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Legitimacy And Reputation In Sports Corporate Social Advocacy: The Role Of Communication Strategies, Issue Position, And Fan Identification, Maria Grover

Dissertations - ALL

Corporate social advocacy (CSA) has become increasingly common in professional sport, yet most research has examined individual athlete activism or sport consumer brands rather than leagues and teams. This dissertation examined how two public-relations communication strategies – highlighting a collaborative decision-making approach and creating a strong explanatory link between an organization and an issue – impact perceived CSA legitimacy and organizational reputation, and how audience-level factors such as fan identification and pre-existing issue position condition those evaluations. A 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment with a control group (N = 302) presented U.S. NFL fans with a fictitious league statement advocating …

Freshman Student Sleep And Academic Stress Levels: An Empirical Study For Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Julia M. Cortese

Beyond: Undergraduate Research Journal

Receiving an adequate amount of sleep is essential for academic success as it prepares the brain each day for the workload ahead. Sleep deprivation is associated with negative cognitive, emotional, and physical outcomes that may affect academic performance. Currently, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) does not have any form of sleep education or awareness for first-year, first-semester students, which leaves them susceptible to a cycle of sleep deprivation, academic underperformance, and stress. This study examines the relationship between sleep habits and academic stress among first-semester, first-year students of Fall 2023 at ERAU. This empirical study used a mixed-methods survey with eighteen …

A Scoping Review Of Sycophancy In Large Language Models: Operational And Theoretical Recognition, Kallen Zhou, Manning Littlejohn, Isabella Garrard

Endeavors: Mississippi State Undergraduate Research Journal

As large language models (LLMs) usage grows across different domains, sycophancy, the tendency for output to align with users, is increasingly being recognized as a primary issue arising from applying LLMs into critical areas. Current research has provided a variety of theoretical definitions, mitigation techniques, and quantification for sycophancy. However, there is little to no consistency across different papers. This scoping review seeks to connect different works on LLM sycophancy by identifying themes in theoretical definitions, measurement methods, and inducement techniques of sycophancy. By analyzing 26 papers (preprints, conference proceedings, and journal articles) from arXiv, ACL Anthology, and Scopus, this …

Call Center Leaders’ Communication Strategies To Increase Employee Productivity, Tracie Okema Stenson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Man Down: Exploring Identity, Uncertainty And Resilience In An Autoethnographic Performance Of Prostate Cancer As Applied Health Communication, Kevin Hawley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation study was to explore how an autoethnographic performance of my experience of prostate cancer could serve as a method of applied health communication, designed to encourage men to be screened for prostate cancer. One in eight men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime. However, while the incidence rate of prostate cancer is increasing—particularly of advanced-stage disease—the number of men choosing to be screened is declining (American Cancer Society, 2025).This study explores the barriers to men being screened, both in the literature and in my personal experience. Among those …

Navigating Multiple Roles: Communication Strategies Of Indonesian Postgraduate Women In A Patriarchal Collectivist Culture, Shela Kusumaningtyas, Wawan Hadinata, Nur Iman, Yunati Alinda, Adinda Aulia Nurhaliza, Leoni Nindyasari

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

This study examines how Indonesian postgraduate women negotiate simultaneous roles as wives, mothers, workers, and students within a patriarchal collectivist culture. Using a qualitative case study with a constructivist orientation, the research focuses on six postgraduate students at the University of Indonesia who were selected through purposive criteria because they simultaneously managed family, work, and academic responsibilities. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, limited contextual observation, and supporting documents, and were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding procedures. The findings show that role conflict is experienced not merely as a matter of time management, but as a layered burden …

Redesigning An Intercultural Communication Course To Build Power Skills For An Ai-Augmented Global Economy, Nitin Deckha

International Journal of Emerging and Disruptive Innovation in Education : VISIONARIUM

