Public Relations 2018 Abstracts

Doug Newsom Award for Global Ethics Global Diversity
Julia Daisy Fraustino, West Virginia University; Sang (Sammy) Lee, West Virginia University; Ji Young Lee, WVU Public Interest Communication Research Lab • Being Bad Abroad: Effects of Stealing Thunder by Self-Disclosing Corporate FCPA Violations • Tensions between legal counsel and pubic relations counsel, especially during crises, are well established. For example, legal and PR professionals might find themselves at odds when an organization learns of its officials’ possible global ethics violations. Publics relations crisis best practices urge for quick, accurate, and full disclosure with publics; and the US government may require reporting; but legal and business teams may hesitate and request organizational silence, fearing image and financial concerns. Thus, this study seeks to investigate the public relations outcomes of voluntary disclosure to publics and the US government regarding corporate Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations. Primarily using the situational crisis communication theory and stealing thunder frameworks, this work offers a moderated serial mediation model of the effects of stealing thunder (i.e., self-disclosing crisis information first before a third party breaks the news). A 2 (stealing/thunder: organization vs. media) x 2 (corporate social responsibility history: CSR vs. no CSR) experiment probes participants’ responses. Results indicate a significant mediation effect of stealing thunder x CSR history on (a) attitudes toward the company, (b) perceived company ethics, and (c) investment intentions serially through perceived crisis severity and level of anger. Ultimately, results practically provide evidence to support legal teams joining PR teams for a transparent and perhaps more ethical approach to communicating about FCPA violations—while theoretically adding to SCCT and crisis communication literature by advancing knowledge about the mechanisms driving the scarcely researched but meaningful effects of stealing thunder in a global ethics context.

Open Competition
Alan Abitbol, University of Dayton; Miglena Sternadori, Texas Tech University College of Media and Communication • Championing Women’s Empowerment as a Catalyst for Purchase Intentions: Testing the Mediating Roles of OPRs and Brand Loyalty in the Context of Femvertising • This survey of U.S. adults (N = 419) examines company–cause fit, CSR association, purchase intention, organization-public relationships, and loyalty for four Fortune 500 companies in the context of messages that portray girls and women positively through empowering words and imagery. Results show consumers believe the women-empowerment messages fit with the tested companies. Company loyalty, by itself, or combined with OPRs, mediates the CSR association–purchase intention relationship. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Tien-Tsung Lee, University of Kansas; Peter Bobkowski, University of Kansas; George Diepenbrock, University of Kansas; Patrick Miller • Research exposure: Associations between university news release features, news coverage, and page views • This study identified the features of a university’s news releases about faculty research and expertise that were related to news coverage of the university, and to unique page views on the university’s website. More than 800 news releases generated by one university’s news affairs office over nearly two years were examined. News release subjects (i.e., social sciences, arts and humanities), and the use of adverbs and distribution tools, were related consistently to news release effectiveness. Labeling the news release as an advisory, headline length, and the use of a video were not related to news release effectiveness.

Jonathan Borden, Syracuse University; Xiaochen Zhang, Kansas State University • Ultimate Crisis? An Examination of Linguistics and Ultimate Attribution Error in International Organizational Crisis • Through an experiment, this paper examines linguistics and ultimate attribution error in international organizational crisis. Findings suggest that attribution error exists when additional attribution information is minimal (e.g., low attribution victim crisis). Crisis attribution (crisis clusters) directly affects publics’ use of abstract language in describing and commenting on the social media crisis news. Results empirically test and apply two attribution-based theories, Linguistic Categorization Model and Ultimate Attribution Error, in international organizational crisis contexts.

Nicholas Browning, Indiana University; Sung-Un Yang, Indiana University; Young Eun Park, Indiana University; Ejae Lee, Indiana University; Taeyoung Kim, Indiana University • Do Ethics Matter? Investigating Donor Responses to Primary and Tertiary Ethical Violations • Using 2 x 2 experimental survey, the researchers examined how frequently committed (single vs. repeated occurrence) ethical misconduct regarding values closely aligned to an organizational mission (primary vs. tertiary values) affect stakeholders’ attitudes toward, support of, and relationship with an offending nonprofit. Findings showed negative main effects on attitudes toward the organization and donation intention. Additionally, perceived organizational responsibility for ethical misconduct and deteriorating organizational-public relationships (OPRs) significantly mediated the effects of primary ethical violations.

Zifei Chen, University of San Francisco • Examining the Impact of Electronic Word-of-Mouth on Consumer Responses toward Company: An Alignment-Social Influence Model • An Alignment-Social Influence Model is proposed to examine the impact of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) by addressing its alignment with prior corporate associations and anticipated interaction on social media. Through a 2 (associations) x 2 (valence) x 2 (interaction: lurker vs. poster) experiment, three-way interactions showed lurkers who saw aligned negative eWOM had greater attitude shift than lurkers who saw nonaligned negative eWOM; no such difference was found for posters. Positive eWOM helped maintain positive attitude.

Ying Xiong, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Moonhee Cho, University of Tennessee; Brandon Boatwright • Hashtag Activism and Message Frames Among Social Movement Organizations:  Semantic Network Analysis and Thematic Analysis of Twitter During the #MeToo Movement • In the recent #MeToo movement, social movement organizations (SMOs) establish an emotional bridge between the target public and the appeal for feminism. Applying both semantic network analysis method and thematic analysis, this study explored how SMOs address feminist activism and they use hashtags to participate in the #MeToo movement. Findings of the study enhance literature of social movement organizations and activism as well as provide practical implications for effective social movement.

Minhee Choi, University of South Carolina; Soo-Yeon Kim, Sogang University • Strategic Value of Conflict, Activism, and Two-way Communication: Examination of Activists’ Public Relations • This study investigated the relationships between activists’ perceptions of conflict, activism, and two-way symmetrical communication, and their use of public relations tactics, by surveying activists in Korea. Two conflict subdimensions, conflict and mediation approach, had significantly positive relationships with activism perception. Conflict approach had a positive relationship with a few legal and informational public relations tactics. This study found that activists are more likely to focus on informational activities through two-way symmetrical communication.

Angie Chung; Kang Bok Lee • Dealing with Negative Publicity: A Dual Process Model of CSR Fit and CSR History on Purchase Intention and Negative Word-of-Mouth • This paper proposes and tests a dual process model of CSR communication. Building upon the framing theory and associative network theory, the authors examine how including statements about a company’s CSR fit and CSR history in apology statements can impact purchase intention and negative word-of-mouth. Perceived integrity, attitude towards the apology statement and attitude towards the company are the sequential mediators that will subsequently affect purchase intention and negative word-of-mouth. The results show that CSR fit will positively affect purchase intention and negatively affect negative word-of-mouth through increased perceived integrity and attitude towards the apology statement, which will positively affect their attitude towards the company. The findings also show that CSR history will positively affect purchase intention and negatively affect negative word-of-mouth through increased perceived integrity and attitude towards the apology statement, which will positively affect their attitude towards the company. For managers, the results of this study suggest that communicating a company’s CSR activities after bad publicity can help increase purchase intention and reduce negative word-of-mouth but two factors—CSR fit and CSR history—should be taken into account.

Hue Duong, University of Georgia; Hong Vu; Nhung Nguyen • Grassroots Social Movements in Authoritarian Settings: Examining Activists’ Strategic Communication and Issues Management • Triangulating 16 in-depth interviews with activists and campaign participants, news coverage, and social media content related to the campaign “6,700 people for 6,700 trees”, this study identifies activists’ strategic communication and its influence on a public protest in Vietnam. Results indicate that activists strategically used social media and interpersonal communication to advance an issue to the public arena. Activists’ unique strategies were key to the protest’s success. This study offers meaningful theoretical implications on issues management and practical lessons for activists on how to apply these strategies to foster social change.

Savannah Coco, Wayne State University; Stine Eckert • #sponsored: Consumer Insights on Social Media Influencer Marketing • Through in-depth interviews with 15 women, this study begins to fill the gap in scholarship on consumer perceptions of sponsored content posted by social influencers online. Findings show women follow social influencers because of prior topic interests, when they can relate to them, and find them authentic. But social exchange and relationship management theories cannot account for purchasing decisions despite negative views of consumers. We argue for a new theory called Influencer Relationship Management Theory.

Virginia Harrison; Michail Vafeiadis, Auburn University; Pratiti Diddi; Jeff Conlin • What about Our Cause? The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility on Nonprofit Reputation • While research has shown that corporate social responsibility (CSR) can boost a corporation’s reputation, little is known about how CSR impacts the nonprofit partner’s reputation. An online experiment tested how corporate reputation (high vs. low) and CSR message credibility influenced a high-reputation environmental nonprofit. While credibility and corporate reputation increased the nonprofit’s reputation, only the partnership with a low-reputation corporation increased supportive intention toward the CSR initiative. Implications for nonprofit CSR messaging are discussed.

Seoyeon Hong, Rowan University; Kyujin Shim, University of Melbourne • ETHICAL PUBLIC TYPOLOGY: How Does Moral Foundation Theory and Anti-Corporatism Predict Public Differences in Crisis? • This study proposes a new public typology utilizing Moral Foundation Theory and anti-corporatism. Based on a survey using population representative data (N = 1124), four ethical public types are classified as moralists, antagonists, optimists, and pragmatists. In testing the applicability of the new typology, our results suggest that ethical public types react differently in attributing crisis responsibility, expressing their emotional responses, and showing boycott intentions in evaluating a corporate crisis.

Hyun Ju Jeong, University of Kentucky • The roles of self-identity cues and public self-consciousness in supporting stigmatized causes on social media • The current study examines whether and when socially stigmatized cause (e.g., prochoice) campaigns can fuel the volunteering intention of young people through effective communication on social media. A 2 (self-identify cues: group vs individual) x 2 (public self-consciousness: high vs low) online experiment study found that the group-cues were more effective in generating the intention to volunteer than the individual-cues, in particular for those low in public self-consciousness. For those high in public self-consciousness, however, the intention to volunteer was not differently shaped by the type of self-identity cues soliciting the causes. Public self-consciousness negatively influenced the intention to volunteer. Theoretical and practical implications were further discussed.

Jeesun Kim, Incheon National University; Hyun Jee Oh, Hong Kong Baptist University; Chang-Dae Ham, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • Leadership Matters: The Role of Values Congruence between Leadership Styles and CSR Practice in Corporate Crises • Studies have examined the role of CSR in the crisis context; but no studies examined the role of values congruence between leadership styles and CSR practice. We aim to fill this gap by conducting a 2 (crisis type) x 2 (leadership style) x 2 (CSR motive) between-subjects experiment. We found that insulating effects of CSR practice were maximized when leadership styles and CSR motives were congruent, but only when a victim crisis occurred. Implications are discussed.

Arunima Krishna, Boston University • Climate Change Lacuna Publics: Advancing a Typology of Climate Change Disinformation Susceptibility • The purpose of this study is to (a) identify lacuna publics about climate change, and (b) reconceptualize Maibach et al.’s (2009) Global Warming’s Six Americas segmentation into a typology of disinformation susceptibility by integrating it with Krishna’s (2017a) operationalization of lacuna publics. Surveys were conducted among American adults to understand lacuna publics’ information behaviors compared to non-lacuna publics, and to identify individuals falling within four zones of disinformation susceptibility conceptualized in this study.

Seow Ting Lee, University of Colorado Boulder • H1N1 News Releases: How Two Media Systems  Responded to a Global Health Pandemic • Pandemics, as non-linear, atypical health communication contexts characterized by high uncertainty and information scarcity, present a valuable opportunity for explicating the relationships between health authorities’ information subsidies and news coverage. This study is based on a two-country comparative analysis to examine the intersections of public relations and journalism in the U.S. and Singapore with respect to the use and influence of information subsidies in shaping news coverage of the H1N1 Influenza A pandemic. It examines framing characteristics related to episodic-thematic frames, gain- and loss-frames, and tonality and traces the development of framing devices in two public health agencies’ news releases to subsequent news stories about the 2009 H1N1 A influenza. Findings reveal parallels and differences, and salient patterns that are contextualized to assess the relationships of variants between the two distinct media systems.

Sun Young Lee, Texas Tech University; Young Kim, Marquette University; Yeuseung Kim • The Co-Creation of Shared Value: What Motivates the Public to Engage with Participatory Corporate Social Responsibility Activities • The purpose of the study is to explore contextual factors—an organizational factor and four issue-related factors—that might influence the public’s intention to engage with a participatory CSR activity, based on the scholarship on organization–public relationships (OPRs) and the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS). We conducted a survey with 698 respondents living in the U.S., and we tested the model across two issues (girls’ empowerment and deforestation). The results showed that constraint recognition, involvement recognition, and a referent criterion, and OPRs were significant factors, and that OPRs and involvement recognition were the strongest predictors. Problem recognition, however, did not have significant relationships with CSR participation intention. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications.

Zongchao Cathy Li, San Jose State University; Weiting Tao, University of Miami; Linwan Wu, University of South Carolina • The Love-Hate Dilemma: Interaction of Relationship Norms and Service Failure Severity on Consumer Responses • This study aims to investigate consumers’ attitudinal and behavioral outcomes after service failure encounters with companies they previously established good relationships with. The study argues that consumers’ decision making is guided by the conformity or violation of relationship norms, and that their subsequent attitudinal and behavioral outcomes are further dependent on the severity of the service failure. Through a 2 (relationship norm types: exchange vs. communal) ✕2 (service failure severity: minor vs. major) between-subjects experiment, the study shows well-maintained relationships can help companies mitigate the negative impact of service failure under the minor failure condition. Such a buffering effect holds true for both communal and exchange relationships. However, the study also evidences a counterintuitive situation where communal relationships backfire and induce more negative consumer responses than exchange relationships when the severity of the service failure becomes extreme. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Wenlin Liu, U of Houston; Weiai (Wayne) Xu, University of Massachusetts • Tweeting to (Selectively) Engage: A Network Analysis of Government Organizations’ Stakeholder Management on Twitter during Hurricane Harvey • The ability to manage a multitude of stakeholder relationships has long been viewed important for effective crisis management. With stakeholder communication increasingly taking place on social media like Twitter, however, it remains less explored how organizations may selectively engage with multiple stakeholders (e.g., citizens, NGOs, media, businesses) on this networked platform, and how engagement priorities may shift dynamically across different stages of a crisis. Using stakeholder theory for crisis management, the current study examines the stakeholder engagement network on Twitter by 42 government and emergency management (EM) organizations across three stages of Hurricane Harvey. Organizational actors’ reply and mention networks were analyzed, suggesting that government and EM organizations prioritize engaging with primary stakeholders including citizen groups and peer governmental agencies during crisis, whereas secondary stakeholders like media and nonprofit organizations are more prioritized only at post-crisis stage.

Hua Jiang; Yi Luo, Montclair State University • Driving Employee Organization Engagement through CSR Communication and Employee Perceived Motives: CSR-Related Social Media Engagement and Job Engagement • Employee engagement and corporate social responsibility (CSR) have been two important issues attracting an increasing amount of attention from both public relations and CSR researchers. A theory-driven model that conceptualizes employee social media engagement, job engagement, and organization engagement and explicates how they are related to CSR communication strategies and motives is still lacking. To place our study in the context of employee/internal communication and CSR communication, we proposed a strategies-motives-employee engagement model. Results from an online Qualtrics survey (n = 836) supported all our hypotheses except for the direct link between interacting CSR communication strategies and employee organization engagement. Interacting CSR communication strategies significantly predicted employees’ CSR social media engagement and job engagement. Employee perceived intrinsic CSR motives were significantly associated with all three engagement variables in our model. We conducted a two-step Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis to test all our hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

Liang (Lindsay) Ma, Texas Christian University; Joshua Bentley, Texas Christian University • Understanding the Effects of CSR Message Frames and NWOM Sources on Customers’ Responses on Social Networking Sites • Negative word-of-mouth (NWOM) communication on social networking sites (SNSs) is influential to customers’ responses to corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication. This study examined how strategic framing of CSR communication can better counter the effects of online NWOM, depending on the NWOM information source. Four hundred Starbucks’ customers recruited from a Qualtrics panel participated in this 2 (strategic framing: company-centered vs. engagement-centered)  2 (NWOM source: stranger vs. friend) online experiment. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Angela Mak; Song Ao, School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University • Revisiting social-mediated crisis communication model: The Lancôme regenerative crisis after Hong Kong Umbrella Movement • This paper intends to 1) identify how this case follows the regenerative crisis model, 2) explore the trends of emotions and engagement of different publics and Lancôme in the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication model, and 3) identify the roles and strategies used by social media influencers. An online content analysis revealed the interlocking connection among the involved publics. Followers’ emotional responses were not only attached to Lancôme, but also the re-framing strategies adopted by the influencers.

Menqi Liao; Angela Mak • “Comments are disabled for this video”: A heuristic approach to understanding perceived credibility of CSR messages on YouTube • Scarce research has focused on the technological aspects of social media in CSR communication. This study explored how bandwagon heuristics (more likes/dislikes) and identity heuristics (enable/disable commenting) influence the perceived source credibility assessment (trustworthiness, goodwill, and competence) on YouTube through a 2 x 2 experiment (N=108). No main effects were found separately, but an interaction effect existed towards perceived competence of the company. Implications of CSR communication research and effectiveness of using YouTube are discussed.

Brooke McKeever; Robert McKeever, University of South Carolina; Geah Pressgrove; Holly Overton, University of South Carolina • Predicting Public Support: Applying the Situational Theory of Problem Solving to Prosocial Behaviors • This study explores the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS) through a survey of people (N=1,275) who supported issues they care(d) about in 2017, a year filled with social movements, natural disasters, and other important issues. Beyond finding support for the STOPS model in terms of predicting communicative action, this study found support for situational motivation influencing other behaviors, including volunteering, donating, and other forms of advocacy. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Rita Men, University of Florida; Cen April Yue, University of Florida • Creating a Positive Emotional Culture: Effect of Strategic Internal Communication and its Impact on Employee Supportive Behaviors • The study surveyed 506 employees in the United States to test the effect of strategic internal communication (i.e., corporate-level symmetrical and leadership-level responsive communications) on fostering a positive emotional culture characterized by companionate love, joy, pride, and gratitude. In addition, we tested the interplay between corporate internal communication and a positive emotional culture and its influence on positive employee behaviors, specifically, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and employee advocacy. Results indicated that symmetrical communication and responsive leadership communication cultivated a positive emotional culture in organizations. Such culture also fostered employee OCB and advocacy. Moreover, corporate symmetrical communication directly and positively influenced employee OCB. Finally, this study found that employee OCB positively affected employee advocacy. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings for public relations scholars and practitioners were discussed.

Tham Nguyen, University of Oklahoma; Robert Pritchard, U of Oklahoma • Enhancing Student Learning Outcomes from the Business Side of Student-run Public Relations and Communication Firms • Existing studies found pedagogical benefits of public relations and communication student-run firms. Yet, very little research has been done in this area. In a recent study, Bush, Haygood, and Vincent (2017) found that although interviewees placed the highest value on real-world experiences, developing soft skills, securing first jobs as well as career successes, student-run firms fell short in providing a better understanding of the business process and protocols of public relations and communication firms. This study examines the student learning outcomes from the business and financial side of student-run firms. Specifically, four research questions are proposed, including (1) To what extent are the students involved in determining services being offered?, (2) How do student-run firms approach potential clients?, (3) How do student-run firms formulate fee structure?, and (4) What business process and protocols do student-run firms teach their members? The study included an online survey, followed by interviews with firm advisors at different universities in the U.S. A preliminary report from the online survey data revealed that students mostly suggested offering multimedia/digital media services, or expanding their scope of services beyond their traditional services. Word-of-mouth and referrals were the most popular ways to recruit new clients, while sales pitches were undertaken only occasionally. Fee structures were formed depending on the firm’s business objectives and learning opportunities for students. Teaching business processes and protocols was also discussed. Theoretical implications for experiential learning theory as well as practical implications to enhance learning outcomes from the business side of student-run firms are offered.

