Journal of Public Relations Research

Jo, Samsup; Kim, Yungwook

2003 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/S1532754XJPRR1503_1

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between Web characteristics and perceptions toward relational components. A 2 (low interactivity and high interactivity) x 2 (text-oriented and multimedia-oriented) between-group experiment was designed with 197 participants to investigate this question. The outcomes showed that interactivity has significant effects on relationship building. However, the interaction effects between interactivity and medium arrangement suggest that nonessential arrangement of interactivity and multimedia did not enhance positive perceptions of relationships with the organizations. Interactivity, however, showed that the main effect, multimedia orientation, did not. The application of interactivity on the Web was discussed for better relationship building.

Bardhan, Nilanjana

2003 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/S1532754XJPRR1503_2

In keeping with the trend of international-intercultural public relations practice, research in this area has also been mostly top-down, "outside-in," or etic in nature. This study combines a cultural analysis approach with ethnographic fieldwork in an attempt to move away from the culturally constituted metanarratives of the 4 models and practitioner roles of public relations, and it provides an "inside-out" or emic analysis of the cultural context of public relations in India. In doing so, it is able to foreground some of the assumptions that underlie these metanarratives, assumptions that are not always congruent with the Indian cultural context. Overall, this study emerges as a critique of unquestioning global applications of public relations metanarratives in culturally diverse settings.

Park, Jongmin

2003 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/S1532754XJPRR1503_3

This study examines the perceptional accuracy and the extent of the discrepancy between the professional standards of government and corporate public relations practitioners. Using a co-orientation approach in a national survey of randomly selected public relations professionals in Korea, it also measured practitioners' own attitudes as well as responses to questions about the attitudes of their peers concerning professional standards. The results of this study suggest the influence of cultural perspectives. First, gender inequality in the relationship hierarchy has been largely eliminated but there is still no social and occupational consensus in the Korean public relations field. Second, the personal influence model and the behavior of gao guanxi (personal relations) still operate in the public relations of government systems, which have paternal authoritarian cultures. Government practitioners, nevertheless, feel strongly about the importance of social scientific research in their field and desire closer relationships with their communities and publics.