ORCID Profile
0000-0003-4589-7512
Current Organisations
Massey University
,
University of Queensland
,
The University of Auckland
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Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-04-2018
Publisher: Sissa Medialab Srl
Date: 04-10-2021
DOI: 10.22323/2.20050208
Abstract: Scientists highlight that actions that address environmental protection and climate change can also help with reducing infectious disease threats. Results using data from a national s le survey in New Zealand indicate that perceptions of co-benefits of actions to address environmental protection that also protect against infectious disease outbreaks such as the coronavirus is associated with policy support and political engagement. This association was partly mediated through perceived collective efficacy. Local councils with higher level of community collective efficacy were more likely to declare climate emergency. Communication about potential co-benefits is likely to shape public engagement and enact policy change.
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 06-04-2022
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-1487057/V1
Abstract: Denialism and spreading of misinformation have occurred regarding both climate change and COVID-19, delaying uptake of critical actions. Audience segmentation analysis identifies audience subgroups likely to have similar responses to messaging, and is a valuable tool for effective c aigns encouraging critical behaviors in both contexts. This study compared audience segmentations based on a representative s le of 1054 Australians. One segmentation was based on ‘Global Warming’s Six Americas’ online SASSY tool. The second segmentation applied the Theory of Planned Behavior and found five distinct COVID-19 vaccine segments. Results show both those most concerned and those most skeptical in the climate change segmentation continuum tended to be in more enthusiastic COVID-19 vaccine segments, while those in the center on climate change were more skeptical on COVID-19 vaccines. Differences identified relating to age, gender, religion, and political views may be explained by a combination of the specific nature and histories of these issues. These findings have implications for effective communication on science and health issues across erse disciplines.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-09-2022
DOI: 10.1002/9781119678816.IEHC0857
Abstract: Climate change is one of the biggest threats to human health and well‐being. This entry summarizes direct and indirect impacts of climate change on public health. It then reviews evidence of public knowledge and media attention to climate change as a public health issue. It evaluates the effectiveness of communicating health impacts of climate change to foster public attention and engagement. It concludes by focusing on challenges and opportunities for health communication scholars to help communicate climate change, which is also the single biggest opportunity of the twenty‐first century to achieve equitable progress on improving global health outcomes.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2021
Publisher: Springer Singapore
Date: 2016
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 11-02-2020
DOI: 10.1093/CT/QTZ029
Abstract: The neoliberal/neocolonial transformation of agriculture in the global South is achieved through the hegemony of expert-led interventions of privatization that erase the knowledge of agricultural practices held by subaltern communities. Neocolonial development interventions serve the privatizing logics of agro-capital through the circulation of logics of profits, efficiency, and growth through both paid and state-controlled communication channels. In this backdrop, our ethnographic description of a culture-centered intervention carried out in solidarity with dalit, women farmers organized under the umbrella of sanghams (cooperatives) points toward communication sovereignty as a theoretical anchor for re-imagining the relationships among ecology, agriculture, and sustainability in resistance to capitalist agriculture. Challenging hegemonic models of participatory engagement put forth by neocolonial structures of development, the concept of communicative justice inverts listening, radically placing power in the hands of subaltern communities. Layers of inequalities from households to community spaces to market structures are disrupted through the voices of dalit women farmers and their participation in practices that materially resist capitalist agriculture. Moreover, the co-creative work of generating theory from within subaltern struggles for sovereignty in the global South dislocates the colonial nature of abs/ex-tractive theorizing in the metropole in the North, situating the work of theorizing amidst the lifeworlds of subaltern communities performing everyday transformative practices that dismantle capitalist logics.
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 08-12-2021
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-07-2018
DOI: 10.1080/10810730.2018.1499833
Abstract: Stigma and discrimination are primary drivers of health disparities among marginalized communities. Drawing on stigma management, minority stress model, and social cognitive theories, this article tests the interplay between dimensions of stigma, collective efficacy, and advocacy communication among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender females. Using data from a cross-sectional survey conducted in south India (N = 225), five distinct dimensions of stigma were identified using factor analysis: experienced stigma, self-stigma, felt normative stigma, and two new dimensions-HIV-related vicarious stigma and media stigma. Respondents reported highest levels of media stigma. While most of the dimensions of stigma were negatively associated with both collective efficacy and advocacy communication, collective efficacy mediated the relationship between stigma and advocacy. Implications for public health c aigns among MSM groups are discussed.
