Past Dissertations and Theses

Ph.D. Dissertations

2023

Danford Zirugo 
Reconceptualizing Journalists Under Captured Patrimonial Media Systems as a Fractured Interpretive Community: The Case of Zimbabwe
Advisor: Matt Carlson
 

Abstract

Journalists within a nation are often described as members of the same interpretive community, especially in liberal Western democracies where their working environments are characterized by stable democratic conditions. This is helped by a sense of cooperation between the news media and the state. Conditions are different in post-colonial nations of the Global South, however, where the relationship between the news media and democracy is not fully developed. In fact, most of the Global South countries are at various democratization stages. They do not have the same levels of press freedom and autonomy as found in North America and Western Europe. As a result, not only are debates about press freedom fierce, but journalistic roles and ethical orientations are also hotly contested. These different journalistic conditions offer an opportunity to examine how journalists in the Global South operate as an interpretive community. Zimbabwe is one such country where journalists have been polarized for the past two decades, amidst press freedom contests. The study examines this debate by looking at Zimbabwean journalists as a fractured interpretive community rhetorically engaged with social interlocutors during key moments like World Press Freedom, newspaper closures, media policy debates, obituaries, and anniversary commemorations. Guided by theories of metajournalistic discourse, post-colonial theory and ubuntuism, textual analysis and interviews are used to examine points of convergence and divergence among Zimbabwean journalists and non-journalists on their conceptualization of press freedom and journalistic roles. This analysis advances general propositions not only about how journalistic interpretive communities operate, but also about how they operate in various contexts and what factors must be considered in understanding how journalistic interpretive communities come into being or get disintegrated.

2022

Hao Xu 
Companies Getting Political: Examining the Influence of Public-Company Identity Congruence on Publics' Reactions to Corporate Social Advocacy
Advisor: Hyejoon Rim

Eunah Kim 
Consumer Responses to Ads on Digital Video-Sharing Platforms: The Phenomenon of Intentional Ad-Viewing Behavior
Advisor: Jisu Huh

Abstract

With the popularity of digital videos, digital video-sharing platforms have been receiving attention as a medium that may surpass traditional TV in terms of viewership and as a powerful medium for advertising. Interestingly, on digital video-sharing platforms such as YouTube, consumers sometimes choose to view rather than skip ads in order to support content creators, even if the ads are not relevant to them and they can easily avoid them by clicking on the ‘skip ad’ button. This is a very unique phenomenon that has been hardly observed in any other media platforms, nor has been examined in prior studies. The purpose of this dissertation is two-fold: (1) to investigate whether and to what extent intentional ad-viewing to support content creators is indeed happening on digital video-sharing platforms; and (2) to explore why and when consumers choose to not skip ads for the sake of content creators.A three-phase study using a multi-method approach was performed. In Phase 1, a preliminary survey was conducted (N = 265) to inform and guide the study design and measurement developments of the next two phases. The results demonstrated that consumers sometimes choose to not skip ads in order to support content creators, which confirms the existence of such a novel ad-viewing behavior. In Phase 2, a series of in-depth interviews were conducted to further probe: (1) the motivations driving such behavior and (2) potential influencing factors (N = 20). The Phase 2 in-depth interviews suggest three different but interrelated motivations driving intentional ad-viewing as a way of supporting content creators: gratitude to content creators, extrinsic helping motivation with the expectation of reciprocity, and intrinsic helping motivation from empathy. In Phase 3, which is the main study of this dissertation, an online survey (N = 499) was conducted to formally address the research question and test the hypotheses posed based on the findings of Phase 1 and Phase 2. The results show that amateur content creators and influencers are more likely to generate intentional ad-viewing to support content creators than are professional creators. While helping motivation was not a significant mediator of the relationship between creator type and intentional ad-viewing to support content creators, it was shown to be another significant antecedent of such ad-viewing behavior. This study contributes to advancing ad avoidance research by establishing the previously unknown phenomenon of intentional ad-viewing to support content creators, and by adopting the perspective of helping behavior that has been hardly used in advertising research. This study also provides important practical implications for advertising practitioners and digital media platform companies: the comparative value of placing ads on digital video-sharing platforms, and the consideration of independent and amateur channels.

