“…Over the last three decades, public relations research has witnessed a rapid growth and increasing popularity among communication and management scholars (Botan & Taylor, , p. 645; Kim & Ni, , p. 1).Public relations is both a professional practice and a subfield of communication with its own research and theory base. Public relations is relatively young as an academic field, however, having developed identifiable theory in only about the last 25 years (Botan & Taylor, 2004, p. 645).Public relations research has been traditionally characterized by its strong interest for strategic communication (Jarren & Röttger, , pp. 35–36).…”
Section: The Four Models Of Public Relationsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Developed by Grunig and Hunt (), the Four Models of Public Relations figure among the most influential middle‐range theories in public relations (Jarren & Röttger, , p. 35; Laskin, , p. 37). Examining how organizations strategically communicate with their publics, the authors identify four different communication approaches: press agentry/publicity, public information, two‐way asymmetrical, and two‐way symmetrical (Grunig & Hunt, ).…”
Section: The Four Models Of Public Relationsmentioning
Public communication campaigns aim to create social change by influencing audiences’ behaviors and thus help nonprofit organizations fulfill their mission. These campaigns, however, often fail to deliver their anticipated impact. Using public relations research as a theoretical lens, this paper's contribution is twofold: first, we develop a typology that classifies the different communication approaches used in public communication campaigns. Based on one of the most prominent public relations theories, the Four Models of Public Relations, we differentiate communication approaches along the dimensions of communication purpose and communication style. Combining these two dimensions in a typology, we identify the following communication approaches: directing, platforming, mobilizing, and involving. We provide numerous real‐life examples of public campaigns for each one. Second, we formulate propositions about these communication approaches’ effectiveness relying on a key concept of public relations research: namely, audience segmentation. Using the transtheoretical model, we show that audiences can be segmented along five “stages of readiness to adopt a promoted behavior.” Conceptualizing behavior change as an iterative, dynamic process that entails stage progresses as well as backdrops, we derive how audiences’ “stage of readiness” relates to the effectiveness of the identified communication approaches.
“…Over the last three decades, public relations research has witnessed a rapid growth and increasing popularity among communication and management scholars (Botan & Taylor, , p. 645; Kim & Ni, , p. 1).Public relations is both a professional practice and a subfield of communication with its own research and theory base. Public relations is relatively young as an academic field, however, having developed identifiable theory in only about the last 25 years (Botan & Taylor, 2004, p. 645).Public relations research has been traditionally characterized by its strong interest for strategic communication (Jarren & Röttger, , pp. 35–36).…”
Section: The Four Models Of Public Relationsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Developed by Grunig and Hunt (), the Four Models of Public Relations figure among the most influential middle‐range theories in public relations (Jarren & Röttger, , p. 35; Laskin, , p. 37). Examining how organizations strategically communicate with their publics, the authors identify four different communication approaches: press agentry/publicity, public information, two‐way asymmetrical, and two‐way symmetrical (Grunig & Hunt, ).…”
Section: The Four Models Of Public Relationsmentioning
Public communication campaigns aim to create social change by influencing audiences’ behaviors and thus help nonprofit organizations fulfill their mission. These campaigns, however, often fail to deliver their anticipated impact. Using public relations research as a theoretical lens, this paper's contribution is twofold: first, we develop a typology that classifies the different communication approaches used in public communication campaigns. Based on one of the most prominent public relations theories, the Four Models of Public Relations, we differentiate communication approaches along the dimensions of communication purpose and communication style. Combining these two dimensions in a typology, we identify the following communication approaches: directing, platforming, mobilizing, and involving. We provide numerous real‐life examples of public campaigns for each one. Second, we formulate propositions about these communication approaches’ effectiveness relying on a key concept of public relations research: namely, audience segmentation. Using the transtheoretical model, we show that audiences can be segmented along five “stages of readiness to adopt a promoted behavior.” Conceptualizing behavior change as an iterative, dynamic process that entails stage progresses as well as backdrops, we derive how audiences’ “stage of readiness” relates to the effectiveness of the identified communication approaches.
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