed property in state government budgeting and operations. The data consisted of a 2011 survey of state unclaimed property agencies, which was utilized for a regression model. Findings Results showed: type of uniform code used to govern unclaimed property; and presence and size of marketing staff in the agency had a significant relationship with extent of property returned to owners. Originality/value This is the first comprehensive study on how state governments manage unclaimed property. This study can provide practitioners, policymakers, and researchers with a better insight into unclaimed property management.

The study collected data from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database for years 2000 and 2015 in order to explore shifts in public affairs doctoral research. Results indicated a dramatic increase for online doctoral dissertations with 20% of all public administration and public policy dissertations produced from online, for-profit institutions by 2015. When public administration is examined in isolation, 36% of all public administration doctoral dissertations are from online institutions. Concomitantly, doctorate of public administration degrees dropped to 2% of total conferred public administration and public policy degrees. The dramatic rise of public policy as a subject, in comparison to declining self-identification of public administration, was noted. A thematic and comparative curriculum assessment for top producers of all degree types was conducted in order to gauge overlaps and dissimilarity between program types. The implications of the findings are discussed in broader context to understand the pedagogical significance of potential shifts for public affairs education.

The Snapshot: Climate issue of Southern Cultures includes photography and reflections on climate impacts across the southern states by Jenny Adler, Austin Anthony, Kate Auger, Arden Barnes, Monica Patrice Barra, Robin Boggs, Jared Bramblett, Lily Brooks, Hannah Brown, Becca Burton, Matthew Busch, Gordon Campbell, Natalie Chanin, Vanessa Charlot, Walter Coker, Justin Cook, Cameron Davidson, Marquetta Dickens, Brandon Dill, Benjamin Dimmitt, Rory Doyle, Ryan Emanuel, Cameron Evans, J Henry Fair, Megan Faust, Annie Flanagan, Kathleen Flynn, Jerod Foster, John Gaulden, Hermina Glass-Hill, Allison Grant, Jerry Dickson Greer, Joshua Dudley Greer, Anna Hamilton, Virginia Hanusik, John Lusk Hathaway, Chuck Hemard, Tom Kimmerer, Virginie Kippelen, Jeremy M. Lange, Nate Larson, Mark Long, Jordan Lovejoy, Megan May, Roger May, Lisette Morales McCabe, Rob McDonald, Andrew Moore, Stephen B. Morton, Anna Gage Norton, Jocelyn Painter, Elena Peterman, Daniel Pullen, Tom Rankin, Robert Rausch, Jeff Rich, Beth Roach, Derek Slagle, Michael O. Snyder, Michael K. Steinberg, Bryan Thomas, Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, Simon Tye, Turcois Vazquez, Jordan Vonderhaar, Jason Matthew Walker, Will Warasila, Carlton Ward Jr., Brooke White, William Widmer, and Devin Wright.

The dissertation is about the significance for, and impact upon public administration of the correspondence theory of truth or veridicality, and its underlying epistemological assumptions. The underlying thesis is that, unduly influenced by the success of the natural sciences, and naïve in accepting their claims to objectivity, many disciplines have sought to emulate them. There are two principle objections. Firstly, all other considerations aside, the supposedly objectivistic methodologies apparently applied to the explanation and prediction of the behavior of interactions of physical objects, may simply be inappropriate to certain other areas of inquiry; and more specifically objectivist methodologies are indeed inappropriate to understanding of human subjects, and their behavior, relations and interactions, and thus to public administration. The second objection is that it is of course logically impossible for any supposedly empirical discipline, as the natural sciences claim to be, to justify the belief in a supposedly objective realm of things-in-themselves existing outside, beyond, or independently of the changing, interrupted and different ‘appearances’ or experiences, to which an empirical science is qua empirical, necessarily restricted. Correspondence of any empirical observations or appearances (and the consequent or presupposed theoretical explanations) to an objective realm, upon which the claim to objectivity is based, is unverifiable. In light of the above it becomes evident that far from being objective, the natural sciences themselves, and the empirical observations upon which they are supposedly grounded, are subject to conceptual mediation and subjective interpretation; subjective and inter-subjective coherence replacing objective correspondence as the criterion of veridicality. Consequently it becomes clear that the presuppositions and prejudices of the observers enter, in the forms of concepts and preconceptions, into the very observations, and even more so into the theoretical constructions, or theories, of the natural, and indeed human and social sciences, and their claims to be authoritative and true. Subsequent discussion is then focused on both the coherence of individuals’ experiences and understanding, and their inter-subjective coherence – which both rises from and constitutes, a “community”. The role of language facilitates such coherence.