Relations Research Research Articles

Life after exile: Introducing a new dataset on post-exile fate

Recent research in international relations and comparative politics has highlighted the post-tenure fate of leaders, particularly exile. Scholars view exile either as a punishment or a “golden parachute” offering a safe exit with potential future power. To assess which perspective aligns with reality, we developed a dataset tracking exiled leaders’ fates across three periods: during exile, upon returning home, and beyond. Our findings reveal significant variations, but the majority of exiled leaders eventually return home and resume power. This suggests a need to reconsider research that groups exile with punishments like imprisonment or execution.

Multiple pathways to organizational legitimacy: Information visibility, organizational listening, and cross-sector partnerships

Given the critical role of legitimacy in attracting key resources for organizational survival and growth, organizational and strategic communication research has long sought to understand the mechanisms essential in improving organizational legitimacy. Guided by stakeholder research and configurational thinking, we examine three interconnected communication mechanisms for relationship management in organizational legitimation: (a) information visibility, (b) organizational listening, and (c) cross-sector partnerships. Based on survey and archival data from 44 U.S. nonprofit organizations, we employed a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to identify the pathways to high or low organizational legitimacy. Our results reveal the combinations of these factors can complement or substitute for one another to explain legitimacy. Specifically, high pragmatic legitimacy requires effective listening to stakeholders and collaborating with government agencies. By contrast, in low pragmatic legitimacy, organizations are often hindered by limited capacity for information visibility, ineffective listening to stakeholders, and no collaboration with corporate partners. These results suggest theoretical contributions to stakeholder research in public relations and organizational and strategic communication scholarship, as well as practical implications for improving organizational legitimacy for mission-driven organizations.

Destructive belief systems and violent behavior within and between groups and identities

This special issue celebrates 25 years of the Sage journal Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. In this article, we use examples of the current sociopolitical climate to highlight the importance of the scientific inquiry into group processes and intergroup relations. Ingrained identities that arise from groups are responsible for causing wars, protests, community clashes with law enforcement, violence, climate change, major public health crises, and societal change. However, just as blame goes to groups, collectives can be harnessed for solutions. This special issue contains 13 articles that showcase the diversity of research in Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, all of which contribute to theory advancement and the application of science to real world issues.

Bibliometric Analysis of Spanish Doctoral theses on Public Relations (2006-2021)

Objective: The aim of this article is to conduct a comprehensive and detailed analysis of doctoral theses in the field of public relations carried out at public universities in Spain between 2006 and 2021. This analysis seeks to identify and understand the main dimensions researched, the thematic and methodological evolution, and the contribution of these studies to both the professional practice and theoretical framework of public relations. Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework is built upon the historical evolution of public relations in both the academic and professional spheres. It acknowledges changes in social demands for greater effectiveness and rigor in research outcomes in this field. Previous studies documenting the transition in methods and approaches used in public relations will be reviewed, emphasizing those that have marked milestones in the integration of theory and practice. Additionally, prevailing theoretical models and how they have been challenged and expanded by recent research will be analyzed. Method: The study employs an exploratory and descriptive methodological design. Content analysis was used to dissect and categorize information systematically for analyzing the doctoral theses. Theses were selected through a purposive sampling of documents available in Spanish academic databases, ensuring that these studies encompass various dimensions and approaches within the field of public relations. Variables such as thematic focus, methodologies employed, and the theoretical and practical contributions of each thesis were assessed. Results and Discussion: This bibliometric study reveals a predominance of doctoral theses in public relations in Spain focused on practical applications, demonstrating a primarily instrumental view of the discipline as a marketing tool. There is a marked imbalance towards applied research, with limited interest in theoretical development, suggesting a lack of exploration of public relations as a strategic and executive function. The scarcity of works that integrate public relations into global marketing strategies and their operational focus highlight an opportunity to expand its strategic role. These findings indicate the need to strengthen theoretical and strategic research in the field, which could enrich both the practice and teaching of public relations, strengthening its position as an essential discipline in organizational management. Originality/Value: This article contributes originality to the field of public relations by providing one of the first exhaustive systematizations of doctoral theses in this area in Spain. The review covers a significant fifteen-year period, allowing for observation of trends and changes in academic research in public relations. The value of this study lies in its ability to identify how demands for rigor and empirical relevance have shaped academic research, thus contributing to a better understanding of the field's evolution and offering a solid foundation for future research aimed at effectively integrating theory and practice.

