Activism

Advocacy on the Internet: Lessons Learned from the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act of 2005

“…The media relations approach is one tactic often used by advocacy groups when they need to educate and inform the public (Smith & Ferguson, 2001). Previous research has found that advocacy groups should be responsive to media inquiries so they can frame the issue to best influence public opinion (Reber & Berger, 2005).…”

SaveDisney.com and Activist Challenges: A Habermasian Perspective on Corporate Legitimacy

“…Grunig, Grunig, and Dozier (2002) defined an activist public as "a group of two or more individuals who organize in order to influence another public or publics through actions that may include education, compromise, persuasion, pressure tactics or force" (p. 446). Activist publics both initiate and are the target of public relations efforts (Kovacs, 2001), and Smith and Ferguson (2001) suggested that an activist public's organization allows it to "influence public policy, organizational action or social norms and values" (p. 292).…”

“…Most activist studies either focus on the types of strategic communication used by activist groups to publicize their issues, legitimize their own efforts, and influence organizational practices (e.g., Bullert, 2000;Kovacs, 2001;Patterson & Allen, 1997;Smith & Ferguson, 2001) or address the ways in which organizational public relations practitioners can effectively respond to activist campaigns (e.g., Guiniven, 2002;Hearit, 1999;Taylor, Vasquez, & Doorley, 2003). Regardless of the focal point (i.e., type of activist group strategy or organizational response), these studies do not focus on the actual content of the message strategies employed.…”

The Expanded Role of Investor Relations: Socially Responsible Investing, Shareholder Activism, and Organizational Legitimacy

“…In public relations literature, activism is defined as the efforts to promote, hinder, or direct social, political, economic, or environmental change (Smith & Ferguson, 2010). Activists recognize issues earlier and pursue socially preferred resolutions to these issues (Coombs & Holladay, 2012;Uysal & Yang, 2013).…”