Developing and Validating the Communication Resilience Processes Scale. (19th April 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wilson, Steven R; Kuang, Kai; Hintz, Elizabeth A; Buzzanell, Patrice M
• Is Part Of: Journal of communication. Volume 71:Number 3(2021)
• Page Start: 478
• Page End: 513
• Publication Date: 2021-04-19
• Subjects: Communication Theory of Resilience -- Resilience Processes -- Disruptive Events -- Scale Development; Communication -- Periodicals; Communication and traffic -- Periodicals; Information theory -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Periodicals; 302.2
• DOI: 10.1093/joc/jqab013
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-9916

Abstract

Abstract: According to the communication theory of resilience (CTR; P. M. Buzzanell, 2010 ), people reintegrate from disruptive events and construct a new normal through five interrelated processes: (a) crafting normalcy; (b) affirming identity anchors; (c) maintaining/using communication networks; (d) constructing alternative logics; and (e) foregrounding productive action while backgrounding negative emotions. Enacting these processes creates tensions between continuity and change. This article develops a Communication Resilience Processes Scale (CRPS) to assess CTR processes in response to a variety of disruptive events. Items were created and refined via a scale development study with feedback from expert raters. Studies 2 and 3 offer initial support for the 32-item CRPS' reliability and convergent, divergent, and predictive validity. Models in which the five CTR processes are subsumed by a single, higher-order resilience factor versus two higher-order interrelated factors (continuity and change) are compared. Future directions for exploring continuity/change tensions and identifying CTR boundary conditions are discussed.