This research was made for trying to understand how English Christian websites using the features of web-based communication effectiveness, and gave some advice for building Christian websites in the future.The contraction process of web-based communication effectiveness indexes used literature review and content analysis. Those indexes were revised by reexamining the modern situation of websites. Five aspects of indexes were ¡§usability design¡¨, ¡§useful information¡¨, ¡§two-way communication¡¨, ¡§recreation¡¨, and ¡§information collection¡¨. 31 indexes were developed by 5 aspects. The samples separated into two groups: Online-religion websites and Religion-online websites. It examined if any different performance of accepting web-based communication effectiveness between these two types of websites. The result was not distinctly different. According to this consequence, this research suggests that revise the definition of two types of religious website is necessary. The advice for how to use web-based communication effectiveness were: (1) take use of web-PR effectiveness, ¡§Push & Pull¡¨, (2) establish online religious community, (3) emerge Online-religion websites and e-platform, (4) consideration of charging fee or service for free, (5) design the website for its user. The website decision makers could use those suggestions to rethink how to make the best use of web-based communication effectiveness.

This study investigated how a medium's richness, the type of organizational communication message, and organizational level of the respondent affected two dimensions of communication competence: appropriateness and effectiveness. In total, 93 employees of a single organization responded to a three-part questionnaire that posed episode specific questions assessing the competence that they would attribute to the use of each of five media in each of the three episodes. Research questions addressed the effects of the richness of five media (face-to-face; voice mail; electronic mail; written memo; and typed document) on communication effectiveness and appropriateness ratings when episodes involving production-, innovation-, and maintenance-type organizational functions were considered. Also considered as an independent variable was respondent occupation level (physical, clerical, managerial) to determine if ratings of communication competency change given the organizational level of the respondent. A 3 x 3 x 5 factorial analysis of variance (AN OVA) was employed to analyze the effect of the three independent variables on perceived communication effectiveness and appropriateness. Results showed that the effect of type of medium on perceived communication effectiveness and communication appropriateness of a message depended on the nature of the situation in which the medium was used and that the effect of organizational level on perceived communication competence depended on the type of medium used. Organizational level alone did not have an effect on perceived effectiveness and appropriateness, nor did the interaction of organizational level and type of message affect communication competency ratings. Strong support was found for the role of face-to-face communication as the most effective and appropriate medium for organizational communication regardless of the situation.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Student retention is a problem that continues to plaque higher education institutions whose ultimate goal is to graduate students. The reported national student retention average in 2006 was between 58 and 71.6 percent, depending on to which statistics you refer. The importance for the academic community is that “the loss of students returning to campus for another year usually results in greater financial loss and a lower graduation rate for the institution, and might also affect the way that stakeholders, legislators, parents, and students view the institution” (Lau, 2003). In order to combat low student retention rates, many have initiated a variety of programs and strategic measures to increase students’ likelihood to complete their education. These initiatives can be found in the form of committees designated to conduct research and subsequently implement programs, colleges hiring outside consultants to assist with retention strategies, and the implementation of “student success” courses into the existing curriculum. Additional measures at the campus level may include: retention merit initiatives, student satisfaction and instructor surveys, and re-entry campaigns to target withdrawn students. According to Tinto (2002), “Most institutions, in my view, have not taken student retention seriously. They have done little to change the way they organize their activities, done little to alter the student experience, and therefore done little to address the deeper roots of student attrition”. The author faults the institutions that attempt to combat the issue by simply adding a course that is “marginal to the academic life of the institution”. While he does not directly address using personality or learning styles as a tool to combat student attrition, he states that, “Institutions that are successful in building settings that educate their students, all students, not just some, are institutions that are successful in retaining their students”. This research will provide an in depth look at existing personality type and retention data, an examination of communication incidents as reported by both “graduates” and “withdrawn” students, and recommendations for implementing personality-based communication techniques in the classroom in an effort to enhance overall student satisfaction. Considering the explosive growth of web-based distance education courses and program offerings, additional considerations will be made to address the online learning environment and its unique communicative needs. It is my assertion that both student retention and overall satisfaction can be enhanced with knowledge of existing personality and learning types of both students and teachers and a modification of the communication processes to fit students’ varying styles and communicative needs. By conducting a very basic level of research on personality types, one can find an abundance of information, each assessment claiming to be more effective than the others. Several textbooks, websites, and employer profiling systems guide users to various paper or web based tests which solicit descriptors of one’s own behavior, characteristics, and tendencies. First published in 1962, one widely recognized psychometric questionnaire used frequently in career counseling is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Respondents are asked to answer 93 forced-choice questions based on their preference of two words or short statements. The results are given in the form of a four letter abbreviation, each letter representing one of their four type preferences based on four dichotomies. The four dichotomies are Extraversion vs. Introversion, Sensing vs. Intuition, Thinking vs. Feeling, and Judging vs. Perceiving. “The MBTI suggests general areas of life, or careers, in which persons are most apt to be interested, motivated, and successful” (Van, 1992, p. 20). As described by John (1990), “The five-factor model is a descriptive framework within which all the important individual differences in personality are subsumed under five global traits” (as quoted in Wolfe & Johnson, 1995, p. 178). The Five Factor Model identifies the “Big Five” personality traits of its respondents and presents them as percentile scores. Measures are comprised of either self-descriptive sentences or adjectives. The Big Five factors are as follows: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. “A personality taxonomy such as the “16-factor model developed by Cattell (1965), posits that there are 16 primary personality factors” (Lidy & Kahn, 2006, p. 124). Through extensive research on the subject, and self assessing with a variety of these tests, the model I have chosen to highlight here is the DiSC personality assessment. The tool measures personality types based on a word association that offers a number of descriptors and asks participants to select the one that is “most like” and “least like” them. The in-depth profile then provides a bar graph measure of each of the four dimensions and a “classical pattern” to the participants. The four dimensions of the assessment are as follows: D (Dominant), i (Influencer), S (Steadiness), C (Conscientiousness).

