Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

6-1988

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Communication

Major Professor

M. Mark Miller

Committee Members

Paul Ashdown, Herb Howard, Bob Orr, Jim Crook

Abstract

The communication process involved in a government educational agency's responsibility to inform and serve the public is addressed in this study. Difficulty of two-way information exchange between a bureaucracy and a nonorganized group (the general public) is analyzed in light of the agency's attempt to become more responsive. A non profit marketing approach is proposed as a framework in which the coorientation model of communication is used to monitor group information priorities and perceptions.

In the coorientation analysis, the agency is represented by Cooperative Extension Service agents in Houston County, Alabama. From a random sample of the county's households, the responses of adults who are aware of the agency are compared with agents responses to determine coorientation variables of agreement, accuracy and congruency.

The concept of nonprofit marketing is demonstrated in a test of organizational public service programming. Information to improve the quality of local citizens' lives is identified as the market product. In the process, the organization confronted its market and faced the policy decision of altering its product line (information delivery priorities).

The analysis assumes that the relationship between a public organization and its aware public is a function of the common images the two groups hold of each other. A typology of image states is offered to interpret coorientation findings. This typology provides a basis for developing and refining the agency's public relations.

The complexity of coorientation data analysis is addressed through reliability test methods. Intraclass correlation and analysis of variance are employed to define the coorientation variables and to determine if respondent groups are true entities. Cluster analysis is used to identify subgroups and to deal with the psuedodata problem relative to homogeneity of group responses.

Findings show that an agency's effort to respond to the public results in organizational priority flux, but with movement toward to a more homogeneous view of public needs. On the other hand, the public is less likely to be affected by the process. Study results underscore the need for ongoing monitoring of the agency-public communication process.

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