Prelims

Half Title Page

Public Relations for Social Responsibility

Communicating Responsible Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Series Editor: Donnalyn Pompper

This Communicating Responsible Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion series brings together leading scholars of public relations, communication management, (corporate) social responsibility, sustainability, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Together, we offer critique and map new arenas for discovery in an effort to advance a collective goal of eliminating bias/discrimination from organizations and other public spaces. Simultaneously, we amplify the virtues of equity and respect among humans and for all species.

Despite nearly two decades of public relations theory building and formal study about the importance of DEI, the number of public relations practitioners who are not male or Caucasian/White has not grown in meaningful ways and research directions seem to have hit a wall. Examining public relations as a “responsibility” provides new avenues for critiquing ways power operates in and through public relations work. This series adds a much-needed contribution to global understanding of intersections among DEI with social responsibility to enable public relations practitioners and organizations (corporations and nonprofits) to take lip service to the next level. To be authentic, DEI must be a component of social responsibility and sustainability. And the public relations practitioner, as insider-activist and ethics guardian, is the logical point person to infuse DEI thinking in policies, decision-making, and everyday life throughout organizations.

Title Page

Public Relations for Social Responsibility: Affirming DEI Commitment with Action

Edited by

Donnalyn Pompper

University of Oregon, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2021

Copyright © 2021 by Emerald Publishing Limited

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80043-168-3 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80043-167-6 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80043-169-0 (Epub)

About the Editor

Donnalyn Pompper (PhD, Media & Communication, Temple University), APR, is Professor and Endowed Chair in Public Relations at the University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication, where she teaches courses in and researches public relations, corporate social responsibility/sustainability, and social identity. Overall, her research provides routes for enabling people, globally, to achieve their maximum potential at work, to embrace their intersecting social identity dimensions (e.g., age, ethnicity, gender) and to critically examine these issues across mass media representations. Pompper is an internationally recognized scholar who most recently published Community Building and Early Public Relations: Pioneer Women's Role on and after the Oregon Trail (2021, Routledge) and edited Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, and Ethical Public Relations: Strengthening Synergies with Human Resources (2018, Emerald Publishing).

Pompper has won two national book awards: the 2015 PRIDE Book Award for Innovation, Development, and Educational Achievement in Public Relations from the Public Relations Division of the National Communication Association for Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, and Public Relations: Negotiating Multiple Complex Challenges (2015, Routledge); and the 2014 Top Book Award from the Organizational Communication Division of the National Communication Association for Practical and Theoretical Implications of Successfully Doing Difference in Organizations (2014, Emerald Publishing). In addition, Pompper has published extensively in peer-reviewed academic journals including Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, Mass Communication and Society, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, The Howard Journal of Communications, Journal of Popular Culture, and many others. She is an editorial board member for four top public relations research journals and six other academic journals.

Pompper holds the Accredited Public Relations credential from Public Relations Society of America. Prior to joining the academy, she worked as a public relations manager and journalist who brings 25 years of practical experience to the classroom and her research. She worked in public affairs management at Campbell's Soup Company, marketing public relations management at Tasty Baking Company where she created the public relations department, and as an account manager at Lewis, Gilman & Kynett (Philadelphia's then-largest public relations/advertising firm). Pompper also worked as a daily newspaper freelance reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Courier-Post, as well as news editor at a weekly New Jersey newspaper chain.

dpompper@aol.com

Shiloh, New Jersey, USA

September 2, 2020

About the Contributors

Eric Kwame Adae, PhD, is an assistant professor of public relations at Drake University. He is from Ghana in West Africa, where he earned undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Ghana. He earned his doctorate degree in media and communication studies from the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication.

Elinam Amevor is a doctoral student at the University of Oregon. He holds a BA in Communication Studies from Ghana Institute of Journalism, and an MPhil in Communication and Media Studies from the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana.

Zifei Fay Chen, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of San Francisco. Her research focuses on corporate social responsibility, social media strategies, startup and entrepreneurial public relations, and crisis communication and management.

Layire Diop is a doctoral student at the University of Oregon. He earned a bachelor's and master's degrees from Cheikh Anta Diop University, Senegal, and an MS from Drexel University, where he attended on a Fulbright Scholarship.

Tugce Ertem Eray, PhD, is a doctoral student at the University of Oregon and completed her first PhD at Istanbul University. She earned a Bachelor of Science in political science and international relations from Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul.

Oludotun Kayode Fashakin, PhD, works as an external lecturer at Aarhus University, Denmark. His work extends institutional approaches to public relations professional projects and drive for legitimacy in country-specific contexts.

Lorena Gomez-Barris is the director of administration at the Kenneth Rainin Foundation where she is responsible for the strategic direction of the organization's administrative systems and helps lead their DEI work. With more than 20 years of nonprofit experience, she drives external and internal communications efforts.

