Published by De Gruyter Mouton

Volume 47 Issue 3

Issue of Communications

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Contents
Journal Overview

Publicly Available September 10, 2022

Articles

Open Access September 10, 2022

Privacy concerns can stress you out: Investigating the reciprocal relationship between mobile social media privacy concerns and perceived stress

Anja Stevic, Desirée Schmuck, Anna Koemets, Melanie Hirsch, Kathrin Karsay, Marina F. Thomas, Jörg Matthes

Page range: 327-349

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Abstract

Mobile social media have become a widespread means to participate in everyday social and professional life. These platforms encourage the disclosure and exchange of personal information, which comes with privacy risks. While past scholarship has listed various predictors and consequences of online privacy concerns, there has been to date no empirical investigation of a conceivable relationship with perceived stress. Using a longitudinal panel study, we examined the reciprocal relationship between mobile social media privacy concerns and perceived stress. Results supported the hypothesis that mobile social media privacy concerns at T1 are associated with higher perceived stress at T2. However, we found no evidence for the reverse association, that is, perceived stress at T1 was not related to mobile social media privacy concerns at T2. The findings are discussed based on two models—the “Antecedents privacy concerns outcomes” model and the “Privacy calculus” model.

Open Access September 10, 2022

Economic crisis and trauma journalism: Assessing the emotional toll of reporting in crisis-ridden countries

Lambrini Papadopoulou, Theodora A. Maniou, Eleana Pandia

Page range: 350-374

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Abstract

This article discusses the relationship between the post-2008 global economic crisis and trauma journalism through a quantitative study of reporters covering austerity’s everyday manifestations and examines the effects on the media professionals involved. The findings indicate that journalists who cover economic crisis-related incidents suffer specific symptoms of trauma. As such, the study re-conceptualizes the economic crisis as primarily affective for media workers, it establishes a direct correlation between the economic crisis and emotional trauma, and provides an insight into the kind of trauma that stems from covering austerity and its impact on society. A regression analysis of symptoms indicates trauma journalism as an emerging field of research into the economic crisis.

Publicly Available September 10, 2022

Trust in information sources during the COVID-19 pandemic. A Romanian case study

Raluca Buturoiu, Nicoleta Corbu, Denisa-Adriana Oprea, Mădălina Boțan

Page range: 375-394

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Abstract

Higher levels of trust in credible sources of information in times of crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic increase public compliance with official recommendations, minimizing health risks and helping authorities manage the crisis. Based on a national survey (N=1160), this article explores (a) actual levels of trust in various sources of information (government websites, legacy media, social media, and interpersonal communication) during the pandemic and (b) a number of predictors of such trust. Results show that during the period studied government websites were the most trusted source of information. Trust in an information source is correlated with consumption of COVID-19–related news from that specific source, media fact-checking, and self-perception about the incidence of COVID-19–related fake news. Only income and age are significant trust predictors, and only with respect to specific source types.

Open Access September 10, 2022

The role of trustworthiness in social media influencer advertising: Investigating users’ appreciation of advertising transparency and its effects

Delia C. Balaban, Meda Mucundorfeanu, Brigitte Naderer

Page range: 395-421

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Abstract

When social media influencers (SMIs) post sponsored content, it should be recognizable as such. However, there is no European Union-wide legislation governing sponsorship transparency, and monitoring practices differ significantly across member states. In Romania, where we conducted our study, such regulations are only just emerging, and there are weak monitoring policies regarding advertising disclosure on SMI branded posts. In this study, we examined how two different types of advertising disclosure commonly used on Instagram are likely to affect consumers’ behavioral outcomes, such as purchase intention and intention toward the SMI, mediated by the activation of conceptual persuasion knowledge (CPK), via negative affect and the trustworthiness of the SMI. We conducted a three-level between-subjects online experiment (N=248), manipulating the absence versus the presence of advertising, which came in one of two types, brand-unspecific (#ad, #sponsoredpost) and brand-specific (paid partnership with [brand]). Considering the mediation path via the trustworthiness of the SMI, findings suggest that the paid partnership disclosure had positive outcomes for purchase intention and intention toward the SMI.

September 10, 2022

The emotional valence of candidate ratings in televised debates

Pascal D. König, Thomas Waldvogel, Uwe Wagschal, Bernd Becker, Linus Feiten, Samuel Weishaupt

Page range: 422-449

Abstract

It is well-established that party identity biases the processing of political information and the evaluation of political actors. This is presumed to avoid cognitive dissonance and achieve positive affect. What happens, however, when individuals diverge from this pattern and do make identity-inconsistent evaluations of political actors – how does this translate into positive and negative emotions toward the candidates? The paper addresses this question using large-N data from the main televised debate of the 2017 German national election by combining survey responses with viewer perceptions measured during the debate. The findings suggest that candidate ratings made during the debate have different valence depending on a person’s party identity. Strikingly, a stronger party identity does not mean a reduced impact of identity-inconsistent evaluations on emotional responses toward a candidate. Rather, only evaluations in accordance with one’s party identity, and hence with lower information value, show a reduced effect on emotional responses.

