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28 October 2022
Proposal for a new SDG on Responsible communication

We’re proud to announce that EUPRERA accepts the invitation by the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management to endorse the document Open call to the profession to add a new goal to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of United Nations (see below).

This new goal is “Responsible communication” and would be the eighteenth of the SDG as part of the 2030 agenda.

Open call to the profession to add a new goal to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of United Nations
  • Open dialogue about global challenges, such as climate change, poverty reduction and democracy.
  • Consider dialogue as the most powerful weapon.
  • Freedom of opinion and press.
  • Ethical approach to organizational and institutional communications, based on facts.
  • Fight against fake news and any kind of propaganda.
  • Educate individuals to use their ‘communication powers’, especially through social media.
  • Public and private support for rigorous journalism.
  • Support diversity at the deep level and equality of genders.
  • Empathy to those who suffer from hunger, poverty, lack of opportunities, war, forced migrations and discrimination.
  • Positive and inclusive language.
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21 October 2022
#EUPRERApeople – Interview with Antje Eichler
Welcome back to

Interview with Antje Eichler,
Doctoral candidate at
Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany

Prof. Eichler, you are part of an interesting research study titled “Lobbying for science and higher education”.  Can you explain how it was born and which are its main findings? 

With their research, universities and science organizations provide an important basis for political
decisions. This was impressively demonstrated not least by the Covid19 pandemic. Despite this
importance, the relationship between science and politics has been insufficiently researched. In a
workshop at the annual conference of the German University Communication Association
(Bundesverband Hochschulkommunikation) a few years ago, those responsible for communication at
colleges and universities for the first time exchanged views on how their institutions communicate
with politics. The workshop made clear: Some universities are surprisingly active, from parliamentary
breakfasts to bus trips for MPs to the campus. Others reported that they were already happy when the
mayor showed up to welcome the freshmen. A very heterogeneous picture – like university
communication as a whole. And the reason for me to empirically investigate the activities in this area.
That is, to develop a theoretical concept for science lobbying and to conduct a comprehensive
stocktaking. Building on a qualitative preliminary study in 2017 and 2018 with 17 semi-standardized
guideline interviews, I developed a standardized online questionnaire that a total of 120
communication officers from universities, research organizations and alliances completed in 2019 and
2020.

The findings paint a multi-layered and heterogeneous picture of science lobbying. Nevertheless, three
key findings can be highlighted: Firstly, there is a lack of awareness of the importance of science
lobbying, especially at universities. Secondly, the institutions lack a lobbying strategy. And thirdly:
The science alliances – whose primary task is to represent political interests – only speak with a weak
voice.

The reasons for the lack of strategic communication between science and politics are manifold.
Nevertheless, three essential factors can be identified: First, despite its importance, lobbying is poorly
researched. Theoretical definitions are imprecise and empirical studies are lacking, also a reason why
lobbying has a bad public image. In parts of society and especially in science, lobbying is therefore
considered a dirty business that is better left out of. This results, secondly, in a frightening ignorance
on the part of politicians. Large sections of politics simply do not have universities and science on
their radar. They have all kinds of people from business on their doorstep, but not from science. The
president of the University of Braunschweig just reported this in the same way from a meeting with
members of the Bundestag: “They told us: we don’t know what the universities are doing”; The main
reason for this – and here we come to the third factor for the lack of strategic orientation – is to be
found inside the institutions: There is a lack of clear responsibilities concerning communication,
especially at the universities – the research organizations are better positioned here – and university
communication still does not have the status it should have. There are personal speakers of the
president who do not communicate with the university communication department. University
communication is not involved in communication with politics, just as it is often not involved in the
strategic development of the university.

Are there any suggestions for people that are communicating in (and for) universities and research institution to make their communication more strategic and effective towards political institutions? 

The recommendations result from the last-mentioned reason for the lack of strategic communication:
The people that are communicating in (and for) universities and research institutions need to be much
more connected to the head of the organization and involved in the overall planning. This is the crucial
basis for successful communication and lobbying. Only in this way can those responsible for
communication develop a lobbying concept together with the relevant stakeholder within the
organization. Such a concept should – like any PR concept – follow a communicative cycle: from
analytical order to strategic planning to operational implementation, which then contains concrete
measures that finally also must be evaluated to be able to adapt and optimize the lobbying concept.

