Lucinda Austin
Biographic Data
| ID | 4170728 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lucinda Austin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lucinda |
| FAMILY NAME | Austin |
| SIGNATURE | AUSTIN L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3047-3701 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 93 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Exploring Corporate Social Advocacy in International Contexts: Evidence from Chile, South Korea, and the United States
The purpose of this study was to identify social issues that stakeholders expect corporations to address through corporate social advocacy (CSA) initiatives and the primary motivators of CSA initiatives perceived across three markets – Chile, South Korea, and the United States – thereby providing strategic guidance for companies seeking to expand their CSA efforts beyond the U.S. market. An online survey was conducted with 1,422 participants from…
Intercultural disaster communication and community resilience: Examining post-hurricane communication in communities with limited English-speaking proficiency
This study theorizes the intercultural communication mechanisms that link disaster information systems and resources with residents who have limited English proficiency (LEP). By surveying 572 victims of Hurricane Florence (2018), Hurricane Beryl, and Hurricane Helene (2024), we employed PLS-SEM to test a path model that consists of community storytelling networks, geo-ethnic media use (English-language and non-English-language media use), percei…
Communicating about sexual violence on TikTok: A content analysis
TikTok presents an opportunity for strategic and health communicators. There are more than 300 million views associated with the hashtags #sexualassaultawareness and #sexualassaultsurvivors on TikTok. Using quantitative content analysis, we analyzed 150 TikTok videos about “sexual assault” for trends in self-disclosures (RQ1), message framing (RQ2), types of sexual violence (RQ3), emotions (RQ4), creator characteristics (RQ5–7), and engagement (R…
What Drives People Away from Covid-19 Information: Uncovering the Influences of Personal Networks on Information Avoidance
1,304), we examined the effects of network size, heterogeneity, ego-alter dissimilarity, and social norms. Our results suggest that the four network variables had varying effects on different forms of information avoidance. Notably, social norms significantly predicted individuals' information avoidance. The theoretical and methodological implications of our findings are discussed
Coping with outbreaks: Toward an infectious disease threat (IDT) appraisal model for risk communication
Through an online, nationally representative survey (N = 1,164), this study examines how individuals perceive and cope with infectious disease outbreaks. Findings inform risk and crisis communication strategies for health organizations. This study explored how individuals’ threat appraisals (perceived controllability, perceived predictability, and perceived responsibility) and their cognitive (i.e., information seeking) and conative coping (i.e.,…
Emotion as a predictor of crisis communicative behaviors: Examining information seeking and sharing during Hurricane Florence
Those affected by catastrophic events like hurricanes are burdened with the task of preparing for and responding to the threats of harm in addition to dealing with the emotionally taxing process of consuming and sharing disaster-related information. However, little is known about how threats and emotions during natural disasters impact media usage for information seeking and sharing. This study examined the relationship between the perceived thre…
TikToks Lead to Higher Knowledge and Perceived Severity of Sexual Violence among Adolescent Men
Medium and source convergence in crisis information acquisition: Patterns, antecedents, and outcomes
To understand how individuals navigate the complex, dynamic, and bewildering media information environment, we propose a convergence framework theorizing individuals’ acquisition of information from distinct sources on multiple mediums, along with its antecedents and consequences. This study is among the first to test the convergence framework. Using a national sample during the COVID-19 pandemic, our results revealed four convergence patterns an…
How College Students Assess the Threat of Infectious Diseases: Implications for University Leaders and Health Communicators
Higher education institutions and their students face a wide range of infectious disease threats (IDTs). However, there is a lack of theory-driven research on how to provide communication for multiple IDTs to motivate protective action taking. To close this gap, this study focuses on college students and two IDT types: respiratory and sexually transmitted infections. We tested an IDT appraisal model with data from an online survey conducted at tw…
Stay Socially Distant and Wash Your Hands: Using the Health Belief Model to Determine Intent for Covid-19 Preventive Behaviors at the Beginning of the Pandemic
