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Work-life conflict -- defined as the incompatibility between expectations to perform one role versus another -- can be categorized as time-based, strain-based, and behavior-based. Using a broad diversity perspective, we examined understudied diversity categories as influencers of work-life conflict, namely, age, family dependent care responsibility, and professional specialty. Surveying a nationally representative sample of PRSA membership (N=820), we found that Generation Xers are more stressed out than are other age groups; those who need to care for an older adult experience significantly higher levels of time-based conflict; and employee relations specialists have to deal with significantly more strain-based work-life conflict than do others.

Applying situational theory to adolescent health contexts, this study examines whether race, medium use, and involvement may serve as significant determinants of information seeking and processing in conjunction with constraint and problem recognition. Analysis of a cross-sectional survey among 452 adolescents showed that problem recognition was positively related to information processing and seeking. Constraint recognition was positively related to information seeking, but not information processing. Involvement was positively related to information seeking and both media and interpersonal information processing. Findings support the importance of considering racial diversity in audience segmentation. Non-whites were more likely than were whites to actively seek information. Print media use was more predictive of information seeking and processing than was Internet, television, or radio use. Implications for audience segmentation in public health campaigns are discussed.

This study examines the ways in which a campaign that is completely reliant on user-generated content (UGC) can not only successfully engage a diverse public but also maintain value and legitimacy while serving as the basis for motivating individuals to take action. Guided in part by the theory of network-enabled commons-based peer production, this study posits that by crafting a public relations campaign using authentic voice in conjunction with YouTube, public relations practitioners can empower individuals to become active participants in advocacy campaigns for social justice or the common good of society, thus creating unique, individual connections with their publics and essentially empowering others to use their voices to help these campaigns reach critical mass. To illustrate the success of such a campaign, an in-depth, critical case study of the It Gets Better Project, is conducted.

In recent years, diversity has been one of the prominent issues that companies have addressed on their Web sites. Yet, few studies have investigated public relations efforts on diversity communication via corporate Web sites. Using S&P 500 companies as a sample, this study examined how corporate-level public relations efforts position diversity in Web communication with the public. The results of this study suggest that diversity communication on the S&P Web sites reflected a diversity management paradigm, positioning diversity as requisite variety and competitive advantage. Occasionally, diversity was linked to corporate social responsibility. Based on the results, this article argues that, beyond requisite variety or moral responsibility, diversity should be conceptualized as a core company value established through dialogue.

This article explores the relationship between state power, clientelist relationships, and economic structure in the public relations practice of European Mediterranean countries. It considers the cases of Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, part of a management subdivision – “the Southern European region” – that multinationals have been using for decades. Some common characteristics of the public relations field in these countries can be highlighted, including the prominent role of media relations, the importance of personal relationships, and the gap between state-supported multinationals and remaining companies. The author argues that the field’s normative ideal of the two-way symmetrical model fails in these Western free-market democracies due, in the case of numerous organizations, to an emphasis (and dependence) on building relationships with the government at the expense of other publics, as well as the lack of scale economies. This disparate social and economic structure makes the use of persuasive models more appropriate for their contexts.

Advances in technology have flattened the public relations playing field as the industry focuses on new media and related opportunities. At the same time, entrepreneurship among practitioners is increasing. The number of independent practitioners in the Public Relations Society of America increased from 15.5 to 18 percent from 2010 to 2011 (Lagorio, 2011). Forbes ranked public relations as one of 10 most promising careers for aspiring entrepreneurs (Casserly, 2012). Public relations students have also expressed interest in learning about entrepreneurship in their classes (Hays & Sidlow, 2010). What remains unknown is whether and how public relations educators are preparing students for these entrepreneurship opportunities. This study seeks to fill this gap by assessing public relations educators’ attitudes and opinions toward entrepreneurship education and whether and how they are teaching entrepreneurship to undergraduate students. The researchers used a triangulated approach by implementing a survey and conducting in-depth interviews with public relations educators. One hundred and fourteen full-time public relations educators responded to an electronic survey in June 2012. Sixty-one percent of respondents teach entrepreneurial skills or concepts. Public relations educators believe that entrepreneurship should be embedded in certain courses, such as Public Relations Campaigns and Public Relations Management, and that students should learn how to understand financial information, secure clients, and work with vendors. In the indepth interviews, educators said that teaching entrepreneurship in public relations is important, although their ideas differed regarding its priority in the curriculum. Pedagogies included folding entrepreneurship into lectures in beginning courses, tying ideas into the management of studentrun firms, and having students in the capstone campaigns course prepare and present proposals to clients. Assessment of these activities includes some nontraditional ideas such as incorporating client and peer input. Implications for teaching future entrepreneurs are provided.