Often, the analytical and planning steps are skipped. Instead, one gets straight down to individual
measures, according to the motto: Why don’t you invite all the city councillors to the inauguration of
our new laboratory? Or: Our federal state will soon be presenting itself at a trade fair in Berlin. Let our
president and vice-presidents go there. Such measures are not well thought out and not coordinated
internally and therefore usually come to nothing.

A few universities are now actually implementing this requirement: Last year, the first university in
Germany anchored communication directly in the presidency, virtually at the same level as the vice-
presidents for research and teaching. The woman who took over this job at the University of Freiburg
at the beginning of last year is the same one who initiated the workshop on the conference where my
research idea came from. And the colleague who supported her in it became Chief Communication
Officer at the Technical University of Darmstadt shortly afterwards. Almost simultaneously, the
Technical University of Dresden followed, and this year the Technical University of Munich, the
University of Cologne and the Technical University of Braunschweig. Anchoring communication at
the level of a vice president in the presidency is not mandatory for all universities and research
institutions. But the signal is clear: strategic communication belongs into the executive board.

About The project highlights the role of “science alliances”: what are they and how are they strategical for lobby actions for universities?

One of the central tasks of associations and their primary reason for foundation is the political
representation of their members’ interests. In science, there are numerous associations between
universities and between research organizations. In Germany, they range from the local and regional
level through the federal states to nationally active associations. In addition, there are countless
cooperations at the European level. So far, there is no uniform overview of the associations. In my
study, I try to collect everything that exists. In Germany, the so-called “Landesrektorenkonferenzen”
(literally translated: federal conferences of the universities presidents) are particularly relevant since
education and science are the responsibility of the federal states. Their role is even anchored in the
state higher education laws. They are supposed to coordinate activities of the universities in a federal
state and articulate common concerns to politicians.

In practice, these associations fulfil their tasks in different ways. Some have their own office, a
website and release statements on science policy. Most, however, are not really active. Instead, they
are in fact state rectors conferences in the truest sense of the word. To put it slightly exaggeratedly,
this is how it works: The rectors – mostly older men – of the universities of a federal state meet twice
a year and brag about how great their own university is and how great they would be if the state
politicians would make more money available. Finally, they decide to ask together for more money,
but in the end, everyone runs to the minister on his own.

More and more universities feel that they are not properly represented by these associations and start
their own initiatives. In recent years, new networks have emerged, such as the so-called TU9, German
U15, HAWtech or, most recently in 2020, the German University Alliance 11+. However, all these
alliances are more or less paper tigers that sometimes send out a press release or invite to an event.
They are not well known, neither in the media, nor in politics, nor even in their own community.

It would make perfect sense to bundle the concerns of the universities, to put weight on the scales and
to carry out joint actions. Just like industry associations such as the energy or the automobile sector do
– and are successful at it. The associations of universities and science do really have something to
offer politicians: millions of students, tens of thousands of jobs and, above all, their scientific expertise.

Especially at the European level, associations of universities and research organizations can play an important role. It would be very interesting to investigate this field together with researchers from other European countries and to derive recommendations for science and politics. For this, I would be happy to use the EUPRERA network.

The idea of my research project “Lobbying for Science and Higher Education” originates in my own
work experience at the communication department of a university. Initially, my study, therefore, aimed
at enlarging practical knowledge on how to lobby for universities and research institutions. When I
started my research, however, I quickly realized that there is not only a lack of empirical studies and
application-oriented research, but what is more, lobbying is not sufficiently framed theoretically. One
reason may be that communications science does not pay enough attention to lobbying compared to
the significant role lobbying plays for society. Whether the German Communications Science
Association, DGPuK, nor the European one, ECREA, has a separate section for lobbying. So, I was
very pleased when I came across EUPRERA, because here You find a “Public Affairs and Lobbying”
network.

