The study investigated the relative effectiveness of two public instructional communication
methods on the subjects’ knowledge, belief, attitudes, and intention; attitudes towards the
communication methods; and factors that influence knowledge sharing behaviors among
community leaders in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Thirteen community-based natural
resources management Boards of Trustees, comprising a total of 120 subjects, participated in a
quasi-experimental study. Each subject took part in the two experimental treatments, in the form
of presentations, one using visualized PowerPoint presentation, with the other entirely verbal.
After each presentation, subjects completed a retrospective pretest instrument. Data was
analyzed using doubly repeated measures ANCOVA and multiple regressions.
Results show no significant differences between the two public instructional
communication methods, suggesting that neither method was more effective than the other in
impacting selected predictors of behavior. However, significant differential effects of method by
between-subjects factors, gender and position, were found among belief and intention measures.
Results further show that subjects had more favorable attitudes towards the visualized
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communication method than the traditional verbal approach. The study also found that
knowledge, attitudes, and locus of control significantly predicted knowledge sharing behavioral
intentions, with both knowledge and attitudes as the most important predictors. This suggest that
individuals more knowledgeable on an environmental issue, as well as having positive attitudes
towards knowledge sharing, are more likely to say that they will share acquired knowledge than
those who do not. Results also show that the four knowledge subscales examined as direct
predictors of intention, skill was the most important predictor, followed by issue knowledge,
suggesting that knowledge sharing will be promoted when people are aware of basic facts
surrounding the subject matter, together with the requisite skills to act. Traditional ecological
knowledge was a significant predictor of the knowledge and belief.
The findings have important implications for practitioners in environmental
communications and education, such as the need for source agencies to understand the target
information diffusion agents’ knowledge sharing behaviors, so as to guide and inform the design
of communication interventions. Further research is recommended on other factors that may help
improve the predictive power of the conceptualized model.