Community Quality-of-Life Indicators: Best Cases III

Product Description Community quality-of-life (QOL) indicators continue to gain attention and interest in their use as many communities and regions design and apply them. Evolving from early use as data systems, indicators are increasingly being integrated into overall planning and other public policy activities. Their use is found not only in monitoring and evaluation applications, but also in the context of increasing citizen partici- tion in guiding communities towards achieving desired goals. Indeed, the emphasis in many indicator applications now includes linking actions to outcomes – making sure that the indicators are integrated, useful and effective in helping communities address QOL issues. The use of QOL indicators to consider a full spectrum of c- munity and regional well-being is exciting and the focus on integration is certain to bring new and innovative applications to the forefront. This is the third book in a series covering best practices in community QOL indicators. Each volume presents individual cases (chapters) of communities at the local or regional levels that have designed and implemented community indicators programs. In Volume I, we present eight chapters from a variety of contexts – from the county level in the U. S. , to the large megalopolis of Sao Paulo, to looking at a cross section of communities throughout Europe. Also included are three chapters from Canada, a leader in applying community indicator systems. From the Back Cover This book contains "best practices" of community quality-of-life indicator systems implemented in various communities throughout the world. The cases in this volume describe communities that have launched their own community indicators programs. Elements that are included in the descriptions are the history of the community indicators work within the target region, the planning of community indicators, the actual indicators that were selected, the data collection process, the reporting of the results, and the use of the indicators to guide community development decisions and public policy. About the Author M. JOSEPH (JOE) SIRGY is a social/consumer/organizational psychologist (Ph.D., U/Massachusetts, 1979), Professor of Marketing, and Virginia Real Estate Research Fellow at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). He has published extensively in the areas of consumer behavior, marketing communications, business ethics, and quality of life. He has published extensively in social/behavioral science, managerial, and systems related journals. Examples include Social Indicators Research, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, Behavioral Science, American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Systems Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Advertising, Current Issues and Research in Advertising, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Tourism and Travel Marketing, Research in Marketing, Journal of Business and Psychology, Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, International Journal of Management, Journal of Housing and Built-in Environment, Applied Research in Quality of Life, and Journal of Happiness Studies. He is the author/editor of numerous books including: SOCIAL COGNITION AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1983); MARKETING AS SOCIAL BEHAVIOR (New York: Prager Publshers, 1984); SELF-CONGRUITY (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1986); NEW DIMENSIONS OF QUALITY-OF-LIFE/MARKETING RESEARCH (Bridgeport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995); CONSUMER BEHAVIOR (Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Books, 1997);