This case study reports a full redesign of an undergraduate Intercultural Communication seminar in Toronto, repositioning the course to foreground power skills as durable differentiators in an AI-mediated economy. The redesign shifts an asynchronous distance format into a seminar-based model with weekly applied learning, scaffolded assessments, and a four-week COIL partnership with a Turkish university to create authentic intercultural collaboration under real constraints. Students practice creativity, curiosity, critical thinking, ethical reasoning, decision-making, verbal and nonverbal communication, cross-cultural competence, and self-reflexivity, while also learning to use AI tools in ways that remain accountable to disciplinary standards. Assignments include debates, peer assessment, …

I Will Defend My Self, Emily Ward Hawkins

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines caregiving and motherhood as forms of load-bearing infrastructure. Cultural narratives often portray motherhood through sentimental images of joy, tenderness, and devotion, obscuring the structural labor that sustains family life. This project examines maternal labor as a largely unseen system of support that organizes family life while often remaining backgrounded. Caregiving reorganizes time, space, ambition, embodiment, and future orientation within maternal life. Through sculptural works using architectural materials and construction systems, such as oriented strand board, blueprint racks, metal armatures, and graph paper, the project visualizes caregiving as a structural condition. These materials reference the language of architecture …

Mindfulness Across Media: Examining The Effects Of Audio, Audio-Visual, And Virtual Reality Mindfulness Interventions On Social Media Mindsets And Psychological Wellbeing, Rashmi Salian

ETDs from 2020-2029

Social media is so deeply ingrained and integrated into daily life that concerns about its impact on psychological wellbeing continue to grow, prompting pressing questions about how to foster healthier and more intentional use of technology. Recent studies suggest that low-agency mindsets toward social media lead users to develop habitual usage patterns and ambiguous information consumption behaviors, both of which negatively impact psychological outcomes. However, limited research is available on mechanisms that could effectively alter these mindsets. This study uses an experimental methodology to investigate whether mindfulness interventions delivered through varying levels of media immersion can improve psychological mindsets toward …

Toward Defining Vulnerability For The Field Of Communication, Adrian Osman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Vulnerability, a common human experience, is still not well-theorized within the field of communication and lacks a clear, discipline-specific definition. This qualitative study examined how vulnerability shapes interpersonal communication, using general systems theory and social exchange theory as guiding frameworks. Through in-depth interviews with individuals who identify obesity as a lived vulnerability, five central themes emerged: awareness and acceptance of vulnerability, experiencing weight-based dismissal in healthcare, weight-related communication in familial and everyday interactions, avoidance and situational disengagement, and support systems – what works and what does not. Findings show that vulnerability acts as a dynamic communicative force, shaping engagement, withdrawal, …

Rethinking Interpreter Training: The Role Of Microlearning In Boosting Knowledge Retention, Hicham Boughaba

Al-Kīmiyā

This study examines the effectiveness of microlearning interventions in enhancing knowledge retention and interpreting performance among trainee interpreters. A quasi-experimental design was employed, with interpreting students divided into two groups: an experimental group receiving targeted microlearning modules on specialized terminology and a control group relying on general knowledge only. Their performance was evaluated according to four criteria: accuracy, clarity and fluency, terminology usage, and cultural and contextual understanding. Results indicate that participants who were exposed to microlearning modules achieved significantly higher scores across all evaluation criteria, with notable gains in accuracy and terminology usage. These findings suggest that microlearning constitutes …

Discursive Analysis Of Authoritarian Islamist Populism: The Case Of The Justice And Development Party (Morocco), Youssef Aboudi

Al-Kīmiyā

This article analyzes the linguistic modalities constitutive of political populism, with particular attention to its contemporary authoritarian-leaning manifestations. Conceived as a discursive construction or a style of communication (Taguieff, 1997), populist discourse is organized around a charismatic figure who claims a direct relationship with an idealized people, set in opposition to an elite deemed illegitimate and inherently malevolent (Breton, 2009). The study advances the hypothesis that the staging of charismatic power, grounded primarily in conspiratorial logics that generate an atmosphere of insecurity and fear (Wodak, 2015), contributes to reinforcing mechanisms of symbolic and political domination while inhibiting critical reflexivity (Weber, …

Balancing Our Capacity To Serve: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Black Women Navigating Personal, Professional, And Community Leadership Roles, Shemeka K. Brathwaite