September 10, 2022

Cultivation and the dual process of dangerous and competitive worldviews – A theoretical synthesis

Saamah Abdallah, Sven Jöckel

Page range: 450-469

Abstract

Cultivation research suggests that media use, particularly TV, is associated with a wide range of politically relevant views and attitudes, including perceptions of the world as a mean and dangerous place, authoritarianism, and perceived meritocracy. However, little attempt has been made to understand how these effects relate to one another and to broader models of political psychology. We present a new Cultivation–Political Psychology Interface Model, which uses Duckitt’s Dual Process Model (2001) of political psychology as a lens to understand cultivation research. Many seemingly distinct cultivation effects related to political attitudes can thus be reduced to two overall dimensions: dangerous and competitive worldviews. We identify evidence gaps, particularly in terms of competitive-worldview effects and related political attitudes. Our model generates a landscape of attitudes and beliefs, whereby some attitudes are hypothesized to be more upstream than others, leading to testable hypotheses for future research.

Open Access September 10, 2022

Agency, social relations, and order: Media sociology’s shift into the digital

Andreas Hepp

Page range: 470-493

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Abstract

Until the end of the last century, media sociology was synonymous with the investigation of mass media as a social domain. Today, media sociology needs to address a much higher level of complexity, that is, a deeply mediatized world in which all human practices, social relations, and social order are entangled with digital media and their infrastructures. This article discusses this shift from a sociology of mass communication to the sociology of a deeply mediatized world. The principal aim of the article is to outline a new media-sociological imagination : media sociology as a cross-sectional sociology, a sociology of entanglement, and a new critical sociology of technological deep structures.

Book Reviews

September 10, 2022

Van den Bulck, H. (2018). Celebrity philanthropy and activism: Mediated interventions in the global public sphere. London and New York: Routledge. 160 pp.

Ana Jorge

Page range: 494-496

September 10, 2022

Fuchs, C. (2020). Communication and capitalism: A critical theory. Westminster: University of Westminster Press. 406 pp.

Rafael Grohmann

Page range: 497-500

Open Access September 10, 2022

Schleiter, M., & de Maaker, E. (eds.) (2020). Media, indigeneity and nation in South Asia. London: Routledge. 298 pp.

Max Kramer

Page range: 501-504

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About this journal

Objective
Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research is an established forum for scholarship and academic debate in the field of communication science and research from a European perspective. Communication science is concerned with the investigation of the structure and function of communication processes and their impact on society, social groups and individuals. Communications highlights the concerns of this discipline through the publication of articles, research reports, review essays and book reviews on theoretical and methodological developments considered from a European perspective. The journal encompasses the entire field of communication science as its domain of interest. The contributions published in the journal cover a wide range of subfields in communication science.

Topics

Communication reseach
Structure and function of communication
Impact on society, social groups and individuals
Interpersonal communication
Intercultural communication
Mass communication
Communication theory
Philosophy of communication
Media history
Media development and communication technology

Article formats
Original articles, research reports, review essays, and book reviews

Volume 47 Issue 3

Issue of Communications

Titelseiten

Privacy concerns can stress you out: Investigating the reciprocal relationship between mobile social media privacy concerns and perceived stress

Abstract

Economic crisis and trauma journalism: Assessing the emotional toll of reporting in crisis-ridden countries

Abstract

Trust in information sources during the COVID-19 pandemic. A Romanian case study

Abstract

The role of trustworthiness in social media influencer advertising: Investigating users’ appreciation of advertising transparency and its effects

Abstract

The emotional valence of candidate ratings in televised debates

Abstract

Cultivation and the dual process of dangerous and competitive worldviews – A theoretical synthesis

Abstract

Agency, social relations, and order: Media sociology’s shift into the digital

Abstract

Van den Bulck, H. (2018). Celebrity philanthropy and activism: Mediated interventions in the global public sphere. London and New York: Routledge. 160 pp.

Fuchs, C. (2020). Communication and capitalism: A critical theory. Westminster: University of Westminster Press. 406 pp.

Schleiter, M., & de Maaker, E. (eds.) (2020). Media, indigeneity and nation in South Asia. London: Routledge. 298 pp.