Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Minimizing Toxicity And Maximizing Social Connection In Collegiate Esports Teams, Julia Kay Tonne

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

ABSTRACT

Tonne, Julia, M.A., Spring 2024 Communication Studies

Minimizing Toxicity and Maximizing Social Connection in Collegiate Esports Teams

Chairperson: Dr. Joel Iverson

Given possible benefits of social connection, the researcher analyzes how participation in the University of Montana’s Esports team influences students’ feelings of connection and their well-being. Participating in online gaming is associated with the risk of interacting with toxic behavior, especially for women and other minorities. The researcher further explores how toxic situations relate to feelings of social connection and well-being. Positive themes discovered include increased feelings of social connection for students in the program, experiences of social …

Navigating Toxic Identities Within League Of Legends, Jeremy Thomas Miner

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Toxicity is an inevitable part of online gaming for many individuals that participate in the activity. How individuals navigate this behavior affects not only the community but the players themselves. In essence, online world environments affect the identity of the individual within them. The magic circle separates the gaming world and the real world into two separate and distinct places, however crystalized selves posits that the identity of an individual in one sphere is part of the individual in another. Understanding the connection between these two ideas gives rise to the question of whether or not toxic behaviors in a …

The Relationship Between Food Retailers And Distributors, Madison Seigler, Julia Anderson, Aidan Morton, Cassandra Williams, Victoria Bloomgren, Jacob Tutty

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Our understanding of the science of anthropogenic climate change and its immediate and indirect impacts has grown within the last decade.Alongside anincrease in concern for the inequities within the industrialized food system, climate change is impacting agriculture and the communities that depend on it in myriad ways. These challenges have catalyzed investment in sustainable agriculture, “eat local” food movements, and rethinking of all aspects of food systems, including consumers, producers, retailers, and distributors. The body of literature on food systems primarily focuses on the connection between consumers and retailers; however, there is a notable absence of literature on the relationships …

Discourse Of Renewal: A Qualitative Analysis Of The University Of Montana’S Covid-19 Crisis Communication, Haley Renae Gabel

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a public health crisis that has affected lives and impacted organizations across the world. The pandemic has interrupted student learning and threatened universities nationwide. Crises are trying times for organizations, and when faced with a crisis, an organization has an obligation to keep its members informed; therefore, it must carefully choose how to respond and communicate about the crisis. This study uses discourse of renewal theory as a lens to analyze the University of Montana’s communication about COVID-19, studying 37 pages of university emails and documents on the university website. Results indicate that …

Fostering Communities Of Practice In Comprehensive Sex Education: Evaluation And Recommendations On The Foundations Training, Shanay L. Healy

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Sex education is not contained to the classroom, rather, it is a lifelong evolving experience for both the individual and their community, which continually influence one another. More specifically, sexual health is understood through communication with others – exemplifying learning as a truly social process. As such, Communities of Practice theory (CoP) is a useful lens to better understand how a community can develop through social learning in sex education training. This paper evaluates the Foundations Training, a widely adopted Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) practitioner training, using Wenger-Trayner’s (2015) list of CoP activities as a guide for qualitative coding. This …

Crisis As A Constant: Understanding The Communicative Enactment Of Communities Of Practice Within The Extension Disaster Education Network (Eden), Danielle Maria Farley

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Crisis is a constant of our reality. We are caught in the continual and inevitable cycle of crisis development. Whether it is a natural disaster, international conflict, or disease outbreak; knowledge is central to our ability to prepare for, respond, and recover from crisis. Knowledge is a social process that requires active participation (Wenger, 1998). CoP theory explains how knowledge is accomplished through the communicative practice of mutual engagement, negotiation of a joint enterprise, and shared repertoires (Iverson & McPhee, 2008). The Extension Disaster Education Network is a CoP that is longstanding, enacts knowledge, and is focused on preparing for, …

Barriers To Implementing A Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban In Missoula, Tess Elizabeth Parker

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Single-use plastic bags have been in the media spotlight over the past several years due to their harmful environmental impact. Key issues include accumulating waste and litter pollution. The City of Missoula should enact a bag ban due to its environmentally conscious culture. Discussed in the paper are potential barriers and examples of successful bans and how to apply them locally.

Understanding The Relationship Between Discursive Resources And Risk-Taking Behaviors In Outdoor Adventure Athletes, Mira Ione Cleveland

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study explores the various discursive resources influencing the identities of outdoor adventure athletes, specifically in regard to risk taking behaviors. The qualitative analysis reported here relied on participants’ accounts on how they understood themselves, specifically as outdoor adventure athletes. Interviewees had the opportunity to reflect on their identities when they were asked questions about their experiences in their sports. Discourse was the means to both develop and express understanding of their identities. Results indicate that personal relationships and mountain environments were perceived to have a major influence on both identity and risk taking. These influences emerged through the processes …

Service Failure Management In High-End Hospitality Resorts, Hunter A. Dietrich

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this study was to better understand the interactions that occur at high-end resorts during service failures that guests sometimes experience during their stay. Both service-failure managers and guests who had experienced service failures during their stay at a high-end resort were interviewed to examine the service recovery techniques and timing strategies (such as the ex-antecrisis crisis timing strategy) that are perceived to be the best methods to correct service failures during a guest’s stay. In comparing the responses from service recovery managers and guests, commonalities were found regarding the best practices for ways to treat guests during …

Cruising To Be A Board Gamer: Understanding Socialization Relating To Board Gaming And The Dice Tower, Benjamin Wassink

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Dice Tower consists of 30 professional board gamers and has the largest online following with 60,000 podcast listeners and over 140,000 YouTube subscribers (Dice Tower, 2017a). This study uses Kramer’s Multilevel Communication Model of Voluntary Socialization (MCMVS) to understand how the Dice Tower gains followers and socializes others to become board gamers. This study applies MCMVS to a population with more ambiguous membership boundaries than volunteer organizations, specifically socialization to board game leisure. Through interviews of 18 participants and participant observation during a board gaming cruise hosted by the Dice Tower this study examines the role of the Dice …

Beyond The Bike; Identity And Belonging Of Free Cycles Members, Caitlyn Lewis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A qualitative analysis was conducted at the community bicycle shop, Free Cycles, in order to examine participants’ identities and belonging within a community of practice. Semi-structured interviews with 19 members of the community and 50 hours of participant observation were conducted. Data analysis followed the grounded theory methodology of Strauss and Corbin (1990). Four research questions were proposed to examine the ways participants at Free Cycles identified with the bicycle-related practices of bicycle riding and maintenance, co-constructed the collective organizational identity, and developed a sense of belonging within the community amongst other members. The constructs of identity and belonging were …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Belonging In Communities Of Practice: Exploring Transformative Organizational Elements Within The Choral Arts, Aubrielle J. Holly

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A qualitative analysis was conducted with a community choir as an exemplar of a community of practice. Semi-structured, collaborative interviews with eighteen of the choir’s members and eleven hours of field observation were conducted. The socialization process was briefly examined and discussed as it informed membership experiences in the choir. Four research questions were proposed to examine the ways in which the defining characteristics of communities of practice were communicatively enacted within the choral context. The construct of belonging was examined as an addition to Wenger’s (1998) communities of practice framework. Data analysis followed the grounded theory methodology of Strauss …