Urban-rural disparities have become increasingly salient and have captured the attention of scholars, the public, and policymakers alike. Particularly within federalist systems, local governments often serve as frontline responders to the emerging challenges faced by rural communities. This dissertation examines the conceptualization and measurement of 'rural' within the field of public administration and its implications for both scholarship and the practice of public administration among local governments in rural contexts. Through a systematic literature review and regression analysis of secondary and original datasets from local governments in the State of Georgia in the United States, this dissertation provides several insights. The systematic review reveals a lack of consensus on how 'rurality' is defined and measured, with current practices often oversimplifying complex rural landscapes by relying on metropolitan-rural dichotomies. Moreover, such approaches disregard within-rural variation and can bias longitudinal analyses by effectively selecting on the dependent variable. The literature on rural public administration is also uniquely fragmented and highly focused on the U.S. context which limits the external validity of current scholarship. Given these findings, future research should consider the adoption of clear, well-referenced definitions of rurality as well as engaging in consistently identifying and testing the causal mechanisms for rural-attributed outcomes. Analysis of data from the State of Georgia underscores the broad nature of the concept of rurality and suggests the need for contingent research-question-specific measurement strategies rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Interestingly, indicators of rurality exhibit a significant and negative association with organizational capacity and networking activities. However, the specific indicators of rurality that hold significance vary depending on the type of organizational capacity or networking activity examined. However, for practitioners, these findings and existing scholarship highlight the importance of regional coordination and reflecting rural culture and identity in addressing rural problems. Moving forward, addressing urban-rural disparities requires a concerted effort to bridge fragmented literature, expand research beyond the U.S. context, and prioritize regional coordination while respecting rural culture and identity.
