Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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Item #ISOLATEDNOTALONE DURING COVID-19: EXTENDING THE SITUATIONAL THEORY OF PROBLEM SOLVING TO ONLINE ABUSE INTERVENTION CAMPAIGNS(2023) Dias, Shawna; Aldoory, Linda; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Domestic abuse has long been regarded as a significant public health issue, but intimate partner violence cases increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading some reporters to label it as “an opportunistic infection.” The United Nations attributed the increase in domestic abuse to COVID-19 quarantines and shelter-in-place orders, which forced victims to remain trapped in their homes with their abusers. Cosmetics brand, Avon, which has a history of responding to women’s health issues, launched the #IsolatedNotAlone abuse intervention campaign on its social media platforms. The campaign sought to educate the public about the ubiquitousness of domestic abuse and inform victims about available intervention resources. The #IsolatedNotAlone campaign was most active during the spring and summer months of 2020. During that time, the campaign reached an estimated 2.9 million social media users and provided supportive services to nearly 16,000 domestic abuse survivors. Although the campaign was a success, it didn’t reach near as many social media users as other abuse-related initiatives, like the #MeToo movement, which achieved 12 million reposts within its first 24 hours.This dissertation explores the usefulness of the Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS) for understanding how publics organize and react to #IsolatedNotAlone and similar abuse intervention campaigns. STOPS is commonly used to examine public reactions to organizational crises, but this dissertation took an alternative approach and examined its applications for health communication. The research questions ask how situational antecedents, as outlined in STOPS, motivate social media users to learn more about domestic abuse, and how situational motivations and referent criteria influence the communicative actions of social media users. Additionally, the research questions ask how communicative behaviors influence online social support group formation and organization. The sample in this research included ethnically diverse men, women, and non-binary participants who identified as white, Black, Native American, Asian, and Hispanic. I chose to keep the sample demographics wide because I wanted to better understand how diverse groups experience and understand domestic abuse and domestic abuse intervention messages, and their motivations for communicating or not communicating about abuse. Twenty-eight social media users participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews via telephone or Zoom. The data suggests social media users with alike situational antecedents are similarly motivated to communicate about domestic abuse interventions unless they individually recognize significant constraints. Individuals with strong problem recognition and involvement recognition display a wider range of communicative actions than those with low problem recognition and involvement recognition. Based on the findings, this study produces practical implications for abuse intervention message design and distribution. The findings also demonstrate that STOPS has some utility for understanding public response to health intervention messages, though the framework may require adaptation for use in future health communication initiatives. The data suggest that referent criteria, time, and power have a larger role in health communication and influence audience members’ problem recognition, involvement recognition, and communicative actions.Item EXAMINING THE GET YOURSELF TESTED CAMPAIGN: HOW ONLINE INFORMATION SEEKING AND SEXUAL HEALTH PERCEPTIONS INFLUENCE EFFICACY AND COMMUNICATIVE ACTION(2013) Briones, Rowena Lyn; Aldoory, Linda; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study is to explore young adults' meaning construction of sexual health, sexual health campaigns, and online sexual health information through the lens of the GYT: Get Yourself Tested Campaign. A secondary purpose is to develop theory in the area of e-health. Finally, this study will offer practical recommendations to the CDC's Division of STD Prevention, one of the developers of the GYT Campaign, on how to better disseminate sexual health information to young adults via the online space. The theoretical frameworks chosen for this study are the health belief model (HBM) and the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS). Additionally, literature pertaining to campaigns, e-health and sexual health contributed to this study. The integration of these theories within this scholarly body of knowledge demonstrated the potential for merging communication theory and health behavior theory for future scholarship and practice. A qualitative research methodology was used to collect and analyze data. Specifically, 50 in-depth interviews and five focus group sessions with young adults provided insight on how they made meaning of sexual health, online information seeking, and the GYT campaign. Analytical techniques from the grounded theory approach were used to analyze these data. A constructionist/interpretive research perspective was the guiding epistemology to situate this audience-centered study. Themes emerged regarding sexual health perceptions, online information seeking, HBM/STOPS, and campaign development. Findings suggested that young adults were aware of the issue of poor sexual health, but faced a number of constraints that prevented them from reaching their optimal health potential. These were alleviated by the benefits of searching for information online. This study contributes to the scholarly body of knowledge by integrating theories and applying it to an online context. