The purpose of this study is to investigate how the public’s perception of an organization-public relationship and crisis response strategies affect the attribution of crisis responsibility. Using Coombs’ (2007) SCCT theory, this study will contribute insight into which crisis response strategies work for certain types of organization-public relationships. This thesis is the initial investigation of an attempt to determine how several factors, including crisis type, crisis history, relationship type, relationship history, and crisis response strategy, can affect the perception of a crisis. A large, southeastern university was chosen as the organization under study, and its student population was the stakeholder group studied. A financial challenge was chosen as the crisis. Four different crisis response strategies were manipulated through news articles. The study measured the perception of the organization-public relationship, and after the participants were exposed to one of the four manipulation articles, their attribution of crisis responsibility to the organization was measured. Four hundred students were chosen for the study. Data analysis showed that the reminding manipulation produced the lowest attribution scores overall, for participants with a negative relationship, and participants with a negative relationship. Three of the four crisis response manipulations produced significant differences in attribution scores for participants with a positive relationship with the university and participants with a negative relationship with the university. Correlations were also found between perception of organization-public relationship and attribution of crisis responsibility. No significant differences were found among the four crisis response strategies in terms of attribution scores or correlation between relationship scores and attribution scores.

This study compares and contrasts the way cancer and heart disease were framed in three major American news magazines from 1991-1995 and from 2001-2005. It is a partial replica of a 1992 study by Juanne Clarke titled “Cancer, Heart Disease and AIDS: What Do the Media Tell Us About These Diseases?” Every article about cancer and heart disease from these news magazines in these time periods was analyzed and coded into categories. The study concludes that cancer is a much more personal issue than heart disease; it is portrayed in a way that makes it more “serious” than heart disease. In these stories, cancer patients are affected to their very core by their condition, while heart disease patients are just regular people who have problems with a small part of their bodies. Cancer is represented much more often in the media than heart disease, possibly because of this personal aspect.

This study is a partial replication of Fong and Burton’s 2008 study. Fong and Burton (2008) conducted a cross-cultural study comparing Chinese and US Internet users in terms of willingness to engage in information-seeking and information-giving, utilizing Hofstede’s (1980; 1991) individualistic/collectivistic cultural dimension. The current study examines cross-cultural differences in the use of UGC between US and Korean consumers by conducting a content analysis of the discussion boards of six digital camera review sites based in the US and Korea. It content-analyzes 1871 online postings on discussion boards of US-based and Korea-based product review sites. The study adopts Hofstede’s (1980; 1991) individualistic/collectivistic dimension and Hall’s (1981; 1990) cultural contexts (high-context & low-context cultures) as cultural dimensions, and found some cross-cultural differences and similarities between US and Korean Internet users by examining four hypotheses concerning US and Korean Internet users’ willingness to engage in information-seeking, willingness to engage in information-giving, tendency to use implicit communication styles, and tendency to use explicit communication styles.

This study examines the cross-cultural similarities and differences of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices between leading America companies and leading Chinese companies. It pays particular attention to the why, what, how and where of CSR practices and discovers how these companies manage and localize their efforts through the comparison of corporate websites. Utilizing corporate websites to perform a content analysis, fifty of the top American Fortune 500 businesses were analyzed. The results from the fifty American Fortune 500 companies were then compared to twenty-three top Chinese Fortune 50 companies. The codebook elements that were used to compare CSR practices between America and China revealed few similarities and many differences. Through analyzing corporate websites, the results of this study revealed that leading American companies are more advanced in recording and publicizing CSR efforts than leading Chinese companies.

