Debbie S Dougherty
Biographic Data
| ID | 184604 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Debbie S Dougherty |
| GIVEN NAMES | Debbie S |
| FAMILY NAME | Dougherty |
| SIGNATURE | DOUGHERTY D S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Missouri |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 88 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
A critical sensemaking analysis of implicit bias in U.S. juror organizing
This study used critical sensemaking (CSM) to examine how potential White jurors make sense of implicit bias. Through in-depth interviews with 30 potential jurors from Missouri, our findings revealed that participants used ‘plausible universality’ to navigate coherent interpretations of implicit bias and ‘plausible immunity’ to circumvent incongruous and threatening messages about the concept, which enabled participants to bypass accountability a…
Creating and Disrupting Othering During Policymaking in a Polarized Context
As the United States has become increasingly polarized, policymakers have had difficulty gaining bipartisan support for policy proposals. Political polarization can lead to the othering of individuals, a process characterized by the tendency to construct members of an opposing party in negative ways. In this article, we examine the creation and disruption of othering through the lens of language convergence/meaning divergence (LC/MD) and pragmati…
Perceptions of Risk for Dating Violence Among Rural Adolescent Males: An Interpretive Analysis
About one in eight U.S. high school students in Grades 9 to 12 report experiencing teen dating violence (TDV) in the form of physical, sexual, or psychological dating violence in the past year in person, on school grounds, and online. Compared with their urban counterparts, rural teens face nearly double the rate of physical dating abuse and an elevated risk of experiencing multiple forms of violence. Rural young males are exposed to regional mas…
Rural young males’ acceptance & receptiveness to technology‐based interventions for dating violence prevention: A qualitative descriptive study
INTRODUCTION: Rural youth are twice as likely as urban youth to experience some forms of teen dating violence (TDV), and significant barriers to accessing support services for physical, psychological, sexual violence. However, rural youth remain understudied and undersampled. Rural young men, in particular, are at risk for experiencing or perpetrating dating violence influenced by regional and sociocultural risk factors that promote male supremac…
Sociomaterial struggle: An ethnographic analysis of power, discourse, and materiality in a working class unemployment support organization
Using the ontological lens of sociomateriality with the theoretical notion of struggle, this critical ethnography explores interactions within an unemployment support organization run by white collar workers who train working class populations for skilled blue collar occupations. Results illustrate how sociomaterial struggle is enacted in two ways: struggle against embodied others and struggle against discursive forces. The first theme, struggle …
A Photovoice study of food (in)security, unemployment, and the discursive-material dialectic
Using a discursive-material framework, this study explored the complex ways in which food security and food insecurity are expressed and experienced by people who are unemployed. A Photovoice study of 21 individuals from across the social class spectrum revealed the way jobless individuals navigate the discursive-material dialectic regarding their food (in)security. In the first theme, food insecurity as figure, resource-deprived participants had…
Organizing Sexuality: Silencing and the Push-Pull Process of Co-sexuality in the Workplace
How human beings think about, talk about, and organize around sexuality is changing. Growing social legitimization for sexual minority relationships and a more fluid social understanding of sexual identities has shifted how we bound “normal” sexuality. In the workplace, these shifting norms affect employees of all sexual identities who must make sense of new policies and complex daily practices. This paper introduces the concept of co-sexuality, …
Binary logics and the discursive interpretation of organizational policy: Making meaning of sexual harassment policy
Although workplace policies are written in neutral terms that give the appearance of rationality, research shows that policy meanings are in fact constructed and negotiated through discursive practices. Sexual harassment policies illustrate this phenomenon. Sexual harassment is a highly complex and fluid phenomenon that is dependent on context and culture for its meaning. Although sexual harassment policies tend to use language that appears to li…
Corporate Colonization of Couples' Work-Life Negotiations: Rationalization, Emotion Management and Silencing Conflict
Increased demands at both work and home make it necessary for individuals and families to negotiate an increasingly precarious work-life balance. Managerialist discourse is one popular means of managing work-life balance by using corporate discourse to construct home life. This article uses the lens of corporate colonization to examine the often porous work-life boundaries of dual-earner couple's co-constructions of work-life concerns. Results su…
Language Convergence and Meaning Divergence: A Theory of Intercultural Communication
Meaning lies at the core of intercultural communication. The ways in which meanings are made and the differences in meanings form a core problematic for intercultural communication. Yet intercultural communication theorists have yet to systematically explore the processes by which language and meanings converge and diverge within and across particular cultural milieus. The goal of the present analytical essay is to move the theory of language con…
Language Convergence and Meaning Divergence: A Meaning Centered Communication Theory
Some communication theories have explored the processes of language convergence, but comparatively little attention has explored the ways meaning systems diverge while converging on the same set of symbols. To examine this process, a grounded theory study of social-sexual behavior in the workplace was conducted. The Language Convergence/Meaning Divergence (LC/MD) theory emerged from the analysis. LC/MD processes identified in the analysis include…
