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Articles Tagged with: euprera congress

9 January 2020

EUPRERA congresses 2020-21-22

Save the date for our next congresses!

CONGRESS 2020

Navarra univ long October 8-10
Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

The Camino of Strategic Communication. (Re)discovering the human element in public relations.
Abstract deadline: February 29.

CONGRESS 2021

September 9-11
Universität Wien
Vienna, Austria
Organiser: Sabine Einwiller
Programme: the congress sessions will be condensed in two full days (Thursday and Friday), followed by the social programme on Saturday.

CONGRESS 2022

September 23-25
Charles University
Prague, Czech Republic
Organisers: Denisa Hejlová, David Klimeš, Petra Koudelková

Are you interested in hosting the EUPRERA congress?
Contact Virginia Villa (dpra@euprera.org)

31 October 2019

EUPRERA congresses 2020-21-22

Details are being defined and a formal announcement for the 2020 edition will come soon, but you can already save the dates for our next congresses!

2020 congress

October 8-10, Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.

The Call for Papers is already out and invites abstracts on the theme The Camino of strategic communication: (re)-discovering the human element in public relations by February 29, 2020.

2021 congress

September 9-11, Universität Wien, Austria.

2022 congress

(dates will be announced soon) Charles University in Prague, Austria.

27 September 2019

Awards for best research papers in public relations: EUPRERA and Emerald honor academics and practitioners

The European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA), a body of academic institutions, researchers and senior professionals in the field of strategic communication with nearly 500 members from 40 countries, has awarded authors for their excellent research in strategic communication at the EUPRERA annual congress in Zagreb, on September 27. The congress is known as the major gathering of scholars and professionals interested in advancing the profession of public relations and corporate communications on the continent, hosted this year by University of Zagreb in Croatia.

Academic awards for research on
communication strategies to activate citizens,
Twitter as a lobbying tool, communication in Disaster Management

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 Sabine Einwiller from University of Wien in Austria. Sabine Einwiller, Head of the scientific committee, and Ralph Tench, EUPRERA President, delivered the awards for the three winning papers:

“Small But Mighty. Communication Strategies Of Dutch Local Energy Initiatives” by Petrus ter Halle, Pascal de Vries, Liesbeth Hermans.
The paper addresses the role of communication strategies in activating citizens in private Local Energy Initiatives (LEIs) to stimulate engagement in a common social cause. In phase one, authors interviewed representatives of LEIs to then, in phase two, extend and deepen the insights by presenting them to other LEIs using dedicated workshops. It shows that LEIs do not appear to have a clear communication strategy, but elements of such a strategy are readily identifiable, and LEIs activate enormous civic potential. The paper is very innovative with a high level of practical significance and an inspiring methodological approach.

“The Democratic Success of Twitter as a Lobbying tool” by Øyvind Ihlen, Ketil Raknes, Anders O. Larson.
The paper discusses the contribution of Twitter to democratic goals of engagement and debate by asking “What type of interest groups and organizations succeed in having members of parliament react on (retweet) their Twitter messages?”. To answer this question, the authors analyzed the extent to which Norwegian politicians retweet messages from interest groups and lobbyists during normal parliamentary activity. Despite the touted democratic potential of Twitter, the researchers find that it is the powerful groups and organizations that get heard more by politicians, also on Twitter. The paper is excellently written with solid links to the relevant literature and sound methodology.

“Building Community Resilience: Strategic Communication in Disaster Management”, by Gayadini Imesha Dharmasena Madho Kandage, Margalit Toledano, Kay Weaver.
The authors analyze the use of strategic communication for building community resilience to natural disasters in two different socio-cultural contexts, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Based on 50 in-depth interviews of communication managers in government and non-profit organizations involved in disaster management, it shows that Sri Lanka has a fatalistic approach to disasters relying on collectivistic values, while in New Zealand the challenge is to persuade people to seek help from others and to be familiar with good sources of help and information. This highly interesting paper has a solid theoretical basis, sound methodology and contributes to our understanding of building community resilience in different cultures.

