Browsing by Author "Sabharwal, Meghna"
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Item Accountability Overload and Its Consequence and Remedy(December 2021) Rabbi, Md Fazle; Sabharwal, Meghna; Giertz, Seth; Harrington, James R; Gorina, Evgenia; McCaskill, John R.Accountability overload (AO) may increase cost, lower responsiveness, and decrease productivity and service quality [103]. It creates an extra burden on employees [163], erodes their trust and morale [185], and decreases their job satisfaction [43]. Specifically, it undermines organizational mission [15, 68] and performance [140, 152, 155]. However, the examination of the phenomenon and its consequence and remedies is still in a nascent stage and predominantly qualitative. This dissertation undertakes three interrelated studies to fill the research gap by advancing the concept, empirically examining the relationship between AO and organizational outcome, and exploring remedies to AO. The first study conducts a systematic review of Public Administration literature on AO. The second study empirically examines the relationship between AO and the performance of public servants across societal cultures. The third study investigates the effect of ethical leadership (EL) on AO and the mediating role of the ethical environment (EE) on the relationship between EL and AO. The first study identifies the elements of AO and its consequence and remedy. The most common element of AO is multiple accountabilities or expectations. Besides, incompatibility between accountability criteria and organizational goals, ambiguous performance standards, and excessively high accountability or performance requirements are some of the dominant elements of AO. In addition, episodic and arbitrary accountability demand, incomplete outcome measures, emphasis on punitive actions, and lack of legitimacy of the accountholder are the factors that contribute to AO. The study suggests that AO generally produces negative consequences: it undermines performance and organizational objectives and makes the accountability system ineffective. Collaboration and dialogue, moderate accountability requirements, appropriate performance criteria, ethical practice in the organization, and an emphasis on the organizational mission may reduce AO. Contextual factors such as poor governance and lack of trust in government influence AO in the organization. However, extant studies are predominantly qualitative and concentrated in a limited number of countries. Thus, the study emphasizes empirical investigation into AO in comparative settings to appreciate the phenomenon and its consequences and remedies. The second study defines perceived AO and finds a negative association between AO and employee performance. It also proves that the relationship between performance and AO does not vary across societal cultures. Therefore, the study concludes that AO is a universal phenomenon and has a similar consequence irrespective of differences in contexts or cultures. The third study finds that EL reduces AO among employees and enhances EE in the organization. However, EE does not influence the relationship between EL and AO. Thus, the study underscores the importance of EL in reducing AO among employees irrespective of the ethical condition in the organization.Item Can National-level Institutions Impact Democratic Transitions? Some Evidence From the Arab Spring(2022-08-01T05:00:00.000Z) Moreau, Robert John; Elliott, Euel W; Sabharwal, Meghna; Scotch, Richard K; Ho, Karl K.; McCaskill, John RIn the aftermath of the historic Arab Spring wave of pro-democracy revolutions that engulfed the Middle East from 2010-2011, Tunisia emerged as the sole success story, achieving a stable multi-party constitutional system. Egypt meanwhile slid back into its old status quo of military domination over the political system after the 2013 coup against elected president Mohamed Morsi. In each case, three major national-level institutions—the military, religious parties, and labor unions—played a significant role in the success or failure of each country’s post- revolutionary transitional process. This dissertation explores what gaps exist in our present knowledge about the potential of these three institutions to cause democratic revolutions and transitions to succeed or fail through the experiences of Tunisia and Egypt. After providing a brief history of the changing politico-economic circumstances in the Arab world that led to the demonstrations of 2010-2011, the dissertation moves on to compile and compare existing academic theories about potential behavior of the military, religious parties, and labor unions during and after pro-democracy uprisings. It then outlines the case studies of Tunisia and Egypt, documenting the historical evolution and behavior of all three institutions during and after each country’s revolution. After this, it analyzes how well existing academic theories explained the behavior of each institution in Egypt and Tunisia and uses this to identify holes in our present knowledge. Finally, this dissertation concludes by proposing a new theory of military behavior in post-revolutionary transition periods, an area largely unexplored by current research, as well as proposing a new theory of what factors position labor unions to steer a democratic transition process. Along with this, it argues that its exploratory model framework can readily be adapted to other country and institution case studies outside the Arab world.Item Conscripts or Volunteers? Assessing the Impact of Organizational Behaviors and Attitudes on Korean Military Sector Performance(2021-08-01T05:00:00.000Z) Park, Yongjun; Sabharwal, Meghna; Valcarcel, Victor; Battaglio Jr., R. Paul; Harrington, James R.; McCaskill, John R.Military organizations across