Chuka Onwumechili • The Sun (UK) Newspaper: Strategic Audience Choice in Crisis and Reputation Repair • Organizations and individuals depend on the mass media to transmit a transgressor’s apologia to the public. However, agenda setting scholars point out that such a transgressing party (Organization or individual) is forced to depend not only in its ability to choose effective apologia strategies but also on the media to frame the apologia in ways that the party may be successful. Unfortunately, with most studies focused on transgressors who rely on media as third party, little is known of what happens when that third party (media) is the transgressor. This study on the Sun newspaper explores media as transgressor. It investigates the following: (1) how do other media react when a competing medium transgresses? and (2) how is audience reaction shaped, considering that the transgressing mass medium has direct communication line to that audience?

Jo-Yun Queenie Li, University of South Carolina; Joon Kyoung Kim, University of South Carolina; Holly Overton, University of South Carolina; nandini bhalla, University of South Carolina; Won-ki Moon, University of South Carolina; Minhee Choi, University of South Carolina; Nanlan Zhang, University of South Carolina • What Shapes Environmental Responsibility Perceptions? Measuring Collectivistic Orientations as a Predictor of Situational Motivations and Communicative Action • “This study investigates individuals’ cognitive, motivational, and communication responses regarding an environmental CSR issue using arguments from the situational theory of problem solving (STOPS) with a cross-situational factor as an antecedent. Survey results provide empirical support for the application of the STOPS in a CSR communication context and suggest that a collectivistic orientation predicts individuals’ situational perceptions and cognitive reactions toward organizations’ environmental CSR efforts. Theoretical and practical implications for strategic communicators are discussed.”

Yufan Qin, University of Florida; Rita Men, University of Florida • Exploring Negative Peer Communication of Companies on Social Media and Its Impact on Organization-Public Relationships • This study examined whether and how the publics’ negative peer communication (NPC) about companies on social media could influence the quality of organization-public relationships through the theoretical lens of social learning theory. It also explored the sundry individual (i.e., social media dependency, tie strength) and corporate-level factors (i.e., perceived corporate reputation, public interactions with companies on social media) that could affect the publics’ engagement in NPC behavior about companies on social media. Through an online survey of 356 social media users in the U.S. who have discussed negatively about companies and brands on social media and a structural equation modeling analysis, results showed that NPC about companies on social media negatively influenced the quality of organization-public relationships. Publics who were more dependent on social media and who had stronger ties with their peers on social media tended to engage more in NPC about companies. Publics who perceived a favorable reputation of the company were less likely to engage in NPC about companies on social media. Further, perceived corporate reputation and public interactions with companies on social media positively predicted the quality of organization-public relationships.

Hyejoon Rim; Jisu Kim, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Chuqing Dong • A Cross-National Comparison of Transparency Signaling in CSR Reporting • This study examines the level of transparency signaling in CSR reports in three countries: the U.S., South Korea, and China. By analyzing 181 CSR reports from 2014 to 2017 with a computer-aided content analysis program, Diction 7.0, this study found that the three dimensions of transparency signaling – participation, substantial information, and accountability in CSR reports were varied across different countries. In CSR reports, companies in the U.S. and South Korea showed higher scores in the participation and accountability dimensions than China, while companies in China showed high scores in the substantial information dimension. In CEO letters, we discovered that the U.S. companies emphasized the participation aspects, while South Korea and China companies underscored the accountability aspect of transparency signaling. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Erin Schauster; Marlene Neill, Baylor University; Patrick Ferrucci, U of Colorado Boulder; Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University Singapore • Public relations primed: An update on practitioners’ moral reasoning, from moral development to moral maintenance • To understand how professional identity influences moral reasoning and guided by theories of moral psychology and social identity, 153 public relations practitioners working in the United States participated in an online experiment. According to the results, moral reasoning scores have remained steady since the last time they were measured in 2009. Professional associations appear to be a valuable resource for socialization as members of PRSA who, in addition to engaging in higher levels of moral reasoning than the average adult, report they have access to regular ethics training, ethics resources and mentors, and are familiar with their industry’s code of ethics. In addition, socialization in later career stages appears to incorporate aspects of maintenance rather than development, helping to sustain levels of moral reasoning. Other communication disciplines should take note of public relations’ strong commitment to ethics education and implement similar professional development opportunities.

Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University; Yang Cheng, North Carolina State University • The Relationship Exchange Theory: Organization-Public Relationship (OPR) in the Big Data Age • With the expressive behavior on social media in the big data era, public relations researchers can easily track the information flows among organizations and their publics on common issues over time. Instead of examining organization-public relationships at a static point by using experiments or surveys, this study posited the relationship exchange theory, including an issue-stance-relationship phase framework and the operational six relationship modes aiming to provide a longitudinal approach to examining the relationship dynamics among two or multiple parties. Empirically, this study presents a case study on the conflicts between McDonald’s and its activist publics. By tracking the changing stances of the organization and its publics longitudinally, results show how the relationship exchange theory can help examine the intensity and direction of OPR over time.

Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University; Hua Jiang • Dedicated to Our Work? An Employee Engagement Model in Public Relations • Engagement has emerged as an important concept in public relations scholarship. Yet a theoretically-informed model with a clear and coherent explication of the construct is still lacking. By situating our study in the internal context, we provided an updated conceptualization and operationalization of employee engagement and proposed a strategy-engagement-behavior three-step employee engagement model. Results from an employee survey (n = 568) supported our conceptual model, showing that organizational engagement strategies positively predicted employee engagement, which in turn accounted for employees’ positive and negative messaging behavior as well as their contextual performance behavior. After controlling for significant demographics variables of gender, age, organizational size, number of subordinates, and level of management position, we identified a complete mediation effect of employee engagement in our two-step structural equation modeling analysis. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Melissa Dodd; Hilary Sisco, Quinnipiac University; John Brummette, Radford University; William Kennan • Developing a Measure of Social Capital for Public Relations • This research synthesizes literature in order to propose a comprehensive conceptualization of social capital as a resource- and exchange- based function of public relations that provides an ontological argument for the discipline as a whole. More than conceptualization, this research proposes and empirically tests a disciplinary-specific measure of social capital among a random sample of public relations professionals. Findings suggest some relational factors of social capital shared a significant predictive relationship with public relations outcomes.

Diana Sisson, Auburn University • Control Mutuality and Social Media Revisited: A Study of National Animal Welfare Donors • Guided by OPR, relationship management, and social media literature, this study employs an online survey panel to examine national animal welfare donors’ (n = 1,033) perceptions of control mutuality and its role in social media engagement. Findings suggest that heightened perceptions of control mutuality may have positive implications for social media engagement on a national level. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed for strategy development.

Weiting Tao, University of Miami; Cheng Hong; Wanhsiu Sunny Tsai, University of Miami; Bora Yook, University of Miami • Publics’ Communication on Controversial Sociopolitical Issues: Extending the Situational Theory of Problem Solving • Capturing a unique moment within a particularly volatile political climate where various issues such as climate change, immigration, and healthcare are increasingly polarized, this survey examines the factors driving publics’s engagement and disengagement in communications on controversial sociopolitical issues. It applies and expands Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS) by integrating the theoretical insights from the literature of information omission and avoidance. Results not only support the applicability of the STOPS model in explaining publics’ communication on controversial sociopolitical problems but also the viability of integrating two new behavioral outcomes of information omission and avoidance into the STOPS framework. Theoretical and strategic implications on social issue advocacy are provided.

Jiun-Yi Tsai, Northern Arizona University; Janice Sweeter, Northern Arizona University; Elizabeth Candello, Washington State University; Kirsten Bagshaw, Northern Arizona University • Examining Efficiency and Effectiveness in Online Interactions Between United States Government Agencies and Their Publics • Text-based computer-mediated communication (e.g., email) has become indispensable for U.S. state agencies to respond to requests and engage with citizens, thereby contributing to build public trust in local governments. Despite the essential role of digital communication in enhancing public engagement, there is limited understanding of how government agencies manage generic queries to maintain relationships with publics. By synthesizing chronemics research and organization-public relationship (OPR) scholarship, we introduce an original Response Engagement Index (REI) consisting of response speed, communicated commitment, and conversational voice to measure various levels of communication engagement. We conduct a field experiment encompassing emailing a request for information to 438 state agencies based in New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois and Rhode Island. A total of 293 organizational responses were manually analyzed to reveal the usages of engagement strategies. Results show the interactive potential of e-government communication is largely underutilized as the average scores of response engagement remain low. Human responses are less engaging than auto-reply messages, and require one-day waiting period, if not longer. Response types and gender significantly differ in response time and engagement strategies. Findings advance the OPR literature and identify best practices for government communicators to promote citizen engagement.

Michail Vafeiadis, Auburn University; Denise Bortree, Penn State University; Christen Buckley, Penn State University; Pratiti Diddi, PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY; Anli Xiao • Combatting fake news: Examining the role of crisis response strategies and issue involvement in refuting misinformation on social media • The dissemination of fake news has accelerated with social media and this has important implications for both nonprofit organizations and their stakeholders alike. Hence, the current study attempts to shed light on the effectiveness of the crisis response strategies of denial and attack in addressing rumors on social media. Through an online experiment, users were first exposed to a fake news Facebook post accusing the American Red Cross of failing to protect its donors’ privacy because of an alleged data breach, and then participants were exposed to a version of the nonprofits’ rebuttal. Results show that highly involved individuals are more likely to centrally process information and develop positive supportive intentions toward the affected organization. In addition, low involvement individuals who were exposed to a denial response rather than an attack response rated fake news as less credible. Finally, the attack response was more effective for high involvement individuals (for whom privacy was important) than those with low involvement. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Rachel Deems, Moroch Partners; Jan Wicks, University of Arkansas School of Journalism & Strategic Media • Exploring Tweeting at the Top: Do Goods-Producing and Service-Producing Firms Appear to Set Different CSR Agendas on Twitter? • This exploratory content analysis examined how 33 Global 2000 companies portray corporate social responsibility (CSR) on Twitter, and whether the agenda firms appear to present varies by industry category. Goods-producing firms appear to set an environmentally-friendly agenda, tweeting about sustainable development and using interactivity to promote their agenda widely. Service-producing firms appear to set a customer-friendly agenda, tweeting about philanthropy topics affecting many people, perhaps to transfer salience to the largest number of stakeholders.

Chelsea Woods, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) • Responding to Product (Mis)Placement: Analyzing Crock-Pot’s Paracrisis Management • Social media can breed publicly visible threats, known as paracrises. In 2018, an emotional television episode sparked online chatter surrounding Crock-Pot, which effectively managed the threat, turning the event into a public relations opportunity for the brand. This case extends our knowledge of effective paracrisis management by describing how humor can be used alone or with denial, altering our perception of ‘credible’ sources during these unique threats, and introducing two new paracrisis management strategies.

Xiaohan Xu; Maria Leonora Comello, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Suman Lee, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Richard Clancy • Exploring Country-of-Origin Perceptions and Ethnocentrism: Implications for PR Efforts to Introduce U.S. Dairy Products to China • American dairy producers face an unprecedented opportunity to export products to China. This study examines the influence of country-of-origin effect and ethnocentrism (COO) in purchase intentions of U.S. dairy products by conducting an online survey of 505 Chinese urban consumers.  Results suggest that purchase intentions of U.S. dairy products are positively associated with higher levels of affective and cognitive COO, as well as lower ethnocentrism.  Implications for PR efforts are discussed.

Aimei yang, University of Southern California; Yi (Grace) Ji, Virginian Commonwealth University • The Quest for Legitimacy and the Communication of Strategic Cross-Sectoral Partnership on Facebook: A Big Data, Social Network Study • Nowadays, many wicked problems such as environmental issues require organizations from multiple sectors to form cross-sectoral alliances. Cross-sectoral alliance networks can transfer resources and they can also signal affiliations and value alignment between strategic partners. The communication of cross-sectoral alliances is a form of CSR communication that serves organizations’ strategic goals and objectives. Drawing on the literature on digital CSR communication and legitimacy theory, this article examines what legitimacy needs shape the formation of cross-sectoral ties on Facebook in addressing environmental issue and sustainable development issues in the United States. Combining data-mining, text-mining, social network analysis, and exponential graph modeling, this research investigates the structure of a network among 3071 organizations across multiple sectors. Findings show that organizations’ cross-sectoral tie formation is mainly driven by social legitimacy and alliance legitimacy needs. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Su Lin Yeo, Singapore Management University; Augustine Pang, Singapore Management University; Michelle Cheong, Singapore Management University; Jerome Yeo, Singapore Management University • Emotions in Social Media: An Analysis of Tweet Responses to MH370 Search Suspension Announcement • Considered one of the deadliest incidents in the history of aviation crises and labeled a “continuing mystery”, the ongoing search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 offers no closure. With endless media attention given to the crisis and negative reactions of stakeholders to every decision made by the Airlines, this study investigates the types of emotions found in social media posted by publics to the MH370 search suspension announcement. It content analyzed 5.062 real-time tweet messages guided by the revised Integrated Crisis Mapping Model. Our findings indicated that, in addition to the four original emotions posited, there was a fifth emotion because of the long-drawn crisis and only two dominant emotions were similar to the Model. A redrawn version to better encapsulate all the emotions is offered for one quadrant in the Model. Implications for both crisis communication scholarship and the importance of social listening for organizations are discussed.

Xiaochen Zhang, Kansas State University; Jonathan Borden, Syracuse University • Linguistic Crisis Prediction: An Integration of Linguistic Categorization Model in Crisis Communication • Through two experiments, this study examines the relationship between linguistic choice and attribution perception in organizational crises. Results showed that abstract (vs. concrete) language in crisis news elicited higher attribution and lower purchase intentions. High (vs. low) attribution crisis led to higher usage of abstract language and that language mediates crisis types’ effect on purchase intentions. The findings empirically connect two Attribution Theory-rooted theories: Linguistic Categorization Model and the Situational Crisis Communication Theory.

Ziyuan Zhou; Xueying Zhang; Eyun-Jung Ki, The University of Alabama • Were These Studies Properly Designed?: An Examination of 22 Years of SCCT Experimental Research • This study examines the current state of the application of experiment method to studies investigating SCCT published between 1995 and 2017. Through a content analysis of 55 experiments in 50 articles published in 16 journals, the results revealed that the use of manipulation checks is questionable in the field. One-fourth of the published experiments failed to provide any information about manipulation checks, which poses a serious challenge to the validity of the experiments. The generalizability can be significantly improved if researchers set up crisis scenarios in diverse situations, such as a different way of presenting the stimuli, a different medium of the stimuli, a different industry the organization belongs to, etc.

Student
Sarah Aghazadeh, University of Maryland • “Recovery warriors”: The National Eating Disorder Association’s online public and rhetorical vision • This paper explores how organizations facilitate shared meaning with publics in an online context. I used Bormann’s symbolic convergence theory to identify rhetorical vision on the National Eating Disorder Association’s (NEDA) Facebook page. The results suggest that NEDA facilitated rhetorical vision of eating disorder “recovery warriors” by extending its rhetorical community and encouraging the “chaining” process. Lastly, I argue for theoretical and practical implications of NEDA’s efforts.

Brooke Fowler, University of Maryland, College Park • The internal angle of police-worn body cameras:  A hommo narrans approach to understanding patrol officer perceptions of body cameras • Relatively little research is available on how patrol officers perceive body cameras.  This paper conceptualizes patrol officers as an internal public and utilizes the homo narrans approach known as the theory-behavior complex, which combines symbolic convergence theory and situational theory of publics (Vasquez, 1993, 1994).  Twenty six semi-structured interviews were conducted.  This study adds to the limited number of homo narrans pieces in PR and proposes a new type of covert internal activism, under-the-table activism.

Virginia Harrison • “I Don’t Consider Myself a Corporate Fundraiser”: Understanding the Nonprofit Perspective in CSR Relationships • Taking an often-neglected viewpoint, this study examines corporate social responsibility (CSR) partnerships from the perspective of nonprofit beneficiaries. In-depth interviews with corporate relations officers at public research universities across the U.S. revealed three main factors have contributed to a rapidly evolving climate for corporate partnerships: CSR partnerships help universities build their reputations rather than endowments; feature new preferences in communication-based stewardship practices; and raise questions about university autonomy and authority. These findings contribute new understandings to how CSR-related communication creates mutually beneficial relationships.

Yingru Ji, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Exploring Publics’ Expectations for Crisis Outcomes: A Communication Mediated Psychological Mechanism in Social Media Era • The study conceptualizes consumer publics’ expectations for outcomes, in times of a preventable crisis, as a construct with three dimensions—organizational accommodation responses, punishment of the organization, and societal level regulations. The study also develops a reliable and valid scale to measure the construct. Using an online survey in Beijing China, this work empirically investigates the degree to which publics’ crisis blame and varied communication behaviors (i.e., information seeking and online expression) serially mediates the relationships between publics’ causal attribution and various publics’ expectations. The simple mediation results of crisis blame indicate that the largest mediation effects were on the psychological mechanism leading to publics’ expecting the organization to be punished. Moreover, the findings regarding serial mediation—crisis blame and communication behaviors as two mediators—suggest that active information seekers expect organizational accommodations and societal level interventions. Active online expressers, in contrast, expect to see the organization punished.

Yingru Ji, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Moderating Effects of Perceived Government Controllability over Crisis Outcomes and Consumer Collective Efficacy on Responsibility Attribution and Demands for Regulatory Interventions • Through an online survey of Beijing consumer publics, the study empirically examined a moderated mediation model of public demands for regulatory interventions. The findings revealed that as issue involvement improved, publics—who perceived both high levels of government controllability over crisis outcomes and consumer collective efficacy—attributed less responsibility to the in-crisis company and were less likely to demand regulatory intervention. The study also found that perceived government controllability had larger impacts on public demands for regulatory interventions than responsibility attribution did in China. By delineating the relationships among issue involvement, responsibility attribution, perceived government controllability over crisis outcomes, and consumer collective efficacy, the study outlines a comprehensive psychological mechanism of public demands for regulatory interventions in times of crisis.

Keqing Kuang; Sitong Guo, University of Alabama • Being honest to the public: Lessons from Haidilao’s crisis responses in China • On August 25th, 2017, the news was reported by Legal Evening News in terms of a restaurant in China named Haidilao Hot Pot’s irresponsibility to its kitchen hygiene and it went viral on social media and online news websites. Facing the scandal, Haidilao uses several crisis-response strategies to win back public support as well as to save its reputation and image. The purposes of this study are twofold: (1) understanding publics’ responses regarding Haidilao’s crisis communication, and (2) examine whether publics think the organization being honest or not. A content analysis is conducted through collecting publics’ comments and reposts on Weibo, a popular social media platform in China. The results indicate that publics respond to Haidilao and its crisis communication strategies positively and favorably in general, and results of perceived organizational performance of Haidilao are mixed.

