Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Unsung Heroes For Intercollegiate Athletics: Examining The Dialogic Principles Of Communication In Community College Athletic Departments, Matthew Alan Stilwell

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore community college athletic departments and how they connect and facilitate messages to their stakeholders. With limited resources, it’s important to understand how the athletic departments are applying best strategies and principles of relational management. Therefore, the goal and importance of this project was to explore how a mass communication tool in Twitter and how it is used in community college athletics, an area that is not a focal point in either collegiate athletics or sport communication scholarship. Using Kent and Taylor’s (1998) dialogic principles of communication as a guide for this project, …

Words Evaporate, The Images Remain: Testing Visual Warnings In The Context Of Intentions To Vape Among U.S. Adults As An Expansion Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior (Tpb), Carl Arland Ciccarelli

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation applied the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model variables of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, along with the variable of fear to explain individuals’ behavioral intentions to vape. Previous studies have explored the social appeal, intrigue, and potential consequences of vaping among adolescent and college student populations. However, these past studies have largely relied upon focus groups and self-reported data conducted among samples of teen, adolescent, and college student populations. Thus, the aims and designs of these previous vaping studies may have been lacking in construct validity and a theoretical approach from which to explain behavioral …

Exploring The Agenda-Setting Dynamics Between Traditional Newspapers And Twitter During Mass Shooting Event, Yujin Heo

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the intermedia agenda-setting interplay between traditional news media and Twitter in the wake of mass shooting incidents. Applying Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling to data sourced from Twitter, national, and local news, the study investigated the distinct coverage patterns and the extent of their reciprocal influence over time. The findings of this study demonstrated that, in the immediate aftermath of a shooting incident, national news outlets exerted a significant agenda-setting influence on both local media and Twitter discourse. However, as time unfolds, a mutually influential dynamic emerged across all media platforms. …

Framing Police Brutality: An Analysis Of Newspaper Coverage Of Walter Scott’S Murder, Shamira S. Mccray

Theses and Dissertations

This research analyzes news articles about the killing of Walter Scott in 2015 to determine how frames changed over time and across platforms. Previous studies have found that news coverage of police violence against Black men has not always been fair. Instead, the narrative of official sources, like law enforcement, prove dominant. These same research articles typically focus on the way national news outlets frame incidents like Scott’s.

But this thesis takes a deeper look at how state newspapers framed Scott’s murder. I analyzed the frames and sources found in nearly 200 articles published by The Post and Courier and …

The Binge Viewing Index: Creating And Testing A New Measure, Larry J. Webster Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Television Binge Viewing is a media consumption behavior that is in its research infancy. To date, researches have used a dichotomous variable to measure binge viewing. That measure is based on operationalizing binge viewing as having watched two to six episodes of the same television program in one sitting. This research project created and applied a continuous measure by creating the Binge Viewing Index (BVI), which is based on the duration (number of episodes) and the frequency (weekly average) of binge viewing sessions. These dimensions are structured similarly to measures for binge drinking. A national survey demonstrated the intensity of …

The Effect Of Emotional Intensity, Arousal, And Valence On Online Video Ad Sharing, Chang Won Choi

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the effect of emotional factors, such as pleasure, arousal, and intensity, on online video ad sharing. Previous studies found that the emotions evoked by online video ads could influence consumers’ ad sharing intentions. However, it remains uncertain which emotional factors trigger ad sharing behavior. Some researchers argue that positive or high-arousal emotions (e.g., excitement) exert greater influence on ad sharing than negative or low-arousal emotions (e.g., sadness). However, these studies do not explain why video ads that evoke low-arousal or unpleasant emotions are also widely shared on social media. Based on the theory of social sharing of …

Gatekeeping Blackness: Roles, Relationships, And Pressures Of Black Television Journalists At A Time Of Racial Reckoning, Denetra Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Building on Du Bois’ (1903) concept of double-consciousness, Critical Race Theory, and communications theories including Gatekeeping, this dissertation aims to provide understanding of the experiences of Black broadcast journalists at a racially contentious time in American history. In 2020-2021, following the deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, and during a global pandemic, a “racial reckoning” ensued throughout the nation. The reckoning, which continued through the writing of this dissertation, was a salient issue for news media. Through my positionality as a Black female forever journalist, I interviewed 29 Black journalists who …

“Power, Poison, Pain & Joy”: Applying A Critical Race Conceptual Model Of Implicit Racial Bias To Narratives Framing Blackness In Black Sports Columns, Black Music, And Black Journalism, Christina Lauren Myers

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents a Critical Race Conceptual Model of Implicit Racial Bias to representations of African Americans in mass media to illustrate how stereotypical depictions and racist ideologies arise in media content, including by Black content creators. By bridging the concepts of implicit bias, framing theory and concepts from critical race theory through the conceptual model, I contend that content creators implicitly share racially biased beliefs. Moreover, Black content creators in expressing the authentic experiences of the Black community also do the same. Thus, Black content creators further stereotypes, majoritarian narratives as well as deficit perspectives about the Black community …