Nick Mathews
Our News, For Us, From Us: Social Identity and Rural News and Information
Advisors: Valerie Belair-Gagnon and Matthew Carlson

Abstract

This dissertation explores how rural residents obtain news and information that is salient in their everyday lives and what guides their evaluations of their choices. Utilizing 40 in-depth interviews with residents of Nelson County, Virginia, this study finds, participants express a rejection of the weekly newspaper that has covered the county for almost 150 years and an acceptance of a location-based Facebook group that serves as a supplement, if not an outright replacement, to the traditional news organization. The participants perceive the weekly news organization to be “not local” on three levels — the organizational level, the content level and the journalist level. Participants express that they want their news and information to be about them and from them, meaning from a person who lives in the county, is engaged in the county and cares about the county. Alternatively, participants turn to a location-based Facebook group, created by county residents, moderated by county residents and sourced by county residents. Participants perceive the Facebook group content is useful news and information, meaning real-time, immediate tools for daily living. They also value the democratic nature of the platform, how everyone potentially can have a voice. Theoretically, drawing from social identity theory, rural social identity and collective psychological ownership, I argue that participants perceive “local” as “ours,” or a “shared sense of ownership.” In this vein, the participants do not perceive the county news organization is “ours.” In response, I conclude that news organizations should strive toward a theoretical notion of Our Good Neighbor.

Allison Steinke 
The Institutionalization of Solutions Journalism
Advisors: Matthew Weber and Valerie Belair-Gagnon

Abstract

This dissertation provides a theoretically driven empirical investigation of the emerging institution of solutions journalism. Solutions journalism is a journalistic approach defined as rigorous reporting on responses to social problems. This project uses a triangulated qualitative methodology comprising 52 in-depth interviews; netnography of solutions journalists, editors, and practitioners’ digital communities; and qualitative content analysis of solutions-oriented journalistic texts. This dissertation presents three major arguments. The first argument is that solutions journalism is a journalistic approach that functions globally as a networked organizational form with a central mission and decentralized hubs and spokes that carry out the practice worldwide. The second argument is that emerging institutions gain legitimacy through shared support for a codified set of rules, norms, and values, as seen in the legitimation of solutions journalism. The third and final argument is that solutions journalism is in a moment between theorization and diffusion worldwide, with various factors contributing to and constraining its success. Drawing from foundational roots in sociological and managerial literature, this dissertation project expands the applicability of new institutional theory to empirical questions about emerging news practices. This dissertation also answers calls for clarity of the theorization and conceptualization of solutions journalism.

Clara Juarez Miro 
Who are “The Pure People”? Populist Supporters and the Role of Media in the Populist Imagined Community
Advisor: Giovanna Dell'Orto 

Abstract

This dissertation conducts a comparative analysis of right-wing and left-wing populism in the United States and Spain to uncover how populist supporters (RQ1) use online media to engage with like-minded people, (RQ2) interpret the populist message defining “the people’s” leaders and enemies, (RQ3.1) characterize their imagined community of “the people,” and (RQ3.2) satisfy specific social-psychological needs through their membership in said community. Research on fandom, political talk and the hybrid media system informs an analysis of populist supporters’ interviews and online interactions. Findings reveal that populist supporters engage with online communities of politically like-minded users to validate and strengthen their political and social identities. Additionally, populist supporters use markers of community membership in their collective interpretations of leaders and perceived enemies, with users expressing intense emotions and mutually reinforcing their viewpoints. Finally, the overwhelmingly positive attributes associated with “the people” suggest that populist supporters satisfied individual (e.g. improved self-esteem) and social (e.g. sense of belonging) needs through their membership in their imagined community. Populist supporters appear to obtain a sense of belonging by imagining themselves as members of “the people” and, then, by connecting with fellow members in online spaces. These experiences appear to be highly rewarding and crucial for populist supporters’ political mobilization.

2021 

Weijia Shi
The roles of perceived conflict and self-relevance in processing contradictory health information
Advisor: Rebekah Nagler 

Abstract

A growing body of research has shown that media exposure to contradictory health information can produce public confusion, generate negative beliefs about scientific research, and lower intentions to perform recommended health behaviors. To mitigate such adverse effects, effective communication and public health interventions are needed. However, less scholarly attention has been paid to the information processing of contradictory health messages. This dissertation furthers our understanding of the mechanisms of contradictory health information processing by asking two questions: (1) Are cognitive and affective effects of exposure to contradictory health messages mediated by perceived conflict, and (2) does the level of self-relevance prompt differential processing of contradictory health messages?

