Date of Award

January 2020

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Pamela Kalbfleisch

Abstract

Public relations (PR) tools have enabled more communication between governments and citizens in the whole world. However, a single communication channel could be widespread among many governments. These PR tools help governments to share national goals, projects, and programs with their citizens. Grunig and Hunt (1984) highlighted that the value of two-way communication channels is better suited to develop an understanding between public organizations (i.e. governments) and citizens to establish both internal and external mutual public-organization or citizen-government understanding. However, the practical implementation of two-way communication channels for the government-citizen relationships and dialog remains is unclear. As a result, the case of Saudi Arabia and the attempts of the Saudi government to adopt Vision 2030 through the two-way communication channel was explored in this paper. To clarify, the Saudi Vision 2030 aims to create economic diversification, promote a vibrant society, develop public service sectors, and move away from the over-dependence on the oil economy. The Saudi government has used some public relations PR tools to communicate with their citizens about Vision 2030. This research explored the Saudi government's use of public relations tools such as social media apps, and how they relate to perceptions of Saudi citizens toward Vision 2030.

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