Public Relations 2019 Abstracts

Doug Newsom Award for Global Ethics and Global Diversity

An Appeal to Shared Values: Faith, Advocacy, and Persuasion in the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Public Relations • Brian J. Bowe, Western Washington University; Derek Moscato, Western Washington University; Mariam Alkazemi, Virginia Commonwealth University • While much attention has been paid to the way news media both represent and misrepresent Muslims, much less work has been devoted to Muslim self-representation in the public sphere. This study examines press releases issued by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to begin to close this gap in understanding of Muslim American self-representation. The study explores four strategic frames related to incident reports, legal responses, public sphere engagement and interfaith solidarity. It also examines the calls to action employed in the press releases. Finally, the findings show that releases also emphasized moral language related to protect the rights of individuals to be fully included in public life.

Open Competition

Toward an Emotional Intelligence Approach to Public Relations • Weiwu Zhang, Texas Tech University; Oluseyi Adegbola • This study provides an overview of the role of emotional intelligence in public relations and assesses the research in this area. Existing research has focused mostly on emotional intelligence as a competency vital to effective leadership. This study calls for further research investigating the role of emotional intelligence in different aspects of public relations such as media and customer relations, as well as methodological pluralism in future research.

Resilient Aging: Examining how AARP Constructs Public Resilience Through its #DisruptAging Campaign • Lindsey Anderson, University of Maryland; Sylvia (Jiankun) Guo • We completed an analysis of AARP’s #DisruptAging campaign to understand how the organization crafts messages about resilience to facilitate successful aging among its publics. We found the campaign reflected the processes of resilience communication, as well as a new strategy—acceptance/appreciation. These findings illuminate the societal role of organizational discourse by showing how inclusive organizational-public communication can disrupt stereotypes; thus contributing to a fully functioning society and marking the future of public relations scholarship.

The role of self-transcendent emotions and empathy in motivating communication about social and environmental issues • Denise Bortree, Penn State University; Michail Vafeiadis, Auburn University; Pratiti Diddi, Pennsylvania State University; Julia Gessner, Penn State University; Virginia Harrison; Yiting Chai, Penn State University • This study examines the role of emotions in situational motivations toward communication. In specific, the study looks at how self-transcendent emotions and empathy predict problem recognition, constraint recognition, involvement recognition and situational motivation in problem solving for two issues – climate change and immigration. A 2×2 experimental study found that self-transcendent emotions increase empathy which significantly influences communication motivators. However, not all self-transcendent emotions work in a positive direction for both issues. Implications are discussed.

Exploring the Influence of Stakeholder Personality on Crisis Response Evaluations and Outcomes • Natalie Brown-Devlin, The University of Texas at Austin; Hayoung Lim; Lindsay Bouchacourt, The University of Texas at Austin; Michael Devlin, Texas State University • While public relations professionals are beginning to utilize psychographic data points for more refined methods of audience targeting, this study proposes a novel approach for understanding stakeholders by examining how their elemental personality traits impact 1) crisis communication outcomes (lessen levels of attributed crisis responsibility, improve individual’s image, and increase positive word-of-mouth) and 2) evaluations of employed crisis response strategies. Stakeholder personality traits provide unique psychographics about the target audience, which may assist public relations professionals by micro-targeting strategic crisis response strategies. This study utilized an experimental design with 368 collegiate participants from two Texas universities. Results suggest that several underlying personality traits predict image repair-outcomes regardless of the communication strategy used, while others are more likely to interact certain strategies that embody certain ideal crisis communication outcomes. Several theoretical and practical implications were provided.

Enhancing Perceptions of the value of public relations through MBA education • Kristie Byrum, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania; Kathleen Rennie Ph.D APR Fellow PRSA Professor, New Jersey City University • The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) launched its MBA/Business School Program in fall 2012 to help MBA programs in the United States introduce strategic communication into the business school curriculum. The leading professional organization in the United States launched the program after finding that MBA curricula do not typically include a focus on communication topics. Since launching the program, the PRSA has engaged 16 colleges and universities across the country as participants in the program, allowing them to offer courses specifically designated to strategic communications. This qualitative study set out to better understand outcomes of the courses, most notably how the course can influence the individual’s perception of the public relations process. The study gauged the impact of the class on the perceptions of students (seasoned business professionals) about the public relations profession and the value of strategic communication. This study reports on the students’ perceptions of the business value of public relations, the use of strategic communication, and why the students’ perceptions are meaningful.

(Re)centering human experience: A provocation for a critical humanistic orientation for public relations • Erica Ciszek, University of Texas at Austin • The article reflects on the contemporary status of public relations, highlighting the tensions between functionalist traditions and emergent critical perspectives. It presents critical humanism as an avenue for propelling public relations research and practice. This article imagines possibilities for critical humanistic work in public relations, drawing from and building upon research on feminism, queer theory and critical theories of race, advocating for the discipline to function as an avenue for social change.

Personal Influence in Public Relations • Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, University of Colorado Boulder; Jolene Fisher, University of Colorado Boulder • Personal influence plays an important role in the functioning of public relations across all cultural contexts, yet the concept has been neglected in the field’s scholarship. This study presents a review of the origins and use of the term, an examination of the current state of the personal influence model as it relates to the body of knowledge of public relations, and a research agenda that advances understanding of personal influence in public relations.

