Journal of Public Relations Research

Oliveira, Maria de Fatima; Murphy, Priscilla

2009 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/10627260902966425

This research investigated Philip Morris' crisis communication management strategies during the 1990s through the study of its CEO's speeches. This analysis explored the company's maneuvers to camouflage controversies in acceptable social expectations. Pairing framing theory with centering resonance analysis, this research found 3 distinct frames: profitable multinational (1994–1996), litigation target (1997–1998), and corporate good citizen (1999–2001). Avoidance of talk about health issues indicated the company's strategic adaptation to a shifting legal and public opinion climate, as it sought to authenticate its right to do business by reframing the notion of corporate responsibility away from healthy products and toward high-price philanthropy.

Hong, Soo Yeon; Yang, Sung-Un

2009 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/10627260902966433

By combining the growing body of knowledge on organizational reputation and organization—public relationships with insights from marketing literature on customer–company identification, this study develops and tests models of customers' positive word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions. Specifically, this study examines the effects of organizational reputation and relational satisfaction on customers' positive WOM intentions, and the critical mediation role of customer–company identification in such effects. The proposed models illustrate tenable data-model fits, and the results indicate that organizational reputation and relational satisfaction predict customers' positive WOM intentions. More important, customer–company identification mediates the influence of organizational reputation on positive WOM intentions. The findings of this study suggest that, to promote customers' positive WOM intentions, companies need to obtain a favorable reputation held by customers and cultivate a satisfactory relationship with customers, while fostering customer–company identification.

Werder, Kelly Page; Holtzhausen, Derina

2009 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/10627260902966391

A survey of Public Relations Society of America members (N = 885) suggests that 2 leadership styles are present in public relations environments. Inclusive leaders are collaborative, share decision making, and engage in participative practices. Transformational leaders have a clear vision for the future, motivate change, are good policy makers, inspire others through communication, and are innovative risk takers. Results indicate that inclusive leadership style is positively related to use of facilitative and cooperative problem solving strategies and effectiveness of informative and facilitative strategies. Transformational leadership style is positively related to use of power strategies and effectiveness of persuasive and cooperative problem solving strategies.

Anderson, Ronald

2009 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/10627260902966367

Enabling publics to remove the constraints that prevent health enhancement is the focus of much scholarly research and professional practice. This experiment tested the impact of 2 forms of symbolic modeling and verbal persuasion on self-efficacy beliefs and intentions to prevent a friend from driving drunk. Three efficacy-enhancing public service announcements tested participants' beliefs in their confidence to intervene successfully. As predicted, behavioral and verbal modeling engendered greater perceived self-efficacy and behavioral intentions than did verbal persuasion, with behavioral modeling registering the greatest effects. Implications for designing campaigns of self-directed change to prevent drunken driving among college students are discussed, as well as possible directions for research on self-efficacy and the situational theory of publics.

Lamme, Margot Opdycke

2009 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/10627260902966383

In 1909, the American brewing industry's trade association, the United States Brewers' Association, launched its first year book to serve as an educational resource for those concerned about temperance and prohibition. Over the next 10 years, these year books revealed communication efforts that more closely resembled a modern approach to influencing public sentiment, such as the consistent use of 4 key messages, research on local option persuasion campaigns, and a relationship-building outreach program in the form of the Barley Campaign. This study, then, not only contributes to the historical scholarship concerning the role of trade associations in public relations history, but, in its departure from the timeline approach to understanding the field's development, it also contributes to the ongoing theory building in public relations history.