Journal of Public Relations Research

Men, Linjuan Rita; Stacks, Don

2014 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2014.908720

This study examines how strategic leadership influences excellent internal public relations by establishing the linkage between authentic leadership, symmetrical and transparent communication, and employee–organization relationships. The results showed that authentic leadership as an antecedent factor plays a critical role in nurturing an organization's symmetrical and transparent communication system, which in turn, cultivates quality employee–organization relationships. An organization's symmetrical communication worldview greatly fosters its day-to-day transparent communication practice. Transparent communication, characterized by information substantiality, accountability, and employee participation, largely contributes to employee trust, control mutuality, commitment, and satisfaction. The impact of symmetrical communication on employees' relational outcomes is fully mediated via transparent communication. Significant theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Auger, Giselle A.

2014 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2014.908722

Seen as a solution to lapses of organizational ethics and misdeeds, transparency helps to restore trust and diminish reputational risk or damage. Research has identified 2 types of transparency: (a) an organization's reputation for transparency and (b) its efforts to communicate transparently. Using experimental design, this study examined the relationship between the 2 types of transparency on trust and behavioral intentions of stakeholders in a crisis situation. Results determined that organizations demonstrating both types of transparency achieved more than twice the levels of trust and positive behavioral intentions than organizations that demonstrated neither type of transparency.

Stoker, Kevin

2014 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2014.908723

This article applies research on paradox, semantics, and theories of groups and logical types to public relations, particularly the concept of relationship management. Paradoxes create tension and are often produced by semantic disturbances resulting from errors in logical typing. Communication is inherently paradoxical. The article contends that progress in public relations practice and scholarship has been inhibited by a failure to recognize or reconcile paradoxes associated with popular concepts, such as relationship management, mutually beneficial relationships, and symmetrical communication. Such concepts breach levels of communication to create logical fallacies and place practitioners into a double bind of promising more than they can deliver without resorting to coercion and manipulation. The article introduces Group Theory and the Theory of Logical Types, and suggests that public relations reframe relationship management with relating management, a practices more consistent with Kant's humanity imperative.

Himelboim, Itai; Golan, Guy J.; Moon, Bitt Beach; Suto, Ryan J.

2014 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2014.908724

This study proposes theoretical and practical frameworks to systematically examine mediated public relations in social media spaces. We applied a social network conceptual framework to identify and characterize social mediators that connect the US State Department with its international public. The results showed that social mediators vary in terms of their formality and interdependence. Formal social mediators were primarily US government agencies while informal social mediators were nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals. Notably, relationships with populations in the Middle East and North Africa were mediated primarily by informal actors, and formal mediators played a key role in connecting the public with everywhere else in the world. Government-related formal mediators and informal social mediators showed similar levels of bilateral relationships. In contrast, news media, the most traditional public relations mediators, were rarely found as social mediators and demonstrated the most unilateral relationships.