Technologists predict that electronic information dissemination will create a paperless work environment. In spite of such predictions, paper-based internal communication will remain the primary medium for disseminating information in organizations for decades to come. However, electronic technology will have an impact on paper information production that may be more profound than changes following word processing's introduction. Previously unavailable for everyday production to enhance word meaning, certain graphic techniques now can be used to access readers' preconditioned symbol meanings to increase comprehension of routine correspondence and information internalization. This quasi-experimental field study examines interactions among laser-printer graphic treatment and communication variables as contributors to explaining variance in comprehension. Set Multiple Regression/Correlation analysis identifies significant variance explained by conditional relationships between near-typeset quality text and readers' self-interest and between near-typeset quality text and text's readability. The conditional relationship of near-typeset quality and self-interest shows increase in reader comprehension at a greater rate than the comprehension increase rate attributed to the reader's self-interest increase alone. This suggests that conditional relationships may be accessing an internal judgment process interpreting greater self-interest in near-typeset printed text. The conditional relationship between near-typeset quality and readability reveals that at more difficult reading levels comprehension is greater for near-typeset text. The significance of this relationship indicates that an internal judgment process is involved rather than the difference being attributed to legibility treatment. The strength of these conditional relationships suggests that planning for communication policies and practices should be a part of organizational strategic planning in the same ways as are financial analysis, operations planning, or human resource management.

Effective communication is crucial for successful behavior change. However, despite much research in training and development, instructional communication, and public health surrounding communication, it is still unclear what constitutes such effective delivery behaviors, especially for an adult learner population (those over 25 years old). Using cognitive load theory and cognitive-affective theory of learning with media as theoretical frameworks, this dissertation proposes a quality of delivery scale for measuring effective communication across instructional settings with an adult learner audience. Informed by public health, training and organizational communication, as well as adult education and instructional communication, the final valid and reliable QD scale consists of seven communication characteristics that are associated with reduced cognitive load, increased motivation, and increased compliance. Ultimately, this three-phase study consisted of: (a) developing the QD scale, (b) confirming the factor structure, as well as convergent and predictive validity, and (c) testing a theoretical model of QD.

Celebrity endorsement consists of a written or spoken statement from a publicly known person, proclaiming the benefits of some product or service. Previous research on celebrity endorsement has proved it very successful in promoting brands or companies. Even though many marketing strategies exist, it can be especially effective for newly started ventures to apply celebrity endorsement in their approach. While celebrity endorsement may be a good way to overcome weaknesses, such as liability of newness and lack of legitimacy, new ventures often cannot afford to implement this strategy. Therefore, an option to this might be local celebrity endorsement. This thesis investigates the impact of local and well-known celebrity endorsement on communication effectiveness. Through a quantitative study, the authors have concluded that local celebrity endorsers are perceived more trustworthy and emotionally involved in the endorsement process than well-known celebrity endorsers. Local celebrities and well-known celebrities are perceived equally expert, attractive and capable of transferring meaning to the endorsed product. Local celebrity endorsement is overall more effective than well-known celebrity endorsement in communicating the endorsement message. It can therefore be a suitable tool for newly started ventures that cannot afford to employ more expensive, well-known celebrity endorsement in their quest for gaining quick reputational capital.

This study developed and tested a contingency model of group communication in Korean workgroups that posited that the communication effectiveness and group performance of workgroups is determined by the “fit” of communication practices with organization structure and group relational climate. A contingency model incorporates three variables: contingency variables, response variables, and performance variables. Based on a review of the literature on Korean organizations and groups, the model incorporated two contingency variables: organizational structure and group relational climate. Organizational structure was indexed by the level of centralization and formalizations in the organization. Group relational climate was indexed by the level of closeness and group conformity among members. The response variables, communication practices of Korean workgroups, was measured in terms of the frequency of formal and informal meetings held by the workgroups. Two types of performance were measured: communication effectiveness and performance level. The contingency model hypothesized that the level of communication effectiveness and group performance of a workgroup that engages in communication practices which fit the requirements of organizational structure and group relational climate will be higher than that of a group whose communication practices do not fit the requirements of organizational structure and group relational climate. It also hypothesized the communication effectiveness group performance would be lower in groups which faced conflicting contingencies than in groups that faced consistent contingencies. A survey of 409 members of 84 workgroups in 37 Korean organizations was conducted. Results of this study supported the predictions of the contingency model. In particular, centralization, formalization, and closeness were significant contingency variables. The hypothesis regarding conflicting contingency was not supported. Implications of the study regarding the contingency theory, group communication and group effectiveness, and the nature of Korean groups and organizations are discussed.

