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1 – 10 of over 97000
Article
Publication date: 1 January 1999

James E Grunig and Miia Jaatinen

Public relations professionals frequently maintain that public relations is different in governmental organisations than in corporations, associations and not‐for‐profit…

1366

Abstract

Public relations professionals frequently maintain that public relations is different in governmental organisations than in corporations, associations and not‐for‐profit organisations. Textbooks commonly include separate chapters on government public relations; and some universities in the USA teach separate courses on government communication programmes. Most public relations theorists, however, have not constructed separate theories of public relations for government. In this paper, the authors theorise that the principles of public relations for government are the same as for other types of organisation, but that the specific conditions to which the principles must be applied are different. Research has shown, however, that governmental organisations are more likely than other organisations to practice a public information model of public relations and less likely to engage in two‐way communication. The authors suggest theoretically that governmental organisations, especially in the USA, are more likely to practice one‐way, information‐based communication programmes because of a pluralistic view of government. In countries where government is based more on a societal corporatist view, organisations are more likely to practice strategic, two‐way communication. This paper analyses the information policies of Canada and Norway as examples. It concludes with the proposition that strategic, symmetrical public relations requires an agency to view its relationship with publics from a societal corporatist perspective rather than from a pluralistic perspective.

Details

Journal of Communication Management, vol. 3 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-254X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2008

Leanne Glenny

The 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…

3885

Abstract

Purpose

The 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/approach

Themes 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.

Findings

This 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/implications

The research is conducted in an Australian context only and uses a qualitative approach that should not be generalised without further research.

Practical implications

Continued 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/value

Previous 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.

Details

Journal of Communication Management, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-254X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 November 2013

Baiba Pētersone

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of public relations, conceptualized as a strategic management function, in foreign policy making, and implementation. This…

3760

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of public relations, conceptualized as a strategic management function, in foreign policy making, and implementation. This research study emphasizes the relational perspective and seeks to examine its applicability to the practice of public relations in foreign policy settings.

Design/methodology/approach

This qualitative research study was based on in-depth interviews with nine individuals who were in charge of public relations aspects of a particular foreign policy issue in Latvian government institutions. The examined foreign policy issue was development cooperation.

Findings

The research findings revealed that public relations contributed to the strategic management of the foreign policy process to a certain extent. Public relations built and cultivated relationships, researched and scanned environments, built communities around a foreign policy issue, facilitated dialogic encounters and socialized foreign policies. However, the public relations function was not involved in the entire strategic management process: analysis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Although the relational perspective may be applicable to foreign policy settings and relationships that are cultivated by public relations practitioners in these settings bring outcomes on three different levels – national, organizational, and personal – this study found that public relations is not the only function that deals with relationships between an organization and its key publics.

Originality/value

This research study investigated two areas that are little explored in the public relations research literature: the strategic management role of public relations in government institutions and public relations contributions to policy, especially foreign, making.

Details

Journal of Communication Management, vol. 17 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-254X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 March 2023

Dane Kiambi, Phillip Arceneaux and Guy Golan

This paper offers grounded insights on organization–government relationships, or the practice of public affairs, in Kenya.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper offers grounded insights on organization–government relationships, or the practice of public affairs, in Kenya.

Design/methodology/approach

In-depth interviews were conducted with senior Kenyan practitioners. Interviewees represent national corporations, multinational corporations with offices in Kenya, consulting agencies, parastatal intergovernmental organizations, national government and county governments.

Findings

Results suggest Kenyan public affairs is centered on relationship management, research and intelligence gathering, risk management and strategic communication. Second, while lobbying is a tactic, it is not synonymous with the broader scope of public affairs strategy. Third, the absence of educational training, a professional body to oversee the profession and the perception of public affairs as “bribery” are threats to the profession's growth.

Research limitations/implications

Findings should not be interpreted to represent “Africa's public affairs industry,” rather a snapshot of the profession contextualized in Kenya.

Practical implications

Kenya needs a professional body to manage the public affairs profession at a national level. It also needs an established curriculum in its higher education environment. Lastly, as one of the fastest growing markets in the world, understanding the public policy environment will benefit multinational organizations looking to expand and operate in Kenya.

