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Prevailing thought in academia holds that the ideal model of public relations is two‐way symmetrical. In this model, communication flows both ways between an organisation and a public while both are prepared to change their own behaviour. The result is posited as the most professional, ethical and effective practice. Contingency theory offers qualifications and reservations of excellence theory. One qualification is that dialogue between an organisation and a public may not be allowed for a number of reasons, such as legal constraints or moral convictions against compromising with a public. To build the contingency theory from the ground up, top practitioners are interviewed to learn whether six such proscriptive factors ring true in their experience. The implications of the findings for practitioners, educators and those interested in theories that help define professional practice in public relations are discussed.

This paper offers a quick overview of Cameron's contingency theory of conflict management in public relations. It then applies the theory to three cases that occurred during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games that were taken from the policy position papers, notes, diaries and tape recordings of C. Richard Yarbrough, Managing Director‐Communications of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG). The areas analysed include: the moving of preliminary volleyball matches from one venue to another which was forced by conflict between gay activists and local politicians who passed an anti‐gay resolution — a sustained effort at accommodation that shifted to advocacy; conflict between the ACOG board of directors and the media resulting from the disclosure of ACOG executive salaries — a strong advocacy stance that led to compromise; and conflict threatened between ACOG and a minority minister who was disgruntled about an Olympic sponsor — a case of marginality too insignificant to bother with. The cases not only illustrate and support factors in the contingency theory, but highlight the impracticality and inflexibility of two‐way symmetrical or mixed‐motive public relations as models of choice.

The emergence of public relations as an academic and practitioner discipline has benefited from input from many sources: social science, behavioural science, engineering, philosophy, business and management. One of the main theoretical underpinnings is systems theory, with parallels being drawn between systems and how communication is practised. Most public relations texts, however, including some of the most influential, do not do justice to the richness of systems theory, especially the most recent thinking on the subject. In this paper the author reviews the use of the better known systems theories, and examines some of the newer developments and applies these to the contemporary practice of public relations. The French school of thought called actor‐network theory is also alluded to in order to extend the discussion. The paper is in three sections. The first focuses on the older systems theories and their traditional application to public relations practice as propounded in the prevalent Grunig and Hunt public relations models. The second looks at some of the newer models in systems thinking, notes how they differ from the older ones and examines how they have relevance to modern practice. In the third section the author uses two practical examples, the breaking down of organisational barriers and current and potential uses of the Internet, to demonstrate the inadequacies of the older systems approach and the applicability of the new theories.

Using the contingency theory's classification of leaders, the purpose of this paper is to examine how the categories of public relations leaders incorporate relationship building tactics into their public relations programming and explore how this categorization of leaders corresponds with existing public relations role theory.

A survey (n=539) of public relations practitioners in the USA was carried out using established scales for the contingency theory of leadership and public relations role theory.

The contingency theory of leadership accurately describes the leadership styles enacted by the industry. An individual's use of stewardship strategies during public relations programming was successfully able to predict leadership orientation.

The results strengthen the argument posed the contingency theory of accommodation in public relations that environmental factors have strong implications on industry practices. One's leadership traits are not sufficient by themselves in determining who will succeed in managing and leading different professional scenarios.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize a meso-level (organizational) social capital theoretical approach to public relations. A theory and conceptualization of social capital as a resource- and exchange-based function of public relations is proposed. Here it is argued that public relations professionals serve as the managers of intangible resources on behalf of organizations. These intangibles serve as social capital for organizations and are managed through strategic, goal-directed communication behaviors. Social capital is conceptualized alongside other forms of capital that contribute to organizational advantage. The author proposes a conceptual social capital model of public relations and argues that the strategic management of intangible resources as social capital offers an ontology for public relations.

The author employed a process of open-system theory building. Extensive research from multi-disciplinary areas of scholarship – namely, sociology, business, and public relations – formed the basis for the conceptualized model and propositions.

Public relations theory is narrowly defined and does not offer an adequate ontology. This paper extends and refines existing public relations scholarship surrounding social capital to focus on competitive advantages for the organization. This paper uses input from the larger fields of sociology and business, while contextualizing social capital within the public relations scholarship. The result is a resource- and exchange-based social capital model of public relations and propositions for further theory building and empirical analyses.

The public relations discipline often struggles to demonstrate return-on-investment for organizations. The social capital model of public relations offers support for the capital generation and maintenance role of public relations for organizational advantage.

This paper represents one of the first comprehensive attempts at developing a meso-level social capital theory of public relations focused on intangible resource management for the organization.

