Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Impact Of Utilitarian Product Reviews On Brand Perception, Benjamin Libon

Masters Theses

The impact of online reviews on consumer behavior has been increasingly studied as online retail platforms have grown exponentially, and internet research used prior to purchasing products has become more common. However, limited research has examined the impact of those product reviews on the overall perception of the brands selling these products. This study exclusively looked at product reviews for high and low-involvement utilitarian products and analyzed how those reviews affect consumers' perception of a brand. Taking a sample of 301 participants, findings showed that star ratings had a drastic effect on consumers' perception of a brand, associating a low …

My Ceo Has An Instagram? An Analysis Of Fortune 500 Ceo’S Personal Instagram Accounts, Courtney Dail Francis

Masters Theses

As social media evolves and changes, so does the need to be more active online. This need also applies to CEOs who have a direct pipeline to consumers. What CEOs post can have an impact on their organization and give a greater understanding as to who they are as a person, not just as a business leader. In this quantitative study, Fortune 500 CEO Instagram accounts are analyzed to better understand the overall theme of the content they are posting. It was found that the most popular styles posted on these accounts was personal posts and company/CEO/industry news and events. …

Stakeholders And Stakeseekers’ Perceptions Of Cultural Violations And International Crisis Communication, Najwa Nishaa Albaqami

Masters Theses

Applying the expectancy violation theory (EVT) to the crisis communication context, this research explores to what extent stakeholders and stakeseekers’ perceive violations in an international crisis context. Specifically, this study investigated to what extent organizations stakeholders and stakeseekers’ perceive cultural and expectancy violations in an international crisis. Through a case study that analyzed tweets, web blogs, and The New York Times articles, this study identified that the cultural violation theme has two components, including (1) perceived responsibility and harshness of the violation and (2) damage done by the company’s transgression. Whereas expectancy violation theme included (1) frequent use of verbal …

Sunny Days Ahead: Messages During A Pandemic: Creative Strategies And Themes In Health And Wellness Public Service Ads By The Ad Council, Meenakshi Trichur Venkitasubramanian

Doctoral Dissertations

Public Service Advertising is an essential field of study because of its ability to impact and shape public behavior and community changes. Historically, the advertising industry has come together during the times of world war to form an association, the Ad Council, to help create awareness to the public. Over the past 75 years, the Ad Council has contributed to the various causes by communicating and advertising to encourage better habits and behavior. The Ad Council has collaborated with CDC and COVID Collaborative to communicate the right messages about coronavirus response and COVID-19 vaccine during this pandemic. The purpose of …

A Postfeminist Multimodal Discourse Analysis Of Red Bull Sponsored Female Action Sports Athletes’ Digital Media Representation, Charli Celine Kerns

Doctoral Dissertations

This study applies a multimodal discourse analysis to social media content produced by Red Bull Media House. The aim of the research is to determine what postfeminist sensibilities discourses are used and how in the framing of the female action sports athletes the energy drink company sponsors. Specifically, Instagram posts, YouTube videos, and the biographical web pages about the 23 athletes were analyzed using multimodal discourse analysis. The findings revealed that while action sports have the potential to disrupt dominant discourses around femininity in sports contexts, ultimately Red Bull repackaged the discourses into different narratives.

Fyre Festival: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly And Its Impact On Influencer Marketing, Loren Grace Gilbert, Courtney Childers, Brandon Boatwright

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The On-Screen Water Cooler: Effects Of Televised User-Generated Comments On Cognitive Processing, Social Presence, And Viewing Experience., Jaclyn Ann Cameron

Doctoral Dissertations

Social television combines traditional television viewing and interactions with social media to create a phenomenon that connects otherwise autonomous viewers through a shared viewing experience. This dissertation explores one type of social television: on-screen user-generated comments. Although the practice spans multiple television genres, little is known about its effect on viewers’ cognitive processing of the media, perceptions of the social presence of other viewers, or the viewers’ experience of the media. Two experimental studies explored the effects of on-screen user-generated comments on cognitive processing of the media message, the effect of manipulating the content of on-screen user-generated comments and individual …

