Public Relations 2011 Abstracts
Open Competition
Quiet, Creeping, and Sudden?!: Exploring Public Information Officers’ Definitions of Health Crisis • Elizabeth Avery and Tatjana Hocke, University of Tennessee • Practitioners’ responses to crises and academic theory construction are guided by how crises are conceptualized; yet, research informing how we define and discuss crisis is limited contextually. Depth interviews with 17 public information officers (PIOs) provide new insights into public health crisis. Interview analysis reveals unique crisis characteristics as a foundation for future research and theory construction in public relations, specifically crisis communication: resources, organizational partnerships, nature of crisis and publics, and internal management.
Developing a Valid and Reliable Measure of Crisis Responsibility • Kenon A. Brown and Eyun-Jung Ki, University of Alabama • This study attempted to develop a reliable and valid measure of a crisis responsibility that could be uniquely applied to public relations research. The four dimensional measure of crisis responsibility was initially tested and refined using Netemeyer’s (2003) four-step process for scale construction. Specifically, this study conducted rigorous two-step pilot tests and a nationwide panel full administration survey. The constructed measures were further refined using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The factor analysis resulted in including 11-items in the final crisis responsibility scales, consisting of two items for intentionality, three items for locality and six items for accountability. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the hypothesized factor structure and confirmed the three dimensions of crisis responsibility scale had reliable and valid factor structure.
Twittering to the Top: A Proposed Model for Using and Measuring Twitter as a Communication Tool • Haley Edman and Nicole Dahmen, Louisiana State University • The microblogging site, Twitter, has become a communication channel where interpersonal conversations between millions of users thrive. This study examines how 47 corporations use Twitter as a communication and relationship-building tool. Grounded in Grunig’s four models of public relations, the research concludes with implications of using Twitter and how public relations practitioners can effectively use Twitter for developing and maintaining long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with publics.
Relationship Management With the Millennial Generation of Public Relations Agency Employees • Tiffany Gallicano, University of Oregon • The purpose of this study is to achieve a deep understanding of the Millennial generation of practitioners who work at public relations agencies and to understand the best ways of building effective relationships with them. Data was gathered through five asynchronous focus groups with a total of 51 participants. The data resulted in implications for Millennial practitioners, for the teachers who work with them, and for the bosses who manage them.
Strategize – Implement – Measure – Repeat: Are We Evaluating Our Way to PR Accountability • Susan Grantham, University of Hartford; Edward Vieira, Simmons College • This study examines attitudes toward PR measurement, if evaluation is a standard part of the planning process, and who is driving this demand. Through the assistance of PRSA, 256 PR professionals participated (66% = women and 34% = men). Findings revealed that although encouraged by senior management, respondents were evenly split on the need to evaluate. Senior management and those involved with strategic planning perceived value to PR measurement”
What Information is Available For Stakeholders on Facebook and How Does This Information Impact Them? • Michel Haigh and Pamela Brubaker, Pennsylvania State University; Erin Whiteside, University of Tennessee • This two-part study examines organizations’ Facebook pages. First a content analysis was conducted of 114 organizations’ Facebook pages. Results indicate organizations update their Facebook pages about every 15 days. Coding results indicate Facebook pages major purpose is public relations, and organizations post similar types of information as nonprofit Facebook pages. Facebook does promote two-way communication, and offers some general information about corporate social responsibility. After the content analysis was conducted, a two-phase experiment was employed (N = 275) to see how the Facebook pages impact stakeholders. Results indicate Facebook pages bolster stakeholders’ attitudes toward the organization, perceptions of the organization – public relationship, and purchase intent. Experimental results indicate if an organization discusses CSR efforts on its Facebook page, it leads to more favorable perceptions of the organization – public relationship, perceptions of CSR, and purchase intent than when an organization uses Facebook to discuss products and services.
Communication and the D.C. Sniper: Toward a response typology for public safety crises • J Suzanne Horsley and Kenon A. Brown, University of Alabama • The D.C. Sniper case of 2002 provides an opportunity to explore crisis communication responses by law enforcement and government sources during the three-week shooting spree. The authors generated a list of 32 possible crisis communication responses from image repair theory, situational crisis communication theory, best practices in crisis communication, and best practices in emergency management communication. The results showed that image repair theory and SCCT did not provide an adequate explanation of the communication choices made during this event. The authors propose a public safety crisis communication typology that fills a gap in the existing crisis communication literature that does not take into account organization type or goals.
