Samantha Mosier, Ph.D.
mosiers18@ecu.edu
East Carolina University
Country: United States (North Carolina)
About Me:
Samantha L. Mosier is an Associate Professor of Political Science at East Carolina University, where she teaches courses on public policy, public administration, environmental policy, leadership, and ethics. Samantha earned her PhD in Political Science at Colorado State University and a MPA from Auburn University at Montgomery.
Samantha is the author of Creating Organic Standards in U.S. States:The Diffusion of State Organic Food and Agriculture Legislation and co-author of Performance Measurement in Sustainability Programs: Lessons from American Cities. Her research has also appeared in Food Policy, British Food Journal, Environment and Planning C, Environmental Management, Review of Policy Research, and International Journal of Public Administration. Her research focuses on food and agriculture policy and sustainability initiatives.
Research Interests
Public Policy
Environmental Policy
Public Administration
Sustainability
Food And Agriculture
University-Community Partnerships
Engaged Scholarship
Organic Food Label
GMO Food Label
My Research:
Samantha L. Mosier is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at East Carolina University (ECU), where she teaches courses on public policy, public administration, leadership, and environmental policy. Samantha earned her PhD in Political Science at Colorado State University and a MPA from Auburn University at Montgomery.
Samantha is the author of Creating Organic Standards in U.S. States:The Diffusion of State Organic Food and Agriculture Legislation and co-author of Performance Measurement in Sustainability Programs: Lessons from American Cities. Her research has also appeared in Food Policy, Environment and Planning C, Environmental Management, and International Journal of Public Administration. Her current research focuses on university-community partnerships for environmental sustainability, service engagement by MPA faculty members, and food labeling and marketing policy.
Publications:
Journal Articles:
Policy responses to the Covid-19 pandemic are important to understanding how some governments have been able to effectively combat the crises. Early efforts by many government leaders included policy actions to effectively shut-down society through stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders. Drawing from several key decision-making theories, this article examines the process of issuing stay-at-home orders in two U.S. States, California and Colorado, with a specific focus on three vice industries: liquor, cannabis, and firearms. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the liquor, marijuana, and gun industry have experienced a dramatic increase in sales. Using policy documents, news articles, and available resources, several decision-making theories help explain the context for how essential businesses were defined in California and Colorado’s stay-at-home orders. As the evidence suggests, a combination of health, economic, and political factors influenced when and how each industry was determined as essential industries. Scientific reasoning alone was not the determining factor for if these vice industries were permitted to continue operations during a global pandemic. As the globe continues to combat Covid-19 this paper sheds some light on balancing of political and economic concerns despite the need to protect public health.
This article focuses on the degree of policy congruence, and by extension policy responsiveness, of U.S. federal‐ and state‐level GMO labeling laws from 2011–2016. Utilizing consumer survey data, evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates consumers prefer clear text‐based indication if food products contain genetically modified ingredients. However, the federal law adopted in 2016 mandates GMO labeling but with exceptions permitted to clear on‐package text labeling. The results of this study demonstrate that consumer preferences were not adequately represented at the federal level and were misaligned with state policy activities as captured in the aggregate outcome. State legislatures were actively proposing mandatory legislation with only a few cases of success, which did not adequately represent the wishes of the people. Given the misalignment and overall policy incongruence, the consequences of pending federal law are discussed in light of why the voices of the consumer choir were not heard by lawmakers.
The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively evaluate the connection between dietary choice and partisanship affiliation among the US population. Food has the potential to be a powerful factor connected to identity and political behaviour. The results provide a platform for further exploring the interaction and effect of diet and partisan affiliation as it applies to political outcomes and market activities. This study confirms that individuals identify as either a Democrat or unaffiliated are more likely to report a vegan or vegetarian-based diet compared to Republicans. However, unaffiliated respondents are also just as likely as Republicans to report a red meat-intensive diet. Gender, race and education level are consistent explanatory factors across the entire population for influencing self-reported dietary behaviour, but location lifestyle factors, such as marital and employment status, influence partisan groups differently.
As local communities face increasing pressure to address environmental concerns, town–gown partnerships are one avenue for improving environmental conditions and sustainability planning for the future. Partnerships between community leaders and university students, faculty, and staff can provide an avenue for exchanging knowledge, expertise, and resources that may benefit both parties. Based on survey results from highly sustainable U.S. cities, this paper outlines key lessons for practitioners and scholars interested in developing environmentally focused town–gown partnerships.
The organic food and agriculture market has greatly expanded over the course of the past forty years. Once considered a fringe practice and market, organic food and agriculture now receives mainstream acceptance and political support in the United States. The USDA’s National Organic Program regulates the current U.S. market, but organic regulations were originally developed in the states starting in the 1970s. From 1976-2010, thirty-eight states adopted organic food and agriculture regulatory legislation. A majority of state legislatures adopted initial legislation in 1989 and 1990, the same year as Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act that effective began the development of national level standards. Grounded in the policy diffusion and diffusion of innovation literature, Creating Organic examines why and how state legislatures decide to adopt legislation that regulate the organic food and agriculture market. The consequences for early and continual state involvement in this policy domain impact national policy trajectories and reshape the sustainable agriculture market. The evidence from this evaluation demonstrates a host of conditions led to the diffusion and evolution of organic regulatory legislation in the U.S. California, Vermont, and Georgia are case studies that illuminate the complexities of adoption decisions and evolution of state regulations over time. In turn, there are a number of lessons to be derived for how state regulatory design has influenced today’s organic market and federal policy development
Organic food certification policy and programs are an interesting case to explore in terms of policy diffusion, as there has been interesting dynamics between the federal and state levels, and great diversity in the pace of diffusion across states. At the same time, this policy diffusion underlies a very dynamic marketplace that has relied on government-based certification policies and programs to stabilize and support growth of the organic food sector. The focus of this paper is a cross-section time series analysis of organic policy adoptions over the past several decades to explore the types of factors that have influenced diffusion across time and space. Although federal policy activity has been a key driver of this dynamic, there are several other state-specific factors that also help to explain the differential diffusion of policies in this realm.
Media Appearances:
TV Appearances:
Interview on book, Creating Organic, to be featured on Springfield, MO weekend for C-SPAN network programming.
Radio Appearances:
Interview about renewal of the Farm Bill
Interview on organic food policy and agriculture research.
Other:
Interview on legal and cultural interpretations of the term 'organic' in the United States.