Remembering the Public in Public Relations Research: From Theoretical to Operational Symmetry

In an attempt to reconcile public relations research with a range of critical concerns, J. Grunig and colleagues have proposed a two-way symmetrical model that reformulates public relations as a more inclusive, balanced, and ethical practice. A contradiction exists, however, between two-way symmetrical theory and the asymmetrical research agenda it perpetuates: an agenda that continues to subsidize commercial and state communications at the expense of other segments of the population. To achieve real inclusion and balance in public relations, research must begin to address the public communications needs and constraints of previously excluded segments of the population     

Public Relations as Negotiation: An Issue Development Perspective

In this essay 1 reconceptualize public relations as negotiation within an issue development perspective, Issue development is a communication approach to negotiation that focuses on the framing and reframing of issues. Theoretical characteristics of communication and negotiation models are utilized to identify shortcomings of the two-way symmetrical model and to advance notions of public relations as negotiation within an issue development framework. Issue development public relations is a management process of negotiating the organization public relationship. Theoretical implications and future research questions are indicated.     

Public relations in Portugal. An analysis of the profession through the undergraduate curriculum

Higher education in public relations in Portugal has been expanding in recent years. The purpose of this research is to analyse undergraduate public relations programmes in Portugal within the Bologna Treaty reform. After having compared public relations curricula and defined the main features, an empirical research was applied in order to determine the opinion of public relations educators and practitioners about the ideal undergraduate plan of studies in public relations.     

A Provisional Conceptual Framework for Intentional Positioning in Public Relations

Positioning within public relations is a concept not often addressed in public relations literature. This article reports on the progress of a project that aims to develop a way in which positioning could be usefully conceptualized within public relations. It suggests a conceptual framework that takes positioning beyond the marketing definitions that have limited use in the broader public relations field. The article reports on the development of a provisional conceptual framework for intentional positioning within a public relations context. Drawing from recent developments in positioning theory in the field of psychology, a framework was developed and applied to 57 award winning public relations campaign entries. Findings reveal that the positioning framework has the potential to be applied both as an heuristic to aid analysis of practice and also as a framework to aid practitioners in designing positioning strategies. Possibilities for further research are discussed.     

Public Relations Expertise and Organizational Effectiveness: A Study of U.S. Hospitals

A national survey of 191 heads of public relations departments in hospitals measured the departments' expertise or knowledge to practice excellent public relations, as defined by recent research. Utilizing 2 scales original to the study, correlations showed strong and significant relationships between organizational effectiveness and departments with high potential to practice the 2-way symmetrical model, enact the manager role, and participate in strategic planning. Analysis further showed that traditional communication craft, as characterized by 1-way models and the technician role, is a foundation for public relations excellence. Findings can be used to help resolve the current crisis faced by hospitals.     

Barriers to Public Relations Program Research

A mail survey (n = 300) of public relations practitioners assessed role orientations, research orientations, and perceived barriers to performing public relations research. The data showed 2 distinct but correlated groups of practitioner orientations (managers and technicians) and 2 orthogonal groups of research orientations (source orientation and receiver orientation). Budget was considered more of a constraint for management-oriented practitioners, with time and training more of a problem for technician-oriented practitioners. Supervisor interest and training were motivators to research for those with a management orientation. Client interest had no positive or negative associations with the perceived ability to perform public relations research. The results suggest that management-oriented practitioners appreciate the need for receiver-oriented data but may not communicate its value effectively when budgeting decisions are made. Technician-oriented practitioners, meanwhile, appear aware of the limitations of source-oriented practices but need further training to enable them to change operating styles.     

Public Relations: A Discipline in Transformation

This article presents an overview of the evolution and emerging architecture of the public relations academic discipline. Key developments and debates are described, highlighting some of the major tensions and debates that have arisen. The scope of discussion proceeds through definitions, a consideration of historical contexts, evolution of public relations research, key approaches, an introduction to the remit of key journals, and finally, consideration as to emerging themes and possible futures. It is suggested that the increasing emphasis on historical, sociological and cultural themes is leading to an increasingly reflexive and diverse field.     

Values of Public Relations: Effects on Organization-Public Relationships Mediating Conflict Resolution

This article identified two important measures of public relations effects i.e., organization-public relationships and conflict resolution, and investigated how they functionally related to public relations strategies. The research hypothesis posited that the effect of public relations strategies on conflict resolution was mediated by organization-public relationships. Two survey data sets were used and incorporated to derive possible answers for the proposed research hypothesis and research question. The 1st data set (n = 301) was used as a starting point for investigating the complex relationships among variables. The 2nd data set (n = 235) was tested, and replication procedures were adopted to further cross-validate the results obtained from the 1st study. The results supported the research hypothesis positing that the effect of public relations on conflict resolution is mediated by organization-public relationships. Theoretically, this study makes evident the values of public relations in terms of relationship management and conflict resolution. On a pragmatic level, the results of this study may serve to benefit public relations practitioners interested in generating favorable relationships and resolving conflict with their publics in general, and conducting international business in Far Eastern countries in particular.     

Toward Public Relations Theory-Based Study of Public Diplomacy: Testing the Applicability of the Excellence Study

This study tested the applicability of the Excellence Study (L. A. Grunig, J. E. Grunig, & Dozier, 2002) to developing the study of public diplomacy to respond to Signitzer and Coombs's (1992) call for empirical research to "delineate and test" (p. 145) transferable public relations theories and to rigorously examine conceptual convergence between both spheres. This study delineated underdeveloped conceptions of public diplomacy practices and excellence in public diplomacy as a gap preventing theory building for both practices and excellence. It proposed the conceptual frameworks for public relations behavior and excellence in public relations in the Excellence Study to be applicable to developing the underdeveloped conceptions. In testing the applicability, this study examined the fits of 2 measurement models of public relations behavior and excellence in public relations developed from the conceptual frameworks of the Excellence Study. It tested the models with survey data on public diplomacy practices and management collected from 113 embassies in Washington, D.C. The findings showed that the conceptual and measurement frameworks of the Excellence Study are applicable: The 2 measurement models fit the public diplomacy data.     

