Journal of Public Relations Research

Kelly, Kathleen S.

1994 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr0601_01

A national survey of 175 public relations managers documented fund-raising encroachment at 23% of their charitable organizations, with variation in vulnerability among different types. Small but significant correlations were found between encroachment and the extent to which the public relations department had the knowledge and expertise to practice the two-way symmetrical and asymmetrical models of public relations and the communication manager role. Together, knowledge of the four public relations models and two roles ac- counted for 19% of the explained variance in observed encroachment. Factor analysis yielded scales of high and low potential of the public relations department that may be useful in future encroachment research, whether the encroachment is by fund raising or marketing.

Coombs, W. Timothy; Holladay, Sherry; Hasenauer, Gabriele; Signitzer, Benno

1994 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr0601_02

This research addresses the need to understand how culture affects public relations. Practitioners from three different cultures Austrian, Norwegian, and American—are compared in terms of professional orientation, fulfillment, and practitioner roles. Austrian practitioners reported a stronger professional fulfillment than their Norwegian and American counterparts. Other differences and similarities are identified and explained using culture-specific, work-related values. For example, strong professional fulfillment in Austria is viewed as a function of the value this culture places upon training and education. Those engaged in international public relations must consider such differences and similarities when choosing between standardized (globalization) and customized (localization) communication strategies.

Moffitt, Mary Anne

1994 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr0601_03

Image is one of the most common terms used by public relations practitioners, but scholars generally have not developed the concept well. This article attempts to fill that void by using the articulation model of meaning in cultural studies criticism as a framework for understanding how a corporation builds images in its audiences. The author shows that images are produced by organizational, social, and personal relations; texts; and personal experiences. Neither the organization nor members of audiences produce meaning—corporate images—alone. Rather, images result from a complex process that may yield multiple, intended and unintended, positive and negative, and strong and weak meanings.