Moreover, Emerald Group Publishing, publisher of Journal of Communication Management, presented 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:

“Happy or End: The Role of Strategic Communication in Start-ups”, by Markus Wiesenberg, Alexander Hagen Godulla, Katharina Tengler, Inga-Marit Noelle, Julia Kloss, Natalie Klein and David Eeckhout.
The paper is based on very sound theorizing, and takes an effort to ground the research in wider concepts and theoretical discussions that go beyond a mere observation of startup communication. Based on a systematic literature, the authors chose a qualitative-explorative approach reflecting the external perspective of consultants and funders as well as the internal perspective with start-up founders and the communication managers (where existent). Results reveal eight areas in which start-ups face strategic communication challenges including the basic orientation of strategic communication. This is an excellent paper combining a tight theoretical framework with practical and professional impact.

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. The scientific committee identified as this year’s winner:

Grazia Murtarelli from IULM University, Milano, Italy, who has contributed to careful, thorough and useful reviews.

13 September 2019

EUPRERA 2019 in Zagreb: full programme now available

We are pleased to announce the full programme of our annual congress, organised by the University of Zagreb on the theme “Joy – Using Strategic Communication to Improve the Quality of Life”.

During the three days of the congress, after the keynote speeches of Ljiljana Kaliterna Lipovčan and Boris Jokić, nearly 70 papers will be presnted, along with a panel session on the joy or stress of working in PR and a panel session with the works from the EUPRERa PhD seminar.

Join us in Zagreb on September 26-28 or follow the updates we will post soon after the congress on:

Best Paper recognitions
Master and PhD awards winners
New projects and networks
Distinguished Scholar recognition
EUPRERA 2020 congress announcement

Congress website

Have you published a book recently and are you a member of EUPRERA?
Don’t forget to display it at our congress in Zagreb!
Make your request to exhibit to info@euprera2019.com.

29 April 2019

Zagreb 2019: registration now open

The EUPRERA XXI annual congress is approaching: nearly 90 abstracts and panel proposals have been reviewed and the registration is now open. Special discounts are available for:

Members who have already renewed their annual membership.
Students and doctoral students, especially those attending the PhD seminar prior to the congress.
One day attendance.
Attendees who register and pay before July 31.

Should you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact our colleagues in Zagreb info@euprera2019.com.

Go to
congress website
registration page

1 November 2018

Using strategic communication to coordinate internal communication, employee engagement, organizational reputation and employer brands

