Embracing paradox and pragmatism: A metamodern exploration of the social value of public relations

Abstract

This article revisits the social value of public relations through a metamodern perspective that both sits between—and productively unsettles—modernist and, postmodernist framings. Using 314 open-ended responses from a multilingual (English, Turkish, Spanish) global Delphi study conducted in 2022–23 and spanning 24, countries, we analyze how practitioners, educators, and academics articulate the social, value of public relations across organizational and public registers. An inductive, thematic analysis confirms the co-presence of modern vocabularies (instrumentality, goal alignment, trust) and postmodern vocabularies (voice, representation, social, change). A second, metamodern coding layer identifies an oscillatory “both/and” logic, in which public relations are cast as both stabilizing and transformative—at once an, organizational instrument and an ethical guide. We find no robust cross-national, patterning; rather, subtle and inconclusive cultural inflections underscore the need for, intercultural theorizing that resists universalist assumptions. Conceptually, the study, reframes social value of public relations as relational and contingent; practically, it, makes a case for further research into and reorients evaluation and education toward, processes, platforms, and capabilities—reflective humility, adaptability, and paradox, management—that enable deliberation and co-existence across conflicting interests. We argue that treating paradox as constitutive of value creation advances public, relations scholarship and supports a shift from standardized competencies to, capability-rich, relational governance.