Originality/value

This study contributes diverse and inclusive insights on the practice of public affairs in a leading economic and political actor in sub-Saharan Africa. It also expands organization–public relationship theory to articulate engagement with governmental stakeholders.

Details

Journal of Communication Management, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-254X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 November 2019

Ivana Monnard and Krishnamurthy Sriramesh

The purpose of this paper is to link public relations to peacebuilding. Although scholarship has discussed public relations as relationship management, the nexus between public

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to link public relations to peacebuilding. Although scholarship has discussed public relations as relationship management, the nexus between public relations and peace building has been understudied. To address this deficiency, this research studies the negotiations between the Government of Colombia and the FARC-EP separatist group that lead to the landmark peace treaty between the two entities that had fought for over five decades with thousands of deaths. Three research questions addressed the communication factors that contributed to the two sworn enemies – FARC-EP and the Colombian Government – finally sealing a peace agreement; the specific public relations strategies and techniques that led to relationship building between the two sides leading to the landmark peace agreement; and the use of the indicators of relationship building proposed by scholarship in the negotiations between the Colombian Government and FARC-EP.

Design/methodology/approach

The case study method was used and a purposive sample of news reports from three national newspapers at specific key dates yielding a final sample consisted of 504 articles was analysed. A codebook with deductive and inductive categories was developed specially to study the existing communication factors (RQ1), public relations strategies and techniques (RQ2), as well as contributions by relationship indicators (RQ3). Given the sensitivity of the issues, only secondary data could be relied upon for this study.

Findings

The results of RQ1 fall within the scope of Grunig’s (2001), Sriramesh’s (1992) and Hung’s (2001) notion of the personal influence model where the leveraging of individuals’ network is important to facilitate communication. Indeed, the relations already existing and established with third parties are revealed to be fundamental to the success of the negotiation process. As for RQ2, findings demonstrate that the Colombian Government used third-party mediation, principled and distributive strategies, while FARC-EP mainly used contending strategies. But results showed that both used compromising during the whole process, and that both transitioned from one-way asymmetrical strategies, such as principled or contending towards compromising along the peace talks. Finally, findings demonstrate evidence of the four indicators of the relationship and their link with public relations techniques. The most evidenced indicators of the relationship were trust, commitment and control mutuality. Trust was the indicator of the relationship the most evidenced in the Colombian case. The dimension was built during the whole process and evolved continually. Distrust was the total between the two enemies at the beginning of the pre-negotiation. However, as parties entered into a relationship, confidence and trust increased.

Research limitations/implications

The inability to obtain primary data is the major limitation of this study. It was caused by the sensitivity of the topic.

Practical implications

This study links public relations to a very practical case that is also vastly understudied/underreported – peacemaking/peacebuilding – while also addressing communication by governments and civil society in Latin America – an area that is largely understudied.

Originality/value

This is the first study that links public relations with peacebuilding.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 25 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 October 2020

Mensur Zeqiri

This study seeks to provide further testing of access in the context of government – community relations within the political context of the Republic of North Macedonia. The study…

1196

Abstract

Purpose

This study seeks to provide further testing of access in the context of government – community relations within the political context of the Republic of North Macedonia. The study analyses relationship cultivation strategy of access and explains how it contributes to achieving trust and relationship satisfaction in government–community relations. This paper also provides insights into the importance of access to achieving positive government–community relations based on mutual trust and satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

For this research, a qualitative inquiry was conducted, and qualitative in-depth interviewing was used as the main research method. In total, 39 interviews were conducted: 12 interviews with Macedonian civil servants, eight interviews with Albanian civil servants and 19 interviews with Albanians.

Findings

The findings of this study showed citizens not to have enough access to government and its institutions. Besides, the results showed access to be crucial to building positive government–community relations based on mutual trust and satisfaction. In particular, discrimination and social distance were crucial in building trust between government and citizens.

