Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Organizational Leadership , Franklin University, 2023, International Institute for Innovative Instruction

Declining student engagement has been an ongoing concern for educators, education researchers, school administration, and policymakers for the last 40 years (Axelson & Flick, 2011), with socioeconomically disadvantaged students being the most susceptible to disengagement (Finn, 1993; Jensen, 2013). The discourse surrounding declining student engagement includes exploring effective pedagogy as an intervention and influencing optimal academic development and successful school completion. Innovative pedagogical tools have been studied to provide a more engaging learning experience, evolving from chalkboards to tape recorders, projectors, computers, digital games, and the latest social networking sites (SNSs) (DeCoito & Vacca, 2020), such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Though the integration of SNSs into the curriculum in secondary education is still being fine-tuned, many educators have adopted them into their teaching strategies because of their growing popularity in society and, more recently, due to the pause in traditional learning caused by the coronavirus pandemic (Cavus et al., 2021; Iivari, 2020). However, concerns about a need for more guidelines on how SNSs should be integrated, their effectiveness, and teachers' preparedness are apparent (Pedler et al., 2020; Van Den Beemt et al., 2020). The study aimed to determine teachers' perceptions of the impact SNSs as pedagogical tools have on student engagement. A secondary purpose was to determine whether teacher perceptions of student engagement when SNSs were used as a pedagogical tool differed based on their years of experience, assignment integration, the type of SNS(s) used, and time spent per week using SNSs for varying assignments. Title 1 high school teachers were surveyed and answered a series of 5-point Likert scale questions rating their level of agreement with statements about SNSs as pedagogical tools and teachers' perception of their impact on different engagement indicators. The sum of the resp (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Donis Toler (Committee Chair); Matthew Barclay (Committee Member); Valerie Storey (Committee Member) Subjects: Education Policy; Educational Technology; Educational Theory; Secondary Education; Teaching

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2023, Psychology - Clinical

Problematic social networking site use (PSNSU) has demonstrated associations with social anxiety symptom severity across the literature; however, less is known about transdiagnostic psychopathology-related variables that may mediate relationships between PSNSU and fear of evaluation. There is an especially prominent gap regarding mediating variables between PSNSU and fear of evaluation - involving difficulties in emotion regulation (DER) and intolerance of uncertainty (IU). The present study builds on recent research findings that fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with PSNSU severity, and that intolerance of uncertainty is related to PSNSU severity and motives for addictive behavior. There is also a lack of literature regarding how fear of positive evaluation (FPE), a construct unique to social anxiety, relates to PSNSU severity. Given the current prevalence of SNS usage and the social nature of these sites, it is especially important to explore whether individuals who fear social evaluation use SNSs in a problematic way, and whether lesser-studied transdiagnostic constructs such as intolerance of uncertainty and difficulties in emotion regulation mediate the relationship between fear of evaluation and subsequent PSNSU. The present study explored this gap in the literature with a mediation model in which DER and IU explained relations between both FNE and FPE with PSNSU. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), structural equation modeling (SEM), and mediation analyses indicated that IU and DER mediated the relationship between FNE and PSNSU, but did not mediate the relationship between FPE and PSNSU. These findings highlight the role of IU in PSNSU for individuals experiencing social anxiety symptoms, which has not been previously established, and provide further support for the relationship of DER with FNE and PSNSU, where DER particularly functions as a mediator of this relationship.

Committee: Jon Elhai (Committee Chair); Peter Mezo (Committee Member); Matthew Tull (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Clinical Psychology; Psychology; Technology

Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.), Xavier University, 2022, Psychology

