Marya L Doerfel

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey | Rutgers · School of Communication and Information, Department of Communication

Introduction Semantic network analysis is an important tool researchers can use to untangle the knots of tension that arise as communities debate and discuss complex issues. Yet words connect not only to each other in community discourse but to larger themes or issues. Methods In this paper, we demonstrate the use of multilayer analysis for the st...

Organizations in disaster-prone areas generally have formalized plans that will help them recover after environmental disasters. However, these formal mechanisms are usually adapted “on the fly” because disasters don't unfold according to plans. This paper examines how a cross-sector network of community organizations used both formal structures (p...

This study extends the communication theory of resilience (CTR) by examining social networks that facilitate resilience for refugee-oriented humanitarian organizations (ROHOs). This study draws on a network survey and interviews from ROHOs in the United States and South Korea during the height of coronavirus disease 2019. Results illuminate how ref...

This study advances communication-centered resilience theory by examining adaptive capacity of nonprofit networks impacted by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Data show how formal structures set up conditions for adaptive/informal organizing. This highlights a quandary for disaster planning: Improvising emerges from organizations having plans in place. It...

This study advances communication-centered resilience theory by examining adaptive capacity of nonprofit networks impacted by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Data show how formal structures set up conditions for adaptive/informal organizing. This highlights a quandary for disaster planning: improvising emerges from organizations having plans in place. It...

The interplay between formal organizing structures and the informal social networks of employees and organizations furthers the resilience of nonprofit organizations that service the community. This case study draws on a qualitative multi-pronged data from the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey from two faith networks of social welfare organizations ser...

Organizational resilience is defined using a multi-theoretical, multi-level framework of relational communication that addresses the intertwined physical, social, and organizational elements that contribute to organizational survivability. Incorporating disaster into a relational model of crisis communication theory, this chapter uses community eco...

This chapter offers a theoretical framework of organization‐ and community‐levels of engagement using social networks concepts. A social networks approach emphasizes relational activities that facilitate communication flows and influence. A focus on engagement expands interorganizational networks from a weak–strong tie continuum to one of engaged c...

Collective action and community ecology theories frame this study of longitudinal interorganizational networks in Croatia during the country's political transition. As time progresses towards political stability, grassroots organizing activities shift through participation in new networks. Although engaged cross-sector communication was important i...

Resilience officers are an emerging profession who work on behalf of municipalities, cities, institutions, transportation hubs, businesses, etc. Their mission involves disaster preparedness, response, and management, in the hopes that their work minimizes the impacts of disruption. Their work is inherently communicative. Coordinating resilience inv...

Resilience processes, for organizational communication, are communicative phenomena reliant upon strong ties, latent ties, and shared meanings which enable individuals, groups, and organizations to respond effectively to and bounce back from system disruptions such as crisis and disaster. Resilience is a process of integrated recovery that is depen...

Field methods offer a way to get a multifaceted view of the communicative processes associated with organizing, organizations, and the complex relationships that make up and are shaped by organizations. This entry discusses the history and evolution of field methods in organizational communication. It starts by defining field research and its metho...

Disaster recovery and response moves in increasingly predictable patterns from immediate after-crisis emergency response to long-term organizational and community recovery. Networked collaborations crossing multiple geographic and organizational boundaries are key parts of social resilience processes that enable effective response and recovery acti...

Nonprofit sector organizations tackle intractable problems by seeking support from external funding agencies, resulting in funders holding power through resource control. Nonprofits also access resources and coordinate activities through building networks with other nonprofits. Such networks have been viewed as emergent with an underlying assumptio...

Nonprofit sector organizations tackle intractable problems by seeking support from external funding agencies, resulting in funders holding power through resource control. Nonprofits also access resources and coordinate activities through building networks with other nonprofits. Such networks have been viewed as emergent with an underlying assumptio...

Preprint version: A community's health can be seen in terms of its resilience-the ability for a community to withstand unanticipated conditions. Meanwhile, public health is served by various cross-sector organizational partnerships that jointly attempt to manage intractable problems like the needs of underserved populations. When disaster, hits, re...

Strength of weak ties theory (SoWT) explains the social influences of weak ties as they facilitate access across social networks. An underlying assumption is that SoWT involves face-to-face interaction. Today, social media allow tie formation without necessarily being linked to time or place. We assert that building networks through online, text-ba...

The focus of this paper is on how business leaders use communication to build transitional networks in order to successfully evolve through crisis. Chaos theory and network theory are employed as complementary bases for understanding communication and the resulting social ordering following crisis. These theories are applied on a variety of levels...

