Context Of Public Relations Research Articles

Gamifying Public Engagement on Sustainability Issues: From Motivational Affordances to the Effectiveness of Symmetrical Public Relations

This study aims to investigate the impact of gamification as applied to public relations, specifically its ability to engage the public with social issues. Using a survey of users on a corporate-sponsored sustainability-themed gamification platform (N = 417), the study examines the effects of two gamified two-way communication strategies—feedback and value co-creation—on the public’s feeling of engagement. Additionally, it explores the mediating role of motivational experiences and perceptions of the organization-public relationship in this process. The findings provide empirical evidence that gamification can enhance corporate public engagement programs by offering motivational affordances, thus creating an encouraging environment that satisfies individual users’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Consequently, positive perceptions of the relationship with the company are strengthened, leading to increased psychological engagement. This study’s contribution to the field lies in its novel perspective on gamification research within the context of public relations, bridging the gap in empirical research regarding its effectiveness in corporate communication. It sheds light on the potential of gamification as a valuable tool for corporate public engagement.

Wrangling in the Marketplace or Bartering in the Bazaar? Adapting Metaphors for Public Relations’ Societal Role

ABSTRACT The marketplace of ideas metaphor has long influenced how scholars and practitioners understand public relations’ role in U.S. discourse and democratic society, yet it is rarely questioned. We argue that the unacknowledged aspirations and Western, capitalist values embedded in the marketplace of ideas could cloud understandings of public relations in society and absolve practitioners of certain consequences of the discourses they put forth due to the function of the invisible hand symbolism operating within it. This work draws mostly from rhetorical and marketplace theory in public relations, including fully functioning society, to present five central limitations of the marketplace metaphor. A case example of U.S. discourse about trans women in sports showcases the shortcomings of the marketplace metaphor in practice. We introduce the bazaar and other compatible metaphors to inspire alternative, figurative thinking about societal communication and address some of the limitations we present, though we also ask questions about the marketplace of ideas to improve its fit with contemporary public relations. This essay offers theoretical and practical contributions by extending metaphors to explain practitioner responsibility in societal discourse and outline the importance of suiting metaphors to particular public relations contexts.

EVALUATION OF RIZE’S LOGISTICS CENTER POTENTIAL WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS THROUGH SWOT ANALYSIS

Logistics centers make important and direct contributions on matters such as reducing logistics costs, shortening transportation and transfer times, preventing traffic accidents by regulating urban and intercity traffic density on the roads, decreasing the negative effects of road transport on the environment and carbon emissions, creating a synergy by strengthening the supply chain across individuals and organizations in this sector where better quality service is provided, and increasing added value. On the other hand, within the context of public relations, SWOT analysis should be done for determining the potential situation in order to obtain data that will guide the establishment of the plans and practices to be followed for presenting a new service or organization to the targetaudience.In this regard, this study explores the current position of Rize province through SWOT analysis in order to determine its potential to become a logistics center. In this context, the strengths,weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Rize for being a logistics junction and base zone of the Black Sea are revealed. The study finds that the Rize logistics center will have a strategic location in the Caucasus Corridor opening to Europe and Central Asia and will create a significant advantage in the southern and northern freight movements and especially in Iran’s freight in transit. Furthermore, the study offers suggestions to make physical and institutional infrastructure improvements for the logistics center in Rize, to establish the necessary technological infrastructure systems, and to increase the university- private sector cooperation.

Capturing the dynamic tension in CSR discourses: Toward an integrative circuit of culture model

This paper adopts the Circuit of Culture (COC) – an interpretive approach to international public relations practice based on its five moments (i.e., regulations, production, representations, consumption and identity) – as a guiding framework to analyze corporate social responsibility discourses of Wilmar, a multinational corporation based in Singapore. Sustainability reports from 2009 to 2019 were first accessed to examine the negotiation dynamics that occur in textual discourse when the company dealt with the talk-action relationship through the Communication as Constitutive of Organization (CCO) approach. These were integrated with the contextual propositions nurtured in the five moments of COC to identify the negotiating mechanisms that Wilmar constructed to make sense of, explain, and justify tensional situations between set commitments and actual performance. This study aims to demonstrate how CCO can complement COC to offer a holistic interpretive approach to understand the situated communication dynamics and discursive construction process of talk-action relationship in an international public relations context.