This study explores the paradox of autonomy and dependence that is inherent in organization-public relationships. Using a comparative case study methodology the Brigham Young University Museum of Art’s handling of exhibitions that included nude artworks in 1997 and 2004 as examples. The value of this study is that it illustrates how paradoxical tensions can influence the decision-making process in organizations, as well as the ways in which organizations can manage their own behavior and communication in spite of natural tendencies to manage and control stakeholders and publics.

This study provides a comprehensive theoretical model to account for the persistent pay inequity between men and women in public relations. Surveying a random sample of public relations professionals, we shed light on the various factors giving rise to gendered pay disparity, including gender, professional experience, career specialization, manager role enactment, and participation in management decision-making. We found that pay inequity exists between male and female practitioners because of their gender, after controlling for all the other identified influencers. Also, gender leads to gendered salary differences through professional experience, manager role enactment, participation in decision-making, and career specialization.

The current paper presents a content analysis of a group of 102 websites of major U.S.-based public relations agencies and a critique of how principles of dialogic communication have been applied to these websites. Our analysis revealed that the agency websites were very strong in the areas of usefulness of information and ease of interface, as might be expected. There was much wider variation in the areas of conservation of visitors and generation of return visitors. For example, only one website featured an explicit invitation to return, and none of the websites had a FAQ or Q&A page. Similarly, closing the dialogic loop was mixed, with many agencies allowing for comments to be left by visitors but with few comments or dialog. We discuss our findings in light of dialogic communication and where we suggest researchers might focus their efforts in the future. In particular, we suggest that an agency-client relationship may represent an example where dialogic communication is appropriate but where that communication style is not enacted via the agency’s website. We also highlight examples in which certain agencies use their websites to create dialog with clients and potential clients.

This study examines how ethics is incorporated into the curriculum and pedagogy of public relations, comparing Western European and U.S. educators. There is a wide divide in their views of ethics pedagogy: U.S. professors take the approach of professional ethics, while European professors focus on moral judgment or autonomy and the need to educate communication practitioners to become ethical agents in the philosophical sense. Although U.S. public relations educators are connected to the industry and appear to want the industry thrive, European educators see themselves as autonomous critics of public relations ethics and exhibit an intellectual distance from industry. Interviews were semi-structured and were conducted with a purposive sample of European (n=20) professors and U.S. (n=32) professors. Comparing participants suggests that European educators have an advantage in preparing students to face ethical dilemmas. Compliance with industry standards limits U.S. educators’ ability to meet challenges of globalization and contemporary business, according to participants. Moral philosophers argue that autonomy is necessary in order to provide a rational, unbiased analysis of ethical dilemmas. Therefore, we conclude that an ideological divide exists in public relations education along international boundaries, related to advocacy for public relations and professionalism versus autonomy and critical reflection of the role of public relations in responsible business and in an ethical society.

By exploring the strategic use of social media for 250 of Fortune’s Most Admired U.S. Companies on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, this study creates a benchmark by which companies can use to gauge their involvement in the three dominant social media platforms. Results found that 91% of the companies utilized at least one social media platform. YouTube was the most commonly adopted social media followed by Twitter then Facebook. Overall, 30% of companies in this study provided a social media code of conduct in at least one platform, 58% integrated their social media accounts, 14% used a human voice, and 52% used a dialogic loop. Each of the topics is explored for each of the three social media platforms and suggestions for companies are included.

Research on relationship management in digital political public relations is scarce. Departing from a relationship management perspective, then, this study seeks to contribute to the field of political public relations by investigating whether political parties take advantage of what digital media platforms offer in terms of long-term commitment and reciprocity utilizing the Swedish national election in 2010 as a case study. The results show that the political parties utilized social media outlets primarily during and just before the time of the election and that interaction between parties and constituents were scarce and shallow. All parties shared the same pattern of activity, although there were some differences in the frequencies of use. Additionally, although user commitment increased over time, there were relatively few users who chose to follow/friend the political parties, suggesting that the large majority of the voters could not easily be reached through these platforms. In essence, the results indicate that social media as a political public relations tool is, so far, dwarfed by more traditional and analogue approaches.

This article examines the state of political public relations in the European Union by specifically focusing on reputation management and relationship management. Its arguments are based on a theoretical review of the literatureof political public relations, reputation and relationship management, and EU communication. The article suggests an in-depth examination of the nature of some of the EU’s major problems in political public relations, and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the possibilities and limitations ofapplying reputation and relationship management constructs to a politicalcontext. The nature of the analysis is exploratory rather than definitive, and specific investigations are needed to thoroughly explore and better theorize political reputation and relationship management in various political contexts.

This article suggests a generic model that includes a degree of standardization against which to compare planning and programming is the best way to establish excellence in public relations and corporate communication. The authors suggest this model can be (a) historically, to establish past campaigns; (b) used in the strategic planning process to identify problems or holes in a campaign; or (c) used as a final evaluation tool that provides evidence based in quantifiable data weighted to the particular needs of the company or client at a particular point in time. The key here is the generic value the hierarchical model gives to the profession and function—a way to evaluate excellence and provide hard evidence, data, on that evaluation.

