Investor Relations as a Public Relations Function: A State of the Profession in the United States

There are no majors, or even minors, in investor relations for undergraduate students in the United States. Yet, the association of investor relations professionals, the National Investor Relations Institute, has 4,300 members. The questions, then, become who works in the investor relations departments and investor relations agencies, where do they come from, and, more important, what does it mean for the status of investor relations as a profession? This study addresses these questions by conducting a random probability sampling of investor relations professionals to investigate their educational backgrounds, organizational structures, reporting relationships, and other variables. The study concludes that investor relations is still primarily a financial function: Investor relations professionals have financial or business backgrounds and report to the financial executives rather than to the communication executives or to the Chief Executive Officer.     

Demonstrating Effectiveness in Public Relations: Goals,Objectives, and Evaluation

Public relations planning and evaluation were explored among 32 practitioners and 10 top executives. Practitioners said their goals reflect the priorities of their institution. The CEOs believed public relations' ultimate aim is communicating the image of the organization. Responses showed many practitioners conduct informal evaluation, whereas only a few conduct formal evaluation. This research suggests public relations planning and evaluation are becoming more systematic but are still constrained by lack of resources and difficulty.     

Investor Relations: Two-Way Symmetrical Practice

Although public relations claims investor relations as one of its specializations, scholars have paid little attention to it and practitioners historically have been divided between finance and public relations. A national survey of 145 members of the National Investor Relations Institute and the Public Relations Society of America's Financial Communications Section tested models and dimensions of practice to build theory. Results show that such investor relations officers predominantly practice the two-way symmetrical model and their work is characterized by the dimensions of symmetrical effects and—to some degree—two-way communication. Practitioners do not differ by their orientation to either finance or corporate communication/public relations. This study is the first to find the predominant practice of the normative model across its sample, thereby refuting long-standing criticism that the symmetrical model is a utopian ideal. The two-way symmetrical model does exist in the real world, and it can be found in the bastion of capitalism—publicly owned corporations in the United States.     

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.     

Diversity Issues and Public Relations

Perceptions of diversity issues and implications for public relations were explored within the theoretical framework of organizational culture and requisite variety. Qualitative interviews with 28 practitioners and 5 executives revealed a continuum that ranged from organizations with no commitment to those with a fully integrated diversity strategy. Examples of effective diversity management illustrated the connection between diversity and the strategic management of public relations. We discuss the findings in relation to diversity integration and propose that a final stage not mentioned by participants--diversity as social responsibility--may represent the juncture where public relations and diversity are linked most meaningfully.     

How Investor Relations Contributes to the Corporate Bottom Line

Investor relations officers say that one of the biggest challenges of their work is proving to the senior management that investor relations contributes value to the organization. This study provides an initial step in evaluating investor relations' contribution to an organization's bottom line. The study first offers a theoretical overview of academic and professional literature dealing with the contribution of investor relations to the organizational bottom line. Second this theoretical overview serves as a starting point for an empirical investigation organized as a Delphi panel. Investor relations officers from corporations and investor relations agencies were recruited to participate in the panel and share their practical insights in response to the theoretically identified indicators of investor relations value. As a result, the study found 4 key areas of investor relations contribution: fair share price, improved liquidity of stock, enhanced analyst coverage, and building and maintaining investor relationships.     

State of public relations education in the United States: 2006 report on a national survey of executives and academics

A survey of 312 public relations executives and educators examined how well practitioners and instructors perceive public relations students to be prepared for the practice, the content and value of public relations curricula and, the future of public relations education in the United States. Results are largely consistent with those from a slightly smaller 1998 survey, suggesting that the views of both groups are consistent over time and providing the first two data points in what it is hoped will develop into a longitudinal line of research addressing public relations education. Judgments regarding the desired characteristics among job applicants and essential curriculum content were extremely similar between the practitioner and educator groups with both wanting more emphasis on research, ethics and strategic planning as the field moves from a low-paid technical emphasis toward a much better paid strategic planning and research emphasis.     

