Dealing with disappointment: How can a ‘coexisting imperatives’ view help us understand the unfulfilled dialogical promise of digital media

Abstract

The association between the concept of dialogue and the expansion of digital media in public relations started as a theoretical ‘promise’ and was later followed by a feeling of disappointment. This article argues that the dialogic promise of new media was in great measure a consequence of a well-established belief according to which the field was rapidly moving from a ‘functional’ to a ‘cocreational’ approach, whereas in fact both cocreational and functional imperatives persist and coexist in complex manners that need to be disentangled. This idea is explored through a critical analysis of highly cited literature about dialogue and digital technology in public relations. Implications for future theory-building, research and practice are discussed.