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Although domestic research on Chinese management is emerging, a suitable domestic theory is still needed to support and explain Chinese management practice. Given that, this paper aims to extract ideas of cultivation from Confucianism and propose a theoretical framework of self-cultivation with a purpose to provide new explanations for domestic (nondomestic as well) management practice.

Drawing from pre-Qin cultivation discourse and management practice, this paper develops a theoretical framework of self-cultivation and discusses its implications.

This paper argues that self-cultivation emphasizes self-consciousness, initiative and selflessness. It also includes self-reflection, self-discipline, self-study and self-improvement, as well as self-dedication, all of which reflect the ideal realm of “self-cultivation.” This “realm” refers to the process of pursuing an ideal personality and high moral standards.

This paper contributes to the literature by identifying various potential applications of self-cultivation theory to domestic research on organizational behavior in China.

Purpose – This chapter maps the conceptual territory that research on school shootings shares with cultivation analysis.

Methodology/approach – It outlines the history of cultivation analysis, which used the statistical methods of content analysis and survey research to argue that television violence was rampant and sexist, and that this had the effect of making audiences fearful. The point of this history is to show that the model was conceptually grounded in critical approaches to media, and established questions about the ideology of media violence that set the grounds for school shooting studies.

Findings – In particular, the chapter focuses on similarities between cultivation analysis and ritual theory, and the cultivation thesis that violence represents gender hierarchies, as the two most obvious points of intersections with studies on school shootings. It suggests that these intersections help explain why a “school shooting” frame was deployed to other sorts of media violence, and debates about the effects of media violence, using Jared Loughner's attack on Gabrielle Giffords as a case study.

Practical implications – Emerging concerns about the effects of aggressive news punditry and political commentary can be addressed by reflecting on what studies of school shootings say about the more general politics of media violence, and cultivation theory is an invaluable resource in this endeavor.

Originality/value of paper – Academically, an engagement with cultivation theory underlines how school shooting studies contribute to critical media research in general, by demonstrating the validity of “second generation” models of media influence in the digital age.

This paper aims to investigate the mechanisms through which social media news consumption across different platforms leads to opinion polarization in society. To this end, the authors draw from cultivation theory to examine whether social media news consumption imparts a mainstreaming or resonance effect. Media consumption imparts a mainstreaming effect if frequent users, regardless of their social identity, develop homogenous attitudes about issues, whereas resonance is at play if there is a differing cultivation effect on various social groups depending on their relatability of life experiences.

The authors conduct the study in the developing context of India, using a population survey dataset from 2019. Regression-based mediation and moderation analyses were carried out to test the hypotheses.

The findings reveal that resonance is the most prominent mechanism through which social media news consumption cultivates opinion polarization, contrary to the mainstreaming effect imparted by television. Further, WhatsApp use was found to strengthen the polarizing effect of overall social media news consumption, while YouTube use weakened the cultivation of polarization.

The paper unearths how social media news consumption influences the opinion polarization of various social groups differently. The authors also find the differential effect of specific platform use. These findings have the potential to inform policymakers and developers about how to mitigate the detrimental effects of platform-based political persuasion.

This study offers significant contributions. First, the authors explain social media-induced polarization using the novel theoretical lens of cultivation. Second, the authors find that social media and television news consumption differ in their polarizing effects. Third, the authors find that while WhatsApp use amplifies the polarizing effect of social media news consumption, YouTube use weakens it.

This study aims to investigate the impact of employees’ engagement in government social media (GSM) on their cybersecurity compliance attitude, protection motivation and protective behavior, thereby contributing to effective cybersecurity practices at organizations.

A quantitative cross-sectional field survey was conducted to collect primary data in big cities and large provinces in Vietnam. The final data set of 323 responses was analyzed using the partial least squares-structural equation modeling approach to interpret the results and test research hypotheses.

Engagement in GSM positively influences employees’ cybersecurity compliance attitude (ATT). Perceived threat vulnerability and response efficacy also contribute to a positive compliance attitude, although self-efficacy has a negative impact. Moreover, the cybersecurity compliance ATT significantly explains the information protection motivation, which in turn influences employee protective behaviors. However, the relationship between compliance attitude and protective behaviors is weak, unlike previous studies that found a strong correlation.

Although recent studies have explored specific information security practices in corporate and home contexts, the influence of GSM on individuals’ cybersecurity behaviors has received limited attention because of its novelty. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by investigating the impact of GSM on cybersecurity behaviors. This study provides significant contributions to understanding social media’s effects of social media on individuals’ cultivation processes, by expanding upon the protective motivation theory and cultivation theory. The results lead to practical suggestions for organizational managers and policymakers so that they can enhance their understanding of the importance of cybersecurity, encourage the implementation of self-defense strategies and highlight the significance of threat and coping evaluations in influencing attitudes and motivations.

Government employees must comply with policies on information security regulations, online security practices, social networking usage, internet addiction, online cyberthreats and other related habits. These activities are considered cybersecurity behaviors. Government social media (GSM) accounts are increasingly used to educate employees about cybersecurity risks. To support the effectiveness of cybersecurity practices in government organizations, the purpose of this study is to investigate the impacts of GSM and organizational policy compliance on employees’ cybersecurity awareness, motivation and behaviors.

