We answered scholars' call to extend psychological reactance theory (PRT) by examining how recommendation sources - interpersonal or organizational with varying levels of expertise - impact freedom threat perceptions among a diverse sample of Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino/a, and White participants. Participants (N = 1,229) were randomly assigned to one message in a 4 source (friend, doctor, trusted health organization, and non-health organization) by 2 freedom-threatening language (aggravated and mitigated) web-based experiment across two topics (fruit/vegetables and exercise). PRT's theoretical propositions were supported and directly comparable across participants and sources. Freedom threat perceptions differed across sources and participants. Our findings underscore the importance of considering both source type and audience diversity and highlight a novel source-based strategy to reduce freedom threat and improve recommendation acceptance.
Online public sentiment can shift rapidly during university crises, with consequences for institutional governance. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) of 50 university crisis events in China, this study examines how public opinion object, response timeliness, event category, event influence, and school tier combine to shape event-level sentiment valence. Three configurations are associated with comparatively favorable sentiment outcomes: student-centered resonance, media-leveraged responsiveness, and structure-synchronized reputation. Complementary regression analyses identify response timeliness and event category as the most consistent net correlates, while school tier matters in conjunction with other conditions. By integrating configurational and regression evidence, the study extends crisis-communication research on sentiment dynamics and risk amplification and offers a pathway-based framework for institutional response.
Compassion is often assumed to be an unequivocally positive phenomenon that naturally yields generative outcomes such as healing, empowerment, and connection. This study challenges that assumption by demonstrating how compassion functions as a form of discipline. Drawing on over 100 hours of ethnographic fieldwork within a state corrections department and interviews with parole officers (n = 12) and administrators (n = 5), we identified three positioning strategies that officers utilized to recognize, relate, and (re)act to suffering: (a) culpable positioning, (b) sanctimonious positioning, and (c) paternalistic positioning. While these positioning strategies appear coercive, officers (re)interpreted them as necessary acts of support that guide supervisees toward rehabilitation. These findings extend compassion scholarship by resituating compassion as an ambiguous, occasionally disciplinary discursive process.
In this paper, it is asserted that construct proliferation and redundancy constitute widespread problems in need of remediation. In making this argument, numerous theoretical and empirical problems that stem directly from construct proliferation and redundancy are noted. Moreover, the merits of different solutions are reviewed, and recommendations are provided regarding the desirability and feasibility of each solution. Ultimately, we hope this paper stimulates a broader conversation about how communication scientists can deal with the problems of construct proliferation and redundancy in earnest.
