Global Public Relations Research Articles

Twitter and the Struggle to Transform the Object: A Study of Clean Coal in the 2017 Australian Energy Policy Public Debate

This paper investigates unusually high spikes in Twitter engagement in Australia in February 2017 invoking the 2014 Peabody Energy global public relations campaign Advanced Energy for Life (AEFL) trope clean coal. Focusing on peak Twitter events, it asks: What caused the spike, what was amplified and signified by the dominant tweeters, and what was the content and tenor of discussion generated? Applying discourse analysis to an archive of Australian-based Twitter activity, the research argues that despite widespread ridicule of clean coal as oxymoronic by contemporary publics, the increased engagement provided unintended impetus for the PR campaign objectives. The research contributes to greater understanding of the reach, influence, and limitations of Twitter-based public debate.

The African Union Commission’s Multinational Ebola Campaign Informed by and against the Decision-Making Model for Localization

This qualitative study documents and analyzes the 2014 African Union’s (AU) Ebola campaign in three countries (Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone) against the Decision-Making model for Localization. The paper looks at this case study using the localization model. Global public relations and communications management theories need theory building to study and explicate multinational phenomena. The case study is developed with interviews, news coverage, campaign materials, documents of the AU commission, and social media posts. Results indicate that a sequential and almost prescriptive process for localization’s execution missed the reality of resistance in complex environments. Localization’s strategies and tactics need pre-testing, monitoring, and adjustment, now included in a proposed revised localization model.

Filmic public relations for a global audience: The United Nations and The Blue Vanguard

The project investigates the use of documentary film as a public relations tool by the United Nations (UN) for worldwide promotion of its first peacekeeping intervention in response to the Suez crisis of 1956. Specifically, it undertakes a historical investigation into the communicative purpose of the 1957 documentary film, The Blue Vanguard, which was made by the UN Department of Public Information (UNDPI). Beyond the interest connected with the intervention in the Suez crisis, the film is significant in the history of the UN’s global public relations since it was one of the first films made for the UN by UK film director, Thorold Dickinson, who arrived as Chief of Film at the UN in October 1956.The author argues that Thorold Dickinson used the documentary to make a radical public information proposition to a global audience on behalf of the United Nations. Specifically, the public relations discourse and cinematicity in The Blue Vanguard reminded a global audience that achieving peace required a new level of cultural tolerance and global co-operation, involving codes of judgement beyond the nationalistically-determined registers of the time.

Culture and Crisis Communication: Nestle India's Maggi Noodles Case

Abstract Extant theoretical paradigms in the field of crisis communication are organization-centric and do not adequately recognize the role of culture. The purpose of this essay is to analyze a crisis faced by Nestle India using the framework of global public relations which defines culture broadly to include political, economic, media, societal, and activist cultures. Our analysis revealed that a multinational corporation with over a century of presence in the country struggled to align itself to the complexities of the cultures of the host country. In the case of Nestle India, whereas environmental variables such as political economy and Westernization of urban India boosted the growth of its instant noodles, the multinational also struggled to cope with the rise of media corporatization, activist pressure and the vagaries of regulatory enforcement not to speak of cultural nationalism. It is evident that Nestle's crisis response was governed more by its traditional corporate culture than by an ability to keep pace with the changing demands of its environment, leading to the amplification of an issue into a crisis. The study concludes that multinationals that ignore culture will be forced to pay a heavy price both in terms of reputation and the bottom line.

Core Elements for Organizational Sustainability in Global Markets: Korean Public Relations Practitioners’ Perceptions of Their Job Roles

For the purpose of enhancing organizational sustainability in global markets, organizational public relations practitioners in international firms take roles to respond toward the global public. This study explores practitioners’ perceptions of their job roles in global public relations firms and identifies the elements that support those roles. To address these concerns, a qualitative method, specifically an in-depth interview, was conducted because it endeavors to reveal and understand what lies deep within the complexity of a little-known phenomenon. As the specific public of this research, Korean practitioners were selected, since the public relations industry in Korea has been influenced by globalization, and diverse global public relations firms have branches in Korea. Analysis of in-depth interviews suggests a typology of three newly defined roles for Korean practitioners: strategic counselor/manager role, non-strategic technician role, and business manager role for practitioners’ own firms. It also identifies nine elements affecting public relations practitioners’ roles. The important and powerful elements were chiefly attributed to culturally specific influences. This study provides critical clues for enhancing both entrepreneurial sustainability in global markets and the professionalism of public relations. Finally, public relations practitioners will be better able to make optimal decisions regarding their client organizations’ adopted strategy.