Assessing the Relationship between Self-Benefit and Other-Benefit Message Framing, Perceived Transparency Effectiveness, and Organizational Trust • Jolene Fisher, University of Colorado Boulder; Toby Hopp, University of Colorado Boulder • The frames used in organizational transparency messages have meaningful implications as they pertain to the formation of organizational trust among publics. Specifically, in this study, we proposed that transparency messages that emphasize an organization’s commitment to the social good are more likely to elicit trust-based gains than transparency messages that emphasize the organization’s value to the self. The results of two experiments supported this contention.

Understanding the Church of Scientology’s Interpretation of Effective Public Relations • Melanie Formentin, Towson University; Cylor Spaulding, Georgetown University • Scientology’s public relations (PR) function is based on research and writing by L. Ron Hubbard, who studied PR and drafted documents directing Church communication strategies. Hubbard had the textbook Effective Public Relations reprinted with annotations for Church practitioners. Textual analysis shows Hubbard selectively adopted PR strategies; he embraced identifying primary publics and using interpersonal communication but eschewed psychological principles and media relations strategies. The findings show how a religious organization has employed industry principles.

How institutional pressure influences corporate crisis communication practice?: A comparative case study from China • Qijun He, School of Journalism and Communication, Shanghai University • This study aims to explore the influence of institutional pressure on corporate crisis communication practice in China. Through comparing six cases in three pairs of crisis type, i.e., victim, accidental and intentional, the study showed that the firms depended on its willingness to conform to institutional pressure and resistant ability to adopt various strategic responses to cope with institutional pressure in crisis, and accordingly adapt their crisis communication strategies and forms of response to satisfy both self-interest and institutional pressure with less communicative strategies yet more invisible strategies, low-profile stance, and a more timely, active and consistent form of response.

Is fake news the new social media crisis?: Examining the public evaluation of crisis management for organizations targeted in viral fake news • Rosie Jahng, Wayne State University; Scott Burgess; Maria Clara Martucci, Wayne State University • This study conducted a mixed-design experiment to test the main effect of intention to damage the brand and political motivation on crisis identification, crisis severity, and audience acceptance of crisis responses was tested. Also, the moderating role of intention to damage the brand in fake news on the proposed dependent variables were further tested. Results indicated that while fake news with high intention to damage the brands are perceived and evaluated as a severe crisis, fake news with political motivation is not considered as a reputational crisis as much. Organizations should make strategic decisions based on the strength of intention to damage the brand reputation and the presence of political motivations when they find themselves as victims of fake news spreading on social media.

Toward A Relational Theory of Employee Engagement: Understanding Authenticity, Transparency, and Employee Behaviors • Hua Jiang, Syracuse University; Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University • Based on the relationship management paradigm in public relations and the job demands-resources model, we proposed a relational theory of employee engagement integrating employees’ immediate supervisors’ authentic leadership behavior and transparent organizational communication as antecedents of engagement and contextual performance behavior and turnover intention as behavioral outcomes that engagement leads to. Results from an employee survey (N = 727) indicated that immediate supervisors’ authentic leadership exchange with employees helped promote transparent organizational communication. Both authentic leadership and transparent organizational communication predicted employees’ level of physical, emotional, and cognitive engagement, which, in turn, largely explained employees’ contextual performance behavior and turnover intention. Moreover, transparent organizational communication was directly associated with employees’ turnover intention, and indirectly related to their contextual performance behavior via employee engagement. Finally, transparent organizational communication and employee engagement directly mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and two behavioral outcome variables in our model. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Social Media Research in Public Relations, 1998 – 2018: Status and Future Directions • Ran Ju; Sandra Braun; Dat Huynh; Sarah McCaffrey • This study examined the development of social media PR research by analyzing 189 articles published between 2008 and 2018 from two leading PR academic journals through quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Quantitative findings suggested a steady increase in scholarly attention on this topic, an international development of social media research, and a shift of perspectives used to examine this topic. Qualitative findings revealed themes on prominent results and practical implications from the examined articles.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Global Public Relations as A Scholarly Field • Eyun-Jung Ki, University of Alabama; Yorgo Pasadeos, University of Alabama; Tugce Ertem-Eray, University of Oregon • This bibliometric study aims to evaluate the state of the art in the global public relations literature since its inception to 2017. A total of 24,922 citations from 442 articles permit us to conclude that the growth and popularity of global public relations is steady in the scholarship. The literature is still in the process of interdisciplinary borrowing. The topics of interest in the global public relations research can be generally categorized into three groups: culture or cultural dimensions, application of public relations theory or perspective to another country, and public diplomacy.

