Staci M Zavattaro
Biographic Data
| ID | 4127968 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Staci M Zavattaro |
| GIVEN NAMES | Staci M |
| FAMILY NAME | Zavattaro |
| SIGNATURE | ZAVATTARO S M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Central Florida |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4851-0179 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 44 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 154 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 44 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
‘We have parks that we bury people In’: Street-level bureaucracy, struggle, and municipal cemetery management in the U.S
In the United States, body disposition preferences often shift along with contemporary cultural, social, moral, and political values. The focus of this paper is on how public sector cemetery managers in the U.S. as street-level bureaucrats are confronting these challenges, trying to serve the public good while also working within resource constraints. Based on interviews with 35 municipal cemetery managers understood through the lens of street-le…
Qualitative Methods as Liberatory Tools: Introduction to the Special Issue Part 1
Unveiling Power Dynamics: Qualitative Research as a Liberatory Tool in Public Administration, Part 2
Farewell, and thanks for the memories
Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)
ATP celebrates 45 years: A dialogue series
ATP celebrates 45 years: A dialogue series." Administrative Theory & Praxis, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–2
Death managers, public health, and Covid ‐19: An exploratory study
The ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic has exacerbated cracks in the United States' healthcare systems—along with its deathcare systems. The pandemic as an ongoing mass fatality incident highlights the need to understand the public servants engaged in deathcare work, as they are a vital part of the emergency response equation. This exploratory, descriptive study focuses on the ways in which medical examiners and coroners (ME/Cs) in the United States provi…
Broadcast Meteorologists and Personal Branding: An Exploratory Study after a Hurricane Crisis
Television station and on-air talent marketing and branding has been studied with increasing attention because there is recognition that the people are part of an overall brand strategy. In this paper, we focus on broadcast meteorologists and their views of their personal brands and how those work to engage audiences. With Hurricane Dorian in 2019 as the background major weather event, the paper focuses on how on-air meteorologists develop their …
Weaponization of Wokeness: The Theater of Management and Implications for Public Administration
Contemporarily, the word “woke” has moved into the popular lexicon, largely to mean aware of and ideally doing something about systemic racism. After the George Floyd murder, and many other state‐sanctioned murders of Black Americans, protests erupted globally, and public administrators responded either with actionable policy changes or sometimes symbolic, “woke” statements that did little to alter the system. In this conceptual paper, we explore…
We’ll See Who’s Powerless Now!” Using Wall-E to Teach Administrative Ethics
Using fiction is a popular way to communicate sometimes-complex administrative practices. This paper uses Disney Pixar’s WALL-E to examine the movie’s ethical dilemmas and how to communicate those in the public management classroom. Through a content analysis of the movie, several overall ethical themes emerged: ethical use of technology, environmental ethics, and consumerism as administrative dilemma. Each is explained using exemplar stories fro…
When Deaths Are Dehumanized: Deathcare During Covid-19 as a Public Value Failure
The COVID-19 pandemic, which is still gripping the world, brought death front and center into many people’s lives. In the United States, however, some of the deaths were treated as “more tragic” than others given someone’s economic use value coupled with dehumanizing language. Using Debord’s Society of the Spectacle, this is understood as a public values failure when economic productivity eclipses public health and humanity. Introducing a concept…
Public Branding and Marketing: Theoretical and Practical Developments
Cultural Competency in Local Government Cemetery Management
Local government cemetery management is an unexplored area of public administration, and this paper begins to tackle that gap by exploring the role of cultural competency in the role. Based on a content analysis of interviews with 35 municipal cemetery managers throughout the U.S., I find cultural competence manifests in several ways: racial segregation even in death; intersectional identities; and funeral economics. The paper brings to light the…
Taking the Social Justice Fight to the Cloud: Social Media and Body Positivity
Fat. The word has a negative, vitriolic meaning, but there are body positivity activists trying to reclaim the word as a descriptor rather than derogatory term. People in larger bodies are often ostracized, not allowed to fully participate in society, making this a social justice issue. Social media are becoming primary tools people use to shape and change discourse that frames fat bodies as lesser members of society or a problem to be controlled…
City Sextons: Tales from Municipal Leaders
Introduction: Covid ‐19 Viewpoint Symposium, Part II
We've Cared for the Dead since We Started Caring”: Covid ‐19 and Our Relationship to Public and Private Deathcare
The COVID‐19 pandemic has highlighted public organizations’ challenges related to deathcare. Within the emergency management literature, and specifically within public administration, there is a gap when it comes to planning past death. Using data from interviews with 35 municipal cemetery managers throughout the United States, I show how our unwillingness to talk about or plan for death, coupled with cemetery managers who are underfunded and oft…