Many decisions concerning universities and research institutions are made at the European level. For
this reason, it is important for them to lobby there. However, detailed studies on this are lacking. The
EUPRERA network offers a good opportunity for further joint research and for developing training
programmes. In Germany, public affairs and lobbying are not yet an independent part of the
curriculum in communications studies. It would be beneficial for research and practice to strengthen
the existing know-how and activities within EUPRERA in this sense. So, let us continue networking
and exchanging ideas to give public affairs and lobbying the status in our field that they have in
society.

Stay tuned
In the coming weeks we’ll issue new chapters of #EUPRERApeople! Be sure to receive them in your mailbox:

21 October 2022
Juan-Carlos Molleda receives the Pathfinder award

We’re proud to announce that our colleague and EUPRERA member Juan-Carlos Molleda, dean and professor of the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon, will receive the 2022 Institute for Public Relations Pathfinder Award for his significant and sustained contributions to the field of public relations through research, education, and leadership.

Dr. Molleda has been a pioneer of the Latin-American Communication Monitor, a EUPRERA study part of the widest global and recognized Global Communication Monitor. We are proud to remind that earlier also Dejan Verčič, member of the European Communication Monitor core team, and Ansgar Zerfass, leader of the EUPRERA Monitors, received the same recognition.

The IPR Pathfinder Award is presented annually to an individual whose published work positively impacts the profession and research community by bridging the two.  The IPR Pathfinder Award Committee comprising IPR Trustees, past winners, and academic leaders in the field recognized Molleda’s noteworthy achievements and outstanding research.

More info
21 October 2022
Doctoral diary from Vienna

by Miriam Pelusi, PhD Researcher at Leeds Beckett University, UK
source PR Academy

Two weeks ago I was in Vienna for the EUPRERA PhD seminar and congress. The beautiful city of Vienna, with its retro look and elegant style, has a vibrant intellectual history, and it certainly offered an inspiring scene for scholarly discussions.

Now’s probably a good time to reflect on my experience in Vienna. Interpreted retrospectively, the lived experience is more meaningful.

The EUPRERA PhD seminar was a formative experience. My supervisors, Brian Jones and Liz Yeomans, had advised me to take part since the first year of my PhD and have supported me throughout the process. The seminar combined peer support amongst us students with academic coaching delivered by Øyvind Ilhen, Jens Seiffert-Brockmann and Sarah Marschlich. The three facilitators led interactive sessions on the ups and downs of doing a PhD, the PhD student-supervisor relationship, and the development of an academic career. Above all, I will treasure their pieces of advice for my academic development.

We had to review and critique each other’s work. To contribute to knowledge researchers challenge, question, critique. We experienced all this; this was a challenging time for us all, but it is in being challenged that we developed key skills such as argumentation skills. It takes a professional mind, study and preparation to become not just any researcher, but a good researcher.

Before the congress started, we met the EUPRERA Board of Directors. Jesper Falkheimer, Executive Director, asked us what we had in common because we were from different European universities. I replied that although we had different views on PR and followed diverse research approaches, we were all on a big learning curve. Angeles Moreno, Past President, remarked that the learning path never ends for researchers.

The theme of the EUPRERA 23rd Annual Congress was ‘Public Relations in the Risk Society: Dealing with Uncertainty, Insecurity and Crisis’. The expansion and growing sophistication of PR research is evident, particularly during the current times of uncertainty. Increasing insecurity requires researchers to seek out and embrace new challenges for the benefit of knowledge.

PR scholars concurred that in times of uncertainty communication is crucial. The Covid-19 pandemic research lies at the intersections between different strands of communication including health communication, crisis communication, internal communication, media and social media communication, organisational communication, management and leadership communication. This year’s immediate focus was on the vaccination campaigns and people’s emotional and cognitive responses; there was also a lot of misinformation inherent in the public discourse. This provided a good case for evaluating differences between countries, PR requires more than ever intercultural sensitivity and attention to human communication. In fact, the pandemic brought with it issues of vulnerability, authenticity, a sense of belonging, trust and empathetic leadership, and also, a study by Christopher Ruppel and Julia Stranzl found, appreciation in employee communication.

