Associations of Protective and Acquisitive Self-monitoring with Consumer Attitudes and Behaviors

Acquisitive self-monitors are motivated by gaining social standing (getting ahead, standing out), whereas protective self-monitors are driven by avoiding social disapproval (getting along, blending in; Wolfe et al., 1986). Extending prior research on these orientations and their associations with consumer attitudes and behaviors, participants in Studies 1a (MTurk; N = 156) and 1b (undergraduates; N = 143) completed the Self-Monitoring Scale (Snyder, 1974) and various consumer scales. In these two studies, regression results revealed support for the hypotheses that protective self-monitoring was related to communal consumerism, socially-conscious consumerism, frugality, and conspicuous consumption, whereas agentic consumerism and self-interested values were related to acquisitive self-monitoring. Study 2 (MTurk; N = 275) used experimental manipulation of advertisements to examine differential ad appeals tailored to protective, acquisitive, and low self-monitoring (bivariate model). Moderation analyses showed protective self-monitoring to be a significant predictor of protective ad preference, whereas no specific ad preferences were found with acquisitive self-monitoring. Overall, results suggest that associations of self-monitoring and consumer behaviors are driven by protective self-monitoring rather than acquisitive self-monitoring. Implications (e.g., market research), limitations (e.g., ad strength, convenience samples), and future directions (e.g., examining multivariate appeals for low self-monitoring) are discussed

DEVELOPMENT OF AN INFORMATION ASSURANCE AWARENESS ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STAFF

The government continually expresses concern that critical infrastructures are vulnerable to a host of electronic attacks and that people are the front line of defense. No previous academic research quantitatively measures security awareness in an organization. To accomplish this task an instrument must be developed. This study describes the development and administration of such an instrument that other studies can use to measure the level of security awareness in Information Systems staff to determine level of preparedness

A Comprehensive Information Technology Risk Assessment Audit Framework for Small- and Medium-Sized Financial Institutions

Information technology audits are vital information management programs for banks and financial institutions. A plethora of laws and regulations exists, requiring financial institutions to develop an information technology audit program to support its information technology infrastructure and keep non-public customer information secure. Furthermore, banks are required to complete a risk-based audit on an annual basis to comply with regulators. This research combines two previously identified frameworks, the Comprehensive Risk-Based Auditing Framework (CRBA) and Small to Medium Entity Risk Assessment Model (SMERAM), to further develop the audit process to include the critical risk assessment process and to ensure that the audit is risk- based. Having a sound risk-based audit program will improve the overall information security posture for banks and financial institutions. Furthermore, this research utilizes an example to demonstrate the process

Challenges in creating speech recognition for endangered language CALL: A Chickasaw case study

Speech recognition technology is increasingly becoming an important component of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) software, as well as of a language’s digital vitality. CALL software that integrates speech recognition allows learners to practice oral skills without live instruction and receive feedback on pronunciation. This speech recognition technology may be particularly beneficial for endangered or under-resourced languages. Chickasaw is an indigenous language of North America now spoken mainly in the state of Oklahoma. It is estimated that there are fewer than 75 native speakers of the language remaining, though recent years have seen a surge of interest in Chickasaw culture and language revitalization. In 2007, the Chickasaw Nation launched a robust and multifaceted revitalization program, and in 2015 they commissioned CALL software that integrates speech recognition. However, creating a quality automatic speech recognition (ASR) system necessitates a number of resources that are not always readily available for endangered languages like Chickasaw. Modern speech recognition technology is based on large-scale statistical modeling of target language text and hand transcribed audio corpora. Such technology also assumes a single standardized phonetic orthography where speech can be directly mapped to text. Currently, most available resources for building speech recognition technology are based on languages where researchers are able to access a large pool of literate native speakers who are willing and able to record many hours of high quality audio, and where large volumes of accessible text already exist. For many endangered languages, these criteria cannot easily be fulfilled. This paper is focused on identifying the dimensions of resource challenges that affect building corpora for such languages, using Chickasaw as a case study. Furthermore, we identify techniques that we have used to create a corpus of speech data suitable for building an instructional speech recognition module for use in CALL software

Citizen Trust in the United States Government: Twitter Analytics Measuring Trust in Government Sentiments

Recent tensions and widening division in the United States (U.S.) political arena have sewn doubt in the U.S. government and democracy itself, at a time when rapid technology advances clearly ought to aid the spread of democracy. However, there has been little progress in the use of technology to increase democratic participation in the U.S. The purpose of this research is the exploratory study of how social media analytics can inform, predict, or alter trust in government sentiments which thereby inform democratic participation by studying 49,964,168 Twitter posts (tweets) from January 1, 2014 – June 13, 2019. Extant literature pertaining to E-Government research is reviewed and a theoretical framework is presented as basis for the methodology. The findings shed insight towards the workings of public trust sentiments and current events and/or governmental actions. Additionally, discussions of results pose questions for testing and evaluation in future research

Manufacturing consent in democratic South Africa: application of the propaganda model

Abstract: While the end of apartheid in South Africa brought the end of state repression and formal apartheid censorship of the press, new mechanisms have come to replace the old. Market-driven English daily newspapers continue, through a series of new filters, to limit, shape, and censor ideas for the benefit of the elite private and public sectors. The manufactured, one-dimensional, pro-market world view that results restricts both freedom and democracy. As South Africa enters its second decade of democracy, with new freedoms and civil liberties, further evaluation of this relationship between the media, the state, and the market becomes increasingly vital. The ‘Propaganda Model’ as laid out by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky, in their book, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988, updated 2002) represents a significant analysis of media performance in a democracy. The authors question basic premises of democracy and the free press. According to Herman and Chomsky, the US media “serve, and propagandise on behalf of, the powerful societal interests that control and finance them.” This qualitative and quantitative study demonstrates that propaganda and media control continues today within South African English daily newspapers. To prove this argument, this paper examines how three South African newspapers cover forestry, terrorism, and the New African Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) over a two-year period. The quantitative study surveyed 1797 articles and examined the use of sources quoted and revealed censorship of alternative voices. The qualitative analysis examined the vested interests and various players have in a pro-market, censored representation of NEPAD, the forestry industry, and terrorism. The study revealed that capitalism and the resulting interlocking capital of board members, newspaper owners, advertisers, and the government, cause newspapers to engage in self-censorship and exclusion of threatening voices to advance the interests of the elite

Resourceful Speaking in Language Learning: Constructing L2 Identity in Discourse and Interaction

It is commonly accepted that we shape our identity through our interactions with others; identity is a "discursive construct" that is "interactionally emergent" (Bucholtz & Hall, 2005: 587). When we envision identity construction thus - fluid and dynamic, shaped through interaction and discourse - language becomes our primary vehicle of expression that is heavily dependent on not only our own linguistic ability, but also the language and perceptions of our interlocutors. L2 speakers are thus faced with a problem: how does one construct an identity in a language that is still being learned? Without a deep knowledge of linguistic structure and the subtleties of conversational, social, and cultural cues, how can L2 speakers ensure that they construct acceptable identities through their language use and interaction with others? Drawing on various sociolinguistic approaches and Conversation Analysis, this paper examines L2 identity construction within the context of one-on-one English lessons