Contemporary Publics, Twitter and the Story of PR: Exploring Corporate Interventions to Promote “Clean Coal” in Australia

Peabody Energy’s Advanced Energy for Life (AEFL) comprehensive global public relations (PR) campaign promoted the idea of clean coal. It is part of a series of efforts deployed by the coal industry since the 1980s to influence the public’s willingness to accept or tolerate its processes and products. This paper will develop a greater understanding of how contemporary publics in a 21st century context react when targeted by the global PR industry. Specifically, it looks at the response to the AEFL campaign in Australia and in particular examines Twitter provocations from January 2014 to January 2016. In doing so, this paper contributes to our understanding of how communicative dynamics such as Twitter and PR may affect public debates. This is critical to helping resolve key policy settings around future energy usage and emissions reduction.

An assessment of progress in research on global public relations from 2001 to 2014

Designed to investigate the trends, patterns and rigors of research studies examining global public relations, this study conducted a content analysis of published articles in public relations journals as well as other communication journals between 2001 and 2014. During this time span, a total of 163 articles examined topics related to global public relations. Information including journal name, publication year, country examined, authorship, theoretical application, method approach, and future research direction was recorded for each article. Given the steady increase in the number of articles addressing global public relations during the timeframe examined, the field should shift from description to theorization and establish theories specific to global public relations with methodological diversification. The United States was the nation of most frequent focus in the articles, followed by China, the United Kingdom, and South Korea.

Landscapes of Care: Feminist Approaches in Global Public Relations

ABSTRACTThis paper explores theoretical and practical implications of feminist theory—specifically standpoint theory, ethics of care, and related concepts from feminist geography—for global public relations, an area of theory and practice often associated with Western imperialism. Global public relations theory dictates that effective transnational campaigns should retain some global consistency but also be tailored to local publics. Textual analysis of global campaigns by a coalition of public and private organizations promoting handwashing in poor and agrarian communities worldwide revealed that effective campaigns had globally constant and locally responsive elements. Furthermore, the campaigns aligned with standpoint theory’s privileging of situated knowledge grounded in lived experiences, especially women’s. Last, effective global handwashing campaigns were motivated by an ethic of care and commitment to social change, showing relevance of feminist approaches for global public relations.

A história recente de relações públicas na Espanha

Este artigo apresenta um estudo exploratório sobre o estado da arte das relações públicas na Espanha, com base em indicadores utilizados no estudo conhecido como The global public relations handbook (2009). Isso significa uma abordagem cultural das relações públicas espanholas de hoje. Sob esse ponto de vista mostramos que a Espanha é um país que sofreu uma mudança radical, de uma ditadura para um dos sistemas mais democráticos do mundo, transformando substancialmente o seu sistema econômico, a sua cultura e sua sociedade. Esta transformação teve consequências fundamentais sobre a prática de relações públicas, porque as relações públicas tratam da liberdade de expressão.

The Second-Level Agenda-Building Function of the Xinhua News Agency

Mediated public diplomacy scholarship investigates the manner in which governments attempt to shape the framing of its leaders, people, and foreign policy in other nations’ media outlets. A growing body of literature identifies agenda-building efforts by these governments who often use state-sponsored media platforms to promote some issues and attributes as more salient than others. The current study provides a unique examination of China's use of its Xinhua News Agency as an information subsidy for US news outlets. Study results point to a limited transfer of issue salience between the Chinese news agency and the US news outlets. Non-significant findings were identified regarding attribute agenda building. The results of the study identify a significant intermedia agenda-setting effect between the US news outlets, with The New York Times serving as a conduit between Chinese and US news agendas. Results are discussed in the context of global political public relations and mediated public diplomacy scholarship.