It is looking like a new sensitivity to communication has emerged since 2020.

The human interaction was the added value of the congress, spontaneous conversations that happened while eating Mozart chocolates during a coffee break or in front of a Viennese Schnitzel during the conference dinner. There was a welcoming environment, the atmosphere was like one of a Viennese coffee house in which intellectual conversations flow so naturally.

In amongst panels and sessions, I spoke to sociologists in public relations about the similarities and differences between sociology and anthropology. In an interesting conversation with Ganga S Dhanesh, she explained to me how presenting your work at a congress can then improve your paper because the thinking gets more focused. I also talked to poster presenters and found new insights in visual communication, the trend at the moment is making complex research accessible and digestible to any audience in the format of a poster.

Understanding finer aspects of doing research requires ethnographic techniques such as observation that took me beyond the interaction itself. I used my powers of observation to notice how scholars used particular skills whilst delivering their conference presentations or answering queries. I wanted to learn directly from them all things that cannot be learnt from research handbooks (although reading manuals is of course essential).

In Vienna, I could see at a glance that knowledge is alive, and researchers construct it every day. When individual intellectual efforts turn into a constructive exchange of views, then that information sharing generates new ideas and collaborations.

The ‘Meet the editor’ session was another good opportunity for me as I’m thinking about my first research paper. Zerfass pointed out that ‘Conceptual articles thrive on debate’; in exploring concepts scholars challenge definitions. All editors confirmed that innovation is key: they are looking for a unique insight, they need articles that present an aspect not yet considered.

So, theoretical insights and practical impact is what matters most for being published.

PR research is evolving in relation to the communication profession. I attended ‘The Communication professions’ session and I was pleased to see that efforts are being made to bridge the gap between academia and practice. Rickard Andersoon argued that, in PR, alongside scientific knowledge (episteme) and technical knowledge (techne), we need more situated knowledge which is learnt through experience. Pilot work is becoming more relevant because it helps researchers adapting their studies to real-life contexts, for example Jeanne Leanne and Fiona Vaassen presented insights from a pilot study that assessed business models of communication which is part of a wider project aimed at designing a new Communication Business Model (CBM) approach.

To my gratification, other than many quantitative studies I saw a few qualitative studies that adopt ethnography. The value ethnography brings to PR research includes close observation of human nature through participant observation and interviews. We need more of these studies, I believe, particularly in European scholarship which stems from social theory.

In the session ‘Advancing Theory’, I listened to Timo Lenk, winner of the EUPRERA best paper award, addressing narratives and discourse as an analytical framework for theory development and deeper understandings. This bodes well.

More important was the chance to briefly present my thesis at the congress during the PhD panel. During the seminar we had prepared our elevator pitch and we were ready to answer questions. I took pride in my research project because it was the first autoethnographic study presented at a EUPRERA congress.

One controversial debate in PR research is the dichotomy between positivism and interpretivism in social research. In such discussions, I learnt to hold my ground. I have argued that the contribution of interpretivism in social science is powerful. The diversity of backgrounds, philosophical views and research approaches will expand European studies in PR further and help reach deeper understandings of phenomena which are socially constructed, like dialogue.

EUNES

The newly-founded European Network of Emerging Scholars (EUNES). Miriam Pelusi is standing towards the right, wearing a red top.

PhD students were invited to join the European Network of Emerging Scholars (EUNES), and this has been a major highlight for me. The world of research is fast-paced; the research market is highly competitive because of the increased pressure on publishing due to rankings and reputation. I am already experiencing the challenging and demanding nature of doing research. Having spoken to other PhD students and early career researchers I’m aware that many share this feeling.

On the other hand, there is an increased awareness of the importance of protecting academic wellbeing , and also a consciousness that quantity is not necessarily synonymous of quality. It is therefore important to build a strong research community, and this European research network is a good example of how those involved in research can support each other, and that everyone can contribute to the development of the research community.

photo by Photo by Dan V on Unsplash

7 October 2022
Job opportunities around the world!

Here are some exciting job opportunities shared by our community members.

