Entertainment Studies Interest Group

2022 Abstracts

Research Paper • Faculty • Audrey Halverson, Brigham Young University; Kris Boyle, Brigham Young University; Kevin John, Brigham Young University • Battle Royale and Addictive Gaming: The Mediating Role of Player Motivations • Previous research on the prevalence of addictive behaviors among video game players has been varied; however, there are emerging concerns that battle royale games may be particularly conducive to addiction. This study utilizes a survey sample of 536 battle royale players to investigate addiction outcomes for battle royale players and the mediating role of various player motivations.

Research Paper • Student • Seung Woo Chae; Sung Hyun Lee • Sharing Emotion while Spectating Video Game Play • This paper examines how the COVID-19 pandemic associates with Twitch users’ emotion, using natural language processing (NLP). Two comparable sets of text data were collected from Twitch internet relay chats (IRCs): one after the outbreak of the pandemic and another one before that. Positive emotion, negative emotion, and attitude to social interaction were tested by comparing the two text sets via a dictionary-based NLP program. Particularly regarding negative emotion, three negative emotions anger, anxiety, and sadness were measured given the nature of the pandemic. The results show that users’ anger and anxiety significantly increased after the outbreak of the pandemic, while changes in sadness and positive emotion were not statically significant. In terms of attitude to social interaction, users used significantly fewer “social” words after the outbreak of the pandemic than before. These findings were interpreted considering the nature of Twitch as a unique live mixed media platform, and how the COVID-19 pandemic is different from previous crisis events was discussed based on prior literature.

Research Paper • Student • Meredith Collins; Allison Lazard; Ashley Hedrick; Tushar Varma • It’s Nothing Like Cancer: Young Adults with Cancer Reflect on Memorable Entertainment Media • “Entertainment media simulates social experiences, facilitates coping, and develops resiliency in young adults, ages 18 – 39. These outcomes could be beneficial for young adults with cancer, who typically report lacking social support and suboptimal psychological outcomes during and after treatment. Guided by the memorable messages framework, we investigated which entertainment media young adults with cancer found memorable and why. We conducted 25 semi-structured, online interviews. Participants were asked to identify any media title that was memorable or meaningful during their cancer experience; they were also asked to explain whether the title had a positive or negative meaning to them, as well as why they felt that way. Participants were mostly female (79.2%) and White (80%), with a breast cancer diagnosis (45.8%). Media portrayals were helpful if they prompted exploration of emotions and the creation of meaning around the cancer experience, or if they took participants’ minds off cancer. Most entertainment media focused only on death from cancer. Our participants called for more nuanced portrayals that better reflected their lived reality. Our results revealed media are used as social surrogates, and to find affirmation and validation. On the other hand, our participants felt that entertainment media focused too heavily on death. This may contribute to internalized stigma and decrease psychological functioning, or affect the perceptions of cancer-free peers. Our participants called for more nuanced portrayals that depicted the realities of living with cancer. Future research should further probe the effects of entertainment media on psychological outcomes for young adults with cancer.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Serena Daalmans, Radboud University, Behavioural Science Institute; Mariska Kleemans; Cedra van Erp, Radboud University Nijmegen, Communication Science; Addy Weijers • All the Reasons Why: Exploring the Relationship between Morally Controversial Content in 13 Reasons Why and Viewers’ Moral Rumination • Via in-depth interviews with young adults (N = 45), we sought to gain deeper insights into the experiences of and reflective thoughts (i.e. moral rumination) about controversial media content. In order to map how moral rumination is incited in viewers, we chose a recent example of controversial television, namely 13 Reasons Why. The results will provide a comprehensive account of moral rumination as a concept, and will thereby further field of positive media psychology.

Research Paper • Student • Stefanie East • A Little Bit Alexis: From Self-Absorbed Socialite to Self-Made Career Woman • The cultural impact of Schitt’s Creek and its eclectic mix of characters has resonated with viewers across the world, partly because of its message of love and acceptance, but also because of the strong female characters. This essay offers an analysis of one the most iconic characters from the show, Alexis Rose. Using Kenneth Burke’s method of pentadic criticism, it will examine the breaking of a stereotype and impact of character development on an audience.

Research Paper • Faculty • Erika Engstrom; Ralph Beliveau, University of Oklahoma • Masculinity’s Representative Anecdote in the MCU: Resistance and Revision in “Avengers: Endgame” • This paper interrogates the 2019 film “Avengers: Endgame” using the lens of hegemonic masculinity. By examining the behaviors and storylines of its central male superheroes, four main themes that challenge hegemonic masculinity were identified: (1) seeking help from and giving help to others, (2) emotional expressiveness, (3) expressions of fear and vulnerability, and (4) emphasis on father-child relationships. These merge to tell an overarching “story”—the representative anecdote—of a progressive and positive masculinity, one that affirms that super-heroic men are not afraid to show vulnerability, uncertainty, and affection. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the largest entertainment franchises in media history, and the positive masculinity presented in this film demonstrates a slow but progressive evolution of gender portrayals that hold the potential for positive representations that reflect the many ways manhood is performed in reality.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Chris Etheridge, University of Kansas; Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas; Remington Miller, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; Abigail Carlson, University of Arkansas at Little Rock • From “hunky beefcakes” to “beautiful” Homecoming queens: Perpetrators and victims in true crime podcasts • Because this podcasting platform is still relatively new, few studies have considered how perpetrators of crime and victims of crime have been portrayed. Through a content analysis of true crime podcasts, this study will address a gap in the scholarship by chronicling descriptions of victims and perpetrators in several popular true crime podcasts.

Extended Abstract • Student • Heesoo Jang, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Madhavi Reddi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • [Extended Abstract] Intimacy and Connections: Celebrity Culture in Indian and South Korean Television Shows • This study examined how celebrities’ private lives are used as core elements of Asian television shows. The countries of interest were India and Korea, as the entertainment industries of both countries have increasingly challenged the global dominance of Hollywood. Using qualitative textual analysis, two prominent shows –Taste of Wife (Korea) and Koffee with Karan (India)—were analyzed. Both shows used celebrities’ personal lives and connections to create intimacy with the public and amplify visibility.

Research Paper • Student • Wei Lin • More contributors, shorter continuance? The paradox of entertainment contents contribution • Controversial debates are going on over the issue whether incentive to contribute is to diminish or increase with the expansion of group size. Previous studies on open collaborative platform for knowledge generation and sharing suggest that shrinking group size weakened motivation of contribution. This paper introduces group size into cognitive evaluation theory. By tracing behavior of video contributors in a hedonic information system for 20 months, we illustrate the negative effects of group size of entertainment contributors on intrinsic motivation and social rewards, which lead the discontinuance and inactivity of new contributors. Different mechanisms in hedonic and knowledge-sharing information system are discussed as well.

Research Paper • Student • JINDONG LIU, CUHK; biying wu • A “soul” emerges when AI meets Anime via hologram: a qualitative study on users of new anime-style hologram social robot “Hupo” • Anime-style hologram social robots are the latest entertainment products. This paper discusses how social robots and anime content converge via this new technology. Through interviews (N=18) in the case of Hupo, it identifies unique media phenomena including anime-style gamification and idolization of social robots, anime-assisted interactional order maintenance, and AI empowerment of anime characters. It argues anime fandom practice compensates for inadequate AI incapability, which challenges the vision of realistic human simulation in anthropomorphism.

Research Paper • Faculty • Patrick Osei-Hwere, West Texas A&M University; Enyonam Osei-Hwere, West Texas A&M University; Li Chen, West Texas A&M University • Spotlighting Emotional Intelligence in Children’s Media: Emotional Portrayals in Disney Channel Television Series. • A content analysis of emotions depicted in five Disney channel television series using social cognitive theory, entertainment education, and emotional intelligence constructs, found that characters depicted emotions of happiness, anger, and fear most frequently. There were no significant associations between gender and emotion display. Researchers found significant associations between emotion types and variables of age, emotion labeling, emotion regulation, emotion display target, and emotion display location. Recommendations for media researchers and content creators are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Suri Pourmodheji, Indiana University, Bloomington • Keeping Up With the Yummy Mummies? Examining Kim Kardashian’s Mediated Yummy Mummy Images on the reality television program Keeping Up With The Kardashians versus Instagram posts. • “This chapter examines concepts of body image and the yummy mummy in motherhood, by analyzing select scenes from the reality television program, Keeping Up With The Kardashians (Keeping Up), and Instagram posts from Kim Kardashian’s personal Instagram page, @kimkardashian. Contextualizing the yummy mummy, the pressures of maintaining the bikini ready body for mothers, exploring body as commodity, and examining a fantasy of motherhood, I apply these concepts to an analysis of Kardashian’s body during her motherhood journey. Furthermore, I argue that Kardashian’s body functions in a hegemonic way as a seemingly attainable goal for postpartum women and those looking to get back into shape post baby. This chapter asks the following questions, how does Kardashian convey the yummy mummy concept referenced by Littler and Jermyn throughout Keeping Up and on Instagram? How does Kardashian function as a persona in flux between her appearance on Keeping Up and on Instagram? Further, how does the in-flux persona play a role in the way she portrays motherhood on Instagram? To address these questions, I use visual and contextual analysis on select scenes and Instagram posts that focus on Kardashian and her body as a mother. From analyzing these examples, I argue for the following conclusions: Kardashian’s role as a mother is portrayed through self-critical language to reinforce an authentic display of the yummy mummy body, through confident Instagram posts depicting her desirable body, and through post-racial visual discourse represented in family pictures on Instagram.

Research Paper • Student • Rachel Son, University of Florida • K-dramas and the American youth: Conceptualizing the aspiration of a youthful utopia • The purpose of the current paper is to develop a model to explain why American youth audiences choose to watch K-dramas. A rationalism approach by deriving concepts from existing theory to identify the variables of the model. The theoretical perspective comes from the theory of Temporarily Expanding the Boundaries of the Self (Slater et al., 2014), as well as contributions from entertainment research regarding enjoyment and affective motivations (Oliver & Raney, 2011). K-drama narratives is the independent variable and youthful utopia aspiration is the proposed dependent variable. As audiences begin temporarily expanding the boundaries of self to restore their identity and attain self-fulfillment, they are transported into the narrative where they identify with the characters’ experience in the stories. This leads to the American youth audiences to learn something about their own identity and life by expanding their understanding about South Korean culture through drama portrayals. In sum, audiences find meaning for their own lives that cannot be gained by self-affirmation through boundary expansion while viewing K-dramas.

Research Paper • Student • Nathan Spencer, The University of Memphis • License to angst: A study of female characters in Christopher Nolan films • This paper is a textual analysis of female characters in Christopher Nolan films. Its purpose is to determine how Nolan represents women in his films, thus adding to the literature on Nolan and on women in blockbuster films. The data consisted of a sample from three of Nolan’s most popular films, The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar. The data was organized into five distinct categories: Dead Wife Syndrome; Women as a plot device for men; Violence as shock value; Mommy issues; and Behind every strong woman is… a man? The results reveal that Nolan’s stories revolve around men, reducing women to stereotyped subordinates. Nolan actively weaponizes his female characters’ femininity, treating them violently in his stories to motivate his male characters and tantalize the audience. His consistent successes over different genres point to moviegoers wanting to consume the stories he tells, regardless of content. This study’s results determine that his influence is directly hindering positive female representation in mainstream blockbuster films.

Research Paper • Faculty • Alec Tefertiller, Baylor University; Lindsey Maxwell, Southern Mississippi • Am I binge-watching or just glued to the couch? Viewing patterns, audience activity, and psychological antecedents for different types of extended-time television viewing • The phenomenon of binge-watching has received considerable attention in both the media and in research. However, extended-time television viewing is not only confined to narrative binges. This study sought to better understand the differences between different types of extended-time television viewing, including binge-watching. While little evidence was found to suggest a connection between problematic mental health antecedents and extended-time viewing, differences in audience attention and overall patterns of consumption were found.

Research Paper • Faculty • Kelsey Whipple, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Ivy Ashe; Lourdes Cueva Chacon, San Diego State University • Aux News: Examining Listeners’ Perceptions of the Journalistic Function of Podcasts • Podcasting is a well-established medium with a rapidly growing audience but no established ethical standards or practices. Through a representative national survey of American internet users (n = 1,025), this research examined how much podcast listeners trust podcasts and how they evaluate their journalistic merit. Podcast listeners trust podcasts less than most other news sources, with the exception of online news and satirical news programs. And though listeners agree that podcasting is a form of journalism, a way to stay informed about news and current events, and a valuable source of information, they are more skeptical of podcasts when comparing them to traditional news sources. Age is the only demographic category that predicts listening frequency.