The last years have seen a new dynamic in the confluence of marketing communications and public relations. Trends and developments in the social and technical environment of organizations, like a growing concern for business’ impact on the natural environment, critical stakeholder movements, and new ways of communication and content production on social media and web 2.0 platforms, confront both functions with a common challenge. While marketing theory and practice increasingly adopts traditional PR related approaches and dialogical modes of communication, PR has broadened its spheres of activity towards classical marketing areas (Hutton, 1996, 2010). And although, from a historical point of view, both functions derive from different paradigms, in today’s working environment their scope of duties and functions are increasingly overlapping and hard to distinguish. Thus the need for integration and cooperation becomes greater. This is especially the case in areas where both parties have high stakes in, like e.g. corporate branding. Building up a strong corporate brand (Schultz et al., 2005) and an integrated communication strategy with a common core and polyphonic instruments (Christensen et al., 2008) is a preferred solution to master the challenge of increasing homogeneity and interchangeability of products and services. However, the implementation of such strategies is often hindered by a struggle for power and conflicting worldviews between the marketing communications and public relations function. In order to analyze the relationship of both functions in the process of corporate branding, we conducted an empirical study in four large German industries (energy, telecommunication, insurance, and chemical industry). In each company both the head of corporate communications/PR as well as the head of marketing communications were interviewed (n = 104; random sample, CATI telephone interviews). We used descriptive and analytical statistics with SPSS to analyze the data. The results of the study draw an interesting, in parts very contradictory picture. On the one hand we found a strong convergence of stakeholder priorities, goals and instruments of branding, and a high level of structural collaboration. But the data revealed a number of underlying conflicts, discrepancies and contradictory perceptions. Although integration seems to be rather advanced in day-to-day branding activities, marketing and PR managers do not share the same mindset. Perceptions of their roles and functions within the organization are very variant. PR managers still lack self-esteem on behalf of their value contribution to corporate success. Having these findings in mind, the paper argues for a change in the focus of scientific research. Research in strategic communication should not only focus on organizational structures and departmental power struggles, but identify the different mindsets and perceptions of the actors involved. Educational background, job experiences and overlapping or contradictory role perceptions in PR and marketing (Holtzhausen & Tindall, 2011) are important issues to be analyzed.

This study focused on investigating the interaction effects of source ethnicity and gender, under different news conditions (crisis and benign news) on audience perceptions of credibility of a spokesperson, the organization and the message. The study also observed the workings of the HeuristicSystematic Model by providing participants with varying degrees of information and evaluating the effects of the same on spokesperson, organization and message credibility. Participants included 394 participants of mixed gender, ethnicities and ages. The study found that type of news had the most statistically significant effects on audience perceptions of spokesperson, organization and message credibility, altruism and importance. Analysis revealed that gender of the spokesperson had statistically significant effects on audience perceptions of organization altruism, and the interaction of news type and spokesperson ethnicity had statistically significant effects on audience perceptions of organization altruism. The study found that ethnicity and gender do not have any statistically significant effects on audience perceptions of spokesperson, organization and message credibility.

Academic scholarship reveals a disconnect between health impediments college students identify and health information their respective campuses provide; campus health promotions that lack personal relevance for college students, and health programs that utilize control-based strategies to compel behavior change. The purpose of the present study was to explore college student perspectives about health messages to enhance campus-based health communications. The researcher conducted individual, in-depth interviews with 16 female undergraduates at a research-intensive university in the southeastern U.S. The researcher applied thematic analysis to interview transcripts to uncover participants’ health message perspectives. Findings revealed that female undergraduates are proactive and perceptive regarding health messages when they need information for a specific issue or concern; initially dismissive but eventually receptive of health messages they involuntarily encounter; differentially responsive to health messages from interpersonal sources; grudgingly tolerant of societal health messages—especially those concerning unrealistic body standards. Findings additionally revealed that female undergraduates usually disregard health messages they encounter on campus.

As the blogosphere continues to grow, understanding the characteristics and motivations of key players is invaluable for public relations practitioners and communicators who deal with message strategy and media outreach. This study investigates opinion leadership among bloggers and blog readers and their motivations to blog. Survey data were obtained from a sample of 552 bloggers and readers, empirically measuring opinion leadership as a trait and as a motivation to blog. The findings suggest that bloggers tend to be opinion leaders, which can help guide the public relations practice in the way it builds relationships with these influentials. These opinion leaders are different from their readers in the motivations that drive their blogging activity. Communication for leadership and entertainment motives appeared to be the strongest motivations for bloggers, while entertainment and information-seeking motivated blog readers. Significant differences were found between bloggers and blog readers with respect to opinion leadership and five out of the six motivational factors studied. Theoretical and managerial implications are further discussed.

