This research study examined what the motivations and consequences of self-disclosure on Instagram were as well as its correlation with Impression Management Theory. The research used a 37 question survey which was distributed on social media, through the Department of Media and Communication at ETSU as well as a public speaking class. There were 232 participants in this study who were 18 or older and used Instagram. Research found that individuals’ self disclose using levels of relationship management, showing off, information sharing and habitual behavior. Future research includes the opportunity to incorporate a sample of participants across different cultures to analyze the differences in self-disclosure styles on Instagram.

Cystic Fibrosis, a life threatening autosomal recessive genetic disease, is characterized by a defective gene resulting in the production of thick mucus that obstructs the lungs and pancreas. CF requires intensive management performed at the home. An initial pilot study was performed to describe knowledge of CF related diabetes (CFRD) in adults with CF. The findings of this study, which demonstrated that adults with CF lacked sufficient knowledge about CFRD confirmed the need to explore additional factors of self-management guided by a theoretical framework. The second study presented in this dissertation used the Individual and Family Self-Management Theory (IFSMT) to describe context (condition-specific and individual and family factors) and process (self-efficacy and knowledge) and outcome (family self-management) variables for caregivers of children with CF. It also compared differences in context, process, and outcomes in caregivers based on socioeconomic status (Medicaid vs. private insurance), and explored correlations among context, process, and outcomes. Participants for this cross-sectional descriptive study were caregivers of individuals with CF who were under the age of 18 and diagnosed with CF for at least 9 months. Participants completed a demographic survey and questionnaires that included measures of perceived disease severity (VAS), depression (Patient Health Questionnaire), self-efficacy (Perceived Health Competence Scale, Mountain West Cystic Fibrosis Consortium Questionnaire), knowledge (CF Knowledge and Attitudes Questionnaire), and self management behaviors (Self-Management Behaviors Questionnaire) Additional information was collected on the children with CF and included demographic information as well as height/weight/BMI, pulmonary function test results, medication profile, and insurance status. Participants in this study were primarily female caregivers with high self-efficacy, and average knowledge. The children with CF in this study had moderate treatment complexity and normal/mild impairment in lung function. Deficits were noted in the areas of caregivers’ reproductive and genetic knowledge. This study found differences between Medicaid and private insurance groups related to knowledge. There were significant relationships between disease severity and CF specific self-efficacy and nutritional surveillance as well as general self-efficacy and respiratory surveillance. These findings confirmed that the IFMST would provide a consistent framework to guide future studies aimed at identifying factors that influence self-management behaviors of CF in patients and their caregivers.

Small business operations contribute to economic growth and account for 110 million new jobs in the United States. Despite the increase in the number of businesses created in the United States, some business leaders fail to manage change effectively. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies that some leaders of small businesses used to reduce employees' resistance to change. Lewin's 3-phase change theory served as the conceptual framework. The target population consisted of 3 successful leaders of small businesses in the central and southern region of Texas. Each participant had more than 5 years of experience and successfully used strategies to reduce employees' resistance to change in the workplace. Data were collected from semistructured interviews, review of company documents, and observations. Thematic coding, text/word queries, and a cross-case analysis revealed three central themes: communication, support, and evaluation. The implications of this study for positive social change include engaging employees in the change process, which might enhance the work environment and reduce employee stress and resistance to change. An improvement in a business leader's change management initiatives may generate beneficial outcomes for the businesses that may improve community growth through increased local employment rates.