The Role of Social Distance, Crisis Severity, and Crisis Response Strategy in Crisis Communication: A Construal Level Perspective • Jeesun Kim, Incheon National University; HyunJee Oh; Chang-Dae Ham, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • Despite growing research on public attributions of crisis responsibility, relatively little is known about the role of perceived social distance to organizations along with crisis severity and crisis response strategies. Applying Construal Level Theory (CLT) to the context of crisis communication, we examine the role of construal fit between social distance, crisis severity, and crisis response strategy in determining crisis responsibility and negative word-of-mouth (WOM) intention. A test of 2 (social distance: close vs. distant) x 2 (crisis response strategy: defensive vs. accommodating) x 2 (crisis severity: low vs. high) between-subjects experiment finds three two-way interaction effects: 1) between social distance and crisis response strategy; 2) between social distance and crisis severity; and 3) crisis response strategy and crisis severity on negative WOM. No interaction effect was found on crisis responsibility, however. The psychological mechanism based on social distance plays a role in drawing different public reactions to crisis response strategies and different levels of severity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Activating constructive employee behavioral responses in crisis situations: Examining the effects of pre-crisis internal reputation and crisis communication strategies on constructive and destructive employee voice behaviors • Young Kim, Marquette University; Hyunji Lim, Marquette University • This study explores how organizational management can promote employee voice behaviors, as positive behavioral reactions with constructive ideas, in responding to organizational crisis. Using an experimental study (N=640) among full-time employees in the United States, the study found that pre-crisis internal reputation and crisis communication strategies—accommodative response and stealing thunder—positively and directly affected constructive employee voice behaviors in a crisis situation. Furthermore, the study revealed how post-crisis internal reputation mediates the influences of pre-crisis internal reputation and stealing thunder on positive/constructive and negative/destructive employee voice behaviors.

An Ecological View and A Multi-Level Analysis of Public Organizations’ Communication Behaviors on Social Media • Chih-Hui Lai, National Chiao Tung U; Rebecca Yu, National Chiao Tung University • This study applies an ecological view and a multi-level analysis to unpack public organizations’ communication on social media as embedded in the broader environment. Through manual and automated content analysis of 617 public organizations’ one-year Facebook posts in Taiwan, the data reveal the unique patterns of public organizations’ social media communication as manifested in both message function and message content, as well as the association between these two, after controlling for time and organizational influence.

Crisis Response Strategy Differences: U.S. vs South Korea • Soehyeon Lee; Moon Lee, University of Florida • In this study, we compared the types of crisis response strategies in terms of crisis types utilized in two different countries (i.e., the USA and South Korea) and tested the applicability of a major theoretical approach, Situational Crisis Theory, by analyzing 222 actual crisis cases (USA: n = 114; KOR: n = 108) happened during the last decade (from January 2009 to March 2018). Rebuilding strategy was the most often used strategy, regardless of countries. We also found differences between these two countries in terms of response strategies/specifics in organizations’ responses to crises. Theoretical and practical implications are further discussed in this study.

Toward an Integrated Model of Employees’ Communicative Behaviors on Social Media: Individual and Organizational Determinants • Yeunjae Lee; Katie Kim • To advance theoretical understanding of employees’ communicative behaviors on social media, this study proposes and tests an integrative model that incorporates individual and organizational antecedents. The model specifically examines the collective impacts of the social media-related behavioral motivations of individuals and the quality of organization-employee relationship (OER) on their positive and negative information sharing intentions on personal social networking sites and anonymous social media. The results of an online survey with full-time employees in the U.S. showed that OER significantly increases employees’ positive behavioral intentions and social media-related motivations. Further, OER significantly decreases employees’ negative information sharing intentions on anonymous websites but not on their own social media. Considerable and distinct effects of individuals’ positive (i.e., help organization, self-enhancement, enjoyment) and negative (i.e., vent negative feelings, warn others) behavioral motivations on social media are also found. Theoretical and practical implications for public relations and employee behaviors are discussed.

The Value of Public Relations in Enhancing Employees’ Health Information Disclosure Intentions in the Workplace • Jo-Yun Li, University of Miami; Yeunjae Lee • Various mechanisms and processes have been established that lead to employees’ decisions to disclose their health information in the workplace. The existing literature has emphasized individuals’ stigma, privacy, or discrimination but often overlooked the influence of organizations’ internal communication effort. This study focused on organizations’ public relations practices and explored the antecedents of employees’ health-related perceptions, communicative behaviors, and intentions to disclose their health information in the workplace. In particular, this study tested the impact of symmetrical internal communication and the quality of organization–employee relationship (OER) on employees’ perceived risks and benefits of information disclosure and their communication strategies for their health information. The results of an online survey showed that a positive OER increased the employees’ perceived benefits and direct communication behaviors within an organization. In addition, the OER quality decreased the employees’ perceived risks for disclosing their health information to their supervisors but not to their colleagues. Results also found the varying impact of employees’ perceptions and communication strategies on their intention to disclose their physical and mental health problems. Theoretical and practical implications for public relations and health communication were discussed in this study.

Being honest in crisis communication: Implications of pre-crisis engagement and stealing thunder • SANG LEE, 1961; Jiyoung Lee, WVU • This research reports on the buffering effects of two proactive crisis communication strategies: pre-crisis engagement and stealing thunder, which is an organization’s voluntary revelation of crisis information when facing a crisis. The results showed that the effectiveness of stealing thunder was moderated by the pre-crisis engagement with stakeholder petitions such that the effects of stealing thunder were only observed when the organization engaged with stakeholder complaints in the pre-crisis stage. A moderated parallel mediation model explored the underlying mechanism in which crisis responsibility and crisis severity parallelly mediated the interaction effects between pre-crisis engagement and stealing thunder.

