Public Relations 2000 Abstracts
Public Relations Division
Research
“Check Out Our Web Site at … “ The Public Relations Content Characteristics of Fortune 500 Companies • Debashis (Deb) Aikat, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • This study content analyzed 264 randomly selected Web sites from the 1999 Fortune 500 list of companies to identify eight public relations content characteristics of Fortune 500 companies. They are: (a) effective promotion with widespread reach at low cost, (b) reliable product information and customer support round-the-clock, (c) graphically rich content with significant shift from text to visuals, (d) failure to project corporate identity on the Web, (e) little interactivity, few features for information exchange, evaluation and feedback.
Making Health Communications Meaningful for Women: Factors that Influence Involvement and the Situational Theory of Publics • Linda Aldoory, Maryland • Focus groups and interviews were held with women from various ethnic, class, education and sexual backgrounds to explore antecedent factors that may characterize involvement, a key variable in the situational theory of publics. Findings revealed that a consciousness of everyday life, media source credibility, self-identity, a consciousness of personal health, and cognitive analyses of message content influenced involvement with health messages. Public relations practitioners can use findings to better tailor health messages to specific needs and lifestyles of different women.
Using Grunig’s PR Models to Evaluate Strategic Philanthropy: An Exploratory Study • Joel Andren, Washington State • An investigation of strategic philanthropy campaigns and their evaluation yielded insight into the perceived public relations value of philanthropy. In a survey of philanthropy programs in a Northwest city, it was found that corporations are more likely to operate their philanthropy efforts based on a one-way, rather than two-way, model. If public relations departments were involved more in the selection, implementation, and evaluation of philanthropy campaigns, they could quantify the value of such philanthropic efforts.
Private Issues and Public Policy: Locating the Corporate Agenda in Agenda-Setting Theory • Bruce K. Berger, Alabama • This research examines attempts by The Business Roundtable (BRT) to influence policy agendas regarding four private issues, i.e., policy issues not salient on media and public agendas. BRT’s information subsidies are studied, along with media coverage, public opinion, and policy agenda developments. Results suggest BRT uses information subsidies to control the scope of issue conflict, and these subsidies influenced the policy agenda for study issues. Corporate influence on private issues alters the traditional agenda-setting process, and an alternative, elitist model is proposed.
Do PRT Practitioners Have a PR Problem?: The Effect of Associating a Source with Public Relations and Client-Negative News on Audience Perception of Credibility • Coy Callison, Alabama • Through a 2 X 2 factorial experiment (N=141), information source type (PR Spokesperson or Generic Spokesperson) and message topic (Client-Neukal and Client-Negative) were varied to determine how both affect audience perception of source credibility. Results suggest public relations and the organizations they represent are perceived as less credible than unidentified sources and their employers. Also, sources and their sponsors communicating organization negative news are perceived as less credible than those communicating client-neutral information.
Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk: Advancing Measurement in Public Relations • Yuhmiin Chang, Fritz Cropp and Glen T. Cameron, Missouri • Lindenmann found that public relations research is talked about much more than it is done. To help assess why this might be hold true, we track the steps in an extensive evaluation of a public relations campaign. Following Grunig’s exemplification of the use of focus group research in public relations (1992), this case study offers a guide to the use of a quasi-experimental design with control group for evaluating public relations efforts.
Examining Factors that Influence Pharmacists’ Willingness to Participate in a National Health Campaign • Cynthia-Lou Coleman-Sillars, Georgia • A national study of pharmacists asked whether they would feel equipped to participate in a health campaign aimed at reducing antimicrobial resistance. While most pharmacists agreed that their role in educating patients is important, several barriers to communication were noted. The volume of prescriptions filled, constraints of time, worry over relationships with physicians and unfamiliarity with judicious antibiotic use were some of the barriers.