The Hong Kong Baptist University is calling for applications for two open rank, tenure track positions. One position is in Advertising and the other is in Public Relations. The deadline for application is October 28, 2022. More info and application

The Department of Communication and Arts, Roskilde University, invites applications for a vacant two-year postdoc in Public Relations (PR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The successful applicant is expected to start 1 January 2023 or as soon as possible thereafter. The deadline for Application is October 20, 2022. More info and application

 

6 October 2022
New book on Women and Public Relations

Towards a New Understanding of Masculine Habitus and Women and Leadership in Public Relations
Edited by Martina Topić, Leeds Beckett University                                                                                                                                                Series: Routledge New Directions in PR & Communication Research

This edited volume analyses leadership in the public relations (PR) industry with a specific focus on women and their leadership styles and preferences. It looks at how women lead, the influence of the socialization process on leadership styles, the difference between feminine and masculine leadership st yles, and the impact of leadership style on career opportunities for women.

More information
4 October 2022
#EUPRERApeople – Interview with Nilüfer Turksöy
Welcome back to

Interview with Nilüfer Turksöy ,
Associate Professor at Department of
Public Relations and Advertising
Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus

One of your most recent publications is called “The Future of Public Relations, Advertising and Journalism: How Artificial Intelligence May Transform the Communication Profession and Why Society Should Care?”. Can you summarize its main findings? How is AI going to integrate into the daily tasks of PR professionals?

In recent years, we have seen that evolving technology became one of the most prominent drivers of flexibility, change, innovation, and creativity. For public relations professionals, three key themes capture an important element of how Artificial Intelligence applications may transform the PR profession.Firstly, public relations professionals would benefit from AI-enabled systems for tasks that help them predict media trends and monitor social media. Artificial Intelligence has a self-learning capability and offers a tool that could respond autonomously to posts, queries, tweets, and other messages texted on social media.With the help of AI-powered machines, PR practitioners could receive instant alerts about an online crisis, negative word of mouth, and inaccurate or fake stories. Given negative messages spread enormously in the digital environment, these AI tools would allow public relations practitioners to respond quickly and effectively with relevant messages.Secondly, Artificial Intelligence would increasingly assist public relations practitioners, especially on some tedious, repetitive, mundane, and administration-based tasks that have less value. For example, practitioners would use Artificial Intelligence tools to schedule meetings, scan massive amounts of data, create media lists, develop coverage reports, set due dates, structure meeting notes, organize and update media lists, convert audio into text, or simply assist with repetitive day-to-day tasks.

In this way, more of the day could be spent on added-value activities or simply on doing the more strategic elements of the job like advising clients, relationship building, generating ideas, and creative writing that would touch people on an emotional level and get the media’s attention to tell that story for the targeted public.Finally, applying AI in the public relations industry would mean faster and optimized results. AI would allow PR professionals to process statistics and any kind of data much faster and would help them to make creative decisions based on data, facts, and trends, rather than relying on gut feelings. For instance, data-driven public relations campaigns could make use of AI to create new experiences that may increase brand affinity. Using these tools would mean faster, optimized results that will in turn allow PR practitioners to meet their goals faster than ever.

You are saying that it appears that the future of the communication profession would be a blend of both Artificial Intelligence technologies and human insight. In your opinion, how must PR professionals prepare for this giant leap in the profession? Which are the personal skills to be developed now?

Public relations professionals are becoming aware that Artificial Intelligence would bring a competitive advantage and would allow companies to produce services better and cheaper. To be able to offer informed, useful, and practical advice to customers, public relations practitioners must develop an adequate understanding of Artificial Intelligence. Firstly, they must familiarise themselves and learn to read statistical information. Then they should learn how to interpret the statistics to create good relations with customers and good PR campaigns. Knowing how to read statistics is one thing, but how to apply what you have read to create successful PR campaigns is another. Secondly, PR professionals need to know how to use AI tools that help them tap into their target audience’s hearts and minds. To be able to use these tools efficiently, PR professionals must take literacy classes in using AI-enabled software. For instance, Brandwatch and Talkwalker are instrumental in gathering and analysing big data. Real-time big data will offer PR practitioners the information they need to provide the current content that consumers want to see. And finally, having good research skills is extremely helpful in this industry. We already use AI-powered tools like Google Analytics and Cision to make our work more efficient and effective. Staying up to date with the latest developments is instrumental to remaining one step ahead.

