Analyzing activist organizations as issue managers: Introducing the issue campaign model

ABSTRACT Activists and the organizations established to pursue their goals have been influential in shaping public relations theory and practice, including issues management. However, scholars only recently increased efforts to develop a more robust understanding of activist organizations and their communication efforts, including how they can serve as issue managers to incite change at multiple levels. As activist organizations shift a portion of their pursuits away from public policy and into the private sector, this study details how these strategic communicators enact their roles as issue managers within a corporate campaign context. Specifically, this study explores the intersection of activism and issues management, thereby advancing our understanding of issues management from the activist perspective and proposing the issue campaign model, which outlines the process employed by activist organizations to identify, develop, and press their issues toward resolution.