Research Paper • Faculty • Qingru Xu; Hanyoung Kim; Andrew Billings • Let’s Watch Live Streaming! Exploring Streamer Credibility in Influencing Purchase Intention in Video Game Streamer Marketing • This study aims to examine the effect of streamer credibility on purchase intention in the context of video game streamer marketing, and further explore the underlying mechanism of the examined relationship via a mediation analysis. With recruiting 277 participants in the United State, this study (a) confirms the significant and positive relationship between streamer credibility and purchase intention, and also finds that (b) the mediators of parasocial relationships and streamer loyalty partially mediate the effect of streamer credibility on purchase intention. Surprisingly, the indirect effect of streamer credibility through the two mediators on purchase intention is stronger than the total effect; meanwhile, the direct effect of streamer credibility on purchase intention in the mediation model remains significant but negative. By applying structural equation modeling analysis, the current research offers a theoretical explanation for how streamer credibility influences viewers’ purchase intention in the context of video game streamer marketing, with practical and practical implications outlined.

Extended Abstract • Student • Wenjing Yang; Ruyue Ma • Online and offline : How MOBA games affect adolescence’s Discourse • MOBA games are now a big part of adolescences’ daily life , which not only affect their entertainment but also affect their communication . This paper draws on the theory of scenes proposed by Joshua Meyrowitz (1985) , using the way of participant observation and depth interview . The intial findings are that MOBA games realize the integration of scenarios in three dimensions and thus provided some new discourse for adolescence , which affect their communication and social interaction .

Extended Abstract • Student • Casey Yetter, University of Oklahoma; Alex Eschbach, University of Oklahoma • Earth’s Moralist Heroes: Virtue depictions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe • The purpose of this paper is to identify how virtue ethics are depicted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). A thematic analysis was used to analyze 12 of Aristotle’s virtues (courage, temperance, liberality, magnificence, magnanimity, gentleness, truthfulness, wittiness, friendliness, modesty, and righteous indignation) in the protagonist superheroes in the MCU films, the most successful film franchise in cinematic history.

2022 Abstracts

Public Relations Division

2022 Abstracts

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Doug Newsome • Public Relations and Sustainability across the African Continent: Using Afro-Centric Philosophies to Remember What’s Been ‘Forgotten or Lost’ • Donnalyn Pompper, university of oregon; Eric Kwame Adae, Drake University • Assuring sustainability across the African continent – the cradle of humankind – is an ethical public relations responsibility. There is insufficient research about public relations as a tool for supporting sustainability goals across the world’s second-largest and second-most populous continent (Volk, 2017); one that the rest of the planet relies upon for forests serving as “lungs of the world” (Fleshman, 2008). To begin filling the gap, we address challenges of making sustainability happen here, given a long history of negative colonial and neocolonial forces operating in many of Africa’s nations. Despite these impediments, enduring are indigenous, pre-colonial Afro-centric philosophies of communalism/collectivism and harmony with the natural environment that support sustainability efforts. We interrogate six indigenous philosophies which resonate with values that make contemporary public relations ethical. We discuss why professional public relations shaped by Afro-centric philosophies is welcomed, globally, and is critical for addressing sustainability across the continent.

Research Paper • Student • Award submission: Doug Newsome • From Saving Face to Saving Lives: Prioritizing the Public in Public Relations • Erika Schneider, University of Missori • Traditional crisis communication literature emphasizes how organizations use communication to protect reputation by shifting attributions of crisis responsibility. The purpose of this study is to reevaluate this approach by comparing proposed framework strategies that serve to protect stakeholders with reputational messaging. Findings from this between-subjects experimental design study provide insight on how informed organizational decision-making, such as corrective action and organizational learning, can reduce feelings of anger while prioritizing stakeholder wellbeing in public relations.

Research Paper • Student • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Racism and Social Issues Management: Examining State Universities’ Responses to the Killing of George Floyd • Drew T. Ashby-King, University of Maryland • Colleges and universities are social institutions often called on speak about social issues, such as responding to instances of racism on campus. Critics have suggested that when responding instances of racism on their campus, institutional leaders often ignore the racist act and harm caused and focus their discourse on diversity and inclusion. Considering this critique, this study used social issues management as a framework to explore how state flagship universities in the United States (U.S.) responded to an instance of racism that did not occur on their campuses. A qualitative analysis of all 50 U.S. state flagship universities’ initial public statement in response to the police killing of George Floyd led to three key findings: (1) institutions were made to speak on the issue by larger social discourse; (2) through their statements institutions (re)defined the issue as one of diversity and inclusion rather than racism and police brutality; and (3) guided by the logic of whiteness institutions legitimized their definition of the issue. Based on these findings, I argue that the initial conceptualization of social issues management did not adequality consider the power organizations have to define social issues through their discourse. Therefore, I conclude by suggesting an approach to social issues management that centers those most effected by the issue in order to promote social justice.

Research Paper • Student • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Rethinking cultural factors in government communication: A survey of environmental professionals working for indigenous governments • Ryan Comfort, Indiana University • This study examined the use of and attitudes towards communication media by environmental and natural resource management personnel employed by indigenous nations in the U.S. Survey data on professionals’ use of media, attitudes, and perceived obstacles to better use of media for science & environmental communication revealed that concerns about sharing cultural ecological information may carry significant weight in the communication decision making process of indigenous environmental agencies.

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • The Hybrid Firestorm: A Qualitative Study of Black Lives Matter Activism and the COVID-19 Pandemic • Tiffany Gallicano, UNC Charlotte; Olivia Lawless; Abagail Higgins; Samira Shaikh; Sara Levens • The combination of a global pandemic and an ignited social justice movement has created a saturated digital environment in which people turn to social media to navigate a hybrid firestorm fueled by both the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the circuit of culture has been studied in the context of a pandemic (Curtin & Gaither, 2006) and digital activism (Han & Zhang, 2009), research using any theoretical model to study a hybrid firestorm could not be found. This study consists of interviews with 25 participants involving their experiences in the hybrid firestorm. The circuit of culture is used, which is a model composed of five moments, to explore how meaning is created, interpreted, and contested in the context of a social justice movement and a global pandemic.

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Discriminated Against but Engaged: The Role of Communicative Behaviors of Racial Minority Employees • Yeunjae Lee, University of Miami; Jo-Yun Li • Grounded in the situational theory of problem-solving (STOPS), two survey studies investigated how racial minority employees in the U.S. perceive and communicate about the discriminatory situation within their organizations and how it affects their engagement levels. In Study 1 (N = 461), experiences and observance of both formal and informal discriminatory acts at work reduced racial minority employees’ engagement level, while their situational perceptions increased their communicative behaviors toward direct supervisor and peers, respectively. Communicative behaviors with supervisors, not peers, in turn, increased their engagement. Study 2 (N = 454) replicated and extended Study 1 in different contexts, revealing the moderating role of a diverse climate in increasing racial minority employees’ problem and involvement recognition and decreasing their constraint recognition about workplace discrimination situation. Theoretical and practical implications for race in public relations are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Silence Has No Place A Framing Analysis of Corporate Sociopolitical Activism Statements • Yvette Sterbenk, Ithaca College; Jamie Ward, EMU; Regina Luttrell; Summer Shelton, Idaho State University • This study used a quantitative framing analysis to examine the company statements delivered by 105 Fortune 500 companies across 21 sectors in June 2020 in response to three social justice issues that took prominence that month in the United States: Black Lives Matter, immigration laws, and LGBTQ rights. The study uncovered which companies and sectors did not make statements, and, among those that did, what messages were most common.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Serving Public Interests and Enacting Organizational Values: An Examination of Public Interest Relations through AARP’s Tele-Town Halls • Lindsey Anderson, University of Maryland • Public interest relations (PIR) is an approach to public relations scholarship and practice that contributes to the social good by integrating the concept of public interest into organizational goals and values. The need for PIR was emphasized during the COVID-19 pandemic as publics looked to organizations for information about a variety of topics (e.g., symptoms, vaccines). AARP created a series of tele-townhalls to communicate with its publics, who are considered to be members of a “vulnerable population” during the pandemic. In order to understand how AARP’s Coronavirus Tele-Town Halls reflected the practices of PIR, I completed a critical thematic analysis of 28 virtual sessions that were hosted in 2020-2021. The analysis, which was guided by the tenets of PIR, found that AARP’s communication (1) highlighted common life course milestones of its publics, (2) emphasized the quality of the information, and (3) provided avenues to engage with the organization and its experts. Based on these findings, I developed theoretical implications that reflect a critical perspective on PIR and suggest future research avenues that seek to build this ethical and socially meaningful approach to public relations.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Understanding the implementation of Enterprise Social Media on Employee Communication: An Affordance Perspective • Song AO, University of Macau; XIAO QIAN, University of Macau • The research adopts the technological affordance approach to examine the role of enterprise social media (ESM) in employee communication in the context of mainland China. The research postulated that organizations can actualize affordances of ESM to achieve certain goals. Using Enterprise WeChat (EWeChat) as the example, the research interviewed 37 participants to explore organizational goals and actions of EWeChat affordance actualization in mainland China. Thirteen EWeChat affordances and means of actualization (i.e., association, control, diversity, feedback, outeraction, perpetual contact, persistence, personalization, portability, privacy, social presence, synchronicity, and visibility) for specific organizational goals were identified. The research explicates ESM affordance actualization as the interaction between ESM and organizations, and also between ESM and employees. The research sheds light on how organizations in mainland China can effectively configure their ESM for certain purposes of its mobile application in employee communication.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Relational Tensions and Publics during Disasters: Investigating Organizational Relationships Ethnographically • Anita Atwell Seate, University of Maryland; Brooke Liu, University of Maryland; Samantha Stanley; Yumin Yan; Allison Chatham, University of Maryland • Relationships are essential for a fully functioning society. Through a multi-sited rapid ethnography, we show how organizations achieve their mission through organizational partners and active publics in the context of disasters. We provide insights into relational tensions that occur in organization-public relationships (OPRs) and how communication can address those relational tensions. In doing so, we answer calls for broadening methodologies to examine OPRs. Overall, we demonstrate the value of continuing to theorize the network approach.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Exploring Online Opinion Leadership: An Analysis of the Influential Users on Twitter During the Online Conversation Around Anthem Protests by Prominent Athletes • Brandon Boatwright • The current study explores the role of online opinion leaders on Twitter in conversations around anthem protests by prominent athletes. The aim of the study is twofold: (1) identify the influential opinion leaders in Twitter conversations related to Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe, and (2) further understand how and why social media users participate in conversations online about controversial subjects. Ultimately, results from this study extend the network paradigm in public relations research by examining the role of individual users in the construction of a discursive landscape of issue networks. The study combines social network analysis with in-depth interviews in order to adopt a more wholistic framework for studying online opinion leadership in the context of public relations research.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Extended abstract: Promoting diversity and inclusion: How Fortune 500 companies talk about diversity on Twitter • Denise Bortree, Penn State University; Michail Vafeiadis; Pratiti Diddi, Lamar University; Ryan Wang • This study examines more than 11,000 tweets on diversity topics posted by Fortune 500 companies in 2019. It identifies the 18 most common topics in six general areas – workplace diversity/inclusion, gender/women, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, disability and activism. Corporations with higher CSR ratings tend to post more diversity-related tweets. Analysis suggests that companies tend to use different topics in original posts and retweets/replies/comments on diversity. Engagement rates on diversity topics vary widely.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Extending civic values in architectures of listening: Arendt, Mouffe and the pluralistic imperative for organizational listening • Luke Capizzo, James Madison University; Meredith Feinman • This conceptual paper introduces the concept of civic listening to augment organizational listening theory and practice. Drawing from the writing of Arendt and Mouffe, it centers pluralism, agonism, deliberation, and reflection as central to listening and delineates the functions and values of civic listening to add to existing architectures. This new perspective points toward deeper, more nuanced, and more equitable organizational engagement in civic discourse and firmer ground for contentious issue engagement.

