FICS Theses and Dissertations

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https://repository.upou.edu.ph/handle/20.500.13073/2
Theses and dissertations by graduate students from the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies.

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    Interrogating Agricultural e-Extension: A Phenomenological Study of the Lives Experiences of Agricultural Extension Workers in the Visayas during a Crisis or Public Emergency
    ( 2026) Bastian-Ocheda, Liezel Margie Lou S.
    The sociological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic forced government and private agencies to cease operations, including agricultural extension practices. On the other hand, as the catalyst, capacity-builder, and knowledge bank of the Philippine Agriculture and Fisheries Extension System, the Agricultural Training Institute (ATI), under the Department of Agriculture (DA), launched the e-Extension in the late 2000s, which is an electronic delivery of extension services through its e-Learning and e-Farming components. Set in the Western Visayas Region, Philippines, this research aims to interrogate the e-Extension through the lived experiences of the Agricultural Extension Workers (AEWs) during crises or public emergencies. The qualitative research study was rooted in an interpretivist design using thematic analysis to interpret the lived experience of twelve (12) AEWs, which was determined using specific criteria. It revealed that AEWs perceived e-Extension as “extension beyond boundaries,” social media, particularly Messenger, as alert systems, and mobile phones as an extension delivery tool. Participants defined e-Extension as not confined to a single technology outlet. While embracing “communicating at a distance”, AEWs present themselves as soldiers of agriculture who surmount the boundless space of the crisis. The definition of e-Extension widened beyond its mandated program. The program became incorporated into everyday work, signifying a structural reconfiguration of agricultural services that was embedded during and beyond the crisis.
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    Barangay-Level Communication Strategies and their Roles in Shaping Household Disaster Preparedness in Quezon City, Philippines
    (2026, 2026) Non, John Marlon
    This study examines the role of communication strategies in shaping household disaster preparedness through a case study of a selected highly urbanized and disaster-prone barangay in Quezon City, Philippines. Grounded on the Risk Perception and Communication Model (RPCM), the study involving 15 participants analyzed qualitatively how socio-demographic, environmental, and contextual factors influence household preparedness; how disaster-related messages are communicated; and how different communication strategies contributed to households’ disaster awareness, knowledge, skills, and preparedness actions. Findings reveal that household preparedness is significantly influenced by economic capacity, household composition, prior disaster experiences, and access to communication resources. Communication strategies function in complementary roles: barangay-based and interpersonal channels provide localized and trusted information, while social media and mobile communication enable rapid and wide dissemination. However, effectiveness varies due to disparities in access, timeliness of response, and socio-economic constraints. Preparedness is further reinforced by community support systems, local leadership, and repeated exposure to hazards such as flooding and typhoons. The study concludes that disaster communication must be context-specific, inclusive, and multi-channel. It highlights the need for an integrated communication framework that combines digital platforms, interpersonal engagement, and community-based approaches to ensure that information is accessible, credible, and actionable. The findings provide practical implications for local government units and disaster risk reduction practitioners in designing responsive communication strategies that strengthen household preparedness and community resilience in urban settings.
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    Communicating and Building Trust in the Profession: A Critical-Semiotic Inquiry of a Legal Aid Clinic
    (University of the Philippines Open University, 2025) Padua, Patrianne M.
    This study investigated how communication practices, space, and visual cues mediate or discourage the indigent clients’ trust in the Legal Aid Clinic. It draws upon Critical Tradition which theorizes communication according to Craig (1999) as a “reflective challenge of unjust discourse” and Semiotic Tradition which theorizes communication as meaningful signs and symbols that can be interpreted in various ways (Craig, 1999). This study used multimodal analysis. Reflective essays of the student law practitioners were subjected to thematic analysis, while the Legal Aid Clinic to socio-spatial analysis, and the observations during the legal consultations to critical semiotic analysis. The communication practices that emerged which may engender or discourage trust were affiliative humor, persuasive communication, mitigative communication, plain language communication, affective communication, adaptive dual-channel communication. Furthermore, the semiotic resources of legal aid clinic spatial (architectural design and layout), visual, (organizational shirt, posted materials), gestural (non-verbal cues such as side eying, and eye contact). This study also found out that legal trust is multilayered and multidimensional. It is relational, procedural, and symbolic. Moreover, types of legal trust surfaced: unequivocal trust, provisional trust, involuntary trust, and pseudo or fake trust.