Ejae Lee, Indiana University • Authenticity in Public Relations: The Effects on Organization-Public Relationships • This study aimed to explicate an organization’s authenticity, develop the authenticity measurement, and investigate the effects of perceived authenticity on OPR outcomes to address the implication of perceived authenticity of an organization in public relations. The study examined the validity and reliability of the proposed authenticity measurement with two constructs, awareness and consistency. The results of SEM found the direct and indirect effects of authenticity on transparency, trust, distrust, commitment, and switching intention.

Jungkyu Rhys Lim, University of Maryland • How Public Relations Builds Mutually Beneficial Relationships: Public Relations’ Role in Creating Shared Value (CSV) • Public relations strives to build mutually beneficial relationships. However, public relations scholarship has not clearly developed strategies for mutually beneficial relationships. Creating Shared Value (CSV) is one answer, as CSV strengthens the company’s competitiveness and improves the communities simultaneously. While public relations scholars have studied Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), CSV is understudied. This paper examines how public relations contributes to CSV and mutually beneficial relationships, through a case study on a multinational company’s CSV program.

Keonyoung Park, Syracuse University • Sharing the Problem-Solving Experience with Corporations: How Brand Activism Creates Brand Loyalty • Brand activism is a corporations’ advocacy on social issues. Although corporations’ social engagements have been already popularized phenomena, there are only limited academic attention on brand activism. Building on social identity theory, this study investigated brand activism as a shared problem-solving experience between publics and a corporation. The current study tried to suggest a comprehensive social media brand activism model showing the relationships between individuals’ activism engagement triggered by a corporation, brand trust, and brand loyalty. In doing so, this study conducted an online survey adopting the case of #AerieREAL campaign. Results showed that brand activism has impacts on mobilizing public engagements, which increase brand trust and loyalty. Practical implications of the study were discussed, considering both activism- and business-perspectives.

Patrick Thelen • Supervisor Humor Styles and Employee Advocacy: A Serial Mediation Model • This study examines how supervisor humor styles influence employee advocacy by building the linkage between affiliative humor, aggressive humor, supervisor authenticity, employee-organization relationships, and employee advocacy. Through a quantitative survey with 350 employees who work for a variety of organizations, this study’s results indicated that the relationship between supervisor humor style and employee advocacy is fully mediated by supervisor authenticity and employee-organization relationships. Significant theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Teaching
Gee Ekachai, Marquette University; Young Kim, Marquette University; Lauren Olson, Marquette University • Does your PR course syllabus excite, intrigue, and motivate students to learn? • The purpose of this study is to examine how a format of a syllabus influences student motivation and engagement in a public relations course and impression on the course and course instructor.  The course syllabus functions as a pivotal role in evaluating initial course perceptions by students that could lead to student motivation to engage in classroom activities.  However, there has been a lack of research that examines how a format—design or length—of a course syllabus can affect or promote student engagement in PR courses. To fill the research gap, two studies, focus group interviews (Study I, N = 10) and a lab experiment (Study II, N = 84), were conducted with undergraduate students. Results from the two focus group interviews revealed that students preferred the long version of the visually appealing syllabus. However, findings in the experimental study indicate the importance of a visually-appealing and short syllabus as an initial point of positive impressions on the course and instructor in a public relations classroom.

Hong Ji; Parul Jain; Catherine Axinn • Perceptions of Guest Speakers in Strategic Communications Courses:  An Exploratory Investigation • Using linkage beliefs theory and focus group methodology, we conducted a systematic investigation to understand students’ perceptions of having guest speakers in strategic communications courses. Our findings suggest that students prefer speakers from a variety of backgrounds and experiences with whom they could relate and prefer to hear about tips related to networking, job search, and career advancements. Theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed.

Carolyn Kim, Biola University; Karen Freberg, University of Louisville • Online Pedagogy: Navigating Perceptions and Practices to Develop Learning Communities • With the maturation of online education, there has been increased attention given to standards, motivations and best-practices within online education. This study is designed to explore the intersections between perceptions and practices that educators who teach online hold in relation perceptions and practices of students who are taking online courses. Implications from the findings on online education and ties to the recommendations from the Commission of Public Relations Education Report are noted.

Christopher J. McCollough, Columbus State University • Visionary Public Relations Coursework: Assessing Economic Impact of Service Learning in Public Relations Courses • Literature in public relations education on service learning offers strong examples of a wide variety of benefits, yet little is said about the potential long-term benefits for economic development. Given the obvious connection between public relations functions and successful businesses, this paper dis-cuss the course development, execution, and subsequent early indicators of economic impact of a collaborative project to promote a visionary arts venue and the community that neighbors it.

Amanda Weed, Ashland University • Is advertising and public relations pedagogy on the “write” track?: Comparing industry needs and educational objectives • Writing skills are paramount to the success of entry-level employees in the fields of strategic communication, yet sparse pedagogical research has been published in the past decade that specifically address methods to teach unique writing skills in the strategic communication curriculums. This study examines three unique categories of written communication—business writing, creative writing, and writing pedagogy—to provide a set of pedagogical recommendations that address the needs of the advertising and public relations industries.

2018 ABSTRACTS

Advertising 2018 Abstracts

Teaching
Expectations v. reality: Comparing perceptions of the advertising industry between students and professionals • Sara Champlin, The University of North Texas; Sheri Broyles, Dr. • Perceptions of the industry matter to newly minted advertising graduates and to the professionals who recruit new talent. However, it’s unclear how these two perspectives overlap. The present study assessed student and professional perceptions simultaneously to determine opportunities for teaching that will bridge discrepancies. Professionals and students see eye-to-eye in many areas, but specific skills, salaries for account executives and media buyers, and overall performance/supervision differed between the two groups. Teaching suggestions are discussed.

Dimensions of News Media Literacy among U.S. Advertising Students • Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University; alice kendrick • A national survey of advertising students addresses AEJMC’s 2017 recommitment to teaching news media literacy. On scales of knowledge and attitudes, advertising students rated themselves overall as above average on self-reported estimates of Media Literacy. Students exhibited higher degrees of understanding of and interest in the “Messages and Meanings” and “Authors and Audiences” dimensions than they did in the “Value of Media Literacy”. Those with higher grade point averages and access to internships placed a higher value on media literacy than other groups. Implications for educators are discussed.

Rebuilding from the Ground Up: Developing a New Approach to Visual Communications Curriculum • Adam Wagler, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Collin Berke • As technology develops, visual communications education must evolve with the times. In the fall of 2015, the curriculum committee at [University Name] College of Journalism and Mass Communications was tasked with evaluating the visual communications program. This committee set out to answer one question: “Are we preparing graduates of our program to be successful in a dynamically changing media industry?” The purpose of this case study is to explore the development of a new visual communications program with summative assessment data that addresses this reality. The proposed solution changed the objectives from four production areas to four conceptual areas: critical thinking, storytelling, how technology works, and integrating media. This paper assesses the effectiveness of an emporium and challenged based learning model implemented for the new program that was launched in the fall of 2016. The results indicate evidence of the effectiveness of the approach through assessment data. The program recognizes that students need the space to learn, fail, and experiment while faculty must be willing to change as well as resist the urge to profess. The success relies on everyone’s comfort in embracing changes in media.

“Keep it true-to-life”: The role of experiential learning in advertising and public relations pedagogy • Amanda Weed, Ashland University • Experiential learning is an important component of advertising and public relations pedagogy as “real world” projects and provides students with distinct benefits that may improve their success as early-career practitioners. Through examination of five experiential learning categories, this study contributes to pedagogy practice by providing a detailed snapshot of how award-winning practitioners and educators perceive experiential learning, how experiential learning is integrated in advertising and public relations education, and identifies areas for improvement.

Open Competition
Applying artificial neural networks to predict ad viewership during TV programs • Fiona Chew, Syracuse University; Beth Egan; Chilukuri Mohan, Syracuse University; Ruochen Jiang; Sushanth Suresh, Syracuse University; Kartik Joshi, Syracuse University • We applied artificial neural networks (ANNs) to analyze TV ad viewership during commercial breaks predicated on second-by-second data that tracked audiences’ mechanical ad avoidance behavior. ANNs comprise hardware and algorithm processing devices trained to discover relationships and patterns, establish and define linkages among numerous variables with large and diverse data. Results identified key attributes that predicted ad viewing declines. These included programs originality/rerun, number of ads, ad placement pod position and ad duration.

An Examination of the Effects of Multicultural Advertising Strategies on Consumer Decision-Making Processes • Carolyn Lin; Linda Dam • Few advertising research studies address how perceived social distance – the level of acceptance individuals feel towards people from a different racial background – may impact consumer responses toward advertising spokespersons from different racial groups. This study explores whether perceived social distance between consumers and multicultural advertising spokespersons influences consumer decision-making processes. Findings suggest that cross-cultural group relations could help explain the underlying consumer decision-making process, which influences the effectiveness of multicultural advertising practices.

Make It Fit: The Effects of Brand-Game Congruity in Advergames on Brand Recall, Attitude, and Purchase Intent • Frank Dardis, Penn State University; Michael Schmierbach, Pennsylvania State University; Jose Aviles, Wittenberg University; Erica Bailey, Angelo State University; Stephanie Orme, Penn State University; Jin Kang, The Pennsylvania State University • Brand congruity, or how well a brand seems to “fit” within the media or external environment in which it is placed, has been studied in numerous sub-areas within the advertising and marketing literature. The concept has received some attention in the realm of embedded in-game advertising (IGA) and advergames, with most studies focusing on brand memory. The current study was the first to manipulate a high-congruity and low-congruity brand within a single advergame and simultaneously evaluate players’ brand recall, attitude, and purchase intent. Further, although differing from each other in absolute congruity, each brand was conceivably suitable in performing some of the real-world functions exemplified in the game. Results indicate strong support for the placement of a high-congruity brand in an advergame, particularly regarding brand attitude and purchase intent. This is especially compelling because, in the current study, participants had to use the brand to succeed at the game; the brand communication was not simply an embedded message. Practical implications are discussed.

Got Muscle? A Longitudinal Study of Masculinity in Fragrance Ads in Esquire and GQ • Laura Beth Daws, Kennesaw State University; Justin Pettigrew, Kennesaw State University • Fragrance ads for women proliferate in style magazines for women, but what about ads for men’s cologne in men’s style magazines? This study examines men’s fragrance ads in the print edition of those periodicals longitudinally to see how ads use nudity and the “masculine ideal” to portray their product. Results of a content analysis of Esquire and GQ from 1950-2015 showed that the “masculine ideal” has remained a constant in fragrance ads over time.

Investigating the Implications of Distinct Personality and Message Factors on Consumer Responses • Naa Amponsah Dodoo, Emerson College; Cynthia Morton Padovano, University of Florida • This research examined psychological determinants of consumer responses to social media ads to understand the effect of consumer personality traits, regulatory focus and product appeal on consumer responses to social media ads. To that effect, this study assessed the impact of openness to experience and neuroticism on consumer responses following exposure to social media ads that employed message strategies that manipulated regulatory focus (promotion vs. prevention) and product appeal (hedonic vs. utilitarian). Experimental results indicate main effects for openness to experience and neuroticism on responses to social media ads. Additionally, interaction effects were found between openness to experience, regulatory focus and product appeal, lending evidence to the influence of personality traits on message persuasiveness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Comparative Advertising as a Signal of Quality: The Role of Brand Credibility in Consumer Responses • Naa Amponsah Dodoo, Emerson College • Comparative advertising is a widely-researched area within advertising research. Despite the wealth of information on comparative advertising, research suggests that results from these studies more often than not demonstrate insignificant findings. Drawing on the signaling theory as a framework, this study sought to examine comparative advertising and its role in conveying brand quality relative to noncomparative advertising. With a focus on the U.S. wireless industry, consumer responses to comparative advertising were investigated. Results to some extent support previous literature espousing advertising as a signal of quality. Brand credibility as an important aspect of signaling theory was also examined for both comparative and noncomparative ads and was found to have an impact in consumer responses. Implications and limitations are discussed.

The role of media context and general advertising attitudes on ad avoidance • Esther Thorson, Michigan State; Samuel M. Tham, Michigan State University; Margaret Duffy, U of Missouri • This research develops theory about the role of media context and advertising attitudes regarding why people appreciate, are annoyed by, or attempt to avoid advertising. Media context is comprised of three elements: different media devices, media channels, and media content. The theory was applied in a nationwide survey and findings suggest that advertising appreciation, annoyance, and avoidance are processes rooted on all three factors identified as media context.

Beauty Brands and Micro-blogging in China: How Content Choices Affect Consumer Engagement on Sina Weibo • Mengling Cao, Florida Institute of Technology; Youngju (YJ) Sohn, Florida Institute of Technology; Heidi Hatfield Edwards, Florida Institute of Technology • The purpose of this study is to explore how beauty brands use social media to meet customer’s needs and improve customer engagement through social media posts. The development of social media helps brands extend their marketing areas and gain various benefits. Based on the uses and gratifications theory and literature about customer engagement, this study proposes several aspects about posts include posting day, message originality, modality, post content, and how they affect customer engagements online. In this study, a content analysis was conducted of 2,676 posts from the top 10 beauty brands in China on Sina Weibo, the biggest micro-blogging website in the country. In the results, customer engagements on Weibo were positively affected by modality (i.e., posts with videos) and post content (i.e., posts of incentives, giveaways, news, shows, and feedback, as well as posts with celebrity or spokesperson content).

Soil and Flower: The Relationship between Social Media Usage and Consumer Response to Social Media Advertising • Yang Feng; Quan Xie • This study examines how consumers’ motivations to engage with seven social media platforms (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and YouTube) influence their evaluations of advertising on those platforms. Results from survey (N = 972, aged 18-35) not only provide empirical evidence for media context literature, but also advance media context literature by delving into different social media platforms. In particular, results revealed that people are driven by different motivations to use the seven social media platforms and they evaluate advertising on each platform in a different way. Furthermore, regression results revealed significant relationships between social media engagement motivations and ad evaluations (i.e., ad relevance, ad trust, ad attention, and ad intrusiveness). Also, the relationship pattern differs across the seven social media platforms. Discussion and practical implications were provided.

Eye-Catching and Unforgettable: The Role of Ad Creativity in Online Video Ads Featuring Augmented Reality Technology • Yang Feng; Quan Xie • This study aims to examine the role of ad creativity in video ads featuring augmented reality (AR) technology uploaded on YouTube. Through an online experiment, we compared people who hold positive pre-existing attitudes toward a familiar brand, people who hold negative pre-existing attitudes toward a familiar brand, and people who are unfamiliar with a brand in terms of their perceived creativity of a video ad featuring AR technology. Further, we explored the differential effect of three dimensions of ad creativity, namely, message usefulness, ad novelty, and ad-consumer association, on short and long-term brand name recall, short and long-term brand message recall, ad attitude, and brand attitude. Results demonstrated that for a familiar brand, people’s perceived creativity of an ad is biased by their pre-existing brand attitudes. For an unfamiliar brand, since people do not have pre-existing attitudes toward it, their perceived creativity of an ad for the unfamiliar brand is mostly shaped by their impressions of the ad. Moreover, results revealed that the three dimension of ad creativity play different roles in ad effectiveness.

The Impact of Erotic Appeal and Message Relevance on Selective Attention to Print Advertisements • Zijian Gong, Texas Tech University; Steven Holiday, Texas Tech University; Glenn Cummins, Texas Tech University • The effectiveness of sexual appeals in advertising continues to be subject to debate. One moderator of this effect is relevance, typically viewed as congruence between sexual appeals and the product. A contrasting view offered here is the relevance of the product to the audience. This experiment employed eye tracking to demonstrate how sexual appeals caused a visual distraction effect for low relevance ads. For high-relevance ads, this effect was not observed.

Social Network for Good: Framing the Message Type and Execution Style of “Cause- Related Marketing” Advertising for a Sports Brand on Social Network Sites • Ji Yoon (Karen) Han; Seungae Lee • Companies now use social network sites (SNS) as an opportunity to promote their values and interact with consumers, particularly for purposes of cause-related marketing (CRM). Traditional print CRM ads focused on promoting social cause (PCS) messages about which a brand commits. However, recent social media-based CRM ads rely on partake-in-our-cause (PIOC) messages. This study applied cause framing (cause-focused ad) and profit framing (product-focused ad) to CRM execution styles and investigated the interplay between the message type (PIOC vs. PCS) and execution style (cause-focused ad vs. product-oriented ad) on consumer response in social media contexts. The findings indicate that when a product-oriented ad is shown, a PIOC message led to more favorable attitudes toward the cause and higher levels of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) intention than did a PCS message. In contrast, when people were exposed to a cause-focused ad, the message type did not significantly affect attitudes or eWOM intention. Further, attitude toward the cause is identified as the mediator to explain the interplay between message type and execution style on eWOM intention.

How Advertising Relevance and Brand Relationship Strength Limits Disclosure Effects of Native Ads on Twitter • Jameson Hayes, University of Alabama; Guy Golan, University of South Florida; Janelle Applequist, University of South Florida; Stephen Rush, The University of Alabama • The growing scholarship on native advertising indicates that advertising recognition often leads to audience resistance of the persuasive messages. The current research conducts two national online experiments examining the impact of advertising relevance and brand relationship strength on native advertising outcomes on Twitter at low and high disclosure levels. Study findings indicate that both perceived relevance and brand relationship strength have the potential to limit audience resistance to the native advertisement.

Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Influencer Product Recommendation Motives on Social Media • Mengtian (Montina) Jiang, University of Kentucky; Nora Rifon, Michigan State University • Social media has seen an explosion of sponsored content created and shared by social media influencers. This study examines how a consumer interprets and infers the influencer’s underlying motives for writing and sharing these posts on Instagram. Three online surveys develop and validate a scale that identifies six distinct types of influencer motives that co-exist during consumer processing of sponsored content: Money, Selling, Image, Love, Sharing and Helping motives. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Effects of Sensation Seeking, Creator Attractiveness, and Content Characteristics on Branded Entertainment • Dahyun Hong; Jong Woo Jun, Dankook University • This study explores effects of branded entertainment on information processing of consumers. Using Korean female consumers as research samples tries to identify roles of consumer psychological factors, creator attractiveness, and content factors on purchase intentions and word-of-mouth intentions. The findings of this study show that sensation seeking influenced purchase intentions and word-of-mouth intentions. Creator attractiveness is related in positive ways, and content novelty and content credibility influenced purchase intentions and word-of-mouth intentions. Lastly, attitudes toward content is connected to both purchase intentions and word-of-mouth intentions. These results could provide academic and managerial implications in terms of branded entertainment marketing.

How Storytelling Advertising Affects Consumers: Emotion as a mediator between narrative level and WOM intention • Sookyeong Hong, Hansei University; Jin-Ae Kang, East Carolina University; Glenn Hubbard, East Carolina University • Experimental study (n=300) tested the effects of storytelling in radio advertisements on participants’ emotional responses and intentions to share information about the product by word of mouth. Treatments included a story told by the founder of a company, the same story manipulated to come from a customer and a purely informational non-story control stimulus. The founder’s story elicited more favorable responses and had some effect on word-of-mouth intention, especially among participants preferring narrative formats.