Toward A Theory of Public Relations Practitioners’ Own Conflict: Work vs. Life • Hua Jiang, Towson University; Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University • This study took a first step to build a theory understanding public relations practitioners’ work-life balance. Specifically, through a national sample of PRSA members, we examined what factors give rise to public relations practitioners’ perceptions of work-life conflict and what kind of impact such perceived work-life conflict may have on their income and career path. Analysis of online survey data of 820 public relations practitioners found that a more family-supportive organizational work environment overall would minimize practitioners’ reported work-life conflict. Gender did matter, especially in explaining strain-based conflict perceived by practitioners. Lastly, regardless of gender, practitioners generally received lower salaries if their career was ever interrupted. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
The Impact of Organizational Social Capital on Transparency and Trust: Communication Adequacy and Accuracy • Bumsub Jin, State University of New York at Oswego; Moonhee Cho, University of Florida; Maria De Moya, University of Florida • The purpose of this research was twofold: First, based on social capital, the study examined whether adequacy and accuracy of communication are empirically different as indicators of organizational social capital. Second, it tested the impact of these indicators on three measurable outcomes (transparency, trust in corporations, and behavioral intent), which are related to effectiveness of public relations. The study was conducted in two phases. The first included a statewide mail survey and the second a 2 x 2 between-group experiment. Results of CFA analysis showed evidence of empirical difference between adequacy and accuracy. A two-way MANCOVA test found effects of the two indicators on organizational transparency, trust, and behavioral intent. These results suggest theoretical and practical implications of how social capital indicators can contribute to organizational effectiveness in the perspective of public relations.
Determinants of Ethical Practices of Public Relations Practitioners • Eyun-Jung Ki and William Gonzenbach, University of Alabama; Hong-Lim Choi, Sun Moon University; Junghyuk Lee, Kwangwoon University • The present study was designed to examine various determinant variables influencing public relations practitioners’ ethical practices. Six variables, consisting of idealism, relativism, age, gender, education, and awareness of ethics code existence, were utilized for this study. Results indicate that relativism and awareness of ethics code existence directly impact ethical practices, whereas age influenced ethical practices though relativism.
Relative effectiveness of prior corporate ability vs. corporate social responsibility associations on public responses in corporate crises • Sora Kim, University of Florida • This experimental study employing both victim and preventable crises supports strong transferring effects of corporate ability (CAb) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations on the public’s responses in corporate crises. In addition, CSR associations are found to be more effective than CAb associations in offsetting detrimental damage created by corporate crises. The study argues that the reason for more enduring and salient transferring effects of prior CSR associations in crisis situations is because CSR associations are positioned on a company’s virtue-related dimensions, whereas CAb associations are positioned on its skill-focused dimensions.
Revisiting the effectiveness of base crisis response strategies in comparison of reputation management crisis responses • Sora Kim and Kang Hoon Sung, University of Florida • This experimental study found that employing reputation management crisis-response strategies was no better than adopting only the base crisis-response strategy (i.e., instructing and adjusting information) in terms of generating positive responses from the public. Two-sided messages (i.e., sharing both positive and negative information) in crisis communication were found to be more effective than one-sided messages in a victim crisis. In addition, even in a preventable crisis, one-sided messages (i.e., sharing only positive information) were not more effective than two-sided messages. Finally, the study found little support for Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT)’s recommendations for the best crisis response strategy selections.
Presidential apology and level of acceptance: The U.S.Beef import negotiation upheaval in South Korea • Yungwook Kim and Yujin Lim, Ewha Womans University • The purpose of this paper is to analyze apology strategies used by South Korean President Myung-bak Lee during the U.S. beef import negotiation upheaval in South Korea in 2008, and to investigate how these apologies were perceived by the South Korean public. The role of party identification as an audience-related variable in the perception of political apologies in the South Korean context was then examined. A content analysis of President Lee’s speeches and related daily newspaper coverage was conducted, and experimental work assessing the level of acceptance of the President’s apology strategies as well as the effects of party identification on the level of acceptance was also carried out. As a result, two new strategies, ambiguous corrective action and fear mongering, were identified and added to the existing apology classification of Benoit (1995). According to the results of the experimental work, President Lee’s apology strategies were generally ineffective, with the exception of the clear corrective action strategy. The impact of party identification on the level of acceptance of the major apology strategies was then confirmed.
Influencing forces or mere interview sources? What media coverage about health care means for key constituencies • Cheryl Ann Lambert and Denis Wu, Boston University • This study aimed to discover the strategies and actions of those involved in the mediated communication process of health care reform during 2009-10. The researchers conduct in-depth telephone interviews of twelve identified sources that appeared in print and broadcast media coverage. The semi-structured questions of the interview centered on the sources’ activities and their interaction with media professionals and policy makers during that time frame. The results of the interviews revealed that sources were keenly aware of media’s tendencies and practices. Given the complexity of this issue, the sources stressed the importance of expertise, knowledge, and ability to explain the matter in a lucid fashion to the general public. They also agreed on the anxiety of the American people toward the issue and the important role media played in the policy-making process.