Empowered giving: Understanding the role of psychosocial empowerment in charitable giving behavior to mental health organizations • Taylor Jing Wen, University of South Carolina; Jo-Yun Li, University of Miami • Although mental illness constitutes a large part of the burden of disease, it is one of the least funded diseases in the United States. Guided by the theoretical frameworks of giving behaviors and psychological empowerment, this study seeks to understand the effects of individual characteristics (i.e., altruistic personality traits) and contextual factors (i.e., social capital) on individuals’ cognitions of psychological empowerment and individuals’ subsequent donation behaviors. A survey of 604 participants found that individuals’ beliefs about the meanings and impacts of their charitable giving (i.e., meaning and impact) and the control they have over their ability to make such donations (i.e., competence) are the specific dimensions that reinforce the effects of altruism and social capital on donation intentions. The incorporation of different cognitions of psychological empowerment may help mental health organizations and communication practitioners to address the issue of the relative lack of monetary contributions from the public. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Information vetting as a key component in social-mediated crisis communication: An exploratory study • Xuerong Lu, University of Georgia; Yan Jin; Taeyeon Kim • In order to understand publics’ information consumption behavior in current media environment, this study addresses how and why individuals vet information (or not) in crisis situations. Grounded in dual-process model and meta-cognition theory, an initial conceptual framework of crisis information vetting was outlined. An exploratory study, including four focus groups and 13 in-depth interviews, was conducted to investigate: 1) indicators of information vetting behavior according to participants’ self-reported experience; and 2) what motivate and what prohibit participants from engaging themselves emotionally and cognitively in the process of crisis information vetting. Our qualitative data provided evidence for a two-step process of crisis information vetting, namely, primary vetting and secondary vetting. A total of 48 vetting behavior indicators were further rendered, which serve as a strong content base for future scale development and further conceptual model refinement.

Corporate vanguards: The contemporary role of organization altruism • Lincoln Lu, University of Florida; Kalyca Lynn Becktel, University of Florida; Myiah Hutchens, University of Florida • Dramatic influx of brands embracing diplomatic action as part of their strategic marketing and public relations tactics is muddying the definition of corporate social responsibility. This study utilizes the recent Central American migrant caravan as the context to examine participants’ reactions to corporate philanthropy. A 2×3 experimental design was utilized with an online sample. Organizations adopting explicit positions did not increase brand-public relationship, but perceived altruism was increased for all participants regardless of political identity.

The strive for legitimacy? Corporate diplomacy practices of European MNEs in the UAE • Sarah Marschlich; Diana Ingenhoff • Applying a neo-institutional public relations approach, the purpose of this study is to assess to what extent corporate diplomacy in the United Arab Emirates is used as a legitimation strategy. For this, we conducted in-depth interviews with public relations executives (N=20). Our findings imply that companies engage in corporate diplomacy to align with governmental social expectations in their host country, which can contribute to the companies’ moral legitimacy.

A Different Kind of Public Sector Practice: Local Law Enforcement Public Relations • Lindsay McCluskey, SUNY Oswego • Researchers have distinguished between public and private sector public relations, identifying critical environmental factors that influence public relations practices and ultimately organization-public relationships (Horsley, et al., 2010; Liu & Horsley, 2007; Liu & Levenshus, 2010; Liu et al., 2010; Liu et al., 2012). Taking these variables into consideration, scholars created (Liu & Horsley, 2007) and refined (Horsley et al., 2010; Liu et al., 2012) the Government Communication Decision Wheel, a theoretical model. The GCDW studies did not focus on understanding practices and characteristics associated with specific segments of the profession; therefore, they did not account for variables that may be specific to departments or segments within levels of government. Horsley et al. (2010) and Liu et al. (2012) acknowledged such limitations to their research. This study adds to the theoretical understanding surrounding the GCDW by addressing some of the more “nuanced differences” (Liu et al., 2012, p. 237) associated with a segment of public relations practice that shares “similar missions or tasks” – local law enforcement public relations (Horsley et al., 2010, p. 288). This work is based on 20 interviews with local law enforcement public relations personnel across the United States. Several prominent themes emerged regarding the perceived differences associated with local law enforcement public relations. These include demand and being “24/7;” the level of attention paid to, the level of interest in, and the level of media scrutiny associated with local law enforcement; and the inherent nature and complexity of law enforcement interactions and information.

