ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES FOR THE COMMUNICATION THEORIST: PROBLEMS IN THE LAWS-RULES-SYSTEMS TRICHOTOMY

This paper argues against the laws-systems-rules trichotomy which Cushman and Pearce use to organize theoretical options in the communication field. This trichotomy of perspectives does reflect the groupings into which scholars have come to classify themselves, but the analytic implications of this division follow strongly and confound the actual levels of choice inherent in theory building. The organization of theoretical alternatives by attempting to identify a type of necessity unique to each obscures fundamental differences among theorists, unprofitably restricts the range of theoretical alternatives, and will not encompass the variety of viable theoretic perspectives now before us. In place of the laws-rules-systems trichotomy this paper offers a multilevel analytic framework for organizing theoretical alternatives in communication.     

An Examination of Employee Reactions to Perceived Corporate Citizenship1

There has been little research focus to date on individual level reactions to corporate citizenship. Our study attempted to understand better how corporate citizenship affects job behaviors and employee feelings by examining a hypothesized positive effect of perceived corporate citizenship (PCC) on 3 dependent variables: work‐role definitions, organizational citizenship behavior, and organizational identification. Additionally, the personal value of other‐regarding value orientation was hypothesized to interact with PCC. The findings supported 4 of 6 hypotheses. We consider theoretical and practical implications of how corporate citizenship impacts employees.