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This study investigates how social media can be better managed to cultivate positive organization-public relationships. It advances an expanded and integrated conceptual model to test how the communication features of corporate pages on social networking sites may influence publics' perception of the organization's communication ethicality, which further predicts organization-public relationships as a compound index of trust, commitment, and satisfaction. The results, based on structural equation modeling, showed that three important communication strategies are success factors that could shape perceptions of communication ethicality: timeliness, responsiveness, and the use of human voice in a dialogic framework. In particular, publics' perception of the organization's communication ethicality emerged as a key mediator driving communication effects to foster positive relationships with stakeholders in an online environment. • Timeliness, responsiveness, and human voice are effective communication strategies that shape the perception of ethicality. • Use of human voice is the most influential predictor for communication ethicality. • Perception of communication ethicality further fosters organization-public relationship. • Communication ethicality is an important mediator in the process of building trust with stakeholder in an online environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This study identifies six implicit frames of CSR that are used by the news media, organizational PR, and the public. • This study investigates the causal relationships between the news media, organizational PR, and the public in terms of implicit frames. • There is stronger evidence for some effects compared to others within the interplay of the news media, organizational PR, and the public. • The effect of organizational PR on the news media yields the most evidence. • This study shows more (pronounced) effects for some implicit frames compared to others. Abstract This study focuses on the implicit framing of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the interplay between the news media, organizational public relations (PR), and the public. The aim of the study is to investigate the multidirectional causal relationships between these three domains in terms of the use of implicit frames. An automated content analysis of Dutch newspaper articles and organizational press releases is employed. In addition, Google Trends data is examined in order to determine implicit frames of CSR among the public. Monthly level Vector Autoregression (VAR) analyses show different effects across frames. Overall, in line with our expectations, results show positive effects of the news media on the public and of organizational PR on the news media. Moreover, contrary to expectations, we found a negative effect of the public on the news media and mixed results with regard to the effect of the public on organizational PR. Investigating the multidirectional relationships between the news media, organizational PR, and the public provides insights into how they – as a domain – affect and get affected by each other in their communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Internal communication of CSR, both one-way and two-way symmetrical, predicted employee perceptions of CSR. • However, two-way asymmetrical communication of CSR was a negative predictor of employee perceptions of CSR. • Perceptions of CSR predicted employee engagement. • Social and sustainable dimensions of CSR most strongly predicted social and affective dimensions of employee engagement. • Both two-way symmetrical communication of CSR and employee perceptions of CSR strongly predicted employee engagement. Abstract This study examined relationships among employees' perception of CSR, three models of internal CSR communication and employee engagement. The findings, based on 516 valid survey responses from employees across different sectors in the United Arab Emirates, revealed that internal communication of CSR, both one-way and two-way symmetrical, predicted employee perceptions of CSR, with two-way asymmetrical communication being a negative predictor; perceptions of CSR predicted employee engagement; social and sustainable dimensions of CSR most strongly predicted social and affective dimensions of employee engagement; and both two-way symmetrical communication of CSR and employee perceptions of CSR strongly predicted employee engagement. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community activism provides a useful lens for reexamining core concepts of public relations theory and history: community, temporality, and feminist values. This project foregrounds the work of two transformative community activists and prolific authors, Grace Lee Boggs and bell hooks—women whose decades-long efforts balanced urgency and sustained commitment to issues, as well as the people in the neighborhoods and physical communities they were a part of. While temporal concerns have found a place in crisis communication scholarship (e.g., Bean & Madden, 2019; Bean et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2017), they have yet to be presented as a central part of theories of activism in public relations. Adding their voices and perspectives to the broader story of public relations history helps to (1) center non-corporate histories as public relations, (2) showcase stories and strategies of women of color as effective advocates and transformative community leaders, and (3) present temporally informed theoretical development in activist public relations, including the creation of a new framework: ongoing community activism. • This project adds diversity and nuance to narratives about public relations history through centering the stories of two women activists (Grace Lee Boggs and bell hooks). • The findings augment theory through revised