Big Ideas in Public Relations Research and Practice

Finn Frandsen is a Professor of Corporate Communication at Aarhus University, Denmark. His primary research interests are organizational crisis management and crisis communication, meta-organizations, stakeholders, intermediaries, and communicative institutionalism. Winni Johansen is a Professor of Corporate Communication at Aarhus University, Denmark. Her research interests include crisis management and communication, social media, communication consulting, environmental communication and the institutionalization of strategic communication in private and public organizations.  Ralph Tench is Director of Research for Leeds Business School at Leeds Beckett University, UK and President (2017-2020) of the European Public Relations Research and Education Association (EUPRERA). His research involves funded projects from the private sector, EU, Public Health England, NHS and research councils.  Stefania Romenti is Associate Professor and Chair in Strategic Communication at Università IULM, Italy and Adjunct Professor of Communication Measurement at IE Business School, Spain. Her research interests include communication measurement, reputation management and stakeholder engagement.

From a September 2018 international congress of researchers in public relations and corporate communications, held in Aarhus, Denmark, 12 selected papers think outside the box about research in the field. The topics include when data is the issue: reconceptualizing public relations for the platform economy, engaging millennials in the energy transition, the visual turn: corporate identity as an alternative public relations tool, strategic communication beyond organizational purposes: lessons learned from organized religion, the big idea of employees as strategic communicators in public relations, and four news media roles shaping agenda-building processes.

• 1.How Strategic Communication Facilitates the Internationalisation of Firms: A Situational Framework; Jule Keller-Bacher and Ansgar Zerfass 2.When Data Is the Issue: Re-conceptualizing Public Relations For the Platform Economy; Sine Nørholm Just and Rasmus Kjærgaard Rasmussen 3.Entrancing Ourselves with YouTube: Emotion-producing Practices Amplify the Impact of Branded Video; Gregory De Blasio, Komala Mazerant and Brad Scharlott 4.Engaging Millennials in the Energy Transition; Renate Dam, Wim J.L. Elving and Roel van Veen 5.The new “cat” of the Internet: China’s panda diplomacy on Twitter; Zhao Alexandre Huang and Rui Wang 6.The Visual Turn: Corporate Identity as an Alternative Public Relations Tool; Alexandra Crăciun 7.Beyond Organizational Centricity in Strategic Communication: Lessons Learned From Organized Religion; Markus Wiesenberg 8.“We Don’t Need PR Yet”: Challenging Misconceptions of Public Relations in The Startup Community; Sarah VanSlette 9.How Do Public Relations Practitioners Build Social Capital?; Paul Willis and Andy Green 10.The big idea of employees as strategic communicators in public relation; Vibeke Thøis Madsen and Joost Verhoeven 11.Four News Media Roles Shaping Agenda-building Processes; Mark Badham 12.Information, Misinformation, Disinformation: The Role of Communication Professionals in Liquid Modernity; Mafalda Eiró-Gomes and Vanessa Moreira