Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap - Volume 43, Issue 4, 2015

Het jaarlijkse Etmaal van de Communicatiewetenschap vond plaats op 2 en 3 februari 2015 in Antwerpen. Een driehonderdtal papers zijn gepresenteerd aan een talrijk opgekomen publiek van Vlaamse en Nederlandse communicatiewetenschappers. Kenmerkend aan de communicatiewetenschap is de diversiteit aan onderwerpen. Communicatiewetenschappers bestuderen onderwerpen die gaan van ‘agendasetting van nieuws’ en ‘de effecten van digitale games’ tot ‘crisiscommunicatie via sociale media’. En nog zo veel meer. Communicatiewetenschappers zijn het vaak zelfs fundamenteel oneens over hoe een fenomeen benaderd moet worden en op welke manier we inzicht kunnen verwerven in de betekenis en invloed van media op individuen en de maatschappij. Critici zouden kunnen beweren dat de communicatiewetenschap geen eenheid (meer) kent. Het feit dat ieder jaar honderden communicatiewetenschappers van de Nederlandse en Vlaamse universiteiten de Lage Landen doorkruisen om een etmaal lang onderzoeksbevindingen uit te wisselen en samen te zijn voor debat bewijst echter dat de discipline er staat. Meer nog, de communicatiewetenschap leeft en straalt.

The political agenda-setting effect of media storms. A story-level analysis

This paper studies the political agenda-setting effect of media storms. Over an eight-year period (2001-2008), it examines the extent to which media storms in Belgium (Flanders) led to action in the Belgian federal Parliament. It then compares the agenda-setting effect of those media storms with the effect of a random sample of general (‘non-storm’) news coverage. Quantitative story-level analyses show that media storms, more than non-storms, lead to political reaction. In particular, they generate more consequential types of political reaction such as mentions by the Prime Minister or bills. However, an in-depth look at those instances where media storms led to the initiation of a bill, nuances these findings, in the sense that media storms not often lead to ‘new’ bills; rather, they accelerate or highlight the existing legislative process. Politicians strategically use media storms as a ‘window of opportunity’ to get their bills on the political agenda.

Gender divides in transition? A study on the gender-related consequences of the changing working conditions in journalism.

This paper sets out to examine recent changes in the journalistic profession from a gender perspective. Technological and economic changes have altered the working conditions of journalists. The study explores gender-related transitions in journalism. The research was based on three waves of survey research with Flemish professional journalists (2003-2008-2013). These data were combined with qualitative interviews with 22 journalists. The findings are mixed. On the one hand, the data show that traditional barriers for women in Flemish journalism are slowly disappearing. The analysis reveals that the numerical inequality between men and women is increasingly eliminated and that female journalists are making progress in gaining leadership positions. On the other hand, the results indicate that the increased awareness of work-life balance issues in journalism, is rarely translated into a newsroom policy, which still makes it hard for women to combine journalism with a family.

Tailoring the mode of delivery to improve recall and behavioral intention: a matter of preference?

Tailored interventions using content tailoring have been shown to be effective in improving different health behaviours. Nonetheless, the overall effect sizes remain small suggesting room for improvement. This study examines whether tailoring to mode preference is more effective than non-tailoring in terms of recall and intention to perform breast self-examination (BSE). BSE instructions were either tailored to the participant’s mode preference (text, text with illustrations, or video) or non-tailored by randomly providing one of these modes. Results of an online experiment among 205 female participants showed that the intention to perform BSE was higher if the instruction was tailored to the mode preference. There were no effects of tailoring on recall of information. This study shows that we should move beyond content tailoring and should take into account the mode of delivery to meet individual’s needs and increase the effectiveness of tailored messages.

Feel the Love Generation: the effect of prosocial music on adolescents’ prosocial behavior

Aim of this experimental study was to examine whether prosocial music affects prosocial behaviors of adolescents. During the pretest, adolescents were asked questions about their initial prosocial behaviors and also their level of happiness. Subsequently, adolescents in the experimental condition were exposed to a pro-social song while adolescents in the control condition were exposed to a neutral song. After listening, the experimenter ‘accidently’ dropped pens, and whether or not the adolescents helped was used as a measure of prosocial behavior. In this study, 79 adolescents (aged 12-15 years old) participated. Findings demonstrated that adolescents who had listened to prosocial music were more likely to help than adolescents who had listened to neutral music. Moreover, older adolescents showed more prosocial behavior than younger ones and adolescents who indicated themselves as happier showed more prosocial behavior than less happy adolescents.

Young adolescents and advertising on sociaal network games: the influence of parents and school on advertising literacy and behavioural intentions

This study focusses on young-adolescents’ advertising literacy on social network games (SNGs). More particularly, a model is tested in which parental mediation styles and attention to internet advertising at school are related to conceptual and attitudinal advertising literacy in SNG and in which both advertising literacies in turn are related to behavioral intentions. Data were collected among 780 respondents (aged 10-14 years). After showing participants a video compilation of SNG Habbo, a questionnaire was given to the respondents addressing the abovementioned aspects. Results confirmed that autonomy-supportive restrictive mediation is positively associated with understanding selling intention, while autonomy-supportive active mediation is positively associated with understanding persuasive intention. In addition, attention to internet advertising at school is related to children’s understanding of persuasive intent. Critical attitude towards SNG advertising is negatively related to pester intention and intention to buy, while understanding persuasive intent is associated with a higher score on both intentions.

Merkcultuur is een belangrijk boek voor iedereen die wil begrijpen hoe medewerkers en klanten bij kunnen dragen aan het succes van organisatiemerken. Organisaties staan vandaag de dag voor de uitdaging het talent, de drijfveren en persoonlijkheden van hun mensen (hetgeen de organisatie ‘kan’) in te zetten bij het realiseren van de missie, waarden en merkbelofte (hetgeen de organisatie ‘wil’). In het boek staat de stelling centraal dat het succes van merken terug te voeren is op de verbinding van die merken met de medewerkers en klanten van de organisatie, oftewel de ‘living assets’.

In jaargang 43 zijn twintig peer reviewed artikelen en drie boekbesprekingen gepubliceerd. Deze jaargang bevat een themanummer (nummer 4): het ‘traditionele’ Etmaal-nummer. Alle auteurs van zowel artikelen als boekbesprekingen en ook de themaredacties danken we voor hun bijdragen aan het Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap.

Onderstaande artikelen zijn verschenen in 2015.