Characteristics and Dimensions of Ethical Leadership in Public Relations

This study explores the characteristics of leadership in developing and managing ethics in public relations, based on in-depth interviews with 20 public relations executives in the United States. Systematic analysis of the interview data identified multiple dimensions of ethical leadership and ethical knowledge, and suggested that ethical leadership is grounded in personal rather than professional characteristics. Personal ethics, interpersonal behaviors, and articulation of ethical standards emerged as 3 salient characteristics of an ideal leader in facilitating knowledge transfer of ethics in public relations organizations. Ethical knowledge is implicit, intangible, personal, and often difficult to identify or articulate, posing a challenge for the transfer of knowledge through structured and formalized approaches. Theoretical implications and practical recommendations are discussed.     

The strategic use of Twitter to manage personal public relations

This study examined the effect of personal public relations developed through Twitter on cognitive and attitudinal aspects, particularly focusing on the use of Twitter by CEOs. According to the responses of young consumers who participated in this study, their attitudes toward the use of Twitter by CEOs positively influenced their perception of transformational leadership (H1). Further, perceived transformational leadership was positively associated with attitudes toward CEOs using Twitter; this in turn positively influenced attitudes toward corporations (H2). The positive evaluation of the use of Twitter by CEOs directly influenced attitudes toward such CEOs (H3), whereas attitudes toward such use did not influence attitudes toward corporations. The results indicated that microblogging is beneficial for the development of effective personal public relations by corporate leaders.     

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.     

A Test of Excellent Leadership in Public Relations: Key Qualities,Valuable Sources,and Distinctive Leadership Perceptions

To better understand leadership in public relations and explore its value in successful communication management, this article captured the perceptions of mid- and senior-level public relations executives (N = 222) regarding the important qualities and dimensions of excellent leadership in the practice. According to study participants, strategic decision-making capability, problem-solving ability, and communication knowledge and expertise are the three most important qualities of excellent leadership. In addition, respondents said that on-the-job experiences, individual initiative and desire, and role models are the most valuable sources of leadership skills and development. About half of the respondents indicated that excellent leaders in public relations are different from leaders in other fields in three ways: They must hold a compelling vision for communication, possess comprehensive understanding of media and information systems, and effectively develop and implement strategic communication plans. Professional women and men in the study viewed excellent leadership in more or less similar ways. The study advances understanding of leadership in the field, which has been little explored in the public relations literature.     

Public Relations Practitioner Role Enactment at the Senior Management Level Within U.K. Companies

This article presents the findings of an initial investigation into the role that the public relations function plays in some of the leading companies in the United Kingdom. The study sought to uncover the pattern of practitioner role enactment within these companies and, in particular, the extent to which practitioners are involved directly in the formulation and implementation of corporate and business strategies. The study revealed considerable differences in the level of practitioner involvement in strategic decision making, with some practitioners fulfilling primarily technical roles and others enacting a more significant managerial role, advising senior executives on policy issues and assisting in the implementation of strategies. Factors such as the industry and organizational context, management expectations of public relations, and the perceived professional competence of practitioners emerged as important determinants of the level of practitioner involvement in strategic decision making. Drawing on the study's findings, a number of propositions have been advanced that may help to guide future inquiries into practitioner role enactment, particularly at the senior management level within organizations.     

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.     

Image and Symbolic Leadership: Using Focus Group Research to Bridge the Gaps

Through an exploration of the scholarly and professional literature, this article investigates the concepts of symbolic leadership and organizational image. A critical analysis of the literature establishes that symbolic leaders, especially chief executive officers (CEOs), may operate either symmetrically or asymmetrically. As leader and spokesperson, the CEO personifies the company to its key constituencies. Effective leaders give people power. This empowerment of strategic publics, both external and internal, suggests a symmetrical world view. It replaces the asymmetrical assumptions more characteristic of the autocratic leadership espoused in the management theory of the 1950s. A modest case study of focus group research illustrates the role of public relations in exploring, defining, and communicating image. This counseling or managerial role is critical in helping the organization be, rather than seeming to be—a key philosophical tenet of contemporary public relations. The theoretical frame for this article is Dervin's (1983, 1990, 1991) gap perspective, which suggests that such discontinuities are inherent in human interaction. Because focus groups also may provide insight into how to reconcile any gaps employees or other publics perceive between the image and the reality of the organization, it suggests more of a symmetrical than asymmetrical model.