Finding antecedents of CSR perceptions and Relationship Outcomes: Individual-Level Collectivist Orientation and CSR Genuineness • Hyunmin Lee, Ye Wang, Glen Cameron and Shelly Rodgers, University of Missouri • The purpose of this study was to identify and test individual-level collectivist orientation and CSR genuineness as antecedent factors of CSR activity perceptions and organization-public relationship (OPR) outcomes. Based on multidisciplinary literature, this study proposed a model that individual-level collectivist orientation is positively associated with positive perceptions of CSR activates, perceptions of the CSR activities as being genuine, and positive organization- public relationship management outcome of satisfaction and commitment. The model also projected that CSR genuineness is positively associated with positive perceptions of CSR activities. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to test seven hypotheses, and the analyses concluded that individual-level collectivist orientation and CSR genuineness are significant antecedents to CSR perceptions and OPR outcomes.
Legitimacy Disputes and Social Amplification of Perceived Risk • Joon Soo Lim and Kwansik Mun, Middle Tennessee State University; Sung-Un Yang, Syracuse University • This article examined how the legitimacy disputes for government’s risk communication affected online publics’ perceived risk in the case of the 2008 U.S. beef import controversy in South Korea. A content analysis of the Korean blogosphere revealed that there have been notable changes in types of legitimacy disputes and perceptions of risk among bloggers, across four phases of issued development. Results of the content analysis produced significant two-way interaction effects between legitimacy and such risk communication phases, as well as between perceived risk and risk communication phases. As the key finding of the study suggests, failures to establish a legitimate and credible public relations program during the risk situation caused inflated public fear and created enormous damage to involving constituencies, followed by huge protests from disgruntled publics.
Effective Public Relations Leadership in Organizational Transformation: A Case Study of Multinationals in Mainland China • Yi Luo, Montclair State University • This study explores the role of public relations leadership during organizational transformation in four multinational organizations in mainland China. The results are based on 40 in-depth interviews. Particularly, the findings suggest that organization-wide public relations leadership during change was shown through managing employee emotions, providing training to middle management, resolving conflicts, and reinforcing shared visions. Individually, the senior public relations directors exhibit leadership during change through advising top management’s communication styles, fostering participatory management, and challenging management decisions. The senior public relations participants also demonstrated popular leadership types (e.g., transformational, pluralistic, and interactive leadership). This findings support existing research on leadership in public relations and also shed light on some unique dimensions about public relations leadership during organizational transformation.
“Like” or “Unlike”: How Millennials Are Engaging and Building Relationships with Organizations on Facebook • Tina McCorkindale, Appalachian State University; Marcia DiStaso, Pennsylvania State University • More than half of Facebook’s 500 million active users in the U.S. consist of the Millennial generation (ages 13 to 29). With more organizations taking advantage of the site’s high consumer ratings, determining how organizations are interacting with Millennials on Facebook is important. Thirty Millennials participated in one of three focus groups. Results indicate participants were not opposed to interacting with organizations on Facebook, but were very specific in terms of how and why they wanted to engage. Suggestions for future research are included.
How Companies Cultivate Relationships with Publics on Social Network Sites in China and the United States: A Cross-Cultural Content Analysis • Linjuan Rita Men and Wanhsiu Tsai, University of Miami • This study extends the investigation of relationship cultivation on social media from a cross-culture perspective by examining how companies use popular social network sites (SNSs) to facilitate dialogues with publics in two culturally distinct countries: China and the United States. In order to understand dialogic relationships on SNSs, we incorporate both the messages of the organizations and the voices of the publics. Through an exploratory content analysis of fifty corporate pages with 500 corporate posts and 500 user posts from each country, findings suggest that overall, companies in both countries have employed the relationship-cultivation strategies proposed by scholars but the specific tactics vary across the two markets. Furthermore, this study finds cross-cultural differences among the types of corporate posts and public posts on SNSs, indicating that cultural differences play a significant role in shaping the dialogue between organizations and publics in different countries. This analysis provides implications and suggestions for future research.
