Gina Scott Ligon
Biographic Data
| ID | 4169753 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Gina Scott Ligon |
| GIVEN NAMES | Gina Scott |
| FAMILY NAME | Ligon |
| SIGNATURE | LIGON G S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Nebraska at Omaha |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 41 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
The Gig Economy
Older and Wiser
The paradox of violent leaders and organizational structures
Militant Leadership and Terrorism in Armed Conflict
The lethality and the frequency of terrorist attacks conducted by militant organizations vary considerably. Some militants perpetrate extreme and systemic levels of terrorist violence, some only do so occasionally, and others never conduct terror operations. To predict group-level differences in this outcome, we draw on conceptual frameworks in the political science and psychology fields to argue that prior military experience shapes leaders’ wil…
Constraints to malevolent innovation in terrorist attacks
Creativity has been considered the driving force of organizational change. Despite the benevolent nature of creativity, the success of organizations fostering a creative product may be used for malevolent purposes. This two-part study explores the constraints to malevolent innovation in the context of terrorism. Drawing from a large sample of terrorist attacks coded for creativity and innovation, study 1 focuses on the relationship between weapon…
Come one, come all
The present study examined the individual differences of radical anti-fascist sympathizers who were federally charged for crimes committed in Portland, Oregon, between May and October of 2020. Anti-fascist sympathizers were also compared to other types of individual extremists on demographics (age, gender, and ethnicity). The anti-fascist sympathizers examined in this study were on average 28 years old, male, and white. In addition, the nature of…
Come one, come all
The present study examined the individual differences of radical anti-fascist sympathizers who were federally charged for crimes committed in Portland, Oregon, between May and October of 2020. Anti-fascist sympathizers were also compared to other types of individual extremists on demographics (age, gender, and ethnicity). The anti-fascist sympathizers examined in this study were on average 28 years old, male, and white. The most frequent federal …
Organizational [Dis]trust
In order to move beyond the existing push/pull framework to understand disengagement, we apply a systematic coding scheme derived from Mayer and colleagues' integrative model of organizational trust to examine why people leave extremist groups. In doing so, we also rely on in-depth life history interviews with twenty former left- and right-wing extremists to examine whether antecedents of distrust vary between the two groups. Findings suggest sub…
Recruitment and selection in violent extremist organizations
For many terrorist organizations, also known as violent extremist organizations (VEOs), their ability to perpetuate violence is often contingent upon successful recruitment and selection of organizational members. Although academic work on terrorist recruitment and selection has improved in recent years, researchers have generally focused more heavily on aspects of radicalization rather than organization attraction and entry. Moreover, a number o…
Ideological rationality and violence
This exploratory study examines the narrative space of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Specifically, we developed a methodology to gather, archive, and analyze ISIL’s online presence in social media. Our sample was drawn from transient websites (N = 8308) collected between August 2015 and October 2015. From this pool, we coded a random sample of 100 English-only articles for violent, pragmatic, and ideological themes. Exploratory…
Reporting Practices of Journal Articles that Include Interviews with Extremists
The number of journal articles that rely on data derived from interviews with extremists has increased substantially over the past decade. This burgeoning invites the possibility that standardized reporting practices have not been explicitly clarified. To date, there has not been an adequate review of the methodological transparency of journal articles that include interviews with extremists. After content analyzing 48 articles involving such int…
Why Isis's Message Resonates
How does the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leverage Islamic Law to support their strategic objectives? Islam, as most religions, is a defining catalyst of group identity. ISIS has capitalized on this, using it as a vehicle to legitimize its interpretation of Islamic Law. This study builds on Social Movement Theory to develop and test a conceptual framework of ISIS messaging strategies. This framework highlights the progression of the org…
Lethal Brands
ISIS has run the most effective social media marketing campaign in history. In fact, violent extremist organizations (VEOs) market their ideology and organizations to a global audience in ways that rival even the savviest of conventional organizations. However, applying marketing theory and methodology to study VEOs has not been done to date for the security community. Thus, the goal of the present effort is to use a novel lens used to apply the …
