Graduate Student 2016 Abstracts
Typology of Digital Social Advocacy Strategy in the Boundary of Public Relations • Ah Ram Lee, University of Florida • Public relations has expanded its boundary broadening its functions to diverse organizations and incorporating new media technologies. Advancement in digital technologies has allowed numerous nonprofit organizations and agents to practice strategic communications as public relations management and goal fulfillment. A great deal of social media campaigns were planned and executed by activists and advocacy groups for positive social change, demonstrating these digital social advocacy campaigns as an important branch of public relations practices. However, there has been little consensus about the expansion and demarcation of public relations, whether public relations need to consider digital social advocacy campaigns as a part of its domain. The goal of this research is to enhance understanding of digital social advocacy campaigns and communication efforts within the public relations. This paper provides functions and purposes of public relations practices throughout the history and extension with digital social advocacy campaigns. This paper suggests a typology of digital social advocacy campaign strategies. There are four types of digital social advocacy campaigns—urgent-interactive, pressing issue, viral, and intriguing-inactive, which were conceptualized based on public relations campaigns and activism literatures. The goal of this paper is to establish a foundation for future study on digital social advocacy campaigns by integrating the existing research on communicative efforts through new media technologies for positive social change.
Netflix Versus the Cable Box: Media Substitution, Cord Cutting, and the Adoption of Streaming Television • Alec Tefertiller, University of Oregon • This study sought to better understand what factors best predict consumers’ intention to cut the cord on cable television and adopt streaming as their primary source of television. Based on media substitution theory, this study utilized a nationwide survey to find that it was the perceived advantages streaming applications offer over traditional television coupled with streaming technology’s ability to provide companionship that best predicted intentions to cut the cord on cable and adopt web streaming.
What is Beneath the Facebook Iceberg? Revealing the Relationship between Rational Fatalism and the Online Privacy Paradox • Amy Fowler-Dawson, Southern Illinois University; Wenjing Xie; Anita Tvauri • “Previous has revealed the privacy paradox, which suggests that though people are concerned with their online privacy, they still reveal a large amount of personal information and don’t take measures to protect personal privacy online. Using data from a national-wide survey, this study takes a psychological approach and uses the rational fatalism theory to explain the privacy paradox on the Internet and the social networking sites (SNSs). The rational fatalism theory argues that risks will become rational if the person believes he or she has no control over the outcome. Our results support the rational fatalism view. We found that people with higher level of fatalistic belief about technologies are less likely to protect their privacies on the Internet in general, and the SNS in particular. Moreover, such relationship is stronger among young Internet users compared with older users.
Conceptualizing the Bolivarian Revolution: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Chávez’s Rhetorical Framing in Aló Presidente • Ayleen Cabas • The present study examines the mediated discourse of the Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez to identify and analyze the rhetorical frames he employed to characterize the Bolivarian Revolution in his weekly television and radio show Aló Presidente. A critical discourse analysis of 40 Aló Presidente episodes led to the conclusion that historical, socio-economic and religious rhetorical frames helped the president promote the revolution as a transcendent, patriotic and desirable governance manifesto for Venezuela.
Beyond Transparency: Linking CSR Authenticity to Organizational Trust • Baobao Song • This study proposes that consumers’ perceived authenticity of corporate social responsibility (CSR) could overturn their skepticism and raise their overall trust towards the organization. Experimentally, this study examined the effects of the two operational dimensions of authentic CSR – distinctiveness and social connectedness on consumers’ perception of CSR authenticity, and its effect on organizational trust. Results indicate that with higher perceived social connectedness, embedded CSR will be evaluated as more authentic than peripheral CSR, which further leads to stronger organizational trust. Whereas, with low perceived social connectedness, there will be no significant difference in stakeholders’ perception of CSR authenticity and organizational trust between embedded and peripheral CSR programs.
