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Dialogue and persuasive strategic communication are often perceived by public relations scholars as two distinct approaches to the practice. After revisiting and reassessing debates surrounding the two approaches, this article introduces accounts of the use of dialogue and strategic communication in the political life of Martin Buber, whose philosophy has inspired PR scholarship on dialogue. It traces Buber’s writings and activities as communicator in the service of the early Zionist movement and, in his later life, as campaigner against the establishment of the State of Israel, and as promoter of dialogue between Zionists and Arab Palestinians. Based on archival research the article uncovers Buber’s political and PR work to provide insights into his philosophy in the context of his political and life experiences. Inspired by Buber’s work the article argues that dialogue and strategic communication both have the potential to be deployed ethically, and for prosocial causes, or to be deployed in a self-serving and unethical way. In this, it supports other scholars’ argument that public relations should reconcile with the fact that both are legitimate tools and it further argues that both might be used either ethically or unethically. It concludes that ethical PR practice depends less on the form of communication, and more on transparency, honesty, openness, and respect in the way dialogue or strategic communication are conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite evidence that there are no significant differences in leadership ability among women and men in public relations, women are still largely absent from leadership and senior management positions. Furthermore, very few studies about leadership in public relations have considered the affect gender has on leadership enactment and success. Therefore, this secondary analysis examined the state of women and gender scholarship about leadership in public relations as part of a larger study about the state of women in the communication discipline. Specifically, our research found that the majority of the research about leadership and gender highlights women’s lackluster leadership presence, factors contributing to women’s lack of presence, leadership styles and preferences, and leadership and management roles of women. This manuscript provides recommendations for improving women’s presence in leadership roles, particularly in providing a roadmap for future research opportunities. These include considerations for methodological approaches, leadership approaches and roles research, types of leadership, cultural change, and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines the legal implications of having an expansive definition of public relations practice. Specific attention is given to the 2016 New York lobbying regulations that mandated traditional public relations practitioners register as lobbyists. The examination of this law and the lawsuit that followed highlights how the public relations practitioners may inadvertently be subject to restrictive laws because of modern definitions of PR practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Picasso created his most famous painting, Guernica , in just over three weeks in 1937 after the bombing of the little town of Guernica, located in the Basque region, during the Spanish Civil War. Thousands of innocent people were injured or killed. In its sharp lines, its confusion and its distorted shapes, Guernica shows the suffering and pain of war. Rather than using color, especially vivid reds, Picasso used only black and white paint as symbols of death, mourning and tragedy. He believed that brighter colors might distract the viewer from the agony of the scene. In Guernica , most of the figures have open mouths; hear them shouting, groaning or screaming. The aim of this paper and its relevance to public relations is to examine whether and how visual communication can publicize and frame a military event, the character of military leaders, and warfare as a generic aspect of democratic self-governance. This paper proposes that rhetorical, discursive art can contribute impact to public relations efforts, by focusing attention, making issues public, and making informative, framing, and democratizing statements. Even more important is the ability of art to express moral outrage, especially when giving voice to muted interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines a downtown streetscape improvement project in a heritage tourism destination. A survey, conducted in Charleston, South Carolina, USA, provided data on merchant attitudes about the project following completion of the work, adding to two previous studies that have looked at the project pre-construction and mid-construction. The results indicate that the merchants grade the project favorably but do not credit the project for the significant recent tourism success enjoyed by the city. Concepts and issues borrowed from the urban conservation literature are considered and suggestions are provided that should be of value to destination management officials in heritage cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several reports have highlighted that, within Britain, allegations of electoral fraud tend to be more common in areas with large Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. However, the extent of this association has not yet been quantified. Using data at the local authority level, this paper shows that percentage Pakistani and Bangladeshi (logged) is a robust predictor of two measures of electoral fraud allegations: one based on designations by the Electoral Commission, and one based on police enquiries. Indeed, the association persists after controlling for other minority shares, demographic characteristics, socio-economic deprivation, and anti-immigration attitudes. I interpret this finding with reference to the growing literature on consanguinity (cousin marriage) and corruption. Rates of cousin marriage tend to be high in countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh, which may have fostered norms of nepotism and in-group favoritism that persist over time. To bolster my interpretation, I use individual level survey data to show that, within Europe, migrants from countries with high rates of cousin marriage are more