Testing the Theory of Cross-National Conflict Shifting: A Quantitative Content Analysis and a Case Study of the Chiquita Brands’ Transnational Crisis Originated in Colombia • Juan-Carlos Molleda and Vanessa Bravo, University of Florida; Andrés Felipe Giraldo Dávila and Luis Horacio Botero, Universidad de Medellín • This study uses the Cross-National Conflict Shifting theory to analyze Chiquita Brands’ transnational crisis originated in Colombia with consequences in the United States. The research includes a content analysis and a case study conducted by U.S. and Colombian scholars. This research contributes to the global public relations’ body of knowledge by supporting nine out of 10 theoretical propositions, and further supporting the theory with three research questions and eight hypotheses (two partially supported, six supported).
Exploring Negative Organization-Public Relationships (OPR) in Public Relations: Toward the Development of an Integrated Measurement Model of OPR • Bitt Beach Moon and Yunna Rhee, Hankuk University of Foregin Studies • Although several organization-public relationship measurements have been developed in public relations, negative characteristics of organization-public relationship (OPR) have not been researched extensively. As much as it is important to understand how public relations can contribute to the development of positive OPR, it is also important to know how negative OPR can hamper or damage public relations efforts. In this regard, the study focuses on exploring the negative dimensions OPR, and attempt to develop an integrated measurement model of OPR. In order to develop the model, this study implemented a thorough literature review, expert surveys, pretests, and two surveys. The study identified four negative OPR dimensions including dissatisfaction, distrust, control dominance, and dissolution. The study results revealed that the 32-item, integrated OPR scale including the negative and the positive dimensions is reliable and valid. Theoretical and practical implications of the study results are also discussed.
Students’ Motivations and Expectations for Service Learning in Public Relations • Nancy Muturi, and Samuel Mwangi, Kansas State University; Soontae An, Ewha Womans University • The paper is a survey of public relations students (N=96) on their motivations to engage in service learning projects and their expectations from that engagement over two year period. It reports their understanding of service learning, prior engagement in service learning projects and how this influences their attitudes and expectations for participating in the project. Results show no significant association between prior engagement and attitudes or motivation but motivation and attitude are significantly associated. Motivation is also significantly associated with expectations from the project.
Consumer Knowledge of News Making: How Increased Persuasion Knowledge of Video News Releases Influences Beliefs and Trust in a News Story • Michelle Nelson and Sangdo Oh, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign; Jiwoo Park, Southern Illinois University • News stories offer valuable information to consumers and drive sales for featured companies. Many stories are inspired by video news releases (VNRs), which are short video segments created and provided by a public relations agency to the news organization for free. Across two studies, we show how viewers’ beliefs about and perceptions of credibility in a news story “change” as their persuasion knowledge about VNRs and the featured story increases.
The Effective of Dialogic Relationship on the Military Public Relationship • Sejin Park, Lisa Fall and Michael Kotowski, University of Tennessee; • This research investigates the influence of dialogic relationship and organizational cultures on the military-public relationship. College students (N=218) participated in a 2 x 2 (levels of dialogic relationship: high vs. low x organizational cultures: military vs. civilian) factorial design experiment. The results reveal that dialogic relationship exerts a strong effect on the military-public relationship by improving the degree of control mutuality, trust, commitment and communal relationship and that organizational culture has a partial influence on the military-public relationship. The results of this study have both theoretical important practical implications for military public affairs. Implications and recommendations are discussed.
Integrated Impression Management: How NCAA Division I Athletics Directors Understand Public Relations • Angela Pratt, Bradley University • The purpose of this study is to learn how intercollegiate athletics directors (ADs) understand public relations. For this study, a qualitative approach was used. Twelve NCAA Division I ADs were interviewed, and their transcripts were analyzed using comparative analysis procedures. The findings show that the participants understand public relations as integrated impression management: a combination of image, message, and action/interaction. The results imply that executives do not necessarily separate public relations from other disciplines, such as marketing.
Issue Salience Formation among Information Subsidies and Business Media Coverage during Corporate Proxy Contests • Matt Ragas, DePaul University • This study tests for issue agenda-building between corporate-controlled information subsidies (news releases and shareholder letters) and business media coverage during contested corporate elections, known as proxy contests. Detailed content analyses of subsidies and media coverage in the 25 largest proxy fights over a five-year period (2005-2009) support the agenda-building proposition and suggest issue salience formation may be a contributing factor in a successful contest outcome. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Internal Relationship Building: A Chinese Story • Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University • This study was one of the first to empirically test a relationship-building model within organizations in an international context, in the hopes of developing an international theory of internal relationship management, to add to the extant strategic management paradigm of public relations. It tested a model that included symmetrical relationship maintenance strategies as antecedents, quality relationships between organizations and their employees as the mediator, and subsequent behavioral outcomes, i.e., employees’ turnover intention and contextual performance behavior. Data were collected from an online survey of 568 Chinese employees working in a variety of types of organizations. Structural equation modeling results supported all the hypothesized linkages.