The Establishment of Psychological Contracts in Online Fan Marketing in China – Based on the Psychological Continuum Model • Bingjing Mao • This article researches on the new-emerged online fan marketing in China, through analyzing the consumers’ psychological characteristics in the method of participant observation and find out the formation mechanism of fans’ psychological contract based on the psychological continuum model. According to different four phases, the marketers, which are the cyber celebrities both on social media and individual e-commerce platform, will conduct proper approaches, and the social media contributed to close the psychological distance between consumers and cyber celebrities.
God’s Authority! A Frame Analysis of Kim Davis’ Refusal to Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses • Burton Speakman; Nisha Garud • This study conducted a framing analysis of media discourse on the refusal of Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis to issue same-sex marriage licenses after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriages. Analysis of articles published on the websites of CNN, MSNBC and Fox News showed that religion and values emerged as dominant frames. Davis and her decision to deny licenses were portrayed as her religious right whereas homosexuals and their rights were underrepresented. Analysis also showed that the media present a religious controversy in conjunction with political issues. This study suggests that in spite of the recognition of legal rights of homosexuals, the media still do not provide equal coverage to homosexuals at least in situations where there is another potential opposition. The study recommends that journalists should give more attention to homosexuals and not politicize religious issues.
Uses and Gratifications of Space • Carl CLark, Texas State University; Jeremy Mullins, Texas State University; Qian Yu, Texas State University; Colin Woods, Texas State University • NASA has enjoyed overall support from the American people. This does not translate to active engagement, with NASA’s communications efforts, by a majority of the public (Launius, R. 2003). NASA would benefit from knowing what new segments of the population might be reached. A focus group discussed these communication issues framed in uses and gratifications. The broad implications of the focus group were the problems of relevance and availability which NASA has yet to overcome.
Not agreeing with Nat: major party hegemony, minor party marginalization in the UK Election debate • Ceri Hughes, University of Wisconsin-Madison • The 2010 UK General Election saw televised leaders debates enter UK politics. The 2015 election continued this development, expanding the roster to seven party leaders. The debates were sold as an equitable televised agora beaming rational-critical debate into households. This research questions whether the debates achieved such a normative aim, finding instead that the debates more likely served to reinforce the existing hegemony of the major parties while marginalizing the smaller parties.
The Framing of Online Commenting: Commenting Effects on Audiences’ Perceptions of a Public Health Issue in the Context of Social Media • Chang Bi, Bowling Green State University • This study investigated the persuasive effects of commenting on public health issues—specifically the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine—via Facebook. A survey-based experiment with a 2 (support vs. attack comments) × 2 (support vs. attack prior information) fully crossed factorial design were conducted to examine such effects. The results demonstrate that exposure to supportive comments following a CDC Facebook post in favor of MMR vaccination led to increased source credibility, while exposure to attack comments led to decreased source credibility. In addition, the study shows strong and consistent pre-existing attitudes toward MMR vaccination cannot be easily altered.
Differential effect of SNS use and social capital during life transition: A survey of mainland China students in Hong Kong • CHUN YANG, Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong • This study explores differential SNS uses of overseas students, and their impacts on social capital and adjustment to life transition. A survey of 221 mainland China students studying in Hong Kong reveals that social searching activities on SNS positively predict bridging social capital. Public interaction activities contribute to both bridging and bonding social capital. Bridging social capital reinforces life satisfaction. Bonding social capital moderates the relationship between bridging social capital and feeling of homesickness.
Complexity Theory and State Emergency Preparedness • Claire Tills, University of Maryland • While it may seem that preparedness communication falls under the purview of risk and crisis communication scholarship, the existence of organizations that solely focus on preparedness and preparedness communication efforts indicates that this communication may have unique challenges and characteristics that are yet unexamined. This explanatory case study used in-depth interviews, social media content, and archival reports to understand how a state emergency management agency plans for, conducts, and evaluates a National Preparedness Month (NPM) campaign. Perspective from both emergency management and crisis communication scholarship were used to guide this research including chaos and complexity theories, planned agility, and evaluation standards from both public relations and emergency management. Results indicate that these campaigns are still in the early stages of developing strategic goals and methods for evaluation while still succeeding in reaching audiences and meeting surface-level objectives. From these findings, theoretical implications for preparedness communication and the extension of complexity theory are discussed.