Extended Abstract • Member • Open Competition • Extended Abstract: Toward an Audience-Centric Framework of Situational Corporate Social Advocacy Strategy: A pilot study • Ioana Coman, Texas Tech University; Jiun-Yi Tsai, Northern Arizona University; Shupei Yuan, Northern Illinois University • Increasingly companies engage in Corporate Social Advocacy or Political Activism. Yet how publics expect companies to take a stance (sometimes even action) on controversial issues remains unclear. We propose an audience-centric approach to investigate how audiences expect companies to act on hot button issues and their reasoning process, through a mixed-method analysis of a survey (N=388) conducted at a public University. Results highlight a need to further understand CSA from audience perceptions.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Exploring the Mediating Effect of Government–Public Relationships during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Model Comparison Approach • Yuan Wang, City University of Hong Kong; Yi-Hui Christine Huang, City University of Hong Kong; Qinxian Cai, City University of Hong Kong • This study proposed, tested, and compared two models to examine the antecedent and outcome of government–public relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic. It conducted three surveys of 9,675 publics in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. It found that publics’ perceived governmental responsiveness leads to their satisfaction with and trust in the government, which influence their word-of-mouth intention about the vaccines. Furthermore, relational satisfaction and trust mediate the relationship between perceived responsiveness and word-of-mouth intention.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • A Comparison of Twitter Use by Different Sector Organizations • Taisik Hwang, Suffolk University • “Given the shifting nature of communication environment, this study attempts to discover how leading nature education organizations utilize social media to effectively reach and build relationship with their audiences. Specifically, it employed a content analysis to examine how the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), U.S. National Park Service (NPS), and National Geographic (NG) take advantage of Twitter to better communicate with their external publics. Out of a total of 6,286 tweets sent by these organizations for a six-month period from January to June 2018, a random sample was used for quantitative analysis. Findings show that there are significant differences in these organizations’ use of message functions as well as mentioning of brand names associated with them. For example, both UNESCO and NPS tend to focus on building community with their external stakeholders, whereas NG’s tweets mainly involves the information function. The current study

will benefit other non-profit organizations by revealing ways in which these organizations purposefully use social media to fulfill their mission and suggesting practical guidelines to strategic communicators in public-sector organizations.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Feeling elevated: Examine the mediation role of elevation in CEO activism on employee prosocial engagement • Grace Ji, Boston University; Cheng Hong, California State University Sacramento • With a survey of 600 U.S. employees, this study investigated the effect of authentic leadership on employees’ prosocial advocacy engagement in the context of CEO activism. Employees’ moral elevation and organizational identification were examined as mediators. Results showed authentic leadership elicited employees’ positive emotion of elevation and enhanced their identification with the company. In turn, employees’ affective (elevation) and cognitive (organizational identification) responses mediated authentic leadership’s impact on motivating employees’ activism participation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Influence of identification, relationship, and involvement of a donor on attitudes towards and behavioral intentions to online donation via SNS • Eunyoung Kim, Auburn University at Montgomery; Sung Eun Park, Webster University • This study seeks what factors predict publics’ behavioral intentions to online donate and share words via social media. Relevant literature was reviewed, and an online survey was conducted to examine hypotheses. The results show that identification, involvement, perceived credibility, and attitudes towards online donation predict intention to donate via social media, while attitudes towards helping others, identification, involvement, and site features affect the intention of Word-of-Mouth. Theoretical and practical implications are presented in the discussion and conclusion.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Public Expectations of Government Pandemic-Crisis Communication What and How to Communicate during the COVID-19 Pandemic • Sora Kim, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Through two representative online surveys in Hong Kong (HK) and the U.S. (US) during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigates, from a public-centric perspective, public expectations of effective government pandemic-crisis communication. It looks specifically at what publics want to be communicated in times of a global pandemic and how. In each region, the findings identify four significant dimensions. Three are culturally universal dimensions—basic responsibility, locus of pandemic-crisis responsibility, and disfavor of promotional tone. The fourth is culture-specific—personal relevance for HK and frequency for the US. Among the significant dimensions, the most highly expected is what people consider government’s basic responsibility in pandemic communication, that is, a basic responsibility dimension. This includes providing instructing and adjusting information and securing accuracy, timeliness, and transparency in pandemic communication. In both regions, respondents preferred by far traditional media and non-governmental sources to social media and governmental sources.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Revisiting SMCC Model: How Chinese Public Relations Practitioners Handle Social Mediated Crisis • Sining Kong, Texas A & M University at Corpus Christi; Huan Chen, University of Florida • As social media is widely used by Chinese organizations, this study comprehensively examines how Chinese public relations practitioners cope with social mediated crisis and how culture interacts with social mediated crisis response. An in-depth interview was used to collect data from twenty-three Chinese public relations practitioners, who had experience in dealing with crises and issues via social media. Results showed that Chinese public relations practitioners use diverse social media platforms to satisfy the publics’ gratifications and social media usage preferences. Besides, results also showed the importance of matching information form and information source in responding social mediated crisis. Furthermore, it revealed how the uniqueness of Chinese culture moderated Chinese public relations social mediated crisis response, such as maintaining harmony and avoiding direct confrontation, collaborating with opinion leaders and influencers to shape publics’ opinions, using no response, apologizing, and self-mockery, and emphasizing the importance of media relations.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Social Listening using Machine Learning to Understand Sense Making and Content Dissemination on Twitter: A Case Study of WHO’s Social Listening Strategy During COVID-19 Initial Phase • Sushma Kumble, Towson University; Pratiti Diddi, Lamar University; Maggie Whitescarver • The study utilized unsupervised machine learning techniques to the CERC framework on 6.1 Million Tweets between January to March 2020 to understand the sensemaking process during COVID-19 among Twitter users. The study also used content analysis to examine WHO’s response to the popular emerging conversations. Results indicate that while WHO’s messaging addressed the dominant topics during the timeframe but did not effectively address misinformation. The paper discusses the implications and recommendations for health communication practitioners.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Global Companies’ Use of Social Media for CSR Communication During COVID-19 • Sun Young Lee, University of Maryland–College Park; Duli Shi, University of Maryland; John Leach; Saymin Lee; Cody Buntain, New Jersey Institute of Technology • The purpose of the study was to examine how companies have communicated their efforts to address COVID-19 on Facebook and Twitter and to evaluate the effectiveness of their message strategies. We conducted a content analysis of 992 Facebook posts and 1,957 tweets between March 11 and May 20, 2020, from the 2020 RepTrak’s 100 most reputable companies. About one-third of the messages (n = 1,059) were related to companies’ responses to COVID-19. Companies mostly highlighted CSR efforts related to their expertise, partnership efforts, or financial resources. The majority of messages did not specify a particular group’s interests, but when they did, the most impacted groups, such as frontline personnel and employees, were addressed. Companies mostly used social media to employ one-way message strategies, but incorporating multimedia and expressing appreciation to others were found to be effective message strategies for engaging publics emotionally. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • What do you mean by doing the right thing?: Examining corporate social advocacy frames and transparency efforts in Fortune 500 companies’ website • Hyunmin Lee, Drexel University; Emma Whitehouse, Drexel University • This study examined the state of corporate social advocacy (CSA) initiatives among Fortune 500 companies via a content analysis of their official websites. There is a need to critically examine the ways in which CSA is communicated to create a normative understanding as to what constitutes of ethical and transparent CSA communication. Findings showed that episodic frames were popularly utilized to communicate about CSA and transparency efforts varied according to CSA type and location.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • How Nike and Gillette Survived the Tension between Corporate Social Advocacy and Boycotting Backlash • Juan Liu, Columbus State University; Bruce Getz, Columbus State University • Both 2018 Nike’s Colin Kaepernick and 2019 Gillette commercial campaigns received backlash on social media over their messages addressing controversial social-political issues. Drawing on legitimacy theory, this study examines how polarized boycotting and advocating messages on Twitter affect interactive engagement and perceptions of corporate social advocacy. In both Nike and Gillette conditions, individuals who expressed strong value alignment with brands’ campaigns, were more susceptible to be affected by polarized tweets. When evaluating brands’ motivations for corporate social advocacy, results showed that individuals with weak value alignment were more likely to be affected by polarized messages. However, this pattern is only found in the Gillette condition. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Public Perceptions of Using the Wireless Emergency Alert System for COVID-19: Lessons for State Government Crisis Communication • Stephanie Madden, Penn State University; Nicholas Eng, Penn State University; Jessica Myrick, Penn State University • On November 25, 2020, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) sent out a COVID-19 public health message via the Wireless Emergency Alert system. Using survey (N = 212) and interview (N = 19) research, this study sought to understand the targeted publics’ reaction to this message and factors impacting potential behavior change after receiving this message. Because COVID-19 response has relied on state governments, this research provides important findings for government communicators at the state level.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Communicating the Big Picture with Employees: The Impacts of CEO Vision Communication on Employee Engagement • Yufan “Sunny” Qin, University of Florida; Alexis Fitzsimmons, University of Florida; Eve Heffron, University of Florida; Marcia DiStaso, University of Florida • Communicating an organizational vision with employees can be critical to help employees internalize the vision, which might in turn increase their willingness to get engaged with the work and subsequently achieving higher goals. The aim of this study is to examine whether and how CEO vision communication could influence employee engagement. This study also proposes employees’ perceptions of work meaningfulness and organizational identification as the potential underlying mechanism that mediate the relationship between CEO vision communication and employee engagement. An online survey was conducted with employees across various industries in the U.S.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Internal Activism at Amazon: Rhetorical Strategies and the Public Relations Response • Margaret Ritsch, Washington State University; Erin Tomson, Washington State University • “This study examined the public relations response to employee activism at Amazon during the Covid-19 pandemic. Public relations has typically been examined from a functional perspective, which largely ignores the power dynamics between an organization and its employees, who are important stakeholders that contribute to the organization’s public image. Critical theory provides a useful lens to examine the dynamics of organizational power and control, although this approach has typically been applied to the study of internal communication dynamics. The study addresses this gap by using a critical rhetorical approach to examine Amazon’s response to employee activism. Researchers conducted qualitative content analysis of news media coverage and Amazon’s company content (e.g. websites and public statements). The data indicates that Amazon spokespeople used aggressive rhetorical strategies in their communication with and about employee activists that discouraged unionization and ultimately attempted to prevent current and former Amazon employees from speaking up about their experiences working for the company.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Unpack the Relational and Behavioral Outcomes of Internal CSR: Highlighting Dialogic Communication and Managerial Facilitation • Baobao Song; Weiting Tao • The current study examines how corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication and management contributes to internal public relationship building and employees’ megaphoning behaviors. Specifically, it investigates how organization-public dialogical communication (OPDC) about CSR and the organizational leaders’ facilitation behavior towards employee CSR engagement influence employees’ perceptions of two different distinct types of organization-public relationships (OPRs), i.e., communal and exchange relationships. Structural equation modeling results of 660 on-line survey responses suggest that OPDC has a positive association with communal relationship and negative association with exchange relationship. Facilitation behavior positively contributes to employee exchange relationships. Both communal and exchange relationships are positively associated with employees’ positive megaphoning. Whereas negative megaphoning is negatively linked with communal relationships and positively linked with employees’ exchange relationships with the companies. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on internal CSR communication and management. More importantly, this study uncovers nuanced effects of CSR on internal public communal and exchange relationship building.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • EXTENDED ABSTRACT: Public Communication in the Age of Fake News • Edson Tandoc Jr; Pei Wen Wong, Nanyang Technological; Chen Lou; Hyunjin Kang, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological U; Shruti Malviya, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological U • The rise of fake news has posed threats to societies around the world, affecting various institutions. One area that has not been sufficiently explored is how it has affected public communication. This study examines how the rise of fake news has affected the roles, resources, and routines of public communicators in Singapore. Through in-depth interviews, this research explores how various communication officers across Singapore’s government agencies perceive, and respond to, the fake news crisis.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • The role of community and social capital in community building • Brooke Witherow, Hood College • While the role of social capital in community building has been discussed previously, the terms community and community building are rarely defined (e.g. Dodd et al., 2015; Jin & Lee, 2013; Sommerfeldt 2013a, 2013b). This qualitative case study examines the role of community and social capital in community building through community policing. 26 semi-structured interviews with police administration, patrol officers, and community leaders were conducted. The interviews with patrol officers occurred during seven ride-alongs.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Examining Value Congruence and Outcome-relevant involvement as Antecedents of Corporate Political Advocacy • Leping You; Linda Hon, University of Florida; Yu-Hao Lee • Drawing from the theoretical foundation of corporate political advocacy (CPA), this study aims to understand value congruence and outcome-relevant involvement as the antecedents of CPA that companies should consider when taking a stance on contentious sociopolitical issues. This study conducted a 2 x 2 online experiment to examine how both antecedents affect consumers’ attitudinal evaluation on the credibility and legitimacy of a CPA and predict consumers’ supportive behavioral intentions toward a CPA.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Navigating change in the Era of COVID-19: The Role of Top Leaders’ Charismatic Rhetoric and Employees’ Organizational Identification • April YUE, University of Connecticut • “The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had tremendous and swift effects on organizational change. This study examined how organizations can leverage leadership and employee resources to facilitate positive change outcomes. Drawing from the self-concept based motivational theory of charismatic leadership and substitutes for leadership theory, the current study proposed a theoretical model connecting top leaders’ charismatic rhetoric, employees’ affective commitment to change, and employees’ turnover intention. Furthermore, the study investigated contingencies that may modify the relationship between leadership communication and followers’ outcomes. Results from an online panel of 417 U.S. employees showed that top leaders’ use of charismatic rhetoric during change led to followers’ affective commitment to change, which decreased their turnover intention. Furthermore, employees’ organizational identification moderated this relationship. When employees have low identification with their organizations, top leaders’ charismatic rhetoric to address the immediate change is more needed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • The influence of issue attitude on consumers’ reaction toward corporate social advocacy: A moderated mediation path through cognitive dissonance • Xueying Zhang, North Carolina A&T State; Ziyuan Zhou, Bentley University • Corporate social advocacy (CSA) has gained increasing attention in public relations research. The psychological mechanisms regarding how consumers react to a CSA position that conflicts with their own have not yet been examined. Employing cognitive dissonance theory, this study examines how consumers’ preexisting attitude toward an issue influences their reaction to CSA through cognitive dissonance. An experiment (study1) and a survey (study 2) were conducted on Qualtrics with participants recruited from MTurk. Gay marriage rights and gun control issue were chosen as the CSA topics. The results indicated that a conflict between a consumer’s preexisting attitude and a corporation’s stance on a controversial issue leads to cognitive dissonance. Dissonance mediates consumers’ responses to counter-attitudinal CSA, in terms of perceiving the company as biased and intending to boycott the company. Value involvement and CCI significantly moderated the effect of consumers’ attitudes toward CSA on cognitive dissonance, but the effect varies between the two issues. The results help PR practitioners to better understand the segmented consumer audiences and provide a few pieces of practical advice to minimize the potential risk of expressing advocacy on a position of a controversial social political issue.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Matching words with actions: Understanding the effects of CSA stance-action consistency on negative consumer responses • Ziyuan Zhou, Bentley University; Chuqing Dong, Michigan State University • Corporation social advocacy (CSA) is a popular topic in public relations research. However, few studies have considered the issue of consistency between corporations taking a stance on a controversial issue and acting accordingly. This study proposed a new concept, CSA stance-action consistency, to investigate the negative consumer responses when corporations violate their CSA promises. A 4 × 2 between-subject experiment indicated that CSA stance-action consistency significantly predicted negative word-of-mouth and boycott intentions. Besides, social issue activism moderated such an effect, while CSA record did not. This study added one more piece of evidence on the risks of CSA and encouraged corporations to fully understand stakeholders’ expectations of CSA before getting involved with controversial issues.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • How China used Twitter to Repair Its Image amid the COVID-19 Crisis • Ayman Alhammad, University of Kansas • “In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have suffered in different ways politically, economically, and socially because of this health crisis. China registered the first case of COVID-19 and found itself the recipient of negative publicity, some of which, stated by scientists, blamed China for the virus in a Wuhan laboratory, or covered the nature of the disease until it was out of control (Verma, 2020). Because of comprehensive widely negative consequences, China’s image has been distorted in many countries. That led the Chinese government to use a different medium to deal with the crisis, one of which is social media platforms. As Saudi Arabia is one of China’s important economic partners, Beijing is concerned that health crises could affect negatively its economic interests in Saudi Arabia. In fact, China has faced serious obstacles in terms of import and export goods (Hayakawa & Mukunoki, 2021).

