Date of Award

1-1-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Nobuya Inagaki

Abstract

Taking into account the growing role of the Internet in how people acquire news and information, along with the increasing sophistication of online content filtering and personalization, this paper attempts to ascertain how these two developments may combine to influence Internet users’ parasocial relationships with distant leaders. Primarily using the lens of social identity theory and selective exposure, quantitative research looks at respondents’ use of the Internet for news and information seeking activity vis-à-vis their assessments of two distant leaders. Results using regression analysis showed very few statistically significant results. However, when using the Pearson correlation coefficient, multiple possible correlations are suggested between Internet activity and respondents’ parasocial relationships with distant leaders.

Comments

All rights reserved.

Download

Share

COinS