Student Theses

This phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of Black women community leaders as they navigate a balance between their professional, personal, and community leadership roles. The research design uses the theoretical frameworks of Black Feminist Intersectionality and Role Theory, specifically addressing the cultural burdens imposed by the Strong Black Woman archetype, which adds additional role strain. The study began with a questionnaire completed by 54 Black women community leaders, followed by 20 in-depth, semi-structured interviews selected from this pool. The study’s key findings are illustrated in a Black Women’s Sustainable Community Leadership Framework. Black women community leaders exude high self-efficacy, …

(Re)Claiming Homeplace: Dance As Embodied Resistance & Healing For Health & Spatial Justice, Preeya G. Kannan

University Honors Theses

This thesis argues that dance functions as both an upstream public health intervention and a form of radical spatial resistance; creating healing, agency, and belonging among historically marginalized communities. Drawing on bell hooks' concept of homeplace, Jasbir Puar's assemblage theory, Nancy Krieger's eco-social theory, and Katherine McKittrick's Black geographies, I position the body as both an ecological and political landscape shaped by histories of colonialism, racial capitalism, displacement, and resilience.

Through this community-based participatory research study, Homeplace, I explore dance as a form of social prescription that centers liberation rather than pathology. Movement is often reduced in public health discourse …

الهجانة في الترجمة الفورية: مسيرة تكيّف, سليمى غريّب البستاني, لينا منعم

Al-Kīmiyā

Linguistic mediation is undergoing profound transformations due to rapid developments in artificial intelligence technologies and automated text processing. Innovations in the field, such as Neural Machine Translation (NMT), Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), and Computer-Assisted Translation and Computer-Assisted Interpreting (CAT-CAI), have induced new forms of interaction between translators, interpreters, and technological systems. By reviewing how simultaneous interpreting adapts to developments in the labor market and technological innovation through hybridization, this study aims to demonstrate that the integration of modern technology and artificial intelligence into the field is nothing but the emergence of a new form of hybridity, this time embodied in …

Listener Factors In Integrating Syntax And Plausibility In Sentences Produced With Versus Without Stuttering, Gabriella L. Burgess Hayes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Development of communication-focused therapy for people who stutter requires better understanding of how stuttering impacts oral comprehension. One aim was to investigate how stuttering impacts listeners’ ability to integrate syntax and world knowledge (plausibility) in sentence processing. A second aim was to investigate how listener factors predict ability to integrate information in sentences with stuttering.

Methods: 224 adults heard 24 experimental sentences interspersed with 24 fillers. Experimental sentences included six plausible double-object dative (DO) constructions, six plausible prepositional dative (PD) constructions, six implausible DO constructions, and six implausible PD constructions. Implausible constructions served as analogues of communication breakdowns. Half …

The Power And Pitfalls Of Constructive Journalism: The Effects Of Hopeful Narratives In The News On Attitudes, Engagement And Knowledge, Oren Livio, Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster, Liran Peretz, Yael Ella-Hay, Yariv Tsfati, Nurit Tal-Or

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Recent research has argued that constructive journalism, which presents negative news by focusing on positive values and solutions, may reduce audiences’ tendency to avoid news without sacrificing perceived news credibility. This study uses a between-subjects experimental design (N = 1011) to examine in greater nuance the psychological outcomes of constructive narratives highlighting the protagonist’s hope in face of adversity. Our respondents reported more positive emotions in the hopeful protagonist condition (compared with the despairing protagonist), but they also perceived the government as less responsible for the situation and reported lower levels of support for necessary policy changes. They also …

Will Beauty Save The Brain? Exploring The Relationship Between Eudaimonic Reels Exposure And Egyptian Gen Z'S Mind And Motivations, Petra Zaky

Theses and Dissertations

Social media entertaining content includes a mixed bag of the meaningful and the trivial. For Generation Z, whose favorite daily entertainment is shallow yet funny short-form videos (reels), there is often an invisible price paid. The loss of ability to watch long meaningful videos, distractedness from self, “Brain Rot”, glamorizing of hedonism are among the maladies left behind the attractive rabbit hole of their daily media diet. This study explores the relationship between exposure to meaningful reels, in contrast to pleasurable reels, and Gen Z’s reflective thinking, “Brain Rot” symptoms, motivation to watch long meaningful videos and life motivations between …

