Since the introduction of policy diffusion theory to understand how and why policies diffuse and are adopted across different jurisdictions, regions, or countries, the concept of policy adoption behavior, policy diffusion patterns, and the mechanism of policy diffusion have been extensively studied, and their application has been extended to other fields of policy research. Due to ambiguous economic benefits and the inability to observe the short-term effects of environmental policy, environmental policy diffusion has received less attention than the diffusion of other policies, despite a growing awareness of environmental concerns and an expanding application of policy diffusion in policy research. Due to the often-similar socioeconomic and political characteristics under state or county government, city-level policy diffusion has received less attention than state-level policy diffusion. This study integrates Social Network Analysis (SNA), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Event History Analysis (EHA) to provide a comprehensive understanding of mechanisms of micro-level, city-level environmental policy diffusion in the state of California. It has been empirically demonstrated that policy is not adopted arbitrarily but rather is diffused geographically through a channel of communication. Therefore, SNA and GIS provide useful analytical instruments for developing city-level environmental policy diffusion research, and EHA completes the argument regarding how environmental policy diffuses. This study's findings emphasize the importance of network structures, spatial proximity, and policy diffusion mechanisms in environmental policy diffusion. Specifically, this study finds that that the imitation mechanism is the policy diffusion mechanism that California's environmental policy diffusion followed. This study also finds that a political, whether citizens prefer Democratic presidential candidates, and two geographic factors, proximity to the Pacific Ocean and having a neighboring city that adopted the policy have a statistically significant positive effect on the adoption and diffusion of environmental policy in California. In addition, the use of an interdisciplinary approach that incorporated SNA, GIS, and EHA provides a comprehensive framework for analyzing and understanding environmental policy diffusion.
","abstract_html":"<p>Since the introduction of policy diffusion theory to understand how and why policies diffuse and are adopted across different jurisdictions, regions, or countries, the concept of policy adoption behavior, policy diffusion patterns, and the mechanism of policy diffusion have been extensively studied, and their application has been extended to other fields of policy research. Due to ambiguous economic benefits and the inability to observe the short-term effects of environmental policy, environmental policy diffusion has received less attention than the diffusion of other policies, despite a growing awareness of environmental concerns and an expanding application of policy diffusion in policy research. Due to the often-similar socioeconomic and political characteristics under state or county government, city-level policy diffusion has received less attention than state-level policy diffusion. This study integrates Social Network Analysis (SNA), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Event History Analysis (EHA) to provide a comprehensive understanding of mechanisms of micro-level, city-level environmental policy diffusion in the state of California. It has been empirically demonstrated that policy is not adopted arbitrarily but rather is diffused geographically through a channel of communication. Therefore, SNA and GIS provide useful analytical instruments for developing city-level environmental policy diffusion research, and EHA completes the argument regarding how environmental policy diffuses. This study's findings emphasize the importance of network structures, spatial proximity, and policy diffusion mechanisms in environmental policy diffusion. Specifically, this study finds that that the imitation mechanism is the policy diffusion mechanism that California's environmental policy diffusion followed. This study also finds that a political, whether citizens prefer Democratic presidential candidates, and two geographic factors, proximity to the Pacific Ocean and having a neighboring city that adopted the policy have a statistically significant positive effect on the adoption and diffusion of environmental policy in California. In addition, the use of an interdisciplinary approach that incorporated SNA, GIS, and EHA provides a comprehensive framework for analyzing and understanding environmental policy diffusion.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kim, Sekwen"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Political Science, PhD","degree_level":"Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation","degree_discipline":"School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Melissa Rogers","Brian Hilton"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2023-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:40:22Z","subjects":["Environmental Policy","Event History Analysis","GIS","Public Policy Diffusion","Social Network Analysis","Public Policy"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/594","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Melissa Rogers","Brian Hilton"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Kim, Sekwen"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-11-08T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Political Science, PhD"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Environmental Policy","Event History