{"title":"Crime has a PR component: Public relations in U.S. mystery novels","authors":"Karen Miller Russell","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102396","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102396","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Qualitative content analysis of 74 novels featuring public relations characters distributed in the United States demonstrates that, rather than attempting to replicate reality, the mystery genre reflects debates about such issues as honesty, confidentiality, and the relative value of negative publicity. PR practitioners fit into all of the conventional mystery character roles, but particularly the role of sleuth, where access to information and powerful people allows them to solve the mystery but also sometimes forces them to choose between the client/employer and the public interest. The study confirms Fitch’s (2015) contention that popular culture representations of public relations are best understood in their narrative and generic context.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"50 1","pages":"Article 102396"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138395991","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":"Negative spill over effects in brand alliance crises","authors":"La Toya Quamina , Jaywant Singh","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102394","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102394","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Brand alliances, or partnerships between established brands, is a viable branding strategy. Yet, it is an inherently risky strategy, especially when one of the brand partners faces a crisis. A direct fallout of brand alliance crisis concerns consumer attitude spill over. Despite the surge in brand alliance research and industry interest, the literature on the psychological mechanisms and outcomes of spill over effects remains sparse. Underpinned by the Balance theory from social psychology, this research examines the impact of crises on consumers’ evaluations of corporate brand alliances. Employing an experimental design across three crisis contexts – <em>preventable, accidental and victim</em>, the research shows that crises in brand alliances negatively impact consumers’ evaluations of the culpable brand which spills over to the co-branded product. The non-culpable partner, however, is not found to be negatively affected. The results also show that post-crisis attitudes can be enhanced if consumers are exposed to recovery information that diminishes the culpable brand’s role in the crisis. The research provides novel contributions to knowledge and offers managerial guidelines on effective post-crisis public relations communication.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"49 5","pages":"Article 102394"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91986807","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":"Social media theory in public relations: A curation of a neglected topic in public relations research","authors":"Ruth Avidar , Osnat Roth-Cohen","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102386","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102386","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Social media has emerged as a very popular topic in public relations research but building social media theory seems to have been almost neglected. In this curation, we explore recent attempts to develop social media theory in public relations while focusing on the various characteristics and conceptualizations of research. We explore recent theoretical work published in <em>Public Relations Review</em> that features theoretical perspectives of social media. This curation offers a thematic analysis of the current research initiatives. We also specify potential future directions in theory building and discuss how future theory public relations development and refinement should address social media.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"49 5","pages":"Article 102386"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91986806","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":"Should relationships be at the heart of public relations? A meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of organization-public relationships","authors":"Xin Ma , Liang Ma , Brooke Fisher Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102388","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102388","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>Organization-public relationships (OPRs) have been central to public relations theorizing for decades. Guided by </span><span>Broom et al.'s (1997)</span> foundational three-stage model of OPRs, this study contributes to the public relations literature by conducting the first meta-analysis of the associations between each of the four dimensions of OPRs (trust, satisfaction, commitment, and control mutuality) and their most frequently studied antecedents and consequences. A total of 454 correlations from 67 empirical studies (<em>N</em> = 30, 223) were included in the analysis. The results confirmed the strong correlations among OPRs and the nine most frequently studied antecedents: engagement, involvement, authenticity, transparency, interactivity, two-way communication, interpersonal communication, mediated communication, and symmetrical communication. The research also confirmed the strong connections among OPRs and six commonly researched consequences: reputation, attitudes, positive word-of-mouth communication, purchase intentions, advocacy, and information seeking. We identified the sampling method, employee-organization relationships (EORs), organization type, and country as significant moderators for certain relationships. Overall, the findings support OPRs as a mature and well-supported theory that continues integrating with other public relations theories. Findings also enrich the three-stage model of OPRs with integrated empirical evidence. Areas for future scholarship are discussed relevant to the insignificant potential moderators, such as channel and crisis topic, along with important limitations in the extant scholarship.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"49 5","pages":"Article 102388"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2023-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91986805","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":"Theory advancing practice: The contingency theory in the strategic management of crises, conflicts and complex public relations issues","authors":"Augustine Pang, Yan Jin","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102392","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102392","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"50 1","pages":"Article 102392"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2023-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136094426","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":"Exploring trauma-informed listening among public relations professionals","authors":"Katie R. Place , Stephanie Madden , Mikayla Pevak","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102393","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102393","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>There is an increasing awareness of the prevalence and impact of trauma on publics’ lives, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. As intermediaries who shape symbols, discourses, meanings, and practices amidst evolving social, cultural, and psychological landscapes such as these, public relations professionals must remain mindful of their potential to inflict harm on the recipients of their work and understand publics’ lived experiences that may involve trauma. Yet, little research has explored public relations work from a trauma-informed approach. Building upon Macnamara’s (2016b, 2018) architecture of listening model, this study considers how public relations can help enact trauma-informed organizational listening. As such, this qualitative analysis of interviews with 54 public relations and strategic communication professionals yielded insights for listening with consideration for trauma and harm among diverse publics. Findings suggest that public relations professionals engage in trauma-informed listening via respect and sensitivity, listening out for invisible or unheard trauma, consideration of power distance, understanding that the trauma can be inflicted by communications work, and with consideration for ‘compassion fatigue.’ Combined with existing organizational listening theory, this article offers practical recommendations for how organizations can enact trauma-informed listening.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"49 5","pages":"Article 102393"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2023-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50181552","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 ambassadorship potential of employees: Examining the impact of work-related social media posts on consumer attitudes and behaviors","authors":"Ellen Soens, An-Sofie Claeys","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102390","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102390","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Employees’ work-related social media posts can serve as persuasive sources of organizational information. Limited research has shown, however, how such posts shape consumers’ evaluations of organizations. Across two experiments, we examine the impact of employees’ social media posts on consumers’ evaluations of the corporate reputation and their behavioral intentions toward the organization. The first experiment studies the role of work-related posts’ valence (positive vs. neutral vs. negative) and context (crisis vs. no crisis). A follow-up experiment exclusively considers positive posts, examining whether the external impact of employee ambassadorship differs depending on employees’ motivation (intrinsic vs. extrinsic) to serve as organizational advocates. Results from the first experiment show that both negative and positive work-related posts substantially influence consumer attitudes and behaviors toward organizations, both under routine and crisis circumstances. The second experiment’s findings show that positive work-related posts are equally effective in intrinsically motivated (i.e., spontaneous) and extrinsically motivated (i.e., paid) circumstances. Organizations can therefore, both in routine and crisis situations, consider ways to stimulate employee ambassadorship on social media.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"49 5","pages":"Article 102390"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2023-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50181635","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}
Jiayu Gina Qu , Jingjing Yi , Wanjiang Jacob Zhang , Charles Yu Yang
{"title":"Silence is golden? Mitigating different types of online firestorms of Fortune 100 corporations on Twitter","authors":"Jiayu Gina Qu , Jingjing Yi , Wanjiang Jacob Zhang , Charles Yu Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102391","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102391","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Guided by crisis communication literature, the study addresses the importance of sentiments in corporate online firestorms, with a focus on the effectiveness of different immediate response strategies (explanatory vs. sympathetic response vs. silence) on mitigating the negative sentimental discussions and engagement behaviors. It also aims to clarify the relationship between different types of online firestorms (ability vs. social responsibility online firestorms) and intensity of negative sentiments from the online public. Leveraging unobtrusive data and computational methods, we employed a DID design to test the causal effects of response strategies on 335 online firestorms on Twitter to answer the concerned questions. Results showed that silence strategy functioned better than the other two strategies in reducing the negative sentiments and engagement behaviors in online firestorms on Twitter. Moreover, sympathetic response strategy would rather elicit more likes and retweets engagement behaviors in social responsibility-online firestorms than in ability-online firestorms. This study also revealed that there were generally more social responsibility online firestorms than ability-related ones on Twitter, whereas no sentiment differences were identified in the two types of online firestorms. Theoretical advancement, practical implications, and methodological contribution were discussed in detail.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"49 5","pages":"Article 102391"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2023-10-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50181551","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":"Protecting organizational reputation during a para-crisis: The effectiveness of conversational human voice on social media and the roles of construal level, social presence, and organizational listening","authors":"Miaohong Huang , Eyun-Jung Ki","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102389","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102389","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study examines the efficacy of conversational human voice (CHV) in protecting organizational reputation during a para-crisis on social media. Using a 2 × 2 experimental design, the study manipulates tone of voice (CHV vs. organizational voice) and construal level (concrete vs. abstract) to identify the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions. The findings demonstrate that CHV surpasses organizational voice in bolstering social presence and perceived organizational listening, ultimately fostering a positive impact on organizational reputation amidst para-crises on social media. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of CHV is contingent upon the construal of crisis messages. Specifically, CHV becomes particularly effective in reputation management solely when crisis messages are conveyed in a concrete manner. The study highlights the importance of incorporating CHV into crisis communication strategies and offers practical guidance for organizations to communicate effectively on social media during a crisis.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"49 5","pages":"Article 102389"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2023-10-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50181553","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 constant report: Everything, everywhere, all at once?","authors":"Delaney Harness","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102387","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2023.102387","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This article critically examines the contemporary notions of sustainability reporting in the digital ecology. Using an extended case study of IKEA’s sustainability communication, the article scrutinizes authenticity in CSR<span> efforts and investigates how digital ubiquity transforms sustainability reporting. The article advances the concept of the constant report, a kind of communication infrastructure comprised of four key features—visibility, connectedness, personalization, and pluralization—that enable organizations to curate and manage sustainability efforts. The study then delves into the consequential outcomes of the constant report, namely performativity and promotionalism as integral byproducts. The article concludes by discussing the complex interplay between authenticity and promotionalism within this evolving landscape, creating a kind of authentic babble that emphasizes appearance and curation over quality and substance in an era of digital ubiquity.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"49 5","pages":"Article 102387"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"50181554","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}