The value of public relations: Different impacts of communal and exchange relationships on perceptions and communicative behavior

The study, using a survey of 508 university student publics, investigates (a) the impacts and mechanisms that a relationship has on a public’s perceptions and behavior around an issue and (b) how relationship types impact a public’s perception toward a tuition increase issue differently. The situational theory of publics was used as a theoretical framework. The results generally supported the theories. More important, the findings indicated that a communal relationship and an exchange relationship had different impacts on problem recognition, constraint recognition, and involvement recognition.     

Environmental Concern and Situational Communication Theory: Implications for Communicating With Environmental Publics

Public relations practitioners will find Grunig's situational communication theory to be a useful tool for identifying environmental publics and their orientations toward specific environmental issues. The research reported here explores the utility of Van Liere and Dunlap's (1981) measure of environmental concern in differentiating situational publics. The data were collected by telephone survey from 1,002 adult respondents. Members of the routine public did not perceive environmental issues to be a problem because they favored economic development over concern for the environment. The fatalistic public reported watching television news about pollution and held a pro-environmental attitude. Problem recognition provided a cognitive measure of environmental awareness and was consistently associated with communication behavior. Level of involvement and environmental concern provided attitudinal measures of the respondent's orientation toward environmental issues; however, these variables were not consistently associated with communication behavior. Public relations objectives designed to increase awareness and knowledge of an organization's environmental position may be far more effective than attitudinal objectives designed to create a more favorable image for the organization in view of the fact that the relationship between cognition and communication is much stronger than that between affect and communication.     

Responding to Activism: An Experimental Analysis of Public Relations Strategy Influence on Attributes of Publics

Experimental methods were used to examine the influence of public relations strategies on attributes of publics. Specifically, public relations strategies derived from Hazleton and Long's (1988) public relations process model were tested to determine strategy influence on problem recognition, involvement, constraint recognition, and goal compatibility toward an organization responding to activism. Results indicate that the attributes of problem recognition and involvement are influenced by public relations strategies. In addition, the findings of this study support the situational theory of publics. Items measuring involvement and goal compatibility were the strongest predictors of information seeking behavior. Findings indicate that goal compatibility is a predictor of strategy effectiveness.     

The utility of situational theory of publics for assessing public response to a disaster prediction

The study of public response to disasters is a relatively recent discipline that developed following the passage of the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977. Because earthquake prediction is an inexact science, few formal predictions have been issued, which has limited the opportunity to study public response to predictions. The purpose of this study was to examine the utility of public relations theory, specifically situational theory of publics, for assessing response to the New Madrid earthquake prediction.Situational theory demonstrates that there is not a single, general public for disaster predictions as has been assumed in studies of disaster response. Instead, multiple publics develop in response to a prediction based on how members of those publics view the situation. Contrary to previous findings that believability and personalized risk are correlated constructs, high personalized risk was associated with high constraint recognition regardless of belief in the prediction. Based on the findings, suggestions are proposed for the development of more effective messages for communicating with publics at risk.     

Memory for Investor Relations Messages: An Information-Processing Study of Grunig's Situational Theory

Marketing managers have used segmentation techniques to divide mass markets into specialized markets for some time, and many public relations practitioners have adopted the same techniques for their practices. Most marketing techniques segment markets more effectively than publics, however, and thus have limited value in public relations. Few public relations scholars have developed segmentation techniques for publics that are comparable to those used to segment markets in marketing. Grunig and Childers (1988) developed a situational theory of publics that has been tested and used widely by academic researchers. The theory segments publics by the activeness and passiveness of their communication behaviors and the extent to which their behavior affects organizations. Grunig maintained that active publics are more likely to process information actively and to remember it than are passive publics. This study uses the context of investor relations to test the cognitive effects of Grunig's theory. In doing so, it applies cognitive psychological methods of experimentation rarely used in public relations research and tests the effects of involvement, problem recognition, and constraint recognition on two types of memory performance. Differences were found in cued recall and recognition memory; the implications of these differences are discussed.     

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.     

Grunig's Situational Theory: A Replication,Application, and Extension

Grunig's situational theory segments publics from a larger population based on the activeness or passiveness of communication behavior. This study found support for the Grunig model in a survey conducted during the 1990 governor's race in Kansas. The variables of the theory—problem recognition, level of involvement, and constraint recognition—accurately predicted different levels of communication activity about the election. The theory also predicted the outcomes of communication successfully. In contrast to previous studies using the situational theory, this study found a strong relationship between the situational variables and standard demographic characteristics of age, education, and income—thus suggesting the possibility of using segmentation procedures that include both situational variables and media demographics. Finally, the article suggests that the situational theory could be enhanced by including an energy variable—specifically Hull-Spence's behavior equation—and a media use variable.     