Another Super Bowl Study: An Exploratory Research on the Impacts of Ad Effectiveness Factors on Consumer Engagement on Social Media • Gawon Kim; Ian Skupski; Yongick Jeong, Louisiana State University • Using Super Bowl ads, this study explores the relationship between various ad effectiveness factors (length, frequency, clutter, position, social media mention, and liking) and consumer engagement (overall, positive, and negative comments) on social media (Facebook and Twitter). The findings of this study indicate that ad factors have significant impacts on consumer engagement. The effect is in overall social media posts positive and negative sentiment posts, but differently. Marketing implications for the results are discussed.

The attitudinal and behavioral effects of pictorial metaphors in advertising: Considering need for cognition and the mediating effect of emotional response • Soojin Kim, Louisiana State University • The current study investigates the effect of the interrelation between pictorial metaphor and headline in ads with an individual’s difference by Need for Cognition (NFC) on the attitude toward the ad, the brand, and purchase intention (PI), while considering emotions as a mediator. The current study’s findings highlight the importance of the match between pictorial metaphor and headlines for the ad effects by consumer’s cognitive tendency, considering affective responses.

Examining the Personality Traits and Motives That Predict Attitudes Toward and Engagement with Sponsored Content in Snapchat • Tiany Sousa; William Kinnally, University of Central Florida • Social networking sites (SNS) have revolutionized the communication between consumers and brands, publishers, and marketers. These platforms have become a way for advertisers to communicate directly and engage users with content that is innovative and less intrusive. The aim of this research is to examine the personality traits and motives (based on the uses and gratifications theory) that predict attitudes toward and engagement with sponsored content in Snapchat including Filters, Lenses, Discover, and Snap Ads. An online survey with 606 participants showed that the main motives of using Snapchat were social information seeking, entertainment, and impression management. Hierarchical multiple regressions were used to examine the models that predict attitudes toward the sponsored features in Snapchat as well as the engagement with them. Several personality traits and Snapchat motives combined to predict attitudes toward and engagement with sponsored filters. In contrast, only social information seeking was significant predictor of attitudes toward and engagement with Discover feature. More results and practical implications are discussed.

Influencer Marketing on Instagram: The Effects of Sponsorship Disclosure, Source Credibility, and Brand Credibility • Susanna Lee, University of Florida; Eunice Kim • With the rise of social media, influencer marketing appeared as a relatively new form of celebrity endorsement. Although promotional posts on Instagram include messages that disclosure sponsorship and activate persuasion knowledge, consumers’ attitude toward the post may vary by source credibility and brand credibility. This study examines the effects of disclosure types, source credibility, and brand credibility on the effectiveness of Instagram marketing using influencers. Findings reveal that highly credible brands featured in Instagram posts have a positive impact on message credibility, eWOM intention, purchase intention, and attitude toward the ad. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

The Effect of Soliciting Consumer Participation in Corporate Social Responsibility Campaigns • Sun Young Lee, Texas Tech University; Yeuseung Kim; Young Kim, Marquette University • This study explores the mechanisms through which corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns that require consumer participation create more value for companies than do non-participatory CSR campaigns. Based on two distinguishing characteristics of participatory CSR campaigns—interactivity and consumer empowerment—we posit two routes to persuasion, one in which participatory CSR activities generate more favorable attitude toward the company and higher purchase intention through consumer–company identification, enhanced through perceived interactivity, and the other in which participatory CSR activities, in comparison to non-participatory, empower consumers, which, in turn, affects perceived CSR motives. We demonstrate these proposed mechanisms using an online experiment with one non-participatory CSR activity and three different types of participatory CSR activities. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Credible corporates require many likes: An examination of corporate credibility and bandwagon cues • Ruobing Li, Louisiana State University; Michail Vafeiadis, Auburn University; Anli Xiao; Guolan Yang • Compared to conventional advertising forms, social media native ads blend in the context and tend to be more interactive. To examine how corporate credibility and other viewers’ collective opinions associated with a promotional post influence its effectiveness, we conducted a 2 (high vs. low corporate credibility) by 2 (high vs. low bandwagon cues) between subjects experiment. Findings suggested that native ads published by highly credible corporate lead to less negative emotions among viewers and higher intention to engage in behaviors related to the ad and the product advertised; bandwagon cues influenced viewer psychology in a way that high bandwagon cues led to better evaluation of the ad, more positive attitude towards the ad, and higher behavioral intention. Corporate credibility also interacted with bandwagon cues in influencing the persuasive outcomes of the ad. Theoretical and practical implications on native advertising were discussed.

Cognitive Appraisals on a Brand Safety Issue and Hostile Consumer Behaviors: The appraisal-emotion-behavior (AEB) model • Joon Soo Lim, Syracuse University; Junga Kim; Chunsik Lee • Grounded in appraisal theories of emotions, this study tested the appraisal-emotion-behavior model for brand safety. The model posited that the appraisals of harm severity, ad intrusiveness and blame attributions for brand ads displayed next to offensive content would elicit negative emotions, which propels consumers to engage in hostile behaviors such as complaints, negative word of mouth and boycotts. To test the model, data were collected through an online survey using quota sampling (N = 483). Results of the SEM analysis supported the hypotheses regarding the effects of the appraisals on negative emotions. A mediation analysis further demonstrated that the effects of appraisals on the hostile consumer behaviors were mediated by evoked negative emotions. Findings of this study suggest that consumers react to the brand safety issue to the extent that they appraise the potential harm of the offensive content and attribute the responsibility to the brand.

Does When and Where Matter? The Influence of Ad Timing and Placement Context on the Effects of Online Behavioral Advertising • Xinyu Lu; Haesung (Claire) Whang; Jisu Huh • Behaviorally targeted advertising is receiving growing attention due to the preponderance of advertising dollars spent on online advertising and the rapid development of targeting techniques. Drawing on the goal activation model, this study examined the effects of two behavioral targeting strategies—ad timing and ad-context congruity—on consumers’ evaluations of an online behavioral ad. Results show a marginally significant relationship between ad timing and perceived ad relevance, and a significant relationship between ad-context congruity and consumer evaluations through perceived relevance. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.

Placing Brands on Facebook: How the Source and Context of Brand Posts Affect Brand Likeability • Mira Mayrhofer; Brigitte Naderer; Jörg Matthes, U of Vienna • In two experimental studies we examined how the source of branded messages and the contextual mechanisms elicited by surrounding posts influenced viewers’ evaluations of the messages. We found that humorousness of surrounding posts positively affected brand evaluations but only when the brand itself communicated the persuasive content. Hence, while user-generated brand posts might be less effective than previously thought, humorous contexts on social media sites can support positive environments for advertisers to communicate branded messages.

Political Campaigning Meets Digital Engagement: “Old” Failures and “New” Triumphs • Sally McMiillan, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Courtney Childers, University of Tennessee; Stuart Brotman; Jinhee Lee; Jian Huang; Natalie Bogda • For decades, advertising spending, journalistic coverage, and polling predictions have been linked to presidential election outcomes. In the U.S. presidential election of 2016 those “old media” tools failed. Using big-data analytics, this study shows that volume and valence of digital political engagement on social media corresponded to the campaign outcome. The 2016 U.S. presidential campaign may represent a “tipping point” between “old” mass communication strategies and tactics and “new” approaches to citizen/consumer digital engagement.

Healthy Living and The Companies That Pay for It: A Qualitative Exploration of Health Native Advertising on BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post • Chris Noland, University of South Carolina; Jo-Yun Queenie Li, University of South Carolina; Taylor Jing Wen, University of South Carolina • This exploratory study investigates the presentation of health native advertising on BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post, the two pioneers of displaying native advertisements on their sites. This qualitative content analysis identifies the sponsored companies, promoted products, presentation formats, information sources, and disclosure types in related to health native advertising. The current research offers health related advertisers, publishers, governmental officials, and scholars with key theoretical and practical insights upon which they can more effectively propose appropriate regulations and refine health native advertising strategies for audiences.

Value from construal level theory: The matching effects of social distance and message orientation for environmental advertising • Sun-Young Park, University of Massachusetts Boston; Eunyi Kim • This study examines the effects of the interaction between social distance and message orientation (i.e., construal level effects) on responses to advertising messages that promote recycling behaviors. The results show that the messages focused on the high-level (why-laden) features were more persuasive in terms of generating more positive attitudes toward advertising when messages are framed in terms of socially distant entities, whereas the messages focused on the low-level (how-laden) features were more effective when asking participants to make judgments for their proximal entities. For behavioral attitudes and intentions these effects were observed under the how-laden and proximal condition, but not observed under the why-laden and distant condition. The findings also demonstrate a unique pattern of construal level fit effects and potential moderators/mediators, such as message persuasiveness and the perceived relatedness between recycling and climate change mitigation, in the context of recycling advertising campaigns. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

When Our Goals Set Our Biases: How Regulatory Focus Moderates Persuasion Knowledge and Third-person Perception in Health Advertising • Giang Pham, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Chang-Dae Ham, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • This study investigates how regulatory focus moderates the effect of persuasion knowledge on third-person perception in the context of health advertising. Two experiments revealed that persuasion knowledge positively influenced third-person perception, which in turn negatively affected ad evaluations. Regulatory focus, either chronic (Study 1: n=105) or induced (Study 2: n=97), significantly moderates the effects of persuasion knowledge on third-person perception and ad evaluations. Implications for improving advertising effectiveness are discussed.

A Meta-Analysis of Cause-Related Advertising Effects on Global Consumers • Michelle Rego, Johnson & Wales University; Dana Rogers; Mark Hamilton, University of Connecticut • Over the past 30 years, cause-related marketing (CRM) campaigns have expanded worldwide. A series of 6 bivariate meta-analyses were conducted using a random effects assumption to determine effect sizes in this field. Moderators were tested using meta-analytic regression, but not found to qualify the results, which included the effect of CRM campaigns on brand attitudes, r=.248, 95% CI(0.189,0.373), and purchase intentions, r=.277, 95% CI(0.141, 0.404). Recommendations for future campaigns and research are discussed.

The Effects of Mood and Arousal on Information Searching and Processing on a Search Engine: Implications for Paid Search Ads • Sela Sar; George Anghelcev, Northwestern University in Qatar; Taylor Jing Wen, University of South Carolina; Chang-Dae Ham, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Jie(Doreen) Shen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • An experiment was conducted to examine how mood and arousal interact to influence consumers’ searching tasks and their information processing on a search engine result page (SERP). The results showed that people in a positive mood were more likely to focus on general (global) information of search result ads, whereas people in a negative mood were more likely to focus on detailed (local) information of search ads. There was a significant interaction effect between mood and arousal on information searching and processing on SERP. Theoretical and practical implications for advertisers/marketers and web content designers are discussed.

Determining the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives in advertisements for congruent and incongruent companies • Brett Sherrick, Purdue University; Jennifer Hoewe, Purdue University • This study aligns three theories – narrative engagement, identification, and congruity – to determine the most effective ways to communicate messages regarding companies’ work toward increasing their environmental sustainability. Using an experimental design, the results show that companies whose products run in line with a message of environmental sustainability should create advertisements illustrating their environmental efforts, as those ads should increase positive evaluations of that company. Featuring groups of people in these ads may work to further magnify those positive evaluations. Most interestingly though, this study finds that an advertisement containing a message presented in narrative form is effective in overcoming incongruity between the type of company and the sustainability initiatives presented in the ad.

Explaining the Success of Femvertising: A Structural Modeling Approach • Miglena Sternadori, Texas Tech University College of Media and Communication; Alan Abitbol, University of Dayton • This survey of U.S. adults (N = 419) investigates attitudes toward femvertising as they relate to gender, age, support for women’s rights, feminist self-identification, political affiliation, and trust in advertising. Femvertising is defined as “advertising that employs pro-female talent, messages, and imagery to empower women and girls.” Structural equation modeling reveals several antecedents and consequences of attitude toward femvertising, specifically women’s rights supporters and self-identifying feminists seem highly receptive of femvertising.

How Anticipated Regret Messages Interact With Mood To Influence Purchase Intention • Yanyun Wang; Sela Sar • The current study examines how different types of anticipated regret advertising messages (verbally framed vs. graphically framed) interact with consumer’s mood (positive vs. negative) to influence their attitudes and behavior toward the advertised product. The results revealed a significant main effect of message types. People tended to have better ad evaluation when the ad used graphically framed AR message compared with verbally framed AR message.

Memory at Play: Personalizing Advertisements Based on Consumers’ Autobiographical Memory • Lewen Wei, Pennsylvania State University; Jin Kang, The Pennsylvania State University; Michael Schmierbach, Pennsylvania State University • Targeted advertising promises to increase relevance to consumers, but risks backfiring if it seems overly intrusive. In the present study, we examined whether personalizing the online advertisement based on one’s autobiographical memory can foster positive reactions toward the advertisement. In two studies, participants went through a fictitious social media website where they talked about a special memory and saw an advertisement that was or was not personalized based upon their memory. Results demonstrate that personalized advertisements elicited favorable reaction towards the advertisement via enhanced feeling of nostalgia, but did not show an influence on affect or perceived intrusiveness.

Social Information in Facebook News Feed Ads: A Social Impact Theory Perspective • Fei Xue, The University of Southern Miss • Using social impact theory as a conceptual framework, the current research examined the effects of “social information” on Facebook users’ response to News Feed ads, including ad credibility, attitude-toward-the-ad, brand interest, intention to click, and purchase intention. Three factors were manipulated – relationship strength, physical distance, and number of affiliated friends. Strong main effects were found for relationship strength and physical distance. An interaction effect in click intention was also found between relationship strength and physical distance.

Perceived Native-ness of Social Media Advertisements: A Conceptualization & Scale Development Study • Jing Yang; Linwan Wu, University of South Carolina; Rachel Quint; Jaini Bhavsar • As the development of native advertising across various social media platforms, it has gradually become one of the main streams in digital advertising. It is difficult to reach an agreement on a comprehensive definition of native advertisements among industry practitioners and academia scholars, due to the diverse formats of presenting native advertisements. Specifically, in the social media context, different social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and etc., all have their own formats of native advertising. Therefore, the current study proposes the concept of perceived native-ness, which emphasizes on individuals’ perceptions of native-ness of advertisements presented in the social media context. Through a two-phase research which involved (a) in-depth interviews and (b) a scale development and validation study, we generated and examined a 15-item scale for three underlying dimensions of perceived native-ness of social media advertisements, namely design congruence, personal congruence and content congruence. The theoretical and practical implications of this scale are discussed.

Teens’ Responses to Facebook Newsfeed Advertising: The Effects of Cognitive Appraisal and Social Influence on Privacy Concerns and Coping Strategies • Seounmi Youn, Emerson College; Wonsun Shin, University of Melbourne • This study examines how cognitive (benefit-risk appraisal) and social factors (parent and peer communication) affect teenagers’ privacy concerns and individual and social coping strategies in dealing with Facebook newsfeed advertising. A survey conducted with teen Facebook users (N=305) demonstrates that benefit appraisal induces greater ad engagement while risk perceptions result in reactive coping strategies. Parents have limited impact on teens’ responses to newsfeed advertising, whereas peer communication makes teens less critical about advertising practices.

Effects of Visual Strategies and Personal Relevance on Young Users’ Responses to Brand Content on Instagram • Lijie Zhou, Southern Utah University; Fei Xue, The University of Southern Miss • A 4 (customer-centric, employee-centric, non-brand, and product-centric) × 2 (first-person-view vs. third-person-view) × 2 (personal relevance: high vs. low) mixed-design experiment was used to investigate the effects of visual theme, visual perspective, and personal relevance on brand constructions (attitude-toward-brand, brand love, brand respect, brand image) on Instagram. Findings indicated using customer-centric-images with the first-person-view to promote a high relevance brand on Instagram received the most favorable attitude, strongest brand respect, and strongest feeling of sensuality.

Professional Freedom & Responsibility
Ethnic Diversity as a Solution to the Advertising Industry’s Creative Problem • Robin Spring, Grand Valley State University; Fang (Faye) Yang, Grand Valley State University • “Ethnic diversity in the advertising industry could be a solution for culturally insensitive advertising. Insights from advertising professionals, obtained via in-depth interviews, reveal prevalence of bias in recruiting, hiring and retention of minorities. Findings suggest that current methods to increase minority representation are not effective. Viewing ethnic diversity as a creative/business solution, versus a public relations problem, could motivate meaningful change in the advertising industry

Special Topics
Informing, Reinforcing, and Referencing: Chinese Young Male Consumers’ Interpretation of Social Media Luxury Advertising • Huan Chen; Ye Wang; Eric Haley • A qualitative study was conducted to explore Chinese young male consumers’ perception on luxury brand social media advertising. In-depth interviews were used to collect data and the phenomenological reduction was used to analyze data. Findings revealed four themes regarding the socially constructed meanings of luxury, luxury brand, and luxury brand social media advertising. According to Chinese young male consumers, “luxury” is perceived as a dual-dimensional lifestyle; for luxury brands, although Chinese young male consumers consider the price to be a blatant index of luxury, they perceive brand meanings are a more important symbol to differentiate luxury brands from other brands; and, luxury brands are deemed as an expression of those consumers’ personalities and styles or extension of their identities. Findings further uncovered the meanings of luxury brand social media advertising among Chinese young male consumers. According to the participants, luxury social media advertising assists their luxury brand products purchase in informing them about products of new seasons, reinforcing luxury brands’ image, and offering them a referential source. Theoretical and practical implications were offered.

The Positive and Negative Effects of Intrusive In-App Advertising • Yunmi Choi, Indiana University Southeast • “As smartphone usage and ownership has increased, advertisers need to understand how to place mobile advertisements appropriately without causing negative effects such as irritation on their target audience. This empirical study focused on in-app advertising and its negative and positive impact on smartphone users. Subjects were invited to a computer lab and asked to play a smartphone application. The design of the study was a 2 (Ad Intrusiveness: 5-second vs. 30-second) x 2 (User Controllability: a close ad button vs. no button) x 2 (Task Orientation: hurry vs. free). The results indicate that users are more sensitive to the duration of ad exposure and controllability to close an ad. Irritation and perceived intrusiveness of the ad and app were found to be negative effects of intrusive in-app advertising while recall and recognition of the advertised brand were positive effects. In addition, perceived value and purchase intention of the brand were positively correlated with attitude toward ad and brand. Based on the study findings, it is suggested to offer the option to close in-app ads and reduce the ad exposure time to avoid irritation and perceived intrusiveness. However, if the goal of the in-app ad is to raise the brand awareness, being intrusive would be a good choice. App developers and managers should understand the influence of the absence of a close ad button will result in negatively perceived intrusiveness of their own application.”

Training to Lead in an Era of Change: Insights from Ad Agency Leaders • Sabrina Habib, University of South Carolina; PADMINI PATWARDHAN, Winthrop University • This study examines leadership training in advertising. Using constructivist grounded theory methodology, in-depth interviews with U.S. based agency professionals found lack of a systematic approach to leadership development; a consensus among professionals that training (whether formal or informal) is needed; diverse approaches to training; and recognition of barriers to establishing such programs in agencies despite need and benefits. The study also finds a role for advertising education to train the next generation of advertising leaders.

