Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Language of Life-Giving Connection: The Emotional Tone of Language that Fosters Flourishing Campus Sustainability Programs

Robson, Linda
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4413-0726
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1428008477

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Organizational Behavior.
Insights from Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS) were used as a lens through which to examine the language used by campus sustainability programs. The use of positive, negative, and neutral language was explored in ten college and university sustainability programs and these findings were compared to the performance ranking of each sustainability program. Directed content analysis was used to analyze one-on-one interviews, campus sustainability staff meetings, and campus sustainability programs websites. Taking all sources of data together, high performing sustainability programs demonstrate a 4:1 positive to negative (P/N) ratio, where moderate performers possessed a 2:1 P/N ratio and base performers a 1:1 P/N ratio. These findings, associating higher incidence of positive language with high performing programs joins other scholarship, which connects higher levels of positive language with higher functioning individuals, higher team performance, high relational satisfaction, and increased longevity of teams and dyads. Heretofore, few links between the sustainability domain and POS literature exist. This study serves as one of the first such bridges.
Ronal Fry, PhD (Committee Chair)
David Cooperrider, PhD (Committee Member)
Mark Chupp, PhD (Committee Member)
Peter Whitehouse, MD PhD (Committee Member)
180 p.
Organizational Behavior
language, sustainability, positive organizational scholarship, change, positivity, performance, higher education

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Robson, L. (2015). Language of Life-Giving Connection: The Emotional Tone of Language that Fosters Flourishing Campus Sustainability Programs [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1428008477

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Robson, Linda. Language of Life-Giving Connection: The Emotional Tone of Language that Fosters Flourishing Campus Sustainability Programs. 2015. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1428008477.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Robson, Linda. "Language of Life-Giving Connection: The Emotional Tone of Language that Fosters Flourishing Campus Sustainability Programs." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1428008477

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1428008477
817
© 2015, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Language of Life-Giving Connection: The Emotional Tone of Language that Fosters Flourishing Campus Sustainability Programs by Linda Robson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.