Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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Item THE PUBLIC PERSPECTIVE: EXAMINING THE ROLES AND SOCIAL INFLUENCE OF INSTAGRAM INFLUENCERS AND UNCOVERING IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTICE AND THEORY(2023) KAMRAN, NEHA; Anderson, Lindsey B; Khamis, Sahar; Communication; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines the public relations roles played by Instagram influencers.Specifically, I explore how social media publics (e.g., followers) perceive influencers. I do so by applying role theory as a primary theoretical lens and apply Cialdini’s principles of persuasion (authority, consistency, scarcity, reciprocity, liking, social proof, and unity) to investigate the experiences and perspectives of social media followers directly. This dissertation addresses the following three research questions by exploring the social media influencer-follower storyline: RQ1: How do social media influencers define ‘social media influencer’? RQ2: How do social media followers engage with social media influencers and what public relations roles do they see them fulfill? RQ3: How do social media influencers–through persuasive principles–exert influence on different publics? These questions contend with, respectively, firstly, how social media followers define a social media influencer, the second is concerned with the nature and frequency of social media followers engagement with social media influencers. The third and final research question answers what sources of influence used by social media influencers are described as persuasive and worthy of support by followers. By answering these questions, the dissertation serves to fulfill the goals of capturing how publics perceive and define social media influencers; what unique roles social media influencers play from a public relations perspective or viewpoint; and finally, the extent and nature of the influence that social media influencers enact in the public space. Given these research questions, I used qualitative methods of inquiry. Specifically, I conducted an initial questionnaire, which was followed up with in-depth interviews and triangulated by a content analysis. The findings, in order of the aforementioned research questions, (1) illuminated how publics define influencers and engage with them on Instagram—as extensions of their social circle akin to family and friends, (2) demonstrated that social media influencers add to the social influence aspect by building a relationships with their publics, and in doing so, (3) showed how Instagram influencers play an important role in participants lives through the platform and engaging with on an almost daily basis. These specific findings are the ones that fulfill the goals of the research project; the rest of the several findings are by-products or offshoots and can serve as future research areas. In the theoretical context, there have been attempts to define exactly what is meant by the term ‘influencer’, especially in a public relations context. This study fulfills the need of showing how social media influencers are perceived by their publics and how they are changing the landscape of public relations functions research and practice. As such, this work explicates the influential roles influencers play in public relations and in doing so contributes to public relations research and practice. In the applied context, this study examines how social media influencers, with their communication, occupation of online spaces, and bonds with their social media users create relationships with publics. The discussion explores the ramifications of the relational power that is exerted by enacting the role of social media influencer in the public relations space. Social media influencers are staking their place, and much of that role has been enacted through the Instagram platform. This study gets directly at the viewpoint of Instagram users, or in other words, the followers of Instagram influencers.Item Internal Team Leadership: An Examination of Leadership Roles, Role Structure, and Member Outcomes(2006-08-07) Carson, Jay; Tesluk, Paul E.; Management and Organization; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Effective leadership is widely considered a critical ingredient of team success, and some scholars have argued that abdication of leadership in any team is a recipe for failure (Sinclair, 1992; Zacarro, Rittman, & Marks, 2001). However, much of the existing research on team leadership has focused exclusively on external leaders serving in a formal capacity in the organization (Kozlowski & Bell, 2002; Stewart & Manz, 1995), while largely ignoring the processes and impact of internal team leadership. This dissertation addresses this shortcoming in our understanding of team functioning and team leadership by studying internal team leadership roles, which are often informal and emergent. I extended previous work on external team leadership roles in order to articulate a comprehensive yet parsimonious set of four team leadership roles - Navigator, Engineer, Social Integrator, and Liaison - that may be engaged in by members of teams, not just formal leaders. I examined how time and team-level role differentiation serve as moderators of the relationship between these four leadership roles and individual contributions to the team. I also articulated three individual-level role-structuring processes - role overlap, role switching, and role sharing - and examined the benefits and challenges of these three individual processes across time by looking at their relationship with team member outcomes such as individual contributions, satisfaction with the team experience, and role stress - namely role conflict and role ambiguity (Jackson & Schuler, 1985; Tubre & Collins, 2000). I tested hypotheses for this dissertation using data from 24 consulting teams in a multilevel longitudinal design. Data were collected primarily through surveys administered to team members at three points in time (beginning, middle, and end of projects). The primary statistical techniques were regression and hierarchical linear modeling. Findings showed support for the validity of the four leadership roles, as well as their ability to predict individual contributions to the team. The findings also demonstrated that both time and role differentiation are important moderators of this relationship, though not always in the hypothesized direction. Finally, there were important individual consequences for the role-structuring processes of role overlap and role switching.