Jonathan P West
Biographic Data
| ID | 271554 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jonathan P West |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jonathan P |
| FAMILY NAME | West |
| SIGNATURE | WEST J P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Miami |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0880-6370 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 40 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 196 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 40 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1972 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Resource use and resource efficiency in the Asia–Pacific region revisited
Classical Rationalism and Contemporary Realism: Oaths of Office as Empty Formality or Empowering Function
The practice of making oaths comes from ancient times, a tradition common to nearly all peoples and cultures. Calls for ethics reform in recent years have included questions about how or whether oaths are honored. In the fraught politics of today’s secularized, pluralistic society, skepticism about oaths may be warranted, but it is insufficient as the topic deserves critical reflection. The purpose of this exploratory study is to assess the effic…
Oaths of Office in American States: Problems and Prospects
Upon assuming office, executive, legislative, and judicial officials swear an oath as evidence of dedication, commitment, and duty to the Constitution. As such, they play a quintessential role in upholding democratic values. Yet contrasted to codes of ethics, oaths get little recognition in the study of public administration. What attention they do receive focuses primarily on the presidential oath of office. This article examines a little-resear…
Whistleblowing or leaking? Public opinion toward Assange, Manning, and Snowden
The release of classified documents through outlets like WikiLeaks has transformed American politics by shedding light on the innerworkings of governments, parties, and corporations. The high-profile criminal cases associated with such releases – those of Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden – have highlighted important questions about journalism, government secrecy, and the public’s “right to know.” Scholars have focused on the jo…
Pointless or Powerful: The Case for Oaths of Office
The practice of making oaths comes from ancient times, a tradition common to virtually all peoples and cultures. Recent calls for ethics reform have included questions about how or whether these declarations are honored. In the fraught politics of today’s secularized, pluralistic society, skepticism about oaths may be tempting, but it is insufficient as the topic deserves critical reflection. This study assesses the efficacy of oaths of office by…
Public preferences for Zika policy and responsibility in the absence of partisan cues
In the absence of partisan ownership of an issue, what factors shape public preferences for federal, state and local policy action? The Zika virus provides a unique context in which to examine this question, as it is a new threat to public health in the United States and lacks clear partisan ownership. We examine (1) which Zika policies do citizens support, (2) at which level(s) of government and (3) what factors explain citizen assignment of pol…
Whistleblowing Policies in American States: A Nationwide Analysis
American states have statutes with whistleblowing protection provisions for employees. These laws may focus on the duty to divulge misconduct, procedures for reporting disclosures, and protection from retaliation. The research question is, “What is the scope, content, and perceived effectiveness of these provisions?” The premise is that they have value, albeit uncertain, in the practice of public administration. To investigate this subject area, …
Citizen Support for Domestic Drone Use and Regulation
Recently, governments, commercial firms, and individuals have increased their use of unmanned aerial vehicles (i.e., “drones”). As with many new technologies, drone use has outpaced government oversight. Attempts to regulate the technology have been met with intense public backlash. Therefore, governments need to understand the public’s preferences for a regulatory regime. Analyzing national survey data, we address two questions: (a) What policie…
Communicating to the Public in the Era of Conspiracy Theory
During the last decade, social scientists have taken a strong interest in both the veracity of citizens beliefs and the quality of information on which those beliefs are based. In particular, social scientists have focused much of this work on conspiracy theories given how such theories can undermine government initiatives. The extant literature shows: (1) that the current information environment allows conspiracy theories to spread among citizen…
Electronic Surveillance at Work: An Ethical Analysis
This study examines electronic surveillance in the workplace, by asking, “Are such practices ethical?” To address this question, classical philosophical and modern psychological approaches to ethics are used. The inquiry begins with the importance of the problem, followed by its evolution and current status. After describing the method of analysis, the article analyzes arguments for and against surveillance. Although there are no easy answers, th…
