An institutional perspective of public relations practices in the Chinese cultural contexts

Hou, Jenny Zhengye; Zhu, Yunxia

doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2012.05.002

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Previously, the literature has conceptually and empirically linked public relations to institutional work. For example, Fredriksson (2014) has conceptualized crisis communication as institutional work; Hou and Zhu (2012) have used the institutional work framework to explain how public relations practitioners in China construct the field of public relations in response to the peculiar Chinese normative institutions. This study furthers the relationship between public relations and institutional work and frames activist public relations as institutional work (Hou, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Activist public relations in developing contexts where rules and norms collide: insights from two activist organizations against gender-based violence in Bangladesh

Ali

Saniei

O’Leary

et al. 2022

JCOM

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PurposeThis study aims to broaden the understanding of activist public relations in developing contexts. The power of formal laws and policies in developing contexts diminishes by traditional norms and authorities, and therefore, a great deal of activist public relations efforts is devoted to controlling destructive norms and informal authorities. Activist public relations literature often assumes powerful formal institutions that are capable to control behaviors. The authors challenge this assumption by exploring activist public relations against gender-based violence (GV) in Bangladesh.Design/methodology/approachThis study took an interpretative and social constructionist approach to examine public relations practices of two GV activist organizations in Bangladesh. The data were collected through observation, interviews and document analysis of four campaigns. The data were coded in NVivo.FindingsThe data show that the activist organizations used public relations campaigns for informal institutional work. The campaigns included educating various publics and storytelling to build supporting identities, norms and networks to address GV in Bangladesh.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has been limited to advocacy campaign of the non-governmental organizations.Practical implicationsThe knowledge from this study can be applied to the social development sectors where public relations is used to activate activism. In addition, the public relations practitioners and scholars can find how activists public relations is emerging in developing context.Originality/valueThe findings suggest that activist public relations in developing contexts carry out institutional work and create informal institutions to compensate for the formal institutional voids. In addition, this paper highlights the role of public relations in institutional work, to create and maintain contributory institutions or disrupt disturbing institutions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Activist public relations in developing contexts where rules and norms collide: insights from two activist organizations against gender-based violence in Bangladesh

Ali

Saniei

O’Leary

et al. 2022

JCOM

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Section: Neo-institutional Public Relations and Legitimacymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A few scholars applied neo-institutionalism to public relations and related fields (e.g., Fredriksson et al, 2013;Hou & Zhu, 2012;Merkelsen, 2013). From a neo-institutional perspective, Hou and Zhu (2012) defined public relations as a process in which the cultural setting of an organization is interpreted, negotiated, and shaped to build favorable conditions. Similarly, Fredriksson et al (2013) emphasized that public relations is concerned with interpreting and formulating, but also with creating institutional factors such as social values and expectations: public relations acts as "as a carrier and translator of these institutional elements [norms, rules, values, and expectations] as well as their maintainer and creator" (p. 169).…”

Section: Neo-institutional Public Relations and Legitimacymentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of public relations in corporate diplomacy: how relationship cultivation increases organizational legitimacy

Marschlich

Ingenhoff

2021

Journal of Public Relations Research

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Drawing from neo-institutionalism and public relations theory, this study examined to what extent corporate diplomacy builds on public relations to identify and respond to societal expectations emerging from a company's host country environment, which can result in organizational legitimacy. Based on in-depth interviews (N = 25) with public relations executives in the United Arab Emirates, our findings imply that companies engage in corporate diplomacy to align with governmental demands while simultaneously attempting to meet internal expectations originating from employees and corporate values. The interviews resulted in the identification and description of five corporate diplomacy modes and a model describing corporate diplomacy-legitimacy, highlighting the role played by relationship cultivation and culture in gaining organizational legitimacy through corporate diplomacy. Consequently, our study provides a framework to explain the societal role of public relations in building organizational legitimacy through relationship cultivation.

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“…As part of the Chinese heritage over thousands of years, the Chinese government has continuously controlled not only valuable tangible resources, such as capital and land, but also intangible resources, such as approval mechanisms and preferential policies, on which organizations depend for their survival and development (He & Tian, 2008). This elite authoritarianism is a critical aspect of Chinese culture that undergirds Chinese PR practices (Hou & Zhu, 2012; Wu, 2002), and we will examine it here.…”

Section: Institutional Theories: Logics and Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Public Relations in China

Hou

Zhu

Bromley

2013

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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An institutional perspective of public relations practices in the Chinese cultural contexts

Cited by 13 publications

References 24 publications

Activist public relations in developing contexts where rules and norms collide: insights from two activist organizations against gender-based violence in Bangladesh

Activist public relations in developing contexts where rules and norms collide: insights from two activist organizations against gender-based violence in Bangladesh

The role of public relations in corporate diplomacy: how relationship cultivation increases organizational legitimacy

Understanding Public Relations in China

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