Management matters, but exactly how do leaders make a difference in their organizations and communities? What behaviors are effective, and why? And can we train leaders to become more effective? The purpose of this umbrella project is to examine – through various contexts – when and how leadership matters for outcomes in the public sector, and how we can train public managers to become more effective leaders. 

Effective recruitment practices are paramount to cultivating and bolstering a strong workforce. This project is based on a strategic partnership with the Behavioral Insights Team at the City of Scottsdale and conducts experimental evaluations of recruitment practices using electronic platforms, including social media (e.g., Facebook). The purpose of the project is to test and uncover effective practices for bolstering existing recruitment practices in local government as well as how to reduce various biases in the recruitment and hiring processes.

Volunteers are now an integral part of service provision in many welfare states, performing various tasks at nursing homes, schools, hospitals, and libraries, including tasks previously performed by professionals. However, recent research shows that many professionals view volunteers as threats to their job and/or service quality, creating poor staff-volunteer relationships, and undermining service delivery. The purpose of this project is to explore whether – and how – management tools can reduce professionals’ threat perceptions and turn reluctance into willingness to co-produce public services. 

How can government agencies effectively communicate information about policies and prompt actions among citizens and businesses? Using the case of environmental information, this project focuses on how various forms of visual and verbal communication can help government agencies better engage citizens and businesses and encourage them to be stewards of a safe and healthy environment. The project is conducted in partnership with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ).

The 2021 National Defense Authorization Act required a Report on Restructuring and Coordination of Social, Management and Information Science to understand how DoD can more effectively and efficiently support research across DoD and the IC. The purpose of this project was to collect and analyze primary data from structured interviews on the processes and protocols currently utilize by personnel who fund social science research across the DoD. This included program managers from all service branches, relevant COCOM personnel, DoD-funded laboratories, and FFRDCs. Analysis of these interviews were delivered to OUSD (R and E) as part of a report articulating the structural challenges of funding and transitioning science important for understanding and modeling human sciences. The report was also the basis of a report to Congress detailing the structural challenges of DoD social science related research programs.
 

This project is a multi-methodological evaluation of a large NSF-funded project: Cascadia Coastlines and Peoples Hazards Research Hub (Cascadia CoPes hub).  The Hub is a major 5 year $20M project that will inform and enable integrated hazard assessment, mitigation, and adaptation through targeted scientific advancement and modeling co-produced in sustained collaboration with coastal communities in the Pacific Northwest. The Hub project work involves a robust co-production process including universities, government, and tribal and community organizations. CORD, in collaboration with Eric Welch (C-STEPS, ASU) is leading the external evaluation of the Hub. Our evaluation provides ongoing formative feedback to the Hub team, and an annual assessment of project activities and developments.  Evaluation data are based on annual surveys, social network analysis, interviews and observation, and analysis of team production.

Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) programs across the nation struggle with retention of students, which stems from a number of issues. CORD is the external evaluator for the Georgia Tech NSF RED grant (“Adapting and Implementing Interactive Problem-Driven Learning, Professional and Computational Skills Development for Early and Vertically-Integrated Engagement”). The purpose of the project is to develop an effective and scalable model to revolutionize CEE education through curricular and other changes. The evaluation supports the project through an examination of the CEE culture and overall environment, student experiences, including transfers in and out of CEE.  

This project builds on the suite of NETWISE projects, to incorporate issues of the globalization of science in the study of scientific careers. In an era of global competition for academic STEM talent, and despite the high representation of foreign STEM faculty in US post-secondary institutions, significant research and data gaps have limited our understanding of how multiple dimensions of foreign background and experience, professional and collaborative networks, and key faculty outcomes are related. This study advances research on foreign faculty by conceptualizing a broader notion of foreign status that goes beyond nationality of birth and education to include cultural characteristics, family composition and location, local community engagement, and international professional experience. A major purpose of the project was to make use of extant data to further examine relationships among a) dimension of foreign status; b) professional network structure, cultural composition and resources; and c) work history, satisfaction, mobility, mentoring, and productivity, among others. Study findings will be relevant for the design of interventions to improve the integration, satisfaction, retention, and productivity of foreign faculty for the long term competitiveness of the nation.

CORD is leading the research evaluation of two NSF-funded Regional Innovation Engines (RIE) planning awards with the goal of both strengthening the project in this planning phase, and preparing for evaluation in a full RIE phase. The RIE program was launched by the U.S. National Science Foundation as a significant new program aimed at strengthening innovation capacity through the development of new regional innovation ecosystems. The evaluations focus on issues including regional needs and opportunities, team and partner development, institutional readiness and team cohesion. The evaluations are developmental in informing the progress of the Type 1 planning activities. They also provide a summative evidence base of the team readiness for the Type 2 proposal as well as a detailed evaluation plan for the full project.