Governance Cadence as a Non-Operational Research Construct: Preregistered Foundations for Studying Perception in Institutional Communication

Abstract This document describes a planned preregistration for a proposed research program examining governance cadence as a non-operational research construct. The program is intended to study how systematically different governance communication registers may be perceived, with particular focus on legitimacy, psychological safety, clarity, obligation, and stated willingness to comply in AI-mediated and institutional contexts. Governance cadence is treated as an analytically defined variable rather than a policy instrument. This preregistration outlines a proposed methodological framework for examining perceptual responses in a controlled research setting. The initial planned study uses a randomized, between-subjects design in which participants encounter a governance communication framed in different cadences while propositional content remains constant. Primary analytic attention is intended to focus on perceived legitimacy and psychological safety; secondary outcomes may include clarity, perceived obligation/pressure, and stated compliance intention. A proposed sample size of approximately N = 320 is anticipated to allow detection of small-to-moderate effects. Interpretation expectations are described in advance, including the intent to treat null or weak findings as substantively informative rather than as failure. The scope of this program is intentionally limited. This planned initial phase focuses on a system transition announcement and does not claim to resolve questions regarding cross-cultural generalization, behavioral outcome translation, authorship perception (human versus AI), power asymmetry contexts, or high-stakes governance environments. These may be addressed in subsequent work if pursued. This publication is intended for scholarly evaluation, recordkeeping, and accountability, and is not intended for institutional deployment, optimization, or policy use. All rights remain reserved. Nothing in this publication constitutes legal advice, policy guidance, institutional authorization, or operational endorsement. This document does not create obligations, warranties, duties, or commitments, and the author is not responsible for how third parties interpret, use, or attempt to apply any ideas described herein. SHA256 75FB89A66C002231C9BC2944DF1E684E03AF53DDB0F5389E2A075D8057D46DB8