Chiara Valentini

• Ph.D.
• Professor (Full) at University of Jyväskylä

This research investigates individuals' reactions and coping strategies during a prolonged health crisis over distinct temporal phases (i.e., early and late stages of the pandemic) and geographical locations (i.e., Australia, Finland, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, and the United States). Using the infectious disease threat (IDT) appraisal model as a...

Frame of the research: Significant transformations in the field of communication are marked by the increasing integration and transboundary role of communication across organizational functions. The diffusion of digital information technologies has further transformed strategic communication and journalism and challenged traditional notions of orga...

The news media plays a vital role in influencing public perceptions about topics, issues and crises. They also act as important intermediaries between organizations and public, enabling organizations to shape how people think about crisis topics and actors. Monitoring news coverage and assessing the news media's agenda‐setting role in a crisis can...

This chapter discusses the role of information and communication technologies in facilitating human tasks and activities, highlighting their contribution in connecting people globally and enabling the exchange of information and ideas. As technological innovation progresses, the phenomenon of artificial intelligence (AI) and its application in diff...

Purpose Personal influence is one of the most powerful strategies to influence publics’ behaviours. Yet, there is scant attention on how personal influence is leveraged for different public relations purposes in different cultural contexts. This study empirically investigates the presence and use of personal influence among Italian public relations...

Purpose This paper refines the Digital Media–Arena (DMA) framework to address the diversity of stakeholders contributing to the production, (re)appropriation and (re)distribution of organisational messages in digital environments. It also presents a case analysis for the purpose of demonstrating the applicability of the revised conceptual framework...

Tämä projekti tutki eri COVID-19-pandemiaan yhteiskunnallisissa rooleissa toimivien tahojen, kuten hallituksen, uutismedioiden, terveysviranomaisten, asiantuntijoiden, liike-elämän organisaatioiden, vaikutusta yleisön asenteisiin ja käyttäytymiseen. Projektin tutkimusraportti tuo esiin eri näkökulmia liittyen uutismedioiden rooliin pandemian aikana...

During highly uncertain times such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it is vital to understand and predict individuals’ responses to governments’ crisis and risk communication. This study draws on the Orientation-Stimulus-Orientation-Response (O-S-O-R) model to examine (1) whether uncertainty reduction motivation (a pre-orientati...

Public health messages disseminated by trusted government authorities are likely to have more influence over individuals’ intentions and behaviors. However, individuals worldwide have different levels of trust in government authorities, which leads to varying levels of compliance intentions. Additionally, these trust levels may vary during major pu...

Internal social media (ISM) has increasingly gained relevance as a networking platform on which employees can share content and actively engage in conversations across functions, regions and hierarchical levels. Many employees have been working from home, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a variety of ISM platforms—a trend that could c...

Drawing on insights from both rhetorical arena theory and contingency theory of conflict management, this study examines the role of political factors in shaping stakeholder groups’ perceptions and organizational responses and stances in a scansis of a multinational corporation. This study combined qualitative content analysis and semantic network...

Technological advancements have improved the capabilities of pedagogical agents to communicate with students. However, an increased use of pedagogical agents in learning environments calls for a deeper understanding of student–agent communication to assess the effectiveness of pedagogical agents in learning. This study is a two-phase systematic rev...

Purpose – This study focuses on managers’ perceptions of employees’ communicative role in social media, and explores the changes in the contractual nature of employment relations in mediatized workplaces in which the boundaries of professional and private life are becoming more fluid. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach was employe...

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought several challenges to businesses and societies. In response, many corporations have supported local communities and authorities in the management of the pandemic. Although these initiatives, which can be considered forms of corporate social responsibility (CSR), were highly coupled with explicit CSR communication c...

Purpose Online images can convey sensory-based elements affecting digital users' emotions and digital engagement. The purpose of this study is to investigate which image-based features are more effective in conveying and stimulating particular emotions and engagement towards organizations operating in the food industry. Design/methodology/approach...

This chapter reviews and discusses the status of public relations theory. It does so by offering the editor’s own reading and interpretation of public relations theory as discussed in this handbook. Specifically, a typology for classifying public relations theories is presented, and then used to conduct a meta-level theoretical analysis of the theo...

This chapter introduces the reader to the field of public relations by offering an overview of its core function and purpose. It is argued that public relations is a profession and discipline in the field of communication science that is situated at the crossroads of other social influence disciplines. Then, the chapter presents and discusses three...

Purpose During the past few years, public trust in organisations, institutions and systems has decreased. Trust is an important antecedent not only for relationship-building but also for image and reputation management. This study aims to systematically review scientific publications on public relations and trust to explore the current status of tr...

Introduction for special issue of Journal of Public Affairs on lobbying and communication

Purpose The purpose of this study is to review the extant literature on chatbots and stakeholder interactions to identify major trends and shed light on knowledge gaps. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review was conducted combining qualitative and quantitative approaches. A code book based on early systematic literature reviews...