This dissertation contributes to post-war public opinion research by examining the perceptions of migrants – the gastarbeiter, the refugee, the family reunited after war – and the local population in comparative perspective. Existing surveys of post-war populations are typically conducted in a single country affected by war. However, particularly following forced expulsion and campaigns of ethnic cleansing substantial portions of national communities affected by conflict no longer live within the boundaries of the state. Current research may therefore overlook important populations as well as contextual factors that shape post-war attitudes. I help to address this problem by examining three widely held assumptions in the literature: that migrants hold more conflictive attitudes than the local population after war; that assimilation in settlement countries leads migrants to hold more peaceful attitudes; and that traumatic experiences lead migrants to hold more conflictive attitudes. These claims are largely based on theoretical accounts, case studies that suffer from selection bias and quantitative results that have proven unstable. By contrast, I examine new micro-level data: two large-scale surveys conducted simultaneously in post-war Bosnia and Sweden as a settlement country. Sweden’s choice to grant permanent residency in toto to refugees from the Bosnian War in 1993 resulted in the vast majority remaining settled in Sweden. As a result, the population of ex-Yugoslavs in Sweden is arguably more representative than in other comparable settlement country contexts. To explain differences among ex-Yugoslavs in Sweden and between these migrants and the local population in Bosnia, I connect social-psychological processes that help meet individuals’ basic psychological needs. These include: belief formation in the context of war; acculturation strategies in settlement countries; the development of nostalgic memories; and coping with traumatic experiences. The findings shed light on largely misunderstood processes. Under certain conditions, migration may provide an exit from detrimental wartime and post-war settings that produce and sustain conflictive societal beliefs after war. At the same time, the migration context may provide a richer set of socioeconomic and psychological resources for coping, offsetting the need to rely on conflictive beliefs as a way of dealing with the conflict crisis.

In this research four models derived from Terror Management Theory (TMT) were tested by using structural equation modeling.. These models were developed for testing different theoretical alternatives in relation to psychological mechanisms explaining the subjective well-being as an outcome of fear of death. The first two models were based on the original Terror Management Theory. The first supposed that death anxiety as a catalyst motivates individuals in two defenses: developing culturally committed personalities by validation of cultural worldview and thus enhancing self-esteem. The second indicated that every individual had two options in the face of death: enhancing their self-esteem or committing to cultural worldview, in turn, improves the well-being of the individual. The last two models were identified by taking attachment as an alternative variable. In the third model, attachment styles of the individuals were presented as a third defense mechanism in addition to self-esteem and cultural worldview in TMT. They were assumed as mediator variables in the model between fear of death and subjective well-being. The last model treated attachment as a mediator between fear of death and distal defenses of self-esteem and cultural worldview. The results indicated that only the last model was entirely supported.. The lack of support for the first two models might be an indicator of the invalidity of the model in cultures that are not individualistic. For the last two models, the results suggested that attachment was crucial in understanding the relationship between fear of death and subjective well-being from a TMT perspective.

The study aimed to explore and describe the factors influencing disclosure of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) status to sexual partners by people infected with HIV in Botswana, by undertaking an exploratory and descriptive qualitative study. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with people infected with HIV who had disclosed their HIV status to their partners. The major findings of the study confirmed disclosure as a multi-stage process. People infected with HIV experienced mainly positive and some negative outcomes following disclosure. Disclosure was associated with the discloser’s motivations, personal and cultural beliefs, risk-benefit assessment, individual circumstances (context), previous experiences, and perceived degree of control over private information. The communication privacy management (CPM) theory helped explain the findings. The key factor influencing disclosure was protecting others. Non-disclosers had also seriously considered disclosing to partners. / Health Studies / M.P.H

