Announcing the Final Examination of Ms. Christina M. Burton for the degree of Doctor of Criminal Justice
Research describing conservation agencies has generally been exploratory and limited in the use of theory. Organizational theories can provide an understanding for how organizations change and adapt to their given environments, but they have not been applied to conservation agencies with unique challenges and strains from other public bureaucracies or private corporations. In expanding this body of literature, not only were these theories applied conservation agencies, but they were also explored in what Powell and Colyvas (2008, p. 276) called “microfoundations” of organizations, which focuses on the interplay between individuals and organizations. A convergent mixed-methods design was used, in which both quantitative and qualitative primary and secondary data were used. Within the quantitative strand, anonymous online surveys (n = 183) were distributed to rangers within the Association of National Park Rangers and social media groups. Publicly available data on iNaturalist and the National Park Service’s Integrated Resource Management Applications (IRMA) portal was also used to inform the study. For the qualitative strand, Zoom interviews (n = 11) and a participant observation of a Ranger Rendezvous conference was conducted. Through bivariate analyses, differences were found between law enforcement and non-law enforcement rangers; ordinary least squares regression indicate that role ambiguity and job satisfaction are important in predicting organizational commitment, and an interaction effect was found between type of ranger and job satisfaction on organizational commitment. Qualitative analyses found several themes associated with rangers’ perceptions of their organizations, including the variability of the implementation of policies, the importance of training in shaping ranger identity, and the variety of ways they perceive effectiveness and legitimacy. These strands are combined to describe how role ambiguity is important in organizational commitment. Important theoretical and policy implications arose from the study, including the identification of how organizations can have a direct impact on individual rangers.
Committee in Charge:
Chair: Dr. William Moreto (Chair)
Member: Dr. Matt Nobles (Co-Chair)
Member: Dr. Matthew Matusiak
External Member: Dr. Chad Posick (External, Georgia Southern University)
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