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    Lingkod Bayang Makakalikasan: Examining the Determinants of Employees' Intention to Engage in Green Behavior in a Public Organization
    (University of the Philippines Open University, 2026) Abinal, Jonathan Q.
    How do employees in a public organization intend to practice the principle of Lingkod Bayang Makakalikasan? Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior developed by Icek Ajzen, this study examines the determinants of employees’ intention to engage in Employee Green Behavior (EGB) in a public organization in the Philippines. It explores how attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control influence intention, and how socio-demographic characteristics and environmental knowledge shape these constructs. EGB includes workplace practices such as energy conservation, waste reduction, and participation in sustainability initiatives. Using a quantitative survey design, data were collected from 285 employee-respondents and analyzed using statistical techniques. Results show that attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control significantly influence intentions to engage in green behavior. Environmental knowledge indirectly strengthens intention by influencing attitudes and perceived control, while socio-demographic factors show limited direct effects. The findings highlight the importance of fostering supportive norms, positive attitudes, and a strong sense of behavioral control to institutionalize sustainable practices in the public sector.
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    Teleacting an Authority in A Communicative Practice: Compliance Certificate as a Non-human Agent in Solid Waste Management
    (University of the Philippines Open University, 2024) Casaljay, Michael Jude Taduyo
    This study is anchored on the Non-Human Agency Framework advanced by Francois Cooren (2006), which attempts to explain ‘how one can act from a distance’ or ‘teleact’ or the act of making present or presentifying something or someone in communicative practices. Teleaction can happen in a manner that non-humans represent other entities. By examining a compliance certificate used by a government regulatory body in solid waste management, the study sought to answer the research questions: 1) what figures appeared in the solid waste management compliance certificate that ventriloquized its authority; 2) what does the compliance certificate perform in solid waste management? Using Cooren’s (2010) Ventriloquial Analysis Approach, this study analyzed the Municipal Solid Waste Management Compliance Certificate (MSWMCC), a document issued by the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO), a local government regulatory body in solid waste management in a municipality in the Province of (Name of the Province). From the analysis, it was revealed that there is a total of ten (10) figures explicitly invoked in the certificate – 1) official logo, 2) letterhead, 3) certificate number, 4) RA 9003, 5) declaration of compliance, 6) date of issuance, 7) place of issuance, 8) date of inspection, 9) signatory, and 10) QR code. These explicit figures that appeared in the compliance certificate implicitly convey significant messages relative to environmental protection and sustainability. Also found in the analysis are six (6) acts that the compliance certificate performs in accomplishing solid waste management – 1) representing the government, 2) regulating business operations in accordance with solid waste management practices, 3) affirming business entity’s compliance, 4) informing the general public of the business entity’s participation in solid waste management, 5) authorizing business operations in consideration with solid waste management, and 6) documenting business entity’s participation in solid waste management. From the findings of this study, the researcher advances the Ventriloquized- Animated Authority Theory. Non-human agents, like the compliance certificate, possess ventriloquized and animated authority. Ventriloquized-Animated Authority is that kind of authority that the non-human agents derive from their being ventriloquized (given voices to speak) and animated (acted upon to act) by some higher unseen principals. The voices given to non-human agents by more powerful unseen principals grant them the strength and the power to speak about influential messages that move human agents to act. Likewise, the force of persuasion exerted on the non-human agents by a more powerful unseen principal also pushes the human actors to perform something geared toward the accomplishment of organizational goals. Thus, as a textual agent, the compliance certificate possesses this authority that compels business entities to participate in solid waste management, contributing to the accomplishment of organizational goals and the national vision. With this, this study contributes this concept that non-human agents, like the compliance certificate which is a textual agent, really exert influences on and contribute to organizational dynamics and accomplishment as they participate in various communicative practices that shape and define organizations, as emphasized by the concept of CCO (Communication as Constitutive of Organization) under the Montreal School of Organizational Communication.