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Explores relationships between the popular perception of public relations; the Grunigian paradigm, its distortion by UK teachers and a way forward to a more soundly‐based teaching about the communications of organizations. The first part is about public perceptions of public relations in the UK and how these influence attitudes on the campus. The second part is about shifting the emphasis of teaching away from a communication science perspective and towards a political studies one. Concludes that this shift could lead to a better connection with modern thinking about persuasive information flows in modern, liberal, industrialized societies.

A brief survey of the public relations industry is followed by an account of the specific applications of public relations to university libraries. The process begins with identification of the library′s aims and objectives and of its main client bodies. Discusses the full range of public relations skills, including interpersonal skills, service quality and library promotion by all means. Stresses the importance of public relations to a university library.

Hypothesises that the public relations industry and those connected with it suffer from low reputation; that this perception is widespread and may create a distorted reality. Surveys a self‐selected and representative sample to evaluate the hypothesis. Considers semantic differences in terminology. Argues for empirical location, reform and more interdisciplinary research. Suggests that an Office for the Regulation of the Public Relations industry (OFFPR) might improve reputation of the industry and the people who work in it, including teachers and students.

“Reputation management” is widely used as a rationale for public relations, although the public relations practice has problems with its own reputation. Public relations is presented in textbooks as a mature management discipline, yet the term “public relations” is rejected by many practitioners and academics. “Reputation management” may have been introduced to counter negative associations and to gain status for the practice. The purpose of this paper is to use critical theory to question the ideas and assumptions underlying “reputation management” and to examine contradictions within the term.

The paper reviews what this theory has to say about public relations and its claim to be a mature management discipline. It examines how public relations practitioners explain their role to internal and external publics.

An initial literature review suggests that the contradictions within “reputation management” mirror contradictions within public relations practice.

The paper encourages debate in the public relations field.

Public relations activities as they relate to the roles of the circulation librarian in an academic library are discussed. The position of the circulation librarian as the public relations officer of his or her library in fulfilling the objectives of the institution and the library are also discussed. Services must be acceptable and the only way to make them acceptable is through public relations activities. The quality of the circulation librarian is highlighted for good public relations results. The services of the circulation librarian who uses public relations tools to function are also discussed as well as the ways the impact can be felt. This discussion highlights the similarity of the activities of the circulation librarian and the public relations officer of any establishment, and how they affect their organisation in positive ways.

Describes changes and developments taking place in public relations in the UK. Such description is predicated on change in the external environment facing business organizations, increased expenditure on staffing and public relations activities, and teaching developments in this innovative management field. But the main causatory factors are fuzzy market boundaries, changing publics, and short‐lived competitive advantages. A hypothetical company example is used to illustrate how public relations might be used to build relations with key target audiences.

Personal influence is one of the most powerful strategies to influence publics’ behaviours. Yet, there is scant attention on how personal influence is leveraged for different public relations purposes in different cultural contexts. This study empirically investigates the presence and use of personal influence among Italian public relations professionals.

A survey was conducted through a self-administrated, web-based questionnaire and was developed from earlier studies investigating personal influence in public relations literature. Survey participants included public relations professionals across public, non-profit and private sectors.

The findings empirically show the presence and regular use of personal influence by professionals from all sectors to cultivate interpersonal relationships. Personal influence is considered a personal resource and used to leverage own influencing power. The findings also document four major manifestations of personal influence, which were named: relational closeness strategy, engagement strategy, expertise strategy and added value strategy.

This study enhances our understanding of personal influence in a specific cultural context and offers strategic insights for international professionals seeking to leverage influence in the socio-political environment of Italy. It also offers elements to improve public relations education and training.

The study offers some preliminary understandings of how Italian professionals leverage their personal influence in their daily public relations activities contributing with empirical evidence to the body of knowledge in public relations.

This study attempts to identify the drivers for change in Public Relations education and what assumptions are made about professional practice. The authors suggest signature pedagogy has the potential to deepen our understanding of the teaching and learning of Public Relations and what this means as the Public Relations curriculum adapts. The paper has theoretical and practical value. It forefronts the concept of signature pedagogy as a fresh way to look at Public Relations teaching and learning that can be developed.

This paper aims to explore the historical and contemporary context of teaching Public Relations within a university setting, how it has evolved and the assumptions that underpin it both nationally and internationally. Using a mixed methods approach, the paper investigates how the curriculum has changed since 2000, how it interacts with industry and how it reflects educational historical and contemporary frameworks. It also explores the assumptions on which Public Relations education was and is based and whether signature pedagogy is evidenced.

This study concludes that, from a signature pedagogy perspective, many current Public Relations curricula emphasise surface structures of learning. Deep structures, focusing on critical engagement and conceptual approaches to problem solving, are more variable, disconnected and contested. The data indicate the existence of an Anglo-American, skills-based approach to Public Relations knowledge, alongside international nuances around multi-culturalism. From a practical viewpoint, the paper contributes to how Public Relations programmes can be designed, taught and adapted in the future.

The paper evidences fully unique, primary research.

The aim of this article is the exploration of historical themes that formed education and training in public relations and corporate communication. Its timeline is from the early 1950s to the mid-1990s when university-level education became widespread. It also acknowledges recent initiatives to propose a Global Capability Framework for the field.

Archival material, primarily from the International Public Relations Association, was reviewed in order to understand the historic influences that have shaped public relations and corporate communication education in the, mainly, English-speaking world. This was compared with other sources such as journal, articles and other archives in the Germany, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Three findings are offered from the archival research and analysis conducted for the article: (1) There was extensive debate over the structure of education between a skills-based approach that was taught as a minor or major stream in an undergraduate degree or graduate level study (Master's) in public relations theory and practice; (2) there was continuing tension between practitioner organizations and academics over the design, content and validation of educational programmes; and (3) there was little interest in the international harmonization of public relations education and training, despite extensive discussion.

No previous historical research has taken such a broad and international view of the development of education and training in public relations and corporate communication. The article also uses archival material that has become available in the past decade.

During the past few years, public trust in organisations, institutions and systems has decreased. Trust is an important antecedent not only for relationship-building but also for image and reputation management. This study aims to systematically review scientific publications on public relations and trust to explore the current status of trust research, including its conceptual definition, measurement and theorisation.

Only English-language scientific papers published in key public relations journals were analysed. Titles, abstracts and keywords were searched with the terms “public relations” and/or “strategic communication” and/or “communication management” and “trust”, returning 254 discrete articles. Quantitative content analysis and thematic analysis were used to extract information.

Trust research has limited methodological and intellectual diversity. Most studies have been published by North American scholars using surveys and interviews as the primary methods, and most are positioned within the public relations literature. One-third of papers do not use any specific theory to define trust, and about 13% of those in which trust is a central element do not refer to any conceptual foundation. The majority of papers are centred on professional and managerial problems, with limited discussion of publics/stakeholders' or societal problems.

This study offers important information about the development of trust research in public relations and sheds light on current knowledge gaps that can inform future research.