Eating disorders are increasingly prevalent in young women, constituting a serious public health concern. Maladaptive use of social networking sites (SNSs) is associated with increased eating disorder risk factors and symptomology among young women, suggesting that eating disorder prevention programs targeting this behavior may be beneficial. The present study tested a modified version of the Body Project that was shortened to a single, 2-hour session to address attrition problems of previous versions and adapted to include elements specifically targeting maladaptive SNS use. Female undergraduates (N = 128) were blindly assigned to a high-dissonance intervention, a low-dissonance intervention, or a no-treatment control group during a two-step enrollment process. Using a repeated measures design to assess for differential change in outcomes (i.e., thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, dietary restraint, negative affect, eating disorder symptomology) between conditions across time from baseline to posttest and 1-month follow-up, a 3 (Time) x 3 (Condition) mixed factorial multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) identified a significant Time x Condition interaction. Notably, follow-up analyses indicated participants in both active conditions experienced significant decreases in eating disorder symptomology and multiple eating disorder risk factors across time. Against expectations, the active conditions did not produce significant reductions on any of the measured outcomes relative to controls at posttest or 1-month follow-up. Results are promising in that they suggest minimal exposure to this modified intervention can produce positive effects which may enhance the feasibility and accessibility of eating disorder prevention options for busy college students.

Committee: Kathleen Hart Ph.D., ABPP (Committee Chair); Morrie Mullins Ph.D. (Committee Member); Susan Kenford Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Psychotherapy

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2020, Antioch New England: Clinical Psychology

Through qualitative methodology, this dissertation aimed to explore adolescent girls' use of social networking sites (SNS) and the impact these sites could be having on girls' development of empathy and their ability to address conflict in their friendships. The topic is introduced by outlining the relevant statistics and through highlighting some of the negative and positive influences of SNS use on adolescent female life. Carol Gilligan's theory of moral development is explained and used to frame the research questions for this phenomenological research study. Section One of this dissertation reviews the current literature on this topic, including how social media use is impacting the sexual, emotional, and psychological heath of adolescent girls. In addition, this chapter outlines how certain developmental processes in adolescence such as acquiring empathy and socializing intersect with SNS in this digital age. The concepts of rupture and repair are explained as they relate to female aggression during the teenage years. The importance of empathy development and the potential impacts of SNS on brain functioning are discussed. Section Two of this dissertation outlines the qualitative methodology: Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Section Two includes a description of the study participants, interview process, procedures, data analysis and outlines the potential ethical concerns associated with this project. Section Three reports on the findings of the study, including a description of the demographic data and a presentation of clusters and themes. Section Four presents the results in detail and reports on the implications for clinical practice, limitations of this study, future directions for research, and researcher reflections.

Committee: Martha Straus PhD (Committee Chair); Kate Evarts Rice PsyD (Committee Member); David Arbeitman PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2019, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Criminal Justice

Purpose: Juvenile deviance and its surrounding social factors are the bedrock of criminology's historic, fundamental theoretical perspectives. Research involving this topic has spanned nearly a century. However, one concept that might lend insight to these perspectives has not been fully considered. That concept is the social centrality of youth inside their peer networks. By incorporating research from social networking analysis, this work seeks to more thoroughly explain adolescents' prominence in their peer network and how that prominence relates to deviance. Additionally, this dissertation assesses how one's level of centrality in a peer network during adolescence can affect one's well-being into adulthood. Specifically, the well-being outcomes measured are alcohol use, depression, anxiety, aggression, and socioeconomic status. Methods: This dissertation uses data from the Add Health Survey to conduct the analyses. Using a sample composing of 6,796 11–18-year-olds, multivariate regression analyses are conducted to test the effects of deviant behaviors on adolescents' social centrality. The type of centrality selected for this study is proximity prestige — an in-degree, global measure of position within a network using friendship nominations. Well-being outcomes during adulthood were taken from both Waves 3 and 4 of the Add-Health Survey. Results: Findings show that younger adolescents' (ages 11–14) social centrality is increased by adhering to prosocial behavioral expectations. Older adolescents (aged 15–18) see an increase in their centrality by exhibiting both prosocial and antisocial behaviors — specifically using alcohol and tobacco, having sex, and having trouble with teachers. Furthermore, analyses report that individuals who are central to their peer network in adolescence have higher educational success, higher incomes, and fewer feelings of depression. Conclusion: The analyses' findings show measures of social centrality are related to both (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: J.C. Barnes Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Michael Benson Ph.D. (Committee Member); Dylan Jackson Ph.D. (Committee Member); Joseph Nedelec Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Criminology

Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.), Xavier University, 2019, Psychology

Given the growing presence of social networking sites (SNSs) in the lives of adolescents, and the need for research examining the association between female adolescents' motives for managing their online self-presentations and their subjective wellbeing, the current study examined the reasons behind female adolescents' tendencies to manage their photographic self-presentations on SNSs, and the potential outcomes for their social and psychological wellbeing. Ninth- through twelfth-grade students from an all-female, Catholic, high school (N = 180; Mage = 15.86, SD = 1.22) completed questionnaires measuring their narcissism, perceived appearance-based social pressure from peers, online photographic impression management strategies, social and psychological wellbeing, and social desirability. Results revealed that greater appearance-based social pressure, but not higher levels of narcissism, was associated with more online photo impression management strategies (OPIMS). Further, more OPIMS was negatively associated with both psychological and social wellbeing. However, the relationships between OPIMS with psychological and social wellbeing were not moderated by appearance-based social pressure nor narcissism. Future research should examine female adolescents' online self-presentations, and the implications for by psychological and social wellbeing, by monitoring or coding the adolescents' actual photographs on SNSs. Such research has practical implications for the development of social media literacy programs, which could promote healthy SNS use among teenage girls.

Committee: Tammy Sonnentag PhD (Advisor); Christian End PhD (Committee Member); Jennifer Gibson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Social Psychology; Technology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2017, Communication

Female body image concern has been widely studied in the literature, but fewer studies have examined the relationship between social networking site use and female body image concern. Using objectification theory as a framework, the present study explored how appearance comparison and feedback comparison influence body shame, disordered eating, and cosmetic surgery interest in the context of the social networking site Instagram. A national sample of female Instagram users (N = 245) completed an online survey. Results of the serial mediation model showed that body surveillance had an indirect effect on disordered eating and cosmetic surgery interest via appearance comparison on Instagram and body shame. Body surveillance, however, did not positively predict disordered eating and cosmetic surgery interest through the mediating variables of feedback comparison on Instagram and body shame. A significant positive relationship emerged between body surveillance and appearance comparison, as well as between appearance comparison and body shame. Body shame positively predicted disordered eating and cosmetic surgery interest. Feedback comparison, on the other hand, did not reveal significant direct relationships with any of the variables within the serial mediation model. These results suggest that objectification theory should be expanded to incorporate appearance comparison and cosmetic surgery interest within its framework. Furthermore, female Instagram users need to be aware of the negative consequences Instagram use could have on their body image. Media literacy programs on body image should develop sessions emphasizing the role Instagram use plays in the development of body image concern. Disordered eating clinicians and cosmetic surgeons must consider the potential influence of Instagram use and appearance comparison on their patients' body image concern or interest in undergoing cosmetic procedures.

Committee: Roselyn Lee Won (Advisor); Siyue Li (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

PHD, Kent State University, 2016, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences

Public Service Announcements (PSAs) have had roots in American culture since WWII and are still used today to inform the public about current health, social, and environmental issues facing the population. In the past 70 years, traditional media outlets were used to spread PSAs, including print, television, and radio. However, newer technologies are starting to take shape as an alternative way to reach the masses, including social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Along with changes in the delivery of information, there have also been some changes with many Americans' bodies, specifically related to weight gain. The increase in the weight of many Americans is largely attributed to oversized meal portions and a sedentary lifestyle. This study gathered information from young adults (N=249) at a large Ohio public university to add to the current literature about PSAs disseminated through the social networking site Facebook, and email, to determine their effectiveness on changing people's awareness, attitudes and behaviors about daily food and exercise choices. The quantitative results provided evidence that a four-week intervention helped to create modest changes in both Facebook and email groups regarding awareness, behaviors, and attitude changes about healthy living. Contrary to the popularity of social media, the Facebook group did not perform better than the email group. In fact, the email group demonstrated statistical significance on two issues that the Facebook group did not. The qualitative results provided by the Facebook group demonstrated that SNSs can benefit people who read posted messages and comments and participate in discussion. In this study, 95% of the Facebook participants self-reported that they benefitted from discussions.

