Pluralistic ignorance and professional standards: underestimating professionalism of our peers in public relations

Two-hundred-fifty-one responses to a battery of 45 professional standard items indicate that public relations professionals randomly surveyed from across the nation tend to underestimate the current state of professional standards in the field. This state of affairs, described in coorientation theory as pluralistic ignorance, suggests that our field may actually hold higher standards and greater confidence in standards than we commonly attribute to our peers.Following the third-person effect, respondents tended to view themselves as better able to withstand pressures and outdated thinking than their peers. In fact, practitioners held their peers in comparatively low esteem, viewing others collectively as somewhat naive, unprofessional and unenlightened in comparison to their own personal self-images. While female practitioners are generally less sanguine about gender and racial equity in public relations, women tend to be more optimistic about standards for ethics and professional functions such as planning and research. Women also tended to be less harsh in their ratings of peer professionalism, while also attributing lower values to others.This study, conducted under the auspices of the Yarbrough Public Relations Laboratory, is a followup to preliminary results of the survey of practitioners reported in the article titled “Developing Standards of Professional Performance in Public Relations” published in Public Relations Review in 1996. Preliminary results of a followup survey of educators was reported in the article “Professional Standards in Public Relations: A Survey of Educators” published in Public Relations Review in 1997.All three authors are with the Department of Advertising/Public Relations, Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, Athens. Lynne M. Sallot, APR, Fellow PRSA, is Assistant Professor. Glen T. Cameron is Associate Professor and Director of Research, James M. Cox, Jr. Institute for Newspaper Management Studies. Ruth Ann Weaver Lariscy is Associate Professor.     

The future of PR education: Some recommendations

This article contends that public relations is a professional occupation that has become more than a subset or specialization of other disciplinary areas. Perspectives of professional and disciplinary areas that have had a strong influence on public relations education must be reevaluated.The integrity of public relations professional education must take precedence over academic unit perspectives and biases; furthermore, public relations as a professional occupation is ideological—with its own set of professional values and beliefs. The new Commission on Public Relations Education must recognize public relations is an occupation that requires its own identity as well as clearly defined professional parameters.     

All glamour, no substance? How public relations majors and potential majors in an exemplar program view the industry and function

Studies in public relations often conclude that the field is misunderstood [Kopenhaver, L. L. (1985). Aligning values of practitioners and journalists. Public Relations Review, 11(1), 34–42; Stacks, D. W., Botan, C., & Turk, J. V. (1999). Perceptions of pubic relations education. Public Relations Review, 25, 9–29] and misrepresented in media [Spicer, C. (2000). Public relations in a democratic society: Value and values. Journal of Public Relations Research, 12(1), 115–130]. Public relations professionals themselves often do not know what is involved in or support public relations education [Wright, D. K., & Turk, J. V. (2007). Public relations knowledge and professionalism: Challenges to educators and practitioners. In E.L. Toth (Ed.), The future of excellence in public relations and communication management: Challenges for the next generation (pp. 571–588). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum]. Both the special issue (Public Relations Review, 1999) on public relations education and a following study published in this journal [Bowen, S. A. (2003). I thought it would be more glamorous: Preconceptions and misconceptions of public relations among students in the principles course. Public Relations Review, 29, 199–214] argued that public relations majors often do not realize what is involved in the academic discipline or the professional field. This research builds on the findings of those studies to ask: are public relations educators doing any better in communicating the core competencies, responsibilities, knowledge requirements, skills, and abilities of the discipline and the public relations major? Through the use of 10 focus groups across majors at a top research university, we can see that little is known about public relations among non-majors, but public relations majors can articulate the requirements and functions of the field. Several primary areas of confusion emerged about public relations related to: marketing or promotion, spinning the truth, image, and public relations as a career choice. These ideas show a critical lack of transparency in public relations. Credibility of the public relations function is hampered by this failure to communicate about the functions and core competencies of the field. Implications for both the public relations practice and for public relations education are discussed.     