Role of Immersive Characteristic, Emotional Engagement, and Consumer Responses in Virtual CSR Experiences: Drunk Driving Prevention 360 Degree Video by an Alcohol Company • Yoon-Joo Lee; Wen Zhao, Washington State University; Huan Chen • This study examined a unique context of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in the format of virtual reality (VR) video sponsored by an alcohol company through quasi-experimental design. The study aims to examine whether individual difference (immersive tendency) plays a role in perceiving the CSR initiatives in VR videos. This study revealed that consumers with a higher level of immersive tendency are more likely to have a positive attitude toward CSR ads via emotional involvement than those with a lower level of immersive tendency. However, consumers’ immersive tendency or emotional involvement with the VR video did not influence purchase intention. This study attempts to investigate how unique characteristic of VR video (e.g., telepresence, emotional engagement) can play a role in evaluating cognitive, attitudinal, and purchase intention in the unique context of VR video by adopting dialogic (emotional) engagement and HOE model. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed.

Does VR attract visitors? The mediating effect of presence on consumer response in tourism advertising using Virtual Reality • Wai Han Lo, Hong Kong Baptist University; Benjamin Ka Lun Cheng, Hong Kong Baptist University • 203 college students participated in an experiment exposing to a hotel advertorial that either use online blog, VR 360° video on mobile phone or VR 360° video using Cardboard goggles. The result supports the proposed path model, suggesting the mediating role of presence between using VR and consumer response. Theoretical and practical implications of the use of VR technology in branding and promotion are discussed.

I (Don’t) Want to Consume Counterfeit Medicines: Preliminary Results on the Antecedents of Consumer Attitudes Toward Counterfeit Medicines • S. Senyo Ofori-Parku, University of Oregon; Sung Eun Park, The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa • “Counterfeit medicine trafficking (an estimated $200 billion) enterprise has become one of the worlds’ fastest growing criminal enterprises. To the pharmaceutical industry, the uptick in counterfeit medicines raises brand equity and brand safety concerns, leading to huge financial losses. To consumers, it is a health and safety issue. But research has primarily focused on supply chain processes, technological, and legal mechanisms, ignoring consumer aspects. This exploratory study sheds light on some of the social, psychological, and normative factors that underlie consumers’ attitudes, risk perceptions, and purchase intentions. Consumers who (a) self-report that they know about the problem, (b) are older, (c) view counterfeit medicine consumption as ethical, and (d) think their significant others would approve of them using such products are more inclined to perceive lower risks and have favorable purchase intentions. Risk averseness is also inversely related to the predicted outcomes. Implications for brand advocacy and consumer safety education is discussed.

Watching AD for Fun: Native Short-video Advertising on Chinese Social Media • Ruowen Wang; Huan Chen • Since 2016, the popularity of Social Media Marketing and Weibo short videos have encouraged brands and companies to cooperate with Weibo influencers to create attractive native short-video advertising for consumers. The current study used phenomenological research method to explore Chinese consumers’ attitude toward and perception on native short-video advertising. The first author recruited 20 Weibo short-video viewers to conduct in-depth interviews to understand their experiences of watching Weibo short-video advertising. The current study has theoretical implication on influencer marketing, native advertising, and social relationship marketing. Furthermore, the study also provides guidance and reference for social media influencers and brands on how to create effective native short-video advertising.

Student Research
The Effect of Endorser Body Type on Attitudes and Emotional Responses Toward Weight Loss Advertisements • Lindsay Bouchacourt, University of Florida • The present study explores the effect of endorser body type on female consumers’ attitudes and emotional responses toward weight loss advertisements. Millennial female consumers were exposed to a weight loss advertisement that featured one of three endorser conditions: a mediated body type endorser, a realistic body type endorser, and no endorser. Attitude toward the ad, attitude toward the brand, purchase intentions, and emotional responses were measured.

#Insta-Credible: The Impact of Influencer-Brand Fit on Source Credibility and Persuasive Effectiveness • Priska Breves, University of Wuerzburg; Nicole Liebers, University of Würzburg; Marina Abt, University of Wuerzburg; Annika Kunze, University of Wuerzburg • Two online-studies analyzed the impact of the fit between Instagram-influencers and the endorsed brand. While the first study (N = 687) used an experimental design and focused on internal validity, the second study (N = 197) employed a survey, presenting results high in external validity. Both studies validated a positive impact of influencer-brand fit on source credibility (trustworthiness and expertise), brand evaluations and behavioral intentions, especially for social media users with low-level parasocial relationships.

Testing the Limits: Self-Endorsement in Ambient Intelligent Environments • Kristy Hamilton, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; SeoYoon Lee; Un Chae Chung; Weizi Liu • Self-endorsement—depicting the “self” as an endorser of a brand—illustrates a new, powerful advertising strategy made possible by affordances of new media platforms. Still, research on self-endorsement in advertising is dominated by discussions of features enabled within immersive virtual environments. Recognizing the multidimensionality of an affordance perspective, this experiment empirically tests the influence of self-endorsers and other-endorsers on brand attitude and purchase intentions using ambient intelligent technology (i.e., digital assistants).

The Changing Landscape of Mobile Advertising: Current Practices, Key Insights and Future Research Directions • Xinyu Lu • Mobile advertising is gaining full momentum now. Consumers’ increasing reliance on mobile devices for consumption of media, coupled with improvements in targeting for mobile advertising, contributes to the growing market share of mobile advertising. Despite the increasing attention from advertisers and scholars, there is not a clear accumulation of empirical findings. This article delves into the changing landscape of mobile advertising brought by the advancement of mobile technologies to examine its implications on mobile advertising research, and provides an overview of the empirical findings. The article also develops a summary of key research opportunities and future directions. In sum, this review is intended to serve as a basis for scholars interested in understanding the mobile advertising literature, as well as a catalyst for future research explorations.

We Eat What We Can “Process”: How Regulatory Fit Affects Consumers’ Evaluation of Front-of-package Food Label and Health Claim • Giang Pham, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • This study investigates how regulatory fit affects consumers’ processing and evaluation of information on front of food packages. Promotion and prevention-focused participants (N = 253) evaluated food package designs that varied in nutrition labeling system (Facts Up Front, Traffic Light) and health claim frame (enhanced function, reduced disease risk). Results showed that there were significant three-way interactions between regulatory focus, nutrition labeling system and health claim frame on consumers’ perception of product healthiness, purchasing intent and recommending intent, but not attitude toward the package. Implications for improving food advertising effectiveness are discussed.

The Effect of Ad appeals on Materialistic Consumers’ Ethical Purchase • Yuhosua Ryoo; WooJin Kim; Eunjoo Jin, University of Texas at Austin • Materialism is known to be negatively related to consumers’ ethical behavior. Advancing this conventional wisdom, the current research investigated ways to motivate highly materialistic consumers’ ethical consumption by examining the moderating role of advertising appeals. The results indicated that consumers with high materialism showed more positive attitude toward advertisements and greater intention to purchase ethical products when the advertisements convey self-benefit appeals, rather than other-benefit appeals. On the other hand, low-materialistic consumers’ responses did not vary with different types of advertising appeals. The research also demonstrated that protective and enhancement motivations mediate the positive effect of self-benefit appeals on highly materialistic consumers’ ethical consumption.

Do disabilities belong?: Exploring non-disabled consumer attitudes toward persons with physical disabilities in advertising • Summer Shelton, University of Florida • In advertising, which relies heavily on visual stimuli, what place do persons with disabilities (PWDs) hold? Through focus groups with non-disabled consumers, this research asked if advertisements featuring PWDS are encountered, assessed attitudes toward PWDs in advertising, and perceived reasons brands use PWDs. Findings revealed disability/health related advertisements encountered frequently and a desire for “normalization” of disabilities. Print or social platforms are presumed best, and larger brands are proposed leaders in improved disability representation.

Using Anger and Efficacy as A Strategy to Prevent Alcohol-Related Sexual Assault: Dissuading Female College Students from Excessive Drinking within Social Settings • Jie(Doreen) Shen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • Despite the fact that female college students’ excessive drinking is a prevalent risky factor that contributes to sexual assault, existing sexual assault prevention programs have rarely addressed the issue of women’s alcohol use. This study examines the effects of anger message appeals and efficacy message appeals on persuasion outcomes. An online experiment was conducted with 122 female college students in United States. They study used a 2 (anger appeal, non-anger appeal) x 2 (high-efficacy appeal, low-efficacy appeal) between-subjects design with attitudes toward excessive drinking and intentions of maintaining sober within social settings as the outcome variables. Results indicate the effectiveness of anger appeals as compared to non-anger appeals and the moderating effect of efficacy appeals on the relationship between anger appeals on attitudes. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

The 360-Degree Drunk Driving Prevention Advertising: The Impacts of Gender Role Beliefs and Self-Referencing on Purchase Intentions and Drunk Driving Avoidance • Wen Zhao, Washington State University • The primary purpose of this study was to examine the factors that influenced the effectiveness of the 360-degree CSR drunk driving prevention advertisement with nontraditional gender-role portrayals on consumers’ behavioral intentions. By conducting an experiment, this study found that the gender role beliefs exerted positive influences on purchase intentions through two sequential mediators, self-referencing and attitudes toward the ad. Additional analysis suggested that gender role beliefs negatively affect individuals’ avoidance of drunk driving through self-referencing.

2018 ABSTRACTS

Political Communication 2016 Abstracts

I Like You, You’re Like Me: Influences of Partisan Media Use on Ideological Primary Voting • Aaron Veenstra, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • The two major political parties in the U.S. are increasingly polarized in terms of ideology, which is reflected in the diminishing tendency of liberals to identify as Republicans or conservatives to identify as Democrats. Another way of looking at this phenomenon is that each party is a social group in which being in the “correct” ideological grouping has become an important social norm. This study examines how that norm influences vote choice in partisan primary elections, where all the available choices are members of the in-group. National Annenberg Election Study data from the 2008 presidential primary season shows that voters were most likely to express intent to vote for the candidate they saw as ideologically closest to themselves. Subsequent analysis found that this was a robust relationship between out-party media use and greater distance between oneself and one’s candidate, while in-party media only had effects for Democrats. That is, out-party media, which should weaken group norms, was related to weaker expression of the norm of ideological voting, while fro Democrats, in-party media was related to stronger expression of that norm. These findings demonstrate the importance of perceptions about ideology to performing one’s identity as a partisan, and also provide key evidence of a role for partisan media and specifically television, in bolstering or diminishing that ideological behavior.

Folksy talk or simplistic chatter? An analysis of rhetorical complexity and charisma in U.S. presidential campaign speeches • Ben Wasike, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley • This study used integrative complexity to examine partisan dynamics of rhetorical complexity and charisma in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 presidential stump speeches. While the candidates demonstrated low IC levels overall, the decline in rhetorical complexity was faster for Republicans. Democrats displayed more complexity and charisma. The findings also show correlation between IC and charisma. Unique contributions to scholarship include linking charisma to IC and using IC rather than readability scales to measure rhetorical complexity.

Source Networks and Environmental Regulation: Proposing a New Measure of Partisanship in the Portrayal of Climate Policy • Bethany Conway, Cal Poly; Jennifer Ervin, University of Arizona; Kate Kenski, University of Arizona • This study used social network analysis to explore the networks of news sources used in coverage of the Obama administration’s climate change report and the subsequent emission reductions proposed by the EPA in summer 2014. Coverage from May through July 2014 by CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC was coded for source use. Aggregate and monthly source networks were created and analyzed for similarities. Results suggest unmistakably partisan patterns of source use, with MSNBC using a larger number of sources than CNN and Fox News. We suggest such patterns facilitate the conceptualization of an ideology of news construction on behalf of cable news organizations.

Partisan Assessment and Controversial News Online: Hostile Media Perceptions of the 2014 Chris Christie “Bridge” Scandal • Boya Xu, University of Maryland • The cognitive process of audience response has caught increased attention among media effects scholars. Hostile media phenomenon exemplifies the extent to which media coverage is perceived as agreeable or disagreeable to one’s own opinion, which serves as an important indicator of perceived news bias. Over the past few decades, hostile media effect studies have researched several cases of notable conflict between two different groups of interest. Guided by literature on this theory and partisan assessment of controversial news, the current study examines the 2014 Chris Christie bridge scandal in the commentary coverage of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The findings demonstrate that partisan news consumers reacted to constructed news information in hugely different ways. The present research extends hostile media research by offering an expanded model to examine people’s perceptions in the psychological sense, and places the discussion of hostile media effects toward the direction of online media environment.

Meeting Diversity and Democratic Engagement: Mobile Phone Usage Patterns, Exposure to Heterogeneity and Civic Engagement • Chang Sup Park, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania • This study, based on a survey of 1,351 mobile phone users, investigates the relationships among patterns of mobile phone use, exposure to heterogeneity, weak-tie networks, and civic engagement. It finds that informational uses of mobile phones are positively associated with civic engagement. Relational and recreational uses have a null association with civic engagement. Using mobile phones for informational or recreational purposes is significantly linked to meeting diverse voices in mobile communication. The current study also finds that both exposure to heterogeneity and weak-tie networks moderate the impact of mobile phone use on civic engagement. This research indicates that even using the mobile phone for non-informational purposes can result in engagement in civic affairs if mobile phone users meet diversity frequently and have large weak-tie contacts.

Effects of Online Comments on Perceptions of a Political News Interview: Experiments Extending Theories of Blame and Equivocation to Web 2.0 • David Clementson, The Ohio State University • Research indicates that online comments overpower the substance of web news items. We created experimental stimuli of a political news interview and manipulated comment sections beneath. We ran experiments with college students (Study 1, N = 154) and voters (Study 2, N = 153). Results indicated that people made attributions of blame, source credibility, and evasiveness, as well as their own attitudes and comments, based on whether comments implicated the politician or the media.

Think Tanks and News Media in U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda-Setting: Who is Telling Whom What to Talk About? • Dzmitry Yuran, Florida Institute of Technology • This study explores the roles news media and think tanks play in U.S. foreign policy in an analysis of their possible effects on each other’s agendas The connection between the agendas of think tanks and the news agenda, as well as the possible impact of think tanks on news media attention to countries, suggest that think tanks should be included in foreign policy agenda-setting models, traditionally limited to policymakers, public, and media as active participants.

People Power and Media through the Eyes of Late Night Comedy Viewers • Edo Steinberg, Indiana University • Using secondary data analysis of NAES and Pew surveys from 2008 and 2012, this study examines the relationship between watching late night comedy shows and trust in the media and external efficacy. Total number of shows watched is positively correlated with external efficacy and low evaluations of the media, but individual shows’ relationship to these variables is complex. Furthermore, the paper argues that The Daily Show promotes a constructive form of distrust in media.

Does the Political Apple Fall Far from the Tree? Agenda-Setting in Tweens’ and Teens’ Agreement with Parental Political Beliefs • Esther Thorson, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Di Zhu, University of Missouri • There have been few studies of how closely parent political beliefs match their children’s. That question is addressed here with a national survey of parents and their children 12-14 and 15-17 on 14 various political belief questions (e.g., “government has gotten too big”). Social salience of the beliefs in news and public opinion influences youth beliefs. Parental beliefs are the best predictors for both younger and older children’s beliefs even after extensive controls are applied.

How High School Classroom Experiences Influence Youth Political Knowledge and Participation: A Mediation Model • Esther Thorson, University of Missouri School of Journalism; Joseph Moore, University of Missouri; Benjamin Warner, University of Missouri • This study utilizes an OSROR model of political socialization to examine the effects of demographics, school socialization, news media exposure, interpersonal and online communication, and political knowledge on adolescent political participation. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) revealed that, among all the criterion variables, school socialization, and particularly participation in mock trials, had significant direct and indirect effects on youth political participation. Contrary to previous studies, this study found a negative relationship between online communication and political knowledge.

Questionable democratizing soft news effects on political knowledge • Heesook Choi, Missouri School of Journalism • This survey study investigates the relationship between the exposure to soft news and political knowledge based on the incidental learning hypothesis. To replicate Baum’s (2002) findings, I employ the media consumption survey data that the Pew Research Center collected in 2010 and 2012, which were the last two. Unlike Baum’s findings, this study illustrates a strong negative relationship between people’s consumption of soft news and their knowledge about politics. People who consume relatively more soft news are less likely to be knowledgeable about politics, compared to people who consume relatively less soft news. In general, the relationship is not conditional on people’s level of political interest. However, when it is, the exposure to entertainment-oriented soft news is more likely to lead to the lower level of political knowledge even among politically attentive individuals. These incompatible findings also highlight the need to revisit what constitutes soft news and create a more sophisticated or multidimensional scale to measure more precisely people’s exposure to soft news in comparison to hard news programs, rather than blindly relying on the oversimplified dichotomy, hard versus soft news. This study also examines the role of recording services such as TiVo in political learning. The results suggest that TiVo does not necessarily have a negative effect on political knowledge.

Political Persuasion on Social Media: A Moderated Moderation Model of Political Disagreement and Civil Reasoning • Homero Gil de Zúñiga, University of Vienna; Matthew Barnidge, University of Vienna; Trevor Diehl, University of Vienna • A fair amount of scholarly work highlights the importance of news use and political discussion to fuel political persuasion. Exposure to both novel information and diverse opinions are key for individuals to change their views over a political issue. In the context of social media, news use arguably contributes to the prevalence of contentious politics, in part because individuals can express dissent through their social networks as they consume news content. However, individuals might be more open to political persuasion in social media environments, especially if they are exposed to political disagreement and discuss it in a civil and reasoned manner. Relying on national survey data from the United Kingdom, results of a moderated moderation model shows that 1) social media news use predicts political persuasion on social media (direct effects); 2) discussion disagreement and civil reasoning levels moderate this relationship in a two way, and three way interactions

How Does Political Satire Influence Political Participation? Examining the Factors of Exposure to Pro- and Counter-Attitudinal Political Views, Anger, and Personal Issue Importance • Hsuan-Ting Chen, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Chen Gan, the Chinese University in Hong Kong (CUHK); Ping Sun, Chinese University of Hong Kong • While research has shown that exposure to political satire elicits negative emotions, which in turn mobilize political participation, we use experiment data to extend this line of research by examining the type of exposure (i.e., exposure to counter-attitudinal and attitude-consistent political views) and investigating a specific negative emotion—anger—in influencing political participation. Results document that exposure to counter-attitudinal political satire is more likely than attitude-consistent exposure to increase the likelihood of participation in issue-related activities through evoking one’s anger about the political issue. More importantly, this indirect effect functions under the condition when people consider the issue to be personally important, and the indirect effect is stronger when one’s personal issue importance is greater. Implications for the functioning of deliberative and participatory democracy in media genres that are emotionally provocative are discussed.

Shaping Media Trust: News Parody, Media Criticism, and Valuations of the Press • Jason Peifer, Indiana University – The Media School • This study explores how news parody and perceptions of news media importance (PNMI) can contribute to shaping perceptions of the press’s trustworthiness. A two-wave survey (N=331) exposed participants to news parody stimuli, measuring media trust and PNMI one week before and immediately after the parody exposure. Results demonstrate a mediated process of influence, wherein parody’s implicit commentary about the press (compared to explicit criticism) promotes PNMI, which in turn fosters trust in the news media.

Predicting voting intentions using congruity theory and stereotypes related to political party and race/ethnicity • Jennifer Hoewe, University of Alabama • This study explores the intersection of the cues of race/ethnicity and political party affiliation as they are presented in the news media and predict evaluations of political candidates. It predicted individuals’ responses to political candidates after considering the expectations of congruity theory and cueing. It found that congruity theory is an appropriate theoretical mechanism for explaining intentions to vote for political candidates, where individuals’ political party affiliation is the necessary moderating variable to consider. Also, a candidate’s political party affiliation as well as race/ethnicity are salient in determining voting preferences and attitudes toward the candidate, but party is more consistently salient. Finally, this study identified that Independent Party candidates are not favored or disfavored when compared to Republican and Democratic candidates, and Independent voters do not show significant preference for Independent Party candidates.