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the utility of an integrated HBM/STOPS framework in campaign planning, which was explicated through the development of the E-Health Information Management Model (E-HIMM). The findings revealed that the integrated constructs from both theories were readily present in the knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intentions of the participants, which could provide useful evidence for campaign developers when constructing messages for the young adults audience.Item Situating Organizational Participation, Discourse, and Development at Two Key Global Maternal Health Conferences: A Critical-Cultural Analysis(2012) Hobler, Mara R.; Aldoory, Linda; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation studied discourse produced by development organizations for and about the global maternal health problem (GMH). Discourse analysis was conducted to answer two research questions: How did distinctive organizations engage in the Women Deliver and Global Maternal Health conferences; and how did the organizations represent the problem of GMH at the conferences (Carvalho, 2008)? This analytic inductive study considered distinctions between GMH organizations and examined how organizations exhibited constitutive (reified) understandings. The global development community has sharpened its focus on GMH due to the lack of progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. Goal five (reduction of maternal mortality), is the farthest behind. Estimates suggest that 1,000 women currently die during pregnancy and childbirth daily (WHO, 2011). Correspondingly, organizations have publically expressed renewed commitments. Organizational (Ashcraft & Mumby, 2004), postmodern scholars (Holtzhausen & Voto, 2002), and critical global public relations scholars (Curtin & Gaither, 2007; L'Etang, 2005, 2010) claim that meaning production occurs through hegemonic public relations. The purpose of this dissertation was to extend the field's understanding of manifestations of organizational power and discursive meanings. In total, 72 units of data were analyzed from a purposive sample of six organizations. Codes were assigned 1603 times and reduced using Charmaz's (2006) emergent coding scheme. For validity, member check discussions were conducted with eight individuals. Findings revealed that advocacy was woven into meanings at the conferences; seen through organizational identity, speaker identity, and conceptual identities. Organizations sought recognition and legitimacy, and agreement with other organizations. Power and hierarchy undermined messages of accountability, integrity, and rights. Significantly, development discourse was univocal, as suggested by symbolic representations of organizational roles and identity constructions. Discursive themes of policy, progress, health, and measurement regulated representations. However, divergent meanings did create contradictions between understandings. Consistent with theory, meanings were fluid and unfixed, but had historical and political significance. This dissertation met the need for public relations theorists to embrace the circuit of culture as a means of capturing discrete meanings. The study also offers a three-dimensional model to accommodate interactions by multiple consumers of communication patterns and articulations.Item "BUT I'M JUST A LITTLE VOICE:" EXPLORING FACTORS THAT AFFECT RURAL WOMEN'S MEANING MAKING OF EMPOWERMENT AND HEALTH(2011) Austin, Lucinda; Aldoory, Linda; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This research study explores how empowerment can be incorporated as an element of health communication campaigns to positively affect rural women's everyday health activities. This study questions how rural women make meaning of empowerment and health, the factors that affect rural women's empowerment, and how health communication campaigns may bolster individual and community empowerment. Building from multiple theoretical--including empowerment theory, the situational theory of publics, the theory of planned behavior, the social cognitive theory, and a socio-ecological perspective--this study explores empowerment as a critical link in health communication and public relations theory. Dimensions of individual empowerment such as self-efficacy and perceived behavioral control were explored in more depth, as were other factors that affected empowerment, including social support, religiosity, and involvement as a construct of the situational theory of publics. This study employed a qualitative research method to explore empowerment through these rural women's lived experiences. Research was conducted through 41 qualitative, in-depth interviews with women residing in a small rural community; 15 of these women also participated in photovoice as a research method. Findings from this research demonstrate the importance of multi-level and multi-faceted socio-ecological approaches to health communication campaigns, involving communication at many levels such as the individual, organizational, and community levels. As findings from this research highlight, rural women's notions of empowerment may be impacted by their community and social interactions, their religious involvement, and their experiences with personal and family health problems. Physical and structural factors in women's lives also left them with feelings of powerlessness in certain health situations, suggesting the need for health communication campaigns to also address larger changes in structure and policy. Based upon the research findings and the prior literature, a model is proposed to aid in understanding of the factors that influence women's feelings of empowerment.Item An Exploration of Publics' Understandings of Corporate Social Responsibility, Shared Values, and the Pepsi Refresh Campaign(2011) Raudenbush, Janna Lee; Toth, Elizabeth L; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study is an exploratory investigation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) from the