Public Relations 2009 Abstracts
Public Relations Division
Open Papers
Antagonistic Symbiosis or Interactive Symbiosis: An Analytical Study Of the Relationship between Public Relations Practitioners and Journalists in United Arab Emirates • mai Alkhaja, united Arab emirates university • The goal of study is discover and evaluate the relationship between PR practitioners and journalists at UAE. The important conclusions are : PR practitioners face difficulties in the execution of their roles. Top management have a different view about the free flow of information from that of the practitioner.
PR Goes to the Movies: Public Relations in Selected Films 1996 to 2008 • Carol Ames, California State University, Fullerton • This qualitative analysis of public relations in popular Hollywood films from 1996 to 2008 looks at three questions: First, how is the PR practitioner portrayed in recent films? Second, what kind of public relations activities and models of public relations are depicted? Third, how do other scholars’ results in prior studies apply to the portrayal of public relations in current films?
A Quantitative Review of Crisis Communication Research in Public Relations: 1991-2009 • Elizabeth Avery, University of Tennessee; Ruthann Weaver Lariscy, University of Georgia; Sora Kim, DePaul University; Tatjana Hocke, University of Tennessee • This study quantitatively examines18 years (1991-2009) of data from the crisis communication domain in Public Relations. 66 articles met the selected criteria; each was content analyzed to determine context (corporate, public/government, private, non-profit, other), primary methodology, and numerous contextual elements. Many specific findings are presented, and overall recommendations indicate crisis communication research in public relations may benefit both theoretically and pragmatically through more diverse contextual and methodological applications.
The impact of environmental disclosure on environmental legitimacy and the organization-public relationship • Denise Bortree, Penn State University • Environmental responsibility has become a critical area of focus for corporations. The aim of this research was to examine a key dimension of responsibility by exploring how disclosure of information impacts environmental legitimacy and the quality of the organization-public relationship. Results suggest that disclosure of environmental information leads to a greater perception of legitimacy of an organization and can lead to a stronger relationship with key publics.
New Dimensions in Relationship Management: Exploring Gender and Inclusion in the Nonprofit Organization-Volunteer Relationship • Denise Bortree, Penn State University; richard waters, nc state u • The role of gender in perceptions of the organization-public relations has not been explored. This paper reports on a study of the inclusive behaviors of nonprofit organizations toward teen volunteers. Borrowing from organizational communication literature, the study explores whether greater inclusion by the organization will lead to a higher quality relationship and whether the genders experience different levels of inclusion.
Applied Ethics and Stakeholder Management on Corporate Websites • Shannon Bowen, Syracuse University • A content analysis was conducted using a random interval sample of the 2008 Fortune® 500 list of the largest US corporations to explore their application of ethics and stakeholder management. Seventy-two of the 500 were quantified along the lines of the content of their corporate website related to ethics, communication, stakeholders, relationship measures, community relations, and other qualitative variables.
Increasing publicity and thematic news coverage: The impact of localizing news releases in a state-wide experimental field study • Bonnie Bressers, Kansas State University; joye gordon, kansas state university • In a state-wide experimental field study, Kansas newspapers were sent news releases over a four-month period addressing four children’s health issues. Half of the releases contained state-level data; half contained county-level data. The localized content was published 6-to-1 times more often. Contextual text regarding children’s health was retained. Commercial data and mail-merge software can help publicity efforts by increasing publication and prominence of messages and impacting the rhetorical framing of health topics in newspaper content.
Issues Management and University Alcohol Prevention: Improving Parental Perceptions of Organizational Legitimacy • John Brummette, Radford University • Developed from a strategic issues management and attribution theory approach, the purpose of this study is to assess the parental population to determine any significant relationships between perceptions of university drinking, awareness of alcohol prevention programs and perceptions of organizational legitimacy. A web-based survey (n=173) was conducted in the Spring of 2008 with parents of university students at a state flagship university.
Public Relations Best Practices in Sports Marketing: A Case Study of Aston Villa Football Club • Danielle Coombs, Kent State University; Anne Osborne, Louisiana State University • In some circles, “public relations” is a dirty term and PR practitioners are nothing but shysters. That is what many English football fans seem to think; beyond that, they perceive that those shysters, more often than not, are American. There is one notable exception to this: Randy Lerner, owner of Birmingham, UK’s Aston Villa Football Club. This paper examines the public relations efforts of AVFC through the lenses of relationship management and Grunig’s Excellence theory.
I Love What I Do, But . . . A Relationship Management Survey of Millennial PR Agency Employees • Tiffany Derville Gallicano, University of Oregon; Patricia Curtin, University of Oregon; Kelli Matthews, University of Oregon • Millennials, those born in 1982 and later, represent the largest and most racially diverse generation in history and the fastest growing segment of the workforce. They have also been characterized in the popular press as “coddled,” “entitled,” and lacking a strong work ethic. This survey of Millennial generation agency practitioners uses closed and open-ended questions to determine how they rate their relationships with their employers (on trust, satisfaction, control mutuality, and commitment).
Pretending to Care Regardless of Results: A Critical Examination of Relationship Types and a Revised Framework • Tiffany Derville Gallicano, University of Oregon • In this paper, I describe the conceptualization of relationship types and identify problems with this conceptualization. To fix the problems I identified, I propose a revised conceptualization of relationship types. In addition, I propose quantitative and qualitative measurements for the revised conceptualization.
