Going head to head: Content analysis of high profile conflicts as played out in the press

Content analyses of news coverage for high profile conflicts (the U.S. Department of Agriculture, American Airlines, Massachusetts Military Reservation, United Parcel Service) provide a natural history of the use of the contingency theory in public relations. The content analysis tracked the changing stances of organizations moving on the continuum from pure advocacy to pure accommodation, in response to a number of contingent factors that can just as readily move an organization toward accommodation as toward advocacy. Integrating conflict and conflict resolution models from the conflict literature with the contingency theory in public relations, results confirm that strategies as well as stances of an organization and its public change over time. This change over time has been influenced predominantly by two contingent factors: internal threats and external threats. Both parties in each conflict demonstrated overall advocacy and employed a contending strategy predominantly during the conflict management process.     

From advocacy to accommodation: A case study of the Orlando Magic's public relations efforts to secure a new arena

A case study of the Orlando Magic NBA franchise was conducted to understand media relations, community relations, and foundation efforts in support of a new or renovated arena, examining how either accommodation or advocacy was used when the franchise was in direct conflict with one (or many) of its publics. The contingency theory of accommodation in public relations served as the framework for understanding the franchises efforts. Over the time frame covered by the study, the organization was found to move along the continuum from advocacy to accommodation in its public relations efforts regarding the arena issue.     

It Depends: A Contingency Theory of Accommodation in Public Relations

We argue here for a contingency theory of accommodation in public relations based on a continuum from pure accommodation to pure advocacy. The theory posits that antecedent, mediating, and moderating variables lead to greater or lesser accommodation. We identify 87 variables for inclusion in the matrix of factors affecting the degree of accommodation undertaken by public relations practitioners. We offer the theory as an alternative to the normative theory of excellence in public relations based on the two-way symmetrical model.     

Testing the contingency theory of accommodation in public relations

We conducted 18 interviews with public relations professionals to provide grounding and refinement of the contingency theory of accommodation in public relations. Support was found for a continuum from pure accommodation to pure advocacy and for a matrix of variables affecting the continuum. Predisposing and situational categories of variables were identified that affect the degree of accommodation and advocacy undertaken by public relations practitioners in a given situation. Overall, the findings suggest that practitioners are quite sophisticated in considering a welter of factors affecting accommodation of publics. Findings also provide additional factors to add to the matrix of 86 variables in the contingency theory, while calling into question some variables offered initially in the matrix. Although generally overlooked in the literature, philanthropic/ community relations functions are viewed by practitioners as important opportunities to be accommodative. Overall, the practitioners' view of their communication world offers validity to the contingency theory and suggests further theory development is in order.Amanda E. Cancel works in public relations in the private sector, Michael A. Mitrook is an assistant professor at Central Florida University, and Glen T. Cameron is the Maxine Wilson-Gregory Chair in Journalism Research at the Missouri School of Journalism.     

The estimation of a corporate crisis communication

This experimental study found a main effect of perceived leadership and an interaction effect of perceived leadership and perceived severity of threats on the public's estimation of organizational crisis responses. The results indicate that the contingent theoretical argument explaining the dynamics of organizational factors and situational factors that determine stance taken by public relations practices can also be applied when explaining the outside latent public's thought patterns predicting an organizational stance and message strategy. Contingency theory offers predictive power, not just for the practitioner, but for the public passing judgment on the stance taken by an organization.     

Coleman Advocates for Children And Youth: a pioneering child advocacy organization (1974-2008)

Coleman Advocates for Youth and Children is a pioneering 30-year-old child advocacy organization founded by several affluent community members and children's service professionals to stop housing abused and neglected children in juvenile hall. Today, low-income youth and parents in families of color are now assuming leadership in developing a unique hybrid approach that integrates community organizing with more traditional child advocacy strategies and focuses on increasing affordable housing and improving the city's educational system. The strategies employed by Coleman have also evolved, shifting from insider advocacy with administrative officials to public campaigns targeting the city budget process, to local initiative campaigns, and most recently to electoral politics. This organizational history features the issues mission and structure, leadership, managing issues, advocacy strategies and community relations, and funding.     

