The Moral Development of Public Relations Practitioners: A Comparison With Other Professions and Influences on Higher Quality Ethical Reasoning

This study gathered baseline data on the moral development of 118 public relations professionals. The respondents scored 7th highest among all professionals tested. They performed significantly better when the ethical dilemmas were about public relations issues than when they were not, indicating domain expertise on ethical issues. No significant differences were found between men and women, or managers and nonmanagers. There were significant correlations between moral reasoning and several variables including political ideology and fundamental/liberal religious views.     

The role of narrative in public relations ethics pedagogy

Competence in ethical decision making is one of the most important issues in the industry and practice of public relations, yet professionals entering the discipline overestimate their knowledge and skills related to ethical principles. This article features a pedagogical approach to strengthen ethics education in public relations through the use of collaborative student-professional ethics narratives. This technique attempts to move beyond a traditional case study approach and transcend traditional classroom boundaries through the development of narratives featuring real ethics situations experienced by public relations professionals. The project involved the development, implementation and assessment of the pedagogical approach that required students to interview local communication professionals (mostly in public relations) and to craft narratives that explore ethical dilemmas these professionals faced. Pre- and post-test surveys and group feedback helped explore the impact of narrative inquiry in helping students internalize ethical lessons.     

Organisational identities,identification and positioning: learning from political fields

This paper uses critical discourse analysis to analyse and theorise the discursive strategies and tactics of public relations professionals in the political field in creating political identities during election campaigns. The lessons learned through the analysis and the theories built from those lessons are then discussed for their application to identity creation in the commercial organisational marketplace. This paper makes a key contribution to organisational identity theory for public relations practitioners by dealing with issues of identity creation in the face of competition for those same positions, and with issues of compatibility of identity positions with organisational values as well as social values.     

Protocol journalism as a framework for understanding public relations–media relationships in Kosovo

There is growing interest about the ways in which the public relations field can contribute to democratization and civil society initiatives. Some scholars see enormous potential for public relations by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help get important social issues on the public agenda in transitional nations while other scholars have critiqued the practice of public relations in newly formed nations as a form of hegemony that privileges Western ideas, values, and standards of practice. One thing is certain: more scholarly attention is required if the field of public relations is to truly understand its evolving role in civil society. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the public relations–media relationship contributes to civil society development in Kosovo. The researcher interviewed media professionals, public relations/organizational spokespersons, and civil society experts about the opportunities and challenges of the public relations function in building civil society in Kosovo. The findings suggest that “protocol journalism” is the guiding metaphor for explaining and critiquing the public relations–media relationship in Kosovo. The implications of protocol journalism for media development and public relations credibility are discussed.     

Public relations and customer service: Employer perspectives of social media proficiency

Social media has enhanced integration between marketing and public relations. As such, public relations professionals have had to adapt and grow their knowledge and skillsets to stay relevant and current throughout the evolution of the digital landscape (Gesualdi, 2019). One of the growing areas of focus for public relations professionals has been customer service skills online. This specialization, often referred to as social care or social customer service, has been promoted and discussed heavily in industry circles and publications, but not in academic research. This study focuses on the survey results from 396 employers exploring the social media skills they most prefer university graduates to possess when entering the workforce. The results indicate that public relations and customer service are the social media skills most sought after by employers of university graduates ahead of proficiency in areas such as social media content production, strategy development and analytics. The potential implications of these findings to the public relations profession are examined and future research is also discussed.     

Comparing two public relations pioneers: American Ivy Lee and British John Elliot

A comparison of the careers of two pioneering public relations professionals suggests that their work content in the first quarter of the last century and that of modern professionals is much the same. John Elliot was the first Briton to carry the title ‘public relations officer’ and he knew of Ivy Lee when working in New York as a reporter. Research shows that they faced operational problems and responded with techniques recognisable to today’s public relations industry, although their professional vocabulary was different. This timeline of common experience over almost a century allows us to see public relations people as a community of professionals, and thus to explore how knowledge of the past can inform the present.     

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.     