the world are faced with challenges in recruiting and retaining high-quality personnel because of increasing inter-sectoral competition, changes in social values, and low unemployment. Although intrinsic motivation, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and job stress are essential for employee retention and performance, there has been little research into these factors within the military sector. The three separate studies that compose this dissertation were undertaken to investigate the impact of soldiers' behaviors and attitudes on individual's performance and to examine differences in the organizational attitudes and individual performances of conscripts versus volunteer soldiers. The first study examines the relationship between intrinsic motivation and individual performance and explores whether this relationship is mediated by job stress. The second paper explores differences in affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and individual performance between conscripts versus volunteer soldiers. This study also investigates the impact of job satisfaction on affective organizational commitment and individual performance in the military sector. The third study investigates whether there are differences in intrinsic motivation, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction between conscripts and volunteer soldiers. This study investigates the impact of intrinsic motivation on organizational commitment and job satisfaction in the military sector. The results of the three studies note three significant findings: (1) intrinsic motivation has a negative association with job stress, and the relationship between intrinsic motivation and military performance is mediated by job stress; (2) volunteer soldiers have higher job satisfaction and total fitness levels than conscripts, and job satisfaction has a statistically significant positive effect on affective organizational commitment and total fitness levels in military organizations; and (3) volunteer soldiers have higher intrinsic motivation, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction than conscripts. Intrinsic motivation has a statistically significant positive effect on military organizations' organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are also discussed in the study.Item Deserving and Discretion: A View from the Front Lines of Nonprofit Organizations(2019-12) Nicholson, Tracy L.; Sabharwal, Meghna; Alexander, Bobby C.This qualitative study examines how discretion and deserving criteria were used by front line staff employed in nonprofit organizations that provided social service assistance to clients. Using Michael Lipsky’s (2010, 1980) study of street-level bureaucrats’ use of discretion and a framework of resource dependency Pfeffer and Salancik (1978), front line staff used their discretion and judgments about clients’ deservingness to provide services to a select group of clients. Seventeen interviews with frontline staff in four nonprofit organizations in a large southwestern state in the United States were conducted. The themes that emerged were deserving, non-deserving, discretion and non-discretion, the convergence of deserving and discretion and discretion, deserving and resource dependency. The findings suggest that client efforts, client needs and clients’ ability to build a relationship with the front line staff influenced their discretionary power to provide more services to “deserving” clients. Conversely, front line staff perceived clients who lacked effort or were noncompliant as undeserving and thus received limited assistance. The convergence of discretion and deserving decision factors occurred when front line staff perceived clients needed financial assistance and emotional support. The external revenue sources influenced front line staff use of discretion and deserving criteria in client decisions to waive client fees or negotiate with funders to revise the NPO performance measures. The study has three significant contributions to public administration. First, the study shows the convergence of discretion and deserving criteria in FLSs’ decision about clients. Second, FLS use a non-linear process of decision-making. This connection between discretion and deserving criteria by FLS links discretion from the public administration literature to deserving criteria in the social psychology literature as a means to further understand the human behavior and decision process of public administration actors. Third, the relationship FLS develop with their clients is the foundation of FLS’s use of discretion and deserving, which encourage front line staff to invest more effort in those clients, a key finding. The importance of this relationship between the FLS and the clients is not addressed in program or policy manuals nor in public administration literature. The insights from the study highlight the an area of future research that examines front line staff decision-making and its unintended impact on those clients most in need and the NPO mission.Item Enhancing Retention of Women, Minorities, and Employees with Disabilities: An Organizational Inclusion Perspective(2018-05) Chordiya, Rashmi V.; Sabharwal, MeghnaEnhancing organizational diversity and inclusion has received increasing attention from scholars and practitioners. Research suggests that diversity and inclusion positively affects organizational outcomes such as higher employee job satisfaction, organizational commitment, intentions to stay, higher innovation and performance, and expansion of outreach to diverse client base or customer groups. Significant progress has occurred through legislative and structural reforms to promote diversity and inclusion, yet organizations have a long way to go in bringing a cultural change that