understandings of community building and ongoing activism that emphasize physical place and feminist values. • Community activism reflects temporal extremes: Immediate responses to imminent threats and decades-long sustained campaigns. • A framework of ongoing community activism for public relations is developed, emphasizing community building and feminist leadership values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will explain why corporate public relations practitioners need to draw on the role values play in how people weigh up issues, brands, and claims—and how this knowledge can lead to more powerful and resonant communications. Understanding the role of values in driving attitudes and behaviors is crucial for four reasons: 1 The new polarized, politicized, and value-driven public information environment requires corporate communicators and other public relations professionals to understand how people’s identity and values hardwire their decisions and actions. 2 In this environment, information alone is not enough to change opinion. Facts and figures are often dismissed or are rejected when they go against people’s sense of identity or existing values, making connecting to deep-seated motivations crucial. 3 Communicators needs to explore what is in the background of people’s opinions—not just the foreground. They must go beyond an over-reliance on rational responses to direct questions and an obsession with dry metrics. Mapping out rational opinions against nonconscious values unearths more textured insights and communication strategies. 4 The communications sector needs to play a rapid catch-up game with marketing, which grasp the role of motivation and identity in informing people’s attitudes, and are pioneering more effective methods to get a rounded perspective on how we act. Coming out of psychology, moral foundations theory, with its focus on how people’s core values inform attitudes and decisions, provides a powerful analytic and interpretative framework to understand and navigate this new polarized and political environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of public relations within local, national, and international government organizations, government public relations (GPR) is still an understudied field in public relations research when compared to its corporate and nonprofit counterparts and has been critiqued for lacking theoretical development (Liu & Horsley, 2007). To present the accumulated knowledge about GPR, this study used content analysis and bibliometric network analysis to systematically review 155 articles published in key public relations journals from 1976 to 2021. Our findings illustrate the status of GPR scholarship in terms of publication trends, authorship, research contexts, research topics, theoretical knowledge structure, methodological approaches, and ethical considerations. Findings suggest that GPR is a fast-growing field attracting international and multidisciplinary scholarly interests; yet has not been clearly defined and theorized. With strong theoretical roots in relationship management, GPR has the potential to develop context-relevant theories capturing the distinctive relational dynamics in various government communication situations. This study proposes a work-in-progress definition of GPR, identifies critical research gaps, and suggests future research directions to assist GPR in developing into a distinct and promising subfield of public relations research. • This study systematically reviewed government public relations (GPR) articles published from 1976 to 2021 in the field of PR. • Findings reveal the key research themes, contexts, theoretical frameworks and concepts, methods, and ethical considerations discussed in GPR research. • We proposed a working definition of GPR and suggested that GPR has great potential to be developed into a distinct subfield of PR research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-stakeholder issue networks (MSINs) are models of cross-sector cooperation dedicated to resolving a specific issue. Research to date has not demonstrated the reasons for collaboration (Sun et al., 2021). This paper merges public relations and organizational communication scholarship to theorize that MSINs are one way that marginalized groups achieve salience in corporate networks. Stakeholder salience theory (SST) states that corporations balance stakeholder claims using a manager-defined calculus of legitimacy, urgency, and power. Because these attributes are defined by managers in relation to corporate interests, corporations deny legitimacy to historically, socially, and geographically marginalized groups. MSINs that emerge to highlight the needs of these marginalized groups decenter corporations by constraining corporations' ability to ignore the needs of groups previously dismissed as nonstakeholders. As MSINs become more active within the corporate ecology, they further limit corporate activity and encourage management to not only to see the legitimacy, urgency, and power of emergent stakeholder claims, but to act upon them. Examples in case-based studies illustrate the emergent stakeholder concept. • Stakeholder salience theory holds that claims are relevant when have legitimacy, urgency, and power. • Companies can ignore and marginalize groups by denying them legitimacy. • Multi-issue stakeholder networks enable emergent stakeholders to gain urgency and power. • Activist MSINs with high centrality in corporate networks encourage engagement with emergent stakeholders. • NGOs play important roles as brokers between emergent stakeholders and companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of the presented exploratory study is the strategic planning of the daily professional activities of managers in social media (SM). Is this planning deliberate, or emergent? Are the strategies prescribed, or creative? To what communication