The role of leadership in shared value creation from the public’s perspective: A multi-continental study

Porter and Kramer’s concept of creating shared value (CSV) has been welcomed as an approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) among corporations that also provides a practical opportunity for dialogue in public relations, but it has been little examined from the general population’s (i.e., the public’s) perspective. Such scrutiny is important because its findings enable public relations to contribute to the debate and development of CSV from both the public’s and the organization’s viewpoints. Additionally, if public relations professionals understand how the public perceives CSV, they can give a strategic perspective to top management for maximizing moral capabilities of the business and formulate effective communication to promote CSV initiatives. This study investigates whether the public prefers corporations to practice CSV as opposed to intrinsic CSR as a separate pursuit from business interests. It also explores the role of leadership as an influential and ethical construct in implementing effective CSV as perceived by the public. The public’s preference for CSV over intrinsic CSR was revealed in a survey of 1784 participants in the United States (US), Germany, and China. Factor analysis results further suggested that effective CSV competencies of CEOs were construed as a unidimensional concept in the US, but German and Chinese participants viewed it as two-dimensional. The public perceived that leaders’ moral character played a more important, core role in effective CSV than did altruistic and behavioral attributes, across nations. Network analysis of the perceived effective CSV-characteristics provides further implications for CSV communication.     

Moral development in public relations: Measuring duty to society in strategic communication

This exploratory study employed an online version of the Defining Issues Test (DIT) [Rest, J. R. (1979). Development in judging moral issues. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press] to gather data on the ethical decision-making process patterns of 113, U.S.-based public relations practitioners. The DIT is an instrument based on Kohlberg's [Kohlberg, L. (1969) State and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. In: E. Goslin, (Ed.) Handbook of socialization: Theory and research. Chicago: Rand McNally] moral development theory, a proven measure of ethical reasoning across dozens of professions. Results show that levels of moral development in public relations significantly differ based on job segment. While corporate and agency practitioners reasoned about their ethics in a statistically similar fashion, these two groups differed substantially from their academic-based counterparts.     

To be,or not to be: Paradoxes in strategic public relations in Italy

There is a paucity of empirical studies of public relations in Italy. This study sought to assess whether public relations departments are managed strategically in Italy and whether public relations contributes to the strategic management of organizations. Using the four generic principles that deal with strategic management, this study gathered data from public relations professionals working in the three major types of organizations: corporations, government agencies, and non-profits. The study found that regardless of the type of organization, few public relations practitioners are represented in the senior management of their organizations. Senior managers of non-profits tended to value public relations more than the other two sectors. Symmetrical communication again proved to be normative. By using a conceptual framework and research instruments that have been employed in studies conducted in other parts of the world, this study has generated data that can be used to compare strategic public relations in different socio-cultural environments – thus contributing to building a global theory of public relations.     

Public Relations Roles,Intraorganizational Power,and Encroachment

Encroachment occurs in public relations when professionals with expertise in such fields as marketing, law, human resources, or engineering occupy the senior public relations position in an organization. When encroachment occurs, public relations frequently becomes little more than a technical support function servicing other units of the organization—rather than a central management function in itself. I explored the idea that encroachment does not result so much from outsiders grabbing the turf of public relations as from weaknesses of public relations practitioners themselves. I used a systematic sample of 166 public relations practitioners in the United States to test the idea that public relations manager role aspirations and competencies and the schema held regarding the public relations function explains the extent to which encroachment takes place. Results suggest that managerial aspirations and competencies and the belief that public relations is a powerful organizational function decrease the likelihood of encroachment.     

Journalists’ assessments of public relations subsidies and contact preferences: Exploring the situation in Spain

The aim of this article is to offer journalists’ assessment of their relationships with public relations professionals in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia (Spain). We analyzed quantitative interviews (questionnaires) and in-depth interviews conducted with 68 Catalan journalists regarding their relationship with public relations practitioners and investigated their assessments of public relations subsidies and contact preferences. An explanatory view is offered.     

Critical analysis of blogging in public relations

This essay conducts an analysis of blogs as public relations tools. Following an overview of blogs, attention is given to how blogs can be used more effectively by public relations professionals, and how blogs are favored by communication firms and consultants as essential public relations tools. The essay concludes that while blogs have incredible potential as research, framing, and persuasion tools, their utility as a public relations tool is currently limited.     

