Organization Public Relationships Research Articles

OPR and its corruption of “publics”: A critique

This paper advances existing critiques of the organization-public relationship (OPR) research tradition by explicating the poor ontological conceptualization of publics in OPR research as well as related methodological concerns. The authors critically analyze the publics and OPR literature, furthering past criticisms and raising new questions about the heuristic value of OPR research. The paper points out three major weaknesses of the OPR tradition in its use of publics: (1) serious vacillation in terms resulting in conceptual inconsistencies, (2) inappropriate operationalization of variables and the use of probability sampling, and (3) a lack of insightful context and inclusion of relationship factors in OPR studies, to which publics are inextricably bound. The critique cautions scholars engaged in OPR research to improve their literature reviews and to enlarge their methodologies beyond a narrow scope of relational variables, which are theoretically fragile if not devoid of research value. Finally, the critique suggests the importance of conceptualizing publics in ways that acknowledge their agency.

Popular Culture and Shaping HIV Perception.

The Gilead COMPASS Initiative® used celebrity partnerships to highlight HIV prevalence in the Southern U.S. and support Southern HIV and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) organizations. Using various media platforms, HIV organizations engaged with popular culture in collaboration with national media advocacy and public relations organizations to campaign against stigmatization and raise awareness about HIV.

Employees’ voice behavior in response to corporate social irresponsibility (CSI): The role of organizational identification, issue perceptions, and power distance culture

While extensive literature has examined the role of employees in corporate social responsibility (CSR), little is known about employees’ role in corporate social irresponsibility (CSI). The current study aims to examine the voice behaviors of employees generated around the issue of CSI. Two online surveys were administered to full-time employees by using two different scenarios involving CSI situations: environmental and diversity issues. The results of the study identified employees’ pre-established organizational identification as a critical cross-situational factor that influenced their CSI perceptions. In addition, employees’ situational perceptions of CSI – how they perceive CSI as a serious problem, their sense of connection to the situation, and their perceived constraints in solving the situation – played critical roles in motivating them to engage in voice behavior. Furthermore, the level of power distance culture within an organization significantly moderated the relationship between employees’ CSI perceptions and voice behavior. By incorporating organizational identification literature and public relations theory in the context of CSI communication and management, this study provides theoretical and practical implications.

Timeliness, responsiveness and the human voice: The effects of dialogic strategies and the mediating role of perceived communication ethicality on social media relationship building

This study investigates how social media can be better managed to cultivate positive organization-public relationships. It advances an expanded and integrated conceptual model to test how the communication features of corporate pages on social networking sites may influence publics’ perception of the organization’s communication ethicality, which further predicts organization-public relationships as a compound index of trust, commitment, and satisfaction. The results, based on structural equation modeling, showed that three important communication strategies are success factors that could shape perceptions of communication ethicality: timeliness, responsiveness, and the use of human voice in a dialogic framework. In particular, publics’ perception of the organization’s communication ethicality emerged as a key mediator driving communication effects to foster positive relationships with stakeholders in an online environment.

Issues, Publics, Organizations, and Personal Networks: Toward an Integrated Issue Engagement Model

ABSTRACT This study examines publics’ issue engagement to extend theory building about publics regarding their sociological dynamics. Integrating the situational theories, the framework of engagement, organization–public relationships, and personal networks, this study constructs an issue engagement model consisting of cognitive and affective issue engagement, issue engagement with organizations, and intra–public issue engagement. We hypothesized and confirmed with a nationally representative sample that individuals’ perceptions, feelings, and communicative actions about an issue are positively associated with the communicative resources in their networks. Individuals’ substantive actions were mobilized by the norms and expectations perceived from their issue discussants (i.e., people who discuss an issue with them). These findings extend the situational theories by revealing the social forces shaping publics’ issue engagement in addition to the psychological and perceptual factors. Importantly, recognizing and accounting for these social forces can equip practitioners with ways to mobilize publics via their social ties.

