Evaluation stasis continues in PR and corporate communication: Asia Pacific insights into causes

The first comprehensive study of public relations (PR) and corporate communication practices across Asia-Pacific countries has found that, despite being an area of rapid growth, evaluation remains limited, is often not based on reliable research methods, and is focussed on outputs rather than the outcomes of communication. This reflects a worldwide stasis in evaluation of PR that has been identified as problematic by a number of authors. The Asia-Pacific Communication Monitor, a survey-based study conducted by a collaboration of 16 universities across 23 Asia-Pacific countries in 2015, also explored practitioners’ skills, and found a significant lag that could account for this stasis. This article reports key findings of this study that contribute insights to address the lack of measurement and evaluation in the growing field of PR that remains a major concern in the academy and industry

Increasing power and taking a lead - What are practitioners really doing? Empirical evidence from European communications manager

The aims of the paper and presented research are to monitor trends in communication management and to evaluate specific topics that include decision-making style, leadership style, role enactment and the power of communication departments in Europe. This paper is based on data from the European Communication Monitor (ECM) annual research, the most comprehensive analysis of communication management worldwide. The ECM is an annual research project conducted since 2007. The ECM 2011 collected quantitative data through an on-line survey from 2,209 participating professionals from 43 European countries, with representation of every European region. This paper presents original connections about previous theory and offers empirical evidences about vertical and horizontal power of communication departments into organizations. On despite of the limitations of a self-reported survey, these evidences open new directions or research on hierarchical and social dimensions of power. The aim of this paper is to deepen the understanding of the power of communication management in organizations. Concretely, the paper aims to develop knowledge and understanding about horizontal and vertical power and the relationships established between these dimensions of power and strategic roles, decision-making and leadership styles that communicators play. The paper presents original ideas by critiquing and re-focussing the literature and theory of power and leadership in organizations. The paper also presents new empirical data to support these arguments. Incrementar el poder y asumir el iderazgo- ¿Qué hacen realmente los profesionales? Evidencias empíricas sobre los gestor de comunicación en Europa Las meta de este artículo y de la investigación que en él se presenta es hacer un seguimiento de las tendencias en gestión de comunicación mediante la evaluación de los estilos toma de decisiones, el estilo de liderazgo, los roles representados y el poder de los departamentos de comunicación en Europa. Este artículo se basa en datos del European Communication Monitor (ECM), el análisis más amplio de la gestión de comunicación en el mundo. El ECM es un proyecto de investigación anual desde 2007. El ECM recogió datos cuantitativos mediante una encuesta online a 2.209 profesionales de 43 países europeos con representación de todas las regiones europeas. El artículo presenta conexiones originales sobre la teoría previa y se ofrecen evidencias empíricas sobre el poder vertical y horizontal de los departamentos de comunicación en las organizaciones. A pesar de las limitaciones de ser una encuesta de autopercepción estas evidencias abren nuevas direcciones de investigación sobre las dimensiones jerárquica y social del poder. Pretende profundizar en la comprensión del poder de la gestión de comunicación en las organizaciones. Concretamente, pretende desarrollar conocimiento y comprensión sobre el poder horizontal y vertical y las relaciones que estas dimensiones de poder establecen con los roles estratégicos, los estilos de toma de decisiones y los estilos de liderazgo que desempeñan los comunicadores. Se presentan así ideas originales a través de la crítica y la re-visión de la literatura y teorías sobre el poder y el liderazgo en las organizaciones junto con nuevos datos empíricos para apoyar estos argumentos

Capabilities of PR professionals for key activities lag: Asia-Pacific study shows theory and practice gaps

© 2018 Elsevier Inc. A number of studies of the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs), competencies and capabilities of public relations and communication professionals have been carried out in the USA, UK and other countries. However, most have not engaged to any significant extent with literature in the human resource development field which specializes in defining and developing these characteristics. Also, few studies to date have related the KSAs, competencies and capabilities of practitioners to the key activities of public relations and communication management required for the future. This article presents findings and analysis from a regional survey conducted in 22 Asia-Pacific countries in 2017/18 that compared, for the first time, the capabilities of practitioners in relation to activities identified as the most important over the next three years. This data, and comparison with equivalent regional surveys in Europe and Latin America, confirm a gap in capabilities in relation to key communication activities and suggest a gap in theory as well as practice. The findings and conclusions present a challenge for higher education and professional development for public relations and communication management and point to potential future directions in theory building

Artificial intelligence in communication management : a cross-national study on adoption and knowledge, impact, challenges and risks

Purpose Artificial intelligence (AI) might change the communication profession immensely, but the academic discourse is lacking an investigation of the perspective of practitioners on this. This article addresses this research gap. It offers a literature overview and reports about an empirical study on AI in communications, presenting first insights on how professionals in the field assess the technology. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative cross-national study among 2,689 European communication practitioners investigated four research questions: RQ1 – How much do professionals know about AI and to what extent are they already using AI technologies in their everyday lives? RQ2 – How do professionals rate the impact of AI on communication management? RQ3 – Which challenges do professionals identify for implementing AI in communication management? RQ4 – Which risks do they perceive? Findings Communication professionals revealed a limited understanding of AI and expected the technology to impact the profession as a whole more than the way their organisations or themselves work. Lack of individual competencies and organisations struggling with different levels of competency and unclear responsibilities were identified as key challenges and risks. Research limitations/implications The results highlight the need for communication managers to educate themselves and their teams about the technology and to identify the implementation of AI as a leadership issue. Originality/value The article offers the first cross-national quantitative study on AI in communication management. It presents valuable empirical insights on a trending topic in the discipline, highly relevant for both academics and practitioners

