RIVER RIDGE III: THE CAMPAIGN THAT FAILED

Further tests of modernity and the attributes of an innovation were conducted to assess their usefulness in determining why the River Ridge campaign failed. It was found that failure was in part due to the differential perceptions of the issues which existed between members of the community and those conducting the campaign. Also, it was found that there was much greater contact between the change agents and members of modern precincts than there was with members of traditional precincts.     

Predicting Employee Turnover From Communication Networks

This article investigates three social network models of employee turnover: a structural equivalence model, a social influence model, and an erosion model. It was predicted that structurally equivalent individuals would be more likely to behave similarly (i.e., leave or stay at their position). The rocial influence model predicted that employees with a greater percentage of direct communication links with leavers would be more likely to leave their job. The erosion model posited that individuals located on the periphery of a social network would be more likely to leave their job or “fall off” the edges of the social network. A total of 170 employees, a census of an organization, were administered a communication network questionnaire asking them to identify the people with whom they communicate at work. Network self-report data were analyzed using NEGOPY and UCINET software. Results provided support for all three models of turnover, with the erosion model explaining more of the variance than the other two models. Future research examining communication networks and employee turnover is proposed, on the basis of these results.     

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION: 1978

With roots in social psychology, human relations, and organizational theory and behavior, the discipline of organizational communication has emerged in the last 25 years with its own content, methodology, and applications. Although one of the first major literature reviews of this field was produced about 15 years after much of the early foundation research had been completed (Guetzkow, 1965), the next major reviews were published in half the time (Porter & Roberts, 1972; Redding, 1972). As further evidence of the sheer quantity of research being completed in this new discipline, four additional reviews and syntheses were published during the next four years (Pietri et al., 1974; Goldhaber, 1975; Bernstein, 1976; Richetto, 1977). In fact, as Richetto closed his 1976 overview of the field, he predicted that there would “likely be continued attempts at integrating and synthesizing findings” (p. 336). Little did he realize that within two years, three additional reviews would appear (Dennis, Goldhaber, Yates, 1978; Farace, Taylor, Stewart, 1978; Monge, Edwards, Kirste, 1978). The present synthesis and review, with its emphasis on findings and implications, combines the results of recent North American and European research with those of the first 16 studies completed by the International Communication Association (1CA) Communication Audit. We have divided the review into three major sections: a historical overview of the major findings from both North America and Europe; major findings from the ICA Communication Audit; and implications of all major findings for future research.