likely to say that family should be one's main priority in life, and are less likely to say it is wrong for a public official to request a bribe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheel sinkage detection is of tremendous significance for planetary rover mobility optimization control and prevention of serious wheel sinking. Wheel sinkage is regarded as the distance between the lowest point of the wheel in the soil and the horizontal flat terrain on relative research. For rovers moving on rough terrains, the above definition is not reasonable because the horizontal flat terrain cannot be found. New wheel sinkage definition and detection method are proposed, based on vision. The sinkage definition rationality is analyzed for various terrain conditions. The discrete mathematical wheel sinkage calculation model, for which the input is acquired through a visual method, is built. Saturation of wheel–soil interaction image is adjusted by a dynamic piecewise nonlinear adjustment method The image is processed into a binary image based on HSI (Hue, Saturation, Intensity) color space. The wheel–soil boundary is extracted from the corrected wheel region outline according to its morphological features. The wheel sinkage and equivalent terrain interface angles are calculated through the discrete mathematical wheel sinkage calculation model. Sinkage definition rationality and detection method applicability are experimentally validated in the four typical terrain conditions (flat, bulgy, sunken, and uneven terrains). Particularly, the experimental results prove the sinkage detection method has high accuracy for flat terrain, for which, the deviation of the sinkage modulus is less than 2% of the wheel radius. The sinkage detection method is proved to have fairly reasonable adaptability to complex illumination conditions, based on the experimental results for different illumination conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engagement is becoming one of the more popular concepts in various social sciences including psychology, organizational behavior, human resource management, and of course public relations. Even though engagement is applied in several areas of public relations, it is most commonly explored in connection to internal communication. The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to the growing body of research exploring the relationship between internal communication satisfaction (as a part of internal communication) and employee engagement. Principally we wanted to test the relationship between the eight dimensions of internal communication satisfaction and three employee engagement dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engagement has become the new buzzword for public relations, in both research and practice. And yet, despite its centrality and import for public relations, the concept still remains severely under-developed. Discussions have centered on engagement’s connection to the organization-public relationship and its role in facilitating and mediating relationship outcomes. Yet, two considerations of engagement have gone practically unconsidered: the sense of power and sense of stake of a public or stakeholder group in social media activities regarding an organization. This study examines social media engagement among employees and argues for a need to consider stake and relational connection as critical components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public relations is usually practiced within three clearly defined organizational settings: the public or governmental sector, the private or business sector and the social nonprofit sector. Over the past few decades, the boundaries between the three sectors have blurred, and new types of organizations and initiatives that combine environmental aims with business approaches have emerged. These new organizations and initiatives create a challenge for public relations practitioners: practitioners need to raise awareness among various publics to a new type of organization that combines both societal and business-like characteristics, and they need to promote dialogue and engagement with these publics. This study focuses on social businesses—that is, self-sustainable businesses that address social goals (Yunus, 2007). Based on a representative sample of 202 respondents, this study utilizes the Diffusion of Innovations theory (DOI) (Rogers, 1962) to argue for the importance of engagement to a successful process of diffusion and to demonstrate how DOI theory might enrich public relations theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extremely rapid development of technology raises the importance of leaders of higher education institutions, as well as educators teaching public relations, to monitor scientific developments of the profession, market trends, and in particular, the needs of employers who will in the future employ recently educated personnel. This element is even more pronounced during times of global crisis in the communications industry where the number of jobs is decreasing, and the increase in criticism of educational institutions, which can be summarized in the claim that educational programs are not adapted to market needs. Guided by this situation, in this paper, the authors analyze the interrelationship between the academic community and employers in the communications industry, and compare their views on the issue of knowledge, skills and competencies which communication professionals must possess in order to be successful in this profession. The main research question is to what extent the views on the quality of education of future PR professionals differ from the perspective of employers and the academic community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the evolution of professionalization of public relations in Latin America and the potential influence of three contextual variables – economic performance, political system, and press freedom- in this process. Over 1400 public relations professionals completed online surveys in 2009 and 2015 (674 and 803 respectively), creating two data data sets for analysis. The study used eight measurement items grouped in two dimensions: institutionalization and specialization. Statistically significant improvements were found for five indicators: formal study of public relations in higher-education