Current literature on public communication campaigns suggests that challenges and problems remain, even though generally the effectiveness of campaigns has increased in the past years. Challenges and problems are issue-specific and efforts put into influencing particular social behaviours through public communication campaigns have not been significantly successful. Although public communication campaigns are a popular method employed to influence social behaviours in many societies, campaign strategies inadequately consider the impact of cultural elements on social behaviours. The disappointing results through the use of campaigns are exacerbated by the difficulties faced in translating research observations to appropriate campaign strategies. In view of current challenges, this research examines public communication campaigns. Two main variables shaped this research ??? ???identity??? and ???culture???. The research postulated that a person???s identity influences his or her behaviour. It also argued that culture would impact on behaviour. The theoretical orientation drew on interpretivist perspectives. Using a comparative cross-cultural method, this research nominated the issues of organ donation and waste disposal behaviours in public places and the countries of Australia and Singapore for empirical study. Focus group research was employed. A total of sixteen focus groups were conducted ??? eight groups on organ donation (four in Sydney, Australia and four in Singapore) and eight groups on waste disposal behaviours (four in Sydney, Australia and four in Singapore). In line with the theoretical orientation, ???grounded theory??? was used to analyse the focus group transcripts. It is argued that a person???s decision to organ donation or waste disposal behaviour was intimately related to his or her identity. Cultural elements are critical constituents of identity. This is to say, cultural values, beliefs and attitudes have significant impact on social behaviours. These intricacies were made apparent when each issue was seen in the national contexts of Australia and Singapore. This research concludes that issues of identity can partly explain the type of decision a person makes about organ donation, and the kind of waste disposal behaviour a person enacts. It also argues that the effectiveness of campaign strategies can potentially be enhanced, if the strategies are responsive to people???s identities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/187221 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Lee, Bee Eng Adeline, Media, Film & Theatre, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. Media, Film and Theatre |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Bee Eng Adeline Lee, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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