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A Multidimensional Network Approach to Strategic Communication
Abstract
In this article, we introduce a multidimensional network perspective as a theoretical and methodological touchstone for the study of strategic communication. The perspective embraces the various disciplinary traditions that are found under the strategic communication umbrella (e.g., advertising, corporate communication, organizational communication, and public relations) and gives primacy to communication as the constitutive element through which organizations make strategic decisions about network positioning and representation to stakeholders. We begin with an overview of the trends in strategic communication that suggest a network perspective is a viable and timely approach. Next, we present the underlying assumptions of a network perspective and identify the six network types applicable to strategic communication research and practice: activity coordination, affiliation, affinity, flow, representational, and semantic. Finally, we introduce a set of propositions to illustrate the heuristic value of the approach and lay the groundwork for future theorizing.
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... This study takes a strategic network perspective (O'Connor and Shumate, 2018;Yang and Taylor, 2015) to understand how NGOs can attract public attention on social media by recognizing that communicators are situated in webs of connections. In social-mediated contexts, connections that form among users to create networks can enable or constrain communicators' pursuits of outcomes like public attention . ...
... In this article, we draw from the strategic communication literature on network management (O'Connor and Shumate, 2018;Sommerfeldt and Yang, 2017;Yang and Taylor, 2015) and social network research in organizational science (Holme, 2005;Rombach et al., 2014) to propose a network contingency model of public attention (Figure 1). The model begins by proposing that network-building strategies (Yang and Taylor, 2015) can situate organizations into "star" and "community" network positions and influence their ability to get attention. ...
... This assumption is especially relevant in the digital space because digital communication mainly takes place in networks (Morales et al., 2014). If we consider relationship-building strategies as a form of strategic communication (O'Connor and Shumate, 2018;Yang and Taylor, 2015), it is valuable to consider how different network structures may call for different relationship-building strategies. ...
Social media can offer strategic communicators cost-effective opportunities to reach millions of individuals. However, in practice it can be difficult to be heard in these crowded digital spaces. This study takes a strategic network perspective and draws from recent research in network science to propose the network contingency model of public attention. This model argues that in the networked social-mediated environment, an organization’s ability to attract public attention on social media is contingent on its ability to fit its network position with the network structure of the communication context. To test the model, we combine data mining, social network analysis, and machine-learning techniques to analyze a large-scale Twitter discussion network. The results of our analysis of Twitter discussion around the refugee crisis in 2016 suggest that in high core-periphery network contexts, “star” positions were most influential whereas in low core-periphery network contexts, a “community” strategy is crucial to attracting public attention.
... The social network approach offers a systemic and relational perspective by emphasizing the structural patterns of communication among organizations and stakeholders (O'Connor & Shumate, 2020;Sommerfeldt, Saffer, & Luoma-Aho, 2022;Yang & Saffer, 2018;Zhao & Oh, 2021). Existing work has advanced our understanding of message exchanges and partnership formation in public relations, yet few scholars have examined representational relations (Shumate & Pilny, 2013), the mention of interorganizational associations to external entities such as news media and the public, in a polarized environment where conveying the impressions of organizational relationships might help or hurt an organization. ...
... Communication networks are the links among actors (e.g., organizations) or symbols (e.g., texts) that reflect how messages are disseminated (Shumate & Pilny, 2013). The social network approach emphasizes the interconnectedness and embeddedness of various entities in a communication network, enabling scholars to grasp the structural underpinnings of strategic communication among organizations and stakeholders (O'Connor & Shumate, 2020;Yang & Taylor, 2015;Zhao, 2022). Strategic communication scholars have begun to examine different types of communication relations, including message exchanges, interorganizational collaborations, and representational connections (e.g., Fu & Li, 2019;O'Connor & Gronewold, 2012;Xu & Zhou, 2020;Yang & Saffer, 2018). ...
Organizational political ideology has recently received research attention, as more organizations engage in political activities to influence public policy and political regulation. However, there lacks a focus on interor-ganizational relationships as part of an organization's political agenda. This study investigates political ideology as a mechanism of interorganizational relationship-building through politically active organizations' agenda-building efforts. The study measures organizational political ideology through political donations, and investigates how it affects organizational relationship-building through press releases. We adopt a social network approach to examine interorganizational relationships predicted by the political ideology of the organization and the CEO at both the nodal and structural levels. After a computational analysis of 174,118 press releases by top political organizational donors, the findings show that an organization's political ideology affected the mentions it received (i.e., in-degree), whereas its CEO's political ideology affected its mentions of other organizations (i.e., out-degree). Value homophily did not significantly influence interorganizational representational networks, but mutuality and transitivity affected distinct patterns of connections among politically active organizations.
... Scholars in public relations and strategic communication have advocated for a shift of paradigm toward the social network approach for a more refined understanding of the interconnectedness of actors (e. g., organizations, stakeholders) and symbols (e.g., texts, concepts) (Himelboim, Golan, Moon, & Suto, 2014;O'Connor & Shumate, 2018;Yang & Taylor, 2015). Communication networks are "relations among various types of nodes that illustrate the ways in which messages are transmitted or interpreted" (Shumate et al., 2013, p. 97). ...
... By forming a representational network, the organizations could reach IFC more effectively. The positive impact of organizational mentions on IFC suggested the importance of considering the predictive role of alternative relations in explaining semantic ties among organizations and implied that representational relations such as endorsement can be transferred into shared discourses for collective crisis responses (O'Connor & Shumate, 2018). ...
Public relations and strategic communication scholars have advocated for a social network perspective for a more relational and nuanced understanding of crisis communication. Drawing upon literature from crisis communication, framing, and network theories, we explicate the notion of interorganizational frame convergence (IFC), the extent to which different organizations share interpretations (i.e., frames) on a particular issue. This study examined an IFC network in which cross-sectoral organizations were connected by semantic ties based on the extent to which they shared similar frames in a crisis. We carried out a content analysis of organizational press releases during the US opioid crisis from 2017 to 2019 (N = 420) and the profiles of these organizations (N = 34). Results from network analyses revealed patterns, processes, and antecedents of IFC during the opioid crisis. We argue that understanding the antecedents and processes of IFC allows more relational and systemic theory construction as well as more effective relationship building.
... In conclusion, strategic communication has a multidirectional and complex nature that must be managed in harmony with the organizational context (O'Connor and Shumate, 2018). In this perspective, strategic communication involves the interconnection of organizations, messages, and stakeholders, and plays a key role in creating and maintaining business relationships between the parties (Knudsen and Lemmergaard, 2014;Merz et al., 2009). ...
Framing of the research: In recent years, the academic literature has focused on the topic of strategic communication as an emerging field of knowledge encompassing public relations, organizational communication and marketing communications. In this research stream, scholars interpret strategic communication as a discipline that embraces complexity and interdisciplinarity, with the aim of fully grasping the different nuances of the organization without neglecting strategy, orientation, and organizational objectives. Purpose of the paper. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of strategic communication in the marketing decision-making process.Methodology. We conducted a qualitative multiple-case study analysis involving five companies operating in the food industry. Specifically, we collected qualitative data from seven semi-structured interviews with key informants operating in the case companies, company visits, and secondary data. Using multiple methods to collect qualitative data from various sources was useful to avoid bias from a single method and to obtain robust results. Findings. The results highlight that strategic communication plays an increasingly central role in the marketing decision-making process of companies. Specifically, our analysis reveals that, on the one hand, strategic communication influences product policy, while on the other, it fosters the innovation of marketing communications.Research limits. This study presents limitations related to the generalizability of the results, as it adopts a qualitative perspective. Future studies could include the consumer perspective by adopting quantitative methodologies.Practical implications. The analysis presents a series of implications for communication and marketing professionals, and in particular for corporate communication directors, identifying the potential of their role in the company’s strategic decisions.Originality of the paper. This study contributes to the management literature by clarifying the ways in which strategic communication influences the marketing decision-making process. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study depicting a framework summarizing how strategic communication influences companies’ product policy and marketing communications.
