Communication Commons^™

Ceo Narcissism: An Unconventional Approach To Understanding The Importance Of Further Research, Melissa Goldsmith

Student Theses and Dissertations

CEOs are in a unique position of power and can significantly change an organization's overall work culture, global financial standing, policies/governance, and reputation. As such, the CEO must exemplify good stewardship, implement sound strategies to communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders, consider different perspectives, and maintain respect for others' skill sets and expertise. For decades, corporations have focused on this ideal picture of leadership. It is essential to understand how the leadership traits once venerated have changed to include the darker side of a CEO's personality, specifically, the embodiment of narcissistic traits that prove detrimental to the organization's performance …

Exploring The Role Of Communication In Relational Outcomes In A High School Setting, Paul S. Butler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An action research study in a high school setting applies the Organization-Public Relationships (O-PR) theoretical frame to a short-term communications initiative designed to elicit measurable engagement in the initiative and increased parent feelings of commitment and trust in their relationship with the school. A survey administered before the initiative yields actionable data on communication needs and preferences, levels of satisfaction, and parent feelings of commitment and trust. Survey data gathered after the communication initiative is used to determine changes in levels of satisfaction, commitment and trust. Among the findings are verified and consistent indications of secondary engagement in the communication …

Once Upon Online: Conversations With Professional Storytellers About Adapting From In-Person To Virtual Storytelling Performance, Leticia Pizzino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how professional storytellers negotiated a new storytelling stage—the videoconference platform—as they pivoted their careers during mandated shutdowns due to COVID-19. An examination of the literature reveals extremely limited research involving either professional storytellers or live virtual storytelling. After interviewing five professional storytellers, I analyzed their stories through narrative inquiry. Analysis revealed that the storytellers negotiated the limitations and affordances of Zoom and adapted their storytelling to successfully connect with their audiences. Through crafting a narrative of their stories, I was able to represent their emotions, unique experiences, and abilities to adapt to the online environment. Their stories …

"Maybe I Shouldn't Have Worn Such High Heels" Examining Self-Presentation Expectations For Corporate Women Using Communication Theory Of Identity, Taylor E. Mack

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examines how corporate women use self-presentation in the workplace to communicate professionalism. The study utilizes Communication Theory of Identity (CTI) to consider the self-presentation experiences of corporate women. CTI identifies four identity layers: personal, relational, enacted, and communal, which interact and influence each other as individuals attempt to define themselves. Through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with corporate women, the present study found the following results: women often receive communication regarding self-presentation standards from peers rather than formal policies, self-presentation expectations have become more casual and diverse, women still encounter challenges resulting in the need to (re)negotiate their identity, …

"Smells Fishy": Exploring Sense Of Place Salience In Community Rejection Of Closed Net-Pen Aquaculture In Frenchman Bay, Maine, Gabriella Gurney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The global population is rising, and with it, demand for protein, particularly seafood. Aquaculture, the farming of aquatic species such as finfish, shellfish, and kelp, has been proposed as an alternative to wild-catch fisheries, of which 75% are overfished or at capacity. In Maine, aquaculture is growing, but often faces mixed community response when new or expanded projects are proposed. In the summer of 2020, a large-scale closed net-pen farm for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) was proposed for Frenchman Bay, Maine. Community reaction was instantaneous and overwhelmingly negative. The strong, unified response from residents in the towns of …

Ploy : An Immigrant Daughter's Archival Survival Strategy, Porntip Israsena Twishime

Doctoral Dissertations

Transnational human migration is commonly conceptualized as the moment a person crosses national borders. In “PLOY : An Immigrant Daughter’s Archival Survival Strategy,” I advance a framework of migration in which migration is an ongoing embodied and relational process, one that continues after a person crosses national borders. This framework maintains that migration exists as a meaningful concept because of the social, political, cultural, and historical contexts that gives this type of mobility meaning. I use a performative novel methodology to construct and represent this argument; a performative novel methodology uses fiction and the novel as a performative text …