Perceptual,Attitudinal, and Behavioral Outcomes of Organization–Public Engagement on Corporate Social Networking Sites

This study proposes and tests a conceptual model that not only measures public engagement with corporate pages on social networking sites, but also evaluates the influence of such engagement on important perceptual, relational, and behavioral outcomes. Study results provide empirical evidence of the positive effects of public engagement on perceived corporate authenticity, organizational transparency, organization–public relationships, and public advocacy. Findings underscore the importance of public engagement via social media on enhancing perceived corporate transparency and authenticity, and thereby cultivating strong relationships. Additionally, organization–public relationships emerged as a deciding factor driving the effects of public engagement on advocacy behaviors.     

Public nudity on cell phones: Managing conflict in crisis situations

Analyzing news coverage to recount a fast-moving, dramatic marketing PR incident that occurred in South Korea, the contingency theory of conflict management and crisis management strategies are integrated to examine how crisis is communicated and managed in a very short period of time. Several types of strategies were utilized by contending parties through the various stages of the crisis life cycle. We found evidence for a new contingent variable that should be added in the matrix of contingent factors--the importance of Internet community and Netizens as organized and influential public. Netizens played an important role throughout the crisis period in changing the organization's stance from advocacy to accommodation.     

The Ebb and Flow of Environmentalism

This essay examines the pattern of ebb and flow in the environmental movement in the United States. Although the movement has experienced periods of expansion and contraction over the last century, environmentalism has sustained significant mobilization with the evolution of its organizational forms and tactics. Mass demonstrations and other forms of public protest defined the emergence of the modern environmental movement in the 1960s and early 1970s, and grassroots action remains important, particularly in response to the urgency of climate change. However, the movement has also relied increasingly on institutionalized organizational forms and conventional tactics such as litigation and lobbying. Some critics argue that decentralized networks and disruptive tactics are essential for inspiring a new era of impassioned environmental activism, while others contend that the complexity of current environmental problems requires more formalized structures and focused legislative advocacy. We conclude that the diversity of organizational forms and activities in the environmental movement has maintained the movement over many decades, and that this diversity can aid in effecting comprehensive change.     

What drives a tough call: Determining the importance of contingency factors and individual characteristics in communication executives’ stance decision-making through a conjoint analysis

To further the understanding of how communication executives make tough calls in times of organizational-public conflict, we use a conjoint analysis to identify key drivers for organizational stance decision-making. This is the first-ever conjoint analysis applied to advancing the contingency theory of strategic conflict management by examining the relative importance of key contingency factors as determined by practitioners with varied individual characteristics. This study investigates: 1) the relevant importance of and dynamics between three key contingency factors (i.e., external threats, organizational characteristics, and dominant coalition characteristics); 2) the influence of individual characteristics (e.g., gender, experience, and personal ethics) in stance decision-making process; and 3) how different types of organizational stances (i.e., general stance, action-based accommodation, and qualified-rhetoric-mixed accommodation) are determined by these contingency factors and individual characteristics in different conflict situations. Results generated among our communication executive participants include: individual characteristics (i.e., gender, ethics and social responsibility, whistleblowing tendencies, and over 20 years in the communications field) are influential for their strategic conflict management decision-making. Implications for refining the contingency theory and unearthing complex public relations decision-making processes via novel statistical techniques are discussed.     

Still fighting the good fight: An analysis of student activism and institutional response

The current study employs content analysis of news coverage on recent campus protests (the University of Missouri, the University of Cincinnati, Harvard School of Law, and Ithaca College). Using the contingency theory of conflict management as a theoretical framework, the study sought both parties’ (institution and student activist group) stances along the continuum of pure advocacy to pure accommodation. The study also examined whether recent student groups applied radical activist strategies, and if institutions employed conflict resolution strategies.Results indicate both parties were advocating, with only institutions moving along the continuum from advocacy to pure accommodation. Students were found to execute radical activist strategies and institutions’ responses were dominantly unconditionally constructive.     

