Social media adoption among Turkish public relations professionals: A survey of practitioners

Social media is emerging as an important public relations tool and empowers two way symmetrical communications with publics and stakeholders. PR professionals are confronted with the swift rise of social media that forces practitioners to pay due and timely attention. They are not only excited about utilizing these tools together with conventional media, but are also excited about speaking directly to their publics and stakeholders without the involvement of any intermediaries. Through the perspective of UTAUT model, this paper examines the social media adoption of PR professionals in Turkey and how they employ social media tools both internally and externally. We employed a web-based questionnaire to 126 PR professionals who are members of the Turkish Public Relations Association. Findings reveal that Turkish PR professionals highly appreciate the importance of social media in recent PR practice. However, not all social media tools are equally adopted; e-mail is the most, and virtual world applications are the least adopted social media. It is also found that in the future, social networks are expected to be the most important social media, while corporate web sites get the second and mobile phone (PDA) applications get the third rank.     

Views of PRISA-members on South African public relations: An exploration

An exploratory study conducted in South Africa shows that members of the Public Relations Institute for Southern Africa (PRISA) experience the same frustration with the role of PR in the organisation, the bad name of PR, and its educational curriculum that are experienced in other countries. The article asks whether changing the name of PR to something else is sufficient to solve these problems, and argues that more than a cosmetic name change is required. PR should re-examine its role in the organisation, it should re-assert itself as a strategic partner to other business functions, and it should revisit its educational offering.     

University teachers’ perceptions and evaluations of ethics instruction in the public relations curriculum

This study examined the present state of teaching ethics in university public relations departments in the U.S. and abroad. The results of this online survey indicated that PR teachers (N = 249) perceived ethics instruction in PR education to be essential, and they believed in a close tie between general morality and professional ethics. However, the results also showed that the higher the participants’ academic rank, the less favorable attitude they held toward the value of ethics education to students.     

The professionalism debate in South African public relations

Professionalism is a contentious topic in journals serving a wide range of disciplines, both internationally and in South Africa. However, there is seldom concrete empirical research into professionalism—which limits the usefulness of this debate. In response, the present study empirically investigates the perceptions of South African public relations (PR) practitioners regarding professionalism. The questionnaire-based survey shows that the professionalism problem for PR practitioners in South Africa is twofold. Firstly, the South African PR governing body has not taken ownership of the issues regarding professionalism amongst its members. Secondly, practitioners themselves are making little effort to professionalize their activities. Both parties agree on the importance of professionalization, but claim that the onus is on the other party to promote it. This situation is untenable: professionalization should be actively encouraged so as to maximize the impact of the PR profession in South Africa.     

PR goes to the movies: The image of public relations improves from 1996 to 2008

This qualitative analysis of public relations in popular Hollywood films from 1996 to 2008 looks at three questions: first, how is the PR practitioner portrayed in recent films? Second, what kind of public relations activities and models of public relations are depicted? Third, how do other scholars’ results in prior studies apply to the portrayal of public relations in current films? Results show that for major films from Mars Attacks! (1996) to Hancock (2008), public relations practitioners are more credible, respected and influential, and PR work is more varied and complex than found in studies of films through 1995.     

Comparing professional identities, attitudes, and views in public communication: A study of Chilean journalists and public relations practitioners

Public relations (PR) practitioners’ and journalists’ professional views and attitudes toward each other have been a subject of academic inquiry during the past decades; however, much of this research has focused on Europe and North America. In other regions of the world, for example in Latin America, historical developments and social understandings have led to slightly different conceptualizations of PR and journalism. Using Chile as a case study, this paper reports the results of an examination of Chilean journalists’ and PR practitioners’ professional conceptions. While both groups tend to have somewhat similar views of media relations and see themselves as part of the same profession, there are also important differences which are most likely based on professional socialization processes rather than educational backgrounds or sociodemographic and work related variables. Implications for contextually grounded approaches to the study of PR and journalism are highlighted.     

MA and doctoral public relations research in Turkey (1984–2007): A quantitative study of dissertations contribution to public relations field

In this article, MA and doctoral dissertations (673) on public relations written at Turkish universities (1984–2007) are examined in order to gain an understanding of the level of the theses within the discipline and that subjects are studied, too. The conclusion is that their contribution to public relations’ improvement and especially theory building has been negligible. Written theses are standing out the practical or operational, and no existence any dissertations related to public relations theory.     

Reflections on the absence of formal reflection in public relations education and practice

This content analysis is a part of wider research into the value of reflective practice in public relations education and practice. Examination of this topic is important given that reflective practice is widely recognised as an essential element for claims of professionalism (Dewey, 1933; Schön, 1983, 1987), and professionalism remains an elusive goal for PR practitioners (L’Etang, 2009). This article examines the extent to which the terms and processes associated with reflective practice are formally included in the contents of a range of widely used and well regarded public relations textbooks. The aim is to provide insight into the significance (or lack of it) of reflective practice in contemporary public relations curricula. Given that textbooks are highly influential teaching media that both reflect and shape curricula, conclusions about the emphasis of reflective practice in public relations teaching can be drawn as a result of this analysis. The findings indicate that – based on the content of the textbooks analysed – reflective practice is not formally included in the public relations teaching curriculum. Further research is needed to determine whether this omission also reflects the situation in public relations practice. This research has relevance for public relations educators given that they play a significant role in influencing future generations of public relations professionals. It concludes with a call for a shift in public relations education that includes greater emphasis on reflective practice.     

