BledCom Zbornik2013 v7 (PDF)

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE 20TH INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC
RELATIONS RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM BLEDCOM
Editors: Dejan Verčič, Ana Tkalac Verčič, Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, Jon White

International Public Relation Symposium
June 14 − 15, 2013
Lake Bled, Slovenia,
www.bledcom.com

Trust and the New Realities
Proceedings of the 20th International Public Relations Research Symposium BledCom
Bled, Slovenia
14 – 15 June, 2013
EDITORS:
Dejan Verčič
Ana Tkalac Verčič
Krishnamurthy Sriramesh
Jon White
PUBLISHED BY:
Zavod BledCom
Trubarjeva cesta 79
1000 Ljubljana
CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji
Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana
659.4(082)(0.034.2)
INTERNATIONAL Public Relations Research Symposium (20 ; 2013 ; Bled)
Trust and the new realities [Elektronski vir] : proceedings of the 20th International
Public Relations Research Symposium BledCom, Lake Bled, Slovenia, June 14-15,
2013 / editors Dejan Verčič ... [et al.]. - Ljubljana : Pristop, 2014
ISBN 978-961-90484-9-8
1. Gl. stv. nasl. 2. Verčič, Dejan
271731200

CONTENTS
1. EDITORS

4

2. AUTHORS

6

3. PAPERS

15

•  Why Do Women Leave Public Relations? A Feminist Phase Analysis

15

•  Public Relations: Rules, Gamesmanship and the Professional Project Why Academics Must Confront the Realities of Practice

23

Liz Bridgen, School of Media and Communication, Faculty of Art,
Design and Humanities, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK

Camilla Nothhaft, Department for Strategic Communication, Lund University, Sweden
Howard Nothhaft, Department for Strategic Communication, Lund University, Sweden
Sara von Platen, Department for Strategic Communication, Lund University, Sweden
Philip Young, Department for Strategic Communication, Lund University, Sweden

•  Free Markets, Democracy, and Civil Unrest:
Contemplating a Role for Public Relations in Peacemaking

34

Sandra Duhé, Ph.D., APR, Division of Communication Studies, Southern Methodist
University, USA

•  The Unseen Power of Public Relations in the Era of Globalization

44

•  Smartphones and Young Publics:
A New Challenge for Public Relations Practice and Relationship Building

51

Ryszard Ławniczak, Military University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland

Ruth Avidar, Yezreel Valley College, Israel
Yaron Ariel, Yezreel Valley College, Israel
Vered Malka, Yezreel Valley College, Israel
Eilat Chen Levy, Graduate School of Management & the Center for Internet Research,
University of Haifa, Israel

•  In Search of the Holy Grail? Balancing Rigour and Relevance in PR Research
Mario Ianniello, Laboratory for Research for Economics and Management,
Udine University, Italy
Luca Brusati, Laboratory for Research for Economics and Management,
Udine University, Italy
Paolo Fedele, Laboratory for Research for Economics and Management, Udine
University, Italy
Nicola Strizzolo, Department of Human Studies, Udine University, Italy

•  Is Strategic Internal Communication Culture-free or Culture-specific?
A Study on Internal Magazines from Different Companies in Europe
Lavinia Cincă, FEIEA, Brussels, Belgium

56

•  Media Relations under Pressure: What’s Left in Times of Change?

73

•  Strategic Communication: A Planning Model Applied Across Four Cases

81

•  Communication Challenges in Virtual Communities
Viewed through the Lenses of Dialogue, Learning and Technology

91

•  The Faculty Goes Social. Universities and Social Media in France the Case of “uB-link”

98

Klaus Spachmann, University of Hohenheim, Germany
Simone Huck-Sandhu, Pforzheim University, Germany
Helena Stehle, University of Hohenheim, Germany

Kenneth D. Plowman, Ph.D. APR, Department of Communications, Brigham Young
University, USA

Helena Kantanen, Department of Business, University of Eastern Finland, Finland
Jyri Manninen, School of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Eastern
Finland, Finland

Alex Frame, University of Burgundy, France
Gilles Brachotte, University of Burgundy, France

•  Web 2.0: Stakes of the E-reputation for Public Relations Professionals

108

•  Advocating for the Strategic Behavioral Management Model by a ‘Soft
Infrastructure’ of Global Stakeholder Relationship Governance: Beginning
with Generic Principles and Specific Applications, Employee Communication
and Integrated Reporting

117

•  Selling America in the Post 9/11 Era: is Anyone Listening?