Revisiting contingency theory in regenerative social-mediated crisis: An investigation of Maxim’s and Yoshinoya in Hong Kong’s polarized context

This research investigates how the social media-based crisis response of two organizations operating in a specific polarized context unfolds along a regenerative crisis lifecycle in line with the contingency theory of accommodation. By analyzing two crises that affected the Maxim’s and Yoshinoya groups during the Hong Kong social unrest in 2019, the paper commits to explicate how internal, socio-environmental, and external publics’ factors shape the communication patterns of the crisis. By focusing on Facebook posts and information available online, this study examines how the two selected organizations responded to specific crisis situations, and how publics reacted during the regenerative crisis lifecycle. Results show that Maxim’s took the advocative, while Yoshinoya engaged in the accommodative stance initially. Then, they both turned to an avoidance stance to deal with active online publics with opposing political stances. Contingent factors driving the organizations to adopt specific stances were relevant to internal members, organizational characteristics, social media environment, and external publics. Results provide insights about the complexities organizations face to respond to online publics in regenerative social-mediated crises. They also advance the contingency theory by refining the advocacy-accommodation stance continuum, re-defining contingent factors, and explicating the interactive effects of contingent factors on organizational response decision making in a polarized and social-mediated context.     

Change and Tensions in Non-profit Organizations: Beyond the Isomorphism Trajectory

Research on the relationship between non-profit organizations (NPOs) and the public sector has been dominated by predictions of isomorphism where change and tensions in NPOs are attributed an imposing institutional setting. This article argues that research represents a selective perspective on organizational life due to its portrayal of organizational change as synonymous with an isomorphic, linear trajectory. The purpose of this article is to illustrate different sources and characteristics of change and tension. The article presents an analytical framework comprising of four components: evolving change, episodic change, inherent dilemmas, and conflicting logics, facilitating an understanding of the organization as movement. The analysis of a case study organization suggests that by identifying different dimensions of changes and tensions we can gain a richer understanding of the complexity of processes underpinning the organization as movement. The analysis reveals how multiple, parallel processes related to change and tensions generate reflections that drive integrity and identity formation at individual and organizational levels.     

From Game Protection to Wildlife Management: Frame Shifts,Organizational Development,and Field Practices

One enduring question in social movements research is the relationship between cultural representations and organizational structure. In this article, we examine the development of different discursive frames over time, and how such frame shifts affect movement structure and practices. This approach seeks to illuminate the dialectical interplay between the movement community's discursive frame and its practices, and thus expand our understanding of the process of social movement growth and change. Through a close qualitative and historical analysis of a discursive shift within the hunting community of the United States in the 1930s from a focus strictly on game protection to a more expanded discursive frame of wildlife management, we show how this cultural shift led to major changes in both the organizational structure and advocacy goals of this social movement. We conclude with a discussion of how this process can be further studied.     

Public expectations of crisis outcomes in the social media era in China: A communication-mediated psychological mechanism

This study theoretically and empirically identifies a new typology of Chinese publics’ normative expectations of crisis outcomes. It classifies the concept into three culturally relevant dimensions—public expectations of (a) organizational accommodative responses (i.e., how an in-crisis organization should respond), (b) punishment of the organization (i.e., how publics collectively should respond), and (c) government intervention (i.e., how government should respond) for desirable crisis outcomes. Using an online survey of the Beijing public, this study investigates the degree to which information seeking and online expression mediate relationships between crisis blame and the three types of expectations. The study finds that as the level of crisis blame increases, active information seekers expect more regarding organizational accommodation and government intervention, whereas active expressers expect stronger punishments of the organization and less government intervention in China.     