China decided to employ digital diplomacy by making its ambassadors communicate with the local and international communities (Brandt & Schafer, 2020). Chinese ambassador, Chen Weiqing, speaks to Saudis via Twitter as Saudi Arabia is ranked eighth in the world with 12.45 million users (Statista, 2020). This paper examines the image repair strategies that the Chinese ambassador in Saudi Arabia employed during the coronavirus pandemic to restore China’s image there. This study adopted rhetorical analysis, building on the theoretical framework proposed by Brinson & Benoit (1999).

An examination of the ambassador’s tweets revealed a variety of image restoration strategies, including denial, bolstering, compensation, and minimization.”

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • The Networked Huawei Agendas during the US-China Trade War: The Interrelationships between Huawei, the News Media, and Public Tweets • Zahedur Arman, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • This study examines interrelationships between the networked Huawei agendas, the U.S. and Chinese news media agendas, and Twitter users’ issue agendas on Twitter during the US-China Trade War. Social network analysis is used as a theory and method to analyze Huawei’s public relations activities on Twitter, news media, and Twitter users’ network. This study found that Huawei’s direct networked agenda setting to Twitter users is more successful than the news media’s networked agenda-setting to the Twitter users. This study is among the first to explore cross-nation networked agenda building and networked agenda setting effects on Twitter. It also found that the US media did not follow Huawei’s networked agendas, but the Chinese media followed the corporation’s issue agendas during the US-China trade war. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • I Distrust You All Because One of You Did Something Wrong: Spillover Effect of Distrust Elicited by an NPO’s Crisis on Overall NPOs • Bugil Chang, University of Minnesota • This study examined how public distrust formed by the crisis of an NPO spills over to other organizations in the same and different sectors through experiment. Overall, when faced with a crisis, the participants distrusted not only organizations in the same sector as the crisis-stricken organization but also organizations in a different sector. The effect was fully mediated by participants’ perceived distrust toward the crisis-stricken organization.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • From CSR to Employees’ Megaphoning Behavior: The Roles of Communal Relationship and Corporate Reputation • Enzhu Dong, University of Miami; Dongqing Xu • This study examined how employees’ perceived overall CSR activities impact employees’ positive megaphoning through the mediation of employees’ perceived communal relationship and communal willingness, taking the moderation effect of perceived reputation into consideration. To address the hypotheses, a survey among employees across different organizations was conducted. Results of the moderated mediation examination supported the hypotheses. These findings contributed to the understanding of CSR effects on employee communication behavior and provided implications for organizational management.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Examining Publics’ Comparative Evaluations of Government Communication and Strength Ties as Predictors of Country Reputation • Yoosun Ham, Indiana University; Ejae Lee, Indiana University; Eugene Kim, The Media School, Indiana University Bloomington; Sung Hyun Lee • During the COVID-19 outbreak, media tended to report on how different Asian countries — China, Japan, and South Korea — were handling the situation by using comparisons. U.S. citizens have been exposed to information about Asian countries and could compare and evaluate how those countries’ governments communicate with their citizens to help contain the new coronavirus. This study attempted to examine how country reputation could be associated with publics’ comparative evaluations about the dialogic communication competency of a foreign country’s government through news media exposure about how that government contained and/or mitigated the new coronavirus. This study also investigated associations between the perceived tie strength between the U.S. and Asian countries and those countries’ reputations. This study used online experimental surveys. Its findings suggest that country reputation was significantly associated with comparative evaluations about mutuality and openness in Asian countries’ government dialogic communication and perceived tie strength with the U.S. government. Theoretical implications and practical contributions are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Can CEO Activism be Good for the Organization? The Way CEO Activism on Sexual Orientation Equality Achieves High Young Employee Work Engagement • Jie Jin, University of Florida • “Whether a CEO should speak out about controversial issues is a hotly debated topic across the United States. In today’s politically polarized environment, Americans have changed their expectations about whether companies and CEOs should lead social change. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that CEOs shouldn’t avoid taking actions unrelated to their business, the purpose of this study is to examine how CEOs’ pro-sexual orientation equality statements may lead to young employee work engagement from the perspective of social exchange theory. A conceptual model with nine propositions is proposed to reveal how CEO activism generates positive employee outcomes.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Twitter styles by the leaders of the 116th US House: A concurrent triangulation • Nana Kwame Osei Fordjour, University of New Mexico; Timothy Kwakye Karikari, University of International Business and Economic, Beijing, China • Situating our study in the context of a global pandemic and a time of seeming polarization in the US, we analyzed the tweets (n = 480) of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. We employ the concurrent triangulation approach and blend three theoretical approaches to analyze their credit-claiming behavior, position-taking, attacks as well as the salient frames in their tweets. Findings indicate there is no significant difference in their position-taking and credit-claiming tweets, however, Majority Leader McCarthy tweeted more negatively than Speaker Pelosi. We uncover four salient frames which are: Economic debate, electoral integrity, COVID-19 response, and the appointment of Supreme Court Justice. Ultimately, we juxtapose the qualitative frames with the quantitative findings to give deeper understanding into the three quantitative categories and provide insights into the implications of such tweets.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • How has the United Nations portrayed International Women’s Day before and after founding UN Women? • Michelle Rossi • By applying feminist theory and framing for public relations, this research explored the range of debate within press releases distributed about International Women’s Day before and after the founding of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women, in 2011. Using Ethnographic Content Analysis (ECA), this study found that press releases were more descriptive about events in the decade before, and more focused on actions in the decade after.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Different Brands Stealing Thunder: How Brand Personality Impacts Crisis Response Strategy Choice • Dongqing Xu • This study aimed to examine the impact of brand personality on participants’ brand perceptions and crisis response evaluation. To be more specific, the study aimed to examine how stealing thunder (i.e., brands disclosing the crisis and response before revealed by the third-party) as a proactive response strategy could impact brands with different personalities in crises. Employing a 2 (brand personality: sincere vs. exciting) × 2 (crisis response type: proactive vs. reactive) experimental design, the study found the buffering effect of sincere brand personality on participants’ perceived credibility, brand attitude, and purchase intention in crisis. In terms of crisis performance evaluations, brand personality was found moderating the effectiveness of the stealing thunder strategy, such that stealing thunder lost its power when employed by a sincere brand. These findings contributed to the extant brand personality literature and suggested a potential boundary of the stealing thunder strategy.

Research Paper • Faculty • Teaching competition • Teaching Philanthropy: How Can Public Relations Courses Prepare Future Fundraisers and Motivate Giving? • Virginia Harrison, Clemson University • Scholars have suggested that fundraising education is a specialty of public relations. This study examines how a fundraising-specific service-learning project may help prepare future fundraisers. A survey of qualitative and quantitative data was administered to public relations students in a fundraising-focused class and in other service-learning classes. Students in the fundraising-focused class were more knowledgeable about nonprofits but were not more inclined to enter the profession. However, they were more motivated to donate after graduation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Teaching competition • Dynamic Capabilities and Social Media Education: Professional Expectations and Curricular Preparation • KiYong Kim • “When Covid-19 impacted regular communication dynamics for organizations, social media became even more prominent in brand communications. A growing body of research confirms training in social media is an essential part of knowing “”how to”” reach one’s organization’s publics (Kruset et al., 2018; Plowman et al., 2015), making social media a mainstay in the public relations educational curriculum (Meganck et al., 2020). This study seeks to bridge the themes found by Kim (2021) related to public relations practice and dynamic capabilities (Teece, 2007) with social media educational practices. This study suggests that there is a link between dynamic capabilities and social media educational practices.

Research Paper • Faculty • Teaching competition • Leveling the Playing Field: Assessing Issues of Equity, Transparency, and Experiential Learning in the PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition • Amanda Weed, Kennesaw State University; Adrienne Wallace, Grand Valley State University; Betsy Emmons, Samford University; Alisa Agozzino, Ohio Northern University • This study provides the first academic research examination about the Public Relations Student Society of America Bateman Case Study Competition. Research-based insights identify varying perspectives on if the competition meets current students’ needs. Through insights gained from a survey of faculty and professional advisers of 2017-2020 Bateman competition teams, the authors have identified critical perspectives and areas for improvement to the competition along the issues of equity, transparency, and experiential learning. Study results address alignment of knowledge, skills, and abilities identified by the Commission on Public Relations Education and university curricula.

