Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to systematically study county government as follows: (1) to describe the variation in functional responsibility of county government; (2) to examine the factors that influence the functional responsibility of county government; and (3) to identify the differential impact of the variation. Theoretical framework. The theoretical framework utilized in this study was based upon the notion of a political system in analyzing the causes and consequences of public policy. System theory views the political system as an interrelated set of structures and processes that encounter environmental forces and respond with outputs. Methodology. The research design of this study was cross-sectional, which is appropriate to secondary data research. For the systematic and comparative study, this study used two indicators to measure functional responsibility as dependent variables: an index of functional responsibility and per capita expenditures. The factors affecting the functional responsibility as independent variables were selected on the relevant theory and research of local government. Descriptive statistics were employed to present variations of functional responsibility among county governments. Both correlation coefficients and regression coefficients were calculated to examine the relationships between independent variables and the functional responsibility of county government. Findings. This study did find functional responsibility as policy outputs for counties to be dependent on environmental influences with political system variables having only marginal impact. Minority residents, intergovernmental aid, region, income, poverty rate, and home rule are consistently significant in predicting the two measures of functional responsibility for all counties. The determinants of functional responsibility for nonmetropolitan counties differed from those for metropolitan counties. It was clearly found that the primary common determinants of all measures of functional responsibility for metro counties are population in unincorporated areas, income, region, state aid, and number of municipalities. On the other hand, the primary common determinants of all measures of functional responsibility for nonmetro counties were found to be income, poverty rate, region, and intergovernmental aid. Recommendations. For future research on county government, the following recommendations were offered: (1) an examination of the determinants in more detailed policy areas; (2) an examination of other determinant factors of functional responsibility such as nonpartisan and at-large elections that are not examined in this study; (3) longitudinal research such as the multiyear comparisons of determinants of functional responsibility to assess their stability over time; and (4) the development of alternative measures of functional responsibility.