{"title":"Artificial intelligence for internal communication: Strategies, challenges, and implications","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102515","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102515","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This qualitative study explores the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and internal communication, investigating AI applications, challenges, and best practices. In-depth interviews with 20 senior communication professionals examined perceptions of AI’s impact on internal communication processes and outcomes. Key findings indicate AI improves internal communication efficiency, information flow, listening capability, and employee experience. However, challenges include lack of AI knowledge among employees, fears about job security andbias, and concerns about authenticity loss. To enable effective AI adoption for internal communication, organizations need education and training, a “co-piloting” approach between humans and machines, transparent communication, ethical governance, and an open culture of experimentation. This research makes important theoretical contributions by illuminating AI’s transformative potential for internal communication. It also offers practical insights to guide organizations in strategically leveraging AI to elevate internal communication.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142587202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Communicating strategic CEO activism to promote employee prosocial behaviors: Understanding the mediating role of employee prosocial sensemaking","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102516","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102516","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The purpose of this research is to explore how CEOs effectively communicate their activism so as to encourage employee prosocial behaviors around social issues. An online experimental study with a 2 (<em>narrative vs. non-narrative</em>) x 2 (<em>promotion- vs. prevention-focused messages</em>) between-subjects design was conducted with 913 full-time employees (<em>N</em>=913) in the United States. This study uncovered the underlying role of employee prosocial sensemaking, which mediates the effect of narrative messaging in CEO activism communication on employee prosocial behaviors (e.g., employee activism supporting the issue and advocacy for the CEO’s activism). This study theoretically extends the scholarship on strategic communication to CEO activism communication in relation to employee prosocial behaviors. The findings also provide practical insight into how corporate leaders can strategically communicate their activism to employees in order to foster positive engagement, thereby contributing to organizational effectiveness as well as the expansion of responsible business practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142573363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Optimizing organizational corrective communication: The effects of correction placement timing, refutation detail level, and corrective narrative type on combating crisis misinformation narratives","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102514","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102514","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>How an organization effectively responds to crisis misinformation has become increasingly critical for public relations research and practice. To examine the roles played by three key factors in organizational crisis misinformation management (i.e., the timing of placing organizational correction message, the level of detail a refutational message should provide, and narrative type in countering misinformation embedded in narratives), two online experimental studies were conducted among U.S. adults to examine the main and interaction effects of these factors on optimizing organizational corrective communication when it comes to combatting narrative-based crisis misinformation. Our findings implied that prebunking strategy, especially when combined with factual elaboration, is more effective in correcting misperceptions of organizational crisis responsibility and lowering organizational reputation damage. The potential for using narrative-based prebunking strategy to correct misinformation narratives is further highlighted, as evidenced in how its effect was sequentially mediated by narrative identification and perceived corrective information quality. Implications for public relations theory and practice in the area of combatting misinformation are further discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142533328","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“If it can be done, it will be done:” AI Ethical Standards and a dual role for public relations","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102513","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102513","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This research reports a five-year study with different types of participants to examine questions related to ethics in artificial intelligence (AI) and the use of AI in public relations and professional communication. AI specialists from computer engineering and closely related fields, as well as CCOs, communication directors/managers, public affairs officers, and CEOs participated in this research, explaining and assessing the role of ethics in AI. Through numerous points of data collection, the topic of AI ethics in public relations was examined through a mixed method approach. This study offers insight into the ethics and design of AI systems that communication professionals must not only use in practice but also understand, advise upon, ethically oversee, and occasionally defend in the public sphere when used (or commissioned) by our organizations. After a review of broad literature and longitudinal data from hundreds of sources, recommendations for a more robust framework for AI ethics in public relations are proposed. Ethical considerations and quantum and neuromorphic computing are posed as means to avoid technocracy, and base use of these advanced systems on moral values.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142533327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Streaming disasters on TikTok: Examining social mediated crisis communication, public engagement, and emotional responses during the 2023 Maui wildfire","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102512","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102512","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Short video-sharing platforms, such as TikTok, play a significant role in allowing the public to experience natural disasters vicariously, share information, and coordinate peer-led disaster relief efforts. With emerging platforms like TikTok providing experientially immersive content, the role of digital storytelling in stimulating public engagement and emotions remains underexplored. Drawing from narrative persuasion theory and visual storytelling literature, the current study proposes an integrated framework to examine the storyteller, visual frame, and digital presentation characteristics of TikTok videos in predicting social-mediated public engagement and emotional reactions surrounding a recent natural disaster, the 2023 Maui Wildfire. Using visual content analysis and computational methods, the study analyzed 526 TikTok videos and 59,950 associated comments. Results showed that audiovisual vividness consistently predicted all three types of disaster engagement. In contrast, storyteller type, storytelling frame, and other presentation characteristics inconsistently predicted information consumption intention, information sharing intention, and emotional reactions on TikTok.