133

•  Foreign Aid and Hearts and Minds -- The American Experience

138

•  An Asian History of Australian Public Relations:
Exploring the Impact of Globalisation

141

Francine Charest, Ph.D., Information and communication department, Université Laval,
Québec, Canada
Anthony Doucet, Second year student in public communication, majoring in public
relations, Université Laval, Québec, Canada

Toni Muzi Falconi, Senior counsel Methodos (Italy), adjunct professor of public relations
(LUMSA University, Vatican, Rome), of global relations/intercultural communication; and
of public affairs/issue management (NYU, New York)
Anne Chermak Dillen, Dillen Associates, LLC
Mark E. Dillen, CEO at Dillen Associates LLC

63

Kate Fitch, School of Arts, Murdoch University, Australia

4. ABOUT BLEDCOM

147

5. BLEDCOM 2013

148

4

1. Editors
Dejan Verčič
Dejan Verčič (Ph.D. London School of Economics, 2000) is a Full Professor Professor at the University of Ljubljana. His most recent books are Culture and Public Relations (2012) and The Global
Public Relations Handbook: Theory, Research, and Practice (enlarged ed. 2009 by Routledge;
both with K. Sriramesh). In 2001 he was awarded the Alan Campbell-Johnson Medal for outstanding service to international public relations by the UK Chartered Institute of Public Relations
(of which he is a Fellow). Prof. Verčič served, inter alia, as the chairman of the Research Committee
of the IABC Research Foundation and as the President of the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA). In 1991-1993 he was the founding director of the
Slovenian national news agency (STA). He is a founder of a communication consultancy Pristop in
Ljubljana, Slovenia. Since 1994, he organizes an annual International Public Relations Research
Symposium – BledCom.

>> Editors

5

Krishnamurthy Sriramesh
Krishnamurthy Sriramesh is Professor of Public Relations at the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University, Indiana, USA. He is the most internationally recognized expert when it
comes to research in international, global, or intercultural public relations, which is a research area
that is growing and is becoming more and more central in line with the globalization. Sriramesh is
(co) author of more than 50 journal articles and book chapters as well as (co) editor of a number
of major international handbooks such as The Handbook of Global Public Relations: Theory, Research, and Practice, revised and expanded 2nd edition from 2009 (awarded the PRIDE Award
from NCA) and Public Relations Research: European and International Perspectives (2008).
He is also (co) editor of the Journal of Communication Management and a member of the Editorial
Board of several major international journals, including Journal of Communication, Public Relations Review, Journal of Public Relations Research and Management Commmunication Quarterly.

Ana Tkalac Verčič
Ana Tkalac Verčič is an Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Zagreb. In 2001 she was a Fulbright scholar working under the mentorship of James E. Grunig, one
of the leading world academics in the area of public relations. In 2003 she received a PhD at the
University of Zagreb and became the first public relations academic with a PhD in Croatia, introducing undergraduate and graduate courses in the area of public relations. She is the first Croatian
academic to publish papers in top public relations journals and present at top public relations conferences. She co-edited “Public Relations Metrics; Research and Evaluation” with Betteke van Ruler
and Dejan Verčič. She is a visiting lecturer at the Universita della Svizzera italiana, one of the leading
international institutions in the area of communications. She is also a recipient of the CIPR Diploma
and a qualified CIPR lecturer, as well as the director for the CIPR program in Croatia.