Global Reflection, Conceptual Exploration, and Evidentiary Assimilation: Covid ‐19 Viewpoint Symposium Introduction
By April 2020, the United States had entered the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were observing the harrowing effects of the virus in China, Italy, and early hotspots in the United States. It was clear to us, as editors, that this crisis would upend traditional ways of operating in the public and nonprofit sectors. Once-clear administrative roles would be abandoned, and policies and procedures would be suspended, altered, or ignored to r…
City Sextons
Methodological Pluralism: Reflections on China
When Mary Guy asks you to board a plane to China, you just say yes.Even for someone like me, who has a fear of flying, the only answer was yes. Her invitation felt like a wonderful chance to engage
Brand USA: A natural quasi-experiment evaluating the success of a national marketing campaign
Contracting, Ethics, and Policy Adoption: The Case of Florida Municipalities
Local government policy makers continue to pursue governance reforms that introduce business-like practices including the privatization or contracting-out of essential government services. It is unclear how these privatized arrangements may influence the accountability standards of local government employees and elected officials. Using a Cox proportional hazard model, the current study examines how privatization of essential services influences …
Performative Ethics in the Trump Era: A Postmodern Examination
As public administration continues its postmodern turn, there is a need to reexamine administrative ethics. In this article, the concept of “performative ethics” is introduced as a counter to ethics based solely on bureaucratic codes, professional obligations, and democratic ideals. Overall, this article is theoretical in that it is meant to offer an interpretation of today’s administrative ethics from a postmodern perspective and find ways to ma…
Editor’s Introduction and Thanks
Theory to Practice: Opening an Old Can Anew
Bridging the gap: An exploration of how DMO managers use education to overcome challenges
Place branding practices are increasingly taking place within public sector organisations, yet destination marketing organisation managers are insufficiently researched through a lens of managerial theory. Extending previous empirical research on DMO management obstacles, this study contributes to the literature by reporting results of interviews with DMO managers throughout a Southern state, and finds that managers face four major challenges: pe…
A sentiment analysis of U.S. local government tweets: The connection between tone and citizen involvement
A critical examination of social media adoption in government: Introducing omnipresence
Social Media and Public Administration: Theoretical Dimensions and Introduction to the Symposium
(2011). Social Media and Public Administration. Administrative Theory & Praxis: Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 325-340
Weaponization of Wokeness: The Theater of Management and Implications for Public Administration
Contemporarily, the word “woke” has moved into the popular lexicon, largely to mean aware of and ideally doing something about systemic racism. After the George Floyd murder, and many other state‐sanctioned murders of Black Americans, protests erupted globally, and public administrators responded either with actionable policy changes or sometimes symbolic, “woke” statements that did little to alter the system. In this conceptual paper, we explore…
Assessing managerial methods for evaluating place brand equity: A qualitative investigation
Taking the Social Justice Fight to the Cloud: Social Media and Body Positivity
Fat. The word has a negative, vitriolic meaning, but there are body positivity activists trying to reclaim the word as a descriptor rather than derogatory term. People in larger bodies are often ostracized, not allowed to fully participate in society, making this a social justice issue. Social media are becoming primary tools people use to shape and change discourse that frames fat bodies as lesser members of society or a problem to be controlled…
We've Cared for the Dead since We Started Caring”: Covid ‐19 and Our Relationship to Public and Private Deathcare
The COVID‐19 pandemic has highlighted public organizations’ challenges related to deathcare. Within the emergency management literature, and specifically within public administration, there is a gap when it comes to planning past death. Using data from interviews with 35 municipal cemetery managers throughout the United States, I show how our unwillingness to talk about or plan for death, coupled with cemetery managers who are underfunded and oft…
When Deaths Are Dehumanized: Deathcare During Covid-19 as a Public Value Failure
The COVID-19 pandemic, which is still gripping the world, brought death front and center into many people’s lives. In the United States, however, some of the deaths were treated as “more tragic” than others given someone’s economic use value coupled with dehumanizing language. Using Debord’s Society of the Spectacle, this is understood as a public values failure when economic productivity eclipses public health and humanity. Introducing a concept…
Municipalities as Public Relations and Marketing Firms
This article offers a metaphorical image of U. S. municipalities as public relations (PR) and marketing firms. Cities are practicing many of the same promotional and image-generation techniques as private-sector PR firms use with a desire for the same ends—increased consumption of goods and services, which in this case come from cities and not from private-sector businesses. The image presented here is based on six tactics that public organizatio…
Brand Obama: The Implications of a Branded President
Bridging the gap: An exploration of how DMO managers use education to overcome challenges