Communication Strategies to Drive Internal Social Media Usage and Relationship Cultivation with Employees • Rita Men; Julie O’Neil, Texas Christian University; Michele Ewing • This study examined the administrative and communication strategies used by organizations to encourage employee participation on internal social media and analyzed whether employees’ internal social media usage engenders increased transparency and relational outcomes. Specifically, researchers proposed and tested a conceptual model that links organizational communication strategies (i.e., strategic information dissemination, two-way symmetrical communication), employee internal social media usage, perceived organizational transparency, and employee-organization relationships. Through an online survey of 1,150 employees from various organizations in the United States that had adopted internal social media, results showed that strategic information dissemination and social-mediated, two-way symmetrical communication both encouraged employees’ use of internal social media, which in turn, led to employees’ perception of organizational transparency and quality relationship outcomes with the organization. The study also found that organizations primarily use internal social media to post information about news and events in order to keep employees informed and updated. Companies most often utilized Facebook to communicate with employees. While majority companies had a social media policy in place, over half of them did not provide social media training. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Exploring the Role of Stakeholder Engagement in Enhancing Resilience in Emergency Communication: A Qualitative Study • Lan Ni, University of Houston; Weidong Shi, University of Houston • This paper explores the role and mechanism of stakeholder engagement in addressing challenges and enhancing resilience in emergency communication. Through qualitative interviews with 16 emergency managers, this study identified four levels of challenges in enhancing resilience (information challenges, expectation challenges, perception challenges, and personnel challenges). Findings also revealed how key stakeholder engagement processes such as stakeholder identification and relationship management can address these challenges and better activate and empower stakeholders to be partners.

A Human Touch and Content Matter for Consumer Engagement • Hyojung Park, Louisiana State University; Yangzhi Jiang, Louisiana State University • This study explores the roles of consumer motivations and brand communication in increasing consumer engagement with a brand on social media. Data from a survey of a quota sample of 691 U.S. consumers indicate that the motivations of entertainment and remuneration are positively associated with consuming and contributing to brand content on social media. In addition, the motive of obtaining information prompts people to consume brand content (e.g., reading a brand’s posts or watching videos), while the motivation for self-expression leads to contributing activities (e.g., conversing on a brand’s account and uploading videos). After controlling for these motivations, brand communication strategy (such as content and tone) appears to influence consumers’ brand-related activities on social media, which subsequently results in consumer intentions in favor of the brand.

Cultivating #Cupfusion: An Exploration of the Unintended Consequences of Communication in a Public Relations Campaign • Timothy Penn, Towson University • This case study is an exploration into the application of Merton’s (1936) typology of unanticipated consequences of purposeful social actions to a public relations campaign. Merton used scientific analysis to understand factors leading to unintended consequences, rather than attributing them to chance or fate. Using qualitative methods,including in-depth interviews, organization-provided document analysis, and content analysis of the Reese’s brand Facebook page, this study found four of his five factors, including lack of foreknowledge, habit, myopia, and values, have proved applicable to the 2016 Reese’s #Cupfusion campaign. Merton’s typology and the idea of unintended consequences has application for public relations theory and practice. The concept of lack of foreknowledge has implications for both chaos and complexity theory, and how they can be applied to unintended consequences and crisis. This research also supports and adds to social media and strategic campaign planning practice, by providing a lens for the analysis and execution of both pre-implementation and evaluation of public relations campaigns.

Activating Audiences: Using STOPS to Predict Engagement with Issues of Women’s Mass Incarceration • Geah Pressgrove; Crisobal Barra, Universidad de Chile; Melissa Janoske, University of Memphis • Rates of women’s incarceration in the United States are growing at an alarming rate leading to a host of negative economic and familial outcomes. Despite this, little attention has been given to the topic and few people know the extent of the issue. Employing STOPS, this study seeks to understand the confluence of factors that might lead to individuals engaging in prosocial action. Qualitative and quantitative findings indicate that both situational motivation and referent criterion predict active communication, however only situational motivation predicts passive communication. Further, passive communicative action is the best predictor of common support behaviors including donating money, volunteering time and participating in policy advocacy. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Bollywood Diplomacy: A critical Analysis of the Role of Hindi Film Industry in International Public Relations • Mian Asim, Zayed University; Azmat Rasul, Florida State University; Muhammad Ehab Rasul • Through the lens of Propaganda Model, this article explores the relationship between the Hindi film industry, Bollywood, and the international public relations strategies devised by the Indian government during the last couple of decades. After receiving the industry status in 1998, Bollywood carefully filtered movie content due to its dependence on the Indian government for tax-relief, foreign direct investment, soft loans from the banking sector, and the government’s ability to produce flak. We focused on flak as a content filter and argued that Bollywood produced films promoting Indian government’s international public relations agenda and the movie-makers followed the official policy for fear of flak from the government. We found that Bollywood, being one of the most significant culture industries in the world, worked closely with the government and, in return, harvested tangible economic benefits (e.g., tax cuts and soft loans) from the Indian government.

Explicating Alumni Engagement: When Conversational Voice Matters More than Openness and Assurances of Legitimacy • Hongmei Shen, San Diego State University; Bey-Ling Sha, San Diego State University • The question of how organizations engage with their stakeholders has seen increasing investigation in recent years, with public relations researchers examining the concept of engagement from cognitive, affective, and behavioral perspectives (e.g., Dhanesh, 2017; Jelen-Sanchez, 2017). This study examined the engagement of university alumni with their alma mater, with data collected from qualitative interviews, a pilot survey, and a main survey. Results identified three dimensions of alumni engagement: instrumental, communicative and affective, and confirmatory factor analysis supported this three-dimensional structure. Structural equation modeling showed that, while conversational voice was conducive to alumni engagement, openness and assurances of legitimacy did not exert any significant impacts. The findings offer concrete ways in which universities can better engage with alumni, as well as conceptual and methodological ways in which public relations scholars might continue to refine the notion of engagement between organizations and their publics.