To address these questions, I conducted a two-wave survey experiment. To test the potential moderating effects of self-relevance, it is important to select an appropriate health topic which allows variances in the level of self-relevance. Wave 1 survey (N = 1944), therefore, asked participants to report how frequently they performed eight routine health behaviors and rate how important it was to perform each behavior. I identified coffee consumption as the health context for Wave 2 because it had an approximately equal number of participants with varying levels of self-relevance. Wave 2 Study 1 (N = 649) tested whether exposure to contradictory health messages is linked to perceived conflict, and whether relatively high self-relevance prompts defensive processing of contradictory health messages. Results showed that perceived conflict was significantly greater among participants in the contradictory messages condition than those in comparison conditions with one-sided, convergent messages. Additionally, both high self-relevance (i.e., heavy coffee drinkers who think drinking coffee is important) and low self-relevance (i.e., non-routine coffee drinkers who think drinking coffee is unimportant) individuals engaged in defensive processing of the dissonant message that contradicted their strong prior beliefs and/or behaviors. Study 2 (N = 846) tested whether perceived conflict leads to subsequent adverse cognitive and affective responses of exposure to contradictory messages, and whether these responses differ by self-relevance. Results demonstrated that perceived conflict induced by exposure to contradictory messages was overall associated with greater topic-specific confusion, general confusion, ambivalence, anger, and fear; but not backlash, media skepticism, or surprise. Also, these effects did not vary by self-relevance.

Taken together, due to empirical inconsistencies across the outcomes, it is difficult to reach a clear conclusion whether perceived conflict always functions as a mediator in contradictory health information processing. Additionally, those holding strong priors are more likely to engage in defensive processing of contradictory messages, but such processing does not result in differential effects of exposure to conflict. The implications of these findings for addressing potentially adverse effects of exposure to contradictory health messages are discussed. 

2020

Fernando Severino Diaz 
Immigration News in the Global South: A Comparative Analysis of Media Content and Journalistic Decisions and Practices in Latin America
Advisor: Giovanna Dell'Orto

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the news media representation of intraregional immigration in Latin America in connection with the journalistic decisions that partially shape this content.

Based on an analysis of 1,690 news articles from 16 print and web outlets in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico (sampled from a database created uniquely for this dissertation), this project examines frames, word choices, sources, and other elements of news stories from 2014-2018. It also uses twenty interviews with journalists in these countries ––working for the news outlets analyzed here–– to establish relationships between the coverage produced in these newsrooms and the approach reporters take to write about immigration.

Overall, the findings show a predominant presence of two frames in the way news media decides to tell the story about immigration: A victim – humanitarian/human rights frame and a political responsibility–policy solutions and debates frame. These frames are heavily influenced by governmental voices and official messages that are the sources most used by reporters. News articles about the benefits of immigrants and immigration are minimal. The lack of specialization in newsrooms about reporting immigration, limited resources, and the context of violence negatively impact the presence of counternarratives to the official discourse. However, there is an agreement among journalists on writing about immigration in ways that avoid promoting xenophobia and stereotyping. Thus, the storytelling does not use charged labels about the newcomers, and concepts such as "illegality" are virtually absent.

From a theoretical perspective, this dissertation provides arguments about the role of professional journalism and journalists in developing countries as a crucial institution for democracy. From a more practical perspective, this project's results could benefit the work of reporters writing about immigration across newsrooms in the Global South

Chuqing Dong
Judge a nonprofit by the partners it keeps: How does cross-sector partnership disclosure influence public evaluations of the nonprofit?
Advisor: Hyejoon Rim