Older Women’S Stories Of Covid-19 Loss: Communicated Narrative Sense-Making Through Photography, Anne Walker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The diverse array of challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic make it difficult to assess the full impact of this global health crisis. More than 300,000 older Americans died, leaving a nation of grieving survivors in their absence. This profound loss of life will undoubtedly inform the field’s understanding of grief and grieving for many years to come. Pre-pandemic, older women in the United States understood grief to be part of their life stage; COVID-19 amplified the grief experience through both cumulative losses and the isolation particular to the novel coronavirus response. However, few qualitative studies explore older women’s grief, …

Social Media Reactions To Apologies From Public Figures, Brands, And Companies And Its Impact On Reputation, Melissa N. Dolan

Student Theses and Dissertations

Apologies issued by public figures, brands, and companies after a scandal or public perception of wrongdoing are common occurrences that have a significant impact on a brand's overall reputation. The impact on reputation hinges on how apologies are dissected and criticized by audiences on social media, which in turn influences public opinion and perception of the brand, company, or public figure. Furthermore, social media has exacerbated condemnation or support for public apologies, because it provides a platform for public discourse on the matter. Apologies are powerful tools that can be effective if implemented well or can be detrimental to a …

Professional Athletes Tell All: Communication Techniques To Assist In A Successful Podcast, Wilnir Louis

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

An increasing number of athletes are utilizing various mediums to communicate to fans. A rising medium that athletes are adopting is podcasting. While there are studies that discuss the benefits of podcasting, there is limited research that provides individuals, specifically athletes, with the proper knowledge on how to effectively communicate on a podcast platform. This project investigates what athletes can do to make their podcasts engaging for viewers and listeners. A case study was conducted that included textual and content analysis of the top episodes of two successful athlete-driven podcasts. Findings from the research guided the creation of a visual …

American Vibe Check: Based, Mid, Or Cringe? Measuring Gen Z’S Attitudes And Perceptions About American Democracy, Bethany Perryman

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Democracy is a concept, process, and practice, and American democracy is a specific flavor of it. Public opinion is influenced and shaped by mass media, and messages about American democracy emerge in a web of powers and among power dynamics. These messages include the actions and relationships of the American civic system with its citizenry and the world. Generation Z is a socially, culturally, economically, and politically unique population in American life, who form their own perceptions and attitudes about American democracy based on their experiences and with the ecosystem of communication and interaction they have with mass media messages. …

The Relationship Between Family Communication Patterns, Conflict Strategies, And The Development/Management Of Eating Disorders, Ana Moyers

Honors College Theses

Eating disorders persist as one of the most prominent psychological and physiological illnesses among young adults and adolescents. Nonetheless, most research in the field focuses on external factors that influence the development of these disorders such (i.e., social media and an idolized body image). There is less research to investigate the role of an individual’s environment, more specifically the family dyad and communication related to such eating disorders. The family unit remains, often, the primary means of socialization for individuals during developing years, thus, this study seeks to expand on how current family communication and family climate contribute to eating …

Neil Postman's Loving Resistance Fighter: A Philosophy Of Communication In The Age Of Technopoly, Ryan Mccullough

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project walks the work of Neil Postman (1931-2003) into the philosophy of communication. Traditional conceptions of Neil Postman’s body of work position his ideas within the traditions of media ecology, general semantics, or, more broadly, as a form of media studies and criticism. In addition, others label Postman’s work, especially in Technopoly (1992), as pessimistic, deterministic, and/or imbibed with Luddite tendencies. This project articulates a different view and contends that Postman’s scholarship, in particular his articulation of the loving resistance fighter in the final chapter of Technopoly, is committed to resisting the nefarious forces embedded in both technology …

How Does Social Media Consumption Relate To A College Student's Mental Health And Body Image, Madyson Lira