Originality/value

The study provided evidence on the importance and contribution of the cultivation strategy of access to government-community relationships in general and to the relational outcomes of trust and satisfaction in particular. The findings supported the initial assumptions that access constitutes an important factor in predicting the government–community relationship quality.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 26 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1990

D. Wayne Taylor

Previous studies of business‐government relations have tended totake either a macro approach (using a single theoretical framework toexplain all business‐government relations) or…

Abstract

Previous studies of business‐government relations have tended to take either a macro approach (using a single theoretical framework to explain all business‐government relations) or a micro approach (one that fails to explain why business‐government relations have not improved over time). This article applies Lowi′s four‐part typology of policy types. In order to test the typology′s usefulness, a survey of business executives and government officials was carried out. The findings confirmed the thesis: business satisfaction with its relationship to government will be highest in the case of distributive policies, and decline to lowest in the case of constituent policies. A “meso‐level” theoretical framework is recommended to provide not only a better understanding of the multi‐levelled character of business‐government relations, but also future research with a practical orientation.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 July 2012

Brooke Fisher Liu, Abbey Levenshus and J. Suzanne Horsley

The purpose of this study is to refine and expand an emerging US government communication model, the government communication decision wheel, by testing the differences between…

2707

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to refine and expand an emerging US government communication model, the government communication decision wheel, by testing the differences between the communication practices of US public sector communicators working for non‐elected officials versus those employed by elected officials.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing from surveys of 781 US government communicators, the study compares the communication practices and influences of government communicators working for elected officials versus non‐elected officials.

Findings

The study identifies four significant differences and five similarities in how the public sector environment affects non‐elected and elected officials’ communicators’ public relations practices.

Research limitations/implications

While the study and underlying model focus on US government communication, this study provides valuable theoretical insights. It supports the model's underlying premise that the public sector is unique from the private sector while also further refining the significant differences within the US government sector.

Practical implications

This study helps US government communicators identify unique environmental attributes that affect communication activities in the public sector. It helps identify how these attributes affect communication practices within individual and collaborative contexts. Finally, it helps non‐governmental communicators and communicators outside of the US to understand how the attributes may affect communication practices when they collaborate with government communicators from the four levels of US government as well as with those who work for elected and non‐elected officials.

Originality/value

Despite the critical importance of communication in the public sector, very little research focuses specifically on government communication outside of political communication. The findings provide valuable insights for practitioners and contribute to public relations theory development for the under‐researched public sector.

Article
Publication date: 17 October 2023

Sungkyung Kim, Argyro Elisavet Manoli, Do Young Pyun and James Andrew Kenyon

Enthusiasm for hosting mega sport events has been dampened mainly due to the opposition of local communities. Although the use of public relations that aims for two-way…

Abstract

Purpose

Enthusiasm for hosting mega sport events has been dampened mainly due to the opposition of local communities. Although the use of public relations that aims for two-way communication to build mutual understanding and the long-term relationship could be an effective tool in diminishing the opposition, little research exists that interprets the social concern with public relations theoretical lens. In this light, the primary purpose of the present study was to conceptualise government-public relationships in the context of mega sport events and to develop a valid and psychometrically sound scale to measure the relationship quality between two entities.

Design/methodology/approach

An initial pool of 23 potential government-public relationship items was drawn through item generation processes, including research synthesis and content validity. Then, this study collected 254 respondents via online surveys and split the total sample into two sets for exploratory factor analysis and (n = 127) and confirmatory factor analysis (n = 127).

Findings

As a result, the scale of the government-public relationships consists of 17 items representing three dimensions: control mutuality, trust and satisfaction.

Originality/value

The developed government-public relationship scale furnishes event marketers and researchers with a solid framework and a measurement tool for empirical examinations. The current research reveals that the dimensionality, reliability and validity of the three latent government-public relationships dimensions are satisfactory while failing to meet the general consensus that commitment is an important dimension of the existing organisation-public relationships scale.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 24 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2000

Paul Elmer

This case study explored the nature of professionalism in UK Government public relations. In addition to using established functional models of professionalism, the study tested a…

1790

Abstract

This case study explored the nature of professionalism in UK Government public relations. In addition to using established functional models of professionalism, the study tested a market‐based model of professional value, first conceived by sociologist Thomas Brante, and sought to examine the concept of professionalism as one negotiated between the buyer and provider of a service. This is the first time that Brante’s relational model has been applied to a public relations context. The subject population was buyers and providers of public relations services within the UK Ministry of Defence. The study exposed imbalances of both power and knowledge. Public relations practitioners were found not to have a consistent level of functional professionalism, while their more powerful clients neither expected nor valued functional, strategic or ethical performance from their public relations practitioners.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 5 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 97000