Susan Grantham, PhD, is a professor at the University of Hartford. Her published articles and conference presentations primarily have focused on environmental and health communication, corporate social responsibility reporting, and text network analysis methodology.

Ann D. Summerall Jabro, PhD, is university professor of communication and organizational leadership. She is recognized for her teaching and research excellence. Her applied research contributions enhance pedagogical effectiveness in experiential and problem-based learning environments, negotiation and conflict resolution in organizational settings, and risk and crisis management acumen in both traditional and social media environments.

Constance E. Kampf, PhD, is an associate professor at the Department of Management, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark. Her work focuses on connecting IS technology, social media, organizational contexts, innovation, knowledge management and project management with rhetoric and communication.

Katie Kresic is a communications professional from Long Island, NY, specializing in public relations, strategic planning, and social media. She graduated from Quinnipiac University with a Master of Science in Public Relations and a Specialization in Social Media.

Alexander V. Laskin, PhD, is a professor at Quinnipiac University, director of graduate studies, and consultant. He has authored over 50 publications focused on investor relations, international communications, and emerging technologies.

Nneka Logan, PhD, is associate professor in the School of Communication at Virginia Tech. Her research and teaching focus on public relations, organizational communication, corporate social responsibility, race, and diversity.

Katie M. Masler holds an MS degree in public relations from Quinnipiac University. Her areas of interest are community relations and social responsibility.

Debra Merskin, PhD, is professor of media studies in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon. Her research and teaching focus on intersectional race- and gender-based theories and examine exclusion or stereotyping by media of marginalized human beings as well as animals other than humans.

Samantha Nadel received her MA in nonprofit management from University Oregon after graduating from Georgetown with a BA in psychology.

Moronke Oshin-Martin, D.Mgt, is assistant professor of communication at the City University of NY and has taught at Seton Hall University. She has worked as a journalist and served as spokesperson and communications consultant for numerous public and private organizations.

Antoaneta M. Vanc, PhD, is associate professor of strategic communication at Quinnipiac University. Her research focuses primarily on corporate social responsibility, international public relations, public diplomacy, sports diplomacy, and corporate diplomacy.

Edward T. Vieira, Jr., PhD, is professor of marketing and statistics at Simmons University. He is the author of statistics and public relations textbooks, as well as 40 peer-reviewed research publications, and 35 conference papers.

Michelle T. Violanti, PhD, associate professor at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, teaches theory, leadership and followership, cocultural communication, and research methods.

Richard D. Waters, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Public and Nonprofit Administration in the School of Management at the University of San Francisco where he teaches strategic communication and research design courses. His research focuses on nonprofit communication, particularly the fundraising process and major gift negotiations.

Franzisca Weder is Associate Professor for Communication & Organization at the University of Klagenfurt (Austria; on leave) and Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland (Australia), teaching and researching strategic communication, sustainability communication and Corporate Social Responsibility.

List of Contributors

Preface

This edited collection of internationally recognized authors sets the tone for the new Intersections of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion with Public Relations as Social Responsibility series by Emerald Publishing. It is the first book series to examine intersections of public relations (PR), corporate social responsibility (CSR), and diversity/equity/inclusion (DEI). Importantly, authors draw from numerous theory streams and formal research methods to support ongoing theory building and ideas for practical application that are needed to bring deeper understanding to key intersections as they play out in PR practice and theory building.

This group of leading scholars of PR, communication management, social responsibility, sustainability, and DEI offer critique and map new arenas for discovery. Our overall goal is to eliminate bias/discrimination from organizations and other public spaces and to amplify the virtues of equality and respect across all species. The set of authors represented in this edited collection are shaped by worldviews of their homes in Austria, Denmark, Ghana, Senegal, Turkey, and the United States.

The timing for this first book in the series is particularly relevant. Globally, macroaggressions and hate crimes persist, as violence against immigrants, girls, women, African Americans, Muslims, Jews, and the LGBTQ community members has risen significantly in the United States (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2017). Despite decades of PR theory building and formal study about the importance of DEI, the number of PR practitioners who are not male or Caucasian/White have not grown in meaningful ways and research directions seem to have hit a wall. Examining PR as a “responsibility” provides new avenues for critiquing ways power operates in and through PR work. This book series will add a much-needed contribution to global understanding of intersections among DEI with social responsibility and sustainability to enable PR practitioners and organizations (corporations and nonprofits) to take lip service to the next level. To be authentic, DEI must be a component of social responsibility and sustainability. The PR practitioner, as insider-activist and ethics guardian, is the logical point person to infuse DEI thinking in policies, decision-making, and everyday life throughout organizations and across stakeholder communities.