Suchergebnisse

Uses and gratifications models derived from the mass media literature were applied to the study of media satisfaction and choice in organizations. Telephone interviews were administered to key informants in 241 organizations, which varied in size, type of business, environmental instability, and length of time the most frequently used communication technology had been in place. Of the models tested, cross-channel discrepancies in gratifications obtained from media alternatives predicted choice of each channel and satisfaction with a communication technology but not satisfaction with face-to-face or written memos. Measurement of gratifications sought at a general level of organizational communication content seeking yielded inconclusive results for models incorporating gratifications sought. Further research is needed with channel-specific gratifications sought and the expectancy-value models not tested here.

In a communication model of neighborhood mobilization, communication variables are seen as mediating between measures of neighborhood mobilization and indicators of social status, perceptual frames and neighborhood commitment. Using data from a survey of three inner city neighborhoods, four path models are constructed, one for each dependent variable. Attention to neighborhood newspapers predicts to awareness of local groups and their activities but not to actual participation, which is more closely linked to interpersonal communication. The exogenous variables predict to communication but some direct paths also persist. Education is directly connected to the two awareness measures, income is related to the estimation of turnout for self-help projects, and fear of gentrification predicts to group participation.

Path analysis of neighborhood and metropolitan survey data suggest that communication contributed to commitment to remain in a neighborhood or metropolitan community via a process of belief and attitude formation. When controlling for length of residence and other social characteristics, communication variables contributed to belief and attitude formation about the area, but attitudes were a better predictor of intention to stay in a neighborhood than they were of intention to remain in the metro area.

The purpose of this study was to determine the dimensional structure of mentoring and other communication support behaviors in an academic environment. Professors (N = 224) at two universities were surveyed. A communication support questionnaire was developed, and three separate factors emerged as elements of perceived communication support: the Mentor/Protégé Dimension, the Collegial Social Dimension, and the Col legial Task Dimension. The Mentor/Protégé Dimension appears to represent the tradition al concept of mentoring. The Collegial Social Dimension is more reciprocal and friendship oriented. The Collegial Task Dimension reflects reciprocal support that is work related. The study supported the idea of multidimensional support within an academic organization.