Putting the “O” in VEOs
Violent extremist organizations differ from other ideologically based groups that do not necessarily meet formal criteria to be considered organizations, and distinguishing between these types of collective arrangements is critical in understanding their strengths and weaknesses. We identified three arrangements of individuals with varying levels of sophistication: groups, simple organizations, and complex organizations. Each arrangement is discu…
Why Isis's Message Resonates
How does the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leverage Islamic Law to support their strategic objectives? Islam, as most religions, is a defining catalyst of group identity. ISIS has capitalized on this, using it as a vehicle to legitimize its interpretation of Islamic Law. This study builds on Social Movement Theory to develop and test a conceptual framework of ISIS messaging strategies. This framework highlights the progression of the org…
Organizational [Dis]trust
In order to move beyond the existing push/pull framework to understand disengagement, we apply a systematic coding scheme derived from Mayer and colleagues' integrative model of organizational trust to examine why people leave extremist groups. In doing so, we also rely on in-depth life history interviews with twenty former left- and right-wing extremists to examine whether antecedents of distrust vary between the two groups. Findings suggest sub…
Reporting Practices of Journal Articles that Include Interviews with Extremists
The number of journal articles that rely on data derived from interviews with extremists has increased substantially over the past decade. This burgeoning invites the possibility that standardized reporting practices have not been explicitly clarified. To date, there has not been an adequate review of the methodological transparency of journal articles that include interviews with extremists. After content analyzing 48 articles involving such int…
Lethal Brands
ISIS has run the most effective social media marketing campaign in history. In fact, violent extremist organizations (VEOs) market their ideology and organizations to a global audience in ways that rival even the savviest of conventional organizations. However, applying marketing theory and methodology to study VEOs has not been done to date for the security community. Thus, the goal of the present effort is to use a novel lens used to apply the …
Ideological rationality and violence
This exploratory study examines the narrative space of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Specifically, we developed a methodology to gather, archive, and analyze ISIL’s online presence in social media. Our sample was drawn from transient websites (N = 8308) collected between August 2015 and October 2015. From this pool, we coded a random sample of 100 English-only articles for violent, pragmatic, and ideological themes. Exploratory…
Recruitment and selection in violent extremist organizations
For many terrorist organizations, also known as violent extremist organizations (VEOs), their ability to perpetuate violence is often contingent upon successful recruitment and selection of organizational members. Although academic work on terrorist recruitment and selection has improved in recent years, researchers have generally focused more heavily on aspects of radicalization rather than organization attraction and entry. Moreover, a number o…
Militant Leadership and Terrorism in Armed Conflict
The lethality and the frequency of terrorist attacks conducted by militant organizations vary considerably. Some militants perpetrate extreme and systemic levels of terrorist violence, some only do so occasionally, and others never conduct terror operations. To predict group-level differences in this outcome, we draw on conceptual frameworks in the political science and psychology fields to argue that prior military experience shapes leaders’ wil…
Putting the “O” in VEOs
Violent extremist organizations differ from other ideologically based groups that do not necessarily meet formal criteria to be considered organizations, and distinguishing between these types of collective arrangements is critical in understanding their strengths and weaknesses. We identified three arrangements of individuals with varying levels of sophistication: groups, simple organizations, and complex organizations. Each arrangement is discu…
Putting the “O” in VEOs
Violent extremist organizations differ from other ideologically based groups that do not necessarily meet formal criteria to be considered organizations, and distinguishing between these types of collective arrangements is critical in understanding their strengths and weaknesses. We identified three arrangements of individuals with varying levels of sophistication: groups, simple organizations, and complex organizations. Each arrangement is discu…
Lethal Brands
