Engaging for a social licence to operate (SLO)

Organizations - in free and relatively free market economies - depend on permission to operate being granted by stakeholders. This often-tacit permission functions as a social licence and reflects an organization’s ability to engage with its stakeholders to identify and respond to their demands and expectations. Research suggests the generation of a social licence to operate (SLO) and its reputational benefits depends on the quality of organization-stakeholder relationships, but limited attention to how this occurs has been given in the public relations literature. This paper explores two organizational approaches to building SLO – pro-self and pro-social – and considers the role of public relations and engagement in achieving, maintaining, and repairing SLO.     

Worthy? Crowdfunding the Canadian Health Care and Education Sectors

Crowdfunding, the practice of asking for money from others using the Internet, is a major private means through which Canadians are funding their health care and education. Crowdfunding has proliferated in Canada during the 2010s and continues to grow, approaching the revenues of Canada's major traditional charities. Proponents describe it as an empowering practice from which anyone can benefit. If its gains are inequitably distributed, however, increasing reliance on this private funding mechanism, especially in core areas of welfare state provision, can further exacerbate inequalities of opportunity and income. This study asks why Canadians turn to health care and education crowdfunding and how equitably funds are raised using this novel method. Based on a mixed methods analysis of 319 campaigns conducted on two prominent crowdfunding platforms between 2012 and 2014, we find that crowdfunding users’ needs frequently correspond to known gaps in the contemporary social safety net, including in the area of cancer care, and that campaigns for older and visible minority Canadians face a disadvantage. We argue that health care and education crowdfunding is a response to the shortcomings of Canadian welfare state provision, but one that reproduces offline inequalities with potentially perilous consequences for democratic life and individual suffering.     

Beyond organization-centred public relations: Collective action through a civic crowdfunding campaign

Public relations scholars have called for a shift from organization-centred approaches and practices to community, – or collective-based ones. With the Internet, the latter have become more frequent although under-researched or not well understood. This article addresses those gaps by researching a community-based campaign in New Zealand and by underpinning the research with collective action theory. Methodologically, it combines netnography, thematic analysis, and interviews with major players, to analyze a civic crowdfunding campaign. It provides an account of how two amateur activists not only initiated and managed this campaign, but also raised US$1.5 million (NZ$2.27) within three weeks to buy a private beach and gift it back to the New Zealand public. The article seeks to add to both PR scholarship and practice. It adds to the former by analysing the campaign and identifying success factors for civic crowdfunding campaigns more generally; and to the latter by accounting for a different kind of activist and community-based PR that goes beyond organization-centred approaches to offer gratifying community-centered work that improves the reputation of PR for contributing to the common good.     

Caregiver Engagement in Religious Urban Elementary Schools

ABSTRACT

This article examines how school leaders in a religious school serving traditionally marginalized students improve their school communities through constructing space for caregiver engagement. This study suggests how counter-narratives of critical care can inform social justice leadership in schools. The results, from a case study of a Catholic urban elementary school that uses innovative and effective strategies to engage caregivers, show that educational leaders create spaces for engaging caregivers by developing relationships with them and systematically reducing barriers to their participation in the school community. Analyzing these results through the critical care theory lens illuminates how these spaces value diverse forms of social and cultural capital are strengthened by alliances with nontraditional support structures. This research contributes to our evolving understanding of caregiver engagement by presenting a textured analysis of a case study as viewed through a critical care conceptual framework.     

U.S. Fortune 500’s stakeholders engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence for proactive approaches

In times of a national crisis such as COVID-19, it is important for organizations to show that they are good corporate citizens. At the same time, organizations should carefully select the type of messages that resonate with stakeholders so as to reduce stakeholder skepticism. This study examines how U.S. Fortune 500 companies discussed their COVID-19 pandemic CSR actions on Facebook over 15 months and how the public responded to such messages. We identified three CSR themes: internal stakeholder proactive CSR, external stakeholder proactive CSR, and external stakeholder accommodative CSR. When publics engaged, external stakeholder proactive CSR was significantly associated with better behavioral engagement outcomes, more positive emotional engagement outcomes, and less negative emotions. However, such effects are moderated by industry type. Our findings inform public relations theory and practice and suggest that in times of major crises, organizations should prioritize proactive approaches to engage external stakeholders while being mindful of specific institutional contexts.     

Changing Facebook profile pictures as part of a campaign: who does it and why?

People changing their Facebook profile picture in support of social and political campaigns has recently become relatively common, particularly among young people. The current study presents an analysis of young people who change their profile picture and their motivations to do so. Using original data collected among less than 35 years old Facebook users (N?=?267), we find that besides the intensity of Facebook use, offline engagement in protest and boycotts has a significant and positive effect on the likelihood to change one's profile picture as part of a campaign. Hence, the opportunity for Facebook users to engage in politics by changing a profile picture to support a campaign seems to be seized more often by young people who are politically engaged offline than by those who are not. Among those who change their profile picture, raising awareness seems to be the primary motivation to do so. Identity formation is also a crucial motivation, in particular for profile pictures changes to support a political party and the marriage equality campaign.     