Halkla İlişkiler BağlamındaKurumsal Sosyal Sorumluluğa Yönelik AlgınınÖrgütsel Bağlılığa Etkisi: Öğretim Üyelerine Yönelik Bir Araştırma(The Effect of Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Context of Public Relations on Organizational Commitment: A Research Aimed at the Faculty Members)

Purpose – Current literature reveals that properly implemented public relations practices for corporate social responsibility develop a positive perception on the target audiences of the institutions. In this context, the significance of the concept of corporate social responsibility was highlighted by Carroll in terms of representing a good corporate citizen (Carroll, 1991: 40). Carroll has introduced the corporate social responsibility pyramid in line with this view. It is stated by Allen and Meyer there are psychological factors under the commitment of individuals to the institutions they work for. In this context, they developed the organizational commitment model (Allen ve Meyer 1990: 3-4). It is aimed in this study to reveal the effect of the perception of corporate social responsibility on the organizational commitment in the context of public relations, within the framework of the faculty members in foundation universities, based on the current literature. Design/Method/Approach – Within the scope of the study, an experimental research model was developed for the relationship between the steps of the corporate social responsibility pyramid and the dimensions of the organizational commitment model. This model has been tested with data obtained through an online survey as a quantitative method. Findings – According to the results of the Pearson product-moment correlation analysis to ascertain the relationship between the average scores obtained from the perception scale for corporate social responsibility and the average scores obtained from the organizational commitment scale on the context of public relations; on the context of public relations, it was revealed that as the perception score for corporate social responsibility increases, the affective commitment score increases, the continuance commitment score decreases, and the normative commitment score increases. Discussion – Based on the research findings, it can be predicted that affective commitment in universities can be increased with public relations practices for corporate social responsibility, when performed correctly.

A importância do personal branding como elemento de relações públicas: uma experiência de avaliação internacional

A presente investigação examina o grau de conhecimento que os estudantes de comunicação detêm sobre o assunto da marca pessoal (personal branding) e sobre a importância da sua gestão no contexto das relações públicas. A marca pessoal diz respeito à perceção que um indivíduo gera na mente de outros e está diretamente relacionada com a capacidade de criar vínculos de natureza emocional e de estabelecer relacionamentos. A gestão de uma marca pessoal não significa desenhar e aplicar uma estratégia egocêntrica, mas, antes, a procura das características distintas de cada pessoa, de acordo com parâmetros de autenticidade e coerência, que são colocados ao serviço de todos. A partir de uma revisão da literatura, determinaram-se as ferramentas e os recursos de que cada indivíduo dispõe para gerir a sua marca pessoal. Em seguida, utilizou-se uma metodologia quantitativa, através da aplicação de questionários de resposta fechada, com os quais se recolheram as opiniões de trezentos estudantes de três universidades – duas espanholas e uma portuguesa. A análise dos dados revelou um interesse crescente na área das marcas pessoais e na procura de formação sobre o tema. Os estudantes portugueses, em geral, manifestam uma opinião mais definida e uniforme. Já os estudantes espanhóis mostram perspetivas menos concordantes.

