Public Relations Literature Research Articles

Dancing in the Dark: Ticketmaster's response to its Bruce Springsteen ticket crisis

Ticketmaster was presented with a crisis on February 2, 2009, when some fans trying to purchase tickets online to Bruce Springsteen concerts were redirected to Ticketmaster-owned secondary ticket distribution website, TicketsNow, and erroneously purchased tickets at a higher price than the original ticket price. The purpose of this research-in-brief is to compare Ticketmaster's response to the theories of crisis management presented in the public relations literature.

Public Relations as a Maturing Discipline: An Update on Research Networks

Pasadeos, Renfro and Hanily (1999) investigated the public relations literature's most-cited works in the 1990s and identified research networks. In the present study we expand that work by examining public relations scholarship ten years later. We identify current authors and their publication outlets, taxonomize most-cited works, and draw a co-citation network. Further, we compare current findings with those of ten years earlier and speculate on the state of public relations as a scholarly discipline.

A sport crisis typology: establishing a pathway for future research

One of the main sponsorship benefits sought by a firm is a positive effect on corporate image through the association of their brand with a sporting entity. Given the increasing incidence of crises in sport, it can be argued that the sponsorship decision may be viewed as a form of risk-taking behaviour. Drawing on the crisis management and public relations literature, this paper examines the utility of established models within the domain of sport marketing and sponsorship. Specific emphasis is given to definitional and future research issues pertaining to athlete-triggered crises. The need for research in this area is evident given the potential brand risk associated with sponsoring athletes or teams within crisis-prone sports and the limited attention on this issue in the current literature. This paper explores the relevance of some pertinent terms that are central to an established structured crisis typology such as crisis, transgression, faux pas and terrorism and concludes with a direction for future research.

What Communication Professionals Tell Us Regarding Dominant Coalition Access and Gaining Membership

Public relations literature emphasizes gaining membership in the dominant coalition. However, we know little about the ways that successful practitioners have garnered dominant coalition membership. By combining 32 interviews with public relations executives, four focus groups, and open-ended responses on a larger survey of communicators, this study sought to uncover patterns explaining routes to the dominant coalition. Routes found include organizational crisis, ethical dilemma, credibility gained over time, issues high on the media agenda, and leadership. The positive and negative aspects of each route are discussed and an ethical analysis of findings is offered.

Through the looking glass: A decade of Red Cross crisis response and situational crisis communication theory

Crisis communication has emerged as a hot topic in public relations literature. However, little attention has been paid to nonprofit organizations (NPOs), one of the largest sectors of public relations practice. In particular, few studies have examined that the crisis response strategy NPOs can employ to repair their reputations. For the Red Cross and other NPOs, when faced with a crisis, communicating with their publics is critical to restore a positive reputation and, ultimately, to the continued success of the organization once the crisis has passed. The study was based on the work done by Coombs [Coombs, W. T. (2007). Protecting organization reputations during a crisis: The development and application of situational crisis communication theory. Corporate Reputation Review,10, 163–176] to develop and refine what he has called the situational crisis communication theory (SCCT). The theory posits that certain public relations’ crisis situations are better resolved if organizations adopt specific crisis response strategies. The study presented in this paper examined the crisis response strategies of the American Red Cross through the lens of the SCCT.

Perspectives of communication in the Australian public sector

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to seek an understanding of the role of government communication in Australia by examining perspectives on the extent to which public servant communicators persuade or engage the Australian public.Design/methodology/approachThemes from the public relations literature into the role and function of public relations are used in a qualitative analysis of key government documents and in‐depth interviews conducted with public servants, political staffers, journalists and interest group representatives.FindingsThis research found a diversity of views regarding the role communication does and should play within government. Participants without formal experience or education in communication generally viewed the function as one of persuasion and dissemination of information whereas the more experienced argued for more of an engagement with the public. A lack of detailed knowledge and/or use of public relations principles appears to be limiting the understanding of the role and purpose of government communication in Australia.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is conducted in an Australian context only and uses a qualitative approach that should not be generalised without further research.Practical implicationsContinued cynicism about the role of public relations in government does little to improve the quality of communication between a government and its public. This paper provides an opportunity for reflection on the purpose of government communication and the role of the public servant.Originality/valuePrevious studies in this area have generally focused on political communication in the sense of partisan or party‐political messages of government. This paper explores the concept from a bureaucratic perspective.

More than just the media: Considering the role of public relations in the creation of sporting celebrity and the management of fan expectations

This article considers the complex nature of sporting celebrity and the role of media and public relations in the creation of both sports celebrity and the fan expectations associated with that celebrity. While public relations literature has traditionally considered PR as a promotion and communication tool, this article acknowledges that in the cultural and ideological world of sport, PR has a much more sophisticated role to play. In the event of either positive or negative media attention, a sporting celebrity is subjected to unprecedented scrutiny and the increasingly high expectations of fans. However, the expectations of fans are not based on the simple notion of hero worship and role models, and this exploratory study suggests that fans are capable of very complex reactions to the behaviours and marketing personas of sporting celebrities. The use of PR in sport deserves close examination and the reactive spin doctoring techniques of the past should give way to the strategic integration of public relations and media planning in both the creation of the sporting celebrity, balancing the sport vs. private sides of that celebrity, and the varying fan expectations associated with each.