by Ana Tkalac Verčič,
full professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics and Business
For organizations around the world, their attractiveness, profitability, and future operations depend on their willingness to put employees first and recognize them as the most important stakeholders for organizational development (Aggerholm, Andersen & Thomsen, 2011). This underlines the importance of concepts such as engagement, reputation, and employer branding.
Engagement is frequently used as the umbrella term that encompasses organizational efforts to involve stakeholders in organizational activities and decisions. It is also often interchanged with involvement and dialogue (Lewis, Hamfel & Richardson, 2001). Internal communication is the key part of organizational context in promoting employee engagement (Bakker, Albrecht & Leiter, 2011). In public relations, the focus on relationship management has led to using engagement as the new paradigm within which organizations try to integrate, interact, and collaborate, with their stakeholders (Edelman, 2008; Taylor & Kent, 2014; Tkalac Verčič & Pološki Vokić, 2017). Open and effective communication strategies played an important role in engagement (Welch, 2012).
Communication experts often use engagement as the measure with which they estimate their stakeholder’s experiences in connection with cognitive and behavioral consequences which can help the organization’s bottom line (Jiang, Luo & Kulemeka, 2016). Engagement is most frequently linked with organizational behavior and studies focused on employee engagement (Brodie, Hollebeek, Juric & Ilic, 2011; Tkalac Verčič & Pološki Vokić, 2017). Even though Welch (2011) saw employee engagement being in the domain of internal communication, the relationship between specific dimensions of internal communication satisfaction and employee engagement is rarely explored (Tkalac Verčič, Verčič & Sriramesh, 2012; Tkalac Verčič & Pološki Vokić, 2017).
Internal communication has the biggest potential in transferring organizational values to employees thus engaging them into accepting organizational goals (Bindl & Parker, 2010 Pugh & Dietz, 2008; Wiley, Kowske & Herman, 2010). In modern global organizations engaged employees represent a competitive advantage (Macey & Schneider, 2008). Ruck and Welch (2012) have shown how employee engagement depends on robust internal communication and how organizations which have better internal communication have a four times higher chance of having engaged employees. We explored this relationship further (Tkalac Verčič & Pološki Vokić, 2017) and found that internal communication was one of the bases for employee engagement. Specifically, internal communication satisfaction was significantly related to, and affected, the level of employee engagement. So, it seems undeniable that internal communication can increase engagement through enabling communication perceived as appropriate by employees. This can only be accomplished with an insight into employee views (Welch, 2012).
When it comes to reputation, most authors agree that it is a combination of the internal and external perceptions of an organization (Tkalac Verčič & Verčič 2007; Balmer & Gray, 1999; Cheney & Christensen, 2001; Gummesson, 2000). Corporate reputation is important for corporate success (Kay, 2004, according to Martin, 2009). Some authors believe that reputation is an aggregation of identity and image (Fombrun, 1996; Fombrun & van Riel, 1997). From this perspective communication directed toward internal publics is vital in reputation management (Tkalac Verčič & Verčič 2007; Ahmed & Rafiq, 2002). The concept of employer brand is also closely connected to reputation (Ruiz, García, & Revilla, 2016), occasionally as a protector of it (Burke, Martin & Cooper, 2011). Academic research aimed at exploring reputation and employer brands shows a certain overlap on the conceptual, methodological and empirical level (Hendriks, 2016). Exploring the area of corporate reputation and employer branding is a promising area for strategic communication research, particularly when centered on internal communication. If strategic communication experts decide to claim the area of reputation management, it is necessary for them to understand how strategic policies and communications can shape the quality of the different factors that build reputation (Tkalac Verčič & Sinčić Ćorić, 2018).