The overlooked sector: An analysis of nonprofit public relations literature • Hilary Fussell Sisco, Quinnipiac University; Erik Collins and Geah Pressgrove, University of South Carolina • Using a content analysis, this study identified the number of articles about nonprofit public relations published in the Journal of Public Relations Research and Public Relations Review from their inceptions through 2010. Various aspects of the journal articles were examined, including types of nonprofit organizations studied, theoretical frameworks and research methodologies. A key finding is evidence of a recent growth in the number of articles published, but an overall paucity of research specifically about nonprofit public relations. Also, there was a noticeable lack of theory-based research in the journal articles studied, in contrast to the number of introspective articles published about nonprofit public relations.
Women as Public Relations Managers: Show Me the Money • Bey-Ling Sha and David Dozier, San Diego State University • Using probability sampling, a 2010 survey of Public Relations Society of America members confirmed hypotheses that women earn significantly lower salaries than men, have less professional experience, and enact the technician role more frequently than men. Counter to hypotheses, women enacted the manager role as frequently as did men. Men and women did not differ significantly in the role (manager or technician) they enacted predominantly. Income differences were reduced but remained statistically significant after controlling for role enactment and professional experience.
Corporate Social Performance and Reputation: Effects of Industry and Corporate Communication • Weiting Tao and Mary Ann Ferguson, University of Florida • Corporate social performance (CSP) and corporate reputation have become two concepts of strategic significance to corporations. By conducting secondary data analysis, this study attempted: (1) to explore relationships between seven CSP dimensions (i.e., community, environment, employee relations, diversity, product, human rights, and corporate governance) and corporate reputation, and (2) to discover whether industry type and corporate communication efforts moderate the relationship between CSP and corporate reputation.
A network approach to public diplomacy: A case study of U.S. public diplomacy in Romania • Antoneta Vanc, Quinnipiac • Few studies have attempted to explore public diplomacy practices around the world and the scholarship that investigates public diplomacy practices in the newly democratic countries now members of the European Union is even scarcer. Hence, this exploratory case study looks at U.S. public diplomacy practices in Romania and aims to explore in more detail diplomats’ functions abroad. By employing the relationship management theory of public relations, this case study seeks to explore diplomats’ roles of facilitators of relationships between people of the two countries and their role of catalysts of relationships within the Romanian civil society. Data collected through in-depth interviews with former U.S. diplomats who served in Romania during 2001-2009, reveal diplomats’ new roles of creators and managers of networks of relationships, which ultimately aim to establish the embassy as a social, cultural, professional, and business network hub in the host society.
Representational, structural, and political intersectionality of public relations’ publics • Jennifer Vardeman-Winter, University of Houston; Hua Jiang, Towson University; Natalie Tindall, Georgia State University • We interviewed 31 women of different racial, socioeconomic, age, and relationship backgrounds to explore the extent to which they perceived their multiple, overlapping identities impact their health decision-making. This study is an effort to provide evidence to a proposed publics’ theory of intersectionality. We suggest that publics experience co-occurring oppression and privilege in varying contexts: in representations of them, in policies that impact them, and in structures that enable or hinder their ability to do something about their health. The topic we explored with participants was how their identities impacted their perceptions of the new recommendations for breast cancer screening. Findings suggest that gendered roles are the most salient identity for these women; furthermore, the data demonstrate that age, race, and class alter how women perceive their roles have been recognized by policy-makers. The findings expand current theory of segmentation of publics and policy-making as well as practical suggestions for how to understand publics’ unique situations more comprehensively.
Motivating Publics to Act: An Analysis of the Influence of Message Strategy and Involvement on Relational Outcomes and Communication Behavior • Kelly Werder and Michael Mitrook, University of South Florida • This study tested the main and interaction effects of public relations message strategies and issue involvement on relational outcomes and communication behavior. The results of a 2 x 6 factorial design (N = 333) indicate that issue involvement influences trust, control mutuality, and commitment in publics. Message strategies and issue involvement significantly influence communication behavior. Cooperative problem solving strategies were the most effective in motivating publics to act in both high and low issue involvement conditions.
Private labeling, crisis communication and media influence: The Menu Foods pet food recall • Worapron Worawongs and Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Pennsylvania State University • In 2007, Menu Foods Inc. issued a voluntary recall of more than 60 million cans and pouches of pet food, becoming the largest recall recorded in the United States. The current study investigates the complexities of crisis communication in the current private label manufacturing environment through an examination of information subsidies distributed and news accounts written during the Menu Foods crisis. Analysis of the press releases disseminated during the pet food recall revealed organizations predominantly adopted excuses and defense of innocence strategies to protect their images. The findings indicated organizations were not effective in getting journalists to adopt their image restoration strategies.
