Reproduction de : Thèse de doctorat : Psychologie : Lyon 2 : 2006. / Titre provenant de l'écran-titre. Bibliogr. Annexes.

Thèse de doctorat : Psychologie : Rennes 2 : 2007. / Bibliogr. f. 292-319. Index des auteurs.

Reproduction de : Thèse de doctorat : Psychologie clinique : Poitiers : 2009. / Titre provenant de l'écran titre. Bibliogr. f. 365-375. Notes bibliogr.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-234). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-234). Also available on the Internet.

This study compared the levels of professionalism among Indiana corporate and agency public relations practitioners. The entire population, 339 individuals, was contacted via telephone and administered McLeod and Hawley's professional orientation instrument, yielding 183 usable responses.Respondents rated the importance of 24 items on a 5point Likert scale, and provided information on age, education, undergraduate major, salary, and length of time with current organization, in public relations, and in the workforce.Professionalism scores were calculated by subtracting the sum of answers to the non-professional items from the sum of answers to the professional items. Scores were ranked, then divided at the median. "Professionals" fell at or above the median; "semi-professionals" fell below the median,following McLeod/Hawley methodology.A multiple regression analysis determined the only significant relationship between level of professionalism and demographics occurred with undergraduate major--a slight negative correlation. Frequency distribution showed journalism/public relations majors had higher percentages of professionals than either English or other majors. / Department of Journalism

This study examines the roles and functions of public relations professionals in Major League Baseball. Grunig's four models of public relations were used to categorize the perceptions of the respondents regarding this subject.Eleven respondents took part in this study. All were given thirty-six statements that described typical public relations activities and philosophies. The statements were derived from original research conducted by Grunig. Each respondent was asked to sort the statements according to their perceptions of the organization in which they were currently employed.The results of this study were analyzed using the Qmethod program. Two distinct factors were revealed through this process. Factor I perceived their role as advocates for the organization (Grunig's press agency model). Factor II perceived their role a more neutral channel for communication (Grunig's public information model). Both factors believed it was important to relay the truth to the public. / Department of Journalism

Previous research has shown that although women outnumber men in public relations, women hold inferior positions, are paid less, and possess less credibility in their organization.Gender and roles in public relations has become a common focus of research for the public relations scholar; however, very few studies have used Q-methodology to gauge attitudes on this subject.Using Q-methodology, 21 public relations practitioners from a variety of organizations in 3 states were asked to sort 48 statements concerning attitudes about gender and roles in the field. Two factors emerged from the results and were labeled: Initiators and Generalists.Results indicated gender was no longer a factor in what roles the practitioner played and roles in public relations were blurring. It suggests further research should focus on differences between generalists and specialists rather than managers and technicians. / Department of Journalism

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Journalism

Currently, there are questions over which role, communication manager or communication technician, public relations practitioners at institutions of higher education should perform to best meet the needs of their institutions. To understand the reasonings behind these questions, a better understanding of practitioners in this area of the profession was needed. This study focused on public relations practitioners at institutions of higher education in Indiana. The objectives of this study were to create a demographic profile of these practitioners, determine which role was more prevalent among these practitioners, identify significant variables related to these practitioners' roles, and determine if the findings of previous roles research could be applied to this targeted population.Practitioners at 43 institutions of higher education in Indiana were asked to complete a questionnaire concerning their role and demographic information. Thirty-nine practitioners from this population completed and returned the questionnaires. The typical practitioner among this population was: A Caucasian male, at least 40 years old, making over $60,000 a year.Respondents were divided into two role groups, communication managers and communication technicians, based on their responses to 14 role-related questions on the questionnaire. A t-test analysis found significant differences between the mean role scores of these two groups, meaning that practitioners in this population can fit into one of the two dominant practitioner roles.Further analysis identified significant differences between four of seven variables tested on the two role groups. Significant differences were found between the two groups concerning the variables of size of institution, years of experience, use of formal research, and decision-making responsibility. No significant differences were found between the two groups concerning the variables of gender, level of education, and age.Finally, the dependent variables of use of formal research and decision-making responsibility were each tested through crosstab analyses with the independent, demographic variables of gender, age, size of institution, level of education, and years of experience. These analyses found that only years of experience was significantly related to use of formal research. Meanwhile, gender, age, size of institution, and years of experience were all significantly related to decision-making responsibility. No significant interactions were found between the variables of use of formal research and decision-making responsibility. / Department of Journalism