Strategic Communication Management Research Articles

Fundraising, comunicación y relaciones públicas. Desarrollo cultural de una marca de ciudad: Málaga

La gestión estratégica de la comunicación y las relaciones públicas con los grupos de interés son herramientas de gran utilidad para el fundraising o captación de fondos, para el desarrollo sostenible de los proyectos de interés socio-cultural. Analizamos su impacto en la marca de la ciudad de Málaga, mediante un estudio exploratorio con los informantes clave de las entidades más representativas de la ciudad: Ayuntamiento, Festival de Cine, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Museo Ruso, Museo del Automóvil, Centro Pompidou, Museo Picasso y Museo Carmen Thyssen. Con los resultados, establecemos un mapa conceptual que correlaciona la comunicación con la percepción de la marca, el nivel de confianza de los grupos de interés y su uso para atraer inversores.

The Role of Social Capital for Organizational Identification: Implications for Strategic Communication

ABSTRACTScholars in the fields of organization and strategic communication have long been interested in organizational identification as a phenomenon favoring employees’ alignment with corporate values and consequently achievement of the organizational mission. To date, most studies on the subject have relied on social identity theory, which focuses on cognitive categorization processes but overlooks the role of employees’ relationships within their organization. In this research, we introduce a social capital perspective into organizational identification models. We propose and test a model looking at the influence of an individual’s social capital, a variable deriving from different dimensions of an individual’s communication network (i.e., prestige, resourceful others, friendship), on organizational identification, mediated by the attractiveness of perceived organizational identity. The results from a survey conducted in a business organization suggest that a person’s social capital influences organizational identification, both directly and through the attractiveness of perceived organizational identity. Our organizational identification model contributes to extend knowledge on the complementarity of the cognitive and relational perspectives of strategic communication and on the role of relationship building and networks in strategic communication management.

An Integrated Model for Communicating Within and About Corporate Social Responsibility

ABSTRACTCorporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives have two main objectives, namely, contributing to sustainable development; and adding strategic value for organisations. These objectives imply that organisations should communicate about CSR initiatives with stakeholders to add strategic value, whilst also communicating within CSR with the beneficiaries of these initiatives to contribute to sustainable development. In the field of CSR communication, however, the majority of the literature focuses on communication about CSR, while communication with the beneficiaries within CSR is often overlooked. This article presents an integrated model for communication both within and about CSR initiatives. The constructs of such integrated communication are analysed in order to identify similarities and point out differences. The ultimate aim is to present a holistic model for CSR communication that covers the content, nature and aims of such communication. The model is based on a literature study involving the two-way symmetrical approach, the reflective paradigm, strategic communication management and the participatory approach to communication for social change. Integrating communication within and about CSR in a single model is a complex undertaking, which entails incorporating constructs of communication from diverse theoretical fields flowing from different meta-theoretical assumptions. To date, this model is the first attempt to integrate communication within and about CSR on a theoretical level.

CSR research in the apparel industry: A quantitative and qualitative review of existing literature

AbstractA quantitative and qualitative analysis of the extant literature about corporate social responsibility in the apparel industry found that perspectives and research traditions are underdeveloped and fragmented. Articles (n = 73) were found in 41 different journals that spanned an array of disciplines with the majority of journals publishing fewer than three articles on the topic. Issues concerning ethical supply chains were the most prevalent; a primary concern is the supply chain issue of labor practices in developing countries. The study indicates that despite growing stakeholder pressure on the apparel businesses to adopt CSR and interact with stakeholders about CSR, there is a ‘discursive polyphony’ and consequent confusion among consumers, which could benefit from strategic communication management. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

“Técnicas de marketing de los clubes de fútbol de élite en las redes sociales”