Annual Earnings Releases: Intermedia Agenda-Setters and Corporate Reputation Influencers • Marcia DiStaso, Penn State University • By exploring corporate earnings releases and local and national coverage of those earnings for 207 companies, this study found that corporations do set the media agenda for annual earnings. Corporate earnings releases were found to have the greatest influence on positive content in local earnings coverage and negative content in national earnings coverage. Reputation was best predicted by the neutrality of the corporate earnings release in combination with the length of local and national coverage.
The Age Paradox: New Media and Public Participation Among Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomers, and Matures • David Dozier, San Diego State University, School of Journalism and Media Studies; Bey-Ling Sha, San Diego State University; Sandra Wellhausen, Katz & Associates; Kristina Bentson Ray, City of Carlsbad • In a national telephone survey (RDD), relationships were tested among generalized new media usage, public participation using new media, and age. Younger Americans use new media more frequently than their elders. However, older people are more likely to attend public meetings (traditional public participation) because of higher involvement. The significant negative relationship between age and new media public participation reverses to a significant positive relationship, once generalized new media usage is controlled.
An Experimental Investigation of the Crisis Response Strategies in Nonprofit Public Relations • Hilary Fussell Sisco, Quinnipiac University; Erik Collins, University of South Carolina • Crisis communications has distinguished itself as a leading area in public relations. However, little attention has been paid to nonprofit organizations (NPOs), one of the largest sectors of public relations practice. In particular, few studies have examined the crisis response strategies NPOs can employ to repair their reputations.
Corporate Communication Competencies and Expectations at Multiple Levels of Professional Maturity (Preliminary Report of a Work in Progress) • Tamara Gillis, Elizabethtown College • This content analysis of current corporate communication position descriptions (from entry-level to senior management) is intended to identifying expectations and competencies at multiple levels of professional maturity. As they advance in their careers, communication professionals are engaged in the strategic management of core communication processes for businesses and organizations.
Organizational Image Construction in a Fragmented Media Environment • Dawn Gilpin, Arizona State University • Organizations seek to influence their reputation through a variety of self-presentation activities, which collectively express the organization’s identity. Whereas news releases once constituted the primary form of self-presentation, online and social media such as blogging and micro-blogging (Twitter) also contribute to image building in today’s media environment. This paper focuses on organizational image as the social dimension of organizational identity, within a larger model of reputation construction.
Wary of the Web: The Underutilization of Web Sites for Public Outreach by State Emergency Management Agencies • David Guth, University of Kansas; Gordon Alloway, University of Kansas Center for Telemedicine and Telehealth • Expanding on prior research, this paper examines how state emergency management agencies (SEMAs) use the Internet for public outreach. Through content analysis and a survey of SEMA public information officers, it was determined that, overall, SEMA Web site content appears to be focused more toward emergency managers and first responders than toward citizens or the news media.
Crisis Communications in 160 Characters and Spaces: Student Responses, Perceptions and Preferences for Emergency Text Message Notifications • Joseph Giordano, Colorado State University; Kirk Hallahan, Colorado State University • In a quasi-experiment participants (n=337) were surveyed about their behavioral intent after reading two text messages. High-risk (versus low-risk) messages generated greater attention, re-reading, and retention (versus deletion) of messages, greater message forwarding and greater information sharing and information seeking. Effects related to gender and three personality traits—attitude toward technology, self-efficacy and risk-taking—also are reported. . Implications for the successful promotion of cell phone-based crisis alert systems are discussed.
In Search of a Standard Scale: Exploring the Dimensions of Perceived Source Credibility • Karen Hilyard, University of Tennessee • Perceived source credibility is a key construct in communication research but there are no standard scales by which to measure it. In a series of one-on-one interviews, this study explores the dimensions of Meyer’s Credibility Index: trust, fairness, openness, accuracy and bias.
The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility and Customer-Company Identification on Publics’ Dialogic Communication Intentions • Soo Yeon Hong, Virginia Commonwealth University; Hyejoon Rim, Syracuse University • A public’s engagement in dialogic communications with organizations is an important relational behavior that facilitates building of organization-public relationships. To date, most of the research on dialogic communication has focused on the dialogic potential of the Internet as a way to evaluate organizations’ relationship building practices. Relatively less study has been conducted to examine the factors that influence publics’ engagement in dialogic communications.
Expanding the Government Communication Decision Wheel with Four Levels of Government • Suzanne Horsley, University of Utah; Brooke Liu, University of Maryland; Abbey Levenshus, University of Maryland • The authors surveyed 781 government communicators to expand the model of the government communication decision wheel with the four levels of government: city, county, state, and federal. The results revealed that there are similarities and differences among the four levels of government in terms of daily public affairs activities and environmental obstacles and opportunities. The model was expanded to include the unique organizational attributes of each level and to visualize communication practices among government communicators.
Exploring the Value of Organization-public Relationships in Strategic Management: A Resource-based View • Lin-juan Rita Men, Hong Kong Baptist University; Flora Hung, Hong Kong Baptist University • This study combines the relational approach in public relations and the resource based approach in strategic management in exploring the values of public relations for an organization. Qualitative interview data showed that relationships were the organizational resources because relationship cultivation was an organizational capability and relationship outcomes were the intangible assets.
Examination of Scholarly Networks in Public Relations Research (2004-2008) • Sungwook Hwang, Myongji University; Chang Dae Ham, University of Missouri at Columbia • Based on the results of the bibliometric analysis, this study addresses the current status quo of public relations research as an independent discipline. After comparing the results with a previous bibliometric study (Pasadeos et al., 1999), this analysis of citations and co-citations of published works for the last five years (2004-2008) found that Grunig, J. A. and his work was still located at the center of a scholarly network of public relations.