Anti-corporate movements and public relations

This paper develops a theoretical framework of the anti-corporate movement. We argue that previous accounts in the public relations literature, including theorizing around stakeholders, publics, activist groups and issues management, are limited and provide only a partial conceptualization of anti-corporate movements. In order to address this shortcoming, we draw upon social movements theory to develop a grounded and enriched theoretical framework of anti-corporate movements.

Constant change and the strategic role of communication

Purpose– Libraries have been experiencing relentless change and uncertainty in their environment. The literature on corporate communications, strategic management and planning, marketing and public relations more recently, has been recommending using communications as a strategy to coherently and proactively handle and foresee change. Planning and using an overall communications strategy will bring integrity and adherence to the library's goals and direction while reducing the discomfort of change. This selected bibliography is a quick starting point for understanding the significance of an overall communication strategy and its use for managing conflicts and changes in the library's environment strategically.Design/methodology/approach– This article covers books and articles from mid‐1980s to 2004, published around the world. The sources are listed alphabetically by author and then chronologically for different sources by the same author, providing brief but useful information about the content covered for each source.Findings– This bibliography illustrates a variety of research from corporate communications, strategic planning, communications management, marketing and public relations literature that emphasize the role of communication in strategic management.Research limitations/implications– It records a comprehensive list of publications covering international perspectives as well as publications about communication strategy.Practical implications– This selected bibliography is primarily intended for librarians, library planners, managers or administrators, but is also relevant to corporate and business professionals, planners and administrators. Further, it would also be a useful resource for students, faculty and researchers of communication.Originality/value– This bibliography presents a much needed resource list for gathering insights into the strategic role of communication for organizations such as the library that are in a state of constant change.

Relationship maintenance strategies onFortune500 company web sites

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how organizations enact positivity, openness, access, sharing of tasks, and networking through their web sites. The paper also aims to investigate whether, different types of industries display different levels of relationship strategy.Designs/methodology/approachA content analysis of 286 web sites was conducted to determine how corporations use their site as a communication medium for building and nurturing relationships with publics. Company web sites were selected from theFortune 500list according to industry type. The sites were analyzed for the presence and quality of variables identified in the public relations literature as measures of relationship maintenance strategies.FindingsThe study's first research question addressed how the sampled organizations display use of relationship maintenance strategies through their web sites. The results revealed that openness was the strategy used most frequently. The quality of the openness dimension also was rated more highly than it was for any of the other strategies. The second research question explored whether industry type made a difference in organizations' use of the relationship maintenance strategies. A statistically significant difference among industry type was found for three of the strategies – positivity, openness, and access.Originality/valueThis study gives guidelines as to how companies can use their web sites more proactively to build and maintain relationships with their publics. The study also provides some insights into why some types of organizations might be more likely than others to use web sites for relationship maintenance. This study's primary contribution to public relations theory is its original focus on strategies for organization‐public relationship maintenance and this study also sought to identify and measure the quality of maintenance strategies.

Imperative for an Arab model of public relations as a framework for diplomatic, corporate and nongovernmental organization relationships

This paper advocates a morally/ethically defensible “organic theory” of public relations that is in opposition to the public relations literature that predominantly suggests that only those publics that have direct consequences for the organization are publics with whom public relations practitioners should deal. A biological metaphor can be used in supporting this “organic” theory of public relations in which the organization is an organ and society is a body as a whole. This paper concludes that the process of public relations, as well as the outcomes, is critically important in maintaining a metabolic balance and harmony within society itself—a requisite for the health and well-being of nation-states, corporations and nongovernmental organizations. Much of this process involves communication as a ritual, rather than communication as transmission of information; it involves interpersonal communication, rather than mass communication. It involves relationship-building as opposed to persuasion. Much of this process has been found traditionally in Arab culture, and these rich traditions should be recognized and examined for their utility and value in developing an Arab model of public relations to help resolve the plethora of 21st Century issues that threaten global stability and ultimately the well-being of all cultures and societies.

The myth of salary discrimination in public relations

One of the more puzzling dimensions of the public relations literature is the persistent claim of salary discrimination against women in the field, despite the absence of even a single comprehensive study on the topic. Even more disturbing is that closely related fields like marketing and advertising—as well as more professionalized fields like medicine—have made no such claims of discrimination, despite larger salary gaps and larger correlations between salary and gender than in the PR field. Detailed statistical analysis of a major salary survey and a review of existing studies both indicate that there is no empirical reason to believe that there is gender-based salary discrimination in the PR field. Findings from the PR salary survey show that there is little or no discrimination, even without considering factors (e.g., employment breaks-in-service) that were shown to have substantial explanatory power in salary surveys from other fields. Circumstantial evidence of PR salary discrimination existed 20 years ago, but the evidence available since that time suggests strongly that there has been little or no salary discrimination for at least the past decade.