In whose interests? When relational engagement to obtain a social license leads to paradoxical outcomes

Social license to operate (SLO) is typically associated with seemingly positive outcomes for both communities and organizations. Similarly, relational engagement is typically favored over more instrumental or episodic forms. This paper presents a case study, however, of an organization that undertook ostensibly dialogic and relational processes of engagement with its stakeholders to generate social capital and a SLO, yet also to obtain political power. While the organization arguably provided substantial benefit to the local community, paradoxically it also wielded significant power over the community. The findings from the case suggest that the evaluation of SLO – and by extension, normative engagement – should move beyond assessing positive outcomes, to critically asking whether or not the organization contributes to a fully functioning society.     

The Security of Gambling and Gambling with Security: A Rejoinder

Social media has become an established tool to engage and maintain customer loyalty. However, its successful use involves a balance between promotion, public relations and corporate social responsibility. Nineteen individuals working in the Australian gambling industry were interviewed. The aim was to explore how gambling operators are using social media to engage with users and promote products, their considerations underpinning these actions, and the extent to which responsible gambling practices are included. All operators were active on social media and used these platforms to attempt to increase customer engagement and strengthen existing relationships. Gambling-related content was usually balanced against non-gambling content, or operators focused exclusively on non-gambling content. Sales goals or raising revenue were not direct aims of social media use. Operators sought to use social media as an indirect way to maintain their customer base and attract new customers via favourable ratings and information transfer. Few operators provided specific responsible gambling messages, despite being mindful of the dangers of targeting vulnerable populations, specifically young people and problem gamblers. This study is unique as it provides an in-depth first-hand account of how gambling operators are using social media.     

Building protest online: engagement with the digitally networked #not1more protest campaign on Twitter

This article examines engagement with digitally networked, politically contentious actions. Maintaining engagement over time is a key challenge for social movements attempting to network digitally. This article argues that proximity serves as a condition to address this challenge, because it configures the personal networks upon which transmission depends. This is a paradox of digital activism: it has the capacity to transcend barriers; however, proximity is essential for sustaining relations over time. Examining Twitter data from the #not1more protest campaign against immigrant deportations in the United States, quantitative and social network analyses show a differentiated development of engagement, which results in a particular geographical configuration with the following attributes. First, there is a robust and connected backbone of core organizers and activists located in particular major cities. Second, local groups engage with the campaign with direct actions in other cities. Third, a large and transitory contingent of geographically dispersed users direct attention to the campaign. We conclude by elaborating how this geographically differentiated configuration helps to sustain engagement with digitally networked action.     

Assessing the Effectiveness of a Capacity Building Intervention in Empowering Hard-to-Reach Communities

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on hard-to-reach communities with weak histories of engagement and it explores whether facilitated community interventions can empower and develop community resilience. Drawing on data from 6 communities, the article indicates a need for tailored and context-specific support that matches local needs. Implementation of community projects is not linear and the delivery of interventions in hard-to-reach communities is associated with the risk of failure. Developing community resilience among communities that do not engage requires long-term interventions, on-going input, and a collaborative approach to working with communities to support equal and harmonized development.     

Passing a Mental Health Levy

ABSTRACT

The “devolution revolution” has decreased federal and state roles in the funding of social services and increased the burden on local sources, both public and private. This article describes how a community passed an initially unpopular property tax levy earmarked to support local drug, alcohol and mental health services. The article illustrates how social workers employing specific community practice knowledge provided leadership to the successful campaign. This example of community practice leadership includes building and maintaining coalitions, managing group tension and conflict and demonstrating fundamental social work values.     

Let’s give them something to talk about: Global brands’ use of visual content to drive engagement and build relationships

This longitudinal content analysis of 1,393 Facebook posts made by the top 100 brands provides empirical evidence that leveraging visual communication is not enough for brands to solicit engagement. As brands adapt and adjust their Facebook visual content strategy to capture the attention of their publics in crowded News Feeds, they also need to employ text-based engagement strategies that get users to engage and interact with brand content. Once users start interacting with brand content, it is more likely that other users will engage with the content as well, igniting a conversation. The combination of brand posts with visuals and text-based messages gives brand publics something to talk about and ultimately can lead to stronger relationships.     

Negotiating and enacting musical innovation and continuity: How some torres strait islander songwriters incorporate traditional dance chants within contemporary songs

Many Indigenous peoples worldwide engage with popular music and popular music forms, often striving to find a balance between traditional and contemporary influences.

This article uses ethnographic data from Australian Torres Strait Islander songwriters to explore the processes and rationales they use when incorporating traditional dance chants within contemporary songs.