Understanding conspiratorial thinking (CT) within public relations research: Dynamics of organization-public relationship quality, CT, and negative megaphoning

Research on conspiracy theories in the fields of social and political psychology has identified dispositional and situational factors that lead to belief in conspiracy theories. However, there is still a lack of research on how and why individuals engage in conspiratorial thinking (CT) within the area of public relations. This study views CT as individuals’ propensity to consider malicious events and circumstances as secret plots initiated by a powerful organization for its self-serving purposes and applies CT to a government-public relationship context. Using a survey dataset collected from a nationally representative sample of Australia citizens (n = 542), this study examines CT about the Australian government using five survey items that measure CT. CT was found to be significant in fully mediating the relationship between organization-public relationship quality and negative megaphoning.

Instagram Social Media as Peruri's Public Relations Strategy in Communicating with the Public

Social media provides almost unlimited connection opportunities. Organizational public relations place social media as a platform for carrying out public communication and strategic communication. Determining how to approach and forge relationship between the institution and the community is a strategic communication that the organization needs to put forward. Perum Peruri as the Money Printing Public Company of the Republic of Indonesia manages Instagram social media as part of the effort to communicate with the public. This study aims to see and describe how is Peruri's public relations strategy to utilize Instagram as a means of communication with the public. This research focuses on activities carried out in digital media; characteristics of digital media use; and strategic planning for communicating with the public. This research uses a qualitative approach and descriptive research type. The research took place for three months from October to December 2021. Data of the research was collected through an interview with Yahdi Lil Ihsan as the Secretariat, Protocol and Corporate Communication Bureau of Peruri, and observations through social media monitoring. The results of the study show that the Management of Instagram social media by Peruri aims to build an image as digital security with guaranteed product authenticity and safety. Peruri's PR uses social media as its strategy for communicating with the public. The strategy comprises five stages including mapping the institution's image in the eyes of the public, conducting editorial planning, collecting data to create content, distributing content through Instagram social media, and evaluating (monitoring).

Shaping Public Perception: The Evolution of Government Public Relations in the Digital Age

This research examines the historical development of public relations and its role in promoting effective governance, democracy, and communication in diverse states. It highlights the Islamic perspective on mass communication and its influence on contemporary public relations practices. The study also explores the evolution of public relations in the digital age, with a focus on social media and its impact on democracy. Additionally, it examines the historical foundations of public relations in Pakistan, which have been shaped by the country's ethnic and religious diversity. Beyond these key areas, the research further explores the ethical considerations of public relations practices in the digital age, particularly regarding data privacy, fake news, and misinformation. It also analyzes the challenges and opportunities presented by the evolving media landscape for public relations professionals and organizations. By providing a comprehensive overview of the field, the research aims to contribute valuable insights for academics, practitioners, and policymakers seeking to understand and navigate the complexities of public relations in the contemporary world. The study provides a comparative analysis of public relations history in the United States, Russia, China, and India, offering international insights into the commonalities and differences that impact communication strategies. Overall, the research provides important insights for academics and practitioners alike, highlighting the crucial role that public relations plays in promoting efficient governance, democracy, and societal advancement.

All joking aside? Comparing the effects of a humorous vs. a non-humorous message strategy in building organization–public relationships and community resilience

ABSTRACT Communication scholars have studied the persuasive power of humor messages, but research provides mixed results. Also, the literature has been slow in demonstrating the practical effects of humorous messages on desired outcomes (e.g., organization–public relationships). Through an online experiment in the context of weather messages with samples of U.S. adults residing in the Southeastern U.S. (N = 209), we compared a humorous social media message designed to build relationships with the public to a non-humorous message in predicting OPRs and perceived community resilience when there is no high-impact weather on the horizon. Compared to a humorous message, a non-humorous message appeared to be more effective in increasing perceived community resilience and three dimensions of positive OPRs – trust, control mutuality, and commitment. The effects were more robust for community members with low to moderate levels of weather salience (i.e., the psychological value and importance that people have for the weather).