A Feminist Critique of International Practices

Abstract Feminist social theories, especially intersectional and decolonial ones, have been footnotes at best in practice-oriented research in international relations. This disciplinary exclusion of gender studies’ concepts from “international practice theories” (IPTs) or the "practice turn" has marginalized inquiries into power and reflexivity in action. As a result, IPTs have failed to theorize how practitioners’ reflexivity is shaped by local manifestations of systemic lines of difference like race, gender, coloniality, or class. This Theory Note argues that intersectional and decolonial feminist approaches can address this gap. We demonstrate that positionality and privilege condition practical reflexivity by shaping (1) normative interpretations of the world, (2) the content of social critique, and (3) the reception of such critique. Taking feminists as foundational theorists of international practices is critical to addressing some ontological challenges encountered by current IPT scholarship. In this Theory Note, we develop a productive conversation between the two bodies of literature around concepts of background knowledge and competence, which allows for a better understanding of the interplay of structural power and individual reflexivity in everyday interactions.

Public relations lessons from the pandemic: A systematic review of the COVID-19 research in public relations published from 2020 to early 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic received considerable attention from public relations scholars and research publications after the pandemic exploded. This study provides an overview of the status of COVID-19 public relations research in terms of topics, regional focuses, organization-public relationships, public relations approaches and themes, stages of the pandemic, and theoretical and methodological frameworks. This study also investigated how public relations research has described the characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic. We reviewed 126 articles published in peer-reviewed journals using quantitative and qualitative content analyses. We expect that this review provides new insights based on the current literature to advance public relations research in today’s fast-changing society.

Bao Dai Solution and the Formation of the “National Government of Vietnam” During the Indochina War (1945-1954)

After World War II, Vietnam declared independence from France and Japan following the victory of the resistance movement for independence led by the Viet Minh. However, with the regulations at the Yalta conference, France returned to wage war to force Vietnam and the entire Indochina peninsula to fall under French rule as before. In Vietnam, France refused to cooperate with Viet Minh because it believed that this organization was Communist. France tried every way to set up a “puppet” government and they turned to Bao Dai, an Emperor who had just been overthrown in August 1945. The Bao Dai solution was proposed by France to maintain colonialism in Vietnam. This solution aims to establish a “National Government of Vietnam” under French influence, maintaining French interests and influence. This research article aims to clarify the puppet nature of the “National Government of Vietnam” and show that it had an important influence on the situation in Vietnam during the Indochina War (1945-1954). Methods of exploiting historical documents, logical methods and international relations research methods are used to clarify the content of the research article.
 
 Received: 13 October 2023 / Accepted: 29 January 2024 / Published: 5 March 2024

Military Alliances under International Law

Abstract While military alliances have always been an important subject of research in international relations, relatively little study has been conducted on them in international law. Even though military alliances have been featured in the wider discussions on regional orders under international law, little systematic effort has been made to assess the extent to which various actions that are routine for or structured into the design and operation of military alliances are compatible with international law. This article aims to fill this gap by examining the implications of certain activities of military alliances under three areas of international law and is divided into three substantive sections. The first section examines how activities such as military exercises, force concentration and coercive demands, when undertaken by a military alliance, could heighten the risk of their violation of the prohibition of the threat of force under the UN Charter. The second section examines how certain standing arrangements of military alliances pre-dispose them to intervene in civil strife in allies or potential allies in potential violation of the norm against intervention in the domestic affairs of another State. The third section examines how, despite their often-explicit deference to the UN Charter, military alliances operate in tension with the collective security architecture of the UN and suggests ways to harmonise them. The article concludes that the sovereign rights of States to form military alliances do not create a carte blanche for military alliances to operate freely from any restraint of international law and calls for a more proactive approach to maintaining international peace and security in view of the complex nature of certain activities of military alliances under international law.

Situating deep learning in a relating management approach: Examining the dynamics and outcomes of contingent organization-public relationships (COPRs) in crisis

Existing research in crisis communication and public relations focuses on relationship quality or outcomes, along with their causes and effects, mainly using cross-sectional survey data. This research expands the COPR theoretical framework by employing big data and deep learning to analyze the dynamics and intricacies of corporate and public stances during a long-term organizational crisis. Focusing on Monsanto/Bayer’s Roundup crisis from 2012 to 2022, the study analyzed 232,694 tweets and 334 articles to examine corporate stances, public stances, and various relationship modes formed from both party’s standpoints throughout the crisis. The results show the evolving and interdependent interactions between corporations and their publics, as well as the longitudinal impacts of public stances on stock prices. Our findings highlight the application of computational methods for enhancing strategic decision-making in managing organization-public relationships, particularly during prolonged and complex crisis scenarios.

A scoping review of arab public relations scholarship

Arab public relations research (APRR) has reached many milestones since its inception; however, no study has investigated extant literature to map the trends and patterns within the subject area. As a result, this study aims to aggregate the landscape of APRR from 1979 to date. To achieve this, this current study adopts a multi-method approach of content analysis and text mining of 106 peer-reviewed APRR articles. Findings show an inconsistent trend of APRR. Findings also illustrate the status of APRR methods, analytical methods, media genres, media platforms, organizations, industries, most used words and dominant perspectives within the subject area. This study concludes that despite the irregularities in the progression, APRR is an emergent sub-area with the potential to gain prominence concerning interest and output.

