Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3010-763X
Date Available
5-18-2026
Year of Publication
2025
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Public Administration (DPA)
College
Graduate School
Department/School/Program
Public Policy and Administration
Faculty
John S. Butler
Faculty
William Hoyt
Abstract
This dissertation comprises three essays that examine critical aspects of public and nonprofit financial management, focusing on interorganizational relationships, local government influence, and financial reserve management in times of crisis.
The first essay examines how interorganizational relationships, specifically nonprofit organizations’ board interlocks, relate to their financial distress, depending on the temporal and spatial contexts. Organization-level fixed-effects regression analysis with Kentucky nonprofits from 2018 to 2022 shows that nonprofits with board interlocks in urban areas were less likely to experience financial distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. I suggest that board interlock acts as an adaptive buffering tool that helps manage resource dependencies amid environmental changes through boundary spanning, co-optation, and signaling processes. They are crucial for stabilizing resource flows, externalizing shocks, reducing uncertainties and threats, and reinforcing stakeholders’ confidence in evolving resource environments.
The second essay, drawn from government interdependence and decentralization theories, investigates how local government financial capacity influences nonprofit dynamics, such as founding, density, and dissolution within a community, focusing on the moderating effects of decentralized administrative and fiscal government structures. Utilizing the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Form 990, National Center for Charitable Statistics, and Census data from 2007 to 2022, the analyses reveal that local government financial capacity is positively associated with a community’s nonprofit sector founding rates and density but negatively associated with dissolution rates. Also, decentralized local government administrative and fiscal structures strengthen the positive relationship between financial capacity and nonprofit founding rates and density while reinforcing the negative relationship with nonprofit dissolution rates. These findings expand government interdependence theory by demonstrating how both strengthening local government financial capacity and promoting decentralization influence nonprofit sector dynamics.
The third essay explores how nonprofit organizations in the United States managed their financial reserves during the COVID-19 pandemic. Focusing on reserve accumulation and usage, the research challenges the traditional view that nonprofits primarily use reserves to sustain mission-driven activities during crises. Instead, findings show that many nonprofits chose to accumulate more reserves, prioritizing organizational stability over immediate program expansion during the pandemic. The study underscores the importance of examining the factors that influence reserve utilization across different nonprofit sectors and highlights the need for stronger governance to ensure reserves are strategically allocated.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2025.125
Recommended Citation
Jeon, Junoh, "ESSAYS ON PUBLIC AND NONPROFIT FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN TIMES OF CRISIS" (2025). Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration. 52.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/msppa_etds/52
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