{"title":"Analysing public diplomacy on Twitter with the MARPE Diplo methodological framework: the case of the European external action service","authors":"Anne-Marie Cotton, Hélène Boulanger","doi":"10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0036","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0036","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe European External Action Service (EEAS) is a relatively new diplomatic service established in 2010. In previous analyses, the authors noted a dominance of security and foreign policy messages emanating from the EEAS, demonstrating the European Union (EU)'s negotiating power. It was clear it had discovered the benefits of public diplomacy, but rather practised traditional diplomacy on public diplomacy specific platforms. The authors aim to pursue the monitoring of the EEAS’ strategy, covering 2019 and 2020, to understand how the use of Twitter supports the evolution of the EU foreign policy.Design/methodology/approachQuestioning if the EEAS is entering the second phase of its life cycle (launched in 2010, its introduction phase was under Katherine Ashton, 2009–2014, followed by Federica Mogherini, 2014–2019, and Josep Borrell, 2019–2024), the authors carried out a content analysis on 765 tweets. The authors used the MARPE Diplo methodological framework to compare how the EU uses public diplomacy through its EEAS to negotiate its own interests with non-EU parties under the presidency of Federica Mogherini (period 1), during the transition period (period 2) and under the presidency of Joseph Borrell (period 3).FindingsBased on the comparison with their previous studies, the authors demonstrate that, over the years, the overall discourse of the EEAS is much more oriented towards public diplomacy.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study has two limitations. The first refers to the sampling of the participants involved in the citizen science experiment: they belong to a homogeneous age category and similar education level which might have biased their analysis. Second, the authors acknowledge the usual limitations linked to citizen science. However, the authors acknowledge a growing emphasis on the outcomes for society involving citizens and including partnerships between the public and scientists as well as an increased public engagement in policy processes.Practical implicationsThe research leads into new insights regarding the European-centred translation of the EEAS messages, compared to the off-centred view of non-European contributors.Social implicationsThe citizen science approach allows to integrate the targeted public to apply public diplomacy content analysis.Originality/valueThis case study is based on the principles of citizen science and demonstrates the importance of an off-centred approach in the analysis of the practices of public diplomacy.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47796526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“I am not a typical woman. I don’t think I am a role model” – Blokishness, behavioural and leadership styles and role models","authors":"M. Topić","doi":"10.1108/jcom-05-2022-0055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-05-2022-0055","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis paper presents a sociological analysis of the advertising industry's leadership styles and role models in England using masculinities in behaviour (“blokishness”) as a concept. The paper particularly focusses on the experiences of the so-called tomboy women who were socialised with boys and embraced masculine behavioural styles and compares their views and styles with women who experienced a more common, feminine socialisation and spent time in girls' peer groups during early socialisation. The paper explores why some women are seen as role models and others are not.Design/methodology/approachQualitative interviews were conducted with 37 women working in a variety of roles within the advertising industry in England, and from a variety of backgrounds, and views on leadership and role models were analysed with a particular focus on “tomboy” women and their behavioural and leadership styles, which is linked with role models and compared against views of the so-called feminine women. Triple coding and a thematic analysis were used to analyse data and make sense of concepts derived from participants' answers.FindingsThe findings suggest that tomboy women demonstrate masculine leadership and behavioural styles and are less likely to see themselves as role models along with facing disapproval from female employees they manage. On the other hand, feminine women demonstrate feminine leadership styles and are more likely to see themselves and become accepted as role models. Thus, the paper suggests that the perception and experience of role models depend on behavioural and leadership styles, which is different for the so-called tomboy and feminine women. Data suggest this is due to participation in early peer groups during childhood. The paper offers conceptualisation figures to inform future research.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest it is not always formal structure that impedes the progress of women, but often informal ones linked to behavioural styles. Therefore, whilst many positive policies have been introduced to improve equality in organisations and society in general, this paper sheds light on how these policies could get undermined by informal issues such as behavioural and leadership styles. Human resource (HR) professionals should further internal policies to prevent situations in which only those “who are like us” can go ahead in their careers by diversifying the workforce and employment and promotions panels.Originality/valueTo the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first paper analysing role models, and leadership styles linked to the position of women in the advertising industry, focussing on blokishness in behaviour and comparing styles of the so-called tomboy and feminine women.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48799117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. Guerreiro, S. Loureiro, Jorge Nascimento, Miguel Duarte