The paper criticises the dominant paradigm of public relations theory for lack of interest in discursive and rhetorical dimensions of public relations. An alternative theoretical approach to public relations is identified that does treat discursive and rhetorical dimensions of public relations, but it is indicated that at present it has not been sufficiently integrated into dominant public relations theory. The paper explores the points of convergence between rhetoric and public relations. The narrow and broad conceptions of rhetoric are presented, the first characterising rhetoric with persuasive and argumentative discourse, the second with different types of discourse. It is suggested that elements of the broad conception of rhetoric could provide heuristics for analysing public relations techniques as “genre repertoire” of public relations discourse. In the second part, an enquiry into the narrow conception of rhetoric as persuasive and argumentative discourse is made. Positivistic understanding of “truth” and “objectivity” as normative criteria of public relations discourse is criticised on the basis of the so‐called “rhetoric as epistemic” view. It is argued that in corporate discourse, especially in situations of confrontation with active publics, key managerial decisions have to be justified in argumentation. In the last part of the paper, Toulmin’s model of argumentation is suggested as especially suitable for analysis of the argumentative nature of corporate discourse.

Meta reviews are central for mapping the state of the field, consolidating the heterogeneous public relations body of knowledge, and pointing to new potential research directions. Habermas is one of the most influential contemporary social theorists and his work has repeatedly been used in public relations scholarship. While some have maintained that his work has been most influential in the development of public relations theory, this stream of research has never been reviewed empirically.

In this paper, the authors present a bibliometric literature review of 263 public relations research articles published between 1980 and 2016 that cite and use Habermas’ work. A network analysis of these publications based on the technique of bibliographic coupling was used to identify common forms of application, research themes, as well as patterns of impact.

Results show that the use of Habermas has grown significantly, specifically in the recent decade. At the same time, researchers have a narrow focus specifically on earlier developments in the theory. Finally, we discover three main topical research clusters that have been influenced by the theory: public relations and the public sphere, dialogic stakeholder relationships, as well as public relations and communication ethics.

The findings map out an important stream of scholarship in the field by showing where public relations scholars have been and where the research community has not ventured yet. Based on the results of our analysis, the authors propose directions for research to advance future theory development in public relations using Habermas’ work.

This chapter adds to emerging research exploring the construct of joy by drawing attention to the value of more loving stakeholder relationships. Relationship management research has focussed attention on the antecedents, outcomes and quality of an organization's relationships with various publics and stakeholders and has examined strategies that can nurture these relationships. However, not much of this research has addressed intimacy and passion in these relationships.

Accordingly, this chapter draws on the theory of brand love developed in relationship marketing research and the theory of love from psychological research to build a theoretical framework of organization–stakeholder love (OSL) that can be applied to organizational relationships with publics and stakeholders. An OSL framework switches emphasis from how organizations can attract stakeholder affection (e.g., love) towards organizations to how organizations can and should love their stakeholders. The proposition put forward in this chapter is that OSL can and should become a driving force behind organizations' interactions with stakeholders, thus contributing to ethical public relations practices.

OSL is important because it has the potential to contribute to addressing public relations' image problems (e.g., relating to terms such as spin and corporate greenwashing); it offers a new love orientation that guides organizations towards a focus on the primacy of stakeholder needs and values, which in turn may shape the way organizations initiate and manage relationships with stakeholders. This chapter concludes with practical ways to implement OSL and a research agenda suggesting ways OSL may open up new research opportunities in public relations.

This paper considers the implications of mass communications theory on public relations (PR) evaluation and briefly reviews mass communication effects, persuasion, and cognition, attitude and behaviour change theories. The implications for evaluation are then examined. Reliance on domino models is shown to be too simplistic. It is suggested that claims of PR behavioural effects may be unrealistic and it is argued that more moderate and/or alternative goals are needed if preordained failure is to be avoided. Evaluation results must be interpreted cautiously so that further significance that is not supported by theory is not assumed. This paper shows how the concept of PR evaluation could be widened to include formative evaluation and broad environmental monitoring, which are especially important in identifying and understanding why and how communication works, what its effects are, what factors restrict or facilitate effectiveness and under what conditions success can be maximised.

Much of public relations scholarship in the last three decades has been dominated by discussions about best practices. Theories developed over the years have often been based on western practices with little focus on emerging economies such as Africa. The growing call for a shift to a new system, especially from a non-western perspective has resulted in scholars examining public relations scholarship and practice in other jurisdictions, particularly in Asia. The onset of globalisation increased the scholarly discussion on public relations theorising, with culture playing a significant role in these discussions. This paper undertakes a review of the various discussions on public relations theorising due to globalisation and discusses its implications for public relations scholarship and practice in Africa.

The paper approaches the issue by examining relevant literature on globalisation and societal changes, public relations theorising, and the African worldview.

The paper concludes by proposing an African public relations framework that reflects the African worldview. The framework proposes that African public relations can be premised on four levels, humanist, relational, communalist, and strategic.

This research is limited in the sense that the proposed framework has not been empirically tested for verification. It offers scholars the opportunity to empirically test it within the African setting.

The framework presents an opportunity for practitioners to review public relations practice within the African context.

The paper's originality is premised on the development of a public relations framework premised on African social values.