Is Group Polarization a Function of Conflict Framing or a Pre-existing Rivalry Group Schema? • Jiyoung Han, University of Minnesota • Two experimental studies tested whether conflict framing of the news promotes group polarization along party lines. Informed by self-categorization theory, an underlying mechanism behind the news effect was also identified. Specifically, Study 1 showed that Democrats and Republicans exposed to partisan conflict-framed news adopted more extreme positions on a disputed issue. This polarization effect of the news emerged via partisan identity salience and perceived in-party prototype. Study 2 retested the group polarization hypotheses in an apolitical context. The results showed that gender conflict-framed news heightened the level of gender identity salience in the minds of news consumers and lead women and men to express more polarized positions. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Closing the technocratic divide: How activists utilized digital form letters to engage the public in the FCC’s 2014 net neutrality debate • Jonathan Obar • Building upon research suggesting activists close technocratic divides with digital form letters, this study investigates the extent to which structural/rhetorical subordination central to the divide was overcome during the FCC’s 2014 net neutrality debate. Results suggest activists helped address impediments of geography, time and access; however, the prevalence of standardized language in many comments suggests the public’s voice was largely absent. This raises questions about ‘slacktivist’ tactics advancing mobilization efforts while avoiding principal-agent problems.

Different Strokes for Different Folks: Examination of Open-Carry Frames on Twitter Across States in the United States • Joon K Kim; Yicheng Zhu, University of South Carolina • This paper examines the online conversation about open carry policy in the U.S. Twittersphere in terms of its connection to media frames in traditional media. We collected 54,699 tweets about open carry policy using Sysomos Twitter API and our analysis showed that Twitterers from different states have significant distinct preferences over frames. Such preference was influenced by both the open carry policy and the political inclination of the states, while the later has a stronger influence than the former. For the open carry policy, tweets from Democratic states uses more safety and racial frame, while those from Republican states prefer legal and gunrights frame.

Learning the Other Side? Motivated Reasoning, Awareness of Oppositional and Likeminded Views, and Political Tolerance • Jörg Matthes, U of Vienna; David Nicolas Hopmann, University of Southern Denmark; Sebastian Valenzuela, Pontificia U Catolica de Chile • We posit that two basic information-processing motives—accuracy and directional goals—help explain when people learn from counterattitudinal news. Study 1 uses a two-wave survey matched with a media content analysis, and finds that awareness for oppositional views increases with cross-cutting news only for people with high accuracy motivations. In Study 2, we corroborate this finding with a survey experiment, and also find that a high directional motivation may actually hinder learning from counterattitudinal news.

Social Media and Civic Engagement: Results from a European Survey • Josef Seethaler, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Comparative Media and Communication Studies; Maren Birgit Marina Beaufort • There is considerable controversy as to the effects of social media on political participation. Drawing on Bennett and Segerberg’s concept of “connective action,” which – contrary to “collective” action – puts more emphasis on civic engagement as an act of personal expression, the study analyzes the relationship between media use and various forms of political participation across 15 European countries. Results indicate a notable switch from “collective” to “connective” forms of participation, particularly among people under 40.

Political Gratifications of Internet Use in Five Arab Countries: Predictors of Online Political Efficacy • Justin Martin; Ralph Martins; Shageaa Naqvi • Informed by research into uses and gratifications of the internet for political utility, this study examines predictors of online political efficacy, the belief that the internet has political utility, among internet users in five Arab countries (N=4,029): Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Lebanon, Qatar and the U.A.E. As hypothesized, variables in Arab countries often assumed predictive of political activism—being young, being unemployed, distrust of news media, progressive ideology, and more—were not consistently associated with online political efficacy. Yet counter to hypothesized, internet dependency and social media use were also not strongly or consistently associated with efficacy in the five countries. Rather, the strongest predictors of efficacy were belief in news media credibility, print media use (newspapers, magazines, books), belief in the reliability of online information, and tolerance of free speech online.

Do journalists facilitate a visionary debate among US presidential candidates? Content analysis reveals temporal orientation of debate questions • Karen McIntyre; Cathrine Gyldensted • Applying prospection — or imagining possible futures — to political journalism, a content analysis examined questions asked during U.S. presidential debates. Half of debate questions asked from 1960 to 2012 focused on the present, one-third focused on the future, and 12% focused on the past. Members of the public were more likely than journalists to ask future-oriented questions. The percentage of future-oriented questions also related to the specific election cycle and which news organization hosted the debate.

When and How Do Media Matter in a Policy Debate? The Multi-faceted Role of Newspapers in the Fracking Debates in New York and North Carolina • Kylah Hedding, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This study brings together framing research from political science and communication through the lens of the Advocacy Coalition Framework. It examines the role of the media in the fracking policy debates in North Carolina and New York, two states with very difference policy outcomes. A multi-method approach shows that the media had a multi-faceted role in the policy process that may differ from the way scholars have previously conceptualized the media.

Not credible but persuasive? How media source and audience ideology influences credibility, persuasiveness and reactance • Lelia Samson, Nanyang Technological University; Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University • This paper seeks to understand the impact of media source and audience ideology on how readers process political editorial news in the context of the Singaporean press, particularly focusing on the perceived credibility and persuasiveness of news message, as well as audience reactance to them. It does so through the framework of information processing and within the peculiar cultural, historical and social context of the Asian press, particularly that which lead to the formation and development of the Singaporean press. Through a mixed factorial experiment (N= 110) conducted online, the study found that both media source and audience ideology affected ratings of source credibility, persuasiveness of the political editorial news message, and audience reactance to them. Participants identifying with the dominant political ideology rated the dominant news source as more credible, while participants with alternative political ideology rated the alternative news source as more persuasive as well as higher in reactance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as are directions for future research.

Perceived Agenda-Setting Effects: Factors Impacting Awareness of Media Influence • Linsen Su, Beijing Jiaotong University; Wayne Wanta, University of Florida • Using the air pollution issue in Beijing as the focus, the current study examines respondents’ perceived media impact on both issue agenda-setting (first-level) and attribute agenda-setting (second-level) effects through a self-reported telephone survey in January 2015.The results confirm media impact on the awareness of issue agenda-setting effects but only partly support attribute agenda-setting effects. The results show perceived media credibility, direct personal experience with air pollution, interpersonal communication frequency, and media (TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, and Internet) exposure frequency all positively predict the perceived issue agenda-setting effect by individuals. Only media credibility and direct personal experience predict perceived attribute agenda setting effects. The findings suggest that Chinese media are effective in telling people what to think about, but ineffective in telling people how to think.

A Linkage of Online Political Comments, Perceived Civility, and Political Participation • Masahiro Yamamoto, University at Albany – SUNY; Francis Dalisay, University of Guam; Matthew Kushin, Shepherd University • This study investigates how exposure to uncivil and reasoned online political comments is related to offline and online political participation. Data from a survey of online panels show that exposure to reasoned online political comments was positively associated with offline and online political participation both directly and indirectly through one’s perceptions of civility in society. Data also show that exposure to uncivil online political comments predicted decreases in perceived civility in society, which in turn was related to lower levels of offline and online political participation. Implications are discussed for political deliberation and uncivil political discourse.

Mobile Information Seeking and Political Participation: A Differential Gains Approach with Offline and Online Discussion Attributes • Masahiro Yamamoto, University at Albany – SUNY; Seungahn Nah • This study, derived from a differential gains model, examines how mobile-based political information seeking is associated with offline and online political participation in interaction with three political discussion features: frequency, size, and heterogeneity. Data from a Web survey of an online panel indicate that the link between mobile information seeking and offline political participation is greater for respondents who discuss politics with others face-to-face and online more frequently and a greater diversity of others face-to-face and online. Data also reveal that the link between mobile information seeking and online political participation is stronger for those who discuss politics with others offline and online more often, a larger number of others online, and a greater diversity of others offline and online. Implications are discussed for the role of informational use of mobile phones in fostering political engagement.

Framing Without Attribution: Party Competition, Issue Ownership and how Journalists Frame the News • Michael Wagner, UW-Madison; Mike Gruszczynski, Austin Peay State University • Do journalists index news coverage even when they are not quoting a source? We specify the circumstances under which indexing occurs during times that journalists frame issues on their own. Our analysis of news coverage of abortion, energy, taxes, and Iraq from 1975-2008 demonstrates that during periods when the two major parties fail to frame issues with consistency within their party and competition between the parties, journalists are more likely to frame issues while acting as their own source, even when controlling for economic factors and public opinion. When journalists do frame issues on their own, they often “self-index,” adopting preferred frames from the party that “owns” that issue while applying game frames as Election Day draws near.

Learning Politics from Facebook Friends? The Impact of Structural Characteristics of Facebook Friend Network on Political Knowledge Gain • Minchul Kim, Indiana University; Yanqin Lu, Indiana University; Jae Kook Lee, Indiana University • This study examines whether and how people learn about politics from Facebook. In particular, we hypothesize that structural characteristics of one’s Facebook friend network can promote political knowledge gain. Results indicate that the proportion of Facebook weak ties, but not the size of Facebook friend network, has direct effects on political knowledge gain. The impacts of these structural characteristics on political knowledge are more pronounced for the politically interested. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Weapons and Puppies: Effectiveness of TSA’s Use of Instagram • Ming Wang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Valerie Jones, UNL • This paper examines the effectiveness of communication on visual social networking sites by government agencies, using TSA’s Instagram account as a case. Results show that TSA’s Instagram account elicited stronger emotional reactions a private business’ Instagram account. More importantly, perceived usefulness of content, perceived persuasive intent of content, and negative emotions all affected attitudes toward the TSA and all three except persuasive intent of content also influenced communicative action regarding the TSA account.

Political Divide in Twitter: A Study of Selective Exposure Clusters • Mohammad Yousuf, University of Oklahoma; Abu Daud Isa, University of Georgia • This study tests the Selective Exposure Clusters model by examining connections among Twitter users engaged in discussion on shared political topics. A network analysis was conducted on two topic networks defined by the hashtags #SOTU and #WeAreAllMuslim. Results show that Twitter users form distinct clusters as they participate in Twitter discussion on political topics. Most hubs and top mentioned users within a cluster appeared to have identified themselves with one side of a topic. The top mentioned users and the most shared URLs also identify with the dominant political standpoint within a cluster.

Look Who’s Writing: How Gender Affects News Credibility and Perceptions of Issue Importance • Newly Paul; Mingxiao Sui; Kathleen Searles, Louisiana State University • Studies indicate that women reporters are underrepresented in newsrooms and assigned to gender-stereotypic roles. In this paper, we explore how women journalists can make a difference in a gendered newsroom. Using an experiment, we examine how gender affects readers’ perceptions about: a reporter’s credibility, a news outlet’s credibility, and importance of the issue being written about. Results indicate that readers consider women’s issues important, but reporters who deviate from their gender-stereotypic roles are evaluated negatively. Readers’ gender perceptions, however, do not affect the credibility of the news outlet.

Understanding the interplay between selective and incidental exposure online: The influence of nonlinear interaction on cross-cutting online political discussion • Nojin Kwak, University of Michigan; Brian Weeks, University of Michigan-Department of Communication Studies; Dam Hee Kim, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Daniel Lane, University of Michigan; Slgi Lee, University of Michigan • This study analyzes whether two patterns of information exposure online, pro-attitudinal selective exposure and counter-attitudinal incidental exposure, work in concert to foster or undermine people’s cross-cutting political discussion online. Using data from a two-wave national survey conducted during the 2012 US presidential campaign, three theoretical accounts that provide alternate predictions were examined. Findings show that incidental exposure may affect how selective exposure contributes to cross-cutting political discussion in a curvilinear way.

A disturbed relationship? Politicians’ view of journalists’ effect on democracy in German-speaking democracies • Peter Maurer • In an environment where the distinction between news and opinion is unclear, this study explores how politicians view the press across three German-speaking countries. It tests how politician’s attitude toward a mediatized political process affects their tendency to contact journalists. Drawing on an international survey, the study finds that when political actors view the press as pundits, they tend to have a lower evaluation of the press in general, and also contact journalists less often.

Read, share, discuss: Examining the relationship between news processing, face-to-face, and online political discussion • Rebecca Donaway, Washington State University; Myiah Hutchens, Washington State University; Michael Beam, Kent State University; Jay Hmielowski, Washington State University • This study seeks to examine differences in online and face-to-face discussion via exposure to online news and people’s information processing strategies. Using national survey data, we determined that online discussion has direct relationships with online news exposure and heuristic processing, whereas face-to-face discussion is associated with systematic processing. We also found an interaction where increased systematic processing and online news exposure also predicts online discussion, but no interactive relationships are related to face-to-face discussion.

Silence on the second screen: The influence of peer-produced social media cues on political discourse and opinion • Rebecca Nee, San Diego State University • A 2 by 3 between-subjects factorial experiment tested the effects of peer-produced Twitter posts on political opinions and online discourse via the second screen. Researchers manipulated a Twitter feed as participants simultaneously watched a debate excerpt and were also invited to post to Twitter. Qualitative interviews with participants and a content analysis of the tweets show the primacy effect of peer-produced social media cues and evidence of both the spiral of silence and bandwagon effect.

Why Candidates Turn to Twitter Campaigning? An analysis of 2014 Indian General Elections • Saifuddin Ahmed, University of California, Davis • This study focuses on party and individual characteristics of 2014 Indian general election candidates, to explain why some candidates were more likely to adopt Twitter and use it for broadcasting, conversational and mobilization purposes. Findings revealed, candidates from fringe and minority parties and less covered in traditional media adopt and use Twitter more frequently than others – thereby suggesting Web 2.0 technologies to close the existing offline political power structures. Implications of the findings are discussed.

“Wishing to be Trump” and Other Parasocial Predictors of Trust, Likeability, and Voting Intention for The Apprentice Host • Sara Hansen, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh; Shu-Yueh Lee • This study evaluates parasocial effects of Donald Trump in The Apprentice on attitudes and behaviors toward his presidential run, and effects of political leaning and charismatic leadership. Analysis of survey data from 174 young voters shows wishful identification positively influences liking, trusting, and voting for Trump. Interest positively influences likeability and voting. Being conservative and feeling Trump is a charismatic leader was influential. Impacts of celebrity identification and symbolic modeling on Trump’s popularity are discussed.

Second Screening Donald Trump: Conditional Indirect Effects on Political Participation • Shannon McGregor, University of Texas – Austin; Rachel Mourao • This paper assesses the moderating role of support for Donald Trump to the relationship between TV news and political participation through second screening. Applying a cross-lagged autoregressive panel survey design to the communication mediation model, our results suggest that the mediating role of second screening is contingent upon attitudes towards Trump. For those who do not view Trump favorably, second screening during news leads to a decrease in political participation, both online and offline.

Media frames in mainstream newspaper coverage of Indian general elections: A structural equation modeling method • Uma Shankar Pandey, Surendranath College for Women, Kolkata • “This paper provides a structural equation modeling approach to detect latent unobserved endogenous ‘accessibility-emphasis’ frames through well-defined content analysis variables in news content. This empirical method is more transparent in identifying ‘Emphasis’ frames in election news stories. It also addresses reliability concerns since coding of the news content is done for the text variables and not for frames directly. Election related news appearing on the front page and one special election page of three mainstream English newspapers in India, from the three biggest cities of India — The Times of India, Hindustan Times and The Telegraph are selected for a 53 day period from March to May, 2014. 1767 stories from the 316 pages of these newspapers are content analyzed for themes using Entman’s schemes. These observed themes are then used to define the unobserved latent frames, both generic and issue-specific — Alliances, Conflict, Strategy, Horserace, Novelty and Human Interest. The identification of generic frames — observed in extant literature in western contexts — in a non-western context points to a limited convergence of emphasis framing across diverse democracies. Standard goodness of fit indices is used to measure the acceptability of the proposed model.

A Fine-Tuner of the Q-Sense: Exposure to Political Communication and Misestimating Public Opinion on Immigration • Volha Kananovich • This study explores the role of political communication in increasing the accuracy of citizens’ estimations of public opinion on immigration. Using data from a national survey (N=1132), it shows that greater attention to a presidential campaign predicts a more accurate estimation. Results suggest that political communication can serve as a useful source of public opinion cues that may inhibit pluralistic ignorance, despite the potentially biased samples of opinion that voters are exposed to by competing sides.

Political associational ties on mobile social media: A cross-national study of Asia-Pacific region • Wan Chi Leung • This study examined 30 Asia-Pacific countries for national-level factors that can influence the penetration of mobile technology and mobile social media, and development of associational ties with political organizations on Facebook and Twitter. Findings showed that Asia-Pacific countries had nearly caught up Americas’ and Europe’s mobile phone and social media use. Indulgence in a culture was found to predict mobile social media use, which was associated with becoming a fans of Facebook pages of the government, news, political communities, and NGOs. Political participation and civil liberties predicted following Twitter accounts of news and NGOs. Implications on political use of mobile social media in Asia-Pacific region are discussed.

The Moderating Effect of Social Identity on Collective Political Action in Hong Kong: A Communication Mediation Approach of Social Networking Service Use • Yingru Ji, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Yanmengqian Zhou • As social networking service (SNS) has been found to have increasingly significant impact on political discussion and participation, this study integrated SNS into the communication mediation model, exploring the relationship between overall SNS use, hard news use of newspaper, television, news website and SNS, online and offline political discussion and participation in collective political action in post-umbrella Hong Kong. Data were gathered via a survey of 648 college students in Hong Kong. Results showed that SNS and newspaper hard news, offline and online political discussion, and education significantly predicted the participation in collective political action in Hong Kong. The results also demonstrated that social identity plays a moderating role between political discussion and participation as for those who have higher Hong Kong identity, the more discussion they are involved in the more likely they will participate in collective political action while for those who are less identified with Hong Kong society, more discussion will lead to less participation.

Network structural polarization of opinion leaders: the example of Sina Microblog • Yunxia Pang • This study investigates the composition, interaction and evolution of opinion leader groups on Chinese microblogging platform Sina Weibo, using social network analysis. By analyzing the “following” and “interactive” patterns among the opinion leaders over 1.5 years, we find that the basis of group polarization is network structural polarization. Based on the analysis of 241 selected opinion leaders, this paper finds that traditional classification for “Left” and “Right” intellectuals is still the key factor to differentiate opinion leaders on Sina Weibo, while the different careers do not amplify polarization. We find the in-group interaction density of the “Left” and the “Right” increased significantly as time went, while the “neutral” group’s internal interaction density does not change.

2016 Abstracts

Public Relations 2016 Abstracts

Open Competition
I Thought They’d Do More: Conflicting Expectations, Constraints and Communication in a University Crowdfunding Program • Abbey Levenshus, University of Tennessee; Laura Lemon, University of Tennessee; MoonHee Cho, University of Tennessee; Courtney Carpenter Childers, University of Tennessee • This study of a university crowdfunding program adds scholarly and practical depth to knowledge of enterprise crowdfunding, a new phenomenon in the higher education fundraising context. The case study identified that development representatives use crowdfunding for donor acquisition, micro-fundraising, and awareness-building. However, the new program struggles due to influences such as limited project leader commitment and lack of urgency. Internal communication and conflicting expectations, ignored in current crowdfunding research, emerged as critical to program success.