Effects of voluntary activities of university students on reputation management strategies of universities: Sample of public university

Reputation and reputation management, referred to as evaluations related to organizations, are a compilation of perceptual descriptions that are in relation with nearly all of the concepts included within public relations field at national and international levels, that are impossible to be characterized independently from the notion of society they exist in, that are determined by West centered frameworks, whose conceptual structures change relatively at social and cultural levels, and that are included in social sciences disciplines which have the nature to create the agenda especially after 1990s. In the era of change where preferences, tastes, needs, desires, and daily routines change, reputation and reputation management are considered as a prescription including crucial elements in reaching target groups and having the nature of a key to institutional approach whose conceptual framework cannot be drawn by sharp lines. In today's cyclical structure in which every element the institutions face together with their competitors change rapidly and the process of decision making turns into a complex structure, the efforts of interpreting the complex structures that exceed the national level and tend to institutionalize at global scale have been an issue of discussion questioned, framed, and followed by many social sciences disciplinary, from sociology to anthropology, from marketing to communication sciences. In this manner, reputation and reputation management concepts including emotional and rational aspects are descriptions of information and opinions of individuals with relation to institutions and organizations as well as values. In today's world, in which we experience the age of information, it is impossible to reach the speed and density of communication networks, basic marketing strategies, the fact of globalization, every doctrine, concept and thesis change radically, the reputation and reputation management concepts take over a key role in enabling the institutions to make the highest level of profit, to increase recognition and productivity in terms of products and services they introduce, and they are considered as long term processes composing the whole of current and potential perceptions. The thesis of reputation and reputation management, forming the basic subject of the study and considered as successor of Public Relations disciplinary, have been studies within the scope of public institutions, especially Universities providing Higher Education, questioned within the framework of culture, intercultural communication and organizational culture concepts and theories, and examined in parallel with Public Relations context.

Рекомбинируя ассамбляж: посткапиталистическая оптика технологии

Акселерационистская парадигма выявляет скрытый потенциал технологий. Собственное виртуальное бытие технологии располагает спектром возможностей по реструктуризации социальных акторов. Проблематичными оказываются способы, которыми вписаны технологии в контекст общественных отношений, а также их роль в становлении режимов отправления власти, в том числе биополитической. Обладая уровнем виртуального, технологии производят перераспределение сил, однозначность эффектов которого находится в проблематичном положении. Иным, с точки зрения эпистемологических координат, оказывается вопрос о множественности самой технологии и фиксированности ее материальности. Поставленный акцент на акселерационистской оптике и новых онтологиях имеет перед собой цель прояснить социальную особенность технологии производить онтологическую политику, позволяющую ей определять сущностные характеристики социальных ассамбляжей. К основным выводам относится выявление определяющего значения использования технологий в горизонте ожидания политических проектов. Посткапиталистическая интенциональность, будучи фактической данностью взаимодействия людей, стремится к максимизации синтетической свободы, включающей в себя степень инклюзии и партисипации социальных ассамбляжей. Данное исследование проведено с опорой на тексты А. Гринфилда, П. Мейсона, Н. Срничека, А. Мол, Д. Ло, М. Каллона, Б. Латура, М. Фуко, Л. Брайанта, Г. Хармана, М. Деланда.

Comparative performance analysis of VTR and CTR in digital video advertising

The PR market is gaining momentum every day, and specialists in this field use new technological solutions for greater productivity. Modern PR in practice gradually goes online with the target audience. But PR and marketing as a science do not keep pace with modern realities in assessing the effectiveness of certain technological tools. Subsequently, often new untested tools lead to a loss of traffic and budget. This is what makes the goal of the study evaluating the effectiveness of advertising in digital environment relevant and significant in practice in comparison with the classical tools of PR-technologies.  This article provides a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of VTR (viewability) and CTR (click-ability) in digital video advertising. Video advertising on the modern Internet and Smart TV is a frequent phenomenon and at this time is considered one of the most effective types of online advertising. Adver-tising companies and customers use CTR to a greater degree and focus on greater click-throughness of advertising. But the visibility and the moment of the effect of advertising remain outside the attention of customers and customer-oriented marketers.   According to the analysis carried out, video advertising turned out to be more effective in the con-text of public relations and image than direct sales and marketing. The article also reveals the new side and analyzes the effectiveness of video advertising on CTR and VTR indicators, also provides statistical data for visual comparison.  Analysis, methodology and conclusions of this work are relevant, they make a significant contribu-tion to the effectiveness of the work of specialists in the field of PR and marketing, and can also serve as educational material in the training of new specialists.

