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Dissertation Information for Gregory Crawford

NAME:
- Gregory Crawford

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- Rutgers University (USA) (1995)

ADVISORS:
- Ronald Rice

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Caroline Coughlin
- Hendrik Edelman
- Lea Stewart

MPACT Status: Incomplete - Inspected

Title: Information technology and intraorganizational power: A study of libraries in liberal arts colleges

Abstract: This dissertation examines the changes that electronic information technologies have caused on the power wielded by academic libraries within liberal arts colleges. Based upon theories espoused in the organizational structure and power literatures, especially the strategic contingencies theory of intraorganizational power, a model of organizational power within liberal arts colleges is developed, tested, and modified. Major features of the model include subunit power variables, environmental variables, technology indexes, structural variables, and bases of power variables (coping with uncertainty, centrality, and substitutability).

Data on 487 liberal arts college libraries was collected from the 1982 HEGIS and the 1990 IPEDS surveys and from two mailed questionnaires. The usable response rate for the first questionnaire was 85.4% (418 out of 487) and 82% (31 out of 38) for the second questionnaire which was sent only to those libraries which had the least and most automation.

The data provided limited support for the proposed model of intraorganizational power. According to simple path analyses, increases in library automation caused increases in several of the bases of power variables. As the bases of power increased, so did the power of the library as measured by the percent of the institutional budget allocated to the library, the number of library positions, and the perception of power. Contrary to the hypothesized relationships, as several of the environmental variables changed, specifically the size of the institution, the size of the book collection, faculty status for librarians, and the presence of a library committee, so did the power of the library. In addition, increases in the automation indexes and several of the environmental variables were positively related to increases in the power variables.

Analyses of a modified model of intraorganizational power showed that as automation and the environmental variables increased, the bases of power increased, and that the power of the library also increased as the bases of power, automation, and the environmental variables increased.

The results show that automation can be a change agent within organizations, causing changes in structure, the bases of power, and within power itself and that power is a concept worthy of study in librarianship.

MPACT Scores for Gregory Crawford

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:10:14

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