genuinely values diversity and enables inclusion for all. This dissertation is motivated to advance research that helps and guides modern organizations in achieving cultural change for higher diversity and inclusion. It aims to contribute to the theory and practice of diversity and inclusion in public organizations by taking a nuanced approach to enhancing retention of groups that are more likely to experience organizational biases based on their social identities. More specifically, this dissertation focuses on the retention of female employees, racial and ethnic minorities, and employees identifying as people with disabilities, through organizational inclusion.Item Entrepreneurial Leadership: A Case Study of U.S. Accelerator Executives(2018-08) Vickers, Jeremy A.; Sabharwal, Meghna; Alexander, Bobby C.This study explores the style of leadership and entrepreneurial philosophy of United States accelerator executives. Through the use of the case study method and follow on Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire, four distinct leadership styles emerged. Unique patterns and differences between non-profit and for-profit leaders in the accelerator population emerged, such as primary focus and outcome measurement. The goal of this study was to identify and explore further the styles and differences among accelerators. Twenty-one leaders were interviewed representing major geographic hubs and regions of entrepreneurial activity. The interviews were coded and a two-axis framework emerged identifying four styles of leadership. One axis balances concern for people with concern for process and the other axis balances a preference for financial outcomes with a preference for community outcomes. The result of these interviews is a new entrepreneurial leadership framework with four styles: Lean Leader, Problem-Solving Leader, Teaching Leader, and Service Leader. These four styles were also considered against recent research in transformational leadership and the MLQ was used to further explore connections among the styles of leadership.Item Inclusive Work Practices: Turnover Intentions Among LGBT Employees of the U.S. Federal Government(Sage) Sabharwal, Meghna; Levine, Helisse; D'Agostino, Maria; Nguyen, Tiffany; 0000-0003-1294-559X (Sabharwal, M); 293512785 (Sabharwal, M); Sabharwal, MeghnaThe federal government lags behind in progressive civil rights policies in regard to universal workplace antidiscrimination laws for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans. The slow progress matters to inclusionary workplace practices and the theory and practice of public administration generally, as recognition of LGBT rights and protection are constitutive of representative bureaucracy and promoting social equity. This study examines the turnover intention rates of self-identified LGBT employees in the U.S. federal government. Using the Office of Personnel Management’s inclusion quotient (IQ), and 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), we identify links in the relationships between workplace inclusion and turnover outcomes among LGBT individuals. We also examine the impact of agency type on LGBT turnover rates based on Lowi’s agency classification type. Key findings suggest that LGBT employees express higher turnover intentions than those that identify as heterosexuals/straight, and LGBT employees who perceive their agencies as redistributive or communal are less likely to experience turnover intentions. However, an open and supportive workplace environment had a positive impact on turnover, suggesting that to implement effective structural change in an organization’s culture of inclusion, public sector managers must do more than merely “talk the talk.” This finding is also suggestive of LGBT employees’ desire to avoid the stigma of being LGBT and hide their identities. Institutions must heed the invisible and visible identities of their employees to be truly inclusive. Workplace practices that acknowledge the invisible and visible identities of their employees are a positive step toward real workplace inclusion.Item Outsourcing the Government’s Most Important Functions: the Impact of Outsourcing Critical Duties on U.S. Federal Government Behavior(2022-05-01T05:00:00.000Z) Dishman, Christopher D; Harrington, James; McElroy, Susan; Sabharwal, Meghna; Maxwell, Sarah; McCaskill, JohnThe levels of outsourcing in the U.S. federal government have increased substantially over the last two decades. The U.S. government now relies on outsourcing to provide many of its products and services. Prior research shows that outsourcing has a negative effect on job satisfaction in the U.S. public sector. This paper expands on that research to understand the impact of outsourcing a certain category of products and services, known collectively as nearly inherently governmental (NG) activities. This paper uses time panel analysis from 2010 to 2019 to understand the influence of outsourcing NG duties on federal employees, and the results show a statistically significant negative association. This paper also analyzes the impact of outsourcing on work intensification because outsourcing could increase the workload of the remaining employees, who are now required to execute contract management duties. This result contradicts this paper’s hypothesis and shows a marginally significant negative relationship between outsourcing and work intensification.Item Policy and Politics: A Case Study on the Rhetoric of Republican Governors on the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion(2019-05) Arguelles, Ariel; Scotch, Richard; Sabharwal, MeghnaThe passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is arguably one of the most significant pieces of health care legislation passed in the United States in the past