Effects of 360° video on attitudes toward disaster communication: Mediating and moderating roles of spatial presence and prior disaster media involvement

Visual media technologies such as 360° video, augmented reality, and virtual reality are on the rise for immersive storytelling in a variety of public relations contexts. Yet there is a profound lack of scholarly research in public relations, crisis communication, and disaster communication to explore the effects of content displayed using these delivery formats on publics’ responses. To begin addressing the knowledge gap, this work reports results from a laboratory experiment investigating effects of media modality (traditional unidirectional video content vs. 360° omnidirectional video content) on attitudes toward the disaster communication content. Results demonstrate that 360° video featuring the aftermath of a natural disaster yields enhanced attitudes toward the helpful impact of the content. Importantly, mediation analyses show that (1) a sense of spatial presence underlies these effects, and (2) the mediating effects of spatial presence are attenuated by involvement with similar disaster media coverage (indirect experience).

What's in a Name? A Critical Review of Definitions of Quantitative Literacy, Numeracy, and Quantitative Reasoning

This article aims to bring together various threads in the eclectic literature that make up the scholarship around the theme of Quantitative Literacy. In investigating the meanings of terms like quantitative literacy, quantitative reasoning, and numeracy, we seek common ground, common themes, common goals and aspirations of a community of practitioners. A decade ago, these terms were relatively new in the public sphere; today policy makers and accrediting agencies are routinely inserting them into general education conversations. Having good, representative, and perhaps even compact and easily digestible definitions of these terms might come in handy in public relations contexts as well as in other situations where practitioners need to measure and evaluate their own success or communicate their goals and practice to others. Finding such definitions is, as expected, a difficult task. We offer through our analysis a clarifying framework for practitioners looking to sharpen their definitions and for others who are not keen on finalizing definitions. More specifically, we argue that there is indeed a common thread among all the terms involved, that of a competence in interacting with myriad mathematical and statistical representations of the real world, in the contexts of daily life, work situations, and the civic engagement. Furthermore we propose that the knowledge content captured by the individual terms can be placed on a continuum (statistics-data-arithmetic-

Interdiscursivity in Public Relations Communication: Appropriation of Genre and Genre Resources

<p>Undoubtedly, in recent years, the world as a whole, as well as the present world of work, has seen rapid changes which have served to bring about fundamental changes to work practices. Employees and trainers are thus facing greater challenges to achieve the required competency needed in this changing workplace environment. Bhatia (2013) observes that while the analyses of legal discourse have focused largely on ‘discursive practices’, very little effort has been given to studying ‘critical performance’ in professional legal practices, which is distinct from discursive practices. For this reason, this paper aims to show why discursive output has proved insufficient in the dynamic and complex discourse world of the present day workplace, as well as how the application of Critical Genre Analysis (CGA) greatly assists our understanding of it. By using critical genre theory, this paper looks more closely at interdiscursivity in public relations (PR) involving professional communication and how this in turn results in greater understanding of the changing workplace environment of the PR profession and helps individual PR practitioners cope with the challenges that they face. To achieve these aims, this study includes (i) in-depth interviews with public relations practitioners to gain their perceptions of their daily activities and the language and communication skills required by public relations practitioners to improve their effective professional communication, and (ii) critical genre analysis of the production of PR/communication plans, in particular, the Executive Summary and the Situation Analysis Section of the plans, to show the interaction between discursive and professional practices in the “socio-pragmatic space” of public relations contexts and how interdiscursivity is built into PR genres. For example, in order to examine the appropriation of genre and genre resources, it is interesting to consider: (i) in what way the Executive Summary of the PR/communication plans satisfies the requirements of sales promotional materials, and (ii) how in a very subtle manner, promotional elements are incorporated in the Situation Analysis Section, resulting in a mixed and embedded genre and discourse, achieving a mixture of communicative purposes in the communicative context: to report and to recommend communicative actions as well as to achieve ‘private intentions’ within the context of ‘socially recognized communicative purposes’ (Bhatia 2002).</p>