Committee: Drew Tiene Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Catherine Goodall Ph.D. (Committee Member); Chia-Ling Kuo Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Educational Psychology; Health Education

Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.), Xavier University, 2015, Psychology

Social acceptance and exclusion are integral aspects of using Social Network Sites (SNS). The current study investigated two main questions: 1) do prior findings concerning affective and behavioral responses to acceptance/exclusion obtained in real-world contexts generalize to the virtual world? and 2) what influence does trait narcissism have on the response to acceptance or exclusion within a virtual context? Using a psychology department participant pool, 209 participants (87 men; mean age = 20.19) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: acceptance, exclusion, and control. Treatment condition was one independent variable (IV). The second IV was high vs low trait narcissism (based on NPI score median split). Dependent variables (DV) were negative affect and displaced aggression. A single 3 x 2 MANOVA was conducted to determine the main and interaction effects of the two IV's and two DV's. Main effects for condition emerged for negative affect and displaced aggression, F(2, 203) = 8.09, p < .001; F(2, 203) = 5.12, p = .01, respectively. Participants led to believe they had been socially excluded showed significantly more negative affect compared to participants in the accepted condition, p = .001, and were significantly less likely to display displaced aggression compared to participants in the accepted condition, p = .006. Trait narcissism was not related to outcome, Wilks's lambda = .98, F(4, 404) = 1.03, p = .39, partial eta-squared = .01. The findings are inconsistent with past real-world research linking social exclusion with a neutral or numbed affective response and an aggressive behavioral response. Future research should investigate if the interpersonal distance provided by SNS can account for the differential affective outcomes, as well as if exposure to social media attenuates aggressive responding, while facilitating a more affiliative response.

Committee: Susan Kenford Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Janet Schultz Ph.D. (Committee Member); Karl Stukenberg Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Experiments; Social Psychology; Web Studies

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2015, Communication

This study aimed to understand the role of positive and negative feedback on attitude, behavioral intention and shared reality. Through the lens of the social cognitive theory (SCT), grounding theory, social identity theory (SIT) and social identity model of deindividualization effects (SIDE), the study focused on memes that portrayed colorism (i.e., intragroup discrimination). African American participants viewed a meme portraying dark-skinned Blacks as poor on Twitter that received negative or positive feedback through comments and emoticons. Overall, participants who viewed memes receiving positive feedback reported more negative attitudes towards sharing the meme. Furthermore, when the meme received positive feedback, participants reported less identification with the commenter. Although the study provided a glimpse into colorism within social media, skewed data hinder external validity. Future research will address this issue.

Committee: Roselyn Lee-Won (Advisor); Osei Appiah (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, English

“Developing a Digital Paideia: Composing Identities and Engaging Rhetorical in the Digital Age” studies the complex multidimensional rhetorics and composing practices that are ongoing within online spaces, especially social media sites. From these sites, I derive insights to develop pedagogical approaches and suggestions that value everyday engagements with technology and mundane multimodal composing as significant and rhetorical. Technology users—from smart phone users to digital composers—have become deeply engaged with multiple technologies. This pervasive engagement has led many scholars and educators (for instance, Mark Bauerlein, Nicholas Carr, and Sherry Turkle) to decry the detrimental effects of technology upon intellectualism. This project offers a counterpoint to this argument, highlighting the complex rhetorical and composing work college students, many who are millennials, do in their everyday lives, while also proposing pedagogical approaches for instructors of rhetoric, composition, and digital media studies to incorporate these everyday literacy practices into their classrooms. I develop a digital rhetorical paideia, or course of study, using rhetorical identity and ethos as an access point for asking larger questions about rhetoric, composition, and digital media studies. To develop this paideia, I analyze rhetorical behaviors and multimodal composing practices across social media sites, engaging with issues related to individual identity on social-networking sites (such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest in chapter one), shared identity and collective ethos within online communities and affinity groups (focusing on LiveJournal and Tumblr in the second chapter), and the collapsing boundaries among public, private, online, and offline experiences and communications (examining Reddit.com in chapter three). Alongside these analyses, this dissertation also features student work and voices in the form of curated student exhibits, which illustrate (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Cynthia Selfe (Advisor) Subjects: Composition; Rhetoric; Teaching; Web Studies

