The Impact (Influence) of Stakeholder Participation in the Logic Modeling Process: A Case Study from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Abstract

This is a three-paper dissertation that responds to a call for empirical research on stakeholder influence in the implementation of evaluation recommendations. The literature is consistent but mostly theoretical: stakeholder participation should positively influence and increase the probability of implementation (see e.g., Christie, 2011; Cousins and Earl, 1992; Fetterman, 2004). In response, I use two Goddard Space Flight Center engineering technical training and development programs to build a causal pathway argument supporting my proposition that stakeholder influence in the logic modeling process impacts organizational decision-making and change. I first introduce the logic modeling process as a tool to involve stakeholders in program and evaluation design (paper 1) then use the data collection process to implement the collaboratively constructed logic model outcomes (paper 2). Finally, I triangulate the data using the Toal (2009) Evaluation Involvement Scale (paper 3). I do this to ?increase the validity of the findings? (Noble & Heale, 2019, p. 67) and to garner potential mechanisms. I found that stakeholder participation in the logic modeling process positively influenced the use of data to inform recommendations which, in turn, positively influenced implementation of evaluation recommendations. I identified the process itself as the mechanism and the key decision points as links or influencers. Potential factors included power and interest (measured by role) and time-on-job.Keywords: organizational decision-making, logic model, participatory evaluation, case study, causal pathway analysis, triangulation, evaluation involvement scale