Creating Public Value Through Public-Private Partnerships In Technical And Vocational Education And Training In Egypt, Aseel Amr Tajuddin

Theses and Dissertations

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has emerged in the last decade as a foundational pillar for Egypt’s workforce and economic development vision. More recently, the Egyptian Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MoETE) has scaled industry driven and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) TVET models, industry affiliated dual education programs and Applied Technology Schools (ATS), seeking to strengthen alignment with the labor market and improving TVET graduates employability. Yet, TVET in Egypt continues to suffer from persistent social stigma, limited social legitimacy and low social ranking, despite the state led reform efforts. Existing TVET literature remains limited to examining …

The Style Of Decision: Consumer Wisdom And The Mediating Role Of The Heuristic-Systematic Model Of Information Processing In Clothes Shopping, Nourane Sakr

Theses and Dissertations

Rationality and emotions are often treated as opposing forces in decision-making. Yet what if the more productive question is not which one prevails, but how a balance between the two might be achieved? Wisdom offers precisely this kind of integrative paradigm. Wisdom is a central trait for self-development; yet, little has been explored on Consumer Wisdom from a communications perspective. The theory has been initially examining ecology principles with an extensive space in consumer behavior and marketing practices. This research approaches consumer wisdom in online fashion advertising context whilst understanding the common information processing modes; evoked by the mediation of …

Breaking The Silence: A Content And Expert Analysis Of The 2025 Ramadan Series Lam Shamseya's Framing And Subversion Of Child Sexual Abuse Discourse In Egypt, Maya Abouelnasr

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes how the 2025 Egyptian TV series Lam Shamseya served as a sociocultural intervention and awareness platform for reframing and subverting the typical child sexual abuse (CSA) discourse in Egypt. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study triangulates framing theory and two complementary tools of the critical discourse analysis (CDA) and the circuit of culture model through a scene-level content analysis of 304 scenes across all 15 episodes of the series and ten semi-structured interviews with media experts, media practitioners, and psychologists. Key findings include reported corroboration of subversion of traditional tropes and archetypes, as well as reframing of …

Determinants Of Corporal Punishment And Severe Physical Punishment In Egypt: A Mixed-Methods Analysis For Child Protection Policy, Marwa Moustafa Nassef

Theses and Dissertations

Corporal punishment (CP) and severe physical punishment (SPP) remain a major public health, child rights, and child protection policy concern. In Egypt, despite legislative reforms, survey-weighted analysis of the 2021 Egypt Family Health Survey (EFHS) 2021 (CAPMAS, 2022) reveals prevalence rates of 60.5% for CP and 27.4% for SPP among children aged 1–14 (author’s calculations using EFHS-2021, n=7623), yet evidence distinguishing the determinants of routine corporal punishment from escalation to severe physical punishment remains limited in low- and middle-income contexts. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework, this mixed-methods study identifies key drivers of CP and its escalation to SPP among Egyptian …

Experiences Of U.S. Airmen In Navigating Cross-Cultural Communication Within The Workplace, Monica Carloss

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Selfie Engagement On Social Media And Cosmetic Surgery Consideration Among Youth In China, Wang Haoyue

Student Works (2020-2029)

The surge in cosmetic surgery consideration among Chinese youth is a complex phenomenon increasingly linked to social media and selfie culture. While prior research has established a general link between media exposure and cosmetic surgery interest, the specific psychological mechanisms and the role of user demographics remain poorly understood. Grounded in social comparison theory and media literacy theory, this study proposes a conceptual model to investigate how media literacy, namely perceived realism, perceived similarity, and identification, influences cosmetic surgery consideration, both directly and indirectly through the mechanism of social comparison. Furthermore, the model examines the moderating effects of key demographic …

Faculty Perceptions Of Lgbtq+ Students In Higher Education, Serena Gramling, Laura E. Barrow, Stacy Mikel, Mark J. Sciuchetti Dr., Falynn Turley

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objective: Limited faculty understanding of LGBTQ+ student experiences may contribute to exclusionary campus climates and discriminatory practices. This study examined faculty perceptions to identify ways to improve support for LGBTQ+ students and promote inclusive environments.