Commentary: The media in 2045—Not a forecast, but a dream

The mass media continue to be among the most crucial instruments for the practitioner of public relations, and, to be sure, among the most frustrating. How are the media changing? How will those changes affect public relations? And should there be new public policies about mass media in a twenty-first century where technical, political, social, and economic realities will be radically different from previous centuries, including the twentieth?Although most public relations professionals have shied away from public criticism of the media, and have not been vocal advocates for changing public policies about media, nevertheless they need answers to the questions raised above. In this thoughtful essay, Claude-Jean Bertrand looks at a possible mass media half a century from now and provides a dream scenario.Unfortunately, Professor Bertrand describes some “twentieth-century” public relations practices as part of the “old” problems and “dreams up” some changes in those practices, as well. It may be that a public relations professional or professor should write an essay devoted to a dream scenario for public relations in 2045. The Public Relations Review invites such commentary.     

Professional standards in public relations: A survey of educators

A survey instrument operationalizing twenty-four elements of professional performance was administered to 291 public relations educators across the nation, yielding a 43.6 percent response rate. Respondents assessed the extent to which a standard of professionalism currently exists for each of the twenty-four items. Educators tended to view writing/editing and graphics/production skills, ethical guidelines, accreditation, and “public relations as advocacy” as enjoying well-established standards. Licensing, location of public relations on the organizational chart and inclusion of public relations in the dominant coalition were viewed as most lacking in a standard of professional performance.The twenty-four items factored into six dimensions. Assessments of professionalism along these six factors differed significantly as a function of sex, region, tenure of teaching, size of institution, and whether the educator was accredited by PRSA. Comparing educators' assessments with practitioners' views expressed in an earlier national survey, it is clear that professional standards in public relations have yet to have coalesced among educators or practitioners. Given the influence that educators have on the future of the field, it is imperative that educators work to elevate the profession by promulgating professional standards among their students.This study, conducted under the auspices of the Yarbrough Public Relations Laboratory, is a followup to results of a survey of practitioners reported in the article titled “Developing Standards of Professional Performance in Public Relations” published in Public Relations Review in 1996.All three authors are with the Department of Advertising/ Public Relations, Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, Athens. Dr. Lynne M. Sallot, APR, is Assistant Professor. Dr. Glen T. Cameron is Associate Professor and Director of Research, James M. Cox, Jr. Institute for Newspaper Management Studies. Dr. Ruth Ann Weaver Lariscy is Associate Professor.     

The history of academic research in public relations: Tracking research trends over nearly four decades

This study analyzed the history of public relations scholarship over 39 years of research published in two journals: the Journal of Public Relations Research and the Public Relations Review. By examining the topical, theoretical, and methodological themes, this study found new research topics, theoretical and methodological trends. These revealing themes provided a comprehensive picture of research trends and patterns of public relations scholarship, thus providing insights for future research agendas aimed at improving the breadth and depth in public relations.     

Australian public relations: status at the turn of the 21st century

Since its inception, public relations in Australia has grown in professional stature, status, education, research, and practice. As these trends progress, visibility of the profession is becoming steadily more pronounced in the industry, education, and public domain. Over the last two decades the Public Relations Institute of Australia together with its strategic alliances have made many changes, structurally, strategically, and academically towards the professional growth of public relations. This article briefly discusses the views of the Public Relations Institute of Australia and offers a snapshot of two surveys[1] on professional practice and related issues. Although direct comparisons are not meant to be made from these studies, both surveys offer insights into aspects of Australian public relations. Whereas mixed findings and scenarios are evident, and the surveys highlight areas for further development, the profession, with close attention to existing threats, is poised to grow in Australia.Raveena Singh is program director and senior lecturer at the University of Canberra (Australian Capital Territory) and Rosaleen Smyth is senior lecturer and public relations coordinator at Deakin University (Victoria). Both authors are coeditors of the Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal.     

Public relations education in Britain: An historical review in the context of professionalisation

The article presents a review of educational developments in Britain, concentrating on the activities of the Institute of Public Relations (IPR), the professional body for individual public relations practitioners. The article is based on research in the IPR archive.Jacquie L’Etang is a member of the Stirling Media Research Institute and is director of the full-time M.Sc. in Public Relations at the University of Stirling, Scotland.     