Place branding practices are increasingly taking place within public sector organisations, yet destination marketing organisation managers are insufficiently researched through a lens of managerial theory. Extending previous empirical research on DMO management obstacles, this study contributes to the literature by reporting results of interviews with DMO managers throughout a Southern state, and finds that managers face four major challenges: pe…
Expanding Goffman's Theater Metaphor to an Identity-Based View of Place Branding
Image/impression management takes place every day at the individual level. Cities similarly manage their images by creating, implementing, and evaluating strategic place-branding strategies. For public administration, however, which has neglected this subject, there is a risk that place branding may become collateral damage. The theoretical understanding developed in this article extends Goffman's theater metaphor to a view of place branding base…
Social Media in Public Administration’s Future: A Response to Farazmand
Professor Ali Farazmand envisioned a future of public administration affected by technology transformation, among other factors. In that article, however, the professor did not expound on this assertion, leaving room for this contribution. Here, Farazmand’s framework of legal and constitutional, organizational and managerial, political, and intergovernmental and global factors is considered to explore the role of social media in public administra…
Introduction: Covid ‐19 Viewpoint Symposium, Part II
Brand USA: A natural quasi-experiment evaluating the success of a national marketing campaign
Management Movements and Phases of the Image: Potential for Closing the Loop
Public administrators always seem to be looking for a fix to the field’s “big” problem of ineffective government. One popular solution was (and perhaps still is) New Public Management reforms based on market values. Collaborative Public Management and related suggestions emerged thereafter to return the field to its democratic roots. The problem is, though, that both these constructs are pegged as “new” when nothing particularly innovative exists…
ATP celebrates 45 years: A dialogue series
ATP celebrates 45 years: A dialogue series." Administrative Theory & Praxis, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–2
We’ll See Who’s Powerless Now!” Using Wall-E to Teach Administrative Ethics
Using fiction is a popular way to communicate sometimes-complex administrative practices. This paper uses Disney Pixar’s WALL-E to examine the movie’s ethical dilemmas and how to communicate those in the public management classroom. Through a content analysis of the movie, several overall ethical themes emerged: ethical use of technology, environmental ethics, and consumerism as administrative dilemma. Each is explained using exemplar stories fro…
Cultural Competency in Local Government Cemetery Management
Local government cemetery management is an unexplored area of public administration, and this paper begins to tackle that gap by exploring the role of cultural competency in the role. Based on a content analysis of interviews with 35 municipal cemetery managers throughout the U.S., I find cultural competence manifests in several ways: racial segregation even in death; intersectional identities; and funeral economics. The paper brings to light the…
Editor’s Introduction and Thanks
Athletic identity – or an autoethnography of almost losing a leg
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use autoethnography to explore notions of self-identity formation and projection. The author uses the stages of grief as an analytical tool to explain athletic identity formation and personal effects when an injury removed that part of her self. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses autoethnography, a self-reflective, qualitative methodology meant to engage the researcher's personal experience, whi…
Organizational Implosion: A Case Study of Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan, is on the brink: Financial mismanagement, population exodus, increasing legacy costs, and out-of-control debt have driven it to bankruptcy. City actors, both administrative and elected, making politically driven decisions invited the disaster. This article uses the concepts of organizational implosion and image management to examine the degree to which the city indeed suffered organization implosion and how the city presented i…
Municipalities as Public Relations and Marketing Firms
This article offers a metaphorical image of U. S. municipalities as public relations (PR) and marketing firms. Cities are practicing many of the same promotional and image-generation techniques as private-sector PR firms use with a desire for the same ends—increased consumption of goods and services, which in this case come from cities and not from private-sector businesses. The image presented here is based on six tactics that public organizatio…
Brand Obama: The Implications of a Branded President
Social Media and Public Administration: Theoretical Dimensions and Introduction to the Symposium
(2011). Social Media and Public Administration. Administrative Theory & Praxis: Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 325-340
Cities for Sale: Municipalities as Public Relations and Marketing Firms
Expanding Goffman's Theater Metaphor to an Identity-Based View of Place Branding
Image/impression management takes place every day at the individual level. Cities similarly manage their images by creating, implementing, and evaluating strategic place-branding strategies. For public administration, however, which has neglected this subject, there is a risk that place branding may become collateral damage. The theoretical understanding developed in this article extends Goffman's theater metaphor to a view of place branding base…
Introducing the Institutional (D)Evolution Framework to Examine Policies and Practices Regarding Sexual Orientation
(2013). Introducing the Institutional (D)Evolution Framework to Examine Policies and Practices Regarding Sexual Orientation. Administrative Theory & Praxis: Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 441-447
