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Ethnicity continues to be a political and social force on the national and international scenes. After a discussion of the literature on ethnicity and communication, this article tracks a panel representing 13 different White ethnic groups in a metropolitan area. Data were collected every 4 years, beginning in 1976 and continuing through 1992. In 1976, 13 ethnic groups were surveyed, and 11 groups were tracked in subsequent surveys. Although each wave collected data unique to that period, all surveys included items tapping ethnic identification, ethnic behaviors, ethnic media use, and mainstream media use. Using a variety of analytic techniques, the author finds evidence that ethnic media use leads to stronger ethnic identification across time, suggesting that ethnic media can help sustain ethnic identification in a multicultural context.

This article reports on a study that treats recent growth in ethnic awareness as an opportunity to study cultural concepts at a more manageable level. Scholars in this area have pitted social class against ethnicity, and people moving up the status ladder were expected to assimilate. Ethnic communication holds ethnic groups together but also may mediate changes in ethnic behaviors and attitudes. Changes in social status are viewed as competing influences, acting directly and indirectly through changes in ethnic communication networks. Some 392 people represented 11 ethnic groups in a panel study that tapped communication and ethnic behaviors in 1976 and 4 years later. Correlations show income is negatively related to ethnic behaviors at time one but not at time two. Cross-lagged correlations show income is negatively associated with observing ethnic customs but not perceived change in ethnic ID; education is unrelated to either ethnic measure. Regression analysis shows that neither status variable is related to ethnic ID when communication and other variables have been controlled. Several path analytic models map the relationships presented in the literature; in all models, the two social status variables have no direct relationship on ethnic ID or behavior; some mediation occurs in the 1976 model but not the 1980 model.

A new unit of analysis, the Media Behavior Unit, is introduced to examine specific instances of newspaper reading, television viewing, and radio listening. The analytic unit views media behavior as a series of points in time, beginning with the desire that some function be fulfilled and ending with the actual behavior and fulfillment of functions. The media behavior unit is used to examine relationships at the situational level. Media behaviors are characterized as media-seeking (MS), where the individual moves toward the medium without regard to content, and as content-seeking (CS), where the movement is directed toward particular content found in a medium. The MS-CS distinction is used to test several situational hypotheses and to examine the degree of consistency within an individual's media use. A high degree of consistency was found for behavior within each medium, but little consistency was noted for behaviors across media.

Work organizations increasingly adopt shared electronic databases. However, employees' unwillingness to contribute to shared resources undermines the utility of such technologies. Current research is limited to either a utilitarian or normative perspective. To advance understanding in this area, this study proposes a three-dimensional framework. It includes the utilitarian and normative perspectives as two complementary dimensions in addition to a third collaborative dimension. Based on this framework, the study identifies three key organizational processes and advances an additive model to predict employees' willingness to contribute to shared electronic databases. An empirical test was conducted to assess the model in a large manufacturing organization. The test showed both significant overall effects of the model and significant main effects of each predictor variable. The article will discuss the findings and address both theoretical and practical implications.

The continuing convergence of communication technologies is prompting a reconceptualization of media channels and their content, involving traditional mass media and point-to-point communication content delivered via wired or wireless channels. One of the more widely touted multimedia video technologies involves the provision of several hundred voice, data, and video channels via an interactive coaxial cable system. The present study explores audience intentions to experiment with or adopt such a multimedia cable technology service.