... This strategy is effective in promoting and educating mental health advocacy activities, as social media enables organizations to publicize their ongoing events, programs, and have a significant impact on users and their organizers or partners to create dialogue and build substance within the community sexual relationships, and work together to advocate for mental health. Digital evolution continues to transform strategic communications by enhancing and expanding the ways in which organizations and stakeholders co-create and build relationships (Cone Communications, 2014;Shapiro, 2016;O'Connor & Shumate, 2020). More and more time is invested in online, and the risks are also increasing. ...
The new media era enables people to obtain information conveniently, and also brings a wider publicity platform to non-profit organizations. So how do non-profit organizations advertise through social networks? The purpose of this paper is to analyze the strategic communication of non-profit organizations based on the new media environment. To this end, a typical case in Malaysia is analyzed: the Green Ribbon Group, a non-profit organization for social utilities. The social movement profile of the nonprofit Green Ribbon Group is examined in the first section. We give the case study evidence in the second section.In this exploratory study, quantitative methods were chosen to gather public perceptions of the effectiveness of the communication strategies used by the "Green Ribbon Group" in its social campaigns from 50 respondents. This was done in light of the connections between strategic communication and the non-profit sector. This case study was specifically intended to show the kinds of communication tactics that a non-profit organisation could create. Reveals how nonprofits create and maintain a wide range of relationships between the organization and stakeholders through strategic communications.
... Examining the structure of words is, again, a task to which SNA is uniquely suited. By investigating mental representations of concepts as systems of organized words, SNA allows one to estimate which words are interconnected, the importance of particular words within a representational system, and the degree of overlap in how different people or groups make sense of the same concept (Monge & Eisenberg, 1987;O'Connor & Shumate, 2018). SNA therefore has the benefits of a content analysis, plus the unique ability to uncover meanings associated with a concept by examining relations among words (Carley, 1993;Monge & Eisenberg, 1987). ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a source of conflict between liberals and conservatives in the U.S., with many politicized debates focusing on college students and universities. To understand this partisan conflict and how it might be mitigated, one useful approach is to examine how collective sensemaking about the virus and virus response, as reflected in language use, has differed between different political groups. Using semantic network analysis of a corpus of college students' descriptions of their worries about COVID-19, we found that there were many similarities in sensemaking across the political spectrum, but also important differences between ideological groups. In particular, collective sensemaking for conservative students (more so than for liberal and moderate students) was organized around words related to anxiety and close personal relationships. These results have implications for addressing partisan intergroup conflict about COVID-19.
... In data mining the alternative trouble is of duplication of information. In such cases we can represent the information in the form of tables [5], [6]. The integration of information goals to lower repetition and maximum guarantee of not having effect on performance and dependency of information. ...
Nowadays online or digital marketing is the key player in modern product promotion. It allows everyone to promote their own product online easily and at the lowest cost than any other way of marketing. But people face difficulties in promoting their product online. Organizations ranging from small to big often tend to waste money in online ad placement or it may be less effective to the budget they made. The proposed system can identify the right audience and platform in which to be promoted for the product that is to be promoted. This system is so precise in achieving this through data mining and data optimization. Here we use the firefly algorithm for data optimization. The system outputs the platform that can be targeted and the countries where the customers are interested in the product.
... and, finally, with aspects of rhetoric and language as ways of capturing people's attention O'Connor & Shumate, 2018;Werder et al., 2018). ...
Strategic communication is becoming more relevant in communication sciences, though it needs to deepen its reflective practices, especially considering its potential in a VUCA world — volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. The capillary, holistic and result-oriented nature that portrays this scientific field has led to the imperative of expanding knowledge about the different approaches, methodologies and impacts in all kinds of organisations when strategic communication is applied. Therefore Strategic Communication in Context: Theoretical Debates and Applied Research assembles several studies and essays by renowned authors who explore the topic from different angles, thus testing the elasticity of the concept. Moreover, this group of authors represents various schools of thought and geographies, making this book particularly rich and cross-disciplinary.
... Thus, companies are not always the nexus of interactions between stakeholders (Yang and Bentley, 2017). Instead, it points to the network of stakeholders with the company as a stakeholder itself (Rowley, 1997;O'Conner and Shumate, 2018). Stakeholder-relationship thinking aligns well with network theory in that the company is not necessarily the central actor but is instead part of creating value with stakeholders through an emergent process (Civera and Freeman, 2019). ...
Corporate scandals have influenced stakeholder trust globally. Corporate governance efforts to curb scandals have failed to improve company behaviour, resulting in pressure on society and stakeholders. A stakeholder-oriented relational approach to corporate citizenship is non-negotiable-it requires authentic companies to use cultivation strategies to build authentic stakeholder relationships. Companies' integrated reports illustrate their authenticity and ability to present balanced information. The integrated reports of selected JSE-listed South African companies were analysed through quantitative and qualitative content analysis. Relational transparency was found to be central to a company engaging authentically with stakeholders, evident through company behaviour and integrated reporting. However, companies do not focus enough on relational transparency and lack strategies that require active involvement with stakeholders. Such strategies include task-sharing, openness, assurances, positivity and networking. Stakeholder relationships are dependent on a company's cultivation of authenticity and inclusivity. The proposed framework for authentic company stakeholder relationship networks could help companies to understand authenticity in stakeholder relationships.
... Pendekatan dialektis terhadap komunikasi interpersonal berkisar pada kontradiksi, perubahan, praksis, dan totalitas, dengan pengaruh (Shinas, 2012) dari Hegel, Marx, dan Bakhtin (Abbas et al., 2016;Ding et al., 2020;Froehlich et al., 2020;Nothhaft et al., 2018;O'Connor & Shumate, 2018 ...
The problem of globalization is characterized by people's lifestyles with the role of the state and the role of business which is very important in the perspective of their needs. The pattern of human life is in dire need of data research capable of solving global problems. The economic role of the public interest by the needs of the political market. The pattern of political economy is the rise and fall of the global role which is marked by obtaining the community's need for its economic market, negotiation in the communication aspect is a business negotiation route that can improve the community's standard of living needed. Negotiations on the aspect of business communication are a process from the start of the system and economic dynamics that develop as if endlessly like a "turning wheel" bias towards this role and the state towards the role of a market economy that stretches across national and international levels, for example multilateral, regional and opinion. general. The purpose of this business negotiation requires how we find economic problems starting from the role and function of corporate communication in giving impact to the development of a complex social environment.
... V sodobni Luka JESENŠEK, Dejan VERČIČ, Luka KRONEGGER komunikacijski krajini so sporočila, kanali, deležniki in posamezniki medsebojno povezani s širokim naborom odnosov. Te lahko opišemo z mrežnim pristopom k preučevanju komuniciranja (O'Connor in Shumate, 2018), ki skupaj z dosegljivimi digitalnimi podatki o uporabi spletnih družbenih omrežij ponuja nove možnosti za ocenjevanje in merjenje komunikacijskih aktivnosti in njihovih učinkov (Holtzhausen in Zerfass, 2015). Metode za analizo socialnih omrežij skupaj z velikimi količinami digitalnih podatkov omogočajo vpogled v strukturo komuniciranja na spletnih družbenih omrežjih. ...
Povzetek. Z metodami za analizo socialnih omrežij preučujemo strukturo slovenske politične razprave na spletnem družbenem omrežju Twitter pred volitvami v Evropski parlament 2019. Opisujemo omrežje 2867 uporabnikov in 40670 objav (tvitov), središčne uporabnike, pretok informacij prek posredovanih objav (retvitov) in skupnosti uporabnikov. Med najaktivnejšimi uporabniki prevladujejo širši javnosti manj znani posamezniki, med najvplivnejšimi pa politične stranke, politiki in znane osebnosti. V omrežju pretoka informacij se pojavljajo politično/mnenjsko homogene skupnosti uporabnikov, kar nakazuje na fragmentacijo mrežne javne sfere in polarizacijo slovenske spletne politične razprave. Rezultati ponujajo enega izmed prvih vpogledov v pretok informacij med slovenskimi uporabniki Twitterja skozi prizmo fragmentacije družbenih omrežij.
... These networks can enable or constrain organizations' and individuals' communication behaviors and outcomes . Juxtaposed to traditional message-centered strategic communication approach, the strategic network perspective broadens the view to consider the structural aspects of communication environments (O'Connor & Shumate, 2018;. ...
