Journal of Public Relations Research

Grunig, James E.; Grunig, Larissa A.; Sriramesh, K.; Huang, Yi-Hui; Lyra, Anastasia

1995 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr0703_01

Scholars of public relations have identified four typical models of public relations practice in countries with Anglo cultures—press agentry, public information, two-way asymmetrical, and two-way symmetrical. Press agentry and public information form a continuum of craft public relations. The two-way models make up a continuum of professional public relations. Research shows that public relations departments contribute most to organizational effectiveness when they practice on the professional continuum and emphasize the symmetrical model more than the asymmetrical. However, most of the conditions that foster professional public relations in Anglo countries may not exist in and around most organizations in other cultures. In addition, in other countries practitioners may practice public relations according to a completely different model. In this article, we report a meta-analysis of studies of public relations practice in India, Greece, and Taiwan. Those studies show that craft public relations predominates in these countries: Although practitioners ascribe to the values and goals of professional public relations, most do not have the knowledge to practice it. In addition, through the research we identified two additional patterns of public relations practice—"personal influence" and "cultural translation." These patterns may represent new models, but more likely they are variations within the four known models. The research also suggests, however, that public relations practice containing at least elements of the two-way symmetrical model may be generic to effective practice in all cultures.

Lauzen, Martha M.

1995 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr0703_02

Scanning is the communication activity through which organizations learn about trends and events in their environment. In this exploratory study, I examined how individuals from many different departments, including public relations and human resources, conduct environmental scanning in 16 large U.S. organizations. Specifically, I examined the formality of environmental scanning in 16 organizations and its relation to the number of issues monitored and the length of time those issues are monitored. I also considered the role of organizational culture and environmental complexity in shaping the structure of environmental scanning efforts. Findings indicate that organizations with formal environmental scanning systems tend to monitor a larger number of issues in their environments for shorter periods of time, when compared to organizations with informal environmental scanning systems. In addition, findings suggest that although both organizational culture and environmental complexity are related to the structure of environmental scanning efforts, culture is more strongly related to scanning efforts than is environmental complexity.

Anderson, Ronald B.

1995 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr0703_03

This experiment tested predictions derived from self-efficacy theory by exposing participants to one of two public service announcements based on either symbolic modeling or persuasive efficacy information. Each message was designed to heighten participants' self-efficacy to prevent a friend from driving drunk. Participants in the symbolic modeling condition viewed a public service announcement that demonstrated how to dissuade a friend from driving drunk, and those in the verbal persuasion condition viewed an announcement that only advocated performing the task. A control announcement mentioned the consequences of arrest for drunken driving but contained no efficacy information. Data were gathered during laboratory sessions and during follow-up interviews 1 month later. Overall, laboratory findings supported the hypothesized ordered effects for sources of efficacy information: Symbolic modeling engendered greater efficacy expectations and behavioral intentions than did persuasive efficacy information, which in turn surpassed the control condition on some measures of self-efficacy, but not on behavioral intentions where neither condition differed. Follow-up data indicated that participants in the efficacy-information treatments were equally successful at dissuading a friend from driving drunk, whereas the controls were not.