CrossSituational Component In the Situational Theory

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Cross-Situational Component In the Situational
Theory

• Lan Ni
• University of Maryland

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Introduction

• Consistent types of publics identified by
  situational theory for a range of problems within
  a particular situation.
• Cross-situational components to the variables in
  the situational theory.
• Possibility that certain individuals will
  perceive problems across situations?
• Purpose To find out whether and to what extent
  individual differences in personality influence
  the communication behavior of publics as
  determined by the situational theory

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Conceptualization

• Situational theory
• Problem recognition level of involvement
  constraint recognition
• Active/passive communication behavior
• Need for cognition (NFC)
• The tendency for an individual to engage in and
  enjoy thinking (Cacioppo Petty, 1982)
• Relationship between need for cognition and
  situational theory

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Research Questions

• 1. Can people with different levels of NFC be
  identified with the qualitative interviews? What
  are the general characteristics of people in each
  category?
• 2. Do individuals with high NFC tend to show high
  problem recognition to problems across
  situations? Is there any difference between
  internal and external components?
• 3. Are individuals with high NFC more likely to
  engage in both passive and active communication
  behaviors, i.e., information processing and
  seeking, for a wide range of problems?

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Method

• Qualitative methodology
• Exploratory, descriptive
• Interview question design
• NFC short form of scale (Cacioppo, Petty, Kao,
  1984)
• Problem recognition questions used in
  situational theory (J. Grunig, 1997), but
  included different problem situations.

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Method

• Participants 10 students at a public university
  in northeastern U.S.
• 6 graduates, 4 undergraduates
• Data analysis
• Used research questions as framework in analysis

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Results and Discussions

• Individuals with different levels of NFC and
  their respective characteristics.

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Results and Discussions

• Individuals with high NFC
• Showed much higher internal problem recognition
  across situations than those with low NFC.
• External problem recognition was not
  significantly higher cross-situationally than
  those with low NFC.
• Tended to engage in more passive communication
  behaviors across situations than those with low
  NFC, but the active communication behavior across
  situations was still rare.

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Results and Discussions

• Peoples communication behaviors are still mostly
  situational
• Did identify the special type of intellectual
  public (J. Grunig, 1997)

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Limitations

• Exploratory
• Convenience sample
• More control of personal relevance