half-century, with the expansion of Medicaid eligibility dramatically altering the way Medicaid is delivered. Despite strong political, social, and economic opposition, four Republican governors chose to fully expand Medicaid eligibility under the ACA. Using the case study method and qualitative content analysis, the purpose of this research is to explore the rhetoric and language by these four Republican governors despite party-wide opposition to the expansion and to the ACA overall. The results of this study found that three major themes emerged: advocacy for the disadvantaged, an argument for fiscal responsibility, and an appeal to rationality. Though each governor faced unique social, political, and economic conditions that may have contributed to their decision to expand, all four governors framed their decision as a means of aiding those in their state who would benefit most from it. As neither politics nor policies exist in a vacuum, the results of this research further support the need for thick, contextual analysis of gubernatorial decision-making and the impact of language and rhetoric on the success of their policies.Item Privacy Compliance in U.S. Universities(2021-12-01T06:00:00.000Z) Royal, K; Harrington, James; Chun, Yongwan; Sabharwal, Meghna; Maxwell, Sarah; McCaskill, JohnPrivacy law and compliance with those laws is a complex undertaking. This paper uses a mixed methods approach to review the scope and breadth of compliance with privacy laws at four-year universities in the United States. Starting with a Delphi method with privacy professionals defining the triggers for privacy laws, the laws most important for U.S. universities, and then the elements of a successful privacy program along with the risk factors for noncompliance, the researcher then examines publicly available information on a sample population of universities and lastly performs a legal review based on the Delphi findings and the Document Analysis. Both scholars and practitioners should find the paper useful. The outcomes identify what data subjects and activities trigger privacy laws at U.S. universities, what programmatic elements are required for a privacy compliance program to be successful, and what risk factors universities face in their privacy compliance efforts. All of this is reviewed through the Complexity Theory lens, considering both universities and privacy laws as complex adaptive systems.Item Procedural Fairness, Public Service Motives, and Employee Work Outcomes: Evidence from Pakistani Public Service Organizations(Sage Publications Inc., 2017-07-05) Quratulain, S.; Khan, A. K.; Sabharwal, Meghna; 0000-0003-1294-559X (Sabharwal, M); 293512785 (Sabharwal, M); Sabharwal, MeghnaStudies in public administration hypothesize the direct effect of public service motivation (PSM) on employee attitudes and behavior. We examine the relationship between public employees’ perceptions of procedural fairness on job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and propose the moderating effect of PSM dimensions on the aforementioned relationships. Using a sample of 232 respondents drawn from multiple public service organizations, our findings indicate a positive relationship between procedural fairness perceptions and employee work outcomes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment). PSM dimensions of attraction to policy making (rational motive) and public interest (normative motive) moderate the relationship between procedural fairness and employee outcomes. However, their effect was significant only for individuals who experienced low levels of these motivations. The moderating effect of compassion (affective motive) was significant for individuals possessing high level of compassion. The implications and future research directions are discussed. © The Author(s) 2017.Item Race and Gender Representation in Presidential Appointments, SES, and GS Levels, During Clinton, Bush, and Obama Administrations(Sage Publications Inc, 2016-06-23) Anestaki, Aikaterini; Sabharwal, Meghna; Connelly, Kenneth; Cayer, N. Joseph; Anestaki, Aikaterini; Sabharwal, MeghnaAchieving a representative bureaucracy that reflects the attitudes, values, and policy choices of women and racial minorities is imperative, as the gap in the representation of those groups in the federal workforce is growing. We examine to what extent female and minority representation in political appointments, Senior Executive Service (SES), and General Schedule (GS) 1-15 levels reflect presidents' commitment to diversity. We use data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to compare the tenures of presidents William J. Clinton (1993 to 2000), George W. Bush (2001-2008), and Barack H. Obama (2009-2013), and examine the employment trends from 1993 to 2013.Item The Impact of Leadership Styles on Groupthink : the Case of Turkish Teachers(2020-08) Kaya, Adem; Sabharwal, MeghnaThe purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions of transformational leadership and transactional leadership on groupthink among Turkish teachers in Gaziantep, one of the largest provinces of Turkey. This study examines two main research questions using structural equation modeling: (1) How does leadership style i.e., perceived transformational and transactional leadership affect groupthink of the participants? (2) How does leadership style and groupthink differ by participants’ gender, education, type of school they work, the college/field they graduate, the school location of participants, the desire of being a manager, and tenure of the participants? The findings of the study revealed that the impact of the participants’ perceptions on transformational leadership on all sub-dimensions of groupthink is statistically significant. Contrary to common belief, this