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1 – 10 of 124Developing countries are fast becoming the emerging markets in a ‘global village’. Yet few systematic analyses exist about public relations in developing nations. This study uses…
Abstract
Developing countries are fast becoming the emerging markets in a ‘global village’. Yet few systematic analyses exist about public relations in developing nations. This study uses Grunig's models of public relations to explore the nature of public relations in a sample of four types of organisations in India. Data were collected from 18 organisations and 40 public relations professionals using the survey method and ethnographic analysis. Whereas the self‐reported questionnaires revealed that respondents engaged in two‐way symmetrical communication, the ethnographic data suggested that the press agentry/publicity model was predominantly used by all the organisations. In addition, a new model, the personal influence model, was found to be most popular in the sample organisations.
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Samsup Jo and Jaemin Jung
The purpose of this study was to compare major corporations’ web sites both in the USA and in South Korea to identify the differences in features posted on their home pages and to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to compare major corporations’ web sites both in the USA and in South Korea to identify the differences in features posted on their home pages and to examine the relationship between the features and the theoretical public relations model.
Design/methodology/approach
Content analysis of two countries’ 30 corporate web sites based on Grunig's public relations model.
Findings
The two countries’ corporations predominantly practised press agentry and a public information model from the perspective of a public relations theoretical model. In general, US corporations post more promotional and informative information related to products or services than South Korean corporations.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies of the world wide web should be extended to public relations practitioners, who are making and maintaining the web sites.
Practical implications
It appears that many corporate home pages, in both countries, have not made use of the powerful tool of two‐way communication for monitoring what others are saying about the corporations, since most corporations are more likely to focus on displaying one‐way promotional features than on building relationships between organizations and their public.
Originality/value
Although the world wide web is a new communication medium, it appears that public relations practitioners still see media relations and image building as the most prominent responsibilities of public relations.
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In recent years, there has been a growth in research aimed at understanding the foundations of modern activist communication in media-rich and multi-platform environments. For…
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years, there has been a growth in research aimed at understanding the foundations of modern activist communication in media-rich and multi-platform environments. For example, Chon and Park's analysis of the American Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement built on Kim and Grunig's STOPS model. Yet, social and political injustice can exist for extended periods of time without successful movements emerging, so what leads people to demand social and political change through activism? This paper posits that crisis is trigger that motivates people to activism and evaluates that within the context of the Scottish independence movement.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on in-depth interviews with 26 advocates for Scottish independence, which yielded more than 32 h of data. Data were analysed using Strauss and Corbin's (1990) constant comparative method approach using open coding, axial coding and selective coding finding thematic saturation after only 10 interviews.
Findings
The study provides a clear extension of Chon and Park's model of activism by finding that crises are critical triggers for activism. Moreover, these findings also provide insights into not only the Scottish independence movement but more broadly the extension of traditional public relations and communication theory in multi-platform and multi-actor environments.
Originality/value
There are several contributions this piece makes. First, this paper extends activist, crisis and strategic communication research to more systematically consider the role that crisis plays in social and political advocacy. Second, this paper affords the opportunity to consider the challenges of communication, democracy and activism in the social media age. Finally, this paper supports an international view that discrimination and affective injustice experiences cut across many different kinds of identities and experiences instead of the traditionally considered ethnic, religious and gender-based experiences traditionally addressed.
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K. Sriramesh and Mioko Takasaki
The need for international public relations in a modern world characterised by collapsing trade barriers and increased international trade sets the stage for the study reported in…
Abstract
The need for international public relations in a modern world characterised by collapsing trade barriers and increased international trade sets the stage for the study reported in this paper. The authors argue that public relations practitioners and scholars should recognise the importance of culture (both societal and organisational) as a variable that affects public relations practice in various countries. They then report on quantitative and qualitative data gathered from 81 public relations practitioners working in Japan. They conclude that media relations are highly valued by Japanese practitioners who use friendships, typified by the personal influence model, to conduct their media relations. Wa, kou‐chou, amae and tatemae were among the cultural concepts that played a significant role in the way Japanese public relations practitioners operate. Although Japanese practitioners valued symmetrical forms of public relations, they seemed constrained to practise the one‐way models. The authors conclude that similar studies of public relations practice in various cultures will contribute to effective public relations and help toward building a strong theory of international public relations.
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Case studies in public relations are often used as illustrations in textbooks or for promoting good practices. This paper examines the use of case studies to understand the basics…
Abstract
Case studies in public relations are often used as illustrations in textbooks or for promoting good practices. This paper examines the use of case studies to understand the basics of PR strategies. Canadian award‐winning communication campaigns are analysed through a model based on communication theories. The outputs of different campaigns with similar objectives are compared and their methods of practice deduced. The model will be explained and Canadian lobbying campaigns used as examples.
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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…
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.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the practices and outlooks of public relations (PR) and corporate communication practitioners in six countries of South East Asia, through…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the practices and outlooks of public relations (PR) and corporate communication practitioners in six countries of South East Asia, through the eyes of practitioners themselves.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on the findings of a doctoral research project comprising an online questionnaire sent to 100 active PR and corporate communication practitioners in six countries of South East Asia, attracting 30 responses; and a subsequent series of 14 semi-structured, in-depth face-to-face interviews. While taking some account of a range of theories in formulating questions, the research is primarily inductive in nature, seeking to reveal self-perceptions of the working worlds, worldviews, values and concerns of practitioners themselves.