Analysis","GIS","Public Policy Diffusion","Social Network Analysis","Public Policy"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/594"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Since the introduction of policy diffusion theory to understand how and why policies diffuse and are adopted across different jurisdictions, regions, or countries, the concept of policy adoption behavior, policy diffusion patterns, and the mechanism of policy diffusion have been extensively studied, and their application has been extended to other fields of policy research. Due to ambiguous economic benefits and the inability to observe the short-term effects of environmental policy, environmental policy diffusion has received less attention than the diffusion of other policies, despite a growing awareness of environmental concerns and an expanding application of policy diffusion in policy research. Due to the often-similar socioeconomic and political characteristics under state or county government, city-level policy diffusion has received less attention than state-level policy diffusion. This study integrates Social Network Analysis (SNA), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Event History Analysis (EHA) to provide a comprehensive understanding of mechanisms of micro-level, city-level environmental policy diffusion in the state of California. It has been empirically demonstrated that policy is not adopted arbitrarily but rather is diffused geographically through a channel of communication. Therefore, SNA and GIS provide useful analytical instruments for developing city-level environmental policy diffusion research, and EHA completes the argument regarding how environmental policy diffuses. This study's findings emphasize the importance of network structures, spatial proximity, and policy diffusion mechanisms in environmental policy diffusion. Specifically, this study finds that that the imitation mechanism is the policy diffusion mechanism that California's environmental policy diffusion followed. This study also finds that a political, whether citizens prefer Democratic presidential candidates, and two geographic factors, proximity to the Pacific Ocean and having a neighboring city that adopted the policy have a statistically significant positive effect on the adoption and diffusion of environmental policy in California. In addition, the use of an interdisciplinary approach that incorporated SNA, GIS, and EHA provides a comprehensive framework for analyzing and understanding environmental policy diffusion.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Diffusion of Environmental Protection Single-Use Plastic Bags Ban Policy in California"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Melissa Rogers","Brian Hilton"],"dc:creator":["Kim, Sekwen"],"dc:date.available":["2023-11-08T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Since the introduction of policy diffusion theory to understand how and why policies diffuse and are adopted across different jurisdictions, regions, or countries, the concept of policy adoption behavior, policy diffusion patterns, and the mechanism of policy diffusion have been extensively studied, and their application has been extended to other fields of policy research. Due to ambiguous economic benefits and the inability to observe the short-term effects of environmental policy, environmental policy diffusion has received less attention than the diffusion of other policies, despite a growing awareness of environmental concerns and an expanding application of policy diffusion in policy research. Due to the often-similar socioeconomic and political characteristics under state or county government, city-level policy diffusion has received less attention than state-level policy diffusion. This study integrates Social Network Analysis (SNA), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Event History Analysis (EHA) to provide a comprehensive understanding of mechanisms of micro-level, city-level environmental policy diffusion in the state of California. It has been empirically demonstrated that policy is not adopted arbitrarily but rather is diffused geographically through a channel of communication. Therefore, SNA and GIS provide useful analytical instruments for developing city-level environmental policy diffusion research, and EHA completes the argument regarding how environmental policy diffuses. This study's findings emphasize the importance of network structures, spatial proximity, and policy diffusion mechanisms in environmental policy diffusion. Specifically, this study finds that that the imitation mechanism is the policy diffusion mechanism that California's environmental policy diffusion followed. This study also finds that a political, whether citizens prefer Democratic presidential candidates, and two geographic factors, proximity to the Pacific Ocean and having a neighboring city that adopted the policy have a statistically significant positive effect on the adoption and diffusion of environmental policy in California. In addition, the use of an interdisciplinary approach that incorporated SNA, GIS, and EHA provides a comprehensive framework for analyzing and understanding environmental policy diffusion.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/594"],"dc:subject":["Environmental Policy","Event History Analysis","GIS","Public Policy Diffusion","Social Network Analysis","Public Policy"],"dc:title":["Diffusion of Environmental Protection Single-Use Plastic Bags Ban Policy in California"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation"],"thesis:degree_level":["Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Political Science, PhD"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:40:22Z"}