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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Conceptualizing Communication Capital For A Changing Environment, Leo Jeffres, Guowei Jian, Sukki Yoon Mar 2016

Conceptualizing Communication Capital For A Changing Environment, Leo Jeffres, Guowei Jian, Sukki Yoon

Guowei Jian

With rapidly evolving technologies, boundaries between traditional modes of communication have blurred, creating an environment that scholars still describe from viewpoints as researchers in interpersonal, organizational or mass communication. This manuscript looks at the social capital literature and argues for conceptualizing “communication capital” to help understand the impact of communication phenomena in a changing environment. The literature has treated interpersonal communication variables as components of social capital and mass communication variables as factors affecting social capital, but scholars long ago recognized their reinforcing nature, leading us to develop a concept of communication capital merging symbolic activity across domains in its …


Structural Pluralism And The Community Context: How And When Does The Environment Matter?, Leo Jeffres, Edward Horowitz, Cheryl Bracken, Guowei Jian, Kimberly Neuendorf, Sukki Yoon Mar 2016

Structural Pluralism And The Community Context: How And When Does The Environment Matter?, Leo Jeffres, Edward Horowitz, Cheryl Bracken, Guowei Jian, Kimberly Neuendorf, Sukki Yoon

Guowei Jian

Several long-standing theories intersect in discussing the impact of community characteristics and of the mass media. The structural pluralism model popularized by Tichenor and his colleagues says that social structure influences how mass media operate in communities because they respond to how power is distributed in the social system, whereas the linear model says that the increasing size of a community's population leads to more social differentiation and diversity and corresponding increases in subcultures with their own beliefs, customs, and behaviors. Recently, there has been a concern about how changes in society have led to a decline in organizational activity …


Spanning The Boundaries Of Work: Workplace Participation, Political Efficacy, And Political Involvement, Guowei Jian, Leo Jeffres Mar 2016

Spanning The Boundaries Of Work: Workplace Participation, Political Efficacy, And Political Involvement, Guowei Jian, Leo Jeffres

Guowei Jian

Based on the political spillover theory, this study examines the boundary-spanning aspect of workplace participation—the association between participation at work and in politics. A telephone survey was conducted using a regional probability sample. Results indicate that decision involvement at work is positively associated with political voting while work community participation is positively associated with involvement in local communities and political party and campaign activities. The study reveals that internal political efficacy mediates the relationship between job autonomy and political participation.


Viewing The Public Sphere With Influentials And Citizens, Leo Jeffres, Guowei Jian, Jae-Won Lee, C. Connally, Josie Seikali Mar 2016

Viewing The Public Sphere With Influentials And Citizens, Leo Jeffres, Guowei Jian, Jae-Won Lee, C. Connally, Josie Seikali

Guowei Jian

The currently popular emphasis on democratic discussion in the “public sphere” often is critically viewed by observers commenting on issues of participation, empowerment, and efficacy without input from influentials, whose voices often are the content of public debates. Habermas was critical of the quality of democratic discourse, arguing for an “ideal speech situation” where participants are free to question all proposals; introduce proposals; and express their attitudes, wishes, and needs. This article examines perceptions of the climate of communication in the public sphere by influentials and the general public of a major urban area.