It appears that the communication profession would be a blend of both AI technologies and human insight. This means that, on the one hand, AI tools would help PR professionals to assist in improving content marketing efforts, audience personalization, and in calculating audience response. On the other hand, the public relations profession requires social relations, political contacts, and feelings. Activities such as providing expert advice, generating reports and presentations, event planning, project management, and creative work are essential to public relations, and they require judgement, human intuition, reasoning, emotional intelligence, and empathy. These types of crucial skills are still hard to automate with currently available Artificial Intelligence technologies.

About society as a whole, what will be the main consequences of communication more and more supported by AI?

We hear a lot about big data, data capitalism, surveillance capitalism, and control society. Our online interactions and communications are constantly being monitored and collected by mega-corporations. For instance, only by observing our social media consumption, technology giants may distort the political opinions we form. AI-powered tools may analyse consumers’ data via large-scale deep learning algorithms and may use this data unethically by converting it into companies’ profit. In 2018, the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, where millions of Facebook accounts were used for political purposes, show us how news may affect the market’s complex structure. Without asking for users’ permission, AI tools could monitor our online browsing activities and could gather unlimited information about our purchasing behaviour; they could manipulate users’ views of the world; they could impact our ethics, our politics, and voting behaviour. This means that those who use algorithmic machine tools may play not only with our purchasing decisions, but also with our enjoyments, desires, and fantasies.

At no time in history, have markets become so concentrated in the hands of a few digital companies. Today, Google together with Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook are the top five biggest corporations that use advanced AI technologies in the world.  They rely on their economic muscles and powerful position in society. They have a common growing effect on people’s daily life; they also have a growing political influence. This raises ethical concerns about how communication professionals working for big companies shape the world via AI-powered systems, and for which purposes they use AI. Take Instagram as an example; it uses AI to show us the content it thinks we want to see the most. The AI looks at what kind of posts we have commented on or liked and who we follow and what we liked. It then uses this data to find the content that we are most likely to enjoy, keeping us in the app longer. Our mindset when it comes to social media is quite weak. If AI is programmed to maximize advertising clicks, then it can create all sorts of crises.  We, as PR practitioners, need to lead not follow AI.

AI technologies are programmed to make intelligent machines capable of solving problems better than people could. They are smart and they are getting dangerous, as they could outsmart humanity. This means that AI would be the future for all humankind. AI could mimic human intelligence and make use of big data shared by humans online. Even the late Stephen Hawking’s concern is alarming. Hawking highlighted: “Whereas the short-term impact of AI depends on who controls it, the long-term impact depends on whether it can be controlled at all”.

Suggested article by Nilüfer Türksoy

Türksoy, N. (2022). “The future of public relations, advertising and journalism: How artificial intelligence may transform the communication profession and why society should care?”. Turkish Review of Communication Studies, 40: 394-410.

Stay tuned
In the coming weeks we’ll issue new chapters of #EUPRERApeople! Be sure to receive them in your mailbox:

29 September 2022
Awards for best research papers: EUPRERA and Emerald honor academics and practitioners from Europe

We are just back from the EUPRERA XXIII Annual Congress, organised by two member universities and hosted in their stunning campus: University of Vienna and WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.

The congress was a success both in participation with nearly 200 attendants and in scientific contribution, with works on the theme “Public Relations in Risk Society”, grasping the legacy and challenges of the unprecedented times we are facing.

On the occasion of our annual congress, EUPRERA and Emerald Group Publishing awarded for best research papers in public relations.