We Do Babies! The Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs of Pregnancy and Parenting in the Academy
The most awkward moment at that faculty meeting occurred when a certain senior colleague in the department replied, Well, when my wife was pregnant, she gave birth during spring break and didn't miss a day of class. Despite backstage reassurances that these were unrealistic expectations, those who were pregnant experienced an unspoken pressure that failure to minimize the interference of impending parenthood on their careers threatened public imp…
Gendered Constructions of Power During Discourse About Sexual Harassment: Negotiating Competing Meanings
Competing Ethical Communities and a Researcher's Dilemma: The Case of a Sexual Harasser
Ethical research communities provide important guidance for those conducting communication research projects. However, researchers face serious ethical dilemmas when their memberships in multiple ethical communities create conflicting ethical obligations. The present study explores conflicting demands between competing ethical communities to provide a series of reflexive questions researchers can ask themselves as they negotiate the contradictory…
Managing Uncertainty During a Corporate Acquisition: A Longitudinal Study of Communication During an Airline Acquisition
This study examined pilots' (N at T1 = 140; N at T2 = 126; N at T3 = 104) reactions to communication and uncertainty during the acquisition of their airline by another airline. Quantitative results indicate that communication helped to reduce uncertainty and was predictive of affective responses to the acquisition. However, contrary to expectations, reductions in uncertainty did not lead to more positive affective responses. In addition, while pi…
Sensemaking, organizational culture, and sexual harassment
While EEOC guidelines for managing sexual harassment prescribe a strong sexual harassment policy and aggressive remedial action following complaints, a communication approach suggests a need for a more complex understanding of sexual harassment as diffused throughout an organizational culture. The present case study uses a sensemaking approach to explore the response of members of an academic department to an alumnus donor's serial sexual harassm…
Emotional Intelligence as Organizational Communication: An Examination of the Construct
A large volume of research on emotions in organizations has been produced in the last number of years. This important body of literature has one major limitation: There is no recognized framework from which the literature can be viewed in a holistic manner. This article creates such a framework by reconceptualizing emotional intelligence using a communication orientation. To accomplish this task, we discuss the strengths and limitations of curren…
Overcoming the Dichotomy: Cultivating Standpoints in Organizations through Research
Feminist standpoint theories are seldom used by researchers. One possible reason is the ongoing debate between postmodern theorists and feminine standpoint theorists. The debate has been constructed in bipolar terms such that the issues are perceived as mutually exclusive. However, bipolar assumptions are damaging to women, both in general and in organizations. We contend that feminist standpoint theories should theorize similarities, material re…
Sensemaking, organizational culture, and sexual harassment
While EEOC guidelines for managing sexual harassment prescribe a strong sexual harassment policy and aggressive remedial action following complaints, a communication approach suggests a need for a more complex understanding of sexual harassment as diffused throughout an organizational culture. The present case study uses a sensemaking approach to explore the response of members of an academic department to an alumnus donor's serial sexual harassm…
Binary logics and the discursive interpretation of organizational policy: Making meaning of sexual harassment policy
Although workplace policies are written in neutral terms that give the appearance of rationality, research shows that policy meanings are in fact constructed and negotiated through discursive practices. Sexual harassment policies illustrate this phenomenon. Sexual harassment is a highly complex and fluid phenomenon that is dependent on context and culture for its meaning. Although sexual harassment policies tend to use language that appears to li…
Gendered Constructions of Power During Discourse About Sexual Harassment: Negotiating Competing Meanings
Competing Ethical Communities and a Researcher's Dilemma: The Case of a Sexual Harasser
Ethical research communities provide important guidance for those conducting communication research projects. However, researchers face serious ethical dilemmas when their memberships in multiple ethical communities create conflicting ethical obligations. The present study explores conflicting demands between competing ethical communities to provide a series of reflexive questions researchers can ask themselves as they negotiate the contradictory…
Language Convergence and Meaning Divergence: A Theory of Intercultural Communication
Meaning lies at the core of intercultural communication. The ways in which meanings are made and the differences in meanings form a core problematic for intercultural communication. Yet intercultural communication theorists have yet to systematically explore the processes by which language and meanings converge and diverge within and across particular cultural milieus. The goal of the present analytical essay is to move the theory of language con…
We Do Babies! The Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs of Pregnancy and Parenting in the Academy
The most awkward moment at that faculty meeting occurred when a certain senior colleague in the department replied, Well, when my wife was pregnant, she gave birth during spring break and didn't miss a day of class. Despite backstage reassurances that these were unrealistic expectations, those who were pregnant experienced an unspoken pressure that failure to minimize the interference of impending parenthood on their careers threatened public imp…
