<p>Identity tensions in religious organizations has become a popular research area in organizational communication within recent decades. This study endeavors to investigate lesbian identity tension within the evangelical, college-based organization Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru) with the guiding research question: How do lesbian former members of Cru and former Cru staff discursively navigate identity tensions regarding homosexuality within the organization? Through surveys of six lesbian former members of Cru and eight former Cru staff, this essay demonstrates a nuanced perspective of identity tension between homosexuality and Christianity in the United States and highlights common themes from all participants: anxiety, frustration, fear, shame, and regret. Utilizing structuration theory and feminism as overarching theoretical frameworks to shape the discussion on sexuality, race, identity, and concertive control, the unique narratives of the participants’ surveys and interviews provide new insights on the struggles of LGBTQ individuals within the de facto anti-gay organization, Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru). Interspersed throughout the work are autoethnographic vignettes from the author that serve as complementary narratives to demonstrate emotion as epistemology. This study provides a brand-new application of popular organizational communication theories to an underrepresented population (lesbians) in an understudied organization (Cru) to contribute to the ongoing research on identity tension in religious organizations.</p>

<p>Physicians must explain medical information to patients in a way that patients can understand, and physician use of analogies is one strategy that may help patients better understand health information. The present dissertation, guided by patient-centered communication, investigated whether the use of analogies by a physician within a medical encounter enhances participants’ objective understanding, perceived understanding, and perceptions of clarity regarding information about a health condition, and perceptions of the physician in areas of liking, similarity, satisfaction, and affective communication. The experiment consisted of eight conditions with a 2 (familiar/unfamiliar health condition) x 4 (no analogies, diagnosis analogies, treatment analogies, both diagnosis and treatment analogies) design, and the conditions varied by being exposed to the familiar or unfamiliar health issue first. An actor physician delivered a 1-2 minute video-recorded message, diagnosing the participants, serving as analogue patients, with the familiar or unfamiliar health issue. After watching the video and responding to the dependent variable measures based on their perceptions of the physician and video message, U.S. adult participants read a vignette of another physician diagnosing them with the other (familiar or unfamiliar) health issue, and answered the same dependent variable measures regarding the physician and vignette message. Open-ended questions sought to understand what participants remembered from the message and whether they recalled analogies in their retelling of the physician messages, whether they (dis)liked the analogies, what they (dis)liked about the physicians and whether these perceptions differed by analogy conditions, whether they remembered any analogies from their own clinicians, and in which medical situations they found provider analogies to be useful. Findings indicated when including health literacy as a covariate, analogies did not enhance perceptions of clarity, perceived understanding, or objective understanding. Regarding positive perceptions, analogies did not influence liking, similarity, satisfaction, or affective communication. There was no significant interaction between use of analogies and health issues, nor a difference in the effectiveness of the analogies based on whether they were used to describe diagnosis or treatment. Explanations containing analogies resulted in increased objective understanding for the vignette compared to the video format. When recalling the physician’s message, participants rarely recalled analogies, nor explicitly mentioned them as something they liked or disliked. However, some participants recalled clinician use of particular analogies, and most of them indicated they found clinician analogies to be useful, especially when describing complex health issues that are difficult for patients to understand. The dissertation results indicate that healthcare providers may want to use analogies when interacting with patients, which could potentially improve the doctor-patient relationship. </p>

When do consumers adopt digital personal assistants like Cortana, Siri, or Alexa? This thesis proposes to add to the current technology adoption literature on digital assistants by examining the moderating impact of the purpose for which the device is used. Building on the theory of uses and gratifications, it was expected that devices viewed with high cognitive appraisal would be more likely to be chosen for cognitive purposes than devices viewed with high affective appraisal, while devices viewed with high affective appraisal would be more likely to be selected for affective purposes than devices viewed with high cognitive appraisal. Two experiments were conducted that supported these hypotheses.