2022 Abstracts

Public Relations Division

2021 Abstracts

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Doug Newsome • Donnalyn Pompper, university of oregon; Eric Kwame Adae, Drake University • Public Relations and Sustainability across the African Continent: Using Afro-Centric Philosophies to Remember What’s Been ‘Forgotten or Lost’ • Assuring sustainability across the African continent – the cradle of humankind – is an ethical public relations responsibility. There is insufficient research about public relations as a tool for supporting sustainability goals across the world’s second-largest and second-most populous continent (Volk, 2017); one that the rest of the planet relies upon for forests serving as “lungs of the world” (Fleshman, 2008). To begin filling the gap, we address challenges of making sustainability happen here, given a long history of negative colonial and neocolonial forces operating in many of Africa’s nations. Despite these impediments, enduring are indigenous, pre-colonial Afro-centric philosophies of communalism/collectivism and harmony with the natural environment that support sustainability efforts. We interrogate six indigenous philosophies which resonate with values that make contemporary public relations ethical. We discuss why professional public relations shaped by Afro-centric philosophies is welcomed, globally, and is critical for addressing sustainability across the continent.

Research Paper • Student • Award submission: Doug Newsome • Erika Schneider, University of Missori • From Saving Face to Saving Lives: Prioritizing the Public in Public Relations • Traditional crisis communication literature emphasizes how organizations use communication to protect reputation by shifting attributions of crisis responsibility. The purpose of this study is to reevaluate this approach by comparing proposed framework strategies that serve to protect stakeholders with reputational messaging. Findings from this between-subjects experimental design study provide insight on how informed organizational decision-making, such as corrective action and organizational learning, can reduce feelings of anger while prioritizing stakeholder wellbeing in public relations.

Research Paper • Student • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Drew T. Ashby-King, University of Maryland • Racism and Social Issues Management: Examining State Universities’ Responses to the Killing of George Floyd • Colleges and universities are social institutions often called on speak about social issues, such as responding to instances of racism on campus. Critics have suggested that when responding instances of racism on their campus, institutional leaders often ignore the racist act and harm caused and focus their discourse on diversity and inclusion. Considering this critique, this study used social issues management as a framework to explore how state flagship universities in the United States (U.S.) responded to an instance of racism that did not occur on their campuses. A qualitative analysis of all 50 U.S. state flagship universities’ initial public statement in response to the police killing of George Floyd led to three key findings: (1) institutions were made to speak on the issue by larger social discourse; (2) through their statements institutions (re)defined the issue as one of diversity and inclusion rather than racism and police brutality; and (3) guided by the logic of whiteness institutions legitimized their definition of the issue. Based on these findings, I argue that the initial conceptualization of social issues management did not adequality consider the power organizations have to define social issues through their discourse. Therefore, I conclude by suggesting an approach to social issues management that centers those most effected by the issue in order to promote social justice.

Research Paper • Student • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Ryan Comfort, Indiana University • Rethinking cultural factors in government communication: A survey of environmental professionals working for indigenous governments • This study examined the use of and attitudes towards communication media by environmental and natural resource management personnel employed by indigenous nations in the U.S. Survey data on professionals’ use of media, attitudes, and perceived obstacles to better use of media for science & environmental communication revealed that concerns about sharing cultural ecological information may carry significant weight in the communication decision making process of indigenous environmental agencies.

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Tiffany Gallicano, UNC Charlotte; Olivia Lawless; Abagail Higgins; Samira Shaikh; Sara Levens • The Hybrid Firestorm: A Qualitative Study of Black Lives Matter Activism and the COVID-19 Pandemic • The combination of a global pandemic and an ignited social justice movement has created a saturated digital environment in which people turn to social media to navigate a hybrid firestorm fueled by both the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the circuit of culture has been studied in the context of a pandemic (Curtin & Gaither, 2006) and digital activism (Han & Zhang, 2009), research using any theoretical model to study a hybrid firestorm could not be found. This study consists of interviews with 25 participants involving their experiences in the hybrid firestorm. The circuit of culture is used, which is a model composed of five moments, to explore how meaning is created, interpreted, and contested in the context of a social justice movement and a global pandemic.

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Yeunjae Lee, University of Miami; Jo-Yun Li • Discriminated Against but Engaged: The Role of Communicative Behaviors of Racial Minority Employees • Grounded in the situational theory of problem-solving (STOPS), two survey studies investigated how racial minority employees in the U.S. perceive and communicate about the discriminatory situation within their organizations and how it affects their engagement levels. In Study 1 (N = 461), experiences and observance of both formal and informal discriminatory acts at work reduced racial minority employees’ engagement level, while their situational perceptions increased their communicative behaviors toward direct supervisor and peers, respectively. Communicative behaviors with supervisors, not peers, in turn, increased their engagement. Study 2 (N = 454) replicated and extended Study 1 in different contexts, revealing the moderating role of a diverse climate in increasing racial minority employees’ problem and involvement recognition and decreasing their constraint recognition about workplace discrimination situation. Theoretical and practical implications for race in public relations are discussed.

Research Paper • Faculty • Award submission: Race & Public Relations • Yvette Sterbenk, Ithaca College; Jamie Ward, EMU; Regina Luttrell; Summer Shelton, Idaho State University • Silence Has No Place A Framing Analysis of Corporate Sociopolitical Activism Statements • This study used a quantitative framing analysis to examine the company statements delivered by 105 Fortune 500 companies across 21 sectors in June 2020 in response to three social justice issues that took prominence that month in the United States: Black Lives Matter, immigration laws, and LGBTQ rights. The study uncovered which companies and sectors did not make statements, and, among those that did, what messages were most common.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Lindsey Anderson, University of Maryland • Serving Public Interests and Enacting Organizational Values: An Examination of Public Interest Relations through AARP’s Tele-Town Halls • Public interest relations (PIR) is an approach to public relations scholarship and practice that contributes to the social good by integrating the concept of public interest into organizational goals and values. The need for PIR was emphasized during the COVID-19 pandemic as publics looked to organizations for information about a variety of topics (e.g., symptoms, vaccines). AARP created a series of tele-townhalls to communicate with its publics, who are considered to be members of a “vulnerable population” during the pandemic. In order to understand how AARP’s Coronavirus Tele-Town Halls reflected the practices of PIR, I completed a critical thematic analysis of 28 virtual sessions that were hosted in 2020-2021. The analysis, which was guided by the tenets of PIR, found that AARP’s communication (1) highlighted common life course milestones of its publics, (2) emphasized the quality of the information, and (3) provided avenues to engage with the organization and its experts. Based on these findings, I developed theoretical implications that reflect a critical perspective on PIR and suggest future research avenues that seek to build this ethical and socially meaningful approach to public relations.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Song AO, University of Macau; XIAO QIAN, University of Macau • Understanding the implementation of Enterprise Social Media on Employee Communication: An Affordance Perspective • The research adopts the technological affordance approach to examine the role of enterprise social media (ESM) in employee communication in the context of mainland China. The research postulated that organizations can actualize affordances of ESM to achieve certain goals. Using Enterprise WeChat (EWeChat) as the example, the research interviewed 37 participants to explore organizational goals and actions of EWeChat affordance actualization in mainland China. Thirteen EWeChat affordances and means of actualization (i.e., association, control, diversity, feedback, outeraction, perpetual contact, persistence, personalization, portability, privacy, social presence, synchronicity, and visibility) for specific organizational goals were identified. The research explicates ESM affordance actualization as the interaction between ESM and organizations, and also between ESM and employees. The research sheds light on how organizations in mainland China can effectively configure their ESM for certain purposes of its mobile application in employee communication.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Anita Atwell Seate, University of Maryland; Brooke Liu, University of Maryland; Samantha Stanley; Yumin Yan; Allison Chatham, University of Maryland • Relational Tensions and Publics during Disasters: Investigating Organizational Relationships Ethnographically • Relationships are essential for a fully functioning society. Through a multi-sited rapid ethnography, we show how organizations achieve their mission through organizational partners and active publics in the context of disasters. We provide insights into relational tensions that occur in organization-public relationships (OPRs) and how communication can address those relational tensions. In doing so, we answer calls for broadening methodologies to examine OPRs. Overall, we demonstrate the value of continuing to theorize the network approach.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Brandon Boatwright • Exploring Online Opinion Leadership: An Analysis of the Influential Users on Twitter During the Online Conversation Around Anthem Protests by Prominent Athletes • The current study explores the role of online opinion leaders on Twitter in conversations around anthem protests by prominent athletes. The aim of the study is twofold: (1) identify the influential opinion leaders in Twitter conversations related to Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe, and (2) further understand how and why social media users participate in conversations online about controversial subjects. Ultimately, results from this study extend the network paradigm in public relations research by examining the role of individual users in the construction of a discursive landscape of issue networks. The study combines social network analysis with in-depth interviews in order to adopt a more wholistic framework for studying online opinion leadership in the context of public relations research.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Denise Bortree, Penn State University; Michail Vafeiadis; Pratiti Diddi, Lamar University; Ryan Wang • Extended abstract: Promoting diversity and inclusion: How Fortune 500 companies talk about diversity on Twitter • This study examines more than 11,000 tweets on diversity topics posted by Fortune 500 companies in 2019. It identifies the 18 most common topics in six general areas – workplace diversity/inclusion, gender/women, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, disability and activism. Corporations with higher CSR ratings tend to post more diversity-related tweets. Analysis suggests that companies tend to use different topics in original posts and retweets/replies/comments on diversity. Engagement rates on diversity topics vary widely.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Luke Capizzo, James Madison University; Meredith Feinman • Extending civic values in architectures of listening: Arendt, Mouffe and the pluralistic imperative for organizational listening • This conceptual paper introduces the concept of civic listening to augment organizational listening theory and practice. Drawing from the writing of Arendt and Mouffe, it centers pluralism, agonism, deliberation, and reflection as central to listening and delineates the functions and values of civic listening to add to existing architectures. This new perspective points toward deeper, more nuanced, and more equitable organizational engagement in civic discourse and firmer ground for contentious issue engagement.

Extended Abstract • Member • Open Competition • Ioana Coman, Texas Tech University; Jiun-Yi Tsai, Northern Arizona University; Shupei Yuan, Northern Illinois University • Extended Abstract: Toward an Audience-Centric Framework of Situational Corporate Social Advocacy Strategy: A pilot study • Increasingly companies engage in Corporate Social Advocacy or Political Activism. Yet how publics expect companies to take a stance (sometimes even action) on controversial issues remains unclear. We propose an audience-centric approach to investigate how audiences expect companies to act on hot button issues and their reasoning process, through a mixed-method analysis of a survey (N=388) conducted at a public University. Results highlight a need to further understand CSA from audience perceptions.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Yuan Wang, City University of Hong Kong; Yi-Hui Christine Huang, City University of Hong Kong; Qinxian Cai, City University of Hong Kong • Exploring the Mediating Effect of Government–Public Relationships during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Model Comparison Approach • This study proposed, tested, and compared two models to examine the antecedent and outcome of government–public relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic. It conducted three surveys of 9,675 publics in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. It found that publics’ perceived governmental responsiveness leads to their satisfaction with and trust in the government, which influence their word-of-mouth intention about the vaccines. Furthermore, relational satisfaction and trust mediate the relationship between perceived responsiveness and word-of-mouth intention.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Taisik Hwang, Suffolk University • A Comparison of Twitter Use by Different Sector Organizations • “Given the shifting nature of communication environment, this study attempts to discover how leading nature education organizations utilize social media to effectively reach and build relationship with their audiences. Specifically, it employed a content analysis to examine how the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), U.S. National Park Service (NPS), and National Geographic (NG) take advantage of Twitter to better communicate with their external publics. Out of a total of 6,286 tweets sent by these organizations for a six-month period from January to June 2018, a random sample was used for quantitative analysis. Findings show that there are significant differences in these organizations’ use of message functions as well as mentioning of brand names associated with them. For example, both UNESCO and NPS tend to focus on building community with their external stakeholders, whereas NG’s tweets mainly involves the information function. The current study