The Domestic Use of Drones: An Ethical Analysis of Surveillance Issues
Drone surveillance can be regarded either as a justifiable, impartial practice serving the interests of all or as an oppressive technique catering to the interests of some at the expense of others. This analysis is an effort to weigh the ethical prospects and problems in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles by asking whether surveillance of civilians is ethical. To address this question, classical philosophical and modern behavioral approaches to …
Municipal government strategies for controlling personnel costs during the fiscal storm
Fiscal stress has spurred city governments to search for ways to reduce costs. Human resource professionals and municipal budget officers have been searching for ways to reduce personnel-related costs because this is where the greatest savings can be realized. This paper identifies and examines different personnel cost-containment strategies pursued by a national sample of 90 large U.S. cities. It focuses on hiring, wages and hours, employee bene…
Public Values in Special Districts: A Survey of Managerial Commitment
Special districts are increasingly important in the landscape of public organizations and now constitute about 40 percent of all U.S. jurisdictions. Yet little is known about the public value commitments of managers in special districts. This systematic study of senior managers in large special districts finds that support for public values is strong and similar to that of senior managers in cities. This study explores the effect of concomitant c…
State Government Human Resource Professionals’ Commitment to Employment at Will
This article examines the attitudes of a key set of state government officials—state human resource (HR) professionals—toward employment at will (EAW) in state government. It presents original survey data obtained from HR professionals in four southern states: Georgia, Florida, Texas, and Mississippi. Drawing on these data, the article creates an index measuring respondents’ commitment to EAW, as measured by their attitudes toward arguments used …
Managing Emotional Intelligence in U.S. Cities: A Study of Social Skills among Public Managers
This study assesses perceptions of managerial emotional intelligence in local government, as well as the practices and polices affecting it. Though few cities offer training programs for managers that are called “emotional intelligence,” many cities engage in activities that target or address EI skills. This study finds improvement opportunities for managers to become better attuned to the feelings of others and themselves, to better know their o…
To “Re‐Hatch” Public Employees or Not? An Ethical Analysis of the Relaxation of Restrictions on Political Activities in Civil Service
This study examines the ethical content of legislation regulating the political activities of civil servants. The analysis is done using the “ethics triangle,” a tool that encompasses the interdependence of results‐based utilitarian ethics, rule‐based duty ethics, and virtue‐based character ethics. The discussion begins with the importance of the problem, followed by its evolution and current status. After describing the methodology, the central …
Increasing Sustainability through the Management of Post Consumer Waste: A Study of Recycled Materials for Municipal Solid Waste Management
A scholarly article by authors Royce Burnett, Vaidyanathan Jayaraman, and Mark Friedman, Jonathan West published in The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability: Annual Review
American Public Service: Radical Reform and the Merit System
American Public Service: Radical Reform and the Merit System (Public Administration and Public Policy)
Ethics Training in U.S. Cities: Content, Pedagogy, and Impact
Ethics training is crucial to government and corporate compliance and values-oriented initiatives. Results from a national survey of cities indicate that about two-thirds of cities use some form of ethics training. It is mandatory in one-third of cities for all employees and voluntary in 43.5 percent. The mean duration of ethics training activities is approximately half a day. Ethics training is found to have a positive impact on the organization…
Workplace Relations: Friendship Patterns and Consequences (According to Managers)
This article examines orientations toward workplace friendship. Based on a survey of senior managers in cities with populations over 50,000, it addresses the following questions: Do senior managers promote, condone, or discourage workplace friendship? What risks and benefits of workplace friendships do these managers perceive? What policies and strategies that affect workplace friendship are found in organizations? How do these organizational eff…
The Profession of Public Administration: An Ethics Edge in Introductory Textbooks
Given the substantial interest in public service ethics, this study examines its foundations as reflected in paradigmatic textbooks—a unit of analysis that informs both theory and practice in the field. The interpretative framework employed evaluates the context (the amount and placement of the topic, the use of graphics, and sources cited) as well as the content (conceptualization of management ethics and inclusion of implementation issues) of e…
The ethics edge
Reaching the Top: Racial Differences in Mobility Paths to Upper-Tier Occupations