Silicon Valley and the New Gatekeepers: A Conceptual Model of Risks and Potential Benefits for Journalism • Frank Michael Russell, University of Missouri School of Journalism • Digital media platforms owned by Silicon Valley companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter have changed the relationship between journalism and citizens. This paper offers a conceptual model for understanding that transformation. In the legacy media model, a direct reciprocal relationship, expectations between journalism and citizens were relatively clear. However, with audience preference for getting news from digital platforms, journalism and citizens now engage in an indirect reciprocal relationship, increasing risk for news media.
Turning off or tuning in? Testing two competing mechanisms of expressive behavior in online discussion • Hyesun Choung; David Coppini; Jessica Schmidt, UW-Madison; Yiping Xia, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Moonhoon Choi, University of Wisconsin Madison; Megan Duncan, University of Wisconsin-Madison • This study uses an online experiment (N=415) that manipulates opinion climate around a local issue to test the mechanisms of two competing theories: spiral of silence and corrective action. Results of the interaction between opinion climate and personal opinion provide stronger support for the corrective action hypothesis. In addition, our findings identify willingness to self-censor as a moderator of expression based on corrective action. Theoretical implications are discussed.
A case study examining how reporters deal with the challenges of the economy and technology • Jenny Dean, University of Oregon • The technology behind journalism has changed dramatically in the last 10 years, and it has affected how reporters do their jobs, as well as how they approach storytelling. With the demand for multimedia presentations on newspaper websites, reporters need to be able to tell stories on different platforms. In addition, as the media world has downsized due to economic turmoil in the field, the reporters who remain employed have taken on extra duties as their colleagues have been laid off. This results in a dramatic change in their job descriptions. There has always been a competitive need to get the story first, but now that means getting it online first even if it is only an initial paragraph or two, which will not even go through the copydesk. The complete story follows later. The challenge is that newspapers compete against a much larger media world with bloggers and citizens reporting the same stories. The newspaper’s goal is for it to be the most accurate, complete, and timely record of news. The purpose of this study is to understand reporter routines, given the current state of the media industry over the past decade. To explore this issue, 18 interviews were conducted with reporters at a large paper in the U.S. Even though reporters may or may not be expected to use technology, the question is whether they use it and how.
Student Perceptions of Teacher Power and the Relationship with Engagement and Social Presence • Joseph Provencher, Texs Tech University; Adam Testerman • Findings from a survey to undergraduate students suggest prosocial perceptions of power have a greater impact on social presence than antisocial power. Perception of prosocial power has a significant and positive relationship with student engagement r(86) = 0.400, p < .01 (1-tailed), explaining 16% of the variance in student engagement. Our findings also establish a significant and positive relationship between perception of prosocial power and social presence in face-to-face communication r(86) = 0.429, p < .01 (2-tailed), which explained 18% of the variance in face-to-face social presence.
Clarifying the Concept of Journalistic Integrity: A concept explication • Kimberly Foster • The ambiguous definition of journalistic integrity in literature does little to address the conceptualizations of what journalistic integrity involves. Following Chaffee’s (1991) outline for concept explication, this essay provides an empirical definition of journalistic integrity premised on four key components: the information is useful; the information is factual, reliable, and timely; the journalist or organization behaves consistently over time and in accordance with socialized morality; and the journalist or organization treats others with fairness.
