Publication Date

2017

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Henningsen, Mary L.

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Communication

LCSH

Communication; Higher education

Abstract

The theory of planned behavior was used to investigate recruitment messages for student engagement opportunities. Participants (N = 194) completed a survey of their attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intentions to become more engaged in the campus community. Additionally, participants were asked to create a recruitment message for a fraternity or sorority, intramural athletic, or employment opportunity. The results of the study indicated support for the theory in the context of student engagement; both attitudes and subject norms predicted behavioral intentions. In addition, the coding of the recruiting messages indicated that different types of messages were crafted for different student engagement opportunities. Messages designed to recruit for Greek organizations and intramural athletics often contained attitudinal features. Messages designed to recruit for campus employment opportunities often contained reference to perceived behavior control. The implications related to the use of the theory in the context of student engagement are discussed.

Comments

Advisors: Mary L. Henningsen.||Committee members: Kate Cady; Kathleen Valde.||Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

iv, 47 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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