MS, Kent State University, 2015, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Health Sciences

This study examined the use of social networking sites (SNS) as tools for weight management in college students (n=1138), as well as the perceived credibility of these sites as information sources. An anonymous, online, self-administered questionnaire was emailed to 10,000 random students, both undergraduate and graduate, to examine their SNS use for weight management information. They also were asked about their perceived credibility of SNS as an information source, the types of weight management-related search keywords used on SNS, their posting and browsing habits, and their perceptions about social support available on SNS. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze demographics and total SNS usage. Fisher's exact tests were used to examine gender and age differences in SNS usage, and independent t-tests were used to examine gender differences between perceived credibility, search keywords, posting and browsing habits, and social support perceptions. Two-thirds (n=739) of participants reported using SNS to access weight management information. Female college students were more likely to be Instagram and Pinterest users (p≤0.001), while male college students were more likely to be Twitter users (p≤0.01). There were no gender differences in Facebook usage. The most frequently searched keywords on SNS pertained to healthy recipes and exercise information. Forty-six percent of participants reported that weight management information on SNS was trustworthy, and there were no gender differences in perceived credibility. There were no gender differences in posting and browsing habits and perceptions on social support.

Committee: Eun-Jeong Ha (Advisor); Natalie Caine-Bish (Committee Member); Karen Lowry Gordon (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Health Sciences; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Nutrition; Web Studies

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2014, Journalism (Communication)

This thesis examined the effects of social network sites (SNS) on users' social capital and privacy awareness and tested if differences existed in intensity of SNS usage and its relationship with students' social capital and privacy awareness between Chinese and the U.S. college students. An online survey conducted among Chinese Renren Network users and the U.S. Facebook users showed that the usage of SNSs was positively related to users' social capital (both bridging and partially bonding) and privacy awareness. Significant differences were found in the intensity of SNS usage and bridging social capital between the users of Facebook and Renren Network.

Committee: Jatin Srivastava (Advisor); Bernhard Debatin (Committee Member); Parul Jain (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Journalism

Master of Computer Science, Miami University, 2011, Computer Science and Software Engineering

When professionals, researchers, or academics in a particular domain need to share information,usually a set of commonly used terms and concepts exist that facilitate communication. This set can be expressed by defining the structures, attributes and contents that describe the domain in a model. The model formally organizes data and provides some meaning, but generic features describing an entire field may not express concepts across specific sub-domains. While field experts are familiar with that area, they are not usually familiar with computer science data model concepts. Adopting a generic model and understanding how to conform to defined structures that are unfamiliar to field experts creates a knowledge gap. We are developing a method that identifies the meaning of generic features within the context of a sub-domain. The proposed solution provides a method to describe what a generic feature represents to the sub-domain in order to support sharing the usage of generic features and create a higher interoperability functionality.

Committee: Dr. Gerald C. Gannod PhD (Advisor); Dr. Janet E. Burge PhD (Committee Member); Dr. Laura C. Mandell PhD (Committee Member); Dr. John T.E. Timm PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Science

Master of Applied Communication Theory and Methodology, Cleveland State University, 2010, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