This study uses data from the 1988 to 1992 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to assess predictions from the particularistic mobility thesis concerning how African American and White males reach the Managers-Administrators and Professional-Technical census-based occupational categories. The findings provide support for the particularistic mobility thesis. In particular, African Americans, relative to Whites, attain both occupation…
Responsible Risk-Taking
Current management reforms require increased risk-taking by managers. Today's managers must rely more on their own judgment and less on rules and regulations in their efforts to improve government services (Altschuler and Behn, 1997; Gore, 1994; Winter Commission, 1993). This article defines responsible risk-taking as innovative management efforts that are guided by commitment to ethics and by respect for democratic processes and legal responsibi…
Reaching the Top: Racial Differences in Mobility Paths to Upper-Tier Occupations
This study uses data from the 1988 to 1992 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to assess predictions from the particularistic mobility thesis concerning how African American and White males reach the Managers-Administrators and Professional-Technical census-based occupational categories. The findings provide support for the particularistic mobility thesis. In particular, African Americans, relative to Whites, attain both occupation…
Workplace Relations: Friendship Patterns and Consequences (According to Managers)
This article examines orientations toward workplace friendship. Based on a survey of senior managers in cities with populations over 50,000, it addresses the following questions: Do senior managers promote, condone, or discourage workplace friendship? What risks and benefits of workplace friendships do these managers perceive? What policies and strategies that affect workplace friendship are found in organizations? How do these organizational eff…
Borderlands Sourcebook: A Guide to the Literature on Northern Mexico and the American Southwest
Ethics Management in Municipal Governments and Large Firms: Exploring Similarities and Differences
This study compares the ethics management strategies of large cities and firms with the purpose of examining whether public-private sector differences that have been hypothesized in the literature are reflected in ethics management practices. The findings suggest that differences between the public and private sectors are minimal; however, cities use more regulatory-based strategies, and large firms use code-based strategies. Moral leadership by …
Ethics Training in U.S. Cities: Content, Pedagogy, and Impact
Ethics training is crucial to government and corporate compliance and values-oriented initiatives. Results from a national survey of cities indicate that about two-thirds of cities use some form of ethics training. It is mandatory in one-third of cities for all employees and voluntary in 43.5 percent. The mean duration of ethics training activities is approximately half a day. Ethics training is found to have a positive impact on the organization…
Citizens' Contacts with Bureaucratic and Legislative Officials
This paper draws on both the bureaucratic and congressional literature to develop and test a model linking bureaucratic dissatisfaction with citizen- initiated contact with members of Congress. It has been argued by Fiorina and others that bureaucratic malfunctioning creates opportunities for congressional intervention which aids constituents and reaps electoral benefits for elected representatives. While this view has been widely accepted by sch…
Public preferences for Zika policy and responsibility in the absence of partisan cues
In the absence of partisan ownership of an issue, what factors shape public preferences for federal, state and local policy action? The Zika virus provides a unique context in which to examine this question, as it is a new threat to public health in the United States and lacks clear partisan ownership. We examine (1) which Zika policies do citizens support, (2) at which level(s) of government and (3) what factors explain citizen assignment of pol…
Whistleblowing Policies in American States: A Nationwide Analysis
American states have statutes with whistleblowing protection provisions for employees. These laws may focus on the duty to divulge misconduct, procedures for reporting disclosures, and protection from retaliation. The research question is, “What is the scope, content, and perceived effectiveness of these provisions?” The premise is that they have value, albeit uncertain, in the practice of public administration. To investigate this subject area, …
State Government Human Resource Professionals’ Commitment to Employment at Will
This article examines the attitudes of a key set of state government officials—state human resource (HR) professionals—toward employment at will (EAW) in state government. It presents original survey data obtained from HR professionals in four southern states: Georgia, Florida, Texas, and Mississippi. Drawing on these data, the article creates an index measuring respondents’ commitment to EAW, as measured by their attitudes toward arguments used …
Citizen Support for Domestic Drone Use and Regulation
