Journal of Public Relations Research

Edgett, Ruth

2002 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/S1532754XJPRR1401_1

The ultimate aim of this article is to help develop a systematic ethical framework for advocacy in public relations. It reviews selected literature on public relations, professional ethics, advocacy, rhetoric, and persuasion to propose 10 criteria for ethically desirable advocacy. It is argued that these criteria are the starting point for developing an ethic of advocacy in public relations. Although the literature review is not exhaustive, it is sufficient to show that there are arguments to be made in favor of the persuasive-advocacy function in public relations. It also provides sufficient background from which to draw a set of ethical parameters for advocacy. The literature forms the basis of a 2-part inquiry into: (a) whether persuasion is a legitimate public relations function; and, (b) whether it can be performed to high ethical standards. A model for ethically desirable advocacy is proposed as one means for answering these 2 questions in the affirmative.

Wrigley, Brenda J.

2002 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/S1532754XJPRR1401_2

The glass ceiling persists for women in public relations and communications management, despite increasing feminization of these fields. This qualitative study seeks to identify factors that support and perpetuate the problem of the glass ceiling for women in public relations and corporate communications management. In-depth interviews and focus groups were used to allow 27 women to give their views on the glass ceiling. I suggest a new theoretical concept, negotiated resignation, for explaining the psychological process by which women come to terms with the glass ceiling. Study participants identified five factors contributing to the glass ceiling, as well as a number of strategies women can use to overcome the glass ceiling. I examine the findings from both a radical feminist and liberal feminist perspective. Recommendations for educators, students, and practitioners are included in this study, as are some comments from the 27 women who worked as managers in both agency and corporate environments.

Holtzhausen, Derina R.; Voto, Rosina

2002 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/S1532754XJPRR1401_3

A postmodern view of public relations practice holds that practitioners will act as organizational activists. This article examines the discourse of 16 public relations practitioners to determine whether they exhibited postmodern behavior that translates into organizational activism. Practitioners displayed organizational activism through situational ethical decision making, a desire for change, the use of biopower to resist dominant power, a concern for employee representation, and the practice of dissensus, to mention but a few. This study confirms the emancipatory potential of public relations and challenges the domination of modernist perspectives in public relations.