Undergraduate Theses

Mental Health and Body Image issues have become an epidemic, especially among teenagers and young adults. Obsession with social media is also growing among younger audiences. With the increase of users using social media, research has shown that there is a growth in body image issues which has been directly influenced by social media. Despite the research already performed, there hasn’t been a lot of traction surrounding this topic. College students are thrown into constant exposure to the ‘ideal’ college life through social media sharing apps. Between classes, extracurriculars, and meetings, college students are on their phones a lot. Most …

Advancing Agroecological Agroforestry: A Vermont Participatory Storytelling And Story Mapping Project, Sydney Blume

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

Agroforestry is the intentional integration of trees into agricultural landscapes. Advancing agroforestry has the potential to support just food system transition, but it must take direction from traditional approaches (culturally-embedded, millennia-old agroforestry practices in forest ecosystems) and agroecology (the movement, science, and practice for just and sustainable food and agricultural systems). An agroecological approach to agroforestry is essential to avoid agroforestry replicating the logics and harms of industrial agriculture and to encourage learning from traditional agroforestry practices, and likewise, traditional approaches to agroforestry can support a transformative agroecological transition through redesign of agroecosystems and shifting perspectives and ethics. This paper …

Telehealth In Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Saghi Nassrouie

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Description: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) is an epidemic that has many factors involved in its management to maintain control. Patients with DM2 require routine evaluations and blood work to provide comprehensive care. COVID-19 caused major shifts in traditional care which sparked an increase in the utilization of technology like telehealth. Telehealth can be an effective tool used to manage diabetes and help attain better glucose control, but its effectiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic warrants further investigation.Purpose: The purpose of this project was to determine if telehealth visits were more effective in reducing Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in adult patients with …

Pregnant Black/African Americans' Experiences In Prenatal Genetic Counseling, Latonya Alexander

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Pregnant Black/African American patients have faced systematic racism in the U.S. healthcare system embodied in the high maternal morbidity and mortality rates. Patients have the desire to feel heard and connected with their healthcare providers. Prenatal genetic counselors are not only trained to provide education to individuals, couples, and families who may be seeking genetic counseling, but also to use psychosocial skills with patients. Previous studies with majority of White participants have described how psychosocial skills build patient trust. Therefore, this study aimed to determine what factors made pregnant Black/African American patients feel heard and trustful with their prenatal genetic …

Connecting Students With Community-Based Organizations For Informal, Short-Term Experiential Learning Opportunities: A Portal Proposal For Csusb, Dia Poole

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Each term, scores of students enrolled in practicum courses at universities must connect informally with community-based and nonprofit organizations (CBOs/NPOs) for short-term research, volunteerism, or practicum coursework assignments. In most cases, these student-community connections are known only to the students, the organizations they serve with, and the faculty who see the results of coproduced assignments. Few examples can be found in scholarly literature—beyond cursory nods to their existence—of structures designed and implemented primarily for connecting students with CBOs/NPOs and tracking participation in these informal experiential learning opportunities. Further, few examples exist of mechanisms that allow local organizations to convey their …

A Comparison Of The Expressive Language Characteristics In Schizophrenia And Wernicke’S Aphasia, Taylor Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mental illness and language disorders are rarely linked together as a way of making a comparison. In this study, a comprehensive scoping review was initiated to discuss the differential diagnostic characteristics of expressive language in Schizophrenia and Wernicke’s Aphasia (WA). This study will examine the domains of language where there are overlaps between the characteristics of expressive language. Semantics, pragmatics, and discourse will be further examined while comparing what aspects of expressive language are key in each domain. Schizophrenia being classified as a mental illness and WA being classified as an acquired language disorder, there are fundamental properties of language …

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 …

What On Earth Are We Doing (?): A Field-Wide Exploration Of Design Courses In Tpc, Jessica L. Griffith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores design related courses within the field of Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) to uncover programmatic trends in undergraduate courses at a field wide level. This applied study uses a mixed methods approach to understand the following questions: what do the range of design courses look like in the field of TPC, how are these courses taught, and what would an effective design course look like? To answer these questions, this study uses a mix of three types of data: (1) institutional data on courses, (2) interviews with faculty and administrators who have taught (or are currently teaching) …