Co-branded Diplomacy: A Case Study of the British Council’s Branding of “Darwin Now” in Egypt • Amal Bakry, Coastal Carolina University • In the wake of September 11, cultural diplomacy has become a key element of public diplomacy and dialogue-based initiatives have been used to improve understandings between the Muslim world and the West (Report of the Advisory Committee on Cultural Diplomacy, 2005, p. 4; Bubalo & Fealy, 2005). In 2009, the British Council implemented the “Darwin Now” initiative in Egypt in partnership with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Although evolutionary theory is considered controversial in the Islamic world, “Darwin Now” generated mostly positive media coverage. This study utilizes a co-branding theoretical framework in order to examine how the British Council was able to avoid negative spillover effects. In this research, a single case study of the British Council Darwin Now 2009 campaign in Egypt was conducted to examine how the British Council was able to brand the Darwin Now project and to avoid negative spillover effects. The case study consisted of a content analysis of news stories, press releases, and participants’ feedback surveys. In addition, 36 in-depth interviews with informants from the partner organizations, the media, and the general public were conducted. The findings of this study conclude that it was possible to overcome negative spillover effects as a result of partnering with a high-profile national organization such as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

Fundraising on Social Media: How Message Concreteness and Framing Influence Donation Outcomes • Anli Xiao, Penn State University; Yan Huang, The Pennsylvania State University; Denise Bortree, Penn State University • This study examined the effect of concreteness and framing of a fundraising message on donation intention and behavioral intentions on social media. A 2 (Message concreteness: abstract vs. concrete) × 2 (Message framing: gain vs. loss) between-subjects experiment (N = 213) revealed that a message with concrete details about donation outcomes elicited greater intention to donate compared to a message with only a general description of the donation outcomes. Message concreteness had indirect effects on donation intention, donation amount, and intentions to act on the fundraising post through heightened cognitive elaboration, perception of message credibility, transparency, message vividness, and empathy. Framing the donation outcomes in terms of gains due to donors’ action or loss as a result of inaction, however, did not result in significant differences on donation intention, donation amount and social media intentions. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

Communicating effectively about social causes: Congruence between prosocial motives and CSR attributions • Baobao Song; Mary Ann Ferguson, University of Florida • Through the lens of applicable social psychology theories, this study gives practical direction to strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication that encourages stakeholder’s donations to corporate-sponsored social causes and creates positive stakeholder-corporation relationships. An experiment with 373 adults studied two types of individual prosocial motives (intrinsic and extrinsic) and two different messages about the corporation’s intrinsic or extrinsic motives for its CSR programs. The theory tested here predicted and found that, through prosocial sense-making, a stakeholder’s intrinsic prosocial motivation followed by CSR communication about the corporation’s intrinsic prosocial motives led to not only strengthened perceptions of self and organizational prosocial identities, but also created stakeholder-company identification (S-C Identification), plus positive affective attitudes, and behavioral intentions towards the corporation. In addition, the monetary benefit for the social cause, significantly increased by three times when stakeholder’s intrinsic personal prosocial motives matched the perception that the CSR motives were intrinsic.

Organizational Authenticity and Stakeholder Advocacy: Testing the Arthur W. Page Society’s Building Belief Model • Callie Wilkes, University of Florida; Kathleen Kelly, University of Florida • Authenticity and advocacy are concepts that hold great interest for both public relations scholars and practitioners. The study reported in this paper surveyed employees about their perceptions of their organization’s communication and authenticity, as well as the degree to which the employees advocate on behalf of their organization. Results showed a strong relationship between two-way symmetrical communication and perceived organizational authenticity, and, together, the two variables explained 53% of the variance in employee advocacy.

Beyond Structural Encroachment: An Examination of the Relationship Dynamics between Public Relations and Fundraising in Higher Education • Christopher Wilson, Brigham Young University; Mark Callister, BYU; Melissa Seipel, BYU; Meghan Graff, Brigham Young University • While previous research has examined the extent of fundraising encroachment on public relations in colleges and universities, most of the research conducted to understand the impact of encroachment on public relations, as well as the factors that underlie encroachment, has focused on for-profit organizations or charitable non-profits generally. This study examines the relationships between public relations and fundraising departments, as well as the factors that influence that relationship, through in-depth interviews with 23 senior public relations officers at public and private colleges and universities listed on the Philanthropy 400.

Credibility and deception in native advertising: Examining awareness, persuasion, and source credibility in sponsored content • Denise Bortree, Penn State University; Anli Xiao, Penn State University; Fan Yang, Pennsylvania State University; Ruoxu Wang, Penn State University; Mu Wu, Penn State University; Yan Huang, The Pennsylvania State University; Ruobing Li, Penn State University • This study examined the impact of awareness of native advertising, level of promotional content, and media credibility on the evaluation of sponsored content such as perceived credibility, perceived deception and future reading intention. Results from the 2x2x2 experiment (N = 500) found that awareness of native advertising leads to lower perceived credibility and higher perceived deception. However, native advertising with high promotional content is judged as more credible than messages with low promotional content.

Stakeholder Theory and World Consumer Rights Day as Indicator of China’s Growing Corporate Social Responsibility Commitment • Donnalyn Pompper; Chiaoning Su, Temple University; Yifang Tang • This study was designed to expand stakeholder theory building beyond capitalist-democratic system contexts as a means for assessing corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment. We focused on The People’s Republic of China and stakeholders engaged with World Consumer Rights Day by scrutinizing a full-week of 2015 coverage produced by 21 Chinese newspapers (N=685 news items) and conducting a hermeneutic phenomenological theme analysis. In addition to identifying ways stakeholder groups were represented among the World Consumer Rights Day reportage, findings suggested three emergent themes providing clues as to how CSR may be evolving in China: 1) Empowering consumers to pressure business into being responsible, 2) Making government policy to support consumers, and 3) Encouraging a consumer-corporation relationship philosophy. China may be moving away from a primarily philanthropic approach to CSR since supporting consumer-stakeholders is one means by which this is accomplished.

Public Relations Channel “Repertoires”: Exploring Patterns of Channel Use in Practice • Erich Sommerfeldt, University of Maryland; Aimei Yang, University of Southern California; Maureen Taylor, University of Tennessee, Knoxville • There are more communication channels available to public relations practitioners today than ever before. While practitioners may use any number of channels to accomplish public relations objectives, public relations research has tended to focus on the use of single communication channel in isolation from other available channels. This study asked senior public relations practitioners in the United States, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia (N = 504) how they employ combinations of media channels or “channel repertoires” to reach their publics. Exploratory analyses revealed four distinct patterns or repertoires of channels. Results of regression analyses revealed that many public relations functions predict the use of certain channel repertoires, and which functions of public relations use more channels than others. The findings have implications for public relations theory building, practice, and pedagogy on media planning and engagement with publics.

Predictors of Members’ Supportive Behaviors Towards Nonprofit Membership Associations • Eyun-Jung Ki, The University of Alabama; MoonHee Cho, University of Tennessee • This study investigated determinants of members’ supportive behavioral intentions—to donate and to recommend the membership to others in the context of professional membership associations. Using empirically collected data from more than 5,000 members across six professional membership associations, this study found professional benefits, personal benefits, past donation experience, gender and age for significant factors on the two intentions. However, lengths in the field and solicitation were not significant factors for the members’ supportive future behaviors.

Stewardship and Credibility Strategies in Political Websites • Geah Pressgrove, WVU; Carolyn Kim, Biola University • In today’s digital environment, online stakeholders are more important than ever for political candidates. This study uses a quantitative content analysis of the website home pages of all presidential, senate and congressional candidates in the 2016 election in order to identify stewardship and credibility strategies used. Findings provide valuable insight into the future of online political communication.

Generation 3: Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility in the Age of the Integrated Corporate Citizen • Heidi Hatfield Edwards, Florida Institute of Technology • Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is multi-disciplinary. The literature contains a variety of approaches to and definitions of CSR. CSR communication scholarship has extended beyond the traditional transmission conceptualization of communication to explore CSR through a “communication constitutes organizations” (CCO) lens. This theoretical shift coupled with the increasing practice of strategically planned CSR encourages scholars and practitioners to rethink the role of CSR as an integral part of the organizational narrative. This construction fits with the concept of the corporate global citizen in which a corporation’s activities as a whole embody CSR. This paper examines award-winning corporate/cause partnerships over a ten year period to determine if and how industry standards and expectations of CSR have shifted. Applying the concept of generational CSR, CECP Directors’ Award recipients from 2004 to 2014 are analyzed to better understand if and how communication about such partnerships have evolved to third-generation, integrated CSR. Findings support a trending shift toward communicating more integrated partnerships. Implications for public relations practitioners who must develop corporate narratives and scholars negotiating the interdisciplinary conceptualizations are discussed.

Defining Publics Through CSR Communication: Testing an Integrated Theoretical Model for Examining the Impact of Companies’ Environmental Responsibility Messaging Strategies • Holly Ott, University of South Carolina • This study aims to apply the situational theory of publics and framing theory to corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication research. Specifically, the purpose of the study is to apply and test the theories in this realm to determine how different environmental issues and the manner in which information about each issue impacts publics’ behaviors and, ultimately, their perceptions of a Fortune 500 company and of a given environmental issue. Using a 3 (message frame: diagnostic, prognostic, or motivational) x 2 (environmental issue: general vs. specific) plus control between subjects experimental design, the study examines the attitudes, cognitions, and behavioral intentions different publics may form about different environmental responsibility issues. Furthermore, the study aims to examine how different types of message frames (diagnostic, prognostic, or motivational) and topics may impact how a company can move a public toward information seeking behaviors. Structural equation modeling was used to examine significant paths between variables, thus creating a proposed new theoretical model that can be applied to CSR literature. The present study adds to existing CSR communication research by applying a new theory to CSR literature and offering an integrated model that can assist companies with addressing questions that could enable organizations to enhance their CSR communication efforts.

Crafting Employee Trust: From Authenticity, Transparency to Engagement • Hua Jiang, Syracuse University; Yi Luo, Montclair State University • Based on a random sample of employees (n=391) working across different industry sectors in the US, we proposed and tested a model that investigated how authentic leadership, transparent organizational communication, and employee engagement, as three influential organizational factors, were linked to employee trust. We also examined the interrelationships among these key factors closely associated with long-term business success and organizational development. Results of the study supported our conceptual model, except for the direct effect of authentic leadership upon employee engagement. Theoretical contributions and managerial ramifications of the study were discussed.

The Evidence of Expectancy Violation Induced by Inconsistent CSR Information • Hyejoon Rim, University of Minnesota; Young Eun Park, Indiana University • Applying expectancy violation theory, the study examines how a company’s commitment to CSR interacts with the timing of receiving public relations messages (i.e., presentation order), and how they affect the public’s evaluation of the CSR campaign. The results reveal that presentation order influences the public’s attitudes and the WOM intentions when a company showed a low commitment, but the order effects disappeared when a company perceived to be dedicated to the CSR campaign. The public’s attribution to altruism, however, can differ by the presentation order even though the company showed high commitment. The result suggests potential backfire affects that associated with inconsistent CSR information, especially when public expectations are negatively violated. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Empowering Consumers Through Participatory CSR Programs: The Effect of Participatory CSR on Company Admiration and WOM Communications • Hyojung Park, Louisiana State University; Soo-Yeon Kim, Sogang University • This study conceptualized participatory corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a consumer empowerment strategy, which allows for public participation in CSR development and implementation. To test positive effects from participatory CSR, a 2 (type of CSR program) × 4 (tone of consumer comments) experiment was conducted in a social media context. The participatory CSR program led participants to have higher levels of perceived self-efficacy and social worth, and these subsequently resulted in stronger intentions to speak positively about the company’s CSR efforts.

Effects of Organization Sustainability Communication: The Influence of Interactivity, Message Framing, and Type of Medium • Jeyoung Oh; Eyun-Jung Ki, The University of Alabama • To understand how interactivity, message framing, and type of medium affects public perceptions and reactions to an organization in organization sustainability communication, this study conducted a 2 (interactivity: high vs. low) x 2 (message framing: gain-focused vs. loss-focused) x 2 (medium type: Facebook vs. organizational blog) experimental survey (N = 394). Results show that the level of interactivity and type of message framing appears significantly influences social presence of the message and public positive word-of-mouth intention. Public intention to generate positive word-of-mouth was highest when the message had high interactivity with gain-focused message conveyed in the organization’s Facebook page.

Holy Guacamole! A social network and framing analysis of the Chipotle E. coli contamination issue • John Brummette, Radford University; Hilary Fussell Sisco, Quinnipiac University • Active social media users can develop narratives and frames that, regardless of their accuracy, influence the trajectory of an issue or crisis. As a result, public relations practitioners must continually scan and monitor the dialogue that occurs on social media. Through the use of an agenda-setting and social network analysis framework, this study analyzed the Twitter network and frames that formed around the Chipotle E. coli issue.

Examining the Intersection of Strategic Communications Planning and Social Media Strategy: A Multi-Method Approach • Kenneth Plowman, Brigham Young University; Christopher Wilson, Brigham Young University • While public relations industry leaders have proposed a strategic approach to social media that follows traditional public relations process models, industry research has found that social media practices do not necessarily incorporate these strategic planning principles. Meanwhile, scholarly research on the organizational use of social media has largely focused on message- and channel-level strategy. The purpose of this study is to examine the integration of strategic communication planning with current organizational social media practice at the program level through in-depth interviews and a national survey of public relations practitioners.

Understanding Peer Communication about Companies on Social Media: Evidence from China and the United States • Linjuan Rita Men; Sid Muralidharan • This study proposed and tested a social media peer communication model that links tie strength, social media dependency, and public–organization social media engagement to the peer communication process and organization–public relationship outcomes. Results of a cross-cultural survey of 328 American and 304 Chinese social media users showed that tie strength and public–organization social media engagement are positive predictors of peer communication about companies on social media that leads to quality organization–public relationship outcomes.

Volkswagen mea culpa: Messages, media coverage, and audience responses to the 2015 emission scandal • Melody Fisher; Leslie Rodriguez Rasmussen; Riva Brown, University of Central Arkansas Department of Communication • The body of crisis communication research primarily focuses on one aspect of the communication process: internal and external factors surrounding a company’s response, the discourse of company literature, or audience reception. This study examines the entire communication process of a corporation’s response to crisis — the sender, message, and receiver. Specifically, this study analyzes Volkswagen’s crisis communication strategies and tactics while focusing on the interplay of its messages, media coverage, and audience response.

Facebook, Instagram, and Message Frames • Michel Haigh, Penn State; Kristen Laubscher • This study conducted a 2 (social media messages posted on Facebook and Instagram) by 3 frames – corporate social responsibility, corporate ability, and hybrid) experiment with stakeholders (N = 519). Results indicate Instagram messages significantly increased stakeholders’ purchase intent compared to Facebook messages. In addition, corporate social responsibility frames had a positive influence on stakeholders’ perceptions of the organization’s corporate social responsibility and organization-public relationship.

The Roles of Distrust and Media Use on Risk-Associated Affects, Efficacy, and Activism: The 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Outbreak Crisis in South Korea • MInjeong Kang, The Media School, Indiana University; Jangyul Kim, Colorado State University; Heewon Cha, Division of Communication & Media, Ewha Womans University • The scale of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreaks has been global. The 2015 South Korean MERS case is unique in that public distrust of the government and inaccurate, unreliable news media coverage of the outbreak unprecedentedly elevated and amplified public risk perceptions. The current study addressed how ineffective government communication, distrust, media use, and negative emotions can lead to public activism intentions and activism behaviors against the government. An online survey with 400 representative samples of South Korean citizens was conducted to assess these links. The study’s findings demonstrated that poor dialogic communication by the government during the crisis exerted a strong effect on public distrust toward the government and public distrust toward the government subsequently led to the arousal of negative emotions (anger and anxiety) among the public. Individuals’ media frame perceptions were also found to influence the arousal of anger and anxiety, mediated by their media uses for information about the crisis. The findings of the study expanded Turner’s Anger Activism Model by identifying critical factors affecting the levels of negative emotions during the MERS crisis, which ultimately led to an increase in activism intentions and behaviors among the public.

Relational Conciliation Effects on Hot-Issue Publics in a Crisis: • Myoung-Gi Chon; Jeong-Nam Kim • The purpose of this study is to explore models for monitoring and predicting active publics and their communicative action regarding organization reputation in a crisis. This study used panel data with 347 participants using social media, conducting the survey twice to track changing publics and evaluate the effectiveness of organizational efforts to cool down publics on the given issue. This study presents two conceptual models based on the Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS) and the theory of Organization-Public Relationships (OPR) to explain changing active publics and illuminate how communicative behaviors change over the course of time in an organizational crisis.

Cyber-security breach and crisis response: An analysis of organizations’ official statements in the U.S. and South Korea • Nahyun Kim; Suman Lee, Iowa State University • The purpose of this study is to investigate characteristics of crisis responses (responsibility admittance, sympathetic expression, compensation, reassurance, spokesperson, victimization, unavoidability) appearing in official statements when a cyber-security breach threatens organizational reputation. It analyzed 108 official statements issued by U.S. and South Korean organizations. The study found that (1) organizations are hesitant to actively admit responsibility, highly express sympathy, and clearly mention compensation. Instead, they vigorously promise that a data breach will not happen again (reassurance); (2) employees are frequent perpetrators of cyber-breaches, as are outside hackers, and (3) individual spokespeople such as CEOs, presidents, and other managers (PR, HR, and IT) are more visible in the U.S. In contrast, in the statements issued by the Korean organizations, collectively referred group identities such as all members of organization and name of organization are more visible.

The State of Peer Review in the Public Relations Division: A Survey • Pat Curtin; John Russial, University of Oregon; Alec Tefertiller, University of Oregon • This study reports the findings from a survey of AEJMC conference paper reviewers, with particular emphasis paid to the 90 respondents who have reviewed for the Public Relations Division, to determine how they characterize the state of peer review both as reviewers themselves and as recipients of reviews. Significant differences exist between how they approach reviewing conference papers versus journal submissions, and how satisfied PRD reviewers are with the process compared to other AEJMC reviewers.

How Organizations Built and Framed the National News Media Agenda for Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy • Paula Weissman, American University • This content analysis explored how health and medical organizations influenced national news media coverage about postmenopausal hormone therapy from 1995 to 2011. A positive, significant relationship was found between the quantity of press releases (N=675) and news stories (N=429) over time (r = .55, p<.001). Findings supported the transference of attribute frames (benefits and risks) from the PR to the news agenda. Press releases and news stories communicate different benefits and risks than FDA-regulated channels.

Communicating Social Responsibility Efforts: A Success Strategy for Nonprofits or a Shift from Stakeholders’ Priorities? • Richard D. Waters, University of San Francisco; Holly Ott, University of South Carolina • Through a 2×5 experiment that tested the message believability and source credibility of corporate social responsibility (CSR) messaging by nonprofit organizations, this study sought to determine whether CSR messaging that is unrelated to a nonprofit organization’s mission and area of programmatic service could boost its reputation. Much of the CSR literature has documented benefits of CSR communication for corporations, but recent research has shown that nonprofit leaders are skeptical of CSR messaging because of its potential to make the nonprofit appear that it is focusing on aspects other than its mission. The results of this study highlight that CSR messaging does provide a reputational boost to the nonprofit, but the organization should be cautious as to how they incorporate the CSR messaging into their communication efforts.