Although framing theory has been extensively studied in strategic communication comparatively, little is known about how trade unions, as a specific type of organization, use framing strategies to achieve their organizational goals. Trade unions frequently aim to present themselves as cause groups, campaigning for broader societal benefits and valu...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of visual communications on Instagram users’ propensity to engage with image-based content through online behaviors such as liking, sharing, commenting and following, and their intention to purchase the product depicted in the visual communications. Design/methodology/approach An expe...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the corporate behavior of Volkswagen in its emissions scandal. It describes and analyzes a complex ethics dilemma within the purview of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate sustainability (CS) and examines how this dilemma impacts critical stakeholders, thus offering several “opportunit...

Credibility is defined as the quality of being believed or accepted as true, real, or honest. It is typically considered to be a construct related to an individual's or organization's earned quality; however, credibility can be also ascribed to a message and a medium of communication. It is a central concept in strategic communication because it em...

Social media are defined as Internet‐based applications that allow users to create, exchange, or simply consume user‐generated content, that is, content created by individuals themselves. Examples include blogs, wikis, Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds, and social networking sites, as well as user‐generated content aggregators, such as Yelp and TripAdv...

This conceptual chapter intends to advance early scholarly discussions on the role of communication in stakeholder relations by offering additional insights to the field of stake­holder relationship management. Specifically, the chapter will touch upon three major themes: 1) the nature of people's communicative behaviours and their empowerment to t...

How do lobbyists get their way and what is the consequence for democracy of their strategies? It is frequently asserted that lobbyists appeal to the public interest to strengthen their proposals. This paper empirically corroborates this claim through four case studies cutting across different European cultural clusters and political systems. The pa...

How do lobbyists get their way and what is the consequence for democracy of their strategies? It is frequently asserted that lobbyists appeal to the public interest to strengthen their proposals. This paper empirically corroborates this claim through four case studies cutting across different European cultural clusters and political systems. The pa...

Le présent ouvrage actualise la conception des interactions entre les professionnels des relations publiques – qu’ils œuvrent dans le secteur privé, public, culturel, militaire ou politique­ – et les journalistes. Il revisite les approches dites traditionnelles (oppositionnelles, d’amour/haine ou axées sur l’interdépendance) et propose d’autres per...

The term “environment” refers to the internal and external context in which organizations operate. For some scholars, environment is defined as an arrangement of political, economic, social, and cultural factors existing in a given context that have an impact on organizational processes and structures. For others, environment is a generic term desc...

A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the extant literature about corporate social responsibility in the apparel industry found that perspectives and research traditions are underdeveloped and fragmented. Articles (n = 73) were found in 41 different journals that spanned an array of disciplines with the majority of journals publishing fewer th...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a measurement scale for assessing the quality of dialogic conversations among companies and digital publics in social media. Dialogic conversations are defined as sequences of communicative actions and counteractions taken by social actors for different purposes based on specific linguistic choices an...

This article contributes to the discussion on societal changes and their impact on communication disciplines by focusing on public relations and its role in contemporary global society. The thesis is that the public relations profession has been affected by contemporary societal changes that challenge the existing body of knowledge and its underpin...

This article presents and discusses a theoretical proposition to study social media and their relational dynamics based on the role of language and discourse in communicative interactions that occur in social media. We propose a theoretical foundation that is grounded on the communicative constitution perspective that focuses on the power of commun...

Media ethics is an area of inquiry that has been of great concern among journalists and public relations professionals as well as scholars across the world. Empirical research on media ethics of comparative nature has increased, providing a descriptive account on the current situations across different countries. Yet, theoretical efforts to explain...

Social media are conversational platforms in which people meet to share opinions, ideas, and experiences that they gauge relevant for their social network. Social media have become the milieu for activism and critical conversations. Organizations can observe the emergence of “warnings” in the form of critical contents posted and shared across netwo...

Spin doctoring is a derogatory term to define public relations activities for political institutions, political actors or corporations that emphasize or exaggerate the most positive aspects of something. The term does not indicate a profession, like public relations, or a neutral activity, like political communication, but is a biased expression us...

More and more government agencies are starting to use social media as part of their communication strategy to increase organizational transparency, collaborations inside and outside the organization, and public participation. In this study, we investigate how civil servants use a blog in a government agency in Denmark and their viewpoints on the ac...

Social actors see exposure in the news media as attractive for publicity purposes and are under pressure to adapt their press work to a “media logic” to be attractive sources for journalists and editors. This article investigates the European Parliament’s press officers’ professional practices in the light of mediatization and government communicat...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review recent literature on global public relations in order to scrutinize how contemporary transformations are conceptualized in the field, and what this means for the understanding of public. Design/methodology/approach – The authors offer a critical analysis and discussion of recent publications in orde...

Media relations is historically a core activity qualifying public relations from other communication-related professions and is widely practiced in many organizations. Despite the increasing use of digital media to directly communicate with publics, journalists are still key stakeholders for organizations. Also communications by organizations have...

Media relations is historically a core activity qualifying public relations from other communication-related professions and is widely practiced in many organizations. Despite the increasing use of digital media to directly communicate with publics, journalists are still key stakeholders for organizations. Also communications by organizations have...

