PhD

This dissertation uses a single case study to understand the phenomenon of knowledge creation and sharing within the agricultural innovation system of Ghana. Knowledge creation and sharing are components of knowledge management (KM), a term being used to describe the ability of any system to optimize the use of knowledge (Teece et al., ....

Land use change is perhaps the greatest challenge facing the global environment today. Rural residential housing is the fastest growing land use in the United States and poses challenges to land owners, planners, and conservationist who wish to preserve the environment. In this dissertation I address theoretical, methodological, and pol ....

Although Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina is a small municipality by population, it continues to be a recipient of substantial international assistance. Because of this and its contemporary history, it is a compelling case for a study of local economic development in transitional and post-conflict environments. Any potential achievements ....

The interplay between the technological, economic and socio-institutional spheres has wrought three significant changes for government in contemporary society; globalisation, neoliberal economic ideology, and new public management (NPM). Rather than ad hoc events, Long Wave Theory particularly Perez's (1988; 2002) techno-economic paradi ....

Voluntary cooperative arrangements are being established among local governments for economic development purposes. However, there is a lack of empirical research that explains the conditions under which cooperative joint ventures are formed. Extending the Institutional Collective Action framework to the policy area of economic developm ....

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a voluntary program for agricultural landowners designed to promote conservation of groundwater, topsoil, wildlife, and environmental preservation. CRP benefit, from a programmatic standpoint, is well documented in the academic literature. Less understood, however, is how individual program part ....

This dissertation is an effort to provide a new insight into the problem of regional development in remote areas under changing global and national political and economic conditions. It undertakes an assessment of shared economic histories, recent changes and future possibilities of socioeconomic prosperity and sustainability in margina ....

There is a growing consensus that agricultural and rural lands contribute more than just commodity outputs; they also contribute non-market or non-commodity outputs as well. These non-market attributes of agriculture are well documented; ecosystem services, rural heritage, rural economic validity, and domestic food security to name a fe ....

This study focuses on networking and collaboration between communities along the I29 corridor in eastern South Dakota and its effect on economic development. The study evaluated the corridor model of economic development which involves communities working together toward a more effective means of economic development. This study was con ....

Over the past two decades, a "New West" literature has arisen that argues that amenity-driven population growth is leading to a new set of expectations among westerners regarding the purpose of land. This literature describes changing human-land relationships that cause westerners to prefer preservation of the natural environment to res ....

Emerging biofuel markets in the U.S. Corn Belt are leading to increased production of rowcrops and removal of land from conservation programs. This comes at a time when regional research highlights the importance of perennial cover on key areas of the landscape to promote the continued delivery of societal goods and ecosystem services f ....

Accessing health services locally can be challenging for residents of rural communities. Rural health professionals such as nurses, social workers, and physicians are instrumental to the health and wellbeing of community members, and to community sustainability. While studies regarding physician recruitment are plentiful, less is known ....

Many rural areas in Alabama are underdeveloped and economically depressed. The Black Belt Counties are a subset within Alabama that tend to lag behind other counties and nationwide indicators for social and economic well-being. Targeted placebased policies for economic development and community improvement have resurfaced on the federal ....

The severity of the January 2003 Canberra bushfires initiated a national enquiry on bushfire mitigation and management by the Council of Australian Governments. One of the core messages conveyed by the enquiry was a concern about community complacency, particularly in the rural-urban interface, that previous and subsequent enquiries and research ....