institutions, ideological and ethical principles that emphasize societal well-being, associative organizations that unite professionals, availability of a formal scientific knowledge, and a system of employment access and promotion. Results show also the influence of economic performance on the levels of professionalization in Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examined U.S and China’s participation in the global climate governance networks and the structure and evolution of these networks evolved around the two nations between 2008 and 2014. The study yielded a number of significant findings. First, the U.S-China climate governance network has a centralized structure. Second, the Chinese and U.S governments were able to build public diplomatic relationships with a diverse group of organizations. Tightly connected communities have emerged in this network. Third, the driving force behind the U.S-China climate governance network gradually shifted from a government-driven network to a business/NGO-driven network. Theoretical and practical implications for public diplomacy were also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, there is a paucity of studies that looked into the way unions can use social media platforms to increase employee engagement in activism. Understanding the most effective ways in which unions can make use of online communication to increase membership and raise awareness becomes of paramount importance in light of the decline in union participation that occurred during the last decades and that deepened wage inequality. In addition, union efforts were shown in past studies to be hampered by upper management. Online platforms become an important means that unions can use to eschew managerial control and indirectly increase their membership.The current study used the predictors for online engagement to analyze the online interaction of IBM’s union and assessed the extent to which it was effective in engendering increased employee participation. IBM represents a unique case study as a result of the company’s current focus on offshoring and restructuring. The results of this study showed that the union engaged in an informative and one-way communication style which failed to increase employee activism. The results and their implications are discussed for theorists and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several practitioners and experts in the field of public relations have emphasized the importance of public engagement in the context of new technological and social developments and the impact this has on reshaping and reconceptualising public relations. While the practice is embracing new trends, the questions of understanding, explaining and managing engagement of different publics appear to be largely unexplored in public relations discipline. The purpose of this study is to examine the state of public engagement studies in public relations scholarship in terms of themes, contexts, theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches. The study conducted content analysis of 59 journal articles on public engagement published in the last decade in Journal of Communication Management , Journal of Public Relations Research , Public Relations Inquiry and Public Relations Review . The results indicate that scarce studies on public engagement tend to be mostly concerned with social media and online engagement, studied from management/functional and relational perspectives, focussed on organizations, anchored in western traditions and dominated by quantitative methodology. This indicates that public engagement tends to be conceptualized as a phenomenon that organizations need to “manage” to advance their interests rather than to understand in terms of dynamics, connectedness, participation, dialogue, and interactions with publics. It is strongly influenced by post-positivism with some encouraging evidence of paradigmatic turn towards socio-cultural and critical approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although engagement has been a catchword in public relations practice and theory for over a decade, the term has been applied rather loosely to imply any form of communicative interaction between publics and organizations. Despite lack of clarity on the concept of engagement, research has been thriving, propelled by the increasing prevalence of social media and organizations’ consequent rush to digitally engage publics. This paper assesses the use of engagement in the field of public relations and critiques the equation of engagement with communicative interaction, with its foregrounding engagement as collaboration over that of engagement as control . It also builds upon theoretical conceptualizations of public/stakeholder engagement, employee engagement, and digital engagement to propose a practice-relevant and theoretically informed model and definition of engagement: Engagement is an affective, cognitive, and behavioral state wherein publics and organizations who share mutual interests in salient topics interact along continua that range from passive to active and from control to collaboration, and is aimed at goal attainment, adjustment, and adaptation for both publics and organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we investigate the under researched interface between two sets of professional advocates. We focus on public relations practitioner collaboration and competition with lawyers and the issues these professionals confront in the process of reaching consensus about the client’s best interest. Our research covers PR professionals and lawyers in two countries – New Zealand and Israel – and uses interviews with 29 informants to identify the conditions for collaboration. We also record how both groups have significant concerns about the impact of the new communication environment on the future of their professions. Our findings highlight major issues that help explain the inter-professional relationships. They also suggest future directions for the practice of law and PR and for further scholarly investigation of the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyzes the effectiveness of a CEO spokesperson’s affiliation to a social group during a crisis. Specifically, it addresses the question of whether a group affiliation with a large heterogeneous group, such as parents, can engender similarly