Department of Communication and Media Studies

Museums as Representations of Cultures and Consumerism is an essay that will deal about a critique concerning the Ayala Museum in Makati where artefacts and dioramas are presented regarding the pre-colonial Philippines up to the People Power Movement of 1986, also, the essay will discuss how these collections gave impressions of exoticization from the Western perspective. Despite the numerous collections available in the museum, this essay will only analyze the gold collection located on the fourth floor and the dioramic presentation of the Philippines from prehistoric to the People Power Era for these strongly hold the concept of Orientalism and exoticization. Lastly, the souvenir shop of Ayala Museum will be analyzed as a medium and promoter of consumerism and exoticization.

Space does not only define the setting of a film but also develops and reflects the personality of a character. In this study, the researcher wants to prove that intimate spaces can create a persona. At the same time, these spaces are also capable of undressing a man of his heroic façade and make him exhibit frailty. It is important to discuss these spaces since most of the important dialogues and scenes that exhibited the fragile nature of a human happened in these locations. By closely reading these areas, we may see that a hero is a fragile being too despite the strength and machismo attitude they usually project.

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that affect the intention of Business and Management graduate students, scholars, and members of the academe to participate in research conferences. In order to get a better understanding of this study, a framework based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model by Ajzen (1991) was adopted. Through this study, the proponents aim to answer the following questions:
Which factors influence graduate students and scholars’ intention to attend research conferences?
Do attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control affect the intention to attend research conferences altogether?
Which among the three factors significantly affects the intention to attend research conferences?
To assess the factors that influence the intention of individuals particularly those in the higher education system to attend research conferences, a survey instrument was created based on the TPB model, which according to Azjen (1991), suggests that an individual’s intention to perform certain tasks or behaviors can be determined through understanding the following determinants - attitude toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.
The results of the study showed that among the three determinants, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control, surprisingly, do not have a significant effect on the intention of graduate students, scholars, and members of the academe to attend research conferences. This means that the respondents’ social pressure to contribute to scholarly literature from family, friends, colleagues, or even professors does not necessarily influence their intention to attend research conferences. As for perceived behavioral control, regardless of the circumstances and preparedness of the respondents, it would not necessarily influence their intention to attend or participate in a research conference. On the other hand, attitudes towards attending conferences were deemed the most significant determinant. This is aligned with the results of Skoglund et al. (2020), where attitude was found to be a significant determinant in predicting attendance in lectures.
Through this study, conference organizers will have a better understanding of the intention to attend research conferences. They can use these results for future conferences to highlight the ease of presenting and publishing research in conference proceedings and journals, as well as to forward the academic recognition that comes from peers and colleagues in contributing to scholarly literature. This study adds to the scant literature of research on academic conferences and journals per se in the Philippines.