Date of Award

2-18-2011

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Lana F. Rakow

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the configurations of public relations practices in France and in Romania, and the connections between such configurations and U.S.-based models of public relations, through critical theoretical lenses, and with the aid of mixed research methods. In the critical approach employed in this study, public relations has been considered as a practice explored in terms of interests, articulations of power, and policy implications, rather than in terms of relationships, creation of consensus, and managerial implications. In the mixed methods approach utilized in this dissertation, quantitative and qualitative research methods complement one another rather than opposing each other. In the quantitative component of the study, the websites of 50 public relations firms in France and 50 public relations firms in Romania—25 nationally-based firms and 25 headquarters/affiliates of international firms for each country—were content analyzed. In the qualitative component of the study, 20 practitioners from public relations firms in France and 20 practitioners from public relations firms in Romania—10 from nationally-based firms and 10 from headquarters/affiliates of international firms for each country—were interviewed. Data resulting from the content analysis of websites and the thematic analysis of interviews shows that in France nationally-based firms carry out a different form of public relations than headquarters of international firms (a superior, more two way form of public relations, if judged through functionalist lenses, or an independent, not indebted to U.S.-based dominant models, if considered from alternative perspectives), whereas in Romania nationally-based firms and headquarters/affiliates of international firms carry out similar forms of public relations (forms that are relatively one way according to functionalist standards and heavily dependent on U.S.-based models if assessed from alternative perspectives). It seems that the more independent from U.S. predominant models public relations is in a specific country, the better chances public relations has to be grounded in the concerns and the issues of businesses as well as of communities that businesses are part of, and ethical not just in the sense of following codes of ethics but that people engage in sound communication and in ecologies of the firm and of their place.

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