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1 – 10 of 191Michael A. Cacciatore, Juan Meng and Bruce K. Berger
How to effectively manage information flow continues presenting challenges for effective responsive strategies in communication, reflecting the magnitude and impact of a…
Abstract
Purpose
How to effectively manage information flow continues presenting challenges for effective responsive strategies in communication, reflecting the magnitude and impact of a data-driven and strategy-oriented market environment globally. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discover how concerns related to the rise of social media have affected communication leaders’ operational and managerial practice from an international perspective. The overarching aim is to better understand these concerns in order to contribute to effective responsive strategies in communication practice in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors relied on data from an international online survey of public relations and communication professionals in multiple countries who were asked their perceptions and behaviors concerning the impact of information flow and the digital revolution on their practice. ANOVA analyses and hierarchical regression models were used to identify the heterogeneity across five clustered groups of countries.
Findings
Results confirmed a strong desire among communication professionals in multiple countries to learn more about information management in practice. Results identified the overall patterns of responsive strategies that have been widely adopted by public relations professionals in specific country clusters across the globe. In order to better manage social media and the digital revolution, all five of the surveyed country clusters indicated that it is effective to integrate more social media strategies and to train employees in social media.
Originality/value
The research has explored the importance surrounding information management in an era of widespread digital content, including how concerns in this area have affected strategic decision-making in communication practice. Equally important, the authors provide a more global perspective on this critical topic by analyzing communication professionals’ perceptions in grouped country clusters. Results of the research have identified the similarities and differences in responsive strategies to cope with information flow concerns across grouped country clusters.
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Kristin Scott, Juan Meng and Ann Kuzma
The American Dream is tightly woven into the American culture and way of life. Despite the importance and ubiquitous nature of the American Dream, the topic is difficult to define…
Abstract
Purpose
The American Dream is tightly woven into the American culture and way of life. Despite the importance and ubiquitous nature of the American Dream, the topic is difficult to define and belief in the attainability of the American Dream changes over time. Because of the little academic research on the topic, this study aims to fill this gap and investigate what people think about the American Dream and what factors influence the perception that this concept is outdated among different two generations – Baby Boomers and Millennials.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey containing both open-ended and close-ended questions was conducted in two age groups via Qualtrics – 245 Millennials (born 1980–1996) and 253 Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964). Open-ended questions were analyzed using NVivo and closed-ended questions were analyzed using SPSS. Items on the online survey measured the definition of the American Dream, factors in defining it, the relevancy and attainability of the Dream, whether it was outdated, as well as Schwartz’s list of values (Lindeman and Verkasalo, 2005).
Findings
Three research questions were investigated. First, the results show that Baby Boomers and Millennials define the Dream similarly in terms of a house, family, happiness, freedom and equality. Second, they differ, however, in whether they believe that the Dream is relevant and attainable. Specifically, only Baby Boomers believe that the Dream is still relevant, but both generations believe that it is harder for younger generations to achieve the Dream. Third, the authors found similarities and differences in terms of demographics and values predicting whether the two generations believed that the Dream is outdated, and new values should be added. For both generations, values were more likely to predict the belief that the Dream was outdated. Using Schwartz’s values, those high in universalism were more likely to believe that the Dream was outdated and that new values should be added to the definition of the Dream for both generations. The values of security, self-direction, achievement and benevolence differed between the generations in believing that the Dream was outdated and that new values should be added.
Originality/value
This research provides insight into how these macrolevel beliefs influence people at the microlevel and how businesses or public policymakers can use these concepts to influence attitudes or behaviors.
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Adam Nguyen and Juan (Gloria) Meng
This research aims to examine how source of funds (paying with company’s funds versus personal funds) affects buyer’s judgments of price fairness and via these judgments, buyer’s…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to examine how source of funds (paying with company’s funds versus personal funds) affects buyer’s judgments of price fairness and via these judgments, buyer’s response to prices.
Design/methodology/approach
A scenario-based experiment is used (N = 200). To test the hypotheses, the authors run moderated mediation regression analyses with the help of the PROCESS macro.
Findings
Drawing on fairness heuristics theory, the authors hypothesize and find that relative to when paying with personal funds, when paying with company’s funds, the perceived price difference plays a less significant role, whereas the perceived social acceptability of the pricing practice underlying the price difference plays a more important role in shaping price fairness judgments and, via these judgments, buyer’s response to prices.