Toward a Publics-Driven, Emotion-Based System in Crisis Communication:Unearthing Dominant Emotions in Multi-Staged Testing of the Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) Model • Yan Jin, Virginia Commonwealth University; Augustine Pang, Nanyang Technological University; Glen Cameron, Missouri School of Journalism, University of Missouri-Columbia • To better understand not only the minds, but also the hearts, of key publics, the authors assessed a more systemic approach to understanding the responses audience to crisis situations. The Integrated Crisis Mapping (ICM) model is based on a public-based, emotion-driven perspective where responses to different crises are mapped on two continua, the organization’s engagement in the crisis and primary public’s coping strategy.
Good for Samsung is Good for Korea: Image restoration strategies used by Samsung after a whistle-blowing corruption scandal • Taejin Jung, SUNY Oswego; Ron Graeff, SUNY Oswego; Woomi Shim, Florida State University • This study sought to examine the various image restoration and renewal strategies a prestigious Korean company (Samsung) employed in responding to the allegations of wrongdoing made by the whistler-blower, Mr. Kim Young-chul. Review of official comments and documents found that the organization used defensive strategies (e.g., denial, attack the accuser, transcendence, bolstering) in order to protect its image.
Causal Linkages among Relationship Quality Perception, Attitude, and Behavior Intention in a Membership Organization • Eyun-Jung Ki, The University of Alabama • This study was designed to test two models linking relationship perception, attitude, and behavior-based involvement in a membership organization. For the four relationship quality dimensions used in this study—control mutuality, satisfaction, trust, and commitment—current members’ perceptions of relationship trust and commitment positively influenced their attitudes toward the organization. More importantly, this study demonstrates that the public’s perception of commitment can also directly engender supportive behavior toward the organization among members of a key public.
Expectation Gaps between Stakeholders and Web-based Corporate Public Relations Efforts: Focusing on Fortune 500 Corporate Web Sites • Sora Kim, DePaul University; Jae-Hee Park, University of Tennessee; Emma Wright, East Carolina University • This study primarily investigates how Fortune 500 corporations use corporate-focused website public relations efforts to prioritize their stockholders and trying to meet different expectations of each stakeholder. The study found that shareholder needs are most often addressed by the corporations followed by consumers, community members, government agencies, and lastly activists, implying expectation gaps between stakeholders and corporate PR efforts. The study also found differences in the way various industries target stakeholders with the exception of shareholders.
Agenda Building Effects of Presidential Candidate Public Relations on Global Media Coverage and Public Opinion • JI YOUNG KIM, University of Florida; zheng xiang, University of Florida; Spiro Kiousis, U of Florida • Grounded in first- and second-level agenda-building and agenda-setting, the relationships among public relations, global media, and public opinion were explored in the context of 2008 U.S. presidential election. Two candidates’ speeches, press releases, and foreign media coverage were analyzed and compared with public opinion. Object salience (issue and candidate) was found between public relations and global media; affective attribute (tone) salience was partially supported in the relationships of public relations, global media and public opinion.
A Quantitative Analysis of Governments’ Use of Interactive Media in International Public Relations • JI YOUNG KIM, University of Florida; Juan-Carlos Molleda, University of Florida • Seeking a relationship between contextual variables and global public relations practices, this study examined 118 official websites of national governments in every continent around the world. In particular, it focused on three political and socioeconomic variables-the level of transparency, economic freedom, and the readiness of E-government-and explored their associations with the interactive media use by national governments. Significant associations were found by supporting the regional differences in the interactive media use by governments.
Media Practices in the Urals Federal District of Russia: Examination of the Non-Transparent Practices at Three Levels • Anna Klyueva, University of Oklahoma; Katerina Tsetsura, University of Oklahoma • This study examined non-transparent practices that happen at the interpersonal, intra-organizational, or inter-organizational level in the media of the Urals Federal District of Russia. Findings showed that the most frequent non-transparent practice in the Urals Federal District of Russia happens at the interpersonal level. However, a number of non-transparent practices happen at the inter-organizational level and their frequency significantly differs between local and national media.
No sickness, no need: College student perspectives on health messages • Cheryl Ann Lambert, Boston University • Scholarship indicates a stark contrast between health impediments college students identify and the health information their respective campuses provide, campus health promotions often lacking personal relevance for college students, and health programs that utilize control-based strategies to compel behavior change. The purpose of this study was to explore how female undergraduates perceive health messages to identify implications for public relations scholarship and practice and to facilitate enhanced health communications for college students.
An Extension of the Situational Theory of Publics in Political Context • DooHee Lee, Department of Communication, University of Maryland; Hyehyun Hong, University of Missouri; Jongmin Park, Kyung Hee University; Youngah Lee, University of Missouri • This study attempted to reexamine and extend the situational theory of publics (STP) in the political context by using a national survey with a total of 978 random samples. Interestingly, in the low political knowledge group, the results showed that the greater problems were recognized, the more people were likely to communicate political issues while the relationship between problem recognition and communication activeness was not significant among those with high political knowledge.
The Emergence, Variation, and Evolution of CSR on the Media and Public Agenda, 1980-2004: The exposure of publicly-traded firms to public debate • Sun Young Lee, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Craig Carroll, University of North Carolina • This study examines the emergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a public issue over 25 years using a content analysis from two national newspapers and seven geographically dispersed newspapers in the U.S. Unlike most other CSR studies, this study adopted a comprehensive definition encompassing all four CSR dimensions: economic, ethical, legal, and philanthropic. We examined newspaper editorials, letters, and columns connecting CSR as a public issue to publicly-traded companies.