This study applied role theory to examine occupational roles and gender differences of public relations practitioners in films. A content analysis of 22 films produced 1995-2010 found that when it comes to societal expectations regarding the occupational roles and gender of public relations practitioners, films with public relations characters present a distorted view of reality. The majority of characters were men, suggesting that films may not perpetuate feminization of the profession. Male and female practitioners were equally likely to be in managerial roles, but females were more likely to have social interactions, perpetuating the myth of the “PR bunny” (Fröhlich & Peters, 2007). Most characters were publicists or spokespersons and the overall tone of the films was negative. Male public relations characters were characterized more negatively than female characters were, but all characters scored low on positive character traits such as honesty and trustworthiness, and higher on negative traits such as being manipulative and profit-driven. Inaccurate media presentations of public relations practitioners can negatively affect public relations by influencing how society views the profession and by perpetuating erroneous assumptions.

Social media have been adopted from its inception by public relations, advertising and marketing practitioners as tools for communicating with strategic publics. Wright and Hinson (2009) have established that public relations professionals perceive social media positively with respect to strategic communication. Given that social media are having an impact on professionals in the industry, the current study examined if social media are having a similar impact on college students in general and students studying in the area of public relations and advertising. The uses, attitudes and perceptions of social media among college students were explored through survey data over a 2-year period. The researchers found that education affects students’ understanding and attitudes towards social media. It is important for educators and curriculum leaders to have an appreciation of students’ knowledge base of social media and how they employ it in their construction of knowledge and reality. It is also valuable for professionals in the industry, who are hiring recent college graduates, to gain insight into how students perceive social media in their own lives and as strategic tools. Findings suggest that college students majoring advertising and public relations view social media more positively than other majors because they understand how it fits in to the industry in which they are being educated. These finding suggest that social media should be incorporated into strategic communications curriculum to better prepare students for the current media climate.

On April 20, 2010, British Petroleum (BP) experienced one of the most tragic industrial accidents in history when 11 employees were killed and dozens more injured as the result of an explosion that tore through an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. In the months that followed, BP grappled with the clean-up efforts as millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico on the eve of the region’s peak tourism season. BP also faced immense reputational damage and needed effective crisis communication to restore this damage with its stakeholders. This study uses content analysis to assess the organization’s communication efforts on the social media platform, Twitter, within the framework of the Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) model.To more fully understand the role of social media during a major environmental disaster, a total of 1,142 tweets were coded from April 29, 2010, to September 10, 2010, from the account @Oil_Spill_2010 (The name of the account later changed to @Restore_TheGulf and came under the control of the U.S. government.). Within the 1,142 tweets coded during the selected period, there were 1,596 crisis response message strategies found. Consistent with the SCCT, the deal cluster of strategies was most evident in the organization’s Twitter messages, comprising 47.87% (ingratiation, n = 433, 27.13% and concern, n = 331, 20.74%) of all coded strategies. With the proliferation of social media in our society, effective and efficient organizational responses during crises are certain to become more and more dependent on social networking platforms. This study takes an important first step in testing the SCCT model within the framework of social media sites.

A content analysis of 2,077 articles randomly sampled at five distinct points in the past decade (2000, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2010) from five mass communication trade magazine titles was conducted to determine how professional-focused publications cover academic research and how specifically the PR trade press address scholarly work. The analysis revealed that academic research appeared in 10 of the total articles sampled (0.5%) while industry research was more prevalent and discussed in 125 of all articles (6.0%). The lack of research coverage, however, was not consistent across the trade journals. While publications targeting professionals in advertising, newspaper, magazine and broadcast all mentioned research in less than 10% of articles, PR News articles detailed research nearly 25% of the time.

This seventh annual survey measuring how social and other emerging media are being used in public relations practice found the use of these new media has increase each year. Those who practice public relations continue to consider social networks – especially Facebook – the most important social media in the overall communication and public relations efforts followed by micro-blogging sites such as Twitter, search engine marketing, video sharing sites such as YouTube, blogs, electronic forums and podcasts. Communication or public relations continues to be the most likely organizational function to be responsible for monitoring and managing an organization’s blog and social media communication. Marketing was a distant second. Practitioners believe social and other emerging media continue to improve in terms of accuracy, credibility, honesty, trust and truth telling. They also think these new media effectively serve as a watchdog for traditional news media, impacting corporate and organizational transparency and advocating a transparent and ethical culture. The time public relations people spend with blogs and other social media during an average workday continues to increase with 35 percent of our 2012 respondents spending at least 25 percent of their average workday with these new media. Only about half of 2012 survey respondents represent organizations where research is being conducted measuring what others have communicated about these organizations via blogs or social media and less reliable output measures clearly outnumber more valuable outcome research showing the impact these messages have on the formation, change and reinforcement of attitudes, opinions and behavior. Once again this year, most of the statistically significant demographic differences involved age.

