An Evaluation Of Appalachian State University Budgetary Model Effectiveness Through Departmental Satisfaction

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Appalachian State University’s budgetary model when looking at departmental user satisfaction. This thesis investigates how satisfied departmental heads, in charge of their respective department’s budget, are with Appalachian State University’s budgeting process. In addition to the data collected on user satisfaction, a literature review was conducted to review the public budgetary systems that affect the budget of Appalachian State University – starting with the United States budgetary system and working down through the public sector budgetary levels that lead to the budgets of Appalachian State University departments. The budget of Appalachian State University was reviewed as a whole, but for the purpose of this thesis the portion of Appalachian State University’s budget that allocates funding to Appalachian State University departments was reviewed more in depth. This portion of Appalachian State’s budgetary model was evaluated using the user satisfaction data collected through survey. To collect data on departmental budgetary satisfaction, a survey was conducted. The survey collected data from a sample of the population of Appalachian State University departments that receive a portion of the Appalachian State University budget. The survey questions fit into the themes of budgetary funding satisfaction, budgetary needs, and the effects seen from Appalachian State University’s budgetary process. It was found that the Appalachian State University budgetary model was under-performing when evaluated based on user satisfaction. While many factors had to be accounted for, the data collected pointed towards ineffective trends in the portion of Appalachian State’s budgetary model that distributes funding to all campus departments. These trends were found to be the result of several factors. Within this thesis the implications of these trends and their potential causes are discussed.