The Complexity of Public Relations Work

Abstract Research on the PR-function is extensive, especially in the US and the UK. The managertechnician dichotomy is well known, but has been challenged by recent research where more nuanced perspectives on PR-managerial roles are displayed. In relation to this complexity of PR-managerial roles the article investigates the function and role Swedish public relations managers perform and play in their organizations. The Swedish case, with its high proportion of PR practitioners employed by public authorities, was used to further explore the complexity of PR work. The empirical data was a survey distributed to a random sample of members of the Swedish Public Relations Association, with a managerial or head/ director position, representing all industry/societal sectors. 261 persons completed the survey, giving a response rate of 30 percent. The study confirmed previous research of a more complex picture of the PR-managerial level. One important conclusion was therefore that the simple dichotomy between managers and technicians cannot be used to understand managerial level positions in the public relations context. This complexity was even further emphasized when comparing PR-mangers in the private and the public sector. One challenge pointed out for future research was to develop analyses of PR managerial roles in different types of organizations.

Knowledges, reflexivity and power

The relationships between knowledge, discourse and power in historical and sociocultural contexts are foregrounded in this issue of Public Relations Inquiry. This issue begins with Macnamara’s critical review of evaluation in practice, highlighting the historical and continuing rupture between theory and praxis in relation to this concept. Macnamara notes the recent ‘flurry of industry activity’ that has resulted in a range of public declarations and standards such as the important sounding Barcelona Declaration of Measurement Principles and proceeds to analyse three key aspects: reach (dissemination based on advertising concepts and practice), tone/sentiment and engagement. His analysis throws up inconsistencies, lack of clarity, the conflation of concepts, methodological problems and exaggerated claims. Macnamara challenges a number of fundamental assumptions and practices, such as the application of return of investment (ROI) to public relations contexts, but arguably more importantly, he highlights the most important issue as the lack of engagement between academia and practice. In so doing, there is an implicit critique of hierarchical transmission models of knowledge exchange thus highlighting an apparent gap in understanding the thinking that underpins public relations work in practice (though see Pieczka on expertise, 2002, 2006, 2007, and L’Etang and Powell on knowledges, 2013). This suggests the need for basic research, but Macnamara also critiques critical scholars for their lack of attention to measurement and evaluation arguing that

Positioning a price on carbon: Applying a proposed hybrid method of positioning discourse analysis for public relations

The primary aim of this research was to explore whether the conceptual framework for intentional positioning in public relations proposed by James in 2010–11, which is underpinned by positioning theory, could be used to guide a discourse analysis of strategic positioning tactics. Positioning discourse analysis is designed to examine how discourse is being used to strategically position something in order to gain an advantage, or to achieve a goal in a public relations context. In this study, a sample of speeches by the two leading politicians in Australia on the topic of carbon pricing was analysed. Both politicians worked to position a carbon price/tax as good and bad for Australia respectively. Guided by James’s framework, the positioning goal, positioning type and positioning purpose were identified along with the discursive strategies used. However, one of the positions was not as strongly held in the public debate as the other. Applying positioning theory, it could be seen that although other factors in the strategy and tactics were basically sound, it could also be argued that the right to position in a certain way had not been sufficiently established in the opinion of Australian voters. Undertaking a positioning discourse analysis offers another way of examining practice and sheds more light on the role of discourse in strategic public relations. This was a small study with generally encouraging findings that indicate further testing of the method is warranted.

A Provisional Conceptual Framework for Intentional Positioning in Public Relations

Positioning within public relations is a concept not often addressed in public relations literature. This article reports on the progress of a project that aims to develop a way in which positioning could be usefully conceptualized within public relations. It suggests a conceptual framework that takes positioning beyond the marketing definitions that have limited use in the broader public relations field. The article reports on the development of a provisional conceptual framework for intentional positioning within a public relations context. Drawing from recent developments in positioning theory in the field of psychology, a framework was developed and applied to 57 award winning public relations campaign entries. Findings reveal that the positioning framework has the potential to be applied both as an heuristic to aid analysis of practice and also as a framework to aid practitioners in designing positioning strategies. Possibilities for further research are discussed.

