Public relations professionals' role in managing conflict: A cross-country contingency theory perspective

IF 3.4 3区管理学 Q2 BUSINESS

Public Relations Review Pub Date : 2025-10-04 DOI:10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102641

A.Banu Bıçakçı , Melike Aktaş Kuyucu , Mónica Arzuaga-Williams , Corné Meintjes

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This comparative study examines how public relations professionals in Türkiye, South Africa, and Uruguay approach conflict management, exploring the culturally contingent nature of public relations practice across these diverse settings. Drawing on qualitative data from a Delphi study, the research investigates the reasons public relations practice may lead to conflicts, how professionals frame and justify their conflict management decisions, their stance on the advocacy-accommodation continuum, and their roles and responsibilities via thematic analysis.

Findings

reveal that conflicts often arise from communication approaches/structures within organizations and organizational power dynamics. Accordingly, the practitioner's organizational standing and perceived power influence public relations professionals' decisions. In conflicting situations, the organizational stance is often clustered near the accommodation end, emphasizing the social dimension. Key roles of public relations professionals include environmental scanning, stakeholder engagement, and mediation.

The study highlights the importance of contingency theory in understanding conflict management in public relations.The findings suggest the absence of universally applicable conflict management rules, emphasizing the necessity for context-specific and flexible approaches. While a stakeholder perspective, social orientation, and accommodation tendencies are evident across the studied countries, public relations professionals face diverse challenges rooted in cultural differences and the distinct conceptualizations and practices of public relations within each country.

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公共关系专业人员在冲突管理中的角色：一个跨国权变理论的视角

这项比较研究考察了南非、乌拉圭和南非的公共关系专业人员如何处理冲突管理，探索了这些不同背景下公共关系实践的文化偶然性。利用德尔菲研究的定性数据，本研究通过专题分析调查了公共关系实践可能导致冲突的原因，专业人员如何构建和证明他们的冲突管理决策，他们在倡导-适应连续体上的立场，以及他们的角色和责任。研究结果表明，冲突往往源于组织内部的沟通方式/结构和组织权力动态。因此，从业者的组织地位和感知权力影响公关专业人员的决策。在冲突的情况下，组织的立场往往集中在和解端附近，强调社会层面。公共关系专业人员的关键角色包括环境扫描、利益相关者参与和调解。本研究强调了权变理论在理解公共关系中的冲突管理中的重要性。调查结果表明，缺乏普遍适用的冲突管理规则，强调需要针对具体情况采取灵活的办法。虽然利益相关者的观点、社会取向和适应倾向在研究的国家都很明显，但公共关系专业人员面临着各种各样的挑战，这些挑战源于文化差异以及每个国家不同的公共关系概念和实践。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Public Relations Review Multiple-

CiteScore

8.00

自引率

19.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： The Public Relations Review is the oldest journal devoted to articles that examine public relations in depth, and commentaries by specialists in the field. Most of the articles are based on empirical research undertaken by professionals and academics in the field. In addition to research articles and commentaries, The Review publishes invited research in brief, and book reviews in the fields of public relations, mass communications, organizational communications, public opinion formations, social science research and evaluation, marketing, management and public policy formation.