Through the collaboration between internet and conventional media, Power Keyword has become a new fashion in advertising industry last year, which appears at newspaper ads, magazine ads, TV commercials, or even outdoors. Among all mediums, TV has the strongest impact on consumers. More than 40 TV commercials inserted power keyword. Therefore, this research focuses on exploring how marketing specialists should bring the best advertising effectiveness out of power keyword. The purpose of this study is to verify the advertising impact of power keyword through keyword type and advertising type. A 2(Sales promotional advertising and non- sales promotional advertising) x 2(Power keyword Ads with large space and small space) x2(Power keyword Ads with audio and no audio) x2(Power keyword Ads with Yahoo! logo and no Yahoo! logo) between ¡Vsubject factorial design is employed in the research. Advertising communication effectiveness, on the other hand, is measured based on recall effects and search intention. An online quasi-experiment is conducted and data gathered randomly from 436 participants on their perceptions towards power keyword advertisements. Moreover, product involvement is brought into the experiment as moderating variable. The findings of the research indicate that: (1) Promotional advertising has significant influence on advertising communication effectiveness. Promotional advertising results in higher recall effects and search intention than non-promotional advertising. (2) Ads space and position has significant influence on advertising communication effectiveness. Large space of search bar results in higher recall effects and search intention than that with small one. (3) Search intention of promotional advertising does vary based on audio type of search bar on the ads. (4) Recall effect of promotional advertising does vary based on space and position of search bar on the ads. (5) Consumers with different ages, gender, and education result differently in their search intentions.

<p>Celebrity endorsement consists of a written or spoken statement from a publicly known person, proclaiming the benefits of some product or service. Previous research on celebrity endorsement has proved it very successful in promoting brands or companies. Even though many marketing strategies exist, it can be especially effective for newly started ventures to apply celebrity endorsement in their approach. While celebrity endorsement may be a good way to overcome weaknesses, such as liability of newness and lack of legitimacy, new ventures often cannot afford to implement this strategy. Therefore, an option to this might be <em>local</em> celebrity endorsement.</p><p>This thesis investigates the impact of local and well-known celebrity endorsement on communication effectiveness.</p><p>Through a quantitative study, the authors have concluded that local celebrity endorsers are perceived more trustworthy and emotionally involved in the endorsement process than well-known celebrity endorsers. Local celebrities and well-known celebrities are perceived equally expert, attractive and capable of transferring meaning to the endorsed product. Local celebrity endorsement is overall more effective than well-known celebrity endorsement in communicating the endorsement message. It can therefore be a suitable tool for newly started ventures that cannot afford to employ more expensive, well-known celebrity endorsement in their quest for gaining quick reputational capital.</p>

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) has increasingly become an important topic in marketing and consumer research. However, theory construction and methodology development in this area are still in their infancy. This leaves some basic and important questions unanswered including whether eWOM communication is effective, what roles are played by different communication cues, and how valuable information from text reviews can be generated. This study intends to answer these fundamental questions.Based on the Brunswik's Len Model, this study developed the Process Model of eWOM Communication. It extends the Brunswik's Lens Model in several important ways and provides a systematic tool to examine the effectiveness of eWOM communication processes. Furthermore, a simplified model of eWOM communication was developed to test the validity of automatic text analysis as a promising tool in studying eWOM communication.Two focus group interviews and a throughout literature review were conducted first to identify the communication cues employed by eWOM partners. Then, two web-based self-administered surveys were carried out to collect data from both eWOM senders and readers. Last, the data from both eWOM senders and readers were matched, forming a final dataset with 90 reviews. Correlations, regressions, and path analyses were employed to evaluate the models and test the hypotheses.Results showed that eWOM communication is effective, and the relative strength of information flow varies in different eWOM communication links when communicating different types of information.This study identified a list of eWOM communication cues and found that consumers employ different cues in communicating different types of information. EWOM readers' inference structure in decoding may not exactly mirror eWOM senders' encoding structure. Moreover, communication cues especially verbal cues play an important role in eWOM communication and explain additional variance in eWOM partners' intentions and perceptions beyond and above the star ratings. In general, negative emotion words are the most important cues across various situations.In addition, this study provides initial evidence for the validity of automatic text analysis in studying eWOM. Linguistic indicators such as Negations, Negative Emotions, and Money can explain additional variance in eWOM partners' attitudes and emotions beyond and above the star ratings.