Abstract

Cross-sector partnerships between nonprofit organizations, businesses, and the government have become a popular strategy for nonprofits to secure economic support, acquire scarce resources, advance their missions, and address larger and more complex problems in society. Despite these merits, these collaborative efforts are also controversial given the inherent distinctiveness and incompatibility between cross-sector partners. Under careful public scrutiny and confronted with consistently declining public trust, it is critical for nonprofits to strategically communicate about their cross-sector partnerships. However, current research on cross-sector partnership communication has not paid adequate attention to the nonprofit’s perspective, and rarely has it focused on publics’ reactions to nonprofits’ partnership disclosures. Taking a network approach, this study considers a nonprofit’s partnership portfolio as its egocentric network, which includes multiple partners that are simultaneously supporting the nonprofit. How a portfolio is configured, such as how many and with whom the nonprofit works, reflects the nonprofit’s discretion in partner selection and its embeddedness in alliance networks. When the nonprofit publicly communicates about the partnership portfolio, it becomes visible and can function as informational cues that influence publics’ perceptions of the nonprofit. To understand the effect and effectiveness of the partnership communication, this dissertation project is centered on two overarching questions: How does a nonprofit’s disclosure of different portfolio configurations (size, industry diversification, and organization type diversification) influence individual publics’ evaluations of the nonprofit? How do such portfolio communication strategies interact with nonprofit cynicism to affect publics’ evaluations of the nonprofit? To address these research questions, this dissertation conducted two experiments. Study 1 adopted a between-subject design to examine the main and interaction effects of portfolio size and industry diversification on individual publics’ trust, attitude, and intention to support the focal nonprofit. In addition, it tested the interaction effects between nonprofit cynicism and these two portfolio configurations on the communication outcomes. Study 2 adopted a between-subject experimental design to examine the main and interaction effects of portfolio size and organization type diversification, as well as how nonprofit cynicism influences the effects of these portfolio strategies. The key findings from the two studies revealed that having a small number of partners compared to a large number did not lead to a significant difference in publics’ evaluations of the nonprofit. Inclusion of partners within the same business industry compared to diverse industries also did not affect publics’ evaluations. However, displaying partners of the same organization type, as compared to different organization types, led to stronger intention to support the nonprofit. Both industry diversification and organization type diversification showed a significant interaction effect with nonprofit cynicism, but the effects were in opposite directions. As for industry diversification, as the level of nonprofit cynicism increased, individuals had more positive evaluations of the nonprofit when exposed to a heterogeneous portfolio than a homogeneous one. When it comes to organization type diversification, as the level of nonprofit cynicism increased, individuals evaluated a nonprofit less positive when exposed to a heterogeneous portfolio than a homogeneous one. The results also indicated an interaction effect between portfolio size and organization type diversification. The focal nonprofit was more favored when it disclosed a small number of partners that were in the same organization type than in different organization types. This dissertation advances the current literature on cross-sector partnership communication by providing empirical evidence on the effect and effectiveness of partnership portfolio communication from an individual public’s perspective. The findings also offer useful practical implications for nonprofits’ partner selection and portfolio development that can effectively respond to an increasingly cynical fundraising environment.

Scott Memmel
Pressing the police and policing the press: The history and law of the relationship between the news media and law enforcement in the United States
Advisor: Jane Kirtley

Abstract

Amidst urbanization, immigration, industrialization, and rising crime in the United States in the 1830s-1840s, the modern conceptions of both the press and police were born. From early historical antecedents in the American colonies through the present, the news media and law enforcement have been, and continue to be, fundamental institutions in the United States. However, both parties face significant political, economic, social, and technological tension, pressure, and scrutiny, signifying the need for further research. Although past literature has covered some aspects of the press-police relationship, its history and law remain understudied. Through a new and original theoretical framework, in-depth literature review, three-part content analysis, and two-part legal analysis, this dissertation provides the most complete and comprehensive study of the history and law of the press-police relationship to date. It also aims to understand, analyze, and address how the history and law of the interactions between both parties inform the present and future of their relationship, including key implications on the press, police, and American public, as well as how the press-police relationship can be improved. This study therefore provides a series of important, tangible recommendations for the press and police to improve their relationship and better serve the public moving forward.

2019

Simin Michelle Chen
The Women's March movement on Facebook: Social connections, visibility, and digitally enabled collective action
Advisor: Sid Bedingfield

Abstract

Since the Arab Spring of 2011, scholars have debated the efficacy of social media in facilitating offline collective action. This dissertation seeks to fill a gap in that literature by examining the role of social ties in determining intention to participate in collective action. Using a mixed methods approach involving statistical analysis of survey results and in-depth interviews, this study examines how the Minnesota chapter of the Women's March in opposition to President Donald Trump used Facebook to engage and mobilize supporters. Findings show that aspects of tie strength such as reciprocity, duration, affect have different impact on intention to participate in high- and low-cost political actions. Similarly, the publicness of supporters' political action on Facebook has differing effects on intention to participate in collective action depending on supporters' tie strength with the chapter. Findings from this study have practical implication for social movement organizers seeking to energize, grow, and mobilize supporters using social media.

Hyejin Kim
The role of trust in rumor suppression on social media: A multi-method approach applying the trust scores in social media (TSM) algorithm
Advisor: Jisu Huh