Findings
The project confirms, in the South East Asian context, hypotheses previously advanced by researchers including Sriramesh (2004), Sriramesh and Vercic (2001), Bardhan (2011) and others which assert that distinctive worldviews and local and regional cultures can be significant considerations in understanding the ways that communication strategies are developed and applied in different geographical locations. Going further, the research confirms that local practitioners see other environmental variables including differences in infrastructure, the composition of local languages and a range of other factors which go beyond “attitudes” and “values” as having important impacts as well, and therefore being worthy of more detailed attention by international communication planners and scholars.
Research limitations/implications
The research has implications for practitioners seeking to develop effective communication strategies in South East Asian environments. For scholars, the research has implications for better understanding of the significance of a range of environmental variables which may impact the effectiveness of professional practice in the region but which as yet may not be sufficiently recognised by existing theory and case studies. The project has a small sample size, with respondents drawn primarily from the membership of two English-speaking international professional associations. All research was also conducted in English. It may therefore not be fully representative of all practitioners across the region.
Practical implications
The findings draw attention to ways that communication strategies might be more successfully developed and applied in particular Association of South East Asian Nations countries, and how professional practice in this region can help to better inform the development of more inclusive, comprehensive and critical “international” PR theory, curriculum and pedagogy.
Social implications
The research has social implications in regard to promoting better understanding of the outlooks and influences upon a group of professional people who arguably enjoy disproportionate influence upon the communities and societies in which they operate, by virtue of the work they undertake to explain, persuade and build relationships on behalf of other influential parties.
Originality/value
This is the first research project providing extensive first-hand simultaneous insights into the working worlds and personal outlooks of a broad cross-section of corporate communication practitioners across a number of major countries of South East Asia, embracing a comprehensive range of discussion topics.
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This is a general review of the German concepts and provisions for the self‐regulation of PR practitioners. They differ from the various systems published so far in this Journal…
Abstract
Purpose
This is a general review of the German concepts and provisions for the self‐regulation of PR practitioners. They differ from the various systems published so far in this Journal (Vol. 8 No.1, 2003). The purpose of the paper is a contribution to the actual debate about the most appropriate approach to tackle ethical problems of the guild.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper first describes the structure and the procedures of the German PR Council, outlining a number of peculiarities: this body censures not only members of the supporting associations but non‐members and non‐PR professionals as well; it acts publicly; it pronounces and publishes verdicts and rebukes, and it issues specific rules of conduct in the case of uncertainties. Consequently the paper deals with the methods of conceiving codes and guidelines. It explains the differences which German practitioners discern between ethical and quality provisions. Within this context it discusses the German reservations with regard to some of the proposals of the newly formulated “Global Protocol on Ethics in Public Relations”.
Findings
This proposition induces a discussion about the ethical principles which guide the Council's endeavours. The paper proposes a shift in the moral assessment of the four Grunig models from dialogue to information activities as the prime moral challenges. As a result of these findings the paper states the Council's legitimacy.
Originality/value
Finally, the paper reports the various reactions of those who have been rebuked. It gives an evaluation of the Council's influence on the practice of PR in Germany based on new surveys and facts. The German experiences with the enforcement of codes are summarised as an ongoing process of self‐assurance of the PR guild and its public esteem.
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In April 2001, deadlocked labour negotiations brought all public education in Hawaii to a standstill. This paper reviews theoretical models of public relations and criticism of…
Abstract
In April 2001, deadlocked labour negotiations brought all public education in Hawaii to a standstill. This paper reviews theoretical models of public relations and criticism of these models in terms of conflict theory. A case study of the University of Hawaii (UH) faculty strike, including findings from in‐depth interviews with PR professionals, chief negotiators and the press is presented. Although PR models fit well in discussing relationships between the parties and their constituents, findings suggest that PR techniques often were proscribed by the circumstances of collective bargaining, and public relations, as it has been conceptualised in both theory and layman’s terms, was used as an alternative to negotiations between opposing parties rather than a means to resolving the conflict.
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Aydemir Okay, Pedja Ašanin Gole and Ayla Okay
The purpose of this paper is to explore how the health ministries of Turkey and Slovenia use Twitter as government agencies obliged to communicate with the public.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how the health ministries of Turkey and Slovenia use Twitter as government agencies obliged to communicate with the public.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a content analysis methodology to examine how Turkish (TR) and Slovenian (SLO) health ministries use Twitter for informing and encouraging behavior change in the public. A total of 662 “tweets” were analyzed. Drawing on prior studies, a coding scheme was developed and employed, and χ2 and t-tests were conducted for data analysis. Additionally, this study aimed at effecting a content analysis according to the “four models” method of Grunig and Hunt regarding efforts made to build communication with the public.
Findings
This study uncovered that the TR and SLO health ministries did not utilize two-way communication principles for Twitter communication, and their frequency of Twitter use is inadequate.
Research limitations/implications
The sampled tweets were selected by using a scientific sampling method. However, this might not have been substantial enough to represent the entirety of tweets in the study timeframe. Analyzing tweets across a longer timeframe would be helpful in confirming this study's findings. This study was also limited to two countries and to publicly available tweets; the messages of health ministries' followers to the ministries themselves were not examined. The findings of this study may not be generalizable to other countries. Other potential studies, with a particular focus on this topic, may be able to measure individual perceptions of the credibility and usefulness of messages from health ministries and their willingness to engage in two-way communication.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to evaluate how the health ministries of Turkey and Slovenia communicate on Twitter and to apply the four models of Grunig and Hunt with regard to Twitter. This study also identified that noncompeting government agencies were not minded to communicate with their publics.
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