The Interplay Between Post-Crisis Response Strategy and Pre-Crisis Corporate Associations • Weiting Tao, University of Miami; Baobao Song, Virginia Commonwealth University • How should a company respond to a crisis related to its social responsibility (CSR) by capitalizing on consumers’ existing corporate associations? To answer this question, this study examined the interaction between consumers’ pre-crisis associations with a company and post-crisis response strategies. Results of an experiment render support for the predicted interaction effect. Additionally, results show in dealing with a CSR crisis, a CSR-related response works better than a response that stresses the company’s product expertise.

A Qualitative Study of the Perceptions of Physically Disabled Public Relations Practitioners • Amanda Sebesta, University of Houston; Jennifer Vardeman, University of Houston • This paper explores the perceptions of physically disabled practitioners in the public relations field. Literature about diversity in public relations, workplace discrimination, and feminist theory of disability framed this study. A qualitative study was conducted using open-ended interview questions, talking with practitioners that have a range of disabilities–including wheelchair-bound, amputee and dwarfism. Themes emerged according to structural factors contributing to a limited inclusivity of disabled practitioners in the field, negotiations of power within disability by practitioners, and complicated representation of disabled practitioners. Theoretical and practical implications are presented.

The overlooked public: The role of citizens in countries hosting mega-events • Kelly Vibber; Alessandro Lovari, Università degli studi di Cagliari • This research expands the work that has been done around nation branding and the impact of hosting mega-events (e.g., diplomacy, national reputation, soft power). Previous work has focused primarily on the ways in which hosting mega-events builds, improves or expands the perception foreign and external publics have of the hosting country and external relations. This research instead focuses inward and aims to answer questions about how hosting mega-events is perceived by citizens of the hosting country, how they view their role in interacting with foreign visitors (e.g., person-to-person or sociological diplomacy) and to what extent they communicate in support of, or against, their country’s efforts. A convenience sample of 426 Italian citizens completed the survey. Results indicate that citizens who placed high importance on their interactions with foreigners reported significantly higher scores on attitudes toward Italy hosting the World Exposition, positive megaphoning behaviors about Italy hosting the Expo and perceived themselves as ambassadors during the Expo. The findings highlight the importance of governments engaging with citizens when taking on mega-events. This intentional communication and relationship management with citizens is critical to internal relations during the mega-event, and has the potential to magnify the positive impact of hosting mega-events.

Bridging the Gap between Relationships and Situations: Exploring the Antecedents and Outcomes of Organization-Employee Relationships • Yuan Wang, City University of Hong Kong • Grounded in the frameworks of the relationship management theory and the situational theory of publics, this study examined the effects of employees’ perceived symmetrical and transparent communication on their perceived relationships with their organization and how the relationships influenced employees’ situational perceptions through a national survey of 449 employees working in large organizations in the U.S. This study found that transparent and symmetrical communication were significant predictors of organization-employee relationships (OERs). Another finding was that employees’ perceived symmetrical communication with their organization positively influenced their transparent communication. Furthermore, OERs facilitated employees’ problem recognition and level of involvement as well as weakened their constraint recognition. The theoretical and practical implications of this study were also discussed.

Volunteer motivation fulfillment: The antecedents and outcomes • Anli Xiao; Virginia Harrison; Christen Buckley • The questions of how nonprofit organizations can best fulfill people’s motivations to volunteer and how volunteers’ motivation fulfillment influences people’s supportive intentions to volunteer remain unclear. This study argues that different status of volunteer motivation fulfillment may have different implications on their future supportive intentions. This online survey found that organizations can enhance volunteers’ degree of volunteer motivation fulfillment through effective stewardship strategies. Interesting results involving the effect of volunteer motivation fulfillment were evidenced by data analysis. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

How CEO Disclosure and Gender Affect Perceived CEO Attributes, Relationship Investment, and Engagement Intention • April Yue, University of Florida; Yoo Jin Chung; Amanda Bradshaw; Tom Kelleher, University of Florida; Mary Ann Ferguson • How does a CEO’s social media content disclosure on Twitter affect CEO attributes, relationship investment, and public engagement, and to what extent does the CEO’s gender (male vs. female) moderate how publics evaluate content disclosures? A 2 (CEO gender: male vs. female) X 4 (level of disclosure: 100% corporate vs. 70% corporate and 30% personal vs. 30% corporate and 70% personal vs. 100% personal disclosure) between-subject experimental design was used to address these questions. A random sample of 465 adult participants in the United States was selected. Results showed that posts that featured high personal disclosure did not increase the perceived likability or competence of the CEO. Neither did CEO gender impact these outcomes. However, CEO professional disclosure proved to be an effective means to gain high levels of perceived relationship investment from publics. Finally, publics may hold implicit gender bias when revealing cognitive (i.e., perceived relationship investment) and behavioral evaluation (i.e., engagement intention) toward a female CEO.