Practical implications
The findings generate advice for companies that serve both the business and personal segments (e.g. airlines and hotels). Buyers in the personal segment typically pay with their own money. To persuade these buyers that a price is fair, it is crucial to show that the price represents a good deal for them. Buyers in the business segment often pay with company’s fund. Companies have more flexibility in charging different prices, but they should make sure that the reasons for the price difference are socially acceptable.
Originality/value
This research shows how the relative role of price difference versus social acceptability in price fairness judgments varies as a function of source of funds and how an inconsistency between price difference and its economic impact affects price fairness judgments.
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Grace J. Ambrose, Juan (Gloria) Meng and Paul J. Ambrose
This study aims to address the following questions: What is enduring about consumer behavior on social media given that digital and social media (DSM) technologies change rapidly…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to address the following questions: What is enduring about consumer behavior on social media given that digital and social media (DSM) technologies change rapidly? Why do millennials use social media to the extent they do? The authors’ review revealed that a prevailing theoretical approach that may help answer these questions is inadequate. The technology acceptance model (TAM) from information systems was grafted into marketing to explain consumer technology adoption. TAM predicts Facebook adoption effectively, as demonstrated in the authors’ first study, but does not go beyond that in explaining the why’s behind its use. In a second study, the authors used the means-end approach (MEC) complementarily to unearth the why’s of millennials’ use of Facebook.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a mixed-methods design combining the structural modeling of TAM with the probing one-on-one interviews and laddering of MEC.
Findings
The authors found that the laddering process both widened and deepened TAM’s scope. It not only confirmed the importance of the TAM attributes, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, but it also revealed others, in determining adoption. It was also able to dig deeper from these to uncover a mesh of fundamental values that millennials used Facebook to satisfy, such as belongingness, pleasure, social acceptance and inner harmony, in their quest for inner and relational contentment. The authors also found negative aspects that kept consumers away, such as its lack of privacy and the overwhelming nature of unwanted video in its feed, tying these back to important values.
Research limitations/implications
The authors build on prior exploratory work relating to DSM use and uncover psychological drivers of consumer behavior on social media, by blending TAM in a consumer context, and the MEC approach. The TAM-MEC framework used here offers a technology-independent template for other DSM research, by focusing on how and why consumers use media socially.
Practical implications
Managerially, the authors discuss the building of sustainable marketing strategy on enduring consumer values rather than on transient attributes or technologies. The authors also discuss potential areas of vulnerability for Facebook, such as its increasing use of video and live content, which creates negative consumer sentiment and which may drive consumers to competitors.
Originality/value
By blending the quantitative TAM and the qualitative MEC, something that has not been done before in marketing, this research provides trustworthy answers to the research questions. In so doing, this study also contributes some cohesion to the fragmented DSM research field, as called for recently in prominent journals, by anchoring DSM study in well-established theories in marketing.
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As an important group of internal stakeholders, communication professionals carry the responsibilities to communicate with multiple groups of audience and foster trusted and…
Abstract
Purpose
As an important group of internal stakeholders, communication professionals carry the responsibilities to communicate with multiple groups of audience and foster trusted and satisfied relationships, both internally and externally. However, while busy with taking care of various stakeholders, the trust–satisfaction perception of communication professionals is underrated. Therefore, this paper aims to shift the investigation of the trust–satisfaction relationship from general employees to this unique group of communicators. By incorporating three key factors in an institutional environment (i.e. job engagement, leadership performance and organizational culture and support), the authors further investigate the moderated mediating effects of those factors on the trust–satisfaction relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A national online survey of communication professionals working and living in the USA was designed to test the trust–satisfaction relationship. Surveyed communication professionals were asked to evaluate their own perceptions on various institutional factors. A conceptual moderated multiple-mediation structural model was proposed and tested to identify the impact of a complicated institutional environment on the perceived trust–satisfaction relationship.
Findings
Results confirmed a strong positive impact of trust in organization on communication professionals' perceived job satisfaction. Results also confirmed the mediating effects of job engagement and communication leaders' performance on such a trust–satisfaction relationship. The authors' moderated mediation analysis indicated the important role of organizational culture in this complicated institutional environment and its indirect impact on the trust–satisfaction relationship.