will benefit other non-profit organizations by revealing ways in which these organizations purposefully use social media to fulfill their mission and suggesting practical guidelines to strategic communicators in public-sector organizations.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Grace Ji, Boston University; Cheng Hong, California State University Sacramento • Feeling elevated: Examine the mediation role of elevation in CEO activism on employee prosocial engagement • With a survey of 600 U.S. employees, this study investigated the effect of authentic leadership on employees’ prosocial advocacy engagement in the context of CEO activism. Employees’ moral elevation and organizational identification were examined as mediators. Results showed authentic leadership elicited employees’ positive emotion of elevation and enhanced their identification with the company. In turn, employees’ affective (elevation) and cognitive (organizational identification) responses mediated authentic leadership’s impact on motivating employees’ activism participation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Eunyoung Kim, Auburn University at Montgomery; Sung Eun Park, Webster University • Influence of identification, relationship, and involvement of a donor on attitudes towards and behavioral intentions to online donation via SNS • This study seeks what factors predict publics’ behavioral intentions to online donate and share words via social media. Relevant literature was reviewed, and an online survey was conducted to examine hypotheses. The results show that identification, involvement, perceived credibility, and attitudes towards online donation predict intention to donate via social media, while attitudes towards helping others, identification, involvement, and site features affect the intention of Word-of-Mouth. Theoretical and practical implications are presented in the discussion and conclusion.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Sora Kim, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Public Expectations of Government Pandemic-Crisis Communication What and How to Communicate during the COVID-19 Pandemic • Through two representative online surveys in Hong Kong (HK) and the U.S. (US) during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigates, from a public-centric perspective, public expectations of effective government pandemic-crisis communication. It looks specifically at what publics want to be communicated in times of a global pandemic and how. In each region, the findings identify four significant dimensions. Three are culturally universal dimensions—basic responsibility, locus of pandemic-crisis responsibility, and disfavor of promotional tone. The fourth is culture-specific—personal relevance for HK and frequency for the US. Among the significant dimensions, the most highly expected is what people consider government’s basic responsibility in pandemic communication, that is, a basic responsibility dimension. This includes providing instructing and adjusting information and securing accuracy, timeliness, and transparency in pandemic communication. In both regions, respondents preferred by far traditional media and non-governmental sources to social media and governmental sources.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Sining Kong, Texas A & M University at Corpus Christi; Huan Chen, University of Florida • Revisiting SMCC Model: How Chinese Public Relations Practitioners Handle Social Mediated Crisis • As social media is widely used by Chinese organizations, this study comprehensively examines how Chinese public relations practitioners cope with social mediated crisis and how culture interacts with social mediated crisis response. An in-depth interview was used to collect data from twenty-three Chinese public relations practitioners, who had experience in dealing with crises and issues via social media. Results showed that Chinese public relations practitioners use diverse social media platforms to satisfy the publics’ gratifications and social media usage preferences. Besides, results also showed the importance of matching information form and information source in responding social mediated crisis. Furthermore, it revealed how the uniqueness of Chinese culture moderated Chinese public relations social mediated crisis response, such as maintaining harmony and avoiding direct confrontation, collaborating with opinion leaders and influencers to shape publics’ opinions, using no response, apologizing, and self-mockery, and emphasizing the importance of media relations.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Sushma Kumble, Towson University; Pratiti Diddi, Lamar University; Maggie Whitescarver • Social Listening using Machine Learning to Understand Sense Making and Content Dissemination on Twitter: A Case Study of WHO’s Social Listening Strategy During COVID-19 Initial Phase • The study utilized unsupervised machine learning techniques to the CERC framework on 6.1 Million Tweets between January to March 2020 to understand the sensemaking process during COVID-19 among Twitter users. The study also used content analysis to examine WHO’s response to the popular emerging conversations. Results indicate that while WHO’s messaging addressed the dominant topics during the timeframe but did not effectively address misinformation. The paper discusses the implications and recommendations for health communication practitioners.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Sun Young Lee, University of Maryland–College Park; Duli Shi, University of Maryland; John Leach; Saymin Lee; Cody Buntain, New Jersey Institute of Technology • Global Companies’ Use of Social Media for CSR Communication During COVID-19 • The purpose of the study was to examine how companies have communicated their efforts to address COVID-19 on Facebook and Twitter and to evaluate the effectiveness of their message strategies. We conducted a content analysis of 992 Facebook posts and 1,957 tweets between March 11 and May 20, 2020, from the 2020 RepTrak’s 100 most reputable companies. About one-third of the messages (n = 1,059) were related to companies’ responses to COVID-19. Companies mostly highlighted CSR efforts related to their expertise, partnership efforts, or financial resources. The majority of messages did not specify a particular group’s interests, but when they did, the most impacted groups, such as frontline personnel and employees, were addressed. Companies mostly used social media to employ one-way message strategies, but incorporating multimedia and expressing appreciation to others were found to be effective message strategies for engaging publics emotionally. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Hyunmin Lee, Drexel University; Emma Whitehouse, Drexel University • What do you mean by doing the right thing?: Examining corporate social advocacy frames and transparency efforts in Fortune 500 companies’ website • This study examined the state of corporate social advocacy (CSA) initiatives among Fortune 500 companies via a content analysis of their official websites. There is a need to critically examine the ways in which CSA is communicated to create a normative understanding as to what constitutes of ethical and transparent CSA communication. Findings showed that episodic frames were popularly utilized to communicate about CSA and transparency efforts varied according to CSA type and location.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Juan Liu, Columbus State University; Bruce Getz, Columbus State University • How Nike and Gillette Survived the Tension between Corporate Social Advocacy and Boycotting Backlash • Both 2018 Nike’s Colin Kaepernick and 2019 Gillette commercial campaigns received backlash on social media over their messages addressing controversial social-political issues. Drawing on legitimacy theory, this study examines how polarized boycotting and advocating messages on Twitter affect interactive engagement and perceptions of corporate social advocacy. In both Nike and Gillette conditions, individuals who expressed strong value alignment with brands’ campaigns, were more susceptible to be affected by polarized tweets. When evaluating brands’ motivations for corporate social advocacy, results showed that individuals with weak value alignment were more likely to be affected by polarized messages. However, this pattern is only found in the Gillette condition. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Stephanie Madden, Penn State University; Nicholas Eng, Penn State University; Jessica Myrick, Penn State University • Public Perceptions of Using the Wireless Emergency Alert System for COVID-19: Lessons for State Government Crisis Communication • On November 25, 2020, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) sent out a COVID-19 public health message via the Wireless Emergency Alert system. Using survey (N = 212) and interview (N = 19) research, this study sought to understand the targeted publics’ reaction to this message and factors impacting potential behavior change after receiving this message. Because COVID-19 response has relied on state governments, this research provides important findings for government communicators at the state level.

Research Paper • Student • Open Competition • Yufan “Sunny” Qin, University of Florida; Alexis Fitzsimmons, University of Florida; Eve Heffron, University of Florida; Marcia DiStaso, University of Florida • Communicating the Big Picture with Employees: The Impacts of CEO Vision Communication on Employee Engagement • Communicating an organizational vision with employees can be critical to help employees internalize the vision, which might in turn increase their willingness to get engaged with the work and subsequently achieving higher goals. The aim of this study is to examine whether and how CEO vision communication could influence employee engagement. This study also proposes employees’ perceptions of work meaningfulness and organizational identification as the potential underlying mechanism that mediate the relationship between CEO vision communication and employee engagement. An online survey was conducted with employees across various industries in the U.S.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Margaret Ritsch, Washington State University; Erin Tomson, Washington State University • Internal Activism at Amazon: Rhetorical Strategies and the Public Relations Response • “This study examined the public relations response to employee activism at Amazon during the Covid-19 pandemic. Public relations has typically been examined from a functional perspective, which largely ignores the power dynamics between an organization and its employees, who are important stakeholders that contribute to the organization’s public image. Critical theory provides a useful lens to examine the dynamics of organizational power and control, although this approach has typically been applied to the study of internal communication dynamics. The study addresses this gap by using a critical rhetorical approach to examine Amazon’s response to employee activism. Researchers conducted qualitative content analysis of news media coverage and Amazon’s company content (e.g. websites and public statements). The data indicates that Amazon spokespeople used aggressive rhetorical strategies in their communication with and about employee activists that discouraged unionization and ultimately attempted to prevent current and former Amazon employees from speaking up about their experiences working for the company.

Keywords: activism, employee, public relations, internal communication”

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Baobao Song; Weiting Tao • Unpack the Relational and Behavioral Outcomes of Internal CSR: Highlighting Dialogic Communication and Managerial Facilitation • The current study examines how corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication and management contributes to internal public relationship building and employees’ megaphoning behaviors. Specifically, it investigates how organization-public dialogical communication (OPDC) about CSR and the organizational leaders’ facilitation behavior towards employee CSR engagement influence employees’ perceptions of two different distinct types of organization-public relationships (OPRs), i.e., communal and exchange relationships. Structural equation modeling results of 660 on-line survey responses suggest that OPDC has a positive association with communal relationship and negative association with exchange relationship. Facilitation behavior positively contributes to employee exchange relationships. Both communal and exchange relationships are positively associated with employees’ positive megaphoning. Whereas negative megaphoning is negatively linked with communal relationships and positively linked with employees’ exchange relationships with the companies. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on internal CSR communication and management. More importantly, this study uncovers nuanced effects of CSR on internal public communal and exchange relationship building.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Open Competition • Edson Tandoc Jr; Pei Wen Wong, Nanyang Technological; Chen Lou; Hyunjin Kang, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological U; Shruti Malviya, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication & Information, Nanyang Technological U • EXTENDED ABSTRACT: Public Communication in the Age of Fake News • The rise of fake news has posed threats to societies around the world, affecting various institutions. One area that has not been sufficiently explored is how it has affected public communication. This study examines how the rise of fake news has affected the roles, resources, and routines of public communicators in Singapore. Through in-depth interviews, this research explores how various communication officers across Singapore’s government agencies perceive, and respond to, the fake news crisis.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Brooke Witherow, Hood College • The role of community and social capital in community building • While the role of social capital in community building has been discussed previously, the terms community and community building are rarely defined (e.g. Dodd et al., 2015; Jin & Lee, 2013; Sommerfeldt 2013a, 2013b). This qualitative case study examines the role of community and social capital in community building through community policing. 26 semi-structured interviews with police administration, patrol officers, and community leaders were conducted. The interviews with patrol officers occurred during seven ride-alongs.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Leping You; Linda Hon, University of Florida; Yu-Hao Lee • Examining Value Congruence and Outcome-relevant involvement as Antecedents of Corporate Political Advocacy • Drawing from the theoretical foundation of corporate political advocacy (CPA), this study aims to understand value congruence and outcome-relevant involvement as the antecedents of CPA that companies should consider when taking a stance on contentious sociopolitical issues. This study conducted a 2 x 2 online experiment to examine how both antecedents affect consumers’ attitudinal evaluation on the credibility and legitimacy of a CPA and predict consumers’ supportive behavioral intentions toward a CPA.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • April YUE, University of Connecticut • Navigating change in the Era of COVID-19: The Role of Top Leaders’ Charismatic Rhetoric and Employees’ Organizational Identification • “The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had tremendous and swift effects on organizational change. This study examined how organizations can leverage leadership and employee resources to facilitate positive change outcomes. Drawing from the self-concept based motivational theory of charismatic leadership and substitutes for leadership theory, the current study proposed a theoretical model connecting top leaders’ charismatic rhetoric, employees’ affective commitment to change, and employees’ turnover intention. Furthermore, the study investigated contingencies that may modify the relationship between leadership communication and followers’ outcomes. Results from an online panel of 417 U.S. employees showed that top leaders’ use of charismatic rhetoric during change led to followers’ affective commitment to change, which decreased their turnover intention. Furthermore, employees’ organizational identification moderated this relationship. When employees have low identification with their organizations, top leaders’ charismatic rhetoric to address the immediate change is more needed.

Keywords: leadership communication, charismatic rhetoric, change communication, organizational identification, affective commitment, turnover intention”

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Xueying Zhang, North Carolina A&T State; Ziyuan Zhou, Bentley University • The influence of issue attitude on consumers’ reaction toward corporate social advocacy: A moderated mediation path through cognitive dissonance • Corporate social advocacy (CSA) has gained increasing attention in public relations research. The psychological mechanisms regarding how consumers react to a CSA position that conflicts with their own have not yet been examined. Employing cognitive dissonance theory, this study examines how consumers’ preexisting attitude toward an issue influences their reaction to CSA through cognitive dissonance. An experiment (study1) and a survey (study 2) were conducted on Qualtrics with participants recruited from MTurk. Gay marriage rights and gun control issue were chosen as the CSA topics. The results indicated that a conflict between a consumer’s preexisting attitude and a corporation’s stance on a controversial issue leads to cognitive dissonance. Dissonance mediates consumers’ responses to counter-attitudinal CSA, in terms of perceiving the company as biased and intending to boycott the company. Value involvement and CCI significantly moderated the effect of consumers’ attitudes toward CSA on cognitive dissonance, but the effect varies between the two issues. The results help PR practitioners to better understand the segmented consumer audiences and provide a few pieces of practical advice to minimize the potential risk of expressing advocacy on a position of a controversial social political issue.

