Journal of Public Relations Research

Murphy, Priscilla

1994 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr0604_01

In this study, I use K. R. Hammond's version of social judgment theory (Hammond, Stewart, Brehmer, & Steinmann, 1975) to examine the conscious and covert judgment patterns of a group of public relations agency consultants and their clients. Respondents assessed 30 hypothetical public relations proposals that combined different mixtures of five decision factors: cost effectiveness, measurability, image support, marketing support, and feasibility. Analysis based on the lens model equation revealed that both groups emphasized bottom-line considerations over less quantifiable ones; that clients, more than agency professionals, understood how they valued the decision factors and acted on that knowledge; that the two groups' subjectively specified judgment weights showed closer agreement than their actual decisions about public relations plans; and that flawed self-understanding and inconsistent decision making, particularly among agency professionals, accounted for most disagreement in practice.

Pinkleton, Bruce

1994 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr0604_02

The campaign of the Committee on Public Information (CPI) was an ambitious attempt by the U.S. government to influence public opinion. More importantly, the CPI contributed to the evolution of public relations through its use of basic principles of effective communication including unity of voice, message simplicity, and source credibility. The committee's campaign encouraged citizens to be stakeholders in their government and heightened their sense of community. The work of the CPI followed a period of unrest between industrialists and journalists and was an important link between the recognition of the need for public relations services and an understanding of the means through which public opinion is crystallized.

Pratt, Cornelius B.; Im, SungHoon; Montague, Scarlett N.

1994 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr0604_03

In this study we examine the perceptions of four scenarios about public relations ethics and the application of the theory of deontology to those scenarios among 449 members of the Public Relations Society of America. The results indicate that (a) the members' application of deontological principles is fairly high, (b) the members' overall application of deontology to the scenarios is predicted by age and supervision of employees, (c) the members' dominant roles that emerge from this national sample are those of manager and technician, and (d) the members' roles have some significant relations with their application of deontology to decision making. Implications of these findings for the continuing practitioner struggle with workplace ethics are discussed; suggestions for further research are outlined.

Vasquez, Gabriel M.

1994 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr0604_04

This article is an operational continuation of a theoretical model to investigate organizational publics. A test of the model was conducted as proprietary research in an actual public relations campaign. Major aspects of the model were supported; however, refinements were indicated. Application of the model resulted in theory-based recommendations for the organization, identified theoretical implications, and allowed for additional discussion of a Homo Narrans paradigm for public relations. This research effort conceptually and operationally establishes a communication theory-method-message-behavior complex and makes this model available for use by practitioners and researchers alike.