Recently, governments, commercial firms, and individuals have increased their use of unmanned aerial vehicles (i.e., “drones”). As with many new technologies, drone use has outpaced government oversight. Attempts to regulate the technology have been met with intense public backlash. Therefore, governments need to understand the public’s preferences for a regulatory regime. Analyzing national survey data, we address two questions: (a) What policie…
Borderlands Sourcebook: A Guide to the Literature on Northern Mexico and the American Southwest
Communicating to the Public in the Era of Conspiracy Theory
During the last decade, social scientists have taken a strong interest in both the veracity of citizens beliefs and the quality of information on which those beliefs are based. In particular, social scientists have focused much of this work on conspiracy theories given how such theories can undermine government initiatives. The extant literature shows: (1) that the current information environment allows conspiracy theories to spread among citizen…
Electronic Surveillance at Work: An Ethical Analysis
This study examines electronic surveillance in the workplace, by asking, “Are such practices ethical?” To address this question, classical philosophical and modern psychological approaches to ethics are used. The inquiry begins with the importance of the problem, followed by its evolution and current status. After describing the method of analysis, the article analyzes arguments for and against surveillance. Although there are no easy answers, th…
Municipal Responses to Homelessness: A National Survey of “Preparedness”
This article examines the preparedness of US cities to deal with homelessness. It develops a multi-variable measure of preparedness based on the range of homelessness programs and the use of strategies for planning, acquiring necessary resources, and implementation. Research suggests that cities vary greatly in their level of preparedness, as well as with regard to the specific programs and strategies that are used. This article also examines dri…
TQM in American Cities: Hypotheses Regarding Commitment and Impact
This article uses data from a national survey on total quality management in municipalities to test a range of hypotheses. Results show that executive culture and top management leader-ship are significant determinants of TQM commitment and impact, whereas demands from external stakeholders such as citizens and council members are not. This suggests that theories of external exchange may be of limited value in explaining TQM in public management.…
Public-Private Leadership and the Role of Nonprofit Organizations in Local Government: The Case of Social Services
This article examines the role of nonprofit organizations in public-private collaboration to advocate, plan, coordinate, and deliver social services to the homeless. The research is based on a national survey of cities with populations greater than 50,000. Results show that nonprofit organizations are significant driving forces for homelessness efforts and that collective public-private strategies, with nonprofit organizations playing important r…
Human Resource Strategies in Local Government: A Survey of Progress and Future Directions
This article examines career development in American local governments. It considers the factors affecting municipal adoption of career-development programs and compares past accomplishments with future challenges. It also uniquely compares municipal and corporate success in implementing career development. Results indicate a large "aspiration gap" between past accomplishments and future challenges and a public-sector lag behind the private secto…
Community Integration and Policies among Elites in Two Border Cities: Los dos Laredo
A number of excellent studies of the U.S.-Mexican border have indicated that the border is occasionally a barrier but more often a permeable membrane through which goods, services, and people can filter. Employment practices and reciprocal trade across the border, together with tourism, have increased the need for policy cooperation among the jurisdictionally distinct but functionally integrated border communities. Our study represents an explora…
Classical Rationalism and Contemporary Realism: Oaths of Office as Empty Formality or Empowering Function
The practice of making oaths comes from ancient times, a tradition common to nearly all peoples and cultures. Calls for ethics reform in recent years have included questions about how or whether oaths are honored. In the fraught politics of today’s secularized, pluralistic society, skepticism about oaths may be warranted, but it is insufficient as the topic deserves critical reflection. The purpose of this exploratory study is to assess the effic…
Whistleblowing or leaking? Public opinion toward Assange, Manning, and Snowden
The release of classified documents through outlets like WikiLeaks has transformed American politics by shedding light on the innerworkings of governments, parties, and corporations. The high-profile criminal cases associated with such releases – those of Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden – have highlighted important questions about journalism, government secrecy, and the public’s “right to know.” Scholars have focused on the jo…
Pointless or Powerful: The Case for Oaths of Office
