Use Of Personal Communications Research Articles

Persuasion Knowledge in the Marketplace: A Meta‐Analysis

Since the introduction of the persuasion knowledge model more than 25 years ago, many research studies have investigated how consumers’ persuasion knowledge affects their reactions to persuasion attempts. While most results have shown that persuasion knowledge increases coping responses and leads to less favorable evaluations of marketer actions, the findings vary considerably, leaving researchers with a limited understanding of the substance and structure of persuasion knowledge effects and the conditions that explain their variability. To develop a better understanding of persuasion knowledge effects in the marketplace, this study builds on the concept of persuasion to predict responses to marketers’ attempts to persuade consumers with different levels of persuasion knowledge. The study presents a meta‐analysis of the findings in 148 papers and 171 distinct data sets. Persuasion knowledge effects can be viewed as substantial compared with persuasion attempts, but persuasion knowledge cannot suppress or eliminate persuasion effects in the marketplace, as it only reaches around 50% of the explanatory power of persuasion. Persuasion knowledge effects on evaluations and coping depend on the characteristics of the persuasion process. All persuasion elements that help consumers identify and better understand benefits not just for themselves, but also for marketers and how marketers realize their benefits—such as the use of personal communication, communication about unfamiliar products or products with experience attributes, and receiver experience—lead to less favorable effects for marketers. This paper’s insights provide a new framework for persuasion knowledge effects in the marketplace, ideas for future research, and implications for researchers, consumers, policymakers, and marketers.

Personal Communication Device Use by Nurses Providing In-Patient Care: Survey of Prevalence, Patterns, and Distraction Potential.

BackgroundCoincident with the proliferation of employer-provided mobile communication devices, personal communication devices, including basic and enhanced mobile phones (smartphones) and tablet computers that are owned by the user, have become ubiquitous among registered nurses working in hospitals. While there are numerous benefits of personal communication device use by nurses at work, little is known about the impact of these devices on in-patient care.ObjectiveOur aim was to examine how hospital-registered nurses use their personal communication devices while doing both work-related and non‒work-related activities and to assess the impact of these devices on in-patient care.MethodsA previously validated survey was emailed to 14,797 members of two national nursing organizations. Participants were asked about personal communication device use and their opinions about the impact of these devices on their own and their colleagues’ work.ResultsOf the 1268 respondents (8.57% response rate), only 5.65% (70/1237) never used their personal communication device at work (excluding lunch and breaks). Respondents self-reported using their personal communication devices at work for work-related activities including checking or sending text messages or emails to health care team members (29.02%, 363/1251), as a calculator (25.34%, 316/1247), and to access work-related medical information (20.13%, 251/1247). Fewer nurses reported using their devices for non‒work-related activities including checking or sending text messages or emails to friends and family (18.75%, 235/1253), shopping (5.14%, 64/1244), or playing games (2.73%, 34/1249). A minority of respondents believe that their personal device use at work had a positive effect on their work including reducing stress (29.88%, 369/1235), benefiting patient care (28.74%, 357/1242), improving coordination of patient care among the health care team (25.34%, 315/1243), or increasing unit teamwork (17.70%, 220/1243). A majority (69.06%, 848/1228) of respondents believe that on average personal communication devices have a more negative than positive impact on patient care and 39.07% (481/1231) reported that personal communication devices were always or often a distraction while working. Respondents acknowledged their own device use negatively affected their work performance (7.56%, 94/1243), or caused them to miss important clinical information (3.83%, 47/1225) or make a medical error (0.90%, 11/1218). Respondents reported witnessing another nurse’s use of devices negatively affect their work performance (69.41%, 860/1239), or cause them to miss important clinical information (30.61%, 378/1235) or make a medical error (12.51%, 155/1239). Younger respondents reported greater device use while at work than older respondents and generally had more positive opinions about the impact of personal communication devices on their work.ConclusionsThe majority of registered nurses believe that the use of personal communication devices on hospital units raises significant safety issues. The high rate of respondents who saw colleagues distracted by their devices compared to the rate who acknowledged their own distraction may be an indication that nurses are unaware of their own attention deficits while using their devices. There were clear generational differences in personal communication device use at work and opinions about the impact of these devices on patient care. Professional codes of conduct for personal communication device use by hospital nurses need to be developed that maximize the benefits of personal communication device use, while reducing the potential for distraction and adverse outcomes.