PR and Communication Management in Asia-Pacific: Trends, Growth and Gaps

With a number of Asia-Pacific countries among the fastest growing in the world, the requirements for public relations and communication management are also growing in terms of both demand and professionalism. It is essential that practitioners and academics keep pace with demand and achieve ‘international best practice’. In 2015/16, the largest ever survey of PR and communication management in Asia-Pacific was launched as a biannual study, with the second survey undertaken in 2017/18. The survey is modelled on similar studies that have been conducted in Europe since 2007, in Latin American since 2014, and North America from 2018, allowing international comparison. This analysis examines key findings of the latest Asia-Pacific survey and compares results with the 2015/16 Asia-Pacific study as well as with international data to identify trends, areas of growth in professional practice, and gaps and shortcomings to be addressed. The findings are informative for educators, professional associations, and practitioners in terms of the design of undergraduate and graduate courses and ongoing training and professional development

Sceptical Employees as CSR Ambassadors in Times of Financial Uncertainty

This chapter offers new insights into the understanding of internal (employee) perceptions of organizational corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and strategies. This study explores the significance of employees’ involvement and scepticism upon CSR initiatives and focuses on the effects it may have upon word of mouth (WOM) and the development of employee–organisation relationships. Desk research introduces the research questions. Data for the research questions were gathered through a self-completion questionnaire distributed in a hardcopy form to the sample. An individual’s level of scepticism and involvement appears to affect the development of a positive effect on employees’ WOM. Involvement with the domain of the investment may be a central factor affecting relationship building within the organization, and upon generation of positive WOM. The chapter offers a conceptual framework to public relations (PR) and corporate communications practitioners, which may enrich their views and understanding of the use and value of CSR for communication strategies and practices. For-profit organisations are major institutions in today’s society. CSR is proffered as presenting advantages for (at macro level) society and (micro level) the organization and its employees. Concepts, such as involvement and scepticism, which have not been rigorously examined in PR and corporate communication literature, are addressed. By examining employee perceptions, managers and academic researchers gain insights into the acceptance, appreciation and effectiveness of CSR policies and activities upon the employee stakeholder group. This will affect current and future CSR communication strategies. The knowledge acquired from this chapter may be transferable outside the for-profit sector

Strategic communication across borders: Country and age effects in the practice of communication professionals in Europe

In this research we investigated whether the perception of the importance of certain types of media, strategic issues, and excellence in the professional field of strategic communication in Europe differs across countries and across generations. Data were used from the 2007 (N = 1087) and 2016 (N = 2710) edition of the European Communication Monitor (ECM), an annual survey among strategic communication professionals in Europe. For the first time a basic two-level multilevel regression model was used to assess country effects and individual predictors (age, gender, education, position, and experience in the field) of media use (of mass media, owned media, social media, and interpersonal communication) and perceptions of the level of excellence of communication of the organisation. Country and generational effects on the perception of strategic issues for the field were analysed using chi-square tests. Results show that in 2016 country effects are significant for the perception of the importance of mass media and social media use, interpersonal communication, and strategic issues for the field. In 2007 no such country effects were found. These results suggest that the influence and the context of the country of residence of the strategic communication professional has increased between 2007 and 2016

Public relations and the rise of hypermodern values: Exploring the profession in Europe

© 2018 This article raises the question of whether European public relations (PR) and communications professionals perceive a cultural transformation in the direction of hypermodernity, and if so, attempts to assess how this influences their organizations and their work. Questions were asked in the European Communication Monitor 2017, an annual survey among communications professionals, and 3387 respondents from 50 European countries filled in the questionnaire. The results indicate that European professionals recognize a cultural transformation in the direction of hyper consumption, hyper modernization and hyper narcissism that influences the communication between their organizations and their stakeholders. A cluster analysis shows that less than half of the respondents perceive a transformation of their organization in the direction of hypermodern characteristics and values. Organizations with post/hypermodern characteristics have superior communications departments compared to modern organizations. Post/hypermodern organizations and excellent communications departments also engage more often in societal debates than other types of organizations and departments

Strategic communication and the entrepreneurial role of the corporate communication officer

Considering the recent evolution of the communication/PR profession in large organizations both private and public, many scholars agree that a process of institutionalization is occurring. In other words, communication’s importance has been growing, reaching in recent years a strategic position as a lever for companies’ governance. A first objective of this chapter is to describe, looking at management and communication/PR literature, how and to what extent communication has become strategic. The main hypothesis is that communication has become strategic within companies’ governance in order to help each organization to develop consistently – mainly in terms of values – within its environment. A second objective is to describe, looking at the entrepreneurial organization theory and communication/PR literature, another side of the strategic evolution of communication, which is to help each organization to develop – mainly in terms of services, products and reputation – as a different, or preferably unique, entity as compared to the other organizations. The evolution of the strategic contribution of communication/PR within organizations’ decision-making has a strong impact on the role that corporate communication officers (CCOs) play in organizations both on the isomorphic and on the entrepreneurial–innovative sides of the communicational activity they carry out to support the evolution of their organizations