Let’S Be Friends: Examining Consumer Brand Relationships Through The Lens Of Brand Personality, Engagement, And Reciprocal Altruism, Daniel D. Haun

Theses and Dissertations

Brands have always exuded personality and status to consumers in order to promote a competent impression and induce positive perceptions and behaviors (Griskevicius, et al., 2007). In order for individuals to identify with brands, the brands must become more personable by consciously embodying a specific personality trait. Research has found that when a brand embodies a personality, there is an associated increase in consumer preference and usage (Sirgy, 1982), purchase choices for that brand (Ha & Janda, 2014; Gordon et al., 2016; Guèvremont & Grohmann, 2013; Swaminathan et al., 2009), and consumer preference and brand loyalty (Louis & Lombart, 2010; …

Inoculating The Public Against Misinformation: Testing The Effectiveness Of “Pre-Bunking” Techniques In The Context Of Mental Illness And Violence, Nanlan Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

The publics might be misinformed about mental illness due to frequently mentioned violence and inaccurate notions in news coverage that underlie people who have a history of mental illness are prone to be dangerous or violent. Drawing from the theories of inoculation and the psychological reactance, the author seeks to investigate the effects of using preemptive corrective message techniques (labeling, appeal to consensus, and provision of an alternative explanation) as on the method of promoting resistance to misinformation linking mental illness and violence, which is a harmful and unsubstantiated stereotype. To accomplish this research aim, the author conducted two experiments …

Portion Of Profit Donations: Csr As Public Relations Strategy And Its Relationships With Trust And Purchase Intentions, Branden Dylan Cameron Birmingham

Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to apply POP donations and messaging as a form of corporate social responsibility (CSR) research. Specifically, this study seeks to understand the relationships between communication factors of portion of the profit (POP) donations and a consumer’s intentions to purchase an item from a corporation, and the level of trust between a consumer and corporation. A key focus of this study was to determine if there is skepticism of POP donations and the impact on overall purchasing intentions, CSR communication factors, engagement, and trustworthiness. This emphasized how ethical values, decision making, relationship building, and trustworthiness are obligations between …

Go With The Flow: Testing The Effects Of Emotional Flow On Psychophysiological, Attitudinal, And Behavioral Changes, Chris R. Noland

Theses and Dissertations

Emotions are important constructs that affect the lives of everyone. Emotions play a particularly strong role in persuasion. This study examines the concept of emotional flow, a sequencing of specific discrete emotions in a strategic manner to affect attitudes and behaviors. In an experiment to understand the functions and applicability of emotional flow, an experiment was conducted using a public service announcement about melanoma that contained a sequence that flowed from humor to sadness to hope. This dissertation used both self-report as well as biometric measures of the emotional responses valence and arousal. Using Affect Priming Theory, Mood Management Theory, …

The Role Of Sexting In The Development Of Romantic Relationships, Max Bretscher

Theses and Dissertations

Using Knapp's stage theory of relationship communication, this pilot study examines "sexting" in the broader framework of relationship development, from initiation to termination. Likert-scale questions (1 = highly unlikely; 2 = highly likely) and open-ended questions were administered through Qualtrics to a small population (N = 45) of undergraduate mass communication students to determine on what communication technology, and in which stage(s) of relationships, is sexting most likely to occur. Quantitative results showed that Snapchat was considered the most appropriate medium for sexts (M = 4.60), followed by texting (4.27). Research that these mediums are used when relationships reach a …

Conservative Media’S Coverage Of Coronavirus On Youtube: A Qualitative Analysis Of Media Effects On Consumers, Michael J. Layer

Theses and Dissertations

As of late November 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic killed more than 250,000 people in America despite having early warning of the virus’ lethality and some of the world’s best public health institutions. In today’s media landscape, conservative commentators have an enormous influence on President Donald Trump as well as American political discourse broadly. This study focused how the top conservative commentators on YouTube influenced their audience by their coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic. By examining over 1,600 YouTube comments from videos from February to July 2020, this paper investigates who conservative media consumers principally blamed, the socio-political influences behind those …

Gun Violence And Advocacy Communication, Minhee Choi

Theses and Dissertations

Gun violence has been a major threat to the United States in recent decades. Through the concept of media advocacy from health communication and mass communication literature, this dissertation used an experiment with 331 respondents to test the strategic value of public health framing and certain types of mobilizing information on social media as part of the media advocacy process, including how those elements may lead to attitudinal and behavioral responses related to gun-related policies. Political orientation and gun ownership were examined as potential moderating factors that affect individuals’ perceptions of public health framing. Finding provide public health framing is …