logics must professionals adapt their practices? Following the sociology of uses studied in the approach to SM appropriation in the field of corporate communication, these questions are tackled through a qualitative, descriptive approach. The dual objective is to describe the actual professional practices of SM managers and compare them to the theories found in the literature. To do this, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 managers active in SM in North American organizations. During these, practices emerged for which the standards were not always prescribed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public relations practitioners and academics are often silent on silence because the stigma on silence threatens to become a stigma on public relations. Journalists and communicators work in professional exchange and strive. The public relations practitioners are fully visible for the journalists; invisible are they only for the public. Silence has become a “code word” journalists use to pressure information sources not to shut up. This paper discusses public relations responses to that stigma, which include strategies of silence. I draw ideas from Aristotle's “apophatic” silence, Michel Foucault's “exhaustive representation”, Frances Sendbuehler's “profound communication silence” and John Cage's “sound of silence”. I suggest borrowing from those ideas and the development of silence and invisibility as central categories in public relations. Both are carriers of meaning. Both are ontological, neutral phenomena – neither good nor bad. I show possible applications in the areas of resistance, framing and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship on public relations in popular culture presents an uncritical and unproblematic understanding of the representation of public relations. The aim of this study is to offer an alternative reading by examining a television series, which foregrounds public relations techniques and irony, and by situating this study within postfeminist scholarship and the vampire genre. It analyses the representation of public relations in HBO's television series, True Blood , focusing on the campaign to pass the Vampire Rights Amendment run by American Vampire League. The findings reveal there is no single reality of public relations. Instead, multiple discourses of public relations invite the audience to engage critically with public relations concepts and meaning-making. The representation of a powerful, female practitioner highlights the paradoxes of postfeminism and does not resolve gender issues. Public relations scholars must begin to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the processes of representation in popular culture, including the subversive use of humour and irony to encourage critique of normative ideals, and the significance for popular understandings of, and engagement with, public relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of dialogue has always been a mainstay in the research literature on public relations. However, the fields of corporate communication and, more recently, business management have focused on different aspects of the notion. Despite such increased research interest, the concept of dialogue yields a range of analytical perspectives; this is due in part to the fragmentation of academic study, whereby scholars pursue parallel lines of inquiry that never intersect in interdisciplinary exchange. Therefore, the twofold purpose of this article is to explore the concept of dialogue in the context of business: on the one hand, to offer an interdisciplinary account of dialogue based on a model of analysis shaped by the five key dimensions of the concept; and on the other hand, to use the model to trace which perspectives are articulated in the related theory. In short, the article works towards a clearer understanding of the management implications that stem from the conceptualization of dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that organization–public relationships (OPR) generate challenges for PR as both a practical and theoretical discipline. The investigation is set against the backdrop of the growing pre-occupation with OPR in research and practice. The study highlights disconnections between how the field represents itself in an OPR context and the existence of particular attitudes and practices in each of these areas. It uses the Orwellian concept of doublethink as a conceptual device to tease out these tensions. These contradictions are framed as public relations doublethink and presented as critical propositions designed to illustrate the gaps that can exist between representation and reality. The article also debates the implications of these examples for the practical and theoretical development of public relations using research that considers how organizations listen to stakeholders on-line. It seeks to stimulate further debate through a new conceptualization of social media listening, as well as a set of inter-disciplinary insights concerned with the study of complex phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The five papers on this theme emerged from a plenary panel with the same title as the one above at the third Barcelona International PR Conference held on 2–3 July, 2013. They were stimulated by the then-forthcoming publication of the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Public Relations although they also address the first edition, the place of both in the public relations field, and links to issues surrounding encyclopedias in general. At the time of this submission, most of the authors had not seen the complete published copy that was released in late September, 2013. All five articles, albeit with some overlap as this was not a co-written project, are presented here as individual pieces with different titles and a variety of approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of