Localization of Public Health News Releases for Publication in Community Newspapers • Rachel Young, Erin Willis, Jon Stemmle and Shelly Rodgers, University of Missouri • Although localization is linked to publication of news releases, no study analyzes localized news releases in their published form. This study uses content analysis to compare the rate and form of health news releases (n = 378) published in urban and suburban vs. rural newspaper. Localization of content spurred publication in community newspapers and retention of localized data and resources referrals. Our findings indicate that localization assists in disseminating public health messages to rural audiences.
Teaching
Missing citations, bulking biographies and unethical collaboration: Types of cheating among public relations’ majors • Giselle Auger, Duquesne University • Educators know and research has shown that students cheat (McCabe and Trevino (1993; 1996). It would stand to reason then that students of public relations are not immune from such practice. For a field such as public relations that has had a continual struggle for credibility, the issue of student cheating should be paramount, for the unethical students of today become tomorrow’s practitioners. Therefore, the purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the extent to which public relations majors cheat, and the types of academically dishonest behaviors in which they participate. Results of the study indicated cause for concern as more than 79% of students admitted to cheating and the average number of times students participated in any given cheating behavior ranged from a low of 1.9 times to a high of 3.5 times.
Perceptions of public relations students’ empowerment, faculty interaction, and perceived relationship investment as determinants of relationship quality with their academic department • Moonhee Cho, University of Florida; Giselle Auger, Duquesne University • Scholars of public relations stress that the role of public relations is to help organizations manage their relationships with publics (Broom, 2010); however, studies of the relationship between students (as publics) and their academic departments (as organizations) has been neglected. This oversight is surprising as the on-going recession, economic uncertainty, and increased costs of post-secondary education (Cotton & Wilson, 2006; Pryor, Hurtado, DeAngelo, Palucki, Blake, & Tran, 2010) have placed increased scrutiny on colleges and universities not only by parents but also by government such as, state legislatures (Tinto, 2006-07; Rockwell, 2011). Research indicates that part of a quality post-secondary educational experience should involve student-faculty interaction (Kuh & Hu, 2001; Tinto, 2006-07). Given the increasing need for retention of satisfied and successful students, and given the demonstrated importance of faculty-student interaction to retention of students, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between student empowerment, faculty-student interaction, students’ perceived relationship investment of department and the perceived quality of relationships formed with students’ departments. Results of the study demonstrate the significance in relationship between student-faculty interaction, empowerment, and perceived relationship investment to quality of student-departmental relationships.
Are we teaching them to be CSR managers? Examining students’ expectations of practitioner roles in CSR • Rajul Jain; Lawrence Winner • This study examines the roles that public relations students expect to play in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and how these perceptions are influenced by their public relations education and professional training, as well as their personal and professional values. A survey of 198 college students reveals that students most strongly identify with a managerial role in CSR and that their attitudes have a significant association with their values and an insignificant association with their training.
Service-Learning for Branding Success: A Case of Student-Client Engagement in Oklahoma State University’s $1 Billion Capital Campaign • Lori McKinnon, Oklahoma State University; Jacob Longan; Bill Handy • This paper offers a case analysis of student-client service learning in OSU’s $1 billion, capital campaign, Branding Success. Capstone campaign students joined with the OSU Foundation to develop and implement strategic plans for the campaign and its OSUccess scholarship contest component. The service-learning arrangement succeeded in engaging the University community in an online conversation about “success,” in securing media coverage, in generating attendance at the campaign launch event, and in stressing the importance of giving.
U.S. Student-Run Communication Agencies: Enhancing Students’ Understanding of Business Protocols and Professionalism • Lee Bush, Elon University; Barbara Miller, Elon University • Student-run communications agencies mimic professional public relations and advertising agencies by providing students with a professional environment in which to work on real projects for real clients. This study involved a survey of agency advisors at AEJMC universities and ACEJMC-accredited universities to evaluate the attributes, structure, and perceived student learning outcomes of agencies in the U.S. Additionally, this study examined how agency structure, workspace and advisor commitment impact agency protocols and student learning outcomes.
College vs. Credential: What Do Entry-Level Practitioners in Public Relations Need? • Bey-Ling Sha, San Diego State University; John Forde; Jay Rayburn • Using an online survey (response rate=16.4%; n=1,634), this study examined the attitudes of members of the Public Relations Society of America regarding entry-level qualifications in public relations in general, as well as their views on an entry-level credential in particular. In short, association members generally felt positively toward both public relations-specific curriculum and toward the concept of an entry-level certification. The manuscript also examines the history of both public relations curriculum and the effort to establish an entry-level certification in public relations.