Is Big Press Tougher On "She"-Eos?, Kenan G. Smith

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Old News: A Historical Analysis Of Criticism Of Venezuela's Press Freedom, Emilee Lamb

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Russian Anti-Americanism, Public Opinion And The Impact Of The State-Controlled Mass Media, Natalie Manaeva Rice

Doctoral Dissertations

From 2011 to 2015, a rise in anti-Americanism was strongly reflected in Russian public opinion during President Vladimir Putin’s third term. The study examined the phenomenon of anti-Americanism in Russia and the role of state-controlled mass media in promoting anti-American attitudes. Statistical analysis of polls conducted in Russia by the Pew Research Center in 2012 demonstrated that anti-Americanism in Russian society should not be treated as a monolithic phenomenon. A segment of the Russian populace held a strong and deep-seated anti-American ideological bias that affected its perception of everything related to the United States. Other sentiments, however, fit a more …

An Exploratory Study Of The Presence And Direction Of Agenda-Setting Effects Between Leading U.S. Foreign Policy Think Tanks And U.S. Newspapers, Dzmitry Yuran

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the roles news media and think tanks play in U.S. foreign policy in an analysis of their possible effects on each other’s agendas. In an analysis of salience of, or attention to, multiple countries over time in coverage from leading U.S. newspapers, The New York Times and Washington Post, and in published online materials from leading U.S. foreign policy think tanks, Brookings Institution and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the research looks at the presence, direction, and strength of agenda-setting effects in the construction of news agendas and attention foci of think tanks. Findings suggest that the …

Comparing News Frames About The Syrian Crisis Between The Kommersant And The Financial Times, Anton Dinerstein

Masters Theses

This is an exploratory comparative study aimed to examine media frames about ongoing civil war in Syria. The civil uprising started on March 15, 2011, and turned into a civil war after May 8, 2011. The conflict has lasted for more than four years, and more than 220,000 people have died since it began. During the conflict, both the Syrian government and military opposition were accused of extreme cruelty and of using chemical weapons. However, there was no official proof of using chemical weapons until the August 21, 2013, when Syrian government forces used chemical weapons during their attack on …

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, …

The Effect Of Advertising On Male Body Image Disturbance: A Content Analysis Of Male Models In Esquire Magazine Ads From 1955-2005, Zienab Ahmed Mohamed Shoieb

Masters Theses

This study examines the transformation of the male body ideal in magazine ads over time. A content analysis of 218 male models in Esquire ads from 1955 to 2005 were coded for level of male models’ fat, muscularity, and nudity levels; whether the ad was photographed or illustrated; and product category. Findings reveal (1) a significant decrease in male models’ fat levels over time, (2) a significant increase in male models’ muscularity levels over time, and (3) a significant increase in nudity over time. Male models in photographed advertisements were found to have higher levels of muscularity and nudity than …

News And The Public Sphere: The Boston Marathon Bombing In The New York Times And Le Figaro, Ioana Alexandra Coman

Doctoral Dissertations

The current dissertation explores the online mediatization of the Boston Marathon bombing crisis by an American newspaper (The New York Times) and a French one (Le Figaro) and their publics’ reactions to it. The research was conducted along two main analysis axes: (1) the main frames and themes through which the journalists and the publics gave meaning to the event, and (2) the characteristics of the online public spheres therefore created. The comparative perspective on the journalistic frames showed a strong tendency of homogenization, as the same main frames appeared in both analyzed newspapers. However, the …

Trust In News Media In Post-Communist Eastern Europe: The Case Of Serbia, Ivanka Pjesivac

Doctoral Dissertations

The main purpose of this dissertation research was to examine the influences of cultural and performance factors on trust in news media in Serbia. This was done by conducting a survey on a stratified random sample of the Serbian population (N=544). Before testing cultural and performance theories, this dissertation explored the meanings of trust in news media and trust in other people in Serbia, in order to properly operationalize these concepts and establish their conceptual equivalence needed for their adequate measurement. This was done by 20 in-depth interviews with representatives of the Serbian population. The results of this …

