Abstracts – Browse Results
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Edmondson, V C (1996) After entry, then what? An examination of the strategy and performance of minority-owned ventures in the United States construction industry, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Georgia.
Knos, C T (2002) Investigating the effects of insurance industry standards on public building inspection departments in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Georgia.
- Type: Thesis
- Keywords: urbanization; insurance; natural disaster; standards; government; inspection; leadership; local government; safety; professional; Georgia
- ISBN/ISSN:
- URL: https://www.proquest.com/docview/60644408
- Abstract:
Natural disasters and other public safety problems have increasingly occupied the agenda of governments, especially at the local level. Governments have struggled to find programs which can increase public safety with the least amount of difficulty. This is especially the case in the field of building inspections. There are two central research questions in this dissertation. First, I utilize a post-test only design to investigate the conditions and circumstances under which local governments are likely to use the Building Code Effectiveness Grading System (BCEGS) in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Chief findings include the fact that BCEGS is utilized much more frequently in Florida than the other states, especially because of its longer coastline, greater urbanization, and heightened vulnerability to natural disasters. The other findings with regard to the first research question document that independent of state, BCEGS is more likely to be utilized by governments in coastal locations, in urban as opposed to rural areas, and in departments which have leadership with higher professional credentials. A second research question investigates the impact of BCEGS on improving the quality of building inspections. This dissertation utilizes the post survey as well as a previous survey by Burby as a pre-test to test the impact of BCEGS on structural, flood, and wind provisions. While a significant and favorable difference was found for structural provisions, the substantive impact was rather small. The quantitative findings were supported by site visits to building inspection departments in all three states. In terms of the implementation literature, the findings conform with Sabatier's notion that a program must have clear and consistent goals and adequate causal theory to be successful. BCEGS had these qualities. But what BCEGS truly lacked was the power of enforcement over the local building inspection departments; the force of law also was missing.
Knos, C T (2001) Investigating the effects of insurance industry standards on public building inspection departments in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , University of Georgia.