Development of professional roles in the practice of public relations in Chile

Using survey responses of 577 public relation practitioners, this article examines role conceptions in Chilean public relations, as well as the effects that different individual and organizational factors have on their professional worldviews. The results show that how Chilean practitioners perceive their roles can be grouped into four different types: the long-term strategic, the short-term technical, the passive-complaisant, and the active-vigilant. In general terms, Chilean public relations practitioners distance themselves from the passive-complaisant role, giving greater importance to the other three. The findings also reveal that gender, education level, job commitment, perceived autonomy, organization type, and geographical location are the factors that better predict Chilean PR professional roles, while hierarchy level and organization's reach do not directly affect their perceptions.     

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.     

Towards the professionalisation of public relations in Malaysia: Perception management and strategy development

The aim of this study is to explore how the status and standards of public relations as a profession are perceived by the three main groups involved in public relations: academics, practitioners, and business leaders. It is concluded that public relations can be a ‘true’ profession if all parties involved are united and committed to developing standardised, universal forms of public relations practise.     

Perceptions of public relations education

A survey of 258 public relations educators and practitioners examined the state of public relations education across five dimensions: general perceptions of public relations, education, desired educational outcomes for both students and practitioners, assessment of student outcomes and learning, elements of public relations curricula, and teaching practices. Results indicate educators and practitioners agree that public relations education is on track and that systematic assessment is an important feature of public relations education. They also agreed on how public relations education should be structured and demonstrated a high degree of similarity in their preferences for teaching methods and techniques.     

Constructing positive public relations in China: Integrating public relations dimensions,dialogic theory of public relations and the Chinese philosophical thinking of Yin and Yang

After thirty years of development in mainland China, public relations is suffering from a stigma because of its negative connotations, misconception and paradoxical perception among the general public, and development constraints. To overcome this stigmatization, a positive public relations theory that posits the positive functions of public relations in contemporary China is proposed by integrating the three public relations dimensions (i.e., communication, organization-public relationships, and ecological networks), the dialogic theory of public relations and the Chinese philosophical thinking of Yin and Yang. To achieve this, the paper first explains the cause of stigmatization in public relations. Second, it introduces the three dimensions of public relations as a profession and discipline. It then articulates how the dialogic theory of public relations and the Yin Yang philosophy contribute to the development of positive public relations. Lastly, it proposes the Taiji model of public relations and the underpinnings of positive public relations. It is important to note that positive public relations serves as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, existing theories of public relations.     

Professionalism in Indian public relations and corporate communications: An empirical analysis

Public relations is evolving in India and the profession is gaining acceptance and recognition. This study is an attempt to measure the extent of professionalism in India and how much consensus, if any, exists regarding professional standards among practitioners in agencies and those in corporations. It also identifies the influence of demographic factors on the standards in the profession.     

Contingent factors: Modeling generic public relations practice in South Korea

This study identified which contingent variables public relations practitioners perceive as influential to their practice in South Korea. They responded that a number of contingent variables influence public relations activities and emphasized the influence of individual and organizational level variables on their practice. Practitioners at the management level perceived organizational level variables as influential while the staff level indicated PR department variables as dominant to their practice. Public relations practitioners whose main function is government relations tended to acknowledge a greater influence of organizational level variables. Most notably, public relations practitioners cited the constraints of negative information release and conflict situations.     

Plain old Bess in a different dress? Disruptions of public relations in the digital age

This paper focuses on the disruptions in the digital age through the lens of public relations experts from the private sector. In order to understand whether the PR profession is undergoing a major or just a minor change, this study focuses on expert attitudes toward the disruptions and the perceived change of their identity, strategy, and structure of PR. The analysis of semi-structured in-depth interviews yielded six themes: changes that are shaping the industry, changes in organizational identity, occupational definitions and roles, structural aspects, the difference between PR communication strategy and digital PR-strategy, new methods, tools, and measurement models and finally predictions for the future. Three main conclusions arise from these themes: PR agency self-identity is in a process of change from media-relations to strategic consultants; the main source of the change is perceived as media disruption rather than digital disruption (although they are interrelated); and the future in PR is predicted as the all-in-one marketing communications agency, which might develop into a new, hybrid, profession.     

Dutch public relations practitioners and journalists: Antagonists no more

The increasing interdependence of public relations and journalism and the demands they make on each other raise the question how they perceive and evaluate each other. How do they view their roles, methods, relationship, and quality of media reporting on organizations? How do government and business public relations differ in this respect? Our survey of a representative sample of Dutch journalists and public relations practitioners in both government and business (n = 791) showed that while there were differences of opinion between the two professions, these were neither predominantly negative nor fundamental. Our results, therefore, do not confirm the difficult relationship between the press and public relations that was identified in research carried out in the United States between 1970 and 1990. Given the Dutch tradition that the government practitioner be a neutral servant of the public interest rather than a spokesperson for the organization, the general absence of differences between government and business public relations was striking. Our findings indicate that government public relations professionals have adopted the same norms and standards as their colleagues in business organizations.     

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 practitioners’ management of fake news: Exploring key elements and acts of information authentication

Using a thematic analysis of open-ended questions answered by current public relations practitioners in the United States, this study examined how public relations (PR) practitioners currently understand fake news and the strategies they use to verify information. Fake news is conceptualized as an important organizational issue that requires monitoring and management by PR practitioners. Participants identified manipulative intentions and misleading content intended to harm reputation as key elements of fake news. The current findings suggest that PR practitioners rely on both traditional news media and crowdsourcing to verify information. Finally, to differentiate clients’ content from fake news, participants emphasized the need to maintain control as the official source of information, avoid any controversies in official responses, and adhere to PR professional standards and ethics.     

