Department of Advertising and Public Relations

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Browsing Department of Advertising and Public Relations by Author "Berger, Bruce K."

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    Excellent leadership in public relations: an application of multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis models in assessing cross-national measurement invariance
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2009) Meng, Juan; Berger, Bruce K.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    Prior research suggests that the construct of leadership and theory surrounding knowledge in terms of its content, use, and role within the organization are complex. Leadership spans many levels of analysis and can be approached from different perspectives and disciplines. However, to date no research has empirically explored the leadership construct and how it contributes to communication effectiveness from the perspective of public relations practice. Thus, the attempts made here are to define the construct of excellent leadership in public relations, to identify its key dimensions, and, more importantly, to develop measurement scales of the constructs from the perspective of quantitative methodology. More specifically, this dissertation addresses the following five questions: (1) How is excellent leadership defined in public relations? (2) As a complex, multifaceted phenomenon, what key dimensions does the construct of leadership in public relations encompass? (3) How are organizational structure and culture related to the achievement of excellent leadership in public relations? Given the importance of cultural influence on leadership effectiveness, (4) Are some dimensions of excellent leadership in public relations universally relevant while some are culturally specific? and (5) What core values and qualities of public relations leadership do different cultures emphasize? In order to answer these questions, both quantitative and qualitative research phases are involved. The first phase involves online surveys to different groups of public relations practitioners in multiple locations. The conceptual measurement model and structural model are tested by using the collected quantitative data. In the second phase, in-depth interviews with senior public relations executives in the U.K. and Singapore are conducted and the results further strengthen the findings revealed at the quantitative phase. Overall, the research findings present strong evidence regarding the multi-faceted nature of the leadership construct itself and indicate that the key dimensions of leadership are largely complementary and related in a meaningful way. Moreover, the impact of organizational structure and culture on the achievement of excellent leadership in public relations is confirmed and discussed. In sum, findings from this study will help enhance the theoretical development of leadership research in public relations, as well as provide concrete directions and managerial guidelines for public relations industry.
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    Masculinity in magazine advertisements: is it in the eye of the beholder?
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2009) Bassett, Mary Ellen; Kinney, Lance T.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    Masculine roles in the media are constantly changing and those evolving roles had not been observed in a decade. This research was conducted to investigate levels of masculinity in the print medium among a variety of target audiences. Its goal was to decipher how portrayals of masculinity changed based on the magazine's target audience, and several coding factors were used to determine that information. To prepare, a review of advertising and gender, psychological and communication theories, the changing nature of masculinity, feminine impact, target audience participation and an array of relevant past research was conducted. Over the course of this content analysis, 315 advertisements from nine magazines over three years were examined to distinguish changes in masculine roles based on the magazine's target audience. While few significant correlations were found, the results pertaining to raw data have proved to be a significant addition to the body of knowledge on the portrayal of male roles, especially in comparison to past research's results that were displayed in raw data without significance testing. Results show some findings consistent with past research, and some new developments as well. Overall, it was found that masculine portrayals are inconsistent among target audiences. Therefore, theoretically men and women are creating differing constructs of the masculine man, which could result in male-to-female relational conflict.