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Date: 12-2022
Abstract: Legislators who frequently advocate for climate action might be expected to cast more pro-climate votes, but pro-climate messaging alone may not predict actual voting behavior. We analyzed 401 539 tweets posted by 518 United States federal legislators over the 6 months prior to the 2020 election and identified 5350 of these as containing climate-relevant messaging. Of the 4881 tweets that we coded as promoting climate awareness or supporting action (‘pro-climate’), 92% were posted by Democratic legislators while all 138 tweets undermining climate awareness or opposing action (‘anti-climate’) were posted by Republicans. Constituent support for Congressional climate action was only weakly related to the rate of pro-climate tweeting by legislators. Overall, we found that increased pro-climate tweeting was not a significant predictor of pro-climate voting when controlling for party affiliation and constituent support for climate action. We conclude that climate-concerned voters would be best served by using party affiliation rather than climate-related messaging to judge the pro-climate voting intentions of United States legislators.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-2021
Publisher: American Meteorological Society
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1175/WCAS-D-14-00037.1
Abstract: Research on adaptive capacity often focuses on economics and technology, despite evidence from the social sciences finding that socially shared beliefs, norms, and networks are critical in increasing in iduals’ and communities’ adaptive capacity. Drawing upon social cognitive theory, this paper builds on the first author’s Ph.D. dissertation and examines the role of collective efficacy—people’s shared beliefs about their group’s capabilities to accomplish collective tasks—in influencing Indians’ capacity to adapt to drinking water scarcity, a condition likely to be exacerbated by future climate change. Using data from a national survey (N = 4031), in iduals with robust collective efficacy beliefs were found to be more likely to participate in community activities intended to ensure the adequacy of water supplies, and this relationship was found to be stronger in communities with high levels of community collective efficacy compared to communities with low levels of community collective efficacy. In addition, community collective efficacy was positively associated with self-reported community adaptation responses. Public education c aigns aimed at increasing collective efficacy beliefs are likely to increase adaptive capacity.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-01-2019
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 22-12-2022
DOI: 10.1177/09636625221138494
Abstract: While previous studies provide broad categories of the public who intend to get a COVID-19 vaccine, few systematically segment and help understand and engage with distinct publics to improve COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Using data from a national s le of the Australian public ( N = 1054) and using measures primarily based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, a latent class analysis of 16 items was undertaken to identify COVID-19 audience segments for potential future message targeting. We found five different segments of COVID-19 vaccine intentions: vaccine enthusiasts (28%), supporters (26%), socials (20%), hesitant (15%) and sceptics (10%). These five audience segments also differ on demographic variables and their level of trust in mainstream media, scientists and health experts, social media and family and friends. Understanding the COVID-19 vaccine attitudinal and information-seeking characteristics of these sub-publics will help inform appropriate messaging c aigns.
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 25-11-2020
Abstract: Building public trust and willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 is as important as developing a safe and effective vaccine to contain the pandemic. Based on the theory of normative social behavior, trust, and the theory of planned behavior, this study tests a comprehensive model for COVID-19 vaccine intentions using a national s le survey of the New Zealand public (N=1040). Among the factors assessed in the study, attitudes towards vaccine was most strongly associated with COVID-19 vaccination intentions, followed by trust in mass media, and social norms. While COVID-19 knowledge was associated with COVID-19 vaccine intention, it was not associated with willingness to pay or get on a COVID-19 vaccine list. In contrast, communication competence was not associated with COVID-19 vaccine intention but was significantly associated with willingness to pay or get on a COVID-19 vaccine list. Findings can help inform theory and practice of health c aigns to fight vaccine disinformation and increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake, when available.
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK
Date: 2013
Publisher: Annual Reviews
Date: 31-05-2023
DOI: 10.1146/ANNUREV-EARTH-031621-114417
Abstract: A science-based understanding of climate change and potential mitigation and adaptation options can provide decision makers with important guidance in making decisions about how best to respond to the many challenges inherent in climate change. In this review we provide an evidence-based heuristic for guiding efforts to share science-based information about climate change with decision makers and the public at large. Well-informed decision makers are likely to make better decisions, but for a range of reasons, their inclinations to act on their decisions are not always realized into effective actions. We therefore also provide a second evidence-based heuristic for helping people and organizations change their climate change–relevant behaviors, should they decide to. These two guiding heuristics can help scientists and others harness the power of communication and behavior science in service of enhancing society's response to climate change. ▪ Many Earth scientists seeking to contribute to the climate science translation process feel frustrated by the inadequacy of the societal response. ▪ Here we summarize the social science literature by offering two guiding principles to guide communication and behavior change efforts. ▪ To improve public understanding, we recommend simple, clear messages, repeated often, by a variety of trusted and caring messengers. ▪ To encourage uptake of useful behaviors, we recommend making the behaviors easy, fun, and popular.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: 26-10-2017
DOI: 10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190228620.013.471
Abstract: Climate change communication is a relatively new area of research in India—a country that ranks high in vulnerability due to poverty, yet a major emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs). This article reviews climate change communication research in the country from the 1990s to the present. First, it provides a political economy framework to explore the issue of climate change communication amid environment and development debates in India. It shows that elite discourses of climate change have been shifting from externalizing the problem and solutions to a more recent co-benefits approach to address the twin challenges of climate change and economic development. Second, the article reviews research about media coverage and finds that although Indian media portrays climate change as real and human-caused and reports its severe impacts in India, it largely externalizes the problem, with slight changes in recent coverage highlighting domestic responsibility and equity. Third, reviewing studies on public awareness and understanding, it shows that while the Indian public is largely unaware of the term climate change , public opinion surveys and qualitative research indicate that Indians report experiencing changing weather conditions in their local area—an important lesson to communicating climate change in India. Finally, it explores future opportunities for climate change communication research in India.