study found that transformational leadership style led to higher groupthink among Turkish teachers. Additionally, transactional leadership is a significant predictor of the groupthink sub-dimensions of Concurrence Seeking, Group Identity, Symptoms of Defective Decision Making, and External Activities, while it is not a significant predictor of the sub-dimensions of External Activities and Team Performance.Item The Impact of Work-life Balance Policies on Perceived Organizational Performance in the U.S. Federal Agencies: Exploring the Moderating Effect of Leadership Support(2020-08-01T05:00:00.000Z) Al-Fayez, Diana; Cummings, Anthony R.; Goodman, Doug; Battaglio Jr., R. Paul; Harrington, James R.; Sabharwal, MeghnaThis study enhances our understanding of the implementation of work-life balance policies and its impact on perceived organizational performance in U.S. federal agencies. While interest in implementing work-life balance policies began in the 1960s and 1970s after the influx of females into the labor market, few studies have examined the impact of these policies on organizational performance in the public organizations context, particularly in the federal agencies. Drawing on the social exchange theory and using Federal Employees Viewpoints Survey (FEVS) from 2011- 2015, this study expected that work-life balance policies would have significant positive relationship with perceived organizational performance in the U.S. federal agencies, and that leadership support will have a significant positive moderating effect. The study also expected that the relationship between work-life policies and perceived organizational performance will be more positive in feminine organizations compared to masculine organizations. However, the findings do not support all these expectations. With the exception of employee’s assistance programs, work-life balance policies do not seem to have a significant positive impact on perceived organizational performance. In terms of moderation effect, the results indicate that leadership support only has a significant positive moderation effect on the relationship between perceived organizational performance and childcare programs, alternative work schedules, and wellness programs in all U.S. federal agencies. Leadership support also has a significant positive moderation impact on the relationship between perceived organizational performance with alternative programs, and wellness programs in feminine organizations. This study asserts the need to re-evaluate the implementation and the practices of work-life balance policies in the federal agencies. This study also encourages public administration scholars to conduct more systematic research on work-life balance policies to provide more concrete evidence on its importance in the public sector context, and to provide recommendations on how to improve the impact of such policies.Item Through a Gender Lens: Leadership and Charitable Giving in Faithbased Nonprofit Organizations(2021-05-01T05:00:00.000Z) Upoma, Shahrin Shabnam; Sabharwal, Meghna; Cordell, Rebecca; Kiel, L. Douglas; Battaglio, Jr., R. Paul; Harrington, James R; Searing, ElizabethThis dissertation uses a gender lens to examine the leadership and philanthropy practices in nonprofit organizations. Despite being the majority of employees in the nonprofit sector, women are underrepresented when it comes to leadership. Women face complex issues such as implicit gender bias and stained-glass ceiling when navigating the leadership maze within organizations. This dissertation explores the factors that influence the inclusion of females in leadership positions in nonprofit organizations using a mixed-method approach. By using the conceptual frameworks of the Critical Mass Theory and the Kaleidoscope Career Model, this dissertation attempts to answer three related research questions. First, using the data acquired from GuideStar, I explore how does the gender composition of staff, board, and the gender of the past CEO influences the gender of the present CEO in faith-based nonprofit organizations. The findings show that there exists a causal relationship between the gender composition of staff at senior managerial positions, the gender of the former CEO, and the gender of the current CEO. Second, by adopting a qualitative approach, this dissertation explores what gendered barriers are faced by women as leaders within faith-based nonprofit organizations and to what extent religion impacts these barriers. 23 female leaders within faith-based nonprofit organizations were interviewed using open-ended questions. This methodology helped to explore the lived experiences of the female leaders and devise their perspectives in their own words. Findings showed, in faith-based nonprofit organizations, along with religious conservativeness, internalization of gender and cultural stereotypes contribute to the challenges faced by women. And lastly, by conducting an online survey experiment using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), I explore how charitable giving is influenced by the gender similarity between the donor and the CEO. Results showed, female donors are more likely to donate to female CEOs, and less likely to donate to male CEOs. Similarly, male donors are less likely to donate to female CEOs. Results also showed, if the cause is related to women issues, female donors are more likely to donate even if the CEO is of the opposite gender. Female donors donate to a religious organization only if the CEO is a female. The findings from this dissertation are expected to contribute to the existing research by adding the impact of the gender of CEO on organizational practices such as leadership, philanthropy, and career choices made by women in faith-based and the overall nonprofit sector.