The role of ethical leadership in building influence: Perspectives from female public relations professionals

Practices of ethical leadership in public relations can be context-specific and they can influence organizational effectiveness. By conducting a national survey, this study examines female public relations professionals’ perspectives on ethical leadership. The results suggest that the majority of female professionals feel ready and confident in providing ethics counseling as needed. Most importantly, the highest ranked public relations leaders’ ethical conduct help reinforce female professionals’ ethical practice. Female professionals indicate it is necessary to use multiple strategies to build and enact influence as an ethical leader in public relations. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Power Over,Power With,and Power to Relations: Critical Reflections on Public Relations,the Dominant Coalition,and Activism

Symmetrical public relations theory acknowledges primacy of the dominant coalition in making organizational decisions and influencing public relations practices but reveals little about this powerful inner circle. Drawing from interviews with 21 public relations executives, this article opens up the dominant coalition and reveals its complex power relationships and a matrix of constraints that undermine and limit the function, rendering it difficult for practitioners to do the "right" thing, even if they want to. If public relations is to better serve society, professionals and academics may need to embrace an activist role and combine advocacy of shared power with activism in the interest of shared power.     

The state of Australian public relations: Professionalisation and paradox

It is almost a decade since the last empirical study of Australian public relations appeared in the academic literature. This paper reports on a survey conducted immediately prior to the onset of the global financial crisis aimed at revealing the state of public relations in Australia. In particular, the study investigated levels of professionalisation in terms of such criteria as the strategic orientation of public relations, its position within organisational hierarchies, and the importance placed on ethics and professional development. The findings show Australian PR professionals to be highly educated, comparatively well paid and frequently in positions of influence with their CEOs. Paradoxically despite these strengths, the profession in Australia does not seem to have outgrown public relations’ pervasive identity crisis.     

Vision and state health department public relations practitioners: Prepared to lead?

Visions are important to organizational effectiveness. Although providing vision has been identified as one of the behaviors that best captures organization-wide public relations leadership, little public relations research has focused on vision. Similarly, state health departments have drawn little interest among public relations scholars even though states are a central part of the nation's public health system. This study addressed the perceptions of the top public relations professionals at state health departments concerning vision and their involvement in the visioning process. The practitioners were nearly unanimous in their belief that organizational visions are important. However, results indicate that some top public relations practitioners at state health departments are not prepared to make optimal contributions to the visioning process. In order to take full advantage of opportunities to serve as organization-wide leaders, public relations practitioners should seek out information about visioning in order help chart their organization's future and enhance their careers.     

Postmodernism for modernist public relations: the cash value and application of critical research in public relations

This essay argues that postmodern theorists, while adding philosophical criticism of public relations practice, also must have a “cash value” for modern public relations professionals to use their ideas. The essay argues for a fuller domain definition of public relations than used by postmodernists. It defines modernism and postmodernism, using Mumby’s four categories. It suggests examples and criteria for how postmodernist thought could be added to practitioners’ theoretical checklists.     

Conflict measurements: analysis of simultaneous inclusion in roles,values, independence,attitudes, and dyadic adjustment

A survey of 641 public relations practitioners and journalists showed that the perceived conflict of two professions is their strategic choice. The perceived conflict of two professions can be best illuminated by a bi-level of perceptual differences among agreement, congruency and accuracy between and within subjects of public relations practitioners and journalists in their professional orientation. While the two professions demonstrated their perceptual discrepancies in terms of roles, values, independence, dyadic adjustment and attitudes in conflict, both further revealed a tendency to escalate or minimize the conflict to strategically manage the degree of conflict. This study ultimately proposes a salient indicator to gauge a conflict and further suggest a stratagem for the conflict management in public relations.     

Public Relations and Technology: Practitioner Perspectives

The purpose of this research was to gather detailed information about public relations practitioners' new technology use. Seventeen semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted. This study describes how use of communication technologies can affect public relations roles. It discusses practitioner challenges associated with diffusing new technologies; practitioner perceptions of technology, organizational status, and power; and how public relations professionals are employing new technologies to improve research, increase productivity, and advance two-way symmetric communication in their organizations.