6. Deviating From the Script: A Content Analysis of Organizational Dissent as Portrayed on Primetime Television

• In Event: Scholar to Scholar Presents: Bridging Organizational, Public Relations, and Health Communication Practices

Abstract

Given the importance of dissent in organizations and the potential for television programming to affect viewers’ attitudes and behaviors (Gerbner, 1990; Nabi, 2009), research is needed that examines how dissent is portrayed on television. Content analysis in this study revealed that dissenters often approached supervisors who had the power to fix the trigger but that the dissent was largely ineffective. These findings are discussed in light of intersections between organizational communication and media effects scholarship.

Authors

• Johny T. Garner, Texas Christian University

• Andrei C. Duta, Pepperdine University

• Emily Kinsky, Pepperdine University

• Julia Danker, Pepperdine University