Employing a case study approach, this article examines the impact of Japanese corporate culture on public relations crisis response, using Tokyo Electric Power’s handling of the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster in 2011 and Toyota’s management of a brake recall issue in 2010 as examples. The article considers the country’s traditional corporate culture norms, including governance, lifetime employment, hierarchy and information sharing. It also examines the evolution and current role of public relations practitioners and firms within this culture. Readers will discover: • how local corporate culture can have a dramatic impact on public relations crisis response; • why the public relations function in an open society must be more than a collecting and distribution point for C-suite communications; • and how Hofstede’s Cultural Index can be useful in illuminating potential challenges for public relations professionals woking in a multi-national corporation or organization

This study examines for the first time whether elite and popular newspapers are influenced differently by public relations practices of PR1 agencies. Based on 373 press releases, 71 potential variables were tested for successful press release publication in two types of Israeli newspapers: popular (Yediot Akhronot and Maariv) and elite (Haaretz). In addition, 32 journalists (including 6 editors) and 13 PR agency managers were surveyed. A mathematical formula was devised to pinpoint the central success factors. The main findings highlight success elements for each type of newspaper: news importance, novelty and usefulness; writing quality and timely transmission to the paper; press release source (agency/manager/practitioner experience; reputation; educational level; and mutual trust relationship with journalists/editors). The implications of the basic findings are explored.

This qualitative study seeks to understand a process of identity negotiation by female public relations practitioners in the workplace in transitional hyper-sexualized societies, such as Russia, where public relations is a relatively young field. Using a framework of positioning (Davies & Harré, 1990) and concepts of multiple identity negotiation (Berger & Luckmann, 1966) and body disciplining (Trethewey, 2000a, b), the study reveals how female public relations practitioners in Russia engage in a constant process of securing their professional identities, specifically disciplining their bodies and controlling their physical presence. The results demonstrated that dress code self-enforcement helped to underscore the professionalism for female public relations practitioners. Disciplining contributed to specific negotiating strategies women utilized to emphasize advantages that, according to the participants of this study, female public relations practitioners have over men when they engage in public relations practices in Russia. Further analysis, however, suggested that these strategies might lead to reproduction of stereotypical understandings of the role and place of women in a hyper-sexualized, patriarchic environment, such as the Russian workplace.

This study tests Benoit’s five image restoration strategies within a single crisis situation to examine how each strategy impacts perceptions of the organization – public relationship and corporate social responsibility. An experiment measures consumers’ reactions to the different crisis messages. Results indicate the reducing the offensiveness strategy led to higher perceptions of the organization – public relationship and corporate social responsibility. This study provides a guide for how corporate communicators should develop messages in times of crisis. The study provides clearer evidence of how the messages communicated during a crisis impacts corporate social responsibility and the organization – public relationship.

The reputation of the Calgary Stampede, the world’s largest outdoor rodeo which attracts more than one million visitors, has been shaken after the death of six horses in 2010. Animal-welfare advocates, who oppose the use of animals in entertainment, pressure the Stampede every year to stop cruel events such as calf-roping steerwrestling and chuckwagon racing. After the death of the six horses, animal-welfare advocates were more vocal than ever through social and traditional media channels, resulting in a reputational loss for the Stampede in 2010 compared to 2009. This case study is explored in three parts.

It has long been a public relations maxim that if a company in crisis proactively releases additional information that could prove damaging, rather than waiting for if/when the media uncovers it, this will shorten the news cycle of the story and could lessen the overall reputational damage. The researcher sought to determine academically whether there is validity to the truism. The number of news stories generated about crises were counted, stock fluctuations were tracked, and journalists were surveyed to determine whether learning that a company withheld information affects journalists’ trust, causes journalists to search harder for additional negative information, and/or increase the total number of stories published/broadcast.

The paper posits a set of dimensions along which emergency communication message construction between journalists and official sources differs from other message interaction. The coorientation model is used to assess both groups’ views about three features of emergency news and to evaluate their expectations about each others’ views on the topic. Journalists and official sources exhibit somewhat similar attitudes and beliefs with regard to accuracy, timeliness, and audience panic but vary widely with regard to their understanding of the other’s views. Findings indicating such divergence are a concern because they could become a barrier to the provision of high-quality emergency news, a source of important guidance to the public during times of crisis.

