John Brummette

How stakeholders’ personal values influence their value expectations for legitimate organizations

Purpose – Through its use of a nationwide survey that assessed the most significant personal and organizational values among the general public, the purpose of this paper is to identify how individuals’ personal values serve an important role in guiding the value expectations they have for organizations. Design/methodology/approach – A research firm was hired to disseminate a survey to a stratified sample of 735 of adults in the US measures used in the study were a socially desirable human values subscale and a socially desirable organizational values subscale. Findings – The results from several regression analyses confirmed that stakeholders’ personal values predict the values they expect from organizations with which they choose to conduct business. Research limitations/implications – Organizations must recognize that values play a significant role in the legitimation process as both are represented by actions and social desirability. In the realm of corporate communication, organizations continually e...

Balancing between organizations and society: : exploring Chinese organizations' legitimacy efforts

Purpose – Based on the literature on organizational legitimacy, organizations must adhere to the value-driven standards inherent in the cultures in which they operate. Organizations’ Web sites help increase the public’s awareness and understanding of their values and culture. The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategic legitimation efforts of Chinese organizations through their Web content. Design/methodology/approach – To identify the core values and cultures communicated by Chinese organizations, a systematic content analysis was conducted on the Web contents of Chinese Fortune 500 companies (n=500) as listed by the 2010 Chinese Fortune 500 online magazine. Findings – The major findings included the following: over half (i.e. 62.2 percent) of the Chinese Fortune 500 companies communicated their organizational values on their Web sites; this study identified some key value clusters (e.g. such as trustworthiness, propriety, benevolence, or self-regulation) for Chinese organizations’ legitimacy; ...

Read All About It: The Politicization of “Fake News” on Twitter:

Due to the importance of word choice in political discourse, this study explored the use of the term “fake news.” Using a social network analysis, content analysis, and cluster analysis, political characteristics of online networks that formed around discussions of “fake news” were examined. This study found that “fake news” is a politicized term where conversations overshadowed logical and important discussions of the term. Findings also revealed that social media users from opposing political parties communicate in homophilous environments and use “fake news” to disparage the opposition and condemn real information disseminated by the opposition party members.

Merging Public Relations With Health Communication in the Context of University Alcohol Prevention

The scope of this study is to determine whether social norms marketing should be further evaluated according to its ability to serve as a public relations tactic for universities. Based on a framework of social norms theory and strategic issues management, this study uses a web-based survey with university parents (N = 173) to identify relationships among exaggerated parental misperceptions of student binge drinking, parental awareness of alcohol prevention programs, and parental perceptions of organizational legitimacy. Findings from this study are used to make the argument that health communication and public relations should be viewed as interrelated concepts in the context of university alcohol prevention.