publics' perspectives. Using the Pepsi Refresh campaign to provide context, perceptions of CSR, including motivations for and impacts of such efforts, were accessed. Specifically, impact was considered through the lens of stakeholder management theory to determine how the campaign affected views of the corporation's values. This study expands understandings of the Pepsi Refresh campaign's target audience through twenty-six in-depth interviews with young adults. Results suggest young adults conceptualize CSR somewhat differently than other publics, emphasizing the importance of fine-tuned knowledge of specific publics. Many interviewees expressed that they are less influenced by CSR than others, signifying a third-person effect. In addition, corporate gain was noted as significant motivation for CSR. Furthermore, perception of shared values between PepsiCo and the public was limited, suggesting stakeholder management theory should be employed holistically rather than solely through CSR efforts.Item A Qualitative Examination of Gender and Power in Public Relations(2010) Place, Katie; Toth, Elizabeth; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Gender and power shape the practice of public relations. Gender contributes to power differences which may, in turn, influence an individual's strategic decisions and communication styles. Because male and female public relations practitioners make meaning of their roles as public relations practitioners differently (Grunig, Toth & Hon, 2001; Krider & Ross, 1997), looking at the profession from the viewpoint of women - and women only - provides unique insight into these differences. The purpose of this study was to examine qualitatively how women public relations practitioners make meaning of gender and power. Additionally, the study examined the overlap of gender and power and the implications they hold for professional practice. Whereas previous public relations scholarship has examined the concepts of gender and power separately, the secondary purpose of the study sought to examine these phenomena together. Literature regarding gender, gender theory of public relations, power, power-control theory contributed to this study. From the literature, three research questions were posed: How do women public relations practitioners make meaning of gender? How do public relations practitioners make meaning of power? and What are the intersections of gender and power in public relations? To best illustrate and describe how women public relations practitioners experience the phenomena of gender and power, I chose a qualitative research method which utilized 45 in-depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with women public relations practitioners guided by an interview protocol. I utilized a grounded theory approach to data analysis. From the data, arose several themes regarding gender, power and their nexus. Results suggested that women practitioners made meaning of gender through contrasting definitions, as a function of a feminized public relations industry, as a function of pregnancy, childbirth and family responsibilities, through expectations and discrimination, and as an intersectional phenomenon involving one's race, age and geography. Participants made meaning of power as a function of influence, a function of relationships, knowledge and information, access, results-based credibility, negative force and empowerment. Women practitioners communicated that gender and power intersected through use of gendered appearances, management style, women's bonding together for power, the queen bee syndrome, leadership, women's self realization and confidence in their choices, and education of others. The data extend our understanding of gender theory of relations and power-control theory of public relations. Results suggest that gender, for public relations practitioners, exists as a socialized and learned phenomenon. Power in public relations exists in a system and empowerment serves as an alternative meaning making model of power. Evidence suggests that gender and power do intersect in the meaning making of practitioners and that future research must focus on examining this overlap and educating students and professionals about gender and gender discrimination.Item Public meetings and communication excellence: Exploring the intersection of public affairs and public involvement(2009) Patterson, Michael Aaron; Toth, Elizabeth L.; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study explores how public meetings are currently used by government agencies and examines the meetings' effects on agency-public relationship outcomes (Hon and Grunig, 1999). The data consisted of 20 in-depth telephone interviews with public affairs practitioners in government agencies. The results suggest that practitioners perceive a fundamental incongruence in public affairs and public involvement efforts which extends to their frequent non-involvement in public meetings. The data suggests that this relates to contending responsibilities to both specific and general audiences. The discussion seeks to link these perceptions of publics and communication responsibilities to the relevant contextual factors of the public sector in order to examine theoretical prescriptions. The relevant theory suggests that the segregation of public affairs and the vehicles for public engagement limits the informational value of public input and relegates agency-public relationships to the role of process measures rather than communication goals.Item PUBLIC RELATIONS AND SENSEMAKING DURING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IN MULTINATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN CHINA(2009) Luo, Yi; Toth, Elizabeth L.; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study explored the role public relations plays in the sensemaking process during planned organizational change within multinational organizations in China. Three areas were examined. First, this study examined the