PR practitioners in international assignments

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report on the degree of success in international assignments that public relations (PR) practitioners experience and explores the influence of both organizational culture and national culture.Design/methodology/approachPR practitioners in the USA and South Africa were surveyed.FindingsResults show that there is no difference between PR practitioners from the USA and South Africa with experience in international assignments, in terms of degree of success in international assignments and of level of preparedness for international assignments. It was also found that there is no significant correlation between national culture or organizational culture and the degree of success in international assignments for those respondents with international experience.Research limitations/implicationsThe response rate was limited and therefore the results cannot be generalized. Future research would be to further extend this study to include additional countries.Practical implicationsThe results support the concept that a PR practitioner with an organic organizational culture and a long‐term orientation of national culture will be better prepared to engage in international assignments than a practitioner with a mechanistic organizational culture and a short‐term orientation of national culture.Originality/valueThis study adds to the literature on international PR practice, and compares the practice in a developing economy, South Africa, to a developed economy, the USA.