Strategic responses to influential external blogs: A model for managing blog-mediated crisis communication • Yan Jin, Virginia Commonwealth University; Brooke Liu, University of Maryland • Practitioners and academics are buzzing about the impact of the blogosphere on public relations practices. Emerging evidence indicates that strategically managing blog-mediated public relations may be especially critical for crisis managers. Yet, no known research provides a comprehensive, theoretically-sound approach indicating how crisis managers should engage with the blogosphere. Therefore, this study proposes a new conceptual model to help public relations practitioners navigate the evolving blogosphere: the strategic responses to influential external blogs model.
Measuring Information Source Usefulness to Differentiate America’s Traveling Public • Lisa Fall, University of Tennessee; Chuck Lubbers, University of South Dakota • This study investigates how publics (travelers) can be differentiated based on information source factors (domains), generational cohorts and residency. Over the course of a year domestic and foreign travelers who were traveling to, from, or through a southeastern state were surveyed; resulting in 1764 participants. Computer mediated communication sources, mass media sources, word-of-mouth, and travel/tourism sources serve as viable predictors. Implications for both practitioners and educators are discussed and recommendations for future research are suggested.
Bridging the Gap: An Exploratory Study of Corporate Social Responsibility among SMEs in Singapore • Mui Hean Lee, Nanyang Technological University; Xiu Wen Lien, Nanyang Technological University; Yan Zhao Poh, Nanyang Technological University; Ai Ling Soh, Nanyang Technological University; Angela Mak, Nanyang Technological University; Augustine Pang, Nanyang Technological University • Corporate social responsibility (CSR) among small-medium enterprises (SME) is an overlooked area. A self-administered web survey was conducted among 113 senior executives from top 500 Singapore SMEs (27.2% response). Key findings include 1) moderate awareness but low comprehension of CSR; 2) engagement relevance to immediate stakeholders; 3) individual values, stakeholder relationships, and governmental influences as main drivers; and 4) lack of various resources as key barriers. A potential framework and future research directions are discussed.
High School Guidance Counselor Preferences of College Web sites • Sheila McAllister-Spooner, Monmouth University • A survey of 69 U.S.-based high school guidance and admissions counselors suggests that college Web sites are the main source used to review colleges and universities. Of Kent and Taylor’s five dialogic features, the ease of interface and useful information features that conserve visit time and generate return visits are perceived as the most important. The dialogic feedback features were not strong indicators that would increase the likelihood of submitting an application.
Enhancing Social Capital between Journalists and Public Relations Practitioners? The Social Media Release Uncovered • Sara Portoghese, Elon University; Barbara Miller, Elon University • This study examines perceptions of the social media release (SMR), an evolution of the traditional news release that incorporates various social media tools. In-depth interviews with journalists and public relations professionals suggest the SMR addresses many of the concerns of the 24-hour news cycle by making story research faster and more convenient for journalists. The SMR may be particularly beneficial in enhancing relationships between reporters and public relations practitioners, particularly online journalists and bloggers.
Not Ready to Play Nice: An Analysis of Negativity in the News Releases of 2007 Presidential Primary • Mia Moody, Baylor University; Joseph Brown, Baylor University • Using competitive candidate position and policy prioritization frameworks, this study investigates negative campaigning and issue preferences as reflected in news releases posted to the Internet sites of candidates and tracking polls leading up to the 2007-2008 presidential primaries. Findings indicated that underdog candidates were more likely than frontrunners to engage in issue-oriented negative campaigning. Conversely, frontrunners were less likely to employ such tactics.
More Words, Less Action: A Framing Analysis of FEMA Public Relations Communications During Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav • Seth Oyer, Bowling Green State University; J. Keith Saliba, Jacksonville University; Franklin Yartey, Bowling Green State University • This study comparatively analyzes the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s crisis public relations communication leading up to and during hurricanes Katrina and Gustav to determine what, if any, changes FEMA made to its communication strategy. Employing framing analysis, the authors discovered that, aside from an increase of more than double the number of words devoted to its Gustav crisis communication, the action statements withing FEMA’s crisis rhetoric had actually decreased since that before and during Katrina.
Effects of interactive online media type and crisis type on public trust during organizational crisis • Seth Oyer, Bowling Green State University; Michael Mitrook, University of Florida • This 2 x 3 experimental design tests the effects of interactive online media type (specifically blog and streaming video) and crisis type (accident, intentional or victim) on public trust during organizational crisis. Coombs’ (1997) Situational Crisis Communication Theory formed the foundation for the crisis type independent variable. Hon and Grunig’s (1999) trust dimension measures from Relationship Theory were used as the basis for the dependent variables.
Extension of Symbolic Convergence Theory: “About us” Web Page Analysis of Fortune Top 100 Corporations • Jongmin Park, Kyung Hee University; Hyunmin Lee, University of Missouri • This study extended the mainly qualitative analysis of Symbolic Convergence Theory (SCT) by conducting a quantitative content analysis of the “About us” Web pages of Fortune top 100 corporations. The findings revealed that, the fantasy type of superiority and the rhetorical vision of economic corporate management appeared the most frequently with related public (dramatic personae), competent and superior corporation (plot line), a person (scene), and economic corporate management (master analogue) as the structural terms of SCT.
Associations among Relationship Maintenance Strategies, Organization-Public Relationships, and Support for Organizations: An Exploratory Study of the Korean Non-Profit Sector • Hanna Park, University of Florida; Yunna Rhee, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies • In this study, the associations among relationship maintenance strategies, organization-public relationships, and support for the organization were examined. In particular, the focus is on non-profit organizations, which has seldom been subject to the public relations relationship management research in Korea. Support for organization was conceptualized and measured as intention to donate and volunteer as non-profit organizations heavily rely on these two types of public support.