Method: A descriptive quantitative design was used to examine faculty perceptions of LGBTQ+ students and differences across geographic regions. 142 participants completed the 20-item instrument.

Results: Although regional differences in acceptance were observed, geographic location did not significantly predict faculty attitudes. Faculty acceptance played a key moderating role in the relationship between awareness and engagement in inclusive practices. Findings indicated that faculty attitudes alone are …

Modeling The Spread Of Competing Narratives In Multimodal Social Media Network, Mayor Inna Gurung

Theses and Dissertations

Social media has fundamentally transformed how narratives are produced, contested, and disseminated, enabling competing interpretations of the same event to spread rapidly across networked populations. Understanding how narratives gain traction over others in these environments is critical for addressing misinformation, supporting informed public discourse, and designing effective counter-messaging strategies. Yet existing research largely treats narrative propagation as a single-process phenomenon and focuses predominantly on textual data, overlooking both the competitive dynamics between opposing narratives and the growing role of visual symbolic communication in shaping how narratives are received. This dissertation addresses these gaps through a multi-platform, multimodal framework applied to …

From Fear To Action: The Role Of Media In Scam, Goodness Okhumode

Masters Theses

Scams have existed for a long time and are still prevalent today, with little indication of decline. Understanding how media exposure influences scam perceptions and motivates protective behavior among young adults has become pertinent in communication research. Drawing on Cultivation Theory and Protection Motivation Theory, this thesis examines how self-reported exposure to scam-related media content influences threat perceptions, efficacy beliefs and the adoption of preventive safety measures among young adult social media users. A quantitative online survey was used to collect data from undergraduate students of the CMCN 100 Spring 2026 class at a U.S. university. Seven hypotheses and two …

Tinder Troubles: Testing The Motivation-Based Model Of Online Disinhibition In A Mobile Dating App Context, Zachary Schleter

Masters Theses

As individuals turn to dating apps to find romance, friendships, sex, and more, understanding the factors that shape user behavior on these platforms has become increasingly important. Guided by Wen and Miura’s (2023) motivation-based Model of Online Disinhibition, this study examined how individual factors and motives for using Tinder predict online disinhibition and subsequent disinhibited behaviors. Specifically, using an English translation of Wen & Miura’s Multi-dimensional Measure of Online Disinhibition (2024), the study tested whether gender and five Tinder use motives—sexual experience, entertainment, romance, socializing, and distraction—predicted levels of online disinhibition on Tinder and whether online disinhibition, in turn, predicted …

Social Innovation In The Peacebuilding Sector, Michelle Helman, Phd, Katherine Ronderos, Mariafernanda Burgos-Ariza

Peace and Conflict Studies

Social innovation is an expanding practice in the peacebuilding sector. In this article, three peace scholar-practitioners reflect on our experiences as peacebuilders and consider the utility, tensions, and possibilities for peace and social innovation in theory and in practice. We draw insights gleaned through a focus group workshop with peacebuilding colleagues and highlight three case study examples from Colombia, the Philippines, and Kenya, each demonstrating the challenges and opportunities of social innovation in the peace sector. In doing so, we offer a reimagining of- and recommended action steps to engage innovation through a collaborative, feminist design approach. This article contributes …

Beach Pollution Messaging: Effects Of Negativity/Loss And Fear Appeals On Perceived Threat And Beach Protection Intentions, Cypress Brice

Communication Studies

Beach and ocean pollution are major environmental issues for all communities, but they have an especially deep impact on coastal communities, where beaches are part of everyday life. Marine pollution includes both chemical pollution and trash, and a lot of it starts from land-based human activity before it reaches the ocean. This study examines how different messaging styles about beach pollution affect how people respond to the issue and whether they feel motivated to help protect beaches and oceans. Using an online experiment, participants viewed one of two beach pollution posters and then answered questions about their reaction to the …