Elizabeth Johnson Avery

University of Tennessee at Knoxville | UTK · School of Advertising and Public Relations

This research explores the significance of avatar communication in the virtual world, where individuals can create new identities and establish relationships beyond real-world limitations. Avatar users engage in virtual interactions to fulfill their desires, enjoy entertainment, and experience surrogate satisfaction. This study integrates the Expec...

Given the updated, ongoing recommendations for the COVID vaccine series and booster for children ages 6 months and older yet vaccine coverage remaining at less than 50% among children, it is critical for public health communicators to understand sources of vaccine hesitance among parents. A national survey of parents identifies the mediating effect...

A survey of U.S. local government officials (n = 307) investigates how to improve local governments’ crisis resilience. The results indicate that internal resources (i.e., time, money, and staff) were deemed important to local governments’ crisis management; however, there was a significant decrease in their perceived availability. Moreover, our re...

A national survey (n = 500) was administered in March 2020 at the peak of COVID-19 uncertainty to access parents’ perceived abilities to protect children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the threat/efficacy matrix in Witte’s (1992) extended parallel processing model (EPPM), parents’ behavioral intentions to protect children from coronavirus and...

This study uses the construct of crisis self-efficacy to examine the importance of different considerations in individuals’ decisions to perform recommended safeguarding behaviors during the 2016 Zika virus outbreak. A national survey in the U.S. (n = 370) was administered using a validated crisis self-efficacy scale in late summer 2016, amidst the...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, parents were issued numerous, sometimes changing, safeguarding directives including social distancing, mask use, hygiene, and stay-at-home orders. Enacting these behaviors for the parent presented challenges, but the responsibility for children to follow protocol properly was an even more daunting undertaking. Self-eff...

The 2016 Zika virus epidemic presented a serious threat to public health and left publics confused and anxious about their risks. A survey (n = 370) was distributed in late Summer 2016 in the U.S., when public anxiety regarding Zika was peaking. Results indicate interesting differences in channel preferences based on audiences’ preparedness, risk,...

As Zika emerged as a major global health threat, public information officers (PIOs) at local public health departments across the United States prepared for outbreaks of the virus amid great uncertainty. Using the crisis and risk emergency communication (CERC) model to inform this study, PIOs (n = 226) at public health departments were surveyed to...

This study develops a crisis self‐efficacy index to provide a tool for crisis communication researchers and practitioners to understand behavioural aspects of crisis response better. Evaluations of public's crisis self‐efficacy using this index inform strategic message development to protect the public and minimize crisis damages by identifying the...

Understanding the vulnerability that publics experience in their daily and work lives is central to planning and communicating in order to enhance their resilience and preparedness should some risk manifest itself with health, safety, or well‐being consequences. Vulnerability, in this circumstance, is a key concept because government, industry, and...

As funding for public health promotion is increasingly limited in the U.S., public relations research informing management of crises that threaten public health is especially critical. Crisis planning models such as Reynolds and Seeger's (2005, 2014) crisis and emergency risk communication model offer comprehensive directives for crisis managers an...

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease, and there are alarming global disparities in cervical cancer and HPV vaccination uptake (CDC, 2016a). To inform HPV vaccination public health campaigns, an experiment with a psychophysiological measure (eye-tracking) explores the effects of visual attention to vaccination messages on message reca...

As Zika virus emerged as a global health concern in 2016, it was surrounded in public uncertainty regarding its transmission and health consequences. Health communicators were tasked with managing their own uncertainties and with incomplete information on the virus. Given the misinformation, rumors, and even conspiracy theories surrounding Zika vir...

Media channel use during crisis is an underdeveloped area of crisis communication research. A thorough understanding of how and where people seek information during a crisis is central to effective crisis message strategy, and understanding how the media source of crisis information affects motivation to comply with crisis directives to audiences c...

This study investigates the influence of patriotism and celebrity endorsement on advertising effectiveness. College students (N = 201) participated in a 2 × 2 (patriotism: high vs. low × congruence between a celebrity and the military: high vs. low) experiment. To manipulate the subjects' patriotism levels, two video clips were used and to induce c...

Self-efficacy has consistently been a useful predictor of behavioral intentions as a construct in many theories; yet, its role in audience adherence to instructing information during crisis is relatively unexplored. A national survey (N = 454) examines self-efficacy in public response to crisis directives and develops the concept of crisis efficacy...

How a government responds to, manages, and communicates about crisis has direct implications for public well-being and ultimately shapes public opinion about local governments and government officials. Yet, little is known about crisis preparation, especially that of local governments. Local governments are involved in managing any crisis situation...

Using survey data collected from more than 300 local government officials from municipalities across the United States, this study examines social media use in a relatively unexplored context, local governments. It specifically addresses the adoption and use of social media tools for crisis communication and social media's part in managing a crisis...

Using survey data collected from 463 local government officials from municipalities across the United States, this study examines the use of social media tools by local governments and their perceptions of social media use by their citizenry. It specifically addresses how social media are used as public relations functions to serve democratic, part...

In spite of knowledge that early vaccination against contagious diseases such as swine flu reduces morbidity and contains contagion, rates of vaccination in the most recent three annual disease cycles were lower than anticipated. Some previous research suggests that lower socioeconomic status, mixed-racial population composition, and a nonurban env...

Using data collected from more than 450 local government officials from municipalities across the United States, this study examines the impact that various community features have on local governments' social media use. It specifically addresses how staff and time resources, privacy concerns, citizen expectations, social media effectiveness, staff...

Over the past decade, Cooperative Extension and 4-H professionals have been faced with the decision of whether to adopt new communication technologies such as social media. Research on social media and Cooperative Extension has identified risks and barriers to adoption; however, many Cooperative Extension professionals believe that social media usa...