Research Paper • Faculty • Open Competition • Ziyuan Zhou, Bentley University; Chuqing Dong, Michigan State University • Matching words with actions: Understanding the effects of CSA stance-action consistency on negative consumer responses • Corporation social advocacy (CSA) is a popular topic in public relations research. However, few studies have considered the issue of consistency between corporations taking a stance on a controversial issue and acting accordingly. This study proposed a new concept, CSA stance-action consistency, to investigate the negative consumer responses when corporations violate their CSA promises. A 4 × 2 between-subject experiment indicated that CSA stance-action consistency significantly predicted negative word-of-mouth and boycott intentions. Besides, social issue activism moderated such an effect, while CSA record did not. This study added one more piece of evidence on the risks of CSA and encouraged corporations to fully understand stakeholders’ expectations of CSA before getting involved with controversial issues.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Ayman Alhammad, University of Kansas • How China used Twitter to Repair Its Image amid the COVID-19 Crisis • “In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have suffered in different ways politically, economically, and socially because of this health crisis. China registered the first case of COVID-19 and found itself the recipient of negative publicity, some of which, stated by scientists, blamed China for the virus in a Wuhan laboratory, or covered the nature of the disease until it was out of control (Verma, 2020). Because of comprehensive widely negative consequences, China’s image has been distorted in many countries. That led the Chinese government to use a different medium to deal with the crisis, one of which is social media platforms. As Saudi Arabia is one of China’s important economic partners, Beijing is concerned that health crises could affect negatively its economic interests in Saudi Arabia. In fact, China has faced serious obstacles in terms of import and export goods (Hayakawa & Mukunoki, 2021).

China decided to employ digital diplomacy by making its ambassadors communicate with the local and international communities (Brandt & Schafer, 2020). Chinese ambassador, Chen Weiqing, speaks to Saudis via Twitter as Saudi Arabia is ranked eighth in the world with 12.45 million users (Statista, 2020).

This paper examines the image repair strategies that the Chinese ambassador in Saudi Arabia employed during the coronavirus pandemic to restore China’s image there. This study adopted rhetorical analysis, building on the theoretical framework proposed by Brinson & Benoit (1999).

An examination of the ambassador’s tweets revealed a variety of image restoration strategies, including denial, bolstering, compensation, and minimization.”

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Zahedur Arman, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • The Networked Huawei Agendas during the US-China Trade War: The Interrelationships between Huawei, the News Media, and Public Tweets • This study examines interrelationships between the networked Huawei agendas, the U.S. and Chinese news media agendas, and Twitter users’ issue agendas on Twitter during the US-China Trade War. Social network analysis is used as a theory and method to analyze Huawei’s public relations activities on Twitter, news media, and Twitter users’ network. This study found that Huawei’s direct networked agenda setting to Twitter users is more successful than the news media’s networked agenda-setting to the Twitter users. This study is among the first to explore cross-nation networked agenda building and networked agenda setting effects on Twitter. It also found that the US media did not follow Huawei’s networked agendas, but the Chinese media followed the corporation’s issue agendas during the US-China trade war. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Bugil Chang, University of Minnesota • I Distrust You All Because One of You Did Something Wrong: Spillover Effect of Distrust Elicited by an NPO’s Crisis on Overall NPOs • This study examined how public distrust formed by the crisis of an NPO spills over to other organizations in the same and different sectors through experiment. Overall, when faced with a crisis, the participants distrusted not only organizations in the same sector as the crisis-stricken organization but also organizations in a different sector. The effect was fully mediated by participants’ perceived distrust toward the crisis-stricken organization.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Enzhu Dong, University of Miami; Dongqing Xu • From CSR to Employees’ Megaphoning Behavior: The Roles of Communal Relationship and Corporate Reputation • This study examined how employees’ perceived overall CSR activities impact employees’ positive megaphoning through the mediation of employees’ perceived communal relationship and communal willingness, taking the moderation effect of perceived reputation into consideration. To address the hypotheses, a survey among employees across different organizations was conducted. Results of the moderated mediation examination supported the hypotheses. These findings contributed to the understanding of CSR effects on employee communication behavior and provided implications for organizational management.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Yoosun Ham, Indiana University; Ejae Lee, Indiana University; Eugene Kim, The Media School, Indiana University Bloomington; Sung Hyun Lee • Examining Publics’ Comparative Evaluations of Government Communication and Strength Ties as Predictors of Country Reputation • During the COVID-19 outbreak, media tended to report on how different Asian countries — China, Japan, and South Korea — were handling the situation by using comparisons. U.S. citizens have been exposed to information about Asian countries and could compare and evaluate how those countries’ governments communicate with their citizens to help contain the new coronavirus. This study attempted to examine how country reputation could be associated with publics’ comparative evaluations about the dialogic communication competency of a foreign country’s government through news media exposure about how that government contained and/or mitigated the new coronavirus. This study also investigated associations between the perceived tie strength between the U.S. and Asian countries and those countries’ reputations. This study used online experimental surveys. Its findings suggest that country reputation was significantly associated with comparative evaluations about mutuality and openness in Asian countries’ government dialogic communication and perceived tie strength with the U.S. government. Theoretical implications and practical contributions are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Jie Jin, University of Florida • Can CEO Activism be Good for the Organization? The Way CEO Activism on Sexual Orientation Equality Achieves High Young Employee Work Engagement • “Whether a CEO should speak out about controversial issues is a hotly debated topic across the United States. In today’s politically polarized environment, Americans have changed their expectations about whether companies and CEOs should lead social change. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that CEOs shouldn’t avoid taking actions unrelated to their business, the purpose of this study is to examine how CEOs’ pro-sexual orientation equality statements may lead to young employee work engagement from the perspective of social exchange theory. A conceptual model with nine propositions is proposed to reveal how CEO activism generates positive employee outcomes.

Keywords: CEO activism, sexual orientation equality, work engagement, social exchange theory”

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Nana Kwame Osei Fordjour, University of New Mexico; Timothy Kwakye Karikari, University of International Business and Economic, Beijing, China • Twitter styles by the leaders of the 116th US House: A concurrent triangulation • Situating our study in the context of a global pandemic and a time of seeming polarization in the US, we analyzed the tweets (n = 480) of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. We employ the concurrent triangulation approach and blend three theoretical approaches to analyze their credit-claiming behavior, position-taking, attacks as well as the salient frames in their tweets. Findings indicate there is no significant difference in their position-taking and credit-claiming tweets, however, Majority Leader McCarthy tweeted more negatively than Speaker Pelosi. We uncover four salient frames which are: Economic debate, electoral integrity, COVID-19 response, and the appointment of Supreme Court Justice. Ultimately, we juxtapose the qualitative frames with the quantitative findings to give deeper understanding into the three quantitative categories and provide insights into the implications of such tweets.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Michelle Rossi • How has the United Nations portrayed International Women’s Day before and after founding UN Women? • By applying feminist theory and framing for public relations, this research explored the range of debate within press releases distributed about International Women’s Day before and after the founding of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, UN Women, in 2011. Using Ethnographic Content Analysis (ECA), this study found that press releases were more descriptive about events in the decade before, and more focused on actions in the decade after.

Research Paper • Student • Student competition • Dongqing Xu • Different Brands Stealing Thunder: How Brand Personality Impacts Crisis Response Strategy Choice • This study aimed to examine the impact of brand personality on participants’ brand perceptions and crisis response evaluation. To be more specific, the study aimed to examine how stealing thunder (i.e., brands disclosing the crisis and response before revealed by the third-party) as a proactive response strategy could impact brands with different personalities in crises. Employing a 2 (brand personality: sincere vs. exciting) × 2 (crisis response type: proactive vs. reactive) experimental design, the study found the buffering effect of sincere brand personality on participants’ perceived credibility, brand attitude, and purchase intention in crisis. In terms of crisis performance evaluations, brand personality was found moderating the effectiveness of the stealing thunder strategy, such that stealing thunder lost its power when employed by a sincere brand. These findings contributed to the extant brand personality literature and suggested a potential boundary of the stealing thunder strategy.

Research Paper • Faculty • Teaching competition • Virginia Harrison, Clemson University • Teaching Philanthropy: How Can Public Relations Courses Prepare Future Fundraisers and Motivate Giving? • Scholars have suggested that fundraising education is a specialty of public relations. This study examines how a fundraising-specific service-learning project may help prepare future fundraisers. A survey of qualitative and quantitative data was administered to public relations students in a fundraising-focused class and in other service-learning classes. Students in the fundraising-focused class were more knowledgeable about nonprofits but were not more inclined to enter the profession. However, they were more motivated to donate after graduation.

Research Paper • Faculty • Teaching competition • KiYong Kim • Dynamic Capabilities and Social Media Education: Professional Expectations and Curricular Preparation • “When Covid-19 impacted regular communication dynamics for organizations, social media became even more prominent in brand communications. A growing body of research confirms training in social media is an essential part of knowing “”how to”” reach one’s organization’s publics (Kruset et al., 2018; Plowman et al., 2015), making social media a mainstay in the public relations educational curriculum (Meganck et al., 2020). This study seeks to bridge the themes found by Kim (2021) related to public relations practice and dynamic capabilities (Teece, 2007) with social media educational practices. This study suggests that there is a link between dynamic capabilities and social media educational practices.

Keywords

Dynamic Capabilities, Social media education, public relations professionals, Case studies, scenarios, experiential learning, digital leadership, VUCA”

Research Paper • Faculty • Teaching competition • Amanda Weed, Kennesaw State University; Adrienne Wallace, Grand Valley State University; Betsy Emmons, Samford University; Alisa Agozzino, Ohio Northern University • Leveling the Playing Field: Assessing Issues of Equity, Transparency, and Experiential Learning in the PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition • This study provides the first academic research examination about the Public Relations Student Society of America Bateman Case Study Competition. Research-based insights identify varying perspectives on if the competition meets current students’ needs. Through insights gained from a survey of faculty and professional advisers of 2017-2020 Bateman competition teams, the authors have identified critical perspectives and areas for improvement to the competition along the issues of equity, transparency, and experiential learning. Study results address alignment of knowledge, skills, and abilities identified by the Commission on Public Relations Education and university curricula.

<2021 Abstracts

Entertainment Studies Interest Group

2021 Abstracts

Research Paper • Faculty • Audrey Halverson, Brigham Young University; Kris Boyle, Brigham Young University; Kevin John, Brigham Young University • Battle Royale and Addictive Gaming: The Mediating Role of Player Motivations • Previous research on the prevalence of addictive behaviors among video game players has been varied; however, there are emerging concerns that battle royale games may be particularly conducive to addiction. This study utilizes a survey sample of 536 battle royale players to investigate addiction outcomes for battle royale players and the mediating role of various player motivations.

Research Paper • Student • Seung Woo Chae; Sung Hyun Lee • Sharing Emotion while Spectating Video Game Play • This paper examines how the COVID-19 pandemic associates with Twitch users’ emotion, using natural language processing (NLP). Two comparable sets of text data were collected from Twitch internet relay chats (IRCs): one after the outbreak of the pandemic and another one before that. Positive emotion, negative emotion, and attitude to social interaction were tested by comparing the two text sets via a dictionary-based NLP program. Particularly regarding negative emotion, three negative emotions anger, anxiety, and sadness were measured given the nature of the pandemic. The results show that users’ anger and anxiety significantly increased after the outbreak of the pandemic, while changes in sadness and positive emotion were not statically significant. In terms of attitude to social interaction, users used significantly fewer “social” words after the outbreak of the pandemic than before. These findings were interpreted considering the nature of Twitch as a unique live mixed media platform, and how the COVID-19 pandemic is different from previous crisis events was discussed based on prior literature.

Research Paper • Student • Meredith Collins; Allison Lazard; Ashley Hedrick; Tushar Varma • It’s Nothing Like Cancer: Young Adults with Cancer Reflect on Memorable Entertainment Media • “Entertainment media simulates social experiences, facilitates coping, and develops resiliency in young adults, ages 18 – 39. These outcomes could be beneficial for young adults with cancer, who typically report lacking social support and suboptimal psychological outcomes during and after treatment. Guided by the memorable messages framework, we investigated which entertainment media young adults with cancer found memorable and why.

We conducted 25 semi-structured, online interviews. Participants were asked to identify any media title that was memorable or meaningful during their cancer experience; they were also asked to explain whether the title had a positive or negative meaning to them, as well as why they felt that way.