Originality/value
The research explored several important factors within a complicated institutional environment and their potential impact on trust–satisfaction relationship. More significantly, the authors focused on one unique group of internal stakeholders, communication professionals, by analyzing how these institutional factors affect their very own perceptions. Even though communication professionals carry the responsibilities of acting as the communication and strategy facilitators on behalf of their organization, their perceptions on trust and satisfaction are equally important and deserve more attention. Results of our research promote the understanding of the complicated mechanisms within corporate communication for an enhanced trust–satisfaction relationship between communication professionals and their organization.
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Nicholas Eng, Ruoyu Sun, Juan Meng and Marlene S. Neill
The purpose of this study is to examine the well-being initiatives and programs offered to full-time communication employees and identifies antecedents of employee subjective…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the well-being initiatives and programs offered to full-time communication employees and identifies antecedents of employee subjective well-being and commitment in the workplace (e.g. organizational attention to mental health in the workplace and perceived organizational support, POS).
Design/methodology/approach
Guided by organizational support theory (OST), we conducted an online survey with 262 full-time communication professionals.
Findings
The data show that a variety of well-being initiatives and programs (e.g. mental health assistance programs and flexible working hours) are offered to communication employees, who receive this information from various sources (e.g. emails and announcements at employee meetings). Additionally, the number of well-being initiatives also positively predicted organizational attitudes and attention to mental health in the workplace. Supporting OST, attitudes and attention to mental health in the workplace positively predicted POS, which subsequently predicted subjective well-being and organizational commitment.
Research limitations/implications
The study offers practical implications around the communication professionals’ experience in employee well-being and culture. Perspectives from internal communication teams will help organizations leverage their efficiency in creating a supportive work culture around mental well-being and contribute to the understanding of well-being in communication industries. Theoretically, we extended the range of OST, by testing the theory in a new context of communication professionals during the pandemic.
Originality/value
Although communication professionals carry a critical internal communication role in actively promoting employee mental health, well-being and healthy organizational cultures, very little research has been dedicated to investigating how they handle these subjects themselves. Therefore, this study provides original value by focusing on the perceptions, knowledge and action taken by communication professionals when responding to organizations’ well-being programs/initiatives offerings during the peak of COVID-19 and the factors that influence communication professionals’ subjective well-being.
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Juan Meng, Po-Lin Pan, Michael A. Cacciatore and Karen Robayo Sanchez
The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a significant impact on several aspects of public relations practice. By adopting the theoretical framework of adaptive leadership, this…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a significant impact on several aspects of public relations practice. By adopting the theoretical framework of adaptive leadership, this research is designed to explore how an organization’s top leadership can support related adaptive action in strategic communication. Particularly, we hope to explore whether the application of adaptive leadership could facilitate a higher level of communication transparency as well as deliver a sense of caring and empathy in COVID-19 communication.
Design/methodology/approach
An international online survey was designed and conducted for this study. The first sample consists of 776 full-time communication professionals in the United States of America with 435 women (56.1%) and 341 men (43.9%). The second sample consists of 268 full-time communication professionals in Canada, with 110 women (41.0%) and 158 men (59.0%). The two samples were merged into the final sample of 1,044 for the data analysis.
Findings
Results confirmed that the perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic increased communication professionals’ challenges in building trust. It also drives adaptive changes in their coping actions in strategic communication. More importantly, the top leadership within the organization played a key role in this adaptive leadership environment by demonstrating commitment to transparency in COVID-19 communication and delivering a sense of empathy during the pandemic.
Originality/value
This study contributes to our understanding of strategic communication in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 global pandemic, by focusing on the adaptive nature of communication leadership. More importantly, our study confirms the important roles of two leadership attributes (i.e. the sense of empathy and the commitment to communication transparency) in supporting adaptive leadership, which eventually influences trust building.
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Juan Meng and Marlene S. Neill
The rise of a professional career presents women in today's public relations profession an intense challenge in balancing professional and family responsibilities. Therefore, this…
Abstract
Purpose
The rise of a professional career presents women in today's public relations profession an intense challenge in balancing professional and family responsibilities. Therefore, this study is motivated to investigate female public relations professionals' perceptions of work–family conflict in their daily life. Specifically, the authors focused the research on women working in the professions of communication and public relations in the United States.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was designed and conducted in the United States. The final sample includes 512 women working full-time in public relations and communication. In addition, the authors pre-specified several demographic quotas in sampling design in order to recruit a diverse group of female professionals nationwide.
Findings
The findings of this research study confirmed that female professionals have to constantly make changes to their plans for family activities when there is a conflict due to work-related duties. Such impact is particularly intense for professionals in the age bracket of 31–40. They have to use a wide variety of coping strategies to manage the work–family conflict. Findings in the present research study confirmed the critical role of mentoring in providing extra support and to help junior female professionals find coping solutions. Effective mentor–mentee networks can be established and used as valuable resources to support women in managing work–family conflict.
Originality/value
By investigating current female professionals' perceptions on work–life conflict and their adoption of relevant coping strategies in the workplace, this research provides solid evidence that organizations should dedicate efforts in providing strong support in programs and policies and makes the options available to female professionals at all levels. The present research highlights the importance of building mentor–mentee relationships as an effective supportive approach when managing work–family conflict.
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Juan Meng, Solyee Kim and Bryan Reber
This study is motivated to investigate the ethical challenges facing public relations professionals in today's digital communication environment. Specifically, the authors focused…
Abstract
Purpose
This study is motivated to investigate the ethical challenges facing public relations professionals in today's digital communication environment. Specifically, the authors focused the research on the new ethical challenges in digital practice, the resources relied on when encountering ethical challenges and public relations professionals' efforts in seeking trainings on communication ethics.
Design/methodology/approach
An international online survey was designed and conducted in Canada and the USA. The final sample includes 1,046 respondents working full time in the profession of public relations and communication. In addition, the authors prespecified several demographic quotas in sampling design in order to recruit a more representative sample.
Findings
The research found nearly 60% of surveyed professionals reported that they faced ethical challenges in their day-to-day work, and there is a wide range of ethical challenges in digital practices. Results also revealed that professionals use various resources to deal with ethical issues. Those resources include ethical codes of practice of professional associations, ethical guidelines of their organizations and their personal values and beliefs. As common as experiencing ethical challenges, over 85% of surveyed professionals reported that they have participated in communication ethics training. However, only 30% of participants indicated that their ethics training took place in the past year.
Originality/value
The research provides solid evidence that the digital communication environment generates more ethical challenges, while it creates new ways of delivering content in corporate communications. Professional associations and organizations shall dedicate efforts in providing timely ethics training to PR professionals at all levels of leadership within and beyond corporate communications.
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Jeonghyun Janice Lee and Juan Meng
This research is motivated to explore communication professionals' understanding of the digital changes brought by the Industry 4.0 revolution and how such changes may affect the…
Abstract
Purpose
This research is motivated to explore communication professionals' understanding of the digital changes brought by the Industry 4.0 revolution and how such changes may affect the strategies and skills expected in effective communication management. A specific focus of the research is to define the concept of Readiness for Industry 4.0 in communication and propose a theoretical framework to address the key dimensions of Readiness for Industry 4.0 as related to communication management.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed research design was employed to fulfill the goal of this research. First, the authors took a grounded theory approach in proposing, conceptualizing and constructing the concept of Readiness for Industry 4.0 by reviewing a wider literature on technology and communication. As part of the conceptualization process, the authors proposed five dimensions which encompass the complexity of building capacity in communication practice to effectively manage changes associated with Industry 4.0. Second, the authors used a qualitative research method, in-depth interviews, to gain insights from 16 senior communication professionals working in South Korea.
Findings
The study’s interview results confirmed the challenge in finding a universal definition of Readiness for Industry 4.0, even though the interviewed senior communication professionals have widely recognized the changes in the workplace brought by the Industry 4.0. Our interviewees agreed that their mindset is ready for the changes. However, they addressed the need for communication professionals to continue to learn and build their knowledge and skills from multiple perspectives. More specifically, skill sets and knowledge in cognitive analytics, data management, technology literacy, sense making skills for digital transformation and digital competencies in crisis management are desired and necessary.
Originality/value
This research advances theory building in communication management by addressing the importance of digital competencies in the workplace. By proposing a theoretical framework to explain the Readiness for Industry 4.0, this article contributes to our knowledge of digital transformation and its impact on effective communication. Moreover, by having deep conversations with industry leaders who are in the forefront of managing the challenges associated with technology advancement, this article enriches its practical implications by linking the discussion to the proposed theoretical framework.
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