Public Relations Review最新文献

{"title":"Conversational spaces enabling conversational contestation: Making sustainability communication in organizations political (again)","authors":"Franzisca Weder,&nbsp;Julia Stranzl","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102614","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102614","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><div>Political frameworks, regulations and stakeholder expectations guide and evaluate corporations in taking responsibility to mitigate and/or solve climate change related problems. Consequently, organizations increasingly communicate their activities related to ‘sustainable development’ and ‘transformation’ to their stakeholders – often without a deeper communicative manifestation within organizations. With our concept of ‘conversational spaces’ allowing conversational contestation of sustainability as ‘moral compass’, we argue that internal communication plays a key role in problematizing and thus ‘re-politicizing’ sustainability which is needed to cultivate sustainability as a guiding principle of action <em>in</em> organizations and not ‘just’ in their stakeholder-relations.</div></div><div><h3>Approach</h3><div>In this conceptual paper we, firstly, critically analyze the deficits in contemporary scholarly work dealing with communication of, about and for sustainability. We argue that sustainability is still communicated – and theorized accordingly – with narrow business interests and directed towards external stakeholders, neglecting the transformative power of internal communication which has led to sustainability being used as a master narrative and ‘ideological movement’, detached from internal discourses in organizations about the concrete consequences of the climate crisis or the ‘good life’. Therefore, we secondly discuss the role and potential of spaces for contestational communication within organizations about and, thus, for sustainability.</div></div><div><h3>Originality</h3><div>The paper introduces a concept to identify and set up conversational spaces where sustainability can be negotiated and <em>debated</em> internally. It also explores the key characteristics of these spaces that lead to contestational, in other words, agonistic and thus ‘political’ sustainability communication <em>in</em> organizations.</div></div><div><h3>Paper classification</h3><div>Conceptual paper</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 4","pages":"Article 102614"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144739632","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":"Brand-related social media influencers as spokespersons after a corporate greenwashing crisis implications of parasocial interactions and wishful identification on the perception of the brand image","authors":"Zoe Olbermann ,&nbsp;Holger Schramm","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102612","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102612","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Corporate crisis communication, like many other areas of strategic communication, is becoming increasingly relevant on social network sites (SNSs). This change has created a new type of spokesperson: social media influencers (SMIs). These individuals are already known as brand ambassadors, and their role in this function has so far been studied primarily in the context of marketing. Our study examines the use of SMIs as spokespersons after a corporate greenwashing crisis, focusing on their perceived similarity to stakeholders - a critical factor identified for the effectiveness of other spokespeople in strategic communications. In a one-factor, two-level between-subject design online experiment (<em>N</em> = 183), we manipulated the similarity and can show that it promotes parasocial interactions between stakeholders and SMIs. This psychological involvement results in a more elaborate processing of the crisis communication, which increases the perception of hypocrisy and consequently leads to a worse evaluation of the brand. In contrast, if the perceived similarity leads to a wishful identification with the SMI, a positively biased processing presumably takes place, which benefits the brand evaluation. Due to a direct positive effect of similarity on the brand image and a stronger indirect effect via wishful identification, the use of SMIs in crisis communication is generally beneficial, but also a more complex topic due to the reactions they trigger among stakeholders.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 4","pages":"Article 102612"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144725033","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":"Nation branding via sportswashing: An exploration of pro-China YouTube influencers and commenters around the 2022 Winter Olympic Games","authors":"Brandon C. Boatwright ,&nbsp;Gregory A. Cranmer,&nbsp;Enamul Kabir,&nbsp;Cole Warms","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102611","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102611","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) nation branding efforts via YouTube around the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. We identified eight channels with alleged affiliations to the PRC and collected 27 videos along with 21,958 corresponding comments. Drawing from extant research, we identify the foci of nation branding antecedents and strategies used by YouTube creators to promote the PRC. Furthermore, we examine the behavioral characteristics of commenters across videos to differentiate between account types and evaluate engagement and semantic utilization differences between account types. Results from the analysis of YouTube videos identified two broad functions of nation branding (building a desirable brand for the PRC and addressing undesirable aspects of the PRC brand), served by six categories of strategies (bolstering, appeals to others, attacking sources, calling critique into question, leveraging sport as an apolitical topic, and downplaying ethical concerns). Using various behavioral characteristics of commenter data, we differentiate between account types (“potentially coordinated accounts” and “likely average users”) to evaluate differences in engagement rates and semantic utilization between accounts. Theoretical and practical implications are addressed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 4","pages":"Article 102611"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144670569","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":"The ‘Good Samaritan’: The effects of corporate conflict engagement on public satisfaction and their behavioral intentions","authors":"Chiara Valentini ,&nbsp;Hui Zhao ,&nbsp;Juha Munnukka","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102607","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102607","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In a time marked by rising geopolitical tensions and societal conflicts, the traditional corporate emphasis on maximizing shareholder value is increasingly evolving towards a more public-oriented approach that includes societal and ethical considerations. Should organizations invest in activities that are not their primary responsibilities? Based on conflict management, corporate social responsibility and public relations literature, this study examines different corporate actions undertaken during societal conflicts and how these affect public satisfaction and what effects these may have on three public relations outcomes: reputation, word-of-mouth, and financial support. Using an experimental design with the Finnish public in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, this study demonstrates that proactive corporate engagement in conflict mitigation has direct positive effects on financial support and positive word-of-mouth intentions, though not on reputation. However, when public satisfaction and corporate trust are considered, there are positive effects on reputation and word-of-mouth intentions, but not on financial support. Additionally, people’s ethical orientation and conflict severity perception play a role in moderating these effects. This study contributes to the existing literature in conflict management, corporate social responsibility and public relations in several ways. It enhances theory integration by combining multiple perspectives, providing a comprehensive understanding of societal conflicts and their effects. It contributes to research on societal conflicts by shedding some light into different types of corporate behaviors during societal conflicts and the mechanisms that affect public perceptions of such actions. And it empirically demonstrates that organizations can also gain some public relations outcomes from investing in positive corporate conflict engagement actions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 4","pages":"Article 102607"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144634409","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":"The diversity washing dilemma: When signaling diversity enhances image and credibility – And when it backfires","authors":"Thomas Koch,&nbsp;Sandra Mechler,&nbsp;Nora Denner","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102609","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102609","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines how different presentations of diversity influence perceptions of a company and whether discrepancies between diversity self-presentation and actual diversity cause backfire effects. Additionally, it explores whether these effects occur only in corporate self-presentation or also in product advertising. Two online experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, participants viewed a company presenting itself as highly, somewhat, or not diverse, with perceptions measured before and after revealing its actual lack of diversity. Experiment 2 tested whether diversity claims in self-presentation or product advertising influenced perceptions, again measuring responses before and after revealing the company’s true diversity. Results show that presenting a company as diverse enhances its image, credibility, and behavioral intentions, whether through self-presentation or product communication. However, once a lack of diversity is exposed, perceptions of image and credibility decline, along with application and purchase intentions. Interestingly, companies that misleadingly claimed diversity still received higher ratings than those that were honest about their lack of diversity, but their credibility suffered more when the truth was revealed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 4","pages":"Article 102609"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144595650","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":"Situational dependence of internal communication channels","authors":"Ana Tkalac Verčič ,&nbsp;Dejan Verčič ,&nbsp;Sinja Gerdina","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102608","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102608","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examined the effectiveness of face-to-face and digital channels in internal communication within a large telecommunications company from the perspectives of media richness and affordance. In three experiments, the two types of channels were compared in terms of satisfaction, engagement, emotional and mental fatigue, and retention in contexts in which the topic of communication was emotionally neutral (\"healthy eating habits in the workplace\") or negative (\"unhealthy eating habits observed among employees\"). In the neutral context, face-to-face communication fostered engagement with the message and information retention, consistent with its ability to offer richness and immediacy that can enhance impact on the listener. Conversely, video-based digital communication outperformed face-to-face communication in the negative context by reducing emotional intensity and enhancing retention, emphasizing the importance of emotional detachment in effective communication. These findings highlight that the effectiveness of a given channel of internal communication depends on the situation and that face-to-face communication may not always be the most effective channel for emotionally negative situations. Our work demonstrates the need to adopt the employee's perspective when theorizing and implementing internal communication strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 4","pages":"Article 102608"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144581158","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":"Networks of neuronormativity: Toward a systemic understanding of marginalization in public relations","authors":"Joel Lansing Reed ,&nbsp;Astrid M. Villamil ,&nbsp;Scott E. Branton II","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102610","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102610","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores how systems of marginalization permeate relationship networks and how the practice of