Examining the Effects of Internal Communications and Emotional Culture on Employees’ Organizational Identification • April Yue, University of Florida; Rita Men; Mary Ann Ferguson • As one of the first empirical studies investigating the emerging role of positive emotional culture within organizations, we aim to understand how a symmetrical internal communication system and leaders’ use of motivating language contribute to fostering a positive emotional culture featured by joy, companionate love, pride, and gratitude. Furthermore, we examined the linkage between a positive emotional culture and employees’ organizational identification. Through a quantitative survey with 482 full-time employees in the U.S., we found that both symmetrical internal communication and leaders’ use of motivating language induced the perception of a positive emotional culture, which in turn enhanced employees’ organizational identification. Theoretically, the study showcased the value of strategic internal communications at both the leader’s and organizational levels in fostering positive organizational outcomes and added to the body of knowledge on why emotional culture matters. From a pragmatic point of view, the study findings offered strategic insights into how organizations and leaders should communicate to create a benign cultural environment filled with positive emotions and boost employees’ sense of belonging in the organization.

Improve employee-organization relationships (EOR) and workplace performance through CSR: Insights from an electric and energy company in China • Yafei Zhang; Chuqing Dong • This study examined the impact of employee perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) on their employee-organization identification (EOI), corporate ability (CA), employee-organization relationships (EOR), and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Results, based on a survey (N = 248) with employees from a large, private company in the electric and energy industry in China, revealed that employee perceptions of CSR were positively associated with EOI, CA, EOR, and OCB. In addition, there was a positive spillover effect between CSR and CA. Findings also indicated the positive associations between CA and EOR, and EOI and OCB. This study contributes to the scant research on employee-centered CSR and suggests CSR as an effective strategy to cultivate relationships with employees and to increase their job performance in the Chinese context.

Teaching

Demystifying Data: A Constructivist Approach to Teaching Statistical Concepts Using SPSS • Lauren Bayliss, Georgia Southern University • To improve public relations students’ self-efficacy and knowledge of statistics, two hands-on activities were created. One activity used data simulation in the software program SPSS, and the other used printed statistical outputs. Both activities were introduced in a flipped-classroom format as part of a crossover experimental design. The results indicate that knowledge of statistics increased through both activities. However, the activity using data simulation in SPSS led to significantly higher self-efficacy for learning statistics.

Cut Me Some Slack: Simulation, Experiential Learning, and Slack Bots to Teach Crisis Communication • Julia Daisy Fraustino, West Virginia University; Amanda Kennedy, St. Mary’s University • This research explores using the newly popular online collaboration hub Slack (and Slack bots) for in-class crisis simulation. Qualitative direct observation of two simulations—(1) a workshop and simulation shadow experience with a state National Guard and (2) a crisis communication class culminating in simulation—along with textual analyses of simulation responses and student reflections probe findings. This study partially replicates and expands previous simulation research to generate new insights and options for PR instruction based in experiential learning theory.

Media Literacy among Public Relations Students: An Analysis of Future PR Professionals in the Post-Truth Era • Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University; Lori McKinnon; Alice Kendrick • This study assessed various aspects of media literacy among a national sample of US public relations students. Definitions of media literacy transcended basic interpretation of messages and extended to higher-level concepts such as understanding and how media organizations operate. PR students considered themselves to be fairly media literate, and had higher estimates of their own media literacy than a sample of advertising students in a previous study. Implications for public relations educators are discussed.

Curriculum Rebuilding in Public Relations: A Multi Managerial-Level Analysis of PR Practitioners’ Expectations of Graduates • Arunima Krishna, Boston University; Donald Wright, Boston University; Raymond Kotcher, Boston University • This manuscript reports on a survey of practicing public relations practitioners about the professional attributes and job skills necessary for those who intend to enter the public relations field. Analyses compared differences and similarities between senior-level, mid-level and entry-level practitioners. Results indicate that writing, listening, and creativity are the three most significant skills aspiring public relations people should have followed by creative thinking, the ability to deal with an online reputation crisis, the ability to communicate effectively in today’s environment of disinformation, and the ability to build a crisis response plan. Results found statistically significant differences across senior management, middle management, and junior level respondents on items measuring these skills and attributes: possessing business acumen, creativity, research/measurement skills, new technologies, digital story telling, and how to best interact with public relations firms.

Creating Career Confidence: Fostering Professional Self-Efficacy Through Student-Run Agencies and Integrative Learning • Jeffrey Ranta, Coastal Carolina University/Teal Nation Communications; Debbie Davis, Texas Tech University; Andrea Bergstrom, Coastal Carolina University • This study investigates integrative learning linkages provided through student-run agencies (SRAs) and fostering professional self-efficacy (confidence). Based on survey results of 182 SRA student participants, this research measured professional self-efficacy in performing 23 communication tasks and measures attributions awarded by respondents to student-run agency experiences in developing that confidence. Results suggest changes to pedagogy and offers evidence of SRA effectiveness in preparing graduates for responsibilities in public relations, advertising, integrated and strategic communication.