In times of public health emergencies, health agencies need to engage and communicate with the public in real-time to share updates and accurate information. This is especially the case for the COVID-19 pandemic where public engagement can potentially save lives and flatten the curve. This paper considers how the use of interactive features and strategic network positions of health agencies on social media influenced their public engagement outcomes. Specifically, we analyzed 203 U.S. public health agencies’ Twitter activity and the public engagement they received by extracting data from a large-scale Twitter dataset collected from January 21st to May 31st, 2020. Results show that health agencies’ network position in addition to their two-way communication strategy greatly influenced the level of public engagement with their COVID-19 related content on Twitter. Findings highlight the benefits of strategic social media communication of public health agencies resides not only in how agencies use social media but also in their formation of network position to amplify their visibility. As official sources of health and risk information, public health agencies should coordinate their social media communication efforts to strategically position themselves in advantageous network positions to augment public engagement outcomes.
... Dialogue is characterized by rhetoric and persuasion because every interaction involves the potential to influence and be influenced by others (Kent & Taylor, 2018). The study of language use and discourse by organizations on social media presents an important way to theorize organizations' relationship management and dialogic communication (Valentini, Romenti, & Kruckeberg, 2016) because it influences the way stakeholders think about the issues or messages that organizations communicate with stakeholders (O'Connor & Shumate, 2018). Specifically, examining the discourse engaged in by organizations working in similar domains offers insights into the ways organizations formulate the public discourse about a topic (Fu & Zhang, 2019;Raupp, 2019) or communicate with stakeholders (W. ...
Guided by the dialogic communication framework, stakeholder theory, and research on implicit framing, this study examines how stakeholder engagement reflects organizations' dialogic social media use in the form of stakeholder targeting and message framing. Analysis of survey data from 156 humanitarian organizations and semantic network analysis of their messages on Facebook and Twitter reveal that organizations with higher levels of dialogic social media use target relatively distinctive stakeholders. More dialogic organizations explore more diverse concepts in their posts, but the themes of discussion on Twitter and Facebook both diverge and converge regardless of levels of dialogic social media use. Moreover, the semantic differences among the organizations in the low-and high-dialogic groups are more salient on Twitter than on Facebook. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are drawn from the findings.
... Dialogue is characterized by rhetoric and persuasion because every interaction involves the potential to influence and be influenced by others (Kent & Taylor, 2018). The study of language use and discourse by organizations on social media presents an important way to theorize organizations' relationship management and dialogic communication (Valentini, Romenti, & Kruckeberg, 2016) because it influences the way stakeholders think about the issues or messages that organizations communicate with stakeholders (O'Connor & Shumate, 2018). Specifically, examining the discourse engaged in by organizations working in similar domains offers insights into the ways organizations formulate the public discourse about a topic (Fu & Zhang, 2019;Raupp, 2019) or communicate with stakeholders (W. ...
Guided by the dialogic communication framework, stakeholder theory, and research on implicit framing, this study examines how stakeholder engagement reflects organizations' dialogic social media use in the form of stakeholder targeting and message framing. Analysis of survey data from 156 humanitarian organizations and semantic network analysis of their messages on Facebook and Twitter reveal that organizations with higher levels of dialogic social media use target relatively distinctive stakeholders. More dialogic organizations explore more diverse concepts in their posts, but the themes of discussion on Twitter and Facebook both diverge and converge regardless of levels of dialogic social media use. Moreover, the semantic differences among the organizations in the low-and high-dialogic groups are more salient on Twitter than on Facebook. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are drawn from the findings.
... For instance, both communication and management scholars may study affinity network ties (e.g., collaboration); communication scholars and historians alike may seek to understand semantic networks. Future research needs to conceptualize the type of network relation in their OSNs and use theories suitable to a certain type of network relation to generalize our knowledge about OSNs (O'Connor & Shumate, 2018). This allows researchers to bridge the subdisciplines in communication, engage in dialogues with other disciplines, and shed light on the "deep and significant common social structures across all forms of social behavior" (Monge & Contractor, 2003, p. 327). ...
Online social networks (OSNs), comprised of varying types of relations among actors that interact through social technologies, are widespread in today's media environment. However, questions remain whether we are moving towards convergence within the sub-disciplines of communication and with other disciplines in OSN research. This article pursues two interrelated goals. First, it performs a bibliometric analysis of existing scholarship on OSNs in the past 20 years, highlighting both the convergence and divergence of inquiry on OSNs in computer-mediated communication (CMC) research. Second, based on the results of the bibliometric analysis, it articulates an agenda for future CMC research. Specifically, we advocate for a social network approach that will bridge various theoretical frameworks and disciplinary/sub-disciplinary boundaries, for employing the communication network taxonomy, for greater effort to integrate traditional and computational approaches within and beyond social network analysis, and for addressing a greater diversity of institutional contexts.
... This phenomenon is more salient in online than offline dialogue. Thus, public relations scholars should apply the network approach to advance organization-public dialogue research (O'Connor & Shumate, 2018). In doing so, future research efforts should be devoted to the development of organization-public dialogue measures as valid and reliable indicators of such dialogue. ...
Advanced information and communication technologies and social media (Web 2.0) have significantly shaped every aspect of contemporary society since Kent and Taylor’s (1998) proposal of dialogic principles, which later evolved into dialogic theory of public relations. It is now time to move the theory forward. The special section aims to advance the dialogic theory of public relations by reviewing the scholarship in organization-public dialogue to pinpoint critical issues for its development and introducing studies that take the dialogue approach to examine a range of public relations practices in China. In this introduction, we first identify critical issues to be addressed for the development of the dialogic theory of public relations and then introduce the articles included in the section. We conclude by proposing research directions for the theoretical and practical development of the dialogic approach to public relations.
... Flow ties occur when participants in a network send and receive messages, information, or data amongst themselves (O'Connor and Shumate 2018;Shumate and Contractor 2013). They are usually directional, because they involve an actual "flow" of content going from one actor to another actor; they do not involve any third parties. ...
Research on nonprofit organizations’ (NPOs) social media strategies has focused on the dialogic features of social media to improve organization–stakeholder relationships and elicit stakeholder responses. However, NPOs may initiate different types of relationships with their stakeholders on social media (i.e. flow, representational, and affinity). Stakeholders may also create autonomous networks among themselves beyond simply responding to the NPOs. Based on observations of 100 NPOs’ and stakeholders’ 1-month-Twitter activities, this study captures varying types of NPOs’ ties embedded in social media and examines how each type correlates with stakeholders’ autonomous networks. The results suggest that each type of tie has a different role in autonomous networks. This study provides a nuanced understanding of diverse networks embedded in social media and sheds light on autonomous networks as distinctive virtual communities for NPOs during this era of transformation in collective action and social change, existing at the intersection of loose organizational coordination and individual autonomy.
... From a methodological point of view, the question arises how this study's method could be translated to other types of arenas. Public relations and strategic communication scholars increasingly argue for applying network analysis, mainly focusing on networks as an outcome of strategic communication efforts (Rowley, 1997;Sommerfeldt & Kent, 2015;Sommerfeldt & Yang, 2017;O'Connor & Shumate, 2018;Yang & Taylor, 2015). This focus is becoming increasingly prevalent with the widespread use of digital media. ...
This study applies and extends the rhetorical arena theory (RAT)of crisis communication with a network analysis. Taking the Volkswagen emission crisis as a case in point, the media discourse in two German and two US-based newspapers was analyzed. Patterns of interaction between various voices that co-construct the rhetorical crisis situation were examined using a relational analysis of statements. A symbolic network was constructed that consisted of rhetorical relations between the actors. The findings show that VW is by far the most prominent voice in the media coverage. However, this prominence is based on the fact that VW mainly appears in the role of the addressee of statements, and that many of the corporation's statements are self-referential. Politicians and public authorities, as well as experts, have a good chance to actively have their say. Affected stakeholders and NGOs, on the other hand, barely got an opportunity to speak. Overall, the media discourse appears to be dominated by a few high-ranking actors, and the roles and power relationships are distributed very unevenly. Implications of this imbalance in media discourse are discussed, and suggestions for further research are made.