Reassessing Corporate Image—An Examination of How Image Bridges Symbolic Relationships With Behavioral Relationships

Abstract

In this study we examine corporate image by identifying how image congruency might exert an impact on a public's beliefs, attitudes, and behavioral intentions toward an organization in a time of crisis for that organization. An experiment was conducted to test the research questions, and the results of the study revealed that a corporation that presented image congruency with a public's expectations could maintain public approval when there was no crisis. In the event of a crisis, however, image congruency might also protect the company via an indirect route. Given image congruency, a public's behavioral intentions toward the corporation seemed to remain consistent regardless of situational changes.     

A Human Nature Approach to Image and Ethics in International Public Relations

This article addresses the role of the concept of image in the ethics of international public relations. It argues that the right to construct mental images is fundamental to the human experience and that ethical international public relations can enhance this right. The article identifies two diametrically opposed approaches to image in public relations. The first view uses instrumental or "i images" in an attempt to manage publics by managing the organization's communication with them. This instrumental approach is essentially one-way and monological, which is inviting for many practitioners and clients. I images are usually unethical, however, because they reduce the public's chance to use symbols and images rationally and to make informed choices. The second approach uses "h images" for the humanitarian view of images. With this approach, practitioners and their clients use two-way dialogical communication and accept the ethical responsibility to enhance, not degrade, the humanity of all parties involved in public relationships. Dialogical communicators assume that their publics have as varied and valid interpretations of the world as do their clients. They assume that the goal of public relations is not reducing publics to the service of clients but joining with publics in the process of interpreting the world together. The h image approach is especially important in international public relations, which can be understood as the attempt of one culturally bound community to deal with the interpretations of another. Based on the humanitarian approach, the article proposes five tests that international public relations practice should pass to be ethical.     

The Estimation of the South Korean Government's Diplomacy for Its Opposing Public North Korea

Based on the influence of the contingency factors of inner organizational and external situational factors, contingency theory of accommodation provides a good explanation for the real public relations practices. A recent series of experimental studies supports the idea that the theory is also applicable in the public's estimation pattern regarding an organization's public relations practices. This survey study is theoretically important when examining and sorting out significant factors in the real population of a notable public diplomacy domain. That is, this research examines how the South Korean people perceive the contingency factors and how people estimate the South Korean government's stance toward its opposing public, North Korea. The regression model of perceived contingency factors and stance estimation was generalizable in the population of this study (R ² = .279). The most influential perceptual predictors in the model include: the North Korean leader's preference for the South Korean president, the relative power of South Korea, the level of commitment of North Korea, the South Korean president's preference for the North Korean leader, the US government's support for the South Korean policy toward North Korea, the South Korean government's certainty to deal with the North Korean military threat, situational difficulties, the South Korean government's knowledge and skill to deal with the threat, the situational duration of threat, and the South Korean president's relation-oriented leadership. Finally, this study discussed practical implications for the government practitioners.     

When Do People Speak Out? Integrating the Spiral of Silence and the Situational Theory of Problem Solving

Combining spiral of silence theory with the situational theory of problem solving, this study explores the extent to which publics differ in their willingness to express their opinions in hostile social situations. Based on analysis of a survey among 369 college students about their willingness to express opinions on 2 controversial topics (gun possession and climate change), 3 key findings emerge: (a) Fear of isolation suppresses people's willingness to express their opinions in public; (b) active publics are more likely than other types of publics to express their opinions; and (c) there is no interaction effect between fear of isolation and types of publics. In addition to several theoretical contributions, the findings provide public relations practitioners with a model for predicting which types of publics would be more or less likely to express their opinion.     

Contextual and Audience Moderators of Channel Selection and Message Reception of Public Health Information in Routine and Crisis Situations

A richer understanding of audience channel selection and message reception during routine and crisis situations through receiver-oriented research offers great promise to extend situational theory's predictive utility. Key variables of situational theory, including involvement, constraint, and problem recognition in information seeking and processing may be moderated by broader demographic and contextual factors in consumption of health information. Thus, situational theory frames this analysis of channels most important for public use in routine and crisis contexts in health information seeking, differences in preferences between contexts, and the criteria publics apply when evaluating the quality of health information. Results of a national random telephone survey (n = 400) indicate a need for more receiver-based studies in public relations, as involvement and demographics played key moderating roles in channel preferences. Use of several channels including radio, magazine, and television differed between crisis and routine contexts for health information consumers. In both crisis and routine contexts, those with high health involvement were more likely to use active media channels such as newspapers and magazines. Perceived accuracy is also revealed as a key criterion in evaluating the quality of health information consumers receive.     