THE ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS IN DEFINING THE PUBLIC RELATIONS PROFESSION. THE ROMANIAN CASE

Public relations professional associations around the world seek to enhance the professionalism of the field and to support the development of the profession and practitioners. They are aiming to promote professional standards and ethical principles, to provide a framework for discussing and finding a universally accepted definition and to increase the credibility of the profession. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of which the objectives of professional public relations organizations in Romania are similar to those of associations in other countries and in what way, and if they contribute to the professionalization of the PR industry.

Organization–government relationships in sub-Saharan Africa: the emerging public affairs industry in Kenya

PurposeThis paper offers grounded insights on organization–government relationships, or the practice of public affairs, in Kenya.Design/methodology/approachIn-depth interviews were conducted with senior Kenyan practitioners. Interviewees represent national corporations, multinational corporations with offices in Kenya, consulting agencies, parastatal intergovernmental organizations, national government and county governments.FindingsResults suggest Kenyan public affairs is centered on relationship management, research and intelligence gathering, risk management and strategic communication. Second, while lobbying is a tactic, it is not synonymous with the broader scope of public affairs strategy. Third, the absence of educational training, a professional body to oversee the profession and the perception of public affairs as “bribery” are threats to the profession's growth.Research limitations/implicationsFindings should not be interpreted to represent “Africa's public affairs industry,” rather a snapshot of the profession contextualized in Kenya.Practical implicationsKenya needs a professional body to manage the public affairs profession at a national level. It also needs an established curriculum in its higher education environment. Lastly, as one of the fastest growing markets in the world, understanding the public policy environment will benefit multinational organizations looking to expand and operate in Kenya.Originality/valueThis study contributes diverse and inclusive insights on the practice of public affairs in a leading economic and political actor in sub-Saharan Africa. It also expands organization–public relationship theory to articulate engagement with governmental stakeholders.

기업 ESG 경영활동이 조직-공중 관계성 인식의 매개작용을 통한 ESG 경영효과에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

기업 ESG 경영활동이 조직-공중 관계성 인식의 매개작용을 통한 ESG 경영효과에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

Fostering Organization-Public Relationships Through Openness and Engagement: A Meta-Analysis

ABSTRACT The accumulating literature regarding antecedents of organization-public relationships (OPRs) has been mixed. This study employed a meta-analytic method to synthesize the roles of organizational openness and publics’ engagement behaviors quantitatively and systematically in studies of OPRs. The results showed that the corrected mean correlations () between organizational openness and OPRs ranged from .52 to .72, and those between publics’ engagement behaviors and OPRs ranged from .30 ‘to .42. Overall, the relationships between engagement and elements of OPRs differed for (1) for-profit organizations versus others (e.g. nonprofits, government); (2) samples collected from the eastern versus western cultures; and (3) different types of populations (i.e. students, survey panels, and target populations). Similar patterns also emerged for the moderating effects of organization and population type on the associations between openness and OPRs. Synthesizing existing empirical results on openness, engagement, and OPRs meta-analytically helps build consensus on those relationships and inspires new directions for OPRs theory building.

BTS As Global Ambassadors For Sustainable Development: Does A Strong Fan-Artist Relationship Secure Engagement With Sustainability-Oriented Activities?

In addition to BTS’ cultural and economic impacts, the group has increasingly become linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), participating in a series of UN-initiated activities, and sustainability-oriented brand collaborations. Strongly communicated values have been a key feature of BTS’ brand positioning and has allowed BTS to incorporate aspects of sustainability as a facet of their public image. Considering the existing demonstrated level of engagement and impact for social causes by their loyal fanbase, ARMY, our study aimed to identify whether a strong fan-artist relationship would influence engagement with the group’s increasingly sustainability-oriented activities and fans’ motivation to learn more about sustainable development following engagement, and controlling for existing familiarity with the SDGs. Building on Hon and Gruning’s (1999) framework for Organization-Public Relationships (OPR) and elements from Joo et al.’s (2019) perceived corporate social responsibility(CSR) authenticity, we developed an online survey that was distributed in closed ARMY Facebook groups across four English-speaking countries. We asked questions related to fan identification, fans’ relationship with BTS, knowledge of the SDGs, and engagement with eight of BTS’ sustainability-oriented campaigns. Running multiple linear regressions across four hypotheses, our findings returned only two statistically significant relationships among the independent variables: trust showed a positive relationship with motivation to learn more, and congruence showed a negative relationship with engagement with the campaign BTS x Samsung’s Galaxy for the Planet. Control variables for prior familiarity with SDGs and fan identification showed both significant positive and negative relationships with engagement with all but one of the activities. Our study suggests that while the respondents perceived BTS as authentic, trustworthy, and value-driven ambassadors, ARMY’s existing familiarity with the SDGs may be a better predictor of engagement with sustainability activities, rather than ARMY’s strong relationship with, and positive perceptions of BTS.