A Comparative Examination on Haze-related Content on Traditional Media and Social Media in China: Using the Extended Parallel Process Model and Network Agenda-setting • Liang Chen, Nanyang Technological University; Weijie Zheng • The current study aims to explore hazed-related content on between traditional media and social media in China. Specifically, we not only examined the nature of haze-related messages based on the extended EPPM, but also identified the central components in the networks of attributes of haze (i.e. EPPM components). Besides, the correlation between the interrelationships among attributes of haze on People’s Daily and Weibo was examined based on the network agenda-setting theory. The results revealed that while there were more than half of the total messages on both media reflecting EPPM components, either threat or efficacy, a greater number of messages mentioned threat than efficacy on Weibo. Moreover, limited messages on both media contained severity components. Furthermore, according to social network analysis, response efficacy and collective efficacy played central roles in haze-related content on People’s Daily, whereas the most central role was susceptibility on Weibo. Finally, the results from Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) indicated that the interrelationships among attributes of haze on People’s Daily were positively associated with that on Weibo.
Where Should We Eat? A Content Analysis Examining What Factors Yelp Users Perceive Useful When Picking Restaurants • Mark Tatge, University of South Carolina; Alex Luchsinger, University of South Carolina • This research examines the characteristics of experiential online reviews to see what factors are perceived to be most useful by consumers after evaluating the ratings, views and information offered by individuals publishing restaurant critiques. The study investigated reviews written by restaurant patrons and published on Yelp.com (N=600) in two major U.S. cities – New York and Chicago. The analysis examined key variables appearing in the review – tone, price, service, cleanliness, cost, perceived value and star rating. Scrutiny was also given to heuristics such as reviewer’s social activity, friend count and number of reviews published. The study found socially active reviewers were perceived to have greater expertise, prompting restaurant goers to assign greater weight to these social active reviewers’ assessments when deciding where to eat.
How Socially Supportive are Online Support Groups? Examining Online Interactions for Managing College Stress • Ren-Whei Harn • College experience is a major life transition causing immense stress for many students. Unmanaged stress creates health problems and can cause lasting effects of depression and anxiety within an individual. This study observed a publicly available support group for college students. Content analysis examined the common topics of distress and how social support is enacted in response. The research study found that complexity of message and topics of distress enact certain types of social support.
Guilt by Association: Barry Goldwater, the Anti-Communist Fringe, and CBS’s Thunder on the Right • Rich Shumate, University of Florida • This study explores the origins of the perception of liberal media bias by analyzing a 1962 CBS Reports program, Thunder on the Right, as a case study on how elite media covered the emergence of movement conservatism in the early 1960s. Using a scene sequence analysis of the program’s 10 scenes, this paper posits that the program’s skillful conflation of mainstream and extreme strains of conservatism did a disservice to CBS viewers and helped fuel the belief among conservatives that the media have a liberal bias, which colors American politics to this day.
Social Media as a Resource in Social Movements: An Online Resource Mobilization Study of the formation of Social Movement Organizations • Samuel Tham, University of Missouri – School of Journalism • 65% of Americans use social media for its utility. The social networks formed through social media has allowed social movement organizations to utilize it as a resource to fuel their causes. This study traces the formation of an SMO through a case study, utilizing social media as a resource to fuel their cause. The alacrity of the organization’s formation revealed characteristics about how social media as a resource that can effectively mobilize an organization.
The social value of Snapchat: An exploration of motivations for Snapchat use • Taj Makki; Julia DeCook; Travis Kadylak; Olivia JuYoung Lee • The present study proposes that undergraduate students’ use of Snapchat is driven by several factors related to affiliation motivation: playfulness, subjective norm, trust, critical mass (Technology Acceptance Model constructs), and the assurances, openness, and positivity (Relational Maintenance behaviors) that users can enact through the medium. Highlighting the social value of Snapchat, findings reveal affiliation motivation as a significant predictor of Snapchat use, with general relational maintenance and critical mass found to be the strongest motivators.
Online credibility, media use and past experience of health information on social media in China: factors that impact health-related behavioral intention • Zhaomeng Niu; Chan Chen, Washington State University • Social media is a new form that provides online health information. A survey of Chinese adults (n=452) was conducted to examine predictors of intentions to use the health information on the social media site. Two constructs of the TPB with three additional variables (perceived credibility, media use and past experience) significantly impacted intentions to use health information on social media. Perceived credibility acted as a mediator between social media use and health-related behavioral intention.
Print friendly