From a Journalist’s Perspective: The Opinions and Attitudes Toward Dialogic Components of Corporate Websites • Justin Pettigrew, University of Georgia; Bryan Reber, University of Georgia • This study examines the attitudes and opinions of journalists regarding the use of dialogic components by Fortune 500 company Web sites designed for press use. Print journalists, via interviews, identified what components of online press rooms they found most valuable and desirable. Journalists appreciate the growing presence of dialogic components of corporate Web sites, but a level of distrust and sense of manipulation remains. Suggestions are made for re-examination of online dialogic communications typologies.
Political information source influence on perceptions of organization-public relationships with political parties • Trent Seltzer, Texas Tech University; Weiwu Zhang, Texas Tech University • Using Hallahan’s (2001) model of integrated public relations media planning as a conceptual framework, 508 voters were surveyed during the 2008 presidential general election to examine the relative influence of three sources of information on perceptions of organization-public relationships with political parties: media coverage, interpersonal political discussion, and parties’ strategic communication efforts. Strategic communication exerted the greatest influence on relationship perceptions. The findings extend research on strategic communication planning, public relations effectiveness, and relationship management.
Leading Up: Public Relations Beyond Managerial Roles • Marianne Sison, RMIT University • Public relations literature has often defined practitioners either as managers or technicians, or both. Public relations literature on leadership tend to refer to practitioners as working for or working with leaders, rather than being one of the leaders. By distinguishing between managers and leaders, this paper explores practitioner eligibility to become leaders by analyzing their exercise of influence and their perceptions of themselves as leaders.
Corporate compassion in a time of downsizing: The role of public relations in cultivating and maintaining corporate alumni social networks • Kevin Stoker, Texas Tech University; Susan Walton, Brigham Young University • This paper contends that corporate alumni networks serve a public relations purpose more than they do a human resource purpose. Through interviews with two developers of corporate social networks and a former employee who started an alumni network, the paper shows that these networks represent an opportunity and a moral imperative for public relations.
Perceptions of journalists and sources regarding time, accuracy and panic potential in an emergency • Christopher Swindell, Marshall University; James Hertog, University of Kentucky • The paper presents partial findings from a survey of journalists and official sources including public relations practitioners regarding emergency messages following a hypothetical terror attack. The coorientation model is used to assess both groups’ views. Journalists and official sources exhibit somewhat similar beliefs with regard to accuracy, timeliness, and audience panic but vary widely with regard to their understanding of the other’s views.
Anticipatory Socialization in the Use of Social Media in Public Relations: A Content Analysis of PRSA’s PR Tactics • Maureen Taylor, University of Oklahoma; Michael L. Kent, University of Oklahoma • This paper examines how public relations students are socialized in their understanding of the value and power of social media in the practice of public relations. It explores the public relations academic research about social media as well as the professional claims that state that social media is a valuable public relations tactic. The researchers content analyzed 59 articles and columns appearing in PR Tactics from April 2008 to March 2009.
Images of the U.S. and consumer politics in the Chinese marketplace • jay wang, university of southern California; lifeng deng, tsinghua university • This study addresses the issue of anti-American sentiments in the domain of consumer behavior in China. The central question is under what conditions American brands will become casualties of U.S. foreign policy towards China. We situate the analysis within the concept of “consumer nationalism” and approach the study from the perspectives of Chinese youth through focus group discussions in Beijing.
The Mediating Roles of Perceived Importance of and Attitude toward Corporate Social Responsibility in Consumer Response to Corporate Social Responsibility Communications • Alex Wang, University of Connecticut-Stamford; Ron Anderson, University of Texas at Austin • Despite the increasing importance of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) communications as effective reputation management, there has been limited understanding about variables and processes involved in consumer response to CSR communications. The current study proposes a three-stage model and investigates the mediating roles of perceived importance of CSR communications and attitude toward CSR communications in consumer response to CSR communications.
Crisis Managers in Crisis: Are PR Professionals Losing Control of the Message? • Shelley Wigley, University of Texas at Arlington; Maria Fontenot, Texas Tech University • This pilot study examined the role citizen generated content plays in the coverage of crisis situations and discusses implications for public relations practitioners who must respond to this type of coverage. By using a content analysis of newspapers and the websites of cable and broadcast news networks, the authors explored the use of both official versus non-official sources and the use of citizen generated content during coverage of the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings.
Exploring Cultural Influences on Public Relations Practices in Indonesia • Ming-Yi Wu, Western Illinois University; Michael Putrawenas, Public Relations Society of Indonesia • This study explores cultural influences on public relations practices in Indonesia. Through the use of a survey instrument, this paper reports data collected from Indonesian public relations practitioners (n=54) and describes work-related cultural values as well as the practices of public relations models in Indonesia. The results suggest that the two-way symmetrical, personal influence, and cultural interpreter models are the most frequently practiced models.
Can You Break Up with Your Utility Company? Effects of the Relational Gap Between Experiential and Expected Outcomes on Company Attitudes and Switch Intention • Minjeong Kang, Syracuse University; Sung-Un Yang, Syracuse University • A monopolistic relationship between utilities and their customers creates a unique relational context in which the basic assumption of one’s ability to terminate a relationship with an unsatisfactory relationship partner is violated. The current study examined when competition becomes viable in the market, how this change in utility market would result in customers’ assessment of their attitudes toward their currently monopolistic utility company and their intention to switch to an alternative provider.