public relations intermediates those systems. Through the analysis of 22 semi-structured interviews with leaders of neurodiversity workforce intermediaries (NWIs), we explore how advocates for neurodivergent employment encounter, uphold, and/or respond to systems of marginalization. The findings suggest that marginalization produced relational tensions within NWIs’ relationship networks that constrained their advocacy efforts. We argue that a critical network approach to public relations reveals how marginalization operates systemically, materializing in both tacit and explicit ways within different facets of relationship networks. We further suggest that the practice of public relations involves intermediation with these systems of marginalization. We conclude by stressing the importance of moving beyond episodic or incidental understandings of marginalization within public relations research to explore the socio-cultural systems that inform and constrain relationships. l</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 4","pages":"Article 102610"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144581159","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":"Organizational diversity and inclusion communications and White employees’ allyship communication: Pathways to motivational cultural intelligence and engagement","authors":"Feifei Chen ,&nbsp;Duli Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102604","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102604","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As organizational diversity and inclusion efforts face increasingly polarized reactions, understanding how majority-group employees respond to organizational diversity and inclusion communications becomes crucial for building effective workplaces. This study develops a framework that examines these employees’ allyship communication through two types: relational allyship communication directly supporting colleagues and structural allyship communication advocating organizational change. Applying primarily signaling theory, we conducted a survey of 551 U.S. White employees to investigate how organizational diversity and inclusion communications influenced these allyship communication types and the subsequent effects on motivational cultural intelligence (CQ) and engagement. Results showed diversity and inclusion communications both positively associated with both allyship communication types. Diversity communication positively influenced motivational CQ both directly and indirectly via relational allyship communication, while inclusion communication only indirectly affected motivational CQ through relational allyship communication. Furthermore, diversity communication showed a negative direct but positive indirect relationship with employee engagement through combined allyship communication, while inclusion communication demonstrated positive direct and indirect relationships through the same mechanism. Findings provide a nuanced understanding of how organizations can engage majority-group employees in diversity and inclusion initiatives through strategic communication.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 4","pages":"Article 102604"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144571939","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":"Advocacy fit and social identity in corporate social advocacy: A multigroup analysis of public responses","authors":"Duli Shi","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102605","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102605","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Companies’ engagement in sociopolitical issues requires aligning corporate identity with their advocacy efforts while also connecting to publics’ social identities. This research applies the social identity approach and attribution theory to examine the impacts of advocacy fit and ingroup identification on attributed corporate social advocacy (CSA) motives and attitudes toward the company across two social groups. A randomized between-subjects experiment with 965 Prolific participants from two racial groups revealed that higher advocacy fit increased perceived values-driven motives while reducing egoistic and strategic motives, leading to more positive attitudes toward the company. Furthermore, the multigroup analytical approach showed significant group-based differences, highlighting the distinct roles of social group membership and ingroup identification in shaping CSA attributions and attitudinal responses. Importantly, CSA attributions emerged as a key mediator in explaining the effects of advocacy fit and ingroup identification, though the impacts of perceived egoistic motives varied across groups. By centering on advocacy fit and social identity, this research advances CSA scholarship by incorporating companies’ long-term identity considerations and broader societal factors, such as intergroup dynamics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 4","pages":"Article 102605"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144571938","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":"The price of controversy: CEO Twitter activity and stock market performance","authors":"Tahmina Ahmed ,&nbsp;Gregory D. Saxton","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102606","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102606","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines how controversial CEO communication on social media influences stock market outcomes, providing a novel measure of organization-public relationship quality. Drawing on digital public relations and financial economics frameworks, we analyze controversial tweets sent by S&amp;P 500 CEOs from 2009 to 2023. We identify controversial messages through two key indicators: the ratio of replies to retweets and sentiment analysis of public responses. Our findings reveal that controversial CEO tweets lead to immediate declines in firms’ stock market value, with effects amplified for “celebrity” CEOs but partially buffered by high message visibility. These findings extend public relations theory by quantifying the reputational risks of executive social media communication and introducing public relations scholars to a novel, stock market-based framework for measuring both immediate and longer-term impacts of relationship damage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 4","pages":"Article 102606"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144562990","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}