public relations contributing to the fabric of society is heavily contested in the public sphere and under-researched by the academy. The authors of this paper propose that the study of the relevance of public relations to society can be enlightened by turning to economics. Using information asymmetry as a framework, the argument is that public relations can be analyzed as a social institution that both helps to mitigate market imperfections and consequently increases the efficiency with which society’s resources are allocated as well as the chances for more market participants to derive value out of economic transactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being a frequently discussed topic in the public relations literature, dialogue is often misunderstood as simply two-way communication and seldom examined in practice. While international development organizations frequently claim to use dialogic and participatory methods, development communication remains a relatively unexplored area in public relations. To further clarify public relations’ understanding of dialogue as well as its potential in development practice, this study examined how a USAID-sponsored international development project adopted participatory communication practices to encourage Bolivian farmers to switch from coca to coffee. Drawing from public relations and development literature on dialogue, the article juxtaposes the approaches to “dialogue” used in the project against normative concepts of the theory. The article argues that using genuine dialogue is a matter of differentiating deontological, means-based approaches to communication practice, from consequentialist, ends-based orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study employs a content analysis to examine news coverage concerning Toyota's recall crises from January 16, 2009, through November 21, 2012, in the following media: The New York Times , The Washington Post , USA Today , and the news releases listed on the Toyota official website. We examine how the media frame Toyota's crises and responses, and whether the news coverage varied between mass media and Toyota's releases. The findings shed light on the crisis communication in terms of response strategy selection. In tracking the ethics of the Toyota crisis in the years since its inception, combined with a content analysis conducted in this paper, the authors attempted to integrate the literature of crisis management with that of ethics in public relations. Ethics should be foremost among the considerations of an organization's reputation and a primary factor of successful crisis management. The Toyota case has far reaching implications for ethical crisis management and recall strategy in the auto industry as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tries to understand the process of organizational identity construction and the role of public relations in assisting this process. This study focuses on Turkey's banking sector to understand how organizational identities are constructed and supported by corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in addition to how they are communicated to stakeholders. The corporate websites and social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter) of the eight largest banks in Turkey are examined through thematic content analysis to understand their identity construction processes and how much they benefit from CSR activities in this process. Institutional theory is utilized in this study to get a deeper understanding of the role of CSR in organizational identity construction. The results reveal that online presence of banks in Turkey tends to emphasize the softer, especially socially responsible side of their organizational identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars in the U.S. generally agree that the origins of corporate public relations correspond to the rise of the U.S. Industrial Revolution during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This essay explores the under-theorized relationship between ideology and public relations by examining the role of the corporate voice in public relations history. Evidence suggests that public relations counsel, serving as the corporate voice, created messages that produced and reproduced certain ideological meanings about the corporation. These ideological meanings provided important guidance on how members of the public should think about, relate to, and experience the corporation as a necessary, natural and benevolent organization in society. By incorporating ideological theory as an analytical tool to study public relations history, this article explores an important, but not often studied aspect of public relations history – the development and use of the corporate voice as a site of ideological production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] A comparison of CRM and PR elements. [•] A model for CRM and PR integration. [•] New client retention elements. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] We examine the socio-economic development potential of engaging dialogue on sub-Saharan Africa Police Service Websites (SSAPWs). [•] SSAPWs performed reasonably highly on the ease of interface, but lagged in other areas. [•] More proactive public sector marketing strategies are needed – leveraging a platform for effective crime detection, reporting and fighting. [•] A collaborative effort between the police and citizens should be institutionalized. [•] This study contributes to the scant literature on the potential of constructive dialogue on public service websites in a developing world context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Stakeholder relationships in NPOs are problematic due to communication constraints. [•] NPOs are change agents creating platforms for relationships, credibility and trust. [•] NPOs need to manage themselves as profit organizations in order to survive. [•] NPOs need to renovate and reinvent themselves to address social problems in SA. [•] Corporate identity management serves as a foundation for stakeholder relationships in SA. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The study assessed the online diversity communication of five American corporations. • Companies that had long-term consistency in their CSR-centered approach to diversity received more user agreement. • Higher user agreement was found for business centered-diversity compared to CSR-centered diversity. This study assessed the business-centered and CSR-centered diversity communication of five American corporations along with the ensuing responses on the microblogging platform Twitter, the present analysis contributes to the literature on online diversity communication and public relations. The results revealed that companies that had long-term consistency in approaching diversity as CSR received more agreeable responses than those that made swift changes in the aftermath of increased pressure from activist groups. In addition, companies that communicated to a greater degree about the impact of diversity on the bottom line engendered higher user agreement than those who discussed diversity primarily from a CSR perspective.The results shed light on the importance of message consistency throughout longer periods of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Focusing on a university-affiliated emergency department, this case study investigates the antecedents and outcomes of internal organization–public relationships as well as the cultivation strategies used to manage internal organization–public relationships (OPRs). The case study includes interviews with members of the emergency department''s (ED) dominant coalition and focus groups with ED staff, as well as field observations in the ED itself. Findings illustrate that structural and policy antecedents acted as barriers to relationship maintenance, that a reliance on asymmetrical cultivation strategies culminated in poor internal OPRs, and that these poor relationships fostered negative attitudes, non-compliant behavior, and an arguably toxic organizational culture. Also, there was some evidence of symmetrical cultivation strategies (e.g., positivity and networking) fostering positive OPR perceptions among some employees. This case study can be used to guide best practices in internal public relations and answers the call for more research on public relations and health communication. Moreover, the current study suggests avenues for extending the relationship management perspective by considering organizational culture as a possible outcome of internal relationships. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The paper analyzes the interplay between governmental and corporate crisis communications and how this in turn might lead to institutional changes in the specific case of the financial crisis (2008). The theoretical framework and empirical illustration enriches crisis communication theory in three ways: firstly by documenting how political and economic actors make sense of the crisis in their crisis narrations; secondly by analyzing how they attribute responsibilities and define solutions and consequences, which finally lead their actions and institutional processes; thirdly by investigating how they do this in relation to the micro-level (individual), meso-level (organizational) and macro-level (societal). The study demonstrates that the financial crisis is mostly inter-systemically and inter-organizationally co-constructed and points to the need of a more complex Processional Crisis Communication Theory (PCCT). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Premised upon the centrality of relationship management in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and public relations functions, and the growing momentum toward CSR in China, this study reports survey results of corporate communication/public relations executives in Chinese companies on aspects of CSR accountability and transparency. Responses to four key topical areas – drivers for CSR engagement, areas of practice, importance of CSR communication, and preferred channels for communication – suggest a strong concern for corporate image and culture in pursuing CSR, an overwhelming emphasis on disaster relief despite the recognition of a much broader array of societal priorities, and the Chinese companies’ current reliance on in-house and Internet media for CSR communication. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Since social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, began allowing organizations to create profiles and become active members, organizations have started incorporating these strategies into their public relations programming. For-profit organizations have used these sites to help launch products and strengthen their existing brands; however, little is known about how nonprofit organizations are taking advantage of the social networking popularity. Through a content analysis of 275 nonprofit organization profiles on Facebook, this study examines how these new social networking sites are being used by the organizations to advance their organization''s mission and programs. Solely having a profile will not in itself increase awareness or trigger an influx of participation. Instead careful planning and research will greatly benefit nonprofits as they attempt to develop social networking relationships with their stakeholders. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The European Communication Monitor (ECM) research explores the current developments for communications disciplines, practices and instruments. It is an extensive research project to monitor trends in communication management, analyse the changing framework for the profession driven by European integration and evaluate specific topics of relevance to public relations practice. Specifically, the 2008 ECM edition is focused on aspects such as: strategy and control, interactive channels, corporate social responsibility, intercultural challenges, influence on management decision making, cooperation with agencies, and future budgets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Despite agility's increased importance for public relations, the change process from traditional, hierarchically structured public relations to a dynamic agile entity has not yet been comprehensively investigated. This article tackles the research desideratum by discussing this change process from a structuration-theoretical perspective. The subsequent empirical analyses via two qualitative studies from the field of corporate communications focus on the perspective of consultants. These experts support the communication management in this change process with their expertise and neutrality, which the public relations departments themselves lack. Thus, consultants are key contacts for an explorative analysis of the change process toward more agility. In the first study, 39 consultants were interviewed about the change processes that they have guided in order to transform public relations into an agile department. The subsequent case study focuses on an internationally active medical technology manufacturer and analyzes their experience with consulting throughout the agile change process in their public relations department. The results show that the concept of recursiveness is central to the successful implementation of agility in public relations. Expressed in the language of structuration theory, consultants aim to develop rules and resources as modalities that describe an agile structure and then translate them directly into actions. These modalities are continuously developed via sprints, a dynamic process that results in the constant adaptation of the agile structures until the desired result is achieved. The results illustrate the advantages of a neutral, outside authority for the implementation of such a change process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An analysis of literature regarding public relations and LGBTQ individuals reveal little, if any, explicit mention of ethics or morals. • To answer the call for respectful understanding of LGBTQ lived experiences (Ciszek, 2018), this paper proposes ethical philosophy as an avenue for theory-building and practice. • Postmodern and critical ethical approaches may best critique institutional and cultural systems of power that reinforce heteronormative norms. Surprisingly, no published public relations research exists that offers ethical insights, regarding how equitable, inclusive, and respectful scholarship about or engagement, with LGBTQ publics should proceed. The purpose of this study was to review extant, research regarding LGBTQ publics and moral philosophy, to review a recent case, juxtaposing (un)ethical corporate engagement of LGBTQ publics, and, to recommend ethical philosophies useful for promoting LGBTQ values in the public relations practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Artificial intelligence (AI) failures are becoming common as companies race to implement AI solutions. • AI and its inevitable malfunctions present an unprecedented type of crisis for communication professionals. • We review (1) 23 instances of AI failures (2) subsequent corporate communication, and (3) resultant media coverage. • Several response strategies included in extant crisis response frameworks are effective in dealing with AI crises. • Analysis suggests the emergence of a "mirror" strategy that takes advantage of the uncertainty of AI accountability. Artificial intelligence (AI) failures are increasingly common as more and more companies race to implement AI solutions. The implementation of AI and its inevitable malfunctions are an unprecedented type of crisis for corporate communication professionals. This study reviews (1) 23 instances of AI failures, (2) subsequent corporate communication, and (3) resultant media coverage to investigate the various strategies employed to deal with AI failures. We also identify if these strategies lead to positive or negative responses and/or mitigation of the crisis. Results show that several response strategies included in extant crisis response frameworks can be effective in dealing with AI crises, whereas other strategies tend to be unsuccessful. Our analysis also points to the emergence of a crisis communication strategy that takes advantage of the uncertainty surrounding the accountability of AI to mitigate the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Public relations is evolving in India and the profession is gaining acceptance and recognition. This study is an attempt to measure the extent of professionalism in India and how much consensus, if any, exists regarding professional standards among practitioners in agencies and those in corporations. It also identifies the influence of demographic factors on the standards in the profession. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This exploratory study offers a research methodology by which organizations can more effectively listen to their publics. Using a dialogic interface, the methodology allows informants to relate how their intersections with organizations make sense to them on their own terms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This review of Lee''s tactics in the 1913–1914 rate campaign and the subsequent case he makes for ethical propaganda presents public relations practitioners and scholars with the opportunity to move beyond the progressive critique of propaganda and ask new questions about how propaganda can ethically contribute to dialogue and resolution within a democracy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study investigates attitudes about Palestinian public relations policies during the Palestinian struggle in the Israeli media war and future challenges that will face the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in public relations planning. This study shows that Palestinian groups have mixed attitudes toward PNA''s public relations plans and policies. The media experts tend to see the PNA''s efforts as reactive, not pro-active. The experts think that PNA''s main concern has been to follow up on daily political events, and thus its approach to public relations has been more of a reaction to Israeli practices rather than a strategic pro-active plan. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study compares the functions that public relations embraced in the past and those entertained today. It also casts light on the future of this occupation in United Arab Emirates’ organizations. This study is primarily a survey of a group of influential current private and government organizations in the UAE. It encompassed 82 organizations based in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, and Ras al-Khaimah. It concludes that these organizations still have much to do to move into the 21st century. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper analyzes the use of the Internet as a public relations tool by 20 government and private organizations in the United Arab Emirates. It concludes that, among other findings, UAE public relations staff members continue to play their traditional role in real world situations but when it comes to online communications, they do not seem to have a big say in controlling the flow of information to the public. This may suggest that what appears online about a certain organization may be in tune with what is carried out in real world communications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This commentary is based on Hiebert's keynote address given to BledCom 2004, the 11th International Public Relations Research Symposium on "New Concepts and Technologies for Public Relations, Public Affairs, and Corporate Communication," Bled, Slovenia, July 2, 2004. It suggests that the new communication technologies can save democracy by restoring dialogic and participatory communication in the public sphere, thus preserving a role for public relations as two-way communication rather than propaganda and spin. However, the pathway ahead for public relations is strewn with landmines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A national e-mail survey investigated how 432 public relations practitioners perceive their World Wide Web use impacts their decision-making power in their organizations. Practitioners' web use appears to be positively related to three of Finkelstein's [Finkelstein, S. (1992). Power in top management teams: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 35(3), 505-538] conceptualizations of power derived from "upper echelons" theory from the strategic management literature-structural, expert and prestige power. "Super users" who use the web more frequently for productivity and efficiency, for research and evaluation, and for issues com- munication are most likely to perceive the web empowered them to be promoted (structural power). Practitioners who use the web more frequently for productivity and efficiency as well as for issues communication are more likely to perceive the web empowers them as experts in their organizations (expert power) and enhances how others see them (prestige power). Practitioner-owners perceive that greater web use leads to greater expert power than did non-owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study of a large sample of public relations educators (n=342) found substantiating evidence that professional prejudice and discrimination towards public relations and public relations education exists. More than half(56.6%) of the respondents said they have had a dean, director or department chair who was prejudiced against public relations while criticizing. it. Results also suggest this prejudice is more pronounced among print journalists and journalism faculty than it is smog other groups of communication educators and practitioners [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study of members of the Public Relations Student Society of America found that future practitioners are uncertain about many issues related to gender and work-life balance. Male and female students differed significantly in their views about gender equity in promotion, work-life balance, and salaries. These findings suggest that our educating of public relations students about gender challenges in the field must not only start in their undergraduate years and but also include ways to overcome these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes U.S. public relations for Mexico through a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of 940 Foreign Agents Registration Act listings from 1942 to 1991. The research delineates the shift from government to industry representation, the move from press agentry and public information to more research and counsel, centralization trends, and the evolving roles of U.S. public relations from technicians to public relations managers. The continuing robust technician role is confirmed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on public relations, communication and marketing theories, this article explores South Africa's Saambou Bank tumbling from growth and positive media coverage to its downfall in one year. Interviews with Saambou officials and financial journalists, as well as a media content analysis of Saambou media coverage, investigates this issue. Theoretically comparing Saambou with the US Enron Corporation, the analysis presents a heuristic public relations model based on the need for functional corporate communication to target audiences, media coverage and media