... The answer is that strategic communication research will not be unique as long as scholars in the field do not take the leap and make it unique by embracing the strategic calculus as the defining perspective with which to look at, in turn, communication (van Ruler, 2018), deliberate and emergent competitive advantages (Winkler & Etter, 2018), organizations , networks (O'Connor & Shumate, 2018), and people (Seiffert-Brockmann, 2018). And, as always in the scientific discourse, others may contribute to the field by provocatively criticizing and challenging this perspective, which will motivate scholars and practitioners alike to strengthen their efforts. ...
This article draws on a decade of research in strategic communication and especially on the contributions in this special issue to propose a new and more comprehensive definition of strategic communication. We argue that strategic communication encompasses all communication that is substantial for the survival and sustained success of an entity. Specifically, strategic communication is the purposeful use of communication by an entity to engage in conversations of strategic significance to its goals. Entity includes all kind of organizations (e.g., corporations, governments, or nonprofits), as well as social movements and known individuals in the public sphere. Communication can play a distinctive role for the formulation, revision, presentation, execution, implementation, and operationalization of strategies. While there are many ways to investigate these research objects, strategic communication as a discipline takes the perspective of the focal organization/entity and its calculus to achieve specific goals by means of communication under conditions of limited resources and uncertainty. The article takes a critical look at the current state of the field and outlines several requirements that will help scholars and practitioners alike to build a unique body of knowledge in strategic communication.
This conceptual paper analyzes the definitions and the explicit and implicit relationships among Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and environmental justice. We explore their roles in public relations theory and practice. Furthermore, we suggest a path for articulating justice and equity more explicitly for future ESG communication. This synthesis leads to defining six equity strategies for ESG communication: Clarity, conflict, reflectiveness, community empowerment, and collaborative, justice-oriented outcomes.
To foster strong global movements toward more inclusive educational resources around the world, higher education serves a crucial role. Universities face numerous challenges in the development of inclusive services for those with differing needs. While global collaborative efforts often provide great inspiration for community and educational system change, professionals do not always know exactly what changes should be made or how to go about making these changes more inclusive. Resources and online professional learning networks that are open to all and readily available online are one way to address these challenges. The INCLUDE Collaboratory gathers and provides open opportunities for professionals around the world to connect, learn, discuss, and develop ongoing collaborative relationships. The authors present the background, history, structure, and work of the INCLUDE Collaboratory, highlighting the following: Concept, vision, and purpose; organizational timeline and evolution; organizational development; thematic priorities, and future planning.
This article argues a discrepancy between the low degree of interest afforded to military disciplines in strategic communication research and the high degree of significance of strategic communication to modern military practice. A relatively low number of scholarly articles have been published in the field of strategic communication which focus on military disciplines, with most of them being empirical studies addressing research objects on the frontiers of military science. Meanwhile, strategic communication has become increasingly central to military practice in the post-1990 period, as seen in armed conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine.
Guided by institutional theory, this study examines how homophily and institutional power influence the tie formation and dissolution of interorganizational collaboration networks. The analysis focuses on longitudinal network data collected from 174 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and inter-governmental organizations (IGOs) whose mission and main activities revolved around HIV/AIDS and other related health topics such as substance use, alcohol use, and smoking. This study conceptualizes collaboration as an affinity communication network and uses the Separable Temporal Exponential Random Graph Modeling (STERGM) to investigate the effects of organizational and sector level attributes. The results reveal the important role that homophily plays in terms of geolocation and topic alignment. Furthermore, the results show IGOs’ role in driving these global partnerships. Implications on how to sustain global health alliances are discussed.
Previous research has regarded social media pages of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) as the organizations’ strategic space for public engagement and further collective action. However, individuals may take advantage of organizations’ pages to form networks beyond the organizations to achieve their own goals, extending their engagement to connective action. Based on content analysis of individuals’ posts on 100 NPOs’ social media pages, this exploratory study develops an original categorization scheme and reveals unique functions of and diverse networks initiated from such posts. In this way, this study combines research on public relations and connective action and captures the transformed roles and dynamics of the public and the organizations as they work toward social change.
COVID-19 has posed several challenges to public health regulatory bodies and experts in dealing with crisis communication. The World Health Organization’s role in dealing with crisis communication came under scrutiny and opened a debate on Twitter regarding COVID-19 information. This study investigates the delay in the dissemination of information on COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and its effects on communication about the pandemic through the lens of issue arenas and communication network theories. It examines the actors, topics, and sentiments that emerged in Twitter because of the communication as well as the crisis response strategies adopted by the WHO. The findings reveal five main actors – organizations, media, independent users, political actors, and others; the dominant emotions in the arena such as anticipation, anger, fear, and trust. Additionally, the WHO employs minimization, and corrective action strategies supported by bolstering. By introducing a new context to the socio-semantic network in the virtual space, this study sheds light on strategic communication while focusing on health communication, public relations, and crisis communication. These insights and findings can help organizations to moderate and manage issues during crises.
The current study seeks to extend the network paradigm in public relations research by exploring the role of online opinion leaders in Twitter conversations around anthem protests by prominent athletes. The aim of the study is twofold: (1) identify opinion leaders involved in Twitter conversations related to anthem protests by Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe, and (2) further understand how and why social media users participate in conversations online about controversial subjects. The study combines social network analysis with in-depth interviews to adopt a more holistic framework for studying online opinion leadership in the context of public relations research. Ultimately, results from this study extend the network paradigm in public relations by examining the role of individual users in the construction of the discursive landscape around issue networks. Additionally, findings suggest that online opinion leaders should be differentiated from social media influencers in public relations scholarship as they reflect the movement away from Homo Economicus toward Homo Dialogicus (Kent & Taylor, 2016) and their capacity to facilitate the formation of publics and counterpublics around particular issues.
Fossil fuel companies hold immense power to change the climate, impact public perceptions, and influence policy. Revoking their social license to operate is one strategy by which the public may resist harm done by the industry. Social license is built upon establishing legitimacy, credibility, and trust, and is something that companies must earn from impacted communities to operate successfully. The present study uses a qualitative content analysis of tweets from fossil fuel organizations, as well as a selection of the replies to those posts, to examine how social media may be used to question these organizations’ social license. Results show that replies consistently voice doubts about legitimacy and credibility. Implications for using this strategy in public interest campaigns are discussed.
Despite the increasing use of social media, interorganizational emergency communication on social media remains an understudied area of research. We examined how county emergency management offices (EMOs) used Twitter to communicate with other public, nonprofit, and for‐profit organizations for emergency communication before, during, and after Hurricane Irma. We further examined the strategies that EMOs and other stakeholders employed to communicate risks on Twitter, and their respective foci. We found that Twitter's potential has not been fully exploited by EMOs, especially at the disaster recovery stage. County EMOs only frequently interacted with a small number of nonprofit and for‐profit organizations, despite these organizations' active engagement in emergency communication. While EMOs and other public agencies emphasized information dissemination and called for citizens to act and be prepared for the hurricane, nonprofit organizations tended to stress service and resource‐related information, called for others to assist with disaster response, and offered emotional support. Business organizations actively addressed customers' concerns by engaging in direct two‐way communication. Our findings suggest that EMOs should integrate nonprofit and business organizations' communication efforts by engaging them in important conversations on Twitter and advocating for the use of highly relevant hashtags at different stages of disaster management.
Purposes. This study investigates the complex relationship between corporate-nonprofit partnership characteristics (type, duration, and source of communication); attitude toward the corporation (pre-test and post-test); partnership evaluation; and stakeholders’ willingness to engage in anti-corporate behaviors when a corporation behaves irresponsibly and negatively impacts an individual’s community. The three partnership characteristics are evaluated, individually and collectively, to discern which, if any, characteristics protect or buffer a corporation from stakeholders’ engagement in negative communication behaviors when controlling for how stakeholders evaluate the partnership and the corporation.
Design/methodology/approach. The study used an online experiment with 970 participants who were randomly assigned to a 2 × 2 × 3 × 2 factorial design.