The Role of POSCO’s Communication Division: Serving as an Authentic Messenger to Promote Business Activities and Consistent Messaging

Objectives: The importance of communication in promoting a company’s management philosophy and business outcomes to both internal and external stakeholders is growing. The purpose of this case report is to introduce how a company managed to shed its 50-year-old organizational culture by embracing a new management philosophy that helped to enable the transition. Methods: This paper introduces global Korean steelmaker POSCO’s new management philosophy, “Corporate Citizenship,” which applies a systematic and strategic approach to communication, defined at both cultural and organizational levels, in media channel operations and content creation. Results: POSCO’s efforts demonstrated a successful communication alignment of management philosophy with organizational structure and departmental functions. Their corporate public relations organization comprises three departments: Public Relations (PR) Planning, PR, and Communication Content. In particular, integrated marketing communication efforts were adopted by rolling out a strategic portfolio of new media channels. As a result of POSCO’s multi-modal communication efforts, performance statistics such as page views, subscribers, and interactions increased significantly. Conclusions: Academic literature suggests that once an organizational culture has been established, it cannot be easily changed. However, by generating consensus and building understanding from a broad base of stakeholders, combined with strategic communication programs that contain authentic messaging, a significant impact can be created both inside and outside an organization.

The role of organizations in the public communication of science – Early research, recent studies, and open questions

Organizational science communication of higher education institutions (and research institutes outside the university sector) came into view of scholars of “science journalism” soon after the begin of systematic studies of the scientist-journalist relationship. While the pioneering French study of scientists’ relationship with the mass media by Boltanski and Maldidier (1970) focused on implications of the norms of the scientific community for public communication by scientists, early surveys of scientists in the United States (Dunwoody & Ryan, 1982, 1983) and – peripherally – also in Germany (Krüger, 1985; Peters & Krüger, 1985) considered both the scientific community and the university (or other public research organizations) as relevant contexts of the scientist-journalist relationship. The issue of organizational science public relations (PR) was also addressed by scholars and practitioners in publications and workshops in Europe (see, e.g., Peters, 1984; Ruß-Mohl, 1990; Zerges & Becker, 1992) in the 1980s and early 1990s. While researchers were not oblivious of self-interests’ influence in public communication activities of universities and other research institutions, the dominant perspective on science communication was that of the relationship of science and the media, and PR officers at science organizations were largely conceptualized as “mediators between scientists and journalists” (Dunwoody & Ryan, 1983) or as “practitioner in the middle” (Rogers, 1988).

Entrepreneurs as influencers: the impact of parasocial interactions on communication outcomes

PurposeDrawing on the example of car manufacturer Tesla and its early investor Elon Musk, the purpose of this paper is to explore the connection between the personal communication activities of influential entrepreneurs on social media, the emergence of parasocial interactions (PSIs) and the related communication outcomes for the company.Design/methodology/approachThis paper conducted an online survey, recruiting 207 participants via purposive sampling. Partial least square path modeling and an independent t-test were conducted to test hypotheses.FindingsThe results of this paper show that following entrepreneurs’ personal social media activities amplifies PSIs, which in turn positively impact the company's communication outcomes. Organization–public relationships and purchase intentions are improved by PSI.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies that connects the personal and the organizational level in exploring entrepreneurial marketing. The results show that Elon Musk acts as an influential entrepreneur to effectively promote communication outcomes for Tesla. This paper illuminates the potential of entrepreneurs’ personal social media activities to support the success of their ventures.