By combining the growing body of knowledge on organization-public relationship and insights from the resource-based theory in strategic management, this study explored the different types of relationships existing in Mainland China and which types of relationships are perceived as strategic resources that contribute to corporate sustainable competitive advantage. Through 15 in-depth interviews with public relations directors and other strategic managers from 14 Fortune 500 and Forbes China 100 companies, the findings showed that exchange relationships are the most common type of relationships in China. Mutual communal, covenantal, symbiotic, contractual relationships also commonly coexist. Exploitative and manipulative relationships rarely exist in the business world in China today due to the development of marketization, consumerism and empowerment of publics. Communal relationships, exchange relationships and covenantal relationships in the win-win zone are regarded as strategic resources that bring tangible and intangible benefits to companies and help companies compete in the market. The data suggest that along this continuum of types of relationships, there is a developing trend toward the middle range, especially toward the win–win zone. Both theoretical and practical implications of this study were discussed.

Public relations practitioners face many ethical challenges, specifically in issues management (e.g., Bowen & Heath, 2005; J. Grunig & L. Grunig, 1996). By its definition, issues management is concerned with defining issues and problems, manages them through internal and external communication with publics, and often confronts conflicting value systems among publics. Therefore, issues management is on the forefront of ethical decision making in an organization (Heath, 1990). Deontology has been suggested as one of the major theoretical underpinnings for ethics research (e.g., Crawley & Sinclair, 2003; Smudde, 2005). Bowen (2004) proposed a normative theoretical model for ethical decision making in issues management based on Kantian deontology (autonomy, the principle of universality, duty, dignity and respect for others, and the morally good will) and two-way symmetrical communication. Support was found, but more research is warranted to examine the model in different organizational contexts. It is imperative to test the applicability of the normative deontological model (Bowen, 2004) in a new context—that of a non-profit activist coalition. Demands for accountability, ethical transparency, institutionalization concerns, competing values and demands of various publics groups have made it necessary to examine the ethical basis of decision making in non-profit organizations (Dando & Swift, 2003). With its mission of problematizing the fiscal policies of the Word Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the participating activist coalition was actually an issues management group engaging thoughtfully in the process of public policies on environmental, labor, development, peace, gender, and social justice issues confronting less developed nations in the world. Through a five-month participant observation in the membership groups of the coalition and 19 in-depth interviews with its issues managers and public relations practitioners, this study attempted to answer the following research questions: (1) What is the process of issues decision making in the coalition?; (2) What is the underlying moral philosophy used in the issues management decisionmaking process?. This study yielded the following findings. Participants argued that decision making should be consensus-oriented and based on equal participation and continuous discussion. Unfortunately, the lack of consistent, dedicated, and enthusiastic input by member groups was a significant impediment to a more inclusive decision making process for the management of issues. Participants’ valued equality – their emphases on being against stereotypes, inequality, and biases was consistent with the deontological paradigm. Moral autonomy was a dominant theme that also emerged through discussion of the sovereign right of each country to decide its own macroeconomic/fiscal policies. Transparency was another ethical consideration that the coalition used in its issues management. Overall, there was a remarkably high degree of congruence between the philosophical approach of deontology and the beliefs espoused by coalition members. The data gathered in this study has far-reaching implications in the positive social role of issues management and public relations. The implications for both businesses and activist coalitions are enormous: more responsive organizations, better policy, and more inclusive and socially responsible private and government initiatives.

Using data collected in a national survey of the professional group Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), this study examines the way that organizations are communicating about the environment. This baseline study reports on the most common environmental topics that corporations and government entities communicate about, the most common channels of communication used to deliver messages about the environment, the publics most often targeted with environmental messages, the level of transparency in organizations’ environmental communication, and the level of environmental knowledge and attitude among public relations practitioners. The findings suggest a broad range of topics and channels are being used for environmental communication. A strong link emerged between public relations practitioners’ environmental knowledge, environmental attitudes, and the volume of communication being disseminated from their organizations. Too, as predicted by the study, organizations that were more environmentally transparent tended to engage in more environmental communication. Implications of the findings are discussed. Communication about environmental behaviors and policies continues to be a critical area of focus for corporations. The April 2010 oil spill in the US Gulf coast and the massive public relations effort by British Petroleum (BP) Oil to respond to it, once again illustrate the importance of consistent and transparent environmental communication (Elmets, 2010; Myers, 2010). Earning a reputation as an environmentally responsible organization can bolster an organization’s legitimacy and create goodwill that can help an organization survive a major crisis. Organizations that have sound policies and practices toward the environment and communicate about them in a credible way earn environmental legitimacy (Hunter & Bansal, 2007). This means engaging in transparent communication about environmental dealings in order to earn the respect of key audiences. The study presented here takes the first step toward understanding how organizations communicate about their environmental policies and practices and how public relations practitioners perceive the environmental transparency of their organizations. Very little research has focused on the content of environmental communication, the ways organizations are delivering their environmental messages, and no research has examined the role of public relations practitioners in this practice. What is needed is a broad baseline understanding of environmental communication, including content and delivery of communication and the characteristics of the communicators. This study examines environmental communication through a survey of public relations practitioners who have their fingers on the pulse of organizations’ communication. It asks practitioners to report on their organization’s amount, topics, channels of communication, level of transparency in communication, and audiences for the communication. In addition, the study explores characteristics of communicators and examines whether they are related to the attributes of environmental communication. Results provide insight into the kinds of topics and channels organizations are using to communicate about environmental topics. Potential problems with current practices are identified, and suggestions for future communication development are offered.

