Responding to Activism: An Experimental Analysis of Public Relations Strategy Influence on Attributes of Publics

Experimental methods were used to examine the influence of public relations strategies on attributes of publics. Specifically, public relations strategies derived from Hazleton and Long's (1988) public relations process model were tested to determine strategy influence on problem recognition, involvement, constraint recognition, and goal compatibility toward an organization responding to activism. Results indicate that the attributes of problem recognition and involvement are influenced by public relations strategies. In addition, the findings of this study support the situational theory of publics. Items measuring involvement and goal compatibility were the strongest predictors of information seeking behavior. Findings indicate that goal compatibility is a predictor of strategy effectiveness.