PayneJ-Prospectus

Traditional Theories Public’s View of Influential People in the Era of Social Media

Traditional Theories and Public’s View of Influential People in the Era of Social Media

Jessica Payne

California State University, Bakersfield

June 3, 2015

Traditional Theories Public’s View of Influential People in the Era of Social Media 2

Introduction

Leaders, intellectuals, public interests and methods of media have subsidized the

formation of leadership in history. Front-runners have demarcated the roles of communication

and leadership styles through speeches, literature, music, science, and war. History books,

education, and the media have done their best to preserve past influences. With the rise of the

dot.com era, how will the media follow, keep up or even prepare future generations with

information on leaders, social influence and activism.

In my research, I found six leadership theories starting from 1840 until 1970 from

Leadership-central.com and summarized each theory. The Great Man theory, 1840, was based

upon men as leaders (that lasted until women could vote). Next, the Trait theory, 1930’s and

1940’s, briefs leadership as mostly biological (we saw how Hitler took care of that one). The

1950’s, sprouted Behavioral theories, which added to the trait theory and mentions being

socially and intellectually derived. The Contingency Leadership theory followed the Behavioral

theories. In the 1970’s and 1980’s history was made with the Transactional and

Transformational Leadership theories, which were founded upon history and the transformation

of ideals. (Leadership, 2015)

According to Langston.edu, Langston University in Oklahoma, research has been done

with regards to the Transformational Leadership theory composed by Bernard M. Bass in 1985.

Their findings state, “Now 30 years of research and a number of meta-analyses have shown that

transformational and transactional leadership positively predicts a wide variety of performance

outcomes including individual, group and organizational level variables.” (Langston University,

2009)


Oh how the Times have changed. Stephen Bates researched over 90 years of Time

Magazine’s covers from 1920’s until 2010. Bates statement proses investigation, “The alleged

decline of public intellectuals has received considerable study and commentary. Whether it

reflects that decline, media coverage of public intellectuals merits comparable attention.” (Bates,

2011)

Included is my problem, followed by two research questions, a literature review,

suggested methods of study, and a proposal for the question at hand: What has the media done to

preserve the idea of social influence, public intellectuals, and activists in the era of social media?

Purpose

I feel compelled to find an answer as to how the media will preserve the idea of social

influence with regards to our future leaders. I am concerned we will not have influential

intellectuals or historical leaders to look back on. If history repeats itself, how will we learn to

avoid pain, conflict, and fear without leaders, activists and social influence? If we continue

living in an era solely mandated by online media influence and leadership styles how will we

know who to trust or what information is correct. I would love my research problem and

research questions to enable continuous analysis regarding online media and social media

influences. I would love to be part of a team of intellectuals who develops a new leadership

theory with regards to the online era.

Research Problem

Problem: What has the media done to preserve the idea of social influence, public intellectuals,

and activists in the era of social media?


Important Terms: Intellectuals and Leaders. Social media influence and media influence on the

decision of those leaders.

Previous Research: Suggests Time Magazine saw a decline in public intellectuals appearing on

their covers, since the 1970’s. Is it true? Did we lose our leaders?

The problem which needs to be solved is media preserving the idea of leadership and public

intellectuals, and is it necessary for our future?

Research Questions

RQ1: Who do people look to as contemporary intellectuals and leaders of today?

RQ2: What roles are social media playing in identifying intellectuals which people choose to

follow today?

Literature Review

Media influences such as; newspapers, magazines, television, movies, political

movements and activism were used to preserve the social influences of leadership. Those media

influences have slowly been phased out, since the dot.com era. As a social norm, we literally let

handheld computers and devices give us access to any and all worldwide information. ‘Google

it,’ is a common answer, You-Tube and Netflix have taken the place of television and cable.

Topics, politics, entertainment, expected leaders, are updated every second online, as news-

worthy backed by facts or fiction. NBC’s Brian Williams, was let go, because he couldn’t

remember if he was on a helicopter or not.

In 1985, the Transformational Leadership theory was the answer to successful leadership

roles. The theory states, “by which a person interacts with others and is able to create a solid


relationship that results in a high percentage of trust, that will later result in an increase of

motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic, in both leaders and followers.” (http://www.leadership-

central.com, 2015)

This thirty year old theory is based on a “solid relationship that results in a high

percentage of trust.” (Bass, 1985) The question at hand does online media news monitor a solid

and trust worthy relationship.

A study conducted by Reinout E. de Vries, Angelique Bakker-Pieper and Wyneke

Oostenveld sought out to test Bass’ theory. “The purpose of this study was to investigate the

relations between leaders ‘communication styles and charismatic leadership, human-oriented

leadership (leader’s consideration), task-oriented leadership (leader’s initiating structure), and

leadership outcomes.” (Well Reinout E. de Vries, 2010)

Their study showed, “in the assessment of charismatic and human-oriented leadership

styles by subordinates, the leader’s communication style seems to play a crucial role.” And the

most important communication style was “supportive communication of a leader.” They found

this style “enhances knowledge donating behaviors to the leader and knowledge collecting

behaviors from the leader.” (Well Reinout E. de Vries, 2010)

Their findings were favorable to the Transformational Theory of Leadership; however,

the question regarding online media sources was not investigated and requires further research.