<p>La comunicación siempre tuvo un papel importante en la organización de los clubes de fútbol, instituciones influyentes a nivel deportivo y económico en la sociedad. Dentro del ámbito de la comunicación y en específico en las redes sociales, se ha avanzado mucho en los últimos años, siendo parte fundamental de los clubes de fútbol profesionales para conseguir mayor apoyo por parte de la afición y generar mayor confianza y alcance mediático en la sociedad. En esta investigación, se ha realizado un análisis de la gestión de las cuentas oficiales en redes sociales de diez clubes de fútbol, con gran palmarés histórico y número de participaciones en competiciones internacionales, pertenecientes a las confederaciones continentales: CONMEBOL, CONCAFAF y UEFA. La metodología del estudio, se ha basado en la observación y el análisis de contenido, y el objetivo de la investigación es la evaluación de la utilización de las categorías de contenido relacionadas con el marketing, teniendo en cuenta al departamento de comunicación de cada club como emisor de contenido en las cuentas oficiales en las redes sociales Facebook, Instagram y Twitter. Los resultados muestran grandes diferencias en la emisión de contenidos relacionados con el marketing, además los datos obtenidos resultan de gran utilidad para mejorar la gestión estratégica de la comunicación digital en estas entidades.</p>

Ciudadanías y rol social de los comunicadores y relacionistas públicos en Colombia. Aportes para la discusión según el Latinamerican Communication Monitor (LCM) 2014-2015

The reality of Latin America implies the effort of professionals to generate new ways of facing the political and economic transformations that the region is experiencing. Citizens are the publics, the audiences, the social groups to which the communication strategies, that the communicators develop in representation of public and private organizations are directed. The expression of new citizenships is an issue that should be the subject of reflection from professionals in communication and public relations to review the social commitment with which strategic management of communication, relationships and interactions with audiences and information tasks are assumed. Colombian professionals consider that targeting audiences that are more active is a challenge to face. However, they do not consider it strategic to contribute to the citizens’ conscience of the communities where they act. This and other considerations invite reflection.

Evaluation of Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Media as Key Source of Strategic Communication

Abstract Given that the success of any corporation depends on improving positive relationships with customers, corporations need to have strategic mindset leading to long-term engagement. When customers are at the center of corporation strategies, it is likely to gain acceptance by customers with the help of some communication-oriented activities. This conceptual study searches for how corporation social responsibility and social media usage could become significant components considering strategic communication management by in-depth literature review. Accordingly, in the proposed model, major constructs of strategic communication management were investigated and these constructs are linked to the strategic communication management. As the antecedents of strategic communication management, corporation social responsibility and social media usage are considered. Corporation social responsibility indicators are considered as environmental responsibility, employee talent development program, stakeholder dialogue process and socially responsible supply chain management. Social media usage indicators are considered as providing online communities, timely updates, personalized communication and tracking large scale of data.

The impact of integrated organizational communication on organizational sustainability

The paper examines the strategic integration and management of organizational communication, by synergizing external and internal stakeholders, so as to facilitate the achievement of corporate goals, amongst which corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability issues should be included.

The Role of Strategic Communication Management in Nation Brand Building

To be reputable, esteemed and reliable, countries must build their own “nation values” in the 21st century. Therefore, countries gain many advantageous in the political, social and cultural fields as well as being an attraction center. For countries, the strategic communication management paves the way for proper planning, creating effective messages and conveying these messages to the target audiences smoothly and determines a road map to gain success. This paper analyses the multi-dimensional relation between strategic communication management and nation brand, underlines the necessary steps for building nation brand and makes offers for the future.

Are Strategic Communication Management Competencies and Personal Attributes Global? A Case Study of Practice in Finland and New Zealand

The drive to both maintain competitiveness and to meet marketplace expectations using the strategic management of communication is a feature of the international workplace. In the complex and dynamic commercial environment of the new millennium, this drive includes the imperatives to employ competent communication professionals. Whether organizations are intent on acquiring or developing proficient practitioners, the ability to achieve these aims rests on the identification of relevant competencies and attributes. This study uses the Critical Incident Technique to explore the practice of Communication Management in a sample of practitioners in New Zealand and Finland—two geographically disperse countries. The identified critical incidents mostly related to managing crisis communication across both countries. To manage the incidents, communication practitioners predominantly used two competencies: stakeholder relationship management and external interface management. In addition, the personal attribute of adaptability was most commonly employed in both countries. Despite the similarity of incidents and the competencies and attributes required to manage them, also variability in practitioners’ strategic and personal responses was evident.