Student

A Concept Explication of Stance: The Leading Strategy to an Organization’s Crisis Response • Courtney D. Boman, University of Missouri School of Journalism • The stance, or series of stances, an organization takes following a crisis encapsulates its thinking and influences its response strategies. Following requirements outlined by McLeod and Pan, this paper explicates stance as a critical and deliberate position an organization takes that is influenced by internal and external variables, that leads to response strategies. This conceptualization can lead to a vanguard of a third generation of theory development for contingency theory of strategic conflict management.

Gun Control Debate on Twitter: Social Media Advocacy & Advocacy Communication • Minhee Choi, University of South Carolina • This study explores agenda setting, message framing, and the concepts of social media advocacy and mobilizing information through content analysis of tweets from competing pro-gun and gun control advocacy organizations, the NRA and Moms Demand Action. Findings revealed that the two organizations actively set the gun rights and gun control agenda through issue framing. Tweets from both organizations were more likely to frame the cause and solution as episodic frames. Mentions of mobilizing information were actively used by both organizations. However, the NRA showed more active communication with their followers through use of hashtags, replies, retweets, and likes.

ICTs Intrusion: The Effects of Using Communication Technology after Hours on Employees’ Counterproductive Work Behaviors • Katie Kim, University of Oklahoma • The integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) at the workplace has brought a new internal communication environment in the organization. In particular, ICTs enabled internal communication to be extended beyond the workplace and after work hours, which led to an intrusion of work into employees’ private domains. The study examines the impact of ICTs intrusion on employees’ counterproductive work behaviors (CWB) in the context of internal communication management. The results showed that the extent of ICTs intrusion is positively associated with CWB toward the organization’s members. Moreover, the effects of ICTs intrusion on CWB are accentuated when individuals perceive higher stress of being always connected to internal members during non-work hours. The findings of the study suggest practical guidance to organizational managers and public relations professionals on how ICTs should be utilized as an effective internal communication tool to promote a healthy and productive workforce.

Why Do Publics Engage in Negative Communication Behavior on Social Media? • Bitt Moon, Indiana University Bloomington; Eugene Kim, The Media School at the Indiana University, Bloomington • This study explored how consumer publics participate in negative communication behavior (NCB): Brand-related information seeking and sharing on social media. We examined the effects of cognitive, relational, and emotional drivers on NCB through an online survey of 475 participants. The results showed that cognitive factors -brand incompetence and irresponsibility- affect relational distrust and brand hate, which in turn lead to NCB. The findings indicated the significant role of brand hate in consumer publics‘ NCB.

Exploring the Social Networks of Environmental Nonprofit Organizations and Public Reactions to Facebook Postings Contingent on Message Types • Jeyoung Oh, University of Alabama; Bumsoo Kim, University of Alabama • Environmental nonprofit organizations (ENPOs) use social media to generate organization-level networks and distribute diverse informational and promotional messages to the public. However, little is known about how they build organization-level networks in social media and what types of environmental messages they mainly provide. To fill these gaps, this study explores 1) how ENPOs are likely to have organization-level networks and 2) what types of environmental messages they have distributed and publics’ reactions to them. To answer these research questions, a quantitative content analysis was conducted. The results showed that ENPOs actively maintain networks with 1) other types of nonprofit organizations, 2) community-building organizations, and 3) various news media companies or websites. Regarding the second research question, the results showed that when ENPOs provide accurate messages with informational context, social media users are more likely to respond to the message. Furthermore, when they employ human voice with informational context, social media users tend to react more to the messages.

Examining the influence of personal discussion network on consumer engagement behavior: An egocentric network study • Yan Qu, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Consumer engagement has been a central component in corporations’ relationship management with consumers. This study examines the antecedents of consumer online behavioral engagement through an egocentric network analysis approach. Specifically, how structural and compositional traits of consumers’ brand discussion networks influence their engagement behavior online were explored. Data from an online survey indicated that the size, heterogeneity, and density of personal discussion network were associated with certain engagement behaviors. Findings and implications are discussed.

Is the Organization Ever the Victim? Reassessing Crisis Responsibility • Erika Schneider, University of Missouri-Columbia • This research investigates the theoretical concept of crisis responsibility to realign its effectiveness in crisis communication. The revision, proposing crisis responsibility as the failure to prevent a risk, illustrates that crisis responsibility is heavily weighted on organizational deficiencies. Strategies that deny responsibility are less effective for the organization because stakeholder perceptions emphasize the preventable nature of all crises. Implications of this concept explication includes strengthening tools for scholars to measure and evaluate crisis response strategies.

Relative efficacy of differentiation and bolstering in mitigating the negative spillover effect from a rival brand’s product-harm crisis: A study of market leader and market challenger • Jun Zhang, Newhouse School of Syracuse University • In light of a brand’s recall crisis, rival brands can mitigate the negative spillover effect by distancing themselves from the brand in crisis. This experimental research examines the relative efficacy of a rival brand’s using either bolstering or differentiation strategy in mitigating the negative spillover effect. Results showed that bolstering by a market leader and differentiation by a market challenger had an indirect effect on protecting brand attitude and purchase intent through heightened message evaluations.

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