In May of 2003 one of the most respected periodicals on the planet, The New York Times, ran a front page 14,000 word apology in the Sunday Times, for fallacious reporting conducted by Jayson Blair. In his four year tenure at the Times, Blair falsified sources, lied about conducting interviews, and erroneously reported on important details of some of the nation's top stories. After a widespread investigation into Blair's stories by other Times reporters, journalism's old grey lady was forced to face the public and provide them with answers, an explanation, and an apology for this breach of trust. This study uses the work of William Benoit and Susan Brinson as a framework to analyze the Times' image restoration strategies employed in its apology. This paper will add to the tremendous amount of image restoration literature as well as demonstrate the need for more research of this kind focused on the print media industry. This study finds that The New York Timesl May 11, 2003 apology did adhere to the image restoration strategies offered by William Benoit and Susan Brinson. The study also proves that, since stock prices and subscription rates for the publication were virtually unaffected following the apology, the Times' response was effective at restoring the public's trust following this transgression.

The researcher examines communication effectiveness within the National Corporate Leadership program, which is a service provided by United Way of America. The UWA NCL program is designed to work with local United Ways to increase contributions at their locales. I attempted to determine whether or not the UWA NCL staff respond to telephone calls promptly, are helpful when contacted, and provide adequate levels of communication to local campaign professionals, and are perceived as beneficial. Local United Ways are classified by metro size (IXI) based on amount of funds raised and are grouped geographically into five regions of the country. For this study, only those local United Ways that raised more than $2 million were selected. Literature from previous research of United Way and other philanthropic organizations and research on gender and proximity are reviewed. One hundred and twenty-five local United Way campaign professionals were contacted through telephone interviews. The data were compiled and analyzed to determine whether proximity, region, size of the local organization, and gender, age, and tenure of the campaign professional affected respondents' satisfaction with UWA NCL services. Distance and region of the country were found to be irrelevant to the four dependent measures of communication effectiveness - promptness, helpfulness, level of communication, and benefit to the local organization. While correlations between size of the organization and communication effectiveness were low, there were significant differences between two of the five metro sizes on measures of helpfulness and level of communication. There were no significant differences in means on the dependent measures associated with gender, age, or the number of years the respondents had worked in the United Way system. Future research topics are suggested.

A total of 69 employees in various job positions working in cubicles in an open-office space plan, of a large organization, completed a questionnaire investigating the impact of microenvironmental space on communication and job satisfaction. Data was analyzed using quantitative research methods. The results showed that a distinct lack of conversational privacy existed in this office. Also, when the level of noise decreased, the perceived level of privacy and job satisfaction increased. Excessive interaction, distraction, and communication with colleagues resulted in decreased level of communication privacy and job Satisfaction. In conclusion, the results of this study suggested two options for the decreased communication and job satisfaction: converting some space in the midst of all the cubicles into a gathering room to solve the problems such as lack of conversational privacy, distractions, and colleagues dropping in for a chat, or telecommuting. The researcher designed a model depicting communication as the threading tool for various components of microenvironmental space leading to job satisfaction. Several areas for future research in microenvironmental space are briefly discussed.

The purpose of this reseach project is to answer the question "What are the core communication skills needed for pre-hire training programs in Kentucky." To answer the question the researcher first examined the literature relative to the existing labor pool and then conducted a focus group with unemployed persons. The next phase of the research involved extensive field work, job analysis, and content analysis to determine what core communication skills were common in various Kentucky manufacturing companies. The researcher found strong evidence to establish a core set of competencies that pre-hire programs should address in developing the skills of unemployed persons. Additionally, the study includes a sample curriculum for pre-hire training programs.

If the purpose of speaking to others is communication, then the purpose of teaching public speaking must be to aid in the learning of those speech skills which will facilitate effective communication. In striving to achieve this goal, every opportunity must be taken to emphasize areas of development which are particularly important. Ideally, such areas should be those involving precepts long held in places of importance by the tradition of the speech discipline and verified through scientific examination. As Clarence T. Simon has written: During its long life speech has accumulated diverse beliefs and assumptions; many of them from speculative or authoritarian sources. Efficiency in speech performance and in pedagogical practice demands the scientific testing of the tenability of these accumulated traditions.

Analysis of alternative documentaries in India