Aggerholm, H., Andersen, S. E., & Thomsen, C. (2011). Conceptualizing employer branding in sustainable organizations. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 16(2), 105 – 123.
Ahmed, P. K., & Rafiq, M. (2002) Internal marketing: Tools and concepts for customer-focused management. Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Bakker, A. B., Albrecht, S. L., & Leiter, M. P. (2011). Key questions regarding work engagement. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 20(1), 4-28.
Balmer, J. M. T. & Gray, E. R. (1999) Corporate identity and corporate communications: creating a competitive advantage, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 4(4), 171–176.
Bindl, U. K., & Parker, S. K. (2010). Feeling good and performing well? Psychological engagement and positive behaviors at work. In S. L. Albrecht (Ed.), Handbook of Employee Engagement: Perspectives, Issues, Research and Practice. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Brodie, R., Hollebeek, D., Juric, B., & Ilic, A. (2011). Customer engagement: Conceptual domain, fundamental propositions, and implications for research. Journal Broom, G. M. & Sha, B. L. (2013). Cutlip and Center’s Effective public relations (11th ed.). Pearson, International editions.
Burke, G. Martin, & C. L. Cooper (2011) (Ed.) Corporate Reputation: Managing Opportunities and Threats (1-43), Gower.
Cheney, G., & Christensen, L. T. (2001) Organizational identity: Linkages between internal and external communication. In F. M. Jablin & L. L. Putnam (Eds.), The new handbook of organizational communication: Advances in theory, research, and methods (pp.231-269). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Edelman, R. (2008). Edelman trust barometer. Retrieved from: http://www.edelman.com/p/6-a-m/2008-edelman-trust-barometer/
Fombrun, C. (1996). Reputation: realizing value from the corporate image. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.
Fombrun, C. & van Riel, C. (1997) The reputational landscape, Corporate Reputations Review, 1(1), 5–13.
Gummesson, G. (2002) Internal marketing in the light of relationship marketing and network organizations. In R. J. Varey & B. R. Lewis (Eds.), Internal marketing: Directions for management (pp.27-42). London/New York: Routledge.
Hendriks, M. (2016). Organizational reputation, organizational attractiveness and employer branding: clarifying the concepts. Master thesis, Faculty of behavioral, management and social sciences Master Business Administration.
Jiang, H., Luo, Y., & Kulemeka, O. (2016). Social media engagement as an evaluation barometer: Insights from communication executives. Public Relations Review, Article in press. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com.nukweb.nuk.unilj.si/science/article/pii/
Lewis, L. K., Hamel, S. A., & Richardson, B. K. (2001). Communicating change to nonprofit stakeholders: Models and predictors of implementers’ approaches. Management Communication Quarterly, 15(1), 5-41.
Macey, W. H., & Schneider, B. (2008). The Meaning of Employee Engagement. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1(1), 3-30.
Martin, G., Beaumont, P. B., Doig, R. M., & Pate, J. M. (2005). Branding: A new discourse for HR? European Management Journal, 23(1), 76-88.
Pugh, S. D., & Dietz, J. (2008). Employee engagement at the organizational level of analysis. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1(1), 45-48.
Ruck, K., & Welch, M. (2012). Valuing internal communication: management and employee perspective. Public Relations Review, 38(2), 294-302.
Ruiz, B., García, J., A. & Revilla, J., J. (2016). Antecedents and consequences of bank reputation: a comparison of the United Kingdom and Spain. International Marketing Review, 33(6), 781-805.
Taylor, M., & Kent, M. L. (2014). Dialogic engagement: Clarifying foundational concepts. Journal of Public Relations Research, 26(5), 384-398.
Tkalac Verčič, A., & Pološki Vokić, N. (2017). Engaging employees through internal communication, Public Relations Review, 43(5), 885-93.
Tkalac Verčič, A., & Sinčić Ćorić, D. (2018). The relationship between reputation, employer branding and corporate social responsibility, Public Relations Review. 44 (4),444-452.
Tkalac Verčič, A., Verčič, D., & Sriramesh, K. (2012). Internal communication: Definition, parameters, and the future. Public Relations Review, 38(2), 223-230.
Welch, M. (2011). The evolution of the employee engagement concept: Communication implications. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 16(4), 328-346.
Welch, M. (2012). Appropriateness and acceptability: Employee perspectives of internal communication. Public Relations Review, 38(2), 246-254.
Wiley, J. W., Kowske, B. J., & Herman, A. E. (2010). Developing and validating a global model of employee engagement. In S. L. Albrecht (Ed.). Handbook of Employee Engagement: Perspectives, Issues, Research and Practice. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

30 April 2018

EUPRERA Aarhus congress registration

The XX EUPRERA Annual Congress, to be held in Aarhus, Denmark, on September 27-29, is coming closer and the first phase of the review process has been completed: the programme will be built up soon with contributions from 30 countries, including Europe, North America, Asia, Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa.
Registration is now possible and several discounts are foreseen:

Early bird registration until July 31
Special fee for EUPRERA members (if you paid your membership fee, you have received a special code for the congress registration)
Special fee for doctoral students

Go to congress website / Register now

29 January 2018

JCom: special issue from EUPRERA congress

This year’s issue n. 1 of the Journal of Communication Management (JCom) is now online: it collects some of the best contributions from the EUPRERA 2016 Congress, edited by Stefania Romenti, Iekje Smit and Betteke van Ruler.

Go to the issue

JCom is the definitive international journal for research-oriented communication managers and professionals as well as for researchers who aim to develop or challenge practice. Articles are closely linked to strategic communication, public relations, organizational communication, corporate communication and related fields. JCom is a formal partner of EUPRERA. More about EUPRERA publications

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