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 28-09-2018
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-01-2014
Publisher: Health & New Media Research Institute
Date: 30-06-2023
Abstract: Although social media is a primary means for the general public to access science and health information and can help increase public knowledge, empirical evidence is mixed. Beyond social media exposure, this study investigates whether trust in social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube is related to public knowledge about the coronavirus. The findings, based on data from a nationally representative s le of 3933 people in the United States, show that trust in Facebook and Twitter is negatively associated with knowledge of COVID-19, even after controlling for a number of traditional factors associated with scientific knowledge. Republicans' trust in Twitter contributes to this knowledge gap, albeit the interaction between Republican affiliation and Twitter trust is weak but significant. The findings indicate that, despite increased suppression of fake and misleading information by social media companies, misinformation on social media persists and may lead to harm.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 04-10-2021
Abstract: While public intentions to get a COVID-19 vaccine have been shifting around the world, few studies track factors that help us understand and improve COVID-19 vaccine uptake. This study focuses on identifying changing public intentions to get a COVID-19 vaccine in New Zealand, a country that has been largely successful in containing the pandemic but risks new outbreaks as less than 20% of the population is fully vaccinated by August 2021. Data on COVID-19 intentions were collected just after the vaccine approval and rollout targeting old-age groups in February 2021 and then before the general public rollout in May 2021 (n = 650, 60% reinterview response rate). Results show that intention to get a COVID-19 vaccine increased in three months and was the highest in the last one year. Consistent with the Theory of Planned Behaviour, attitudes and efficacy beliefs were significantly associated with COVID-19 vaccine intentions, in the cross-sectional as well as longitudinal analyses. Findings highlight the persisting influence of attitudes, efficacy beliefs, and past intentions on future decision-making process to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Future research opportunities to understand vaccine intentions and improve public vaccine uptake are highlighted.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 05-12-2019
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 16-11-2022
DOI: 10.3390/SU142215214
Abstract: The agenda-setting and attitude-forming role of media has been proven and endorsed over time. Media has played an instrumental role in the way the issue of climate change is perceived by various stakeholders in society. Although studies on media coverage of climate issues have been gaining prominence in recent years, there is a gap when we consider the Global South. Moreover, although the business sector is a critical stakeholder in climate change policy and action, studies that focus on how business media projects and highlights climate change are relatively sparse. This vacuum is even more pronounced in developing countries. This research is an attempt to address this gap. We have conducted a longitudinal analysis of climate change reporting in a leading Indian business newspaper, using automated content analysis. Results provide us with valuable insights about how climate frames and climate themes have evolved over time in business media. Our findings suggest that while climate cooperation is a prominent topic in business media, however, it has been declining in recent years. On the other hand, the share of domestic news covering sector specific issues is increasing, mirroring India’s change in stance. The insights derived will help in building consensus across stakeholders involving business decision-makers, media houses, policy makers, and civil society.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-09-2014
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 14-12-2020
Abstract: Scholars argue that personal experience with climate change related impacts has the potential to increase public engagement. Yet, previous studies, which have almost exclusively focussed on experience with extreme weather events, provide mixed results. Based on experiential learning and attribution theory, this article argues that unless in iduals’ attribute an event as related to or caused by climate change, their responses may be misdirected. Results based on survey data from a nationally representative s le of the New Zealand public indicates that subjective attribution of infectious disease outbreaks to climate change and to the human impact on the environment is positively associated with mitigation behavioural intentions and policy support. In addition, political affiliation moderates the relationship between subjective attribution and mitigation policy support, indicating a higher potential for right-leaning compared to moderates or left-leaning respondents to learn about climate change through health-related climate change impacts. Helping people understand the role of human impact on the environment and climate change in infectious disease outbreaks is likely to increase public engagement.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-08-2020
DOI: 10.1111/RISA.13574
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 14-08-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-01-2023
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-022-26959-5