Evaluating excellence: A model of evaluation for public relations practice in organizational culture and context

This paper represents the development of an innovative and comprehensive model designed to measure public relations excellence within an organizational context. Drawing on established scales of evaluation for public relations practice, researchers propose a measurement model situated within excellence Theory. Through a partnership between the research team and The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) organization, a case study approach was developed and implemented, highlighting the relationships between organizational culture and communication. The Excellence in Organizational Context model was tested within the AER, using empirical data gathered through in-depth semi-structured interviews and a self-report questionnaire survey conducted with individuals from various identified organizational stakeholder groups. This mixed-method approach was employed to explore and understand the multi-dimensional nature of public relations practice within this organization.Researchers investigated eight dimensions of excellence in this model. Initial findings indicate that the Excellence in Organizational Context model proposed here is a valid and appropriate method for measuring public relations performance when applied as a mixed-method approach for measuring practice and establishing context within an organizational culture. This indicates the need for both organizational, stakeholder, and sector/national level data in confirming relevant benchmarks.     

Internal public relations’ role with workplace,spirituality, and religion

This article argues that public relations ought to lead the integration of spirituality and religion in an organization’s workplace. Because no model of this opportunity exists for internal public relations (a.k.a. employee relations or internal communication), this article looks at scholarship about spirituality and religion in the workplace to show links among organizational performance, employee engagement, and public relations operations, particularly that focused on employees. From this research-based approach, guiding principles for public relations’ lead role in integrating spirituality and religion in an organization’s workplace and an operational framework for internal public relations are given so public relations professionals can make the integration reality and effective for all.     

Leaning Out: Exploring Organizational Advocacy Activities From an Open Systems Perspective

This article explores the effect of organizational culture on engagement with advocacy activities, both traditional and electronic. The Competing Values Framework offers a model for understanding how organizations’ culture influences behavior. Using a sample of nonprofit providers from across the country, the author hypothesized that organizations that use electronic advocacy tools are more involved with advocacy activities of all types. A paper and pencil survey was used to collect data on organizational culture, advocacy tools and techniques, perceived effectiveness of the advocacy tools, policy goals, organizational sustainability goals as well as barriers and facilitators of electronic advocacy. The study used path modeling to describe the connections between organizational culture and engagement in advocacy activities. The article examines the barriers and facilitators of electronic advocacy, the penetration of electronic advocacy use in this sample of agencies and the perceptions of effectiveness associated with using these strategies; lastly, the implications of these findings for managers and organizational leaders are discussed.     

Interorganizational influences on the founding of african american organizations, 1955–1985

This paper examines the relationship between traditions of social action and patterns of organizational development, using data on the formation of national African American protest, advocacy, and service organizations between 1955 and 1985. Following research in organizational ecology, Poisson regression is used to examine the association between organizational density and organizational formation across strategic forms. The results provide some support for the idea that interorganizational influences are important in shaping the contours of the African American social movement industry. Outside funding, internal organizational capacities and protest levels also play a significant role.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1992 annual meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society.     

Overcoming Ethnocentrism: The Role of Identity in Contingent Practice of International Public Relations

Based on literature from the contingency theory of public relations and psychocultural conflict theory, this study explored how multinational corporations (MNCs) are practicing public relations in Korea, and what contingency factors impact MNCs' stances in conflict situations. Interviews of leaders in public relations agencies whose major clients are MNCs found that "fear factor" plays a critical role in MNCs taking more accommodative stances in conflict situations. MNCs tend to move toward accommodative stances based on their fear of Korean media and local culture, regardless of the presence of 2-way symmetrical communications with publics. More specifically, accommodation seemed to be enacted through 1-way communication (i.e., local publics' claims) and MNCs' fear of media, local culture, or publics. This finding implies the following: First, 1-way communication may not always result in advocacy as is claimed in Western cultures, but may actually lead to accommodation. Second, indigenous local cultural dimensions should be explored in examining international public relations practices.