Managing intractability: Wrestling with wicked problems and seeing beyond consensus in public relations

Managing perceived intractable problems—seemingly irrevocable, difficult-to-solve, often values-driven conflicts—is a regular occurrence for public relations practitioners. Yet, understanding and managing such problems is often outside of the bounds of public relations theories aimed primarily at building consensus. This paper builds on existing conflict-centered literature by carving out a place for dissensus-oriented or agonistic public relations theories and practices. Through interviews with 41 public relations practitioners facing perceived intractable scenarios and the integration of dissensual and agonistic perspectives of Lyotard (1984), Rancière (2010), and others, the paper provides evidence of these approaches in everyday practice. Finally, it offers a framework for social issue engagement that orients agonistic and dissensus-minded professional practices alongside consensus approaches.     

An inside-out exploration of contemporary Chinese public relations education

This study provides an inside-out examination of contemporary Chinese public relations education. Particularly, it seeks to explore (1) how Chinese public relations educators make meaning of the imported U.S. body of knowledge of public relations; (2) how Chinese educators conceptualize Chinese public relations; and (3) the connection and disconnection between academia and industry. We conducted 49 face-to-face in-depth interviews and performed content analysis of 22 Web sites of Chinese universities with public relations programs. Research findings reflected the movement of Chinese PR from a merely technical function to a more strategic function centering on relationship building, reputation, social responsibility, and organizational identity. The findings also suggested significant influence of the U.S. PR education on the development of Chinese public relations education manifested through textbook adoption and core curricular design. However, the study has also shown that educators have undertaken substantial effort to localize the imported knowledge in accordance with China's unique cultural, economic, and political systems.     

Accredited vs. non-accredited: The polarization of practitioners in the public relations profession

Characteristics of a profession include standardized education grounded in a theory-based body of knowledge, professional associations, codes of ethics, accountability and public recognition, as well as accreditation or certification. This study found that accredited and non-accredited practitioners differ significantly on a range of demographic and job-related variables, including gender, age, years of experience, education levels, employing organization type, reporting relationships, professional competencies, and salary levels. This apparent polarization of practitioners cannot be beneficial for public relations as the field continues to strive toward professionalism.     

Defining public relations roles in the U.S.A. using cluster analysis

This exploratory study attempted to discover key public relations (PR) practitioner roles through a survey design using factor-cluster analysis. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) partnered with the researchers by inviting PRSA members to complete a survey in which 256 members participated. Although different items were used, the results of this study were similar to the findings of a study conducted on European PR practitioners by Beurer-Zullig, Fieseler, and Meckel (2009) thus suggesting concurrent validity. Five PR roles were found incorporating personal characteristics, modes of communication, management and technical functions, perceived level of respondent strategic planning process involvement, and attitudes about communication goals and PR measurement (including perceived competency). The roles were labeled negotiator, policy advisor, brand officer, internal communicator, and press agent. The negotiator and policy advisor roles, which were management positions, viewed measurement research as important in the practice of PR.     

Towards a theory of organizational storytelling for public relations: An engagement perspective

In this paper, organizational storytelling is defined as planned communication by. organizations that deliberately uses specific forms of content and delivery behavior to. engage audiences (both internal to the organization and outside it) cognitively and. affectively primarily for the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. But. there is little in the literature to show how organizational storytelling fits into the. theoretical lexicon of public relations; or to guide practitioners in how to adapt. storytelling to suit organizational purposes. There is even less discussion from either. perspective on how public relations can contribute to organizational storytelling. Stories are often described as being engaging, but little has been written to explain. why this is. Extant research tends to focus on the significance of engaging of. audiences with stories, rather than understanding how stories engage. This paper. adopts an engagement perspective on storytelling in general to identify the cognitive,. affective, and behavioral aspects of its elements (characters, plots etc.). The same lens. is then applied to organizational stories and shows how they use the elements of. engagement to convey organizational key messages. The paper also highlights. differences between storytelling and organizational storytelling. These findings are. incorporated into a checklist for practitioners to help them identify, create, critique, and. improve organizational storytelling in their work. In addition, the paper suggests ways. in which public relations can bring its uniquely relational perspective to contribute to. organizational storytelling by empowering stakeholder storytelling to organizations and. listening by organizations.     

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 U.S. capability framework for public relations and communication management: Results of a national three-stage study

Using a novel-capability approach to explore the full potential of the profession, this study utilized a three-stage, mixed-methods design to develop the first U.S. capability framework for public relations. This research also investigated which newly defined capabilities public relations academics and practitioners perceived as the most important for the profession as a whole and for them as professionals. Finally, the research investigated what impediments professionals in the USA face to achieve these capabilities.     

Toward a dialogic theory of public relations

This essay clarifies the concept of dialogue in public relations. As public relations theory and research move toward a two-way relational communication model, many scholars and practitioners are increasingly using the terms “dialogic” and “dialogue” to describe ethical and practical approaches to public relations. The concept of dialogue is deeply rooted in philosophy and relational communication theory. Its inclusion in the public relations vocabulary is an important step toward understanding how organizations can build relationships that serve both organizational and public interests. This essay traces the roots of dialogue, identifies several over-arching tenets, and provides three ways that organizations can incorporate dialogue into their communication with publics.     

Generalizing from PRSA to public relations: How to accommodate sampling bias in public relations scholarship

One of the major challenges to conducting externally valid, quantitative scholarship in public relations is accessing samples of practitioners that are willing to participate in academic research. One sampling frame would naturally be the membership of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), which is the world's largest professional association for public relations practitioners. Yet, even if the question of access were resolved, there still remains the question of external validity, i.e., the issue of whether and to what extent the membership of PRSA (or any other sampling frame) reflects the population of public relations practitioners in general.