Yan Jin from the School of Mass Communications, at Virginia Commonwealth

University created a study based on the emotional leadership theory. Her study is titled,

Emotional Leadership as a Key Dimension of Public Relations Leadership: (Jin, 2010)


The outcome of her study was “empathy is the core emotional trait of PR leaders.” (Jin,

2010) Jin goes on to quote Gayle and Preiss (1998), “Emphasized, public relations leaders must

‘learn how to link their imagination and emotions to the ambitions they have for their team,

department or organization, so they can express ideas in ways that will capture the imagination

and emotion of others’’(p. 353). (Jin, 2010)

The emotional leadership theory was implemented in this study; however, imaginations

and emotions through words and pictures from a computer were not researched.

As I continue my quest to find a study about online media preserving leadership I came

across a study by Steven Bates. He is an assistant professor at Hank Greenspun School of

Journalism and Media Studies in Las Vegas, Nevada. His study analyzed decades of data with

regards to Time Magazine’s covers of influential leaders and social influences. (Bates, 2011)

Bates states, “this study finds that public intellectuals have indeed appeared with less

frequency, especially since the 1960s, and as of the end of 2010, no living public intellectual had

appeared on the cover for more than a decade.” (Bates, 2011) According to this research, no

one alive, for more than a decade has ‘influenced’ the public. If Time magazine cannot preserve

any living intellectuals, how will online media store them?

Mike S. Schafer, from the University of Zurich in Switzerland and Monika Taddicken

from the University of Braunschweig in Germany conducted a study called, Mediatized Opinion

Leaders: New Patterns of Opinion Leadership in New Media Environments? (Taddicken, 2015)

This study examined media environments opinions on leadership. Their research found,

“real life interactions about an issue and thereby aimed to do justice to the relational character of


opinion leadership allows for the identification of diverse communicative roles and, at the same

time, corresponds well with traditional measures.” (Taddicken, 2015)

This study was “measuring personality strength in standardized research designs,” and

“give scholars the chance to acquire more detailed information about the respondents’ most

important peers and thus enrich the empirical description of opinion leadership relations.”

(Taddicken, 2015)

Their attempt to obtain true media reliability for the preservation of leaders and

leadership roles was failed due to inadequate data and no way to test real life personalities or real

life interactions, other than hear say.

The framework and leadership theories which have been used and cultivated from the

past until now, are mostly incomparable and outdated with regards to the prospectus of this

paper. I feel the last forty five years of exponential growth with regards to media sources,

constitutes a specific leadership theory conducive to leadership and social influence within

today’s market of online media.

Method

A. I believe all forms of data and all research on leadership theories would be needed to

conduct this study. Within this study there is hope for a new leadership theory to be

written with regards to preserving the idea of social influence in the era of social media.

B. Materials and information needed to conduct this research would include:

1. mail survey’s, online survey’s, face to face interviews with past leaders and

intellectuals, archives of video, audio and literature from deceased leaders and

intellectuals.


2. Research psychologists who study behavioral and cognitive ideals, theorists,

professors, students, scientists, analysts, corporate and nonprofit officials who are

educated on leadership roles and styles.

3. An algorithm designed to compute data would need to be produced to analyze any

and all online records of leadership roles.

4. There are limitations to this study because I feel this study would require a great

deal of effort, time and money to conduct proper research.

5. Funding for this project would need to be obtained by anonymous donations.

6. A panel would be set up by the committee in charge of funding to elect candidates

to perform research.

7. Once all candidates are elected and agree to dedicate their lives to making this

research a career the study can begin.

Conclusion

For this prospectus, a necessary timeline would be between 10-15 years of research and

another 5 years of gathering data. For a complete analysis in the perseverance of social

influence, public intellectuals, and activists in the era of social media, one would need to obtain

as much data as possible. I believe this study could be used to devise a new leadership theory

with regards to online media and influence. With a new leadership theory, theorists could

identify leaders and preserve the public’s influence through online media.

I leave you with this, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do

for you — ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what

America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. (Kennedy, 1961)


Reference

Bates, S. (2011). Public Intellectuals on Time's Covers. Journalism History, 39-50.

http://www.leadership-central.com. (2015, May 29). Retrieved from Leadership Theories in

Chronological Order: http://www.leadership-central.com/leadership-

theories.html#axzz3bYKQCly7

Jin, Y. (2010). Emotional Leadership as a Key Dimension of Public Relations Leadership: A National

Survey of Public Relations Leaders. Journal of Public Relations Research, 159-181.

Kennedy, J. F. (1961, January 20). Ask Not What your country can do for you? John F. Kennedy's

Inaugural Address.

Langston University. (2009). Retrieved from Langston.edu:

http://www.langston.edu/sites/default/files/basic-content-files/TransformationalLeadership.pdf

Leadership-Central.com. (2015). Retrieved from Leadership-Central.com: http://www.leadership-

central.com

Taddicken, M. S. (2015). Mediatized Opinion Leaders:. International Journal of Communication, 960-981.

Well Reinout E. de Vries, A. B.-P. (2010). Leadership = Communication? The Relations of Leaders’

Communication Styles with Leadership Styles, Knowledge Sharing and Leadership Outcomes.

Journal of Business & Psychology, 367-380.

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