The Role Of Third-Person Perceptions In Predicting The Public’S Support For Electronic Cigarette Advertising Regulations, Joon Kyoung Kim

Theses and Dissertations

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has become the most widely used nicotine porduct among adolescents and young adults in the United States. Although some research has shown that e-cigarettes are relatively less harmful than combustible tobacco cigarettes, the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes remain unclear. Some evidence suggests that exposure to e-cigarette marketing leads young people to try e-cigarettes. Given the increased popularity of e-cigarette use, the U.S Food and Drug Administration has implemented regulations on e-cigarette marketing since 2016. To understand the public’s support for media censorship, media scholars have examined gaps in individuals’ perceptions of media effects on themselves …

Fundamentally Different Stories That Matter: True Crime Podcasts And The Domestic Violence Survivors In Their Audiences, Kelli S. Boling

Theses and Dissertations

This audience reception study qualitatively examines women who identify as both domestic violence survivors and fans of true crime podcasts. Using a feminist, critical cultural lens, this study explores why these women are drawn to these podcasts and how the content presented intersects with their lived experiences as domestic violence survivors. Employing a multi-method approach, I interviewed 16 women who listen to true crime podcasts and identify as domestic violence survivors as well as six hosts/producers of true crime podcast media and conducted an in-depth narrative analysis on one of the most popular podcasts mentioned by my participants. Sixteen in-depth …

Problem Chain Recognition Effect And Csr Communication: Examining The Impact Of Issue Salience And Proximity On Environmental Communication Behaviors, Nandini Bhalla

Theses and Dissertations

This study applied the STOPS theory and tested the mechanism of problem chain recognition effect in the realm of environmental corporate communication. Using environmental issue salience and issue proximity as two manipulated variables, this study conducted an experiment to examine the mechanism of the problem chain recognition (PCR) effect, which suggested that the perception of a more salient issue (climate change) will be transferred to related less salient issues (air pollution/land degradation). Thus, through a 2 (issue salience: salient vs. non-salient) × 2 (issue proximity: local vs. global) experimental design, this study suggested that if individuals have high motivation for …

Providing Prevention Education About Child Sexual Abuse To Parents: Testing Media Effects On Knowledge, Behavioral Intentions And Outcomes, Jane Long Weatherred

Theses and Dissertations

For over thirty years, efforts have been made by child sexual abuse (CSA) advocates to attract and engage parents in child sexual abuse prevention education programs. This study provided parents with CSA prevention education about how to talk to their children about CSA and assessed their attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intentions to perform this behavior utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior. A follow-up survey was conducted to find out if the parents actually performed the behavior of talking to their children and what they talked to them about. The results were 1) that all of the …

The Games Behind The Scenes: Newspaper Framing Of Female African American Olympic Athletes, Martin Reece Funderburk

Theses and Dissertations

Competing in and representing their country in the Olympic games is considered one of the greatest achievements for an athlete. From heroes such as Michael Jordan and the “Dream Team,” to Michael Phelps setting world record after record in the pool, Olympians are remembered as legends to those watching at home. How their amazing achievements at these Olympic games have been framed by the media though is another story. Newspapers have facilitated a platform for a qualitative content analysis on the framing of three female African American Olympic gold medalists that showed statistical significance in terms of the amount of …

Effectiveness Of A Brand’S Paid, Owned, And Earned Media In A Social Media Environment, Anan Wan

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explored how a brand’s paid, owned, and earned media (POEM) influence and engage its audience in the social media environment where consumer engagement is stressed. This dissertation used an online experiment (N = 250) to explore the effectiveness of applying earned media within an advertising context, The findings indicated that positive earned media was more effective on people’s consumer engagement intention and download intention than paid media, but it did not work on perceived credibility of the post or product attitude. Positive earned media was found to be less credible than owned media. Among all the five …

“Philosophical Treatises On Life And Death”:Newspaper Coverage Of A Controversial Brain Death Case, Khadija Ejaz

Theses and Dissertations

The central concern of this multi-method research project was to investigate newspaper coverage of the controversial brain death case of Jahi McMath. This represents the first study of sense-making of the case in the news media, positioning it at the intersection of science communication and critical qualitative inquiry. First, framing theory was used to guide a textual analysis of 81 newspaper articles from high-circulation newspapers in California. This revealed four frames that first created uncertainty about brain death, thereby permitting two competing frames of Jahi being alive and also being dead to co-exist before merging into a frame that further …

How S. C. Daily Newspapers Framed The Removal Of The Confederate Flag From The State House Grounds In 2015 Through Letters To The Editor And Editorials, Thomas Craig Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