Abstract

Commercial rumor about an organization or brand, especially on social media, presents a special challenge for marketers and communication practitioners because of the fast flow and exchange of information among peers. Despite the importance of refuting rumors quickly and effectively, research on the effects and effectiveness of refuting rumor messages has been limited. To advance the literature in this emerging research area, the current project examines the impact of an interpersonal relational factor on the dissemination and effectiveness of rumor-refutation communication. The role of interpersonal relational factors is particularly important given that rumors spread through word-of-mouth (WOM) communication. Rumor-refutation communication should also utilize the same communication conduit for rapid and effective refutation. To advance rumor-refutation research and address the rising problem of commercial rumors, this dissertation project aimed to examine 1) how interpersonal influence among peers affects the belief and retransmission of rumors and rumor-refutation messages, and 2) potentially influential message characteristics that could help enhance interpersonal influence on readers’ belief of the rumors and rumor refutation messages, and the retransmission of rumor-refutation messages. To achieve these research goals, this study adopted a multi-method approach. Study 1 is a between-subjects repeated-measures experiment with a 2 (high-trustworthy vs. low-trustworthy source) x 2 (presence vs. absence of a trust cue) design that examines how the trustworthiness of the message source and a trust cue designed to induce message trustworthiness affect the belief and retransmission intention of rumors and rumor-refutation messages. Study 2 utilizes a computational research approach using the Trust Scores in Social Media (TSM) algorithm to test how mathematically captured trustworthiness scores of the sources of rumor-refutation messages influence actual message retransmission and how such an effect is moderated by the presence of trust cues included in the messages. The key findings in Study 1 revealed that a high-trustworthy source compared to a low-trustworthy source led to higher levels of rumor-refutation message belief and retransmission intention, but source trustworthiness did not affect the extent of reduction in the rumor belief and retransmission intention. Inclusion of a trust cue also did not moderate the impact of source trustworthiness on the belief and retransmission intention for both the rumor and rumor-refutation messages. Instead, it showed main effects in increasing the rumor-refutation message belief and retransmission intention, and a decreasing rumor belief and retransmission intention. The findings in Study 2 further confirmed the effects of the trustworthiness of the source on rumor-refutation message retransmission. However, inclusion of trust cues did not augment the source trustworthiness effects. The results indicated that the influence of source trustworthiness was stronger when the rumor-refutation message had no embedded trust cue. This study advances the rumor and electronic word-of-mouth research field by revealing how interpersonal influence among peer social media users can contribute to the effects and effectiveness of rumor-suppression communication. The findings also offer useful practical implications for identifying effective rumor-refutation dissemination hubs and refutation message-crafting strategies for a successful rumor-suppression campaign.

Jisu Kim
Effects of incorporating citizen-eyewitness images into the news on audience trust in news organizations and news engagement
Advisor: Jisu Huh

Abstract

Recently, news organizations have actively been requesting and endorsing private citizens’ contributions to the news production through eyewitness images so as to circulate up-to-minute information and draw more audience attention to the news. Despite anecdotal evidence of growing numbers of citizen-eyewitness images in the news, there has been little systematic research on the extent of using citizen-eyewitness images by news organizations and the impact of incorporating citizen-eyewitness images into news content. In order to fill this gap in the research on citizen-eyewitness images, this study aims to examine: (1) the extent to which U.S. newspaper organizations incorporate images captured by private citizens into their news articles, and (2) the effects of incorporating citizen-eyewitness images in the news on audience trust in the news organization and audience engagement with the news. To achieve the goals, this study first conducted a machine-coded content analysis of news images published by 71 U.S. newspaper organizations to calculate the percentage of citizen-eyewitness images out of all news images with identifiable and classifiable sources (Study 1). This study then collected and analyzed user behavioral data on Twitter to compute a proxy measure representing trust in the news organizations using the Trust Scores in Social Media (TSM) algorithm and audience engagement with news (Study 2). The effects of the extent to which a news organization uses citizen-eyewitness images on audience trust in the news organization and audience engagement with news articles published by it were tested. The results showed that U.S. newspapers tended to incorporate a rather small number of citizen-eyewitness images in their news reports, and there were some variations in the degree of using citizen-eyewitness images in news reports among different groups of news organizations. In addition, the findings demonstrated that the extent to which a news organization incorporated citizen-eyewitness images in its news articles was positively related to the level of audience engagement with its news posted on Twitter. In contrast, there was no significant effect of incorporating images captured by private citizens into the news on audience trust in the news organization. This study contributes to advancing the participatory journalism research by providing systematic data depicting the current state of the newsroom practice using citizen-eyewitness images in the U.S. and examining the effects of citizen-eyewitness images in the news on audience trust in news organizations and engagement with news. Additionally, this study offers useful practical implications for news organizations as they develop strategies to deal with audience’s participation in the news production.