The Effects Of Risk Disclosure In Direct-To-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising (Dtca): Prominence, Dtca Regulatory Knowledge, And Perceived Attention, Ilwoo Ju

Doctoral Dissertations

Fair balance of benefit and risk information in consumer prescription drug advertising (DTCA) has received much research attention. In this regard, it has been well-documented that varying levels of risk disclosure prominence have disproportional effects on consumer response to the DTC ad. However, little research has examined how the prominence effects can be maximized or minimized depending on consumers’ varying levels of knowledge of the FDA’s regulatory role for DTCA. In a similar vein, rare research has been conducted to investigate how such regulatory knowledge directly affects consumers’ risk disclosure coping strategies.

Drawing on consumer information processing perspectives, this research …

Assessing The Impact Of United States Mass Media On Croatian Cultural Identities, Iveta Imre

Doctoral Dissertations

Researchers throughout the decades have been interested in understanding how global communications coming from the West affect different cultures around the world. Many have raised concerns about the impact of American media on unique national cultures. The main purpose of this study was to understand how exposure to American television influences cultural identities and values of young people in Croatia, one of the new democracies of post-Communist Eastern Europe. This was accomplished in two parts. First part of this study sought to test the relationship between watching American television and adopting American values following a cognitive functional theory of television's …

Activating Parents’ Persuasion Knowledge In Children’S Advergames: Testing The Effects Of Advertising Disclosures And Cognitive Load, Nathaniel Joseph Evans

Doctoral Dissertations

This study focused on parents of children between the ages of 7 to 11 and their ability to recognize and understand a children’s advergame as advertising. Using the theoretical framework of the Persuasion Knowledge Model (PKM), this study experimentally tested the effects of advertising disclosures and cognitive load on parents’ activation of persuasion knowledge in children’s advergames and parents’ attitudes toward children’s advergames. In addition, this study examined how parents’ individual trait differences in persuasion knowledge and mediation of their children’s Internet use potentially influenced their persuasion knowledge in children’s advergames as well as their attitudes toward them. By conducting …

Telling It Like It Is: A Qualitative Excavation Of The Factors That Impel Natural/Physical Scientists To Serve As Mass Media News Sources, David Scott Wells

Doctoral Dissertations

Scientific discoveries and technological advancements are often viewed as crucial to the growth and success of a nation. Also viewed as important are an informed public. Governed by different socio-cultural rules, the communities of science and journalism share little in common. However, the effective creation of science news typically requires interaction between scientists and journalists. Scholarly studies of the communicative engagement between the science and journalism communities suggest interactions have not been smooth, potentially hindering effective public dissemination and uptake of scientific information via the press.

Past studies of the relationship between scientists and journalists have primarily focused on the …

Reporting Crisis: An Analysis Of The New York Times’ Sports Section Following The Tragedies Of September 11, 2001, Gerard Timothy Mirabito

Doctoral Dissertations

The sport industry came to a standstill after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Major sporting events were postponed or canceled in lieu of the tragedy and for a week, while the nation mourned, the country went without sports. For many of the leagues it was the first extended hiatus for a non-labor dispute in nearly a century. On September 17, Major League Baseball returned, the first sport to resume, and when the games did recommence there were noticeable changes. Throughout this period, the New York Times, one of the country’s most prestigious newspapers, produced a sports section in every …

Consumers’ Optimistic Bias And Responses To Risk Disclosures In Direct-To-Consumer (Dtc) Prescription Drug Advertising: The Moderating Role Of Subjective Health Literacy, Hoyoung Ahn

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite a substantial body of research in direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for prescription drugs, what is missing from much of the existing discussion on DTCA disclosure is a focus on the roles of consumers’ individual motivation and ability factors in processing risk disclosures. Guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and the Motivation-Ability- Opportunity (MAO) framework, this research focuses on the roles played by individuals’ optimistic bias as motivation and ones’ subjective health literacy as ability to process and evaluate risk disclosures in DTCA. Specifically, this study examined whether the degree of optimistic bias affected consumers’ risk disclosure processing in terms …