The significant role of gatekeepers within organizations has been the subject of investigation for many years. In fact, Hammersley and Atkinson (1995) suggest that there is no other person more crucial to the communication processes of organizations than the formal gatekeeper; in a sense, gatekeeping provides key people within organizations the ability to permit or forbid access to organizational information. In addition, organizational gatekeepers are those key individuals in an organization who are both strongly connected to internal audiences as well as external audiences, and who are capable of translating organizational information across communication boundaries (Tushman & Katz, 1980). Often situated between those internal and external publics, the public relations practitioner serves as the gatekeeper of organizational information in communicating with various publics, including the mass media. As a result, the communication decisions of public relations practitioners can greatly impact an organization, making it important to understand the gatekeeping process of organizations and the role that public relations practitioners play in that process. Reber and Berger (2006) propose that “public relations scholarship is rife with calls to find a way for practitioners to ascend to organizational decision making circles (i.e., the dominant coalition)” (pg. 1). Additionally, although existing literature in public relations has investigated the organizational roles of public relations practitioners relative to decision making (i.e. Broom & Smith, 1978; Ferguson, 1979; Broom, 1982; Johnson & Acharya, 1982; Dozier, 1984; Grunig & Grunig, 1986), there is limited research on the decision-making authority of public relations practitioners in communicating with the media, specifically. Based on the supporting literature, the present study intended to explore Reber and Berger’s call by investigating the role of the public relations practitioner through the following research question: How much of a gatekeeping role do public relations practitioners play in their organizations’ communication with the news media? Two qualitative data collection methods were used to achieve the purpose of the present study: interviews and online focus groups using a snowball sample of public relations practitioners. Twelve semi-structured interviews, varying in length from 30 to 55 minutes, were conducted over the telephone and tape-recorded. Following the interviews, three online focus groups were conducted, thus providing the researcher with the ability to extract information that could not be obtained through the one-on-one interviews (Morgan, 1997). Results suggested that two primary themes were present in the data collected. The first theme identified different roles of public relations professionals related to issues of decision-making power and authority. The second theme suggested that regardless of the degree of decision-making power that the public relations practitioner possessed in the gatekeeping process, they remain a contributor or at least an influence on the decision-making process; however, that influences varied greatly depending on the type of organization in which the PR professional works. The most significant finding, that revealed this significant dichotomy between the gatekeeping roles of public relations professionals based on the type of organization they represented, creates various implications for future research and practice.

This study explored the role of the Speaker of the House in shaping the salience of political issues and attributes in news media coverage and policymaking in 2007. Specifically, it analyzed 533 press releases, 433 news articles, and 47 daily Congressional calendars of business. Significant correlations were found supporting traditional first-level and second-level agenda-building linkages between Congressional communications and media coverage; whereas no relationships were found between issue or attribute salience in news releases and actual Congressional activities. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Using in-depth interviews with executive-level public relations professionals, this study explores the uses of Twitter in communications campaigns. Findings suggest that public relations practitioners consider microblogging to be a valuable asset to a campaign’s social media strategy. They believe that Twitter offers a form of communication not offered by other social media applications, and they believe microblogging will continue to be an essential part of an integrated communications campaign.