The value of industrial relations research(ers): Activism inside and outside the UK Academy

AbstractBased on an in‐depth study of the lived experiences of industrial relations (IR) researchers in the United Kingdom, we demonstrate that IR has survived and thrived as a result of activism both inside and outside the academy. By adapting teaching and research to reflect the contemporary problems for labor, appropriating the study of human resource management, and creating synergies between service, teaching and learning, and both pure and applied research, the field of IR has experienced renewed intellectual vitality. The activism of IR academics in the United Kingdom signifies a promising future and an experience that IR research(ers) elsewhere can draw on.

Navigating Artificial Intelligence, Public Relations and Race

ABSTRACT This article contributes to theory building in public relations by responding to calls for more public relations research on the social, cultural and ethical implications of AI as it explores the racial dynamics of AI. We examine three case examples in which AI, race and public relations intersect including: Microsoft’s chatbot Tay, a Facebook topic recommendation feature, and FN Meka, an AI-powered rap avatar. We draw upon the public relations race and DEI literature to introduce a framework we coin Inclusive, Responsible, Communication in Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI). The IRCAI framework is used to illuminate the three case examples. We conclude that it is important for the public relations field to navigate the intersection of AI and race, and we reiterate that our IRCAI framework can facilitate such efforts within and beyond the context of race.

Critical Annotations on Historical Documents: Methodological Possibilities for International Relations Research

This process note explicates the methodological intervention of maintaining fieldnotes on government documents and its significance for historically situated international relations (IR) research. For the most part, IR scholarship treats archival documents as the neutral preserve of the state, representing its coherent national interests. Building on discussions around critical methods within IR, I argue that there is a need to reflexively engage with the writing and curating practices of the state. This process note deploys the ethnographic hallmark of thick description within IR research through critical annotations on archival documents and other government publications on India’s eastern Himalayan borderlands between 1880 and 1965. These annotations encourage a granular reading of government documents and situate them within a larger context of their production, reception, archival memorialisation and subsequent access. I propose that critical annotations help us move beyond post-hoc analyses of foreign policy in terms of success and failure. Instead, in viewing IR theorising as ‘unfinished dictionaries of the international’, I argue that critical annotations challenge a unitary view of the state and facilitate a more nuanced analysis of foreign policymaking emphasising historical contingencies within which policies are articulated and enacted.

USE AND TEACHING OF SEO, VOICE AND TONE GUIEDLIENES:

This qualitative, case-study research analyses workplace English (WE) to determine how the interplay of voice and tone guidelines and search engine optimizations (SEO) guidelines shapes the use of English in marketing content of an IT companies, as well as how much English teaching at the IT company caters to the needs of WE users in that respect. The research is based on two main resources: 1) a corpus of approximately 40 blogs and 100 website news articles which were compiled into a corpus in their draft, reviewed and post-SEO versions and 2) learning materials used in English classes for, allegedly, improving WE, including voice, style and SEO skills. The research was conducted in two phases. First, the revisions and edits in the corpus were identified and mapped to voice, tone, style and SEO guidelines, in order to see if edits do indeed target these aspects of WE use. Secondly, the teaching materials were analyzed to identify how they were crafted to address the main issues identified in the use of WE in respect of tone, voice and, in particular, SEO. This approach is based on the rules of qualitative research in public relations and marketing communication (Daymon & Holloway, 2010). The research shows that, in addition to struggling with voice and tone guidelines, employees also have trouble meeting the SEO guidelines, which may all be due to suboptimal WE teaching and learning materials which put too much emphasis on fine details of English usage, but not on the specialized requirements of IT companies in terms of voice, tone, style and SEO. The research also provides guidelines for improving WE teaching practice in terms of style, voice and, crucially, SEO requirements.

The scholarship–practitioner nexus: lessons from Latin American foreign policy

Abstract Various studies have explored the role of International Relations research in policy-making, predominantly focusing on countries in the global North. However, there needs to be a better understanding of this dynamic in peripheral countries of the global South. This article addresses this gap by examining the relationship between theory and practice in Latin American foreign policy; the synergy between scholarly research and practical implementation offers valuable insights. This interplay sheds light on the impact research can have by developing unique theoretical frameworks and guiding current foreign policy strategies. Using Argentine foreign policy as a case-study, I explore specialized knowledge networks that have driven foreign policy studies, their inception in Latin America and pivotal theoretical developments that have influenced both academia and policy. Employing qualitative analysis, I triangulate data from diverse sources such as archives, official documents, journals, institutional histories, reports and expert interviews. This investigation underscores the collaborative efforts of Latin American scholars and policy-makers, driven by a shared goal to address regional challenges through both theoretical insights and practical solutions.