Student
A Process Evaluation of the Carolina Covenant’s Communication Strategy • Joseph Erba, Stephanie Silverman and Luisa Ryan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Low-income high school students are most in need of financial aid programs to attend college. Concomitantly, they are also the least informed about scholarship opportunities. A process evaluation assessed the communication strategy of the Carolina Covenant, the first loan-free financial aid package offered by an American public university. Best practices and recommendations are discussed. Findings could help other programs hone their communication efforts and conduct their own process evaluations.
Forty Years of Award-Winning Campaigns: What PRSA’s Silver Anvil-Winning Campaigns Say about the Public Relations Industry • Eva Hardy, North Carolina State University • Public relations textbooks prescribe a common approach to the campaign development process: Conduct research to understand the situation and publics, develop goals and objectives prior to planning and implementing the campaign, evaluating the efforts and finally carrying out stewardship elements to further the relationship with the campaign’s targeted audiences. This process has become the norm for the public relations industry. This project seeks to provide a more sound description of professional norms in the public relations industry by analyzing Silver Anvil-winning public relations campaigns from 1969 to 2010 (n = 420). A content analysis of the award-winning campaigns from the Public Relations Society of America database reveals trends in how the five phases of the campaign process have been carried out over the past 42 years as well as striking differences in how public relations agencies and non-agency campaign sources carry out the campaign development process.
Public Diplomacy at Arab Embassies: Fighting an Uphill Battle • Leysan Khakimova, University of Maryland • Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the practice and study of public diplomacy gained increased attention. However, three major gaps are evident in public diplomacy literature: weak theoretical background, the lack of empirical research, and limited scope of many studies. This study seeks to address some of the gaps in the literature by using Benoit’s image repair theory to explore Arab governments’ public diplomacy efforts in the United States. Analysis of 16 interviews with Embassy employees and 84 documents retrieved from Embassies’ websites revealed that Arab embassies face opportunities and constraints relating to culture, power, strategic planning, interpersonal and online communication. In addition to theoretical implications, the study offers practical suggestions to government employees on building a positive relationship with foreign publics such as giving more power and independence to embassies as well as using embassies’ cultural and communication expertise to engage with foreign audiences.
How a Public Evaluate an Organization’s Official Statement to pursue Organizational Transparency: An Impact of Organizational Claims to Truth on the Public’s Perception of Credibility toward the Content • Bo Kyung Kim and Seoyeon Hong, University of Missouri • Guided by previous research in transparency (Allen, 2008; Craft & Heim, 2009; Mitchelle & Steele, 2005; Plaisance, 2007; Sweetser, 2010) and the empirical study regarding two types of organizational claims to pursue transparency (Kim, Hong, & Cameron, 2011), this study explores the lay public’s estimation of the initial measure for organizational transparency (Rawlins, 2009) and a relationship between an organization’s claim to pursue transparency, perceived credibility of the claim, and organizational reputation. Factor analyses and bootstrapping analysis are used.
Youth Political Engagement: Factors That Influence Involvement • Jarim Kim, University of Maryland, College Park • This study employed qualitative, in-depth interviews with college students to look at how and why they became actively engaged in the political process. The situational theory of publics was employed as a guideline to examine their active participation. Specific attention was given to the antecedent factors of involvement. Findings indicate that a set of factors, including issue relevance, source characteristics, communication strategies, significant others, general interests about the world, and emotional satisfaction, influenced an active public’s level of involvement. Lastly, this paper discusses theoretical elaborations of the situational theory of publics and practical implications for political campaign practitioners.
Exploring the Impact of CEO Credibility on Perceived Organizational Reputation and Employee Engagement • Linjuan Rita Men, University of Miami • The purpose of this study is to explore how corporate leadership influence internal public relations effectiveness by examining the relationships between CEO credibility, employees’ evaluation of organizational reputation and employee engagement. To that end, an on-line survey was conducted with 157 employees at different levels of position from a Fortune 500 company. Key findings include that CEO credibility is positively associated with perceived organizational reputation and employee engagement. Organizational reputation in the eyes of employees has a large and positive impact on employee engagement. In addition, employees’ perception of organizational reputation fully mediates the impact of CEO credibility on employee engagement. Important theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.