Quand le contexte organisationnel d'une entreprise évolue, quelles sont les conséquences sur le rôle des managers ? La littérature traitant du travail managérial a longtemps considéré que le rôle du manager était stable et unique quel que soit l'environnement organisationnel dans lequel il prenait place. Pourtant les recherches en design organisationnel montrent que les évolutions profondes des modes de coordination ont un impact sur la hiérarchie et la chaîne d'encadrement verticale qui la caractérise, donc sur le rôle des managers dans la coordination. On peut alors se demander comment procéder pour faire évoluer les rôles managériaux. Quels leviers peuvent servir à transformer les pratiques des managers ? Pour étudier cette question, nous avons suivi pendant plusieurs années en recherche intervention une administration publique qui a entrepris de transformer ses rôles managériaux suite à une évolution forte de son environnement et de ses missions. Nous avons appliqué une grille d'analyse conçue à partir des travaux sur les dynamiques de rôles des managers qui permet d'étudier le nouveau rôle de manager et la capacité des managers à entrer dans ce rôle. Pour parvenir à jouer leur rôle les managers mobilisent des ressources cognitives, stratégiques et subjectives. Un diagnostic des ressources disponibles individuellement et collectivement est donc nécessaire pour étudier la capacité des managers à entrer dans le nouveau rôle.L'étude de la démarche de professionnalisation des managers mise en place dans cette administration montre la volonté de faire acquérir des compétences aux managers. Or nous démontrons la difficulté à expliciter et à transmettre ces compétences via ce type de formation. D'autre part les managers ne disposent pas collectivement des ressources stratégiques nécessaires pour faire ce qu'on leur demande. Et on constate parfois individuellement des déficits de ressources subjectives. On pourrait donc anticiper un blocage dans la dynamique d'appropriation des rôles.Une étude des évolutions sur plusieurs années permet de constater trois situations où les blocages sont levés :1. les rôles ne sont pas les mêmes pour tous les managers et certains disposent de davantage de ressources que les autres quand l'activité requiert une évolution forte de leur rôle. 2. quand ils ne disposent pas des ressources suffisantes, certains managers s'efforcent d'acquérir de nouvelles ressources 3. ou bien, il arrive que l'organisation évolue vers des situations de management partagé pour prendre en charge une fonction managériale que les managers ne peuvent prendre en charge, faute de ressources individuelles et/ou collectives suffisantes. / When organisational context is evolving, what are the consequences for the role of managers ? Litterature about managerial work considered for a long time that the managerial role was single and steady whatever was its organisational background. Nevertheless, researches in organizational design point that a deep development of organizational configuration impact the company's hierarchy and the managerial role of coordination. How to proceed to change managerial roles ? Which actions can transform managers practices?This thesis adressed this issue on the basis of a several years collaborative research in a public administration. This administration decided to transform managerial roles after a deep change of its environment and its missions. We applied an analytical framework built from a review of managerial identity work litterature. The framework guides us to study the new managerial role and how managers can perform this new role. The study implies a diagnosis of cognitive, strategic and subjective ressources available for managers individually and collectivelly.The case of a procedure of management professionalization, set up in this administration, shows the means used to have managers acquire new competences. This also shows how difficult it is to explicit and to transfer the managerial competences by this type of training. Moreover, managers don't have collectively the required strategic ressources to do what they are supposed to do. Besides, some managers don't have individually the needed subjective ressources. Hence a block of role dynamic could be anticipated.A study of evolutions during severals years allow to show three situations where block are resolved :1. roles are not the same for all managers and some of them have more ressources than others when activity requires a deep role evolution. 2. when ressources are insufficient, some managers tried to acquire new ressources. 3. or, sometimes the organization evolved towards situations of shared management to take charge of the managerial function, which managers can't stand because of a lack of ressources, collectively and/or individually.

The thesis examines two interrelated topics; the perception of management theory in general, and the efficacy of the learning organisation in particular. The purpose of this thesis, therefore, is to compare the rhetoric espoused in the learning organisation literature with a survey of senior managers in large, commercial organisations. The results revealed a positive disposition towards business and management theory in general. The survey also demonstrated that leadership is considered the most important variable in the success of a company. This is facilitated through the attraction and retention of the appropriate staff and creating sufficient space for them to operate. Learning is embedded by anticipating the future, learning from the past and enabling good communication. However, the latter is balanced through change management. This is derived through legitimate authority and a reliance on planning. Finally, a strategy of experimentation is balanced by challenging industry rules. Themes involving politics, corporate alignment and corporate longevity were found to have relatively little convergent validity. The third section of the questionnaire reveals a positive disposition towards the learning organisation. The contribution of this thesis is in three areas. First, it is the only work to evaluate the anti-guru school. Second is the development of a syncretic model of learning organisation concept using structural equation modelling. Finally, it explains and examines the largely misunderstood concept of management fashions.

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