Humans engage their environment through the combined effort of the mind, body proper and corresponding instinctual emotive devices (Damasio, 1994). These structures are a part of the same phenomena: human biology. Our emotive devices along with the brain and body act as an interwoven organism appraising the environment and making necessary adjustments for it survival and efficient functioning. Moreover, these structures actively engage socially complex signals like those that we experience daily in our social world. Plausibly, when these devices are not utilized the interwoven organism will be in a state of atrophy. Much like an antigen would trigger a reaction from the body to promote homeostasis, this same idea can be applied to a social agent of alienation viewed through four dimensions of negative social valence: envy, embarrassment, guilt, and shame. This exploratory research employed an Evolutionary Psychology perspective whereby the human mind is viewed through the lens of the physiological and psychological mechanisms that created the developmental programs we use today (Cosmides & Tooby, 1992). This theoretical framework was used to study the relationship between human behavior, the state of alienation, and SNS. Based on survey data from college students, there seemed to be a relationship between alienation and Social Networking Sites. Alienation dimensions were highest among those who had the lowest amount of contacts on SNS. The findings from this study will add to the body of knowledge on Computer Mediated Communication as well as afford an opportunity for further research in understanding human behavior engaged in SNS through the viewpoint of Evolutionary Psychology.

Committee: Gary Pettey PhD (Advisor); Cheryl Bracken PhD (Committee Member); Robert Whitbred PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Physiological Psychology; Psychology; Social Psychology

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2012, Antioch New England: Clinical Psychology

Online social networking sites have experienced a surge in popularity since their inception. Serving as a hub for communities of all ages, Web sites such as MySpace, Friendster and Facebook bridge geographic and time limitations and offer their members the opportunity to connect with anyone on the Internet at any time. The growing accessibility of technology for computer-mediated communication, outside of such Web sites offers similar opportunities. Although critics share concern over potential for the loss of intimacy, the possibility for increased levels of perceived social support through limitless networking options should not be overlooked. When we consider the strong connection between perceived social support and perceived stress, which are linked to physical and mental symptomatology, the possible benefits are worthy of inquiry. This study explores the constructs of perceived social support and perceived stress and examines the impact of online social networking sites and computer-mediated communication upon a person's experience of them. Results supported Cohen's Stress-buffering hypothesis. A significant negative correlation was found for the association between reported levels of perceived social support and levels of perceived stress. Facebook use was not significantly related to perceived social support. This finding failed the second step for establishing mediation and disproved the hypothesis that perceived social support mediates a negative correlation between Facebook use and perceived stress. Further exploration revealed a significant relationship between respondent preference for computer-mediated communication, perceived social support, and perceived stress, however. The more that respondents preferred online communication to face-to-face or telephone communication, the greater the level of stress they perceived. Also, respondents who reported a preference for computer-mediated communication reported lower levels of perceived social support. A r (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Susan Hawes PhD (Committee Chair); William Slammon PhD (Committee Member); Dean Hammer PsyD (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2009, Sociology

Online social networking sites seem particularly well-suited to forming the loose connections between diverse social networks, or weak ties, associated with bridging social capital, but is using one site the same as using another? This study explores the user and usage characteristics of two popular social networking websites, Myspace and Facebook, and then investigates the relationship between online social networking and bridging social capital using survey data from 929 university students and faculty members. Myspace users tend to have less education and be more racially diverse, have lower incomes, and focus more on forming new social ties online. Conversely, Facebook users tend to be better educated, have higher income, and focus more on maintaining relationships with their existing offline ties. A positive association exists between the degree of online social networking and bridging capital, although there was no meaningful difference in bridging capital between those who used Myspace only and those who used Facebook only. However, the results indicate that the use of Myspace in conjunction with Facebook significantly increases bridging capital and moderates the effect of race, income, and degree of usage. Together, this evidence suggests that online social networking is a useful tool for enlarging and maintaining a diverse social network, but that the examination of online social networking in the aggregate may hide distinctions among sites. Different sites are used in different ways, and thus using more than one site might provide the greatest benefit in terms of increased bridging capital.