Global public relations and communication management: A European perspective

The article reviews the status of international public relations research and reports on a pan-European study into international communication practices in the corporate sector. It is based on a quantitative survey of 579 heads of corporate communication from 21 European countries and a semi-structured qualitative survey of 42 chief communication officers (CCOs) in large multinationals from 12 European countries. Results reveal that international public relations are a part of daily business for more than 90 percent of CCOs in Europe, with nearly a quarter of them dealing with 20 countries or more. Sensitivity to multiple cultures while preserving core identity and the ability to change is the main challenges, along with the language(s) problem where introduction of English as the business lingua franca is only a partial solution. Only about a half of CCOs reported solid structures for international public relations operations.

Globalization of law: philosophical and legal interpretation

Article seeks to substantiate the philosophical and legal approach to the analysis of the phenomenon of the globalization law. In the present article author researches questions of globalization impact on the international law. Author notes that today it is possible to talk about the new phase of globalization. In the article author also reveals the essence of processes that determine development of international law in the century of globalization, Along with the formation of a new branch of law - integration law, which is a kind of legal mechanism to govern global public relations, development of modern public law is determined by the changing of nature of production and international specialization.

Tipping the balance: A decision-making model for localization in global public relations agencies

Global public relations scholarship has conceptualized standardization and localization as two ends of a continuum that need to be balanced to achieve organizational efficiency and public relations effectiveness. However, organizations with operations in more than one country are confronted with differences in geography, culture, politics, economy, communication, and demands for transparency that make finding an appropriate balance difficult. This study defines and documents the criteria used by global public relations agencies in consulting with MNCs to determine whether and how to localize strategies and tactics in host countries. Specifically, in-depth interviews of 25 senior-level public relations professionals at the leading global agencies were conducted to understand their views about the localization process. Responses from these interviews were used to develop a five-step decision-making model for localization. This model demonstrates the process that global agencies use to consult with MNCs about localization. The five steps encompass evaluations of the need to localize, the ability of MNCs to localize, the extent to which MNCs should localize, the tactics that could be localized, and the metrics to evaluate the success of localization efforts.

A “practice turn” for global public relations: an alternative approach

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to review recent literature on global public relations in order to scrutinize how contemporary transformations are conceptualized in the field, and what this means for the understanding of public.Design/methodology/approach– The authors offer a critical analysis and discussion of recent publications in order to explore the nexus of “public”, “culture” and “global”, questioning whether the increased interest in a specific understanding of culture actually contributes to the field’s ability to deal with complex and transforming publics in a meaningful manner.Findings– The majority of global public relations literature applies redundant understandings of globalization. It attaches prime importance to the concept of culture and contributes little to the understanding of transforming publics. Few scholars acknowledge the limitations of using “culture” for the definition of publics in global contexts. Alternative approaches to understanding “publics” in global public relations research and practice are hardly offered.Research limitations/implications– The findings imply that global public relations research would benefit from abandoning monolithic social science categories and from working transdisciplinary in order to refine its understanding of contemporary societal and social transformations and their implications for the understanding of public and relationship building.Practical implications– The discussion indicates that public relations practitioners could benefit from reorienting their understanding of publics in globalizing societies in order to build and nourish mutually beneficial relationships. The authors apply the insight into contemporary business practices to offer public relations practitioners a starting point for reorientation.Originality/value– The authors contribute to global public relations scholarship with an alternative approach to the understanding of transforming publics which merges the spatial turn and the practice turn known from wider humanities and social science research, and relevant business practices.

An Exploratory Study of Ethics Codes of Professional Public Relations Associations: Proposing Modified Universal Codes of Ethics in Public Relations

Public relations scholars have demonstrated contradictory views regarding the application of universal versus culture-specific approaches for understanding global public relations ethics. However, few comparative studies have empirically explored public relations ethics on a global scale. To that end, this study represents an exploratory attempt to provide a descriptive picture of public relations professional associations and their codes of ethics across 107 countries. In conclusion, we argue that honesty, safeguarding of confidences of clients, and prohibition of conflicts of interest of competing clients should be accepted as the universal values, while other issues, such as free flow of information and fees and gifts, could be understood as the relativistic values specific to a nation's situation and needs.

A Global Perspective on Public Relations Professionalism

Associations play a powerful role in socializing practitioners. The presence of public relations associations across the world is one more step toward professionalization for the entire profession. This study examines the structure of global public relations professionalization manifested through the networks among international and national public relations professional associations. The findings of a cross-national, multilevel network analysis suggest that despite the overall dominance of international public relations associations, at the regional level, local centers have also emerged. In addition, European public relations associations have developed more relationships with other national, regional, and international associations than American-based professional associations.