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to develop and test a theoretical framework, grounded in managerial and organisational theories of dialogue, through which organisations can take decisions in relation to the most appropriate crisis response strategies for handling social media stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach – The theoretical framework...

Media relations is historically a core activity qualifying public relations from other communication-related professions and is widely practiced in many organizations. Despite the increasing use of digital media to directly communicate with publics, journalists are still key stakeholders for organizations. Also communications by organizations have...

This article examines the state of political public relations in the European Union by specifically focusing on reputation management and relationship management. Its arguments are based on a theoretical review of the literature of political public relations, reputation and relationship management, and EU communication. The article suggests an in-d...

Government communication plays a key role in democratic societies as it helps public understanding of government policies and raises awareness of the roles and actions of decision makers. Within the European Union (EU) polity, communication plays a crucial role for citizens' support for the European integration process. Despite the increasing relev...

There is a paucity of empirical studies of public relations in Italy. This study sought to assess whether public relations departments are managed strategically in Italy and whether public relations contributes to the strategic management of organizations. Using the four generic principles that deal with strategic management, this study gathered da...

Purpose of the paper: The aim of this study is to examine the level of strategic management of public administrations and information and communication programs by public communication officers in Italy. Methodology: The study is quantitative in nature. It was constructed according to the findings of the Excellence Project in Public Relations and t...

In the 21st Century global public relations professional community, the need for a postmodern reformation is compellingly evident. Most theorizing begins with basic assumptions about the three main social actors for which public relations has been practiced: (1) corporations, (2) nongovernmental and civil society organizations (NGOs and CSOs), and...

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to explore the role of the blogosphere in framing Alitalia's performance during its 2008 crisis. Design/methodology/approach – Content analysis was chosen as research method to investigate bloggers' perceptions of Alitalia's crisis. Five major Italian blogs were selected and each blog was operationalised in units...

This paper proposes a conceptual direction for organizations of how they could map their stakeholders in a more holistic way. Study suggests, that stakeholder theory is useful in identifying and prioritizing stakeholders that organization is aware of. However, theory is argued being ineffective in finding stakeholders on new environments (social me...

This article provides a theoretical conceptualization of the role of public relations in society based on the “organic theory” of public relations and on Luhmann’s systems theory as well as on the concept of trust. In a postmodern, hypercomplex society, we claim that the main role of public relations is to strengthen system interactions through the...

Purpose The purpose of this investigation is to explore Alitalia and the Italian Government's crisis response strategies (CRSs) implemented in three specific periods of 2008 to understand Alitalia and the Italian Government's approach in communicating with media stakeholders as well as to examine how main Italian and international newspapers framed...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to look into Italian PR practitioners' opinions on whether or not specific social networks, the personalised networks of influence, are perceived to be one of the main strategic resources and the degree of relevance they give to such networks. Personalised networks of influence are also tested with Italian journ...

This paper aims at re-conceptualizing the concept of the personal influence model through a critical analysis of the manners in which the personal influence model is practiced in certain countries as well as at understanding the role of cultural factors in determining the meanings associated to these practices and their level of acceptance at socie...

The aim of this paper is to revise recent discussions on the need for institutionalization of public relations in Italy, by presenting different conceptual claims against the need for this postulation. Through critical argumentative discourse, I will show how the question of institutionalization within the Italian PR context is rather difficult to...

The aim of this paper is to try to fill the gap of studies in international public relations by providing more information on the history and development of public relations in Italy. It presents, through an historical overview, the ways that Italian public relations has been conceived and practised. It also discusses current trends and other quest...

The aim of this paper is to analyze the information and communication policies and strategies developed by the European Union between 2001 and 2006 and their implementation in two member states, namely, Finland and Italy, from a public relations perspective. Six EU information and communication policies are presented, and it is discussed whether or...

This paper takes a critical perspective on the current debate on EU communication problems, and looks at past EU information and communication activities and their results in respect to citizens’ support for the EU, its institutions and its policies as well as the general attitude of Europeans towards the EU project. It aims at demonstrating that i...

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present and compare two approaches (the global and the cultural) to public relationship management and to argue by reference to different cases, why the cultural approach can be considered more effective in establishing good relationships in different national cultural contexts. Design/methodology/approach – T...

This study aims at providing a different answer to the question of EU visibility and tonality in national news coverage. Specifically I claim that the negative or null coverage of EU news depends on the type of relationships that subsist between journalists and EU officers, that is, it depends on EU media relations. Two countries have been chosen,...

This article provides a new interpretation of EU information and communication actions developed in the last 5 years from a public relations standpoint. This study responds to five main questions concerning EU promotional campaigns towards its different publics. Specifically it seeks to understand the reasons behind such campaigns, whether they hav...

This paper deals with the media relations activities performed in the Council of the European Union and more specifically explores the communication tasks and practices of press officers in the Press Service of that institution. We begin by reviewing the literature on public sector communication and government public relations in relation to the Eu...