Xinyu Lu
The effects of consumers’ affect on attention and reaction to ads
Advisor: Jisu Huh

Abstract

This dissertation examined (1) the influence of affective states on consumers’ selective attention to different types of ads that are categorized based on theoretically-derived attention-inducing characteristics; and (2) the influence of affective states on consumers’ ad processing style and evaluation of the ads that received attention. A computational research approach was used cross-analyzing proxy measures of real-time affective fluctuation of TV viewers during the 2018 and 2019 Super Bowl broadcast and their tweets regarding the ads aired during the Super Bowl broadcast. The results demonstrated some supports for the linkage between consumers’ temporary affective states, induced by the performance of the team they cheer for, and their selective attention to different types of ads even when they are exposed to the same set of ads during commercial breaks. Consistent with Mood Management Theory and prior psychology research evidence connecting affective states to visual attention, consumers in a negative affective state tend to pay more attention to positive ads and ads with emotional appeals than do those in a positive affective state. Furthermore, consumers in a positive affective state tend to pay more attention to exciting ads, compared to those in a negative affective state. However, this study’s data did not show significant relationship between consumers’ affective state and their selective attention to ads with different semantic affinity levels, nor any significant effects of affective state on ad processing style or evaluation of ads. The study contributes to advancing the ad attention and mood management research by testing the largely untested effects of consumers’ temporary affective states on selective attention and reactions to ads. The computational research approach developed in this study also offers significant methodological contributions to advertising scholarship, opening new avenue of research to apply the computational research approach to advertising theory building, especially theory regarding the role of consumers’ affective factors. Additionally, this study provides useful practical implications for ad targeting and ad placement strategies based on consumers’ temporary affective states. This study’s findings suggest a new promising way to target consumers and personalize ads based on individual consumers’ real-time, temporary affective states that can be captured by appropriate proxy measure data.

2018

Lauren Gray
The effects of temporal distance on health behavior intention formation
Advisor: Rebekah Nagler

Abstract

The aim of my dissertation is to understand how people make decisions about their health. Decision-making is a complex psychological process. Health behavior change theories have suggested a number of factors that inform decision-making and lead to behavior change. One of the factors that influences the decision-making process is the time at which behavioral performance is relevant, but this has not been tested and replicated in a health behavior context. Time refers to when we are asking people to engage in a health behavior (i.e. exercise this week or a year from now). It is essential to explore the role of time reference, because any systematic differences time reference produces in the decision-making process will affect whether and how we address time references in designing persuasive health messages. Alternately, if it produces no systematic differences, this will affect persuasive message design as well in that we may not have to consider it when designing health messages. We can use theory to guide us in understanding and predicting health behavior. The more we understand about how people make decisions about engaging in certain health behaviors, the more accurately we can predict these health behaviors. Accurately predicting health behaviors has implications for communication research and health message design. Using a theory-based approach helps us better understand and predict health behavior decision-making, which is a necessary first step to persuasive health message design. In the present research, I use reasoned action theory and construal level theory. Reasoned action theory is a behavioral theory that has proven efficacy in identifying factors that underlie any given behavior. Construal level theory is a social cognitive psychological theory that argues that people construe a behavior abstractly when framed in distal, far future terms and concretely when framed in proximal, near future terms. These theories are being used in concert to test how temporal distance affects intention formation. To this end, my research is a series of three nested studies, beginning with formative research on my target audience and several health behaviors and ending with suggestions for persuasive message design. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

Alexander Patrick Pfeuffer
The effects and underlying mechanisms of sponsorship disclosure in eWOM
Advisor: Jisu Huh

Abstract

Using a set of two experimental studies, this dissertation’s objectives were twofold. The first study examined the effects of sponsorship disclosure modes (written-only, spoken-only, and written-and-spoken disclosure) in sponsored online consumer product reviews on consumers’ attention to and perceived persuasive intent of sponsored eWOM. The second study explored the level of detail (low vs. high) and extent of disclosed commercial gain (general sponsorship, free product, payment for review, or sales commission) on attitudes toward the reviewer and a brand via proposed competing mechanisms of cue-based trust and persuasion knowledge. In both studies, effects were explored for search goods and experience goods. Study 1 found that, consistent with limited cognitive capacity theory and the Limited Cognitive Capacity Model of Mediated Message Processing, the spoken-only and written-and-spoken conditions generated incrementally higher attention when compared to written-only. However, perceived persuasive intent was not affected by disclosure mode. Key insights from Study 2 furthermore identified that, for experience goods, high detail level disclosures led to a more favorable attitude toward the reviewer, while the level of detail did not affect attitudinal responses for search goods. The results also showed that, in terms of extent of disclosed commercial gain, only the disclosure of receipt of a free product affected persuasion knowledge, trust, and attitude toward the brand. The receipt of a free product condition emerged as the only condition that did not exhibit lower trust and less favorable attitude toward the brand. Furthermore, persuasion knowledge, not trust, emerged as the indirect mediator facilitating extent of disclosed commercial gain effects on attitudes toward the brand and the reviewer for the disclosures of the receipt of a free product or a sales commission. The study contributes to the understanding of limited cognitive capacity, sponsorship disclosure effects, and to persuasion knowledge model and trust literature. Practical implications for eWOM stakeholders including advertisers, content creators, and policy makers are also discussed.