Practitioners’ web use and perceptions of their own roles and power: a qualitative study

Four focus group discussions with 35 practitioners were guided by theory about roles from public relations literature and power from strategic management literature to explore how World Wide Web use is related to practitioners’ perceptions of their own status and decision-making power. The web has become essential to public relations. Practitioners use the web extensively for research and evaluation, two-way communication, productivity and efficiency, issues management, and other applications. All four types of practitioners’ power, according to Finkelstein’s [Acad. Manage. J. 35 (3) (1992) 505–538] taxonomy—structural, expert, prestige and ownership—were enhanced by web use. Because, the web is such a great equalizer, web use may contribute to the blurring of practitioners’ roles.

Methodical failure: the use of case study method by public relations researchers

Case studies comprise up to a third of published articles in the public relations literature. There has, however, been little discussion in the literature of their methodological advantages or shortcomings as a research tool, or reflection on the quality of published case studies. This paper reviews the literature on case-study research, and surveys 5 years of case studies published in Public Relations Review to determine the quality of their methodology. The results indicate that few researchers understand or apply good case method.The paper concludes that case studies, if thoughtfully conceived and well executed are a research tool well suited to the study of public relations. It is suggested that poor methodology has undermined the role of case research in the development of theory. If properly applied case research could usefully balance the influence of quantitative research which tends to isolate research problems from the processes of public relations practice that are embedded in social or organizational contexts.

Concerning the epistemology and ontology of public relations literature

(2004). Concerning the epistemology and ontology of public relations literature. Review of Communication: Vol. 4, No. 3-4, pp. 163-175.

Applying an open systems public relations model to destination image development

Public relations is essentially a communications function concerned with relationships, image and image development and it is from this perspective that the subject is viewed. A literature survey of the use of public relations in tourism indicated that no structural theoretical framework for its application in destination image development has been postulated. This was found to be the case in both tourism and public relations literature. In this article, such a framework is devised. Adapting an existing open-systems public relations model to represent the process of establishing a tourism relationship between a tourist-generating country and a tourist destination does this. This model was used as the foundation for formulating a public relations strategic framework.

Why transitional public relations methodologies are needed for the reform of higher education in the countries of central and eastern Europe

This essay reflects upon the themes that emerged from the “Public Relations—An Instrument for the Transformation and Development of Higher Education in Central and Eastern Europe” seminar, for which the articles appearing in this issue of Higher Education in Europe were originally prepared. The transitional public relations approach, which was developed and introduced to the world public relations literature by the author, is used to analyze the impact of this type of public relations on the reform of higher education in the former communist countries of Europe. The main conclusion is that, in view of the common communist heritage of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the application of public relations strategies and instruments in higher education accelerates and facilitates reform of this key area of the economy and also causes it to become more effective. The above statement is particularly valid for private universities.

KSB endorses EU motor challenge

Social media influencers (SMIs) represent a new type of independent third party endorser who shape audience attitudes through blogs, tweets, and the use of other social media. A mature public relations literature has identified the characteristics of effective spokespersons, but relatively little is known about audience perceptions of the SMI. A q-sort technique identified core perceived attributes of four sample SMIs. A better understanding of the perceived personality of SMIs provides tools for optimizing an organization's SMI capital.

Public relation(ship)s or private controls? Practitioner perspectives on the uses and benefits of new technologies

This research surveys public relations practitioners at leading corporations to determine what anticipated benefits drive investments in new communication and information technologies. The dominant symmetrical model in the public relations literature highlights efficiency and relationship‐building benefits, but research here incorporates control benefits of new technologies that are under explored—a voiding media gatekeepers, enhancing stakeholder monitoring and surveillance, and capturing more stakeholder data. Results of a survey with practitioners at 107 of the Fortune 500 companies suggest that efficiency benefits are especially important and that control and relationship‐building benefits are more or less equally important considerations. The research contributes to our understanding of control aspects of new technologies and underscores the need for more critical research into ethical concerns associated with such controls.

The public relations philosophy of John W. Hill: bricks in the foundation of issues management

AbstractThis paper contends that John W. Hill, founding partner of Hill and Knowlton, based his philosophy of public relations on four signal elements of issues management: strategic business planning sensitive to the threats and opportunities of public policy; high standards of corporate responsibility; issues monitoring; and issues communication. His philosophy, now nearly one‐half century old, was enlightened in that it fares well against the standards of ethics, symmetry and sensitive relationship management championed in public relations literature today. This analysis is based on the philosophy Hill expressed in his two books, which establish him as one of the founders of modern issues management. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.