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has quickly spread around the world, and since currently no treatments that are safe and effective for large groups of people nor a vaccine are available, the best way to prevent the illness is to avoid being exposed to the virus causing it. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive effects of both demographic and psychosocial factors originating with the Health Belief Model on reported intent to ad…
(Mis)communicating about Covid-19: Insights from Health and Crisis Communication
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges for the United States and the world. In this article, we discuss several communication challenges that have arisen during the pandemic, with insights from the fields of health and crisis communication. We focus in particular on the lack of clarity in the US response in terms of both what behaviors we are trying to change and how we are communicating about behavior change. While the mixed me…
Telling the tale: The role of narratives in helping people respond to crises
During public health crises like infectious disease outbreaks, news media and governments are responsible for informing the public about how to protect themselves. A large body of health communication research finds that persuasive narratives motivate protective behaviors, such as intentions to vaccinate. In their seminal book on crisis narratives, Seeger and Sellnow (Narratives of crisis: Telling stories of ruin and renewal. Stanford University)…
The Infectious Disease Threat (IDT) Appraisal Model: How Perceptions of IDT Predictability and Controllability Predict Individuals’ Responses to Risks
Grounded in the multidisciplinary field of strategic risk and health communication, this study proposed and tested a new infectious disease threat (IDT) appraisal model, focused on mapping individuals’ coping strategy preferences as predicted by their perceived predictability and controllability of the disease. A 2 (predictability: high vs. low) × 2 (controllability: high vs. low) within-subjects online experimental design (N = 1,032 U.S. adults)…
GunViolence on Instagram and Twitter: Examining Social Media Advocacy in the Wake of the Parkland School Shooting
The February 2018 Parkland school shooting quickly initiated passionate social media response on Twitter and Instagram. Research on the effect of large-scale mass shootings, particularly on social media dialogue, is lacking, at a time when emerging research suggests potential for both driving mass contagion and enhancing risk perceptions for public interest communications. This study examines response to the shooting through a content analysis of…
Corporate Social Advocacy as Public Interest Communications: Exploring Perceptions of Corporate Involvement in Controversial Social-Political Issues
Through a nationally representative U.S. survey of 1,214 participants, this study examined attitudes toward the role of corporations in public interest communications and response to a series of recent high-profile corporate social advocacy cases. Findings provide preliminary evidence for what types of public interests are most appropriate for organizations to address, based on perceived motivations, commitment to advocacy, and dimension of corpo…
Examining the Case of Dick’s Sporting Goods: Realignment of Stakeholders through Corporate Social Advocacy
This study examined corporate social advocacy and political activism through the case of DICK’s Sporting Goods and the company’s recent stance on gun control reform. Themes related to stakeholders, corporate values, and activism versus advocacy were explored through an interview with DICK’s President, documentation including an interview with DICK’s CEO and statements from the company, and a social media content analysis of 3,000 public tweets to…
Welcome or Not: Comparing #Refugee Posts on Instagram and Pinterest
The Syrian refugee crisis, started in 2011, has resulted in millions of Syrians fleeing their homes: 6.6 million have been internally displaced and more than 4.6 million have fled the country. This flow of refugees has led to both humanitarian efforts to assist refugees and growing views of refugees as a threat to receiving countries' security and autonomy. Sentiments about the still-growing crisis are increasingly expressed on social media platf…
Relationship Building and Situational Publics
Examining the Role of Social Media in Effective Crisis Management: The Effects of Crisis Origin, Information Form, and Source on Publics’ Crisis Responses
Publics increasingly use social media during crises and, consequently, crisis communication professionals need to understand how to strategically optimize these tools. Despite this need, there is scarce theory-grounded research to understand key factors that affect how publics consume crisis information via social media compared to other sources. To fill this gap, an emerging model helps crisis managers understand how publics produce, consume, an…
How Audiences Seek Out Crisis Information: Exploring the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication Model
This study explores how audiences seek information from social and traditional media, and what factors affect media use during crises. Using the social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) model, an examination of crisis information and sources reveals that audiences use social media during crises for insider information and checking in with family/friends and use traditional media for educational purposes. Convenience, involvement, and personal …