Practitioner-leaders’ representation of roles: The Melbourne Mandate

This paper critically examines the Melbourne Mandate (Global Alliance, 2012), an advocacy platform developed by the Global Alliance (GA), the umbrella organisation representing 67 professional associations and 160,000 practitioners worldwide. The Mandate contains a proposition on how public relations professionals and professional bodies might better represent and promote their roles.The Mandate was created following a five-stage iterative process: first, a brainstorming session by GA Board members; second, a global survey of leaders of professional bodies identifying their opinions on issues requiring advocacy with key stakeholders such as business leaders, politicians, journalists and the public. Analysis of the 280 responses led to stage three, a three-strand ‘prospectus’ for discussion by the global public relations community. This led fourthly, to research and discussion by three global groups co-led by an academic and a practitioner drawn from the GA Board and from the pool of recognised leaders in the profession. These groups developed the three strands producing a draft Mandate which was then debated online before being discussed, in stage five, by 800 practitioners and academics attending the World Public Relations Forum in Melbourne, Australia in November 2012. Using face-to-face interactions, additional online observations, an on-site, online application and hard copy comments, the Mandate was refined and finalised in Melbourne.The Mandate identifies three critical roles for professionals: defining organisational character and values; building a culture of listening and engagement; and the fulfilment of responsibility in all its dimensions. The results offer an interesting representation of roles which can be seen as essentially normative, but which, examples demonstrated, are being enacted by some leading practitioners.The paper critically examines whether the Mandate furthers the GA's declared mission to advance the profession, and goes on to analyse both the process by which it was generated and the content. Among other topics the paper discusses whether the Melbourne Mandate could be proposed as a genuine attempt to capture the best representations of the practice and promote these for the benefit of the profession globally. Alternatively, it could be regarded as largely a distillation of the ambitions of the professions’ elite since the process was led by and largely shaped by them. It could also be argued as a further attempt at imposing western norms on a profession whose non-western members are under-represented in such initiatives (Gregory & Halff, 2013). The paper concludes with observations on the value of such initiatives.

Communicating on Behalf of Global Civil Society: Management and Coordination of Public Relations in International Nongovernmental Organizations

In the last few decades, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have become influential actors in creating awareness of international social, political, environmental and economic causes in global society. However, NGOs have not received much attention in research on international public relations. This study contributes to filling that gap by analyzing how NGOs manage public relations according to the generic principles of excellence in global public relations and how they coordinate strategic communication between headquarters and local units. An online survey of 440 practitioners revealed 2 excellence clusters and 4 clusters of organizations with differing degrees of centralization. Excellent NGOs were found to assign more resources to public relations and more frequently considered cultural context in their communication programs. Thus, the study gives significant insights into international public relations practice in the global civil society sector and reveals further need for modifying and extending public relations theory in that respect.

Acceptance of democracy and public relations: Attitudes in a transitional country

The study explores the relationship between acceptance of democracy and opinions about public communication used by the private sector in television newscasts in Croatia, a country transitioning to democracy. A survey administered to students at a large University in Zagreb found inconsistent responses to the items that measured acceptance of democracy, indicating that young Croatians in the study may still be in a political “gray zone” and may not have a full understanding of the precepts of democracy. However, there was a positive correlation between opinions about public relations media practices and acceptance of democracy. The study suggests that it is not enough to use a theoretical framework of global public relations that characterizes a country as a democracy or not, but rather to recognize that democratization is a process. Many people in transitional societies may be closer on the continuum to traditional communist points of view than to newer democratic views; such understanding can help provide a theoretical understanding of transitional public relations.

Divided we stand: Defying hegemony in global public relations theory and practice?

The last decade has seen the world becoming increasingly complex. One way of dealing with complexity, according to Schwab (2010a), is to look for certainties or solutions that impose order by simplifying. The authors contend that this is a risk in public relations practice and the academy. While recognizing their benefits they warn against attempts to produce global models which also seek to impose hegemony and argue for maintaining a diversity that reflects reality. They take the cases of the UK and Singapore as respective exemplars where hegemony has arguably occurred and where it can still be resisted. They call for a professional and epistemological stand against hegemony.