Does quality matter? Understanding quality of communication consulting from a client and consultant perspective

Abstract

The multiplicity of changes in the technological, societal, political, and economic environment challenge public relations leaders in many ways. They have to review current practices, update managerial processes, and think about new ways to reach out and communicate with stakeholders. This requires knowledge which is seldom available internally and leads to a rising demand for external communication consulting. Against this background, the question of consulting quality is intensively discussed within the profession but has, so far, been largely neglected by public relations research. To fill this gap, 60 qualitative interviews with elite consultants and public relations executives were conducted to answer research questions about the understanding of communication consulting (RQ1) and the quality of communication consulting (RQ2) by consultants and clients. Contrary to theory-based expectations, neither a common conceptual understanding of communication consulting nor a differentiated, multidimensional understanding of the quality of communication consulting could be identified. Instead, twelve fundamental problems can be pointed out and four underlying causes are discussed. The article offers a fundamental review of the understanding of quality in communication consulting, which is based on an interdisciplinary approach, conceptual quality characteristics, and qualitative findings from a large-scale interview study.