Communicating Public Relations Research

In this article, I report a study on the extent and nature of research in the public relations industry. I begin with a document analysis of all campaigns submitted to a national industry awards in 1991 and 1992 and then investigate the research experience of public relations practitioners by using interviews with a sample of award-winning practitioners. The discussion provides insights into attitudes toward research. The implications of the study are useful for assessing the development of the profession, the issues facing practitioners in competing for resources, and the usefulness of initial and continuing public relations education. Critical theory is used to examine the way individuals conceptualize their research activity and focus on the importance of the language used by practitioners to describe their data-gathering processes, its significance for understanding and rewarding public relations contributions to organizational effectiveness, and its relevance for communicating across disciplines.     

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.     

Public perceptions of public relations

Public relations has been portrayed in the media in a consistently negative manner over several decades, providing images that may become part of public perceptions. Perceptions about public relations affect the perceived credibility of the profession and influence whether people see public relations as valuable to society. Second-level agenda setting and cultivation theories purport that mass media contribute to beliefs about social reality by creating a cumulative, general consciousness upon which assumptions and judgments are based, suggesting that public perceptions about public relations would match media portrayal. Results of a telephone survey found public relations is perceived more positively than media portrayal would suggest. Respondents viewed public relations as an important activity that benefits society by providing information and disagree that it is damage control, an attempt to hide or disguise something, or a non-substantive activity. However, public relations is associated with publicity, media relations, and the attempt of an organization to advance its own agenda.     

Public relations role in a global competition “to sell” alternative political and socio-economic models of market economy

This article extends the transitional public relations approach to international public relations research. The arguments are presented that public relations strategies and instruments were and are further on used in that competition to promote, and sometimes impose certain political and socio-economic models of market economy. The main global players, first of the United States, but most recently also China are trying to “sell” their own model not only in the former socialist/communist but also in developing countries. On the other hand, the campaign to promote European social model has just been initiated by the European Parliament.     

Public relations in Ghana: Work-related cultural values and public relations models

This study explores cultural influences on public relations practices in Ghana. This survey research brief reports data collected from Ghanaian public relations practitioners (n = 64) and describes work-related cultural values as well as the practices of public relations models in Ghana. The result reveals that Ghanaian public professionals tend to utilize international public relations and two-way communication models. The study extends knowledge of international public relations in African cultures.     

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.     

Craft and Professional Models of Public Relations and Their Relation to Job Satisfaction Among Korean Public Relations Practitioners

To determine which model Korean public relations practitioners use and their levels of job satisfaction, a survey of 167 Korean public relations practitioners in Seoul was conducted. Results showed that Korean practitioners use the craft models of press agentry and public information. However, they aspire to practice two-way, or professional public relations, models. Practitioners of high professionally oriented public relations are more satisfied with their jobs than practitioners of low professionally oriented public relations. This gap between a positive and a normative model also indicated a strong positive relation between the professional models and job satisfaction.     

Exploratory Study of Public Relations Roles in Zimbabwe

This exploratory study examined the practice of public relations in Zimbabwe by surveying and understanding public relations roles typically practiced by Zimbabwean PR practitioners. Through the lens of systems theory, the research investigated whether the practiced public relations roles allow organizations to perform all three boundary spanning functions such as output, throughput, and input. The results confirmed prior theoretically and empirically derived typology of roles (technician, manager, strategist) from the African continent. However, the observed structures of public relations roles deviate from previous findings, indicating that Zimbabwean PR practitioners' professional roles may differ from those in neighboring countries.     

Field Dynamics and Public Relations Theory: Toward the Management of Multiple Publics

This article expands on the theoretical idea that public relations should be a two-way symmetrical process in which organizations use principles of communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution to manage relationships with strategic publics. We point out that the symmetrical model is two-way and does not explain the situation in which an organization must communicate with multiple publics about a problem. In the typical public relations case, the organization carries on a public debate with at least one relevant public in front of numerous other publics. This article adapts the method of field dynamics for assessing the relative positions of publics and organizations. The method makes it possible to compare organizations and publics on the dimensions of dominance—submissiveness, friendly-unfriendly, and group versus self-orientation. We compare our method with the situational theory of publics, co-orientation, and cultural analysis—all of which have been used in public relations theory and research. We then apply field dynamics to a dispute with Native Americans in Wisconsin and suggest intervention strategies for dealing with the dispute.     

An Intercultural Competence Model of Strategic Public Relations Management in the Peru Mining Industry Context

This study develops and tests an intercultural competence model of strategic public relations management in the Peruvian mining industry. The model proposes that public relations practitioners' trait-level intercultural competence (empathy, open-mindedness, and flexibility) affect their perceptual-level competence (anxiety and uncertainty management), which in turn influence their behavioral-level competence (public relations practices) and the consequent relational quality with the publics. Structural equal modeling was used to analyze the data from 90 practitioners with rich intercultural public relations experiences. Results indicated that trait competence components worked differently in reducing practitioners' uncertainty and anxiety. Such distress reduction enhanced the use of symmetrical and two-way public relations. Finally, symmetrical public relations and lowered anxiety increased practitioners' perceptions of trust and control mutuality in the relationships their organizations had with the publics. The model's theoretical and practical implications are discussed.