The transparent corporation and organized community

The aim of this special issue of Public Relations Review is to raise questions for further discussion and research about how technology is changing the industry of public information dissemination and persuasion, and how the public changes its mind about events, social issues, high profile images, and information itself. Unprecedented access to information through consumer and citizen Net-works has created the “transparency” in corporate life that has overturned conventional ideas about ownership in organizations, reshaping popular images of Big Business carved by partisan politics. Corporate Social Responsibility, also called “stakeholder capitalism”, suggests that prosperous business owes something back to the community from which it draws its profits.The widespread use of pseudo-polls by policy advocates in public relations campaigns and the media ownership of polls have undermined public confidence in the credibility of the phrase “what the public thinks”. While technology diminishes the ability of corporations, politicians, and governments, to control or define a public image, the individual enjoys unprecedented access to information and a newfound advantage in the sphere of public influence. The currents and undercurrents of the life cycle of public information, disbelief, persuasion and doubt pose profound questions for public relations inquiry, on an ethical as well as technical level.     

Strategizing for social change in nonprofit contexts: A typology of communication approaches in public communication campaigns

Public communication campaigns aim to create social change by influencing audiences’ behaviors and thus help nonprofit organizations fulfill their mission. These campaigns, however, often fail to deliver their anticipated impact. Using public relations research as a theoretical lens, this paper's contribution is twofold: first, we develop a typology that classifies the different communication approaches used in public communication campaigns. Based on one of the most prominent public relations theories, the Four Models of Public Relations, we differentiate communication approaches along the dimensions of communication purpose and communication style. Combining these two dimensions in a typology, we identify the following communication approaches: directing, platforming, mobilizing, and involving. We provide numerous real‐life examples of public campaigns for each one. Second, we formulate propositions about these communication approaches’ effectiveness relying on a key concept of public relations research: namely, audience segmentation. Using the transtheoretical model, we show that audiences can be segmented along five “stages of readiness to adopt a promoted behavior.” Conceptualizing behavior change as an iterative, dynamic process that entails stage progresses as well as backdrops, we derive how audiences’ “stage of readiness” relates to the effectiveness of the identified communication approaches.     

What we value: A Delphi study to identify key values that guide ethical decision-making in public relations

This study recommends that the Public Relations Society of America expand its professional values list to include respect and trustworthiness. This addition also shows the value this study's public relations participants place on mutually beneficial relationships with their clients/employers, customers, communities, and society as a whole. The findings contribute to the growing attention to and value of relationship management theory for effective public relations.     

Public relations in the new millennium: Towards a synoptic view of fifteen years of research in Public Relations Review in the 21st century (2000–2014)

This text is part of a broader project that seeks to examine the field of Public Relations from the systematic study of scientific production published in the main academic journal of the specialty: Public Relations Review (ISSN 0363–8111). From an analysis of the content of all the papers (n = 1037) published in this journal during 15 years, between 2000 and 2014, the authors, topics, universities, professional networks, countries, objectives, questions, hypotheses, methodologies, techniques, theories and type of applied research have been examined. The main authors, universities and countries with the highest productivity are identified, as well as the dominant topics in the field and their evolution over time, among others important issues, in order to contribute to an overview of the past, present and future of public relations research from what was addressed in the journal during the first fifteen years of the XXI century. It concludes with suggestions for future research.     

In search of message design best practices: The Silver Anvil Award winners archive

We investigated specific award-winning public relations efforts to derive best practices that bridge industry practices with academic research and pedagogy. The data for this project were the winning entries for the annual Public Relations Society of America's (PRSA) Silver Anvil Award, which is considered the top award recognizing excellence in public relations. We found, however, that the archive of award winners does not provide sufficiently definitive information about what defines any public relations discourse genre or why any genre as used is “excellent.” This archival research provides us with a key rationale for employing rhetorical, narrative, and linguistic theories prospectively to guide public relations message design and planning, theories which hitherto have been used to judge campaigns post hoc or retrospectively.     