positive effects in members of the same social category, compared with a smaller distinctive group, here an amateur sports community. An experimental study using a product harm crisis by a bicycle manufacturer as stimulus was conducted to answer the research question. The results reveal positive effects when the CEO signaled his/her affiliation with a social group that is distinctive and rather homogenous. In this case, corporate trustworthiness, purchase intentions, and abstaining from negative word-of-mouth are directly impacted by stakeholders’ identification with the CEO spokesperson, and indirectly through identification with the CEO and message credibility. However, when the CEO spokesperson communicated his/her affiliation with a large and heterogeneous group, in this case parents, the company did not benefit. The results yield implications for both crisis communication research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children served by the child welfare system count among society's most vulnerable members given their history of abuse, neglect, and other potentially traumatic experiences. Once they enter the system, however, these children seldom receive empirically validated interventions to mitigate the effects of trauma. This article highlights the promise of parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT), an evidence-based treatment (EBT) for trauma-exposed children in the child welfare system. Barriers to implementing PCIT and other EBTs in child welfare are discussed along with ways that community-university partnerships can help to navigate these barriers. Preliminary supporting evidence from a community-university partnership in Wisconsin is presented, followed by a set of recommendations for future work aimed at translating science into practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Advance care planning (ACP) is an important process that involves discussing and documenting one's values and preferences for medical care, particularly end-of-life treatments.Objectives: This convergent, mixed-methods study assessed whether an end-of-life conversation card game is an acceptable and effective means for performing ACP for patients with chronic illness and/or their caregivers when deployed in a community setting.Methods: Twenty-two games (n = 93 participants) were held in community settings surrounding Hershey, PA in 2016. Participants were recruited using random sampling from patient databases and also convenience sampling (i.e., flyers). Quantitative questionnaires and qualitative focus group interviews were administered to assess the game experience and subsequent performance of ACP behaviors.Results: Both quantitative and qualitative data found that Community Game Day was a well-received, positive experience for participants and 75% of participants performed ACP within three months post-intervention.Conclusions: These findings suggest that using a conversation game during community outreach is a useful approach for engaging patients and caregivers in ACP. The convergence of quantitative and qualitative data strongly supports the continued investigation of the game in randomized controlled trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While social media has emerged as a key source of information used by consumers in their attitude formation, whether and how companies build a psychological distance with customers has not been thoroughly examined. This study investigates the influence of psychological distance on consumer evaluations of a company and its products when the company's behavior in social media is ambivalent in terms of morality or competence. In two experiments, the findings indicate that consumer evaluations vary as a function of types of ambivalent behavior (morality vs. competence) of a company and psychological distance between consumers and the company. These findings not only advance the understanding of the role of psychological distance in consumers' company evaluations but also offer implications regarding strategies that organizations can employ to manage their public relations by using social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This CSR study explores how company-cause relationships and acknowledgement of benefit impacts perceived motivations and skepticism. Low-fit CSR appeared to be more in the public’s interest and more values-driven than high-fit. Acknowledgement of benefit did not impact skepticism—for a socially-stigmatized company, CSR fit appears most fundamental to public response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the massive incorporation of social media into communication strategies, there is still much that we do not know about the type of content that stakeholders expect to receive and what conversations they wish to have with organizations. Numerous studies have demonstrated that an adequate use of digital media is essential to understanding and responding to the expectations of different audiences and to be able to improve the effectiveness of communication departments (Kent & Saffer, 2014; Linke & Zerfass, 2013; Moreno et al., 2015). Nonetheless, there are still relevant issues that have yet to be addressed in depth, such as the process of converting online audiences into active communicators, or what their expectations are with respect to digital interactions. This article compares the perspectives of public relations professionals against those of the general public in Spain with respect to the content that organizations should offer and what activities they should carry out in the context of social media. Our results show a gap in the perceptions and expectations of these two groups in both Spain and across Europe in order to open a discussion about whether communication professionals are effectively managing the tools at hand to create bonds and foster engagement with stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by authenticity, organization-public relationship, and relationship management literature, this exploratory study uses content analysis to examine the impact of news coverage surrounding astroturfing as a means to understand whether astroturfing, or inauthentic communication, undermines the authenticity of and trust within online organization-public relationships. Findings suggested that positivity and networking strategies have significant associations