The research demonstrates some of their processes of innovation and continuation while they negotiate crucial cultural and community politics that inform not only music and dance but also other forms of contemporary Indigenous artistic expression.

The songwriters perceive themselves as creators but creators who must also work within the cultural, social and aesthetic dictates of their communities.     

Crowdfunding digital platforms: Backer networks and their impact on project outcomes

Crowdfunding platforms serve to connect project creators and backers. Previous research has explored several project and platform determinants that impact crowdfunding outcomes. However, there has been limited research on these determinants at an individual level. Our paper addresses how backers may influence the outcomes of projects in crowdfunding platforms. We explore several methods commonly used in the industry to identify influence and show that centrality measures through a backer affiliation network best exemplifies influence. Using data from Kickstarter, we construct a weighted backer network based on 52,678 common projects backed by 11,134 backers. Controlling for digital media mentions and project quality, we find evidence that backers in central positions within the network have a positive impact on multiple project outcomes such as the project success rates, amount of funds raised, speed of reaching the crowdfunding goal as well as the number of backers contributing to the project. These findings are replicated and reinforced by using data from a different crowdfunding platform using the entire backer network based on 1095 projects backed by 87,896 backers. Several robustness tests are used to validate these results.     

Exploring the Ebbs and Flows of Community Engagement: The Pyramid of Engagement and Water Activism in Two Canadian Communities

In this article, we share results from a comparative study exploring the dynamics of community engagement surrounding local water advocacy organizations in two Canadian communities. Although emergent local issues and the perception of crisis triggered some short-term community engagement, social factors such as collective identity, a sense of community, and sense of efficacy appear to be more important for sustaining and deepening engagement. Drawing on the results, we show how the pyramid of engagement, by depicting activist engagement as a multilevel, developmental process, can serve as a useful tool for community engagement scholars and practitioners alike.     

Successful aging: how does physical activity influence engagement with life?

With the increasing number of individuals over the age of 65?years worldwide, it is critical for society to recognize the importance of helping seniors maintain their health, physical, and cognitive functioning as well as their engagement with life. These three dimensions provide the foundation for successful aging (SA). The positive role of engagement with life has been understated to date in the literature. This review highlights the components of SA with particular emphasis on engagement and how physical activity positively impacts engagement which in turn positively influences health and physical function.     

Disability and democracy in Cambodia: an integrative approach to community building and civic engagement

The political framework through which the various communities of disabled persons in Cambodia advocate for and claim their rights is complex and confusing. Both governmental and non‐governmental actors engage this political framework through the mobilization of persons from the various disabled communities, competing in the civic sphere through issue‐oriented advocacy in ways that seek to influence the process of democratic governance. While the status of disabled rights in Cambodia is still comparatively weak, it is argued here that this civic engagement has allowed disabled communities to find common cause with non‐disabled persons and groups in the project of deepening the roots of democracy in Cambodia. This article discusses the demographic composition of disability, the framework of political action that addresses disability issues and the practice of civic engagement and activism by disabled and non‐disabled communities in Cambodia.     

#IAmNotAfraidToSayIt: stories of sexual violence as everyday political speech on Facebook

ABSTRACT

The debate about the power and influence of networked publics often focuses on large-scale political events, activist campaigns and protest activity – the more visible forms of political engagement. On the other hand, digitally mediated activism is often questioned and sometimes derided as a lesser form of dissent, as it is easier to engage in, highly affective, and offers few assurances of sustainability of the change it calls for. But what about everyday political speech online, where social media platforms can contribute to a personalisation of politics? Can social media users express their views online and make a difference? This paper analyses around 3500 Facebook posts stemming from the #ЯНеБоюсьСказати (Ukrainian for #IAmNotAfraidToSayIt) online campaign that was started in the Ukrainian segment of Facebook in July 2016 by a local activist to raise awareness of how widespread sexual violence and sexual harassment are in the Ukrainian society. The paper argues that networked conversations about everyday rights and affective stories about shared experiences of injustice, underpinned by the affordances of social media platforms for sharing and discussing information and participating in everyday politics, can emerge as viable forms of networked feminist activism and can have real impact on the discursive status quo of an issue, both in the digital sphere and beyond it.     

Tagging Walls and Planting Seeds: Creating Spaces for Youth Civic Action

Youth civic spaces are environments in which youth participation in civic action is fostered—the pathways, structures, and vehicles that provide opportunities for young people to engage in critical discussion, dialogue, and action. The concept of youth civic space includes the formal and informal places in which youth civic engagement can occur and how the lived experience of those places contributes to young people's development as civic actors. It extends discussions regarding the physical locations of youth civic engagement to include the activities, perceptions, and interactions within them. Drawing on archival materials from 2 multiyear projects, this article explores the role of community-based organizations in mediating youth civic action and understanding the characteristics and qualities of the organizations that facilitate youth engagement in community action and social change. We use this analysis of empirical examples to develop a conceptual framework for strengthening practice.