Longitudinal interorganizational relationships in New Orleans are used to assess the ways in which organizations employed information and communication technologies to (re)connect to their social networks and with what impact regarding post-disruption capacity building. Findings reveal tensions in old and new media use and that using multiple media...

This study uses social capital and evolutionary theory to examine organizational resilience in terms of interorganizational networks of disaster-struck organizations following Hurricane Katrina. Approaching post-disaster organizational resilience using social network analysis highlights the way pre-disaster relationships and networking patterns pla...

This study employs the perspective of organizational resilience to examine how information and communication technologies (ICTs) were used by organizations to aid in their recovery after Hurricane Katrina. In-depth interviews enabled longitudinal analysis of ICT use. Results showed that organizations enacted a variety of resilient behaviors through...

The purpose of this study is to assess whether and to what extent structuration theory, role theory, and network theory can help explain employees' attitudes about the introduction of a new, organization-wide Electronic Mail system. The analysis considers how an organization's existing structures, along with one's role and network affiliation withi...

Social capital is created when members and organizations in a society enact relationships with others. The outcome of these relationships includes new opportunities, information, and access to a variety of resources. The purpose of this article is to study donor communication and relationships that help to build social capital. The site for this st...

Employing a community ecology perspective, this study examines how interorganizational (IO) communication and social capital (SC) facilitated organizational recovery after Hurricane Katrina. In-depth interviews with 56 New Orleans organizations enabled longitudinal analysis and a grounded theory model that illustrates how communication differentiat...

Drawing on network theory, this study considers the content of U.S. presidential debates and how candidates' language differentiates them. Semantic network analyses of all U.S. presidential debates (1960–2004) were conducted. Results reveal that regardless of party affiliation, election winners were more central in their semantic networks than lose...

Interorganizational communication (IOC) emphasizes relationships organizations have with external constituents as opposed to relationships that occur internally. IOC research considers issues like information flows, information sharing, reputation, cooperation, competition, coalition building, and power. IOC theoretical developments are substantial...

Purpose This paper seeks to explore the role of ombuds processes on commitment and trust to the organization. Design/methodology/approach This research is framed by and builds on theories about cooperation‐competition, procedural justice, and third party intervention (ombudsman processes) in managing organizational relationships. Data for this stu...

This paper describes relationship building among nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in a civil society effort. It presents the results of an interorganizational network analysis of 17 Croatian civil society organizations that participated in the 2000 parliamentary election campaign. The research analyzes network relationships including density, s...

This paper introduces network analysis as a way to theorize about another dimension of relationships: inter-organizational relationships. Through a case study of inter-organizational relationships in the civil society movement in Croatia, this paper outlines the various ways public relations serves a relationship building function. Through the use...

Intercultural communication competence (ICC) is an area of study that is becoming more relevant in the increasingly multicultural communities that we live in. Though much progress has been made in this area of research since Hall [(1959). The silent language. New York: Anchor Books], a satisfactory model of ICC and a scale that translates well into...

Cooperation‐competition theory and contagion theories are applied in a relatively untapped milieu, the commission‐only organization. The current study analyzed a real estate business in which cooperation is manifested through descriptions of individual and organizational issues, yet data reveal that workers operate independently. The results of thi...

Throughout the world, social cause organizations and independent media organizations work together, despite their differences and competition with each other for resources, toward creating civil society. This paper assesses the network dynamics of a system of cooperative competitors in Croatia. The research is framed from the theoretical perspectiv...

Effective handling of customer complaints is obviously in the consumers’ interest, but analysis of the letters can also provide valuable information to the organization. Organizations can use customer complaints as a way of recording organizational information and tracking effectiveness of their consumer relationship management. In this paper, we a...

This article examines how organizations integrate the Internet into crisis communication. Results suggest four findings about Internet usage in crisis. First, a majority of the organizations studied are turning to the Internet to communicate with the public and the news media during a crisis. Second, organizational type does not appear to be a fact...

This paper presents an analysis of three presidential candidates, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot, who participated in the 1992 presidential debates. The relationships among the three candidates and between each candidate and the issues were examined using semantic network analysis. The results indicate a two-against-one strategy th...

This chapter presents an overview of benchmarking as well as dashboard indicators for higher education.

This article examines the structure of the International Communication Association (ICA) through semantic network analysis. Semantic network analysis examines the relationships among a system's components based on the shared meanings of symbols. Galileo analysis and Quadratic Analysis Procedure revealed that the semantic network for ICA based on pa...

This paper extends organizational communication research by considering external organizational issues. It analyzes the interorganizational network of real estate companies and the relationship of their network positions to organization‐level perceptions about the system. The network is divided into: (1) one group of organizations that were sparsel...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 1996. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 132-143). Photocopy of typescript.