Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

Challenges in the Era of Globalization
Edited by Emmanuel Obuah
Another terminology that needs defining is economic development leaders. First, in the literature, the term
“economic development” refers to an expansion of the economic base through efficient allocation and use
of available resources (Woods, Frye and Ralstin, 1999). Such efficiency allocation of resources that lead
to the expansion of the economic base requires leadership at all levels, and individuals who provide such
leadership are what we broadly categorize as economic development leaders. For a conceptual definition
of economic development leaders we follow Loveridge’s taxonomy, which includes at least three
different dimensions to classifying the local economic developer (see Loveridge, 2000 for a detailed
discussion). Briefly, in his first dimension, Loveridge contends that the organization for which an
individual works influences what the individual does and why they do what they do. The second and third
dimensions have to do with characteristics of the economic developer’s service region. Is the region
already well developed or undeveloped? Is the region growing, stagnant or declining? (Loveridge, 2000).
Thus, our conceptual definition of local economic development leaders follows Loveridge’s first
dimension which includes: city mayors, representatives of economic development boards, planning
commissions, utilities and chambers of commerce, directors and staff members from local economic
development associations, as well as other individuals involved in economic growth in the state.
Sample and Data Collection
Data on factors that influence local economic development leaders’ participation and support for
agriculture value-added initiatives in Alabama were collected using a questionnaire on the internet and via
email. The questionnaire was created on the Internet at http://www.surveymonkey.com, which is a service
of Survey Monkey Inc.—a Private Corporation based in Portland, Oregon that specializes in high-end
Internet surveys. A non probability (convenient) sample was used, in which responses were sought from
367 local economic development leaders in Alabama that have easily accessible e-mail addresses and
websites. A reliable list of e-mail addresses was drawn from the Economic Development Association of
Alabama (EDAA, 2008)—a network of Alabama economic development professionals with over 500
members, including Alabama city mayors, economic development boards, planning commissions, utilities
and chambers of commerce representatives, directors and staff members from local economic
development associations, as well as other individuals involved in economic growth in the state. Prior to
data collection, a pretest of the survey instrument was conducted on a sample of 10 extension agents in
order to evaluate the questionnaire items, focusing on the clarity of the questions and the ease with which
questions could be answered using the Internet.
Data were collected in the Fall of 2008 for a period of three weeks. The questionnaire was distributed
through e-mail with (1) a message of greetings, (2) an introductory massage and procedures for answering
the questions, (3) a note assuring confidentiality, (4) a thank you note on the anticipated responses and (5)
a hyperlink to the web-based questionnaire. Out of the 376 e-mail addresses that were collected from
EDAA, 42 of them were returned as bad addresses. A total of 335 were however current and successfully
sent the first time. Respondents were removed each week from the mailing list and weekly follow-up
reminders were sent to those that did not respond by the end of each of the three weeks. Of the 376 local
economic development leaders contacted, 154 answered the survey, for a 41 percent response rate. The
breakdown of the respondents’ profile is provided in the section that follows.
Survey Responses
To enhance the discussion, local leaders’ responses to the question whether they are involved in bringing
agricultural value-added enterprises to their regions are cross-tabulated with their responses to the rest of
the questions in the survey. Thus, this section discusses the actual responses for each question and cross
tabulation results of each question with the involvement question. First, more than half of the local
economic development leaders (52%) who answered the questionnaire are from metropolitan counties,
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