A Blog-mediated Crisis Communication Model: Effects of Engagement on Post-Crisis Outcomes • Sung-Un Yang, Syracuse University; Minjeong Kang, Syracuse University; Philip Johnson, Syracuse University; Eric Duncan, Syracuse University • Blogs are an essential tool to present narratives. This study focused on the individual blog reader’s interpretation of crisis communication information and aimed to examine how a blog can be optimally utilized for effective crisis communication. An experimental study (N = 281) was conducted, simulating audience experience with a blog.
Teaching Papers
Integrating Teaching and Research in Public Relations • Sun Young Lee, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Many attempts have been made to account for the relation between teaching and research, and a great deal of attention has been focused on “what” are the nature of the relationships: positive, negative, or zero. Yet, more productive and meaningful way to discuss the topic will be focusing on “how” to better perform the two roles together.
Current Direction of U. S. Undergraduate Public Relations Programs: A Pedagogical Struggle • Karen Freberg, University of Tennessee; Michael Palenchar, University of Tennessee • While there is some agreement among educators and professionals about what undergraduate public relations students should learn, the literature still reflects a struggle among competing interests and perspectives, as well as a disconnect between what public relations practitioners believe they want from universities and what academics actually deliver.
Measuring Student Outcomes: An Assessment of Service-Learning in the Public Relations Capstone Course • Kelly Werder, University of South Florida • This study assesses the effectiveness of service-learning in the public relations capstone course by measuring perceived student learning outcomes. An assessment instrument is proposed and tested via a longitudinal survey of students (N=135) enrolled in the public relations capstone course at a large southeastern university. Results support a general service-learning assessment instrument for public relations education that includes measures of practical skills, interpersonal skills, citizenship, and personal responsibility, and discipline-specific functional, creative, and research skills.
Student Papers
Beijing Olympics: Public relations under an international spotlight • Jacqueline Alvarez, Pepperdine University • The Beijing Olympics held an unprecedented importance for the Chinese nation. This importance, paired with the international skepticism and criticism received upon the announcement that China would be hosting the 2008 Summer Games, called for an extensive and comprehensive public relations plan.
“Media Can Anger People” vs. “Organizations Can Reduce Anger” in a Crisis: Based on the Morality News Frame and the Organizational Crisis Response Strategy • Seon-Kyoung An, The University of Alabama • This study examined how crisis response strategies and news frame can be used to reduce people’s anger and blame in an internal crisis. College students participated in the 2 (individual vs. organizational responsibility) x 2 (immorality vs. non-immorality frame) between-subject factorial design. The result showed that individual level of responsibility strategy and the immorality frame can make people angry and blame more the organization. Significant interaction effects between the two factors on blame were found.
Using Dialogic Website Design to Build Effective Grantor-Grantee Relationships • Giselle A. Auger, University of Florida • The purpose of this study was to examine the paradoxical relationship that occurs between grantors and grantees in the grant making process and to discuss how this paradox may be alleviated through adoption of transparent communication features in website design. Through analysis of 106 independent foundation websites, the study examined features that correspond to the five elements of dialogic communication.
Asymmetric communication is not always a sin • Vanessa Bravo, Ph.D. Student • This article tries to apply the Information Asymmetry and Information Symmetry concepts -as defined and used in the field of Economics—in the Public Relations´ field, specifically in relation to the two-way model of symmetrical communication used in the theory of the Principles of Excellence in Public Relations and in the theory of the Generic/Specific Principles of Excellence in International Public Relations.
Effective Emergency Preparedness: Applying Agenda-Building and Framing to the American Red Cross’ Communication Practice • Rowena Briones, University of Maryland • This qualitative study explores agenda-building and framing within the American Red Cross’ emergency preparedness messages. Findings revealed that there is an interactive and reciprocal relationship between the American Red Cross, the media, and outside organizations, calling for a combination of rational and emotional appeals as well as the use of various framing devices to disseminate messages.
Unveiling Types of Relationship between Corporate Donors and Charitable Organizations Based on the Coorientation Model • Moonhee Cho, University of Florida • By utilizing the coorientation model, the study aims to examine the views of leading U.S. corporations and charitable organizations about types of relationship between two organizations. The expert survey results show that both corporate giving officers and senior fundraisers of charitable organizations perceive the relationship as more communal than either one-way patronizing or exchange.
A crisis changes news release?:A content analysis of news release and online press rooms of bailout companies • Daejoong Kim, University At Buffalo; Heasun Chun, University At Buffalo; Hyunjung Kim, University At Buffalo • The study examined how the amount and contents of news released in the press rooms of 25 American financial companies’ websites have changed among before, during, and after the bailout crisis. This study first selected 25 American financial companies which received exceeding 10 billion dollars as a bailout money from the list of bailout companies as of December 31, 2008.
Talking about Our Reputation: An Analysis of How Public Relations Firms Communicate Their Reputation Attributes • Maria De Moya, University of Florida; Jooyun Hwang, U. of Florida • Despite public relations’ role in reputation management, the reputation of public relations firms is unexplored. This study analyzed salient reputation attributes in firms’ releases and newspaper stories, and used Agenda-Building theory to measure correlations between attribute salience in firm and media news. Findings detailed the topics and reputation attributes salient in news releases and news stories, but showed no correlation in attribute salience. Implications for managing firms’ reputations and future research are discussed.
Whistleblowing in public relations: Call for a research agenda • Cary Greenwood, University of Oregon • This essay calls for a new research agenda in public relations to address the recent phenomenon of whistleblowing. Management literature has explored whistleblowing extensively since the first whistleblowing research in the 1980s, but public relations has only touched on the topic and not research on whistleblowing exclusively has been conducted in public relations.