Findings. Contrary to some previous research findings, this study found that individuals who evaluate either the corporation or the partnership favorably are more likely to engage in anti-corporate behaviors. Neither the partnership type nor communication source provides a buffering effect. The only partnership characteristic to generate a buffering effect was duration and that only occurred if the partnership lasted 3 years. We conclude that when corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) co-occur, an amplification rather than mollifies stakeholders’ willingness to enact anti-corporate communication behaviors in instances of CSI.
Originality. This study advances scholarly understanding of CSR and CSI as in-tandem concepts and practices. The findings challenge previous claims that corporate-nonprofit partnerships can buffer corporations from negative events. In contrast, we find that partnerships are limited in their ability to reduce stakeholders’ willingness to engage in anti-corporate behaviors in instances of CSR. It also answers calls that CSR research should use non-fictitious companies to increase ecological validity of the study design.
This study investigates public reactions to cross-sectoral partnership communication from a nonprofit’s perspective. In two experiments, this study examined how key partnership portfolio configurations, size and diversification, influence individual publics’ trust, attitude, and supportive intentions to the focal nonprofit. In addition, it explored the moderating effect of nonprofit cynicism in this process. Findings of this study contradict the win–win assumption of cross-sectoral partnerships and add new insights to nonprofit organizations’ partner selection and disclosure.
Organizations have adopted social media to communicate their alliances to the public, that is, engage in representational networks. Yet a comprehensive examination of what is communicated in representational networks and how public reactions are associated with these networks is relatively scarce. This study builds on the Symbiotic Sustainability Model (SSM) to examine the content of messages passed in representational networks on social media and their related public reactions. Based on a panel analysis of one year of Facebook data generated by 605 public organizations in Taiwan, this study reveals that referencing certain topics such as economic and technological development and employing linguistic features demonstrating efficacy, formality, and empathetic concern in Facebook messages was associated with an increased diversity of alliance ties reported by public organizations. Moreover, the relationship between communicating diverse alliance ties and positive public reactions in the form of likes went both ways. Integrating automated topic modeling, linguistic analysis, and panel analysis, this study provides a process-based and communication-centered view of the mechanisms and disparities underlying organizations' strategic network management on social media.
Social media represents a global phenomenon that has a great influence on society, primarily in terms of opportunities for new ways of communication that found wide application in modern business. In that sense, the paper analyzes the complex situation between social media communication and tourism. Main goal of the paper is identifying and defining the role that social media have in contemporary tourism. Methodology in the paper, related to contemporary tourism business includes: defining and analyzing social media with special emphasis on their advantages and disadvantages, then analysis and determining the importance of strategic online communication and finally identifying and analyzing the characteristics of individual social media that are of the greatest importance in this strategic process. One of the research conclusions is that the strategic approach of social media and online communication represents one of the key activities in modern tourism business. The set research goal was fulfilled through research analysis, i.e. the role of social media and strategic online communication in modern tourism business was determined, as well as characteristics of social media that have the greatest impact on it.
Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this research is to investigate the perceptions of the learners about the use of the non-verbal language of teachers in an ESL class. This study aims to highlight the role played by non-verbal language in the class by raising awareness about the importance of gestures, physical appearance, and paralinguistic features of the English teachers. Methodology: This research employs a mixed methodology. A questionnaire, consisting of 37 close-ended questions is used to record the views of the learners about the use of the non-verbal language of their English teachers. Moreover, qualitative interviews are conducted to find out the learners' opinion and their awareness concerning the use of non-verbal language by their English teachers. Main Findings: The findings indicate that learners hold a positive attitude towards the teachers who use NVL more frequently. Respondents say that they feel more motivated and interested in the class when the teacher looks at us more frequently and move in the class. According to Neuro-linguists, learning of the language can be enhanced by a drastic level if the teacher can grasp the visual attention of the students while oral communication. Therefore, it is to conclude that learners consider the non-verbal language along with paralinguistic features, extremely constructive in the ESL classroom. They find it encouraging and it aids them in comprehending the content. Application of this Study: The current research will help the practicing language teachers to upgrade their oral communication skills by incorporating the nonverbal cues productively in their classrooms. Furthermore, teacher trainers can make their trainees aware of the importance of the nonverbal part of communication in the ESL classroom either informal lectures or pragmatic preparation. Novelty/ Originality of this study: This study is unique in the sense that it focuses on the role played by the Non-verbal language particularly in the class where English is taught as a second language. It unveils how the integration of nonverbal language along with oral communication can make English language classroom more industrious and productive.
Traditionally, international public relations studies have assumed that a foreign organization, namely a foreign government, is the primary influence on how its home country is portrayed to audiences abroad. This study challenges such assumption of independence by revealing how foreign organizations are connected in ways previous works have not considered. Using Foreign Agents Registration Act data, we reveal the direct and indirect connections that form when foreign organizations hire U.S. agencies to produce their international public relations work. Our network analysis of foreign organizations from Latin American and their U.S. agents documents the network structures that emerge for each country and identifies the types of organizations that are positioned advantageously in the networks. We use these findings to theorize how foreign organizations’ connections and their key positions in networks may influence the production of international public relations efforts for their home country. We at a macro-level, public relations effects depend on the structure of the networks, the overlapping sites where communication content is produced, and who is positioned as key players in the production networks.
Stratejik iletişim literatüründe gündeme gelen yeni kavramsal ve kuramsal arayışların ve yaklaşımların konu edildiği bu çalışmada, alanın önde gelen uluslararası dergileri arasında kabul edilen Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, International Journal of Strategic Communication, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Journal of Communication Management, Journal of Communication Inquiry dergilerinde Ocak 2015 ile Mayıs 2020 tarihleri arasında yayımlanan makaleler, sistematik inceleme yöntemi ile analiz edilmiştir. Bu dergilerde yer alan ve stratejik iletişim alanı için yeni kavramlar, kuramlar ve yaklaşımlar öneren makaleler belirlenmiş, bu makaleler alanın yeni yönelimlerini belirlemek için değerlendirilmiştir. Bulgular, mevcut stratejik iletişim anlayışının örgüt merkezliliğinin ve yönetsel kontrol üzerine kurulu mantığının günümüzde özellikle dijital dönüşümlerle geçersiz hale geldiğini göstermektedir. Günümüz toplumlarında, kurumlarında ve kamularında yaşanan dönüşümler, stratejik iletişimi daha katılımcı, açık, esnek ve etkileşimli olarak kavramsallaştırmayı zorunlu kılmaktadır. Alanın temel kavramları olan ‘strateji’ ve ‘iletişim’ anlayışları gözden geçirilmeli; stratejik iletişim, makro düzeyde, toplumsal boyutu ile analiz edilip tartışılmalıdır.
Building on the symbiotic sustainability model, this study
investigated how offline collaboration networks are related to
organizations’ representational networks on social media. We
analyzed survey data from disaster risk reduction organizations
in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions, along
with these organizations’ representational networks on Facebook
(N = 108) and Twitter (N = 96). Results showed that diverse
offline collaboration networks are positively related to diverse
representational tie building on Facebook via organizations’ sense
of mutuality. By contrast, homogeneous offline collaboration
networks are positively related to diverse representational tie
building on Twitter via mutuality and openness to collaboration.
This study contributes to research on interorganizational networks
and social media, particularly concerning the offline–online
connection in the field of interorganizational communication.
How information and communication technologies (ICTs) condition people’s social relationships that further affect their communication processes has been a significant research agenda. ICTs enable an organization to dialogue and develop relationships with its stakeholders on digital platforms. How organization-stakeholder digital dialogue (OSD) affects the relational network of an organization’s online community remains largely understudied. Employing social network perspective, this study tests the multi-dimensions of OSD on social media and examines impacts of the digital OSD on brand-centric networks based on discursive relationships among actors (i.e., organization-stakeholder and stakeholder-stakeholder relationships). By analyzing eight brands’ Facebook data using content analysis (N = 8838) and social network analysis (Nedge = 74,969), we found that two OSD dimensions (i.e., conversational handling and participation simulation) enhance the network size and interactivity of the brands’ Facebook communities as well as the brands’ structural influence (i.e., in-degree centrality, efficiency, and eigenvector centrality) in the network. The study has theoretical and practical implications for researchers and practitioners who are interested in ICT-enhanced dialogue, organization-stakeholder networks, and online brand communities on social media.
Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of the alliance theory and the collective action theory, this study examines the global network structures of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and their cross-sector relationships on social media and explains the predictors of the relationships. More specifically, we conduct a network analysis to examine the network structure of international communication organizations and their cross-sector relationships on Twitter. This study found that INGOs and IGOs are more likely to establish following relationships on Twitter with the same type of organizations. Furthermore, educational level and cultural context influence their cross-sector relationships. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are also discussed.
The digital industrial revolution, also called Industry 4.0, is substantially changing all areas of business. The application of modern technologies is transforming not only products and processes in the industry, but also business models in all sectors, which further implies required adaptations of all business functions. This chapter addresses the new dynamics and implications for strategic communication brought on by digitalization. A planning process of strategic communication will be elaborated within a digital context, together with the specifics of communicating with younger generations. Communication activities mostly relevant for companies in the new industry will also be presented. The issue of ethics in strategic communication will be also addressed, together with major initiatives in regulating the standards of the profession. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the changes that new technologies have brought to the discipline.
The digital age is a game-changer for the communication between organizations and stakeholders.
Relationships are pivotal to public relations. However, their conceptualizations, measures,
and normative assumptions have neither been analyzed systematically and across disciplines,
nor have they been studied in light of the changing digital communication landscape.
This article re-examines the relationship paradigm in public relations and marketing in an online
environment. By means of a systematic review, it seeks to explicate communicative relationships
between organizations and their diverse stakeholders, to review how they are operationalized
and measured, and to illuminate their normative evaluations. This conceptual specification is
guided by systematic sampling and content analysis of all primary research on organizationstakeholder
relationships in the broader social sciences. Results of a comprehensive analysis of 74
articles suggest that studies overemphasize the business contexts, follow an instrumental orientation
based on transactions rather than communication, and lack analyses of digital data. To
explicate a PR understanding of digital communicative organization-stakeholder relationships, a
definition is provided and a research agenda is offered on theory, measures, and blind spots.
Research typically focuses on one medium. But in today’s digital media environment, people use and are influenced by their experience with multiple systems. Building on media ecology research, we introduce the notion of integrated media effects. We draw on resource dependence and homophily theories to analyze the mechanisms that connect media systems. To test the integrated media effects, we examine the relationships between news media visibility and social media visibility and hyperlinking patterns among 410 nongovernmental organization (NGO) websites in China. NGOs with greater news media visibility and more social media followers receive significantly more hyperlinks. Further, NGOs with a similar number of social media followers prefer to hyperlink to each other. The results suggest that both news media and social media systems are related to the configuration of hyperlink networks, providing support for the integrated media effects described. Implications for the study of hyperlink networks, online behaviors of organizations, and public relations are drawn from the results.
The benefits provided by employment and identified with a specific employing company are referred to as employer branding. We argue that when employees use IT to share and access work-related experiences openly across organizations, their expectations and assessments of workplaces change. We collected 38,000 reviews of the highest and lowest ranked employers on Glassdoor, an online crowdsourced employer branding platform. Using IBM Watson to analyze the data, we identify seven employer branding value propositions that current, former, and potential employees care about when they collectively evaluate employers. These propositions include (1) social elements of work, (2) interesting and challenging work tasks, (3) the extent to which skills can be applied in meaningful ways, (4) opportunities for professional development, (5) economic issues tied to compensation, (6) the role of management, and (7) work/life balance. We clarify that these value propositions do not all matter to the same extent and demonstrate how their relative valences and weights differ across organizations, especially if institutions are considered particularly good or bad places to work. Based on these findings, we show how employers can use crowdsourced employer branding intelligence to become great places to work that attract highly qualified employees.
In this article, we examine the relationship between metrics documenting politics-related Twitter activity with election results and trends in opinion polls. Various studies have proposed the possibility of inferring public opinion based on digital trace data collected on Twitter and even the possibility to predict election results based on aggregates of mentions of political actors. Yet, a systematic attempt at a validation of Twitter as an indicator for political support is lacking. In this article, building on social science methodology, we test the validity of the relationship between various Twitter-based metrics of public attention toward politics with election results and opinion polls. All indicators tested in this article suggest caution in the attempt to infer public opinion or predict election results based on Twitter messages. In all tested metrics, indicators based on Twitter mentions of political parties differed strongly from parties’ results in elections or opinion polls. This leads us to question the power of Twitter to infer levels of political support of political actors. Instead, Twitter appears to promise insights into temporal dynamics of public attention toward politics.
This paper employs the collective case studies approach in an examination of four award-winning public relations campaigns conducted across a variety of social media platforms in order to determine the best practices of, and near term trends, in the effective use of social media for public relations. In their examination of these campaigns the authors discern the following trends in best practices: social media campaigns employ digital storytelling techniques that are both immersive and emotive, and that promote various forms of content sharing; these stories involve members of the target audience in at least one form of open-ended offline engagement that involves sharing behaviors; the content is optimized for mobile displays and controls; and, finally, the content is timely. The authors conclude that, although marketers think of social media in terms of brand awareness and reputation management, the effective use of social media in Public Relations campaigns can generate conversion, facilitate brand positioning, and maintain continued brand sustenance. The authors conclude that the effective use of social media is disrupting the PR campaign cycle: the role of campaign events to generate publicity in service to a PR campaign may, in the future, be displaced by social media campaign tactics which belong to an entirely different ecosystem where the act of sharing social media content generates publicity in lieu of a campaign event.
The aim of this conceptual article is to contribute to the development of a general theory of intermediaries (e.g., trade associations, trade unions, advocacy groups, government agencies, consulting firms, and the media). The primary function or mission of intermediaries is to mediate the relationship between an organization and its stakeholders; that is, to represent either the organization and/or the stakeholders, and/or to intervene in their relationship by furthering or impeding their interests and activities. We are in particular interested in how the specific status and function of intermediaries affect how they communicate. After a brief review of the research on stakeholders in general, and organization-stakeholder relationships and organization-public relationships in particular, a definition of intermediaries and a set of taxonomic criteria for the classification of intermediaries are presented. These first steps towards a theory of intermediaries are illustrated with a case study.
Der Beitrag fokussiert strategische Organisationskommunikation unter den Bedingungen einer vernetzten Öffentlichkeit. Wie wirkt sich der neue Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit auf die strategische Organisationskommunikation aus? In welcher Form trägt strategische Organisationskommunikation selbst zur Transformation der Öffentlichkeit bei? Öffentlichkeits- und netzwerktheoretische Überlegungen zusammenführend wird das Modell einer Netzwerköffentlichkeit entwickelt. Auf der Grundlage dieses Modells werden Veränderungen der strategischen Organisationskommunikation diskutiert und neue Forschungsfragen aufgeworfen. Damit leistet der Artikel einen Beitrag zur theoretischen Fundierung der strategischen Organisationskommunikation aus dem Blickwinkel der Öffentlichkeitsforschung.
Conveying a brand image to a target market is a fundamental marketing activity. The authors present a normative framework, termed brand concept management (BCM), for selecting, implementing, and controlling a brand image over time. The framework consists of a sequential process of selecting, introducing, elaborating, and fortifying a brand concept. The concept guides positioning strategies, and hence the brand image, at each of these stages. The method for maintaining this concept-image linkage depends on whether the brand concept is functional, symbolic, or experiential. Maintaining this linkage should significantly enhance the brand's market performance.
Although public relations scholarship has often discussed the possibilities of dialogue and engagement using social media, research has not truly explored this dynamic. Instead, research on social media platforms has focused on measuring the content and structure of organizational profiles. This study seeks to enhance the field's discussion about social media engagement by determining what organizational content individual stakeholders prefer on Facebook in terms of liking, commenting, and sharing. A content analysis of 1,000 updates from organizations on the Nonprofit Times 100 list indicates that, based on what they comment on and Like, individuals prefer dialogic, as well as certain forms of mobilizational, messages; however, they are more likely to share one-way informational messages with their own networks. These findings are interpreted using practical and theoretical implications for the practice of public relations.
