James F. Evans Collection, This is a comparative analysis of the adjustment of a Danish and a Polish ethnic group to the American culture in a dairy farming area in central Wisconsin. The adjustment is evaluated in terms of recommended farm practices. These practices are grouped under three major categories: (1) livestock practices, (2) cropping practices, and (3) mechanization. For every trait measured the Danish farm group exceeds the Polish group in the proportion who have adopted the selected recommended practices. The performance suggests that the Danish and Polish ethnic groups are different universes from the standpoint of behavior and reaction to recommended dairy farming practices. The Danish and the Polish groups constitute distinct culture complexes, or subcultures, within the North central dairy region. the evidence of the study indicated that the cultural adjustments of the Danish group facilitate the introduction of new ides, whereas the adjustments of the Polish group tend to perpetuate status quo. (author)
16 pages., Via online journal., This study explores potential factors that lead to environmental opinion leadership behaviors such as informing the public about environmental issues and encouraging preventative behaviors among various social groups. Building on the theoretical framework of the diffusion of innovations model, these analyses explore the effects that mass media may have on perceptions of self-efficacy among opinion leaders and how self-efficacy may, in turn, encourage leaders to communicate about aquatic invasive species (AIS) to others in their social networks. Results indicate that mass media and governmental media can have both a positive and negative influence on levels of self-efficacy, and that opinion leaders with higher levels of self-efficacy are more likely to participate in behaviors that could potentially influence their social network(s). These findings not only highlight factors that influence opinion leadership regarding advocacy of environmental behaviors, but also offer insights as to how future campaigns can work with these groups to promote prevention strategies.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 94 Document Number: C07127
Notes:
James F. Evans Collection, In: Report of research completed during the past year. Department of Agricultural Journalism, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Prepared for NCR-90 meeting, Oct. 26-28, 1988. Mimeograph, 1988. p. 5
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 94 Document Number: C07133
Notes:
biotechnology, James F. Evans Collection, In: Report of research completed during the past year. Department of Agricultural Journalism, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Prepared for NCR-90 meeting, Oct. 26-28, 1988. Mimeograph, 1988. p. 10