Jon White
Jon White is a consultant in management and organisation development, public relations, corporate communication and public affairs management. He is also a visiting fellow at Henley Business
School and honorary or visiting professor at Cardiff University, School of Journalism, Media and
Cultural Studies, and the University of Central Lancashire. He has written books, book chapters and
articles on aspects of public relations and corporate communication management, as well as management case studies. He holds a doctorate from the London School of Economics and Political
Science in psychology, which he regards as a foundation discipline for the practice of public relations. He has been involved in Bled since the annual meetings began 20 years ago and has played
a part in organising many of the meetings.

6

2. Authors
Ruth Avidar
Ruth Avidar has received her Ph.D. from the University of Haifa. Among her fields of expertise are
online public relations, social media, computer mediated communication, and organization-public
relationship. Dr. Avidar is a faculty member at the Communication department of the Max Stern
Yezreel Valley College, Israel.

Gilles Brachotte
Gilles Brachotte is associate professor in Communication Science at the University of Burgundy, member of the CIMEOS/3S research team (EA 4177) and teaches at the web design department of DijonAuxerre Technological Institute (IUT Dijon-Auxerre). After started his career as an IT / networks teacher,
his research has taken him into the field of communication science and more specifically ICT usage. He
focuses on the way ICT is used in practice and more generally on social change resulting from adoption and integration of ICT in society, notably among young people and in politics. His research brings
together discursive, social, ergonomic and technical dimensions which are sources of meaning and
contribute to complexify the communication processes involved.

>> Authors

7

Liz Bridgen
Liz Bridgen leads the MA Public Relations and MA International Public Relations programmes at De
Montfort University, Leicester, UK. She has an MA in Mass Communications from the University of
Leicester and previously worked in public relations practice in the UK and Iceland where she specialized in corporate communications for clients including Visa, Bosch and the British Post Office.
Liz Bridgen is currently pursuing a PhD by Published Works and published papers include research
into the emotional implications of social media use by public relations practitioners for the Journal of
Media Practice and a review of the shift in emphasis within junior public relations roles and the effect
of these changes on debates surrounding the feminisation of the occupation for PRISM (in press).
She has delivered refereed papers at BledCom and at the International Public Relations Research
Conference in Miami, Florida as well as at conferences run by EUPRERA (the European Public Relations Education and Research Association) and MeCCSA (the Media, Communication and Cultural
Studies Association). Her research focuses on gender, social change and the lived experience of
public relations practitioners, with a particular focus of the implications of technology on the lives of
public relations practitioners.

Luca Brusati
Dr. Luca Brusati holds a Ph.D. in Management from Bocconi University and is currently an Associate Professor of Management with Udine University, where he serves as Scientific Coordinator the
Laboratory for Research in Economics and Management. He has been a visiting scholar at New
York University (USA) and Universität Mannheim (Germany), and a visiting professor at Klagenfurt
University (Austria), HEC (France), Lausanne University (Switzerland) and the University of Malta;
he teaches on a regular basis at Management Centre Innsbruck (Austria) and at the School for Applied Social Sciences (Slovenia). From 1991 to 1999 he served as an Assistant Professor of Public
Management at Bocconi University. In 1999 he joined the European Regional Office of the World
Health Organization, where he covered the post of Regional Adviser for Health Services Management, working in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Hungary, Moldova, Poland and Russia. In 2001 he
moved back to Italy, where he is serving also as Adjunct Professor with the Public Policy and
Management Department at Bocconi University School of Management. Since 2001 he worked
as a trainer, a consultant or an evaluator for a number of ministries and public sector agencies
in Albania, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

