Reluctant to talk, reluctant to listen: Public relations professionals and their involvement in CSR programmes in Spain

Abstract

This article examines the type of contributions that public relations professionals make towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes, while discussing the issues and obstacles they face to enter into that professional area. To do so, the authors have looked at the top publicly owned companies in Spain, which are part of the so-called Ibex 35. The research included semi-structured interviews with key players (28 interviews) and interpretative analysis of official documents and reports (33 documents). The overall research suggests that despite normative claims from CSR departments that downplay public relations contributions towards the implementation of CSR programmes, the empirical evidence suggests otherwise. This evidence shows important operational deficiencies and accountability deficits precisely because of the lack of public relations input in their design and implementation.Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Public Relations, Professionalism, Spain, Communication Highlights: Public relations professionals in Spain are rarely included in the conceptualisation, design and implementation of CSR programmes.  The lack of considerations regarding professional communication in relation to CSR programmes create important gaps and shortcomings.  Without spaces for dialogue, CSR programmes are just temporary palliatives. IntroductionThere has been some debate in relation as to who should manage and implement Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes (L'Etang, J.; Lugo-Ocando, J; Ahmed, Z, 2011, p. 170). In some cases these debates have centred in the incorporation and use of public relations professionals within the remit of CSR activities (Bartlett, J.;Tywoniak, S; Hatcher, C, 2007, p. 281). This because, communication is a key component of these programmes both in terms of using them to strengthen the reputation of the companies as well as the need to engage stakeholders and the general public in order to achieve its wider objectives. However, one of the most common experiences -at least in Spain-is that these same organisations have been reluctant to incorporate public relations professionals in the core design and implementation of their CSR programmes and only use tangentially their own public relations departments in order to promote disseminate final outcomes and achievements of CSRrelated programmes.This last happens despite the fact that important research indicate that origins, theories, processes, and primary responsibilities between public relations and CSR are similar (Clark, 2000). These scholarly comparisons have also highlighted a key difference whereby effective communication methods and professional communication approaches are largely absent from the social responsibility practice and literature. These same scholars have indicated the need to include such techniques in order to enhance the development and overall impact of managing corporate-stakeholder relationships (Clark, 2000, p. 363). This clearly suggests that a more active involvement of public re...

Historical evolution of public relations psychology in Europe and the United States

“…Social and organizational psychology seem to nurture PR as well (Bernays, 1928;Allport, 1935, Cutlip andCenter, 1952;Etzioni, 1964;Cutlip and Allen, 1971;Wilson, 1975;Grunig, 1976;Bell and Bell, 1976;Carroll, 1989;Ferguson et al, 1984;Petty and Cacioppo, 1986;Worchel et al, 1988;Grunig and Repper, 1992;Leakey and Lewin, 1994;Donaldson and Preston, 1995;Broom et al, 1997;Cancel et al, 1997;Mitchell, Agle and Wood, 1997;Luhmann, 1998;Chen and Chaiken, 1999;Hon and Grunig, 1999;Hallahan, 2000;Kochan and Rubinstein, 2000;Grunig and Hunt, 2003;Ledingham, 2003;Xifra, 2003;Esteno et al, 2004;Berger and Reber, 2005;Castillo and Xifra, 2006;Rawlins, 2006;White, 2008;Capriotti, 2013;Ruiz-Mora, Lugo-Ocando and Castillo-Esparcia, 2016;De Las Heras-Pedrosa, Ruiz-Mora and Paniagua, 2018;Torres-Mancera, 2021).…”

“…Psychology has also contributed knowledge and practices of great interest to PR in stakeholder communication and management (Mitchell et al, 1997;Kochan and Rubinstein, 2000;Ledingham, 2003;Castillo and Xifra, 2006;Ruiz-Mora et al, 2016). For instance, Etzioni (1964) worked on possible types of behaviour within organisations, while Cutlip and Allen (1971) focused on understanding the relationships between the organisation and its audiences.…”

Rethinking political PR: A theoretical framework towards supporting social integration in the UK

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Peran Public Relations Pt Astra International, TBK Pada Program CSR “Nurani Astra” Di Masa Pandemik Covid-19

“…Beberapa penelitian telah mengidentifikasi setidaknya lima peran PR pada program CSR, yaitu: manajemen, filantropi, dorongan nilai, komunikasi, dan tidak ada peran sama sekali. Namun pada studi yang sama juga menyiratkan bahwa terdapat keterbatasan pada kemampuan PR dalam berkontribusi pada CSR (Ruiz-Mora et al, 2016). Meskipun PR dan CSR bersifat independen namun keduanya saling berkaitan, dimana PR dan departemen lainnya berbagi tanggung jawab dalam merancang program CSR yang komprehensif (Reeves, 2016).…”