with dimensions of trust. Strategic implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates organizations’ crisis responses by adopting two extant, under-researched typologies—public relations vs. legal strategies and ethics of justice vs. care approaches. Through content-analyzing organizational responses to three well-known crises, the study observes that the public relations strategy is used more often than the legal strategy. It also finds that when the examined organizations respond to their crises, they tend not to emphasize ethical approaches, though when they do it is more often the ethics of justice approach than that of the ethics of care. Therefore, this study urges organizations to reflect on whether their crisis communication and management decisions lack sufficient emphasis on ethical approaches, especially on the interpersonal and situational aspects of involved publics in crises. If such deficiency exits, it would be problematic because these interpersonal and situational aspects, when addressed strategically, can help an organization to rebuild post-crisis reputation and maintain positive relationships with its publics in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millions of people in the U.S. volunteer, and understanding how organizations can retain and deepen relationships with these individuals is critical to the sustainability of the nonprofit sector. The relationship maintenance strategies of stewardship may help nonprofit organizations strengthen relationships with their volunteers, particularly if organizations are able to influence volunteers’ feelings of involvement. An online survey of volunteers was conducted to see the relationships between stewardship, involvement, and organization-public relationship (OPR) outcomes. Our path analysis model indicates that stewardship strategies can positively contribute to volunteers’ involvement and their evaluations of OPR outcomes. One of the few to test this model, this study contributes new theory to public relations literature and better informs the practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twitter can be used successfully by police departments as a channel for stealing thunder and establishing the department as a credible news source. A case study analysis of how a police department used Twitter during a mall shooting was conducted. Results reveal the potential benefits and limitations of using Twitter to steal thunder and a new technique, filling the silence, is proposed for maintaining an audience once an organization has stolen thunder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scandal follows the fast-paced fictional world of Olivia Pope, an attorney, crisis management expert, and former White House communications director who owns and manages her own public relations agency. As the first U.S. network television drama with an African American woman in the lead role since 1965, Scandal represents a step forward for televisual portrayals of African-American women. Nevertheless, this program recirculates common constructions of race and gender. I use a cultural studies framework to interrogate representations in the post-racial world Olivia Pope navigates, through the lens of intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989). Findings reveal that the representational reality of Scandal is decidedly different from the lived reality of public relations professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the relationship between the big five personality traits – agreeableness, intellect, conscientiousness, emotion, and extroversion – and the involvement, engagement, and perceived relationship investment (PRI) of participants with nonprofit organizations. The role of personality is important because it reflects fundamental qualities that may influence an individual’s behavior. Results demonstrated significant correlation between each trait and involvement, passive engagement, and PRI. Four were also positively correlated to active engagement of participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing an experiment study ( N = 256), this study examines how individuals ethical orientation (deontology vs. consequentialism) and CSR message frame (normative vs. strategic) influence corporate hypocrisy perception and negative communication intentions toward a given company. Findings demonstrate that deontological ethical orientation and strategic CSR frame induce stronger corporate hypocrisy perception and negative communication intention than do consequential ethical orientation and normative CSR frame. In addition, deontological ethical orientation moderated the effects of CSR frames on negative communication intention toward the company. Implications for both public relations scholarship and practices are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public relations (PR) practitioners strongly believe that social media are changing the way PR is practiced. While it is premature to confirm the change, previous research has found that PR practitioners remain trialing with social media for purposes related to organizational communication. By conducting in-depth interviews with 19 practitioners from corporate, governmental and non-profit organizations in Kuwait, this qualitative study aims to understand how Kuwaiti organizations use social media to achieve PR objectives, the advantages and barriers PR practitioners face when using them as well as the extent whether or not social media have changed PR. Kuwaiti organizations were found to use Twitter and Instagram the most for promotion and information dissemination, but the use is generally occasional and reactive. Extending the organizations’ reach and popularity of social media among Kuwaitis were the main advantages for using this type of media, while lack of social media strategy, lack of technical skills, and confusion of the two-way communication approach were the main barriers. A new finding can be added to the literature where insufficient educational background was found to contribute to the practitioners’ reluctance to adopt and adapt to using social media. As to any causing change to PR, the respondents believe that social media have broadened the field and have made organizations look less official and more mainstream in the popular culture. The implications of the findings suggest the need for a