Explicating trust and its relation to dialogue at a time of divided societies

Values, beliefs, opinions and attitudes on issues (such as religion, LGBTQ, immigration, etc.), and the proliferation of social media platforms have made society not only more diverse but also more divided. Competing and conflicting views and attitudes result in more schisms and disengagement. In addition, conflicts and disagreements on various issues also have resulted in a lack of trust and a reluctance of organizations and publics to engage in meaningful communication. As a result, developing trusting relationships by facilitating dialogues is significant. Trust has been an important construct in past research on organization-public relationships. However, the concept of trust has rarely been discussed in-depth in public relations literature. This special section of Public Relations Review, entitled Enhancing Dialogue and Trust in Diverse Societies, examines whether the current definitions of trust and its dimensions in the public relations literature are adequate in an organization-public dialogic communication setting.     

Public Relations Roles and Media Choice

A national survey of Public Relations Society of America members (n = 267) was conducted to examine the relationship between public relations roles and media choice based on the integration of public relations theory and media richness theory. Respondents were identified as either public relations managers or technicians using confirmatory factor analysis, corroborating previous research. Managers reported spending more time in oral communication than technicians, whereas technicians spend more time using written communication. E-mail use in public relations and related communities is discussed, and areas for future research on new media and media choices in public relations are explored.     

Finding the path beyond reputation repair: A structural topic modeling analysis of the crisis communication paradigm in public relations

This research utilizes computational methods to examine crisis communication scholarship from 2010 to 2020 in two studies with a census of all articles in Public Relations Review and the Journal of Public Relations Research (n = 1293 articles, 7400,685 words). Results indicate crisis scholarship has expanded beyond its prior focus on reputation repair. Situational crisis communication theory and image repair are compared in volume of scholarship and methodological affinity. Social media, SCCT, and media relations are identified as central topics within crisis communication scholarship.     

Organizational contingencies,organizational blogs and public relations practitioner stance toward publics

Public relations practitioners in this study who perceived social media (e.g., blogs) to be a normal part of their organization's day-to-day communication were less likely to choose an accommodating stance toward a key public than practitioners in “low-tech” conditions. Forty-three practitioners with a mean of 14.5 years professional experience participated in a 2 × 2 (contingencies for dialogue × technological orientation of organization) experiment. The data reveal a disconnect between the potential relational benefits of social media and the stance public relations practitioners in this study chose when social media were introduced as a regular part of their working environment.     

Methodical failure: the use of case study method by public relations researchers

Case studies comprise up to a third of published articles in the public relations literature. There has, however, been little discussion in the literature of their methodological advantages or shortcomings as a research tool, or reflection on the quality of published case studies. This paper reviews the literature on case-study research, and surveys 5 years of case studies published in Public Relations Review to determine the quality of their methodology. The results indicate that few researchers understand or apply good case method.The paper concludes that case studies, if thoughtfully conceived and well executed are a research tool well suited to the study of public relations. It is suggested that poor methodology has undermined the role of case research in the development of theory. If properly applied case research could usefully balance the influence of quantitative research which tends to isolate research problems from the processes of public relations practice that are embedded in social or organizational contexts.     

The history of public relations in Greece from 1950 to 1980: Professionalization of the “art”

The early development of public relations in Greece is explored through a focus on the period between 1950 and 1980. Specifically, the, article considers the origins and early developments, important actors, international influences, professional bodies and the field of practice. It is found that Greek business public relations were greatly influenced by American practices and through influential practitioners’ contact with the International Public Relations Association (IPRA).     

Commentary: Challenges for Arab and American public relations and public diplomacy in a global age

This commentary is based on the keynote address given to the international conference on “Public Relations in the Arab World in the Age of Globalization” at the University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, May 4, 2004. It points out how proper public relations practices can help bring about improvements in the relationships between America and the Arab world. Hiebert is Professor and Dean Emeritus, University of Maryland, and Editor, Public Relations Review.