Social Media in Public Administration’s Future: A Response to Farazmand
Professor Ali Farazmand envisioned a future of public administration affected by technology transformation, among other factors. In that article, however, the professor did not expound on this assertion, leaving room for this contribution. Here, Farazmand’s framework of legal and constitutional, organizational and managerial, political, and intergovernmental and global factors is considered to explore the role of social media in public administra…
Management Movements and Phases of the Image: Potential for Closing the Loop
Public administrators always seem to be looking for a fix to the field’s “big” problem of ineffective government. One popular solution was (and perhaps still is) New Public Management reforms based on market values. Collaborative Public Management and related suggestions emerged thereafter to return the field to its democratic roots. The problem is, though, that both these constructs are pegged as “new” when nothing particularly innovative exists…
Place Branding through Phases of the Image: Balancing Image and Substance
1. Utilizing Philosophy in Place Branding 2. Laying the Foundations 3. Putting it All Together: The Framework 4. Examples in Practice 5. Implications of the Framework 6. A Guide for Managers
Place Branding through Phases of the Image
As places face increased competition for human and capital resources, public managers turn toward corporate-like governance strategies and branding practices to shape places and organizations. However
Athletic identity – or an autoethnography of almost losing a leg
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use autoethnography to explore notions of self-identity formation and projection. The author uses the stages of grief as an analytical tool to explain athletic identity formation and personal effects when an injury removed that part of her self. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses autoethnography, a self-reflective, qualitative methodology meant to engage the researcher's personal experience, whi…
Critical Imagination: Expanding Consensual Decision-Making Processes in Public Administration
The belief that consensus-based outcomes of decision-making spaces are the best way to achieve the "right" decision has made consensus a guiding myth in public administration. This is not always positive, as consensus processes conjure images of power relations and constrained discussion. This article analyzes the myth of consensus by combining two existing frameworks: Box's critical social change and Abel's decision heuristics. Together, these f…
A critical examination of social media adoption in government: Introducing omnipresence
Organizational Implosion: A Case Study of Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan, is on the brink: Financial mismanagement, population exodus, increasing legacy costs, and out-of-control debt have driven it to bankruptcy. City actors, both administrative and elected, making politically driven decisions invited the disaster. This article uses the concepts of organizational implosion and image management to examine the degree to which the city indeed suffered organization implosion and how the city presented i…
Using Legitimacy as an Organizing Lens for Public Administration
A sentiment analysis of U.S. local government tweets: The connection between tone and citizen involvement
Assessing managerial methods for evaluating place brand equity: A qualitative investigation
Bridging the gap: An exploration of how DMO managers use education to overcome challenges
Place branding practices are increasingly taking place within public sector organisations, yet destination marketing organisation managers are insufficiently researched through a lens of managerial theory. Extending previous empirical research on DMO management obstacles, this study contributes to the literature by reporting results of interviews with DMO managers throughout a Southern state, and finds that managers face four major challenges: pe…
Social Media: How One City Opens the Evidence Black Box
Related Content: Isett, Head and VanLandingham (PAR July/August 2017) Related Content: Mergel (PAR July/August 2017
Branding and Isomorphism: The Case of Higher Education
Since the New Public Management movement began, public and nonprofit organizations have been adopting and adapting businesslike practices, including branding and marketing. There remains a knowledge gap in understanding why organizational actors choose to allocate resources to adopt branding and marketing policies. This article explores organizational branding initiatives within the context of research extensive (N = 109) higher education institu…
Editor’s Introduction and Thanks
Theory to Practice: Opening an Old Can Anew
Methodological Pluralism: Reflections on China
When Mary Guy asks you to board a plane to China, you just say yes.Even for someone like me, who has a fear of flying, the only answer was yes. Her invitation felt like a wonderful chance to engage
Brand USA: A natural quasi-experiment evaluating the success of a national marketing campaign
Contracting, Ethics, and Policy Adoption: The Case of Florida Municipalities
Local government policy makers continue to pursue governance reforms that introduce business-like practices including the privatization or contracting-out of essential government services. It is unclear how these privatized arrangements may influence the accountability standards of local government employees and elected officials. Using a Cox proportional hazard model, the current study examines how privatization of essential services influences …
Political science (35 works) · Sociology (28 works) · Public relations (20 works) · Law (18 works) · Business (14 works) · Law (13 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Public Policy and Administration Research (11 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Public Administration (10 works)