The Employees’ Perspective: Situational Leadership Style Flexibility And Effectiveness And Employee Performance In A Technological Organization, Merari Cortes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Poor employee performance can have adverse effects on business outcomes. Business leaders are concerned with poor performance, which can minimize profitability and negatively impact business sustainability. Grounded in the Situational Leadership II® model, the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between situational leadership style flexibility, effectiveness, and employee performance as perceived by employees, controlling for employee gender, job location, and tenure. A random sample of 99 technology company employees completed the Leader Behavior Analysis II®– Other and the Employee Job Performance measurement tools. Using hierarchical multilinear regression, employee gender, job location, and tenure were entered …

Acceptable Title Pending: Probing The Limits Of Precision Measurement And Academic Assessment, Bobby King

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This is a project in two parts. The first is an attempt to impart onto the reader the necessary mental models required to understand a scientific experiment related to the improvement of gravitational wave detectors. Part one is illustrated in collaboration with Simone River Wilding, Sohpie Foley, Roma Taitwood, and Cam Goldberg.

Part two is a technical description of efforts made to reduce speckle in measurements of scattered light. Gravitational wave detection requires extremely high precision measurement, and one source of noise in the detectors is scattering off of defects and surface roughness in optical coatings. Research into the development …

Perceptions Of Active Social Media Adults’ Mental Health After Participating Online With Uncivil Political Discourse With Out-Group Members, Bridgette Eastman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Online incivility that occurs in the comment sections of social media sites has become increasingly prevalent. Much of this incivility occurs in the context of political debate. Previous research has indicated that heated political debates online can lead to increased levels of emotional distress and that individuals have the capacity to become addicted to a variety of activities that take place on the internet. Using the theoretical lens of the social identity model of individuation effects, this study explored the impact of online political incivility on the mental health of individuals who engage in this type of behavior. This study …

Personal Branding, Reality Television, And Social Media: How Former Big Brother Contestants Create, Maintain, And Alter Their Public Image, Justin L. Richards

Masters Theses

This study interrogated how these theories were potentially used, or aspects of the theories used to create, alter, or maintain, the contestant’s personal brands on two social media platforms. Informed by previous literature on personal branding and impression management, 1,021 pieces of social media communication were analyzed, 499 pieces of communication from Taylor Hale, and 522 pieces of communication from Paulie Calafiore. This study determined that there were up to five different patterns on the kind of content produced that still qualified under these theories for Taylor Hale, and up to four different patterns for Paulie Calafiore. Some patterns appeared …

The Rhetorical Art Of Risk Assessment: Lessons From Risk Management In Rural And Tribal Communities, John L. Velat

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Risk assessment, mitigation, and communication rely on data from multiple sources to form a complete understanding of hazards and how to manage them. Experts can use these data to make informed decisions about the nature and extent of risks and inform the public to protect health, the environment, and economic welfare. However, in an effort to objectively make decisions, technical experts and policymakers increasingly rely on quantitative data as the most important determiner of risk, which can alienate the public, limit risk understanding, and delay or miss obvious signals of impending catastrophe. I examine several cases based on my experiences …

Information Use And Decision-Making For Evacuation At Fuego Volcano, Guatemala, Beth A. Bartel

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

For populations living with risk to rapid-onset environmental hazards, an effective early warning system (EWS) may be the most viable short- to mid-term solution for risk reduction. At Fuego volcano, Guatemala, more than 60,000 people distributed between more than 30 small communities live within the identified hazard zones for pyroclastic density currents (PDCS), highly lethal hot avalanches and surges of volcanic gases, rock, and ash. Despite ongoing risk reduction efforts by scientific and civil protection authorities, more than 400 people died during a paroxysmal eruption on 3 June 2018 when PDCs reached populated areas. A high-end resort, La Reunión, evacuated …