strategic approach in terms of purpose, roles, responsibilities, policies and guidelines toward the management of social media between higher management and PR practitioners. Improvements to PR curriculum and practicum are also needed to integrate communication technologies into PR practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Society’s attempt to understand and communicate about risk is perhaps the world’s oldest topic − the rationale for human existence and survival (Douglas, 1992). This paper takes critical stock of public relations scholarship and practices in the daunting complex that has become known as the infrastructural approach to risk communication. This approach blends critical judgment of the community structures where risk is discussed and the discourse in which it is analyzed as the foundation for risk governance needed for fully functioning societies. The critical lens of hegemony and postmodernism reveals how an increasing amount of risk communication scholarship and practice has evolved into a new professional, industrial, and societal hegemony that often marginalizes risk bearers and risk arbiters as a nuisance in an otherwise modern and elitist approach to risk control through which risk communication becomes a “priced commodity.” Such commodification can empower organizations to take further risks because of the perceived confidence that its robust risk management programs and risk communication teams, including public relations, can control the dialogue and thereby help protect it from business continuity failure. The great challenge is whether risk communication and management ultimately favors the interests of elites over, and even to the marginalization and subjugation of, the interests of risk bearers and arbiters, ignoring the experiences of inequalities over the life span. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines a contemporary articulation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activism, LGBT youth outreach, as a historically contextual moment. By way of a cultural-economic examination, this study explores the identities constructed by both producers and consumers of an LGBT activist campaign. The cultural-economic model (CEM; Curtin & Gaither, 2005) provides a critical theoretical framework to examine public relations, activism, and social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information subsidies from military and civilian public relations practitioners receive varying degrees of acceptance by media gatekeepers. Using an experimental design, this study examined organizational affiliation within media gatekeeping. Television news decision-makers were randomly assigned one of five mock live news reports with only the reporter’s clothing and on-air title manipulated. Results indicated affiliation did not affect gatekeeper use. Higher credibility was attributed to spokespersons with no organizational affiliation, and to military practitioners over civilians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this current study, we compared two contemporary CSR communication strategies (engagement vs. responsiveness), along with communication channels, in achieving CSR goals. We conducted an online survey with public relations, corporate communication, corporate social responsibility, investor relations and sustainability executives within the companies listed on the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index of publicly traded U.S. companies. Results showed that CSR engagement strategy had a positive effect on achieving all three CSR goals we identified through factor analysis: business, community, and employees. The responsiveness strategy was positively associated with only business and community goal achievement. These findings lend support for the testimonials from industry CSR reports regarding the benefits of the engagement approach in achieving intended organizational goals, including attracting and retaining talented employees. In analyzing the impact of communication channels on goal achievement, we found that print ads played a significant role in achieving business goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crisis communication research has mainly focused on verbal response strategies, such as apologies and denial. However, organizations and individuals in crisis often respond in an audiovisual manner (e.g., press conferences, corporate videos). Audiovisual messages convey not only verbal but also nonverbal cues (e.g., gaze aversion, speech errors). These nonverbal cues can affect the public’s perception of deception, and thus, the perception of the speaker’s credibility. Through a content analysis of 160 audiovisual crisis responses, this study examines which nonverbal cues of deception are communicated by organizations and individuals in crisis and how situational factors (e.g., crisis type) affect the occurrence of these nonverbal cues. The findings show that several nonverbal cues of deception occur in audiovisual crisis communication and that their occurrence depends on the crisis type, the source, and the crisis communication format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes 141 articles published between 2008 and 2014 in order to determine whether public relations (PR) research has undergone a paradigm shift resulted from the rise of social media. Compared with digital PR research before 2008, we find that 1) social media have become a major research topic while remaining a secondary concern of many PR practitioners; 2) digital PR studies are gradually shifting from description to theorization; 3) the examined studies witnessed a general trend of methodological diversification but this trend needs to continue in order for scholars to better describe, predict, and explain how digital PR should be organized and practiced; and 4) digital PR research frameworks are dominated by the organizational perspective, whereas increasing attention has been paid to organizations in the nonprofit sector. Compared to digital PR research before 2008, our findings suggest that the development of digital technology in recent years has brought about changes in PR research such that the research paradigm is presently shifting and acts as a competing paradigm but has not yet shifted completely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media enable organizations in crisis to communicate regularly about crisis events to the public. Furthermore, consumers have the opportunity to respond to the organization’s posts about the crisis. Little is known, however, about how organizations should deal with online consumer comments to such posts. Therefore, the current study examines how organizations in crisis best deal with positive and negative consumer comments to an organizational crisis-related post. A 2 (tone of voice organizational response: personalized versus corporate) x 2 (consumer comment valence: positive versus negative) between-subjects experimental design ( N = 264) was used to examine if a personalized organizational response to consumer comments is advisable to protect organizational reputation, and whether or not the desirability of it depends on the valence of these comments. Results show that a personalized organizational response to a consumer comment on an organizational crisis message post beneficially affects organizational reputation through higher perceptions of conversational human voice (CHV) and sequentially lower consumer skepticism. However, the effect of response personalization is not unanimously positive. When consumer comments are positive, a personalized organizational response damages organizational reputation due to increased consumer skepticism. The positive effect of a personalized response on organizational reputation through CHV disappeared when responding to positive consumer comments. When consumer reactions are negative, however, personalizing the organizational response is beneficial for organizational reputation due to increased perceptions of CHV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper expands the conceptualization of publics as rhetorical constructs in recognition of non-functional perspectives to public relations scholarship. After reviewing the functional/issue-based approaches and the non-functional/discursive-based approaches to theorizing publics within public relations research, we note the significance of the stranger relationality and temporality that is invoked when considering the circulation of discourse and texts as the basis for public existence. We suggest four premises to a rhetorical understanding of publics, expanding upon the public relations literature that has previously suggested a discursive nature of publics, but has not articulated the consequential details of public formation, maintenance, and existence. These premises decenter the organization by highlighting the circulation of and attention to texts, emphasize public existence as allowing a fluidity of participation, suggest further understanding belonging rather than behavior, and underscore questions of temporality and collective memory. We then suggest some implications for public relations research, including how a rhetorical understanding connects to the non-functional approaches of the field, as well as how it may extend studies of relationships and counterpublics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops a definition of political public relations that incorporates concepts from leadership communication and crisis communication. It then applies this theoretical framework to the communication strategies employed by New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison during their early responses to the COVID-19 crisis. Qualitative content analysis was used to examine the frequency of various framing strategies shared via Twitter and Facebook, which aimed to persuade apprehensive citizens to comply with unprecedented stay-at-home orders to suppress virus transmission. The findings revealed that both leaders employed communication strategies consistent with models of effective communication during a major crisis but had notable differences in style, tone, and engagement. For instance, Ardern's greater use of rational strategies, performed authenticity, and empathy in her social media posts enabled her to reach a larger audience than Morrison. Ultimately, this paper argues that political public relations should encompass leadership and leadership communication to better understand how political leaders can manage future crises. • This study develops a definition of political public relaitons, that includes leadership communication and crisis communication. • It analyzes the social media communication strategies of two Prime Ministers during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing their performances. • A core finding is that performed authenticity on social media channels increases message distribution and engagement. • The study provides detailed commentary on a range of rhetorical strategies for enhancing community resilience in crisis scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present meta-analysis study systematically reviews articles on media relations published from 1945 to 2021. It aims to explore media relations research in terms of progression, journals, theories, methods and data analytical tools, media genres and platforms, geospatial distribution of discussed issues and first author affiliations, organization types, most frequently used words, and major themes covered through a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative text mining approach. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 276 articles from 2006 to 2017 were collected as the final sample. Public Relations Review has published the most articles, while the most commonly used theories were agenda setting /building theory, rhetorical theory, and framing theory. Media relations articles utilize qualitative methodologies more than quantitative ones, while the commonly used data analytical tools were content analysis, interview, survey, and case study. Our analysis of the discussed regions and geospatial distribution of first-author show that the North American, European, and Asian continents and the US, the UK, China, and Australia have relatively more publications. The majority of media relations articles discussed governmental organizations. Five themes dominated media relations articles: public relations strategy, media relations practice, mass media and journalism, state–media relations, and organizational media relations. • The present meta-analysis study systematically reviews articles on media relations published from 1945 to 2021. • PPR has published the most articles of MR, while the most commonly used theories were agenda sitting/building theory, rhetorical theory, and framing theory. • MR articles utilize qualitative methodologies more than quantitative ones, while the commonly used data analytical tools were content analysis, interview, survey, and case study. • North American, European, and Asian continents and the US, the UK, China, and Australia have relatively more publications. • Five themes dominated MR articles: public relations strategy, media relations practice, mass media and journalism, state–media relations, and organizational media relations. [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]