Metodologija i metodi istraživanja u odnosima s javnošću

The most advanced form of public relations is represented by scientifically guided processes of solving organizational problems and change processes. This paper discusses some of the methods used to gather quantitative and qualitative information to define the problematic situation as accurately as possible. The primary purpose of research in public relations, like other business functions, is to reduce uncertainty in decision-making. This paper first examines the place of research in various models of public relations. It then explains the first phase in the PR management process-situation analysis-where research activities are particularly emphasized. The second part of the paper focuses on methods, both formal and informal, commonly used in PR practice.

How the process of discovering cyberattacks biases our understanding of cybersecurity

Social scientists do not directly study cyberattacks; they draw inferences from attack reports that are public and visible. Like human rights violations or war casualties, there are missing cyberattacks that researchers have not observed. The existing approach is to either ignore missing data and assume they do not exist or argue that reported attacks accurately represent the missing events. This article is the first to detail the steps between attack, discovery and public report to identify sources of bias in cyber data. Visibility bias presents significant inferential challenges for cybersecurity – some attacks are easy to observe or claimed by attackers, while others take a long time to surface or are carried out by actors seeking to hide their actions. The article argues that missing attacks in public reporting likely share features of reported attacks that take the longest to surface. It builds on datasets of cyberattacks by or against Five Eyes (an intelligence alliance composed of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States) governments and adds new data on when attacks occurred, when the media first reported them, and the characteristics of attackers and techniques. Leveraging survival models, it demonstrates how the delay between attack and disclosure depends on both the attacker’s identity (state or non-state) and the technical characteristics of the attack (whether it targets information confidentiality, integrity, or availability). The article argues that missing cybersecurity events are least likely to be carried out by non-state actors or target information availability. Our understanding of ‘persistent engagement,’ relative capabilities, ‘intelligence contests’ and cyber coercion rely on accurately measuring restraint. This article’s findings cast significant doubt on whether researchers have accurately measured and observed restraint, and informs how others should consider external validity. This article has implications for our understanding of data bias, empirical cybersecurity research and secrecy in international relations.

Концептуализация публичной дипломатии в конструктивистской парадигме

In this article the author based on the results of his research makes an attempt to conceptualize public diplo-macy through the prism of the constructivist paradigm, one of the main ones in the science of international rela-tions. The author explains the low demand for the recognized paradigms of international relations research in the analysis of public diplomacy (the emphasis on states in the paradigms and the practical orientation of most studies of public diplomacy); reviews the central tenets of constructivism (the priority of social factors and the subjective nature of the international system) and the works in which it serves as a methodological platform. The author comes to the conclusion that in constructivism public diplomacy is interpreted as a means of form-ing, maintaining and adjusting the image of a particular state in the international arena. Its substantive, spatio-temporal and organizational aspects, if we adhere to constructivism, depend on the identity and roles of the actor who develops and implements it.

Book notes: Media and Public Relations Research in Post-Socialist Societies by Maureen C Minielli, Marta N Lukacovic, Sergei A Samoilenko, and Michael R Finch (Editors), with Deborrah Uecker

Book notes: <i>Media and Public Relations Research in Post-Socialist Societies</i> by Maureen C Minielli, Marta N Lukacovic, Sergei A Samoilenko, and Michael R Finch (Editors), with Deborrah Uecker

A preliminary study for developing perceived ESG scale to measure public perception toward organizations’ ESG performance

ESG has arisen as a key priority of investors in making sustainable investment decisions. Despite its growing popularity in the business and investment sectors, ESG has yet gained momentum in public relations research. The purpose of this study is to develop a Perceived ESG Scale (P-ESG), a valid and reliable measure to examine public perceptions of an organization’s ESG activities. Following a legitimate procedure of scale development, this study developed a three-dimensional P-ESG scale with 26 items. A series of measures (i.e., content validity, construct validity, concurrent validity, and predictive validity) were implemented to test the validity of the scale. The results indicate that the P-ESG is a reliable and valid assessment tool that can be applied to examine public’s perception on organizations’ ESG performance. The present study also revealed the superiority of the P-ESG model over the corporate social reliability (CSR) model in predicting attitudinal as well as behavioral outcomes of the public (i.e., corporate reputation, purchase intention, investment intention). The Perceived ESG Scale would aid PR research on ESG, providing theoretical insight into how an organization's ESG initiatives lead to concrete behavioral results and business achievements. Such research can highlight the importance of incorporating PR into an organization's ESG outcomes by determining whether key stakeholders and the public endorse the organization's ESG initiatives and achievements.