Stratejik İletişim Bağlamında Türkiye'deki Halkla İlişkiler Bölümlerinin Ders Müfredatları Üzerine Bir İnceleme

Generally, public relations in practice is dealt with in technical extent. Public relations department which is a unit conducted to relationships with media usually practices the activities such as writing news, shoot, media follow-up and archive, press conference, press tour, organizing activities, and organizing corporate meetings. Recently, business give to these departments the missions such as corporate communication management, image management and reputation management. Therefore, strategic scope of public relations gains importance. Despite these developments, perception identified in practice of public relations mainly has technical level. For this reason, universities concentrate on technical level of occupation in their public relations educations. This paper deals with public relations education which is trained by universities in Turkey in terms of strategic communication management. Therefore, curriculums of departments of public relations in communication faculties are examined. Curriculums in public relations are analysed in the context of basic public relations, strategic public relations, technical public relations, basic communication sciences, advertising, media, research methods, marketing, political communication, management sciences, behavioural sciences, law, economy and others sciences related public relations. As a result of this study, it is concluded that there are more curriculum related technical public relations than strategic public relations. However, when private foundation universities are compared with state universities, they have more curriculum concerned with technical and strategic public relations

The Role of Employee Identification and Organizational Identity in Strategic Communication and Organizational Issues Management about Genetic Modification

This article examines the organizational identities and strategic communication of two New Zealand primary export organizations as they managed intense public debate surrounding the potential impacts of genetic modification. We examine the similarities and differences in identifications at multiple levels in these organizations, illustrating the value and, by implication, policy positions held simultaneously by individual organizational members, groups, and the organizations as collective entities. These positions also serve as points of reference in public discourse about genetic modification. Our empirically grounded, critical interpretive analysis reveals the roles played by employee identification and organizational identity formation in strategic communication and organizational issues management about controversial public policies. In these ways, the analysis makes important connections between “the organizational voice” typically represented in issues management and individual members’ identifications, and offers evidence for how the latter might be taken into account in the development of strategic communication.

Exploring the strategic potential of internal communication in international non-governmental organisations

The role and importance of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) has increased with globalization and the growth of global institutions. Despite this growth, academic research into INGO management remains limited and, due to their unique characteristics, management theories developed for for-profit organisations cannot be applied as is to INGOs. Internal communication is a critical area of management that has been proven to have a major impact on an organisation's effectiveness, particularly when managed strategically. Therefore this article explores the strategic management of internal communication within the INGO context. This study synthesised the current literature on this topic and included five case studies to understand the current state of internal communication within INGOs. It was determined that INGOs do not manage internal communication strategically. However, there is evidence that the implementation of strategic internal communication could help INGOs address several of their challenges and have an impact on their overall effectiveness. This study is exploratory and further research to identify the process for strategic internal communication in INGOs is needed.