When Wheat Was King: The Rise and Fall of the Canada-UK Grain Trade by André Magnan

Reviewed by: When Wheat Was King: The Rise and Fall of the Canada-UK Grain Trade by André Magnan Laura Larsen When Wheat Was King: The Rise and Fall of the Canada-UK Grain Trade. By André Magnan. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2016. vii + 198 pp. Figures, tables, notes, references, index. $32.95 paper. André Magnan's interesting book does much more than its title suggests. The title implies the book will do what most histories of prairie grain do: end in the 1970s. Instead, not only does Magnan continue into the 21st century but the later decades are well researched, with extensive use of personal communications with industry participants allowing for a more nuanced discussion of Canadian grain marketing. This helps Magnan explain the complex relationship that farmers had with the government-mandated single-desk Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) and allows for an examination of the organization's ability to respond to more complex global markets including the more divided ones after the end of the Cold War. Organizing the book around the concept of food regimens allows Magnan to place the domestic struggles between farmers, government, and industry, into the larger international context, which provides entry into the importance of the titular Canada–United Kingdom grain trade. The strength of the influence of this trade begins to appear during the First World War when the British requirement for wheat combined with the need [End Page 63] for price stability left "two key legacies: an early form of collective marketing and close Canada-UK coordination" (48). Magnan traces how these legacies helped to shape the creation of prairie agricultural policy prioritizing government involvement in grain marketing. Additionally, the development of the British milling and bread-baking industry, beginning with the introduction of roller mills that made it possible to process Canada's famous Red Fife wheat, was a critical factor in why British buyers sought Canadian grain and in turn how Canadian agricultural policy took British needs into account. The United Kingdom was the first major customer for Canadian wheat and Magnan argues that even after the majority of Canadian sales shifted to other markets, the long-standing relationship with UK buyers allowed the CWB to experiment with alternative sales agreements for high-quality grain notably with the British baker Warburtons. The detailed discussion of how this contract was serviced alone makes this book worth reading. The success of the Warburtons agreement resulted in the CWB's introduction of identity-preserve programs for other Canadian grain types. The British also adopted this system for some contracts in their domestic grain market. Later, this quality-assurance focus became important during the Canadian debates over introducing genetically modified herbicide-tolerant wheat into the Canadian system. At present, this book provides one of the better overviews of the last 30 years of grain marketing policy on the Canadian prairies and highlights how these domestic policies were the result of not just internal social changes, but were also affected by the place of Canadian grain in the international market. As it is relatively short, the book is forgivably weaker on public plant-breeding and agricultural practices but touches on them enough to make it apparent how they are involved in the larger narrative. Magnan makes a strong case that prairie agricultural policy cannot be understood in isolation from the markets the prairies served. Laura Larsen Department of History University of Saskatchewan Copyright © 2017 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Development and validation of a web-based survey on the use of personal communication devices by hospital registered nurses: pilot study.