How publics respond to crisis communication strategies: The interplay of information form and source
College Students' Multiple Stereotypes of Lesbians: A Cognitive Perspective
This paper examines stereotypes of lesbians held by college students. Multiple stereotypes are elicited from a free response trait listing task, followed by a sorting task. The results of the sorting task are submitted to cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling to reveal the complexity of cognitive representations of this group. Eight types are described, reflecting underlying distinctions between positive perceptions (e.g., lipstick lesbia…
Corporate Social Advocacy as Public Interest Communications: Exploring Perceptions of Corporate Involvement in Controversial Social-Political Issues
Through a nationally representative U.S. survey of 1,214 participants, this study examined attitudes toward the role of corporations in public interest communications and response to a series of recent high-profile corporate social advocacy cases. Findings provide preliminary evidence for what types of public interests are most appropriate for organizations to address, based on perceived motivations, commitment to advocacy, and dimension of corpo…
College Students' Multiple Stereotypes of Lesbians: A Cognitive Perspective
This paper examines stereotypes of lesbians held by college students. Multiple stereotypes are elicited from a free response trait listing task, followed by a sorting task. The results of the sorting task are submitted to cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling to reveal the complexity of cognitive representations of this group. Eight types are described, reflecting underlying distinctions between positive perceptions (e.g., lipstick lesbia…
Examining the Case of Dick’s Sporting Goods: Realignment of Stakeholders through Corporate Social Advocacy
This study examined corporate social advocacy and political activism through the case of DICK’s Sporting Goods and the company’s recent stance on gun control reform. Themes related to stakeholders, corporate values, and activism versus advocacy were explored through an interview with DICK’s President, documentation including an interview with DICK’s CEO and statements from the company, and a social media content analysis of 3,000 public tweets to…
Medium and source convergence in crisis information acquisition: Patterns, antecedents, and outcomes
To understand how individuals navigate the complex, dynamic, and bewildering media information environment, we propose a convergence framework theorizing individuals’ acquisition of information from distinct sources on multiple mediums, along with its antecedents and consequences. This study is among the first to test the convergence framework. Using a national sample during the COVID-19 pandemic, our results revealed four convergence patterns an…
GunViolence on Instagram and Twitter: Examining Social Media Advocacy in the Wake of the Parkland School Shooting
The February 2018 Parkland school shooting quickly initiated passionate social media response on Twitter and Instagram. Research on the effect of large-scale mass shootings, particularly on social media dialogue, is lacking, at a time when emerging research suggests potential for both driving mass contagion and enhancing risk perceptions for public interest communications. This study examines response to the shooting through a content analysis of…
Welcome or Not: Comparing #Refugee Posts on Instagram and Pinterest
The Syrian refugee crisis, started in 2011, has resulted in millions of Syrians fleeing their homes: 6.6 million have been internally displaced and more than 4.6 million have fled the country. This flow of refugees has led to both humanitarian efforts to assist refugees and growing views of refugees as a threat to receiving countries' security and autonomy. Sentiments about the still-growing crisis are increasingly expressed on social media platf…
The Infectious Disease Threat (IDT) Appraisal Model: How Perceptions of IDT Predictability and Controllability Predict Individuals’ Responses to Risks
Grounded in the multidisciplinary field of strategic risk and health communication, this study proposed and tested a new infectious disease threat (IDT) appraisal model, focused on mapping individuals’ coping strategy preferences as predicted by their perceived predictability and controllability of the disease. A 2 (predictability: high vs. low) × 2 (controllability: high vs. low) within-subjects online experimental design (N = 1,032 U.S. adults)…
College Students' Multiple Stereotypes of Lesbians: A Cognitive Perspective
This paper examines stereotypes of lesbians held by college students. Multiple stereotypes are elicited from a free response trait listing task, followed by a sorting task. The results of the sorting task are submitted to cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling to reveal the complexity of cognitive representations of this group. Eight types are described, reflecting underlying distinctions between positive perceptions (e.g., lipstick lesbia…
How publics respond to crisis communication strategies: The interplay of information form and source