DR4 communication in the South African context: A conceptual paper

Within the disaster risk reduction field the term that is used to encompass all pre- and post-disaster phases such as disaster planning, preparedness, prevention, mitigation, warning, impact, rescue, relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery (Van Niekerk, 2008, p. 367), is disaster risk reduction, response and recovery, shortly referred to as DR4. DR4 communication refers to communication, management applied during the disaster management phases.In the Hyogo Framework for Action (UN/ISDR, 2005), that calls for action to build resilience of nations against disasters, information sharing and cooperation, dialogue between parties involved in disaster management, public awareness and media relations is suggested as some of the priorities that should receive attention (UN/ISDR, 2005, p. 23). Authors, such as Wisner, Gaillard, and Kelman (2012, p. 1), also refer to the importance of communication between stakeholders and specifically the fact that disaster risk reduction requires specialist knowledge on communication management.In addition, the South African National Disaster Management Framework (SANDMF) specifically focuses on communication management and communication flow during incidences by identifying this aspect as one of the three enablers of the SANDMF (South Africa, 2005, p. 3). Communication responsibilities are even assigned to the Provincial Disaster Management Centre and Municipal, Disaster Management Centre (South Africa, 2005, pp. 13–14). Communication is thus regarded as a critical aspect of disaster management (Coombs, 2012, p. 17) and assistance with disaster communication management is needed in order to limit current problems experienced with communication in disaster risk reduction and disaster management (see International Wildland Fire Summit, 2003; Reid & Van Niekerk, 2008, p. 246).An analysis of disaster (crisis) communication literature showed that it mainly focuses on (i) pre- and post-crisis reputational communication from the profit organisation's point of view (Avery, Lariscy, Kim, & Hocke, 2010, p. 192) and (ii) on the profit organisation's expected technical reaction communication during the, crisis, i.e. who to phone to activate response agencies (Avery et al., 2010, p. 192; Littlefield et al., 2012, p. 248). From a disaster risk reduction field, the little information there is on communication, focuses on media engagement during a disaster (see Radford & Wisner, in Wisner et al., 2012, pp. 761–771; Van Niekerk, 2008, p. 362). Research on the trans-disciplinary focus of combining the disaster risk reduction and communication management fields, is lacking.This paper conceptualises DR4 communication by:1.Theoretically placing strategic communication management within the disaster risk reduction, and management paradigm,2.Defining DR4 communication; and3.Applying DR4 communication to the South African context.The findings indicate that appropriate disaster communication could assist to lessen the risk and aid disaster recovery (Hale, Dulek, & Hale, 2005, p. 112, 114) as communication practitioners could provide strategic information from the environment that could reduce uncertainty in strategic decision-making and ensuring that disaster management goals align with stakeholder expectations in order to save lives and limit the impact of a disaster (Grunig, 2006, p. 3, 6; Phillips, 2006a, 2006b, p. 34, 35; Valin, 2004). Specifically in South Africa, a country where myriad of man-made disasters and 77 natural disasters (between 1980 and 2010) took place (Preventionweb, 2012), communication management has a positive role to play in disaster risk reduction.

Communicating for organisational legitimacy: The case of the Potchefstroom Fire Protection Association

The Potchefstroom Fire Protection Association (FPA) has an important role in preventing and managing veld fires in the Tlokwe Local Municipality's rural environment. The FPA works closely with several governmental stakeholders, but these stakeholders do not view the FPA as having high levels of organisational legitimacy. A lack of organisational legitimacy hinders the FPA in obtaining its organisational goals.Theoretically, a NPO's role is dependent on its values, as embodied in its vision, mission and goals statement. Managing communication strategically to build strong relationships with key governmental stakeholders should assist NPOs to obtain and maintain organisational legitimacy. The purpose of the research was to determine by means of semi-structured interviews the perceptions of the FPA and its key governmental stakeholders on the role of the FPA as well as the quality of its stakeholder relationships, and the effect of these perceptions on the FPA's perceived organisational legitimacy.The study confirmed the theoretical relationship between organisational legitimacy, strategic communication and relationship management and a clear, value-based role. It was recommended that NPOs should strive to establish two-way communication with key governmental stakeholders to enhance mutual understanding of as well as mutual control during veld fires.