management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Approaching social license to operate through a constitutive view to communication. • Provided socio-cultural meanings in SLO via engagement. • Explored the construction of engagement and aspirations in SLO. • Situated in an East-Meets-West cultural context for cultural discourse analysis. Embracing a constitutive view of communication, this study explores how organizations in Hong Kong make sense of and negotiate their corporate societal commitment. It does that by examining how the considered organizations construct their engagement in society and talk of their aspirations on identified society-oriented doings by cultural discourse analysis. Findings show that the studied Hong Kong companies constructed their engagement by communicationally relating to other societal actors, establishing we-ness in community engagement actions, incorporating elements of the local cultures (languages and places) and in their reasoning and disclosing emotion-rich considerations. Aspirations were instead presented through a constant reference to stakeholders' interests and concerns and local and international standards' precepts. Companies also tended to recognize that interventions had to be undertaken steps by steps, while searching for credibility in "more-balanced" vision-statements. This study offers a socio-cultural perspective complementary to studying social license to operate in public relations research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, based on a national survey of senior communication executives (specifically Arthur W. Page Society members), assesses the role of “Business 101” knowledge in public relations education. The results of the survey suggest that senior communication executives place high importance on business acumen; that such competencies help professionals attain higher compensation; and that executives believe public relations educators should place a greater focus on “Business 101” in curricula. Recommendations for teaching and future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal communication is an important concept and integral to internal public relations with links to positive organizational and employee outcomes such as employee engagement. While scholars emphasize the importance of the relationship between internal communication and employee engagement, the association has not been empirically tested. Using surveys and regression analysis this study confirms that internal organizational communication and internal supervisor communication support workplace relationships based on meaning and worth, and have a significant part to play in developing and maintaining optimal employee engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Eight in-depth face-to-face interviews with senior regional based PR/CC practitioners have been conducted. [•] Observations on the changing role and function of PR/CC in Hong Kong and China. [•] PR adopts a strategic role in corporate communication in Hong Kong and China. [•] Unidimensional and bilingual communication strategy prevails in the said region. [•] Needs for code of practices and professional body are identified in the above area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An online experiment was constructed as a 2×2 factorial design of independent variables (active-passive responsibility admittance vs. high-low sympathetic expression) on public''s anger relief with between-subjects comparison. An apology statement with active responsibility was more likely to relieve public anger than an apology statement with passive responsibility. There was no difference on public anger relief between a highly sympathetic apology statement and its counterpart. In the organization-public relationship, people may not show the same mercy to the organization as they do to other people. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study explores cultural influences on public relations practices in Ghana. This survey research brief reports data collected from Ghanaian public relations practitioners (n =64) and describes work-related cultural values as well as the practices of public relations models in Ghana. The result reveals that Ghanaian public professionals tend to utilize international public relations and two-way communication models. The study extends knowledge of international public relations in African cultures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Inaccurate perceptions of media effects are not uncommon in public relations and corporate communication. • Public relations practitioners sometimes exaggerate the effect of a reputation threat and overreact. • Perceived media influence may motivate restrictive, corrective, and promotional, and resistance behaviors. • The possibilities of the first-, the second-, and the third- person effect of media messages should be considered. Inaccurate perceptions of audience can cause public relations practitioners to overreact or underreact to a situation, which brings about unintended consequences. We draw on the third-person effect research to identify examples and outline the conditions when the overestimation or underestimation of media effects can motivate key players to engage in restrictive, corrective, promotional, and resistance behaviors. Then, we recommend approaches that can help public relations practitioners better reflect and manage corporate communication. In short, the approaches involve: (a) determining the nature of the presumed effect from the audience perspective and going beyond the categorical positive/negative message, (b) assessing the level of the presumed effect and considering also the possibility of the first- as well as the second-person effect, and (c) assessing the influence of the perceived effect on behaviors that have the potential to directly as well as indirectly affect the company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]