An exploratory study to conceptualize press engagement behavior with public relations practitioners.

Highlights • Two aspects of press engagement behavior: Press Participation and Press Citizenship. • Qualitative study generated a thirty-item scale measuring 8 constructs of press engagement for further validation. • A tool to evaluate dyadic symmetrical cultivation strategies in media relations. • Operationalize the Organization-public relationship theory and intereffication model. • Enriches customer engagement theory in a media relations context. Abstract This study addresses how journalists respond to public relations (PR) practitioners in co-creating value for their audiences. The co-creation perspective is conceptualized by synthesizing extant literature from public relations and relationship marketing, including cultivation strategies in organization-public relationships studies, two-way symmetrical model in excellence theory, intereffication model, service-dominant (S-D) logic of co-creation in marketing, and customer engagement theories. Using long-interview technique with 18 journalists, the study investigates how journalists perceive media relations activities of PR practitioners from a value co-creation dimension. A new theoretical model titled press engagement behavior (PEB) with sub-dimensions in press participation behavior (PPB) and press citizenship behavior (PCB) is proposed. A thirty-item scale is proposed to guide future study on scale development and validation. The proposed new model can explain the context of journalist engagement, enriching the operational value of cultivation strategies in dyadic relationship settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]