2017

Susan LoRusso
Beyond the "Angelina Effect": A longitudinal analysis of celebrity breast cancer disclosures' impact on news media and public online breast cancer information seeking outcomes, 2005-2016
Advisor: Rebekah Nagler

Abstract

A long research tradition exists investigating the content of news coverage of celebrity breast cancer disclosures and, to a greater extent, the impact these personal health narratives have on public cancer-related outcomes. However, the bulk of this research focuses on specific, large-scale media events, such as Angelina Jolie’s 2013 BRCA disclosure. The attention to individual disclosures provide insight about the specific media event, but does not further knowledge about the larger phenomenon of celebrity cancer disclosures. To go beyond the Angelina effect, this dissertation addresses three overarching research questions: 1) What breast cancer-related messages are present in media coverage of celebrity breast cancer disclosures; 2) do these messages impact public cancer-related behavioral outcomes (i.e., online breast cancer information seeking); and 3) are there attributes of the celebrity that predict media and public outcomes? To address these questions, first, 110 individual celebrity breast cancer disclosures between 2005 and 2016 were systematically identified. Then, two longitudinal studies were conducted. To address the first question, Study 1 used computer assisted and hand coded procedures to assess the presence of episodic frames (defined as containing information specific to the celebrity and her experience with breast cancer) and thematic frames (defined as including population and subpopulation breast cancer information [e.g., prevalance, risk, survial rates]). In addition, the presence of seven content categories classified as misinformation (defined as information which is innaccurate, misleading, or oversimplified) in news coverage was assessed. Results demonstrated that 80% of the news articles were written with an episodic frame, and 20% were written with a thematic frame, indicating very little information beyond the celebrity’s own experience with breast cancer was conveyed to the public. However, misinformation was largely absent in the news coverage—only misinformation pertaining to early breast cancer detection and mastectomy decisions was present in 10% or more of the news coverage. Study 2 attempts to determine if news content impacts information seeking by using the framing outcomes from Study 1 to predict Google Trends search query outcomes. Due to the disparate rates in the presence of episodic and thematic frames this dissertation is unable to provide support linking content and online breast cancer information seeking outcomes. However, time series models suggest that media coverage of celebrity breast cancer disclosures in the aggregate have a distal impact on the public’s breast cancer information seeking outcomes. For example, some analyses suggested effects happened as late as 17 months after news coverage of the disclosure. Yet the nature of these trends may be a function of the data. Establishing if celebrity attributes can predict media and public outcomes was done through a moderation analysis of the results of Study 1 and Study 2. Specifically, the extent to which the presence of episodic and thematic and misinformation were present and statistically significant information seeking models were examined as a function of the celebrity’s age, career type, breast cancer-event type, and level of celebrity status (defined as the degree of fame the celebrity achieved at the time of disclosure). Eighty-seven percent of thematic frames present were in news coverage of celebrities at the highest levels of fame. Specific categories in the age, career-type, and level of celebrity status variables predicted the presence of misinformation. Some preliminary evidence suggests level of celebrity status may predict online breast cancer information seeking outcomes. The implications of the dissertation’s findings for health communication research, mass media effects research, and professional health communicators are discussed.

Chelsea Reynolds
Casual encounters: Constructing sexual deviance on Craigslist.org
Advisor: Kathleen Hansen

