Understanding Public Relations in China

Hou, Jenny Zhengye; Zhu, Yunxia; Bromley, Michael

doi:10.1177/1050651913479926

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Western countries are not the sole countries to use forms of promotion. In many other countries, such as in Russia or China as well as in the Global South, promotional communication is used actively in public affairs and political life (Chen and Culbertson, 2003; Hou et al, 2013; Tsetsura, 2011; Tsetsura and Chernov, 2009). Also, promotion is an important element between countries globally (Miskimmon et al, 2014).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apprehending public relations as a promotional industry

Aronczyk

Edwards

Kantola

2017

Public Relations Inquiry

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Introduction to the special issue: Apprehending public relations as a promotional industryThis special issue comes out of a pre-conference for the International Communication Association annual meeting in June 2016. The aim of the pre-conference, and of this special issue, is to place promotional practices in political, economic and/or social context; to consider how promotion intervenes into and influences constellations of power; and to reflect on the role of public relations and promotion in spheres of civic life. Our aim was to assess the circulation of promotional and public relations practices in terms of communicative power -who gets what, by what means and with what kinds of consequences. In this editorial, we consider the scholarly landscape that frames investigations of public relations as/and promotion. We set the scene for the three papers that follow, each of which focuses in novel ways on the societal and political significance of promotional activities, and of public relations in particular, as used both alongside, and independently of, other promotional techniques. The context: Contemporary promotional culturesPromotion responds to, and emerges from, the political, economic, social and cultural order of the times. It has played a fundamental role in our history, and contributes to the possibilities of our present and future lives. Promotional techniques are used to sell things, ideas and ways of life that are deemed necessary for audiences to adhere to by corporates, governments and other organisations.From this perspective, promotion is not only an act of exchange, it is -and has long been -a sociocultural intervention in our daily lives (Wernick, 1991).Histories of promotional industries demonstrate that promotion is deeply entwined with complex changes in social, economic and political circumstances, in media systems and in cultural beliefs and norms

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apprehending public relations as a promotional industry

Aronczyk

Edwards

Kantola

2017

Public Relations Inquiry

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“…Kiesenbauer and Zerfass (2015) focused on professionals’ conceptualization of strategic communication and found that chief communication officers viewed their mission as managing relationships with various stakeholders, while future communication leaders (Generation Y) held that reputation management remained of paramount importance for communication departments. Testing the potential paradigm shift against the Chinese context, Hou et al (2013) found that in-house practitioners saw PR as subordinate to organizational branding and marketing, while agency consultants conceived of PR as “the long-term and strategic communication through which public perceptions are delicately managed rather than as a means for developing organizational image” (p. 321). Hence, the field requires continued efforts to determine at what level either strategic orientation translates communication practice into the organization performance.…”

Section: Discussion Implications and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Networking embraces typical Eastern cultural characteristics represented by guanxi , which is defined by Bian (2006) as “a dyadic, particular and sentimental tie that has the potential of facilitating favor exchanges between the parties connected by the tie” (p. 312). The multiplexity of guanxi , which blends emotional values into instrumental functions, serves as the key to understanding multiple logics and identities of communication practices in China (Hou et al, 2013). In practice, networking activities fulfill a diversified set of functions and create productive benefits that facilitate the formation of interpersonal resources for Chinese practitioners (Huang, 2000).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering the Role of Strategic Orientation in Translating Communication Strategies to Organizational Performance: An Analysis of Practitioners From Two Chinese Societies

Wang

Huang

2020

International Journal of Business Communication

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Integrating strategic process theory and resource orchestration view, this study challenges and extends the prior model supporting the direct effect of communication on organizational performance by examining the mediating role of practitioners’ strategic orientation. Employing two data sets of communication practitioners in China and Hong Kong, results of the structural equation model show that reputation orientation and organization-public relationship orientation represent two strategic value systems fully mediating the relationship between communication strategies and the organizational goal attainment. The findings support the proposition that business outcomes and competitive advantages at the organizational level depends not simply on various communication strategies formulated by senior executives and top communication managers, but more importantly, on how frontline communication professionals implement these strategies and translate resources into strategic communication processes. Moreover, the contextual sensitivity of findings indicates a relational shift underway in the strategic communication paradigm, but organization-public relationship is still far from a dominant cultural mechanism thoroughly endorsed by the industry.

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“…Dialogue and dissent/protest PR concepts have gained increasing significance. Public relations affect new sources, and this fact can be seen in countries that have close economic and/or gaps on freedom of speech, such as China, North Korea, the Middle East countries (Avidar, 2011;Chen, Chen & Chen, 2012;Hou et al, 2013;Lahav, 2014). On the other hand, many studies have been conducted to understand internet use and its impact on public relations (PR) activities.…”

Section: Public Relations and Higher Education Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%