Influencing Public Opinion of Space Policy: Programmatic Effects Versus Education Effects

Steinberg, Alan

doi:10.1080/14777622.2013.841534

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…These results were counterintuitive, as it seems reasonable to assume that increases in support for NASA projects would translate into increased support for the agency. However, the results match that of previous research; Steinberg (2013) found that program-specific information and benefits were less effective at raising support for NASA than was correcting misconceptions about the program’s total budget. Additional research from Steinberg (2011) produced the seemingly contradictory finding that “the public supports the idea of space exploration, while also feeling that spending on space exploration is ‘too high’” (p. 240).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Further complicating the results, participants were asked to make estimates and judgments about the costs and monetary value of projects and NASA funding without receiving sufficient information on which to base these judgments. Research from Launius (2003) and Steinberg (2013) demonstrates that members of the public often misconceive NASA’s budget and its relation to the federal budget. Our survey text provided just enough information, such as NASA’s current percentage of federal budget funding, to give the question some context.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Americans’ Support for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope

Weber

Dinç

Williams

2016

Science Communication

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This study tested responses to traditional or interactive material about NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) project. A total of 660 participants were divided into three groups: a science guide group that viewed an online PDF, an interactive group that viewed a YouTube video and FlyBy simulation, and a control group that received no supporting texts about JWST. Interactive media outperformed traditional texts in increasing levels of support for JWST construction. However, the traditional text and interactive media showed no difference in other measures of support for JWST construction. No texts increased support for NASA funding or prompted participant advocacy.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Americans’ Support for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope

Weber

Dinç

Williams

2016

Science Communication

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“…Previous findings of a respondent's political affiliation being associated with space policy may be questionable as men, higher income individuals, and older people are all also more likely to be Republican. In a study controlling for these other factors, party is not seen to be affecting support for space funding increases (Steinberg, 2013). Gender based associations with support for increasing NASA's budget have, however, been re-confirmed.…”

Section: Control Variablesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…In regards to constituent desires towards space policy, there does not appear to be a clear relationship whereby members would vote for legislation leading to increased federal space spending based on public opinion (Steinberg, 2011). Moreover, as the majority of the population lacks solid awareness of NASA's budget in the first place, public opinion on the issue is likely to play only a small roll in congressional decision making (Launius, 2003 andSteinberg, 2013). Additionally, compared to the number of bills considered by Congress, space legislation is relatively rare.…”

Section: Legislative Behavior Towards Space Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

NASA Funding in Congress: Money Matters

Machay¹,

Steinberg²

2020

EJOBSAT

Self Cite

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This paper argues that individual members of Congress engage in economic opportunism, voting in the best interests of their constituents based on economic heuristics, when considering space policy legislation. Multivariable logit analysis is conducted on five votes in the House of Representatives to test the hypotheses. The economic opportunism effect is captured in the models by the presence of NASA Centers, relative importance of space industry and NASA procurements. Findings suggest that economic benefits to a member's constituency can play an important role in legislative voting, particularly when legislation deals with federal aerospace funding, when space policy bills lack over-reaching bi-partisan support. In recent years the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has seen its funding fall prey to partisan budget battles and party line voting, but this was not historically the norm. As we move forward into a future where NASA funding may become more scrutinized and politicized, this paper supports the thesis that individual members of Congress care more about the funds for their constituents than the other aspects of space policy.

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“…This support from the public was seen as integral to the success of the program due to the large budgets assigned to these endeavors. To that end, research has indicated that the public associates many of NASA's biggest achievements (moon landing, space shuttle, Hubble telescope, space station) with high price tags (e.g., $1.5 billion to launch a space shuttle) (Steinberg, 2013). The public's knowledge of the NASA budget in relation to the overall U.S. government's budget is minimal at best.…”

Section: Spaceflight and The Public Public Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards the final frontier: using strategic communication activities to engage the latent public as a key stakeholder in a corporate mission

DʼUrso

2018

International Journal of Strategic Communication

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Private corporations that do not normally interact with, nor regularly communicate with, the public often do not perceive the public as a relevant or active stakeholder. The public may not view themselves as a stakeholder, particularly when they are unaware of, have no direct dealings with, or do not have any problems associated with such a corporation. The current study, utilizing a national survey of the United States public (N = 424) found that through directed strategic communication activities of a private spaceflight corporation, utilizing social and new media tools, a latent public can perceive a corporation and its mission in a positive manner, and transition it towards a status of an aware public and possible active public. Positive perceptions were found regarding corporate credibility, brand awareness, public engagement, communicating a corporate mission, educating the public, and influencing public opinion. strategic communication aspects of this process, particularly the "purposive communication" (Holtzhausen & Zerfass, 2013, p. 74) is the primary goal of the current research. Corporations, like SpaceX, seek to use strategic communication to influence their stakeholders. However, under traditional Stakeholder Theory (Freeman, 1984), the public is not considered, or explicitly defined as a key stakeholder, or in some cases not a stakeholder at all. The public typically has no power, urgency, or legitimate connection (Mitchell, Agle, & Wood, 1997) to some private corporations in normal conditions. However, as Grunig (1983, 1997)) offers, there is a more nuanced way of examining the "public" in terms of it being a corporate stakeholder. In many cases, private corporations do not seek interaction or communication with the public because there is no inherent need or problem that requires this activity. However, when a problem or challenge arises, can a corporation use directed communication activities to its advantage? Can it successfully engage the public in a way that puts them on a path from latent public to aware public to possibly an active public, making them a key stakeholder in a corporation's success towards achieving its mission, goal, or solution to a problem? To answer these questions, an overview of Stakeholder Theory (Freeman, 1984) will be presented, along with Grunig's (1997) Situational Theory of Publics as a framework for understanding one corporation's communication activities. This is followed by a review of how the United States (U.S.) government communicated to the public during the key periods of U.S. spaceflight, from the Mercury program onward. This will set the stage for an examination of one corporation's attempt to engage a latent public in order to convert them to an aware and potentially active public, allowing the corporation to achieve their corporate mission. Review of the literature Strategic communication In 2007, Hallahan, Holtzhausen, Van Ruler, Vercic, and Sriramesh defined strategic communication as "communicating purposefully to advance the (the organization's) miss...

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Influencing Public Opinion of Space Policy: Programmatic Effects Versus Education Effects

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Americans’ Support for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope

Americans’ Support for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope

NASA Funding in Congress: Money Matters

Towards the final frontier: using strategic communication activities to engage the latent public as a key stakeholder in a corporate mission

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