In Sierra Leone unemployed young college graduates explored entrepreneurship as alternatives to formal employment. Qualitative approaches were followed to understand their motivations and the entrepreneurial environment in which they operated. The sample for this study included forty-two unemployed graduates in two regional districts of Sierra Leon and tenkey informants as resource persons. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with the graduates through individual interviews in the city of Freetown, Western district and focus groups in the city of Bo, Southern district. Telephone interviews were conducted with the tenkey informants/resources persons. Using the integrated theoretical frameworks of Azjen’s Theory of Planned Behavior and the Shapero-Sokol Entrepreneurial Event Model the study identified the underlying factors of desirability and feasibility of entrepreneurship with insights into the entry-level experiences in setting up a venture. The data wereanalyzed using the theoretical thematic approach and open coding techniques to identify patterns and trends. Thefindings were then triangulated and validated. Desirability of entrepreneurship was found to begenerallyhigh, but feasibility was generally low and difficult to explore. The inability to secure start-up capital and a generally weak support system for entry level entrepreneurs accounted for the barrierstosuccessful entrepreneurship. Two descriptive models, each on desirability and feasibility, were developed from the findings. Theyexplainthe processes involved in the transmission from entrepreneurial intentions to actions. The findings of this study would contribute to advocacy campaigns for the facilitation of entrepreneurship for unemployed young graduates aspiring for self-employment, inform educational programs about the gaps in entrepreneurial proficiencies, and advice policy interventions to scale-up support for young adults to enable them to create businesses for self-employment in a developing country context.The study suggests collaborative engagements to synergize the actions between communicators, educators and policy actors to facilitate entrepreneurship for unemployed graduates.

Ämnet för denna uppsats är retorik under en pågående kris. Studien syftar till att undersöka de retoriska elementen i den nationella pandemigruppens budskap under de samordnade pressträffarna till följd av covid-19-pandemin. Detta med avseende att ta reda på hur Sveriges ovanliga val av strategi för att hantera krisen legitimerades av talarna under pressträffarna. Genom en retorisk analys, av 35 pressträffar under perioden mars till och med november 2020, kommer studiens frågeställningar att besvaras. Frågorna är kopplade till de tre appellformer (ethos, logos och pathos) som återfinns i retorikvetenskapen, då studien ämnar ta reda på hur dessa används under pressträffarna för att nå fram med ett visst budskap, samt genom vilka argument detta görs. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkter är myndigheters kriskommunikation och retorik. För att analysera materialet används en retorisk analys med en hermeneutisk ansats, där talet analyseras utifrån ethos, logos och pathos och den argumentation som ligger till grund för dessa. I analysen framgår det att precis som i den klassiska myndighetskommunikationen består talen under pressträffarna till stor del av att stärka myndigheternas logos. Det vill säga, talarna använder sig av argument baserade på fakta för att nå fram med budskapet. Talarna använder sig av upprepningar och spelar sällan på publikens känslor. I analysen framgår det dessutom att talarna bygger upp ett starkt ethos genom att visa på egen kunskap och föregå med gott exempel. Sveriges valda strategi under pandemin, som under perioden för studien är att ge medborgarna frihet under ansvar, legitimeras av talarna genom att upprepa de framtagna rekommendationerna och att skapa en gemenskap genom uttryck som “tillsammans kan vi stoppa smittspridningen”.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om en stor organisation som Region Västmanlandanvänder sig av en effektiv skriftlig kommunikation i sina rekryteringsannonser som lockar degrupper som söker tjänster inom organisationen. Uppsatsen följer en kvalitativ metod därinnehåll analyseras utifrån teoretiska utgångspunkter samt de svar informanterna bidrar med.Det som har analyserats i annonserna är bland annat språket, dispositionen av innehållet samtannonsens förutsättningar. Resultaten från undersökningen visade att även om annonsernaanvänder ett någorlunda effektivt klarspråk, så återfinns det brister i innehållet samt i dessdisposition. Jag diskuterar dessa resultat i relation till frågeställningarna samt de svar jag fickfrån informanterna. Slutsatsen som kunde dras utifrån resultaten i undersökningen var attannonserna skulle kunna framställas som mer lockande för målgruppen om de brukade meravärdeord och yrkesspecifika ord relaterade till sjuksköterskor. Samtidigt visar denna studie attdet saknas relevant innehåll kopplat till beskrivningen av tjänsten och målgruppens villkor iannonsen.