{"title":"How to earn a premium price: the effect of green marketing and brand coolness","authors":"J. Guerreiro, S. Loureiro, Jorge Nascimento, Miguel Duarte","doi":"10.1108/jcom-05-2022-0062","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-05-2022-0062","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe current paper aims to explore how brand coolness can mediate the relationship between tactical green marketing orientation (GMO) and willingness to pay (WTP), by exploring the differences between two global brands with opposite green marketing perceptions.Design/methodology/approachBased on the stimuli-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, the relation between tactical GMO, brand coolness and consumer's WTP is examined through a survey with 272 participants, who gave their perceptions about two different brands regarding their green orientations: British Petroleum (BP) and L'Oréal. The variable set was adapted and validated through focus group sessions.FindingsBrand coolness is found to mediate the impact GMO on WTP and, for both brands, green marketing does affect the extent to which brands are perceived as cool by consumers. More importantly, evidence shows that only in the case of the “green brand” (e.g. L'Oréal), the impact on WTP is significant, which offers new implications regarding the outcomes of companies' pro-environmental policies.Originality/valueThis study is the first to investigate the outcomes of GMO over consumer's intentions (WTP) and the role of brand perceptions (coolness). The effects are compared between two global brands, with significantly different perceptions on their environmental sustainability.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49266319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Globalization of the public relations agency industry: a country-level analysis of global public relations agencies and environmental factors","authors":"Suman Lee, S. Chung, Eui-Bang Lee","doi":"10.1108/jcom-06-2022-0067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-06-2022-0067","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe present study examined the status of globalization of the public relations (PR) agency industry and its environmental factors by analyzing 101 countries.Design/methodology/approachData were constructed from content analysis and multiple archival sources. Cluster analysis and multiple regressions were used for data analysis.FindingsThe present study identified the four distinctive groups of countries in the number of global PR agencies per country. These groups are (1) globalized top countries, (2) globalized major countries, (3) globalizing countries and (4) peripheral countries. The study also found that the degree of globalization of the PR agency industry in a country was associated with its democracy, economic system (gross domestic product (GDP) and foreign direct investment inflow), legal system (rule of law), cultural system (power distance and long-term orientation) and media system (Internet penetration rate) factors.Originality/valueThe previous studies on the global PR agency industry was limited to investigating a few leading agencies, but this study analyzed 114 global PR agencies and their diffusion in 101 countries and explored the influence of each country's characteristics (i.e. political, economic, legal, cultural and media factors) identified as the global PR environment factors.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44425399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An intermestic approach to China's public diplomacy: a case study of Beijing's COVID-19 communication in the early stages","authors":"Z. Huang, Rui Wang","doi":"10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0042","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe aim of this study was to examine the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak and the international communication management of Chinese diplomats as a case for extending the definition of intermestic public diplomacy. The goal was to reveal how Beijing subtly used both domestic and foreign social media to organize a network for communication about COVID-19 and purposefully soften the highly centralized and hierarchical political propaganda of the Communist Party of China (CPC).Design/methodology/approachBased on the literature on digital public diplomacy, the authors applied the existing concept of intermestic to Chinese politics in order to demonstrate the digitalization of public diplomacy, along with its forms and strategies under an authoritarian regime. A hybrid methodology combining quantitative network analysis and qualitative discourse analysis permits examination of China's intermestic online communication network dynamics, shedding light on how such an intermestic practice promoted Chinese values and power to international publics in the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis.FindingsThe authors’ findings extend the implications of intermestic public diplomacy from a democratic context to an authoritarian one. By analyzing the content of public diplomacy and para-diplomatic social media accounts in China and abroad at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the authors outlined China's early crisis management, explaining its intermestic public diplomacy transmission modes and strategies. Moreover, the authors identified changes in the narrative strategies of Chinese diplomats and journalists during this process.Social implicationsThe findings of this study underline that Beijing established a narrative-making virtual communication structure for disseminating favorable Chinese strategic narratives and voices through differentiated communication on domestic and foreign social media platforms. Such intermestic communication strategies were particularly evident and even further weaponized by Beijing in its large-scale Wolf Warrior diplomacy in the spring of 2020. Thus, the study’s findings help readers understand how China digitalized its public diplomacy, its digital communication patterns and strategies.Originality/valueOn the one hand, geopolitical uncertainty and the popularity of social media have contributed to the evolution of the intermestic model of public diplomacy. This model allows actors to coordinate homogenous and differentiated communication practices to deploy their influence. On the other hand, the authors did not examine how intermestic audiences perceive and receive public diplomacy practices. In future studies, scholars should measure the agenda-setting capacity of diplomatic actors by examining the effects of such intermestic communication efforts.