Exploring the Role of Ethics in Public Relations Program Evaluation
Abstract
This qualitative study examined the role of ethics in public relations evaluation and the ethical issues that complicate the evaluation process. Findings suggest that the role of ethics in evaluation is integral, centered on truth, focused on benefiting an organization's publics or, in contrast, irrelevant. Ethical issues regarding evaluation include manipulation of evaluation data and use of tainted data to persuade clients or publics. This study further exposes an ethical conflict where professionals prioritize duty, truthfulness, and precision, yet face constraints on their ethical autonomy or selectively represent evaluation data to cultivate client relationships or corporate image. Increased sensitivity to online contexts and descriptive theorizing of ethics are needed.