Overcoming the Dichotomy: Cultivating Standpoints in Organizations through Research
Feminist standpoint theories are seldom used by researchers. One possible reason is the ongoing debate between postmodern theorists and feminine standpoint theorists. The debate has been constructed in bipolar terms such that the issues are perceived as mutually exclusive. However, bipolar assumptions are damaging to women, both in general and in organizations. We contend that feminist standpoint theories should theorize similarities, material re…
Language Convergence and Meaning Divergence: A Meaning Centered Communication Theory
Some communication theories have explored the processes of language convergence, but comparatively little attention has explored the ways meaning systems diverge while converging on the same set of symbols. To examine this process, a grounded theory study of social-sexual behavior in the workplace was conducted. The Language Convergence/Meaning Divergence (LC/MD) theory emerged from the analysis. LC/MD processes identified in the analysis include…
Sociomaterial struggle: An ethnographic analysis of power, discourse, and materiality in a working class unemployment support organization
Using the ontological lens of sociomateriality with the theoretical notion of struggle, this critical ethnography explores interactions within an unemployment support organization run by white collar workers who train working class populations for skilled blue collar occupations. Results illustrate how sociomaterial struggle is enacted in two ways: struggle against embodied others and struggle against discursive forces. The first theme, struggle …
Corporate Colonization of Couples' Work-Life Negotiations: Rationalization, Emotion Management and Silencing Conflict
Increased demands at both work and home make it necessary for individuals and families to negotiate an increasingly precarious work-life balance. Managerialist discourse is one popular means of managing work-life balance by using corporate discourse to construct home life. This article uses the lens of corporate colonization to examine the often porous work-life boundaries of dual-earner couple's co-constructions of work-life concerns. Results su…
A Photovoice study of food (in)security, unemployment, and the discursive-material dialectic
Using a discursive-material framework, this study explored the complex ways in which food security and food insecurity are expressed and experienced by people who are unemployed. A Photovoice study of 21 individuals from across the social class spectrum revealed the way jobless individuals navigate the discursive-material dialectic regarding their food (in)security. In the first theme, food insecurity as figure, resource-deprived participants had…
Overcoming the Dichotomy: Cultivating Standpoints in Organizations through Research
Feminist standpoint theories are seldom used by researchers. One possible reason is the ongoing debate between postmodern theorists and feminine standpoint theorists. The debate has been constructed in bipolar terms such that the issues are perceived as mutually exclusive. However, bipolar assumptions are damaging to women, both in general and in organizations. We contend that feminist standpoint theories should theorize similarities, material re…
Emotional Intelligence as Organizational Communication: An Examination of the Construct
A large volume of research on emotions in organizations has been produced in the last number of years. This important body of literature has one major limitation: There is no recognized framework from which the literature can be viewed in a holistic manner. This article creates such a framework by reconceptualizing emotional intelligence using a communication orientation. To accomplish this task, we discuss the strengths and limitations of curren…
Managing Uncertainty During a Corporate Acquisition: A Longitudinal Study of Communication During an Airline Acquisition
This study examined pilots' (N at T1 = 140; N at T2 = 126; N at T3 = 104) reactions to communication and uncertainty during the acquisition of their airline by another airline. Quantitative results indicate that communication helped to reduce uncertainty and was predictive of affective responses to the acquisition. However, contrary to expectations, reductions in uncertainty did not lead to more positive affective responses. In addition, while pi…
Sensemaking, organizational culture, and sexual harassment
While EEOC guidelines for managing sexual harassment prescribe a strong sexual harassment policy and aggressive remedial action following complaints, a communication approach suggests a need for a more complex understanding of sexual harassment as diffused throughout an organizational culture. The present case study uses a sensemaking approach to explore the response of members of an academic department to an alumnus donor's serial sexual harassm…
Gendered Constructions of Power During Discourse About Sexual Harassment: Negotiating Competing Meanings
Competing Ethical Communities and a Researcher's Dilemma: The Case of a Sexual Harasser
Ethical research communities provide important guidance for those conducting communication research projects. However, researchers face serious ethical dilemmas when their memberships in multiple ethical communities create conflicting ethical obligations. The present study explores conflicting demands between competing ethical communities to provide a series of reflexive questions researchers can ask themselves as they negotiate the contradictory…
We Do Babies! The Trials, Tribulations, and Triumphs of Pregnancy and Parenting in the Academy
The most awkward moment at that faculty meeting occurred when a certain senior colleague in the department replied, Well, when my wife was pregnant, she gave birth during spring break and didn't miss a day of class. Despite backstage reassurances that these were unrealistic expectations, those who were pregnant experienced an unspoken pressure that failure to minimize the interference of impending parenthood on their careers threatened public imp…