Senior management's role is to personify the organization externally to customers & others—but also internally to the "family." (pr reporter, 1991)     

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.     

Effective Public Relations Leadership in Organizational Change: A Study of Multinationals in Mainland China

This study explored the role of public relations leadership during organizational change in 3 multinationals in mainland China. Based on 40 in-depth interviews, the findings suggested that the leadership of public relations unit or function during organizational change was shown through coaching middle management to manage employee emotions, providing communication training to middle management, communicating and reinforcing shared visions for change, and managing the conflicts between middle management and top management regarding change rationales, planning, and procedures. The leadership role of public relations managers was enacted through consulting CEOs' communication styles, exerting upward influence in change management, and acting as the different voice when decision making for change was questionable. Results of the study extended existing public relations leadership scholarship and shed light on some tentative dimensions of public relations leadership during organizational change: (a) coaching emotion management, (b) educating communication knowledge and skills, (c) reinforcing shared visions, (d) resolving conflicts, (e) exerting upward influence, and (f) acting as a different voice. Limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

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.     

Socio-Contextual Influences on the Korean News Media's Interpretation of Samsung's $847.6 Million Donation

This study investigates the role of leadership in facilitating strategic communication management and effective public relations practice by proposing a set of dimensions measuring corporate communication executives’ perceptions on leadership. A measurement methodology was applied and suggested to facilitate empirical investigation. Data from two groups of senior corporate communicators and public relations executives (N = 384) nationwide were used to assess the validity and reliability of proposed leadership dimensions that contribute to effective communication management. Results from both groups demonstrated strong support for the proposed higher-order measurement model. The analysis suggested that 6 major dimensions (self-dynamics, team collaboration, ethical orientation, relationship building, strategic decision making capability, and communication knowledge management capability) are crucial for communication executives to expand their influence in the institutional context and generate desired communication outcomes. The findings offer insights on both leadership and corporate communications that may account for significant nonfinancial indictors of organizational effectiveness.     

Learning by leading: Integrating leadership in public relations education for an enhanced value

Twin surveys of senior public relations executives and public relations majors compared perceptual similarities and differences in leadership qualities, skill development sources, and unique features of public relations leadership. The perceptual gap revealed what students believe to be important or less important in the self-actualization process as future leaders. The results offered pedagogical recommendations on how to integrate leadership training in public relations education to prepare students with a sustainable competitive advantage.     

Perceived professional standards and roles of public relations in China: Through the lens of Chinese public relations practitioners

As the first quantitative examination of perceived public relations professional standards in China using an online survey, this study was designed based on the standards of professional standards inventory Cameron, Sallot, & Lariscy (1996) constructed and tested among practitioners in the U.S. The survey results suggest six dimensions of perceived standards of professional performance: (1) role and function in organizational strategic planning, (2) sufficiency in professional training and preparedness, (3) gender and racial equity, (4) situational constraints, (5) licensing and organizational support, and (6) participation in the organizational decision-making team. Four dimensions of public relations roles were also identified by the survey participants: (1) brand promotion facilitator, (2) public information specialist, (3) media relations counsel, and (4) conflict management expert. Primary practice area was found to affect how Chinese practitioners perceive the six clusters of professional standards and the four identified public relations roles. These findings provide insights for both practitioners and researchers on how Chinese public relations practitioners view public relations as a profession and how the profession currently holds its professional standards in China.