ISIS has run the most effective social media marketing campaign in history. In fact, violent extremist organizations (VEOs) market their ideology and organizations to a global audience in ways that rival even the savviest of conventional organizations. However, applying marketing theory and methodology to study VEOs has not been done to date for the security community. Thus, the goal of the present effort is to use a novel lens used to apply the …
Ideological rationality and violence
This exploratory study examines the narrative space of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Specifically, we developed a methodology to gather, archive, and analyze ISIL’s online presence in social media. Our sample was drawn from transient websites (N = 8308) collected between August 2015 and October 2015. From this pool, we coded a random sample of 100 English-only articles for violent, pragmatic, and ideological themes. Exploratory…
Reporting Practices of Journal Articles that Include Interviews with Extremists
The number of journal articles that rely on data derived from interviews with extremists has increased substantially over the past decade. This burgeoning invites the possibility that standardized reporting practices have not been explicitly clarified. To date, there has not been an adequate review of the methodological transparency of journal articles that include interviews with extremists. After content analyzing 48 articles involving such int…
Why Isis's Message Resonates
How does the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leverage Islamic Law to support their strategic objectives? Islam, as most religions, is a defining catalyst of group identity. ISIS has capitalized on this, using it as a vehicle to legitimize its interpretation of Islamic Law. This study builds on Social Movement Theory to develop and test a conceptual framework of ISIS messaging strategies. This framework highlights the progression of the org…
Organizational [Dis]trust
In order to move beyond the existing push/pull framework to understand disengagement, we apply a systematic coding scheme derived from Mayer and colleagues' integrative model of organizational trust to examine why people leave extremist groups. In doing so, we also rely on in-depth life history interviews with twenty former left- and right-wing extremists to examine whether antecedents of distrust vary between the two groups. Findings suggest sub…
Recruitment and selection in violent extremist organizations
For many terrorist organizations, also known as violent extremist organizations (VEOs), their ability to perpetuate violence is often contingent upon successful recruitment and selection of organizational members. Although academic work on terrorist recruitment and selection has improved in recent years, researchers have generally focused more heavily on aspects of radicalization rather than organization attraction and entry. Moreover, a number o…
Come one, come all
The present study examined the individual differences of radical anti-fascist sympathizers who were federally charged for crimes committed in Portland, Oregon, between May and October of 2020. Anti-fascist sympathizers were also compared to other types of individual extremists on demographics (age, gender, and ethnicity). The anti-fascist sympathizers examined in this study were on average 28 years old, male, and white. In addition, the nature of…
Come one, come all
The present study examined the individual differences of radical anti-fascist sympathizers who were federally charged for crimes committed in Portland, Oregon, between May and October of 2020. Anti-fascist sympathizers were also compared to other types of individual extremists on demographics (age, gender, and ethnicity). The anti-fascist sympathizers examined in this study were on average 28 years old, male, and white. The most frequent federal …
Constraints to malevolent innovation in terrorist attacks
Creativity has been considered the driving force of organizational change. Despite the benevolent nature of creativity, the success of organizations fostering a creative product may be used for malevolent purposes. This two-part study explores the constraints to malevolent innovation in the context of terrorism. Drawing from a large sample of terrorist attacks coded for creativity and innovation, study 1 focuses on the relationship between weapon…
The paradox of violent leaders and organizational structures
Militant Leadership and Terrorism in Armed Conflict
The lethality and the frequency of terrorist attacks conducted by militant organizations vary considerably. Some militants perpetrate extreme and systemic levels of terrorist violence, some only do so occasionally, and others never conduct terror operations. To predict group-level differences in this outcome, we draw on conceptual frameworks in the political science and psychology fields to argue that prior military experience shapes leaders’ wil…
The Gig Economy
Older and Wiser
Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence (13 works) · Political science (12 works) · Law (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Terrorism (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Psychology (7 works) · Criminology (5 works) · Politics (5 works) · Public relations (5 works)