Stephanie Kelly

Intercultural Communication Apprehension and Emotional Intelligence in Higher Education: Preparing Business Students for Career Success.

Given the expanding globalized workforce, business educators continue to seek new ways to prepare students for intercultural encounters. Although immersion in other cultures is the optimal strategy, this method is not always feasible. As such, educators seek other mechanisms to simulate intercultural experiences. This study examines emotional intelligence as a predictor of intercultural communication apprehension among university students (N = 425). Results indicate that three of the emotional intelligence subscales predict intercultural communication apprehension: emotionality, sociability, and self-control. These results support the premise that emotional intelligence manages and/or reduces intercultural communication apprehension and therefore should be integrated in business curriculum.

Teacher Immediacy and Decreased Student Quantitative Reasoning Anxiety: The Mediating Effect of Perception

There is global concern regarding the increased prevalence of math anxiety among college students, which is credited for a decrease in analytical degree completion rates and lower self-confidence among students in their ability to complete analytical tasks in the real world. The present study identified that, as expected, displays of instructional immediacy related positively to student intrinsic motivation and negatively to student math anxiety in analytical reasoning courses. More importantly, the findings were consistent with a mediated model in which psychological response to immediacy mediated the relationships between instructional immediacy cues and the associated outputs. Implications for theory and instruction are discussed.

Immediacy as an Influence on Supervisor-Subordinate Communication

This study explores the role of perceived immediacy in workplace communication. The study tested a model in which perceived immediacy mediated the relationships between supervisor immediate behaviors and subordinate job satisfaction, motivation, empowerment, and burnout. Statistically significant relationships were yielded among all variables, with negative relationships associated with burnout and positive relationships associated with all other variable combinations. The model as proposed failed, but a part of the model fit very well. The data are consistent with a simple causal string from supervisor immediate behaviors → perceived immediacy → subordinate burnout. Implications are discussed within.

A Path Model of Workplace Solidarity, Satisfaction, Burnout, and Motivation

Communication dynamics within the business world dictate that the formality of interaction between supervisor and subordinate is determined by the supervisor. The present study investigates the influence of negotiated formality and closeness via supervisor-subordinate solidarity on subordinates’ burnout, motivation, and job satisfaction. An online questionnaire was administered to subjects across various occupations and organizations in the United States. The data are consistent with a mediated model in which job satisfaction mediates the relationships between solidarity-motivation and solidarity-burnout. These results are novel in that, first, job satisfaction is identified as an input of motivation and burnout rather than outputs of a shared induction, And, second, the results place renewed emphasis on the role of supervisor communication in the workplace as subordinates are unable to initiate solidarity.

An Exploration of Organizational Assimilation Among State-Owned, Private-Owned, and Foreign-Invested Enterprises in China

This study explores organizational assimilation in Chinese organizations. To reflect the Chinese context more accurately, the present study compared employees working in three different kinds of organizations: state-owned enterprises (SOEs), private-owned enterprises (POEs), and foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs). Data collected from 220 full-time employees were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Regression analyses demonstrated that employees’ level of organizational assimilation was significantly influenced by organizational type: Employees in SOEs reported the highest level and employees in FIEs reported the lowest level of organizational assimilation.

Reexamining the Writing Apprehension Measure

This article contains two measurement development studies on writing apprehension. Study 1 reexamines the validity of the writing apprehension measure based on the finding from prior research that a second false factor was embedded. The findings from Study 1 support the validity of a reduced measure with 6 items versus the original 20-item measure. However, this shorter measure had poor reliability. Therefore, Study 2 sought to correct the reliability issue by updating the wording of items so it was applicable to broader platforms of writing. The final measure had excellent reliability and validity statistics.

A Look at Leadership Styles and Workplace Solidarity Communication

Leadership styles that promote upward and downward communication have been shown to foster a plethora of positive outcomes within the workplace, group collaborations, and team contexts. Similarly, supervisor-subordinate solidarity communication has been related to desirable workplace outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate leadership styles as related to solidarity communication. The authoritarian leadership style was associated with the lowest solidarity and consistently yielded the least job satisfaction and highest burnout in subordinates. Furthermore, subordinates with authoritarian leaders did not fit the supervisor-subordinate solidarity model. A more nuanced explanation of leadership communication as related to solidarity is discussed.

Perceptions and Portrayals of Skin Cancer among Cultural Subgroups

Health communication scholars have a responsibility to be certain that both healthcare practitioners and government agencies accurately communicate health information to the public. In order to carry out this duty, health communication scholars must assess how messages are being received and if they are being received at all by the public. This paper details a two part study which assesses this phenomenon within the context of skin cancer. Study 1 utilized 29 in depth qualitative interviews to identify subcultures among college students whose communication puts them at risk for skin cancer by encouraging poor sun exposure behaviors. The results indicate that farmers, African Americans, and individuals who regularly participate in outdoor athletics are at risk groups. Study 2 reports a content analysis of the known population of skin cancer Public Service Announcements (PSAs) available via the internet in 2013. The aforementioned groups were not present in any of the PSAs. Detailed results and implications are discussed.

Health-Information Behavior: An Initial Validity Portfolio for Active and Passive Measures

The study of information-seeking behaviors takes on particular importance when considered within the health context, where the process of information seeking can save lives. When individuals implement preventative health-care behaviors in the present, they increase the probability of saving their own lives in the future. However, the benefits of preventative health-care behaviors are irrelevant when the public is unaware of such information. Current literature indicates that there are two types of information behavior: active and passive. Active information behavior involves intentional physical behaviors, while passive is comprised of strictly psychological, sometimes unintentional, processes. The following article reports the initial validity portfolio for measures of both active and passive information behavior.

An exploratory analysis of argumentativeness in Kyrgyzstan

ABSTRACT More than three decades of research on argumentativeness demonstrates that different cultures value differently this aspect of communication. Studies have evaluated levels of argumentativeness in numerous national cultures. This is the first study to explore levels of argumentativeness in Kyrgyzstan. Along with exploring the position of Kyrgyzstan on the argumentativeness continuum, this study also explores the validity and reliability of the Argumentativeness Scale in Kyrgyzstan. Results from 100 Kyrgyzstanis reveal that Kyrgyzstan scores relatively low on the argumentativeness continuum compared to argumentativeness scores from studies conducted in neighboring Asian countries. Furthermore, the sample produced a reliable and valid measure of argumentativeness in Kyrgyzstan.