This research was designed to develop measures of public relations leadership from the perspective of individual capabilities, “Self-Dynamics.” By conducting an online survey collected from over 200 senior public relations executives, a structural equation modeling approach was used as the analytical tool to assess the hypothetical hierarchical confirmatory model. The results empirically modeled and indicated that public relations leaders’ self-attributes, visionary ability, and team collaboration ability are three key first-order factors at the individual level and comprise what the authors proposed a single second-order factor “Self-Dynamics.” Therefore, the multidimensionality of the construct itself as well as the predictive power of the measurement model has been validated. The authors evaluated the results and discussed the findings, as well as concluded with suggested implications for understanding the competitive preconditions an effective public relations leader should have for effective communication management. The study of leadership has been an important and central part of the literature on management and organization behavior over the past 40 years. Researchers of leadership have historically developed a number of complex concepts and theories in the attempt to explain and predict leadership effectiveness and organization performance. Major theories, topics, and controversies in this area have encompassed leader traits and skills, leader behavior and activities, leader power and influence, situational determinants of leader behavior, and leadership as an attributional process (e.g., Bass, 1985, 1990; Conger, 1999; Dansereau, Graen, & Haga, 1975; Fiedler, 1978; House, 1971, 1999; Kouzes & Posner, 1987; Stogdill, 1948, 1974; Yukl, 1989). However, relatively few studies in the field to date have explored the qualities, values, and dimensions of excellent leadership in public relations. Specifically, leadership in public relations has not been subjected to quantitative measurement. Measurement issue has particularly perplexed public relations researchers in their efforts to construct theory and to test theory. Therefore, this research paper is an exploratory step toward such an exploration—to discover what leadership means to senior-level public relations professionals. More importantly, our objective is to develop and estimate a model that captures the dynamics of individual capabilities in achieving excellence in public relations leadership. After reviewing the trait approach in leadership research, we are interesting in gathering experienced public relations professionals’ opinions about the key and important personal attributes/skills/qualities a successful public relations leader should have and exhibit. The importance of personal attributes and qualities is strongly associated with its impact on the achievement a public relations leader could obtain and the establishment of the mutual relationship between the leaders and their subordinates. The focus of our research is on leader attributes that are reported to be effective in communication management. The trait approach in leadership research is reviewed, and public relations leaders’ widely recognized traits are discussed briefly, focusing on important findings and controversies. We then describe the proposed model in terms of a conceptual framework that examines the public relations leaders’ self-dynamics as a three-dimensional construct: self-insight, shared vision, and team collaboration. Next, we introduce the research project, which involved the participation of more than 200 experienced public relations professionals nationwide, and discuss the estimation results of the hierarchical model and report on model validation. The findings regarding perceived effective leader attributes/skills/qualities are summarized and presented. Finally, we conclude by summarizing the contributions, managerial implications, and avenues for further research. In short, the anticipated theoretical and practical contributions of this paper will be reflected in its efforts in filling a substantial knowledge gap concerning excellent leadership relevant to the success of public relations practice and organizational effectiveness.

The purpose of this study is to explore and identify the cultural influence on people’s Social Networking Sites (SNS) usage. Using Hofstede’s individualism/collectivism and Hall’s high/low context cultural values, this study examines the content of comments on online communities in Mixi, a SNS in Japan, and Facebook. A content analysis of comments that appeared on the SNS communities of three car brands (Lexus, Cadillac, and BMW) revealed that Mixi users and Facebook users differ in the use of visually oriented information and in the types of comments they wrote. Specifically, Mixi users used significantly more visually oriented information in comments than Facebook users. In addition, comments by Mixi users were more likely to ask for and provide advice and information, while comments by Facebook users were more likely to express their feeling towards the brands.

The growing influence of consumer-generated media (CGM), including blogs, online forums, podcasts, and other social media tools, has changed the environment in which public relations practitioners conduct campaigns for their clients and connect with their stakeholders. Rather than working solely with journalists to reach publics—practitioners may now become part of “the quirky blogging community” to influence the online conversations about their clients. This shifting media environment raises questions about the future practice of public relations, in particular, the strategies practitioners use to work with new media representatives (i.e. bloggers) who are inexperienced in media relations. Results of this study show that practitioner-blogger relations can be tracked on a continuum between impersonal mass message distribution to personal relationship-building, based on blogger experience with communication professionals. Furthermore, blogger exposure to promotion influences practitioners’ communication and negotiation strategies, including use of creative communication, creating win-win situations for bloggers, and emphasis on client interests in blogger relations.

Globalization, globalism, and the development of communication technology have increased the complexity and the professional status of public relations around the world (J. Grunig & Dozier, 1992; J. Grunig & Hunt, 1984; Kazoleas & Teigen, 2006). Global public relations scholars have argued that transparent organizations need to deal with stakeholders not only in their home country, but also in host countries where they operate, and governmental sectors also need to communicate with key stakeholders in other nations (Molleda, Connolly-Ahern, & Quinn, 2005; Molleda & Laskin, 2009). Even though the body of knowledge on global public relations has been growing, government sector’s public relations efforts have not been fully documented. The parallels between public diplomacy and public relations have been the focus of studies on the scholarship of both academic fields. Governments face challenges because of the increasing global interdependency, and government-communication strategies have been shifted from propaganda to a two-way communication or dialogic approach (Taylor & Kent, 1999; Taylor, 2000). Governments need to monitor public opinion in host communities to build long-term relationships with host stakeholders. Interactive media have been useful tools to implement two-way communication since they provide immediate reaction opportunities for stakeholders and organizations (Kazoleas & Teigen, 2006; Kent & Taylor, 1998). Using interactive features on the Web, home and host stakeholders not only seek and receive what governments announce, but also request or provide feedback to governments and their agents.Several public relations scholars have emphasized the role of interactive media in two-way communication through website analysis (Delouvrier, 2008; Lee, 2006; Naudé, Froneman, & Atwood, 2004; Stout, Villegas, & Kim, 2001). This study is a website analysis for global government public relations. The purpose of this study is to develop an in-depth understanding of political and socioeconomic environmental factors, which enhance global online public relations by governments in terms of interactivity and dialogic features.