Understanding The Dimensions Of Trust In Public Relations And Their Measurements, Joosuk Park

Doctoral Dissertations

Trust judgment of an organization’s publics validates the existence of an organization as well as being one of the most powerful moderators of public relations effectiveness. The ideas of trust as one of the key dimensions to explain relational status between an organization and its key publics has been around more than a decade. Over the last two decades, the idea of trust in fact has been showing rising prominence across many diversified studies of relationship and relationship management. In relationship management, one of the important goals of public relations is to build mutually beneficial relationships among organizations and their …

Students’ Writing Self-Efficacy, Motivation, And Experience: Predictors In Journalism Education, Matthew Bryan Broaddus

Doctoral Dissertations

The field of journalism has gone through several years of turmoil as new technology, platforms, and economic hardships have swept away traditional journalistic practices and models. Print media continues to hemorrhage jobs and money while media outlets adjust to technology-enhanced reporting. College journalism majors often face changing curriculum and graduate feeling unprepared to be competitive in the journalistic job market. While many things have changed in the field, one pillar of journalism that has not changed is the need for journalists to possess an excellent writing ability, supplemented with the ability to think analytically. The connection between students’ ability to …

The Lived Meanings Of Product Placement In Social Network Sites (Snss) Among Urban Chinese White-Collar Professional Users: A Story Of Happy Network, Huan Chen

Doctoral Dissertations

A phenomenology study reveals the lived meanings of product placement in social network sites (SNSs) among Chinese urban, white-collar professional users through an investigation of a newly launched SNS, Happy Network. In total, 25 face-to-face, in-depth interviews were conducted to collect data. Findings indicated that participants’ interpretations of product placement were interrelated with the socially constructed meanings of the SNS, participants’ social role of white-collar professionals, and the consumer culture of contemporary Chinese society. In particular, the emerged themes with regard to the shared meanings of the SNS include five dialectic relations: in control/controlled by, dependent/independent, public/private, intimate/distant, and personal/social. …

Public Confidence In Social Institutions And Media Coverage: A Case Of Belarus, Dzmitry Yuran

Masters Theses

Social scientists agree that public confidence in social institutions is a crucial element in building democratic society. This is especially true for transitional societies including post-communist countries, because the lack of public confidence in newly emerged democratic institutions can interfere with democratic development. Although different theories explaining public confidence in social institutions were developed, these theories ignored the role that mass media play in building public confidence. The goal of this study is to examine the connection between mass media coverage of social institutions and public confidence in these institutions by conducting content analysis of Belarusian newspapers, reviewing the results …

Privacy Law And The Internet Using Facebook.Com As A Case Study, Amelia D. Grubbs

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Political Communication In A Digital Age: 2011 Tea Party Senators And Social Media, Kaitlyn M. Barrett

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

War Of Words: Framing Of The United States In Selected Belarusian Newspapers In 2009, Natalie Manayeva

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the peculiarities of framing of the United States in selected Belarusian newspapers during first six months of the Obama administration. The concepts of anti-Americanism, authoritarian model of mass media and framing were chosen as a theoretical framework. This study was focused on the two main questions: first, what is the difference in how Belarusian state-run and independent newspapers frame the U.S., and second, what is the mechanism of creating negative image of the U.S. in Belarusian newspapers. In order to provide comprehensive answers to both questions the multi-method approach (involving methods of …

Radio-Television Of Serbia (1989-2009): The Changing Role Of State Tv In A Post-Communist Country, Ivanka Radovic

Masters Theses

This study examined the differences in reporting in Radio-Television of Serbia's (RTS) main newscast, Dnevnik 2, between the period of Slobodan Milosevic’s rule (1989-2000) and the period after the establishment of democracy in Serbia (2001-2009). The data were gathered by the content analysis of 63 RTS newscasts in the period 1989-2009. The research included quantitative analysis as well as additional observations of RTS newscasts noted at the time of coding. The major findings suggest that in the democratic period (2001-2009) RTS newscasts become shorter, more consistent in duration, less dedicated to coverage of state and ruling party officials’ activities, and …