Addresses each of the three main areas of Levine et al.'s (see this issue, CS 764 297) validity testing: mean differences in self-construals between Asians and Westerners and within individuals; priming experiments; and factor analysis of self-construal scales. Suggests that Levine et al.'s conclusions on crucial aspects of validity are untenable.…

Offers a critical rejoinder in the discussion concerning the viability of self-construal scales. Disputes the arguments to the contrary offered by Gudykunst and Lee and Kim and Raja (see this issue, CS 764 298-299). Sees the potential utility in the self-construal construction, but the three primary scales fail to meet reasonable and accepted…

Notes that the availability of statistical software packages has led to a sharp increase in use of complex research designs and complex statistical analyses in communication research. Reports a series of Monte Carlo simulations which demonstrate that this complexity may come at a heavier cost than many communication researchers realize. Warns…

Investigates whether faculty at a large Singapore business school shared similar perceptions of inadequate communication skills as the government. Indicates that the faculty perceived undergraduate communication skills to be in need of improvement, thus lending support to employer and government criticism. Reveals some probable underlying causes…

Examines young Dutch adolescent and young females' self-image and ideal image of motherhood and the extent to which television viewing and viewing motives were related to these images. Notes none of the subjects were mothers and all were selected from a variety of educational settings. Concludes that sitcoms and soaps that portrayed mothers with a…

Explores, through critical performance ethnography, the performative constitution of whiteness in an introductory communication classroom. Suggests that white subjects often fail to see whiteness in action. Argues that race in general, and whiteness in particular, is a social communicative accomplishment--a performative constitution of identity…

Examines factors that differentiate among frequent and occasional users of electronic mail for the purpose of developing a profile of users to help organizations develop strategies for increasing system usage. Finds that frequent users are significantly different from occasional users on all of the five factors studied. (KEH)

Explores how motion pictures, television, and computers manipulate and rearrange the content and processes of communicated experience, thereby shaping how the audience perceives and interprets the physical and social reality depicted. Suggests that these media are fourth removed from reality (behind the Platonic Ideal, the actual, and art and…

Describes research conducted among employees of a private psychiatric hospital regarding a job stress and burnout model. Concludes that both participation in decision making and social support have impacts on perceived workplace stress, burnout, satisfaction, and commitment for caregivers and support personnel. Discusses implications of the model…

Argues that history provides the necessary framework in which both to discuss and to seek answers to the three necessary and sequential questions about business ethics: (1) What is ethics and what does it mean to be ethical? (2) Why be ethical?; and (3) How can one be ethical? (SG)

Surveys treatments of business communication ethics in Association for Business Communication (ABC) publications for the last 30 years. Notes that pedagogical papers reveal an almost unanimous opinion that business communication is a moral subject and that ethics has a place in the classroom. Recommends further research. (SG)

Examines interlocutors' uncertainty, information-seeking, and liking for each other during initial interaction. Finds that (1) uncertainty decayed across interaction segments; (2) uncertainty reduction was associated with decreased use of question-asking but with increased levels of disclosure; and (3) uncertainty and social attraction were…

Investigates how numbers function rhetorically by influencing persuasive appeals, the structure of messages, and the use of language. Argues that "three" is the dominant numerical motif in the English language. Asserts that, as long as numbers influence the speech, behaviors, and perceptions of people, their rhetorical significance must…

Examines "girl talk" (a typically female speech event involving long and detailed personal discussions about people, norms, and beliefs). Demonstrates that girl-talk interaction constitutes a temporary community within which norms are cooperatively defined through a painstaking process of negotiation and consensus. (RS)

Describes a civil engineering program at Aston University that integrates successfully the development of communication skills with technical training. Explains how the course on Public Sector Planning includes instruction and student work in written, oral, and decision-making skills. (KEH)