Abstract: Denialism and the spreading of misinformation have occurred regarding both climate change and COVID-19, delaying uptake of urgent actions. Audience segmentation analysis identifies audience subgroups likely to have similar responses to messaging, and is a valuable tool for effective c aigns encouraging critical behaviors in both contexts. This study compared audience segmentations based on a representative s le of 1054 Australians. One segmentation was based on the ‘Global Warming’s Six Americas’ online SASSY tool. The second segmentation applied the Theory of Planned Behavior and found five distinct COVID-19 vaccine segments. Both studies showed those most concerned and those most skeptical in the climate change segmentation tended to be in more enthusiastic COVID-19 vaccine segments, while those in the center on climate change were more skeptical on COVID-19 vaccines. Differences identified relating to age, gender, and political views may be explained by a combination of the specific nature and histories of these issues. These findings have implications for effective communication on science and health issues across erse disciplines.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-04-2021
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 19-10-2021
Abstract: BackgroundKnowing your audience is the first step in an effective public health communication c aign. While previous studies provide broad categories of public intentions to get a COVID-19 vaccine, few systematically segment and identify effective ways to engage with distinct publics to improve COVID-19 vaccine uptake. MethodsUsing data from a national s le of Australian public (N = 1054) and based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, a latent class analysis of 23 items was undertaken to identify COVID-19 audience segments for potential future message targeting. FindingsWe found five different segments on COVID-19 vaccine intentions: Vaccine enthusiasts (28%), supporters (26%), socials (20%), hesitant (15%), and sceptics (10%). While the vaccine hesitants have concerns about safety and side-effects of the vaccine, the sceptics hold additional concerns about the need for a vaccine and dismiss the health risks. Vaccine socials hold less favourable attitudes towards a COVID-19 vaccine but are willing to get one to protect others. These audience segments differ on demographic variables and in their level of trust in mainstream media, scientists and health experts, social media, and family and friends. In particular, we found the most vulnerable—the poor and undereducated—may need further help in understanding the need and importance of COVID-19 vaccination.InterpretationUnderstanding the COVID-19 vaccine attitudinal and information seeking characteristics of these sub-publics will help inform appropriate messaging c aigns to reach out to vaccine hesitant and sceptics for promoting vaccination. It provides insight into what types of message framing may be effective, through which platforms messages should be provided, and by which trusted sources.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 24-01-2017
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2023
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 09-12-2020
DOI: 10.1108/JCOM-06-2019-0092
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to comparatively analyze how top corporations in New Zealand, Australia and the Global Fortune 500 group communicate about climate science. A combination of keyword count and quantitative content analysis is used to develop a reliable set of indicators to measure corporate communication about climate science. Just a few corporations mention or explicitly agree with scientific consensus on climate change and few report science-based targets. They report more frequently on societal risks of climate change, as well as business contribution and responsibility. New Zealand based corporations generally do poor reporting compared to Australian corporations, who do as well as the biggest corporations in the world. There is a further need for cross-country research and for more longitudinal analysis to understand how organizations communicate about scientific issues to its stakeholders. This paper can inform communication managers about the need to pay attention to how their communication, in idually and in comparison with their peers, is likely interpreted by the stakeholders. Managers may attend to scientific consensus messaging to gain stakeholder approval for ambitious business actions on climate change. Organizations are powerful social and economic drivers. Understanding how they interpret and communicate a scientific issue has implications for public and policy discourses and outcomes. This is the first paper to comparatively identify common and contextual drivers of business communication of complex scientific issues. A reliable scale to measure climate science communication by corporations will be helpful for future researchers to replicate in other sectors.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 18-12-2020
DOI: 10.1101/2020.12.16.20248139
Abstract: Building public trust and willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 is as important as developing an effective vaccine. However, a significant minority of the public are unwilling or hesitant to take a COVID-19 vaccine, when available. A nationally representative s le survey ( N =1040) was conducted in July 2020 in New Zealand to identify factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine intention. Trust in experts and general vaccine hesitancy were significantly associated with COVID-19 vaccine intention. A communication c aign from trusted scientific experts, with information that addresses prevailing concerns about vaccines, is likely to help increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 26-10-2023
No related grants have been discovered for Jagadish Thaker.