How Audiences Seek Out Crisis Information: Exploring the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication Model
This study explores how audiences seek information from social and traditional media, and what factors affect media use during crises. Using the social-mediated crisis communication (SMCC) model, an examination of crisis information and sources reveals that audiences use social media during crises for insider information and checking in with family/friends and use traditional media for educational purposes. Convenience, involvement, and personal …
Examining the Role of Social Media in Effective Crisis Management: The Effects of Crisis Origin, Information Form, and Source on Publics’ Crisis Responses
Publics increasingly use social media during crises and, consequently, crisis communication professionals need to understand how to strategically optimize these tools. Despite this need, there is scarce theory-grounded research to understand key factors that affect how publics consume crisis information via social media compared to other sources. To fill this gap, an emerging model helps crisis managers understand how publics produce, consume, an…
Relationship Building and Situational Publics
Examining the Case of Dick’s Sporting Goods: Realignment of Stakeholders through Corporate Social Advocacy
This study examined corporate social advocacy and political activism through the case of DICK’s Sporting Goods and the company’s recent stance on gun control reform. Themes related to stakeholders, corporate values, and activism versus advocacy were explored through an interview with DICK’s President, documentation including an interview with DICK’s CEO and statements from the company, and a social media content analysis of 3,000 public tweets to…
Welcome or Not: Comparing #Refugee Posts on Instagram and Pinterest
The Syrian refugee crisis, started in 2011, has resulted in millions of Syrians fleeing their homes: 6.6 million have been internally displaced and more than 4.6 million have fled the country. This flow of refugees has led to both humanitarian efforts to assist refugees and growing views of refugees as a threat to receiving countries' security and autonomy. Sentiments about the still-growing crisis are increasingly expressed on social media platf…
Corporate Social Advocacy as Public Interest Communications: Exploring Perceptions of Corporate Involvement in Controversial Social-Political Issues
Through a nationally representative U.S. survey of 1,214 participants, this study examined attitudes toward the role of corporations in public interest communications and response to a series of recent high-profile corporate social advocacy cases. Findings provide preliminary evidence for what types of public interests are most appropriate for organizations to address, based on perceived motivations, commitment to advocacy, and dimension of corpo…
(Mis)communicating about Covid-19: Insights from Health and Crisis Communication
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges for the United States and the world. In this article, we discuss several communication challenges that have arisen during the pandemic, with insights from the fields of health and crisis communication. We focus in particular on the lack of clarity in the US response in terms of both what behaviors we are trying to change and how we are communicating about behavior change. While the mixed me…
Telling the tale: The role of narratives in helping people respond to crises
During public health crises like infectious disease outbreaks, news media and governments are responsible for informing the public about how to protect themselves. A large body of health communication research finds that persuasive narratives motivate protective behaviors, such as intentions to vaccinate. In their seminal book on crisis narratives, Seeger and Sellnow (Narratives of crisis: Telling stories of ruin and renewal. Stanford University)…
The Infectious Disease Threat (IDT) Appraisal Model: How Perceptions of IDT Predictability and Controllability Predict Individuals’ Responses to Risks
Grounded in the multidisciplinary field of strategic risk and health communication, this study proposed and tested a new infectious disease threat (IDT) appraisal model, focused on mapping individuals’ coping strategy preferences as predicted by their perceived predictability and controllability of the disease. A 2 (predictability: high vs. low) × 2 (controllability: high vs. low) within-subjects online experimental design (N = 1,032 U.S. adults)…
GunViolence on Instagram and Twitter: Examining Social Media Advocacy in the Wake of the Parkland School Shooting
The February 2018 Parkland school shooting quickly initiated passionate social media response on Twitter and Instagram. Research on the effect of large-scale mass shootings, particularly on social media dialogue, is lacking, at a time when emerging research suggests potential for both driving mass contagion and enhancing risk perceptions for public interest communications. This study examines response to the shooting through a content analysis of…
How College Students Assess the Threat of Infectious Diseases: Implications for University Leaders and Health Communicators
