Marlene S. Neill

PR Professionals as Organizational Conscience

Scholars have long asserted that public relations (PR) professionals should play the role of organizational conscience, but little research has focused on why and how they play this role effectively. We found that PR professionals who played the role of organizational conscience had broadened conceptions of their roles and responsibilities, including a fervent duty to the public interest. This often put them in the position of providing criticism to powerful organizational players. Rather than raising their ethical concerns as persuasive orators, they used subtle, resourceful, and experiential approaches to persuasion. Playing the role of organizational conscience typically necessitated gaining access to informal coalitions since access to dominant power coalitions often was limited or late. Organizations with participative cultures supported the role of organizational conscience.

Native Advertising Is the New Journalism: How Deception Affects Social Responsibility

Native advertising’s effectiveness lies in its ability to look like content produced by journalists. The potential for deceiving readers and proliferation of native advertising threaten journalism’s credibility along with its core boundary: the separation between editorial and advertising. For the press to function in a normative manner, as a watchdog, contributing to the public’s ability to self-govern, it simply cannot participate in deception. Therefore, 56 qualitative interviews were conducted with journalists, advertising, and public relations executives to examine the extent to which native advertising impedes on the social responsibility of the press. Perspectives revealed that all three professions agreed native advertising raises ethical concerns. Native advertising potentially deceives audiences who are unaware that native advertising is paid, persuasive content versus editorial, thus contributing to the diminishing credibility of journalism. Furthermore, if native advertising is done well, it is undetectable from traditional editorial content. Based on these findings, authors discuss how native advertising threatens several tenets of social responsibility theory.

Gaps in Advertising and Public Relations Education: Perspectives of Agency Leaders

Just as the advertising and public relations industries are evolving due to the development of new technology and communication tools, so are the demands of education. Through in-depth interviews with 29 executives working in both advertising and public relations agencies in the U.S., this study identifies the core skills and competencies needed to have successful careers in this new media landscape. While writing and presentation skills remain foundational, employers also are seeking math and data analysis skills associated with new jobs in social media listening and analytics. Meanwhile, some advertising executives lack the skills in issues and crisis management associated with online community management. Professionals in both disciplines also bemoan the lack of business literacy among communication majors and support situated learning opportunities to address these deficiencies.

Have the Ethics Changed? An Examination of Ethics in Advertising and Public Relations Agencies

ABSTRACT Advertising and public relations executives claim the rules for ethical practices are changing. On the basis of 29 in-depth interviews with advertising and public relations executives, and an analysis guided by identity theories and moral justifications, new insights address the most pressing issues faced today, greater opportunities to behave unethically, and the lack of ethics training received. Some of the executives perceive a personal responsibility to be ethical, whereas others adopted a self-interested attitude by suggesting it’s the publishers’ or consumers’ responsibility to make ethical decisions. Emerging marketing practices have increased the need for more ethics training and more sophisticated perspectives on professionalism and virtuous behavior that are also flexible enough to apply to envelope-pushing strategies.

Beyond the c-suite: corporate communications’ power and influence

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine what formal executive-level committees senior corporate communications executives are members of and what value they contribute. Design/methodology/approach – The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 30 senior executives at four US companies who discussed corporate communications’ involvement in eight strategic issues. Findings – The focus on the C-Suite is too narrow as strategic issues arise at the division level and in executive-level committees. Corporate communications is often in competition with marketing for influence and coveted seats in the board rooms. Corporate communications is most likely to be included in decision making when issues are perceived as falling within their domain, when the function has support from the CEO, when working in industries with frequent crises or those focussing on reputation management, and in companies that utilize integrated decision teams. Practical implications – Corporate communicators need to enhance ...

Playing Nice in the Sandbox: Is Collaboration Among Advertising and Public Relations Agencies the Same as Integration?

ABSTRACT Advertising and public relations agencies have never been more in direct competition, as public relations agencies begin offering media strategies and advertising agencies begin assuming roles in online community management and social listening. Through in-depth interviews with 29 advertising and public relations agency executives, this study provides new insights on the trends impacting both professions while drawing from the theoretical concepts of encroachment, domain similarity, nonsubstitutability, and integrated marketing communication. Executives defined paid, earned, owned, and social media strategies and discussed how these areas are blurring, how responsibilities are being mandated by clients, and how the associated financial challenges affect an agencys ability to retain employees. Finally, the executives discussed how clients and agencies are pursuing collaborative work that draws from the strengths of both professions.

The Use of Influence Tactics by Senior Public Relations Executives to Provide Ethics Counsel

ABSTRACT Senior public relations executives prefer rational approaches such as research, case studies, and legitimacy appeals when raising ethical concerns to more senior leaders. However, women were more likely than men to seek allies and form coalitions as means for influence. Through in-depth interviews with 34 members of the Public Relations Society of America College of Fellows, this study provides new insights regarding successful and unsuccessful attempts at providing ethics counsel. The role of ethical conscience in public relations was explored through the lens of organizational power and social influence theories. Implications for practice are discussed.

Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned Media From the Perspective of Advertising and Public Relations Agencies: Comparing China and the United States

ABSTRACT Despite the existence of the “great firewall,” advertising and public relations practitioners in China, much like in the United States, are embracing and enacting social media and digital strategies on behalf of their clients. In this study, we conducted 42 in-depth interviews with advertising and public relations practitioners in the United States and mainland China to explore how emerging media and integrated marketing communication (IMC) are impacting advertising and public relations agencies in the two countries. This cross-cultural comparison revealed several critical insights, which were examined through the lenses of IMC and dimensions of culture. We found that emerging media lead to converging trends in various aspects of agency performance. The blurring of paid, earned, shared, and owned media (PESO) was evidentially observed in how executives of both countries defined and used media. Chinese agencies were media agnostic, concerned more with effectiveness of media practices. The U.S. agencies embraced collaboration and information technology better compared to their Chinese peers. This research contributes to the body of knowledge in strategic communication via providing empirical evidence of how Chinese and U.S. agencies coordinate IMC and perceive PESO media relative and in response to emerging media practices.

Ethics Education in Public Relations: Differences Between Stand-Alone Ethics Courses and an Integrated Approach

ABSTRACT Research has found that ethics are most likely to be integrated throughout the curriculum rather than taught as a stand-alone course in public relations. However, this study identified substantial differences in the types of content taught in the two formats on the basis of survey research with 96 educators. Some of the topics that are less likely to be taught outside of an ethics course included other codes of ethics beyond those of the Public Relations Society of America, classical theories by philosophers, decision-making models, the effect of organizational culture and values, and global perspectives on ethics. In addition, few educators reported that they discuss raising ethical concerns in their courses.