Building Bridges? An Assessment of Academic and Practitioner ...

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R. P. Battaglio, Jr. & M. J. ScicchitanoTable 4.Impact of Selected Variables on Member Perceptions toward ASPA Priorities (oddsratios with confidence levels in parentheses)Independent VariablesDependentVariableAcademicMemberYears inASPAPrimaryAssociation Gender Age EducationChi2NA top priority forASPA should bepromoting socialequity in all aspectsof government programsand policies.–0.012(0.988)–0.010*(0.990)0.420**(1.523)0.647***(1.909)–0.002(0.998)0.069(1.071)26.30*** 538ASPA shoulddevelop its own professionalcredentialfor PA professionals.0.420*(1.522)–0.009*(0.992)0.597***(1.816)–0.179(0.915)0.016**(1.016)0.191(1.210)23.87*** 524ASPA should expandits focus to includeinternationalissues that affect thequality of governmentsworldwide.0.514**(1.671)0.009*(1.009)0.303*(1.354)0.075(1.078)0.015**(1.015)0.159(1.173)16.05*** 538ASPA should partnerwith CertifiedPublic Manager(CPM) programs todevelop continuingeducation programsfor CPMs.0.184(1.202)–0.004(0.996)0.233(1.262)–0.339*(0.713)0.025**(1.025)–0.092(0.912)16.87*** 487ASPA should createa center for nonprofitmanagement.0.142(1.153)–0.001(0.999)0.387**(1.473)0.095(1.100)0.005(1.005)–0.120(0.887)8.13*** 510ASPA should focusmore resources oninfluencing policymaking to improvethe quality of governmentand governmentservices.–0.344(0.709)0.001(1.001)0.332*(1.393)–0.002(0.998)0.013*(1.013)0.372**(1.451)12.08*** 531ASPA should focusmore resources ona program to helpnew professionalsfurther their careers.0.548**(1.730)–0.003(0.997)0.377**(1.458)–0.090(0.914)0.036***(1.037)–0.056(0.946)32.19*** 539***p ≤ .001; **p ≤ .05; *p ≤ .10Note. Exp(b) in parentheses. Exp(b) = factor change in odds for unit increase in X.
Building Bridges?DiscussionAlthough the results from the logistic regression do not demonstrate a breachin the academic-practitioner gap, a number of significant findings do merit furtherinvestigation. Moreover, the findings portend important pedagogical considerationsfor the future of public administration education. Indeed, our research warrantsat the least that greater attention be placed on improved access to information andexpanded avenues for illustrating practical experiences in the classroom.For the most part, academics do not differ from nonacademics in their perceptionof ASPA’s utility, except that academics perceive less value from Web-basedtraining seminars run by ASPA and efforts to create professional standards. Academicswere less inclined than professionals to deem the creation and upholdingof professional standards an important avenue for communication through ASPA.Perhaps academics are more interested in research versus professional norms as ameans for conveying knowledge. Additionally, academics are less likely to considerWeb-based training as an important avenue for communication. This findingsuggests the need for further research given that nontraditional online forums havebeen touted as a means for bridging the academic-practitioner gap (Posner, 2009).Connectedness is a recurring theme in the literature reviewed here for bridgingthe divide between academics and practitioners. Public administration classroomsare an important vehicle for connectedness, communicating reliable mechanismsthrough which instructors may observe and relay timely ideas and practical conceptsin action—especially practices developed through scholarship and research(Bolton & Stolcis, 2003). Web-based technology represents a critical means forimparting current knowledge to public administration students, who may in turnshape future practices and research.The results for age and education are consistent across the models for ASPAservice and suggest that older members get more from ASPA benefits than doyounger members. We find that older respondents are more likely to emphasizethe importance of publications, continuing education, networking, and the nationalconference as ways of transferring knowledge. This trend holds true for morehighly educated members as well. With the exception of continuing education,more educated respondents indicated greater levels of importance toward publications,professional standards, networking, and the national conference. Interestingly,female respondents, while signifying support for professional standards and thenational conference, were less likely to indicate the same support for PublicAdministration Review in our regression analysis. Women may feel that PAR hasnot adequately communicated gender-related issues of importance to the field.These are troubling findings given the advances achieved in public administrationresearch over the last few decades (Raadschelders & Lee, 2011). Employing practiceandacademic-oriented journals in the classroom as a means for conveying knowledgehas been an ongoing concern in our discipline (see Newland, 2000). Perhapsthe issue is not so much that applicable practices are not being addressed in publicadministration journals, but is more a matter of adequately conveying that knowledgein forums such as ASPA and public administration schools.Journal of Public Affairs Education 763
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