Relationship networks as strategic issues management: An issue-stage framework of social movement organization network strategies

Abstract

Social movement organizations (SMO) are important actors in affecting issue-related policy changes. To successfully manage an issue to achieve favorable policy resolutions, SMOs, like many kinds of organizations, not only use traditional public relations techniques, but also build networks to accomplish their objectives. Yet, an examination of the relationship between issue development and SMO networks is absent from the literature. This article therefore concentrates on the question: what types of networks should SMOs seek to build at different stages of an issue’s development? Informed by public relations research on issues management as well as contemporary social movement scholarship and organizational network theories, the article proposes a framework of SMO network strategies that examines the kinds of relationship networks SMOs should maintain as they attempt to manage an issue through the stages of its life cycle.