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of dating websites and hookup applications, mass communication scholars have largely ignored news coverage of sex in the digital age. Research about online sexuality has built on early theories of cyber identity, in which the Internet was conceptualized as a great emancipator. Online, it was argued, people could explore “disembodied” sexualities with little interference from offline reality. This dissertation builds a research line that investigates journalistic discourse about online sexuality using more than a decade of coverage of Craigslist sex forums as a case study. It also examines user activity on Craigslist sex forums, testing dominant theories of online identity. For journalists, Internet-mediated sexuality represents a compound moral threat. Since 2003, national U.S. newspapers have consistently identified the classified ads website Craigslist as a hotbed for sexual deviants — people whose sexual interests mainstream culture deems immoral or even illegal. Newspaper journalists call on police and government sources to frame Craigslist users as prostitutes, violent criminals, and cheating politicians. By relying on elite sources, news media surveil social deviance for the public. This is an outcome of normative reporting practices. Representational scholars have argued that media made by marginalized groups will provide more nuanced narratives than the mainstream press. But in stories about Craigslist sex forums, alternative media reproduce stigma about online sexuality. Popular LGBTQ and feminist online magazines describe Craigslist sex forums as catalysts for illegal and immoral activity. They sometimes privilege sex workers’ voices and cover the experiences of sexual minorities, but they contribute to the same deviance-defining discourse about Craigslist sex forums as does the mainstream press. Media across the ideological spectrum police social deviance and reinforce cultural norms — online and off. Mass media surveillance of online sexuality encourages people to surveil their own behavior online. Ads on Craigslist sex forums reflect dominant cultural norms about sex despite posters’ attempts to explore their “unusual” fantasies. The Craigslist Casual Encounters forum provides a productive outlet for people to fantasize about kink, non-monogamy, race, and sexuality. But it also reflects the politics of its white male user base. Sexism, homophobia, and gendered logics saturate the forums. Offline stigmas about sexuality bleed into online sexual expression. This dissertation theorizes the role of normalizing judgment in determining media representations of online sexuality. It offers perspectives from journalism sociology and cultural studies to help explain why media paint Craigslist sex forums as spaces that foster illegal and immoral sex. The dissertation concludes that online sexuality must be added to definitions of deviance in news. It problematizes theories of representations of sexuality by alternative media, and it demonstrates that online sexuality is deeply intertwined with offline identity.

Whitney O. Walther-Martin
Happily ever persuaded? A look at the influence of character involvement, transportation, and emotion on perceived threat, reactance, and persuasion
Advisor: Daniel Wackman

Abstract

Narratives have been proven to be an effective means by which people are persuaded. However, the exact psychological mechanism(s) that is/are responsible for persuasion have been debated. Some argue the process of transportation is necessary in determining whether or not the persuasive message will succeed (e.g., Green & Brock, 2000; Green & Clark, 2013; Murphy et al., 2011). Others have found character involvement to influence attitudes (Banerjee & Greene, 2012; de Graaf, Hoeken, Sanders, & Beentjes, 2011; Igartua & Barrios, 2012), behavioral intentions, and actual behaviors in the context of narratives (Moyer-Gusé, Chung, & Jain, 2011). Other say it is a combination of psychological mechanisms that is responsible for attitudes message consistent and behavioral intentions (Slater & Rouner, 2002). Theories such as the entertainment overcoming resistance model (EORM) posit that narratives reduce consumers’ reactance, which then makes persuasion possible. This dissertation draws upon theories in both reactance (psychological reactance theory (PRT)) and narrative persuasion literature (EORM) in order to fulfill three objectives. First, this work uniquely identifies and distinguishes the role(s) transportation, character involvement, and/or emotional involvement play(s) in overcoming reactance. Second, this work distinguishes between perceived threat to freedom and reactance – a mediated process yet to be studied in narrative persuasion literature. Last, this dissertation explores the influence of reactance proneness as a moderating variable in the context of narratives. Results suggest a model that explains the relationship amongst the three psychological mechanisms and adds to reactance literature. Reactance was found to have direct effect on persuasion, though it is not a mediator of perceived threat and persuasion (as has been suggested in most PRT studies). Last, reactance proneness was, indeed, a moderating variable of the relationship between perceived threat and reactance. Suggestions for future studies in the area of reactance and narrative persuasion are offered.

Xuan Zhu
Can self-affirmation reduce defensive responses to health communication messages? - The role of self-esteem
Advisor: Marco Yzer

Abstract

This dissertation tested whether people’s strength of self-esteem moderates self-affirmation effects on health message processing. The findings from three studies (Study 1: N = 115, Study 2: N = 294, Study 3: N = 426) with three different behavior contexts (sunscreen use, flossing, and alcohol consumption reduction) suggest that individuals’ strength of self-esteem can moderate self-affirmation effects on health message processing: people with high and low levels of self-esteem may respond differently to self-affirmation based health communication interventions in certain situations. However, despite the theoretical coherence, evident inconsistencies exist across the three studies. Therefore, at this point, a clear conclusion regarding when self-affirmation benefits people with high versus low levels of self-esteem cannot yet be reached and specific suggestions on how self-affirmation should be used in health communication practices cannot be provided. Nonetheless, this research has shown that individuals’ self-esteem levels can influence the effectiveness of self-affirmation-based health communication interventions, and sometimes not in a desirable direction. Interventionists therefore should use caution when incorporating self-affirmation elements in health communication interventions as it may have positive effects for some, but weak or even adverse effects among others.