A Case Study of Aston Villa Football Club

This article conceptualizes a Homo Narrans paradigm for public relations by combining symbolic convergence theory (SCT) and situational theory. SCT results in theory-based data for designing message content but not the relevant publics to target messages. Situational theory identifies relevant publics and when messages should be directed to the publics but not the message content. Combined, SCT and situational theory develop a Homo Narrans paradigm that views the exchange of messages between an organization and public as forms of stories. A Homo Narrans paradigm allows researchers and practitioners to advance public relations as an applied social science.     

Is Public Space Suited to Co-operative Inquiry?

This article questions the nature of the philosophical commitment to the problem of 'the public' in modernity. To what extent does the natural form of the public determine the use and value of the instruments of pragmatism in the public-private divide. In this interpretation, John Dewey's ideas about 'the public' are presented in terms of how to solve a specific problem through what he sees as 'co-operative inquiry'. The article also examines the role of public space in the process of democratization through the potential of co-operative inquiry. More often than not, it appears that the politics of public space may be both detrimental and/or beneficial to its end-users in China, Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the rest of Asia.     

Abortion Perspectives and Pollsters' Questions

Abstract

In measuring public opinion about controversial issues, pollsters strive for balanced and comprehensive coverage of the subject. This type of coverage may be undermined, however, when one perspective of the issue tends to predominate in society. This point is illustrated by a review of questions major pollsters asked about the abortion issue over an eight-year period. The data suggest that in querying the public about abortion rights, in describing the legal and empirical realities of the abortion situation and in seeking the public's reaction to abortion politics and policy, pollsters tended to reflect the dominant pro-choice perspective.     

Prudent vs Pragmatic Solutions: In Defense of State Intervention Against Discrimination

This paper addresses the issue of available strategies for intervening in problems of discrimination as presented in the lead article in this Special Issue. First, it is argued here that the issue of discrimination is a moral issue and that all four models presented are ways of addressing this inherently moral issue. The question, therefore, is, Who is most likely to succeed in dealing with this issue of public morality? It is suggested here that while all four modes of intervention are necessary, they can be successful only in conjunction with the pragmatic and unequivocal intervention of the state, which (at least in principle) is not only the most justifiable summation of the public's morality but also commands the most available resources and overall mandate in dealing with public matters.

     

Explicating crisis coping in crisis communication

This study explores coping, a core construct in the cognitive appraisal theory of crisis communication, from the public's perspective. The study proposed and tested the hierarchical framework of publics’ crisis coping that examined the relationship among four types of publics’ crisis coping strategies (i.e., relational thinking, emotional venting, instrumental support, and action). For this purpose, a survey was conducted among 168 individuals from a randomly sampled general public population. The proposed model of crisis coping illustrates tenable data-model fits. Key findings of this study include direct effects of rational thinking on action as well as indirect effects of emotional venting on action through instrumental support. The results shed light on the essential coping facilitator role organizations could play in terms of providing publics with instrumental support in times of crisis and facilitate more constructive public responses in the organizational crisis-handling process.     

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.     

Public engagement with nonprofit organizations on Facebook

Explicating Facebook's engagement features, this study explored whether organizational message strategies based on the four models of public relations have an impact on the different levels of public engagement. The study found that publics demonstrate high levels of engagement with organizational messages when two-way symmetrical communication is used, compared to public information or two-way asymmetrical models. The study also provided practical implications for nonprofit practitioners to engage with publics via social media.     

Comparison of Indirect Sources of Efficacy Information in Pretesting Messages for Campaigns to Prevent Drunken Driving

Enabling publics to remove the constraints that prevent health enhancement is the focus of much scholarly research and professional practice. This experiment tested the impact of 2 forms of symbolic modeling and verbal persuasion on self-efficacy beliefs and intentions to prevent a friend from driving drunk. Three efficacy-enhancing public service announcements tested participants' beliefs in their confidence to intervene successfully. As predicted, behavioral and verbal modeling engendered greater perceived self-efficacy and behavioral intentions than did verbal persuasion, with behavioral modeling registering the greatest effects. Implications for designing campaigns of self-directed change to prevent drunken driving among college students are discussed, as well as possible directions for research on self-efficacy and the situational theory of publics.