Med hjälp av teorin om nyhetsvärdering, nyhetsurval och gestaltning besvarar den här kvantitativa innehållsanalysen frågorna: hur lokal- och rikspress rapporterar om flykting- och invandringsfrågor, vilka ämnen som förekommer i rapporteringen, vem som får komma till tals samt hur migranter och flyktingar gestaltas inom Aftonbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Borås Tidning och Eskilstuna-Kuriren. Vi antog att lokalpressens närhet till medborgarna skulle påverka nyhetsurvalet och gestaltningen, och därmed skilja sig från rikspressen. Istället visade resultatet att skillnaderna var marginella i riks- och lokalpressens rapportering. Bäggedera rapporterade i störst utsträckning om politik. Elitaktörer var vanligt förekommande i rapporteringen, men något förvånande fick utlänningar komma till tals lika ofta som rikspolitiker i lokalpress. Vad gäller gestaltningen av asylsökande/nyanlända skrivs de oftare både som subjekt och objekt i riks- än lokalpress. Generellt finns liknande tendenser i vårt material, gällande att gestalta asylsökande och flyktingar som offer, som konstaterats i tidigare forskning. Men lokalpressen rapporterade något oftare om det positiva ämnet “framgångssaga” där främst utlänningar är förekommande. Vi ser att de skillnader som är noterade återfinns både mellan lokal- och rikspressen men även mellan de olika tidningarna, alltså har de två lokaltidningarna inte alltid samma utfall, likaså de två rikstidningarna, utan skillnader finns mellan samtliga fyra tidningar.

<p>This thesis is a comparative content analysis of the modern-day female protagonists represented in Disney’s newest and highest grossing film series, Frozen and Frozen II. As one of the few major media companies that have captivated a global audience, Disney has supplied fantasy princess narratives for over 80 years. With the new addition of Disney+, classic and modern princess films alike are now available for instant streaming. As the sample represents the newest films in the post-transitional wave of the Disney Princess line, this study aims to reveal what messages are being projected to young, impressionable audiences around the world. Between the third wave of feminism and rising conversations of gender roles and communication, Disney Princess films in particular have been the subject of many conversations and criticisms. Using content analysis methodology with each film, the data identifies gender roles, conflict resolution, and common themes between the six main characters: Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, the King, and the Queen.</p>

Sweden hosted the first environmental development conference in 1972 and since then has been a European role model in sustainability issues (UN, 1972), following the triple bottom line: concern for the planet, people and profit (Coombs &amp; Holladay, 2012). The present study deals with the application of micro-ethnography in sustainable communication, in the case of the municipality of Gnosjö in Sweden. Based on internal, external and strategic communication literature, the case study of Gnosjö, in which different areas of organisational communication were represented and how they affected the sustainable development of the organisation, is presented and analysed. It was investigated, which communication channels the municipality uses, how these channels look like and which aspects influence the communication and its development. The approaches of micro-ethnography were applied to collect and evaluate data. For this purpose, data were collected from participating observations with employees at Gnosjö town hall and the collection of seven interviews with informants from the fields of communication and sustainability and constantly compared.  The exploratory data analysis reveals how the employees remained powerless in performing their work routine. Politicians, as the main decision-makers, play an important role in the development of the municipality. Therefore, they should attend training programs to understand the importance of sustainable communication internally and externally.

I detta arbete har sexualisering och rustningar från spel studerats för att undersöka vad spelare föredrar. Är sexualisering något som är önskvärt eller föredrar spelare i stället en stor tung rustning på sin spelarkaraktär? Upplevs sexualiserade kläder likadant på kvinnliga som manliga karaktärer? För att undersöka detta problem skapades en artefakt i form av fyra rustningar för en manlig och kvinnlig karaktär, med olika grader av sexualisering. Rustningarna användes sedan i en intervju där deltagare fick besvara frågor till varje rustning och till slut välja vilken av de fyra de föredrog. Resultatet av undersökningen visade på att spelare helst vill använda en mindre sexualiserad rustning på sin karaktär, men även att de tunga och täckande rustningarna gör att en karaktär känns mer kraftfull. Studien var dock för liten för att kunna se om det gick att hitta några samband med deltagarnas spelvanor eller könspreferens i spel. Detta är något som skulle kunna studeras vidare i framtiden och undersökningen hade även kunnat utökas med fler designer av rustningar samt undersöka spelares preferenser i olika kulturer. / <p>Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.</p>