When an Organizational Message Resonates With Personal Values of Publics: Implications for Strategic Communication Management

Identifying and understanding key audiences are the most essential process in strategic communication management to tailor messages to avoid misinterpretation and, more important, to engage in effective communication with key audiences to understand their values. The purpose of this study is to apply the concept of value proximity to examine its effects on people's attitudes toward an organization. To do so, this study adopted the notion of conceptual fluency to examine the moderating role of personal values, such as pro-environment versus pro-development. The key finding of this study is that individual publics' company attitudes are significantly enhanced by the degree of value proximity in organizational messages. The implications of the findings of this study are that the same message can be interpreted differently by various people, depending on factors such as prior exposure to certain messages (priming), personal values of publics, and the degree of association between the two (value proximity). These findings highlight the importance of understanding target audiences' values for strategic development of communication messages.

Community Management That Works: How to Build and Sustain a Thriving Online Health Community

Health care professionals, patients, caregivers, family, friends, and other supporters are increasingly joining online health communities to share information and find support. But social Web (Web 2.0) technology alone does not create a successful online community. Building and sustaining a successful community requires an enabler and strategic community management. Community management is more than moderation. The developmental life cycle of a community has four stages: inception, establishment, maturity, and mitosis. Each stage presents distinct characteristics and management needs. This paper describes the community management strategies, resources, and expertise needed to build and maintain a thriving online health community; introduces some of the challenges; and provides a guide for health organizations considering this undertaking. The paper draws on insights from an ongoing study and observation of online communities as well as experience managing and consulting a variety of online health communities. Discussion includes effective community building practices relevant to each stage, such as outreach and relationship building, data collection, content creation, and other proven techniques that ensure the survival and steady growth of an online health community.

An Integrated Model of Excellent Leadership in Public Relations: Dimensions, Measurement, and Validation

This study investigates the role of leadership in facilitating strategic communication management and effective public relations practice by proposing a set of dimensions measuring corporate communication executives’ perceptions on leadership. A measurement methodology was applied and suggested to facilitate empirical investigation. Data from two groups of senior corporate communicators and public relations executives (N = 384) nationwide were used to assess the validity and reliability of proposed leadership dimensions that contribute to effective communication management. Results from both groups demonstrated strong support for the proposed higher-order measurement model. The analysis suggested that 6 major dimensions (self-dynamics, team collaboration, ethical orientation, relationship building, strategic decision making capability, and communication knowledge management capability) are crucial for communication executives to expand their influence in the institutional context and generate desired communication outcomes. The findings offer insights on both leadership and corporate communications that may account for significant nonfinancial indictors of organizational effectiveness.

Communication management during the veld fires of 23 August 2011 in the Tlokwe Local Municipality: A cautionary tale

Background: A veld fire disaster in the Tlokwe Local Municipality on 23 August 2011, resulted in an estimated monetary loss of over R43 million. The veld fire disaster was characterised by a lack of strategic management and a subsequent lack of planned, coordinated communication between all role players involved. The lack of strategic communication management indirectly contributed to the losses suffered during the disaster, and afterwards relationships between many role players were strained. Objectives and method: The objectives for the qualitative research project were to determine the different role players’ perception of communication management during the veld fires of 23 August 2011, and in what way relationships between role players were affected by the lack of communication management during the veld fire disaster. Data were gathered by means of semi-structured interviews with the relevant role players.Results and conclusion: Most of the role players were convinced that communication was not managed effectively on 23 August 2011. It resulted in, most especially, a loss of trust and perceived lack of commitment between some of the role players. It is recommended that emergency services and other role players receive more training (also focusing on communication management), participate in simulations and incorporate a communication and relationship management approach to disaster risk management.

The Internal Forces on Communication Integration: Co-Created Meaning, Interaction, and Postmodernism in Strategic Integrated Communication

Communication integration, a priority in strategic communication management, is at a crucible in its development. Until now, most research has considered integration a program of centralized control and has explored the impact of messaging and media that are coordinated for strategic impact. Underexplored are the internal implications of a concept that requires organizational change and stands to redefine functional boundaries. This study identifies the social, cultural, and interpretive influences of communication integration in a case of integration.