BackgroundThe use of personal communication devices (such as basic cell phones, enhanced cell phones or smartphones, and tablet computers) in hospital units has risen dramatically in recent years. The use of these devices for personal and professional activities can be beneficial, but also has the potential to negatively affect patient care, as clinicians may become distracted by these devices.ObjectiveNo validated questionnaire examining the impact of the use of these devices on patient care exists; thus, we aim to develop and validate an online questionnaire for surveying the views of registered nurses with experience of working in hospitals regarding the impact of the use of personal communication devices on hospital units.MethodsA 50-item, four-domain questionnaire on the views of registered nursing staff regarding the impact of personal communication devices on hospital units was developed based on a literature review and interviews with such nurses. A repeated measures pilot study was conducted to examine the psychometrics of a survey questionnaire and the feasibility of conducting a larger study. Psychometric testing of the questionnaire included examining internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability in a sample of 50 registered nurses.ResultsThe response rate for the repeated measures was 30%. Cronbach coefficient alpha was used to examine the internal consistency and reliability, and in three of the four question groups (utilization, impact, and opinions), the correlation was observed to be very high. This suggests that the questions were measuring a single underlying theme. The Cronbach alpha value for the questions in the performance group, describing the use of personal communication devices while working, was lower than those for the other question groups. These values may be an indication that the assumptions underlying the Cronbach alpha calculation may have been violated for this group of questions. A Spearman rho correlation was used to determine the test-retest reliability. There was a strong test-retest reliability between the two tests for the majority of the questions. The average test-retest percent of agreement for the Likert scale responses was 74% (range 43-100%). Accounting for responses within the 1 SD range on the Likert scale increased the agreement to 96% (range 87-100%). Missing data were in the range of 0 to 7%.ConclusionsThe psychometrics of the questionnaire showed good to fair levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The pilot study demonstrated that our questionnaire may be useful in exploring registered nurses’ perceptions of the impact of personal electronic devices on hospital units in a larger study.

Meta-analysis of the effect of road safety campaigns on accidents

A meta-analysis of 67 studies evaluating the effect of road safety campaigns on accidents is reported. A total of 119 results were extracted from the studies, which were reported in 12 different countries between 1975 and 2007. After allowing for publication bias and heterogeneity of effects, the weighted average effect of road safety campaigns is a 9% reduction in accidents (with 95% confidence that the weighted average is between −12 and −6%). To account for the variability of effects measured across studies, data were collected to characterise aspects of the campaign and evaluation design associated with each effect, and analysed to identify a model of seven campaign factors for testing by meta-regression. The model was tested using both fixed and random effect meta-regression, and dependency among effects was accounted for by aggregation. These analyses suggest positive associations between accident reduction and the use of personal communication or roadside media as part of a campaign delivery strategy. Campaigns with a drink-driving theme were also associated with greater accident reductions, while some of the analyses suggested that accompanying enforcement and short campaign duration (less than one month) are beneficial. Overall the results are consistent with the idea that campaigns can be more effective in the short term if the message is delivered with personal communication in a way that is proximal in space and time to the behaviour targeted by the campaign.

An Exploratory Analysis of Communication Sources

Currently, most AIDS education and prevention programs attempt to change the high risk behavior of injection drug users (IDU's) (e.g., sharing needles and engaging in unsafe sex) through the implementation of two distinct strategies. First, empirical-rational strategies suggest that people maximize their rational self-interest. Second, normative re-education strategies suggest that people change their individual behavior when they believe that there has been change in sociocultural norms, values, and habits around them. Both of these strategies make assumptions about how communication changes IDU's beliefs and behavior. An empirical-rational strategy emphasizes non-personal mass communications (e.g., television, radio, newspaper); while normative re-educative strategies make use of personal communications (e.g., friends, family, educational outreach workers, and group discussion). The purpose of this paper is to compare these strategies by examining the impact of AIDS communication sources on the beliefs and behavior of IDU's.

The Impact of Aids Information Sources: A Comparison of Strategies to Target Intravenous Drug Users

Injection drug users (IDUs) are the second largest group of people with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the United States (CDC, 1994, June). Social marketing campaigns currently utilize both empirical-rational and normative re-educative strategies. Empirical-rational strategies suggest that people follow their rational self-interest. Normative re-educative strategies suggest that people change their individual behavior when they believe that there has been change in the norms, values, and habits around them. Both of these strategies make assumptions concerning the use of communication sources to change beliefs and behavior. Utilizing an empirical-rational strategy would suggest emphasis on mass communications (e.g., television, radio, newspaper); while normative re-educative strategies make use of personal communications (e.g., outreach workers, role play, and group discussion). The purpose of this paper is to compare these strategies by examining the impact of AIDS communication sources on the beliefs and behaviors of IDU's prior to and during drug use and sexual activity.