Journal of Public Relations Research

Sha, Bey-Ling

2021 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2021.2061752

Shen, Hongmei; Jiang, Hua

2021 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2022.2043155

This essay connects the community-building approach, embedded in responsive communitarianism, with internal public relations. By integrating principles of the community perspective with components of current scholarship in internal public relations, we reposition internal public relations as a community-building function. We introduce seven tenets of internal public relations from the community approach, including but not limited to communitarianism being the philosophical foundation, creationand dissolution of internal communities, the importance of solidarity, and principles of community development – cultivating members’ individual agency, committing to agreed-upon rules and core communal values, and balancing individual rights and common good. We also explain how conducting research on internal public relations from a community approach enhances community agency, internal relationships, internal communication, globaland intercultural community building, and methodological diversity. We hope to further stimulate theoretical dialog in internal public relations.

Fisher, Jolene

2021 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2022.2043154

Organizations are increasingly using digital games as strategic communication tools for achieving public relations goals. Yet limited extant research examines them as such. This article proposes a definition of the term strategic communication games, and presents an analytic framework composed of four levels – The Organization, The Game, The Dissemination Process, and The Game Playing Public – relevant to their study. Extant research on digital games that are used to achieve organizational goals has focused on the effects of gameplay on an individual player. Alternatively, the framework proposed in this article positions such games within a broader process in which meaning making that is relevant to game outcomes happens across four levels.

Zhou, Alvin; Xu, Sifan

2021 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2022.2046585

Connecting the affordance framework in computer-mediated communication to public relations theories, this essay proposes an affordance perspective on dialogic communication and digital public relations in general. We argue that 1) the enactment of organization-public dialogue on digital platforms requires certain combinations of media affordances; 2) the lens of affordances facilitates a non-dichotomous examination of the “dialogic communication vs. digital media” debate; 3) the fifth dialogic principle “ease of interface” should be conceptually expanded to “favorable affordances,” which asserts that public relations practice should evaluate digital media platforms’ various action possibilities and consider their inherent potentials for organization-public relationship building; and 4) research on digital public relations should incorporate affordance theory to achieve cross-platform theorization.

Lim, Joon Soo; Jiang, Hua

2021 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2022.2048953

Grounded in theories in relational authenticity, self-verification, and impression management, this study examines the effect of enacting authenticity in CSR communication through digital media as a relationship-cultivating strategy on organization-public relationship (OPR) outcomes. Using data obtained from an online survey (N = 501), we conduct both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to validate the proposed theory-driven measure for authenticity in CSR communication. We examine how authenticity in CSR communication predicts the four dimensions of quality OPRs. Results of CFA reveal that authenticity in CSR communication comprises three dimensions – genuineness, reflection of true identity, and consistency. Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that authenticity in CSR communication predicts trust, commitment, satisfaction, and control mutuality. Major theoretical contributions of the study include: (1) Authenticity in CSR communication is an OPR antecedent. (2) The genuineness aspect of authenticity provides important implications for company-cause fit research on CSR communication. (3) The reflection of true identity can provide theoretical explanations as to what needs to be considered in practicing corporate social advocacy.

Logan, Nneka; Ciszek, Erica

2021 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2022.2051174

This article employs queer of color (QOC) critique as an analytical lens for public relations research. Expanding QOC inquiry in public relations is important because transgender people of color have been excluded from mainstream public relations theory and research. To address this gap and empirical opportunity, this article uses qualitative interviews to explore the experiences of transgender communicators of color in the United States who participate in public relations work. Habitus, intersectionality and QOC critique provide a theoretical framework that informs analysis. Advocacy, representation and empowerment are identified as important themes that characterize the experiences of our participants. Structural, representational and political intersectionality emerged as key reasons for their public relations work. The inclusion of QOC critique in public relations research joins and extends critical public relations perspectives that counter hegemonic racial and gender dynamics that characterize the public relations field.

Mundy, Dean

2021 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1080/1062726X.2022.2053856

The global upheaval caused by events in 2020 and beyond – from navigating a pandemic to an American reckoning with long-standing issues of race and inequality – has placed the public voice front and center. Public discourse now plays an essential role in shaping organizational policy and practice. This article posits that in response, public relations must take a “next turn” theoretically in a way that prioritizes the public voice. As such, guided by the perspectives of LGBTQIA advocacy leaders in the post-Obergefell (post-marriage-equality) era, this article argues that the field must shift from a focus on relationship management to one on change empowerment. In so doing, it contends that if we are going to truly take a next turn to focus on the public in this post-2020 context, then theoretically we must better-address the influence and process of change – emanating from internal and external forces. This article also contends that while public relations certainly remains a management function, the lessons from 2020 mandate that we question our field’s focus on “managing” relationships and instead investigate how public relations can become a source of empowerment.