Participants were mostly female (79.2%) and White (80%), with a breast cancer diagnosis (45.8%). Media portrayals were helpful if they prompted exploration of emotions and the creation of meaning around the cancer experience, or if they took participants’ minds off cancer. Most entertainment media focused only on death from cancer. Our participants called for more nuanced portrayals that better reflected their lived reality.

Our results revealed media are used as social surrogates, and to find affirmation and validation. On the other hand, our participants felt that entertainment media focused too heavily on death. This may contribute to internalized stigma and decrease psychological functioning, or affect the perceptions of cancer-free peers. Our participants called for more nuanced portrayals that depicted the realities of living with cancer. Future research should further probe the effects of entertainment media on psychological outcomes for young adults with cancer.”

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Serena Daalmans, Radboud University, Behavioural Science Institute; Mariska Kleemans; Cedra van Erp, Radboud University Nijmegen, Communication Science; Addy Weijers • All the Reasons Why: Exploring the Relationship between Morally Controversial Content in 13 Reasons Why and Viewers’ Moral Rumination • Via in-depth interviews with young adults (N = 45), we sought to gain deeper insights into the experiences of and reflective thoughts (i.e. moral rumination) about controversial media content. In order to map how moral rumination is incited in viewers, we chose a recent example of controversial television, namely 13 Reasons Why. The results will provide a comprehensive account of moral rumination as a concept, and will thereby further field of positive media psychology.

Research Paper • Student • Stefanie East • A Little Bit Alexis: From Self-Absorbed Socialite to Self-Made Career Woman • The cultural impact of Schitt’s Creek and its eclectic mix of characters has resonated with viewers across the world, partly because of its message of love and acceptance, but also because of the strong female characters. This essay offers an analysis of one the most iconic characters from the show, Alexis Rose. Using Kenneth Burke’s method of pentadic criticism, it will examine the breaking of a stereotype and impact of character development on an audience.

Research Paper • Faculty • Erika Engstrom; Ralph Beliveau, University of Oklahoma • Masculinity’s Representative Anecdote in the MCU: Resistance and Revision in “Avengers: Endgame” • This paper interrogates the 2019 film “Avengers: Endgame” using the lens of hegemonic masculinity. By examining the behaviors and storylines of its central male superheroes, four main themes that challenge hegemonic masculinity were identified: (1) seeking help from and giving help to others, (2) emotional expressiveness, (3) expressions of fear and vulnerability, and (4) emphasis on father-child relationships. These merge to tell an overarching “story”—the representative anecdote—of a progressive and positive masculinity, one that affirms that super-heroic men are not afraid to show vulnerability, uncertainty, and affection. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the largest entertainment franchises in media history, and the positive masculinity presented in this film demonstrates a slow but progressive evolution of gender portrayals that hold the potential for positive representations that reflect the many ways manhood is performed in reality.

Extended Abstract • Faculty • Chris Etheridge, University of Kansas; Fatemeh Shayesteh, University of Kansas; Remington Miller, University of Arkansas at Little Rock; Abigail Carlson, University of Arkansas at Little Rock • From “hunky beefcakes” to “beautiful” Homecoming queens: Perpetrators and victims in true crime podcasts • Because this podcasting platform is still relatively new, few studies have considered how perpetrators of crime and victims of crime have been portrayed. Through a content analysis of true crime podcasts, this study will address a gap in the scholarship by chronicling descriptions of victims and perpetrators in several popular true crime podcasts.

Extended Abstract • Student • Heesoo Jang, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Madhavi Reddi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • [Extended Abstract] Intimacy and Connections: Celebrity Culture in Indian and South Korean Television Shows • This study examined how celebrities’ private lives are used as core elements of Asian television shows. The countries of interest were India and Korea, as the entertainment industries of both countries have increasingly challenged the global dominance of Hollywood. Using qualitative textual analysis, two prominent shows –Taste of Wife (Korea) and Koffee with Karan (India)—were analyzed. Both shows used celebrities’ personal lives and connections to create intimacy with the public and amplify visibility.

Research Paper • Student • Wei Lin • More contributors, shorter continuance? The paradox of entertainment contents contribution • Controversial debates are going on over the issue whether incentive to contribute is to diminish or increase with the expansion of group size. Previous studies on open collaborative platform for knowledge generation and sharing suggest that shrinking group size weakened motivation of contribution. This paper introduces group size into cognitive evaluation theory. By tracing behavior of video contributors in a hedonic information system for 20 months, we illustrate the negative effects of group size of entertainment contributors on intrinsic motivation and social rewards, which lead the discontinuance and inactivity of new contributors. Different mechanisms in hedonic and knowledge-sharing information system are discussed as well.

Research Paper • Student • JINDONG LIU, CUHK; biying wu • A “soul” emerges when AI meets Anime via hologram: a qualitative study on users of new anime-style hologram social robot “Hupo” • Anime-style hologram social robots are the latest entertainment products. This paper discusses how social robots and anime content converge via this new technology. Through interviews (N=18) in the case of Hupo, it identifies unique media phenomena including anime-style gamification and idolization of social robots, anime-assisted interactional order maintenance, and AI empowerment of anime characters. It argues anime fandom practice compensates for inadequate AI incapability, which challenges the vision of realistic human simulation in anthropomorphism.

Research Paper • Faculty • Patrick Osei-Hwere, West Texas A&M University; Enyonam Osei-Hwere, West Texas A&M University; Li Chen, West Texas A&M University • Spotlighting Emotional Intelligence in Children’s Media: Emotional Portrayals in Disney Channel Television Series. • A content analysis of emotions depicted in five Disney channel television series using social cognitive theory, entertainment education, and emotional intelligence constructs, found that characters depicted emotions of happiness, anger, and fear most frequently. There were no significant associations between gender and emotion display. Researchers found significant associations between emotion types and variables of age, emotion labeling, emotion regulation, emotion display target, and emotion display location. Recommendations for media researchers and content creators are discussed.

Research Paper • Student • Suri Pourmodheji, Indiana University, Bloomington • Keeping Up With the Yummy Mummies? Examining Kim Kardashian’s Mediated Yummy Mummy Images on the reality television program Keeping Up With The Kardashians versus Instagram posts. • “This chapter examines concepts of body image and the yummy mummy in motherhood, by analyzing select scenes from the reality television program, Keeping Up With The Kardashians (Keeping Up), and Instagram posts from Kim Kardashian’s personal Instagram page, @kimkardashian. Contextualizing the yummy mummy, the pressures of maintaining the bikini ready body for mothers, exploring body as commodity, and examining a fantasy of motherhood, I apply these concepts to an analysis of Kardashian’s body during her motherhood journey. Furthermore, I argue that Kardashian’s body functions in a hegemonic way as a seemingly attainable goal for postpartum women and those looking to get back into shape post baby. This chapter asks the following questions, how does Kardashian convey the yummy mummy concept referenced by Littler and Jermyn throughout Keeping Up and on Instagram? How does Kardashian function as a persona in flux between her appearance on Keeping Up and on Instagram? Further, how does the in-flux persona play a role in the way she portrays motherhood on Instagram? To address these questions, I use visual and contextual analysis on select scenes and Instagram posts that focus on Kardashian and her body as a mother. From analyzing these examples, I argue for the following conclusions: Kardashian’s role as a mother is portrayed through self-critical language to reinforce an authentic display of the yummy mummy body, through confident Instagram posts depicting her desirable body, and through post-racial visual discourse represented in family pictures on Instagram.

Research Paper • Student • Rachel Son, University of Florida • K-dramas and the American youth: Conceptualizing the aspiration of a youthful utopia • The purpose of the current paper is to develop a model to explain why American youth audiences choose to watch K-dramas. A rationalism approach by deriving concepts from existing theory to identify the variables of the model. The theoretical perspective comes from the theory of Temporarily Expanding the Boundaries of the Self (Slater et al., 2014), as well as contributions from entertainment research regarding enjoyment and affective motivations (Oliver & Raney, 2011). K-drama narratives is the independent variable and youthful utopia aspiration is the proposed dependent variable. As audiences begin temporarily expanding the boundaries of self to restore their identity and attain self-fulfillment, they are transported into the narrative where they identify with the characters’ experience in the stories. This leads to the American youth audiences to learn something about their own identity and life by expanding their understanding about South Korean culture through drama portrayals. In sum, audiences find meaning for their own lives that cannot be gained by self-affirmation through boundary expansion while viewing K-dramas.

Research Paper • Student • Nathan Spencer, The University of Memphis • License to angst: A study of female characters in Christopher Nolan films • This paper is a textual analysis of female characters in Christopher Nolan films. Its purpose is to determine how Nolan represents women in his films, thus adding to the literature on Nolan and on women in blockbuster films. The data consisted of a sample from three of Nolan’s most popular films, The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar. The data was organized into five distinct categories: Dead Wife Syndrome; Women as a plot device for men; Violence as shock value; Mommy issues; and Behind every strong woman is… a man? The results reveal that Nolan’s stories revolve around men, reducing women to stereotyped subordinates. Nolan actively weaponizes his female characters’ femininity, treating them violently in his stories to motivate his male characters and tantalize the audience. His consistent successes over different genres point to moviegoers wanting to consume the stories he tells, regardless of content. This study’s results determine that his influence is directly hindering positive female representation in mainstream blockbuster films.

Research Paper • Faculty • Alec Tefertiller, Baylor University; Lindsey Maxwell, Southern Mississippi • Am I binge-watching or just glued to the couch? Viewing patterns, audience activity, and psychological antecedents for different types of extended-time television viewing • The phenomenon of binge-watching has received considerable attention in both the media and in research. However, extended-time television viewing is not only confined to narrative binges. This study sought to better understand the differences between different types of extended-time television viewing, including binge-watching. While little evidence was found to suggest a connection between problematic mental health antecedents and extended-time viewing, differences in audience attention and overall patterns of consumption were found.

Research Paper • Faculty • Kelsey Whipple, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Ivy Ashe; Lourdes Cueva Chacon, San Diego State University • Aux News: Examining Listeners’ Perceptions of the Journalistic Function of Podcasts • Podcasting is a well-established medium with a rapidly growing audience but no established ethical standards or practices. Through a representative national survey of American internet users (n = 1,025), this research examined how much podcast listeners trust podcasts and how they evaluate their journalistic merit. Podcast listeners trust podcasts less than most other news sources, with the exception of online news and satirical news programs. And though listeners agree that podcasting is a form of journalism, a way to stay informed about news and current events, and a valuable source of information, they are more skeptical of podcasts when comparing them to traditional news sources. Age is the only demographic category that predicts listening frequency.

Research Paper • Faculty • Qingru Xu; Hanyoung Kim; Andrew Billings • Let’s Watch Live Streaming! Exploring Streamer Credibility in Influencing Purchase Intention in Video Game Streamer Marketing • This study aims to examine the effect of streamer credibility on purchase intention in the context of video game streamer marketing, and further explore the underlying mechanism of the examined relationship via a mediation analysis. With recruiting 277 participants in the United State, this study (a) confirms the significant and positive relationship between streamer credibility and purchase intention, and also finds that (b) the mediators of parasocial relationships and streamer loyalty partially mediate the effect of streamer credibility on purchase intention. Surprisingly, the indirect effect of streamer credibility through the two mediators on purchase intention is stronger than the total effect; meanwhile, the direct effect of streamer credibility on purchase intention in the mediation model remains significant but negative. By applying structural equation modeling analysis, the current research offers a theoretical explanation for how streamer credibility influences viewers’ purchase intention in the context of video game streamer marketing, with practical and practical implications outlined.

Extended Abstract • Student • Wenjing Yang; Ruyue Ma • Online and offline : How MOBA games affect adolescence’s Discourse • MOBA games are now a big part of adolescences’ daily life , which not only affect their entertainment but also affect their communication . This paper draws on the theory of scenes proposed by Joshua Meyrowitz (1985) , using the way of participant observation and depth interview . The intial findings are that MOBA games realize the integration of scenarios in three dimensions and thus provided some new discourse for adolescence , which affect their communication and social interaction .

Extended Abstract • Student • Casey Yetter, University of Oklahoma; Alex Eschbach, University of Oklahoma • Earth’s Moralist Heroes: Virtue depictions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe • The purpose of this paper is to identify how virtue ethics are depicted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). A thematic analysis was used to analyze 12 of Aristotle’s virtues (courage, temperance, liberality, magnificence, magnanimity, gentleness, truthfulness, wittiness, friendliness, modesty, and righteous indignation) in the protagonist superheroes in the MCU films, the most successful film franchise in cinematic history.

<2021 Abstracts