Informed by the symbiotic sustainability model, this theory-building research compares a stratified subsample (N = 66) from 695 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that have relationships with U.S. Fortune 500 companies in 11 industries (N = 155). Using network analysis and centering resonance analysis, the research compares the “about us” statements of three groups of NGOs with different indegree centralities. The results of this study suggest that NGOs with multiple corporate partners are distinct from NGOs with single corporate partners. Across all levels of centrality, NGOs in cross-sector cooperative relationships tend to focus on children and be service oriented. In addition, federated NGOs were more likely to occupy a central position in the business–NGO cooperative network and foundations were more likely to have relationships with multiple corporations. Local NGOs were more likely to have only one cross-sector relationship and were, by a significant margin, the largest group. Propositions for future research are offered based on the findings.
Using a latent growth modeling (LGM) approach, this study examines the controversial role of perceived sponsor–event fit in inducing changes in brand affect. On the basis of two longitudinal studies related to the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the 2012 London Olympics, the authors determine that fit and brand affect increase linearly over time. Resolving an apparent conflict in the marketing literature, the results show that the initial level of fit relates positively to the initial level of brand affect, but relates negatively to the subsequent increase in brand affect. Moreover, a significant and positive association emerges between the change trajectories, such that a steeper increase in perceived fit results in a faster rate of brand affect improvement. Furthermore, the initial level of brand affect is associated with subsequent increases in neither brand affect nor fit. Therefore, incongruence resolution is key to ensuring that sponsorship improves brand affect. Finally, both attitude toward the sponsorship and event involvement have positive impacts on subsequent increases in both brand affect and perceived fit.
In a previous MCQ article, Monge et al. overviewed the fundamental concepts and processes of evolutionary theory and their applications to key issues in organizational communication. This article extends that work by providing an overview of research tools for studying organizational ecology and evolution, including (a) the variation-selection-retention sequence, (b) the likelihood of events occurring over a period of time (event history analysis), (c) transition sequence of populations from one state to another (sequence analysis), (d) relationships among nodes in networks over time (network analysis), (e) simulation of complex relationships and interactions (computational modeling), (f) changes in populations’ fitness for survival (NKC models), and (g) competitive interdependence among populations over time (predator—prey models). We conclude with a brief review of graphical and qualitative methods.
Social media sites such as Twitter provide organizations with the ability to interact directly with publics. Previous research has suggested that web-based relationship building is dependent on the level of organizational interactivity with web technology, or how the organization uses the technology to engage with its publics. This study tested if levels of organizational Twitter interactivity affected the quality of organization–public relationships. Findings suggest that an organization's level of Twitter interactivity influences relationship quality.
Recent economic crises show that enterprises cannot be managed focusing only on economic values instead managers should acknowledge their own enterprises' responsibilities toward the society as a whole. Stakeholder Management Theory can help managers accomplishing this very same daunting task. This theory demands managers to reckon the reciprocal influences linking other social actors to the enterprise activities and to understand the relative effects. While most of the works in this theory has been geared towards defining, identifying and managing each single dyadic relationship some other scholar have highlighted the need to focus on the stakeholder network to correctly assess each stakeholder's role and to fully grasp the long term effects enterprise's action will have. In this paper after a review of the main topics in stakeholder management theory, we classify the various approach to Stakeholder Management Theory to identify relevant theoretical contributions and to highlight how the theoretical gap can be crossed using the tools of Social Network Analysis and embracing the network approach to stakeholder management.
Nongovernmental organization (NGO)-corporate alliances are a strategic type of institutional positioning communication. From a sample of 155 US Fortune 500 corporations and 695 NGOs drawn from corporations' websites, this research examines: (a) the number of NGOs with which corporations communicate alliances; (b) the patterns of communicated alliances that exist between corporations in economic industries and NGOs in social issue industries; and (c) the relationship between corporate stakeholders and the communication of alliances with NGOs in particular social issues. This research tests the propositions of Symbiotic Sustainability Model concerning the number and type of NGO alliances likely to be communicated by corporations. In particular, this research demonstrates that most corporations only communicate alliances with a few NGOs and with one NGO in an issue industry. In addition, the results suggest that corporations in the same economic industry are likely to communicate alliances with different NGOs in the same issue industries. In combination, these findings imply that a small set of social issues are likely to be included in NGO-corporate communication. Exploring this implication, this research reports preliminary findings about communicated alliances between corporations in 11 economic industries and NGOs in 59 social issue industries.
A general conceptual model and specific hypotheses about how the meanings attached to strategic issues by decision makers are translated into organizational responses are presented. The model integrates an interpretive view of organizational decision making with cognitive categorization theory. The hypotheses focus on how labeling an issue as either a threat or an opportunity affects both subsequent information processing and the motivations of key decision makers. It is argued that decision makers' cognitions and motivations systematically affect the processing of issues and the types of organizational actions taken in response to them. Both theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
This article examines the nature of strategic communication, which is defined as the purposeful use of communication by an organization to fulfill its mission. Six relevant disciplines are involved in the development, implementation, and assessment of communications by organizations: management, marketing, public relations, technical communication, political communication, and information/social marketing campaigns. The nature of the term strategic is examined, and key aspects of communication are identified. This article is based, in part, on a panel discussion involving the journal's editors and international scholars at the International Communication Association in May 2005 in New York.
Abstract Co-branding is often used by managers to reinforce the image of their brands. In this paper, we investigate when a brand’s image is reinforcedor impairedas a result of co-branding, and which partner is right for a firmthat considers co-branding for image reinforcement. We address these issues by examining the effects of co-branding on attribute uncertainty of partner brands. Weconceptualize attribute beliefs as two-dimensional constructs. The first dimension reflects the expected value of the attribute, while the second dimension reflects the
Social movement organizations (SMO) are important actors in affecting issue-related policy changes. To successfully manage an issue to achieve favorable policy resolutions, SMOs, like many kinds of organizations, not only use traditional public relations techniques, but also build networks to accomplish their objectives. Yet, an examination of the relationship between issue development and SMO networks is absent from the literature. This article therefore concentrates on the question: what types of networks should SMOs seek to build at different stages of an issue’s development? Informed by public relations research on issues management as well as contemporary social movement scholarship and organizational network theories, the article proposes a framework of SMO network strategies that examines the kinds of relationship networks SMOs should maintain as they attempt to manage an issue through the stages of its life cycle.
Alternative work arrangements are any form of employment that does not conform to conventional norms with respect to where, when, and how work is performed. Various contemporary socioeconomic factors make such work increasingly common. The impact of these arrangements on organizational processes like socialization and identification, and their relationship to new communication technologies and work–life interrelationships, are matters of significant interest in organizational communication.
We develop and describe a framework for research in digital marketing that highlights the touchpoints in the marketing process as well as in the marketing strategy process where digital technologies are having and will have a significant impact. Using the framework we organize the developments and extant research around the elements and touchpoints comprising the framework and review the research literature in the broadly defined digital marketing space. We outline the evolving issues in and around the touchpoints and associated questions for future research. Finally, we integrate these identified questions and set a research agenda for future research in digital marketing to examine the issues from the perspective of the firm.
A general conceptual model and specific hypotheses about how the meanings attached to strategic issues by decision makers are translated into organizational responses are presented. The model integrates an interpretive view of organizational decision making with cognitive categorization theory. The hypotheses focus on how labeling an issue as either a threat or an opportunity affects both subsequent information processing and the motivations of key decision makers. It is argued that decision makers' cognitions and motivations systematically affect the processing of issues and the types of organizational actions taken in response to them. Both theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
This essay suggests that the conceptualization of strategic communication as a field uniting several disciplines was an important step forward, but progress in absolute terms has been disappointing so far. Individual researchers open up new avenues of exploration and regularly arrive at answers to questions internally consistent with their respective perspectives. But the body of reasonably verified scientific knowledge that goes substantially beyond common sense remains underdeveloped. The author argues that biologist Edward O. Wilson identified the key characteristic of progressing fields correctly as consilience, i.e., the commitment to the unity of knowledge from physics to chemistry to biology and beyond: “a seamless web of cause and effect.” The article proposes that strategic communications research follow Wilson’s program, as other disciplines have done. For the field to mature, leading researchers need to work towards a consilient synthesis, i.e., a theoretical framework that contains nonrelativistic conjectures about the world which form a nucleus for research to accumulate around. It is furthermore necessary to reconnect strategic communication research to the rapidly progressing and highly relevant hybrid disciplines such as cognitive science and evolutionary psychology.