Language Convergence and Meaning Divergence: A Meaning Centered Communication Theory
Some communication theories have explored the processes of language convergence, but comparatively little attention has explored the ways meaning systems diverge while converging on the same set of symbols. To examine this process, a grounded theory study of social-sexual behavior in the workplace was conducted. The Language Convergence/Meaning Divergence (LC/MD) theory emerged from the analysis. LC/MD processes identified in the analysis include…
Language Convergence and Meaning Divergence: A Theory of Intercultural Communication
Meaning lies at the core of intercultural communication. The ways in which meanings are made and the differences in meanings form a core problematic for intercultural communication. Yet intercultural communication theorists have yet to systematically explore the processes by which language and meanings converge and diverge within and across particular cultural milieus. The goal of the present analytical essay is to move the theory of language con…
Corporate Colonization of Couples' Work-Life Negotiations: Rationalization, Emotion Management and Silencing Conflict
Increased demands at both work and home make it necessary for individuals and families to negotiate an increasingly precarious work-life balance. Managerialist discourse is one popular means of managing work-life balance by using corporate discourse to construct home life. This article uses the lens of corporate colonization to examine the often porous work-life boundaries of dual-earner couple's co-constructions of work-life concerns. Results su…
Binary logics and the discursive interpretation of organizational policy: Making meaning of sexual harassment policy
Although workplace policies are written in neutral terms that give the appearance of rationality, research shows that policy meanings are in fact constructed and negotiated through discursive practices. Sexual harassment policies illustrate this phenomenon. Sexual harassment is a highly complex and fluid phenomenon that is dependent on context and culture for its meaning. Although sexual harassment policies tend to use language that appears to li…
Organizing Sexuality: Silencing and the Push-Pull Process of Co-sexuality in the Workplace
How human beings think about, talk about, and organize around sexuality is changing. Growing social legitimization for sexual minority relationships and a more fluid social understanding of sexual identities has shifted how we bound “normal” sexuality. In the workplace, these shifting norms affect employees of all sexual identities who must make sense of new policies and complex daily practices. This paper introduces the concept of co-sexuality, …
A Photovoice study of food (in)security, unemployment, and the discursive-material dialectic
Using a discursive-material framework, this study explored the complex ways in which food security and food insecurity are expressed and experienced by people who are unemployed. A Photovoice study of 21 individuals from across the social class spectrum revealed the way jobless individuals navigate the discursive-material dialectic regarding their food (in)security. In the first theme, food insecurity as figure, resource-deprived participants had…
Sociomaterial struggle: An ethnographic analysis of power, discourse, and materiality in a working class unemployment support organization
Using the ontological lens of sociomateriality with the theoretical notion of struggle, this critical ethnography explores interactions within an unemployment support organization run by white collar workers who train working class populations for skilled blue collar occupations. Results illustrate how sociomaterial struggle is enacted in two ways: struggle against embodied others and struggle against discursive forces. The first theme, struggle …
Rural young males’ acceptance & receptiveness to technology‐based interventions for dating violence prevention: A qualitative descriptive study
INTRODUCTION: Rural youth are twice as likely as urban youth to experience some forms of teen dating violence (TDV), and significant barriers to accessing support services for physical, psychological, sexual violence. However, rural youth remain understudied and undersampled. Rural young men, in particular, are at risk for experiencing or perpetrating dating violence influenced by regional and sociocultural risk factors that promote male supremac…
Creating and Disrupting Othering During Policymaking in a Polarized Context
As the United States has become increasingly polarized, policymakers have had difficulty gaining bipartisan support for policy proposals. Political polarization can lead to the othering of individuals, a process characterized by the tendency to construct members of an opposing party in negative ways. In this article, we examine the creation and disruption of othering through the lens of language convergence/meaning divergence (LC/MD) and pragmati…
Perceptions of Risk for Dating Violence Among Rural Adolescent Males: An Interpretive Analysis
About one in eight U.S. high school students in Grades 9 to 12 report experiencing teen dating violence (TDV) in the form of physical, sexual, or psychological dating violence in the past year in person, on school grounds, and online. Compared with their urban counterparts, rural teens face nearly double the rate of physical dating abuse and an elevated risk of experiencing multiple forms of violence. Rural young males are exposed to regional mas…
A critical sensemaking analysis of implicit bias in U.S. juror organizing
This study used critical sensemaking (CSM) to examine how potential White jurors make sense of implicit bias. Through in-depth interviews with 30 potential jurors from Missouri, our findings revealed that participants used ‘plausible universality’ to navigate coherent interpretations of implicit bias and ‘plausible immunity’ to circumvent incongruous and threatening messages about the concept, which enabled participants to bypass accountability a…
Sociology (14 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Social Psychology (7 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Social science (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Linguistics (5 works)