The public relations profession as discursive boundary work

Public relations (PR) has spent more than a century as a professional project, marked by a struggle with adjacent professional fields for market control, social closure and elite status. However, the wider literature on professionalisation lacks a systematic account of how professions discursively construct their boundaries, or how differences in field position can influence a profession’s use of discursive strategies to defend or contest its boundaries. This matters for the deepening of PR scholarship, since an effective exploration of the PR profession must include studies of PR’s jurisdictions and its jurisdictional disputes. This article introduces into PR theory, a discourse analytical framework for deconstructing boundary work between PR and adjacent professions. The discourse framework, and accompanying discussion, answers the call to dismantle silo thinking about PR activity, through a methodology designed to examine PR’s intersections with other fields.     

Analysing public relations education through international standards: The Portuguese case

By using international reports on PR education as a benchmark we analyse the status of PR higher education in Portugal. Despite differences among the study programs, the findings reveal that the standard five courses recommendation by the Commission on Public Relations Education (CPRE) are a part of Portuguese undergraduate curriculum. This includes 12 of the 14 content field guidelines needed to achieve the ideal master's program. Data shows, however, the difficulty of positioning public relations in Portugal as an autonomous field within Communication Sciences.     

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.     

The never changing story: Eight decades of the government public relations department of Thailand

The Government Public Relations Department (GPRD) of Thailand has existed in various forms since the country’s governing system changed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one in 1932. This study reflects on how the GPRD’s practices have been affected by the country’s governing and political environments over time. It has periodized the eighty-four-years of development of the GPRD into sequential phases based on a continuum approach. The GPRD’s roles and duties are detailed based on four periods: Beginning Period, Growth Period, Full Expansion Period, and Weak Period. The GPRD was firstly positioned to be the primary government tool for introducing the concept of democracy to the Thai populace and disseminating information about government policies, activities and propagandistic campaigns. Through Thailand’s periods of political instability, World War II, the Cold War and rise of communism in Indochina, globalization, and the current digital age, the GPRD has expanded in its role within the government as the center of communication for a wide variety of governmental organizations. However, even as it has expanded and undergone re-organization, it has been criticized for being a government mouthpiece rather that a reliable source of factual information. Working under the direct oversight of the various governments led by the military, as well as both appointed and elected politicians, the GPRD has struggled to maintain a balanced public relations role at the juncture of Thai politics and public interest.     

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.     

Institutionalizing public relations in China: A sociological analysis of the Chinese Premier's Press Conference

Unlike previous studies that focus on the problems of public relations management, this study tackles the institutionalization of PR in China from a sociological perspective. Through the process of social construction, public relations is institutionalized according to changes in the larger environment, making use of different sources of legitimation. Focusing on the evolution of the Chinese Premier's Press Conference (CPPC), this study finds that the institutionalization of PR in China, especially in the realm of governmental practices, has varied in its structure, settings and contents, which are mixed with informal features within the Chinese social–political context. The CPPC has become a venue for top-down publicity for the powers that be. Because the organizational structure of the CPPC is more centralized than that of other governmental institutions, the form and content of its PR communications are mostly predictable. However, it is the process of the institutionalization of the CPPC that is revealing of how the Chinese government rationalizes its authority and legitimacy.     

Online public relations: The adoption process and innovation challenge,a Greek example

This paper examines the influence of Rogers attributes associated with innovation adoption (1995) in the context of demographic characteristics of public relations practitioners (PR) in the Greek financial services sector as they adopt and utilize the internet for PR purposes. Data is gathered via an on-line questionnaire administered to PR practitioners that work in companies participating in the Athens Stock Exchange. A quantitative approach was used in order to depict the attitudes and perceptions of these practitioners toward the use of on-line PR.     

Portuguese PR consultancy websites: Content and presence

The overall objective of this work is to understand the online presence of Portuguese PR, Consultancies associated with APECOM by undertaking an analysis of the content and features of their, websites. This analysis will demonstrate how the PR Consultancies are promoting themselves and their, services.     

Resourcing the next stages in PR history research: The case for historiography

Since the start of the 21st century, significant work has been done in expanding not just the content, but the geographical, methodological, and social range of public relations scholarship. The expansion has parallels – a few of which we acknowledge below – in the body of historical work in the discipline. In this article, we contend that future research on PR pasts should seek to be relevant to three clusters of contemporary themes that feature strongly in mainstream history. Cluster one is the environmental context of globalization and associated geographical and social diversifications. Cluster two concerns the scale, methods, and ecological inclusiveness to engage with these changes; and, the third covers nation-centric mindsets, archival assumptions, and the impact of changing media. We also argue for PR historians resourcing the next stages of PR history from advances in historiography and history writing practices with particular attention to the point of view of the historian and awareness of the traditions and limitations, within which he, she, or they write. We suggest that this resourcing process will involve questioning assumptions of authority embedded in archive-centered PR research, decentering nation-bound narratives, re-evaluating notions of objectivity, and extending the field's temporal and spatial boundaries.     

Travel journalists’ attitudes toward public relations: Findings from a representative survey

The impact of public relations on emerging fields such as travel journalism has not gained much attention, despite the broader growth of lifestyle journalism, and its particular dependence on PR. This study reports the findings of a representative survey of Australian travel journalists, focusing on their views of PR. Results show that travel journalists are wary of PR, although they believe they can be relatively immune from its influence and see some PR activities as quite useful. Cluster analysis identifies three distinct groups based on their views of PR, which range from a positive attitude to strong criticism. Their backgrounds and differences are explored, pointing to gender, job status, and background in mainstream journalism as main determinants for differences.