The Republic of Moldova is losing many of its citizens to more lucrative economic opportunities abroad. Remittances from emigrants, in many various forms, have become vital agents in the Moldovan economy. This thesis investigated whether remittance activity among immigrants from Moldova in the United States and Canada might be used as a model for an effective strategy to spread public health information amongst Moldovans. Specifically, two studies examined whether remittance behavior among Moldovans living in The United States and Canada predicted their perceptions that a "knowledge remittance" strategy for public health information would be effective and their interest in participating in a knowledge remittance effort. Grounded in the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM2), two studies evaluated the remittance relationship. Study 1, an exploratory online survey (n = 15), indicated that Moldovan immigrants living in the United States and Canada that have a generally positive attitude towards capital and knowledge remittances will tend to perceive the transmission of knowledge remittances as useful. There was tentative support for the correlation of perceived usefulness with the intention to remit knowledge. Study 2 (n = 5) consisted of qualitative interviews and found that Moldovan immigrants living in the United States and Canada have access to the Internet and frequently use the technology to contact family in Moldova at home. Interviewees had a generally positive view of both capital and knowledge remittances, though they were in disagreement on the major health risks facing Moldova. The findings of these studies suggest that a remittance propagated health campaign is a possible resolution to poor health knowledge in Moldova. / Master of Arts
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/23307 |
| Date | 16 July 2013 |
| Creators | Fesenmaier, Margaret Anna |
| Contributors | Communication, Ivory, James Dee, Chen, Yi-Chun Yvonnes, Wojdynski, Bartosz |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
Page generated in 0.0017 seconds