The practice of making oaths comes from ancient times, a tradition common to virtually all peoples and cultures. Recent calls for ethics reform have included questions about how or whether these declarations are honored. In the fraught politics of today’s secularized, pluralistic society, skepticism about oaths may be tempting, but it is insufficient as the topic deserves critical reflection. This study assesses the efficacy of oaths of office by…
The ethics edge
Adopting Personnel Productivity Innovations in American Local Governments
Improving the productivity of public employees has increasingly attracted the attention of urban policymakers and administrators concerned about the quality, cost, and efficiency of governmental service delivery. A national survey of local personnel managers was undertaken to ascertain the degree of jurisdictional receptivity to personnel-based management tools, preferred approaches, and the most serious policy and institutional barriers to the i…
Counterbudget. Robert S. Benson , Harold Wolman
Community Integration and Policies among Elites in Two Border Cities: Los dos Laredo
A number of excellent studies of the U.S.-Mexican border have indicated that the border is occasionally a barrier but more often a permeable membrane through which goods, services, and people can filter. Employment practices and reciprocal trade across the border, together with tourism, have increased the need for policy cooperation among the jurisdictionally distinct but functionally integrated border communities. Our study represents an explora…
Attitudinal Differences among Supervisors in the Public Sector
Examination of the attitudes of public sector employees with supervisory titles toward unions, grievance procedures, job satisfaction, and the use of merit in personnel matters. Data and methods; Findings and conclusions. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)
The Semantics of Preverbs in Gothic
Borderlands Sourcebook: A Guide to the Literature on Northern Mexico and the American Southwest
Borderlands Sourcebook: A Guide to the Literature on Northern Mexico and the American Southwest
Adopting Personnel Productivity Innovations in American Local Governments
Improving the productivity of public employees has increasingly attracted the attention of urban policymakers and administrators concerned about the quality, cost, and efficiency of governmental service delivery. A national survey of local personnel managers was undertaken to ascertain the degree of jurisdictional receptivity to personnel-based management tools, preferred approaches, and the most serious policy and institutional barriers to the i…
Human Resource Strategies in Local Government: A Survey of Progress and Future Directions
This article examines career development in American local governments. It considers the factors affecting municipal adoption of career-development programs and compares past accomplishments with future challenges. It also uniquely compares municipal and corporate success in implementing career development. Results indicate a large "aspiration gap" between past accomplishments and future challenges and a public-sector lag behind the private secto…
Citizens' Contacts with Bureaucratic and Legislative Officials
This paper draws on both the bureaucratic and congressional literature to develop and test a model linking bureaucratic dissatisfaction with citizen- initiated contact with members of Congress. It has been argued by Fiorina and others that bureaucratic malfunctioning creates opportunities for congressional intervention which aids constituents and reaps electoral benefits for elected representatives. While this view has been widely accepted by sch…
Ethics Management in Municipal Governments and Large Firms: Exploring Similarities and Differences
This study compares the ethics management strategies of large cities and firms with the purpose of examining whether public-private sector differences that have been hypothesized in the literature are reflected in ethics management practices. The findings suggest that differences between the public and private sectors are minimal; however, cities use more regulatory-based strategies, and large firms use code-based strategies. Moral leadership by …
Support for television coverage of the legislative process among state legislators: A comparison of Iowa, Utah, and Florida
The amount of media coverage of state legislatures varies across the 50 states, as do levels of public interest and citizen information about state legislative affairs. In order to assess the attitudes of those elected officials who would be most directly affected by opening up the political process to greater media coverage, survey data were collected from state legislators in Iowa, Utah, and Florida. Representatives and senators from these thre…
Municipal Commitment to Total Quality Management: A Survey of Recent Progress
In the past two years, there has been considerable interest in Total Quality Management (TQM). At the level of local government, interest is shown by the increasing number of TQM initiatives in such services as garbage collection, street maintenance, welfare services, police protection, emergency services, and other areas (Sensenbrenner, 1991; Galloway, 1992; Walters, 1992; Pfister, 1993; Lusk, Tribus, and Schwinn, 1989; Penzer, 1991; Kline, 1992…
TQM in American Cities: Hypotheses Regarding Commitment and Impact