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43151411","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Responding to online complaints in webcare by public organizations: the impact on continuance intention and reputation","authors":"Sandra Jacobs, Christine Liebrecht","doi":"10.1108/jcom-11-2021-0132","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-11-2021-0132","url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Purpose</h3>\u0000<p>Since public sector organizations provide services to citizens but struggle with poor perceptions of their functioning, it is valuable to examine how their online responses to complaints on social media could impact their reputation. Yet, surprisingly little is known about effects of public organizations' webcare. Therefore, this study assesses the impact of the webcare's tone, response strategy and user's involvement on participants’ continuance intention and perceptions of reputation.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Design/methodology/approach</h3>\u0000<p>Two experimental studies (Study 1: <em>N</em> = 424; Study 2: <em>N</em> = 203) with an interval of one week were carried out to assess the effects of singular and repeated exposure to webcare by a Dutch public transport organization on the participants' continuance intention and perceived organizational reputation. Study 1 examined the effects of the webcare's tone (corporate vs conversational human voice (CHV)) and response strategy (accommodative vs defensive); Study 2 contained tone of voice and user's involvement (observer vs complainer). The effects of repeated exposure to the webcare's tone were also examined.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Findings</h3>\u0000<p>The results indicate that perceptions of CHV in webcare contribute to webcare as reputation management tool, since it leads to immediate higher reputation scores that also remain stable after repeated exposure. Furthermore, people's continuance intention increased after repeated exposure to webcare responses that were perceived as CHV, thus a natural and engaging communication style, indicating this is an effective strategy for customer care as well. No substantial impact was found for response strategy and user's involvement in the complaint handling.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->\u0000<h3>Originality/value</h3>\u0000<p>The novelty of this study is that the authors assess the effects of the webcare's tone combined with response strategy and user's involvement in a public sector context with a sector-specific conceptualization of reputation and continuance intention measured after singular and repeated exposure to webcare.</p><!--/ Abstract__block -->","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":"79 1-2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138514070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Making sense of internal social media and participatory communication: exploring the employee perspective in a change process in a public sector organization","authors":"V. Madsen","doi":"10.1108/jcom-01-2022-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-01-2022-0002","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis article explores how employees in a public sector organization (PSO) make sense of the introduction of a social intranet and new employee communication roles. The aim is to understand employee sensemaking and how sensemaking influences the change process within the organization.Design/methodology/approachThe article is based on a case study in a Danish PSO with 30,000 employees. The empirical material includes strategic documents, online observations and seven focus groups with employees conducted before, during and after the introduction of a new social intranet.FindingsThe employees found that making sense of the purpose with the social intranet is difficult. A managerial approach to change communication could easily result in employees' frustrations and concerns being dismissed as signs of resistance to change. From a communication perspective, the findings reveal that the employees engaged in seven different sensemaking enactments.Research limitations/implicationsChange cannot be understood simply as something that employees are for or against. Instead, a change process should be perceived as a set of communication processes or sensemaking enactments happening in interactions between employees that can act in favor of, against or neutrally toward change.Practical implicationsManagers and communication professionals can interact with the seven sensemaking enactments, and some tentative initiatives are suggested in the article.Originality/valueThe article explores the employee perspective in a change process in a PSO and identifies seven employee sensemaking enactments highlighting that change happens in communication processes.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47585552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"It’s the REAL thing: contested media discourse and the UK Sugar Tax","authors":"E. Daniel, Terry O’Sullivan, F. Harris","doi":"10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0038","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeHealth policies often require individuals to limit behaviours deemed enjoyable or suffer other burdens. This leads to considerable and contested discourse often played out in the popular media. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of such contested media discourse on viewers' perceived attitude change towards the target behaviour.Design/methodology/approachCombining concepts from discourse analysis and marketing-psychology elaboration models, the authors undertook an online survey in which a large sample of the public (N = 855) watched parts of a real daytime news debate on the UK Sugar Tax. The authors then evaluated the effects of this discourse on the perceived understanding of the tax and perceived attitude change to the consumption of sugary drinks.FindingsParticipants differentiated between parts of the discourse related to facts and arguments (termed argument-related discourse devices) and parts related to the format and tone of the debate (termed debate-/speaker-related discourse devices). Contrary to what might be expected, debate-/speaker-related discourse devices, which might be thought of as subjective, appeared to effect positive perceived attitude change through a cognitive processing route that involved perceived improved understanding. The argument-related discourse devices, which may appear objective or rational, were not associated with perceived improved understanding but were directly associated with positive perceived attitude change.Originality/valueGiven the authors' interest in the relationship between discourse and perceived attitude change, the authors take the novel step of linking concepts from discourse analysis with models of attitude change taken from the marketing-psychology domain. Furthermore, the authors' large-scale survey “democratises” discourse analysis, allowing non-expert participants to reflect upon discourse.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41329223","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Climate change framing in the communication of CSR policies: the Secil Group example","authors":"Andréia Melchiades Soares","doi":"10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0048","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe cement industry's environmental implications place climate change at the centre of sector organisations' corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies, such as the Secil Group. The organisation's CSR policies definition, narrative framing and communication are fundamental, as they can affect its reputation. This article aims to highlight the climate change framing in the Secil Group sustainability report (SR) narrative.Design/methodology/approachThe framing theory is applied to analyse the international and sectoral climate change regulatory measures and the Secil Group SR. Document analysis is used to characterise Secil SR as a communication tool. Qualitative content analysis is used to highlight how Secil and the international and sectoral regulatory measures on climate change frame their narrative and compare each other.FindingsThe international and sectoral regulatory measures on climate change and the Secil's SR broadly frame climate change, using ethical, efficiency and effectiveness, communication and relations and law and regulation framings. The Secil's Group SR also highlights the financial frame, exposing the challenge of reconciling economic with collective interests. There is room for researchers to explore the concepts of CSR, sustainability and environment, social and governance (ESG) through the lens of complementarity.Originality/valueThis study shows that the Wehmeier and Raaz (2012) model, created to study transparency, can be applied to other communication studies. This paper explores a case study and, for this reason, is not generalisable. Although, the method and theoretical framework can be applied to any organisation.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49312049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Advocacy and the role of human rights organizations in the Brazilian legislative branch: Rede Justiça Criminal campaigns","authors":"Juliana Santos","doi":"10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jcom-04-2022-0040","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis study aims to understand, from the analysis of the work of a Brazilian network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), how advocacy on human rights issues is developed to defend causes before the legislative branch, identifying its contributions and effectiveness. For this, were observed, the strategies and tactics employed in the implementation of two advocacy campaigns promoted by a Brazilian NGOs network.Design/methodology/approachThe research adopts the method of inductive investigation with a qualitative approach and uses the techniques of semi-structured in-depth interviews and documentary research. The paper is developed within the scientific field of public relations (PR), uses as reference the critical theory and the rhetorical theory of PR, and is based on the concept of advocacy.FindingsSome results of the advocacy are observed, such as the greater awareness of political decision-makers, in addition to the influence on the definition of the political agenda and on the action of the political decision-makers.Research limitations/implicationsAmong the limitations of this study are the time span for analyzing the campaigns' actions, which could be extended to observe long-term results, as well as the dedication of the study exclusively to the legislative branch since the campaigns also sought to influence decision-making in the executive branch.Social implicationsThe results found encourage the strengthening of the democratic environment since it increases the power and influence of civil society in the political decision-making of the legislative branch.Originality/valueThe study showed that advocacy, as a PR activity, increases civil society participation in political decisions.","PeriodicalId":51660,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Communication Management","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2022-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49402414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}