 

EUPRERA Best Paper Awards

EUPRERA Best Paper Awards were given to the authors of three papers with the highest rankings in a two-stage, blind peer-review process performed by a scientific committee of renowned international scholars, headed by Chiara Valentini. The three winning papers:

“Navigating Moral Minefields in a VUCA-World: The Contribution of Moral Foundations Theory to Research on Issues Management, Risk and Crisis Communication” by Timo Lenk

This paper offers an excellent and original discussion of key factors affecting today risky and complex societies and how public relations professionals and organizations can navigate the VUCA-world. It does an excellent work in compiling and discussing important questions related to issues, risks, crises, public fragmentation, and complexity, and is highly centered on the conference annual theme.  The paper is clearly and well written and provides provocative points of discussion for a deeper understanding of the conditions for targeted risk and crisis communication. It suggests original reflections on how moral foundation theory could inform research on issue, risk, and crisis management.

“Polarized Stakeholders and Crisis Communication” by Michael Etter

This is an overall well-written and well-thought conceptual paper shedding light on an important matter, such as stakeholder activism and polarization. The author has conducted an excellent multidisciplinary review of most recent research on a topical area to derive important conceptual and theoretical insights applicable to public relations problems. Moreover, the paper proposes a theoretical model explaining how stakeholders’ judgment disagreements become triggered as organizations engage in controversial actions with both normative and professional values. The model is set to advance our understanding of stakeholder behaviors that impact organizational legitimacy, reputation, and status, and has a great potential to set future directions for public relations research in crisis communication and stakeholder communication.

“Prospects and Risks of Digitalization in Public Relations Research: Mapping Recurrent Narratives of a Debate in Fragmentation (2010-2021) ” by Jannik Kretschmer and Peter Winkler

This is a highly stimulating and thoughtful paper, that tries to make sense of contemporary debates on digitalization in public relations research. It is clearly written and presents an updated review of how digitalization has been addressed in public relations literature, highlighting unsolved issues, and knowledge gaps.  Overall, the paper suggests an innovative integrative perspective on digitalization that can be of great “use” to researchers interested in understanding opportunities and risks of digitalization for societies.

 

Emerald Awards

Emerald Group Publishing, publisher of Journal of Communication Management, delivered the yearly Emerald Professional Impact Award for the best research-based paper that is not only academically sound, but which makes an important and useful contribution to the practice of communication management. The paper addresses issues of current concern to managers and also successfully discusses the research’s implications to managers and for practice. The winning paper is:

“Knowing Thy Enemy and Fighting the Good Fight: A Framework for Organizational Preparation for and Response to AI-driven Disinformation Campaigns” by Elise Maria Karinshak and Yan Jin

This is an excellent theory-driven paper with potential impact on practice in a field in need of more strategic communication research. Disinformation is harming both democracy and organizations in ways that we could not foresee some decades ago, when the digital transformation was mainly viewed as something with positive consequences. In this paper the authors synthesize theoretical and technical literature characterizing the effects of AI on disinformation. They then propose a conceptual framework for disinformation response in the corporate sector. The study concludes that future disinformation response efforts will not be able to rely on detection strategies, due to the evolution of AI- created content quality but need to rely on content influence.

And from this year on, the EUPRERA book series Advances in Public Relations and Communication Management, a collection of the best contributions from our congresses, competes for the Emerald Literati Award for Outstanding Author Contribution. This year the award was recognized to:

Vibeke Thøis Madsen for her chapter “Communicative Leadership on Internal Social Media: a Way to Employee Engagement?”, published in the volume Joy. Using Strategic Communication to Improve Well-being and Organizational Success.

Vibeke Thøis Madsen explores interactions on internal social media (ISM) in a Danish bank to understand how communicative leadership is enacted in social media dialogues within an organizational context. She identified three communicative leadership styles: formal communicative leadership, co-constructed communicative leadership, and peer communicative leadership. The findings suggest that communicative leadership is co-constructed in interactions between managers and employees as well as in interactions among employees. We learn that communicative leadership on ISM is not only enacted by formal managers; it is enacted just as much by knowledgeable individual organizational members and it is also co-constructed by groups of employees. In this respect, the findings help us understand leadership as a complex set of interactions in organizational contexts and know that empowering communication on ISM can therefore enhance employee engagement.