Data were obtained by administering a questionnaire survey to public personnel in Vietnam. A total of 330 valid responses were obtained, and the research hypotheses were tested using partial least squares–structural equation modeling.

First, cybersecurity awareness enhances information protection motivation and employee protective behavior. Second, GSM has positive impacts on cybersecurity knowledge and information protection motivation. Third, there is a strong positive association between information protection motivation and employee protective behavior. Finally, while organizational compliance significantly increases cybersecurity awareness, its impact on employee protective behavior is ind irect.

This research enhances the literature on the behavioral dimension of cybersecurity. The primary objective of this study is to assess the influence of cybersecurity awareness on protective behaviors rather than intents and attitudes alone. Furthermore, this research integrates protection motivation theory and cultivation theory to provide a more thorough assessment of cybersecurity awareness and protective behavior. By investigating the impact of GSM on the level of cybersecurity awareness among employees within government organizations, this study provides valuable insights into the efficacy of recent governmental initiatives aimed at fostering cybersecurity.

This study investigates how autonomous vehicle (AV)-related electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) of different polarities affects attitude and perceived risk from the perspectives of both passengers and pedestrians and whether any gender differences exist. It also seeks to identify AV-adoption user archetypes.

An online experiment was conducted, manipulating eWOM polarity (positive, negative or mixed) as a between-participants factor.

While eWOM polarity did not affect attitude, perceived risk was the highest in the mixed eWOM condition. Males and females differed from each other in terms of attitude toward AVs from a passenger perspective, attitude toward AVs from a pedestrian perspective and perceived risk for passengers in AVs. Four AV-adoption user archetypes were identified: AV watchfuls, AV optimists, AV nonchalants and AV skeptics.

The paper contributes to the AV adoption literature by adding the effects of eWOM. It not only sheds light on how AV-related eWOM polarity affects attitude and perceived risk but also teases out nuances from the perspectives of passengers and pedestrians as a function of gender.

Identifying the protected characteristics under the Equality Act of the UK, the purpose of this paper is to discover the extent to which the protected characteristics are featured in British newspaper advertisements, as evidence of diversity and equality in the country.

Content analysis of advertisements obtained from nine national newspapers of the UK collected over 12 months. The criteria used to select the newspapers were category, popularity (circulation figures) and the readership demographics (range and variety of the audience).

Disabled individuals are under-represented in print advertisements, and so are close relationships between individuals of the same sex signifying a civil partnership (or sexual orientation). There seems to be an equal level of portrayal of males and females, though men still feature more in a business setting while women are seen more in home settings.

The findings suggest opportunities for advertisers to integrate disabled individuals into their marketing campaigns, not just as a business strategy for targeted markets but as individuals in a diversified community. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people could also be featured in advertisements for products and services that couples usually buy together, for example, holidays and mortgages.

This study expands on the existing study on the portrayal in advertisements of stereotypes of genders, different age-groups and ethnic minorities. The portrayal of disability, sexuality and religious beliefs were considered within newspapers in UK, bridging some crucial gaps and providing outcomes relevant to numerous types of stakeholders, including the brands, advertising industry and academic researchers.

This chapter examines the role mass media plays in the maintenance of social control and policy formulation and implementation in the Trump political era. First, an historical survey of mass media theory is presented and used as an analytic lens through which to identify that mass media has long been recognized as a powerful tool of social control or disruption and in public policy formulation and implementation. Second, this chapter explores the challenges posed to society and policy when a president uses mass media to spread misinformation and disinformation. Third, this chapter identifies the divisive nature of US political attitudes in the Trump era and how social media contributes to cleavage. Fourth, this chapter explores efforts by foreign actors, particularly Russian, to spread discursive and thus social chaos through disinformation campaigns in the United States and other western democracies. This chapter concludes that mass media has been both a divisive and uniting force, although the rise of social media and its susceptibility to manipulation poses a danger to social cohesion and effective public policy formulation and implementation. These factors have contributed to civil divisiveness and lack of policy clarity.

This paper aims to examine how reckless driving scenes in action movies affect young male drivers’ perception of reckless drivers and proposes a targeted social marketing strategy to counteract this effect.

The hypotheses were tested through a 2 (reckless driving scenes vs control) × 2 (road safety advertising vs control) online experiment with 151 young male drivers.

Reckless driving scenes in action movies prime a positive image of reckless drivers which impacts young male drivers’ attitudes and reckless driving intention. However, a road safety message specifically addressing the positive image of reckless drivers efficiently counteracts this effect.

A few studies have experimentally tested the impact of reckless driving promotion on young drivers’ attitudes and intention, but none have analysed this impact in terms of the development of a positive image of reckless drivers. In addition, this study emphasises that a targeted message based on social norms can cancel the effect of reckless driving promotion and have a beneficial impact on the most risk-prone drivers.

Social marketers working in the field of road safety can improve the efficacy of their social marketing programmes by taking into consideration the positive image of reckless drivers promoted by the media.

Practitioners should develop interventions and targeted messages that help young drivers cultivate a less idealised and masculine social image of reckless drivers.

This paper enhances the awareness of the effect that the media’s positive depiction of reckless drivers can have on the youth and proposes a strategy to counteract this effect.