In 2010 the U.S. State Department funded an “Apps4Africa” contest to encourage development of socially conscious mobile applications for Africa. The initiative marked a significant departure from traditional public diplomacy efforts to expand diplomatic outreach beyond traditional government-to-government relationships. This case study analyses App...

Quantitative content analysis of 51 articles published in crisis communication literature in public relations indicates both a prevalent focus on image restoration or reputation management in the crisis responses analyzed in more than 18 years of research and a relative neglect of instructing and adjusting information in subsequent recommendations....

Using data collected from 280 local public health information officers (PIOs) serving community sizes from rural to urban across the United States, this study examines issues of local autonomy or lack thereof in establishing local health agendas. It specifically addresses how size of community as well as state and federal agencies' agendas affect p...

In an effort at developing messages that are sensitive to societal determinants and expectations about probreast health behaviors for an underserved population, a qualitative approach was driven by the research question, “What message strategies will motivate Appalachian women to attend to breast health issues and become actively involved in their...

A richer understanding of audience channel selection and message reception during routine and crisis situations through receiver-oriented research offers great promise to extend situational theory's predictive utility. Key variables of situational theory, including involvement, constraint, and problem recognition in information seeking and processi...

This study reports findings from a survey of 281 public relations practitioners in public health departments serving 4 distinct sizes of communities—urban, suburban, large town, and rural—in 48 states. Based on diffusion of innovations theory, the overall purpose of the study is to examine the extent to which social media are adopted within public...

Using a traditional coorientation model (Grunig & Hunt, 198417. Grunig , J. E. and Hunt , T. 1984 . Managing public relations , New York : Holt, Rinehart & Winston . View all references; Broom, 19775. Broom , G. M. 1977 . Coorientational measurement of public relations . Public Relations Review , 3 : 110 – 119 . [CrossRef]View all references) compa...

This study quantitatively examines 18 years (1991–2009) of data, 66 published articles, from the crisis communication domain in public relations using Coombs’ situational crisis communication theory and Benoit's image restoration theory as the theoretical foundation for analysis. Overall recommendations indicate crisis communication research in pub...

This is a 2-phase study of the sources of information health journalists use and rely upon for writing health news stories. The 1st phase of the study includes both depth interviews and an online survey with 188 health journalists. Phase 2 of the study extends the findings from Phase 1, with particular attention paid to the roles of public health i...

In the wake of public relations crises of credibility such as FEMA's staged press conference in response to the California wildfires, source credibility merits increased scholarly and practitioner scrutiny in order to maximize the effectiveness of the information practitioners release, particularly when the objective is to promote action vital to p...

This study investigates how gender factors and message strategy play a role in the evaluation of advocacy advertising. The results of an experiment (n=245) revealed that women's behavioral intention is enhanced more through a transformational message strategy (emotionally oriented messages) than an informational message strategy. However, inverse e...

Quantitative content analysis is used to evaluate crisis response strategy analyzed in more than 18 years of research published in crisis communication literature in public relations to reveal its effectiveness, nature, and contextual application. Analysis of 51 articles published in 11 different journals using two dominant theories in public relat...

Using telephone surveys of business/financial journalists in the United States (n = 200), this research investigates the agenda-building role of social media content in journalists’ work. Understanding that more non-public relations content from user-generated and social network sites, like YouTube and Twitter, are fast becoming resources for journ...

As publics and journalists increasingly turn to social media as sources of information and consumer commentary, the importance of practitioners’ monitoring their organizations’ presence on social media will continue to increase. As a domain where publics have unrestrained voice, social media present interesting challenges to practitioners monitorin...

An experimental study involving samples of young and old voters examines whether older people are more susceptible to various types of political advertisements (positive versus negative and ambiguous versus clear) than are their younger counterparts. Our results extend research from cognitive psychology into political advertising and confirm age-re...

Given the increase in the volume of health and medical news over the past few years, the expanding population of journalists committed to feeding the public's voracious appetite for such information, and the important role of government public health organizations in producing and disseminating public health information, it is surprising that littl...

Precrisis information disseminated by public health information officers (PIOs) will play a critical role in preparing and safeguarding publics amidst a possible avian flu pandemic. This article analyzes avian flu press releases issued by leading health agencies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the...

Senior citizens are often positioned as 'have nots' in the digital age, but internet use among older Americans ranges from 68 per cent among those just entering their senior years to 17 per cent of those age 75+. About 70 per cent of online seniors report using the internet for health information. This study uses grounded theory to explore online h...

As audiences may increasingly question source credibility during crisis following situations following recent misinforming efforts such as FEMA’s staged press conference, the use of spokesperson quotations in press releases deserves greater scrutiny, particularly in the context of relaying health information. This study analyzes use of direct quota...

This study addresses part of the process through which health news and information is produced, on routine health information topics, by focusing on the role of public information officers in public health agencies in disseminating health information and their working relationships with health journalists and each other. A coorientational approach...

This study seeks to understand rural working women, their knowledge of health systems, and how breast health issues fit into their lives. A key aim of this study was to identify regionally and culturally specific factors that influence how these women approach breast health and to identify ways that more positive breast health behaviors can be achi...

A content analysis of 413 reports of interviews conducted with 418 journalists from 1991 to 2004 grounded in agenda-setting, framing and agenda-building theories found that journalists giving higher estimates of practitioners’ influence on the news reported having better relationships with practitioners. On average, journalists estimated that 44% o...

This study analyzes the results of two focus group discussions, and telephone and e-mail interviews with thirty-three former students who had completed “gatekeeper interviews” in public relations writing courses to judge the pedagogical value of the assignment. The gatekeeper interview requires students to go into the newsroom to interview working...