A National Survey of Public Relations Internship Programs at Mass Communication Programs Accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC) • Janice Davis and Mary-Lou Galician, Arizona State • To compile a national profile of public relations internship programs • thereby filling a research gap, the researchers conducted a national mail survey of all 108 ACEJMC-accredited colleges and universities in the United States in February and March, 2000. To-date (3/22/00), the response rate was 54%, with additional returns expected before the 4/1/00 cut-off. In addition to statistical summaries and survey verbatims, exemplary collateral materials provided by respondents will be available for examination at this session.
Viva la Vacation: An Examination of Personal Values, Information Sources, and Pleasure Travel • Lisa T. Fall, Michigan State • Public relations researchers continually strive to advance methods for predicting consumer behavior as related to successful message consumption. Of noted importance is the increased worth consumers are placing on “individualism.” The overarching question, “What • personally • is in it for me?” must be answered every time an organization develops a message for its intended audiences. One successful way to personalize the message is by tapping into a consumer’s core values system.
“Integrated Relationship Management” as a Reforming Paradigm of Thai Corporations during the Post-Crisis: The Case Study and the [Re]construction of Social Values • Peeraya (Pepe) Hanpongp and, Iowa • In order to cope with the problems related to globalization, this paper advocates an integration of integrated marketing communications (IMC) and relationship management (RM). For that purpose, the notion of integrated relationship management (IRM) is developed in this paper. In this paper, the case of the Lemon Farm Cooperative, a corporation of Thailand is explored to show how the notion of global/local relationship was played out in the Thai culture and how a Thai value-based approach to relationship building has cultivated the concept of IRM as proposed in this paper.
Advertising and the News: Does Advertising Campaign Information in News Stories Improve the Memory of Subsequent Advertisement • Hyun Seung Jin, North Carolina-Chapel Hill • The purpose of this study is to examine whether previous exposure to advertising campaign information presented in news stories (publicity) boosts the audience’s memory for the subsequent advertisements. In the experiment, subjects in the experimental group were exposed to a print version of newspaper article about the Super Bowl ads on Friday before the Sunday night Super Bowl game, whereas subjects in the control group read a news article with no mention of the Super Bowl ads.
Ego-Involvement and Practitioners’ Attitudes Toward Integrated Marketing Communication • Amanda Jones and Amy Sanders, Truman State • This survey of Public Relations Society of America practitioners uses the Ordered Alternatives Questionnaire to analyze practitioners’ attitudes toward integrated marketing communication and the impact of professional ego-involvement on those attitudes. Results indicated communication professionals strongly support the integrated marketing communication concept, but differ as to the appropriate degree of integration. Those who identified with the public relations profession were more likely to prefer maintaining distinctions among the various communication professions.
Public Relations Roles and Media Choice • Tom Kelleher, Hawaii at Manoa • A national survey of PRSA members (n = 267) was conducted to examine the relationship between public relations roles and media choice based on the integration of PR theory and media richness theory. Respondents were identified as either PR managers or technicians using confirmatory factor analysis, corroborating previous research. Managers reported spending more time in oral communication than technicians, while technicians spend more time using written communication. E-mail use in PR and related communities is also discussed.
An Exploration of Integration of the Public Relations Function in International Business Operations • Juan Carlos Molleda, South Carolina • The paper introduces three cases that describe the types of coordination (formalization, centralization, and socialization) and communication tools (e.g., annual report, corporate intranet, and web sites) used by the public relations function in international businesses to achieve normative integration. That is, global efficiency, worldwide learning, and national responsiveness through enhancing interdependence and inter-unit communication. The cases are put into context by summarizing relevant literature from international management. Recommendations for theory building and research are provided.
Determining Message Objectives: An Analysis of Public Relations Strategy Use in Press Releases • Kelly Garnette Page, Florida • This study attempts to identify public relations strategies used in the press releases distributed by organizations. A content analysis of 100 press releases randomly selected from the PRNewswire web site was performed. Results indicate that the taxonomy of public relations strategies proposed by Hazleton (1992) is a valid conceptualization of public relations strategy use in organizations and that these strategies can be identified in the press releases distributed by organizations.