This paper introduces and validates two network measures for evaluating stakeholder engagement on social networking sites (SNSs) that nonprofit organizations (NPOs) use. Based on egocentric networks of the top 100 U.S. nonprofits' Twitter accounts, the first network measure captures two-way communication between organizations and the stakeholders. The second network measure captures communication among stakeholders, which can develop into autonomous communities to support the organization. (c) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The research on social discourse in societies, firms, and organizations written by researchers working in fields such as Management, Corporate Governance, Accounting and Finance, Strategy, Sociology, and Politics often make reference to the term 'stakeholder'. Yet the concept of the 'stakeholder' is unclear, and research around it often muddled. This book provides an analysis, classification, and critique of the various strands of theory about stakeholders. The authors place these theories both in the context of their philosophical underpinnings, and their practical and policy implications. Practical examples based on new data are used to examine a diverse range of stakeholders, and the relationships stakeholders have with their organizations. This is the first book on stakeholder theory to propose a critical analysis, both at the macro and micro level, that is framed and guided by theory. Written to provide both order and clarity to research into the concept of the stakeholder, the book is also written as an introduction for students. It includes chapter introductions, useful tables and figures, short vignettes on key concepts and issues, and discussion questions.
Using the case study data of the South Korea 2002 and 2006 World Cup sponsorship campaigns, this study examined (1) whether more favourable sponsorship response occurs as image congruence between a sponsor and the World Cup increases, and whether (2) consumer attributions of a sponsor's motives in sponsoring the World Cup and (3) a sponsor's perceived fit in aiding World Cup cheering events, namely cheering event fit, moderate image congruence's effects on sponsorship response. Consistent with prior research, results suggest that high vs low image congruence sponsorships generate more favourable responses to the sponsorship, as measured by attitudes and intentions at three different levels of the hierarchy of effects. Results also show that high cheering event fit leads to more favourable sponsorship response. Furthermore, a negative interaction between image congruence and cheering event fit indicates that, albeit still significant and positive, the effect of image congruence on sponsorship response becomes significantly weaker at higher levels of cheering event fit than at lower levels of cheering event fit. A moderating role of a sponsor's sponsoring motive has not been supported. Overall, the findings underscore the significance of image congruence as well as the utility of cheering event fit as a particular type of 'created fit' that can be used to reduce the perception of low fit and its associated risks.
This paper contributes to critical voices on the issue of strategic communication. It does so by exploring how an organisation can seize the moment of serendipity based on careful preparation of its issues management and communication channels. The focus of the study is the media coverage of – and communicative responses to – Kopenhagen Fur's campaign The World's Best – but not perfect in both broadcast media (e.g. print and television) and social media, more specifically Facebook. Through understanding how an organisation can plan for and take advantage of the unpredictable through state-of-the-art knowledge and in-depth understanding of the affordances of different communication channels, we discuss the importance of establishing opportunities for serendipity in strategic communication planning. The contribution of the paper is to develop the concept of strategic serendipity and show how organisations as communicative actors can take advantage of the serendipity afforded by other actors' campaigns when advocating and campaigning.
Public relations research has benefitted from theory development in the field of Communication. Yet, the contributions of public relations theory building to the larger Communication discipline are less clear. This may be due to the fact that public relations theories have focused on dyadic relationships with an organization at the center. This type of research has pursued a narrow understanding of relationships and neglected a broader understanding of how discourse shapes meaning and relationships. This article explores the social network perspective that places an organization's relationships in a wider context, its network ecology. We propose a conceptual model of how to apply social network analysis to studying systems of relationships and identify six propositions that provide guidelines for future research.
Using the case study data of the South Korea 2002 and 2006 World Cup sponsorship campaigns, this study examined (1) whether more favourable sponsorship response occurs as image congruence between a sponsor and the World Cup increases, and whether (2) consumer attributions of a sponsor’s motives in sponsoring the World Cup and (3) a sponsor’s perceived fit in aiding World Cup cheering events, namely cheering event fit, moderate image congruence’s effects on sponsorship response. Consistent with prior research, results suggest that high vs low image congruence sponsorships generate more favourable responses to the sponsorship, as measured by attitudes and intentions at three different levels of the hierarchy of effects. Results also show that high cheering event fit leads to more favourable sponsorship response. Furthermore, a negative interaction between image congruence and cheering event fit indicates that, albeit still significant and positive, the effect of image congruence on sponsorship response becomes significantly weaker at higher levels of cheering event fit than at lower levels of cheering event fit. A moderating role of a sponsor’s sponsoring motive has not been supported. Overall, the findings underscore the significance of image congruence as well as the utility of cheering event fit as a particular type of ‘created fit’ that can be used to reduce the perception of low fit and its associated risks.
•Critical analysis of OPR (public relations) conceptualization.•Discussion of the complexity of the concept which is rarely addressed in the research and conceptualization.•Discussion of the problematic of relationships and manipulation.•Discussion of the inconclusiveness of the concepts currently used to define relationships.•Argument for featuring relationships in public relations as enactments based on co-definition and negotiation.•Argument for emphasizing the rhetorical, dialogic, and discursive nature of relationships.
Counterinstitutional Web sites are often portrayed as publicizing the outbursts of disgruntled employees and customers. However, they also enable participants to take part in discussions normally discouraged within traditional work environments. These sites permit individuals to publicly and anonymously voice their concerns and frustrations with particular institutions with reduced fear of retribution or termination. A close examination of one of these counterinstitutional Web sites (RadioShackSucks.com) illustrates the dissent and resistance functions that such sites provide to a wide variety of stakeholders. The authors' analysis of 1,095 site postings during a 1-month period finds that participants use these sites to engage in voice and resistance efforts outside formal organizational boundaries. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
In this article, the authors describe their model for blending and evaluating the tasks of business executives and staffs who deal with public policy.
Their model, a systems analysis, suggests paths of study which can help corporate decision-makers develop appropriate stances on public issues, and recommends ways to assess the performances of those who represent the company in this area. The authors conclude that effective responses to issues of public concern cannot be handled solely by public relations staffs.
Previous studies of advocacy groups’ Web sites suggest that the use of dialogic strategies could lead to greater dialogic communication. This study examined whether dialogic strategies utilized by environmental advocacy groups via their social networking profiles lead to greater dialogic engagement between organizations and visitors. This study offers the first examination of the relationship between the creation of an online space for dialogue and actual dialogic engagement by identifying and measuring six dialogic outcomes.
This study examines the dialogic features of corporate Web sites in order to determine the Web site practices of the corporations for building relationships with their publics. Content analysis of 100 Fortune 500 companies’ Web sites revealed that the corporations designed their Web sites to serve important publics and foster dialogic communication. The corporate Web sites appear to promote control mutuality, trust, satisfaction, openness, and intimacy. However, the corporations need to maintain repetitive interactions with their publics to enhance trust, commitment, and exchange relationship.
Stakeholder theory development has increased in recent years, in part because of its emphasis on explaining and predicting how an organization functions with respect to the relationships and influences existing in its environment. Thus far, most researchers have concentrated on dyadic relationships between individual stakeholders and a focal organization. Using social network analysis, I construct in this article a theory of stakeholder influences, which accommodates multiple, interdependent stakeholder demands and predicts how organizations respond to the simultaneous influence of multiple stakeholders.
This research tested a model that posits the linkages among perceptions of the organization–public relationships, attitudes, and behavioral intentions toward an organization among members of a key public. Among the 6 relationship indexes proposed by Hon and J. E. Grunig (1999), perceptions of satisfaction and control mutuality were the best predictors of a positive attitude toward the organization. In this study we also found that positive attitude was a precursor to supportive behavioral intentions toward the organization.
Modern planners, influenced by recent developments in “strategic management,” know that affirmative action about matters of public policy can be a key to organizational prosperity. The authors of this article explores three major topics: first, basic misunderstandings about issue management and policy influence; second, the process which can be called the management of an issue's “status”; and third, the presentation of a “catalytic” model of issue management and policy influence.
Mr. Crable is associate professor of communication and Mr. Vibbert is assistant professor of communication at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind.