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A study explored the relationships between public relations practitioners' organizational roles and the type of evaluation methods they used on the job. Based on factor analysis of role data obtained from an earlier study, four organizational roles were defined and ranked: communication manager, media relations specialist, communication liaison, and communication technician. Twelve measures of evaluation activities were developed from a conceptual model involving scientific (systematic, quantitative) versus "seat-of-the-pants" (subjective, individualistic) evaluation methodologies. Data were then collected on the organizational roles and evaluation activities of 169 public relations practitioners in San Diego, California. The communication manager, media relations, and communication liaison role scores correlated signficiantly with both scientific and "seat-of-the-pants" evaluation method scores. The communication technician role score, however, correlated with neither the scientific nor the seat-of-the-pants evaluation method scores. The correlation between income and evaluation activities was significant. It was interpreted that the media relations specialists, who were at the middle management rank, used both evaluation methodologies, but tended to confine scientific evaluation methods to dissemination evaluation. (RL)

Two studies are reported that tested the effects of age with the predisposition to adopt videotex services. The first study, conducted in April 1982, consisted of 478 telephone interviews of Cox Cable subscribers in San Diego. The second study, conducted in summer 1982, consisted of face-to-face interviews with 107 respondents, selected through random digit dials of households in the San Diego Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. Interviews for the second study were conducted after respondents were exposed to a half-hour demonstration of a working videotex system in a laboratory. The potential effects of three potential intervening variables--automated teller machine usage, prior "hands-on" computer experiences, and Home Box Office subscription status--were controlled. A strong, linear, negative relationship between consumer age and predisposition to adopt videotex services in both studies was found which was independent of the three variables. (Author/LMM)

This monograph defines and describes research in the study of adoption of electronic text services in higher education institutions. Electronic text here includes text and graphic information encoded and transmitted via broadcast, signal, or cable, under user control. It places the diffusion of electronic text in higher education within the context of prior diffusion research; examines the perceived attributes of electronic text and the impact of these factors on the adoption process; and describes a series of discrete electronic text services specific to higher education. Characteristics of adopters are discussed, as well as perceived attributes of innovations that can affect their adoption, including their relative advantages and risk, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability. Applications of electronic text in higher education that are described include computer-aided instruction, computer-assisted registration, and electronic versions of discussion groups, "office hours," student advising, catalogs, course scheduling, course syllabi, bookstores, libraries, campus box offices, student record services, admissions screening services, "invisible colleges," and conventions and journals. A causal model is explained that allows, through laboratory simulations, the study of the relationship between perceptions that affect the adoption or the rejection of electronic text as an innovation. Eighteen references are listed. (LMM)

To explore the subjective dimensions of public relations practitioner orientations toward their profession in the context of the organizational roles they play, this study combined characteristics of both large-sample survey research and indepth, intensive inquiry. Membership lists of the Public Relations Society of America, the International Association of Business Communicators, the Public Relations Club of San Diego, and Women in Communications were used to survey public relations practitioners in the San Diego, California, area by mail. From the 172 respondents, 28 subjects were selected for intensive study. Analysis of the findings identified four public relations practitioner types: the upwardly mobile practitioner, the creative artistic practitioner, the committed proactive practitioner, and the literary scientific practitioner. Individuals of the upwardly mobile type expressed positive opinions about their profession and fellow practitioners. They viewed themselves as sensitive supervisors who practiced good public relations and moved up the organizational ladder. The creative artistic type wanted more say in decisions, but not at the expense of the spontaneity and emotional involvement in the public relations process. The committed proactive practitioner felt that public relations was more than just a technique and saw a need for improvement in the profession. Finally, the literary scientific type also felt that the profession should be evaluated, but held no special regard for the organization nor saw ethics as particularly relevant to the practice of public relations. They regarded public relations as an applied social science. (HOD)

Focusing on the concepts of scanning (gathering information about segments of the public, their reactions to the organization, and their opinions about issues important to the organization), decision making, and roles, a study examined the relationship between environmental scanning and the participation of public relations practitioners in management decision making. The 1985 membership directories for the Public Relations Society of America and the International Association of Business Communicators formed the sample frame and a questionnaire was mailed to 400 members, with a 34.8% response rate. Factor scales for environmental scanning indicated how frequently the practitioner engaged in each environmental scanning activity. An index for participation in management decision making outlined the variables and the hypotheses tested. Findings showed that both scientific and informal scanning were positively and significantly correlated with the practitioner's managerial role activities, while neither type of scanning was correlated with the practitioner's technical role activities. Some correlation existed between the technical role scale and scientific scanning. Data showed the relationship between scientific and informal scanning and management decision making to be strong, even after the influence of managerial role playing by the practitioner was controlled. (Rival models for scanning, roles, and decision making are discussed, and tables of data are included.) (JD)

Two studies tested the hypothesis that the annual salaries of women in public relations are significantly less than those of men of equal education, professional experience, and length of employment with their current organization. A second hypothesis included organizational role status as a variable. The first study surveyed members of four communications and publications associations, in San Diego, California, including the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), and the second study surveyed members of only the PRSA. Both studies confirmed the first hypothesis: women practitioners earned lower salaries than men, even when the influence of education, professional experience, and tenure with current employer were equalized. When organizational role segregation was added, it was confirmed that women are segregated in the organizational role of communications technician, a position that earns a lower income than other organizational roles. The two surveys of public relations practictioners provide evidence that differences in male practitioner and female practitioner salaries cannot be entirely explained in terms of preparation for advancement. The two surveys also provide strong evidence that organizational role segregation is a useful construct in a theory of salary difference among women and men in public relations. Differences in incomes are significantly reduced when organizational roles are equalized. (HTH)