>> Authors

8

Francine Charest
Francine Charest is a professor at the Université Laval in the Department of Information and Communication, Québec, Canada. She is an expert in public relations and managing sensitive and
crisis communication situations in social media, including e-reputation. In 2009 she published her
first book, Les racines communicationnelles du Web (The Communication Roots of the Web), for
which she was recognized by the Academy of Commercial Sciences of Paris with the Médaille
2010 award. A second edition, entitled Les racines communicationnelles du Web et des médias
sociaux (The Communication Roots of the Web and Social Media), has been published in spring
2013. After joining the faculty of the Université Laval in 2010, she created the Observatoire des
médias sociaux en relations publiques (Observatory of Social Media in Public Relations) to unite
the work of teachers, students and professionals. The OMSRP functions under her leadership,
along with notably the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Eilat Chen Levy
Eilat Chen Levy is a doctoral candidate at the Graduate School of Management at the University of
Haifa under the supervision of Prof. Sheizaf Rafaeli . Among her fields of research are Interruptions via
new media, Information Overload, mobile phone, computer mediated communication, Wiki systems
for learning and simulation game. Eilat Chen Levy is lecture at the Communication department of The
College of Management Academic Studies, Israel.

Lavinia Cincă
Lavinia Cinca spent the early years of her career in the Romanian Association of Public Relations
Professionals where, as Secretary General, she interacted with the PR market and learned directly
from top practitioners. Until 2009, she experienced the different facets of communication like media
relations, rebranding, CSR campaigns or event management thanks to my positions at Enel and
in other consultancies. Later on, she moved to Belgium for an internship in the press Unit of the
Committee of the Regions and at the moment she is working at the Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors in Brussels. She is passionate about Internet communications and she has co-presented
in Austria an academic article on Belgium’s country image in the online media. In my spare time, she
is writing touristic articles on Travel Moments in Time. She holds a Masters’ Degree in Management
and Business Communication (NSPAS, Romania) and a postgraduate degree in European Studies
(CIFE, Belgium). She is proficient in English, French, Spanish and Italian.

>> Authors

9

Mark E. Dillen
Mark E. Dillen is an international media and communications consultant and CEO of Dillen Associates LLC. During a career in the US Foreign Service, Mark managed media and cultural relations
for US embassies in Rome, Berlin, Moscow, Sofia and Belgrade. He was also Minister Counselor
for Political Affairs at the US Embassy in Rome. From 2000-2001, he was an advisor to the State
Department’s office handling assistance programs in the former Soviet Union, and in 2010-11,
Mark led the communications and media relations work of the USAID Mission in Kabul, Afghanistan. During this period, he interacted on a daily basis with the international media covering the
conflict in that country and developed strategies for communicating with the local population. Returning to San Francisco, he continues his international consulting work advising clients in the U.S.
and abroad. Mark has written extensively for the Foreign Policy Association, a New York-based
non-profit devoted to public education on foreign policy, and for the Center on Public Diplomacy
at the University of Southern California. Dillen has a Master’s degree in Journalism from Columbia
University. He has been a Diplomat-in-Residence at the American Institute for Contemporary
German Studies of Johns Hopkins University and attended the program for Senior Managers in
Government at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He has lectured at Berlin’s
Freie Universitaet and many other universities in Eastern Europe.

Sandra Duhé
Sandra Duhé, Ph.D. is associate professor, director of public relations, and chair of the Division
of Communication Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Prior to joining academia, she was a public affairs manager for three multinational corporations with extensive experience in media relations, corporate brand management, crisis response, risk communication, and
community outreach. Her interdisciplinary research in economic, political, and social influences on
public relations practice has been published in leading journals, texts, and other venues, and she
is the editor of the scholarly text, New Media and Public Relations, now in its second edition from
Peter Lang. She holds degrees in business, public relations, and applied economics, and received
her Ph.D. in political economy from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Paolo Fedele
Paolo Fedele, is assistant professor of management at Udine State University, Italy. He holds a
PhD in Public Administration and Management at Parma State University and a Master in Public
Management at Bocconi University, Italy. His main research interests are: public management
reform, management of supranational organisations and stakeholder management. Among his
publications Fedele P. e Ongaro E. (2008), A common trend, different houses: a comparative
analysis of devolution in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, in «Public Money & Management»,
n. 2/2, pp. 85-92 and P. Fedele, D. Galli and E. Ongaro (2007) ‘Disaggregation, Autonomy and
Re-regulation, Contractualism: Public Agencies in Italy (1992-2005)’, Public Management Review,
9, 4, 557-85.