Other Communication Commons^™

Sexual Harassment As A Narrative Contest, Christine Vossler

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines how stories shape both the perpetration of sexual harassment and the experiences of victims during and after sexual harassment. During and after the experience of sexual harassment, a narrative contest transpires between the harasser, victim, and others who contribute to the contest by engaging in the formal and informal conversations that follow known experiences of harassment in the workplace. I analyze 22 public statements, interviews, and investigative reports, including statements from men accused of sexual harassment, women who were sexually harassed, and bystanders. A narrative framework, including concepts of narrative believability and story credibility, is used to …

An Exploration Of The Relationships Among Faculty Verbal Messages, College Student Identities, And Student Outcomes, Michelle Epstein Garland

Doctoral Dissertations

This project explores the interrelationships of college student identities, faculty verbal messages, and student outcomes (learner empowerment and learning indicators). To this aim, studies were completed to develop and test new measures, create and test models, and develop an adapted theoretical perspective for identity research. First, traditional approaches to identity in combination with Hecht’s (1993) Communication Theory of Identity were explored and adapted as a basis for the creation of Interactional Theory of Identity (ITI). Second, two measures, College Student Identity scale and Faculty Verbal Messages scale, were developed and tested through factor analysis and revised. Third, the interrelationships between …

Social Systems And Psychic Confluence: Flash Mobs, Communications, And Agency, Nicholas John Hauman

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation involves two components: 1) an analysis of the history of flash mobs including detailed descriptions of specific flash mobs and 2) an exploration of what this analysis elucidates concerning the interaction between individuals and social structure. By focusing on the flash mob as a form of communication, the dissertation displays how the flash mob has communicated multiplicitously through various social systems (e.g. art, mass media, economy, politics) to achieve various and often divergent ends. Within this larger understanding of the interaction between flash mobs and social structure this dissertation also finds, through an application of Luhmannian systems theory, …

Examining The Role Of Perceived Immediacy As A Mediator: Revisiting The Relationships Among Immediate Behaviors, Liking, And Disclosure, Stephanie Erin Kelly

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation purports to clarify the role of perceived immediacy in interpersonal communication. Immediate behaviors were first identified as behaviors associated with increases in receiver liking and self-disclosure. As such, the first study is a meta-analysis of immediate behaviors and self-disclosure and the second study meta-analyzes immediate behaviors and liking. The magnitudes of the effects yielded from both studies are consisted with indirect relationships. The third study is an experiment which uses a range of previously identified immediate behaviors from the literature as an induction and measures perceived immediacy, liking, and self-disclosure to test perceived immediacy as a mediating variable …

Information Seeking Behavior Of Scientists In Venezuela, Simon Luis Aristeguieta Trillos

Doctoral Dissertations

Information is one the essential elements of science. It is an imperative condition that researchers review antecedent works as they advance and create new knowledge. Knowledge creation in science is a process of adding and refining new pieces of data, information, and knowledge to what has already been accomplished by others. Few scientific communities have unlimited access to scientific information sources. Most communities’ access to information is limited by economic, social, cultural, and technological conditions.

This study investigates information seeking behavior and information dissemination practices of the Venezuelan scientific community. A model of scholarly communication in a context of dependency …

The Socialization Of Compulsive Buyers: The Roles Of Families And Mass-Mediated Sources, Saovanee Tesgim

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study explored the roles of the upbringing environments and mass-mediated sources in the socialization of compulsive buyers. Its purpose was to find the answers to these research questions: what does it mean to be a compulsive buyer; what kind of role does family play in the consumer socialization of compulsive buyers; what kind of role does mass media and advertising play in the consumer socialization of compulsive buyers? To answer these questions, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 women respondents who were identified as compulsive buyers and who fit into one of four categories: the Provider, the Striver, …