The removal of the Confederate flag from the State House grounds in Columbia, South Carolina during the summer of 2015 was an action that had been discussed previously in the state since the flag went up over the State House in 1961. While the state legislature acted swiftly to have the flag removed after Gov. Nikki Haley’s announcement on June 22, the two and a half weeks between her announcement and removal on July 10 was filled with opinions from citizens all across the state and in areas of the United States where Confederate monuments and memorials still have a …

Fatal Force: A Conversation With Journalists Who Cover Deadly, Highly-Publicized Police Shootings, Denetra Walker

Theses and Dissertations

After the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement following the deaths of unarmed Black teens Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, news about police shootings catapulted into the local and national spotlight through videos and messages on social media. Information about police shootings is usually reported to the public through media sources such as television, online/digital news, and social media. This study examines how television news journalists cover the issue of police shootings in the United States. Through 10 in-depth interviews with television journalists who covered highly-publicized police shootings, the author analyzes how race, journalistic norms, technology, and citizen journalists …

Breaking The Silence: Extending Theory To Address The Underutilization Of Mental Health Services Among Chinese Immigrants In The United States, Jo-Yun Queenie Li

Theses and Dissertations

Mental health services underutilization has been a prevalent issue in Chinese immigrant community in the United States. Using a nation wide survey of 445 Chinese immigrants in November 2017, this study investigates the effects of cognitive barriers (i.e., acculturation levels) and affective obstacles (i.e., mental illness stigma) on Chinese immigrants’ perceptual, attitudinal, and behavioral responses toward mental health services, by combining situational theory of problem solving and the theory of planned behavior. This study also examines the effects of mainstream and ethnic media use on acculturation and perceived stigma. Findings provide empirical support for the combined model, showing that all …

Domestic Extension Of Public Diplomacy: Media Competition For Credibility, Dependency And Activation Of Publics, Yicheng Zhu

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation connects theories of political communication, public relations and international relations to conceptualize a new model of public diplomacy, where boundaries between distinct types of actors are drawn. It proposes an ecological model and a competition model of public diplomacy. Based on these conceptual models, it empirically supports the academic rationalization of governmental interference in foreign media effects among its domestic citizens: Using a quota sample of 560 survey respondent from mainland China, the empirical part of the dissertation illustrated: 1. Governmental control on foreign media accessibility has significant effects on perceived media credibility and thus dependency on it; …

Creating An Online Social Movement In Socially Conservative Societies: A Case Study Of Manshoor Blog Using Frame Alignment Process, Noura Abdullah Al-Duaijani

Theses and Dissertations

In the last decade, the Arab region has witnessed many political and social changes. Parts of these changes were initiated by millennials seeking social change to elevate the quality of life in their country and themselves. In one particular country, Kuwait, youth have pursued social change by advocating a freer lifestyle and regime change in government and institutions. Manshoor, an Arab language blog launched in November 2016 by two Kuwaiti liberals, Jassim Qamis and Ali Al-Nessif, stimulates an open conversation on a wide range of issues, including controversial ideas in the region such as scrutinizing some practices and beliefs of …

Fandom In Politics: Scale Development And Validation, Won-Ki Moon

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the importance of fandom in politics to understanding individuals’ political behaviors, reliable scales measuring political fandom are lacking. To fill this gap, the present study constructs and validates a new scale for political fandom. First, by reforming existed questions and making new questions, the author derived 42 questions belonging to seven dimensions as an initial item pool based on conceptualization. Second, to refine and develop the scale, the researcher conducted exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. According to the result of the studies, the final factor model of political fandom retained 25 questions and seven dimensions. In addition, …

International Twitter Comments About 2016 U.S. Presidential Candidates Trump And Clinton: Agenda-Building Analysis In The U.S., U.K., Brazil, Russia, India And China, Jane O’Boyle

Theses and Dissertations

Based on agenda-building theory, this study performs content analysis on 6,019 international Twitter comments about Trump and Clinton in the 10 days prior to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Even excluding bots and trolls, the preponderance of Twitter comments were positive about Trump and negative about Clinton, in the U.S., Russia, India and China. In the U.K. and Brazil, Twitter comments were largely negative about both candidates. Twitter sources and topics were also identified and explored to expand knowledge about the evolving role and effect of agenda-building in six nations, and around the world.

Is That Online Review Fake News? How Sponsorship Disclosure Influences Reader Credibility, Mark W. Tatge

Theses and Dissertations

In a randomized between-subjects design, participants (N =595) were assigned one of three online reviews containing disclosure statements (no disclosure, no sponsor, sponsored) denoting whether the author of an online review was paid by an advertiser or whether the review was independent of ad sponsorship. Hayes and Preacher’s bootstrapping procedure was used to test the indirect and direct effects of related to a hypothesized model examining the impact of review disclosure on perceived credibility and purchase intention. The impact of two covariates – involvement and media literacy – was assessed to see if these variables had a potential confounding impact …