Re-examining the economic roots of public relations

The present global financial/economic crisis affects virtually the whole world and has brought to light a neglected economic context in public relations. To anyone familiar with the field's early history, it is obvious that a large part of that history intertwines with the long struggle between corporate, purely economic, interests and the need to apply public relations to combat public hostility and to gain public favour. This article works with both functional and critical approaches to engage with the particular relevance that the economic context of public relations holds in times of economic downturn. In referring to economic context, it includes the following issues: the economic roots of public relations practice in the historical context, the interactions between public relations theory and theories of economics and political economy, and the importance of economics to public relations practitioners.

Measuring stewardship in public relations: A test exploring impact on the fundraising relationship

Though scholars have explored the impact symmetrical relationship maintenance strategies from interpersonal and marketing communication in public relations contexts, they have largely ignored stewardship. Explicated by Kelly [Kelly, K. S. (2001a). Stewardship: The fifth step in the public relations process. In R. L. Heath (Ed.), Handbook of public relations (pp. 279–289). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage] as a core component of the ROPES process of public relations, the “S” or stewardship proposes four elements that foster relationship growth when incorporated into organization's strategic efforts. This study created original scales to measure the impact of reciprocity, responsibility, reporting, and relationship nurturing in the fundraising setting. Results indicate that donors favor these strategies, and path analysis demonstrates they have significant impact on how donors evaluate the nonprofit organization–donor relationship.

Public relations professional practice and the institutionalisation of CSR

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to present the findings of a longitudinal case study into the professionalisation of public relations practices and the institutionalisation of corporate social responsibility as a legitimate social and business arrangement. In doing so, there are implications for the dynamic relationship between practices and the professionalisation of public relations.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative longitudinal study is used to examine the social construction of social responsibility in the Australian banking industry from 1999‐2004 across two levels of analysis – societal expectations as institution, and practices of banking and public relations as action.FindingsThe study shows that the case organisations shifted their public relations and communication practices during the period of the study. In response to the demands of publics, there was a central shift from a one‐way perspective where organisations sought to influence and persuade publics of the appropriateness of their actions towards a two‐way perspective where organisations needed to consult, negotiate and engage with publics. In doing so, this study suggests that there was a shift in the profession of how public relations was practiced, but also highlighted the changes to institutional arrangements about the legitimacy of social responsibilities of large organisations.Research limitations/implicationsThe study uses an interpretive perspective to understand the role and impact of public relations practice on societal change.Practical implicationsThis research examines the role of public relations practice in achieving longer term changes for organisations and society. This contributes a first step towards developing a theoretical understanding of the contribution of public relations practice to organisational success and therefore evaluation.Originality/valueThis paper makes two central contributions. Firstly, institutional theory and the social construction of societal and business standards of legitimacy are used in a public relations context. Secondly, this paper shows the effects of the micro‐level of analysis of public relations practices on the macro‐level of the profession.

Rediscovering what PR managers do: Rethinking the measurement of managerial behaviour in the public relations context

This paper explores the nature of managerial work in the public relations context drawing comparisons with the way mainstream management research has defined the main elements and processes of management within organisations. The paper begins with a critical review of the public relations and management literatures relating to managerial work and behaviour, highlighting the distinctively different approaches taken by public relations and management scholars in defining the nature of managerial work and behaviour. The paper goes on to present the findings of a qualitative investigation into the role and work patterns of practitioners occupying senior positions in cross sections of both US and UK organisations. The study identifies a number of common elements in pattern of “managerial” work performed by both UK and US‐based practitioners. The study also reveals the extent to which senior practitioners participate as members of the dominant coalition within their organisations and contribute to strategic decision making. The paper concludes by reflecting on the adequacy of existing definitions and understanding of the managerial dimension of the role played by practitioners within organisations.