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142533326","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Toward an authentic corporate social advocacy (CSA): An internal perspective of BLM advocacy","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102508","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102508","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While an increasing amount of research on corporate social advocacy (CSA) has expanded our knowledge in the field, its effects on internal public relations have been rarely studied. This study examines how employees’ experiences at work determine their perceived authenticity of CSA on race. Results suggested that employees’ perceived organizational justice toward racial minority employees positively influences their perceived value-driven motive of CSA as well as the authenticity of CSA. CSA authenticity, in turn, increased employees’ supportive behaviors toward CSA and organizational citizenship behaviors in the workplace. Theoretical and practical implications for public relations and internal communication are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142533268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Enhancing supportive intention through perceived legitimacy: Social media influencer leadership and charismatic legitimization in CSR communication","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102511","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102511","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Partnering with social media influencers (SMIs) in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives has become increasingly popular, but their role in conveying CSR initiatives remains unclear. Grounded in legitimacy theory and Max Weber’s concept of charismatic legitimation, this research investigates how SMIs’ leadership in opinion and taste impacts the normative and pragmatic legitimacy of CSR initiatives. An online survey of 491 U.S. influencer followers shows that perceived SMI opinion leadership enhances CSR normative legitimacy, which in turn increases stakeholders’ willingness to support. Our findings contribute to public relations and CSR research by highlighting the importance of CSR legitimacy, introducing charismatic legitimation to explain SMIs’ roles, and distinguishing between opinion and taste leadership. These insights help companies choose SMIs who enhance CSR legitimacy and support.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142444706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Support and core? The changing roles of communication professionals in higher education institutions","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102510","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102510","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In recent decades, the role of communication and PR within higher education institutions (HEIs) has grown in significance, marked by the expansion of communication departments, diversified work assignments for communication professionals, and an increasing focus on reputation and visibility. This study examines 203 job advertisements targeting communication professionals in Swedish HEIs from 1999 to 2022. Our analysis identifies a substantial shift in the expectations and roles of communication professionals. It reveals a pronounced trend of increasing expectations, necessitating candidates to possess a broader and deeper skill set to manage a wider spectrum of responsibilities in HEIs. Furthermore, while our findings signal a noteworthy transformation in the communication profession, it also shows the evolvement from a supportive function to a strategically integral role in aiding and forming institutional management and leadership. Moreover, this study highlights communication departments as particularly flexible sites for receiving and incorporating external trends and ideas in university organizations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142419813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Motivating employee voicing behavior in optimizing workplace generative ai adoption: The role of organizational listening","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102509","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102509","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Given the flourishing of artificial intelligence (AI), organizations are increasingly exploring ways to seamlessly incorporate novel technologies in the workplace. The emergence of generative AI has further propelled the transformation of a technology-led managerial era. This study aims to investigate the role of organizational listening during workplace generative AI training in helping employees adapt to and embrace generative AI adoption by voicing suggestions for its improvements. Within this framework, we examined the employees’ psychological adaptation process, focusing on perceived autonomy and competence through the lens of self-determination theory (SDT), as well as employee attitudes toward generative AI adoption. Results of an online survey with 500 full-time employees in the United States suggest that organizational listening was positively associated with employees’ perceived autonomy and competence, which in turn, boosted their positive attitudes toward workplace generative AI adoption. This, ultimately, leads to employee voicing behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are elaborated.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142419814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Beyond the code: The impact of AI algorithm transparency signaling on user trust and relational satisfaction","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102507","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2024.102507","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the effectiveness of AI-algorithm transparency signaling as a strategy to enhance organization-public relationships (OPRs) in AI-assisted communications. Building upon signaling theory and trust transfer theory, the study examines whether the AI algorithm transparency influences trust in AI systems by users and this trust can be transferred into trust in AI systems’ parent company, which in turn, influences the relational satisfaction with the company. An online experiment with 537 participants demonstrated that transparency signaling significantly improves users’ relational satisfaction with the AI parent company. However, this effect is mediated by trust in both the AI system and the parent company, rather than a direct relationship. Our findings offer practical guidelines for AI domain experts and public relations practitioners to deliberately convey the true essence of transparency in AI-mediated communication and ensure accountability in AI adoption, thereby improving public relations outcomes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2024-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142319288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}