Mythic Battles: Examining the Lawyer-Public Relations Counselor Dynamic • Bryan H. Reber and Glenn T. Cameron, Missouri-Columbia • Long considered adversarial, relationships between public relations practitioners and lawyers were analyzed via Q methodology and depth interviews. Subjective attitudes were measured regarding strategies in dealing with publics in times of organizational crisis and how the subjects viewed their professional counterparts. Analysis employed concepts central to coorientation theory. Lawyers more accurately projected the PR response than vice versa. Relationships seem to be all-important. And, the proverbial law/PR conflict may have taken on nearly mythic proportions.
Comparative Approaches to Segmenting Publics in Agricultural Information Campaigns • Robin Shepard and Garrett ‘ÕKeefe, Wisconsin • Governmental agencies, educational institutions, not-for-profit environmental interest groups, and corporations regularly conduct public information campaigns aimed at promoting their own special interests and needs with respect to the natural environment. In this analysis we will compare approaches to segmenting and targeting agricultural producers • for informational campaigns. Results suggests that informational campaigns based on single medium delivery will not be effective at changing behavior in the studied watershed.
Employee Communications and Community: An Exploratory Study • Andi Stein, Oregon • This paper explores the relationship between employee communications and the process of community building within an organization. Using a survey approach, the paper focuses on PeaceHealth, a healthcare system in the Pacific Northwest with locations in six different regions in three different states. The paper evaluates PeaceHealth employees’ perceptions of the effectiveness of various communication tools in helping to establish a sense of community at three different levels of the organization • departmental, regional, and organizational.
Loyalty in Public Relations: When Is It Raw Material for Virtue and when is it Raw Material for Some Vices? • Kevin Stoker, Brigham Young and Curtis Carter, Georgia Pacific Corporation • This paper addresses the practical and moral ramifications of organizational deterioration on public relations professionals. First, the concepts of exit and voice and their relationship to public relations practice will be explained. Next, the paper will consider loyalty, its definition, its limits, and its effect on public relations practice. The paper will then delineate between loyalty as a raw material for virtue or vice before proposing a model to guide public relations practice.
Use of World Wide Web Sites Marketing and Promotions Tools: A Pilot Study of University Journalism/Mass Communication Programs in Texas • Thirty-one Texas college and university journalism/ mass communication World Wide Web sites were analyzed, and faculty/ administrator interviews were conducted to address five research questions about the use of Web sites as marketing and promotions tools. Sites were scored for visual, operational, and informational enhancements. Site administrators discussed site launch, design, maintenance, management and future trends issues. Sizeable differences were found in levels of site visual, operational, and informational enhancement.
Teaching
Preparing Public Relations and Advertising Students for the 21st Century: A Case Study • Robert Carroll, Southern Indiana • In 1993, the Task Force on Integrated Communications reported that public relations and advertising students would better be prepared to enter a changing communications industry through an “integrated” curriculum. This paper is a case study of how one university has attempted to meet that challenge. The work has resulted in the development of an “Integrated Marketing Communications” class for advertising, public relations, and marketing seniors.
The Internet and Public Relations Curricula: Fitting “a jet engine to a horse-drawn carriage” • Karla Gower and Jung-Yul Cho, Alabama • The Internet is changing the way business does business. It is also changing public relations, opening new opportunities for the field. This study presents the findings from an email survey of public relations agencies that attempted to determine how agencies are using the Internet for public relations and what skills they consider important. The purpose of the survey was to discovery how public relations educators could best prepare graduates for the demands of the profession.
Using Private Consulting as a Teaching Tool • Candace White, Tennessee • This paper explains how private consulting was used to provide on-going instruction and examples of public relations strategies and tactics in a public relations writing course. Students were able to see immediate, real-time implementation and how problems were addressed in a real life context. A survey of the students showed the teaching method was well received, increased understanding and knowledge of how public relations tactics are implemented, and proved relevant to the course material.
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