The Invisible Moderators: Homophily Thesis and Agenda-Building Role of State-Owned media in the 2014 Hong Kong Protest • Tianduo Zhang, University of Florida; Ji Young Kim; Tiffany Schweickart, University of Florida; Barbara Myslik, University of Florida; Liudmila Khalitova, University of Florida; Jordan Neil; Craig Carroll, New York University; Guy Golan, Syracuse University; spiro kiousis • This study aims to advance theoretical and practical knowledge of political public relations and mediated public diplomacy through analyzing the agenda-building effects of state-own media in 2014 Hong Kong Protest, and testing whether social system homophily predicts the strength such agenda-building effects. Our results present strong correlations between Chinese state-own media agenda and foreign media agenda of 11 countries across. The democratic, cultural, and press freedom proximity does not impact state-own media’s agenda-building effect.

Buffer or Backfire: How Pre-Crisis Associations and Attitude Certainty Impact Consumer Crisis Responses • Weiting Tao, University of Miami • This experiment examines how consumers with positive associations in corporate ability versus social responsibility respond to associated-based crises differently. It also tests how consumers further adjust their responses based on the perceived certainty in their pre-crisis company attitudes. Results reveal that attitude certainty determines when positive pre-crisis associations buffer a company against crises or backfire. Additionally, the buffering and backfiring effects vary in magnitude dependent on the relevance of the crisis to these associations.

Understanding Publics’ Post-Crisis Social Media Engagement • Xiaochen Zhang, Kansas State University; Jonathan Borden, Syracuse University • Through an online survey, this study examines publics’ post-crisis social media engagement behavioral intentions including information seeking, support seeking, as well as negative and positive word-of-mouth in Chipotle’s E. coli crisis. Results indicate that uncertainty avoidance and relational trust may affect perceived severity, perceived susceptibility (i.e., likelihood of being affected by the crisis threat), and negative emotions (i.e., anger, contempt, disgust and fear), which lead to subsequent social media communication behavioral intentions.

Looking for Motivational Routes for Employee-Generated Innovation: The Effect of Individual, Managerial, and Compensatory System Factors on Employees’ Work Creativity and Scouting • Yeunjae Lee; Alessandra Mazzei; Alessandro Lovari; Jeong-Nam Kim • The purpose of this study is to (1) develop an integrated model of employees’ scouting behavior, (2) investigate how individual, managerial, and compensatory system factors affect employee empowerment and creativity, and (3) examine how employee empowerment and creative process engagement influence on communicative action, scouting behavior. A web-based survey of 306 current employees who are working full-time in a semi-conductor company in Italy explored the antecedents of a newly introduced employees’ communicative behavior, scouting. It refers to employees’ voluntary communication efforts to bring relevant information to the organization. Results suggest that the employees’ empowerment and creative work engagement are positively related to their scouting behavior. Moreover, we examined how employees’ intrinsic motivation, leader’s empowering leadership, and compensatory system factors affect employees’ empowerment and work creativity. Theoretical and practical implications for future research are discussed.

Student
Bridging the Gap: Testing the Mediating Effects of Relationship Quality and Type in the CSR Communication Process • Alan Abitbol, Texas Tech University • Utilizing the stakeholder and relationship management theories as framework, this study examined the mediating effects of perceived relationship quality and type on the CSR communication process. The results of an online survey of consumers (N = 847) showed that relationship quality and communal relationships mediated the relationship between exposure to CSR messages and attitude. This suggests the impact of a company’s CSR communication can be more effective on positive outcomes if they prioritize company-stakeholder relationships.

Motivation with Misinformation: Conceptualizing Lacuna Individuals and Publics as Knowledge Deficient, Vaccine-Negative Issue-Specific Activists • Arunima Krishna • This study sought to propose and test a new sub-type of individual activism – lacuna individuals. Lacuna individuals are those who hold high levels of negative attitudes about an issue, have deficient issue-specific knowledge, and yet are highly motivated in their information behaviors about the issue. The evaluation and acceptance of scientifically non-legitimate data, referred to as knowledge deficiency, and negative attitudes about the respective issues, form the focal points of the conceptualization of lacuna individuals. In this study, the context vaccine negativity in the US was investigated to identify lacuna individuals about vaccine safety. Results revealed that knowledge deficient, vaccine-negative individuals displayed higher levels of issue-specific perceptions, motivations, and communication behaviors about vaccines as a social issue than did non-knowledge deficient, non-vaccine negative individuals. Results, therefore, support the conceptualization of lacuna individuals, and publics, as knowledge deficient activists holding high levels of negative attitudes, and contribute to public relations scholarship by bringing knowledge and attitudes in conversation with issue-specific activism.

Testing the Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) Model as a Predictive Tool for the NFL’s Concussion Crisis • Danielle Myers, THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM; Douglas Wilbur, The University of Missouri School of Journalism • This study repurposes the integrated crisis-mapping (ICM) model as a public relations (PR) tool for practitioners to choose an optimal response message frame in anticipation of an emotional reaction from publics. The context used for this study National Football League’s (NFL) issue of player concussions, which is a significant PR threat. Quadrants two and four of the model were tested using two hypothetical crisis response frames: accident and an equipment failure. A web-based experiment was conducted using a 2 (response condition) x 2 (involvement: high vs. low) x 2 (exposure to the NFL concussion issue) between subjects factorial design. Findings suggest that the message frames are not significant predictors of the emotions posited by the ICM model. Feelings of schadenfreude and sympathy were present; participants were more sympathetic toward NFL players than to the NFL. The accident condition was a predictor of perceived high organizational engagement, increased message credibility, and more positive perceptions of corporate reputation in comparison to the equipment failure condition. Those indicating higher involvement toward the NFL also indicated more favorable perceptions of corporate reputation, while those who were more exposed to the NFL concussion issue prior to the study indicated less favorable perceptions of corporate reputation.

The NFL and Its Concussion Crisis: Adapting the Contingency Theory to Examine Shifts in Publics’ Stances • Douglas Wilbur, The University of Missouri School of Journalism; Danielle Myers, University of Missouri • The National Football League is immersed in a serious conflict involving a disease called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). The conflict appears to have manifested into a crisis with the release of Sony Motion Picture’s film Concussion, which is highly critical of the league. The movie has the potential to influence various publics in a manner that is harmful to the league. This study uses the contingency theory of conflict management, specifically stance adoption along the contingency continuum, as the theoretical framework. Past studies have used the contingency continuum to evaluate the shifting stances of organizations during crisis communication. However, the purpose of this study is to determine if various unorganized publics can develop stances in the same manner in which an organization may adopt a stance. A quantitative content analysis of tweets using the hashtag “#ConcussionMovie” or the words “NFL” and “concussion within the same tweet was used to gather data. Non-parametric tests revealed statistically significant findings that indicate most publics have adopted a positive advocative stance towards the movie. The findings also indicate that four of the six publics adopted an advocacy stance against the league, while two indicate a mildly accommodative stance. This study provides some evidence that contingency theory can be expanded to include not only the organization involved in the crisis, but also unorganized publics, although further research is required. The study also has implications for public relations practitioners who must account for the multitude of reactions of various publics during a crisis situation.

Public relations education in an emerging democracy: The case of Ghana • Esi Thompson, University of Oregon • A lot of studies have paid attention to public relations education in different countries. But, there is a dearth of studies on public relations education in emerging democracies in Africa. This is in spite of calls by scholars (e.g., Sriramesh 2002) for evidence of non US experiences and perspectives to enrich the profession. The current study responds to this call by investigating public relations education in Ghana. Through interviews, this study unearths how public relations lecturers in Ghana are preparing students for the industry in an emerging democracy. The findings show that lecturers perceive a reluctance on the part of professionals to accept students for internships and jobs. Furthermore, although there are curriculum inconsistencies across the diploma, bachelors and masters level, under resourced lecturers find ways to appropriate and provide the students with skills needed for industry.

Do local news side with a local organization? The impact of boosterism and information subsidies on local and national news about the crisis of Ray Rice and the Baltimore Ravens • Eunyoung Kim, University of Alabama • The study examines how local news tends to support local organizations differently from national news. Three reasons of differentiation between local and national news were suggested: organizations’ boost to the city’s economic growth, journalists’ personal/professional values, and information subsidy of local news from local organizations. Content analyses on news about the Ravens’ crisis show positive relationships between dependency on organizational sources and supportive coverage on local news. Theoretical and practical implications are presented in conclusion.

Does Public Segmentation Matter in Crisis Communication? The Interplay between Public Segmentation and Crisis Response Strategies • Jing (Taylor) Wen, University of Florida; Jo-Yun Queenie Li; Baobao Song • The Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) provides guidelines for understanding the effectiveness of different crisis response strategies. The current study showcases the importance of public segmentation in the SCCT model. A 3 (crisis response strategy: deny, diminish, rebuild) × 4 (public segment: advocate, dormant, adversarial, apathetic) factorial experiment was conducted. The findings suggest that advocate public expressed more positive evaluation about the company when exposed to rebuild and deny strategies. Both dormant and adversarial stakeholders reported positive responses on rebuild and diminish strategies. However, no difference was found among apathetic public. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.

Relationship cultivation strategies on global art museums’ Facebook fan pages • Joongsuk Lee, University of Alabama; Woojin Kim, University of Texas • This study examined types and indicators of relationship cultivation strategies on Facebook fan pages of 168 global art museums by using a content analysis. Findings showed that the networking strategy was most often used, followed by access, positivity, openness, assurance, and sharing of tasks. Other findings reported that nearly half of all 18 indicators were less used than one-half of the total sample. The indicators less used than half are links to other online entertainment media, histories, mission statements, exhibitions, responses to user reviews, membership fees, e-stores, and donations. Implications of the results are discussed.

Message Framing Effects on Increasing Donation for Nonprofit Organizations • Jung Won Chun, University of Florida • Message framing has been considered as an important theoretical framework to understand publics’ perception of nonprofit organizations’ charitable giving campaigns and their subsequent behavior intentions. By adopting appropriate message strategies, particularly framing, charitable giving campaigns can overcome apathy toward a group of unidentified victims and increase donors’ participation. The current study explored the effects of message framing focusing on regulatory fit (promotion vs. prevention), and donation target (episodic vs. thematic) by employing a 2 × 2 experimental design. The results revealed that people who read a promotion-focused message were more willing to donate than those who read a prevention-focused message when the message targeted several unidentified victims. A moderated mediation effect of feeling of hope showed the underlying mechanism to explain the effects of message framing.

The 2015 China Cruise Ship Disaster: An Extended Analysis of Image Restoration Strategies • Lijie Zhou, The University of Southern Mississippi • This mixed-analysis study examined the Chinese government’s crisis communication efforts across three stages of 2015 China cruise ship disaster. Though a quantitative analysis, this study compared the major image restoration strategies used at each stage. Beyond statistical comparisons, though a textual analysis, the study discussed the culture influence on usage of image restoration strategy and what cultural dimensions should be considered when designing crisis communication strategies so as to be culturally sensitive and relevant.

Seeing a Crisis through Colored Glasses: Exploring Partisan Media and Attribution of Crisis Responsibility on Government Trust in a National Crisis • Myoung-Gi Chon; Elisabeth Fondren, Louisiana State University • The goal of this study is to explore how partisan media influence publics’ attribution of crisis responsibility and government trust in a national crisis. Using a real disaster, the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster of South Korea, this study examined that how partisan media influence attribution of crisis responsibility to government. Further, attribution of crisis responsibility as a mediator was tested in the study. The results revealed that publics accessing liberal media are more likely to attribute crisis responsibility to the government; whereas publics reading conservative media are less likely to attribute crisis responsibility to the government. However, attribution of crisis responsibility appeared to mediate the effect of partisan media on government trust in a crisis.

Please Share Your Voice: Examining the Effect of Two-way Communication Approach in Crisis Response Messages • Shupei Yuan, Michigan State University; Tsuyoshi Oshita, Michigan State University • The current study employed an experiment (N=250) to investigate the effects of two-way communication approach in crisis communication on individual’s attitude toward the crisis response message and the company. We also considered perceived fairness as the mediator to explain the effect of two-way communication. The results showed two-way communication approach has positive influence on participants’ attitude, which suggest that excellence theory is still valid in the context of crisis communication. Moreover, as predicted, individual’s perceived fairness from the organization explains why two-way communication works. The findings provided both scholarly and practical implications for crisis communication.

Expanding the Integrated Crisis Mapping Model: Publics’ Emotions, Coping, and Organizational Engagement Following the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing • Sylvia Guo • Guided by the Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) model and coping literature, this study qualitatively examined online publics’ crisis emotions, especially positive ones, coping methods, and a focal organization’s (Boston Athletic Association, or BAA) engagement as discursively enacted on the Boston Marathon Facebook (BMF) page during one month following the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Results from qualitative content analysis showed that positive public emotions existed and stemmed from online publics’ identity, coping, and BAA’s engagement. Publics engaged in cognitive, emotional, action-based, and discursive coping; they formed a rhetorical digital community where a renewal discourse fostered positive emotions, aided coping, and guided BAA’s engagement. By detailing the connections among publics’ positive emotions, coping, BAA’s engagement, and community discourse, this study offers suggestions to (1) refine and expand the ICM model, and (2) develop a community-based, organization-decentered renewal discourse, which reflects the social media landscape and can be integrated in the ICM model.

Fortune 100 Companies’ Overall Social Media Presence and Dialogic Engagement at Facebook • Tae Ho Lee • Based on the dialogic theory, this content analysis explored the overall usage of social media platforms by Fortune 100 companies, and the actual dynamics of communication on Facebook, by investigating 261 profiles found on various social media platforms, together with 400 posts and 268 responses on Facebook. The findings suggested the widespread adoption of diverse platforms, a meaningful presence of special purpose accounts, and the lack of realization of dialogic potential. Practical implications are discussed.

The Voice of the Public: Twitter’s Role in Crisis Communication • Terri Manley, Texas Tech University; Mary Norman, Texas Tech University • On August 18, 2015, 37 million private Ashley Madison accounts were leaked onto the dark web. Using a content analysis to analyze the Twitter comments to understand the reactions, focus of interest, and emotional elements regarding the hack and the company, the results indicated that the public’s attention focused more on who was on the website, and what exactly the website stood for versus the negligence of the company’s security and business practices.

Mismatch vs. Magnitude: Defining and Testing Overresponse and Overreaction • Tyler G Page, University of Maryland • Situational Crisis Communication Theory suggests reputation repair strategies for organizations facing crises, however, it does not explain the impact of magnitude of response or what constitutes an overreaction. This study defines two different types of overreaction: overreaction and overresponse. It experimentally tests both with a sample of 487 participants and finds that magnitude of response can impact crisis outcomes. Implications for theory and practitioners are discussed.

Can We Trust Government Again? An Experimental Test of Government Reputation Repair and Kategoria • Tyler G Page, University of Maryland • This study is the first to compare how effective Situational Crisis Communication Theory response strategies are in repairing the reputation of governments compared to businesses. Using an experiment of 232 participants, it shows that a government in crisis will experience better outcomes than a business. This research also compares strategies within the denial posture for effectiveness and is the first to examine kategoria and its effects. Implications for theory and practitioners are discussed.

Crowdsourcing Corporate Social Responsibility • Young Eun Park, Indiana University • A growing number of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices are utilizing online consumer participation (i.e., crowdsourcing). As opposed to traditional CSR communication, the crowdsourcing approach invites the public to generate and decide on companies’ CSR initiatives. The current research examined the effects of crowdsourcing in the context of CSR through experiments using an actual company (Starbucks). A pretest and posttest between subject experiments with three conditions (no crowdsourcing CSR, one-way crowdsourcing CSR, and two-way crowdsourcing CSR) were performed among 108 participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk. The results indicate that one-way crowdsourcing was significantly higher than a no-crowdsourcing condition in terms of affective commitment. Also, this study examined crowdsourcing in relation to negative corporate issues covered in the media. The findings indicate that presenting CSR regardless of its format (e.g., CSR report, one-way, or two-way crowdsourcing) generated a positive attitude while crisis significantly decreased attitude.

Constructing Corporate Responsibility and Relationships: Analyzing CEO Letters in Annual Reports by ExxonMobil and Chevron • Zifei (Fay) Chen, University of Miami • Through a qualitative content analysis of CEO letters in ExxonMobil and Chevron’s annual reports from 2005 to 2014, this study explored how corporate responsibility and stakeholder relationships were constructed in the corporate communication process for the two U.S. oil companies. Findings showed financial and economic dominated construction of responsibility and hierarchized stakeholder relationships, revealing the discrepancies between the companies’ social reporting and normative standards of responsible conduct. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Teaching
The State of Social Media Curriculum: Exploring Professional Expectations of Pedagogy and Practices to Equip the Next Generation of Professionals • Carolyn Kim, Biola University; Karen Freberg, University of Louisville • With the rise of social media, university programs are searching for effective ways to prepare students to use social media (Fratti, 2013). This challenge is mirrored by professionals who are also seeking to better equip themselves (Brown, 2014). This study explored key elements that should be included in social media education through interviews with over 20 social media industry leaders. Findings provided extensive guidance for faculty who teach social media courses.

I Love Tweeting in Class, But … A Mixed-Method Study of Student Perceptions of the Impact of Twitter in Large Lecture Classes • Jenny Tatone; Tiffany Gallicano, University of Oregon; Alec Tefertiller, University of Oregon • In this study, we explored how students think the use of Twitter as a pedagogical tool in the large lecture classroom affects their sense of class community (if it has any impact). We also explored students’ opinions about the ways (if any) that Twitter affects their learning experience in a large lecture classroom. We then compared survey data between two classes to identify differences resulting from Twitter use.

Teaching Media Relationships: What’s in the Textbooks? • Justin Pettigrew, Kennesaw State University; Kristen Heflin, Kennesaw State University • Media relations is still an extremely important part of a public relation’s students education. This study examined 6 introductory texts and 6 PR writing texts from a media relations standpoint. The study found that while textbooks provide basic information for reaching the media through tactical means, few go beyond that to discuss initiating and maintain long-lasting relationships with media professionals that are necessary for long-term success in navigating the changing nature of both fields.

A Dam(n) Failure: Exploring Interdisciplinary, Cross-Course Group Projects on STEM-Translation in Crisis Communication • Laura Willis, Quinnipiac University • This exploratory, quasi-experimental study examines whether incorporating an interdisciplinary, cross-course aspect to a group project on the Teton Dam failure in a crisis communication management course would impact public relations students’ ability to translate technical aspects of the crisis for media and public audiences. Results suggest the inclusion of an engineering student as a technical ‘expert’ negatively impacted project grades and increased student frustration. Possible improvements and lessons for future interdisciplinary, cross-course projects are presented.

Empowering the Future Practitioner: Postmodernism in the Undergraduate Public Relations Classroom • Stephanie Madden, University of Maryland; Katie Brown, University of Maryland; Sifan Xu, University of Maryland • Although academics have worked to bring postmodernism approaches into public relations scholarship, there has been little to no attempt to date to integrate postmodern principles into the undergraduate public relations classroom. This study explored how public relations educators can teach postmodern concepts to undergraduate students, as well as the main lessons learned about public relations from a postmodern lens by students. Results of this study indicated students were forced to questions their underlying assumptions about organizational structures for the first time and gained a deeper appreciation for the complexity of public relations.

2016 Abstracts