Can Public Relations Professionals Help Span the Boundaries Between Scientists and Journalists, and Does This Function Help Increase Accuracy of News Articles About Public Health? • Emily Gresham Wherle, University of Missouri • A function of public relations professionals at public health agencies is to perform a boundary-spanning role. The research examined the role of PR professionals in the communication process, and to determine whether the involvement of a PR professional leads to improved news article accuracy. This study asked news sources to analyze news articles about health departments to determine the accuracy of the articles and the role of public relations professionals working in health departments.
Extent to Which the Federalist Papers Can be Viewed as an American Public Relations Campaign • Sara Hall, University of Florida • This research performed a qualitative content analysis of the Federalist Papers and personal letters to and from Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay in order determine to the role the Federalist Papers played in public relations’ history. A survey of public relations textbooks reveals confused and contradictory conclusions regarding the role of the Papers. This research comes to a determinative answer using the contemporary public relations process model, ROPES, and modern persuasive theories.
Audiences’ Perception of Product-, Corporate-, and Country- Image in a Product-harm Crisis: A Case Study of Sanlu Milk Powder Event in Mainland China • Guanxiong Huang, School of Journalism & Communication, The Chinese University of Hong Kong • Sanlu milk powder event is one of the most disastrous product-harm crises in mainland China recent years. This study investigates the influences of a single crisis at product-, corporate-, and country-level from an audience’s perspective, finding that government response and corporate response are significant predictors of country-of-origin effect of Chinese products, Chinese-based corporate image, and country image.
Either You Got it or You Don’t: Internship Availability at Public Relations Agencies • Christal Johnson, University of Oklahoma • This pilot study examined the relationship between public relations agencies and their internship availability. The study used a content analysis to examine internship opportunities on public relations firms’ Web sites and to determine if company size had an impact on internship availability. Data revealed that a little more than half of the companies offered internships, and companies with a smaller number of employees offered less internships than companies with more employees.
Korean Newspapers’ Framing Oil Spill news • Hyunmee Kang, Louisiana State University • This study examines news stories covering the oil spill accident in South Korea on December 17, 2007, in order to compare news frames presented in the three newspapers, two conservative newspapers, Chosun-Ilbo and JoongAng-Ilbo, and one progressive newspaper, The HanKyoreh, based on theoretical base of media framing and characteristics of media relations in Korea.
The Influence of Organizational Conditions on Public Relations Practitioners’ Dissent • Jin-Ae Kang, University of Alabama; Bruce Berger, University of Alabama • This study was designed to examine the ways in which organizational environment affects public relations practitioners’ dissent over organizations’ unethical decisions. The results of a survey of PRSA members reaffirmed that assertive confrontation is the most frequently adopted tactic for resisting organizations’ unethical decisions. Practitioners were more likely to confront management in an organization where top management did not support ethical behavior.
Anger as a Predictor of Active Public Protest: Extended Application of the Situational Theory of Publics to a Health Crisis • Jin-Ae Kang, University of Alabama; Seon-Kyoung An, The University of Alabama; Kyung Yoon Kwak, Sogang University • This study applies the situational theory of publics to a health crisis by exploring the effect of anger on public behavior. The results of a survey administered on the case of the candlelight rallies on the U.S. beef imports in South Korea demonstrated that involvement, problem recognition, and constraint recognition predict communication behaviors as well as various issue-related online and offline behaviors.
Product Categories Matter?: The Effects of Crisis Type and Involvement on Emotions • Jeesun Kim, University of Missouri • Although crisis communication scholars have examined the impact of perceived crisis responsibility and crisis type on emotions a crisis situation may generate, less attention has been devoted to emotion-related research. Taking two emotions from attribution theory, the present study aims to empirically investigate the interplay of crisis type and involvement on anger and empathy for crisis victims.
How Corporate Social Responsibility Contributes to the Relationship Management across Countries: The U.S. and South Korea • Daewook Kim, University of Florida; Myungil Choi, assistant professor • The purpose of this study was to explore how publics characterize the nature of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and organization-public relationships (OPR). The study also examined how CSR practices influence OPR between the U.S. and South Korea publics. The study found that U.S. publics have higher perceptions of CSR practices and OPR dimensions than the Korean publics. Relational CSR practices serve as the fundamental dimension in increasing the level of OPR.
Messages of the people, by the people, and for the people • Nam Young Kim, Louisiana State University; Kiwon Seo, Pennsylvania State University • A candidate’s PR team creates news releases to convince voters that their candidate is more desirable than the opponents. These news releases are important because they can influence the voters’ political information as well as opinion about the candidates. The advance of new media allows candidates to update an unlimited number of campaign messages on their Web sites.
International Corporations’ Interactive, Dialogic Relationship Building on the Web: A Four-Dimensional Approach to Mapping Web Utilization State and Pattern • Hyung Min Lee, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Kevin Wang, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Soyoen Cho, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Soyoon Kim, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities • A useful analytic tool based on a four-dimensional approach was proposed in this study to comprehensively understand the current state and pattern of international corporations’ interactive communication and dialogic relationship building strategies on the Web. In addition, the relationships between international corporations’ Web utilization and their internal/external factors were statistically tested. The findings confirmed the evolution of corporate Web interactivity and dialogic relationship building strategies.
Seeing is Believing: Assessment of Motion Media on Audience Judgments of Believability and Source Credibility • Hyunmin Lee, University of Missouri; Sun-A Park, University of Missouri; Youngah Lee, University of Missouri • The radical shift by news audiences away from newspaper to motion media (video stories on TV, web, cell phones, handhelds) prompted our assessment of media modality (text, text+picture, video) and source (PR, News, User-Created Content [UCC]) effects on credibility, as well as impact of messages. We found the motion media modality significantly enhances believability judgments and perceived veridicality, independent of source cue, in which News source garnered no greater credibility than PR or UCC source.