Factors Affecting Community Participation in Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility Projects: Evidence from Mangrove Forest Management Project

Community participation in an environmental corporate social responsibility (CSR) project can help business enterprises effectively develop projects that respond to the actual demands of the community and effectively utilize a firm’s resources. This study aims to investigate factors that affect community participation in each stage of environmental corporate social responsibility project development. The environmental corporate social responsibility project explored in this study is a sustainable mangrove forest management project in the Pakprasae sub-district of Rayong province in Thailand. This study has tested whether enterprise-related factors (such as perceived CSR credibility and organization–public relationship (OPR) quality) and participant-related factors (such as ecological knowledge, perceived ecological values, and expected benefits from participation in the project, both monetary and non-monetary related benefits) could predict community participation in an environmental corporate social responsibility project development initiated by a business enterprise. Questionnaire surveys were administered to 355 community members who were the target group of this environmental corporate social responsibility project from June to July 2022. The collected data were inspected and analyzed using an inferential statistical technique. Multiple regression analyses were performed to test significant factors that affected community members’ participation in planning, implementing, and monitoring the project. The results revealed that perceived ecological values were the strongest predictor of participation in all stages of the project, including planning, implementing, and monitoring the project. Perceived CSR credibility and OPR quality also significantly affected participation in all stages, whereas ecological knowledge significantly affected participation only in the monitoring stage. These findings suggest that to promote community participation in each stage of environmental corporate social responsibility project development, it is important to enhance community members’ perceived ecological values, and community members should be educated in ecology to enhance participation in the monitoring stage.

OPLEIDING VAN DIE SKAKELPRAKTISYN IN BEROEPSGERIGTE SPESIALISERINGSRIGTINGS

Basic training of the public relations practitioner seems not to be enough. There is an urgent need to train public relations practitioners as specialists within specific: organizations. A basic qualification enables public relations practitioners to enhance their career at any of the numerous organizations available. It is often only then that the public relations practitioner realizes that s/he is not competent to deal with the unique PR requirements for that specific organization and is also unfamiliar with the broad structure and activities oflhat organization. At present there is a lack in specialised occupattonal training opportunities for public relations practitioners at our technikons and universities which need to be addressed ac-cording to research conducted amongst public relations students and medical public relations practitioners. Since heatth in South Africa is a prominent political issue, it is necessary to establish the present and future role of the medical public felations practitioner, and to what extent a need exists in further training of these practitioners. Further training can also add certain competencies to already acquired basic skills necessary for the medical public relations practitioner. Research conducted amongst second and third year public relations students at the Technikon SA, medical public. relations practitioners in the Gauteng Province, and heads of tersiary health institutions revealed that 97,5% of the respondents are in favour of specialised occupational training. It was also found that the present competencies of the medical public relations practitioner are not sufficient. It is concluded that these imbalances should be ad-dressed through further training made available to public relations pracitioners which will enhance the professional status of public relations in organizations.

Investigating Membership Retention: Employing Public Relations Theory to Better Understand Relationship Management

ABSTRACT Though nonprofit management literature frequently discusses the importance of communication and cultivating relationships with donors, members, and volunteers, research on how individuals process organizational messages is sparse. This study proposes a model theoretically based on communicative action problem solving that details a sequential chain of communicative actions that predict behavioral intentions to support organizations. Using an online survey of members of a state museum (n = 363), this study found support for how individuals process organizational messages. Specifically, individuals that perceive a strong relationship with an organization are more likely to seek out information from or about that organization. After seeking out information, individuals filter messaging to keep the most helpful content while ignoring other content before ultimately sharing those messages with their personal network. Through sequential mediation analysis, the data supports the hypothesized order of active communication processes and extends the conceptual linkages discussed by nonprofit management literature between organization-public relationships and behavioral outcomes.