The Death of the Concept of<i>Publics</i>(Plural) in 21st Century Public Relations

Kruckeberg, Dean; Vujnović, Marina

doi:10.1080/15531181003701921

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…First, public organizations need approval from the general public, not just those the organizations directly served (Hoggett, 2006;Moore, 1995). While having a specific audience is traditionally considered important for communications (Weiss & Tschirhart, 1994), it may not be necessary in today's globalized and digitally connected society (Kruckeberg & Vujnovic, 2010). Second, public organizations have multiple roles and identities that need to be represented to maintain credibility (Hoggett, 2006;Waeraas, 2008).…”

Section: Public Organizations and Brandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Communication efforts are affected by audience selection. Generally, audience segmentation is less cost-prohibitive and is considered more effective, but that notion may be outdated in today's globalized and digitally connected society (Kruckeberg & Vujnovic, 2010;Weiss & Tschirhart, 1994). Related to the first recommendation for research, work also should address audience selection for various organizations, including scope (e.g., national and state) and context (e.g., natural resources and public health), given the differences between types of public organizations (Laing, 2003).…”

Section: For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Impact of Being a Public Organization on the Public's Perceptions of the Florida Forest Service's Brand

Settle¹,

Rumble²,

Telg³

et al. 2015

Journal of Applied Communications

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The purpose of this study was to address how being a public organization affected the public's perceptions of the Florida Forest Service's brand. Focus groups were conducted at different sites across the state with rural and urban residents. The major findings were that the public expected the brand of a public organization to be financially responsible (e.g., justify the purpose of the organization, avoid duplication between public organizations, communicating with the public without wasting money, and generating revenue), provide something valuable to individuals or the public at large (e.g., protecting forests, control through regulations, and aid, such as providing information), and to operate with integrity (e.g., being financially responsibly, communicating clearly with the public, and the organization being fair in balancing public and private interests). This research addresses a gap in research regarding the branding of public organizations. Because the study is limited by being a qualitative study addressing one organization in one state, future research should be conducted to address the transferability of the findings to other settings. This research furthers efforts to foster relationships between public organizations and members of the public by providing guidance for the improvement of the brands of public organizations. In the face of increased scrutiny of and competition between public organizations, the findings of this study can be used to help improve the public's perceptions of public organizations. AbstractThe purpose of this study was to address how being a public organization affected the public's perceptions of the Florida Forest Service's brand. Focus groups were conducted at different sites across the state with rural and urban residents. The major findings were that the public expected the brand of a public organization to be financially responsible (e.g., justify the purpose of the organization, avoid duplication between public organizations, communicating with the public without wasting money, and generating revenue), provide something valuable to individuals or the public at large (e.g., protecting forests, control through regulations, and aid, such as providing information), and to operate with integrity (e.g., being financially responsibly, communicating clearly with the public, and the organization being fair in balancing public and private interests). This research addresses a gap in research regarding the branding of public organizations. Because the study is limited by being a qualitative study addressing one organization in one state, future research should be conducted to address the transferability of the findings to other settings. This research furthers efforts to foster relationships between public organizations and members of the public by providing guidance for the improvement of the brands of public organizations. In the face of increased scrutiny of and competition between public organizations, the findings of this study can be used to help improve the public's perce...

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Section: Public Organizations and Brandingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Being a Public Organization on the Public's Perceptions of the Florida Forest Service's Brand

Settle¹,

Rumble²,

Telg³

et al. 2015

Journal of Applied Communications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They even have different ages and genders [20]. Kruckeberg and Vujnovic [23] mentioned that historically, there was the spike in communication and transportation, and everyone became nationalized …”

Section: Public In Public Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public(s): A Concept Explication for Modeling Public Management

Han¹

2014

J Mass Communicat Journalism

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“…However, the dynamics of the different types of publics and their actions are conceptualized in a variety of ways in research and practice. Different scholars share different insights about the concept of publics (e.g., see the discussion over general publics vs. strategic publics in Kruckenberg & Vujnovic, ). This study finds Ni and Kim's () typology of publics useful in understanding activist publics' communication behaviors because it is one of the few studies that extensively and comprehensively explores the various types of publics and their communicative actions.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since Dewey's () work, the concept of publics has been developed by several public relations scholars including Grunig (), Hallahan (), Kruckeberg and Vujnovic (), and Self (). In particular, Grunig's () situational theory of publics has received extensive attention in public relations research and practice for its utility of segmenting the masses into meaningful groups of publics and explaining their communicative behaviors (Table ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inquiring into activist publics in chronic environmental issues: use of the mutual-gains approach for breaking a deadlock

Kim

Tam

et al. 2014

J. Public Affairs

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This study tests the usefulness of Ni and Kim's (2009) typology of publics in understanding different publics' communicative behaviors for problem solving surrounding an oil spill issue in Korea. Specifically, it explores the differences between chronic activists and other types of publics who were affected by this chronic environmental issue. A total of twentyfour interviews were conducted from which five different types of publics were identified. Organizations operate with their own mission and goals. These include basic goals such as survival and profitability as well as relational goals such as fewer conflicts with publics and building favorable organization-public relationships. These relational goals are especially critical for organizational effectiveness (Grunig et al., 2002), and public relations has been acknowledged for its role in contributing to these relational goals. However, in reality it is common for organizations and their publics to have incompatible goals; as a result they encounter conflicts that are often long lasting. In this backdrop, Plowman and his colleagues (1995) suggest that public relations be redefined as the "management of conflict between an organization and its important stakeholders" (p. 238).Practicing public relations as conflict management requires organizations to select their conflict resolution strategies very carefully so as to minimize conflicts before they escalate (Plowman et al., 2001) or to end the stalemate in negotiations with angry publics.Several scholars have pointed out that how organizations perceive conflicts and pressures from their environment and publics determines what public relations strategies organizations formulate to meet their goals (Grunig, 2009; Vujnovic, 2004). For example, some organizations resort to image-focused strategies to protect themselves from publics' negative behaviors rather than to protect their relationships with publics. In contrast, other organizations proactively seek strategies that align their goals with the interests of publics who are affected by their behaviors and decisions, which in turn allow them to make more responsible decisions (Grunig, 2006;Grunig, 2009;Kim et al., 2007;Kim & Ni, 2010). INQUIRING INTO ACTIVIST PUBLICS 4We believe that using public relations strategies as conflict resolution strategies or problem-solving strategies for organization-public relationships is one of the most significant areas of research that deserve more scholarly attention. Because conflict occurs when an organization and its publics do not understand or accept each other's interests and concerns, public relations strategies for problem solving should be executed based on the mutual understanding of concerns and behaviors between an organization and its publics. It is important to acknowledge that publics can also use public relations strategies to resolve issues that affect them (Kim & Ni, 2013). Hence public relations strategies as problemsolving strategies should be viewed from the perspectives of both organizations an...

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The Death of the Concept ofPublics(Plural) in 21st Century Public Relations

Cited by 21 publications

References 4 publications

The Impact of Being a Public Organization on the Public's Perceptions of the Florida Forest Service's Brand

The Impact of Being a Public Organization on the Public's Perceptions of the Florida Forest Service's Brand

Public(s): A Concept Explication for Modeling Public Management

Inquiring into activist publics in chronic environmental issues: use of the mutual-gains approach for breaking a deadlock

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