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Watershed groups in Ohio: the effects of organizational characteristics on political behavior, accomplishments, and perceived effectiveness

Fleishman, Rachel K.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406732509

Abstract Details

2004, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Natural Resources.
A watershed group is collection of stakeholders who come together to collectively manage, protect, or restore a watershed or body of water. Most watershed groups are concerned with issues related to water quality, non-point source pollution, and land use. Although watershed groups engage in a wide range of activities, this research focuses on their political behavior. The political roles that have been most closely associated with watershed groups include acting as a local implementer for non-point source water pollution legislation, integrating citizen and private concerns into policy recommendations, and fostering collaboration between government and private agencies. Very few scholars have explored the possibility that watershed groups apply pressure to government, similarly to an interest group, even though they fit the basic definition of an interest group. This research aims to better understand the political role of watershed groups by examining their political behavior in light of all these potential political roles. Another objective is to explore the relationship between organizational characteristics of watershed groups (including participation, financial resources, human resources, and group experience) and aspects of their political behavior. One aspect of interest is the political character of watershed group activities, in particular whether these activities involve a collaborative relationship with government, whether they are designed to apply pressure to government, or whether they represent some combination of collaborative and pressure activities. Another aspect of interest is the level or levels of government towards which watershed groups tend to direct their political activities. Several statistical analyses are used to relate organizational characteristics of watershed groups to these two aspects of their political behavior. Organizational characteristics are also related to the likelihood that watershed groups will act as a “local implementers” of non-point source pollution legislation. In the next part of the analysis, the proportion of private versus government participation in watershed groups is measured and related to group outcomes. Two participation measures (group type and percent government) are used to characterize the mix of public and private participation in the sample of watershed groups. These measures are put into a model with several control variables, representing organizational characteristics of the watershed group. Together, the participation measures and the control variables compose the set of independent variables for this analysis. These independent variables are related to two different measures of watershed group outcomes: 1) group accomplishments and 2) perceived effectiveness over several political roles. The sample used for this analysis is restricted to watershed groups in Ohio. Data was collected using a set of eleven interviews with selected watershed group leaders or coordinators, as well as a mail survey sent to the entire known population of Ohio watershed group leaders. It was found that watershed groups in Ohio engage in mostly collaborative or neutral activities, but a small number of pressure activities were also commonly used. On average, the groups tended to split their time evenly between state/federal levels of government and local government. Regarding participation in watershed groups, it was found that the groups, on average, have significant representation from private citizens and private interests. Group type and percent government were related to group accomplishments and perceived political effectiveness using a variety of statistical techniques (multiple regression, t-tests, and cross-tabs). One important result was that groups with an equal mix of government and private representatives were found to have a higher perceived effectiveness than either government or private groups. This was consistent over several different analyses. Another important result was that the total hours spent by staff and volunteers was significant over more political roles than was the total money received by the group, which may be of interest to groups who lack financial resources.
Tomas Koontz (Advisor)
Joseph Arvai (Committee Member)
Trevor Brown (Committee Member)
174 p.
Natural Resource Management

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Fleishman, R. K. (2004). Watershed groups in Ohio: the effects of organizational characteristics on political behavior, accomplishments, and perceived effectiveness [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406732509

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Fleishman, Rachel. Watershed groups in Ohio: the effects of organizational characteristics on political behavior, accomplishments, and perceived effectiveness. 2004. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406732509.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Fleishman, Rachel. "Watershed groups in Ohio: the effects of organizational characteristics on political behavior, accomplishments, and perceived effectiveness." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406732509

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1406732509
189
© 2004, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.