The Impact of Dialogue on Blog Traffic: An Analysis of the Blogs of the Philanthropy 400 • Sarah Merritt, Dale Mackey and Lauren Lawson, North Carolina State University • The five principles of dialogue, as described and measured according to the methodology of Kent and Taylor (1998), were used to identify and measure the use of dialogic principle on blogs hosted by nonprofit organizations. Using every blog available from organizations on the Philanthropy 400 list, 124 blogs were coded using a 32-item coding schema, measuring ease of interface, conservation of visitors, useful information, generation of return visitors, and the dialogic loop. Most nonprofit blogs used the five principles, however to varying degrees, and few similarities of dialogue principle use was found across all nonprofit subsectors. Our results also showed that blogs frequently utilizing the dialogic principles frequently had higher traffic rankings, although traffic ranking was not affected by the number of sites that linked to individual blogs. The number of sites linking in to a blog was higher for nonprofits with a top ranking on the Philanthropy 400 list.
Impact of corporate social responsibility on consumers’ attribution of a crisis responsibility: A buffer against reputation withdrawal or a backfire • Hanna Park, University of Florida • This study aimed to examine how CSR-crisis congruency interacted with the severity of crisis on subjects’ attribution of the crisis, attitude, trust, and supportive behavior intention toward a company. Specifically, 2 (severe crisis vs. minor crisis) _ 3 (high CSR-crisis congruency vs. low CSR-crisis vs. no CSR information) factorial designs were used to investigate main effects of two independent variables and their interaction. Six experiment booklets were developed for the study. Results showed that subjects in the severe and high CSR-crisis congruency condition indicated (1) more negative attitudes, (2) less trust, and (3) less supportive behavior intention toward the company than people in the low CSR-crisis congruency condition. Despite the negative effects that occur when CSR programs are congruent with severe crises, this study provides evidence that implementing CSR programs is preferable to not making any CSR efforts at all.
The affect of receiver expertise on perceptions of source credibility and message believability • Austin Sims, Texas Tech University • From a public relations perspective, credibility is one of the most powerful tools possessed by a practitioner or organization. Whether it deals with one or multiple publics, broad or niche, the perception of credibility lends itself to greater persuasiveness and more effective communications (Conger, 1998; Hart, Friedrich, & Brummett, 1983). However, throughout such research, the focus has been almost exclusively on defining attributes of the source that increase credibility and make messages more persuasive, ignoring the possibility that expertise held by the receiver could influence the perception of the message. The question becomes: Can an expert set aside his or her expertise and/or trustworthiness of the source based upon the merits of the information provided? Legislative aides in a large, southwestern state capitol and students from a large southwestern university were surveyed using an experiment embedded within a survey to ascertain if public policy experts perceive sources and persuasive messages differently than non-experts. The experiment measured perceived message and source credibility based upon the expertise of the receiver (expert, non-expert) and sources (lobbyist, citizen, industry executive, and economist/professor) typical of those sources most likely to testify before a committee or speak to legislators and/or staff. The results showed experts’ perceptions were significantly different than non-experts in reviewing message content. Expert receivers were effectively able to separate the message from low-trust, low-expert sources.
Expecting the unexpected: Nonprofit media responses to anti-abortion terrorism • Beth Sundstrom, Rowena Briones and Melissa Janoske, University of Maryland, College Park • This study explored crisis management through the lens of complexity theory to understand six nonprofit organizations’ communication responses to anti-abortion terrorism. Through a qualitative content analysis of 277 press releases, news articles and tweets, findings suggest practical implications for anti-abortion counterterrorism and crisis management, provide opportunities to develop communication counter measures, and further develop complexity theory.
Is Interactivity always worth it? The Effect of Interactivity and Message Tone on Attitude toward Organization • Kang Hoon Sung, University of Florida • This study examined the effect of three independent variables (i.e., Perceived interactivity, Message valence, and Tone of the organization) on people’s attitude toward an organization and their purchase intention, specifically on a social media setting. The findings confirmed that public’s exposure to negative comments about the organization can do harm to the attitude toward organization. However, the findings suggest that increasing interactivity with customers by responding to their opinions can minimize the negative effects of the online comments. In addition, when responding to customer’s opinions, the response should be done in a human voice, (i.e., personal and caring approach) rather than in an organizational voice (i.e., mechanical and routine approach).
The Impact of Corporate Social Performance on Customer Satisfaction: A Cross-Industrial Analysis • Weiting Tao, University of Florida • Corporate social performance (CSP) and customer satisfaction have become two critical areas of focus for corporations. However, their relationship has not yet been explored. Therefore, by analyzing a comprehensive secondary data set obtained from three different databases, this study attempted (1) to explore the relationship between CSP and customer satisfaction, and (2) to discover whether industry type moderates the impact of CSP on customer satisfaction. Furthermore, its contributions to the public relations arena were briefed.
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