Sustainable development poses a grand challenge for society, addressed by organisations through their public relations activities. Grand challenges are complex by nature and call for nontrivial solutions whose effects show at the level of society. That is why studying public relations' contribution to grand challenges requires a macro perspective that accounts for the dynamic interaction between individual, organisational, and system levels in a digital communication environment. This paper offers a new paradigm to analyse organisations' significant and at times undue impact on grand challenges through public relations. It develops a framework inspired by complex adaptive systems thinking and adopts its ten properties for public relations: emergence, adaptivity, heterogeneous actors, nonlinear effects, feedback mechanisms, self-organisation, phase transitions, networks, scaling, and cooperation. The paper applies the framework to the example of sustainable development. It shows why research on grand challenges requires a holistic perspective and how it can help study digitally born communication phenomena. The proposed complex systems paradigm provides space for critical, social scientific, and interpretative research lines in public relations. Inquiries start from the grand challenge and study the communicative interactions between organisations and other actors from existing theory while accounting for the ten properties of complex adaptive systems. The paper outlines how future research can enrich the study of public relations and discusses its limits. • Proposes a complex systems framework for analysing the role of public relations in debating society's grand challenges. • Complexity theories help understand digital issue debates as emerging societal phenomena. • The complex systems paradigm allows to analyse digitally born communication phenomena. • Provides a holistic perspective to analyse organisations' significant and at times undue impact on sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation is an essential part of strategic communication practices including public relations and corporate, government, and organizational communication. Evaluation can potentially demonstrate effectiveness and value, facilitate learning to improve practice, and provide insights to inform future strategy. In the age of digitalization of media and information, there are more readily available data to enable evaluation than ever before. However, despite half a century of theorizing and discussing measurement and evaluation (M&E), literature reports "stasis" and a "deadlock" well into the 21st century In some cases, invalid practices such as advertising value equivalents (AVEs) continue to be used. Furthermore, when M&E collectively is part of communication practice, evidence shows that reports continue to focus on outputs and algorithm-generated fake impact scores, rather than genuine outcomes and impact. Despite the body of literature on M&E, it is clear that more needs to be said – and done. This discussion calls for reconfiguring common evaluation models to overcome false logics and for a reconfiguring and broadening of pedagogy and practice to break the deadlock and realize the benefits of evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adopts the Circuit of Culture (COC) – an interpretive approach to international public relations practice based on its five moments (i.e., regulations, production, representations, consumption and identity) – as a guiding framework to analyze corporate social responsibility discourses of Wilmar, a multinational corporation based in Singapore. Sustainability reports from 2009 to 2019 were first accessed to examine the negotiation dynamics that occur in textual discourse when the company dealt with the talk-action relationship through the Communication as Constitutive of Organization (CCO) approach. These were integrated with the contextual propositions nurtured in the five moments of COC to identify the negotiating mechanisms that Wilmar constructed to make sense of, explain, and justify tensional situations between set commitments and actual performance. This study aims to demonstrate how CCO can complement COC to offer a holistic interpretive approach to understand the situated communication dynamics and discursive construction process of talk-action relationship in an international public relations context. • Provided empirical discourse to illustrate the negotiation dynamics of handling talk-action relationship. • Identified the tension mechanisms to exemplify and interpret interactions between the five moments. • Offered a holistic interpretative CSR framework to suggest how CCO can complement COC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the recent influx of studies examining the role of influencers in a campaign, most studies examine influencer marketing, leaving the public relations approach to influencers underdeveloped. Through in-depth interviews with professionals who work with influencers, this study establishes the concept and process of influencer relations. Results illustrate key relational and dialogic factors of influencer relations. This study also provides a set of best practices for working with influencers in public relations. • This study establishes influencer relations using public relations principles. • We interviewed professionals who work directly with influencers. • This study suggests a definition for influencer relations and best practices. • Result show that successful influencer relations are communal, organic, and dialogic. • Best practices include building personal relationships, working with communities and granting creative freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]