 

Special recognition to the best reviewer

EUPRERA Best Reviewer Award recognizes the work done by the reviewer because it is an essential contribution to the quality and the success of the annual congress. This year’s winner is:

Maria Isaksson from BI Norwegian Business School, Norway, who has contributed to careful, thorough and useful reviews.

The quality of review of Dr. Isaksson is of excellent level. She provided lengthy and detailed comments, as well as practical suggestions to help authors further develop their papers. Her comments are constructive and encouraging and spur authors to reflect on own arguments and research choices. Attentive feedbacks and high consideration for different academic cultural traditions and perspectives are also visible in the offered comments.

 

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29 September 2022
A new Distinguished Scholar

The EUPRERA community unanimously recognizes as Distinguished Scholar in Public Relations Wim Elving, professor of Sustainable Communication at Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, Netherlands.

Wim has for many years contributed internationally to developing research and education in corporate and strategic communication. After a master exam in psychology and a doctorate at Twente University in 1999, focusing care of cancer patients, he started working at University of Amsterdam, mainly focusing internal and change communication. Last decade he has done research in sub-fields such as CSR and sustainability.

He was editor-in-chief for Corporate Communications, an International Journal (CCIJ) for 10 years (2006-2015) and have chaired CSR Communication conferences for several years. Besides being an excellent educator and scholar, he has contributed to the development of the field as a leader in several and impressive ways.

Wim received the recognition on the occasion of the EUPRERA congress in Vienna. Congratulations Wim!

Get to know other 6 colleagues
who received this important recognition
29 September 2022
Awards for best master thesis in public relations

The Master Thesis Award for Excellence is an annual prize aimed to celebrate the PR academia and the role performed by European Higher Education Institutions in the evolution of knowledge of this field. The jury, headed by Martina Topić, from Leeds Beckett University in UK, selected the winning theses in two categories. They have been invited and awarded at our recent congress in Vienna:

 

Theoretical Impact Award: How racial justice documentaries can be used as a public relations tool: a case study of Ava Duvernay’s “When They See Us” by Anne Margaret Cumming, University of Stirling, UK

The popularity of the film has transformed documentaries into the ‘most effective tool of expression for information’ and PR to counteract the normal narrative. This medium has not always been valued highly by Hollywood producers: some viewed it as a means to educate society for the benefit of the state. However, more recently, its importance and value have been acknowledged by scholars in the media and social impact field.

This research builds on scholarly work within the field regarding race and ethnicity by utilising tenets of CRT, which is of particular importance due to current racial tensions in the US. The study illustrates the relationship between activism, documentaries, and PR theory and practice. By taking a critical rhetoric position, the findings have shown that through documentaries, meaning is constructed and communicated, and can lead to societal change. Simply examining PR from a functionalist approach ignores the idea that activists use ‘communication efforts to call attention to, frame, and advocate issues’, disregarding the complex settings and power disparities in which they operate. If PR aims to empower, then it should aspire to stop the marginalisation of people. From a critical standpoint, any PR practice or theory that marginalises due to race is preventing the creation of a ‘fully functioning society“.

 

Practical Impact Award: The Lie of the “Perfect Mom” & The Role of Public relations in the Construction and Deconstruction of its Discourse by Lucille Cotman Morrison, University of the Arts, UK

While much literature has been written on intensive motherhood from a psychological and behavioural perspective, very little has been published showcasing its ties to brand communication and public relations. By taking a discursive approach to examining the promotional practices of baby brands, it is possible to understand the wider impact PR has on society. Mothers are hugely impactful to the consumer market with control of 70% of household spending in the United Kingdom and 85% in the United States. Additionally, from an ethical standpoint, new motherhood has been proven to be a vulnerable period of a woman’s life. Practitioners given the task of communicating to those in this period should not take such responsibility for granted, and in fact, should deeply consider the repercussions of getting this wrong – from poor mental health to death.

 

The call for applications for the 2023 edition
will be launched in Autumn 2022
More info
info@euprera.org | dpra@euprera.org

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