Maximizing the Internet’s Relationship-building Potential: Obama Campaign’s Strategic Management of its Internet-integrated Grassroots Strategy • Abbey Levenshus, University of Maryland • This case study examines the Obama presidential campaign’s use of the Internet to manage its grassroots campaign. Grounded in relationship-management theory, the study analyzed interviews with campaign staff, its Website, and news articles. Eight themes emerged regarding the campaign’s integration of the Internet and grassroots strategy; six themes surfaced regarding the campaign’s Internet use to manage relationships. Recommendations are made for extending relationship management theory focusing on its intersection with the Internet and political campaigns.
Perceptions vs. Practice: Testing the “Adversarial” Practitioner-Journalist Relationship • Christopher McCollough, Louisiana State University • Scholarship in public relations literature suggests an antagonistic relationship between journalists and public relations literature. This study attempts to account for emergent trends in the media environment, as well as to determine if long-standing trends remain. A series of frequency analyses and linear regressions yielded minimal support or answers for the hypotheses and research questions posed.
Spreading News or Let it Die: A comparative study of news diffusion in online and offline settings • Xiaoyan Pan, Universtiy of Maryland • This study examines the factors that influence individuals’ likelihood to diffuse news in offline and online communications. Individuals’ demographic characteristics, media use and interpersonal communication, as well as perceived news attributes, are included as potential predictors of news diffusion likelihood. Four hundred and thirty three respondents evaluated a news story and reported their likelihood to spread the news through online and offline channels.
Exploring How Corporate Social Responsibility Can Enhance Publics’ Attitudes, Purchase Intentions, and Supportive Behaviors • Hyojung Park, University of Missouri; Soo-Yeon Kim, University of Florida • This study examined the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on attitudes, purchase intentions, and supportive behaviors toward an organization using a 2 (corporate ability: good vs. poor) × 2 (CSR: good vs. poor) between-subjects experimental design. The MANCOVA results suggest that CSR initiatives positively influence the intended outcomes and that the effect of CSR becomes more powerful when a company lacks corporate ability.
Agenda-Building and Agenda-Setting in the Corporate Sphere: Analyzing Influence in the 2008 Yahoo-Icahn Proxy Contest • Matthew Ragas, U of Florida; Jinsoo Kim, University of Florida; Hyun Ji Lim, U of Florida • This study extends agenda-building theory into the corporate sphere. This investigation tested for first- and second-level agenda-building and agenda-setting relationships between the public relations efforts of competing corporate candidates, financial media coverage and investor opinion during the 2008 Yahoo!-Icahn proxy contest. Strong support was found for first-level effects, while evidence of second-level effects was mixed. Cross-lagged correlation analyses revealed that Yahoo!’s information subsidies enjoyed some success in influencing media coverage, while Icahn’s subsidies did not.
How Publicly Traded Companies are Using the World Wide Web: Building Dialogic Relationships • Amy Reitz, Colorado State University • This study examined publicly traded companies’ websites to determine how they use websites to build relationships with their investors. The content of systematic random sample of 25 publicly traded companies from the Standard and Poor’s 500 Stock Index list was analyzed to determine the extent to which publicly traded companies’ websites were employing dialogic communication as well as the significance of responsive and non-responsive companies. The findings indicated that publicly traded companies’ websites appeared to encompass some of the characteristics of dialogic communication.
The Right Words to Say: Implications of Regulation FD on Corporate Spokespersons • David Remund, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • This research investigates enforcement actions taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since the issuance of Regulation FD in 2000. Regulation FD prohibits public companies and their employees from selectively disclosing material, non-public information. The SEC’s lack of clarity relative to materiality standards, though, has proven challenging in recent years for those who work in investor relations and corporate communications.
The View from within: Internal Publics and Corporate Social Responsibility • Ganga Sasidharan, National University of Singapore • This study explored the significance of corporate social responsibility as a predictor of organizational commitment for internal publics. The study has been conducted through a web based survey among a sample of employees in the managerial cadre, with around ten years of experience of working in private sector organizations across the world.
Beyond Activist Publics: Toward a Public Relations Typology of Activist Organizations • Erich Sommerfeldt, University of Oklahoma • This paper furthers public relations’ understanding of activist groups through arguing the importance of creating an activist public typology. From the extant literature on public relations and activism, the paper extracts four factors public relations scholars have used to define and characterize activist groups: organizational structure; access to resources; tactics; and goals/issue interest. The paper proposes how these factors might be used in the development of a typology and offers suggestions for future research.
Finding (and Defining) Corporate Social Responsibility in Sin City • Jessalynn Strauss, University of Oregon • This textual analysis looks at the Web sites of MGM Mirage and Harrah’s Entertainment, examining the ways in which these two corporations portray corporate social responsibility and their commitment to their local community. This research finds that the two corporations have fundamentally different attitudes toward corporate social responsibility as an extension of business practices and discusses the implications of this distinction, especially in a turbulent economy for the industry.
Public relations in Japan: A case study of historical significance and current problems • Koichi Yamamura, University of Miami • This paper takes a case study approach and looks at the historical development of public relations practice in Japan, the problems it faces today, and its potential for the future. It has been said that modern public relations practice was introduced to Japan by the post-World War II Allied Occupation Forces. However, recent studies reveal that the practice of modern public relations can be traced back further.
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