sensemaking process during change within the participating multinationals. Second, this study explored how the multinationals used public relations to communicate about change with their employees. Third, the influence of uncertainty avoidance upon sensemaking during change within the multinationals was probed. Weick's (1995) sensemaking framework was used to explain the individual differences in the way events are understood and how those differences are translated into sensible collective behaviors. A total of 60 face-to-face interviews were conducted with managerial and non-managerial employees from nine multinational corporations. Several significant findings emerged from the study. First, change management can be viewed as management of meanings. This view helped explain why some change programs are accepted over others. The acceptance of change is both facilitated and constrained by the extent to which management is able to impose a plausible sense of change on events. Second, power plays a major role in creating an environment ready for change as well as resolving disparities of meanings. Top management sort out information and highlight it to employees so that their mental frameworks are framed to see the environment in certain ways. Third, negative expressions or behaviors by employees need not be perceived as acts of rebellion against change. Rather, these negative expressions reflect the difficulty that organizational members have while switching rapidly their sense of the organization during change. This study also found that the public relations function can facilitate sensemaking during change. Poorly planned communication programs during change can result in confusions from employees regarding change as well as distrust of management. Findings also suggested that cultivating dialogic communication with employees during change can help managers develop a shared understanding with front-line employees about change. Findings also showed that when employees could not reduce their uncertainties, they stopped processing information from the organizations. This study demonstrated the value of public relations to change management. It illustrated how public relations can help members of an organization understand the meaning of change.Item INTEGRATING STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: EVALUATING PUBLIC RELATIONS AS RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT IN INTEGRATED COMMUNICATION(2009) Smith, Brian G.; Toth, Elizabeth L.; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)There is a gap in public relations and marketing communication literature. In spite of increasing professional use of integrated communication--a process by which organizations coordinate the communication functions and activities for stakeholder impact--public relations roles have been under-developed in scholarship. In fact, most insights on public relations and integration appear to be opinion-based and normative. Hallahan (2007) has argued that the literature is "fragmentary and hardly conclusive" (p. 308), and other scholars claim that integrated communication research is still in its pre-paradigmatic stages of development (Kerr, et al., 2008) as research emphasizes definitions and perceptions (Kliatchko, 2008, p. 133). This research--a multi-case study of three organizations that carry out varying levels of integration--addresses the need to outline and evaluate public relations and integrated communication from a theoretical perspective. This study considers public relations a strategic relationship management function, consistent with Grunig (2006a), Ledingham (2006) and other public relations scholars. This perspective is in contrast with that of marketing communication scholars, who consider public relations a marketing support function (Keh, Nguyen, Ng, 2007; Debreceny & Cochrane, 2004; Hendrix, 2004). This study demonstrates that concerns that integrating public relations and marketing may lead to marketing imperialism and "an inferior technical role" for public relations, as Hallahan's (2007) review of the literature discovered (p. 305), may be based in opinion only, and may not represent professional practice. In fact, higher levels of integration yield a greater emphasis on public relations as a strategic relationship management function. This research also demonstrates that integration occurs naturally, regardless of organizational structure. In spite of varying levels of integration evident at each organization (based on the structure outlined by Duncan and Caywood [1996] and Caywood [1997]) integration is a natural process based on internal relationships and connections--a process I refer to as "organic integration." This multi-case study fulfills three challenges facing public relations and integrated communication proposed by Hallahan (2007). It provides a research-based definition of integrated communication, considers the theoretical convergence of public relations and integrated communication, and it conceptualizes organizational communication and department structures (p. 309-313).Item Exploring the Empowerment Effects of the Internet on Active Publics(2007-12-10) Halvorson, Erik; Toth, Elizabeth; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of the Internet on the power of active publics using qualitative in-depth interviews with 19 human rights advocates. The study examines how the participants make meaning of power, use the Internet to achieve their goals, and the extent to which they feel empowered by the Internet. The results suggested four types of power in human rights advocacy, while advocates themselves rely primarily on the power of persuasion to achieve objectives. While the Internet has led to empowerment in some limited instances, no uniform empowerment for advocates was suggested by the data. The findings suggest numerous practical uses for Internet technologies in advocacy as well as important themes and theories to be incorporated into future studies.