Higher education institutions and their students face a wide range of infectious disease threats (IDTs). However, there is a lack of theory-driven research on how to provide communication for multiple IDTs to motivate protective action taking. To close this gap, this study focuses on college students and two IDT types: respiratory and sexually transmitted infections. We tested an IDT appraisal model with data from an online survey conducted at tw…
Stay Socially Distant and Wash Your Hands: Using the Health Belief Model to Determine Intent for Covid-19 Preventive Behaviors at the Beginning of the Pandemic
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has quickly spread around the world, and since currently no treatments that are safe and effective for large groups of people nor a vaccine are available, the best way to prevent the illness is to avoid being exposed to the virus causing it. The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive effects of both demographic and psychosocial factors originating with the Health Belief Model on reported intent to ad…
Medium and source convergence in crisis information acquisition: Patterns, antecedents, and outcomes
To understand how individuals navigate the complex, dynamic, and bewildering media information environment, we propose a convergence framework theorizing individuals’ acquisition of information from distinct sources on multiple mediums, along with its antecedents and consequences. This study is among the first to test the convergence framework. Using a national sample during the COVID-19 pandemic, our results revealed four convergence patterns an…
What Drives People Away from Covid-19 Information: Uncovering the Influences of Personal Networks on Information Avoidance
1,304), we examined the effects of network size, heterogeneity, ego-alter dissimilarity, and social norms. Our results suggest that the four network variables had varying effects on different forms of information avoidance. Notably, social norms significantly predicted individuals' information avoidance. The theoretical and methodological implications of our findings are discussed
Coping with outbreaks: Toward an infectious disease threat (IDT) appraisal model for risk communication
Through an online, nationally representative survey (N = 1,164), this study examines how individuals perceive and cope with infectious disease outbreaks. Findings inform risk and crisis communication strategies for health organizations. This study explored how individuals’ threat appraisals (perceived controllability, perceived predictability, and perceived responsibility) and their cognitive (i.e., information seeking) and conative coping (i.e.,…
Emotion as a predictor of crisis communicative behaviors: Examining information seeking and sharing during Hurricane Florence
Those affected by catastrophic events like hurricanes are burdened with the task of preparing for and responding to the threats of harm in addition to dealing with the emotionally taxing process of consuming and sharing disaster-related information. However, little is known about how threats and emotions during natural disasters impact media usage for information seeking and sharing. This study examined the relationship between the perceived thre…
TikToks Lead to Higher Knowledge and Perceived Severity of Sexual Violence among Adolescent Men
Intercultural disaster communication and community resilience: Examining post-hurricane communication in communities with limited English-speaking proficiency
This study theorizes the intercultural communication mechanisms that link disaster information systems and resources with residents who have limited English proficiency (LEP). By surveying 572 victims of Hurricane Florence (2018), Hurricane Beryl, and Hurricane Helene (2024), we employed PLS-SEM to test a path model that consists of community storytelling networks, geo-ethnic media use (English-language and non-English-language media use), percei…
Communicating about sexual violence on TikTok: A content analysis
TikTok presents an opportunity for strategic and health communicators. There are more than 300 million views associated with the hashtags #sexualassaultawareness and #sexualassaultsurvivors on TikTok. Using quantitative content analysis, we analyzed 150 TikTok videos about “sexual assault” for trends in self-disclosures (RQ1), message framing (RQ2), types of sexual violence (RQ3), emotions (RQ4), creator characteristics (RQ5–7), and engagement (R…
Exploring Corporate Social Advocacy in International Contexts: Evidence from Chile, South Korea, and the United States
The purpose of this study was to identify social issues that stakeholders expect corporations to address through corporate social advocacy (CSA) initiatives and the primary motivators of CSA initiatives perceived across three markets – Chile, South Korea, and the United States – thereby providing strategic guidance for companies seeking to expand their CSA efforts beyond the U.S. market. An online survey was conducted with 1,422 participants from…
Psychology (18 works) · Public Relations and Crisis Communication (15 works) · Social Psychology (14 works) · Political science (13 works) · Public relations (11 works) · Disaster Management and Resilience (10 works) · Medicine (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Media Studies and Communication (7 works) · Social media (7 works)