This article uses data from a national survey on total quality management in municipalities to test a range of hypotheses. Results show that executive culture and top management leader-ship are significant determinants of TQM commitment and impact, whereas demands from external stakeholders such as citizens and council members are not. This suggests that theories of external exchange may be of limited value in explaining TQM in public management.…
Public-Private Leadership and the Role of Nonprofit Organizations in Local Government: The Case of Social Services
This article examines the role of nonprofit organizations in public-private collaboration to advocate, plan, coordinate, and deliver social services to the homeless. The research is based on a national survey of cities with populations greater than 50,000. Results show that nonprofit organizations are significant driving forces for homelessness efforts and that collective public-private strategies, with nonprofit organizations playing important r…
Municipal Responses to Homelessness: A National Survey of “Preparedness”
This article examines the preparedness of US cities to deal with homelessness. It develops a multi-variable measure of preparedness based on the range of homelessness programs and the use of strategies for planning, acquiring necessary resources, and implementation. Research suggests that cities vary greatly in their level of preparedness, as well as with regard to the specific programs and strategies that are used. This article also examines dri…
Responsible Risk-Taking
Current management reforms require increased risk-taking by managers. Today's managers must rely more on their own judgment and less on rules and regulations in their efforts to improve government services (Altschuler and Behn, 1997; Gore, 1994; Winter Commission, 1993). This article defines responsible risk-taking as innovative management efforts that are guided by commitment to ethics and by respect for democratic processes and legal responsibi…
Reaching the Top: Racial Differences in Mobility Paths to Upper-Tier Occupations
This study uses data from the 1988 to 1992 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to assess predictions from the particularistic mobility thesis concerning how African American and White males reach the Managers-Administrators and Professional-Technical census-based occupational categories. The findings provide support for the particularistic mobility thesis. In particular, African Americans, relative to Whites, attain both occupation…
The ethics edge
The Profession of Public Administration: An Ethics Edge in Introductory Textbooks
Given the substantial interest in public service ethics, this study examines its foundations as reflected in paradigmatic textbooks—a unit of analysis that informs both theory and practice in the field. The interpretative framework employed evaluates the context (the amount and placement of the topic, the use of graphics, and sources cited) as well as the content (conceptualization of management ethics and inclusion of implementation issues) of e…
Workplace Relations: Friendship Patterns and Consequences (According to Managers)
This article examines orientations toward workplace friendship. Based on a survey of senior managers in cities with populations over 50,000, it addresses the following questions: Do senior managers promote, condone, or discourage workplace friendship? What risks and benefits of workplace friendships do these managers perceive? What policies and strategies that affect workplace friendship are found in organizations? How do these organizational eff…
Ethics Training in U.S. Cities: Content, Pedagogy, and Impact
Ethics training is crucial to government and corporate compliance and values-oriented initiatives. Results from a national survey of cities indicate that about two-thirds of cities use some form of ethics training. It is mandatory in one-third of cities for all employees and voluntary in 43.5 percent. The mean duration of ethics training activities is approximately half a day. Ethics training is found to have a positive impact on the organization…
American Public Service: Radical Reform and the Merit System
American Public Service: Radical Reform and the Merit System (Public Administration and Public Policy)
Increasing Sustainability through the Management of Post Consumer Waste: A Study of Recycled Materials for Municipal Solid Waste Management
A scholarly article by authors Royce Burnett, Vaidyanathan Jayaraman, and Mark Friedman, Jonathan West published in The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic, and Social Sustainability: Annual Review
Managing Emotional Intelligence in U.S. Cities: A Study of Social Skills among Public Managers
This study assesses perceptions of managerial emotional intelligence in local government, as well as the practices and polices affecting it. Though few cities offer training programs for managers that are called “emotional intelligence,” many cities engage in activities that target or address EI skills. This study finds improvement opportunities for managers to become better attuned to the feelings of others and themselves, to better know their o…
Political science (32 works) · Public relations (20 works) · Business (19 works) · Law (16 works) · Sociology (16 works) · Public Administration (14 works) · Public Administration (13 works) · Law (11 works) · Politics (11 works) · Economics (9 works)