Committee: Rebecca J. Erickson PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2013, Management

Social networking platforms, systems designed to provide digital content services specifically for social network sites (SNS), continue to develop through a rapid combination of components forming a service ecology that is much more than a single tool or service. These SNS have experienced tremendously rapid growth rates and traditional economic factors put forward to explain growth such as pricing are inadequate. Explanations offered by platform scholars for the exponential growth of SNS such as Facebook do not go far enough in explaining why some platforms such as Facebook grow while others such as Friendster do not, despite following somewhat similar growth strategies advocated in the literature. In this thesis I develop a theoretical model that offers greater power and detail than previous models – that focus on single user-tool technology adoption – in explaining the growth of SNS. It builds upon the work on two-sided economic models but seeks to expand them using social exchange theory to situations where the exchanged value is not monetary. The dissertation covers the motivation, prior research, theoretical foundations, research methodology, findings, and contributions. Following mixed methodology utilized a grounded theory approach by first conducting semi-structured interviews with technology executives and users of two SNS that have experienced dramatically different growth patterns to identify and explain user related behaviors that drive growth. Informed by this study, I next hypothesize a research model that draws upon platform processes of co-creation and co-production as well as user features of voyeurism and exhibitionism to explain SNS growth – measured by fan out and retention. The model posits that the growth of SNS is mediated through the participation in the co-creation and co-production processes. In a second study, I analyzed to what extent the ratios of user propensity towards either voyeuristic or exhibitionistic behaviors affect the fan (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kalle Lyytinen Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Dick Boland Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jerry Kane Ph.D. (Committee Member); Rakesh Niraj Ph.D. (Committee Member); Toni Somers Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Information Systems; Information Technology; Management; Marketing; Social Research

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2024, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Information Technology

Over the past ten years, cyberbullying has become a prevalent issue across various levels of education and society globally. This dissertation delves into the complex landscape of cyberbullying text detection. Through a thorough parametric analysis, it explores the intricacies of cyberbullying text detection research, presenting insights into potential solutions and strategies. A case study is conducted to investigate cultural variations and perceptions of offensiveness, particularly within Ghanaian culture, contributing to a deeper understanding of cyberbullying dynamics. The dissertation also explores strategies for prevention and fostering a safer online environment, along with examining cultural interpretations of technology features. Furthermore, this dissertation focuses on detecting cyberbullying in adversarial text content within social networking site, with a specific emphasis on identifying hate speech. Utilizing a deep learning-based approach with a correction algorithm, this dissertation yielded significant results. An LSTM model with a fixed epoch of 100 demonstrated remarkable performance, achieving high accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and AUC-ROC scores of 87.57%, 88.73%, 87.57%, 88.17%, and 91% respectively. The LSTM model's performance surpassed that of previous studies when compared. Additionally, the dissertation offers recommendations for defense strategies against adversarial attacks on AI-based models, providing valuable insights for future research endeavors.

Committee: Nelly Elsayed Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Amanda La Guardia Ph.D. (Committee Member); Zaghloul Elsayed Ph.D. (Committee Member); M. Murat Ozer Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Information Technology

MFIS, Kent State University, 2023, College of the Arts / School of Fashion

Individuals are exposed to viral fashion trends daily on social media channels like TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. This study focuses specifically on Generation Z (Gen Z) and their purchase intentions regarding viral fashion trends on the popular social media channel TikTok. This study aims to better understand how the virality of a video on TikTok impacts the purchase intention of Generation Z(Gen Z) through examining parasocial interaction, perceived expertise, and trustworthiness of the content creator. A viral and nonviral video posted by two different influencers of the same gender/ethnicity was delivered to participants, followed by a survey regarding the participants' purchase intention guided by the influencer's trustworthiness, perceived expertise, and parasocial interaction with the audience. Approximately 421 Gen Z students at a large Midwest university were given a 26-question survey through the online platform, Qualtrics. The results are expected to not only identify the current questions surrounding Gen Z's purchase intentions based on trustworthiness, perceived expertise, and parasocial interaction with viral fashion trends viewed on TikTok but The results will also suggest a possible strategy or strategies to create viral marketing content that is critical for marketers to reach large audiences and build brand awareness.

Committee: Lauren Copeland Ph.D. (Advisor); Krissi Riewe Stevenson (Committee Member); Gargi Bhaduri Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Marketing; Social Research; Technology